Craggus’ Trek Trek:
Now, Voyager! Vol 13
Craggus’ Trek Trek Now Voyager Vol 13 brings a few Alpha Quadrant comforts to the chilly environs of the Delta Quadrant.
Star Trek Voyager S5E04: In The Flesh
What a twist! This time the Voyager crew are just the voyager crew but *everyone* else isn’t who they appear to be. Investigating a detailed re-creation of Starfleet Command Headquarters, Chakotay and Tuvok stumble across a Species-8472 training ground as the extra-dimensional aliens seek to know thy enemy. Deliberately more talky and diplomatic than previous encounters with Species-8472 it ends up becoming one of the best episodes to ever feature them, a celebration of de-escalation and fine Starfleet principles, with Janeway and guest star Ray Walston on top form.
Star Trek Voyager S5E05: Once Upon A Time
Having not long designed and built the Delta Flyer to replace the numerous lost shuttlecraft, the crew promptly crash the Delta Flyer and put all aboard in mortal jeopardy. Unusually – perhaps divisively – the story chooses not to focus directly on the characters in peril and instead takes the time to explore the effects on their nearest and dearest, specifically young Naomi Wildman and her babysitter Neelix. Once again, something which could have been schmaltzy and twee ends up being surprisingly moving thanks to the oft-underrated Ethan Phillips and a great turn by Scarlett Pomers as young Naomi. Kid characters are nothing new to this era of Star Trek and Scarlett Pomers is a fine addition to that pantheon. It’s an unusual and refreshing change of tone, pace and approach, even a little bit experimental and sets up a variety of character arcs that will play out across the rest of the show’s run.
Star Trek Voyager S5E06: Timeless
Take one part particularly ambitious effects shots, two parts bottle show and pour over a fan-pleasing cameo, shake vigorously and you’ll get this exciting but uneven timey-wimey adventure that starts long after Voyager nearly made it back to the Alpha Quadrant and features Harry Kim and Chakotay dealing with their survivor guilt in the most healthy way of all: completing rewriting history to prevent the disaster from happening in the first place. There’s a throwaway love interest for Chakotay included, mostly to give the time travel reset some weight by killing somebody off and while this may not be anywhere close to Trek’s classic cerebral sci-fi heights, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable action romp – and it’s always nice to see a Galaxy Class starship on screen.
Star Trek Voyager S5E07: Infinite Regress
There are echoes of Jadzia’s Trill-of-a-lifetime zhian’tara experience in DS9’s Facets in this psychological Seven of Nine thriller when an alien anti-borg weapon is recovered from a disabled Borg cube and causes Seven to experience the personalities of countless previously assimilated individuals. Something of an acting showcase for Jeri Ryan, she does a remarkable job of conveying a number of famous Star Trek species while the crew battle to save her and fend off the angry alien race who set the trap for the Borg in the first place.
Star Trek Voyager S5E08: Nothing Human
Picking up themes from the episode Jetrel, this time the writers return to the season’s punching bag of B’Elanna, inflicting her with the indignity of being rendered comatose by one of the series’ most unconvincing props and then adding insult to injury by conjuring up a holographic recreation of Cardassia’s answer to Josef Mengele. While the production values let the drama down, it’s in the writing that the episode loses itself in a moral maze of its own making and whatever you make of how well it handles the medical ethical questions it raises, you can’t help but be disappointed that this is another episode (not too long after the other one) to deal a significant emotional and psychological blow to B’Elanna only for there to be no lasting repercussions whatsoever.
Star Trek Voyager S5E09: Thirty Days
Tom Paris goes from Nemo to Ahab and suffers a demotion in the oddly structured and ultimately underwhelming underwater tale which is a shame because the story at its heart is pure pulp science fiction gold. The story, told in retrospect by a brig-bound Tom Paris, tells of Voyager encountering a literal water world in space and encountering the initially hostile locals before joining forces with them to investigate some troubling planetary phenomena. An overtly environmental story, it lacks punch, and the Tom Paris framing takes valuable time away from the episode where it could have been used to explore this uniquely unusual world. The climate change denial allegory is none too subtle, but it’s still undermined by a weakly ambiguous resolution and Tom’s demotion provokes little more than a shrug from a character point of view.
Star Trek Voyager S5E10: Counterpoint
An intriguing social allegory that embraces people smuggling as a tool of defiance as Voyager helps provide sanctuary and safe passage to some refugees trying to avoid the attentions of a brutal authoritarian race of aliens who have outlawed telepathy and send any telepaths they encounter to re-education camps is garnished with an across-the-barricades romance for Janeway that throws up plenty of sparks but never manages to catch fire. It’s a decent enough tale and there’s good chemistry between Kate Mulgrew and guest star Mark Harelik but the latter’s performance is too obvious moustache-twirling to ever really trust him, so the twist ending doesn’t come as a surprise and the attempt at giving the episode a musical metaphor throughout feels flat.
Star Trek Voyager S5E11: Latent Image
A clever Voyager remake of TNG’s Clues, this time reversing the focus from one individual hiding the truth from the entire crew to the crew hiding the truth from an individual. It’s an emotionally deeper story too as the series confronts, head-on, the issue of medical ethics being handled by an algorithm. It’s a tour de force for Robert Picardo and although there have been many episodes that nudged the Doctor’s development forward, this harrowing turn might be the one where he truly becomes something more than a mere programme: he gains a soul and it’s as much a moral examination of Janeway as of the Doctor.
