Craggus’ Trek Trek:
Now, Voyager! Vol 15
Craggus’ Trek Trek Now Voyager Vol 15 starts with an episode about garbage then follows with an actual garbage episode before finishing strong with a cautionary example of there but for the grace of Janeway goes Voyager.
Star Trek Voyager S5E21: Juggernaut
The Phantom Of The Garbage Scow strikes as Voyager encounters a Malon vessel that’s on the brink of collapse and risks contaminating a vast area of space. Meanwhile, we’re back with B’Elanna’s anger management subplot as Tuvok tries to teach her some meditation techniques. In the end, though, it’s beauty giving in to her beast that saves the day and brings our final episode featuring the Malon to a conclusion. It’s a grimy and gritty episode, dealing with monsters both metaphysical and manifestly physical, with a solid performance from Roxann Dawson and some long-overdue action and respect for Neelix.
Star Trek Voyager S5E22: Someone To Watch Over Me
Star Trek as romantic comedy, this is a charming, if slight, story as Seven dabbles with romance and the Doctor once again deploys his infatuation algorithm and ends up sending himself to horny jail. It’s paired with a b-story that’s lifted almost wholesale from the TNG Season 7 episode #Liaisons as Neelix entertains a prim and proper visiting alien delegate who seems hellbent on enjoying every distraction and debauchery Voyager has to offer.
Star Trek Voyager S5E23: 11:59
Janeway finds out her ancestor was a blowhard liar in an episode so dull you’re probably not allowed to operate heavy machinery for twenty-four hours after watching it. It’s the exception that proves the rule that Star Trek can accommodate any genre, but only because this just isn’t a Star Trek episode no matter how you look at it. If a small-town middle-aged meet-cute romance is your idea of a good time, then 11:59 is the episode for you but otherwise, this is one for only the hardest of hardline Janeway (or should that be O’Donnell) fans out there.
Star Trek Voyager S5E24: Relativity
The Metropolitan Police may not investigate crimes retrospectively but thankfully the crew of the USS Relativity do. After the previous episode (11:59) feature little to no sci-fi, along comes Relativity to redress the balance by featuring *all* the sci-fi because this time, somebody has murdered the entire crew of the USS Voyager and the only one who can crack the case is Seven of Nine – or at one point Sevens of Nine. Surprisingly this isn’t a Brannon Braga script (although he’s reputed to have done a lot of uncredited rewrites), but nevertheless it sees Star Trek channelling Spielberg and Zemeckis with a fun, kinetic “Back To The Future” style trans-temporal romp which has the bonus of involving a return appearance by Janeway’s long-gone buns of steel as well as the first on-screen appearance for the oft-mentioned and occasionally pictured Utopia Planitia shipyards. It’s a soft sequel, of sorts, to Future’s End and it remains one of Star Trek’s most obvious missed opportunities not to have spun off the adventures of the USS Relativity into a series of its own.
Star Trek Voyager S5E25: Warhead
What at first feels like a mash-up of TOS’ The Changeling and Voyager’s own Dreadnought takes an old trope and puts a new spin on it while providing another showcase for the chameleonic talents of Robert Picardo as the Doctor finds himself subsumed by a sentient weapon of mass destruction. There’s a nice arc, too, for Harry Kim as we see him gain command experience by running the night shift, making a serious error of judgement which imperils the ship and his crewmates before saving the day (and thousands of lives) in the most Star Trek way possible, by talking a computer into changing its mind and sacrificing itself for the greater good. James T Kirk would be proud.
Star Trek Voyager S5E26: Equinox
Almost a “What If..?” story, this time posing the question What if the crew of the Voyager had been willing to sacrifice everything – including their principles – to get home? That’s the scenario that plays out when Voyager encounters another Starfleet vessel in the Delta Quadrant, one which was brought there in similar circumstances but has taken a very different route – morally and ethically – home. It’s a bittersweet moment for Janeway as the initial elation of not being alone gives way to the dark disappointment of what’s been going on. It also turns out to be a small galaxy as one of B’Elanna’s former academy classmates turns up on the Equinox, ready to cause trouble. Maybe this is as close as Voyager gets to a Mirror Universe episode. At the very least, it’s Voyager’s “there but for the grace of God go I” moment.
Star Trek Voyager S6E01: Equinox, Part II
It’s a real shame that the story’s alien ambitions exceeded the series’ budgetary grasp as, while the human drama (and the Doctor’s worrisome vulnerability to ethical interference) is superb, the realisation of the trans-dimensional aliens falls somewhere short of Ghostbuster‘s Slimer. It’s certainly more action-packed and focussed than previous Voyager part twos have been, with a stronger through-line of character and plot – enough to genuinely fill a whole two episodes. Unfortunately, it falls just short of greatness for the most predictable of Star Trek Voyager reasons: the lack of lasting repercussions. Not only do we never see *any* of the surviving Equinox crewmembers again (even though their redemption arc would have made for fantastic drama), but Janeway goes to some dark, dark places during this story, and it’s never really addressed beyond the confines of these two episodes.
Star Trek Voyager S6E02: Survival Instinct
Seven finds herself confronted by the sins of her former self in a story that feels like Voyager has already done before but apparently hasn’t. Far from being the exception, Borg becoming disconnected from the collective seems to be something of a norm as Seven unexpectedly and – it has to be said – a little unwillingly reunites with some former Borg colleagues on a deep space trading outpost. During the cover of a Voyager “Open Day”, the three ex-Borg steal aboard in order to link Seven to their mini-collective in the hope that she will be able to undo what she created many years before when their scout ship crashed. It’s a poignant and intermittently potent tale focussing on the quality of life versus mere survival and the bittersweet ending where individual freedom comes at an inescapable, yet still acceptable price perhaps does show that Seven’s circumstances are somewhat unique – and very fortunate.
