Voyager 3x26 "Scorpion, Part 1"

rating: ****

the story: The ship reaches Borg territory, only to discover that their biggest problem isn't the Borg at all, but Species 8472.

what it's all about: "Scorpion" will always be known as the story that introduced Seven of Nine, but that's in the second part, the fourth season premiere.  In the first half, the third season finale, the story is squarely on the Borg, and the introduction of Species 8472.  Species 8472...Certainly one of the most unique alien designations in franchise history, and appropriate to an introduction tied into the Borg.  Yeah, it's funny we never get an actual name for them (outside of the books, but I'm not one of those fans), and that it's so easy to remember "Species 8472," even twenty years later.

The story itself is probably the only thing the series could've done to really justify introducing the Borg, a true escalation of concept for one of the most famous foes in all of Star Trek.  The previous year, the Borg appeared in First Contact, where the Borg Queen was introduced (she'd later appear multiple times in Voyager, too), so to come up with something to rival that is a marked feather in the show's cap.  Even if fans didn't realize it at the time, the appearance of the Borg at all was inevitable from the very beginning; those same fans ended up grumbling all the same, since they didn't want anyone to even consider trying to keep up with the legacy of "The Best of Both Worlds" (Next Generation), if material like "Descent" had tarnished that legacy by attempting to deconstruct the Collective as a solution.  In Borg territory itself, it seems they continued to thrive, except where Species 8472 was concerned, one of the few species completely immune to the threat of assimilation.

It's a crackerjack concept, as is Janeway's gamble of actually reaching out to the Borg with a weapon capable of neutralizing their common enemy.  It was the beginning of demonstrating Janeway's new edge, something she'd take to its logical conclusion three seasons later in the controversial "Equinox," the second notable instance of the captain and Chakotay disagreeing on strategy (it's the first officer who relates the anecdote that supplies the episode its title), which in turn is the logical conclusion to a whole season spent reassessing the creative direction of the series, how best to ante up the drama so that it wasn't always about the voyage home.

Janeway's conversations with the holographic Leonardo da Vinci are compelling in and of themselves.  That she's consulting with a hologram at all, regardless of who it represents, is proof that she's begun feeling the strain of command so far from home.  Not until "Night" at the beginning of the fifth season is that strain truly explored, but "Scorpion" is that first expression of it.  The Borg introduce a darker feeling to a series that fans still erroneously believe lacked the nerve for it, its crew too homogenized into Starfleet ideals.  It's fitting that the story concludes by introducing a permanently abrasive personality (Seven) into the mix.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - The start of the Borg's second run in Star Trek is the sensation it needed to be.
• series - After teasing the Collective in previous episodes, the full debut throws a delicious curve into the mix by introducing a compelling new threat to compete with it.
• character - Janeway reaches a crisis point that blooms later in the series.
• essential - "The weak will perish" may not exactly be "resistance is futile," but the impact is the same.

notable guest-stars:
John Rhys-Davies (da Vinci)