Voyager 7x14 "Prophecy"

rating: ***

the story: The crew encounters a generational Klingon ship.

what it's all about: Now, technically, the story is about, well, a prophecy (there would be little reason to call the episode that otherwise), and while that's certainly central to the story, seemingly the whole point...there's a layer of cleverness to it that speaks to the plight of the crew, the premise of the series, too.

And that's why I consider it first and foremost an encounter with a generational ship.

Because isn't that the theoretical fate of the crew?  If they don't find a shortcut?  In the final episode ("Endgame"), we in fact encounter an alternate future where Miral (more on her later) and Sabrina (the daughter of Naomi Wildman, who herself has already long represented the possibility) represent another generation of the crew.  And so to encounter a ship with a generational crew must be considered a fairly deliberate plot device on the part of the producers, something that harkens back to the wide range of stories in previous seasons about the nature of the series, previously featured most heavily in all the potential shortcuts, as well as potential new homes, should the crew ever decide to abandon its journey.  Neelix, in "Homestead," ends up taking that option, and "Prophecy" predicts that, too.

So that's whole level on which the episode works exceptionally.  There's also Miral.  Miral is the future daughter of Torres and Paris.  Previously, in "Lineage," we saw Torres tormented by the idea of her, but in "Prophecy" she has a chance to welcome the possibilities.  And ironically, it has everything to do with Klingons.  Now, you can actually enjoy "Prophecy" purely as a Klingon episode, and unlike most Torres episodes, you don't have to be filled with angst about it (such as "Barge of the Dead," "Day of Honor").  That in itself is a remarkable accomplishment, just another of the many things Voyager did that few fans would ever have imagined possible, a true testament to the approach the series stuck to despite massive backlash among the more intransigent. 

And as a final spotlight for Torres, it's wonderfully understated in its poetic impact.  It might seem strange, to give such a famously conflicted character such a personal story that really belongs to someone else, and yet...that's what makes it work so well.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Fans of Klingons will enjoy this unexpected new cultural meditation.
• series - Wonderfully evocative of the premise.
• character - A fitting final spotlight for B'Elanna Torres.
• essential - Sometimes perfection seems incomplete.  You just really kind of wish it had been one final existential crisis for her.

notable guest-stars:
Sherman Howard

Deep Space Nine 3x24 "Shakaar"

rating: ***

the story: Kira is reunited with a friend from the Resistance, who will become a significant part of Bajor's future thanks to a power play from Kai Winn (just not in the way she thinks).

what it's all about: Bajoran stories at their heart were always a mix of church and state, and so in that regard they may actually be the most fundamentally American stories of the whole franchise.  The trick was always to find a balance between these impulses, which had already created compelling figures and arcs earlier in the series, but had failed to find a truly likable figure, outside of Kira, with which to rally stories around.  Well, "Shakaar" finally finds that figure.

Dipping into Kira's past (and present), which some might consider a cheat since until this episode the title character somehow didn't exist at all, despite a lot of heavy drama surrounding Bajor in the early seasons (the Bajorans will always be the Kazon of Deep Space Nine; Voyager fans will know what I'm talking about).  Putting that aside, he comes at an opportune moment.  Kai Winn had just vanquished the other likeliest contender to her personal little Game of Thrones in "Life Support," where the perennially bloodless Vedek Bareil finally ran out of luck with the writers.  She used a lot of political reasoning then, too, just as she attempts to use here, but Kira won't let her get away with it this time, which is actually kind of ironic, since Winn actually enlists her into the cause, given Kira's past association with the man hogging all the valuable farm equipment Winn wants to use to bolster her public image, I mean support Bajor's future (of course!).

Duncan Regehr is instantly a more charming actor than just about everyone else (besides Michelle Forbes and Nana Visitor) who's ever played a Bajoran in Star Trek.  It's good, too, because he was last seen in the franchise playing a thankless role in one of the worst episodes ever, Next Generation's "Sub Rosa.  But a lot of the story falls, as usual, on Kira, who is once again asked to mediate a difficult situation (it turned out horribly in the first season, but apparently Winn never heard about that).  Eventually it becomes a full-blown Bajoran Western.

It's good stuff.  It works on every level that usually falls apart in Bajoran episodes, and even manages to give the poor world a break, a happy ending for a change, when Shakaar is elected to the role of first minister, which Winn had attempted to usurp and thereby control everything for her people.  It's the easiest Bajoran episode to recommend, so of course it comes from the third season.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - This belongs more to the fantasy TV genre of perfect political figures than to Star Trek.
• series - It works wonders for the Bajorans.
• character - Once again Kira proves to know what's best for her people.
• essential - It's the episode any fan should watch who would otherwise groan at the prospect of a Bajoran adventure.

notable guest-stars:
Duncan Regehr (Shakaar)
Louise Fletcher (Winn)
Sherman Howard
William Lucking

The Next Generation 4x4 "Suddenly Human"

rating: *

Memory Alpha summary

via Lockerdome
"And you're sure we can't
convince Jane Seymour to join you?"

There's nothing much wrong with "Suddenly Human" except the later, similar Deep Space Nine episode "Cardassians" makes a much stronger case for your continued attention.

This is the story of a human boy who ends up raised in an alien culture, and Starfleet's subsequent attempts to reunite him with his human family.  It doesn't go well.  I don't know if it's Stockholm Syndrome, exactly, or merely the fact that he's lived most of his life with the alien culture, and whether or not it amounts to the same.  Either way, that's basically all you need to know about this episode.  Which is to say, it really doesn't have much more resonance than that, for any particular character (this would perhaps have been an excellent spotlight for Worf).

In "Cardassians," meanwhile, it's very much series-specific, one of the episode that addresses head-on the continued ramifications of the Occupation on the Bajoran population, and its subsequent relationship with the Cardassians, when a Cardassian youth who has been adopted by a Bajoran family is subject to a Cardassian effort at repatriation.  This was a context that spoke directly to the heart of Deep Space Nine as originally conceived.  Meanwhile, "Suddenly Human" shows the limitations, if you choose to view them that way, of the more episodic approach that had originally Star Trek's calling card.  With Next Generation having begun a deeper storytelling approach, an episode like "Suddenly Human" will always be a challenge to reconcile as to its ultimate worth, especially near the beginning of a season that made a concerted effort to delve more deeply into the characters of the series.  You can view it as a refreshing change of pace, or one of the less challenging, ultimately, episodes of the season, no matter what it happens to accomplish in its own right.

four quarter analysis
franchise * series * essential * character

notable guest-stars:
Chad Allen
Sherman Howard