**
This is such a brilliant episode, and one that only Voyager could have told, about the actual repercussions of representing something on a long journey that in this region of space doesn't actually exist. What I'm talking about is Janeway making a point to represent her ship being part of Starfleet, which in the Delta Quadrant (even to the Borg it's irrelevant, naturally), which by definition is supposed to denote a fleet (Enterprise touched on some of the pitfalls of this, too, while Kirk went out of his way to pretend just the opposite).
So a couple of opportunists start doing the obvious and perverting Voyager's legacy, and well, like I said, it's brilliant, a must-see for any fan of the series.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
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Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Voyager 6x20 "Good Shepherd"
****
Janeway started the season at her lowest possible point, alienating herself from both the crew and viewers by going off the deep end and nearly betraying her Starfleet ideals. No, she was not the first Star Trek captain to go on an obsessive quest against a foe, but she does seem to have come off the worst from her particular experience in it.
Throughout the sixth season, Janeway has the chance to rebuild herself, and perhaps nowhere more clearly than in "Good Shepherd," in which she discovers that there are several members of the crew who've slipped through the cracks and feel just as alienated as she did in "Equinox."
This is also the "Lower Decks" episode of the series (as in the seventh season episode of Next Generation), or Janeway's personal "Learning Curve" (the episode from the first season in which Tuvok seeks to turn around the bad attitudes of a few Maquis crewmen).
If none of those are reasons to watch the episode, then you're not really trying.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Zoe McLellan
Memory Alpha summary.
Janeway started the season at her lowest possible point, alienating herself from both the crew and viewers by going off the deep end and nearly betraying her Starfleet ideals. No, she was not the first Star Trek captain to go on an obsessive quest against a foe, but she does seem to have come off the worst from her particular experience in it.
Throughout the sixth season, Janeway has the chance to rebuild herself, and perhaps nowhere more clearly than in "Good Shepherd," in which she discovers that there are several members of the crew who've slipped through the cracks and feel just as alienated as she did in "Equinox."
This is also the "Lower Decks" episode of the series (as in the seventh season episode of Next Generation), or Janeway's personal "Learning Curve" (the episode from the first season in which Tuvok seeks to turn around the bad attitudes of a few Maquis crewmen).
If none of those are reasons to watch the episode, then you're not really trying.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Zoe McLellan
Memory Alpha summary.
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Voyager 6x19 "Child's Play"
****
"Child's Play" is the Borg episode Voyager had been working toward since the third season, something it could almost do with Seven but not quite, the fullest exploitation of being in the Collective's home territory of the Delta Quadrant.
"Hope and Fear" had been pretty close to the mark earlier, but it's in "Child's Play" where the psychology of having the Borg in your backyard really hits home. Here we learn just how Icheb became assimilated in the first place, and it's pretty despicable, but at the same time almost understandable.
Here's a spoiler alert:
It's his parents who set him up for it, in the hope of crippling the Borg with a virus. Hey, Janeway does the same thing, several times, until it finally works.
It's a fascinating insight into the real effects of the Borg. If "Best of Both Worlds" had remained the definitive statement, that would have been fine, but short of finally discovering just how the Collective was formed in the first place, there's no more essential story to be told than more than just the trauma of assimilation, but how those who hear it on the news, so to say, actually react to it. It's like a War on Terror story told more than a year early. Like all those Deep Space Nine stories about the Bajoran Resistance, it's a continually relevant tale that the later Star Treks never really got credit for.
If "Child's Play" doesn't convince you that the sixth season of Voyager wasn't as worthless as you heard, then there's nothing else I can say.
But I'll keep trying!
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Manu Intiraymi
Memory Alpha summary.
"Child's Play" is the Borg episode Voyager had been working toward since the third season, something it could almost do with Seven but not quite, the fullest exploitation of being in the Collective's home territory of the Delta Quadrant.
"Hope and Fear" had been pretty close to the mark earlier, but it's in "Child's Play" where the psychology of having the Borg in your backyard really hits home. Here we learn just how Icheb became assimilated in the first place, and it's pretty despicable, but at the same time almost understandable.
Here's a spoiler alert:
It's his parents who set him up for it, in the hope of crippling the Borg with a virus. Hey, Janeway does the same thing, several times, until it finally works.
It's a fascinating insight into the real effects of the Borg. If "Best of Both Worlds" had remained the definitive statement, that would have been fine, but short of finally discovering just how the Collective was formed in the first place, there's no more essential story to be told than more than just the trauma of assimilation, but how those who hear it on the news, so to say, actually react to it. It's like a War on Terror story told more than a year early. Like all those Deep Space Nine stories about the Bajoran Resistance, it's a continually relevant tale that the later Star Treks never really got credit for.
If "Child's Play" doesn't convince you that the sixth season of Voyager wasn't as worthless as you heard, then there's nothing else I can say.
But I'll keep trying!
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Manu Intiraymi
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x18 "Ashes to Ashes"
*
Another time fans called foul was this one, when someone they'd never met before was then retroactively said to be a good friend of Harry Kim's. If she was such a good friend, why had we never seen her before?
For one thing, Harry spent most of the series as the galaxy's biggest rube, someone who could only let loose around the irreverent Tom Paris. But that suggests that he otherwise didn't have a life before the first episode of the series, when we in fact know he had a fiancee on the other side of the galaxy, and therefore probably less socially awkward than he could sometimes suggest. If, then, he had other friends, chances are they were a little more normal than Tom Paris, generally speaking. Practically speaking, there's no reason to suspect that we should ever know everything a fictional character has going for them. After all how well do you know the neighbors you do know? Name the street they grew up on!
Anyway, just needling away at flawed logic now. People who want to complain about something will find more reasons than actually exist. The fact is, having a character in these particular circumstances exist as presented in a random episode makes a lot more sense than anything else the writers could have done. Short of killing off a main character and bringing them back (oh, wait, that's what "Fury" does a few episodes later) later on for a brief reprise, doing it with someone the fans had never seen before, but having a link to someone we had, makes all the sense in the world. We're learning everything about them as we need to know it. Emotional investment can only go so far in an episode that otherwise demands the viewer to ask more questions about the strange alien culture encountered than the character who's been forced into it. There have actually been other episodes like this, just not done this way.
"Ashes to Ashes" brings a lot of fascinating ideas to the surface. It may not be the greatest episode, and maybe someone else could have been the guest star's friend than Harry (imagine if it had been Janeway, or, again, Chakotay). But there ends up being a lot more said about Harry than anything else. And that's something Harry could always use more of.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Another time fans called foul was this one, when someone they'd never met before was then retroactively said to be a good friend of Harry Kim's. If she was such a good friend, why had we never seen her before?
For one thing, Harry spent most of the series as the galaxy's biggest rube, someone who could only let loose around the irreverent Tom Paris. But that suggests that he otherwise didn't have a life before the first episode of the series, when we in fact know he had a fiancee on the other side of the galaxy, and therefore probably less socially awkward than he could sometimes suggest. If, then, he had other friends, chances are they were a little more normal than Tom Paris, generally speaking. Practically speaking, there's no reason to suspect that we should ever know everything a fictional character has going for them. After all how well do you know the neighbors you do know? Name the street they grew up on!
Anyway, just needling away at flawed logic now. People who want to complain about something will find more reasons than actually exist. The fact is, having a character in these particular circumstances exist as presented in a random episode makes a lot more sense than anything else the writers could have done. Short of killing off a main character and bringing them back (oh, wait, that's what "Fury" does a few episodes later) later on for a brief reprise, doing it with someone the fans had never seen before, but having a link to someone we had, makes all the sense in the world. We're learning everything about them as we need to know it. Emotional investment can only go so far in an episode that otherwise demands the viewer to ask more questions about the strange alien culture encountered than the character who's been forced into it. There have actually been other episodes like this, just not done this way.
"Ashes to Ashes" brings a lot of fascinating ideas to the surface. It may not be the greatest episode, and maybe someone else could have been the guest star's friend than Harry (imagine if it had been Janeway, or, again, Chakotay). But there ends up being a lot more said about Harry than anything else. And that's something Harry could always use more of.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x17 "Spirit Folk"
**
Here's one of those episodes where disgruntled fans typically pointed when trying to indicate just how horrid the sixth season really was. They considered it a farce, our crew stuck on the holodeck in a bad parody of an Irish village. What the heck was the point?!?
The point might have eluded those guys, but "Spirit Folk" actually has a lot going for it. Continuity-wise, even, several. For one, it's a followup to "Fair Haven," the episode earlier in the season where this program debuted. No, not much more for Janeway to learn, but it's the latest obsession for the crew, the latest hangout, after Sandrine's and the Captain Proton adventures.
And who's to blame but Tm Paris and his trusted hanger-on, Harry Kim? In fact, that's this episode's real draw, that we get another Tom & Harry lark, which was a favorite if usually under-used plot for the series. From the start, they were an unlikely pair. Harry was an innocent, Tom was anything but. It was Harry's belief in Tom that helped turn the former convict around, and helped keep him there, no matter the subsequent obstacles. If Harry had any career frustrations, he only had to look at Tom to know these concerns were fairly spurious in comparison. Mostly they just liked to have a good time. Captain Proton was true nonsense compared to Fair Haven.
But Fair Haven was a testing ground for how far they could push each other, and that's what this one's really about. And for what it's worth, "Spirit Folk" is not the embarrassment you were led to believe.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Richard Riehle
Memory Alpha summary.
Here's one of those episodes where disgruntled fans typically pointed when trying to indicate just how horrid the sixth season really was. They considered it a farce, our crew stuck on the holodeck in a bad parody of an Irish village. What the heck was the point?!?
The point might have eluded those guys, but "Spirit Folk" actually has a lot going for it. Continuity-wise, even, several. For one, it's a followup to "Fair Haven," the episode earlier in the season where this program debuted. No, not much more for Janeway to learn, but it's the latest obsession for the crew, the latest hangout, after Sandrine's and the Captain Proton adventures.
And who's to blame but Tm Paris and his trusted hanger-on, Harry Kim? In fact, that's this episode's real draw, that we get another Tom & Harry lark, which was a favorite if usually under-used plot for the series. From the start, they were an unlikely pair. Harry was an innocent, Tom was anything but. It was Harry's belief in Tom that helped turn the former convict around, and helped keep him there, no matter the subsequent obstacles. If Harry had any career frustrations, he only had to look at Tom to know these concerns were fairly spurious in comparison. Mostly they just liked to have a good time. Captain Proton was true nonsense compared to Fair Haven.
But Fair Haven was a testing ground for how far they could push each other, and that's what this one's really about. And for what it's worth, "Spirit Folk" is not the embarrassment you were led to believe.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Richard Riehle
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x16 "Collective"
**
If Icheb hadn't actually returned and become a fairly major character in the series, "Collective" might go down as a fairly repetitive Borg episode for Voyager. Once again drones are reclaimed from the infernal hive mind, reclaiming their own identities, however reluctantly.
As it is, Icheb, among the several pint-sized Borg to be rescued, actually does become significant, not just because he receives a spotlight episode of his own a little later, but because he's the latest passenger the crew accepts and embraces as one of its own. Sometimes mistaken for a monotone Wesley Crusher, Icheb has his own legacy to contribute, as the observer who actively contributes to the growth of those around him, the missing link, for instance, that allows Seven to move on from her remaining limitations. He even makes a man out of Q's son!
But "Collective" on its own might be skippable, except that for the series and Icheb, you need to see it to know where he came from. If you care enough to know how mundane it really is.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Manu Intiraymi
Memory Alpha summary.
If Icheb hadn't actually returned and become a fairly major character in the series, "Collective" might go down as a fairly repetitive Borg episode for Voyager. Once again drones are reclaimed from the infernal hive mind, reclaiming their own identities, however reluctantly.
As it is, Icheb, among the several pint-sized Borg to be rescued, actually does become significant, not just because he receives a spotlight episode of his own a little later, but because he's the latest passenger the crew accepts and embraces as one of its own. Sometimes mistaken for a monotone Wesley Crusher, Icheb has his own legacy to contribute, as the observer who actively contributes to the growth of those around him, the missing link, for instance, that allows Seven to move on from her remaining limitations. He even makes a man out of Q's son!
But "Collective" on its own might be skippable, except that for the series and Icheb, you need to see it to know where he came from. If you care enough to know how mundane it really is.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Manu Intiraymi
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x15 "Tsunkatse"
***
It always amused me that fans put up such a big stink about "the wrestler" appearing in an episode of Star Trek. "The wrestler" happened to be The Rock, who went on to become an enduring box office star, Dwayne Johnson. Obviously there was a certain amount of prejudice going on in these views. "Tsunkatse" on one level is only another version of "Arena," and Johnson is more or less the episode's version of a Gorn, just an opponent for the featured series regular (in this case Seven) to combat. There's very little for Johnson to actually do in an acting capacity. Not that he would have embarrassed himself otherwise.
He's not even the only noted guest star in the episode. Jeffrey Combs and J.G. Hertzler, beloved character actors who'd been featured in Deep Space Nine, made their first franchise appearances since the end of that series nearly a year earlier (both would return in Enterprise, Combs in a featured recurring role). That alone makes this episode notable for me. Hertzler plays a captive Hirogen, the first seen in the series since the fourth season, in a scenario that echoes how his Klingon warrior in DS9 was discovered by Worf.
About the only element about this episode that isn't essential is Seven's role in it. She's a pretty random character to have been featured (in many ways, it would have made much more sense for it to be Chakotay), but there's a nifty new outfit for her in it, if you keep track of that sort of thing.
Otherwise, disregard what you may previously have heard about this one. Just watch it.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Jeffrey Combs
J.G. Hertzler
Dwayne Johnson
Memory Alpha summary.
It always amused me that fans put up such a big stink about "the wrestler" appearing in an episode of Star Trek. "The wrestler" happened to be The Rock, who went on to become an enduring box office star, Dwayne Johnson. Obviously there was a certain amount of prejudice going on in these views. "Tsunkatse" on one level is only another version of "Arena," and Johnson is more or less the episode's version of a Gorn, just an opponent for the featured series regular (in this case Seven) to combat. There's very little for Johnson to actually do in an acting capacity. Not that he would have embarrassed himself otherwise.
He's not even the only noted guest star in the episode. Jeffrey Combs and J.G. Hertzler, beloved character actors who'd been featured in Deep Space Nine, made their first franchise appearances since the end of that series nearly a year earlier (both would return in Enterprise, Combs in a featured recurring role). That alone makes this episode notable for me. Hertzler plays a captive Hirogen, the first seen in the series since the fourth season, in a scenario that echoes how his Klingon warrior in DS9 was discovered by Worf.
About the only element about this episode that isn't essential is Seven's role in it. She's a pretty random character to have been featured (in many ways, it would have made much more sense for it to be Chakotay), but there's a nifty new outfit for her in it, if you keep track of that sort of thing.
Otherwise, disregard what you may previously have heard about this one. Just watch it.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Jeffrey Combs
J.G. Hertzler
Dwayne Johnson
Memory Alpha summary.
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