"Memorial" is one of those episodes you can absolutely skip, as it really adds nothing at all.
Generally speaking, it's a standard message about the horrors of war, and maybe on that level it might be viewed for comparison with the number of times, say, Deep Space Nine did it (as early as its first season), but it's just so generic and doesn't even have a strong central if random lead role like "Nemesis" did with Chakotay in the fourth season.
So here's one you can skip.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
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Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Voyager 6x13 "Virtuoso"
*
After being the character with the best character work throughout the series, The Doctor was due for an episode that generally works and speaks to his particular situation, but maybe wasn't all that necessary.
Basically he thinks he can get more respect from a random visiting alien culture, and so makes the decision to leave the ship, only to discover his horrible mistake. It's the basic plot of his need for validation and expanded rights, but at a more frivolous angle.
It's certainly entertaining, but not exactly essential.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
After being the character with the best character work throughout the series, The Doctor was due for an episode that generally works and speaks to his particular situation, but maybe wasn't all that necessary.
Basically he thinks he can get more respect from a random visiting alien culture, and so makes the decision to leave the ship, only to discover his horrible mistake. It's the basic plot of his need for validation and expanded rights, but at a more frivolous angle.
It's certainly entertaining, but not exactly essential.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x12 "Blink of an Eye"
**
A lot of Star Trek fans like to complain that any Star Trek series repeats the same general format as a predecessor. By that I mean that four out of the five live action shows took the exploration format and ran with it. It was fine when Next Generation did it. Deep Space Nine sat in one place. Then Voyager went back to exploration, and so did Enterprise, even if they had other layers to the narrative. What's the point? Genre fans perhaps don't watch Law & Order. The point is there's always another cool way to do the same basic story. (If there weren't, many millennia of storytellers wouldn't exist.)
"Blink of an Eye" is one of the more awesome visits to a random alien world in the whole of the franchise. There's a key difference in this world, in that it spins far quicker than the average, and so civilization rapidly progresses in the time it takes our crew to dislodge their ship from its orbit, so that the episode is really about progress and impact, a more ambitious story than is typical.
You don't need to love Voyager to love "Blink of an Eye," and so it's essential viewing regardless of whether or not you like any of the characters (The Doctor has an understated subplot that may be worth noting), just so long as you love Star Trek.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Daniel Dae Kim
Memory Alpha summary.
A lot of Star Trek fans like to complain that any Star Trek series repeats the same general format as a predecessor. By that I mean that four out of the five live action shows took the exploration format and ran with it. It was fine when Next Generation did it. Deep Space Nine sat in one place. Then Voyager went back to exploration, and so did Enterprise, even if they had other layers to the narrative. What's the point? Genre fans perhaps don't watch Law & Order. The point is there's always another cool way to do the same basic story. (If there weren't, many millennia of storytellers wouldn't exist.)
"Blink of an Eye" is one of the more awesome visits to a random alien world in the whole of the franchise. There's a key difference in this world, in that it spins far quicker than the average, and so civilization rapidly progresses in the time it takes our crew to dislodge their ship from its orbit, so that the episode is really about progress and impact, a more ambitious story than is typical.
You don't need to love Voyager to love "Blink of an Eye," and so it's essential viewing regardless of whether or not you like any of the characters (The Doctor has an understated subplot that may be worth noting), just so long as you love Star Trek.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Daniel Dae Kim
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x11 "Fair Haven"
**
Consider how she began the season, Janeway really needed a break, and that's exactly what she got in "Fair Haven."
A lot of fans latched onto the later episode "Spirit Folk" as indicative of what made the season so generally appalling, and joked that the Captain had a romance with a hologram, but actually watching "Fair Haven" is a strong argument that these sentiments are spurious at best.
In the early seasons, Janeway had a fiance in the Alpha Quadrant and a budding romance with Chakotay. Both were subsequently taken from her, and the strain of the voyage was displayed in episodes like "Night," and the sad fact is that she probably suffered the most out of everyone for the decision she made in "Caretaker." "Fair Haven" represents the first break she had in six seasons, and is an appropriately complicated tale for someone in as complicated a situation as Janeway.
I won't go so far as to say it's essential viewing, but for both the season and the series, it wouldn't have made any sense for it not to happen. For Janeway, it's a defining episode, to be sure, and I've said elsewhere, the whole season seems to have been dedicated at the very least to settling thorny issues from the past and preparing everyone for the conclusion. Yes, you can skip this one and still follow the thrust of things, but not if you want to know or care about Kathryn Janeway.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Richard Riehle
Memory Alpha summary.
Consider how she began the season, Janeway really needed a break, and that's exactly what she got in "Fair Haven."
A lot of fans latched onto the later episode "Spirit Folk" as indicative of what made the season so generally appalling, and joked that the Captain had a romance with a hologram, but actually watching "Fair Haven" is a strong argument that these sentiments are spurious at best.
In the early seasons, Janeway had a fiance in the Alpha Quadrant and a budding romance with Chakotay. Both were subsequently taken from her, and the strain of the voyage was displayed in episodes like "Night," and the sad fact is that she probably suffered the most out of everyone for the decision she made in "Caretaker." "Fair Haven" represents the first break she had in six seasons, and is an appropriately complicated tale for someone in as complicated a situation as Janeway.
I won't go so far as to say it's essential viewing, but for both the season and the series, it wouldn't have made any sense for it not to happen. For Janeway, it's a defining episode, to be sure, and I've said elsewhere, the whole season seems to have been dedicated at the very least to settling thorny issues from the past and preparing everyone for the conclusion. Yes, you can skip this one and still follow the thrust of things, but not if you want to know or care about Kathryn Janeway.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Richard Riehle
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x10 "Pathfinder"
****
In the many sweeping generalizations of the last half-decade of the franchise before the J.J. Abrams reboot, it's always been unfair to suggest the sixth season of Voyager as both a colossal failure and waste of time, and you can look no further for contradiction than "Pathfinder," the episode that began the crew's last leg of the journey home.
There's a lot of things to like about this one, actually, or if you're still being obstinate, then at least consider it noteworthy. Dwight Schultz, for instance, returns to the series (after making a more random appearance in the second season episode "Projections") and the franchise as the ship's unlikely savior. Then again, maybe he wasn't so unlikely. Originally a beloved if neurotic recurring character in The Next Generation, Reginald Barclay was a brilliant engineer who kept getting in his own way, finally tapping into his potential with a little prodding from the combined efforts of Captain Picard's crew. He made an appearance in First Contact, but seemed destined to remain known as the guy who was once nicknamed "Broccoli" (and not affectionately).
Some fans considered "Pathfinder" to be a character regression for the guy who first made a name for himself retreating to the fantasies of the Holodeck, Barclay once again preferring to hang out with holograms rather than real people. Yet they really missed the point. In a roundabout way, what he was really doing was integrating what had once been his biggest failing with his greatest strength, and in the process solved the riddle of how Starfleet could locate and establish regular contact with the wayward crew in the Delta Quadrant. It was a fete of brilliance that he could never have achieved serving aboard a starship. No offense to Scotty or La Forge, but this is an accomplishment of far greater important than making an engine sing even in the midst of a crisis.
Anyway, Barclay is joined by Marina Sirtis (making the first of three appearances in the series), once again portraying Deanna Troi, saddled with the task of figuring out the most peculiar officer in the fleet one more time. The episode also features the debut of Richard Herd in the role of Admiral Owen Paris, former colleague of Captain Janeway and Tom Paris, making the implicit case that father no longer so harshly judges son in his efforts to oversee the success of this project.
Subconsciously, "Pathfinder" was a huge development in the series, making what the show would never be able to do without limiting the dramatic impact of finally getting home in the finale possible by finally opening contact with home.
It's essential viewing in every sense of the word, a clear highlight of the series, something a skeptical fan can use if they want to approach with an open mind, a break from the regular format, a giant step forward for an established character...you name it.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Dwight Schultz
Marina Sirtis
Richard Herd
Memory Alpha summary.
In the many sweeping generalizations of the last half-decade of the franchise before the J.J. Abrams reboot, it's always been unfair to suggest the sixth season of Voyager as both a colossal failure and waste of time, and you can look no further for contradiction than "Pathfinder," the episode that began the crew's last leg of the journey home.
There's a lot of things to like about this one, actually, or if you're still being obstinate, then at least consider it noteworthy. Dwight Schultz, for instance, returns to the series (after making a more random appearance in the second season episode "Projections") and the franchise as the ship's unlikely savior. Then again, maybe he wasn't so unlikely. Originally a beloved if neurotic recurring character in The Next Generation, Reginald Barclay was a brilliant engineer who kept getting in his own way, finally tapping into his potential with a little prodding from the combined efforts of Captain Picard's crew. He made an appearance in First Contact, but seemed destined to remain known as the guy who was once nicknamed "Broccoli" (and not affectionately).
Some fans considered "Pathfinder" to be a character regression for the guy who first made a name for himself retreating to the fantasies of the Holodeck, Barclay once again preferring to hang out with holograms rather than real people. Yet they really missed the point. In a roundabout way, what he was really doing was integrating what had once been his biggest failing with his greatest strength, and in the process solved the riddle of how Starfleet could locate and establish regular contact with the wayward crew in the Delta Quadrant. It was a fete of brilliance that he could never have achieved serving aboard a starship. No offense to Scotty or La Forge, but this is an accomplishment of far greater important than making an engine sing even in the midst of a crisis.
Anyway, Barclay is joined by Marina Sirtis (making the first of three appearances in the series), once again portraying Deanna Troi, saddled with the task of figuring out the most peculiar officer in the fleet one more time. The episode also features the debut of Richard Herd in the role of Admiral Owen Paris, former colleague of Captain Janeway and Tom Paris, making the implicit case that father no longer so harshly judges son in his efforts to oversee the success of this project.
Subconsciously, "Pathfinder" was a huge development in the series, making what the show would never be able to do without limiting the dramatic impact of finally getting home in the finale possible by finally opening contact with home.
It's essential viewing in every sense of the word, a clear highlight of the series, something a skeptical fan can use if they want to approach with an open mind, a break from the regular format, a giant step forward for an established character...you name it.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Dwight Schultz
Marina Sirtis
Richard Herd
Memory Alpha summary.
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Voyager 6x9 "The Voyager Conspiracy"
***
This is one of the most brilliant episodes of the series. It's not one of the best, but yes, it's one of the most brilliant. You owe it to yourself to see it if you have any interest in Voyager.
Basically, Seven makes a huge mistake and becomes paranoid to the point where she tries to figure out why exactly she ended up on Voyager, questioning the motives of Chakotay and Janeway, pulling all the things fans assumed the writers had forgotten into a sharp new perspective, and eventually ending in a poignant moment shared between Janeway and Seven in which their relationship is nicely summed up.
No other Star Trek ever did something like this, which is so clever it borders on meta, and does not even feature Q. So many fans tried to claim the writers had no idea what they were doing, or how to tell a good Voyager-specific episode, and then "The Voyager Conspiracy" comes along.
To be clear, if you love the series you'll love this episode. What's the worth of adding a character later on in a show's run? To give some fresh perspective. But this one goes above and beyond the call of duty.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
This is one of the most brilliant episodes of the series. It's not one of the best, but yes, it's one of the most brilliant. You owe it to yourself to see it if you have any interest in Voyager.
Basically, Seven makes a huge mistake and becomes paranoid to the point where she tries to figure out why exactly she ended up on Voyager, questioning the motives of Chakotay and Janeway, pulling all the things fans assumed the writers had forgotten into a sharp new perspective, and eventually ending in a poignant moment shared between Janeway and Seven in which their relationship is nicely summed up.
No other Star Trek ever did something like this, which is so clever it borders on meta, and does not even feature Q. So many fans tried to claim the writers had no idea what they were doing, or how to tell a good Voyager-specific episode, and then "The Voyager Conspiracy" comes along.
To be clear, if you love the series you'll love this episode. What's the worth of adding a character later on in a show's run? To give some fresh perspective. But this one goes above and beyond the call of duty.
franchise * series * essential * character
Memory Alpha summary.
Voyager 6x8 "One Small Step"
*
Every now and again Star Trek likes to remind everyone that its stories set in the future have a parallel in the future, our own time's explorations of space, an homage to the hard work and dedication that either seems to be well-funded and widely respected, or under-funded and virtually ignored (we've been in the latter period since Columbia).
"One Small Step" isn't the best of those episodes, but it's a worthy addition to the fold.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Phil Morris
Memory Alpha summary.
Every now and again Star Trek likes to remind everyone that its stories set in the future have a parallel in the future, our own time's explorations of space, an homage to the hard work and dedication that either seems to be well-funded and widely respected, or under-funded and virtually ignored (we've been in the latter period since Columbia).
"One Small Step" isn't the best of those episodes, but it's a worthy addition to the fold.
franchise * series * essential * character
Notable guest-stars:
Phil Morris
Memory Alpha summary.
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