Amph To Boldly Trek Where Many Geeks Have Gone Before- VOY: Drive, Repression & Imperfection

Yeah, the Not-Paris angle definitely gave it a companion feel to The First Duty.

In fact, you could probably get an interesting mix of cadet-themed episodes into a Fan Collective boxset release between The First Duty, Reliant, Lower Decks and whatever the one episode was where Wes takes the academy tests.

As for a Romulan character, it hadn't occurred to me but I suppose they didn't want the Romulans to be too close and friendly. And they previously jettisoned the Romulan character who was supposed to oversee the Defiant's cloaking device so I think that suggests they were against the idea or the restrictions it would entail.

 

Yeah, I want to say Spock's Brain falls under more of the "stupid" category than just outright bad (I'd argue the same for VO: Threshold). Miri, Charlie X & Mudd's Women are easier worse on different levels from just TOS itself, before you even get to TNG episodes like Angel One, Code of Honor & The Naked Now.

 

Seven of Nine Week:


And We Do Mean Running:

VOY 425: One
-Premise: After the rest of the crew is placed in suspended animation to protect them from dangerous radiation, Seven, with only The Doctor for company, is placed in control of the ship.



-T2Q Comments: (...is the loneliest nummber...). Well, that is a VERY lovely backdrop. Think I might have to see if a wallpaper is available for that... (alas). The teaser ends with everyone getting headaches- and knowing what a headache is. My, how far we've come from TNG Season 1 & The Battle's "A what?" we-art--future-uber mentality.

Is being isolated all that much of a concern on a ship with not only a fully realistic hologram doctor but a full holodeck? Believable social interaction (even if simulated) would not be lacking. if they have these stasis chambers (which I assume they had to replicate and haven't just been carrying around enough for the whole crew by chance), you'd think that, with a long-term journey ahead of them, rotating the crew through them systematically during larger stretches of their journey would help combat some of the long-term duration of their voyage home.

Another pretty nebula shot. Ah, I'm glad the Doctor thought of the holodeck; amusing observation by the Doctor on how it would have made sense for the jeffreies tubes to have been designed in a manner that would have allowed service access while standing upright/walking. If the loss of the Doctor wasn't a hallucination- wouldn't his mobile emmitter be left behind after he zimmers out?

Wait, how did the course of that single conversation with Not Harry, Not-Bog and Not-Bridge Crew while the propulsion systems fail take 17 hours? Um, another solution here: Seven only used power from 10 stasis pods to get the engines going again. So, why not rotate through the 143 others in groups of 10, each only offline long enough to power the engines but not threaten life signs of the stasis unit occupants? However, I somehow doubt the oxygen and heat in the entire ship would dissipate or be used up by Seven in less than 11 minutes...

So, pretty Good Episode- i sorta preferred the first half to three quarters dealing with the challenges of the voyage itself, as the psychological issues seemed to appear too quickly but once the episode shifted gears it was still interesting and avoids the cheesiness of similar hallucination storylines that have been done before. A little odd that it's so Seven centric in a season that has been Seven-centric (though I suppose that's a general turning point for the series as a whole). Not essential but I'd still reccomend it as barriers and challenges to the journey home are pretty significant to the overall series thrust. I wonder if this episode could have a follow-up? What could they call it?

Trivia: The pitch for the story involved comparisons to The Shining and focused on the Doctor. The pitched story was the first by a British writer to be purchased by Star Trek. The stasis units apparently were first used back in Season 2's Resolutions, so I guess they have been carrying them around. Seven mentions having been disconnected from the Collective- this may refer to flashback scenes that will appear down the road in Season 6's Survival Instinct. Seven's description of Tom's body temperature is one of the rare uses of the Farhenheit scale in the franchise. Holographic Torres mentions that she joined the Maquis after Chakotay saved her life- something that was established in the book Pathways by Jeri Taylor. It is the only mention of her motivations for joining the organization in the series.



DS9 624: Time's Orphan
-Premise: An accident on the planet Golana sends Molly O'Brien through a time portal three hundred years into the past into an uninhabited world. Beamed back too late, Molly returns to the present eighteen years old with no immediate recollection of her life or her family.



-T2Q Comments: This is a case where the title of the episode kinda kills any suspense or question about the nature of the teaser's cliffhanger events... though at least the episode seems to be aware of this fact as they don't stretch it out and actually get to that point with pretty much the second line of dialogue of the first act. Kinda makes you wonder if, at any point in the development of this episode, the concept for this portal involved the Guardian of Forever, in a "Hey, quick, use the Guardian while Harlan is distracted with B5!". Why are they keeping the baby in the cave with the destabilized ancient time portal? This question is once again addressed quickly but you'd think it would have been long before the engineering team arrived

Is Keiko seriously hounding Miles over the fact that it's been almost all day and Miles still hasn't fixed the 2,000 year old malfunctioning time portal based on an unknown form of technology? For real? Maybe have some patience?

Ok, so Miles's plan makes no fracking sense. We can't let them take our daughter away from us (where she might get better and go on to live a normal life) so we'll send our daughter away from us (into the past where she'll probably die of disease or predator). WTF? Seriously.

I'm mixed on the episode- it has a happy ending (so it avoids doing something really *****y to Molly) but at the same time, Molly kinda gets screwed- yet it also undoes the questionable decision of not sending her back in the first place to try and get the young Molly back. It''s a quiet episode, but amusing at times with the Worf subplot. I'm almost inclined to say "Good Episode, Bu Not Necessarily Essential" however I think the O'Brien's decision at the end is still really, really crappy (even though it worked out in the end) which kinda torpedos the rest of the episode since any progress made on older Molly was for nothing, so i'll settle for "Average".

Trivia: The premise of this episode originated during TNG as a means of writing Alexander out of the series (as Joe Menosky really disliked the character) but was never green-lit (as Michael Piller's mother's favorite character was Alexander). The concept involved Worf losing sight of Alexander during a hunting trip, at which point Alexander falls through the time portal and is retrieved 15 years later a bitter Klingon warrior that hates his father for abandoning him.

Although the premise was pitched many times with Molly, it was always turned down until Behr gave in out of necessity (they needed a bottle show that was also an O'Brien show and they hadn't done a science fiction-heavy episode in awhile). The first draft had Molly spending ten years amongst a farming community, but she is resentful of her parents upon her return. It was rejected because "It came across as if she had been sent to a bad summer school." and that "It was full of all this teen angst stuff ans she sounded so damned American.". Much of Molly's behavior depicted here was based upon interviews with psychologists and social workers, to make it realistic for someone in her situation.

The B-story with Worf and Dax resulted from the A-plot coming in 9 minutes short, and a desire to get the last bit of Dax/Worf relationship in before Tears of the Prophets. This is the first time a child's singing voice has been used for the musical score of a Star Trek episode or film.

Interesting on-set story, from memory-Alpha's entry:

"During the filming of the picnic scene, Rosalind Chao heard some of the crew whispering during her dialog, which is an unheard of occurrence, however, she didn't pay any attention and continued on with the scene. After cut had been called, Steve Oster slowly approached the cast and said, "Now Rosalind, don't panic, but...." As Oster explains, "We were in a big open field shooting the master shot with Keiko and Miles and the two children, when we saw something moving in the grass. It was a rattlesnake working its way towards the shot. We didn't want to alarm the actors and cause a bigger problem. There were two small children there, and we didn't want to freak them out. Allan was unaware of what we were seeing because he was concentrating on the performances, so he didn't call 'Cut'!" Oster and the camera crew quickly discussed what to do (which was the whispering heard by Chao), but decided to play it cool, so as soon as Kroeker did say cut, Oster very calmly asked all the cast to walk slowly towards him, which they did. The snake then proceeded through the shot, closely followed by a park ranger."


Seven of Nine Week (again):


The Ultimate Homecoming:

(Real quick but, that second promo, man, if that had been legit... imagine a Voyager that actually got back to the Alpha Quadrant for Seasons 5-7... obviously, Season 5 would open with "Kate (Mulgrew), we have to go back" ))

VOY 426: Hope and Fear
-Premise: Finally decoding the message from Starfleet they received months earlier, Voyager is directed to a nearby sector where an unmanned Federation starship waits for them. However, everything is not what it seems when alien technology is found aboard the new ship.



-T2Q Comments: Picking up the Alpha Quadrant message plot thread. This computational/linguistics race is an interesting element- couldn't we have gotten one of them instead of Neelix?

NX-01A, heh- wonder how far off the concept of the NX-01 was that it might influence decisions here... probably just a coincidence. The Dauntless has no shuttles- oh don't worry, Torres, I'm sure you guys will find a way to lose them anyways.

"A way home. We've been waiting for this moment for years, why don't I feel more enthusiastic?"
"Perhaps my mental discipline is rubbing off on you?"

Seven's reaction to Torres's joke at being exiled amongst humans is a good moment- her unexpected apprehension over it is not a perspective you'd normally anticipate.

Ah, curse his sudden but inevitable betrayal! (At least his motivations are routed in the backbone story of the season.)

Naturally the slipstream technology can't be used again (a shame- it's actually rather pretty, particularly them veering off into a new stream). Still, there is a certain sense of degradation of Kess's "gift" if they basically undid that distance chasing the Dauntless and then recovered that same distance coming back (albeit they apparently did get some minor advancement on their journey home). Still, they kinda break even on her sacrifice.

So, interesting that this is a season finale but not a cliffhanger. Some good Janeway/Seven/Tuvok moments. A cool new ship and mode of propulsion to strive towards. Important progress on the overall journey home by resolving the message from the Alpha Quadrant. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: The only other Voyager finale to be a non-two-parter or cliffhanger is Season One's Learning Curve. This choice resulted from a feeling that the story would't have worked well as a two-parter and that, in that context, wouldn't have held up to their other two-parters.

Early ideas for the finale involved biomimetic lifeforms being welcomed to the Alpha Quadrant disguised as Voyager's crew. Another iteration had Seven at the control of one ship and Janeway at the control of another heading right for one another as a physical manifestation of their character conflicts. Another evolution focused on Janeway decrypting the message and focusing the episode around modifying Voyager to use slipstream technology against Seven's warnings due to Borg failures with the tech- eventually finding Voyager on the equivalent of a slipstream highway but being the antiquated equivalent of a horse and buggy.

The lack of a clear direction for the finale was unusual and had them feeling a time crunch they hadn't encountered before. After conferring with Berman during a lunch break, they began to focus on the "ruse" concept and the revenge motives of the old, wise alien (whom they referred to as Yoda). The idea of his species being among the earliest species assimilated by the Borg came into play here (at one point they suggested he might be Species 4 or Species 21, but 4 was discarded as being too early in Borg history). His race was also suggested to be El-Aurian at one point as well- the goal with these ideas being that he held a grudge against Seven. The nature of what would be the Dauntless being alien or Starfleet in origin was also up in the air at this point. Eventually Braga settled on the consequences of Janeway's actions, turning the alien's revenge on her instead of Seven. Once they decided to abandon the rival ships approach and keep Seven and Janeway working together, the rest of the episode came together quickly.

Constructing the Dauntless's bridge and engineering rooms (as well as the alien configuration of the former) was the biggest job the construction crews had tackled since Encounter at Farpoint. There was much debate over showing Voyager make its slipstream U-turn, with plans in place to show it exiting first before making it's U-turn, but Berman overruled others in his desire to see it happen from within the stream and Moore managed to make a breakthrough in visualizing the effect- ultimately feeling the shot looked "a heck of a lot better than if we'd followed our initial instincts".

The teleplay to this episode was leaked onto the internet prior to it's initial airing. The design of the Dauntless, combined with that of Voyager, would influence the design of the non-canon ship USS Aventine. The Dauntless design will later be seen as an actual Starfleet vessel during a battle in a possible 26ths century depicted in an episode of Enterprise. This is the 7th time since the pilot that the Voyager crew has had the possibility of getting home.


(cont'd in next post due to media embed limits)

 

DS9 625: The Sound of Her Voice
-Premise: The Defiant receives a distress call from a Starfleet captain stranded on an inhospitable planet.



-T2Q Comments: "There's a time when you couldn't get him to shut up."
"i think I like him better this way."

The Olympia left 8 years ago for a long range exploration of the Beta Quadrant- nice to see the Beta Quadrant is not being completely ignored/lumped into the Alpha Quadrant all the time. 8 years ago would have been approx TNG Season 4. Depending on how much of a margin of error that leaves, it's quite possible they may have even left before Best of Both Worlds. Well, she may not know about the Borg, but at least she knows Riker has a beard. You know, the important stuff.

You'd think that if breathing and oxidation (or whatever) is an issue, you'd talk less to slow down your body processing your rations. Shuttle pod- I forget, have we seen this being used before? Is this the equivalent of the Defiant's Captain's Yacht/AeroShuttle?

Dead for 3 years, so the Olympia would have left 11 years ago, which would have been right around Farpoint- so she actually wouldn't have known Riker has a beard!

I really like Miles's speech at the end. They should take a chunk of that and put it over a good trailer for the series/season. So, this was a very good episode- I want to say it's essential, but I think I need to at least try to stick to the spirit of these labels on occasion even if I've broken them often in the past, so I'll stick to Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential. Still, highly recommended- though the time travel twist at the end doesn't quite feel fleshed out enough.

Trivia: Oh, wow- the Olympia's wreckage reuses parts of the Enterprise wreckage from Star Trek III. This would imply the Olympia was a Constitution Refit, which would make it the only physical appearance of a Refit on a Star Trek TV series. The original idea for the episode was about Sisko using a subspace radio to accidentally communicate with a woman from 1940, whom he eventually falls in love with.

When auditioning actresses for the role of Captain Cusak, the producers never saw any of the women- only listened to audio recordings of them. The director didn't allow Cusak's actress, Debra Wilson, to meet any of the regular cast until after filming was completed. Terry Farrell's brief appearance here is a result of being given time off to audition for new series pilots. Moore felt it was ironic that the time travel twist felt thrown in in the final episode despite being the core concept of the pitch. This is the only episode to show the Defiant's shuttlebay. O'Brien's line about one day finding someone missing from the circle of friends cuts to a shot of Dax as foreshadowing for the next episode.

From Memory-Alpha:
"A deleted or unfilmed portion of Quark and Jake's final scene saw Quark recall events from the past season. In the script, Quark recalls that he "almost made a fortune by overcharging Weyoun during the Dominion occupation", that he "almost made a fortune by helping the Grand Nagus regain his throne" (DS9: "Profit and Lace") and that he "almost found a thousand bricks of gold-pressed latinum, before I realized it was in Morn's stomach" (DS9: "Who Mourns for Morn?"). Quark continues to look negatively back at the recent events of his life, telling Jake "Let me tell you something about "the war" – everyone's had a victory in this conflict except me". Jake pointed out that he rescued his mother Ishka from the Dominion (DS9: "The Magnificent Ferengi"), although Quark retorts that "she promptly destroyed the entire fabric of Ferengi society by letting women wear clothes (DS9: "Profit and Lace"). That's no victory". Quark later tells Jake that he believes he is cursed, saying "I'm cursed. That's what it is. I should change the name of my bar to "Cursed Quark's." I wonder how much it would cost to redo all the signs...")





DS9 625: Tears of the Prophets
-Premise: Sisko leads an invasion of Cardassian territory, ignoring a warning from the Prophets, with fatal consequences for a member of the DS9 crew.



-T2Q Comments: "Christopher Pike Medal of Valor"? I dunno, I like the throwback but at the same time, Prime Pike didn't really do much in the way of Valor, did he? There's something different about Dukat's makeup here- it's almost smoother, paler- it adds to his new mindset in a subtle way.

Why are there guys in the background with TNG-style uniforms?

Given the Casablanca-esque moments Quark had long ago (Season 2, maybe?) it makes sense that he'd like the 1930's setting of Vic's hololounge.

"Good luck, gentlemen. Good luck to all of us."
"Romulans don't believe in luck."
"All the better! Leaves more for the rest of us."

I'm really liking the actor playing the Romulan Senator in this episode- I hope he survives and returns next season.

Garrak! huzzah! The music that plays as they move out from the station will have to join some of the other key war hymns of this and last season.

Damn, that Vor'Cha really got ripped apart.
Yay! Rip up that ugly Excelsior!
No! You're not allowed to destroy an Akira! That's like, a rule or something!*
Mirandas just exist to die magnificently, don't they?

*I don't care if they also killed one in First Contact, the more prominent one survived.

Once again, the Dominion is foiled by the engineer.

Obviously a major game changer with Jadzia's death and the loss of the wormhole and Prophets and the Alpha Quadrant alliance beginning their incursion into Cardassian space. Though they don't play as major a non-cliffhanger-cliffhanger as previous seasons here, it's still an effective tease for next season and basically shows the consequences of Kai Winn's actions in The Reckoning. So, basically, she killed Jadzia, even if Dukat "pulled the trigger", so to speak. Definitely Essential.



Trivia: This is the 150th episode of DS9. The original story involved Dukat stealing a shutle from the station and taking a chroniton bomb into the wormhole while Dax tries to stop him. A deleted scene involved Sisko, Worf, Garak and O'Brien discussing which system to target- Worf suggests a heavily fortified location, Garak a symbolic one and O'Brien ultimately suggests the final target after noticing indications of what he believed to be fake warp signatures in scans. This is the final chronological appearance of red TNG uniforms (gold TNG uniforms are later seen in recycled footage used by an episode of Voyager). The blue Federation flag over Dax's coffin will later be seen in the briefing room of the USS Defiant on ENT during the Mirror Universe episodes. When the Defiant and Hood begin firing on the moon, the Defiant mistakenly has the registry number of the Valiant.


Up Next: DS9 701: Image in the Sand, DS9 702: Shadows and Symbols, DS9 703: Afterimage & VOY 501: Night


Voyager Resources:

Torpedoes: (Starting with 38, as of The Cloud)
-1 fired in The Cloud (37 remain)
-3 fired in Alliances (34 remain)
-7 fired in Dreadnought (27 remain)
-3 fired in Resolutions (24 remain)
-3 fired + 1 "Dispersal Pattern Sierra" (5 torpedos according to Yesterday's Enterprise, but we'll assume a minimum of 2) in Basics, Part I (between 16 to 19 remain)
-1 fired in Future's End, Part II (between 15 to 18 remain)
-1 fired in Rise (between 14 to 17 remain)
-4 fired in Scorpion, Part II (between 10 to 13 remain) (complement claimed to be 32, which would leave 28 if that were correct)
-5 fired in Hope and Fear (between 5 to 8 remain) (23 if Scorpion claims were correct)

Crew: (152 People, as of The 37's)
-Death Wish: Quinn/Q2 joins the crew (153 remain), then commits suicide. (152 remain)
-Alliances: Kurt Bandera, dead. (151 remain)
-Meld: Darwin, dead. (150 remain)
-Investigations: Michael Jonas, dead. (149 remain)
-Deadlock: Wildman baby born. (150 remain)
-Innocence: Ensign Bennet, dead. (149 remain)
-Basics, Part I: Bridge crewmember shot, presumed dead (148 remain)
-Basics, Part II: Hogan, Suder & blue uniform crewmember, dead (145 remain)
-Warlord: Martin, dead. (144 remain)
-Unity: Ensign Marie Kaplan, dead. (143 remain)
-Distant Origin: Five unknown people potentially added to crew, as crew is stated to be 148. (143 or 148 remain)
-(Latent Image; between Worst Case Scenario & Scorpion): Ahni Jetal, dead. (142 or 147 remain)*
-Scorpion, part II: Seven of Nine joins the crew (143 or 148 remain)
-Scientific Method: Ensign Roberta Luke, dead. (142 or 147 remain)
-(Ashes to Ashes & Imperfection; between Hunters & Prey): Lyndsay Ballard, dead (141 or 146 remain)**
-The Killing Game, Part I: Unidentified crew member, dead. (140 or 145 remain)
-Living Witness: 3 unidentified crew members killed by the Kyrian incursion. (137 or 142 remain)
-One: Unidentified officer, dead from nebula burns. (136 or 141 remain)


Time Travel Log:

-TNG: All Good Things... (alternate 3.5 Billion Years Ago; Jean Luc-Picard & Q; from alternate-2370)
-TOS: All Our Yesterdays (2700 BC, Sarpedion Ice Age; NCC-1701 crew; from 2268)
-TOS: All Our Yesterdays (Undefined 17th Century-esque Sarpeidon; NCC-1701 crew; from 2268)
-TNG: Time's Arrow, part I (1893; NCC-1701-D crew; from 2368)
-TOS: The City on the Edge of Forever (1930: NCC-1701 crew; from 2267)
-DS9: Past Tense, Part II (1930; NX-74205 Defiant crew; from 2371)
-DS9: Little Green Men (1947; Quark's Treasure crew; from 2372)
-DS9: Past Tense, Part II (1967; NX-74205 Defiant crew; from 2371)
-VOY: Future's End, Part I (1967; Aeon; from 2373)
-TOS: Assignment Earth (1968: NCC-1701; from 2268)
-TOS: Tommorow is Yesterday (1969: NCC-1701; from 2267)
-ST4: The Voyage Home (1986: The Bounty crew, formerly of NCC-1701; from 2286)
-VOY: Future's End, Part I (1996; NCC-74656; from 2372)
-VOY: Future's End, Part II (1996; Aeon; from 29th Century)
-DS9: Past Tense, Part I (2024; NX-74205 Defiant crew; from 2371)
-DS9: Past Tense, Part II (2024; NX-74205 Defiant crew; from 2371)
-DS9: Past Tense, Part II (2048; NX-74205 Defiant crew; from 2371)
-ST8: First Contact (2063; NCC-1701-E & Borg Sphere; from 2373)
-DS9: Time's Orphan (2074; Molly O'Brien & alternate Molly O'Brien; from 2374)
-TOS: The Tholian Web (2154 (Mirror Universe): NCC-1764 Defiant; from 2268)
-DS9: Children of Time (alternate 2173; NX-74205 Defiant; from 2373)
-DS9: Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night (2346; Major Kira; from 2374)
-TOS: The Naked Time (2266: NCC-1701 goes back in time 3 days; from 2266)
-DS9: Trials and Tribble-ations (2268: NX-74205 Defiant crew; from 2373)
-DS9: Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night (2349; Kira Nerys (via Orb of Time); from 2374)
-TNG: All Good Things... (alternate 2364; Jean Luc-Picard; from alternate-2370)
-TNG: Time Squared (2365: Picard goes 6 hours into the past; from 2365)
-TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise (2366 (Standard & FKW Universes); NCC-1701-C goes forward through a temporal rift; from 2344)
-TNG: Captain's Holiday (2366; Vorgons; from 27th Century, approx. 2666)
-TNG: Future Imperfect (False-2383; Will Riker. NCC-1701-D; from 2367)
-TNG: A Matter of Time (2368; Berlinghoff Rasmussen; from 22nd Century, using 26th Century technology)
-TNG: Cause and Effect (2368; NCC-1701-D ends up 17 days in the future after timeloop; from 2368)
-TNG: Time's Arrow, part II (2368; Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens; from 1893)
-TNG: Firstborn (2370; Alexander; from 2410)
-TNG: All Good Things... (2370; Jean Luc-Picard from alternate-2370)
-VOY: Time and Again (2371; NCC-74656 crew go back in time 1 day; from alternate-2371)
-DS9: Visionary (2371; Miles flashes forward in time between 3.5 & 5 hours six times; from 2371)
-VOY: Before and After (2369; Kess (mentally) from alternate 2370)
-VOY: Before and After (alternate 2370; Kess (mentally) from alternate 2371)
-VOY: Before and After (alternate 2371; Kess (mentally) from 2373)
-VOY: Eye of the Needle (2371; data and Romulan; from 2351)
-ST7: Generations (2371; Picard and Kirk through the Nexus from 2371 & 2293)
-DS9: The Sound of Her Voice (2371; NX-74205 Defiant audio transmissions; from 2374)
-VOY: Future's End, Part I (2373; Aeon; from Alternate 29th Century)
-VOY: Before and After (2373; Kess (mentally) from alternate 2374)
-VOY: Before and After (alternate 2374; Kess (mentally) from alternate 2378)
-DS9: Time's Orphan (2374; alternate Molly O'Brien; from alternate 2084)
-DS9: The Sound of Her Voice (2374; Captain Cusak's audio transmissions; from 2371)
-VOY: Before and After (alternate 2378; Kess (mentally) from alternate 2379)
-TNG: All Good Things... (alternate 2395; Jean Luc-Picard & Q; from alternate-2370)



The Babylon Project Log:

-Space stations ending with a numerical designation that are of commerce ports in nature (prominently featuring a casino area), near a giant swirling blue vortex passageway (wormhole/jumpgate) used for travel and a location of advanced creation (prophet temple/Great Machine).
-Hard-edged female second in command, pessimistic, sarcastic security chief. somewhat ethnic doctor.
-Characters named Dukat/Dukhat
-A spiritual race recently coming free of occupation by a more militaristic civilization, the conflict of which led the spiritual race to become more militant themselves.
-Gambler conman (Quark/Londo) has somewhat fluctuating antagonistic friendship with hard-edged chief of security (Odo/Garabaldi).
-Characters played by Julie Caitlin Brown have a long-standing grudge against a notorious murderer who has prolonged their life at the expense of others through scientific experimentation (Rao Vantika/Jha'dur "Deathwalker").
-The term "Changeling" has significance in relation to early parts of both series (the B5 pilot "the Gathering" and DS9's "Vortex" & beyond), though applied to different elements (technology versus a species).
-A main character slowly constructs a device (chrysalis/clock) piece of piece in their quarters while conversing with a subordinate .
-A main character often referred to as Chief (Miles/Garibaldi) has a recurring assistant (Neela/garibaldi's Aide) who is a plant by another faction that attempts to bring about political change by assassinating a prominent rival leader (Bariel/Santiago) in the first season finale so that one of their faction may replace him (Adami/Clark). Their plot is uncovered by the Chief character.
-The Circle/Homeguard Bajoran for Bajorans, vandalism with a symbol; subdues and brands an alien on the middle of the forehead with their logo
-Second Season opens with a command officer (Sinclair/Kira) being reassigned from the station to be among the religious order of a species heavily involved with the operation of the station, partly due to prophecy
-A near-human alien race has their hair up in a fan-style to represent social status.
-A character played by Julia Nickson (Catherine/Cassandra) romances (or attempts to romance) the commander of the station (Sinclair/Sisko).
-Characters have discussion of higher and lower lifeforms awareness of each other to that of ants (Odo & Kira/G'Kar & Catherine Sakai).
-3rd Season Premiere introduces a new prototype warship for use by the station's crew using technology from other races (Vorlon/Romulan), in response to the appearance of a powerful new enemy race (Shadows/ Dominion)
-Image of female commanding officer of station used (or attempted to be used) in an erotic hologram program against her knowledge/wishes.
-Shady Political Organization develops it's own fleet of ships in secret without knowledge of the military (Obsidian Order/Psi Corps)
-A redheaded female character named Leeta/Lyta becomes a recurring character on the show in 1995, played by somewhat similar looking actresses.
-During a time travel story in the 3rd season, the Commander of the station becomes/takes on the identity of a key historical figure.
-An alien brings (or is speculated to have brought) knowledge of the future to the past that is passed on by others as religious prophecy amongst a spiritual people.
-A main character uncontrollably flashes forward in time and attempts to use those visions to change future events (Miles/Several)
-The Doctor must, through strength of will, fight his way through a potentially fatal wound inflicted by a one-shot criminal, guided by vision(s) of a familiar face(s) representing a different facet of his mind. (Bashir/Franklin)
-The opening title sequence involves people in spacesuits doing external repairs to the station to convey a sense of scale
-Weapon systems of the station are upgraded for a coming battle
-Weapon systems on the station of similar design emerge from hidden ports
-The station, after harboring political/military refugees/fugitives, must defend itself in battle (both against ships and boarding parties) against former allies. Re-enforcements to the attacking forces are known to arrive just as allied re-enforcements do so, forcing the resolution to the battle to make the attacking forces standdown.
-A warrior of alien traditions joins the main cast about midway through the series.
-A main character is involved in a "lesbian" relationship in an episode that aired in October 1995.
-The main character (Sheridan/Sisko) serves under a high ranking Earth military officer played by Robert Foxworth (Hague/Leyton), who is attempting a coup against the Earth's government.
-A guest character undergoes a mindwipe/death of personality. (chronological viewing also results in this episode being back to back with the VOY episode that features Brad Douriff, who plays the guest character on B5)
-Labor disputes attempted to be resolved "by any means necessary" via enforcers.
-A main alien character becomes more human through a drastic physical change.
-The main enemy of the series (Shadows/Dominion) attempt to destabilize opposing forces by inciting war between factions by controlling/manipulating/allying with the rulers of one (or both) sides.
-The advanced alien race worshipped as holy figures have a cast-off (or opposing) faction/race villified by the same races (Vorlons/Shadows; Minbari, Narns, etc).
-A character has a vision of being on a planet and looking up to see enemy forces blot out the sun (Londo/Sisko)
-The station Captain has fragmented visions of events to come. (Sheridan/Sisko)
-A character initiates an area spread of a attack with a weapon to reveal and kill two cloaked enemies they only suspected were there.
-The characters visit a derelict sister station. (B4/Empok Nor)
-After being launched in full swing at the end of a season, the major conflict against the powerful race that the series has been building up to achieves a significant resolution in the 6th episode of the following season, involving the main character seeking the intervention of higher beings. This sequence of events also involves a debate on an astral plane of existence where higher beings take the rapdily shifting form of the main character's allies. (Sheridan/Sisko, Shadows/Vorlons/Dominion, First Ones/Prophets)
-A secretive organization charged with protecting other organizations from greater threats utilizes an Inquisitor to interrogate a member of the crew as a means of recruitment.
-Alien beings on a higher plane of existence do mortal battle aboard the station, fulfilling a prophecy.
-The lead female officer is killed off just before the final season due to the actress wanting to move on to other roles and is replaced at the start of the final season by another female officer in a similar role.



Voyager Season 4 Recap:

Definitely Essential: (10)
-401: Scorpion, Part II
-402: The Gift
-408: Year of Hell, Part I
-409: Year of Hell, Part II
-414: Message in a Bottle
-415: Hunters
-416: Prey
-418: The Killing Game, Part I
-419: The Killing Game, Part II
-426: Hope and Fear

Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Good: (3)
-404/403: Day of Honor
-406: The Raven
-424: Demon

Good Episodes, But Not Necessarily Essential: (9)
-405: Revulsion
-407: Scientific Method
-410: Random Thoughts
-411: Concerning Flight
-412: Mortal Coil
-417: Retrospect
-421: The Omega Directive
-423: Living Witness
-425: One

Average Episodes: (4)
-403/404: Nemesis
-413: Waking Moments
-420: Vis a Vis
-422: Unforgettable

OK Episodes: (0)

Forgettable: (0)

Trash: (0)



DS9 Season 6 Recap:

Definitely Essential: (13)
-601: A Time to Stand
-602: Rocks and Shoals
-603: Sons and Daughters
-604: Behind the Lines
-605: Favor the Bold
-606: Sacrifice of Angels
-607: Your Are Cordially Invited
-611: Waltz
-618: Inquisition
-619: In the Pale Moonlight
-621: The Reckoning
-622: Valiant
-626: Tears of the Prophets

Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Good: (4)
-608: Resurrection
-609: Statistical Probabilities
-615: Honor Among Thieves
-620: His Way

Good Episodes, But Not Necessarily Essential: (7)
-610: The Magnificent Ferengi
-612: Who Mourns For Morn
-613/614: One Little Ship
-614/613: Far Beyond the Stars*
-616: Change of Heart
-617: Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night
-625: The Sound of Her Voice

Average Episodes: (1)
-624: Time's Orphan

OK Episodes: (0)

Forgettable: (0)

Trash: (1)
-623: Profit and Lace

*Although I've started to believe it should be considered Essential viewing even if it lacks narrative relevance to the rest of the series.

 

Yeah, I'll comment on it a bit down the road but, even before you get to Dark Frontier, the show really has veered hard into becoming "The Seven-of-Nine Show". On the upside, episodes about her are usually pretty good ones.

I like that it was random in a way- not every character should go out in a blaze of glory or sacrifice. Sometimes people simply die as victims. Sometimes that can feel unrewarding narratively but other times it can add to the sense of loss. As far as it being done by Pah-Dukat, I suspect that that was another effort by the showrunners to make Dukat less sympathetic (even though episodes like Waltz were dedicated to that) while still showing Dukat rationalizing it to himself afterwards that he never intended to harm her.

 

DS9 701: Image in the Sand
-Premise: Sisko tries to regain contact with the Prophets.(Part 1 of 2)



-T2Q Comments: Rule #1: If you're waiting for someone to have a vision, don't shake them asking what is wrong when it looks like they're actually having a vision. Odd that Sisko would have the hair in the photo of his vision he's trying to make for reference when he didn't see her hair in the vision- you'd think that would throw him off more than help given how much a hairstyle can change the impression of one's face.

I can't help but wonder if sending O'Brien in to binge drink with Worf qualifies as a throwback to the franchise's love of Irish stereotypes...

"Miles, I don't know what to say- I'm touched."
"You're both touched!"

New Dax makes her first appearance. So, this is mostly all setup but it's a good start, though the hints here that Sisko is part Prophet will have to sit awhile before I can really determine how I feel about it. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: It was intentional (though "perhaps stupid") choice to open the final season with the quietest opening episode they had ever done. During the casting process for the new Dax, they initially wanted a woman (as Kira couldn't be the only regular female on the show) that was kinda spooky but didn't hit on the idea of an unprepared host until further into the process.

Admiral Ross's first name was established as Billy- despite earlier diplomas on his wall giving it as Cliff. When Miles and Worf talk about Barclay and the events of TNG: Hollow Pursuits, it is the only time Miles refers to Geordi by his first name. A waiter seen in Sisko's restaurant is played by the same actor who plays a regular waiter at Quark's.



DS9 702: Shadows and Symbols
-Premise: Sisko searches for the mysterious Orb of the Emissary. Worf, Martok, Bashir, O'Brien, and Quark attack a Dominion shipyard in orbit around Monac IV. Kira confronts the Romulans over their arming of their hospital base. Deep Space 9 also receives a new resident who has a very familiar name. (part 2 of 2)



-T2Q Comments: So I like the confused New Dax- and at least it plays off of some of the past Trill lore of early episodes. So these robes are some form of Federation uniform gear as they're color coded, but they feel more like they just stepped out of the shower... though there is a touch of Assassins Creed there too I suppose. Sisko could at least offer to help Jake with the old man- at least for the hills. You'd think they'd have brought along more than one shovel.

Ah, a throwback connection back to the 40's sci-fi writer universe.

Kira would make a good Captain- the chair suits her well. I almost feel like we're getting a brief glimpse of Star Trek: Bajor with Captain Kira (it's only one letter off from Kirk, so how could they go wrong? ) and her second in command, Mr. Odo- the alien trying to learn to be human.



Ok, solar flare sequence? That was cool. Well, actually, it was really hot, but it was still very cool.

So this one very much feels like the conclusion to Image in the Sand- they'd work fine as an official two-parter (actually, edit in the Season 6 finale and you'd have a pretty solid two hour film chronicling Sisko's recent prophet vision subplot beginning to end and Dax's death towards the start with Ezri's arrival at it's conclusion, not to mention it sandwiches the rather quiet Image in-between the relatively action-heavy Tears and Shadows... the only thing missing is the Worf/Ezri issue, which presumably the next episode will deal with, but no way to know if that will make as effective an end point for a movie as this one. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Benny's writing on the walls was actual handwriting created by the entire art department. Michael Okuda utilized an early draft of the DS9 Companion and had the team copy the episode summaries for every episode prior to Shadows and Symbols, making the writing on the wall a literal history of DS9.

Ezri's actress and this episode's director had previously worked together for ten episodes on a show called Beyond Reality. Neither knew the other was working on DS9 until they met on set. The strategy used to destroy the shipyards with a solar eruption was first devised by Ensign Taitt in TNG: Descent (where she was acting as tactical officer on the bridge) and used against the rogue Borg ship.

Though this is probably a spoiler, this is the last appearance of Weyoun-5.




DS9 703: Afterimage
-Premise: Ezri Dax has trouble adjusting with the rest of the crew; Garak inexplicably collapses.



-T2Q Comments: This episode has a more overt get-to-know-Ezri purpose. This is offset by Sisko's more comfortable demeanor around Ezri- he's been through this before.

"Just say the word and I will intimidate him for you."

So, not a bad episode- but it does have a few weak moments- for example, the Sisko-didn't-send-the-resignation thing plays out as an aw-shucks cliche. However, this does get balanced out by Ezri's overall existential crisis and, in particular, the situation surrounding Garak addresses a pretty key issue for him.

Even though this is mostly stand-alone, there is the issue of Ezri being promoted and her integration into the crew, so I'm going to go with Potentially Essential.

Trivia: The original version of this story had a greater focus on Garak (mostly due to it being developed before the prior two episodes were filmed or Ezri had been cast) involving him escaping from Jem'Hadar capture by hiding inside a torpedo tube and suffering a breakdown upon his return.


Voyager Year Five:


In the Dead of Night:

VOY 501: Night
-Premise: Voyager enters a vast region of space with no stars or systems. As the crew tries to find a way to pass time in this desolate part of space, Janeway bitterly reflects on her decision that stranded them in the Delta Quadrant.



-T2Q Comments: Please say they're not starting the season with a holodeck malfunction story- especially not one caused by simply hitting a lot of buttons. All it takes is opening a small text file to crash a Windows PC- and even that is more robust than compared to the holodeck.

"Seven, I want good news. That's an order."
"Then I must disobey. I have no good news to report."

This dark expanse is a cool idea though- some of the lighting details on the ship pop in the dark. I hate to say it but I kinda agree with Harry here- not that I'd describe it so much as a vacation but rather a reprieve. After 4 years of obstacles, enemies and general threats of annihilation, they have what appears to be literal clear sailing for 2 years without (at current glance) any threat of a god alien or subspace rift anomaly or thieving races or Hirogen/Borg threats/traps. A little boring by their standards, true, but for an extended journey like theirs? It should be a blessing. Not sure I care for the Janeway-gives-up-when-she-has-time-to-think aspect here,

"CITIZEN OF EARTH, SURRENDER! DO NOT RESIST!"
"I am Borg." (pulls wires, robot shuts down).
One of the best Seven moments yet, ha!




The guest in the holodeck was a bit startling- Voyager once again doing rather well with more horror-like elements and scenarios.

Torpedo flare, eh?

So at this point things get interesting from a predictability standpoint- either Voyager seals this vortex the alien speaks of before using it to save the natives but missing out on shaving 2 years off their journey as one would expect... or they do so after passing through it, which makes some logical sense because otherwise the ship would be stuck in the Void for the foreseeable future and that's obviously not going to happen... either way, the result is predicted based on the nature of the show. I'd love to be proven wrong with a third option, however, so lets see what transpires...

Things seem a little confused here- it was implied that the waste dumping was taking place on a large scale across a long period of time, yet it is also suggested that it is just this one ship that knows about the vortex- and that it only cuts their shipping time/costs in half- which suggests the dumping could continue at a slightly lesser profit margin even if they close the vortex... so is it really worth it at that point?

During the "won't follow that order" scene, the guys in the background at their stations with their backs to everyone kinda seem out of place given how that must be aware of what is transpiring behind them.



Another 4 torpedoes... and another 5 torpedoes.. and 3 more to collapse vortex. So at this point the show just decided "Frack it, who cares about limited torpedo supplies?"- I literally have had to change the way I notate the range of possible torpedoes still available because we're now in the negatives...



So we end on option #2- somewhat straight forward but the payoff of leaving the expanse is a nice moment for the characters. It's very much like they are seeing the stars for the first time despite having spent a lifetime amongst them. Might have been more effective if the Void had lasted for more than one episode though- like the Nekkrid Expanse last season.

So, while it was a tad predictable there were some good character elements at play here that keep it interesting even if we know more or less how things will play out. There's also the issue of the rest of the waste disposal species homeworld to be encountered which I think would have been nice to wrap up as well- assuming the next episode doesn't actually deal with that.

Even though this cuts down 2 years off of Voyager's journey, I'm going to go with Potentially Essential, But Not Necessarily Essential- though it falls a little closer to Average in some ways, I think it stays just enough above that classification.

It is rather interesting that both DS9 and VOY began their seasons this year with their quietest premiere stories ever- though VOY tries to pack more action in towards the end, Night's most effective parts are more contemplative- the more rushed elements like Janeway's crisis resolution and the vortex showdown have less impact.

Trivia: Original story involved finding a single planet in the Void- a planet that was like King Tut's tomb with an ancient temple that unleashed half-dead creatures like locusts against the ship, but this script was thrown out. The Adventures of Captain Proton holodeck program was influenced by Flash Gordon. Robert Picardo recalled the Night Alien as looking like a tootsie roll and being referred to as the "Captain's log".

Up Next: DS9 704: Take Me Out to the Holosuite, VOY 502: Drone, DS9 705: Chrysalis & VOY 503: Extreme Risk.


Voyager Resources:

Torpedoes: (Starting with 38, as of The Cloud)
-1 fired in The Cloud (37 remain)
-3 fired in Alliances (34 remain)
-7 fired in Dreadnought (27 remain)
-3 fired in Resolutions (24 remain)
-3 fired + 1 "Dispersal Pattern Sierra" (5 torpedos according to Yesterday's Enterprise, but we'll assume a minimum of 2) in Basics, Part I (between 16 to 19 remain)
-1 fired in Future's End, Part II (between 15 to 18 remain)
-1 fired in Rise (between 14 to 17 remain)
-4 fired in Scorpion, Part II (between 10 to 13 remain) (complement claimed to be 32, which would leave 28 if that were correct)
-5 fired in Hope and Fear (between 5 to 8 remain) (23 if Scorpion claims were correct)
-1 fired as flare + 4 fired in 1st volley + 5 fired in 2nd volley + 3 deployed to collapse vortex in Night (between -8 to -5 remain (10 if Scorpion claims were correct)

 

That's the likely explanation, except it would contradict the statement in season 1: The Cloud about having "no way to replace them".

In any case, it's clear they wanted to up Voyager's action content mid-series since that was the niche it was finding the most success in, so they ditched any pretense of conserving a limited number of torpedoes.

The funny thing is that they've had any number of opportunities to rearm themselves either by acquiring torpedoes (or torpedo materials) from other ships/installations they've encountered (the fake future ship from Hope & Fear, for example, could have been armed by the alien, or the Think Tank could have provided them, or from Borg victims/Borg cubes or from any number of advanced species they've encountered).

All the writers had to do was write in a line of dialogue here or there, but they didn't bother.

 

Indeed. It's just fun to track the progress as I go through the series, to see to what extent they violated their initial premise. At least the torpedoes could plausibly be replenished through some creative means as you suggest. One can't really say the same for the number of shuttles they've lost, given how much effort and resource was needed to build the Delta Flyer (not counting the development phase).