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

Well, I do rank Endor as the best snubfighter battle.

Yeah, with today's tech, if the battle involved Miranda and Excelsiors I'm sure there would've also been Constitution refits present.

 

The battle isn't perfect- I'd agree it's held back by the technology a little (the CGI on the ships sometimes feels a little too soft and, as noted, we never really get to see a Galaxy-class really unload like it would in reality: when I got the mag accompanying the Starships Collection issue that came with the model of the D, I was surprised at how many phaser banks the ship has. I mean, have we ever seen them use the phaser banks on the nacelle struts, or even the belly?) but also by the format- a lot of the shots feel just too damn close and you need to really rewatch them a few times to really pick out and understand whats going on.If they could just pull back slightly, in a widescreen format at a modern resolution, it'd flow a lot better.

On the plus side, it does reflect how crowded and shoulder-to-shoulder that battle really was, but it just lacks a tad bit of clarity- details like the Klingons slowly getting picked off to the point where only the Defiant is alone gets lost in the background.

I don't hold the CGI quality against it, though- especially given how much this had to strain what was achievable on a TV budget and it clearly looks better most of the time than the CGI B5 was doing around the same time (however I think the B5 battles had a much better composition and visual flow).

I'm just happy Starfleet has actual fighters by this point

I don't think we'd have seen the Constitutions around even if they had the tech at the time- there seemed to be a very clear effort to keep that to the movies and not be used in the series.

Additionally, from what I've read, the Constitutions no longer had a place in the vision of Starfleet's composition for the TNG era. Supposedly you'd have the handful of Galaxy-class ships handling the long-range, extended diplomacy and exploration/first contact missions while the smaller Excelsiors were basically the bulk ships of the line, and the various scientific craft filling the roles below them.

Although I believe the Miranda's were intended to be the heavy warhead carriers, no? I imagine they were the real supplement to the Excelsiors.

Yeah, but then that's the Star Trek style of things- it's not about ranged combat, it's about up-close slug fests. very much earlier naval combat versus modern. Much like how Star Wars is very much WW2-era fighter combat and not the ranged type modern tech provides.

And, of course, it just makes things look so much prettier. Though when the fleet battles get to a scale like the one in this episode, it almost seems a little ridiculous, but, well, you just don't care.

Hmm, I'll have to look that up- maybe I forgot about that detail.

 

As I finally start catching up on some projects, hopefully I can get this up to date with where I am in the viewing order soon.


VOY 407: Scientific Method
-Premise: A group of aliens perform experiments on the crew without their knowledge.




-T2Q Comments: There's a lovely virtual corpse makeout session. Boom chikka wa-wa.

"How did he sound? Annoyed? Amused?"
"He sounded Vulcan. What more can I tell you?"

Old age makeup, uh oh. The "old men" complain-off is pretty amusing. Kinda funny that the Doctor quipped a few episodes back about starting his new career as a tricorder, whereas here he's basically turning Seven into a tricorder of sorts.

"Shall I flog them as well?". Janeway-with-a-headache is entertaining.

"I don't believe it- we're alive!" thank you Ric Olie.

So I'm a little mixed on the episode- I'm going with Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential because there's nothing detracting from the episode but I feel like they didn't have enough time to really develop the plot, such as the alien motivations and why they'd rather kill an experiment than leave one incomplete- it also kinda feels like a left over Vidian story to some degree and I would have rather seen more of them somehow.

Trivia: Working title was "Tagged". The producers weren't entirely sure about this episode in the script stage, fearing it would be corny.



VOY 408: Year of Hell, Part I
-Premise: Obsessed with restoring the Krenim Imperium, no matter the cost, a Krenim military temporal scientist creates changes in history that all but destroy Voyager.



-T2Q Comments: Oh, please say he calls someone "dumb ass" in this episode. Short hair for Janeway debuts. Seven shaves 5 years off journey. If that plays out, then Voyager has about 51 years left out of the original 70 year estimate.

"That region of space we're about to enter, it looks to have a lot of M-class planets", going by how common they seem to be in the Trek universe... DUH.

"Starfleet, Maquis, Klingon, Talaxian, Hologram, Borg, even Mr. Paris."

Those Xa'al ships look like Federation Galacticas had a baby with the White Star. The low-wrung Krenim on the screen isn't quite working for me. The second in command Krenim here seems familiar but i can't place it. I'm surprised no one brought up Kess's future warning of the Krenim/Year of Hell.

Voyager looking banged up. It's a shame they probably couldn't afford to have Voyager gradually get worn down over the series like this (something that at least Galactica was able to do in spurts half a decade later).

"The Pheonix."
"What?"
"The correct response to your query. The vessel Ensign Kim was describing. It was designated the Pheonix."
"Not bad. I didn't realize you knew so much about Earth history."
"I don't. But the Borg were present during those events."
"Really?"
"It's a...complicated story. Perhaps another time."

Gee, a show airing in 1997 making a Titanic reference, heh. Seven taking Kess's place from one of the time jumps in Before & After. I like how Seven and Tuvok are able to find a common bond with their distant observations about human behavior. It's a good pairing (though I kinda feel about that, given how Seven is technically a Kess stand-in, having her also fill in as Tuvok's apprentice (after a fashion) kinda pushes that- I mean, she literally took Less's place in that scene earlier).

Neelix with a Starfleet uniform. If Miles was concerned over how bad things would be for Nog to be given rank, then imagine how awful things must be for Neelix to be given rank. You'd think there would be at least someone designated to "clean the bridge" duty.

Janeway wonders why they weren't affected by the timeline changes, Seven suggests they were protected by the temporal shielding- something Tuvok pretty much spelled out earlier- pay attention people! Try to keep up!

Well, thats a solid start to things, ain't it? Though I wish the Krenim weren't so human looking. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: The two parter was created after being inspired by the phrase "year of hell" in before & After, which stuck with the writers. Tuvok's injuried were originally going to include a lost leg, using Forrest Gump-style effects, but this was abandoned for production reasons.

As this was originally intended to be the 3rd Seaosn finale, some minor rewrites were needed, such as giving many of Kes's lines to Seven (which would explain some of my observations earlier). Kurtwood Smith believed he was cast in the role after his performance in DS9: Things Past (though he also appearaed in ST6). The stuck turbolift footage was recycled from TNG: Disaster.



VOY 409: Year of Hell, Part II
-Premise: With Voyager almost destroyed, Captain Janeway risks everything to rescue Paris and Chakotay, and stop Annorax from continuing to tamper with the timeline.



-T2Q Comments: This is definitely Kurtwood Smith's episode. I'm surprised the time-monitoring Future Federation Folks aren't dealing with this situation in some manner.

You know, from some angles, with the spherical sections and the blue coloring/markings and the spread panels, and given that Foundation Imaging switched from B5 to Voyager, it's difficult to not see some similar DNA at work.

Huh, bridge viewscreen replaced by a forcefield against open space, several years before Nemesis.

"This is one year I'd like to forget."

Voyager go boom #2. So, while the resolution seems pretty predictable from the first episode (obviously the timeline was going to get reset), but it's well acted and a pretty good 2 parter overall. Still disappointed that Kess's trip from the future didn't come into play, but it is neat that it kinda falls into the "what I thought DS9 was about" concept that I believe I've relayed the story about before (worn-down Federation ships at war, etc). Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Braga originally had pushed to make this story arc 4 parts but it ended up as only 2. Writing this episode was difficult, as they quickly discovered their outline had run out of story with only about a quarter of the episode filled. The uncertainty was resolved once they had the inspiration to base Annorax on Captain Nemo.

Kurtwood commented that "I had a good time with Annorax, and I got the girl at the end. If you know my career, you know that almost never happens.".

Braga and Menosky felt the blinding of Tuvok was unfortunate because of the connection of Tim Russ having once been considered to play Geordi LaForge.

First episode of Voyager to be directed by Mike Vejar (who also directed many notable B5 episodes). Although not intended to be viewed that way, the first broadcast in Great Britain aired these episodes edited together as a feature-length TV movie.

There were multiple endings to this episode planned and reshot. Brannon wanted to keep the ship wrecked for the rest of the season but was overruled by Paramount and Berman. Monsky wanted to have some people remember what had happened after the timeline reset, asking the next Krenim they encounter if they had heard of the Kyana Prime colony, only to be told they had never heard of it- time punishing Annorax by resetting everything but that.

The episode's ending was controvserial, with many fans angry over the overt reset button at the conclusion. Moore was not fond of the episode's ending despite citing this episode as an example of how Voyager should have proceeded all along.


Up next: DS9 607: You Are Cordially Invited..., DS9 608: Resurrection & 410: Random Thoughts.


Alternate Universe Log:

-TOS: The Alternative Factor (Anti-Matter Universe)
-TOS: Mirror, Mirror (Mirror Universe)
-TOS: The Tholian Web (Mirror Universe & "Solo-Kirk" Universe)
-TNG: We'll Always Have Paris (Simultaneous Continuum universes, "Manheim Dimension")
-TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise (Federation-Klingon War universe)
-TNG: Remember Me (Beverly Crusher-created Warp Bubble Reality)
-TNG: Cause and Effect (failed timeloop occurances)
-TNG: Timescape (aliens from alternate timeline, alternate outcome of Enterise's destruction)
-TNG: Parallels ("Original" universe, "Surprise Party w/Chocolate Cake" universe, "Surprise Party w/Yellow Cake" universe, "9th place Concussion" universe, "Blue Dress/Moved Battle Painting" universe, "Blue Uniform/Moved Starship Painting"; "Married w/no kids" universe, "First Officer Worf/Married with Children" universe; "Borg-Controlled" universe, "Altered Original" universe)
-DS9: Crossover (Mirror Universe)
-TNG: All Good Things... (alternate 3.5 Billion Years Ago, alternate 2364, alternate-2370 & alternate 2395)
-DS9: Past Tense, Parts I & II (Alternate Federationless 2371)
-DS9: Visionary (Alternate 2371 outcomes including the destruction of DS9; resulting from Miles' timeflashes)
-DS9: Through the Looking Glass (Mirror Universe)
-VOY: Emanations (Vhnori dimension)
-ST7: Generations (alternate "Destructon of Veridian III" timeline)
-VOY: Non Sequitur (alternate Kim Earth)
-DS9: The Visitor (alternate death-of-Sisko timeline)
-DS9: Shattered Mirror (Mirror Universe)
-VOY: Future's End, Part I (Alternate 29th Century)
-VOY: Before and After (Alternate 2369, 2370, 2371, 2374, 2378 & 2379)
-DS9: DS9: Children of Time (alternate 2173 through 2373 for energy barrier-encased planet)
-VOY: Year of Hell, Parts I & II (Alternate 2374s)


Voyager Resources:

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 added to crew, as crew stated to be 148
-Scientific Method: Ensign Roberta Luke, dead. (147 remain)

 

DS9 607: You Are Cordially Invited...
-Premise: The matriarch of the House of Martok challenges Worf and Dax's marriage.



-T2Q Comments: They've been back a week on the station- surely they should have restored the minefield by now? Martok promoted, Alexander about to be reassigned, Wedding moved up.

"I sold my first book today"
"Really? How much did you get for it?"
"It's just a figure of speech. The Federation news service is going to publish a book of my stories about life on the station under Dominion rule."
"And they're not paying you?"
"No."
"Well, then you have my sympathies and the first round of drinks is on the house."
"Really?"
"No. It's a figure of speech."

Kerzon helped negoiate the Khitomer Accords? I don't remember that being established before. Wedding ceremony isn't too cheesy, so thats a plus. Obviously a significant moment for Worf and Dax, so Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Working title was "Once Upon a Wedding". Moore took this episode as an opportunity to correct an inaccurate impression of the role of women in Klingon society that he had inadvertedly created on TNG by not permitting women to sit on the high council (giving the impression that women had a background role among Klingons). To help avoid making Klingon society seem male-dominated like the Ferengi, he introduced the concept here of, if men ruled the Council, then women rule the Houses.

There had been plans to have the Enterprise crew appear in non-speaking roles for the wedding, but with only LeVar Burton and Jonathan Frakes able to be secured, the plan was scrapped, feeling it should have been all or nothing- one can just assume the Enterprise could not arrive on such short notice during the war. The absence of the Enterprise crew was later addressed in the Star Trek/X-Men crossover 'Planet X", oweing it up to the short notice and Alexander's departure. The senior staff toast Worf's marriage in a private celebration.

Moore had hoped to establish the USS Sutherland (the same ship Data commanded in Redemption Part II) as something of a "party ship" where something wild would ensue whenever they arrived at the station but this concept from dropped for time reasons. Moore also speculated that Dax may have slept with Lt Atoa if Sirella had not interrupted the party. Captain Shelby, of the Sutherland, mentioned here, was intended to be the same Shelby from Best of Both Worlds, but after the episode aired, it was pointed out that everyone had agreed not to use the character again so that the liscening department could do what they wanted with her in the books. Thus, one can assume it is a different Shelby if one wishes.

A scene scripted but not filmed involved crew members clearing out their quarters from their prior Dominion occupants- Bashir would find that Weyoun was in his quarters and was fond of collecting items for study (including shoes, coasters, bits of string, broken bottles, power cells, picture frames and chair legs). Nog would find his quarters in an even worse state as they had been occupied solely by Jake SIsko.

The director had live music for the party scene to help ensure the actors would have the right level of energy and would have to shout on stage. Nog's dance was completely improvised, as was Dax joining in on it- the only time that any improv from Eisenberg made it into a final episode. Terry Farrell accidentally punched the actress playing Sirella for real during the second take.

Nana and Rene were unhappy with Kira and Odo's situation being resolved off-camera. Behr also agreed, saying it was the result of a last minute rewrite with no time to come up with anything else. Moore further explained that they originally planned to have Odo start locking himself away and refuse to mingle with anyone on the station due to the events on the station during the occupation in a "What am I doing, where do I belong, look at what I almost did." way. He would have arrived at the wedding to announce that he couldn't be friends with them anymore since they couldn't trust him. He'd go on to just do his job but otherwise isolate himself socially for the rest of the season. When Rene confronted Moore about it, he wanted to know the end game of how Odo would be brought back inot the fold. When Moore said he didn't have one, the plan was dropped at the last moment.

With Curzon Dax being established as attending the Khitomer Conference (in ST6), also present there was Colonel Worf (Worf's grandfather) and Dr. McCoy (who had a brief relationship with Emony Dax). The chime to Worf's room is the same as Picard's chime to his ready room on TNG. This is the fnal appearance of Alexander on Star Trek.




DS9 608: Resurrection
-Premise: An alternate version of Vedek Bareil arrives from the "Mirror Universe" seeking refuge.



-T2Q Comments: "I'll be sure to tell Worf you said so."
"Tell me what?"
"Don't be so nosey."

Barreil returns? Ooh! Mirrorverse-related ep! The dinner scene is pretty good- seemingly impressing Worf is always a feat, ha;.You'd think Mirror Kira beaming aboard would have been detected... I like that it's Quark that sniffs out the con man- it raises the question of whether or not he did so because Barreil turned down his offer.

Its not a bad episode, but it doesn't appear to further the Mirror Universe storyline- at least not in any way significant enough to warrant having to include Life Support as being more essential. Mirror Kira is fun camp, of course (and if you watch the trailer above, it's quite amusing that you can hear her costume squeaking). Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential- maybe Average? But, due to the Mirror connection and Bareil connection, I have to classify it as Potentially Essential.

Trivia: The original opening of the episode started earlier but was cut for time: in it, Kira and Dax are looking at Ziyal's paintings to which Dax observes that Kira still misses her. Kira replies "I'll get over it. Death and I are old friends." Dax then suggests bringing Death to dinner and the scene continues as aired.

A cut line from the script would have established that Worf served as an Ensign aboard the starship Hawk which was hit by an unknown anomaly on his second day out of port. Behr felt that some of the dissapointmnt in this episode came from it's placement after the war arc, though he doesn't feel it's one of their best episodes. Nana Visitor didn't like the episode, feeling Kira acted out of character and was over Barreil. Captain Boday is mentioned for the 3rd time in the series in this episode, following The Maquis Part II and Let He Who is Without Sin... The reference to Quark's Orb experience is from Prophet Motive. Worf's trophy from TNG Parallels can be seen on a shelf at the dinner. This is the only DS9 mirror episode not to feature Mirror Miles, Mirror Garak and the unnamed, scarred-face "Terran Marauder" played by stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone.



VOY 410: Random Thoughts
-Premise: B'Elanna is imprisoned for having violent thoughts on a planet of peaceful telepaths.



-T2Q Comments: Get ready... for random thoughts on Random Thoughts!

Ok, a part of me says, of course Vulcans are telepathic (they must have said that at some point) and it can certainly be extrapolated based on their mental abilities, but, I have to ask- if Tuvok (and, by extension, presumably, Vulcans in general) can actually converse with one another- why do we not see this capability being utilized far more often? Ok, sure, they need to speak aloud to other Starfleet officers and species, but we've seen tons of Vulcans alone with their own kind- and even one-way communication would be useful in several situations...

interesting take on a facet of crime that a race of telepaths might have to deal with (though the literal thought police element might be pushing it a bit). The black market facet is also an interesting introduction. I do like the (granted, somewhat tacked-on) ending with Seven basically saying "If you stop all this side-trip **** and just take the most direct route home, you might actually shave a few years off your trip."; An enjoyable Tuvok-centered story focused at least partially around his investigative skills, which are usually pretty interesting. Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential.

Trivia: The episode's concept stemmed from thoughts about violence in the media and the effect it may or my not have on others, as well as subjects like prohibition and modern censorship. The investigator character here is played by the same actress that plays B'Etor (one of the Duras sisters). Tuvok's violent thoughts include scenes from Generations, First Contact, and unused Voyager footage from past episodes. It also includes footage from the movie Event Horizon, which was also produced by Paramount and had been released 3 months before the episode aired. The reused footage would be the first time First Contact-style uniforms are seen on VOY. Biller wasn't happy with the marketplace set, feeling it looked too much like a set.


Up next: DS9 609: Statistical Probabilities, VOY 411: Concerning Flight & VOY 412: Mortal Coil.


Alternate Universe Log:

-TOS: The Alternative Factor (Anti-Matter Universe)
-TOS: Mirror, Mirror (Mirror Universe)
-TOS: The Tholian Web (Mirror Universe & "Solo-Kirk" Universe)
-TNG: We'll Always Have Paris (Simultaneous Continuum universes, "Manheim Dimension")
-TNG: Yesterday's Enterprise (Federation-Klingon War universe)
-TNG: Remember Me (Beverly Crusher-created Warp Bubble Reality)
-TNG: Cause and Effect (failed timeloop occurances)
-TNG: Timescape (aliens from alternate timeline, alternate outcome of Enterise's destruction)
-TNG: Parallels ("Original" universe, "Surprise Party w/Chocolate Cake" universe, "Surprise Party w/Yellow Cake" universe, "9th place Concussion" universe, "Blue Dress/Moved Battle Painting" universe, "Blue Uniform/Moved Starship Painting"; "Married w/no kids" universe, "First Officer Worf/Married with Children" universe; "Borg-Controlled" universe, "Altered Original" universe)
-DS9: Crossover (Mirror Universe)
-TNG: All Good Things... (alternate 3.5 Billion Years Ago, alternate 2364, alternate-2370 & alternate 2395)
-DS9: Past Tense, Parts I & II (Alternate Federationless 2371)
-DS9: Visionary (Alternate 2371 outcomes including the destruction of DS9; resulting from Miles' timeflashes)
-DS9: Through the Looking Glass (Mirror Universe)
-VOY: Emanations (Vhnori dimension)
-ST7: Generations (alternate "Destructon of Veridian III" timeline)
-VOY: Non Sequitur (alternate Kim Earth)
-DS9: The Visitor (alternate death-of-Sisko timeline)
-DS9: Shattered Mirror (Mirror Universe)
-VOY: Future's End, Part I (Alternate 29th Century)
-VOY: Before and After (Alternate 2369, 2370, 2371, 2374, 2378 & 2379)
-DS9: DS9: Children of Time (alternate 2173 through 2373 for energy barrier-encased planet)
-VOY: Year of Hell, Parts I & II (Alternate 2374s)
-DS9: Resurrection (Mirror Universe)

 

DS9 609: Statistical Probabilities
-Premise: Bashir helps a group of eccentric genetically engineered Humans who are visiting him try to make a useful contribution to the Federation; the Dominion offers to sign a truce with the Federation.



-T2Q Comments: Looks like this one will be exploring the further ramifications of Julian's genetic augmentation. This Jack actor almost come across as James Franco.

"I'd love to stay and chat about our impending doom, but..."

It's an odd sort of grouping they have here- I wonder how much of the variety on display is intentional and how much was just drawing descriptions from a hat: a paranoid semi-violent, a cougar, a mute, etc.

"You want me to play with you, do you, Chief?"

The episode's setup threatened to be "The Dream Team: Star Trek Style", but it managed to be something different. These guys show up again down the road, apparently, even though this deals with Julian's augmented nature in an interesting way, I don't think it's essential in the big picture (it would get lost in the calculations ), so, Potentially Essential.

Trivia: Based on Asimov's Foundation Trilogy with the subject of predicting mass action but being unable to predict the actions of the individual. Earlier drafts had the group sent not for counseling but as a pre-formed think-tank. The actor who played Jack, Tim Ransom, said "I figured he's the equivalent of a guy who drinks forty cups of coffee a day."


It's become clear that around this time having two different promo trailers for each VOY episode became the norm. One was your typical episode preview, the other was tweaked to be more... something.

Normal Promo:


and utterly ridiculous:


VOY 411: Concerning Flight
-Premise: When pirates steal the ship's main computer and other critical equipment, Captain Janeway tries to track down the missing equipment with the help of the holographic Leonardo da Vinci.



-T2Q Comments: I've been really enjoying these DaVinci segments- didn't think I would, though it helps having John Rhyes-Davies to make it interesting. Kinda want a whole episode set in this.

"Earthquakes and idiots. Florence be damned."

The "transporter mugging" is a neat new concept of a way of attacking somebody. Ugh, when i said i might want a whole episode with DaVinci, this is not quite what i had meant...

"Well, this fascinating conversation has left me dry as Vulcan."
"Vulcan?"
"An island off of Sicily. Have you been there?"
"No."

So that ended up being better than I feared- I was concerned that they would take too goofy an approach to DaVinci on an alien world, but they kept it just grounded enough. The rest of the episode isn't anything too special, though. "The villain" only has 2 scenes and there's not much else beyond it. A nice capper to the DaVinci stuff. Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential.

Trivia: Joe Menosky was confident in his knowledge of 15th century Italy and DaVinci's life to claim that everyone of DaVinci's statements is how a late 15th centiry Renaiiansance Italian would interpret an alien world. The glider Janeway and DaVinci ride was made specifically for this episode.

The calculation stats of the Voyager computer core converts to 575 zettaflops, or about 9 quadrillion times the processing power a 300MHz Pentium II (the fastest desktop processor available at the time of this episode's first airing). Under Moore's Law (doubling of power every 18 months) we'll reach this computational power in 2062 in the real world (clearly Voyager was a budget desktop model).

The reference to Kirk's "less than conclusive" claim of having met Leonardo is a reference to TOS: Requiem for Methuselah. The closed captions for the show contain additional dialogue in the final scene, with Leonardo asking if Janeway can speak french and suggesting he might have use of an assistant in Paris. Menosky was very happy with how he wrote Leonardo but was dissastified with the rest of the story- partially stemming from him opposing most of the creative decisions that went into it's development before he wrote it.


Normal Promo:


And a Very Special Promo:


VOY 412: Mortal Coil
-Premise: After being killed on an away mission and then revived by Seven's Borg nanoprobes, Neelix finds himself in a deep existential and spiritual crisis, questioning his faith and the meaning of his existence.



-T2Q Comments: Wildman's child subplot picked up on- her name is Naomi. Ha, the Kazon suck so much even the Borg don't want them. The 3D nebula columns visual of the protomatter here is a lovely visual. Application of Borg medical knowledge. Seven's perspective on death and immortality as a Borg is interesting- having a perfect record of our experiences, thoughts and accomplishments endure diminishing the fear of loss of death, at least partially.

A second vision quest? (crickets...) The Great Forest is on Pandora!

So, this was a pretty solid, generally mature, exploration of loss in faith in an afterlife, though I feel it fails to adequately counter the main claim Neelix's doubts raised of life being pointless without an afterlife- a notion that can be discussed, dismissed (or at least diminished) with ease. Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential.

Trivia: Title taken from Hamlet. The original story of this episode involved Ensign Wildman being brought back to life by the Borg tech, except she's not all there and has a greater connection with death than life- "zombie mom". With her daughter her only link to life, she sets out to kill her daughter so as to be able to revive her with the same techniques so that she might share the experience with her. Though everyone was pretty happy about the story, it was ultimately deemed too extreme by Paramount and Berman, which required Fuller to stop writing the script, even though it was halfway finished at that point.

The next version of the story was reworked to be about Chakotay and him questioning his Native American beliefs after returning from death. After 4 days spent writing this new script, Fuller was once again instructed to stop writing as they wanted to stay away from Native American spirituality and how various cultures frown upon afterlife beliefs.

For the final version, Braga & Menosky did the rewrite on Fuller's first draft. Fuller believed that the grim impact of the episode was lessened by using Neelix "because it's this little hedgehog guy".

The Borg's view of the Kazon here contradicts Locutus's statement that the Borg wish to raise the quality of life "for all species". This is the first reference to the Kazon since the Season 3 premiere. Seven correctly refers to Neelix's lung, singular, providing continuity to the events of Phage. The shot of Neelix attempting to transport is almost identical to a shot when Neelix first beams aboard in Caretaker. A 5th season episode later on, "Night", follows up this episode indirectly with Neelix being diagnosed as having a fear of nothingness.


Up next: DS9 610: The Magnificent Ferengi, DS9 611: Waltz & VOY 413: Waking Moments.

 

DS9 610: The Magnificent Ferengi
-Premise: When Quark's mother Ishka is captured by the Dominion, Quark, Rom, and Nog lead a team of Ferengi into a meeting on Empok Nor with Keevan as their payment.





-T2Q Comments: Well, a Ferrengi episode, obviously. Oh well, here we go...

They have managed to skim an interesting variety of Ferengi together here. Which is interesting given that they don't tend to have all that much variety to begin with. Return of the captured Vorta, Keevan, from Rocks and Shoals. Return to Empok Nor as well.

I like how they manage to make each Vorta very different from one another- they each manage to have their own unique brand of creepy. And he's played by Iggy Pop. heh.

"Family. You understand."
"Not really. I was cloned."

"I hate Ferengi"

The lighthearted tratment of their Weekend at Bernieing the Vorta is a bit grim but amusing- though a Starfleet officer being involved in it doesn't sit well even if he is a Ferengi. Beyond that, this actually was a fun Ferengi episode. Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential. Also, I don't think one needs to have seen Empok Nor to get this episode so this doesn't affect the essentialness of that episode.

Trivia: Originally, it was going to be Zek, not Ishka, who had been captured by the Dominion, but Wallace Shawn was not available. All of the Ferengi here have appeared before- including Lek (though he was unnamed in Ferengi Love Songs). This is the only episode of DS9 where Rom kills someone (a Jem'Hadar). The first of only two episodes to feature two named Vorta.



DS9 611: Waltz
-Premise: Following the destruction of the starship Honshu, Sisko is severely injured and trapped alone on a deserted planet with Dukat, who becomes increasingly unstable.



-T2Q Comments: Ooh, Nebula. The broken-but-recovering Dukat is quite well performed- the slight voice break when he says "patronizing", for example, is a fine little touch.

"It's a general distress call, Benjamin. Whoever gets here first will find one comrade in arms and one prisoner. That's fair, isn't it?"

Head-Weyoun, should be fun...

I like how Sisko manipulates Dukat into confirming what he suspected instead of confronting him about it directly which would have allowed Dukat potential deniability. I also like how Dukat lightly claps SIsko on the side of his body that supposedly suffered severe plasma burns- something he definitely knew about.

Dukat's epic rant here kinda turns this episode into a sort of... I don't want to say bookend or direct companion piece, but at least worthy of a double feature with Duet.

"Do it!"

"I fear no evil. From now on, it's him. Or me."

Well, that was an excellent episode. An excellent episode. Acting as part epilogue to the 10-parter that kicked off the season, as well as a transitory piece (presumably) to set up the next stage of the story. Definitely Essential. One of the best episodes of Trek, period.

Trivia: Original story was centered around exploring Dukat's past and the fantasy future he was constructing for himself inside his head while catatonic during a visit by Sisko- eventually most was tossed out except for the Sisko/Dukat scenes and the head character content. The last line to Sisko from Dukat was origianlly going to be "You too will learn what it's like to lose a child." but this was abandoned so as to not lock in the next direction of the character as well as to avoid having to make every scene with Jake framed with him living under a death threat

The writers were not entirely happy that Dukat had become so popular with fans- they were pleased to have created such a multi-dimensional character with such a charismatic performance by it's actor, but were displeased that the popularity of the villain of the series had some fans actually defending Dukat's behavior during the occupation.

The chorus of head characters was so effective here, they had considered reusing it for Dukat's next appearance but ultimately felt it was a more powerful technique by being used only once. This is the first time a Type-6 shuttlecraft appears on DS9 (having come from the Nebula ship).


Normal Promo:


Ring in the New Year Promo:


VOY 413: Waking Moments
-Premise: The crew begins to experience vivid nightmares, all containing the same mysterious alien.

http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net...ision/latest?cb=20080812201516&path-prefix=en

-T2Q Comments: "Resistence is futile" boom chika-wa-wa. When the creepy dream alien pops up out of the shuttle window, there's clearly an "Excuse me- this is a closed set!" comment to be made.

Would a Starfleet officer who has encountered numerous species (many more intimidating/threatening/scarier in appearance than this dream guy) on a regular basis really react with a terrifying scream to suddenly seeing one, even if in a dream? Startled, sure since the fellow just popped in there, but still.

;Well, the alien's exposition is frank and upfront which is kind of appreciated, but good lord, the dialogue...

"Sometimes first contact is last contact." That would actually be refreshingly different within a single episode.

So, Intrektion?

"I don't understand why you couldn't eject the core!" well, maybe because that system almost never works? I know you did an episode where you had to retrieve an ejected core but, let's be honest, it'd be more reasonable to not understand why you COULD eject the core.

I'm glad Chakotay is so ok about administering a strong stimulant drug on an alien whose physiology's reaction would be completely unknown.

So, yeah, I'm all for plain ol' adventures and such, but it seems to me that if you're going to have an episode about dreams within dreams and exploring races that exist in a dream state, that there should probably have been a point or message to it all. Basically, that was an episode that happened and it felt kinda empty. I'm not sure if I should applaud their not taking the bait of paying off the Kim/Seven dream joke or deduct points for not paying off a setup. Also, like other genre shows that have explored similar concepts, there's still a "Is Chakotay still sleeping?" question lingering by the end as well. However, on the whole Trek has done a lot worse with dreams. Average episode.

Trivia: Chakotay apparently visualizes the moon in an uncolonized state, as Riker mentions in First Contact that the moon in the 24th century looks quite different. First appearance of Torres wearing an over-jacket over her uniform to mask Roxann Dawson's pregnancy.

Up Next: VOY 414: Message in a Bottle, DS9 612: Who Mourns For Morn?, DS9 614: One Little Ship & VOY 415: Hunters.

 

"Destination: Earth Week"


Sarcastic Murder Through the Magic of Editing:

VOY 414: Message in a Bottle
-Premise: Seven of Nine finds an abandoned subspace relay network that has the ability to send a message, or in this case The Doctor, to a Starfleet ship detected in the Alpha Quadrant.



-T2Q Comments: "Far be it for me to turn down an opportunity to become a hero."

I like the look of the Prometheus- it can't be a coincidence that it looks like a badass version of Voyager.



The Doctor imitating his default self actually has better bedside manner, ha. Oh no, Andy Dick? Well, why not?

"Computer, deactivate EMH program." (fizz) "..." (eyeroll) "...computer, reactivate EMH program."

"Is the Federation at war with the Romulans?"
"No, the Romulans haven't gotten involved in our fight with the Dominion."
"The who?"
"(beat) Long story."

"I'm a doctor, not a commando."

It's funny how Doctor Andy (I'll be the adult and refrain from using the alliterative alternate nickname) speaks to the Doctor's medical knowledge like Bones did to the surgeons in the 80's.

"I'm a pilot, not a doctor"

Hirogen are introduced.

"Stop breathing down my neck!"
"My breathing is merely a simulation."
"So is my neck! Stop it anyway!"

Oh, wow- an Akira AND two Defiants! It's Starfleet's most elite unit: the Fan-Service Fleet!





When janeway says "Doctor, report.", I kinda wish the Doctor had said something like "We need to update our uniforms. Purple is in fashion."

Journey home? Progress! It's played a little broad (there is definitely some Shatner going on in Andy's performance) but that was a really fun episode- about the only thing missing is the Doctor's reaction to the replacement Doctor program subplot but I suppose that would make ending on the same scene impossible. It has a very uppity, military marching band score too for it's climax. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: At least a half dozen of the Doctor's jokes in this episode were suggested by Picardo, including the breathing line. Originally, the final scene was shot in the mess hall with a lot of the crew present- it was felt a smaller setting with just Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay would be more effective, so it was reshot.

One of the challenges Andy Dick had to deal with was not being able to wear his glasses, so he was often bumping into things or tripping on stairs. Some comparisons were made between the Doctor and Mark II as being somewhat Frasier-like in their exchanges.

This is the first appearance of a CGI D'deridex Warbird (which, IMO, would explain the darker look and loss of the almost glowing green bio-luminescence feel they had on TNG- damn you, realism!). This is also apparently the first time a Starfleet ship (or group of ships) destroys one on screen. The events of this episode imply that the Romulan from Eye of the Needle was unsuccessful in passing on Voyager's letters to their families.

The Doctor's response to the interrogation threat of deactvation is the same as Spock's to Sela in Unification part II. There is a slight incongruity with the Doctor not knowing about the Dominion, as the events of The Jem'Hadar and The Search took place months before Voyager was lost- and the Federation knew of them even earlier in DS9 Season 2 (Rules of Acquisition). Thus, some kind of retcon of the information being restricted or not updated to an EMH/Voyager is needed. Picardo incorrectly assumed that when Voyager was finally depicted returning home, The Doctor's first contact with Starfleet here would "come back and resonate".


DS9 612: Who Mourns For Morn?
-Premise: Morn dies, leaving his entire estate to Quark, but some of Morn's old acquaintances want a piece of the action.



-T2Q Comments: Morn's dead.


The speaking pattern and inflection of these two brothers... President Logan, is that you?

"You should invest in a better lock.". Quark accuses Odo of being transparent when it comes to the regulation of having to open the storage locker in the security office. You know what else is transparent? The security office's windows. Not exactly the place you'd want to privately inspect what amounts to a safety deposit box.

It ended up being less predictable than I initially feared- President Logan certainly didn't hurt either- though I kinda wish they'd have made this the moment where Mourn finally spoke, not a bad episode but neither is it essential. "Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential"

Trivia: The nature of Morn's never-speaks character was the main resisting factor to writers wanting to do a Morn episode- until they pitched an idea of a Morn episode that barely features Morn. The original episode's idea was for Morn to mysteriously dissapear and the rest of the cast trying to track him down- realizing in their search that, despite knowing him for 6 years, they don't know much about him.The matador painting was purchased by Morn during the auction in In the Cards. The Bajoran that Quark insists sit in Morn's seat is Morn actor Mark Allen Sheperd.



DS9 613/614: One Little Ship
-Premise: O'Brien, Dax, Bashir, and their runabout are reduced in size while investigating an anomaly. Meanwhile, the Jem'Hadar attack and commandeer the Defiant, leaving the runabout crew with no choice but to take their miniature ship inside the Defiant and help Sisko and the others recapture the vessel.



-T2Q Comments: (This apparently is supposed to be set before 613, but aired after 613 because of the extensive FX work).

I like seeing the Runabout and Defiant working in tandem with one another in a way that seems to show Starfleet learning from past mistakes, i.e.: lets' not send a ship in that could get lost or trapped. I know it's been joked about and even addressed by the end of Nemesis, but the whole being-flung-from-seats or blasted by energy surges thing has really started to become repetitive by this point in the franchise. I know it's visually cool to see people shifting to cover those positions and it avoids having to pay an extra to speak dialogue that a regular cast member can now logically deliver, but given how supposedly great and feared Starfleet engineering is, there's no logical reason for them to have not invented and implemented some form of seat belt, emergency combat restraint and/or a damn surge protector by now. Even the Excelsior had those silly amusement park ride safety bars and that was like almost a hundred years ago.

I like the differing details between the elder Jem'Hadar and the younger "alphas". Nice closeup shot of the Defiant. Don't think we've ever gotten that close to her before. Ok, the tiny Runabout flying through the room is a cool little effect (where's my drone version to buy? ha). Beaming into the circuit board had me laughing- I guess I get Kira's point from the opening of the episode. Kinda reminds me of the Tron-inspired episode of Muppet Babies. One could see how Starfleet could make good tactical use out of Pym Particles.

So, one would think this to be a silly concept but it ends up being a rather good and very fun episode- however I don't think anything here is particularly essential in the long run, outside the start of a potential Alpha/Gamma Jem'Hadar rift (note: there were plans to explore this plot line but they were dropped and the two breeds are never mentioned again). Good Episode, but not Necessarily Essential.

Trivia: Jokingly referred to as "Honey, I Shrunk the Runabout" behind the scenes. Kira's role was intended to be the audience's surrogate for the absurd premise. The story of the episode started as a spec script for TNG by Rene Echevarria but wasn't actually pitched to Jeri Taylor until Rene became a staff writer during it's sixth season, where it was rejected. He later pitched it to Michael Piller for DS9 but he also rejected it. He then tried again when Ira Steven Behr took over as executive producer, who also rejected it. Rene spent several years convincing him of the story's potential and Behr eventually gave in.

There was a scene written that was forced by Ron Moore's superiors to be removed from the episode where one of the Jem'Hadar hold a crew member at gunpoint to force Sisko's cooperation. Sisko refuses and reassures the crew member that "It's going to be all right", to which the Jem'Hadar responds "No, it won't" and then blows the crew members head off. Despite loving how it defied the expectations of a Star Trek episode, it was felt it was out of place in a generally comedic episode. Ira and Rene wished they had used more comedic characters than the Jem'Hadar- such as the Pakleds or Harry Mudd (oh, good lord, HELLS. TO THE NOES!!!).

The Animated Series episode The Terratin Incident had the crew of the Enterprise shrunk to similar proportions.


Big Bad Aliens Week:


VOY 415: Hunters
-Premise: Voyager receives a message from Starfleet containing letters from the crew's friends and family.



-T2Q Comments: The events of the last episode have certainly given a dramatic sense of urgency to things- see what happens when you don't ignore/vaguely refer previous episodes?

"What's happened to him?"
"He appears to have suffered a complete osiotamy" actually, it just looks like they left his latex mask on the table.

Station is powered by a mini black hole/quantum singularity, yet they seems surprised someone could do this despite, IIRC, Romulan Warbirds being powered by the same idea.

Neelix as a mail carrier- is that really necessary? Starfleet has the equivalent of e-mail technology onboard and everyone onboard has a communicator, PADD or other device. Reaction to news of the eradication of the Maquis by the Cardassians/Dominion- which I believe is the first we've heard of them after DS9 523: Blaze of Glory- a story which was supposed to be the end of the Maquis arc as far as the DS9 writers were concerned, but not so definitively that VOY couldn't pick up the threads. Well, it seems VOY decided to close it off for good.

Ok, they address the micro-singularity amazement thing as being related to how old it is and someone having that technology in the era it was constructed.

Woah, these guys are huge- I was just commenting the other day while watching Helix where Jeri Ryan first arrives and is towered over by Billy Campbell. I thought i recalled Seven/Jeri being relatively taller than most of Voyager's crew, which would make Billy really tall by comparison. These guys, though, would seemingly tower over Campbell.

I figured they'd shut down this communication network array eventually as a plot point, though I didn't expect them to do it so soon after acknowledging it as an ongoing thread with this episode. It would be nice if the ancient mystery to the stations is explored later on, though- assuming they encounter another down the road. Though one must comment that this communications array has apparently managed to function for 100,000 years even within space full of hostile species. But one day with Janeway? Kaput. Also, I'm so glad that the running subplot of Harry being whiney and depressed over his letter's delay that took up a not-insignificant portion of this episode had ZERO payoff.

Follows up on Message in a Bottle, furthers the Hirogen arc and the Voyager getting home arc, Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Working title was "Communications". The Hirogen were inspired by the largeness of football players. The actors hired were 7 feet tall and then put into platform boots that added to their height. The relay station model is reused from the arrays of the Caretaker and Suspiria (I wonder if there's an actual connection intended there). Roxann Dawson expressed the suggestion that the undecoded message from Starfleet be orders to secure all the Maquis in the brig until they return to the Alpha Quadrant- an idea Robert Beltran agreed with, even if it was not to be. Several details from Jeri Taylor's two crew biography books were canonized with this episode- including several character names of people related to the crew. The rate that Voyager receives the letters from the array is comparable to the speed of a 300 baud modem.

Up Next: DS9 614/613: Far Beyond the Stars, VOY 416: Prey, DS9 615: Honor Among Thieves & VOY 417: Retrospect.

Voyager Resources:

Shuttles: (Unknown Starting Value)
-1 destroyed by Chakotay/Kazon in Initiations, unnamed.
-1 destroyed by Kim in Non Sequitur, Drake.
-1 destroyed by Paris in Partuition, unnamed.
-1 dismantled by ex-Borg Raiders in Unity, unnamed.
-1 lost to Kes's evolution in The Gift, unnamed.
-1 destroyed by Chakotay in Nemesis, unnamed.
-1 destroyed by the Caatati in Day of Honor, Cochrane.
-1 abandoned by Seven in The Raven, unnamed.
-1 captured by Hirogen, destroyed by Janeway's actions in Hunters, unnamed (actually, Cochrane, again).

 

...and the secondary promo for Hunters, due to media-per-post limit:

The Hunt is On:

 

I kinda feel like OLS would pair well with TNG Rascals for episodes that have an inherently silly premise but end up being pretty fun episodes.

 

DS9 613: Far Beyond the Stars
-Premise: Experiencing a vision from the Prophets, Sisko sees himself as Benny Russell, a science-fiction writer in the 1950s, who struggles with civil rights and inequality when he writes the story of Captain Benjamin Sisko, a black commander of a futuristic space station.



-T2Q Comments: (NOTE: Set after 614, though aired first). Papa Sisko returns. Odoless Odo. Nogless Nog. As I believe I've commented on before, doing shows where the alien actors get to overtly appear without the makeup (and the reverse human actors disguising themselves as aliens) runs the risk of breaking the illusion of things, even if it's amusingly self referential- hopefully the gamble pays off here. Quarkless Quark. Martokless Martok. I'll stop.

Eventually.

Dukatless Dukat. Combful Combs.

Damn he's being rough with that drawing. As an artist, that's hurts. I mean, through the jacket sleeve? So he starts to write his assignment at home after an apparently long day at work... what was he doing at work? Jake's accent here is way too goofy.

Star Trek dropping the N-word- not something you'd expect, despite the edge-pushing moments in it's history. Ben's breakdown seems to play to Brooks's strengths while also letting him quirk the **** out.

I think the episode pulled things off pretty well up until the end- not so much the it-was-a-dream thing, since they telegraphed that, but rather somewhat blatantly leaning on the 4th wall in wondering if they are all fiction. Since the show is kind of about breaking the illusion, I can't fault it directly for doing so, just not sure it was entirely worth it- Benny's story doesn't get a conclusion, which I think is what ultimately holds the episode back. Still up til then it was generally well done and seeing the actors in those different-yet-similar incarnations is still fun, so, Good Episode But Not Necessarily Essential.



Trivia: The staff writers in the episode are based on, or inspired by, actual genre writers: Miles=Asimov (his robot-favoring character's first book is published by the same company that published Asimov's first book), Kira=Catherine Moore (who, like Trek's D.C. Fontana, wrote under a name to mask her gender), Julian=Henry Kuttner, Quark is likely Harlan Ellison, Benny draws comparisons to Samuel R. Delaney, whom Brooks spoke to over the phone at some point after this episode.



The "Honeymoon on Andoris" drawing is a parody of King Kong. The reference to "It Came From Outer Space" is a Bradbury reference. Julian's "We're writers, not vikings" is intended to be a "I'm a doctor, not a..." reference. The Galaxy and Astounding Fiction magazine covesr include multiple references to TOS episodes-including matte paintings, episode titles-as-stories, "writers" and characters.



This episode had the working title of 'The Cold and Distant Stars"- which was almost the same as the working title for "Past Tense". The rejected original idea of this episode focused on Jake time traveling to the 1950's only to be revealed he never time traveled at all and was simply the actions of an alien curious about humanity, but the setting and broader concept was reworked down the line into the final episode. In the same year as this episode, Brooks appeared in American History X where his character, like Benny, shows a strong affinity the book Native Son.

This is the only appearance of Michael Dorn on Star Trek without any prosthetics on- although he did appear disguised as a non-Klingon in TNG: Homeward (an episode that also featured Penny Johnson- though she wasn't human in that episode). This is the only DS9 episode with Armin and Rene appearing without makeup (though Rene appeared as Col West in ST6 and another character on ENT). This is the only episode of Star trek directed by a series lead actor that features that actor so heavily. Though the episode aired during Black History Month, it was "just a happy coincidence". This is Avery Brooks' personal favorite episode, as well as Armin's. In a reference to Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a show that Armin had a recurring role on), there is a note over the character's desk that reads "No one would believe that a cheerleader could kill vampires". Buffy would return the homage in an episode with a Spock lookalike. The reason so much time has passed between Kassidy appearances on the show was due to Penny Johnson's obligations to the Larry Sanders Show.


"The Ultimate in Terror":



"A New Enemy Has Emerged":


VOY 416: Prey
-Premise: Voyager rescues a critically ill Hirogen hunter who wishes to finish his hunt against a "resilient species" – a recent enemy of the Voyager crew – as Captain Janeway gives Seven of Nine a lesson in compassion.



-T2Q Comments: Candyman! Tony Todd returns as a Hirogen. I get that they want to make the Hirogen the new big baddies- and often when you introduce a new big bad you have them take down/worf the previous big bad... but shows tend to wait a little longer than less than one season after having introduced that former big bad.

"Flawless kill."
MORTAL KOMBAT!

Hmm, maybe they aren't topping Species 8472 afterall. The exterior reveal of the stowaway is kinda neat.



"You should know I'm a hologram and can't be bent, spindled or mutilated so don't bother trying."

It's kinda cool to see them actually implementing anti-intruder security precautions in places like Main Engineering instead of just adding more red shirts. It adds to the sense of them (finally) learning from previous ship invasions. Hmm, a sequence with magnet boots and pressure suits, kinda feels like they're trying to evoke FC again.

I guess one question is, if this particular S8 alien's ship was damaged in the Borg conflict- that happened a very long distance away, as we are post-Kess "gift" here, so are they just very fast? Or were there other intrusions from fluidic space at different points in this region of space? (actully, you can see Voyager in the cube flashback so that can't be the situation).

One can't help but wonder if Janeway would have the same objections to turning over an enemy if it meant, say, the Borg would grant them safe passage. Seven calling Janeway on her bad choice versus Janeway's generally correct principle is a pretty good debate. But, seriously- one Hirogen ship outguns Voyager, and you already know they cover a lot of space- why piss them off?

So, very good episode overall- the Janeway/Seven arguments are quite good. Definitely Essential.

Trivia: Tony Todd considered his Hirogen costume to be the most uncomfortable thing he ever had to do- with both 4 hour makeup application and an hour and a half costume application requiring a 20 minute warning if you had to pee. But Todd knew it all looked effective "and I just wanted that triptych, to be able to be in all three of the shows". The first act opens with some musical introductory notes that resemble the DS9 main theme.



DS9 615: Honor Among Thieves
-Premise: O'Brien, working undercover for Starfleet Intelligence, befriends the man he will have to betray.



-T2Q Comments: O'Brien undercover- will this be another "O'Brien must suffer" episode? The sets are actually pretty effective here so far.

"We seem to be having a lot of system glitches."
"Happens every time Chief O'Brien goes away."
"I do not understand how his staff cannot keep the station running in his absence."
"Must have left my idiot brother in charge."

Up until the Vorta shows up you mostly forget that this is a Star Trek show- but not in a bad way. They're obviously only using 3 sets but they're used effectively. Dominion/Orion alliance- guess it makes sense that the Dominion would be courting some of the influential secondary powers in the quadrant to bolster their Alpha Quadrant numbers. If it's so important that the Dominion's involvement with this assassination plot remain secret- why bring the Vorta along to arrange the assassination when he could have just had Raymus do so and kept knowledge of the Dominion's involvement to at least 4 fewer people?

So, pretty solid episode- actually wish they'd have cut the 2 or 3 station-based scenes entirely (except for the epilogue) to give the main story that much extra space. Though they don't really explain why O'Brien was chosen for this mission. They say Starfleet Intelligence needed someone outside of SI for obvious reasons, but never why they chose Miles when there's bound to be much better suited officers not in a command position on a key Federation outpost on the frontlines of a major war. Depending on the fallout with the Orion's and how this connects to future episodes, this may be Potentially Essential- and, if not, it's a Good Episode.

Trivia: Original episode concept was a comedic one with Jake accidentally falling into favor with the Orions after saving the daughter of it's leader. While Jake tries to get out of the organization, Quark tries to get into it by pretending to befriend Jake.

Bilby was originally going to be played by Charles Hallahan, but he passed away days before filming began. Recasting to Nick Tate requirred altering the original dynamic between Bilby and Miles from father/son to friendship- something which Behr felt harmed the episode, feeling it was just "okay".

The scene where Raimus and Gelnon beam is uses a newly designed transporter effect. Farius Prime, seen here for the first time, was first mentioned back in The Maquis, Part I. Several characters were on Risa in Season 5 around the time the Starfleet double agent was supposedly working there, including Worf, Dax & Bashir- however, there's no indication we ever saw the character on-screen.


(update continued in next post due to media embedding limit)

 

"A Sinister Secret":


"Who Did It?":


VOY 417: Retrospect
-Premise: Seven believes that a visiting weapons merchant assaulted her.



-T2Q Comments: Seven's "been behaving herself lately". So, after the Janeway/Seven argument at the end of the last episode, we're just going to skip over things and not really follow up? Ok, it looks like they're not glossing over it, that's good. It would have been a wasted opportunity.

I forget if they established this in a prior episode but I'm surprised to see that Seven still has the assimilation tubules in her hand- unless it's a result of the nanonprobe stimulation procedures being performed on her, one would think that would be the first thing to go or be neutralized when bringing a "Borg on board".

I was going to say that the Doctor is being a but too definitive with his statements without an investigation into the physical evidence (particularly as we're dealing with regressed memories of an individual formerly linked to a hive mind), but they do eventually backtrack and address that subject- and quite directly.

Though they don't explain the actual source of Seven's trauma outside of the same Borg speculation I offhandedly had earlier, the rest of the episode ends up being more complex than one would think- especially if one assumes this to be a metaphor for a more heinous act like rape as opposed to false memories, in which case it's message doesn't seem to take sides with the victim or the accused. So, I think for it's complexity there and at least making one think about some issues as well as it's overall execution (minus some points for leaving the source of trauma unresolved), I'll go with Good Episode, But Not Necessarily Essential. However, it's an episode thats worth watching.

Trivia: Original story pitch for this episode was centered around an alien computer dissecting Seven to create an army of drones for galactic conquest. The writers tried to distinguish the story from a TV movie about date rape- feeling this was achieved by removing the sexual elements and adding the Doctor's role into events.


DS9 616: Change of Heart
-Premise: On a mission to recover a Federation informant on the Dominion world of Soukara, Dax is injured and Worf must choose between completing the mission or saving his wife. Meanwhile, O'Brien enlists Bashir's help to defeat Quark in a game of Tongo.



-T2Q Comments: "I have a sense of humor! On the Enterprise I was considered to be quite amusing."
"That must have been one dull ship."
"That is a joke! I get it! It is not funny, but I get it!"



Miles and Julian have scheduled another James Bond program it seems- though I'm guessing it's left off camera due to the legal concerns raised over the last one. Miles without the jacket on is reveled to basically have a TOS uniform on- I don't think we've seen this state of the uniform before, have we? Maybe it just didn't register if Picard did it while wearing red, but the Kirk gold makes it more obvious.

Asteroid sequence is pretty slick- Star Wars homage? The episode really gets by on the performances of Dax's actress and Dorn- they both do a great job here, particularly her. Worf likely not qualifying for his own command now would seem like a significant detail- though the whole "don't send husband and wife on same mission" thing probably should have been implemented before this.

Overall, the Bashir/Miles/Quark subplot isn't really needed here and only vaguely ties to the theme of the episode being related to Dax. Maybe it'll play into Bashir's motivations going forward but I can't see a gambling distraction here being all that necessary in understanding that motivation. Good Episode But Not Necessarily Essential.

Trivia: This episode was inspired by the John Wayne movie The Green Berets, which also starred George Takei. The original B story would have involved Rom, Nog and Rom's ex-wife- the actors have performed this unfilmed B-plot at conventions. Ron Moore purposefully constructed the episode's lighter B-plot to end about halfway through the episode, feeling that the more thorough-mix of dark and lighter material in season 3's Life Support hurt the A-plot (sorry, Life Support's A-Plot still sucked all by itself). Terry Farrell had requested that they kill Dax in this episode after having read the script, knowing she wasn't returning for Season 7 at this point.


Up Next: VOY 418/419: The Killing Game, Part I & II.