The Void (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (The Void) (2)

'Void by name, void by nature' is the impression I had of this episode from memory, and was expecting quite a weak story in consequence, but it's actually one of the purest Treks of the series since it boils down to whether they take the easy, advantageous, and 'realistic' route of behaving as the other ships in this empty region are doing, and pillage anyone weaker to survive. When it comes to survival that's when we're at our weakest in terms of holding to beliefs and ideals: an empty stomach, the quick, but immoral way of filling it, it's a huge temptation, and one Janeway's crew are open to considering. But that doesn't factor in the Captain, the strong-willed, idealistic woman who first stranded them in the Delta Quadrant - she was never going to go back on that attitude for a little comfort and hope. Indeed, she finds hope within the very ideals she strives to uphold, making this a strongly inspirational story. Janeway is not without doubts, we see her expressing the expectations of doubt she expects will come from others, and if Chakotay had forcefully opposed her views and Tuvok had continued putting the boot in about logic dictating a change of strategy (once again showing how ruthless Vulcans can be, and why, despite all their superior skills and abilities, they need the Federation's guidance as much as any race), she might have been persuaded. But that isn't her crew, either, they support her, even if they offer a counter view, no one directly opposes her lead because they're good Starfleet officers, but also they know she's got them through so many trials that they have great faith in her.

Far from being a void, the episode is rich in optimistic pickings, whether it be that continual desire to do right and not prey on the weak, or whether it's the scientific curiosity to investigate something, or in this case, some-one, who may have only tangential relevance for their dire situation. I was touched, for example, by Seven's unthinking decision to give away a portion of her Replicator rations to the mute alien beamed aboard by mistake - all she knows is that he requires food and so she shares what she has with him, a fine Christian attitude that should be an example to all of us! As Janeway later says to illustrate the situation they're in, it wasn't 'efficient' to give away food that could be better used on a valued member of the crew than an unknown stranger, yet she did it anyway: she saw a need and responded. Similarly, Janeway chooses to emphasise their differences to those living a scavenging, predatory life in the void, building an alliance, putting the precious resources they have on the line to accomplish trust and cooperation together, which is key to both their survival and eventual escape entirely. It shows the values and ideals of the Federation in practical use - of course this is a series about just that, so you'd expect them to succeed rather than it be a bleak examination of how they failed, but I kept thinking about how modern Trek would likely take a different tack and wouldn't allow the idealistic nature of things to be the solution, instead more probable to see them compromise and only succeed with great loss, having to sacrifice ideals to save themselves, which would be just as dramatic, but not good Trek.

It does somewhat make you wonder why Janeway hadn't used the alliance tactic in the series as a whole, other than the obvious reality that it would both change the look of the series to have them part of a flotilla of allies, lessen the sense of isolation and danger to them, and most importantly, from a production standpoint, cost a lot more to show multiple ships every time Voyager was seen externally, not to mention the addition of new sets and regular or recurring characters... You can see why such an idea would be avoided, but it would also have made a lot more sense (even if it might have ended up being more like 'Battlestar Galactica' than Trek!), and could have created ever more drama - as we see with this one foray into the idea of an alliance, it's not enough to have the same goal of protection and eventual escape, different personalities and attitudes come into play - Bosaal is picked out as a particularly objectionable sort for his dismissive and superior attitude towards Fantome's people, not recognising them as a sentient group of beings, but mere vermin. But then he's happy to exterminate even those he knows to be sentient as we hear from the provenance of the essential bit of kit he's contributed to the escape plan and Janeway is forced to send him packing with it, using it would be the same as being accomplice to his killings, as hard a position it was to turn down that technology. I didn't quite understand how they got round it in the end, but they came up with some sort of alternative.

It appeared to be hand-waved over with a montage of scenes of things coming together since we don't really understand how Fantome's gang helped them other than to sabotage their enemies, so it was a little pat in the end. There's also some questionable issues to do with beaming and shields in parts of the episode - how did the attackers beam Voyager's supplies away at the start since the ship still had shields? And later, Tuvok says the enemy vessels' shields had been 'penetrated' and Fantome's gang were able to be beamed aboard, but what does penetrated mean! Usually in Trek you cannot under any circumstances beam through a shield (if you could, it would always be short work to drop a Photon Torpedo directly into an enemy Engine Room and detonate it!), although Trek did fudge it a bit over the years, and we know shields can be modulated which suggests it's possible to beam through the 'gaps,' though it's all rather hazy and contradictory. It didn't take away from the excitement of the story, and in all other respects it came up trumps, from the atmospheric visuals of both the ships travelling in complete, starless blackness on the outside, to the dimmed lighting and almost pitch darkness inside (I've never noticed the wrist beacons they use as torches having lights on the back before, so I wonder if that was a new addition?), to the great alien designs - Fantome himself looked somewhat slimy and not something you'd want to touch, General Valen was very reminiscent of a Cardassian, though with silvery skin, and Bosaal with his bisecting cranial ridge down to the chin, while a design I think they'd done before, was nonetheless very effective, especially seen in profile. Plus the return of the Hierarchy potato heads!

The Doctor taking time to develop a language of music with Fantome was also a standout part of the episode, even if the musical notes didn't have the complexity to convey the level of conversations they were supposedly having (though I'm sure the episode's composer, Jay Chattaway, enjoyed the challenge and uniqueness of the 'language' instead of just cranking out the usual background music!). Above all it was a nice showcase for the cast as a whole, very much an ensemble episode since it was a situation that affected them all and there wasn't anywhere to hide (although even here Harry Kim managed to be quite hidden most of the time as he never had anything integral to do). They continue to get the characters right: Janeway with her unassailable confidence, yet not arrogant and occasionally self-searching; the Doctor with his kindness and interest in Fantome (amusing when it's pointed out he hasn't chosen a name in six years, but gives one to Fantome in days!); Seven, similarly (I'm surprised they never brought out an action figure of Gourmet Chef Seven with the apron!); Tom and B'Elanna both with disappointment on their faces at the setbacks and disappointments, yet neither pipes up and expresses frustration with Janeway's methods; Tuvok and his reminder of Vulcan logic; Chakotay, supportive as always, yet still able to bring an alternative view as is his job as First Officer... It was a good mix, and while the dark was best used as temporary atmosphere, I wouldn't want everywhere like that all the time, the visuals sold the futility and how close they were to despair.

The issue of dying for what you believe came up, questioning his Captain, and she says yes, but she's not ready to give up just yet, but it was a good reminder of Starfleet duty and that you've given over your life to the organisation, and that could mean the ultimate sacrifice if it came to it (like Spock or Data). That Janeway considers the Federation Charter a statement of principals rather than practicalities suggests she doesn't have as much belief in it as good guidance for life, but she proves that it is just that since following it led them to alliances and eventual solving of the problem, which shows that perhaps it is practical after all. The idea of everyone in the group despite their disparate views and beliefs, having to work together, was a good message, because it's not about everyone agreeing to believe the same things and have the same attitudes - Bosaal can see Fantome's people as nothing more than vermin if he wants to, that isn't what gets him booted out, but actual violence is the step that goes too far for Janeway. In other words they don't have to agree, and that's maybe the issue nowadays where we're going down a route where everyone must think the same rather than their actions cooperating in general being enough, but then if there are opposing ideologies it's a question of how far to push the rules in whatever direction to accommodate difference of opinion. Anyway, an interesting jumping off point and the nuance of which I again thought would be missing if this were modern Trek.

Some might point to the lack of actual sacrifice in the episode, nobody from Voyager dies, things work as they should, discipline is upheld, and they want more nastiness, a more 'realistic' view and result (although I would point out that our people don't seem particularly uncomfortable with the Hierarchy representatives coming up with a way to spy on any ship at any time - apparently that isn't outside of their ideals!), but on the contrary I felt this was exactly the kind of thing I like seeing in Trek - yes, it's not realistic that everything goes well for them (and in fact, as we saw with the various issues with Valen or Bosaal, they had their trip-ups along the way), but that's why we like Trek, not for hard-edged realism or brooding cynicism that reinforces how glum the outlook of the world is and reflects 'our' experiences, but something that shines out in the darkness, like little Voyager in the void, and reassures and pleases with its show of successful optimism and goodness winning out. It's what Trek's all about. The image of there being no stars would be done again ('Enterprise' had an episode like that), and had been seen on the series before ('Night' - I wish there'd been some reference to that experience and the contrast in Janeway's behaviour here), but it's always a strong visual, shocking compared to what we're used to in Trek - I loved the sense of despair presented with the depiction of Voyager first trying to escape by travelling 'vertically' up the tunnel until it runs out of steam and drops heartbreakingly back down into the dark pool of the void, selling the situation perfectly. The same with sticking to the principals where you're almost thinking maybe Janeway should just allow them to use Bosaal's technology in order to get out, and then part ways feeling bad about it, and at least they escaped, but that just shows how strong the temptation was. Same with her refusal to steal from the enemy when she has a chance and nobly only takes back her own.

We hear that one of the crews Voyager allied with possessed technology that tripled their Replicator efficiency, and when you consider our ship was top of the line only a short time ago when it launched and must therefore have the best Starfleet could provide, cutting edge tech with the Gel Packs, etc, this must be an amazing race of people to be able to out-efficiency the Federation, maybe a more permanent alliance is in order! At least they should mention how well the Replicators are doing in subsequent episodes as we assume they have the knowledge to keep it going now. I liked the design of Fantome's race but for one thing: their chubby fingers didn't look capable of tapping in anything on the little PADDs they were using to communicate musically! But they were well acted, obviously this would have been Jonathan Del Arco's final role in Trek since he never showed up in 'Enterprise' - best known for the ex-Borg, Hugh, in a couple of 'TNG' episodes, he'd return a couple of decades later for 'Picard' Season 1, only to be nastily killed off. Oh well, at least he could come back as Fantome to this day, but it wouldn't have been any good for the 'Voyager' almost-spinoff, 'Prodigy,' since his character doesn't speak! Del Arco wasn't the only actor to return for a role in the next era of Trek as Scott Lawrence (Garon, the first to join the alliance), was in 'Into Darkness' aboard the USS Vengeance, not much of a credit, but it's something, I suppose. And I got the 'Babylon 5' reference with Valen, having watched the entire series (and everything else in that franchise), since last seeing this episode, but forgot the actor who played him, Robin Sachs, was also in that series. This episode wasn't a classic, but it was far from being null and void.

***

Prophecy (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Prophecy) (2)

Theeeeeeere's Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, starboard bow, there's Klingons on the starboard bow, starboard bow, cap'n... This is a chance to see what the series might have been like had it been set in the Alpha Quadrant, and there is something appealing about a herd of the warrior race descending on our little ship, especially as at this point in Trek's production there weren't many more of those traditional stories about familiar races due to 'DS9' ending and 'Enterprise' being barely a twinkle in its Daddies' eyes, so for all we knew this could be the only proper Klingon tale we'd ever see, and that gave it added weight and increased its delight. And it is all very Klingon, right from the assured mind of longtime Trek boffin and details enthusiast Larry Nemecek (among others), whose mark you can clearly see in both how well Trek lore is adhered to, and how minor issues were dealt with, leading to a satisfying conclusion that comes down on neither one side or the other in a debate about the efficacy of prophecy. Being a very secular series it of course throws up a lot of scepticism about the realities of faith, belief and tradition, showing up such things, at least in the specific context of this sect, but which can easily be interpreted as an examination of the dangers of such beliefs to upend a society, yet at the same time allow plenty of room for interpretation from a perspective of believers in faith in their own lives, a subtle and balanced approach that means it can be taken various ways.

As we see with the main Klingon sceptic, T'Greth (most of Grethor in his name, meaning Klingon Hell, maybe not a coincidence?), who constantly challenges his leader's assertions about B'Elanna Torres' unborn daughter being the long-sought saviour of their people, the Kuvah'magh. Interestingly, T'Greth was played by Sherman Howard, notable as Captain Endar in 'TNG' ('Suddenly Human'), and another role in 'DS9' ('Shakaar'), while his fellow plotter, Morak (Paul Eckstein), who numbered Jem'Hadar and Hirogen among his roles on both 'DS9' and this, marked his fourth role on 'Voyager.' As the story progresses we find Captain Kohlar is actually leading his people astray, having tired of their generational journey and wishing to put down roots and end the endless search begun so long ago - he's jumped at the unlikely opportunity presented to him in the form of B'Elanna (as she and Tom discussed, the odds of them stumbling on the only ship in the Quadrant with a Klingon aboard were as likely as the odds of the pair of them getting married and having a child in the first place, which appears to me that such odds are an almost impossibility, they were so great, lending credence to the prophecy in the first place), and as Klingons do, burns his bridges at first chance - in this case literally burning his Bridge (and the rest of his ship), by initiating self-destruct, causing Voyager to have no choice but to take them all aboard.

At this point we have to talk about the beauty of the old D7 ships, the class seen in 'TOS,' since this episode is an example in how to update something without losing its essence - it's not ten times bigger than it should be, it actually looks fairly small compared to the broad length of such battlecruisers we'd seen in previous iterations of 24th Century Trek, but it has a little more texture to it. We don't get a really good look at it, partly because it cloaks a lot during its battle with Voyager, and it doesn't last very long, but it just looks right and was a wonderful idea to bring it in, showing the right thinking behind the episode in contrast to that seen in modern Trek where it's all about making things BIGGER and flashier and... less true to the history. At the same time you could complain that the scene where all two hundred Klingons are beamed aboard Voyager was pushing it a little in what Federation tech is capable of. I'm not sure if we'd been in a situation where this ship in particular had needed to beam that many at one time and it did seem a little too convenient, but true to form, the episode comes back around to this unspoken concern many a true 'faithful' may well have had floating around in their heads while watching, and not only clears it up, but makes a virtue of it by turning it into part of the plot! A Klingon looking to take over Voyager craftily comments on how much superior its Transporters are compared to his old vessel allowing Kim to explain they don't usually beam so many due to safety concerns, so bravo for deftness of writing.

I'm not sure it was wise to beam all these Klingons into the Shuttlebay, it could have been dangerous: they might steal the Shuttles to exit the ship, or even blast their way through the doors, and while unlikely, it was a major security concern. I don't think we saw any actual vehicles in that space, so it could be they were beamed to a Cargo Bay or possibly even out into space to accompany the mothership (though we never see any in shots of Voyager, so that's not very plausible). Speaking of security concerns, though, you'd think Tuvok would keep the door to his Quarters locked, especially at a time when unknown Klingons are aboard in large numbers, yet Neelix breezes in while the Vulcan's relaxing in either a robe or his pyjamas with not even a door chime to warn him of the Talaxian's intent, but then I suppose that was the point - if Neelix had been at the door it would have been easier for Tuvok to deny him entry rather than him settling down and emptying his stuff on the floor as he did. I would say this somewhat B-plot was the missing piece of the episode, as having Tuvok and Neelix share Quarters sounds like a great episode idea on its own (I can imagine it happening somehow in ordinary day-to-day operations if there was some kind of radiation leak and no other alternative than for him to come and stay for a few days), harking back to the early days in much the same way as Odo and Quark on 'DS9,' both pairings which weren't explored as much as you might think from the success of their scenes together.

The real B-story is another entry in Harry Kim's difficult path with the opposite sex, this time a statuesque Klingon warrior woman taking a liking to him so that he's reduced to crawling through the Jefferies Tubes to avoid her until Neelix happily takes her off his hands. A questionable side to the story, but then Klingons, especially the female ones, have often been shown to be aggressive in their pursuits, so it's hardly out of character. Klingons aren't supposed to be something we look up to (other than literally), they represent the violence of humanity, but here they also represent the deception of false religion when Kohlar prefers to mislead his people, interpret the ancient scrolls to achieve his end, and all because he wants them to settle on a planet instead of continuing to wander. It doesn't do much for B'Elanna's faith in her Klingon heritage, even though it appears to provide a nostalgic aside when he gets her to join him in praying to Kahless for their ancestors. Some interesting points raised here, since Kohlar wouldn't know that Kahless 'returned' to his people, although I think it was known that he was a clone of the original, or was it, it's been a while since I watched 'Rightful Heir'? Either way, this sect's been out of contact with their culture (might have been fun to have them all be flat-forehead 'TOS' versions of the race to further tie to the 23rd Century from which they came, but I suppose the genetic virus was already active and would have mutated them along with most of the Empire wherever they went), so wouldn't know anything about that, unless they took time to read up on recent Klingon history in Starfleet databases - possible, but not very likely.

The other notion I took from the scene was that Sto-Vo-Kor isn't up to much if the dead can't rest there unless the living honour their memory! You live an honourable life, you die an honourable death and head off to honourable Klingon Heaven, and yet there's still no peace unless someone back home cares enough to pray for you? Tough system! Unless this is yet another interpretation designed to reinforce traditions and faith rather being something of substance - Kohlar's behaviour calls into question Klingon ethics where it concerns their beliefs, and although he's only one man, he's also the leader of this sect that has been travelling for four generations, apparently. There was a slight issue with the timing of it all, since Kohlar claims more than a hundred years ago his Great-Grandfather was part of this sect, but since the race live for two hundred-plus years this guy could still have been around and I'm not sure it adds up that there would be so relatively few after all that time when they can live so long. At the same time they provide an out for this, besides the Klingon predilection for battling anyone that stands in their way: this disease that afflicts them and can come at any time, or so I read it, though it's also referred to like old age. It was a touch convenient that T'Greth would fall victim to it right in the middle of the Bat'leth fight with Paris, and it almost seems like they should either have gone for a battle to the death, or have Tom somehow beat him fair and square, though it's a bit much to believe a human who can barely have picked up the weapon would be trained to proficiency in the little time he had before the fight.

It's possible he regularly trained with a Bat'leth in a Klingon holoprogram to impress B'Elanna, but then again Klingon stuff doesn't tend to impress her and Tom usually prefers more old-fashioned programs. Odd we don't see any kind of training montage with Kohlar coaching him, but I assume time constraints put paid to that. My first thought when T'Greth collapsed was another deception from the master, Kohlar, ensuring victory for the Father of the Kuvah'magh at all costs by poisoning his friend - I do like that they appear to be friends and at least Kohlar calls him that, but there's also so much animosity from T'Greth, while Kohlar barely bats an eyelid, not offended at all. Very Klingon. The episode succeeds in its opening of the eyes of T'Greth to become a full believer in what Kohlar was only using as a useful circumstance, since the Kuvah'magh did save them. I'm not sure if this Klingon prophecy was meant to be for it saving the whole race or just this specific sect, in which case it could be called a self-fulfilling prophecy since if they'd never set out to fulfil it, they'd never have met the Kuvah'magh (unless it was when she's finally born and back in home space, but then certain things couldn't have fallen into place in that scenario). Kohlar came across as a bit of a bad leader in the sense that this group has been on this mission for so long and yet now he wants to sabotage it, even though it's for good reasons and the care of his people that motivates him. There's a good sense of the mysterious nature of prophecy finding a way to come true despite scepticism, but at the same time Kohlar's one of those negative stereotypes of a manipulator - interpret the scrolls to make them consistent with B'Elanna's life, his answer!

There's probably a word for an ordinary character who becomes the significant figure of their race, it's a bit of a trope of sci-fi and fantasy, especially in Trek where we have Sisko the key man in Bajoran religion, Worf (and Picard), integral to Klingon politics, Odo the bridge to his entire people, etc, and now Torres is to be Mother to a Messiah figure (again, unclear whether meant for this one sect or for all Klingons since it doesn't seem like they particularly need a change, being at peace with the Federation, for example). And of course modern Trek is full of 'superheroes' that are super-special - at least it wasn't Torres herself, but her child, and something that could have been picked up on in future had they ever wanted to play with Klingon politics and religion again. As is often the case with Trek, faith is often shown as being blind: what evidence did their ancestors have when beginning their journey, only their faith! But faith in what, why should they give up everything to follow some scrolls without any other kind of proof or motivation? I suppose Klingons are quite stubborn and once they get an idea in their heads they simply follow it to its conclusion, or death, so it's not going against type for them to act this way. In fact the only real fault I can find in the episode is Harry Kim claiming he cut himself shaving, since however they shave, I can't imagine it would be with a naked blade (they are not Klingons!), it would be some super-safe and super-effective technology doing the trimming. But even there, he was just making up stories to hide the fact he'd been bitten by Ch'Rega, so no real problems there other than if the Doc had been taken in, which he wasn't. Qapla'! pItlh!

***

Repentance (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Repentance) (2)

If anyone ever says 'Voyager' couldn't do complex stories or deal with morality this is a great example to hold up in response. Watching it, you experience the conflict of struggling to believe the change of heart (or more specifically, mind), that has overtaken the convicted murderer, Iko, while simultaneously wanting it to be true. And yet also feeling the need for justice and punishment. It could make Trek look rather soft and naive if his was the only story of the episode, that this horrible criminal, intent only on unloosing pain on a hostile universe, should be so easily 'cured,' if behaviour can be seen as something to be cured, and then go on to live a productive life that we'd never know about because the ship is always moving on. If Seven had had her way perhaps Iko could have become a recurring character and shown rehabilitation in action, week to week, but this wasn't really the series for that, and it doesn't end all pat and a nicey-nice showing that remorse and resolve to live right works, happy ending and all (even though life goes on, so it wouldn't have been an ending). But we don't have that reward, Iko has changed, we can be sure through both the medical evidence and with his reaction to a chance to exact revenge on the hardbitten gaoler who is so frosty through experience with these violent men that he won't even admit the chance of a change. It's a harsh lesson, one that Iko won't be able to benefit either himself or his society from, since where he comes from they give all power of sentencing to the victims.

Victimhood was the key point that I took away from this, because it is unpleasant to think that anyone could get away with the full stop on a life of these heinous crimes, no way back, and you don't want to identify and sympathise - there's a good chance the sly, evil man is playing with you, manipulating any way he can. I felt this was a good episode for today's times because for one it's against capital punishment and reminds us of the Federation position, while also spelling out the arguments for such justice when Seven argues with the Doctor who is entirely uneasy about transporting these murderers to execution, perhaps the biggest reason being the chance for redemption. But a society controlled by victims is a society without objective reasoning and without mercy, and it's frightening that we seem to be heading toward that dystopia where every little emotional distress caused someone can be viewed as a crime, whether it was the victim's sensitivity or way of life that caused them to be more susceptible to such distress, or not - the idea of offence being an offence in law. It also means to be a victim is to be in a position of power, a source of recompense for perceived wrongs, rather than strict, objective justice, and shows the result when Iko has no second chance despite all the evidence stating that he should, even if it was to live to make recompense to the victims of his crimes.

But the episode isn't one-sided, it shows the leering face of those who would escape true justice by throwing up excuses, by manipulation of those who would try to help them as Neelix is taken in by Joleg, the self-styled victim of racial profiling - his people are given stiffer sentences, are viewed more suspiciously, are the real victims of society, and while Neelix sees that much of this appears to be true, we're still dealing with a crafty individual who will use whatever means he can to avoid his guilt and sentence. In contrast to Iko, Joleg is charming, polite, good company, but is shown to be just as ruthless when his brother arrives in a tough little ship to break him out, and almost succeeds. While it was necessary for the story and was an exciting part of the episode, none of that made much sense: Voyager is up against one tiny ship, yet somehow it causes enough damage that the forcefields in the Cargo Bay go down! How could that happen with the limited damage it was even able to do, let alone the necessity of such key systems needing to be the last to fail (what about emergency bulkheads sealed by forcefields?). It also makes Starfleet Security look useless that they're unable to prevent a rush of these criminals when they have the weapons (wide-angle stun setting?), and are so easily overpowered. The one other mistake in that sequence was the Phaser Joleg hands to Iko to finish off gaoler Yediq was surely on kill setting, but when Iko instead gives it to Yediq, he shoots the others and it seemed more like a stun (certainly we aren't told, but if Joleg had set it, then he'd have put it on the highest setting and completely vaporised his enemy).

I saw a lot of good Christian values in the willingness of Seven and Neelix to visit those in prison, to dole out civility and respect for them as people rather than merely holding strictly to duty, even if Neelix uses the excuse of protocols in how prisoners are treated - it was going above and beyond for him to play Kadis-kot with Joleg, or to agree to send off the transmission to his brother, and it's not like Neelix to be so easily played, but being aboard Voyager did emphasise the softer aspects of his nature to the extent it was like he'd found a loving family and had let go of the rough edges he'd needed for survival, so it does show that even too much safety and comfort can weaken the instincts, though I'm sure he'd rather it was that way than the alternative of being a drifter who doesn't trust anyone. Seven being willing to assist the Doctor in treating Iko was another great example of the being Janeway had helped to create through her tough love and support - even though Iko had threatened to kill her and held her hostage, or later, the Doctor asking for her help, she remains matter-of-fact and has no strong feelings either way. She doesn't wish to spend any more time in his presence than she needs to, but she's neither frightened nor horrified by him. Part of that must be due to the parallel Seven can't help but see between them, and this is another key element of the plot that raises it above basic action or drama.

She still feels the guilt of what she was made to do as a Borg and showing what mentorship can do for someone, she strives to give Iko the support she received from Janeway when his apparent conversion has become irrefutable. The truth of it is clear in the way he no longer gains pleasure from hurting others and simply wants to die for his sins until Seven helps to show him that there could be a future for him - another strong Christian lesson in the idea of one person being killed for their crimes, and yet Seven has found redemption, despite the unfairness of what she did in the past. Without intending it, the writers created a strong illustration of God's grace, shown in how Seven was treated, rehabilitated and now lives productively having learned how to live, even though she still struggles with feelings of guilt for her past, all very inspiring. It's still perhaps a little too easy to suggest major crime is the result of a 'neurological defect' rather than a choice someone makes, and that Iko was in no way responsible, but that's all part of the moral complexity of the story and would provide ample discussion, as the most interesting Treks do, something we don't really see any more as moral positions are increasingly confused in today's world.

The equivalence of what Neelix' game board might be worth to him as opposed to a detached judge, was another point of interest: to the judge it's merely a board, to Neelix it could be a priceless family heirloom, but you'd also think that such circumstances would be taken into consideration since there's a definite value judgement to be made, if proof could be given. I liked that Tom Paris, Voyager's resident ex-con, mentioned his time in the Federation penal colony and his experience of everyone convicted having a 'story' and not to take them too seriously, but perhaps he could have been more involved in the plot due to his background. Then again, maybe that would have been too obvious, Neelix and Seven's interactions with the prisoners were full of potential, but you could do the same story with each of the series' characters and come up with different approaches each time, the hallmark of a great collection of characters. There's even a new way of looking at the Doctor when he succinctly explains to Iko that he's made of light, which is why Tuvok's Phaser left him unhurt, to which Iko responds wistfully that he wishes he was made of light - a poetic idea that is more than the mere science of holograms can express since it says so much about Iko, not to mention the Doctor. There was one thing about that, though, as the Doc says Tuvok's friendly fire may have caused a feedback loop in his emitters, but surely the emitters are separate so the beam only went through his visible form (for that matter, we know he can lose solidity when he chooses, so it might have been easier to simply walk away from his captor!), if he meant THE emitter it'd have made more sense, but being in Sickbay he wasn't wearing it.

If there're nitpicks to be had, I'd also cite the idea of setting aside the Cargo Bay and building a whole new set of cells! I can understand the Brig might be too small, but can they really afford to expend all that Replicator energy on a temporary building project? It was necessary for the story, and you can tell story is king, and it certainly doesn't affect what is a powerful drama, but with only a few tweaks here and there they could have had a watertight episode that only adds another layer of satisfaction for viewers. I'm also unsure about the Prime Directive being cited since surely that doesn't apply when dealing with a warp-capable species, which these appeared to be, but then the PD tends to be there as a buffer whenever there's some issue to deal with.

Casting added much to the story with Tim De Zarn (whom I'd confused in my mind with Francis Guinan - Zar in 'Live Fast and Prosper'!), who goes all the way back to 'TNG' ('Starship Mine'), in his fourth and final Trek role (to date!), as Yediq, the gaoler who finds himself shocked at the realisation of Iko's genuine reform. Jeff Kober who was so strong as Iko would return in a less memorable role on 'Enterprise' ('Shadows of P'Jem'), Greg Poland (presumably the Security Officer that yells at Yediq to stop beating Iko), had played an Elloran in 'Insurrection,' and the familiar face of FJ Rio was in his fourth of five Trek roles, most notably as semi-recurring Muniz on 'DS9,' whom I best remember him as, but would have one more Trek role in 'Enterprise' (to date!), with very similar alien makeup, perhaps a reuse or modification? If 'Voyager' had had more successes with its morality plays like this one it may have gained a better reputation in those stakes like 'DS9' and 'TNG' (perhaps even 'TOS'), but it's not what I tend to think of the series for, especially as Janeway is so inconsistent across the years, and while at one time the action would have been enough, the way things were shot or the effects work eventually looks basic or of a time, but the power of story never fades. It's almost up there with 'Duet' on 'DS9' as an examination of crime and justice and is something Trek has done so well in the past. The only equivalent I can think of nowadays is the 'SNW' story 'Ad Astra Per Aspera,' a thoroughly boring and wrongheaded courtroom 'drama,' and it's clear Trek's current shape doesn't have much room for anything beyond the action and effects - I imagine in time that will show itself up, while a classic like this one will, and has, stood the test of time.

****

Lineage (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Lineage) (2)

It's so refreshing to see a B'Elanna story this season, she's one of the characters to have been pushed to the back, much like husband Tom, so it was very pleasant to get an episode devoted to them. Of course if this were 'DS9' we'd have had such things ongoing, woven in between the larger plots, but in this case the Paris' baby troubles are the A-plot and there is no B. That's a shame as these things can sometimes benefit from shifting attention away only to hit you smack in the face when we return to it, but B'Elanna's underhand tactics are quite shocking enough when she goes to the extent of forcing the Doctor to perform an operation to 'correct' the DNA in her unborn baby so it doesn't have to go through the trials of being an outsider in the way B'Elanna did. It's actually a very touching story that shows even someone as intelligent and developed as her can still have deep emotional issues related to the past, to the extent she genuinely believes her Father left her and her Mother because in a fit of pique, her child self told him to! What a burden to carry through into adulthood, and may explain a lot about how she ended up in the Maquis (though fortunately it being Trek, it's led to a happy ending with a fulfilled life aboard Voyager). Her Dad was right, though: you have to learn to be a little less sensitive. It's a great lesson, especially for today as every little difference that isn't immediately accepted is now basically a crime and the pursuit of some kind of mythical perfect mental health is overturning reality and the safety net of democracy to become an ideological dictatorship.

Such a world where no one ever gets teased is also a world where no one ever grows a thick skin and every little feeling is magnified and deified into being something we all must bow down to, so I suppose it's just another form of idolatry, but all because of a simple inability to stop taking ourselves so seriously and relax! The perils are shown starkly here because while B'Elanna is developed and accomplished, she's been dragging around emotional turmoil her whole life, a guilt she didn't need. It probably is hard enough to be Klingon in a more 'genteel' human setting as it is, let alone to be living with the lie that you're responsible for the splitting up of your parents. Usually Klingons are the life and soul of everything, no compunction about cutting loose and saying or doing whatever they feel like, though also with a strict honour code governing their ways and society. At least in theory - as Worf showed, trying to live a truly honourable life has great pitfalls and troubles, and rather than take on such an approach, B'Elanna's always had the opposite view: to avoid Klingon nature as much as possible. No doubt Starfleet of old Trek would be considered restrictive to alien natures by the fact that they have their own strict code of discipline and obedience to structure that Klingons would find distasteful and 'soft,' and if aliens in modern Trek weren't exactly the same as humans, there'd be outcry that their alien needs are being ignored, and this just goes to show the strength of how old Trek did things, and the real lessons and values that can be learned from it in consequence of that.

Inclusion is one of the things that worked best about this episode as all the main cast have something - Neelix is still the most underused of the crew, but we know now that Ethan Phillips was suffering from the makeup so they deliberately used him less, which was a sad development as he was one of my favourites in the earlier seasons. But it's Tuvok, the Father of four, who Tom gravitates toward for advice, while of course the Doctor eagerly and immediately puts together a ninety-point plan (or whatever), to cover training and preparation for every aspect of the birth and parenthood, something the couple should have foreseen! I loved that Tom goes to see Seven and Icheb whom he trusts, to question the Doctor's change of mind, and it's the young man who realises the errors in the hologram's data - as an aside, I thought B'Elanna was joking when she sternly tells Icheb she didn't give him permission to work on the upper level of Engineering after she'd been all sweetness and light prior to that, and maybe she was just putting on a playful remonstrance, but later you realise she's suffering mood swings as a result of pregnancy so it all makes sense. I'd forgotten all about the baby coming, and it's for the best that Neelix didn't get awarded Godfatherhood status since he'd not even be aboard the ship when the little tyke was born in the finale! It makes you realise how extreme his decision to leave the ship would be since we're reminded here that he's the Godfather of Naomi Wildman, and he wasn't going to be much use in that role separated from her by so much! (Makes you wonder if the Doc becomes Godfather to each generation of Paris descendants now we know he's still active a thousand years later in 'Starfleet Academy'!).

Chakotay has some nice moments and shows his tact, just when B'Elanna needs a friendly face, or when it's difficult for her and Tom to talk. And Janeway is similarly wise and Motherly in her approach to the various situations, staying out of the marital discord rather than taking a side. But it seems to me there was a very clear side to take in Trek lore since we know genetic modification is banned in the Federation, and while they aren't technically in the Federation, at the same time they are, because like an embassy in a foreign country, they carry the Federation with them, their ship representing it in this far-flung Quadrant of the Galaxy. I suppose it's never been minutely spelled out exactly what is and isn't deemed acceptable under law - we know eugenics is off the table and enhancements are also a big no-no, but it makes sense there's some allowance for genetic adjustment for a clear defect as in the case with mini-B'Elanna's curvature of the spine which will have a detrimental effect on mobility, etc. But surely erasing racial DNA from a baby would be more than merely frowned upon, that seems entirely wrong since, as Tom argues, they'd be changing who she is, it would no longer be simply adjusting a problem, but taking an ideological stance, like Nazi's demanding blue eyes and blonde hair, and that's quite horrible and creepy to think. Yet Janeway is willing to go with the Doctor's recommendation and he, even before the modifications to himself, is merely 'dubious' rather than outraged as Tom rightfully is, so it seems they hadn't quite tied down how Trek should deal with such things, which is obviously a much greater issue in our modern times.

Genetic modification in Trek has become yet another 'minority rights issue,' which means we're supposed to have sympathy and support for those who have been enhanced, despite the fact they've been given an unfair advantage in life, simply because it's a mirror of other minority groups that have come about because scientists can do a thing, so they don't stop to consider whether they should. Fortunately, the kind of political twisting seen in modern Trek (most obviously in Number One's court case in 'SNW'), isn't really an issue here, so it retains it's strong anti-tampering stance and remains a good, positive lesson for today. You could accuse it of being almost a soap storyline, except that while messing about with a baby's genetics was still sci-fi back then, it's all too possible now and will only become more common as sense goes out the window. And it is a powerful story, mainly thanks to showing flashbacks to B'Elanna's childhood, meeting her Father, and discovering more about the place she was in at the time her parents separated, and repercussions of some casual words dropped in confidence that she overhears. It's a showcase to, and warning of, the damage the tongue can do to a person's psyche. We'd already seen B'Elanna's Mother in Season 6 so it was a nice symmetry that we got to see her Dad, John Torres, too (especially good that we'd see him once more before end of season), and he comes across as a sensible, sympathetic guy with family troubles given a Trekky twist since it's about living with a Klingon wife when you're human.

Trek lore continues to be added to, and it makes sense: the Doctor says Klingon traits remain dominant for several generations, which is exactly what you'd expect from such a forceful race, and we also get discussion of their redundant organs and how this can be an advantage, not something you'd willingly take away. Then we get a return to the old buddy-buddy scenes between Paris and Kim, when the former goes to stay in his Quarters after the falling out with B'Elanna - Harry's suggestion that perhaps pregnancy taking so long has its purpose in giving you time to let it sink in, was quite profound, although I think it's also about anticipation and looking forward to an event in the future where you're forced to wait rather than having everything now, as in today's culture. I liked that there's never even a mention about the possibility of not having the baby, something I feel certain in today's world we'd be forced to consider, but here life is simply to be celebrated and when I watched it in the past I'd never have even thought of such a thing, which shows yet again how ideological our times have become. It's amazing that this is only the second baby on Voyager (not counting the Borg baby), you'd think there'd be quite a contingent by now, but I suppose they had to be careful from both an in-universe perspective (can't have too many crewmembers off or the ship won't run), and production side (babies are difficult to film with), so I suppose it's somewhat unsurprising.

It's a very singular story, there isn't much going on beyond B'Elanna's inability to handle what's happening, and in consequence not a lot to write about, but while I wouldn't quite say it's a classic episode, I do think it's quite a strong one, and the fact they were able to bring in such a characterful story this late in the series is something to applaud, though as I mentioned, the series would have been improved if they'd managed to weave in their everyday lives more with the big, sci-fi plots, as they used to do much more in earlier seasons. Instead, it tends to be either/or when it comes to development which makes the tone of the season less consistent and loses that extra layer that it could have had. Flashbacks weren't something common to Trek, so it was a useful device to be able to show how things were for B'Elanna rather than merely tell us, as it brings her past alive and fills in some gaps. That it has a satisfyingly happy ending (even though it's not the end, but it is the end of this 'segment' of their life that we see), only improves the episode and makes it a joyful experience.

***

Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning

 Blu-ray, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning (2025) film

Long, bloated, comfortable stunt-mush was what I expected, and that's pretty much what I got, they aren't going to change the formula at this stage and at least by 'M:I4' they'd settled into a repetitive rut that was enjoyable enough, but not very different film after film. This one bucks the trend in some ways: yes, he still has long hair this time, it's even commented on, and the gang's all here (with one exception), there's gadgetry and stuntery, but it's a lot less wisecracking, there's a much more serious tone. I appreciated that, but where was the thrill and excitement of those early entries in what became such a long-running series. It chugs along like a behemoth as if it's got the weight of the seven previous films dragging it down, but it's not like it's crucial to have seen them - even the previous film of which this is a direct sequel is summed up at the start, as you'd expect for newcomers, and while it's fun to see the series tie in to some of what came before, like the film as a whole, it's rather heavy-handed. I was relieved they didn't try and make every film and villain lead to this moment, although there was some of that with the Rabbit's Foot, or the 'Anti-God' device, somehow connected to the Entity (maybe - I didn't quite catch all the details), and Jim Phelps' son, Jim Phelps, showing up (I've watched every episode of the series from the 60s and 70s in recent years, but it took them revealing police detective, or whatever he was, 'Dan Briggs' to be Phelps, Jr., for me to remember Briggs was the name of the original IMF leader!). It was nice in some ways to see clips from the other films, but I dreaded the retroactive turn into some major plot of interconnectivity that would push even the bounds of this series' believability! But it didn't.

The other thing that gave me pause early on was this cult of the Entity that was given a quasi-Christian feel with the adherents talking about Noah and the Ark and the flood wiping everyone out, but again, fortunately that side of things got about as much development and depth as most plot points (though someone does mention Noah again later, saying something about he must have wondered what it was all for - destroying the wickedness of the time and restarting, but fortunately, if anyone knew their Bible they'd know a second worldwide flood was promised never to happen, sealed with the sign of the rainbow when the atmosphere of the planet was changed forever), and it all settled down into a reasonably inoffensive trudge. What we're all waiting for, and it seems the film is, too, is the Big Stunt, the one Tom Cruise gets to do for real. I first thought it might just be the vehicle rolling over earlier in the underground car chase, but that was too small fry to be 'it' and then I remembered the Blu-ray case and its image of an upside-down biplane, so I knew what was coming, and it was almost worth seeing the film for, but my advice for the curious but uninvested would be to skip straight to that and bypass all the needless wild goose chase - a goose chase makes it sound more exciting than it was! It really was a stodgy mass of grind up to the big moment, and I sometimes found it hard to fathom characters' motivations. I suppose Gabriel, the big villain, whom we never learned any more about, simply wanted to control the entire planet and remake it in his own image, but he wasn't the most interesting opponent (if not the worst we've seen, either - that award still retained by the old guy in 'M:I4' who... pretty much wanted to do the same thing).

The big early 'shock' was Luther Sloan, the loyal computer whizz who's been in every film to lesser or greater extent since the beginning, the only one to be alongside Ethan all the way across this thirty year series, is killed, and setting the style, it's in a bit of a needless, pointless way as if merely to up the jeopardy, but I can imagine the actor didn't fancy running around at his age any more. His role was largely taken over by Benji (to the extent this supposed 'Q Branch'-style boffin is first involved in an actual fight, albeit one that ends with a bookcase on top of him, and later given team leader status when Ethan isn't sure he's going to make it back, which is patently ridiculous!). All the way through I was expecting Luther's demise to be a blind and really he'll show up at the end, alive and well, 'surprise!' It was purely due to the moment of death not being shown on screen. I was almost as equally surprised that Rebecca Ferguson didn't return as I'd thought it had been confirmed that she wasn't really dead in the last film and she'd be a part of this one somewhere, so right to the last scene I was expecting her to appear. I wasn't surprised they didn't kill off Ethan, ever since they almost did at the end of 'M:I3' and then Jeremy Renner seemed to be coached to be the action man to take his place, and then wasn't, Hunt's been certain to survive, though I'm at a loss where he got both a parachute and a backup, since it seemed like, as Gabriel said, there's only one, and he's got it. I expected Ethan to leap out after the villain's dead body, free-fall down to where he was dropping and recover the parachute, but no, although having seen the behind-the-scenes extras on the disc I was impressed Cruise did an actual drop with a burning parachute himself. Insane!

The real star of the show was William Donloe, the surprising breakout character that began the series as a hapless victim of Hunt's necessary deeds, a comical character only really there for amusement at his baffled gormlessness - I knew he'd be coming back, but was expecting a minor cameo, so it was nice that he got a proper happy ending to his story, one I kept expecting to go badly (at least twice it seemed he was about to die - in the fire at his house and then with the bomb in the tunnel), but it definitely seemed they wanted to redeem this guy from the Purgatory he'd been exiled to in the first film, and they gave him an understanding wife (very understanding, apparently, since she never even batted an eyelid at the fact their home of thirty years had been burned down - unless William never got around to telling her that bit since she was off on dogsled adventure when that happened...), and a happy, fulfilled life, which again, I kept expecting to end since he is an expendable character, but he gets to be the hero not once, but twice! Delightful, and redresses the balance of the past in a neat little bow. Who'd have thought he'd end up being part of the IMF team Ethan assembles, haphazardly as it is, joining Benji (whom we just can't seem to shake from the series!), and Paris, Degas and Grace from the previous film. I especially enjoyed having characters return, particularly Paris and Briggs: the former gets to continue her redemption as former 'Mayday'-like bad-gal, the latter revealed as Phelps' son whom Ethan has to impress by succeeding at the end. Disappointed no one else from the old films showed up, other than Angela Bassett as the President (!), and Kitridge there to cause trouble again, but considering this is supposed to be the final film (dependent on Paramount's need for dollars, I suspect), it would have been nice to have assembled more characters from past escapades.

No one else on the team dies so they could easily continue the series, but as far as I know this was meant to be the last, at least until they reboot it or do something different with it in the same continuity. But then that could be a marketing ploy - I almost went to see it in the cinema for sentimental reasons, even though the first one in the series I saw 'live' was 'M:I2' and the last was 'M:I5,' so I haven't been enamoured enough with the direction of the last four to make the effort and I was glad I didn't: it was fine as it was, but it's far too 'fate of the world'-level to really care, when you go that far it's too far beyond the personal and so you get confusing plot points like the President has to decide whether to blow up an American city for some reason (which seemed ripped right out of 'The Dark Knight' and its two ships with a button to blow up the other on each). I don't know, to prove they won't use their arsenal against Russia and China, maybe? For such a momentous part of the plot, it didn't come across very clearly. In reality, on realising their Cold War enemy no longer had the means to defend itself the other two countries would immediately demand the US capitulate to any and all demands, but the whole set up was so plotty: the Entity is going to blow up the world, but only after sealing itself in a vault, but that's also when it'll be at its most vulnerable and they can trap it. But Gabriel wants to control it... And everyone's second-guessing what they're doing because it could all be an elaborate ruse by the artificial intelligence to get them to comply... I can imagine a far better film full of paranoia and only the true friends sticking together can pull victory through, and anyone could be someone they're not - even in the older films they had the face masks, but now the Entity can digitally recreate anyone, but that never got explored.

Plotty, that's just the word for it. Maybe they were trying to squeeze in too much because a popcorn thriller doesn't need to be almost three hours long, it's supposed to move deftly and efficiently, not trundle and bump along like a jalopy. The characters have never been developed enough for it to be an enjoyable experience merely to be in their presence, and as much as I like most of them, it was quite hard work in the first two-thirds of the film. There wasn't even that much to note or nitpick because the story was progressing so glacially. It became more of a man on his own mission, so there's not a lot of interplay or split-second teamwork. So what else to say? It showed that it's time to put the series to bed, Cruise can't hide his ageing any more, not that I mind seeing people older than me still repeating their greatest hits, and I seeing how they accomplished some of the plane stunts only adds to their glory, but as an entertainment experience it's far too weighed down. They try to throw in some positive messages about working together, and only by trusting each other can we defeat entities that are out to divide us, but it's all very simplistic and shallow. Would I really choose to wade through this and the last few films if I was after something good to watch? Probably not, they've become more of a mere accompaniment to life, continuing something that's been around these last four decades and is familiar and comfortable, but nothing more than that, where when I was younger I was blown away by the excitement, ideas and execution.

Part of the fault must lie with Director Christopher McQuarrie who I take it is someone malleable for Cruise to collaborate with, but I feel a director needs their own definitive vision (for that matter, why doesn't Cruise simply take on the full reins of directing himself?), and for the first two-and-a-half they had that with well-established action directors giving each film in the series its own very unique style and approach. Once that formula misfired with the fourth in the series, they settled on McQuarrie for these last four instead of branching out and having a James Cameron, a George Lucas, or a Spielberg, a Nolan, whoever, but someone that brings something visually entirely different. McQuarrie's fine, but I liked the idea of each film having its own strict identity. Having seen the entire TV series in the years since, however, I do understand that all the stories start to blur together and if you keep trying to top the stakes of the previous one you get, well, 'Fast & Furious.' I assume it's all about money and Cruise control, because the music was another area that doesn't stand out at all and I discovered the two composers are people I've never even heard of before so it seems they're trying to go cheaper to keep the profits high. Not to say all these people don't need to break out and find success, and maybe that's the reason (I assume), no one's particularly excited to make an 'M:I' film since it's been around so long and is just more of the same.

One thing about this film in particular is that it's no longer escapist, they're trying to hit on current themes, supposedly to hit the 'zeitgeist,' but what was great about the older films was you didn't have to think about modern problems, it was just expert, cunning precision plotting and action. Granted, I'm now older and harder to impress, I've seen it all before in this and other films, and I suppose that's why these things tend to be aimed at teens or twenty-somethings, because they don't have either the life experience or film-watching experience to be as unimpressed (though I did enjoy the references back to 8-inch floppy disks, the kind used by the Commodore 64 in the 80s - although I'm not sure it made sense for the data to be on such an old medium in the late-90s...). I didn't have many actual nitpicks for the film because it didn't seem all that detail-oriented, although I did baulk at the President of the US directly contacting Ethan until we later find out it's Bassett's character who obviously has history with him. I did find myself surprised he doesn't seem to have the same aversion to killing that he used to - I know when he ordered 'zero body count' in the first film it was because they were breaking into the CIA, but he's generally been quite a moral hero regarding such things, only killing when necessary, but here he violently goes after the goons that were threatening Grace and himself when all that was required was to knock them unconscious. At least we didn't see it all, happening off-camera in a semi-humorous way with the violence portrayed in shock on Grace's face. In fact this was one of the more restrained films in the series, especially considering it's the most recent one and films tend to be increasingly graphic, always have to use their quotient of one really nasty swearword, etc, but there was very little bad language and the violence wasn't extreme, so I appreciated that side of their decision-making.

Hunt/Cruise loves to run, so there's always got to be scenes of him pounding through streets or whatever, but it does make you wonder why he didn't simply borrow a car, hot-wire it and be on his way? I also did not buy Luther's reassuring words about being right where he wanted to be, born to be there, etc: what, strapped to a bomb that's about to go off? For all the series' reliance on gadgets and intelligence, they're beaten by a metal gate? Come on! Hunt would have found a bulldozer and smashed through the wall to save his friend. Occasionally there's a spot of realism to appreciate, like when Donloe's Inuit wife whacks a Russian soldier with a shovel and he merely looks at her! But then shortly after that is when you see Benji in a fight, which stretches credibility... It's hard to sum up a series I first loved and has been going for thirty long years, even though I wasn't there right from the beginning. I'm glad it exists, and to be honest, wouldn't be shocked it keeps going with a ninth and a tenth instalment if Cruise's appetite for stunts entices him back, but you can't keep putting your body on the line year after year in your 60s, so maybe he has retired for good. I can imagine a limited TV series being a suitable alternative with Cruise either absent or the boss giving out the orders, but at the same time that just doesn't seem his style. Where next for the IMF? I don't know, but let's have some serious editing next time, it really doesn't need to be as long as 'The Fellowship of The Ring'!

**

Shattered (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Shattered) (2)

You could say this was a way of placing 'Voyager' in its own history, preparing for the end of the series by revisiting the past with a greatest hits of previous adventures all rolled into one, you could even call it a bottle episode since it remains on the standing sets (other than recreating Dr. Chaotica's laboratory), but however it's viewed, it's with pleasure and great positivity from me. Whether it be Chakotay's optimistic attitude that he'll be able to put the ship back together again like a starship Humpty-Dumpty, despite not particularly knowing all that much about this temporal anomaly that has split the ship, fractured it, one might almost say 'shattered' it, into various time periods, you know he has confidence in his crew that they'll find a way. And there's the deep friendship with his Captain that runs through the story and once again cements their roles that they'd settled into as supporters that can be very close without going further than that. All quite apart from the joy of returning to points along the journey Voyager's taken to create a well-rounded tale that enjoys the benefits of a science fiction premise without the need to spend time explaining the technical details. All this plus a classic 'TOS' ending - it may be a little more sophisticated than Kirk and his Bridge crew gathered around the Captain's Chair guffawing at some amusement, but the spirit of Chakotay and Janeway sharing a wry joke together was the same and makes me wish there was more character interaction in these later episodes, more time for conversation and expression that built the characters in the early seasons.

Chakotay himself had suffered by being too much ignored as a regular character in these latter times, so it was a delight to see him take the reins and lead his one-man mission to repair the damage. His getting struck by lightning made me think of how Sisko was trapped in time aboard the Defiant in 'The Visitor,' and while this story doesn't have quite the same intensity as that one, there is some poignancy in revisiting characters and events from the past. The strongest element is lifting pre-Season 1 Janeway, a Captain fresh on her first command, but who is suddenly thrust into the bizarre circumstance in which she must trust the very man who is her target, with a tall tale about temporal shenanigans - it's a likely story, but Chakotay is quick-witted enough to take the initiative and force her into seeing the proof, opening her eyes to a wondrous world she's set to encounter, but also the calamitous circumstances that mean she's responsible for stranding her crew so far from home that it gives her reason to think she should change course and prevent the timeline from taking place. It becomes a reiteration of the founding attitude of the series that it was worth the sacrifice of all they knew in order to help a helpless species, and the rewards for that decision were great. It is a fascinating idea to show a character the future of their series that we've been privy to, and observe how they react, but it's also a defence of Janeway's original decision, showing what has come to pass, what successes and importance stemmed from it.

Chakotay always was supportive of Janeway so it's good to see him be so once again when she's in turmoil, and she in turn soon discovers the rapport she'll have with this stranger. If only this had been more central to the series on a regular basis it would have allowed him to continue to be essential rather than someone you too often see have one line on the Bridge while focus switches to Seven and the Doctor as what sometimes seemed were Janeway's sole concerns. It's not exclusive, as this episode proves, but too often he'd been relegated, stripped as a man of his strength in order to elevate a woman, and it's a shame they couldn't make the Captain strong without it having a detrimental effect on her First Officer. But all that's in the past, even with a good half season to go, and they probably felt their job was done with this episode, which in that sense can be looked on as a criticism of how the series might have been had they used Chakotay and Janeway together more effectively. I don't remember too much about the last episodes of the series, whether Chakotay had more to do, but probably not, so this may be his last great story. It's fitting that it goes back to when he was so integral with the Seska storyline and Martha Hackett making one last 'one last' appearance after her holographic return at the end of Season 3 - is she the only Trek character to come back from the dead twice, I wonder?

Slightly disappointing we didn't get Anthony De Longis back as her Maje Cullah for the full Kazon experience, but there was much to pack in: B'Elanna and Mr. Ayala in their old Maquis outfits (impressive Roxann Dawson could still fit in it after all those years and having given birth in the meantime!), Seven in her full Borg drone guise, the macrovirus, Dr. Chaotica and his henchman (and robot)... I was just starting to wonder why there was no future time period since that would make sense if we're seeing all these different times, when Icheb and Naomi are seen in Astrometrics working happily together. It strikes a different note seeing Icheb older now that we know he dies horribly in 'Picard,' and seventeen years after 'Voyager' would still be before 'Picard' Season 1 which took place at the turn of the century, though I don't remember how far Seven flashed back to in her memory of trying to save Icheb in that awful episode, so it could be this Icheb is from before or after those events (in either case it didn't happen in his timeline since Voyager wasn't back home as far as we know - they aren't wearing a future uniform, so that suggests they haven't got back yet). It's nice to see Icheb obviously flourishing as a full member of Starfleet (correspondence course?), Naomi, too, and they did a fine job giving us this hopeful look into the young ones' futures. At the same time you could say it's sad to see Voyager hadn't made it home, but then that timeline was a result of Janeway and Chakotay vanishing (I think), so it would be changed when they reset the ship, but it made for an interesting idea of how things might be, possibly before they'd decided on how the series would end.

They do love killing Tuvok off, it seems to me, I don't think this is the first time he's 'died,' and he'd go on to be mentally crippled in the finale, so basically dead, but I was surprised he didn't try and pass on his katra, perhaps to Janeway herself, as he had the time on his deathbed to know he was going. A good way into the episode I realised we hadn't seen any of him, or Paris and Neelix, so I was pleased we did get that little scene in the Mess. It was odd that Tom and Harry were conscripted to get the drop (literally), on the Kazon invaders in Engineering, but it all makes sense when suddenly people from all eras are joining in the fight in what was a delightful sequence where past, present and future combined to deal with the series' classic villains in Seska and her Kazon cohorts. Again, it could have been a great way to bring back a major guest star like Brad Dourif as Suder, but time permitted only so many callbacks and returnees. Although, imagine if this had been the big mid-season feature-length extravaganza instead of 'Flesh and Blood,' it might have been even better, and was certainly a huge concept that could have benefited from more screen time, but perhaps it would have been considered too much of an indulgence to spend so much time looking back?

There wasn't too much to nitpick about this one, I found - little things like why Chakotay wouldn't keep his secret store of Antarian cider in his own Quarters if he was afraid of Neelix discovering it, he does have plenty of space, after all, but maybe he felt he'd be too tempted to drink it himself? I also thought he and Janeway shouldn't have left their glasses on the edge of the table when they exit her Quarters to head to the Bridge after the anomaly hits, since the first sign they get is the ship shaking - don't want to waste that cider if it's among the last bottles Chakotay has left! Would it be a good idea to transport Chakotay to Sickbay when he's just encountered who knows what spatial phenomena, it could scatter his atoms all over the place for all B'Elanna knows! There was also the moment Chakotay walks onto the Bridge to find it's back in time before the ship was lost to the Delta Quadrant, and Harry Kim doesn't know who he is and just walks to his station, while Janeway and the Security guy recognise him as the Captain of the Maquis ship they've been sent to capture - was Harry kept in the dark about the mission at that point? One item that does get cleared up was the Doctor not quite being as crusty and aggrieved as I remember him being in the early days, but later we learn he's been running for three years, so that makes more sense.

It's a truly early 'Voyager' solution to have the gel packs be key to solving their predicament, so I appreciated that, as this new technology was set to be so important to the running of the ship, yet was never really explored all that much other than as a plot device to get them in or out of trouble. I suppose there's only so much you can learn about circuitry - it's just more efficient than the old stuff. Speaking of which, it was fun to see Janeway disassembling her Replicator complete with those glowing cables we sometimes see (particularly in 'DS9' whenever Rom's got his engineer's fingers into the pie!), though I'd have liked to have seen it all more clearly - it reminded me of the consistency Trek used to have across series' and episodes whenever they dealt with such things, and it's sad you don't get that sense about Trek in the modern era. There you go, that's not too bad, criticising modern Trek right near the end of my review! But that's because there's so much to enjoy about this episode and its own history I'm not thinking outside of that. One thing the episode made me wonder was when the Temporal Prime Directive came into being because I think it developed during 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' possibly first mentioned in 'Trials and Tribble-ations' with the Temporal Investigations agents, but if so that doesn't explain when Starfleet introduced it. Actually, it was apparently first mentioned in 'Future's End' by Captain Braxton, and was a 29th Century directive, so either the Voyager crew started using it, or it had existed long before then, otherwise they'd have been more understanding to Braxton... It struck me as a great way to get around any questionable activity a Starfleet officer does: sorry sir, can't tell you due to this regulation... And that's where we get the lovely ending where Janeway does exactly that in jest.

The episode was truly a celebration of all things 'Voyager,' and while it didn't have space or time to squeeze in everything from its six-and-a-half year run, it picked some good stuff. Seska was a highlight, even though she doesn't get to do much - maybe they should have had her running around the time periods herself once she'd worked out how it worked (that would have been good to end the first part with as she jumps into another timeframe, had it been a two-parter). Chaotica was another great return, especially as that segment happened to be a sequel to Janeway's previous appearance as Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People. He's another of those characters to return ignobly in modern Trek when he was brought back in animated form for 'Lower Decks' where I was most disappointed they didn't get Martin Rayner to do the voice. Still, it was a fine finale for him and I was only left wondering how Janeway and Chakotay persuaded him to let them go unaccompanied since he's supposed to be cunning and would want at least a minion to accompany them. Similarly, I was a bit unsure about when B'Elanna would have been working on the Transporter as a Maquis, but maybe I'm forgetting a moment in 'Caretaker' when she was assisting with repairs?

It's natural to look back as the end draws near, and I'm surprised this story wasn't held until near the very end of the series, although it might have been out of place as the penultimate episode since the finale also dealt with time travel and characters travelling between periods, but I think coming closer to the end would have only added to its resonance as we recalled the adventures we'd encountered with the series and nostalgically considered the import of Janeway's original decision. It works well enough simply being in the seventh season and remains a strong entry for both the series as a whole and its final year, successfully incorporating sci-fi concepts with character work and 'what if?' scenarios: what if Seven of Nine had been around when Seska took over? Now we know, sort of. Seska didn't have time to respond to assault by Borg drone as Seven advances out of nowhere to get her in a choke hold! What would Icheb and Naomi have turned out like? It's so good we got something nice and wholesome as was Trek's style back then, before it got twisted and ruined by modern writers and their grisly, miserable world-views took over. What would the series have been like lasting seven years? Well, we got that question answered, and still being answered with over half a season to go. My only wish would be that the little joke about Chakotay getting the last word (which reminded me of McCoy - I also thought of him when considering Tuvok passing on his katra to Neelix, his revenge for all those arguments he lost, or in this case, for all the bad food and annoying chatter the Talaxian put him through!), could have played out with him saying the last line of the episode, but in keeping with the sentiment, Janeway gets the last line again!

****

SSX3

 GameCube, SSX3 (2003) game

As if in sympathy with the distant past when Nintendo made the questionable decision to push back '1080º Snowboarding' for Europe because they didn't think people would buy it outside of the winter months, I found myself wanting a wintry game to play, the colder weather making it more immersive, to tide me over before I had to clear all decks to make way for the Christmas 'Zelda' - I thought a nice, quick downhill racer would plug a gap, but what I didn't realise was the sheer breadth of challenges and achievements that make this game a laster, to the extent I had to share the Christmas holidays between it and 'Zelda' when I much prefer to concentrate on one main game at a time. It's a tribute to it that I actively wanted to get back to finishing Peak 3 when I was playing the most accomplished 'Zelda' to its day, and became a nice surprise for me as what I would call a classic, not something that happens very often, especially with a game I'd never played before, and have no nostalgic ties to. I should say the snowboarding genre in general has always interested me ever since I carved out tracks in the original '1080º,' a great simulation-like racing game. I would also put 'Snowboard Kids,' the 'Mario Kart' of the mountains, in the upper bracket (more specifically for the wonderful multiplayer which I will take to my grave as one of the most special examples of shared gaming I've ever experienced), while the competition to the 'SSX' series on GameCube, '1080 Avalanche' was something of a disappointment (still a good game, but not enough of a leap a new machine should bring).

I'd never played any 'SSX' before, mainly because it struck me as being very trick-oriented and I'm quite a lazy racer: I don't want any distractions from the twitch-gaming of speeding along as fast as I can go, so no manual gears, no boosts and especially no tricks! Okay, so most racing games have accoutrements hanging on their use of some description whether that be a boost meter that needs filling as in 'Burnout' or weapons and other pickups, and I'm not too bothered about all that, but it really is the trick side of things where you have to learn complicated combos (much like in fighting games, a genre I'm none too keen on for the same reason), and bring on early-onset arthritis from all the uncomfortable finger-twisting and button-mashing. In this game's case it would have been a combination of NGC Magazine's positive review and an openness to explore more older games I had the slightest interest in pursuing, partly for the cheap cost, partly for filling in some historical gaps in knowledge, so I'd owned it a few years just for that time I was ready to try it out, and this was the time. It's strange that of the two 'Cube games I played in 2025, one was my biggest disappointment ('XIII'), and the other, this, was the biggest surprise - it's not that I didn't expect anything, but I was pretty sure it'd be a three-star game (good, competent, worth playing), at best, and potentially less if I didn't get on with the tricking side of it.

As predicted, it wasn't the 'pure' racer I would have preferred, with the adrenaline meter requiring filling in order to boost best speed ahead, an essential part of the racing, if not as important in every challenge or event. That was far from my biggest irritation, however: the interface was fine, though you could tell it was a third-party, cross-platform port, just a little clunky in places, the biggest example of this being when you try to save: Quit Game >Yes, Save progress before quitting >Yes, choose a Save file >Done, confirm name >Done, Would you like to overwrite? >Overwrite, Save complete >Continue... That's six buttons to save, not even counting hitting the pause to take you to the menu in the first place! The worst offence is that whenever you go a little way off the beaten track you're told you're OFF LIMITS and summarily returned to the 'proper' place. This gives the lie to it being an entire mountain for you to skip down freely and causes all kinds of frustration when you merely want to exercise your freedom during the search for collectable snowflakes dotted about the landscape and you're constantly told off for exploring! Then there are more minor issues such as the computer voice saying "M-comm" every time you hit the Start button to choose options from the pause menu. It's not necessary and while it may sound pedantic and irritable, when you're redoing a challenge over and over and have to keep restarting you really don't need any extra irritation!

These were among my bigger gripes, but right from the off I was annoyed by the music (quickly turned it over to the ambient sounds of the mountain, much more serene and realistic), and especially the obnoxious characters spouting inane dialogue - you could say it's an age thing, but I wouldn't have thought any better of them twenty-odd years ago when it came out! Again, I turned speech down to 0, but then when you do win and a rival has something to say, you miss the dialogue because there are no subtitles. Even the way characters start off (other than in races where they're eager to leap ahead), it's from a sitting position as if they can't be bothered (I know, I know - if they were standing on the board they'd start to slide downhill, but it didn't help!), and then there's the issue of no trick tutorial so you have to work out what Indys, Ollys and Umphreys (or whatever), are by experimentation of trial and error - again, it's laziness from me, but that's the kind of thing I expected from the game. My guess is that this would be designed to appeal to those with an actual interest in the extreme sport itself (or who'd played the previous titles in the series), not merely a console race enthusiast like me, so you could say it's fairly advanced, with an expectation players will know the ropes. In that case you'd already be well aware of what tricks are called and what's needed to pull them off, but for someone that doesn't, it wasn't very accessible - the same can be said for the 'realism' of having to visit the Lodge, situated on a specific track on each Peak, in order to alter your character, upgrade stats, buy stuff and see Career Highlights goals. It is more realistic to have to travel somewhere to do stuff like that, but it would've made more sense to have it available from the menu.

I will give it credit for its scope and sense of progression, there's a nice RPG element to things where you can pay to upgrade various aspects of your boarder (though the visual side was limited - my character was Mac Fraser and I tried to make him look like Kensuke Kimachi from '1080º,' but couldn't get closer than a similar hat and jacket, but in the wrong colours), and improve your chances in events using money you've earned with tricks and victories, and while I thought it'd be a fairly short game to whizz through, much like '1080' and 'SK' were, there's a wealth of things to keep you occupied. Oddly, the racing part was never my favourite, opponents aren't that difficult to take on once you know the tracks reasonably well and the only challenge is in the boss races when someone throws down the gauntlet - the final race on Peak 3 for example, 'All Peak Race' (a bit misleading since it's only the first two Peaks), can take almost half an hour to get down, and if you lose you have to do it all again, not to mention trying to beat the time to achieve a Gold Medal. Medals are yet another way in which the lifespan is extended: at time of writing I've only managed a 94% completion with one more Freestyle event in which to achieve Gold ('Kickdoubt' - seems impossible to get the 750,000 points or above you need), and five Career Highlights left undone (mini challenges like holding a Handplant for so many seconds, for example). But beyond that there are even Platinum Medals to be won (not that I have the patience and dedication for that - I wouldn't even have realised they went to Platinum except I won one out of the blue!).

In keeping with the 'realism' I mentioned before, there isn't much fanfare when you do beat a Challenge or achieve a Highlight, the onscreen details merely change to an ordinary Freeride and nothing appears onscreen to emphasise you'd succeeded at something, which was quite strange when the tone is so often celebratory with fireworks exploding around you and money racking up. Freeride was actually one of the more pleasing parts of the game, roaming the mountainside in search of routes and shortcuts, and most importantly the snowflakes placed around, some requiring real thought and experimentation since they're just out of reach or up on some line you have no idea how to get to. I found that quite rewarding, especially as you tick off the total on each section, whether it be searching forensically every last anomaly, or stumbling upon the missing snowflake entirely unexpectedly - I spent hours on 'Kickdoubt' (again!), in the caves of Session point 5 where I believed the last snowflake in the level was going to be hidden in the collapsible stalactites hanging from the rocky ceiling, smashed by intense speed and precise control... only to try another time and find it was on the last ledge high above, just before the caves! The satisfaction of ticking these things off was a large part of the attraction of the game, partly because many snowflakes were deceptively easy to spot, making you think it an achievable goal.

The other favoured part of the experience were a number of the Challenges which ranged from slaloming between flags on the track, to the difficult stringing together of named tricks before time runs out. The latter was so tough, but again, so satisfying once success came and all these things eventually bumped the score up for me. It helped that the mountain is attractive, even beautiful at times with much varied terrain and weather effects, the ability to jump to various spots of each section using the Session option, lots of secret routes and dramatic falls or environmental effects, although, much like the hyped avalanches of the latter '1080,' they didn't have all that much bearing most of the time - small and occasional, always in the same place and with little ill effect, you simply ride them down or get pushed over, but I suppose that was all they could really do. It took some time, but the mountain did eventually begin to unfold to me and by Peak 2 I was loving it. It may be that there was just too much to do at the beginning, it takes time to learn the ropes and where to go because although Off Limits happen far too often, there's still a sizeable playable area to speed down. I liked that it had a hardcore sentiment that didn't kowtow to casual gaming, you had to put some work in and it does make me wonder if there's anything similar on Switch that could obviously break out of the technical limitations of that time to provide the definitive snowboarding or mountain experience in general.

Seeing the stats for each section of each Peak and gradually beating each of them was greatly satisfying and the worst things you had to do were probably the most pleasing to have achieved, which gives me hope I may keep going back until I've finally got that ridiculously tough last Gold Medal and the final Career Highlights. It's a game that stood worthy of being my Christmas game regardless of 'Zelda,' which is high praise indeed - it helps that racing is one of my favourite genres, but as noted, the actual racing side of it was rarely that integral or satisfying, nor did I ever get to try the multiplayer which looked pretty comprehensive, so I'm sure if I was regularly playing with others as I did when this was released it would have been a regular contender in the disc drive. Even the fact that many of the Challenges you could discover on a Freeride, depicted by a column of coloured light, would turn a different colour once you'd completed them to show the same Challenge now had a tougher variation, was a pleasing progression, and while I expect 'Zelda' to last a good few months into the year, this might be an ideal accompaniment any time I want a bash at aiming for 100% completion or Platinum medals.

****