Phage

DVD, Voyager S1 (Phage)

For an episode that is the first 'horror' type story for the series, there is sure a lot of humour. It's hard to decide whether this could be classed as a Neelix episode or a Doctor one, and so far the series hasn't really focused on one character more than others, it's been a well balanced mix, where two or three get the limelight and everyone else shares in the second banana role. One thing's for sure, both the Doc and Neelix are delightful, and together they lift this episode above the norm. The Doctor gets his meatiest role so far, and Kes shows her kindness once again, tempered with a determined resolve, that is at odds with her diminutive, soft-spoken demeanour, adding some depth to her. She looks almost like a flower, with her beautifully formed petal-like ears and cropped hair framing the elfin face. But for a change we see her as someone in her own right, rather than Neelix' partner. She reassures, takes charge and makes demands, and proves a loyal companion. Her interaction with the Doc, again the only one to treat him as a real person, takes him aback a little and we're beginning to see signs of the strain of responsibility he feels, where before he was merely annoyed at being left on.

The best line must be after Neelix says he's lonely and feels like he's on his own when the Doctor's working in the office. He replies that he is alone, since he's only a hologram, and a very busy one at that! There were a lot of great lines in this one, mostly from those two characters. Neelix shows a range of emotion, from trying to accept his incapacity, insane jealousy against Paris (which began in 'Parallax' when Tom gives up his seat for Kes), intense claustrophobia, and willingness to accept Kes' gift of a lung.

Janeway too gets strong scenes, the best of which is her anger at the Vidiians (who are two very different people - the one a desperate, but guilty sufferer, once a sculptor, the other a hardened man tasked with the other's survival, making him ideal for the job. It shows the variety in the race in just those two, preparing the way for future encounters). Janeway explains angrily that she can't do anything in judgement, unlike their actions, and it is this sparing of their lives that makes one of the aliens wish to help. The Vidiians actually look a bit like 'Lord of The Rings' orcs, but with visible patchwork of alien skins grafted on. There is much more tension seeing them in the dark caverns (where Neelix could have saved himself a lot of trouble if he'd obeyed Chakotay immediately instead of allowing his natural curiosity to take over - he may have studied Away Team protocols, but he needs to learn to follow orders, hard for a survivalist who has worked alone for so many years. If he hadn't been in such a devastating situation I think we might have seen Janeway's first lecture directed at him. She let out her anger on the aliens and he got off lightly (though he's not going to be an Olympic runner now I suspect!).

The only flaw in the episode was the reuse of the circular corridor, however well integrated into the rock wall it was. It's practically identical to the power plant in the previous episode, so a mistake to use it again so soon. Another possible mistake is when the Captain orders three security teams to beam down with her, and we see only Tuvok and another 'redshirt' (gold actually). Perhaps the others were stationed around the area as point. Seska made another, brief appearance in engineering - good to keep recurring characters visible, and Mr. Ayala was not noticeable this time.

Perhaps it's because I've seen the previous two episodes more, but this had the edge on them, providing humour, tension, some horror, good concepts (the mirror cave and phaser bouncing solution which still looks clever today), and fine drama. It says stuff about various things (fear, and shining light on it making it go - the Vidiians aren't pretty, but they become pitiful creatures rather than monsters), with Neelix in particular confronting an uncertain future. Phillips showed his acting stature, with an array of reactions with only the eyes and voice to convey them, yet it's his strongest performance so far. An all around strong episode, that continues the balanced start of this series. A downer episode must surely be coming soon...

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