Scorpion, Part II

DVD, Voyager S4 (Scorpion, Part II)

Every Trek series had a change in cast somewhere along the way, or would have done. Strangely, both 'DS9' and 'Voyager' implemented it at the beginning of their fourth seasons ('TOS' lost Janice Rand during Season 1, and gained Chekov for Season 2; 'TNG' lost Tasha Yar in Season 1, Dr. Crusher for Season 2 and Wesley Crusher in Season 4, gaining Dr. Pulaski for Season 2 and regaining Dr. Crusher in 3; and 'Enterprise' lost Trip Tucker in Season 4 and would have gained Shran if Season 5 had come about), so there was some clear symmetry to their productions beyond airing at the same time. They wanted to shake things up, twist the formula again, and if anyone claims that those series were staid and stale, and that 24th Century Trek was slow and boring, this is a great example of the kind of episode that was more common than would be expected from some of the currently popular historical viewpoints people are expressing about nineties Trek: it's fast, has a swift story without the preponderance of technobabble, plenty of conflict both internal and external, and most certainly far reaching implications for the ongoing series - it was not a serial, but the fourth Trek show had tried from Season 1 to be a continuing story, and in that regard it could be seen as the most serialised of the lot, simply because the ongoing journey home forced areas of space and races to be discovered, experienced, then moved on from.

One race they weren't going to be moving on from after this point were the Borg. With the inclusion of a Borg drone as main cast member, the makers of Trek had just about ticked every major race's box for being a main character that could be fully explored. We'd had Klingons, Vulcans, Ferengi, Bajoran, artificial life… what was left (apart from a Romulan, obviously, a tricky proposition given that race's secretive, uncooperative nature)? It was a thrilling and daring masterstroke to make one of, if not the ultimate of Trek's enemies into a forced friend through circumstance. It was almost mind-boggling in its audacity for the time, just as if a Jem'Hadar had joined the cast of 'DS9,' or 'Enterprise' had taken in a Suliban or a Xindi (actually that might not have been a bad idea…), and Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One ("But you may call me Seven of Nine"), made an immediate impact. It wasn't only a risky proposition in-universe, but to be introducing a whole new actress and character into such an established series which had become a family, was throwing the cat among the pigeons. Quite apart from the radical and blatant ratings-grabbing tactic of a silver catsuit that poor Jeri Ryan had to put up with through much of this season (though it didn't debut in this episode and may have been a relief after the claustrophobic, all-engulfing Borg costume!), she was joining a group of people that had developed a good working relationship and had succeeded in, if not capturing lightning in a bottle for a fourth consecutive instance, at least keeping the Trek machine powered up and bringing in viewers, not to mention expanding the ever-growing universe.

It must have been a challenge, but the character's almost all there right from the off. If you think about it, she's not special in any way - Janeway demands an individual with which to communicate, citing Jean-Luc Picard's position as mouthpiece for precedent, the Borg tacitly agreeing to her demands. You get the impression it's as easy as nanoprobe pie for them to almost disconnect a drone and have it autonomously interact with individuals, that anyone could have been picked at random for the role. Except later we learn that the Borg Queen herself put Seven up for this, and far from being a ridiculous suggestion, it actually makes this episode much easier to swallow and rescues Seven from being an obscure drone without meaning. The question of the Queen's low-profile after her destruction in the second 'TNG' film remained unexplored, perhaps so as not to take away from Seven's contribution. For now she's just a drone, except Ryan imbues her with the arrogance, forthrightness and combativeness more in evidence in the Borg splinter group led by Lore in 'Descent' (was the mine with a nanoprobe yield deliberately a callback to the asymmetrical ship from that episode? It seems impossible to be anything else!), or the Queen herself, than the powerful, but robotic mindlessness of the average Joe drone, seen in the blunt, impersonal force used upon Janeway and Tuvok as they're shoved along corridors or made to kneel for a compulsory operation to fit neural transceivers to their necks without even the thought of consent from their temporary allies. She makes an immediate impact, every question answered with "We are Borg," as if that explains everything, and there's nothing they can't do.

Knowing how things between her and Chakotay ended up, it's very far from love at first sight (mind you, her skin wasn't at its healthiest!), and she has a presence that exudes through all that Borg technology, almost as if her human side is desperately in denial, that she is proud and has complete confidence in her 'race' to hide the fact that deep down she knows she's been violated. All this would be mere speculation except for these kinds of feelings rising to the surface in subsequent seasons as we got to know the woman beneath the strangling pipes and tubes of Borg domination. But even things like the fact that during the attack on Voyager by 8472 bioships, everyone on the bridge is decked in the racking explosions of battle, yet Seven keeps her feet, gripping onto the rail behind the command position. It makes her more formidable and you have a certain respect for her that you might not have got from a lesser performer: they really struck gold when they unearthed Jeri Ryan! We didn't know just how important a character she would become, and just how great an actress she was, but even in this first appearance you can see she's going the whole hog for this role, just as Alice Krige did in 'First Contact.' I'd have loved to have seen the EVA on the hull from that film replicated so we could have seen how the Borg modifications were constructed, but you can't have everything on a TV budget and short running time.

There's a bit of a 'First Contact' moment of "Uh-oh," when, spectacular fashion, not least because of its computer-like precision and decision-making, rather than self-sacrificial heroism, the Borg ship intercepts 8472's imminent attack on Voyager, literally colliding with the enemy to protect their ally. From any other species this would have been a noble act of courage in the face of adversity, a sacrifice for the greater good of an alliance, but the chilling reality is that none of the Borg on that ship mean anything, they're mere vessels for the greater Borg consciousness, and Seven herself might well have been destroyed without a moment's indecision. It is, visually and emotionally a momentous few seconds, with Seven, a few other drones, and Janeway and Tuvok, beamed across to Voyager before the Cube erupts - we know the injuries are serious because the Captain will have to be put into a coma to survive long enough for the Doctor to repair her neural damage, and Tuvok's bleeding (green blood - attention to detail, that's what I like to see!). You go from awe that a Borg Cube has just sacrificed itself for Voyager, a Federation starship (because the Borg don't save, they assimilate - "You will be saved," doesn't have the same menace as their usual greeting), to concern over the Captain's condition, to that feeling of horror when you realise that, just as happened with the Enterprise-E, Borg have infiltrated the ship! It wouldn't take much for them to insert themselves into the vessel's systems and begin assimilation if they chose to, and that's what you expect.

And it does indeed happen: when Chakotay's given the great commission, charged with getting the crew home from a downed Janeway about to be induced into a coma, he defies her previous request to work with the Borg when Seven demands they rendezvous with another Cube deeper in Borg space. I didn't get the sense that he was actually disobeying the Captain as I don't remember Janeway giving him a direct order to work with the Borg at all costs and go along with whatever they say - in fact she warned him he was going to have to be strong to counter their bullying, she just wouldn't have expected him to so quickly go in the opposite direction of her wishes. Of course it as the Borg's fault for taking advantage of Janeway's absence to push for their ways, and who knows what would have happened if Chakotay had gone along with the plan? As we saw, the Borg choose to take control when their demands are not met, they don't take 'no' for an answer, forcing the drones to be sucked out into space when Chakotay orders the decompression of the Cargo Bay (possibly the only time we see the Bay's exit and place on the hull, with an interesting circular design, just like that of a Borg sphere exiting a Cube perhaps?). If Seven could hold on, you'd think the Borg would have been able to clamp themselves to Voyager's infrastructure, unless you go back to the Queen's grand plan and realise they were probably instructed to accept exit in that way and she knew that somehow Seven would have the wherewithal to remain aboard (she was the only one in a Jefferies Tube, to be fair).

Whatever happened to the security officers we see guarding the drones at one point with phaser rifles drawn? Those rifles do look good, especially as we so rarely got to see them used, Trek not being about big guns and shooting things, but just to have them in evidence showed how seriously the crew took the threat posed by the Borg. Ironically, only a hand phaser was ever used, and that by Tom Paris against Seven when she moves to take the helm and the old transparent shield effect buzzes in front of her just like the very first Borg episode, 'Q Who.' Were the security guards only accompanying Chakotay while he visited the Cargo Bay? I got the impression they were overseeing the work going on, but what could they do if a Borg approached them, shoot it if it came too close? The security situation isn't the only thing you could pick holes in the episode - it does show a lack of thought in order to get the drama where it needs to be: Harry Kim, whose life appeared to be in the balance at the end of Part I, is quickly cured by the EMH, as is Janeway's neural damage later on. A weapon that can defeat this otherworldly (or otheruniversely), nemesis is promptly invented, and yet the Borg weren't able to come up with it when they're the ones with all the nanoprobes and advanced technology? I don't really even understand why they wouldn't simply take over the ship in the first instance if there was anything its crew had that they wanted.

These issues can be dealt with and quietly put to one side, or even ignored thanks to the pace and atmosphere of the story which nicely rattles along. It's only when you think about it that it doesn't add up quite to the numbers you think it should. Okay, so Garrett Wang was potentially going to be killed off until he was shown to be a popular Asian in some magazine, so Kes was the one selected for the chop, though the only evidence in this episode is that she's sadly demoted to an 'Also Starring' credit (it's a joy to see Jeri Ryan's name in the opening credits, but I will always maintain they could and should have kept Kes along for the ride because she still had so much potential and Jennifer Lien gets better the more you watch her), leaving it for the next episode to deal with her, though at least she became the mouthpiece for 8472 and proved invaluable, not to mention really assisting the image of this terrifying race of creatures that want only destruction for those in our galaxy. So Kim had to be cured, and it did have a purpose in providing evidence the Doc's nanoprobes were the solution. Janeway out of action was meant to expedite the conflict with the Borg, get Seven to take them into fluidic space, and for her to reach a rapprochement with her First Officer after the deep division in Part I where he was fully against allying with the Borg. It is their friendship that comes through, though, and while it's not a Maquis/Federation conflict these days, it is a personal fight for what's right in the command structure, proving what Seven said about individuality being their downfall, wrong.

For me, that was the theme of the episode. Though it looked really good (especially after having such a long break from the series and watching other series' from that decade, you notice just how accomplished the set design, lighting, and visual effects really are, and it was a real credit to the production that it still stands out so well today), and had exciting ship battles and personal danger, it's what the characters learn and how they react to the challenges that inspire and impress in Trek, and also what sets it apart from other sci-fi (as well as good character moments such as the callback to Harry and B'Elanna's friendship, which dates back to the pilot, when she teases him upon his return to Ops that she'd been covering; or Tuvok's concern for his former pupil, Kes' visions). Even asides, such as the Doctor being prepared to commit suicide if it comes to a point where the Borg try to take his research, tells a story beyond what we see - that this artificial life form is willing to give everything up for his comrades if it came to it, just as Janeway is willing to destroy the ship rather than relinquish it to the Borg. The biggest question is why the Borg don't simply take what they need, as they always do, but I think the key here is that they knew their existence was on a knife edge, dealing with an enemy unsusceptible to their power, losing swathes of their forces, a situation they'd never experienced before (as far as we know, though they'd never admit it!) - having dealings with humanity before, they knew it had some intangible quality that meant some spark of an advantage that couldn't necessarily be taken by force, but had to be allowed to grow in freedom. And then taken.

On the other hand, what is all this fluidic space and these creatures? Wouldn't it leak out if a ship can go through into that realm? How do they exist, what is their society like? We get some small answers later in the series when a kind of peace is declared between our galaxy and 8472 (which Voyager really should have given a designation, since it's odd that they just take the Borg's numerical system, even if it does sound more alien and threatening, but also dehumanising if you can use that term about an alien - they don't have any of the understandable human qualities that most Trek races share). They were much more nasty at this stage because of that incalculability. The only thing we could understand was their aggression, and even better when it's revealed that it was the Borg that transgressed, poking into holes that they shouldn't have and riling up hornets that could have spelt the end of the Milky Way galaxy (if Trek hadn't been so profitable!). It was truly going where no one had gone before, something that 'Voyager' did every week due to its nature of being in the distant Delta Quadrant with no quick-fix route home, and something people often complain about, forgetting that new life and new civilisations was exactly what the USS Voyager encountered practically every week! Still, the McGuffin of nanoprobes, a cure-all mystery technology, was too easy in its solution and would become overused subsequently, so it was a far from perfect narrative that needed such a device, and you can't help feeling 'DS9' would have found a more logical or satisfying way out of the situation.

At the same time I was in favour of using the link Chakotay had from 'Unity' with the group of ex-Borg he encountered, a logical use of something developed prior to the episode, not for it, using the pieces of the ongoing story in a new way. It could be said to be derivative of the 'Best of Both Worlds' solution to Borg incursion, but knowing how much Chakotay hated it (though that should have been shown clearly here, making his choice to use it a sacrifice for him), it was a bold strategy and strengthened Janeway's ties with her First Officer (even if the Scorpion reference was better in Part I - here it's just the signal for Chakotay to begin distracting Seven). In any case, it starts off a season I've always remembered as being one of the best, with a bang, some great character moments, a promise of new conflict to turn grit into a pearl in the oyster of Voyager, and especially the many questions we're left with about this new passenger. How will she fit in, or will she be a prisoner? I'd completely forgotten that we saw a flashback to Annika as a young girl, and even her parents (though played by uncredited actors who were likely both different to those that would take the roles in later appearances), providing hope that there is a real person still trapped in there. Janeway wonders what's beneath all that Borg technology, voicing the audience's own thoughts, and it's no surprise that the episode ends on a lingering shot of the Borg drone lying in sickbay, as if to reinforce your questions. Tune in next week and every week for the next four years to find out!

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