Message In A Bottle

DVD, Voyager S4 (Message In A Bottle)

Seven of Nine's antics are really the focus of this story, in spite of the impression that it's about Voyager's first contact with Starfleet during their four-year sightseeing tour of the Delta Quadrant. She's getting rather too big for her boots, having been allowed space to grow comfortable on the ship, that's exactly what she has done. Like a teenager with their own room, Astrometrics has become her own personal domain, and she's quite happy shutting herself away in there (even locking the door!), and busying herself with course-plotting and exploration from the comfort of a computer screen. Just like a teenager with their computer and internet connection, she's found a purpose and something to keep her mind busy in solitude, at the expense of her social skills. Left to her own devices she causes all sorts of problems, and I can actually sympathise with the put-upon B'Elanna who is once again furious with her independence from the etiquettes and acceptable norms of behaviour that would ordinarily be expected (in a throwback to the Season 1 B'Elanna, Chakotay tells her to deal with it!). Seven's fallen into a little bit of a crack with Astrometrics, and like a busy working Mum, Janeway's been only too happy she's found something to occupy her. It doesn't get Seven off the hook for her attitude, at least it shouldn't, but because she makes a discovery of such magnitude that it could affect Voyager's very mission, raised eyebrows are the worst punishment she receives. She's not reprimanded for utilising alien technology without even checking with the hierarchy that it was acceptable, potentially creating an interstellar incident, she orders people about (as Torres attempts to explain to her), and she's congratulated when she does create an incident, shocking the intransigent Hirogen with a power surge to his console!

The deathtraps that are computer consoles in Trek are given a thorough outing in the episode. Not only does Seven use the Hirogen's own console as a weapon to incapacitate him (he gonna be mighty angry when he wake up!), even the newest Federation starship design still has this unwanted ability to fry the user! Unwanted by the users, but not by the viewers, as it's always dramatic when the equipment itself starts sparking and blowing hot air around. Not only does Seven's use of the alien sensor hub mean a message is transmitted to Starfleet, it means the entirety of the Doctor's program is signed, sealed and delivered right into the very heart of the USS Prometheus. They could have simply had the crew be successful in sending a message and making contact with their superiors for the first time since Voyager was lost in space, but they chose to work it into a comedy episode for the Doc, where the EMH foreshadows his later ECH role (Emergency Command Hologram), and takes charge of a tricky situation involving Romulans and a stolen prototype vessel. As soon as you see the NX part of the prefix on the Prometheus' hull you realise it's an experimental ship, something which immediately piques the interest, shortly followed by the discovery of battle signs and dead crewmembers (in 'First Contact' uniforms!), and the revelation that it's been stolen by the Romulans!

For anyone following along in the timeline, you immediately begin to question when the episode is set, because if your Trek knowledge is worth its salt, you're aware that Season 4 of 'Voyager' ran concurrently with 'DS9' Season 6, which was during the Federation's war with the Dominion, and the Romulans were eventually persuaded to join in on the side of the Feds. But you don't have to wonder for long because the EMH Mark-2 soon fills us in, almost as if he's reading it from a history book. It's very satisfying to have this series finally tie in to the greater Alpha Quadrant struggle, even in a small way, because the Doctor and his holographic colleague are ultimately responsible for preventing the Romulans from stealing this very special ship. Now, there are one or two things that require smoothing out, things that don't make perfect sense. One being that if the Romulans are neutral, why did they take advantage of the opportunity to steal a prized Starfleet vessel, something that, if known, would be taken as an act of war. Two, how is it that the Federation fights back, destroying at least one Warbird (ah, lovely, a Warbird on 'Voyager'!). And three, the lead Romulan, Rekar, informs his crew of a change of plan - they're to change course from their original destination, Romulus, and head for other coordinates where the ship will be handed over to the Tal Shiar, which had been annihilated by the Dominion in Season 3 of 'DS9,' three years earlier.

I have to say it's a joy to have these canon quandaries in a series that generally makes up all its own canon as it goes along, since the Delta Quadrant was largely a blank canvas for them to fill in. And there's no question that can't be answered or has no precedent in the franchise's long history. Let's deal with the first issue: it is true that the Romulans were neutral, but that means little to such treacherous, devious masterminds as they. Prometheus is specifically designed for deep space tactical assignments, which might explain its unique multi-vector assault mode (I really wanted them to make up a new alert - we've already got Yellow and Red Alerts, and Voyager's planetary landing capability uses Blue Alert, so this should have been Orange Alert!), and the fact that it was so far out beyond Federation space that Voyager was able to make contact, albeit through alien technology. So it was a worthy prize for the Romulans to covet (strange that it carries an earlier registry number than Voyager, but perhaps the rules are different for NX ships?), and they're never going to pass up the chance at one-upping their age-old enemies, even at a time of Quadrant-wide turmoil. It was probably the best time to be carrying out a heist, with the Federation concentrating so much on the Cardassians and Dominion. And if the Prometheus is out so far, then so must the Romulans be to find it, which means Rekar may not be in the loop on the latest updates in Federation/Romulan relations.

Which takes us to the third issue: he's working for the Tal Shiar, or at least carrying out the mission for them against the rest of his crew's knowledge. I can't help thinking that this would have been an ideal place to put in some internal Romulan strife as we saw so effectively in 'Face of The Enemy,' which showed that life as part of a Romulan crew is far from simple (just as it isn't simple aboard a Klingon vessel with the threat of lower ranks challenging their superiors to the death if a suitable moment arises!), with internal divisions, tensions and paranoia between the military and secret service. Unfortunately, while these Romulans carry the standard supercilious nature of their race, there's no development of them beyond that, their clipped tones and military bearing, something which in retrospect is a disappointment because it's like all those classic Romulan episodes where we learned about them and came to understand them better, never happened. It's not like we hadn't seen Romulan characters shown in all their complexity on this series (the most interesting thing about Rekar being the actor that played him, Judson Scott, in his third and final Trek role after playing Khan's subordinate in 'Star Trek II,' and an alien in 'TNG'), one of the most successful early episodes being their encounter with a micro-wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant in which they deal with a suspicious Romulan who turns out to be from the past in 'Eye of The Needle' (something referenced obliquely by Chakotay when he cautions the crew getting their hopes up too early as it's not like they haven't been through this before).

I'm sure the Tal Shiar are still in existence, since even if Rekar had been on deep space assignment, he must have had specific orders from them to deliver the captured Prometheus. Likely a power struggle was the result of their destruction in 'DS9,' and while the organisation may have been set back, there were bound to be opportunistic Romulans waiting in the wings to take over the remaining infrastructure - you can never keep an evil secret service down! The answer to the second issue is a mirror of the first, I would say: if the Romulans aren't above taking advantage of the backdrop of war to carry out some sneakery, then the Federation are going to respond, and that's the emphasis: they weren't the aggressors here and were fully within their rights to do everything in their power to take back Prometheus. The Romulans weren't going to admit to the theft, least of all when it was a failed theft in which at least one Warbird was sacrificed. No, they'd be far more likely to claim that Rekar was acting alone, and that he had allies (the Warbirds), not officially sanctioned by the Star Empire. It may even be true, because although Rekar's crew aren't working for the Tal Shiar, they are following his orders, and the Warbirds could easily have been Tal Shiar, so I can get by the political and diplomatic ramifications, even if I'd have liked such things spelled out rather than left to my speculation.

One thing that can't be explained away quite so easily are the four Starfleet ships that come into contact with Prometheus during the episode, one chasing it down until the assault mode puts paid to it, presumably stranding them in deep space, and the trio of vessels that show up for a rumble at the end (two of which are Defiant-class! I imagine they had two of these so as to make it obvious that it's not the Defiant herself, but it remains a pleasing visual reference to the sister-series). In time of war what are that many ships doing out in the far reaches of the Alpha Quadrant? I don't have an answer, unless they had been recalled to Federation space, and the message had only recently arrived, they had met up along the route and were in the right place at the right time… It's flimsy, I know. But at least we're getting to see Starfleet tech, whether it's the smooth, cream interiors of Prometheus, or its sleek, attractive exteriors, especially when we witness the multi-vector mode that was its speciality. It does feel slightly unfinished in terms of the interior sets, but then you can't build the best starship on an episodic budget (maybe this was crying out to be another epic two-parter?), and for what it was it remains an impressive achievement considering they didn't have the time or money to go into the kind of detail and effort required for a starship starring in a weekly TV series that is allowed months of planning and experimentation before it's signed off. And the Defiant-class vessels, and the other Akira-class, were gorgeous - even the more common Nebula-class was a sight for sore eyes, and something you miss seeing on 'Voyager.'

Oddly enough, despite all the references, both verbal and visual, I found the Voyager side of the story more important. Perhaps it was the comedic manner of the two EMH's interactions, or that it was such a defining moment when Janeway first attempts to make contact with a Starfleet vessel, but the fate of the Voyager crew was more important to me than that of the Prometheus. And it is a fabulously exciting moment when Seven brings up an image of a Starfleet ship, the first they've seen in this quadrant, aside from the Raven, Seven's own family ship, and the possibility of contact, long accepted as impossible for many years to come is a reality. As in 'Parallax,' the message just gets thrown back in their faces, reflecting off the alien hub because it's too weak a signal, and requiring the holographic matrix of the Doctor to be sent instead, because the higher density of it will carry further. So why not send a holographic message recorded in the Holodeck, rather than risking the existence of the Chief Medical Officer on a ship that has no prospect of new personnel transferring to fill the gap? Although actually, that could have made for an interesting development, if the Doctor became trapped in the Alpha Quadrant how would he be dealt with by Starfleet without Janeway? They might not take him seriously, he could be lying or faulty, or they might get draft him for the plans for Voyager's rescue. Instead of losing Picardo from the series they could have had him work at Starfleet HQ until a time when he could be returned, maybe the following season, and in the meantime perhaps Voyager picks up an alien doctor whose methods are somewhat discomfiting, a bit like Phlox on 'Enterprise.' Then when the EMH did return there'd be conflict and his position would be less clear (like Odo getting uptight about Starfleet Security in early seasons of 'DS9').

The series rarely liked to do anything too dramatic to the format, but one thing they could easily have pulled off, and may have been another missed opportunity, was to have Picardo play both EMHs, as we saw so brilliantly done in 'Dr. Bashir, I Presume,' the previous year on 'DS9.' They'd already done it on 'DS9,' one reason not to repeat the idea, but although Andy Dick was fine as an EMH who gets a mini-arc, inspired by our Doctor into feats beyond his programming and confidence, I didn't know him (as American audiences did), and have never heard of him again! It's fun to see a third iteration of the swiftly becoming essential tool for a modern starship, after the standard EMH and the planned LMH (Longterm Medical Hologram), which was to have been based on Dr. Bashir. In fact, we also get an EMRH (Emergency Medical Replacement Hologram), designed by Harry Kim at Paris' coaxing, apprehensive of the chance he might be stuck in Sickbay for the rest of the trip if the Doc failed to make it back, and fed up with dealing with minor upsets in the crew (he should have been grateful that surgery wasn't required!). Kim discovers how difficult it is to create a functioning hologram for such a complex task as fulfilling the role of a crewmember, despite protesting that it took the best holo-engineers so long to come up with a working model, making the Doc once again seem ever more unique as a creation (though I question his understanding of the Hippocratic Oath - he's willing to heal the injured Romulan, but he and EMH-2 are responsible for gassing the Romulans aboard, and even if that didn't kill them, they fire on the enemy ships during the battle. One of the Defiant vessels finishes off the Warbird, but the docs may be responsible for death and destruction!).

In fact, the Doc's model is at risk in this episode, not just from the potential loss of his program, but also in being trapped away from home in a society that hasn't grown to accept him as his crew mates on Voyager have. He talks of being a hero, but he also lives up to that, bravely agreeing to the mission for the sake of the crew (another Season 1-like moment comes when Torres storms into Sickbay, tells him he has to go, and while he's in the middle of performing a task, summarily deactivates him without a by your leave!). They're very quick to suggest sending him and putting his life in danger, but then there was very little time to think it through, it was the chance of a lifetime and you can sense the hunger and urgency for just something as simple as contact to be made. Even to know that their loved ones no longer consider them dead will be a huge load off their minds, which is why, at the end, although the episode cuts off abruptly, not allowing enough time for the events to sink in (a mistake, but they weren't done with the hub quite yet, the following episode a continuation), the Doctor's words from Starfleet are the biggest deal of the episode: 'You're no longer alone.' Starfleet is going to work on a plan to bring them home, and suddenly they aren't the little ship lost any more, but a distant branch of the Federation fleet, and perhaps in their own way they gave hope to those back home in the midst of war, that even if all was lost, Voyager would still be out among the stars, continuing Starfleet's remit of exploration and adventure.

I wonder how Janeway felt about the likelihood she would no longer be acting completely autonomously? She's still Captain, and it's her ship, but it had become more than a ship and crew, a dedicated generational family whose primary goal was to return home. I think you can see how much it means to her, not just that the burden of complete responsibility that has weighed on her since the beginning is lightened somewhat, but that she's within shouting distance of getting somewhere in that primary mission, that the problem is now shared, that there are people back home, the best minds working on a solution to their plight. And even if the rest of the journey was to take decades of their lives, their existence isn't forgotten. Of course, there was to be a sting in the tail, because as we find out here, Voyager had been declared lost fourteen months ago, and many had moved on with their lives, and you can see how anxious Janeway is to contact Mark, the man she left behind. I wonder why we didn't actually see anyone in Starfleet authority, just the couple of bemused security guards that beam in and confront the holograms, or why a message couldn't have been made a part of the Doctor's program so he could have played it back? There're no Admirals or Captains to reassure them, so we still feel very much in the dark, but it's a start, and who knew that it would eventually turn into good old Reg Barclay as the mastermind behind the project! An another turning point in the series had been reached, and at the same time the series was neatly plugging into the established continuity (Tiny Ron as the Hirogen; McCoy mentioned; some of the Doctor's adventures boasted about), and if the episode wasn't all that it could have been, it's still a rollicking good ride and whets the appetite for a bit of serialisation to come.

****