DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (Tracker)
The odd couple together again! I can't actually remember if Ronon and Rodney have had stories together in the past, just the two of them, but if not it's been an oversight as they've always been the mismatched characters that excel in the series. Sheppard can sometimes be a little dull in that he's a soldier and a leader, and the same can be said for Teyla, but both McKay and Ronon are unique and obviously very opposite. I can't count the number of times on the series that the big guy's had to sit or stand in the background glowering as Rodney's vast brain solves some equation, problem or time limited issue, but this time it's in his area of expertise: violence, tracking, and more violence! Indeed, he goes all Natty Bumppo and it's great to see him in his element: the forest, but not just that, tracking a quarry, someone who has kidnapped Dr. Keller. And of course McKay has to keep up since he has, as he later admits at the end of the episode, 'intentions' toward her. He doesn't admit it to her, but he does admit it to Ronon, who enjoys having a little jest at his expense, pretending he also has 'intentions,' presumably to make McKay up his game since he's not high in confidence, at least in that area of expertise.
It's less about the camaraderie or long-suffering of Ronon as he makes himself wait for McKay when he could easily have just bounded off into the bushes, as it is about the Trekky position Keller is put under: as a doctor she'll help anyone who needs it, and her kidnapper turns out to be another like Ronon, a Runner from the Wraith who pursue him endlessly thanks to the tracker embedded inside him. Girick I think was his name, and he's a rough diamond, but also a man of great honour, much like Ronon himself. And just as when Ronon and Teal'c met, when these two alphas meet they similarly have to fight, though fortunately it's short-lived as Keller intervenes to put things right and they don't have time because the Wraith are upon them. If I liked the pairing of Rodney and Ronon (and I did), and I liked the guest character of the week, I was also pleased to see Wraith that were back to their deadly killing machine best after the more cosy and lesser examples we saw in the previous episode. These are the type that charge about like predatory wolves ready to tear into their prey, dashing through the forest as if the long leather coats they wear were no impediment at all, which only makes them seem nastier and deadlier - at any moment they can come tearing out of the undergrowth, all flying white hair, teeth and claws.
It was a well directed episode, mainly taking place outside in the beautiful forest environment they film in, and there was more to it than mere action and tension, though there was a good dollop of both - the humour was nice, mainly around the ill-suited McKay to this natural environment, even to this day, with all the training he's had, the extensive experience, he'll still complain, he'll still be somewhat slow, but the difference is that now Ronon has respect for him, if that's not too strong a word! He's seen him save the day in his field so many times and so he gives him more leeway where in past years he may well have just told him to catch up and gone haring off to save Keller without him. He barely expresses annoyance at Rodney slowing him down, so it shows how much they've grown as a group of characters, and that's lovely to see. And there's tragedy as well: Mike Dopud put in a good performance as Girick, this man trying to protect the last survivor of a village culled because he stayed one night there - I thought I recognised the actor's name, and then seeing him I'm pretty sure he went on to be one of the main recurring characters in the next series, 'Universe,' one of the Lucian Alliance that caused trouble and ended up as allies in that series, though I'm pretty sure he was a different character, which is something they've done before and it's always odd to see an earlier episode when they aren't the better known character they'd go on to be. All this and the cool technology of the personal teleporter - the only downside would be that it has a big green or red light on the side, though I suppose Girick could have worn long sleeves to hide it!
It would have been even better if they could have had a subplot for Sheppard (who barely appears), Teyla (who doesn't), or Wolsey (ditto - in fact I'd forgotten he was a main character until I thought about it!), but at the same time I like that, like Trek of old, they will sometimes do episodes focused on only two or three characters rather than the whole team because it adds a different kind of jeopardy or dynamic which freshens things up. I guessed fairly early, once I saw Girick was carrying the medical bag, that his objective was for Keller to heal someone, or some of his people, but even so it played out nicely. It's fun to see Rodney's face when he keeps being bested by these hulking brutes in front of Keller, but at the same time knows he has his own unique skills they don't have. All in all I'd say it's the best episode of this season so far, not really deep or integral to any ongoing plot, just good character stuff, well choreographed action and a good look thanks to the location shooting. These are generally the best kinds of episodes because you can do anything and you're not tied to unfolding plots or anything like that: just using the characters to show them at their best under tough circumstances, which is inspiring and enjoyable!
***
Wednesday, 21 December 2022
The Queen
DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (The Queen)
In the positive category, Teyla gets to be front and centre, integral in a plot to get the Wraith who are in ally Todd's alliance to submit to a procedure that will remove their need to feed on humans. But in the negative, it remains unresolved by the end, almost to the point of the episode itself seeming redundant. I suppose it's more in line with the serialised nature of modern TV shows, but that may also be why it feels less substantial and fulfilling on its own. It's also missing Robert Picardo as you'd think such an important mission would have to be run by him and discussed, and I don't remember any reference to him in the episode. At first it looks like being an excursion type of story with the five main characters, other than Picardo, off on a Jumper and meeting with Todd the 'friendly' Wraith (always good to have Christopher Heyerdahl back), and most of the episode does take place on Hive ships, but they also do go back to Atlantis in order to turn Teyla into an approximation of a Queen, where she'll be able to fool The Primary, the leading Queen of the alliance's Queens, thanks to her Wraith DNA. I wasn't clear if the procedure to make her into a Wraith was supposed to be merely cosmetic or if they were actually playing with her genetics to emphasise the already existing DNA, but it does seem like a big job and it takes her some time to recover, which leads me to wonder if it wouldn't be enough to merely look and sound like a Queen?
There's also the little matter of her being little. That is compared to all the Queens we've ever seen before, they're tall and imposing creatures, but Teyla is a bit on the diminutive side. And they also run into the Trek 'problem' (if it can be called that), of the need to reduce the threatening nature of an adversary in order to achieve some level of rapport with them - much like the Borg in 'Voyager' or the Jem'Hadar in 'DS9,' we have to meet less monstrous, more human-like versions, for want of a better word. Thus the Primary's subordinate, even with his unique look of shaven head and tiny plaited beard, came across as quite weak and wimpy compared to the vast majority of his kind we'd seen, and even 'Kenny,' Todd's subordinate on his Hive ship, and other Wraith with speaking parts, appear too submissive or lacking in the power and venom we expect - even the idea of ending their dependence on culling was straight out of the need to remove the Jem'Hadar's forced addiction to a drug. Except that it may not have been about that at all, and much like a certain other 'DS9' character (Garak, when he accomplishes Sisko's goal, but only by murder, not through the agreed plan), Todd may have been using them in political machinations to get himself to the head of the alliance, interesting in itself, but slightly disappointing when the story was progressing in a certain direction.
What does work about the episode is the tightrope all the characters are walking: Teyla and Todd aboard the other Hive ship are in danger of being discovered, she has to come across as ruthless without being foolhardy, while even the alliance between the pair is shaky as Todd thinks she's deliberately sacrificing Wraith in battle. And earlier in the episode it's the others who don't trust him and when the other ship shoots off they're left in the dark. I liked that they sort of have this Hive ship at their disposal, Kenny keeping them informed and dropping them off at a Stargate so they can zip to the other ship's location quickly, which proves vital in a battle with yet another Hive ship, though a non-alliance intruder. The uncertainty over whether they should let the Wraith play things out or get involved and retrieve Teyla is a difficult one because they don't know if she's in danger or is achieving their goal. So I felt the tension worked well, only it was a little bit let down by plaited-beard-Wraith (why do none of them have names, or at least some kind of designation between each other!), found her out simply by eavesdropping on her chat with the prisoners when Sheppard and the others do eventually come to save her. I also felt this should have been a moment for Teyla to demonstrate her warrior ability in a fight with him, especially as he seemed somehow 'softer' than the average example of his species, but instead of managing to prove her prowess it's down to Todd to come in at the last moment and prevent her throat being cut.
Right from the start when they propose this de-culling route for the Wraith, with the caveat it may make their special abilities of long life, self-healing, and strength be diminished you have to wonder why they would even go for it, because while they would free themselves from one source of food, meaning they'd have an advantage, they'd also be, as Todd mentioned, pariahs with the human-feeders of his kind. I did like the premise, the tension was reasonably well accomplished, but in the end it is let down by not fully exploring the idea of Teyla as a Queen - what if she started to exhibit Wraith tendencies, a need to feed, or the power goes to her head? What if they had to save her from herself? Admittedly it would be unlikely, but there was something missing that needed to take the story to the next level and it's disappointing we aren't seeing the recurring characters so much this season, ignoring Todd of course. I don't feel this final year is shaping up to be as consistent as the last couple, though of course I'm glad they got a fifth season. And even this episode's title didn't come across as very inspired.
**
In the positive category, Teyla gets to be front and centre, integral in a plot to get the Wraith who are in ally Todd's alliance to submit to a procedure that will remove their need to feed on humans. But in the negative, it remains unresolved by the end, almost to the point of the episode itself seeming redundant. I suppose it's more in line with the serialised nature of modern TV shows, but that may also be why it feels less substantial and fulfilling on its own. It's also missing Robert Picardo as you'd think such an important mission would have to be run by him and discussed, and I don't remember any reference to him in the episode. At first it looks like being an excursion type of story with the five main characters, other than Picardo, off on a Jumper and meeting with Todd the 'friendly' Wraith (always good to have Christopher Heyerdahl back), and most of the episode does take place on Hive ships, but they also do go back to Atlantis in order to turn Teyla into an approximation of a Queen, where she'll be able to fool The Primary, the leading Queen of the alliance's Queens, thanks to her Wraith DNA. I wasn't clear if the procedure to make her into a Wraith was supposed to be merely cosmetic or if they were actually playing with her genetics to emphasise the already existing DNA, but it does seem like a big job and it takes her some time to recover, which leads me to wonder if it wouldn't be enough to merely look and sound like a Queen?
There's also the little matter of her being little. That is compared to all the Queens we've ever seen before, they're tall and imposing creatures, but Teyla is a bit on the diminutive side. And they also run into the Trek 'problem' (if it can be called that), of the need to reduce the threatening nature of an adversary in order to achieve some level of rapport with them - much like the Borg in 'Voyager' or the Jem'Hadar in 'DS9,' we have to meet less monstrous, more human-like versions, for want of a better word. Thus the Primary's subordinate, even with his unique look of shaven head and tiny plaited beard, came across as quite weak and wimpy compared to the vast majority of his kind we'd seen, and even 'Kenny,' Todd's subordinate on his Hive ship, and other Wraith with speaking parts, appear too submissive or lacking in the power and venom we expect - even the idea of ending their dependence on culling was straight out of the need to remove the Jem'Hadar's forced addiction to a drug. Except that it may not have been about that at all, and much like a certain other 'DS9' character (Garak, when he accomplishes Sisko's goal, but only by murder, not through the agreed plan), Todd may have been using them in political machinations to get himself to the head of the alliance, interesting in itself, but slightly disappointing when the story was progressing in a certain direction.
What does work about the episode is the tightrope all the characters are walking: Teyla and Todd aboard the other Hive ship are in danger of being discovered, she has to come across as ruthless without being foolhardy, while even the alliance between the pair is shaky as Todd thinks she's deliberately sacrificing Wraith in battle. And earlier in the episode it's the others who don't trust him and when the other ship shoots off they're left in the dark. I liked that they sort of have this Hive ship at their disposal, Kenny keeping them informed and dropping them off at a Stargate so they can zip to the other ship's location quickly, which proves vital in a battle with yet another Hive ship, though a non-alliance intruder. The uncertainty over whether they should let the Wraith play things out or get involved and retrieve Teyla is a difficult one because they don't know if she's in danger or is achieving their goal. So I felt the tension worked well, only it was a little bit let down by plaited-beard-Wraith (why do none of them have names, or at least some kind of designation between each other!), found her out simply by eavesdropping on her chat with the prisoners when Sheppard and the others do eventually come to save her. I also felt this should have been a moment for Teyla to demonstrate her warrior ability in a fight with him, especially as he seemed somehow 'softer' than the average example of his species, but instead of managing to prove her prowess it's down to Todd to come in at the last moment and prevent her throat being cut.
Right from the start when they propose this de-culling route for the Wraith, with the caveat it may make their special abilities of long life, self-healing, and strength be diminished you have to wonder why they would even go for it, because while they would free themselves from one source of food, meaning they'd have an advantage, they'd also be, as Todd mentioned, pariahs with the human-feeders of his kind. I did like the premise, the tension was reasonably well accomplished, but in the end it is let down by not fully exploring the idea of Teyla as a Queen - what if she started to exhibit Wraith tendencies, a need to feed, or the power goes to her head? What if they had to save her from herself? Admittedly it would be unlikely, but there was something missing that needed to take the story to the next level and it's disappointing we aren't seeing the recurring characters so much this season, ignoring Todd of course. I don't feel this final year is shaping up to be as consistent as the last couple, though of course I'm glad they got a fifth season. And even this episode's title didn't come across as very inspired.
**
Thursday, 8 December 2022
Nothing Human
DVD, Voyager S5 (Nothing Human)
The Doctor finds a friend. Only he turns out to be a surgeon that experimented on people to get his success. That's about the size of it and this is a classic Trek ethical conundrum to be beat out, so I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that it was from Jeri Taylor, returning for what was her final contribution to Trek, as writer of the episode. On a superficial level I remember it was simply exciting that 'Voyager' was dealing with a race so tied up with 'DS9,' the Cardassians hadn't been used much from the obvious reason there weren't any in the Delta Quadrant! You got the briefest of appearances from recurring Gul Evek in the pilot, there was 'Dreadnought' about the Cardassian-turned-Maquis weapon B'Elanna was forced to deal with in Season 2, and there would be at least one more appearance from the race thanks again to holography with Season 7's 'Flesh and Blood,' not to mention the multiple episodes featuring Seska, but this was definitely the most Cardassian-heavy story of the series, delving into another aspect of the culture and more specifically the atrocities that occurred during the Occupation of Bajor. All of which made it quite appealing for me since I love Cardassians, or at least I love the depth to them seen in the many examples of the race we'd encountered on 'DS9.' Dr. Crell Moset is very much like the real flesh and blood examples: interested in the finer things, enjoying conversation and debate, and a thoroughly charming fellow in the best tradition of both Dukat and Garak. He's also a mass murderer, and unlike Empress Georgiou from 'DSC,' where they seemed willing to accept her despite her evil deeds and lack of contrition for what she'd done, our crew here are disgusted with him.
The crux of the matter is whether it's right to use the research of those who gained it through nefarious means such as experimentation, torture, and unnecessarily inflicting suffering. The thing is it's a direct continuation of the attitude towards Cardassians as being equivalent of the Nazis, while the Bajorans were the Jews, as this exact thing happened famously in the concentration camps of World War II. The Cardassians had become a lot more complex since their early appearances, even early seasons of 'DS9,' we'd seen plenty of examples that were culturally different to Federation norms, yes, but also positive in some ways. This Moset is definitely a throwback to the time when the whole race were a Nazi monolith to an extent, and though they weren't exactly popular at this time (the Dominion War in full swing on 'DS9' with the Cardies siding with the enemy), there was still some degree of complexity to the characters. Really, all that was unimportant, however, as the set up was there regardless, and they could just as easily have used an evil Romulan or some other race we hadn't even heard of, but I'm glad they stuck with an existing, well-developed species for, as I said, purely superficial satisfaction in continuing the visibility of the Alpha Quadrant races, which it wasn't easy to incorporate into 'Voyager' regularly.
That being said they did miss a big opportunity in the Bajoran crewman - I was wondering if he was the same man as appeared in 'Learning Curve,' one of the ex-Maquis that Tuvok had to train in the ways of Starfleet, but he wasn't. The trouble with the series was that they so rarely (after the first two or three seasons), emphasised that sense of community on the ship, a static group of people that would hardly ever grow (occasionally adding new crew), or shrink (deaths, or people leaving), and so they had a prefect opportunity to delve into more of the crew, but instead preferred to focus on the main cast and the usually different 'guest crew characters' from week to week. We saw it recently with the return of the Wildmans, which was nice, and they could have brought back Gerron if they'd wanted to. Instead they decided to have another Bajoran, Ensign Tabor, whom we'd never heard of before. Okay, I understand the reasoning behind it, they needed to keep their options open so as not to narrow things too much for future stories, they didn't want to write themselves into a corner, but it is frustrating when they don't take the chance to develop a previously existing character. Perhaps the Bajoran sub-plot could have been larger, maybe all the Bajorans on the ship could have been seen to get together and protest. For that matter we don't know how many are on the ship, another example of trying to hold off on details, but in this case perhaps they should have put their foot down and shown their hand, for this was the time to play it.
There wasn't really much resolution for Tabor, either (though he'd return, belatedly, in the final season). It was good to see Chakotay getting to be First Officer and have a private meeting with him where the young man airs his grievances, and the idea of a crewman leaving the ship because of ethical differences could have been an episode in its own right (though it could be said the way Janeway operated from one extreme to the next half the ship might have left given the chance, I imagine, and we couldn't have had that!), exploring where he could have gone, what he'd have done, and the sacrifices he was willing to make to stand on his principles. The scene recalled the times when Chakotay was trying to get his former crew to integrate with Starfleet. But it's not his episode, nor is it really B'Elanna's. She has a hard scene with Janeway at the end, who overturned her medical wishes in favour of the ship's need of her, perhaps representing the reality that in their predicament the ends justifies the means? It's probably one of those decisions that show up her inconsistency towards Starfleet values, in the same way as 'killing' Tuvix to bring back Tuvok and Neelix was. But it's not Janeway's episode either. Of all of them it has to be the Doctor's because it's all based around him and he has the final decision as Chief Medical Officer, on whether to keep or delete the Moset program and all his research, which Janeway grants him authority on, but you'd think as CMO it should have been his decision as standard.
It is quite easy to question the set up quite a bit: why would the Doctor need a holographic consultant, why couldn't the information be transferred into his own program? He does say something about there not being enough room, and there was that episode where his program was breaking down from too much use and too much data - interestingly that also featured a holographic consultant, only in that case it was his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, so I suppose that could be used as precedent. Still, it is far-fetched to have to believe that with all their technological superiority they can't find a way for what is essentially just data, to be used in some way other than recreating a Cardassian butcher of the death camps! I think the point is that they were wandering into all this quite innocently without knowing the issues that existed - Tabor had firsthand knowledge while the records from the Cardassians, which must have been shared between wars and in the last few years, made no mention of the war crimes Moset was responsible for. Even so, you'd think there would be a little more cultural sensitivity, knowing the difficult recent history between Cardassians and Bajorans, and yet Harry Kim doesn't give it a moment's thought, just has Tabor come and help him reinitialise Moset's program! But again, Harry is innocently unaware of what has happened so he's not to blame, but they didn't have to go with a Cardassian face.
The truth is, if they hadn't stumbled on the personal evidence of Tabor, they wouldn't have been led to investigate further to corroborate his accusations and there would never have been an issue, other than B'Elanna's hatred of the race. Again, that was ripe ground for an entire episode in its own right. It might seem extreme to see how Torres reacts and why should she still be so angry after around five years separated from the conflict with them, but don't forget that all her friends in the Maquis had just been exterminated mere months before at the behest of the Cardassians, a favour done for them by their allies, the Dominion, so they were just as guilty of crimes as ever, and personal ones to her, too. The idea of all Cardassians getting this treatment would, again, have been a story in its own right, except I'm sure if Torres did meet with an example of them that was regretful for their people's actions (as Kira did in 'Duet'), and she had time to get to know them, we'd see the usual Trekky rapprochement. But it was a difficult issue that had been dealt with before, such as in Worf's hatred of Romulans, or O'Brien similarly hating Cardies having fought in an earlier war against them. Moset gave early impressions he regretted the Occupation, but you soon sense that this was mere whim, that he was glad of the opportunity to experiment - he likes to use physical tools because he enjoys the feel of it, that was a flagging up of his real persona, which the Doctor, who had instantly warmed to as a fellow hologram, was unsettled by, but merely seemed to chalk up to cultural differences at that point.
Any problems with why they had to recreate this man, why the Doctor couldn't handle it on his own, and why they had to use the face of Moset when they could have used anything, are all irrelevant - they were simply to get us to the ethical dilemma: is it right to use medical research that has been arrived at through evil means? In the best Trek episodes they would have explored one side, that it was necessary to save Torres' life, they'd have weighed up the other side, that it was abhorrent to benefit from research arrived at that way, but in the end they'd have found a third alternative, and I think that was one thing missing from the story. I expected the other alien ship to somehow wrench their fellow alien from Torres and the Doctor was barely able to save her, but at least he hadn't had to use the research. But in the event Janeway has no patience for ethical qualms, much like Tom, who is obviously emotionally invested more than anyone (and it was great to see him return to his old role as nurse), and simply orders the procedure to be carried out, regardless of the patient's wishes or concerns. The Doctor is given the choice to keep or delete and so the episode ends. I'm honestly not sure on the right answer to the question, because once you know something how can you un-know it? Then there's the reality of how medical knowledge was arrived it going back hundreds or even thousands of years, and we may not be comfortable with now. It's a thorny issue and clearly in this case and in the case of a real Nazi experiment it is horrific, but can a line be drawn under it so that we'll never do this again or permit it to be done, but that doesn't mean we have to wipe out the knowledge? I don't know, but like the most Trekky episodes it does make you think and, just as importantly, debate.
The other side of the episode is the alien itself. I loved the idea that it could send out this distress call with a wave (must have very powerful ships), but the Universal Translator can't cope with it, and I liked the design of the creature, too. They wisely avoided actually venturing onto its vessel as how would you portray a race that may exist horizontally most of the time and the technology they operate - it might have been interesting to see them try, as they did when they went aboard the exceedingly alien 8472 ship, but it would have been tough on the production team, who, by the way, deserve great credit for recreating Cardassian architecture for a holographic recreation of Moset's laboratory when they probably could have just redressed Bashir's Infirmary if they'd really been strapped for cash! There was a real danger that the creature could have been laughable - it's one of those tropes of sci-fi that you have to have an episode where a crew-member gets attached to some alien creature and they're dying, and you have to be careful how you handle it or it can look very silly. Indeed, when I first saw it lying in Sickbay it was like an anorexic version of the ugly alien salamanders that Janeway and Paris turned into in 'Threshold.' All question of comedy was thrown out by the terrifying moment it suddenly rears up and leaps right through the forcefield at B'Elanna, truly horrific. But it's also in the way you see it breathing when it's on her, like it's safely cocooned and it suddenly becomes something understandable: the desperate will to survive, its sympathetic position more clear again when Moset slices open a holographic replica which reacts in pain.
It was also lovely when the creature is returned to its people and they send a message back which Janeway interprets as a thank you (a fun fact is that Frank Welker did the voice and he'd previously been responsible for the Spock screams in 'Star Trek III'!). Though they didn't understand each other there was still some level of understanding. I'm appreciating how much the cast are being used at this stage, too, with Seven not stealing the show, even though (yet another potential plot), the slight sense of rebellion which was on the right side of insubordination from Tabor as he has to work under her in Engineering when she fills in for Torres, was ripe for exploration. So many threads in this episode that could have come from something before if there were regularly recurring characters, or could have been taken up again in successive stories, and yet they're unfortunately just thrown in for this one time. The idea of Seven taking Torres' place in particular had great potential when you think of all those under the Chief Engineer who might well have been annoyed that this brilliant ex-Borg is more trusted than them. We hear that everyone has a personal database as Tom threatens to send a picture of B'Elanna to them, so that tied down a little bit of how people operate at this time in the future, which makes sense since they make Personal Logs and would need somewhere to store them. And it was interesting the Doctor chose to show his images in two dimensions in the Holodeck when you might think he could've had three-dimensional renders. He could also have made the Holodeck more special instead of just creating ordinary chairs and a bare room, but he probably didn't want any attention away from his slide show.
This is most certainly a good story, though not on the same level as recent episodes. It is thoughtful, but maybe the series wasn't quite as accomplished at that kind of style than either 'TNG' or 'DS9' were. The ethical debate is a real quandary, and while some would even be upset that many of the parts of the lifestyle they have today wouldn't exist if not for the experimentation with animals, sentient beings is far, far worse and is a very difficult issue to get to the bottom of, especially in these days of morality being stretched to breaking point. Crell even says at one point ethics are meaningless, or subjective, or whatever it was he said. Clearly the suggestion here is that he's wrong, but I wonder what the makers of Trek based it on, because he's right in a way: unless you have belief in a Supreme Being that knows best how we are to live then it's all made up by human minds, there's no ultimate truth of Good and Evil and it's merely the whims of whatever generation is in power at the moment, often reacting to what went before. What Trek considered morally correct thirty years ago isn't necessarily what it does now, and some would argue that that's because we've 'progressed,' but what if we're just going back to ways we'd previously thrown off? This is the kind of episode that has you thinking along those lines, and rather than concentrating on effects and action, armageddon and emotionalism, Trek needs more of this today, except I'm not sure they know right from wrong any more, if they even knew it then...
***
The Doctor finds a friend. Only he turns out to be a surgeon that experimented on people to get his success. That's about the size of it and this is a classic Trek ethical conundrum to be beat out, so I suppose it shouldn't be surprising that it was from Jeri Taylor, returning for what was her final contribution to Trek, as writer of the episode. On a superficial level I remember it was simply exciting that 'Voyager' was dealing with a race so tied up with 'DS9,' the Cardassians hadn't been used much from the obvious reason there weren't any in the Delta Quadrant! You got the briefest of appearances from recurring Gul Evek in the pilot, there was 'Dreadnought' about the Cardassian-turned-Maquis weapon B'Elanna was forced to deal with in Season 2, and there would be at least one more appearance from the race thanks again to holography with Season 7's 'Flesh and Blood,' not to mention the multiple episodes featuring Seska, but this was definitely the most Cardassian-heavy story of the series, delving into another aspect of the culture and more specifically the atrocities that occurred during the Occupation of Bajor. All of which made it quite appealing for me since I love Cardassians, or at least I love the depth to them seen in the many examples of the race we'd encountered on 'DS9.' Dr. Crell Moset is very much like the real flesh and blood examples: interested in the finer things, enjoying conversation and debate, and a thoroughly charming fellow in the best tradition of both Dukat and Garak. He's also a mass murderer, and unlike Empress Georgiou from 'DSC,' where they seemed willing to accept her despite her evil deeds and lack of contrition for what she'd done, our crew here are disgusted with him.
The crux of the matter is whether it's right to use the research of those who gained it through nefarious means such as experimentation, torture, and unnecessarily inflicting suffering. The thing is it's a direct continuation of the attitude towards Cardassians as being equivalent of the Nazis, while the Bajorans were the Jews, as this exact thing happened famously in the concentration camps of World War II. The Cardassians had become a lot more complex since their early appearances, even early seasons of 'DS9,' we'd seen plenty of examples that were culturally different to Federation norms, yes, but also positive in some ways. This Moset is definitely a throwback to the time when the whole race were a Nazi monolith to an extent, and though they weren't exactly popular at this time (the Dominion War in full swing on 'DS9' with the Cardies siding with the enemy), there was still some degree of complexity to the characters. Really, all that was unimportant, however, as the set up was there regardless, and they could just as easily have used an evil Romulan or some other race we hadn't even heard of, but I'm glad they stuck with an existing, well-developed species for, as I said, purely superficial satisfaction in continuing the visibility of the Alpha Quadrant races, which it wasn't easy to incorporate into 'Voyager' regularly.
That being said they did miss a big opportunity in the Bajoran crewman - I was wondering if he was the same man as appeared in 'Learning Curve,' one of the ex-Maquis that Tuvok had to train in the ways of Starfleet, but he wasn't. The trouble with the series was that they so rarely (after the first two or three seasons), emphasised that sense of community on the ship, a static group of people that would hardly ever grow (occasionally adding new crew), or shrink (deaths, or people leaving), and so they had a prefect opportunity to delve into more of the crew, but instead preferred to focus on the main cast and the usually different 'guest crew characters' from week to week. We saw it recently with the return of the Wildmans, which was nice, and they could have brought back Gerron if they'd wanted to. Instead they decided to have another Bajoran, Ensign Tabor, whom we'd never heard of before. Okay, I understand the reasoning behind it, they needed to keep their options open so as not to narrow things too much for future stories, they didn't want to write themselves into a corner, but it is frustrating when they don't take the chance to develop a previously existing character. Perhaps the Bajoran sub-plot could have been larger, maybe all the Bajorans on the ship could have been seen to get together and protest. For that matter we don't know how many are on the ship, another example of trying to hold off on details, but in this case perhaps they should have put their foot down and shown their hand, for this was the time to play it.
There wasn't really much resolution for Tabor, either (though he'd return, belatedly, in the final season). It was good to see Chakotay getting to be First Officer and have a private meeting with him where the young man airs his grievances, and the idea of a crewman leaving the ship because of ethical differences could have been an episode in its own right (though it could be said the way Janeway operated from one extreme to the next half the ship might have left given the chance, I imagine, and we couldn't have had that!), exploring where he could have gone, what he'd have done, and the sacrifices he was willing to make to stand on his principles. The scene recalled the times when Chakotay was trying to get his former crew to integrate with Starfleet. But it's not his episode, nor is it really B'Elanna's. She has a hard scene with Janeway at the end, who overturned her medical wishes in favour of the ship's need of her, perhaps representing the reality that in their predicament the ends justifies the means? It's probably one of those decisions that show up her inconsistency towards Starfleet values, in the same way as 'killing' Tuvix to bring back Tuvok and Neelix was. But it's not Janeway's episode either. Of all of them it has to be the Doctor's because it's all based around him and he has the final decision as Chief Medical Officer, on whether to keep or delete the Moset program and all his research, which Janeway grants him authority on, but you'd think as CMO it should have been his decision as standard.
It is quite easy to question the set up quite a bit: why would the Doctor need a holographic consultant, why couldn't the information be transferred into his own program? He does say something about there not being enough room, and there was that episode where his program was breaking down from too much use and too much data - interestingly that also featured a holographic consultant, only in that case it was his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman, so I suppose that could be used as precedent. Still, it is far-fetched to have to believe that with all their technological superiority they can't find a way for what is essentially just data, to be used in some way other than recreating a Cardassian butcher of the death camps! I think the point is that they were wandering into all this quite innocently without knowing the issues that existed - Tabor had firsthand knowledge while the records from the Cardassians, which must have been shared between wars and in the last few years, made no mention of the war crimes Moset was responsible for. Even so, you'd think there would be a little more cultural sensitivity, knowing the difficult recent history between Cardassians and Bajorans, and yet Harry Kim doesn't give it a moment's thought, just has Tabor come and help him reinitialise Moset's program! But again, Harry is innocently unaware of what has happened so he's not to blame, but they didn't have to go with a Cardassian face.
The truth is, if they hadn't stumbled on the personal evidence of Tabor, they wouldn't have been led to investigate further to corroborate his accusations and there would never have been an issue, other than B'Elanna's hatred of the race. Again, that was ripe ground for an entire episode in its own right. It might seem extreme to see how Torres reacts and why should she still be so angry after around five years separated from the conflict with them, but don't forget that all her friends in the Maquis had just been exterminated mere months before at the behest of the Cardassians, a favour done for them by their allies, the Dominion, so they were just as guilty of crimes as ever, and personal ones to her, too. The idea of all Cardassians getting this treatment would, again, have been a story in its own right, except I'm sure if Torres did meet with an example of them that was regretful for their people's actions (as Kira did in 'Duet'), and she had time to get to know them, we'd see the usual Trekky rapprochement. But it was a difficult issue that had been dealt with before, such as in Worf's hatred of Romulans, or O'Brien similarly hating Cardies having fought in an earlier war against them. Moset gave early impressions he regretted the Occupation, but you soon sense that this was mere whim, that he was glad of the opportunity to experiment - he likes to use physical tools because he enjoys the feel of it, that was a flagging up of his real persona, which the Doctor, who had instantly warmed to as a fellow hologram, was unsettled by, but merely seemed to chalk up to cultural differences at that point.
Any problems with why they had to recreate this man, why the Doctor couldn't handle it on his own, and why they had to use the face of Moset when they could have used anything, are all irrelevant - they were simply to get us to the ethical dilemma: is it right to use medical research that has been arrived at through evil means? In the best Trek episodes they would have explored one side, that it was necessary to save Torres' life, they'd have weighed up the other side, that it was abhorrent to benefit from research arrived at that way, but in the end they'd have found a third alternative, and I think that was one thing missing from the story. I expected the other alien ship to somehow wrench their fellow alien from Torres and the Doctor was barely able to save her, but at least he hadn't had to use the research. But in the event Janeway has no patience for ethical qualms, much like Tom, who is obviously emotionally invested more than anyone (and it was great to see him return to his old role as nurse), and simply orders the procedure to be carried out, regardless of the patient's wishes or concerns. The Doctor is given the choice to keep or delete and so the episode ends. I'm honestly not sure on the right answer to the question, because once you know something how can you un-know it? Then there's the reality of how medical knowledge was arrived it going back hundreds or even thousands of years, and we may not be comfortable with now. It's a thorny issue and clearly in this case and in the case of a real Nazi experiment it is horrific, but can a line be drawn under it so that we'll never do this again or permit it to be done, but that doesn't mean we have to wipe out the knowledge? I don't know, but like the most Trekky episodes it does make you think and, just as importantly, debate.
The other side of the episode is the alien itself. I loved the idea that it could send out this distress call with a wave (must have very powerful ships), but the Universal Translator can't cope with it, and I liked the design of the creature, too. They wisely avoided actually venturing onto its vessel as how would you portray a race that may exist horizontally most of the time and the technology they operate - it might have been interesting to see them try, as they did when they went aboard the exceedingly alien 8472 ship, but it would have been tough on the production team, who, by the way, deserve great credit for recreating Cardassian architecture for a holographic recreation of Moset's laboratory when they probably could have just redressed Bashir's Infirmary if they'd really been strapped for cash! There was a real danger that the creature could have been laughable - it's one of those tropes of sci-fi that you have to have an episode where a crew-member gets attached to some alien creature and they're dying, and you have to be careful how you handle it or it can look very silly. Indeed, when I first saw it lying in Sickbay it was like an anorexic version of the ugly alien salamanders that Janeway and Paris turned into in 'Threshold.' All question of comedy was thrown out by the terrifying moment it suddenly rears up and leaps right through the forcefield at B'Elanna, truly horrific. But it's also in the way you see it breathing when it's on her, like it's safely cocooned and it suddenly becomes something understandable: the desperate will to survive, its sympathetic position more clear again when Moset slices open a holographic replica which reacts in pain.
It was also lovely when the creature is returned to its people and they send a message back which Janeway interprets as a thank you (a fun fact is that Frank Welker did the voice and he'd previously been responsible for the Spock screams in 'Star Trek III'!). Though they didn't understand each other there was still some level of understanding. I'm appreciating how much the cast are being used at this stage, too, with Seven not stealing the show, even though (yet another potential plot), the slight sense of rebellion which was on the right side of insubordination from Tabor as he has to work under her in Engineering when she fills in for Torres, was ripe for exploration. So many threads in this episode that could have come from something before if there were regularly recurring characters, or could have been taken up again in successive stories, and yet they're unfortunately just thrown in for this one time. The idea of Seven taking Torres' place in particular had great potential when you think of all those under the Chief Engineer who might well have been annoyed that this brilliant ex-Borg is more trusted than them. We hear that everyone has a personal database as Tom threatens to send a picture of B'Elanna to them, so that tied down a little bit of how people operate at this time in the future, which makes sense since they make Personal Logs and would need somewhere to store them. And it was interesting the Doctor chose to show his images in two dimensions in the Holodeck when you might think he could've had three-dimensional renders. He could also have made the Holodeck more special instead of just creating ordinary chairs and a bare room, but he probably didn't want any attention away from his slide show.
This is most certainly a good story, though not on the same level as recent episodes. It is thoughtful, but maybe the series wasn't quite as accomplished at that kind of style than either 'TNG' or 'DS9' were. The ethical debate is a real quandary, and while some would even be upset that many of the parts of the lifestyle they have today wouldn't exist if not for the experimentation with animals, sentient beings is far, far worse and is a very difficult issue to get to the bottom of, especially in these days of morality being stretched to breaking point. Crell even says at one point ethics are meaningless, or subjective, or whatever it was he said. Clearly the suggestion here is that he's wrong, but I wonder what the makers of Trek based it on, because he's right in a way: unless you have belief in a Supreme Being that knows best how we are to live then it's all made up by human minds, there's no ultimate truth of Good and Evil and it's merely the whims of whatever generation is in power at the moment, often reacting to what went before. What Trek considered morally correct thirty years ago isn't necessarily what it does now, and some would argue that that's because we've 'progressed,' but what if we're just going back to ways we'd previously thrown off? This is the kind of episode that has you thinking along those lines, and rather than concentrating on effects and action, armageddon and emotionalism, Trek needs more of this today, except I'm not sure they know right from wrong any more, if they even knew it then...
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