Resurgence

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Resurgence)

Telford comes back! I'd thought he did, and indeed, he did, the aliens apparently benign, at least enough not to harm him and allow him to search out Destiny on the seed ship they'd taken over, to form a truce to take out the boss ship of some automated drone vessels. There's some kind of war going on between them and these aliens (the Ursini, or Ersini, or maybe even Orsini - I'm going with the first one). It all looks really nice, as ever, the visual effects very accomplished, even beautiful sometimes, such as escaping an attack by following the seed ship into a star's corona which takes out many of the pursuing drones. It also sounds appropriately evocative of space. So sound and visuals a-okay, it's just that the story tried to whack in a bit too much and yet wasn't satisfactory, there's no underlining of the plot, it's a little too vague, I found myself dropping out sometimes in dialogue-heavy scenes which suggests it wasn't holding the attention as the series can. Otherwise I don't know, it's difficult to say why it didn't work, with a good mixture of exploring an abandoned hulk, getting Telford back, and going into battle against many much smaller ships. But I found myself wondering things like how could the shuttle dock with Destiny when it suddenly comes under attack by the drones in the debris field, a graveyard of Ursini ships? Destiny never dropped shields and yet they were able to get in. Those are the kind of details I like to know, and growing up with the very well defined rules of Trek, I wanted that here.

There was also a spot of confusion over what game the Ursini were playing - it seemed like they'd double-crossed their human allies, but I wasn't sure how. Weren't they expecting there to be lots of drone ships where they were going? Rush, characteristically, advised double-crossing them in the first place, just as he shows a lot of irritation with the other scientists (no wonder Brody wanted to go off with Scott and Greer to explore the ship in the debris!), and is very dismissive. But he is still grieving, lest we forget, he lost the woman whose mind was within Gin's body, Dr. Perry. He's able to talk to Eli as one who knows, Eli's become quite unfocused in his work, various people worried about him, Camille tries to talk to him, but like a typical modern young man he refuses even to stay in the same room when the painful subject is broached. At least Rush's blunt, unsentimental, facts-of-life attitude to dealing with him gets somewhere, but it's interrupted before he can finish or Eli can run away. I think that's it, the episode was very unfinished in all its plot lines, that's what takes away from a story that would have been otherwise fine.

We have Eli not getting back to normal, not reacting well to Gin's death, but holding it all in, too. You have Chloe continuing to be distant with Scott (then cries when she points out he's being that way, too!), because she thinks her time is almost up - that develops into her going alien and escaping during the battle to go somewhere on Destiny and do something... we don't know what. Could be good, could be bad, we're not told. Wait till next time! Then there's the aliens versus the drones - are our people the victim of a trick, or not? In the chaos of battle it's anyone's guess. Is this some kind of mid-season mini-finale? Did they even have those then? Or is it merely a cliffhanger as we sometimes see, not every episode neatly wrapped since it is a form of serialised storytelling. There are plenty of character scenes, like Brody and Greer bantering about the third EV suit that's recently been fixed and why should Greer be the one to wear it (easier to fix, is Brody's quick-witted answer, all very fitting), Varo wants to help TJ, despite the debacle of Simeon happening on his watch, and she eventually allows him out to assist with casualties. Volker, Parke and Brody in their put-upon roles under Rush (no surprise he sits in the Captain's chair!), are always fun. But we don't see much of others like Lt. James, people are quite isolated now that they have the command centre on the Bridge, and everyone seems to be in their own little areas, much like a Trek starship, except without the myriad crewmen. So things are a little bare. I hope the next part retroactively improves this one.

**

Metroid Prime

 GameCube, Metroid Prime (2003) game

My first proper encounter with Samus Aran came with this game, not counting the playable version in the original 'Super Smash Bros.' on N64 and a cameo at the end of one of the tracks in 'F-1 Race' on the humble Game Boy. Nintendo in their infinite wisdom (or for some other reason), deigned not to update the series on N64 from the 2D days of yore. And so it was left to 'Prime' for her introduction into 3D. And I liked it, it was a strong mix of shooting, scanning and environment-spanning puzzles á la 'Zelda' - I would say that series is probably the greatest influence: traversing a large game world, collecting power-ups to unlock other areas. In fact it was pretty much one big dungeon. There was some variety in locations, from the verdant, watery Tallon Overworld, to the seething lava pits of Magmoor, snowy land of Phendrana, Egyptian tomb-like Chozo Ruins, and the brown caves of the Phazon Mines (interspersed with beauteous shocks of purple and blue Phazon, unfortunately deadly to the standard Samus suit), though as I'll explain later the environments weren't quite varied enough. Having enjoyed the Wii sequel recently (not to mention the 'Cube sequel a good few years back), it had made me want to revisit the original, especially heading into winter with those dark, chilly days, you just want a long, involved challenge to warm the brain cells.

Last time, way back in 2006, it took me from January to August, getting stuck on occasion, and with an ultimate completion of a measly 74% (and on Normal difficulty, too!). The main reason I got such a low rating was because I foolishly ran through the opening level on the crashing Frigate and failed to scan things so right there was a hole in my Log Book Entries. This time I was resolved to take it more carefully and try for 100%. Percentage completed may not sound all that important, you have after all finished the game when you finally defeat the Phazon Metroid Prime creature, but you're so schooled in scanning all the time that you want to collect them all and I was quite disappointed not to achieve my goal: ultimately I managed to find 96% of the items, and 97% scans, but I let myself down on a couple of occasions that may have made the difference. The big one was not realising that when you find one of the twelve Chozo Artefacts which your quest is all about, you go back to the Artefact Temple and the next clue is scannable. Not realising this, I sometimes collected more than one, thus overwriting the existing scan, losing it forever! To me this was a cruel attitude towards the player, I think all scans should have been available at all time so you couldn't fall into a trap in what is a reasonably sizeable adventure - it's harsh to prevent a 100% completion because you messed up on one or two occasions!

The other time I'd already realised I wasn't going to get all the scans and I was working my way through the Mines - in one room you have to Spider Ball up to a platform, then jump across to another using the Grapple Beam and because it was so dark and brown I didn't notice that at first and kept falling into harmful Phazon and having to go back and start again. I could see a console with a red scan on it (usually meaning it activates something, as opposed to the orange variety which are passive scans merely giving more information), and assumed it would bring a platform closer to me, and only after I'd activated it did I realise it shut down a forcefield in the background which had had an orange scan point on it, and now I couldn't scan it. Because the Mines were so tough and irritating I just gave up and accepted it rather than quitting out and going back to my last save (as I'd done on other occasions previously when unsure if I'd got every scan to preserve my record). As it turned out it wouldn't have made much difference, but either way if you miss one you may as well have missed many. I actually had to mark the game down one star from what I would have given it mainly because of this frustrating harshness regarding completion - and this time I was all out to get maximum percentage, it just didn't seem fair!

It was strange that I wasn't even able to collect all the pickups, too. There are one hundred in the game, including the essential upgrades to suit and weaponry, but still I was four short by the end. I even went to the extreme of using an item map that was unlocked in Gallery 3, the bonus extras for achieving a certain level of completion, so I felt since I'd earned it I had the right to use it (whereas I tend not to like walkthroughs or any of that because it defeats the object of the game and my sense of personal achievement). But even then, while I tracked down the last two missile expansions (out of a total of forty-nine, making a grand total of 245 missiles in your arsenal), I was still missing two percent, which I can't account for (22 essential upgrades√, 14 energy tanks√, 12 Chozo Artefacts√, 49 missile expansions√, 3 Power Bomb expansions√ (I think), and a partridge in a pear treeeeeee!). The game is all about collecting and some of them were hidden all too well, and even with the advantage of a mechanical whirring noise to alert you to the presence of them nearby, it was still tough (one of the expansions I missed was unfairly hidden in a tunnel disguised by a bush - unfair because it was far enough away from the corridor that you couldn't hear the telltale noise! Again: cruel).

What I will say is the best part of the game is probably that part where you're equipped to search out areas you've been to before that held points of interest - perhaps a door that was the wrong colour and you needed a different beam weapon to access it, or wall that needed blasting open. It's that exploration and the opening up of your abilities that makes it so enjoyable. That does lead to the other considerable complaint I would level at the game, however: too much backtracking. At some points you do actually enjoy revisiting areas that you'd left behind hours ago in another part of the world, there's a kind of nostalgia to going back there, when you've probably only been there once before. That's because the levels are so long and windy that you have a strong sense of going deep underground or into strongholds of the enemy, and the overriding feeling of the 'Prime' games (and from what I gather about the earlier titles), is the isolation of a single lone woman going into the deeps to face untold horrors. You really get that in spades when your energy tanks are almost depleted and you're limping along hoping against hope there's a Save Station round the next corner because otherwise that last half hour or more is going to be cruelly ripped away from you and you'll have to go back to your last save. And then you stumble upon some new enemy and only have time to realise it needed a different technique to defeat before your visor blinks into oblivion like an old TV set shutting down!

I chose to play it on Hard this time, partly for the challenge, having finished it at Normal before, but also because after three games in the series I'm well versed in its style - the way you lock onto an enemy to circle-strafe them was quite unique back then. 'Zelda' had introduced it into its first 3D entry (another parallel between the two), but to make what had been 2D into 3D, they needed to tweak things a bit. This wasn't a typical shooting game like 'Goldeneye,' this was someone encased in a unique robotic suit so how you interacted with the world would be different. It's actually a little removing because that little puff-puff of gears working when you double-jump for example, or even the movement running along the floor, can feel very airy and loose, you don't feel solidly connected to anything and it is slightly disconcerting. It's different when you come down to earth with a bump, then the jar rattles through the rumble in your controller, and equally when you get shot it affects you in different ways - if it's pure fire then you hear Samus yelp, if electrical energy then the visor will crackle and obscure vision. If it's a high-powered energy weapon then vision can be completely whited out and you do get a really strong impression of being in this suit. Everything, other than being in Morph Ball mode is seen through this visor, and the graphical effects were very impressive at the time: raindrops lingering, steam temporarily fogging the display, the way a flash of light would illuminate 'your' face so you see your reflection, it was all wonderful stuff.

What I would say now in opposition to this is that while the different environments are unique there's also rather a lot of brown! Tallon is brown with green bits, the Ruins are a sandy shade of brown, the mines are a dark brown, and the architecture beneath the violent red heat or crispy snow is also, yes, brown. Maybe Nintendo was trying to subvert its kiddie image of colourful Mario worlds, but 'Zelda' managed to do that and also had much visual splendour, too. As I said before, when you get to the Mines and see them lit by the grisly internal glow of Phazon, especially once you have a suit that protects you from it and allows time to appreciate the view, it really is beautiful and something I seem to remember them expanding greatly in the sequel which was all about Phazon-infected lands I believe. While I'm griping, though, it's a shame your ship only stays in one place, something 'Prime 3' added to and enhanced the experience with. All you can do in this one is use it as a save point. Still, the game does have other graphical flourishes, too, such as creatures emitting light in darkness, the gloom of the underwater areas and of course the flashy fights. It's not limited to the area you're in, either, as you eventually supplement your standard view and scan visors with thermal detection and x-ray which adds new dimensions to gameplay. Maybe not as much as you might think, mainly for solving problems in specific areas, but still, it was another impressive addition.

It's all very well having a pretty game, but it's really all about what you do that counts, and if some areas are so dingy it can make playing in a light room difficult, the challenge still exists. I highlighted one area the game can induce tension, but the bosses are also worth mentioning. My time of a little under twenty-four hours isn't indicative of the actual total time I played for as there were sections occasionally that I had to replay a number of times before succeeding, and some of the bosses would be included in that - the Omega Pirate of the Mines is one example, but obviously the final battle(s) are the toughest, as you'd expect. Arguably Meta Ridley is much harder to beat than what comes after and it took me many attempts before I realised I needed to charge up shots to have a strong enough effect on it, but I have to say I've never liked boss fights, it's always such a chore to work out what you're supposed to do and when, annoying levels of trial and error and they often go on too long (the final battles are a case in point). Such things do irritate and appear like a last remnant of the Olden Days when games were specifically designed to be too tough to beat for most people unless you really dedicated yourself to them. They had less size, scope and power to play with and to increase the lifespan of a game it had to be nearly unplayable! Super tough end of level bosses are relics of that and it is strange that in a time when they could craft pretty large levels and pack them with puzzles and challenges they still went back to that trope: repetitive slog and an anticlimax (and why is it last levels in sci-fi games end in an organic alien world you have to traverse - made me think of 'Flashback' and 'Body Harvest').

I would suggest that if there hadn't also been so much backtracking the game's length would probably be cut in half. Once you get every upgrade and have the freedom of the corridors with the most powerful beam (Plasma), Grapple Beam, all the bombs, etc, it makes getting from A-to-B fairly simple, but it still takes time. Back when you were limited in health and abilities it could be tempting to head towards a previous Save Station so you could recoup health and ammo (missiles that is, as you have infinite power in your beams), but then you'd discover another annoying thing: enemies regenerate! It doesn't make a lot of sense to the story that these Space Pirates (snappy name...), gradually learn more about you and even imitate you later on, but still fail to learn from your rampages through their territory! The same troops and creatures reappear each time you return as if nothing had happened, and I suppose that's just one of those tropes of gaming, much like platforms that have no visible means of floating, or invisible platforms, etc. You just accept it and move on. But it's still annoying when you go through areas you've beaten and end up dead because you ran out of energy. Again: cruel, if par for the course in most games.

To weigh up we have too much backtracking, environments that aren't variable enough, a harsh approach to ultimate completion and recurring enemies. It almost sounds as if I didn't like playing it, but I certainly did. I never regretted choosing Hard as though it was practically new to me as it'd been so long since I first played it, I was already in the rhythm of the series, a veteran, so if the game was rougher with me I was okay with that and it was certainly never unplayable. I haven't even talked about the beautiful physics of being a heavy round ball, no matter that it may as well be magic since how could a grown woman squash into a small sphere like that! But it's typically Nintendo in the enjoyment of simply being a different form and the sense of movement you feel that is so different to bipedal locomotion - you could roll back and forth on a halfpipe for hours (well, minutes maybe - I certainly did when trying to get one of the missile expansions). And there's the secret bomb-based technique for boosting higher than you could from one bomb... It was a good game to revisit and though I'm slightly bitter about not achieving my 100% (maybe in another fifteen to twenty years?), and it is a game that demands a good long play time, not a ten-minute bash when the space between saves is so large, I would heartily recommend it. But don't expect too much, allow the series to grow - there's a lot to enjoy even in this first one. I may not view it as quite the classic 'NGC Magazine' rated it back in the day, but it's still a long and rewarding journey.

***

Visitation

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Visitation)

Not really sure how to take this one. It's like an unnecessary return to an old plot, the people led by Kane who resolved to stay on that planet in the other galaxy. Or is it a necessary revisitation to remove the ambiguity about TJ's baby? In that sense it was useful to know that her vision or whatever it was, wasn't real - Young believes it was a simulation, like the one of the ship blowing up that he went through. Was it an attempt by the ship to comfort her, because it seems more like it cruelly raised her hopes, only for them now to be dashed? The trouble with the story is that it's dealing with things well beyond the control or understanding of our characters, and it's interesting that they've gone in this direction of higher powers and miraculous events they can't explain, but it also smells of the 'Lost' (and its ilk's), kind of storytelling, stringing people along with bizarre happenings and seemingly deep and meaningful events and developments that ultimately don't really progress or reach a satisfying conclusion. Not that I've seen 'Lost,' just impressions from what I heard, and they seem to be trying to tap into that mystical uncertainty. It's far from the good guys going to planets and having conflicts with villains, perhaps it was being too vague, trying too hard to reach beyond its franchise's pretty simple premise to something more. And maybe that's why it didn't succeed.

On a micro level the episode isn't one of the more satisfying, it does answer the questions posed, as in how can the people from another galaxy have been pushed right onto Destiny's doorstop aboard a shuttle that is brand spanking new - it seems most likely the aliens sent them as some kind of preparation for death or a chance to say goodbye, but that suggests the aliens had compassion and understood our species enough to know what they needed, and yet if they're as powerful as they seem, why can't they stop them from dying? It all seemed like an effort to give some exploration or parallel to the other ongoing stories that are left (now that the remainder of the Lucian Alliance folks aren't a threat with Simeon dealt with), namely Chloe continuing to change into one of the enemy aliens, and the discovery of these signs of intelligent life that built the universe, as Rush believes. Higher powers, people changing into things, it's all very vague and hard to pin down and I think that's why it doesn't work as well as it should. Even so there are the odd little scenes that do work, such as Greer visiting Chloe to apologise for the fact he's probably going to have to kill her eventually, which she's remarkably calm and understanding about, which suggests she's already changed a lot. And the scene at the end with TJ being with Kane in the observation lounge before he finally dies watching the stars.

I can't say I ever liked the man, he was too much of a weird Christian stereotype of someone who has his head in he clouds more than on Earth, despite the fact that he and the others were put into a situation of the most need of practicality than ever: being self-sufficient on an alien planet they knew little to nothing about! Perhaps dividing his trust between God and those powerful aliens was what really got them all killed, maybe they weren't supposed to leave Destiny in the first place? I'm not even sure if he was actually a Christian, it's just an assumption since they were American and that is the main faith of that nation, but again it's a very televised version, all blind belief and no mention of the Bible or learning God's will, just 'feelings,' which isn't something to be led by! It did bring out some good points, such as Rush suggesting that either God was losing his touch, or he wasn't involved in the 'miracle' at all, since while the shuttle was like new, they still had their bodily defects, which was a good point. There's supposed to be some creepiness about them, like they're these walking facsimiles but not the real thing. That's correct in a way, but it was all very metaphysical and not well tied down, all left open to interpretation - after all we don't really know if any of Kane's impressions were actually true, that's just what he thought.

It is weird how they manage to bring people back on a series that navigates such impossibly vast distances, but it wasn't true what Greer said about losing plenty of people, but never seeing any return - look at both Rush and Chloe, left behind, not to mention Eli and the gang on another occasion, so it's occurred more than once! He may have meant from death, but that wasn't clear, nor would he have known at that stage of the episode. I'm glad they included a scene where he showed remorse for an act he expected to commit, he's only coming from the perspective of what he believes needs to be done, and what he believes Young believes needs to be done, a military standpoint, lacking compassion, all about protection from threat. TJ operates quite differently and acts very well as the medical person, though I assume she must have been taking surgical lessons since she was only a medic, but here she suggests quite nonchalantly she should perform an autopsy, which seems like quite a heavy duty process, not something in your average battlefield training! It was nice that she gained a measure of comfort from Kane's belief in her baby going to heaven, even if he doesn't say that actual word (again, all very vague, not very solid and certain). It effectively ends that storyline, but I'm not sure they have a lot to play with now.

We've dealt with the Lucian Alliance, we've uncovered Rush's secret control of the ship, we've gone through all kinds of trust issues between various people and groups and now things are going along relatively peacefully so they've always got to find some new conflict to throw in. When Chloe was recording her message to Scott and she talks about how she wishes they could have done this and that, and grown old together, I was thinking I'd settle for just a few more seasons! Because I do like it, the premise, setting and many of the characters and I always wonder where it would've gone. In this episode I got the wrong end of the stick because I was thinking Eli's mention of the obelisk was what caused the first death among the colonists, as if the aliens had sent them away to stop them interfering with it and they were programmed to die if they remembered it, but that theory was proved false, though I was surprised they didn't ask Eli what he'd been discussing before she died, and equally you'd think they'd have had medical people around when Camille was trying to get into their heads through hypnosis (!), and they're surprised when a second death occurs! In the end it felt like it had been a long story to get to no real point other than confirm TJ's baby's death was certain, and not enough of the interesting characters had a good share of the screen time.

**

Tsunkatse (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Tsunkatse) (2)

Wrestling and Trek, together at last as they were always meant to be! Okay, so maybe they aren't natural associates and clearly it was all about shameless cross-promotion (Trekkers would see The Rock and think, 'ooh, I must see what all this fighty WWF stuff is all about,' and in turn, the wrestling fans would queue up to see their hero's acting debut in a proper TV show...), as both 'Voyager' and what was then the WWF, were both up there on the UPN roster. I was trying to work out if I knew who The Rock was when I first saw this episode - I saw it on BBC2 in September 2001, and I'd bought 'WWF Wrestlemania' for N64 in February 2001, so yes, in answer to my own question, I was aware of The Rock and no doubt enjoyed the crossover as being a novelty, even though I wouldn't have seen him in action in 'real life' before 'Voyager' as the closest I came to actual wrestling was the occasional segment of 'WCW' on Channel 5 on a Friday evening. You might think there isn't much overlap between the two disciplines of sci-fi and wrestling, but I suggest there are plenty of people who enjoy a good Trek who also filter over into a spot of wrestling. They are both about all kinds of weird and wonderful characters, with heroes trying to do what's right and villains getting in their way. Wrestling is much more basic in its storytelling, of course, but still, it isn't quite as farfetched a matchup as on first consideration.

The Rock wouldn't be the only wrestling star to make it into the annals of Trek history as his fellow WWE associate, Big Show, would appear in 'Enterprise' as a green-skinned Orion (and apparently Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, who played Klaang in that series' pilot was also a wrestler, tough I didn't know it), but The Rock portraying an alien fighter was closer to his wrestling persona. It's enjoyable to see him performing the same actions even in this slightly incongruous setting: in a franchise where the raising of one particular eyebrow is well known, we get to see another, almost as famous, from another franchise. Then there's the looking side to side and the amusing sight of Seven of Nine being subjected to wrestling moves such as a clothesline or a body slam to the mat. Actually I suspect Seven would have made a great character on WWE - the bionic woman with greater than normal hand/eye coordination, visual acuity and physical strength and stamina. She really looks the part in her silver suit (almost a call back to the famous silver bio suit in which she first appeared out of Borg guise). I also like that she doesn't beat The Rock, as much as she has fighting ability, they couldn't bring him in to be bested by a mere slip of a Borg, and like the similarly named Rocky, she has to taste defeat before victory.

The question of whether she was victorious or not is one of the episode's themes, with an ending that is almost identical to 'The Most Toys' in which Data comes to see Kivas Fajo as an evil man, is possibly about to fatally shoot him and is then beamed away before he can become a murderer. Or Kirk in 'Arena' when he has the Gorn at his mercy and throws away his weapon in an act of compassion to a fallen enemy he has no wish to extinguish. Seven's resolution is somewhere between the two though it has the power of neither, sadly. To be a hunter, or to be prey, or... I wanted the third alternative, but it was merely to be saved from making the choice. Kirk's great moral victory is what solves the Metron's dilemma about how to deal with these aggressive 'lesser' species, and the ambiguity of whether Data would have actually pulled the trigger and what that would mean for him was something that left a shocking aftertaste in a series that was generally quite safe and proper in its characters' actions (though not always [Mr. Worf]). I wasn't so sure there was such a strong payoff for this episode. Partly the situation was different, she was fighting for her life, not judging an evil man; she was dealing with an honourable opponent who'd trained her and wanted her to end it for him, or he would kill her. I did wonder why he hadn't allowed himself to be killed earlier, but then I realised death itself as an escape wasn't his main objective, he wanted to leave one last message to his son, were his son still out there somewhere, by dying in honourable combat.

As always, her experiences as a Borg drone play into how she deals with the situation, in both 'assimilating' the rules of the game (and failing to see beyond the strict confines of order and rule - so much for 'four-dimensional thinking,' the Borg Queen must have kept that for herself rather than share it with drones that might have been liberated by the same level of understanding and intelligence as she apparently had. I say 'apparently' because she wasn't as clever as she thought she was!), but also in not wanting to be like the Borg that she'd been. It does irk somewhat that she continues to feel guilt and shame for a past that she can have had little to no control over. She was a drone, she didn't have free will, and even if she thought she did, she'd been turned into a Borg from childhood and been brought up wrongly in morality, ethics and every other way by the 'State' she inhabited, where personal thought was quashed under one mindset allowing for no diversity of thinking or allowance that their way could be wrong (sounds scarily familiar to today's public schooling...). So she can't really be held responsible for what she did then, she 'converted' to humanity, not easily, and it took some time, no instant change, but converted she was and the episode's ending was somewhat saved by Tuvok's reassurance that the very fact she's experiencing confusing emotions of loss, guilt an remorse, are what reaffirms her humanity. I must say that was rich coming from a Vulcan! It didn't quite fit with his philosophical outlook.

As much as I enjoyed their pairing, a couple of people who were comfortable without engaging in small talk and other such irrelevancies, and thus made a perfect match for a mission (it's even more enjoyable that it's a mission by choice as a way to spend their shore leave - it's not like they've ever been friends, but Seven, as I've noted on many occasions, is the closest to a female Vulcan we ever saw, even including the (relatively emotional), T'Pol!). There's also that line from Chakotay, I think it was, who says Tuvok should be interested in this alien sport of Tsunkatse because Vulcans appreciate martial arts. I'm not sure quite where this idea came from because the whole point of developing the Spock Nerve Pinch in 'TOS' was because Nimoy felt his character wouldn't be martial, he would find a nonviolent solution! But since then we've seen Vulcans go from this apparent pacifistic tendency to full on martial arts experts - 'Enterprise' was the big one for that with T'Pol even teaching others how to perform the Suus mahna (named for writer Mike Sussman), and then of course taken to new levels in 'DSC,' etc. Not that I object to Vulcans being able to be expert fighters, just that they seem to be all about it now rather than finding the peaceful or less painful resolution in such a situation of confrontation. Then he counsels Seven to do whatever it takes to survive when she's going off to fight in the to-the-death Red Match. It just doesn't sound quite right for him to say, though I suppose survival is logical and the whole point of the Hirogen's training was that she should have no mercy and no thought for her opponent, only defeating him.

The Hirogen With No Name is what we should call him as we never heard it. It's great that they worked in an established race, that added so much because we already know that species' main trait is that they're hunters, and what could be more disgraceful to such a one as to be caged. It also gives him a measure of sympathy that the mighty has fallen, that a Hirogen should be someone else's prey, but also that his motivation is more than that, he wishes to find his son. This level of dimensionality to a guest character helped the episode stand out and really made me think of 'DS9' as they would achieve such sympathy for new characters on a regular basis, not to mention developing species and exploring a new aspect to them. I have to say it again, Season 6 has been a surprise in just how many classic episodes there are when I'd considered Season 5 the last great, consistent season of the series. There's still time for them to mess it up (Borg children), and it may be the second half of the season is what I'm thinking of, but this is yet another strong, ensemble story that creates so much good - I felt that warmth again when the characters are together, whether it be the banter between them in this shore leave episode (even Tuvok and Seven have their own equivalent of uproarious hijinks: at the end Tuvok says he owes her a debt of gratitude and her reply is that assisting with the recalibration of the sensors will be sufficient! For them that's like a 'TOS' slap on the back and a good laugh), or the way they work together to deal with the latest problem, it was just such a pleasure to see.

It's not just the main characters benefiting - I don't know whether it was some kind of latent magic left over from 'DS9' that bringing in actors from that series rejuvenated this episode, but while having The Rock (still using his wrestling character's name rather than his own, Duane Johnson, which admittedly doesn't sound that impressive!), was all fine and good, but having Jeffrey Combs and JG Hertzler (in their only episode on the series), is what Niners are really going to get excited about. Even now in an era where both of them have leant their voices to modern Trek ('Lower Decks'), though sadly, as far as I know, haven't yet appeared in any live action, it's thrilling to see an episode out of the blue in a series they weren't generally associated with, and not only that, they're both in the same one and even have scenes together - I was trying to recall if Martok and Weyoun had ever shared a scene on 'DS9' and it doesn't seem likely. Yes, they both appeared in many of the same episodes, but I can't think of an actual scene together, which makes this even more special! Promoter Penk isn't what I would call one of Combs' best roles, more in line with his first ever appearance (Tiron, a one-shot alien in Season 3 of 'DS9'), but he remains deliciously despicable as this master of a worldwide popular sport that kidnaps and uses slaves to fight. Hertzler has the better role as this old hunter who cares for the injured Tuvok and Seven and coaches her in the ways to win.

I would suspect his son had simply been killed by Penk's people all those years ago and his quest to find him will be fruitless, but it's an inspiring quest for the character to depart on so I'm glad they didn't go into the small likelihood of success. And this being 'Voyager' we'd never hear of him again, exactly the kind of character that would have been welcome back if they'd only dared - just imagine if he'd been among the Hirogen in their last story, 'Flesh and Blood,' and his son, too, that would have added further complexity to what was another great episode. But even in his one-off appearance in the series, Hertzler's crusty old tones shine through whatever mask he's given. The Hirogen face looks ever more like a soufflé than ever, a tasty, puffy dessert that does nothing to suggest their dangerous, warrior temperament, and yet somehow they still come across as deadly fighters you wouldn't want to cross. The only complaint I have with their depiction, and this goes all the way back to one of their earliest appearances, 'The Killing Game,' is that they stopped using seven foot (or thereabouts), actors to play them. I understand there's going to be less great actors who are also ridiculously big, but I loved that their first examples were so oversized as to make the Voyager crew look like children, only emphasising their particular nature.

But it's not Hertzler's fault, they'd already used much smaller actors in the roles, and for an old guy he does remarkably well (nor is he in any way short). Obviously being a full head mask they can easily use a stuntman to pull off the outrageous acrobatics, and though I was looking at Seven to see if I could spot when Jeri Ryan was replaced it was so seamlessly filmed and cleverly lit and careful to shoot from the back of her head in the most violent moments that I never did knowingly see her stunt double! The fights were very accomplished, helped by the fact Trek usually had quite a formal way of fighting (I always remember the trademark double-fist hammer punch, then again to the back of a doubled-over opponent to drop them to the ground!), like everything in that era they were so careful to be consistent, and whether it be hairstyles or fighting style, there was so much familiar conformity to Starfleet actions. Nowadays that's all out the window, they don't care a jot about such consistency and every character fights like they're in 'The Matrix,' so a fight like this would have no resonance. But here, the brutal slamming and punching to the face was a real departure and an energetic divergence from the usual form of cleaner, slicker combat.

There's even a hint of that large scale light and sound accompaniment that is so much a part of the glitz and glamour of wrestling, when the lights flash and this deep, throaty music booms out to announce the competitors (the first we see looking remarkably like Gul Dukat, which is even more unsettling when we also have the equivalent of Weyoun and Martok - how I wish they'd hired Marc Alaimo as a cameo, but I suppose then I'd have felt such a great talent was wasted in such a small role!). They escaped having to really pound the budget into the canvas by having it take place in an enclosed room (though the number of alien extras in the sizeable crowd made it seem like a popular attraction which isn't always achieve with crowd casting). The clever twist is that though the audience believe the fight is happening before their eyes (unless the regular fans are among the initiated and know the 'staged' nature of the fights, similar to real wrestling), encouraging them to shout and scream all the louder, it's actually beamed into an identical 'ring' that is holographic, a 3D representation of the real fight occurring cunningly on a moving ship that can avoid any enemies that might take issue with family or friends being kidnapped and forced to fight like gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Another great story point is how they draw parallels with this boxing/wrestling/fighting sport and Voyager taking on this ship that's big and heavy and kitted out with all the muscle. But as Chakotay says in true boxing parlance, 'the bigger they are...'

And they also know how to make them fall: target them where it really hurts. Every opponent has a weakness and Penk's is his need for viewing figures. It's slightly odd in an episode that is about cross-promoting two of a TV network's most important franchises that they seem to be commenting that beating the villains means disrupting the audience figures as that's exactly what they're trying to boost by making this very episode! (And it apparently was the highest rated of the season, so it worked, at least for this one.) Was it intentional or just a by-product of trying to incorporate a violent sport that doesn't necessarily reflect Trekky values, it isn't after all made so on the nose, it was just that I noticed damaging the broadcast was what they did to get their people out and save the day. We can assume Penk continues his media empire, they didn't destroy the ship or set free all the captives - sometimes you have to know indeed what the better part of valour is! Another appreciation I have for the episode (much like 'The Fight'), is one, that Chakotay's character continues to be consistent with his previously related interests and specialism, boxing and anthropology, and two, that while they do have the Doctor voice the alternative viewpoint, that such bloodsports are ridiculous and damaging, and tut, tut, tut... they don't fill the episode with disapproval - wrestling is such an American staple and to be complaining about it wouldn't be true to the society Trek is really based on. It helps that I enjoy the sport/entertainment to some extent, too! It's very male, as opposed to so much femininity in modern Trek.

It's not like they're saying women are weak, either. This is yet another Seven episode, no bad thing, though of course you can easily imagine that had this story been produced before she arrived it would more likely have been B'Elanna's role to end up in such a position - mind you, any one of them could have been and it would have provided a different story. Such extremes had already been explored with Tom and Harry in 'The Chute,' perhaps 'The Fight' for Chakotay, and no doubt other episodes that aren't jumping to mind for other characters: being forced to fight by aliens goes all the way back to 'TOS' - 'Arena' was already mentioned, but look at 'The Gamesters of Triskelion.' Don't look too hard, that episode isn't particularly one of the best, but it is similar in that characters are captured and forced into combat for their very lives by aliens that enjoy some enforced entertainment. Actually, bickering brains that wager on each match was one of the few things missing from this episode! I can imagine them doing such an overt homage in the current era where callbacks (I can't use the term 'fan service,' it's an oxymoron - one day I'm going to write an essay on that), are so common for little more than recognition of what's past rather than development or exploration of it, and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't bring back the actual talking brains on 'Lower Decks' at some point, if they haven't already...

It's the same way I feel about these characters and how they're not portrayed as 'cool' types. On shore leave, much like Scotty in 'TOS,' or perhaps Sulu and his hobbies, it's normal for them to have people like Tuvok and Seven that would rather eschew the forms of popular entertainment in exchange for 'stuffy' missions that are so close to their normal shipboard roles (even if by this time in Trek production they do seem more a minority to those who do love pop culture, like Paris). But that says how much they take fulfilment from those roles, it isn't a job they perform out of obligation or a wish to escape, but they merely have more freedom in their choices for this period. That was supposed to be one of the unique things about Trek, that people were placed in positions that they were fulfilled in, so they weren't working for mercenary or financial gain, they were developing themselves and contributing at the same time. It does sound a bit Communist now, unfortunately, and it's the ideal, the impossible, considering human nature doesn't change. But it's also Vulcan nature here - as Spock said, for his people to rest is to cease activity, or to put it another way, for Tuvok it's to exercise his intellectual capacity. He does behave Vulcan after all!

It's not that I don't want to see Janeway in an episode, but it was also pleasant to have Chakotay in charge and Janeway getting to experience shore leave (I wonder if she's taken an interest in the health of that poor PTSD guy in Sickbay from the previous episode as he's assigned to the Delta Flyer with her as can be seen in the background). A subplot about Janeway's shore leave could have been wonderful, but you can't fit in everything, and letting the story breathe without her for a change, worked. I wasn't quite so sure on the idea of the Flyer coming in to assist Voyager, as much as it's a well constructed little shuttle I don't see it lasting long against Penk's juggernaut if Voyager itself was finding it tough. I see why they did that - partly to give Janeway a hand in bringing the episode to a conclusion, and partly to ape the Defiant or the Rotarran sweeping in all guns blazing as would sometimes happen so heroically in 'DS9' (another parallel, no wonder this is one of the best of the season!), so I don't begrudge it, and maybe it was small enough to weave in and out of Penk's weaponry? It was also nice to see Seven and Tuvok in a standard Type 2 shuttle, seen so rarely since the creation of the Flyer. What I wasn't so keen on was another alien title. It's always my complaint because it's so easy to make up a word and use it as the title. It's certainly unique, but it shows a lack of invention. How about 'The Art of Fighting' (no, but something better could have been worked out), or anything that hinted at the themes within. Are they banking on people reading it in the TV guide and being curious as what it means, because I suggest it's more likely to put casual viewers off - I don't know what that means so I won't bother watching. Not that it harms the episode in any way.

I also don't see B'Elanna owning a soft toy called Toby The Targ. As has been reinforced so many times she's not a lover of Klingon culture, quite the opposite. I'm quite prepared to accept that this was her exception to the rule and that having it made her feel safe as a child, but on the whole it didn't make sense to me and further demonstrates that they pretty much lost track of the character in general since Seven usurped so many of her roles (conflict, anger, engineering expertise, fighting, accepting her past/culture, being someone Tuvok could help, etc). Again, it doesn't harm the episode, just an observation. What I did love was referring back to good old Parrises Squares (there should have been a joke in there about Paris' Squares being a better game, or something), with a bit of banter about which is the tougher sport, that or boxing. It's just that kind of playful, informal chat, while working in traditional Trek references, that adds so much to the backdrop of an episode, filling it out and not overshadowing the story, but adding even more context to the characters' connection to it. Even Neelix, usually such a peaceful person, enjoys the thrill of combat when they persuade him to come along to the Tsunkatse matches, defending it to the Doctor as a 'wonderful demonstration of athletic prowess,' quoting Chakotay.

It does change to dismay when they see Seven in the arena and instantly realise she's there against her will, and it could potentially be argued that the episode is against such sports since Penk is so immoral and corrupt, but there is a clear, ethical distinction between fighting in a nonlethal match by choice, and the forced combat to the death. No doubt if they'd known such an aspect existed they would have avoided the whole thing. The entertainment value of this episode, regardless of it being a wrestling crossover is high, and in fact I was surprised how little The Rock was in it, just the one match where he batters Seven and trades a few barbs (not 'witty' lines as they so love in modern Trek, or as I would say, corny, but enough to trade up the fight to a personal, psychological one, not solely physical, since that is one of the themes of the episode, overcoming the psychology of a situation). It makes me wish we'd seen her meet Worf and had a little bat'leth training (maybe they did, I have yet to watch 'Picard' Season 3, so here's hoping!), and once again she slots perfectly into a situation through being uncomfortable, but also superbly suited to it if she only chooses to commit. Which she does, this time for Tuvok's sake. Though I wouldn't have minded the situation being reversed and for him to have been the combatant, except he's more comfortable and disciplined to be able to deal with discomfort so there might have been less drama. The reason the crowd had never witnessed a Borg drone fight before is because the Borg wouldn't stand for it, they'd just swoop in and assimilate everyone. She acquits herself well, as do they all. I hear even Duane Johnson went on to do a few other things after 'Voyager,' too...

****

Malice

 DVD, Stargate Universe S2 (Malice)

I wasn't quite sure how to react to this one. In some ways it shows our heroes being dedicated and heroic, and there are some real moments for them, such as 'Equations-For-Fun' Chloe (should've been an action figure!), working out how to turn Destiny around to go back for Rush. And Rush himself going between the greatest extremes from saving Parke's life when she's had a mine strapped to her back as a delaying tactic as mean man Simeon attempts to escape his prison. But then he also indulges in a cold dish of revenge, killing Simeon when he knows he has the information that could warn Earth of an impending Lucian Alliance attack. And so I liked some parts, but not others, and the momentum is lost from a strong start with all the aimless wandering on the planet (are they supposed to be following a trail, because they didn't seem to be!). On balance I suppose it just edges it, but it's close. But it's an episode which is all about revenge. We do have Scott warning Rush it won't do it, it won't bring back Amanda Perry (as expected at the end of last episode she was murdered by Simeon), and it won't make him feel better, but I'm not sure the episode goes along with that narrative - Rush seems quite content when he trudges late back to the 'gate to find he hasn't missed the boat after all. I thought Greer would be the one to get the villain as he always had such a feud with him, but he's also a soldier who follows orders and his orders were to bring back the target alive. I'm sure he would have happily injured him, and that's another unsettling thing about some of these characters, that they will do unethical things to suit their feelings. Greer wounds Simeon (justifiably, to slow him down), but is himself wounded in return and taken out of the game, which forces Scott to minister to him and return rather than complete his mission.

As much as Scott is a good soldier boy, he really does come across as young and naive sometimes - when he's counselling Rush and trying to show sympathy and explain how things have to be it does come across as someone very inexperienced in life trying to tell a much older, and if not wiser, certainly more experienced, man, the simple truths he knows. It's no wonder that Rush gets irritated with these people sometimes. At the same time Scott clearly shows compassion and though he may be clumsy in his words and ways, he gets points for effort. Still, he and the others, such as Lieutenant James, don't come across as good soldiers, drawn into traps, running out of time before the target is retrieved. But it was even more ridiculous for a scientist to go after such a deadly military enemy, too - that Rush is driven by strong feelings is only something that makes him more vulnerable, and of course, Simeon being the evil villain of the piece relishes giving him a pep talk over the radio (good job the batteries weren't flat at that point, or maybe not such a good job...). I could have imagined him lasting a few episodes more and really coming up with ways to mess with the Destiny crew, perhaps even feel out some of the remaining Lucian Alliance folks into joining him. But perhaps we didn't see that he did do that and came to realise Varo wasn't going to go along with anything against them and would in fact put a stop to it, and must have made the decision to get off the ship and make his way back to the stranded Alliance members. Not that that would have done him much good, being in this whole other galaxy, but maybe he didn't consider beyond escape.

It's not like he didn't do enough to cause pain and suffering as it was, upturning both Rush and Eli's worlds by killing the person that had become most dear to them. That Rush openly cries like a girl in front of Scott and Greer shows just how affected he's been by the loss of Amanda (or will it be...?), but Eli is confronted with issues he's never faced in his life before. He desperately wants revenge on the man that murdered Gin and though it doesn't take much from Colonel Young to slap him back down to reality when he's kitting up in desert combats and aching to go down to the planet and... probably get himself killed, you can't live and breathe a soldier's workplace all the time without taking on some of that militant attitude. There's a sub-theme running through the episode about masculinity with both Eli and Volker confronted by something they aren't strong enough to deal with - in Volker's case it's that he was unable to make any resistance when Parke was taken hostage by Simeon and just goes along with what he's told to do. As Young says to Eli, something about this isn't what he's made for, or trained for, and it's no shame that that's the case. Volker always has seemed like more of a worry-guts, but he's also got enough self-doubt to recognise he's failed to some degree. But what could he have done? Defiantly refused Simeon's demands to dial the Stargate? Get Parke and himself killed? You'd think he might have been able to work in some clever trick using the controls, just like Rush did by causing the stampede that ultimately weakened Simeon enough to execute him, and you get the impression Parke thinks he could have done more, too.

But I wouldn't say the episode is clearcut. There are good things to see in some characters - that Young is clearly making efforts in his resolution to work with Rush despite all his deceptions; TJ tirelessly working on the injured and dying Simeon left in his wake, and completely accepting the need for triage. It does make you wonder why surgeons weren't immediately drafted as you'd think they'd always have some on standby back on Earth ready to take over duties on serious medical cases, but for whatever reason TJ does it, and does her best to save as many as she can. Young deals well with Eli, not to mention Chloe being thrown in with the other scientists who are less than comfortable with someone who may be turning into one of the aliens that tried to take the ship, being given access to its systems in order to possibly override this ticking clock - that was something I didn't get, I'd thought they now had complete control over the ship. But I suppose if that was so they could simply head for the Milky Way and get back home = end of series! But maybe it wasn't explained before, or not well enough, that they are still at the mercy of Destiny, even if they can do a spot of steering or whatever. That Chloe was able to get the ship back to pick up Rush suggests they can control it, but whether that will be consistent or just in rare occasions when they can use Chloe in that way is yet to be determined (probably not the former, or again = series over!).

If this experience does produce a new level of teamwork and cooperation then it could be the dawn of a bold new era for the series (as short-lived as it's likely to be considering we're almost halfway through the final season), and it would be good to see it become a lot more Trekky where it's less about internal conflicts and more about solving this puzzle. Rush hits the nail on the head when he says Scott would think this message from the cosmos is actually God, but he's forgetting God already made contact through his son and by giving us the Bible, but at least the possibility was spoken openly. What else is there to say? It was shot very nicely, those stark desert locations look so empty and desolate - maybe the CGI dino-babies aren't the best, but CGI is always the thing that dates so quickly, and while it's one thing designing alien ships and space-scapes, it's quite another to get us to believe in a living creature. But they were fine for what they needed to be in the story: a means for Simeon to get his comeuppance recreating everyone's favourite moment from 'The Lion King.' At what cost to Earth we may find out, and though they keep saying he'll never tell them what they need to know, give Greer a few hours alone in a cell with him and he'd probably talk. Actually that's exactly the kind of immoral, unethical behaviour I don't like to see from 'hero' characters so I'm glad it didn't come to that. And Simeon is probably tough enough that he'd need the clever treatment - I suspect if Rush put his mind to it he could have winkled the man's secrets out through trickery and deception. But we'll never know now, will we?

***