Unimatrix Zero (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Unimatrix Zero) (2)

Not another Borg story. That's the attitude coming into this one, but I can see why they would bring the big bads back yet again because they were good for the ratings. It's also a 'full Borg' story rather than a tangential connection to them - those kinds of stories, it could be argued, whittled down the uniqueness and made them seem too integrated into the series, but looking back over the season there haven't been all that many even tangential Borg stories. The issue comes from Seven of Nine stories because they can count as Borg episodes in some ways since she is a former Borg drone, so we're dealing with the Collective to some degree, even if it's only the fallout of her experiences there. The perception is greater than the reality when it comes to actual full Borg episodes where Voyager has to deal with a ship or group of the race (if you can call a group of beings that assimilate other races into themselves, a race). The biggies are 'Scorpion' and 'Dark Frontier,' both two-parters (or in the latter's case, a double-length TV film), and this was the third in that trilogy (though fittingly for a Giger-esque design, it'd become a quadrilogy when the series finale was taken into account - yes, I know there are more than four 'Alien' films, but when 'Voyager' was in production there were only four, and you could say any without Sigourney Weaver don't really count anyway!).

I will give them credit for finding a new, engrossing angle, not simply giving us yet another ridiculously outmatched fight with the Borg. And it is a ridiculous idea that one starship could take on a Cube, that's been one of my main complaints when using this race, because when you look at the times they were most effective it was when it was a single, solitary vessel meting out catastrophic damage to the Federation fleet, an unstoppable force that required every ounce of ingenuity and sacrifice to defeat: 'The Best of Both Worlds,' 'First Contact' and 'Scorpion' - in the last case it was another new spin with the Borg having the fight brought to them. In some ways you wonder why they didn't introduce the Borg Queen there, but it was shortly after 'First Contact' and they hadn't thought of a way to bring her back well. That's why 'Dark Frontier' worked, having a personal connection. Though the problem with making it personal is 1), the Borg Queen was a bit of a stereotypical pantomime villain, all gnashing of teeth and vindictiveness (which doesn't say much for the Borg's idea of perfection!), and 2), you wonder why she doesn't crush Voyager like an egg at any time. We see here that she can get in contact with them easily and if there's a Tactical Cube so close to their position then that must mean Borg are everywhere - we know they have their transwarp conduits, which the Queen uses as a bargaining tool to offer to get them home quicker, but she seems a petty enough character that if she really hated Janeway she'd deal with her.

It's another case of the Borg wanting to make a deal with their enemy, to help them quell this resistance that's developing within the regenerating minds of the drones. I'm not sure why she wants them to be destroyed when it doesn't seem to make any difference to Borg operations - they can only be free in their dreams, which actually makes us sympathise with these poor beings trapped by a powerful force, slaves to a hive mind and the Queen's will. I'm surprised she didn't draw on their common goal in dealing with Species 8472, not that that ended well, and certainly the first encounter they had with the Queen wasn't exactly cordial - maybe that's why she doesn't destroy Voyager, she still wants Seven back at some point, maybe she wants her to want to come back to the Collective, the Queen is pretty delusional. Of course Janeway wouldn't countenance helping the Queen against her own slaves, and instead rises to the challenge to help the slaves themselves. In this respect it's a good story, there's the initial moral quandary of whether it's a good idea to help your enemy, which Janeway sees as a chance to exploit a weakness in them, but also comes to see it as bringing freedom to the oppressed.

We see her inconsistency as a Captain play out again when, rather than ignore Chakotay's misgivings as she usually does, she actively requests his input on the decision. Maybe she knew he'd agree with her inclination, perhaps she was feeling unsure of where her convictions on the matter lay, but I applaud her involving him, it's just a shame so often she's ridden roughshod over his objections. It's strange that he's in favour of going for it this time, he's always been so adamantly opposed to going anywhere near the Borg, but I will say that it does at least give them something to talk about and one of the best moments of the episode is when they're on the Bridge basically saying goodbye in so many words - I wish there were more of these scenes for the pair as they should have grown and developed as the series went along, but too often Chakotay was relegated to being a yes-man, with perfunctory dialogue and involvement in the ship's missions in these later seasons.This mission is foolhardy even by Janeway's standards: to get aboard a Borg vessel, not merely an ordinary Cube, but a newfangled Tactical Cube, and then somehow get a virus into the system that will spread to other ships, while actually planning on getting captured.

I think that was the idea, though I didn't remember much about the two-parter, it was only when Chakotay expressed satisfaction that things were proceeding correctly that it's clear they were meant to be assimilated. Bit of a bold move there, but again, it devalues the horrific trauma of becoming a Borg. I think that needed to be played up: how heroic it was of them to voluntarily go into the Borg's fastnesses and be taken - for all they knew they could have irreparable physical and psychological damage done to them. It's just another step in making the Borg lose that terrible, horrific nature that we abhor. We see the Queen literally putting heads on spikes so I'm not saying there wasn't an impression of horror and danger, but they chose to make the big cliffhanger a shot of Janeway, Tuvok and B'Elanna as Borg, it's supposed to be a shock surprise, but they'd already hinted it was all part of the plan. My theory is that modern Trek has taken a lot of its bad cues from 'Voyager,' and it's exactly this kind of drama for the sake of it that could have been eschewed for a deeper, more involving method of telling the story: if we knew they were going in expecting to be assimilated and they had to train themselves up, discuss the possibilities, what it might be to lose an arm or an eye, rigorously prepare, it could have been much more satisfying. Instead it's more an impression of a comic book hero rushing into action.

No question they're heroic and it was a dramatic reveal on first viewing, it's just the more you think about it the more you realise it was done for surface sparkles rather than going deeper as Trek should. It's one of the main reasons I think less of this episode now, whereas in the past I felt it was terrific. The Borg are made to look weak - it's true Voyager is just about able to escape intact, but the Cube should have no trouble tracking and following her. They're far too easily and lightly taken on, with the only casualty being the destruction of the Delta Flyer in a somewhat disappointing CGI explosion. That's another part of it all that hasn't aged so well: sometimes the CGI works and others not quite so much, and whether they were rushed for time or the budget wasn't as high, the visual effects weren't as accomplished, from the Queen's construction to the asteroid colony (both of which had been done much better in live action - obviously they had a big budget for the film, but the model work in 'DS9' for similar asteroid facilities was so much more realistic). Voyager attacking the Cube wasn't bad, but even that had a CG sheen to it that is noticeable. The internal production was as good as ever, they knew how to sell an inhospitable environment they'd done it so many times - it's an assault on the senses, the harsh electrical flickering of the lights, the cramped corridors and confusion of piping and jagged edges everywhere. My only complaint in that regard was it did seem as if they'd only built a small portion of the Cube so they were going around in quite a small area.

What initially warmed me to the episode was the virtual construct of Unimatrix Zero itself, this idyllic refuge of the mind for poor, beleaguered Borg, a chance to live a fragment of their lost lives and a kind of redemptive compensation for their living death. It's exactly the kind of thing Trek has done so well - I was about to say always does so well, but I can't say that for the majority of modern Trek. Giving the enemy some personality, something you can sympathise with, while still seeing them as the enemy, something to work with. In the Borg this might seem another terrible way to make them more like us and lose their implacable, insidious nature, but we already knew they can be rehabilitated with the right care and the reality is they're prisoners within their own bodies and this was a good way to express that idea. It's also a great way to see Seven as she should be: more human, warmer, softer, gentler, released from her inhibiting technology and so far from the harridan avenger, bitter and twisted, that modern Trek forced on us, utterly ruining the character's journey. She has loved and been human as an adult in this world (which must have been inspired by 'The Matrix' which came out only the year before), even though she was assimilated as a child, and there's some tragedy in that Axum has awaited her return all this time and now she's uncomfortable with things being so personal. A long, long way from what they did to her in 'Picard.' Seven's new side to her personality, the ideal of what she could be, feminine, unrestricted by her emotionlessness or repression, was how her story on this series would play out, but clearly was not followed up on in the dystopian version of Trek that has blighted us since.

Even taking on her human name again, Annika, was a choice they went entirely against, turning it into a misguided issue of someone's 'chosen' identity when her Captain on the Titan refused to call her by her 'proper' name of Seven of Nine. It was a topsy-turvy, messed up inversion of how things should have been (but I'll get onto that when I review 'Picard' Season 3, coming soon!), and seeing her here as she should be was a balm after all that I've seen of the character in recent years. I always thought Seven was one in a million and we get it confirmed here as that's how many Borg have this rare mutation, or whatever it was, which allows them to enter the dream state and meet together. I do have questions about Unimatrix Zero, however: can they conjure up anything with their minds? How else could the Klingons bring Bat'leths in to fight the Borg with? And if they can do that then why not powerful weapons that could defeat any invading drones more easily? For that matter how can drones enter into this space without reverting to their true, pre-assimilated minds? I didn't feel that was explained, they just show up and start tearing through the landscape, chasing and taking out the dreamers. I can see it from the drama perspective, but not from the story making sense.

There was a bit of nice continuity, like Laura who mentions she was assimilated at Wolf 359, or Janeway referring to the last time she heard 'your mind to my mind' she had a headache for two weeks! Was the last time she took part in a mind meld in 'Flashback'? Tuvok's bridging of two minds seemed a bit like the Fal-Tor-Pan ceremony from 'Star Trek III' where the high priestess transferred Spock's katra from McCoy back to Spock's regenerated body, though not quite the same thing as this was more like a double mind meld. Shame we didn't get the Vulcan word for it. Janeway was inconsistent in more than her attention to Chakotay as she says early on she prefers to call what's happening a resistance rather than civil war, but later, when talking to her First Officer she claims they could be putting the ship in the middle of a civil war! Make your mind up! It was nice to see Tom Paris reinstated to Lieutenant, and though Kim was joking when he notes he didn't find a little box on his chair, he said it so hopefully that you have to feel sorry for him - after all he's (almost) always been a straight arrow, no criminal record like Tom, yet the former convict has been demoted and promoted while Harry remains an Ensign six years on! Life on Voyager can be unfair.

At least B'Elanna was more involved this time. Neelix is left out almost entirely, but he did get the previous episode based around him. Tuvok's involved, Chakotay's involved. Seven and Janeway are central, but there is a greater sense of the ensemble than there sometimes can be. On the whole I'd say the season wasn't too bad in that regard, against my impressions, though perhaps Season 7 will prove those right, I don't remember. The guest cast have some prior connection to Trek, the obvious one being Susanna Thompson (of various roles in other Treks), reprising her Borg Queen from 'Dark Frontier,' though there was always the sense she was a mere stand-in when Alice Krige was unavailable as the 'true' Queen, since she'd return for the finale, 'Endgame,' as well as providing the voice in both 'Lower Decks' and 'Picard' in recent years. Mark Deakins (Axum), had been in the series before as a character called Turanj in 'The Killing Game,' though it must have been a very small role as there's nothing in the encyclopedia about it, nor his other named role in 'Insurrection.' And one of the Borg drones was played by Tony Sears who'd also been a Prometheus officer in 'Message In A Bottle.' The Klingon name Korok, was confusingly used again in 'Enterprise' (not that you can't reuse names, but when it's only a single name you tend to associate it with one person), though they were different characters and actors.

And that finishes up Season 6 for me. I've really enjoyed going through it again after so many years, a season that was among my earliest reviews when I began doing this fifteen years ago, and now when I'm coming near to the end, at least in terms of having a lot of things I want to write about, I've done it all again in more detail. So much has changed in those years, we've had the start of a new film series and the flopping of that series, the start of a whole new era beyond that, of series-based Trek, and one that is continuing for the foreseeable future (or until Paramount runs out of money!). It's a shame that so much of it has been unappealing to me, but that's what has made going back to 'Voyager' again so rewarding as it's strong Trek, for all its flaws, and this has been a great season. I really must do in-depth reviews of Season 7 at some point...

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