Critical Care (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Critical Care) (2)

Essential care or judgemental care - 'critical' can mean either. Then there's critical analysis which is something this episode allows much of to cogitate over... I tend to think of this as one of the weaker ones. It doesn't have Phaser fights, the investigative trail to track down the thief who stole the Doctor is leisurely and consists mostly of the Captain talking to people on the Viewscreen (without forgetting the joy of her pretending Tuvok's 'her man'), and there's little likelihood the Doctor's actions would lead to lasting change: as soon as he's gone and Chellik's had his injection no doubt everyone involved would be out on their ear and everything returned to the frightening normality of acceptance of an unfair system because 'we're saving a society.' But the point of the story, in much the same way Christopher Nolan's film 'Insomnia' isn't really about what you think it is, instead forensically isolating the moral position of one character at the very end, and whether she chooses the right path or not, and this was the inverse of that scenario: the Doctor commits an unethical act for the greater good. I'm relieved they do at least raise the issue, our resident healer expressing doubts in his program to Seven (whose only small role in the final scene is... critical!), who confirms he's operating normally. It's the kind of uncertain ending you didn't often get on this series - it leaves you wondering about the Doctor, the state of his program and whether he was right to do what he did, or not, and that room for speculation allows the mind and imagination to propel discussion, something which raises the quality of the episode.

In the past I've struggled to associate the story of this alien medical system to my own British one because the point of the NHS is to provide a free service to anyone, but as the system crumbles it's clear to see, for all the good it's done, we're either in, or not far off the situation shown here where the rich members of society can afford superior private care. Even more with the line the Doctor has about them not simply rationing healthcare, but actively getting rid of the sick and the weak: with new legislation potentially coming in to approve assisted suicide, increased abortion for any reason, the lives of people as it affects the financial position of the state appears to be in the balance, and when a life is decided on the basis of monetary value, 'better to remove as many people as possible' will come to be the attitude. It's a scary prospect and so this episode gains new reality as all the best Trek episodes do. The Doctor expresses his belief in the Hippocratic Oath at one end of the episode and he's broken it at the other end and we're left without the get-out clause of all this kidnapping and interfacing with an alien computer to cover his change in behaviour. There's logic to his actions (as I'm sure Tuvok would agree), and I even found myself wondering if Voje, the young doctor who seems like he cares, was the one in Chellik's position, would we be more inclined to allow his point of view since we don't know the state of this society - maybe they are at a point where they're so desperate on the edge of destruction in general they truly can justify treating only those who are having the greatest impact?

I don't think so, but Chellik, while not being a moustache-twirler, is much easier to see as a villain with his ungainly physique (not flattered by a skintight silver suit!), and facial markings that look more like a rash than the usual alien facial patterns. He's entirely focused on the running of this medical ship that hovers over an alien city like a vast black bug, legs splayed out on every side. He looks shifty, he's rude to a character we like, and I got the impression he's a contractor brought in to improve things, in no way is he a sympathetic character, so you could say the episode is very one-sided. It's all very well for the Doctor to come in with his unlimited Replicator resources (okay, so Voyager specifically isn't unlimited - though you wouldn't know it from the way Tom and Harry are wearing full hockey gear from their jaunt in the Holodeck! - but it comes from a society that is used to that advantage), and expect everyone to get what they need when they need it, but in the best tradition of 'TNG' he's swanning off at the end of the episode never to be seen again so has no ties or ongoing involvement in the Dinaali's plight. We really need to know more about the situation on the planet - is it a Prime Directive issue? Could Voyager pass on Replicator technology to allow them to have as much medication as they require? For that matter shouldn't Voyager (and every other starship for that matter!), be desperately speeding round the galaxy making sure everyone has access to the ability to create resources from energy?

Of course it's not as simple as that and we can't think too much down that mental road without the whole Trek universe unravelling, that's another reason why it's best to concentrate on the real issue at hand: that of the Doctor deliberately poisoning a patient who could have died in order to try and rebel against a system he only has a little knowledge of, and what that says about the state of his program now. He has ethical subroutines to prevent this sort of thing so does that mean he's 'outgrown' the shackles his creator put upon him, for good or ill? It's a fascinating situation in the same way Data appeared to go against his programming at the end of 'The Most Toys,' potentially about to murder someone. The Great Reset is usually the way they go with this, and it's not like we haven't seen strange anomalies in the Doc's program before (I think of an episode such as 'Latent Image' as a good example of this). It's clear how the writers consider his change of 'heart' in that they outright have him compared to the Borg, of all things, by a former drone herself, Seven saying he was ready to sacrifice an individual to save a collective (or to put it another way, how a Vulcan might: 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one,' which is just as worrying when you think about it in the same way as Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations says there is no such thing as wrong - creepy and illogical!), though she says it in an understanding way rather than a judgemental (or critical!) way.

At least there's room for discussion in an episode like this, which I don't find much of in modern Trek (oh yeah, you knew it was coming at some point!), and I don't find myself having much to think about at the end of most episodes today. That's why 'Voyager' is so good, it has that depth and thoughtfulness on a regular basis and can do drama, comedy, mystery, whatever genre you care to name, without sacrificing the potential for story or bashing you over the head with a political viewpoint. This episode I found myself enjoying the subtle turns and deft adjustments from scenes of reassuring familial pleasantness (such as Neelix feeling responsible for the Doctor's kidnap, while Janeway only has words of comfort in response), or humour (Janeway grabbing Tuvok's hand as part of her insightful dealing with the 'Adulteress' as the end credits name the woman with whom Gar ran off! Incidentally, Debi A. Monahan had already played a holographic woman in 'His Way' on 'DS9'). Tuvok threatening to use a mind meld on the captured Gar, Neelix giving him internal pains by poisoning his food... everyone seemed to be acting immorally, or contemplating it, not something you'd usually expect from the Starfleet realm. Perhaps there was a sub-message underneath all of this that it's okay to do whatever's necessary to right a wrong, which I don't think is true at all, even if it can be practical. Yet there was also a lot of sensitivity, especially from the Doctor who has become a very rounded individual compared to his early appearances.

It's a delight to see him make friends wherever he goes, enlisting aid, tweaking views, because everyone's just going along with this unfair system simply because they don't think outside of it, just accept it since it's what they know and understand. It takes the Doctor's bending of the rules for them to slowly realise better help could be given and we leave the society in a state where it could either clamp down even harder and make sure no one can fool The Allocator (a computer that sounds so much like something from 'TOS,' I loved it!), in the same way Janeway wants safeguards looked into for accessing even the lowest level files from now on. Or the people involved could start an opposition to the system they're under, for all we know (and you'd hope, judging by the Allocator not being completely omniscient and omnipotent, so there may still be hope...), one is already in existence that could benefit from the knowledge and experience of Dysek and Voje, perhaps the Doctor has ignited a protest that will break through the inertia and general acceptance. But then that's the Prime Directive's reason for existence: don't interfere because you don't know what will come from that, what unforeseen consequences could have a negative effect. But then if you don't do anything then negatives could be even more prevalent... It's like time travel, it makes your head spin and you just have to try to be wise and make the right decision in your time and place and not second-guess everything, I suppose.

The episode looks very nice and the difference between Level Red and Level Blue is stark - Blue could be a Starfleet Sickbay, all spotless whites and greys, great carpeting and space aplenty, while Red is crowded, dark and miserable, reminding me of the frontline medical care seen in 'Nor The Battle To The Strong,' another great doctor episode. I can't quite say the same for the CGI, which is up and down - the opening shot as Gar's ship flies across the cloudy skies to the hospital ship would have been better served with an establishing matte painting to better sell the reality better, but other times in the episode (the great black bug shot), it worked well, so perhaps movement is what makes the difference and I'm so used to a detailed, but largely static matte than I am too-smooth early CG work. What makes the episode work best is seeing a character, in this case the Doctor, do what he does best (no, I don't mean talk - Janeway even speculates he would have been most receptive to Gar's questioning him about the mobile holoemitter when he was aboard so they know their crewman!), and that's always a pleasure to see. Also a pleasure is seeing the odd returning face. I mentioned Monahan, but Gregory Itzin is the big name here as Dysek, his third role following two memorable appearances in 'DS9.' He'd go on to play a couple more roles in 'Enterprise,' but was sadly never used in modern Trek before his death in 2022 (Larry Drake who played Chellik also died in 2016). John Durbin was less recognisable as 'Alien Miner,' but the name was familiar, going back to Season 1 'TNG,' a later role in that series, and one in 'DS9.'

In some ways this was another episode that hearkened back to one of the early seasons: we even get a version of that restrained Doctor when an old training file is used to replace the real version by Gar, so that was fun. Going on a hunt for someone also seemed like something they'd have done back then, dealing with the Kazon or whomever. The Doctor couldn't have been so easily removed in those days since his holoemitter didn't come into the picture until Season 3, but a character being trapped in some alien world where they think quite differently about things brought 'Emanations' to mind. And of course Tom and Harry doing matey stuff together, no Seven (until the final scene), and Tuvok more involved than later seasons all contributed to the feel. I didn't used to like this one, and often low expectations can enhance the appeal of an episode, but it's just as likely to be that I rate modern Trek episodes too generously despite my general dislike compared with past estimates and so when I come across something with actual merit I find myself needing to bump it up a bit, plus things have changed in society since I last watched and reviewed this one (The Allocator as AI assistant has new meaning now), and Trek has a way of speaking to different times in different ways so this has become a good example in the interim.

***

Operation Winback

 N64, Operation Winback (1999) game

Another N64 game done and dusted. This was one of those titles I'd always been interested in playing, but could never find, or find for a reasonable price (even on ebay), and like 'Rocket: Robot On Wheels,' remained unattainable until recent years (although I still haven't got the latter in my collection!). I could say it's very much of its time, but the drab greys and browns that make up most of the visuals had certainly been proved unnecessary by such examples as 'Perfect Dark' and 'The World Is Not Enough' in the First Person Shooter genre, but even in Third Person Action games such as 'Hybrid Heaven' they achieved a better graphical range, so 'OW' didn't have an excuse, coming in the middle of the console's life. It actually reminded me of certain sections in 'Ocarina of Time' - whenever you're creeping around maze-like areas that are walled off. Being compared to a 'Zelda' game would ordinarily be a great compliment, but those parts were a little lacklustre, dull and showing the limitations of the machine, so it's really not a positive comparison, though I can say it was made up of similarly pleasantly chunky figures and objects. The music, too, was entirely unmemorable and basic, though like 'Zelda' it does include the nice touch of context sensitivity - most of the time it's quite quiet and restrained, but when health is depleted it starts to heat up and become quite energetic to match the rising intensity, so that was a point in its favour.

There's not much to be said for the story, such as it is, which is really only an excuse to stitch the various levels together and provide a brief rest from the action, generally scenes of your character meeting up with his various teammates only to decide to split up again. I'm sure it was more to do with the pain of having to program AI allies, which this game being released when it was, would have still been a technical challenge, although I think 'Turok: Rage Wars' came out that same year, and while that was geared entirely to bot battles in dedicated arenas, you'd think a good coding team might have been able to handle at least one coop member - I'd suggest including 2-player cooperative play, but the graphics were muddy enough as it was that shrinking the size of the play screen down to half would only exacerbate the problem. The way these team members moved in and out of the picture made me highly suspicious that someone was going to be revealed as a traitor, so that wasn't a very big surprise (after all, you can't rely entirely on your main villain to be the threat if he's called 'Cecile'! What kind of threatening name is that, or did they do it for a joke?). But yes, it made very little sense for all these various squad members to be working individually when they could simply storm through as a team.

Sense in story and weak graphical clout were only a couple of issues that stood out for me. Another was the decision to make it a third-person perspective in the first place as I'm sure it would have been a much more accessible experience had it been seen through the eyes of Jean-Luc Cougar, your dramatically-named hero character (who looked a little like Chris Pine). For one thing the bad camera wouldn't have been an issue, but here, you can often find yourself fighting it or running into scenery - the unique control scheme where you hold R-Trigger for auto-aim, then hammer A to fire, was a bit clumsy (and it's clear why the auto-aim is so integral since otherwise it's almost impossible to react quickly as your sight swings wildly, but also slowly, making you vulnerable), the camera not always being in the right place for you to see just round the corner where your auto-aim has locked on - the result is you can be firing at an enemy you can't actually see and only know he's been dispatched by the auto-aim breaking off. You also can't adjust the camera once you've locked on, which is a frustration, and as for multiple targets... Well, you can have an assailant running at you whom is obviously the most dangerous and you want to shoot, but the auto-aim has locked onto someone else. You can switch between targets, but it's not always responsive enough, and in the panic of a charging foe it often appears easier to simply disconnect, turn tail and run. But here's another problem, albeit one that makes the game more realistic: you're much more vulnerable from behind, sometimes being killed with one shot.

The game really doesn't want you to run away because if you do the camera can sometimes go haywire as you're trying to adjust to your new direction and I had many a death through camera malfunction which would easily have been avoided if the game had been played through Cougar's eyes. There's almost no point to the third-person style, it's not like you can lay flat on the floor or crawl to present a smaller target (you can crouch and roll, but that's it), nor can you climb even small obstacles at waist height! It's gaming convention, I know, that simple actions aren't possible because they'll upset the carefully laid traps and advancement (similarly only certain parts of the environment can be shot), and the game is very linear with little in the way of offshoots, just the occasional blind alley or room you don't absolutely have to enter, though usually these places have extra equipment such as ammo, torch or medical kit. But the real reason for the perspective is so they could include irritating sections where you have to time a roll to duck under a laser beam to progress. This was yet another vast irritation to me since they generally come in multiples and you have to get each timing just right to get past them. If you touch one it's instant death! Yes, another gaming convention, I understand, but it's fully frustrating. The only balm is that they generally give you a Checkpoint just before so you don't have to travel a long level only for instant death because you mistimed a roll.

In that sense the game was actually pretty easy. It's mostly a question of taking cover, then leaning or jumping out to pump the bad guys with bullets, take cover again and repeat. Levels tend to be fairly short until you get near the end when there are thirty or forty minute jobs, though part of that is working out where the enemies are going to attack, and once you know all the patterns it's not too difficult. Medical kits that replenish health are scattered around, not liberally, but enough to make it far from a daunting prospect to reach the end of most levels. There is a bit of tactical play regarding these kits, since unlike ammo you can't pick them up and take them with you, you either use it there and then, or if you think you don't need it quite yet, memorise where you left it and go back for it, though it's a risk since once you're through a Checkpoint you can't go back unless you restart the level from the beginning. I will say as another positive, your man is well animated, even if it weirdly cuts off when you climb a ladder for example, though perhaps that was to do with loading the next section? But once you've got used to the clunky control method you do feel some liberation, crouching, walking crouched, popping up to hit an enemy, rolling, peering round corners. But it still irks you can't do simple things like climb up onto a crate.

Things are kept fairly simple when it comes to your arsenal: you have your basic pistol, a shotgun and an automatic. You can also find the occasional silenced pistol, though I didn't find it of much value since you don't get any replacement ammo and can burn through it quickly. Equally, the rocket launcher was a nice touch, but cumbersome to use and you often find yourself being exposed for longer as you go through the operation of firing and watching the shell shoot off. Your pistol has unlimited ammo, so that's not very realistic, but if it had then the game would have been much, much tougher (you get extra points for completing a level with only the pistol or without using any medical kits). Most of the time it's almost easier to use the pistol, even though it's less powerful (and has a shorter range - it's important to reserve some machine gun ammo in case you do have enemies in the distance), because you know exactly how many bullets you have and how long it'll take to reload - the annoying thing about reloading the larger weapons especially is that it takes time for the animation to play out and if you get hit in the meantime that prevents you reloading, so you can be desperately trying to fill your gun with bullets only to keep getting shot, which is when you feel the best course is to simply run away, the camera fights you, then you get shot in the back and die! Most enemies are fairly simple propositions to deal with, but the scary ones are the guys with knives who come charging at you and often one swipe will kill so there are moments of high tension. Also the gun emplacements which just rattle away, obliterating health when all you're trying to do is work out how to get past them, but it adds to the puzzle element.

The environments aren't exactly varied, hence the complaint about it all being rather brown or grey, but there is enough difference between them to mark them out as separate areas, be that wading through sewers or dodging between crates in warehouses. It even starts outside as your goal is to traverse various parts of this building that's been taken over by terrorists. I can't say I really took in the story, you're acting on behalf of the government to stop these terrorists taking control of some satellite or something, but narrative isn't its strong point. Actually I'm not sure what is its strong point! I do have a slight nostalgia as I think back through all those tricky bits I had to redo over and over, and if it wasn't for that the game would have been very short since my total playing time, adding up all the levels, came to a paltry 5 hours, 56 minutes, but that doesn't take into account the endless numbers of attempts - I was able to complete it in the space of one month so there was probably more like twenty-forty actual hours of playing time. But I can't say I really enjoyed it until the last two or three levels when it became a lot more involved, challenging and varied. If the whole game had been like that I'd have added another star to the score, but although I was playing it on Normal difficulty, most of the levels weren't too much of a challenge, very repetitive and a stop-start style of gameplay rather than flowing. Part of that was getting used to the controls, admittedly, and I'm not judging it based on modern ideals, just comparing it to other titles on the machine which showed what was possible.

It could be glitchy, occasionally crashing, although part of the reason seemed to be it didn't like the Expansion Pak being in the N64 (which isn't so good seeing as that came out the same year!), so for the first time in I don't know how many years I had to replace the Jumper Pak which I never thought I'd be doing! It could still crash on occasion even after that, but wasn't as unreliable. Sometimes it was just my own stupidity that caused me pause: when I first picked up a 'magazine' I went into my inventory to see it, forgetting ammunition comes in magazines and it wasn't some glossy read! The inventory could have been a greater part of the game, too, but I rarely checked it or used what was there. You have a torch which can be useful in dark areas, so that's another nice touch, and plastic explosives that can be laid and then shot or activated to explode, but it was a bit fiddly so I rarely used it. You unlock 'Max Power Mode' on completion which enables all weapons with infinite ammo from the start, though it would only serve to make the game even easier, and you also unlock characters for multiplayer. That's something which may have been fun back in the day when there were three or four of us playing N64 games regularly - I fired it up just to see what it was like. Unfortunately, as you'd expect judging by the rest of the game, there aren't any computer controlled bots to play against, it's humans only, and it really is a bit hard to see when the screen's quartered (2-4 players are possible), so I don't know how well it would have gone down when I think back to how even bright, colourful third-person combat games like 'Jet Force Gemini' and 'DK64' weren't very popular. You can't even save to cartridge but are required to have a Controller Pak, the mark of technical inefficiency in a game.

In terms of the end of the game, beating the turncoat was fairly easy, though Cecile was a little more of a challenge. The dialogue throughout is all a bit melodramatic with added swearing and blasphemy as if they thought that made the game 'grown-up.' But there isn't any blood or gore so it doesn't fit with the visual tone. Then again it's best to leave aside the 'qualities' of the story which is all told in text rather than actual speech. Interestingly there are little speech samples as enemies shout or grunt so it's not like there's no human speech at all. I imagine the game was inspired by such titles of the late-90s as 'Metal Gear Solid' with its weird boss characters to fight and an emphasis on sneaking around, and it made me wonder why more software companies didn't use 'Goldeneye' as their model? It seems obvious, but it shows how much talent and expertise were behind games such as that classic. It also made me think of 'Splinter Cell' which came a few short years later on GameCube, another third-person action game of creeping around with the same style of 'music,' though more options in the physical department. I hasten to add that 'OW' isn't a bad game, though its initials do sum up a lot of feelings inspired by it. It's the sort of thing I can imagine going back in ten years or so to complete on Hard, but isn't something I'd particularly look forward to playing again. Which is a shame because it did go sit in my mind as something well worth exploring for the right price - perhaps I'd have enjoyed it more closer to its time, but even then 'PD' and 'TWINE' put it to shame.

**

Repression (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Repression) (2)

The last great Vulcan episode? Certainly the last Maquis story. And since I love both of those this makes it the first great Season 7 story! I do enjoy a creepy episode where you don't quite know what's going on, and even though you do once you've seen it the first time, I didn't recall the details, such as bringing back some of the Maquis characters (Chell the Bolian, not seen since 'Learning Curve'! Mr. Ayala, one of those background actors who almost never had a line, but was memorable as Chakotay's 'heavy' in the pilot and seen many times since, though not so much in these last seasons), busting out the Maquis togs (maybe Chakotay and the gang have a sentimental attachment to that stage of their life and so never put the old clothes in the Replicator?), tying in to the Maquis story... (Is that the first time we ever saw Chakotay's ship named on screen, the 'Val Jean'?). It's all so much pudding for canon-continuity lovers, but it's also a reminder of what the series could have been like if it had followed the 'DS9' style of building up the background characters into recurring roles, having a greater sense of community and reality aboard ship, and yet after the first two, maybe three seasons, they went away from that - of course they always had some characters and connection to the past, Naomi Wildman even gets a mention (as being able to rule her out of suspicion as too short to be the attacker - amusing from Kim), but more than anything I loved the feel of being smack bang back in somewhere like the middle of Season 2 when so much was unknown, the ship was so divorced from the 'main' Trek world of 'DS9' and the 'TNG' films, and it was a pure adventure, self contained and just 'itself.'

Not that I didn't appreciate the unfolding into what could be called the Seven Era ('Retrospect' came to mind as being a similar style to this one, but starring Seven), but from Season 4 things did become somewhat different as it focused heavily on that character and her ongoing battles with Janeway, and I think one of the greatest factors that makes this episode feel like something out of the series' past is Seven largely being absent. She's so often the solution to the series' problems, whether singlehandedly going through the ship and taking out Maquis as she might have done, or being the one with a mental issue as Tuvok has here, it reminds me that she took on so many of the other characters' qualities, stifling them to some degree. It makes it so much more refreshing to see Tuvok in that old guise as lone investigator, responsible for the safety of the ship and recalls such greats as 'Meld' or (not so greats like) 'Ex Post Facto,' or even any of the investigative Odo stories on 'DS9' (he also unknowingly investigated himself in 'The Alternate'!), and feels reassuringly and dedicatedly old-style Trek, and when you've been dosed up on the current era as much as I have (almost watched as much as exists now), and having gone through dislike, to a period of some appreciation, to now realising I'm heading back to dislike again, it's so good to go back to Trek's greatness. As I said, this may be the last great Vulcan episode since I don't recall 'Enterprise' being specifically strong in that regard, episodes about T'Pol not especially among the best, and certainly since then with the new stuff they've absolutely stomped all over not just the species, but former greats like Sarek and Spock, ruining any sense of dignity and quality they once had.

Vulcans have always been my favourite race, and a good example for the over-emotionality of our current time, prizing logic and reason above irrationality and quick emotive reactions, and Tuvok is my favourite example, probably my favourite character of this series, so to see him star again was gratifying. Tying in to the past of the series, not merely returning to that style of some of the creepy early episodes ('Cathexis,' 'Persistence of Vision,' etc), made it even more special. At the time of first viewing it was another example of connecting to the post-'DS9' Alpha Quadrant, although in this case, ironically, the threat comes thanks to their ability to communicate with Earth which puts a new and sinister spin on the advantage they achieved in the latter part of the series (relevant again later this season with the Ferengi episode, just as it wouldn't be the last time we connected to early season versions of characters, as in 'Shattered'!). Merely having a Bajoran character of the week was terrific, and the fact it was some creepy Vedek who was into mind control as a recruiting tactic for the Maquis made it doubly interesting, as was the fact he was played by Keith Szarabajka (a memorable guest star who would go on to have a less memorable role in 'Rogue Planet' on 'Enterprise' and be in films such as 'The Dark Knight'). Teero was shown to be one of those malicious lost souls that tended to gravitate towards the Maquis, like Suder and his penchant for playing out his violent tendencies in battle.

If there is a flaw with the episode it is that we didn't learn enough about Teero: what personal events in his life made him as fanatical as to want to preserve a little remainder of the Maquis in the Delta Quadrant, against all reason for any good that it would do? And did the Federation catch him after this episode or did he get away with his little foiled plot scot-free? He's exactly the sort of loose end that could have gone on to plague Starfleet in future had the 24th Century been continued (I'm sure they brought him back in the books!), but he was really just one of the many who'd been affected by the Bajoran Occupation of Cardassians, whether it was the Bajorans themselves, or their oppressors (see 'Duet' and 'The Darkness and The Light'), but due to his galactic distance he couldn't really be part of the episode other than in the minds of those he affected through Tuvok. And it was a very effective and devious way to set up a sleeper agent - instead of exposing Tuvok (who knows how he found out his Starfleet mission, but presumably he just chose to experiment and discovered it in Tuvok's mind?), he bides his time, which again shows he was more interested in power over people than actually helping the Maquis cause. The writing cunningly deals with established facts about where people were and what they were doing and yet weaves in the new story and that's exactly the kind of thing I find missing from modern Trek. They go big on bringing in famous ships, races and characters, but they don't have the nuance and cleverness to do something like this, at least for the most part, I can't think of anything off the top of my head. Janeway states the Maquis' rebellion ended three years ago, which was during 'DS9' Season 5 once the Cardassians had allied with the Dominion and the Jem'Hadar were used to crush all Maquis resistance with extreme prejudice - they'd already acknowledged the change in status of the 'home' Maquis in 'Extreme Risk,' so it's nice they were able to say 'the story isn't over.'

That's what this is really all about, Teero's inability to accept the organisation he was part of was defeated, and he'd been kicked out anyway so maybe there was an element of wanting to prove his experiments right. They're actually in a time of peace now, post-Dominion War, and yet he hasn't been able to let go, even vowing in the past to keep the fight going even if he were the last man, which is essentially what he's doing in a small, pitiful way. I love that Tuvok being a double agent becomes Tuvok being a triple agent: he was working for Starfleet to infiltrate the Maquis, then he was implanted with something that could be activated at a given moment which turned him to the Maquis for real! It was no real benefit to Teero, other than to have satisfaction that his mind control techniques worked (and impressive he could do them on a Vulcan, that shows how powerful they must have been - he's a dangerous man!), and to gum up Starfleet's works a little, since they were as much the enemy as the Cardassians in the Maquis' mindset. It did seem a little too 'easy' when Chakotay is completely transformed back to the suspicious Maquis Captain he was, untrusting of Janeway despite their many escapades together, cutting through all the bonding they had, the personal feelings, every little occurrence that happened over almost seven years, but that's the strength of a mind meld, it must have been repressing so much of his memories and personality, but in that case I feel Beltran should have played it a little differently, perhaps not quite so sure and certain, but as if there was a slight element of his mind fighting within, a slight confusion maybe.

I'm not complaining about anyone's performances, it was lovely to see Chakotay and B'Elanna back in that guise and I assume the early meeting in the Mess Hall consisted of all the Maquis members aboard when it first becomes apparent they're being targeted, so we get some familiar faces, but also a female Vulcan (not sure how well that holds up - did we know there were multiple members of that species aboard, other than Tuvok and Vorik?), and I suppose they felt they could reveal something like the whole former crew since we're coming to the end of the series and don't need to be as vague, although even there we can assume some may have been on duty and unavailable for the meeting since someone said they made up a quarter of the crew, so that's around fifty people. Even though I didn't remember exactly how the story played out I loved the dawning realisation that only Tuvok was going to be able to save them: the man who was used as the tool of their destruction became the source of their salvation, and that was a very positive message (as was the one I took from it that laying your mind open to outside forces thanks to meditation is dangerous, even if that wasn't what they intended!). He even looked younger somehow once he was in the undershirt - perhaps it was the show of surprise, confusion and fear, or maybe it was the incongruent informality of an incomplete uniform itself, but he seemed to regress to an earlier Tuvok. There was also an element of going back to the 'TOS' films where Spock was gruff and mysterious, like when dying in 'II,' a heavy weight on their Vulcan shoulders.

There was one major, possibly minor, flaw in logic: when Tuvok took off his outer jacket his combadge should have been attached to that, and indeed it is - if you check back you see him flee his Quarters in a hurry without it, then when he arrives at the Holodeck he's wearing it, so unless he stopped on the way to get a new one that's a bit of an oversight. I wouldn't have ever thought of it except for the fact it was integral to carrying out the plan later on since he had to communicate with the awakened Chakotay. I suppose they could have had the Commander come to the Brig, but then it wouldn't have had the same power as seeing our First Officer suddenly activated like a Borg drone, and then activating others to the mutinous cause! So I can forgive that issue for the sake of the drama. They probably should have removed the combadge before transferring him into the cell, too, since we know such devices can be used for all sorts of things in the right hands, and Tuvok was always the right hands for improvisation! The mind meld was so effective that not only does it counteract years of natural affinity between Chakotay and Janeway, but even B'Elanna's love for her new husband, Tom Paris - she coolly states that he and Harry attempted a breakout but have been contained, apparently quite detached from them. Nice to see Paris as a nurse again, another thing that brings it back to the early seasons. One trivial little detail I noticed which I don't think had ever been done before, is someone asking the computer where someone else is, and the computer announcing they're in that very room as they suddenly enter. Answers the question of whether it would call Chakotay in the corridor outside Sickbay or in Sickbay since by the time the words had been spoken his location would have changed!

Perhaps the door to Tabor's Quarters shouldn't have required overriding when Tuvok went there since his friend Jor was already in there, and that does look a bit suspicious since if she really went in there only to retrieve a book she wouldn't have needed to lock the door. On a side note, great to see physical books again, too, another reminder that characters in Trek appreciate old things and the touch of physical things, they don't live in a sterile environment devoid of the physical, or at least if they do it makes them appreciate and value objects when Tabor could just as easily have had all his books and more on an iPad... sorry, PADD! I was also pleased to see another discussion of what Kim calls 'privacy protocols' - that someone can't simply read someone else's mail, except, as we hear from Tuvok, the Chief of Security has the right to do so if he thinks it important to the safety of the ship, but it was good to be reminded of such things and that Starfleet takes them seriously. Although it may have been inadvertent, I took Tuvok's talk of a 'Time of Awakening,' part of Teero's control, to link nicely with that period of Vulcan history when they were savage and violent. And if you know Tuvok's the perpetrator of the comas it makes more sense when the Doctor mentions 'subdermal contusions' on the shoulder since we see Tuvok do another Nerve Pinch when subduing Chakotay later, so some excellent attention to detail as you can usually expect from the writers of past Trek in stark contrast to the modern ones.

One thing I was disappointed about was that the Bajoran wasn't Gerron from 'Learning Curve,' but at least Tabor had been in the series previously, and not for a couple of years, too (he was in 'Nothing Human' in Season 5), good reaching into the past, and maybe they couldn't get the other guy? I'd have liked to see a bit more of the retaking of the ship, but I accept the point had been made once Chakotay and B'Elanna were dealt with, and if it had been an all-action affair I'd have been complaining it wasn't cerebral enough so the story was handled very well. Fun to see Tom and B'Elanna doing something together, and while I often feel uncomfortable by characters in modern Trek seeming to know and talk about our pop culture, which is clearly ridiculous in most cases, seeing a half-alien (and the rest of the crew at the end), dealing with 3D glasses and all the trappings of an old film theatre was great fun, although she was right about Tom going overboard on the authenticity when she gets gum on her shoe - that's the great thing about a holoprogram, you can have the good stuff and avoid the bad! It does raise the question why the program was running before they entered and what Tabor was doing in there - he claims he was doing repairs, but it would have been better if Tom had asked him to make sure the program was tiptop before they got there as otherwise it's a bit strange he'd be in there when they'd obviously booked some Holodeck time - equally, they might have been wondering if he'd finished and would have been less surprised by the anomaly of a guy slumped at the front. But a very effective introduction to the threatening atmosphere of the story, as was the reveal when Tuvok comes out of the shadows in the Cargo Bay. Like the best of Trek: a standalone that utilises the vast canon of Trek to make its story work.

****

Drive (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Drive) (2)

It's always nice to be pleasantly surprised when it comes to an episode you've considered one of the weaker stories of the season - I actually did like this the last time I watched (and reviewed) it, but still, my initial thoughts of a space race being a bad idea were lodged in my brain. Every space series has to do a multi-species race, possibly due to 'Star Wars Episode I' and its pod-race (even though that wasn't even in space!), especially around the time this was made with that film still fresh in the memory, but this isn't really about a space race and that's why it works. In modern Trek we're used to space being depicted in rainbow colours all the time, full of sights to see and 'marvel' at, but old Trek tended to be more conservative in its depiction, so often going for what space really is: empty. In this one they make an effort to pretty it up, because one of the worst things about racing through space is that there's nothing there, no obstacles, no environmental danger, other than the competitors, no real thrill or excitement to be had - that wasn't the case in this particular example as they have a 'small wormhole with a big attitude' as Tom Paris puts it, one which blocks out all sensors. Which makes it seem a bit of a pointless route for a race since spectators won't be able to track the racers for the last third when it should be at its most thrilling, not to mention any of these participants could pull off some dirty tricks while out of the limelight. It turns out the dirty trick is set to go off at the very end of the race when a triumphant Delta Flyer would've crossed the line and blown everyone at the finish line to smithereens, reigniting the war between these four races, and collapsing everything the race was meant to stand for.

Having it be more than a mere test of piloting and speed, but instead the linchpin upon which a new treaty between former enemies is cemented, adds a lot more weight to the drama and gives a good reason why we, and especially Voyager itself, should care - Tom sounds like a young teen trying to convince his parents to let him stay out late or get a dog when he brings his petition to join in to the Captain and senior officers. Fortunately for him it came at just the right time: Janeway deciding the crew needs some R&R, while also providing a useful diplomatic function and hopefully winning them some new friends in the area. The only person who doesn't benefit is B'Elanna who'd already planned some romance for her and Tom (or 'kissy time' as he later monickers it!), only to find he's back to the big boy's toys again (just like in 'Alice,' only this time it's an outside force that causes the trouble rather than his own ship...), but ultimately it benefits her even more as she receives the commitment she's been longing for, having arrived at the conclusion she and Tom aren't well matched, despite their longevity. Torres seemed especially vulnerable and contemplative, quite different from the young, brash woman earlier in the series. Perhaps it's all to do with the biological clock, maybe it's a dissatisfaction with not getting enough A-stories to keep her busy, but whatever it is, she seems to have arrived at a crossroads that demands some kind of change, never easy on a relatively compact ship like Voyager, and one with no prospects for separation.

A touching scene is when she goes to the Mess and Neelix gives her the benefit of his wisdom - I at first took it she was in a foul mood, the way she flounced down on the sofa tapping away at her phone– sorry, her PADD! But then you realise she must have expected Neelix to be there, he so often is, and if she really wanted solitude she'd have gone to her Quarters or some deep part of the ship, or even hid in Engineering (like Seven did last week), so she must have needed someone to talk to and maybe a spot of sympathy. She sounds quite self-pitying, not wanting Tom to act differently, just wallowing in the fact her carefully constructed plans fell through, but she won't speak to him about it because then he could do something about it. She's just plain miserable, which is much more deadly than the Klingon rage we've seen so many times before: a quiet 'realisation' is much more effective, and it sounded as if Roxann Dawson was suffering from a sore throat or a cold, which only enhances the scene - Peter Jackson was right: pain is temporary, film is forever! Neelix is such a good listener, reminding us why he wasn't written out when he could no longer be a guide since Voyager had travelled beyond the bounds of his knowledge, and he understands people, too, hence why he appeals to that Klingon side of her by suggesting it doesn't seem very honourable to keep all this from Tom.

The resolution works really well, B'Elanna forcing herself into Tom's orbit by replacing Harry as co-pilot, thus it becomes a couple's adventure rather than the boy's own, and whether she realised it or not, was a way to test his loyalty and push him to a point where things change, either way. All very interesting psychology that I wouldn't have understood as a teen on first viewing, perhaps why it appeals more now. Also appealing is that it's all very realistic, unlike so much of Trek nowadays - yes, Tom could be said to be the proto-Trek character of modern times, the guy who talks so much more casually and isn't above ducking protocols (like in the mini-race Irina challenges him to, he always has a justification, in this case it's a test flight for the new Delta Flyer, so why not test it! It makes me wonder if she let him win since she was trying to create a mug to carry her bomb into the race, ensuring he was fully committed, but it could also be that she was seeing whether he had the skill to win or at least be at the finish line among the first...). Harry had to be the guy who ends up taking her copilot's seat (did the original copilot find out what she was doing?), his misadventures with the ladies being the running joke of the series in the same way O'Brien always had to be tortured on 'DS9' - Paris tends to remind us of the list of failures, this time citing Borg (Seven), hologram (the Irish program most likely, but could also cover the one from 'Alter Ego'), and dead (Lyndsey Ballard of 'Ashes To Ashes'). And now we can add terrorist to that growing list - it is funny, but perhaps a little unkind that Kim is still so eager and naive (when he likes Irina you know she's the villain!), but then that is his character and we love him for it.

There was actually a fair bit of good, gentle humour throughout, whether it was Torres' joke she took Harry's place aboard by reassigning him to diagnostic duty, or responding to Paris' insistence she remember the piloting rhymes that got him through the Academy by reminding him he was expelled (although, she's one to talk...), to the idea of Seven being the one to commentate on the race, only giving updates every few minutes until Neelix comes to the crew's rescue and shows her how it's done ('andthey'recominguptothenextbendwhaddanovertakingthispilotknowsnofearthisisanonstopthrillofarace' kind of thing!). Nothing nasty, nothing cruel and unpleasant, just the exact kind of positive storytelling and warmth that Trek got so good at and has now lost in exchange for crudeness, nastiness and silliness. It's not a standout episode, but it is very pleasant even with serious threats underlying the story. It's as relevant now as it ever was, being about the dangers of people anarchically taking their views into their own hands and using violence to push back against those they hate, whether it be those with conservative or liberal values doing the pushing. And it's not political, you notice, there's no 'side' other than Irina's xenophobic group that wants to disrupt and end the mini-Federation within which these four races have come together (incidentally, I counted five species, unless there are others from outside this former war-zone just here to compete).

Primarily, though, it's entertaining - it has its message, which in fact isn't even a message, we're simply shown that this exists and we don't go any deeper (such as there could be reasonable concerns within this xenophobia that have been ignored, exacerbating these people and adding fuel to their fire so extremists take it as a call to action), so it's not a complex picture, but then all of that is really window dressing for the personal story of Tom and B'Elanna - it's taken three episodes to address them and where they are, but now we know why, and while Trek shouldn't be a soap, it's good to explore the characters so they're more than merely two-dimensional creations having adventures all the time. At the same time there are a few points I would raise: firstly the idea of Voyager becoming this impartial outsider to help strengthen the alliance between these races, and yet they also have a dog in the race - and what good would it have done for them to win it, it could have discouraged all the 'legitimate' competitors! As much as I enjoy the brand new white-shouldered racing outfits, are they really necessary? There didn't seem to be any justification within the episode and I'm sure it doesn't take all that much replicating (plus it's good to have something different visually from time to time), but they did used to mention how they only have certain Replicator privileges (they wouldn't be seen again for over twenty years until they showed up in 'Lower Decks,' but then just about everything does!).

One thing that made perfect sense was how Tom and Harry would know and can communicate through Morse code, Paris saying it's something they use in the Captain Proton holoprogram, so it was beneficial, after all! I was also appreciative of the reminder about how warp travel has to be in a straight line, a reason why the race isn't at warp speed (yet another key idea apparently forgotten in modern Trek for the sake of 'looking good'). Of minor note was that the race Assan represented looked very much like a different coloured Benzite, so I assume they repurposed those old masks or built on them, as so often happened in those days. Not to say they didn't look good. I thought it was interesting they show Assan as this separate individual who stands apart at the party, solitude written all over his body language, which Paris ignores, yet in the same scene you see his copilot in the background happily chatting away to Starfleet: either he isn't as standoffish as Assan, or else they didn't consider what a background character did and failed to advise him to act disdainfully. No, the biggest issue is the Delta Flyer itself, which Tom suggests putting through its paces as it's newly rebuilt, except we saw Janeway already do that in 'Imperfection' with the alien scavengers. The continuity flub was because this was written and filmed out fo sequence, while being shown after. It's not that big a problem since you could say Paris is talking about his own experience being in full control with this test flight, but it doesn't quite ring true. And lastly, they mention Irina is a 'Terrellian,' but aren't they an Alpha Quadrant race? Or is that... the Terellians... Yes, it's that perennial Trek favourite of the confusingly similar named races beginning with 'T' and ending in 'ian.' Best not to even try and work it out.

The episode ends strongly, both in a general sense when Tom shows B'Elanna means more to him than anything else (as he probably should have realised before requesting to take part in the rally in the first place, but it just shows that what is important to one person in their head may not automatically be quite as much to another - a good life lesson, I'm sure!), halting the Flyer mid-race to hash out what's bothering her, proposing, then the pair of them bravely speeding the Flyer out of the racing zone to ensure no one dies when their Warp Core's about to breach (always a fertile source of danger and drama!), and then the very last shot when they're going off on a honeymoon with 'Just Married' scrawled on the back of the Flyer and strings of barrels tied to it. Okay, maybe that was a step too far into silliness, but it closed out the episode amusingly and warmly. They could have shown the actual wedding and I'm sure some (female) viewers would feel shortchanged on the omission, but we had already seen a version of that when their doubles got married in Season 5's 'Course: Oblivion,' and it was elegantly handled in the sense there wasn't time for anything more to the story at that point unless they decided the next episode was going to be a traditional 'build up to the wedding' story, but that only worked on 'DS9' because it followed an intense seven-episode serial and was a light capper to the heavy opening of Season 6. I'm just glad he made an honest woman of her.

The guest cast deserves some examination, not so much for playing particularly impressive roles (there's no James Sloyan or Jeff Combs), but for their return to Trek having previously portrayed other, more memorable characters: Cyia Batten, as terrorist Irina, would be the most recognisable name here since she played the original Tora Ziyal on 'DS9,' making two appearances as Gul Dukat's daughter, and after this 'Voyager' episode went on to appear in 'Enterprise' as one of the green-skinned Orion slave girls of 'Bound.' Brian George was the harried ambassador trying to keep this whole Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally from falling apart, but stuck in the memory far more (I'd forgotten he even had another Trek role!), as Dr. Bashir's Father, Richard, in 'Dr. Bashir, I Presume.' And Patrick Kilpatrick, the man with the best name in Trek (is it his real name?), had previously been in this series as the imperious Kazon, Razik in this series' 'Initiations,' and on 'DS9' as the scary human soldier, Reese in 'The Siege of AR-558,' so his role as intense former fighter pilot Assan wasn't out of his comfort zone, although the writers weren't being very imaginative calling his species the 'Imhotep'! Been reading about the ancient Egyptians at all?

***

Imperfection (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Imperfection) (2)

Probably the definitive Icheb episode, despite it being about Seven and how she deals with a seemingly unavoidable death from illness. It's as much about the crew's reaction to this as it is the event itself and is one of those thinking episodes, a good antidote after the more action-oriented season premiere, which explores various themes and ideas of the kind almost entirely missing from... yes, sorry, I'm about to denigrate the current state of Trek again, but this is exactly the kind of episode which shows to the full the kind of deep connection viewers could have with it, an emotional intelligence which is about as far from the effects-heavy melodrama and over the top emotionalism all too prevalent in the modern series'. It's understated and subtle so that a single tear carries much meaning, and finds the time to explore issues in a realistic manner. I can't help but think of the one episode in which Icheb and Seven both appear in the modern era: the only thing they got right with that horrific abuse of once-great characters was noting his cortical node was missing, and when they torture and murder him, referring directly back to this episode. We see in 'Picard' that Seven went on to have a long, though rather unhappy life in the years after Voyager, worse for Icheb, his life cut short. But none of that future rubbish should affect the power of this story of a person going through the stages of coming to accept death, while someone else is willing to do everything in his power to prevent it, even at the cost of his own life, a pointed redemption story of sacrifice, but one that has a happy ending insofar as it isn't the end, but then that was the point!

One thing that sticks out are some of the lesser used characters being given time for good scenes: B'Elanna wasn't a big part of 'Unimatrix Zero, Part II,' even while she was in the midst of the action, while Neelix was barely even seen, but here both have fitting scenes with Seven. It could be complained that they still only exist to serve Seven's story rather than having independent stories for themselves (we still haven't had a proper moment for Tom and B'Elanna yet and we're now two episodes into the season, you'd think they'd make time to check in on these friendships and partnerships that we'd been waiting for!), but that could often be the case, mainly because Seven was such a terrific and potent source of successful drama. It could also be complained that we'd just had a big Borg two-parter, so going back to them yet again was a bit much (apparently it was meant to be shown as the fourth episode of the season, which is why we have the Delta Flyer magically okay after it was destroyed in the Season 6 finale with no reference to that at all!), but I suppose these stories come along organically, they weren't necessarily plotting out the entire season, someone had this idea and they went for it, and in its defence, at least we weren't actually up against the Borg (other than in the sense of the finiteness of their technology, which in itself raises all sorts of questions: can full matured Borg ever really be saved if they're dependent upon a cortical node that can never be replaced except at the cost of another drone's life?), we visit a debris field to harvest for parts (a bit like 'Empok Nor,' without being as creepy), but that avenue is closed off by the Kazon scavengers...

I mean, really! Did they not realise how closely these pirates resembled Kazon? Not that it was a bad look, just that they were far too derivative, not one of Michael Westmore's better days! It did cause me to speculate whether their unfortunate resemblance to the recurring warrior gang species our heroes repeatedly encountered in the early seasons was what led Janeway to underestimate them and almost got her killed if it hadn't been for Paris' split-second beam-out! She holds one of the aliens hostage with a laser scalpel and not only does he take the risk to swat her away like a fly, Tuvok gets shot (and we never see him for the rest of the episode - I'll bet Tim Russ was annoyed they ignored any implication for his character's health, at least show him in Sickbay, but they probably didn't want to do anything to distract from Seven's situation), and Janeway's hand gets stepped on as she's about to be executed, a narrow escape. But at least it wasn't the Borg coming back for their technology as we know they can and do, even though, apparently, they don't bother repairing things. It was a little bit of a cop-out to say they couldn't replicate the node because 'it's too complicated,' but they had to remove all easy options from the table. Janeway shows her dedication to Seven by considering going in to extract a live Borg since the debris field didn't yield the necessary results. Aside from the danger to the entire ship, especially after just riling up the Queen so much, the Doctor is aghast that she could contemplate taking one life to save another (akin to his psychological episode in 'Latent Image'), though she famously had done just that in 'Tuvix.'

You could say she makes that kind of decision on a regular basis - even Icheb mentions how they risk the safety of the ship to respond to a distress call for strangers, part of the powerful argument he makes at the end to change Seven's stony mind from refusing treatment. One of the most fascinating discussions happens when Seven remarks on the mission Janeway's been on to get the crew home, and that it's been at the cost of various lives (mentioning a few, such as Lyndsey Ballard whom we met last season in 'Ashes To Ashes,' in a nice bit of continuity), which is true. But she also mistakes Janeway's motivations when she believes the only reason she refuses to accept her coming death is because she's an unfinished project and that she's failed her Captain because of that. There is an issue about different characters getting different treatment, but Seven required all the extra work Janeway gave her, she was the 'good shepherd' (another episode in itself!), who goes out for the one sheep lost from the flock, and I suppose you could say there was a greater investment in her than in the average crewmember, though I don't think Janeway would agree in the sense she cares for all of them and if any needed her special attention she'd more than give it to them. Was the journey home worth the lives lost, that's the question, but if they had simply settled on a planet there'd have been risks in that, too, there's also duty to consider and that those who died made a serious commitment to Starfleet, even if for some they never imagined it leading to extremes so early in their career in the same way a soldier goes to war, but doesn't expect to be killed in the first action they're part of.

Janeway's a good Captain, but it's surprising that even at this stage she hasn't learned she needs to trust her crew, not merely protect them: in the same way that Seven is more valuable to them all alive, the Captain of the ship is integral to their greater survival, even more in this particular case when she's essentially the matriarch of their community. So when she was all for going into the debris field alone, it was clearly in protection of her crew, but very unwise, so I appreciated Tom and Tuvok piping up to insist on accompanying her. It would also be good practice to bring a Security Team along, but that so often falls through the cracks on this series! I suppose it was so they didn't get 'redshirted' all the time as there were very limited crew numbers and they couldn't afford to be losing people every week like in 'TOS,' but having an Away Team without specialists seems mad. As it was, Janeway would undoubtedly have been kidnapped and possibly killed by the unspecified aliens - I loved the humour of the moment when Paris has beamed her and Tuvok back and basically orders her to take Tactical. She just complies with an emphatic "Aye, SIR!" That's the kind of humour that works, no undercutting the drama, not being a 'witty' smart-aleck, but acknowledging the uniqueness of the situation, yet also getting on with things because there's no time for Janeway to take offence or put Paris back in his place - it's obviously something he'd more likely do aboard the Delta Flyer since it's basically his ship in the same way the Defiant was almost Worf's ship, except when Sisko was aboard, who's presence would overwhelm everything!

The Doctor is one to be out in a difficult position throughout, and yet responds in good grace and, surprisingly, wisdom with all kinds of things to deal with, such as the thorny issue of a patient's wishes. Seven points out she shouldn't be treated differently to any other member of the crew in the sense her state of health is personal, with doctor/patient confidentiality important. It's not through a good sentiment she says this, as Icheb later shows her, she prefers to be independent and face things alone rather than admit her condition to the crew, part of his powerfully persuasive argument that shows minds can be changed with reason, while also accepting he does it in a passionate way: intellect and emotion together forging a strong battering ram to have at the wall Seven puts up when she believes there could be even a chance Icheb would be put at risk by giving up his node for her. The Doctor can't treat her before this because she as the patient refuses the treatment, and Janeway can't order her to take it because medical matters dictate the authority, but the key is that Seven can be talked round - actually, she wasn't talked round exactly, Icheb had to perform self-surgery in order to prove he could survive, and only then does he enter into his carefully constructed argument, flinging back her criticism about him being too dependent on her as motivation for wanting her to live, though I'm sure if she examined her reasoning she'd have to admit she was only saying that to make it an excuse for not putting him in danger.

It was lovely to see the motherly side of Seven again, as we'd seen before with Naomi (who strangely isn't there to see off the Borg children as they find new homes - let's hope they have a better time than Icheb did when he returned home last season...), a touching sendoff for her little brood of Borg, but also dealing with her 'teenage son' in Icheb. Throughout, their interactions are a joy: so often stilted and emotionless like a Vulcan Mother and child, yet also fierce and combative in a mirror of how Janeway and Seven interacted so much in Season 4. Icheb has really grown by this point, eager to stay with Starfleet and make it official, well thought-through ambitions. Rather than being dependent on Seven it's clear to see he's flourishing on his own, as he proves by making the selfless decision to do whatever he can to save her when she has given up. I imagine this would be a good episode to watch if you have an illness yourself, even if it's not a terminal one, since it's quite an inspiring story, the kind Trek used to do so well, showing how people can deal with real world troubles, perhaps one reason why it became so special to so many while the modern variations come across as mere entertainment without that special spark of reality and the ability to put yourself in the shoes of the characters through the distancing of them being like superheroes more than relatable people who act heroically and professionally.

It's especially rewarding to see Seven in a vulnerable position (and I don't mean lying on a Biobed in Sickbay in full view of anyone that walks in, without even a covering to go over her catsuit - you'd think there'd at least be a curtain or the energy field equivalent to allow her privacy!), not able to deal with the approach of death, an attitude we'll all have to go through (if we're fortunate and don't die suddenly without warning), needing time alone and taking out her discomfort in anger on Icheb. The Doctor was right in saying she needed to deal with it in her own way and with dignity. It's all so far from the tough nut hard-drinker rebel we saw in 'Picard,' and it's not because Seven is weak here, she's of very strong character, but even the strongest have to deal with things that shake them and there's a fascination in seeing that without resorting to cliches like a glass of whisky (quite apart from the message that sends to viewers!). She's vulnerable in a different way at the end, a healthier way when she sheds a tear for Icheb - not bawling, sobbing or otherwise making a fool of herself, but a dignified emotional reaction that also shows she's becoming more and more human with each passing season, more connected to the feelings that had been locked off within the Borg. She even has time to discuss the afterlife with B'Elanna, the half-Klingon's important scene when she, who used to be so riled up by this combative figure, gives her the compliment of saying Seven's legacy is that she's made an impact on every member of the crew, high praise indeed.

I loved that she respected her wish for solitariness, escaping from the Doctor by hiding in the upper level of Engineering, and finding excuse for her to remain there, as well as allowing room for discussion on what she thinks of post-death: she's the perfect character to be questioned about such a divisive topic since she went through some kind of experience in 'Barge of The Dead,' though she seems to remain uncertain of what that really was since she hopes there's something after death rather than having wholehearted belief. For Klingons it's about how honourable a death they receive, which is a sad thing to think of that a whole life could be good and honourable, only for a slip-up at the end to mean eternal damnation. It's these kinds of issues that don't get much time in modern Trek in general which is too busy being flippant and going after excitement than it is addressing the questions of human experience. It's not that they come down on one side or another, it's that they raise the question and leave it to the audience to ponder, a healthy approach, especially given Trek's 'science is all' attitude, because they clearly know science only goes so far in reality, it can't explain everything, nor can the faith in it one day explaining everything be a comfort here and now. In fact, B'Elanna's initial reaction to Seven's thought process is that she shouldn't be thinking of death at a time like this, when, on the contrary, on the verge of facing it seems to be the most important time to consider such questions.

Neelix is the other person Seven interacts with outside Janeway and the Doctor, the comforting attitudes of the Talaxian a warm and dependable friend that whether she admits it or not, is something she needs as much as the self-imposed tasks she uses to distract herself, even if the Doctor and Neelix have to use a charming little reverse psychology tactic to get her to play Kadis-kot. My favourite line was probably her polite, but dismissive acceptance of Neelix' kindness by saying she'll 'admire the flowers later,' in typical Seven style: flicking on or off a switch for things that would be natural to most people (like 'fun will now commence'). The same way she thinks it best to deactivate the Borg children's regeneration alcoves as soon as they've left the ship because they'll be a drain on the ship's power, when inactive they must be like leaving something on standby for us, only a minuscule drain - either she was trying to be especially practical or it gave her something to do related to her former charges that would help to cover dealing with the loss. Technology is very important in the story, obviously the key to survival being the cortical node, though it made me wonder if that means all Borg have a shelf life - their memories may live on in the Hive forever, but if repairs aren't considered worthwhile does that mean becoming Borg is a death sentence after all, as we used to think when they were introduced? Even if you become assimilated you're only safe for as long as this node functions? There's still so much we don't know about the Borg, and probably never will, but it's incredible they kept finding ways to peel back the onion with this race.

We also see the old 'leaving your Combadge behind' trick to fool the computer into thinking you're still in that location when in reality you've moved. This is actually a very promising reminder of the importance of the individual right to privacy as I've mentioned in other reviews, because clearly the computer is capable of detecting bio-signs so Starfleet could easily track each person, it just hasn't been programmed to do that, and in an age when digital ID cards are becoming ever higher on the agenda in order to track and give governments more control over their populace, it's a pleasing suggestion of Trek's superior moral use of technology once again. In other notes, it was nice to see Tom as a nurse, not something we so often in these later seasons, though you'd think the Doctor would have trained one or two other dedicated crewmembers by now! And Harry Kim doesn't get much, but he does call the Captain 'Ma'am' when she orders him to locate the Borg debris field - I don't think it's quite crunch time yet, Mr. Kim! Maybe that was the equivalent of a strong swearword in modern Trek that Kim was so surprised they would head back to a Borg location? The accolades go to Manu Intiraymi for his portrayal of a student who refuses to give up on his mentor, both Jeri Ryan and he showing what they're capable of in a number of ways, and if it hadn't already been long cemented, showing once again what a deep bond these two characters have - did I hear right that Seven was also going to take the Starfleet test Icheb was going for? It'd make sense.

***

Burnout Paradise Remastered

 Switch, Burnout Paradise Remastered (2020) game

On the GameCube I didn't discover many great serious racing games until some time after its lifespan, 'Burnout 2' quickly becoming a firm favourite as one of the first things I ever bought online with my new debit card - it turned into my number one game for the console, and one I played in multiplayer for years after (even, occasionally, to this day). It was mildly disappointing the series didn't continue on the platform, but I learned from the Nintendo magazine, NGC, I wasn't missing much. Even so, I always had it in mind I'd have liked to play further in that game's style (to the extent that in recent years I bought the original 'Burnout' which was either a launch game for the 'Cube or came out very early in its lifespan - though I admittedly have yet to give it a go), so when I was generously given a work friend's Nintendo Switch and looked through the copious list of of 4000+ games released, a new 'Burnout' was top of my list as an immediate pick up and play choice. It helped that I hadn't played a good car game for some time - 'Mario Kart Wii' filled the racing need earlier this year, but wasn't a serious racing game, and 'Starsky & Hutch' last year had some racing elements in an open world format, but still wasn't quite the same. 'Lotus Turbo Challenge 2' almost fits the bill a couple of years ago, but it was really 'Need For Speed Nitro' towards the end of 2022 that I last dove into this sort of game.

'Need For Speed' is a good comparison actually because 'Burnout Paradise Remastered' is much closer to that series than 'Burnout 2,' for better or worse. And I can think of a lot of the 'worse': the fact you have to spend so long driving to events, or even less pleasing, driving back from the countryside of White Mountain and Silver Lake on the far left of the map to get back to the main environs of the city where most of the events are situated. I understand the rationale behind it, it helps to learn the road routes and become familiar with the terrain and its hazards, but sometimes I felt like half my time was spent just driving back (without even a navigational aid like an arrow to show you where to go instead of having to check the map every time there was a fork in the road - more realistic, but less convenient), and while in the early stages I was simply enjoying the driving experience, before long it became an enforced chore. Chores were high on the list of hit points, too, as there are so many little accomplishments or lists of achievements to cross off that it could be wearying for the serial completist, to the extent I had no ambition to get all of them: I'd be satisfied with getting all the billboards and smashing all the fences (120 and 400 items respectively, even there!), unlocking all the cars and winning all the events, though ultimately I did dedicate myself to achieving 100%, at least in the main game (still leaving a number of challenges unbeaten), though was only able to complete 75% of Big Surf Island, originally extra material, but included from the start in this remaster (due to its requirement of completing online tasks which I wasn't interested in attempting).

Many hours were spent post completion of all events to track down the last billboards and smashes (both in a semi-hidden area of White Mountain), working out how to set off Showtime mode where you bounce around causing as much damage as possible, forcing myself to track down every last Super Jump I'd missed (which was the trickiest since it doesn't tell you which ones have been completed, to the extent I had to start noting down each one in a given area), and finally the Road Rules of beating or setting times and Showtime scores, so I had my money's worth! For those that absolutely adore living in this game world I'm sure they were happy to keep existing there and try to do absolutely everything, but although I enjoyed knowing the game so intimately by the end I was also relieved to finish. Still, it was somewhat dazing to find you were suddenly done (despite being a completionist I had to draw the line somewhere, so didn't bother with all the challenges which in any case don't count towards completion percentage), and, I suppose for want of a better word, 'free.' But it was designed as a self-contained world to game in, I can see that, which is why the emphasis on online gaming was so strong. I come to it from the perspective of someone out of a different time: up until a few years ago my most current console was the 'Cube, my most recent game on any system being 'Age of Empires III' for the Mac, so getting a Wii five or six years ago was the closest I'd come to modern gaming and naturally things have changed a couple of console generations down the line, but I remain a strict offline gamer with no interest in getting into all that so I can only judge this game from that angle and it was a major disappointment to me to find there was no local (split-screen) multiplayer option as I'd have got more from the title than I'm ever likely to without that. I understand why - it would be a technical challenge even for the latest consoles to open up an entire world for simultaneous play on the same machine, but couldn't they have cordoned off the 'tracks' to allow for this? Because there are tracks, despite the choice of routes and go-anywhere freedom, there are only a relative handful of endpoints to which you race, another aspect of the game that made it a little less universal in scope and a little more repetitive than it seemed at first.

While it's a game that only (only!), came out five years ago, and I'm coming to it at the very end of the Switch's lifespan (though it sounds as though Nintendo will continue their support for the original version even while Switch 2 rules the roost, so technically it's still a 'live' machine), it's also a remake of an even older game so I can believe technical limitations aren't necessarily showing off the Switch's capabilities to the full, even while it could well be more advanced than the original release, although I don't know anything about what differences there may be so I have to judge by what I see. And it did look very nice, the sharp shadows and changing colours of the sky as day and night cycle through (though I missed changing weather conditions from 'B2' - again, technical limitations may have been responsible), at the same time it's not quite as radically realistic as I might have imagined, almost more of a higher resolution version of 'B2's aesthetic. It moves very fast as you'd expect of a game with such pedigree behind it, but I rarely had that sense of exhilaration I used to feel from the earlier title. This is mainly down to the structure of the city and its roads where I found it all too easy to lose control and go into one of the series' trademark smashes - these still look impressive, but even there I felt like they weren't quite as satisfying as in 'B2,' though I'm quite prepared to accept this could be down to my own familiarity of the old game which I've played on and off for seventeen years, and the same can be said of my propensity to crash in this later version since I'm not as familiar with every twist and turn of track any more.

Where the technical advancements show themselves more fully are in the ability to stream a large selection of various music tracks (including the nostalgically appealing addition of past 'Burnout' music, much appreciated!), off the tiny cartridge (if you can call such a slim slip of plastic by such a clumpy name!), and cycle through them with a button press mid-game (though this function eventually became redundant and I'd have much preferred the ability to sound my horn, one of the fun little details in 'B2,' almost mitigated by the bikes being capable of wheelies!), and more especially (leaving aside the untapped online developments), the day/night system which can follow a 24-minute cycle or longer, even up to a full 24 hour period, or you can simply select what time of day you prefer. I have to admit that while in early play I enjoyed playing around with the music and time of day, eventually I switched off the tunes entirely and halted time almost exclusively to midday as having the best visibility of the road ahead, a crucial component in winning events! That left the addition of bikes to the playing field as the only major new addition that interested me on a practical level: for one thing they can go a lot faster and are more manoeuvrable, but I was also more prone to crashes since you're obviously far more vulnerable on two wheels than four. I loved the bikes, and found myself mainly sticking to them at first for sheer speed and fun, but they are kept separate from the main 'tour' in that you only have the checkpoint races against the clock of the 'Burning Routes' to notch up events to reach your full licence and then you're done (though I came full circle after everything else had been completed to do the Road Rules, both day and night, which gave a nice symmetry to the whole experience).

There's no racing other bikes or mixing and matching different vehicles in races (like in 'MK Wii'), and only after Burning Route completion did I feel forced to get into the game proper and go through all the car events. I'm not complaining about the bikes, I just wish they'd been more integrated into the whole, but even the side objectives of smashing billboards, for example, are removed for bikes, leaving the feeling this is practically a separate game within a game, and then you have to go and do the real 'work' of car driving from the ground up, the ponderousness of the lowest level four-wheeled vehicles early on being a bit of a comedown after the speed and agility of bikes (technically there are a load of extra cars to play with since the bonus material, like Big Surf, is available from the start, but I stuck to the unlockable path as it was meant to be played). It's also odd that, while you see your biker, that's the only person in the game: no pedestrians, no cyclists, and even more noticeably, no drivers - in 'B2,' while you never saw any casualties, you could still see the shadowy form of a human being within all the vehicles! I wouldn't want them to show horrific, real injuries or anything like that, but you do feel a bit like vehicles are merely robots, and while I wouldn't really expect people (unless they had the ability to leap aside - again, I don't want a game where you run people down, or anything of that kind!), that is the sort of development I might have imagined in a much more advanced game engine. But this is all part of the style they're going for, though I did feel the arcade nature wasn't quite as prominent as in 'B2' where you would have huge neon arrows showing you where you could go, and it was more about ramping up to extreme levels of speed.

Due to the stop-start nature of crashes I felt there was less emphasis on dangerous driving, the hallmark of the series, with boost power easier to achieve (you no longer have to always wait until the meter fills to maximum, for example), and the feeling the balance between speed and care wasn't quite strong enough to create the lift-off I needed to get close to the kind of experience I had on 'B2.' Another side of that is the necessity to have half an eye on the map showing the various roads, because it's easy to miss the right turning and have to spin back around because otherwise you'll never catch up. In fact I found it best to pause at the start of a race (and sometimes during it), to check the full map in order to work out the best route to take, another way it became stop-start gaming. Most annoyingly (and I'm aware this may sound petty!), pressing '+' to go into the pause menus doesn't immediately take you to the world map, you then have to tap 'L' a couple of times to get there, which takes a few seconds, and in a game that's all about speed this seemed a bit of a clunky interface to me, nor are there any satnav options to guide you so you can concentrate on the basic twitch gaming of racing. I'll allow it is impressive that opponents go off on different routes, and so can you, and there are shortcuts to take and all that, but having to pay so much attention to the map takes it perhaps too far into realism (again, it could just be my reaction to knowing 'B2' so well).

The control scheme was something else I had to acclimatise to - I'm so used to jamming 'A' to accelerate in every racing game ever, and now I have to hold 'ZR'? I was using the official Pro Controller which was much more comfortable to handle than the tiny Joy-Cons that come attached to the machine, and this being my first Switch game I liked the weightiness of it and the signs of historical Nintendo development, changing the old 'Z-Trigger' from the N64 to two extra shoulder buttons below 'L' and 'R,' to make 'ZL' and 'ZR,' so I was right at home in the terminology (and maybe there is the option to assign buttons differently on the Switch itself - there was certainly no sign of that in-game), but I did find it slightly less comfortable to hold than the classic 'Cube Controller, and the rumble effect seemed much diminished compared with that, too. But 'A' only selecting and 'B' for boosting...? It definitely took some hours for my mind to get used to a very different setup, too often hitting 'Y' which spins you round in a handbrake turn, though I will praise the Pro for it's long battery life which allows you to use it cordless without worrying for quite a while. While I'm talking gaming history in the Controller, I also have to mention the game manual, or in this case, lack of one - this was a new copy of the game so I'm taking it Switch titles don't come with any physical material, and that's a shame as flipping through a manual has always been part of the experience for me and there were aspects of the game I could have done with straightening out, such as the Showtime option which I had to look up online to find out how to access (hit 'L' and 'R' in general play), and while there are optional tips spoken by a slightly irritating DJ throughout, reading material would have been preferable and more in-depth.

'Need For Speed' has been mentioned and I have to say that a big part of not being wowed by 'BPR' as a whole is that I feel I've experienced games very close in approximation thanks to the former series - even those tend to blend together for not developing all that much, but nothing has impressed me as much as 'Most Wanted,' before or since, in crafting a large open world environment and a sense of control and speed. It's been a few years now since I played that so I may be misremembering, perhaps 'BPR' is bigger, but the impression I have is that that was huge and the addition of the police chasing you, exhilarating. In comparison I often found myself going through the motions of completion, ticking off this event or challenge, adding a billboard or a new car to my tally, but after the early thrill of biking, never quite feeling I'd taken off. My thoughts are mixed on whether you should be able to simply select the next race and instantly appear at the starting line or whether the local knowledge gained through travelling is worth all the extra time, but there didn't seem to be that wide a variety of events: you have the standard Race, the Stunt Run where it's all about scoring points and avoiding accidents at all costs once the timer's run down to keep the score going, Marked Man where you have to reach a finish line without being battered into destruction by evil black cars, and Road Rage where you get to do the same to everybody else.

Showtime was quite a fun late addition to the package for me, but even that had the impression it was merely a time consumption as you had to get a score for every road in the game world, rather than something particularly challenging since some roads don't have a score to beat, and those that do are usually beaten on first attempt - I know this is really meant for online competition, as are the times for each road, but it seemed typical of the game's attitude to play that everything was more about ticking a checkbox more than it was about real challenge. Showtime was a fun experience just for the wholly different nature of play, despite its relative ease (though even there before playing I imagined it would be like the Crash mode in 'B2' where you'd have a run up to a particular line of traffic and try to hit it at just the right angle, speed and timing to cause the most chains of damage), and there were plenty of events throughout that took multiple attempts to win, I'm not saying it was all easy, but it was more of a bloated, unfocused experience rather than a finely tuned or crafted difficulty curve for the development of your skills. By its nature of being freeform and tackling objectives in any order, there isn't that sense of progression you get in a more structured environment. It's difficult to be too critical because it is an achievement and has more detail and sense of reality than 'NFS' - I enjoyed the screaming, groaning, roaring engines (perhaps in a few years games like this will be the only place to hear the primal evocation of engines as creepily silent electric cars become the norm on our roads?), the crunching crashes and the honking of traffic, but I can imagine still more additions to make the world more real and engrossing without events being boxes to tick.

My favourite part was undoubtedly the Road Rages since that's the time I felt I had the most freedom to simply smash and charge about in total anarchic chaos with targets speeding around you all over the map - getting on one of those motorways was a great tactic as you repeatedly slam opponents against the barriers with the merest tap and wiggle on their rear, all while they try to do the same to you. This would make an excellent multiplayer game, whether hunting a human player down or just 'passing in the night' as you each attempted to rack up the higher score. Marked Man was fairly fun, but more difficult as the AI was very good at knocking you over. The only other event is the Burning Route where you have to win a time trial with a specific vehicle - collecting all the cars added a fun element, either they're trophies for winning or they're set free somewhere on the map and if you smash them up you get to add them to the collection (slightly annoying they don't come sleek and shiny and have to go through a repair shop, but you are picking them up from a Junkyard, I suppose!). If all this wasn't enough there's that entire other island to do a whole load more events, its own collection of billboards, fences to smash, jumps, cars to win... I certainly wouldn't complain about lack of content, my total times of Paradise City with cars, with bikes and Big Surf came to around eighty hours across two months' playing! I think I would complain that much of it does seem repetitive, because it is, and not just due to this game, but to the various similar titles I've spent many hours on before this. I just don't think a completely open world was necessarily playing to the series' strengths, but I'm glad to have been able to find that out for myself, and while I can't imagine really going back to it to do everything again, perhaps the occasional bike ride on the open roads at sunset will tempt me.

***

Unimatrix Zero, Part II (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Unimatrix Zero, Part II) (2)

A Borg Queen's holiday. After Janeway challenges her to visit the sleep haven Borg dream of, goading her she might experience individuality herself, she does, like the serpent entering Eden, and she does meet an innocent whom she plans to corrupt. But the problem with Janeway's jibe is that the Queen appears to already be an individual, that's the point - we don't really know enough about them, even now, to say exactly what the Queen's function is or much of anything about her, but it does seem to be her will that guides the entire Collective which is what turned the Borg from a hive colony of insects into something perhaps a little less alien. It can be debated whether her addition to the mythos was wise or not, the Borg, despite being one of, if not the most popular Trek race, at least as far as villains go, yo-yoed up and down in danger and threat even in the parent series, 'TNG.' I wish we could have found out more about the Queen - sometimes that can mean she becomes too approachable, moving out of the shadows, no longer a creepily unknowable enemy, but she could also be more horrific seen in the full light. I don't think Susanna Thompson's version was the best (in any case this episode marked her final role in Trek, her fourth character and either third or fourth appearance as the Queen, depending on if you count 'Dark Frontier' as one or two episodes), she didn't have the sliminess of Alice Krige's original, nor enough intensity - even when she reacts to Janeway by unthinkingly thrusting out a hand with which to throttle her, gaining control before it closes round her neck, it's still quite mechanical. I felt they shouldn't have shown her talking to herself, better to hear her thoughts and express them on her face, at least when she's alone as I can imagine physical speech would be distasteful to her, but we don't get enough insight into the Queen and her manners for more than a surface level evaluation.

Even with being indoctrinated by modern Trek's aesthetics with its cinematic widescreen and oodles spent on shiny floors and high definition detail I found this episode a terrific reminder of just how beautiful and detailed Trek was in that era. It may be constrained in its boxy format, but it's expertly produced in every area and has so much more depth to its characters even in a typically action-focused season opener. New Trek would be trying to carry this kind of large scale drama every week (on its limited and limiting ten-episode schedule), but rarely does it succeed. I wouldn't say "Unimatrix Zero" Part II (as the title appears on screen - I'd never noticed before that the Part II is outside the quotes), was a solid gold example of Trek at its best, it's a functional conclusion to the big Season 6 finale, about as good as that was, but as I said, it looks excellent and it deals with a few people very well, namely Seven, Janeway and Chakotay. With only forty-five minutes (okay, forty-two to be exact), it doesn't have time to give everyone meaningful moments or even dialogue (Neelix only appears since he's apparently been given a station on the Bridge merely so we can see he's still there!), but it has just enough of those scenes: the Doctor prodding Seven about her connection to Axum, then wistfully looking at her face once she's entered regeneration; Paris coming in to Chakotay in the Ready Room, an impression of what things might be like if he was First Officer and Chakotay was Captain; Seven getting to the realisation she does care for Axum and that they'll probably never see each other again...

I've said this before since seeing 'Picard,' but it's such a joy to go back and witness how wonderful a character Seven was before she was twisted and ruined by that recent series - in this we get to see what a naturalistic, fully human Seven would be like, and Jeri Ryan's performance is subtly different, more feminine, more relaxed, but not in a hard drinking tough guy boozer way as they turned her into. It's what you'd want to see her become had the series gone longer or turned into a film series: losing much of the formality and constraint of her Borg nature, as much as I like to see that, being more honest to herself and others, less concerned with struggling with and hiding emotion, and this from someone who can't stand how openly emotional modern Trek characters often are. Here it's not a departure from the character, but a fulfilment and her interactions with Axum seemed very truthful and pleasant, far from the dark route they took the character down in 'Picard' where identity politics took over and brought a once great character crashing down - even in Season 3 when she's pulled back into line as a Starfleet officer she goes back into a more constrained attitude rather than a genuine development from her 'Voyager' days, but it just shows you can't always go back to playing a character from long ago, especially if it's been such a long time.

One character who is more of a secondary presence in this, but was also noteworthy, was B'Elanna, one of the three with Janeway and Tuvok who go through the invasive transformation into assimilation by the Borg. She's subtly altered with a vocal processor that makes her more Borg-like than the others and she's mostly in the background, but I liked when we see blunt force still works best in fighting Borg, mirroring the way Worf dealt with them in 'First Contact,' and since they're both Klingons it makes sense (more than Janeway's weedy half-elbow bump as she halfheartedly comes to be captured by Tuvok and other drones). Paris never says her name once, but we know it's her he's most concerned for. It's good to have another Klingon along for the ride, too, with Korok a worthy ally - easy to forget that Klingons were rarely seen on this series since they were so far from home space, and I liked that he comes to their aid, taking over the Sphere he's stationed on. There is a question of how that happened, whether there were a lot of other liberated drones, and how they were able to hide their rebellion from the Queen who would surely be aware if a ship went against her will, and activate its self-destruct. But at least it mitigates the issue of Voyager being able to go up against a full Borg Cube alone and still surviving, one of the weakest flaws of the story. Having the Sphere gives them a touch more credibility, but only a little.

The idea of sending three Starfleet officers in to be assimilated was itself a bit of an undermining of not just the Borg, but some great characters that have gone before: Picard had an entire episode to unravel his deep trauma of the experience (in an era when they didn't give over time for such things), and more recently Seven had been given practically the whole of Season 4 to reverse her programming, so it does seem too convenient our brave trio could so easily be converted and then saved - at the end of the episode we see B'Elanna (who really deserved a scene with Paris - a big missing piece), and Janeway are at the stage of pleasant recovery where they can drink coffee and chat, and this is only forty-eight hours after their escape. Tuvok's said to need more time since he was actually taken over by the Queen, but it looks like they're well on the way to mending. As I thought about it, while it does add yet another straw to the camel's back of Borg looking weak and ineffective after they'd previously been portrayed as the ultimate threat, I also realised this is a different scenario to what we'd seen before: it didn't have the supreme psychological torture that Picard went through as a man used to kill so many of his own people against his will, and in Seven's case she's spent most of her life as a drone before she was liberated so it would be a much bigger process to learn how to not only be human, but to be adult (hence why she seems like a teenager in so many of her early episodes). Janeway, B'Elanna and Tuvok were all fully independent adults with strong wills who weren't forced into anything. The invasive surgery was the worst part for them and it was fortunate they didn't have an eye removed or something like that, it was more physical discomfort than anything else and they were acting under their own wishes.

Tuvok is a slightly different case since he was attacked mentally, which is quite ironic considering he should have the strongest block as a Vulcan, but perhaps that also made his mind more potent a signal to the Queen and if she'd tried to control the others it would have been easier. It was also the neural suppressant failing in Tuvok's case, again perhaps because of his superior Vulcan brain cutting through it and making itself a target. It would have been nice to see the characters go through more detailed and lasting rehabilitation, but I'm sure they moved on with the next episode and never mentioned it again as that was the series' way, to its detriment. Not that we needed scene after scene of them showing pain or trouble adjusting, just an acknowledgement of the toll it took to go through such a drastic change. Something that did stand out after so many episodes of modern Trek is the easy professionalism that pervades character actions, most clear in the moment Seven shows reticence in the idea of going back in to Unimatrix Zero to update the rebels and Chakotay says if she has a problem with any of them she needs to put it aside. Not encouraging her to discuss it with him, it wasn't the time, not suggesting she could wait until she's ready, but just do it whether it's uncomfortable or not. And even better, Seven promptly agrees and gets on with it. I loved seeing that and I miss such straightforward attitudes in Trek. That, and the casual 21st Century way they talk are two of the biggest things that prevent modern Trek from succeeding for me and it's a joy to get back to the heyday when it was seen as a period piece with its own unique style and mores.

Going in to the Borg's den cuts both ways as we see Tuvok compromised and thus the Borg have Voyager's access codes which means, if they couldn't already devastate the tough little ship, now they can. But of course a hulking great Cube should have not a jot of trouble from one inferior vessel anyway, it seems the Queen was merely toying with them since she keeps threatening Janeway she'll destroy the ship, using it as bait or a potential hostage perhaps, but never simply ordering her big bad Borg boys to turn around and swat this fly! Instead Voyager can catch up with impunity, take potshots and get away. It was necessary for the story, but I do sometimes wish they were able to keep the Borg's incredible sense of power because otherwise it does belittle and demean the serious threat they were supposed to pose. Saying that, shouldn't they have had Tuvok essentially demoted from his position in order to go on this mission - change all the codes, have a subordinate who works for Tuvok take over his duties and role? The same goes for the hierarchy: Tom says he's basically First Officer, but shouldn't there actually be one nominated by the Captain, especially since they're going into such a dangerous situation! I can only assume time was of the essence, they didn't have it to sort out all these details, and Voyager is used to acting on the fly anyway since although it's a Starfleet ship they've been operating without backup for the past six years and Janeway doesn't always follow protocol to the letter - perhaps a sign of the more casual, not-quite-Starfleet situations of our current era of Trek, in embryonic form?

I hate to blame 'Voyager,' my second favourite Trek for any of the misdemeanours of the modern age, but you can trace certain things back, and even further, though sometimes it can be as minor as a precedent through so many episodes having been made that later producers and writers decide to expand on, but I can't help but notice the Starfleet crew that is actually a rebel group or not actually in Starfleet, or don't act like they're in Starfleet is a trope of modern Trek. Certainly the idea of destruction on a massive scale is something seen more regularly in modern Trek as they try to constantly up the stakes. Here, I was mixed on the Queen's horrific determination to sacrifice tens of thousands for each single rebel Borg on a ship, but it's hard to see a Borg vessel go up in flames and be sad about it when you consider the damage they do. Maybe we needed a more personal image of what was happening, like when one of the drones in the Queen's own area wakes up. Yet it still has an impact because we know these are basically innocents who could be rescued and rehabilitated - if Seven can spend her puberty, adolescence and adult life as a drone and she can be freed from it, then anyone can, that's the great message of that character, for all her struggles and backward steps, but that was the joy and fascination of watching her on the series, so seeing thousands of potential victims for recovery like her go up should have an impact.

The Queen telling Janeway to go to Unimatrix Zero as her diplomatic envoy and get the rebels to cease since they're now individuals and can be given a choice between death or servitude turns into Janeway saying the Queen won't go because she might get a taste of that individuality herself, which could have been interesting to explore, though as it is we only get that little exchange between her and the young boy when he asks, like a child would, wouldn't she like to be with her parents - we learn her parents are with her, assimilated into the Collective. It's the closest we ever come to the Borg Queen having a past and something personal other than rage against humans or cunning deviousness and I wish they could have expanded upon that, it was a nice idea for her to have that scene and always Trekky to find common ground with even the most implacable foes. Other notables were hearing a couple of facts about Tuvok as he tries to focus when under mental attack, and one is that his daughter was born in the city of T'Pol, or that was what it sounded like. Sadly, the 'Enterprise' producers weren't doing some very early setup, it was actually T'Paal, but it would have been a nice seed to throw in if it had been intentional as they'd have been in the early stages of working out what the fifth Trek series would be (for example, we know Dominic Keating was held off from a role on 'Voyager' as they wanted him for Reed). There's also the odd mention of Species 8472 from Axum who suggests he might try and contact them to see if they'd help against the Borg, but I don't see them caring in the least for petty internal differences.

The Queen rationalises Janeway's appearance in human form in their holographic communications as humans being so vain, but of course the reality was that it would save a lot of time and discomfort in makeup, both for Kate Mulgrew and for the makeup artists so it made sense, and it would have been a shame for the whole episode to have featured the Captain of the series as bald and ugly the whole time - even Tuvok mistakes her for a man from behind when he goes to nerve pinch a Borg drone! I imagine the conversation at the end when Janeway tells Seven to remind her of this day if she fails to recognise what Seven went through as a drone, could easily be the actress' comparing notes on the rigours of such extreme makeup and costume, but it sends the episode out nicely with understanding and a poignancy for Seven. I could wish for more with the rest of the cast, but it would be difficult to have many more resonant end scenes and wouldn't have been such a neat and tidy conclusion if so. It's just a pleasure to go back to when Trek was great since it's come so far away from that, and while I've been concentrating on the better examples of the current era for the last year or so, even the best of it doesn't hold up to old Trek, so although I've already done reviews for this season I felt it was worth finishing out 'Voyager' with extended versions that also reflect on the state of Trek then and now.

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