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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