Endgame (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Endgame) (2)

First, I have to apologise to 'Star Trek: Picard' - I was so sure Seven of Nine ended 'Voyager' with a smaller Borg implant above her eye and ridiculed them for not staying true to that, and then I finally get around to the end of the series again and find she has just the same large implant as the rest of the series! I must have been confusing 'Human Error,' in which we see her without implants on the Holodeck, and the operation the Doctor wants to do on her in 'Endgame' which will unspool her emotional side, as strong and visual evidence Seven was adjusting to become more human, but there isn't a visual change and I wasn't even sure the Doc had had time to perform the op - my other complaints about the 'Picard' version of Seven still stand, so I'm not about to recant and come around to the awful choices they made with her, and I will say I found her to be at her most pleasant in this episode. But enough about Seven, it isn't really about her, other than her future death acting as a catalyst for the most grievous temporal violations from a regular temporal violator. Just as she used to wryly observe the 'TOS' era would all be kicked out of Starfleet in her day for their cowboy diplomacy, I can imagine a new generation saying the same thing about her for all her failures to abide by the Temporal Prime Directive. Or did that even exist at this point, I don't remember? Either way she'd be very harshly criticised for all the incursions and alterations, and I would too if there was potential for me not to exist based on a decision she made (except those 'unborn' voices would never get a chance to accuse).

If it isn't a Seven story then it has to be a Janeway story, and here we get two for the price of one: Admiral Janeway come from the future to make sure every member of her crew makes it back to the Alpha Quadrant. Except she seems to have forgotten that risk is part of life, no one can know what the future holds, that's entirely the point - the best line came from Chakotay when he states not even an Admiral from the future can guarantee what's going to happen tomorrow, and therein lies a critical flaw with the story. A Janeway that has forgotten what she was there for, lost sight of the bigger picture and the reality of life being death and loss, and typically stubborn Janeway, refusing to accept any defeat. At least there was some kind of backlash against her with Captain Janeway and the crew acknowledging it was the journey that was most important, not the destination, an uncharacteristically wise speech from Harry saying it best. And that Janeway's decision to strand her crew in the Delta Quadrant in the first place was not the wrong one, she did what was right which often carries a sacrifice making it even harder, but no less right. But Trek is supposed to be optimistic so of course it had to end happily in spite of the nefarious ways in which they got themselves there.

I do feel quite conflicted in a lot of ways about this as a finale. You can clearly see they were trying to duplicate the weight of the time-based story of 'All Good Things...' in which we jumped between different points of 'TNG,' its beginning, its current end, and the future beyond, only not to be quite so direct about it we only have the future beyond. That in itself was good to see as it reminds us of time and the passing of such, that bittersweetness of living out life, but also knowing everything ends, the changes, the heartaches, the losses, so it was fertile ground for a Trek finale to explore, even if it doesn't do it as effectively as 'TNG' did. They also had to bring in the Borg, and specifically the Borg Queen one last time as being the closest they had to a recurring villain, one of the disadvantages of the series being that they were always moving on, making it very tricky to be able to deal with the same people for long. We see the heart of the Borg's power with one of their Transwarp Hubs, something which enables them to travel anywhere in the Galaxy within minutes - it strikes me as a rather big plot hole that they haven't showed up at Earth to assimilate it again. Or Qo'noS. Or Vulcan. Or... you get the idea. When trying to work with big ideas you're more likely to slip up, and I don't recall any excuse for why the Borg don't just sweep the entire galaxy away (as they did in an alternate universe in 'Parallels').

It was a nice touch to have Alice Krige back as the originator of the Queen, even if the setting has none of the scale or menace of the past and in fact I found all the Borg stuff to be rather small fry, other than the actual Hub itself. I'm not sure we even saw any Borg drones with the Queen. It's a nice callback, but she's hardly Dukat to Janeway's Sisko, simply a confounded enemy who is quite petty. Another nice touch was in keeping with the future uniforms seen in 'All Good Things...' and the combadge, the latter of which would be the only part of the setup to make it to the 'actual' future as seen in 'Picard.' That's the thing, we've now gone beyond all this time period, even in the future and although we know here that the future will be changed, it's still a lessening of the impact the future scenes have when seeing them now. But with Trek seemingly about to come to an end (and not before time, many would cry), with only the dribs and drabs of a couple of poor series' to come, it seems the right time to be reaching the end of one of the great and classic series', the first I watched from the very beginning to the very end, and which will always hold a special place in my affections.

Seeing it end now is a very different feeling, the abruptness of the success at the very end was always galling, but back then there was still some hope they might continue into films when 'TNG' had had its fill, but of course it wasn't allowed that, 'Voyager' never given its dues. We've since had 'Prodigy' as an animated follow-up that brought back a few characters (and across all the modern Treks the only characters not to be reprised were B'Elanna and Neelix, so that's pretty good going when you think how few 'DS9' and 'Enterprise' cast-members were allowed to return), but none of the cameos or other can give us the satisfying conclusion the series needed. And I do like this episode - the technical qualities are there to see with the two Janeways acting off each other superbly, the beauty of the Hub, the pleasure to notice little details like future Reg Barclay being so much more assured, only reverting to his nervous tics under pressure. Old Janeway showing her mettle with the Klingons is one of my favourite things - we get to see Tom and B'Elanna's daughter, Miral Paris, setting things up for Janeway with the dishonourable Korath, protective of her commander, but when it comes to it Janeway goes in alone and doesn't need her 'protection.' If anything, I wished there was more of that side of things, Korath an atypical member of the race, an inventor, but one Janeway easily bests, and not through violence, but guile.

Something the episode does well is the personal: Janeway and Janeway, Tom and B'Elanna, Harry coming to the realisation he's already lost his best mate to marriage and Fatherhood even before the baby's born - that was one of the strongest parts of the episode, Tom's vehement belief that he's already home, Voyager is their home and he's not going to be doing anything to jeopardise it, himself or his family. Chakotay and Seven is a bit strange if we didn't already know Seven had been trying holo-Chakotay on for size recently. It does almost come out of nowhere, but that's another aping of the end of 'TNG' with its Worf and Deanna direction. I'm not sure the poignancy quite works as well for me now, there isn't much of it and the episode barrels along without as much of that necessary closing out of these people and the place they'd inhabited for so long. And of course it would have been so much more affecting if we could have seen them reach home, their families, set foot on Earth, the strangeness of leaving the confines of Voyager for good - they'd been off the ship many times, but always to return before long, it would be a huge wrench to suddenly find complete freedom again.

I've never been a fan of the future technology being used (though on this occasion I noted how the crew were doing all the work out on the hull themselves because there are no drones or robot assistants in this universe, unlike what was portrayed in modern Trek), and it seems all too easy they can have this physical shield come up around the ship, or blast Borg Cubes into oblivion with single Torpedoes. It was all a little easy. Which contrasts with the toughness of the future scenes, whether it be Janeway dealing with the Klingons (good use of the cave set once more!), to her mourning of Tuvok in his presence as his degenerative disorder has taken hold (she leaves him a cast photo as a parting gift - how thoughtful!). But it was clearly wrong what she did, as heroic as it was. At the same time there were unlikely to be any ramifications for the writers to deal with since the next series, they knew, was going to be in the past, and the 'TNG' films could stand alone (and as it happened would get only one more outing), so I can see why they did it. I can imagine that Kim speech closing out the episode if they hadn't forced the trip home and that the point was they were still out there. That would have been the more 'romantic' route to take and left the possibility open for further adventures in the future, and perhaps even the return home as a big draw for a film. I don't really know what was the right way to go, it's so long past that the end of the series has little relevance in Trek for good or ill, we haven't explored the ramifications because Trek has never fully returned to the science fiction, science-based, thoughtful, canonically sound world it had been.

Melodrama, comic book unreality, fantasy and emotion are what makes Trek these days, and you can see some of the seeds of what was to come even as far back as 'Voyager.' I think for me, the entirety of Trek has become less engaging in general. Partly for no longer being in want: either for new Trek or the ability to see any episode or film any time. It's lost its specialness. Part of that is ageing, but the far larger part is the poor directions and major flaws of what it became, so different to what I grew up with and that accompanied me on the journey, to the extent that even writing reviews has lost a lot of its joy. I no longer need to get out my thoughts on Trek because it's becoming increasingly less important - it still has importance, but it's as much about the nostalgia and sentiment, grabbing back to a time that is rapidly fading away, an unreal world and life where the joys of the past almost only exist in memory. That's quite sad, but I've really reviewed all the old Treks, and other than finishing 'Lower Decks,' have no interest in writing about modern Trek because it's too dreary, uninteresting and irrelevant to me. These last two seasons of 'Voyager' were actually my second run through at reviews since I started with them and felt I needed to expand on the shorter reviews I made in those days.

But I digress... Before I go, I do want to mention a few things: Neelix gets a small scene playing Kadis-Kot with Seven, a nice touch, and the same for Icheb with Tuvok and Harry, unaccountably beating the Vulcan and Kal-Toh (all futuristic games must begin with a 'K'!). Voyager's status as a museum would be borne out in 'LD.' Chell has volunteered to take over from Neelix as master of the Mess Hall, and it's a shame we never saw that as I imagine he'd have been a bit Neelix-like (only much more sensitive towards the crew's dislike of his dishes, I imagine). The Majel Barrett computer voice was still being used in Admiral Janeway's time, at least in this alternate timeline - in that same time the Doctor decided on 'Joe' as a name, but how could a computer man marry a flesh and blood living being? They throw in all kinds of issues like this knowing they'll never have to examine the workings of them, so it's a bit of a cheat. It's claimed Chakotay was never the same after the death of his wife, Seven, but that doesn't ring true for his character who was always so philosophical and capable of adapting to any situation, as seen by how quickly he bowed to Janeway's authority as Captain, or in 'Resolutions' he was much more ready to settle on a planet and make the best of it. The Doctor suggests Seven is running more simulations with holo-Chakotay, which still strikes me as wrong (even though we know the whole crew apparently has holographic templates in the ship's database according to the previous episode!), and I'm really not keen on the Admiral's micro SD in the brain so she can connect with a neural interface. Harry made it to Captain to shut up all the complainers he was still an Ensign (even then he was worried about being busted back down to that rank!). And Tuvok quotes Spock's needs of the many, but for me it was more special to have the symmetry of a scene with his Captain in her Ready Room, like the pilot.

They close out, typically, with some old faces on board, with Vaughn Armstrong in his eighth Trek role (and fourth on 'Voyager,' soon to become a recurring face on 'Enterprise' - it's truly unbelievable that not one single modern production has used him!), as Korath. Richard Herd (also known as a Klingon on 'TNG'), returned for his fourth appearance as Admiral Paris and his final Trek role (he died in 2020). Manu Intiraymi in his eleventh and final appearance as Icheb. Alice Krige as her second and last live-action appearance as the Borg Queen. And Dwight Schultz as his twelfth time playing Reg Barclay, the sixth on 'Voyager.' As I mentioned before, it was the last time Roxann Dawson played B'Elanna Torres and Ethan Phillips played Neelix. But how would I rank 'Endgame' with the other series finales? 'DS9' would still be king, 'TNG' second. I don't know, but I think I prefer 'Enterprise' to this one now, I'd have to watch again. I've since seen a further three Trek series end (four if you count 'Prodigy,' but that was cancelled), though none of those are even in the conversation! I felt generous with my former rating for 'Endgame,' so had to mark it down, but it also marks a definite end to childhood and transition to the next stage, so for all its flaws, easier to see with the passing of time, I still retain a fondness for it and the time in life it stands for, and the series as a whole remains my second best after 'DS9,' something that will never change.

***

Renaissance Man (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Renaissance Man) (2)

What better way to close out the standard run of episodes before we get the feature-length series finale than with a Doctor story that cleverly integrates most of the characters in a 'Mission: Impossible' type of spy drama where he's wearing the 'face masks' of his friends and colleagues to save the Captain's life? I do think it's a classic of the series, completely standalone, which may or may not irk, depending on your stance on how they chose to close out the series without preamble or setup. I just think of it as a strong episode rather than a stepping stone towards the conclusion of the series and its characters, one you could watch without consideration for what went before or after - for example, Neelix' absence has no effect, it simply feels like he's on the ship, but not involved as was too often the case (he even gets a mention by the Doctor at the end which had nothing to do with his leaving, so again, if you didn't know he was gone it wouldn't be out of place at all). At the same time there are noticeable little bits of ephemera that allow a keen observer of the series to realise they're deliberately throwing in a few 'last' things - Vorik has no bearing on the story, he's just there, but it's nice that he got one more appearance. Mr. Ayala, the Maquis guy who was quite visible in the pilot as one of Chakotay's men, simply because he was quite lanky, and was seen as an extra throughout the series, generally without lines, gets a prominent position on the Bridge at Helm, and even some lines. We see a holographic emitter on the ceiling of Sickbay, which hadn't been there before, and nooks and crannies of the ship, like the upper level in Engineering or a little side cupboard behind the Doc's office. They know this is the only time they have to do such things and despite the lack of connection to the series winding down, it still gives out a slight atmosphere of that.

It's really a bottle episode, but while it's mostly the Doctor running round the ship, they also have some fun with various special effects, from his leap through the office window in Sickbay, to running up the wall and flipping over Tuvok, to a Holodeck full of Doctors, they didn't hold back and had some fun (to the extent I kept thinking of 'The Matrix' and sequels, which was only two years old at the date of this production, while the sequels had yet to arrive - in both cases the effects were less realistic seeing them nowadays, but it was the intent and use that worked). I'm not entirely sure on the tone of the episode, whether it veers too much into comedy when there's a strong undercurrent of horror and creepiness, or if it should have been even more broad (the Doctor's deathbed confession would fit plum into that category!). Right from the first scene in which the Doc sings opera while piloting the Flyer (and we also learn he's writing a paper and taking holo-photos at the same time), a sprightly, energetic pace flows throughout, while also setting the humorous style, in keeping with the Doc's personality. It could just as easily have been played more sinister from the moment 'Janeway' turns on Chakotay to hypospray him and the First Officer isn't strong enough to push 'her' arm away since it's really the Doctor in disguise and holograms have seemingly no limit to their strength as it's merely programming (although later that's called into question as the Doc grapples with the Hierarchy alien and holds him at an impasse without being able to overpower him - they must have dense muscular structure in their large potato-head bodies that test a hologram's limits).

The sets are quite murky throughout which only adds to the sense of foreboding and uncertainty, with Janeway highly suspicious right away, returning from a mission and summarily deciding the only option is to settle on an M-class world, though that creepiness is stripped away quite early when we learn the Doctor is in control of his actions, he's only trying to save his Captain's life by obeying the instructions of their captors. Again, the tone isn't sure of itself as the Hierarchy were very much comedic villains in the Ferengi vein, and while it's nice to have an established 'Voyager' species be behind the villainy (we learn they like mud baths, which was fitting!), there is some question over whether they have the cachet to cause real harm to trained Starfleet officers, especially when there's only two of them. The lead is the only true villain, the other guy was more of a tinkerer whose skills were being exploited and along with the simple desire to get some cash together in order to open a used parts shop since he loves fixing things - incidentally, although Janeway was trying to get on his side by suggesting they could purchase his entire inventory, I don't think she quite understood he wouldn't want to sell everything, he'd want to potter around in an acquired location, make a name for himself as a fixer of old parts and so on, it wasn't just the selling that interested him, but he never has a chance to respond to her offer before his boss or partner intervenes. Still, the Hierarchy would provide a suitable opponent to the Doctor, whom, for all his abilities, can still be quite naive.

We'll have to lay it down to that, that he failed to trust his friends enough to find a way to warn them about their Captain's situation. I know he was being watched all the time, everything he saw and heard was relayed back, but surely he could have found a way to alert them somehow (as with the musical clue). I rather think it was more to do with that worrying attitude he displayed at the start when saying how he used to wish he could be flesh and blood, but came to the conclusion holograms are superior. It's a concerning admission, especially because it seems to be a recurring belief among holograms - we'd seen such examples as Dejaren in 'Revulsion' who killed his entire crew because he was disgusted by organic life, and the holograms the Hirogen fought in 'Flesh and Blood' had similar beliefs about themselves. But the scene between the Doctor and Janeway is played humorously, it's just the same old pomposity we've grown to love in him, and yet I also felt there was room for exploration of that theme - to some degree you could say it was explored in the sense that the Doctor needs the help of his 'inferior' organic fellows and is unable to win out alone, as might have been the outcome if showing holographic superiority were the goal. Strangely, it's his humanity that actually betrays him because he does take it all on himself and does a good job of tricking people for some time (a bit like Data in 'Brothers' where he takes over the Enterprise, except that was overt rather than clandestine), but ultimately slips up.

If he'd been coldly logical and computer-like he may have carried it on longer, but either way he's betrayed by his manipulator. Whenever someone tells you to lower your shields you have to have a bad feeling - when the alien villain gives him that order it made me think of Kirk doing the same to Khan in 'Star Trek II' ("Here it comes"). I did wonder when they decide to send a shuttle after the aliens and the Flyer, why not use all the shuttles and pursue with an attack fleet? For that matter we don't actually know how many they have aboard and have always liked to keep it vague (unlike 'DS9' where you could just about keep track of the Runabouts' fortunes over the years, which were all named), and perhaps it wouldn't have been stealthy enough, but it is interesting that we don't see Starfleet use their shuttles like fighters - could be budgetary reasons, but I like to think it's because the shuttles aren't considered offensive weapons, like a Tricorder they're there to perform sensor scans and other non-invasive necessities, and I like that. It's not about fitting heavy weapons on and blasting enemies out of the space-lanes, although in this case they could've done with all the firepower they could muster.

There isn't all that much room for development, but even this late in the day we learn the Doctor wishes he could socialise more with the Captain, citing her dinners with Chakotay and playing Velocity with Seven (which I think we only saw once in Season 4), as signs of her behaviour with others. It makes sense for him to have an individual connection with Janeway since he is the Chief Medical Officer and you could say that even after all these years there is some unconscious bias about him, but it's more that he's very sensitive and Janeway has a lot to deal with, it's not a normal situation being stuck in the Delta Quadrant for years. Still, it ends the episode on a happy note when Janeway takes him up on his suggestion - I also like that rather than the usual dressing down he'd earned by disobeying her orders and thinking he knew best, she punishes him by denying access to his mobile emitter for a week, and as he's been reclusive in Sickbay for that time, he's already served the punishment. I do think there was something to be played with Seven in all this - it's ironic, isn't it, that she's really taken quite a back seat over the season, especially the second half and in recent episodes has been mostly background, but in this one it felt like there should be some response to the Doctor's declaration of love for her. It was done in a theatrical way while he thinks he's dying, but it was so sensitively handled in 'Someone To Watch Over Me' that I can't help feel it was not quite right to throw it out there in front of her and the others, and they were only doing it because there'd be not time for repercussions. But a scene in which she shows up in Sickbay and sets things right again would have been appropriate.

Chakotay, Tuvok and B'Elanna all benefit in this one, characters too often overlooked - we even get a shot of Torres not pregnant as a little gag since unlike other times (Season 4), or characters (Kira), she was playing pregnant, but actually wasn't so they could do that, the only time we see her that way in the season. I do have to ask why the crew have holo-templates of themselves in the first place, that seems a very strange idea. I could understand if the Doctor had tapped into the leftovers of the Maquis program or something similar, but no mention was made and it appeared they simply have templates of themselves in the ship's database. Creepy! Though necessary for the story, I suppose. Another idea that barely had any airing was how the 'R'Kaal' were anti-warp travel as they believed it damaged subspace, an issue dealt with on 'TNG,' then never mentioned again, but the rationale (non-canon I suppose, since it was never mentioned onscreen), for Voyager's Warp Nacelles angled up for warp travel was a direct answer to the problems discussed in 'Force of Nature' and this would have been the perfect time to make that canon and give insight into a key ship's system in its penultimate appearance, but at the same time the story wasn't relevant because the R'Kaal were an invention of the Doctor. It was fun to see the Warp Core eject (though I think it'd been done before), though it must have been a budgetary constraint that they fail to show a Core-less Engineering when scenes are there post-ejection - we view the angle from the Core's POV.

I considered it should be more difficult for the EMH to become the ECH, Emergency Command Hologram, than the Doctor ordering it without any authorisation from Janeway since he'd be a major security risk if anyone tampered with him, but the point of it is so that if the Captain is somehow incapacitated he can take over (even though there is a hierarchy, which is the whole point...), but then it was generally a little bit of amusement and a touch hard to take the Doctor being in command seriously (as we saw last time with Kim). The horror aspect of the Doctor going around knocking people out, impersonating them and then hiding their bodies in the Morgue (have we see that location before?), then collecting their Combadges together like trophies, could have been played up quite uncomfortably, but since we knew the Doctor was in the right it couldn't be, so that was a small flaw. Maybe it'd have been better to keep the tension and not let on what was happening until later. One thing Janeway got right was suggesting the Doctor would outlive them all, and according to 'Starfleet Academy' (the series that finally broke the back of modern Trek, and which I have yet to see), he survived a thousand years!

I suspected it wasn't Robert Picardo in the Hierarchy makeup when they give him the potato-head skin to infiltrate their own planet and use him for other nefarious criminal activities, since it was unnecessary and would take time for Picardo to get in the makeup - it's confirmed in the end credits with J.R. Quinonez noted as 'Overseer/Doctor' (who also appeared uncredited as Kol in 'The Price' on 'TNG,' apparently). It was another actor, David Sparrow, playing the R'Kaal alien the Doctor impersonated. As well as being Alexander Enberg's final appearance as Vorik the Vulcan (and indeed his last part in all of Trek), and Tarik Ergin getting a rare credit (Tactical N.D. - usually stands for Non-Dialogue, except he definitely spoke, but he usually appeared in blue, though I'm sure he also showed up in gold, so either he fulfils multiple roles in various departments, or it's a case of Mr. Leslie in 'TOS' and there's more than one of him!), we also have another returning face as Andy Milder played Nar, one of the Hierarchy aliens - he couldn't have been more unrecognisable from his previous role as Boq'ta in 'Empok Nor' from 'DS9,' the Bolian quite thin and small, while Nar was as burly as all the other potato-heads we'd seen, though they were both gentle, concerned types.

If you don't mind the uneven tone and just go with the comedy, and you're not concerned about 'wasting' a precious story on what amounts to a 'mere' bottle episode without the dignity of allowing a seven-year series to wind down, this is great fun and continued to demonstrate the quality of action and adventure they could achieve. It was clever in that while the Doctor is the focus, another character to be noted for taking more than his fair share of the limelight over the years, they found a way to make sure other characters were more involved thanks to the impersonations. For that reason I would say it stands the test of time, and even while the CGI isn't quite right at times, provided a good ensemble story to finish a season that can be maligned and in general isn't as strong as the last few (as is usually the case with final seasons). The Doctor is a ham, but he shows he can also act subtly if the stakes are high enough, and they were high for him with the protection of Janeway. Loyal to the end, a hologram is a Captain's best friend.

****

Homestead (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Homestead) (2)

I did wonder if this story would have the same power as it used to - it's been a long time since I last watched it, 'Voyager' and its conclusion has always been patchy in my mind and the series didn't always show the qualities that it was capable of, but the exit of the friendly Talaxian, Neelix, remains as sensitive and fitting as ever and is really the kicking off of the end, as late as it was, the decision having been made not to conclude with multiple episodes, bring back all the old faces, or really do anything other than show the unexpectedness of the ship's success or failure in its main mission of returning home, no one knowing until the last moment whether the drive of the series would be satisfied or left hanging. I'd love to know what it would have been like to see this episode without knowing it was Neelix' last - at the time its terrestrial premiere was first broadcast on TV in 2002 I'd been reading Star Trek Monthly for years and had become well used to knowing all about episodes before seeing them, but I can imagine for more casual viewers it would have been quite a shock to see a member of the main cast leave out of the blue, even if you were aware the series was almost at an end, and while Neelix could be something of a divisive character for many, those of us who loved his foibles and flaws, and saw his heroism and usefulness, were very sad to say goodbye, and in some ways for me this was more of a series finale than 'Endgame' which was much more concerned with sweeping action and high-concept drama, much in the way of 'All Good Things...' While the 'DS9' finale, 'What You Leave Behind,' had its share of slam-bang action, it was more notable for the sensitive handling of the characters and the sense of closure - 'Homestead' is more along those lines.

We didn't get to see much of a farewell among the crew in the series finale so perhaps that's one of the main draws for me here, but the atmosphere is also heavy with expectation of the change in Neelix' life: the next chapter of a varied existence that has thrived on moving from place to place, doing odd jobs, fitting in wherever he can. There's also a sadness about the character best summed up when he shows Dexa the Bridge and her son, Brax (brats?), asks where Neelix' station is. It's both rewarding, but also telling when Kim and Chakotay praise him as being multi-talented (the 'most versatile' member of the crew), the series essentially pointing out his mercurial nature: enough to fit any role he was given, and while his friends and crew-mates were well-intentioned, he really didn't have an essential position within the hierarchy of the crew. It makes you realise that despite being welcomed into the family of Voyager, with it also a professional organisation, that's still not quite enough, and Neelix was left with a gap in his life, not helped by the split from Kes and her subsequent exit at the beginning of Season 4. He was resourceful and he always found a new role that needed him, but if you think back to the early seasons his only other major turning point was with 'Fair Trade' when he realised his unique usefulness as guide was at an end when Voyager was leaving the territory he knew - interestingly that was another episode that featured a Talaxian, his friend Wixiban and may have been the last time he ever met a real life member of his species until this episode which once again shows a missing piece in his life that he wasn't able to commune with those that shared his culture, history and the personal things that made him: his home, his people.

Neelix was gregarious and put effort into getting to know others, he was kind, which covered a multitude of ineptitudes or mistakes and made him such a lovable character, but rarely did he get the chance to show his inner vulnerabilities, he was always putting on the brave face, always the strong, optimistic one, even while struggling to restrain his emotions and all this comes out in that one scene where he realises he doesn't really have a strong anchor tying him to Voyager any more. I'm so glad they got Naomi Wildman in the episode (I was surprised to realise this was her final appearance - you could even say it's a bit harsh in the way Neelix learns his job is pretty much done in that quarter as Naomi is so blasé) - he goes to her in his confusion or disquiet to remind himself of his responsibility on a personal level, but finds she's becoming an independent child already whom no longer needs the kind of personal care and attention he'd devoted to her. I say sadly, but this was the only thing really holding him back from embracing a new life and I feel sure that his principles were so strong that if she had still needed him as Godfather, he would have sacrificed all potential happiness and fulfilment in order that she got what she needed from him - he was just that kind of man, the biggest heart in Trek, I think it's fair to say. That understanding allowed him to reach his decision, or at least start him considering going where he was most needed and could fulfil an essential role that tied in with his own personal needs, leaving the place he'd come to call home to expand and develop, which makes it such an affecting story.

For that reason it is the closest we got to goodbyes as Neelix is pleasantly surprised and moved to find the corridors lined with the crew come to salute him off the ship. A terrific scene and I love that Neelix says not a word as if he couldn't trust himself to speak, it's such a powerful moment and nothing need be said, the others do that for him. But even earlier when he's almost sneaking off Voyager to his own ship, head down, body language suggesting a slinking, sheepish exit until he's intercepted by Janeway, it reinforces the impression that he is a bit of a man alone, not constrained by the crew's adherence to the Prime Directive, still holding onto a piece of his old life with the small ship Voyager's kept in its belly the whole trip since the pilot. He doesn't go to anyone, doesn't confide in his friends, just sees a way he can help - all thanks to Tuvok's surprise encouragement that boosts him up and helps him realise he could do more to realise his full potential. Being the self-effacing person he is, it was needed. Now there are some issues with all of this: it's a bit convenient that the Prime Directive is cited since the Talaxians aren't a pre-warp species and are dealing with a similarly warp-capable opponent in the miners so I don't see how it applies at all, I'm sure Voyager has stepped in many times when a greater force was bullying a smaller, it's purely to set up Neelix as the only man who can help the Talaxian colony, in turn giving him the importance required to develop. But again, Neelix is just as bound by the Directive as anyone else under Janeway's command, though it helps to spell out that, for example, while Tuvok might have the skill to lead them in a tactical engagement, Neelix has the understanding of the Talaxians themselves, historically a 'beaten' people.

It's a fudging and it's a grey area, but it sets up a wonderful 'Seven Samurai'/'The Magnificent Seven' (or for that matter the Andy Lau film, 'Battle of Wits'), situation with Neelix as the lone gunslinger coming in to help the surrounded villagers who need leadership to defend themselves, so I don't have a problem with it - when it comes to it Janeway gets fully involved anyway, zipping in aboard the Delta Flyer to take out the last explosive when Neelix was about to make the ultimate sacrifice of himself and his ship, stopping it with his own life, and there was something of the Han Solo manoeuvre at the end of 'Star Wars' in her sudden and unexpected appearance. But we know Janeway's interpretation of when to invoke the Prime Directive or not was one of her most unstable characteristics so again, I don't mind in the context of the story - even though I knew Neelix was going to survive to stay with the colony at the end I still felt the imminence of death when he chooses to put himself in the path of the weapon and he's all the more endearing for his choice. I think the only real problem with the episode is the lack of Samantha Wildman - if you hadn't followed the story you could easily be forgiven for assuming she'd died seasons back since she'd only made three appearances since the end of Season 2, the last in the previous season's 'Fury,' and her absence is keenly felt in such moments as Neelix realising Naomi doesn't need him any more (I could imagine seeing it on her face - reading the situation, pained she can't do anything to help him, while potentially giving him a little nudge towards his convictions to go and help those people), and especially when his friends line the corridor, her absence is surprising.

I can imagine only a select few of the crew were able to see Neelix off, the ship's operations coming first, of course (an excuse for why there are clearly not two hundred people there!), and it's easy to make a case for any absentees being unable to get away from their duties, but in Wildman's case she was so close to him that it makes no sense for her not to be there. I can see she was just one of those elements deemed unnecessary in the time they had, maybe Nancy Hower was unavailable, but either way I do wish they'd made an effort to bring her back. It could have seemed a bit out of the blue since she and the other recurring characters (even the upper tier ones like Naomi and Icheb), hadn't been used consistently, unlike 'DS9' where you had great development and closure for everyone, and even though she hadn't been showing up on a regular basis (something that made the early seasons have so much more of a family or community feel), it would have felt right to see her in a couple of scenes as we can imagine her being around even when we don't see her. But the series had moved on from a lot of the things that made it what it was, as all series' do change over time so I can't judge too harshly, especially as this was such a strong episode to showcase Neelix, whether it be that sense of isolation of a man out of his culture, or someone willing to stand up for others: probably his strongest moment is when he stands in front of Brax when the miners are going to punish him for throwing a rock at their leader, Neelix pushed aside by one of the Cardassian-like aliens only for the Talaxian to use all his training from Voyager (right down to the famous Starfleet double-fisted hammer punch possibly created by Captain Kirk!), take him down and disarm him, the aliens surprised that one of these pacifist aliens would stand up to them.

That's the message of the story, all about violence not being the answer, but also the necessity to be bold and stand up for yourself or your family even if the consequences can be at high cost (as Dexa's husband found out at a previous colony). In this regard Neelix is exemplary, though his own sense of being inferior to the intelligence and skill of his Starfleet friends is what held him back from realising his full potential as someone who is diplomatic (like Janeway), tactical (like Tuvok), with the sense of when to act offensively or not (like Chakotay). It's pleasing to see all these qualities he's learned or unearthed through his time on Voyager and most gratifying for it to be Tuvok who inspires him. It's quite ironic it should be the Vulcan who suggests an emotional attachment to their colony could be an asset in getting them to defend themselves, but then Mr. Vulcan makes a few un-Vulcan moves in this episode: he claims that some of Neelix' tendencies can be annoying, but surely Vulcans are in control of whether they allow annoyance to annoy them. Similarly, he claims Vulcans do not experience fear - is this an example of the old issue of 'Vulcans never lie,' except they do if it's convenient or logical to do so? I like the idea that Vulcans can so bury such things as fear that they essentially don't experience it, one of the things I love most about the race which has sadly been lost in modern depictions (or I should say post-'Voyager' depictions!). More than anything it's his compliment that Neelix is perhaps (still with the typical Vulcan qualification in the sentence, you've got to have that!), the most resourceful individual he'd ever known, and 'more than capable.'

I'd have liked more information on how this group of Talaxians came to be so far from the homeworld since we know Dexa lived there at some point and shares Neelix' preferences about it, but she didn't look that old (difficult to tell alien ages, of course), so they must have made the journey, staying in various places, in a few years - but we know Voyager has travelled thousands of lightyears from that area of space, mainly thanks to bonuses like Kes pushing them along, so it's hard to get the idea of how they could end up so far out. All we hear is that they were a caravan of ships (again, if they were stopping at other planets to build a life why didn't they dismantle the ships there for whatever colony they made, or did they have to reassemble them to move on, like American Indians and their teepees?), and had bad experiences with aliens that have made them suspicious and slow to trust outsiders. It was fun to imagine there could be others out there called Neelix, as Dexa says her Uncle had the same name, but it also brings home a sense of homeliness for him: people that know the significance of names or places and share his experiences. He'd kept a bottle of some Talaxian beverage for fifteen years and opens it for Dexa (symbolic of opening himself up to her, maybe?), which is surprising when you think how close he was to Kes that he never shared it with her - you'd think he'd have cracked it open in 'Caretaker' after saving her to celebrate joining Voyager (perhaps she was too young to drink - she was only a one-year-old then, and Neelix was more going along with Kes who was enthused by Voyager and its mission - he'd have been happy enough to fly off into the sunset with her instead!).

Something else the episode did well was to remind us of history: the state of Neelix' homeworld, Talax, still controlled by their enemies, the Haakonians, was a stark reminder of this race being forced to live nomadic lives if they want to be free, a tragic part of Neelix' existence that rarely, if ever, got spoken about. The Talaxians are a little bit like the Jews in that regard and so this colony mirrors their home situation (so it's interesting the aliens were very Cardassian in style and attitude since that race appeared heavily influenced by the Nazis with the Bajorans as the Jews in that case). Had 'Voyager' returned in some way (and now hopes of ever seeing a revival other than the semi-return of 'Prodigy' are just about extinguished), it would have been fascinating to be able to see the Talaxians return home and live in their promised land in freedom once again, but more than likely if 'Voyager' had made a film it would have been generic action featuring the Borg, I expect! I was surprised the miners weren't furious at Voyager getting involved in helping the Talaxians, but perhaps they realised their mining ships were no match for the plucky Federation starship - may even have been why they agreed to a meeting on Voyager in the first place. They certainly came across badly, but at the same time they weren't entirely devoid of reason, they were more like the Ferengi or the Malon, intent on their own self-interest and the pressure of their society's needs rather than out-and-out villains as the Cardassians tended to be portrayed (I did like the silvery-grey chessboard square design of their makeup though I feel we'd seen it before).

Levar Burton's last role as Director on the series was a good one for him, though he'd be back the following season for 'Enterprise,' this being his third episode of the final season after 'Nightingale' and 'Q2,' 'Homestead' by far the best of the three. I can imagine they didn't have a whole lot of money at this point in the season as they were gearing up for the big finale, but they sold the idea of this asteroid colony very well, presumably that's the age-old cave set, yet that never occurred to me once while watching as it was so well disguised with all kinds of equipment and mechanical structure. The effects were pretty good - the Flyer's crash-landing on the asteroid wasn't nearly as spectacular as Burton's 'Timeless' where Voyager crashed on the ice planet, but it was more than functional, and seeing Neelix' ship one last time was a pleasant reminder of how the series started for him as it's been rare to glimpse it through the series even though they chose to keep it in storage which always seemed a little unlikely considering how little space (and how many shuttlecraft!), they had aboard. But the asteroid field worked well as it always does to see such a variety of shapes to break up the blackness of space and give us a better sense of scale and position when space is usually mostly empty and... spacious!

What I found most entertaining was the idea that First Contact Day (celebrating the 315th anniversary here), is an invention of Neelix! At least that was the impression I was left with when Tuvok says the ceremony was entirely an invention of Neelix, though it would be just as easy to say he was referring to the need for a Vulcan to say the first words spoken by a Vulcan to humans at first contact. But I just like the idea the whole thing was Neelix' to boost morale for the wayward ship - it's also such a nice way of connecting this series, so far from home and all they held dear, to the wider Trek universe by referencing the key history of Zefram Cochrane and First Contact with the Vulcans, the former of which dated back to 'TOS,' the latter depicted in the most recent film but one ('Insurrection' taking the title of most recent, released during Season 5). It was always a good, strong link to bring in, ramped up even further with 'Enterprise' (where they actually brought Cochrane himself in briefly), and much, much later, 'Lower Decks' (a ridiculous, but amusing First Contact theme park complete with holo-Cochrane), a character running through the entirety of Trek like a name through a stick of rock that helps to bind the Universe together (until it was so badly messed around with in recent productions - couldn't miss a swipe, could I?). It was also a chance to show Mr. Neelix at his best: as morale officer, the host of a party, and an excuse to get the main cast together since most of them don't actually have meaningful scenes with Neelix, so at least they're in the same room.

Perhaps we are missing scenes shared with Neelix between such people as Seven or Tom Paris who loomed large in his life aboard the ship, but then they needed to emphasise the loneliness of being away from his own kind in order for the story to fit. Ethan Phillips always (well, after the first two or three seasons), played his character with a hint of sadness or pain behind the eyes, I don't know whether this was planned or just a reaction to the difficult makeup he had to endure for so long, but it added so much depth to the character and the mark of a great episode is that it can make you look again and reappraise a character and a performance and this one certainly does that: it brings out so much of what made Neelix a terrific character, and even those who felt he was the Jar Jar Binks of Trek (another hated character I love!), must surely buy into this finale for him as both fitting finale and showcase for Phillips. It's only sad he wasn't given more of this calibre in the latter seasons, too often relegated to minor appearances as if they, like the Captain, could never quite find a definitive role for him. It's really very moving that Janeway makes it so easy for Neelix to leave - she immediately cottons on to his drift about joining the colony and even holds open the door that it's a position she wants him to hold as Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant. It's just words in terms of making him feel he's not abandoning his duties, because when you think about it, had the series and mission continued for more seasons, Neelix would have left a gaping hole in the Mess Hall and in the lives of so many of his shipmates that it would have been painful not to have this cheery, upbeat, heart-on-his-sleeve jack-of-all-trades, master of fun along any more and it's only thanks to the series ending we can take it.

It wouldn't be Neelix' final appearance, he'd stay in comm-range as long as possible, but for the character as a regular member of the crew, it was over. The episode benefits from some Trek guest stars to shore it up even further: I recognised Julianne Christie's voice as Dexa, but it wasn't until the end I made the connection with Xyrillian Ah'Len, in 'Enterprise' (when Brax asks what a Holodeck is Dexa should have turned round and said 'we invented it, dear'!), which she'd have performed the following season, though no other Trek roles to her name. I loved how real she played Dexa, you can tell she's pained by living without her husband and sees in Neelix many of the good qualities he exhibits, but she's not overt about anything, she's very restrained, appreciating his help, disappointed in him when he can't help them, there's so much subtext which you don't get in modern Trek when everything is so on the nose and simplistic because people act so unguardedly and don't restrain themselves. There are also some returning faces from past 'Voyager' with Christian R. Conrad as 'Miner' (one of), most recognisable as villain Henry Starling's henchman, Dunbar, in the 'Future's End' two-parter, and John Kenton Shull as Nocona, leader of the miners, who dated back to Season 3's 'Basics, Part II' as the Hanon medicine man, but had most recently portrayed a Klingon in previous season's 'Barge of The Dead,' (among other Trek roles in 'TNG' and 'DS9'). Lastly, Rob LaBelle completed his trilogy of 'Voyager' roles (and his only ones in Trek), with Oxilon, the Talaxian leader - he'd played another Talaxian in Season 1's 'Faces' and another role in 'False Profits,' though more recognisable to me for a recurring role on 'Smallville.' A nice cadre of Trek names with which to usher Neelix out of the series. Three cheers for Neelix, perhaps the most underrated character (and maybe actor, too), in Trek history: hurrah!

****

Natural Law (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Natural Law) (2)

The final scene between Chakotay and Seven in the Cargo Bay is really like any final scene from the series: the two people who've just gone through an experience together reflect on it in some way, mutual understanding results. But it's the only mildest hint in the episode of the direction the pair were heading in, and that's probably the most surprising thing about the episode when you know how they end up at the conclusion of the series. You could say the shared experience, coupled with Seven's already seen interest in the Commander (to the audience), in 'Human Error,' as out of the blue as it was, is what jogged things along after this, but I was somehow heartened to see there was some kind of development rather than the impression of instant change in their affiliation that I tend to think of. That said, this is hardly the most important outcome of the episode, nor is it played up at all, it's most definitely a subtle alteration. The big issue is that of the treatment of primitive natives, and strangely it's left far too late to give it any really strong examination. I often think of this as one of the weaker instalments of the season, and the season as one of the weaker of the series, perhaps because there's very little development for the characters or addition to the lore when they should have been going out big, bringing back recurring characters, showing the community that was missing on screen (slightly mitigated by Carey popping up in the previous episode and the Bolian Chell getting a reference here), and increasing the connection with home that would become so crucial at the very end.

Instead, this could just as easily be a Season 1 story: a couple of characters trapped on an alien world with something of the Prime Directive issues at play, while the B-story features Tom Paris having to learn diplomacy when he makes a minor traffic violation in alien space and is forced to go through a pilot training scheme. As amusing as it is (and his friends clearly have a whale of a time ribbing him about it in one of the few scenes showing multiple characters on Voyager), it doesn't really have much bite to it, Paris is hardly going to become Mr. Humble, so the story doesn't go anywhere other than giving us the enjoyment and/or dismay of seeing him failing to navigate this crusty old test instructor. It's thrilling when he's called back to reality when Janeway orders him to beam out the 'invading' Ledosians from the Ventu safe haven, and pulls off some piloting excellence to do it, but it also undermines the lesson of his story, which would be that to comply with their own values Starfleet sometimes has to be humble and accept the rules imposed by alien cultures - instead, once it becomes inconvenient Paris is off the hook and can go back to boy racer in the cause of the greater good! Satisfying, but not entirely in keeping with the Starfleet ethos on display. At the same time the Ledosians didn't exactly give them much choice, turning hostile and attacking, so their rules were no longer the issue when they're behaving in a warlike manner.

The episode was far too much taken up with the minor adventures of Chakotay, and especially Seven, on the planet's surface - not in the sense that this wasn't of interest, but if you're going to introduce a strong moral component into the story, waiting for the last few minutes doesn't allow for much latitude of exploration! I enjoyed the pair of them together, it's a setup we didn't often see, and as the series wound down it makes you long for more of that kind of thing that they should have been doing throughout the series, but suffered when the series 'opened up' and tended more toward bigger action stories rather than the more intimate two or three character situations of the early seasons. In those days you needed such situations to explore these new characters and get to know them, but I don't feel they've been explored as much as they should have been across the entire series. Therefore it's a difficult quandary, as I want these kinds of stories, yet this one doesn't really go anywhere and so appears insubstantial as a result, being neither an in-depth character piece where we learn new things about our people, nor a serious social commentary, and suffers in both cases.

The real meat was the idea of an alien race forcing a segregation between a more advanced culture that was fighting a more primitive one. We never learn who these aliens were, though not advanced enough to defy the Borg as it's suggested they may have been assimilated (which is the reason Seven knows how she might deal with the unique forcefield preventing all entry and exit into Ventu territory), and it recalled a sci-fi book I once read about a tribal culture, Mayans or Inca, something like that, who were preserved on an asteroid. It's a fascinating idea, the preservation of a culture, but at the same time it throws up questions of whether it's right to 'protect' something at the expense of the people within it - for example, it may be that these Ventu were expert healers, but what of things they couldn't heal? If no one 'interfered' and helped them to develop in education and knowledge, they could die out. I suppose that would be considered acceptable as 'the natural order,' but while knowledge can (and often does), bring more trouble, even destruction, we have to remember that we're seeing this idea from within our own culture so we're no better to judge than the aliens who performed the segregation. I suppose Starfleet's general idea is to avoid getting involved because they could just as easily mess things up and make their lives worse, as better, and if they make it to warp level then fair enough (again, even that point of view is flawed when you realise warp travel isn't the final development that makes humans perfect, it's just an arbitrary cutoff point for convenience!).

Clearly in this case the Ledosians, while they gave the impression that they'd learned from the past and regretted what they'd done (and I'm sure it wasn't all one-sided, even then - no culture is immune from 'human' nature, after all), it was really only because they couldn't get into the territory and as soon as they have the slightest inkling of a chance they charge in and plan on carving it up or whatever, no doubt lucrative minerals, oil, or whatever resources are of value to them, could be in abundance, and even if it's unknown, the potential is there! So we see that high ideals don't necessarily last longer than the forceful implementation of them, which is maybe a more truthful moral of the story than the slightly vague idea of non-interference. But again, why leave it so late to approach the topic - there was even the obvious parallel of Chakotay's own culture's history on Earth. They could have tied in the Sky Spirits and how this alien species affected his ancestors, or at the very least shown his consideration of the parallels, but the closest we get to that is Janeway's oblique reference to Earth having it's own, similar problems. I will say that if there were two people most suited to being stranded with, it would be Chakotay and Seven. On his side, he's always been remarkably patient and adaptable to such situations - I think of 'Basics' or 'Resolutions.' Maybe he's too quick to accept the new reality, but it also shows he'll happily keep living, content wherever he is. Seven is the opposite, on her side intent on using every technological solution possible to extricate them from their prison, but slow to accept the natives.

Together then, they made an excellent team and I enjoyed their simple interactions. Perhaps drama was missing, ire and two different points of view contesting with each other, as in O'Brien and Bashir when they were trapped in 'Hippocratic Oath,' but it made for a gentler experience. I'm not quite sure how Chakotay sustained his serious leg injury unless part of the shuttle hit him just as they beamed away, but we didn't see that, he's just suddenly injured. I'm not sure it would have made all that much difference if he'd been in perfect health, except it adds a little more danger to Seven's position when she's forced to search for shuttle parts alone, in turn learning to depend on her young native friend, and of course they might never have come into contact with these natives in the first place. After a night out in the wilds Seven gradually becomes more and more dishevelled, eventually looking like her future self from 'Picard' - fortunately she doesn't talk or act like that unpleasant future version! It was actually quite nice to see them using one of the shuttlecraft since the Delta Flyer was so often the craft of choice in these latter seasons (but of course they had other plans for that and needed to shatter this vessel, too). You might think the natives being impressed by Chakotay's facial tattoo was surprising and wouldn't make much difference, but you have to remember it's a new symbol to them, and in such a simple culture would be a major dramatic difference in their lives.

Both Chakotay and Paris seemed to hark back to the early days, with the latter presenting a bit of a maverick attitude in the face of all these rules and regulations, while when the Impulse engines go offline above the planet, Chakotay orders Seven to go to warp, when surely you can't do that in a planetary atmosphere, so it seemed a bit of a Maquis course of action. But it was a good Starfleet trick to punch through the barrier with Phasers in order to beam through the hole as the shuttle exploded! They must have saved a packet on the actors as the Ventu never speak which presumably means they only get paid as extras despite having that interesting gestural language (although a couple of them were given titles). It means they can have a few other speaking guest stars, I suppose, including one of my favourite names: Ivar Brogger (he'd also appeared before as one of the former Borg drones in 'Unity'). Neil Vipond was also good as Tom's instructor, Kleg - he'd previously played Darok, the old manservant of Martok in 'Once More Unto The Breach,' a very memorable performance, so it's nice to see he had another Trek role in him. Ultimately the episode isn't bad, it has nice sets or location work (so good it was difficult to distinguish), but is almost a placeholder story, a slot that could have made better use of the impending closure of the series.

**

Friendship One (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Friendship One) (2)

The ideal mix of a moral quandary, a tense situation, and character and general history provide a standout for Voyager's first official assignment in seven years. And it doesn't get any easier knowing they're doing this on behalf of Starfleet rather than their own survival. Of course the Carey in the room is bringing back an established recurring character only to kill him off so unceremoniously! It underlined the danger of the situation with this unstable alien leader who may or may not have been mentally affected by radiation, but who was most certainly emotionally affected by his and his people's situation to the point of complete distrust and expectation of betrayal. I was surprised to see Carey was only in a handful of Season 1 episodes (most famously having B'Elanna break his nose in almost an actual physical vying for the post of Chief Engineer - at least that didn't happen in his final appearance, though I'm sure he'd have wished he could have gotten off so lightly), then showed up once in each season from 5 to now 7. He was a casualty of the series' attempt to be different to 'DS9' when, in fact, dealing with regular faces on an ongoing basis would have made the most sense and provided a much stronger ship-wide community and continuity (I wonder if anyone's actually gone through the whole series and counted off every Starfleet extra and named crewman to see whether they were accurate in their supposed 200-odd crew roster!). They did that a fair amount in the first couple of seasons, but gradually got away from it, perhaps too much of a headache to juggle so many characters when they really wanted to make more sci-fi-focused stories than character-based.

Yet they weren't above bringing back an old face once in a while, which only makes it odder that they weren't willing to build up the crew community. But I'll take it, if that's the only way we get someone like Carey back. I'm not sure if we knew he was married, nor is it clear from this episode if his wife was aboard, except that there'd have to be a scene where Janeway goes to tell her what's happened to her husband, so unless that's yet another example of not showing the community, it would be confirmation that as far as she'd been concerned for several years she'd lost Joe when Voyager was sucked into the Delta Quadrant. Painful that it's just now, near the end (even though the characters don't know it's the end, but they've reached some kind of end with regular contact with Starfleet), now is when Carey is lost. It wasn't even a great last role for him, he's just there, along for the ride. It could have been any of the engineering staff, but it's a little gift for longterm viewers to be rewarded, if a bit of a double-edged reward! Even the final scene, presumably in Carey's Quarters where he'd been working on a model Voyager in a bottle (would you really need to work on it inside the bottle in the age of Transporters - authenticity, I suppose, although didn't they usually have masts that folded down and would spring back up when the ship was pushed down the neck!), isn't so much about Carey as it is the Captain and Chakotay musing on the trouble caused, whether to a civilisation or an individual.

Still, I appreciated the sense of continuity and harking back to the series' past, and Carey was far from being the only example of that: the whole premise is about a probe that was launched in 2067, only four years after Zefram Cochrane's first warp flight which itself was an example of technology bringing about a new era of improvement to living conditions and first contact with the Vulcans, so you can completely understand the desire to reach out to other species as the Vulcans did to them, a spirit of eager cooperation and hopefulness that sadly backfired in the case of this particular race. It might be a little hard to believe that this probe would have survived in space for so long, and apparently they were still tracking it up till one hundred and thirty years ago, which would be the early part of the 23rd Century. And somehow they were tracking it in the Delta Quadrant when they wouldn't have been able to 'see' that far out, nor would they have coordinates since there'd be no frame of reference beyond known space, and if it had got that far, how would it be in the same area over a century later... As you can see there are a lot of problems with the entire premise, and yet that doesn't bother me when it's written so beautifully and is such a sharp reminder of Prime Directive issues, while also showing the goodness and rightness of our heroes. They continue to do right by these people despite the cold reception, hostility, even coldblooded murder - when they attempt to set the atmosphere right, even at this critical moment they're threatened with the unused missiles of this world, the leader happy to blast them out of the sky rather than trust what they're doing is for his people's good.

At the same time I can see his point of view: if you've lived with a terrible, devastating affliction that you believe was caused by outsiders, it would take a lot to get past that hate and distrust - even curing the baby and sending it back could be viewed as a trick to lure them into complacency so they can be completely destroyed. The key was that although Verin had kept them alive for so long, survival was no longer enough - he was like a wartime leader in a time when peace had come, in much the same way Winston Churchill so ably led the country in the crisis of World War II, yet after the war was ousted. Everything and everyone has their time and it's about recognising that, a fascinating side issue of the episode. Janeway, too, is really put through it, characteristically more than willing to help, despite the overt enmity of those she's dealing with, until their response of killing Carey hardens her towards them. It takes an impassioned plea from Tom and Neelix, as former eyes on the ground, to give these people one last chance - and they were there and saw Carey executed in front of their eyes. But they also saw the pain in the eyes of their captors, the squalid, hopeless existence they were forced to endure. As the Doctor and Seven (once again donating nanoprobes from her own bloodstream), gradually heal Otrin, the stowaway from the Flyer and we see his face lose the horrible mottled bumps of the radiation poisoning (reminding me of the Vidiians in its visual repulsiveness), so the rift between the two peoples is also healed, Tom and Neelix both trying to connect to their captors in different ways.

For Neelix it was a harsh reminder of his own traumatic past, recalling the destruction of his home planet by the Metreon Cascade, but of course Verin, while expressing a cold regret that he had to lose his family, still doesn't sympathise or empathise and warns him not to compare their lives. It's so good to be reminded of Neelix' past, not to mention him taking on his self-appointed role of Ambassador again. His roles have so often been whatever was needed at the time, he's always striven to fit in to whatever mould Voyager needed, but he's also learned a lot and his compassion always shines through so it was a pleasure to see that side of him again. Tom as Nurse is also something that tended to fall by the wayside for much of the series, so again, its good to get that aspect of his character again as he does what he can to save the alien baby - really good model of one, too! In fact, everything worked: the sets, whether the familiar caves or the snowstorm-whipped outdoors (somehow reminding me of the Skedar planet from 'Perfect Dark' - must have been all that black metal and snow!), the CGI enhancements, even the use of those great EVA suits, all gave the episode a quality and a reality that shows how far Trek's production values had come (and would only continue with the next series).

The best thing about it, though, was the decision to repay evil with good, a very Biblical response to what are essentially enemies - the crew had no real responsibility to these people, even as representatives of Starfleet: as they mentioned, the probe was launched pre-Starfleet (which I take retroactively as a nice reference to 'Enterprise' - I know that wasn't the intention, I doubt the episode's writers, Michael Taylor and Bryan Fuller, even knew what the next series would be, even though it would have been in development at that time!), and humans can't be held responsible for the actions of their ancestors, no matter what terrible things they may have done. I grant that it's expected these aliens would suspect and distrust the descendants of those they blame for devastating their planet, but it wasn't their fault and they had no obligations to them other than their own sense of fairness and justice. That Janeway does the good deed at risk to her own ship only shows the strong moral core of her character and the Starfleet she represents (far from the one depicted, for the most part, in modern Trek). Even before Carey's senseless murder she's clear that she wants to keep all options open as a good Captain would (there's even a tidy comparison by the Admiral at the beginning to James Kirk when he says she's made more first contacts than anyone since him, another nice little Trekference to add to the canvas of this episode's use of canon), negotiating, warning, and eventually making use of her great Tactical Officer, Mr. Tuvok, in a clever ruse to gain access to the caves - I thought it was out of character for the Vulcan to so easily be captured, but he was only 'caught' by the Doctor, as someone who could withstand the radiation. Clever! Except that there was no guarantee the Doctor would be the one sent to take him back, nor that he wasn't asked for some kind of code to gain entrance past the guards...

Once again intelligence is valued over force and only makes our characters more inspiring. Mind you, it was much-needed tactics or they'd have had three years of ferrying these aliens to the closest M-class planet, which would take us to Season 10 (aha, a way to extend the series!), though I don't imagine it would have necessarily made the best TV to have three seasons of that... I felt there were some other good messages in the episode, too, with B'Elanna adamant she wasn't going to be treated like an invalid during her pregnancy, while Tom brought her up short, reminding her of the toxic atmosphere down on the planet and that she's breathing for two. In other words her responsibility to herself and their child inside come first above any feelings of pride and the need to feel useful. And who knows, maybe she'd have been the one to be killed if she'd gone instead of Carey, a stark potential reality to think of. (There's an impression B'Elanna's changed by the fact Chakotay bets with Neelix that she'll get her way, obviously the Torres he knew, a nice touch to show Motherhood does alter perceptions and behaviour). Unfortunately Paris lets things down a bit by later saying something about Fatherhood tends to regress the male psyche by a few thousand years, but he meant well and really only meant they become over-protective.

There was also a little reminder that science, for all its uses (much like logic), shouldn't be the be-all and end-all when Otrin states he's a scientist so he believes what he sees when they're trying to convince him they aren't responsible for what happened to his world, nor was it the intention of their ancestors - and they're right. It may have been unwise to send out this information on antimatter, but it was still up to the aliens how they used it. It also shows that knowledge in itself isn't always empowering, sometimes it can be destructive, and wisdom is required. Saying that, I thought it a bit reckless for the Away Team to pick up the child's musical toy when it could just as easily have been a bomb or grenade (I know they scanned it with their Tricorders, but even so, you never know if something's shielded, as was the case with the life-signs), not to mention they later give it to the little girl, and as Verin said, it could be a weapon! There was also the implication from the aliens who originally encountered Friendship One that they didn't know what music was since they seemed not to understand what it was that was playing. If that was the case then how could they have any technology at all since they'd need to have mastered mathematics which in turn is extremely connected to music! It could simply be they were referring to the musical piece itself, or the general idea of this probe, but it stood out to me.

We have some interesting Trek names in the guest cast, for example a rare connection to one of the modern Trek films (can we still call them modern when it's a decade since the last one?), as Yun was played by Ashley Edner who had a role in 'Star Trek Beyond' (Natalia, whoever she was). I presume Yun was the little girl. We also have a previous guest star back from this series: Admiral Hendricks (whom I didn't think much of while watching, a bit too 'soft,' but I enjoy the connection now I know it), was played by Peter Dennis who'd had a more visible role as Sir Isaac Newton in 'Death Wish.' Then there were a couple of people who'd been in 'DS9,' with John Prosky as scientist Otrin, previously Brathaw in 'For The Cause' (don't recall the character - interestingly his episode was only two episodes away from 'The Quickening,' another episode about a race blighted by illness that our people get involved with fixing), and Bari Hochwald who played Bashir's rival, Dr. Elizabeth Lense in 'Explorers' (Brin must have been the alien woman who gave birth, not that you'd recognise Bari under all that ugly makeup - always remembered the actress' name as quite memorable!), and would go on to appear in 'Enterprise' ('Marauders'), while John Rosenfeld, here credited as 'Technician #1' (must have been the male scientist who discovers the probe at the start), would also go to 'Enterprise' ('Silent Enemy'), so a nice selection of Trek connections that only enhance my enjoyment of what is a pretty strong and affecting story all round that helps to round out the series' history and gives a taste of what the series may have been with the conventional Starfleet hierarchy in place.

***

Author, Author (2)

 DVD, Voyager S7 (Author, Author) (2)

A fun dance across genres, this was one of the last Doctor-centric stories of the series, so it's fitting that it has both comedic and dramatic elements worthy of such a standout character. They were realising at this point the end was nigh and there were certain plot threads to do with this disparate crew's personal circumstances on an individual level that pointed to the ramifications of their eventual destination at journey's end: some, such as the Maquis were no longer going to be an issue or Starfleet would have brought it up in their occasional communications with Voyager, but others had more pressing issues: the Doctor was merely an advanced hologram Starfleet's eyes, Seven's only connection to Earth was a lost childhood, and Neelix wasn't even from that region of space, and to a lesser or greater extent all these are explored here. It's always been difficult not to look at the series in the light of how 'DS9' finished out its run with a huge ten-part story to wrap up the many plots and arcs, and while some parts of that were questionable or didn't quite work (Dukat/Winn, Ezri/Worf, for examples), on the whole it did justice to what was the most complex and satisfying Trek series ever made. With 'Voyager' they tended to react to the shadow of 'DS9' by trying to do the opposite, and while I'm not going to get into the series finale here, it's nice to see they didn't entirely drop the ball on the story-lode of potential, even if perhaps they were introducing solid developments a little too late to be able to capitalise on them.

The major change for Trek's universe is quite clearly the idea that holograms could be classed as people in much the same way as Data drove forward the issue of whether he could be considered life and had personhood (a deep cut reference to 'The Measure of A Man' comes with the Doc's publisher saying he could be the next K'Ratak, a Klingon author first mentioned in that episode!). The situations aren't quite the same because although both androids and holograms were designed to be tools, something humans could use for their benefit, the former was designed with the plan of developing innate desires to become more like his creator, while the latter was a computer program. The line between recreational holograms and their status as sentient life had been blurred for some time thanks to the Doctor, but he was existing in a pocket of the universe and not having any effect on wider society, and though 'DS9' had also played with the issue thanks to Vic Fontaine, who knew his own limitations and had no wish to exceed them, there was no serious attempt to examine what the essence of holographic life was and they'd remained tools perhaps due to the ease of creation - you can make endless numbers of holograms, there isn't actual physical manufacturing involved, it's all much more ethereal and the use were mainly for fictional creations rather than beings that would learn and grow. Of course any hologram could have that potential, just as any mechanical device could be developed further, but the spark of life has to be more than mere data (no offence, Data!). The Doctor was unique because he'd been allowed so much latitude (eventually), had the benefit of technology from the far future, and the necessity to develop rapidly for the survival of the crew more than himself.

All this is just skirting the issue, I don't think holograms would have become generally sentient or why have them at all, there has to be a reason for their existence in the same way animals bred for food would have little purpose without that end goal. At the same time it did throw up all kinds of questions about the future of the 24th Century and what it would be like, one reason why I always hoped for more Trek post-'Voyager,' and had to make do with jumping back in the timeline for 'Enterprise' (as much as it was pleasing to have the 22nd Century fleshed out), and reboots/prequels the only successor until the coming of the questionable 'Picard,' which pretty much ignored any interesting in-universe plot threads and continued on with its galaxy-destroying serial of the year as pioneered by the weak 'Discovery.' I notice even 'Lower Decks,' set only a few years after 'Voyager,' almost never shows any holographic crew, I can't even remember an EMH aboard. Does this mean Starfleet pulled back from developing such useful tools due to the Doctor, or is it simply the case the writers didn't know what to do with the idea and decided to leave it alone? Thanks to 'DS9' and 'Voyager' you'd have expected holographic assistants to have become more prevalent as the technology improved, but there's not really much to be gained by looking for answers in modern Trek, for all its pretty effects it's often largely quite vacuous and the opposite of satisfying intellectual exploration of ideas.

I couldn't help but think of the state of Trek then and now in the Doctor's line about how his holoprogram exploring the life of a hologram aboard a starship was a serious attempt at social commentary, while Paris' parody of his work was an 'insulting farce,' because that really does sum up the situation very well! But enough about Trek as it is (despite the Doctor being the last old-Trek regular to join a modern series in 'Starfleet Academy'), let's enjoy what it was and should have continued being! It is a delight to see the Doc back to his insensitive ways as he always used to be, and it makes another pertinent point that resonates with today: not just the rise of artificial intelligence and what that might mean for humanity, but the victim culture we're all encouraged to subscribe to. In this case the Doctor expresses feelings of being hard done by through his literary outlet, whether it be the limitations of his life or dismissing the great gift that he should never have had for its damage to the timeline in the mobile emitter (think of how much he's done thanks to that - how could he possibly not have altered the timeline since it wasn't supposed to be invented until the 29th Century!), a boon he's presenting as a burden, the constant reminder of being different - it's all a matter of perspective, and in our modern culture where we have so much that we're constantly ungrateful for, as opposed to poorer parts of the world where people appreciate the little they have, it really shows where modern society has gone, the example of the Doctor's ingratitude only increasing.

Rather than celebrating the fact he exists at all, and that he was allowed to progress into sentience when at the start he was merely an emergency addition, he chooses to focus on the negative side of things, and that's not usually the Trek way, perhaps a hint of the darker path it was to tread in the 21st Century productions (I know, technically it's already being made in the 21st Century, but I'll always think of the series as being of the 90s). You can see they're trying to draw parallels with slavery and oppression, but it's not wise to be putting your idealistic futuristic heroes in the shade unless you really are making the point that even 24th Century humans aren't actually the 'evolved' beings Roddenberry wanted them to be, and accepting that even in fiction we can't really paint humanity as being Good. In one sense I'm fine with that, because I believe we're fallen beings, not an ever-improving group of animals that have somehow got to the level of 'civilised' and are only going to get better. Human nature doesn't change. The difference is that I view Trek as escapist drama, not that I believe in its reality as a signpost of our actual future (for the best in some ways: World War III is due this century...), so while I'm open to seeing individuals grow and change, overcoming prejudices or whatever, I wouldn't want the world to be considered inherently wrong in itself, as it would if holograms really were slaves. The stark difference is that humans were there already, while holograms were designed to be an addition.

There might be a case to answer for the humaneness of allowing holograms to develop as Doc and Vic had, but then they were special cases rather than what all holograms were designed to be. The shot at the end with all the Mark I EMHs (Emerging Menial Holograms?), breaking rocks like they're in some kind of penal colony, doesn't seem quite realistic to me - if they'd given it some context, like they're in an important Dilithium mine to keep Starfleet's ships running, then it might have seemed likely, but just using them for the sake of it smacks of writers trying to make a point. There's the impression there could be some kind of holo-revolution brewing as they tell each other of the Doc's holonovel, and that could have been a direction to explore had Trek continued in this era. Otherwise it leaves too much hanging and uncertain, and we already know the Mark I's were meant for short term medical assistance, so what would they be doing as miners? It doesn't make much sense so there is that slight irritation of a thread that was going to go nowhere. The issues at hand are as much about free speech and the value of reputation, and the defamation of such: whether it's fine to write a thinly veiled social commentary on those you work with on a day-to-day basis that will give readers (or viewers, or participators, however you describe a holonovel user!), a skewed idea of reality.

A far bigger question once again goes to the use of personal image! The crew really don't seem all that bothered about their bodies being co-opted for a holoprogram that anyone can see, it's more about the inconsistencies. On one hand I can understand they're much more relaxed about such things in the future (at least in Starfleet and in reasonable circumstances - Kira was furious to be the object of Quark's nefarious holoprogram back in 'DS9'), because they don't think cynically as a rule, but at the same time your face is yours and it's just always seemed wrong and an invasion of privacy when Holodecks recreate a living person, as far back as Reg Barclay in 'Hollow Pursuits.' They missed a trick here, since Reg is actually in this episode, but never has any scenes with the Doc where he might have reminded him of that time and how it didn't help endear him to his crewmates (although there are plenty of other good references to past Trek, such as the Doc's publisher also doing the Dixon Hill series that goes back to Season 1 'TNG'). In fact, other than the idea that Reg is behind the now regular communication with the ship, he was redundant, which is a waste of Dwight Schultz's talents in his penultimate appearance, as much as I like to see the little gang back home, though this time it's only he and Admiral Paris. I wish they'd developed the Starfleet HQ side of the series more, giving them their own stories that integrated with Voyager - to be fair they usually did that with Barclay, but not so this time.

Forgetting the personal problems the crew have with seeing doubles, it's great fun for us viewers when we get alternative versions of our familiar characters: 'Mr. Marseilles' with his ridiculous moustache (they never look good!), Chakotay as the Bajoran Katanay (which sounds right for the race), sporting a different large facial tattoo, B'Elanna gets to be human Torrey for the first time since Season 1's 'Faces,' I believe, and Harry is 'Kymble,' more like the evil Voyager crew as seen in 'Living Witness,' only this is a reverse of what happened there because the EMH was the one defending his crew's reputation rather than playing with it! Even Seven, in the guise of Three of Eight has blinky Borg lights that are deliberately excessive, and of course Tuvok is Tulak and gets to wear the evil goatee beard of the Mirror Universe, which probably explains why I'm always surprised when the actual Mirror Tuvok was beardless in his one appearance on 'DS9'! At the least, the issue of personal privacy and image is addressed, since the Doc claims the physical parameters were merely a starting point. Perhaps we can accept them as placeholders? The weird thing is that the episode skirts with parodying real life since here both the Doctor and Neelix are interested in writing, and in real life both actors did release a book based on their character, though I don't remember if that was before or after the series for either the Hologram's Handbook or Neelix' cookbook.

Neelix is, as generally the case, one who doesn't have much to do, but what he did made an impact - he's so diplomatic, giving up his precious comms chip where each person is allowed three minutes a day to contact someone on Earth, based on a queue of the higher number being closer to the front. On reflection, Neelix wouldn't have anyone to contact so it makes sense for him to give it up, but at the same time, neither did the Doctor until he got in touch with the Bolian publisher (another episode, another Bolian in a suit!), and it would have been interesting to hear whom he may have got in touch with - someone from Starfleet asking to support him in entering the Academy? Permission to live on Earth? Who knows, he certainly didn't expect to leave the ship, but the dissolution of Voyager's crew would have been one more fascinating aspect of returning home that would have given ample drama to mine. Another generous character is Seven. In her case she's somewhat afraid to make contact with her Aunt Irene, but when Harry graciously refuses to take her chip when offered she boldly takes the Borg by the horns and is delightfully apologetic to this long-lost family member (once again, a far cry from the embittered, hard-drinking misery of 'Picard' - touchingly, Irene calls her by the name Annika, an identity she rejects in the stupid later series, full of its cynical, negative destruction of characters). Torres, too, has a moment of healing with her Father (or at least the promising groundwork for it), a brilliant touch to get him back again after he'd appeared only a few episodes ago in flashback. Not forgetting Kim's parents (his Mum wants to know when he's going to be promoted and he makes a good point that it's a small ship and there's only so many posts aboard), whom we'd heard about from day one - it's all such pure delight that it makes you realise how much the series has been missing by being stranded so far from home.

The live image of Earth Admiral Paris sends Voyager was surprisingly moving since it's the first time they've seen Earth where it's not an alternate timeline or the past, but the genuine, real, contemporary Earth, many of the crew's home planet and the base of operations for the Federation and Starfleet, and it's momentous for them to finally be within 'touching distance,' almost. That's the quality of the episode, that it can jump from poignancy to comedy to commentary and has fun along the way. By the end we've had broad comedy, sensitive drama and finish up with practically a trial episode, so they crammed a lot in and my only complaint would be that it seems to rush by far too quickly. The characters are used well, Tuvok, for example getting his usual role of impeccable legal defence of a crewmate, and quite the gall of the Arbitrator (Joseph Campanella who died in his 90s in 2018), to tell a Vulcan his logic was flawed! But the right result came through in the end, both allowing the Doctor the value of an artist, while also leaving his personhood to be determined in future, a touch of what life would have been like for him had we been afforded time to sit with the characters back in the Alpha Quadrant. A mere taster, you could say, but what was there was very tasty indeed. There are some great links back to other guest roles: Barry Gordon (Broht), had been a Ferengi in 'DS9' (Season 1's 'The Nagus'), and Kim's parents had both appeared before, Robert Ito as another character, again way back in a first season, this time 'TNG' ('Coming of Age'), while Irene Tsu had previously played his Mother in Season 3's 'Favourite Son,' so a very nice touch they had her return. Just a shame they couldn't get the actor who played Dr. Zimmerman to reprise his role!

****

Q2 (2)

 DVD, Voyager (Q2) (2)

That's the answer to the change in Trek's quality and tone in the modern era: it's been taken over by a juvenile Q (although, does that mean Alex Kurtzman is omnipotent...?). It occurred to me when Q2, as the title calls him (even though no one in the actual episode calls him that), expressed disinterest in playing Kadis-kot because there aren't any explosions in it. That on a microscopic level is what Trek is now all about: style without substance. Another key line to my understanding came when Janeway tells Q he needs to make Q2 understand their are consequences to his actions, a valuable lesson for Kurtzman - or is he the Daddy Q and Akiva Goldsman the errant child, glorying in his anarchic manipulation of Trek? If only it were that simple, the Q can at least be appealed to... I jest, but the truth is, the Q are difficult to deal with. Not because they're omnipotent or omniscient, because they clearly aren't all-knowing, nor can they do anything at any time (witness Q2 being stripped of his powers or our Q being subject to the Continuum's decisions), but they're still capable of doing almost anything and that tends to strip away a coherent story or sense of investment or stakes. In other words they make episodes nonsensical! I suppose enough is kept vague about them that we can never really understand what they're about, but it also means they're so beyond the confines of storytelling that they make stories pointless, and that's a problem.

The times when Q worked best was when he was teaching humanity, or more specifically Picard, a lesson, and while it's fun to hear more about their society, if you can call it that, or get developments on such, just being about the Q doesn't get us anywhere because they're beyond us, they're like their own separate dimension or universe, akin to the Mirror Universe, another running history that ended up a little bit pointless from overuse and under-thinking. It's almost like this series itself doesn't quite remember what the Q are, Chakotay claims one of their responsibilities is to maintain order in the Universe. Since when, I don't remember that ever being a likely course of action? Maybe our Q is a bit of a renegade and a rebel, but it all seems rather petty to be getting involved with such 'lower' species at all. A good reason why he never whisked Voyager home - at least Janeway does ask why he won't do that this time and he has a fine excuse that he wouldn't be leading much of an example for his son, plus it would have been a major disappointment that they used this 'god' card, small 'g,' for want of a better analogy, to end the series after all these years - if that were the case why not have Q come in at the end of every Trek series and solve the problem, or even better, be there at the start so nothing went wrong in the first place!

You can see they were really trying to create a worthwhile story that brings development without breaking the bank - they probably didn't want to go down the route of the last Q episode, Season 3's 'The Q and The Grey' with all its expensive location shooting and antique costumes, etc. But if you're going to shoot for developing the Q then maybe they should have delved into the history a bit: bring back some other Q characters we'd seen across their appearances, at the very least Suzie Plakson for one last showing as the Female Q. As it is they're trying to deal with Q's son who has all the same lack of care for other life forms his Father demonstrated, but where Q seemed somehow purposeful in some of those 'TNG' stories, in 'Voyager' he tends to come across as frivolous (not as frivolous as his lone 'DS9' appearance which is more of a curio than a serious entry!). How can you teach an adolescent if you have no power over him? That could have been an angle to head down, somehow outwitting his destructive tendencies and playing on his weaknesses to curb them, but then they'd have had to be really clever in the writing, it would have had to be a much more psychological study and experience, and this late in the season, on this series, and a TV show, you weren't likely to get the depth necessary to make all this worthwhile.

Perhaps what hurts the episode is that it's meant to be a Q story, but it turns out to be more like half a Q story since John De Lancie doesn't appear for many scenes (I enjoyed the shot where he appears at the Turbolift door, Janeway shuts it and walks down the corridor, only for Q to pop in from the other side - De Lancie must've run round the set, and did it without seeming out of breath!). It does take the story on from the baby he had in Season 3, and again, the 'peace child' angle, living up to the weight of expectations for an entire species' survival (and with it the Galaxy at large), could have been explored and deepened rather than merely being one line. It becomes a simple tale of a son acting up, threatened with punishment, rebels even harder, experiences consequences, then sees the error of his ways. I suppose for our puny human minds (and puny human TV series'), to grasp the Q it has to be simplified, but somehow that doesn't make it one of the more satisfying stories. Back when I originally saw it I thought it was great, simply because it had been several years in real time since Q had appeared, and he's one of the few Alpha Quadrant races or established characters that can easily show up, having the run of all space. And for many years this was the last Q episode - he never returned for any of the films or 'Enterprise,' so it was a sort of trivia experience to watch: the last ever Q story. But even that's changed with 'Lower Decks' featuring a cameo, then 'Picard' bringing him back a little more substantially (though to even less effect than this episode!). If the 'Legacy' series happens with Picard's son and Q there to guide/annoy him, De Lancie could be back, but at this stage I feel the character (and maybe Trek itself), has run its course.

This episode is really about Q's son, however, ably played by De Lancie's actual offspring, Keegan, another fun trivia fact. But then that's what the episode is, really, and does remind me a lot of modern Trek with its references and general impression of inconsequential storytelling. It was great fun to see many of the main Alpha Quadrant races sat round Voyager's Briefing Room table (the Nausicaan played by Anthony Holiday who'd already been in this season as Rulat in 'Shattered'), even if it does remind us of the more interesting stories we could be getting if Voyager had got home already. It's even more fun that the Cardassian apologises for the Occupation to the Bajoran (even if we're shortchanged and don't see it actually happen, only the aftermath). There's lore galore with what may be the first time we'd ever seen a Bolian in his own race's uniform rather Starfleet's, representing the species rather than the Federation. The fact we get references to both Kirk and Picard early on, in those days would have been a coup as we weren't living in constant Nostalgia Factor Ten where it's relied on in lieu of great writing or exploration - indeed, those kind of references are par for the course. It's lovely to get actual onscreen confirmation that 2270 was the year Kirk's five-year mission ended, as heard in Icheb's report, the first time it had been said on screen, I believe. Even the old training uniforms Tuvok used to wear when exercising Maquis recruits, are back when he takes Q2 for a jog round the corridors! And what about Janeway's bath, have we seen one in her Quarters before? And of course the rare opportunity for Majel Barrett to inject personality into the Computer voice, probably not since 'TOS' (the Replicator replying to an order with the retort to 'make it yourself').

These are all fun and entertaining parts in their own right, but not enough to sustain such a basic story, and one that relies far too heavily on the guest cast. That mistake was made in 'Q-Less' on 'DS9,' and that put this episode in the same category of not using the Q to the best of their potential (sort of the theme of the episode in a way), while sidelining the people we really want to see interacting. Sure, you get little cameos from various characters, Paris taking Icheb and Q2 out for piloting lessons on the Flyer, B'Elanna aghast at her Engine Room being turned into a rave for barely dressed women (Q2's references to the attractiveness of humanoid women at odds with his low opinion of 'bipedal' species, but it's just one of the many contradictions about the Q, I suppose, and only follows his Dad's interest in procreating with Janeway...), although it certainly put a new spin on 'observing humanity' when he strips Seven of her clothes! Another contradictory statement was Q reminding his son that the Q Continuum's rule is not to provoke the Borg - this once again suggests they aren't omnipotent after all (if there was ever any doubt), but true to the consistency of their being inconsistent, provoking the Borg was exactly what Q did with the Enterprise, unless he's tacitly admitting that was a mistake seeing what it led to between the Borg and humanity over the years (another sign of lack of omniscience!). Was De Lancie actually in the great alien makeup he used as a disguise? Seems not, Michael Kagan's credited, which is a shame, it would have been fun to have De Lancie disguise his voice. And what about the Doctor claiming only Q can restore Neelix' vocal cords, surely a small matter for 24th Century medicine?

Levar Burton was fine as Director, but I don't tend to associate his style with flair, and maybe that would have assisted this episode. I'm not saying it was drab or dull, but it wasn't exactly suited when it should have at least been dynamic and experimental enough to take our minds off the lacking story (think of the boxing match in 'Q-Less' - the episode wasn't up to much, but that moment stands out). Keegan was fine, De Lancie was fine, but it never left me with the regret at how much we'd lost by not having more Q episodes. It really is a case of needing to have a terrific and worthwhile story for Q and then seeing him milk it. The cast need to be fully involved, especially as we're running out of time - Icheb, for all he's a great character, wasn't well suited to the excitable, bad boy exuberance of Q2 (a shame he wasn't used to his best in what was his penultimate appearance), and the episode seems to be mostly Janeway casting her eyes to the heavens in despair. I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a bad episode, as I mentioned there are curios and nuggets (though another area where they seemed to forget the history is when the Q judges appear decked out in what were supposed to be 21st Century robes, since in 'Encounter At Farpoint' he was recreating a court from the post-apocalyptic horror period in Earth's 'history'!), but it doesn't gel well and can even be a little tiresome at times. Yet I'd still watch this multiple times rather than sit through 'Picard' Season 2 again!

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