Infection

 DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (Infection)

First thought was it would be a haunted house episode with the team creeping around a seemingly abandoned Hive ship getting picked off by infected Wraith, pretty much a zombie film (or see 'Impulse' on 'Enterprise'). But then they left so there wasn't the tension which was there initially. And then they went back so maybe it was what I thought it was. Except it turned more into a disaster film where things just keep getting worse. Whatever theme the story took I found it to be a bit depressing: nothing goes right! They discover the gene treatment Dr. Keller developed actually ended up harming the Wraith who were put through it, Todd isn't very helpful and is probably going to die soon, and even McKay, usually so dependable in a crunch, can't seem to keep the disintegrating Hive ship together. I also felt like the characters were remarkably slow to put the facts together: there's a virus or something within these Wraith, the ship's organic... How difficult can it be to see the connection when the ship is restructuring itself on the fly? I know we have the advantage of knowing the episode title, which rather gives away the nature of the situation, but with all the experience these people have had over the last five years, well, you'd think they'd be a bit quicker on the uptake.

Add to that I've never been particularly keen on the production design of Hive ship internals, all those 'organic' parts look like a filming studio with drapes hanging around, akin to something out of the original Trek (see Balok's ship in 'The Corbomite Manoeuvre'), only with higher resolution. With modern lighting techniques and plenty of smoke it can be forgiven, it's not like it ruins episodes whenever they go there, but I'm just not keen on all that and to have a story take place almost entirely aboard such a location doesn't inspire confidence. Was it another budget-saving operation as they limped to the finish line? On the positive side it was nice to have the whole team together for once, minus Wolsey who was back on Atlantis, but is part of the episode. In a few recent episodes I've wished we had the team working together and here we do, so that's good, and even Major Lorne is there. I do wish there had been more integration of the team, as we do see snatches of moments like the soldiers running around blasting unmasked zombie Wraith grunt soldiers (which we'd never seen the faces of before, so that was new), and Rodney characteristically throws hissy fits when Sheppard wants him to fix things, then comes up with the solution, but I didn't feel that familiar, comfortable teamwork where everyone's doing what they do best. It was much more of a scramble to survive than a professional success.

I also felt there was a bit of moralising missing: I know the Wraith are the enemy, a deadly enemy, but they were lightly discussing genocide, and while they perhaps deserve it since they have no qualms about killing off, or worse, using for food, their own enemies, I feel like our heroes should be better than that, but then that's always been one of the things that differentiates 'Stargate' from 'Star Trek,' it's much more about soldiering than diplomacy or keeping to a certain code in dealing with the enemy. At least Sheppard kept his word, talking Wolsey into letting Todd go, but if he is dying anyway why wouldn't he stay there and be treated? Keller said it could take months to work out a solution from the data she'd collected and I can't see Todd wanting to hang around in custody merely to save his life. Heyerdahl certainly succeeded in injecting intensity into the role and no doubt he'll be back before the end to pay off Sheppard's giving him his freedom back. There was one scene I thought noteworthy, and that was Todd and Keller discussing the differences between them, compassion, how soldiers and doctors have different roles and methods but are both trying to save lives. It had promise and was more the kind of thinking I'd like to explore than merely running around shooting things.

That's what the series always was, at heart, just like its forbear, so it's hardly surprising, but I had felt that, with Season 3 and to some degree 4, things had developed. This could easily have been an early seasons story, it didn't really develop anything further, which is a shame and maybe a continuing sign that they knew things were going to be wrapped up and just had to get the episodes out. Not that I'm criticising or saying it was bad, only that it doesn't quite have that extra level I was almost coming to expect of the series. Although it was a standalone adventure, stuck on an alien ship and trying to escape, it also relies on the ongoing story, and so there wasn't a great deal of a sense of completion and tying things up. You can't always have that, but I want to see things close out well on the series. And maybe this was an opportunity that wasn't quite reached, for all the pleasure in having the cast together. That said, the last part where they're heading towards a crash-landing on the planet, was good, though even there we don't see the impact on the characters, just an external view, which was effective, but maybe we could have intercut with our people being thrown around as suddenly the next thing you know is Sheppard sitting comfy in Wolsey's office as if it was just another day!

**

The Disease

 DVD, Voyager S5 (The Disease)

Harry Kim breaks the rules. Harry's misadventures with the opposite sex had become something of a running joke, much like Chief O'Brien being tortured in some way every season on 'DS9,' to the extent that Paris usually gives us a rundown of previous escapades: a hologram (not actually accurate, she was a lonely alien who broke into the Holodeck remotely), an ex-Borg (Seven herself), the wrong twin (recently, with the famed Delaney sisters). That's not even a comprehensive list as he's got into trouble in this area before, most notably 'Favourite Son' in which he was chosen by life-sapping vampire alien women and only just escaped. In comparison Derran Tal is actually quite ordinary, perhaps that's why, like a teenager, Harry is so convinced he's 'in love' to the extent that he disobeys protocol, that's one level, then disobeys the Captain's direct orders to end it (that's two levels), and finally gets to level three of hot water when he storms out of the Briefing Room onto the Bridge chasing the Captain so she has to order him into her Ready Room. Harry has certainly changed, he's lost his inhibitions and is reacting quite childishly, even more because he thinks he's being all grown up and mature because he hotheadedly has to defend himself instead of accepting his Captain's judgement, realising he's in the wrong and taking his medicine.

In a way it's quite a shock to see someone of Harry's straight arrow reputation and spotless record, go so far off the rails. He claims he hasn't been affected by the alien transfer or whatever it was that made him 'luminesce,' perhaps an indirect reference to 'Fortunate Son' when he was under some alien effect, but I'd like to think that it did play a part, despite his protestations to the contrary, because the alternative is that he simply chose to be a bad boy. I blame Tom, myself. If he hadn't been so disobedient in 'Thirty Days' perhaps it wouldn't have got into Harry's mind to do the same thing: no doubt in his mind it's the same situation, a valid reason for going against authority because it feels right. You could say this episode is an example of the template for modern Trek, which is all about feelings, often overriding reason or rules, and young Harry is the poster boy for such indulgences. While I can cite Tom's influence, in general he's settled down in the last season or two, especially regarding his romantic side, so perhaps Kim's just a slow learner, or maybe he has to make mistakes for himself before he can see things aren't going to end well. On the one hand he blabbers about 'true feelings,' while on the other he admits to Tal that he knew it couldn't last since they'd only have a couple of weeks. Of course Trek is operating in a much looser moral ground, reflecting society in that it's 'okay' to be promiscuous, as long as it 'feels right,' so I was never going to agree with the central premise - not unless Harry was dedicated enough to commit for life to this woman, but that, unfortunately doesn't even ever come into the conversation.

Clearly the episode isn't exactly presenting a very positive moral message, but while it inadvertently does portray some moral effects of such behaviour in that Harry has to suffer the physical and career ramifications, the message-sending only seems to get worse - basically, Janeway goes easy on him and says it might have made him a man, but I don't think it's anything to do with him realising his mistakes, owning up to them, or anything along those lines, it's all about him standing up for what he believes in. I will say I did warm to how Janeway deals with him in some ways, because while she's evidently furious at his second indiscretion, she doesn't have a shouting match on the Bridge in front of everyone, and when he's had his say in the Ready Room and she's called out to the Bridge again, she could have reinforced her private orders to send him to Sickbay, but instead she allows him the dignity of returning to his station in the crisis, showing she still has trust in him, and while this is a very serious matter, it's separate from his personal expertise and he can still contribute in a crunch. Still, it's a shame she can bring up how she treated him differently as a newly fledged Ensign on his first ship, and yet goes along with his view of things in the end, or at least there's room for manoeuvre. There's a general air of people not thinking Harry's actions are so terrible, from Chakotay espousing a generous, indulgent response to his infraction, Tom actively covering for him when Tuvok's tracking the illicit communication between Harry and Tal, and even Seven coming to the Mess Hall at the end to provide her equivalent of a blessing or an acceptance.

So it's a confused episode all told, coming from a confused worldview, so it shouldn't be that surprising. We've seen plenty of examples of main characters in Trek behaving in this way before, and would do again, but Harry was almost the epitome of the squeaky clean Ensign who follows protocol at all times and is all about Doing The Right Thing. Indeed, I could imagine he and Boimler of 'Lower Decks' getting along like a house on fire (they need to bring Kim onto that series, even though he'd be a fair bit older than Brad by that time). People often point out that Harry ended his seven year stint on Voyager at the same rank as he began it, but perhaps it was because of this incident that showed he hadn't really matured enough to take on greater responsibility because he could still act the goat on occasion. I'm sure they didn't set out to keep him an Ensign for moral reasons or anything like that, but perhaps it worked out for the best even though in reality it was probably an oversight on the part of the writers. He gets a formal reprimand on his record, which is a big thing to him, much like myself in my school days: I did everything I could not to get an after-school detention because it was just a symbol of badness, and while in later years I've come to see that it wouldn't have made any real difference if I had had that, I'm also somewhat pleased with my record of not getting one, though that's straying into pride territory so I'm not saying it was really a great achievement. Discipline needs to be maintained and punishment is one of the key methods to achieve that.

I'm not sure Harry could have received anything more than a reprimand, after all no one got killed, and while it was a personal matter that escalated into a situation with community-wide ramifications, it wasn't at the level of Paris' actions in 'Thirty Days' or Suder's murder in 'Meld.' The former got thirty days in the Brig, the latter was set to be locked in his Quarters for the rest of the journey. A reprimand was probably adequate, a black mark on a spotless record, a permanent reminder of Harry's actions, but I'm not convinced he really learned anything from the experience or wouldn't have done the same thing again if he encountered the situation later. Hopefully he'd think more carefully, but I'm not convinced, especially as it became more about a political issue, a section of the population of this Varro generation ship wishing to leave, tired of tradition and their place in that society. That was actually the more interesting angle of the episode, although it was problematic that Harry's actions became less of a focus. It could easily have turned into Tal actually using Harry to get her, basically terrorist, actions to succeed, though that was never part of the story, she just happened to be the one responsible, or one of them that had created these silicon-based lifeforms that were attacking the mothership. It was an extreme reaction and I do see the general flow of the episode is towards young people wanting to go their own way rather than follow the staid, 'boring old traditions' of their elders, which isn't exactly a very reassuring message (again), but at least it's more subtle and less overtly siding with a view, which was something Trek used to be much better at, while in today's polarised world there's often no nuance, it's One View and that's the only right one.

The leader, or whom I assume was the leader of the Varro, certainly didn't come across well, a suspicious, almost xenophobic man - I don't recall his name which suggests it wasn't mentioned much, if at all, and I didn't catch what his position was, whether he was overall leader or merely the leader of their science division or engineering, or whatever. Either way he's not a very balanced character, entirely unsympathetic to the extent he's shown to be far worse than the dissidents in his society, since they 'only' wanted to perform acts which would get them their freedom, while this guy almost chose to destroy Voyager as part of a quick way to clear away the attack of the silicon creatures (I immediately thought of tiny Horta!), and though it would have been a side effect that he'd allow the explosion to take out Voyager, even after they helped the generation ship to get back on its feet, he didn't seem to care, and it was only because Tal was there to urge him not to do it that he relented, thus putting her in a more noble, heroic light than she deserved in the story. Voyager had stumbled upon a divided society and usually they aren't allowed to interfere with such things, even though the Varro apparently had somewhat superior technology. I think more should have been made of their similarities, but in reality it only comes across in Janeway's opening dialogue with the leader, talking about how her ship could end up like them in its long journey home.

There was a subplot about the dissidents that began quite interestingly with Neelix acting as an investigator as he was way back when in his arc about uncovering the Maquis spy, and then again when he's part of Security in the alternate future of 'Year of Hell,' so I enjoyed them picking up those threads again and only wish that had been a more integral part of the story instead of him so quickly handing off the investigation to Tuvok, as natural and realistic as that was - my mind was actually running on the stowaway stealing rations and hiding in the Jefferies Tubes being Naomi Wildman, maybe as some kind of fun little lair, even though her name didn't come up in the guest credits at the start. That could have been fun, but it turned out to be one of the dissidents (played by Christopher Liam Moore who'd already portrayed Veer, the main Voth scientist's assistant in 'Distant Origin'), a very untrusting person who is so desperate to escape the ordered society that has kept that community together for four hundred years, he hides on Voyager. There were a few things in the episode that made me wonder how security conscious the ship is: how did he get aboard? They may have mentioned it and it passed me by, but that was a big question. Then there were the secret communications between Kim and Tal which you'd think would be picked up instantly as usually comms are monitored, or you'd think they would be. Then there was Kim's deviation from his flight plan to fix something on the outside of the ship - somehow he can beam Tal out of her Quarters and travel off to see a nebula without attracting suspicion. Actually that last one wasn't true because Tuvok pursues on the Delta Flyer, so at last we see something that tells us Tuvok is active in his job as Security Officer!

Usually Tuvok is reliable, perhaps we can put it all down to some effect the larger Varro vessel had on Voyager's sensors, or we can fudge it and say so many systems were tied into assisting the larger ship there wasn't much computer power for keeping tabs on things as well as they normally would. Otherwise it would be quite lax of our crew! Another oddity was when Janeway discusses the handbook on personal relationships, stating it's three centimetres thick. That suggests Starfleet actually has a printed, bound copy on paper rather than the usual PADDs, unless she's talking about how many PADDs together store all the data, which wouldn't be out of character for Trek! You often see a character using multiple PADDs at the same time to the extent it can sometimes look quite strange to us who are used to maybe one screen at a time, although it does make a certain amount of sense when you think they are generally quite small screens and the ability to have various documents at the same time to refer to does sound like a good way to go if you can afford it, and of course they can replicate as many PADDs as they want! We also have a rare example of ships being in different orientation to each other as Voyager is latched onto the Varro ship at an angle, so we see a quite atypical view of it - it occurred so rarely only 'DSC' and its initial approach to ships meeting on different planes, is an example I can bring to mind, though fortunately they eventually went away from that, as realistic as it was, it didn't suit Trek aesthetics.

The story was a little too pat and easy to resolve, aside from Harry choosing to suffer through the pain of separation from this alien bonding which it's stated the Varro take very seriously, implying that our Starfleet heroes don't take such things very seriously, despite there being rules of protocol, moral rules and simply rules of good sense provided as guidance for such situations. It's another subtle suggestion that it's okay to be loose and marriage isn't really important unless you want it to be, though at the same time that's tempered by clear dissatisfaction on the part of Janeway for Harry's actions, though that could be just as much, if not more, about him not obeying orders as it was about what he actually did. I did like that she says that as an Ensign he hasn't earned the right to question his Captain's orders, this is exactly the kind of serious approach to the protocols and rules of Starfleet that have been on the slide ever since Trek came back with 'DSC.' It's a great reminder of the values of Trek, about not just doing whatever you feel at the time, but adhering to a governance of yourself based on general and specific rules that have been hammered out over the centuries. I was surprised Janeway didn't dish out a full dressing down, even on the second occasion when her authority has been thwarted. Maybe it's that thing of Harry being a special case to her so she isn't going to rip him a new one like she's done with Tuvok, Chakotay, Paris, B'Elanna, Seven... He's the young one so maybe she has a more nurturing approach, even when he is in the doghouse. It was still on the borders of those previous times she's blown her top or been icily severe, so it's not like he got off without any remonstrance at all.

Kim tries to make an impassioned speech, but unfortunately he just comes off as immature and in the end I had to take issue with the 'lesson learned and becoming a man' attitude that he and Janeway discussed. The story is better than its confused morals (or immorals!), because you do care how the crew reacts to Harry (and the visuals were especially accomplished), and while he does simply end up looking supremely foolish there should be a place for rehabilitation, it's just unfortunate that the only remorse he shows is towards the result of his actions, in other words that Voyager became embroiled in a big political issue and rather than making a new friend and learning from the Varro, they don't exactly part having dispelled any xenophobic impressions - rather, the leader is shown to be correct for having reservations about dealing with outsiders since it did lead to a portion of his society breaking off. If Voyager could have played mediator, as they have before, it might have been a better, more inspiring story. Swapping a 'perfect officer' for a better man may also be a good, positive result on the face of it, but it just muddies the issue, really. Even the leaving of these dissidents was too easy because the ship is made of modules, so although it's troubling that Voyager helped in splitting a society (or facilitating, or speeding it up), there isn't even a hard lesson. If it had been 'DS9' the people wouldn't have had it so easy, it wouldn't have ended so neatly (as in episodes like 'Sanctuary').

I would have to regard it as probably the weakest of the season, and it's interesting to note that Harry Kim starred in one of the highlights of the season with 'Timeless,' yet also one of the lowlights! It seems he can't be consistent... He drops in a mention of being Captain of the Academy's Velocity team and that rang a bell - it was the fast-paced game Janeway and Seven play on the Holodeck at the end of Season 4. Shame they didn't get Harry involved! Maybe he should challenge Seven to a match - she was quite nicely integrated into the episode in a small way. For one thing, I don't think we'd ever seen her completely blue outfit before, so that was new. She talks about the Borg finding love in over six thousand species, which is strange since we know they've discovered at least 8472 so far (and that was over a year ago), so understanding of love isn't a universal constant in alien races? I'm not sure Harry knows what love is, either, but that's not his fault, it's the faulty of the society that he was brought up in. Sadly, part of Trek's ideals are to believe this is fine, so of course there are going to be times when biology gets the upper hand, and that's even with a guy who was about as disciplined as it gets, so it is a bit of an indictment of this 'utopia,' not that the writers would have seen it that way, of course...

**

Brain Storm

 DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (Brain Storm)

Was it the previous episode that Keller didn't appear and Rodney barely featured? If so it would seem likely they made this episode at the same time. I don't know, but that would certainly save money I'd have thought, and the fact they didn't renew the series for a Season 6 would suggest they were cutting back on 'Stargate,' despite having another spinoff in the works. This felt like one of those science-y disaster films from the Nineties, where the hero scientist and his woman solve some catastrophe while dressed in evening wear. I'm not sure if it was genuinely a world problem as it seemed to only affect that particular secret base, but the important thing is that McKay and Keller are in trouble. None of the other cast are involved, which is a shame as we only have a handful of episodes left, and I expect at least the last couple to be about some big Wraith storyline. As much as I enjoy an episode that puts a couple of characters together and has them solving a problem, maybe this late in the final season isn't quite the place for it, but if, as I surmised, it was a budget-saving exercise, I can see why they'd do this.

I like Rodney, he's the best character, and I like Keller, too, so I don't mind them getting an episode to themselves, but I've always been less keen on the Earth-based stories than pure sci-fi, alien worlds, even Atlantis-bound episodes. It didn't really tell us anything new about the characters, other than getting the pair together properly before the end, and it was only tangentially connected to the series in the sense that the technological idea for how to solve global warming was clearly Stargate-type tech. Once they'd actually got there and things started to go wrong it did pick up and you wonder how this is going to play out, plus obviously McKay is going to have to be the star and everyone will know he's the genius he is, or at least his colleague would, and that was the important thing. And Keller gets to put her foot down and have an outsider perspective on this group of boffins. She also gets herself stuck and that sequence where we realise she's just down the corridor from where Rodney and his mate are working made things seem less impressive. Maybe it was supposed to be further away, but it didn't seem that far.

The story was a bit inevitable in terms of McKay was going to find a way round the problem, and while the external CGI effects of the extreme weather surrounding the complex were functional, they weren't the best. I thought I recognised the name Neil deGrasse Tyson, I think he must be a real scientist, so that was an interesting guest cameo there, though I was so busy trying to take in the name and recall where I knew it from that though I saw Gary Jones in the credits it seemed so natural I completely glossed over it in my mind as normal for 'Stargate,' but of course Walter is in 'SG-1' usually, not 'Atlantis,' so that very brief appearance was great fun and the more enjoyable cameo for me. Otherwise I felt it was a little too insubstantial as a story, the 'freeze lightning' being completely out of the blue and the bizarre choice of the Kramer representative not to make the call for help until it was too late and the communications were down, making the situation seem less dire than it became. It was one of those episodes where it's not bad, but neither is it all that memorable, and though I don't need every episode to be some big, meaningful adventure, I do feel they should be using the various pieces of the 'Stargate' world and our specific characters as much as possible as we come to the end. Instead there's no Teyla or Wolsey, and barely any Sheppard or Ronon.

**

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

 Wii, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011) game

It's funny how a certain word tends to crop up multiple times in a short period of time when you haven't really heard it much. There was the film 'Skyline,' then this 'Skyward Sword' and the Bond film, 'Skyfall,' and that was it for Sky-monickered projects and it's onto the next buzzword. Not saying Nintendo were inspired by other things to come up with the name, it's just coincidence, that's the running of creative minds sometimes arriving at the same places around the same time. It was enjoyable to hold aloft the Wii Remote to activate the Skyward Strike, a powerful blast of energy, and that was the key to the game, Nintendo's wish to add the impression of actually wielding the Hero's sword. And it works. With the addition of the Motion Plus sensor, which also made the Remote longer and more hilt-like in your hand, and gave it a little more weight, voila! You have sword-slicing and -slashing action. A novel idea, but inevitable when you consider that this was what the Wii was made for: to innovate and create more direct motion-to-screen control. No longer was it enough to merely press a button or flick a direction on the Analogue Stick, now you had full control. And yet it also had to be entirely accessible, since 99.999% of players were not going to be proficient with swordplay in real life.

I'd have to say they succeeded, you quickly pick up the techniques and simple pleasures of waving a sword around or stabbing into the screen. The only downside is that you can't do it lazily, you have to actually put physical effort in, which can be a little bit distancing - if you play such a game with a standard controller your every nerve impulse is effectively translated into actions on screen through buttons and stick, but here you have to be aware of the physical environment, your orientation within it, forcing you to think outside of the screen as well as inside it. Until it becomes intuitive that can be distracting, as can getting wires in a twist, or forgetting there's a wall next to you. The other issue is stamina. It really can become quite tiring having to wave whenever you want to perform an action that in the past would have been a simple finger move or tap away, and while it's no doubt healthier for the body to be more active, it's not always for the best in game. I remember taking ages fighting Ghiraim, the game's evil lieutenant whom you encounter several times through the story, because you have to learn his pattern and get your head around adjusting the angle of your blade before striking every time or he'll catch it, then you have to give the sword a jerk backwards to free it. Take off another layer of clothing because now you're starting to get genuinely hot and sweaty.

This is all well and good if you're in the mood for physical activity, but if you just want a quiet game and not to be waving your arms around it can be wearing. You can get by with small movements, you don't really need to throw yourself around the room, but this subtlety has to be learned, just as the nuances of actually playing the game itself must be. It's not just sword-wielding, either, it can be fiddly getting used to how you bring up a map, talk to Fi, your robot fairy-ish guide, playing your harp, choosing things from the item select wheels or checking your information screens. The game is a strange combination of both being more complicated and more simple than ever. For example you don't get a map onscreen any more, always useful for orienting yourself, and instead have to press '+' to bring it up. You can rotate the view, choose different floor levels if there are any, insert way points to help you get to certain places, and generally it's a more cluttered system that makes you wish for the mini-map that used to grace the corner of the main screen in previous versions. You can zoom in, too, and see where you and other key locations are in relation to each other, but then you back out of it and it's not as clear as it used to be where you should be heading, so you go back into it again. There were a number of aspects of the game that suggested a relative lack of intuitiveness that had always been there in the past and I don't know if it was young blood trying to change too much for the sake of it, becoming too enamoured with the control scheme, or being limited by that scheme.

An example is with the new stamina meter, something that works well and had to be implemented so you could run around (why running should be something so key to the Wii's era, I don't know - it was the same in the 'Goldeneye' remake, adding a run button, so maybe people were becoming less patient in games, or perhaps the Nunchuk stick isn't responsive enough for incremental movement?), since the nature of the game, small islands in the sky, or tight ground environments, meant it wasn't practical to be galloping about mounted on a steed, hence this compromise. They also added the ability to run up walls. Not in a 'Matrix' way, but Link's momentum can carry him a short way before he drops back to the ground, enabling you to leap for higher platforms and pull yourself up. All very well, and mostly useful, but also presenting a lack of control as sometimes you wanted to roll into the wall or an object such as a tree and instead you'd keep running. The turning circle seemed quite wide, too, and responsiveness of the controls was surprisingly lacking, again due to the stick or the Remote being misaligned. The worst thing was when you wanted to run up a ladder, caught it slightly off centre and instead of Link intuitively catching hold of a rung once his momentum slowed, he'd drop to the floor and if you still had the stick pushing forward because that's where you wanted to go, he'd run up against the wall again and again until you relented. If you did catch the ladder right it was a nice little boost up, and then there was the ability to make little leaps with each flick of the Remote, so you weren't limited to a slow climb as of old, but there were definitely ups and downs to this control method.

It's surprising the Nunchuk stick was so relatively unresponsive, because as far back as the N64 Controller used for 'Ocarina of Time' you had very precise control and different speeds of movement depending on how hard you pressed the stick, and that just didn't seem to be the case here. In the other games if you went close to the edge you'd automatically grab on if you fell, unless you were pushing all the way, in which case you'd make a leap, a superb context-sensitive system, but now you can just limply fall to your doom when what you actually wanted was to hold on. Now you have to press 'A' to do that while inching towards the edge when the icon pops up to give you the option. It wasn't limited to edges, either - too many times when I was traversing a horizontal rope (it took me to almost the end of the game before I mastered the knack of retaining balance, not realising you had to move both Nunchuk and Remote side to side to simulate shifting weight, most of the time travelling a couple of steps then dropping to hang!), I'd be hanging from below, flick the Remote to pull myself back up and instead promptly let go and drop to my doom! I don't know if this was a fault of my control or the fact the 'A' button on my Remote is loose, but it was supremely annoying. And unless you were running full pelt, and often, only when you ran off a specific platform, you'd drop like a stone instead of skydiving and having the option to call your giant bird creature. Another big annoyance: the game's insistence on the same actions over and over! Fall off the edge and a Knight would rescue you, plop you back down and give you a stern lecture. Every time! Or diving into a surface area Fi would laboriously tell you you need to select a location. The same if you picked up a bug or 'treasure' material: every time you started a new play session the game would have to go through the rigmarole of telling you what you'd picked up and then showing the collection screen. I know all this! I've been playing for weeks!

Granted, it would only happen once for each item and then you could pick up the same thing with impunity, at least until you switched off and came back next time, but it was unnecessary and bizarre. Was it a programming flaw? A cheap life-extending tactic? An oversight? I know I mentioned modern gamers' patience might not be what it was judging by some additions, but you needed more patience than ever for that bit. In fairness this isn't the first game in the series to do this as it happened on 'Twilight Princess' whenever you first picked up a denomination of rupee on each play session, even though you don't need to be told how much it is! At least you were given multiple options for the HUD - at Pro level things were cut down to absolute minimum onscreen clutter, while earlier in the quest it was useful to have the full-sized Remote in ghost image to remind you of what button did what, so there was some accounting for taste. It's also the first ever widescreen 'Zelda,' something I didn't particularly care for since it meant I had less line of sight for things when Z-targeting (that's another thing: sometimes you wanted the Z-target to be at eye level, such as standing on an edge and it automatically looks down and yet you want to see the horizon, but without going into the floaty first person view), as I was playing on a 'square' screen with black borders top and bottom. That's progress, though, as most screens would have been widescreen format by the time this came out (and probably earlier, given Nintendo's traditionally slow adoption of new technology in general).

Something not exactly new, but certainly in far greater evidence was the game's inclusion of supernatural or occult themes, which was quite worrying and surprising. I know it's made in Japan, a culture full of this stuff, but in the past they kept such things to a relative minimum. Yes, we'd had talk of goddesses before, and there were usually witches and potions, but in general the series was clean and largely suitable for family gaming. Here, despite it's pastel colours and soft visual style, you had giant goddess statues, idol worship, auras, 'dowsing' by which you had to use your sword to search for things, even a 'friendly' demon who lives beneath the village and wants you to 'cure' him so he can walk among the people. Yeah sure, demons really only want to be loved... Even saving the game at the various bird statues (reminiscent of the owl statues of 'Majora's Mask'), was originally explained as 'praying to the goddess,' so it was extremely inappropriate subject matter. It could be such things had become much more common across the board, but I haven't played more recent games, and 'Zelda' is one of the few, if not only traditional fantasy type I play, so I don't know if this reflects the norm for the genre in modern times, but if so it is a concerning trend that can interest children in dangerous real things. Fortunately there was nothing in the game that stopped me playing - there were some points that involved drawing symbols and I was resolved that if it asked me to draw an occult sign I'd have to just give it up, but it never did, unlike a previous Nintendo release, 'Geist,' which I threw out when one of the puzzles was to move statues in a room to create a pentagram!

Concerns about the content aside, it had the usual hallmarks of the series, the exploration, collecting, puzzle-solving, character interaction, and while I can't say the story drew me in, the environments and levels were typically satisfying. I was worried early on that this sky-based play looked suspiciously like the Oocca dungeon from 'Twilight Princess,' or even the islands in the ocean of 'Wind Waker,' not that I hated them, but I never enjoyed bottomless drops and swinging around empty voids, or small areas as much as large, solid ground-based exploration, so I was relieved when there were places to go on the distant surface. Things did take quite a while to get going and I noticed some tasks seemed designed to take up time, something the series shouldn't need to do as there's generally so much to see and experience. But four and a half hours in I still wasn't at the first dungeon and as with any game it can be a struggle to get into it at first. Not to say it was a tough game, it has to be the easiest 3D instalment by a long shot since you have constant access to hints and solutions, even during boss battles. You begin a play session with a reminder of what you're supposed to be doing so there was no chance of wandering wondering, stuck for hours as in previous versions. The downside is it doesn't encourage independent thought and puzzle-solving and is a big temptation to use it as soon as you don't know exactly what you're supposed to do. But it's better than having that stuck moment of so many 'Zeldas' past. Not that I used that option, I don't think I ever really needed to as there was nothing to the level of frustration and ingeniousness of the original Water Temple from 'Ocarina,' for example.

The Triforce dungeon came close, with its simple set of nine square rooms each in a style from a previous location, and the ability to physically change the relation to each other, shuffling them like a giant block puzzle, though none of the puzzles in this game were truly taxing, and as I've said before, once you're aware of how things work in the 'Zelda' world the solutions are generally pretty similar. A lot is squeezed in with what at first seemed a good fifty to sixty hours, but with more time spent searching out the last bits and pieces, and especially the desert dragon's consecutive boss battles and Silent Realm trials, meant it was the usual epic length, more than sufficient to keep me busy, especially as I like to find everything I can (though I was still missing three heart pieces at the end and didn't have the stamina to go back and search everywhere for them). It was wise to be observant as at certain times you'd need to find specific items, and though given a 'dowsing' signal by which to locate it, if you remember where you saw a strange item that looked like it might have a purpose later on, it enabled you to narrow down what you might be looking for. That goes for other things, too, there's always been a tradition of keeping mental note of places you can explore more fully once you have access to new abilities or equipment, and that remains the case here. New abilities like... sitting on a toilet? The first time I've ever done that in a 'Zelda' game, that's for sure, so an odd addition, though usually it was sitting on stools to replenish hearts that was the point. I never did get to the bottom of the ghostly hand in the toilet, it seemed like it was significant, but if you gave it the love letter nothing happened, so I stuck to giving the letter to the right person. There isn't usually more than one option with these things...

You could also waltz into any house and lie down on their beds for a nice kip, Link about as enthusiastic in the prospect of sleep as could be, hurling himself onto the bed, fully outstretched. The purpose of this was so you could 'activate' night time, though you're quite limited in where you can go during the dark hours. With things like the Dusk Relic to collect I was expecting to revisit all the lands in darkness, but actually that was only seen in the Silent Realm trials where you had to run around collecting orbs against a time limit, while avoiding waking the guardians who'd then come at you, a stressful task to be sure. At night it was really only Skyloft that you could explore, not even being allowed to fly, but there have always had to be arbitrary limitations on what you can do so nothing really new there. It was certainly a very different layout to the standard formula with the main hub being up in the sky and three lands accessible within which are a couple of dungeons, and each land is like a hub in itself, be it forest, volcano or desert. Maybe a bit basic, but at least it was different and you have distinct races to interact with. For once we're well away from familiar species, with only one Goron adventurer you meet periodically and no connection to the land of Hyrule whatsoever - not that that's a bad thing, as 'Link's Awakening' is one of the best and took place entirely on a side island. But I miss the days when there was only one Link and Zelda, and the stories were somewhat connected.

Instead they have a completely blank canvas to paint with (a good analogy since the visuals for this one were quite painterly and soft, like watercolour or pastel shades, a mix between the cartoonish 'Wind Waker' and realism of 'Twilight Princess'), allowing creativity to roam free. Some characters return, like Beedle the shop owner from 'Wind Waker,' and Impa, though an anorexic version far from the warrior elf we first met in 'Ocarina.' Best of all: no Tingle! There's some continuity in equipment, along with new items to play with, a nice mix of familiar and new, as you'd expect, with the flying beetle quite innovative as something that can be used to activate things remotely, cut ropes, drop bombs, and pick up items. And the blow bag was great fun, especially when you have a room full of sand to gust away, much like clearing gunk with the backpack in 'Mario Sunshine' (and presumably Luigi's in 'Mansion,' which I never played), though it's an element that makes it feel like a platform game rather than a normal 'Zelda.' And some things were slightly redundant, like the whip that could have been largely interchangeable with the clawshot, and arrows and slingshot, though traditional, having both was probably unnecessary (aiming into the screen with the Remote made things a lot less precise, especially when you had to realign - fine when you have time to adjust, very inconvenient in the midst of battle). Certain levels like the pirate ship made it seem a lot more like a platform game of Mario or Banjo ilk, and while platforming was always a part of 'Zelda,' the setting somehow always gave it a more serious air. Adding in new 'themes,' as well as the amount of traversing environments in more platformy ways lessons the reality of the style somewhat. It must be difficult to keep being innovative in such a long-running series when it's expected to be clever and yet not too far from what went before. Perhaps it was time to stop doing a forest dungeon to start things off, but at least that is a sort of training level to get people off the ground.

When they do introduce new types of dungeon such as the pirate ship or robot mines where two time periods operate and you carry an orb which has a time field around it that adjusts the environment as it travels, it's certainly different. The robot mines especially made me think more of Game Boy entries in the series for some reason, I'm not sure why. But it was quite innovative, and while I question the move towards more science fiction content of machines and robots, hardly suiting the impression of a time gone by, a time of swords and bows, it sounds like that direction only increased with the next one, 'Breath of The Wild' where they introduced motorbikes into the mix!? At least here there's nothing quite so out of place, and while you don't get to ride a horse as in so many of the previous entries, flying isn't as bad as sailing, even if it remains a little bit of a chore. Skydiving was much more fun, but you don't get to do that enough, whereas flying was frequent as the only way to travel between sky and ground levels. I must say the bosses were in general a lot easier, perhaps only Ghiraim's second battle being in any way challenging, and I remember them all very well having gone through them consecutively in the desert dragon's challenge a few times. They weren't as dramatic and spectacular as even the previous game, but still showed imagination, and having to work in the unique control scheme I can't be too hard on that aspect. Even the final battle with big bad Demise was surprisingly easy (I did have four bottles of fairies, to be transparent!), and I beat him on my first attempt.

I was expecting Demise to turn out to be another name for Ganon, since he did look similar, but apparently not. I'm not sure there was any connection to 'real' legends of Zelda, it appeared to be completely unconnected with only familiar elements such as Link (never called that, of course), Zelda, Impa, the Triforce and the Master Sword. As usual, upon completion it was affecting swooping through all these lands you'd traversed for the last few months, seeing the people you'd met, and especially the twist over Grannie's true identity brought a tear to the eye. But it's always the way when you've spent a long time with a game, it doesn't take much to evoke a sense of nostalgia and missing that which you'd been doing for some time. It must have been a real headache to map controls that weren't designed for epic games, and long play sessions onto this method of control, and no doubt they recommend taking a break every hour or so to prevent the inevitable tiredness of wrists. But like 'Metroid Prime 3' they mostly succeeded in the endeavour, and once you'd got to grips with what was at first awkward, it wasn't really a problem, even if things that take physical effort can be less appealing for extended play. Considering the general controls were something of a backward step in that you have less immediate control than before they did very well not to ruin the experience, especially when you're used to the precision of N64 and 'Cube analogue sticks making the Nunchuk's a real comedown.

Music was the usual sort of stuff, rousing for flying and battling, creepy or expectant when dungeoneering, happy and laidback in town. I wouldn't say anything really stood out in that department, but then I get the impression there were a lot of new people involved from seeing the credits. On the whole it was about as good as most others in the series, but I couldn't quite say it was as classic as the better ones. I can't see myself adding an extra star in my Retrogaming Review of The Year at the end of this year as I did with 'Twilight Princess,' simply because I had no prior connection to it so there was no reforging of past memories or 'coming around' to realise its greatness. But it has all those hunting quests of searching for heart pieces, Gratitude Crystals, Cubes, bugs and treasures, adding longevity, though never on the same level as the famed hunt for the Gold Skulltulas in 'Ocarina.' With the Crystals it was a mixed bag because it did encourage you to go back and talk to people at different times in the adventure, or at night, but it could also add to that impression of time-wasting. At least there was the helpful addition of a little speech bubble containing '...' above the head of anyone who had something new to say, so I appreciated that. But still, for all its qualities it was close to being one of those games I feel like I've played before due to the similarity to its predecessors. I don't know how you could get around that other than making it a truly revolutionary experience (and I don't mean the option to wave a sword around). I kept expecting Demise to pop back up at the end since it was such a short final battle, especially when you consider how mammoth the task seemed fighting Gannondorf at the end of 'Ocarina,' then running down the collapsing tower, and fighting Ganon. You can't help but compare, and while this has plenty of new innovations and additions it still doesn't have the revolution of 'Link's Awakening,' 'A Link To The Past,' 'Ocarina of Time,' or even 'Majora's Mask.' It's better than 'Oracle of Ages' and probably 'Wind Waker,' and perhaps I'll have an opportunity to replay it in fifteen or twenty years and reevaluate its legacy?

***

Discovery Ends - The State of Star Trek

Discovery Ends - The State of Star Trek

It's been a while since I wrote anything about modern Trek, but the news of cost-cutting and belt-tightening at Paramount, culminating in the surprise cancellation of 'DSC' with its fifth season, it seemed like the right time to comment on where this 'third generation' of Trek is up to in my estimation. I stopped writing reviews when 'Picard' Season 1 broke me of that desire, it was just too painful and a chore to write about something I found so negative, badly written and twisting so much of what Trek always was to me. But things have changed slightly since then: the key thing is that I've come around to 'Lower Decks,' something that a few years ago had dropped to zero on my anticipation meter. Seeing Season 1 didn't really do anything to disabuse me of that notion, and while I could say the final episode showed some promise, I was in two minds about whether to buy Season 2 or not. In the end a price drop gave me the incentive and I must say I was surprised to find that some (still only a handful), of episodes were genuinely good Trek, and with the season finale it was quite impressive. I found myself warming to the characters and their situations, the stories and the setting, even the ship (I love that it doesn't have shiny floors, for example!), to the point the Season 3 DVD is now actively anticipated in a way I haven't experienced since either Season 1 of 'Picard' or Season 1 of 'DSC,' both of which gravely disappointed.

I'm currently struggling through Season 2 of 'Picard' and finding it about as bad as I could have expected from general comments I'd read, but I also hear almost nothing but good things about Season 3, which sounds like they're finally exploring the time period, characters we care about, and what made the 24th Century so compelling. I still have my doubts that they'll pull it off, but from what I hear it is the kind of Trek I want to see. In other words: good. I've also yet to hear anything negative about 'Prodigy' the other animated series, and though I'm very sceptical about 'Strange New Worlds' that also sounds as if it has been far more easily accepted than either of the previous live action Treks. To be in a position where I actually care about seeing new Trek again is a pleasant surprise, if only a tentatively cautious one. There's still plenty of concern over bending or breaking canon and characters, but at least if the writing is an improvement then there is some hope.

That 'DSC' should be cut all of a sudden, especially as they'd already filmed it all last year and had no expectation of it being the final season, is quite a shock turn of events given that recent years have been nothing but announcements of series' continuing or rumours about the many new Treks that may be coming down the pipeline. I can't say it affected me at all negatively (and I was somewhat glad to hear they were doing additional shooting to mitigate the lack of a series finale), other than giving pause for thought that the gravy train might be coming to an end, that this steady throwing of anything and everything at the wall to see what sticks is not going to continue. I did expect 'DSC' to make it to at least seven seasons just because that's a kind of measure for success in the Trek world, but obviously that was in a different age and most streaming series' don't make it further than five. It's just that it is the series that started it all, the base upon which CBS All Access, which became the better named Paramount+, was built, for better or worse: the golden child, the flagship of its generation. Does this mean that with more traditional Treks now in prominence its brand of overly emotional melodrama isn't as popular, or is it simply the issue of higher costs for retaining actors, the usual way a series outlives its cost/benefit ratio to the studio, is the cause?

As in the past there have been plenty of rumours or mentions of potential new Treks, but I have to say none of them have sparked any interest in me. There's the Section 31 idea which has been kicking around since the early 'DSC' days, and which I've always felt extremely tepid about just because the organisation hasn't worked since 'DS9' and requires writers of that stature to pull off. It didn't help that it's meant to be built around possibly the worst character of modern Trek, Georgiou, this unrepentant, genocidal, sarcastic evocation of evil that we were somehow supposed to root for, despite the fact she never faced any backlash for her crimes and was simply accepted by the Discovery crew for looking like Captain Georgiou! But enough about the many mistakes of the past... The Starfleet Academy cadet series was also a terrible idea that has only got worse since the suggestion Tilly might lead it (probably the second worst character to come out of modern Trek, though she's close with Burnham!), so not keen on that either, and never was as far back as I first heard about Harve Bennett's idea in the 90s (and which was basically done in the first Kelvin film). That leaves Seven of Nine/Raffi, a potential Janeway vehicle, and a Next Next Generation series using characters created for 'Picard' Season 3. Not interested in Seven or Raffi even remotely after they ruined the former and the latter was always irritating (the fourth worst in modern Trek? I don't know, Jurati gives her a run for her money!), and I have yet to see 'Prodigy' so don't know how well Kate Mulgrew comes across nowadays (Patrick Stewart being a total disappointment in the role of Picard, means nothing is certain any more), and a 25th Century series could work, but again, I have yet to see 'Picard' S3, so can't speculate on well it would work.

The truth is if they are cutting down then it's more likely they'd just keep existing series' going and I'm open to that if they are of the quality of 'Lower Decks' S2. I should rank all the seasons I've watched to give some idea of how I feel Trek has fared since 2017:

- Lower Decks S2 (the best I've seen of current Trek, and while I still hate the swearing and gross comedy, it doesn't seem as distracting as S1, with story and character coming to the fore aided by no unnecessary and non-relatable galaxy-saving stupidity)

- Picard S1 (everything from here on down is pretty poor and could be interchangeable, but I have to say there were a couple of episodes I enjoyed and it was lovely to see Data, Riker and Troi again, but it's a low bar and as with all live action Kurtzman Trek, the ending stunk)

- Short Treks (they're short, which when it comes to modern Trek is probably for the best, and the lows were low, but 'Ask Not' was about the only modern era episode I've felt was good on multiple viewings, and there are one or two others that aren't bad. The format showed promise, even though I don't like the idea of stories being quite that short, but it doesn't look set to return)

- Lower Decks S1 (more for the fact I actively want to go back and rewatch this after coming to enjoy S2, though really only the finale was something I quite liked)

- DSC S3 (it's not great, but there's less to annoy when it comes to canon thanks to the distancing of a 32nd Century setting. Shame that hasn't meant improved writing, though, the potential was squandered and ended with the same ludicrous fantasy rubbish we've come to expect, meaning its position is more for being less offensive than being anywhere close to good)

- DSC S2 (shameless insertion of Pike, Spock and the Enterprise to try and cover up the inconsistencies of tone, story and character, but it had some promise early on, even if, as with every modern Trek season except 'LD,' it messes it up in the second half)

- DSC S1 (started somewhat well, then set the tone by killing off the Picard-like Georgiou only to bring her back as the evil Mirror version in the second half, creating many of the problems of the series in the process. More miserable and nasty, but at least there was less crying!)

- Picard S2 (only halfway through, so it may suddenly wake up and become something special, but rock bottom. There's a reason Trek is set in space. Boring, stupid, badly done, the worst of Trek)

All of these seasons, with the exception of 'LD' S2 are practically on a par of badness, but I had to differentiate them somehow. It shows that at least 'DSC' has improved, even though the improvements are infinitesimal (and they've added whole new ways to fail each season!). The first season unfortunately hamstrung the whole Trek genre with its decisions about continuity, aesthetics, the technology and the writing, and things have been trying to recover on life support ever since.

Finally, my anticipation ratings for the coming Treks:

Lower Decks S3: ***
Picard S3: ***
DSC S4: **
Prodigy S1: ***
Strange New Worlds S1: ***
Section 31: -
Starfleet Academy: -
25th Century TNNG: **

Compare this with my list from 2019:

another cartoon series [Prodigy]: -
Section 31: *
Lower Decks: -
Picard: ***
Khan: *
Starfleet Academy: -
more Discovery: **

It shows that things have at least brightened relative to what they were and I have an incrementally more optimistic view of modern Trek, almost entirely on the back of 'LD' S2, so it remains to be seen how accurate that will be. I remain in two minds about whether it would be better for Trek to simply end for good and then we can debate all these existing series' merits or not as the case may be, and not be concerned about further violations to canon and content. Yet the legacy actors are growing old so this is realistically the only chance we have to see them again one more time. I can't help but wish Patrick Stewart had had this opportunity fifteen years ago before he got too old to carry Picard off as he used to, it's very sad to see, so in that sense I want as much Trek bringing back characters as I can. But again, they've ruined some of these characters so maybe it's better to let them end gracefully in whatever their final appearance was in previous iterations, much like Shatner's Kirk in 'Generations,' dying before he could become truly old. Regardless of what I want it seems Trek is continuing for the foreseeable future and they keep releasing them on DVD, and while they do that I'll keep watching. I'm even contemplating whether to review 'Lower Decks' since I actually have some positive things to say for a change.

The only other aspect of Trek yet to be touched on is the glaring absence of a film since 2016. I've lost count of the number of failed attempts to make a fourteenth film in the series, the fourth in the so-called Kelvin Timeline, and from my perspective I'd be happy they never made one since I was as underwhelmed with those films as I've been with the vast majority of the Kurtzman-era (funny how he was involved in two out of those three films, too...), and I also like the idea that 'TNG' made four to their three. Could they do a new film series? Of course. Will it appeal to me? Doubtful. I haven't even been to the cinema since 'The Rise of Skywalker' in December 2019, so I'm not sure even a potentially good Trek film would get me back there these days, especially if DVDs continue to be produced.

To conclude, things haven't changed that much, it's still up in the air how much improvement has actually happened. I'll need to see more of the new series' to be able to make a judgement on that, but at least I'm not questioning whether I'm going to buy the DVDs as I was when 'Picard' S2 came out or 'LD' S2. Constraint breeds creativity, so if the writers are forced to come up with better stories to cover a shortfall in budget that can only be a good thing. Effects may sell TV shows, but they don't create lasting and beloved content - that's what matters and what will ultimately decide if this era has been a significant part in the grand history of Trek, or merely a footnote.

Dark Frontier

 DVD, Voyager S5 (Dark Frontier)

The closest we'd ever come to a 'Voyager' feature film, unless you count the other feature-length episodes dating back to the pilot, 'Caretaker,' right up to the series finale, 'Endgame.' But 'Dark Frontier' above all others, certainly at the time, just seemed more film-like. It could be the obvious similarity with 'First Contact' (I'm surprised they didn't get Jonathan Frakes to direct it!), or the Data/Picard riff of Seven/Janeway, or even the flashbacks to when Seven went by the name Annika as a child, and her parents investigated the Borg, but whatever the reasons this story feels BIG and that's helped by the fact they chose to knit a two-parter together into one night of Borg fun. I didn't see it that way originally, as it was shown on the BBC as two distinct parts on separate weeks, but I always loved an event when it came to Trek, probably because they were so rare: you either had the film releases every two or so years (not that I saw any of them in the cinema - until 'Nemesis' anyway), or a two-parter (or, in the case of 'DS9' occasionally, a more-parter!), but rarely did we get an episode longer than forty-five minutes, simply because it was a greater undertaking. They'd do it for the pilots and finales (except 'Enterprise' which wasn't deemed to have earned a big conclusion, but which I still love anyway - take that all you who hate 'These Are The Voyages...'!), but that was usually all you got, at least until they rebirthed 'DS9' at the start of Season 4 when Worf came to stay in 'The Way of The Warrior.' You'd think they might have done the same thing with Seven at the start of their Season 4, but they preferred traditional 'TNG' end of season cliffhangers and resolution so it was not to be then. Instead it was left until mid-Season 5 and would not be seen again until halfway through Season 7, making it even more of a rarity than ever.

It's all well and good having a big event episode and changing the format to squeeze it all in, but it has to be a good story, first and foremost, it's not enough to rely on spectacle (see modern Trek for that...), it requires a good hook. A hook, a line and a sinker to get your teeth into, just like the opening encounter with what I'm calling a Borg Brick. We'd had Cubes and Spheres so now we get a Brick. What could be more momentous than another engagement with the series' most dangerous enemies? There were some small problems with how 'Voyager' used the race, it has to be said. They became too blasé about dealing with this fearsome nemesis in terms of how easy it was to escape them. The Borg were weakened way back in 'TNG' when they started trying to make them cuddly and identifiable, which is understandable since you can have more than one side to the species - they aren't even one species for a start, people snatched from their lives to exist as automatons, slaves to the hive mind, a terrifying fate of living death, witness to countless other takeovers as they sweep across the galaxy, and so there is another life within each drone that could be tapped into for great dramatic purposes, rescuing them from an abuse against their own way of life. Having Lore lead a gang of emotional Borg was the low point, but in 'Voyager' they found a way to reignite the facelessness and danger of the Borg, showing the Collective had survived the destruction of its Queen and were still a threat. It also gave more hope that those smothered in invasive machine parts could be retrieved, even after maturing and living an entire adult life within their grasp.

Seven of Nine was an inherently hopeful character (one reason I hate so strongly the destruction they brought to her in 'Picard,' which can never be forgiven), an example of someone who had effectively lived her life within an abusive 'family,' had been rescued and learned to live within a new and loving group that cared about her, even though she was at first resistant to the change. What if she had to go back to that abuse in order to save those she'd come to see as true family? That's the terrific premise of this episode, none other than the Borg Queen herself offers her a bargain: she'll allow Voyager and its crew to continue on their journey if Seven willingly gives herself up. It threw up a whole new concept with this story, that of the Queen deliberately allowing Seven to be 'saved' from her Borg heritage, living on Voyager to gain insight and experience with humanity, all in aid of one more attempt to assimilate the species. However, there are some flaws to this reasoning, one being that we can't take anything the Queen says as truth since she's a conniving, untrustworthy being of great power who appears completely corrupted as this wielder of vast empires of destruction or assimilation. Then there's her obsession with finally 'beating' humanity - do we really have that much to offer that she's so willing to do whatever it takes to achieve her goal? Or is it pure revenge after the Borg were prevented the first time they tried it on with Earth, and the second time when time travel was the preferred method? And even if she was telling the truth and Seven's time on Voyager was all part of a devious plan, what makes her so special, there are plenty of humans under the Queen's control, including Seven's own Papa, Magnus Hansen!

The Queen always claims to be above emotion, yet also always demonstrates negative emotions of jealousy, rage, smugness or cruelty, as well as a desperate need for revenge, be it on Picard or Janeway. This version of the Queen, played by Susanna Thompson (herself a veteran of three previous roles on both 'TNG' and 'DS9'), is a much different proposition to the originator of the role, Alice Krige (who would eventually return for 'Endgame,' not to mention recently providing the voice for 'Lower Decks'), who played a much more alluring version since she was trying to win Data over to her side with the gift of fleshly sensation. This Queen is more like a teacher to Seven's pupil, and a maternal one at that. She sees Seven as unique, just as her predecessor saw Data in the same light, but in both cases it's only a way of getting what she wants: the ultimate defeat of humanity and its total subservience. In this story I do wish more had been explored about the potential for the Borg to provide a way home for our intrepid little ship, since if they're planning to deal with Earth, that means they have no trouble getting there. It also makes you wonder why there wasn't some big attack during these years, since just because the Queen lost Seven, doesn't mean she couldn't have used someone else, and what exactly did she want from her anyway? I like to think it was something like the Borg not wishing to send a load of ships when they knew there was a full-on war happening in the Alpha Quadrant at this time, though I'd have loved to see the Jem'Hadar go up against the Borg!

It was revolutionary to say Seven was designed to join Voyager from the start, rather than being a surprise addition to the crew, even if, as I said, it's not necessarily true, it's a big, bold move to change the very nature of a character's position. It also cements her place with the crew now that Janeway has so heroically gone back for her, risking all to make sure she doesn't leave one of her people behind. I'm not saying it was the sensible option, she doesn't always do what's best for the greater good, and could just as easily have got her whole crew assimilated for their troubles, but it can't be denied how inspiring it is that she would go back for the one who was lost. A good Biblical story in that regard, and Janeway even had an episode the following season called 'Good Shepherd,' so her character couldn't be more on the nose, and it's something about her that makes you love her more, for all her faults and inconsistencies. Seven hadn't had quite as much of the limelight as she did in Season 4, the characters were much more balanced this season, but it's almost as if they felt they needed to make it up to her by giving her this most ambitious, vast story. They could just as easily have made 'Timeless,' the hundredth episode, into a feature-length release, but I think the difference was that that was near the beginning of the season while this was specifically designed to bump up viewership during the important 'sweeps' period when ratings were crucial for determining advertising investment, that sort of thing.

At least it was more than merely a Seven of Nine story, with good scenes for all the characters, including a tense simulation of the Away Mission aboard a Borg ship. The impression was that even Chakotay on the Bridge was actually in a Holodeck so I really wanted to see the Bridge vanish, but I suppose you can only do so much. I wanted more of Neelix, but as it is they gave him a touching moment when he shares how much he'd love access to the amount of personal data and recordings that Seven's parents had made, a treasure trove of memories when he has so little to remember his own family by. We often forget his tragic past so it interconnected beautifully with Seven's own, putting her position in perspective at a time we're coming to realise how much resentment she has for her parents that they destroyed their family and got themselves and their daughter assimilated. It's the same facts, but two different attitudes on display, with Seven apprehensive about digging into all this old material. I really wanted them to explore the psychological implications for Seven of asking her to go back to a place of abuse, because at first she didn't seem as if it was affecting her in the least, but obviously that wasn't the case. She needed to confront her issues with her family, and while the episode perhaps didn't go far enough in that direction, I was glad it was taken on at some level. They could have done just as great an episode without the Borg even appearing if it was all about her mind, but they'd already dealt with such things in various episodes, in particular 'The Raven.'

As great a story as this is, it's not without its flaws, and there are some confusing timing related issues. The history of the Borg is heavy with continuity problems and how much who knew when, and this episode can't help but dredge all that up, in large doses! Unfortunately they didn't approach it as an opportunity to clear up the mess, instead making things even more inconsistent, and it's probably the most mistake-heavy race in all of Trek continuity as a result. The biggest thing is obviously how the Hansens even knew about this cybernetic race in the first place - that's not a problem if it were just rumour and myth, but they seem to know everything about them: that they have a Queen, the ships they use, everything that we've slowly learned about them over the years, apparently the Hansens knew early on! I can see how this happened, as it occurs all the time with things that continue a storyline. Take the Vulcans: in 'TOS' they were a very mysterious race that humans knew little about, but over the years we found out so much, and now it's as if we always knew all that information because that's easier than trying to insert a story into a time we didn't know this or that, and being consistent with the level of knowledge at that time. It would also mean the audience is way ahead of characters if we'd followed the unfolding storylines of Trek over the years. Still, they should have worked to tighten up exactly how they knew things, and when.

I appreciated a mention of the Romulan Neutral Zone which they've apparently crossed into against Federation laws, because of course that is where the Borg first made their presence felt, way back at the end of Season 1 of 'TNG' when Romulan outposts are being destroyed. So there was at least some sense of correct continuity there, but still, that would only have been around twelve years previous, while if we assume Seven is in her late-twenties, and was five or six years old when she was assimilated, it would still be a good few years earlier that the Hansens were exploring that area, and in fact the Romulans wouldn't even have made contact out of their isolation at that time. All we needed was a line from Magnus saying they don't even know if the Romulans still observe the Neutral Zone since no contact has been made for the best part of a century. That would have fitted in neatly, plus would have made the setting more solid for us continuity buffs. I really wanted their ship, the Raven, to be reminiscent of early 'TNG' rather than looking the same as 'Voyager' and its panels. They could have seen it as an opportunity to bring back old-looking tech, and while they couldn't do the uniforms of that era since the Hansens are civilians, they could have found ways to make it seem older. The real mistake was in calling it the USS Raven when in its original appearance ('The Raven'), it was called the SS Raven, denoting that it was a Federation vessel, but not Starfleet. Now it makes it seem like it would be a Starfleet vessel and the whole thing unravels. At least if the Hansens weren't connected, or only loosely, to official Federation organisations you can find it easier to believe no one had heard of the Borg, but now it's harder to reconcile that.

Even young Annika knows things about the Borg that while general knowledge now, would have been major reveals at that time. Granted, her parents would tell her things, but it only adds to the impression of complete familiarity with a race that should have been a mystery. How would they even know they were called Borg, other than the fact that they announce themselves before assimilating a race, and so it could have been learned from a third party. But still... I did love the flashbacks, seeing a young Seven with her parents, though you can understand her point of view, they were extremely rash to not just go and seek this dangerous race, but bring their young daughter with them! It can be argued they didn't know what they were getting into, but they seem so cavalier about it all, going aboard vessels and carrying out their research - it's the kind of thing I can imagine being done at this time in the Trek world when so much is known, but then again I suppose the point was that they were naive and didn't realise what they were getting into. It's no surprise Seven had so much pent up resentment about it all. But it shows how far she had come that she would sacrifice herself for Voyager. In a way it also shows how far she still had to go since she should have made Janeway aware of the Queen's ultimatum, then at least the Captain would have been prepared and a new plan might have been put into action with that foreknowledge. It was a dangerous risk the Queen took in contacting Seven like that and assuming she'd go along with the coercion, but Seven is still relatively 'young' and inexperienced in life, she understands efficiency and doing what's needed more than the possibilities of her crew's ability to protect her.

It gave the story great heart as in the past we'd seen so much antagonism and battling between Janeway and her charge, but now we see her grown to the point where she can plead to be put back on Away Team, saying whatever is necessary so she'll be reinstated in order to save Voyager, and also the lengths Janeway would go to save her. The best moment in the whole thing is when Janeway sends through a message of hope that sustains her at her absolute lowest moment when it seems there is no way out and she's completely beaten. It was also terrific to see her show such compassion for even just that small group of individual aliens about to be assimilated. They represent more than just a motley collection, they represent individuality and one last desperate attempt to prevent herself being completely overwhelmed by the Borg. Even the way Janeway leaves Seven's alcove functioning, left on like a beacon of hope that she will return, was a beautiful image, much like when Sisko left his baseball behind on abandoning DS9. These symbols are the subtlety of message completely lost in the modern era of Trek where everything must be spelled out and hit on the head, one approach to view the audience as adult, the other as juvenile, so it's a real pleasure to return to one of the great episodes. It could even be the last great Borg story, because while there were many more to come on the series (and not forgetting the one on 'Enterprise'), they were usually some kind of unique spin on the race rather than full-blown filmic encounters, or when they did do a proper meeting and brought in the Borg Queen, they were never as good in the story department as this one was.

The strength of the episode is that it's not just fighting the Borg, it's the messages of hope, it's the psychological aspect, but it's also the way other characters are part of it. I already mentioned Neelix and how his past life intersected with what Seven was going through, but there's also an element of casual attitudes to the Borg and their situation, or Seven, were perceived. When Tom talks about them being mindless drones and fails to realise that they're all individuals held captive by the hive mind, just as Seven comes in, an example of someone who was freed from that slavery, it's hard to take. Every time they kill a Borg it's effectively putting out the light of a stranger who had a life once and if they had anyone to care for them in the way Janeway did for Seven, might have been rescued and rehabilitated. But Paris is just seeing them as cannon fodder, essentially. B'Elanna is equally callous when she assumes Seven's motives for abandoning the ship show that she never truly left the Collective, but she doesn't know what the reasons were - she's being a typical judgemental person without all the facts, and I wish there could have been some small scene at the end where she apologised for jumping to conclusions. It made sense for her since she and Seven had butted heads on numerous occasions, and it was important to see that viewpoint, and it also gives us a glimpse of the old adversarial way she and the Captain would interact at first before Seven stole that role and B'Elanna softened.

One character used especially effectively was Naomi Wildman, in whom it's easy to see a parallel with the young Annika, both around the same age. Since Seven was that age the last time she was an individual it makes perfect sense that she would be able to identify with this little girl and further cemented their friendship and bond. I really liked how they turn it on its head and have Naomi be part of a nightmare where she won't stop questioning Seven about being a drone and then suddenly is a Borg herself - really creepy and effective, though I imagine it could be confusing if you didn't know the series intimately, as you'd wonder what that scene was all about! But they continue to succeed at achieving an atmosphere with the Borg, even at this late stage when it's becoming increasingly easy for Voyager to survive and escape, reducing the effectiveness of the nemesis. Here, a Borg ship still comes across like a haunted house full of hidden dangers that can appear at any time, dark corners, painful flashes of light, the internal is an almost physically painful place to be, a far cry from the awful reinterpretation of it for 'Picard' where everywhere was sparse and tidy! Here it's messy and full of horror, not a pleasant place to visit at all. And while my trained eye can begin to see that they're just going down the same corridor again and again from different angles, it's well enough disguised that it didn't take me out of it.

Clearly they didn't have the budget of a feature film like 'First Contact,' so it was brave to even try to approximate a recreation of the Borg Queen's grand entrance, but they did it. It doesn't have the power and awe, the theatricality of the film version, but it was more than adequate and somehow fitted with Thompson's more toned down version. The makeup is in no way toned down, but is as effective as ever, as you'd expect from Michael Westmore who originated it for the film, right down to the silver contact lenses - it was almost like the Queen wanted to see Seven as she was when she first boarded Voyager with her silver catsuit! I can't remember if it was scheduling issues at the time or Krige simply didn't want to reprise the role, but I wish she had in some ways, and in others not. Just as Q was different with Janeway than he was with Picard, the Queen needed to be different, too, and when Krige eventually did return for the finale I seem to remember she was a more savage, biting, snappy version since it wouldn't have worked for her to behave the same way as she did with Picard and Data. It's fascinating the ins and outs of the character's appearances, starting as Krige, then Thompson taking this and the 'Unimatrix Zero' two-part end of Season 6/beginning of Season 7 cliffhanger, Krige reprising the role, then again over twenty years later in 'Lower Decks,' and finally Annie Wersching inhabiting it for 'Picard' Season 2 (which I have yet to see play out). I've always been in two minds (ironically!), about the Queen, because she did make the Borg less faceless and scary from that perspective, but at the same time she added a new dimension. A sometimes petty, too-human dimension, but a new layer nonetheless.

The Queen mentions the failed 'first attempt' to assimilate Earth, and that got me thinking: was she talking about the single Cube of 'The Best of Both Worlds,' or was it the Sphere in 'First Contact' - makes me wonder if the Borg even know about that attempt because the timeline was changed, or repaired, so maybe they'd have no memory of it, unlike the Enterprise crew, who survived the experience? Another intriguing reference thrown in was Tom Paris talking about money going the way of the dinosaur in the late 22nd Century when the New World Economy took over. I always love any reference to that century, especially before 'Enterprise,' because so little was known. They would occasionally like to fill in a bit of our knowledge of the chronology, but money is a very confusing thing to deal with in Trek because usually in the 24th Century it's clear there is no money (until the modern TV shows upset the applecart and said there was money...), while in 'TOS' there were implications of being paid, etc, so it must still exist. Confusing, and this comment just added fuel to the fire of debate that no doubt rages somewhere in Internetland. Though fun trivia, why would Ferengi try to break into Fort Knox since gold isn't of value any more, and why would Fort Knox even store gold anyway (maybe they didn't, maybe it stores Latinum these days - in which case there hangs a tale I'd like to see: The Great Ferengi Fort Knox Heist...).

I wish Chakotay had had more to do as it seemed like he should be the one heading Away Missions rather than the Captain, but that attitude of early 'TNG' to protect the Captain had long been forgotten, I feel. The thing he said about knowing Janeway was about to drop a bombshell because of the way she was fiddling with her combadge is one of those things that has never happened before yet we're supposed to believe is a common habit, which was a bit annoying! I could also say that perhaps the idea of the bio-dampener technology was a bit too advanced for the Hansens' time, and the Borg should have long ago adapted so they'd be able to detect it in case anyone tried that in future, but in the same way Janeway had to be there on the mission because of the personal drama and connection between her and Seven, the dampener was there to increase the drama potential as obviously Janeway is then separated from Tuvok (who I'd have loved to see grappling with Borg if they caught up with him, since he has greater strength than humans). While I'm complaining I'd also mention how easy it was to blow up the Borg Brick ship, although even there I can find an answer that maybe it was meant to be an impetus for them to then search around for another weakened Borg vessel, all part of the lure to get Seven back to the Collective. The big end result of the story was that Voyager was successful in using a transwarp coil to boost themselves twenty thousand lightyears closer to home, though I wish they'd said how many more lightyears they had to go as they seem to have had several big jumps in the last couple of seasons, what with the Borg and Kes' parting gift... And I can't end without saying how much I loved the final scene where Janeway effectively orders Seven to go to bed, then wishes her sweet dreams as she plugs into her alcove, all back as it should be, like she was the little girl she'd been all over again. Aaah.

****

Remnants

 DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (Remnants)

Mixed feelings on this one. If McKay was being manipulated as well, why couldn't he see 'Vanessa' when both Wolsey and Sheppard could? That didn't make sense just so they could reveal with a twinkle at the end that Zelenka was the one helping him. Other than that I was mostly into it. It rests on the idea that you believe in evolution as a way for sentient life to come into existence, which I don't, so although it was a good moral issue whether to allow life to spring from the seed pod, or to harvest the data themselves at the cost of the genetic material, I wasn't very sympathetic to their idea. Then there was the unexpected addition of the Genii, and specifically Kolya... I was never fond of this race, neither did I much care for Kolya, an early attempt at giving the series a somewhat recurring villain. But in a way I felt it was justified to bring back Robert Davi since he was fairly integral to the early seasons. So... I'm not sure on that count. It wasn't until he actually chopped off Sheppard's hand that I realised this couldn't be happening. This isn't the kind of series where a main character gets seriously maimed, and while we are coming to the end of it, so all bets should be off, and there's always alien technology that can fix even hand/arm separation, there was something fishy about Kolya showing up out of the blue like this. It was also suspicious that the two scientists who were in the story to begin with suddenly had no part to play and it was entirely from Sheppard's perspective after being knocked unconscious. That always smacks of alien manipulation to me.

Obviously there's the parallel story of Wolsey simultaneously having to deal with a performance review (led by Tamlyn Tomita - that woman is in absolutely everything!), and meeting a mysterious lady who is his ideal, again out of the blue. Not that I made the connection at first, I assumed she really was what she seemed, especially as she was cunningly introduced before McKay even found the device in the ocean. So it was a cleverly designed puzzle, I'll give them that. It was fitting that Wolsey should get a story, and it was different to have three individual plots, and certainly kept the story spinning, suspicions not having time to come to rest. Until that is the hand situation occurred. They wouldn't bring back Kolya just like that, why would he be on the planet Atlantis is on, and didn't he die? Yes, he did die, as Sheppard mentions. Even Zelenka complimenting Rodney was suspicious, though I wasn't sure if we were supposed to think he was real or just that he could have been a mental manipulation, at first. And with a title like 'Remnants' it suggests it's going to be about some kind of alien group that survives somehow. You don't need to have seen as much sci-fi as I have to realise it all added up to this mysterious device that was giving off something that could affect people's minds.

You could say that ultimately it was a nuts and bolts mystery, and I did find myself missing the other characters, with Teyla, Ronon and Keller only getting minimal interaction. I always enjoy a character that only appears to one person and which no one else can see, and I welcomed seeing Wolsey in a vulnerable situation. He may have surprised his IOC paymasters back on Earth by not towing the company line, but he's surprised me in how amenable he's been. To some degree I wish we'd seen a tougher arc so that he didn't come around quite so easily and was butting heads more seriously during the season. He's had his differences, but he's never been the Wolsey of old, always ready to shut the programme down or whatever, so he has rather lost his bite, sadly. On the other side he's been a nicer character to watch, so it's a difficult line to come down on whether he was a success. It was certainly an unexpected and bold move, and I'm always for Robert Picardo being in things, it's just that I'm not sure how I'd be writing the character's performance review myself. There always has to be the moment their position is questioned, and since we're coming to the end anyway they can't exactly make much of a threat on whether a character will remain in charge or not, but they had to deal with it at some point.

I can say it's not a bad sci-fi story, and after the heavy previous episode dealing with Michael, it was an ideal change of pace. These are the kind of episodes I usually enjoy best, just messing about with the characters, playing some sci-fi trick on them to see how they react and perhaps learning something about them. But there was too much solitariness, I think, as we come to the last few episodes, and I want to see the team doing things together before it's too late. I'm not saying it was a waste of a slot, by no means, but adding up all the niggles, and the fact it didn't surprise me, despite being a poetic solution with the little flourish at the end confirming Zelenka was never there, I'd have to say it didn't quite pass its performance review, though it was ever so close. I hope they really excel with the last few stories, and it's not that I didn't like this one, just felt it didn't quite get there. Maybe I'm being too harsh and will reevaluate it when I see it again, but for now it's a 'not bad' and 'getting there' from me.

**