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.

**

The Prodigal

 DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (The Prodigal)

I was thinking Ford. It was Michael. Of course it was Michael. What was surprising, given that I generally feel stories around that character were generally a bit B-film sci-fi, very much in the mould of the theatrical System Lords of 'SG-1,' was that I found this to be one of the best episodes! It starts all quite cosy, just another evening on Atlantis, Wolsey's giving Ronon a talking to for not filing mission reports, Teyla's walking her baby to get him to sleep, and Sheppard and Rodney are... playing radio controlled car racing in the halls? But this is not the time for fun as the power suddenly goes out. It was a promising setup as it's always good to have stories where they're creeping around the bowels of the city, vast and empty. It was a bit B-film, all those lines about Michael's plans for galactic domination, and as he strides onto the control centre floor, robes flowing, minions following, I couldn't help but think of the 'Voyager' parody of old 'Flash Gordon' serials in 'Bride of Chaotica!' that I watched again recently. And it is a bit silly and melodramatic, but it turned into something quite cinematic, too!

I would never have imagined they'd kill off the character before the series had ended, but it shows they really are coming to the end of the series if they're beginning to tie up loose ends. It could be that he somehow survives to come back at them one more time, it's possible, since last time they blew up his ship and he still survived, so what's a fall down a tower from the top of Atlantis? Maybe he had another ship out there ready to help him, maybe he was somehow able to fall into water, maybe... I don't know. I hope that is it for him, because as much as I love Connor Trinneer in 'Enterprise' I never felt he made a good villain. Maybe the southern American twang never sat right with his dialogue, I don't know, he did the best he could but the enemy was a simple evil character without any real sympathetic qualities, which arguably are necessary for a strong villain. He certainly went out spectacularly, chased to the top of the command tower by Sheppard (who really should have known better than to simply walk out with his gun in front - and wouldn't he also carry a handgun on him?), then fighting with him quite brutally in hand to hand combat - it was fortunate Sheppard already had some experience climbing outside the tower previously as he must have been less fazed by the wind whistling around and the extreme drop below. It fell to Teyla to land the killer blow that sent the villain to his doom. Was it right to do that, because she seemed to be carrying out the same thing he wanted for Atlantis: vengeance. And if it's alright for the good guys to do that, what exactly is it that makes them good guys?

In her defence there didn't seem to be any other way to handle him in that scenario. If she'd pulled him up he'd only have pulled her off, but I always like the heroes to show one last bit of compassion and at least try to save the enemy, even if it's only so he can be brought to justice. Still, I can't fault the production value, and it was great seeing the ins and outs of the city that we don't often get. The idea of a stun bubble, as Zelenka insists on calling it, was a good visual, as was the fighting from Ronon and the control woman, Banks. When I see martial arts combat on modern stuff I usually don't like it, perhaps because it's filmed far too quick-cut, but here I was really impressed as they got a good sense of the hits and the weight of it all, especially in the fight between Ronon and Michael. I also usually find it so cliched and boring when the villain and hero fight, but because the series is generally so grounded in its sets and characters, and for the fact it was such a big moment in the series that this nemesis was being dealt with, I really liked all of it, and everyone had plenty to do, good lines and a sense of teamwork, things coming together. The atmosphere of coming doom was amply supported by the deadly chime of the self-destruct and in all ways this seemed to be a superior production.

The only character left out of it (even Wolsey had his part to play, including falling down some stairs!), was Dr. Keller, and I don't know why they didn't give her a little scene in the medical bay at the end since they had a scene there between Ronon and Wolsey. I don't demand that every main character must appear in every episode, indeed it's more realistic to mix and match a bit, but when everyone was so evenly handled she did stand out as missing, maybe the actress was ill or working on some other project at the time, otherwise maybe she'd have had Banks' lines? The expertise of the characters, the joy of seeing them solve these problems, the heroism of risking life and limb, it was all inspiring in a Trekkian way that's rarely seen on those modern Trek series', so I feel like this was the last of that era of quality ensemble sci-fi shows - as much as I enjoyed 'Universe' it wasn't up to 'SG-1' or 'Atlantis' standards so I'm really going to miss this series when it ends in only six episodes time. Wow, I can't believe it! I suppose the big opposition is going to be the Wraith, then, as it should be, since that's how it all started, but somehow I thought they were going to combine all these plots together in one big blowout of enemy defeats and myriad plots. I can't imagine them going out as well as they did with this episode, but I hope so.

***

Bliss

 DVD, Voyager S5 (Bliss)

The desire to achieve what you want to achieve can sometimes be a weapon with which to beat you, that would be one message I interpreted from this enjoyable foray into my favourite sub-genre: the nature of reality. It's really an amalgamation of a number of previously-owned Trek parts, but they're arranged in such a way, much like Qatai's junky vessel, so as to be perfectly functional and somehow reassuring. You have the space amoeba from 'TOS,' or various space-borne entities from 'TNG,' crossed with V'ger of 'The Motion Picture' (travelling through the inside of a gigantic beast), with a little of the giant space worm of 'The Empire Strikes Back.' 'Persistence of Vision' from the series' own history, was very similar in the sense that the crew were incapacitated by dreams 'coming true,' though that was more affecting and also nastier. Then there's Data taking over the ship or rescuing/protecting it in various episodes like 'Brothers' or 'Clues,' and this had a very 'TNG' flavour to it, except with the 'Voyager' twist - it's somewhat ironic that on a ship full of families they didn't come up with a good way to use children generally on the Enterprise-D, but on Voyager they only have one and they quickly learned to incorporate her well. Naomi Wildman shines in this story as sidekick to Seven, while also showing that sense of family that she belongs to the whole crew as their firstborn aboard ship. You only have to look at the way Uncle Tom treats her when she's with him and Seven on an Away Mission aboard the Delta Flyer!

It's strange, but the things I find of extreme irritation and annoyance, which push me away from modern Trek, seem to work in 'old' Trek! For example, 'the casual way they speak' is a common complaint for me, yet in this episode Tom's being very casual (and is one of the most casual characters in Trek!), but I warm to him. Some of the colloquialisms spoken in the episode, like Janeway or even Qatai, show that it's not a new thing for Trek to be speaking like our future characters are the same as today. Then there's Seven breaking out the big guns, going around with a rare Compression Phaser Rifle - in 'Picard' I can't stand all that, having her be this gun-toting 'action babe,' always ready with a quip and hefty blast of fire as she takes on space pirates. I suppose it must be context, partly, and also the amount of time given over to it, but also that because she's such a controlled character here when she does go rogue, as it were, it's only for a brief time and it's never filmed in a way that glorifies her like a superhero (which it clearly is in 'Picard' to the extent that in Season 2 she's literally associated with that in dialogue!). 'Voyager' seems so much more real. There was a reason Trek generally stayed away from space pirates, and that is there's very little that's interesting about them, there's no structure or sense of a group that there is when dealing with races of people, while in 'Picard' they can just show up to be killed by Seven as a 'Ranger.' One of the few examples I can think of is Arctus Baran from 'Gambit,' probably because Qatai looks like a cross between his lion-like makeup and that which would become the Tellarites in 'Enterprise.'

It really was great makeup, too, and I can see the origin of Michael Westmore's direction for the famous race of 'TOS' quite clearly: the sunken eyes, the large nostrils, the deeply lined face, the beard and straggly hair... It would be just over four years later that we finally got a modern revamp of the Tellarites, but he must have been pleased with Qatai to follow it so closely. It could have been fun if he'd turned out to be a Tellarite, lost in the Delta Quadrant, having followed this creature all the way from the Alpha after his family were killed there. The timing would have had to be different, more like a century that he'd been travelling instead of thirty-nine years, but think of all that our crew would have had to discuss with him if he had been! Maybe it would have added too much detail into an episode that was already neatly packed with story (and references), but the idea of someone from our area of space meeting Voyager out there on the other side of the galaxy was a good one (and would eventually be used in 'Prophecy' with the Klingon ship). I'm just musing, because Qatai was fine as is and we don't need to bring everything back into small universe proportions (it's just that Tellarites, though mentioned, had never been seen in that era of Trek, so it would have been fun!).

Even though Qatai is a new character there was some history with him from a production standpoint since he was played by W. Morgan Sheppard, previously famous for the great Ira Graves in 'The Schizoid Man' of 'TNG' (arguably responsible for giving precedent to the terrible idea of making Picard into an android at the end of Season 1, but that wasn't his fault!), in the Eighties, and the Klingon commandant of Rura Penthe in 'Star Trek VI,' both memorable characters. Qatai was also memorable, but Sheppard would have one more appearance in Trek with his role as a minister of the Vulcan Science Council in 'Star Trek XI,' though he won't be appearing in Trek again since he died in 2019, sadly. He was always a rough and ready roguish type with his scratchy voice and dishevelled appearance (so no wonder he was chosen to be a Vulcan by the modern regime!). I would say Qatai was his second best role as Graves was more enjoyable, here he's a Captain Ahab out hunting his whale, but without the same intensity of that literary character (or the brooding hatred exhibited by Picard in 'First Contact' as he fulfilled the same role). He comes across as a wronged, but pretty personable old man whose only real edge is in his scarred face. But he's not a fearsome figure, or driven by rage and beyond all sense which might have been more appropriate. Mind you, rage can't be kept up at an intensity for forty years so maybe he'd mellowed over the years and come to see the creature as part of a game that gave him a purpose in life, almost enjoying the intelligence and challenge of it.

There wasn't really time to get to know him fully, it was more about Seven and Naomi teaming up against the crew at first, then the creature. Coming back to the ship from an Away Mission of some kind and finding things not quite right is one of my favourite types of story - 'Macrocosm' is a terrific example, and I feel they didn't quite go far enough in this one. It was more like the crew were comfortably excited about this new prospect and it's played as if it could be true that Seven has her qualms because of an isolated anxiety about going back to Earth. Except we'd already seen that there was some creature from the teaser which features only Qatai hunting it. The thing is, it wouldn't be out of character for Seven to go paranoid and start acting as if everyone else is in the wrong and she needs to act, she's just that sort of personality, but the start was a little uneven in what it was trying to get us to believe. At another time we would see Seven as the one in the wrong and needing to be dealt with, and if I were Janeway I'd be looking into stopping her from being able to activate forcefields and take over Engineering, because next time it might be when she's gone off her rocker and it could be catastrophic! In this case it saved the ship, but what's going on with Tuvok - he created a program that dealt with what would happen if the Maquis mutinied and commandeered Voyager, and yet he doesn't have any failsafes in place to deal with Seven?

I liked that he was used (although you'd think when Security was called they'd send more than just him on his own, unless the others were coming from a different part of the ship, or the fact there were two Security Officers already in the Cargo Bay with Chakotay meant they only wanted Tuvok?), but it's a shame his Vulcan nature didn't fight against what was hardly alien to his race: telepathy. If this was 'TOS,' Spock would have been the one to sense telepathic influences, and Tuvok, being a full Vulcan should have been the star of this show, but sadly, because Seven was so easy to write for, he was relegated to the same fate as his mostly human crew-mates, which is a bit of a travesty. It may also have something to do with the fact the previous episode was a Tuvok story so they didn't want to go back to back on him, though that didn't seem to stop them with Seven in Season 4! One thing I loved about his involvement is that, like 'Persistence of Vision,' we got to see his wife, T'Pel. I'd actually forgotten we'd seen her before, but disappointing they didn't get the same actress back. I knew she showed up in 'Body and Soul,' but they went back to the original actress for that Season 7 appearance, so the character appeared three times and only the middle one was a different actress! But all three were 'fake' appearances since the first two were hallucinations and the third was a holographic recreation.

I love the continuity of it all, though, and strange dream sequences are another part of Trek I adore, so seeing Tuvok meet his wife and even do the two-finger greeting stroke down the back of her two fingers to remind us of the extreme restraint of Vulcans, dating back to 'TOS,' was gratifying (quickly dispelled in the more 'modern' series, 'Enterprise,' where T'Pol was shown to be quite comfortable with physical contact, Vulcan or non-Vulcan alike - another reason they failed that race on that series). Neelix also gets a vision, meeting Starfleet Admirals who want him to be an ambassador, and we get to see the old 'TNG' Admiral uniform because he wouldn't know what the current era's grey shouldered style would look like since it hadn't been invented when Voyager got sucked across the galaxy - again, good continuity, since he'd have researched Earth and Starfleet and would know what the older uniform would look like! I lost track of all the references thrown in, but Janeway mentions Mark (I almost thought they were going to bring him back when she's gazing so lovingly at the Viewscreen, in the way they did in 'Persistence of Vision,' but it was only Earth!), Tom runs down a list of Alpha Quadrant species, Harry mentions the Hirogen and Malon, and Naomi has her Flotter doll with her. It's a far cry from the kind of machine gunned references modern Trek does, especially 'Lower Decks,' which is sometimes unforgivable in its unashamed fourth wall-breaking (but works a lot better in Season 2, to give it credit), but all very admirably done for this series.

One complaint could be that some characters get short shrift, but that's always the way. I almost thought we weren't going to see B'Elanna, but she does show up to get Phasered and she had a nice moment when the Doc awakens her and she starts seeing the Maquis again, believing they somehow survived. But it was unquestionably a Seven of Nine story and showed just how beautifully she could work with Naomi, since to some degree they're both children, and both outsiders to a small extent: yes, they're part of the Voyager family, but along with Neelix and the Doctor they weren't attached to Earth and don't have this overwhelming desire to return there. Actually, considering Neelix' eventual exit from the series right near the end, it's surprising that he wanted to go back himself. I can't remember if they got rid of his ship by this point or not, but he could have suggested staying in the Delta Quadrant. The only reason he left Voyager was to join a distant Talaxian colony, so the creature could have provided him with one to take with him, since it gave each of them just what they wanted. Perhaps more could have been made of this, although as I said, 'Persistence of Vision' covered some of this ground, but it would be interesting to see if the crew's desires had remained the same three years later. The important takeaway for Seven was that she realised an even stronger bond with Naomi as both had no great wish to leave Voyager, which had become home.

The story could have ended there with them in Astrometrics, but they wanted to have the symmetry of Qatai hogging the first scene of the episode and the last scene, and I can understand why, but at the same time I'm not sure what we got from his scene, other than he's just going on as before, approaching this creature. There wasn't really any examination of revenge and why it's wrong, he almost lost everything, you'd think he might have chosen to abandon the hunt (speaking of which, they could have involved the Hirogen, too, and made it into some big two-parter!), having learned his lesson, but in the same way he didn't seem extreme and driven enough to be stricken with desire for revenge, there wasn't the space for growth afforded to his interactions, he's more of a tool our crew use to learn what's going on. That's part of the reason why I don't like the episode quite as much as when I first saw it, it doesn't go far enough in certain areas, though I did appreciate the Doctor showing the Starfleet way is not to kill creatures, even when they're trying to kill you. It's not that they needed to understand it personally, other than that it was a predator acting on natural instinct, but to understand its nature and formulate a nonlethal strategy from that, which they did. There is a moral question about whether it was fine to leave it roaming the galaxy at large, with the potential to trick other sentient beings into becoming meals, but hey, it's not Voyager's region of space, so not their problem... Yes, there was a bit of a gap in logic there, another issue that needed fleshing out a bit, because as much as it was important to be compassionate and humanitarian, I don't think they'd be feeling too comfortable with the idea of leaving it alive if it was heading for a planet of children, or something like that!

Another thing that was of interest to me was seeing little bits of the ship we don't usually see. Specifically, we get the little office on the far side of Sickbay - usually the Doctor did office stuff in his main office with the transparent walls, but this time he used another console round the corner from there. The most striking moment was when Seven carries Naomi through Voyager and they walk along a corridor full of windows so they could show off the dark external view of this beast's belly. It was great to see, but I don't think we ever saw that before or after. I'm guessing it was just a redress of the Mess, somehow subtly curved, and usually they don't want to have to show imagery outside the ship too much, perhaps, but it made me think of that corridor Daniels takes Archer to in the 26th Century aboard the Enterprise-J. Naomi asks where are they, referring to the state of the ship, but I was asking the same question about where they were on the ship! I really like how Naomi was used (sadly her Mother only gets a mention rather than an appearance), whether she was telling Seven one thing to disguise her real reason (she claimed she wanted to be helpful, but really she didn't want to be alone, and Seven understood the direct approach when she didn't understand the subtlety), or caught between following Seven's commands or Chakotay's orders - though I'm not quite sure how she could obey his order to return to her Quarters since she was behind a forcefield!). Her comparison of a 'pitcher plant' didn't make sense to me as one was using pheromones while the creature was using telepathy, psychogenic/neurogenic manipulation. Still, she's a bright child for her age (almost three?!).

One little character moment could have gone completely unnoticed, but I had to mention it because it shows a side of Janeway that doesn't often come up: her science background. She sends an EM pulse to knock Seven out at her console, which was a resourceful idea, something I like seeing in her because it demonstrates she's not just Captain because she wanted to be Captain (as modern Trek tends to suggest about captaincy - not everyone is suited to the position!). Another good little bit of continuity was the effect of the wormhole with its internal visuals of little rippling pools in a similar style to the Bajoran Wormhole of 'DS9.' And Tom gets to be the one to say: "Please state the nature of the medical emergency..." While we're on classic lines, the Doc says: "I'm a doctor, not a... [dragon-slayer]," which is an always fun callback to one of Bones' catchphrases from 'TOS' and something all (classic-era: up to the end of 'Enterprise'), are sure to say in some version or other. It's strange that Qatai would want him along on his hunt, but he must grow tired of never having anyone to talk to. Then again he is a crusty old salt so he no doubt talks to his ship all the time, but after forty years of that you'd think he'd have become a little unstable. Maybe he is and we just didn't realise: ignorance is bliss (had to get that in there somehow).

***

Gravity

 DVD, Voyager S5 (Gravity)

Is this where it began? Can it be traced to this point? Or was it even further back when Vulcans began to be portrayed emotionally? When you look at Trek of today, one of many things about it that's different and rings false is how the most important race other than humans are shown. I've always thought it was the fault of 'Enterprise' that they were depicted wrong ever since that series, and something which I would have put down to a different group of people writing Trek if not for the fact that it was during the Berman-era that this trend began. It's something that's affected how stoic, how superior, how inspiring this race can be even up to the present - I watched the first episode of 'Picard' Season 2 the other week and there was a Vulcan member of a Security team that rushes to the Bridge when the Borg attack, and he looked worried, he wasn't assured, almost panicky (at the time I gave it the benefit of the doubt that it could be a Romulan, but in the same episode we learn Elnor is the first of his kind in Starfleet, so he was clearly a Vulcan!), and it's a change that has permanently altered the race. I'll admit I'm especially critical when it comes to Vulcans because they are my favourite race, which is why I've always considered Tuvok to be the best example for his ability to remain in control no matter what. The first full-Vulcan main character in Trek, and the last to be portrayed unemotionally, because for all that I appreciate Jolene Blalock's efforts as T'Pol, she was fighting against an overwhelming current against traditional Vulcan norms.

Now that I see this episode again it makes me wonder if this surreptitiously set the tone for the direction attitudes to Vulcans would take. I mean just look: we see Tuvok take part in some thumping fighting action when he rushes in to save Noss, and while he does throw in a Neck Pinch at the end, primarily it's brute force, exactly the kind of thing Nimoy developed the style of Vulcan combat to go against, to show how graceful and how engineered to peaceful resistance this logical race truly were. Vulcans are stronger than most races so they don't need to wade in like pugilists or, more appropriately, martial artists, yet that has been the direction ever since, with T'Pol especially demonstrating Vulcan martial arts, bleeding over into the Kelvin films (who can forget alternate Spock's ludicrously over-the-top hand-to-hand combat with 'Khan' in 'Into Darkness' - believe me I wish I could!), and then 'DSC,' with elaborate hand fights when it could just as easily have been ended with a Phaser blast. All that being said, Tuvok coming in as a hero and taking on multiple opponents was great and because they did include the Neck Pinch (or is it the Nerve Pinch, I never remember?), that somehow made it okay for me.

It's not just the fight that brought to mind later Trek, it's also the emotionalism of both young Tuvok in the flashbacks, and his Master, too! Yes, the Master (who's name we never learned), shows a little too much of the emotion he was trying to logic out of his pupil, to the extent that he even smiles at the end. When Spock smiles in 'The Cage,' it was an aberration, something that represented how little was understood of what Vulcans were going to be, and was quickly cleaned up in the following episodes once they tied down who Spock was - it didn't stop current Trek from extrapolating from that one mistake to suggest Spock was a much more emotional young man than we'd ever expected he would be, and while I haven't yet seen 'Strange New Worlds,' the showcase for our current version played by Ethan Peck, 'DSC' Season 2 was enough to demonstrate his less Spock-like demeanour most adequately. From 'Star Trek XI' we see Vulcan children are logical and aloof even from a young age, though Spock is goaded into fighting by intelligently malicious taunts from his fellow pupils, but we didn't really know what young Vulcans were supposed to be like. We see Spock grow into adulthood at an advanced rate in 'Star Trek III,' but that wasn't a fair test case as we know his body is connected to the rapidly ageing and decaying Genesis planet, which can explain anything.

So it was strange to come to this episode and find that at least the young Tuvok was a combative, emotional youth. It seemed to be suggested that he was sent to this Vulcan Master in disgrace for his emotional outbursts after having strong feelings due to a female (a Terrellian, not to be confused with Terellian or Tarellian - sometimes I think the writers are pranking us!), so it could still be the case that most Vulcan children are taught to repress emotion from a young age, but I couldn't help but equate it with the modern take on young Spock and Vulcans in general as having emotions just under the surface that frequently rise, rather than the impression I prefer of deeply buried and controlled feelings, something Tim Russ always did so well on the series. Indeed, I have no complaint against Russ' performance here, he is as stoic as ever in spite of Paris' insistence he needs to loosen up and welcome this young woman who has formed an attraction to him, with open arms. It may be true that the prototype of modern Vulcanity was birthed here, but I'd always observed a shifting in perception of how the famous race were seen - even on 'TOS' Spock was often coming into conflict with human attitudes, most obviously with Dr. McCoy, but other crewmembers too (see 'The Galileo Seven' for excellent examples), and in the films he learnt to accept and use his human side with aplomb and comfort. 'TNG' started using Vulcans sparingly and in 'DS9' they also rarely appeared and usually in atypical roles (terrorist; serial killer; Academy rival), so by the time 'Voyager' brought us the first full Vulcan there was less mystery and more understanding of who they were.

Familiarity breeds contempt, however, and Tuvok's insistence on following the dictates of logic meant he, too, would come into conflict with the human way of doing things, despite showing himself in many ways superior, but this only added more snide sneering at Vulcan ways and gradually the race was seen as something to be laughed at rather than inspired by - this is something I noticed for myself over time, that it was clear Vulcans were in many ways superior and that that went against the Roddenberry idea of humans being the greatest, and a shift away from making them so pure gained traction, or so it seemed to me. T'Pol was especially harangued on 'Enterprise,' but frequently surprised her human colleagues (sawing up the breadstick is something I always think of, when dining with Archer and Trip and they say she should use her hands). The human-ication of Vulcans has long been a thorn for me, and I deliberately don't say humanising because that sounds like they were otherwise dehumanised, but the gradual change to take away their unique qualities and show them as merely different humans who can sometimes control their emotions has been one of the biggest failures of Trek this century. It's why I've always considered Tuvok to be the best example and the last great Vulcan in Trek. He's one of my favourite characters on the series, though he was let down in these latter seasons, not getting enough to do or expanding on the close bond he had with Janeway at the start.

Still, any time they did a Tuvok episode I'm interested, and as I said, he doesn't shame himself despite Paris' comments. I like that we're reminded he's married and has children, that he has emotions but keeps them in check, something our modern world is completely against, where 'unfettered emotion,' as Tuvok called it, is allowed to run rampant under the aegis of Being Yourself, as if the self is something to be welcomed rather than tamped down, but then that's the modern attitude and the lessons the Vulcans taught us have been lost in our overly emotional, melodramatic world today - you only have to look at 'DSC,' and how almost every episode features someone crying, to see how prevalent is this view, whereas the effort of self-control has always been inspiring and impressive in Vulcan depictions. One wonders if the situation had been reversed and Tom had been the one to save Noss, whether he would have used the same arguments that they were unlikely to ever get off that desert planet and so he shouldn't hold himself pure for B'Elanna, but should accept the advances of this alien woman who is there in front of him. I'm not sure they really even look at it from the moral viewpoint of loyalty and purity because even in the 90s casual partnerships weren't considered wrong, so it becomes more about whether Tuvok will maintain his cool distance or succumb to his fiery inner self. It's supposed to be a tragedy, that this stoic man refuses to bow to the wishes of the woman and I suppose we're meant to feel pity for poor Noss, but to be honest I found her a little annoying.

Perhaps one irritation with Noss was how her language isn't translated by the Universal Translator. It may be I wasn't paying close enough attention because Paris was doing something to his Combadge at one point so maybe there was some sci-fi explanation to do with the planet, and of course it is referenced since the Doc acts as interpreter to begin with as the UT is part of his program, which was very handy! Her voice and the language she spoke was distancing, but it was her insistence on kissing Tuvok and not accepting his answer and his way of life that added to her grating personality. There's also an issue of time being a big factor - I loved the idea of the temporal differential where two days passes for Voyager, but two months on the planet, as it's the kind of 'time travel' story that Trek didn't tend to do (like in 'Interstellar' when they go down to a planet, come back and it's been many years that their crewman had been awaiting their return), with 'Blink of An Eye' doing the same thing for the Doctor in the following season, but I don't feel they were able to successfully impress that idea of the time passing for our characters, and that meant Noss' love seemed to come out of nowhere. I understand she was saved by a knight in shining Starfleet uniform, but there needed to be more emphasis on events on the planet. They did succeed in making a dangerous foe in the aliens intent on taking their camp, but I believe the episode would have benefited from being almost entirely focused on Tuvok and Paris' predicament and where Voyager doesn't come through for them until the very last minutes perhaps, which would have allowed for more drama to pass on the planet, more scenes of development and time passing in the way 'Resolutions' did the same thing with Janeway and Chakotay.

I liked the look of the aliens, spiky and sword-like, and they reminded me a little of the Jem'Hadar, though only in looks - we don't learn anything about them, they're just there, which was a mistake as the story loses a dimension because of it. I wonder if that was the same place as where 'DS9' filmed 'Rocks and Shoals' as it had the same desert look with those round, white boulders? It all looked fine, and I even felt the CGI spiders worked well, but where did they get their water? There wasn't enough emphasis on survival and making that into an adventure, as it was too heavily interested in making some kind of doomed love story for Tuvok. At least he, Paris and the Doctor were quite a rare grouping, but I didn't feel we got to learn more about them, other than Tuvok's past. As they were joking about every planet looking the same last episode it's good they did some proper location work this time, but they did cunningly use the familiar cave set for the flashbacks as we see this is where young Tuvok is instructed by his Master, and very well disguised the cave set was! The ingenuity of the production team never fails to impress.

The reuse of the caves was one thing, but something else that copied the previous episode was the trouble being another subspace issue: last time it was the subspace sandbar, this time a subspace sinkhole, a subspace pocket in which this planet exists. Was the idea that entire planets had somehow been sucked in? I didn't get it, and for that matter was an entire star inside it, too, otherwise where did the sunlight come from? It's one of those that doesn't work so much the more you think of it and I definitely thought more highly of this episode on original viewing. As with 'Bride of Chaotica!' this was another I didn't see until years later on DVD, and in 2007 my view of how the Vulcans were used in Trek was a little different: I'd seen the misuse of them in 'Enterprise,' but would have still been hopeful that should Trek return again we'd go back to 'normal,' since there was at least the (admittedly weak, since Vulcans live for two hundred years), precedent that this was the 22nd Century, long before the other Trek series', and I could always go back to the 24th or even 23rd Century to see correct examples, but since then we've had Vulcans in every era portrayed the same: barely unemotional. Now I'm more sensitive to the changes and see it in even parts of Trek I love, like 'Voyager.'

Despite reservations and unease at the attitude towards Tuvok by the writing, by Noss and by Tom, I was relieved he remained true to his wife, and the farewell, a gentle moment in the Transporter Room where he briefly mind melds with Noss before she beams away was an oddly touching end to what had been a mildly irritating plot. The Vulcan Master telling his charge that emotions will consume him, the strength of will of Tuvok, and the fact Russ maintained distance as he always did, helped to assuage any qualms I had with the episode. As noted, it was a little unfinished in some aspects, aliens merely a tool for the narrative to give Voyager someone to fight against (though there was promise of them being a bigger threat on the planet when they mass to attack), and there needed to be less Voyager or a compelling side to it more than merely doing stuff to save their missing crew, but I wonder if this is the kind of story that would have worked better in a film or perhaps a serial, where there was space to allow time to pass and everything wouldn't have been so hurried. I'd also say Noss' story was left unfinished: what was her life before being marooned, where did she beam to from Voyager, and why couldn't she have stayed on the ship? Even for a few episodes it might have added a new dynamic to proceedings as they take her to her homeworld or somewhere, but the series really hated having to deal with loose ends: look at the Borg children that would come next season! Not that I would really want Noss hanging around, but maybe she wouldn't have been as annoying if we'd gotten to know her, but just as she never really got through Tuvok's armour, she remained rather unknown.

'Alter Ego' is the episode that came to mind, a much superior telling of a woman that longed to be close to the distant Tuvok, but that was much the superior story, a cleverer sci-fi twist, and generally more fun. In both cases Tuvok remains an honourable man and husband, but that one, taking place on the ship, had more time to explore the issue and had an even more bittersweet ending than this, which was, admittedly, the best part of it. The guest cast is worthy of note, Joseph Ruskin plays the Vulcan Master and was a veteran of not just TV, but Trek itself, having appeared way back in 'TOS' as the alien, Galt, but also played Grilka's Klingon servant Tumek (Tumek and Tuvok, together at last!), and a Cardassian, both in 'DS9,' a Son'a in 'Insurrection,' and after this Vulcan he had one more role as a Suliban in the 'Enterprise' pilot. Sadly, he won't be one of those few to traverse every generation (like Clint Howard who was in 'TOS,' the Berman-era, and 'DSC,' and perhaps Kirk Thatcher who was the punk in 'Star Trek IV' and voiced one of the animated 'Short Treks'), since he died in 2013, but he was always a strong screen presence, and even though I wasn't entirely comfortable with his Vulcan portrayal here, I love any time an actor from 'TOS' transitioned into a later era as it makes more links to bind Trek together, and I salute you, sir! It's worth noting, too, that Leroy D. Brazile (young Tuvok), went on to be in the penultimate episode of 'DS9' as a young Cardassian who joined Damar's rebellion. And I should also mention Paul S. Eckstein, the alien, Yost, who is so peremptory with Janeway, also appeared in that 'DS9' episode as a Jem'Hadar! He had other roles in 'DS9' and 'Voyager,' too, as well as one role on 'Enterprise,' so it was practically a Trek repertory group this week!

***

Inquisition

 DVD, Stargate Atlantis S5 (Inquisition)

Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear. I thought we were past this old habit of 'Stargate': the dreaded clips show! Seeing the words 'Excerpts by...' had come to be less ominous as occasional flashbacks were not uncommon, and a full clips-based 'extravaganza' seemed to have become a thing of the past. I'd rather they simply make one less episode rather than keep slavishly to a quota and force one out that relies on showing bits of old episodes in some loose approximation of a story, but as they go, this wasn't terrible. It's not good, but when you throw in as many big effects shots as you can, and manage to give us at least a semblance of an interesting story, it's not the end of the world. And I can look on it as a bright side that it's an easy review to write because not much happened! If they had a little more ambition they could have dispensed with flashbacks entirely and simply given us a good courtroom drama, but I think either the writers aren't confident in their ability to craft stories that don't include any action, or they think the audience wouldn't be able to cope with that. Despite the fact that the series all 'Stargate' was modelled on ('TNG'), had plenty of excellent, dramatic and moving such plots, as did its spinoffs.

A courtroom drama can really get to the heart of something, and in this case there were genuine points to be explored about humans coming into the Pegasus Galaxy and just unilaterally making decisions that the relatively primitive human populations already living there just had to live with. It was a bold move by this new Coalition to kidnap the team and put them on trial, but also foolish because they'd have created another enemy at a time when, as Wolsey said, they'd need them. It could be suggested the point of this episode was to catch the audience up to speed, or remind them of the major events of the series in preparation for an all-guns-blazing showdown in this last half season. Perhaps they'll be bringing back Ford and Michael, Todd and the Genii, Replicators and Weir all in one big melting pot on one side or another. If that is the case then it served a purpose at least, other than as a money-saving exercise to keep to quota, but even so I'd have happily listened to earnest arguments and the twists and turns of court intrigue rather than resort to clips. It did at least give Wolsey a stand upon which to demonstrate his skills as a legal expert and orator in the courtroom, even if in practice it's not exactly sweeping, impressive grandiloquence or irrefutable pinpoint logic. It is still a sci-fi action adventure series and was never likely to transcend out of that, unlike Trek (which has descended into the kind of basic approach of this franchise!).

The idea of the various disparate planets and groups banding together to form a Federation, as Wolsey says (which was quite surreal - I'm sure they did that on purpose as a tribute to Picardo's Trek background, odd to think he's more likely to come back in new Trek than 'Stargate' ever getting off the ground nowadays, as back then it seemed like Trek's day was over and 'Stargate' was flying high...), was a good one. I'm not sure how believable it was that they immediately went against Atlantis, but on the other hand if the Genii were behind a bid for power then it's not that surprising, and there's been plenty of people they've encountered over the years that didn't always welcome them openly. Sheppard did his best to defend the position, but when you think about it, maybe the galaxy would have been better if they hadn't got involved, and instead of thinking that because they'd dealt with the threats to their own universe in the Goa'uld and the Replicators, they could deal with the Wraith, maybe they shouldn't have got involved. But that's not their way, and rightly or wrongly, they did get involved and did much good. There might be a genuine call for them to account for certain things, as they do tend to do what's best for them, though amidst what works for others, it's a very modern series - it's not merely altruistic, but also for their own benefit. Which makes sense, but in today's world of trying to dredge up history in order to make recompense for perceived wrongs we do seem to be moving towards a more critical opinion of those that get involved and no doubt that does colour perceptions of what Stargate Command could or should do, the same as the Trek Federation and Starfleet.

There I go off on another topic, there was more to write about after all, but that's because the episode itself is rather basic. It did start so well, too, though knowing the title before it came up I guessed something bad was going to happen to the team, so it wasn't a surprise. I'm sure the same device of accusation by another race had been used before, I feel like 'SG-1' did that at least once (though they were guilty of multiple clips episodes!), O'Neill trying to defend their position. Wolsey was in his element here, though, and it's good to see him get his dues, though again, they're shown to be just as 'crooked' as those who were trying them, by bribing and cajoling. It may have been true that these were the only ways to 'win' in this case, but it's still not that great a lesson: once you know the game you can win at any cost. Being shrewd is advisable, but it also smacked of dishonourable conduct. Still, it wasn't really about the outcome, of course they were going to succeed, it was about filling time, and in that regard it could have been better. Although it did make me want to go back and see the series from the beginning again once I'm done. But I'd have done that anyway! And I was right about Ford coming back. In a way.

**

Bride of Chaotica!

 DVD, Voyager S5 (Bride of Chaotica!)

One of the rare holes in my viewing of the series on its original BBC run, I didn't see this until I had the DVDs in 2007. I tend to find episodes I didn't have a prior connection to, seen subsequently, have to work a bit harder to impress (I'm thinking more of 'Vox Sola' and 'Rogue Planet' of 'Enterprise' more than this and 'One' - all examples I didn't see until DVD ownership), but by its very nature I never had any lack of appreciation: Trek had celebrated its own past on a number of occasions by the 1998-1999 season, but they hadn't looked at sci-fi's screen origins. I mean you can see why: low production value, hammy acting, cartoonish storytelling and forced narrative to get to cliffhanger endings (hmm, other than production value, I'd say modern Trek has a lot in common with those ancient serials now that I come to think of it! Maybe it's not that Trek is badly written now, it's all just a 'tribute' to its beginnings? Yeah...). But seen through the lens of a later, more sophisticated, realistic, and consistent version, there is a lot of fun to be had, and of course at the same time it can poke fun at itself a little along the way, in the same style that 'Lower Decks' now does, except that that is 'The Adventures of Captain Proton' pretty much every week in the sense that it's all about comedy (surprised they've not done a Chaotica episode, unless they have and I just haven't got to it yet... Or more likely, they'd have to pay the original writers for use of the character - Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky I'd assume, since they're credited with 'Night' when the program was first introduced), and Trek at this time was able to do different tones week to week instead of relying on an entirely new series for each tone! Much more economical.

It's funny to think this episode was one of those co-written by Bryan Fuller, and 'Night' was co-written by Joe Menosky, both to be involved in the modern Trek era, and both casualties of it. There's a tremendous amount to be ungrateful to Fuller about regarding the state of Trek today, but it's always worth bearing in mind that he's also responsible for many a quality 'Voyager' and 'DS9' story, as is the case here. Yes, it is a bit of a bonkers episode (subspace 'sandbars' and photonic aliens from another dimension that can still somehow communicate with, and understand us, is all rather hokey), but it's also the kind of fun knockabout that was best done at this stage of a Trek series when we know everyone well, it's fully established how people are going to react, and just a line here or there fits perfectly. I'm thinking of B'Elanna who has a couple of good little snark moments - saying they can go ahead with their plan now it has Seven's blessing, or replying to the Doctor finding the idea of a place full of photonic life appealing by reminding him if he doesn't succeed he may be taking up permanent residence with them. Actually, on that last one, there could have been a sense of divided loyalties to explore (we did get there in certain episodes like 'Flesh and Blood' or the earlier 'Revulsion'), and we know the Doc won't betray his human friends.

Tom Paris' obsession with 20th Century history and culture was long established so of course he'd get into the sci-fi (wonder what he made of 'TOS'?), dragging Harry Kim along as his sidekick. The sad thing is the series never quite found its regular holoprogram to go back to, they'd have phases, like Sandrine's or the Paxau Resort, but too often the elaborate and intriguing programs such as this and Leonardo DaVinci were used so sparingly - even Fair Haven only came up twice. Whereas 'DS9' managed to develop an ideal site for alternative scenes, in Vic Fontaine's place. I can see why Proton wasn't continued beyond this episode (other than a small throwback in 'Shattered,' though that was due to them exploring different eras of the series), because its low production values are high, if you get my meaning. Yes, it's all basic effects and silly props, but it also has large and detailed sets and elaborate costume design. I'm sure the budget for those original cinema serials would have been tiny in comparison to Trek, but they didn't have the space to keep up such things in perpetuity when they were also doing something different week to week. It's also very far from the kind of program where you could have a group of our characters socialising, an involving storyline that needed full attention. And I'm sure the silliness could have become grating. I enjoy watching films and TV series from every era, but I wouldn't really want to see 'Flash Gordon' or the other serials of the time, and I can see how the concept could easily have outstayed its welcome.

After a couple or three pretty serious, weighty stories it was just the right time to let down the hair (or tie it up and wear webbing in Janeway's case), and have some fun. Oddly, I feel like the idea of using the Holodeck to fool aliens had been done before (and would be again on the series, I think), and I don't just mean the Borg being hindered by holograms in 'First Contact.' My brain is turning to mush so I can't remember all the Holodeck stories where that may have been the case, but I'm thinking 'TNG' maybe. Anyway, it doesn't matter that it's not an entirely original notion, it's all about execution and this was entertaining, not the least because there are in-jokes about contemporary Trek when Paris comments on cliffhangers ("the lost art of hyperbole"), or he and Harry discuss how this Planet X looks the same as the previous planet, since they were so often using the cave set, even in 'Voyager,' though often cunningly redressed to disguise the fact. There's even a joke within a joke since Tom alludes to the fact the previous planet had an erupting volcano, but of course they couldn't do that on a 90s TV budget - although they actually did do it in 'Basics, Part II,' but as a general rule they were a bit stuck compared to what films were capable of achieving at the same period. It's also all about Tom studying how people from the past viewed the future, which is exactly what Trek is, an extrapolation of our future before we're actually there.

I did wonder if there was going to be anything to write about given that it is just B-film cheesy sci-fi, done with our characters, but there were actually a number of points that came to mind as I was watching. For example, and I don't imagine this was deliberately drawing a connection with contemporary Trek's penchant for rolling around when the ship comes under fire, but it didn't seem wise of Harry to be peering into a periscope while the ship's shaking about: that could lead to a nasty injury! And while the tone of the episode is mostly humorous, despite the situation, Janeway does come across as having a bit of a caffeine problem in the manner she's so desperate for coffee. It seems a bit dangerous for a Captain to have such a dependency on what is a drug, albeit not one of the strongest kinds, but still... It is played for laughs, but I can't help seeing the contemporising (if that's a word), of bringing attitudes of the time into sharp relief to make characters more relatable, which is often something I find irritating in modern Trek where they all talk as if they're from today's world, while in the past there was a more formal manner of speech that helped make Trek feel like a period drama, just a period that was in the future. I will say that Janeway was good fun, especially as Queen Arachnia, fully entering into the role, but even dropping in little things such as a reference to her old ship, the Al-Batani (I always remember that line to Paris in the pilot, "I served with your Father on the Al-Batani," so that was nice referencing there).

Another thing I was unsure about, and again makes me wonder if Fuller was too preoccupied with fleshing out exactly what 24th Century life consisted of when you see how 'DSC' does things, was Neelix talking about there only being four working lavatories for the whole ship's complement. For one thing shouldn't they be called 'heads' as naval terminology is usually what Trek takes for its language (Mess, Fore and Aft, etc)? Also, it had previously been referred to as 'waste extraction' on 'DS9,' which could be Cardassian terminology since that's what the station was and you'd expect a harsher sounding term, but I always thought it had something to do with simply beaming waste out of you. Not to say that a lavatory couldn't do that, but it tends to bring to mind what we know it as today. All this to say it's too much discussion of toilets, we don't need to see that (we didn't), or know it. Some things are best left to the imagination. For example, it could just as easily be the case in several hundred years of technological innovation, that food processes would mean there was no longer any waste anyway. But enough on this subject!

It was curious to hear Janeway say to 'give her all she's got,' when talking about getting the ship out of the sandbar, as I didn't think that had ever been said (or a variation), until the alternate Kelvin Timeline Scotty said something similar in one (or more), of those films. It just sounded a bit odd and over the top, but I did appreciate having a clear idea of where the Impulse Engines actually are - at least visually it was suggested the red glowing bits at the rear (aft!), of the ship were they. I don't think that had ever been made clear before, but then I suppose that's because they were using a model and perhaps they'd begun to either use a CGI model for greater flexibility, or CGI additions to the physical model. I must say, Voyager's Bridge crew aren't as responsive and efficient as those of the Enterprise-D - those jack-in-the-boxes would practically leap into the Helm or Conn seats the moment they were vacated, but Janeway had to nod to the Helmswoman before she took Paris' place! Regarding the Holodeck itself, I'd have thought it'd be safer for the Doctor to enter without his holo-emitter since it could have been damaged by the aliens and he could just as easily have transferred his program over. And why would holographic weapons be dangerous to photonic lifeforms? Surely with the safeties on, there would be no damage to anyone who wasn't designed to experience it? I loved the reference to duotronics, which Paris said when fixing the robot's innards, the technology used centuries before the former - that goes back to 'TOS,' Dr, Daystrom's invention for a starship's main computer, still used in the 24th Century, though Voyager would have been more advanced than that I would think, since it had state of the art bio-neural gel packs.

Although this isn't so much of a character story, in keeping with its homage to a more basic time of sci-fi storytelling, occasionally something more meaningful would slip through. Though Janeway is jesting with Dr. Chaotica when she bonds with him, saying it's lonely at the top, you can't help but see some truth in what she's saying, because she doesn't often have someone on the same level as her. Clearly she had no real interest in talking to a silly cartoon character about anything real or serious, but that need to express on a peer level is something that must always have been there and while it's only a little statement and I'm reading into it, it rings true that it's something she'd think of to say. Martin Rayner had been Chaotica in the program's previous appearance in 'Night,' and would return for 'Shattered,' while his servant, Lonzak was played by Nicholas Worth, who'd also had a couple of small roles in 'DS9' and would similarly return in 'Shattered' (he died the same year I first saw the episode, 2007). Apparently, one of the aliens (Alien #1), was played by Jim Krestalude, who'd also been an El Aurian in 'Generations.' I assume he was the thin-faced main guy. I wonder if this is the role Dominic Keating had been up for until Rick Berman decided to keep him for Malcolm Reed in 'Enterprise'? It's only that this guy's face reminded me of Keating, though it's entirely possible this was too far back, quite a while before the later series was even being thought of.

This episode holds the distinction of being one of only two (in the 'original' run, 1966-2005 - must remember to make that distinction since I'm always behind on modern Trek episodes!), to feature an exclamation mark, for whatever that's worth, sharing the honour with one of the greatest 'TOS' stories, 'Operation–Annihilate!' It fits the tone of the story, melodramatic, over the top, pretty silly, but it's all part of the charm. We can be thankful for things like Trek that it moved the genre on and did the kind of thing sci-fi does best, short stories within a well-developed, consistent world. It is sad that Trek of the now (with some slight exceptions - I've really come to enjoy 'LD' for the most part), has reverted to a more simplistic time, despite being cloaked in complication, because that shows how much I wouldn't enjoy this kind of thing as a regular source of entertainment. But as a tribute to the serials of yestercentury, I can throw back my head melodramatically, cackle maniacally, and say 'this is not the last you've heard from meeeee...!'

***