THE SWARM - 3x04 - 4/5 First of all, Picardo is an amazing singer. Now onto the episode. So it seems that apparently in this episode, Starfleet rules don't matter to Janeway? This would be okay if it sets a precedent. I am concerned it won't though. The dilemma in this story with The Doctor is interesting: save the doc vs. save the person. It's a solid enough premise, especially for what is essentially the B plot. Now whilst I don't care too much about the A story, at least this is more on track plot-wise (i.e. trying to get home). This is a nice Kes/Doc episode and much better than Season 2's 'Projections'. I am blown away that such a major change was made to the doctor at this stage in the show, however I am curious to see if this carries through to the next episode. Of course, this doesn't mean I will punish this episode for a later lack of continuity, and as such, I am going to give this episode a 4.
FALSE PROFITS - 3x05 - 3/5 I don't really have much to say about this episode, as it's pretty run of the mill stuff but it's fun to see Ferengi again, especially in a nice little nod to some Trek continuity. Now for the next few episodes of Voyager I want to keep an eye on the handling of The Doctor, and see whether the writers pay respect to his character regression in "The Swarm". Now in this episode, it seems they play things safe as there's no evidence of the Doctor's character being changed either way. All he gets is some generic lines of medico-babble which anyone could have said. Of course, Voyager doesn't get home. I find this episode fun, harmless and maybe a little boring but the fact it ties up a loose end established years ago in TNG and features a familiar alien, bumps it from a 2 to a 3 for me.
3/5 for False Profits? URK! You're easily pleased! FP showed how inferior the Voyager writers were at writing comedy episodes compared to DS9 for me,
REMEMBER - 3x06 - 2/5 I kind of just wafted through this episode and there isn't much to comment on. The plot was very passive and didn't really engage me to think about what was going on. It was however a very poignant episode that tried to convey a message, but I think it all just kind of fell flat. The episode spends a lot of time setting up the Enarans but doesn't really give us any non-trivial information about them so it makes the revelation in the final scene a bit lacking in impact. The episode does give Dawson the opportunity to act but that's about it really. The episode has an interesting idea at it's core, but it just fails to deliver the emotional blows that a story like this should deliver.
SACRED GROUND - 3x07 - 1/5 First of all, checking in the Doctor. I don't know what to think of the Doctor now, it's been too many episodes since his regression so he may have developed significantly since The Swarm, especially given that it was only some of his memories that had disappeared but the personality he has developed remains. There's nothing in this episode that goes either way to suggest where he's at. As for this episode, it's a pile of rubbish. A bunch of mystical mumbo jumbo that can't decide what the hell the message is about. I find it interesting that for a show where every situation is explained through technobabble has an episode that is suggesting that technobabble is irrelevant. And the wrap up to this episode completely destroys any believable change in Janeway's character that could warrant her embracing faith over provable/tangible concepts. Having the Doctor explaining the solution kind of ruins the whole point of keeping faith. It makes Janeway's epiphany seem to come about because she was just bored with hearing the Doctor's explanation, rather than a genuine non-explanation. It would have been much more powerful to have the solution be completely unexplainable, or at LEAST have an unexplainable element to it that makes Janeway question her attitudes towards faith and that there are some things in the universe that cannot be explained through scientific methods. Plus this episode pretty boring too: 1 star.
FUTURE'S END, PART I - 3x08 - 4/5 Now, I am quoting ConfusedMatthew here but I can't help but feel it really should be illegal for a character in a time machine to utter the phrase "NO TIME". But with that blunder of a line out of the way, this episode is a HUGE amount of fun and remains a personal favourite of mine. Although, that could be because the plot is so reminiscent of an episode of the X-Files or the N64 classic, Perfect Dark. I have said before that I can forgive oversights in an Trek episode's plot if it serves to make a entertaining story. In this case, Future's End completely ignores the Eugenics Wars which are established in every other Trek series as occurring in the late 20th/early 21st centuries. I am happy to hand-wave this just assume that North America wasn't affected directly by the wars. I mean, World War II is the largest global conflicts this world has ever seen and yet the mainland United States was barely touched by this war so I don't think it's a stretch to assume in the episode that the Eugenics ARE raging in other parts of the world. This episode has a great atmosphere and doesn't take itself too seriously most of the time. Paris' inability to accurately remember 20th century history is amusing and Tuvok's deadpan reaction to everything is a great counter to that. The cliffhanger ends on a very exciting note and sets things up for an enjoyable resolution (if I recall correctly). The computer stuff is all pretty goofy though, apparently in the 24th century people just cut + paste not copy + paste. And exclusively use keyboards to navigate graphical user interfaces. All up though, a really fun way to spice things up and get the Voyager crew doing something other than wafting aimlessly through space.
FUTURE'S END, PART II - 3x09 - 4/5 First things first: HOLY SHIT THEY REFERENCED 'THE SWARM'! I am so happy that the Doctor's dilemma was actually referenced as I felt it might affect events on Earth. I mean, it's not really that important, but it's an attention to detail in character development which I applaud. Part II maintains the fun and action of Part I and is a satisfying conclusion to this two parter, something Trek doesn't often get right. There are so many great scenes, but I especially love the Doc's delivery of the line: "Divine intervention is unlikely." I am not a huge fan of Chakotay and B'Elanna's dilemma, but it's resolved entertainingly and doesn't drag on too long. And it results in them using a shuttle to blow up a truck A couple of nitpicks in the closing scenes: Janeway responding to the Doctor's request for his own quarters with dismissal is a bit harsh. That is not an unreasonable request! Second, couldn't they just slingshot around the sun whilst still in the alpha quadrant? However I guess this is a problem endemic of ALL Star Trek in that they never use the same solution to a problem twice.
WARLORD - 3x10 - 1/5 Terrible. Pretty much the only worthwhile scene in this episode is Kes bitching at Neelix. I will admit, it's fun to see Lien act it up for once, but it doesn't stop this episode being boring and irrelevant shit.
THE Q AND THE GREY - 3x11 - 1/5 I really, really don't like this episode. I will say that it does introduce some interesting ideas, but this really marks the decay of the Q as a universal force in Trek. They go from being superior omnipotent beings to bitchy, shallow, stupid, infighting morons. DeLancie's performance is solid enough, but the jokes and dialogue are no where near the quality of earlier Q episodes. The representation of the Q continuum in 'Death Wish' was plausible, and I was intriguing by the development of the Q and exploration of them as a species. Whilst 'Death Wish' suggests the Q aren't all powerful, there's nothing depicted to suggest what their limits may be, and the Q still remains enigmatic, to say the least. This episode changes all that and completely ruins the mystique of the Q. The interactions that occur in this episode during Janeway's experience in the continuum are entirely non-sensical and the events in the climax are just laughably terrible. I was originally going to give this a 2 as DeLancie does his best to deliver average lines and make them entertaining, but in light of just how much this episode ruins the Q as an antagonist, I am going to drop this to a 1.
MACROCOSM - 3x12 - 3/5 I've always had a soft spot for TNG's "Genesis", despite it being stupid as hell. So when Voyager does an episode in an almost identical vein, I am engaged, if only on a superficial level. What appeals to me is the situation; coming back home to Voyager to find everything's turned to shit, the crew infected and being harvested by bizarro space-virus-bug-things. It's all fairly brainless but an enjoyable action romp nonetheless and I guess it's cool to see Janeway swashbuckling all over the ship, kicking ass. There is very little to comment on, especially since there are long stretches of scenes with no dialogue and just dramatic music, sound effects and camera work, but it all comes together reasonably well and as I said, I'm a sucker for shit like this, so perhaps I'm scoring this higher than it really deserves.
I'd give it a 2 for DeLancie and the hotness of Suzie Plakkson as Mrs. Q but other than that, it's crap. They ruined the Q in Voyager, just as they ruined the Borg. Well, I supposed ANY post-TBOBW eps ruined the Borg, but there are enough threads on that right now all over the Trek BBS.
Whilst I have accused Voyager of villain decay, especially in regards to the Borg, I don't hate that Voyager used them. The Borg were used very well in Scorpion and the concept of Species 8472 was amazing. However, they should've left it there and what Voyager did with the Borg later on Dark Frontier and Unimatrix Zero was terrible. Same goes for the Q. Voyager's episode "Death Wish" was an interesting, engaging and welcome expansion and exploration of the Q, but it didn't destabilise the Q or ruin them as an enigmatic species. Hell, I rate Death Wish a LOT high than Q's episode in season 1 of DS9 which felt pointless and tacky. It's VOY's The Q and the Grey (and later Q2) that do a grave disservice to the Q. So basically, I am fine with Voyager revisiting existing Trek species and characters, but they over did it and whilst I am reviewing Voyager to get a fresh perspective, I doubt I am going to change my mind on this issue.
FAIR TRADE - 3x13 - 3/5 Things don't start off too well, with Neelix feeling he can pre-empt a promotion of some Starfleet/Maquis officer and get into a security role immediately. Fortunately things improve and we have yet another good Neelix episode (a shock I know!) which helps build on his character and provides some background on his past life. I also like the realism of the situation, as Neelix gets further and further pushed into a perilous situation, a situation all of us have been put in at some point in our lives. He's increasingly torn between helping an old friend (Wix) and doing the Right Thing and falls into the trap of easily rationalising the next questionable act. It's a fairly solid episode throughout and Neelix doesn't get the easy way out (sort of).
ALTER EGO - 3x14 - 1/5 This is the stupidest thing I have ever seen. Harry seems to have the emotional maturity of a 12 year old. This episode is so incredibly boring - hell in the first 15 minutes, nothing happens AT ALL. It also fails to interest me as it degenerates into a holodeck drama, which I have stated before hasn't dramatically interested me since TNG. Also even though it turns out Marayana is actually manipulating the holodeck, I can't help but wonder about how if holdbacks are so prone to going crazy and creating sentient characters WHY ARE THEY STILL BEING PLACED ON STARFLEET VESSELS? I mean, the fact that Marayana turned out to be someone lonely, looking for companionship and saw something in Tuvok is interesting, but it was too little too late. The best part of this episode was that it ended.
CODA - 3x15 - 1/5 I am really at a loss with this episode. First of all, it feels like a cheat, especially the first 20 minutes as they have NOTHING to do with the main plot. I would've preferred if this had been a time loop story. It may be an overused device, but they're always fun in my opinion. No instead we get 45 minutes of Janeway: The Mary Sue The entirety of this episode is "how great is Janeway, she has no character flaws". I haven't seen such sickly character indulgence since Kirk failed to hear what anyone was saying over the sound of how awesome he is. It's made even worse by the fact this is ALL INSIDE HER HEAD. It doesn't paint a realistic (or likeable) picture of Janeway if it so happens that her opinion of herself is so inflated that she thinks that everyone on the ships just ADORES her. It's just bullshit, you cannot tell me that there is NO ONE on the ship who bears a grudge towards Janeway and would be happy to see Chakotay in command. It would've been a hell of a lot more interesting to see Janeway have visions of her own paranoia/fears about Voyager's situation being illustrated to the audience. Depict at least SOME of the crew now seeing Chakotay in command as being an opportunity to make some changes on board. This would've given some insight into the situation Janeway has put herself and the crew in. No that might have been interesting. Sigh. Oh and her line: "GO BACK TO HELL" is just….ugh, so extremely cheesy. I am giving this episode a 1 as it gave Beltran the opportunity to actually act for once. Also Janeway and Chakotay need to have sex, STAT - GET IT OUT OF YOUR SYSTEMS.
Really have to say, season 3 is killing me here. I've awarded no five star episodes and there have been more stinkers than ever before.
BLOOD FEVER - 3x16 - 3/5 I have to say, I was thinking I would hate this episode but it turns out I kinda liked it, aside from the resolution which is awful, but more on that in a bit. I feel sorry for Vorik in this episode as apparently Doctor-patient confidentiality means "let's discuss this with Tuvok and later other members of the senior staff". I mean, sure, it represents a risk to another crew member after a while (Torres) but initially, there's no need for this to go beyond sick bay but the Doctor has no qualms letting Tuvok know. Another note, Harry Kim has been replaced by an UN-NAMED EXTRA. I try to put myself in Tom Paris' situation, and I am perplexed by the idea of whether "have sex with this woman or she will die" is a turn-on or not. It does however get the Torres-Paris sexual ball rolling so I am all for that and the episode provides some more exploration and background on Vulcan culture and the Pon Farr. The ending of this episode is shockingly terrible though. They could've just ended with Vorik having the time of his life with a holographic Vulcan chick, and B'Elanna being cured in the same way. But no, it's like there HAD to be an action scene to keep the audience interested. Vorik just comes out of effing NOWHERE and starts wailing on everyone. I keep getting the impression Voyager was often written not for Star Trek fans, but for the average mindless viewer. This needless fight scene almost made me drop the episode down to a 2 but then out of nowhere HOLY SHIT A BORG CORPSE.