It always disappointed me that the Q got turned from a mysterious, if chaotic race, into a dysfunctional family sitcom. De Lancie does great with the material he's given, but his best performances come from when he's just wryly commenting on the situation with his own unique brand of humor rather than just being... random for the heck of it.
Well, I got a kick out of the dialogue. The story was okay, not my favorite. The puppy was cute. The female Q gets the award for most annoying voice in Trek. But the laughs were priceless! I still love Q! And Janeway, even I must admit, looked stunning in several scenes.
I enjoy Q the playful scamp, it actually lends some meaning to why this omnipotent being is bothering with them all. To take the piss. And suddenly it makes sense.
I think he also called Chakotay "chuckles" or something like that. Great stuff. Too bad he didn't throw some comic insulting at Harry.
Season 3 is a great season but not as good as Season 2 and Season 1. There are some mediocre episodes, like "Blood Fever", "Macrocosm" and "Real Life" which lowers the season for me. Still some really great episodes, like "Warlord", "The Swarm", "Darkling", "Future's End" and "Before And After" among my favorites.
Season three was definately better than the first two seasons. I pretty much like all the episodes except for Sacred Ground, Warlord, Coda, Unity, Darkling, and Before and After
Your bias is showing. I like "Macrocosm" in a VOY Does Die Hard kind of way. As a great episode of Trek? Meh. And if I want Die Hard in general I'd rather rewatch "Starship Mine" for the Data chitchat. I like "Real Life" because I'm a sentimental sap and before the family is reprogrammed I find them delightfully unrealistic. Also I did think the VFX with Paris's little voyage were pretty cool. "Warlord" is sort of entertaining but sort of forgettable for me...but then, I'm a gay man, so watching Kes get bent out of shape possibly isn't as appealling for me as it is for some. I do really like "Before and After", but I think that's pretty much consensus.
overlooking the concept of the giant viruses, I liked Macrocosm, it was great and action packed. Real Life I can't watch too many times because of the ending but I thought it was a great episode for the doctor
The biggest weakness of Real Life is... that's such an emotional and moving moment for the Doctor that defines his psyche and changes him forever.... so naturally it's never mentioned again.
I don't think it's someting that NEEDS to be specifically brought up again..."hey doc, how's that dead daughter of yours" but it was maintained more in his behavior after that point. It was something that shaped his personality and outlook and that is what stayed wit him for the rest of the show
How did it shape him? He didn't grieve with his family. He didn't follow-up with his son or wife. It's like "OK, I got through the death of the daughter, so that's all I need to know. I'm done." It doesn't work that way in real life.
everyone handles death differently. but it did affect his personality from that point, he seemed a little more patient. He might not have been seen grieving with his holographic family, but that doesn't mean he didn't grieve in his own way
Hey, Stormfront was the best "German" episode in all of Trek. ...and I completely agree about losing the treeheads. Star Trek's worst "villains".
La la la (*covers eyes*)...I've just finished "Unity." I'm not reading the comments above. But I will say I thought "Unity" was good and I'd love to see more like this. It would be neat if the Cooperative somehow turned into a new kind of Borg enemy, or if they became enemies of the Borg who come back in a later season in a surprise to help the VOY crew defeat the Borg in a critical episode. What I'd really like to see is the origin of the Borg. That would (potentially) be interesting. I must have been in a funny mood early this morning when I watched the episode though. When Riley touched her face and asked Chakotay if he felt it, I immediately thought it would be funny if he touched his chest and said, "did you feel that?" Also when I watched "Blood Fever" I thought it would have been funny if the Doctor (a.k.a. the Pimp in this episode) -- when he went back to the holodeck, he found Vorik wearing nothing but a lei, sweating and smoking a cigarette saying "Doctor, you're a genius."
What I loved about this episode is that it suggests that the Borg can be a social and cultural group that is independent of specific political goals (radical assimilation). I like the idea that there are different kinds of Borg: a diversity, which flies in the face of the Borg as cultural (and political and technological) assimilators.
I thought it showed us his innate self-centeredness. It wasn't about the familial loss for him. It wasn't about "how can I support my wife and son?" It was about how it affected him and only him. And in that, there was certainly continuity.