Re-Watching VOY

[Lord Garth]

"The Cloud"

Voyager encountering and going inside a cloud that turns out to be a life-form was interesting and seems like something TOS would do. The visuals of Voyager being inside and trying to repair the accidental wound it inflicted make me think of what TAS would've been like had it been live-action and was using a mix of practical effects and CGI.

Neelix being a total outsider has the perfect reaction when Voyager goes into the nebula not just a first, but a second time. He wants off! He's worried what's going to happen. Interesting he's worried about this, but not worried whenever Voyager encounters Bad Guys. Then Kate Mulgrew steals the scene when Janeway tells Neelix that he can leave after their mission, but he better take a seat because "you're going in." Perfect delivery!

Kes is the total opposite. She's excited about the nebula and going in. Neelix says he understands the appeal but what he doesn't get is that Kes wants to be excited and swept up off her feet. Neelix should be embracing this and acting like her lover instead of some nanny. But that's just my opinion.

The crew is starting to shift how they view the Doctor. Janeway mutes him when he starts complaining, but then she unmutes him when she realizes he has something important to say rather than just completely disregarding him. Baby steps. The Doctor is also finally beginning to realize that he'll be running for the long-term instead of just being activated for emergencies.

Sandrine's is introduced in this episode. I'm terrible at pool. But I like the bar. It has a nice ambiance and atmosphere. The wait staff is charming. But that '50s Guy: "Treat a lady like a tramp and a tramp like a lady. Works every time." Torres is right: he's a pig and so is Paris for programming him that way. Overall, though, Sandrine's seems like a great hang-out spot. One of my favorite part is at the end of the episode, when Janeway starts a game of pool. Great camera shot when she's making her move.

I like spending time with the crew and appreciate this episode taking the time to allow the audience to get to know them better. Janeway tries to keep her distance, but she only does that up to a point. She's not Picard, who almost always maintained a professional distance, except with Crusher. Another favorite part of mine is when Chakotay is guiding Janeway to find her Spirit Guide. Great vistas with Janeway in a beach. Until it's interrupted by Torres giving us an update on the TECH.

Originally, I was going to give this episode a 7, but the more I type about it, I've changed my mind, and I give it an 8.

 

[Farscape One]

This also gave us one of the many Janewayisms...

"There's coffee in that nebula."

I also give it an 8 because of the character work, and how we get the first of multiple space-dwelling lifeforms in season 1, helping to illustrate just how different the Delta Quadrant is from the Gamma Quadrant on DS9.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

The crew is starting to shift how they view the Doctor. Janeway mutes him when he starts complaining, but then she unmutes him when she realizes he has something important to say rather than just completely disregarding him. Baby steps. The Doctor is also finally beginning to realize that he'll be running for the long-term instead of just being activated for emergencies.

Funny thing is, given what we learn about the Doctor during the series, I'm not sure that the crew should have been treating the Doctor any different to any other hologram. Not at this point. He's just a medical tool with the capacity to evolve over time.

But it's because Kes sees him as an actual person and stands up for him that he eventually becomes a real person. As close to a sentient life form as any hologram could hope to be.

 

[Farscape One]

That's why The Doctor should have at least mentioned Kes every now and then after her departure... not only were they good friends and they mentored each other, but she was the only advocate for him in those early years.

(Seven of Nine did the same on multiple, difficult situations. Like in "LATENT IMAGE".)

I am not the biggest fan of Kes, but she did deserve to be at least acknowledged now and then.

 

[Oddish]

I am not the biggest fan of Kes, but she did deserve to be at least acknowledged now and then.

Definitely not the biggest fan of Kes.

And you're right, she did. She was an essential part of both Voyager's journey snd the Doctor's. But then, VOY failed to do a lot of things it should have.

 

[Lord Garth]

I've got thoughts about "Latent Image" and their lack-of-recreation of Season 3, including the lack of mentioning Kes, but I'll save that for when I get to it. Good idea for an episode, but not exactly the best continuity.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Eye of the Needle"

This is my favorite episode of the first season. At every single turn, something comes up that keeps the crew from being able to get home or to communicate with any loved ones. Obstacle after obstacle!

• Voyager finds a wormhole, and the crew thinks they might be able to use it to get home if it leads to the Alpha Quadrant... except it's tiny.
  
  
• They think they can still send a message through... except it leads to Romulan Space!
  
  
• The Romulan scientist they make contact with doesn't believe Janeway at first, then he does, and he's willing to deliver their messages... until Tuvok discovers the Romulan is really from 20 years in the past!
  
  
• The Romulan promises to deliver their messages in 20 years... but Tuvok looks up him up and, after the Romulan leaves, tells them he died four years ago!

At one point, Torres figures out how to transport cylinders across the wormhole, which means they could transport people. But she tells Janeway in private when she comes up with the solution because she didn't want to get anyone's hopes up in case it didn't work. And a good thing! Because look at above. Nothing in this episode worked!

By the end of the episode, even Janeway herself catches on. When someone else says something hopeful, like maybe the Romulan left instructions before he died to deliver the messages, Janeway dismisses the idea. Nothing's gone right. She says to set a course for home, "We have a long way to go!"

Guaranteed those messages were either scrapped by the Romulan government or the Romulan scientist's family didn't care. One way or another, something must've happened. No one in the Starfleet finds out about Voyager until the Doctor sets the record straight in the middle of the fourth season! So, they could've named this episode "Murphy's Law".

A nice character bit is comparing Kim's situation being away from home to Torres'. Kim's never been out of contact with his parents for more than a week. It's really tough for him and his parents. Torres, on the other hand, pretty much everyone she knows is on Voyager. So, she doesn't think anyone misses her. I think it allows her to be a little more detached than everyone else, besides Tuvok, since they can barely contain their excitement.

If it were me, then my excitement would've been tempered even before they found out the Romulan was from the wrong time. As a mind exercise I wondered, "What would happen if they could transport to Romulan space?" Would the Voyager crew actually have been sent back to Federation space or would they be taken prisoner? Even if they were allowed to go back, I can't imagine a scenario where they're not at least interrogated. The Romulans are extremely paranoid. I wouldn't have been looking forward to it.

Then there are the Maquis. As soon as they'd get back to the Alpha Quadrant, at this point they'd have probably all been arrested. Also not something I'd look forward to, if I were a Maquis.

Luckily, this episode is so effective that I don't think of any nitpicks I have until after the episode ends. While I'm watching, I'm so invested in watching how they'll try to figure out their way around an obstacle only to get hit with another!

I read somewhere once, when they found out the Romulan died, one of the actors ad-libbed in an outtake, "Then I guess we're fucked!"

The B-Story: To the side, Kes finally sticks up for the Doctor in this episode, he realizes he needs to think of himself as a member of the crew instead of just an EMH, and Janeway asks the Doctor if there's anything he needs and he stops to think about it. When Kes talks to Janeway about the way the Doctor is treated, Janeway says, "I'll look into it." I usually read "I'll look into it" as Boss Talk for "I'll totally forget about it or disregard it!" But Janeway doesn't. This shows how much Janeway cares about everyone onboard. Including now the EMH.

I also love when the Doctor puts that Asshole Lieutenant at the beginning of the episode in his place by the end. When that Lieutenant is skeptical about leaving his hands in the Doctor if he's ever injured, I immediately disagreed with him. And, no, not just because I like the Doctor and take his side. If I was injured, I'd appreciate perfectly programmed precision over the risk of human error. Especially when it comes to my life.

Overall: I thought this episode was an instant classic, even in 1995, and I give it a 10.

 

[Farscape One]

"EYE OF THE NEEDLE" is certainly one of the very best from the early seasons. It started the early seasons trope of 'shortcut not working out', but it worked here because it was the FIRST one and because it was so highly character focused.

Shout out to Vaughn Armstrong, who played the Romulan so very well.

I would also give this a 10.


This episode, ironically, paints alternate future Janeway in "ENDGAME" even worse than before. While her actions already paint her badly because she is completely altering that future, what makes it even more egregious is what Chakotay says here... "We've already made a huge impact."

And that's after only A MONTH.

So imagine how big of an impact 16 YEARS is! (The amount of time Voyager was still heading home originally after passing that Borg hub.)

 

[Lord Garth]

"Ex Post Facto"

Paris is accused to murdering a woman's husband, Janeway wants to prove his innocence, and Tuvok goes into Full Detective Mode, giving Odo a run for his money. Eventually Tuvok pieces everything together and exonerates Paris. The proof comes down to Paris' height, to quote Johnny Cochrane, "If it does not fit, you must acquit," and the eye-witness of a dog.

This episode's pretty by-the-numbers, but I wasn't bored by it. My favorite part about it were the black-and-white false flashbacks implanted into Paris.

This was also Voyager's first run-in with hard-headed aliens of the week. Neelix is put to good use as the guide who tells Janeway what to expect from them.

I feel like when Paris tells Kim that one day he'll be the one to fall for the wrong woman, the pay-off for that was "Disease". That's a terrible pay-off, but I'll save that for further down the line. Paris tells Kim he's the conscience he never had, but I think he's selling himself short. Paris has more of a conscience than he thinks.

Kes and asks The Doctor if he's chosen a name, The Doctor gives it some thought and knowing him, he probably still won't have decided on even by the time of Starfleet Academy, 800 years later!

I don't know what else to say. I give it a 7.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

Michael Piller definitely liked his noir detective episodes, but Necessary Evil was a better fit for Deep Space Nine than this was for Voyager, at least at this point in their journey.

The episode isn't horrible, but the heroes have travelled to the other side of the galaxy, they're encountering alien cultures that the Federation have never even heard of, they're desperately searching for resources to keep their damaged ship going, and... they're having dinner in someone's living room. It all feels too mundane, at least to me.

 

[Lord Garth]

I could've easily gone with a 6, but what just barely pushed it out of "mid" for me was that I never asked myself, "What's the point of this?" I was engaged just enough that I didn't feel like I was killing time.

 

[Farscape One]

A throwaway line of dialogue adds something to the episode that I wish we got to see... the minister says "an artificial life form" serves as host for the memories and testifies in court as to what it sees.

I wondervwhat else artificial lifeforms are used for in that society, and if others do, too.

 

[Oddish]

I have a definite soft spot for Ex Post Facto, though I don't know why. The interesting nature of Tom's punishment? The right in front of you solution? Janeway's badazz threats? Chakotay's Maquis trickery? Tuvok going Columbo? The beginning of Harry Kim must Suffer? The many questions about how dogs parallel-evolved on this planet? The heartfelt dialogue from Tom at the end? I don’t know. I just enjoy it.

 

[Farscape One]

I have a definite soft spot for Ex Post Facto, though I don't know why. The interesting nature of Tom's punishment? The right in front of you solution? Janeway's badazz threats? Chakotay's Maquis trickery? Tuvok going Columbo? The beginning of Harry Kim must Suffer? The many questions about how dogs parallel-evolved on this planet? The heartfelt dialogue from Tom at the end? I don’t know. I just enjoy it.

I think the 'Harry Kim must suffer' began with the pilot. He was the only member of Voyager's crew who was given that was infected by the Caretaker. (Torres wasn't a member of the crew yet because she was part of the Maquis ship's crew.)

 

[Oddish]

I think the 'Harry Kim must suffer' began with the pilot. He was the only member of Voyager's crew who was given that was infected by the Caretaker. (Torres wasn't a member of the crew yet because she was part of the Maquis ship's crew.)

Good point. It started early regardless.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Emanations"

One thing I highly respect about this episode is its willingness to discuss the topic of life-after-death and to be open to all possibilities. I'm an Agnostic. I always say, "I won't know what happens until I die, and I'm not in a hurry to do that." I don't have the answers, no one else has the answers, Kim doesn't pretend he knows, Janeway doesn't pretend she knows. The Uhnori, on the other hand, do think they know. They expect that when they die, their bodies are transformed as they ascend to another plane. There are no corporeal remains and it disturbs them when they find out there are.

While I respect what this episode is trying to, there are a few things that me thinking, "Wait a minute... " Before the Uhnori had the technology to transport bodies elsewhere, you'd think they'd have to do something with people's bodies. They should've known that there would be corporeal remains. Unless they somehow think they evolved to not leave behind corporeal remains once they became advanced enough. This isn't something the episode addresses, but it should've.

Then there's the part where Kim wraps himself up until instead of Hatil. Kim and Hatil obviously have very different body types. Different height, different weight. You couldn't miss that Kim isn't Hatil. But the family either seems oblivious or just goes along with it.

What the episode gets really right, besides addressing the question of life-after-death, is when Ptera is revived and what she thinks is the Afterlife is nothing like what she expected. Eventually she comes around and realizes she's not in the Afterlife and helps the crew located Kim. Ptera also makes for a nice friend for Kes for a little while, before she dies again, giving Kes someone to interact with besides Neelix and the Doctor.

After Voyager locates Kim, who ended up in this whole mess to begin with because of TECH, and is in the chamber Hatil was supposed to be in, Kim dies, Voyager beams him up, the Doctor revives him... and Kim come is giving two days off to reflect on the fact that he died and came back. It was nice of Janeway to give Kim those two days off. It was a touching scene. But I also jokingly think, "If I were Kim, I'd need the two days just to think to myself: What the Hell just happened?"

The nitpicks I have don't affect my overall enjoyment of the episode, I like the questions it poses as I said, and I was going back-and-forth between a 7 and 8, but I'll go with an 8. I'll split the difference and give it a 7.5.

 

[Lord Garth]

Something I forgot to mention: Dr. Neria, played by Jerry Hardin! Once I figured out he also played Mark Twain in "Time's Arrow", I couldn't unsee it. Every time I saw Jerry Hardin, all I could imagine was Dr. Neira if he did an impression of Mark Twain, started acting like him, and told everyone about how they ascend into the next dimension as bombastically as possible. I don't know if he ever played one, but Jerry Hardin would make for a great Pastor in a religious comedy. Or any type of comedy where a church is involved. Just imagine an organ in the background while he'd emote. "Amen!" "Hallelujah!!!" "Praise the Lord!"

 

[Farscape One]

"Emanations"

One thing I highly respect about this episode is its willingness to discuss the topic of life-after-death and to be open to all possibilities. I'm an Agnostic. I always say, "I won't know what happens until I die, and I'm not in a hurry to do that." I don't have the answers, no one else has the answers, Kim doesn't pretend he knows, Janeway doesn't pretend she knows. The Uhnori, on the other hand, do think they know. They expect that when they die, their bodies are transformed as they ascend to another plane. There are no corporeal remains and it disturbs them when they find out there are.

While I respect what this episode is trying to, there are a few things that me thinking, "Wait a minute... " Before the Uhnori had the technology to transport bodies elsewhere, you'd think they'd have to do something with people's bodies. They should've known that there would be corporeal remains. Unless they somehow think they evolved to not leave behind corporeal remains once they became advanced enough. This isn't something the episode addresses, but it should've.

Then there's the part where Kim wraps himself up until instead of Hatil. Kim and Hatil obviously have very different body types. Different height, different weight. You couldn't miss that Kim isn't Hatil. But the family either seems oblivious or just goes along with it.

What the episode gets really right, besides addressing the question of life-after-death, is when Ptera is revived and what she thinks is the Afterlife is nothing like what she expected. Eventually she comes around and realizes she's not in the Afterlife and helps the crew located Kim. Ptera also makes for a nice friend for Kes for a little while, before she dies again, giving Kes someone to interact with besides Neelix and the Doctor.

After Voyager locates Kim, who ended up in this whole mess to begin with because of TECH, and is in the chamber Hatil was supposed to be in, Kim dies, Voyager beams him up, the Doctor revives him... and Kim come is giving two days off to reflect on the fact that he died and came back. It was nice of Janeway to give Kim those two days off. It was a touching scene. But I also jokingly think, "If I were Kim, I'd need the two days just to think to myself: What the Hell just happened?"

The nitpicks I have don't affect my overall enjoyment of the episode, I like the questions it poses as I said, and I was going back-and-forth between a 7 and 8, but I'll go with an 8.

I always thought this one was better than most seem to say, though I'd probably lean more to it being a 7. There certainly were much worse episodes produced for season 1, like "ELOGIUM" and "TWISTED".

 

[Lord Garth]

I always thought this one was better than most seem to say, though I'd probably lean more to it being a 7. There certainly were much worse episodes produced for season 1, like "ELOGIUM" and "TWISTED".

I'm going to change my rating to a 7.5. I really do like them tackling life after death, it's something I'm really interested in, but that doesn't make it an 8. Looking at my review, it reads more like a 7, but I'll still give it the extra half-point for the philosophical angle.

Not having been part of the VOY Fan Community is going to make things interesting for me. I don't know what general consensus is about anything. All I know is there's a HUGE debate over "Tuvix".

 

[Lord Garth]

"Prime Factors"

This episode has everything, and some twists that I didn't expect when it first aired in 1995. Where to begin? The creators did a good job of making Sikaria seem not alien, but more exotic than what we'd seen in TNG and DS9. They were predicting the future a little bit with the man-buns. I like the way they pulled that hairstyle off. The sets on Sikaria look nice and it's a place that I would've liked to have visited too.

The actor who played Labin, Ronald Guttman, is someone I'm more familiar with from Mad Men where he plays the father of Don Draper's second wife. He's great as Labin. He views Voyager as exotically as they view Sikaria. He's fascinated by Janeway, Janeway's fascinated by him. He wants Janeway to stay, but Janeway catches on when she realizes he only likes what's new and exciting and once that wears off, he'd be done with her.

As interesting as that is, that's not what makes the episode. Here's what does: the Sikarians' spatial projector that can transport people and objects across 40,000 light-years, which can bring Voyager half-way home. It's fodder for all kinds of things.

I love that Sikaria's Canon of Laws forbids the sharing of their technology. And Janeway is right: this is their first time on the opposite side of a Prime Directive issue, where they're being denied the more advanced technology. Not something I recall seeing in Star Trek up to this point.

Essentially being on the opposite side of the Prime Directive shows how various members of the Voyager crew act and where their moral compasses are. Janeway is only interested in going through official channels. Kim is interested in alternatives, like getting access to a spatial projector through underground means, but he'll listen to Janeway. Torres doesn't care about official channels, she cares about getting home, and Seska is urging her on. Seska's like the devil on Torres' shoulder. More on that later. Then there's Tuvok: he values getting home and is willing to spare Janeway an ethical dilemma about whether or not to go through official channels, stating that only the Sikarian willing to provide with the projector would be breaking the law, and it would be his planet's laws.

I think Torres, Seska, and Carey (who's in on it too) are too excited about getting home and try to use the projector Tuvok obtained immediately because they won't have another chance. All behind Janeway's back, by the way. And, of course, the projector is incompatible with Voyager's technology. And if Torres was more with it, she would've found that out before trying to use it.

The biggest surprise of the episode was Tuvok helping Torres, Seska, and Carey. Back when I was watching this in 1995, I was NOT expecting that AT ALL. I don't think anyone else did either. Tuvok insists his logic wasn't flawed, but I think it was. If it occurred to him to check to see if the projector was compatible with Voyager at all, he would've found that they couldn't use it and never would've brought it aboard Voyager.

Honestly, I'm with Janeway. Once she decided to only go through official channels and Labin said no, that should've been the end of it. There was no dilemma Tuvok had to spare Janeway from, the debate was over as far as the Captain was concerned. But it's nice to see other characters push for things even if I don't agree with them. This episode shows that Janeway will follow how Starfleet expects her to behave to a T. Whereas Tuvok would rather do the pragmatic thing.

I make it a point in these re-watches NOT to bring up New Trek unless something really stands out. And this time something did. I never thought about this before today, but: Seska is a better-done version of Discovery's Lorca. Yes, you read that right. Hear me out. Lorca's a Terran who pretended to be Human. Seska's a Cardassian pretending to be Bajoran. Lorca tried to have you fooled, but you could tell something was up with him even before it was revealed he was from the Mirror Universe. With Seska, you don't think anything's up with her. You'd think she's just another Maquis. Seska was able to hide herself better than Lorca was. After it's revealed that Lorca is from the Mirror Universe, he becomes a two-dimensional villain. After it's revealed that Seska's really a Cardassian spy, she's still interesting. In fact, she'll make scenes with the Kazon be more tolerable than they would've been otherwise. Unlike with Lorca, her potential wasn't lost after her reveal. But that's for next time.

I already liked this episode a lot to begin with, and my opinion of it only went up during this re-watch. So much to it. I give it a 10.

EDIT (4/15/25): I've changed the rating to a 9.