Re: A Hater Revisits Voyager
Blood Fever (***)
A great episode? No. A fun episode which has some good character moments. I think so. Depending upon how you view it I suppose you could just remember this episode as the one where B'Elanna runs around in a sweaty tank-top trying to get laid, but I think there was something more here.
I can't believe you gave this episode 3 stars. I didn't care for it. First off the promo made it seem as if the episode was going to focus on the Borg. Instead, a corpse shows up at the end. Another mark against the UPN promo department was the fact that it gave away the reveal of the Borg so the whole episode we knew that the attackers of the alien of the week we meet were the Borg totally undermining the impact.
But even once you get past the way the anticipation of encountering the Borg overshadowed the episode and you look at the episode in its own right it comes off very shallow. Trek doesn't have a good record with romances and I never really cared all that much for Paris & Torres. I could definitely see why Brannon would go onto later push them aside and not dedicate too much focus on them. So to see them struggling with these sexual feelings for one another certainly wasn't very interesting.
Tom in particular comes across as a very good character, the white-knight who refuses to give into what he wants because he values B'Elanna too much.
Which is pretty shallow when it comes to characterization which is why Paris, Neelix, Kim, Chakotay and Tuvok were some of the least interesting characters to watch.
I couldn't care less about Vorik and that false jeopardy. The only highlight was B'elanna itching to kick his ass. Neelix getting injured was unnecessary and just made his character that much more irritating. Despite the intention of creating a deadline, there was no suspense or sense of jeopardy in the least. The Doctor creating a holo-partner for Vorik fell flat despite its cute intentions.
And the aliens were just not that compelling. Not surprisingly the only life in this episode was a lifeless corpse.
I'd give it 2 stars. It's a loser.
Ah, back when the Borg were still terrifying. I remember jumping out of my chair when watching this as a kid and the Borg cube appeared on screen.
I remember hearing about the Borg coming to Voyager in February and I couldn't wait. After such a dismal run of mediocre episodes I was finally actually anticipating a Voyager episode. It wasn't nearly as good as I had hoped.
I only have minor issues with this episode, such as how Riley was assimilated at Wolf 359 and not killed when that cube exploded
I agree. A major plothole. Usually I can overlook nits but this was a major one given how "The Best of Both Worlds" was such a monumental event and everyone remembers the cube being destroyed.
I also had a problem with the way they suggested that the Collective Consciousness was telepathic in nature when clearly in BoBW it was stated that it was form of subspace communications.
I'm also confused as to why they are back in the Nekrit Expanse when there wasn't a mention of it in the last two episodes, but at least this was a small nod toward continuity.
I loved how the Nekrit Expanse marked the end of friendly territory for the crew and the end of where Neelix's knowledge would assist the crew. From here on out they would all be truly entering the unknown dark frontier. This episode was fantastic in creating a terrifyingly creepy mood and atmosphere that permeated the entire hour. There is something about crossing paths with a Borg cube that sends chills up your spine. And it is just as effective here when Voyager runs into one as back in "Q Who? or "The Best of Both Worlds". And another "take notice" moment was when the cube powered back up and came to life. Very effective.
At first, I was going to have a problem with the fact that these ex-Borg regained their original memories and identities as well as their skin tone given that the liberated Borg in TNG's Descent didn't and had no idea how to function as individuals. However, Biller circumvented that with the unique way they were freed. Unfortunately, being de-assimilated would become a cakewalk in years to come.
And I would argue that the episode didn't exactly foreshadow "someone more powerful than the Borg". Afterall, the original plan was for this to be the last episode we saw of the Borg this season and "Year of Hell" was the intended finale but understandably at the last minute in an effort to salvage the show the writers shelved that finale and brought back the Borg. In the TVGUide article from back then Jeri Taylor said that they had realized "Unity" had not been that satisfying and wanted to really bring back the Borg full force.
I'd give it just three stars. It's good but not 4-star material.
You all know the old axiom "show, don't tell", well this episode completely ignores that. Kim tells the story about a time when he and Janeway ate some fruit together on a planet and it is really emotional and blah-blah-blah. The whole thing felt very phony and later I figured out why; not only did this scene never happen on screen, but the only time I can remember Janeway and Kim having any kind of heart-to-heart was at the end of Emanations, and that wasn't all that personal. The fact is that Janeway and Kim do not have a great relationship and pretending that they do just doesn't work.
After all, you wouldn't be surprised if you heard Hitler say something anti-Semitic.
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