Re: A Hater Revisits Voyager
I enjoyed this episode a lot too. The dinosaur thing doesn't bother me, the way it does a lot of people. I liked the ideas of it...and the presentation of them as well.
This was the episode where the series started embracing the wonders of CGI (in my mind), which at the time looked far more impressive visually than anything seen thus far. I remember being in awe of the 'dinosaur ship'. From here on out Voyager's effects look AMAZING - blowing Next Gen out of the water. While I often complain about the faults of Voyager, visually Voyager broke away from the pack here and never really looked back. DS9 was doing some incredible work as well (those space battles just can't be beat) but Voyager seemed to really put a lot into it's effects with some really cool results. I'd say this was the saving grace of Voyager, but in time all effects look dated and the only thing that will matter to those future audience members are the stories that were told - which is why I believe that DS9 will continue to find audiences...and that Voyager probably won't, or not to the same degree. Because I think most people looking for a good story probably require that the characters and plot points make sense. Still, the series has it's moments.
I also liked the continuity with Hogan's bones from "Basics" - that Voyager was referencing a previous episode for a plot point seemed like a major step in the right direction to me. And I had liked Hogan in his few brief appearances, so having his death lead to another plot felt almost like closure. Nice.
Actually anytime I saw a crewman more than once on Voyager I was happy.
Distant Origin (****)
I enjoyed this episode a lot too. The dinosaur thing doesn't bother me, the way it does a lot of people. I liked the ideas of it...and the presentation of them as well.
This was the episode where the series started embracing the wonders of CGI (in my mind), which at the time looked far more impressive visually than anything seen thus far. I remember being in awe of the 'dinosaur ship'. From here on out Voyager's effects look AMAZING - blowing Next Gen out of the water. While I often complain about the faults of Voyager, visually Voyager broke away from the pack here and never really looked back. DS9 was doing some incredible work as well (those space battles just can't be beat) but Voyager seemed to really put a lot into it's effects with some really cool results. I'd say this was the saving grace of Voyager, but in time all effects look dated and the only thing that will matter to those future audience members are the stories that were told - which is why I believe that DS9 will continue to find audiences...and that Voyager probably won't, or not to the same degree. Because I think most people looking for a good story probably require that the characters and plot points make sense. Still, the series has it's moments.
I also liked the continuity with Hogan's bones from "Basics" - that Voyager was referencing a previous episode for a plot point seemed like a major step in the right direction to me. And I had liked Hogan in his few brief appearances, so having his death lead to another plot felt almost like closure. Nice.
Actually anytime I saw a crewman more than once on Voyager I was happy.