Okay, when it comes to 90s Trek, Brannon Braga is a go-to favorite of mine since he delves into high concept ideas - often with much polish and success.
I decided to try streaming an episode of VOY without vomiting over the bandwidth reduction tweaks utilized. This failed because the lack of definition and jaggy lines induced by field stripping and whatever else they're using, and/or a less-than-ideal deinterlacing protocol is the sort of thing you see only in videotape productions. 90s Trek being filmed then transferred to video has, shall we say, unique problems that has no quick cure. If you can get the DVDs on sale, watch those instead. At 8x the bitrate and the TV doing the graphics processing, or PowerDVD software for those of you using PCs as a home theater, you'll be far better off. (And even then it's still got telltale signs of upscaling but it won't be anywhere near as bad.)
As for the story itself...
The episode starts off with a new alien species and a nice exchange between Janeway and Ambassador Neelix. Ethan may be best as a villainous Ferengi but in VOY he's showing he's got more range, and the creation and background of his character are pretty novel too.
The episode is trying, perhaps too hard, to channel "Alien". The direction from Alexander Singer is rather excellent, but the translucent goo on the sets doesn't quite work as it looks too clean to really sell the notion of what these big virus thingies are... granted, being a TV show with the weekly reset button o' joy and everything has to be spotless for next week's filming, it's not entirely surprising.
There's not much of a story, but it is steeped in atmosphere - which is key to its success.
As is its layout and juggling of time - starting in the present and doing a nice segue to the past when the calamity started.
On the other hand, having this virus take the form of rabidly growing fly-like things (even with the CGI of the time) is a fresh take on disgusting gross-out critters. I wish there was a better explanation as to how this fritter managed to find a way to grow so exponentially as it's left fairly open, but it's made up for by how it's shown on screen - with suitable body horror.
There's a nice touch in the macroviruses hauling the crew into one convenient location, which is pretty gruesome as well as feeling authentic. This still brings up the problem of how this virus developed into a state where not only it could enter our world but fly as well. Not just fly but develop the strength to move about a bunch of 90-250 pound bodies without breaking a perspiration or whatever it is a virus does to keep cool. Viruses just swim in the bloodstream anyway. But accept this at face value as a high concept ride and there is some fun to be had. It's not Brannon's best work, but having just peeked at his page on Memory Alpha, it's absolutely nowhere near his least-effective stories either.
The biggest flaw might be in how this virus thing gets past by the biofilter despite being caught by it, then somehow wiggles its way into the transporter buffer and then can traverse the ship whistling showtunes until it finds one - and only one - bioneural gel pack to drink like a milkshake, while still in buffer form rather than reconstituted since anything stuck in the buffer can't extend a finger to press the energize button. Isn't that convenient and peachy? Putting the nitpick aside, let's see where this episode goes...
I love it when the EMH states the virus is attracted to infrared radiation, ashe's standing next to a light fixture that clearly has a warm glow and is bound to be emitting loads of IR like how his mobile emitter is as well he's providing a solution to the problem without drawing excessive attention in the process. Katheryn Ripley's idea of using a big bug bomb was cleverly done as well. (Actually, apart from trying to nail the feel of "Alien" at the start, I did not get the impression Janeway was being an imitation of Ripley - believe it or not.)
The alien species, the Tak-Taks, felt like a nice throwaway at the start. Except they come back, in part due to Janeway putting out a general distress call to let everyone know they have a contagion aboard, which will surely result in a dozen ambulance ships with those loud doppler-betraying sirens to stop by instead of a bunch of ships wanting to destroy the ship to prevent the virus from getting to other planets where nobody will be able to contain it.
What is the throwaway was the stuff at the start where Janeway's hands-on-hips exposition was a sign of rudeness but has zero influence later in the story. That aside, I did like Janeway's quip on how they would share thevaccine antigen in exchange for not being blown to bits, and Mulgrew's delivery of the line is really nicely done. Brannon has a way with dialogue that I can't help but to like. Having actors add in that extra bit of panache helps that much more. There's some major synergy going on at times in this episode.
The Tak-Tak Consul shown on screen is refreshingly different in mannerisms and verbiage.
Remember Doctor Who's "The Invisible Enemy" from 1977, involving a virus that finds a way into our world? That story may have been an influence as it too features a virus that gets put into our macroscopic universe (albeit one unit that also happens to inexplicably change its shape between its universe and ours). Only Trek's version does a better job in using the concept, especially as the imitation of "Alien" is tapered off as the episode progresses. All this is okay, noting a fun parallel involving TOS from 1966 had a story involving putting human minds into androids with a pretentious story title ("What Are Little Girls Made Of") and Doctor Who one-upped it and then some in 1982 with "Four to Doomsday". Each show creates and innovates and one-ups where it can, that's part of the fun as a viewer to see the episodes over the span of time to see what others do with it and if they can make it more than the sum of its parts. "Macrocosm" pretty much succeeds.
Still, when one-ups fail, the risk of looking derivative amplifies. This episode almost feels like a derivative of "Alien" but not quite and certainly not fully. Still, while it's a good enough story in its execution, I still get a feeling that it could have been a little more engaging... especially as we didn't see any of the football-sized virus nodules buzzing around on the planet, where the EMH reveals how these things are growing beyond proportion (yet with no underlying explanation for that, which might have been fun to explore as well. Probably a mutation with another critter from the mine, like an arachnid, complete with added gamma radiation fortified with vitamins D and A, and then the lead virus placidly and feebly cautions people "Don't make me angry, you won't like me if I get angry. GRR, SPIDEHULK MAD!!!"
And, far worse, the excessive exposition on the virus buffering its way around could easily have been served by the unknown substance somehow not being detected by the transporter, though on the other hand the option chosen would be less cliche than "oops, the dang transporters didn't pick up on it. Again." Yet despite the cliche, that route would make more sense, especially since it wouldn't be a surprise that the virus could hitch a ride and cling to and last long enough on the holo-emitter to find a more suitable host afterward, without needing to be brainy enough to figure out how to bypass filters and buffers and end up in just one of the dozens of bio gel packs that are critical for ship operation. It just seemed too convenient if not unnecessary, to go after just one gel-pack with a bulge when there's a whole crew of tasty humans waiting to be impaled.
C+
Lastly, "Cooties melt in your mouth, not in your hand!" Also, the green ones are best and not because they're most envied.
I decided to try streaming an episode of VOY without vomiting over the bandwidth reduction tweaks utilized. This failed because the lack of definition and jaggy lines induced by field stripping and whatever else they're using, and/or a less-than-ideal deinterlacing protocol is the sort of thing you see only in videotape productions. 90s Trek being filmed then transferred to video has, shall we say, unique problems that has no quick cure. If you can get the DVDs on sale, watch those instead. At 8x the bitrate and the TV doing the graphics processing, or PowerDVD software for those of you using PCs as a home theater, you'll be far better off. (And even then it's still got telltale signs of upscaling but it won't be anywhere near as bad.)
As for the story itself...
The episode starts off with a new alien species and a nice exchange between Janeway and Ambassador Neelix. Ethan may be best as a villainous Ferengi but in VOY he's showing he's got more range, and the creation and background of his character are pretty novel too.
The episode is trying, perhaps too hard, to channel "Alien". The direction from Alexander Singer is rather excellent, but the translucent goo on the sets doesn't quite work as it looks too clean to really sell the notion of what these big virus thingies are... granted, being a TV show with the weekly reset button o' joy and everything has to be spotless for next week's filming, it's not entirely surprising.
There's not much of a story, but it is steeped in atmosphere - which is key to its success.
As is its layout and juggling of time - starting in the present and doing a nice segue to the past when the calamity started.
On the other hand, having this virus take the form of rabidly growing fly-like things (even with the CGI of the time) is a fresh take on disgusting gross-out critters. I wish there was a better explanation as to how this fritter managed to find a way to grow so exponentially as it's left fairly open, but it's made up for by how it's shown on screen - with suitable body horror.
There's a nice touch in the macroviruses hauling the crew into one convenient location, which is pretty gruesome as well as feeling authentic. This still brings up the problem of how this virus developed into a state where not only it could enter our world but fly as well. Not just fly but develop the strength to move about a bunch of 90-250 pound bodies without breaking a perspiration or whatever it is a virus does to keep cool. Viruses just swim in the bloodstream anyway. But accept this at face value as a high concept ride and there is some fun to be had. It's not Brannon's best work, but having just peeked at his page on Memory Alpha, it's absolutely nowhere near his least-effective stories either.
The biggest flaw might be in how this virus thing gets past by the biofilter despite being caught by it, then somehow wiggles its way into the transporter buffer and then can traverse the ship whistling showtunes until it finds one - and only one - bioneural gel pack to drink like a milkshake, while still in buffer form rather than reconstituted since anything stuck in the buffer can't extend a finger to press the energize button. Isn't that convenient and peachy? Putting the nitpick aside, let's see where this episode goes...
I love it when the EMH states the virus is attracted to infrared radiation, as
The alien species, the Tak-Taks, felt like a nice throwaway at the start. Except they come back, in part due to Janeway putting out a general distress call to let everyone know they have a contagion aboard, which will surely result in a dozen ambulance ships with those loud doppler-betraying sirens to stop by instead of a bunch of ships wanting to destroy the ship to prevent the virus from getting to other planets where nobody will be able to contain it.
What is the throwaway was the stuff at the start where Janeway's hands-on-hips exposition was a sign of rudeness but has zero influence later in the story. That aside, I did like Janeway's quip on how they would share the
The Tak-Tak Consul shown on screen is refreshingly different in mannerisms and verbiage.
Remember Doctor Who's "The Invisible Enemy" from 1977, involving a virus that finds a way into our world? That story may have been an influence as it too features a virus that gets put into our macroscopic universe (albeit one unit that also happens to inexplicably change its shape between its universe and ours). Only Trek's version does a better job in using the concept, especially as the imitation of "Alien" is tapered off as the episode progresses. All this is okay, noting a fun parallel involving TOS from 1966 had a story involving putting human minds into androids with a pretentious story title ("What Are Little Girls Made Of") and Doctor Who one-upped it and then some in 1982 with "Four to Doomsday". Each show creates and innovates and one-ups where it can, that's part of the fun as a viewer to see the episodes over the span of time to see what others do with it and if they can make it more than the sum of its parts. "Macrocosm" pretty much succeeds.
Still, when one-ups fail, the risk of looking derivative amplifies. This episode almost feels like a derivative of "Alien" but not quite and certainly not fully. Still, while it's a good enough story in its execution, I still get a feeling that it could have been a little more engaging... especially as we didn't see any of the football-sized virus nodules buzzing around on the planet, where the EMH reveals how these things are growing beyond proportion (yet with no underlying explanation for that, which might have been fun to explore as well. Probably a mutation with another critter from the mine, like an arachnid, complete with added gamma radiation fortified with vitamins D and A, and then the lead virus placidly and feebly cautions people "Don't make me angry, you won't like me if I get angry. GRR, SPIDEHULK MAD!!!"
And, far worse, the excessive exposition on the virus buffering its way around could easily have been served by the unknown substance somehow not being detected by the transporter, though on the other hand the option chosen would be less cliche than "oops, the dang transporters didn't pick up on it. Again." Yet despite the cliche, that route would make more sense, especially since it wouldn't be a surprise that the virus could hitch a ride and cling to and last long enough on the holo-emitter to find a more suitable host afterward, without needing to be brainy enough to figure out how to bypass filters and buffers and end up in just one of the dozens of bio gel packs that are critical for ship operation. It just seemed too convenient if not unnecessary, to go after just one gel-pack with a bulge when there's a whole crew of tasty humans waiting to be impaled.
C+
Lastly, "Cooties melt in your mouth, not in your hand!" Also, the green ones are best and not because they're most envied.
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