And speaking of Neelix, he's at it again! Yes, he's part of what makes the next episode more than a trip into...
"The Void"
I was thinking of the Black Sabbath song the whole time I was watching this one. It's a great song, but Jay Chattaway's score for this episode was very effective.
Mood music + mood lighting works wonders on Voyager, doesn't it?
And on a total tangent, somewhere on the list of things I want to do when I have the time is to edit down a version of "Into the Void" to sync up with the Enterprise opening credits. I just have this image of the ship going to warp at the very end--would match up well with the music.
Well, back to "The Void." I loved the opening dinner scene. I kept repeating, "This is fricking hysterical!" while watching it. Seven even borrowed one of Neelix's aprons. And what was the deal with the random redshirt just standing there?
So they get pulled into the Void, and get stuff stolen. Then an alien with a really, really cool face gives them the basic set-up, but Janeway refuses to hunt or be hunted. Instead, she wants to work together. What's gonna work?
Teamwork!
For me, the high points of this episode were the opening dinner; the moody lighting and music; and the freaky stealthy alien that the EMH taught to use a musical Speak-and-Spell.
Although I'll say for the record I would love to have the image of that guy crouched on the table touching himself while listening to
Rigoletto scrubbed from my brain. It was really pretty kinky, and that's not necessarily something I'm looking for in Sickbay. Though I'm sure the Doctor was fascinated by it.
And we saw those aliens who look almost exactly like Sontarans again. Turns out they're peeping Toms! Voyager's been really into degenerates lately, hasn't it?
In the end, Janeway teaches some of the aliens the True Meaning of Christmas; those guys get to go home. The bad guys (including the guy with the mega-cool face) are basically a bunch of Klingons with a bunch of Tribbles suddenly transported aboard.
I got a real kick out of this episode. You had Seven making dinner, aliens with neat faces, fake Sontarans, an alien rubbing his nipple area in Sickbay, and cool music. What more could you ask for?