Deadlock

[StarTrekker]

The first time I watched this episode I thought it was a real mess plagued with illogical technobabble solutions. However I just rewatched it recently and now I just recognise it for the awesomely fun episode it was. The technobabble didn't even annoy me this time. It had so many great scenes - the ominous sound before the proton bursts come, Harry dying, Samantha Wildman's baby dying, Kes disappearing in thin air, the bridge getting blown to bits and Janeway seeing an alternate self.
When Brannon Braga was good, he was damned good, its unfortunate he wasn't more consistent because this episode was a real gem.
The only downer is the horrible performance of Garret Wang at the end where he acts like the whole ordeal wasn't a big deal - why they didn't drop him at the end of season 3 I will never know. Also the fact that the ship was practically brand new the next episode...Oh and the line said by Harry when asked by the doctor if his counterpart had a name "I really didn't have time to ask" , he was originally from the other ship for goodness sake! Braga really was quite stupid actually...well good episode regardless..
What does everyone else think about "Deadlock"? For me, its a highlight of a fairly weak season.

 

[kes7]

Janeway's warm welcome to the Vidiians, followed by the self destruct sequence, was awesome. Everything else .... meh. Not my favorite episode.

 

[mythme]

I love this episode. Certainly in my top 5 for VOY. The Vidiians stalking the halls, harvesting organs from everyone...Tuvok, Kes, Sam and the baby...oooo so creepy!

 

[StarTrekker]

It sure was grotesque when one of the Vidiians ordered the other to remove Kes's pelvic ridge! Not the image you want associated with the sweet little Ocampa.

 

[pureTREKKER]

It was a good ep, but I wonder how they got Voyager repaired with all those damages.
Like Voyager after every battle, not a scratch on the hull.

 

[Guy Gardener]

If they had gutted and put Kims organs on the auction loxk, why is it in my imagination that they wouldn't have sold too well, that prices would have had to have been slashed and slashed again by the Krrrrrrrrrrrrrrr--A-azy Vidiians, before they eventually donated to him to...

The spacial schism was an infinite sourse of body parts. They culd have replicated their "current harvests a billion billion times and left the free range peoples of the delta quadrant alone until the space time event collapsed under its own accord.

I wonder what Borg meat would be like? Nanite adjusted on the molecular level to be perfect, yuo'd think that it would be some what resistant to any disease eventually after a few testees had bought the farm.

 

[KingstonTrekker]

Great episode...one of the few bright spots in Season 2.

 

[Danny99]

It doesn't stand up on repeat viewings as you know it's a reset.

But the first time with the first twenty minutes going down, I was shocked.

 

[eepruls]

Great episode. I watch it every time it comes on.

 

[exodus]

I thought "Deadlock" was one of Harry's bright moments in the series.
I loved his summersault flip/ firing phaser in sickbay to rescue baby Niomi.
If anything due to this, they should have made Harry the action hero of the series.
Harry did mention a few time in the series of how he was superior in athletics, so why not?

 

[kes7]

I thought "Deadlock" was one of Harry's bright moments in the series.
I loved his summersault flip/ firing phaser in sickbay to rescue baby Niomi.
If anything due to this, they should have made Harry the action hero of the series.
Harry did mention a few time in the series of how he was superior in athletics, so why not?

I laughed out loud when I saw that. It just seemed so out of character. Maybe if they had spent any time actually developing the "athletic star" side of Harry's character prior to that episode, it would have been more believable.

 

[exodus]

I thought "Deadlock" was one of Harry's bright moments in the series.
I loved his summersault flip/ firing phaser in sickbay to rescue baby Niomi.
If anything due to this, they should have made Harry the action hero of the series.
Harry did mention a few time in the series of how he was superior in athletics, so why not?

I laughed out loud when I saw that. It just seemed so out of character. Maybe if they had spent any time actually developing the "athletic star" side of Harry's character prior to that episode, it would have been more believable.

Out of character?

Really?
It was only early 2nd season, they were still developing everyones character. At that point, I don't think most knew Harry would turn out to be a dud he became.

 

[kes7]

He certainly hadn't struck me as the type of person capable of action-hero antics under pressure. YMMV. All I'm saying is, I found it out of character at the time, and it took me out of the story. It was the somersault that did it. It just seemed so superfluous and unlikely that I laughed out loud. If he'd walked in there and just been a good shot and merely successfully ducked any incoming fire, I would have been impressed and called it character development. But they stretched credibility too far for me with the acrobatics.

 

[mirandafave]

Well i think one of the strengths of the episode is that it had the Vidiians. They were a new type of villain with a new type of motivation. It was good to have them recur a number of times. This episode upped the ante on their desire to harvest the crew and the way the story unfolded with badly ruined Voyager being the one to come out winning was a nice 'twist'. Like others have stated it was bad to see that next week there was no reference and no visible sign of damage. That would have helped considering how dire their predicament had been.
Harry's save being crossing over to the other Voyager was a different way to reset the button and made me think of Yesterday's Enterprise with Tasha going back in history et el. However, just think how shocking it would have been to have had him dead and stay dead! That would have marked Voyager out as being different and that the journey would be a dangerous and arduous one. Alas they copped out and yet it's not as if Harry had much development in character since then.

 

[StarTrekker]

However, just think how shocking it would have been to have had him dead and stay dead! That would have marked Voyager out as being different and that the journey would be a dangerous and arduous one. Alas they copped out and yet it's not as if Harry had much development in character since then.

I would have cried with joy, rid of Harry at last. We wouldn't have had to endure "Favorite Son" or any of Wang's awful acting ever again!

 

[eepruls]

However, just think how shocking it would have been to have had him dead and stay dead! That would have marked Voyager out as being different and that the journey would be a dangerous and arduous one. Alas they copped out and yet it's not as if Harry had much development in character since then.

I would have cried with joy, rid of Harry at least. We wouldn't have had to endure "Favorite Son" or any of Wang's awful acting ever again!

He was really good in Timeless when he played the future version of himself. I remember seeing it for the first time and couldn't believe it was the same actor because it was so much more believable. He seemed like a real person. Even today when I see that episode I'm very impressed. His delivery was so much more realistic. I liked that Kim! If Wang had have played Kim more like that, his character wouldn't have been so bad. So could it be that the producers never wanted Wang to be anything more than what we saw so he never was able to make the role unique? It seems when they gave him a real character to play he delivered but they just never gave him that and so there was never anything for him to sink his teeth into. After 7 years, Harry Kim is so generic that literally any actor could play him. I attribute some of that to the writers/producers.

 

[StarTrekker]

I thought he was horrible in "Timeless" too.
Fact of the matter is, no matter what lines he got or opportunities, his acting was always awful. A good actor can be convincing even with a couple of lines, Wang consistently couldn't be convincing with a whole episode.

 

[exodus]

He convinced me when he read technobabble that it was real.
If anything I will give Wang credit for that, he and Roxanne Dawson both spoke technobabble like they were born to do it.

However, I can't blame the writer/produers for Harry being a flop.
Besides TB, Wang wasn't a very seasoned actor. If Mulgrew could say: "There's coffee in that Nubula." or Dawson's "Get this cheese to sickbay" with real feeling. Then Wang could have spiced up bad lines or parts as well.

 

[kes7]

He convinced me when he read technobabble that it was real.
If anything I will give Wang credit for that, he and Roxanne Dawson both spoke technobabble like they were born to do it.

QFT. Those two rocked the technobabble like no one else in Trek.

 

[nx1701g]

The only downer is the horrible performance of Garret Wang at the end where he acts like the whole ordeal wasn't a big deal - why they didn't drop him at the end of season 3 I will never know.

Well now you know:

Wang mentioned a few years ago that he had been called into Berman's office with Jennifer Lien and told that that they were going to be removing a character from the show but they weren't sure who yet so they were giving them the chance to audition for other shows (which was why Wang made appearances on a sitcom during Voyager's run and why Lien got the job on Men in Black the Series).

Shortly afterward they got the script for Scorpion and it was pretty much spelled out that Harry was going to die. Over the summer (shortly before Season 4 was to begin filming) People magazine released their list of sexiest actors and Wang was on the list. They had already developed Seven of Nine to be his replacement, but Paramount and B&B decided that they couldn't let the press from his being on the list to escape them. They called Lien in and told her she was being killed off in the second episode of the season and that Wang would be staying. They rewrote the episode and Season 4 began.

That's how Harry got saved and Kes died. I recell reading too that Kate Mulgrew was very unhappy that Lien was removed from the series too.