i have a theory. well, more like an idle rumination. that the holodeck goes whacky so much because it's big and trying to manage all the treadmill fields and viewpoints and stuff. and the holosuites don't because you only have one or two people in a small space, and they network together for larger thingies.
He didn't appear in "FAIR TRADE" and "BLOOD FEVER", and those were filmed back to back. So it's likely those were the two episodes he was suspended. Whether that was with no pay or a significantly reduced amount, I don't know. (I guess that would depend entirely on the contracts.)
My apologies for putting my thoughts on so many episodes at once. (I'm playing catch up on these wonderful reviews.)
This one easily ranks as among the worst of VOY for me. (And aparently a lot of others, too... it's won 'Most Disliked Season 3" VOY episode FIVE times straight, and I'm pretty sure it won at least once for the entire series.) I get what you mean by the 50s style they were going for, but I think it was just done so badly.
Fun fact: that other male who was killed was played by Patrick Fabian, who would later play Howard Hamlin in BETTER CALL SAUL. (Excellent series! If you've never seen it, I definitely recommend it.)
Fun fact: that other male who was killed was played by Patrick Fabian, who would later play Howard Hamlin in BETTER CALL SAUL. (Excellent series! If you've never seen it, I definitely recommend it.)
This episode, ironically, highlights two problems of Janeway that Chakotay excelled in as Captain. First, he made sure people were promoted accordingly... there's something to be said about having that kind of reassurance that your hard work does merit something more than just a few more replicator rations or whatever. (Though considering how the Year of Hell really did a number on the crew count, they were almost certainly necessary promotions to fill those gaps in positions.) Second, it was mentioned that Kes was one of the DOCTORS on the ship, which indicates there are multiple doctors besides The Doctor. That should frankly have been one of Janeway's first tasks once they got stranded in the Delta Quadrant... train more crew to be actual doctors. (To be fair, in "PARALLAX", she did assign Tom to be a field medic and later Kes became that, and Tom got be field medic again once she left. But while field medics are important, having more trained doctors is even more important, especially since The Doctor is technologically based. Going through the Year of Hell without him online was exactly what they needed to prove that the ship needed more than just him as their practicing doctor.)
There is one other family on board Voyager... the Delaney sisters. They have been mentioned sporadically since "TIME AND AGAIN", and we see them for the first time later. I do agree that Tom gave The Doctor some excellent advice. He really does give some good, grounded advice to various people throughout the show.
I think this is one of the best of the entire franchise. Period. One of the reasons why it worked so well was exactly what you said: it focused more on the Voth and their perspective than our crew. The only thing that I noticed was that canister of warp plasma is NOT actually from Voyager. That would be the same container Neelix used in "FAIR TRADE", and that was warp plasma from somewhere other than Voyager. That would have made it impossible for Gegen to use it to find Voyager, and therefore the story would have been changed. (Unless they found something else to use to find them.) I would normally ding an episode for an error that would fundamentally change it, but in this case, it was done so extremely well that I can let it slide. This was an easy 10 for me.
I really liked this one, too. It was a pretty unique way of taking over a place. I would have been more suspicious earlier, though... it just seemed off from the jump. Chakotay saying 'let's just hope I'm being paranoid' when he had access to areas restricted should have come MUCH sooner in the episode. The comparison to "THE CAGE" is an intreresting one, and I never really connected that until you did. It makes sense, despite the reasons being radically different between the two scenarios.
I think this was VOY having fun at its best. And it is a great end point that separates the show from pre and post Seven of Nine. I loved seeing Seska again... she was the best single person villain of the series. This was a NOVEL idea. (Pun was intended.) I would likely also give it a 10. Just superb fun.
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