Re-Watching VOY

[Lord Garth]

Star Trek: Voyager -- The Third Season

Part I: New Aliens
This was a season that put the series itself into a state-of-flux. With the Kazon and Vidiians left behind, Voyager ran into new adversaries such as the Arkritirans ("The Chute"), the Swarm ("The Swarm"), the Illari ("Warlord"), the Macro-Viruses ("Macrocosm"), the Teresians ("Favorite Son") the forewarning of the Krennim ("Before and After"), the Voth ("Distant Origin"), the Nyrians ("Displaced"), and the introduction of Species 8472 ("Scorpion"). Instead of having one or two particular main enemy like the first two seasons, the third season had a lot of variety.

Even the Borg, who we were already familiar with, turned out to not be the main threat in the Season Finale, it was really Species 8472; leading Janeway to make a deal with the Borg. Something completely new for Star Trek even with something old. I can't imagine Picard ever making a deal with the Borg. Which said a lot about how much of a threat Species 8472 was.

The Enarans ("Remember") were an interesting twist in that they were bad guys who desperately wanted to look like good guys. They wanted to befriend Voyager while trying their hardest to cover up that they committed genocide.

Part II: Character Progression
The most obvious example of progression is the Doctor. Just when you think they're going to regress him to the state he was in during "Caretaker", he recovers his memories (I didn't want him reset anyway!) and he gains the Mobile Emitter which allows him to move about the entire ship and off of it. He starts picking up hobbies and begins to feel more and more fully fleshed out even though he doesn't have flesh. He even tries to have a family. Tries.

Kes is the character who showed the second-most growth. Breaking up with Neelix was something she should've done a long time ago. Mainly because I didn't see any chemistry between them as a romantic couple at all. Like none. She wants to explore other things, try new relationships, and even considers briefly the possibility of leaving the ship in "The Darkling". "Before and After" shows glimpses of what could've happened with Kes, if she'd stayed in the series. Then there was her increasing telepathic abilities, which came in handy in assessing Species 8472,

I don't know if Neelix really grew as a character so much as he had to think about what his purpose on the ship was. ("Fair Trade") He couldn't be their guide anymore, since he was no longer familiar with the space Voyager was in. But he still had purpose as the cook and as the Morale Officer. He'd also been made Ship's Ambassador a few episodes earlier ("Macrocosm") so I think he was worried over nothing. He just didn't like losing an edge that he had before: guiding Voyager through space he actually knew.

Paris and Torres grew closer and closer together. To the point where I kept thinking, "Just hook up already!" It's one thing for Janeway/Chakotay to be a case of "Will they? Won't they?" throughout the series, but not Paris/Torres. But I saw constant steady progress in Paris/Torres that'll be paid off soon.

I don't think Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, and Kim really had much development this season. Not that it's a bad thing. Some people are at a stable point in their lives. I'm not expecting some huge character arc from Tuvok, for instance. He's rock solid. Janeway and Chakotay have an understanding between them, of themselves, and their relation with the crew.

But I will say something about Kim. His being in command of the bridge during "Future's End" should've been the beginning of him moving up. How has he not been promoted to Lieutenant yet?

Part III: Uneven Quality
I rated a full quarter of the season below a 7. Considering that I'm more lenient with my ratings than others, that's saying something. It's not so bad now because I've already seen the series, so I know what's coming, and I can brace myself for it. But during the '90s, when the season was first airing, I found it very frustrating.

That's all I have to say about the season as a whole. Looking forward to the fourth season, which is my favorite season of the series!

 

[Lord Garth]

Preface
The year is 1997. It's announced that Seven of Nine is going to be a new character. I think it was on Entertainment Tonight when I found out about the news. And then it was in TV Guide. I was super-excited. My first thought: she looks kind of like Circuit Breaker from the Marvel Transformers comic. Here's a link if you want to see what I mean. My other thought was: It's going to be great to have a Borg as a main character. Having the Borg character be a woman was something different. This was also riding off the momentum of Star Trek: First Contact, which I saw in the theaters twice. It had just come out on VHS that summer, I rented it, and because I had two VCRs, I made a copy of the rental. Yeah, making my own copies of things I rented was something I did all the time. I bet that's something some of you did too.

Even though I was taken to see Star Trek V in the theaters in the summer of 1989, it didn't make me a fan. And yeah. Let's be honest here. What would you think of Star Trek if TFF was your first exposure to it? I didn't become a fan until the beginning of 1991, when my mother bought Star Trek IV on VHS. We only had a VCR for about six months at this point. TVH hooked me right away. But anyway, the point is I missed out on the long wait for "The Best of Both Worlds, Part II" during the summer of 1990. Missed it by a few months! By the time I was waiting for DS9 Season 6 and VOY Season 4? Completely different story. As far as Star Trek goes, my summer of 1997 was other fans' summer of 1990. Better late than never!

Both season premieres knocked it out of the park. But right now, we're here to talk about "Scorpion, Part II". The first Star Trek episode to premiere when I was legally an adult. I was 18 at this point. I say legally because 18's not a real adult. That didn't hit until somewhere in my 20s. But anyway...

"Scorpion, Part II"

We're thrown right into it after Majel Barrett's "Last time on 'Star Trek: Voyager'... " Janeway's on the Borg Cube, she's made an agreement with the Borg, and asks for Tuvok to come over. The first sign of the Borg's nature is when they try temporarily try to connect Janeway and Tuvok to their collective. It's a good thing Janeway did her reading up on the Borg last episode and probably paid attention during any briefings on the Borg she might've had before the series, because she immediately brought up Locutus who spoke as a representative of the Borg. Thankfully, the Borg agree.

Seven of Nine enters right into the scene.

One of the first things I noticed was that they had Seven of Nine speak the exact same way in which the Borg Collective was speaking during their interactions with Janeway. That was a nice touch. At this point, Seven of Nine is very much speaking as a representative of the Borg Collective, rather than as her own character. As soon as Janeway figures out that Seven of Nine used to be Human and tries to talk to Seven about it, Seven brushes the discussion off and only wants to focus on the situation at hand. Makes total sense from her perspective. Only focus on what's relevant. Voyager's safe passage through Borg Space and then giving the Borg the bioweapon to fight Species 8472's bioships.

What Seven has in common with Janeway is her ability to think on her feet. After Species 8472 probes Kes' mind and discovers what Voyager is planning, they head straight for Voyager. Then the Borg Cube sacrifices itself to stop the bioship and five drones, including Seven, transport over to Voyager along with Janeway and Tuvok. There was no time to discuss any more than that because Janeway was seriously injured, but Seven wants Voyager to head deeper into Borg Space to fortify against Species 8472.

Here's where it gets tricky. The Borg can't survive a war against Species 8472 without the bioweapon. Voyager needs time to make more of them. Voyager's at risk. The Borg are at risk. All of it is a risk. But Chakotay wants to end the alliance with the Borg and drop off Seven and the other drones on some planet for the Borg to pick them up. With the Borg, at least Voyager has safety in numbers. Without the Borg, Voyager doesn't have that and Species 8472 can pick them right off. So, I agree with Janeway. I would've reversed course as well to maintain the alliance. Chakotay says it's "too risky" but that ship sailed a long time ago.

Chakotay always saying "it's too risky", "it's too risky" reminds me of Riker in "The Best of Both Worlds". I can see why they're both First Officers. To quote Kirk, "Risk is part of the game if you want to sit in that chair." That's what separates Kirk, Janeway, and Seven (yes, I went there!) from Riker and Chakotay. Moving right along...

Thanks to Chakotay's stubbornness, Seven tries to take over Voyager. Way to go, Chakotay! Chakotay thinks he can handle Seven, but Seven takes them straight into Fluidic Space.

After Janeway recovers, she's brought up to speed by the Doctor, then she has words for Chakotay. Obviously, I'm 100% on Janeway's side here. Chakotay was never serious about the alliance. Every stupid choice he made put Voyager in a tougher spot. And then Chakotay tells Janeway the Borg started the fight against Species 8472 since they couldn't assimilate them. At this point, we're getting into the weeds. It doesn't matter who started what, Species 8472 isn't going to side with Voyager, but the Borg will even if there are strings attached. Right or wrong, it's about which side will let them live. Kill or be killed. And it's too late to walk away from something they're already stuck in. Like it or not, Chakotay, the Borg and Voyager are both in a battle against Species 8472.

At the end of the day, Janeway's a pragmatist. Even though she still takes what Chakotay says to heart and come up with a "Scorpion" Back-Up Plan. In the meantime, Janeway tells Seven she's relieved Chakotay and will still side with the Borg against Species 8472. After they technobabble their way to victory, Seven wants to assimilate Voyager, then Chakotay uses his limited Borg connection from "Unity" to stop Seven and she's severed from the Collective in a technobabble way. So begins the journey of Seven of Nine as an individual.

I'm glad they didn't completely wrap up everything. Aside from defeating Species 8472 there was no time to get out of Borg Space and fully transition Seven of Nine into an ex-drone all in one episode and write out Kes. All of that is what "The Gift" is for.

Have to mention one more thing: Kim's overly dramatic entrance onto the bridge after he made a complete recovery. "Did I miss anything?" If he were Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad, he'd have been like, "I'm back, bitches! I'm still on the show! Hell yeah! That's what's up! Did I miss anything?"

I couldn't have asked for any better. All the characters were in character. Yes, even Chakotay, even though I gave him a hard time in this review. Great introduction of Seven Nine. Good they were focused on what was right in front of them, rather than absolutely everything that was on their plate. Fluidic Space still holds up visually and so did the bioships. "Scorpion, Part II" kept up the pace, and it kept up the momentum from the previous part. I give it a 10.

Shameless Plug: Now that Seven of Nine is here, this is a good time to link to my Picard Season 3 reviews! All 10 episodes. If you're a fan of that too, then enjoy!

 

[Frightscape One]

Now that you have seen part two, I can tell you why I am on Chakotay's side of this situation.

Spoiler: "SCORPION, PART II"...

Remember Chakotay's argument to Janeway about how helping the Borg is wrong because they had already killed and assimilated billions of people? That's essentially why I was on his side, but also because since it was their nature to assimilate, they were going to betray Voyager at some point no matter the outcome. And that was proven true when Seven tried to take over the ship after they got Species 8472 to retreat. The Borg were proven to be unstrustworthy... as soon as the conflict was over, they were ripe for assimilation. Plus, the Borg started the war. Despite Kes hearing them say things like 'your galaxy will be purged', I think there might have been a chance for some negotiation. We just never got the chance to see that here.

And frankly, Species 8472 was doing the galaxy a favor by destroying them. (Something that Picard should have at least attempted to do when he had the option in "I, Borg", but that is a different conversation.)

Plus, Chakotay was right about Janeway: she can be very myopic when it comes to situations about getting the crew home. I get that it is her primary mission, but there is something to be said about staying alive first. Can't get your crew home if they are dead.


Having said that, I do agree that Chakotay should have followed her wishes and orders until it truly was too dangerous. He dropped the alliance the first chance he got, which put him as an unstrustworthy XO. It's interesting how the two parts show the best AND worst of Chakotay based on which part you watch. (The entire debate between them in part one was what edged that to a 10 for me. For part two, I think I'd give it a 7.5 precisely because it made him look really bad. Plus, this episode was a microcosm of what the rest of VOY was going to be: more focus on Seven by sidelining Chakotay and others.)

It's overall a great two parter.

 

[DonIago]

I rather liked the Myriad Universes alternate take on the events of this episode and what would follow.

 

[Lord Garth]

"The Gift"

This was an episode of contrast. Kes leaving Voyager, Seven staying on Voyager. We'll start with the Kes portion of the episode, then Seven.

Regarding Kes' departure, I don't want to go into the behind-the-scenes goings on. It's a whole can of worms I don't want to open, and I'm here to look at the finished product. Sufficed to say, between some of the Gallifrey Pals' observations now that they're on the third season, and some of my own watching over the past season, I've come to the conclusion that they'd been building up to writing Kes out, it wasn't spur-of-the-moment. As a result, Kes' telekinetic abilities have been taken to point where they threaten the ship. The hull integrity of an entire deck is compromised and Kes has to leave before things get even worse. She wants to explore the cosmos as what she's becoming and has outgrown Voyager.

In a way, Kes is evolving in a higher plane of existence, much like Wesley was -- in a sense -- in "Journey's End" (TNG). The only difference is Kes wasn't being an asshole right before she left, unlike Wesley. She has a poignant farewell scene with Neelix, who admits he was holding her back. She had a very poignant farewell scene with Janeway, where the Captain started getting emotional. Tuvok tried to help Kes channel her telekinetic abilities right up until the end. And all that was missing was a farewell scene between Kes and the Doctor which she points out, then the telekinesis had other plans, and she had to leave the ship.

is Kes' departure abrupt? Yes and no. Yes, in that they wrote her out in a single episode. No, in that given how they'd been spending the past year setting her up for the next stage of her life, this was a long time coming. Again, I'm not going to get into behind-the-scenes.

On her way out of the series, Kes helps the Doctor to save Seven's life as her Human immune system starts rejecting the Borg Impots. Kes also flings Voyager clear across Borg Space and 10 years closer to home. Thank you, Kes. And farewell, you will be missed.

To say Seven has difficulty adjusting to being an individual is an understatement. She refers to herself "we" and "us" instead "I" or "me". She still sees herself as part of the Borg Collective even after being severed. And tries to contact the Borg at one point, she has an opportunity. When she finally sees herself as an individual, she feels depressed and diminished. When she refers to herself as "I", she feels devastated.

Janeway understand that Seven's sense of self isn't something that's going to suddenly snap right into place. She's patient with Seven and manages to handle Seven no matter what Seven is going through. Janeway has both the toughness and the softness to deal with whatever Seven throws at her. It shows the entire range of how Janeway is able to handle a difficult situation.

it's an interesting thing to wrap my head around. Janeway sees Seven has having been assimilated and now she's de-assimilating her. Seven, on the other hand sees the opposite the way: she's not being de-assimilated. She's being assimilated into something else. I think the truth is in the middle: Seven is being de-assimilated from the Borg, even though she retains Borg characteristics and some Borg implants, but she is being assimilated into being part of Voyager's crew. Although Janeway would call it integration. Seven will become neither fully Borg nor fully Human, she'll be something in-between.

By the end of the episode, Seven isn't a normal Human, nor is she a normal Borg. She has to use a regeneration chamber for a few hours, she doesn't look like everyone else, and she doesn't act like everyone else. She's the character who's "other". Seven is this series' Spock or Data. You could say the Doctor is "other", but he tries to embrace Humanity, Individuality, Culture, etc., and the tries way too hard to be outgoing. Seven doesn't embrace Humanity, individuality, or Culture at this stage, and is the exact opposite of outgoing. And Seven's otherness is ripe for stories going forward.

The only issue I have is that unlike Kes' abrupt departure, Seven's abrupt willingness to be cooperative didn't feel as natural. It felt more like, "time to end the episode!" by ending it by showing off Seven of Nine proper. I think something else had to be there between Seven's struggling with finally facing being an individual and then being the way she'll be, more or less, for the rest of the series. But it's not a dealbreaker.

Overall: An effective way to write out Kes, an effective way to finish what "Scorpion" started by introducing Seven of Nine, and Janeway was the anchor to both parts of the episode. Not quite an epic knockout, but very strong character work throughout. I give it a 9.

 

[Frightscape One]

I'd only add that I don't consider Data the 'other' because he does embrace humanity and tries to emulate it.

Worf fits the description of 'other' more seamlessly.

 

[Lord Garth]

Worf fits the description of 'other' more seamlessly.

I hadn't thought about it like that, but I can see it. Moreso on TNG than on DS9.

 

[Oddish]

Doing a three-fer here...

Scorpion: From an unbelievable opening ("Resistance is futile..." PFOOOM!!) to the nail biting finale, this is one of VOY's best season finales, and one of Trek's period. That being said, I strongly disagree with Janeway's actions. The Borg are about as evil as enemies get, and aiding them against an enemy that might finally finish them is questionable at best. Of course, I have the benefit of "Hope and Fear" and "In the Flesh" to work on. Added kudos for making Harry's survival in doubt... it was probably known that the character was foundering. 8/10.

Scorpion Part II: Chakotay actually manages to show both initiative and good judgment, blasting the Borg into space. Most of them, anyway. Some great space battles, and a twist finale... for once, a continuation is worthy of its beginning. 8/10.

The Gift: I'm calling this one Scorpion part III. It covers the fallout of Janeway's decision, and the follow-up choice she has to make. It's quieter, but worth watching. Plus, sorry @Lynx, it's a worthy exit episode for Kes. 7.5/10.

 

[Lord Garth]

Almost three weeks since the last time I posted a VOY review. Sorry for the delay. I got a new job after losing my old one, there was all the work that went into that, then I had a bunch of other stuff going on IRL besides that, and a lot of hecticness. Then writing the B5 Season 4 Review took longer than I thought. Unlike with DS9 and VOY, I have to refresh my memory with B5 since it's only been my first time watching it. Then I decided to get "Sons and Daughters" on the DS9 side of things out of the way first, since it's a not-so-great episode and I wanted to get it over with. But now, here we are with...

"Day of Honor"

To start off with, great opening shot in the Cargo Bay with Seven of Nine, before Chakotay enters the scene. That was the money shot in an episode filled with money shots. Seven of Nine wants something to do. Chakotay lets her work in Engineering, Janeway decides not to post a security detail, and Seven has this idea of Voyager using Transwarp Conduits.

One thing that jumped out to me is that Janeway didn't try to force the name Annika Hanson onto Seven. Captain Shaw, take notes. Janeway asks if they can call her "Seven" because "Seven of Nine" sounds cumbersome. I don't know, I like it, but I'm biased. "Seven of Nine" sounds like the year I was born: '79.

At first, this seems like it's going to be a Seven episode, but it's a Seven and Torres episode. What a day for Torres. First, she oversleeps, then Chakotay pulls rank and tells her Seven is going to be Engineering whether she likes it or not, then they have to eject the warp core because Voyager wasn't built with transwarp in mind! Should've seen this coming a mile away, and Torres did!

So, nothing's going her way, no one's listening to her, then when Torres and Paris try to retrieve the warp core, the Katati tow it away. Then, due to technobabble, the shuttle explodes, but not before Torres and Paris can beam out. Talk about a terrible day! Then that brings us to the other big money shots: Torres and Paris floating in space with the First Contact space suits. I like that Star Trek is getting mileage out of them, now that they have them.

The Katati are something else. Yes, I feel bad for them. But they remind me of people I see hanging outside of stores asking for change. I'll give some if I have any, but I don't really carry change these days. I haven't in a while. And I can only give so much money or help so much. Especially during times where I have to watch every dollar. The Katati see the "luxury" Voyager lives in and Neelix essentially makes the same argument I just did. Maybe if this was TNG, it was the Enterprise, and they had the resources of the Federation to back them up, it would be different. But Voyager really does have to watch its own resources.

But all the Katati sees is, "You can help us more than you are, and you're just not!" Then he sees Seven and just loses it. "Borg! Borg! What have you done to my family?!" As if she's still connected to the Collective. They do a great job of establishing things from his perspective and why he sees things the way he does. He's not an antagonist just for the sake of being an antagonist.

This episode also gives us a good examination of Seven's point-of-view. She's not offended by other's observations. Dare I say, she views all of that as irrelevant. Torres is automatically suspicious of her motives, and Janeway wonders if Seven might've done something to cause them to have to eject the Warp Core. Then Seven says the Borg don't deceive. The way she explains it makes total sense. When everyone's minds were linked, keeping secrets was impossible. And if that's all she's ever really known, then she doesn't know how to keep secrets.

Another thing that shows her different way of thinking is when she finally offers a solution to the Katati's problems but didn't earlier because it didn't even occur to her to think that way until just then. Once again, it makes sense and fits what we've seen: the Borg assimilate technology, they don't give it. So, Seven offering to give the Katati this knowledge the Borg have retained is one of her first steps towards thinking differently from the way she was raised.

When the Katati came back with 27 ships instead of one and Voyager was without its warp core, it looked like a difficult bind, but I knew they'd find a way out of that situation. They built up the Katati's point-of-view too much and made them too sympathetic to just make them hard-headed villains of the week. The fact Seven came up with the solution, Janeway convinced them there was a better answer to their problems than attacking Janeway, and the Katati accepted the solution was Star Trek through-and-through.

Back out in space, the heart-to-heart conversations between Paris and Torres are another highlight. Them talking about how their feelings for each other have changed over the years. Just seeing them floating in space. How often do you see that on Star Trek? Especially TV Star Trek up to this point? Then the light jeopardy of them running of oxygen before they're rescued at the last minute with Torres finally telling Paris, "I love you." Then just leaving it there as they're beamed back to Voyager. They could've added a button at the end of the episode, but they didn't, which was great, because it left me wanting to see what happened next.

All the characters were in top form. Great insight into Seven, and seeing what she brings to the table in a regular Star Trek episode. Torres has to struggle with her inner-demons and look at her back-and-forth between accepting being part-Klingon and not. Paris was a good voice-of-reason and great as the boyfriend-to-be. Janeway was in top form considering faster ways to get home, trying to be fair to Seven and help her feel like part of the crew, and expertly handled the Katati no matter how they reacted. I can't think of a single thing wrong with this episode or that I would do differently. I give it a 10.

It's not a 10 in the sense that it's a heavy hitter. It's a 10 in the sense that I think they got everything right and brought different things to the table.

BTW, Paris and Torres creating a holodeck program for the Day of Honor Klingon ritual, I think this is him getting his feet wet after helping Tuvok with Insurrection Alpha. Now that he's got a feel for it, I can see him being more ambitious and starting to develop Captain Proton. But that's getting ahead of myself.

 

[DonIago]

I can be a bit (or more) critical of VOY, but Seven and the Paris-Torres relationship are two of the things the show did right, and it's great to see them both get treated well here.

Also, especially considering this is a TV show, I was impressed that they not only depicted a core ejection externally but later showed Engineering without it. I'm still not quite sure how they did that, because I'd think removing the set piece would be a bit of an ordeal, but I can't imagine that they just CGI erased it.

 

[Smiley]

I searched your question, Don, and the first answer I got is that they cleverly obscured or shot around where the warp core would normally be. I don't recognize the source of the answer, but that strikes me as plausible. As you said, the core is an integral part of the set.

 

[DonIago]

I searched your question, Don, and the first answer I got is that they cleverly obscured or shot around where the warp core would normally be. I don't recognize the source of the answer, but that strikes me as plausible. As you said, the core is an integral part of the set.

I'm not sure I believe that. I'm not sure how you obscure or shoot around it in a shot like this.

Note: I don't post images frequently, so deepest apologies if I'm doing anything I shouldn't have done here!

 

[Lord Garth]

They couldn't have convincingly faked that with CGI in 1997. Between this and the space shots, I think this is an episode that they put more budget into than usual. So, I'm guessing that they actually went through the trouble of taking out the warp core. I really do believe they wanted to go big.

And then have a few bottle episodes to save money later, like "Scientific Method" and "Waking Moments".

"Year of Hell", the Hirogen Arc, "Scorpion", this episode. all of it indicates to me that they wanted to show off what they could pull off. Things they either couldn't have done on TNG or even in earlier seasons of this series.

 

[DonIago]

At the risk of repeating myself, it kind of boggles my mind that they could (and would) actually remove the entire set-piece. I would have just assumed, prior to this point, that that wasn't possible.

I know it's not a pivotal part of the episode or anything, but it's definitely one of those things that I took notice of and wondered, "How did they do that?"

 

[Lord Garth]

I just had a thought: what if they used a matte?

 

[DonIago]

I'm not an expert, but I'm not sure they could have. One of the crewmen in the back of the first pic is Torres, and then she walks into the foreground.

 

[Lord Garth]

I'm not an expert, but I'm not sure they could have. One of the crewmen in the back of the first pic is Torres, and then she walks into the foreground.

Well, so much for that theory. I was going to say as long as Torres didn't walk directly in front of where the warp core would be, it would still be possible...

... but, even if that were the case, there would still be a visible matte line.

I'm back to they must've taken out the warp core physically. Maybe they built it in such a way that it could be dismantled and taken apart, before putting it back together again.

At this point, I'm tempted to just try looking it up online because now you've gotten me curious. I never thought about it before now. I'll try to look it up later, unless someone beats me to it.

 

[Kount Korbula]

a matte is most likely

 

[Lord Garth]

After trying to look it up online and getting nowhere -- Google said they avoided showing where the Warp Core would be -- I spot-checked the episode again. Something I can do since I have all the DVDs backed up on one of my drives. If you go to the 24:15-mark, which is the one shot where we see where the warp core would've been, you'll see one crewmember to the left and Torres to the right. As shown in the photos @DonIago provided.

They both start in the back, then walk forward. They both walk forward in a straight line, even passed where the matte would be. They very carefully never walk towards the center third of the shot.

I think there was no physical matte on the set. What they did was add the matte in post-production. Most likely someone made a miniature mockup of what the wall would've looked like, they filmed it, then it served as the matte, and they properly placed it on top of the pre-existing wide shot of Engineering. Then they'd use a feathering technique to make the boarders of the image blend in with the rest of the shot. NLE software and Photoshop both existed by this point, so it would've been possible for them to pull off.

Google confirms that it would've been physically impossible to remove the warp core. Here's a link to my queries, along with the sources.

Mystery solved to my satisfaction.

 

[DonIago]

It really seems like an impressive amount of effort for something they didn't even really need to show at all (I don't think there's anything in the scene that necessitates it occurring there). Even when I saw the episode when it first aired I was surprised to see the core just gone, and immediately started wondering how they accomplished it.