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Retro Review: Cold Fire

TrekToday

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
Crewmembers find an array like the one that stranded them in the Delta Quadrant and learn that Ocampa live on it. Plot...

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"Previously on Star Trek Voyager" (as though we'd forgotten the premise of the show and how they got trapped in the Delta quadrant).

This is terrible waste of an episode. Firstly, the caretaker said his mate went off to explore because she was bored but in this episode we discover that she only went... a tiny bit further away with some bland Ocampans. Suspiria apparently wanted to see more interesting places yet ends up in Kazon heavy space with these sad psychic cult monkeys. Also, as you say in the review, why is she so pissed off about the caretaker's fate? You left him. You clearly weren't that bothered about him.

Then there's the question of power. Does this life-form have any or not? I mean, they can pull you from other parts of the Galaxy (or at least, their technology can) and they seem to have super powers but then it transpires that they're actually fairly unimpressive when you get down to it and can even be trapped by Federation force fields.

I think they're basically a technologically advanced species but not much more than that. Q would use them as a chew toy.

The caretaker's mate should have been used for a big season finale much further down the line. Something huge and memorable that didn't undermine the pilot episode (which Cold Fire did).

Oh and there's also some stuff about Kes having magic brain powers or something. I wasn't really paying attention to any of that. You know, cos it was Kes and magic brain powers.
 
The best episode of all Voyager episodes!

It's exciting, spooky and even dramatic. The female Caretaker, also known as Suspiria is not so friendly as expected. Instead she tries to destroy the ship because she thinks that the Voyager crew killed her companison which is far from truth.

The Ocampa on the array here are not to friendly either and besides that more developed than those who remains on the Ocampa homeworld.

Kes is tempted by evil forces but due to her strong will and determination she overcome that and is actually the one who saves the ship from destruction. An excellent episode!

I'll give it 5 points out of 5! :techman:
 
I'm sorry that they put Suspiria (for some reason I want to call her Sarsaparilla) into a file and never used her again. As the show went on the focus changed from the crew no longer looking for a short cut home to settling for time jumps here and there to make the journey shorter.

I know its not canon (although in my little universe it is) but the String Theory books deal with this race and ties up a lot of loose ends in an interesting way.
 
The caretaker's mate should have been used for a big season finale much further down the line. Something huge and memorable that didn't undermine the pilot episode (which Cold Fire did).

Oh and there's also some stuff about Kes having magic brain powers or something. I wasn't really paying attention to any of that. You know, cos it was Kes and magic brain powers.

I agree though not in the way you would likely consider given your concluding remark. I think that one could at least reasonably posit that to end the series it might be fitting to return to the beginning and make the Ocampa, specifically Kes, the ultimate agent of Voyager's salvation. To do this, Suspiria returns to the ship to satisfy her curiosity about the fate of these aliens who once showed her compassion when she was at their mercy.

As the plot develops, Voyager becomes increasingly ensnared in what becomes an intractable, seemly deadly threat from the Borg, one which all their knowledge, experience, and Seven's efforts seemingly can't avert. Despite her more favorable opinion of the humans, Suspiria finds she can't bring herself to wield her considerable powers to help save them. But she is aware of another being with abilities equal to her own, that has deeply rooted and cherished ties with the crew. So, what follows is Suspiria's search for this creature (probably not hanging out in Exosia) while Voyager's situation becomes increasingly dire.

I won't speculate further on exactly how we reach the denouement except to say it would contain wrenching moral/ethical decisions, the requisite savage combat with the Borg, and possibly the death of a certain regular crew member. This exit for the series would then contain the Borg, which would have to be accepted as de rigueur by the show runners, but without the time manipulation that was cavalierly brought into play (especially since Janeway was its agent). I think that completing the circle in this manner would have given the finale the opportunity for a greater poignancy and bittersweet quality than the unqualified triumph that was the ultimate choice. Perhaps there might even have been a greater opportunity to have some time shown back on Earth, an issue that often comes up in criticism of the bow out, if only in a perfunctory celebratory mode.

Well, I guess I've gone rather far afield from the part of your post that drew my attention, but there you are.
 
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