The nebula turns out to be.......a life form. What were the odds. I don't mind the anomaly stuff since this episode is more about getting to know the characters (Janeway and Chakotay do the animal guide thing, Neelix is now head chef, Tom likes screwing around on holodecks).
It makes sense that the backdrop to all this should be some straightforward and predictable plot about an anomaly that turns out to be a real boy. There's some reasonably good character development here so the main story is incidental.
The one scene that really annoyed me though, is the one where Tuvok reprimands Kim for saying "I've never seen anything like it!" (as Kim's wide eyed surprise at what he sees will make the junior officers nervous)
When Tuvok later says, "I am unable to identify", Kim then uses his comm to petulantly say "so you don't know what it is either, oh I promise not to tell the junior officers"
What a massive dick. Tuvok wasn't telling Kim that he isn't allowed to not know what something is, he was simply telling him that expressing his ignorance in such an alarming, excitable manner will make the junior officers nervous (Not that I ever noticed any these junior officers)
I really hope Tuvok had words with the little tit after that
Oh and this is the episode that gave us....."there's coffee in that nebula"....so it's instantly a classic
