Season Six Review

[LtGarak]

I'm finishing up season six and oddly enough got to the same episode as on another review thread, as when the reviewer fell off. So, as per request, I am posting my reviews in a new thread Yes, I'm interested in other folks' opinions, basically because I haven't seen Voyager since it came out, and haven't posted here in over 5 years. Spoilers are fine - I've seen most other Trek series several times over, just not Voyager since it came out.

Blink of an Eye
Bad science, good episode.We actually see Chakotay's interest in anthropology - yay continuity.It reminds me of the Twilight Zone. I do wish that they mentioned the Doctor's son again, though.

Virtuoso
Another enjoyable one, primarily because of the Doctor. Yes, he's arrogant and self-absorbed, but wonderfully so, and his stage jitters are so adorkable, as is his comeuppance. I like the idea of the snarky species, the Qomar. They're like evil Munchkins.He actually gets to do his ridiculous long tangents. Math is sexy! Just imagine if he had introduced the art of holo-photography.

Memorial
We saw this plot earlier in "Remember" and to some extent in "Nemesis" with Chakotay being dragged into conflict and Paris' reliving a murder in "Ex Post Facto". Neelix has had PTSD episodes before.In some ways, it sort of cheapens his pain. Neelix has really gone through the hell of war, as seen in "Once Upon a Time" and "Jetrel". That's one reason Neelix is one of my
favorite Voyager chracters. He's suffered enough, and can laugh the most. I guess it was Kim's and Janeway's turn to be mentally tortured. That was personal, and this was not. More work for the Starfleet counselors when the crew got home, I guess. The end is not a good decision. I disagree with
Janeway's keeping that thing going, as the buoy may die out before the memorial does. Having the pains begin using the TV is another nice Twilight Zone touch.

Tsunkatse
First boxing, now mixed martial arts. Well, someone likes it. I like the sunburned Neelix and Toby the targ.I'm sorry, I've seen way too many movies like this, and it's too seventies sci fi movie for me, which were based on old kung fu movies, based on samurai movies. Although, I will admit, I do like Pokemon.So, in a battle of tragic characters - Seven of Nine or MewTwo (from any of the Pokemon movie)?

 

[R. Star]

Blink of an Eye was a neat episode, I enjoyed the varying generations interpreting Voyager into their culture. The groundshaker god, the skyship. Good stuff with a good ending.

Virtuoso. Sure the Doctor is self-absorbed. And he basks in his ego so wonderfully. It was a good character episode at the end, and the "fanmail" from Seven at the end was a nice touch.

Memorial I didn't much care for. The plot just didn't entertain me much. Guess you made a good point about it being sort of redundant given past episodes with no real purpose. And Kim's turn? Have you not been watching the series? He's literally the whipping boy for things to go wrong at every oppurtunity. :-P

Tsunkatse... was an alright episode, if one that's hard to take seriously. People rave about the Rock's guest apperance, I was more excited to see Jeffery Combs and JG Hertzler.

 

[Danny99]

Two good episodes and two poor episodes here.

Blink Of An Eye was a new concept that worked really well. I enjoyed watching the planet evolve right in front of our eyes.

Virtuoso is a poor one. Robert Picardo when he does dramatic work and well written comedy is priceless. However, when he is forced to play the Doctor as this arrogant, self absorbed character, something is loss. Plus the alien race seen here was just stupid.

Memorial, though having a used plot, was well done. Both McNeill and Phillips do excellent jobs as they devolve into the PTSD. I also thought the bait and switch of it being a Memorial and not a brain wipe or something in the present day was a nice change.

Tsunkatse, oh boy. I like Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. But having him on the show was nothing but a cross promotion for WWE. Seriously, we needed to have him do the eyebrow thing too? Even JG Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs' strong performances can't save a weak story that seem like a way to get the Rock on the show.

 

[LtGarak]

Done with the evil finals - yay! Well, imagine Fluttershy going yay...I'm too tired to post pictures, even of ponies. I'm going to keep posting because otherwise, well, I just can't watch much.
Collective - this was sad. Very well written, but depressing. Child soldiers finding their free will. It was almost irrelevant that they were once part of a Borg collective, and more important that they were just forgotten children. It was odd seeing them stating Borg lines and yet they still knew they were individuals. A good character builder for Seven, and they all seem to be on the same level, the kids and her, emotionally at this point.

 

[LtGarak]

Spirit Folk - well, yuk. Vic Fontaine also knew he was a hologram, and yet developed as a character. I really like It's Only a Paper Moon, with the idea of the real world as opposed to the happy technicolor facadethe holographic world. I also appreciate the autistic oddness of Barclay, and writing fan fiction about his friends. I've got Asberger's bad, so, yes, Barclay is sort of in the same camp as Sheldon from TBBT and, to a lesser extent, Twilight Sparkle from MLP:FIM (Monitor Everything!).We're all mad here.
Back to the happy leprechaun junk. Really, I cannot stand this, as it's just so cute. No issues, all happy blarney balogna. I griped about it enough last time. I might have actually suggested doing a Dukes of Hazzard style scenario instead. Just think, we've got the General Lee, Daisy Duke in her Daisy Dukes, the evil Boss Hogg, and all of it just as unrealistic as Fair Haven. Cars, girls, and moonshine. Yee-Haw!
I like how, within just a few hours, we go from let's kill the evil pixie people to they're our friends. Why is the EMH a priest? This still irks me. Having him yelling about evil sinners, just no. Does he believe in some sort of higher power, or even in souls? Does he believe he has a soul or is just a lightbulb?From what we've seen, his morals can be reprogrammed. His ethical subroutines were reprogrammed in Equinox I/II. It's messy. Anything religious, I prefer DS9 or Firefly's take on it, even over BSG. Especially over BSG. That is a different rant, one that I will not bring up here. Being hypnotized? No.
Sullivan realizes, well, they're good people, even if they do have G_d-like powers. They're just time exploring travelers, who can do whatever they want to, and we have no recourse to stop them. I was mentioning in another thread that it seems in most situations, the more time a holographic program is left running, the more it seems to adapt. They apparantly adapted by forgetting convienently about it, and hey, maybe their new technology can help us find the gold at the end of the rainbow! No.

 

[Alpha Flyer]

The to Fair Haven episodes are the low point of Season 6 -- holotechnology run amuck. How anyone would ever want to go on the holodeck after some of the stuff that goes down there is beyond me (and still no consumer protection labels! Sheesh.)

But Memorial - love that episode. The duty and the cost of remembrance, all rolled into one. Only thing that bothers me is that there is no resolution between Tom and B'Elanna after he yells at her (and no seeming memory of the fact that she went through pretty well the same thing not too long ago).

You missed out on two of the all-time best though, "One Small Step" and "Pathfinder". OSS is the wonder of space travel personified, in the figure of John Kelly. Chakotay the fanboy turns chump, gets shown up by Tom Paris, whose clenched jaw when he follows orders speaks volumes of his desire to won that second pip bak. The Yankees, in six. My favourite 7/9 line of all time. And "Pathfinder"? Troi. Barclay. No, two Barclays. Owen and Tom Paris, worlds apart, getting closer. 'Nuff said.

Good season. (Now if we could only exorcise those leprechauns ...)

 

[LtGarak]

I posted my reviews of those in someone else's in error. Hey I haven't been here since forever and a day
Short summary - One Small Step, nice hard science fiction.
Pathfinder - actually one of my favorites so far. I'd love to have seen more behind the scenes stuff, and Barclay is the Sheldon from TBBT of Star Trek.
Memorial - I would have blown it up. DS9 had its torture O'Brien shows, and Paris got the bad end several times, especially here. I still disagree with Janeway's decision. But then I have some PTSD myself, and I do not want to shove that on anyone else.
I'm in the middle of moving and we're having Bubonicon here starting Friday, so hopefully I can watch some more next week.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Why is the EMH a priest? This still irks me. Having him yelling about evil sinners, just no. Does he believe in some sort of higher power, or even in souls? Does he believe he has a soul or is just a lightbulb?From what we've seen, his morals can be reprogrammed. His ethical subroutines were reprogrammed in Equinox I/II. It's messy.

The EMH might like a religion where the soul is honored as something not to ever mess with.. for him the soul would be sentience. I'd imagine he would want to hold onto that very strongly as it's constantly under threat as opposed to us regular humans who, if the the soul exists, can't exactly divest ourselves of it.

 

[LtGarak]

The EMH might like a religion where the soul is honored as something not to ever mess with.. for him the soul would be sentience. I'd imagine he would want to hold onto that very strongly as it's constantly under threat as opposed to us regular humans who, if the the soul exists, can't exactly divest ourselves of it.

I definitely agree. The whole idea of the soul in the machine has always interested me, but then I grew up reading Philip K. Dick.

 

[Alpha Flyer]

The EMH might like a religion where the soul is honored as something not to ever mess with.. for him the soul would be sentience. I'd imagine he would want to hold onto that very strongly as it's constantly under threat as opposed to us regular humans who, if the the soul exists, can't exactly divest ourselves of it.

I definitely agree. The whole idea of the soul in the machine has always interested me, but then I grew up reading Philip K. Dick.

I always considered the Doctor's career choice in the Fair Haven episodes to be more of a reflection of his lovably over-sized ego than of anything deeply spiritual (and yeah, I too read Philip K. Dick ...). But the priest is essentially the Captain (of souls) in an Irish village -- the one who basically runs the show, tells people how and what to think and do. So, yeah, he'd flock to that.

Lt Garak -- sorry to hear of your PTSD. Having seen it a few times it's not something I'd wish on anyone. It's what makes Memorial so interesting though regardless of whether KJ should have blown the thing up; Star Trek doesn't very often deal with the issue, despite the wringers it puts its characters through regularly.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The EMH might like a religion where the soul is honored as something not to ever mess with.. for him the soul would be sentience. I'd imagine he would want to hold onto that very strongly as it's constantly under threat as opposed to us regular humans who, if the the soul exists, can't exactly divest ourselves of it.

I definitely agree. The whole idea of the soul in the machine has always interested me, but then I grew up reading Philip K. Dick.

I always considered the Doctor's career choice in the Fair Haven episodes to be more of a reflection of his lovably over-sized ego than of anything deeply spiritual (and yeah, I too read Philip K. Dick ...). But the priest is essentially the Captain (of souls) in an Irish village -- the one who basically runs the show, tells people how and what to think and do. So, yeah, he'd flock to that.

The font of wisdom and advice all lower beings respected. He's a fat head.

Lt Garak -- sorry to hear of your PTSD. Having seen it a few times it's not something I'd wish on anyone. It's what makes Memorial so interesting though regardless of whether KJ should have blown the thing up; Star Trek doesn't very often deal with the issue, despite the wringers it puts its characters through regularly.

Oh hey O'Brien got at least a scene!

 

[R. Star]

Why is the EMH a priest? This still irks me. Having him yelling about evil sinners, just no. Does he believe in some sort of higher power, or even in souls? Does he believe he has a soul or is just a lightbulb?From what we've seen, his morals can be reprogrammed. His ethical subroutines were reprogrammed in Equinox I/II. It's messy.

The EMH might like a religion where the soul is honored as something not to ever mess with.. for him the soul would be sentience. I'd imagine he would want to hold onto that very strongly as it's constantly under threat as opposed to us regular humans who, if the the soul exists, can't exactly divest ourselves of it.

That's a very interesting take on it. Worship at the holographic altar? I just had it figured he liked being the center of attention and was in love with the sound of his own voice.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

In Season 8 Voyager the EMH would have formed his own cult. Everyone would be blonde.