What's the last VOY episode you'd watched, with mini-review?

[Oddish]

Waking Moments

The Good:
- Chakotay got to take center stage, something increasingly rare as the show went on.
- The premise of not knowing when you were asleep or awake, and surprise appearances by the moon... kind of spooky. And there were a few surprises, even though I'd seen this one some time before.
- Don't know whose dream was more awkward... Tuvok or Harry. Also liked how B'Elanna figured out the reason for Harry's coyness immediately: "Who was she, Harry?"

The Bad:
- We were never sure exactly what the aliens overall plan was... steal Voyager? Blow it up?
- Though this one had some good comic bits, I didn't quite get the last joke.

 

[Oddish]

Going to assume that the nature of this topic allows multiple successive posts, as long as if I watch two episodes together, I review them in the same post.

ELOGIUM
The Good:
- A lot of good character moments. Janeway, agonizing over whether Voyager should go generational (and a final remark to Chakotay that could be interpreted any number of ways). Chakotay, showing understanding of the natural world. Tuvok, talking parenthood with Neelix (and saying they haven't brought him joy... you're not fooling anyone, Mr. Vulcan). The Doctor, pushed too far and snapping. Neelix, having to contemplate the reality of parenthood (yes, it seems like he was super angsty about it all, but it shows that he had the wisdom to regard the prospect of parenthood with the seriousness it deserves). Kes, suddenly wrestling with her own misgivings. And even B'Elanna, being the dangerous hothead we should have seen more of in early Voyager.
- A lot of people say that the "ship in danger" aspect of the plot wasn't much good. I thought it was fine for what it was.

The Bad:
- This episode was the Neelix/Kes ship at its very worst. When he wasn't being overly paternalistic, he was being a jealous dickhead. Normally I try to limit bad language in my posts, but sometimes you just gotta call it like it is. And because there was so much of it and it wasn't really addressed, the episode suffers for it.

 

[Tosk]

Most of these will just have random observations rather than reviews. Also, there's not heaps of positivity here, sorry.

Good Shepherd. Celes is sympathetic, but the other two are insufferable.


Fury. I'm not as protective of Kes as certain other members here () but this is some grade-A character assassination. I wouldn't mind so much if the ep was better, but here we are. Also, not surprising but they completely sidestep whatever resentment Old Kes would have built up over her relationship with Neelix. Some stones better left unturned I suppose.


Live Fast and Prosper. It's fine. Strangely less fun than the premise implies.


Life Line. Random thought, what good luck for our intrepid crew (pun intended) that Barclay obsessed about contacting Voyager instead of the Equinox, or one of the other ships lost in the DQ.


Muse. Better than DS9's The Muse. But only just.


The Haunting of Deck 12. This tale being framed as being told by Neelix is both its strength and weakness. Nothing can really be assumed about these events, almost all of it could be bullshit. Interestingly, Neelix's birthday is told as a story...within a story.


Unimatrix Zero (both parts). My apathy of Borg episodes continues unabated. The Borg Queen sure likes to say her thoughts out loud a lot.

When hunting down Unimatrix Zero, we get a big close up on the face of a drone. Looks like the make-up artist for the day might have used the wrong prosthetic. The Drone has an empty hole where a hose would normally be attached, and when it appears in UZ a moment later, the empty prosthetic is no longer there.

The Borg Queen sees Janeway in UZ via a drone. I'm quite curious about the logicistics of this. UZ is not a real place, and Janeway is only there via a mental link with Seven through Tuvok. But she's able to pick up an imaginary bat'leth and beat up a real Drone, and be seen by the Queen. Best not to overthink it I guess.

The 'character plotting' of these two eps feels odd, and is unsatisfying. Are these eps actually any good? I honestly can't tell. It all seems extremely been-there-done-that.

Second ep loses Kirok's ridiculous snaggletooth. Clearly they realised it was a bad idea.

When Tom gets re-promoted, Harry tries to get in on the promotion action and everyone completely ignores him. Later, The Queen threatens him and he asks the room what that was about...everyone ignores him. Maybe the secret B-plot of this ep is that Harry is out of phase with the ship and no one noticed he's missing?


Drive. Harry's 'flirting' with Ziyal 1 is just awful. The Doctor's future golf is one of the lamest "futuristic version of old stuff" that I've seen in a while. Tom's sideburns when telling B'Elanna about the race look super fake. At one point Harry's face is all dirty to show he's been working, but his nice new (no-doubt expensive) white-shouldered uniform is spotless. The writing in this ep is so...stock. Rudimentary? Boring. So Paris and Torres get married off-screen between two other scenes in a time-cut at the end of a racing episode? That is so very Voyager of them.

 

[Oddish]

@Tosk - Wow, 7 episodes. That's attention span. I generally do one at a time.

FLASHBACK:
The Good:
- Sulu. Nuff said.
- Interesting backstory about Tuvok.
- I liked Janeway's nostalgia about the old guard of Starfleet.
- Given that the girl's appearance remained the same, I'd say the event happened at some point, many years back. Maybe it happens tomorrow.

The Bad:
- A decent, albeit unexceptional effort. Kind of like "Generations", really.

 

[Tosk]

Repression. Hokum and convenient plotting aside, this one almost works...except that the finale is a wet fart. It all starts rolling along with Maquis mutiny and then...eh, don't worry, Tuvok is fine again so it's all over.

Imperfection. Seven opines that Janeway won't accept Seven's death. I guess we know thanks to Endgame that she ain't wrong. Another "small" Borg ep, the kind I enjoy much more. And now that we're in the final season, it was time to make it clear that Seven is truly on her way back to humanity.

Critical Care. A direct (if not slightly muted) indictment of America's infuriating approach to public health. I enjoyed this episode, but I really wish they had dropped the B-plot of Voyager trying to find the Doctor to make space for more A-plot. Keep one scene of Tom and Harry going to sickbay to establish that they don't realize the Doc is missing, and then never cut back to them. Make the Doctor's position seem dire, that Voyager isn't even looking for him. Only at the end when they locate him would we find out that they discovered the theft.
It has a happier and more curtailed ending than I would like for a story like this, but I am grateful that the coda doesn't erase the decisions the Doctor made. And again...I did like the episode. Also, Gregory Itzin doesn't get enough "repeat Trek" cred. He may not be Jeffrey Combs or Vaughn Armstrong, but he's been five characters across DS9, VOY and ENT, and all with his face unencumbered by full prosthetics.

Wow, 7 episodes. That's attention span. I generally do one at a time.

I did them over several days, I just took notes. (That's why it reads like stray thoughts. )

 

[Oddish]

EXTREME RISK
The Good:
- The birth of the Delta Flyer, which is a pretty cool space hot rod. Even without the dynametric tail fins.
- A good, if sometimes hard to watch, look at grief and the self destructive behavior it often spawns.

The Bad:
- The Malon are a pretty ridiculous concept, when you think about it. In a galaxy full of stars and black holes, cleanly disposing of waste should not be a problem for any warp capable species.
- Given that probes are designed to be essentially disposable, I don't get why they're putting all this effort into recovering one. Just hit its self destruct button and then build a new one.
- You would think that the holodeck logs would at least report it when a crewman disengages the safety protocols.
- Not wishing to be a broken record, but four years ago, the ship couldn't even replicate a cup of Joe for the captain without concerns about power usage. Now, they're popping out a warp 7 capable shuttlecraft like it's no big deal.
- Voyager's use of the Big Red Reset Button hurts this one. You don't get over the amount of trauma B'Elanna has suffered overnight. Especially without a ship's counselor. This is another reason why the ship needed more recurring characters.

 

[deselby]

I got Paramount+ for Christmas, and started a first watch of Voyager. Just watched: "Think Tank."

I couldn't get past Costanza, so only appreciated this episode on a non-immersive conceptual level.

I liked the think tank. In my imagination, it's what happened to all the people who solved Cicada 3301.

The central drama was another test of Seven's loyalty to Voyager. For me, her internal struggle has been the most interesting thing on the show since she arrived. So, I'd call this a pretty solid episode.

 

[Oddish]

THE VOYAGER CONSPIRACY

The Good:
- This was a nice surprise... an alien building a subspace catapult who was exactly who he said he was: a nice guy, appreciated help, and helped them in return.
- The ever-adorable Naomi Wildman returns.
- Neelix buying into the theories... it's the sort of thing he would do.
- Seven's "conspiracy theory by stardate" was nicely done, as was Janeway's fighting fire with fire.

The Bad:
- Those conspiracy theories got a little implausible. Especially the ones about Janeway trying to pull other ships into the quadrant. Not even sure the catapult could do that. I have serious doubts that Chakotay, B'Elanna, or Janeway would buy in.
- With photonic fleas, those warp 10 salamanders have some competition for "Star Trek's most ludicrous lifeform".

 

[at Quark's]

THE VOYAGER CONSPIRACY
The Bad:
- Those conspiracy theories got a little implausible. Especially the ones about Janeway trying to pull other ships into the quadrant. Not even sure the catapult could do that. I have serious doubts that Chakotay, B'Elanna, or Janeway would buy in.

Isn't that kind of the point of conspiracy theories? Usually, only a minority of those is actually (somewhat) plausible. But I agree that I wouldn't expect the crew members you mention to buy into them so easily.

- With photonic fleas, those warp 10 salamanders have some competition for "Star Trek's most ludicrous lifeform".

Though I had to admit, I thought the idea of those photonic fleas was funny, even if ludicrous

Personally, I thought the 'subatomic bacteria' from TNG's A Matter of honor and those tardigrades from DIS that allow for instantaneous travel to be at least equally ludicrous.

From an earlier post:

- The Malon are a pretty ridiculous concept, when you think about it. In a galaxy full of stars and black holes, cleanly disposing of waste should not be a problem for any warp capable species.

True. The Humans and Klingons in particular got very good at it. So good in fact, that even in the DQ, 70.000 fricking lightyears away, the VOY crew stumbles over some old derelict space junk from one of those 2 species quite a number of times.

- Not wishing to be a broken record, but four years ago, the ship couldn't even replicate a cup of Joe for the captain without concerns about power usage. Now, they're popping out a warp 7 capable shuttlecraft like it's no big deal.

I agree that that amount of growth is implausible, but I could buy some growth. For example, I could believe in them solving their resource problems and in learning how to replicate (some vital parts of) photon torpedoes in a number of years.

 

[Oddish]

If I had been a Voyager writer, and someone had asked me to make a on-screen change allowing them to have more torpedoes, I could have done it in thirty seconds, in several ways. They find a rare quantum nebula, or trade for an industrial replicator upgrade, or find a species that uses comparable weapons technology, or maybe...

All they had to do was mention the change. Technobabble out a solution, as it were.

 

[at Quark's]

I agree, they could have very easily done that.

But I also think not every development needs to be mentioned or explained on screen explicitly. Many things change over time. Why would they owe us an explanation for each and every one? Doesn't happen in real life either.

As a viewer, I'd only really,really want ('demand') an explicit explanation for something that really chafes if no such explanation is given. The torpedo problem isn't one, (I can easily credit that one to a development that's simply never mentioned) - at least, not for me (but of course that's highly subjective).

 

[Tosk]

As a viewer, I'd only really want an explicit explanation for something that really chafes if no such explanation is given. The torpedo problem isn't one

Out of curiosity, what is one?

 

[at Quark's]

Out of curiosity, what is one?

Well, for example, why they couldn't use the warp 10 method to get home, after everything that happened to Paris. The changes he and Janeway went through proved to be perfectly reversible, after all. And that was even without being prepared for those effects.

And if the EMH couldn't work fast enough to reverse it for the entire crew and the crew couldn't be kept under control long enough, simply sedate the entire crew the moment they get home, and get working on them then (possibly after notifying the Federation they should send help).

 

[Oddish]

My issue was that Chakotay specifically said "we've got 38 photon torpedoes and no way to replace them". Just ignoring this presumed fact, when it could have been resolved with ten seconds of a captain's log, seemed incredibly sloppy.

The Q and the Gray

The Good:
- The first half of the episode.
- Janeway's early encounters with Q, concerning the ♡ shaped bed, and then the puppy. Kate Mulgrew and John de Lancie are so good together!
- The scenes with Paris, Kim, and Neelix playing against Q were also pretty good.
- "Is it the tattoo? Because mine's bigger!" Plus, Janeway's response is so devastating, Chakotay considers, then says nothing. Because you don't improve on perfection.
- Suzy Plakston as Miss Q. She's great to have around no matter what she plays. And she delivers one of Trek's most brutal putdowns. You know the one.
- That dog... too adorable. Janeway should have told the Q's to take their domestic squabble off the ship... and leave the puppy.

The Bad:
- The second half of the episode.
- The elephant in the turbo lift. Janeway never offers/agrees to give Q what he wants in return for a quick trip home. Instead, she says "we'll get home through hard work". Yeah. And how many crew are going to expire in the process? Gonna tell Carey's kids that their dad didn't make it home because you didn't want to bang fingers with a guy?
- The denouement... the Voyager crew are running around the continuum beating up near-omnipotent beings? Really?

 

[at Quark's]

My issue was that Chakotay specifically said "we've got 38 photon torpedoes and no way to replace them". Just ignoring this presumed fact, when it could have been resolved with ten seconds of a captain's log, seemed incredibly sloppy.

(I thought it was Janeway who stated the 'no way to replace them after they're gone' part, but that's an aside).

I simply took that to be true at that moment. Not that it would stay that way indefinitely, as they learned to cope with their situation better and better. And to me, that was one of those supposed background developments that really didn't need an explicit mention on screen when it did change. Supposing that Harry had been promoted during the VOY run at some point, I wouldn't have needed an explicit mention of that, either. Just seeing him with a 2nd hollow pip and being referred to as 'Lt' from that time onwards would have been enough for me.

But I know you feel differently about such things. Let's agree to disagree

And now I'll stop, I've derailed this thread enough as it is.

 

[Oddish]

Supposing that Harry had been promoted during the VOY run at some point, I wouldn't have needed an explicit mention of that, either. Just seeing him with a 2nd hollow pip and being referred to as 'Lt' from that time onwards would have been enough for me.

That would actually have been fine with me as well. "Night" would have been the perfect pretext. Two months have passed offscreen, the crew's gotten around to its evaluations, and voila! When Chakotay is doing the initial briefing, he says "Lieutenant Kim".

 

[Oddish]

Future's End - Part 1

The Good:
- It worked for Star Trek IV, and yes, it works here. Fish out of water and such.
- I really liked Rain Robinson. And the villain's pretty good too.
- Tom Paris and his "not quite there" grasp of the 20th century. Plus Neelix and Kes and their soap operas.

The Bad:
- You have over a hundred humans on Voyager. For crying out loud, why risk additional problems by bringing an alien on the away team? If you need a speaking role, bring Harry along instead.

 

[Oddish]

Future's End part II

The Good:
- Rain and Tom are adorable together.
- Some good work by the Doc, experiencing both pain and the outside world for the first time.
- Interesting concept that our digital age, which undoubtedly led to the formation of the Federation... technically shouldn't have happened.
- A little bit of permanent development in this, with the Doctor's mobile emitter. He was lucky none of those shot pellets hit it, though...
- Tuvok getting called a freak-a-saurus.

The Bad:
- See what I said in part 1 about not taking aliens along. What if those uber right wing militia types had had cameras?
- Not much else... a solid episode, not really exceptional.


Thirty Days

The Good:
- Some actual consequences for bad behavior, in Tom getting brigged and losing rank. Usually, it's at best a secret pat on the back, and at worst a chewing out.
- An intriguing concept, in a space borne ocean.
- Robert Duncan Macneil definitely carries this one.

The Bad:
- Solitary confinement is considered a crime against humanity. It is unlikely that the Federation would condone it. Deleting one word of dialogue ("solitary") would have fixed this.
- After 15 days of said confinement, it is unlikely that Tom would be so dismissive of any visitor, especially his best friend. Assuming he hadn't gone completely nuts and chewed one of his arms off.
- The Moneans seemed conveniently unconcerned about the total destruction of their world.

Just a thought:
- Am I the only one who thinks it would have been brutally hilarious if Harry had showed up in the cell with Tom's rank pip on his collar? "Yeah, the captain said we were down a lieutenant and had an extra ensign, so..."

 

[at Quark's]

Tuvok in 1996 LA: We could have worn our Starfleet Uniforms. I doubt anyone would have noticed.

 

[Tosk]

Inside Man. It feels like a much lesser version of Life Line. I know the storyline is different, but there's just this feeling of hitting a lot of the same beats, but not as well.

Body and Soul. KInd of weird that Seven feels wrecked by the over-indulgence but the Doctor does not. He experiences the pleasures when inhabiting Seven, so why not the pain? He feels neck pain later on, so...
While an undeniably fun ep, it does feel like the tail is wagging the dog a bit. The story is a little too tailored to the concept of the episode. Also, interesting to see Janeway go straight to "Nah, escort us or we'll kill you" so quickly over such a small matter.

Lineage. Another ep where my vague memory of it was that it wasn't that good, but I quite enjoyed it.

Repentance. I liked it. Jeff Kober is good casting for a character who is a piece of shit at first and not so much later on.

Prophecy. Some interesting ideas are completely wasted when we spend way too long on Paris having to duel and a general feeling of unfocused storytelling.

The Void. The kind of ep I wanted to see a lot earlier, and maybe on a grander scale. Still, better late than never. I enjoyed it.

Workforce. (aka Ralph Malph is a real dickhole.) '90s Trek is usually pretty good at making sure eyelines line up when talking to viewscreens, but they goofed on the one where Janeway talks to Kim and Torres. Judging by the angle, I suspect the viewscreen footage wasn't actually shot for that, but for 'full frame' reaction shots that got re-purposed. The two-parter feels a bit stretched to me. Too much story maybe for one episode, but not enough for two. Not the way they did it, at least. Still, overall pretty good.

Human Error. Meh. The Seven stuff is okay, but feels very lightweight and not super interesting. Voyager truly is the master of boring boilerplate B-plots.

Q2. Yuck. I tire very easily of Q episodes, and this one is even worse because little DeLancie does not have his father's flair.

Author, Author. A last minute mediocre Measure of a Man.

Homestead. Suffers because of it being the "we gotta dump Neelix before the finale for some reason" episode, but it's pretty good for what it is. I like Neelix (when he's not being the jealous assface or the unfunny clown) and I can mostly buy his story here. I wish it had been earlier in the season, though that of course was never going to happen.

Endgame. At the risk of angering fans of the ep, I don't much like it at all. The decision to end the show with no actual homecoming still stinks to this day.

At least I'm done now. You don't have to put up with me shitting on so many eps. (I even skipped reviewing a few so as to cut down my negativity! )