Welcome back to Underrated Trek, where I take a special look at Star Trek episodes that I love…which may not be the most popular or even liked by most. I’ve done a few of these now for Voyager but have yet to really talk about Seven of Nine. I did a couple she was in but was hardly featured. She shook up the show and, in my opinion, made it interesting. Here’s an example with an episode that she rocks in. This is :
Plot Synopsis:
After returning from a shuttle trip Seven finds the crew overly jubilant about finding a wormhole home. Something which is nearly impossible. After doing some research she believes that the wormhole is not real. However no one will listen to her doubts.
Seven works to prevent the ship from entering the “wormhole”. As the crew keep finding new ways to shut Seven down, her last ditch effort to save the shop fails and Voyager enters the “wormhole”. Except it’s really a telepathic organism that feeds on starships and can trick people into entering but making them see whatever their hearts desire is.
Seven and Naomi are the only one’s unaffected. They encounter an alien named Qatai who has spent years hunting the organism. With the doctor’s help they figure out how to make Voyager taste bad so the creature will expel the ship before it is eaten. Despite some last second trickery by the organism, it works and Voyager is saved.
Guest Star
W. Morgan Sheppard does a great job playing Qatai, who has spent years trying to hunt and destroy the organism. He is actually likable despite his crotchety Ahab complex. And Sheppard has played other Trek roles including Ira Graves in “Schizoid Man” and the warden at Klingon prison in Star Trek VI.
Episode Pro’s:
This is Seven’s episode and she is fantastic in every scene. We share her suspicions in the beginning and she had great moments with Naomi where she is kind. Then at the end she starts to fall for the organism’s force when she has a hearts desire it can exploit. It’s a good scene as she has to accept the truth and complete the plan to save Voyager. Then she has very subtle “screw you” to Janeway after she has woken and asked what happened. And the reason she is immune to the organism makes sense, since she has no hearts desire to get to Earth like the crew. The organism tries to fake a letter from a relative but that also doesn’t work.
The first half of the episode is the mystery and it’s well done. At first we think that Seven and Naomi aren’t affected because they just got back to the ship, but so did Paris who is affected. Nice misdirection avoiding an overused Trek trope. As teh crew begin actively blocking her efforts we know there is something screwy here. The scene where Seven tries to commander the shop is handled nicely until she is defeated. Which is nice to see that Seven isn’t invincible. The second half is the resolution and it does a good job of keeping the tension level up.
I was never the largest fan of Naomi but I liked her in this episode. Not only is she integral to the plot, but she contributed and helps. She also dubs the organism a monster and compares it to a pitcher plant. Her scenes with Seven are always fantastic, Naomi brings out Seven’s humanity.
Episode Con’s:
Unfortunately for this to work the crew have to come off a little too stupid. I man they’re not even suspicious as the first two acts roll on. Not even a word of doubt even though the wonderful news some get is really too hard to believe. And they really believe all the “orders” from Starfleet were real? Especially one’s which shut down the Doctor and incapacitate Seven? Ok we see Seven reviews Janeway’s logs and they weren’t stupid enough to fall for the trick..at first. The worst part is when Seven tries to appeal to Tuvok’s logic and Tuvok refuses to listen to her. He’s a Vulcan guys, his desire to see his wife should not overwhelm his sense of logic! But of course it’s Seven’s episode so Tuvok has to be stupid. And why was Neelix’s heart desire being a Federation ambassador, shouldn’t it have been seeing his family again?
Also how does this space monster do some of these things? Ok I get that it’s telepathic so it can read their hearts desires and nudge the crew into thinking the way it wants. But how is it able to create fake letters for the crew to read? Or project false images on Voyager’s screen? And you can’t say they are being tricked into seeing these things, we know the images are there because even Seven can see it! Even the computer’s sensors are fooled. How is that possible?
I would have liked an epilogue where the cree realize what happened. And apologize to Seven for not listening (even though it wasn’t all their fault). All we get is a log entry from Janeway. This happens a lot with Voyager, though that scene we do get between Seven and Naomi is a good one.
Fast Forward Moment:
Poor B’Elanna. All she does in this episode is get stunned by Seven and then in a pointless scene refuses to accept that the Maquis aren’t all alive when the Doctor tries waking her. Kind of makes her look foolish. And what did the Doctor do, carry B’Elanna all the way from Engineering?
Final Thoughts:What else can I say? Not the most action packed but Seven shines and it’s a very enjoyable episode with a good mystery and nice tension.
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