When I say I hated this episode I don’t just mean I found it boring or didn’t get it, I really did not get into this one at all! But in hindsight I was being way to hard on it. Let’s take a look:
Plot Summary:
700 years in the future, an alien named Quarren at the Kyrian Museum of Heritage teaches a history that writes Voyager as playing a detrimental role in beginning their Great War with the Vaskans. The history makes the Kyrian the victims and Vaskans the aggressor. That is until a new artifact is found, a copy of the actual Doctor who was there.
The Doctor is appalled at the way his crew are portrayed and sets the record straight. It was The Kyrian who attacked Voyager when all they were doing was working out a trade with The Vaskans. However, the new facts do not sit well with everyone. It causes tension between the two races since it could affect the way history has portrayed that old war.
When an angry mob attacks to keep the new data quiet, The Doctor decides to abandon his quest for the truth. However, Quarren stresses that people need to hear the truth about what happened and The Doctor agrees. The final scene reveals this was all a simulation about the day the two warring races began to finally talk peace.
Guest Stars:
They include Henry Woronicz, Rod Arrants, and Craig Richard Nelson. All do a fine job.
Episode Pro’s:
This is as close to a mirror Voyager episode that we’re going to get when we see the aliens historical recreation of when Voyager visited ages ago, so the creators must have decided to have a little fun. Everyone is in black, they wear silly gloves, Chakotay’s tattoo is ridiculous and no one gets his name right, Neelix working on The Bridge, a Kazon on the crew, Seven is in full Borg mode (with drone servants), Voyager is an over muscled warship, and The Doctor is mistaken as an android rather than a hologram. It’s kind of hard to accept the aliens would get things THAT wrong, but that dark Voyager is so much fun to see.
And the issue here is a great one, one of the things Star Trek does right is discuss an issue. In this case, revisionist history. We always here the adage “history is often written by the victors” and this episode demonstrates that danger. The revised history portrays Voyager as a cruel aggressor who caused the great war with their cruelty. When the reality is Voyager was simply offering medical supplies when the other aliens, The Kyrians, invaded the ship and attacked. They were the aggressors but are made by the revised history to look like the poor victims. Of course when the truth is revealed the people do not take it well, The Kyrians don’t want their history besmirched and The Vaskans want the truth to come out. In this day and age of “Fake News” and what is true and what is fiction, this story seems much more relatable than it did when it first aired. The Doctor argues that maybe it would be better to not pursue the investigation since it could disturb the truth these people have known for years. But truth is what is important, history shouldn’t be used as a tool to hurt people and the facts should stand on their own.
Directed by Tim Russ, which is cool. And much like last time Robert Picardo nails every scene he’s in. I also loved Kate Mulgrew’s sadistic Janeway, she’s awesome.
Episode Con’s:
One of the big things that rubbed me the wrong way, if not THE big thing, was out of step this was with the series. It takes places hundreds of years later, and we don’t get any of the characters in the episode. They are all holographic recreations. And I am including The Doctor who is just a copy of The Doctor. I don’t know why but that just did not sit well with me. It’s a lot like the TNG episode “Fist Contact” where we are seeing things from the point of view of the aliens, and not from our heroes. It took me awhile to get used to that episode too. But least there they are our heroes, in this one not so much. Once you get passed that, the story is pretty damn good.
Ironically for me this episode had the same problem as “The Inner Light”, I want to see more! Just when things are finally getting interesting, when the two species start arguing about whether to hear the doctor or not, the episode is nearly over! Some of the stuff in the museum could have been trimmed a little, they spend a little to much time establishing the setting, and the real story of what happened is awfully rushed also. And Seven of Nine being held hostage is pushing it but that can also be chalked up to The Doctor getting a fact or two wrong (he did say he had to embellish here and there).
Why 700 years later?? I mean even 100 would be have been effective. I never understood that choice. And the idea of the doctor’s backup program is kind of forced, why hasn’t that ever been mentioned before?
Fast Forward Moment:
The Doctor spends some time reminiscing about Voyager, and it’s kind of pointless really since it isn’t even really The Doctor! It’s also amusing he waxes nostalgic over B’Elanna who doesn’t appear in the episode (Roxann Dawson had given birth) which is a shame, what would the dark Torres be like??
Final Thoughts:
Clearly I approached this episode the wrong way, and I enjoyed it when I watched it again. It is a good story and I’m sorry I didn’t see it before.
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