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. For the next four articles however I want to discuss my absolute “I’ve watched them 500 times” favorite episodes for each series. As I’ve mentioned before I am a huge Voyager fan so let’s finally discuss my absolute favorite episode….
Plot Synopsis:
Voyager has spent the last two months in a starless void they can’t avoid. It will take two years to cross and tensions are starting to rise.
Janeway has become depressed as she realizes it’s her fault they’re all stuck in the Delta Quadrant. As the crew struggles with boredom they are attacked by aliens. Another alien called a Mahlon saved them and know a shortcut but things are amiss.
It turns out the Malone are disposing of waste in the area even though it’s poisoning the inhabitants. Janeway decides to sacrifice herself by destroying the shortcut after Voyager has used it but the crew rebel and don’t let her. As a team they defeat the Mahlon’s and successfully get out of the void.
Guest Stars:
A lot of great character actors as the aliens.
Episode pros
As anyone who has followed me at all knows, I love me a good character episode. And that's pretty much what this is. I especially love the first part where we’re just hanging out with the crew bored. Tom and b’elanna fight, Neelix is useless, and harry is playing the clarinet on the bridge. Of course, the big one is Janeway who had gotten depressed. It makes sense, with no distractions she’s had time to realize just how lonely she really is and how, when you think about, the fact they're stuck in the Delta Quadrant is kinda all her fault.
This is also our first look at Tom’s Captain Proton holodeck program which would be a regular thing. It’s a cute send up of 50 s sci fi. There’s also a great scene where Chakotay talks to Tuvok about Janeway. These two were never friends so it’s nice to see they can be professional.
Thankfully there is more to this episode than just a bored crew. The aliens taking over the ship is nicely done. And the Malon is the kind of despicable you don't often get in Trek, caring more about greed than the live he's destroying. I like the environmental message here. The Maylon are saving money dumping radioactive waste in the void, even though they’re killing the people who live there. You know this kind of industrial pollution has happened in the real world.
And despite the slow start the episode does end with a decent action scene as Voyager gets through the vortex sooner than expected. The best part is what happens right before, when Janeway is ready to do the mission alone to let Voyager escape unharmed. It's because she doesn't want to repeat the same mistake, she made when blowing up the Caretaker's array and stranding them all. But the crew stands up to her and says they are doing it together, as a group. Seven even offer some "borg confidence". Damn I love this show!
Episode Cons
Voyager had a tendency to not deal with consequences. They lose shuttles all the time, yet they have plenty. They have limited photon torpedoes but never run out. The ship is damaged in one episode and fine in the next. This doesn’t bother me but it does bother some, I get that. And like 80s sitcoms, trauma a character experiences in one episode is gone by the next. In this case, Janeways depression goes away and is never mentioned again. Even worst you could argue it isn’t explored enough in the episode but I’m just impressed they touched on it all. It’s a risk to show the captain vulnerable and it is pulled off I think.
There are unanswered questions. The aliens were already poisoned what did Voyager do exactly? I guess keep it from getting worse. Why didn’t they go to the Malon home world after? And it’s made clear in the void there was no way to resupply so what was the plan when the deuterium started to run out?
Final Thoughts:
It may not be the best written episode or the most exciting episode, but every character gets stuff to do and I love watching it over and over again.
Honorable Mentions: Scorpion is usually the episode people say is the best and while it's solid it's not my personal favorite. Timeless is a wonderful episode and is an easy second place. I also love the episode two episodes after this, Extreme Risk. And if it's a Seven of Nine episode dollars to donuts that I have probably seen it more than a few times.
Next time DS9 and I can promise there will be less disagreement with this choice!
No comments:
Post a Comment