Star Trek: Voyager Season 5 Review

So with the departure of Jeri Taylor and the beginning of the reign of Brannon Braga as showrunner, I braced myself for the worst -- but found myself pleasantly surprised with three entertaining, unique, probing character dramas.

"Night"
Probably the best thing this episode does is the scene in Janeway's quarters between her and Chakotay, when she finally really looks back and assesses her command decisions. I like the Janeway who emerges from this episode, she feels like someone who's actually been through an ordeal and changed because of it. The whole first half of the episode really shines in its character examinations. Things get a bit more standard once the Malon show up and we get the whole "littering is bad" metaphor which reeks of the late 90s, but all in all this is a top-notch hour so far as VOYAGER episodes go.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 58,814.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 10
However! I must point out that we use 13 torpedoes in this episode alone, which not only uses up our complement, but sends us plumetting into the red. So far the show has actually been really careful and conserved those torpedoes for big threats, but here Janeway sends em flying like they were beans.

"Drone"
At first I thought this was going to be a rehash of "I, Borg", and in some ways it was, but for the most part this episode did some really unique things and ultimately served as a fine growing experience for Seven of Nine. The actor portraying One really did a fine job. Meanwhile, I'm going to take One's "enhancements" to Voyager's shields and weapons as the reason why the ship is able to stand up to dozens of Borg ships later in the series.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 58,708.1 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 10

"Extreme Risk"
A fantastic, if a bit delayed, follow-up to B'Elanna hearing of the massacre of the Maquis last season. It's also a very accurate portrayal of a person undergoing depression -- it's not really moping about and being angsty and sad, it's being devoid of feeling entirely. Also, the Delta Flyer pops up serving to both solve and confound Voyager's shuttle problem.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 58,586.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 10

I'm not sure if four seasons of watching VOYAGER has just lowered my expectations or something, but these three episodes were all very well done shows, examining character choices and consequences. Not DS9 level, maybe, but way above the average on VOY and even pretty darned good compared to TNG. 

 "In the Flesh"
This is an okay episode, certainly a good attempt by the VOY writers to hit classic Trek beats, but it had me wondering why do a Cold War allegory in 1998? Like man, this would've worked great on TOS, but it's kinda hollow here. Also, while the infiltration idea allows the show to do an 8472 episode without extensive (and expensive) effects, it turns the show into a feeling of "been there, done that" with DS9. Granted, the episode sometimes comes across as the VOY writers criticizing the DS9 ones: Both premises involve a shape-shifting alien threat, wishing to purge the galaxy of humans, infiltrating Starfleet with plans to invade. But the VOY episode sticks to Roddenberrian doctrine of finding a peaceful solution -- it feels like a subtle jab at the DS9 war arc, which was and still is unpopular with a certain segment of fans.
Anyways, an all right attempt by VOY to do TOS, although we lose 8472 as villains, they were never really that well developed or interesting anyway.
One thing that really bugs me though, is that its never answered how the hell 8472 got the information to recreate Starfleet Headquarters. The uniforms in their simulationa are four years out of date, suggesting they got the data from a scan of Voyager's computer. But 8472 is ignorant of the circumstances of Voyager's presence in the Delta Quadrant. But, if they got the data straight from the Federation, why isn't it more up to date? This question is completely ignored in the episode itself.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 58,586.3 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 10

"Once Upon a Time"
Oh wow, what the frak was this. I hate these "children" episodes that second generation Trek kept insisting on doing. At least the child actor for Naomi is actually tolerable. That being said, it just felt weak that an entire episode based around priming Naomi for the realization that her mother has died instead tries to have its cake and eat it too by having her survive. Granted, killing Samantha would've really pigeonholed Naomi as a character, but it would've been a much better ending to this episode (and the character neve even APPEARS again after this show). But yeah, all the children's holodeck fantasy stuff was a slog to sit through. It was like Dudley the Dragon had invaded my Star Trek. Who was this meant for?
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 58,585.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 10

"Nothing Human"
If "In the Flesh" was VOY does TOS, this episode is VOY does DS9. A tale of Cardassian atrocities, ethical dilemmas, and shades of grey, it succeeds despite a few story issues (it would've been stronger if Torres actually HAD the disease that the Cardie doc had cured with his unethical experiments, instead she's got a facehugger and he's just helping the EMH). But all in all, this show succeeds in discussing its chosen moral issue: is it right to use research that was gotten through unethical means?
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 58,585.3 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 10

"Timeless"
I think its a rule that any time Harry becomes a decent character, it has to be in an alternate timeline. Anyways, this is probably one of the better hours in the "it never actually happened" subgenre of VOY time paradox shows -- its exciting and dark and generally just a lot of fun. I also liked that the creation of the slipstream drive by the crew is done using components and technology found and used within the last several shows.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -7
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 48,342.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

Note: I've noticed that this season Janeway has been portrayed very stern and no-nonsense. Kind've bitchy. And that's great. For two reasons. One is that its been consistent all season. My biggest problem with Janeway was never her character, and mainly the fact that her character shifted dramatically episode to episode. The other reason is that this change in Janeway is motivated, based on the crisis she went through in the season opener, finally coming to terms with her culpability in Voyager's situation. Janeway feels like a desperate leader, a woman on a mission. Someone on the path to becoming the crazy Admiral in the series finale. This is good.

In fact, these first seven episodes of season five have all been quite good in some way or another. I was dreading heading into the B&B years, but so far we've hit the ground running and had a better stretch of opening shows than maybe any other season. I also feel a real consistency in the characters, I mean, none of them are being written amazingly, but at least its consistent. Maybe now that Piller and Taylor are off the show, we no longer have the tug-of-war over what the show should be. We just have Braga and his high concept time paradoxes.
We'll see how long this lasts, but right now I'm kinda enjoying VOY for the first time in a long time.

 
"Thirty Days"
Okay, so points for trying to be a good Tom Paris episode, but way too much stuff here rings false. For one thing, Tom suddenly saying his first love was always the sea and sailing and so on is bullshit. Nothing in his character ever suggests he was anything ever but a flyboy. Second, Janeway demoting Tom and throwing him in the brig for something like this is extreme for her -- characters have done more and gotten away with less on this show: Chakotay, Torres and Seven come to mind in particular. And third, the crux of this episode's moral dilemma tries to rest itself on a Prime Directive issue that doesn't make much sense. On the one hand, I totally agree with Janeway that it's none of Voyager's business what the aliens do with the info Voyager has given him, and it's not Starfleet's role to make huge social choices for a society -- that is, in effect, what the Prime Directive is all about. But Janeway's interpretation of the Prime Directive varies from episode to episode so wildly that it's hard for it to have much weight. Some days, following it is important, on others, who cares? Hell, in this very episode she gives the aliens free technology, when back in Season 2 it was imperative that we not give the starving Kazon so much as a replicator.
Anyways, good try, but it falls short.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -8
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 48,222 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"11:59"
This episode has some interesting things to say about learning truths about family myths and about the way history can be distorted. It also has a pretty good dramatization of the old progress vs. tradition conflict and I'm really glad that it came down on the side of progress because for a while it seemed to be favouring tradition and that's not really an appropriate side for this franchise to take. But on the whole, I fucking hate episodes like "11:59", that aren't really about our characters and are just random bullshit filler. I mean, on VOY everything is random bullshit filler, but still -- I find it hard to get invested in flashbacks to different characters set almost four hundred years earlier. Yaaaaaawn.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -8
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 48,171.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Infinite Regress"
This is kind've a neat idea. Seven with mulitple personality disorder. And you can tell the camera crew had a lot of fun with all the funky effects. Also the aliens of the week are pretty cool -- badasses in Tron costumes who had the balls to go through with Picard's Borg genocide plan. That being said, this episode ends up feeling pretty weak simply because there are about a million ways of fixing Seven's problems that they never even attempt, Seven's problem has no real effect on her character, and we never learn more about Seven in the process. We don't really hear how it feels for Seven to have the voices of people she helped assimilate in her head. Does she feel guilt? How can she face that all the time? The episode is more interested in its high concept shenanigans than exploring this. It also felt cheap and unrealistic to me that most of Seven's personalities were from the Alpha Quadrant: Human, Klingon, Romulan, even Ferengi and it strikes me unlikely the Borg have encountered Ferengi. The majority should have been pre-established or bizarre Delta Quadrant races. Oh well. At least Jeri Ryan got to have some fun. It always surprises me each time I rediscover she's actually a pretty good actress.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: 1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -8
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 48,118.2 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Counterpoint"
THIS is Kate Mulgrew's favourite episode? Why?? Cause she got to kiss a dude once? Ugh. The main problem with this episode is that the guy cast as the Inspector is too convincing in his Evil Villain persona to be believable in act 2 when we're supposed to think he's on our side. He always comes off as an arrogant douche. Anyways, this one's pretty predictable through and through -- alien we shouldn't trust double crosses us, but we outthink him, we win, he loses, the end.
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -1
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 48,049 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Gravity"
Shuttle Crashes. Inhospitable Planet. Subspace Anomaly. Asshole Aliens. Woman falls in love with Tuvok, to no avail. We have seen everything in this episode before. And it's not like any of it is done particularly better or more creatively here. It isn't done worse, mind you, but why do I still care?
# of Crew: 133 Total -- 117 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -2
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 47,805.8 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Latent Image"
Now THIS, on the other hand, is good Star Trek. It's well acted, directed, lit, staged, scored, and written. A classic Trekkian tale of humanity, individuality, moral dilemmas, mystery, sci-fi, etc. It's a great Doc/Seven/Janeway episode. OH WAIT. EVERY EPISODE IS A DOC/SEVEN/JANEWAY EPISODE. Well, every GOOD one, anyway. Seriously, when was the last time Chakotay did... anything? Anyways, aside from that -- this is a good show, one that reminds me a little bit of "Paper Moon" (DS9) in that it features a character who has gone through a traumatic experience wrestling with the morality of that experience and having a breakdown because of it, working through that breakdown, but earning no easy answers, because there aren't any.
Bravo, Voyager.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -2
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 47,733.9 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

PS. Re: Janeway's attitude in this episode -- I feel like Season 5's Janeway has been far more consistant than any previous season. In Season 1, Janeway was like a compassionate, wide-eyed, open-minded explorer with a heart of gold. Seasons 2 through 4 she would shift between that attitude and a kind of pragmatic, take no prisoners, nigh-crazy cynicism, almost at random and at times within the same episode. It was very much like borderline personality disorder. In Season 5 she has become consistant again -- consistantly the psycho cynic but hey, at least it's consistant. As an armchair psychologist, it's almost as if her ordeal in the Delta Quadrant split her personality into warring sides, battling for three years before resolving itself, and the one that made the call to kill Tuvix is the one that won out.

"Bride of Chaotica!"
Now this is just some old-fashioned fun, and I appreciate all the jokes and sly winks at the camera, and I really had fun along with it. It's a good hour. But it's dampened a little by the fact that the Aliens of the Week are just an excuse for the fun. No one asks who they are, where they came from, why they look like guys in fedoras and suits. No one bats an eyelash at the fact that hundreds of them die in the course of the episode. No one even bats an eye at the concept of photonic life forms from subspace. I mean, I know they are just a plot device to get our characters into the Captain Proton program and up the stakes, but it brings down the fun when there are such serious consequences and it feels like it's against the principles of Trek that no one on Voyager really gives a frak about these life forms other than getting rid of them in order to solve their own problem. It's a small hole in an otherwise admirable episode.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -2
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 47,733.9 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"The Fight"
K, what the frak was that? It was very cinematically well done, but the script is slipshod and all over the place and really, really, didn't need to have the flashback format to confuse things further. Dream sequences within a flashback should not cut back to present time. That's just confusing. Anyways, it was cool, but ultimately meaningless. So the aliens were just trying to help us out the whole time? That's just bizarre. A very "Joe Menosky" script, indeed. But hey! At least it was nice seeing Chakotay do something again. I think this is the most screentime he's gotten since like season 2?
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -2
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 47,672.2 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Bliss"
This was a neat episode for subverting the tropes of the usual "will Voyager get home?" plot line. I thought the idea of a giant starship eating space being using telepathy to mask itself as a wormhole home was a really cool sci-fi comic book fun idea of a TOS-like nature that I really miss seeing on Berman-Trek -- there was always such a lack of a sense of "fun" in any of the sci-fi elements of TNG/VOY/ENT. So this was fun and cool. Also the Ahab-analogue alien they pick up who is trying to kill the creature was great. One of Trek's best alien guest stars IMO. Also, for once, this is an episode where having Seven, the Doc, and Naomi Wildman of all people in the starring roles made sense. So I liked this one.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -2
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 47,607.7 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11 

"The Disease"
Fuck this episode. It's not just a predictable One Hour Trek Romance (I pretty much called every story beat before it happens) but it's CENTRAL PREMISE is based on an idea I can refute with pretty much EVERY OTHER EPISODE OF STAR TREK. Harry Kim isn't allowed to fuck an alien without written permission from his CO and CMO. While that kinda makes sense, it's a completely balderdash idea in the face of Trek history. Janeway was fucking an alien like four episodes ago! Ugh. Yeah, what a waste of time.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -2
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -10
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 47,540.4 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Course: Oblivion"
Ugh, speaking of wastes of time, here's another patented None of This Matters Voyager episode, this time starring the mimetic duplicates of the crew created in last season's abysmal "Demon". Basically it's an hour of the crew realizing they are all copies and slowly dying. The only redeeming feature of the hour is its absolutely nihilistic ending where the copies die and turn back into floating silver muck in space mere minutes before they could contact the real Voyager and get help -- and Voyager flies by and hardly even notices, having no clue the copies were even there. Ouch.

"Dark Frontier"
Okay, and at 110 episodes in I'm calling it. This special movie-length Borg episode is the point when the creators of Voyager Officially Stopped Caring. The dialogue is all rehashed action movie cliches. The plot is predictable to the point of parody. We violate basic continuity left, right and centre: the circumstances of the Hansens disappearance is altered -- implying that Starfleet knew about the Borg way before "Q Who?", the Borg Queen references only a single past attempt to assimilate Earth, the Borg Queen claims Seven is the first drone to leave the Collective -- not Locutus, Hugh, Lore's group, the Borg Co-Operative from VOY Season 3, etc etc -- also, wasn't the whole point of Kes' gift to throw us passed Borg space? Why are we running into them here? We start seeing Voyager blow up Borg ships with one torpedo, and the Delta Flyer take four hits from the Borg Queen's vessel without even losing shields. And then Chakotay utters those infamous words "Photon torpedoes, full spread", launching seven torpedoes (we had already run out ages ago) at the transwarp corridor. The entire plot makes no sense -- The Borg Queen wants Seven back because Seven has a unique experience of being an individual, despite every Borg assimilated having that experience. For some reason, Seven's unique experience among Voyager's crew will make her the ideal person to figure out how to assimilate humanity for the Borg. Despite the fact that the Borg Queen later explains that they already have a complex plan to do so that does not seem to require Seven's help. And for some reason Seven most rejoin the Collective willingly, as an individual, for any of this to matter -- even though it's not like the info they claim to want will vanish if they just up and re-assimilate her.
It's an episode that makes no sense and works on no level other than Big Dumb Action Episode with Splosions. And that's all that it is. And I'm calling it as a major turning point for the show into the realm of being just a Big Dumb Action Show.
Although at least we got 20,000 lightyears out of our stolen Borg transwarp coil before it gave out, instead of the writers just forgetting we had one.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians (a Borg scan claims 143)
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -18
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,539.4 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11
And now we're only 1,540.3ly from the Beta Quadrant! I wonder if we'll make it out of the Delta Quadrant before the show ends at this rate? Hell, I wonder if we'll pass Earth entirely!!

"Think Tank"
Aka the one with George Costanza. I kid, I kid. I actually really love this episode, if only because I love the Think Tank characters. I would actually much rather watch a show about them than the Voyager crew. I mean, a group of mega-intellects who go around solving the galaxy's impossible problems, but for the price of that culture's most unique item? What a great hook! And the characters -- a old-school robot who hates math and loves art, a jellyfish who's an expert on time travel and the only female member, an ancient whale like being who hates it when you bring up his name... and the two humanoids, one of whom is Jason Alexander! I think his post-Seinfeld career would've been healthier doing that show.
Anyways, the episode is okay, we do another full spread of torpedoes we don't have, and I'm off to write "Think Tank Adventures" fan fiction, lol!
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -25
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,435.7 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11
(Oh, and apparently a member of the Think Tank posed as a Malon -- except the Malon live like 30,000ly away, so how does that make sense?)

"Juggernaut"
There's some good stuff in this episode, and some retarded stuff. The good stuff? This is the best episode to feature the Malon, and there are some cool visuals on their craft. The bad stuff? One is that we were in Malon space THIRTY THOUSAND LIGHT YEARS AGO. It really undercuts the feeling of progress from episodes like "Dark Frontier" when you suddenly backtrack and are running into aliens from the start of the season.
Speaking of backtracking, the other stupid thing about this episode is the B'Elanna plot, which has her learning to deal with her temper, Tuvok warning Janeway she is too unpredictable to trust with a mission, but Janeway going ahead in order to show B'Elanna her trust. What is this, SEASON TWO?? What the fuck? Have the characters not developed over the last five years? I mean, I feel they have! This would be akin to Sisko/Kira still at each other's throats in a fifth season DS9 episode!! It just rings totally false.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -25
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,397.4 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Someone to Watch Over Me"
Light fluffy fun as the Doctor teaches Seven how to date, and ends up falling in love himself, but can't find the courage to tell her. It's a good character episode for both characters, and probably a very relatable episode to Trekkies from both ends -- Seven's social awkwardness, and the Doctor's position as "nice guy crushing on girl way out of his league".
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians (Neelix claims there are 146, lololol)
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -25
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,355.3 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Relativity"
This is a fun romp around time with Seven, Janeway and Braxton. It's a good time, but I have one caveat: If you're gonna do a time travel show, where you travel to other periods in the SHOW'S OWN HISTORY -- don't have THIS many continuity errors. It's really aggravating. It's not hard to just go back and watch "Caretaker". Or fuck, ask Mike Okuda over in the next office. But still, fun episode.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -25
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,167.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

 
"Warhead"
"Dreadnought" meets "The Changeling" meets "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield". Good, but nothing we haven't seen on Star Trek a million times before.
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -25
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,147.5 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

"Equinox"
Voyager's "Pegasus". It's a great concept for an episode, except that the Equinox crew end up being a kind've over-the-top dastardly sort've evil rather than just morally repugnant, and there are times when the existence of the Equinox and the state it's in sort've puts a lie to the entire VOYAGER premise -- like the writers admitting that "yeah, Voyager would probably be a lot more like this if we were taking this seriously". It feels less like a desperate ship that took the moral high ground running into another desperate ship that didn't, and more like a normal ship running into a desperate ship, as if the Voyager was a rescue ship from the Alpha Quadrant.
But minor quibbles aside, still a pretty good episode, with a retarded cliffhanger (omg! will one of the CGI aliens KILL Janeway?? I doubt it).
# of Crew: 132 Total -- 116 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 3 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -3
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -25
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 27,128.2 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11
(Ransom claims they are 35,000ly from home)

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 7 Review

Wow, here we are. The final season. It's been a long journey, due to my schedule being unable to allow me to burn through these shows like you guys do.

"Image in the Sand" & "Shadows and Symbols"
What a great way to start a season. No big action-y ratings ploy, just a story, and the right story that needed to be told, with all the pacing and beats in the right place because it's spread out over two parts -- and spread out properly, with the break in the right place. If anything, these two episodes make "Tears of the Prophets" better by being the follow-up. That episode still has problems, but these episodes really expand on the ideas that the season six finale didn't have time to explore. Of everything, I only have two problems with the episodes -- one is that the Pagh-wraith Cult threat set up in Part 1 never goes anywhere in Part 2, and the other is that Sisko veers a little too far into crazy in Part 2, because of the way the Benny vision is intercut. It has always seemed so far that Sisko's visions are more or less instantaneous for him, but here we have the Benny vision happening simultaneously with Sisko's actions (or in-action), which makes it seem like Sisko is not in control of his own actions, which makes his fulfillment of the Prophecy seem less substantial in the end. But other than that, this is a great pair of shows that opens up a universe of possibilities for Season 7. Not the least of which is Ezri Dax, who is absolutely great.

"Afterimage"
Basically our "getting to know Ezri" episode. Its great. She's great. I had a ball of a time. My only nitpick is that the counseling scenes aren't written that great. I know Ezri's going through a lot, but it's a little too inept. I wish the episode had said that it was partly an act on her part to disarm Garak, as opposed to making her triumph largely accidental. Other than that, no complaints -- it hits the right spot, especially in regards to how the characters react to Ezri. Nicole de Boer does an AMAZING job playing a character who is, but isn't, Jadzia. It REALLY sells the whole Trill symbiont thing in a way that talking about it for 6 years never quite did.

"Take Me Out to the Holosuite"
Quite possibly one of the best episodes the show ever did. I could not stop smiling, or laughing for that matter. Pure gold.

"Chrysalis"
I get what they were going for, and its all very sincere, but it was dull. Nothing we see here is something I haven't seen before on DS9. Felt like "Melora, Take 2" in a lot of ways. Although Serina is a much better character, and the actress is a delight.

"Treachery, Faith and the Great River"
Brilliant. I love how the title applies equally to both plots. So good.

"Once More Unto the Breach"
Also brilliant. A perfect send off to Kor. I believe in the legend.

"The Siege of AR-558"
Absolutely, positively, fucking brilliant. One of the best all-time Trek episodes. I don't care what any fucking second generation VOY lovers say, it's one thing to talk about how war is awful, blah blah blah, it's another to SHOW IT. And in a visual media, well, let's just say this episode is powerful. And good. Very, very good.

"Covenant"
Yet another intriguing entry in the Dukat saga. It feels a little odd, how few appearances Dukat has made since he went crazy-go-nuts back in "Waltz", but I liked this entry for how believably it built on elements from past episodes. It was also interesting to see Kira put on the other side of the religion issue for once, hearing OTHER people try to tell her it's all about the power of blind faith. It's a subtle element to the show, but a neat one. Overall, the show is a pretty accurate portrayal of the craziness of cults, and as always, the craziness of Dukat is fun to examine.

"It's Only a Paper Moon"
Along with it's necessary predecessor, "Siege of AR-558", this is one of DS9's finest hours. That episode showed that war is brutal and inhuman, not glorious -- this one shows the real consequences. We finally see a situation where a counselor makes sense (dealing with PTSD) and Ezri gets some good stuff in this episode, but its Nog and Vic who shine the most. Isn't it amazing how much Nog grew as a character? From the scruffy little thief of season 1 to this? Damn DS9 is great. I also liked the subtle exploration of the dangers of retreating from reality into a fantasy world -- a theme that echoes through Trek all the way back to "The Cage", and a theme Trekkers seem sometimes all too eager to ignore. "It's Only a Paper Moon" is one of my all time DS9 favourites.

"Prodigal Daughter"
I was bracing myself, because what I had heard from fandom was that this wasn't a very good episode. But ultimately, I didn't find myself thinking in terms of good or bad when it was over. All I could think was "that was fucked up". This was one of those DS9 episodes that really takes pleasure in just leaving the audience unsettled, with no easy answers, and no real hope in humanity. Miles goes looking for the widow of the man he betrayed, but it turns out she's been killed by Ezri's kid brother, who has been driven psycho by his ambitious mother, who aside from her overzealous passion, only ever meant well. It's some seriously fucked up shit. And when the episode ends, she has to go back to the station with the knowledge that her gifted and artistic brother has been sentenced to 30 years, and gets no sympathy from Miles. Ouch, DS9. Ouch.
Yeah, so I think it's a good episode.

"The Emperor's New Cloak"
One last fun romp through the Mirror Universe. This episode really feels like the writer's are doing it just for the hell of it, one last Mirror episode just cause it's season 7. You know that no one's taking things too seriously when they take the two birds/one stone approach and make it this year's Ferengi comedy episode as well. I kinda wish the Mirror Universe had gotten a better, more insightful send-off than this, but I guess the real finale for that story arc on this show was "Shattered Mirror" back in Season 4. This and "Resurrection" are basically just afterthoughts and epilogues. Ah, well. It's fun at least.

"Field of Fire"
A great episode. Great use of Ezri and the Dax symbiont. I love all the murder mystery details, from the TR-116 rifle and it's ingenious methods to the idea of a Vulcan driven to become a serial killer by the Dominion War. Great ideas, great execution. Good stuff.

 
"Chimera"
A great exploration of Odo and Kira's relationship, a fantastic set-up for Odo's eventual character arc, an insightful examination of the difference between solids and changelings WITHOUT the baggage of "the Founders are evil", and for once a guest star alien who wants to change the status quo but who DOESN'T have evil ulterior motives. Instead of the plot forcing Odo's hand as to which way he'll choose, the characters are allowed to interact and examine themselves naturally. This is an extremely well written and well performed episode.

"Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges"
This is one of my favourite DS9 episodes. I love Sloan, Section 31, Romulans, Admiral Ross, and Bashir, so naturally an episode throwing them all together is dynamite. I also love plots like this one, involving plans within plans within plans. Sloan is, essentially, Star Trek Batman. He's great. I love the way this episode gets us thinking about what the Alpha Quadrant will be like AFTER the war. I love, well, pretty much everything about this episode.

"Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang"
Sisko's Eleven. Nuff said. If you don't like this episode, I don't think we can be friends. Pretty much perfect, and loads of fun. "Bride of Chaotica!" (VOY) couldv'e learned a lot from this show. Also, Sisko and Fontaine singing "Best is Yet to Come"? Not only awesome, but totally true.

SO excited to be heading into THE FINAL CHAPTER!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3fObaejFOE

"Penumbra/Til Death Do Us Part/Strange Bedfellows/The Changing Face of Evil"
I watched these four all in one go so it's a little hard to seperate my thoughts on them. Basically "Penumbra" was a good lead-in, slowly getting the ball rolling, mainly focused on Sisko/Kassidy and Ezri/Worf. Then we head into "Til Death Do Us Part" which brings us Sisko marrying Kassidy, Worf and Ezri fucking, and the insanely creepy Dukat/Winn team-up. Oh, and the Breen ally with the Dominion. Which brings us to "Strange Bedfellows" where everything gets better -- Worf snapping Weyoun's neck (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YoPXogkXsk) is a moment only bested by http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2kJAIKLbhdk. In fact, Weyoun/Damar may be the best duo in a series based around great duos. Then we get "Changing Face of Evil", where Dukat and Winn have truly joined forces to unleash the Pagh-Wraiths, the Breen fucking WRECK Earth, and the Defiant is destroyed when the Dominion retakes Chin'toka.
In and amidst all this, Bashir and O'Brien's holodeck Alamo obsession moves into the real world with a model, Ezri discovers she loves Julian, and the Founders are all dying of a mysterious illness.
And the Prophets don't want Ben getting married.
Btw -- this show is awesome.
Too good.
I have narry a bad thing to say.
Fuck it's gonna suck when it's over and all I have left is VOY.

 
"When It Rains..."/"Tacking into the Wind"'
Another awesome pair of Final Chapter episodes -- the entire Kira, Damar, and the Cardassian Resistance storyline is just gold. I love seeing Kira in a Starfleet uniform, and the irony of it all is delicious. Also -- Damar. Maybe the best character arc on DS9 ever, next to Nog. I mean, I just love seeing this guy pull himself out of his kanar induced self-pity and become the Hero of Cardassia over the past few episodes. The moment when he shoots Rusot, declaring the old Cardassia dead just cements Damar as one of the greatest heroes of Star Trek -- even after all his mistakes, Damar knows that Cardassia can't survive if they just go back to business as usual.
Also, the Worf/Martok/Gowron stuff? Also golden. It really plays well when you've been watching since TNG, with all Worf has been through with the Klingons and Martok and so on. I love the scene where Ezri just lays it all on the table, that all this Klingon honour and integrity is bullshit posturing -- these guys backstab each other more than the Romulans. And I love that it's Ron Moore writing it, the guy who prolly did more to develop all that Klingon honour crap more than anyone.

"Extreme Measures"
I've heard a lot of people call this the "weak link" of the Final Chapter, but frankly they can all go fuck themselves. I think it must be because it's so centrally focused on Miles, Julian and Sloan that we get nothing of the other arcs, but whatever. That means that we can really do a good job examining this plot thread. And this episode is fantastic -- Miles and Julian go on one last big adventure to stop Section 31 and it's INCEPTION! BRAAHHM! Anyway, everyone's just on top of their games, but the finest scene of all is the one where Miles and Julian think they're going to die and Julian tries to get Miles to admit he likes him "just a little bit more" than Keiko. I love these guys, their friendship, and this show. Glorious episode.

"The Dogs of War"
Some movement on the Cardassian Revolution Front (I love Damar, Folk Hero), some movement in the Sorrow of the Siskos Saga, but mainly this is about wrapping up the Ferengi plotlines. I like the way this happens -- it's unexpected that Nog ends up as Nagus, but it's not totally out of the blue in retrospect with the way things had been going. And I love Quark's righteous indignation, that his bar is the "last outpost" (har har) of the true Ferengi Way. I had to stop the episode after he quoted Picard I was laughing so hard. All in all, while a lot of stuff happens this hour, it's basically the deep breath before the plunge.

"WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND"
Now THIS is how you end a show. Undoubtably the BEST Trek finale bar none. "Endgame" should've been structured more like this, with Voyager getting home with a half-hour to spare in the episode for some fucking denouement. "What You Leave Behind" is nearly perfect. We get our big space battle, we get our action climax, we bring the Emissary's arc to a close with our Series Protagonist grappling our Series Antagonist into the fires of hell, and we get to wrap-up and see where everyone's lives go. The montages were really great, too, despite lack-of-Jadzia. But yeah, everything wraps up fantastic.
That being said, I have three criticisms:
We should've seen the Battle of Cardassia Prime. Yes, two space battles in one episode is expensive (they already use a lot of stock footage in this episode), but we essentially get to Cardassia, see a ton of ships, we get our orders, then Odo goes down and links with the Founder and its over. It feels too easy.
Same with Dukat vs. Sisko. Sisko should've gotten some powers from the Prophets to match Dukat, and there should've really been a Battle of the Emissaries before the dip into the Fire Caves. As it is, Dukat is kicking Sisko's ass, Winn distracts him, then TACKLE and its over. Again, too easy.
Finally -- what about BAJOR? Sisko was SENT to DS9 in the beginning to get Bajor into the Federation. While it would be ridiculous to ask for Bajor to join up like the Day the war ends, it should've been addressed a bit, like Ross saying "well, Colonel, I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Bajor's entry into the Federation finalized within a year" or something like that.
But these are minor quibbles. Best Finale Ever. Best Trek Ever.

Gonna miss it.

2012 Is Best Year

If the world ends this year, I think I'll be cool with it. I'm having a great time.
I got a pipe for Christmas, and it's made my unfortunate smoking habit (damn you Matt!) a thousand times more enjoyable, not to mention classier.
I'm directing an awesome 22-min drama, the biggest project in my 2-year film school program, making it the biggest film I've ever directed and essentially what the past four years of my schooling has been building up to. I'm totally going all pulp noir comic pop Hitchcock on it, too. It's gonna be great. It's a psychological thriller written by Jackie Nicolls (http://www.wix.com/jackienicolls/film <-- jealous of this site a little!). She's great. And if the world ends this year, I can successfully have made an awesome student film but not have to worry about surviving in the real world!
Despite no one reading it, I've been having a blast writing Bat to the Beginning , renewing my journey through Golden Age Batman has been fun, satisfying and inspiring. Batman is awesome, writing about Batman is awesome, but it would be awesomer if I knew people were reading me write about Batman.
So many great movies are coming out this year, it's kind've like Nerdvana. "The Avengers", "The Dark Knight Rises", "Skyfall", etc.
Finally, what I am most thankful for is Sarah Dorchak (http://raw-sugar-adventures.blogspot.com/), who I've now been dating for almost three years. She's the greatest thing on two legs and the light of my life. She's not only smart, funny, geeky, and a writer, she's jaw-droppingly gorgeous.

So sure, the world can end in 2012. I'd have no regrets, because life is grand. But bollocks to those counting on it, too -- because not only is that all bullshit, but frankly I've got a life to build, and I plan on every minute being better than the last. So here's to years of success and achievement!! Because why devote your time to anything less?