Tom Salinsky

VOY S06E08 One Small Step (). Space travel is nothing if not complex, whether you’re a NASA Mars astronaut in 2032 or you’re just trying to answer the doorbell in the Delta Quadrant. In Chakotay’s case, this is due to an impulsive Seven rewiring the ship on a whim. In Lt John Kelly’s case, it’s due to a yellow swirly thing (not a solar flare) which dumps his craft in the Delta Quadrant, and much else besides. Voyager’s crew is eager to examine the contents of this intergalactic trawler net, and also eager to spend many excitement-free minutes discussing the virtues of exploration and sharing childhood ambitions – Jeri Ryan’s admission that pre-assimilation she wanted to be a ballerina might be the best single line-reading this season.

Chakotay, who this week is mad-keen on either palaeontology or archaeology, it scarcely matters, risks the Delta Flyer and the lives of Seven, Paris and himself in his lunatic zeal to obtain this ancient hunk of space junk. When they end up trapped, Seven understandably rips him a new one, which is almost enough to prevent me from noticing that this obsessive Indiana Jones figure is almost completely unlike the blandly easygoing peacemaker who usually wears that costume.

Their way out is to salvage parts from the command module, and Seven’s virtual trip into the past via Kelly’s log entries is oddly affecting, largely thanks to Jeri Ryan’s expert playing – but this is all too low-key and uneventful to be anything like a classic and we’ve arrived at the stage where regular characters suddenly sprout new traits at random to make the plots work, which isn’t good news. But it’s hard to ignore the depth of feeling for Kelly’s plight and for space pioneers in general, so this gets a grudging four stars from me, despite the issues with pacing and characterisation.

Yet again, Voyager’s straight line from an arbitrary point on the other side of the galaxy to home intersects with a trinket from Earth. And weirdly, it’s never even suggested that this thing which scooped up a NASA module and dumped it in the Delta Quadrant might be capable of whisking Voyager back to the Alpha Quadrant.

VOY S06E09 The Voyager Conspiracy (). Chakotay, with or without extra bolt-on personality subroutine, seems to have been upgraded to Janeway’s Best Friend, supplanting poor old Tuvok, Janeway’s oldest friend among those on board. While they eat dinner, Seven is mainlining past episodes of Voyager straight into her brain, and has determined that the sensor grids caught “photonic fleas” at some point in the past. And at the same time, wouldn’t you know it, a fishfaced alien is developing a faster-than-warp catapult drive and needs a hand with it. But Seven’s new blipvert intelligence tells her that the catapult is Caretaker-style technology and she’s suspicious of his motives – and the Captain’s. The trouble is, I’m not and so the question is not “what was really going on in the pilot?” it’s “what’s up with Seven and when will it get fixed?” – which is less interesting, especially when Seven’s unlikely stories become flatly contradictory. Chakotay brings Torres in on his suspicions, but keeps Harry Kim in the dark. Poor Harry Kim.

VOY S06E10 Pathfinder. Given the set-up of a Federation ship lost on the other side of the galaxy and a writing staff that likes playing games with form and structure, I suppose it was inevitable that we’d eventually see Voyager’s dilemma from the point of view of the Alpha quadrant. That hindsight obviousness doesn’t make this any less welcome, however, and it’s delightful to open with Reg Barclay and Deanna Troi – in the new uniforms.

Hyper-focused Reg is spending every waking, and some sleeping, hours working out how to contact Voyager. Barclay being Barclay, he’s created a Holodeck version of the ship, with ex-Maquis officers out of uniform, Janeway with her bun, and where he’s the most popular member of the crew. So this is somewhat of a rerun of earlier TNG wish-fulfilment episodes (this-is-the-story-we-tell-with-this-character), but the mash-up of TNG guest star and the fun-house version of Voyager feels a little fresher.

But Barclay’s relapse into Holo-addiction and Starfleet command gumming up the works feels like fake jeopardy. The Federation of TNG was far more open and compassionate than this, and wouldn’t stand in a talented officer’s way because of an eccentric communications style. So the story only works if you’re willing to accept that the Federation are dummies, which I’m not. Nice to see Reg, though.

One of various episodes where we never (or hardly ever) see the actual regulars, only their Holodeck recreations (or Demon-planet goo versions, or historical simulations etc.).

Reg’s cat is called Neelix which seems like a missed opportunity. Mewlix. Voyage-paw. Kat-thryn Janeway. Seven of Nine Lives. Catchokay. Purr-Lanna Torres. C’mon, people.

VOY S06E11 Fair Haven (). Yet more Holodeck hijinks bringing back unwelcome memories of both Sub Rosa and Up the Long Ladder as Tom Paris and friends swaps unconvincing Celtic clichés with the imaginary inhabitants of this St Patrick’s day hate crime. Robert Picardo elevates the thin material in his baffling but amusing guise as the local priest. Meanwhile, in space, the ship has to “weigh anchor” and ride out a technobabble. Suddenly, Paris’s parade of leprechauns and Guinness becomes everyone’s favourite off-duty destination. You know, because if your ship was being battered by an unpredictable wavefront, you’d obviously want as many key personnel as possible to be distracted by playing make-believe. To make matters worse, Janeway falls for one of these computer sprites, which turns our capable captain into a lovesick girl to no particular advantage, especially now they’re in contact with the Alpha Quadrant where her husband is waiting for her. Neelix appears not to know the difference between black pudding and haggis.

VOY S06E12 Blink of an Eye (). Voyager encounters a nifty-looking space doughnut which nobbles all of their propulsion systems and pretty soon they light up the night sky which the doughnut dwellers take as the arrival of a new god. Adding to the fun, time is passing much faster on the planet below, which means Voyager’s presence may influence generations. This is another trademark Brannon Braga big swing (although he doesn’t get a writing credit) with echoes of TNG stories like Thine Own Self, Who Watches the Watchers or even The Inner Light (not to mention the nearly identically-named TOS episode Wink of an Eye). Initially, the premise promises more than it delivers as the details of the development of the beliefs of the doughnuteers is woolly and patronising, and the rapid turnover means it’s hard to get to know anyone. Things become more interesting when they send down the Doctor and can’t get him back, and far more interesting when first contact is made and we get to spend more than a single scene with any one guest star (the excellent Daniel Dae Kim) – although it’s at this point that the writers start getting confused about the rules they’ve made up. I continue to be impressed by this production team’s enthusiasm for finding yet more and more novel ways of telling stories, but the execution isn’t always up to the concepts, and this is a fascinating near miss not an unassailable slam-dunk.

VOY S06E13 Virtuoso (). Voyager’s latest guests are sneering at the Federation tech in general and the Doctor in particular – until he starts singing to himself, whereupon they all lose their minds and their once closed system welcomes them in with open ears. Almost as silly as the TNG episode featuring people with no emotions, nothing about this makes sense, tests any of the regulars, or reveals any character flaws, and the parody of fan-culture feels mean-spirited coming from a still-struggling science fiction franchise show. What we’re left with is Robert Picardo Sings The Hits, which is moderately entertaining, but not what I’m looking for from my science fiction adventure show. Once again, the Doctor’s program can’t be duplicated for reasons which are not given. Whereas music is unknown to these people, it seems that every species across the entire universe goes through a stage of medicinal bloodletting. I wonder why?