Voyager, season 5

FOUR-STAR EPISODES: 3
AVERAGE EPISODE RATING: 3.0
-Night ***
Crossing a starless expanse, morale plunges, especially for a guilt-ridden janeway. Fortunately, exploited aliens show up! This morality tale about pollution and the evils of capitalism is a sweet, swirled mix of almost all the tastes that made for good VOYAGER...plus the debut of chaotica, paris's holodeck homage to '50s sci fi (in small doses, a delight).
-Drone ***
The doctor's mobile emitter is infected with nanoprobes. They assimilate a lab, and gestate a 29th-century drone. Janeway allows the fetus to mature, and gives seven the task of instructing it in humanity. A borg sphere is soon in pursuit. The drone ultimately destroys itself, when it realizes the threat its existence poses to Voyager...and seven feels searing emotional loss for the first time. A lovely turn by TREK's favorite nazi, j. paul boehmer (THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR, THE GOOD GERMAN).
-Extreme Risk ***
As the crew create a new shuttle, the Delta Flyer, b'elanna runs brutal holoprograms with the safeties off, treating her own unreported injuries...psychological fallout from the news of the slaughter of the maquis back home. A hard-hitting look at depression and self-annihilation, made more effective by diminishing tom's presence. The ending is too easy and feel-good, but if more of her episodes had delved in these waters, she could have been a four-star character.
-In the Flesh ****
-written by nick sagan
-directed by david livingston
Voyager discovers a species 8472 training ground - a replica of Starfleet HQ authentic right down to groundskeeper boothby (the inestimable ray walston - THE STING, PICKET FENCES). They're preparing for a preemptive attack on the Federation. Chakotay is captured while shmoozing one of them (kate vernon - GALACTICA, MALCOLM X). Janeway takes her finger off the trigger first, drops shields, and tentative peace talks ensue. Also among the aliens are the ever-enjoyable tucker smallwood (CONTACT, ENTERPRISE), and zach galligan (GREMLINS 1-2, PRINCE VALIANT). A captivating concoction of fear, menace, and curiosity.
-Once Upon a Time **
Scarlett pomers (ERIN BROCKOVICH, REBA) steps into the role of naomi wildman, in the first of seventeen episodes. With her mother part of a missing away mission, she wants to live inside a holoprogram. Godfather neelix hides the truth.Wallace langham (THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW, LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) stars as flotter. Conceived and executed well, but oh that neelix factor...
-Timeless ***
Kim and chakotay make it back to the alpha quadrant in the Delta Flyer, survivors of a slipstream disaster that destroys Voyager. Fifteen years later, they return to find the wreck of Voyager on an ice planet, and use a stolen borg temporal nodule to try to erase the disaster from time. Assisted by the reactivated doctor and chakotay's lover (christine harnos - DAZED AND CONFUSED, ER), they spend half the episode holding part of seven's skull. One star lost for harry acting like a simpering pissninny at the moment of truth, requiring the doc to step in like a stalwart sam hauling frodo to the abyss. Director levar burton makes a delightful cameo as captain laforge, of the galaxy-class starship Challenger.
-Infinite Regress ***
Exposure to virally-infected borg technology causes seven to manifest the personalities of those she'd helped assimilate, including a playful child and a klingon warrior who initiates a mating ritual with b'elanna. An acting tour de force...which jeri ryan was very nearly ready for.
-Nothing Human ***
When a wounded bug-like alien inextricably attaches to b'elanna and merges their life signs, a holographic exobiologist is created to help save her life. The hologram's knowledge is based on a cardassian (david clennon - BEING THERE, MISSING), whose research was based on torture. Ethical dilemmas abound...and don't blink, there goes Halley's Comet - a very good paris scene.
-Thirty Days ***
Paris is demoted and sentenced to solitary confinement, for disobeying orders in a prime directive-breaking attempt to help an alien (willie garson - GROUNDHOG DAY, SEX AND THE CITY) save his species' water world. It would have been a better choice to have the role of insubordination-instigator switched, but if you can get past the unlikelihood of 24th-century humans employing prisons, the story is tight and the visuals beautiful. And at long last, we thought we'd never see it, but your optical circuits are not malfunctioning...it's the delaney twins! Yup. Actual, for-real delaney twins. Captain proton, we have liftoff.
-Counterpoint ***
Passing through a sector intolerant of telepaths, Voyager smuggles its vulcans and some friendly refugees (including randy oglesby - ENTERPRISE, PALE RIDER). Janeway and the sector inspector (mark harelik - JURASSIC PARK III, THE BIG BANG THEORY) have a touching connection amid mutual mistrust. The "boy back home" is no longer waiting - can janeway finally get her kirk on? Well...no. A double standard monkey we still can't fling from our back? Kate mulgrew's favorite episode.
-Latent Image ***
The doctor discovers that a section of his memory has been erased, to save him from a feedback loop that arose when he was forced to choose one crew member's life over another. Seven argues against wiping his memory again, and janeway decides to let him try to work through the loop. My throat got lumped. Robert picardo's favorite episode.
-Bride of Chaotica! ***
While running the captain proton holoprogram, the ship comes into contact with photonic aliens, who think they're under attack by real beings. Too much chaotica (the second of three episodes for martin rayner - VICTOR VICTORIA, TALK RADIO)? Perhaps...but if you give in, it's a fun ride.
-Gravity ***
Tuvok, paris, and the doctor are stranded on a barren planet inside a gravity well, where time passes much more swiftly than on the outside. Survivors of other crashes are hostile, except for a lone woman (a masterful, poignant turn by lori petty - POINT BREAK, A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN) who falls for tuvok. Flashbacks take you into his turbulent youth, before he embraced logic with the aide of a vulcan master played by joe ruskin (PRIZZI'S HONOR, ALIAS), whose TREK career began in the classic. One feels such a powerful combination of admiration and remorse for tuvok...and indeed all vulcans. Exquisite, almost stunningly so.
-Bliss ***
The discovery of a wormhole to the alpha quadrant causes excitement and hope. Seven is skeptical, and discovers that the "wormhole" is a creature that uses telepathy to lure starships to their gastronomic doom. Naomi wildman is the only other one seemingly immune to the dreams of home now running rampant. The creature manipulates the crew into shutting down the doctor and detaining seven. Once swallowed, everyone is rendered unconscious except the child and the ex-drone (plot hole?), who join forces with a lone alien (a mesmerizing turn by william morgan sheppard - MAX HEADROOM, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND) who has dedicated thirty-nine years to the creature's destruction. The intricate, unexpected plot forces you to question everything - i myself thoroughly expected the alien to turn out to be an illusion as well. Brilliant.
-Dark Frontier 1&2 ***
Voyager raids a damaged borg ship, but seven is kidnapped. The queen (an unimpeachable substitute performance by susanna thompson - GHOSTS OF MISSISSIPPI, ONCE AND AGAIN) plans to use seven to understand humanity, without reassimilation. She is allowed to roam, and given assignments...including some frightening new assimilations. Flashbacks show us her childhood aboard her parents' ship. Janeway mounts a taut, adrenalized (albeit semi-plausible) rescue. Disturbing and claustrophobic.
-The Disease ***
Voyager comes to the aid of a race of space-faring xenophobes (led by charles rocket - SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE, MAX HEADROOM). Harry gets embroiled in forbidden romance with musetta vander (OH BROTHER WHERE ART THOU?, WILD WILD WEST), and flagrantly disobeys orders. If the director had better understood the body language of love, and the writer had better command of natural language, this one might have flirted with four stars.
-Course: Oblivion ***
A mysterious force is compromising the very fabric of Voyager. Except...it's not Voyager at all. The mystery is traced to the mimetic lifeforms from the demon planet, who fashioned a Voyager ship and crew copies who were unaware of their true nature. They set course for Earth, but nine months later are degrading. Perhaps the most heart-rending, horrific episode of the series, and in many ways a microcosm of the show itself - a group of travelers far from "home"...but the hope that pervades the parent show is leeched away until disaster envelops them. The show starts with a subtle giveaway - at the marriage of the fake tom and b'elanna, he hasn't received the demotion the real tom has. The ceremony is not for those with a weak stomach, but is redeemed by seven's deconstruction of the senselessness of monogamous marriage. Hard core sci fi. Watch with "Demon".
-The Fight *
There is one cinematic gem in this turd, a montage wherein the resident aliens "speak" using single words of dialogue from different characters, to make complex thoughts. But alas, ray walston's (POPEYE, PICKET FENCES) final TREK is wasted. As Voyager is trapped in a lethal, sensor-negating expanse, aliens tap into chakotay's subconscious. Boxing! Vision questing! The marriage of mumbo jumbo and brutality! Ah well, at least it's not "Turnabout Intruder"......or IS it?
-Think Tank ***
As relentless bounty hunters close in, Voyager is offered help from an advanced but morally dubious think tank (led by jason alexander[!] - SEINFELD, SHALLOW HAL). Their price? They want our goddamned seven! A rich offering greater than the sum of its parts, but still missing...something. Perhaps seven's searing smarts saving the day, instead of janeway? Wouldn't that better underscore the premise of the episode?
-Juggernaut ***
After tuvok gives b'elanna meditation lessons, she leads an away team with two disagreeable aliens, trying to halt a damaged freighter (with a resident boogeyman) which could irradiate an area five light years wide. B'elanna is rather brilliant, and not just because she's working her inner rambo...
-Someone to Watch Over Me ****
-written by michael taylor
-directed by robert duncan mcneill
The doctor gives seven romance lessons...and falls in love. Their fumblings are tender and charming. Brian macnamara (THE FLAMINGO KID, SHORT CIRCUIT) is utterly disarming as her first date. Scott thompson (KIDS IN THE HALL, THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW) and ian abercrombie (SEINFELD, ARMY OF DARKNESS) play uptight aliens looking to break loose. Robert picardo's brilliance is transcendent. He made a habit of being at the center of VOYAGER's best, and his effort here ranks as one of the greatest TREK performances ever. A hologram renders feelings of longing and alienation more sweetly and painfully human than any of the people around him.
-11:59 **
Janeway tells the story of an ancestor who was pivotal in space exploration...or was she? Perhaps the most loosey goosey, meandering VOYAGER ever. Almost (but not quite) surreal - either badly written or intentionally offbeat. Mulgrew playing janeway's ancestor works...the only thing that doesn't is the romantic chemistry between her and the always understatedly-delightful kevin tighe (EMERGENCY!, MUMFORD). A shame, as their non-romantic chemistry is lovely.
-Relativity ***
How often does a television program prompt actual applause? The action jumps back and forth between different eras of Voyager and the future timeship Relativity, under captain braxton (bruce mcgill - ANIMAL HOUSE, SHALLOW HAL)...the same braxton from "Future's End". He recruits seven to travel five years back to pre-launch dry dock, and then two years back during a kazon attack, in order to stop a saboteur...who turns out to be braxton himself, trying to negate the effect Voyager had on his health and career. His exec (jay karnes - THE SHIELD, V) has wonderful presence. Exciting, funny...brilliant.
-Warhead ***
An alien missile with AI links with the EMH, and the crew is SOL.
-Equinox, pt. 1 ****
-written by brannon braga, joe menosky
-directed by david livingston
A ripper! Voyager discovers a Starfleet vessel which was also pulled into the delta quadrant. The slower, smaller vessel, captained by the grim john savage (HAIR, THE DEER HUNTER) has had a darker, more desperate journey, and is almost destroyed by the aliens they've been murdering and exploiting. The writers deftly thread a needle, in making Equinox's tale credible. Olivia birkeland (FAR FROM HEAVEN, THE BONE COLLECTOR) shines as a traumatized crewmember. Titus welliver (NYPD BLUE, DEADWOOD) is rock-solid as b'elanna's old Academy mate. Rick worthy (ENTERPRISE, HEROES) is impeccable. A grateful reunion sours as the truth comes to light.