| |
Years ago, during the 45th anniversary of Star Trek issue I did a fairly massive top ten column. Only lots of fans complained that I left three Star Trek series off the list. Now, I freely admitted I hadn't finished watching Enterprise and that I might get around to it someday. The other two,well I had to fill the rest of the column somehow so I decided to let Voyager and Star Trek: The Animated Series tag along.
We'll start with what is (for me anyway) the most painful of the series- Star Trek : Voyager. Some of these episodes are actually quite good. Though good Voyager is still not as good as 80% of Deep Space Nine. Though I admit there are some Voyager episodes that are better than DS9's worst episode 'Heart of Stone'.
-
Threshold: I know what people will think when they see this episode placed ahead of episodes like Touvix or even The Haunting of Deck 12. 'Are you out of your Vulcan mind?' No. To me- this episode takes every element of Star Trek: Voyager purifies it and distills it. It is 200 proof Star Trek: Voyager. The science- even by Star Trek's loose standards- is ludicrous. The plot- if you can even call it that- is gibberish. The end is designed simply to make you say 'what the @^(& was that?' Basically-Tom Paris pilots the first to travel warp ten on the Jefferies scale. (There is also the Cochran scale which is really a retcon made by Mike Okuda to explain the Enterprise breaking Warp 13 in TOS.). Paris starts mutating into a slug creature. Desperate to survive he steals the shuttle and tries to find a planet he can live on that won't kill him. He abducts Janeway. They both mutate. They find their planet and the make sweet slugperson love to each other. They spawn an entire race of slugs. The crew finds them and changes them back to normal not bothering to turn all their thousands of children and possibly even grandchildren human. Then there is an implication that while Paris may have abducted Janeway, it's all supposed to be okay: she was probably the one who forced herself on him. What the @^(&?
-
Endgame: Ah yes, Voyager's finale episode. I had a party with friends for the first episode of the series because it looked like it could have been really cool though inevitably it wasn't. I had a party for the finale because the national nightmare was finally over. In fact I gave a speech that night that sums up my feelings not only on the episode itself, but on Voyager in general. Ahem: 'Friends, Romans, Talaxians, lend me your ears. We gather to bury Janeway- not to praise her.' Other than that moment where Voyager gets home- not a dream, hoax, alternate future, Q created illusion etc. the episode is fairly forgettable.
-
Equinox: At its best Star Trek does morality tales with lots of Science Fiction elements. This one is your classic 'Do the ends justify the means?' story. Since the beginning of the series we knew other ships had been brought from the Alpha Quadrant into the Delta Quadrant. What we didn't know was if any of them actually survived. We didn't know that there was another Federation ship alive and well wandering around in that part of space. Whereas Voyager had acted morally (give or take getting involved in a planetary civil war or two) the Equinox crew used the life force of an alien race to power their more advanced warp drives. While far from Voyager's first episode to deal with serious violations of the Prime Directive it is probably its best. It could have done without the Torres long lost boyfriend subplot but you can't win them all.
-
Year of Hell: Voyager did far too many time travel stories and most of them were self deleting paradoxes. For the most part those really suck. The writer's know they've written themselves into a hole and don't really have a way out so blam- the time travel cure all. Yes- that they wound up there is made worse because it was a two parter. Again- the characters are put through hell for over a year- hence the title and then magically undo it feels really kind of cheap. The story itself was cool save for that. You know what would have made this one truly amazing? Running through the Year of Hell, (something hinted at in another self-deleting paradox episode) and actually letting it ride. Letting Voyager come out of it a nearly inert hunk of junk with a crew of 75 of the original crew and a bunch of refugees.
-
Non Sequitur: This is another one of those weird time travel/alternate universe episodes that kind of sort of delete themselves. The plot was somewhat inevitable so it is good they got it out of the way early: Harry Kim wakes up on Earth with no explanation. Nobody knows anything about Voyager or it being lost. Eventually- he finds out many of his friends still exist in whatever type of world he's in. Then of course there is the sheer irony that with the help of the alternate versions of his friends he actually tries to escape the world that is exactly like what he wants it to be in order to go back to Voyager.
-
Timeless: This episode has both things in it that bode bad Voyager episodes. The writers include a cameo by Geordi LaForge- so they are no longer disguising the fact that they'd rather be writing new episodes of Next Generation just as much as the audience would rather be watching one. Secondly, it is yet another self deleting paradox. On the other hand control of the plot is entirely in the hands of Seven of Nine or The Doctor and it has the added bonus of the audience getting to see everyone but Chakotay and Kim die. Somehow this episode- with a plot we've all seen a zillion times in Star Trek and twice on Voyager alone and made it work. Partly because you actually buy the idea that Chakotay and Kim would do this- which in main Star Trek time travel stories you just don't.
-
Inside Man: Who is the most suave, sophisticated hologram who has now found himself in the Delta Quadrant? If you guessed The Doctor you're wrong. It's a duplicate of Reg Barclay. That's right.. TNG's shy, hypochondriac with no social skills whatsoever. He made a holographic duplicate of himself to help Voyager with some new experiments to help speed up their journey. Unfortunately, somebody hijacked it which leads to some rather amusing interaction between faux Barclay and the rest of the crew. Meanwhile, real Barclay is in trouble with Starfleet command as they try to discover what happened. With Deanna Troi's help he manages to find the answers. Some of which are rather upsetting. Plus- back as villains for the first time in a good long while are The Ferengi.
-
Pathfinder: Most of the time that Voyager writers do the 'I Wish We Were Still Making TNG' thing I gag. It's why I didn't include any of the Q episodes (as amusing as they are) on this list. They're good but they don't quite click. Reg Barclay on the other hand is a whole other story. The whole idea that after his brief work on the EMH project he would obsess about the fate of the first ship to carry one is absolutely believable. Would this have made a much better TNG episode? Maybe but it doesn't matter. Barclay and Troi steal the episode from the Voyager cast anyway. The Voyager crew are Reg's sidekicks for a week and maybe they should have stayed that way. Another realistic element was Barclay's relapse. Real addicts do this all the time. Seeing him back on the holodeck again- some might say his natural environment- was entertaining. Only this time it actually helped solve the problem rather than being the problem.
-
Tenor, Tinker, Doctor, Spy: The Doctor experiments with daydreaming. Meanwhile a group of Aliens Pirates are trying to spy on Voyagers data to find out if they have any technology or data worth stealing. They are able to do so- but ending up only tapping into The Doctor's fantasies giving them a really weird view of the ship and crew. The Doctor's daydreams are quite funny. Saving Tuvok's life with the power of opera. Creating an unbelievably powerfully photon canon that melts through Borg ships like butter. Plus, he gets into a love rhombus with Seven of Nine, Torres and Janeway. Not only that- only one of the aliens who knows they are viewing fantasy is on their side. The Doctor ultimately saves the ship using a very James T. Kirk style maneuver.
-
Future's End: Finally, a time travel episode that is not a self deleting paradox. Well, not entirely. This one happens but it doesn't. Rain Robinson (Tom Paris's love interest for the episode) remembers it in late 20th century Earth. The Voyager crew remembers it. (Otherwise The Doctor wouldn't have gotten his mobile emitter.) No one else does. So basically- if you aren't the bad guys of the story and you're a character the audience is supposed to care about then it happened. Otherwise no. The paradox is a head twister but it works. The number of paradoxes should have made it one big cluster@^(&. It still sort of is- but a cluster@^(& held together with the chemistry between Robert Duncan McNeil (Tom Paris) and Sarah Silverman (Rain Robinson).
And now for Star Trek: The Animated Series. This series is really weird. Most of the episodes done by writers from TOS are really good. Most of the episodes written by Filmations's staff writers seemed like they were done by people who had never watched Star Trek and were using Gold Key Star Trek comics as their template. The episodes done by freelancers varied from the unwatchable (Walter Koenig's 'The Infinite Vulcan' to the absolutely fantastic like one at least two of the episodes on the list below.
-
The Pirates of Orion: Spock becomes ill with a disease that is easily fatal to Vulcans but more of a minor nuisance to most humanoids. Once McCoy finds out why, it turns out he doesn't have the medicine he needs. The closest supply far enough away that Spock will die before they can get to some. So they have a supply ship meet them half way. Not much of a story with such a simple solution, right? Wrong. The ship gets intercepted by The Orions. While Orion women are famed for their hypnotic dancing, many male Orions are interplanetary pirates or gangsters. Only for some reason they also have sort of a really warped honor code. Anyway- Kirk is forced into a battle of wits with the Orions. One where if he wins, he can save Spock's life but if he loses the Enterprise and the lives of everyone onboard will be lost.
-
Bem: This episode has a lot going for it. David Gerrold clearly had some great concepts here. The idea that there might be a situation where being prejudiced might be logical is somewhat disturbing, which makes it the perfect ground for Star Trek to explore. The idea of an alien who splits into several suborganisms is, to quote Spock on this, 'fascinating'. It is not surprising that Bem's people were integrated into the novels universe as soon as Paramount's ban on races from the Animated Series was lifted because there are so many more stories that could be told about them. Again- it suffers in the last act as they do the 'and there they found God(s)' ending which is somewhere Star Trek has gone many, many times before even back when this episode was produced- most predominantly in 'Who Mourns Adonis?' and 'The Apple'.
-
Albatross: I've made no secret of this but one of my favorite characters on Star Trek: The Original Series is Dr. Leonard McCoy. Unlike most of the rest the crew he's never portrayed as perfect nor does he try to flee his imperfections. Most of the time, he revels in them. He's is a doctor. The fact that they never told a story about a patient (or planet full of patients) that he failed until now is a little strange. Unfortunately- the price for his failure on this planet is a death sentence. Kirk and Spock, being Kirk and Spock, want to help their friend. Yes, McCoy is Spock's friend even if he will never admit it. While they may have their arguments- which have amused audiences for over 45 years- there is no animosity behind it. They both clearly benefit from it. This is one of those episodes that proves there is more to their dynamic than just petty squabbling.
-
The Slaver Weapon: It's an old TOS trick to have famous science fiction writers come in and adapt their work into Star Trek episodes. During Star Trek: The Original Series both Robert Bloch and Theodore Sturgeon had done this. Now for the animated series it was Larry Niven's turn. However he went that extra step of lending not only his plot and scripting talents but even the rights to his aliens as well. The result is an action packed yet somewhat funny episode. The best part is it is a rare story that does not feature Captain Kirk in a starring role. It's an adventure where the key players are Spock, Sulu and Uhura. The latter of which rarely gets to go on away missions and it is even more rare to see her actually contributing anything to the plot. The only problem is the color of some of the Kzinti ships and clothing made it seem like Filmation's color coordinator was color blind. Oh wait, he was. I'm not joking about this. He actually was. They talk about it left and right on the DVD commentaries.
-
Once Upon a Planet: Shore Leave was a very surreal episode of the Original series. It is no surprise that that sequel would be very similar. Only now the planet's computer has no Caretaker. It is left to run on its own. It has a very warped view of the human and machine dynamic. It attempts to free the Enterprise from what it perceives as slavery. Much like any sheltered child, the planetary computer wants to see the world. So its motives for 'freeing' the ship from bondage are not completely selfless. However- after some really weird and classic Star Trek like antics Kirk does manage to save the day. I won't give away the ending. Just that it is one of the TAS moments where Kirk comes off as his most Kirk like.
-
Mudd's Passion: Okay- in some ways this is a remake of Mudd's Women only this time the love potion affects both men and women. Then it gets air born. Things get incredibly wacky which is what a Mudd story should do. In what is probably a first for Saturday morning television there is an implied cat on man sex scene. Under the effects of this catnip for humanoids, Scotty and M'Ress spouting suggestive dialogue at each other, they walk off screen and then that music TOS used whenever Kirk spent time alone with the woman of the week began to play. An unknown time later they are back on the bridge with a hangover. It would go right over the head of the kids watching but the series supposedly had as many college aged Star Trek fans watching as children so they knew exactly what was going on. Plus, say what you will about Filmations budget for animation they didn't cut funding on the voice talent budget. On top of getting most of the original cast they went the extra step to get Roger C. Carmel to provide the voice of Harry Mudd. That might seem common place for shows these days but back in the 70s it wasn't as common. Especially for the animation studio you hired when Hanna Barbera had more important things to do.
-
The Survivor: A problem Star Trek : The Animated Series had is that each member of the original cast signed to do a different number of episodes per year. This lead to the creation of M'Ress (to fill in for Uhura on some episodes) and Arex (to fill in for Sulu or Chekov depending on the episode). However all that can almost be forgiven when those same rules make them throw the spotlight on some of the background characters. To build a quarter of an episode on the red shirt of the week- especially on an animated series where some of the younger viewers must be expecting Kirk, Spock and McCoy- is kind of a ballsy move especially when the plot could have easily been given to Nurse Chapel or Uhura. Though I guess using Chapel would just be a little too similar to 'What Are Little Girls Made of?'
-
Beyond the Farthest Star: This episode has a lot of things going for it. The Enterprise is going where it has never been before- check. Ethical situation addressed. Check Promoting greater tolerance of other beings. Check. Yep. All the ingredients of Star Trek: The Original series. While it is not quite as good as some of the episodes even a week down the line it is obvious the writers knew what they wanted to do almost right out of the gate and wanted to hit the first few episodes out of the park. Save for one or two goofy elements which were inserted to make it easier to animate make this episode slightly clunky but nothing too aggravating. Like many of the good TAS episodes it could easily have been expanded to fill 44 minutes.
-
More Tribbles, More Troubles: Now, Trouble with Tribbles is one of my favorite original series episodes. So is the more sarcastic Deep Space Nine sequel. However this animated episode is much closer to the spirit of the original. It shouldn't be surprising since it was written by David Gerrold. Yes, there are a lot of jokes that really rely on having seen the original episode. The script, thankfully, betrays its origin as a proposal for an episode of TOS killed after Gene Roddenberry left the series to protest moving Star Trek to a later timeslot. There are one or two cringe inducing moments- every animated episode has them- but if you love Star Trek it is one of two animated episodes you really must see.
-
Yesteryear: Okay- this episode has an edge over a lot of the Animated series. First, like the previous entry on the list it was originally conceived for The Original series but was deemed too expensive. Secondly- they didn't hand the plot out to some second string writer. It was written by former TOS story editor (and TAS Associate Producer and Head Writer) D.C. Fontana. The result is one of the most poignant stories about Spock and his duel nature ever produced. Yes, it does borrow a beat or two from Old Yeller but it still packs a punch. A story like this couldn't have gotten told in animation even a few short years later. It is not surprising that this episode was eventually (minus a background alien or two) was made more or less canon. It was reference on Star Trek: The Next Generation. Nearly indentical Sehlat's are seen on Enterprise.
|