Plot – Voyager versus robots? That’s a hokey premise from the start but Voyager versus evil robots who hate humanity…that’s venturing into some serious b movie territory. Unfortunately this is still Star Trek and so it refuses to tip over into pure pantomime (look at when they did it for real in Bride of Chaotica!) and thus it gets caught between ‘Voyager Against The Evil Robots’ (which would have made a much better title) and Torres gives birth to a technological marvel. How Frakes rescues a watchable episode from this hybrid is a mystery.
Torres must be blind not to realise that the robot – one who has asked her to help in propagating its species – is going to kidnap her. It’s screamingly obvious to the audience and plays out in a predictably bland fashion. Even worse is the twist that the robots turned against the people that made them. Because that turn of events has never happened in science fiction before.
Character – I liked the banter between Harry and B’lanna. Since that is something that was highlighted in the first episode (she insisted on calling him Starfleet then) and it is nice to see how they have softened towards each other since then. Plus, a Neelix scene where he gets to be caring and sweet without making me want to slit my throat? Will wonders never cease?
Performance – God bless Roxan Dawson who drives this episode as though it is high art she is bringing to life rather than a hokey Trek robot episode. I particularly love how driven she is in the first fifteen minutes to keep this machine alive and her glorious Dr Frankenstein moment when it comes to life. You can understand why Dawson had doubts about making this episode work and yet it is thanks to her sheer enthusiasm that I was anchored through. At one point she manages to say ‘My God what have I done?’ with a straight face.
Production – This was the midway point of season two of Voyager, just after the point where it is clear that the writers and producers and directors all realised that the show they have been putting out isn’t the most dynamic of Trek incarnations and decide to step up their game in its execution, performances and scripts. Maneuvers is where things started to turn around and Prototype had obviously already been in the wings when the kick up the ass had been initiated. Had this been a season one episode it probably would have been loathsome but thanks to a sympathetic director and a bravura performance from Roxan Dawson they salvage and add depth to what is essentially a very weak script.
The teaser, told completely from the point of view of the robot reactivating, is especially well done. I love the opening shots of it drifting through space and heading towards Voyager. The final shots of it closing in on the monitor and seeing itself lying there, helpless, gave us all the information we needed.
Being brought up on Doctor Who and Blakes’ 7 as I was, I cannot see anything particularly ropey about the design of the automated units. They are a little clunky but thanks to some especially embarrassing robot designs in the seventies and eighties these have a sleekness and functionality to them that I can admire. In terms of modern day design they look as if they were designed in the dark ages and we should probably chalk up their cast iron faces as a deficiency on the part of the builders who perhaps did not want to imbue them with too much individuality.
Why do Janeway and Torres whisper their way through the last scene as though they are on a date?
Best moment – Tying with my worst moment because I really didn’t enjoy all the pointless technobabble this episode threw at me but how glorious that it is brilliant, bold, competent scientific women who are speaking it all. Voyager still deserves massive praise for pushing so many female characters into scientific roles and presenting that as the most normal thing in the world. We’re still not there yet in this world and so to be doing so in the mid-nineties is extremely commendable. I have heard of women watching this show not because they are Star Trek fans but just because it had so many powerful roles for women. It shouldn’t have been (because it should simply always be the norm) but it was pretty revolutionary in that regard.
Worst moment – The agonising amount of technobabble that flows through this episode like Blackpool through a stick of rock. I was nodding along with the characters who sound so confident with what they are saying scientifically and yet half the time I had no real clue what they were talking about. At least the Doctor takes the piss at just how twisted all the technical gobbledegook gets (‘that’s exactly what I was going to suggest’ he says glibly on the back of Torres’ incomprehensible technical flow).
I wish they hadn’t done that – ‘This is a ship of exploration, Mr Tuvok’ says Janeway, who was in a position to avoid all of the nonsense that occurs in this episode if she had turned her scientific curiosity off for a second and let her sense of welfare for the crew kick in. ‘Who are we to swoop in, play God and then continue on our way without the slightest consideration of the long-term effects of our actions?’ A great point Janeway, and one that you ignore every other week on the long voyage home depending on where the writers need you to be morally.
It’s another in a long line of episodes that makes you think what if this had been the end of the road for this ship and how humiliating that would be. They present the action as being dangerous…so imagine if it was the automated units that cause the downfall of Voyager? The fact that the writers take the time to give the backstory a little substance makes you believe that these robots and their war might be a running theme on Voyager but we warp away at the end of the episode never to see or hear from them again.
Voyager would often tip its hat to TNG and I found the mention of Data a little on the nose because he’s the character that every Trek series that followed TNG wishes that they had on board. Torres talks about him as though she knows him intimately, which is not the case.
A reason to watch this episode again – This is the epitome of a safe episode of Star Trek. Robots, a civil war, a lesson in betrayal, a space fight and a lesson learnt for one of the crew. It’s almost too predictable to watch play out. Despite that, I found this highly engaging because of the efforts of Roxan Dawson (an actress who would be denied so many opportunities once this becomes the Seven of Nine show) and Jonathan Frakes (who is determined that this potboiler is going to have as much directorial zing as possible). Ultimately this boils down to the story, which holds very few surprises and in one case could hold up a sign saying ‘plot twist imminent’ it is so obvious that the robots revolted against their masters. It makes the Voyager crew, especially the brainy scientific types (and Tuvok) particularly blind to miss it. There’s some intelligent discussion in here but it was always bolted onto a hokey b-movie plot and no amount of cute character work and inventive direction can disguise that.
*** out of *****
Clue for tomorrow's episode:
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