Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Six (1999-2000)

 

Below is a list of my favorite episodes from Season Six of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway:

FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON SIX (1999-2000)



1. (6.10) "Pathfinder" - Back on Earth, former Enterprise officer, Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, uses holograms to formulate a program that would enable Starfleet to communicate with the Voyager crew in the Delta Quadrant. Dwight Schultz, Marina Sirtis, Richard Herd and Richard McGonagle guest starred.





2. (6.14) "Memorial" - Following their return from an Away mission, four of Voyager's senior staff membrs start dreaming about of a species they have never seen before, engaged in a gruesome battle on an unknown planet. Lindsey Ginter and Scarlett Pommer guest starred.





3. (6.04) "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" - An alien race, sizing up Voyager for a raid, taps into The Doctor's cognitive subroutines to make him their spy, unaware they are watching his new daydreaming program. Jay Leggett and Googy Gress guest starred.





4. (6.19) "Child's Play" - When the home world and parents of former Borg child Icheb are located, Seven of Nine has suspicions of their tale about Icheb's original assimilation by the Borg. Manu Intiraymi, Tracey Ellis, Scarlett Pommer and Mark Sheppard guest starred.





5. (6.05) "Alice" - Voyager acquires an alien space shuttle with a possessiveness artificial intelligence that jealously bonds with Tom Paris. Claire Rankin and Jon Fleck guest starred.





HM: (6.21) "Live Fast And Prosper" - A trio of con artists impersonate the Voyager crew and give the latter and the Federation a bad reputation. Kaitlin Hopkins, Gregg Daniel and Francis Guinan guest starred.

Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Five (1998-1999)

 

Below is a list of my favorite episodes from Season Five of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway:



FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON FIVE (1998-1999)



1. (5.12) "Bride of Chaotica!" - The U.S.S. Voyager crew encounters photonic life forms that mistake warmongering characters in Tom Paris' 1930s serial holodeck program, "Captain Proton", as real. Martin Rayner and Nicholas Worth guest-starred.






2. (5.06) "Timeless" - A miscalculation by Ensign Harry Kim causes a fatal crash during Voyager's first test with slipstream travel. Fifteen years later in the future, survivors Kim, Commander Chakotay and The Doctor attempt to send a message back in time to prevent the tragedy. Christine Harnos and LeVar Burton, who also directed, guest-starred.






3. (5.15-5.16) "Dark Frontier" - While the Voyager crew plots the heist of a transwarp coil from a disabled Borg cube; ex-Borg drone Seven-of-Nine receives a communique from the Borg Queen, who wants to lure the former drone back into the Collective. Susanna Thompson guest-starred.






4. (5.09) "Thirty Days" - In a letter to his father, Chief Helmsman Tom Paris tells the story of the events leading up to his demotion to Ensign and sentence of thirty days in Voyager's brig. Willie Garson guest-starred.






5. (5.26) "Equinox - Part I" - Voyager's crew discovers the U.S.S. Equinox, another Federation starship stranded in the Delta Quadrant that had a rougher journey in the Delta Quadrant. Captain Janeway and her crew are unaware of the other crew harboring a dark secret. John Savage, Titus Welliver, Rick Worthy and Olivia Birkelund guest-starred.






Honorable Mention: (5.22) "Someone to Watch Over Me" - When the Doctor decides to help Seven-of-Nine learn about social and romantic rituals, he is drawn into a bet with Paris on how she will behave during a diplomatic reception for a visiting alien. Scott Thompson and Brian McNamara guest-starred.

Five Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Four (1997-1998)

 

Below is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season Four of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway:

FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON FOUR (1997-1998)



1. (4.07) "Scientific Method" - When a string of bizarre illnesses afflicts Voyager's crew, the Doctor, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and new crewman Seven-of-Nine uncover a team of alien researchers existing out of phase and performing medical experiments on the crew. Rosemary Forsyth and Annette Helde guest starred.

2. (4.16) "Prey" - The crew of Voyager come to the aid of a wounded Hirogen before discovering that his hunting prey, a lost member of Species 8472, has boarded the ship. Tony Todd guest starred.

3. (4.14) "Message in a Bottle" - Using an abandoned Hirogen communications net, Voyager sends their Chief Medical Officer, the Doctor, to a Federation ship in the Alpha Quadrant, where he discovers has been taken over by Romulans. Andy Dick and Judson Scott guest starred.

4. (4.18-4.19) "The Killing Game" - When Voyager is captured by the Hirogens, it is transformed into a massive holodeck, so that the Hirogens can hunt members of the crew who have been fitted with new identities in various scenarios based upon Federation history. Danny Goldring, J. Paul Boehmer and Mark Metcalf guest starred.

5. (4.23) "Living Witness" - The Doctor's backup program awakens in the museum of an alien culture seven hundred years in the future, where Voyager is thought to have been a passing warship full of cold-blooded killers in which the latter interfered in a war between the planet's two ethnic groups. Henry Woronicz guest starred.

Honorable Mention: (4.08-4.09) "Year of Hell" - Voyager comes across a Krenim timeship that is wiping whole species from existence in order to change the existing timeline. Kurtwood Smith and Peter Marx guest starred.

Excessive Criticism of “STAR TREK VOYAGER”

EXCESSIVE CRITICISM OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER"

For the past two decades, I have never encountered so much criticism of one particular Star Trek show than I have for the 1995-2001 series, "STAR TREK VOYAGER". 

Ironically, I used to buy this negative opinion. Or accept it. One of the reasons I had ignored "STAR TREK VOYAGER" for so many years, because I had assumed that those fans who had deemed it inferior to the other shows in the franchise were right. When my sister found out that the rest of our family was ignoring the show, she fervently suggested that we watch it. This happened when the early Season Five episodes were going through its first run. Well, we did. We watched some of those early Season Five shows. We also watched the previous episodes from Season One to Season Four that were currently in syndication. And guess what? My family became fans of the show.

I am not going to claim that "VOYAGER" was perfect. Yes, it had its flaws. I have even posted a few articles about some of the flaws I had encountered. But I was also able to pick out both major and minor flaws in the other Trek shows at the time - "STAR TREK", "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION", and "STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE" - while still enjoying them. I never really became a big fan of "STAR TREK ENTERPRISE", but there were a good number of episodes that I really enjoyed. 

This fervent need to nitpick everything about "STAR TREK VOYAGER" in order to deem it as some kind of pop culture disaster is mind boggling to me. Every time I access an article on the Internet - especially on a Trek message board - about series, the criticism seemed to strike me as unnecessarily excessive . . . and constant. And most of the complaints I have come across are either about some ridiculously minor flaw or how Janeway was a terrible star ship captain. I do not understand this opinion. Janeway made her mistakes. So did the other Trek captains. What made her worse than the others? Her gender? Star Trek shows were not allowed to have women as the leads, or even worse, in the command position? 

More importantly, these same fans seem very reluctant to point out the flaws - both minor and major - about the other Trek shows. At least not to this extreme degree. What is going on? If you are going to state that "VOYAGER" was simply the worst show in the Trek franchise, do not expect me to buy this opinion anymore. After seeing the show and the others in the franchise, I really have great difficulty in accepting this view. So what is it? What is the real truth? I guess in the end, these are questions that no one can really answer. After all, art and entertainment are subjective.

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (5.06) "Timeless"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (5.06) "Timeless"

The 100th episode of any television series is usually regarded with special interest - especially by television critics. Not all TV series go out of their way to write a special episode for that particular landmark. But many do. The producers of"STAR TREK VOYAGER", Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, along with screenwriter Joe Menosky, went out of their way to write a special story celebrating the series' 100th episode called (5.06) "Timeless". 

The last time I watched "Timeless", it occurred to me that it reminded me of a movie filmed over a decade ago called"FREQUENCY". Both the television episode and the movie featured time travel. Yet, in both, no character participated in any real time travel. In "FREQUENCY", radio frequencies enabled an adult man in 1999 communicate with his father, living in 1969. The writers of "Timeless", which aired nearly two years earlier, utilized Seven-of-Nine's personal Borg components (her interplexing beacon and chronometric node), and a stolen Borg temporal transmitter and later, the holographic Doctor's mobile emitter; to allow an older Harry Kim to communicate with the U.S.S. Voyager crew, 15 years into the past. How did this all begin?

Back in 2375 - early Season Five - Voyager's crew created their own Quantum slipstream drive in order to finally return to the Alpha Quadrant and home. While the crew celebrates, Chief Helmsman Tom Paris informs his friend, Operations Chief Harry Kim that the device might prove to be disastrous, due to a 0.42 phase variance in the drive's system; which could create hull breaches for Voyager and knock it out of the slipstream in mid-flight. To save the project, Harry suggests that two crewmen in a shuttle could "ride the rapids in front of Voyager" and map the slipstream threshold as it forms and transmit phase corrections back to Voyager. The corrections would compensate for the phase variance, preventing a catastrophic collapse of the slipstream. Captain Kathryn Janeway, desperate to get home, agrees to the risky proposal. Harry and Commander Chakotay travel in the newly built Delta Flyer to map out a flight path for Voyager. After Seven-of-Nine reports a phrase variance, Harry quickly calculates the corrections and transmits them back to Voyager. Unfortunately, the correction proves to be the wrong one and Voyager gets knocked out of the slipstream and crashes on an icy Class-L planet with all hands dead. Meanwhile, Harry and Chakotay continue traveling in the slipstream, until they reach the Alpha Quadrant and Earth.

Fifteen years later, both men, haunted by Voyager's destruction and their survival, eventually resign from Starfleet. Harry has discovered what he believes is the right phrase variance to save Voyager. When Starfleet discovers a Borg transmitter, the former ensign and former First Officer Chakotay steal it. With the help of Chakotay's girlfriend Tessa Omond, the pair travel to the sector where Voyager crashed, board the ship, activate the EHM and take Seven-of-Nine's frozen corpse to their ship. Harry and Chakotay asks the Doctor to remove Seven's interplexing beacon and chronometric node, so they could use the objects and a Borg transmitter to send the correct phrase variables to the former Borg fifteen years into the past.

When Brannon Braga first pitched the episode to cast member Garrett Wang, he stated that he wanted "Timeless" to be the show's TOS - (1.28) "The City on the Edge of Forever". Did he and Rick Berman succeed? I think so. If I must be honest, I consider "Timeless" to not only be one of the best "STAR TREK VOYAGER" episodes I have seen, but also one of the best that the entire TREK franchise has offered. Although it is not the only production that has used communication as a means of time travel, it is the first I have come across. If there has been another television episode or movie that has used communication, instead of physical time travel, I would like to know. But this aspect of time travel is not the only reason I find "Timeless" first-rate. This is a beautiful, bittersweet tale filled with desperate hope, tension, close calls, disappointments and remorse over past mistakes. 

Although characters like Chakotay, the Doctor, Captain Janeway, Tom Paris and Tessa Omond played major roles in this tale, "Timeless" really belongs to the character of Harry Kim. In an article I had written a few years ago, I stated that Harry's conservative nature led him to behave in a by-the-book manner, until his emotions drove him to rock the boat. I was being kind. Harry has a nature that is so conservative and by-the-book that when things go wrong, he tends to have a breakdown . . . a fit. I have seen this happened not only in "Timeless", but in a few other episodes as well. In this episode, Harry's "fit" eventually morphed into a bitter, sardonic and obsessive personality. In the 2375 scenes, I could not tell who was more obsessed about returning to the Alpha Quadrant - him or Captain Janeway. And in the 2390 scenes, his obsessive personality - mingled with some bittersweet self-flagellation - focused on his efforts to correct his earlier mistake.

It was easy to see what drove Harry to change the timeline and save Voyager. I had a little more difficulty in figuring out what drove Chakotay to do the same. What drove him to resign from Starfleet and make himself a fugitive from Federation law by stealing a Borg transmitter and the Delta Flyer? It was easy to see that despite a new life with a loving girlfriend by his side, Chakotay could not recover from Voyager's destruction any more than Harry could. Being a more subtle man, he did not wear his despair and guilt on his sleeve. His tour of Voyager's frozen Bridge and especially his reaction to the sight of a dead Kathryn Janeway made it painfully obvious that he remained haunted by the ship's destruction, his initial reluctance over Harry's plan to use the Delta Flyer as Voyager's guide through the slipstream, and especially his captain's death. Even girlfriend Tessa pointed out that his heart has always been more focused on Voyager than on her.

"Timeless" featured some first-class performances. Although most of the cast gave their usual competent performances, there were some that stood out for me. Kate Mulgrew did an excellent job in conveying Captain Janeway's willingness and near desperation to use a questionable plan for Voyager's trip through the slipstream. Robert Duncan McNeill gave a subtle performance as a more serious Tom Paris, who harbored doubts about the effectiveness of the Quantum slipstream drive constructed by the crew. Robert Picardo proved to be the episode's backbone as the holographic Doctor who was not only amazed to find himself online some fifteen years in the future, but also proved to be a voice of reason for the increasingly erratic Harry Kim. Christina Harnos gave a nice, solid performance as Chakotay's 2390 girlfriend, Tessa Omond. And LeVar Burton, who did such a marvelous job as director of this episode, also gave a nice, solid performance as Captain Geordi LaForge, the 2390 version of the "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATIONS" character, sent by Starfleet to stop Harry and Chakotay's attempt to change the timeline. However, the two performances that really shone above the others came from Garrett Wang and Robert Beltran. Wang gave one of the best performances of his career and during his time on "STAR TREK VOYAGER". He did an excellent job in portraying an older and bitter Harry Kim, who is not only guilt-ridden over Voyager's fate, but desperate to correct his mistake. Beltran was equally impressive in a less showy performance as a haunted Chakotay, who tried to move on with a new life and failed.

"Timeless" never made my list of top favorite episodes from the TREK franchise. However, it almost made the list. But I do believe that not only is it one of the best "STAR TREK VOYAGER" episodes ever made, but also one of the best from the entire franchise.

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (3.26-4.01) "Scorpion"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (3.26-4.01) "Scorpion"

After three seasons, the series "STAR TREK VOYAGER" entered into a new era with the two-part episode, (3.26-4.01) "Scorpion". In "Scorpion", the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager finally reaches Borg space after three seasons - an event that would serve as a turning point for the series.

Aired at the end of Season Three and the beginning of Season Four, "Scorpion" finds the Voyager entering Borg space. To the crew's surprise, they discover that the Borg is engaged in a major conflict with another alien race called Species 8472. An even more discovery awaits when Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew learn that the Borg is losing its war with Species 8472. But when the crew's Ocampa nurse, Kes, receives hostile telepathic messages from Species 8472 and when Operation Officer Ensign Harry Kim has an encounter with a member of Species 8472 that nearly costs him his life, Janeway decides that the only way for Voyager to survive this new conflict is to form an alliance with the Borg that would guarantee the ship's safe passage through Borg space.

Written by Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky, and directed by David Livingston ("Part I") and Winrich Kolbe ("Part II"); "Scorpion" turned out to be an excellent story that is regarded as the best two-part episode in the entire series by TREK fans. Personally, I do not share this particular opinion. But I must admit that it was first-rate. As I had stated earlier, "Scorpion" served as a turning point for "STAR TREK VOYAGER". First of all, the episode featured Voyager's first encounter with Species 8472. The episode - at least "Part II" introduced new crew member, Seven-of-Nine aka Annika Hansen. Consequences from Janeway's alliance with the Borg not only left her with a new crew member, but would end up having consequences in future episodes such as (4.16) "Prey", (4.26) "Hope and Fear", (5.04) "In the Flesh" and (5.15-5.16) "Dark Frontier".

The emotional consequences of "Scorpion" was also well-handled by the screenwriters and the directors. One thing, the episode revealed that aside from the "Q" Continuum, a race more powerful than the Borg existed in "TREK" universe. Many fans saw the weakening of the Borg in the following "VOYAGER" episodes as something to mourn. I found this opinion amazing, considering that an episode highly popular with the fans, would prove to provide the first real sign of weakness with in the Borg. I had no problem with the gradual weakening of the Borg. If the Borg had remained the near unbeatable nemesis first introduced in "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION", their story arc would have remained stuck in perpetual stagnation. And it only seemed proper that the Borg's gradual decline would occur on "VOYAGER", considering that the series was set in the Delta Quadrant, their base of operation. There were other aspects of "Scorpion" that I found admirable - namely Jeffrey Baxter and Dick Brownfield's special effects, along with Marvin V. Rush's cinematography that greatly enhanced the sequences featuring the Borg's confrontations with Species 8472.

"Scorpion" also revealed that the Janeway/Chakotay command team had yet to be fully been realized by the end of Season Three. When I first saw this episode, it amazed me that the Captain and her First Officer had failed to perfect a command style after three years in the Delta Quadrant. Now I realized that I should not have been surprised. Janeway and Chakotay spent the first two seasons trying to merge the Starfleet and Maquis factions of the ship's crew. Once the two factions learned to regard themselves as one crew, both Janeway and Chakotay spent all of Season Three congratulating themselves for achieving this fusion and ignoring the fact that they had yet learned to create a stable command team. They only had one misstep during Season Three - namely Chakotay's experiences with a colony of former Borg drones in (3.17) "Unity". Seasons One and Two served as Janeway and Chakotay's attempts to fuse Voyager's two factions into one. Season Three served as their honeymoon period. But during Seasons Four and Five - starting with "Scorpion" - the two senior officers were finally forced to confront each other's personality quirks and form a solid command team.

Both Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay had made serious mistakes in "Scorpion". Janeway blindly refused to accept Chakotay's warnings about the Borg, believing that her position as Captain made her supremely right. She also allowed her disappointment in Chakotay's doubts to blind her and take his criticisms personally. As for Chakotay, he allowed his past experiences with the former Borg drones in "Unity" to disobey Janeway and literally make a mess of the alliance she had formed with the Borg. It is possible that in this episode, he made a lousy First Officer, because he had yet to recover from no longer being the Captain of his old Maquis star ship. Now, I do not expect the First Officer to follow his/her captain blindly. It might make for great screen chemistry, but in reality, I cannot help thinking that would be a dangerous situation. Imagine how the crew of the "U.S.S. Caine" would have fared if Van Johnson's character had blindly followed Humphrey Bogart's in 1954's "THE CAINE MUTINY". Or how would the U.S.S. Enterprise-E have fared if Doctor Beverly Crusher, Lieutenant-Commander Worf and Lily Sloane had allowed Captain Jean-Luc Picard to continue his obsession against the Borg in 1996's "STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT". I cannot help but feel that this conflict between Janeway and Chakotay should have been experienced by their first or second year together as Captain and First Officer. Not after three years. But unusual circumstances - namely their efforts to fuse the Starfleet and Maquis factions - prevented this.

Before I end this article, I have to comment on the acting featured in this episode. The supporting cast gave their usual solid performances - especially Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok, Garrett Wang as Harry Kim, Jennifer Lien as Kes and Robert Picardo as the Doctor. But the truly outstanding performances came from three people - Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran and Jeri Ryan. The latter would prove to be an interesting addition to the "VOYAGER" cast as the ambiguous soon-to-be former drone, Seven-of-Nine. Beltran, who has always been belittled by "TREK" fans as a wooden performer, was far from wooden as a doubtful and paranoid Chakotay. Kate Mulgrew gave an equally first-rate performance as always complex and interesting Kathryn Janeway.

In a way, I can see why "Scorpion" is regarded by many "VOYAGER" fans as the high mark of the series. It is a well-written episode that steered the series into a new direction. But there are other two-part episodes that are bigger favorites of mine. I would not regard "Scorpion" as the high mark of "VOYAGER", but perhaps as one of the series' high marks.

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" Retrospect: (6.26-7.01) "Unimatrix Zero, Parts I and II"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" Retrospect: (6.26-7.01) "Unimatrix Zero, Parts I and II"

This two-part episode of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" centered around the Voyager crew’s attempt to save Borg drones who are trying to develop individuality. (6.26) "Unimatrix Zero, Part I" aired at the end of the series’ sixth season and (7.01) "Part II" aired as the premiere for the series’ seventh and final season.

When Seven-of-Nine began having dreams about a beautiful forest, she eventually discovered that the forest is a real subconscious realm inhabited by the minds of certain Borg drones during regeneration periods. Few drones possess the recessive gene required to experience the realm called Unimatrix Zero. In Unimatrix Zero, Borg of various species and ages exist as their individual, unassimilated selves and interact with one another. While out of regeneration, they revert to normal drones and have no memory of their time spent together there. The Borg Queen knows about Unimatrix Zero, which she considers a disease. First, she destroys as many drones as she can, who are capable of visiting it. But the process of detecting affected drones turns out to be time consuming and she is eager to find a faster method of finding and deactivating them.

During a journey to Unimatrix Zero with Captain Janeway, Seven discovers that she used to have a lover named Axum. Both women also discover that Axum had deliberately contacted Seven, because he and other drones need their help. They had created a masking nanovirus which would inoculate them against being detected by the queen, but it can only be administered from the corporeal world. After Janeway and Seven witness the attack upon the Unimatrix Zero inhabitants by assimilated drones, they agree to help. In the end, Janeway came up with a plan to administer the nanovirus for the Unimatrix Zero. This plan involved a few members of Voyager’s crew to board a Borg cube, risk being assimilated and administer the nanovirus.

When I first saw the preview for ”Unimatrix Zero – Part I, my first thought was that it was a rehash of the ”STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION” episode, (3.26-4.01) “The Best of Both Worlds”. To my surprise . . . and delight, ”Unimatrix Zero” proved me wrong. Thanks to the script written by Mike Sussman, Brannon Braga, and Joe Menosky; I quite understood the story, despite the usual Trek technobabble. And I understood how previous episodes like (5.10) "Counterpoint" and (6.21)"Live Fast and Prosper" served this story. Both episodes established Captain Janeway's talent for manipulation and scamming other. Considering the situation that she, B’Elanna Torres and Tuvok found themselves in ”Part II”, she found herself being forced to pull off a difficult confidence game against the Borg Queen.

”Unimatrix Zero” also featured the first time that Janeway and Chakotay learned to act as a fully effective command team in the face of one of her . . . more bizarre plots without succumbing to any conflict, which marred their relations in episodes like (2.14) “Alliances”, (3.26-4.01) “Scorpion” and (6.01) “Equinox, Part II”. Although he had reservations, Chakotay seemed willing to go along with her plan to infiltrate a Borg drone to administer the nanovirus. And Janeway agreed to accept a few of his suggestions, in case the plan went wrong. And is it just me or did there seemed to be a lot of affection on Voyager in this episode? Seven discovered an old love in Unimatrix Zero. Tom Paris and Torres exchanged a few intimate moments after Paris received his old rank of lieutenant junior grade and when he expressed reservations about the chief engineer volunteering for the mission to the Borg cube. And one of the most blatant moments of sentimentality, Janeway and Chakotay engaged in a brief hand-lock on the Bridge before she left to begin her mission. I found myself almost inclined to burst into "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"

In the end, the screenwriters and directors Allan Kroeker and Mike Vejar almost produced a four-star episode in ”Unimatrix Zero”. I found the writers’ idea of using the Unimatrix Zero concept as a lead-in to an uprising in the Borg Collective very inventive. And there were moments in the story – especially in ”Part II” that I enjoyed. These moments included the use of neural suppressors by the Starfleet infiltrators to keep from being part of the Borg Collective, in case they ended up being assimilated. Janeway’s confrontations with the Borg Queen, thanks to performances by Kate Mulgrew and Susanna Thompson, were even more effective than they were in (5.15-5.16) “Dark Frontier”. I also have to give kudos to Robert Beltran and Robert Duncan MacNeill who gave excellent performances in a scene that featured an exchange between Chakotay and Paris about the latter being First Officer. I found myself wondering about the thoughts going in Chakotay’s mind, when Paris revealed his hang-ups about being Voyager’s First Office. The only aspect of ”Unimatrix Zero” that I did not care for was the romance between Seven-of-Nine and Axum. Their scenes struck me as a replay of many bad romance novels from the 1950s and 60s. And even the talented Jeri Ryan and actor Mark Deakins could not save this romance.

Thankfully, the Seven/Axum romance did not tarnish ”Unimatrix Zero” for me. More important, the episode set the stage for two episodes in Season Seven that revealed the diminished power of the Borg Collective. And it proved to be the second of three mind blowing personal encounters between Kathryn Janeway and the Borg Queen. In the end, ”Unimatrix Zero” proved to be another example of why I have always enjoyed the numerous two-part episodes featured in ”STAR TREK VOYAGER”.