Star Trek Voyager Reviews Written by Someone Who Actually LIKES the Show! -- Prey

CHARACTER
Okay, I'm a little worried that Angry Feminist is going to show up, so I'm going to try to get this out quickly.

I am completely amazed that people have even been thinking of saying to me -- as many have -- that Janeway is wrong about the 47.

It is not enough merely to survive.

It is not enough merely to look around the galaxy, make enemies, and then destroy them. When they attack, it is not enough to kill them; we have to be better than they are, or what the hell good are we?

The Star Trek universe is, not surprisingly, Earth-centric. The show promotes Humanity as a noble, evolved (though struggling) race that other races are impressed with. Terrans have power in Trek's world because they are peace-makers and mercy-providers. While other races persecute and destroy, Earthers provide sanctuary. While others seek war and profit, Terrans seek peace and self-improvement.

These are the ideals of Starfleet and the Federation.

That's a major reason why I watch the show. Seriously.

Another major reason, an even more major one, is that along with this optimitic view of Humanity there's the recognition that such idealism comes with a price. A high price.

And the price is that you have to mean it. You have to be nice to people when they might be cruel, and you have to be nice when they're no longer being cruel.

Star Trek VI dealt with Kirk's inability to forgive the Klingons, and that was the part I liked best -- that and the fight scene where the two Kirks rolled over McCoy.

I mean, forgiveness is hard. And compassion for someone who's tried to hurt you is incredibly difficult. But that compassion is what makes Humans better than Romulans, or Borg, or Cardassians, or Founders. It's what makes the Q interested in Humanity. It's part of what seems to attract the Wormhole Aliens to Sisko.

And it's this lesson that Janeway is trying to teach Seven.

Seven says, "A lesson in compassion will do me little good if I am dead," but Janeway's little story about the Cardassian is trying to show her that compassion is only noteworthy when it's difficult, when it's a matter of risking one's own life to help another, especially when that "other" is someone who wouldn't help you, or who might even hurt you.

Note that none of the other crewmembers have a problem with Janeway's orders. Even Chakotay joins her in defending the 47 from the Hirogen at the risk of the ship without once saying, "Gee, is it worth it?"

I mean, come on. Think about what the Hirogen doubtlessly did to that 47 once they got it: removed its organs and made trophies out of its bones. No one deserves that.

The 47s were the victims of the Borg attack, if we recall, and this guy was left behind when his comrades cut out. For six months he's been doing nothing more than trying to go home. He didn't kill anyone in Engineering and he wasn't interested in destroying Voyager, but in using it. Frankly, I found him more than a little pathetic, especially when he passed out after Janeway told him she'd take care of him. I mean, the guy just keeps hanging on, and then he finds a little shelter and finally can't keep going any more.

And Janeway gives her word, the word of the ship, to help him, and Seven makes her into a liar.

So, I'm on Janeway "side" here. However, I love, absolutely love the argument itself.

Let's back up a little. The opening, with the Doctor trying to teach Seven, and Seven reluctantly admitting she needs instruction, is wonderful. It's a great reminder that we used to think of him as the non-Human social stumble-bum, and now Seven is so far below him on the social graces ladder that she is almost unable to understand the need for his lesson, let alone the nuances of it.

Janeway wants to make use of Seven, and that's only sensible. Seven's nanoprobes, her knowledge, her skills, her stamina, her bravery and her efficiency all make her an invaluable resource. Like Spock and Data and Odo and the Doctor, her social bumps and grinds are more than worth putting up with.

Seven is the latest incarnation of a tried-and-true American character, though its incarnations are very rarely female: she is a rugged individualist, a maverick, a loose canon. And often, that helps Janeway save the day.

But, as Janeway says, there is a limit to individuality in a command structure. Put more simply: it's the captain's job to save the ship.

"A job Seven won't let her do!"

Oh dear. She's back.

"None of the other captains have had their commands challenged like Janeway has!"

Well, that's not quite true, Angry Fem.

Remember when Dekker saved the Enterprise in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. They got trapped in a warp wormhole, and weren't going to get out of it before they hit an asteroid. Kirk called for phasers, but Dekker belayed his order and had Chekov use the torpedoes instead. It saved the ship. When Kirk called him on it, Dekker explained why he had to do it, and Kirk backed off, asking Dekker, in manly fashion, to "nursemaid" him through the rough patches. Eventually, they got into a mutual-respect thing, and Kirk's command was stronger than ever.

Kirk also had to defend his command skills against M5. Picard had to hand over the Enterprise to Jellico, and doubted his own ability to command after he was made into Locutus. Riker's short captaincy was challenged by Shelby. Sisko has had to confront the various insubordinations of Jake, Harrington, and Yates.

The thing is, a captain's command can be challenged quite effectively, because it's a great chance to prove that the captain is up to the challenge. In my opinion, all the captains have looked better after a little challenging, including Janeway after she and Chakotay thrashed things out in "Scorpion II."

So, to get back to what I was saying, Angry Fem, it's the captain's job to save the ship at the last second with some rabbit-out-of-a-hat trick. Janeway and company have pulled through much tighter spots than being surrounded by six Hirogen ships. All manner of technobabble solutions might have presented themselves, because Janeway and her crew were doing what they were supposed to be doing: providing sanctuary to a wounded sentient being while fending off the bad guys.

In taking matters into her own hands, Seven saves the ship prematurely, before their mission is complete. They were in a position to prevent a great injustice -- a sentient being's torturous execution -- and Seven ruined it.

And I'm not just talking about abstract idealism here. Janeway knows that the 47s still exist out there in fluidic space. The nanoprobes are holding them at bay now, but what if the 47s figure out how to beat that technology? What's to keep them from coming back and kicking our asses?

If Janeway had been successful -- and if Seven had obeyed orders and opened the singularity when she was supposed to, there's every chance Janeway could have been done with it long before the Hirogen ships turned up -- she would have returned a dying 47 to its home. That sort of mercy is an act of strength the 47s just might be able to recognize. Janeway had the opportunity to make an impression on a race that currently thinks of us as doggie-do. Frankly, in the end, that chance, in my opinion, is worth risking one starship for.

It is not enough merely to survive.

Janeway wants Seven to understand what it means to risk herself for something more than herself -- for compassion's sake, for the sake of s strategic advantage -- and Seven refuses her lesson just as she initially refused the Doctor's.

And in so doing, though not quite in the way Seven means, I think Seven has a point at the end. Janeway is afraid that Seven will not become "like" her. She's not afraid that Seven won't become her drone, she's afraid that there is nothing "Human" there after all, no compassion, no altruism. She is worried that in the end Seven is nothing more than an ex-Borg.

And she has reason to be worried. Compassion and mercy and the need to help form the center of Starfleet's non-military charter. If Seven cannot embrace those ideas, or even see the need to do so, she'll never be the helpmate to Janeway that the captain wants for her ship.

During the "Scorpion Summer," I complained a lot about Chakotay's inability to have faith in Janeway. Seven is showing the same lack of faith, but it's much more acceptable to me that she does, because she's not the first officer. She's not even a member of the crew.

So I don't see Seven's challenge to Janeway's command as diminishing Janeway in any way. On the contrary, I see it as an opportunity for Janeway and her whole crew to prove themselves rather gloriously.

Seven has initially rejected Janeway's lesson, and is being punished with a curtailment of authority and freedom. But Seven rejected and then eventually agreed to look at the Doctor's "data." Spending more time in that cargo bay will leave Seven a great deal of opportunity to think things over. And there will doubtlessly be many more challenges ahead.

So I'm going to have faith in Janeway. I'm going to believe, in a way I admit I've never managed before with her, that she will be proven right once again in the end, that she will get Seven to understand the need for compassion, that she will save her ship without abandonning her principles, that she will win, and will look great doing it.

"Sniff."

Angry Fem?

"Oh, that was beautiful!"

Oh, shut up!

Turning to other CHARACTER news --

"Wait! Aren't you going to talk about how this is the first really interesting relationship between two women in the history of Star Trek?"

I thought you said I'd already milked that for all it was worth.

"Oh, don't pout."

I'm not pouting! All right, it is the first really interesting relationship between two women, because the fact that they're women isn't important to their conflict. They're not fighting over a man, or over a "woman's issue." They are two women whose intrinsic personalities have caused them to differ over something important to the entire ship.

Okay?

"Okay."

Turning to other CHARACTER news, I really like the mention of Kes, and hope they continue to bring her up when it's relevant. Wouldn't it be nice if Seven asked about Kes? What would she think of Kes' evolution, I wonder?

I love the business with the Doctor taking on Kes' original role in the role-playing scenario with Seven, who is, of course, assuming his role. His cheerful smile and talk about how he's so "charming" really makes it easy to see Kes' smiling face as she helped him, flattering him into striving to improve himself. As a contrast, Seven's frowning delivery is doubtlessly unwittingly reflective of the Doctor's original attitude. All this helps set up his ability to empathize with her difficulties and thus convince her that she needs to be helped.

And I have to say I'm happy for Neelix, finally getting to be in Security. How many times have we seen futures when he was wearing a Security uniform? In "The Year of Hell" and "Before and After," at least.

And I don't see why he won't be great at it. As far as I can tell, Security people stand around and then get killed or rendered unconscious when something important happens. I'm sure he can do that as well as anyone.

THOUGHT
Okay, I hope this makes Angry Feminist happy: I still have some things to say about the whole gender roles thing.

First, let me make a little confession. Here in New Orleans, working my little jobs and playing on the Internet, I like to pretend that I live in a community where women and men are considered equal, though different from each other. When reality intrudes and reminds me that this is not the case, I feel sad and uncomfortable.

The reality of Star Trek is that if people don't watch it will be cancelled. another reality is that TPTB obviously believe that their audience is primarily male, and that if they have too much gender equality, they'll lose some of their audience. I'm not sure what "too much" would be, exactly, but I do know that it's "there," somewhere.

Hmmmm. That sounds dumb. Let me try again.

I remember an episode of TNG. Worf and LaForge were standing in front of the forcefield in the brig. The brig officer, whom we had seen before, was standing with them. All three men are black.

And I thought, "Hey, look at that." More than having a black Captain Sisko, more than having Geordi and Worf get into inter-racial romantic relationships without anyone commenting on it (on the black-white actors, I mean), those three black men standing there and by accident being the only men in the shot struck me as a sign that Star Trek really is trying to present a future with racial equality.

Sure, there are many more white characters on the shows than black. Yes, certainly, it's not yet showing a future of true gender equality, but I see the effort being made.

Okay, I see the effort with gender equality too, but it's less effort, and it is more frequently undercut with overt sexism.

But in this episode I don't see any of that.

In fact, "Prey" is teeming with ideas about what constutes genuine strength and compasson, and in so doing demonstrates that strength and compassion both have nothing to do with gender.

The Hirogen are the stereotype of the manly hunter exaggerated a million times. With their guns and armor and size and warpaint and trophies and pot of boiling bones and warrior code and nomadic wolf-like existence, they are strong and swift and absolutely despicable.

And, just in case we don't get it on our own, who shows us how truly ridiculous they are? Paris.

We all know Paris is good in a fight. You want a maverick to come in and save the day with the captain's approval? Paris is your man. As we saw in "Worst Case Scenario," even Tuvok would pick him to play on his team.

But Paris doesn't feel the need to prove that to the Hirogen. Chakotay might not really either, but it's his job to chest-thump and keep the Hirogen in line. Paris doesn't have to do it, and so he doesn't -- cheerfully, easily. He'll take up the rear. Who cares? They're all in danger, they're all working for the good of the ship. If the job is done, he's happy. His little quip about chasing mice doesn't make him look weak, in my opinion. His comments and his attitude make the Hirogen look like a thug.

So, the Hirogen and Chakotay compare phallic symbols, and Paris keeps his distance (getting shot but not hurt at one point, as though in opting out of the whole chest-thumping thing he can't be affected by it), and Seven worries about the only creature ever to offer "true resistance" to the Borg, and Tuvok quietly does his job, and Janeway, somehow, does all these things at once. She stands up to the Hirogen but refuses to become embroiled in his hunt. She worries about the power of the Hirogen and the 47, but she does her job on the bridge, calling out orders calmly as things blow up.

And then Seven under-cuts her, demonstrating more than anything else that a captain can't do her job if her crew doesn't do theirs.

And none of this has anything to do with who's a woman and who's a man.

Cool.

Sorry if you're tired of my talking about gender issues. I try usually not to get embroiled in them. But just this once I'm going for it:

Double cool with sugar on top.

Happy, Angry Feminist?

"Why couldn't Torres just beat the 47 up when it jumped her in Engineering?"

Oh, bite me!

More thoughts? We get another of those indirect insights into the Borg through Seven in this episode. Obviously, their idea of "perfection" is survival-oriented. We pretty much already knew that, but it does provide further reasoning for why they feel so justified in assimilating others. Since the Collective provides a sort of immortality to the drones, and since they see survival as perfection, they believe they are spreading the gift of perfection as they assimilate.

The 47's ability to exist in the vaccuum of space makes sense to me, since they share the same bio-tech material as their ships.

SPECTACLE
You know, I think we Trek watchers have to guard against getting too blase about special effects. They're so good, they almost spoil us.

The shot with the 47 crawling over Voyager's hull, with that slow close-up until we see his legs going over the ship's name, is absolutely fabulous.

I really like the Hirogen controls, nicely different for a change. Too many alien ships have controls just like Starfleet but with different letters. Maybe soon we can have a ship with a hamster in a little wheel or something.

DICTION
Good lines in this one include:

You should know I'm a hologram, and can't be bent, spindled, or mutilated, so don't bother trying." -- the Doctor.

"[My suit] can defeat most hostile environments. I once tracked a silicon-based lifeform through the neutronium mantle of a collapsed star." -- Hirogen Chief.
"I once tracked a mouse through Jefferies tube 32." -- Paris.


SONG
Great music, as always, particularly the restrained scoring during the scenes in the smoky corridor, and the great action music during the final battle. Yum!

And now for the baggage...

STAR TREK ELEMENTS WE (OR I, ANYWAY) LOVE
Aliens with consistency. The Hirogen whole culture is nicely solidifying as the Voyager crew encounters them more and more. It allows us to share in the discovery of this species -- major cool!

STAR TREK EMEMENTS WE (OR I, ANYWAY) HATE
Couldn't those security guards have at least put up a fight before they went down?

Well, that --

"Hey! I'm not through yet."

Oh God. What do you want now?

"I want my own section from now on: ANGRY FEMINIST'S CORNER."

Forget it!

"Do it or I'll sue you. I'll organize a sit-in. I'll get a petition going!"

Oh, go home and play with your dolls.

"What? Oh, lady! You're asking for it!"

Gulp.

Star Trek Voyager Reviews

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