Thursday, July 30, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 38 - Innocense

"Tuvok crash-lands on a moon and finds children who have been abandoned."

By far the best Tuvok episode yet. This was fantastic. The plot starts out as Tuvok attempts to basically babysit these kids. The contrast between stoic Vulcan and out of control children is very entertaining. Soon, Tuvok discovers that these children had been sent here to die, and now the others have come back to make sure that they are dead. Tuvok protects them and bonds with them. It is a very interesting look into the character of Tuvok.

In the end, you find out that these children are actually 90 year olds. Their race ages backwards. They were actually sent here to be in their final resting place.

38 down 134 to go

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 37 - Deadlock

"Attempting to evade the Vidiians, a duplicate Voyager is created after it passes through a spatial scission."

So that woman is having her baby and suddenly the ship starts getting ripped apart. It is evidently going through spatial scission just as The Doctor is making an incision.. that was a joke I guess. Anyway the baby dies and Kim is killed as well. Then suddenly Kes is back on Voyager and the baby survived. There are now two Voyagers... So Janeway meets with Janeway and they talk about how to get back to normal. The undamaged Voyager is without power and is soon attacked by Vidiians. The alternate Kim takes the alive baby and escapes through the rift to the damaged Voyager (which is hidden from the Vidiians). Janeway of the undamaged Voyager self-destructs the ship, leaving only one Voyager. But, is this the real Voyager? And Kim is now an alternate universe Kim?? I guess??? I'm very confused.

37 down 135 to go

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 36 - Investigations

One of the craziest cameo appearances ever. King Abdullah II of Jordan has a non speaking role towards the end of the episode. Evidently he is a huge Star Trek fan.

Neelix decides to have a talk show... no lie. He talks about random ship news and other corny variety show type stuff. Meanwhile, Paris (who has been increasingly out of control these past few episodes) finally snaps, he pushes Chakotay and gets put in the brig. He then asks for a transfer off of Voyager and onto a cargo vessel. Which is granted. While being transported he is suddenly abducted by Seska who tries to recruit him. Tuvak figures that the only way that Seska would have known about the transfer is if there was a spy on the ship.... and there is, Jiminy Crickett.

In order to get better ratings for his show...ughh.. Neelix decides to figure out who the spy is. Janeway and Tuvak reveal that this entire Paris incident was a ploy to flush out the spy. Unfortunately, Chakotay had no clue. But anyway, the plan works and Neelix ends up in a fight with Jiminy Crickett. Neelix kills him and Paris escapes from Seska. Even though Neelix was mostly a joke (as usual), I was glad to see his tougher side for once.

36 down 136 to go

Monday, July 27, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 35 - Lifesigns

The dying body of a Vidiian with the Phage is beamed aboard Voyager. As The Doctor works on her, he creates a hologram replica of the woman using her brain function. She even looks the same way that she did before the Phage. He discovers that this Vidiian woman is also a doctor, named Dr. Pel. They fall in love with each other.

Dr. Pel doesn't want to be put back into her human body because it is ugly. But the Doctor tells her that it doesn't matter, he will still love her. So he saves her physical body and she goes back. This is at least the second time that the Doctor has made-out with someone. He gets the most action on the ship!

35 down 137 to go

Thursday, July 16, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 34 - Death Wish

No they do not discover a mummified Charles Bronson floating in space, this episode ain't that cool. What they do find is a suicidal Q trapped in a comet. He for some reason wants to die. Then the actual Q shows up! Yes, the one from TNG. He wants to have the Q (named Quinn) put back into the comet. This was his punishment for being suicidal. Quinn seeks asylum on Voyager, so Janeway decides to have a trial in order to decide Quinn's fate. Will Q take him and imprison him...or will he get asylum on Voyager where he can kill himself in peace?

Yes, that's the actual plot.

Q asks to bring witnesses from Earth, which he does under the agreement that he erase their memories afterwards. So he brings Riker, Isaac Newton and the fictional soundman at Woodstock named Maury Ginsberg?? Whatever. So at some point Quinn affected all of their lives for the best. Nonetheless, Janeway decides to grant Quinn asylum but also asks that Q make him human. She hoped that this would help him to be happy...it doesn't, he kills himself. What a weird episode. It was nice to see Q and he was just as funny as ever. But really...no need for this plot.

34 down 138 to go

Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 33 - Dreadnaught

"A highly advanced Cardassian AI missile that had been reprogrammed by B'Elanna Torres is found in the Delta Quadrant."

I would say that this must be one of the best episodes so far. Very creative. So years ago when Torres was a Marqui with Chakotay, they found this super powerful Cardassian AI missile. This thing is the size of a small ship and can basically devastate a planet. In a controversial move Torres reprogrammed it to seek out the Cardassians. Then they never see the thing again.

Fast forward to the present. They are now in the Delta Quadrant and they find this missile flying through space. It is headed straight for a populated planet. Torres beams to the missiles control room and tries to deactivate it, but her initial safe guards prove too strong. I enjoyed how she converses back and forth with the missile.

Torres is having a tough time trying to deactivate this thing. She figures that she will have to basically beat herself in a battle of the wits. Meanwhile Janeway makes the decision to crash Voyager into the missile, thus stopping it but also killing themselves. Before she could do this, B'Elanna finally stops the AI system by shooting a wire with her phaser...yeah very anticlimactic. Nonetheless, it was well done. Also, it is revealed that Jiminy Crickett is betraying them to the Kazon.

33 down 139 to go

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 32 - Meld

A crewman is killed and Tuvok must find out who did it. This proves easy as the last man to see this crewmember, ends up being the killer. DNA confirms this and he finally confesses. His name is Lon Suder and he is played by Brad Dourif who was Billy in "The One Who Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Tuvok struggles to find out why Lon Suder killed this guy, but the answer is just too illogical... for no reason, Suder is a psycho killer qu'est ce que c'est ... Talking Heads anyone?? ...anyway he has  no control or remorse. In fact he claims to have killed a ton of people. This drives Tuvok mad because he doesn't understand this, so he decides to mind meld with Suder in order to get clarification.

Tuvok ends up with Suders emotions and vice versa. So now Lon has some elements of peace, but Tuvok has elements of a psychopath. He realizes this and locks himself in his room to keep the rest of the crew safe. There he goes crazy and destroys everything. The Doctor tries a process that will stabilize Tuvok but it takes time to work. In the meantime Tuvok goes to murder Suder but he stops himself and instead melds again, turning things back to normal. It was a good episode, Tuvok was great and Brad Dourif did an excellent job.

32 down 140 to go

Monday, July 13, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 31 - Threshold

"Tom Paris breaks the transwarp threshold in the Shuttlecraft Cochrane, designed to reach warp 10, but there are some peculiar side effects."


I'm sure there is a transwarp joke to be made, but I'm too lazy to think of one.

This episode had promise, then they just completely goofed it up. Having Voyager find a rare form of dilithium and Paris testing it out by going Warp 10 in a shuttlecraft is rather cool. Then Paris has a reaction to his test run. He begins to see things from every view point at once (mentally speaking), he loses the need for oxygen and for water. He physically turns into a hideous looking creature. Like Bruce Jenner.

The Doctor discovers a bombshell, Paris is actually going through the next phase of human adaptation. Like Bruce Jenner?? His journey caused him to accelerate this process significantly. Ok, this is actually interesting.

Then Paris kidnaps Janeway, they go to a swamp planet, they literally turn into salamanders (like Bruce Jenner??), they mate and have babies, and the Doctor turns them human again....

I should stick with Rocky Dennis jokes.

31 down 141 to go

Friday, July 10, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 30 - Alliances

"Janeway attempts to form an alliance with the Kazon to improve Voyager's standing in the Delta Quadrant."

A Kazon attacks and kills a crewmember. Chakotay offers up the controversial proposal to make an alliance with the Kazon, rather than fight them. After all, they just want to survive and get home. They set up a meeting with Seska. Meanwhile Neelix goes down to the Kazon planet and uses his contacts to inquire about an alliance. He ends up being taken prisoner by the Kazon and put into a "cell" with a group of Trabe. Neelix helps them escape and they end up back on Voyager.

The Kazon backstory is revealed... The Trabe had been a suppressive race that ruled the Kazon. But, at some point they rose up and overthrew the Trabe. Now they hunt the Trabe throughout the Quadrant and make their lives miserable. Janeway sets up a meeting between the Trabe and Kazon. They are leery of the Kazon because they are so angry and unpredictable. During the meeting a ship appears and begins firing at them... it is the Trabe, they betrayed everybody! Now everything is a disaster because nobody trusts anybody.

There are some great visual scenes in this episode, most notably the starship battle scenes. Also, the guy that plays Jiminy Crickett from Once Upon A Time is in this one... and I think he becomes a somewhat regular. Anyway, if you haven't seen Once Upon A Time, it's a very entertaining show.

30 down 142 to go

Thursday, July 09, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 29 - Prototype

"The crew find and reactivate a robot's body which was adrift in space only to find themselves in the middle of a war when B'Elanna is abducted."

Excellent! Voyager finds a robot floating in space. Torres works night and day to reactivate it. The unit looks kind of cool, it's your basic looking AI system...almost like something from a 1950s Sci-Fi film. The backstory on these robots is that they were made by the "The Builders" (humanoids). The Builders died out and the AI units had to fend for themselves. They were basically used as servants and typical robots, but now they had to work together to survive. Which they did. Now they are starting to lose energy. This robot is impressed by Torres and asks her to help create a way to give his society more power. They already asked Tim Allen and he said no. Unfortunately Janeway denies this request due to the Prime Directive.

The robot departs the ship, but just before he does he zaps Torres and takes her. On the robot ship she is threatened into creating a prototype AI robot/energy source. Suddenly another ship arrives and begins to attack. This ship is full of different looking AI robots. Torres realizes that she is in the middle of a robot war. She also discovers the truth. The Builders had been in a war with another group, they eventually came to a truce. However, their AI units had no intention of ending the war. They eventually rose up and killed off The Builders so that they themselves could fight on with each other.
After hearing this, Torres destroys the prototype. While the two ships are engaged in battle, she manages to get beamed out. Voyager leaves the area. I wonder if we will see these robots again?

29 down 143 to go

Wednesday, July 08, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 28 - Resistance

"A mission to acquire Telerium goes wrong causing Tuvok and B'Elanna to be captured and believed to be with the resistance."

There was more to this episode than this rather basic plot. In fact, the Tuvok and Torres part was hardy interesting at all. It was the Janeway subplot that really sticks out. Tuvok, Torres and Janeway go to a planet ruled by the Mokra. They are basically an evil dictatorship. Tuvok and Torres end up captured, and Janeway ends up injured. She awakens in the home of a man. This guy (Caylem) thinks that she is his daughter. He is obsessed with saving his wife, who has also been captured by the Martok. Caylem and Janeway go to infiltrate the prison camp to save their wife/crewmembers. They are caught and taken to the leader, Augris. Augris reveals to Janeway that Caylem is just a crazed fool... they killed his wife like ten years ago and his daughter was killed a few years back.

A fight then breaks out and basically everyone is killed, except for Tuvok, Torres and Janeway. As Caylem is dying, Janeway soothes him by pretending she his daughter. It was a good moment. The guy that played Caylem (Joel Grey... Jennifer Grey's father) was outstanding. His acting was far superior to everyone else.


28 down 144 to go

Monday, July 06, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 27 - Maneuvers

"Kazon Nistrim board Voyager and steal a transporter module in an attempt to unite the Kazon sects."

Seska returns. She has taken her Kazon allies and lays a trap for Voyager. They attack and steal a transporter module. She is working hard to unite all of the various Kazon sects... because as one, they can easily rule this quadrant of space. Chakotay takes this personal and steals a shuttlecraft to go after her (which eventually earns him a
reprimand from Janeway). He ends up captured and tortured for the Voyager command codes. Unfortunately for Seska, the Kazon sects begin fighting each other and while everyone is distracted Torres beams Chakotay back out of there. The transporter module ends up destroyed. All seems fine, until Seska reveals that she stole Chakotay's
"DNA" and impregnated herself with it.... yes, "DNA".

27 down 145 to go

Thursday, July 02, 2015

Star Trek VGR Episode 26 - Cold Fire

"An Ocampan helps Kes with her mental abilities as the crew encounter a being who appears to be the Caretaker's female counterpart."

I liked this episode. Voyager crew finds out that there is another Caretaker out there, a female. They venture off to track her down. They stumble upon a space station, full of Ocampan. This is a real surprise as Kes always thought that she was one of only a few Ocampan left. They meet the leader Tanis. He is played by Gary Graham, who I really like but honestly he has guest starred on TNG and Enterprise, as well as Of Gods and Men...it ruins the illusion to be on so many series as different characters!

Tanis shows Kes that she has telepathic powers beyond what she dreams. Tuvok offers to train her to improve her skills, but Tanis insists on doing it. She begins to move objects and (in a great scene) she learns how to boil water with her mind. This power gets out of control and she boils Tuvoks face!! This scene was actually horrifying, it reminded me of when Michael Jackson turned in to a werewolf in the Thriller video. That really scared the shit out of me!

The finally track down the Caretaker and it is in the form of a little girl named Susparia. Janeway expects her to help them, but she is pissed over the death of the other Caretaker and she goes nuts. She starts killing crewmembers, it really turns into a horror movie at this point. Janeway captures Susperia but shows her sympathy and lets her free. She then vanishes off of the ship. Janeway vows to convince Susperia to help them get home.

Meanwhile Tanis wants Kes to go back to the space station with him. She refuses but he gets aggressive and Neelix steps in. eventually he gives up. Tuvok takes over as Kes's trainer. Fantastic episode!

26 down 146 to go