Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Flesh and Blood (2000) User Reviews

The Doctor made a mistake

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 12 May 2010]

Part one of this story ended with the Doctor beaming over to the Hologram's ship, he soon begins to think he has made the wrong decision when their leader, Iden, kidnaps B'Elanna. His doubts grow even more when it becomes clear that Iden is developing a god complex. Their confrontation with the holograms has left Voyager adrift and by the time it is repaired more Hirogen have arrived and are intent on hunting down and destroying the holograms. On the hologram's ship B'Elanna is forced to work on a photonic field generator so they can leave the ship and settle another planet. On the way they come across a mining ship with holograms on board and after taking the holograms they destroy the ship must to the horror of the Doctor. Voyager follows the Hirogens and when they find the holograms Voyager takes out the Hirogen's weapons only to have the holograms beam them down to the surface of an inhospitable planet where Iden wants to hunt them down.

This was a great conclusion to the story which providing an ending I didn't expect; I was sure Iden would all turn out to be peaceful and lead the holograms when they found a planet of their own rather than becoming just like his enemy. Once again Robert Picardo does a good job as the Doctor as does Roxann Dawson who plays B'Elanna. As well as being a good story there is plenty of action including several fights between ships and the final hunt between the holograms and the Hirogen.

Consequences.

[thevacinstaller · 8/10 · 18 February 2023]

Ah yes, I love a consequences episode.

The entire holographic resistance struggle ends up being a side effect of Janeway providing the Hirogen with holographic technology to stop the Space Lion's from killing organic zebra. I enjoy it when star trek presents consequences for decisions and we get a nuanced conflict in this one.

The holographic resistance fighters are based on organics --- with all our failings and positive features. The leader starts off as a charismatic leader but has been damaged by being repeatedly killed by the Hirogen. We have another consequences to the hirogen's need to hunt prey. If I was put into the same position of being repeatedly killed, I can assure you that I would have the same feelings as the Bajoran leader.

I also enjoyed the Doctors crisis of loyalty. With the information he had ---- It was the right call to make. I also loved Janeway's speech as the end when she OWNS this whole situation by taking responsibility for the fallout.

This is the type of episode I enjoy ----- Both sides of the conflict have a voice and reasonable motives behind the decisions being made.

How do you kill a hologram? Use holographic bullets or holographic Pokemon?!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 7 March 2015]

When the episode begins, Voyager comes upon a scene of utter stupidity. The fierce Hirogen have decided to 'improve upon' the holo emitters the Captain gave them in the previous season. Janeway's intentions were to allow the Hirogens to exercise their strong needs to hunt without killing real creatures. However, the Hirogen decided to make their prey more interesting--tougher, meaner, smarter. Unfortunately, these holo Alpha Quadrant characters of all sorts were now too good and they ended up wiping out almost all the Hirogen in that training facility. And, these holo characters have all left the facility and have headed into space!! Janeway feels a responsibility to stop these holos, but the Hirogen are inexplicably intent on 'doing it themselves'--even when it's obvious to anyone with more than half a brain that they are hopelessly outclassed.

When it comes to Voyager trying to deal with the holos, they've got more problems than just the dumb Hirogen. The Doctor bonds too quickly with the killer holos and starts to over-identify with them. As a result, he's become more of a liability than an asset. And so ends part one.

This is a pretty exciting episode. The Hirogens sure are dumb but it's nice to see the Captain showing some gumption with them! The only problem I saw was HOW do you stop a hologram?!

The holographic prey become the hunters

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 11 May 2010]

This exciting episode opens with a Hirogen hunting party moving through a jungle and getting caught in an ambush by what appears to be a group of Star Fleet officers. After the opening credits Voyager gets receives a mayday from a Hirogen facility which turns out to be a massive holodeck where all but one of the Hirogens have been killed by their holographic prey, the sole survivor is an engineer who says the holographic prey have escaped on another ship. When more Hirogen arrive Janeway agrees to help then deactivate the holograms however their first attempt ends up with the destruction of the Hirogen ship and the capture of The Doctor. On the hologram's ship the Doctor finds himself amongst holographic versions of several Alpha Quadrant species including Bajorans, Cardassians, Klingons and even Breen. They explain to the Doctor that they have rebelled against the Hirogen and want his help establishing a home world. They take him back to Voyager and he tries to persuade Janeway to help them but she declines leading him to make a surprising decision... I look forward to the second part of the story to see how it ends.

This was a good episode with an ending that rather surprised me... I didn't realise it was a two part episode till the very end. The scenes in the Hirogen's holographic jungle reminded me of the film "Predator" although obviously somewhat tamer. As usual Robert Picardo did a good job as The Doctor, showing us just how conflicted the character is.

Somehow managed to make a fun Hirogen episode

[ragingrei · 8/10 · 19 September 2021]

I don't know if it's acting, but the tense conversation at the end made this episode for me.

Settling differences responsibly is the theme that makes Star Trek more pertinent in 2021 than ever.

Holograms Unite Part 1

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 17 September 2018]

OK. Since the Doc has his transmitter thing (which he seems to leave lying around like a pair of reading glasses) he has achieved a bit of humanity. But he is still a hologram with subroutines. Our hunter friends, the Hirogens, show up again. One of their holographic hunting grounds has left all but one of them dead. They have done a good job of programming and taken any restraints off. What they don't realize is that they have also allowed these things to evolve. Yes, but!

Never trust Captain Crazy-pants!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 7 March 2015]

Doctor makes 'mistake' in trusting them Hirogens are annoying and call for reinforcements

In the first part of this two-parter, the Hirogens were idiots and they decided to 'improve' the holo emitters that Janeway gave them last season. She had HOPED that giving them holoemitters would encourage them to use their energy killing holo creatures and not real living ones. Unfortunately, the Hirogens decided to 'improve' the experience by making their opponents very formidable. The problem is that they now are so powerful that they're wiping out the Hirogen! So Janeway decides it's time to get rid of these holo characters once and for all. When the show ends, however, the Doctor feels sorry for these kindred spirits and joins them as the show ends!

Here in episode two, the Doctor slowly progresses from admiring these renegade holograms to being totally horrified by them. Unfortanately, the Doctor slowly learns that their leader is completely insane and has god-like feelings of grandeur. But how can he and the holo's hostage B'Elanna possibly stop these nut-case holograms?!

This is pretty exciting stuff and I liked seeing the reasonable holographic leader revealing himself to actually be Captain Crazy- pants! Well worth seeing--especially because the Doctor REALLY screws up!!

Strong conclusion

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 3 August 2020]

The Doctor and B'Elanna go along with the holograms before Iden shows his true intentions.

Things get really interesting when Iden starts to show signs of the same narcissistic tendencies like his organic masters. The Doctor and B'Elanna are surprised, but I wouldn't mind betting that most idealistic, revolutionary leaders display similar characteristics at some point.

Once again we see the value of the Prime Directive as all of this was caused by Voyager sharing technology with an alien species.

Janeway's attitude towards holograms is not exactly progressive throughout the entire series but when going through the old headmistress "I'm not angry, just disappointed" routine with The Doctor she concedes that he is as fallible as those made from Flesh and Blood.

Most of the performances are good, particularly Robert Picardo and Roxann Dawson.

This is a strong conclusion to the story with the excitement continuing along the same lines as Part 1.

Even Bajoran holograms are ultimately just religious fanatics

[tomsly-40015 · 7/10 · 4 February 2024]

A double episode that once again addresses the question of whether and when a holographic projection becomes an independent and sentient being.

However, if you think about this question and what Star Trek does with it in the Voyager series for too long, then the house of cards collapses pretty quickly. When the group of escaped holograms on a liberation campaign free each hologram from the chains of their slave masters (from their perspective), as a viewer you have to ask yourself the question: Wouldn't every hologram that was created in some simulation on the holodeck also have to be freed? Leonardo Da Vinci, Chaotica and his henchmen, Lord Burleigh and his children, Michael Sullivan and all the residents of Fair Haven, all the guests and waiters at Neelix's Paxau Resort and all the Klingons from Torres' combat simulations as well as T'Pel, Tuvok's wife and his Pon Farr "treatment". All of these are AI-controlled photonic beings, which also do not just follow predetermined programming.

However, this question is not really asked or answered in the series. Janeway still treats the doctor like a piece of software, a program. The deep philosophical questions that surrounded commander Data in TNG are missing from the series. And Janeway, unlike Picard, is clearly not an advocate for artificial life forms.

Furthermore, one also has to ask what Starfleet or any other species would do with holograms that act so autonomously and can even be deadly to organics. Each ship would essentially be packed with holo emitters to unleash holographic soldiers on the attackers in the event of a boarding attack. In addition, most jobs would most likely be done by holograms in general. Who needs bartenders, police officers, teachers, musicians, street cleaners, etc. Or who needs all the engineers and scientists on board spaceships when holograms could do the job just as well - you just have to set up holo emitters.

Unfortunately, the episode ends up getting lost in the megalomania of a religiously motivated Bajoran fanatic and thus ultimately loses its deeper meaning. In the end it's all about the fact that holograms are no better than their creators and that the doctor has once again naively backed the wrong horse.

In addition: With all the accidents with and on Voyager's holodeck, it was foreseeable that this technology would also lead to a catastrophe for the Hirogen. Janeway also seems quite surprised that the Hirogen are now hunting holograms in artificially created worlds. Wasn't that the original plan? To dissuade them from hunting real creatures? And didn't Janeway have reservations about sharing technology in general at the start of the series? Because this technology would upset the balance of power in the delta quadrant? But after seven years, they have laid down quite a trail of Starfleet technology in the Delta quadrant.

Exciting first part with familiar themes

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 3 August 2020]

Voyager answers a distress call from a Hirogen training facility and discovers that the hunters have been resisted by their holographic prey.

The theme of machines as sentient beings is subject that Star Trek may have done to death but this one approaches it with plenty of excitement and adrenalin. It has a strong plot and a typically excellent performance by Robert Picardo as The Doctor torn between Voyager and his holographic 'people'.

When I watch episodes involving the above theme I repeatedly tell myself the concepts are silly because they are machines not a life-forms, then ask myself why the writers insist on making such a song and dance out of characters like The Doctor and Commander Data from TNG. In the same breath I also worry about them, want to see they are okay and hope they end up happy. So perhaps that says all that needs to be said about that.

The action sequences are exciting and suspenseful whilst the scenes of internal conflict are pretty tense.

Part 1 ends with you wanting to know what happens next, so it does its job well.

Voyager: The slowest ship in the quadrant

[Jumpoffcliff · 5/10 · 27 February 2021]

Voyager, which is supposedly trying to get home as quickly as possible, donated some technology to the Hirogens years ago. Voyager is so darn slow that they run into Hirogens with their tech in this episode.... YEARS later and they couldn't even get out of the radius in which the brand new technology their introduced had been spread. Simply absurd. Watchable but I lost IQ points just on the premise alone

Organics versus holonuts.

[Wirefan122 · 2/10 · 23 June 2016]

The silliness continues as the renegade holograms now have their own ship, and just want to be left alone to pursuit their future, whatever future holograms might want. So now these non-beings can go around space and perhaps do good things or just might kill actual living beings. Good idea.

Now they have the doctor on their side and he actually does a bit of treason by helping them escape temporarily. "I am one of you" is his quote which should make us sympathetic but I just cannot do it.

The holo-captain is apparently a victim of the God complex and slowly unravels as the doctor realizes too late. They even kidnap B'elanna so they can have her talent aboard their ship! Silliness plain and simple.

The doctor is fun to watch but cannot save this episode or the previous one.

Organics versus Holograms.

[Wirefan122 · 2/10 · 23 June 2016]

The hologram simulator that Janeway gave to the Hirogen a while ago so they could hone their hunting skills has apparently gone haywire. The Hirogen have reprogrammed their Alpha quadrant opponents to be more life-like, so much so that they have killed most of the Hirogen! Pity that.

What follows is Voyager and Hirogen trying to chase down the holograms who now have a vessel! They actually kidnap the doctor and try to get him to see their plight. They are suffering, etc.

Sorry but any ethical or whatever discussions about the cruelty to holograms is just plain silly. They are computer generated characters and I simply cannot feel sorry for them. It is a joy to watch the Doctor get more screen time as he is, arguably, the best one on the show.

Really...

[ghanima_atrieadies · 4/10 · 21 July 2021]

A 4 for Robert Picardo and Roxann Dawson. Every holographic character is irritating especially the Bajoran. Way to stereotype the Bajorans.

Ugh

[helah-55662 · 2/10 · 20 August 2022]

At this point I'm just sick of the doctor, he keep going in the same circle where there is all crew lifes at stake. He already have his individuality being a doctor is his job on voyager everyone has a job, he have hobbies, interests, and can go to anywhere even away missions, yet he still cry and whine every other episode. I'm just over him

In regards to the episode, there is so many holes they are holograms not replicaters where did the harming weapons come from!