Alliances (22 Jan. 1996)

Janeway tries to make an alliance with a Kazon sect for their own protection and so they can continue their journey through the Delta Quadrant.

Director:

Les Landau

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman (creator),

Stars:

Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Kate Mulgrew	...	Captain Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran	...	Commander Chakotay
Roxann Dawson	...	Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres (as Roxann Biggs-Dawson)
Jennifer Lien	...	Kes
Robert Duncan McNeill	...	Lieutenant Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips	...	Neelix
Robert Picardo	...	The Doctor
Tim Russ	...	Lieutenant Tuvok
Garrett Wang	...	Ensign Harry Kim
Charles Lucia	...	Mabus (as Charles O. Lucia)
Anthony De Longis	...	First Maje Culluh
Martha Hackett	...	Seska
Raphael Sbarge	...	Michael Jonas
Larry Cedar	...	Tersa
John Gegenhuber	...	Jal Surat

Storyline

Finding themselves the underdog of the Delta Quadrant, Voyager attempts to form an alliance with select Kazon sects. Janeway also inducts the Trabe, a race once made up of tyrants who oppressed the Kazon but now are scattered and vulnerable. When the groups gather for talks, Janeway suspects the Trabe may not be as frail as they claim.

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Plot Keywords:

24th century

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 January 1996 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Network Television

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Goofs

Neelix is in the cave with the Trabe prisoners. He raises his brow and his latex head prosthesis wrinkles.

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Quotes

First Maje Culluh: I won't have a woman dictate terms to me.

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Connections

References Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

User Reviews

Why Can't We Be Friends?

An interesting question: Should Voyager- so deep and so lost this far in the Delta quadrant- compromise its Starfleet regulations in order to survive?

After yet another Kazon attack and crew fatality, Chakotay proposes to Janeway that its time to stop playing games: we're in the jungle and we have to fend for ourselves. He reasons that the theoretical ideals of Starfleet don't apply out here. Janeway considers his proposal, and in a very good scene she turns to Tuvok for help in understanding the philosophy. If they don't have Starfleet's values what do they have?

A sloppy effort is made to form an alliance with two different Kazon factions, one by sending Neelix as a messenger, the other by contacting the lovable Seska. What makes me think this isn't gonna work out? The worse problem facing Voyager seems to be not the Kazon but the increasing number of crewmen questioning the Captain's authority, openly disagreeing with her or even turning into treacherous, traitorous Kazon spies as in the case of Michael Jonas. (Way to monitor outgoing communications, Security Chief Tuvok.)

What follows is a musical chairs of political alliance, in which the Captain rejects Seska's Nistrim, gets rejected by the Pommar, and develops a surprise alliance with the Trabes, the former enslavers of the Kazon and their current sworn enemy. Mabus, their leader, urges Janeway to gather the heads of the five Kazon families for a peace talk, a chance to bring stability to the region and end all the conflict. Neelix tips her off that an assassination might be planned for this conference, and in spite of the overwhelming potential for disaster Janeway decides to proceed with the meeting.

This was a false note for me here from which the episode could not recover. First and foremost, according to Voyager's premise, the ship is passing through the Delta Quadrant on its way home. The idea that they could get pulled into repeated conflicts with the same civil war-torn culture is unlikely. The idea that their meetings with the Kazon could be so consistently bloody and destructive to a Federation WARSHIP that boasts superior technology is illogical. And the premise of Janeway going from a Prime Directive-based non-involvement policy to happily joining whichever warring faction will have her is unbelievable. Her failure to see the potential for an assassination is a writing cheat; Janeway is neither blind nor stupid.

All she has managed to do so far is unite the Kazon in a joint hatred of herself and her ship. That should make the journey home go much more smoothly! We're left with a re-affirmation of Starfleet's high-minded principles, and a greater appreciation for the cultures that sacrificed to establish them. Janeway gives a pointed speech to her senior officers that seems at first arrogant, but soon reveals itself as absolutely true, and with further reflection, already tragic. The Starfleet ideals may be their best weapon, but their best weapon might not be enough... and unbeknownst to Janeway is the traitor: those noble ideals she subscribes to are already decaying from the inside.

Kes is reduced to a tricorder stand... you can feel the writers pushing her aside. It will be interesting to see how the traitor storyline plays itself out. A very good episode.

GRADE: A-