Sometimes I wish that Neelix were jettisoned into deep space. He is one of the most emotional and tiresome characters I've encountered. He is constantly in the way and never seems to think before acting. This is the Voyager sex episode. It starts out with the reality that members of the crew may be hooking up. Then the ship finds its way into what seems like a sperm bank, full of flagellating creatures who are trying to establish sexual dominance. Kes suddenly goes ino heat and Neelix is expected to do his duty to produce a child. So, a solution must be found because the little whippers are endangering the ship.
10 Reviews
Kes, the bug-eater!
planktonrules8 February 2015
When this episode begins, Kes begins acting very strangely. First, she finds herself feasting on bugs. Next, she begins eating just about EVERYTHING!! She is voracious and not surprisingly Neelix is worried about her and insists on dragging her to sick bay. Soon they learn the answer--Kes is entering elogium. In other words, she's hitting her fertility cycle. But unlike humans, this only occurs once and if she doesn't take this opportunity, it probably will not return. I say probably because she is way too young to be in elogium. Could these weird creatures dancing about outside the ship have anything to do with this?
The episode is good and bad. Talking about sexuality and procreation makes sense, as the ship is expected to be in space for decades. But the whole giant space blob wanting to fight with Voyager over mating rites--this just seemed really goofy. Not a bad episode but a strange and slightly disappointing one.
By the way, maybe I am just being overly sensitive but Neelix seems an awful lot like a controlling and abusive boyfriend in this and a few other episodes. What do you think?
The episode is good and bad. Talking about sexuality and procreation makes sense, as the ship is expected to be in space for decades. But the whole giant space blob wanting to fight with Voyager over mating rites--this just seemed really goofy. Not a bad episode but a strange and slightly disappointing one.
By the way, maybe I am just being overly sensitive but Neelix seems an awful lot like a controlling and abusive boyfriend in this and a few other episodes. What do you think?
Kes gets the munchies
Tweekums1 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
As Voyager nears a swarm of spaceborn lifeforms something strange starts to happen to Kes; she can't stop eating, and not just normal food she eats hands full of bugs, dirt and even some flowers that Neelix has given her. At first the Doctor has no idea what is the matter but it turns out that she is going through the Ocampa equivalent of puberty, although unlike human puberty it means if she wants a child she must conceive in a matter of days. She tells Neelix that she wants a child and she wants him to be the father, he is unsure whether or not he is ready for such a responsibility however. Meanwhile Voyager is having a problem with the life form, it seems that they are attracted to the ship, this becomes a problem when a much larger creature arrives and appears to see Voyager as a rival and starts ramming it, they must think what to do before it does real damage.
This was a decent episode, it was nice to see Kes take centre stage; Jennifer Lien in great in the role. It was fun watching her eating bugs and I must admit that I laughed out loud as she tucked into a bunch of flowers as Neelix was carrying her to sick bay. The episode's weak point was the larger creature, the special effects were distinctly ropey, certainly not up to the usual high standard of the series.
This was a decent episode, it was nice to see Kes take centre stage; Jennifer Lien in great in the role. It was fun watching her eating bugs and I must admit that I laughed out loud as she tucked into a bunch of flowers as Neelix was carrying her to sick bay. The episode's weak point was the larger creature, the special effects were distinctly ropey, certainly not up to the usual high standard of the series.
Ick
zombiemockingbird13 May 2023
Warning: Spoilers
To begin with, the Kes/Neelix relationship has always bothered me. It is cringy and disturbing. Neelix seems really old (along with just being generally repulsive) and Kes keeps talking about how young she is. The way he treats her, being inordinately controlling and jealous, borders on abusive, and smacks of an inappropriate relationship. There's no chemistry between them, and apparently, they're not intimate, because they don't seem to sleep together. This whole episode was distasteful; the "bonding" for six days and the creatures, that look like sperm, attaching themselves to the ship, like they're trying to impregnate an egg? Yeah, it was all a little too much. I'm also not a fan of shows where everyone just talks incessantly. Like Elvis said, "A little less conversation, a little more action please"!
The Love Boat
deronboyd10 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
With love in the air, Kes appears to go into heat, which is a bit of a problem for her, because that's apparently only something she does once. And on this Love Boat, Issac serves up bugs! Yum! Thanks for that ambush, Berman! Of course, Kes is in her own quadrant, and is married to Neelix. In most sane environments, having a child with her husband seems like a slam dunk. But, of course not in the world of Star Trek where family planning must be taken very, very, very seriously. Despite a hot blonde nymph of a wife (with some creepy, "barely legal undertones"), and this is their one shot, he's just not sure if he's ready for that commitment, even though they're committed. It's also a 6 day process of love making, which sounds like a wild one! But, he needs to sleep on it. Maybe Neelix is a Friend of Dorothy? Maybe Kes is just a beard? But there is no blatant examination of Neelix's true sexuality. He's just skeerd.
Well, eventually Neelix comes around and is ready to do the deed, when now Kes has cold feet. And when we say cold feet, we mean it, after a disturbing "foot fetish" scene with The Doctor. The creep-out factor is high with this episode simply all around.
Meanwhile, there's some strange, intergalactic bull elephant seals on the interstellar beach to be reckoned with, and they see Voyager as it's sexual competition. O-kay. They'd better get out of this quadrant soon. And don't drop the soap! Albeit kind of original, it's still a rather strange, boring, and forgettable episode. And rather creepy.
Well, eventually Neelix comes around and is ready to do the deed, when now Kes has cold feet. And when we say cold feet, we mean it, after a disturbing "foot fetish" scene with The Doctor. The creep-out factor is high with this episode simply all around.
Meanwhile, there's some strange, intergalactic bull elephant seals on the interstellar beach to be reckoned with, and they see Voyager as it's sexual competition. O-kay. They'd better get out of this quadrant soon. And don't drop the soap! Albeit kind of original, it's still a rather strange, boring, and forgettable episode. And rather creepy.
Beetle-O's: Part Of This Nutritious Breakfast!
Bolesroor2 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Voyager encounters a swarm of spaceborne aliens, while Kes and Neelix must decide whether to have a child.
Kes eats beetles. Crunchy beetles. Part of this nutritious breakfast. After driving into a cloud of microscopic spaceborne lifeforms Kes somehow enters puberty. Your guess is as good as mine. Her puberty includes eating binges, a fever, and a single chance to reproduce which will be lost forever if she's not impregnated in the next fifty hours. Sounds like prom night here on Earth.
Kes and Neelix's marriage- vaguely defined by an uncertain writing staff- faces its first test here as Kes ASKS Neelix to be the man to impregnate her. (If they're really married wouldn't his role as the father of her child be assumed?) Neelix waivers for no apparent reason, citing his deep concerns that:
a) She is his wife
b) She is extraordinarily beautiful
c) The voice that melts butter
d) No one else in the galaxy wants to touch him
e) This is their one and only chance to have a child
With all these solid arguments Neelix is still able to pad the episode out by expressing uncertainty and asking to "sleep on it." Meanwhile the eco-friendly starship is doing everything in its power to escape the swarm WITHOUT harming the lifeforms within. Better to kill yourself and your crew than fight anyone at anytime. This insane-pacifism trend has been in a downward spiral throughout the Trek series: caveman Kirk did hand-to-hand combat with any alien who looked at him funny, Picard- cardigan draped over his shoulders- sipped tea and quoted policy, and now Janeway simply surrenders to any and all challengers.
While we were talking, Neelix (not associated with Netflix) finally caved and agreed to sex with his own wife, but now Kes changes her mind because we need another plot point to eat up ten minutes of screen time.
Offscreen, Kes decides not to have a child but- lest we think the previous forty minutes had justified itself by closing a door for two of our lead characters- the lovable girlwoman nullifies all that came before by proudly declaring this was a false alarm and she'll still have the opportunity to have a child in the future. Can't wait to go through this again!
GRADE: C-
Kes eats beetles. Crunchy beetles. Part of this nutritious breakfast. After driving into a cloud of microscopic spaceborne lifeforms Kes somehow enters puberty. Your guess is as good as mine. Her puberty includes eating binges, a fever, and a single chance to reproduce which will be lost forever if she's not impregnated in the next fifty hours. Sounds like prom night here on Earth.
Kes and Neelix's marriage- vaguely defined by an uncertain writing staff- faces its first test here as Kes ASKS Neelix to be the man to impregnate her. (If they're really married wouldn't his role as the father of her child be assumed?) Neelix waivers for no apparent reason, citing his deep concerns that:
a) She is his wife
b) She is extraordinarily beautiful
c) The voice that melts butter
d) No one else in the galaxy wants to touch him
e) This is their one and only chance to have a child
With all these solid arguments Neelix is still able to pad the episode out by expressing uncertainty and asking to "sleep on it." Meanwhile the eco-friendly starship is doing everything in its power to escape the swarm WITHOUT harming the lifeforms within. Better to kill yourself and your crew than fight anyone at anytime. This insane-pacifism trend has been in a downward spiral throughout the Trek series: caveman Kirk did hand-to-hand combat with any alien who looked at him funny, Picard- cardigan draped over his shoulders- sipped tea and quoted policy, and now Janeway simply surrenders to any and all challengers.
While we were talking, Neelix (not associated with Netflix) finally caved and agreed to sex with his own wife, but now Kes changes her mind because we need another plot point to eat up ten minutes of screen time.
Offscreen, Kes decides not to have a child but- lest we think the previous forty minutes had justified itself by closing a door for two of our lead characters- the lovable girlwoman nullifies all that came before by proudly declaring this was a false alarm and she'll still have the opportunity to have a child in the future. Can't wait to go through this again!
GRADE: C-
not a very good ep
MiketheWhistle20 June 2020
This is one of my least favorite ep's of the Voyager series. I don't know if it's the subject matter or perhaps too heavy with Kes. While I like the actress and think she generally did a good job on the series, she's not fantastic and in the few ep's where she plays a major role (with the exception of the one where a tyrant takes over her mind), simply don't deliver for me. It's a shame because she was a pretty actress and key to the series and don't like that she left, but this isn't one of those things where it's too much of a good thing.
Voyager has lost it's sex appeal.
thevacinstaller3 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
We can mark off "Spaceship viewed as sexual competition" off the galactic to-do list. I am a trek fan and I always maintain that star trek at it's most weird/bland/soap opera is a much better time then most shows at their pinnacle of quality. I enjoyed the ridiculous elements of this episode for the fact that they are so damn ridiculous.
- I initially thought that this episode was going to be about there being a correlation between the space sperm whales and the fact that Neelix had level 10 jealously attack in the mess hall. Nope, that's just Neelix being a threated 17 year old male.
- I like the outfit that Kes wears in this episode. Classy.
- I enjoyed the scene of Kes in heat in the medbay yet still trusting Janeway enough to let her through the forcefield and hug it out.
- I love watching Tuvok endure Neelix at the table. It's a real skill to present emotion in a species that represses emotions and Tuvok is one of the best at it. His understated use of 'unfortunate' as the word he uses to describe being separated from his children was perfect to his character. His assessment of Neelix's ability to be a parent is on point too --- I love Neelix but he's hardly capable of raising a houseplant at this point in season 2.
- I belly laughed for a solid 10 seconds during the scene of the doctor massaging her feet. That's just hilarious that you have to massage ocampa women's feet for exactly 1 hour as a precursor to insemination. It would be like getting your dad to brush your wife's hair for 1 hour on earth.
- I enjoyed the scene of Kes frantically working through the positives and negatives of having a baby and asking the Doctor for his opinion. His answer --- A comforting hand on her shoulder. This is a decision she has to work through and make.
Space dwelling sperm and procreation problems
tomsly-4001512 December 2023
Wow, this episode is just bad. I mean, it is one thing to touch the inevitable topic of procreation of crew members on a space ship that won't be home for a long time. But in this episode, the sex topic is constantly rubbed in the viewers face - and not in a subtle way.
First, Chakotay surprises a kissing couple in the turbolift and is concerned. He talks to Janeway and they philosophize what will happen if crew members get pregnant. If the ship would be able to care for the children and give them proper education. Relationships between crew members have always been in thing in Star Trek. See TNG. I do not know why Chakotay suddenly thinks, that this won't or should not happen on the Voyager. If males and females are locked in confined spaces for an extended period of time, nature takes its toll on the crew.
Then they encounter a swarm of space sperm that is attracted to their ship and pulls them closer. There is even a bigger life form in that swam that sees the space ship as a competitor in this mating ritual and attacks it. It only loses interest, after the Voyager rolls over and presents a submissive posture.
And last but not least we have Kes, that is somehow affected by the radiation of the space sperm and her puberty phase starts so rapidly, that she either has to procreate in the coming days or will never be able to have a baby. We see and hear some disgusting changes to her body and have to witness discussions between Kes and Neelix if they want to have a baby or not. The relationship between the two is a strange one anyhow and not interesting to follow. I had no pitty with both of them. They have zero romantic chemistry - in the contrary: Neelix is a jelous dick that acts very possessive, too. I think most viewers were relieved that Kes ultimately decides against having a baby. Those two just have nothing in common and Neelix would be a terrible dad. He already is a terrible, annoying person and should have been jettisoned out of an airlock numerous times.
And how comes, that every species in the Star Trek universe is able to have offspring with other species? It is like a cow and a horse would try to mate. Both look similar, they have four legs, hooves, tails, eat grass, are herd animals... in Star Trek logic this should be possible without any problems. And those two species even come from the same planet and have a common evolutionary ancestor - they did not evolve thousands of light years apart on different planets from different genoms in different environmental habitats.
First, Chakotay surprises a kissing couple in the turbolift and is concerned. He talks to Janeway and they philosophize what will happen if crew members get pregnant. If the ship would be able to care for the children and give them proper education. Relationships between crew members have always been in thing in Star Trek. See TNG. I do not know why Chakotay suddenly thinks, that this won't or should not happen on the Voyager. If males and females are locked in confined spaces for an extended period of time, nature takes its toll on the crew.
Then they encounter a swarm of space sperm that is attracted to their ship and pulls them closer. There is even a bigger life form in that swam that sees the space ship as a competitor in this mating ritual and attacks it. It only loses interest, after the Voyager rolls over and presents a submissive posture.
And last but not least we have Kes, that is somehow affected by the radiation of the space sperm and her puberty phase starts so rapidly, that she either has to procreate in the coming days or will never be able to have a baby. We see and hear some disgusting changes to her body and have to witness discussions between Kes and Neelix if they want to have a baby or not. The relationship between the two is a strange one anyhow and not interesting to follow. I had no pitty with both of them. They have zero romantic chemistry - in the contrary: Neelix is a jelous dick that acts very possessive, too. I think most viewers were relieved that Kes ultimately decides against having a baby. Those two just have nothing in common and Neelix would be a terrible dad. He already is a terrible, annoying person and should have been jettisoned out of an airlock numerous times.
And how comes, that every species in the Star Trek universe is able to have offspring with other species? It is like a cow and a horse would try to mate. Both look similar, they have four legs, hooves, tails, eat grass, are herd animals... in Star Trek logic this should be possible without any problems. And those two species even come from the same planet and have a common evolutionary ancestor - they did not evolve thousands of light years apart on different planets from different genoms in different environmental habitats.
Jennifer Lien is very good in a mediocre episode
snoozejonc6 July 2022
Kes enters the Ocampa version of puberty.
I'll start positive by saying Jennifer Lien's strong performance carries a lot of the episode and elevates the material. Plus Tim Russ' performance and Tuvok's dialogue is a highlight.
Unfortunately it contains another character assassination of Neelix by the writers, who must have been determined at this point to make the audience dislike him. The jealousy scenes I found almost unwatchable, likewise the friction with the doctor, and struggled with virtually every other scene he was in. Ethan Phillips yet again has material that he cannot save with performance. The screen relationship between Neelix and Kes continues to feel implausible.
Many have pointed out the plot hole in the regarding Ocampa people only being able to have one child, but I do not really take TV shows seriously enough to feel that bothered by it. The most frustrating part is that all the melodrama is rendered pointless by a typically Star Trek 'reset button' ending.
The space creature subplot is silly, but I do not dislike it to the point of annoyance. It would have helped if it had not been dragged out for so long, I guess it gave Tim Russ the build up required to deliver a humorous punchline.
I'll start positive by saying Jennifer Lien's strong performance carries a lot of the episode and elevates the material. Plus Tim Russ' performance and Tuvok's dialogue is a highlight.
Unfortunately it contains another character assassination of Neelix by the writers, who must have been determined at this point to make the audience dislike him. The jealousy scenes I found almost unwatchable, likewise the friction with the doctor, and struggled with virtually every other scene he was in. Ethan Phillips yet again has material that he cannot save with performance. The screen relationship between Neelix and Kes continues to feel implausible.
Many have pointed out the plot hole in the regarding Ocampa people only being able to have one child, but I do not really take TV shows seriously enough to feel that bothered by it. The most frustrating part is that all the melodrama is rendered pointless by a typically Star Trek 'reset button' ending.
The space creature subplot is silly, but I do not dislike it to the point of annoyance. It would have helped if it had not been dragged out for so long, I guess it gave Tim Russ the build up required to deliver a humorous punchline.
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