Hope and Fear (20 May 1998)

An alien translator by the name of Arturis is able to finally decode the Starfleet message received by Voyager five months ago. It tells them to go to a new type of ship waiting for them ... See full summary »

Director:

Winrich Kolbe

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry (creator), Rick Berman (creator),

Stars:

Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Kate Mulgrew	...	Captain Kathryn Janeway
Robert Beltran	...	Chakotay
Roxann Dawson	...	B'Elanna Torres
Robert Duncan McNeill	...	Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips	...	Neelix
Robert Picardo	...	The Doctor
Tim Russ	...	Tuvok
Jeri Ryan	...	Seven of Nine
Garrett Wang	...	Harry Kim
Ray Wise	...	Arturis
Jack Shearer	...	Admiral Hayes
Majel Barrett	...	Computer Voice (voice)

Storyline

An alien translator by the name of Arturis is able to finally decode the Starfleet message received by Voyager five months ago. It tells them to go to a new type of ship waiting for them with an engine system faster than warp drive, which is capable of bringing them home within three months.

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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:

20 May 1998 (USA)

Filming Locations:

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

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Network Television

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

47-references: the USS Dauntless was launched on stardate 51472. According to Admiral Hayes in his "message", it has had 47 successful trial runs.

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Goofs

When Arturus takes over the Dauntless, he reconfigures all the controls to those of his species. However, when Seven and Janeway escapes from the brig, they attempt to change the course of the vessel, and are using Starfleet-style control panels.

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Quotes

Capt. Kathryn Janeway: All of this is just a little too perfect. The alien genius with the answers to all of our problems; the message from Starfleet telling us everything we want to hear; a starship delivered to our doorstep - what more could we ask for? They even turned down the beds. The only thing missing was chocolates on the pillows.
Tuvok: It does seem convenient.

User Reviews

Too good to be true

Captain Janeway still hasn't managed to decrypt the message they received from Star Fleet several episodes previously so when they meet Arturis, an alien who is an is a natural expert in all forms of communication, she invites him to take a look at the code. With his innate abilities he soon decodes some of the code which includes a message about a new Star Fleet ship that uses slip-stream technology which could get them home in months, this ship has been dispatched on auto-pilot and is waiting a mere ten light-years away. When they get there they set about checking the ship is fully operational after its flight and familiarising themselves with the new technology. While doing this a strange piece of alien technology is found; it turns out the ship is not what it seems, rather than being a Star Fleet ship it is an alien ship and that alien wants revenge on the crew of Voyager for helping the Borg defeat species 8472, an action that let the Borg go on and assimilate his people. Arturis plans to kidnap the crew and take them to Borg space but as his plans are discovered he must make do with Janeway and Seven of Nine. When he enters the slipstream the crew of Voyager follows although the ship isn't capable of such high speeds for long. As Seven and Janeway try to escape the race is on to get them off the ship before they are caught in Borg space and assimilated.

This was a rather good episode; it was nice to see that they sometimes have to deal with the consequences of their choices earlier in the series. On the down side they did seem rather too quick to trust Arturis, it seemed a bit more than a coincidence that Star Fleet would send a ship to a location that would be nearby just as they met somebody who could translate the message, also the crew of Voyager managed to get the new technology to work on they ship rather quickly, still these are small matters that didn't spoil my enjoyment of the episode. As well as the main story the prospect of a speedy return to Earth has consequentness for the crew, in particular Seven of Nine who is unsure about going to Earth and expresses a wish to leave the crew and stay in the Delta Quadrant.