Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Investigations (1996) User Reviews

Tom leaves Voyager!

[Tweekums · 9/10 · 23 July 2010]

As this episode opens Neelix broadcasts the first instalment of his television programme designed to keep up the crew's moral, it is well received but Harry tells him it needs more substance. When he gets a communication from a Telaxian captain telling him how a member of Voyager's crew is leaving to join his ship. This is just the sort of story he was looking for so he goes off to see Captain Janeway to find out who is leaving. It turns out that it is Tom Paris; not that surprising given his recent behaviour. Soon after he leaves the Telaxian ships are attacked by the Kazon who take Tom Paris then leave without taking anything else suggesting that they knew he would be aboard. Clearly somebody on board Voyager must have told them. Tuvok tells Neelix to drop the story while he investigates but Neelix can't let go and he follows the trail until it appears that Tom might have sent the message himself. After broadcasting this news the Captain takes him in to her confidence; Tom had left in order to flush out the traitor. In order to expose the traitor Neelix must put himself in danger by openly investigating the transmissions.

This was an exciting episode which nicely explained why Tom had been acting in such an unprofessional way in recent episodes. Ethan Phillips put in a good performance as Neelix; not a character I expected to see locked in mortal combat with a member of Voyager's crew. Some comedy was provided by The Doctor preparing material for Neelix's programme only for his section to get cancelled as Neelix finds something more important.

Since all current reviews are marked with spoilers...

[GreyHunter · 8/10 · 15 December 2019]

None of the reviews appear on the episode's main page. I would like to rectify this. In this episode, we see the resolutions of two ongoing B-plots, which actually converge to create an overarching resolution. My only criticism is that the suspense could have been handled better by not identifying the principle phenomenon or possibly item or maybe source or conceivably character in a certain unnamed B-plot until this episode, thus allowing the viewer to wonder along with the Voyager crew itself regarding the identity of the item or character or phenomenon or item in question, thus ratcheting up the suspense with regards to this unnamed aspect of a particular B-plot. Other than that, this episode was either good or not. I won't spoil anyone by revealing which here.

There, that was as spoiler-free as I could make it.

A very important and interesting episode.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 15 February 2015]

For several episodes, Tom Paris has been behaving awfully-- especially towards Commander Chakotay. Inexplicably, this recently reclaimed soul has become disrespectful, surly and a major distraction on the ship. In the last episode, he even attacked Chakotay and was placed under arrest! Here in "Investigations", Paris is so irritable and snarky that he ditches Voyager and becomes a crew member on a Talaxian ship. How ANYONE could want to serve aboard a ship filled with Neelix-like beings is beyond me--and the REAL reason for all this grouchiness is explained...and it's NOT because Paris is somehow reliving his teenage years!!

Although the other plot in this episode might seem to have little initially to do with the Paris plot, the traitor aboard the ship is once again doing things to help the dreaded Kazon--such as disabling the warp drive. This and Paris' leaving the ship motivate Neelix to investigate these things on his own--and he stumbles into something BIG! And, as a nice change of pace, Neelix turns out to NOT be a total idiot and comic relief.

It's nice to see that during season two, the writers considered using some plot elements that transcended multiple episodes--in this case, Paris' REAL motivations. My only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that once again, the crew of Voyager has a chance to shoot Seska and end her reign of terror once and for all but they don't-- which just didn't make a lot of senses. I sat shoot the wench and be done with it! But the show, once again, chooses the nice approach--a serious problem in too many episodes of "Star Trek: Voyager".

Well Crafted for the Most Part

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 20 August 2018]

I enjoyed this episode. Even though Neelix has that gossipy TV show and it gets pretty personal. It is his rather aggressive and annoying MO that brings awareness of something amiss on Voyager. We have, for many episodes, been watching that engineering jerk compromise the ship by engaging the Kason. We never know how much we can believe Neelix. He doesn't seem very formidable physically, but he did participate in war. His confrontation with the enemy shows that when pushed, he can handle himself. The big plot involves Paris leaving Voyager for greener pastures. How can this be, you ask, oh television series watcher. That's the mystery. We also get to see Ceska (or as I like to call her, Fresca). She is despicable. I suppose since she is pregnant, they can't just shoot her. I'm sure that despite the conclusion of the episode, she's still out there, doing her thing. But, overall, there was lots of action, mystery, and fun.

Nice Twist

[tomsly-40015 · 8/10 · 16 December 2023]

After Tom Paris acted strange and obstreperous, especially to Chakotay, he leaves Voyager to join a Talaxian convoi as a pilot. But soon after he boarded the ship, the convoi is attacked and he taken prisoner by the Kazon. Of course Seska is involved and tries to talk him into joining their side. But it is more than obvious, that a series will not lose one of the main cast in season 2 already (this episode was aired before Game of Thrones broke with the unwritten rules to not kill off main characters one by one). Instead it is just a long planned bait to lure the spy on Voyager.

This episode is quite amuzing. I liked the twist and how they try to put the puzzle pieces together to catch the spy.

Only problem with this episode: Neelix is heavily involved and now not only is a chatterbox, cook, morale officer or jelous husband but also a journalist with his own TV show. And he feels obliged to find out about this conspiracy on board because he is a journalist now. Yeah... I just don't like this Neelix character. I think, Quark filled the role of the alien weirdo much better than Neelix does.

Star Trek Voyager - Investigations

[Scarecrow-88 · 6/10 · 6 January 2017]

Neelix gets a little love this go-around, "Investigations" a bonafide episode focusing extensively on him. Hoping to lighten the moods of the crew of Voyager through "interview" segments and details of officers on board the ship, including stories of importance and not just for entertainment value, Neelix decides to relay journalistic segments for all to view if so choosing. Neelix soon realizes that there is a spy onboard, as deleted com logs indicate relayed messages from the Voyager to an adversary, the Kazon-Nistrim. Thomas Paris has been behaving insubordinately lately which has resulted in his estrangement from his superiors, including Chakotay. He decides to leave the Voyager, taking a position on Neelix's old friend's convoy ship. Thomas is abducted by the Kazon loyalist, Seska (Martha Hackett), and his mission is to retrieve vital Intel that will snuff out the spy on the Voyager through retrieved communications on the vessel that currently holds him captive. Neelix is eventually clued in on Paris' behavior, that is was all a ruse, after he finds supposed (actually planted by the real spy) logs derived from his quarters. Chakotay was also left out in the dark on this due to his ties to the Maquis, and his response of disgruntlement is understandable. But Tuvok's decision (not to place him in an awkward position) was reasonable under the circumstances.

Not highly regarded by Star Trek critical community, I thought it was a rather splendid Neelix episode. He even gets to be the hero, disrupting the spy's (Raphael Sbarge) efforts in engineering, during a struggle. The spy, Jonas, has carte blanche to cause plenty of problems to those on the Voyager, like disabling weapons and the shields if Neelix doesn't interfere. Hurling Jonas into a plasma stream which just deteriorates him in quick order, Neelix essentially helps in saving the Voyager from certain doom. Also Paris is a hero as well, learning of plans that the Kazon have with ships waiting at a certain sector to attack the Voyager, hoping to get off the ship imprisoning him so he can communicate back to Janeway what is waiting in store for them. Paris' escape from the Kazon ship and his character arc which had him acting out in ways that left many around him rather bothered and frustrated both conclude that storyline here…this might be a reason behind its considered failure (to many who rate it unflatteringly). Story arcs end, and it seems the show was ready to take Paris to a much better place alongside the crew he serves with. Picardo's AI Doctor interested in Neelix's "video newspaper" provides some nice recurring humor in a rather serious episode…especially as Neelix avoids him due to more pressing matters needing his attention. Some good action at the end. Phillips is good fun with much of the story time dedicated to him. If the episode perhaps hurts a character/subplot, it sacrifices emphasis on Paris so that Neelix could get the majority of the episode's running time.

A strong Star Trek episode

[brianjohnson-20043 · 9/10 · 23 February 2021]

This episode has a big payoff and concludes some of the loose-ends presented in some earlier episodes. Nelix plays a staring role in this one. And it's one of the better instances IMO of Nelix being a prominent character within an episode. IMO this episode is stronger than the Basic part 1 and 2 episodes which seem to be intended to be the best and grandest conclusion of the story arc dealing with the Kazon. Obviously this episode doesn't conclude that storyline. But I think the spy within the ship is the more interesting storyline than dealing with the Kazon. If it weren't for Seska aiding the Kazon, the Kazon would be a complete bore compared to other Star Trek villains. Instead they are just a pedestrian bore with Seska. Detecting the spy on Voyager meanwhile is/was a lot of fun.

Don't think too much about it and enjoy

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 12 October 2022]

Paris and Neelix save the day

This is an enjoyable episode if you don't take certain plot details too seriously.

I like that the Tom Paris and Jonas arcs are concluded in a fairly entertaining way, but you really do have to switch the brain off in order to buy into the big reveal about what's going on. It's a pretty cool twist on the previous episodes build up, but at the same time loaded with plot contrivances.

Neelix is relatively amusing in all his investigative journalism and these scenes do not annoy me as much as they possibly do others. I read somewhere that the writers had contemplated doing whole episode from the perspective of Neelix broadcastings to the crew, which for me would have been much better and quirkier if done right.

All performances are strong and the production values are good.

Tom Tom Club

[Bolesroor · 8/10 · 27 July 2012]

Neelix begins broadcasting his own television show- "Good Morning Voyager" or some-such nonsense- in which he appears as host and does sports, news and weather for the benefit and boredom of the already- tortured crew. What makes it even more sad is that in the course of finding stories for his morning show Neelix is able to discover more about the traitor on board the ship than the rest of the Starfleet crew combined.

He stumbles upon a rumor that Tom Paris is leaving Voyager for a Talaxian convoy ship and has a genuinely emotional goodbye with the troubled officer. This was a nice scene, which everyone can relate to... no matter how you feel about someone you're forced to reconsider them when you realize you may never see them again. After a touching scene and on-air tribute, Tom departs and is promptly kidnapped by the Kazon.

Ready for the big surprise? Tom Paris is a spy and his recent subplot involving his "bad attitude" has been for the sake of creating the illusion that he was unhappy and wanted to leave. Oh. Okay...

The nauseating Martha Hackett returns as Seska, glowering and cackling and missing her calling as Witch #3 in a Children's Playhouse production of "Grimm's Fairy Tales." Here she welcomes Tom aboard the Kazon vessel and squeezes her stomach to remind us she's pregnant; back on Voyager Neelix singlehandedly takes on the traitor Michael Jonas, killing him and saving the ship. The Captain, Chakotay, Tuvok, Torres and Kim just stand around, demonstrating just how balanced and focused the writing is.

Doctor gets a subplot about being a cranky effeminate star who wants more airtime on Neelix's show, a stretch considering he is played by a cranky effeminate star who wants more airtime on the show. And Kes? Who? Oh yeah... Kes! By this point it seems the writers had either forgotten who she was and that she was even on board the ship. I'd never thought I'd be nostalgic for Kes eating beetles but there you go.

Tom Paris subplot- resolved. Traitor subplot- resolved. Where do we go from here?

I have no bloody idea.

GRADE: B+

Neelix needs a Colombo trenchcoat and a cigar.

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 4 July 2021]

A solid episode about the talaxian tenacity and starfleets new favorite son, Tom Paris.

Neelix works for me as a character. I do not believe that I enjoyed him back in 95' but in 2021 he has this crazy uncle energy about him and he's genuinely a good guy who wants to do right by his crewmates. It's nice to see him get a hero episode.

The Jonas 'traitor' arc was a bit limp for me. I just do not understand nor am I convinced he has any motivations for this action. I believe in a previous episode he mentioned he did not feel Janeway was doing the right thing by having morals and ethics? Jonas wants to trade starfleet technology to create allies??! Is that the justification?! It's not enough.

I don't hate the character of Tom Paris but I do not love the character at this point. He's performed fine ---- It's just not clicking for me yet.

It's a good episode thanks to a great Nelix performance but the motivation of Jonas and my perception of the Kaizon being brawling misdemeanor criminals does not exactly fill me with suspense of Voyager being in any real danger.

Still No Trust for the Maquis

[daveozs · 7/10 · 15 February 2022]

When the Captain and Tuvok reveal their plan to flush out the traitor to Ckakotay, you can see how he hurt he was. They had to keep Chakotay in the dark, they said, because they weren't sure he could be impartial in an investigation of the Maquis. He points out that they did not trust him. There was no follow-up on this and no further mention of the deception. Paris made a joke about giving Chakotay a hard time and enjoying it at the end of the episode. Clearly there is still the rift between Federation and Maquis. I'm watching this in order for the first time, so I'd be curious if there is any fallout or further development out of this.

Solid episode, but Neelix annoys me and I still don't like Chakotay

[txriverotter · 4/10 · 22 June 2022]

This episode follows the arc of Jonas, the spy, who's trying to give Fédération technology to Seska and the Kazon, because he's sad-mad at Janeway for having integrity.

It also introduces us to Neelix's latest side job, reporter extraordinaire; in his mind anyway. He starts out with a daily "gossip rag" type video blog for the ship to keep up-to-date on all the goings on with the Voyager crew. He ends up sticking his nose in the middle of an investigation into the spy when he learns someone is leaving the ship, and he goes to Captain Janeway to find out who.

Later when Tuvok expressly tells him to butt out, he decides his "journalistic integrity" is more important (thanks a lot Harry Kim for feeding that delusion). The problem is, Neelix is not a journalist. He lucks into finding out the spy is Jonah because he happens to be back in engineering going thru the comm logs, and conveniently EVERY SINGLE OTHER engineering crew member is gone.

Which leads me to my main gripe, engineering always has at least 10-15 crew members working at various stations, except the night crew. But this episode, we've got two crew max, at all times, because that's what the plot requires when Jonah sends the one other crew member on an errand, leaving him and Neelix alone in engineering. Then presto-change-o, next episode all the crew members are back at their stations. Deus ex machina working hard.

I'm glad Neelix got to be the hero of this episode. What he did once he realized Jonah was up to no good, was both believable and heroic. And Ethan Phillips did a solid job throughout. I just wish they would've written him a little less annoying and come about it in a different way.

My second gripe is about Chakotay. He has the bad feels because it's finally been revealed to him there's a spy on the ship, and it's not Tom Paris. Tom's been acting out and left the ship as part of Tuvok's investigation into the spy, trying to draw that person out. Janeway and Tuvok explain that, because they suspected the spy was an ex-Maquis member, they didn't want to put Chakotay in a bad position, so they left him out. They also needed a good act with Paris' antagonizing Chakotay and him reacting.

Chakotay then accuses them of not trusting him. Which, of course, that's not the reason they didn't tell him, but it should be. Chakotay IS untrustworthy when it comes to Maquis. Take Seska, for example. And you can't wash that whole scenario away by saying it's "just because he loved her."

No; any time a Maquis is even questioned about anything, he becomes defensive. And the first thing Chakotay does after he learns of the current situation, is to point the finger at the engineering crew member who helped Neelix get into the comm logs and walked him thru how to find what he was looking for. This guy was an open book, just being helpful, but because the primary suspect is a Maquis, Chakotay wants to waive that and find a Federation crew member to blame.

Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of the Chakotay character anyway, and Robert Beltran is not a very good actor. But I don't think so. Chakotay is not open-minded when it comes to his ex-Maquis members. And for that reason, I think Tuvok made the wholly correct decision to advise Janeway to keep him out of the loop until it was necessary he know.