Vis À Vis (1 Apr. 1998)

Bored with his daily routine, Tom Paris finds a refreshing friendship with a visiting alien willing to share a new method of propulsion with Voyager. Unwittingly, Tom finds trouble when his... See full summary »

Director:

Jesús Salvador Treviño

Writers:

Gene Roddenberry, Rick Berman (creator),

Stars:

Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Kate Mulgrew	...	Captain Kathryn Janeway / Steth
Robert Beltran	...	Chakotay
Roxann Dawson	...	B'Elanna Torres
Robert Duncan McNeill	...	Tom Paris / Captain Kathryn Janeway / Steth
Ethan Phillips	...	Neelix
Robert Picardo	...	The Doctor
Tim Russ	...	Tuvok
Jeri Ryan	...	Seven of Nine
Garrett Wang	...	Harry Kim
Dan Butler	...	Steth / Tom Paris
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn	...	Daelen / Steth

Storyline

Bored with his daily routine, Tom Paris finds a refreshing friendship with a visiting alien willing to share a new method of propulsion with Voyager. Unwittingly, Tom finds trouble when his new friend swaps bodies and delivers him to authorities ready to charge Tom with the aliens' crimes. Meanwhile, the alien in Tom's body makes waves in Tom's personal and professional relationships on Voyager.

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Plot Keywords:

24th century

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Details

Release Date:

1 April 1998 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Television

Did You Know?

Trivia

Actress Roxann Dawson (B'Elanna Torres) was in her final stages of pregnancy when filming this episode, and so all her camera shots here are carefully shot from the waist up to hide this (although in the scene in her quarters where Tom shows her the golf club, she bends down briefly and her full torso is momentarily visible, revealing that she is indeed quite pregnant).

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Goofs

While unknowingly talking to Steth (in Paris' body), Ensign Kim mentions having a golf match with Ensign Kaplan. Unfortunately, however, she was killed the previous season in "Unity".

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Paris is working under an old Camero when the Doctor arrives and activates the car's horn]
Tom Paris: Ah! Ah!
[crawls out]
Tom Paris: What do you think you're doing, Doc?
The Doctor: An impromptu auditory exam.
Tom Paris: Did I pass?
The Doctor: With flying colors.

User Reviews

Body swapping

Feeling somewhat bored of his routine aboard Voyager Tom has been avoiding his voluntary time helping in sick bay and has retreated into the holodeck where he is running a program simulating the repair of an old car. He regains interest in real life when an alien ship with an advance propulsion system turns up needing help to repair his engine. Tom asks if he can be assigned to helping Steth, the Alien pilot. The two of them quickly become friends and Steth invites Tom to join him on his travels. There is something strange about Steth though; he keeps changing appearance but only briefly when nobody is looking at him. We learn what he is up to when he is preparing to leave; he does something to Tom which causes them to swap appearances. He then stuns Tom and sends him away on his ship before returning to Voyager where he attempts to take over Tom's life. His friends think he is acting some what strangely but as he'd been somewhat withdrawn before Steth's arrival it is just assumed Tom is just distracted. Meanwhile when Tom wakes up he finds himself in a strange body being confronted by an alien fleet which is chased off by an alien woman claiming that Tom is actually in her body which was stolen over a year before. With this new alien Tom returns to Voyager where he must convince the crew that he really is Tom Paris.

This was a good enough stand alone episode centred on Tom and Steth, you certainly don't have to watch the series regularly to enjoy this episode. For regular viewers it may seem odd that Tom has suddenly got withdrawn when he seemed to happy enough with his position on the ship.