B'Elanna's discovery of a holonovel projecting a Maquis takeover of Voyager enthralls the crew, but a hidden edit could kill its mystery author.B'Elanna's discovery of a holonovel projecting a Maquis takeover of Voyager enthralls the crew, but a hidden edit could kill its mystery author.B'Elanna's discovery of a holonovel projecting a Maquis takeover of Voyager enthralls the crew, but a hidden edit could kill its mystery author.
- Lt. B'Elanna Torres
- (as Roxann Biggs-Dawson)
- Operations Division Crewman
- (uncredited)
- Science Division Officer
- (uncredited)
- Security Guard
- (uncredited)
- Lt. Ayala
- (uncredited)
- Crewman O'Donnell
- (uncredited)
- Science Division Officer
- (uncredited)
- Ensign Brooks
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaTowards the end of the episode, suggestions of "a western" and "a detective story" are made by the crew in the mess hall. Both were running gags on the Enterprise holodecks of Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987).
- GoofsSeska left the ship around stardate 48658.2 (in State of Flux (1995)) but, according to Torres, Seska modified the holo-program on stardate 48671.
- Quotes
Captain Janeway: [on Tuvok's refusal to continue his unfinished holo-novel] I'm more than just a captain. I'm the leader of a community, and communities need entertainment, culture, creative outlets. Since we're not exactly privy to every new piece of music or holo-novel that's written back home, I think it's only natural that we should start creating our own.
Commander Chakotay: Besides, Tuvok, if the crew doesn't get an ending, you may have a real mutiny on your hands.
Not only is it interesting to see the various scenarios play out like a super fancy video game, we get a real, grounded version of the holodeck instead of the magical cure-all it's normally used as.
When the popularity of the novel spreads to the crew, wet blanket Tuvok wants to shut it down until Voyager's own Bart Simpson - Tom Paris - convinces him otherwise. From there, the episode seems like it's going to take another interesting turn in which Paris and Tuvok debate how to approach writing the rest of their holonovel. Thinly veiled, but it's always nice when the writers get to have a voice on the show of their own. So Tuvok opens up the re-write file and then...
Voyager.
So many interesting episodes up to this point on the show have been ruined by quick fixes, deus ex machina, or the Doctor completely fabricating science that never existed before just to end the episode. This one had so much potential until the insufferable Seska takes control of the holodeck and the whole ship.
Wait, isn't she dead? Yep, for a year now. But hell hath no fury like a Cardassian woman posing as a Bajoran woman scorned, as Seska planned a little bit of revenge on her ex-boyfriend Chakotay and his new friends. Eventually.
What was interesting prior to the "stakes" is that there were no stakes in this episode. Just fictional characters in a fictional setting having very real conversations about temptation, ship gossip, creative approaches and what equates to cabin fever.
Disappointing, as the stakes aren't really stakes - you know Paris and Tuvok aren't going to die, so what's the point? We've seen this story literally hundreds of times on various Star Trek series, but so rarely have we seen our characters just being people for a whole episode. Maybe it's unfair to judge the show by 2013 standards instead of those of 1997, but it just hurts to see them get so close to something great before deciding to take the easy way out.
Probably a 7/10, but bringing back the intolerable Seska long after her death knocks it down a point.
- popkiller
- Jul 26, 2013
Details
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3