This episode is arguably one of the best episodes of the series. Although Voyager lags behind Deep Space 9 in terms of its overarching storyline and character development, there are still surprising highlights that, viewed on their own, have an excellent and profound plot. When I think about the movie "Insurrection", I always wonder how this shallow and boring story made it to the big screen when gems like this episode could have been filmed instead. This episode could have easily been adapted 1:1 for the crew of the Enterprise. What could have become of this episode if it had been visually more cinematic and the individual storylines had been given more time to build up the plot.
Interestingly, the series "The Orville" aired a fairly similar copy of this episode with "Mad Idolatry" in 2017. The parallels cannot be overlooked: a planetary civilization that advances by centuries in a matter of moments, the initial worship of the space-faring strangers as gods, the leaving behind of a life form on the planet that is unaffected by time, and the eventual contact with the then even more advanced civilization. A worthy tribute to this episode.
The fascinating thing about this episode is that you can watch in fast motion how primitive cave dwellers develop into a technologically advanced civilization, while only a few hours pass for the observers in space. No less thought-provoking is the fact that Voyager itself initiated and influenced this development by being the reason for all the explorers on the planet to set out for the stars themselves. The scene when the planet's astronauts finally set foot on Voyager and time seems to stand still around them is excellently implemented cinematically for the time when the episode was filmed and impressively shows how much the different time zones differ from each other.
Unfortunately, nothing was shown and little information was given about the doctor's visit to the planet, which lasted only a few minutes for Voyager, but lasted three years for him. Apparently he had both a wife and something like a son of his own during this time. If you then imagine that in just a few minutes after he returned to Voyager this family will already be deceased, then you suddenly realize how small, short and insignificant the life of an individual is compared to the development of an entire species.
It would be interesting to see what happened to this civilization after Voyager was gone for a few weeks and a few months. At the rate this civilization is developing, it should be superior to every other species in the Alpha quadrant by then - or have wiped itself out in a global war with weapons of mass destruction.
Interestingly, the series "The Orville" aired a fairly similar copy of this episode with "Mad Idolatry" in 2017. The parallels cannot be overlooked: a planetary civilization that advances by centuries in a matter of moments, the initial worship of the space-faring strangers as gods, the leaving behind of a life form on the planet that is unaffected by time, and the eventual contact with the then even more advanced civilization. A worthy tribute to this episode.
The fascinating thing about this episode is that you can watch in fast motion how primitive cave dwellers develop into a technologically advanced civilization, while only a few hours pass for the observers in space. No less thought-provoking is the fact that Voyager itself initiated and influenced this development by being the reason for all the explorers on the planet to set out for the stars themselves. The scene when the planet's astronauts finally set foot on Voyager and time seems to stand still around them is excellently implemented cinematically for the time when the episode was filmed and impressively shows how much the different time zones differ from each other.
Unfortunately, nothing was shown and little information was given about the doctor's visit to the planet, which lasted only a few minutes for Voyager, but lasted three years for him. Apparently he had both a wife and something like a son of his own during this time. If you then imagine that in just a few minutes after he returned to Voyager this family will already be deceased, then you suddenly realize how small, short and insignificant the life of an individual is compared to the development of an entire species.
It would be interesting to see what happened to this civilization after Voyager was gone for a few weeks and a few months. At the rate this civilization is developing, it should be superior to every other species in the Alpha quadrant by then - or have wiped itself out in a global war with weapons of mass destruction.