Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Ashes to Ashes (2000) User Reviews

Raising the dead

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 17 April 2010]

This episodes starts with an alien shuttle craft being attacked by a larger vessel, after escaping its pursuer the occupant contacts Voyager and claims to be Ensign Lyndsay Ballard, a crew member who died on an away mission three years before. After initial suspicions are dispelled by the Doctor they believe her; it turns out her body was found by the Kobali, a species that procreates by resurrecting the dead of other species then genetically altering them. While the genetic alterations can't be reversed the Doctor can give her treatment so that she at least looks like she did before. She tries to fit into Voyager's crew once more but finds herself reverting to a Kobali; occasionally speaking their language and forgetting her past. When the Kobali come looking for her they explain that normally those who are resurrected quickly forget their old lives a get on with their new ones. Lyndsay ops to stay with Voyager but the Kobali are willing to use force to take her back. Ultimately she must make a decision about where she really belongs. While this is going on there is also a subplot concerning Seven and the Borg children they rescued a few episodes before.

I really enjoyed the main story, even though there had been no mention of Lyndsay Ballard or her death in previous episodes. Guest star Kim Rhodes was really good in the role making be care about what happened to the character. I thought Harry acted a little bit too much out of character when he leapt to her defence, even suggesting destroying a Kobali ship. The secondary story concerning the Borg children was less interesting and just distracted me from the better main plot.

Seven of Nine has to deal with the new kids on the block.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 2 March 2015]

Apparently, three years before, Ensign Lyndsay Ballard (Kim Rhodes) died on a mission and her body was buried in space. Now, out of the blue, she returns to Voyager. However, she looks completely different--and it seems she's been through an odd ordeal. It seems some race brought her back to life and made her one of them--and she wants her old life instead. But she isn't exactly Ensign Ballard and her homecoming is less than perfect.

The other plot involves Seven of Nine playing nanny to the new Borg children on Voyager. While she can sing, she's no Frauline Maria and she is inflexible and lacks fun--things that make it hard to be with the kids. Can she learn to relax a bit and takes things less seriously or will she turn the kids back into drones?

This is a decent episode--well worth seeing. The best thing about it is the make-up, as the Ensign and other of her new kind are simply gorgeous and among the best looking aliens on any of the Trek shows.

By the way, if you are wondering, according to IMDb this is the only appearance of the Ensign Ballard character--so you didn't see her when she was supposedly on the ship three years earlier.

Uhhh?

[sloopnp · 7/10 · 25 August 2020]

So daddy comes back to pick up the daughter he loves by destroying the ship she's on? What if she's killed? Is destroying the people she obviously still cares about the way to her heart? That all aside. I enjoyed this episode. AMAZING job with the alien make-up!!! I always wondered if shooting dead bodies into space was a good idea.

It Had to Be

[Hitchcoc · 7/10 · 13 September 2018]

Sometimes this series raises moral dilemmas Of course, the only ones who concern themselves with death are the living. Here, Ensign Ballard, a beautiful, but average crew member, who was killed on an away mission, returns from the dead. It seems there is a race of re-animators in the galaxy that take the DNA of the dead of other planets and create them in their form. Ballard, with a little help from the Doc, returns to her previous self (except for the fact that everything human in her is gone), and rejoins the crew. Harry, who was in love with her, is elated. But there are issues that no one can solve. It's an interesting concept as we do more and more cloning. Will we be able to raise the dead?

Universal Translator not working?

[sholingdex · 12 September 2019]

Why doesn't the universal translator kick in when Ensign Ballard is speaking to B'Ellanna in engineering?

Suspension of disbelief when it comes to travelling faster that light and how relatively doesn't seem to suffer for it is one thing but c'mon

Kim Rhodes saves it

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 17 November 2023]

I think this one has a very interesting concept of an alien species. It works well with themes of identity crisis and individuals trying to go back to being someone who they once were.

One aspect that is more difficult to accept is the retconning of backstories to make it fit with what the writers want to do with the lead guest character and also her connection to Harry Kim.

Thankfully the guest character is very well performed by Kim Rhodes and because her scenes are engaging, I can forgive the reimagined Voyager narrative. Although, her intimacy with Harry Kim feels a bit implausible and forced into the story me. It does not help that Kim is portrayed as so awkward (romantically).

The subplot has some quite amusing moments. All the humour works, but the attempts at confrontation feel artificial to me.

Visually it is very good, particularly the make up. Although I think the idea of changing her back to human appearance via the Doctor's technobabble is a mistake.

An interesting start hamstrung by Voyager's endemically short-sighted writing.

[eyesofwrath · 6/10 · 18 March 2024]

Oh look, another Voyager episode with an interesting concept ruined by an abrupt third-act 180 because no event can have any meaning beyond the one episode in which it appears.

Kim Rhodes is excellent in her role and by far the most charismatic personality to appear in this entire series, and is squandered as everything she work stowards establishing between her and Harry is turned on its head for no good reason.

The B-plot suffers likewise. Seven has a problem in a single scene. Another character gives her one line of advice, and she takes the advice and the problem is solved. The end.

I read an anecdote from Ronald Moore (before he quit the series in frustration) in which he wrote flabbergasted comments in the margins of a script he was allowed to work on, lambasting the writers for betraying their audience with a meaningless reset-button scene at the end of the episode. "What's the point?" He said. "What are we working towards?"

Great question Ron.

The frequency with which this happens in the penultimate season has removed all hope I have for the rest of this show.

Back from the dead

[robin-t-booth-842-715532 · 9/10 · 16 November 2013]

A strong, character-driven episode in the best sense.

Lyndsay Ballard's struggles with her identity are both philosophically interesting and genuinely compelling - and her father's pleas for her return are portrayed sympathetically and understandably. Voyager's setting is a good backdrop for thought experiments - and this episode is presents the problem of identity after death effectively and succinctly.

In addition, Lyndsay's character design and the characteristics of her species are some of the most memorable and unique of the alien races encountered in Voyager.

Harry Kim also comes out of this episode well, with attention given to his emotional development.

We also see the beginnings of the Borg children's adaptation to life on Voyager. Seven's concept of 'fun' is amusing.

Harry gets some action

[ansarmustafa01 · 7/10 · 13 April 2021]

That's all I wanted to say.

Interesting episode. There's a race where Borg Queens are bred from the dead corpses of other races.

Oh and Harry get some action.

Kobali: The Race of the Borg Queens?

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 6 October 2013]

Lindsay Ballard had died during a Mission with Harry Kim, she was "Buried at Sea" by the crew of Voyager, fair and square.

But now she's coming back to Voyager and she is an Alien, a race named The Kobali.

In fact she very much looks like The Borg Queens - Except for the Ears.

A lot of Techno Blabble is created to explain how this happened, and if you take that into account, maybe we can surmise that The Borg had Assimilated this "Resurrection Technique".

But one thing went wrong when The Kobali resurrected Ballard, the memories of her old Life on Voyager were not deleted. So she escapes from home and finally comes back to Voyager after a couple of years of being dead.

At first, this young woman tries to become Human again, part of the Crew again. She had a list of things she had promised to do if she got back and she tries doing them.

But Hooman Food don't taste good anymore, and even her old Job in Engineering is not much of a Challenge. It's too easy. But she keeps trying. She even has The Doc make her back into a Hooman, at least in appearance.

She even tries to ignite a relationship with Harry. But nothing feels right, it's all different.

Her new "father" comes to get her, like any father, regardless of race or style of Procreation. He will not give her up.

Inevitably, we know she has to go back. Even the cosmetic changes Doc makes on her keep reverting.

It was as if she had to come back to Voyager to help her decide to stay with her new surrogate family. So not much can really be said about this episode, it explains itself as it goes.

But it is an important episode as it gives us a possible explanation as to why there can be Queen after Borg Queen, recreated after being Blown Up, Vaporized, or otherwise completely destroyed. And the Kobali sphere of Influence must intersect the Borg Sphere in a few places.

If you think of it, this episode elevated the Borg to Godlike Quality. If they have the DNA of every Drone they ever Assimilated, they can recreate those drones time after time.

And it is not really too far out, even Cosmologist Frank Tipler shows how this can be done in one of his books. Eventually the Human Race will have the ability to re-create any life form from it's saved DNA. In the case of The Borg, they don't even need physical Strands of the DNA, they have the patterns stored in their massive Memory. And I stopped NOT believing that something like this could be done a long time ago. Tipler calls this Theory part of the Omega Point Theory, and it's even a small part of it at that.

To me, it does not conflict with any Faith that believes in Resurrection, it confirms it. But when it comes down to it, Faith does not require knowing how something is done, just believing it CAN be done. Really, think about it: "God made the World and Mankind" does it really matter HOW?

A little science fiction is good to explore "How" theories, and that's all it is anyway, a Theory. Besides, even in this day and age, any Technology we cannot understand will appear as MAGIC (Or Miracle) to those who do not understand it, until it IS understood.

Lich King rescuing his minion

[baryxxx · 6/10 · 24 May 2021]

So, in this episode we find out that "Carpe Diem" was actually a Klingon battle cry.

Charismatic guest star.

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 12 February 2023]

I really like the performance and charisma of Kim Rhodes in the character of Ensign Ballard. This episode suffers from the tell don't show approach to plot development ----- if only --- if only 3 years ago we had an episode where we get to witness the death of Ensign Ballard then this episode would hit like a freight train.

If I was Janeway, I would have asked, "So, how do you overcome this whole dead for 2 weeks thing?" ---- I mean, why not ask right?

This is one of those episodes that feels constrained by the 45 minute run time ----- I want to see Harry and Ballard fall in love so that I can be truly punched in the gut by the end reveal of the episode.

With that said ---- This one scores major points for me with the creative idea of resurrection and exploring the duality of Ballards existence.

I swear, the twin borg drones were black? Ah, whatever. Our B-Plot is a cute glimpse into SO9 experiencing helicopter mom and anarchy mom strategies for child rearing. I wonder if witnessing child development would be hard on SO9? It must be comforting, right? Her BFF is Wildman.

Just Sort of Odd

[dafoat · 5/10 · 21 August 2019]

We're asked to invest in Harry's connection to a character who has never been seen or mentioned before. And Janeway has to be reminded about an away mission that killed one of her crew. It always felt like the only people on Voyager with real lives were the primary characters. The rest of the crew were basically just mute, wandering around in the background. Unless of course one of them was needed to become a plot device for a single episode like this one.

Voyager the slowest ship in the Galaxy

[Hughmanity · 5/10 · 21 February 2021]

A former crewman whom Voyager thought was dead theee years ago returns in alien form, resurrected by the Kobali. The problem is she returns in a shuttle craft that she stole six months earlier.

So despite Voyager doing warp 9 for three years and taking some trans warp short cuts supposedly shaving many years off their journey, someone who was left for dead three years ago manages to catch up in a shuttle craft in just six months?? Janeway apparently doesn't think to wonder or ask about this.

Add to that the Kobali themselves showing up in "Dad's" ship, and when Janeway says she's not giving up Lindsay, he says "when I come back I won't be alone" and sure enough seemingly minutes later he's back with more ships to overwhelm Voyager.

Do the Kobali know how to do Warp 100 or something? Why doesn't Janeway ever ask about this? Seems like something Voyager would be interested in so they could, you know, complete their journey home in their lifetime.

The secondary plot of Seven dealing with the Borg brats is overly simplistic and lacks any intrigue or suspense.

This episode had some potential with the question of life after death and memory vs nurture. Also the question of why Janeway sent Lindsay on the away mission where she died was interesting but unresolved. Instead it just overwhelmed me with too much suspension of disbelief and disappointment.

Do we really need TWO?

[hayabusa-1 · 3/10 · 4 September 2021]

Did Star trek Voyager really need two one-time appearance backstory characters who are never referenced before or again?

Lyndsay Ballard and Ensign Jetal could have easily been combined into one character and both stories played out in the same episode. Every time I watch "Ashes to Ashes" it feels like a rehashing of "Latent Image".

Random female ensign that we've never seen or heard of before has died off screen in the past. Random ensign for plot-convivence is retroactively made a friend of Harry Kim. We deal with the aftermath and consequences of the death in the episode, and then the random ensign is never again mentioned on the show.

It seems this episode was made just for Tom Paris to add "dead girl" to the list of "hologram", "the wrong twin", and "Borg drone" in the list of unattainable women Harry Kim falls for.

Decent but forgettable

[twanster-97655 · 3/10 · 30 March 2021]

If they'd used a character that we actually knew then maybe this episode would have had merit, sadly tho they all need reminding about a fatal away mission and we are introduced to a new character that's apparently an old character who died... Ontop of this the universal translator fails to work from time to time and we have to believe a father would destroy the shop with his kid on board.. As much as trek stretched the imagination, I find it particularly silly that an advanced species has no way of reproducing.. Given that even our time right now we are capable of creating life using nothing but an egg and soerm donor.. Yet this advanced race that are a threat to our advanced voyager have to hunt space for dead people to reproduce.. Just abit silly and goofy.

The only thing good about this episode...

[kiddokidd · 3/10 · 9 September 2020]

The only thing good about this episode... Is Seven of Nine's interactions with the children. Even that couldn't redeem another boring and implausible Ensign Kim episode though.

Voyager: The Kindergarten Tales Episode x

[gongpongwong · 3/10 · 7 March 2022]

Another one of the fast-forward-episodes. This time starring the Borg brats and bland Harry Kim. This is stuff that I really do not need to see in Star Trek.

This is just my strongly biased opinion of course, leaving out the deeper aspects of this episode.

There's life in the old dog yet

[tomsly-40015 · 5/10 · 24 January 2024]

Another one of those episodes that makes you google the central character because you think you've missed an episode or are slowly becoming senile. And then you realize that the writers have once again come up with a completely new crew member that you've never seen before (like in the episode "Latent Image"). And even worse: this crew member is then attributed with profound plot elements. For example that she has been a close friend of Harry Kim since they were at the academy together.

The big weak point of Voyager is, that although 150 crew members are crammed into a sardine can for seven years, only 9 of them are in focus. The nameless rest is only allowed to walk through the corridors or sit in the mess hall as extras. To this day, for example, the doctor has not managed to find a replacement for Kes in sickbay. With Paris, one of the main characters also has to serve as a nurse. Other blue, yellow and red shirts are only allowed on away missions when someone is needed to bite the dust. One wonders why Voyager has such a large crew when literally everything that happens in the series is done by Janeway, Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris, Kim, Torres, Neelix, Seven and the doctor. Even characters who get a little screen time every now and then, like Vorik or ensign Wildman (Naomi's mother), are only seen sporadically.

The story of the episode itself isn't bad at all. Lyndsay, this woman in question, who apparently hid on the ship for 6 years and then died in an off-screen mission, was resurrected by a species who then genetically modified her into their own species - the only way for them to reproduce. Since you have absolutely no connection to this woman as a viewer, it is completely irrelevant in the end whether she is alive or not, whether she is human or not and whether Kim gets his second chance or not. If you had already gotten to know this person in the previous episodes, you would have been able to grasp the moral conflict: whether this woman is the same as she once was or a newborn being who only has some memories of her former past.

And why does the universal translator sometimes translate foreign languages and sometimes not? It translates everything this woman's so-called father says in Kobali. But if Lyndsay speaks a mix of English and Kobali, it won't be translated properly. In addition: How does the translator actually manage to translate nested sentences simultaneously even though you can't yet tell what the speaker actually wants to say? And why is it even lip-synced at the end? Questions upon questions...