Episode cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Kate Mulgrew | ... | Capt. Kathryn Janeway | |
Robert Beltran | ... | Cmdr. Chakotay | |
Roxann Dawson | ... | Lt. B'Elanna Torres (as Roxann Biggs-Dawson) | |
Jennifer Lien | ... | Kes | |
Robert Duncan McNeill | ... | Lt. Tom Paris | |
Ethan Phillips | ... | Neelix | |
Robert Picardo | ... | The Doctor | |
Tim Russ | ... | Lt. Tuvok | |
Garrett Wang | ... | Ensign Harry Kim | |
Cari Shayne | ... | Eliann | |
Deborah May | ... | Lyris | |
Patrick Fabian | ... | Taymon | |
Kelli Kirkland | ... | Rinna | |
Kristanna Loken | ... | Malia (as Kristanna S. Loken) | |
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Christopher Carroll | ... | Alben |
Ensign Kim, while experiencing bizarre DNA changes, instinctively leads Voyager to an all-female planet whose inhabitants claim him as a member of their race who is ritualistically returning home. When his welcome seems too good to be true, Kim loses contact with Voyager and begins to uncover the aliens' true intention. Written by Meribor
A TOS or early TNG episode. I respect both series, but it's hard to deny they had some very cheesy locations with decidedly hammy extras/guests with a contrived low-budget concept, episodes that felt exactly like what they were -- odd little flights of fantasy taking place on a sound stage rather than compelling sci-fi. The location felt especially suffocating and claustrophobic, because it was too easily seen as a sound stage; this only accentuated the awareness there were only a dozen members of this "race," all moving around a rather undifferentiated set. It just felt cheap. I know the Star Treks series were all on budgets, but these episodes only heightened the sense of low-budget uninspired storytelling. Good writing and good direction can -- as many superior episodes of various Star Trek series have demonstrated very well -- overcome a low budget. But neither of these could be found here.
Speaking of the writing, it was overwhelming predictable almost from the moment they set foot on the planet. The ceremony, specifically what was done to the guy and the effort made to write a line of dialogue explaining it, just screamed out the ending. That was just clumsy and poor writing. I read in the Trivia section that this is the final episode of a run of three episodes that fans consider terrible, and I agree the previous two weren't particularly great ("Rise" wasn't terrible, though, imho) but this one was clearly on an entire lower tier than the other two. They don't deserve to be lumped with "Favorite Son." Not the worst episode of Voyager, but pretty far down there.