When will Voyager get a writer to give the series a compelling villain? First we had the Kazon, a rather paltry group of gangs that offered nothing more than another version of the Klingons and nothing tangible or novel. The Vidiians were better, but very 1 dimensional in their purpose. There was a moment of story with The Doctor and Vidiian he fell in love with, but that ultimately had one episode and it was over and done. Annorax from Year of Hell in my opinion is probably the best one yet. His purpose had practical meaning, something you could get behind and understand. There was a sense of dread and the idea that Voyager may be way over their head (which they were). It was relegated to a two part episode, and that seems to be the end.
Now enter the Hirogen, a copy of Predator on a low budget. They are ... tall. They are... strong. They are... wearing masks. They... take trophies. There is nothing of value to these villains. They are not scary. They are not menacing. They are simply a vehicle that Voyager must maneuver around. They get in the way, and nothing more than that. They have nothing of value to the plot, to the story, to anything that matters, other than another villain the Voyager crew must out maneuver.
Where are the Dukhat's of this series? Where are the Duras Sisters? Where are the Khans? Everything we seem to get villain wise is just some awkward menace.
What makes this episode better than 1 star are the letters from home. I was a lot more interested in that over anything the Hirogen had to offer. There were some dark revelations and even some tie ins to DS9. If only the writers of Voyager could have written a story that would have introduced the Hirogen in a more organic way over, "We got letters from home. Happy times. Sad Times. HIROGEN!!" What if the Hirogen represented a distraction from home? What if these were say an offshoot of the Maquis that would bring the crew off balance. Nope. HIROGEN!
Watch for the letters. Skip the rest.
