Mortal Coil

Episode aired Dec 17, 1997
TV-PG
46m

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

YOUR RATING

Jeri Ryan and Ethan Phillips in Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

Action Adventure Drama Sci-Fi Thriller

Thanks to Seven of Nine, Neelix returns from the dead, but his lack of a glimpse of the afterlife brings about a severe crisis of faith.Thanks to Seven of Nine, Neelix returns from the dead, but his lack of a glimpse of the afterlife brings about a severe crisis of faith.Thanks to Seven of Nine, Neelix returns from the dead, but his lack of a glimpse of the afterlife brings about a severe crisis of faith.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.8/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

User reviews17

Featured review

7/10

Good Neelix and Seven of Nine episode

Neelix is brought back from the dead after 18 hours and has a major existential crisis.

This is one of the better episodes focussed around the character.

There are some very good moments of a person in crisis and it is relevant to the anguish many people go through when in this frame of mind. Although the loss of faith is a big theme, it does not just relate to a crisis of faith, but any moment of clarity in a lifetime that causes you to question your own self-worth, purpose, and ask yourself what is the point of it all? This can often lead to dangerous times such as portrayed here. This is a worthwhile topic to be covered and it's commendable of the writers to do it. Ethan Phillips pulls it off with a quite tortured performance.

The episode also has same good scenes involving another character (Seven) just discovering her self worth amongst the crew and these are enjoyable. Jeri Ryan is great as always.

There are some sci-fi details that are a bit of a stretch. I wonder if Seven's technique will ever be used again in near death situations or will it conveniently disappear into the archives of episodic television. I also do not recall Neelix's faith appearing to have held this level of importance until this episode.

snoozejonc
Apr 19, 2023
Permalink

Trivia
It is mentioned that Ktarians, like Klingons, are prone to growing faster than humans. This is the show's way of explaining how Naomi Wildman has grown so much despite being born only a year and a half earlier. The reason Klingons are mentioned is because this was also the case in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987), when Worf's son Alexander appeared (played by a 5-6 year old actor) less than two years after being conceived. Alexander later appeared again in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993) as a young adult warrior, despite the character being roughly 10-11 chronological years old.

Goofs
When Thomas Paris uses the "spoon and glass method" to get the attention of everyone gathered in the mess hall, he holds stemware by its rim. Any type of glass held by its rim can not give off that kind of pure ringing tone.

Quotes
Seven of Nine: The Borg encountered a Kazon colony in the Gand Sector, grid 6920.
Neelix: Were they assimilated?
Seven of Nine: Their biological and technological distinctiveness was unremarkable. They were unworthy of assimilation.
Neelix: I didn't realize the Borg were so discriminating.
Seven of Nine: Why assimilate a species that would detract from perfection?