Star Trek: Voyager Season 4
SPOILERS TOTAL. You've been warned.
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401: Scorpion, Part II 1997 September 3
(First watched 2007-01-17)
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402: The Gift 1997 September 10
(First watched 2007-01-17)
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403: Day of Honor 1997 September 17
(First watched 2007-01-28)
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404: Nemesis 1997 September 24
(First watched 2007-02-04) The non-standard manner of speech (nullify for kill, fathom for see, wayafter for afterlife, sphere for planet, and so on) used by the people on the planet was interesting, in that it truly made them seem a different culture. However, it doesn't feel right that the universal translator would do that for these people, while all other languages get translated to sounding "normal". Chakotay seems a bit of a hypocrite, talking about how where he comes from they try to find peaceful solutions instead of fighting... dude, you were captain of a Maquis vessel! You made it your job to fight a losing battle!
Far before the episode was over, there was a an obvious "twist" that seemed to be coming. Though my theory turned out to be half right... it then blindsided me with another twist. Well done. Really a very good episode. Interesting to see Chakotay assimilate into this new group, even if it took yet another freaking shuttle crash for him to end up in that situation.
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(First watched 2007-02-09) The Doctor and Torres try to help a crazy hologram, with a B-story about Harry getting to know and crushing on Seven. Not bad. Voyager has its faults, but it is good at issues of artificial and quasi-human life forms.
Speaking of artificial and quasi-human life forms, Tuvok got promoted to Lieutenant Commander.
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(First watched 2007-02-17)
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407: Scientific Method 1997 October 29
(First watched 2007-02-19) Not bad. Mysterious problem (as always) requiring some subterfuge by the Doctor and Seven to figure anything out was interesting. The visuals of the out-of-phase devices being used to experiment on the crew were great. I have a feeling the writer of this episode isn't a fan of laboratory animal testing. I loved the scene with Chakotay and Neelix trying to outdo the other with claims of how debilitated they'd become.
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408: Year of Hell, Part I 1997 November 5
(First watched 2007-02-19) So awesome. I feel a reset button press coming on, but so what. Timeship meddling with history, Voyager FINALLY taking visible massive damage in battles that go on for months... big things. Seeing the regular sets in such disrepair, it's clear a lot of work went into this episode. Finally we see the dangers to a ship that's totally isolated. It's the big things like that that make it clear they're totally going to reset things, though.
From a story standpoint it's fun how they used the time changes to make things worse for Voyager. In the original timeline, Kes had given them some information about how they could protect themselves months prior, but after the time shift they no longer had this information. They FINALLY come to the solution on their own after several months and the ship being battered to hell, and almost immediately it causes them to miss the next time shift, which probably would have put them back in good shape with none of it having happened at all. Instead they're left with the ship in shitty shape and time meddlers out to get them.
I like the villains, too. On the one hand they don't seem personally nasty, but they're also literally erasing multiple species from history in order to make the universe in the image they desire.
The First Contact reference is plain good fun. Though it is seeming increasingly goofy that Seven seems to retain knowledge of everything the Borg knew... plain physical reality makes that impossible.
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409: Year of Hell, Part II 1997 November 12
(First watched 2007-02-20) In short, the greatness of the first part continues.
As far as time travel and crazy people meddling with large populations to fulfill their own desires, this two-parter pretty much eats Generations. There's even a happy ending for all, including the villains.
It does seem goofy that destroying the time weapon ship reversed all the changes, though. Except... things WERE slightly different in the end. If things had gone back to as they were originally, wouldn't the weapon ship just be created as it did originally, and everything would loop? At the end we see an indication that it's still in the process of being created... so hell, maybe this does all loop endlessly.
At the very end, though, the name "Krenim" didn't seem to ring any bells for Voyager. In this end timeline, did they no longer have the warning from Kes months prior?
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410: Random Thoughts 1997 November 19
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411: Concerning Flight 1997 November 26
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412: Mortal Coil 1997 December 17
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413: Waking Moments 1998 January 14
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414: Message in a Bottle 1998 January 21
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415: Hunters 1998 February 11
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416: Prey 1998 February 18
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417: Retrospect 1998 February 25
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418: The Killing Game, Part I 1998 March 4
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419: The Killing Game, Part II 1998 March 4
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421: The Omega Directive 1998 April 15
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422: Unforgettable 1998 April 22
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423: Living Witness 1998 April 29
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426: Hope and Fear 1998 May 20
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