Episode Review - Fury (Voyager, Season 6)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here.

Overview – Janeway confronts Tuvok over discovering a great secret, his birthday. As she presents him with a cake, they are called to the bridge. A ship is approaching, and it is soon revealed to be piloted by a much older Kes. She requests to come aboard. When they drop the shields, Kes rams her vessel into Voyager, boards the ship, and cuts a destructive swath on her way to engineering. She taps into the power of the warp core, killing Torres in the process, and transports five years back in time. The older Kes assumes a younger persona and incapacitates her younger self. She then enacts a plan to betray Voyager to the Vidians. During this, Tuvok experiences telepathic premonitions of the future, including former Borg crew and a child that hasn’t been born yet. While Janeway and her crew attempt to bring Voyager through a Vidian trap unscathed, Kes enacts her plan of betrayal in an attempt to rescue her younger self from a traumatic future.

Score: 6/10 – I have very mixed feelings about this episode. I loved the character of Kes, especially her abilities mixed with a sense of sweetness and innocence. I was very sad when she left the ship and the show and was excited to hear that she would return in the sixth season. What we were given, unfortunately, was an angry, vengeful Kes that was willing to kill everyone she used to think of as family to spare her younger self being abandoned. While this story does have some promise, and it is quite exciting in a lot of ways, I couldn’t help but feel that it came up short in the execution of the story. Lots of inconsistencies (which we will get to later) which left me wondering what was happening. Normally I found actress Jennifer Lien to be very good, and she had some great moments here, but there were some scenes that left me scratching my head, wondering why they made the choices they did. Mostly, I wanted this episode to bring some good closure to Kes, and in a way they accomplished that. I would be lying if I said I was satisfied by the ending, however. When I saw this episode for the first time, I legitimately felt that I would have preferred “The Gift” as the final goodbye for Kes. I almost wish that “Fury” had not been made at all. Still, there are good points in it, and I do find some strengths in the story. There are good acting scenes with Jennifer Lien, and we get a nice jaunt down memory lane. I would say that the biggest detractor for me in this episode is the temporal paradox it causes which just weakens the story for me. If Janeway, Tuvok, and Kes knew what was going to happen, could they not have prepared Kes better for leaving? That, of course, would have changed the future, and then Kes would never have gone back in time, therefor Janeway and the others would not know what would happen, and then Kes would have left unprepared, come back all bitter and evil, and…oh, my head spins. I guess the best way to enjoy this episode is to try to not put too much thought into it.

Relevance – 3 points. When Kes goes back in time, she encounters the Doctor, who discusses his quest for a name. He mentions “Schweitzer” as a possible name. That is the name he chooses for himself during his mission in the holodeck for the episode “Heroes and Demons”. There is also the case to be made that this wraps up the story for Kes and shows that her leaving in “The Gift” leads her to a dark place. There are several blasts from the past, including Ensign Wildman’s pregnancy and Joe Carey. In fact, this is a nice little trip down memory lane that ties up a few questions. Included in this is how Wildman’s pregnancy seems to be so long. Naomi being half-Katarian is a good explanation for it.

Continuity – 0 points. OK, here is where things start to fall apart for the episode. One of the risks associated with time travel episodes is the paradoxes that arise from it, and continuity in this episode seems to have been left by the wayside. Let’s start with character continuity. Yes, I know that Kes has been gone from Voyager for three years, and things can happen to cause someone to go into a bit of dark place, but with no explanation given other than a throwaway line there does not seem to be a reason that Kes would go from giving her crew a gift of taking a full decade off of their voyage to causing their deaths. I have to deduct a point for character continuity for that. Even if that wasn’t enough, there was the opening sequence with Janeway and Tuvok. Janeway had mentioned that Tuvok would soon hit the three-digit age (100), and yet in previous episodes it has been established that Tuvok was already over 100 years old. You would think someone as close to Tuvok as Janeway is would know his age. Story continuity is also an issue here. At the beginning of the episode Tuvok was a lieutenant commander, a promotion he received in the fourth season. Kes travels back to a time during the first season, and Tuvok is still wearing the commander’s pip. Plus, Janeway tells evil Kes that she has already traveled back 3 years in time, while in reality she traveled back 5 years. For universe continuity there is the issue of Kes being able to transport across Voyager’s shields, which has long been established as being impossible. Much of these inconsistencies are due to lazy or careless writing and editing, and therefor could have been avoided. Too bad.

Character Development – 3 points. Since Kes was a fulltime cast member, and since in the credits she is listed as “Also Starring”, I can continue to count her towards character development. There will definitely be strong development for her character as she is run through the gambit of emotions. It is interesting to see the elder Kes show a conflicting range of emotions towards her former crewmates. I especially found the scenes with Neelix particularly intriguing. It is them that she seems to show the most regret for her actions as she is treated with such kindness that Neelix was well known for. She shows her own fury as well, though I think she could have gone more dark-side at times. Janeway and Tuvok both are given some interesting development, as they have held a secret for several years about Kes (although why they didn’t try to help her avoid this state of bitterness before I do not know). I also appreciated the bit of closure they provided Neelix in this episode. I always felt that he had carried the torch for Kes for a long time, and this is when he could truly say his goodbye to his former love. So, whether you like the development of Kes or not, you cannot deny that full marks are earned for this category.

Social Commentary – 2 points. Kes comes back to Voyager, blaming them for abandoning her even though it was her choice to leave. She sends a message to herself reminding her that regardless of whatever hardships she encountered afterwards, she was the own who made the choice. This reflects something that is common with many of us. When we encounter hardships, we look at everything around us for something or someone to blame. What we should be doing is giving ourselves a close examination to see what our choices have contributed to the state we are in. This is not to say that when people experience trials because of the actions of others that it is the victim’s fault, nor can we expect a person to fully predict the future outcome of all our choices. For example, I would never expect a rape victim to shoulder the blame for what happened. Instead, I am talking about blaming people for things that they really had no control over or intent towards. If Janeway knew what would happen to Kes when she left (and of course, here is the temporal paradox, because if she did know, would she not have better prepared Kes before sending her off?) would she have let her go? OK, the temporal paradox that this episode leaves us with is messing with this category, so let me sum up with the thought that we should not always have to find someone to blame for our troubles, even ourselves. Sometimes, we just have to accept that bad things do happen, and we should move on from it.

Cool Stuff – 2 points. I did like seeing things back when Voyager started. A little hello from Joe Carrey, and the last glimpse at Samantha Wildman in the series was nice. I liked how many of the cast were able to tap into their earlier selves, and that itself is cool. I also liked the Viddian captain. If his voice sounded familiar, it was because he was portrayed by Vaughn Armstrong, one of his hundreds (OK, only a dozen) characters in the franchise.

Rank – Captain (16 points). Yeah, an episode that I am not too found of still manages to obtain the rank of Captain. As I said earlier, the episode has a lot going for it. The frustrating temporal paradox really weakens the episode for me, but it still has intrigue and suspense. Even though it is ranked high enough to be a Captain, I get why some may want to skip this episode. I do it sometimes.

If you would like to read other reviews from Star Trek: Voyager, click on the link here.

If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.

Episode Review - Northstar (Enterprise, Season 3)

For those who are new to my episode reviews, you can find the post where I establish my point criteria here

Overview – While searching the Delphic expanse the crew of the Enterprise discover a planet that has a colony of humans that live in a late nineteenth century American wild west society. They live among a smaller group of aliens, called Skagarans, or “Skags” as many humans call them. Archer learns that the Skagarans kidnapped several humans from the United States west to serve as slave labor for a new colony. The humans revolted and overthrew their captors, and since then the humans have formed a society that treats Skagarans as second-class citizens. Archer befriends Bethany, a teacher in the community who teaches Skagaran children. Archer soon becomes entangled with the local law enforcement and soon confronts the citizens of North Star with the truth of their home world.

Score: 8/10 – I have to say that a good old fashioned wild west episode is a lot of fun. One of Star Trek’s (and science fiction’s in general) strengths is the ability to interact with different genres. The concept is intriguing and is not the first time we learn that humans from Earth’s past have been abducted by aliens (Voyager’s second season opener “The 37s” being another notable example). While some of the North Star residents seem to be taken right out of the western genre’s cookie cutter, they are still developed with some real humanity. While the blatantly racist deputy Bennings is two-dimensional, the characters of Bethany and Sherriff MacReady are given some good depth. This is especially true of Sherriff MacReady, played brilliantly by Glenn Morshower (in his fifth Trek appearance). We see a man who seems to feel that the law must be upheld, but secretly hides some sympathy for the “Skags”. When he is shown that humans have come from Earth and have overcome many of their past prejudices, he is open-minded enough to reconsider many of the anti-Skagaran laws. Some of the editing of scenes in this episode is a bit clunky, but overall the episode is well shot and a lot of fun. One other complaint is the make-up of the Skagarans. In the opening scene it is difficult to see that the man being hung is indeed different from the humans due to the dark lighting. Afterwards, in better lighting, the difference is more noticeable, but the makeup could have been more noteworthy.

Relevance - 0 points. Looking at how the Xindi arc ends Season 3, and that Season 4 ends, there is no further mention of the inhabitants of this planet. I hope that Archer remembered to inform Starfleet about this colony, but we do not hear anything about it. It’s unfortunate, but sometimes that is the nature of good episodes.

Continuity – 3 points. Character continuity checks out as nobody doers anything unexpected. There is a part in one of the gun fights near the end where a townsmen grabs T’Pol and holds a gun to her head, telling Malcom Reed to drop his weapon or T’Pol will die. Reed takes a second to assess the situation and stuns T’Pol with his phaser, taking her out of the equation. Good old practical Malcom Reed. Universe continuity is also good as we have already established that aliens have been known to kidnap humans pre-warp drive. Finally, story continuity is also good. There were a few editing choices that made the story a bit rough at time, but everything progressed as we would expect it to.

Character Development – 2 points. It is quite interesting to see many of the characters interact in the old west. Tucker is a bit awkward with horses, and Archer seems to have fit easily in the scenario. Mostly we see Archer throwing himself into the mix to right a wrong that was being perpetuated among the Skagarans. He seems to be able to think well on his feet. So while we see many of our characters get some attention, nobody gets any real significant development. Enough for 2, but not 3 points.

Social Commentary – 3 points. The Skagarans were created to provide a parallel to the way Native Americans were treated in the old west. The story does work with that, but the Skagaran situation brings the idea of racism to the forefront. In this story, there is a valid reason for humans to have a beef with Skagarans, and yet it is obvious that the humans have taken things too far. It is very noteworthy here that at some point the sins of the ancestors should not be held against their descendants. There needs to be a balance between sensitivity towards the long-lasting impact of past historical wrongs with not committing more wrongs in retaliation.

Cool Stuff – 2 points. The shootout between the former deputy and his posse with Archer and his people was quite enjoyable. In particular, there is a character who shows up often who is never really given a name, but in the script goes by S. Money. She is played by long-time stunt actress Dorenda Moore. She stands out in this fight as an individual who is someone you don’t want to mess with, making a huge impact on the overall outcome. That scores a point in this section. I also will score a point for how authentic the wild west set and story felt. It just worked on many levels.

Rank – Captain (18 points). There have been several “wild west” themed episodes in Star Trek over the years, but I think this is one of, if not the, very best. It has a lot of heart and fun in it. While the overall search for the Xindi is the main theme of this season, “North Star” gives us a pleasant diversion.

If you would like to check out my other episode reviews for Enterprise, simply click here.

If you would like to read an episode review from any of the Trek series, click the following link to get to the series catalog. If the episode you want reviewed has not been done yet, then feel free to request it in the comments and I will see what I can do.