LizstarTrek - Voyager Season 5 episodes 15-20

Every Sunday my Twitch subs and I watch Star Trek in my Discord. Here are my reviews and thoughts on each of the episodes as I see it. If you’re curious about a nerd’s views on Star Trek episodes, please read on, I go quite in depth with some of these episodes! I’ve watched some Star Trek before but not all of it!

The Disease - VOY 3.5/10

Our episode starts with Kim getting laid. Considering this episode is called The Disease and we see Kim getting laid with some alien, I’m real worried. Is this going to be the STD episode? On today’s Very Special episode, Janeway teaches Kim what a condom is.

Anyways it turns out the aliens of the week are some people Voyager are working with. They’re helping fix and improve their engines, in exchange for information and knowledge. These aliens are xenophobic and have been on this generational ship for… well, generations. They’ve been mistreated by aliens here, so try to avoid contact, but Voyager is xenophilic, and you know how extroverts are with introverts. This ALSO means that Kim fucking one of them is massively not allowed. It’s ALSO unfortunate for Kim because he is so, so, SO bad at lying.

This gets out of hand when he’s showing some signs of a medical issue. He has to admit that he did, in fact, have sex with that woman. The Doctor is like “I’m sorry, I have to alert the captain about this”, who is livid. Apparently, it’s a rule that “before having sexual relations with any alien species, you need permission from your captain and medical officer”. This is nuts. Literally, but also this is wild. Are you telling me Riker got permission from Dr. Crusher all the time about fucking all those aliens he absolutely fucked? Or Kirk going to Bones like “Hey I’mma get some green pussy you okay with that”? Maybe they mean like, unknown aliens? Which y’know, fair, but also it feels so weird and gross you’d need permission for that, I dunno. Anyways, Kim gets reprimanded. Is THIS the reason he never gets a promotion? Cause he had sex once?

I do like how Janeway almost literally goes “I get why you did it, she’s really hot”. Not jumping the allegations there, Janeway. She’s being really harsh and bad about this though, and Chakotay asks her about why, and she’s like “He’s just an ensign, he hasn’t earned the right to try and push against my rules”. DUDE. HE’S YOUR OPS OFFICER. HE’S A SENIOR OFFICER.

There’s also talk of a disease that happens when people fuck. It fades as you stay away from them, but the more you’re with them, the more it grows. It’s love, they’re talking about love. That’s cheesy.

Also also, there’s some stuff about sabotage, some parasites that are causing hull fractured, caused by a faction on the alien ship that wants to break away from the authoritarian regime in control.

Kim and this girl, Tal, are actually kinda cute together? But obviously it’s not to be. They have different values, and those values come to a head when Tal is called in for questioning. They believe she’s in charge of setting up these parasites, and she comes clean. The parasites will cause the ship to break apart and become multiple ships. Dunno how THAT works but okay. Janeway also gets REALLY pissy about Kim disobeying orders, mostly out of a pissy “NO I’M IN CHARGE” kinda energy that I hate and don’t agree with, but I’m not exactly military now am I?

Voyager ends up almost risking its life to protect the Varro ship, and the dissidents go their seperate ways. Instead of trying to solve the virus problem they just don’t. Well that was easily solved. I guess. Janeway even lets Kim see his girlfriend one last time. Damn, aren’t you lucky that mom is letting you out of your grounding, Kim? Even after this, the episode goes on for like 7 more minutes because they really needed to drive home the fact that love bites, love bleeds, it’s bringin’ me to my knees.

This episode was mostly boring and annoying to me.

Course: Oblivion - VOY 8/10

We start with Torres and Paris getting married! That might seem kinda sudden, and everyone agrees. Seven of Nine outright says she expected homicide before marriage, but hey, it works. It’s a cute scene. Also huh, Paris is lieutenant again! That’s interesting. I guess they just forgot to mention him getting re-promoted :). Everyone throws rice at them as they leave the room, which then sinks through the floor as it distorts and falls and bounces through the ship. That’s weird.

Everyone is going well on the ship! They’ve developed some new engine which shows that they’ll make it home in only two years. That’s great, what good news. Torres and Paris are going to go on honeymoon, which leaves Seven to be in charge of the new warp drive.

Seven confirmed for polyamory. Also, based based based.

They find that weird wibbly wobblyness in the jerrytube from the start. Turns out it’s some molecular unstableness from the warp drive, but even after they shut it down, it’s still happening. And then it hits the crew as well.

They have a theory. Anything brought on board the ship within the past few weeks is not deteriorating, so it was something that happened to the ship within the past few months. They go back through their data logs to try and find out wtf the cause could be, citing a bunch of episodes we never saw. Of all the ones they go through though, there is one that we’ve seen. The episode with the Silver Blood.

Torres ends up dying. Paris does NOT take it well. Wow I can’t believe they killed off Torres. No, obviously. Chokie and Tuvok burst in and explain. They are not actually Voyager, they’re all copies. And something is causing them to disintigrate. Possibly the core, no one knows.

Janeway announces to the crew they’re all copies, but tells them that what matters if who they ARE, not where they ACTUALLY came from. Their memories, they’re thoughts, their beliefs. And they have an important goal that they have to stick to. Getting home. It’s causing the crew to fracture a bit. Paris is like “none of this is real or matters so it’s fine”, becoming kind of dead to the world. Chakotay BEGS Janeway to go home. Not to Earth, but to THEIR home, the Hell Planet. They find a nearby class Y hell planet, hoping that it’ll be enough. Unfortunately, that planet has some mining treaty which doesn’t allow people to go on it, so they open fire. They COULD blow up these people and kill them, but despite everything, they’re still Starfleet. They won’t kill people over a misunderstanding.

Chakotay dies, and Janeway hits a bit of a despair wall. They have no other choice. They bring the warp drive back online, and head back to the Demon Planet.

We get a bit of a time jump. We’re in Lather That Shit On Me mode. Most of the senior crew has died. Neelix is now senior medical officer. “Morale is a luxury”. Janeway announces that they should make a time capsule, because they might not be able to survive, but none of them, or what they did, should be forgotten. Unfortunately, Janeway dies shortly afterwards. Things are not looking good.

KIM FINALLY GETS A PROMOTION. GOOP KIM IS CAPTAIN FOR A FEW DAYS. CONGRATS TO GOOP KIM. Kim can LITERALLY only get promoted if every other person dies first.

Neli described this episode as “like year of hell for for goo”. The Year of Gell.

The time capsule they make gets destroyed because of malfunctioning controls. But they have ONE last hope. They see a ship nearby. They have to drop out of warp and try to get its help. Unfortunately, ejecting the warp core causes the ship to tear itself apart, and everyone dies. No time capsule, nothing. Their history, everything they were, everything they did, forgotten. Might as well not have happened.

Meanwhile on Voyager, they’re chasing after a distress call. They arrive at the last known coordinates and find a bunch of weird debris floating through space. Cause unknown, no survivors. They make a small note in the ships log and move on.

This feels less Star Trek and more Twilight Zone tbh. It was very entertaining, at least!

The Fight - VOY 4/10

We start with Chokie thrashing about in med bay screaming about voices in their head. Apparently he’s “ambassador” for some aliens they’re trying to contact? Torres says they’re in “chaotic space” but they’ll be in danger if they stay in it for much longer. Fascinating. The Doctor explains a bit better after the cold open. They are stuck in this space, and they need to get out. Chakotay is their only chance of getting out, communicating with the aliens who live here.

We get a jump back in time. Chokie was in a holodeck simulation, with Boothby as his guide through a boxing match. Boothy explains that boxing is not about trying to fight the other person, it’s about fighting the human urge to not get hurt. Interesting. Anyways Chokie sees a weird-ass fractal nightmare behind his opponent and gets the daylights knocked out of him. He explains this as the doctor sutures him up and makes fun of boxing as a concept, and then they get dragged into a weird ass goopy space nightmare.

Seven explains they are in Chaotic Space. It’s a very dangerous space that jumps in and out of existence. Only one Borg Sphere has ever survived its encounter with Chaotic Space, which isn’t good odds. As they explore and try to find a way out, Chakotay starts hearing voices. They’re all based on boxing. After being sent to medbay, they find out Chakotay has a family gene that causes hallucination and insanity. He has the gene suppressed after his granddad went mad. Apparently Fluidic space might be causing it to come back.

Chakotay’s plan is to go into a vision quest. God fucking dammit can they not think of things to do with Chakotay other than getting him laid, or getting him to go on a vision quest???

Akoo-chee-moya, we are far from the bullshit of our fake native advisor. Oh wait no, We’re very close to it.

We get a lot of nonsensical fuzzy scene that are really hard to focus on or follow, because it’s SUPPOSED to be like that, where Chakotay is a pugilist running around Voyager, with Voyager stuff mixed up with pugilism. There’s also lots of stuff about his grandfather, talking about “them”, about how they’re so loud and talkative, but not so bad once you get used to them.

Eventually the Doctor drags him out of the hallucination, but he’s still like, half stuck in it. He claims that he needs to go back in the ring, he can “take them”, but also “Captain, when have we strayed away from first contact”, “they’re about to ring the bell, I need to be there to meet the people who live here”. Kinda interesting. Janeway lets him go back into the hallucination fully.

He communicates with the aliens, who communicate through what I can only describe as “the prophets, but they communicate using clips of previous Voyager characters talking”. Chakotay is afraid to fully commit to communication, because they need to realign his mind and he’s afraid of losing himself completely to insanity, but he does to save the others. As the doctor says, even if he does go, he’ll be with friends. Which y’know, sacrifice for friends kinda thing. The aliens tell him out to get out, and he rushes to the bridge and gets them out of chaotic space just before they start to fall apart. The episode ends with Chakotay totally fine, and going back in to the holodeck for more boxing.

Eh. Parts of it were interesting I guess, but I kinda feel like I’m gonna forget this episode after tonight, and it kinda didn’t finish itself properly.

Think Tank - VOY 7.5/10

We start with an alien coming aboard a ship to meet a “Kurros”. Then George Costanza comes out and explains how happy he was that they could help. Apparently this guy’s planet was suffering debilitaing earthquakes. Unfortunately, the last quakes caused their payment to be buried under tons of rock…. or was it? George already accounted for this, and knows that they actually are hiding the payment. This alien’s people needs it for their replicators, to keep them fed, but if Costanza doesn’t get paid, he’ll just blow up their planet, causing the quakes to start again :) Hey, it’s only fair, they DID offer to pay him it in the first place! Oh, George.

Back on Voyager, Janeway is playing with what is essentially a Space Rubix Cube. She’s called out as they go to mine a planet of some minerals they need. As they approach, however, the planet fucking explodes, covering them in an explosive gas cloud as a Hazari ship comes to meet them. Seven explains what the Hazari are: They are basically bounty hunters with a work ethic. They were hired to get Voyager, and that’s what they’re going to do. Voyager barely escapes, but the Hazari are good at this. They’ve laid other traps. How do they know what is an escape route, and what’s a trap? Good thing GEORGE COSTANZA IS HERE TO HELP!

George uses a projection to put himself in Janeway’s room, and explains who he is. He’s Korros (I’mma keep calling him George), of a small group of aliens who study problems and help people solve them. Janeway calls them a Think Tank, which George likes. He offers to help them escape the Hazari. Okay, calling it now, George Costanza hired the Hazari. He’s making problems for people so that they’ll hire him to solve them. Which, tbh, is a VERY George Costanza thing to do. Very accurate.

Holy SHIT Seven and Janeway are going on an aquarium date. This too is Yuri.

They meet all the members of the Think Tank, who SEEM pleasant enough. They HAVE done stuff with wars and stuff, but mostly they just try to help people, do not create weapons of mass destruction, and do not decimate populations. They find things for people, solve ecological problems, stuff like that. They RECENTLY cured the Vidiians of the Phage! Remember the Vidiians? You’d hardly recognize them now! Not that they will ever be seen again.

They give Janeway their price for helping them out. A recipe for soup, information on slipstream, an Olmec statue Chakotay owns (of COURSE he’s the one who own it), aaaaand also Seven of Nine. Ah.

So, not like, as a slave or something. They’re not BARTERING for Seven. They appreciate her and want her to join them as a member of the Think Tank. And Janeway is clearly disturbed by the idea, but it’s ultimately Seven’s idea, and she won’t stop her. Seven considers it. She wants to know more.

But quickly decides she doesn’t really appreciate the way they live their life. Seven is like “How many people have suffered because they could not pay you?” Damn, Seven, I’d think you’d think that irrelevant, but you’ve got some good ethics on you. She rejects their offer, and George Costanza has some… unhappy energy about this. After another attack by the Hazari, they capture some and scan their computers to find who hired them. It was a Malon! But that makes no sense, the Malon are capitalists, there’s no profit in revenge. So they do some digging and yeah, it’s George.

Now the Hazari and Voyager have a common enemy. The Think Tank are infamous, and have a lot of enemies who’d want to capture them for a good bounty. There’s a good scene where try to outthink the think tank and it doesn’t work. Janeway is still fiddling with the Rubix Cube, and then gets sick of it and gives it to Seven. She solves it instantly. How? She scanned it. “That’s cheating!” “Cheating is efficient.”

THey learn from that. It’s time to cheat.

The Think Tank finds the Hazari attacking Voyager, who announces that they have Voyager but are upping the bounty 3x. George agrees to pay, and then Seven escapes Voyager to get to the Think Tank and offer herself to save Voyager. THey get her, but suspect a trap, so connect her to their telepathy thing to read her mind and determine Janeway’s plan. Aaaand the trap is sprung. They send a wave through the telepathy thing, disrupting it, and making it so none of the Think Tank can communicate with each other. The Hazari attack, Seven beams out, and Janeway gets in one last sass at the Think Tank before they leave them behind to their fate. Damn, cold.

This was an enjoyable one. Not great, just good.

** - VOY 6/10

Our episode starts with a Malon ship having some problems. Their tanks are rupturing, and they need to eject them. The system they’re in is inhabited, but they have no choice. They send some people down to the tanks to try and force the ejection, sending them to die. Ahhh, it’s VERY Druuj.

Meanwhile, Tuvok has been assigned to teach Belanna how to meditate. I dunno if that’s a good way to go about this??? I dunno if that’s even POSSIBLE? Also, they’ve written her so well recently. Now they’re intentionally writing her worse again, like she’s had no character progression, to make a point in this episode. It’s Flanderization, they’re Flanderizing her.

They find the Malon freighter, and the escape pods. Only two Malon have survived. They’re the most pleasant Malon we’ve ever met, but they don’t really want to go back, they’re ready to leave at any moment.Not that they really have anywhere to go, the ship is going to explode soon, and they can’t get away fast enough, apparently. Dunno how THAT works but sure. So they need to go onto the freighter and shut it down from inside. We’ve got our team. It’s Neelix, Belanna, and Chokey, and the two Malon, Fesek the leader, and Pelk, a young crewmember.

We learn more about the Malon. Fesek is a sculptor half the year. The other half he transports waste that will probably half his life span, and why? To keep his planet safe and tidy, to rid it of toxic waste. Sure that toxic waste goes elsewhere, but he does EVERYTHING he can to keep it safe, and make sure it gets to unpopulated areas. It’s just, y’know, things go wrong. Like this time. Torres thinks it’s disgusting. Yeah, I mean, we know they COULD clean it up and go green, but that removes profit.

Pelk is attacked by something. There are rumors of Theta wave creatures who live in the radiation. Pelk dies as he rambles about monsters. Hallucinations ARE a side effect of theta radiation. Was it real… or fake???

This episode is kinda cool and good, except for Belanna being overly belligerent to try and get her towards character development she’s already been through. She’s dying from theta radiation and is like “I REFUSE TREATMENT RAWR BRAGA BRAGA”

They detect an alien lifeform that’s cloaked by theta radiation, and detect its near them, and trying to stop them at every opportunity. It almost kills Chakotay, who’s beamed away safe, but hurt.

There’s a big fight in foggy smoke. It’s kinda hard to see anything. Belanna is sweaty, damaged, and hot in her tank top. She rips a pipe out and fight this guy in the smoke. He’s a horribly irratidated Malon. He was irradiated and left for dead, and now wants to kill everyone and hurt them for what they did to him. Destroy EVERYTHING, even innocents. So now Belanna has to talk him down, bringing it back to uh, her having a temper. I don’t think it’s super well handled. She fights him back when that fails, and they drive the thing into the sun.

Fesek is probably going to die young, due to his radiation poisoning. Occupational hazard. Everyone else gets out fine. We end with Belanna naked and sexy in a sonic shower as she has PTSD flashbacks of her attacking the irradiated guy.

I liked all the actiony stuff and solving the problem of the week, but it lost it trying to do a moral, and trying to give it a point. It’s okay if it’s not teaching anything and is just about solving a problem.