Post by Prole Hole on Apr 14, 2016 12:50:23 GMT -5
Season Six, Episode 12 - "Blink Of An Eye"
A hole different kind of planet
In some ways the approach "Blink Of An Eye" takes to history is the opposite of that taken by "One Small Step". In "One Small Step" we get to see the way that history is written – in "Blink Of An Eye" we get to see the history itself. In one, history is being reconstructed from evidence, in the other history is being lived right in front of the crew. This episode continues this season's interrogations of the ideas and concepts of history, but from a unique vantage point. Here, Voyager manages to observe centuries, maybe even millennia, of history and the effects that their presence has on a society, all without a more obvious time travel approach (or at least not time travel in its conventional sense). It's an elegiac, beautiful episode that uses every single second of its run-time to deliver a thoughtful meditation on what history is and what it means, and how to live with the effects it has upon us all.
Because, after all, this episode is about the very nature of history, and we get to see it unfold in a way that would normally be impossible. This isn't the more abstracted historiography that "One Small Step" deals in, but the very reality of observing history as it passes. One of the smartest conceits the episode has is giving us little vignettes during different periods of the history being observed. Thus we get to observe the passage of history and the ideas of progress that this planet has without having to be lectured about it or have infodumps, and the progress the society goes through is thoughtfully constructed so as to be familiar but not too familiar. Yet even here, history is not a whole thing – it's still observed from a specific perspective. In this case the perspective is from Voyager hanging above and taking "snapshots" (as B'Elanna puts it) - this affords a degree of objectivity but even with this, broad sweeps are observed while details are obscured. This draws heavily on the idea that there is no "one" history but instead a history which is constructed from differing perspectives, and whatever perspective we have is the one that defines how we see and interpret that history. In addition to the "objective" view of progress that Voyager sees we also have two personal perspectives, one from the Doctor's "three second" away mission, and one from Gotana-Rez, the astronaut who finally gets to reach up and touch the sky. These perspectives are vital to understanding the society that lies below the ship because, even though we get to see a comparatively small amount of that history as related by these two characters, it goes a huge way to explaining how and why their society functions. This is delivered from a "history of the people" angle rather than a "great man" theory of history, so the details we get sketched in are as much about the fact this culture has sports they care passionately about or children's stories which they read to inspire, as they are about rulers, governors or kings. Indeed, with the sole exception of one Protector we don't actually meet anyone in power, and there's something very telling about the fact that governments start to lob weapons at Voyager but it's individuals who manage to make contact and thus bring peace – this is almost a socialist view of history, regarding the people as at least (if not more) important that the governments whom they ostensibly represent.
Though it's maybe only a bit of sound-stage and a handful of backdrop/bluescreen in being realized, there's a real effort to construct a physicality for the society here, so the shot we have near the beginning of the episode, of a castle overlooking a mountainous valley, is the same final shot we have, with the valley now teeming with an industrialized society. It's a lovely, non-verbal way of showing the progress of history and the passage of time without labouring the point, and it's just one of the many subtle touches this episode deploys. We even get a sort of history of aviation as we move from a hot-air balloon, to watching the skies via telescope, (off-screen) biplanes, space rockets and finally antimatter missiles – all either show or alluded to as a technological progression in tandem with the social progression. We hear of this society casting off its superstitious past gradually, and in parallel their technology develops. This is fairly typical of Star Trek's outlook, equating technological progress with social progress, but what's so successful here is how little the episode goes out of its way to underscore this. Yes, we see the development of technology, from crude hot air balloons to beautiful brass-built telescopes as a way of interpreting what the society finds in its sky, right the way up to sophisticated weaponry and even holo-technology, but this is never empasized over the personal – this isn't about the fetishization of technology but rather a depiction of technology as a reflection of the society that constructed it, when more commonly we get this portrayed the other way around. As an example, take the early episode "Prime Factors" - though we get to see the society and though the episode is about their desire to help as a way to satiate their own desires, ultimately what's important is their trajector technology and how it related to the crew - what it could potentially do for them. The people essentially exist to throw light on the technology, and by extension the ship – could it get Voyager home? - but here the technology we see is just an extension of the people who built it, and the lack of an explanation of this shows a script confident enough in itself to deliver this without pontificating on the subject.
So is the episode only about history? Well certainly that it's most important function, but in another way it helps to describe how the crew can (or cannot) relate to a society which is entirely different, yet achingly similar, to their own. I mentioned back in "The Fight" that we're often told, say by the likes of Q, that there are many strange, weird and wonderful worlds out there to be discovered, but in reality we very rarely encounter them. Yet here we absolutely do. Seven describes this planet as unique – quite the comment, given the extent of her knowledge – but it is both entirely alien to them because of the time differential and so very familiar as we see technology and society moving at similar, if not identical pace to humanity. Indeed, given that this story is only separated from actual contact with Earth in "Pathfinder" this stands a poignant reminder of how close Earth can seem even when it remains tantalizingly out of reach – just as the rest of the galaxy is so close yet so far away from this society. The relationship with this society is explicitly developed as peaceful – even when Tom demands they return fire, Chakotay insistently points out they've done enough damage just by their presence here, and peaceful relations are eventually established – again, a terribly Star Trek way of dealing with things. Indeed the laws of unintended consequences are very much in play here – for one, it would have been impossible for Voyager to have predicted the effect they would have on this world, but they have it anyway. Yet Gotana-Rez, pilot and explorer, suffers in exactly the same way, walking into a situation he has no understanding of and having to live with the consequences of that decision, both in terms of losing his colleague and the world he thought he would be able to return to, all because of a quirk of fate. But what's important here is that, even though there are unintended consequences, neither Voyager not Gotana-Rez are shown as being wrong for wanting to explore and expand their knowledge. Rather, this is much more about accepting the consequences of one's action, unintended or not, and in accepting that responsibility finding a peace with it - in this case a literal peace, since peaceful relations are finally established in the closing minutes of the episode. And finally, in the end, Gotana-Rez is able to look up to the sky as an old man, and watch Voyager leave, to resume its place in its own history, while finally leaving behind the history of this planet. He sheds a tear for the loss, yet also for knowledge gained. For an episode like this, there really couldn’t be any other ending. Because, of course, history never ends.
Any Other Business:
• As is often the way with episodes as good as this, I feel I've only scratched the surface here. "Blink Of An Eye" is an absolute highlight of the series.
• As far as the Voyager crew go, this is basically an ensemble piece (you could argue that there's an "ensemble piece of history" going on down below on the planet, via the snapshots we see), but it's good to see Chakotay's interest in archaeology, history and anthropology being written towards.
• If there's any flaw here it's that Naomi's inclusion is in this case somewhat pointless – a shame, since a child-like perspective on the unfolding history has the potential to be interesting and add another dimension. But she's only on-screen for about thirty seconds, and it does give some gentle humour to Seven, which is always appreciated.
• The "astronomer and technician" in the apparently 19th or early 20th Century section are both really well done, and Tom's comment that the voice deserves an answer is both completely correct and really rather heart-breaking in that it's already too late.
• Some lovely poetic language on show here too, including Gotana-Rez commenting "how often does your first dream get to come true?"
• This is another excellent example of a society which becomes as defined by throwaway comments and off-screen references as it is by what we see on screen.
• The Doctor's joy as seeing Janeway when he's beamed back to the ship is so great, and it's utterly fascinating that he had a son on the surface, but we find out nothing else about him at all save his name (Jason) and the fact that the Doctor had a "room-mate". This could have been a frustrating detail but because it's all so well integrated (especially with Picardo's delivery of "he'll be dead now... I know") it helps flesh out what happened to him on the surface without exposition. Indeed the fact his son is dead now is incredibly poignant.
• I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't point out that the basic premise here is similar to the hard sci-fi classic "Dragon's Egg" by Robert L Forward. While it would be safe to say that "Blink Of An Eye" is definitely not hard sci-fi, I can't really comment further, as we have reached a hole in my literature knowledge – I haven't read it.
Season Six, Episode 13 - "Virtuoso"
My mamma said / to get things done / you'd better not mess with Doctor Clown
A fairly light-hearted, entertaining episode which brushes up against a few slightly deeper ideas, "Virtuoso" bubbles along lightly enough for forty-five minutes then stops. It’s enjoyable, that’s for sure. It exploits aspects of the Doctor’s character (his ego, his sense of self-worth and what's tied to it) which almost always result in favourable episodes, the recent “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy” being the most recent example. This Week’s Aliens (Annoying Category) work well enough, and it’s an interesting and somewhat unusual idea that there’s a culture out there who developed without music, when usually artistic expression is used in Star Trek as a method of showing what it is cultures have in common rather than what they have apart (opera with Klingons and so forth). And there’s something vaguely satirical about the idea that even when they do finally develop a love of music, they entirely miss the point, and end up more fascinated by the mathematical underpinnings than they do expressions of emotion. And there’s a gentle tease at the world of fandom – nothing too sharp, but at least a winking acknowledgement that fandom can be a double-edged sword, which never feels hurtful or vicious, just self-aware and wryly observed. This also links into that “missing the point” theme as well, with fans often unable to see the wood for the trees, and equally a performer being so enraptured with both himself and his fans that he loses all sense of perspective. Yet all of this – which is never any less than good – feels… I dunno, slight maybe? The satire doesn’t really carry enough sting to land any real blows, the fan ribbing is pleasant enough but hardly essential, and everything else just toddles on. So if this is a bit on the slight side, then question is: why?
At least in part this seems to be because there’s a slight mis-match between script and performances. As I said, nobody is bad here, but Picardo plays the Doctor’s sudden inflation of ego dead straight. It’s not a bad way to play it – and indeed considering the Doctor tries to resign his commission, it’s sometimes the only way he can play it – but it feels a little peculiar in an otherwise affably humorous script that doesn’t really suggest material that requires much in the way of dramatic heavy lifting. What we get is a fun bit of fluff in between the thoughtful historical material of “Blink Of An Eye” and the trauma of “Memorial ”. What Picardo delivers is a meditation on the nature of the Doctor. There are elements of the script that support this – that whole scene with Janeway and him trying to work out how far his rights extend, for one – but.. well maybe it’s the script’s fault after all, because laying it out like that, there does seem to be an inconsistency of tone here. A good two thirds of the episode is jokes and singing, and one third seems to be determined to meditate on the Doctor as an emergent personality and what this actually means. It’s a weird tone to strike. What’s more there’s lots of questions that are raised by this that the episode doesn’t really have the time or inclination to answer. For one, how can the Doctor resign his commission? He wasn’t… you know, commissioned in the first place. He was built, and then through subsequent experiences became an emergent intelligence. The status of who and/or what the Doctor is will be explored further before the show bows out (and we’re only a season and half away from that now), but this doesn’t offer much in the way of elucidation, and certainly not next to something like “Author, Author”. You could see this as the start of the process, if you're feeling generous, but this isn't really the first time these issues have been raised in the show either, even if they will take on more significance. And, as with “Barge Of The Dead”, Janeway is given a speech in which she is 100% correct, then immediately undermined – she can’t just allow the Doctor to flounce off on a whim because he’s responsible for the medical well-being of an entire ship and is literally irreplaceable, then caves because she’s his friend. Sorry, but that’s just bad writing. And, as with “Barge Of The Dead”, it’s a scenario you could get away with on DS9 or TNG because, as we saw in the second season of TNG, if a member of the medical staff leaves they can be replaced fairly easily (Crusher for Pulaski), but that’s not something Voyager can do – in other words the script doesn’t understand the scenario it’s being written for, despite this being literally the thing that the show exists for (not being in the Alpha Quadrant). So yea… that’s not great.
On the other hand, most of the stuff that’s meant to be funny actually is, which is always a good thing when you have a script which is basically shooting for comedy. The Doctor’s ego is always a good source of entertainment, and here it gets prodded more than at any other time in the show’s history, as he gets to have an entire planet held captive by his singing. That would likely be enough to go to anyone’s head, but what makes it so appealingly about the Doctor is that, whether through talent or programming, he really is an excellent singer and would be a perfect cultural ambassador were it not for the whole taking-it-too-far thing. This gives Picardo the chance to stretch his pipes once again, and once again it’s a boon to the episode. The Doctor's singing is one of his character traits that's emerged organically over the course of the show and, though it's already been the (semi) focus of one episode this season, here it comes to a fore in a way that makes it feel like this has been something the show has been building towards. And the obvious thought which has gone into This Week's Aliens helps a lot too – they're annoying, but this is obviously a deliberate part of the script, and it gives us a few laughs, like Janeway being apparently appalled at the way the Doctor speaks in front of their guests, only to do her best "patronise the locals" routine because they really are terribly rude. Janeway gets to do that a lot in this episode, actually, gritting her teeth and smiling while accepting the Voyager crew's "inferiority", and of course Mulgrew's great at it. Saying that, though, we don't actually find out that much about the Qomar society, beyond their lack of music and self-stated superiority – there seems to be at least some indication that they don't – quite – understand love or attraction in the way our crew do. The Doctor's belief that he's finally found someone who appreciates him sees him falling in love, but it's a one-way street – he affections are not returned, and Tincoo doesn't or isn't capable of returning his feelings. That slight remove the Qomar have could have stood to be expanded a little further – the hints we get are genuinely interesting, but there's not quite enough of them to really expand our understanding of them as a race.
I sound like a real killjoy now, and I don’t want to be, because a lot of this episode does work, and does it well. There’s lots of fun stuff to enjoy, lots of good performances, and it’s just not a bad way to spend your time. But that uncertain tone, the weird “you can’t leave / off you go then” speech Janeway gets… they just undo a lot of the good material that’s here, and that’s a real shame, because another re-write or two could have solved almost all of the issues at play. I don't want to overplay the issues at work in the script, but I don't want to underplay them either – there are definitely issues here and if this isn't a wasted opportunity, it's only lightly lying on the side of not being. I kind of want to end on some kind of crappy musical pun, because that feels appropriate so… um… the final note has been played, and while this episode is no Abbey Road it is, at the very least, a Rubber Soul. And that’s not so bad, is it?
Any Other Business:
• This might be the most traffic we have ever seen in orbit of a planet, as far as Voyager is concerned. There’s ships, space stations, Our Heroes… and all hanging over a massively industrialized planet below where we can see glimmering lights and huge infrastructures. Excellent work.
• Even by her own standards, Kate Mulgrew is incredibly arch during this episode. Obviously this isn’t a complaint.
• Sigh. Harry Kim and the Kimtones sounds all too exactly like the kind of crap name Harry would give a band he plays in.
• The Doctor singing with a holographic replica of himself is never not funny.
• If the Big Debate between the Doctor and Janeway is lacking, they do at least get a few good moments on screen together elsewhere, including the Doctor inadvertently referring to her as “Katherine” and Janeway icily replying, “I didn’t realize we were on first name terms”.
• It’s a very nice attention to detail – the kind we don’t get often enough on Star Trek – that the Qomar are all conspicuously shorter than humans, but this is never referred to except once when the Doctor is designing his auditorium.
• Tuvok gets what might be the biggest eye-roll of his career in this episode, after he and Janeway suffer the Doctor’s ego walking down a corridor. It is not very Vulcan, though it is very funny.
• Jeri Ryan gets a few lovely moments when poorly hiding how much the Doctor’s departure is going to hurt her, but her best moment is her final scene when she gives the Doctor her “fan letter”. Very well done indeed.
A hole different kind of planet
In some ways the approach "Blink Of An Eye" takes to history is the opposite of that taken by "One Small Step". In "One Small Step" we get to see the way that history is written – in "Blink Of An Eye" we get to see the history itself. In one, history is being reconstructed from evidence, in the other history is being lived right in front of the crew. This episode continues this season's interrogations of the ideas and concepts of history, but from a unique vantage point. Here, Voyager manages to observe centuries, maybe even millennia, of history and the effects that their presence has on a society, all without a more obvious time travel approach (or at least not time travel in its conventional sense). It's an elegiac, beautiful episode that uses every single second of its run-time to deliver a thoughtful meditation on what history is and what it means, and how to live with the effects it has upon us all.
Because, after all, this episode is about the very nature of history, and we get to see it unfold in a way that would normally be impossible. This isn't the more abstracted historiography that "One Small Step" deals in, but the very reality of observing history as it passes. One of the smartest conceits the episode has is giving us little vignettes during different periods of the history being observed. Thus we get to observe the passage of history and the ideas of progress that this planet has without having to be lectured about it or have infodumps, and the progress the society goes through is thoughtfully constructed so as to be familiar but not too familiar. Yet even here, history is not a whole thing – it's still observed from a specific perspective. In this case the perspective is from Voyager hanging above and taking "snapshots" (as B'Elanna puts it) - this affords a degree of objectivity but even with this, broad sweeps are observed while details are obscured. This draws heavily on the idea that there is no "one" history but instead a history which is constructed from differing perspectives, and whatever perspective we have is the one that defines how we see and interpret that history. In addition to the "objective" view of progress that Voyager sees we also have two personal perspectives, one from the Doctor's "three second" away mission, and one from Gotana-Rez, the astronaut who finally gets to reach up and touch the sky. These perspectives are vital to understanding the society that lies below the ship because, even though we get to see a comparatively small amount of that history as related by these two characters, it goes a huge way to explaining how and why their society functions. This is delivered from a "history of the people" angle rather than a "great man" theory of history, so the details we get sketched in are as much about the fact this culture has sports they care passionately about or children's stories which they read to inspire, as they are about rulers, governors or kings. Indeed, with the sole exception of one Protector we don't actually meet anyone in power, and there's something very telling about the fact that governments start to lob weapons at Voyager but it's individuals who manage to make contact and thus bring peace – this is almost a socialist view of history, regarding the people as at least (if not more) important that the governments whom they ostensibly represent.
Though it's maybe only a bit of sound-stage and a handful of backdrop/bluescreen in being realized, there's a real effort to construct a physicality for the society here, so the shot we have near the beginning of the episode, of a castle overlooking a mountainous valley, is the same final shot we have, with the valley now teeming with an industrialized society. It's a lovely, non-verbal way of showing the progress of history and the passage of time without labouring the point, and it's just one of the many subtle touches this episode deploys. We even get a sort of history of aviation as we move from a hot-air balloon, to watching the skies via telescope, (off-screen) biplanes, space rockets and finally antimatter missiles – all either show or alluded to as a technological progression in tandem with the social progression. We hear of this society casting off its superstitious past gradually, and in parallel their technology develops. This is fairly typical of Star Trek's outlook, equating technological progress with social progress, but what's so successful here is how little the episode goes out of its way to underscore this. Yes, we see the development of technology, from crude hot air balloons to beautiful brass-built telescopes as a way of interpreting what the society finds in its sky, right the way up to sophisticated weaponry and even holo-technology, but this is never empasized over the personal – this isn't about the fetishization of technology but rather a depiction of technology as a reflection of the society that constructed it, when more commonly we get this portrayed the other way around. As an example, take the early episode "Prime Factors" - though we get to see the society and though the episode is about their desire to help as a way to satiate their own desires, ultimately what's important is their trajector technology and how it related to the crew - what it could potentially do for them. The people essentially exist to throw light on the technology, and by extension the ship – could it get Voyager home? - but here the technology we see is just an extension of the people who built it, and the lack of an explanation of this shows a script confident enough in itself to deliver this without pontificating on the subject.
So is the episode only about history? Well certainly that it's most important function, but in another way it helps to describe how the crew can (or cannot) relate to a society which is entirely different, yet achingly similar, to their own. I mentioned back in "The Fight" that we're often told, say by the likes of Q, that there are many strange, weird and wonderful worlds out there to be discovered, but in reality we very rarely encounter them. Yet here we absolutely do. Seven describes this planet as unique – quite the comment, given the extent of her knowledge – but it is both entirely alien to them because of the time differential and so very familiar as we see technology and society moving at similar, if not identical pace to humanity. Indeed, given that this story is only separated from actual contact with Earth in "Pathfinder" this stands a poignant reminder of how close Earth can seem even when it remains tantalizingly out of reach – just as the rest of the galaxy is so close yet so far away from this society. The relationship with this society is explicitly developed as peaceful – even when Tom demands they return fire, Chakotay insistently points out they've done enough damage just by their presence here, and peaceful relations are eventually established – again, a terribly Star Trek way of dealing with things. Indeed the laws of unintended consequences are very much in play here – for one, it would have been impossible for Voyager to have predicted the effect they would have on this world, but they have it anyway. Yet Gotana-Rez, pilot and explorer, suffers in exactly the same way, walking into a situation he has no understanding of and having to live with the consequences of that decision, both in terms of losing his colleague and the world he thought he would be able to return to, all because of a quirk of fate. But what's important here is that, even though there are unintended consequences, neither Voyager not Gotana-Rez are shown as being wrong for wanting to explore and expand their knowledge. Rather, this is much more about accepting the consequences of one's action, unintended or not, and in accepting that responsibility finding a peace with it - in this case a literal peace, since peaceful relations are finally established in the closing minutes of the episode. And finally, in the end, Gotana-Rez is able to look up to the sky as an old man, and watch Voyager leave, to resume its place in its own history, while finally leaving behind the history of this planet. He sheds a tear for the loss, yet also for knowledge gained. For an episode like this, there really couldn’t be any other ending. Because, of course, history never ends.
Any Other Business:
• As is often the way with episodes as good as this, I feel I've only scratched the surface here. "Blink Of An Eye" is an absolute highlight of the series.
• As far as the Voyager crew go, this is basically an ensemble piece (you could argue that there's an "ensemble piece of history" going on down below on the planet, via the snapshots we see), but it's good to see Chakotay's interest in archaeology, history and anthropology being written towards.
• If there's any flaw here it's that Naomi's inclusion is in this case somewhat pointless – a shame, since a child-like perspective on the unfolding history has the potential to be interesting and add another dimension. But she's only on-screen for about thirty seconds, and it does give some gentle humour to Seven, which is always appreciated.
• The "astronomer and technician" in the apparently 19th or early 20th Century section are both really well done, and Tom's comment that the voice deserves an answer is both completely correct and really rather heart-breaking in that it's already too late.
• Some lovely poetic language on show here too, including Gotana-Rez commenting "how often does your first dream get to come true?"
• This is another excellent example of a society which becomes as defined by throwaway comments and off-screen references as it is by what we see on screen.
• The Doctor's joy as seeing Janeway when he's beamed back to the ship is so great, and it's utterly fascinating that he had a son on the surface, but we find out nothing else about him at all save his name (Jason) and the fact that the Doctor had a "room-mate". This could have been a frustrating detail but because it's all so well integrated (especially with Picardo's delivery of "he'll be dead now... I know") it helps flesh out what happened to him on the surface without exposition. Indeed the fact his son is dead now is incredibly poignant.
• I would be remiss in my duties if I didn't point out that the basic premise here is similar to the hard sci-fi classic "Dragon's Egg" by Robert L Forward. While it would be safe to say that "Blink Of An Eye" is definitely not hard sci-fi, I can't really comment further, as we have reached a hole in my literature knowledge – I haven't read it.
Season Six, Episode 13 - "Virtuoso"
My mamma said / to get things done / you'd better not mess with Doctor Clown
A fairly light-hearted, entertaining episode which brushes up against a few slightly deeper ideas, "Virtuoso" bubbles along lightly enough for forty-five minutes then stops. It’s enjoyable, that’s for sure. It exploits aspects of the Doctor’s character (his ego, his sense of self-worth and what's tied to it) which almost always result in favourable episodes, the recent “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy” being the most recent example. This Week’s Aliens (Annoying Category) work well enough, and it’s an interesting and somewhat unusual idea that there’s a culture out there who developed without music, when usually artistic expression is used in Star Trek as a method of showing what it is cultures have in common rather than what they have apart (opera with Klingons and so forth). And there’s something vaguely satirical about the idea that even when they do finally develop a love of music, they entirely miss the point, and end up more fascinated by the mathematical underpinnings than they do expressions of emotion. And there’s a gentle tease at the world of fandom – nothing too sharp, but at least a winking acknowledgement that fandom can be a double-edged sword, which never feels hurtful or vicious, just self-aware and wryly observed. This also links into that “missing the point” theme as well, with fans often unable to see the wood for the trees, and equally a performer being so enraptured with both himself and his fans that he loses all sense of perspective. Yet all of this – which is never any less than good – feels… I dunno, slight maybe? The satire doesn’t really carry enough sting to land any real blows, the fan ribbing is pleasant enough but hardly essential, and everything else just toddles on. So if this is a bit on the slight side, then question is: why?
At least in part this seems to be because there’s a slight mis-match between script and performances. As I said, nobody is bad here, but Picardo plays the Doctor’s sudden inflation of ego dead straight. It’s not a bad way to play it – and indeed considering the Doctor tries to resign his commission, it’s sometimes the only way he can play it – but it feels a little peculiar in an otherwise affably humorous script that doesn’t really suggest material that requires much in the way of dramatic heavy lifting. What we get is a fun bit of fluff in between the thoughtful historical material of “Blink Of An Eye” and the trauma of “Memorial ”. What Picardo delivers is a meditation on the nature of the Doctor. There are elements of the script that support this – that whole scene with Janeway and him trying to work out how far his rights extend, for one – but.. well maybe it’s the script’s fault after all, because laying it out like that, there does seem to be an inconsistency of tone here. A good two thirds of the episode is jokes and singing, and one third seems to be determined to meditate on the Doctor as an emergent personality and what this actually means. It’s a weird tone to strike. What’s more there’s lots of questions that are raised by this that the episode doesn’t really have the time or inclination to answer. For one, how can the Doctor resign his commission? He wasn’t… you know, commissioned in the first place. He was built, and then through subsequent experiences became an emergent intelligence. The status of who and/or what the Doctor is will be explored further before the show bows out (and we’re only a season and half away from that now), but this doesn’t offer much in the way of elucidation, and certainly not next to something like “Author, Author”. You could see this as the start of the process, if you're feeling generous, but this isn't really the first time these issues have been raised in the show either, even if they will take on more significance. And, as with “Barge Of The Dead”, Janeway is given a speech in which she is 100% correct, then immediately undermined – she can’t just allow the Doctor to flounce off on a whim because he’s responsible for the medical well-being of an entire ship and is literally irreplaceable, then caves because she’s his friend. Sorry, but that’s just bad writing. And, as with “Barge Of The Dead”, it’s a scenario you could get away with on DS9 or TNG because, as we saw in the second season of TNG, if a member of the medical staff leaves they can be replaced fairly easily (Crusher for Pulaski), but that’s not something Voyager can do – in other words the script doesn’t understand the scenario it’s being written for, despite this being literally the thing that the show exists for (not being in the Alpha Quadrant). So yea… that’s not great.
On the other hand, most of the stuff that’s meant to be funny actually is, which is always a good thing when you have a script which is basically shooting for comedy. The Doctor’s ego is always a good source of entertainment, and here it gets prodded more than at any other time in the show’s history, as he gets to have an entire planet held captive by his singing. That would likely be enough to go to anyone’s head, but what makes it so appealingly about the Doctor is that, whether through talent or programming, he really is an excellent singer and would be a perfect cultural ambassador were it not for the whole taking-it-too-far thing. This gives Picardo the chance to stretch his pipes once again, and once again it’s a boon to the episode. The Doctor's singing is one of his character traits that's emerged organically over the course of the show and, though it's already been the (semi) focus of one episode this season, here it comes to a fore in a way that makes it feel like this has been something the show has been building towards. And the obvious thought which has gone into This Week's Aliens helps a lot too – they're annoying, but this is obviously a deliberate part of the script, and it gives us a few laughs, like Janeway being apparently appalled at the way the Doctor speaks in front of their guests, only to do her best "patronise the locals" routine because they really are terribly rude. Janeway gets to do that a lot in this episode, actually, gritting her teeth and smiling while accepting the Voyager crew's "inferiority", and of course Mulgrew's great at it. Saying that, though, we don't actually find out that much about the Qomar society, beyond their lack of music and self-stated superiority – there seems to be at least some indication that they don't – quite – understand love or attraction in the way our crew do. The Doctor's belief that he's finally found someone who appreciates him sees him falling in love, but it's a one-way street – he affections are not returned, and Tincoo doesn't or isn't capable of returning his feelings. That slight remove the Qomar have could have stood to be expanded a little further – the hints we get are genuinely interesting, but there's not quite enough of them to really expand our understanding of them as a race.
I sound like a real killjoy now, and I don’t want to be, because a lot of this episode does work, and does it well. There’s lots of fun stuff to enjoy, lots of good performances, and it’s just not a bad way to spend your time. But that uncertain tone, the weird “you can’t leave / off you go then” speech Janeway gets… they just undo a lot of the good material that’s here, and that’s a real shame, because another re-write or two could have solved almost all of the issues at play. I don't want to overplay the issues at work in the script, but I don't want to underplay them either – there are definitely issues here and if this isn't a wasted opportunity, it's only lightly lying on the side of not being. I kind of want to end on some kind of crappy musical pun, because that feels appropriate so… um… the final note has been played, and while this episode is no Abbey Road it is, at the very least, a Rubber Soul. And that’s not so bad, is it?
Any Other Business:
• This might be the most traffic we have ever seen in orbit of a planet, as far as Voyager is concerned. There’s ships, space stations, Our Heroes… and all hanging over a massively industrialized planet below where we can see glimmering lights and huge infrastructures. Excellent work.
• Even by her own standards, Kate Mulgrew is incredibly arch during this episode. Obviously this isn’t a complaint.
• Sigh. Harry Kim and the Kimtones sounds all too exactly like the kind of crap name Harry would give a band he plays in.
• The Doctor singing with a holographic replica of himself is never not funny.
• If the Big Debate between the Doctor and Janeway is lacking, they do at least get a few good moments on screen together elsewhere, including the Doctor inadvertently referring to her as “Katherine” and Janeway icily replying, “I didn’t realize we were on first name terms”.
• It’s a very nice attention to detail – the kind we don’t get often enough on Star Trek – that the Qomar are all conspicuously shorter than humans, but this is never referred to except once when the Doctor is designing his auditorium.
• Tuvok gets what might be the biggest eye-roll of his career in this episode, after he and Janeway suffer the Doctor’s ego walking down a corridor. It is not very Vulcan, though it is very funny.
• Jeri Ryan gets a few lovely moments when poorly hiding how much the Doctor’s departure is going to hurt her, but her best moment is her final scene when she gives the Doctor her “fan letter”. Very well done indeed.
