Random Trek Review: I am going to review random episodes of Trek shows using an online tool. I decided to start with random episodes of Voyager.
https://people.duke.edu/~noor/trek.html
It picked S04E07 ‘Scientific Method’.
The episode had something of an awkward start with Seven conducting unapproved “upgrades” inside the ship and getting a tisk tisking from Torres about working as a team.
This scene was followed by Torres having a secret rendezvous with Tom Paris. This episode is the beginning of their romantic relationship, and the episode wastes no time showing them aggressively sucking face. This was actually the plot teaser, as the two were being watched by some sort of mysterious malevolent pervert. At first we might suspect it is Rick Berman, but the episode soon reveals the truth.
Not long after, Chakotey and Neelix both fall ill in separate incidents. Chakotey ages rapidly and Neelix takes on traits of his grandfather’s species.
All the while Janeway is suffering from intense headaches which are making her surly and quick tempered.
The Doctor discovers the truth- It’s aliens.
Invisible aliens are aboard Voyager and performing medical experiments on the crew.
The aliens mostly disable the Doc, but he manages to communicate with Seven, who is then able to reveal the aliens’ existence to Janeway.
Janeway after long suffering from the alien induced headaches, quickly goes full Insaneway and steers Voyager into a sun, locking the controls unless the aliens leave. They do, and Voyager pulls out of its suicide course just in time.
This episode was immediately recognizable to me because the visuals of it are quite striking. They have lived inside my head ever since the first time I caught this episode on TV. The image of invisible aliens needling the crew with mysterious experiments is very creepy. This was an early example of the Doc and Seven working together to carry the show, which was unexpected so early. The makeup effects to age Chakotey weren’t exactly realistic, but they were very well done in a kind of over the top theatrical way. As for any kind of high concept idea or moral dilemma, I don’t really think the episode had any. There was an attempt by the alien’s dialog to create one as the alien mentioned that what they were doing to Voyager’s crew was medical research that would help it’s people, but the benefits were so nebulously defined and the refusal of Voyager to participate didn’t seem like it would ruin the only chance at survival for the aliens. It seemed more like Voyager was a test subject of opportunity, which made the refusal to cooperate a moral slam dunk. For added measure the alien, bizarrely assured Janeway that it wouldn’t kill very many crew members and would “merely” cripple most of them for life. Just in case anyone in the audience didn’t know who to root for. Janeway’s plan of steering Voyager into the sun didn’t seem particularly clever. It wasn’t a bluff. It wasn’t a fakeout. By all indications, she was really going to do it.
At least Tom and B'Elanna got a nice closing moment sharing a healthy salad at the end.
