The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bernard on 2009-12-06 at 10:57pm:
  Why? Why, oh why did I just subject myself to this episode again?
  
  Truly horrendous.
  
  Yes there are good moments for a couple of the characters, but we've already established that Kira doesn't like being on the opposite side to the 'little guy' in Past Prologue so we don't really gain anything from it that we havn't already seen. The B plot has nothing to do with the A plot and it is also mundane.
  
  Low point of the season surely.... though I've just seen what is next.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From djb on 2008-12-04 at 6:44am:
  I wouldn't call this episode filler, at least not as much as "Move Along Home" or "If Wishes Were Horses." It definitely had some redeeming qualities.
  
  First, I liked how people started to just act slightly out of character at first, gradually growing into their alternate characters. I also liked how these characters they were playing out weren't complete departures from the original people; you could still sense some of their original personalities present. I liked how I couldn't really tell where in the episode the characters became not-themselves. For example, Kira's increasing frustration with Sisko about the Dolamide on the Valerian ship seems in character, until before you know it she's openly plotting against him. Well done.
  
  Odo saving the day is definitely fun to watch.
  
  The whole "telepathic sphere" thing was slightly farfetched, granted, but that's par for the course in Star Trek. I kind of like the loose end of what the Klingons had been talking about before they entered the wormhole -- what was that all about?
  
  One nice touch worth mentioning is the title: Dramatis Personae. It's a Latin term meaning "cast of characters," and the main place I've seen the term is at the beginning of Shakespeare plays, where the list of characters is given at the very beginning. The crew, over the course of the episode, begins to act out characters as if they are in a play. Very clever.
  
  I'd give the episode a 5.
• From Bernard on 2010-01-03 at 11:56am:
  How strange that you seem to have adopted the term 'filler' when describing episodes that are not particularly good. DS9 never was an ongoing story, even later on in the series when they adopt longer story arcs most episodes can stand on their own. Certainly at this point in the series we have barely any ongoing arcs, so what exactly are these episodes supposed to be filling? Food for thought there.
  
  Anyway, This episode is no worse than some of the earlier outings of the season. I agree that it is out of place and so I docked it a point for that. But no more than that since it is still not a bad effort in it's own right. Just because it would have been more appropriate earlier in the season doesn't mean that it can't happen later in the season. There are characters that are fascinating whilst under the influence of the telepathic sphere such as Kira, Bashir, O'Brien. Unfortunately and ultimately what spoils the episode for me is Sisko and Dax. The latter stages of this episode could have been a real power struggle between Kira and Sisko and some real tension should have been built. Instead we see him making a clock... gripping stuff.
  
  Another average 5 for me, good elements, good idea and good moments but lacking overall.
• From Abigail on 2019-08-31 at 11:29pm:
  Another "the whole crew goes crazy" episode -- Every Star Trek series had at least a couple of these, and they all kind of drive me nuts. I don't need to see the whole crew acting nutty for 45 minutes and then see it cleared up as being a (fairly pointless) "telepathic sphere".

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-06-06 at 1:46am:
  Whith the Borg powerful once again under Lore, what do they have to show for it? They have only one ship protecting thier leader, which gets fried by the sun. On the ground, they have a large gang of Borg living inside a building. Where is the army of Borg that assimilate whole planets?
  
  
• From TashaFan on 2008-10-31 at 7:41am:
  One thing that bothered me about the premise is, if the Borg assimilate individuals, every one of those individuals lived a whole life as an individual with a sense of self. So why would Hugh developing a sense of self for a few days be so disruptive to the collective or even to a single cube?
• From Zaphod on 2011-04-14 at 12:59pm:
  How can Data feel the urge to develop emotions if he doesn't already have emotions? How can he show signs of withdrawal without emotions? He doesn't have unpleasant feelings so what's the problem? Physical symptoms? Again, why would he even bother if these symptoms don't lead to negative emotions?
  Why would he want to befriend anyone without emotions?
  How can a character as badly written as Data be part of a TV show? A lot of questions and no good answers. ^^
• From ElGuapo on 2011-11-30 at 9:30pm:
  Problem: When Geordi is strapped down to the table, you see him move his hand almost completely out of the restraint with ease. He slips it back in as if nothing happened.
  
  A decent episode. It's good to see Hugh return, and I've always liked the Lore episodes.
• From dan on 2012-04-20 at 4:07am:
  I loved this episode (both parts). It might not have been the deepest plot, but it was exciting in a way few Trek episodes are. Great continuity with Hugh, and Dr. Crusher using the metaphasic shield. The scenes with Geordi and Data were quite intense. Also loved seeing Data take out Lore one and for all.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From bernard on 2010-10-16 at 9:05am:
  I agree, interesting episode but somewhat 'flat' and pedestrian.
  
  Not sure I liked the way Avery Brooks played it either, if this episode is supposed to 'deal' with his feelings about his wife then it fails badly. (We still await the rejuvenated Sisko that is due to appear complete with shaven head later on). He fawns after Fenna and then when he realises she is married... nothing. It's like setting up some sort of betrayal and then just dropping it.
  
  Perhaps this could have played better using the Defiant later in the series too. There could have been slightly more tension between Sisko/Seyetik/Seyetik's wife and also Sisko might have felt more responsibility for what happens...
  
  I'm clutching at ideas here, it's a pretty poor episode and that's it really.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-19 at 10:13am:
  This episode represents yet another example of Star Trek's use of the "onesie", the tight, form-fitting, one piece outfit worn by young, attractive females for the purpose of pandering to the male prurient interest.
  
  Not that I am complaining. As an attractive young female, Fenna does not disappoint. It seems obvious to me tha Sisko is not in love with Fenna (at least not yet); he simply has the hots for her. (And who can blame him?)
  
  Other uses of the onesie: Troi after losing the micro-mini outfit she wore in TNG: Adventure at Farpoint, Seven (of course), Kira (although it doesn't really work with Kira, Nana Visitor is not that hot), TNG: Legacy where the main guest character, Ishara Yarr (Tasha's sister) gets an electric blue onesie (with a color coordinated phaser holster!) to show off her smoking' hot bod which is given oodles and gobs of airtime by the camera folks.
  
  The onesie is a reminder that, for all its pretensions, Star Trek is largely for us horny, sexually repressed geeks.
• From John on 2011-12-08 at 5:19am:
  Wouldn't it be a better idea to just consider the nonsense of "TNG: Force of Nature" to be the problem, and not hold it against all future episodes when they blatantly ignore the stupid "warp drive destroys the universe" premise? I mean, If you're gonna give "Force of Nature" a zero rating, why should you consider it a problem when nearly every subsequent episode ignores it? I rather like future episodes not reminding me of such an arbitrary "rule."
  
  Anyway... I found this episode to be pretty boring. Not because it was a romance episode, but because I just wasn't buying the Fenna character. Her calm demeanor seems way too studied to work with Sisko's boisterous/laid-back dual nature.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-02 at 6:38am:
  It's episodes like this that made my friends describe this show as, "Soap Opera in SPACE," back during its run. Sisko is getting over the death of his wife, and he meets a new woman! But a twist! She's Married! But another twist-she's not really Fenna, she's a psycho-productive illusion of Fenna! Oh, how will our crazy cast sort this out?!
  
  I have no issue with a romance plot, and no issue with Sisko dealing with his grief. Those are good human issues to explore. This kind of cheesy plot manipulation, trying to shove both of those down our throats in order to set up a lame, uninteresting twist, is what this show wasn't meant to be about. I adored Cassidy Yates when she showed up later, because she actually made more sense than Sisko falling for the AOTW.
  
  And yeah, I agree with the sentiment that the B-Plot for the week was much more interesting. This would have made a much better episode without the Fenna character.
• From Martin on 2014-03-19 at 4:31am:
  As i understand it, a gigantic, massive thing as a star has only so many ways to "die". None of wich includes becoming something like we see in this episode...looks more like a gigantic dead planet or something, no light emitted of any sort. So i looked it up, turns out there's this theory that tells us that a white dwarf star (what a small-middle sized star becomes after it dies) cools down over the eons and it's supposed to become a "black dwarf star", cristalized, solid and with no light emitted whatsoever.
  Anyway, besides the fact that we couldn't see this type of dead stars and we clarly see it on the viewing screen of the Prometheus, it's quite impressive to me that the writers took so many detail on this sort of thingies...loved it.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From djb on 2009-01-22 at 8:49am:
  Watching this episode, something occurred to me: I can wrap my head around the idea of a shapeshifter, but how can Odo change into objects as small, or more importantly, light as he regularly does? I mean, he could change his density, but he can't change his mass, can he? Like when he's trapped in that box in "Invasive Procedures." He not only becomes smaller, but obviously much lighter, light enough to carry. Either that, or he has hardly any mass, and when he's in a humanoid shape his density goes way down. That doesn't really fly either. What gives?
• From Miles on 2009-04-06 at 9:11pm:
  Starts out good, but it ultimately fails with odo's monster transformation, which is never brought up ever again. That cool/scary obelisk also serves no further purpose. :(
• From Bernard on 2011-02-15 at 1:51pm:
  7 or 8 for the Odo's 'dad' story, 2 or 3 for the monster story.
  
  James Sloyan is a veteran of Star Trek by now and produces a good performance as Dr. Mora. Rene Auberjonois also turns in a good performance and these largely buoy the episode up a bit.
  
  We're well and truly into the 'messy, middle bit' of DS9 season 2. Muddles plots, half thought ideas coming to the surface in the last 4 episodes. Let's hope they get back on track soon!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-06-08 at 4:21am:
  I will definitely agree that seeing Obrien phase Alixus would have been wondefully satisfying. However, as annoying as this episode was, I rather liked the ending. Having those two children stand there at the end was like a final statement against the lunacy of the 'community'.
  
  Never trust governments that sacrifice the rights of the individual for the good of the whole.
• From EKH on 2007-04-30 at 2:29pm:
  "No EM activity down here."
  Umm, hello? How do explain the simple fact that you can still see, then, Mr. O'Brien?
• From curt on 2010-05-12 at 2:12pm:
  The people on the planet were former starfleet members right?(Atleast I think so) If so i find it odd that they would be quick to result to torture. Even if there leader tells them to.
• From Ry-Fi on 2011-01-27 at 9:46am:
  Problem? Why did the Orinoco have to lasso the Rio Grande out of warp? Hasn't Trek established ages ago that their starships are remote controllable, provided one knows the ship-specific security command code? I was expecting Kira and Dax to simply remote to it and tell it to drop to impulse.
  
  Naturally I'd just assume that each of the runabouts could remote any of the others, cause well, why the hell not, for obvious tactical and safety reasons! My assumption must be wrong, otherwise this is a glaring moment of writer's oversight...
• From Bernard on 2011-03-14 at 8:54pm:
  Hmm...
  
  What to say about this one!
  
  Very ordinary. The part where Sisko goes and locks himself back in the box is played out to be a really important moment of the episode... but all it achieves is to make him look stupid.
  
  The characters on the planet are fairly well fleshed our though, shame the plot never really got the most out of them.
• From Zaphod on 2011-04-20 at 10:36am:
  Um...
  So for 10 years she exploited us like laboratory rats for her own little social experiment?
  Well, I'm okay with it, no hard feelings, let's keep that "community", I like it...
  
  I'm speechless, didn't expect that ending, that was really really really bad, mind-boggling, abysmal, WOW!
  
• From Bronn on 2011-10-22 at 5:32pm:
  Zaphod's got the right of this. I have no freaking idea how "Whispers," a beautifully executed episode with an exciting premise, rates a 4, while this episode, with a freaking terrible premise and an ending that defies any rationalization, rates a 5.
  
  This is probably my least favorite episode of DS9 ever. I'm insulted that they attempted to write this character off as sympathetic. For one, Star Trek is a horrible venue for a "Technology is Evil," Aesop, when technology has solved ALL of Earth's problems. Clean, safe, renewable energy, along with groundbreaking medicine and the ability to easily feed every starving person everywhere. Yeah, damned technology.
  
  And Alixus deserved to be tried for murder. Yeah, trap people on a planet without their consent, force them to suffer and die from snakebites and harsh conditions because SHE rejects modern medicine-that sounds like a heinous crime to me. But the ending makes it seem like we should agree with the crap she's peddling. This episode was a ridiculous mess. DS9 can do so much better, and they know it. What bugs me the most is Ira Steven Behr wondering how she failed to be sympathetic. Yeah, shoving Sisko in a box because O'Brien "hurt the community," through his "selfishly wasted time," trying to contact the runabout so that he could get some medical assistance for the dying girl. How snobbishly selfish of him to agree to the rules of a society where he was stranded in two days ago, and for hoping that he might someday see his child again.
  
  It's insulting that the writers and producers wanted her to be likable.
• From Drac on 2013-02-02 at 1:32am:
  I totally agree with the review. I would personally make up whatever to get them off the planet, because 10 y of brainwashing clearly affecting their judgment. They don't even have enough people.
• From Domi on 2014-08-17 at 5:32am:
  I didn't think they could make a more unlikable character than Haneek from Sanctuary but they did it. I wanted to smother Alixus with a pillow until she suffocated.
• From Axel on 2015-06-23 at 5:07am:
  I share the desire to have seen Alixus on the business end of Miles' phaser. She certainly had a hold on these people Branch Davidian style. And it was also disappointing to see the ending where her unwitting pawns basically accept their role in her little social experiment.
  
  I do agree with Pete Miller that the very ending scene was nice, and I think it redeems the episode a bit. Sure, the writers give Alixus a chance to get on her soapbox and preach her nonsense, but in the end, the community's children are already questioning things. Who knows, maybe down the road they escape that planet while the rest of the community finds themselves suddenly under Dominion occupation :)
  
• From ChristopherA on 2020-07-19 at 9:31pm:
  The episode was generally interesting but I found Sisko excessively passive. They made very clear that the leader was a charismatic evil cult leader with a mesmerizing hold over the colony, and Sisko just doesn’t do much about it. They desperately needed Kirk or Picard to come give some dramatic speeches telling off the colonists for following that psycho, both in the middle (instead of just passively going into the box) and at the end (instead of just abandoning the brainwashed colonists).

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dave on 2006-10-14 at 1:24am:
  Wasn't the reason they jumped into the warp core is that the dead guy was buried nearby in a bulkhead? They didn't experience the urge to jump until they were on the deck overlooking the core.
• From Rob on 2008-04-24 at 10:50pm:
  I have to say that your review kind of missed the point. This wasn't about Worf and Troi in the conventional sense... their whole courtship was part of a delusion suffered by Troi (except for Worf's first tentative exploration of starting a relationship with Riker). They never actually got together. And Troi wanted to follow Kwan into the plasma stream because that's where the "empathic echo" was located due to Pierce having committed suicide there after killing the two lovers.
• From 7 Of 14 on 2008-10-09 at 1:47pm:
  To me this episode is a mess; the distinction between reality and the hallucinations was incredibly badly handled and kills the story. I had to read a detailed episode synopsis online to clear the confusion in my mind, a sign the episode fails to work coherently.
  
  The whole issue of the bones found in the bulkhead doesn’t make any sense as it was all a hallucination anyway. Why would Troi hallucinate such irrelevant details? What a mess; "Sub Rosa" is a thousand times better.
  
• From Dave on 2009-01-22 at 2:03am:
  Bit of a geeky thing this - but hey. I paused this on Lt Kwan's crew record to read what it said. It appears he was posted to the Enterprise and two other starships on the same stardate - not to mention making Lieuteneant on the same date. It also makes no reference to when he served at Utopia Planitia - which Troi says it does. If they're going to go to the effort of creating the computer screen detail, they might as well make it right. Still, digital TV and live pause weren't around at the time....
• From ElGuapo on 2011-12-12 at 9:22pm:
  If the only reason Troi tried to commit suicide was because her empathic abilities tied into the empathic echo, why did Kwan commit suicide? He wasn't telepathic, so the empathic echo shouldn't have affected him.
  
  A poorly executed plot line that should have had more focus on Troi and Worf. 3/10
• From Marvin on 2012-09-08 at 1:48pm:
  Plot holes you could fly a starship through.
  As mentioned by Dave, utterly inconsistent data on Lt Kwan.
  
  Troi makes a big deal of "not seeing these" (pointing to a solar cell!) during her experience, yet they are all over the place during her vision.
  
  And then we learn that Troi and Worf's liaison, the only piece of real content in the whole episode, takes place during her mind-trip?
  
  Feeble!
• From Axel on 2018-05-31 at 4:32am:
  ElGuapo, Troi mentioned earlier in the episode that Kwan is half Napean, apparently a species with some emphatic ability.
  
  I get a little annoyed by the last few minutes of an episode being just a bunch of exposition that explains everything you've been watching for the other 40 minutes. But, I've never had the challenge of writing a script for a show that will be watched by millions of people. The empathic echo is a bit silly even by sci-fi standards, but not even close to the silliest thing we've seen in Season 7 so far (I reserve that honor for Sub Rosa).
  
  It was nice to see Worf as something other than the stoic, grumpy warrior he usually is. I give this episode a rating of "meh" which puts it in the 3-5 range.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-07-31 at 3:30am:
  Oh yeah! THIS is why I hate Brannon Braga!
• From yaspaa on 2010-06-06 at 11:19am:
  Tom mentions being locked up by an unfriendly shapeshifter. A reference to Odo?
• From thaibites on 2013-10-01 at 11:57am:
  The problem I have with this episode is the same problem I have with a lot of the early season 2 episodes - there's too much Earth in them! The whole point of the series was to get out of their rut and away from the Federation. So, here they are - billions of light years away, and they amazingly keep encountering links to their "old life". Impossible!
  Doesn't seem very creative or imaginative to me...(Actually, it shows the producers were either lazy, burned out, or under pressure from the network to dumb down everything so the masses could relate to the show better.)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Jason on 2010-01-14 at 3:44am:
  Wow; this episode was abysmal. It is like a spoof of what every bad Star Trek episode is -- spatial anomalies, technobabble, space-based life-forms, stuff that doesn't make sense but is easy to film -- and in the end they just do nothing.
  
  I wish I had that 45 minutes of my life back.
• From Drac on 2010-04-30 at 5:47pm:
  Boring episode , Kes birthday was the only remdeeming part so far i find Kes , The doctor and Neelix the only intresting characters.. i want ds9 back :(
• From Jim on 2010-07-30 at 5:47am:
  The only thing missing was a group hug. And Janeway's head spinning around. Also, doesn't Neelix seem a little creepy when he gets jealous?
• From Andrew on 2017-06-01 at 5:48pm:
  The Bar appears to be a replica of the one Kim found Paris in a couple episodes prior. If Paris frequently runs this program it at least makes sense that Kim knew where to find Paris in Marseilles.
• From Gary on 2018-02-24 at 6:23pm:
  Lucky that none of the bent corridors or rooms opened up to the outside, but that's fine, one can accept the odd "twisting" premise for the sake of fun.
  
  What struck me as even more ridiculous: this episode underscored the "named characters matter, the rest of the crew doesn't" curse that seems more pronounced on Voyager than on other series. What do our heroes do when they encounter other crew? Tell them to go somewhere safe and just wait. Essentially, pat them on the head... "We professionals will take care of it, now stay out of the way, OK?". They have a ship full of experts of various sorts, and the main cast doesn't really know what's going on or have solutions to the problem. How about telling everyone everything you know, and getting as many minds as possible at work? But no, of course they're all useless.
  
  It wouldn't have changed anything in terms of outcome, but would have made Voyager appear like a ship with 140 crew, not 10 crew and 130 passengers.
• From paul vh on 2024-03-08 at 1:57am:
  Bob Picardo has said this is his least favorite episode of the series, for the same reasons talked about in some of these reviews: it's 43 minutes of the crew surprised to find themselves in a different room than the one they intended to go to.
  
  It was painful to watch, so I imagine it was even more painful to act in.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-08-02 at 6:36pm:
  Janeaway is a fucking idiot for wanting to land the ship. Let's see, how many times did the enterprise land? Oh! 1 time, when it was destroyed. She's already going for a second attempt in one season. It was completely unneccesary and a complete lack of judgement on her part. Putting the ENTIRE crew at risk to maybe land and help Chakotay. Why didn't they just replicate another shuttlecraft ;) They did it so many times in the series, seeing as they started out with 2.
  
  But yeah, Janeaway is a stupid dumbass. I put the ship landing thing in the same category as Sisko using the Defiant every time he wanted to leave the station. Completely unneccesary.
• From Remco on 2009-01-14 at 11:33pm:
  When Kes was pissed at the Doctor and said she wished that the he could feel pain for once, I said to myself: "well, he has, in Projections". It's a waste that he didn't mention this. It was only 6 episodes (weeks?) ago.
• From Penguinphysics on 2013-01-17 at 5:46am:
  I realize that this is a really small nitpick, but the use of the word DAMPENERS is not correct. When the inertial momentum of the vessel is compensated for, this is DAMPING, which is an absorption of energy (usually in relation to oscillations). A DAMPENER would be something like a shower or hose. A seriously insignificant nit to pick but since the technical advisors work so hard on other things it would seem that they could keep this consistent.
• From Inga on 2013-07-30 at 9:54am:
  Pete Miller - Voyager is a new kind of ship, maybe it's easier and safer to land it, so the decision is not necessarily stupid.
• From Azalea Jane on 2024-01-25 at 8:53pm:
  Yeah, this ep was... kind of WTF. It's especially cringe if you know about how the supposedly Native American consultant they had for Voyager was a phony. But cultural insensitivity aside, it's kind of astonishing to imagine that a bunch of extremely Earth-specific things would be localized to this tiny region of the other side of the galaxy. Well... maybe not "a bunch", but between this and "The 37s", it's really pushing, even for Star Trek.
  
  One little detail I liked was how without his communicator, Chakotay couldn't understand the aliens until they gave him their own UT. Kes adding a couple hours to the Doctor's illness program was fantastic. I love Kes.
  
  This show has a lot of potential, and a lot of great moments so far, but it so badly wants to be TNG that it isn't finding an identity of its own.
  
  Voyager is designed with landing capability, so the previous commenter's complaints about it landing are invalid. (What IS a valid complaint is how imbalanced it looks when it's on the ground, like it's about to tip over.)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From John on 2011-01-12 at 4:28am:
  I have to agree that this episode starts out really well, but descends into childish bickering by the 25-minute mark. By 30 minutes you're just tired of seeing it. I find this rather distasteful, given that Worf has, until now, been the hallmark of honor in the Star Trek franchise. I don't like seeing him scheming or plotting "like a Ferengi", as he would say.
  
  I give it a 5, only because the beginning was so good.
• From Laroquod on 2012-06-12 at 12:35pm:
  The DS9 producers apparently chose this episode as their first to focus on Worf in order to demonstrate that they completely fail to understand him as a character. They brought on this character to try to win over fans of Worf from TNG and then immediately pissed all over his honourable image treasured most by exactly the fans they were trying to court. I found it extremely insulting at the time, but now it's just one of the many signals that the producers of DS9 did not really understand much about Star Trek or its fans.
• From Axel on 2015-05-31 at 4:46pm:
  For a while there, it seemed like the sword had been forged by the Dark Lord Sauron in Mt. Doom. It was having the same effect on people as the one ring :)
  
  Anyway, I do buy the bickering between Worf and Kor although they dragged it on way too long and screwed up by making it the story. Worf, as honorable as he is, has never been confronted with the opportunity for this kind of power, and it can make good people go a bit nutty. It did for Kor as well. But it would've been a lot more interesting to explore the impact of Federation officers helping to retrieve the most prized artifact in Klingon history.
• From lumzi23 on 2016-12-27 at 7:44am:
  What an amazingly bad episode. It starts off well then takes a left right into crazy town. A virus that changes people into loonies would have been preferable than both of them just suddenly losing their mind. TBH I have not really watched much of TNG but it seems to me that the DS9 people/makers really did the famous Worf a disservice here.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Remco on 2009-02-05 at 3:29pm:
  This was a pretty boring episode. It's a shame, because I don't think the premise is necessarily ridiculous.
  
  Some coincidence it is, that I just saw "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" in the cinema a few days ago. The premise is very similar. Benjamin is born with all the signs of old age, and then he grows younger. This episode's idea must have come from the same book as the film is inspired by.
  
  One thing that differs between the film and this episode, is that the film is much more interesting. It focuses on the lives of two people: one growing younger and one growing older. The episode instead doesn't do very much with the premise. We don't get to see what it is like growing younger. Instead, we have a mystery plot regarding some monster, Tuvok babysitting, and some diplomatic discussions on Voyager.
  
  The final moments between Tressa and Tuvok make the episode a lot better than it should have been.
• From JRPoole on 2009-03-23 at 2:54pm:
  If you overlook the presence of children, which is almost always a bad idea on Star Trek, and the utterly ridiculous plot twist with the reverse aging process, this is pretty solid. As is, it's pretty wretched. I give it a 3.
• From thaibites on 2013-11-17 at 7:16am:
  They should've had Jonathan Winters on this one.
  Nanoo, nanoo.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Remco on 2009-02-14 at 2:41am:
  Now we've had two Star Trek shows failing to address the issue of euthanasia acceptably, and that only mere weeks apart. Voyager's Tuvix was a lot more disturbing than this, even though in this episode someone is euthanizing on a massive scale. The difference is that it is voluntary.
  
  "What is the point of prolonging life when life is always painful and there is no hope of a cure?"
  
  This is exactly the discussion with euthanasia. Are we supposed to allow the voluntary killing of loads of people who are incurably suffering? Should we instead allow them to suffer? It's a bit of a stalemate. No argument is going to change anyone's mind. But you could still present the arguments nicely.
  
  The thing that saves this episode, is that there is at least some productive opposition to the euthanization. Bashir doesn't agree with the status quo, so he tries to find a cure.
  
  The big problem with "Tuvix" was the lack of differing opinions. In "The Quickening" we can see the moral ambiguity shine through the characters' opinions, even if it doesn't shine as bright as it could have.
  
  I'd rate it a 4. Missed opportunity, but not offensively so.
• From John on 2011-09-20 at 11:02pm:
  One thing I liked about this episode is that we get to see some growth in the relationship between Julian and Dax -- the days of him pining for her, and of her constantly teasing him, are largely in the past at this point.
  
  I didn't mind that the aliens (once again) looked exactly like humans -- I guess I've just gotten so used to the fact that they can't all be Cardassians or Ferengi.
  
  I do, however, agree that this episode would have been much more interesting if the morality of euthanasia were explored more.
  
  6/10
• From hugo on 2012-06-12 at 10:40am:
  I gave this a 7, the story was a tad flat, but I liked the direction, the acting, the light and the sets. The matte paintings are gorgeous, and I loved those giant round buildings.
• From Gaius Gracchua on 2021-12-27 at 4:18pm:
  This actually isn't pure filler. The Quickening comes up in S7E16 "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" as the purpose behind Bashir giving his medical presentation.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From John on 2011-09-21 at 12:04am:
  While I love the O'Brien's, and would have enjoyed seeing more of their story, in this case I was more than willing to do without, since any story about them would also involve Kira, whom I cannot stand.
  
  I thought the Ferengi plot was more entertaining anyway.
• From Martin on 2014-04-04 at 3:57pm:
  until the very last moment i actually though garak would appear out of nowhere and try to fulfill his part of the contract, killing quark without he even knowing it...
• From Abigail on 2021-08-20 at 8:58pm:
  I actually thought this was a cute and entertaining episode. I really like Quark and Rom, so I enjoyed it. I also agree with John that Kira is really not my favorite character. (I don't love Jadzia, either.)
• From The Obam-Hadar on 2022-10-18 at 7:02pm:
  The contract says Brunt gets Quarks bodyparts when he dies. Is there a timelimit or something? I don't see why he needs to kill himself.
  Brunt can still get his parts when he dies in 50 years or whatever.
• From Alex on 2023-01-18 at 12:33am:
  @The Obam-Hadar: Brunt directly quotes the contract - the dessicated remains must be available within 6 days. Surely this means 6 days since the auctioning.
  -----
  I think this episode is definitely above 3 for me. 6, maybe 7? What I enjoy the most is the delightful acting. I always was fond of Ferengi episodes due to the actors and them having to perform in that kind of heavy makeup, and they always put up a great show, intentionally caricaturish. And the comedy was just really good as it usually is on DS9.
• From Rob Uk on 2023-01-26 at 1:19am:
  Rule of acquisition 17
  
  A contract is a contract is a contract... but only between Ferengi
  
  As long as Quark is not in drag I usually enjoy a Ferengi-centric episode, especially when Brunt is involved ????

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From dr theopolis on 2007-02-04 at 5:11pm:
  I have to agree that the concept of blind faith is very annoying. Some people just aren't scientific and will feel more comfortable with spiritual explanations. I can handle that. However what really annoys me about this episode is that the guide seemed out to prove a point at Kes's expence. She said that the ritual was meaningless yet the toxin was crucial to the solution. So what does she know? Frankly, I think the science vs religion concept could have been written into a better story. The ending was pretty weak.
• From JRPoole on 2009-05-30 at 1:46pm:
  Ditto Eric's review.
  
  This feels anti-Trek to me, and one of the things I like least about Voyager is that it pushes this sort of new age-y pseudo religious philosophy more than any other Trek series. Still, this could have been a cool concept with a more interesting story. The montages of Janeway's quest are terrible, the alien of the week isn't very interesting, and the whole thing just isn't very interesting.
  
  On a side note, there must be some link between having ridges on the bridge of your nose and beleiving in vague spiritual nonsense. These people and their "spirits" are a lot like the Bajorans and their prophets.
• From L on 2013-12-19 at 12:42am:
  2 1/2 seasons into voyager and I'm still incredibly underwhelmed. Bland.
  
  There's been minor annoyances but this one is the first to really piss me off, with its ridiculous propaganda of glorifying pseudo-mystical nonsense and demonising rational thought or wanting straight answers to simple questions.
  
  That 'spiritual' guide flat out mis-led and lied to Janeway. Janweway's purpose was very clear, she wasn't searching for their misguided version of enlightenment, she was on an urgent mission, and she was given the run-around just so they could feel superior while laying all the responsibility on Janeway.
  She should have slapped that smug cow.
  
  This was just anti-intellectualism, and it's crap like pushing this new-age so-called 'spirituality' that has probably been a factor in us arriving at the internet dark-ages of anti-science ignorance we find ourselves in now.
  
  I'm very annoyed with you Star Trek.
  
• From McCoy on 2017-08-08 at 5:16pm:
  10/10
  You people may not like faith in general, but you've made a religion from science. How is blind faith in science better than any religion? Oh, I see... Because you have tricorders:)
  Great episode. Without a little bit of spiritualism and mystery world is boring and terrible. You really want to live in Q Continuum? Where everybody knows everything? God, it's hell:)
• From Ensign Obummer on 2022-02-14 at 9:11am:
  How? It is better because (unlike spirits and superstition) science reliably works, it is not blind.
  Also, why are spirits always such trolls? The play silly games with Janeway while Kes' life hangs by a thread.
  Not to mention leaving that death trap around for tourists to wander in.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From penguinphysics on 2010-11-07 at 6:28am:
  Kurtwood Smith also played the Federation president in STVI:TUC

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dejan on 2007-12-17 at 11:54am:
  Kes could easily remove Doctors mobile emitter in transporter room..
• From JR on 2012-06-04 at 12:58am:
  Perhaps I missed something, but as far as I can tell it was not Kes that broke it off with Neelix in 3x10 Warlord - it was that controlling entity Teiran. I assumed after Teiran was defeated/exorcised, that Kes and Neelix were back together. I was taken aback seeing her rub up on an alien of the week.
  
  
• From Psycroptic on 2012-08-28 at 8:03pm:
  ^ I thought that as well, I kept expecting to see them back together
• From TheAnt on 2013-10-09 at 10:33pm:
  The 'Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde' episode.
  
  I like this episode, for several reasons.
  And Picardo really do carry the part well. For example when his evil self tell Kes how much he 'hate him' - the nice version of the doctor.
  The trek up on the mountain side really hints of the kind of scenario we were shown in the old kind of horror movies as Dr Jekkyl and Hyde belong to.
  
  Even so one have to admit that this is one of the more average episodes, and admittedly a filler.
• From zook on 2013-12-23 at 10:30pm:
  Something that is quite bothersome, and it's present all over SF shows: almost all alien species, in all the corners of the galaxy, have the same basic ways of expressing affection/attraction: kissing, touching faces, etc. Why? The only exception that comes to mind is the Vulcan hand touch, but even that was neglected with the new (Abrams) Star Trek. It shows a disappointing lack of imagination, and a missed opportunity to challenge our assumptions in interesting ways.
• From Kethinov on 2013-12-24 at 7:59pm:
  Zook, it's all part of Trek's remarkable take on convergent evolution. Most intelligent life is humanoid. Humanoid life all share a great deal of anatomical features due to convergent evolution. As such, all humanoid life expresses love (and other emotions) in similar ways, also due to convergent evolution.
• From zook on 2013-12-24 at 10:54pm:
  Kethinov, I think this explanation would make sense if behavior were determined on a strictly biological basis; as we all know, that is not the case. Also, it would not explain the Vulcan hand touch. Unless it's different for touch-telepathic species, like the Vulcans. But then again, Kes is also a telepath...
• From Kethinov on 2013-12-25 at 3:15am:
  Of course it's all biology. Emotional states, psychological conditions, even Vulcan telepathy, it's all from the brain, which is biology. And since Star Trek is asserting that most aliens are very much like us (by being humanoid) then it's reasonable to assume that they experience all these things in a sufficiently analogous way.
• From zook on 2013-12-25 at 3:50am:
  Not to drag the conversation on too long, but I should point out that the view you just expressed is not immediately obvious, and needs justification. It's an interesting question to ask whether all human behavior can be reduced to biology, or if there is also a cultural component. There is evidence for the latter, since groups of the same species (so with identical biology) develop quite different customs, behaviors and sets of values. It's not only plausible, but much more probable, that different species will be even more different in their inter-personal conventions, even if they are part of some convergent evolution narrative.
• From Kethinov on 2013-12-25 at 6:22am:
  I totally agree that it's not immediately obvious and should have been explained by the show at some point. Unfortunately, it's one of the Star Trek franchise's many unstated premises as I like to call it.
  
  Fans have had to come up with their own off screen rationalizations to explain many things that are peculiar or counterintuitive for years. Probably the biggest one, which I think is a more generalized version of your question, is "why are all aliens mostly like humans?"
  
  The official explanation is it's a TV show and bumpy foreheads are easier on the budget. The best in-universe explanation is convergent evolution. It's a shame the show never mentioned it (although there are hints of panspermia on occasion, which is helpful), but unfortunately that's all we've got! :)
• From Rob UK on 2013-12-25 at 5:51pm:
  TNG - The Chase is all about the discovery of the progenitor species who infected the alpha, beta, gamma and delta quadrants with their mitochondrial DNA, adding it in the primordial soup of thousands and thousands of planet.
  
  This is explained by a hologram at the end (the actress who plays the female shapeshifter in DS9 plays the role) as a smoothed off less featured humanoid of the long distant past appears as the puzzle is solved, one of my favourite ST episode just for having the audacity to try and explain away the wrinkly forehead cheaper on the budget choice way back when it happened in a plausible enjoyable episode, very entertaining Klingons too like the meeting with Data in the mess hall.
  
  Slight sidetrack there lol not like me hahahaha so we all look alike because we are all alike deep down where it matters.
  
  With a little bit of nature vs nurture thrown in the mix.
  
  Just incase anyone missed the anti racism message that Star Trek has carried in style since day one.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-07-09 at 9:25pm:
  This was an awful episode. First of all, the moral "dilemma" was ridiculous. Are we to say that every time we make a decision such as deciding to move to another part of the country we are killing thousands of people who never got the chance to live? Or every time you use a condom you're killing hundreds of people? The whole idea is just stupid and annoying. And I agree about the farming scene at the end. That was very cheesy. This episode felt like a poorly done TNG episode stuck in the middle of DS9.
• From John DC on 2011-01-15 at 1:04am:
  This really was just awful. I don't know exactly why I hated it so much, but I did. Perhaps it's because it's a reset-button filler episode in the middle of the Dominion War story arc. Strange thing is, it's filler, but it obviously wasn't cheap to produce either.
• From Mario on 2012-04-23 at 7:44pm:
  This doesn't make any sense at all. How can they "change" anything that has not happened yet? The present part (or the future from our perspective) only happenes once. Either they travel through time or not. If their descendants are there, that means they did and it already happened and nobody can change that - whatever happened, happened. If they don't, their descendant should never exist at all - not exist and then cease to exist.
  Haven't they watched LOST? I know it aired a few years later, but with time travel, apparently, everything is possible...
• From GregVB on 2012-08-17 at 3:45pm:
  First time commenting.
  
  For me this is the best episode so far of DS9. I actually think its very interesting that this got a 5 from the host, all the comments are negative, yet...yet... this has almost twice as many 10 votes as any other.
  
  I believe this episode represents the difference in the hard core Trek fans, and the sci-fi fans. Yes the story has some time travel issues, no great continuity, but for me, you have to suspend disbelief to believe in time travel anyway (or aliens, warp speed, etc...).
  
  For me this represents some of the best character development i have seen so far. An earlier comment stated that this was like a bad TNG episode, and I agree that it does feel very much like a communal "TNG:Inner Light".
  
  Another said it was filler. So was "Inner Light", "Tapestry", and "Family". These are only episodes I have given a 10, along with the TOS movie "Undiscovered Country". For me its a nine, and like I said earlier, the best episode (so far) of my DS9 watching.
• From Bernard on 2012-08-19 at 10:23am:
  Response to GregVB mainly here.
  
  Firstly, I wouldn't put much faith in the fan rating scores for DS9 as I think our webmaster has suffered some sabotage in that area. Just take a look at the season 7 scores - all the zeroes that have been recorded go way above what you would normally expect. I have already mentioned this in another review response and I believe the same has happened to this episode except 10's and 9's being registered.
  
  You have mentioned that dreaded word... filler. I hate that word used in relation to Star Trek episodes. Star Trek, in the main, is not a serial. It consists of mostly stand alone episodes, although DS9 did write longer reaching story arcs.
  This means, to me, that you cannot have 'filler'. You can have poor episodes that do not reach many levels but since any episode of Star Trek on any given week could be a stand alone episode then we cannot really band around the word 'filler'. So in this respect I agree with GregVB. The majority of TNG is 'filler', you have to accept that it is merely the stand alone nature of Star Trek.
  
  As for this episode.
  I would rate it fairly highly actually. Probably an 8. The only reason it does not score higher is because of the slightly contrived and forced plot points and also because the episode loses my interest at points.
  There are strong performances that really carry the episode though. In particular Rene Auberjonois and Nana Visitor but also the guest cast, Colm Meaney and Avery Brooks.
  
  Overall, if this episode had been slightly less contrived and slightly more polished it would be up there as one of the best DS9 episodes.
  
  
• From Inga on 2013-02-05 at 7:51pm:
  Oh, Dax, after five years on Star Trek you still think that going through some weird energy barriers is a good idea...
  
  Also, if they actually stayed and got thrown back in time, wouldn't they have lived differently anyway? They have the knowledge the original crew didn't have. There's a possibility a great deal of those 8000 people would seize to exist just because they'd be replaced with different offsprings. Well, taking into account that anything would change at all, since this theory does sound silly... It would've made quite a temporal paradox as well.
  
  
• From Xavier on 2013-06-01 at 4:15pm:
  This episode is offensive. Not just we going into Time Trek again, but in such an idiotic way it annoyes me. Everything is "okay", til Dax discovers it is a ploy from "new" Dax and the time travel will not produce a duplicate. Was a wasted potential in a different way made by the reviewer... Let´s imagine they actually had this Quantum duplication happening. Instead of a bunch of BS about the "needs of many", we would see them IN THE PAST. And wondering if the "new" Dax would have lied to them, thinking he did. Maybe they, after a few years in the hardships of the colony, finally realized they weren´t lied by him, the quantum duplication actually happened. But we just see this episode from their point of view, the duplicates we will never see again.
  
  About they have seen already the colony and it changed the timeline already, well, is not the first time Time Trek happens to have contact with a timeline and had no effect whatsoever, so it doesn´t matter so much. Time Trek is a pathetic concept by itself, but if you´re going that way, at least make something less contrived than telling the same story all over again. And really, rset button stories deserve nothing less than a zero. I want Star Trek. When they derived from it to do a Reset Button, is pretty much fanfiction made by the current hired writer, and that is ofensive.
• From Mandeponium on 2013-09-06 at 3:07pm:
  I agree, Xavier, downright offensive, for several reasons. I can't believe O'Brien, after watching some kids play, has a change of heart. He is being completely disloyal to Keiko, Molly, and Yoshi. I suppose he's thinking, "You know, I guess I could f*** that ensign from Engineering after all."
  
  The Quantum Duplicate plan disturbed me too. Why does no one think to ask, "But which version of the Defiant will "I" be on? I don't want to be the one stranded on the planet while my duplicate gets to go home."
  
  They could have done something like TNG's "Yesterday's Enterprise" and made the story about sacrifice: The 8000 sacrificing themselves for their ancestors. Instead Sisko and Friends decide to throw themselves away for a population that shouldn't even exist. Someone has to make a sacrifice here and it's pretty clear who (you know, for the show to continue).
  
  But then O'Brien lets his emotions get the best of him and the writers get to eat their cake and have it too. Make the "right" choice and feel good about it, but still press the Reset Button.
  
  I would give it a 0 if not for the absolutely beautiful exchanges between Kira and Old-Odo.
  
  
  So 1.
• From Axel on 2015-05-23 at 3:52pm:
  An average episode. The main moral dilemma doesn't bother me as much as other reviewers. Yes, it's ridiculous for us to go through life second-guessing every decision and relationship based on the hypothetical offspring we're stopping from being born. This episode is different though: those offspring aren't hypothetical, they are real. It's harder to make that decision when there is flesh and blood in front of you, and I think that's all the episode was trying to point out.
  
  I do agree it's not the same as killing, though. This isn't murder or genocide, so evaluating the morality of one's actions on that basis is pretty ridiculous. It's more a matter of denying them the chance to exist given they already do. These kinds of temporal problems only happen in the Star Trek universe. It's interesting to think about, but that's about it.
  
  What bugs me most about this episode is Yedrin Dax's ridiculous plan. It doesn't make any sense at all, even before they found out it was a hoax. Using the barrier to create a second ship that crashes, consigning that Kira to die and forcing that crew to go through the same anguish runs into the same moral problems that the crew ends up facing anyway when they find out the plan wasn't going to work. There's also the question of how they would ensure that crash plays out exactly like the original did, as the main review points out the timeline has already been altered as well.
  
  Interesting, but not completely flushed out by the writers. Good acting though.
• From James T Quark on 2016-02-29 at 3:46am:
  This episode is much better than most people give it credit for. If you delve too deeply into the whole time issue, you'll drive yourself crazy. With Star Trek, often we have to suspend our criticism over reality and just enjoy the episode. This is one of those cases as it is truly a good story, if you don't start trying to unravel the issue of them affecting their own future by knowing their descendents survive as well as their own fates. Just sit back and enjoy a good story. LLAP
• From Zorak on 2016-06-11 at 6:19am:
  So much negativity towards this episode. I don't get it. Sure it got the slightest bit cheesy and over the top by the end, but so what? It was a great episode. One of my favorites. This is how drama on Star Trek should be. I also want to add that I love every scene with Rene Auberjonois. I don't mean in this episode (although he was great in it). I mean every scene in DS9. Odo is just the best.
• From Jan on 2019-02-28 at 7:48pm:
  This episode doesn't make a lot of sense:
  
  First of all, despite the crew of various Trek episodes trying to leave the past "intact", there are also many suggestions that there are "alternate timelines", or even different branches of said timelines.
  Though it isn't explored often, there are certain examples in TNG (like Yesterday's Enterprise), but also the so-called "Kelvin Timeline".
  
  This means that whenever something has been changed in the past, a new branch of the same timeline is created reflecting that change, but all events from the "unchanged timeline" don't suddenly cease to exist as if they never happened.
  
  If it WAS the case, then Sela would have never have been able to exist.
  Or even "Old Spock" in the Kelvin-verse movies, since Quinto-Spock can never become the same "Old Spock" even if he wanted to.
  
  Writers however just do as they please. This episode they're basically telling us that alternate timelines cease to exist, or don't exist in the first place. But that creates the paradox that these 8000 people couldn't possibly exist since the Defiant never went back in time and didn't crashland.
  
  So this episode doesn't make sense in my opinion. It tries too hard to make us feel for these people on a false premise.
  
  Just my two cents

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dejan on 2007-12-19 at 11:39am:
  How could they communicate with the alien with no communicator? ;-)
• From hmad on 2010-06-09 at 5:44am:
  Well obviously voyager's prison guards had them in some way, ya hairsplitter.
• From thaibites on 2014-05-22 at 8:17am:
  This episode has to be the writers' ultimate fantasy - not only is it a holodeck episode, the alien ship has holodecks everywhere! The writers must've been creaming in their pants while they were writing this. It's like mega-mega hoo-haw holdeck extravaganza. How can they top this? How about a wormhole full of holodecks, and each holodeck leads to another wormhole full of holodecks, which leads to another...
• From tigertooth on 2016-10-08 at 6:38pm:
  Paris and Torres in the frozen world: the acting, makeup, set design... pretty much everything looked so fake. I never believed for a second that they were even slightly chilly. And when they phasered the ice above the aliens to make it crash down on them? Ooof. Awful.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Ed Flinn on 2009-04-19 at 12:44am:
  I'd count addressing Leonoardo as Mr. Da Vinci as a problem: da Vinci was a desriptor, not the man's name.
• From pbench on 2015-09-04 at 8:34pm:
  a fun enough romp for being such a messy episode. the big problem i see is setting this precedent of all hologram characters being potentially fully- or mostly-sentient--if this is the case, you would think this would cause the crew consternation and potentially make every reset of a holodeck scenario or deletion of characters a murder/genocide. there's obviously ways around this, but it would've been nice to explore some of that--the differing levels of consciousness that a hologram could experience. i believe tuvok referred to this when he said da vinci was 'limited', but in all behavior and action his only real limitation is his understanding of place/context; in all other ways he seems to be an autonomous being. just food for thought.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Abigail on 2008-12-18 at 5:11am:
  I sometimes feel that the writers of DS9 were unaware that you can develop characters through normal sci-fi epsiodes. You don't have to invent an episode with no external plot to do so. If I wanted to watch a goofy soap opera, I would. No need to turn "Star Trek" into one.
• From Christopher Wright on 2012-01-16 at 9:20pm:
  I disagree with the previous comment. I am not normally one for sappy romance stories, and redcuing this episode down to such isn't fair. The romantic tension between Odo and Kira has been so well-developed and stretched out that when the kiss came I almost jumped up and yelled "yeah!" with clenched fist. I also liked Vic a lot. This episode should have a higher rating. Lastly I would like to say that the costume design on DS9 if by far the best. Odo's tux and hologram Kira's dress were very nice touches. Those combined with Quark and Garak's wardrobes in other episodes really show off the designers' talents.
• From hugo on 2013-01-20 at 7:40pm:
  through the first half of this ep, i thought this was developing into a yawner - no suspense or sense of urgency. Then I found myself smiling through the rest of it, don't really know why. I liked vic too!
• From carsonist on 2013-09-29 at 4:36am:
  I can't believe how annoying this episode is. Instead of a second plot, they have four unbelievably long songs. Vic is fine, but takes up a lot of time in a series in its next to last season during a major war.
  
  Kira and Odo getting together is great, but there's nothing else that happens in the whole episode. You could cut the whole thing down to maybe ten minutes.
• From Scott on 2018-10-15 at 2:15am:
  I didn't think I would like it, but I did. Normally the holosuites are an overused story device, but Vic's just a great character. Wouldn't it be great to have a guy like that you could talk to about your problems?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Dstyle on 2015-06-16 at 12:59pm:
  Why does Seven (and sometimes Harry) seem to be the only person who ever does any work in the astrometrics lab? It's like that room was just empty space until Seven arrived. I mean, do the Delaney sisters EVER show up to their shifts?
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-16 at 1:34pm:
  Lal + Hugh = One
• From Dstyle on 2015-06-16 at 3:52pm:
  Seven of Nine rushes to the bridge with a dermal re-generator after the ship flies into the nebula and the crew starts reeling from the effects. She flips over a nameless red shirt, face horribly burnt, and looks up as the camera zooms in on her face. "He's dead," she says. The music swells dramatically and the scene ends, unfortunately cutting off the rest of her speech. "He's dead," she says. "Fortunately I have already demonstrated that my superior Borg technology can bring him back from what you call 'death.' Hopefully he doesn't suffer a tedious crisis of faith, like Nelix did a dozen episodes ago, earlier this season. Hey, you guys remember I can bring people back from the dead, right? Guys? Seriously, it was just a couple of episodes ago. [looks down at the crew member again] Oh wait, this one isn't important. I don't even know his name. Never mind."
• From tigertooth on 2017-05-29 at 3:17am:
  To me, the worst part of the premise is: what would they do if something went wrong? If there was another anomaly within the nebula or they got attacked? Or if there was a problem with the stasis units that they never used before?
  
  
  Once they're inside the nebula, you can't take people out of stasis for any reason. You're counting on the month-long trip through this nebula -- that has already shown itself to be unlike anything they've seen before and they're unable to scan -- to go extremely smoothly.
  
  Way too risky. An extra 11 months is a small price to pay.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-11-06 at 2:49am:
  That holodeck program is the most inane thing I have ever seen. Naomi seems way too old to be entertained by such nonsense, and I frankly felt insulted being subjected to watching it. I kept jumping every time it came on in case my roommate was about to come in.
• From Vincent on 2011-10-05 at 11:25pm:
  I find it odd that the shuttle crew were running out of air on an M class planet. The away teams sent out to rescue them were able to breathe the atmosphere without aid, so why couldn't the Paris or Tuvok find a way to ventilate air between the interior and exterior of the of the shuttle?
  
  Placing the manufactured danger to the shuttle crew aside, I thought this was an enjoyable exploration of the way different people prepare for their own death (the shuttle crew), handle the death of family (Neelix), and the ethics of censuring the truth from a child.
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-15 at 5:27pm:
  Wait, they had Holographic entertainment when Janeway was a kid? She's in her early-mid 40s in the 2370s, which means this stuff had to be around in the 2340s. But wasn’t it established, in TNG: Encounter at Farpoint, that this was brand new technology during that time (circa 2360s)? I seem to recall Riker seeing the newfangled programs (which he had vaguely heard about) for the first time when he came aboard the Enterprise. Anyway, totally boring episode, aside from Naomi expressing her fear of the “Borg Lady” and trying to fake out Neelix with “I am borg”....
• From Dstyle on 2015-06-20 at 3:52pm:
  I actually really liked this episode a lot. Perhaps it's because I lost a close family member when I was young and just became a father myself, but I got a bit misty several times while watching this.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Benjamin Baxter on 2008-07-15 at 8:18pm:
  Problem: Sometimes when Nog walks, he's limping with the wrong leg. At least, that's what it looks like it.
• From Remco on 2009-07-25 at 11:13pm:
  I didn't get the impression that this episode was about holodiction. The prolonged holodeck time only had a positive influence on Nog. If we've seen anything before, it's 7 years of counseling sessions with Deanna Troi. I thought this was a fresh spin on both holo-issues and psychological counseling.
• From S. Egil on 2009-08-20 at 5:32pm:
  Regarding the problem of veterans' post-traumatic stress syndrome, the writers get many things right in this episode. Listen to Nog's breakthrough confession to Vic about his battle revelation that he too, though young and eager, was mortal and vulnerable. Combat veterans will certainly find much truth in this. The play of Nog's mortality against Vic's supposed (hollow)immortality makes for an interesting and subtle story. But why weren't the other crew members, most of whom had seen grueling combat themselves, more skillful and empathetic in helping Nog?
• From rpeh on 2010-08-04 at 8:18pm:
  One minor problem: in the scene just after Nog moves into the Holosuite, and the staff are discussing Bashir's programs, Ezri's collar insignia changes. It starts as a Lt. JG but with the black pip to the right, then it cuts away to Jake. When it cuts back again, the pips are the right way round.
  
  Having demonstrated my amazing powers of observation, the episode falls a bit flat. I agree that Ezri would have been a better choice for counsellor, but they did kind of explain that when Nog told her that all he'd done was talk to people about his feelings.
  
  I'll give it a 4.
• From Krs321 on 2011-10-04 at 12:22pm:
  Have to disagree with this review and your opinion of Vic in general.
  
  1. This episode isn't about Vic and his trivial holographic life. It's about PTSD and Nog. The fact that Nog could escape to a literal fantasy world is what makes the episode.
  
  2. Vic is the, what, 3rd sentient Hologram now? Shouldn't Starfleet be flipping out and studying this phenomenon?
  
  3. Vic is a better counselor than Ezri. Honestly, they should've introduced Vic a long time ago. He's more interesting than Jadzia or Ezri. They just need to spend less time showing him sing.
• From Omcn on 2012-01-10 at 12:48pm:
  
  This is one of my fav. ep. in the season if not the entire series. This is a classic example of how Trek has an excellent way of pointing out the flaws in modern (and apparently for centuries to come) treatment to mental illness. Does Ezri show off her stuff? No. Why not? Cause with a problem like this it needs to be handled in an extreme way and the holosuite is the perfect place with Vic the perfect hollow character. I think that the way Nog reacts to doctors telling him the pain he feels is "all in his head" is very believable. I love that as soon as Nog reacts violently Ezri is ready to end the experiment of allowing Nog to let things run its course in the hollowsuite, that is so realistic. Vic (not a "trained" counselor) knows better and stops her from removing him. A violent outburst is often a show of the road to recovery and modern (as well as in the future) always view violence as a negative progression of mental illness. This ep. rounds out nicely with Nog finding his purpose again, not as a soldier but as a businessmen which again fits in with his character nicely. I love this ep. for the commentary on mental illness and in dealing with physical impairment.
  
• From Harrison on 2012-08-29 at 1:58am:
  Watching a self-absorbed depressed Ferengi adolescent mope around a holosuite isn't my idea of good TV drama.
  
  Blech.
• From Esper on 2014-04-04 at 7:48pm:
  I think this was a magnificent episode.
  The episode handled PTSD suffering and healing process perfectly and the whole ride made Nog's character more alive and likable persona whom you can relate with.
  
  I also liked Vic a lot considering he is entirely made by Bashir's genetically enhanced doctor brain, so no wonder he knows a thing or two how to handle PTSD patients.
  All and all I give this episode 9/10. The duo brought both of them both alive, each in unique way.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Marie Douceur on 2011-08-19 at 8:10am:
  I'm not to fond of any of the DS9 mirror universe episodes, this one included. However, I disagree with the assertion that the lesbianism here is "over the top". In fact, I found it, well, disappointingly tame. There was a fairly simple kiss between Mirrors Kira and Ezri, a vague show of tenderness between them, and a rather gentle innuendo between Mirrors Ezri and Leeta at the end. Mirror Kira herself was over-the-top, as always, and that was grating. But, as a bi woman, I was hoping for something a little more... sweeping and romantic... or at least, a portrayal as suggestive as hetero romances have gotten. I mean, "Rejoined" was much more "lesbianist" than this episode, and even then, that came with major caveats.
  
  It's always been pretty disappointing to me that characters with non-hetero sexuality never got much (or really any) showing on Star Trek. I hate to be on a soapbox, but it seems like that would be part of the "enlightened 24th century". It's really too bad for those of us who'd like to see the girl get the girl at the end sometimes.
• From John on 2011-12-22 at 2:56am:
  I'm not a fan of mirror universe episodes either, and this one is no exception. Personally, I think it's a shame that this is the last "Ferengi" episode, because it's nowhere near as good or entertaining as the others. Granted, we do get a little bit of Ferengi intrigue -- and we get to see Zek again -- at the very end of the series, but this is the last proper Ferengi episode, and it's kind of boring. The only thing "new" here is Mirror Ezri (who, I have to admit, is a total fox).
  
  But it's still lame, and we still have to deal with Mirror Kira and Mirror Julian, who are somehow even more annoying and than their 'regular' counterparts.
  
  2 points for Quark and Rom, 2 points for hot Mirror Ezri and 1 point for being the LAST Mirror Universe episode (thank god) = 5/10
• From Inga on 2013-06-21 at 9:31am:
  I agree with Marie Douceur - the lesbian moments were too tame.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-26 at 1:30am:
  I actually don't think this one was too bad. The inconsistencies are annoying, but the Ferengi episodes and Mirror Universe episodes are all just there for the sake of fun. It was nice to combine them and get them both out of the way at once to avoid disrupting the overall seriousness of the plotlines in season 7.
  
  
• From L on 2013-08-17 at 4:40am:
  
  Mirror Worf is the only mirror character I don't hate (apart from Ezri, rowr) - he's very entertaining as a bombastic fool.
  
  Loved Rom pointing out the logical inconsistencies, very 'meta'.
• From ChristopherA on 2021-07-31 at 3:28pm:
  I rather like this episode, I thought the exploration of a family with a specific type of dysfunction was a good one and generally made for a good Ezri character episode.
  
  You are right that the tie-in of this episode to Honor Among Thieves is largely irrelevant. This episode is about Ezri’s family, not the Orion syndicate, and O’Brien is only there to fulfill the mandatory “B Plot” requirement.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From MJ on 2011-08-04 at 5:59pm:
  J.G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs...did DS9 strike gold when it hired those two or what? Fantastic, versatile actors.
  
  I do agree this episode fails to explore some very interesting story arcs. At the very least, Laas could have showed up later in the season having found a couple more Changelings and that could've been worked in somehow...maybe to the sequel instead of wasting it on the ridiculous Pah Wraith/Prophet arc.
  
  But overall I really like this episode. Laas' behavior is understandable, and gives us some insight into why the Changelings have such a distrust for "solids". It's likely they experienced everything Laas did, and much worse, throughout their history. Laas proposal to form a new link is exactly what I would expect a Changeling in his position to want to do. I do think it was a bit absurd that he kept baiting humanoids, being deliberately confrontational. He had to know by now what the outcome of such behavior would be. More likely he would want to avoid them entirely, but of course that wouldn't have been much of a story.
  
  I give it a 6.
• From John on 2011-12-22 at 6:30am:
  You have to love the irony of Laas complaining about how humanoids recklessly "displace all the life forms around them", while his people are trying to take over the entire galaxy and have killed billions of people and destroyed entire planets in the process.
  
  It seems to me 'the great link' is just the ultimate form of narcissism in the galaxy, and Odo is the only one who can see it for what it is.
  
  J. G. Hertzler does a fantastic job at portraying the arrogant and incredibly rude Laas here -- that alone makes this episode one of the best of the seventh season.
• From 0mcn7 on 2012-01-09 at 10:51am:
  I loved Quarks commentary on why humans are so suspicious of anything out of the ordinary and also showed how Quark despite the constant rivalry really does care for Odo.
• From Chris Wright on 2012-04-30 at 5:26pm:
  I can't believe this episode wasn't rated higher or that anyone on here hasn't pointed out the allegorical representations in the episode. While it has its problems (like why don't jails in the 24th century have surveillence cameras?), this epsiode excelled at beauty. It was beautifully acted, beautiful symbolism, and some of the lines are beautifully quotable. I gave it a 9.
• From JR on 2012-07-02 at 4:19am:
  This is one of the episodes I remember fairly strongly from the first time I watched the series way back when. I thought it came much sooner though...I was expecting it in season 3 or 4.
  
  When Laas becomes fog and the Klingons take offense, I could swear that is Rene Auborjonis (Odo) playing the Klingon that Laas stabs in the chest. It greatly resembles what he looked like as a solid turned Klingon by Bashir in an earlier episode. I checked the credits and only one of the two Klingons is listed as a Co-Star.
• From Bronn on 2013-07-26 at 3:32am:
  I think this was poorly executed. It could have been a good episode, but they missed a lot of things. There's some people acting out of character in order for this story to work. Sisko is out of character-he wouldn't have handed over Laas to the Klingons for a trial that wasn't equitable. It's a callback to the extradition hearing in "Dax,"-he knew there wasn't a fair trial on the other side of it, so he wasn't about to let that trial happen. And while I can understand O'Brien being irritated by some of Laas' baiting, Bashir ends up biting on it too, which is unlike him.
  
  They also fail to address the obvious issue-people mistrust Laas not because of his inherent nature as a changeling, but because the changelings are leading an oppressive government that has declared war on the entire quadrant. The Klingons are persecuting him in much the way they did Odo during "The Way of the Warrior." They think he's one of the Founders. The fact that's unaffected by a virus which has only been revealed through third-hand sources isn't convincing to them.
  
  (also, you have to wonder what happens to Laas after this episode-he presumably catches this virus by linking with Odo...then probably dies not long after this)
  
  Moreover, I wish we'd taken time to explore the moral dilemma that spurs the conflict of this episode-the death of the Klingon. I felt like that could have been a really interesting use for this guest character. The Klingon tried to stab him, but it doesn't affect him much since he has no vital organs to injure, then he kills the other Klingon. Was he reaching for a knife, or for his disruptor? Laas COULD have responded with less than deadly force, as we've seen Odo do countless times-he could have extended his arm and disarmed the Klingon instead of stabbing him. The Klingons attacked, but did they attack with deadly force, and was he justified in responding with deadly force? It's kind of a staple of cop shows, but the dilemma there is always whether the other person had a gun or not. Using a changeling makes you really ponder the question of how imminently he was threatened, even after he'd been stabbed once. That was more mentally engaging to me than the main plot of the episode.
• From L on 2013-08-17 at 8:28am:
  Wow, a non-lesbian homo-erotic subtext, that's pretty rare.
  Interesting episode.
• From ChristopherA on 2021-06-20 at 11:04am:
  My main issue with this episode is that it appears to have been written by a Founder as a tract against the solids, with most everyone being written out of character (as Bronn pointed out) so that Laas can make his diatribes without contradiction. The idea that solids are genetically unable to tolerate changelings comes from nowhere, there's never been any sign of that in any previous episode. They just seem to have suddenly thrown that into justify his disdain for coexisting with the solids. The reason changelings are feared has always been that they are incredibly powerful and extremely xenophobic.
  
  The one part of the episode that did make a lot of sense was that the Klingons would be hostile towards him. That could have been a more interesting episode, contrasting the arrogant disdain of Laal for inferior lifeforms, and his hypocritical demands that they treat him with respect, with the paranoid fear and anger of the Dominion’s victims towards someone who looks and acts exactly like a Founder, but nevertheless isn't one and hasn't ever done anything to harm them. Instead it seemed they were trying to awkwardly shoehorn in an unconvincing allegory of Odo being a persecuted minority who was putting up a false front and afraid to show his true self.
  
• From floreign on 2022-09-15 at 6:27am:
  To me this is an episode that outstretches the arc. Like the Voyager "year of hell" episode that could replace a full year of the season, and not as elaborate as TNG's "All Good Things" which stretched in three time periods. I have the distinct impression that at that point it was known that the show will end with the current season.
  Another comparison is Stargate:Un iverse. The first season and half was subpar, but the last half-season was amazing because it had a lot of good material that was added due to the show having been canceled.
  
  Well, soon the finale (episodes 16-26) starts, so you know I am right. It offers a possible direction for Odo if he were a few centuries out, and left one companion or a few behind (yes, it resembles Highlander here.)

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Richard on 2012-12-13 at 5:28am:
  It's really not such a bad episode. It advances the Star trek scientific framework pretty solidly, and deserves to be canon - although it clearly did not come off as the writers intended. The notion of "chaotic space", where the laws of physics are in constant flux, is a rich and plausible one. Boothby is a great character. But the narrative is sluggish and unconvincing in several spots, as if poorly edited. Beltran's performance is somewhat stilted, with way too much dissonance with Chakotay's established character traits.
• From L on 2014-04-20 at 6:36am:
  God, utterly awful. The previous episode about the doomed clones was way better than this.
  An episode that amounts to an over-emoted hallucination in a boxing ring? No thanks Star Trek.
• From Dstyle on 2015-07-10 at 1:39pm:
  I have no interest in watching this episode again, but if I did I'd time the hallucination sequences to see how much of the episode they took up (answer=too much). I'm sure hallucination sequences are fun to shoot and edit together, but they sure are a drag to watch.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2007-01-11 at 9:46pm:
  You're right about this episode being a giant melting pot of a lot of ideas from previous episodes. There are all kinds of borrowed themes from episodes like Schisms, The Inner Light, and even several of those dark DS9 war-guilt episodes. That's what kept this episode from being good. As a matter of fact, that's pretty much what kept Voyager itself from being good. It's one big rehash for the most part.
• From David in California on 2008-03-18 at 4:59pm:
  I completely agree that Janeway (urged on by Neelix) completely failed to understand the moral issues of the situation. Choosing to ignore some basic, clear violation of people's rights such as forcing them to undergo this trauma (and failing to do something simple one can do to prevent it) on the grounds that it's for some "good cause" or to "teach a valuable lesson" is bizarre, IMO.
  
  And in this case especially useless, because Janeway herself recounted that there were similar historical instances in human history (which apparently nobody really "forgets" even though nobody is forced to experience them firsthand or Janeway wouldn't know of them!) But more importantly, it's apparent in the Star Trek Universe that just about every sapient species also has similar historical atrocities and tragedies in their past. So what's so damned special about this species' specific experiences that makes it so vital to the understanding of others? This idea, I submit, is simply stupid--not just a point of controversy or difference of values or disagreement over the issues covered in the story. I submit it's a huge gaping plot-hole which renders the premise of the episode absurd.
  
  As to the issues actually raised in the episode, the common sentiment that the only way to know something is wrong/bad and to avoid it is to remember some specific instance of it happening and then somehow you automatically, by that alone, realize it's "bad" because, presumably, you feel the bad feelings, is silly.
  
  Questions of right and wrong, good and bad, ought-to and ought-not-to, are not just down to feeling an emotion. Some people's emotions are twisted--feeling "good" when they cause harm to others, such as a sadist or powerluster or whatever. Rather it's some degree of thinking which is needed to lead one to decide "not to repeat this mistake again". What I just typed is a cognitive proposition, not a feeling, even if it's accompanied by various feelings. You gotta figure out what your values are as a person or society, and then consider the "good" to be supporting them and the "bad" to be opposing them--the "right" to be acting in line with them and the "wrong" to be acting against them. All that is done with thinking, ultimately, and the emotions that come about are results, not causes.
  
  So I'm triply (if I'm counting right) opposed to the ideas the writers are moving from here, and to what Janeway did as a character.
  
  Now, frustratingly, whenever you see me chime in here with lengthy criticisms of an episode, it's not that I found it particularly bad as compared to others where I don't bother to comment. It's always when there are some aspects of the episode I really liked, and so I feel strongly about the producers getting it wrong in other places. Wasted potential rather than just a "meh" reaction. Here, the intense performances, the conflicts played out between the crewmembers, the action, and the kind of New BSG style of addressing issues of morality in war are all huge positives for me, so to have it all break down in ways I strongly take issue with prompt me to post these commentaries.
  
  Finally, I just want to note that by titling this episode "Memorial" they removed any possibility of suspense or mystery as to what is going on. I can't believe this was done. Ok, it's not the most difficult of plot mysteries to solve and maybe most people would have gotten it more easily, but still. You don't title your story with a word which puts across clearly the "reveal" of what's really going on no matter what. It's bad form even if you think nobody in the audience will be in suspense anyway. For me personally, I figured things out a good deal before I think I would have by simply knowing the title.
  
  
• From Tony on 2008-08-31 at 3:35am:
  Heloooo. Am I the only one to notice that Janeway set warning beacons around the Monument so no one would have to experience it if they didn’t want to? How is she forcing people to experience it?
• From Jem Hadar on 2010-05-16 at 7:44pm:
  ^^
  If they need to go through that space?
• From Lee on 2013-04-24 at 1:12pm:
  I actually only wanted to comment because of one thing. I'm fairly certain that probably no one noticed this and / or no one cares for it. The guns of those alien people sound awesome! You know, I never really liked the sound of phaser rifles or the Jem'Hadar guns, but the gun sounds in this episode have the right amount of "brunt" to it, like a cannon firing, but also still sound like energy / particle weapons.
  
  But since I don't want to spam like this, here my review: I, like many others, didn't really like the episode. I liked the acting of everyone really much and the plot wasn't necessarily bad, but it all doesn't make too much sense and once again Janeway totally misses the point and comes to a stupid decision. Overall sub-par.
• From Hugo on 2015-05-24 at 7:19pm:
  Like someone said, the title gave away the whole mystery. I support Janeway btw, in the spirit of the Prime Directive, one shouldn't just interfer when passing by.
  
  Also - wasn't this one of the 10 lamest teasers ever in Trek?
  
  One interesting point that I saw on the discussion page about the Memory Alpha entry for this ep - they never question the "truth" in what the memorial tells them - maybe there is another side to the story...
• From Mike on 2017-07-16 at 6:12pm:
  Assuming the warning buoy actually makes it clear to passers-by what they are about to experience, I don't have an issue with Janeway's decision. The probe in TNG: Inner Light certainly didn't give any warning about what it did, and you could argue it's just as invasive and traumatizing since it makes a person think their previous life was a hallucination.
  
  But, along with the aliens in Inner Light and whoever built the archive in TNG: Masks, this is yet another story about a civilization that likes to interface and take control of ships/people in order to preserve the memory of their cultures. While not entirely original in its plot, it was a pretty decent episode and worth watching.
• From QuasiGiani on 2017-09-19 at 3:38pm:
  Just about everything is trivial in the long-run.
  
  War-crimes are not.
  
  Neelix made the right call; and Janeway did the right thing.
  
  (though there are a lot of unresolved or unexplained things about just how defective the system had become as compared to what it would be restored to; and just how effective the warning system would be... "problems"... but, assuming the "eractics" were truly fixed, and the buoy would work it's purpose... Janeway did the right thing)
  
  
• From McCoy on 2017-10-18 at 3:27pm:
  Of course Janeway did the right thing! What's wrong with you, peaple? You don't understand and that's why there are still wars across the world. Know something is one thing, but experience it is totally different. (And it concerns not only war, but other things - you will never understand what means to love someone if you never loved yourself).
  You know why we didn't had atomic war yet? Because during cold war people still remembered what a real war means. Now we are slowly forgetting... I know what I'm talking about. My grandmother still lives and she survived II world war in Poland. We have no idea what people of that time experienced. We can listen them but we will never fully understand. Really. We have NO IDEA!
  10/10
  Great, moving episode, and with good use of sf.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2007-04-17 at 9:09pm:
  This episode epitomizes Voyager. It's really painful for me to even talk about this episode. Tom Paris turns Harry into a cow. The Doctor is a minister. The show has nothing to do with outer space.
  
  God. Since it doesn't break canon, I can't give it a zero on this scale. However, its score is the limit as x approaches zero. It's as close to a zero as you can get without actually being one.
  
  As a matter of fact, I actually think that "Threshold" has a better plot.
• From f. ive on 2010-01-28 at 11:08pm:
  Paris didn't turn Kim into cow. He turned his holographic girlfriend
• From L on 2014-01-30 at 8:44am:
  Almost worth it just for the scene where the Doctor slams open the church doors and yells "Sinners!"
  
  But otherwise, lame.
  
  
• From Hugo on 2015-06-27 at 7:12pm:
  That doc has a jeremiah-chrichton-level-bad beard. A thorough stupid/silly episode, but it still kept my interest. Not sure what that means though.