The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-04-01 at 2:41am:
  This episode is one of the few times I disagree with Mr. Kethinov. To me, this episode is what Star Trek is all about.
  
  Negative : What's up with all the 70 year old Grandma Admirals in Starfleet? I do agree that some of the characters were out of character. And the episode lacks, shall we say, action. As silly as it may seem, a 10-rated episode for me has to have SOME action. So -1 for those things.
  
  Positive : This episode builds a very intriguing and nicely done story right from the beginning with the Klingon spy. I liked how the grandma admiral gradually transformed from a typical bureaucrat into a ruthless monster. I would not say that the paranoia seen in the episode is at all ridiculous. It is quite real, as was seen partly in the McCarthy trials, but most prominently in the Salem witch trials. The mob rule sentiment makes your blood boil, yet it is extememly applicable to the world today.
  
  "Witch hunting" in the sense exhibited in this episode is something that has occurred throughout human history. It is important to have episodes like this that remind us of problems within our culture. This episode is a manifestation of Gene Roddenberry's intentions at their finest, and as I said earlier they are what Star trek is all about. Makes you want to read the Crucible by Arthur Miller. Great Episode, I'd give it a 9, perhaps even a 10.
• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-05-07 at 6:26pm:
  "Trial" episodes of Trek have never been disappointing, but most fall along a predictable plot line. The trial always gets out of hand with the protagonist about to win, but the defendant pulls off a remarkable comeback in the end.
  
  It is always great to see Picard's moral conscience react to the things going on around him. This episode brings that out a lot. Worf, on the other hand, seems to be easily influenced by what is happening. This becomes out of line with his character as we know it. He may kill a person every now and then, but it is unlikely for him to conduct an unhonorable witch hunt.
  
  Although the Drumhead immediately relates to some of the issues of the modern world, such as the interrogation of suspected terrorists, I just find this episode forgettable just hours after I watched it.
  
• From DSOmo on 2007-08-26 at 9:15am:
  A Klingon exobiologist? Not a "normal" occupation for a Klingon. Doesn't seem like a very "warrior-like" line of work to me.
• From Firewater on 2008-03-03 at 12:47pm:
  I have admired many of your TNG reviews although I will, respectfully, disagree with your comments on this one.
  
  I believe making the characters "out-of-character" until the end propelled this episode's story. At it's essence, it *was* about fear, uncertainty, doubt and paranoia. It was an example of how even the best of men/women can fall to the influence of such things, despite their intentions.
  
  All of the Romulan/Tarses shenanigans were red herrings. In the end, it was all a witch hunt with no verifiable ties to anything at all. To be honest, I see this as a very TOS episode, hinting at the way our society could easily shift back into McCarthyism even though (when this episode was aired) it was the 1990s.
  
  In fact, I would even go so far to say that this would be relevant today post-9/11. So I would just suggest looking at this episode from a slightly different viewpoint.. I think it's highly underrated and worth another shot.
• From JRPoole on 2008-06-26 at 3:53am:
  I'm in almost total agreement with the review here. I don't find this offensive really, but I do find it dreadfully dull, didactic, and obvious.
  
  On the subject of Tarses' Romulan heritage, I think the most reasonable explanation is that his grandfather was a defector who lived his life posing as a Vulcan to avoid trouble. Probably only his family knew the truth.
• From Flot on 2010-09-24 at 11:40pm:
  I agree with your view, and think this episode could have easily been fantastic if it didn't feel like it came out of nowhere, nor end with no real consequences.
  
  I found it frustrating to watch because you could see that they were trying to take advantage of a lot of good content and continuity, but to no avail.
• From MJ on 2011-01-07 at 10:27pm:
  I also agree with the vast majority of the webmaster’s ratings, but I would give this one a 7. The lack of explanation of Tarses fate doesn’t ruin it for me, nor does the lack of sufficient explanation for what exactly he did wrong (was it falsifying the application or the fact that his grandparent is Romulan?).
  
  The drama of the episode is irresistible, and the issues it grapples with are both complex and timely; it would’ve been interesting to see how differently this might have been written in a post-9/11 world. I also don’t think everyone is quite out of character. Worf’s paranoia at the prospect of having a Romulan spy on board seems very fitting, for example.
  
  The only other snag which knocks the episode down somewhat is that it seems strange that Admiral Satie would’ve been able to use tactics like this in all her investigations without throwing up any red flags. Sometimes it seems everyone at Starfleet are blind, despicable fools compared to Picard and crew.
  
  But overall, I really enjoyed it!
• From Robert Koenn on 2011-03-16 at 12:43pm:
  I personally found this to be a very good episode which I rated 8. I suppose a big part of that for me was the way it applies to our present Muslim fear mongering which is actually going on as I write with Rep. King's Muslim witch hunt in congress. It was so pertinent the way a powerful politician can gain fame by preying on the fears of the populace and undercutting our fundamental principles using this fear. It of course also reinforces that persons personae for personal gain. It was so great to see Picard handle this is such a moral and principled way that is portrays what one rationale individual can do to put these glory seekers in their place. I did not find the characterizations out of place and Worf has always been a character to jump off the deep end at a moments notice, not an inaccurate portrayal of his Klingon genetics at all. So for me using this alliterative to present day and historical events was quite good and I rated this episode quite high.
• From ChristopherA on 2012-06-19 at 1:13am:
  This is an excellent morality play, though a little clunky a times. While it is true that the characters seem to fall into the witch hunt mentality somewhat too easily, morality episodes like this usually have to play rather aggressively with characterization in order to get to the point and fit the episode within the time available. Also, it can be hard to set stories in a utopia. Measure of a Man has exactly the same issues as this – it makes the Federation justice system seem awfully unfair – but it works if you just accept the premises and go with the episode.
  - They never explain why Tarses lied on his application at all. So what if he is part-Romulan. Is the Federation racist? I thought it had been established that they had gotten over that. Perhaps the Federation is only racist when it comes to races that are currently enemies of the Federation.
  - DSOmo: Although the Klingons love thinking of themselves as warriors in spirit, that doesn't mean they have no other occupations. Somebody has to fill all those support roles.
• From Quando on 2013-07-31 at 5:13am:
  This episode raises a question I often ask about Star Trek TNG: why is there no lawyer assigned to the Enterprise? This is the flagship of the Federation, and it's not like this is the first time that having a lawyer around would have really come in handy (see, e.g., Data's trial in the Measure of a Man, or the episode where Picard is analyzing the really complicated treaty with the Sheliac Corporate looking for a loophole). I mean, the Enterprise seems to have everything else. They have a botanist, a bartender, several waiters in Ten Forward, a barber, and even an expert on 20th century earth history (Wyatt what's-his-name on The Long Goodbye episode). But the best they can do for poor old Simon Tarses, with his career and maybe even his freedom hanging in the balance, is appointing Will Riker as his "counsel" (practicing law without a license). Remember when they stopped at that planet where everyone was half-naked and peaceful for shore leave? They asked Lt. Yar (who, I assume, has no legal training at all) to review the planet's legal system, and she concludes that there is "nothing unusual". Except, as it turns out, that they have the death penalty for EVERYTHING - including stepping on the flowers. Nice job Yar (although, you almost got Wesley killed, and in the words of Galron, I consider that "no small favor"). Come on. The Enterprise needs a lawyer. I'd be glad to volunteer!
• From Troy on 2015-06-08 at 6:28pm:
  Yes a lawyer for the Enterprise...make him an ambulance chasing Ferengi!
• From Chantarelle on 2015-12-23 at 6:07am:
  Like other commenters, I mostly agree with the reviews on this website, however, I disagree with most of this one. I’ll agree that the premise of the episode, and the witch hunt involved was kind of clumsy and forceful, however, if that had been handled better, then I think the Enterprise’s reaction, and their being ‘out of character’, would have been completely believable. That’s the whole point of causing that kind of fear and paranoia. I especially liked Worf’s embarrassment at being swayed so easily.
  Interesting to see that comments going back to 2006 talk about how relevant this episode is in ‘today’s’ world. Sadly, it seems to be even more relevant today than it was 10 years ago. Can only hope that people won’t still be saying that in 2026.
  Eric, if you read this, I’d be curious to know whether you have reviewed your opinion on this one since posting the review, and whether your opinion may have changed at all either due to some of the comments here, or a rewatch? Not that I’m implying it *should* change. Just curious :-)
  
• From tigertooth on 2017-06-08 at 3:37am:
  I remember really liking this one, and I was excited to re-watch it. I still liked it, but I certainly see some of the criticisms here. It's a bit obvious -- perhaps the tropes are more fully entrenched now than they were in 1991.
  
  Also, as someone pointed out, there's really no action and I'd add there's no real sci-fi either. Sure, there's hypospray-this and dilithium-that, but there's nothing that you couldn't easily put in a modern setting -- or even a few centuries pre-modern. Not a huge criticism, but it's interesting.
  
  Maybe even a bigger flaw than a lack of resolution on Tarses is the lack of resolution on Satie. What happened to her after this? It seems like she just went on to her next case. Yikes, no repercussions? I'd almost be tempted to check her for one of the aliens from Conspiracy (1x25).
  
  But more than that, the question I would have liked to have seen explored is: Why did Satie get so hellbent on finding traitors where they didn't exist? Without an answer to that, her motivation is a complete mystery, thus hurting the drama.
  
  Another problem is J'Dan. So there was a Klingon spying for the Romulans who was aboard the Enterprise?!!? Whoa! That's huge! And they only caught him by sheer luck that the new dilithium chamber hatch happened to be faulty in such a way that it happened to fail at just the right time and in just the right way that it looked at first like sabotage. Man, they got super duper lucky! What information did J'Dan transmit? How did he get turned by the Romulans? There's a lot of big stuff there that never gets discussed, and I think that's way bigger than all the talk about Tarses' grandfather. I get why the dropped the J'Dan story when they did, but it's a huge thread to just let go of.
  
  So while I still give this a thumbs up for the main story arc -- the nice Picard-Satie enemy-to-friend-to-enemy cycle -- nearly all the surrounding stuff with Tarses, Worf, and J'Dan
  is neutral at best. Even Genestra seemed like he'd be more interesting than he turned out to be. A ton of potential for an amazing episode (even without much action or sci-fi), but it didn't really come together.
  
  
  
• From McCoy on 2017-12-10 at 9:29am:
  10/10.
  About lack of action - watch "Twelve angry men":)
  It's a great episode and even paradoxally good sf. Because it remind us that witch hunt is always possible, even in technologically advanced society. Human is always human and we need to watch our morality, no matter how "advanced" we think we are. People may think, that witch hunt were all about religion, but it's not true. Episodes like this makes me wonder - all that Federation stuff is to good to be true, and their confidence in "starfleet values" sometimes reminds me of totalitarism. Just a bit, of course, but still...
• From Admiral Oh bummer! on 2021-08-03 at 7:58pm:
  A 1?? This is the episode I think of when I contemplate how great the Picard character and Patrick Stewart is.
  
  And to the guy who wonders about Grandma admirals...admirals are old, I mean we mostly see Grandma/Grandpa Admirals in Star Trek and even the great Admiral Nacheyev will be a Grandma Admiral in 10 years.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-04-16 at 2:10am:
  Worf: "I hate questionnaires"
  
  I rather enjoyed Picard telling Rasmussen that he doesn't give a damn about his past.
  
  I also enjoyed the end. "Oh professor: welcome to the twenty FOURTH century." Oh yeah. That's what's up, professor. You just got served. Picard style. Fun episode that I liked quite a bit.
• From Jeff on 2006-06-03 at 3:17am:
  Problem:
  After arriving on the Enterprise, Rasmussen informs the crew that he is from the late 26th century and has traveled some "300 years" into the past to visit the Enterprise. Well, if he traveled from the late 26th century back to the late 24th century, that's a span of only 200 years.
• From Sherlock on 2006-10-12 at 2:11am:
  This is another of those episodes were the logic of the plot is bizarre, as Kethinov points out in the comments, but I have to say that I liked Matt Frewer's performance. He's so goofy that it makes the episode fun to watch. And I love in the beginning how he tells Picard to move over! Classic!
• From DSOmo on 2007-09-09 at 7:17pm:
  - Troi says that she only feels Rasmussen is hiding something. Why can't Troi sense Rasmussen's deception? In "The Battle," Troi sensed "considerable deception" from the Ferengi captain. Troi should be able to sense Rasmussen's deception, but if she did, there would be no show! Then again, why can't Geordi sense Rasmussen's deception? In "Up The Long Ladder," Geordi immediately spotted the deception from the prime minister of the colony of clones. In that episode, Geordi claimed that his visor allowed him to see the physiological changes that accompany lying. He said it didn't always work on other races, but when it came to humans, he had them "pegged." Rasmussen is human.
  - During a conversation with Picard, Rasmussen continues to act out the part of a historian by measuring the width of the captain's ready room. He backs up against the door and methodically paces off the distance to the window. So how did the door know not to open? Rasmussen backs right up to it and it remains closed.
  - During the drilling, Worf tells Picard, "Target fourteen complete, sir." This means there are at least fourteen drill sites. Later, on one of the workstations, Riker shows Picard a graphic of all the drill sites. There are only eight drill sites in the picture. What happened to the other ones?
  - Rasmussen tells Data he intends to take the items he stole from the Enterprise back to the twenty-second century and "invent" them one at a time. Rasmussen's plan simply will not work. Suppose an inventor from the nineteenth century appears in our time and steals a laptop computer. He returns to his century - certain that fame and fortune await him when he "invents" this incredible contraption and markets it to the public. Let's say the "inventor" quickly learns how to operate it. Next, he disassembles the computer and confronts a very big problem. To him, the inside of the computer would be "magic." For the sake of argument, let's say that he figures out how the insides of the computer work. Now the "inventor" confronts an even worse problem. He has no way to manufacture the computer. An invention won't make you any sunstantial money unless you can mass-produce it. The infrastructure of manufacturing technology that allowed the creation of the laptop computer doesn't exist in the nineteenth century. The inventor has nothing more than an interesting artifact.
  - One of the items Rasmussen stole was a Klingon dagger. Don't they have knives in the twenty-second century? ;)
  - At the end of the episode, when Rasmussen begs to return to his own time in the twenty-second century, Picard won't let him. In fact, Picard asks Rasmussen a very peculiar question as Rasmussen continues pleading. Picard says, "Now, what possible incentive could anyone offer me to allow that?" Maybe Rasmussen is the great-great-great-great-great-grandfather of Riker. Maybe he helped Cochrane with a few conceptual ideas in the early stages of development of warp drive. Maybe he inspired a whole generation of leaders with his "fictitious tales" of life in the future. No one can know the impact of a single life. Yet Picard, with all his supposed knowledge of temporal logic, rips Rasmussen from the past by refusing to allow him to return.
• From Remco on 2007-11-10 at 7:37pm:
  I'm not natively English speaking, so I could be wrong, but before the title sequence, Data says: "The odds are extremely unlikely." That's strange, because it's a contamination of "The odds are extremely against it" and "It's extremely unlikely". An android that doesn't produce contractions certainly shouldn't get creative with other parts of the English language.
• From JRPoole on 2008-07-31 at 8:14pm:
  This one is entertaining if you don't think too hard about the ridiculous plot. Are we to believe that a 22nd century con man plans to steal items from the future by happening by the flagship of federation? Surely there's a better way to smuggle contraband back in time than screwing around with a starship. The post above that mentions the impossibility of "inventing" these types of items out of context is also right on, but maybe he just wasn't a very smart con man.
  
  This one gets a couple of points for me because Troi is pretty badass for a change, and the humor actually works here. Matt Frewer plays Rasmussen well as well.
  
  The thing that makes this ridiculous to me, and the reason I don't generally like temporal plots is that it's impossible to figure out the right course of action to keep history intact. What if, in the "real" timeline, many of the innovations common to the 24th century came about as a result of Rasmussen bringing them back?
  
  Bottom line: utterly ridiculous, but thoroughly entertaining. This is a 3.
• From nirutha on 2010-09-29 at 4:11pm:
  I think your too hard on Picard in what I consider to be the only redeeming scene of this episode.
  The argument between Rasmussen and Picard spotlights the moral dilemma rather nicely and Patrick Steward delivers it very well.
  He has broken the Prime Directive when the ends justified it, and he's also willing to use information from the future to save lives and possibly change the course of history - but to him, it's the future, and it has yet to be written.
  I don't think it's hypocrisy at all, but it's up to the individual viewer to make a judgement. And I like that even more.
  
  Apart from that, I found Rasmussen utterly annoying. Would anyone really believe that's how a historian from the future would act?
  
  And then there's sloppy writing: All Troy can read is that Rasmussen is holding something back. And she really can't tell the difference between holding something back and outright deception - how convenient.
  Then they try to fix the planet's cimate with a procedure that could instantly kill the whole population in a terrible firestorm? And the colony leaders are o.k. with that? Of course, everything works just fine and the huge risk Picard is taking is not really felt.
  In the last scenes, Rasmussen is back in his ship, has taken Data prisoner and is about to return to his time - oh boy, how do we get out of this mess? Luckily, the Enterprise's computer could detect and disable all the equipment in Rasmussen's ship the second he opened the door, including the phaser he was pointing at Data.
  A very, very poor deus ex machina ending, even for ST:TNG.
• From Doddzy on 2012-07-10 at 10:39pm:
  wat about at the end, his time ships destination was 22nd centuary new jersy, woulnd'nt someone else find it and use it?
• From ChristopherA on 2019-04-30 at 3:22pm:
  The plot twist (guy from 26th century is actually from 22nd) is clever and I didn't see it coming, but otherwise I agree this episode is bad. Episode spent watching Rasmussen be annoying, then it turns out his plan was poorly executed (there were much easier ways to make a profit with the time machine!) and is solved with a deus ex machina.
  
  I can come up with some hand waving justifications after the fact. Maybe he chose the flagship of the federation (of all places) to try his con because he is a poor time pilot with a lot less control of the time capsule than he pretends to have. And the ending could have made more sense if they had set it up with Geordi rigging some sort of radiation pulse directed at the time capsule to fry the electronics as soon as the door was opened.
• From Chuck the Canuck on 2023-07-03 at 8:03pm:
  Rasmussen's behavior is just too intrusively obnoxious while trying to pass himself off as a future historian. He says he just wants to observe, and yet the crew is well aware and annoyed by his continuous comments and interruptions. I have a hard time believing they didn't challenge him sooner. Several of them suspected something was up with him, so it's frustrating to see them all play along.
  
  I did enjoy Picard's discussion with him when trying to get insight on his decision about the planet. He made some great points, and clearly Rasmussen was not prepared to have a philosophical challenge to his ruse.
  
  I give this a 3. Pretty silly but at the very least, entertaining.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-12-01 at 7:27am:
  - In one of her personal logs, Unari yearns for a glass of real muskin seed punch, the kind her mother used to make. She doesn't think the replicator does a very good job. Later, Geordi brings her a glass of muskin seed punch in Ten-Forward and Unari acts like it is wonderful. Is Unari just trying to make Geordi feel good or did Geordi get into Guinan's personal supply?
  - This coalescent being is either not very smart or it made a bad mistake. Crusher states that it probably has to change bodies every few days. The episode supports this by saying that the coalesced officer arrived at the relay station several days before the incident with Unari. Supposedly he attacked Unari because he needed the food. But the episode's dialogue indicates that the station assignment lasts for a year. What was the being going to do after it consumed Unari and her dog? The station is out in the middle of nowhere. If the being absorbed the officer before he arrived at the station, why would he go somewhere with such a limited supply of nutrition?
  - Someone made a mistake in the sound effects department. During the last scene between Geordi and Unari, they sit together in Ten-Forward. At one point, the "boop" sound effect for a companel page momentarily interrupts their conversation. Strangely, no one pages Geordi or Unari, and the scene continues as if nothing happened!
• From sarah on 2008-07-20 at 11:45pm:
  was the dog a berger picard (dog breed) ?
• From JRPoole on 2008-09-19 at 3:03pm:
  I agree. This one is "absolutely dull and sad." Geordi can't get a break with the ladies to save his life. What is it about Engineers and women? Scottie had this kind of luck as well.
  
  Apart from that, the saddest thing is that a pretty cool idea gets completely wasted here. I love the idea of the coalescent being, but the way it's executed here is just boring. The plot just sort of plods along and then explodes at the very end with the dog attaching LaForge.
  
  Think for a second how shitty an assignment Aquiel has in the first place. She's stuck on a remote outpost for at least a year with only one other person for company, but she's listening to everybody's communication. It would have driven her crazy even if her new partner hadn't been a homicidal blob of ectoplasm. Now that's something that could have been explored a little better. But, alas, this episode squanders it all. I bump it up a point for at least having an interesting premise, so it's a 2.
• From Jeremy Reffin on 2009-08-03 at 5:20am:
  I'm having problems recreating the murder scene here. Rocha/Blob attacks Uhnari in order to absorb her. Does it succeed a bit (Geordi suggests an initiation of coalescence may have been responsible for her loss of memory) ? Uhnari phasers the blob down to scrap DNA - interfering with the absorption process ?? Uhnari flees to shuttlecraft having interrupted absorption ??? Bits of blob (missed by the phaser meltdown of Rocha ????) then absorb the pooch ????? Or something. Sheesh what a mess.
  
  I know - who cares, get a life.
• From thaibites on 2012-07-05 at 1:53am:
  Hey, at least this chick was real and not some computer generated fantasy.
• From Arianwen on 2013-01-02 at 12:40pm:
  The episode isn't just dull, it's idiotic as well.
  - Uhnari confesses to Geordi that she deleted the logs because she "was afraid that if they found the letter they'd blame [her] for the murder". This directly contradicts her earlier statement: if she had no memory of a murder, then she had no reason to get rid of the evidence! Or memory of having removed the logs at all, for that matter. Did she delete the logs AFTER she came to the Enterprise? If so, what kind of incompetence would allow a bloody murder suspect to teleport off the damn ship?
  - Crusher, Picard, Riker and Worf are all aware of the shape-shifting organism. Not ONE of them thinks of the dog. Riker even has a conversation with Geordi while PETTING it - even the Red Dwarf crew would have noticed!
  Everyone's holding the Stupid ball today. One can only assume the senior staff are still concussed from their previous adventure.
• From Mike on 2017-04-23 at 10:30pm:
  By far the worst episode of Season 6. I agree that Aquiel's story never adds up even after her "memory drain" is explained and her fight with Lieutenant Blobcha. The entire Klingon thing turns out to be a red herring. La Forge spends a big chunk of the episode getting to know this woman only to have it go absolutely nowhere. And, after all of that, his skirmish with the coalescent being is painful to watch.
  
  At least they brought Leah Brahms-the real one-back for some continuity and development of Geordi's character. Aquiel gets an episode named after her, makes quite an impression on the Chief Engineer, and then disappears for good.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-04-15 at 4:36am:
  I'd give it a 2 instead of a 1 because it does have some fairly comical moments
• From JRPoole on 2008-11-17 at 3:40pm:
  My (admittedly now vague) memory of DS9 is that it was the high point of the Trek franchise, so it's been a bit surprising to me in my current run through the series to find that, after the promising pilot, the early part of the first season flounders with some truly unremarkable episodes.
  
  "Dax" is a bad episode and doesn't really even get to accomplish the character development it shoots for because the episode is handled so badly. "The Passenger" is lackluster because we pretty much know that Julian is the one carrying Vantika's consciousess from the very beginning.
  
  Then we get this mess: Annoying, ridiculously over-the-top alien-of-the-week. What amounts to a recylced holodeck-malfunction-puts-crew-in-danger plot, and then there turns out to be no real danger at all. On top of that, none of this really makes any sense. At least there are some comical moments.
  
  Also, what's with Primmin? I have no recollection of him, and I can only assume that he goes away quietly after a few episodes. Was he simply a replacement for O'brien during his short stay away from the station?
• From Bernard on 2009-12-02 at 7:03pm:
  Couldn't bring myself to watch this one again in my current 'revisiting' of the series. So it must be bad.
• From John on 2011-01-06 at 12:58am:
  It cannot be overstated how much I completely hate, Hate, HATE this episode.
  
  The worst show of the entire series. The only good thing you can say about it is that they got it out of the way early.
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-08 at 6:22am:
  This story is similar to "The Celestial Toymaker" from early black & white Doctor Who, and believe it or not, the hoary 60s show did it far better. In the Whovian story, there was a real threat that the characters would be trapped forever as toys of the game-playing Toymaker. The games were equally silly and easy to overcome, but the dialogue and the villain were more convincing.
• From Zaphod on 2011-04-16 at 10:18am:
  I really enjoyed watching the first season of DS9 so far, much better storytelling than any other Star Trek series and more interesting characters than the one dimensional ones TNG had ... except for Ro Laren, love her, a real shame that she didnt want to play the Kira character (but Nana Visitor is awesome too).
  
  And because DS9 was really great to this point I am very offended by this terrible episode.
  I think the biggest problem is that Odos reaction to the game didnt make any sense. If he really feared that these aliens would play with the lives of Sisko and the others why didnt he force them to end this immediately? But no, they played along and gambled for their lives! That's just bloody stupid and even vicious. I cant find words for how much I hate this lazy written bullshit episode!
• From Shani on 2014-01-12 at 12:50pm:
  I watched every episode of ds9 when I was a child. For some reason this is the only episode I can remember clearly. Now that I'm re-watching this episode it does seem a little ridiculous. But I still like it for some reason (probably nostalgia more than anything else).
• From BV on 2015-10-28 at 5:35pm:
  Glad to see I am not alone in being appalled by this episode

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bernard on 2009-12-03 at 10:29am:
  Interesting premise done badly, and I agree that the Kai is just thrown in there as a convenient way of setting up the ongoing bajoran story arc. I'd hardly say misuse of a great character though, she was only in the pilot for about five minutes!
  
  The three regulars are all well within character though and I liked Kira's reaction to Opaka's death, unfortunately because the viewer has not grown to know the Opaka character well enough any emotional impact is lost for me so you cannot share in her grief. It smacked much more of a TNG plot however with the convenient escape at the end. I gave it a 4, mainly for all the interesting moments and good characterisation throughout.
• From John on 2012-03-24 at 8:06pm:
  This episode is pretty bad. Not nearly as bad as 'Move Along Home', but still pretty bad. It has the additional distinction of being the episode which open the doors for Winn's rise to power. This is also a bummer.
  
  However, it does have one redeeming moment: when Kira reads her Cardassian intelligence file and discovers they didn't consider her much of a threat, she flips out, and I laugh every time. Yet another example of Kira taking things way too seriously.
• From Nathan on 2013-10-12 at 9:42am:
  This was a filler episode, and it was pretty awful. I think it might be my least favorite in this season (possibly even worse than move along home).
  
  About the only redeeming quality this episode had was setting up the Kai election at the end with Opaka's demise. Additionally, her end was thankfully brief- I hated every scene with her in it. She was a one dimensional character that spouted meaningless mumbo jumbo. People say she was a character that didn't get the chance to be developed. I say I am glad she didn't get more time and that they got rid of her when they did.
• From tigertooth on 2016-08-08 at 3:03am:
  Mike Ehrmantraut!
  
  I also thought I saw Hack Scudder (John Savage) in there as leader of the Nol-Ennis, but maybe it wasn't him.
  
  Anyway, did they ever follow up on the microbes that keep people from dying? You'd think that would be a major discovery.
• From Abigail on 2019-08-29 at 9:52pm:
  I just rewatched this episode. I didn't hate it as much as anyone else. Sure, it was a rather unfitting end for the Kai, but it's not like she was a hugely developed character prior to the episode. The main thing that bugged me is the way they didn't explore this new nanite technology at all. You'd think they'd be staying there to study it, doing anything they could to recreate it so the people could leave that world. It was weird how they discovered how the people returned to life, realized they'd die if they left the surface, and then were just like, "Oh, well. We'll leave the Kai here and never think about it again!"

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2008-11-18 at 9:30pm:
  Do we have to see Odo herding animals three times? The first time it was funny, but not the second or third.
  
  The conversations with the ball player were so boring!
• From Jake on 2012-05-22 at 2:46pm:
  although I agree that this was a lame episode I always thought that the alien species were the prophets trying for the first time to figure out the the way corporeal existence. Sisko even gets the baseball at the end that play a role in several important future episodes.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Wolfgang on 2008-05-20 at 10:58pm:
  Why did they make this episode? It's not even science-fiction, and certainly not Star Trek. Just a waste of time. If they wanted to put some spotlight on Crusher, why not give her a good episode...
• From Paul on 2010-08-18 at 12:43pm:
  I am Scottish so yet again I am forced to listen to the worst american versions of Scottish accents I've ever heard
  
  Also if they were trying to recreate the Scottish highlands why did they use stones from Glasgow and Edinburgh?
• From Tallifer on 2011-03-13 at 9:36am:
  I like stories where the ghosts are shown to be tricks, hallucinations, dreams, mere legends or hoaxes. That is the triumph of rationality which is fitting in a science fiction universe.
  
  I hate stories where ghosts are explained by nonsensical pseudo-science. Which is more rational? The spirits of dead people haunting the world and possessing the living, or "anaphasic" aliens using "plasma" candles as foci and inhabiting people with green energy? Neither is rational of course, and the latter is just as stupid as television psychics and alien abductions.
• From thaibites on 2013-01-05 at 2:50am:
  Another one for the ladies. I think Dr. Beverly actually had a couple orgasms during this episode, which is pretty daring for TNG.
  At least this one was better than the episode where where Dr. Beverly fell in love with a big intestinal sea cucumber.
• From L on 2013-05-02 at 2:26am:
  Beverly's performance was quite, um, erotic. It was clear what form the energy alien's 'gift' to her took. Her aura of post-coital bliss/addict with a fix was quite convincing.
  
  There was nothing particularly wrong with the relationship as it seemed quite symbiotic, it could have worked quite fine in other circumstances. It did however make Beverly act like an irrational addict and cut ties to her friends.
  But really this was just an excuse for a gothic genre episode. Worth it for Beverly's performance.
  
• From Sloganlogo on 2014-04-30 at 8:22pm:
  small trivia…In the first Scene after the titles between Troi and Beverly you can clearly see a grave stone with the name McFly…The scene ends with Beverly asking Troi to walk with her to visit a house and off the go.
  
  In the next scene Picard is chatting to a Colony local and in the background you can clearly see Troi in the background walking right to left. She ends up in the same position she was in the the last scene. I suspect they swapped the two scenes about.
  
• From rendraG on 2015-01-08 at 7:32pm:
  Great ghosty fun with lots of olde world sets. Nice to see Picards almost death for love to overcome passion and the spell Ronin had casted over Beverly and her unfortunate but clearly sexually exhausted ancestors.
  
  Ronins emotional and sexual domination of Beverly combined with the sensual acting of Gates McFadden make this the naughtiest episode in all of Star Trek. Woof.
  
  
  
• From Keefaz on 2017-02-18 at 11:45pm:
  Amazingly rotten episode. Absolute guff from start to finish. The bizarre Scottish colony which has 25th century power and weather stabilisation facilities but also candles, open fires, dusty books and so on. Weird accents. Ghost sex. The creepy revelation the ghost has been preying on every female ancestor of Beverley.
  
  A terrible episode, then, but one that is so odd and singular that it doesn't diminish the series as you couldn't even consider it a Star Trek episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-06-25 at 6:24pm:
  This is what happens when the writing staff takes LSD before creating the script. This is an absolute off the wall episode that differs from anything that has ever been produced in the Trek universe. Usually, having an off the wall episode brings vitality to a show, but Masks fails on many levels.
  
  It is hard to believe that while the ship is being converted to an alien landscape, that no vital systems would disappear, causing destruction. By the way, where was the rest of the crew in this episode. Did they send everyone to their quarters?
  
  On top of all that, this episode is just boring. The plot develops at a snail's pace as the crew tries to discover what the solution is. It feels like a bad three-hour movie. The dialog between Picard, Worf, Riker, and Troi is drab. There are attempts at humor ("the observation lounge is a swamp"), but nobody is laughing as they watch this episode.
  
  The shameful thing is, the idea behind this episode is fantastic. It probably would have worked if the alien device did not possess Data. I would have rather seen the actual aliens appearing on the ship. The episode does not fail in the art department, however. It seems like they spent a lot of time and money to produce the set pieces.
  
  I would give this episode a 0, but I'll give it a 1 because of its artistic quality.
• From David Murray on 2011-04-01 at 7:48pm:
  I recently aquired the entire series of TNG and decided to watch them all from beginning to end. I was very pleased to discover that there were about 4 episodes that somehow I had never seen on TV before and so it was cool to get to watch "new" episodes of TNG. However, the last of these "new" episodes for me was Masks. I must admit I could barely make it through this episodes. I was cringing constantly at how horrible it was. Not only was it down right dumb, but it was also boring. Take the TOS episode "Spock's Brain" which people say is really bad. Well, it is bad. But despite out dumb it is, it is actually fun to watch. Masks is not entertaining in the least. In fact I'd probably have fallen asleep except for the cringing of bad scenes keeping me awake. I would probably rate this as the worst episode of all time.
• From MJ on 2011-04-26 at 6:10pm:
  I guess I'm one of the few who didn't find this one so bad. Average, yes, but not horrible.
  
  The main problem I have is how long it takes the crew to recognize that Korgano is the moon. Picard should have figured that out almost immediately. Instead, they stretch the problem out beyond believability. This is what makes a potentially solid episode average, in my view.
  
  As for vital ship systems not falling victim to transformation, I suppose it could be explained that this archive is so advanced and sophisticated that it could recognize which aspects of the ship are safe to transform...after all, this thing apparently interfaced with Data and uploaded thousands of personalities into his system. Clearly the technology is beyond that of the Federation in some regards.
  
  It does seem strange that such an advanced culture would be so superstitious as to believe in sun-goddesses and moon-gods. However, it could be that the creators of this archive were actually showcasing their own ancient history, rather than the way their culture was at the time the archive was built.
  
  So I think some loose ends can be tied up here but I agree it's very dull at some points. With Spiner's acting, the set design, and at least a somewhat plausible story, I give it a 5.
• From Bronn on 2011-10-05 at 9:02pm:
  I have to agree with the above commenter. It's by no means a classic episode, and the premise is silly, with a lot of nonsense science. But Spiner and Stewart are excellent actors who really want to make this high-concept (shudder whenever Brennan Braga ever uses that phrase) story work. What I love about Brent Spiner is that he really commits-they ask him to play a series of different mythological personalities that are taking over Data's programming, and he absolutely runs with it. Watching him provides the only moments when this episode is not completely absurd. I'd give it a 4, just based on how much I like Brent Spiner.
• From Arbit on 2012-05-01 at 9:03pm:
  Just awful. Some "highlights":
  
  - Picard getting impatient and deciding to just melt the comet (!??!?)
  - Ancient civilization capable of creating a gigantic space temple many times the size of the enterprise living in fear of a sun god
  - The crew struggling to identify the crescent-shaped companion symbol of the sun symbol (perhaps... they are antlers?)
  - Alien communication device accidentally transmutes spaceship parts into crappy looking concrete blocks and random jungle foliage (I can see it causing power surges and other weird phenomenon, but what sort of communications tech screws up so bad it starts transmuting matter? Maybe I'll try to plug a USB flashdrive into an old PS2 port and see if my computer will transmute my couch into gold bricks)
  - Picard literally talking the sun god to sleep
  - Etc etc
  
  Maybe the worst part about this episode is it was a waste of a totally awesome premise. An ancient 87+ million year old comet/temple, traveling in deep space to nowhere, starts to interfere with the ship's systems, projecting strange runes on readouts and materializing strange totems everywhere! What sort of Cthulian interdimensional horror have the crew uncovered? The crew, belonging to an intergalactic hippie empire, immediately assume it's an ancient repository of information. "Yeah right" you think. "And the creators chucked into deep space where no one had any reasonable chance of finding it? Set course for INSANITY, warp ten billion!!!"
  
  No, it's really just an archive and it accidentally started projecting its boring sun/moon god mythology onto the ship.
• From L on 2013-05-04 at 9:36am:
  A proto-Egyptian/Sumerian civilisation's equivalent of the afterlife; they've somehow recorded the personalities and experiences of key citizens, stuck that record in a starship, inside a comet, and they replay themselves through any available medium once activated, ie, Data and the Enterprise's computer system.
  Interesting and silly at the same time. What was so important about this scenario that a civilisation developed technology that only rational minds could produce, to replay something that only irrational superstition could produce?
  An ironic public service announcement?
  I like the idea of exploring the intersection between myth and high-tech ability, but was not convinced.
  
• From Daniel on 2014-01-25 at 8:01am:
  My biggest complaint about this episode is that Picard - despite his extensive studies of mythology and ancient cultures - could not figure out that the crescent moon symbol he kept seeing was the moon. As many cultures use similar symbols, and he already knew the other symbol was the sun, it was an obvious correlation.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-06-10 at 1:50am:
  Yeah I still don't understand what they did with the universe. Did they beam it back into space in the gamma quadrant? If so, wouldn't it just destroy the area? And they tried so hard to make the episode really epic, with sisko's comments about the Borg "stepping on" other races.
  
  Just a very crappy episode
• From Remco on 2008-10-06 at 9:27pm:
  According to Jadzia, Runabouts are 14 meters wide, not 17. The tight passage was 17 meters wide.
  
  Arjin: I don't see it! I don't see it!
  Arjin: I see it! It's less than 17 meters across.
  Jadzia: This ship is only 14 meters wide. That gives you over 2 meters to work with.
• From rpeh on 2010-07-27 at 9:51pm:
  Another problem. When flying into the wormhole towards the end, the shuttle accelerates to "50 kilometers per hour" and then we're told that it'll take 17 seconds to enter the wormhole. Is the station really just 236 meters from the wormhole?
  
  The universe size "problem" isn't a problem. Read some Iain M. Banks for ways around it. Otherwise, this is a decent episode that adds a lot of back-story.
• From Bernard on 2011-03-27 at 8:52am:
  With this episode marks a big change for the series dynamic. The reason for that is the complete turn around in the writing of Jadzia Dax. Gone is the aloof, ageless, purely scientific young woman. In comes the raunchy, loud, aggressive Curzon... Sorry, I meant new Jadzia. This is the first big shift towards a more action orientated series (the later changes are the dominion, the defiant, bad-ass Sisko and finally the introduction of Worf).
  
  I don't complain about the change in the Jadzia character, but you have to ask why not change the host? You have the only species in the Star Trek universe that allows you to completely change actors legitimately and instead they decide that Jadzia will be written completely differently to before.
  
  This episode is okay but it does contain loads of interesting tidbits of Trill info that will be built upon later in episodes like 'Equilibrium' and 'Facets'.
  
  I don't care about bad science in the slightest... when the story is good enough to make you suspend disbelief. Here it isn't, and I found myself scratching my head just as some of you have commented.
  
  So, poor outing, but the first steps toward making DS9 into the best of the Star Trek series' have been taken.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Fenix on 2011-03-25 at 7:04pm:
  I'm going to go ahead and suggest that your "factoid" solves your "problems." Perhaps the presence of one of these newly discovered elements explains the extra gravity on the asteroid.
• From Annoyed on 2011-08-10 at 9:37pm:
  Problems:
  
  1) As mentioned, "the asteroids support a class M atmosphere" ?!
  
  2)Ok, pretty soon we learn that Ptera was "dying of a lesion to her mid-brain...but she didn't die until the [pod] was activated." Then how come she was diagnosed as having died from a tumor by the Voyager medical crew? No sense.
  
  And while we're on the subject of Ptera dying, how is it that they were able to revive her "minutes after she died" the first time, but not mere seconds after she died the second time, due to not fully unexplained circumstances (it's assumed to be some kind of transporter problem?).
  
  3) Why does it take more than half the episode to fully discuss the theoretical difference between corporeal death/transition and other possible interpretations? This is just frustrating. It's resolved eventually, but it should've really been addressed right away.
  
  4)How does Starfleet academy graduate Ensign Kim, who had his type 2 phaser with him (you can clearly see it holstered while on the asteroid), become completely helpless and at the mercy of the alien doctors? WTF? If he was disarmed, it would've made some sense to show this, but I suspect they didn't show it because it doesn't make sense. Here's the first person ever to come back from "the afterlife," a creature of a race you've never seen, wearing clothing and carrying technology you know nothing about, essentially some kind of angel, or prophet, or profoundly paranormal being, in any case, and the first thing you do is somehow disarm him (this without even knowing what's a weapon and what isn't) ? No sense.
  
  This is the first voyager episode, chronologically speaking, that pretty much just stinks.
  
• From Mitchell O on 2023-01-01 at 11:47pm:
  The other problem on glaring display in this episode is Voyager’s amazing ability to jump huge distances in the blink of an eye.
  
  In this case, they travel 0.6 light years in mere moments. Janeway doesn’t even have time to stand up!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From wes on 2012-01-14 at 5:04pm:
  Tuvok's rank insignia begins the episode as Lieutenant, which is wrong since he was never courtmartialed. Later, his rank is back to Lt. Commander. Then later still, it is back to Lieutenant. What's with this?
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-05-23 at 6:44am:
  "energy life form of the week" -- enough said! I was re-watching season one; I wished I skipped this one. Wasted hour of my life.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-08-17 at 1:17am:
  This is another annoying "Voyager might go home in season 3" episode. However, the connection with the TNG episode was absolutely brilliant and extremely fun to watch. AWESOME way to bring closure to that TNG episode. And of all the ways to be foiled out of returning to the alpha quadrant, it's at the hands of those damn Ferengi! :)
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-09 at 2:47am:
  Janeway constantly reminds me of those British officials of the Raj in India who refused to go native in any way, giving rise to the expression, "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun." She often makes stupid decisions only for the sake of upholding an inflexible and narrow idea of Federation values. Kirk was a Federation captain too: could she not model herself after a hero of the Federation rather than some ineffective armchair admiral?
• From Inga on 2013-08-26 at 10:56am:
  The thing is, there really was a risk of damaging the culture by abducting their "gods", so I at least understand why she made that decision. Of course, the part with the Ferengi owerpowering the ship's security is beyond ridiculous, but this is the writers', not the Captain's fault.
  
  @Tallifer In 'Flashback' Janeway mentioned that Kirk lived in a "different time", where the Captains could get away with things they wouldn't be able to in the 24th century, so that might be one of the reasons she wouldn't model herself after Kirk.
• From thaibites on 2014-01-31 at 7:50am:
  I'm not sure, but I think they said the wormhole ends would pop up sporadically in different places on BOTH ends after the Ferengi destabilized it. I think this adds a nice touch to the story because the Ferengi might end up millions of light years away from their home. Maybe they wouldn't even go to the alpha quadrant? If I'm right, it's an appropriate punishment for them.
  Also, I loved the boob shots in the beginning - camera low, with the bottom of the boobs uncovered, standing directly behind the Ferengi sitting on his throne. It's the most "remarkable scene" in the episode.
• From Sylvain on 2015-04-13 at 8:28am:
  Janeway is clearly suffering from plot induced stupidity here though. It was obvious Voyager wouldn't be getting back to the Alpha Quadruant yet, and ofcourse the Ferengi couldn't just be left alone exploiting people like that either.
• From tigertooth on 2016-09-17 at 4:17am:
  I'm pretty okay with suspending disbelief, and it wasn't a huge problem here, but let's be honest: there's no way a universal translator could fool a primitive society. It would look like an overdubbed movie. There's no way the speaker's lips would look like the words they were hearing.
  
  Granted, that speaks to all ST episodes, but I'm willing to overlook the fact that Cardassians and Romulans should look like a kung-fu film. It's just better visually for them to speak English.
  
  And that's why I'm fine with human-looking aliens. The fact is that they needed a lot of extras and making them all up (including the Starfleeters who beam down) would have eaten into the budget. So they just make them look like humans. If that means they can put more money into sets or effects or whatever, I'm good with it.
• From Chuck the Canuck on 2023-07-04 at 1:02pm:
  How do these dimwitted Ferengi always manage to outsmart or outmaneuver Federation security? It happened in TNG episodes "Rascals" and "The Perfect Mate" and now here. These two couldn't hit someone right in front of them with a giant sword, and we're supposed to believe they overpowered a security guard and somehow managed to shoot open a shuttle bay?
  
  And worst of all, as pointed out in the original review, they manage to persuade Janeway that removing them would somehow damage the fragile culture of the planet. Unreal...as if the inhabitants wouldn't come up with a supernatural explanation for the sudden disappearance of their "Sages".
  
  So, actually, this is a pretty bad episode for Tuvok. Two Ferengi manage to overpower his security officers and outdo him at the logic game.
  
  The only good thing about this episode is continuity with "The Price" which was a cool idea and made sense. But it's typical Voyager: take a great premise for an episode and execute it poorly.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Shooter on 2010-09-01 at 6:27am:
  I actually liked this episode quite a bit. Who doesn't have one of those old friends from high school, or from their past, whom you owe dearly, but might put you in this kind of impossible position because you're not the person today that you were back then?
• From SWs on 2015-08-21 at 12:02am:
  You're underrating the episode by a fair margin. The most impressive thing about this episode is the atmosphere it creates with it's detailed scenery (the interior of the station, bar)and the varied and colorful aliens that stand out from the usual slightly modified humans of other episodes. Even background aliens have extensive make up like the couple in the bar for example.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Rick on 2013-07-16 at 10:36pm:
  So Seven is Tawana Brawley and Doc is Al Sharpton except he eventually shows contrition and never does it again. I think that about sums up this episode.
• From Inga on 2013-10-09 at 8:06am:
  I think the idea of this episode is an interesting concept to explore in a TV show. Sure the ending is unsettling, but it shows the subject of pre-judgement vs objectivity, which, in my opinion, fits in Star Trek quite well.
• From thaibites on 2014-08-23 at 10:56am:
  "...this episode is truly not in the spirit of Star Trek and I'm completely unfond of it."
  That's exactly why I liked it! This episode explores the darker side of our subconscious. It teaches the doctor a lesson in humbleness. And most importantly, it reinforces the previous episode where Seven is Janeway's counter balance - yin and yang. I don't know if this dynamic continues, but I hope it does. Seven is a kick-ass bitch, and Janeway needs her ass kicked sometimes. Chakotay is too nice and lame to really do it, even though he tries sometimes.
  
  Seriously, who are you to judge what the "spirit of Star Trek" really is? TOS had a lot of dark episodes, like the one where Kirk is split into his good half and bad half. Try to think of Janeway/Seven in the same way.
• From Dstyle on 2015-06-14 at 6:46pm:
  I wonder if Janeway was able to keep the cannon?
  
  Seriously, though, I thought this episode was awful. Sure the whole thing about repressed memories not being reliable was kind of interesting, but it was overshadowed by a far more troubling problem: namely, Seven effectively made a false rape accusation. The takeaway of this episode was that women should not be believed when they claim they were assaulted, because even if they themselves truly believe it happened that's still not necessarily reliable. It's a very frustrating and troubling message, for sure.
• From QuasiGiani on 2017-08-11 at 3:22am:
  Disturbing?
  
  What is disturbing here is that what they discovered about the Borg nanoprobes regenerating disproved 7 Of 9's accusations. Yet, Janeway, the doctor ...and everyone else (even among the {re}viewers here) seems to believe it did. Terrible, disturbing lack of logic. Truly not in the spirit of Star Trek and I'm completely unfond of it.
  
• From QuasiGiani on 2017-08-12 at 5:17pm:
  The comment I made was supposed to say:
  
  "What is disturbing here is that what they discovered about the Borg nanoprobes regenerating IN NO WAY DISPROVED 7 Of 9's accusations. Yet, Janeway, the doctor ...and everyone else (even among the {re}viewers here) seems to believe it did. Terrible, disturbing lack of logic. Truly not in the spirit of Star Trek and I'm completely unfond of it."
• From Pim on 2018-04-30 at 9:40pm:
  Thank you QuasiGiani for pointing out that HUGE flaw in logic. The findings of that experiment may have been consistent with Koven’s story, but in no way proved or disproved either Koven’s or Seven’s claim. All evidence up to that point was still ‘inconclusive’. This is what’s really not in the spirit of Star Trek, it’s just bad science. Other than that I’d say this episode okayish.
• From Turbo on 2020-06-22 at 7:11am:
  Unlike seemingly a lot of other viewers I actually thought the episode was done rather well. It shows that decisions have actual gravitas, that emotional preoccupation may lead to misjudgment, and that misjudgment may lead to undeserved harm to others. There are far too many instances in Voyager otherwise where high risk decisions are kept unreflected because they lead to success by sheer luck, or where harm resulting from high risk decisions is seen as collateral or glanced off entirely. It's a nice change to actually see someone doing something wrong and having to live with the guilt.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Krs321 on 2011-09-12 at 12:18am:
  Problem: The Bajorans have an orb that allows you to travel through time now? WTF?
• From Cory on 2011-11-10 at 5:08am:
  Yes, The Orb of Time was introduced in Trials And Tribble-ations. However the fact both the Bajorans and Sisko will risk altering the timeline just so Kira can figure out for sure if Dukat and her mother were lovers is the biggest problem which knocks the episode down to a 1 in my eyes
• From Armsauce on 2017-06-16 at 12:57am:
  It didn't take much for Kira to convince Sisko. There's no way he'd agree to her plan like that, at least no so easily.
• From Jan on 2019-03-18 at 7:59pm:
  I didn't think the episode was that bad, but this 'Orb of Time' is way too powerful in the wrong hands.
  
  A bit of nit-picking: As we all well know, Nerys has dark brown eyes, but 3-year-old Nerys had very lightblue/grey eyes.
  It's possible that this is one of these 'differences' between Bajorans and humans, but I don't believe that.
  I AM aware that eyecolour can change even after a child hits one-year-and-a-half, but they won't turn from light blue to dark brown.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Jim on 2010-12-16 at 4:03am:
  Could I care any less about Chakotay at this point in the show? 7 o' 9 has made half of the cast irrelevant and Beltram seems more wooden than ever. "Forgettable" is more apt.
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-17 at 1:21am:
  Truly horrible. Plodding and lifeless.
  
  I kept watching, thinking that the alien would surprisingly turn out to be a fugitive criminal or something interesting, but the ending was exactly what we were told in the first ten minutes.
  
  Plus Virgina Madsen looks nowhere as cute here as she did in the movie "Dune."
• From Rob UK on 2014-07-18 at 1:23pm:
  I only have one thing to say
  
  This gets my vote for worst Star Trek episode ever
• From tigertooth on 2016-11-05 at 5:00am:
  I loved the line as the alien tracker guy was leaving the ship with the woman: "Oh, by the way - I infected your computers with a virus that's going to wipe out a bunch of data. Trust me, it's cool."
  
  hahahahaha!!!!
  
  This was garbage.
• From RodimusBen on 2020-11-16 at 4:31am:
  The concept behind this episode isn't bad in theory, and variations have been done before, such as TNG's Clues where the crew starts to realize that their memories of a certain time were erased, or Voyager's own Latent Image. The execution is just weak. Janeway and Chakotay put up surprisingly little resistance to the practices of this culture, which seems fine just stealing away people's memories as a form of oppression. Sure, there's the obligatory scene where the the characters all wax philosophical on the merits and vices of the system, but by the end of the episode they're just shrugging their shoulders when the alien tells them he's placed a virus in their computers!?
  
  Another dud for Chakotay, who is not necessarily a bad character, just badly written more often than not. And a waste of the lovely and talented Virginia Madsen, who under different circumstances, could have been one of Voyager's more memorable guest actors.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-11-06 at 2:17am:
  How is a class Y planet the "most inhospitable planet for humanoids"? At least it has a SURFACE! I mean there are plenty of planets that are solely gas giants and don't even have a solid surface. I would think that is more inhospitable than this class Y planet that simply has a bad atmosphere.
  
  The Enterprise has saucer separation; Voyager has landing sequences. Janeway lands the ship WAY too damn much. She is extremely reckless.
  
  The 'backup systems' in the environmental suits was a really cheap deus ex machina
  
  I think it would have been pretty cool if the 'silver blood' was a colony of shapeshifters that had been dispersed here by the founders (as alluded to in ds9) and had made their home in the delta quadrant. Can you imagine the possibilities if Voyager had allied with some of the shapeshifters here and brought them back with them, only to find that the Federation had been at war with the Gamma Quadrant shapeshifters when they got back? Oh well. Just the dreams of a ds9 fan...
• From TheAnt on 2013-10-12 at 6:19pm:
  Harry gets a mudbath
  
  Kethinov and Miller got it right, deuterium is not that horribly uncommon. And the planet itself only appear to be no worse than Venus.
  
  Another detail I find unbelievable is that life support appear to take such an extreme amount of energy, we've heard it in other episodes also. As much as lasers, the warp drive and what's not.
  In fact life support could only be a negligible amount compared to those systems - or to put it differently, several magnitudes less.
  And so shutting down life support as here, and in a few other episodes should not make any significant contribution.
  
  In short, you might skip this episode with extreme prejudice. Unless you're doing a study where ST loose track and derail completely.
• From L on 2013-12-29 at 6:23am:
  The basic concept would have been interesting in TOS, less so here.
• From Alex on 2014-05-19 at 12:14am:
  So Pete you wish that Voyager had brought back evidence of shapeshifters back from the delta quadrant.Personally the less Voyager had to do with a certain pile of overrated dog mess like DS9 the better,You can keep that rubbish.
• From Dstyle on 2015-06-16 at 1:58pm:
  Woah ho! Some fighting words from Alex!
  
  I don't see why we need to see the build up to the power problems: that seems too nitpicky of a complaint and would have made for boring television. Things happen off-screen and between episodes all the time. I'd much rather be dropped into the story right at the point of dramatic tension than watch all the buildup. And honestly, Voyager needs more episodes like this: it's too much like TNG v2.0, with the whole "limited resources" thing taking a backseat to holodecks and frivolous side-trips and whatnot. Voyager's hulls needs scars and dents. It was refreshing to see them running in "gray mode" for once.
  
  No, the real problem with the episode is it is poorly written. Janeway doesn't want to risk losing Chakotay by sending him down to the surface in a shuttle... so she decided to land the ship? (Seriously, writers, if you want to land the ship so badly just make it so their orbit was deteriorating and they didn't have power to correct it so they had no option. No captain in their right mind would put their entire crew at risk like that, and no officer on the bridge would ever let them) Then when the ship starts sinking into a mystery fluid on the surface, Janeway... goes to sickbay to check on Harry and Tom? C'mon Captain, your ship and everyone on it is in mortal peril: maybe you should be on the bridge trying to save them, i.e. DOING YOUR JOB.
  
  In the hands of a better writer this premise could have made for a better than average episode, but, like Voyager in a pool of silver blood, this episode sank quickly. I'd rate it a 3.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Paul on 2007-05-16 at 8:28pm:
  Remarkable scenes:
  
  Maihar'Du and Uri'Lash facing off.
  
  As for the rest of the episode...the less said about it the better.
• From EKH on 2007-07-13 at 8:15pm:
  A wonderful set-up. What a shame that it wasn't followed up on. Ferenginar conquered by the Dominion? That would have made for an interesting story, and hopefully would have finally gotten Ishka, Zek and Brunt killed off so that we didn't have to ever see them again, except in reruns. What we get, instead, is not only the worst episode of DS9, not only the worst of Star Trek, not only the worst science fiction episode ever, but the single worst hour of television ever written. An hour that really, truly hurts, in the most physical, literal and direct sense of the term. An hour that, luckily, I shall never, ever have to ever watch ever again, ever. Now, to suppress all memory of this travesty...
• From rpeh on 2010-08-03 at 8:25pm:
  I think most of what needs to be said has already been said. This is a very, very bad episode.
  
  There's one bit that made me laugh. Shimmerman's timing to deliver the final joke is absolutely spot on. Otherwise... what were they thinking???
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-21 at 10:29pm:
  Don’t listen to the critics! This episode was hilarious!
  1. Each rival Nagus has his own tall silent servant.
  2. Rom reveals his feminine side to his disconcerted friends. The look on his wife’s face was priceless.
  3. Sluggo Cola: the slimiest drink in the galaxy.
  4. How the initally annoying feminism of the episode is subverted: Quark persuades the Ferengi to clothe the females because they will become irrationally voracious consumers.
  5. Countless other offensive jokes about gender relations.
• From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2014-06-30 at 12:49am:
  I guess I'm in the minority, but I thought this episode was quite entertaining. Now, I do wholeheartedly agree with the critics, that the cross-dressing thing wasn't funny at all. But most of the jokes WERE funny. And as usual, Armin Shimmerman gets 110% out of the script.
  
  Not a masterpiece by any means, but a decent (pardon the pun) episode nevertheless. I would give it a 5.
• From tigertooth on 2018-02-27 at 4:11am:
  I think this was a decent idea for an episode, but the execution was awful. Every now and then the humor worked -- the main example being Rom teaching Quark how to be female -- but most of it missed the mark big time. The Nog gag where he was running around the hallways made no sense. Why was he having such a hard time following a guy who was walking? And why would a Starfleet cadet be so out of shape? And even if you ignore that stuff, it just wasn't funny.
  
  They hardly even worked the obvious "Quark learns how hard it is to be a persecuted Ferengi female" angle. They sort of hit on that at the end, but again, it was done really poorly.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Sir Brando on 2006-05-10 at 4:59pm:
  The idea behind this episode may be flawed, but it is still very unique. It gives you a very creepy feeling. I like it.. it's not the best but I don't think it deserves a 0. just my opinion!
• From Pete Miller on 2006-11-26 at 4:37am:
  HAHAHAHA!!! I was watching this episode, and thinking that I was about to give it a zero because I didn't even consider it canon, and then I see you've already made the same conclusion. You wonder what the hell the writers were thinking. Or should I say what kind of alcoholic depression binge they were on. Besides the complete absurdity of the episode and the fact that it has absolutely no effect on anything, it also happens to be DEPRESSING as FUCK!!!! Wow. Thanks for tying up that loose end, writers. This episode really contributes a lot.
  
  Zero. Second episode of Voyager to get one.
• From Tony on 2008-09-26 at 7:13pm:
  My opinion is slightly diferent; I think that the idea of bringing back the duplicated crew from "Demon" was a good one (despite the obvious flaw of the entire ship having been duplicated), but the writer(s) did not create a story that create a story that lived up to the potential of that idea, or even come close. All we get to see is the entire duplicated crew die with hardly a storyline at all. A better idea would have been to have Voyager and duplicated Voyager discover each other and try to find out why there are two of them, then have the duplicates begin to degrade, they discover that the real Voyager is causing duplicated Voyager to degrade and they also find out what duplicated Voyager is. Now that the degradation has been started, it cannot be stopped. As a side story, hostile aliens couls have attacked the real Voyager at the beginning, and were driven off. They attack again, but because the aliens are only aware of one Voyager, duplicated Voyager sacrifices themselves to make the aliens think Voyager is destroied and the rear Voyager can continue on it's way. But no, we have to watch a dumb story of people dieing that deserves a zero.
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-25 at 11:12pm:
  10/10
  
  This story is an extremely moving tragedy. Up until the end we are given some sliver of hope that something good can still happen for this doomed crew. We come to identify fully with the plight of these "people" who are fighting for their "humanity" and "Federation values."
  
  It is a fascinating coda to an equally interesting story. Star Trek was ever brilliant for this kind of story: a once-told short story. Episodic television can be terrific: forty minutes of speculation, drama and escape. Not everything needs to be a twenty-six part epic arc like the dreary Battlestar Galactica.
• From spline on 2014-01-26 at 11:18am:
  "I think it's an episode people either love or hate," observed Nick Sagan. "The 'hate' category seems to say, 'Why do we follow a crew that isn't even our regular crew?' and they feel cheated. But it really is the story about the poignancy of Voyager's journey. There's something about trying really hard and not being quite able to achieve it, which is a reality to a lot of people [....] [The episode's] about a need to be remembered, a need to be recorded, and that's the special tragedy about making a log, a kind of capsule – we know that the 'Demon' crew dies. It's about loss and remembering, death and grief."
  
  I'm with Tallifer. I think those who give this silly ratings like 0 or 1 are being unjust and hypocritical. How many pointless episodes about Harry Kim's love life, alien of the week, shuttlecrash of the week, and reset buttons get a pass? Ninety percent of this series' episodes do not advance the overall plot *at all*. And criticizing it because it's not the "real" crew utterly misses the entire point of the story.
  
  This is a 9/10 episode easily, one of the best of the series.
• From spline on 2014-01-26 at 11:50am:
  Also, one last thing to think about:
  
  The writers also wanted to leave certain issues unresolved. "We didn't want to answer a lot of questions," Ken Biller stated, "like, how long has that ship been out there? Some of the episodes that we saw earlier in the season, was it that crew? Or was it the real crew? It's kind of intriguing to think about."
  
  (quotes from Memory Alpha)
• From janus on 2014-10-16 at 10:05am:
  An episode which tests issues of personal identity, loyalty and motivation to destruction (literally!)
  
  When Janeway says that she's determined to get them home, only to be reminded that *their* home is a demon-class planet in the Delta Quadrant, and when Harry Kim is told that, even if they did get "home" to Earth, his family would not want a duplicate of their real son, but only the original, we see a fundamental conflict which cannot be hand-waved away - and that is *true* drama.
  
  That it starts with Tom and B'Elanna's wedding, and ends with Voyager's destruction, makes clear that the writers meant to create a truly tragic episode. That the probe with the record of all of their mission-data is lost, and that the other Voyager encounters only their wreckage, adds to the tragedy, and maybe even makes us contemplate our own mortality.
  
  On a side-note, how is it "unlikely" that a fictional substance could perfectly replicate a human being (complete with past memories!) but couldn't replicate inanimate ship components, too? It seems no more unlikely than time travel, which violates our understanding of physics but happens in science fiction all the time.
  Also, it seems irrelevant to object that this isn't the real crew, since they have the same personalities and memories; what about the *backup* Doctor in Living Witness? He's also "just" a copy.
  
  Let's be honest: plot devices like these are a dramatic conceit. The real point is that, given the setup, the characters act in a consistent and believable way, so that we can relate to their feelings and choices, and be invested in the consequences.
  
  Of all the stories which show Voyager's crew trying to get home, this is the only one which explores what it would mean, to them and us, if they failed. (Voyager's destruction in Year of Hell was done knowing that it should restore the former timeline.)
  
  Just for that, this episode is exceptional.
  
  10/10
  
  PS: This one reminds me a lot of DS9 "Whispers", which I also liked. Our reviewer gave that a low score too, so at least I'm (or we're) consistent. ;)
• From thaibites on 2015-01-21 at 1:04am:
  When the story opened with Paris and Ms. Miserable getting married, I thought "Oh no, not another stupid soap opera episode!" Luckily, I hung in there and found a quirky little episode that managed to take Voyager out of its predictable rut.
  
  1) Why is it so unbelievable that the ship was copied? If you think that the holodeck is believable, then you're just being a hypocrite. How many times have we seen the holodeck defy physics and make a room into a huge outdoor scene where people walk for miles. Now that's unbelievable!
  
  2) The copy crew needed to have an enhanced warp drive so they could be ahead of the real Voyager and almost meet them on the way back. (I wonder if this causes problems in the future for the real Voyager. Maybe they'll run into aliens that the copy crew had a problem with?)
  
  3) I liked the fact that the copy crew was allowed to die at the end. They violated the crew of Voyager and were an abomination in the eyes of the Lord! Star Trek endings are too nice and orderly, and it was nice to see something different for a change. With X-Files being so popular during this time period, you would think Berman et al would emulate them more often.
  
  It's obvious this is an episode that people either love or hate. The little gayrods that act like Comicbook Guy on the Simpsons hate it because it doesn't fit into their nice, orderly Start Trek canon world. These people obviously have never had sex with another human, and their real lives are more meaningless than the copy crew's. The people who love this episode are free-thinkers and lovers of science-fiction (NOT soap operas in space). These people long for Berman and friends to push the boundaries of ST in the great tradition of Gene Roddenberry. I think this episode does that quite nicely!
• From Dstyle on 2015-07-09 at 3:06am:
  Before watching the episode I came to this site to check it's rating and almost gave it a pass as a result, but I decided to watch it because the fan rating was just a little below average. Boy, I sure am glad I watched this one: one of my favorites of the season so far.
  
  I guess it definitely is a love it or hate it kind of episode, and I can respect the opinions of those who thought it was a weak episode. Personally, I enjoy science fiction that utilizes the possibilities of a technologically advanced future to explore abstract philosophical problems in a tangible way. Remember Tuvix, and that whole episode that used transporter technology to explore the nature of identity and individuality? To me this felt like an episode in the same vein. What if you discovered that you were not really you, and that the real "you" was out there in the world somewhere living a separate existence? Is your existence any less authentic? What would it take for you to accept that you are the copy and not the other way around? (In this case, it was extreme physical degradation: evidence that you are, in fact, a lesser copy.) Do your experiences and feelings still have value? Should you be afforded the same respect that the "real" you had earned? It was fascinating, and I found the end to be rather beautiful and poignant.
  
  I'm going to resist the urge to pick apart kethinov's review line by line, with the exception of the final line. Watch this episode. Yeah, you might hate it, but it's a "you love it or you hate it" kind of episode. Don't deny yourself the opportunity of finding out which you are.
• From dominic on 2016-06-10 at 4:00am:
  It doesn't matter that they're not the "real" crew. They think they are, they react the same way the real crew would, and they are just as heartbroken when they realize they will never see Earth.
• From tigertooth on 2017-06-20 at 4:06am:
  I was okay with the premise. Some of the flaws that have been mentioned hurt it a bit, but I could deal with it.
  
  To me, the main problem was that outside of the premise, the episode was just kinda boring. It's like 45 minutes of "we're melting" and then they die. There's no dramatic arc. From the moment they learn the truth until the end, nothing really happens except slow decay and death.
  
  I wonder if they should have held off the reveal that they were all duplicates for a while longer. Like they realize it's related to the Demon planet, then they start to think that they're being infected by their duplicates. They could even given a technobabble explanation of how a duplicate Voyager could have been created. They run into the other Voyager, thinking it's the duplicate. Then they come to realize they're the duplicates. Then you go to the valiant sacrifice idea somebody mentioned earlier. At least it would have given them something to do....
• From QuasiGiani on 2017-08-25 at 8:49am:
  Excellent episode. It _is_ canon. Those that don't realize this don't understand the term (though they are so obviously just itchin' to use it; like a Vocabulary Of The Week word)... so object if you must but you really shouldn't must.
  
  Excellent episode. It is _also_ part of a (apparently preciousssss) story arc... so again, embrace this episode.
  
  Excellent episode. It is _also_ _also_ (as a few have pointed out) an episode that harkens-back to TOS as a sci-fi short-story format that needn't answer to every goddamed negative, niggling, nebbishmal, nay-saying, neurotican, nerdling, nabobbing natter... so, to those who enjoyed it: Nanu... Nanu!
• From McCoy on 2017-09-22 at 3:19pm:
  I don't understand all that low ratings. Looks like you people prefer utopian, happy space adventures. This was a great tragedy with good use of s-f elements. Certailny better than most high ranked action episodes (like i.e. Dark Frontier).
  I expected that they will somehow contact the original Voyager and send them a beacon. But the writers made bold choice and served us hard, depressing, moving end. Bravo! 9/10 from me.
• From minnie on 2017-12-01 at 2:15pm:
  I'm with Spline on this one. I found it haunting and it stayed with me afterwards. It's one of the most memorable episodes - many of them aren't. I don't think it matters whether the story arc is advanced. It is still about the crew, eg. Janeway sticking to the mission despite all evidence saying she should turn around and so forth. Very interesting, a proper sci fi story, and a sad one. A tragedy. So I gave it 9.
• From jbense on 2018-03-04 at 8:12pm:
  Gotta say: I completely disagree with those who consider this a poor episode.
  
  To me, it is one of Voyager's best.
  
  User janus above pointed out similarites with DS9's "Whispers." It also brings to mind the DS9 episode "The Visitor," another tangential side-plot episode written in the poignant style of a classic sci-fi short story.
  
  I advise strongly against skipping this episode.
• From notaduck on 2020-04-03 at 3:14pm:
  I'm on the "love it" side of the fence! Watching the whole series for the first time. This one stuck with me for all the reasons I enjoy science fiction: spectacular possibilities (cloning), centered on real human emotions (loss, home, protection), not afraid to face hard philosophical questions (identity, being remembered, the meaning of principles), wrapped in a short story. There are some slow parts, but I feel like the uncertainty of their fate and the struggles of the duplicate captain more than made up for it.
  
  A point I think can be missed is the tragedy at the end isn't just about loss of life, but loss of accomplishments, recognition, and respect for these lives. Imagine if the real Voyager had picked up the secret of the advanced warp drive! Imagine Tom and Elana reading their twins' marriage vows! It's a thoughtful, subtle statement I think can be lost in the prosthetics.
  
  Man, I'm glad I made it through the early seasons to get treats like this...
• From Ralph on 2021-10-25 at 5:26pm:
  I think this episode is the one where I am furthest away from Kethinov's opinion - with whom I'm generally quite in agreement with. I think this was a wonderful episode. A real tragedy that was well written. Up until the very end I had my hopes up for something to come out of the duplicate crew. Even at the very last scene after it was clear that the time capsule was lost, there was hope of the real Voyager finding a remnant of their counterparts.
  
  Star Trek almost never writes an episode like this. At least not this era of Star Trek. I find this easily one of the better Voyager episodes.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-12-04 at 7:43pm:
  I didn't think this episode was that bad. It was kind of stupid in a lot of parts, but the humor was great and the story was pretty cool. It added something about the self-sustaining ecosystems later used on Mars, so it's not like it doesn't contribute ANYTHING. Contributes more than "Take Me Out to the Holosuite" that's for sure.
  
  Voyager meets Fargo, minus murder
• From Mike on 2008-08-10 at 12:46pm:
  Yeah I think you missed the boat on this review.
  
  1) The theme of 'the negative impact of progress' is rarely shown on the generally optimistic ST. Here we see at least a bit of a human cost to building something like the "millennium gate".
  
  2) The 'its a self-sustaining city' vs. 'its just a mall' theme brings up another ST issue. This isn't the optimistic 60s anymore, and we're not going to get a massive government-funded space program. Progress is going to be done by corporations, or its not going to be done at all. So that means profit and exploitation, symbolized here by the destruction of the small town way of life.
  
  3) The theme of "revisionist history" is a rare one in popular culture. It also ties this episode to 'Living Witness'.
  
  The episode was FAR from perfect, and the ending was incredibly rushed (all of those ends tied up). But it's a very thoughtful and intelligent episode.
• From Baronvonellis on 2011-09-29 at 3:36am:
  I liked this alot. It was very well done and thoughtful. It was also a nice change of pace from all the explosions and "shields down to 20%" junk that is in every other episode.
  
  I feel like people are too critical of Voyager compared to TNG. This was very trek and explored alot of scientific and culturally issues in an entertaining story. What more do you want from it.
• From Rick on 2013-01-10 at 8:48pm:
  Boy, this have to be a tough episode for a liberal to watch. Do you root for the large corporation or the conservative that its trying to bulldoze? Tough choice.
  
  I thought it was a very good episode for the reason that an above poster made. The liberalism going on now is mostly through large corporate entities looking to monetize any trend they can.
• From Hugo Ahlenius on 2015-01-30 at 9:27pm:
  So he has a giant bookstore with no customers, in a small town - doesn't a buyout deal with a good price sound pretty decent? I didn't find their chemistry and connection worked out very well. The history/reveal stuff was a tad interesting though. Felt mostly like a soap/tv-movie otherwise...
• From parkbench on 2016-02-20 at 7:57pm:
  I have to say I am really shocked at how negatively the site's author reacted to this episode. I'm glad some commentors came with a counterbalance, because this was one of the best episodes I have seen in awhile. Let me explain...
  
  I have gotten to a point w/ Voyager where I usually keep it on in the background, even when I'm watching a brand new episode--why? Because the writing is so consistently mediocre, there are so many missed opportunities, so many actors straightjacketed by milquetoast dialogue that they come off as outrageously corny or artificially human, that it's hard to watch sometimes. But I love Star Trek, so I power through--and perhaps this is what the site's author really had a problem with.
  
  Because having a "non-sequitur" episode isn't, in and of itself, a bad thing--what's bad is that Voyager is so aimless and so grasping for straws that when an episode like this comes along, all the storytelling could appear, to the untrained eye, to just be more meandering away from the plot.
  
  But if you pay attention, this was a very lovingly crafted episode with tons of real social & political themes which, though flawed, drives to the very heart of the scifi and Star Trek formula: reflecting on the fragile potential of mankind.
  
  If anyone--site author included--is surprised about the plotline, then they could do with some reading. Almost every major sporting event, from the NFL to the Olympics, major development project in the U.S. or elsewhere, major cultural site or monument, runs into this issue: and it's not pretty.
  
  In fact, though the episode sort of gives out its legs towards the end--pitching the story as one merely about "progress" vs. "tradition", "the future vs. the past"--this is often what the (real-life) script looks like. Major projects want the prime real estate, not just random land in the middle of nowhere, and they will often do anything they can to get it. I have been to a major park in Kentucky that is totally rustic except for 2 or 3 random houses smack dab in the middle that STILL have functioning mailboxes and families living in them because they refused to cede their land, so the park built around them.
  
  Hell, look at the railroads, the colonisation and destruction of indigenous lands that made most of this country possible, or even just any major fracking or resource-extraction project. Look at Appalachia, the health problems the majority of its residents face, the polluted water (a la Flint), the unemployment, joblessness, and total abandonment by the very powers that claimed they had come to save the area.
  
  And when it comes to Olympic stadiums, it has been shown time and again that the promise of "business", jobs, and cultural notoriety is short-lived, while the costs are consistently stacked against the poor: people are evicted and streets are cleansed of any hint of poverty or decay, rent is driven up, and a temporary luxury economic bubble is created mostly for people from out of town to come and be a part of a brief media spectacle. And then what? It all leaves and usually what's left is like a monorail in a dying, de-industrialised town: a big eyesore that has done nothing but contribute to the already-existing massive inequalities and disparities between people living very different realities in these urban landscapes.
  
  Or just look up the city of Shenzhen in China, which in the 1970s was a small fishing town. Through the incredible macro-social acrobatics of giant multinational firms and international finance capital, they systematically turned this tiny town into a (now eerily-familiar) post-apocalyptic landscape of a metropolis, hyper-polluted and hyper-segregated between the lower classes of workers and dagongmei and the business elites whose sole purpose in living there is to extract every bit of value they can from it before they leave. And I encourage you to do your own research if you don't believe me--have a look at any number of the problems facing the average citizen in Shenzhen, and tell me if the "progress" the town was granted was not a Pyrrhic victory.
  
  This is the actual world we live in. It's not sci-fi, it's horrific shit. So if sci-fi manages to even reflect a PIECE of that, I'm all ears, because it's rare and it's brave to have that kind of honesty.
  
  So my point is--the show, to a point, actually accurately depicts a lot of this dynamic, showing what community complacence OR resistance can look like (many people take the pay-out, while others launch grassroots media campaigns). It also hints at some kind of corporate exploitation, as some in the comments have noted; but as I said before, I wish this didn't end in a simple "past vs. future" morality tale. They bring up the idea of the "big shopping mall" and just leave it there; I wish more of the supposed benefits vs. deficits had really been teased out, so that if they really ultimately wanted Janeway to close his shop, it would be less an easy victory (we, the viewers, unconsciously want O'Donnell and Janeway to be together and a happy conclusion) and more of a melancholy turning-point, as the town's independence becomes subordinate to this massive social-engineering project--the times indeed they are a-changin'.
  
  And that's another thing--it was a really neat narrative trick to tell us the conclusion of the plot and then to reconstruct it. Not the first time we've ever seen this, but seeing how well Shannon O'Donnell and Janeway get along, but knowing what must happen according to "history", creates a lot of mystery and curiosity in how it's all going to go down.
  
  And speaking of narrative tricks, how about an "earth episode" that didn't boil down to some crazy holodeck caper but actually filled in, however messily (as ST is wont to do), the universe's actual timeline? That was very welcome for me.
  
  Again, hearing Harry talk about his family, or Janeway talking about the fragilities of reconstructing history was a huge breath of fresh air for me. This was a script with real pacing, with dialogue that actually expanded on the plot and enriched the story's world, and reflected real themes while deepening them through an imaginative thought-scenario. Its flaw is less in the episode itself than in the whole trajectory of Voyager that allows a gem like this to be buried so mercilessly under layers upon layers of colorless dust.
  
  And I suppose, coming to expect less than mediocrity from Voyager, I am willing to be forgiving about an offering that doesn't exactly "advance" the plot--I mean, this was the original idea of Voyager, wasn't it? "Return" to the old TOS style, have a "general missrion" peppered with vignettes? I will always think this is inferior to the DS9 formula, but as a one-off, it's mighty fine.
  
  I was amazed, too, when at one point I became lost in Kate Mulgrew's acting, during one of the later scenes where Shannon and Janeway are arguing in the library. And I found myself thinking, really? Her? Well, for starters, it's because she's rarely given the breathing room to use all the skills of her trade. That is, they actually wrote her a dynamic character! And she clearly has fun with it. It was a pleasure to see her as a true actress and not as a two-bit daytime space opera mouthpiece for once.
  
  Give this to me over any stupid episode about men and women and dating and uninspired gender stereotypes that plagues this series, any half-brained Buck Rogers adventure that thinks it's a parody of the past but is really a parody of itself, or overwrought melodrama filled with fake gravitas. This was a sensitive, if flawed, offering, and gives me a little faith that the Voyager series is not completely screwed, as long as they keep these writers on board somewhere in there.
  
  Thanks again to kethinov for maintaining the site.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Kenobie on 2011-05-09 at 3:51pm:
  There was a plant\fruit that made a yellowish rock produce fire. Hmmm... How unlikely would something like that really be? Just imagine that there are fruit juice's that create fire when coming into contact with a certain type of rock. How many natural forest fires would that produce.
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-07-18 at 8:36pm:
  A pretty boring episode. I gave it a 3. I can even see someone finding it dull enough to give it a rating of 1 – but I disagree with almost ALL of the specifics of your review.
  
  You are conflating the Ventus' right to have opportunities for contact with outsiders with the Ledosians' "right" to exploit the Ventus' world and impose their own brand of technological "advancement" on them by force. Those are two very different things.
  
  What exactly gives the Ledosians "every right to be angry"? NOTHING was taken from them! They didn't breach the shield, Voyager did! How did they suddenly develop "rights" over something that Voyager made possible? Oh, and by the way, they ATTACKED Voyager after agreeing to allow the shield repairs. It was Janeway who had a right be angry! She had no obligation to share any technology with the Ledosians and every right (and maybe even a duty) to repair the damage she caused to the shield in order to get her people and her deflector out.
  
  However, I do agree that there's a weird sort of reverse snobbery (or the "noble savage" conceit) in deciding there’s value in the Ventus' way of life. But it’s not particular to this episode – it’s pretty much the nature of the Prime Directive. Part of me has always been troubled the paternalism implied in it. Civilization has always benefited from trade and travel and contact with foreigners. The accidental and spontaneous inputs of the universe are ultimately responsible for all change, whether cosmic, or biological, or technological, or social. Still, it is also sort of understandable that they have concerns about overwhelming an unprepared society with technology beyond its comprehension. Either way, it’s probably a little late to start questioning the Prime Directive! But it’s hard to see the justification in your indictment of the “arrogance” in this episode without the indicting the directive itself.
  
  In any case, if you pay close attention, Janeway's decision is NOT based on a positive, substantive judgment that “their primitive culture should be preserved.” It’s based on a policy of non-interference, in this case involving a need to undo her own crew's prior interference. You ask "who is she to decide"-- and I think she would agree with you. She DIDN'T decide. She didn't impose any new order on this world. She just left things as much the way she found them as possible.
  
  The thing about difficult ethical questions is that they don't always have a neat little answer; sometimes Star Trek writers are too ready to produce such "answers" and be smug about it too. In this case, I thought they did a decent job of articulating the lingering dilemma through Seven's uncertainty. I found Janeway's attitude to be pragmatic rather than arrogant, even if a little unsatisfying.
  
  BTW: I was SO RELIEVED that they didn’t turn this episode into a Seven-Chakotay “getting to know you” thing! I was dreading that.... Voyager focuses way too much on crew-member romantic entanglement. I can’t believe you WANTED another soap opera episode! Ugh.
  
• From Hugo on 2016-04-14 at 7:32am:
  Great analysis and comment, Jadzia!
  
  This ep was too slow for my tastes. The b-plot wasn't that interesting, but slightly amusing and it tied up with the a-plot nicely in the end.
  
  I am interested in learning who erected the barrier, and why.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bob on 2009-05-17 at 11:18pm:
  I thought the ethics displayed in this episode were sound. They also did a very good job explaining why they made the decision that they did. I agree with most of your star trek episode reviews, but this was an excellent episode, deserving of a much higher score than a 1. I think you might need to watch it again. You forgot to note in the your Factoids that majority of all technologically advanced planets have a single dominant species. This fact along with the facts that the Valakian "plague" is a genetic defect and the Menk are undergoing an intellectual awakening is proof enough that Archer made the right decision. Humans have no right to influence the evolution of life on that planet.
• From Daniel Baldwin on 2009-08-09 at 8:58pm:
  No no no! The episode was well written and acted, but morally it's terrible. They don't show us the consequences of this decision, do they? I wonder why? I suggest that people watch Babylon 5 "Confessions and Lamentations" instead.
• From ive on 2009-12-06 at 10:25pm:
  ethics are perfect in this episode.
  compassion clouded your judgement as well.
  my rating - 6.9
• From carsonist on 2010-05-03 at 1:48am:
  I like this episode. An episode can be good even if the last five minutes include a decision you don't like. I think it's a bit extreme to rate it so low just because of one thing.
  
  Also, Phlox isn't making any decision for the Menk, he just realized that they could end up the dominant species of the planet, and if he interferes, they'll never have that chance. This episode is a perfect example of the Prime Directive, except the part where they gave out the lesser medicine.
• From Tallifer on 2011-05-07 at 10:03am:
  I am amazed that some people think it is morally acceptable to withhold the knowledge of a cure from a dying race. (And if the Mink are evolving so wonderfully, surely in a few generations they will assert themselves.)
  
  I did give this episode one point however for the very entertaining observations of the doctor.
• From rick on 2012-10-19 at 10:20pm:
  This episode should be a 0. Well acted, good premise, worst ethical decision I could possibly imagine. Strip away all this science fiction garbage (and aura of a supposedly higher moral standard) and what are we left with? We are left with genocide and that what Phlox/Archer did, pure and simple.
  
  God forbid we would "interfere" (read: save) with a species before they developed warp technology. I love how everyone seems to just accept that premise without thinking about how arbitrary and ridiculous it is. This whole seeming right to develop naturally without interference from other species is quite suspect.
  
  According to the ethics of this episode, we should all just kill ourselves so that we do not affect the natural evolution of the universe. Which brings me to another point. Why are we not a part of the "natural" evolution of the universe. If a virus is killing off a species why is our interference to save the species different than the virus killing it?
• From Zorak on 2016-09-21 at 11:38am:
  I 100% agree with your review (if not your score). I really enjoyed the episode up until the absolutely ridiculous conclusion. The character development for Phlox was great, the scenes were well done, and everything was shaping up to be another good episode.
  
  Then they ruined it. Even if one were to agree with the ethics (which I certainly don't), it was a completely uncalled for direction for the episode to take. I thought maybe they were going to find out that the Menk (which frankly sounds lie an insulting name for a species) were indeed being mistreated in some way or that the Menk were causing the disease and sharing that knowledge would lead to genocide.
  
  What I was not expecting was for them to decide that this unique culture of two evolving coexisting species should not be saved in favor of a more "normal" evolution where one species outlives the other, all for the sake of fan service to the prime directive. It was a completely ridiculous and unwarranted conclusion based solely on speculation.

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2007-01-08 at 4:40am:
  Taken from your own FAQ's: "A rating of 0 means I think the episode is so bad that I have (usually, but not always) personally dropped it from Star Trek canon. Episodes rated zero often have incredible technical problems."
  
  While you certainly can and will rate these episodes according to your own opinions, I have to disagree with you on this one. Yes, the episode is in very poor taste. Yes, it is a huge waste of time. But I don't think it is a zero. A zero to me is an episode that is so awful that it shouldn't even be considered canon. Something like VOY: Threshold.
  
  This episode has some very good humor which should alone guarantee it a 1. There are no flagrant violations of canon, and while they have some sexual material, it isn't obscene in any way. Perhaps Enterprise is just trying to be more realistic as far as sexual tension goes. I rather like how open they are with it, as long as they don't have those awful decon scenes. TNG: The Naked Now was much more offensive and distasteful in my opinion, and it got a 4.
  
  Given, this episode has too many things like the Phlox toenail scene to be considered a good episode, but it is far from a zero IMHO.
• From Matthew on 2007-09-02 at 5:55pm:
  Here's a problem with this episode. There's no such thing as an "autoimmune system". Dogs -- and humans for that matter -- have immune systems and when the immune system attacks itself, an autoimmune reaction or disorder occurs. Having an autoimmune immune system implies that the body has evolved a system explicitly designed for destroying itself, which makes absolutely no sense. And even if for some strange reason the dog does have an autoimmune system, its "collapsing", as stated by Dr Phlox, would be a good thing. Besides which, I can't even begin to imagine how some foreign pathogen is supposed to cause the breakdown of this non-existent system. The writers would have been far better off to invent something completely within the realm of science fiction for the Dog to fall ill with, like Klingon rabies or something.
• From Abigail on 2009-02-22 at 7:40pm:
  I agree with you, Eric; the episode was HORRIBLE! I couldn't stand it! In need of an actual science fiction plot, anyone? And like you, I have never felt a need to see Phlox trim his toenails.
• From Kethinov on 2009-10-09 at 11:51pm:
  Pete, you're right. I've revised my rating accordingly. It's a shame it took me almost three years to finally see your point. But point conceded.
• From Pete on 2010-07-27 at 1:52am:
  I'm just now going through and doing a rewatch of all the series; it's interesting to see some of the comments that have come in since I last read these reviews.
  
  I would be interested to know if you have changed any other of your ratings since you first did them. I have come to find that some episodes have aged well with me over time, while others (like this one) have only gotten worse in my mind. Cool to see that you adjusted this one to a 1, although I do agree with you that it is a very low "1".
  
  So far in my rewatch, I have really become sensitive to the overt sexualization of T'Pol. Sometimes it is too much to bear. I am all for casting hot women on this show, but it cheapens the character quite a bit to objectify her the way they do.
• From Kethinov on 2010-07-27 at 3:34am:
  Yes, Pete. Since I adjusted the rating (and review) of this episode in response to your comments, I have taken the time to do an audit of other episodes rated 0 to make sure that they're not actually more deserving of a 1.
  
  For example, as much as it pained me to do so, I also had to elevate DS9: Profit and Lace to a 1 for the same reason that this episode was elevated to a 1. I don't recall all the edits, but there were more than a few.
  
  If you stick around over the next year or two, all the reviews on the site will be adjusted, starting with TOS. I'll be adding new, higher quality screenshots, bringing over the "filler quotient" system from my Farscape reviews, and doing more extensive analyses in the reviews.
  
  I'll be averaging about one a day, so it may take a couple years. :)
• From Jem Hadar on 2010-08-02 at 4:03am:
  Awesome!
• From JRPoole on 2011-08-01 at 8:52pm:
  While I agree with most of your critiques of this episode, I tend to view it with the same lens I watch the obvious humor episodes, so I don't mind some of the more juvenile stuff. That said, the scene where Hoshi catches the bat is awful and the decontamination chamber as an excuse to get T'Pol in her lingerie and forcing sexual tension by having characters rub gel on each other is already tired.
  
  The best thing about this episode is that Archer is wrong. It's inexcusably bad judgement to take Porthos on an away mission at all, especially this one, with the Kreetassians, who've proven to have a truly alien culture and are easily offended. He then proceeds to have a virtual nervous breakdown because Porthos gets sick. I'm a pet lover, but Porthos is a dog. Would Archer have lost this much sleep over a sick crewman? We've seen episodes in the past where a captain's personal feelings--revenge, rivalry, etc.--lead them to make bad decisions. But we've never really seen a captain throw a tantrum act like such a child before. This episode works for me because it exposes one of the series weaknesses, Captain Archer himself, and explores it.
  
  I like Archer's informal style of command, but he's a goober, an even worse ambassador for humanity than that galactic douchebag James T. Kirk. He is one of the big disappointments about Enterprise to me thus far, but I might have to give the writers a little more credit than I have so far, at least when it comes to this character. Maybe he's supposed to come off like a rube.
• From Hugo on 2017-08-28 at 9:04pm:
  I found Archer's attachment to the dog disturbing, but the episode was passable until about two thirds in...

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2007-01-27 at 9:09pm:
  I agree about the "it was all a dream" thing. Deus ex Machina and all its similar plot devices are for lazy writers who are trying to make it seem like a character is really in serious jeopardy. Probably so they could put some snippets up on the preview for "next week on UPN" and make people think Hoshi could get written off.
  
  Even though it was dreamed up, this made me remember the annoying problems of TNG: The Next Phase. Specifically that Hoshi/Ro/Geordi can pass through things but don't fall through the floor.
• From Mitchell on 2012-12-19 at 12:54pm:
  This episode feels a lot like a combo of TNG: The Next Phase and TNG: Remember Me. Weird transporter invisibility coupled with a fake dream world.
• From Zorak on 2016-10-01 at 3:04pm:
  Without doubt another very poor episode. I'll focus on the one little thing that I actually liked. It amused me how insistently the episode kept writing Cyrus Ramsey into Star Trek history and legend, only to have him also be a figment of Hoshi's imagination/dream.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From CeeBee on 2013-12-29 at 9:41pm:
  I liked the episode. The only problem is that Phlox has forgotten that he put T'Pol under sedation. You can hallucinate, but hallucination isn't amnesia. He seems to hallucinate that he didn't put her under. That's a weird problem, as he often seems to realize that he actually is hallucinating. So the plot is a bit forced.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Steve Mohns on 2011-08-10 at 5:48pm:
  Awfully tough on this episode, Eric! I saw it again last night, a number of years after seeing it live, and liked it as much, if not more.
  
  I did think that it was a nice tie-in of Star Trek series for the fans, both with surprise roles for Riker and Deanna, whom we'd not have seen for about 9 years, and the fine connection of all three Enterprises and captains saying the opening monologue at the end. (And yes, no Sisko and Janeway because it's the Enterprise) That you didn't like the absence of Romulans or a romance between Tripp and T'Pol, or hearing Archer's speech are all legitimate personal reasons for you to not like the episode, but all three are reasonable choices to have been made and don't make it a bad episode. I'm glad actually, that we didn't see the speech. (They didn't do that great a job of writing the one he gave in the previous episode). This way we can imagine that it was epic. At least this way there was still an opening for an Enterprise movie with the Romulan war. And unrequited love is ultimately more satisfying artistically than a happy ending romance.
  The episode itself had plenty of emotion, as one would hope for in a finale, certainly from T'Pol and Tripp, and though we don't like to see Tripp die, he did so with glory, and it made for a memorable episode.
  Personally, having just watched the finale of Enterprise, TNG, and Voyageur, I rank them Enterprise, Voayeur, and TNG. The latter was way longer than needed for the material in the story (should have been tellable in one episode easily), had a lot of mumbo-jumbo contrivances to make the plot work, featured the Farpoint storyline, a very poor premier episode, and though I hate to say it as a fan of both Stewart and Picard, sub-standard acting by him.
  It is a shame that Enterprise couldn't be kept going more than the 4 seasons. I think it had easily the strongest start of any series since TOS, hitting the ground in full stride unlike all the other series, and had better acting, music, writing than them as well. The only place that it didn't get top marks for me is in the magic of several of the characters in TOS and TNG.
• From Jem5x5 on 2014-01-26 at 8:35am:
  Well, I finally got here, and whilst this episode wasn't as bad as I feared after everything i'd read about it, it was undoubtedly a shockingly poor way to send off Enterprise - what should have been a poignant final story about the ships retirement and mothballing became a cheap backstory for a couple of cameo appearances. Tuckers death seemed really cheap and pointless - in all the previous situations where him and the captain had faced peril, why had his first thought never been "i'll blow myself up!" before? And why did the main protagonists seem to be totally over it 5 minutes later when Archer was waiting to do his speech? I think i'm also going to regard Demons/Terra Prime as the real series finale - the crew and the ship were able to perform heroically one last time, and it paved the way for the foundation of The Federation, so it means an end at an important moment in Trek history. And now, as i'm watching Trek in a rather wonky order, on to DS9!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Shani on 2017-10-09 at 11:12am:
  I don't like replicators were around during the TOS era. How are they replicating food and uniforms?
• From Shodanbot on 2017-10-09 at 11:03pm:
  Landry's death was very silly and forced. Especially given her interactions with Michael up to that point, as I got the impression she was to be this series "Worf". But it is how forced and unnecessary this death was that I found difficult to over-look. Couldn't they have used the transporter to "harvest" a claw from the beast? Cruel and very out of place at Starfleet, but I don't see any reason a transporter couldn't do it. Landry would've avoid getting within mauling distance with the beast with a quick transport.
  
  Oh well. Whatever. They needed the beast alive and in one piece to get the plot moving, and added a bit of silly blood letting to keep the peanut gallery from falling asleep. I wonder if the star trek universe's 23rd century has an equivalent of The Darwin Awards?
  
  Another bit of an annoyance for me, and to be fair a pedantic one at that, is "Xeno-Anthropologist". Just what is a Xeno-Anthropologist?
• From matzieq on 2017-10-10 at 8:46am:
  I just can't get used to the new look of the klingons, if only they had hair, or ANYTHING that made them look like klingons! Also, the need to constantly read subtitles while they bark at each other unintelligibly is so annoying... even though I'm used to reading subtitles since English is not my first language. And every time someone says "T'Kuvma" I want to reply "Gesundheit!"
• From Rob UK on 2017-10-15 at 11:08pm:
  Ahhhhhh man we've been all waiting so long.
  
  I do not know about you folks but I thought they were going to give us a TV series with the new adventures of new Spock n Kirk n crew down the new old timeline, so I already have sand in my vag before we start but here we go.
  
  I am trying my best to ignore all the things I am not liking about this new show and failing miserably, it is taking me multiple sittings just to get through a single episode, I put it on with the best intentions and then twenty minutes later find myself in the mancave pottering about as I am clearly bored out of my gourd.
  
  So I am trying my best to be ignoring all cannon foe-pars, ignoring all timeline blunders and everything like the redesign of things and species that really didn't have the gaps in their chronology to fit like the Klingons going from how they look in the OS to Next Gen (we had a explanation for that) to squeezing how they all look in this into that between the Eugenics experiments that make them all look as they do in Next gen.
  
  Deep breaths
  
  So even when I do all that and make myself sit down and leave the bong alone long enough to actually get through an episode in it's entirety in one attention span (I can sit through ten episode off the belt of any previous Star Trek in any order and hardly blink) I sadly come to the same conclusion of
  
  WORST STAR TREK EVER
  
  and I definitely include the animated series in that statement.
  
  I am still going to keep watching and hoping it improves as I am a bloody Star Trek fan, speaking of that
  
  Absolutely loving every second of The Orville, surely it can't just be me, are you Trek-heads on board?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From ismellofhockey on 2017-11-07 at 11:00pm:
  It's unfortunate that Trek shows have often done away with facts from previous episodes, sometimes even within the same series. It's annoying, I don't understand why they aren't more big picture focused, but that's how it's always been.
  
  What I dislike most about Discovery so far is the ultra fast paced plot, which you point out. Oh look! The tower sonar was fixed just in time for Discovery to beam them up! How convenient! How lazy! Had the show actually taken time to exploit its various devices, we would have had the chance to build an emotional bond with the admiral as she was tortured by the Klingons. We could have developed a stronger enmity towards Mudd during Lethe's incarceration. We could get a feel for what Stamets is actually going through. But nope! Who needs character development anyway? The answer to that being: not Saru... please stop trying.
  
  I'm also disappointed that the show doesn't deal with more philosophical concepts like what humanity's morals and values look like in the 23rd century. TOS showed us a female second in command, a black woman on the bridge, a Russian and a Japanese at the helm. There was a vision of the future that inspired, promising better things to come. TNG built on that with an unabashedly atheistic captain, the prime directive (introduced in TOS), Barclay's holosuite problems...etc. It would have been nice to delve deeper into this topic, or at least renew it. You can still have grey characters in a society whose values and morals have progressed far beyond where we are today. Stamets's augmenting and inability to ask for his doctor/lover's help could be a door towards this, but seeing how little anything gets developed in this show, I'm not holding my breath.
  
  Still, this episode was perhaps the most beautiful visually so far, and losing the Gagarin was a great opening.
• From tigertooth on 2017-11-20 at 2:04pm:
  Note: if you've watched 1x08 but not 1x09, this message contains a minor spoiler, but one you'd probably guess. If you've seen 1x09, you're good.
  
  I didn't understand the Klingon part at all. Who killed L'Rell's people? I assume it was Kol - who else would it be? But if he killed her people and left them there for her to find them, that's a pretty clear message, right? "I know your game. You're screwed."
  
  But then L'Rell goes to the bridge and tries to play it cool. What? She knows Kol killed her people, and he intentionally let her know that he did. How do you bluff your way past that?
  
  And why would Kol leave the Admiral there in the dead body room? A Starfleet Admiral is valuable property! You don't just leave her lying around, and if you just told a traitor that you figured them out and they're screwed, you don't let the traitor grab this Admiral and take her hostage (which would have been the only logical thing for L'Rell to do... but she didn't)
  
  On top of that, you've got Burnham and Tyler reacting to Saru nonsensically.
  
  I can take a lot of science fiction wackiness, but when your characters act in ways that make no sense, you lose me.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From zook on 2018-02-09 at 4:18am:
  I miss Star Trek, don't you? And I must disagree with Kethinov: the acting is not good. There is no emotional connection to the characters, who are mostly unlikeable, uncentered, and unidimensional. But you are right- the bad writing is the real culprit. The lofty ideals of the Federation are merely stated, not shown or demonstrated. The dialogue is full of cliches and flatly delivered. I cannot bring myself to care about the characters, or the plot, or the confused ideas the show is struggling to explore. I really do miss Star Trek. This show isn't it. It could have been called anything else, for all the connection it has with Star Trek. No need to drag the franchise in the mud with it.
• From Shodanbot on 2018-02-14 at 3:55am:
  Oh dear. By the delay between the finale air date and your review, I can imagine it will be a very fun read when finished. No pressure there.
  
  I groaned at the conclusion of "What's Past is Prologue." I assumed that it would involve time travel to get back the prior nine months and set everything in order, patching any holes in the cannon. It's a sloppy method to resolve this significant "lost territory" issue, and coming directly after the mirror universe episodes, wouldn't have been a welcome story to pursue. I might have given the writers too much credit.
  
  I hate time travel as a genre, I hate when it's used to patch a problem, but I hate being wrong even more. Especially if being right wouldn't have been to my benefit.
  
  But on to "The War Without, The War Within", or more appropriately: "Powder Kegs & Atom Bombs, Fools & Starfleet."
  
  The Tyler/Voq issue in this episode reminds me of BSG's Sharon. Adama was no fool. He knew Eight/Sharon was a potential powder keg, so letting her walk freely about the fleet would be a foolish move that could have disastrous consequences. But he also understood that she had her uses, so keeping her around couldn't hurt. And keeping her in a secure cell with an armed guard was the smart way to ensure it didn't hurt. But if this is how Starfleet is going to handle their "Sharon", then is it any wonder they lost so much territory to the Klingons? Stupid people, written by stupid writers.
  
  And the writers do this twice in a single episode. Does their stupidity have any limits? No matter how desperate you are, it's a monumentally stupid decision to put a figurative atom bomb like "Mirror Georgiou" in command of a literal atom bomb like the Discovery.