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Star Trek Voy - Season 5 - Episode 13

Star Trek Voy - 5x13 - Gravity

Originally Aired: 1999-2-3

Synopsis:
A stranded Tuvok struggles with his emotions. [DVD]

My Rating - 4

Fan Rating Average - 4.21

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Problems
- Tom says Tuvok's wife is 50,000 light years away. Actually, by my calculations, she's closer to 43,000 light years away.

Factoids
- We get to see Tuvok as a young man in this episode.
- It's remarkable how the doctor was able to speak Noss' language. "A universal translator was written into" his program.

Remarkable Scenes
- Tom getting "mugged." I loved hearing Noss' native language. Lori Petty did a good job with it.
- Tuvok saving Noss.
- The doctor: "I'm a doctor, not a battery!" Count 29 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
- Tuvok telling Tom his story.
- Tuvok mind melding with Noss.

My Review
A rather generic episode, other than the rather interesting time displacement part, the character of Noss, and Tuvok's flashbacks. If it were not for these things, the episode would be hideously cliched. We have yet another shuttle crash (one wonders if by now half the crew is assigned to "shuttle and photon torpedo replacement duty") resulting in yet another rescue attempt. It's rather funny how the writers don't even tell us why Tuvok, Tom, and the doctor were on a shuttle mission in the first place, as if it doesn't matter. My complaining aside, the social situation that developed between Noss and Tuvok was very well written and made the episode most watchable. It's also remarkable how Tom kept encouraging Tuvok to accept Noss' advances, to accept the inevitability of their situation, that this planet was "home" now. It reminded me a lot of Voy: Remember with Chakotay in place of Tom. I also liked how the aliens trying to seal the rift were the same aliens attacking people down on the planet. It certainly makes sense with their claim that they've lost ships to the anomaly too frequently. Even all these nice touches can't save the episode from being below average though. We've just seen too many shuttle crashes.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From spline on 2014-01-20 at 11:09am:
    I certainly dont think this was generic. This was a character piece, not just of Tuvok but of Vulcan culture. The reason for the crash, the whole side plot of the alien ship closing the sinkhole etc. was just an excuse to focus on Tuvok, and well worth the suspension of disbelief we have towards the Photon Torpedo and Shuttle Factory we've already developed. 8)

    I have a soft spot for Lori Petty, and she did a great job with her alien language. The chemistry between her and Tim Russ (Tuvok) was remarkable for it's restraint, and yet it was clearly there. Great job on both the actors.

    And the ending was really good, I liked that it didnt try to tack on some kind of tragic or hopeful thing.

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