Star Trek Voy - Season 3 - Episode 06
Star Trek Voy - 3x06 - Remember
Originally Aired: 1996-10-9
Synopsis:
Torres has troubling dreams. [DVD]
Problems
None
Factoids
None
Remarkable Scenes
- Janeway's music lessons.
- Torres revealing the horrors of Anaran history to everybody.
My Review
The Anarans have the ability to directly transfer knowledge telepathically, giving someone the benefit of years of experience in a few seconds. As Tuvok put it, very "fascinating." Aside from that, this episode is remarkable in that the telepathic "attacks" on Torres weren't really attacks but entirely harmless. TNG has shown us far too many telepathic attacks (on Troi), so this episode gives us a refreshing new perspective on an old concept. The telepathic stories resembled Nazi Germany toward the end, with the forced resettlements and whatnot. The "resettlements" are nothing but executions. Torres reveals the horrible truth to everybody in a fit of rage, but with no way to prove any of this, including the murder of the woman, nothing is accomplished. So she shares her new memories with another Anaran directly. The episode ends with hope that the truth behind this coverup will now be revealed. All things considered the story is quite moving. But way too much time is wasted on the flashbacks and the basic plot has been done better in episodes like TNG: The Inner Light. So this episode comes off as nicely crafted, but also as a rehashed filler.
The following are comments submitted by my readers.
I REALLY enjoy these types of episodes, where a lifetime of experiences is transferred to someone's memory (like TNG "The Inner Light"). This episode was extremely powerful, and really is one of Voyager's better offerings in my opinion. Very Star Trekish!
Great clothes in this one for Voyager crew (Harry and Tom).
One wonders why the older woman didn't try to establish more of a friendship with someone else (for example, the young woman who accepts the memories at the end) and transfer the memories more directly, having gained that person's confidence (so as to avoid any backlash from authority figures). Surely there have been opportunities over the course of her life to share these experiences without risking her safety. Or, even, why didn't she just approach Torres directly and ask to share her memories so that she wouldn't go and get any other authority figures involved? Doing this secretly only risked dragging in lots of people to suppress the knowledge. (I know, I know, this didn't happen because then we would lose a lot of the drama. Still, it feels cheap.)
Also, there's a point where Janeway is discussing some plans, and Tuvok finishes her sentence for her. She responds by saying something like, "I wonder when was the last time I actually surprised you" -- presumably referencing the fact that he knows her so well. Except he just said something to that effect two episodes ago (in "The Swarm") in response to her announcing her plans to go straight through the aliens' space against their wishes! Not sure how much time elapsed in-Universe, but it seems like she has a pretty short memory.