The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Rob on 2008-04-29 at 3:33am:
  I received a very strong impression in Voyager's last two or even three seasons and all during Enterprise that the "creative geniuses" in charge of the shows really didn't give a shit about Star Trek's "history". Now, granted, you shouldn't have to be a "Trek Nerd" with all the minutiae to write or produce the show, but its like these guys didn't even try! An attitude that seems unforgivably arrogant considering how passionate the fans are about this "property". I guess Mutant Enemy (of Buffy and Angel) are just plain more fan friendly than Paramount would ever be.
  
  At least not until the last season when it was too little, too late to save the show's ratings.
• From Strider on 2012-10-06 at 3:44am:
  I think I disagree. I think you SHOULD have to know Star Trek history to be able to write it. It matters a great deal to some of us whether these details are consistent from series to series.
• From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2015-02-01 at 8:52pm:
  I actually liked this episode. Maybe that's because I don't agree that the so-called "problems" are indeed problems.
  
  Regarding the Alpha Centauri dilemma: Maybe Alpha Centauri doesn't have any earthlike planets. It may very well be that Terra Nova is the only unoccupied Class M planet within 20 light years from earth. And if that's the case, then embarking on a 9-year voyage to an earthlike planet, where you can simply build huts in the open air and drink natural water, makes much more sense than embarking on a shorter voyage (which would still take years) to a barren world with an unbreathable atmosphere.
  
  Harry Kim's Mars quote isn't necessarily a problem either, because there are many ways to understand the word "colonization". Utopia Planitia could have been a preliminary research station (which makes sense given that it will be used to build ships in the future). while the 2103 date may refer to the creation of the first true colony (or some other relevant colonization milestone)
  

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JRPoole on 2011-12-22 at 5:09pm:
  I agree with most of this review. There are a lot of good things here--we finally get a close look at the Insectoids, the MACO/Starfleet tension comes to head, etc. But the ethics of this episode bother me.
  
  After Gene Roddenberry's death, the franchise began to get away from its philosophical roots a little. DS9 got uncomfortably religious-y toward the end, Enterprise seems to reflect the neo-con mindset of the times that spawned it, often in direct opposition to earlier incarnations of the franchise. Though his actions are eventually irrational, he is absolutely morally right in the beginning. And though he acted to protect the ship, Malcolm was out of line in destroying the Insectoid ship without at least alerting the captain. At this point in the series, I'm in uncharted territory in that I have only the vaguest notions of what's going to happen. Episodes like this one make forging ahead seem less inviting.
• From Ryan on 2012-01-31 at 7:04am:
  Two things. First, I believe that the morals of this episode are spot on. Sacrificing critical resources and time should be a numbers game. Say getting rid of the supplies reduces their mission success percentage by X%. X is going to be multiplied by the however many humans are in existence which is at least 11 figures. If that number is greater than the number of little guys to be saved then dont do it. The calculations above obviously do not even need to be spelled out because intuitively, the risk clearly outweighs the reward.
  
  Secondly, to the above poster, yes, trek was originally liberal but it came out of predominantly liberal times. It does not follow to say that the show is not staying true to its roots because it is evolving into a more conservative mindset. This is a common misconception. Just because one looked for change and progression at one point does not mean they need to do so perpetually to be consistent. The change and progression originally sought may have been largely accomplished to the point that the actual consistent viewpoint would become conservatism.
• From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2015-11-16 at 11:01am:
  To be honest, Enterprise is the one series were some deviation from the Roddenberry ideals would make perfect sense. You shouldn't expect the 22nd century crew to be as enlightened as Picard or even Kirk.
  
  Doubly so, when they are at war.
  
  This is, actually, one of the things I like best about Enterprise: It shows as a realistic transitionary phase between present day humanity and the "perfect" 23rd/24th century.
  
  I think they did this remarkably well, especially during the Xindi Arc. Sure, Archer and company did some questionable things. But they still seem far more moral (and more competent) than any present-day leader on earth.
  
  
• From Zorak on 2016-10-11 at 8:55am:
  I'm not sure how to feel about this episode.
  
  I'm often left feeling like the crew is incompetent, and this one is a bit of a shining example. Archer was right at the beginning when he considered the impact this could have on diplomatic relations.
  
  I didn't quite understand the technobabble of what it was they were trying to do, but it does seem it would have cost Enterprise some precious needed resource (anti-matter fuel?) in order to power the hatchery.
  
  In the end, the hatchery was just fine for some reason (??) even though they took back all the anti-matter... so, what was the point?
  
  The aforementioned incompetence though, comes from what they talked about, but seemingly did not do. Regardless of the morality of the situation, this was a huge diplomatic opportunity to gain a more favorable reputation with the Xindi. Did they not at least leave the Xindi a note letting them know they helped the hatchlings survive?
  
  I don't know.. I think this episode just left me conflicted. Everything about it. I especially dislike that it became Starfleet vs Marines and that no attempt was made to reason with Hayes.
  
  But as a side thought, it was also a good episode....... sort of.
• From QuasiGiani on 2020-04-10 at 11:07am:
  Archer was correct. It is a terribly sad betrayal of the ethics that the best of Trek should uphold.
  
  Progressives -- true progressives -- don't upon progressing stop and become fucking conservatives; this is the act of faux-progressive opportunists or simple-minded bandwagoneers.
  
  Archer was correct in wanting to save the sentient beings. Archer was correct in wanting to save the sentient beings FIRST AND FOREMOST because they are -- FFS! how many more times; another truth not actually ever understood by simple-minded bandwagoneers -- worthy of being beings.
  
  Secondly -- way-down-the-line, but if another reason is necessary to convince some folks... Archer was correct in wanting to save the hatchery, yes, as "PR".
  
  Archer was correct in wanting to save the sentient beings. The implementation of the cop-out "he was out-of-his mind" is a disgrace. Weak disgrace. Weak and cheap "writing".
  
  Cogenitor was almost enough to turn me off. But I just decided to go forth with the understanding that Archer is a confused, conflicted ass quite often...
  
  Hatchery could have redeemed The Cap'n quite a bit. He said and did all the right things! ...And then they scuttled it...
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

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

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JRPoole on 2008-12-03 at 2:59pm:
  I give this 3-parter a 9 overall.
  
  This is DS9 coming into its own. Vedek Winn is scheming, we get to learn more about Bajoran society, and the bit with Li Nalas' legend having little to do with his reality is smart. Plus, this trilogy is chock full of action (the dog fight, the mission to Cardassia 4, the fire fights on the station) and humor (Quark lugging around his suitcase of latinum, Rom selling his seat, etc). The middle part does lag a bit, but other than that, I don't see what's not to like here.
• From Bernard on 2010-02-08 at 7:52pm:
  This final part pays off all of the build up from the previous two and a bit episodes and does it quite well too.
  
  There are particular highlights, such as the bajoran general, Quark, Dax and Kira. A very enjoyable romp.
• From Gul Ranek on 2012-12-11 at 10:39pm:
  The three-parter was mostly decent, as the above comment said, the first hints of what DS9 was going to be about. However, the ending of the entire story was wrapped all too quickly and conveniently in less than five minutes - Kira and Dax bring the evidence to the Bajoran council, the General on the station is instantly notified and gives DS9 back to Sisko, and Nalas is killed.
  
  There might have been a more elegant way to finish the story off... I mean, the cargo manifest that proved that it was all staged by Cardassians could very well have been faked by the Federation in order to break up the rebellion and keep DS9 in the hands of the Federation.
  
  Also, there were never any consequences for Minister Jaro or anyone else involved in the overthrow of the government, which is a major failure on the screenwriters' part. Too bad we won't get to see Frank Langella again.
• From Gemini on 2020-07-01 at 7:49pm:
  Jaro literally kidnapped Kira and was revealed to be leading this extremist Circle in the last episode and he gets no consequences thrown at him for this nor does Kira call him out on it in front of the government? Very weird.
  Otherwise the episode was fine.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

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

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From MJ on 2011-08-04 at 8:17pm:
  The beginning of this episode moves a little fast. I would think the Chief would try to establish who-or what-has taken possession of Keiko almost immediately. I know they were trying to reveal the Pah-Wraith thing slowly but I ding it a little bit for this since it didn't make sense.
  
  Very nice episode for Rom, though...and I guess now Miles and his wife have something else in common: they've both had their bodies taken over by other life forms (see TNG: Power Play).
• From Selador on 2013-05-12 at 7:51pm:
  I gave this episode a 10. I thought everything about it was superb.
  
  I knew this was going to be a special one when wraith-Keiko immediately warned O'Brian that any attempt at some techno deus ex solution would fail. It became apparent that ti had access to all of Keiko's thoughts which put O'Brian on the back foot - and there he stayed throughout the episode right until the very end.
  
  He never had an opportunity to do anything but follow wraith-Keiko's orders, and I really liked see him struggle with what he was doing. He couldn't refuse to do its bidding so played it straight while al the time desperately looking for a way out.
  
  The script writing and the acting were excellent throughout the episode, there were some beautiful dark moments and some hilarious light relief (Rom: "I will refuse even to tell them my name!" O'Brian: "Rom, everyone on the station already knows your name." Rom: "Oh... then I will refuse to confirm it!").
  
  I nearly fell off my chair when Odo later complained it had taken 40 minutes for him to get Rom to confirm his name.
  
  I can't comprehend how you gan give this a 5 and Apocalypse Rising a 7, but I guess that this sort of difference of opinion can only be a good thing since it shows that DS9 is just oozing with quality everywhere and that different kinds of episodes appeal to different people.
  
  I'm so glad to have watched this straight after the abomination that is Into Darkness, it really lifted the sould, but more on that after you've given it your review... (it's getting a non-canon 0 from me)
• From Zorak on 2016-05-28 at 3:27am:
  I have to complete agree with Selador's comment. This episode was amazing. I barely even remember this one from when I was a kid, but re-watching it now as an adult, I was completely blown away. A definite 10 from me. I was on the edge of my seat the entire time.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Inga on 2013-09-15 at 10:31am:
  I like how B'Elana was fighting for her own 'hand', instead of having been a hopeless observer of two men fighting over her. That's one of my most hated stereotypes in TV shows/movies, so I find Voyager's take on it very refreshing.
• From L on 2013-12-21 at 3:14am:
  Totally ridiculous that they would allow anyone to be a crew-member when they are guaranteed at some point to become a severe and dangerous liability and may compromise the ship's survival.
  Why are Vulcan's allowed to serve and still keep this condition a cultural secret so it can't be planned for or mitigated medically?
  If they want to serve then they should have to be candid about this condition.
  
  Exactly what is the status of holograms as sex-relief devices? It seems that is an accepted and known use, so it's a bit strange that the Doctor's brain-wave is any kind of breakthrough solution - it should have been the obvious one.
  
  This episode made me dis-like Torres more.
  
  
  And was that Gul-Dukat in the caves?
  
  
• From thaibites on 2014-03-30 at 8:38am:
  I agree with L's comments. Torres is normally an extremely unlikable person, but in this episode she's completely out of control.
  I'm sick of her ranting and raving. I'm sick of the actress hopping around like a bunny rabbit every time she's supposed to show that the character is upset. And, I'm sick of the crew always ENABLING (remember that politically correct word?) her to act like an emotionally out of control lunatic whenever the poor, spoiled child gets frustrated.
  Please kill Torres. Please.
• From Dstyle on 2015-05-01 at 2:23pm:
  Oh my goodness, this is some sci-fi writer's greatest sexual fantasy come to life! This girl I'm hot for is literally throwing herself at me, but I'm going to be a perfect gentleman and insist that she keep her lady parts under wraps. Whoa, she threw herself at me again? No, you're not in your right mind right now! Oh, wait, if we don't get naked and squishy she's going to die? Oooh-kaaaay, I GUESS I'll do it, but only because it's the only right thing to do!
  
  I bet I would've loved this episode when I was 13.
• From Jadzia Guinan Smith on 2015-06-02 at 12:15am:
  @Dstyle --LOL. You're so right. This is SOOO a piece of fan service for 13-year-old boys. I think sometimes "romance" and sex are also thrown in as a misguided attempt to lure female viewers. Just as they want to hook the teenage boy viewership with gratuitous sex, they want to hook women with the underlying "romance" (e.g., Tom being turned on, but still refusing to take advantage of his love object). But I can tell you, as a woman, it's exactly this kind of overemphasis on relationships and degenerating into a soap opera in space that made me like Voyager (as a series) a LOT less than I would have, otherwise. I have to say, though, given the contrived script, the actors did a phenomenal job of keeping the urgency of the scenes quite natural. Paris and Torres have incredible on-screen chemistry and they managed to give a mature performance out of a silly, fans-ervice type script.
  
• From peterwolf on 2015-07-07 at 9:19pm:
  A rather silly episode, which could have been much better. The fight between Torre and the Vulcan is ridiculous. I simply cannot believe that this tender woman/klingon could knock out a Vulcan. The whole Vulcan/Klingon/human strenth issue is rubbish. The well trained James Kirk was equal to the "super-human" Spock (of course only half Vulcan!) in hand to hand combat. So I think the whole issue is not well integrate d in Star Trek and badly executed.
• From Mike on 2017-05-27 at 10:58pm:
  Disagree that this is some kind of sci-fi sex fantasy for 13-year-old boys. First of all, I refer you to Counselor Troi's wardrobe in ST:TNG. There is no more flagrant example of selling sex to the young male fan base in the entire franchise and one scene where Paris and Torres get a little steamy isn't even close to that. Also, other episodes in other ST series have dealt with these kind of issues (interspecies mating and sex themes) before. Admittedly this one is a bit more focused on the primal urges and a couple lines are rather cheesy, but I don't think they got as carried away with it as the above reviews claim. I laughed at Janeway's reaction to the Doctor's thoughts on Torres' prescription.
  
  Also, it's true that Vulcan mating rituals are odd but I thought of it more as a culture which has embraced logic and dispassion struggling to deal with a remnant of its more extreme evolutionary past. What's more, I don't see Pon Farr as conflicting with male Vulcan service aboard starships any more than the unique challenges other species face. You have races that embrace ritual suicide, races that require special breathing apparatus, and races that have special sensitivities to heat and cold, all of which are potentially more problematic than having to mate every seven years.
  
  All that being said about the overreaction to the mating aspect of this episode, I also enjoyed the subplot involving the Sakari. Another ominous reference to a species that was nearly wiped out by the Borg, all the more imminent of a threat given that this is the Delta Quadrant. We pretty much knew Voyager would encounter them eventually, it was just a matter of when.
• From Dstyle on 2017-10-02 at 6:30pm:
  Mike: just because Troi's plunging neckline exists doesn't make this any less of a 13-year old geek fanboy fantasy. Just because it happened before doesn't mean it can't happen again: it's not a zero-sum game here. Speaking as someone who was once a shy, nerdy 13-year old sci-fi fanboy, I can assure you that this ABSOLUTELY meets that criteria.
• From Axel on 2018-06-11 at 11:50pm:
  Yeah Star Trek went off the rails a little bit with pon farr. I have a hard time believing that a benevolent philosophy based on logic could stick in a society where half the population goes through this every seven years. They should've had pon farr be an Orion thing, not Vulcan. Or, hell, make it a Klingon mating ritual....although pon farr may already be mild flirting by Klingon standards.
  
  The absurdity of all of this, combined with the Doctor's legitimate and unrefuted criticisms of pon farr, almost makes this episode a Star Trek self-parody, but I doubt that was the intent. And while I agree this doesn't exactly help Torres character development, I doubt it was the writers who wanted this to look like a masturbatory fantasy; historically with Star Trek, sex appeal has been the network or producers. Remember, this is the show that kept Garrett Wang purely because he made a list of TV's sexiest people, and is also the show that put Jeri Ryan in a tight "skin-regenerating" suit. Granted, keeping Wang and hiring Ryan both worked out, I feel, for story purposes, but both actions were taken for the sake of the show's sex appeal.
  
  Anyway, trivia time: Alexander Enberg, who played Vorik in this episode, also played a Vulcan named Taurik on TNG: Lower Decks. Thankfully, Taurik did not go through pon farr in that episode, but the fact that the same actor played both characters has led some to speculate that, within the Star Trek universe, the two were twin bros :)
  
  And yes, the Sakari subplot was a chilling reminder and preview of the crew's coming encounter with the Borg!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JRPoole on 2011-07-30 at 12:46pm:
  If the "Worst of Trek" award were mine to give out, this would be a candidate. Just when I'm starting to warm up to Enterprise, there's just so much to hate on here:
  
  --We finally get to see Risa and it looks like a bad Miami Vice outtake?
  
  --Did anybody not see Tripp and Malcolm's mugging coming from the moment those two chicks started talking to them?
  
  --You know, I just don't buy this learning a language in a day or two thing. Even if someone has a natural talent for languages and an intuitive grasp of syntax and whatnot, there's still the matter of vocabulary. There's no way to intuitively know what arbitrary sounds correspond with meanings, object names, etc. That said, I still generally like how Enterprise handles the UT problem.
  
  --I generally like Phlox as a character (he's sort of like a less annoying Neelix) but the humor here was forced.
  
  --The melodramatic music in this episode is terrible, most notably in Archer's scenes with the blonde Tandaran woman. Maybe he gets better as the series moves along, but I still think one of the biggest weaknesses of Enterprise is Scott Bakula's Archer. I think the character is written pretty broadly and acted woodenly.
  
  --Okay, so I get that one of the unwritten rules of the Trek universe (actually explained nicely in the TNG episode that deals with genetic "seeding") is that life evolves in remarkably similar ways on different planets, hence humanoids, plants, insects, etc. tend to evolve in parallel ways. But the Tandaran woman has a dog, an actual dog? The fact that they cast it as a Chinese hairless to make it seem more alien makes it worse. And it's embarrassingly bad when Hoshi says "we don't have anything exactly like this, but it tastes like....kiwi" when she's eating a f*cking kiwi."
  
  The only thing that saves this from a zero for me is nod to continuity with the Tandaran spy and the fact that we finally get to see Risa after so many episodes of buildup.
  
  

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Rob on 2008-04-25 at 12:09am:
  The one thing I've always hated about Voyager, the series not the ship, is that they introduce these great secondary characters and then they disappear so that a bunch of anonymous characters can show up for one episode and then disappear. Carey is one of them: he vanishes soon and then only appears in S7 so he can be killed... why didn't we see him FAR more often in Engineering? Vorik is another one we could have seen a lot more of as a "passing character" or the one to hand in a report and give a few lines during the "disaster of the week".
  
  Rob

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-12-10 at 11:45pm:
  I agree that this is an underrated episode. There were lots of little things that made it a good episode to watch, like the prototype forcefield. It also had that Star Trekkish spirit to it. However, I don't think it's deserving of a Ten. I'd say more like a 7, maybe an 8.
• From JRPoole on 2011-07-24 at 12:36am:
  This is a remarkable episode for a lot of reasons. What I like most is the way that what could have been just another alien of the week episode gets some storyline/character building touches, like the Hoshi/T'Pol dynamic, the mention of Risa that gets explored later, the Univeral Translator drama, the force field development, etc. I wouldn't give it a 10, though, because the main plot, though executed well, is pretty much a rehash of a very familiar Star Trek meme: misunderstood alien turns out to be sentient and its hostility is only a miscommunication. How many times have we seen this? I can't remember episode names, but it all started with the Horta. TNG had the sand crystals, the huge baby space creature "nursing" off the Enterprise, and several others, as did Voyager and DS9 in their turn.
  
  This episode also highlights the weaknesses of Enterprise for me. "Vox Sola" excels because it's character-driven. With the stiffest, most wooden characters Trek has ever seen--Archer and Tripp--safely tucked away inside the AOTW, the other, stronger characters can shine.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-06-10 at 3:44pm:
  - In the episode "Hide and Q," Riker calls a meeting of the bridge staff, and Dr. Crusher shows up. But in this episode, Dr. Pulaski comments that she isn't a bridge officer. If Dr. Crusher had bridge officer status when she served as chief medical officer on the Enterprise, shouldn't Dr. Pulaski have that same status?
  - Nagilum notes that some of the humans have a different construction - they are female. To further its examination, it spins Dr. Pulaski around to examine her. Personally, given the choice of "dancing" with Pulaski or Troi, I'd picked Troi. I guess Nagilum has different tastes in women. ;)
• From Daniel Blessing on 2009-09-18 at 2:46pm:
  I think another fact to add to the "Problems" section would be this; When they enter the "Hole" or "Void," w/e you want to call it, they attempt to escape but they believe they may not actually be moving at all. They drop a "beacon" in order to get a fixed point of reference. This beacon is broadcasting sound tones. The greater the distance the ship travels from them, the softer they get and longer in between tones. However, they are traveling at warp speed.. Faster than even the speed of light. How then could these updated tones be making it back to the ships computer? We all know that sound does not even come close to the speed of light. At one point Picard orders the increase to warp 2. There is no way that sound waves should be making it back to the ship in the form of telemetry. I have no explanation for this or any way to rationalize it.
• From rpeh on 2010-08-24 at 12:38pm:
  This episode could have come straight from TOS. Weird space phenomenon? Check. Floating head thing? Check. Red shirt death? Check. Do-or-die solution from the captain? Check.
  
  It's quite a good episode, as one would expect from the guy who co-wrote Wrath of Khan. I'll give it a 7 for the suspense, the mystery, and the overall acting quality.
  
  @Daniel Blessing - sound can't travel in a vacuum at all. Presumably they were using radio of some kind.
• From CAlexander on 2011-03-21 at 4:22am:
  A solid episode, not great, not bad. I agree with rpeh that the plot is very TOS. But the understated way everything plays out is quite the opposite, totally TNG.
• From Splonkadumpocus on 2011-03-30 at 8:32pm:
  Why is it that Starfleet captains continue to fly their ships into mysterious space anomalies all the time? Shouldn't they realize by now that doing that is never a good thing?
• From Inga on 2011-12-27 at 2:28pm:
  -Nagilum calls everyone on the bridge by their last name except for Geordi
  
  DSOmo: I think Pulaski was a random choice. However, the fact that he did not acknowledge Troi as another being with a different "structure" still puzzles me.
  
  
• From a2a on 2012-02-14 at 6:52am:
  This was not so great... I mean, it wasn't bad, I just think it's a little overrated, on the whole. This new creature was sort of like a disembodied and not quite as well-read, not quite as clever version of Q... wasn't it? Semi-omniscient, semi-omnipotent (oxymorons, I know), eternal, curious about humanity but also critical of its uglier aspects... We've seen this, no?
  
  Also, I kept waiting for Warf's crazy animal instincts to come to some kind of climax or resolution or plot point, but it never happened. It sort of felt tacked on and disjointed... I mean, he almost attacked Riker on several occasions, yet this wasn't explained and didn't go anywhere?
  
  Finally..., and this might be my own fault, but I don't understand what's with this new doctor and what happened to Beverly... This might be just me though cause I may have literally missed something (skipped some lower-ranked episodes).
• From tigertooth on 2017-03-21 at 1:57am:
  When they're sitting around the table to come up with solutions, Worf says that 30%-50% casualties are acceptable in battle. That seems to suggest that he's leaning towards the idea of giving up the crew members. But there's no chance in hell Worf would advocate for anyone to die without honor. Clearly they were still figuring out the Worf character.
• From Mike Chambers on 2020-09-02 at 4:37am:
  Decent episode for season two, but I'm pretty sure Naglium could have just turned off the auto-destruct on a whim considering his powers...
  
  
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-13 at 3:57am:
  - Picard presents Christian and atheistic viewpoints on death as if they're the only two philosophies! It's true that Islam and some other religions have a similar viewpoint, but still, that's a bit narrow for Star Trek. Many religions and sects have different philosophies from either of those. Also, some atheists believe in a soul or afterlife, and some theists don't. God and the soul/afterlife are related but separate questions.
  
  - Data says his sensors show nothing there. Yet, clearly, the visual sensors are picking up something. The speakers on the bridge are playing back an audio signal from Nagilum that was picked up by some microphone, somewhere (ignoring, for a moment, the problem of sound propagating through space.) Or is Nagilum creating a collective visual and auditory hallucination for everyone? Perhaps he is messing with the screen and speaker outputs?
  
  - Nagilum notices Pulaski's anatomy is different from Riker, Picard, etc, but doesn't notice Troi or what appear to be at least two other female bridge crew members behind tactical. Kind of weird. It's a bit annoying that male and female are inadvertently framed here as "normal" and "different". To me it would seem more consistent with Nagilum's character that he would notice several different organ configurations among the bridge crew and remark on that. Not only are there at least two human reproductive configurations present, there is also a Klingon and a Human-Betazoid hybrid, both of whom would have internal anatomy different from that of full humans. I did appreciate Pulaski's comment about "minor differences" between sexes, though. :)
  
  - Nagilum threatens to kill up to half of the crew, we go to commercial break, then we're in the observation lounge? What, is Nagilum just patiently waiting for the senior staff to confer before he starts offing the crew? Or was he killing crew members one by one the whole time they were meeting?
  
  - Haskell's death bothered me profoundly. Not only did they introduce a redshirt specifically just to kill him, but "random Black character with no arc pointlessly dies" is such a historically common and harmful trope that I really wish TV producers would try to consciously avoid it. I know it was 1988, don't @ me. Where was Wes during that act? It seems they took out Wes and added Haskell just to avoid killing Wes. Haskell's only purpose was to deliver a few plot point lines and then die. Then Wes conveniently returns and nobody mentions it again. The humor and happy music at the end of the episode reinforce how little Haskell's death is regarded. Lazy writing strikes again! They could at least have had Haskell on from the beginning and then brought Wes on to replace him after he's killed. Or they could have killed any of the bridge extras that were already there the whole episode and made it both more believable and less obnoxious. They could have showed Wes witnessing a death, which could have been a good part of his character development. Or they could have killed Pulaski and Season 2 would have been marginally better, ha!
  
  - Speaking of Pulaski, why is she even on the bridge? She just wanders on and hangs out there the rest of the show. Was she summoned? Did she come of her own accord even though she's not a bridge officer? Why would a medical doctor's expertise be needed instead of, say, that of any number of astrophysicists on board? Would you send an injured crewmember to Stellar Cartography? I know, I know, they wanted to give Muldaur something to do. Eh.
  
  This ep isn't the worst; I like some of the themes it explores, and despite Nagilum's comical appearance, the "conscious void in space" is an interesting premise.
  
  Data emotion-spotting: Data looks quite vindicated when Pulaski reluctantly affirms he is "alive." Pulaski's a such a tool!
  
  @Daniel, I noticed the same thing. I think the tone we hear is an audio representation of a subspace signal emanating from the probe. The further away the signal, the lower a tone is played, to simulate the doppler effect.
  
  Beyond this place there be dragons!
• From Ensign Ro bummer on 2021-08-13 at 6:57am:
  Haskell bothered me, too, because it seemed so obvious and redshirty, so I paid attention in the following episodes. They put a new guy on that position nearly every second episode. So Haskell was not just put there to replace someone who can't die.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JJ on 2010-08-06 at 9:27pm:
  There's not really a problem in that they are able to destroy the wormhole with photons as it's not real but part of the illusion.
  
  The pillar in the background when the female shapeshifter is explaining Odo's history to him is the same as in the previous episode where the DS9 crew collects some shape shifting matter from a planet and bring is to the station!
• From John on 2011-01-09 at 2:20am:
  I enjoyed this episode a lot, with the exception of the scene where Kira is talking to the "arboretum" about her plans to send a disguised message from the runabout. She knows that the Changelings don't like or trust her, and she has no idea if one of them could be one of the forms in the garden, listening to what she's saying.
  
  She's normally a lot more cautious than that when dealing with anyone who isn't a Bajoran.
• From Lt. Fitz on 2012-06-24 at 1:59pm:
  Yeah, this episode was a real downer. Here I thought they were going to get really bold with the collapsing of the wormhole (I thought they would find some Star Trek Magic way of opening it back up again, perhaps “spiritual” communication with the prophets from Bajor or something), but then it became this silly Matrix thing which took all the suspense out of it. The founders needed to see how far the federation would go to defend themselves? The fact that they lost an entire starship rescuing TWO people from the nearby planet the last time you met them didn’t convince you that they were gutsy? And then to top the whole thing off, the founders just LET THEM ALL GO. This following the dominion showing that they are willing to fly their own ships into starfleet vessels to prove their ruthlessness! This made no sense! Why let them go? So they can just go and prepare to defeat the Dominion when they finally get around to invading, which I assume is coming in the future? Kill them while you have them! Destroy what’s left of the Defiant! They kill the entire crew of the USS Odyssey (in the most edge-of-the-seat scene of the series so far – I literally shouted “WHOA!” in my living room), but then they are all, “OK! Take ’er easy! We’ll kill you… I mean see you later!” It totally reminded me of the James Bond cliché of the bad guy having Bond for dinner, giving him a comfortable room, and letting him walk freely around the moon base or whatever. I mean there’s evil arrogance and then there is plot convenience. I know that they couldn't kill off the cast of the show, but they needed some other ending that had some level of plausibility. I even thought that maybe the admiral lady and the fed security guy might have been replaced with replicants or something and perhaps Dax and Obrien also, which would explain the sudden and easy return to the station and the hidden and quick pro-Dominion result to negotiations. At least then there could have been some sort of more realistic ending in which the non-replicants fight back on the station and truly prove the tenacity of the federation-bajoran alliance, pushing the first intrusion of the dominion back into the Gamma quadrant. But, no. They were never at the station, any of the good writing during those scenes is simply gone. Reset button time. Total bummer of an ending to such a stellar season opener!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

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

No fan commentary yet.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JRPoole on 2011-08-11 at 5:15am:
  Count me among those who can't consider TAS canon. There are some potentially neat things about the concept, like Arax, and they try to tie it in with the original series with nods to Harry Mudd and the shore leave planet and the eugenics wars and whatnot, but the whole thing suffers from some really dumbed down writing. And the cat woman who sometimes sits in Uhura's seat is really annoying. Majel Barret sounds annoyed that she has to do the little meow thing after every other sentence. And we don't even get to see her hook up with Scotty on the bridge.
  
  If this were canon, we'd have to accept that Nurse Chapel is the biggest bimbo in the galaxy. She should also be thrown in the brig for experimenting with drugs given to her by a known criminal and intentionally dosing a fellow officer.
  
  The real kicker here, though, is when Kirk feeds the love pills to the rock monster. The only thing that makes this episode watchable is the creepy bromantic moment between Spock and Kirk while they're rolling on Mudd's ecstasy pills.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-07-30 at 1:44am:
  - This episode opens with Geordi and Worf in Ten-Forward at the bar. Geordi points out a woman at a nearby table. He questions Worf as to what he should say to her. The conversation makes it sound like they've never met. In fact, Geordi has already taken her out at least once. He programmed an entire holodeck sequence for her at the beginning of "Booby Trap," and all she said was she didn't think of Geordi in "that way." Now here she is making eyes at Geordi and acting like she wants to get something started. What changed? Why is Christie Henshaw so interested in Geordi all of a sudden?
  - After Dr. Crusher beams John Doe up to the "Enterprise, she puts him in full "biosupport." One shot shows the panel that displays his current physical status. All the triangle indicators are white and around the middle of their ranges. Later, Crusher says in a voice-over that she has removed John Doe from biosupport and that his major organ systems can now function on their own. So why are the triangle indicators in this shot red and at the extreme left side of their scales? Don't red triangles all the way to the left indicate that a patient is dying?
  - In one scene, Riker waits outside a turbolift. The door opens and reveals Geordi embracing Christie Henshaw. As she leaves the turbolift, Riker enters. Riker says, "Bridge," to state his destination. Geordi adds, "Deck 6," and the turbolift takes off. Why did Geordi have to state where he is going? He was already on the turbolift, it should already know where to take him.
  - Shuttle Craft 5 is once again the object of renumbering or renaming. In the episode "Times Squared," Shuttle Craft "05" was named El-Baz. In the episode "The Ensigns Of Command," it became the Onizuka. Finally, in this episode, Shuttle Craft 5 returns to El-Baz.
• From Rob on 2008-04-13 at 10:54pm:
  I mostly find this episode boring, but the reason I'm commenting is on your complaint of "never hearing from the Zalkonians again". This is true of many, many ST guest alien species so I'm not sure why it stuck in your craw here, but aren't the Zalkonians described as "Xenophobic". I could be wrong here. Again, it's been a long while since I've seen the episode. If they are Xenophobic, it's likely they keep to themselves and only become "aggressive" when their territory is trespassed in. Starfleet would surely avoid intentional trespass against such an aggressive race who is not interested in diplomatic dialog (now if Kirk were in charge of the Federation, that'd be different... how many times did that guy totally ignore warning beacons saying "Go Away").
• From JRPoole on 2008-04-16 at 6:03pm:
  Re: DSOmo's first comment about Christie Henshaw's apparent changing attitudes toward Geordi. This didn't bother me. It seemed pretty in character for a woman. She isn't interested per se, but wants to keep him on the hook. I guess Geordi's new found confidence left with the alien of the week, as I don't think we see Ms. Henshaw again.
  
  I agree with most of the critiques of this episode found here, but I rather like this one. I think the idea of a species on the verge of evolution to a higher plane of existence is interesting, and I like that it's happening on a biological rather than a metaphysical level.
  
  My main problem here is the choking scene. Is the Zalconioan commander doing that with his mind? Or is it some sort of weapon? It's unexplained and rather annoying.
• From Ted on 2011-07-29 at 10:54am:
  Ugh, this episode is a perfect storm of wrong. I probably said, "ugh" at least 10 times in this episode. The story itself and the dialog is ridiculous. The dialog is, I'm sure, the cause of some especially bad acting by almost all of the members of the main cast; notably, the interaction of the Crushers talking about the dreamy alien. The direction is also off in this episode with odd angles, cuts, and continuity (oh, I guess a month just went by). I don't even feel that I need to criticize the character of the near messianic alien.
  Oddly enough, the sick bay and the shuttle bay have never looked better. Did they think that dropping a ton of cash on sick bay props would fix this episode?
  
  Clearly, this is only my opinion as other seem much less critical, but this is surely one of my least favorite in the series. 1 star for the humorous interactions of Geordi and Worf in 10 forward.
• From archibald on 2011-09-27 at 3:42am:
  Why is Data seen contorting on the floor of the bridge with all the breathing humans during the Zalkonian attack? Was he copying their agony for the human experience?
  
  Also, why does Worf think he is such an authority on women? He has spent almost all of his life in Federation space, surrounded mostly by humans. And up to this point in the series he has repeatedly said that he is not exactly sexually compatible with human women. It sounds as if the poor man's sex life is rather limited by his surroundings....
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-10-21 at 1:01pm:
  As I have pointed out before, TNG has a funny, unscientific concept of evolution. As any student of biology knows, evolution is not pretty. It is dog-eat-dog, kill or be killed. There is no way that a sentient species somehow "evolves" into this higher semi-divine state, absent a struggle to survive.
  
  Frank Hebert and Isaac Azimov both understood this. Gene Roddenberry was undoubtedly influenced by the Bahai faith, of which he was a member. Like many New Age religions, Bahai teaches that humanity is evolving into divinity. Comforting, yes, but not terribly scientific.
• From Mike Chambers on 2013-11-16 at 8:29am:
  Great episode. I noticed the webmaster tends to really (in my opinion) unfairly detract from episodes sometimes just because what happens is never referenced in the future. Just take an episode for what it is! Could TNG have benefited from a little bit more continuity? Sure, but it wasn't written that way. Doesn't make the individual episodes any worse on their own.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From pg on 2015-05-30 at 1:20am:
  A balanced story of time travel, in which several of the characters contribute with their abilities. The predestination stuff does not get too tragic, because as always in such stories, there is a choice to change the timeline. The good intention to break through subspace and save Janeway and Paris was the ultimate cause of desaster ... Not bad. Since this part was not predictable and because of the otherwise well written story, I rate this episode as good: 8 points, including 1 point for the doctor!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From rpeh on 2010-07-30 at 6:12pm:
  The overreaction to this episode speaks volumes about Trek fandom. It's okay for Kirk, Riker et al to snog their way around the galaxy, but show one brief kiss between two women - who *first* became attracted when they were different genders - and the whole world collapses.
  
  It's true that the episode isn't particularly interesting, but judge it on its own merits, not on prejudice.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-11-02 at 1:06am:
  The other joined trill in the romantic relationship with Jadsia was Dr. Lenara Kahn. This character was played by Susanna Thompson who played the Borg Queen in four Voyager episodes: Voy: Unimatrix Zero Parts 1 and 2, and Voy: Dark Frontier Parts 1 and 2. Interestingly, she did not play the Borg Queen in ST: First Contact, the only other Star Trek title that includes the Borg Queen. In First Contact, the Borg Queen was played by Alice Krige. Personally, I thought that Susanna Thompson did a better job.
  
  I agree with the comment that this episode does not deserve to be rated as low as a 2. There was some pretty good stuff here. Certainly, Jadsia's heroics were entertaining. There was some decent acting. The onscreen kiss was provocative and actually kind of hot.
  
  But our reviewer is correct that this is not up to the best that DS9 can offer. The main issue was that is was rather slow. I got tired of seeing the two joined trills incessantly doing their thing. They were so boring! I actually related to Bashir in Quarks when he got so bored.
  
  Certainly, it is nowhere near other episodes in season 4 such as DS9: The Visitor (which I would say is the best single Star Trek episode ever). Or even DS9: Hippocratic Oath which was also completely terrific.
  
  I gave it a 4 personally.
• From Psycroptic on 2012-03-28 at 7:48pm:
  The kiss? Disturbing? Definitely not the word I'd use for it.
  
  All in all a pretty dull episode though.
• From hugo on 2012-04-05 at 7:38am:
  I found this a decent episode. Good acting from dr Khan and good chemistry with her and Jadzia.
  
  But - why couldn't they just beam her out from engineering... ?
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-12-24 at 9:11pm:
  The reason I love this episode is not as much because we get Trek's first same-gender kiss, but more because literally nobody in the entire episode brings up their genders as a Thing. The taboo in-show is reassociation. As a lesbian, I love seeing a sapphic love story where it's treated just like any straight love story. This ep could have been basically the same if Lenara or Dax were a man. And that's pretty much the goal of LGBTQ+ activism: that normal variations in human(oid) sexuality and gender identity are treated as that: normal. Kind of how some people are left-handed or hate cilantro. It's just one of many value-neutral facts about them.
  
  And honestly, the scenes between Jadzia and Lenara were wonderful for me. Their kiss was amazing to watch. The actors nailed it, IMO. I totally don't blame anyone else if they're not excited about it, but for me, even in 2021, seeing a WLW love story where their gayness is treated as 100% normal in-universe is still quite refreshing. Also, this episode establishes Jadzia as canonically not-straight. Take that, Rick Berman! :D Note: Roddenberry wanted a gay character on TNG, but Berman blocked it until Gene's death. Berman continued to block gay characters throughout the rest of the series he produced, so the writers and cast had to sneak it in. Garak and Bashir, for example, are _definitely_ gay (or bi, as the case may be) for each other, the actors intended it that way, but they couldn't state it outright.
  
  I tend to agree that the in-universe taboo against reassociation is absurd, but I think that may be part of the point. The real-world taboo is homosexuality, which WILL get you exiled or killed in certain parts of the world, including here in the US. (The number of homeless LGBT teens kicked out by their bigoted parents is utterly sickening. And those are the ones that don't die by suicide. Lawmakers are trying to pass anti-trans bills as I type.) Sisko rightly points out that, regardless of the morality of the situation, there will be a cost to Jadzia being in the relationship she wants. And for many gay people, that is all too often intimately, depressingly true. I can't blame Jadzia for being willing to face the cost. And I can't blame Lenara for being unwilling, either. When faced with severe, irrational societal pressures against us being true to ourselves, we cope how we cope.
  
  My little quibble here is not with this episode, per se, but it's this tendency for Dax to make these rather impulsive decisions around romance. This might not have bothered me if Meridian had never aired -- where Dax is ready to throw everything away to go join Brigadoon In Space -- but here her willingness to face exile and the deaths of two symbionts is less convincing because of that episode. I tend to agree with Lenara on this. Jadzia loves hard, and she WILL love again. Surely Lenara will too. I did appreciate the explanation for Jadzia's impulsivity, though: Curzon. This is especially insightful given us just having seen "Facets" and getting to know Curzon (albeit fused with Odo) in the flesh. Of all the characters we barely see, Curzon is one of the most interesting. I enjoyed the scene where Sisko speaks his mind but then says he'll be loyal to Jadzia whatever she ends up doing.
  
  I also wondered about the transporter thing. They could have easily waved it off with a bit of technobabble like "there's a subspace field that would scatter a transporter signal" or something. The transporter only works when it serves the plot!
  
  Side note: I said "I can't tell if Worf is messing with us" right before Kira said the same thing! ????

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Psycroptic on 2012-08-18 at 8:05pm:
  I actually enjoyed this one quite a bit. Finally got to see Harry actually do something for once.
• From Adam on 2013-02-19 at 3:36pm:
  I like the scene where the manifest character is describing his philosophies and the chute is around his head in the background like a halo. Not such a bad episode except for the somewhat lame and gratuitous fight scenes and a few cheesy lines... "save yourself!"
• From thaibites on 2014-01-27 at 12:58am:
  I thought this was one of the best episodes so far. It's different from most Trek episodes because it's really dark and full of hopelessness. Harry and Tom are trapped with a bunch of psychos with no way out, plus they have an implant in their brains which controls them and makes them aggressive. These guys were violated to the max!
  This is not some silly romp through the holodeck and Camelot. This is a very intense, violent episode that can't be brushed off.
  Put yourself in Harry and Tom's place and think about how you would feel and react. I think it would be like hell.
• From scott Marron on 2014-02-06 at 4:36pm:
  Harry is painful

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From OmicronThetaDeltaPhi on 2015-10-27 at 7:08am:
  One thing I really liked about "Horizon" is how genuine and complex the conflict between Travis and Paul was. Paul felt like a three-dimensional human being, while Ryan (from "Fortunate Son") was nothing more than a caricature of a stubborn jerk.
  
  
  So I can easily forgive the recycled plot, because the "copy" is far better written then the original.
• From Zorak on 2016-10-03 at 9:06pm:
  T'pols reaction to Frankenstein was amusing. Aside from that, I could barely sit through this episode. Travis, who I've liked until now, seems to have come down with Archer-syndrome. Where no matter how wrong and out of line you are, circumstances will always play out to justify your actions.
  
  I wanted his brother to shove him out of an airlock. Interfering with his run of the ship like that. He was completely out of line.
  
  The attitude of Starfleet/Archer is always right, and everyone else is always wrong. It is by far the thing about Enterprise that annoys me most.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Chris Baldwin on 2009-09-21 at 6:00pm:
  I thought this episode was reasonably good, but then the neuropressure scene happened. Oh dear God! I laughed out loud at the sheer awfulness of that scene. Apparently Enterprise was meant to be more "adult" than previous Treks, well this gave the lie to that!
• From Dstyle on 2015-09-30 at 8:11pm:
  And now, for your maximum discomfort, I will transcribe T'Pol's actual lines from the Vulcan neural pressure scene:
  
  "Right there. Little closer together. Harder. Harder. Just like that. Please continue. <contented sighs>"
  
  Seriously. An adult wrote that dialogue, and Jolene Blalock had to read that script and then perform it in the scene in an emotionless Vulcan monotone. Now the secret is out: now everyone knows the writer of that scene (who I presume is a horny fifteen year-old in an adult's body) harbors a secret Vulcan love slave fantasy. Aaaaaawkward!
• From Zorak on 2016-10-07 at 8:37am:
  I don't know which I hated more, Archer being a complete asshole to a slave and continuing to be a complete hypocrite and all around terrible character or that 10 minutes of the episode was porn.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2006-05-18 at 3:38am:
  The best scenes in Violations are the actual mind rape scenes. We get to see Picard and Beverly together at the morgue, and Troi and Riker have a romantic encounter. These scences add depth to the characters and make them more lifelike. It is questionable that Jev would believe he could disable three crew members and not get caught. He must have been deeply in love with Troi. It is also surprising that he late Troi regain consciousness. Why not put her back in a coma to keep her off his trail?
  
  The concept of telepathic historians is brilliant, and the female one really seemed like a real alien. There is just something about her. Anyway, this episode gets a 7 because of all the reasons stated.
  
• From DSOmo on 2007-09-24 at 11:14am:
  - After Jev leaves the dinner because of his father's remarks, Troi follows. She catches up with him outside a turbolift. From the time Troi joins Jev outside the turbolift, until she departs, it is one continuous shot. When Jev and Troi get on the turbolift, the first two numbers on the door are "03." However, when the doors close on Jev at the end of the scene, the door once again begins with "03." Troi asked for deck 8 when they boarded the turbolift. It should have read "08" at the end of the scene.
  - Toward the end of the show, Data and Geordi search medical records for comas on the planets visited by the Ulians. At one point, Geordi finds two cases of "Irisine syndrome" during the Ulians visit on Melina II. Geordi's computer screen shows the title "Melina II Planetary Medical Data Base." Data immediately comments on Geordi's success by saying, "Two cases of Irisine syndrome on Jarada III at exactly the time Tarman and his group were there." Jarada III?? The last comment Geordi made concerned Melina II, and his computer screen showed he was still working with the Melina II medical data base.
• From JRPoole on 2008-08-01 at 12:56pm:
  This is a solid, often overlooked episode. It's one of the best of the "real-world issue-exploring" TNG episodes. The sci-fi part this episode (the telpathic historians) is fascinating, and the mind rape scenes are genuinely creepy.
  
  What's that on Picard's face in the morgue flashback? Some sort of medical device? Was Jean-Luc injured in the incident that killed Crusher? It looks like the aftermath of Picard's turn as Locutus, but that doesn't make sense.
• From Dstyles on 2014-07-13 at 2:43am:
  Ugh, I really don't like this episode, and I was surprised to see all the positive comments above. First, while the whole idea of mind rape is interesting, why must we see Troi remember an actual rape? Riker, you asshole, no means no. I guess in the 90s we didn't care so much if images of sexual violence triggered traumatic flashbacks among rape survivors. But go ahead, Picard, imply that rape is no longer a problem in the Federation. I guess date rape doesn't count.
  
  Also, we knew from the very first attack who was responsible, so the dramatic tension was all about whether he'd get away with it, and obviously he wasn't going to get away with it. When Jev did the memory probe on Troi (and why, if they were suspects, were they allowed to do the memory probe? Surely there must be a crew member on board from another telepathic species--a Vulcan, perhaps--who might be able to help retrieve the memory?) and he "discovered" that his father was responsible, I thought, "wow, that would be a really interesting twist! What if the father was actually responsible but was disguising himself as his son in the memory so that if they woke up and remembered anything he'd still be safe?" But of course I knew that wasn't what was going on. I knew that it was actually Jev. And he obviously wasn't going to get away with it. Yawn. I rate this episode a 2.
• From Proconsul Obummer on 2021-08-08 at 9:31am:
  The episode is very much undermined by the creepy closeups the obviously guilty guy gets right from the first minute. Reminds me of the Simpsons where they often parody stuff like that.
  I liked Dr. Crushers new assistant, he was great. Picard with more hair was a highlight, too.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-05-16 at 3:55am:
  Worf finding the idea of a Romulan mating with a Klingon "an obscenity" was hilarious
  
  I liked this episode alot, but I found the ending largely inconclusive
• From JRPoole on 2008-09-22 at 5:27pm:
  This episode is a bit of a dud despite an intriguing premise.
  
  For one thing, it's constructed badly, as Data's issue with his father and the dreams is wrapped up in part I, while Worf's issue with his father and the Klingon prisoners takes up both episodes. Data's exploration of his dreams is intriguing, but the execution was pretty lame and new age-y.
  
  I thought the whole idea of the Klingon prison was great, and Tovak's character was interesting, a mix of idealism and control; he was willing to become a jailer in order to preserve the peace he's created. The scene where Worf's disciple comes in with the freshly killed meat is cool (are the Romulans vegetarians like their cousins the Vulcans?) but it quickly descends into cliche when the song and the speech begin to mimic the civil rights movement and African-American spirituals. Still, the idea is solid enough to carry through, and this one is decent if you overlook some of its problems.
• From McCoy on 2018-01-27 at 12:56pm:
  Another Klingon theme, which - in my opinion - stands against everything Star Trek should be about. Romulan achieved impossible - created peaceful asylum with Roms and Klings living together. But it's bad. Let's destroy it. Because Klingons are honorable and won't tolerate compromises and such disgusting things like peace with enemies. Ugh... We can learn only one thing here - there is no peace with culture based on warrior ethos. So you can only shoot them, because peace is impossible and "dishonorable" for true warriors.
• From QuasiGiani on 2018-06-27 at 11:55pm:
  I am with you, McCoy.
  
  I've never had a Trek character I had good reason to dislike...
  
  But here, now I find Worf acting like a fucking fool.
  
  Yeah, Worf, there was no prison. The dumb-assed "warrior" aspects of Klingon culture was what kept those original Klingon cowards from walking to freedom. There was no prison, indeed. And not because of the lie you told; but in fact.
  
  What a mess of specious, stinking shit this all this "honor" sets itself upon only to sink into. No principle at all.
  
  A persistent _hour_ of this! Worf, FFS, you had better redeem yourself! (~I'm pretty pissed-off at the moment, but do realize, in truth, that I'm watching Worf only maybe half-way through his entire arc... so I still love him, of course, overall... it's just jezbisinfuriating, this episode!)
• From Cthulu on 2023-02-06 at 5:31am:
  Some of these comments miss the point. Worf's goal wasn't to ruin this "utopia". He originally wanted to find his father. He found other survivors. Tokath then forced him to stay to keep the community a secret. Worf didn't want to stay, but if forced, he wanted to at least live like a Klingon. The young people saw his lifestyle, became curious, and wanted to leave. So he helped them. Tokath tried to stop it.
  
  I think Tokath had very good reasons for wanting to preserve the community, and didn't anticipate someone would stumble into town sparking interest among the young Klingons in their culture. But I also don't think you can knock Worf for his actions here.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Bronn on 2013-07-29 at 12:03am:
  One thing that might count as a small problem is Sisko telling Kira that Garak still has contacts back on Cardassia. In that episode, he claimed to have burned them all attempting to obtain proof that the Dominion was planning to attack Romulus. He told Sisko that every single person he spoke he was dead. They did need to bring Garak into this story, but they probably could have found another way.
• From Armsauce on 2017-07-09 at 12:26am:
  I've noticed we haven't seen much of Sisko during this arc. I suppose there's just too much going on with all the other characters but I would have loved to see more of his reaction to how everything has unfolded.

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.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From rpeh on 2010-07-16 at 9:27pm:
  It's worth noting that the title comes from the phrase "Those whom the gods wish to destroy they first make mad". The original version of the phrase seems to have come from Sophocles, although the wording was slightly different.
• From A. Rust on 2012-01-16 at 11:33pm:
  Apparently Charles Manson wasn't the only insane megalomaniac to draw inspiration from the White Album. I noticed that Garth's line "Marta, my dear..." was suspiciously close to the title of the Beatle's song "Martha, My Dear." The song opened side two of record one on "The White Album." Probably a coincidence, but the album did come out the year before this episode aired.
• From Orion Pimpdaddy on 2012-03-06 at 3:43am:
  So at the beginning, the bad guys come out of their cells, approach Kirk and Spock, then it cuts to the opening. When the episode resumes, Spock is being dragged away. What happened? I assume Spock was shot, but it's unusual to do it off camera.
  
  Anyway, I kind've like the episode. The part where the green girl is reciting Shakespeare (claiming it as her own) is reason enough to watch. We also learn a little bit of Kirk's background.
• From Chris on 2018-01-09 at 7:15pm:
  Nice review! - but there's a lot a very bad science in Star Trek (some worse than others, true) and so I tend to just go with the flow regardless.
  
  I loved this episode simply for the dialog!
  "Gentlemen, you have eyes... but you cannot see! Galaxies surround us, limitless vistas, and yet the Federation would have us grub about like some ants on a... somewhat larger than usual anthill!"
  
  Come on, man!!!! That's gold!
  
  The interactions between Marta and Garth are hilarious especially when it came to the Shakespeare quote!
  
  Steve Ihnat (Garth) was truly a lunatic who played the part perfectly IMO.
  
  I loved the episode also because it gives more insight to Kirk's time at the Acadamy as well as more backdrop into the Federation's history.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From David on 2008-08-07 at 10:37pm:
  I was wondering the same thing about the Defiant - the first thing that came to mind was that since Trill is 36 hours away even in the Defiant (which can go quite fast if I recall correctly), maybe they figured the risk of permanently losing a key staff officer + losing 2 other key staff officers for many days (or even weeks) in a slower runabout was worth losing the Defiant for a few days.
• From JRPoole on 2009-01-10 at 10:37pm:
  This is decent. The flashbacks are genuinely creepy, the Trill trivia is cool for the most part, and it all goes down fairly easily.
  
  I don't read Star Trek novels, but it occurs to me that there's probably a DS9 novel out there that goes into all this business with the symbionts and how their relationship with the Trill evolved, which would probably be interesting. If anybody knows of such a novel, let me know.
• From rpeh on 2010-07-28 at 9:20pm:
  Total borefest. It's as if the writers realised that they had enough material for 20 minutes so added everything they could think of to pad it out.
  
  I don't agree it's even good Dax development - it doesn't depend on anything that goes before, doesn't add anything very important, and doesn't create anything new for the future. Pure padding.
• From peterwolf on 2013-11-09 at 9:34pm:
  Not a very outstanding episode, but the beginning with the cooking and party preparations shows why I like Sisko more than all the other Star Trek captains (except Kirk, because he is the first one and a totally unique character). Sisko as played by Avery Brooks appears to be a credible human being with weaknesses, true emotions, and what I like best, more humour than the other captains. The Dax conspiracy story is not too bad, I only wish that the painted Trill city, like Cardassia or Kronos capitals depictions, would be replaced by some appropriate graphics in future, augmented versions, similar to enhanced TOS.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From edward on 2014-04-04 at 4:30pm:
  It is a fun episode, although Harry Kim's "What the hell is going on?" is one of the worst deliveries of a line I've ever heard.
• From parkbench on 2016-03-06 at 1:12am:
  haha, i'm glad i'm not the only one who noticed that weird harry kim line. plus, while he's grown as an actor over the years, there was definitely a few awkward moments in this one.
  
  but yeah i'm a sucker for romance plots, even if they're hetero. how can you get better than a warp-core breach proposal???
  
  totally guessed that it was the nice-looking aliens who were sabotaging at that diplomatic meeting. a decent episode, very trek. not the best, but a decent voyager non sequitur, which is again, all you can hope for w voyager.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Hatstacks on 2008-11-22 at 7:04am:
  Is it bad I liked the 7/Doc better than both 7 of 9 and the Doctor? Best show of the season, hands down.
• From Hugo von Ahlenius on 2015-12-17 at 7:23am:
  Great to see the hard-headed aliens not being so hard-headed!
• From parkbench on 2016-03-07 at 10:10am:
  oh, come on guys...really? this episode had some fun star trek moments, but it was one of the laziest i've seen in awhile.
  
  first of all, somehow a prisoner-captor dynamic becomes 'innocent flirting' that everyone, including other members of the alien ship casually shrug off, with no explanation. even if we assume they're sadistic and don't care about fraternising with those they kidnap, that's not how it's portrayed at all--we're just supposed to take it for granted that 'you get lonely on a ship'. riight.
  
  then, while it was a joy to see jeri ryan do something new--just like w/ reg in the last episode, and the doctor before that--as a plot it was also preposterous. we're to believe a jumble of photons that comes to sentience inherently has a gender identity and sexual expression? just b/c "he" is programmed to look a certain way, look how long it has taken for him to learn and naturally 'feel' other human traits as simple as sarcasm or singing. and somehow one of the most complex of those--sexual attraction and gender expression--which is by no means fixed, is just naturally read (unsurprisingly) as the doctor being a straight male...
  
  yes, we could retcon a decision somewhere along the way to artificially restrict his curiosity to what he perceives as the opposite sex and the 'correct' sexual attraction he feels for "his" gender, but the problem of believability is his disgust when renek or whoever tries to kiss him in 7's body. it just doesn't make sense. if anyone was to have an open-minded view of sexuality, it would be the doctor, who is curious about all human experience. i can't imagine he would have disgust for something which the show hasn't even hinted at allowing him to explore.
  
  and obviously, you can point to "relationships" he's had in the past, which i've had the same issues with--but episodes like this, just like his initial attraction to 7 herself, strain credulity. i'm going to go out on a limb and say that zimmerman didn't program EMH with a sexual drive per se--meaning it is, like many of us, a mix of inclinations and deliberate filtering. since this show would never explore such themes--why take them on? oh yes, it is a lazy, bottom-of-the-barrel technique to get a surefire filler/fan-cruft episode out of the way and keep moving.
  
  but none of that even matters since this weird melodrama is during their captivity! where is this episode going? the writers certainly don't know, other than a heaping mountain of excuses to get jeri ryan to prance around the screen in a skin-tight suit.
  
  so, in conclusion: the scenes jump back and forth and the pon farr plot is totally disconnected. lots of "telling" rather than "showing" moments (the doctor comparing himself and seven's respective traits in the jail cell). a weak sci-fi bro "wink-wink" premise that is barely fleshed out.
  
  yeah...this episode was purely fun for the technical enjoyment of actors doing new things, not for anything else.
• From Dstyle on 2016-03-10 at 4:31pm:
  Just wanted to comment to give parkbench a shout out: I'm loving all of your commentary!
• From tigertooth on 2018-02-23 at 5:09am:
  Even though it goes without saying, the Seven-as-Doctor stuff was great. She didn't totally get the eyes right, but that might have been a restriction due to the prosthetics she had to wear. The vocal tics were fantastic, and the body language was great, too.
  
  I assumed the Doctor was heterosexual because Zimmerman, on whom he was based, was. Seems pretty simple to me.
• From Graham Bessellieu on 2019-09-10 at 2:22am:
  This was a charming and hilarious episode! I re-watched on a whim and was most pleasantly surprised. It's some of the most fun I've seen on Voyager. :)
  
  Wholeheartedly recommended to any fans of Seven or the Doctor. Logged as a personal favorite.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-10-30 at 3:12am:
  This episode is too much like that horrid TNG episode where Riker keeps on waking up only to find that he's still dreaming. Still, a decent episode.
  
  I think there's an unwritten rule in Star Trek that says that you have to fuck up the uniforms later on in the seasons somehow. TNG: Picard's god-awful coat and the extremely loose fitting uniforms. DS9: the even worse uniforms with the gray shoulders. VOY: Torres's overcoat/smock (why does she have little exacto-knife-like things in the pocket!?)
• From David in California on 2007-11-02 at 6:08pm:
  I think this episode's plot was perfectly fine as it is, what makes it less-than-effective, IMO, is something I've noticed in the Star Trek franchise as a somewhat casual viewer of the show and not a really committed fan.
  
  I can't really speak about Enterprise as I've only seen a few, but with TNG, DS9 and Voyager there's this chronic undercutting of the well-written plots by an overall directorial/editing style that seems to not go along with what's been written.
  
  By that I mean the directing, editing, and even music just kind of chug along at more-or-less the same pacing and tone no matter if the scene is an added character moment, early setting up of the plot, a twist, a suspense element, some exposition, the climax/resolution, or the denouement. No matter what the scene's role in the overall story, it's all kind of on one "level" much of the time.
  
  On occasion, there are exceptions to the "sameness" I'm describing, of course. There will be a welcome directorial flourish, a small change in editing pace, or whatever. But these seem to be done at almost random points in the stories--whenever, I suppose, the director and others feel there's something happening that interests them in that moment. Or, to their credit in some cases, if there needs to be a kind of "dramatic reveal" affected.
  
  Otherwise, it comes off to me personally as if in particular the editing is done by a machine which doesn't have any human insight into the relative importance or feeling or suspense at different points in the narrative.
  
  Where this most hurts the stories, IMO, is when it comes to the climax/resolution, and this episode was another example that jumped out at me and made the otherwise perfectly fine climax seem unsatisfying and far less effective than it would have been.
  
  The climax/resolution as written, with Chakotay setting things up with the Doctor and then persuading the aliens that he will blow them (and himself) up if they don't withdraw, is perfectly sound, IMO. Problem is that because of what I described above, it almost rushes by the viewer at the same pace and intensity as any other moment in the story, and robs it of its impact significantly, and makes the climax come off as . . . well, anti-climactic when it really isn't as written.
  
  The viewer isn't made to feel byway of the directing, editing, and music that this is what the episode has been building up to, and that this is indeed the climax where the main plot thread is being resolved. The rushed nature of it means there isn't time allowed for the viewer while experiencing the climax to be held in suspense about the outcome, to feel the tension-and-release, or in extreme cases to even necessarily know that this is the climax *intellectually until it's over, nevermind the issue of feeling that it is viscerally.
  
  It's like when there's the sudden cut to the exterior of Voyager and the Doctor starts his log indicating he's woken up the crew, the viewer takes a few seconds at *that* point to say to himself: "Oh, so then the aliens must have backed down and allowed the crew to continue unharmed. Chakotay's gambit worked. Ok." No, that moment of realization that Chakotay's gambit worked should happen while you're watching that go on--not as an intellectual checkbox ticked in the mind after the scene is over, IMO. There should be a bit of tension built up while it's happening, the directing, editing, and even music should be upped in intensity from the rest of the story, and the viewer experiences both intellectually and viscerally the full *impact* of the crucial resolution of the plot's conflict while it's taking place.
  
  In this case, annoyingly, I thought to myself in generosity to the production team: "Ok, they've got limited time to tell their story and there's more to come now, so maybe the pacing of the climax had to be a bit rushed in this case to get in something important here at the end." But then all we got was a kind of fluffy scene at the end where we see some of the crew alive and well in the messhall having a laugh. Was that really needed? Wouldn't it have been better to stretch out the suspense of the climax just prior and spend less time on the denouement when it really didn't add anything substantive? Argh!
  
  Just to offer one more example of this that comes to mind, though I think it's a chronic problem with the show--"Dark Frontier" in Season Five. It's worse in that case 'cause you have a two-parter and then you get a rushed, anti-climactic climax to this otherwise "epic" story.
  
  Other genre shows made around the same time don't seem to suffer from this that I've ever noticed. Off the top of my head I can't remember having these pacing issues for X-Files, Buffy, and other shows in the '90s.
  
  Today, you have a show like the new Doctor Who, for example, where the opposite often takes place, which I think illustrates how important directing and editing the climax in an actually climactic manner is. In that show, often a very poorly written climax/resolution comes off much better while watching because the directing, editing, and music really come together to make it feel climactic. Now, that doesn't make up for a poorly written climax ultimately. You just have the opposite problem--while it's happening you think it's exciting and good and you "feel" it, but then when you think about it a few minutes later intellectually you realize it was lame.
  
  But my point is I see no reason not to always go for a climactically-directed climax. The best case if of course to write a good climax/resolution that works intellectually *and* have the directing, pacing and so on make you feel the suspense *and* be able to experience it and give it justice, so to speak.
  
  So for this episode and many, many others in the Star Trek franchise, I feel that when viewers respond with a "meh" to a well-written story and feel it could have been better, looking for how it could have been written differently misses the mark as far as what went wrong. The problem wasn't the writing, it was the realization of them, IMO.
  
  Please don't get me wrong, I'm not here trying to bash the show. Obviously I think much of the Star Trek offerings are fantastic, and as a general sci-fi fan how can I not love Star Trek? Just focusing on how some of it could have been done so much better, IMO.
  
  Ok, lengthy comments, so I hope that's ok. Probably I've said nothing new to actual Star Trek fans and some maybe feel the same, but I finally wanted to get this out on this site 'cause I'm enjoying having it as my sort of companion as I revisit Star Trek and this episode really suffered for it.
• From thaibites on 2014-08-05 at 2:41am:
  I thought this episode was pretty good, but they never explained WHY these aliens were doing this. They did address it when Chakotay first entered his lucid dream-state, BUT everything the alien said to him was a lie. Were they trying to take over Voyager? Were they just going to wait until all the crew member's bodies died and then all wake up and jump on board?
  ST is usually pretty good at explaining why things are happening, unlike X-files where NOTHING is ever explained. They wasted precious time on gay, little vignettes with crew interaction, and the episode suffered because of it.
  In answer to David in CA's lengthy comment, the ending was rushed. Why? Too much time spent on frivolous crew interaction. This is the biggest problem with Voyager. It's like they want to humanize the show way too much because they want sheeple to be able to relate to it, but all it does is alienate well-educated lovers of good sci-fi.
  
• From Mike on 2017-07-28 at 11:33am:
  I agree with all of the comments and reviews. The "it's all a dream" thing got tiresome, and as David in California points out, the episode suffered horribly from the lack of a well-crafted climax. The moment between Chakotay saying that the aliens have two minutes to back down or be blown to kingdom come, and the Doctor pleasantly narrating the crew's return to normal life, is about as awkward as a transition as I've ever seen in Star Trek.
  
  During Chakotay's encounter with the alien in the mess hall, the alien's convenient exposition more or less spills the beans on their intentions. That's all we get as far as their motives or clues about why they are in this dream state. So, what began as an intriguing encounter turns out to be a dud.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Hugo on 2013-05-03 at 6:12am:
  So the Dominion is retreating into Cardassian space - what about the Breen - couldn't the Federation et al attack Breen space (or is it too far away?)
• From Damien Bradley on 2013-09-28 at 7:55am:
  A minor problem: When Kasidy reveals she's pregnant, they say something about one of them forgetting an injection, presumably the modern method of birth control for men and women. Sisko admits it must have been him. But both partners have to be taking an injection for it to work? That doesn't make sense. If both partners were on it, it would serve as redundant protection in case one person forgets. Even now, we have methods that work for months or years at a time; wouldn't they have permanent reversible birth control for both sexes by the 24th century?
  
  Otherwise, I'm really enjoying the suspense leading up to the finale! I've been making my way through DS9 (with breaks here and there) for a few years now. Enough time to start the series over again! This time leaving out the bad filler (so thanks for your filler quotient ratings!).
• From ChristopherA on 2021-08-26 at 2:36am:
  The story of the Cardassian rebels continues to be exciting and well done.
  
  They are starting to wrap up the series, starting with the Ferengi, but I don't really see why they thought it was necessary to wrap up the Ferengi at all. It was a good idea to complete the “women’s liberation” storyline because the idea of naked Ferengi females is basically of an awkward legacy of the silly cartoonish TNG-style Ferengi. It was really inconvenient that you could not film Ferengi females because they were naked and thus could barely have female Ferengi at all. And the whole idea didn't seem to fit well at all with the DS9 recharacterization of the Ferengi. Their purpose was to be absurdly ruthless businessmen, having them be misogynists didn't add anything interesting to this and was mostly just annoying. So it made a lot of sense to just wrap this up and get rid of it.
  
  But having Ishka completely transform the whole society and political system in, apparently, a year or two just seemed trite and hard to believe and entirely unnecessary, it only seems to weaken the usefulness of the Ferengi as an element in future stories. And making Rom the Grand Nagus is, again, overly trite. Sure, it does cap off the long running storyline that Rom starts as the dumb subservient brother and grows into the smarter, more dynamic brother. But it has been well established this is partly because Rom’s genius lies in engineering rather than business. And while he has been shown to have grown courage at standing up to his brother to promote social causes, he is still an engineer with self-confidence, not a politician. It would be more believable to assume that Moogie is now the real Grand Nagus behind the scenes, with Rom as her nepotism puppet.
  

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From JRPoole on 2009-01-16 at 7:16am:
  This episode is a confluence of a lot of Trek cliches. The review above points out several: energy life form of the week, the ship accidentally harms a sentient form and ends up communicating with it/healing it, etc.
  
  It was also bound to happen that Voyager pulled out that most charming of TNG cliches, the holodeck malfunctions and someone gets trapped or hurt plot.
  
  That said, this one is fun just for the Beowulf stuff and the Doctor, who's quickly become my favorite character on Voyager.
• From Docfan on 2011-08-15 at 8:05am:
  It's interesting how polarizing this episode is: seven reviewers pegged it at 7, and six people gave it a 1. It's a bit of a love it or hate it kind of thing I suppose, and I suspect the determining factor is "the Doctor" - specifically whether or not you are interested in the Doctor's character.
  
  Personally, I thought it was a great episode. I would give it an 8 or 9 even. I thought just about everything was well done, and it was great seeing the Doctor's evolving response to the responsibility of his first mission.
  
  Small things were great too - the Doctor gets to see the outside world for the first time, experience sensations, emotions, and even relationships that would've been impossible given both the technical constraints of his usual sickbay routine, and the social context in which it all operates. Within the holo-novel, no one knows that he is an emergency medical program, and no one treats him as such.
  
  What's more, it's almost as if he treats *himself* differently. In the novelty of it all, in a circumstance well outside the preparations and expectations of his programming, the Doctor explores what he's made of (code, energy, but also emotions, affections, desires, successes, etc...)
  
  The episode is also quite an epic development in terms of social status. This is the same character whose appearance (and for some reason voice?) shrank tenfold (episode 3), because there are more important things on Voyager than a glitch in the Doctor's imaging processor. "Eye of the Needle" (episode 7) sets up the transformation, and this once clinches it, as we see the captain awarding the Doctor her personal and official commendations at the end.
  
  In short, it's really quite a touching, fascinating, and humorous character exploration.
  And a great episode, so long as you like the character in question.
• From Harrison on 2013-02-15 at 11:03am:
  This entertaining episode has some compelling performances, but the science is simply appalling. Suspension of disbelief is one thing, but one can at least expect a basic consistency in the laws of physics prevailing in the ST universe, and a little sophistication in interpreting them. Will any ST viewer be shocked, like Janeway was, to discover "photonic energy" on the holodeck?
• From rpeh on 2015-01-20 at 7:30pm:
  Holodeck episodes almost always annoy me. It's a cop out. We have a sci-fi series but want to do a film-noir episode? Holodeck. We want a swords and sorcery story? Holodeck. And here... we want to do an olde English classic? Holodeck. I disagree with this. If you're doing a sci-fi series you do sci-fi. By all means add in romance and usual human tension (see Battlestar) but don't pretend to be something you're not.
  
  Having said that.
  
  This episode just about works. The doctor is one of the best characters in Voyager so an episode in which he plays a major role is always going to be a winner. But the acting by the residents of the mead hall is awful, and the non-explanation given about the communication with the entity/entities is too much of a hand-wave.
  
  I'll give this a 7 but only because most of the rest of Voyager is so bad.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Remco on 2009-01-25 at 7:06pm:
  One thing that struck me watching the scene with Odo's belt, is that Odo has walked around naked his entire life! That must provide for additional weirdness-factor for the people on the station.
  
  It also means his comm-badge is really just him. How would it feel to be part-computer? If we think this through a little further: how would it feel to be Sisko's briefcase in Homefront? How would Odo know when to turn back into his humanoid form? Bags don't usually have ears, or brains to process sound.
  
  I would like to hear explanations to these things instead of the throwaway technobabble that we sometimes get to hear.
• From Krs321 on 2011-04-18 at 3:28pm:
  Why not just beam VIPs to and from locations instead of all the security hoopla?
• From Hugo on 2012-04-30 at 6:21pm:
  I have been wondering why we don't see Odo doing more Reed Richard's routines (or plasticman etc). I thought that if shifted shape he would not necessarily take on the properties of the object he turns into - but this time his hands in the elevator...
  
  I liked this ep though, and great that it didn't focus on the assassination.
  
  Best moment : Quark in PJ's
• From Gaius Gracchus on 2021-10-04 at 3:27pm:
  In a season that hasn't really missed with an episode yet, this one has not aged well. "Odo the incel" is a pretty yucky plot, one we are able to more accurately diagnose in 2021 than a writers room in the mid 90s could. The development of the overarching Odo-Kira subplot could have been handled much better than this.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Inga on 2013-02-05 at 6:51pm:
  One of the most boring episodes of Star Trek I've seen so far... And that bed scene was unbelievably cheesy.
• From Mandeponium on 2013-09-02 at 5:30pm:
  Sigh, in this episode Odo has sex as a changeling shortly after losing his human ability to ejaculate. Why? Why does he fall in love with this random person? This episode would have been better if he were still human. It might make more sense.
  
  Imagine if Star Trek were on HBO. There'd be so much weird alien sex; the bedroom was super tame compared to what I'm imagining sex with a shapeshifter to be like.
  
• From Rob UK on 2013-11-23 at 2:35am:
  A hard episode to watch, in nregards to Odo centric episodes as you mentioned being like detective shows I agree, this is sometimes done okay like an homage to the greats in the style but i'd prefer the level of Columbo or Monk rockford files or even Murder She Wrote but no sadly not a patch on Jessica Fletcher on her worst day (seriously not a fan of MSW at all BTW just incase anyone was not getting my dry British sense of humour) this was akin to Diagnosis Murder merged with an imaginary late 90's BBC low budget remake of Heart to Heart.
  
  Now then onto the part which could have redeemed the episode and instead destroyed it, the sex, or more accurate the lack of it, i know TV censors n stuff i am not expecting some Reed Richards-esq shlong action pinning her to the ceiling in a low gravity room as Odo morphs into a thousand different phallic object spearing her from every angle anywhere she wants it and more but at least some reference to it expanding her horizons in some way sexually instead it was like she had taken the virginity of a shy young boy and was his moms friend. When she found out it was his first time and she said she couldn't tell?!? Seriously Odo never swelled up the shape shifting manhood once inserted? I am trying to keep it pg13 here but you get what i am saying surely, how did Odo even know what to shape down there? I always thought he'd be like an action man figure or a ken doll, cough cough, not that i was checking that my action man had a schlong or not as a kid or anything but i remember when i found out that he did not have one i was concerned for my action man, why does he not have a little soldier like the rest of us boys? Never trusted action man after that, anyhoo slight distraction to my review / comment there but in a slightly altered reality it is all totally relevant. Thankfully a good Quark episode next if anyone out there like myself who has to watch them in sequential order for the good and the bad.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Sherlock on 2006-10-04 at 9:42pm:
  There are numerous mistakes that Data (actually the writers) make in regards to the Sherlock Holmes canon (one that comes to mind is Data saying Holmes only defeated Moriarty at Reichenbach at the cost of his own life), but despite it, I loved this episode and it's one of my favs. Daniel Davies gets special props for an outstanding Moriarty. He portrays him as intelligent and very aware, not evil.
  Brent Spiner and Levar Burton do a good job as well.
• From Sherlock on 2006-10-07 at 4:41pm:
  Problem:
  Moriarty can clearly see Data, Geordi and Pulaski (and not who they pretend to be) and the arch before the computer bestows upon him the ability to defeat Data. He's looking at the trio oddly as Geordi imputs info with the arch.
  
  Another Problem:
  Data takes the paper that Moriarty drew the Enterprise on out of the holodeck. And when Geordi is looking at it, he's looking at it upside down!
• From DSOmo on 2007-06-16 at 8:53pm:
  - So the computer can create an entity aware of its own consciousness? Not only is Moriarty aware of his own consciousness, he may have qualified for the Grand Prize ... Sentience! In "The Measure Of A Man," we are told a sentient being must have intelligence, self-awareness, and consciousness. Definitely, Moriarty is intelligent. Data states that the computer gave Moriarty consciousness. Troi backs this up when she senses that a "unifying force, or single consciousness is trying to bring it all into focus." All that remains then is to decide if Moriarty is self-aware. "He seems fairly self-aware to me" (to borrow a line that Picard uses in "The Measure Of A Man"). If Moriarty is self-aware, he is sentient. If he is sentient, he is entitled to all the rights granted sentient life forms in the Federation. Doesn't shutting him off constitute a violation of those rights?
  - The whole idea of Geordi misspeaking only one word and narrowly averting disaster must be very upsetting to the crew.
  - The piece of paper leaving the holodeck has already been mentioned (and Geordi looking at it upside down), but what about Dr. Pulaski stuffing herself full of crumpets? When she leaves, does that matter evaporate? Some people would think this wonderful. Enter a holodeck. Eat all you want. Walk out, all gone! ;)
• From Brian D. Parsons on 2008-11-21 at 9:46pm:
  The Enterprise crew ignoring Moriarty after he agrees to be saved in memory wasn't entirely voluntary, per this entry from the IMDb article on this episode:
  
  "The producers, believing that the Sherlock Holmes character was in the public domain, were most surprised when the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle informed them that they still retained the copyright on the character. They did, however, allow the episode to be aired because they felt that the show had done the character justice. Litigation kept the sequel episode "Ship in a Bottle" off the air for nearly four years."
• From hmad on 2010-03-12 at 6:46pm:
  The controversy of whether holograms have a right to sentience is later explored in the Voyager series w/ the EMH doctor and Hirogen Prey episodes.
  
  Federation never regarded anything artificially constructed from their own technology, no matter how sophisticated, as something that should have the capacity for true self-determination. Take for instance the ship's computer, massively powerful and integrated into everything yet has practically no autonomy or decision making ability. Seems hard-to imagine that there would be no AI based technology at some point unless it may have been purposely avoided. (Remember the M5 debacle on Kirk's enterprise?)
  
  @ DSomo: I thought about that too, best explanation may be that food and basic items are somehow replicated on demand within the holodeck for the user's consumption.
• From rpeh on 2010-08-24 at 1:32pm:
  The original review and subsequent comments have said most of what needs to be said, but I just want to point out that the corpse, strangled by his common-law wife is blatantly breathing as it lies on the ground. I know it's a minor point, but hey!
  
  One slightly amusing point is that the French translation doesn't have Picard using the word "merde". Evidently it was too rude - they have him saying something else altogether, although I don't know what it is.
• From Jeff Browning on 2011-09-22 at 11:14pm:
  Perhaps obvious, but Daniel Davis who played Prof. Moriarty in this episode appeared as Niles in the Fran Descher sitcom "The Nanny".
• From Inga on 2011-12-27 at 10:22pm:
  Personally, I find the idea of a hologram becoming sentient and self-aware, let alone being able to take control of the ship, a little far-fetched
• From a2a on 2012-02-16 at 8:46am:
  I thought this was a rather brilliant episode. Good idea and good execution. I appreciated how the writers held back and did not have Moriati assume total control of the ship. That would've been somewhat predictable... and of course utterly unrealistic for someone so technologically out of date and rather out of the loop about his actual place in the world. But I can accept that someone with a brilliant scientific mind and a fiery curiosity (and some intense computer processing power in his cranium) could figure out a thing or two and poke rather aimlessly at the ship's controls - even getting the thing to jostle for a moment or two.
  
  Moriarty was an altogether excellent character, and it was great how he became something so much more than a campy villain towards the end. The episode looks forward to more profound holographic-lifeform themes in Voyager and other series, and looks backward to the resolution of The Long Goodbye, when Picard spoke frankly to the holographic characters, who were then compelled to try to leave the holodeck... In fact, there was an either intentional or perhaps subconscious direct allusion to that episode: Moriarty says, "I hate long goodbyes." Picard replies, "Well, a short goodbye then." A clever reference vaguely disguised within a play on words? Or just something that happened spontaneously in the writing?
  
  Small qualm: if this episode was a two-parter or something, I would've expected Moriarty's desire to leave the holodeck to have been elaborated on a bit more. As it was, he never made the rather obvious demand that Picard simply leave him running in the holodeck - he implicitly equated dying with not being able to leave, either literally or by anology... but as far as he was concerned, his entire existence had hitherto been on the holodeck... so, it seems that the status quo would've been a logical (although logistically inconvenient) demand... Of course, I can understand how someone of Moriarty's caliber, having had his eyes opened by this experience, would no longer be satisfied with his prior existence. And I can understand that the writers had to speed through some things...
  
  Actual Problem: if the ship's computer is both powerful and imaginative enough to create Moriarty, a rather brilliant, and most importantly *self-aware* being (arguably life-form), who is capable of learning, innovating, and free will... why on earth does Starfleet need people like Doctor Zimmerman and the holographic engineering industry?
  
• From Dstyle on 2013-08-08 at 1:25pm:
  Whenever someone is trapped in the holodeck (this episode, The Big Goodbye, Fistful of Datas, and more), I always wonder why they don't just get a transporter lock on them and beam them out. Oh, Dr. Pulaski is in danger in the holodeck? Well, we better dress in period costume to go in and get her out!
• From Azalea Jane on 2021-07-13 at 11:21pm:
  This episode is annoying, for many of the reasons already pointed out. For me the very premise of the episode makes it unsalvageable. As a result of the silly premise, I don't feel interested or invested in the proceeding question of how to treat a new holographic life form. If it's possible for someone in the holodeck -- with just a few magic words -- to inadvertently *create a new sapient life form* which can then *hijack the controls of the ship*, that shows us a catastrophically, criminally dangerous and absurdly overpowered device. (Everything in Trek is overpowered. The phasers, for example, being able to vaporize an entire person in a few seconds, is comical.) As with The Big Goodbye, the fact that they didn't try to cut power or beam anyone out is just the laziest of writing. Do I complain about lazy writing a lot? Yeah, but I'm not wrong!
  
  Data emotion-spotting: Even though Geordi seems more bothered by Pulaski's skepticism of Data's sentience, Data still seems invested in proving his abilities to Pulaski. (He seems to respond well to things that challenge him.) He also seems quite excited while in character. Curious! I'm noticing a pattern: Data exhibits certain emotional expressions in the context of learning about or attaining humanity. Even in the pilot, he said, "I'd gladly give it up to be human." (Gladness is an emotion.) He DOES clearly seem to exhibit emotions around his humanity, but apparently doesn't quite "experience" them, or report them as such.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Tony on 2008-08-31 at 1:54am:
  One interesting aspect of this episode that I really like is the aliens. Far too often in Star Trek, the aliens are humanoid, and with similar technology. I understand that this allows for plots and subjects that would otherwise not be able to be done, but this episode provides a glimpse at an alien species that's as far from humanity as real aliens would probably be.
• From Tony on 2008-08-31 at 5:40pm:
  In my first Comment, I mentioned the great part of this episode, but I forgot to mention the horrible part, the Doctor deleting Moset and his research. While deleting Moset is understandable, deleting his research is just wrong. Even if it was gathered in a bad way, the information gained may help save lives. It should have never been obtained, but now that it is, it might as well be used for good.
• From fan Ive on 2009-12-14 at 7:33pm:
  end of this episode is absurd in my opinion. unlike ethics in episode "dear doctor" from enterprise.
  it was wrong to delete Crell's program.
  sorry for grammar mistakes, official language in my country is not english.
• From Tallifer on 2011-04-24 at 4:20am:
  Some of you might be unaware of the very pertinent and actual history: the Nazis and Imperial Japanese tortured hundreds of prisoners for the sake of medical research. Most of this research was spurious and unscientific, but some results concerning extreme environments and biological warfare have been the source of ethical debates within the scientific and medical communities.
• From Deggsy on 2012-03-30 at 11:36am:
  The ethical decisions behind the Doctor's decision were shaky at best. Taking it to logical extremes, warp drive technology should have been banned because the first practical application of it on Earth, Zefram Cochrane's ship the Phoenix, was built in an ICBM missile, the type of which helped wipe out hundreds of millions of people in the Third World War. And didn't the decision to wipe the data go against the spirit of Janeway's decision in the first place? And if people really objected to Crell, why not change his holographic appearance/identity?
• From Dstyle on 2015-06-24 at 3:23pm:
  Harry: "Uh, Doc, this guy is a Cardassian."
  Doctor: "So?"
  Harry: "Well, half the people on this ship committed their lives to fighting the Cardassians. This might not sit well."
  Doctor: "So? That was four years ago. I'm trying to save B'Elanna's life!"
  Harry: "Yeah, all the same... Computer, change Crell Moset's appearance to make him look human, and have him respond to the name, uh, Chris... Moss."
  Doctor: "Was that really necessary?"
  Harry: "Well, it sucks all of the dramatic tension out of this episode, but then again the episode was suffering from an easily avoidable manufactured controversy. And this way you get to keep your assistant."
  Doctor: "Very well then."
• From pbench on 2015-09-13 at 9:53am:
  this is exactly the kind of false dichotomy i spoke of in my comment on 4x14, "prey". here we have the potential for a rich ethical dilemma that ends up almost forcing the viewer to "side" with the less forgiving option, but more for reasons of aesthetics than actual moral ones.
  
  this is part of voyager's, and TV's in general, "tell don't show" policy. that is to say: they think that the mere appearance of disagreement ("we should do it!" "no we shouldn't!) is evidence of "tension" between characters and some kind of riveting existential struggle for the viewer. i don't think it is, as we know that a million and one factors go into the 'feeling' or 'mood' of any particular scene, dialogue being only one of them. this misunderstanding also explains why so many of the interview quotes i read on memory alpha talk about the "intense rivalry" between the captain and seven of nine, which i have never sensed; it is extremely mild and the captain always wins anyway. it is obvious what the arch of the show is and we never truly feel it to be in danger or question.
  
  here, we have different characters being puppeteered to very clearly adopt different parts of the moral spectrum, not necessarily proceeding from their characters' natural tendencies, but to "create" tension where there is none (i.e. no imagination. okay that was harsh, but you get my meaning).
  
  this is an artistic, qualitative failure: one is inclined to agree with moset's position less for any actual philosophical reasons than for the parlour trick of mere plot progression--and in fact his argument would seem pretty reasonable to anyone who didn't think through the consequences truly (thanks to commenter tallifer for bringing up the real precedent for this). because the characters, as written, ARE being almost absurdly stubborn in a scenario which could very easily be argued is an extenuating circumstance--and with good precedent, considering all the other decisions Voyager's crew has had to make over the years. instead of appearing like two truly divergent threads in the plot, it really is just a fake screaming match between star trek telling us it is star trek ("look, think twice about things, okay!") and the logical action-sci fi conclusion (save the protagonist). the argument to try to save the creature appears as weak as most other star trek "rights" scenarios that know little more than how to repeatedly assert and state the nature of said rights...a nice progression for tv, but so much less than we know is possible in the right hands.
  
  that's why it was so frustrating that there were several times where the true qualitative difference between the methodologies could have been drawn out: not in the abstract puritanism of "not using something useful" (which can easily be cast as a mere "cultural" bias getting in the way of "actual" issues, which is how most characters deal with b'elanna and the bajoran crewmember...though this is their right regardless), but because as we saw in the surgical scene, it actually plays out in qualitatively DIFFERENT decisions IN THE PRESENT. moset's mentality may have led to killing the alien, which may have resulted in an even fiercer battle with its rescuers. i was glad they were finally showing this difference beyond the mere ideological and then they just completely left it.
  
  this same thing always happens on star trek, and voyager especially: the tables are flipped and the other character starts accusing the protagonist have being too high-minded...while the protagonist looks concerned and has nothing to say in reply. don't get me wrong--i agree w/ kethinov that star fleet deserves to be put down and i would love to see the dark side of things, including the very real accusation that much of earth's science is tainted in very deep ways as well, and not just by animals (tuskegee experiments, sterilisation of indigenous women, women of color, nuclear experiments on entire populations of hiroshima, nagasaki, etc.). there's rich possibilities for the "other" side too!
  
  but the argument instead is supremely facile: "are you so different than me?" the doctor easily could have said, "you almost killed that thing! we survived BECAUSE we chose to prioritise its life instead, a decision which never would have come to you naturally!" that is the ACTUAL reason--any horizon determines the direction you walk. if you see it close or far, high or low, or taking different forms, it all affects you in the NOW, and moset's fake apolitical apathy actually greatly informs his "practice". this could have been richly drawn out, and instead we get two options where one seems like a no-brainer and the other pure showmanship. good job star trek...
  
  my point is, just as a murder mystery inherently couches all character interactions thru the lens of suspicion, an action-based tv plotline is always going to go for the path of least resistance. now, if you're star trek, and you're trying to introduce higher-order thinking into that, that's all well and good...except if you don't really know what you want or what you even are. so we have characters in torture episodes simply saying "it is wrong" without really delving into all of the myriad ways that *procedurally* it fails, that it actually *proves* its own idiocy and evilness by the manner in which it handles things and achieves the opposite results of what it intends, and spirals into a never-ending, cascading cycle of suffering and loss of humanity for the torturee and the torturer. this applies just as well here.
  
  if it all seems inefficient, all you need to do is think of the following scenario: suppose you are talking about a child whose body became fused to an adult's through some kind of bomb blast (just imagine). it would be a non-starter to simply say, "yeah just kill the child to get to the adult." from the get-go it would be clear that there was a lot to work through before you just chop the body up, no?
  
  anyway yes...end rant. props to the voyager team for going with a non-humanoid alien for once, yes. it is a refreshing change of pace. also yes to dstyle's comment that the doctor could've just changed moset's appearance. :P
  
  ultimately i did enjoy this episode since it had the HINT of something deeper...i just like picking shit apart. :D i did sigh in frustration and wish upon a star for something else, but glad we got something more than the average far here...
• From tigertooth on 2016-11-21 at 8:26pm:
  If I was subjected to awful, unethical research, would I prefer that that the useful information gleaned from the research be discarded or would I prefer that it be used to help save innocent lives?
  
  I mean, obviously my first preference would be not to be the subject of the inhumane experiments. But once that ship has sailed, might as well use the knowledge to help people. Should we tear up all the railways in this country because they were built with a great deal of slave labor?
  
  So yeah -- I agree that deleting Moset and his research was dumb, and as others have stated, I was asking "Why don't they just change his appearance?"

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-05-28 at 7:29pm:
  Changed Premise: Troi senses "considerable deception on Bok's part and danger." In future episodes, Betazoids cannot sense Ferengi thoughts.
  
  - Why didn't Picard set the autodestruct sequence on the Staegazer? Why did he abandon it and just let it drift through space for anyone to discover?
  - While Data figures out a defense for the Picard Maneuver, he says, "... a vessel in the Picard Maneuver might seem to disappear ..." The vessel doesn't seem to disappear, it seems to be in two places at once!
  - Why didn't Riker grab the Stargazer with a tractor beam before it flew off? He had plenty of time!! A lot happens from the time Riker finds out Picard is under some kind of mental control to when the Stargazer flys out of tractor beam range (including a very very long speech by Bok)
• From Bernard on 2008-01-16 at 10:36pm:
  I think this is a pretty decent first season offering, I only wish they had done more on Picard and his Stargazer days later on in the series. The pityfully one dimensional ferengi 'bad guy' does nothing to help this episode though...
  
  They (the series producers) seemed very eager to bring in the new race, the ferengi, but this is the second occasion when they just failed to give them any real character. Oh well, give it six years and we can watch them come into their own in DS9.
• From tigertooth on 2011-02-17 at 2:37pm:
  It seemed to me that they gave away the mind control thing to the audience way too early. Would have been better if Picard had no trouble before the Stargazer came around, but then started acting erratically. One could interpret that as him being afraid of his past.
  
  Data discovers that Picard attempted to tamper the logs on the Stargazer, and finds the log that says he destroyed a defenseless vessel. This causes the crew to suspect Picard, and Picard to suspect himself -- and the audience doesn't yet know the true answer. We later learn the false log got there because, instead of the Ferengis faking the log, Bok mind-controlled Picard into re-recording it.
  
  Also it would have been nice if when we were in Picard's Stargazer cabin, he found some things he left behind and reminisced on them -- fleshing out more history. But instead we just got another "Ow, my head!" scene.
  
  It might have been nice if the aliens involved in this story weren't Ferengi. Especially at this point, they were so clearly "bad guys" that there's no way to establish doubt (Kazago's last action did show another side of the Ferengi, but it was too late to help this episode). Maybe it could have been some alien species with some degree of mental powers in order to help explain the mind control device.
• From g@g on 2012-02-06 at 2:50am:
  More problems:
  
  1) How did Riker know Picard took his phaser with him on the Stargazer? For that matter, *why* did Picard have his phaser? He was last reported "resting," hardly a good reason to be armed, - although that might have been some kind of ruse. Still, Picard's movements before he transported were controlled by Bok's "thoughtmaker," and Bok would hardly want to make his job more difficult by arming Picard... Neither the fact that Picard was armed or that Riker somehow knew about it makes any real sense.
  
  2)Beverly makes some odd statements. First of all, she says that cases of headache have been rare ever since the "brain has been charted." The thing is, and I know this from personal experience, many if not most headaches have very little to do with the brain.-They're a result of muscular tension, either in the actual face and scalp muscles (like the Temporalis), or more likely in the neck and shoulder muscles, especially the Sternocleidomastoid, the Scalenes, and the Trapezius. So long as human beings rely on these amazing but fault-prone sinewy tissues for movement, there will, at best, be occasional cases of headaches. The only one on board who is actually immune is Data.
  
  retty cool episode. Esp. liked the human-farengi first officer connection here.
• From Daimon Obumtarr on 2023-04-17 at 5:02pm:
  When they are in the ready room while talking about the forgery, Beverly barges in and addresses Riker as ""Number One".
  Isn't that weird?

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-10-11 at 10:42am:
  - Crusher tells Picard that Amanda has done honors work in "neurobiology, plasma dynamics, and ecoregeneration." Later in the episode, Crusher gives Amanda the task of testing several tricorders and explains their function to Amanda. Shouldn't someone who's done honors work in neurobiology already know how to use a tricorder?
  - When Amanda begins testing the tricorders, she holds the first one pointing away from her body. The rest she holds correctly, pointing toward her body.
  - Q gives Amanda only two choices at the end of the episode: Return to the Continuum, or refrain from using her powers. Isn't there another choice? Amanda claimed that she just wanted to become a normal human again. Isn't that the third choice? In "Deja Q," the Continuum turned Q into a human and stripped him of his powers. Why couldn't they do the same to Amanda, if that's what she really wants?
  - Until this episode, the first contact between humans and the Q Continuum supposedly came during "Encounter At Farpoint." During "Hide And Q," both Picard and Q make several references to this "first encounter." This episode definitely gives the impression that until Farpoint, the Q Continuum knew little and cared less for humanity. However, two members of the Q Continuum had been on Earth, took on human form, and even conceived a child at least a decade before "Encounter At Farpoint"!
  - The transformation of the former turbolift on the right side of the island in Main Engineering proceeds in this episode. In "Realm Of Fear," it leads to some kind of auxiliary engine room. While giving Amanda a tour, Geordi points to the door and identifies it as an entrance to a Jefferies tube.
• From online broker on 2009-10-07 at 11:42am:
  Q says she can do anything she wants as a Q, then why can't she just live as a Q among humans for a while, why couldnt her parents? It would only be a fraction of their existance, anyway. Its not like Q never spent time with the humans, he even got plenty of em killed,too.
• From rpeh on 2010-06-14 at 9:59pm:
  So dull!
  
  The outcome is obvious from the start and nothing that happens during the episode changes that.
• From Quando on 2011-08-24 at 12:35am:
  I kind of like the idea of the Enterprise having an intern program (although I wonder why we never see any other interns). Also, the type of dog that Q turned Beverly into was just perfect. I think it was a red Irish Setter? Very funny.
• From Keefaz on 2017-01-22 at 12:15am:
  Rotten: like all Q episodes. The most overrated character in all of Star Trek.
• From Chris Long on 2020-05-23 at 8:09pm:
  Q is a very irritating introduction to the series, and considering that Roddenberry was an "Atheist" (Clearly not even close) it's amazing that the subject of superior beings came into play so often!
  I am always irritated that they never tied Q back to Trelaine... Ultra irritating!
  I seem to be getting irritated over and over on this subject!!
  No omnipotent being would EVER concern themselves with my being's emotional welfare, much less HUMANS!
  The notion is beyond absurd and... IRRITATING!
  The whole concept of creating gods that somehow can be tweaked by human emotion is just plain moronic...self serving in the extreme and throwing credit where nothing any human is worthy of!
  Human morality was Pickard's stupid argument?!?!? Laughable in the extreme!!!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From carsonist on 2010-08-01 at 2:50am:
  I thought it was rather silly that Hoshi, packing a suitcase to spend a few days with a creepy space guy, decided to pack nothing but her uniform and seductive underwear.
• From Zorak on 2016-10-09 at 1:21am:
  Not a good episode by any means, like all of season 3 so far. This one seemed a bit more neutral though, a bit less offensive.
  
  I think I would have actually liked this episode if it weren't for what I see as a missed opportunity. I really didn't mind the aliens ulterior motive and I really started to feel for the guy. I liked how he seemingly decided to take the high road and bow out when he could not convince Hoshi. He gained my respect and the thought that he would continue to be alone was painful and would have made for a bittersweet end to the encounter. Unfortunately, Enterprise writers must always have a bad guy and they messed up the ending by having him use coercion and force. Then they come up with the ridiculous solution that Hoshi would smash his space snow globe which made no sense at all since all leverage would be gone the moment she put it down.
  
  A real missed opportunity for what otherwise would have made for a nice, though still not particularly good, episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From David Chambers on 2010-04-13 at 10:43pm:
  I've just noticed - after watching the episode for the nth time - in several of the fight crowd shots you can see a Voth in the audience. Some recycling from the makeup dept methinks!
• From formborg on 2011-12-31 at 6:11am:
  These episodes where the reviewer's rating and the fan ratings differ considerably are always somewhat curious. In this case, I have to side firmly with the fans, especially the ones who voted on the lower end of the scale.
  
  In other words: atrocious.
  
  Not completely without redeeming moments, and even redeeming characters (the Hirogen and Penk were both good), and with a good concluding scene, but painful to watch, on the whole.
  
  Lousy fighting choreography. Lousy dialogue. Too many crowd shots, too many flashing lights, and too many spinning cameras.
• From Rob UK on 2013-10-28 at 1:02am:
  I got the impression everyone on Voyager only had a problem when the found out the competitors were not doing it of their own free will, when everyone thought that the combatants were self motivated this was fine, when they were slaves fighting for their bed and bread was when perspectives changed against the game.
  
  Was there also a slight dig at modern day big business getting away with whatever they want as they support local economies with their revenue creation and are often above the law? For example like big pharmaceuticals and petroleum interests in modern day.
  
  Yes the fight choreographing was terrible (did you expect Shaw brothers here? This is from a branch of Hollywood in the 90's like the rest doesn't know how to throw non theatrical punches yet)but they probably had the Rock on as fight consultant so it was bound to look like WWE trying to look like real fighting.
  
  Redeeming features for me, harry getting goaded by the crew in regards to his paresi Squares injuries and him telling Tom he punches like a Ferengi, Weyoon and Martok actors outdoing themselves with yet another passionately twisted and convincing alien, Seven doing an abused version of wing chun or tai chi in the silver spandex and Neelix debating whether to go to the insect display at the museum or go to the fight
  
  "Alien bugs or alien fitiscuffs? That is a tough one" next frame of film he is jumping up screaming and cheering at the fight.
• From parkbench on 2016-02-28 at 12:02pm:
  ...wow not what I expected from people. For folks claiming to be into sci-fi, your ability to imagine non-abthropocentric species is surprisingly limited...
  
  But then so are the writers'. Yes, this episode was mind of a weak rehash and jumble of many different things--but the inference one could make, and that I wish the writers had explicitly drawn out, is one of culture/epistemology.
  
  Just as we have seen species who communicate only telepathically, have no concept of music, or any number of permutations on our multiple understandings of "sensible" behavior, it is easy to imagine a culture or species which already operates with a kind of shared "memory-net," this being a conventional way of sharing things for this society. Despite this being a more intense version of this and no doubt jarring to members of that society, it also would not be unfamiliar in form, like a particularly violent photo does not shock you simply because you are looking at a floating image of something that happened somewhere else, but because of its content.
  
  And if this is the case, yes, it would be morally questionable for another species to desecrate the monument because it interacts with their physiology or cultural experience differently. If they didn't know any better and destroyed it, fine. But once they knew they had that burden of knowledge, and the final decision was very Trekkian in my opinion--maintaining a sort of "posthumous prime dirextive". Again, despite the mediocrity of the episode over all.
  
  An analogy that occurred to me instantly upon fi ishing the episode would be some kind of alien species that did not use visual imagery of any kind in either symbolism or scientific communication, perhaps with some kind of limited and easily-damaged eyesight that would feel like staring at the sun would to us, connected to the emotion their were witnessing They are visiting a now-extinct Earth. They come across paintings, or pictures, or even gruesome historical footage of atrocities on Earth, either by downloading them or, as on the case of many monuments or murals, simply seeing them. And this causes a similar existential upset for them, leading to the dilemma of destroying or leaving the monuments. While we keep these for historical purposes, to this 'innocently exploring species'--if there is such a thing--it feels like an invasion of their very being.
  
  So, wouldn't the answer be obvious here? To us, these are innocuous things we can turn our eyes away from easily, and disengage from. But to another species, it may not be. I thought the analogy, here, was very clear if poorly drawn out. Trek has had its fair share of species who share thoughts, project them, change their environment via the same, or even prosecute 'thought crimes'. How is this not a leap people can make?
  
  So, yeah. While heavy handed, not the worst episode ever, by far. Get it together, people!
• From lumzi on 2017-07-27 at 12:32pm:
  Hard to imagine a space faring people who have travelled millions/billions of Kilometers through space being undone by a painting or photograph.
  
  Plus there is a difference between seeing a seeing a painting right infront of you and have an image forcibly beamed into your head.
• From QuasiGiani on 2017-09-19 at 5:13pm:
  My comment: This was one of the dumb, bad episodes. Not the dumbest or worst, of course, but dreadful all the same. One of those that'd I'd rather just forget about... and yet I comment here...
  
  Because what I really wanted to say is:
  
  The two comments above this one* (those of parkbench & lumzi) seem to be meant to be under "Memorial".
  
  *if this one makes it -- which I'm supposing it will, as Kethinov (thank you) has been very accommodating so far.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From themadworld on 2013-12-12 at 8:54am:
  One of the interesting things about this episode – maybe something that could have been drawn on more – was a parallel I saw between the Federation's attitude toward the Vulcans and the "boomers" attitude toward the Federation. Both are trying to prove themselves as independent from the larger, more powerful group.
  
  I really enjoyed this episode. 7/10

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From technobabble on 2010-11-23 at 7:16am:
  But they do have a form of currency in called Federation credits but they don't seem to have any physical money. The various series & movies touched upon that the economics of the Federation are vastly different than the capitalist model. With no hunger, disease or poverty they live in a post scarcity society. Check out the wiki writeup under "Federation credits".
  
  It is still odd that Kirk would refer to efforts expended to train Spock in a monetary sense though.
  
• From John on 2011-02-17 at 2:28am:
  Kirk is such a fathead in this one. This episode is a prominent example of the differences between Kirk and Picard. I'm not saying one is better than another, but Picard would never have tried to foist his own view of "the way things should be" on an independent world the way Kirk does here. These people don't want his help, because ultimately they don't need it, but that doesn't stop him from forcing himself upon them.
  
  He learns a valuable lesson for his trouble -- things are not always what they appear to be. But he promptly forgets it and goes back to being the same old Kirk for the rest of the series.
  
  The other thing that doesn't click for me is the brain scanner. I guess it's because I'm used to the "non-Soviet" Klingons from TNG and DS9, but this certainly seems more like a Romulan weapon than a Klingon one.
• From ChristopherA on 2012-07-04 at 1:48pm:
  A classic. This is the TOS episode that puts the Klingons in the best light, in the sense of them being worthy enemies of the Federation. I love Kor's combination of ruthlessness and philosophy, and the concept of the wolves among sheep. And the episode has a great sense of wartime excitement. I quite like this episode, even though it does have some weaknesses.
  - I agree that it is very odd how Kirk and Spock fail to react to the Organians’ demonstration of knowledge they should not have. The episode would make more sense if they simply couldn’t overhear the weird conversation between the Organians.
  - It is funny that the first time I watched the episode, I never really noticed how the attitude of Kirk and Spock towards the Organians after the Klingons arrive is quite irrational. They constantly berate the Organians for not fighting back. Yet the Organians, as far as Kirk and Spock know, have no military and are vastly technologically inferior to the Klingons. The Klingons are totally ruthless, a fact which Kirk himself tells the Organians. They have announced massive retribution for any deaths. Even if the Organians pull off some sort of incredible resistance on the ground, the Klingons can obliterate their society from orbit if they so choose. Obeying the occupation force costs them their freedom but allows their culture to survive. It is understandable that Kirk and Spock would want the Organians to assist them, but it is puzzling that both of them, even Spock, act as though the Organians are fools for not doing so. And blowing up the munitions dump seems like a somewhat callous act, given the likelihood of Klingon reprisal. I assume they justify it by military necessity, and a feeling that life under Klingon rule is worse than death and thus anything the Organians do to increase the chance of Federation victory would be good for them in the long term. Apparently the Prime Directive is so totally overruled in time of war that Kirk feels no need to respect the Organian culture of pacifism and can simply make decisions for them.
  - Kor's decision to wait 12 hours before mind-sifting Kirk makes little sense to me. If Kirk is a worthy foe, he will not cave in to Kor’s demands; if he is not worthy, why give him the extra 12 hours? I'm wondering if the Organians are playing with Kor's mind. Or perhaps the success rate of the Mind-Sifter is not really very good; that could explain why it never shows up again. Or perhaps Kor just wanted to see how Kirk would react if given some time to think about his impending horrible demise, just to gauge what kind of man he is and understand the mind of the enemy.
  - It is interesting to compare the ruthlessness of Kor to the recharacterized TNG Klingons. The later series spend a lot of time painting the Klingons as a proud, honorable warrior race with a culture that seems strange and violent to the Federation, but is very worthy in its own way. Conveniently, they don’t really mention what happens to the losers when the Klingons actually win a war; the Klingons would seem a lot less like fun, good-hearted frat boys if you knew about the horrors of Klingon occupation, as Kirk describes here. Come to think of it, maybe the Cardassians are the real spiritual successors to Kor’s Klingons.
  - I love the Organian gesture of greeting. I should start using that myself.
  
• From Strider on 2012-07-25 at 5:28am:
  I think this episode has some strengths. Kor is awesome. Kirk is frustrated into anger, and even Spock accepts the necessity to try to persuade the Organians to fight. I like to see the heroes kicking ass, but really, nobody stops to wonder if there's more going on here than meets the eye? And in another episode, they claim that they can't violate the Prime Directive on pain of death or whatever, but where the heck is it now? Why do they assume that the Organians (as they understand them at this point) haven't thought about the implications of their pacifism? They would rather be conquered than use violence-- their choice. People who are truly committed to pacifism have thought these things through.
  
  But my greatest irritation is with any episode or movie of any kind where a short explanation could resolve the misunderstanding. I realize it would have made the episode about 6 minutes long, but why won't the Organians just say, "Look, we've got some powers you don't know about, and these guys can't hurt us. It's all good." Then maybe showed them that hot-weapons trick or something? A simple misunderstanding just isn't enough to hang a whole plot on.
  
  Strider
• From Glenn239 on 2012-10-01 at 1:58pm:
  ‘7’. The Prime Directive obviously does not apply to strategically located Class M planets in key sectors bordering a dangerous enemy. By the time of the NG the Federation is apparently able to allow its enemies all the advantages in battle, and then pull it out at the end with the Boy Wonder and Filter Face issuing some embarrassing technibable while reconfiguring the deflector into a time machine or whatever. (So what are those hippies back at Starfleet design academy doing? Didn’t anyone notice that the deflector array can be changed into a new handy device by a 15 year old marketing device?) Anyways, by NG the Federation might be strong enough to act weakly, but in the original series the Federation clearly has to watch out for the possibility of being conquered, and that must mean the Prime Directive is not universal.
  
  This one looks to be a French resistance story from WW2 crossed over to science fiction. It’s a pity Spock’s interrogation took place off screen; that would have been a strong scene. Spock and Kirk play the role of incompetent British operatives, (Kirk, I’m pretty sure that you should be hiding you Vulcan from the Klingon occupation army rather than parading him around in front of the governor). The Klingons emerge as a solid, well conceived opposition for the Enterprise, but then a promising premise is squandered by yet more advanced entities deciding to finally do their godlike duties in enforcing decent principles and prevent war. Nice, but where have you been for the past 10,000 years and why did you show up just in time to wreck a great ending?
  
  This episode may have contained the single biggest error in judgment pertaining to the longer term survival of the series. If they had let the war just starting play out over the course of following seasons, then the writers would have had a strong ‘fall back’ story arc they could draw upon to replace or pump up future turkeys like ‘The Apple’. Since Organia is a key sector, just have the Organians prevent the war within their area, but what happens further away than that they do not care about. So the war continues, but the logistics of it are difficult for both sides hence it becomes drawn out. Star Trek stories in a war background in science fiction are inherently stronger pieces: Exhibit A, Wrath of Khan. Exhibit B: The Undiscovered Country.
• From Scott Hearon on 2014-03-31 at 10:52am:
  A really strong episode, mainly because of Kor.
  
  Instead of giving us a 1-dimensional "evil invader," the story gives us a fully-developed antagonist who brings out the most aggressive side of Kirk. The characterization of Kor could have been horribly oversimplified, which would have made for an extremely boring episode. As it was, it was one of the best ones that I've watched so far.
  
  I, like Kethinov, grow very tired of unimaginably powerful beings in the series. Sure, the mystery of their true nature lends a certain air of suspense and wonder through most of the episode. But the eventual revelation that they are virtually omnipotent and omniscient is rather dull.
  
  Still, it's good to see that one of the most iconic alien races that Star Trek produced had such a strong introduction.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-08-24 at 8:19pm:
  Great confusion surrounds this matter/antimatter ratio thing. When Brahms come on board, she claims the matter/antimatter ratio has been changed. She says that the mixture isn't as rich as Starfleet specs call for. In "Where No One Has Gone Before," Picard says Kozinski is coming on board to test "different intermix formulas." And the chief engineer in "Skin Of Evil" talks about setting the ratio of matter and antimatter to 25 to 1. Isn't there only one matter/antimatter ratio? While taking the Starfleet exam in "Coming Of Age," Wesley and Mordock said there is only one ratio with matter/antimatter ... 1 to 1.
  The energy needed for warp drive come from the mutual annihilation of matter and antimatter as they mix in the dilithium chamber. When an electron and a positron meet, an explosion occurs, destroying both entities. If two electrons and positron meet, wouldn't that leave one electron with nothing to do? So if the ratio is anything but 1 to 1, what does the extra matter do once the antimatter is used up?
• From djb on 2008-02-25 at 9:47am:
  Poor Geordi! He just tries too hard.
  
  I was excited when they mentioned Leah Brahms at the beginning, because Booby Trap left open so many great questions: What is she really like? Will Geordi ever meet her? If he does, is his love life finally going to change for the better?
  
  Geordi is a great character, very likable. Unfortunately, his luck in love hasn't always been so great. I really root for him, but have to shake my head at how he shoots himself in the foot. Having them meet in his quarters, him in casual clothes, with just the right lighting and music... really laying it on thick!
  
  I like how he finally starts to be honest with her; as he points out at the end of the episode, he should have just told her about the holodeck program from the beginning. Of course, we wouldn't have had that great scene between them later on! I like how they come to terms at the end, even if it is abrupt. The poignant ending with Brahms answering a call from her husband was a nice touch.
  
  I was a little disappointed in Geordi's handling the situation in general; he still seems pretty insecure, even though he supposedly gained confidence after an encounter with the alien in "Transfigurations." Maybe it would have been even worse...
  
  I enjoyed this episode on multiple levels. One level is obvious: good character development for La Forge. Another is more subtle, but also important: holodeck ethics. Hearkening back to "Hollow Pursuits," one wonders what really are the ramifications of being able to holographically simulate real people? If the holodeck were a real invention, would there be laws or restrictions as to whom you can simulate, or what situations? Would people have to sign releases allowing their likenesses to be used in holodeck programs? Would hackers sell underground holodeck programs that illegally simulate celebrities or other people for consumers' basest fantasies? I mean, what happens when a wife walks in on her husband having sex with a virtual woman?
  
  More relevant to this episode is the striking contrast of holodeck reality with actual reality. Even though I doubt Geordi had replayed that program in the year or so between meeting holodeck Leah and meeting actual Leah, one gets the strong impression that the one exchange on the holodeck in "Booby Trap" made him develop a serious crush on Leah. Or, at least, holodeck Leah. In the time between meeting holodeck Leah and actual Leah, it's clear he'd thought about her a lot, imagined the possibility of a romantic connection, and probably gotten a little carried away.
  
  Unfortunately, as Guinan tries to warn him, there's a big difference between a holodeck's approximation of a person (which is, basically a computer program) and the person herself (not at all a computer program). To me, this is a warning about not becoming too emotionally involved in a fantasy, whatever that fantasy might be.
  
  I like the actress who plays Leah and it was good to see her again, and it's great to see subplots in characters' lives pick up where they had left off in previous episodes.
  
  I found the plot about the space-borne life form mostly unremarkable, except I did like how the two subplots fused towards the end.
  
  And hats off to whomever came up with the name! "Galaxy" refers to both the life form's home (interstellar space), as well as the Galaxy-class Enterprise; "child" refers to the dead life form's offspring as well as both La Forge's and Brahms' attitude towards their engines! Great name.
• From JRPoole on 2008-05-07 at 2:20pm:
  I don't usually comment on technobabble errors, but the matter/anti-matter thing bothered me as well. But DSOmo has already said that. In other technobabble news, what in the world are Geordi and Brahms referring to when they say that all matter in space resonates at a 21 centimeter interval? Granted, I'm not a physicist, but this seems absurd to me. Can anybody explain this, or is it just another instance of really stupid technobabble?
  
  I do, however, really like the idea of the space creatures. We've seen something sort of like this with Tin Man, but these seem to be slightly lower-order animals, I'm thinking something along the line of "space whales." The Geordi/Brahms plot is welcome as well. Overall, a decent episode.
• From CAlexander on 2011-04-28 at 1:14pm:
  A solid episode. I actually rather liked the "filler" B plot about the baby.
  
  Answer to JRPoole: 21 cm is the "hydrogen line" that can be seen in interstellar space from quantum transitions in hydrogen. So all matter with hydrogen (not "all matter in space") would emit a tiny bit of radiation at this wavelength. Not that this really justifies the technobabble, but it is based on something.
  
• From EZ on 2012-05-06 at 11:33pm:
  Wow, this had such great potential and then crashed at the end. Calling Geordi's emotional hissy fit "standing up to Brahms" is baffling.
  
  Once she discovers what's going on, she has every right to be outraged. Geordi is right, it's not what she thinks. But instead of explaining that to her, the writers have him get emotional and shut her down because he "tried his best." What a horrible excuse.
  
  Her response should have been something along the lines of "How dare you try and make me feel bad about this. You were the one creating and then flirting with a digital duplicate of me. You're the one using that experience to hit on me, despite the fact that I am not interested. You are the one who crossed boundaries. You do not get to pretend that you're the one on the high road here. You're the one that needs to explain yourself."
  
  I could have chalked that up to the characters. But the worst part is Geordi's hissy fit ends up solving the problem. Not only that, but now she's acting shy around him and begrudgingly takes her husband's phone call. A man who was established that she's strictly monogamous with. The whole ending completely undermined Brahms character in order to try and show Geordi as the good guy in the end. Geordi did and acted nothing like a good person would. And a strong female character like Brahms had been up until that point should have called him on that and not been taken in.
  
  Such a wonderful and interesting thing to explore, completely ruined not just the episode but the character of Geordi by poor writing without a lick of emotional intelligence.
• From Axel on 2018-08-20 at 3:29am:
  I think it's safe to say this episode would never be made today, at least not without sparking a lot of backlash. In the 27 years since this episode first aired, the digital/internet age has changed the conversation on this issue. So have society's views of what's considered sexual harassment. Geordi's actions in a modern context seem borderline creepy, and I recall Burton saying something to that effect when asked about this episode at a convention a few years ago.
  
  Had this entire thing not been given a sexual undertone, it might've been more apt for Geordi to react to Brahms the way he did. In his diatribe, he claims he was merely reaching out to her in friendship, but it's obvious he wanted more than that. And the dialogue he assigns to holo-Brahms was much too intimate for her to mistake it as anything but a fantasy. I think a modern audience would applaud her disgust, and would in turn be disgusted at Geordi's defense of his actions.
  
  This is all a shame, because it's a solid episode. It involves the discovery of an interesting species and a dilemma that the two must work together to resolve. But, the "resolution" of the Brahms and Geordi relationship is too poorly handled for me to think of this as above average.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Goblin on 2009-01-29 at 1:44pm:
  I thought this episode was really boring actually. I don't think that this deserves anwhere near as high as an 8.
• From schn on 2010-11-12 at 11:49pm:
  I get that this episode was meant to show someone walking away from Starfleet, but that is very easy to do when you have super powers.
• From MJ on 2011-01-05 at 5:37pm:
  I hated this episode.
  
  What bothers me is the politically correct, New Agey brand of spirituality the episode gives the Native Americans. While trying to make them look like the good guys here, this “magical, mystical Indian” portrayal is just as racist, and just as inaccurate, as the “barbarian-savage” portrayal you got from early white sources in the Americas. The American Indian belief systems varied widely from tribe to tribe, and also the way the Indians interacted with nature was just as varied across the Americas. The notion that they were like Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden before the white man’s arrival is patently ridiculous. And, now enter one of TNG’s strangest characters, the Traveler, and his vague explanations for how he taps into the raw energy of the universe to do what he does, all of which is apparently on par with what the Indians believe, and all as part of some journey of self-discovery for Wesley? Where is the usual TNG in all of this?
  
  Well, it’s there, actually. It’s just interwoven with all this PC stuff. It could be a really good episode that tackles a meaningful, real-world problem: whether it’s right for a government to force people from their homes for the “greater good” of a peace settlement. But that takes a backseat to the Wesley plot. I thought "The Ensigns of Command" did a much better job with this problem.
  
  I can appreciate what the episode was trying to do. It’s the Seventh Season, and TNG needs to tie up all the loose ends. Last we saw of Wesley, he had gotten in trouble at Starfleet Academy for participating an illegal dare-devil stunt, and was subsequently held back a year. Not exactly a good finale for a character who played a major role in several seasons of the show. And, I do like how Wesley has a bit of a chip on his shoulder here, not bouncing back all fresh and perky after a miserable year at the Academy being shunned by his classmates. I even like the idea of him becoming disillusioned with Starfleet and wanting something different. It just didn’t seem this was a good sendoff for the character.
  
  Maybe what bothers me the most is that Wesley will actually be exploring the Galaxy in a far more significant way than Picard and crew, which takes something away from their mission and storyline. Their ship, with all its technology and its highly trained crew, won’t get nearly as far as this boy wonder hopping around higher existence with the Traveler and possibly some Indians. It’s ultimately unsettling because at the end of “All Good Things” we’re told that amazing new discoveries are what await Picard; seems Wesley’s the one actually having all the fun. I never liked the Traveler to begin with. As superior life forms go, the Q Continuum was TNG’s stroke of genius. This Traveler just gets in the way of the whole plot and adds a “feel-good” element that TNG would be better off leaving alone. Science fiction is not science, but one of the things I’ve always appreciated about TNG is that at least they have plausible explanations for some of what goes on.
• From Trekstar on 2011-01-31 at 5:31am:
  This episode makes me cringe. I never actually hated Wesley Crusher, but every so often he would say or do something so lame and so cheesy. I think the character wasn't fully developed because the writers didn't know what the hell they wanted from him. Not only do they give him the dumbest lines in this ep., but they give everyone else dumb lines when they are around him. Like the eye rolling crap that Data says when he sees Wesley for the first time. I personally wish they would have made Wes angrier and angrier in each ep he did, then have him(with the help of his time traveler friend) become a Darth Vader type bad guy. Sweet lil Anakin becomes Darth Vader; sweet nerdy Wesley Crusher becomes...something! Oh well, they instead wrote this masterpiece. One last thing, the traveler really bugs me. I guess they are going for a mystical feel to this guy, but to me he seems too creepy, like a pedophile who's been lurking in the shadows, watching Wesley grow into a man so they can skip off into other realities together. The point: I hate this episode, and I hate the way they said good bye to Wesley Crusher!!!
• From John on 2011-02-06 at 11:30pm:
  I have to agree with others that this episode definitely exploits a stereotype to tell its story. One thing I hate about this episode (and this extends to Voyager episodes about Chakotay) is the cheesy flute music. Why has this one musical form been used as a meme for all Native Americans? Are we supposed to believe that all the people who first populated the Americas listened to one style of crappy music? It's utter nonsense, and basely false.
  
  Another thing for which the writers ought to be ashamed is referring to the settlers as "Indians". This happens repeatedly, and each time it makes me cringe. This is the 24th century -- by all other indications, humanity has moved beyond these dated and racist terms. Why not just call them "settlers"? That is, after all, what they are.
  
  I really don't like this episode. The only thing that redeems it at all for me is that Wesley finally goes away.
• From Dorvan on 2013-08-12 at 12:59am:
  This episode was written as my 13th birthday present by Ron Moore. Most of it was based on a conversation my mother had with him about Star Trek failure to include Native American characters. For the most part I liked it and it was a good send-off for Wesley...However I did have a huge problem with the cliche Native American stereotype. Picking on Picard because of something his ancestor did. I am sure that with any good research you can link anyone to a bloodthirsty ancestor. Dumb. That flute is annoying…vision quest is the answer to everything…we speak to the bear...all they need was a catch phrase like Hackuchimoya…
  
  This episode would have been better off with some actual research into Native culture.
• From Keefaz on 2017-02-21 at 10:15am:
  A pretty feeble episode. Amazingly ham-fisted treatment of Native American culture. I thought we'd agreed not to refer to them as 'Indians' decades ago, so how this slipped into the script is beyond me. And the episode works on two different levels of bullsht in that the quasi-Native American rubbish about spirit animals (incidentally, how could a Klingon or Vulcan be a spirit animal, no different to a parrot, as claimed here?) turns out to be a fabrication by The Traveller.
  
  Best scene: a fight breaks out which could, potentially, reignite a Federation-Cardassia war and Wes and The Traveller just stroll off, beatifically, into the sunset.
• From Mike on 2017-07-29 at 11:08pm:
  After Nechayev's first meeting with Picard, she walks out of the observation lounge, stops, and thanks Picard for making her feel welcome. I was kind of hoping she'd slink back to the table, grab some Valarian canopies, say, "just going to take a few of these for the road" and then leave. I mean she didn't eat a single one after Picard went to all that trouble!
  
  Wesley's douchebaggery is a little hard to stomach in this episode because at times it felt very overdone. But, it's fitting for his character after we last saw him get reprimanded for a daredevil stunt at the Academy. The scenes with him and the Traveler were also a little tough to get through, and the one where they casually stroll away from the battle in the village was just awkward. As mentioned above, it feels like the Enterprise's experiences will pale in comparison to Wesley and the Traveler.
  
  That aside, the rest of this episode was well done and explored a relevant issue. In the 1990's, with the production of "Dances With Wolves", mainstream U.S. society was starting to take a look at the country's history of dealings with American Indians. The historical undertones of this episode reflect that effort and give us yet another example of Star Trek's forward thinking on these issues.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Pete Miller on 2006-11-13 at 5:38am:
  I detest the 'Torres' character in Voyager. She reminds me of how Counselor Troi was in TNG. Always having episodes centering around her stupid emotional problems. I never have liked Torres and I never will.
  
  This episode was your standard A/B plot; typical Voyager fare. I was pleased, though, that it featured Chakotay somewhat, something we will see less and less of, to Robert Beltran's displeasure.
  
  Also, Neelix has begun to be phased out somewhat, along with Tuvok. It's really unfortunate that Braga and those assholes decided to start obsessing over the Janeway/Doctor/Seven trio and giving less attention to the other characters. I really thought Neelix and Tuvok were wonderful characters with all kinds of room for development. But then again, that's the story of Voyager: Unrealized potential resulting in infinite mediocrity.
• From Rob on 2008-04-26 at 11:51pm:
  I have to agree with Pete: Voyager never reached its potential despite some powerfully entertaining episodes. It started right at the beginning when the tensions between Maquis and Starfleet personnel were ignored way too quickly, then we have Voyager's hidden factory producing all the torpedoes and shuttles they want completely undercutting the "we are all alone out here with limited resources" basis of the premiere, they continued the mistake by not showcasing the same "background/dayplayer" characters as if the population of Voyager was limited, and then finally they focused all of the attention on Seven of Nine until I was sick to death of the "Borg-implants save the day" plots.
  However, at least they didn't hand the series' last episode to a different show, i.e. Enterprise!
• From Bronn on 2013-11-24 at 4:39pm:
  The issue isn't that this is an episode about Torres' emotional problems. That could actually be interesting since it's actual continuity. The problem is that she would have learned the fact of her friends' death long before this episode, but her emotional problems start and end in this episode. She's perfectly normal the week before, and she's perfectly normal again the week after.
  
  If they had wanted to explore this, it would have made a great subplot, honestly. There's like 30 Maquis crewmen on board who have recently received news that all their comrades have died, except for the handful that Eddington managed to save. A lot could have been done with this. Even if they wanted to focus exclusively on Torres, they could have devoted a couple minutes in a few other episodes to showing her dangerous holodeck stunts, letting it build up until this episode when she's so detached that everyone notices. Heck, the opportunity was there-they did that whole "Captain Proton" thing for "Night," which was just a silly scene completely disconnected from the plot of that episode. The focus was on the Captain's emotional issues that episode, but it would have been a great opportunity to hint at what was going on with Torres as well.
• From pbench on 2015-09-11 at 7:54am:
  now THERE's some amazing pacing. this is the voyager i have always wanted. dark mood lighting--serious emotional range that these actors KNOW they are capable of. continuity from previous episodes (seeing tom's boyish enthusiasm about archaic control schemes, b'elanna's preoccupation with her maquis friends/past), not taking huge unnecessary leaps in plot but focusing, honing in on a very simple but compelling scenario: not a merely violent encounter but a race to the finish.
  
  this episode is phenomenal. i am surprised to see that kethinov said t was average, i was really pleasantly surprised by how serious the directing was for this episode, allowing actors more than the standard short shots to show facial responses, depth, etc. this feels like the seeds of what future, more melodramatic scifi would become, like BSG. very happy to see themes of suicide and depression dealt with as well, very real and important things to address.
  
  i also think that while we all know it's a plot device to suddenly introduce her depression, anyone who's experienced or been around trauma knows that it does not manifest itself in obvious ways--and indeed, it can often lay underneath the surface of normal social pleasantries until it starts getting worse. then to others it seems as if it is sudden when it has actually been there the whole time. i thought it was clever of the writers to finally write in a plot point that wasn't a contrived ret-con but was actually plausible: underneath appearances, b'elanna was actually deeply affected by the news. and thank god she was, as other commenters have pointed out, since voyager so quickly scuttled all of the potential that lay in the maquis/federation tension so early. at least here it is mildly, if briefly, resuscitated.
  
  seriously...i think if you watch this episode carefully, you'll see it is directorially much more mature than many of its counterparts. things actually are given time to build up (within the episode, series wise obviously no), we follow the character through each stage, it's not the rush job that many voyager episodes feel like.
  
  anyway i'll take 5 of these episodes over most of the camp any day! here's to the "emotions" that apparently bother folks! cheers!

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From Tallifer on 2011-05-15 at 10:05am:
  I rate this one 10/10 simply because this type of story is why Enterprise was initially interesting to me. In fact I dislike very much the countless episodes where the prequel Starfleet encounters alien civilizations close at hand yet totally unknown to the 24th century and sometimes more powerful (for example the Suliban).
  
  This kind of Earth-centred, early exploration stuff seems more like that which would preface Kirk.
• From Mitchell on 2013-06-07 at 10:53am:
  My issue with this episode is the idea that Earth got Warp 2 so late. Where did the engines in all these freighters we've seen come from? Add to that the speed which they seem to go from Warp 2 to Warp 5 seems out of sync.
• From Dstyle on 2015-09-29 at 8:27pm:
  Mt. McKinley! Geez, this show sometimes. I have family and friends in Alaska, and I've never met anyone who has ever been to Denali who called it "Mt. McKinley"--especially climbers. When speaking about Denali/Mt. McKinley, the name you choose to use is a political choice, so I guess I'm not surprised that this show picked the white imperialist name over the centuries-old native name, since I assume there aren't anymore First Nations people to complain about it in Star Trek's "utopian" future. Such a small detail in the show, but such a telling one nonetheless, as it strikes me as the kind of detail Roddenberry would have delighted in getting right.
• From peterwolf on 2015-12-12 at 10:48pm:
  What a strange coincidence: on August 29, 2015 the mountain, formerly known as Mt. Mckinley, has officially been named "Denali". It is hard to believe that no climber ever referred to this mountain as "McKinley" when all maps and literature used this name, in particular the international publications. Interestingly, the mountain was called under Russian rule for some time "„Bolschaja Gora“ (??????? ????), which was nearly a direct translation of "Denali", meaning the "High" or "Big". Does it help the First Nations to ignore the historical facts? I would rather celebrate that the mountain regained its rightful name instead of somehow twisting the historical facts.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From DSOmo on 2007-10-09 at 6:15am:
  - Doesn't it seem as if Barclay is staying conscious for a long time through his process of molecular deconstruction?
  - The away team finds a Lieutenant Kelly dead and covered with second and third degree burns, on the USS Yosemite. Crusher states that he did not die from the burns. But the episode never says what Lieutenant Kelly did die from.
  - It appears the crew of the Yosemite ran their plasma tests with the comtainer still on the transporter pad. Don't they have a lab for this type of activity? This is a science vessel.
  - If the worms in the transporter are members of Starfleet, aren't they behaving rather strange? One did bite Barclay's arm.
  - For the past five seasons, the doors adjacent to the center island in Main Engineering have led to turbolifts. In this episode, Barclay opens this same door and the turbolift is gone! Now it's some kind of auxiliary engine room.
  - When did O'Brien get demoted? At some point he got busted back down to ensign! He takes a direct order from Barclay. I thought both Barclay and O'Brien were lieutenants. However, in this episode, O'Brien is wearing only one black-centered pip.
  - After discovering the life forms in Barclay's arm, Crusher gives him an armband monitoring device. She says it will tell her if "there is the slightest sign" of the life forms increasing in his system. Later, in Engineering, Barclay collapses as a blue glow erupts from both arms and his neck. Oddly enough, the monitoring device attached to his arm doesn't seem to inform Crusher of this development.
• From JRPoole on 2008-09-08 at 1:38pm:
  I'm fond of this episode, like I am of most Barclay episodes, but the premise here is borderline ridiculous. I don't mean the existence of the matter/energy microbes in the plasma stream. I don't even mean the idea of the crew members trapped in the energy stream.
  
  But how does Barclay "see" these entities? I can buy that there's a moment or two when the transporter process first begins where it's possible to see the world around you swirling through all the phased matter. But it's ridiculous to think that you can reach out and grab something sharing the stream with you and simply bring it back with you. Reach out with what? You don't have arms (or eyes, or legs, or teeth, or hair). You exist as a pattern of energy.
  
  I'm usually willing to overlook questionalble science (except when it's REALLY bad, as in the upcoming "Rascals" episode) but this is pushing it a little for me. Although I believe this episode is well paced and interesting, this terrible science drops it down a bit.
• From Drake on 2010-11-08 at 7:10pm:
  Barclay is such a terrible character. One of The worst episodes of the 90's.
• From Sanduzzo on 2014-02-06 at 5:03pm:
  Any episode with Barclay is both boring and annoying to watch.
• From Rob UK on 2015-02-23 at 5:12am:
  Goddammit i hate the character Barclay, annoys the shit out of me in so many ways, what a twat, how the hell this supposed character ever got into Starfleet beggars belief, he gets even worse when they regurgitate him in Voyager.
  
  Dwight Schultz should have retired from acting after playing Murdoch in The A-Team as it was the only character his stupid face fits.
  
  Even Neelix is less annoying than Barclay
• From Bronn on 2015-07-01 at 10:16pm:
  Don't get why this episode is voted so low. Love Barclay, unlike the other commenters, and think he's a delightful addition on the show. Dwight Schulz nails this character, and honestly, this episode really addresses the elephant in the closet: transporters are scary, when you consider the implications of them.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

• From chrisw357 on 2006-06-17 at 1:01am:
  Some fans may not know this, but Morn's name came about because of his role as a bar regular. It's an anagram for Norm, the bar regular in "Cheers". :D
  
  Goodbye, sweet Morn! :(
• From Christopher Wright on 2011-12-21 at 1:52am:
  I wish the writers of Enterprise were as good as the ones for DS9...they would have also realized that gold was worthless to the Ferengi and Capt.Archer could have never used it to lure them in that god-awful episode.
• From hugo on 2012-12-21 at 7:16pm:
  great episode! Not too fond of the seductive lady, but the other characters were great - especially the alien brothers!
• From Zorak on 2016-06-23 at 5:01am:
  Wow. Morn's name really is an anagram and intentional reference to Norm. It's so obvious. I don't know how I never realized it.
  
  
• From Mike on 2016-10-27 at 4:48am:
  Re: Zorak,
  
  And, to make it even more fun, Morn's corner spot in Quark's bar is similar to Norm's corner spot in the Cheers bar.
  
  My favorite exchange:
  
  Quark: Why would the Royal family of Luria give Morn that kind of money?
  
  HAIN: He was the Crown Prince.
  
  Quark: Morn was a prince?
  
  HAIN: You didn't know?
  
  Quark: Morn was a prince?
  
  HAIN: That's what I'm saying.
  
  Quark: Morn was a prince.