March 28 2024

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Voyager Reviews Times Three

By Amy
February 9, 2001 - 4:00 PM

  • Three more new Voyager reviews out for your reading pleasure today, all of Wednesday’s ‘Prophecy’. First up, there’s Bonnie Malmat (T’Bonz) of Section 31. She thought the episode was pretty reasonable, with the B-plot making up for some flaws in the A.

    This was a light story. I found the b-story better than the main story. The episode was a little too predictable, and the Voyager crew a little too trusting, given the circumstances. The takeover was rushed and the virus part seemed too contrived.

    However, the EMH, Harry, Neelix and Tuvok were superb in the b-story, and B’Elanna and Tom were good in their segments. Not in the very top tier of stories, but definitely worth watching.

    To read T’Bonz’s full review, go ahead and follow this link.

  • Second off the mark there’s the apparently ever-optomistic Jason Bates of IGN Sci-Fi who seems to have found himself dissapointed again.

    The Other -- it's one of the oldest concepts in science fiction, the alien enemy as a projection of our own human factions outward onto the cosmos. It certainly was used to good effect in the original Star Trek series, where the Klingons were in many respects stand-ins for the Russians in the Cold War (as the Romulans were the Communist Chinese). No where was this more apparent than in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, which was as much about Glasnost and the Cold War as it was anything else.

    But now that the Russians aren't quite so threatening, what purpose do the Klingons serve in the Star Trek universe? Granted, they are a unique and interesting culture on their own, without any need to turn them into a stand-in for some geopolitical trend here on Earth, but sometimes adding that twist can help carry an otherwise floundering story. One interesting idea for future use of the Klingons is presented in "Prophecy," which casts them (sort of) as Moslems. The episode's timing was fortuitous too, given what's going on in Israel right now. Whether you agree with that interpretation or not though doesn't really matter, since it isn't played up much after it's introduced -- sure the Klingons dip down on their prayer rugs and pray to their ancestors while the crew of Voyager makes some noise about "respecting their beliefs," but that's about as far as this episode goes in talking about religious conflict in our world, or theirs.

    Click here to read Jason’s full review and find out why he rated it a 3 out of 5.

  • Meanwhile, Michael Marek over at Cinescape was actually pleasently surprised by ‘Prophecy’.

    If you are a long-time reader of my reviews, you may recall that I am not particularly fond of Klingon stories. While the Klingon people are interesting, I think they have been heavily overused in Star Trek and have become a cliche.

    The Star Trek Voyager episode "Prophesy," however, is a different kind of Klingon story. It uses the Klingons as a tool for exploring the hopes and dreams of parents for their children. The teleplay was written by Mike Sussman & Phyllis Strong based on a story by Larry Nemecek & J. Kelley Burke and Raf Green & Kenneth Biller. Lengthy lists of writers often signal stories that are cobbled together and unsatisfactory. In the case of "Prophesy," however, we have an interesting story that is well paced with a significant emotional impact.

    Again, follow the link to get the full run-down on the episode.

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