Trek Nation Updates

• In the past week, Fred Sheridan has posted two new editions of his 'Take on Trek' column at Trek Nation. In the first column, 'Season 7's Repressing Care', Fred looks the two Voyager adventures 'Repression' and 'Critical Care', giving his commentary on both, as well as a summary of some trends he is beginning to see with Voyager: Season 7. I the second article, 'Five & Counting', Fred turns his attention to Andromeda, taking a look at the two newest episodes, 'D Minus Zero' and 'Double Helix'.

  Throughout Star Trek history, we have seen attempted takeovers and mutiny. I simply cannot comprehend how five/six individuals had the know with all to overpower 120 people. Perhaps I am missing something here...I honestly do not know. Don't internal sensors detect phaser fire? Wouldn't the bridge have sealed off the area, identified who fired and lock out their command codes? I'm not saying that Tuvok's tactical abilities wouldn't greatly assist in this effort, but still...some things don't add up. If this adventure had instead perhaps dealt with an intruder boarding the ship and using mental telepathy to control others it may have gotten the emotional reaction the writers were looking for. And although my recommendation itself seems corny, it's a sad state of affairs when that is the only recommendation I can comprehend to try and make "Repression" something the audience won't want to repress.

  This episode was followed by one that had been talked about for a while, the Doctor vs the HMO. Going against many individuals, I found "Critical Care" to be a decent episode. Personally, I did not see Robert Picardo's character taking such drastic steps to heal people. My only concern with this mission is the fact there was no real involvement by anyone beyond the Doctor. Although I do prefer Picardo's acting over Ryan's, having an episode that completely/totally revolves around one character and omits everyone else is somewhat pointless. The best scene I found was with Tuvok, Neelix and the alien merchant in the brig. The acting and comedy was priceless, reminding me of the old Spock/McCoy scenes we used to love. Although this scene was very refreshing, I think the writers would have done more good by perhaps having Voyager find the Doctor's program thirty minutes into the mission. This would have allowed for the crew to debate the situation, bring up the possibilities and make a decision. If Janeway had decided not to get involved, but the Doctor went back and did so anyway, this would have had more of an emotional punch and developed the character in a way we'd never seen before. The Doctor would be going off of what he believed was right, regardless of Janeway's "political correctness." Although this did happen to a minor extreme, the potential this adventure had was astounding...but as happens far too often with this ship, it missed it's mark.

  To view Fred's thoughts on Voyager season 7, please click here, while his thoughts on 'Andromeda' can be found here

• Secondy, Trek Nation's newest columnist, Caillan Davenport, looks at Voyager's critics in the first segment of his two-part article on attitudes, perceptions and views of Voyager online.

  One of the most exciting things about the Internet is the exchange of ideas. Thanks to websites, Usenet, Bulletin Boards and e-mail, the Internet is a truly interactive experience. You can read an article, send feedback to the writer, and then discuss it with others - after all, everyone has an opinion. So in this "Special Two-Part Event Edition" of this column (spot the marketing straight from UPN), I'll be looking at different attitudes, perceptions and views of Voyager that can be found on the Internet. This week I'll be looking at "The Critics."

  I wandered along to myrkr.com the other day to take a look at their redesigned site. Aesthetics aside, I was intrigued by an article entitled "Keep 'em coming back for more." Within ten seconds of the page loading, I was confronted by an emotionally scarring image of the USS Voyager from "Year of Hell." (The scene where half a deck goes up in flames...the horror of it all.) This tragic photograph bore the heart-warming caption: "Unfortunately, this didn't actually happen to the U.S.S. Voyager. Darn." Call it a hunch, but I knew that I wasn't going to like this article very much.

  To read Caillan's full article, please click here.

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