Two More Voyager Reviews

• Jeff Bond of Eon Magazine's Tube Reviews has uploaded his take on last week's Voyager episode, 'Inside Man'. Completely unimpressed by the episode, he awarded it a D+.

  "Inside Man" features the same annoying aspects as last season's "Pathfinder"--namely the seemingly coincidental presence of Deanna Troi on Earth, Barclay's continuing apparent incompetence (something you'd think would have gotten him drummed out of Starfleet years ago), and the incredibly condescending name-dropping of NEXT GEN cast members who wouldn't be caught dead on VOYAGER (this time around the used parties are Riker, Data, and LaForge--okay, LeVar Burton WAS able to clear his busy schedule to appear in 1998's "Timeless" episode). And like "Pathfinder" it has precious little to do with VOYAGER's cast of characters--it's a show about Barclay and another excellent illustration of why certain characters warrant their own spin-off series and others do not.

  Yes, I realize that VOYAGER has every right to do the occasional "light" episode, but doesn't it undermine the show's drama to treat its most pivotal plot development--the potential return of the ship to the Alpha Quadrant--as a limp Barclay comedy? And I'd be less apt to complain if the Barclay episodes were actually FUNNY (and VOYAGER has done comic episodes that have worked, like "Someone to Watch Over Me"--even next week's Seven-oriented episode looks a hell of a lot funnier than "Inside Man."), but they're just painful. You know TREK's in trouble when it has to turn to the Ferengi for conflict (anybody want to suffer through TNG's "Menage A Troi" again?). Right now people are cutting "Inside Man" a break in reviews, but I suspect that when people look back at VOYAGER's run and separate the wheat from the chaff, this episode will be recognized for what it is--the bottom of the VOYAGER barrel.

  For the full review, click here.

• Secondly, Michael Hinman of SyFy World has uploaded their review of 'Critical Care' and seemed to think it pretty worthwhile.

  Some confusing characters:
  I liked the fact of using the young man interested in medicine. It provided a face to what was happening in the ward, and gave us some good dramatic scenes, especially when we learned that the young man died despite the Doctor's efforts. However, the boy looked way too much like the doctor working Level Red, almost as if they were brothers. I was wondering if that was going to come out at some point, but it never did. I'm not sure if this was poor casting, or if they really wanted these characters to look so much alike.

  The Doctor had a great standalone episode once again, which goes to prove that when Robert Picardo is given the opportunity, he really shows some tremendous talent.

  Most Dramatic Moment:
  The Doctor was confused about why he poisoned the administrator to get him to change protocols on the ship. When he discussed it with Seven of Nine, he couldn't figure out how he was able to do it despite his ethical programming. It was interesting to see him dealing with such a troubling issue.

  Again, for the full review, please click here.

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  Find more episode info in the Episode Guide.