First 'Unimatrix Zero' Reviews

• Michelle Erica Green at AnotherUniverse's Mania Magazine has put up a new edition of her Hailing Frequencies column, also containing her review of 'Unimatrix Zero'. Here's how she starts her review:

  Axum is Morpheus, and Seven is the One who can save the Matrix... OK, it's a bit of a reversal, but the parallels are obvious. Not that I'm complaining. "Unimatrix Zero" is a fine episode, combining emotional character stories with a well-paced plot that we all knew from last week's previews would end in assimilation. It doesn't borrow from The Matrix any more than The Matrix borrowed from Star Trek, The X-Files, and the Bible.

  The only real problem is that the Borg just aren't very scary anymore. Drones regenerating on Voyager is by now a domesticated sight: we see Seven do it, we see the Borg kids do it. We've already seen Picard kill one Borg Queen and Janeway trounce another in single combat. This Queen isn't all that impressive for all her gloating over dissected heads, either; she has to talk aloud to get the attention of her drones, rather than impressing her will into their thoughts as she should be able to do.

  The full column contains a synopsis of the episode, as well as a round-up of all the latest Trek news.

• Michael Marek at Cinescape has also written a long review of the episode, about which he was fairly positive:

  There's never been a Star Trek cliffhanger better than "The Best of Both Worlds." Fans spent that summer agonizing about the fate of our heroes, with Picard assimilated and Riker about to use the last ditch weapon that might or might not work. "Unimatrix Zero" isn't in that class. At most it will cause moderate speculation over the summer months, until resolved in the fall. But it's still a good story, well produced, containing interesting things for fans to talk about.

  You can read on at Cinescape.
• For a change also rather positive, and as most other reviewers also writing a longer than usual analysis, Jeff Bond at Eon's Tube Reviews awards the episode a B:

  It's perhaps damning "Unimatrix Zero" with faint praise to say that it is probably the second best season-ending cliffhanger that VOYAGER has offered (part one of "Basics" probably being the first). This is one of the first VOYAGER episodes I've seen in quite a while that manages to keep its focus on its central premise, builds up a modicum of suspense and seems to engage its actors. The episode ends with a bang, and one that would be devastating had not most Trekkers already experienced TNG's far better "Best of Both Worlds, Part 1."

  More can be found in the full finale review. Also new at the site is a review of 'Life Line', which is awarded a C+, with a 'The Haunting Of Deck Twelve' review presumably coming soon.

• Also new are the TrekWeb review by O. Deus, in which he also looks at the history of the Borg on Trek, and this one at the U.S.S. Maximillian's site.

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