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Star Trek Voy - Season 7 - Episode 15

Star Trek Voy - 7x15 - The Void

Originally Aired: 2001-2-14

Synopsis:
Voyager is pulled into a void. [DVD]

My Rating - 8

Fan Rating Average - 4.94

Rate episode?

Rating: 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
# Votes: 52 2 2 3 3 7 2 8 21 31 14

Problems
None

Factoids
- The Vaadwaur, or at least the remnants of the Vaadwaur are mentioned as being present in the void.

Remarkable Scenes
- Seven chiding Chakotay for wanting to change his wine and Paris for wanting some salt regarding the meal she prepared.
- Seven: "In six years you haven't chosen a name for yourself but you've given Fantôme one in a few days." The doctor: "Choosing the right name for myself is extremely difficult. I'm a complex individual." Seven: "And Fantôme isn't?"
- Seven of Nine teaching Fantôme to communicate.
- Janeway forming an alliance.
- The native void species communicating through music.
- The alliance making it through the vortex.

My Review
Rarely do we ever see such brilliant displays of the spirit of Star Trek. This episode could have been just another boring anomaly of the week episode, but instead we're given a character driven drama depicting the struggles many groups of people trying to survive in a barren environment. Indeed, survival is impossible unless you prey off of the other prisoners. Janeway's idealism is exactly the kind of thinking which made the Federation so great in the first place. Pooling the resources of many ships in the void was exactly what was necessary for a long term survival plan. I most enjoyed Janeway's dedication to her principles even when things seemed grim. In the end, we had five alien cultures (including the Hierarchy) cooperating toward their common goal of escape. Probably the most impressive aspect of the show are the native aliens of the void. Initially regarded as vermin, or parasites by the other aliens, and an unintelligent burden to some of the Starfleet crew, Seven and the doctor devise a way to communicate with them, and they repay Voyager for their kindness. The message there is to never discriminate. All things considered, this episode is kind of like a much improved version of TAS: The Time Trap. I wonder if the author was inspired by that episode.

The following are comments submitted by my readers.

  • From Pete Miller on 2007-03-26 at 4:11pm:
    So Janeway will use the research from Crell Moset, even though it was obtained through illicit means. Yet she won't use the device that the aliens got by killing some other people?

    Seems like another Janeway contradiction to me.
  • From Jane on 2012-06-26 at 4:44pm:
    Pete miller you have commented negatively on every Voyager episode omg!! get a life or go back to watching DS9 seriously.
  • From Psycroptic on 2013-05-28 at 10:18pm:
    He has a point, she's a very inconsistent character
  • From Dstyle on 2015-08-10 at 3:29pm:
    I watched this episode over a week ago and I can't stop thinking about those awesome aliens native to the Void. Where did they come from? I imagine they were originally a space-faring species that got stuck in the Void millions and millions of year ago, and over time evolved and adapted to become the species they are today. But there are only so many ships in the Void, so there can't be many of this species around. Fascinating.

    You know what else I find fascinating? The discussion that has cropped up in the comments to this episode (if you can call three comments spread out over the course six years a "discussion"). I've been thinking a lot about Janeway as I've watched this series and read reactions to the episodes, and there seems to be a lot of anti-Janeway comments: she's a bad leader, she's inconsistent, she makes bad decisions, etc. Some of this is a result of the show being a bit of a disappointment in general: some great premises, but uneven writing and execution. But you know what other show was sometimes inconsistent and uneven? Star Trek: The Next Generation. I bet we can all think of some bad TNG epsiodes where someone was acting horribly out of character, or someone was terribly inconsistent or made some questionable leadership decisions with zero consequences. Yet you don't see comments about what a bad leader Picard is or how he makes contradictory decisions. I don't see a lot of people who dislike Picard because of these episodes, but I do see people hating on Janeway for the same sins. When Picard makes a frustrating or questionable leadership decision he is either given the benefit of the doubt--the issues are seldom black and white, after all--or the blame is placed on the writers (see TNG 2x15 "Pen Pals" for an example of some of this: a thoroughly awful episode IMO). So what's the difference?

    You all know what the difference is. Janeway is a woman. I know folks tend to get all offended and clutch their pearls when anyone dares be so impolite to suggest that maaaaaaybe, just maaaaybe, they're being a little unconsciously sexist. But I definitely see sexism at play when I look at the ways all the different Star Trek captains are discusses by the fans. Picard has a bad episode, people blame the writers. Janeway has a bad episode, she's a bad, inconsistent captain.

    Here's a fun game you can try: if you're one of the folks who dislikes Janeway, whenever she does something you don't like pretend it was an episode of TNG and Jean-Luc Picard was the captain. Still a bad decision? Or was it, perhaps, the actions of a complex and fallible character? Or just bad writing? Rinse and repeat as needed.
  • From QuasiGiani on 2017-10-08 at 7:35pm:
    Co-operation is logical.

    Simply put: this is the litmus test.

    Yes, yes, if you do not get this; if you do not recognize this; if you need to get pedantic in the face of this... you are not a true fan.

    Clutch* clutch cluck cluck cluck.

    It is the truth.

    And is The Truth.

    Co-operation is logical.

    (*DStyle, let the clutchers clutch, let the reactionaries react, as the "cards" are laid bare. You goddamned right.)

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