A sparring Paris and Neelix get stranded on Planet Hell while trying to harvest food and nurse a bird-like creature back to health.
So it's the middle of Season Two and the writers still haven't decided on Kes... Is she a naive child? A husky-voiced sexpot? Nurse to the holo-doc? Neelix's wife? If the producers don't know, how can we be expected to? It took me a good five episodes to figure out that the pointy-eared imp was supposed to be Neelix's spouse and NOT his daughter, but by then I was suitably- and permanently- confused.
If the two ARE a couple we have never seen any sign of physical affection... and since she treats Neelix like her slightly duddy Dad then he may as well be. Instead we are treated to bizarre moments of jealousy and an implied relationship that has yet to convince anyone or show the slightest sign of chemistry. These two make Keiko & O'Brien look like Brad and Angelina. So who better to break up the blissful fake-marriage than Tom Paris, AKA Lt. Groin, and to make his first move by groping Little Blondie in a holodeck shuttle craft drill? My parents met the same way.
A green-with-envy Neelix and fully-erect Paris eventually fight over the Ocampa's affections by throwing spaghetti at one another, which naturally leads to the two of them being chosen at random to partner up for a dangerous mission gathering food on an inhospitable planet. After the shuttlecraft crash lands and the phasers and transporters stop working for the sake of the plot, Tom and the Talaxian hide in a cave and witness the birth of a baby vulture-person, a strange creature who immediately begins to die so that he can immediately be saved. By Tom & Neelix. Working together. Starting to get it?
"Next Generation" may have gotten away with this episode, but by the time Voyager started this kind of plot was so stale it was crumbling. What a coincidence that the two suddenly-enemies are forced to work together and that by doing so they're able to resolve their personal differences? Who could have seen that coming? (Put your hand down.) And what exactly is the resolution here anyway? That it's okay to bang another guy's wife because you helped him give mouth-to-mouth to a chicken-monster?
This is corny and predictable Trek and Voyager should be much better.
GRADE: C
So it's the middle of Season Two and the writers still haven't decided on Kes... Is she a naive child? A husky-voiced sexpot? Nurse to the holo-doc? Neelix's wife? If the producers don't know, how can we be expected to? It took me a good five episodes to figure out that the pointy-eared imp was supposed to be Neelix's spouse and NOT his daughter, but by then I was suitably- and permanently- confused.
If the two ARE a couple we have never seen any sign of physical affection... and since she treats Neelix like her slightly duddy Dad then he may as well be. Instead we are treated to bizarre moments of jealousy and an implied relationship that has yet to convince anyone or show the slightest sign of chemistry. These two make Keiko & O'Brien look like Brad and Angelina. So who better to break up the blissful fake-marriage than Tom Paris, AKA Lt. Groin, and to make his first move by groping Little Blondie in a holodeck shuttle craft drill? My parents met the same way.
A green-with-envy Neelix and fully-erect Paris eventually fight over the Ocampa's affections by throwing spaghetti at one another, which naturally leads to the two of them being chosen at random to partner up for a dangerous mission gathering food on an inhospitable planet. After the shuttlecraft crash lands and the phasers and transporters stop working for the sake of the plot, Tom and the Talaxian hide in a cave and witness the birth of a baby vulture-person, a strange creature who immediately begins to die so that he can immediately be saved. By Tom & Neelix. Working together. Starting to get it?
"Next Generation" may have gotten away with this episode, but by the time Voyager started this kind of plot was so stale it was crumbling. What a coincidence that the two suddenly-enemies are forced to work together and that by doing so they're able to resolve their personal differences? Who could have seen that coming? (Put your hand down.) And what exactly is the resolution here anyway? That it's okay to bang another guy's wife because you helped him give mouth-to-mouth to a chicken-monster?
This is corny and predictable Trek and Voyager should be much better.
GRADE: C