voyager episode prey

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Star Trek: Voyager – Prey (Review)

Prey is a fantastic piece of television, and stands as one of the best standalone episodes of the fourth season of Star Trek: Voyager .

It is an episode built around a very simple premise, pitting two of Voyager ‘s more memorable alien creations against one another and throwing a nice character arc into the midst of this epic conflict. Prey is an exciting thriller built around the established characteristics of both the Hirogen and Species 8472, using two very distinctive cultures to tell a compelling and engaging story with the regular cast thrown into the fray. “Lone Hirogen hunter pursues lost member of Species 8472” is a great hook for an episode.

Here come the big guns.

However, Prey goes even further than that. The basic plot is intriguing on its own terms, but Prey cleverly grounds the story in what we know about these characters and their dynamic. As much as Voyager is caught in the crossfire of this horrific situation, the crew are also forced to make tough decisions. How will Janeway react to a wounded member of a hostile (and nigh-invulnerable) species? How will Seven of Nine respond when asked to save the life of a creature that participated in a brutal war with the Borg Collective?

This is intriguing stuff, largely anchored in what the audience already knows of the characters and delivered with top-notch production values and a great sense of pacing. Prey is an episode that plays to all the strengths of the fourth season, from the appeal of the Hirogen and Species 8472 through to the chemistry between Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan.

There’ll be hull to pay.

As with Hunters , there is a surprisingly strong thread of continuity running through Prey . More than any other season of Voyager , the fourth season tended to flirt with long-running story arcs and carry small character and plot threads across multiple episodes. After all, The Gift had been forty-five minutes of television primarily concerned with the aftermath of Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II . To pick another example, Hunters had used the relay stations discovered in Message in a Bottle to tidy up threads tying back to Caretaker or Persistence of Vision .

Although the series was nowhere near as comfortable with serialisation as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had become, the production team still understood that viewers could be trusted to remember a handful of details from earlier episodes. This is obvious across the season, and stands in marked contrast to the rest of the seven-season run. When Neelix was an accomplice to drug dealing and murder in Fair Trade , his punishment happened entirely between episodes. When Seven is punished at the end of Prey , it is acknowledged at the start of Retrospect .

“His story scans.”

Prey is not as explicit in its continuity references as Hunters had been. There is no reference to the encrypted Starfleet message that Seven recovered in Hunters , for example. That detail is confined to the background. At the same time, all of the characters and their interactions are pointedly coloured by earlier adventures. Unlike most “alien of the week” or “phenomenon of the week” stories on Voyager , Prey assumes at least some casual familiarity with earlier stories like Scorpion, Part I , Scorpion, Part II and Hunters .

This is most obvious in the way that Prey is built around two particularly memorable and recurring Voyager aliens. It involves Species 8472 from Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II , alongside the Hirogen from Message in a Bottle and Hunters . While Voyager has had recurring alien species before, it has never really mashed them together. Voyager has never invested in the dynamics that must exist outside the eponymous starship. Voyager never explored how the recurring species on the show would engage with one another.

The Hirogen healthcare system is a nightmare. It didn’t come up much on the show.

In the first two seasons, Voyager had repeated contact with hostile aliens like the Kazon and the Vidiians. They also repeatedly interacted with Talaxians. However, outside of Neelix’s encounters with these aliens, the series never bothered to explore how these aliens would interact with one another. Voyager never really touched upon what it must be like to live in the same area of space as the Kazon or the Vidiians, how the Talaxians responded to those predatory threats. The Vidiians and Kazon existed in isolated bubbles, quite apart from one another.

This obviously limits the potential for long-form storytelling or development. After all, the Vidiians were always treated as an archetypal menace rather than a culture with a clear narrative arc. They made convenient bad guys for episodes like Deadlock or Fury . It is telling that the Vidiians are cured entirely off-screen, in a throwaway line from a special guest star in Think Tank . Similarly, Maj Cullah would talk about uniting the Kazon factions in Manoeuvres or Alliances , but he could never develop because he existed in a vacuum opposite Voyager.

Faced with a new enemy, their Hirogen tactics went to pieces.

After all, the other Star Trek series tended to develop their alien species by throwing them into conflict with one another and using one alien species to inform others. The Romulans were introduced in Balance of Terror as distant cousins of the Vulcans. The loss of a key prop forced The Enterprise Incident to add a line of dialogue explaining that the Romulans and the Klingons had formed an alliance. Star Trek: The Next Generation effectively contrasted the Romulans and Klingons as sworn enemies, a relationship that informed both parties.

Voyager has largely avoided this form of storytelling. In keeping with the series’ episodic model, the ship tends to move from one area of space to another where it encounters one minor power after another. That way, audience members do not have to keep track of core dynamics or interspecies relationships while tuning in and out at random. Prey stands out as a rare exception to this policy, an episode about Voyager wandering into a conflict between two already-established aliens. It is a good storytelling premise, if only because it multiplies narrative possibilities.

No excuse for losing his head.

Prey feels like an organic extrapolation from what earlier episodes established about these two aliens. Species 8472 mounted an invasion of the Delta Quadrant in Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II , but were pushed back into “fluidic space” by an alliance between Voyager and the Borg. It makes sense that there would be some members of the species that were stranded after that retreat, even if it feels a little convenient that one stranded alien should wind up trapped ten thousand light years away from Borg space.

The defining trait of the Hirogen is “big game hunters.” It is not an overly complicated premise for a Star Trek alien. However, the teaser and opening act of Prey establish this detail quite effectively, arguably more effectively than the entire subplot in Hunters . The Hirogen featured in Prey seem more menacing and more threatening than those who appeared in Hunters , more ritualised and more violent. There is a solid argument to be made that the production team should have simply teased the Hirogen in Message in a Bottle and Hunters , making Prey their début episode.

Gunning for their prey.

As such, it makes perfect sense that the Hirogen would decide to hunt Species 8472, and that Species 8472 would prove a much greater threat than the Hirogen anticipated. This is an example of the lighter and softer approach to serialisation in the fourth season of Voyager ; it is an approach that does not lean on recurring plot points or exact references, instead drawing upon broad pre-established traits to build new and exciting stories. Prey builds on Scorpion, Part II and Hunters , but the logic is simple enough that the viewer does not need to have seen them.

It helps that the archetypes involved are easily understandable to casual viewer. Effectively, and perfectly in keeping with his own horror b-movie interests demonstrated by Macrocosm or Darkling , Braga pitches this extraterrestrial showdown as a Star Trek twist on Aliens vs. Predator . It is a clever hook, one reinforced by the emphasis on Tuvok finding some gunky Species 8472 blood in a Jefferies Tube in a scene that could be read as an homage to Alien and the fact that the Hirogen evoke the larger-than-life nomadic hunting aliens from Predator .

“Somebody obviously did not care for Mister Neelix’s guacamole special.”

It should be noted that Prey aired at a time when popular consciousness was obsessed with the prospect of a crossover between those two Fox space monster franchises. The concept of Aliens vs. Predator really kicked off in 1989, when Dark Horse published a three-part story in Dark Horse Presents . However, the creative and critical failure of early nineties entries in both franchises, with Predator II in 1990 and Alien 3 in 1992, only cemented the idea that these two floundering franchises might thrive together.

Aliens vs. Predator would spend the nineties trapped in development hell, a frequent subject of industry gossip and nerdy whisperings without any real traction. Peter Briggs was drafted in early to realise the project under the title “The Hunt.” It very quickly fell to pieces . However, there were other multimedia fronts in this particular war . Bantam published a series of Alien vs. Predator books, beginning in 1994. Capcom and Atari would release tie-in video-games around the same time.

“Do you have any idea how hard this armour is to keep clean?”

Prey aired in February 1998, very much in the middle of this multimedia storm and this fixation upon a multimedia clash of the terror titans. The release of Alien Resurrection in November 1997 had done little to reassure fans that the xenomorphs could support their own franchise. Eventually, audiences would get what they wanted with the release of Aliens vs. Predator in August 2004. Apparently most audience members determined that the project had not been worth the wait. That did a lot to sate pop culture’s previously ravenous hunger.

In some ways, this fascination with delivering a Star Trek twist on the long-sought-after Aliens vs. Predator serves as a reminder of just how deeply Voyager was rooted in the nineties. It is hard to imagine the franchise committing to this idea so eagerly and so readily at any other time. Deep Space Nine tended to crib from classic movies released long before its audience was even born, while Voyager tended to turn its attention to the latest fads and the most pressing pop culture concerns.

“Don’t worry, by the end of the first act, I’ll be doing this on my Todd.”

Still, in spite of the goofiness of the inspiration, Prey works very well. Part of this is down to the casting, with Tony Todd playing the role of the anonymous Hirogen who finds himself locked in a battle for survival with an anonymous member of Species 8472. Todd has acknowledged that he was simply thrilled to score a Star Trek hattrick :

Of all of the prosthetic work I’ve done, it was the most uncomfortable stint, playing that character. Not only was it a four-hour makeup process for the face, it was an hour-and-a-half costume application as well. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation where someone has to tell you to give them notice 20 minutes before you had to pee. It’s hard to pee on demand. But I knew the makeup and costume looked effective. And I just wanted that trip ticket, to be able to be in all three of the shows.

Indeed, it is almost a shame that Todd never appeared in Star Trek: Enterprise in order to maintain that momentum. Still, there are already rumours circulating , suggesting that Bryan Fuller might have a part for Todd in Star Trek: Discovery .

“Damn, those Hirogen cast in The Killing Game really had it easy, eh?”

The Alpha Hirogen in Prey is by some distance the least-developed character played by Tony Todd during his long association with Star Trek . The character does not even have a name, lacking both the long-running tragic arc afforded Kurn and the intimate agony of Jake Sisko. The Alpha Hirogen is just a dude who really wants to kill some exotic alien and is willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal. The character is unlikely to go down in the pantheon of great Star Trek guest characters.

However, Todd has enough screen presence that it works. He effectively carries the teaser singlehanded, as the Alpha and Beta track their quarry to an asteroid belt. In that short introductory scene, without any real context or set-up, Todd conveys everything that needs to be said about this character. He is driven by blood lust, prone to making stupid decisions, almost romantically in love with the concept of killing this one strange creature. Even for a species that is consciously built around the trope of  “obsessive hunters” , Todd conveys an unsettling desperation.

“I’m feeling pretty blue.”

The Alpha in Prey does a lot to distinguish the Hirogen from other stock “proud tribalistic warrior” aliens like the Klingons or the Kazon. The Alpha Hirogen seems downright manipulative and underhanded in his dealings with the Voyager crew. He might be committed to a ritualistic hunt, but he is not above playing psychological games to serve his own purpose. Even locked in Sickbay and trapped behind a “level five force field” , Tony Todd makes the alien seem like a tangible threat. The Hirogen in Prey are much more effective than those in Hunters .

This is most notable in how the Alpha manipulates the Voyager crew to get what he wants, which is the opportunity to brutally murder his target. When he discovers that the alien is on the ship, he initially threatens Janeway. “Let me continue, or I will have the others destroy you,” he warns. When that does not work, he demonstrates his potential usefulness to the crew in a crisis situation. “He’s trying to barricade himself,” he explains of the alien’s tactics. “He did the same thing to us.” This is enough to get him back in the field.

“A census taker once tried to test me…”

The Alpha also makes a similar attempt to manipulate Seven of Nine, a character who he has only observed from a distance to that point. When Seven of Nine threatens to “destroy” him unless he surrenders, he responds, “I don’t think you will. You want me to destroy this creature. I saw it on your face earlier in the medical bay. It’s a look I’ve seen a thousand times.” This is the sort of psychological manipulation expected of aliens like Cardassians or Romulans, use of guile and cunning rather than brute force. It makes the Alpha seem a more credible antagonist.

However, the Alpha is ultimately a secondary character in the larger context of Prey . His pursuit of the alien is an inciting event, but it is not the heart of the story. After all, Prey concludes in a relatively open-ended manner as far as the Hirogen and Species 8472 are concerned. The last shot of the Alpha finds the character on the ground wrestling with his antagonist. Seven of Nine beams them back to one of the Hirogen ships attacking Voyager. As far as Prey is concerned, that is where the story ends for these two characters.

Wrestling with moral ambiguity.

Although the implication is that the Hirogen brutally murdered their prey, the script never explicitly confirms how that fight ended. It is never stated whether the alien manages to kill the Alpha before the Hirogen can kill it. It is also not impossible that the alien could escape again and wreak a terrible revenge. More than likely, the Hirogen won the day and the member of Species 8472 is dead. However, there is something very clever in the way that Prey never definitively states any of this. It does not matter. This is not what the story is about, on a fundamental level.

The real story at the heart of Prey is the story between Janeway and Seven of Nine. As with the Hirogen and Species 8472, this is another element carried over from earlier episodes. Seven of Nine’s education and rehabilitation has been a recurring plot thread since The Gift . In Prey , Janeway continues those lessons. The captain tries to instil some quality of mercy in the rescued drone. Janeway tries to teach Seven of Nine that forgiveness and compassion are important virtues on the final frontier, part of what makes a person human.

A specious threat.

There is a lot of really nice attention to detail in Prey , a lot of little touches and choices in the script that emphasise the idea of Seven of Nine’s larger journey. In an introductory sequence in Sickbay, the EMH acknowledges that Seven of Nine’s character arc effectively mirrors his own. “You’re a lot like me when I was first activated,” he admits. “If I’d had a mentor, things would have gone a lot more smoothly.” He even acknowledges the role that Kes played in his character arc, a rare mention of Kes following her departure at the end of  The Gift .

In fact, Seven of Nine’s big argument with Janeway at the end of Prey very heavily references her arguments with Janeway in the brig in The Gift . In that earlier episode, Seven of Nine challenged Janeway with the reality that self-determination was a two-edged sword. Even half-way through her transformation from a Borg drone, Seven of Nine pointed out that Janeway only seemed interested in her right to make her own choices so much as those choices conformed to Janeway’s expectations.

“Ain’t no party like a huntin’ party, cause a huntin’ party don’t…” “Stop.”

Locked in the brig, Seven of Nine wondered what would happen if she were to choose to sacrifice her humanity and surrender to the Borg? “You would deny us the choice as you deny us now,” Seven contends, and perhaps with good reason. “You have imprisoned us in the name of humanity, yet you will not grant us your most cherished human right. To choose our own fate. You are hypocritical, manipulative. We do not want to be what you are.” It is a damning indictment. More than that, it is also not an unfair criticism.

Seven returns to that argument at the end of Prey , when Janeway confronts her about her decision to beam the member of Species 8472 over to the Hirogen hunting pack. “I believe that you are punishing me because I do not think the way you do,” Seven of Nine states. “Because I am not becoming more like you. You claim to respect my individuality, but in fact you are frightened by it.” It is a very powerful accusation, all the more effective for the fact that it has been restated and has yet to be refuted. Seven of Nine might have a point about Janeway.

Floating some bold ideas.

There is a lot to be said for building an episode around that ideological conflict. In an interview with Cinefantastique , writer Brannon Braga acknowledged that he was very proud of the finished episode and that a lot of the episode’s power came from that dynamic between Janeway and Seven:

“Prey turned out great. Everything came together. The director, Alan Eastman, took a very difficult script and made it look like a movie. The acting was superb. It had good music, great effects. It was the best Janeway-Seven arc since her introduction. It was great having them go head to head like that. With any luck, we left people wondering about their relationship at the end. The parent (is) raising the child, and the child is not turning out like the parent. Does that make the parent wrong? The child wrong, because they’re being unreasonable? I hope it taps into some deeper issues about the parent- child relationship.”

The relationship between Janeway and Seven has been around for less than a year, but it is already the richest relationship on the show. Part of that is down to the skill of the actors involved, who are among the strongest performers on the show. However, part of that is also down to the charge between the characters.

“My enemy’s enemy is… well, I think we’ve done this before and it worked out okay.”

In many ways, Seven of Nine is an archetypal Star Trek character. She is the cold and rational “alien” character, the outsider who finds herself perplexed by humanity. There are any number of similar characters in the Star Trek canon. Spock is the most iconic, but Seven is arguably much closer to Data on The Next Generation . It could reasonably be argued that Odo is a subversion of the archetype on Deep Space Nine and that T’Pol plays the arc much straighter on Enterprise . Indeed, before Seven arrived, the EMH fulfilled this role on Voyager .

As such, there needs to be something to distinguish Seven of Nine from Data or the EMH. The Gift hinted at one very interesting possibility, suggesting that Seven’s journey from “outsider” towards a more conventional humanist outlook would be conflicted. Data was an eager student for Jean-Luc Picard, while Seven would position herself as a problem child for Kathryn Janeway. Prey could be seen to deliver on that promise, by emphasising the gulf between Seven and Janeway rather than suggesting their relationship is idyllic.

“I was regenerating in my alcove. You use this word, alcove?”

After all, Voyager is a show that needs some sense of distinction or clarification. The crew on Voyager are woefully generic and underdeveloped compared to the casts on The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine . Nobody seems to have a dissenting opinion about anything. Nobody approaches a problem from a unique perspective. Very few of the characters on Voyager have unique voices, which is disappointing given the sheer potential of stacking half the cast with former terrorists and aliens in Caretaker .

Allowing Seven of Nine to challenge Janeway so explicitly and so overtly harks back to the promise of that original concept. Prey suggests that Seven of Nine is not beholden to the chain of command, that she will not integrate as readily as Chakotay and Torres did in Parallax . More than that, it plays into the idea in The Raven that Seven is emotionally still a young adult. She is not psychologically mature, and is still learning to process her emotions and her experiences. (This is a theme suggested by Prey , and reiterated more awkwardly in Retrospect .)

“So, they’ve got a new “outsider” character now. But you’ll need a cool mentor.”

Although he was not part of production at the time that Jeri Ryan was drafted on to the cast, The Fifty-Year Mission quoted co-creator Michael Piller as a major advocate of this approach to Seven of Nine:

What I think became extremely clear is that once you brought Seven of Nine on board he show, you got cultural conflict from her that nobody else was able to bring. Perhaps partly as a result of that, and I think the quality of the actress had a lot to do with it, she became the most interesting character on the ship, because she was the one person who disagreed with everybody else. What conflict does is bring character out.

Then again, it makes sense that Piller would support this approach to the character. Piller advocated for more conflict on Deep Space Nine and advocated for stronger use of the Maquis on Voyager .

Keep hangin’ in there.

Prey very effectively lays out this ideological gap between Janeway and Seven even before the crew become aware of the involvement of Species 8472. “The Hirogen vessel is a potential threat,” Seven warns Janeway. “We should destroy it.” Janeway responds, “Seven, what you call a threat, I call an opportunity to gain knowledge about this species. And in this case, maybe even show some compassion. There seems to be a wounded pilot over there.” Seven replies, “Our experience with the Hirogen indicates that compassion would not be reciprocated.”

This is already a very pointed discussion. It is the kind of ethical argument that would occasionally pop up on The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine . It recalls Crusher arguing with Picard about the exploitation of Hugh in I, Borg or O’Brien clashing with Bashir over the fate of the Jem’Hadar in Hippocratic Oath . It recalls the impassioned debate between Janeway and Chakotay about the Borg in Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II , but this sort of discussion is very much the exception rather than the rule on Voyager .

Corridors of no power.

Once the crew discover that the Hirogen has been hunting a member of Species 8472, Seven becomes even more confrontational in her discussions with Janeway. As Seven admits to Tuvok, Species 8472 waged a large-scale war against the Borg Collective that understandably left psychological scars. “They destroyed millions of drones, hundreds of our worlds,” Seven explains. When Janeway explains that she plans to help the alien return home as a gesture of goodwill, Seven of Nine counters, “I don’t believe that is a prudent course of action.”

It is a very clever character beat, one that adds a great deal of nuance to Seven of Nine’s character. While her overall arc owes a lot to the characterisation of Data on The Next Generation , there are also shades of other characters thrown into the mix to add a unique flavour. Seven’s refusal to help an alien on the basis of a long-standing animosity between species recalls Worf’s refusal to give blood in The Enemy . Seven’s betrayal of her friends and colleagues for her own ends recalls Odo’s actions in Children of Time or Behind the Lines .

Tall order.

Janeway espouses a more humanist and optimistic outlook, one very much in keeping with the moral framework of the Star Trek universe. She tells Seven a story about helping a wounded Cardassian during “a Cardassian border conflict” , a conflict that has consistently been likened to the moral quagmire of the Vietnam War. Janeway insists on finding some sense of humanity during that horror, which is a very clever thematic choice. On The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine , Miles O’Brien was repeatedly characterised as a war veteran scarred by those conflicts.

Janeway makes a convincing and hopeful argument. Over the course of Prey , Janeway never loses faith in the idea that the universe is a fundamentally decent place where people and cultures can peacefully coexist. Janeway sees helping a wounded Hirogen as a chance to “settle [her] differences” with the hunting species. She believes that providing medical aid to a wounded hunter might bring about a reconciliation. She seems to believe that the same might be possible with Species 8472, despite their omnicidial zeal in Scorpion, Part II .

Beaming with pride.

Seven of Nine rejects this idealism in favour of a more compromised solution. She surrenders the alien to the Hirogen as a peace offering, effectively bartering one life for the lives on Voyager. It is a cynical decision, and one that Prey repeatedly suggests is grounded in a cold hatred of Species 8472 as much as pragmatism. As such, Seven serves as a reminder that not every person will share Janeway’s philosophical perspective or moral outlook. In her own way, Seven of Nine provides a challenge to Janeway’s world view.

If Janeway cannot count on Seven to do the right thing, what are the odds that she could count on the Hirogen to be reasonable or on Species 8472 to make peace instead of mounting an invasion? It is a very clever twist in the episode. It demonstrates that reality is often more complicated and nuanced than a set of hard idealistic principles. Prey suggests that the relationship cannot function until Janeway and Seven recognise each other’s positions. The key is finding a way to navigate the space between Janeway’s moral idealism and Seven’s emotional response.

Janeway or the highway.

This might sound cynical, but Prey does not reject Janeway’s humanism out of hand. The episode ends in a grim fashion, Janeway’s hopes of brokering peace with the Hirogen or Species 8472 lost in the crossfire. Beyond that, it seems like Janeway has not succeeded in changing Seven. However, this is not the case at all. Janeway makes peace with the Hirogen in The Killing Game, Part II , in a script written by the same writer and broadcast three episodes after Prey . More than that, Seven does eventually become a fully-formed person. In the end, Janeway is right.

In some ways, Prey suggests that Janeway’s biggest mistake is in assuming that she can change all of this instantly. Janeway believes that one encounter with the Hirogen is enough to allow her to fundamentally change their way of life so that they might see Voyager as more than just “simply game.” It takes a little more work to get to that stage, a little more familiarity with Hirogen culture and a little more conversation. Similarly, Seven of Nine has been an individual for less than a year. She can become a better person, but that level of growth takes time.

‘Soup, friend?

In a weird way, Prey might be read as an argument in favour of serialisation or long-form storytelling, contending that eventual pay-offs are more satisfying when they come at the end of larger arcs. After all, one of the more frustrating aspects of Seven of Nine’s character arc has been how quickly Voyager has humanised and integrated its newest crew member. Voyager knows that it has three more years to tell this story with Seven of Nine. It can afford to treat her growth as gradual, to allow her to make mistakes and experience setbacks along the way.

Much more than her flirtation with Kim in Revulsion or her curing of Neelix in Mortal Coil , Seven of Nine’s act of teenage rebellion in Prey feels like it represents genuine progress for the character. It is a character who is very consciously reacting to the arc that Janeway has established for her, which serves to provide Seven with more agency in terms of the overarching plot. It also feels like an emotionally honest story beat, one recognisable to anybody who has ever lived in a family with a teenage child.

Keeping her darker impulses at Cargo Bay.

Prey arguably marks the point at which Seven of Nine’s core relationship solidify. A lot of the fourth season was spent trying to play Seven of Nine off various members of the ensemble, to get a sense of how Jeri Ryan clicked with her cast mates and how the character might interact with them. Revulsion focused on the potential relationship between Seven and Kim. The Raven (and later Year of Hell, Part I and Year of Hell, Part II ) teamed the character up with Tuvok. However, Prey makes a convincing case for Janeway and the EMH as Seven’s strongest relationships.

There is an early scene between Seven and the EMH in which the EMH proposes himself as a “mentor” , a role that pays off in Retrospect . However, the bulk of the episode is given over to the conflict between Seven and Janeway. The rest of the crew don’t really get a look into the discussion. From this point forward, Voyager will tend to privilege that dynamic between Seven and Janeway. It is a shrewd decision, as Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan play off one another very well.

Ryan Murphy presents Feud , Season 4.

The only problem is that there was considerable tension between Mulgrew and Ryan on the set of the show. As Brannon Braga explains in The Fifty-Year Mission , there was a lot of stress on the Voyager set after Ryan was introduced:

Kate Mulgrew didn’t like the addition of the character at all. To say it was tense is understating the case. We let Kes go, we felt the character wasn’t quite working, and we made way for Seven of Nine and it was not pleasant. And suffice to say when I started to have an affair with Jeri Ryan a year or so later, it was one of the most uncomfortable moments in my career having to go to Kate’s trailer to tell her what was going on, because Kate was not a fan. I don’t think she had anything against Jeri personally, but it was the character. But Jeri was not having it, either. She was like, “Why is the f$%king woman sh!tting on me? I just want an acting job, for f$%k’s sake.” I think everything cooled off eventually, but it didn’t slow things down in terms of production. No one refused to come out of their trailer. But Jeri felt the tension. You know, “There’s an intruder in our midst.” She was on a bunch of posters, she got all the attention.

It is quite frustrating that the two cast members most vocal in their dislike for one another would find themselves forced to share so many scenes. However, as Ryan has conceded, “It was the richest relationship. They really wanted to capitalize on that.” It is to the credit of both performers that the work on screen never suffered.

“Don’t worry, I’ve seen the script for the next episode.”

Prey is a really great episode, and a highlight of the season. It demonstrates just how much Voyager is doing right at this stage of the fourth season, even if it cannot keep this pace forever.

You might be interested in our other reviews from the fourth season of Star Trek: Voyager :

• Scorpion, Part II
• Day of Honor
• Scientific Method
• Year of Hell, Part I
• Year of Hell, Part II
• Random Thoughts
• Concerning Flight
• Mortal Coil
• Waking Moments
• Message in a Bottle
• The Killing Game, Part I
• The Killing Game, Part II
• The Omega Directive
• Unforgettable
• Living Witness
• Hope and Fear

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Filed under: Voyager | Tagged: Brannon Braga , conflict , continuity , hope , humanism , jeri ryan , optimism , prey , seven of nine , species 8472 , Tony Todd , voyager |

7 Responses

Absolutely agree. This episode is everything I expected of Voyager when I first started watching, I went into watching the series blind only knowing the premise, but very rarely got. It has conflict, claustrophobia, and above all an ambiguous ending. Neither Janeway or Seven of Nine are 100% right, and that is what makes for good drama. I think this episode also shows that when Brannon Braga has a script he actually wants to write, then he can do a good job.

Furthermore, it is episodes like this that makes me think the fourth season of Voyager is also its best season. This season has three of my favorite Voyager episodes in Year of Hell, this one, and Living Witness, which is unfortunately sandwiched between two of the worst of the season, Unforgettable and Demon. Also, I would say that the Hirogen and the Krenim are some the best villains Voyager faces.

Yeah, the fourth season of Voyager is really good. It’s a shame that it couldn’t maintain the consistency of this run of episodes, my issues with Retrospect notwithstanding.

It’s a shame Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan found it so difficult to work together because they really are so wonderful together. There’s a frisson between them we’ve never seen on VGR before (probably because it comes from a place of truth) and it’s one that electrifies they’re scenes, especially when they’re on opposite sides of the fence.

With Prey, it looks like the writers have decided to capitalise on that and turn it into something they can use to they’re advantage. Add to that two of Trek’s most impressive enemies and what we have is the most exciting VGR episode since Year of Hell.

Message in a Bottle teased us with the Hirogen. Hunters established them as the antagonist VGR had failed to deliver with the Kazon, and now with Prey, they really come into they’re own. But if that weren’t enough, Prey also brings back an enemy that we haven’t seen since Scorpion, Pt II – Species 8472.

It’s fitting the teaser brings them together first without Voyager. A lone member of Species 8472 left behind after the war with the Borg ended has had the bad luck to cross paths with an Hirogen warship (how it travelled 10,000 light-years is something Brannon Braga fails to explain) and has spent the past six months being pursued by the relentless hunters. The Hirogen finally corner the creature like a trapped animal but in the same way the Borg underestimated they’re enemy, it recovers and escapes its captors, but not before tearing they’re ship apart (and one of the hunters) in the process.

Naturally, this is when Voyager enters the picture. Bringing aboard the only surviving Hirogen (played by the wonderful Tony Todd), this gives the crew an opportunity to learn firsthand about this race of hunters. But when 8472 invades Voyager and with Hirogen reinforcements on the way, as well as Janeway and Seven’s differing ways of how to resolve this situation, Voyager becomes a battleground for all concerned.

Prey is a fine example of how well VGR’s pieces fit together when it remembers that. Brannon Braga is famed for his ability to dream up high-concept ideas, but he’s not often known for characterisation, which usually seems to take second-place. Prey is a surprising combination of what he does best and what he tends to overlook, and the result is one of Braga’s best solo scripts to date.

He’s helped no end by the actors carrying it, but Prey represents a new maturity for Brannon Braga. It shows him improving with characters, while also including plenty of the things he excels at – SF concepts and seeing where they take us.

The Hirogen want they’re prey, and will kill the crew in order to claim it. Despite nearly winding up as an Hirogen trophy herself in the previous episode, Seven is eager to turn 8472 over to them, but Janeway would rather return the creature to fluidic space (perhaps because they’re both alone in a foreign quadrant, trying to get home). Things eventually come to a head between these two, independently minded women and Seven beams the Alpha and 8472 to the attacking Hirogen fleet, condemning the creature to a certain death.

It is quite a stunning betrayal to see in a Star Trek show. A couple of years back, one of the Maquis crew would have done the same but since this is VGR’s fourth season, the most obvious choice to fill that role now is Seven of Nine, but it’s perfectly in character. She understandably still harbours hatred towards 8472, the first species to create chaos for the Borg Collective (the Borg probably didn’t truly understand the meaning of the word until they met them).

And it culminates in the final scene in Cargo Bay 2, when Janeway revokes all of Seven’s privileges for going over her head. But Seven refuses to back down. She feels perfectly justified in what she did, and even takes the opportunity to attack Janeway’s reasoning by saying she was the one who encouraged Seven to think as an individual. It’s not Seven’s fault if Janeway feels threatened by it.

This could almost be a conversation between Kate Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan rather than Janeway and Seven of Nine. It’s not hard to read into that scene and imagine the similar conflict between the two actresses that was going on behind the scenes. It’s nice to see the writers making use of it because it amps up the drama in a very tense episode.

I was a bit surprised to see Species 8472 turned into the victim so soon (TNG waited until the fifth season before they did the same with the Borg) but I liked Prey more than the way they were watered down in In the Flesh. They still make an impressive adversary (even the Hirogen Alpha can’t help but admit that after tracking it for half a year), and if not for Seven’s intervention, no doubt it would have lived to fight another day.

Prey is a superb distillation of all the good qualities of this season. It capitalises on the fantastic relationship between two of VGR’s best actors, and has plenty of action, suspense and great special effects all wrapped up in a tremendous package. What more can anyone ask? (That it could do this every week?)

Not even every week. But, like four or five times a season even? I’m not greedy.

Seven got shafted. I do agree that if Seven would have just opened up the dimensional gateway, then Janeway would have been happy and then have to live with the consequences of the Hirogen now making Voyager their next prey. At least that would have put ALL of the next events on Janeway’s head. Instead we get the tense battle of the attack and 8472 getting loose. If not for Seven’s quick thinking in the corridor, Voyager would either have been destroyed, or captured and then the crew tortured and hunted to death, along with the creature. Janeway just can’t acknowledge that fact when Seven suggests it at the end of the episode, but rather brushes it off as “a possibility”. If it had been me when Janeway visited the cargo bay and said how I beamed the species off the ship, I would have simply replied with “You’re welcome for my saving Voyager and it’s crew”. I also find it interesting that the very next episode (Retrospect) again tries to make it look like Seven did something wrong, though it’s never fully proven that her memories were faulty. Just because the nano-probes reacted in the experiment the way they found the trace nano-probes in the lab doesn’t prove that the rest of what happened on the planet didn’t actually happen, but the writers are intending that this is proof of false memories. It is possible the gun was set to knock her out and the trace nano-probes would still have been left in the lab the same way as in the test. Then the assault could have happened, her memory messed with and then he wakes her up and heals her hand just as Kovin said. Remember they never could explain why Seven reacted so strongly to Kovin in engineering by knocking him down. So I guess we’re just supposed to believe that after this much time Seven is still punching people in the face who touch her? When you watch Prey and Retrospect back-to-back, it’s almost as if Seven is being punished for the previous episode.

I’ve always been impressed with Ryan’s handling of what was going on in that fourth season. Young; newest cast member on an established show; replacing a well-liked cast member; lead actress definitely Not in her corner; yet Ryan did her work and also didn’t take any guff from that lead actress. Not sure how many young actresses (even with her experience) would’ve handled the situation as well.

Yep. I always liked Ryan; I think she’s a much stronger actor than she gets credit for, largely because the stupid costume is all people think about when they think about Seven of Nine. However, going back and hearing the accounts of what happened behind the scenes, I have an incredible respect for her.

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• Star Trek: Voyager

Stardate: 51652.3 - When  Voyager  encounters a disabled Hirogen ship with a wounded Hirogen aboard, Captain Janeway beams him aboard for treatment. Soon, the prey being hunted by this particular Hirogen, a member of Species 8472, boards  Voyager , damaging it. The only immediate solution is to let the Hirogen assist the crew in tracking its prey. Finding the creature severely wounded, Captain Janeway puts it under her protection, much to the chagrin of Hirogen. Seven of Nine disobeys Janeway's order and transports the Hirogen hunter and the creature to another Hirogen ship. 

Clint Carmichael

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Robert Beltran

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Robert Duncan McNeill

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Star Trek: Voyager

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Alpha Hirogen

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Hirogen Hunter

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Voyager rescues a critically injured Hirogen hunter who wishes to finish his hunt against a “resilient species” – a recent enemy of the Voyager crew – as Captain Janeway gives Seven of Nine a lesson in compassion.

In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “Prey” and continuing the Hirogen storyline. Plus! The guys chat about CGI aliens, feeling bad for evil, and Tony Todd’s acting capabilities.

• Post author By Wes
• Post date 03/26/2024

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More

Welcome, fellow Star Trek enthusiasts, to “The Pensky Podcast.” I’m Wes, and with me is Clay. Today, we’re dissecting the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Prey,” which aired on February 18, 1998. This episode deepens our exploration of the Hirogen and their culture, presenting a compelling narrative that pits the predatory skills of the Hirogen against Voyager’s principles and resourcefulness.

“Prey” thrusts us into the heart of the Hirogen’s relentless pursuit, this time focusing on a single, wounded member of Species 8472 being hunted. The episode cleverly utilizes this scenario to explore themes of prey and predator, mercy and survival, challenging Voyager’s crew—and particularly Captain Janeway—with moral and tactical dilemmas.

One of the most intriguing aspects we delve into is the Hirogen’s characterization. Their honor-bound hunting culture provides a rich vein of narrative possibilities. We discuss how “Prey” contributes to fleshing out the Hirogen beyond mere antagonists, offering insights into their values, motivations, and the complexities of their interactions with Voyager.

The episode’s handling of the Species 8472 member, a formidable being from the fluidic space, opens up discussions on the ethics of asylum, the dangers of underestimating one’s prey, and the tactical decisions made by Janeway. We debate the implications of her choices, both for the immediate safety of her crew and the broader principles she upholds.

“Prey” also serves as a critical episode for Seven of Nine, whose Borg past and perspectives on efficiency versus compassion come to the forefront. Her interactions with Janeway over the handling of Species 8472 encapsulate the tension between Starfleet principles and the harsh realities of the Delta Quadrant. We dissect how this episode contributes to Seven’s ongoing integration into the crew and her complex relationship with Janeway.

In wrapping up, “Prey” is a standout episode that balances intense action with deep ethical questions. Join us on “The Pensky Podcast” as we navigate the moral quandaries and strategic chess games that define this episode. And for those who crave deeper dives into the Star Trek universe, our Patreon page offers an expansive library of discussions and analyses. Beam aboard and continue the journey with us through the fascinating world of Star Trek: Voyager!

Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Prey (1998), full cast & crew.

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Prey Stardate: 51652.3 Original Airdate: 18 February 1998

<Back to the episode listing

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The Void (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Log entries
• 3 Memorable quotes
• 4.1 Production
• 4.3 Cast and characters
• 4.4 Continuity
• 4.6 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Guest Stars
• 5.4 Co-Star
• 5.5 Uncredited Co-Stars
• 5.6 Stand-ins
• 5.7 References
• 5.8 External links

Summary [ ]

Dinner in the mess hall

While traveling through the Delta Quadrant , with the captain and some of her bridge crew being treated to a special dinner put on by Seven of Nine , USS Voyager is sucked into an area of space that is devoid of stars , planets or any other form of energy . Almost immediately on being pulled in, Voyager is attacked by a starship .

Act One [ ]

In the ensuing fight, Voyager 's shields are damaged. This gives the attackers the opportunity to transport away almost 90% of the food supplies aboard Voyager , as well as some of its deuterium stocks. This puzzles the crew, as Paris remarks that deuterium can be found almost anywhere.

However, it soon becomes apparent that deuterium can't be found within this anomaly, along with any other resources a starship would need. General Valen , who had been watching the fight between Voyager and its attacker, tells Captain Janeway that the only way to obtain energy and supplies within the Void is to attack new arrivals. He and his crew have survived for five years in The Void using these tactics. Janeway refuses to consider stealing supplies to survive. Instead she intends to try to escape The Void. Valen tells her that escape is impossible, but Janeway is not deterred. Valen tells Janeway that he has tactical data on some of the more dangerous predators and will trade the information for photon torpedoes. Janeway refuses.

Using the sensors in astrometrics , Seven of Nine is able to predict when the next funnel, similar to the one that sucked them in, will appear. Voyager flies into the funnel, but is unable to break through to normal space .

Act Two [ ]

The ship which had taken Voyager's supplies becomes a victim itself

Faced with a situation where the ship will run out of energy in a little over a week, Janeway decides to find the supplies that were stolen from Voyager . The ship that attacked them is tracked down, but is adrift, the crew dead, and almost all useful components stripped from the ship. The only useful item left is the casing around the warp core , which Torres beams over. Upon inspecting the casing, she and Seven of Nine find a stowaway hiding inside. His leg is injured, so he is transported to sickbay . He appears unable to talk, but The Doctor determines that his physiology is such that he is able to survive for long periods without oxygen .

Janeway has to decide if the crew is ready to die for its principles

Meanwhile, the current holder of Voyager 's supplies is tracked down. It turns out to be Valen, who stole the supplies from the ship that attacked Voyager . When he refuses to return them, Janeway knocks out his shields and beams the supplies aboard. Despite retrieving only half the original supplies, she refuses to take any of the other supplies aboard Valen's ship.

Tuvok and Chakotay , as second and first officer , come to her ready room later to ask if the usual operating procedure is going to change due to the extreme circumstances. She replies that she has been consulting the Federation Charter to look for loopholes, but as there are none, she says that they will continue to follow Federation protocols. Instead, she has hit upon the idea of forming an alliance with some of the other ships trapped within The Void.

Act Three [ ]

Voyager contacts some of the other ships, without much success. Janeway tries to convince the captain of a Nygean ship, Garon , to join the alliance, offering him some of their food as a gesture of her goodwill. However, he is skeptical, only saying he'll think about it.

In sickbay, The Doctor, together with Seven, has developed a method of communication with the stowaway, whom he has christened Fantome . Using a system of different musical notes he is able to converse with him.

When a new ship is sucked into The Void, it is attacked by Valen. Voyager comes to its aid, but Valen has a second ship, which puts Voyager in danger. Fortunately, Garon arrives and helps to fight off Valen.

Act Four [ ]

With Garon and the new ship, a Hierarchy surveillance ship , and others allies such as the Kraylor , also in the alliance, Voyager is able to attract new members more easily. While the ships share different technologies to conserve power, Voyager is given technology to reduce the power required by its replicators by a significant amount.

The Alliance in formation

The Doctor takes Fantome under his wing, and teaches him various 'words'. However, when a visiting prospective alliance member, Bosaal , sees Fantome, he calls him and his species vermin. Janeway, although put off by this reaction, offers to beam aboard any members of Fantome's species that may be hiding aboard his ship. He agrees to this and decides to join the alliance.

Torres needs to build a polaron modulator in order to escape The Void. Although she works with Garon to build it, Janeway looks for a ship that has one so she can trade for it. Later she discovers that Bosaal has provided a fully compatible modulator. On questioning him, she discovers that he stole it and killed the crew of the ship it belonged to. Enraged, Janeway throws him off the ship and tells him to take the modulator with him.

Act Five [ ]

Even though they need the modulator to escape, she refuses to use it, obtained in the way that it was. This causes some of the other members of the alliance to leave, too. Janeway is annoyed with herself, telling Chakotay she should have trusted her instincts on Bosaal and never let him join in the first place.

Torres finishes building the modulator, but needs time to test it. However, Chakotay comes across the members of the Hierarchy survey ship utilizing Voyager's astrometrics lab without permission. While their intention was to spy on other ships within The Void to find more potential members for the alliance, what they discovered was Bosaal meeting with Valen, plotting to attack Voyager , which they show Chakotay. As the alliance ships don't have enough power to fight off the attack, Janeway decides that they'll have to forgo the test and try to escape as soon as possible. Fantome and the three other members of his species offer to help. Another funnel forms and the alliance move towards it.

Voyager and its allies are freed from the Void

As the alliance attempts to escape, Valen and Bosaal attack. Voyager manages to weaken their shields and beam Fantome and his friends aboard the two ships. They immediately sabotage the engines of the two ships, giving the alliance a chance to escape. As Fantome's species believe they are native to the void, they choose to remain there. Voyager extends its shield bubble around the other ships and they all manage to escape from the void.

Back in normal space, Janeway thanks Garon and the Hierarchy for their help, as they return the gratitude. After they leave, Janeway muses that being in the alliance almost felt like they were part of a Federation again and Chakotay reminds her that the real Federation is only 30,000 light years away as Voyager resumes its course for the Alpha Quadrant.

Log entries [ ]

• " Captain's Log , Stardate 54553.4. For the past several days, we've been making every effort to recruit members into an alliance, but it hasn't been easy. "
• " Captain's Log, Stardate 54562.7. Since Garon and the survey ship became our charter members, finding new allies has gotten a little easier. My latest prospect is Commander Bosaal , whose ship has technology that could help us escape. "

Memorable quotes [ ]

" The vultures are circling. " " Vultures eat the dead, Mister Paris. We're not dead yet. "

" I'm so glad we taught them the value of cooperation. "

" Preparing meals myself is the best way to ensure quality. "

" Each course has been paired with a specific wine. Substitutions are not recommended. "

" We may lose a little weight, gentlemen – but we won't lose who we are. "

" It was almost like being part of a Federation again. " " The real one's only 30,000 light years away. " " Then what are we standing around for? "

Background information [ ]

Production [ ].

• Filming for the episode began on November 29, 2000 on Stages 9 and 16. A working title for the episode was "Federation." ( StarTrek.com Production notes - Voyager Enters "The Void" (X) )
• When Janeway and Chakotay are saying that the Alliance was almost like being part of the Federation again, the original series theme is heard playing in the background.
• During the musical conversation between Fantome and the other members of his species several musical phrases from the origional series' opening theme can be heard as well.

Cast and characters [ ]

• Jonathan Del Arco previously played Hugh in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes " I Borg " and " Descent, Part II ". He later reprised the role in the first season of Star Trek: Picard .

Continuity [ ]

• Voyager had previously been stuck in a starless void in the fifth-season premiere " Night ".
• The first ship encountered by Voyager in the Void has a Vaadwaur signal. Voyager first encountered the Vaadwaur in the sixth-season episode " Dragon's Teeth " and this is their second appearance.
• Voyager encounters Overlookers in this episode. Voyager first encountered the Overlookers in the sixth-season episode " Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy " and this is their second appearance.
• This episode continues the established Voyager tradition of darkened or blacked-out set pieces, a production tool first used in the third season episode " Macrocosm " and continued in " Prey " and " Demon " (both fourth season ). Of particular note are " Night " ( season 5 ) and " The Haunting of Deck Twelve " ( sixth season ) where a large part of the action takes place in almost complete darkness, adding atmosphere and tension to events.
• This episode has a similar premise to TAS : " The Time Trap ", in which the USS Enterprise is sucked into a dimension whose inhabitants have accepted their inability to escape. In that episode, the inhabitants had instead established a government based on non-violence.
• The Doctor's quest to find a name, which started with his request for one in the first season episode " Eye of the Needle ", is referenced in this episode when he tells Seven that "choosing the right name for myself is extremely difficult."
• Guest star Robin Sachs (General Valen) has played a Minbari and two Narn characters on Babylon 5 .
• In Babylon 5 , Valen is the name of a holy figure among the Minbari.
• Episode director Mike Vejar has also directed many Babylon 5 episodes.
• The second ship that attacks Voyager after they first enter the void and steals their supplies has a design reminiscent of the White Star class ship from Babylon 5 .
• This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup For A Series.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 7.8, 1 October 2001
• As part of the VOY Season 7 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Guest Stars [ ]

• Robin Sachs as Valen
• Paul Willson as Loquar
• Scott Lawrence as Garon
• Jonathan Del Arco as Fantome

Co-Star [ ]

• Michael Shamus Wiles as Bosaal

Uncredited Co-Stars [ ]

• Michael Bailous as operations division officer
• Richard Bishop as operations division officer
• Jon Bruegl as command division ensign
• Andrew English as operations division officer
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Anna Lumarque as chief petty officer
• Louis Ortiz as Culhane
• Stephen Pisani as operations division officer
• Kraylor officer
• Loquar's assistant
• Fantome's species void inhabitant 1
• Fantome's species void inhabitant 2
• Fantome's species void inhabitant 3
• Two Nygeans

Stand-ins [ ]

• Brita Nowak – stand-in for Jeri Ryan

References [ ]

ability ; accessory ; adversary ; airponics bay ; The Alliance ; Annari ; Annari warship ; apron ; appetite ; aria ; Baxial ; bearing ; chadre'kab ; Chardonnay ; chicken ; circumference ; cream of leola soup ; computer console ; deuterium ; deuterium tank ; escape velocity ; evasive pattern ; Fantome's species ; Federation ; Federation Charter ; fetran risotto ; fractal algorithm ; grammar ; gremlin ; gourmet cook ; graviton ; gremlin ; Overlooker ; Hierarchy surveillance ship ; humming ; intruder alert ; Jelinian ; Jelinian ale ; Jelinian freighter ; kilometer ; Kinjal ; Kinjal frigate ; Kinjal frigate crew ; Kraylor ; Kraylor starship ; lead ship ; life signs ; logic ; loophole ; Loquar's ship ; Luhvian quail ; lung ; lung capacity ; meter ; Milky Way Galaxy ; morality ; murder ; navigational sensor ; nomad ; Nygean ; Nygean starship ; nutritional supplement ; Olian guava ; orchestra ; oxygen ; palate ; parasite ; peanut butter and jelly sandwich ; Phantom of the Opera, The ; phase compensator ; photon torpedo ; physiology ; Pinot noir ; plasma ; polarity ; polaron modulator ; red alert ; replicator ; Rigoletto ; salt ; scanning range ; senior officer ; sensor array ; shields ; shield polarity ; subspace ; syntax ; telepathic ; transporter ; transporter lock ; tricesium ; truffle ; United Federation of Planets ; " Veglia, o donna, questo fiore "; verbal skills ; the Void ; Vaadwaur ; Vaadwaur ship ; vegetable ; visual range ; vulture ; waiter ; warp core ; weapons signature

External links [ ]

• "The Void" at StarTrek.com
• " The Void " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " The Void " at Wikipedia
• " The Void " at the Internet Movie Database
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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7 Star Trek: Voyager Alien Villains Worse Than Discoverys Breen

WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors"!

• Breen Imperium emerges as main threat in Discovery S5, seeking Progenitors' tech to destroy the Federation.
• Voyager's Vidiians were considered as villains, but Discovery went with DS9's Breen instead.
• Species like the Hirogen, Species 8472 and Jurati's Borg could wreak havoc with Progenitors' technology.

The crew of Star Trek: Discovery should think themselves lucky that they're facing the Breen and not some of Star Trek: Voyager 's more dangerous enemies. It's now confirmed that the Breen Imperium will be the larger antagonists in the second half of Discovery season 5, following the revelations about Moll (Eve Harlow) and L'ak (Elias Toufexis) and the Erigah placed upon them. Discovery season 5, episode 5 , "Mirrors" revealed that Moll and L'ak were seeking to hand over the Progenitors' technology to the Breen, to erase their blood bounty. With the Progenitors' technology, the Breen will be able to destroy the Federation .

Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors", was written by Johanna Lee & Carlos Cisco, and directed by Jen McGowan.

Carlos Cisco, who co-wrote Star Trek: Discovery season 5, episode 5, "Mirrors" with Johanna Lee, discussed the Breen on The 7th Rule podcast . While discussing Discovery 's new " jelly Breens " , Carlos Cisco revealed that the Star Trek: Voyager villains, the Vidiians were considered as possible season 5 villains. Given that the Vidiians were seemingly cured of the Phage in Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 20, "Think Tank", it's hard to see what would be driving them to secure the Progenitors' technology 800 years later. So, while Discovery was probably right not to choose the Vidiians, there are some other Voyager villains that are more than a match for the Breen .

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Voyager's temporal scientists have already caused trouble for discovery..

The USS Voyager ran afoul of the Krenim in the season 4 two-parter, "Year of Hell". Commanded by temporal scientist Annorax (Kurtwood Smith), the Krenim Time Ship was able to force entire species out of the space-time continuum, creating alternate realities as they did so. Annorax wanted to restore the Krenim Imperium to power by reshaping history in his own image, but he never quite worked out the calculations, meaning that he only made things worse. Each change that Annorax made to the established timeline, the further he seemed to get from restoring the power of the Krenim Imperium in Star Trek: Voyager .

Annorax was the third of Kurtwood Smith's four Star Trek roles between 1991 and 2021.

Star Trek: Discovery confirmed the Krenim's role in Star Trek 's Temporal Wars when one of their Chronphage weapons found itself aboard the USS Discovery. With temporal technology outlawed, the Krenim Imperium may be looking for other ways to reestablish their dominance . Therefore, the Progenitors' technology would provide an ideal way to restore power to the Krenim Imperium. It can both create and destroy life, meaning that the Krenim would no longer need to rely on temporal technology to erase their enemies from the space-time continuum.

The Vaadwaur

An ancient alien race seeking to assert their dominance..

The Kellerun and arguably even the Breen are deep cut Star Trek: Deep Space Nine aliens that feature in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. So Discovery season 5 could certainly have brought back the deep-cut Star Trek: Voyager villains, the Vaadwaur. The snake-like aliens existed in the early 15th century, using subspace corridors to attack multiple planets, including Talax, the home world of Neelix (Ethan Phillips) . Eventually, a coalition of races formed against the Vaadwaur, seemingly driving the race to extinction.

The Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Dead Stop" features a Vaadwaur corpse in the repair station, suggesting that there were other survivors of the coalition's attempt to destroy the species.

The USS Voyager recovered surviving members of the Vaadwaur 800 years later, in Star Trek: Voyager season 6, episode 7, "Dragon's Teeth" . Manipulating the crew of Voyager, the Vaadwaur tried to use the ship to strike back against the races that had risen up against their imperialism. They were prevented from launching another attempt to dominate the galaxy, but their ability to navigate subspace corridors, combined with the powers of the Progenitors' technology in the 32nd century could easily have led to the rise of a second Vaadwaur empire in Star Trek: Discovery season 5.

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The voth may have preceded the progenitors..

The Voth weren't especially dangerous in their one and only Star Trek: Voyager appearance, however there was one big warning sign. A species that was believed to have originated from Earth's dinosaurs, the Voth left Earth and eventually established themselves in the Delta Quadrant . The existence of the Voth, and their genetic connection to Earth's dinosaurs means that the Progenitors' effectively took their planet from them by seeding humanoid life there. This could have set up a fascinating dynamic where the Voth, perhaps fleeing devastation in the Delta Quadrant, could have tried to reclaim Earth with the Progenitors' technology.

The story of the Voth in Star Trek: Voyager bears a striking resemblance to the Silurians from Doctor Who , right down to one Voth having what looks like a third eye on their forehead.

The new Star Trek: Voyager aliens were largely depicted as religious extremists in "Distant Origin", as many Voth refused to believe they originated elsewhere in the galaxy. Such zealotry could easily be tipped the other way, with the Voth in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century becoming convinced that possession of the Earth is a divine right . Possessing the Progenitors' technology would also give the Voth power over their human successors, making them a deadly potential foe with fascinating motivations as villains.

The Vidiians

The phage-infected aliens could finally cure all ills..

Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 20, "Think Tank" revealed that a cure for the Vidiian's virus, the Phage, had been found by a group of hyper-intelligent aliens. Whether this was true or not, 800 years have passed since the end of Voyager , meaning that the plague-stricken Vidiians could have found history repeating itself in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century. Voyager established that the Vidiians would stop at nothing to mitigate the effects of the Phage, from harvesting organs to conducting horrific scientific experiments .

The Vidiian scientist Sulan was able to split Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) into her human and Klingon halves, creating two distinct B'Elannas in Star Trek: Voyager season 1, episode 14, "Faces".

While there were sympathetic Vidiians like Dr. Danara Pel (Susan Diol), who was one of the love interests of Voyager's Doctor (Robert Picardo). However, the majority of Vidiians encountered in Star Trek: Voyager were keen to harvest innocent people in their never-ending battle against the Phage. As a humanoid race, the Vidiians would have a strong cause for seeking the Progenitors' technology, as they could presumably use it to erase all illness in their species . It seems unlikely that the Vidiians would stop there, potentially using the technology for larger, more nefarious goals.

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The hirogen, discovery's progenitors' tech could give them unlimited prey..

The Hirogen were a nomadic alien species that lived for the hunt, and anyone or anything was fair game in the Delta Quadrant . To try and assuage their murderous impulses, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) gave the Hirogens holodeck technology. However, this went wrong when the hunter species changed the programming to make more suitable prey, resulting in a hologram uprising in the movie-length Star Trek: Voyager episode , "Flesh and Blood". Giving the Hirogen the ability to create their own prey with the Progenitors' technology in Star Trek: Discovery is a very chilling thought.

Star Trek: Picard season 3 revealed that Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) was hunted by a Hirogen while in command of the USS Enterprise-E.

Creating sentient life purely for the purposes of hunting them is unbelievably cruel, but it would also be on brand for the Hirogen . Throughout Star Trek: Voyager , the Hirogen proved that they placed the hunt above all else, meaning that the galaxy would get caught in the crossover of such a rampant expansion of their hunt. While the Hirogen aren't as likely to burn the Federation to the ground as the Breen Imperium, a massive expansion of their hunt could create a moral and diplomatic nightmare in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century.

Species 8472

A non-humanoid species who once waged war against the borg..

Star Trek: Voyager 's Species 8472 villains were incredibly powerful beings that were able to defeat the Borg Collective. Existing in fluidic space, Species 8472 had immensely powerful biotechnological abilities, and even possessed the power to shape-shift. While Captain Janeway eventually negotiated peace between Species 8472 and humanity, averting a full-blown invasion of Earth, it's still possible that future events could lead to hostilities resuming. Species 8472 were one of 1990s Star Trek 's most outright alien villains, so they'd likely have different intentions for the Progenitors' technology .

Species 8472 was the first completely computer-generated alien species in the Star Trek franchise.

Star Trek: Discovery 's updated Breen aren't straightforwardly humanoid, but they're also far less alien than Species 8472 . An alien race that didn't originate from the Progenitors, with the ability to wipe out all humanoid life in the galaxy is a terrifying prospect for the 32nd century. Thankfully, Janeway's peace with Species 8472 appears to have lasted long into the 32nd century, meaning that the Star Trek: Voyager villains aren't appearing as Discovery season 5's major antagonists.

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The borg collective, picard finished what janeway started, or did he.

Given the success of Star Trek: Picard season 3, it's probably for the best that the Borg Collective don't feature in Star Trek: Discovery season 5. It's one of many lessons Discovery learned from Picard season 3 , however it's worth pondering just what the Borg could do with the Progenitors' technology. The ability to create life with the Progenitors' technology would give the Borg Collective a never-ending stream of drones with which to assimilate the entire galaxy . It's just as well that Admiral Picard finished what Janeway started in the Voyager finale, by killing the Borg Queen once and for all.

Captain Janeway faced the Borg Queen three times in Star Trek: Voyager , compared to Picard's two in Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Picard season 3.

A Borg Collective presumably still exists in Star Trek: Discovery 's 32nd century, led by Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill), who wanted to use their technology to heal, rather than destroy. Even though Jurati had more benevolent intentions in Star Trek: Picard , the Progenitors' treasure combined with Borg technology is a frightening concept. Such a combination could have been a recipe for the bad old days of Star Trek: Voyager 's treacherous journey through the Borg Collective's native territory of the Delta Quadrant. Starfleet, and the Breen, just wouldn't stand a chance.

Star Trek: Discovery streams Thursdays on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: Discovery is an entry in the legendary Sci-Fi franchise, set ten years before the original Star Trek series events. The show centers around Commander Michael Burnham, assigned to the USS Discovery, where the crew attempts to prevent a Klingon war while traveling through the vast reaches of space.

Star Trek: Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before.