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Published Apr 13, 2018

Catching Up with 'Voyager''s Brad Dourif

The three-time guest star sat down with StarTrek.com to talk all things 'Trek.'

This interview originally ran in April of 2018

Brad Dourif is a character actor’s character actor, an Oscar nominee whose credits include One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest , the Child’s Play films, two installments in The Lord of the Rings saga, Dune, Blue Velvet, Mississippi Burning, Jungle Fever, The X-Files, Priest, Deadwood, Once Upon a Time and many more. Thanks to his foreboding voice and sinister features, he’s played way more than his share of villains, criminals, psychos and sociopaths. He slipped on his sociopath hat to play Lon Suder, the dangerous, deeply troubled Betazoid crewman, in the Star Trek: Voyager episodes “ Meld ,” “ Basics, Part I ” and “ Basics, Part II .” Dourif’s latest project is the super-creepy indie horror-thriller Wildling , which will be available on VOD and Digital HD starting April 13, 2018, and is currently in limited theatrical release as well.

Wildling centers on Anna (Bel Powley), who’s spent her whole childhood in a single, secluded room, raised by a man she calls "Daddy" (Dourif). Daddy convinces her to fear the "Outside" by sharing horrific, fantastical tales of the "Wildling" and goes to extreme measures to thwart her maturity process. She’s eventually rescued by a small-town sheriff (Liv Tyler) who takes her into her home, and Daddy seems to go away for good. As one might expect, however, hormones kick in, Daddy may not be gone forever, and the mythical Wildling may not be so mythical after all.

StarTrek.com recently spoke with the always-fascinating Dourif. The actor filled us in on his current project and recounted his Voyager experiences.

StarTrek.com: Do you remember how you landed the Suder role? Was it an audition or an offer? Did you know if that’d it be a recurring role?

Brad Dourif: Offer. I don't remember if I knew it was recurring or not. Maybe. Maybe. I’d think it was.

Did you know that he would die heroically?

BD: No. The hook to me doing it wasn’t dying heroically. It was the mind meld (with Tuvok). Who doesn't want to talk like a Vulcan?

Were you at all a Star Trek fan?

BD: Of course. I mean, I'm not like a huge Trekkie, but I saw Star Trek when I was still quite young. I saw The Original Series with Shatner and Nimoy, right. My mom and I, we both sat and watched it. She was just wanting to see what it was like. Science-fiction was, relatively, at a comeback stage. We were also reading Ray Bradbury then.

Given Suder's sociopathic tendencies, how perfect a place was the Maquis for him?

BD: He was at home with the Maquis. He did what they needed him to do, which was the dirty work.

What do you remember of working with the Voyager regulars, particularly Tim Russ and Kate Mulgrew?

BD: Kate was wonderful. I had a great time with her. Tim… we went diving and did all kinds of stuff together.

BD: He's just a really good dude, yeah. My girlfriend was there when I did the mind meld scene with Tim, and it was great fun to have her there and have me do that scene with her there. She doesn't always get to watch the work, and she's a real artist. I wish I had a tenth of her talent, but she was very interested and I remember it was a really fun day. She's a very hard person to impress, but she was happy and I think she liked what I was doing, for sure.

At the end of the episode, after your demise, Tuvok says a Vulcan prayer wishing you in death the peace that you couldn't find in life. How fitting a farewell was that for Suder?

BD: I think that was dead on. It was a short little thing. There was another death there, which I think had more meaning to other people, but it was just a private little thing for Tuvok, giving Suder some closure. And I thought that was also appropriate because Suder was sort of an alone person and only one person recognized him. For a sociopath, empathy is impossible and you almost have to create it intellectually, and you never feel it. But I think people felt for him. Suder tried. He really, really tried.

Let’s shift to Wildling . You’ve played characters like Daddy/Gabriel before, but there are some glimpses of humanity in this guy, especially at the beginning. Was that part of the reason you agreed to do this movie?

BD: Yes. I’d kind of stopped doing bad guys, so I was not going to do Wildling , but then I had a long talk with (director) Fritz Bohm and we decided to really put some humanity in him… and then he goes crazy.

Bel Powley and the younger actresses who play Anna are all terrific…

BD: Bel felt like my daughter. We really, really clicked first rehearsal and she was wonderful to work with the whole time. She's really a solidly good actress. And everybody else was wonderful, too.

This looks like an expensive movie, but I’m guessing it was made on a very small budget…

BD: Yeah, that's about it. I just think they were very smart about the look of the movie and found good locations, and most of the stuff was really worked out. I think they kept improving it. We went back and did some re-shoots in which they did even better stuff. Bel’s makeup was great, but, as always, impossible. All special effects makeup is so difficult and hard on the actor.

What else will we see you in? IMDB lists about eight projects in pre-production, post production, production and/or announced. But what's actually next for you?

BD: I don't know. I'm being very picky now and I don't do bad guys, and all I get offered are bad guys. So, it's going slow. Honestly, I don't care anymore. I'll work if I want to. If I don't, I won't. I don't feel like there's anything I really want to do that I haven't done. I'm at a funny phase at this point, but I'll still work if I find something interesting.

This interview has been edited and condensed.

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Suder joined the Maquis in 2370 and joined a cell led by Chakotay . Over the next year, Suder proved an effective member of Chakotay's team. When Tharia ch'Ren , a fellow crewmate aboard Chakotay's ship, the Geronimo , came into possession of a Malkus Artifact , it was Suder who detected a difference in his mind, an effect of the Artifact. ( VOY - The Brave and the Bold, Book Two novella : The Third Artifact )

Suder didn't connect socially with the other members of the team, as he had only joined the Maquis as a release valve for his violent emotions and tendencies. This made him ruthlessly efficient at killing Cardassians , but after being flung into the Delta Quadrant and forced to conform to Starfleet norms, this release mechanism was lost. The valve finally blew in 2372 , when he murdered Crewman Frank Darwin in cold blood. After he was found guilty and imprisoned indefinitely in his quarters, Lieutenant Tuvok began to work with Suder to control his violent impulses, and initially performed a mind meld to transfer some of his control to Suder. ( VOY episode : " Meld ")

By the end of the year, Suder had learned to control his violent emotions and was looking for ways to contribute to the Voyager crew, after taking an interest in botany, he wanted to help Kes in the hydroponics bay . Before anything was decided, Voyager was taken by the Kazon-Nistrim and the crew marooned on Hanon IV . Suder, however was believed killed in a Kazon suicide attack, so he remained aboard undetected, however this involved killing a Kazon guard which visibly shook him.

With The Doctor 's assistance, Suder was able to disable the phaser couplings and allow Tom Paris to lead a Talaxian fleet to free Voyager . While his attempts were successful, Suder was killed by a Kazon soldier in main engineering , shortly before the ship was retaken. ( VOY episodes : " Basics, Part I ", " Basics, Part II ")

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External link [ ].

• Lon Suder article at Memory Alpha , the wiki for canon Star Trek .
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Star Trek: Voyager

“Meld”

Air date: 2/5/1996 Teleplay by Michael Piller Story by Michael Sussman Directed by Cliff Bole

Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan

"Do you know what a mind meld is?" "It's...that Vulcan thing where you grab someone's head." — Tuvok and Suder

Review Text

Nutshell: It's the inevitable "Tuvok gets emotions" episode, and it has a surprising amount of depth and a wonderful guest character.

When a crew member is murdered, Tuvok finds himself in over his head in an argument of logic versus emotion as he discovers the perpetrator has no motive or remorse—only the simple explanation that the arbitrary killing was the only option available in his mind. In a search for answers, Tuvok mind melds with the killer, only to cause his own dark side to emerge.

Well, I knew it had to happen eventually: the "Tuvok exhibits emotions" show. Face it—it's something that Tim Russ and the writers have probably been looking forward to since the onset of the series. After all, TOS had its fair share of "Spock exhibits emotions" episodes. And weren't they always something we enjoyed seeing? I'm surprised Voyager went an entire year before finally breaking down and giving this to us.

Whether you see Tuvok losing control of his emotions as completely gratuitous or not, "Meld" is an effective bottle show, featuring an admirable performance by Tim Russ and a reasonably compelling story, courtesy of resident cerebral scripter Michael Piller, from a story by Michael Sussman.

The plot centers around Tuvok's attempts to dissect the circumstances surrounding an unprovoked murder performed by Crewman Suder (Brad Dourif): a quiet, disturbed Betazoid from Chakotay's Maquis crew with a history of repressed violence and antisocial behavior.

If not stranded in the Delta Quadrant, Suder would probably be a case study. He's quiet and soft-spoken, and one day out of the blue he beats a man to death simply because he didn't like the way the man looked at him. After the killing, he covers it up and doesn't give it another thought. However, he doesn't cover his tracks well enough, and when the body is discovered, it takes Tuvok very little time to piece the clues together and arrest him.

But this murder puzzles Tuvok's logic to no end. Suder fully admits to the deed once he realizes he isn't going to get away with it. He does not, however, have any feelings of the matter, nor does he have a reason for what he did. Tuvok is not willing to leave it at this. He's curiously troubled, and wants to understand why someone would do something like this for no apparent reason.

In essence, "Meld" asks: Why does a killer kill? If for no other tangible reason, what does a person seek to gain by murdering? It's a fascinating question, I'll have to admit—and serial killer analysis is something not very often seen on Star Trek . "Meld" does a respectable job of bringing up this issue and exploring it through the Suder character, and Tuvok's frustrated perplexity over this cold-blooded killer is both an interesting and appropriate idea. Cliff Bole's direction is very good, featuring some use of shadows that accentuate the dark mood in scenes between Tuvok and Suder.

The results of Tuvok's mind meld with Suder proves entertaining and effective, even if not completely justified. While I don't quite understand why a mind meld would have such a profound effect on a Vulcan (Tuvok's virtually instantaneous transformation from his usual self into a person with even less control than Suder remains a little bit hazy to me), I do like the manner in which the episode shows Tuvok's inability to cope with the experience.

First of all (and, personally, my favorite scene), there's the holographic simulation where Tuvok strangles Neelix to death. It's simultaneously unexpected, disturbing, and hilarious in a macabre kind of way. (Haven't we all wanted to strangle Neelix on occasion when he gets annoying?)

Then there's the scene where Tuvok goes to see Suder, only to find Suder is suddenly less at the mercy of emotional impulses than he is. Here Tuvok is the victim of a classic irony: The lunatic begins appearing more sane than the psychologist.

There's also a very well-played scene where Janeway goes to Tuvok's self-destroyed quarters to find out why her security officer has isolated himself from the ship. (Naturally, it's for everybody else's protection.) Tuvok sits quietly in the corner of his room, covered in sweat, looking like a proximity bomb that could go off with the slightest provocation. Tuvok's unforgettable line, "Captain, please do not come any closer," is said and then repeated with such a calm, unemotional urgency that Janeway seems almost foolish (or really bold) to take the one more step to get within conversational distance.

Then, of course, there's the culmination in sickbay, where the Doctor puts Tuvok behind a force field and subjects him to some "therapy" to reverse the effects of the mind meld. This therapy involves temporarily disabling the part of Tuvok's brain responsible for inhibiting his emotions. The result is basically a "Tuvok uncensored," who condescends to everybody and treats Janeway with surprising disrespect. Sure, this therapy angle is no more than an excuse to give Tuvok emotions for a while, but the ends justify the means. Here Russ delivers the goods with a sense of lunacy but without going completely over-the-top, playing Tuvok as an angry, intelligent person who isn't afraid to tell everybody else what's on his mind—no matter what they're likely to think of what he says.

The episode's finale features Tuvok's choice of whether or not to use uncondoned vigilante justice on Suder for his crime. Suder turns out to be a surprisingly dimensional character, brought to life with Dourig's compelling presence. He really sounds like a guy speaking from experience on violent impulses; he understands Tuvok's dilemma, and knows that the demons within will not be silenced by just one murder.

This is somewhat highbrow storytelling. "Meld" has a number of effective subtexts in the issues of violence and antisocial behavior. There's also the relevant question of what to do with a murderer among the crew (although a polemical statement concerning capital punishment seems preachy and is introduced without the necessary depth). Giving Tuvok emotions was the easy, superficial part. But "Meld" also has the shining moments of depth.

Personally, I think that incarcerating Suder in his quarters for what he did is a fairly adequate punishment. He'd be a man isolated with no purpose. I doubt there's much more you can take away from a person.

By the way (I almost forgot), "Meld" also has a completely pedestrian B-story involving Paris running a gambling pool using replicator rations. This is the show's most notable weakness—just forgettable filler that sits there and shrugs. Chakotay shutting down the pool and putting Paris on report has an unfortunate "who cares" effect. Let's not dwell on it, though. The show more than makes up for it.

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94 comments on this post.

Tuvok killing Neelix was the best moment in Voyager up to this point.

David Forrest

I enjoyed this episode and enjoyed your review. I agree with a majority of it in that I liked how they solved the murder fairly quickly and then it "Why did he do it?" I thought it was fascinating to see on Star Trek, that Suder killed just "because he looked at him the wrong way". Brad Dourif was excellent as the guest star and it was defintely an enjoyable hour. As for the filler B-part, I do like how the writers were attempting to set the stage for Paris's "leaving the ship".

Anthony2816

"Tuvok killing Neelix was the best moment in Voyager up to this point." The only way it could have been better would be if it hadn't been a simulation.

Maybe I'm missing something, but how did the holographic characters have replicator credits to bet with in the first place?

The sad part is, this story gets reused as "Random Thoughts". Still, at least Tuvok gets to stand in the limelight for once, shame it was one of the last times.

I have mixed feelings about the episode. It's great to see Tuvok go through all of these changes and get emotional. It really adds a lot to his character. Tim Russ does a really great job throughout the whole episode. The "death" of Neelix is an exceptional scene, because I think many of the audience members want to see Neelix dead. Maybe it's our own violent impulses that the story is trying to tell us about that are being confirmed within us through this scene ;) On the other hand, I just found myself not caring about the plot. Who is this unknown Maquis that's been on the ship for the last 1.5 years? He's just a convenient crew member to use a plot device. I've never seen him, even in the background. Beyond that, this Maquis murdered someone, we found out who did it, and it was all wrapped up fairly quickly. Beyond that, the plot is fairly uninteresting. There's no really interesting climax here. We know Tuvok is going to be reset. So he didn't give in to the violence... big deal? It didn't do anything for me. It's also disappointing to watch an episode with some promise only to have a lack-luster ending. And in this case, the premise of the story is not believable either - due to the convenient guest star we've never seen before (who I think members of the crew would have noticed or talked about in 1.5 years of traveling in space). Ultimately, bad beginnings and bad endings make bad episodes.

I saw this for the second time yesterday and I think it's an amazing episode- probably the best work Voyager has done to date. It's not just a decent episode, it's actually a very deep study into violence and justice, where they come from, how they are inter-related. Amazing work from Dourif, Russ and Mulgrew, and it all ties together in a very interesting, intelligent way. Regarding Ken's comment, it seemed that Suder worked on a different shift, so it's certainly possible we'd not have seen him in the 11 months the ship has been in the DQ.

I suppose he could work on a different shift, but that's rationalizing things. There were still many times B'Elanna would work throughout the night or on different shifts and we would not see him. It's really not as if we haven't seen different shifts on this show - we have.

Carbetarian

@Ken I think you're nitpicking a little too hard here. I believe it was established in the 37s that Voyager has a crew of 150. Realistically speaking, we aren't going to see all of them. That Voyager would seem to go on to have a crew closer to 1,000 and about 50 shuttle crafts to burn by the end of the show's run though is, for me, a more pertinent matter to nitpick about. Feel free to tear that one apart as much as you want. Anyway, third me in for praising the scene where Neelix gets throttled! Every episode should have a scene like that. In fact, Neelix should have been like Kenny on South Park. Every week he dies a new death! They could have had some scenes like this: *Janeway, Chakotay and Tuvok stand in cargo bay 2* Janeyway: What are we going to do about this wacky spatial anomaly that's threatening our ship this week? Chakotay: Well, I was thinking we just kind of do whatever we did the first 50 times this happened. Tuvok: Logic dictates that we should consider not flying into spatial anomalies all together in the future. How about that? Amiright? *enter Neelix* Neelix: Well hello there Captain, Chuckles, Mr. Vulcan! I brought you all some leftover pieces of my Jabalian Omelets from breakfast! Can't think without sustenance after all- Chakotay: Captain, Tuvok - QUICK, GRAB HOLD OF SOMETHING STRONG! *Cargo bay door opens, Neelix is sucked out into space* Chakotay: WHOOPS! My finger must have slipped... Or how about this... *Janeway, the doctor, Neelix and Kes are all in sickbay* The doctor: I've been working on a new cortical supplement that would vastly improve the crew's brain power. Janeway: That's great! How does it work? Kes: I've convinced Neelix to be our first test subject. Neelix: Anything for you, my sweet. The Doctor: Yes, and as Neelix is the dumbest person currently on board the ship, he also stands the most to gain by this working. Janeway: Agreed. Let's try it. *the doctor injects Neelix in his temples, Neelix immediately drops dead* The Doctor: Oh well, needs work. *end scene* Anyway, in all seriousness, this was a good episode. Three stars from me too!

@carbetarian I've never laughed so hard in so long! That was heck of funny. All star trek should at least do 1 comedic episode per season. Your suggestionwould work if they do it using a Frame Story/metanarrative strategy.

This is the kind of story that was just begging to be told. The character of Tuvok has some interesting built-in contradictions. He is Vulcan - born and bred to prefer non-violent solutions, yet he is Voyager's Security/Tactical officer. Quite often violence is his job - applied logically, of course. Unfortunately, this is one of the only times they really explore how much it takes for a Vulcan to suppress their inherent violent tendencies. The psychological study of a serial killer is the perfect outlet for that exploration. I give this episode 3 & 1/2 stars.

The violence in Vulcans and their suppression of it for the sake of having civilization is a metaphor for the superego's suppression (repression) of the id in human psychology. Freud shed light on this long ago. The Klingon is pure id, but the superego comes out in his concern for honour - another metaphor for the human condition. I thought this was one of the best episodes insofar as it explored violence and the battle for good and evil within all of us. It was nothing short of brilliant, in fact. Suder's commentary was very incisive: the idea that once acted on, violence takes over -- very true. Violence is at the heart of our society in many ways (structural violence against animals, war, prejudice), but the inclination to good is also present in us -- an eternal battle within, reflected in our laws and customs and traditions. All of us are capable of murder but few act on it because of laws, and because of "the moral law within" that tells us it is wrong. This question was explored through Tuvok's plight, which was exacerbated by the isolation of Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, far from Starfleet's justice system.

Ditto, Paul. The discussion of the irony of capital punishment being an act of vengeance was worth the lukewarm B story. And Dourif is a great actor who's been underused since his part in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. No background extra could have pulled that off.

LOL @ Carbetarian *Neelix walks into Tom Paris' darkened holodeck bar* Neelix: Tom? Harry? Is anyone here? Entire Crew: (jumping out from hiding places) Surprise! Neelix: (surprised and smiling) Hey! Well! *Entire crew screams, runs forward, and beats Neelix with various blunt objects until he is a bloody pile of unrecognizable flesh* Chakotay: WHOOPS!

Tuvok really seems to be a poor excuse for a Vulcan compared to the few others seen. But his being unsure about the motive for murder actually resembles part of the story from TOS "Journey To Babel." Spock also is confused by seeming random acts of murder until the Andorian ambassador says quite simply "Forget logic and concentarte on motivations of passion or gain, THOSE are reasons for murder..."

ProgHead777

"Tuvok really seems to be a poor excuse for a Vulcan compared to the few others seen." Shut yo mouth, son! Tim Russ' depiction of Tuvok is, in my opinion, the second best rendition of the Vulcan archetype after Leonard Nimoy himself. Voyager was surely a severely flawed series in many ways, but I've never heard anyone accuse Tim Russ' Tuvok as one of the major contributing factors. Until now.

I fully agree with ProgHead... I think that other than Nimoy, Russ is THE Vulcan. He perfectly conveys the ancient struggle that Vulcans endure to supress their emotion, but unlike T'Pol, does it with humor, irony, wit, mystery. For me he saved the Vulcans from the savaging they got in later trek series.

>I fully agree with ProgHead... I think that other >than Nimoy, Russ is THE Vulcan. While I agree that Russ' performance was fantastic, I've truthfully always viewed Tuvok as an outcast, where Vulcans are concerned. We pretty much find that out in "Gravity." Tuvok, vocationally and temperamentally speaking, is a warrior, in a society which completely abhors violence. Granted, Spock and several other Vulcans went through a certain amount of self-deception where their own emotions were concerned, but I never saw any of them express anywhere near the degree of internal conflict that Tuvok does. He *hates* being Vulcan, if he would only be honest with himself; it makes him miserable. If he hadn't been married, then after Voyager got home, part of me would have advocated having Janeway recommend to him, that he move to Romulus. I think he would have been *much* happier as one of them.

I'm sure I saw this one when it was first run but only now, seeing it again after the release of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, do I appreciate just how fortunately Voyager was to have Brad Dourif guest star. For me, "Wormtongue" steals the show away from Tim Russ and, in another "Voyager First", I might even suggest that Suder poisons Tuvok much like Wormtongue poisons Theoden. Coincidence?

I was blown away by this episode. Cerebral and highrow indeed--more, please! Are Piller's other episodes commensurate with this one?

@SlackerInc Piller was definitely an asset to the franchise and was responsible for "Best of Both Worlds", without which, both DS9 and Voyager (and late TNG, for better or worse) would be unrecognisable. That said, he definitely had his slump episodes on all three series for which he wrote : "Rascals", "If Wishes Were Horses" and "Ex Post Facto" all come to mind. He also did great work (besides BoBW) for those three series including "Yesterday's Enterprise", "First Contact" (the episodes), "Whispers", "Death Wish" and "Meld", which you mentioned.

They should have kept Dourif around for longer, in a recurring role. He was awesome as Suder. Shame they killed him off in 'Basics Part 2'

Is it just me or is Tuvok ALWAYS frowning and angry, in EVERY episode? He seems to be perpetually "ticked off".

HolographicAndrew

Totally agree with this positive review. The scene with tuvok going out of control on Janeway blew me away. This has to be one of the best episodes up to this point in the series, not to mention one of the best vulcan centered episodes.

Absolutely intriguing and probing episode that utilizes the two characters inner struggles with violent tendencies in a conceptually brilliant way. The interplay between Suder and Tuvok where they slowly "mirror" each other is nothing short of fantastic. Questions of rehabilitation versus punishment; vengeance versus justice; when it comes to the individual is it truly black and white in every case? Or is it another gray area like most things in life? Philosophically speaking, this is one of the most unique episodes of Star Trek as it's presented here. A lot of credit to the writers is due. I really can't see any fault with this one. Some very meaty dialogue in many scenes, great directing, standout performances, and an attention-grabbing premise. I disagree with Jammers nitpick about the ease of which Tuvok's mental disciplines were shattered. Suder is a Betazoid. There was a comment above on how the episode fails because there's crew members involved that have never appeared on screen. Really? There's over 150 people on the ship at this point. All with varying shifts in their respective departments. I guess you would have to discount a lot of other ST episodes that involve crew members you've never seen. I make it a habit to not say anything on older comments, but I found this particular one rather...silly. No offense. The B story for me is a non-issue. It simply is what it is and there's not enough of it to interfere, for better or worse, with the main plot. This is one of my favorite episodes of Voyager and is also the first one to hit it out of the ballpark. Not phenomenal but extremely well done. Kudos. 4 stars.

"Haven't we all wanted to strangle Neelix on occasion when he gets annoying?" Did you ever see the episode where they almost get off the island but Gilligan screws it up?

i really like this one. one of the best voyager episodes... I wish they had kept the guest character longer. having a serial killer psycho type locked up in one of the rooms of voyager is actually kinda cool. Remember when Neelix tell the Borg kids the story of the nebula alien in the cargo bay. Can you imagine how scary it would be for the borg kids and naomi wildman growing up in the ship and knowing that there is a killer in room 237. They totally needed an episode where the kids dared each other to walk by and touch the locked door to Suder's room.

Oh, good old Trek... forcing its anti-death penalty propaganda on an episode.

Although I really enjoyed Russ' acting and script while not having emotions. That was well done and at least the writers didn't make the Vulcan culture conform to trendy liberalism.

BEst line of the episode: "TUVOK: It would be safer for the crew if I were to remain in these quarters. I remind you, I am trained in the martial arts of many Alpha quadrant cultures. Sitting here, attempting to meditate, I have counted the number of ways I know of killing someone using just a finger, a hand, a foot. I had reached ninety four when you entered." I'm reading ahead while rewatching Voyager. I'll be back in a couple weeks with my cut.

Easy 4 star episode here. Not sure how Jammer can knock it down to 3. Outstanding performances all around! Interesting thought... didn't Janeway rule in favor of Q (Quinn) in 'Death Wish' - knowing full well what his intentions were if he was granted asylum away from the Q Continuum? ...but no "execution" for our mentally unstable Betazoid huh? ... even if he desires it with a sound mind? Interesting. I just love this episode. Tuvok just can't come to grips with a murder with no motive, well a motive that is acceptable to him... Brad Dourif was phenomenal here, as he was in many other sci-fi bit parts. Bravo! He plays an outstanding mental case. (see the character "Brother Edward" in BAB5) Just watched this last night and loved it as much as the first time I saw it. I remember the first time I saw it I actually thought Tuvok schwacked Neelix :-) That scene made he think of Data choking out the Borg drone. Then Janeway forgiving her friend and fellow officer at the end was classic. "TUVOK: Captain, I must apologize for my inappropriate behavior. JANEWAY: I'm just glad we have you back, Mister Tuvok. TUVOK: I was most insulting to you. JANEWAY: Don't worry about it. I've been insulted before. TUVOK: I hope you understand that I have always had the greatest respect for you as a Captain, and consider you a friend. JANEWAY: That means a great deal to me. Enough said. Get some rest. Tuvok. No more mind melds without my permission. Understood?" Especially Betazoids :-) Again, easy 4 star episode for me.

FromHolland

One of the best Voyager episodes.

I don't understand why Tim Russ was so underutilized on the show. I thought he and Robert Picardo were the standouts. Picardo at least got the recognition he deserved but Russ seems to remain an unsung hero. His portrayal of a Vulcan was easily on par with Leonard Nimoy but with a bit more logic applied to his judgements (tho to be honest Spock was half human). He also remained the most consistent on the show from start to finish. Sometimes in season 7 everyone seemed to just go thru the motions (the aforementioned two being the exception, as well as Jeri Ryan). And whenever he was actually given screen time he easily stole the scenes he was in. I felt he actually had more presence than even Avery Brooks, and that's saying a lot. He would have been a fine addition to the Next Gen crew. At least the doctor got a little screen time with Enterprise.

^^ Couldn't agree more! ^^

45 RPM, Tim Russ can act circles around Avery Brooks.

LOL @ DLPB! "Trendy liberalism?" You're kidding, right? The original series was probably the most liberal show on TV back in the 60s. If one is gonna watch Trek, one is gonna see liberalism. I don't know how any conservative can watch any Trek episode what with all the “trendy liberalism” of women doing man work, non-whites in positions of leadership, and trying to reason with one's enemies before attacking them with armies. “Trendy liberalism.” Now that is funny. Anywho, I didn't comment on this before, but watching this episode again made me realize that there is no way in hell that the question of why a person seems to kill for no reason wouldn't have been asked and dealt with by the universe long before Voyager got sucked into the delta quad. Vulcans have been around a long time and would have mind-melded with psychopaths long before this. Even today, we know that people who seem to kill for no reason have some kind of psycho/emotional/social brain problem that gives them more violent impulses than normal, difficulty controlling those impulses, and, in some cases, a lack of ability to feel bad about their violent acts. Our only questions now are how does a person get that way (nature or nurture or both), and can we repair it and/or stop it from happening? I still like the episode a lot, but it does seem unreasonable that any of this would happen at this point in history.

@ Lt. Yarko - "I don't know how any conservative can watch any Trek episode what with all the “trendy liberalism” of women doing man work, non-whites in positions of leadership, and trying to reason with one's enemies before attacking them with armies." It might be because conservatives don't actually have a problem with those things. They did, after all, nominate a woman as their vice-presidential candidate back in 2008 (like her or not, she was, after all, a woman). They also currently have 22 women in the U.S. House of Representatives and 6 in the Senate (how could they have been elected if conservatives don't like women doing "man work"?). Also, the current crop of Republican presidential candidates contains people like Ben Carson (a black man), Ted Cruz (a man with Hispanic ancestry), Carly Fiorina (a woman), Marco Rubio (a Hispanic man) and Bobby Jindal (a man with Indian ancestry). Jeb Bush is married to a Hispanic woman. For a while the numbers 2 and 3 candidates were Carson and Fiorina. As of now it looks like the numbers 2 and 3 are Cruz and Rubio. But, apparently, that all proves that conservatives hate having "non-whites [or women] in positions of leadership"? Also, correct me if I'm wrong here, but I seem to remember not too very long ago Obama wanting to attack Syria in order to topple the Assad government and the opposition that forced him not to came from the right, most notably from Rand Paul. What I don't know is how anybody can be a fan of Star Trek with it's overarching message of tolerance and understanding and be unwilling to offer it to people on the other side of the political spectrum.

Not getting into this political discussion but yes 50 years ago in the climate that bred TOS those were things that would have made conservatives of the time uneasy. Do conservatives of today oppress women and practice racism? That's a really, really complicated question that would be horrible to answer and even if you did it would pretend that there is only one kind of conservative. But back then? Before I was born? Ya, Uhura was a very liberal creation.

@Luke - I just really wanted to point out that Yarko was talking about TOS in the 60s being liberal for having those things and you're talking about Republicans in 2008/2015... which is post Berman Trek... Let alone TOS. I just don't want to give the impression of disagreeing with you because I don't. My philosophy is that there is room for all philosophies on this station. IDIC and all that good stuff. If anything conservative Trek fans must be relatively open minded... a lot of it does lean left. It takes a open minded person to be able to enjoy entertainment that doesn't align with them.

Diamond Dave

A strong episode, back with superb performances from Tim Russ and Brad Dourif (I remember him doing a spectacularly creepy turn on The X-Files around this time and he doesn't disappoint here either). There's always something to enjoy when Vulcan's lose their shit, and I will defy anyone to say that Tuvok strangling Neelix is not a highlight of the series so far. Of course the set up is a giant contrivance, you have to wonder what drove Tuvok to get so involved, and the B-story is a nothing. So solid rather than spectacular - 3 stars.

Release the force fieeeeeeld!

A who cares crew man kills another who cares crew man and the Vulcan guy has a meltdown. Who cares

dreamlife613

Tuvok is one of the most likable characters on the Voyager crew, so I was glad to see him be the star of an episode for a change. I'm not as familiar with Star Trek lore as the others here, so this episode felt fresh for me. Tuvok and his Vulcan lack of emotion were mentioned before, but I never realized that Vulcans actually suppress their emotions until B'Elanna mentioned it a couple episodes back. That is fascinating of itself, but when Tuvok mind melds and ends up capable of letting out his darker emotions, things get really interesting. While it would have been easy (and lazy) to just have Tuvok become an uninhibited, crazy jerk for the hour, I am glad the writers stayed close to his true character. He didn't drastically change his morals, they only intensified. He became determined to have Suder pay for the crime of murder. This is not inconsistent with Tuvok's stated mindset before he was influenced by the mind meld. Bonus: Neelix getting murdered by Tuvok, lol. The fact that Tuvok created a special holosuite program where Neelix becomes more and more annoying to the point where the only option is to strangle him is amusing on so many different levels.

I'm quite surprised that no-one here has commented on the fact that the dead crewman is named "Darwin". Is his name a reference to the butcher job they did with evolution in the previous episode (Threshold)?

The Doctor lampshades out loud almost everything I felt about this episode: "Vulcan mind melds. Utter foolishness. Anybody with an ounce of sense wouldn't share his brain with someone else. Would you? I certainly wouldn't. And of course, when something goes wrong, and believe me it does more often than they'd like to admit, the first thing they call out is DOCTOR!" - The Doctor, to Captain Janeway It was completely illogical for Tuvok to even suggest a mind meld with a psychopath, especially for so flimsy a reason as he wonders why irrational creatures commit irrational acts. Just ask the doctor to explain psychopathy to him. This flaw in the premise of the episode basically torpedoed the whole experience for me. The only thing to enjoy in the episode were the performances from Tovok and the psychopath. I love seeing nut job Tuvok berate Janeway as much as the next man. However, this glaring hole in the plot was inescapable. All they had to do is give a good reason for the mind meld. Perhaps the psychopath sabotaged the ship in an escape attempt and Tuvok absolutely needed critical information on how this was done with no time to spare. ANYTHING would've been better than oh, I'm really curious about why violent amoral psychopaths with known neurological empathy deficiencies kill people so I want to invite one to become a part of me for the rest of my life, because... you know... that's how mind melds work, as has been explained to us all throughout Star Trek history. (Spock-McCoy, Sarek-Picard, really?!? ) It was quite frankly a ridiculous motivation, given the KNOWN consequences.

RandomThoughts

Hello Everyone I really liked this episode, as it showcased the acting talents of Tim Russ and Brad Dourif. I sometimes wonder how TNG would have been different if Tim had come in first, instead of second, behind LeVar Burton. I really do like LeVar, but it's fun to think about. He did have some name recognition from Roots after all, and that series showed some of his range (I think) but I don't believe we'd have been steered wrong if Tim had been there instead. It's something how a great actor like Brad was typecast, at least for a while, as a serial killer (or close to it), for a while. As was mentioned before, he was in an X-Files episode where he was one and was about to get his comeuppance (Beyond the Sea), then as Brother Edward in Babylon 5 (where he was a killer who was sentenced to "Death of Personality", and was made a priest/friar (Passing Through Gethsemane, great episode, highly recommended)), and then this episode where he again played a killer. I think Chatokay's description of him as someone who was This Close to killing him when he made him stand down, is a great description of what Brad is able to convey with his acting. Some people just have great eyes, and can show a great deal with just a twitch or narrowing of them. Heh, and I thought he was perfect in Lord of the Rings (extended version or nothing!). At least they (minor spoiler) brought him back later in Voyager. If you get the chance, watch those two episodes from the other series, you don't have to really know anything about those series to enjoy those two episodes. My humble opinion. :) I believe I've come to the conclusion that sometimes, I just have to watch the actors portrayals and enjoy them, rather than worry too much about how they add to the overall series. I really do like long story arcs, even if they can be Excruciating while waiting for the eventual climax. For series that don't have as many arcs, with stories that seem to reset, I have found myself really watching the performers. My recent re-watch of all things Trek has me looking at things with a different eye, and TNG's Half a Life came to mind. I left my comments there a bit ago on the acting, in my humble opinion of course. Have a great day Everyone... RT

@Quincy While it is illogical from Doctor point of view (risky and unorthodox treatment) and to viewers. I dont see that it's illogical coming from Tuvok point of view. Tuvok as Vulcan always undermine the logic and reason behind everything that goes around him. So i can relate for him not being able to see the reason (motive), give him trouble and unease feeling that he feel the need to resolve it. For him it's only logical to do mind meld so he can understand the motive. ==== This is a real gems, and its rare on Voyager. The stories are deep and executed very well. Outstanding performance from Brad Douriff and Tim Russ also doint great. Suder : "We both now that I'm prepared to die, but are you prepared to kill?" [Spoiler] The B stories involving Paris is annoy me at first as it's totally unrelated. But since it's revealed in later episodes that this is part of the plan to uncover the spy/traitor on Voyager, I come to appreciate that. Coming from Voyager who's notorious for having minimal to no continuity, planting this B stories for later episodes to be resolved is really good. [/Spoiler] To top it off, we got that hillarious scene Tuvok choking Neelix to death.. :D I dont see anyless than maximum 4 star for this episode

Samantha Bradley

I just watched this episode for the first time and I thought the main part was awesome. About Suder, what I got was: You know Deanna Troi lost her empathic powers only temporarily. Now imagine the Betazoid who never had any empathic powers, who perpetually sees other beings (including, even, himself) as flat, with no dimension whatsoever. (This is what I get when asked if he had any feelings on the matter, Suder says, "Nothing.") Being as such, I think that for Tuvok to have experienced the extra impact of the meld (struggling even more than usual for a Vulcan to suppress those violent thoughts), Ensign Suder had to have just enough telepathic ability to imprint (or trade) that violent tendency for more self-control. Also, thinking about Suder's punishment makes me think that executing him would have been too easy, so just keep him in isolation under armed guard would be more of a real punishment for him.

Yeah, this is undermarked. Fantastic episode, fantastic performances. And the Paris/Chakotay thread dismissed by Jammer forms part of the longer arc. And the fact Jammer didn't notice or realise that shows how well he was worked. Maximum I think - 4 stars.

I don't remember any words of caution in Star Trek before about mind melds. It was interesting but the sudden change in canon annoyed me. I like the comments that the justification for the mind meld was weak. Best and most chilling moment for me: when Russ/Tuvok threatens the Doctor, saying you are not indestructible hologram; a few well-chosen commands to the computer would eliminate the Doctor.

Tuvok knows lots of Alpha Quadrant martial arts. I wonder if one of them is the lame Ambo-Jitzu from The Icarus Factor.

The actual plot of this episode is sort of silly, but it's well done. I like it. It's kind of odd that one of the better Voyager episodes follows what is pretty much the worst one. 3 stars.

Anything would have been an improvement after the hilariously awful 'Threshold'...but if any Voyager episode is legitimately great and thought-provoking on its own merits, it's 'Meld'. Tim Russ and Brad Dourif carry the episode with great skill, leading the audience into a study of the spontaneous, cold-blooded violence that can and does occur in life--particularly with people like Lon Suder, who is portrayed as a textbook sociopath. And even though I don't hate Neelix, I can imagine how irritating he would be if I were Tuvok, so I did take some sick pleasure in watching the strangling scene. As usual, Janeway did something to drive me insane: stubbornly continuing to advance on a homicidal, barely rational Tuvok in his room even though he warns her to stay away. But Janeway's character never made sense before, so why would it start now? The overwhelming tension of the main story is periodically broken by the mildly amusing but inconsequential subplot, where Chakotay cracks down on a rather harmless office pool in the holodeck because, to paraphrase him, "StarFleet would have a problem with that." Dude...you're STRANDED! In the middle of the Delta Quadrant! If you're lucky enough to get back to Earth someday, do you honestly think HQ is going to care that some of your crew members gambled with replicator rations?! Why would any commander in Chakotay's position be so concerned about this? This is just another example of Voyager not being true to its premise. It pays lip service to the whole "lost indefinitely in space" thing, but the crew don't behave like it, the ship doesn't look like it, and the writers don't want to deal with it. (Ron Moore hit the nail right on the head.) Those caveats aside, I really like this episode. It underscores the great potential of Tuvok's character and adds an interesting new wrinkle to the Vulcan mind-meld. It's one of the show's finest hours and worthy of three and a half stars.

I re-watched this one twice in the last week. The premise is great and both Dourif and Russ give solid performances. I would have liked to see more of Suder prior and more of the rest of the crew in general since it is one lone Federation ship with a relatively sparse crew. The filler in this episode could have been scripted to feature another crew member we'd see later down the warp trail. Oh, and imagine if Tuvok had assaulted the real Neelix? Or if Neelix had discovered Tuvok's desire to kill him?

A disturbing and compelling episode -- not sure I can say I thoroughly enjoyed it but I have to respect it. Russ's performance is fantastic and the examination of violent/anti-social behavior is accurately portrayed (from what little I know of it). Great guest actor performance for Suder as well -- this is an intelligent episode and one Voyager should be proud of coming after "Threshold". The Suder character as a psychopath does send chills down the spine -- he's cold, heartless and those black contact lenses make him look totally deranged -- looks like Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs". And the scenes with Tuvok talking to Suder while he's in the brig is very much reminiscent of that movie. And what does Voyager do with someone who deserves life in prison? Janeway again sticks hard and fast to Star Fleet principles -- no death penalty so she confines Suder to quarters with added security measures even if he is fine with being executed. But at least this is Janeway staying true to her character. Tuvok's performance as a Vulcan is very accurate for me. Like Odo he does a great job as an investigator. Thought it was pretty cool how Tuvok set up a holodeck program to be annoyed by Neelix as a test for himself -- and the viewer watches it thinking it's the real thing. But Tuvok unchained was awesome to watch -- the scene behind the forcefield didn't make me think of Spock with emotions as this was much darker, but seeing a good Vulcan portrayal of emotions is quite the welcomed sight. Doc's sarcastic/pragmatic way of dealing with things is fun to watch. Picardo's a joy to watch. At least him and Janeway become very skeptical about mind melds. Bit bogus in the ending with Tuvok being unable to complete the murder of Suder as being a sign of his recovery. How this is actually reasoned is bizarre -- perhaps the 1 weakness of the episode. But this comes after another good dialog between Suder and Tuvok about how the violence takes over the person. Solid 3 stars for "Meld" -- great acting performances / dialogs, an intelligent examination of the serial killer / violence phenomena, and a test of Janeway's character and support for her crewmember (Tuvok). This has a lot of what makes Star Trek so good, only that formula is applied to a dark social phenomena.

It's exciting to see a Vulcan 'unmasked', especially one as closely-guarded as Tuvok. A great performance from Tim Russ, and from one of my favourite actors, Brad Dourif. If you haven't seen HBO's "Deadwood", it's a masterpiece, and Dourif is exceptional in it. And, for once, he doesn't play a psychopath, traitor, or murderer!

SouthofNorth

I love the fact that Tuvok has a "Kill Neelix" hologram program, though I suspect it's part of the ship's general library for any crew member to use.

A great one! Tim Russ is wonderful in it, as is our guest star. Agree that Russ is a standout as a Vulcan. Really good. Many wonderful moments, especially Tuvok and Janeway. I think the B plot was meant to mirror the A plot. Why is Paris always driven to break the rules, what's the appropriate punishment, and the like. It's Aug 2018, and I see the political discussions above didn't age too well. Nevertheless, I am hoping humanity will somehow achieve a Trekian future. A four star ep.

Startrekwatcher

2 stars Very boring I didn’t care for the Paris gambling subplot on its own it was filler. Only worthwhile tho g came from it playing into the Paris mini arc. The tuvok and suder story was equally dull. I thought in for an intriguing murder mystery. Nope. That was quickly dispensed with as Suder revealed he did it ten minutes in. The rest was about tuvok’s effects of his meld with suder. The histrionics and temper tantrum as I call it involving tuvok did absolutely nothing for me

I’m disappointed because when I watched this episode I saw the following exchange: Tuvok: is it possible he’s psychotic? Doctor: call up the genetic records... no, it doesn’t show any tendencies towards Bipolar Disorder... Ok, as a person with Bipolar Disorder, I am NOT psychotic. This is very well known even in the 21st century. I’m offended that they had to put this in the show blantantly false discrimination towards mental illness. Bipolar doesn’t make you a murderer. That disgusted and disturbed me enough I didn’t care to watch the rest of the episode.

Karrah, www.healthline.com/health/bipolar-disorder/bipolar-psychosis Doc wasn't making your assertion. He was checking for one symptom. You should watch the rest of the episode.

I have been involved, quite extensively, in an exploration of the unusual mental abilities of the Vulcans, particularly the mind-meld, and I just want to say that the episode "Meld" was one of the very best of the entire Voyager series. It was a beautiful and compelling tale that brought out to the fullest extent the benefits and the risks of this procedure, and the two protagonists did a superlative job in this regard. It is interesting to note that Tuvok, being all Vulcan, may not have been adequately protected against the risk of losing his control, and so when that happened he really blew his top---an incredible display by Tim Russ. They should have used him a lot more than they did. I also enjoyed---to the hilt---how he dispatched Neelix whom I saw as an insufferable nuisance! Incidentally, Tuvok would turn in another tour-de-force of a performance in the fifth-season episode "Infinite Regress" in which he would go all-out with the most powerful---and the most stressful---of all mind-melds, the Vulcan mind-fusion, to rescue Seven of Nine from a life-threatening predicament.

I agree completely with the commenters saying that Tim Russ was underused - he had a solid grasp of his character from the beginning, and this episode demonstrates the depths and nuances that could be drawn out with intelligent writing. The smaller touches Russ committed to his performance really stand out as well - like how his hands were twitching and restless in the scene with Janeway immediately after the mindmeld, which provides a foundation of uncertainty to his suggestion of an execution. It isn't explicitly clear if that is something that Tuvok would ordinarily have believed appropriate, if it is an illogical gut reaction that he would have otherwise reasoned against, or if it's a residue of the violent thoughts Tuvok accepted from Suder during the meld. I also feel like Janeway taking a step forward when Tuvok warned her to not come any closer was very appropriate and in character - at her core, I think she had a Kirk-like arrogance and volatility, and her impulse was always to respond negatively against threats. There are lots of other smaller additions to this episode which stayed in my mind after watching it a couple of times, like the way the Doctor casually walks through the forcefield, or (as that other Voyager review blog pointed out) the artful direction where Tuvok sees the body (which is obscured), and a bar of line shines across his eyes. Lots of small technological details are emphasised: the type of spanner used by Suder to club Darwin, the interaction of holograms and forcefields, the manner in which Tuvok hacks through the force field with an electrical conduit (very in-character for a security officer), the cortical monitor that he sensitively detaches and deconstructs, etc.

Teaser : **.5, 5% We begin back in Chez Sandrines with Harry, fully mammalian Tom, a few scattered Voyager extras and Ricky Lake. Tom wants to put stakes on their pool game, which Ricky notes is an obvious hustle. This tired bullshit eventually leads to Tom starting an “honest” betting pool amongst the crew (they bet in rations). The only bit I find amusing is that Tom tells Harry to write down the names of the gamblers on a PADD and he dutifully complies like the good bottom bitch he is. Meanwhile, Neelix is being his usual charming self. Pledging to Tuvok in the Mess Hall that he has chosen to make it “his duty” to get the Vulcan to smile before they reach the AQ. This is supposed to be really annoying, so I suppose we can call it successful characterisation. The scene does eventually land on an amusing note, with Neelix suggesting resurrecting an ancient Vulcan tradition on the Voyager: greased-up orgy night. I can get behind that. Tuvok is called away to Engineering by Torres, where we learn that a bloody corpse has been left in one of the Jeffries Tubes. People really need to learn to clean up after themselves. Act 1 : ***, 17% The EMH reports to Tuvok the findings of his autopsy. Lt Darwin (the corpse) was murdered, most likely by Ken Ham. In the readyroom, we learn that the only person on duty when Darwin was murdered was a man called Suder. This give Chakotay the willies. CHAKOTAY: Around us he was the quietest, most unassuming guy you'll ever meet. Typical Betazoid, Kept to himself...In combat there was something in his eyes...Sometimes I had to pull him back, stop him from going too far. And once or twice when I did he looked at me with those cold eyes and I just knew he was this far away from killing me. It doesn't have anything to do directly with this story, but it's good to see that the Maquis-integration issues (which as I've said, are the only viable way to explore the topic without veering off into absurdity) are not yet put to rest. Oh, I'm sorry, I'm supposed to say, “Why are there holodecks? Why haven't the Maquis mutinied? Voyager sucks.” So Tuvok calls Suder to his office to question him. Suder is of course being played by the reliably creepy-as-fuck Brad Dourif). Suder tries to turn Tuvok's suspicion around on him by accusing him of harbouring resentment towards the Maquis, but this is pretty useless with a Vulcan. TUVOK: I assure you, I have no feelings about the Maquis. SUDER: No, you just spied on us and were going to turn us all over to Starfleet. TUVOK: As hard as it may be for you to understand, that did not require any feelings on my part. Russ and Dourif have a rather unique and enjoyable chemistry. Both are playing characters who suppress their feelings but for very different reasons, and this lends an interesting subtext to their conversation. Well it turns out that, aside from establishing the creep factor, Tuvok's interview was pointless, as the EMH has used (non technobabble, amazingly) forensics to determine that Suder is the murderer. Tuvok confronts Suder with this news and he immediately confesses, describing in detail how he performed the murder. When Tuvok demands a motive, Suder's only reply is “I didn't like the way he looked at me.” [shudder] Act 2 : ***.5, 17% TUVOK: Crime must have a logical purpose. EMH: Ah yes, I see. How to close the case without understanding the logic of the crime. For a Vulcan, that would be a dilemma, wouldn't it? We establish that most of the former Maquis have genetic markers that point towards violence and aggression, again robbing the entire premise that the Maquis themselves have any logical reason for existing, and aren't just a bunch of temperamental children. EMH: I think you are trapped in your own Vulcan logic, Lieutenant. All of us have violent instincts. We have evolved from predators. Well, not me, of course, I've just been programmed by you predators. The question is, in a civilised world, can we suppress those instincts? Most of the time we can. Vulcans certainly can. You've got your violent feelings buried underneath centuries of control. But the rest of the humanoid races aren't always so skilled at self-discipline. Crewman Suder may have violent impulses that he just can't control. I think most of us can admit that we have shared Tuvok's frustration over this kind of explanation. Everything has to have a reason, doesn't it? So bothered by this is he that he visits Suder in the brig to try and pry some answers out of him. What's more frustrating is Suder's lack of emotion over the incident. Vulcans objectify other cultures (one of the few phrases from Enterprise I feel is worth adopting) and thus, whatever actions they take which have no logical purpose are inevitably the result of a lack of emotional discipline. If objectifiable emotions are not responsible for an otherwise illogical crime, how can Tuvok possibly accept this situation? What's great about this setup is that this premise gives Tuvok a visceral motivation for his actions well before he is actually robbed of emotional control. With Data, it was nearly always his quest to be more human that drove his experiments. Tuvok has no such aspirations, so this is quite clever. Further complicating matters is the fact that Suder has all but volunteered to be executed for his crime, something the Federation doesn't do. With few other options, Tuvok elects to meld with Suder to understand this mystery. He justifies this approach by mentioning that some of Tuvok's mental abilities would be (temporarily) transferred to Suder, which could only aid in silencing his own demons (c.f. “Sarek”). Act 3 : ***.5, 17% We pick up with Paris' daily sweepstakes rewarding no one, and him making off with his booking fee to enjoy a Neelix-free lunch. Anyway, Tuvok reports his findings to Janeway, noticeably agitated after the experience. They theorise that being cooped up on the Voyager with no regular outlet to unleash his anger is what likely drove Suder to this crime. So, they decide to coop him up indefinitely. In seriousness, I'm with Jammer on this point: executing him is barbaric and eternal confinement in his decorated cage is certainly a harsh enough punishment. SFDebris in his review suggested putting Suder in stasis, which seems very strange to me as it would mean he would sleep through his sentence. Seems much less harsh than imprisonment. Tuvok however, puts capital punishment on the table, which strikes Janeway as out of character. She wonders what side-effects may be lingering within her old friend, and orders him to mind his own needs in all this. So Tuvok heads back to the Mess Hall for more punishment from the Morale Officer. Ethan Phillips is extraordinarily talented at playing an insufferable irritant, going so far as to shove his finger in Tuvok's mouth to prompt a smile. Then he threatens to sing, which sends Tuvok into an homicidal rage and, waddaya know, Neelix is strangled to death. Of course, this is just a holodeck simulation, but as others have noted, it is incredibly macabre and darkly humorous to assign Neelix the role of one who could affect Tuvok in this way. You have to wonder in episodes like “Rise” if this memory didn't spring up. Act 4 : ****, 17% We again start out with the B plot, but this time Chakotay steps in to Sandrines to put the gambling act to an end. He puts Paris on report and mentions through his teeth that Janeway will be disappointed with him. There's undoubtedly some schadenfreude involved with Chakotay confirming his own long-held suspicion that Paris is a piece of shit. Meanwhile, Suder awakens in his cell to find Tuvok staring at him from behind the force field. Creepy is as creepy does. Suder is finding himself a bit more Tuvok-like in his objectification of his own emotions, which of course means the inverse is true of Tuvok. The Vulcan lays out the prescribed punishment for Suder, which of course in the enlightened Federation is rehabilitation; he will continue to study Vulcan discipline and be allowed the chance to exorcise his violent tendencies on the holodeck. Suder mentions that holo-violence isn't really satisfying, which of course makes one think of Worf and his Skeletor programme. In Worf's case, however, I think the programme is designed to be a work-out. Klingons have killer instincts, but they aren't blood-thirsty in the same way. Even for them, violence has to have a purpose. And Tuvok already knows first hand that holo-violence doesn't it cut it when it comes to these dark thoughts they now share. TUVOK: I have studied violence for over a hundred years. SUDER: Studying it and knowing it are two different things, aren't they. It's attractive, isn't it. TUVOK: Attractive? SUDER: Violence. TUVOK: On the contrary. I find it disturbing. The unique chemistry between the actors is again put to excellent use here. It's a common theme in Vulcan stories to explore the idea what makes us evolved humans is really just a concerted effort to suppress our natural instincts. In the Vulcans' case, the instincts are radically more intense, and thus the discipline must be radical to match. Seeing Tuvok so vulnerable to this beady-eyed Betazoid wonderfully disturbing. Suder wants to meld again, but Tuvok recognises that this is probably a bad idea. Feeling himself slip away, Tuvok retreats to his quarters, erects a force field and deletes his security codes. Act 5 : ***.5, 17% Janeway is summed to his quarters by the computer and she arrives to find the place completely trashed by the heaping mass of quiet rage which used to be her security chief. It's a very visceral little scene that relies almost entirely on the actors' delivery and the directing, with Tuvok crouched in the darkness and Janeway haloed in angelic light from the corridor. He's sedated and brought to the sickbay, where the EMH confirms that the meld has caused some problems (duh), due to some incompatibilities with the Betazoid telepathic centre in Suder, which is a soft touch that I like very much. There's a brief moment for Picardo to be his usual grumpy self over Vulcan arrogance, which is always welcome, but his only prescribed treatment is a kind of neural shock therapy. Tuvok is awakened. Again, I'm reminded of “Sarek” a bit; there's no more logical reason (ironically) for Tuvok to be awake for this procedure than there was for Picard after his meld, but it's a great excuse for some impressive acting. In his state, he takes the opportunity to berate Janeway for her choice of punishment regarding Suder. What's great about this is that this makes clear that the rationalisation for capital punishment is purely emotional and thus, unjustifiable: TUVOK: Admit it! Part of you feels as I do. Part of you wants him to die for what he did...He has killed and you know he deserves to die! On behalf of the victim's family, Captain, I beg you to reconsider. Give them the satisfaction of his execution. After the episode, Tuvok is sedated and left alone in the surgical bay. That night, unmonitored, he manages to break himself free from the Doctor's devices AND the force field. Nifty. And where does he go but straight to the brig to resume with Suder. SUDER: Have you come to kill me? TUVOK: To execute you for your crime. SUDER: To execute me. I see. And calling it that makes it more comfortable for you... Understand one thing, Tuvok. I can promise you this will not silent your demons. If you can't control the violence, the violence controls you. Be prepared to yield your entire being to it, to sacrifice your place in civilised life for you will no longer be a part of it, and there's no return. Tuvok attempts the meld again, which may kill them both it seems, but in the end Tuvok finds himself unable to go through with it, and collapses. There's a brief coda, where things are put back where they belong, Tuvok and Janeway make up, the EMH gets another quip and Suder is stored away for another day. A nice touch is Janeway replicating the gesture from “Twisted” that Tuvok used to demonstrate his affection for her (one of the few good moments of that trash pile). Episode as Functionary : ***.5, 10% Tim Russ is finally given a story that fires on all cylinders. We've got a bit of Tuvok the investigator, which were bright spots in several Season 1 stories; we've got Tuvok unhinged, which serves to show just how hard Russ is working every week to maintain that characteristic Vulcan cool; and we've got an effective message show wrapped up in a character piece. Piller's dialogue really sings when he's dealing with complex issues (as opposed to the pedestrian ones we've have often had to endure from him), and unlike last week, the familiar Voyager sets are shot in a way to make them feel fresh and engaging despite the bottleshow limitations in place. The B-story serves its purpose, but feels relatively benign in isolation, with some amusing tension arising between Chakotay and Paris. This finally feels like the show Voyager is capable of being. Final Score : ***.5

@Elliot “What's great about this is that this makes clear that the rationalisation for capital punishment is purely emotional and thus, unjustifiable” Why? We’re humans, not Vulcans, what makes emotions less valid than anything else?

@Dave Emotions are perfectly valid for what they are, but the point is that they are fleeting. They change, usually, and even if they don't, they are completely subjective. Determining whether or not to end someone's life based on emotions is not only illogical, it's immoral.

One of my favorite episodes. On every rewatch, it holds my attention completely and gets my mind working in ways most television cannot. I love it. Now, I disagree with its positions on what violence is, on how violence is irrational and consuming. Sometimes it's rational, sometimes it's not; some people can practice it daily and not get "addicted" to it, some people can't. It's still just television. Nothing in this episode connects violence to power in any meaningful way, or questions the role of instinct, utility, or dominance in social order. The philosophy at work here is radically oversimplified and gives too many people an unjustified superiority complex for looking at an entire dimension of human experience and saying no to it. But as an episode, it's fantastic. Brad Dourif is one of the top five guest stars in Voyager history, and Tim Russ gives a fantastic performance, no surprise given Russ' quality as an actor. Killing Neelix? Kind of satisfying to me, but evidently much more so for other people. I'm glad to see everyone enjoyed it so much. Pretty good for a TV quality social philosophy episode.

Sleeper Agent

There's something about dark and bad ass trek stories that always gets to me. 4 Stars. Easy. PS. "I love the fact that Tuvok has a "Kill Neelix" hologram program, though I suspect it's part of the ship's general library for any crew member to use." Great comment XD

Mark Antony

I love this episode, Tom Russ is an incredible actor and ,as others have said, very underused in ST Voyager. After the meld you can actually see Tuvok beginning to lose his Vulcan control and when he finally does Tim Russ’s performance in his quarters and in the medical bay are first rate. Also the interaction between Russ and Dourif are excellent! On another note I couldn’t help thinking while watching Crazy Tuvok in this episode, remember the DS9 episode where Worf is forced to fight Jem H’adar warriors in single combat I that Dominion prison? Imagine Crazy Tuvok in that scenario......

I enjoyed this one, the main guest star was believable and entertaining. I usually cringe in the "Vulcans gone bad episodes," but this one was better than most.

Sorry, I have to disagree with the consensus. This episode was painfully boring. The premise that someone killed another crewmember because the way he looked at him is as implausible as the creatures at the end of Threshold.

Sarjenka's Brother

I was prepared to not like this as I was thinking this would be another standard "Trek" murder mystery, which they don't do well. But once the mystery was wrapped up in 15 minutes or less, we got this very good emotional journey with Tuvok. One of the best Voyager outings so far.

By the way, I'm now watching these in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. Somehow, it makes me even more appreciative of Trekdom to get my mind off things for an hour.

Not a fan of this episode. Hollywood loves to portray murderers as robots that kill without reason...but in reality almost all murderers have very specific reasons. Usually it is a distorted sense of protection or justice. The truly psychotic who actually kill for no reason are extraordinary rare and would not have been as stable and eloquent as Suder was...they would have been disjointed, arrogant, and perhaps with a twisted sense of humour. The motive part of the story just seemed to cliche for me. Tuvoc going mad didn't work for me either. It was too one-dimensional, boring and predictable (like most going mad stories). Tim's acting wasn't top notch...he could have varied his cadence more, used more eye movement, vocal inflections, arm movement etc...even when emotional he came off as robotic. What bugged me was that Tuvoc was only suppressing violent emotions, when in reality vulcons suppress all emotions. Tuvoc losing control should have been more varied and not simply being turned into a robotic killer.

This would be a four star for me. Tuvok getting emotions is of course contrived but the route taken to get to this scene is creatively done. I was surprised Voyager even talked about cold blooded murder let alone devote an episode exploring it. The whole episode feels dark and the scenes between Suder and Tuvok have a malicious undercurrent that feels just below the surface. The direction was effective throughout as well.

Janeway in MELD: "An execution? You're not seriously suggesting we execute him? We are Starfleet officers." Janeway in TUVIX: "Starfleet who? I'll personally carry out the execution!" This is Janeway in a nutshell. She changes her morals constantly to fit the outcome she wants.

@QDouwd "... Janeway in TUVIX: "Starfleet who? I'll personally carry out the execution!" This is Janeway in a nutshell. She changes her morals constantly to fit the outcome she wants." Not close to a fair argument. Janeway was saving 2 shipmates lives when she reversed the affects of a transporter accident.

I find amusing that the murder weapon was a lightsaber.

I wonder if this episode was partially inspired by the case of Russian serial murderer Andrei Chikatilo. Reportedly, after his arrest, he was interviewed for years by ONE psychologist, who (not surprisingly) later suffered a complete mental breakdown and lifelong PTSD. I've read it's part of the reason why psychologists who interview serial murderers are now routinely "switched out"--so they don't suffer damage to their own mental health by getting too involved with these individuals (similar to what happened with Tuvok). Also, I like the subtle touch that Tuvok seems receptive to executing Suter (to the point of almost arguing for it) within hours of melding with the latter. Suder's psychosis clearly had an immediate impact. That's great writing!

This is, more properly, a re-hash of the third season Babylon 5 episode "Passing Through Gethsemane." But it's excellent stuff; Dourif always adds a certain flair, and Tim Russ gets to show off his dramatic chops here. (See also his brief post-torture scene in 'Basics Part II.') Shame he wasn't used more frequently or effectively throughout the series.

Doing a rewatch of Voyager inspired by the pandemic just because it's the Star Trek show I've seen the least of (didn't have UPN until mid-way through). Tim Russ is so good whenever he gets anything to do. It's a shame it didn't happen more often and "Tuvok has emotions" isn't the kind of thing you can trot out all the time, but this was a fine showcase for him.

Mads Leonard Holvik

Suder is MBTI-personality according to someone I know who has fallen into the Meyer Briggs rabbit hole.

He is INFP I mean.

I think it's an interesting episode politically. It presents the argument for capital punishment in a negative light, strongly implying it's just an expression of violent instincts rather than something rational. But it also clearly argues against a certain liberal view that doesn't really accept that some people are violent by nature and that gives little room for motiveless hostility as a driving factor in violent crime. Depending on your politics you'll find different parts of this more v less persuasive, but it's a lot more sophisticated than Star Trek political messaging normally gets.

This episode always struck me as an attempt to ape the masterful, classic X-files episode, "Beyond the Sea," also starring Brad Dourif. And compared to that hour of television, "Meld" looks rather contrived. You know Brad Dourif's character is a mad man (X-files managed to subvert this; Brad was both psycho and hero), you know Tuvok is going to go crazy, you know he's going to lose a grip on his emotions (every Vulcan hero has done the same), you know he's going to turn into a murderous madman, and you know he's going to be brought back from the brink. On a scene-by-scene level - in terms of dialogue, performance and direction - it's a strong episode, but the actual arc of the episode is generic. I think I'd have preferred instead a straight-forward debate on capital punishment. Have Tuvoc arguing for killing the guy (he will murder again, we cannot divert ship resources indefinitely etc) and Janeway argue for life. Maybe they banish the guy to a planet and leave him there. Either way, "Vulcan losing his mind" seems an obvious trope to me, though admittedly it's only really happened a handful of times prior to this episode airing.

Or better yet, take the premise more seriously of them sharing thoughts, and instead of Tuvok randomly going crazy because insanity is apparently contagious, instead have Tuvok see Sudor's point of view as actually being logical, so that Tuvok was unable to escape the logic that random killing is justifiable. Make the episode a moral logic puzzle, where Tuvok isn't trapped in a bad dream so much as a bad argument, that he can't solve until the end. And so long as the logic seems inescapable then we might get the makings of how someone devoted to pure logic might be a very dangerous person - what happens if logic suggests something immoral or unthinkable? But that's just my fantasy head canon talking, I've always wanted to see a Lawful Evil Vulcan story.

You seem to be suggesting an episode in which a Vulcan rationalizes himself into becoming a kind of evil Machiavellian, a stance which Janeway will no doubt try to talk him out of. I love that idea, so long as all these debates take place around tables. My ideal Trek is always MORE GUYS DEBATING STUFF AROUND TABLES.

Yeah, something like that. I always had this idea that a Vulcan could be really scary if their implacable and merciless adherence to logic produced radically different results than what a human would hope for. It's something DS9 mucked up royally with Field of Fire. It would be neat to see a 'crazy' Vulcan, where when it's asked what's wrong with him, the answer is 'nothing'. At least with Sudor, I guess the idea would be something like he had in his mind an insane logic that was technically irrefutable, and only a recourse to human emotion could 'disprove' it. The story I envision would be something like that. And yeah, more talking around tables.

I always remembered this as being one of my preferred episodes of VOY, but it had been many years since I'd seen it. Watching it now, I've got to say that there's just something missing, like a hole in the energy and story. My best guess is that I just don't think Tuvok is able to hold my attention as the star of an episode. Russ has the stoneface down cold, but even back when VOY first aired I thought he wasn't expressive enough. Luckily he has Brad Dourif to send energy at the camera and keep his scenes afloat, but there doesn't seem to be any kind of interesting dynamic between these actors. Looking back, I'm not surprised that they de facto wrote Tuvok out of the show past S4. Seven was much better at the stone face with superior wit routine, among other things. They tried a few times with Tuvok, and maybe a couple were successful, but never great. He just doesn't give enough to inspire a writer IMO.

Suder is a great character played perfectly by Dourif. Suder's Vulcan mode, where he starts inadvertently lecturing and counseling Tuvok is chilling AF. What works so well is that Suder is making a lot of sense here that's difficult to dispute. A meld really can be seen as a form of violence. See Undiscovered Country. It's also quite an interesting notion that mind melding with a diseased mind might actually be dangerous. It would have been interesting if Tuvok were permanently damaged to some degree, could have spiced up the character.

Is there not interesting about the fact that they wrote Suder to be Betazoid and not human, though his species doesn't really bear on the episode? Like they don't want to depict a human psychopath on Star Trek (though an alien one is A-okay)?

While the themes and issues are completely different, "Meld" is reminiscent of "Duet" in DS9. Both are "bottle shows" that concentrate on the dynamics between a regular and a guest actor in the confines of the ship or station as the case may be. It's interesting that these compact "like-a-play" episodes can produce such great results. This is a very good episode and one of "Voyager's" best, even if it has little to do with the premise of finding some means to get back to Sector 001 in something less than a few centuries.

Well I seem to be the odd one out on this. I found it just plain boring. The implication that bipolar disorder could lead to murder was offensive, and for them not to recognize psychopathy when it was literally staring them in the face was unbelievable. Maybe my reaction is because of the advances in psychology in the last 30 years, but it really took me out of the show. Plus, there was really no plot. The case should have been closed as soon as they found the murder weapon right where he said it was. That's an example of why I was bored. I would have liked to see a 30-second scene of them finding the murder weapon, and definitely wanted to see all of the first mind meld. I would have appreciated more question as to whether the murderer really had changed. The ending seemed too pat for me, maybe too rushed. The murderer had no ill effects from that second mind meld? Whereas it apparently cured Tuvok? If I were Janeway, I'd have a hard time trusting him again. I do think the guest star did a great job acting psychopathic, and Tim Russ did pretty well with his difficult part. But I just kept wanting it to be over.

I enjoyed the exploration of dark psyche in this episode. However, what wasn't properly conveyed was why Tuvok could not accept lack of a clear motive in this murder case. History is full of serial killers who simply kill compulsively. Why was Tuvok willing to go to such absurdly great lengths to find a motive when seemingly everyone else around him was content with not having one? Even the doctor gave a good explanation: the lack of control of primitive murdering instincts. All we get from Tuvok is, "I can't accept that." He's almost 100 years old and can't accept that people just murder each other for no reason? Once I was able to suspend disbelief about that, the episode was quite enjoyable. I agree with other commentators above though, that the magic reset button was inevitable and Tuvok returned to normal with seemingly no future consequences.

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Basics, Part II (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 Story and script
• 4.4 Production
• 4.5 Effects
• 4.6 Continuity
• 4.7 Reception
• 4.8 Video and DVD releases
• 5.1 Starring
• 5.2 Also starring
• 5.3 Special Guest Star
• 5.4 Guest Stars
• 5.5 Co-Stars
• 5.6 Uncredited Co-Stars
• 5.7 References
• 5.8.1 Meta references
• 5.9 External links

Summary [ ]

Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew are struggling to survive on the desolate planet on which the Kazon have abandoned them. It becomes immediately clear that their number one priority is to seek shelter from the elements. They move into one of the caves that appears to provide adequate protection given their circumstances. While Captain Janeway's team makes camp in that cave, one of the other teams, led by Neelix , is searching the surrounding area for food and supplies. Near the entrance of a cave, he and Hogan find humanoid bones. Neelix orders Hogan to gather the bones up so they can use them for tools and weapons. As Neelix goes to help another crewmember, Hogan gets attacked and dragged into the tunnel by an unknown predator. They rush to save him, but are too late and only find a few scraps of his uniform.

Act One [ ]

Lt. Tom Paris tries to repair the shuttlecraft he escaped in and fends off a Kazon patrol ship that has been sent to find him, destroying it.

Back near the cave, Neelix is upset, blaming himself, thinking that if he hadn't ordered Hogan to collect those bones, he wouldn't be dead now. Janeway, who herself is deeply saddened by the news of Hogan's death, tells him that there is no time to worry about blame; Hogan was a fine officer, and she wants to make sure that his death was the last one for a long time. She orders her crew to be more careful and to hold on, as she will not allow them to be destroyed by this planet. She declares the tunnels off-limits and wants clear safety protocols established. Lieutenant Tuvok informs her that he has already begun to design some rudimentary weapons. Chakotay suggests that, as unpleasant as it sounds, he can use the remains of Hogan's uniform to make solar stills in order to produce water. When Neelix informs her that their search for food has come up with nothing, she tells the crew to start turning over rocks and eat insects if need be, and to make it clear to anyone who is disgusted as the prospect to consider themselves under captain's orders since they'll likely make the difference between life and death. Leading by example, she manages to find one and promptly eats it.

Back on the USS Voyager , Seska goes to sickbay to have The Doctor examine her child. She also informs him that the Kazon have taken over the ship and wonders if he has a problem with that change of command. The Doctor lies and tells her that he couldn't care less about who is running the ship for he is there to provide medical treatment to whoever needs it. He also tells her that lying and blunt deception are not part of his programming. After he finishes examining the baby he informs Seska that the DNA scan proves that her baby is not Commander Chakotay 's son as she thought he was. Seska doesn't believe him at first given the child's appearance, but The Doctor explains that the baby is the first Cardassian-Kazon hybrid and therefore there is no reference in regards to his appearance but will likely develop more Kazon features as he grows. Visibly upset about the news The Doctor has given her, Seska rushes out of sickbay and deactivates the EMH . The Doctor, however, manages to reactivate himself again as Seska leaves and begins conducting some research of his own.

As he asks the computer for the crew complement, he finds out that in addition to the 89 Kazon, there is also one Betazoid , Lon Suder , on board. He contacts Suder and informs him about the situation. He tells him to make it to sickbay and asks the computer to delete the signature of Suder's combadge from the system to ensure he isn't counted among the crew complement and therefore be hidden from the Kazon.

Back on the planet, the crew is still struggling with meeting their basic needs. Night has fallen and temperatures have plummeted and they are forced to huddle together for warmth. Ensign Harry Kim and Lt. jg B'Elanna Torres return with eggs and some equivalent of cucumbers they found only two kilometers from where they found shelter, allow the crew to put off eating more insects for the time being. Ensign Wildman 's baby , however, is starting to fall ill. Unfortunately, there's no way to diagnose what's wrong with her and she may simply be having difficulty coping with the planet's environment. Chakotay is upset at himself for not being able to start a fire, but recalling some survival advice taught by his father, later manages to do so when using Janeway's and other crew members' donated hair as kindling.

Later in the evening, while sitting around a fire to warm up, Neelix suggests putting some rocks around it to reflect the heat better. He sets off looking for more rocks, but disappears in the dark. When Kes follows him, she is captured by one of the natives.

Act Two [ ]

Tom Paris contacts the Talaxians who inform him that Voyager has been taken over by the Kazon-Nistrim, who have been flooding every subspace frequency with the news. Despite initial misgivings and hesitation to help Paris and Voyager , Commander Paxim is persuaded to help Tom with his mission to make repairs to the shuttle-craft and rescue Voyager 's crew .

Back on Voyager , The Doctor and Suder attempt to plan a way of retaking the ship – a plan which, much to the dismay of Suder, may involve the use of violence and even necessitate killing. Suder feels uneasy about such prospects, especially after he has worked so hard over the past few months to control his violent impulses. But The Doctor tells him that even Tuvok would agree that there are times where violence is required to defend one's ship and one's crew. He asks Suder to trust him and promises to help him in any way he can: one hologram and one sociopath may not be much of a match for the Kazon, says The Doctor, but it will have to do.

Down on the planet, Chakotay informs Janeway of signs of a struggle near the edge of the camp and of Neelix' and Kes' disappearance. Janeway decides that they cannot wait until the morning to look for them and sends out search parties right away. Chakotay's party finds them and he tries to communicate with the leader of the group. The elderly leader tries to appease Chakotay by letting him have Neelix but he and the group are reluctant to hand Kes back because they obviously think of her as a suitable and desirable mate, going so far as to fight over her amongst each other. Chakotay and Neelix refuse to leave without her and the leader offers one of the group's young females in exchange for Kes. Neelix is angered by the offer, but Chakotay tells him to stay calm. He tries to reason with the leader by telling him that the girl belongs with them and that Kes must go with him and Neelix. He tells Kes to calmly get up and walk away with him and Neelix. But this enrages the natives even more and they start to chase them. Even as Tuvok and others try to fight them, they are forced to enter one of the caves in the hopes that the natives know of the dangerous creatures inside them and will not follow them in.

Act Three [ ]

Back on Voyager , Culluh's men have trouble completing repairs to the ship. Seska suspects sabotage and orders a ship-wide search for an intruder, including the use of Starfleet tricorders. The Doctor and Suder, in sickbay, are listening to Seska's orders on a monitor. Suder decides to use a thoron generator to mask his lifesigns from the tricorders as he proceeds back into hiding.

Meanwhile, the natives force Chakotay's team deeper into the cave where they are forced to struggle with one of the ferocious creatures and even lose one of their crew members to it. Outside, Janeway and her group attempt to distract the natives away from the tunnels so that Chakotay and his crew can come back out. Torres and two other crew members manage to distract the natives away from the cave entrance, while Janeway and the remainder of her team move near the cave entrance for a rescue attempt. She is able to reach Chakotay and his search party, who have barely escaped the creature within the cave. Chakotay, Tuvok and Kim are the last ones who manage to make it out of the cave just in time, but not before they collapse the tunnel entrance with falling rocks and debris to keep the creature away.

Act Four [ ]

A Hanonian land eel

Back on Voyager , The Doctor receives a masked subspace message from Tom Paris, who informs him that he is bringing help but that he needs The Doctor to block the discharge from the back-up phaser power couplings when the attack begins, he needs those backups to overload when the Kazon switch to them. Just then, Suder returns with a dead Kazon, whom he was forced to kill before he could alert Seska to his location. After doing this, he returns to sickbay, visibly distraught over what he was forced to do. The Doctor tries to calm him down by telling him that he did what needed to be done and offers him drugs to calm him down, but Suder refuses wanting to do it on his own. Meanwhile, Culluh gets a fake message (courtesy of Tom Paris) claiming that the shuttle has been destroyed, but Seska reminds him that two crewmembers were unaccounted for when the ship was captured. Culluh tells her that the search for an intruder has been slowed by a thoron leak, which makes Seska certain there's an intruder as she remembers that the Maquis used thoron particles to fool tricorders .

Seska storms into sickbay, asking The Doctor about the thoron generator. He tells her that it was damaged on a recent away mission , but Seska doesn't believe him. She says she knows that a Maquis is involved in the sabotage, but The Doctor claims full responsibility for it all, stating that he has been the one sabotaging the ship all along, together with the computer, and that he in fact was forced to kill one of the Kazon who walked in on him and caught him in the act. Seska still doesn't believe him, no matter what he says. Angrily, she rushes out of sickbay, telling the computer not to accept any more voice commands by Starfleet personnel and then damages sickbay's holoemitters, thus taking The Doctor offline.

" Break camp. We've got to get out of here before it blows! "

Successful at escaping both the savage natives and the creature in the cave, the senior officers begin debating as to whether they should prepare to engage the natives again. Tuvok believes that the crew should prepare to engage the natives, although Janeway and Chakotay would rather find a way to coexist peacefully with them. Tuvok warns that may not be possible; although they understand the natives' position, the natives clearly don't appreciate theirs. Meanwhile, Wildman's baby is deteriorating and is now having trouble breathing. However, priorities shift quickly when seismic activity increases rapidly and a nearby volcano begins to erupt. Janeway orders an immediate evacuation of the camp.

Act Five [ ]

Suder comes out of hiding and unsuccessfully tries to access the EMH. However, The Doctor, who has programmed a message to play for him in case he is disabled, tells Suder that the fate of Voyager solely depends on him. He tells him that he has full confidence in Suder's abilities and that he is fully confident that Suder will do the right thing.

On the bridge , the Kazon follow the attacking Talaxians into a nebula , in order to teach them a lesson. Commander Paxim informs Tom that the Kazon are following them as planned. As Voyager enters the nebula, Tom follows through with his plan of attacking the phaser power couplings.

Back on the planet, the crew flees in search of higher ground and encounter the group of natives once more. However, Chakotay manages to gain the group's trust by saving one of the young female natives from a lava stream. The leader of the natives leads the crew to safer ground.

In main engineering , Suder sets out to follow through with his plan, attacking and killing all the Kazon in engineering. Just as he finishes up to execute Paris' plan, he is fatally shot by one of the Kazon from behind. Slumping against the console and collapsing to the floor, Suder manages to execute the settings as he dies.

On the bridge, the Kazon identify their mystery attacker: the Federation shuttlecraft they thought they had destroyed. Culluh orders it destroyed with the ship's phasers but the attack has knocked the primary phaser power off-line. Seska barks an order to switch to backup systems, restoring power. Culluh opens fire, but, an alarm sounds on the bridge. Before the Kazon can react, the overloaded power couplings short out all the consoles on Voyager , disabling the Kazon crew.

Hearing her baby's cries from the ready room, Seska struggles to her feet to answer the child. As she enters the ready room, she barely has enough strength left to reach out to her baby before dying. Culluh, overcome with grief over the loss of Seska, takes the child in arm and orders the Nistrim to abandon Voyager upon hearing a report that they are being boarded by the Talaxians. Paris and the Talaxians beam into the bridge and set to work repairing the ship, allowing the Kazon to escape via the escape pods and their shuttles.

On the planet, the crew has finally made peace with the natives with one of them giving the baby an herb that helps her to breathe more easily. Everyone's attention is suddenly drawn to the sky as Voyager arrives on the horizon, much to the surprise of Janeway and Chakotay. Paris welcomes the Captain back aboard, who once again assumes command and congratulates him on his successful retaking of Voyager . Paris remarks he had help from the Talaxians, The Doctor and Suder, informing Janeway that Suder's last act was to disable the phasers before he was killed by the Kazon. In sickbay, The Doctor also commends the actions of Suder to Tuvok, who offers a Vulcan prayer to the Betazoid in the hopes that he has finally managed to find the peace he so desired. On another biobed, Chakotay also bids farewell to Seska despite all the havoc she had wrought upon him and the Voyager crew.

With Voyager capable of sustained flight, Janeway orders Paris to take them away from their "new home" and to set a course for the old one. After two years of sustained hostilities, Voyager finally moves beyond Kazon space and deeper into the Delta Quadrant.

Log entries [ ]

" Medical log, stardate 50032.7. I have determined that Commander Chakotay is not the father of Seska's child. I only wish there was some way to inform him. What am I supposed to do? Lead a revolt with a gang from Sandrine 's? Conjure up holograms of Nathan Hale and Che Guevara ? I'm a doctor, not a counterinsurgent. Get hold of yourself. You're not just a hologram. You're a Starfleet hologram. Maybe… maybe I could access a tactical database, teach myself guerrilla warfare. But that would take time. "

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Don't push yourself. That goes for everyone. Perspiring wastes water. "

" I don't have time for this! "

" I told you I don't have time for this! "

" It's my fault. If I hadn't told Hogan to pick up those bones. " " You shouldn't blame yourself. " " Stop it. There is no time to worry about blame. Hogan was a fine officer and a good man. And our job is to make sure that his death is the last one for a very long time. I will not let this planet destroy my crew. "

" I'm a doctor , not a counter-insurgent. Get a hold of yourself. You're not just a hologram, you're a Starfleet hologram! "

" Huddle together in groups, that'll preserve body heat. This is no time to be shy. "

" Trapped on a barren planet, and you're stuck with the only Indian in the universe who can't start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. "

" If you can help me with repairs, we can be on our way in a few hours. " " Lieutenant, our ships are no match for Voyager and your shuttlecraft can hardly– " " Commander Paxim, my people are counting on you! Look, no one knows Voyager like I do. I know every vulnerability, every blind spot. Don't worry, I have a plan. " (sigh) " Very well. We'll rendezvous in an hour. Paxim out. " (to himself) " One hour. I should be able to come up with some kind of plan in one hour. "

" One hologram and one sociopath may not be much of a match for the Kazon, but… we'll have to do. "

" You're more talented in the art of deception than you led me to believe. " " I was inspired by the presence of a master. "

" I won't play these games with a trick of light. " " Sticks and stones won't break my bones, so you can imagine how I feel about being called names. "

" The other two seem to be trying to figure out what to make of us… In a manner of speaking, not in a culinary sense, I hope. "

" Engineering to Maje Culluh! We're being boarded! " " Abandon ship. "

" You would have been proud of him, Mr. Tuvok. " " I offer you a Vulcan prayer, Mr. Suder. May your death bring you the peace you never found in life. "

Background information [ ]

Story and script [ ].

• The writing staff of Star Trek: Voyager was initially unsure of how it should resolve, in this episode, the problematic situation in which the Voyager crew finds itself, in the previous episode. Co-executive producer Jeri Taylor recalled, " Did we know, when we wrote the cliffhanger, how we were going to get them out of there? No. I think, by the end of the [second] season , the writing staff was so exhausted and just trying to make it to the end of the season. And you know you've got a great cliffhanger, and you're done, and you want to go off and just sort of sleep for six weeks. And then, you come back and you're faced with the problem of, 'What do we do?! How do we get them off of there?' And that's one of those corners you paint yourself into. So we had our work cut out for us, when we came back, and we got them off. " ( Braving the Unknown: Season Three , VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
• This was co-executive producer Michael Piller 's last Voyager script, though he remained a creative consultant on the show. Piller originally wanted Seska's baby to die. Shortly after writing the episode, he explained, " There was some concern about the violence in the second part, which we have toned down. This story had Seska experiencing the ultimate culmination of all her evil. I had the opinion that she needed to lose something very dear to her to pay for her crimes, so it was my opinion from the beginning that her loss should be what she loves most, her child. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages ) Another factor that inspired Piller to come up with this notion was that it would serve as a mirror to a birth within the Voyager crew. Piller later recalled, " I wanted the child of Chakotay and Seska to die […] as a counterpoint to the birth of Ensign [Wildman]'s baby on the planet. " ( AOL chat , 1997 ) This birth was evidently, at some point thereafter, moved to instead being a plot point of the second season installment " Deadlock ". In accordance with Piller's wishes, the original draft of this episode's teleplay had Seska live and her baby die. [1]
• However, the idea of having the baby die was vetoed by Piller's fellow executive producers. " Rick and Jeri felt that it was in extremely bad taste and too violent, " Piller remembered. " Although the studio liked the ending that I wrote, Rick and Jeri felt that they could not live with it, so we started exploring other endings. Those included having Seska grab the baby and having Culluh die, which was certainly doable – if you believed that Seska really loved Culluh and moaned about losing him, but I don't think anybody would buy that. I didn't think that was satisfying enough, that she didn't get her just reward. The next alternative was to kill Seska, which certainly would be a dramatic reward, but that left us with Chakotay's baby on the ship. Chakotay would not just let anybody take that baby off the ship. Jeri wanted no part of a baby being left on board, so she vetoed that one. Well, the only other solution I could think of, somewhat contrived, I will admit, is that it turns out it's not Chakotay's baby after all. She thinks it is, but it's not. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages ) Piller later remarked, " [The original idea] was deemed to be thematically too violent and so the baby lived but turned out to be not Chakotay's after all, which undermined the effectiveness of the story I was trying to tell. I was a lame duck and leaving, so I couldn't fight very hard. That's the only thing I ever remember not getting that I wanted in my entire Star Trek career. " ( AOL chat , 1997 ) The decision to settle on the alternative of killing Seska (while also having Culluh remove the unwanted baby, his own son) was made only two or three days before the episode entered production. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 83; Star Trek Monthly  issue 34 , p. 38)
• Michael Piller wanted the character of Lon Suder – whom Piller had created, earlier in the second season – to survive the events of this episode, but Jeri Taylor was uninterested in further developing the character, who is consequently one of many who die in the episode's final moments. Piller commented, " It's a real wipeout. Jeri never cared for Suder and had no interest in developing him any further, so there was no point in keeping him alive. And a dramatic arc is fully realized by having his death occur at the end of part two. He heroically sacrifices himself for the ship. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages ) According to Jeri Taylor herself, the decision to have Suder killed was made because the writers couldn't see how he could really be redeemed and he was simply too difficult to integrate with the other characters believably and well. ( Delta Quadrant , p. 129)
• The final draft of the episode's script was submitted on 2 April 1996 . [2]
• Seska actress Martha Hackett became aware of the changes to this episode's conclusion, having seen that the original script draft had Seska live and her baby die. " I got the page changes, so I saw that two days later it had reversed, " Hackett recalled. [3] She clarified, " In fact [in] pages I got three days before the shoot, I lived, and then 24 hours later I died. " The actress added, " They were having a heated debate about it. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 83) Martha Hackett also remembered, " I didn't know I was going to be killed off until three days before we started shooting the episode. They had different versions of the script, and I [originally] thought the baby was going to be killed and [the crew] were going to blast Seska off into space. " The actress then noted that this conclusion would have made it possible for Seska to return at some undetermined point in the future. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 34 , p. 38)
• Martha Hackett was disappointed by the episode's final version. She remarked, " They [were] retreating from the story lines. They just wanted to get out of there. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 83) Despite these frustrations, Hackett also thought "these are things that actors don't have any control over; these are all producer decisions." She added, " For someone like me who is a recurring character and not even a series regular, it's not something you argue about. " [4]
• One particular plot point that Martha Hackett was unhappy about was her own character's death. " Even after they killed me I thought, 'Maybe tomorrow they'll change their minds,' " Hackett remembered. " I wished if they were going to do away with Seska, that they'd done it in a more pointed way. I thought a face-off was an opportunity that was missed. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, pp. 85 & 87) The actress elaborated, " I felt if Janeway or Chakotay had to kill her in self-defense, or to protect someone else, it would have had more impact. Here was this nemesis who was able to take over the ship, and then she just gets killed in an accident. It seemed like they deflated what they already built for me. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 83) In addition, Hackett commented, " I was always grouchy about the way they killed me off, because there should have been a showdown between Janeway and Seska. This whole thing with the ship getting bumped, and the baby survives but I don't? That's nutty! For Seska to die that way was like rolling over. " [5] The actress also remarked, " I think it was a mistake to kill Seska. I just felt that if they were going to kill her off, they should have done it in a more fantastic way. It would have been interesting if it had been something that came down to being between Seska and Captain Janeway, or Seska and Chakotay. She was their nemesis, and for her to die in a ship blast seemed like an easy way out. There were other opportunities for a face-off where they couldn't help but kill her off. But that's just me talking. I suppose the writers felt like they were at the end of that storyline. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 34 , p. 38)
• Another facet of the story that irritated Martha Hackett was that the father of Seska's baby was changed from being Chakotay to Culluh. " I was disappointed that it wasn't Chakotay's child, " Hackett related. " That was a plot point that came at the last minute too, and I just thought that took the wind out of the sails a little bit. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 83) Hackett also said, " To not make the child Chakotay's was a wimpy move. If the child is his, it provides a lot more complex stuff for him later on down the line. Like it or not, that is a more complicated experience, so they kind of took the wind out of their own sails. " [6]
• Robert Picardo was very pleased by the inclusion of Brad Dourif and his character of Suder in this episode. Picardo enthused, " I liked that Suder proved himself to be a hero […] I thought [Brad Dourif] was terrific in 'Basics, Part II'. I was very pleased to have a few scenes with him. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 10 )
• Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew , who counted this episode as one of her eight favorite installments from Star Trek: Voyager 's third season, also thought highly of Brad Dourif's performance here. " Wasn't Brad Dourif wonderful in that? " Mulgrew rhetorically asked. ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 14 , p. 32)
• Visual effects producer Dan Curry worked on designing the primitive weapons of the Hanonians in March 1996, creating at least three sheets of concept sketches (misspelling the word "primitive" each time, the groups of sketches were named "primative weapons," "more primative weapons," "even more primative weapons," and "still more primative weapons"). This design process was influenced by memories from his youth. " When I was a boy, my mother gave me a book on the history of weapons by Edwin Tunis, " Curry recalled. " And I remembered all those drawings of the early cave weapons and stuff like that. So when this episode came along, it gave me the opportunity to kind of delve into those childhood memories and design some vicious but practical things that would be wielded by these primitive people. So, because [of] a childhood interest in, I guess, growing up watching adventure movies and a childhood interest in various weapons of different historical periods, it gave me the background [to] – from memory and using my own imagination – come up with weapons that seem appropriate for the level of technology of those people. " ( Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects , VOY Season 3 DVD special features)

Production [ ]

During this episode's production, director Winrich Kolbe stands amid Hanonians

• This episode was not filmed back-to-back with the previous installment of the "Basics" two-parter. Remarking on this aspect, Jeri Taylor said, " It doesn't matter, because we have so much time in postproduction, we can film the [first four episodes of the next season] in any order we want. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages ) Indeed, this episode was one of four that were filmed at the end of the second season yet intended for the third season, the others being " Sacred Ground ", " False Profits " and " Flashback ". ( Star Trek: Voyager Companion  (p. ? )) Evidenced by both this episode's production number as well as the books A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager and the Star Trek Encyclopedia  (2nd ed., p. 37), this episode was the last episode of the second season to be shot. Commenting on this episode, Jeri Taylor stated, " We waited because the second half of the cliff-hanger is a heavy location show and with daylight saving time and longer daylight hours, we simply got longer days in which to film outdoors. " ( Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages )
• The extensive location filming took place in Alabama Hills , Lone Pine, California , requiring the cast and visual effects team to spend a considerable duration away from the Paramount Pictures lot. The opportunity to go on location was enjoyed by cast and crew alike. Dan Curry remarked, " One of the fun things about [working on 'Basics'] was we shot on location in Alabama Hills, near Lone Pine, California. And Alabama Hills was the scene for such classics as Gunga Din [and] King of the Khyber Rifles . About half the Westerns ever made were out there. And so it was almost like going on to an archaeological expedition, because we found the footings for the elephant bridge from Gunga Din." Remembering how the visual effects team and director Winrich Kolbe scouted the area, Dan Curry stated, " We poked around and said, 'Okay, where's the lava going to be?' And we found a dry stream bed, so Rick Kolbe and I kind of climbed down and said, 'Okay, we're going to have Chakotay jump over here and we can have the stranded Neolithic woman surrounded by deadly lava on that rock.' And so it was kind of a little mental exercise, trying to figure out, 'What would we see if it were really there, but it's not really there now?' " ( Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects , VOY Season 3 DVD special features) Samantha Wildman actress Nancy Hower reflected, " We shot for a week in the desert in Lone Pine, Calif., and that was great fun – except for the fact that I was getting over pneumonia . Other than that I had a really good time. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 121 , p. 64) Winrich Kolbe noted, " We had a wonderful time shooting it up in the hills north of LA. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 15 ).
• In his podcast with Robert Duncan McNeill , Garrett Wang related a story regarding himself, Tim Russ and Jennifer Lien staying in a hotel with the other main cast members some distance from the town, and being forced to walk back in the middle of the night after Russ insisted on having $50 worth of poker winnings changed for a bill at a local restaurant, forcing everyone to miss the hotel shuttle. Wang recounted how he feared he and Russ might be murdered, as a memo from production had gone to Wang, Russ and Robert Beltran warning the non-Caucasian actors to be wary in the conservative area.
• Scenes set on the surface of Hanon IV were not only filmed on location, however; a massive planet set on Paramount Stage 16 , Paramount's largest soundstage, was built to additionally represent the planet surface, consuming more than half the soundstage (which simultaneously housed the Chez Sandríne set). The construction of the Hanon IV set involved tons of dirt to be hauled in and heaped up around rocks and cave walls, the stage's wooden floor to be built up in several areas and covered with more dirt, as well as a few shrubs and scraggly-looking plants to be added, providing touches of greenery in the otherwise predominantly earthy environment. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager )
• The last day of filming on this episode was Friday, 19 April 1996 , which turned out to be a tiresome and long day for most of the individuals involved. The makeup call on that day was at 7:30 a.m. and, that evening, Rick Kolbe filmed a scene on the Hanon IV set at 10:30 p.m., while the stage contained many more extras and production crew members than was usual; the extras numbered about twenty, with most playing unnamed Hanonians but some wearing Starfleet uniforms. The scene that was being filmed was the one in which Chakotay lights a fire by causing friction with the use of primitive implements. Actor Robert Beltran had difficulty with starting the fire, despite the best efforts of the shooting crew to lend some support. After having shot multiple takes of Beltran struggling to spark the fire, Kolbe, at 11 p.m., surrendered to the inevitability of having to fake the scene, remarking, " We'll show him doing that business with the bow, then we'll cut to smiling happy faces as everybody reacts to Chakotay's success, then we'll cut to the fire. " Relieved to be done with the scene, Beltran handed the "fire-starting tools" to property master Alan Sims and momentarily walked off the set. Meanwhile, the extras began to be released as they finished their scenes. Beltran and Tim Russ were not finished with working on the episode until 1:40 a.m. early the next morning, by which time all the extras had left. After Beltran and Russ completed their last scene, everyone else present gave them a big round of applause and there was a brief interval from shooting, in order to prepare for the next scene, the last to be shot. The only performers involved in the final scene were Kate Mulgrew, Roxann Dawson and Garrett Wang . Dawson tiredly began to get into position for rehearsing the scene, which was being filmed by 2:10 a.m. but also required numerous takes. Kolbe did not like the first take and sound mixer Alan Bernard had considerable trouble with the sound levels but everything worked perfectly on the fourth take, after which everyone left on stage applauded the actors before they all went home. ( A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager )

Effects [ ]

• The Hanonian land eel of this episode was the first alien lifeform on Voyager to be generated entirely by CGI techniques. Voyager 's visual effects team would experiment with CGI as a means of creating non-humanoid aliens again in " Macrocosm " before doing so to design the look of Species 8472 for the season finale, " Scorpion ". Prior to generating the Hanonian land eel in CGI, however, Dan Curry drew conceptual art of the creature, one example of which is dated February 1996 and refers to the creature simply as "tunnel dweller." A maquette of the beast was also created. Regarding the process of designing the Hanonian land eel, Dan Curry remembered, " The script called for a creature that lived in the tunnels and was always hungry […] Whenever I design creatures, I try to use [the] Darwinian approach where, 'What's its environment? What would it need, to exist in that environment?' So, since it was a cave-dweller, I thought it would be cool if it had certain eel-like properties – that was very voracious and had a big mouth – but gave it radically symmetrical appendages, like big claws, so it could kind of scramble up tubes. And like a puffer fish, that it would have air bladders, that it could squeeze itself into a tube and fill it, so it could kind of hang out there or contract itself, so it could go forward. And that's how we arrived at the creature that you saw in the show. " ( Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects , VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
• The Hanonian land eel of this episode was Foundation Imaging 's first association with Star Trek . CGI effects director Ron Thornton recalled, "' The guys from Star Trek approached us about doing a creature because they liked some of the work we had done on Babylon 5 , so we were taken on just to do a handful of shots of this worm creature for the 'Basics' two-parter. We started on that creature just as we were finishing season three of Babylon 5 , and one of our animators, John Teska […] came up with some wonderful stuff. The producers were very pleased with it, but there was no indication that they wanted to use us for anything else. It was absolutely a one-off. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 16 ) However, John Teska's creation was such that Dan Curry became convinced that Foundation was up to the task of providing CGI for the series and, from VOY : " The Swarm " onward, Foundation became the regular CGI supplier for Star Trek: Voyager . ( Star Trek: The Magazine Volume 1, Issue 6 , page 46)
• Visual effects supervisor Ronald B. Moore cited this episode as one of many featuring a creature (in this case, the Hanonian land eel) whose design was unknown at the time of filming the live elements in the shots involving the creature: " It's a lot of times where, at that stage when we're shooting it, we don't know what it is. We don't know what it's going to look like, we're in the middle of design and stuff like that, which can make it very difficult. But I remember a lot of that happened with the snake. The hard part was it had to snatch somebody off and eat them. And it's like, 'Okay, ah… we don't know what it is, but we know it's gonna eat this guy.' " ( Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects , VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
• Filming the sequence in which an officer falls victim to the land eel's voracious appetite involved stunt coordinator Dennis Madalone playing the doomed officer as well as several visual effects that were later applied in post-production. Ronald B. Moore commented, " Dennis 'Danger', the stunt man, was very good… to simulate this, and we could pull him off the rocks. And then we have twofold, then; we have to remove whatever he needed to assist him, which would be cables or anything else, and then animate the creature to make it look like… he got pulled off. Setting that stuff up can be tricky, but fun. " Jokingly, Moore added, " And we didn't really eat him! " ( Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects , VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
• The visual effects team had difficulty with the shots involving the lava. " The biggest challenge on 'Basics,' " Dan Curry recalled, " was the lava. So, we found some 16mm footage of real lava – taken from a lot of different angles in Hawaii – and steadied it and tweaked it and skewed it into the perspective that we wanted it, then added a lot of liquid nitrogen – smoke to make it look hot and steamy – and traced where it would be running in the dry stream beds. And it worked very well, because it was real lava, and therefore, it gave a greater sense of reality than a lot of the cinematic lava we've seen in the past. " ( Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects , VOY Season 3 DVD special features) Curry also explained, " We created the lava streams by carefully cobbling together elements of real lava, and manipulating it into the perspectives that are appropriate, working with compositing editor Don Greenberg at Digital Magic . I electronically air-brushed very soft mattes so I could feather different pieces of lava together, hiding the seams with smoke, either CO2 or liquid nitrogen. I think that gives the lava sequences a reality that I don't think we could have obtained with the more traditional synthetic lava techniques. The volcanoes were matte paintings. Then we took pieces of lava that were shot at night in Hawaii. Because there is a great contrasting ratio between the black night and the bubbling lava, we were able to isolate the glowing lava, then key it into our volcanoes. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)
• One of the scenes for which the lava was required was the one in which Chakotay rescues a stranded, female Hanonian from the streaming lava. " There's one shot where we see our people running and lava trickling through the rocks, " Dan Curry commented. " I traced where I wanted the lava to go and then we'd matte it into little windows, so it had the natural look of trickling around the rocks, with steam. Those were accomplished in a very 'painterly' way, working with […] Don Greenberg. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 112)

Continuity [ ]

• This episode marks the deaths of recurring characters Seska (Martha Hackett), Suder (Brad Dourif) and Hogan ( Simon Billig ).
• The deaths of Suder, Hogan, and an unnamed crew member (to the land eel) in this episode bring the total number of confirmed crew deaths since the series premiere " Caretaker " to 11, the previous death having occurred in " Basics, Part I ". This leaves Voyager with a crew of 142, given Voyager 's crew compliment of 152 established in " The 37's " (after the first of these deaths).
• Although Culluh actor Anthony De Longis had hoped his character would – in this episode's conclusion – promise to return before leaving Voyager ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 18 ), this episode marks Culluh's final appearance on Star Trek: Voyager . However, his picture is shown to Seven of Nine aboard the 29th century timeship USS Relativity in " Relativity ", albeit as part of a data file depicting the Kazon in general.
• Voyager never encounters the Kazon again (although a temporal anomaly causes Engineering to regress to this period in time in " Shattered "). They are also briefly seen again in " Living Witness ", in a deeply flawed recreation of Voyager in which a few Kazon are enslaved crew members on board Voyager , where they are used as members of the warship Voyager 's fighting force. The decision that this episode would be the last substantial appearance of the Kazon was an intentional one. Jeri Taylor, who felt they were overused as villainous aliens, commented, " After the cliffhanger, which does involve the Kazon, it is my intention to leave them behind and to find new and I hope more interesting aliens. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 18 ) Taylor later recalled, " I personally had long since tired of the Kazon, before that episode was ever produced or even conceived, and was glad to be able to say that's the last that we will see of the Kazon. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 83) The next major enemy race (the Borg ) do not make their full appearance until the end of the third season.
• We learn in this episode that Tuvok taught Archery Science at the Vulcan Institute for Defensive Arts for several years.
• The remnants of Hogan's corpse are later excavated by the Voth , and help the alien species come in contact with USS Voyager in " Distant Origin ".
• The Kazon crew wear the Starfleet combadges on the right side, instead of the familiar left.
• After retaking Voyager from the Kazon in this episode, Janeway orders Paris to " Take us away from our new home and set a course for the old one. " In " Basics, Part I ", Seska refers to Hanon IV as the "new home" of the joint Starfleet/Maquis crew.
• When the Doctor asked for the crew complement, the computer says 89 Kazon and 1 Betazoid on board. Apparently the computer forgot to mention Seska and her baby, a Cardassian and a Cardassian-Kazon hybrid, respectively.

Reception [ ]

• Rumors that circulated prior to the airing of this episode, claiming that a regular character would be killed off during the course of the third season, were reported as perhaps having been influenced by the death of Hogan in this episode. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 20 )
• This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 5.9 million homes, and a 9% share. [7] (X) Rick Berman was happy with the episode's viewing figures. During the third season, he commented, " We just got the ratings for Voyager 's season premiere and they are marvelous. We came in first in about seven or eight cities and out of the six networks, we came in third. I'm very pleased that people watched the second part of the ['Basics'] cliffhanger. " ( Star Trek: Communicator  issue 109 , p. 14)
• An element of the viewer response to this episode, however, was the fact that most of the series' viewers were surprised and disappointed by Seska's sudden departure. ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 34 , p. 38)
• Cinefantastique rated this episode 3 out of 4 stars. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 85)
• Star Trek Magazine scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars, defined as "Warp Speed". Additionally, Lou Anders , a writer of the magazine, reviewed the installment. After mentioning that it contains "unexpected shocks," he critiqued, " 'Basics, Part II' is a very exciting tale, full of good performances and high action. The beautifully rendered computer-generated giant lizard monster is enough on its own to make this episode stand out, and one hopes that, now that the door has been opened, Star Trek will continue to bring such imaginative non-humanoid creations to life. The story is not as coherent as it is exciting, however, but one gets the impression that 'Basics, Part II' is a sort of housecleaning – a tying-up of the previous season's loose ends in order to make way for the new, retooled Star Trek: Voyager of season three. " ( Star Trek Monthly  issue 23 , pp. 58-59)
• The unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 131) gives this installment a rating of 7 out of 10.
• After the episode's initial airing, Jeri Taylor commented, " 'Basics, Part II' continued in that same rousing action-adventure mode [of 'Basics, Part I']. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 10 ) In addition, she enthused, " It had all the requisites of a season opener. It was big, it was epic, it was sweeping, there was lots of jeopardy. I think for what it needed to be, it did it very well. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 85)
• Also following this episode (which Robert Picardo noted involved "a very provocative situation because I ended up having to counsel Suder, which is not exactly what I've been programmed to do"), Robert Picardo suggested a storyline to the writers in which his own character of The Doctor would have counseled Paris about his relationship with his father . Picardo noted, " It would be an extension of what we saw in 'Basics, Part II,' I guess. " ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine  issue 10 )
• Several costumes and props from this episode were sold off on the It's A Wrap! sale and auction on eBay, including the costume worn by Russ Fega (as Paxim ). [8]

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 3.1, 13 January 1997 .
• As part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek - Greatest Battles : 16 November 1998 .
• In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS release Star Trek: Voyager - Movies : Volume 1 (with "Future's End"), 14 August 2000 .
• As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection.

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
• Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres
• Jennifer Lien as Kes
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok
• Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Special Guest Star [ ]

• Brad Dourif as Lon Suder

Guest Stars [ ]

• Anthony De Longis as Culluh
• Martha Hackett as Seska
• Nancy Hower as Samantha Wildman
• Simon Billig as Hogan
• Scott Haven as a Kazon-Nistrim engineer
• David Cowgill as Hanonian #2
• Michael Bailey Smith as Hanonian #1
• John Kenton Shull as a Hanonian medicine man

Co-Stars [ ]

• Russ Fega as Paxim
• Majel Barrett as Narrator / Computer Voice

Uncredited Co-Stars [ ]

• Michael Beebe as Murphy
• Rod Damer as Talaxian officer
• Brian Donofrio as sciences officer
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Heather Ferguson as command officer
• Sue Henley as Brooks
• Kerry Hoyt as Fitzpatrick
• Donald R. Jankiewicz as Hanonian
• Patrick Jankiewicz as Hanonian
• Emily Leibovitch as Wildman baby #2
• Samantha Leibovitch as Wildman baby #1
• Susan Lewis as operations officer
• Dennis Madalone as sciences officer
• Linda Madalone as Hanonian
• Mark Major as Kazon-Nistrim
• Lorin McCraley as Hanonian
• Louis Ortiz as Culhane
• Shepard Ross as Murphy
• Lydia Shiferaw as command officer
• Jennifer Somers as sciences officer
• Charles Spector as Talaxian officer
• John Tampoya as Kashimuro Nozawa
• Joan Valentine as operations officer
• Seska's baby
• Three unnamed Hanonians
• Kazon engineer

References [ ]

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Star Trek: Voyager

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

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• Trivia When auditioning for the part of the holographic doctor, Robert Picardo was asked to say the line "Somebody forgot to turn off my program." He did so, then ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a light bulb" and got the part.
• Goofs There is speculation that the way the Ocampa are shown to have offspring is an impossible situation, as a species where the female can only have offspring at one event in her life would half in population every generation, even if every single member had offspring. While Ocampa females can only become pregnant once in their lifetime, if was never stated how many children could be born at one time. Kes mentions having an uncle, implying that multiple births from one pregnancy are possible.

Seven of Nine : Fun will now commence.

• Alternate versions Several episodes, such as the show's debut and finale, were originally aired as 2-hour TV-movies. For syndication, these episodes were reedited into two-part episodes to fit one-hour timeslots.
• Connections Edited into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges (1999)

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Star trek: voyager’s trilogy of terror explained.

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Every Voyager Character Who Has Returned In Star Trek (& How)

Star trek: voyager cut a huge harry kim twist, says garrett wang, will trent season 2 ending's major twist explained by showrunners.

• Star Trek: Voyager season 3's "trilogy of terror" was a group of low-rated episodes at the end of the season.
• The episodes lacked cohesive plots and suffered from poor execution and pacing.
• Despite criticism, each episode had some redeeming qualities, mainly highlighting individual characters.

Star Trek: Voyager season 3 has a set of episodes that were deemed the "trilogy of terror" after their release. Like many Star Trek TV shows , Voyager struggled with episode quality in its first few seasons. For every episode that ended up becoming a hit, there were just as many that were misses, if not more. This was less true in season 3 as compared to seasons 1 and 2, but Voyager still seemed to have trouble finding its footing before the season 3 finale changed the show completely with the beginning of the Borg and Species 8472 arc.

That isn't to say that Voyager season 3 didn't have several hit episodes, surpassing previous seasons in quality overall. The two-part "Future's End" remains one of the show's best storylines, and episodes like "The Chute" or "Coda" beautifully highlighted individual people in Voyager 's cast of characters and had interesting plots. However, season 3 is the only season with the distinction of being home to the "trilogy of terror," which has become infamous among audiences since the season's release.

Star Trek: Voyager's beloved characters have returned in Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and especially Star Trek: Prodigy.

Star Trek: Voyager’s “Trilogy Of Terror” Season 3 Episodes Explained

The "trilogy of terror" was aired at the end of season 3.

Voyager 's "trilogy of terror" was three back-to-back episodes towards the end of season 3: episodes 18, 19, and 20, "Darkling," "Rise," and "Favorite Son." The episodes had nothing in common with each other in terms of plot; all three focused on separate characters and had wildly differing storylines. However, all three were extremely low-rated in terms of quality, and according to the book Beyond the Final Frontier , by Lance Parkin and Mark Jones, some viewers took it upon themselves to give the episodes the moniker "trilogy or terror" in the years after their release.

All three episodes have plots that range from vaguely unmemorable to downright bizarre, and each episode lacked something in the execution of its storyline, mainly in terms of pacing.

When compared to some of Voyager 's better episodes, it's easy to see why "Darkling," "Rise," and "Favorite Son" were given such a demeaning title. All three episodes have plots that range from vaguely unmemorable to downright bizarre , and each episode lacked something in the execution of its storyline, mainly in terms of pacing. However, while no one would call any of them a "classic" in the pantheon of Voyager 's best episodes , none of the trilogy of terror should be written off entirely.

Voyager’s Trilogy Of Terror Isn’t As Bad As Fans Say

All three episodes have some redeeming qualities.

"Darkling," "Rise," and "Favorite Son" all had aspects that made them more interesting than the name "trilogy of terror" gives them credit for. "Darkling" was a tour-de-force for the Doctor (Robert Picardo), delving into some interesting territory with its Jekyll and Hyde premise and allowing Picardo to really chew the scenery as the darker alternate version of his character. Although the plot of "Rise" was fairly forgettable, the episode's further exploration of the complicated friendship between Tuvok (Tim Russ) and Neelix (Ethan Phillips) pushed it into interesting territory.

"Favorite Son" is perhaps the hardest to find redeeming qualities for , as the episode with the least coherent storyline and numerous issues with plot execution. However, "Favorite Son" did put Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) into uncharted territory and gave Wang a chance to truly shine as the episode's main character, something that didn’t happen often enough on Star Trek: Voyager . Although the "trilogy of terror" undoubtedly deserves the moniker, none of the episodes are entirely unable to be redeemed on some front.

Source: Beyond the Final Frontier , by Lance Parkin and Mark Jones

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager

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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. 

Voyager Is Why Star Trek: DS9's Starship Is Called Defiant

• The USS Defiant in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was introduced, not for ratings, but to aid in the Dominion War.
• Star Trek: DS9 laid ground for Voyager with shared characters and ideas, leading to both shows influencing each other during development.
• The USS Defiant was initially going to be named Valiant, but vetoed due to 'Voyager', linking past ships with the various series.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's iconic starship, the USS Defiant, got its name thanks to Star Trek: Voyager . The Defiant was introduced in DS9 season 3, episode 1, "The Search, Part 1", written by Ronald D. Moore, the writer's first script for Deep Space Nine . Contrary to popular belief at the time, the USS Defiant was not introduced to improve Deep Space Nine 's ratings, but was instead introduced to give Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) a means to defend the station during what would become DS9 's Dominion War .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 3 was being developed in tandem with the first season of Star Trek: Voyager , due to air in 1995. DS9 established many of the elements that would feature in the Voyager pilot, from introducing the Maquis to foreshadowing Voyager's disappearance in the Badlands. A handful of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine characters , including Quark (Armin Shimerman), appeared in Star Trek: Voyager season 1, episode 1, "Caretaker" to pass the baton. With both Star Trek shows being developed in tandem, there was some crossover of ideas, which meant that some details, like DS9 's new starship were affected.

Star Trek: DS9 Foreshadowed Voyagers Fate A Year Earlier

In 1994, Star Trek began laying the groundwork for Voyager's 1995 premiere with a stark warning from Sisko about both the Maquis and the Badlands.

Star Trek: DS9 Called Their Starship Defiant Because Of Voyager

After his initial surprise that Star Trek: Deep Space Nine got a starship , writer Ronald D. Moore became excited by the prospect of introducing Starfleet's new warship. Moore's original name for DS9 's new ship was the USS Valiant, inspired by one of the two starships to bear that name in Star Trek: The Original Series . The Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion reveals that Moore's desired name was vetoed because Star Trek 's producers Rick Berman and Michael Piller didn't want another starship beginning with the letter "V", as they already had the USS Voyager .

The wreckage of the S.S. Valiant appeared in Star Trek: TOS ' pilot, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", while the loss of the USS Valiant was investigated by the Enterprise crew in TOS season 1, episode 23, "A Taste of Armageddon".

With the USS Valiant vetoed by Star Trek: Voyager , Moore took inspiration from another Star Trek: The Original Series starship. He chose the USS Defiant from the classic TOS episode, "The Tholian Web" to be the namesake of Sisko's new starship in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . To explain why the USS Defiant had such a tough name, and to justify Starfleet's construction of a warship, the DS9 writers' room came up with a backstory that revealed the Defiant was designed to defy the Borg Collective in the wake of the Battle of Wolf 359 .

Star Trek Finally Got Its USS Valiant Later In DS9

Three years later, and with Star Trek: Voyager fully established, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finally introduced the USS Valiant . In DS9 season 6, episode 22, "Valiant", Ensign Nog (Aron Eisenberg) and Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) are rescued by the crew of the Defiant-class starship, the USS Valiant. The ship was crewed by an elite group of Starfleet Academy cadets known as Red Squad, who were first introduced in DS9 season 4, episode 11, "Homefront".

"Valiant" was one of Aron Eisenberg's favorite episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , as he saw it as a crucial moment in Nog's development as a Starfleet officer.

Tragically, the USS Valiant - much like its two Star Trek: The Original Series namesakes - was destroyed . Its captain, Tim Watters (Paul Popowich) led his crew on a mission to destroy a new class of Jem'Hadar warship, something that the young captain and his crew were completely unprepared for. The loss of the Valiant proved something about the USS Defiant, too. No matter how powerful Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's tough little warship was, it would have been useless against the Dominion without the strong leadership of Captain Sisko.

All episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, Ren Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

Cast Terry Farrell, Cirroc Lofton, Rene Auberjonois, Nicole de Boer, Michael Dorn, Andrew Robinson, Nana Visitor, Avery Brooks, Colm Meaney, Armin Shimerman, Alexander Siddig

Writers Ira Steven Behr, Michael Piller, Ronald D. Moore

Showrunner Ira Steven Behr, Michael Piller

Where To Watch Paramount+

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.

Cast Jennifer Lien, Garrett Wang, Tim Russ, Robert Duncan McNeill, Roxann Dawson, Robert Beltran, Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo

Writers Kenneth Biller, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Brannon Braga

Showrunner Kenneth Biller, Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Brannon Braga