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Synopsis

Janeway’s personal log states that although she was comfortable with the recommended “distance” Starfleet Captains should have with their crew, Starfleet didn’t have Voyager’s current circumstance in mind. She wishes to be larger than life, and asks the computer to delete that. She enters the Mess Hall and awkwardly speaks to Kim and Paris about Neelix’s cooking. When she leaves, Kim thinks they should have asked her to join them, but Paris insists Starfleet doesn’t work like that. Kim’s not convinced, though, since there aren’t any other Captains or Admirals for her to chat with out here. Janeway refuses a coffee substitute from Neelix since they’re out of the good stuff, and he tells her that she needs to set an example for the crew and not replicate her every desire. Their interaction is far more stimulating, since Neelix doesn’t have Starfleet protocol in mind, and he even compliments her appearance – the whole thing seems to entertain Janeway. Just as she’s about to try the alternative brew, Chakotay calls for her and she leaves for the bridge. Turns out she didn’t have to, but wanted to. There’s a nebula with a lot of omicron particles which they can use for their energy reserves, and Janeway says her famous line, “there’s coffee in that nebula.”

She talks to Chakotay about the crew morale and how she wishes there was a counsellor. He suggests an animal guide as an alternative, and that he’ll show her how to do it at some point. They fly into the nebula and Kim says he’s not seen anything like it – Tuvok com-signals him to say that might scare the junor officers. Interstellar dust increases density so they have to shut down impulse and engage thrusters, just before they encounter a natural barrier only 50 metres deep. A short burst gets them through and into a space with floating blue modules. When asked, Tuvok says he doesn’t know what it is, which gives Kim an opportunity to clap back.

Ornery Neelix complains to Kes about how Voyager flies into everything it encounters, but Kes defends the captain and says she would do the same thing. She’s never kissed anyone in a nebula before, but then the blue modules attack the ship. Tuvok is uncertain that it’s a targeted attack, but the modules are sticking to the hull and draining the ship’s energy. They also can’t escape the way they came due to the magnetic density. They don’t want to, but end up using one of their 38 photon torpedoes to create a breach. They take a sample off the hull for Torres to analyze and have lost 11% of their energy reserves.

Paris breaks into Kim’s quarters as he’s sleeping and brings him to his holodeck program Chez Sandrine, a French bar he used to go to in his second semester of the Academy. On the way there, Kim reveals he remembers being in his mother’s womb. We’re introduced to the characters in the bar: Sandrine who’s the bar’s owner, a woman named Ricky (who Paris includes in all his programs), a French/Daliwakan gigolo, as well as famous pool players of history.

Torres discovers something about the stuff which was stuck to the hull and brings it to the Doctor. He’s so sarcastic the whole time, and she thinks that she found a phosolipid fiber. That’s not what it is, though.

Chakotay enters Janeway’s room with his medicine bundle, and they perform the animal guide ritual with an akoonah, a device which creates a psychogenic hallucination. Janeway finds herself in a sandy place and her animal guide is a little reptile. Torres interrupts them just before she’s about to ask it a question, saying that her and the Doctor discovered the nebula is actually a large creature.

On the bridge, Torres and Janeway try to figure out if they seriously harmed the creature, and the Doctor says they obviously did. They mute him and come to that discovery on their own, but the Doctor then suggests that the creature has the ability to regenerate and Torres says that the ship can assist it with a nucleonic beam. Janeway orders Kim to find new safeguards for the ship and Tuvok to modify the shields to hold off the lifeform’s defences.

Neelix serves and describes dinner to two crew members, but Chakotay calls a yellow alert, which annoys him, and he hails him to express as such. He leaves to go talk to the Captain about it and tells her he’s going to leave, however, she says she can’t lend crew to help him with that right now, and dismisses him.

They enter the nebula and declare a red alert. Kim has a way of repelling the magnetic dust without harming the creature and they reach the breach. They get struck by multi-polar charges, can’t compensate their shields, and lose control of the ship. Cutting thrusters is the only solution, even though they’ll lose their deuterium fuel. They’re deeper in the creature than ever before now, but it leaves them alone if their engines are off. The random omicron particle eddies are actually a circulatory system, though, and they use them to surf back to the breach. Neelix, newly self-elected Morale Officer, enters the bridge with snacks, saying he rather be constructive than vindictive. They use the nucleonic bursts and it only increases regeneration by 0.04%. The Doctor then suggests using the beams as a suture with the ship as an energy conduit. Janeway suggests a diversion, like when she had to treat her dog’s wounds, and they send a microprobe for the nebula to attack while Voyager moves closer to the breach. They perform the suture, leave the nebula’s perimeter, and the regeneration rate is now at 40%.

Thoughts

This ensemble episode establishes all of Voyager’s main players and their relationships to one another, however, these depictions come across as caricatures among many scenes which don’t move the plot. Paris is a pig and a holoprogrammer. Torres is brilliant and knows how to deal with smart asses. The Doctor is sarcastic but wants to be treated better. Janeway is both endearing and firm, yet is unsure about how her role on the ship will develop as she feels guilty for stranding them in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay is wise, has all the answers, and is closer to the crew than Janeway is. Kim is new but understands that everyone on the ship is in a novel situation, too. Tuvok is logical and hilariously sarcastic. Kes is wise and filled with wonderlust. Neelix is an ornery, but optimistic cook. Kes and Neelix are also established to be romantically involved.

Chakotay is the worst caricature of them all, and this episode is filled with stereotypes and offensive clichés. Drawing so much attention to this “animal guide” is a major fault for Voyager and its writing staff. It was bad back then and is still today.

Plot-wise, the episode’s fault is that the stakes are so low. Voyager comes out of every problem quite quickly, and each solution they develop is so wrapped up in technobabble that it may as well be nonsense. Suturing the creature was very neat, though, and I enjoyed how that I was able to relate to it. What the plot needed, though, was a bit more to get me to care about the creature, such as a way of understanding its feelings, somehow. I’m sure there could have been a technobabble way of doing that. The concept of its intelligence never came up, as well as whether or not it belonged to a group of similar creatures. Why not world build a bit? Tell me more about this cool species, please.

Neelix decided to be constructive with his criticism of the Captain’s orders rather than running away from his issues, digging into his conscious for answers. That’s exactly what the Voyager crew did for the creature/nebula, too. It’s definitely an interesting take on how accountability can lead to optimism. When you do something wrong, apologizing and taking accountability is all you can do, and its up to the party you’ve wronged to forgive you. They went to the nebula hoping to fill their energy stores, but despite their best intentions, left with 20% less than what they started with. If forgiveness is what you can hope for, be optimistic and take accountability.

I’m familiar with all the characters and seeing them back in their origin stage, in such a caricaturizing way, puts me at unease. It’s a fun episode, though, and all the actors are prominently featured in some way. It’s theme is interesting, but played out on a dull plot. This is an episode I’d not volunteer to watch again.

This was originally posted on Sept 7, 2021. Transported to neocities on Oct 20, 2025.