User Reviews

In watching Star Trek: Voyager, I wished for something different from the previous series. The premise is perfect, having a Federation ship flung lightyears away from their home and dropped into the middle of an unexplored part of space. With Maquis joining the crew as a means to survive, the USS Voyager would have its morals put to the test throughout the series. Most of the time, Federation morals would win the day (it is Star Trek, after all). But as the crew is tested on their journey home, there are times that tough decisions must be made. Living for years off only what the ship can afford, getting by through alliances and trades (and sometimes more aggressive means), and putting all power to engines and life support. It's not ideal, but through it all, the Voyager crew makes it work.

Much to my dismay, this isn't what happened. Star Trek: Voyager ended up just like any other Star Trek series up to this point. Their lives are so cushy on Voyager, it's treated more like a vacation, rather than an unfortunate circumstance. Ship almost out of fuel? No worries, lets just find some; easy as that. Bored? Holodeck is a-calling. If you're feeling peckish, just replicate some steak. No drama, no intrigue, no sense of exploration. At a certain point, even before the Maquis had officially been defeated back in the Alpha Quadrant, you forget there were even outlaws/terrorists aboard.

"The Void," in my mind, is the alternate universe where Star Trek: Voyager actually tired to make the premise work. Voyager is sucked into a void (a different void than the one from "Night," apparently) and is forced to fend for themselves/find a way out. Which, might I point out, is the same premise as the show as a whole. At first, Janeway's attempts at diplomacy fall on deaf ears, with the other trapped ships being understandably skeptical. After all, they've presumably been here for much longer than Voyager has. But it all comes together in the end, a few deserters notwithstanding. Even when it would be easier to just plunder other ships for the parts they need, Janeway keeps Federation ideals. Unable to find any usable loophole in the Federation Charter, the captain holds steady. Even when others questioned her methods. And in this instance, it worked in Voyager's favor.

This episode had everything that I was looking for in Star Trek: Voyager. A positive outlook in spite of a bad situation, alliances with alien species, anomalies, betrayal, cooperation, first contact (with Fantome's species), and joining forces with Delta Quadrant species to find a way to survive. This is Voyager at it's best and one of the best episodes of the series, no question. I only take points off because, as others have noted, this would've worked much better as a two-parter. Showing a little more struggle between Janeway's morals and keeping Voyager's crew safe would've made this a perfect Star Trek show.

It's such a shame that it took 7 seasons and multiple failed plotlines (Kazon/Borg Queen/Malon, your pick) for the writers to figure out something so simple. It's lame, but Janeway's line towards the end of the episode says it all: "It was almost like being part of the Federation again." To me, "The Void" was almost like watching an interesting version of Star Trek: Voyager.

After years of listening to Janeway pontificate about 'stick to our principles' and following the starfleet guidebook alone in the Delta quadrant, we get an episode where those altruistic principles pay off.

I enjoy when a star trek episode has some 'true to live' elements in it. It is likely that when put into a situation like this, many would revert back into a animal kingdom strongest survive free for all. It is a good thing that Janeway doesn't swing that way or she would have never taken in the alien xylophone players and discovered a way out of the void.

The message is a bit heavy handed (but hey, this is star trek) but life is indeed harder without friends around to have your back.

Another small point to emphasize - always go with your gut feeling. There is a small sub plot involving a jerk alien who kills to get equipment to help the cause and janeway kicks him out of the federation clubhouse. I have on occasion gone against my 'gut instinct' and without fail it has bit me on the ass.

The "oh, my, we're trapped in a mysterious dark void with no way out" concept has been used and reused many times in the Star Trek Universe (ST: Next Generation's Second Season installment "Where Silence Has Lease" is a good example that comes to mind) so don't expect any surprises or new territory here....we have seen this all before. This eliminates any suspense from the get go (as does the fact that this is not a two-parter), so we just know from the very beginning that the crew will manage to escape in 60 minutes and that they are never in any real danger.

What makes this episode enjoyable, though, is good solid acting and interplay by the regulars and some fun performances by some likable (and not so likable!) guest stars.

Not a bad show by any means, but it's a shame this couldn't have been a two parter...this would have helped to build the suspense a bit and also would have provided more time to see & learn more about all the different ships & species trapped in the void, which could have been quite interesting.

In "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor. Spy" we are introduced to "The Googys" - A whole race of Aliens designed after Googy Gress' Features, who played one of them in that show. They are members of "The Hierarchy" although we never learn the name of their Race, so I just call them "The Googys" because of their resemblance to Googy Gress.

Despite Googy not being in this episode, his Namesakes appear.

Voyager gets sucked down into another Galactic Cesspool, only there are ships living here, that prey on each other, stealing their supplies back and forth. Voyager's Supplies get swiped within seconds, and then the ship that had swiped the goodies gets vaporized by a ship of a guy named "Valen" (Babylon 5's Robin Sachs), who now has all of Voyager's Deuterium and some of their food.

There is also a new Race, designed from Doctor Seuss characters, the main one played by Jonathan Del Arco who was "Hugh Borg" in Next Generation, his character in this is "Fantome" - Named by The Doctor for "Phantom of The Opera"- They appear to be natural citizens of this part of non-space, they can hide themselves, and they can speak by chirping on Padds after The Doc shows them how.

Where one ship cannot even come close to escaping this crappy area, several ships in tandem could, but this is a lawless area where personal morals need not seem to apply.

Nevertheless, Janeway enforces Starfleet Principles and forms a small Alliance with some other stranded ships.

But one of these "allies' is a Beak-Faced Jerk named "Bosaal" (Michael Shamus Wiles who was a similar creep and cretin in The X-Files), who will not adhere to the standards that Janeway has set for behavior, he keeps attacking other ships so Janeway kicks his Beakfaced Buttocks out of the alliance, leaving them with only 4 ships total.

The Googys, who are natural born Peeping Toms and Spies, spy on Bosaal and find out he is gonna attack with Valen, So Janeway elicits Help from the Dr Seuss Aliens to make it all backfire on Bosaal.

There is also another pair of ships Captained by the Venture Star Chief from "Avatar", Scott Lawrence ("Garon"- He was also in "Into Darkness") and he becomes a stolid Janeway supporter - Because he likes Voyager's food more.

So it just goes to show that a little Federation Morality will go a long way in getting out of jams. Janeway is kind to a group of Aliens who is kicked around by the other captains, and by saying true to who she is, this little act of kindness goes a long away in saving the butts of Four stranded Ships-

And it is all because Seven of Sixty-Nine gives Jon Del Arco her food, shaming Janeway into doing even more for the critters.

Ain't it interesting that Valen's ship looks like a Maquis Raider and "The Nightingale" that Harry Captained?

After passing through an anomaly the crew of Voyager find themselves is a void where there are no stars or planets, just other ships that have been trapped in the area. These ships survive by stealing food, fuel and other necessities from new arrivals. As a new arrival Voyager is quickly targeted and has much of its food and fuel stolen. Another ship offers to help but Captain Janeway declines as its captain wants weaponry in exchange. They search for the ship that robbed them but find it has already been robbed by another ship. They do however find a wounded alien who although initially incapable of communicating manages to learn to communicate with the doctor using tones created by a piece of equipment. In order to try to escape the void Janeway tries to persuade the various other ships to form an alliance so that each can bring their own strengths to the effort.

This was a decent episode which saw crew members question their captain's insistence on sticking to Star Fleet protocols even if that means they might not survive; of course ultimately the survive because they stick to their guiding principles. I enjoyed the main story although seeing the aliens chatting with beeping machines soon stopped being enjoyable and felt like it might only appeal to an audience too young to enjoy the series.

For some reason, this episode feels painfully familiar, to a level of staleness that I hadn't realized until remembering it followed the exact same formula as an earlier episode in which Voyager is dragged into an area of space that is essentially a void.

This time around, however, the technobabble solution will involve the cooperation of other aliens who have been dragged into this area of space called the Void, where Deuterium is rare, and there are no resources anywhere. The only solution is to steal supplies from other ships drawn into the Void.

This, of course, goes against the principles of the Federation, but as we've established from watching seven years of this show, Janeway is a a fanatic who will stick to the Prime Directives even at the cost of her life and everyone else on board Voyager. She even directly states in this episode that she'd rather see the entire crew die rather than resort to becoming "thieves and murderers"... in a situation where they would only need to become "thieves"... by taking their supplies back from another thief, along with taking back what was stolen from other vessels.

So Janeway is fanatical enough, cold-hearted enough, masochistic enough, and misanthrophic enough to deny her crew the bare necessities of survival if it means bending the rules JUST A LITTLE. She honestly doesn't care if her crew starves to death, so long as they don't steal food from a thief! Remember this, Star Trek viewers: One of the principles of the Prime Directive is for a ship's captain to do everything possible to save their crew, and here's Janeway willing to see them ALL die just to let a THIEF keep his STOLEN GOODS stolen from someone he more than likely KILLED ANYWAY.

No matter your moral views on this, you HAVE to acknowledge that when you're lost in the wilderness and food is running out, you can't just risk your crew starving to death just because you'd FEEL BAD ABOUT STEALING FROM A THIEF! This is why Janeway is the absolute worst of all the captains of this era.

Picard is someone who follows the Prime Directives, but recognizes that there are situations where it cannot be upheld without causing a severe moral, or even actual dilemma. He breaks the Prime Directives in order to save lives.

Sisko is someone who follows the Prime Directives, and also recognizes that situations are not always so clear cut, black and white, and he's willing to break the Prime Directives for a greater good, typically because of his regard for sentient life.

Janeway, by comparison, follows the Prime Directives, frequently at the cost of sentient life.

So rather than deal with others, she outright REFUSES to deal with ANYONE who in ANYWAY goes against her authoritarian ideals. She forms an alliance with WILLING aliens caught in the Void, then IMPOSES her Federation ideals upon the Alliance. Certain things like not killing or stealing are obvious and easy enough, but it gets to a point where she KICKS OUT an ENTIRE ship because it's captain got components for their warp engine because they traded stolen equipment from a ship they destroyed earlier.

And ever the tactless moron, she does this with intense hatred and rancor in her voice and tone and expression that it causes the other alien to GO AND HELP JANEWAY'S ENEMY! AND THE ONLY WAY THEY FIGURE THIS OUT IS BY LISTENING TO A RECORDED CONVERSATION MADE BY ANOTHER ALIEN WHO'S SPYING ON EVERYONE ON THE SHIP---ANOTHER VIOLATION OF THE ALLIANCE'S IDEALS! Ultimately the solution is solved by technobabble, a lazy hackneyed plot device, the new Deus Ex Machina for a terrible set of writers.