Voyager Flashback: Tattoo

Early in the second season of Voyager, executive producer Michael Piller reached two conclusions at roughly the same time. First, the show's focus had drifted away from character, with the sci-fi conceits of each episode dominating the scripts. Second, the series was too slow-paced compared to other contemporary television he'd surveyed; he felt they could pack in more story and faster scenes than they had been. These two observations converged when he decided to rework a story pitch bought from an outside writer, "Tattoo."

The crew finds an alien world that inexplicably has signs of life consistent with Chakotay's tribe back on Earth -- but their investigation of the planet is stymied by strange weather patterns, attacking wildlife, and more. Perhaps Chakotay's own past holds the key to what is happening now. Meanwhile, in an effort to prove that the crew complains too readily when sick, the Doctor programs a disease to experience sickness himself.

Voyager has a track record of cultural insensitivity when it comes to Chakotay's character, of tossing the lore of many indigenous American tribes in a blender (along with a fair amount of made-up stuff) and trying to pass it off as coherent. "Tattoo" actually feels like one of the series' more sensitive episodes, though. In a strange way, it unites Chakotay and the audience to show that, as a teenager, Chakotay thought this was all suspect too. And it humanizes Chakotay to know that the main root of his spirituality is respect for his father more than the traditions themselves.

"Aliens visited ancient Earth" is a recurring trope both in science fiction and among some conspiracy theorists. It's mostly innocent when used to explain tales of "sky spirits" or weird flying objects in the backgrounds of paintings, but it can be a subtle form of racism: the accomplishments of this non-European civilization can only be explained if alien intelligence came around to help them. "Tattoo" steers clear of this darker undertone in a few ways: it roots the alien contact in the far distant past (explaining not the rise of a civilization, but the very migration to North America), and it devotes a lot of time to the conquest of Chakotay's people.

Nevertheless, the episode still mostly doesn't work for me. The crew is awfully slow to suspect an advanced intelligence, given that every attempt to reach this planet is met with proportional resistance. They never question whether they can leave freely; they just seem to know they'll be able to when a crisis comes. The alien foreheads on the native tribe during the Earth flashbacks feels like a weird choice -- I guess they have alien DNA, but still so strongly after millennia? (They're that isolated?)

The guest cast is quite hit-and-miss. Henry Darrow is pretty good as Chakotay's father, but the speaking member of his exploration party is wooden and awkward, and downright cringey speaking in another language. Richard Fancy is pretty good as the alien Chakotay meets, but no amount of makeup can cover that he's Mr. Lippman, Elaine's boss on Seinfeld.

The episode's B-story is enjoyable, though. Robert Picardo himself suggested that the Doctor might "become sick." (His original notion was that Janeway might inflict it on him to teach him a lesson.) Though it does feel like the Doctor's personal growth backslides a little to facilitate the story, it is fun to watch him accuse everyone else of being a big baby before becoming one himself. It's a great moment when Kes reveals that she altered the program to really teach him a lesson (and Harry Kim gives us a great reaction).

Other observations:

• It's interesting that the opening scene is actually shot on location in a quarry when the rest of the episode goes on to be clearly filmed on a stage.

• Neelix and Tuvok have orchid breeding in common. If you're trying to make me like Neelix, maybe don't have him be the character who gets attacked by a hawk. That could have been anyone, but it feels like Neelix is always the liability on any Away mission.

• Chakotay says his Starfleet Academy application was sponsored by Captain Sulu. It's a fun nod to continuity... though I think given the passage of time since the original series, this probably isn't Hikaru Sulu. He'd be quite old at this point, and probably not still a Captain. Perhaps it could be Sulu's daughter that we met in Generations?
  

In all, I don't find "Tattoo" to be especially flawed. It's just also not especially interesting. I give it a C+.