Running low of vital deuterium, Voyager is forced to seek it out at an inhospitable "Demon-class" planet. But there, they discover a world that might not be as hostile to life as imagined.
When you look at "what they were going for" here, there are a lot of interesting ideas at play in this episode. Yes, it is neat for Star Trek to show more truly "alien" worlds. The idea of sentience created by the very act of encountering it is cool. That people could be cloned and not realize they are the clones is fascinating; were I the writer, I'd have probably explored the inherent horror in that idea, but Star Trek is good at "wonderment" and understandably takes that tack here. (It sure starts off as horror, though, with Kim and Paris separating on the planet for a brief moment, leading to Kim's disappearance.)
Still, despite an intriguing foundation, there's a lot here that doesn't really add up. How did Voyager get in such a predicament, this low on fuel? (It's not a good look for Janeway, if you think about it.) Critical thinking is destroyed at every turn on the altar of the "sunk cost fallacy": we diverted to this planet, so dammit we're going to fuel here; we lost Kim and Paris on the planet, so we might as well land the whole ship.
In the end, does no crew member object to being cloned by the "silver blood?" It seems like an exploration of identity, the most compelling idea in the whole episode, is totally side-stepped. Can the silver bloods only clone each individual once? And isn't the deuterium that Voyager needs entwined within the makeup of these new aliens? How does Voyager even get the fuel to leave again?
There are several junctures where the episode just backtracks on the rules it laid out for us earlier. At first, the Demon-class planet is described as impossibly hostile, but the extent of the danger is gradually whittled away at to keep the plot going. Early on, it seems like the character throughline of the episode is going to be about Harry Kim and his desire to prove himself; that whole subplot evaporates 15 minutes in.
Granted, I don't like Neelix much myself, but characters go out of their way to be mean to him in this episode. Why does Tuvok stop Neelix from taking a pillow, blanket, and book to his emergency accommodations? All that stuff is already replicated, it's not a drain on resources, and Neelix is carrying it all himself. Tuvok just seems to be pulling rank and flexing because he can. And why is the Doctor such a child about having Neelix stay in Sickbay? Having people come there during an emergency is the entire point of Sickbay! (Anyway, the Doctor should know better than to get into an "Annoying-Off" with Neelix. No one is more annoying than Neelix.)
Other observations:
- Roxann Dawson returns from maternity leave. The scene where B'Elanna expresses concern for the missing Tom Paris is one of the more effective (if brief) scenes of the episode.
- Just before Tom and Harry take their shuttle down the planet, check the background for an unusually tall crewman walking by. He almost bumps his head on the ceiling!
- The whole conversation between Harry and Tom about putting on weight and being out of shape? Actor Garrett Wang was convinced the writers put this in as a dig against him and Robert Duncan McNeill, both of whom had noticeably put on pounds over the course of season four.
- Tuvok referring to "one of the Ensigns Kim" is an excellent (and correct) use of plural.
- At different points in this episode, Paris, Chakotay, and Janeway all take turns at the helm.
The ideas here are fun. The reveals are interesting. But so much about this episode feels slightly off that it's hard to become fully engrossed. I give "Demon" a C+.
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