Voyager Flashback: Lifesigns

Recently in my re-watch of Star Trek: Voyager, I came upon a B'Elanna Torres episode that would have been stronger were it not a (better) version of a story the show had already told. Now the episode "Lifesigns" is the same thing, for the Doctor.

When the crew rescues a Vidiian near the brink of death, the Doctor turns to extreme measures to keep her alive, transferring her consciousness into a hologram. Rid of the Phage while in holographic form, Danara Pel has a new sense of self-worth, and becomes romantically involved with the Doctor. Meanwhile, Tom Paris' attitude problems turn to open insubordination.

Although later in Star Trek: Voyager, it would come to feel like every other episode (that wasn't a Seven of Nine episode) was about the Doctor, at this point in the show's run, there had only been a couple. And so it's quite conspicuous that one of those was about the Doctor developing feelings for a holographic woman. This is a more sophisticated, better written take on that plot synopsis... but having seen it done before stops this from being as good as it might have been.

But there's a lot to like here. For one thing, the stakes seem more important. Danara Pel is an actual, living person only temporarily in a holographic body. And the episode is interested in her side of the relationship; several scenes are devoted to how her disease (and in particular, her appearance) has destroyed her self esteem, to a point where she can barely conceive that someone would love her. She still feels attraction herself though, clearly flirting with the Doctor long before he begins to pick up on any of her signals.

The episode also does a good job involving other characters in the Doctor's story. In a role reversal, Kes becomes the one giving advice to the Doctor, not realizing how literally he will interpret it. The Doctor goes to Paris for solace on dealing with rejection, who actually helps expose the misunderstanding (before forcing more of his holodeck predilections on the matter). The episode could get uncomfortable in how much it focuses on appearances, but manages to steer away from the rocks: there's no doubt that the Doctor's feelings have nothing to do with appearances, and it's clear that both he and Danara Pel are each helping the other discover things about themselves they didn't know were there. That's some pretty heavy lifting for one hour minus commercials.

They don't even get the whole hour to themselves, actually... which I found to be a drag on the episode. The story of Tom Paris the malcontent continues as it has for the last several episodes. As I've said before, this sort of serialized storytelling is pretty advanced for television of this age. Yet while I appreciate that, it feels like screen time that could have been better used in tangents from the main plot.

One of the more effective scenes in the episode is when B'Elanna has to come to terms with what happened to her the last time they encountered the Vidiians. Even compressed into a single scene, where she arcs from refusing to help to agreeing in two minutes, it has an impact. I can't help but wonder how more time could have been used there. Could there have been a meaningful exchange between Danara Pel and Neelix, who has also experienced horrors at the hands of Vidiians? What if Danara had been seen as a security risk at first, and had to earn Tuvok's trust before she was allowed to leave Sickbay? What if she had a talk with Harry Kim about their shared near-death experiences? It feels like there were more "ripples in the pond" that could have been explored here, had the Tom Paris B plot not been crowding them out.

Other observations:

• There's no reason for the Doctor to build the Danara hologram in "layers." (Skeleton, internal organs, muscle, skin, clothing.) I think it may have been meant to build up to the reveal of an "unPhaged Vidiian," but it's just showing off some now-dated CG.
  

• Danara Pel has some dialogue about life in a pandemic and avoiding contact with others that hits a whole lot differently now than it did in 1996.

• Parking in a classic 50s car can't possibly mean anything to the Doctor or Denara, but it is an incredibly rare moment for Star Trek to use real world music that isn't from the classical era. "I Only Have Eyes for You" by The Flamingos is a pretty good choice, given the setting.
  

Though this episode is better than "Heroes and Demons," I think it would have landed stronger still if the earlier installment simply didn't exist. And I think it could have been stronger still without the B plot wedged in. Still, it's not bad by any means. I give "Lifesigns" a B.