Voyager Flashback: Alter Ego

If you've watched any of the modern Star Trek series, you'll know that they've (understandably) embraced more modern television sensibilities. Besides the huge strides in visuals, the way the stories are told feels very different from past Star Trek series. Of course, the "Berman era" series also had a feel distinct from the original series -- which is more apparent when a kind of "throwback" episode comes along, like Voyager's "Alter Ego."

Voyager investigates an "inversion nebula," a phenomenon that shouldn't exist. Meanwhile, Kim goes to Tuvok for advice on suppressing his emotions when he falls in love with a holodeck character. Slowly, it becomes apparent that there might be a surprising link between the two stories.

The trappings of this episode are very much of the "Next Generation and company" era of Star Trek -- holodecks (both the complicated relationships they can foster, and the way their characters can become sentient and dangerous), traces of ongoing character development (in the budding romance between Tom and B'Elanna), and gentle setup for a future episode (Vorik's attentiveness to B'Elanna). Still, this really feels like a classic Star Trek episode to me in its focus on Tuvok -- specifically, in the complexity and contradictions of Vulcan emotions.

The episode opens with banter that could have been lifted straight from Kirk, Spock, and McCoy; everyone is giving Tuvok a good-natured (?) ribbing about Vulcan stoicism. There's plenty of deadpan Vulcan humor. ("Are you two friends?" "Yes."/"No.") Tuvok spends a lot of the episode declaring what "Vulcans do not" do, which is exposed as a screen for what he personally does not want to do. (This is exposed both by the mysteriously perceptive Marayna and by the actions of another Vulcan, Vorik.) The pacing is rather slow, with the episode more than half over before any real sense of danger manifests. There's a classic Star Trek sense of financial restraint to the episode. (We paid for this resort set, and dammit, we are going to get our money's worth!) And everything builds to a climax that feels pretty "old school Trek" too; Tuvok helps the real Marayna face her own issues of loneliness, as she delivers a parting shot that Tuvok himself is also quite lonely.

At the same time, though, the episode doesn't feel "dated" -- at least, not to the 1960s. There's plenty about it that feels modern (for then) as well. The story feels somewhat inspired by Fatal Attraction, with Marayna interested in a man who does not reciprocate. (The main difference: infidelity is not in the mix here. Though it sure does take a long time for Tuvok to remind everyone that he has a wife.) The sort of "story handoff" here is also rather sophisticated for its time; before the episode really focuses on Tuvok, it looks like it's going to be about Harry Kim falling in love with a holodeck character (which might actually have made an interesting full episode of its own, had there been no "twist" about Marayna).

I also enjoy the interplay between main characters here. Kim and Tuvok have a "jealous argument" that's perfectly calibrated for Star Trek in general and a Vulcan in particular -- feelings are clearly hurt, even though no one is shouting. (It's nice for the episode to pair these two. It was reportedly conceived of as another Paris/Kim episode, but I think it was good to mix things up.) A scene in engineering is the latest in the long line featuring the enduring friendship of B'Elanna and Harry; for the dozenth time, I found myself thinking they should have been made a couple (rather than B'Elanna and Tom).

Other observations:

• I applaud the actors' very careful pronunciation of the Vulcan game of kal-toh. Long ago (in the days when I was working on Star Trek CCG), I pronounced it lazily, was misheard as saying "cow toe," and and that's what we ended up calling it from then on.

• This episode was directed by Robert Picardo. He's the second Voyager actor to helm an episode, but it didn't really grab him like it did some of the others who would do so; he directed only one other. "Alter Ego" was specifically chosen for him, as he would appear in just one short vignette at the holodeck resort. Reportedly, the writers asked him what he'd like that venue to be. So when you see two holo-babes hanging on and kissing The Doctor, know that Robert Picardo "wrote" that for himself. In an interview, he quipped (not really so humorously): "I got to shoot as many takes of that as I wanted."

• Could anyone really be strangled by a lei? 

• The nebula turns out to be either an "art installation" or a "national park," depending on your point of view.

I do find myself wishing that "Alter Ego" had either stuck with the first suggested plot (holodeck love), or had transitioned to the more menacing plot (alien Fatal Attraction) a little bit faster. But there are still moments to like here. I give the episode a B-.