Voyager Flashback: Unity

For the first two seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, the Borg were nowhere to be seen. This was a high-level decision made for the sake of the feature film Star Trek: First Contact. But once that movie had been released, just months later (and literally during the very next Nielsen "sweeps" period), the prohibition was lifted. The Borg made their first Voyager appearance in "Unity."

While on a mission away from Voyager, Chakotay encounters a colony populated by warring factions of "ex-Borg" who regained their individuality (and old animosities) after being severed from the Collective. Meanwhile, Voyager encounters the derelict cube from which they all came.

The Voyager writing staff knew they would need a fresh angle into featuring the Borg, with the movie First Contact having just dramatized a more straightforward confrontation. They needed their version of an "I, Borg," an episode that centered on Star Trek's nastiest villains without being a simple shoot-'em-up. Staff writer Kenneth Biller cracked that nut with a concept inspired by the Tower of Babel -- a story of cultures clashing when their "shared language" is suddenly taken away. (He also mentioned the breakup of the Soviet Union as another touchstone, with different former Soviet nations abandoning former ideals to varying degrees.)

That's all compelling table setting for what ends up being a less compelling story. "Unity" plays like a film noir with a slight technological twist, the story of an ignorant "detective" being duped by a dangerous femme fatale. Adding to that general tone are more film noir trappings like underlit scenes, conspicuously flirtatious dialogue, and a low budget flashback montage.

There are a number of intriguing ideas in the mix here, though most of them feel underdeveloped. Chakotay's resistance to even a benign form of "assimilation" feels right, but then he immediately gives in during an elliptical edit, without even a scene on Voyager to give us separation. The idea of "phantom sensation" after a mental link is intriguing... but that turns out to be not about the mental dichotomy so much as planting the idea that Chakotay's brain will be hijacked at the end of the episode. The question of whether it's right to force a new link on a colony of ex-Borg is put on the table, but the morality of that is never actually debated. (Janeway recoils, and then it just happens anyway.)

But there are good moments sprinkled throughout. An opening "gun fight" has quite a few visual effects and stunts, and takes place in a fun environment of junk and fire pits. The idea to make Tuvok the victim of a "jump scare" aboard the Borg cube is inspired, and Tim Russ plays the reaction perfectly. B'Elanna's speculation about someone more powerful than the Borg is eerie, and nice table-setting for the season finale.

This episode also provides interesting material for speculation -- things I don't think the series ever digs into, but fun for Trekkers to bat back and forth. Is there something about linking individuals into a "collective" that corrupts, some lowest common denominator of group-think that's inevitably evil? (Not just the Borg, but the Great Link of the Founders on Deep Space Nine, seem to say the answer is "yes.") Later on, does Chakotay ever talk of his "Borg link" experience here with Seven of Nine?

Other observations:

• I believe this may be the last mention of the "Nekrit Expanse" in Voyager, a moody sounding bone that turned out to have little meat on it.

• I'm hardly the first to note this, but for being low on resources generally, Voyager isn't really affected by all the shuttles they lose.
  

• Riley's backstory is that she was assimilated at the Battle of Wolf 359. But that Borg cube was destroyed at Earth, so how did she get to the Delta Quadrant? (I would say "the same way the Borg Queen did," but that's been strongly implied to be something special and metaphysical.)
  

• This is Robert Duncan McNeill's second time directing Voyager. He spoke very highly of this episode at the time (perhaps for promotion of the show, perhaps for self-promotion to land another directing assignment). More recently, though (on his podcast with Garrett Wang), he was fairly down on the episode, saying he felt he'd hit a definite sophomore slump.

I applaud the attempt to not simply repeat "climactic battle" every time the Borg come around. But I still don't find "Unity" to be entirely successful. I give it a B-.