Voyager Flashback: Scorpion

After dabbling with the Borg in an episode that wasn't quite a Borg episode, Star Trek: Voyager went all the way for their third season finale, "Scorpion."

Voyager has reached the edge of Borg space, with no option but to find a way through. But shockingly, the Borg aren't their biggest problem, as a new and malevolent alien race is invading the area -- and even the Borg are powerless to stop them.

The original plan for Voyager's season three finale was the "Year of Hell" story they'd teased earlier in the season. But then two ideas converged: there was the feeling they needed to do something bigger with the Borg than they had so far; and they decided to introduce a new character to the cast. They knew they wanted an "ex-Borg" character, and a Borg cliffhanger to set them up. But even knowing that much about the character, they deferred writing it into the finale. That gave them the extra months of the season hiatus to cast the role.

What they did write features a number of intriguing elements. We do sort of get a new character in this episode: the holographic Leonardo da Vinci, played by John Rhys-Davies, and added at Kate Mulgrew's suggestion (and far better than Janeway's Gothic holonovel). And at the core of it all, the idea of "Species 8472" is fun and relatively scary. They get inside you like the "Alien," but they're not a force of nature: they destroy you because they want to, and it hurts like hell while they do it (poor Harry Kim!). Plus, they can destroy the Borg in a few seconds flat (one of the shortest teasers ever on Star Trek).

Janeway and Chakotay come into true conflict with one another in this episode, in a compelling way (though I have to personally side with Chakotay on this). I like letting the characters be at odds... but I also feel this is a major turning point for the show. My memory of Voyager from when I first watched it decades ago was that I didn't like Janeway all that much. In re-watching three seasons so far, I really haven't see why. But now "Scorpion" brings a taste of how I remember the character being written. She seems weirdly obstinate, and quite unwilling to listen to any advice or experience from the crew. It's possible that I'm reacting badly here mainly because of gender... but my memory is that Archer on Enterprise was written in the exact same way (leading to what I would have thought would be impossible after 5 seasons of Quantum Leap: the Star Trek writers made me hate "Scott Bakula"). I guess we'll see as I continue in my Star Trek re-watch.

The production does a lot on a television time and budget. Yes, the Species 8472 CG looks rather primitive. But First Contact sets and props are reused to make the Borg themselves appropriately menacing, with heavy haunted house vibes. And the "tower of dead Borg" is cleverly built from actual Star Trek action figures hot glued together (really! look it up!).

Other observations:

• Why would information on the Borg be classified? I would think you'd want anyone encountering them to know what they're in for!

• B'Elanna invents a "skeletal lock" with the transporter. If it hadn't worked right, would they just beam up a pile of bones? Ew.

• Given what happened between da Vinci and the Catholic Church, it's interesting to hear the character speak of appealing to God. Personal religion and organized religion are two very different things.
  

I give "Scorpion" a B. It caps off a season of Voyager that never reached great heights (I still haven't found an "A or A-" episode of Voyager), but it was generally "consistently good" (the overall season average feels much higher than seasons one or two). My picks for the top five episodes of season three are: "Real Life," "Flashback," "Worst Case Scenario," "Distant Origin," and "Coda."

On to season four!