Using the galactic relay network discovered by Voyager, Starfleet Command sends the ship a bundle of letters from friends and family back home -- but the tremendous distance involved means it will take time to receive and unscramble the garbled messages. During that time, Voyager remains vulnerable to attack when Hirogen hunters arrive on the scene.
A more detailed synopsis of this episode would surely mention that Seven of Nine and Tuvok are at one point captured by the Hirogen. But their imprisonment doesn't last long, and is never the true focus of the episode. This is an episode all about the letters from home. Indeed, the Hirogen are really only here to put a ticking clock on that story, and to facilitate the destruction of the entire relay network at the end of the episode (lest Voyager have a too-easy way to keep communicating with home).
To the extent this is about introducing the Hirogen, they are an interesting foe -- even if they seem derived from the Predator in nature and sheer size. They have inscrutable rituals about war paint and skinning their prey. Their ship is a large, fun set adorned with skulls, cargo nets, and vats of goo. (The production could spend some money here, knowing this set would be used in more than one episode.)
Still, it's all about those letters -- which makes this episode incredibly high stakes as far as the characters are concerned, and also able to involve all of the characters in a way that really shows us how they feel. It's a rare moment where the writers can have their cake and eat it too. Nothing fundamental about the show needs to change here; they're still trapped in the Delta Quadrant and unable to do anything about the news they receive. Yet the news they receive can still have a profound impact.
Chakotay and B'Elanna learn that the Maquis have been completely wiped out (which happened a few months earlier on Deep Space Nine). The way this shakes B'Elanna impacts her relationship with Paris, who is reverting to his season one roguish aloofness at the mere prospect of being judged by his father. Paris in turn is contrasted with his best friend Kim, who must sweat up until the last moment whether he'll even hear from home at all.
Janeway must confront that her fiance has moved on (and Kate Mulgrew gives a marvelous, wordless performance in the moment her character learns what has happened). Tuvok finds out that he's a grandfather. Even Seven is forced to consider that she might actually have family on Earth. And Neelix again proves he's the worst, opening other people's mail and reading it.
There are still more good character moments sprinkled throughout, separate from the "letters" storyline. B'Elanna and Harry talk about his infatuation with Seven of Nine. Seven and Tuvok have a meaningful talk about why the captain's opinion of her has become important. The table is really set at the end for a relationship between Janeway and Chakotay. (I can understand the writers eschewing that for the obviousness of it, but the chemistry between the two actors feels undeniable to me.)
Other observations:
- The Hirogen station looks like a reuse of the Caretaker model. Its implosion, however, is clearly CG -- and taxes the limits of what was possible to make look good on a television budget at the time.
- Janeway's enthusiasm for coffee gets another shout-out, when she declares it the "finest organic suspension ever devised."
- Janeway also says, and I quote: "Leave it to Neelix to come up with the right idea at the right time." Is there another Neelix on the ship that we haven't met? I swear, the writers' love of actor Ethan Phillips (deserved, as far as I can tell) is totally blinding them to how they're actually writing his character.
A more daring -- and I think more effective -- version of this episode would have dispensed with the Hirogen subplot entirely and focused only on Voyager's first news from home. (And it wouldn't have had Neelix behaving so obnoxiously.) Still, what we do get feels fairly daring for Star Trek: Voyager, and I find myself caring about many of the characters more than I might have expected. I give "Hunters" a B+.
No comments:
Post a Comment