Voyager Flashback: Vis à Vis

"Body thief" episodes of Star Trek have a long history, going all the way back to the original series -- where the final episode ever made was just such a story. Star Trek: Voyager took its run at that plot with season four's "Vis à Vis."

At a time when Tom Paris is beginning to bristle at his responsibilities aboard the ship, a free-spirited alien named Steth arrives with tantalizing hints of a different kind of life. But in fact, Steth covets Paris' comfortable life aboard Voyager -- and has the ability to swap bodies and take that life for his own.

There is a lot to like in this episode. Guest star Dan Butler (perhaps best known as "Bulldog" on Frasier) gives a subtly great performance here in essentially three different roles; his take on Tom Paris demonstrates that he must have studied Robert Duncan McNeill in earlier episodes. McNeill himself seems to be having fun as well. And when, in the final act, Kate Mulgrew gets to sink her teeth into playing a villain, she does so with relish.

All of that is so fun, in fact, that I'm kind of shocked how much I enjoyed this episode once I start to think about all its numerous flaws. Foremost, there's the "circa season one" way it writes Paris as a malcontent just to pave the way for the plot to come; he's acting weird already so that it will seem less weird when an alien has taken his identity. Suddenly, Chakotay is calling him out for slacking, and he's feeling stifled by B'Elanna for no articulated reason. It feels oddly reminiscent of late season two, when Paris faked a misfit act to expose a traitor on the ship... but that was just an act. The only bit of this sedentary unhappiness that feels legit is that Paris has visibly gained a lot of weight -- and that's just the real-world reality of McNeill enjoying easy access to a craft services table in his fourth year as a TV series regular. (The same thing would happen to me, were I so fortunate.)

Not much of this makes sense from the alien Steth's side either, when you think about it. How has be been so successful at swapping bodies for so long without killing the people whose bodies he takes? How stupid does he have to be to try to assimilate into a ship with nearly 200 people, all of whom know Paris to some degree and could spot something to expose him? Yes, he's shown to be quite a smooth talker able to think on his feet, but it's hard to imagine that Tom Paris' life seems so appealing to him that it's worth such a great risk.

Then there are the little inconsistencies. Steth steals what must be a holographic tool (replicator use is rationed aboard Voyager), but is able to take it back to his ship. Steth retains his voice when we see him briefly revert to a female identity, but takes on Tom Paris' voice when he takes that identity. The sheer hand-waviness with the Doctor returns everyone to the right body in the end is laughable.

Ah, but then there are cool little details too. As the series embraces CG more, it allows for things like the alien ship we see here with moving parts on its hull. B'Elanna's mispronouncing of Camaro ("CAM-a-row") is cute. And Steth is an intriguingly progressive character for the time, if you think about it: totally gender fluid, with no one ever commenting on the shift from male to female and back -- and seemingly sexually active. (Steth talks about chasing women with Paris, and it seems heavily implied that he sleeps with B'Elanna while in Paris' body. I'd chide the episode for not digging into the ramifications of that, but it would surely spoil the lighter tone.)

Other observations:

• There are some fun moments for the Doctor. Robert Picardo's pause after talking about the wind whipping through your hair is gold, as is his reaction when Steth-as-Paris strokes his ego.

• There's something about the alien "fast travel" effect that looks to me more like a shrunken object re-enlarging.

• Extra nostrils on a Star Trek alien always seems to be the most distracting makeup addition.

• I've often wondered what it would be like for someone to tell a body swap story without letting the audience in on the fact that a swap has occurred. Could we figure out why someone is acting strangely? We get a taste of that with the fun Janeway plot twist at the end of this episode, but I'm talking a whole episode like that.
  

I really don't quite know how to reconcile all the nits I want to pick here with the fact that it's actually quite a lot of fun to watch. Call this an improbable B? Yes, this could have been a better episode, but it also could have been much, much worse.