Voyager Flashback: Living Witness

As I've been re-watching Star Trek: Voyager, I've actually found the series to be a bit better on average than I remember from its original run. But that's generally because it typically delivers "fine" episodes; there really aren't as many true stinkers (so far) as I'd thought. Yet neither are there any exceptional ones. Here I am, nearly at the end of season four, and I have yet to rate a single episode higher than a B+.

Spoiler alert: that changes today, with "Living Witness."

Centuries in the future, an alien civilization has built a memorial museum commemorating the time that a ship from another world arrived and inflicted lasting damage on their society. When one of the scientist-curators begins work with one of the artifacts from that time, he triggers Voyager's holographic Doctor from within his backup module -- and he's keen to set the record straight.

There are two main components that make this a stand-out episode of Star Trek. On the one hand, a lot of it is pure fun, in much the same way as a Mirror Universe episode (before that particular concept was thoroughly wrung out). The Kyrians' villainous conception of Voyager, brought to life in their own holographic simulation, allows cast and crew to all cut loose.

Delicious writing sees the episode open with Evil Janeway giving a menacing speech about violence. Chakotay and the Doctor are portrayed as enthusiastic torturers. Everyone bickers among themselves. ("Watch your mouth, hedgehog!") Plus, the writers sprinkle great accents throughout, from a Borg security force to a Kazon crew member to giving the Evil Doctor (meant to be an android) the same type of yellow contact lenses that Brent Spiner wore as Data.

The actors all shade their characters with archness. Kate Mulgrew shows us a Janeway who seems to be annoyed by absolutely everything. Tim Russ flashes the most wicked smile at one point, all the more unsettling for Tuvok's usual lack of emotion. Everyone mispronounces "CHUCK-oh-tay."

The production design is great too, with a lot of minor and cost-effective changes adding up to an environment that feels really different. Swapping out the Starfleet purple undershirt for black and giving characters black gloves instantly makes everyone look more severe. Red lighting, removing Chakotay's seat on the bridge (and increasing the size of his face tattoo), and getting Neelix into a uniform all make a noticeable impact. Of course, there are bigger changes too, like a return of the fully-Borg Seven of Nine, and the armed-to-the-teeth appearance of Voyager when we get an exterior view of the ship. (A lot of money also seems to have been spent on the enormous alien museum set.)

But it all basically would just be a Mirror Universe episode if there wasn't the second main component of the episode: it has a moral point to make (as great Star Trek often does). First, strong commentary is offered about cherry-picking history to support a modern point of view. We see how the Kyrian re-creation plays up the martyrdom of their fallen leader -- and amid so many other inaccuracies about the Voyager we know, we're primed to understand that we're probably not seeing the truth about that either.

When the scientist Quarren begins to interact with the Doctor, we move to a new act in the morality play: a study in overcoming cognitive bias. Here is a living witness (the Doctor even says the name of the episode!) trying to set the record straight, and he is rejected because his account doesn't fit the established narrative. But Quarren is able to overcome the propaganda to see the truth.

Last comes the most potent message of all, as the episode becomes a parable about bigotry. There are two peoples involved here, the Kyrians and the Vaskans. Whether you read the relationship more as post-slavery racism or the anti-Semitism of Holocaust denial, the effect is just as striking. The dialogue feels taken straight from real life: "I have Kyrian friends." "It's always about race!" Demonstrations turn to riots, and may lead to civil war.

Add to all that a truly inspired ending: we jump again even further into the future (the farthest in the future Star Trek had ever gone, at least until Discovery came along) to find out that the Doctor helped heal this alien society. And this comes on the heels of a great scene in which the Doctor has a crisis of identity about the harms his presence is causing. It's all great stuff.

OK, there are a few small bumps in the road you have to overlook. How did all these artifacts end up on this planet? (We don't see Voyager come under the sort of attack that would imply a lot of damage and a hasty escape, that would explain leaving so much stuff behind.) We've always been told the Doctor is irreplaceable, and that's totally undermined by the concept of the "backup module" that allows this whole story to happen. Why does the Doctor struggle to remember events that, from his perspective, happened only days ago? And why must he clearly embellish history in his own version of events, inserting a little heroic moment for himself in his own re-telling? Still, I find it easy to look past these details when everything else is so well done.

Other observations:

• This episode is directed by Tim Russ, becoming the third Voyager cast member to helm an episode (after Robert Duncan McNeill and Robert Picardo). Clearly, I think he did an excellent job, but from his interviews, it seems clear he did not enjoy the experience. He spoke a lot of the time pressures, and never directed another episode after this.

• The Doctor talks at one point about missing B'Elanna in particular. She isn't seen in this episode, though, because Roxann Dawson was on maternity leave at this point.

At last, we've done it -- a top-tier Voyager episode. Mostly. I give "Living Witness" an A-. (Perhaps an unqualified A is yet to come at some point in my viewing.)