In the twelfth episode of the third season of Voyager, NOPE. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Star Trek.
Trigger Warning: For insects/bugs.Â
Oh, this episode is a treat, y’all. It’s a horror movie crammed into the Voyager format, and show KILLED IT. I adore this episode, and I’m gonna tell you why.
The Tak Tak
I appreciate any chance Star Trek takes to give us species and cultures that are utterly unlike our own. I got a moment of “Darmok” in the portrayal of the Tak Tak, given that their form of communication felt so bizarre and incomprehensible. Yet that brief opening scene still mattered to the whole episode, and I loved when the Tak Tak came back around later in the episode. Bravo! That was one of many story choices that made this such a tense experience.
The Mystery
I mentioned in the video for this episode that I enjoyed how singular this episode felt, and I do believe that it’s so strong because Brannon Braga’s script never strays from the main mystery. It’s the only plot here, and thus, the intense focus allows the show to build dread and terror so much better. Once Neelix and Janeway get back to Voyager, their ship is like a ghost town. That’s one way that this episode achieves its suspense, but then there’s the buzzing. WHICH IS ALWAYS TERRIFYING. So the mystery presented to us is revealed slowly and horrifyingly. There’s the buzzing. The banging. The mucilaginous liquid that looks like it’s eating through the ship. These sights and sounds all build off the unknown. We still don’t know what’s causing them at this point. At most, we see a tentacle, and we see the reaction of Neelix and Janeway. It’s even worse once they’re separated and Neelix is taken away by one of the organisms. Why?
Silence. There are a number of scenes without a single line of dialogue, and it’s a bold (and effective) choice. The show hones in on Janeway, who desperately bolts about the ship, assembling a pack full of only the necessary supplies, while she strips off her uniform to deal with the unbearably high temperatures on the ship. (I felt like that was a deliberate reference to Alien, by the way. I got huge Ripley vibes from her.) She says nothing while trying to get to the bridge, and when she finally does, it’s for a single cry for help. And then? She goes back to locating the surviving members of the crew. Her focus is incredible here, and Kate Mulgrew deserves a ton of credit for pulling off Braga’s script so well.
Macrocosm
This is absolutely one of the COOLEST bits of science that Star Trek has ever come up with. The virus in this episode has the ability to grow at an abnormal rate, meaning that it can actually escape the microbial world. That is obviously the worst thing ever for these characters, but I adore how much the concept of size factors into what makes this episode so scary. There’s that awesome scene on the bridge where Janeway is bit that acts as a brilliant sleight of hand. I kept expecting whatever giant creature nabbed Neelix to be revealed as the one stalking Janeway. Instead? It’s a tiny bug. It was a confusing sequence, yet it eventually made perfect sense. This virus sought out new hosts to replicate more of the “flies” that would eventually become the larger creatures.
At this point, this becomes more of a logistical horror film. Through the expert use of flashbacks, we see how this virus was able to take over Voyager, despite all the precautions that the Doctor took not to bring them onboard. (And for what it’s worth, I have another positive thing to mention: the Doctor’s first away mission. Handled perfectly, y’all. I CAN’T WAIT FOR HIM TO GO ON MORE.) Even though the Doctor found an antidote, and even though the creatures can’t technically harm him, he wasn’t able to get to the other crew to inoculate them. So the episode turns into a new conflict: how can Janeway deliver the antidote to the crew, and how can they possibly destroy these creatures before they multiply beyond hope? All of these scenes are staged super well, y’all, and I appreciate how much thought was put into this thriller. Again, it’s a logistical problem. How can the Doctor escape being stuck in the shuttlecraft? How can Janeway get the macro organisms into one single place? The solution to this nightmare is credible, believable, and terrifying.
This is an exhausting episode, but I don’t mean that as an insult. Braga’s script is relentless and smart, and the genre-bending nature of it elevates Voyager to a new level. Any show willing to experiment with the kind of stories it can tell has my respect.
The video for “Macrocosm” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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