star trek voyager equinox part ii

Equinox (episode)

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Voyager finds another Federation starship, the USS Equinox , stranded in the Delta Quadrant. But they also find that the Equinox crew is harboring a dark secret. ( Season finale )

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Story and script
• 3.2 Cast and characters
• 3.3 Production
• 3.4 Visual effects
• 3.5 Reception
• 3.6 Continuity and trivia
• 3.7 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Special guest star
• 4.4 Guest stars
• 4.5 Co-stars
• 4.6 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.7 Stand-ins
• 4.8 References
• 4.9 External links

Summary [ ]

The Equinox under attack

A Federation starship is in serious trouble; nearly everything is wrecked. The only lights are the flashing red lights of a red alert and the flash of sparks from the wreckage. Seated in the command chair , the captain hears an ominous report from an officer : the ship's deflector shields are at 29%; their attackers are breaking through. The captain orders the shields dropped completely and allow the shield emitters the 45 seconds they need to fully recharge.

He and his officers immediately field phaser rifles and aim at the air above their heads, and he gives the order. Instantly, upon the lowering of the shields, a dry, high-pitched screeching whine is heard. Portals appear above them. The officers fire into them and they close. But others appear rapidly, and they begin to be overwhelmed. A flying creature emerges from one, and immediately closes in on an officer. Three streaks of light slash across him. He collapses as his body immediately desiccates into a dried husk. The officers desperately fire at every portal and creature which emerges from it.

Act One [ ]

Ransom's call for help

Aboard the USS Voyager , Captain Janeway , Seven of Nine , and Commander Chakotay view an emergency transmission on the huge viewscreen of the ship's astrometrics lab. They see a static-filled image of the same captain from the attacked ship, and listen to his distress call:

" This is Captain Ransom of the Federation Starship Equinox ! We're under attack! We need assistance! "

Janeway recognizes him as Rudolph Ransom , captain of the USS Equinox . Seven announces the signal was transmitted fourteen hours ago. Chakotay asks what the Equinox is doing in the Delta Quadrant . Seven surmises it was on a mission to find Voyager . But Janeway points that Nova -class starships are short-range planetary research vessels, not designed for long-range tactical missions. Janeway immediately orders a course laid in toward the Equinox , 3.2 light years distant, at maximum warp , with shields up and at red alert.

As Voyager arrives at the Equinox 's location, Janeway orders Ensign Paris at the helm to drop out of warp. At the operations station , Ensign Kim puts the stricken vessel up on the viewscreen. Torres reports its shields are being disrupted by energy surges. Paris asks if this is weapons fire but Tuvok reports there are no other ships nearby. They enter hailing range , and Janeway orders a channel opened. She identifies herself and Voyager . Ransom urgently instructs her to extend Voyager 's shields around the Equinox , which Janeway orders done immediately. Paris moves Voyager above the Equinox and Tuvok works to extend the shields.

Voyager shields the Equinox

As this is being done, the same dry, high whine from before is heard again, as Seven of Nine reports the opening of portals – interspatial fissures – on several decks , including the bridge deck, Deck 1. Tuvok finishes adjusting the shields, and a single, large shield surrounds both Voyager and the Equinox , then becomes invisible, indicating the attack has ceased. This is confirmed by Seven's announcing the fissures have vanished, and the ending of the noise. Janeway hails the Equinox , but gets no answer. She orders Chakotay to assemble rescue teams to beam over.

Ensign Gilmore

The teams beam over. Chakotay, Paris and Torres form one team, and beam to the engine room . Chakotay orders Torres to begin seeing about restoring power, as Paris finds the shriveled corpse of a crewmember. Scanning it with his tricorder , he finds every cell in the body is desiccated. Torres bewilderedly reports the injector assembly appears to have been totally redesigned from original Starfleet specifications. Chakotay finds a survivor under some debris – a terrified ensign Marla Gilmore .

Janeway finds Ransom

Other teams find survivors in other areas of the ship. On the bridge, Captain Janeway, along with Tuvok, find still more survivors, including Captain Ransom. Janeway speaks with him briefly. Though injured, he refuses to leave his bridge, but Janeway insists that he go with her to Voyager . Ransom agrees. He asks if Voyager has been sent to find them. Janeway informs him no, that they were pulled into the Delta Quadrant against their will by the Caretaker , whose name Ransom instantly recognizes as the force that did the same to the Equinox . Janeway suggests they compare notes later, after Ransom has been treated.

Act Two [ ]

Later, the crews of both ships gather in Voyager 's mess hall where Ransom solemnly commemorates his dead crewmembers: Lieutenants William Yates and John Bowler , Ensigns Dorothy Chang and Edward Regis , and Crewman David Amantes . Ransom then thanks Captain Janeway on behalf of himself and the survivors. Janeway welcomes aboard the " newest members of our family ." She then assigns Ensign Kim and Lt. Torres to lead the efforts to repair the Equinox . Seven and Tuvok will work with Ransom's first officer, Maxwell Burke in analyzing the attacks on the Equinox .

As the crew dismisses, Gilmore approaches Chakotay to ask if she can instead be assigned to Voyager . Chakotay thinks she's needed on the Equinox given its state, but agrees someone with her engineering skills on could be useful Voyager . Gilmore remarks upon how clean Voyager is and admits to being traumatized by her experiences on the Equinox . While travelling in a turbolift with Chakotay she panics and calls for an emergency stop, preferring Jefferies tubes . Chakotay understands and goes with her.

The attacks have not ceased, it is discovered

The attacks intensify

In the lab, Seven discovers there are numerous stress points appearing in the shields surrounding both vessels and shares this with Janeway and Ransom. She explains they are interspatial fissures caused by the Equinox 's attackers, trying to come through. Tuvok explains every opening of a fissure within one meter of the shields weakens them by 0.3%. Janeway concludes that at this rate, the shields will fail within two days. Seven points out that bio-scans indicate the aliens cannot survive for more than several seconds in this realm, and may stop their attacks out of self-preservation if shown that the Starfleet vessels possess the ability to hold them. Burke says they had built a multiphasic force field chamber in the Equinox 's research lab to trap one for several minutes. Janeway decides to have a latticework of such force fields installed throughout both ships. But when she asks Ransom permission to examine the chamber, he and Burke respond the research lab is flooded with lethal levels of thermionic radiation . Burke adds, the schematics are in their auxiliary data core. Ransom and Janeway leave for the Equinox 's bridge to download them to Voyager 's computer .

Tales of the Two Captains

As work continues on Equinox 's bridge, Janeway and Ransom discuss their crews' experiences in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway speaks of Voyager 's many run-ins with dangerous aliens, including the Borg . Ransom tells her he and his crew never encountered the Borg at all, to which Janeway opines he and his crew have been lucky. Ransom replies their first encounter was with the Krowtonan Guard . Like Janeway, he had ordered a course set toward Earth but the Krowtonan Guard warned them they had violated their territory and to leave immediately. Ransom ordered the course maintained and over the following week 39 crewmembers were killed, half his crew. This changed everything. He had initially told them they had a duty as Starfleet officers to uphold Starfleet directives of exploration and expansion of knowledge, as well as Starfleet principles, but after the Krowtonan Guard experience, they saw their only goal as one thing: survival .

The discussion turns to the Prime Directive and whether they have violated it to preserve their crews. Janeway admits having bent it on occasion, while Ransom admits to the same thing. They find among the wreckage the Equinox 's dedication plaque , and put it back up on the bulkhead. After finishing the download, the captains return to Voyager .

" Mind your words. They'll never understand. "

Ransom finds Burke in the mess hall enjoying his first proper meal after two years on emergency rations. He tells Burke not to get too comfortable: "If Janeway is any indication, these people will never understand. " He warns Burke to watch what he says to Voyager crewmembers. Burke cautions that they will "find out eventually". Ransom responds they will be able to keep it from them as long as they can keep them out of the Equinox 's research lab.

Act Three [ ]

Crewman Noah Lessing , the Equinox crewman rescued by Seven and Ensign Kim, goes to see Seven in the astrometrics lab. But as they are talking, the high screech is heard again. Lessing and Seven look above their heads in alarm. On the bridge the sound is also heard. Kim reports to Chakotay that interspatial fissures are opening on decks one, eight and eleven. Tuvok reports that the lateral shields are offline. Chakotay orders power routed to them which brings them back up and the noise ceases. Chakotay orders an explanation. Tuvok reports that the aliens began to focus their attacks on a single shield vector which collapsed before auxiliary emitters could respond. Chakotay realizes that the aliens have changed tactics, and the Starfleet crews have less time than they originally thought.

Janeway, Chakotay, Ransom, Burke and Ensign Gilmore meet with Seven and Tuvok in Janeway's ready room , where Seven and Tuvok report that the multiphasic force field chamber's schematics can be indeed adapted for general ship-wide use. But it will take fourteen hours to do so, and Gilmore points out, the aliens may collapse a part of the deflector shields again before then. Chakotay suggests that they make a stand on one ship, thus halving the time. The logical choice is Voyager ; she is more powerful and in good working order. Ransom, Burke and Gilmore, however, are not keen on the idea of abandoning their ship.

Janeway comes to the same conclusion as Chakotay. Ransom states that because they are 35,000 light-years from Earth, they should work to preserve both ships. She quotes a Starfleet regulation which states that a combat situation involving more than one ship, command falls to the vessel with tactical superiority. In this case, that is Janeway. Ransom is forced to agree, and orders Burke to treat Janeway as his new commanding officer.

Max steals the generator information

After the meeting, however, Burke goes to engineering where he illicitly downloads the proposed ship-wide multiphasic force field schematics into a tricorder. Torres enters and finds him, but he deflects questions about his presence with banter. Then Ransom calls all the survivors to meet him on the Equinox bridge. They meet and conspire to take the force field generator once it is built and leave. Ransom has no intention of giving up his ship and is ready to do whatever is necessary to return to Earth, including abandoning their rescuers to the aliens and abscond with the protection from them.

While the Equinox crew conspire, Janeway meets with Tuvok and Seven who have found that the Equinox 's science lab is still flooded with thermionic radiation which should have dissipated. They have also found that three EPS conduits have been rerouted to the lab, emitting the radiation. The conclusion is that the lab has been intentionally contaminated; Ransom does not want them to enter it. Janeway decides that they need to discover what Ransom is hiding. Since the radiation level is too high for an organic to survive, Janeway decides that they will covertly send in The Doctor , who will be immune to the radiation.

The Doctor beams into the lab. Maintaining a comlink with Seven and Tuvok in the astrometrics lab, he slowly moves through the lab, examining it.

Act Four [ ]

The Doctor finds the remains of one of the aliens

The lab contains the force field equipment which was used to intentionally trap the aliens, so that they would die. The Doctor determines this was not for defense but to use their bodies to boost the warp engines' power, due to their high nucleogenic energy content. The Doctor finds other equipment to convert the remains into a crystalline compound that the engines could use, once modified. The Equinox crew has been intentionally killing the aliens to use them as fuel in order to get home more quickly. Janeway is immediately informed.

The Doctor finds evidence of the Equinox crew's experiments

On Voyager , Ransom and Burke discuss final preparations for their plan. But they run into two of Voyager 's security officers, who have been instructed to detain them. The pair try to head for a transporter room, but instead meet an armed Tuvok, accompanied by more of his security officers. He informs Ransom Janeway wishes to speak with him. Ransom goes without resistance.

Janeway presents the remains of the Equniox 's experiments to Ransom

In the briefing room , Janeway confronts Ransom with what The Doctor has found: 10 isograms of the crystallized remains. She asks him how many more of the aliens he would have needed to kill to return to the Alpha Quadrant . Janeway has realised that the aliens are not the aggressors, but are only defending themselves from the Equinox crew. Ransom tells her it will take 63 more of the aliens to get the Equinox home. He claims that with each alien's death part of him dies as well, but Janeway counters that the ruthless meticulousness of the experiments indicates a total lack of remorse. Ransom defends his actions by quoting a Starfleet regulation that authorizes a captain to "preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means" in the event of imminent destruction. Janeway coldly states this protocol does not cover mass murder.

Ransom recalls their first encounter

Ransom explains that with the Equinox in pieces and its crew starving, they managed to find an class M planet where they hoped they would find food. They encountered a peaceful and generous race called the Ankari who thought the nucleogenic lifeforms were spirits of good fortune. After giving Ransom and his crew food and some supplies, the Ankari invoked an alien to bless their journey, using a device to open interspatial fissures through which they emerged. Scans showed high antimatter content in their bodies. The Equinox crew bartered with the Ankari for one of the devices in exchange for an energy converter. A multiphasic force field chamber was constructed in the ship's lab to hold one of the aliens which was summoned in an attempt to study it, but it died; it could not live for more than several seconds in this realm. But analysis of its remains revealed they could be converted to enhance the engines. In just two weeks, they traveled 10,000 light-years. And so they began summoning the aliens intentionally to use their bodies in this manner. Ransom asks how they could have rejected this means of salvation; Janeway responds they should have adhered to their oath as Starfleet officers to seek out aliens. Ransom counters it is easy to cling to principles from Janeway's position, with a vessel that is intact and a crew that isn't starving. She forcefully tells him that while it’s never easy, turning their back on their principles stops them from being Human. With that she relieves him of command and orders that he and his crew be confined to quarters . Ransom begs her to show his crew leniency as they were only following his orders; Janeway implacably tells him this was “Their mistake.” As he departs the briefing room under escort, Ransom tells Janeway that it is a long way home.

Voyager is forced to consult the Equinox crew due their encryptions

Janeway then goes to the bridge and orders The Doctor to return to the lab and retrieve all the data he can find on the aliens. She also orders Seven to go to the Equinox 's engine room and take the modifications off-line. She intends to make contact with them and explain that Ransom and his crew will be punished for what they were doing to them, and thus convince them to stop their attacks. Chakotay has Gilmore decrypt the Equinox 's engine modification schematics in the astrometrics lab, and Seven beams over to begin dismantling them.

The Equinox EMH takes The Doctor's mobile emitter

However, in the Equinox 's research lab, The Doctor is having trouble accessing the data he is after, even though he has decrypted it. The ship's computer informs him that authorization from the ship's EMH is needed for access. The Doctor activates the EMH. It is a Mark 1, exactly like The Doctor. The Doctor informs him of his crew's arrest. The Equinox EMH asks The Doctor how he is able to leave his sickbay, and The Doctor shows him his mobile emitter . He informs the Equinox EMH of the criminal experiments that have been happening and is shocked to learn that the Equinox EMH designed them; his crew deleted his ethical subroutines. He suddenly strikes The Doctor's arm, deactivating the mobile emitter. The Doctor goes off-line, while his counterpart studies the emitter.

Act Five [ ]

As the Equinox EMH returns to Voyager , pretending to be The Doctor, on the bridge, Captain Janeway and her bridge officers note with consternation that the shields are weakening even more rapidly; the aliens have stepped up their attacks. While Seven works in the Equinox 's engine room, Tuvok and Lt. Torres are in the astrometrics lab, almost ready to bring the ship-wide multiphasic shielding on line.

In the sickbay, the Equinox EMH queries the computer for Ransom's location. Once he gets it, he packs a bag of hyposprays and goes to find Ransom. He tells the guards outside Ransom's quarters that the Equinox crew has been infected with a mutagenic virus and he has been authorized to inoculate them. They let him in. Once inside, he surreptitiously informs Ransom of his real identity. He is going to help them escape.

Ransom and his crew escape

In the astrometrics lab, Tuvok and Torres attempt to activate the shield grid, but nothing happens. They try to find out what is wrong. They discover that Burke, while in engineering, in additional to stealing the multiphasic field generator's schematics had also reconfigured intended power couplings to the device, then reconfigured the sensors so that this would not be detected. Tuvok and Torres work to undo this, as Ransom and his crew overpower their guards, take their weapons and enter the corridor. They head for a transporter room.

On the bridge Ensign Kim reports detection of phaser fire on deck 9 where the Equinox crew were confined. Janeway immediately orders security to seal off the deck. The aliens step up their efforts, rapidly wearing the deflector shields down. As the shields degrade, Kim reports an unauthorized transport. Janeway orders him to block it but he is unable to do so in time and reports that the Equinox crew has beamed onto their bridge. Attempts to call Seven of Nine fail; Seven is lying unconscious in the Equinox 's engine room, Ensign Gilmore standing over her.

On the Equinox bridge, Burke reports that Torres has erected a force field over the multiphasic force field generator, and he cannot beam it off Voyager . He tries to override the command codes. This works, and he beams it onto the Equinox .

Janeway hails the Equinox and warns Ransom that if he does not desist in his action, both ships will be destroyed. Ransom responds that that would be better than thirty years in her brig . She threatens to open fire on him, but Ransom is not fazed stating he and his crew have been through worse.

Ransom ends the communication. Torres calls Janeway and reports that the Equinox crew has taken the generator leaving Voyager defenseless against the aliens. On the Equinox , Ransom orders their escape at warp, but in engineering, Gilmore reports Seven's attempt to dismantle the warp engines, and that she, Gilmore, is undoing it. Burke integrates the multiphasic field generator into the ship's computer.

Voyager and the Equinox are left vulnerable

Voyager 's shields fail. The dry whine is immediately heard. Kim reports fissures opening on all decks. Janeway and the bridge officers ready their weapons.

The Equinox warps away

On the Equinox , a fissure opens, but Burke succeeds in getting the generator up. Instantly, as an alien comes through, it finds itself trapped by a force field. It rushes frantically about, bouncing from field to field, then collapses and dies. Ransom orders it taken to the lab. Lessing reports engines are online. Ransom orders a course set for the Alpha Quadrant. The Equinox pulls away from Voyager , taking Seven and The Doctor, who are still aboard, with them.

On Voyager 's bridge, fissures are opening all over. Janeway and her officers fire into them as they open, but more open immediately elsewhere.

An alien closes on Janeway

Chakotay shouts a warning to Janeway. She whirls around, and one of the aliens heads directly at her, knocking her down.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Drop… shields ! "

" I thought we were the only Humans in the Delta Quadrant. " " That's what we used to think. "

" BLT? " " Bacon, lettuce, and tomato. It was a nickname. " " A nickname? " " My initials " " Oh, how romantic. " " We broke up ten years ago, Tom. There's no need to go to red alert. " " How about yellow alert? " " You're cute when you're jealous. " " Who's jealous?! "

" Well, "Turkey Platter", what do you say we go to work? "

" I'm going to miss this ship. " " Once we get back to Earth, there'll be plenty of women. "

" May I ask you something, captain to captain? The Prime Directive: how often have you broken it for the sake of protecting your crew? " " Broken it? Never. Bent it, on occasion. And even then, it was a difficult choice. "

" We call them the life of the Delta Quadrant. They see every first contact as an excuse to throw a party. "

" Starfleet Regulation 3 , Paragraph 12: In the event of imminent destruction, a captain is authorized to preserve the lives of his crew by any justifiable means. " " I doubt that protocol covers mass murder. " " In my judgment, it did. " " Unacceptable. "

"We traveled over ten thousand light years in less than two weeks. We'd found our salvation. How could we ignore it?" "By adhering to the oath you took as Starfleet officers – to seek out life… not destroy it." " It's easy to cling to your principles when you're standing on a vessel with its bulkheads intact, manned by a crew that's not starving. " " It's never easy, but if we turn our backs on our principles, we stop being Human. "

"I'm putting an end to your experiments. And you are hereby relieved of your command. You and your crew will be confined to quarters." "Please, show them leniency. They were only following my orders." "Their mistake."

"You said you wanted to learn more about Humanity. I guess we're not exactly prized examples. I'm sorry." "On the contrary. You've taught me a great deal."

" In case you are unaware, your crew has been running criminal experiments here!" " I know. I designed them." " You? That's a violation of your programming!" " They deleted my ethical subroutines."

" A shower and a hot meal… I guess that's all it takes for some of us to forget what's at stake here. We're going home; we can't let Voyager stop us now, not when we're this close. "

" Captain! "

Background information [ ]

Story and script [ ].

• At the end of Star Trek: Voyager 's fifth season , Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky required a season finale. The previous episodes of the season had tired them, however, and one of the few elements they knew they wanted to include in the forthcoming finale was a cliffhanger. Remembered Menosky, " We were all really exhausted. We didn't know what in the world we were going to do for the last episode. Brannon and Rick Berman worked out some of this episode. We probably had a week to go before prep, before Brannon came up with an idea that was workable. " Braga himself recalled, " I had this image, a ship of people who were stuck in the Delta Quadrant almost as long as we have been, maybe a bit longer, but they have not responded the same way. They've done some very, very bad things, including mass murder. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)
• The idea was not initially appealing to Joe Menosky. " I just had no hope for it at all, " he confessed. " It had the feeling of elements stitched together without a driving point of view [with a] haphazard and clunky structure and story. " Menosky was attracted, however, to the prospect of introducing multiple new characters in the episode. " One thing this did have going for us is that we had four major speaking roles […] As a result we could have interesting character dynamics. You could follow threaded, character arcs in a way that felt bigger than a single episode. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)
• Subsequently, the writers began to pen the script for the installment. " We clarified the structure of it halfway through the writing of it, " Joe Menosky stated. " Instead of sitting down and outlining it, and then writing it, we just wrote it. We didn't even know really where we were headed. We would just write a scene and think what would be cool to come next. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)

Cast and characters [ ]

• The role of Captain Ransom was offered to John Savage . " They needed a captain. They didn't have a story yet, and I was excited, " the actor reminisced. " It evolved, and every day, a new set of pages. I found quite an interesting moral struggle in the story. It wasn't simple, and it was very supported. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 54)
• The experience of collaborating with Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew on this outing left John Savage with the impression that she would make a good director. " She was admirable with her focus, " Savage noted. He also enjoyed working with Mulgrew. " I saw some wonderful possibilities and moments, like in the relationship with Captain Janeway, as man and woman, and also as captains, and as people, " the actor related. " I just felt like I might have unfortunately overcomplicated myself, and had to be pulled straight by Kate. I didn't have to be. She was generous […] It was a good experience […] but we both had a lot of stuff going on. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 54)
• John Savage's presence in this episode was especially thrilling for Rick Berman, who commented, " It was a real kick to have him on the show. He did a great job. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 54)
• Star Trek: Voyager 's casting department asked Titus Welliver if he wanted to portray Max Burke. Learning that John Savage was playing Captain Ransom persuaded Welliver, a long-time fan of Savage, to accept the offer. Welliver noted, " When I found out he was going to do Voyager I said, 'I'm there.' " ( TV Zone , issue 126, p. 29)
• Titus Welliver was delighted to appear in this episode. He fondly remembered, " My first day of work on 'Equinox' I thought, 'I've waited close to 30 years to be on a Star Trek set, and here I am.' I was like a little kid in a candy shop […] I wish I had as much fun on all my jobs as I did on this one. " ( TV Zone , issue 126, pp. 29 & 31)
• Titus Welliver's appreciation for John Savage's work did not diminish after they met. Welliver recalled, " He was always asking the other guest stars and me, 'Is there anything you need? Just tell me.' My experiences on Voyager certainly fulfilled any expectations I had of him. It was an honor to work with the man. " ( TV Zone , issue 126, p. 29)
• As most producers and directors usually wanted Titus Welliver to play crazy characters, he found a notable contrast with the role of First Officer Burke, stating, " He's probably one of the most subtle characters that I've ever portrayed […] I felt that in order to give Burke any sort of military presence I had to play him with an incredible stillness, and I found this made him appear that much stronger. It was a challenge to be present in scenes and have to remain calm and focused as opposed to being very animated and expressive. " ( TV Zone , issue 126, p. 29)
• Torres actress Roxann Dawson approved of this episode's look at Torres' past relationship with Burke. " It's interesting to see how that relationship is dealt with, especially in light of B'Elanna being with Paris now, " Dawson commented. " That's an interesting conflict. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 37)

Production [ ]

• The main bridge of the Equinox is a re-use of the set used for the USS Prometheus , as are the corridors, crew quarters and science lab. They are all slightly altered to simulate the effect of damage. ( citation needed • edit ) According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 317), the Equinox 's bridge was a redress of the Defiant 's bridge and the research lab was a redress of Voyager 's sickbay.
• Titus Welliver implied that both the sets for the damaged Equinox 's interior and the set for the flashback scene showing Ransom and Burke meet the Ankari were on the same soundstage as each other. " Those scenes […] were shot inside a soundstage on the Paramount Studios lot that a group of cats call home, " the actor laughed. " Several times I'd go to sit down in Burke's bridge chair and there would be cat hair all over the seat. It was like, 'Oh, no, the cats have invaded!' " Welliver enjoyed viewing the detail invested in the starship interior sets, however. " It was fun to see the detailed writing on the instrument panels, " he said. ( TV Zone , issue 126, p. 29)
• The production of this episode was a challenging process. At a point when the shooting company still had to return to the Paramount lot and film another day's work as the episode was too short, director David Livingston reflected, " It was a long shooting schedule, and very difficult, because a lot of it was with no lights. There are four sequences where we go to visit their ship, finding people dead or dying. Those were all shot with SIMs [palm] beacons , and a lot of sparks and smoke and nitrogen. It was tough on the crew, especially for the last episode, because everybody was so tired and burnt out after the long season. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46) According to the book Delta Quadrant (p. 319), reshoots were also involved in the episode's production.
• Titus Welliver noted that the timing of the installment's production facilitated certain festivities. " We filmed the first part of 'Equinox' around Saint Patrick's Day , " he said, " and Kate [Mulgrew] threw a party and we all had a blast. " ( TV Zone , issue #126, p. 31)
• The closed captions for the version of the episode on Paramount+ and Pluto TV instead names the item the Equinox crew traded for the interspatial fissure device as a "Starfleet trinket".

Visual effects [ ]

• Because this episode features a lot of members of a completely new alien species (specifically, the nucleogenic lifeforms), Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald B. Moore remarked, " This is probably the most ambitious show I have ever seen. " The physical appearance of the aliens was designed by Pacific Ocean Post and was rendered CGI by Santa Barbara Studios . Similarly, the Equinox 's exterior was designed by Senior Illustrator Rick Sternbach and visualized by Digital Muse . ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)

Reception [ ]

• This episode ultimately ranked high in both Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky's opinions. Braga enthused, " It's packed with inventive action, really creepy, vicious, new CGI-created aliens, and a wonderful character dynamic. " Menosky observed, " There is a feeling of character possibility and largeness to this single episode that I think substitutes for the grand sweep of the other two-parters that we have done. " He also commented that the way in which the episode was written was "very satisfying creatively, in terms of how the episode and the story actually spun itself out." Menosky added, " By the end of the episode, I was really happy with it. It completely surprised me. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)
• David Livingston was less sure, at least initially, of whether the episode had been a complete success, remarking, " I don't know if it quite has the edginess of ' Scorpion ', but maybe it will. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 31, No. 11, p. 46)

Continuity and trivia [ ]

• This is the ninth time the crew of Voyager discover a direct connection between the Alpha Quadrant and Delta Quadrant, having previously discovered a wormhole connecting the two quadrants (" Eye of the Needle "), descendants of human abductees (" The 37's "), descendants of aliens who have visited Earth (" Tattoo "), a Cardassian weapon (" Dreadnought "), Ferengi (" False Profits "), former Borg that were assimilated in the Alpha Quadrant (" Unity "), descendants of Earth dinosaurs (" Distant Origin ") and a communications network that extends to the Alpha Quadrant (" Message in a Bottle "). In this episode, they encounter another Federation starship that has been brought to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker.
• It's not made precisely clear in this episode when the Equinox was abducted by the Caretaker or how long it has spent in the Delta Quadrant. Dialog suggests it is at least two years, when Ransom says "after a couple of years, we started to forget that we were explorers", and when Burke says of Voyager 's mess hall, "how could I resist after two years on emergency rations?". Given that the Caretaker's array was destroyed shortly after Voyager 's arrival, and that the crew of Voyager seem not to have any record of the Equinox being missing in action, it was presumably abducted not long before Voyager .
• Ransom does not mention how many, if any, of his crew were killed during the abduction of the Equinox by the Caretaker. Voyager suffered heavy casualties amongst the senior staff at least.
• Comments from Ransom in this episode establish that Voyager is now about 35,000 light years away from the Alpha Quadrant .
• The possibility of another Federation starship being in the Delta Quadrant is discussed in the first season episode " State of Flux ", when Tuvok proposes it as an explanation for Federation technology being present on a Kazon ship.
• In the earlier fifth season outing " Relativity ", Vice Admiral Patterson introduces Janeway to The Doctor for the first time, remarking that Starfleet was considering outfitting his program onto all Federation starships. The Equinox apparently was another test candidate for the EMH program, as it must have been in the Delta Quadrant at that time or shortly thereafter.
• In the sixth-season episode " The Voyager Conspiracy ", the USS Equinox is briefly visible on the screen when Seven of Nine shows Kathryn Janeway the Cardassian ship in astrometrics among the 52 ships that Neelix ' ship's sensors recorded at the Caretaker's array .
• Of the obstacles that Voyager has faced in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway mentions "a few rounds with the Borg", in a reference to the events of " Scorpion ", " Drone ", and " Dark Frontier ".
• This is the last episode of Star Trek: Voyager to air before the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series finale " What You Leave Behind " on 2 June 1999 .
• This was the last Star Trek season finale until DIS : " Will You Take My Hand? " not to be directed by Allan Kroeker .
• The fuel potential of the aliens' nucleogenic bodies represents the twelfth occasion besides the series premiere (after " Eye of the Needle ", " Prime Factors ", " The 37's ", " Cold Fire ", " Threshold ", " Death Wish ", " False Profits ", " Future's End, Part II ", " The Q and the Grey ", " Timeless ", and " Dark Frontier ") that the Voyager crew is presented with the possibility of returning home much faster than by conventional warp travel. In this case, the technology works, but is considered ethically unacceptable.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 5.13, 27 December 1999
• In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek: Voyager - Movies : Volume 3 (with "The Killing Game"), 5 February 2001
• As part of the VOY Season 5 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Special guest star [ ]

• John Savage as " Captain Ransom "

Guest stars [ ]

• Titus Welliver as Max Burke
• Olivia Birkelund as Marla Gilmore
• Rick Worthy as Noah Lessing

Co-stars [ ]

• Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman
• Steve Dennis as Crewmember
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• John Austin as operations officer
• Steve Blalock as operations officer
• Dave DeLeon as operations officer
• Carter Edwards as command officer
• Andrew English as operations officer
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Peter Harmyk as Thompson
• Kerry Hoyt as Fitzpatrick
• Joyce Lasley as Lydia Anderson
• Robert Picardo as Equinox EMH
• Keith Rayve as Ankari
• Mark Rogerson as Brian Sofin
• Drew Renkewitz as Equinox command officer
• Richard Sarstedt as Ankari
• Brian Simpson as Angelo Tassoni
• Equinox command officer 2
• Equinox operations officer 4 , 5 , and 6 ]]
• Equinox operations officer 1 , 2 , 3 , and 7

Stand-ins [ ]

• Brita Nowak – stand-in for Jeri Ryan
• Stuart Wong – stand-in for Garrett Wang and Titus Welliver

References [ ]

ability ; Alpha Quadrant ; Amantes, David ; amputation ; Ankari ; Ankari homeworld ; antimatter injector ; astrometrics ; attack ; azimuth ; auto-initiating security grid ; bacon ; " BLT "; Borg Collective ; Bowler, John ; brig ; Caretaker ; Chang, Dorothy ; checkers ; claustrophobia ; command code ; confined to quarters ; course ; damage ; data ; day ; deck plate ; decryption code ; dedication plaque ; degree (angle) ; Delta Quadrant ; desiccation ; dilithium ; dilithium matrix ; dozen ; duet ; Earth ; Emergency Medical Hologram ; emergency rations ; engineering ; engineering ability ; EPS conduit ; Equinox , USS ; ethical subroutine ; exobiology ; family ; Federation ; field generator ; first name ; Gilmore's nephew ; girlfriend ; hailing range ; holodeck ; hull breach ; initials ; inoculation ; internal sensor ; interspatial fissure ; intruder alert ; ion storm ; isogram ; Jefferies tube ; kemocite ; kilometer ; kiloton ; kindred spirit ; Krowtonan Guard ; laser scalpel ; lettuce ; M class ; Maquis ; mass murder ; matter conversion technology ; maximum warp ; mercurium ; meter ; multiphasic chamber ; multiphasic force field ; mutagenic virus ; nephew ; neural pattern ; nucleogenic energy ; neural interface ; Nova -class ; offline ; petaQ ; plasma injector ; plasma torch ; poetic justice ; polaron grid ; Ponea ; post-traumatic stress syndrome ; power coupling ; primary system ; Prime Directive ; recharge cycle ; red alert ; Regis, Edward ; rescue team ; sandal ; second ; security grid ; sedative ; shield emitter ; sonic shower ; Starfleet Academy ; Starfleet oath ; Starfleet Regulations ; stasis chamber ; submolecular resequencer ; subroutine ; sweater ; synaptic stimulator ; thermionic radiation ; thermographic analysis ; thermolytic reaction ; transport enhancer ; triquadric algorithm ; tomato ; trench ; tricorder ; tuning fork ; turbolift ; " Turkey Platter "; universal translator ; vector ; Vulcan ; warp core ; warp drive ; warp plasma manifold ; waverider ; Yates, William ; year ; yellow alert ; Yridians

External links [ ]

• "Equinox" at StarTrek.com
• " Equinox " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Equinox " at Wikipedia
• 1 Abdullah bin al-Hussein
• 3 John Paul Lona

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Star Trek: Voyager – Equinox, Part II (Review)

Equinox, Part II works worse than it should.

Equinox, Part II is undercut by three key factors. The most obvious is the premise itself. Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II tell a story that is baked into the DNA of Star Trek: Voyager , but there is a sense that the production lacks the will to tell that story. Secondly, Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II struggle with consistent characterisation and clear narrative arcs. The third factor is a sense of inevitability, with Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II feeling like they reveal nothing insightful about Voyager before concluding, and that the show will no lasting impact.

Fish out of fluidic space.

These three factors squander a lot of raw potential. Equinox, Part II is telling a story that feels essential to Voyager , a story that the franchise arguably should have been telling immediately after Caretaker . This season premiere represents the chance for Voyager to have a full and frank discussion with itself, particularly in the context of its sixth season. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine had concluded at the end of its seventh season. For the first time in its run, Voyager was the only Star Trek series on television. This was the perfect opportunity for introspection.

Equinox, Part II is an episode that fails to deliver upon a fantastic opportunity.

“What are you looking at?”

Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II should cut right to the heart of Voyager , imaging how things might have been different for Janeway and her crew. This should be a profound moment for the series, representing an existential turning point for the characters. Ransom and the Equinox serve as an effective and compelling nemesis for Janeway and Voyager, the culmination of various nods and threads seeded through fifth season episodes like Night or Nothing Human or Latent Image .

Ransom and the Equinox represent an entirely alien moral philosophy that stands diametrically opposed the Janeway and Voyager’s rigid adherence to Starfleet morality. The two ships are quite literally night and day, as the title of the two-parter suggests. Voyager is a ship of order and integrity, led by a commanding officer who refuses to compromise in the face of adversity; Equinox is a ship that has descended into horror and anarchy, led by a commanding officer who has sacrificed his humanity at the altar of expedience.

I’d pay a Captain Ransom’s Ransom for a better version of this episode.

In fact, were Voyager as ambitious with its titling as Deep Space Nine had been, Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II would represent the perfect opportunity to eschew the “Part I” and “Part II” convention in favour of something more adventurous like “Equinox” and “Solstice” , in the spirit of Deep Space Nine episodes like Improbable Cause and The Die is Cast or In Purgatory’s Shadow and By Inferno’s Light or Favour the Bold and Sacrifice of Angels . Those titles would seem to capture the moral arc of the larger two-parter.

Of course, Equinox, Part II never quite delivers upon that promised arc. Equinox, Part I was an episode that was largely sustained by a combination of its audacious premise, its escalating momentum, and its stellar guest cast. That was enough to get the episode across the forty-five minute mark and to the cliffhanger, the point at which Equinox, Part II became a problem for after the summer hiatus. However, Equinox, Part II does not have the same luxuries that allowed Equinox, Part I to glide to an impressive finish. Equinox, Part II needs to actually do something.

Killer crew.

Equinox, Part II is notable for a number of reasons, but it marks the arrival of writer Ronald D. Moore on Voyager . Moore had worked with Voyager showrunner Braga on Star Trek: The Next Generation . However, when The Next Generation came to an end, the two writers were split up. Braga was assigned to the first season of Voyager with Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor, while Moore got drafted on to the third season of Deep Space Nine with Ira Steven Behr. Both Moore and Braga would become defining voices on their respective Star Trek series.

When Deep Space Nine came to an end, most of the writing staff moved to other projects. Moore was convinced to remain on Star Trek , and to move over to join the writing staff working on the sixth season of Voyager . After all, Moore had worked with Brannon from the very beginning; Braga’s first script credit was on Reunion , a Klingon-centric episode of The Next Generation that was also penned by Moore. The two writers had even helped launch the Next Generation cast to the big screen by scripting Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact .

A shot in the dark.

Moore’s time on Voyager was infamously abrupt. He contributed one script to the sixth season, Survival Instinct . He also contributed the story to Barge of the Dead , an episode that was finished by Bryan Fuller. However, as a producer, Moore consulted on Equinox, Part II and was frustrated by the episode’s lack of commitment :

We sat down and approached Equinox II and tried to find what the show was about. What was the point of meeting this ship and this crew and this captain, and what did it mean? We finally landed on this idea that the two captains were going to go in opposite directions. Janeway was going to really feel the same kind of pressures and stresses that Ransom felt, and watch how it could turn a good, by-the-book Starfleet captain into what he had become. At the same time, his interaction with the Doctor and Seven of Nine would rekindle his humanity. It was this nice, double track approach, but it just got lost in the translation. It has no coherence. You’re not sure what’s really going on. You’ve got some potentially good scenes. The scenes between Janeway and Chakotay had some real fire to them, and you kind of felt like she is going off the deep end, a bit. Then she relieves him of duty, and there is this crisis of command between the two of them. But at the end of the episode, it’s just a shrug and a smile and off to the next.

This is the most fundamental question that can be asked about an episode of television, “what is this about?” To be fair, it isn’t always possible to answer that coherently while churning out twenty-six episodes in a season; there will always be episodes that don’t make sense or don’t fit.

“Ask yourself, Captain Janeway, have I done anything nearly as bad as Alliances , Tattoo or Threshold ?”

However, Equinox, Part II is the season premiere. The writing staff had the entire summer break to figure out what they wanted the episode to be about. Equinox, Part I had been written and produced under a tremendous amount of time pressure, but it came together relatively well through sheer momentum and guest star talent. Equinox, Part II should have been a much easier exercise, given that the premise of the two-parter is so close to Voyager ‘s heart. It is a story that has been waiting to be told for a half-a-decade, so it seems surreal that it should lack a clear second half.

In fact, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky would not be the first Star Trek writers to write a cliffhanger without any idea about how they were going to resolve it; Michael Piller wrote The Best of Both Worlds, Part I at a point when he wasn’t even sure if he would be working on The Next Generation during the following season. René Echevarria was scripting Improbable Cause when the writing staff decided to turn it into a cliffhanger at the last minute. However, these other examples made a point to develop their ideas in their second halves.

Lessing learned.

Equinox, Part II has a number of big ideas bubbling through it. Is Janeway becoming unhinged in her pursuit of Ransom? Given Janeway is trying to hold Ransom to account for abandoning his Starfleet principles, is there some irony in her willingness to breach protocol in an attempt to catch him? Can Ransom be redeemed, and can his crew? Is Janeway projecting her own sense of responsibility for her crew (suggested by Night ) on to a phantom version of Ransom that she is chasing across the cosmos?

In fact, Equinox, Part II seems to set up the idea of another retread of Moby Dick within the Star Trek mythos; Voyager had riffed on that core concept as recently as Bliss . Ransom seems to be cast as the white whale to Janeway’s Ahab, a monomaniacal fixation that obscured any objectivity. This isn’t a bad idea of itself; there is a reason that the Star Trek franchise has returned to the idea of the vengeance-obsessed commanding officer in stories like For the Uniform or First Contact . However, there simply needs to be more substance underlying this.

Janeway outta line.

Moore cuts right to the heart of these issue with how Voyager approached Janeway’s characterisation :

She’s having a bad day; these things keep popping around on the bridge, and we just keep cutting to shots of people grabbing phaser rifles and shooting, and hitting the red alert sign, over and over again. It doesn’t signify anything. It’s kind of emblematic of the show. There is a lot of potential, and there is a lot of surface sizzle going on in a lot of episodes, but to what end? What are we trying to do? What are we trying to touch in the audience? What are we trying to say? What are the things we are trying to explore? Why are we doing this episode? That was my fundamental question. When I would say, ‘What was the point of doing the first part?’ there was never a good answer for that. As a consequence, it was hard to come up with the ending to the show that has no beginning. You just start throwing things around. ‘Two captains on different courses’ at least sounds like an episode. At least there is something in it. Janeway will take something away from that experience, but not in the current version. What does she learn from that experience? I don’t know how it’s affected her. Chakotay, for all his trouble, he just goes back to work. There is no lingering problem with Janeway; there is no deeper issue coming to the fore.

To be fair, this has always been a problem with Voyager . Voyager is a very plot-driven show with little continuity.

(Port)al’s good, baby.

Voyager is very fond of episodes where things happen , even if those things have no collation to characters or to one another. A lot of this is down to how the writing staff on Voyager built their episodes, focusing on plot beats that mapped out an episode as a series of events. Often, it could feel like the writing staff got about two-thirds of the way through an episode before needing something more to reach the forty-five minute runtime; as a result, episodes like Alter Ego , Worst Case Scenario , Waking Moments and Demon seem to change plot once every few minutes.

Equinox, Part II suffers a great deal from this approach to writing for Voyager . The episode is a collection of things happening , but without any clear throughline or purpose underscoring it. The cliffhanger to Equinox, Part I is resolved with a convenient slice of magic technology. Using “tactical control” , Janeway manages to get the shields back up and resolve the immediate crisis. “Good guess. I used a deflector pulse to reinforce the shields. It won’t hold for long.” It feels like a cheat, the closing image of the fifth season resolved in the first two lines of the sixth.

“I mean, what the tech is this even about, Kathryn?”

Equinox, Part II continues in this vein, a collection of contrivances and coincidences that serve to move the plot forward down the path of least resistance. None of these plot elements feel like organic extensions of Equinox, Part I . instead, they feel like clumsy attempts to get Equinox, Part II to where it needs to be for the plot to resolve with minimum amount of complications. Equinox, Part II moves quickly, but it lacks the ratcheting tension that made Equinox, Part I so effective.

The first major contrivance finds Voyager stumbling across Ankari vessel at just the right moment. “If there’s an Ankari vessel less than two light years from here, why haven’t we detected it?” Torres wonders.Chakotay explains, “Apparently, they use a unique form of propulsion, which makes them hard to find.” Paris follows up with an obvious question, “You think they’ll be willing to help us?” Naturally, the Ansari prove willing to help with a bit of nudging and allow Janeway to come to an understanding with the aliens that Ransom has been tormenting.

(An)kari on.

This side-steps the biggest question about the Ankari. In Equinox, Part I , Ransom explains that the enhanced warp drive allowed Equinox to travel “ten thousand light years in two weeks.” That is one seventh of the journey back to Earth. That is a lot of empty space. Given that the Ankari worship these aliens as “spirits of good fortune” , it seems unlikely that the Ankari are using similar technology to power their own engines. As such, it seems convenient that Voyager should happen to meet their first Ankari more than ten thousand light years from their home planet.

This is not the first time that Voyager has fudged its own internal logic in this manner. Kazon space seemed improbably large during the first two seasons of the show. Borg space seems span more than twenty thousand light years between the first encounter with them in Scorpion, Part I and the final face-off in Endgame . Inexplicably, entire unassimilated empires seem to exist within the final ten thousand light years of that space. The Hirogen span a gulf between Message in a Bottle and Flesh and Blood, Part II . However, this particular convenience is striking.

FAN THEORY: The Delta Quadrant is full of lots of interconnected wormholes that everybody is just too rude to actually tell Janeway about.

Similarly, Equinox, Part II relies on Seven of Nine sabotaging the enhanced drive and Ransom makes a pit stop around a planet with “a parthogenic atmosphere.” This seems a reckless move given that he can’t be sure that Voyager is destroyed; hiding in the only possible hiding place seems a poor tactical choice. However, this allows Equinox, Part II to double-down on the Moby Dick references by evoking the two-Starfleet-ships-stalking-each-other-submarine-style aesthetic employed at the climax of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan .

All of these elements feel like plotting contrivances, designed to spur the plot along and provide a tidy resolution to the story being told. The Equinox hides in the only place that it could hide so that Voyager can find it; Janeway captures Lessing so that she can get a sequence in which she kinda goes too far, but not so far that she has to face any consequences; there just happens to be an Ankari vessel nearby so that Janeway can make peace with the aliens attacking the Equinox. There are very few surprises in Equinox, Part II , but there are also very few plot points that build organically.

Chakotay seals a plot hole.

As Moore suggests, there is a very clear moral arc outlined in Equinox, Part II , with Janeway losing her humanity as Ransom finds his own. This would be a neat reversal of Equinox, Part I , where both characters had more rigidly-defined diametrically-opposed perspectives. As Duncan and Michèle Barrett contend in The Human Frontier :

What this story demonstrates, however, is that it is not only holograms whose ethics can be rewritten, but respected Starfleet officers. At first glance, the title of the double-episode seems to suggest that Janeway and Ransom are equal and opposite – she representing daylight and he night. In Part II, however, we see her own ethics begin to slip – almost as if the other shop’s moral relativism is contagious. Janeway is so incensed at the way Ransom has abandoned the principles she has clung to (often at great cost) that she crosses a major moral line herself, effectively torturing a member of his crew in order to get the information she needs.

There is an interesting story here, reflecting the moral ambiguity that Deep Space Nine tackled in episodes like In the Pale Moonlight , Inquisition and Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges . Of course, without the context and build-up that defined the middle seasons of Deep Space Nine , the premise of Equinox, Part II evokes bargain-basement Nietzsche: “Beware that, when fighting rogue Starfleet officers, you yourself do not become a rogue Starfleet officer.”

In for a Rudy awakening.

In Equinox, Part II , Janeway’s descent and Ransom’s redemption seem shallow and awkward; the rough sketch of two character arcs moving in opposition rather than a clearly-defined portrait. This is particularly true of Ransom, who finds himself haunted by the act of torturing Seven of Nine. Ransom has overseen the murder of dozens of sentient aliens, but it seems awfully convenient that torturing one blonde human woman should be the act that sets him over the edge. He had, after all, left Janeway and Voyager to die at the climax of Equinox, Part I .

There is something potentially interesting and provocative here, in the idea that the computer-generated aliens are just “too alien” for Ransom to feel empathy towards them, a cynical acknowledgement of how rarely human compassion reaches beyond the familiar. This is something with which Star Trek has grappled since The Devil in the Dark , and which Deep Space Nine returned to in Chimera . What does it say about Ransom that torturing Seven of Nine bothers him more than killing dozens of sentient aliens?

“What’s a girl like you doing in a conscience like this?”

Equinox, Part II never explores that question, because the episode isn’t particularly interested in the nuance of Ransom’s moral awakening. Equinox, Part II simply needs to get to a point where Ransom can make a plausible grasp at redemption, without pausing to analyse whether Ransom and his crew were able to justify their mass murder precisely because their victims did not look like Jeri Ryan. Equinox, Part II takes the quickest route to a comfortable denouement, never stopping to take in the scenery along the way.

This is more obvious in how the episode approaches Janeway’s breakdown, as she walks right up to the edge of the line in her efforts to hold Ransom to account. This is most obvious in the sequence where Janeway threatens to feed Lessing to the aliens. In the corridor outside the cargo bay, Janeway and Chakotay listen to the sounds from inside. “He’ll break,” Janeway states, as if to assure herself as much as Chakotay. However, it is Chakotay who breaks first, storming the cargo bay in direct contravention of Janeway’s orders.

Noah way out.

It is an impressive and tense sequence, but it never feels like part of anything larger. Is Janeway’s reckless torture of Lessing any worse than some of the things that the character has done over the past few seasons? As Arturis points out in Hope and Fear , Janeway has a lot of blood on her hands following her alliance with the Borg in Scorpion, Part I . Even ignoring the mitigating factors in that case, Janeway forced members of her senior staff to undergo serious procedures against their explicit wishes in both Nothing Human and Latent Image .

Indeed, Equinox, Part II seems to be nudging Chakotay close to leading a mutiny against Janeway. “We’ve had our disagreements, Chakotay, but you’ve never openly opposed me,” Janeway admits at one point, glossing over Chakotay’s direct countermanding of her standing orders in Scorpion, Part II . Nevertheless, Equinox, Part II does hint at the idea that Chakotay might have to take radical action to prevent Janeway from crossing a line. This would fit with the parallels between Ransom and Janeway; Burke leads a similar mutiny against Ransom later in the episode.

“What about Scorpion, Part II ?” “I thought we hit the reset button at the end of The Gift ?” “Fair point.”

However, Equinox, Part II never crosses that particular line. “You know, you may have had good reason to stage a little mutiny of your own,” Janeway concedes at the end of the episode. Chakotay explains, “The thought had occurred to me, but that would have been crossing the line.” This is an interesting and unsettling argument, but one entirely consistent with Voyager ‘s world view. More than any other Star Trek series, Voyager is strongly devoted to the idea of order and structure, and believes that any disruption to the established order will have disastrous consequences.

This conservatism is reflected in several different ways across the run of Voyager , particularly in how it approaches storytelling. As a rule, Voyager was strongly invested in the status quo , in the belief that there was an established order to things and the way in which the universe was meant to operate. After all, Voyager had placed all its former terrorists in Starfleet uniforms by the end of Caretaker . The show was very fond of the “reset button” , to the point that even episodes that did not literally erase themselves from continuity rarely had any long-term impact on the series.

“Why can’t you forget about this horrific experience and move on? We do it all the time.”

Equinox, Part II seems to suggest that Chakotay’s duty is to Janeway rather than his own conscience; whatever Janeway might do, Chakotay mutinying would be worse. Equinox, Part II seems to suggest that this loyalty and devotion is what separates Voyager from Equinox, that the moral decay of the Nova-class ship culminates in Burke refusing to follow orders. This is the sin that finally causes Equinox to collapse upon itself, the point of no redemption. Ransom’s murder of dozens of aliens can be forgiven, but Burke’s mutiny is just too much.

Much like Ransom’s sudden attack of conscience for torturing Seven of Nine, there is something very uncomfortable in this assumption. Equinox, Part II seems to suggest that there is never a situation where Chakotay directly challenging Janeway would be acceptable. It is an argument for trusting authority and power structures. (Tellingly, one of the few Equinox crew members to be redeemed is Ensign Gilmore, who remains loyal to Ransom in the midst of Burke’s mutiny.) Watching Equinox, Part II , it seems like Janeway isn’t mad at Ransom for mass murder, but for violating protocol.

Mutiny to the Max.

This is an unsettling assumption, but one perfectly in keeping with Voyager ‘s larger world view. Deep Space Nine was a television series about questioning and interrogating authority, while Voyager places a lot of trust in its institutions. Voyager could never have been about anything but a standard Starfleet ship, and Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II serve as a weird vindication of that approach. Equinox is a ship that dared to question the rigid structures that Janeway enforced upon the Maquis, and suffered for the consequences.

Of course, all of this skirts around the question of what happens when immoral actions take place within that framework; if the priority is upholding the integrity of the command structure, what happens when that command structure is used to do horrible things? Equinox, Part I alludes to this in Chakotay’s discussions with Gilmore. “You could have stopped yourself,” he states. “Why didn’t you?” Gilmore replies, “I don’t know. When the Captain ordered me to modify the warp core, I concentrated on the work. I tried not to think about how it was going to be used.”

Damage control.

This short conversation in Equinox, Part I would seem to justify an attempted mutiny against Janeway in Equinox, Part II . Much like Gilmore in Equinox, Part I , Chakotay spends most of Equinox, Part II witnessing his commanding officer conducting morally dubious actions and remains paralysed. However, Equinox, Part II seems to argue that this paralysis is the best course of action, that any more significant act of rebellion against an immoral authority figure would risk the total collapse of the ship’s moral hierarchy.

This is not the only way in which Equinox, Part II seems to ignore set-up from Equinox, Part I . Indeed, Equinox, Part I devotes considerable time to the long-since-ended relationship between Maxwell Burke and B’Elanna Torres. In Equinox, Part I , Burke playfully uses her old nickname in the messhall, and uses her affection for him as a way to sabotage Voyager. However, there is no pay-off for this set-up in Equinox, Part II , beyond a short five-line communication between the pair during a heated battle that ends when Burke closes the channel.

“You’ve been Burked.”

Narratively speaking, this should be a big deal. After all, the odds of anybody on Voyager knowing anybody on the Equinox should be astronomical; there are countless active ships and countless active officers, even before considering that a significant portion of Voyager’s crew are former terrorists and a significant portion of the Equinox crew are dead. As such, the relationship between Torres and Burke is a huge plotting contrivance. It needs to be justified in narrative terms, there needs to be something in the story that explains why the audience is asked to make that leap.

However, Equinox, Part II makes this whole plot point incidental. The only big take away from the interactions between Torres and Burke is that Torres once had the nickname “B.L.T.” , because her full name sounds like it would have the same initials as the sandwich. This is hardly an earth-shattering revelation, or anything that reveals anything particularly insightful about Torres or Burke. To be fair, the introduction of the relationship in Equinox, Part I was most likely a result of the hectic schedule and motivated by a desire to fill the runtime. However, it still feels like Equinox, Part II bungles the follow-through.

Nova escape.

Then again, it is not as if Voyager follows through in any way from Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II . There are no lasting consequences from the episode. Janeway never seems to ask any tough questions of herself in the wake of the incident, and there is no damage inflicted upon the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay. As usual on Voyager , absolutely everything is put back in its place at the end of the two-parter, with Janeway’s replacing of the ship’s plaque the symbolic capstone.

Indeed, the Equinox crew members who are coopted into Voyager’s crew at the end of Equinox, Part II are completely forgotten about as soon as the closing credits roll. “Noah Lessing, Marla Gilmore, James Morrow, Brian Sofin, Angelo Tassoni, you are hereby stripped of rank,” Janeway warns them. “Your privileges will be limited, and you’ll serve under close supervision for as long as I deem fit. This time, you’ll have to earn our trust.” However, that redemption remains unseen, even if later-season episodes like Good Shepherd seem well-positioned to explore it.

“I don’t ever want to see any of you again. Report to Lieutenant Carey’s detail.”

Ronald D. Moore was incredibly frustrated with the trite and neat ending to the episode, seeing it as an example of several key flaws with Voyager as a television series :

 I just hit the ceiling. I remember writing in the margins, ‘This is a total betrayal of the audience. This is wrong. You can’t end the show like this. If you are going to do all this other stuff, you can’t end the show like this, because it’s not fair, because it’s not true, and it just wouldn’t happen. But the show is what the show is.

Equinox, Part II would be the only episode of Voyager to make it through production while Moore was working on the series. He left after finishing the script to Survival Instinct and after working on the story to Barge of the Dead , but the producer fought a lot of battles over Equinox, Part II .

Darkest hour.

In some ways, Moore’s work on Battlestar Galactica would exist in conversation with his short stint on Voyager and in particular in his extreme reaction to Equinox, Part II . The basic premise of Voyager evokes the set-up of Battlestar Galactica , with a small collection of human characters forced to fend for themselves in the wilderness while searching for a way to Earth. In many ways, Battlestar Galactica became the show that Moore had wanted Voyager to be, free of the creative limitations imposed by Brannon Braga, Rick Berman, and the expectations of syndication.

Battlestar Galactica would not debut until three years after the end of Voyager , and following a variety of odd-jobs around the industry on shows like G vs. E and Carnivale . However, many would come to see Battlestar Galactica as Moore’s magnum opus , as the culmination of his career writing science-fiction and as the writer finally breaking through the limitations that the Star Trek franchise had imposed on his work. Battlestar Galactica was arguably a more satisfying follow-up to his work on Deep Space Nine than his brief stint on Voyager .

Engineering a mutiny.

Moore acknowledges as much, conceding that he wanted to do things with Voyager that simply would not have been possible on late nineties television within the Star Trek franchise :

The truth was, it was still Star Trek, and I think there were things I wanted to do with Voyager that I could never really accomplish. I couldn’t do those things until I went to Battlestar. I was talking about roughing up the ship, having the culture of the ship degenerating, having more divisions and camps within the crew. They’re out on the other side of the galaxy and away from home for a very, very long time with no real notion of when they’d get back, and I thought that would start to develop their own culture, or cultures, within the ship, that that would become a challenge to the military hierarchy of the starship. I wanted to go down some really dark roads, with the ship falling apart, the crew falling apart and at each other’s throats periodically and vying for control. The truth is I don’t know that I really could have done that at Star Trek, no matter what the political circumstances were, because the show was not designed to tell that kind of story and it really would have flown in the face of a lot of things Gene had set up and that he had said were important to him. So I think I probably had somewhat unrealistic goals of where I wanted to go (with Voyager), but then I found an opportunity to do them on Battlestar.

Of course, Moore is correct here. Even nineties network broadcast standards and practices would have made it impossible to create something like Battlestar Galactica on UPN under the Star Trek brand. This is not to excuse Voyager ‘s creative compromises; there should have been a possible middle-ground.

The brains of the operation.

The parallels are not merely conceptual. Pegasus , a second season episode of Battlestar Galactica , seems to owe a conscious debt to Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II . In that episode, the lead characters discover another ship in a similar predicament, populated by a crew that have abandoned their humanity in order to survive. The parallels were strong . While Voyager shied away from the challenges raised by Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II , Battlestar Galactica embraced the opportunities presented by Pegasus .

Battlestar Galactica made a point to carry over some sense of continuity from Pegasus . Even after the original crisis was resolved, the eponymous ship remained a part of the support fleet until its destruction in Exodus, Part II . Characters introduced in Pegasus went on to play an important role in the long-term mythology of the show, with the victimised Gina detonating a nuclear warhead in the second season finale Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II , an action that was implied to have attracted the attention of the Cylons who occupied the planet.

Strong as an (Equin)ox.

Indeed, Battlestar Galactica would commit to the very concept of Pegasus , eventually releasing a feature-length television movie – Battlestar Galactica: Razor – that offered a glimpse of the experiences and events that shaped the crew of that other cruiser. It rounded out the concept, allowing the series to paint these flawed individuals as more than just two-dimensional monsters. It provides a sharp contrast to the cookie-cutter redemption of Ransom or the one-dimensional ruthlessness of Burke in Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II .

Equinox, Part II is a mess of an episode, one that falls apart through lazy plotting, a betrayal of its core premise, and a refuse to really address any of the tough questions at its core. It doesn’t work at all.

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Filed under: Voyager | Tagged: battlestar galactica , Brannon Braga , equinox , ransom , ronald d. moore , star trek: voyager , voyager |

4 Responses

Savage is a fine actor and I’m sorry his epiphany came so late in the episode. I prefer him in a “white hat”.

This was just one of those stories where you had to laugh. Why is Janeway suddenly pounding the rulebook? Why are they treating this like Moby Dick, when the story has already been done before (and better) in “Year of Hell”, or heck, First Contact? Why is the ex-Borg suddenly a moral arbiter? Why does Ransom want to get in Seven’s pants? Wouldn’t she incriminate him the minute he sets foot on Earth? I’m all for breaking with routine and taking the characters out of their comfort zones, but the writing is so random that’s impossible to get invested to any serious degree.

Between this and “Sic Alice on me” (coming soon), it’s clear the VOY writers have lost interest in their corner of the Trek universe.

Equinox, Part II is a clusterf&!k of an episode. Which is a shame, given how well Equinox, Part I works. (When it really, really shouldn’t.)

I noticed the logic hole with the Ankari presence spanning 10,000+ light years as well. It is peak Voyager hand-waving. “Don’t think to hard about this. Just enjoy the action!”

Janeway’s supposed moral fall here just seems par for the course. She’s done this kind of thing before, and this is the way she will act to end the series in the finale. Chakotay’s role is to be a passive enabler, for the most part.

That said, Kate Mulgrew’s angry stare after Chakotay goes against her is truly bone chilling. She really does play a monomaniacal nutjob quite well.

I agree with having a middle-ground when it comes to this premise. It doesn’t need to be utterly bleak and nihilistic, but Voyager goes too far the other way. Having a defined seven season run like Voyager’s means that the show could’ve dedicated each season to showing the ship getting a little more run-down and the crew dynamics shifting, without going too far into cynicism, but the show never had that kind of progression.

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The Impossible Box

Through the valley of shadows.

Equinox (Part 2)

The U.S.S. Voyager has been struggling to survive in the Delta Quadrant since their arrival seven years ago, but now they face their toughest challenge yet. The crew has encountered a second Federation starship, the U.S.S. Equinox, but there’s something strange about this ship. It seems as if the crew of the Equinox has been taking desperate measures to survive, and their actions have put them on a collision course with Voyager’s crew.

Captain Janeway and the Voyager crew are immediately suspicious of the Equinox and they refuse to trust them. However, they soon discover that the Equinox’s crew is in desperate need of help. The ship is under attack by a powerful alien race called the Nacene, and the crew has been forced to resort to extreme measures to survive. They have been capturing alien life forms and using their energy to fuel their warp drive, a practice that is ethically and morally wrong.

Janeway and the crew of the Voyager must decide what to do. Should they help their fellow Federation crew, or should they stand by and let them be destroyed by the Nacene? Meanwhile, the Nacene are growing ever more powerful, and they are determined to use their energy to destroy anything in their path, including both the Voyager and the Equinox.

The crew of the Voyager embarks on a daring mission to save the Equinox and their crew. They must find a way to disable the Nacene’s energy source, while also finding a way to free the Equinox’s crew from their immoral actions. Janeway comes up with a plan to use a subspace rift to take the Nacene’s energy and use it to power the Equinox’s warp drive. It’s a risky move, but it is their only chance to save the Equinox and their crew.

With the help of the Equinox’s crew, the Voyager is able to overpower the Nacene and destroy their energy source. Janeway then orders the Equinox’s crew to stand down and turn themselves in to face justice for their actions. With the Nacene defeated and the Equinox’s crew in custody, the Voyager and the Equinox are finally able to return home.

Although the situation is resolved, the repercussions of the events of the episode are felt throughout the course of the series. The crew of the Equinox faces a court-martial for the crimes they committed, while Janeway and the Voyager crew learn an important lesson about the consequences of taking desperate measures in order to survive.

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Star Trek: Voyager

Equinox, Pt. 2

Cast & crew.

Titus Welliver

Lt. Cmdr. Maxwell Burke

Olivia Birkelund

Ensign Marla Gilmore

Rick Worthy

Crewman Noah Lessing

John Savage

Captain Rudy Ransom

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Equinox, Part II

Captain Janeway takes her quest for revenge against Captain Ransom to extremes when she orders the use of photon torpedoes against the Equinox , tractors a neutral ship, nearly kills an Equinox crewman during an interrogation, and relieves Chakotay of duty when he questions her actions.

Robert Picardo

Titus Welliver

Rick Worthy

John Savage

Olivia Birkelund

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Kate Mulgrew

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Star Trek: Voyager - Episode Guide - Season 6

It’s unfortunate for Star Trek: Voyager that by season 6 its viewing audience had dissolved to essentially only the more passionate devotees, because only here do the scriptwriters feel consistently comfortable with the material and resources available. As the production certainly realized that season 7 would be the final run for Voyager, a sense of getting closer to home of the Federation more directly influencing the Voyager crew’s lives was imparted.

Second-banana Reginald Barclay, along with Next Generation refugee Deanna Troi, gets some quality screen time in Voyager season 6 and some good ol’ Federation-based conspiracies poke up now and again. This season also brings us a re-sendoff for Kes and the seriously underrated classic “Blink of an Eye.” With a fantastic run of a half-dozen episodes at the end of this bunch, season 6 of Voyager could well be its strongest altogether.

1. Equinox, Part II – After unleashing the nucleogenic aliens on Voyager, captain Ransom and the Equinox crew escape with Seven aboard as well as Voyager’s version of the EMH program. As Janeway obsessively and single-mindedly pursues the Equinox, Ransom inversely becomes more humanized and thus regretful about his stunningly immoral stand. ***

2. Survival Instinct – This one’s sort of a cross between the TNG episode “I, Borg” and Jean-Paul Sartre’s No Exit. Three Borg units who were formerly part of Seven’s unimatrix have become separated from the great collective but remain enslaved to one another’s thoughts. ***

3. Barge of the Dead – When knocked into a coma, B’Elanna finds herself on the titular vehicle and ultimately in Gre’thor, a.k.a. Klingon Hell. It’s not nearly as badass as it sounds. ***

4. Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy – A seriously funny Doctor-centric episode features the EMH’s new penchant for daydreaming. Things go from humorous to hilarious when would-be invaders on a cloaked ship tap into the holographic matrix and believe the Doctor’s over-the-top heroism is real. ****

5. Alice – Alice? Who the f*** is Alice? In short, a shuttlecraft which has some strange telepathic qualities over the easily-obsessable man with a thousand hobbies, Tom Paris. **

6. Riddles – Tuvok is attacked by aliens whose plot is easily solved by Janeway et al, but Tuvok must recover psychically in ways sadly predictable for anyone who’s ever seen such an episode about a Vulcan character. **

7. Dragon’s Teeth – In fleeing an attack, Janeway lands Voyager on an alien planet where hundreds of humanoids are in stasis and hidden from the surface. ***

8. One Small Step – Not dissimilar to a Voyager version of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Chakotay, Paris and Seven check out a classic mysterious cloud which contains within bits of the Ares IV, a 22nd-century Mars mission. ***

9. The Voyager Conspiracy – Seven downloads too much information from the Voyager databases and becomes a conspiracist. This one is reminiscent of Twin Peaks, in keeping the viewer’s attention until he/she realizes that there is actually far less below the surface-level story here than he/she thought. **

10. Pathfinder – How do you feel about Reg Barclay and Deanna Troi of TNG? It will directly affect your enjoyment of this episode. In an effort to locate Voyager, Barclay creates holodeck versions of the ship and its crew to help advance his theories. Unfortunately, his superiors believe that Barclay is suffering again from holodeck addiction; of course, if Barclay were merely holo-addicted, this wouldn’t be an episode of Voyager now, would it…? ***

11. Fair Haven – Janeway falls in love with a holodeck program character and … oh, just skip it. *

12. Blink of an Eye – As though to make up for “Fair Haven”, the Voyager production team slated this, one of the single best Voyager episodes, directly thereafter. In a sort of reverse “The Inner Light”, Voyager is trapped in orbit around a planet on which, due to relativistic effects, times progresses tens of thousands of times more slowly. The planet’s entire history is affected by the continuous sight of Voyager for thousands of years until space travel is finally developed. *****

13. Virtuoso – The Doctor becomes an interplanetary celebrity when aliens without music hear him singing. Some good stuff here, but couldn’t the Doctor’s range have been displayed a bit beyond opera? Did not the Qomar appreciate the Beatles as well…? ***

14. Memorial – The title gives away the twist a bit, but if you’ve missed it, what follows is a strange story about an away team of non-favorites (Chakotay, Tom Paris, Harry Kim, Neelix) have flashbacks of a military exercise in which none of them ever participated – and the rest of the crew soon follows. ***

15. Tsunkatse – Can you smell what the Rock is replicating? B’Elanna, Chakotay, Paris and Neelix are huge fans of the ultra-violent combat sport Tsunkatse. It’s all fun and games watching combatants beat each other senseless – until Seven is kidnapped and forced to face off against 24th-century Dwayne Johnson, that is... ***

16. Collective – Chakotay, Kim, Paris and Neelix, a quartet who really should not have pushed their luck after hogging much screen time in the past two episodes, are captured and brought aboard a Borg cube manned by just five drones – all children. Not nearly as unwatchable as it sounds. ****

17. Spirit Folk – As though “Fair Haven” weren’t lame enough and holodeck-centered stories already rife in six years of Voyager, here’s “Spirit Folk.” The people of the quaint Irish town Fair Haven suddenly gain consciousness and … ah, come on. *

18. Ashes to Ashes – A Red Shirt so insignificant her death was not even shown during an episode returns in the body of a Kobali, an alien race that reproduces by genetically altering dead bodies. (How the hell did this species ever evolve in the first place?) And apparently she digs on Harry, which gives Paris another chance to nauseatingly run through the stupid list of Kim’s crushes through the years. **

19. Child's Play – The parents of one of the four Borg children taken aboard Voyager after the events of “Collective”, are found. The usual stuff about arguing where the lad “belongs” precedes a revelation about the boy’s origin. **

20. Good Shepherd – In an effort to prevent them from someday becoming Red Shirts, three, likesay, below-average Starfleet crew members are taken on an away mission with Janeway; naturally, things go south in a hurry. Also, the dude from Rage Against the Machine is in this one! ***

21. Live Fast and Prosper – Three con artists pose as Janeway, Tuvok and Chakotay and start pulling jobs based on Voyager’s ever-burgeoning reputation in the Quadrant. Often quite funny with a couple of nice twists. ****

22. Muse – B’Elanna Torres crash lands (no, really?) and soon “The Away Mission of B’Elanna Torres” is a highly successful play by the Bronze Age culture’s leading poet. Said poet pumps Torres for information to write more scripts while Harry Kim somehow takes two weeks to walk 200 kilometers (124.2 miles). Dude, seriously? Just 14¼ km/8.2 miles a day? Dude, I’m older than you and not as fit as a Starfleet officer and I can do nine miles in three hours. ****

23. Fury – Nobody’s favorite character returns to Voyager in greatly aged form. Obviously carrying some grudge or another, she proceeds to kick a lot of ass and travel four years back in time, so that we get double Kesses (?) as Old Kes attempts to change the past. Tuvok and Janeway solve the complex time-travel paradox in such fashion that we wonder why this kind of answer is deployed more often in the ST universe. Though the ending is well too pat, “Fury” is at least a more proper sendoff episode for Kes – no matter how one feels about her. ***

24. Life Line – More fun with Troi and Barclay! The Federation establishes a method of communicating massive compressed messages to Voyager once a month. So when ol’ Reg informs the Doctor that his creator, Lewis Zimmerman, is dying from a Phage-like disease, he insists that his program be compressed and sent in to help. In a Doctor-style take on TNG’s “Brothers,” Robert Picardo shines. ****

25. The Haunting of Deck Twelve – Finally, Neelix made not insufferable! When the Enterprise must power down for a few hours, Neelix regales the Borg children with a “ghost story” about a mysterious space-dwelling alien which – yep – still haunts Deck Twelve. Good stuff here is sadly missing an- “The End – or is it?” payoff. ****

26. Unimatrix Zero, Part I – Voyager’s producers heap old-fashioned bloody horror onto the pre-existent existential horror that is Borg. Seven discovers Unimatrix Zero, a shared virtual reality entered via dream state. Only a tiny number of “mutant” Borg drones can experience individuality in this manner, but Janeway sets the task of freeing/rescuing these few. Soon, an away team of Janeway, Tuvok and Torres board a Borg cube and are apparently assimilated…****

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YMMV / Star Trek: Voyager S5 E25, S6 E1: "Equinox"

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• Whooooah boy. This, along with "Tuvix," is probably the most talked about episode among those debating Captain Janeway's morality. Between Janeway's demonstrably false claim never to have violated the Prime Directive and her obsessive desire to take Ransom down at any cost, some fans have theorized that Janeway is transferring her own self-loathing over the times she's violated the Federation's and her own principles onto Ransom.
• Captain Ransom is impossible to completely defend, but exactly how much he's lying about, and how evil his character truly is, is somewhat ambiguous. The fact that he is shown to be telling Blatant Lies on multiple occasions, along with his emotional manipulation of his crew, makes it hard to trust anything else he says. This has polarized fans between those who think that he's being largely truthful about the hardships he and his crew had to face, and those who think that every word that comes out of Ransom's mouth is a pack of lies, and that the journey of the Equinox was in all likelihood going absolutely fine (if at a slower pace than that of Voyager , thanks to its less powerful warp drive) until Ransom and his crew got greedy and decided killing a few aliens was worth it to get home quicker. note  (Though an easily-missed line indicates that as a result of its lower maximum warp, the Equinox was facing a journey home about 1.5x-2x longer than that of Voyager , meaning that from the former crew's perspectives, harvesting the aliens may have made all the difference when it came to getting back to the Federation within their lifetimes, instead of it being merely an act of pure impatience)
• During the second half of the story, the main villain's role seems to shift from Ransom to Burke, who is depicted as being far more gung-ho about killing the aliens than Ransom, makes thinly-veiled threats of sexual assault towards Seven, cares nothing for the lives of the Voyager crew, and eventually mutinies on Ransom. This leaves open the possibility that Burke had in fact been the one truly pulling the strings on Equinox all along, and that Ransom was too downtrodden by getting his ship trashed and most of his crew killed (likely on top of being a morally weak man in the first place) to oppose him.
• Ransom tends to get this treatment, despite the fact even if Janeway crossed the Moral Event Horizon in this episode, it doesn't mean Ransom didn't do so to an even greater degree. To wit: Janeway's choices to destroy Tuvix, and ally with the Borg, right or wrong, were done to protect her crew (and, in the case of allying with the Borg, the galaxy in general from a potential Species 8472 invasion). Ransom knowingly subjected his own crew to the aliens' fatal wrath, over and over, all for fuel to make their ship go faster, well after the point where it could have been justified as something necessary for their survival.
• Janeway herself gets this from some fans, who believe that her attitude towards the Equinox crew in the second half of the story is entirely justified, and that Chakotay was fully deserving of being removed from duty for undermining her authority by putting a stop to her using the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique on Lessing. While it's true that having a rogue Starfleet crew flying on ahead of Voyager and giving Starfleet a bad name could cause them problems further down the road, not only does Janeway herself admit that her actions were wrong at the end of the episode, the writers have explicitly said that the idea was to have Janeway going off the deep end, and Ransom finding redemption.
• Epileptic Trees : With Ransom's claiming to have encountered a whole bunch of aliens that Voyager never did, yet somehow having never encountered a Borg cube, some fans believe that he took the option that it's sometimes suggested Janeway should have done, namely setting course for the Gamma Quadrant terminus of the Bajoran Wormhole — and that his managing to get half his crew killed straight away demonstrated what a horrible idea that was in reality.
• Janeway's absolutely absurd claim that she's never once violated the Prime Directive since she got to the Delta Quadrant. It's like they were daring the fans to throw the show's lack of continuity in their faces. Jim "Reviewboy" Wright: The enormity of the lie causes the captain's nose to grow, her pants to blaze... and her approval ratings to inexplicably skyrocket. (For those playing the home game, Janeway is the freakin' M.C. Escher of the Prime Directive.) And until now, she hasn't had any admirals, commodores or fellow captains to say different.
• Captain Ransom's acting during battles, especially in his first and final scenes, might come off as a bit melodramatic, at times almost feeling like a parody of a military leader.
• Strawman Has a Point : While Captain Ransom and his crew are clearly in the wrong, many viewers feel that Janeway comes across as rather sanctimonious and more than a bit hypocritical when condemning them for their actions (especially with her blatantly false claim to have never broken the Prime Directive, which comes across as a quite egregious case of " Not Cheating Unless You Get Caught " reasoning). For those who believe Ransom is telling the pure truth, or at least being broadly truthful about his ship's hardships before he began his atrocities, it seems like the Equinox just didn't get the same "plot coupons" Voyager did.
• Janeway's sudden Captain Ahab-level grudge against Ransom in the story's second half ends up being too abrupt and too poorly-developed to come across as either righteous anger towards the crew of the Equinox , or misdirected self-loathing for all the times she's had to break her own principles. It instead comes across as an exceedingly long tantrum that comes out of nowhere, and then just disappears when Ransom dies and the Equinox is destroyed. This means that for fans who prefer Star Trek to be a straight-up "good versus evil" morality tale, Janeway's attitude ends up making her hardly any better than the villains, and for fans who prefer the more morally ambiguous side of the franchise, it passes up the opportunity to examine what effects her time in command have had on Janeway's psyche.
• Having a second Starfleet ship around, ultimately leading to it betraying Voyager for their own ends, is the kind of story that could have made for a good multi-episode arc, and would have allowed for much more exploration of the dynamics of the two crews, much like the introduction of the Battlestar Pegasus during the second season of Battlestar Galactica (2003) a few years later. Or failing that, they could have at least had the Equinox escape rather than being destroyed at the end of the story, allowing them to become recurring adversaries and forcing Voyager to deal with a rogue Starfleet crew giving the Federation a bad name (though the latter idea would at least be revisited in a fashion in " Live Fast and Prosper ").
• The surviving Equinox crewmembers being stripped of rank and forced to re-earn the trust of their Voyager counterparts sounds like it might make a good recurring story arc for Season 6. Too bad none of them are ever seen or mentioned again.
• As mentioned on the main page, the Doctor becomes instantly evil when his ethical subroutines are deactivated, squandering a perfect opportunity for him to prove how far he’s developed in his six seasons on Voyager by, say, displaying that he no longer needs to be programmed to have morals. Or, if the showrunners really wanted him to be evil so badly, why not have him display the same loyalty to his crew as the Equinox EMH, and become ready and willing to kill everyone on the Equinox to protect Seven? Instead, presumably just so they’d be relatively out of the way and could have some creepy scenes, we get the Doctor lobotomizing Seven (which has no consequences either ).
• Tough Act to Follow : A Meta example. Equinox, Part II not only kicked off Season Six, but was also the first episode of Voyager to air following the conclusion of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . This meant that not only was Voyager no longer airing alongside another Trek series for the first time in its run, but it was also now the only Trek series on the air and had to carry the franchise banner forward on its own (and for better and for worse).

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Equinox, part II

Janeway goes on a hunt for the U.S.S. Equinox who has gone against everything they, and she, was taught by the Federation. Seven and The Doctor are hostages on board the Equinox, and must devise a plan to escape. Janeway goes nearly to the point of insanity, and Chakotay almost instigates a mutiny. Janeway disregards all advice and becomes quite seperated from her friends. The Equinox Doctor, swapped at the end of Part 1, continues in Voyager's sickbay, and the crew are unaware that he his programed to inflict harm on them. Our Doctor, captured on the Equinox, has his ethical subroutines removed, and is ordered to perform surgical procedures on Seven of Nine.

Voyager, seizoen 6

Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Equinox, part ii (1999), full cast & crew.

Directed by 

Writing credits  , cast (in credits order) complete, awaiting verification  .

Screen Rant

I’m glad robert picardo changed his mind about star trek: voyager’s big doctor twist.

The Doctor underwent a big change in Star Trek: Voyager season 3, something that Robert Picardo was first wary about and then glad of.

• Robert Picardo was initially wary of the Doctor's mobile emitter, fearing it would change the character too much.
• Picardo's concerns were unfounded, as the emitter actually helped the Doctor feel more fleshed-out and unique.
• The mobile emitter allowed for some of the Doctor's best episodes in Star Trek: Voyager, enhancing his exploration of humanity.

Robert Picardo initially had misgivings about the Doctor's big twist in Star Trek: Voyager season 3, but thankfully changed his mind when he saw how well it was working. From the start, the Doctor was one of the most intriguing members of Voyager's cast of characters and had a storyline filled with potential. Although his episodes in seasons 1 and 2 were generally met with acclaim, it wasn't until season 3 and the acquisition of a specific device that the Doctor's arc began to be taken in more expansive directions.

Season 3, episodes 8 and 9, "Future's End Parts I&II" saw the USS Voyager's crew travel back in time, ending up in 1990s Los Angeles. There, they were pulled into a conflict with Henry Starling (Ed Begley Jr.) a supposedly genius tech mogul who in reality had stolen 29th-century technology and was planning to use it with potentially disastrous results. At one point, Starling stole the Doctor's program from Voyager, and while holding him at his lab, inadvertently gifted him with a mobile emitter, something that would end up irrevocably changing the Doctor's life and trajectory on Voyager ​​​​​​ .

Every Voyager Character Who Has Returned In Star Trek (& How)

Robert picardo explains concerns about the doctor’s mobile emitter in star trek: voyager season 3, picardo wasn't sure the mobile emitter was a good thing.

The mobile emitter was a revelation for the Doctor, as it allowed him to reliably travel outside of sickbay whenever he wanted. However, actor Robert Picardo was concerned that having the mobile emitter would change the Doctor's character too much from how he'd been in Voyager 's early seasons. Speaking to Star Trek Monthly at the time that Voyager was airing, Picardo admitted that he was initially wary of the emitter, feeling that the ability to move freely about the ship would mess with the story formula that made the Doctor compelling . Read Picardo's full quote below:

"I was concerned about the Portable Holographic Emitter because I didn't want to mess with a winning combination. The audience seemed to embrace The Doctor's character during the show's first seasons, and so much of his character is based on the notion that he is severely limited and has to cope with limitations such as the fact that he can only exist in Sickbay or in the Holodeck, and that he's different to an organic being. So it seemed to me that if we took the risk of making him more like everyone else, we were damaging part of his uniqueness. Fortunately, that does not seem to have been the case. I am very happy that I was wrong about the Portable Emitter."

Picardo's fears about what the mobile emitter might have done to the Doctor weren't unfounded. As the first main character who was also a sentient hologram, the Doctor was a unique addition to the Star Trek franchise. Even similar characters, like Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation , didn't experience the same struggles with such a limited scope of mobility. Indeed, some of the Doctor's best episodes of seasons 1 and 2 dealt with him figuring out his limitations and how they impacted his growing humanity . However, as Picardo himself pointed out, there was never any cause for concern.

Picardo Agrees He Was Wrong About Star Trek: Voyager’s Mobile Emitter Twist

The doctor's mobile emitter was one of the best things to come out of season 3.

Rather than ruining what made him so compelling, the mobile emitter allowed some of The Doctor's best Star Trek: Voyager episodes to be possible. The wider freedom the emitter gave the Doctor only helped him continue to explore his humanity more expansively. This in turn helped the Doctor feel more fleshed-out, whereas being confined to Sickbay and the holodeck might have limited him too much in the long run . Ultimately, it's a very good thing that Robert Picardo got over his fears about the emitter, given the influence he had on decisions made about the Doctor.

Source: Star Trek Monthly issue 30

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager

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The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before. 

13 Times Star Trek: Voyager's EMH Said Bones McCoy's "I'm A Doctor, Not A ..."

• The Doctor, portrayed by Robert Picardo in Star Trek: Voyager, humorously uses Dr. McCoy's catchphrase, "I'm a doctor, not a...", and establishes franchise continuity.
• The Doctor showcases ethical integrity and progression, facing various challenges while maintaining a professional and exploratory purpose.
• Each instance of The Doctor saying McCoy's line highlights character development, relationships, and technology in intricate storylines.

Star Trek: Voyager 's Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), AKA The Doctor (Robert Picardo), frequently repeated the iconic catchphrase of Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (DeForest Kelley) from Star Trek: The Original Series. Somewhat temperamental and impatient, The Doctor was the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Voyager in the (initial) absence of other medical staff. Evolving considerably over Voyager 's seven seasons, Picardo's Doctor is an essential character who showcases not only creative talents and ability but also ethical and moralistic integrity with a professional and exploratory sense of purpose.

Joining Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and the cast of Star Trek: Voyager on their travels through the Delta Quadrant, Picardo's Doctor is progressive yet demonstrates several qualities that reflect traits or viewpoints from the franchise's past. One such facet is the use of the catchphrase, " I'm a doctor, not a ..." initially made famous by Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy in Star Trek: The Original Series . It's a nice nod to continuity, allowing Picardo's technologically unusual character a grounded sense of familiarity and purpose. Here's a look at every time Voyager 's Doctor said Bones McCoy's most famous line.

How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order

"i'm a doctor, mr. neelix, not a decorator.", star trek: voyager season 1, episode 5 - "phage".

Star Trek: Voyager season 1, episode 5, "Phage," marks the first instance of The Doctor using Dr. McCoy's famous TOS catchphrase. In an amusing scene between an increasingly frustrated Doctor and an ailing Neelix (Ethan Phillips) , Picardo's determined Doctor administers vital medical treatment following the unexpected removal of Neelix's lungs. Despite his condition, Neelix maintains a healthy spirit and even makes a lengthy list of requests for improved comfort and aesthetic enjoyment, suggesting the addition of " a nice tapestry or a painting " and commenting on the ugly sickbay ceiling. The Doctor remarks that he is " a doctor, Mr. Neelix, not a decorator ," and delegates the requested tasks.

This Star Trek: Voyager season 1 scene showcases the resilience of both characters - each discomforted by their unexpected circumstances and ongoing events yet masking concerns with surface-level frustration and ambivalence. Despite the Doctor's electronic and emotional nature, Picardo's character demonstrates real patience and an appropriately gentle countenance designed to comfort and care for patients.

"I'm a doctor, not a performer."

Star trek: voyager season 2, episode 20 - "investigations".

Appointed as the USS Voyager's official morale officer, Neelix designs an " uplifting and optimistic " daily news program to be broadcast to the ship and attempts to enlist other officers for different segments. The Doctor initially dismisses Neelix's request, saying, " I'm a doctor, not a performer. I don't have time for such nonsense ." Neelix perseveres, suggesting a segment on " healthful living " and suggesting that such a feature might considerably propel the Doctor's celebrity and influence within the crew.

The Doctor later reconsiders and demands two segments from a distracted Neelix the following day: how to keep your nostrils happy and the hidden mysteries of the adrenal gland. Star Trek: Voyager , season 2, episode 20 offers a sentimental insight into the Doctor's slightly nerdy personality and multi-character perspectives on life on board a starship, countering the soft glimpses with an overall plot around espionage and deception.

"I'm a doctor, not a bartender."

Star trek: voyager season 2, episode 6 - "twisted".

An unexpected spatial anomaly interrupts Kes' (Jennifer Lien) surprise birthday party in the ship's holodeck and envelops the USS Voyager with an energy field. The Doctor, attending as the simulated scenario's bartender, clarifies that his presence is primarily in an official capacity and lists several unpleasant potential medical conditions that could arise. As Voyager's communications and technological systems malfunction, the Doctor's attempts to return to sickbay and leave the holodeck are unsuccessful. Having drawn the attention of the overly-affectionate simulated bar's owner, Sandrine (Judy Geeson), Picardo's exasperated Doctor exclaims, " How many times do I have to tell you, Madam, I am a doctor, not a bartender."

It deftly weaves intimate character narratives with grand and perplexing confrontations with the unknown.

The multilayered Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 6 is a testament to the show's intricate storytelling. It deftly interweaves intimate character narratives with grand and perplexing confrontations with the unknown. The Voyager crew's collective response to the spatial anomaly, juxtaposed with the holographic Doctor's struggle to return to sickbay and his inadvertent antagonizing of several other holographic characters, adds layers of complexity, amusement, and endearment.

"I'm a doctor, not a voyeur."

Star trek: voyager season 2, episode 7 - "parturition".

The USS Voyager sets course to a planet rich in protein and amino acid readings, dubbed "Planet Hell," to alleviate the ship's growing food issues . Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 7 sees essential progression in the characterization of several crucial Voyager crew members and their respective relationships, balancing the more weighty developments with less profound interactions among the ship-board crew.

As Voyager approaches the planet, the Doctor contacts the bridge. Having eavesdropped on a conversation between Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) , the Doctor informs them of a skin irritation issue from the planet's trigemic vapors and suggests that automatic EMH inclusion in such discussions would prevent the need for routine eavesdropping to " monitor issues involving the health of the crew." As Janeway questions the frequency of this habit, the Doctor says, " I'm a doctor, not a voyeur. I am programmed to be discreet."

Star Trek: Voyager Series Ending Explained - How The Crew Gets Home

"i'm a doctor, not a counter-insurgent.", star trek: voyager season 3, episode 1 - "basics, part ii".

Star Trek: Voyager 's gripping season 3 premiere episode continues the Voyager season 2 finale as the back half of a major Star Trek: Voyager two-parter . With the bulk of the USS Voyager crew stranded and struggling for survival on a desolate and hostile planet, only a few officers remain on board the starship with 89 villainous Kazon.

The Doctor is not just a hologram - he is a Starfleet hologram.

Following examining a young child - the first Cardassian-Kazon hybrid - the Doctor ponders aloud about the futility of the ship's current situation and the limitations of his holographic presence. Asking, " What am I supposed to do? Lead a revolt with a gang from Sandrine's? Conjure up holograms of Nathan Hale and Che Guevara? I'm a doctor, not a counter-insurgent . " The characteristically dramatic statement and subsequent theorizing about a self-taught program on guerrilla warfare adds mounting tension to the unfolding events, culminating in a realization that the Doctor is not just a hologram - he is a Starfleet hologram.

"I'm a doctor, not a database."

Star trek: voyager season 3, episode 9 - "future's end, part ii".

In this second part of another Star Trek: Voyager two-parter , Captain Kathryn Janeway and the USS Voyager attempt to preserve the security of the past after the ship is heavily damaged by Henry Starling's (Ed Begley Jr.) attack in the previous episode. Starling, having downloaded a proportion of Voyager's databanks - including the Emergency Medical Hologram program - equips The Doctor with a mobile holo-emitter and later schemes to travel into the future to steal more advanced technology

Star Trek: Voyager season 3, episode 9 introduces a significant character development for the Doctor, with the implementation of a major hardware upgrade.

When Starling demands Captain Kathryn Janeway 's psychological profile from The Doctor, the defiant EMH responds, "I'm a doctor, not a database," Starling comments, "I'd say you're a little bit of both," referring to the hologram's technological makeup. Star Trek: Voyager season 3, episode 9 introduces significant character development for the Doctor, with the implementation of a major hardware upgrade.

"I'm a doctor, not a peeping Tom."

Star trek: voyager season 5, episode 2 - "drone".

The Doctor's mobile holo emitter is damaged during a survey mission when the shuttlecraft encounters spatial turbulence. Back on the USS Voyager, Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) informs the Doctor that some circuits in the mobile emitter were fused during transport back to the ship. The following morning, oblivious to social cues and normalcy, The Doctor calls for an update at an inopportune moment , leading to an amusingly awkward situation.

As Lt. Torres prepares to enter a sonic shower, The Doctor tells her, " I'm a doctor, not a peeping Tom. There's nothing I haven't seen before. " Frustrated, Torres throws her towel over the communications display screen. Despite the Doctor's general demonstration of respect, consideration, and patient confidentiality, moments such as this underscore the character's lack of social sensitivity and an accompanying sense of empathy and humility, resulting in an odd blend of personality traits for a character whose entire existence is designed for healthy interactions with others.

"I'm a doctor, not a battery."

Star trek: voyager season 5, episode 13 - "gravity".

The Doctor, Tuvok (Tim Russ) , and Lt. Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) are stranded on a desert planet when their shuttle crash lands in a temporally distorted area of space. Following the repair of the Doctor's damaged mobile emitter, Tuvok suggests that the EMH program should stay offline as much as possible, given the limited resources to preserve the option of the emitter as a power source. Affronted, the Doctor exclaims, "I'm a doctor, not a battery , " drily adding that Paris' sub-par hunting skills should perhaps necessitate a similar status.

The Doctor's limited scope in "Gravity" highlights an adaptability and innate frustration at technological limitations.

Star Trek: Voyager season 5, episode 13 is bittersweet, told in a series of flashbacks, with Tuvok exploring the lessons of his past to make sense of his present. The curious exploration of race, technology, and natural phenomena is rich and considered, with the characters' sentiments and outlooks working to complement and disrupt. Despite the enhanced potential of Picardo's character, the Doctor's limited scope in "Gravity" highlights an adaptability and innate frustration at technological limitations.

1 Star Trek Actor Starred Alongside 5 Classic Captains

"i'm a doctor, not a dragon slayer.", star trek: voyager season 5, episode 14 - "bliss".

Star Trek: Voyager, season 5, episode 14, "Bliss," offers an interesting premise involving The Doctor. The Voyager crew is affected by a giant " beast " capable of neurogenic telepathy and manipulation. Amid several other unaffected crew members, Picardo's Doctor identifies peculiarities in the crew's dopamine levels and becomes suspicious. Although The Doctor is promptly deactivated to prevent interference in the creature's scheme, the EMH is later reactivated and ultimately instrumental in saving the ship.

Following the creature's defeat, The Doctor is offered a place to work alongside Qatai (W. Morgan Shepard). The Doctor responds, " I'm a doctor, not a dragon slayer. My program requires that I do no harm ." Interestingly, the Doctor uses a similar phrase upon reactivation in Voyager's sickbay when Qatai requests access to the ship's weapons manifest, stating, " This is a sickbay, not an arsenal ." "Bliss" showcases the Doctor's proclivities towards peace and well-being against a backdrop of disruption and telepathic and biological manipulation.

"I'm a doctor, not a zoo keeper."

Star trek: voyager season 6, episode 24 - "life line".

Voyager's Doctor temporarily transfers to the Alpha Quadrant's Jupiter Station to treat the creator of the Emergency Medical Hologram, Lewis Zimmerman (Robert Picardo), who is dying of a fatal condition. Believing he can adapt a Borg regeneration technique, The Doctor's files are condensed for efficient transport. However, it soon becomes clear that Zimmerman is not particularly interested in the Doctor's aid.

In Star Trek: Voyager , season 6, episode 24, "Life Line," Robert Picardo plays two visually similar characters - one human, one electronic. With the aid of Counsellor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) , the Doctor ultimately achieves a successful medical outcome despite Zimmerman's attitude. When the Doctor deactivates Dr. Zimmerman's talking holographic iguana Leonard with an explanatory " I'm a doctor, not a zoo keeper, " Zimmerman electronically transfers the EMH to another room. It's a whimsical and frustrating study of family, stubbornness, and fear, with the characters' similarities and differences working well to heighten the drama, tension, and chaos.

"I'm a doctor, not an engineer."

Star trek: voyager season 7, episode 9 - "flesh and blood".

Star Trek: Voyager season 2, episode 9, "Flesh and Blood," is the first installment of a two-part story in which the USS Voyager crew encounters the Hirogen, a race of hunters, and a ship of holograms. When The Doctor's program is stolen by a fleeing vessel, the EMH appears on a ship of holograms needing his medical expertise. The Doctor protests that he is " a doctor, not an engineer ."As Picardo's The Doctor argues that the technological nature of the damaged holograms requires repair from an engineer, not healing from a doctor, the officer in charge, Iden (Jeff Yagher), convinces the reluctant EMH to offer assistance. The Doctor's connection to both crews provides an exciting, deep insight into Picardo's evolving and complex EMH character. Part of and loyal to the Voyager crew, the Doctor shares significant overlap in physical presence with the holograms.

"I'm a doctor, not a commando."

Star trek: voyager season 4 episode 14 - "message in a bottle".

Robert Picardo's Doctor risks uncertain transportation to the USS Prometheus in the far-away Alpha Quadrant in Star Trek: Voyager , season 4, episode 14, "Message in a Bottle." Teaming up with the initially-hesitant medical hologram EMH-2 (Andy Dick), the Doctor must figure out how to reclaim the ship from Romulans to complete his mission and contact Starfleet. Intelligently exploring the technological capacity and ingenuity of the Doctor's holographical nature and abilities through character interaction and upgrade, "Message in a Bottle" uses the Doctor as a beacon of hope and accessibility.

The evolving interaction between Picardo's Doctor and the EMH-2 is an amusing and fascinating display of sophisticated Starfleet programming.

The evolving interaction between Picardo's Doctor and the EMH-2 is an amusing and fascinating display of sophisticated Starfleet programming. Quickly identifying the Doctor as an " inferior " design, the EMH-2 comments on the " beady eyes" and " inferior bedside manner " and deactivates its program to await rescue. When Voyager's Doctor reactivates the program and insists they work together to retake the ship, the EMH-2 claims, " I'm a doctor, not a commando ."

"I'm a doctor, not a door stop."

Star trek: first contact.

Robert Picardo plays the EMH Mark I Doctor on the USS Enterprise-E in Star Trek: First Contact . Faced with invasion by the Borg and imminent assimilation on the Enterprise, Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) activates the Emergency Medical Hologram and orders a diversion to allow the crew to flee to safety. The Doctor responds, " This isn't part of my program. I'm a doctor, not a doorstop. " Ultimately, the Doctor offers the attacking drones an analgesic cream for theoretical skin irritation caused by Borg implants.

While the EMH in Star Trek: First Contact isn't the same Doctor as on Star Trek: Voyager , it's a crowd-pleasing movie cameo for Robert Picardo.

The Doctor is a fascinating character in Star Trek: Voyager and the overall franchise, offering a slow yet complex look at evolving technology and its relationship with individualism. Ironically, then, The Doctor's regular use of Dr. Leonard McCoy's catchphrase is not indicative of this quality but instead offers an upbeat and nostalgic nod to franchise continuity, simultaneously developing a sense of affection and warmth to Picardo's iconic and creatively ambitious character.

Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: The Original Series are available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager

Release Date May 23, 1995

Network UPN

Star Trek: The Original Series

Release Date September 8, 1966

Network NBC