Captain’s log: stardate 54622.4

Roxann Dawson (Torres) directs the concluding half of the Workforce story, that was written by Kenneth Biller and Micheal Taylor from a story by Biller and Bryan Fuller. It first aired on 28 February, 2011.

Chakotay (Robert Beltran) attempts to rescue the rest of the kidnapped crew, including Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) – who has a bit of a romantic thing developing with a co-worker – from the labour force they have been recruited into. Only Tuvok (Tim Russ) is able to remember parts of his previous life, and everything seems to be in a bit of dire straits.

Back on the Voyager, the Doctor (Robert Picardo) and Harry (Garrett Wang) share command eluding and battling hostile forces while Torres is in sickbay with Neelix (Ethan Phillips).

As events play out, they discover that one of the aliens has in fact been manipulating minds illegally, and Janeway and the others, while suspicious, begin to realise that their may in fact be more to their lives.

I like the stuff with the Doctor and Harry, though I don’t think it gets as much attention as it deserves, because, once again, it could be brought to the fore how Harry has been aboard the ship for some six years now and is still an ensign, while the Doctor can be made a Command Hologram, and Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) can be demoted to ensign and promoted back to lieutenant, all while poor Harry gets passed over. Again and again.

An interesting if gentle two-parter.

Captain’s log: stardate unknown

Brannon Braga and Andre Bormanis penned this episode from a story developed by Bormanis and Kenneth Biller. It first screened on 7 March, 2001, and gave us yet another, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) story.

Seven seems on the point of obsession when it comes to developing her social skills, something she is working on in the holodeck, but her newly recovered emotional state practically overwhelms her Borg implants, even as the Voyager inadvertently stumbles into an intergalactic firing range.

So there’s holodeck stuff going on with Seven, as she begins a romantic relationship with Chakotay, and all of it starts to overwhelm her implants, causing her to be distracted when she’s supposed to be on duty.

And of course, that’s a problem what with the ship being in the middle of a firing zone…

It’s a good episode, but honestly, as solid a character as Seven is, I’m really tired of all the Seven-heavy episodes. I want a little more from my Trek please.

The Human Adventure continues Thursday as I explore the seventh and final season of Star Trek: Voyager with The Complete Series on DVD from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go…