Captain’s log: stardate 54704.5

LeVar Burton directs this episode that sees the return of Q (John de Lancie). Written by Robert Doherty from a story by Kenneth Biller, it first debuted on 11 April, 2001.

Q shows up on the Voyager, much to Janeway’s (Kate Mulgrew) chagrin with his son (Keegan de Lancie) in tow. Q Junior is on the verge of being ousted from the Continuum and Q hopes that a stay on the starship will help with some self-discipline.

Put bluntly, this episode is Trek taking on parenting.

It also allows Q Junior to forge a friendship with the only other teen on the ship, Icheb (Manu Intiraymi), and through the friendship learns to take responsibility for his actions. It’s a gentle episode that is family friendly, often funny, and shows a bit of growth for de Lancie’s returning character.

It’s fun when Q shows up, and it’s not done for ratings, it’s usually done for a good character driven reason. The downside is that anytime he shows up on the Voyager, relatively few he has the potential to send them home, but never does.

Still, it ends up being an enjoyable episode, and it’s one that actually allows Icheb to act like a teenager for a change, which is nice.

That being said, the end is drawing nigh for the series, and the finale is in sight.

Captain’s log: stardate 54732.3

Brannon Braga came up with the story for this Doctor (Robert Picardo) episode that was written by Mike Sussman and Phyllis Strong. It debuted on 18 April, 2001.

The Doctor is putting the finishing touches on his holonovel, but the crew is unhappy with it as it paints a very unflattering picture of them. When it gets published without the hologram’s permission, it brings into question some of his legal rights – even if it offends his fellow crew members.

There are additions to the story that sees Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) hearing for the first time from family in the Alpha Quadrant in the form of her aunt.

It’s fun to see different incarnations of the characters as written by the Doctor, though it’s easy to see why they would all be upset.

In terms of continuity, we learn that the publisher that the Doctor goes to also releases the Dixon Hill holonovels. It’s also one of the only times that Torres (Roxann Dawson), or at least the Doctor’s incarnation of her on the holodeck, appears without her Klingon makeup. We also see Harry’s (Garrett Wang) parents as he finally gets a chance to see them via communication, and his (lack of) promotion is brought up… again.

The Human Adventure continues next week as I explore the final season of Star Trek: Voyager as I delve into the last few discs of The Complete Series on DVD from Paramount Canada.

Boldy go…