"Survival is Insufficient"
I recently read a book based in a post-apocalyptic world, 20 years after a flu virus wiped most of humanity out. The main character was a child when the epidemic happened but one of her memories is of watching this episode and that very phrase sticking with her. It drives her choice to not just survive in the new world but to live. There is much more to the book of course but it's interesting watching this after having read it. Poignant in both cases and very well executed. As one would expect from Ronald D. Moore!
P.s. The book is called 'Station Eleven' and I highly recommend it.
"Commander Tuvok has objected to taking on too many visitors, but security issues aside, I'm looking forward to a cultural exchange, and making some new friends."
Proceeds to have a full fledged fair on the BRIDGE!
No season is complete w/o discussing the possibility of individuality within the Borg collective. I mean, Seven's whole story is based on this. The danger being that this will become a repetitive and thus boring topic. But this is a pretty good take on it. It's almost too easy: Make Seven the star of the episode, add adorable Naomi, add our most-beloved foes, that were well-established in the alpha quadrant, and discuss a profound philosophical issue. I like the story. It's well written. I like the dilemma Seven and the Doctor are faced with in the end and the responsibility they both bear.
I am pretty much at a point where I just go through the paces of finishing this personal rerun. And where everything concerning Voyager stories is split down the middle.
As much as I like everything featuring Jeri Ryan and Seven, and as good as this episode is individualy, I don't know if it was necessary. Why go back now and show us she was afraid of individuality ? We know that. All this adds is a why. And that might have been much better placed a lot earlier.
Now it seems a Borg drone just needs to be far enough removed from the collective and some technical malfunction for them to just remember they were individuals. Wouldn't that be something the Collective would like to keep a secret ?
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2018-08-20T21:14:49Z
I do have to wonder if seeing the credit "written by Ronald D. Moore" appear at the start of the episode is colouring my opinion, but I really quite enjoyed this. It felt epic and emotional, and the strong focus on characters was markedly different from what I'm getting used to seeing on Voyager.
It was helped no end by some good casting in the roles of the three ex-Borg, and along with Jeri Ryan they all had chemistry as a group. I found myself getting quite wrapped up in the tale unfolding. It all lead to a difficult decision with a somewhat bittersweet outcome, the mark of classic Star Trek. I found the dialogue to be a step up from usual with some much more natural and heartfelt discussions between characters - and again, I wonder if my mind is just attributing that to the fact that I know that Ron Moore wrote this, or if it actually is genuinely of a higher quality.
At the same time, it's another Borg episode and by this point it's a real struggle to make them at all interesting. Seven herself is so good purely for the fact that she isn't a Borg and is rediscovering her individuality, so when we go back to a previous time it feels like it falls into a certain predictable pattern. Fortunately, this remains separate from the entire Collective.
It's interesting to read the comments Ron Moore himself has made about his short time working on Voyager, and how upset he was with the whole experience which caused him to quit fairly soon after this. At any rate, I would be delighted for the show to go more in the direction suggested here with the focus on character development over action.