4x14 Message in a Bottle

[8.3/10] I love it when Voyager remembers its premise. Most of the show’s episodes could take place on the Enterprise without much need to adjust. So even though you know our heroes are stranded in the Delta Quadrant, the series rarely feels different from its Alpha Quadrant counterparts.

That’s what makes an episode like “Message in a Bottle” so refreshing. Voyager has been very “Lucy invites Charlie Brown to kick the football” with its opportunities for the crew to make it home. So when Seven discovers an alien array that would allow them to at least make contact with the rest of Starfleet, there’s reason to be wary. But there’s also reason to be excited, especially when it turns out the only thing they’re able to send through the array is The Doctor, who finds himself on an experimental deep space Starfleet vessel.

That is a thrill! Part of what helps this episode succeed is the fact that, to some extent, it can coast on novelty. A member of the crew is, however fleetingly, back in the Alpha Quadrant! The sheer charge of that, and the possibility of at least assuring the rest of the Federation that Janeway and company are still out there, gives this episode a big boost.

So does the sense of connection. Given Voyager’s setting, the fact that Deep Space Nine is tens of thousands of light year away, and that the Next Generation movies are kind of their own thing, Star Trek rarely felt like much of a “cinematic universe” despite the fact all these properties technically existed within the same canon.

“Message in a Bottle” is one of the blessed exceptions. The Doctor meets the EMH Mark II, which is presumably partly the result of Dr. Zimmerman’s work in “Dr. Bashir, I Presume” from Deep Space Nine. The Mark II mentions the Dominion War and wears a DS9-era uniform. The Romulans are maneuvering, presumably in light of wider events happening in the Alpha Quadrant at the time. They’re not the deepest connection between the shows, but they don’t have to be. Simply transplanting The Doctor into a setting that lets him (and given the station’s backwater status, to some extent the audience) witness how things have changed in the Federation since he left is exciting in and of itself.

Thankfully, writer Lisa Klink and company don’t rest on their laurels here. The Doctor’s story on the Prometheus is worthwhile on its own. When Doc arrives, a group of Romulans have taken over the experimental ship, killed its crew, and are planning to turn it over to the Tal Shiar. It’s up to the Doctor and the Mark II, as the only Starfleet officers left, to stop it.

Admittedly, that’s part of the thrill as well. This is one of the scant few times we see Romulans in Voyager, and (I think?) the only one where they’re in full plotting antagonist mode. An alien takeover where the remaining crew have to scheme to regain control is a Star Trek classic. (See also: “The Basics”.) And not for nothing, there’s something neat (and admittedly toyetic) about the Prometheus splitting into three sections and wrecking enemy vessels in its way. You can practically hear the producers saying, “You wanted more saucer separations in The Next Generation? Well, have all the saucer separations in the world!”

But it’s also a good reason to send the Doctor into action. The Romulan takeover and experimental ship are both good obstacles for him to have to leap over, but the meat of the episode is in the dynamic between him and the Mark II. Doc is the experienced, arguably sentient hologram who’s been through more in the last four years than most people go through in a lifetime. And the Mark II is the upgraded model, who’s new at this, having only been installed six weeks prior, but still thinks himself superior given his advanced programming and residence on the fancy new ship.

It makes for good character conflict! Amid all of these momentous happenings, Doc and the Mark II have a certain Lucy and Ethel quality to them, well-intentioned, but in over their heads and bumbling around with some comic charms. The fact that each of them thinks they’re the superior hologram, and yet they’re forced to work together by circumstances, adds flavor and character to a story that could have survived on novelty alone.

That ties back into the events on Voyager. In truth, I wish we had a little more time to flesh out the holograms’ conflict with the Romulans in this one. Things happen pretty quickly, and there’s not necessarily enough time to fully develop the shift in the dynamic between the Doctor and the Mark II.

But at the same time, I appreciate the show taking time to explore what a reconnection with the Federation might mean for the people on board Voyager who can do little but sit and wait and hope. Janeway not wanting to up the crew’s expectations, but updating letters home to her family and to her boyfriend, while Chakotay admits to penning one to his cousin just in case, is a nice human moment to insert into these epic proceedings.

I also appreciate the idea of Paris worrying that if Doc doesn’t return, he’ll be stuck away from the helm as the ship’s physician for the next several decades. Granted, “Message in a Bottle” spends way too much time on the concept. Tom and Harry working on a replacement EMH isn’t especially amusing, doesn’t really go anywhere (you get the impression they must have cut a scene resolving it once the Doctor returns), and doesn’t add much beyond Tom’s initial freak out that this could be his job forever.

The other side plot on this one sees B’Elanna and Seven butting heads, only to develop a certain mutual respect. The concept is a strong one, and frankly, again, I wish the episode had more time to develop it. But it’s a canny choice to focus on how the already prickly B’Elanna might react to the lacking-in-social-graces Seven when they have to work together, something the show’s already set up to an extent.

While I wish there was more acquiescence and signs of understanding of the friction on Seven’s side, there’s something amusing and a little bit heartening that what gets Torres to warm to Seven a bit ends up being Seven electrocuting the belligerent alien griping at Voyager for using their array. B’Elanna’s always been a bit direct and combative herself, so seeing that they have something in common (albeit something that makes Captain Janeway raise an eyebrow) is a nice way to build a bridge between them.

The episode means to build a bridge between the Doctor and the Mark II as well. You can see why they’d bristle, with the Mark II having home field advantage, newer medical information, and the arrogance of being the new model; and Doc having experience in the field, the evolution beyond his programming, and, as the dialogue makes a big point of for some reason, a sexual history to lord over his counterpart. The two of them bickering and bantering about those fault lines between them makes sense, and the character dynamic between them is rich.

This is where I tell you that Andy Dick (who portrays the Mark II) sucks as a person, and isn’t much better as a performer. That said, he’s surprisingly well cast as the Mark II. For someone who's supposed to be a snotty little twit, almost inherently annoying in his attitude and disposition, Dick can play that! He and Robert Picardo have a good rapport together, and while some of the technobabble and drama eludes a theoretically comedy-focused performer like Dick, he does alright as the overconfident young doctor who thinks he owns the world. (And even works in some solid physical comedy in his backwards attempt to enter a Jeffries tube.)

Klink and company do a good job of dramatizing how the pair end up developing a mutual respect of their own through the problem-solving this Romulan situation requires. I love the Doctor’s code-switching to convince the Romulan agent that he’s a harmless appliance, which speaks to the themes of the episode. He and the Mark II working together to incapacitate the Romulans with anesthetic gas leads to some great ruses, stand-offs, and triumphs. And the pair striving to figure out how to bluff, muddle through, and operate the ship in time to stop the Romulans from taking it leads to some great comic and triumphant moments for the both of them.

Because the truth is that neither one is equipped for this. Operating a funky new ship, near enemy territory, would be a challenge for any physicians, holographic or otherwise. The way that Doc eventually sees himself in the Mark II, and the possibility of growth, while the Mark II comes to respect what the Doctor has been through and accomplished, is a nice landing place for them both, especially when they’re able to defeat the bad guys and protect the ship from falling into the wrong hands.

Not only does it give the Doctor the satisfaction of saving the day, an achievement he’ll take to heart going forward, but it gives him the opportunity to connect with Starfleet headquarters and let them know what’s going on in the Delta Quadrant. The simple message he returns to Voyager with: that Starfleet knows they’re there, that it’ll do everything possible to rescue them, and that they’re not alone, makes this one of the most heartening landmark episodes about the crew’s efforts to return home. Kate Mulgrew in particular sells how meaningful it is to make contact with their comrades after all this time.

It’s the kind of story you couldn’t really do on The Original Series, or The Next Generation, or even Deep Space Nine. So much of what Voyager is, or at least should be, centers on the fact that these people are stranded, having to hold onto hope through struggles and separation. Too often, the series forgets that, with vanilla episodes that could fit into any Star Trek show. But now and again, it remembers with conviction, and gives us high water marks like this one, that remind us of the potential Voyager’s always had.

(Spoilers for later in the series: Hooray! It’s the Hirogen! I’d forgotten this is how they were introduced to the series. And given Seven’s, ahem, response to their belligerence, it’s no surprise that relations are a little frosty from here.)

(Spoilers for current Star Trek series: I’d forgotten about the Prometheus and its deep space mission, but it feels like a precursor to the Protostar vessel that appears in Star Trek: Prodigy, with its experimental tech and even a bit of its aesthetic.)