Survival Instinct



Rating




Favorite Quotes


"I don't enjoy crowds." --- Seven of Nine

"I am pleased that you are pleased." --- Tuvok

"Doesn't it look like Christmas morning in here, Commander?" --- Janeway

Synopsis


A Borg sphere enters the atmosphere of an alien planet and crashes on the surface. Only a handful of drones survive the crash. One of them is Seven of Nine.

Several years later the U.S.S. Voyager docks at a Markonian Outpost, a massive space station populated my many different alien cultures. Captain Janeway decides to open Voyager for guests, and dozens of aliens flood the ship. Pretty soon, Janeway's ready room is overflowing with gifts from the various alien delegations onboard.

In the Mess Hall Seven of Nine is approached by a strange man, who is selling Borg equipment. She purchases some when she realizes that it is from her unamatrix. Seven leaves the Mess Hall and heads for the Borg cargo bay. Once she gets there, she has the computer begin scanning the equipment to verify its origin. She then steps into her alcove to regenerate.

Three former Borg drones then enter to cargo bay and try to extract information from Seven. She stops the regeneration process in time to stop them. They won't give up easily. Luckily, Tuvok and a few members of his security staff enter the cargo bay and stun the hostile drones.

They are brought to sickbay, where Seven admits that they used to be in her unimatrix in the Collective. Janeway has the Doctor wake the drones up. They tell the Captain tht their minds are still linked, even though they have escaped the Collective. They were hoping that Seven could determine why this had happened to them so they could become individuals. Seven agrees to assist them.

Later, Janeway has a little talk with Tom and Harry in her ready room. While playing an alien game in one of the outpost's bars, they got into a little fight. After hearing their story about how the incident got started, she dismisses them. Before they go she asks whether or not they won. They proudly admit that they did indeed win the game. Even so, Janeway decides to confine them to their quarters.

In the Borg cargo bay, Seven and her friends access each others thoughts in order to determine why the three are still linked to each other. They discover that when their Borg sphere crashed on some planet eight years ago, memories of their former lives came back to them. Everyone but Seven had been assimilated while they were adults, so they began to make plans to escape the Collective. Seven had been assimilated when she was a little child, however, and she didn't really know anything but the Collective. Afraid to leave it, she reassimilated the others against their will, and she had the nearest Borg vessel pick them up.

When the others learn about this, they sever the link and begin to assault Seven. They are brought to sickbay, where the Doctor informs Seven that there are only two ways to free them. They can either be assimilated again and returned to the Borg, or they can remove the rest of the Borg equipment from their bodies. If they did that, they would only have one month to live. In the end, Seven decides that they would rather be free for one month than spend the rest of their lives as drones.

The Doctor removes the Borg equipment, and Seven's friends awaken as individuals. One of them decides to stay on the outpost until he dies. Another decides to visit a nearby planet. The last one, a woman who used to serve abord the U.S.S. Excalibur, decides to remain with Voyager's crew until her death. With everything back to normal, Voyager departs the Markonian outpost and resumes its course for home.


My Thoughts


"Survival Instinct" was an interesting and refreshing episode. Dennis McCarthy created a wonderful musical score, and the special effects were great. As usual, the acting was superb. Seven's friends were nicely portrayed, as was Seven herself. Kate Mulgrew (Janeway) did a superb job in the scenes that she was in. I was thrilled to see the space station, since Voyager doesn't often stop at many. It looked very realistic. I wish we could have seen the inside. It was fun to see Voyager's corridors so alive with activity, and I loved seeing the various gifts Janeway received from the alien delegations who came onboard. I especially enjoyed seeing the plant grab her hair. Along with that, I also enjoyed seeing the mob in the Mess Hall begging for more of Neelix's food. I'm pleased that Voyager has another new crewmember, even though she's only going to live for a month. I really hope that we see some interaction between her and Seven in the near future. Oh, it was nice to see Naomi Wildman again. Well, "Survival Instinct" was filled with humor and drama, and it's everything that Voyager should be. It's also a great way to continue the 6th Season of Trek's only remaining series. My Rating : 10.00 out 10.00 -- NEXT WEEK : B'Elanna finds herself on the Barge of the Dead.


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