As Voyager shuts power down, Neelix goes to keep the Borg children happy by telling them the story of an alien lifeform who tried to take over the ship.
Hang on, another Voyager episode I quite liked. What’s going on? Despite the immensely cheesy title, there’s no actual haunting going on in this episode, so it immediately scores higher for not being a dreadful ghost story which is totally out of place in Star Trek. Neelix even manages to be quite endearing too, especially the way he leaves the children to decide whether his story is true or not.
The reason it works is that it makes the ship very claustrophobic and (almost) scary, separating the crew so that they have to fend for themselves. Anyone who’s ever spent time in a pitch black room with creaking noises around them will be well aware of how the crew feels when the creature they’ve inadvertently picked up starts shutting down the ship’s systems. In fact, although it’s a less malevolent spirit, the entity is reminiscent of the original series’ Jack the Ripper creature, inhabiting the computer system and forcing Janeway to do what it wants.
Kate Mulgrew gives a fantastic performance as Janeway’s ship is taken from her section by section, especially towards the end when she is locked out of her escape pod and made to do the creature’s bidding, refusing to help and nearly dying as a result. It nicely shows her strength of character and her commitment to her mission.
There must be nothing more frightening than the possibility of losing all control, especially if you are trapped on a piece of advanced technology in the middle of nowhere, and this episode is an exciting and enjoyable piece of television.
****
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