Infinite Regress

Jason -- 25 Nov 1998, 5:53 PM

Am I the only one not looking forward to "Infinite Regress"? I'm probably alone on this, but I can't think of another Voyager episode that I've ever been this apathetic about before it aired. Maybe it is the concept, maybe it's the prospect of another Seven of Nine episode, maybe it's just the fact that it's being brought to you by the creators of "Vis-a-Vis", or maybe it's the fact it has Naomi "I'm so cute I'm going to be the star of five more episodes" Wildman, but I'm not really looking forward to this episode at all.

If I didn't know it is Wednesday, I probably wouldn't have remembered to turn this episode on at all. (It's still an hour away so I may still forget)

Maybe the reason is that we've had tooo many intense character stories in a row. As nice as some of the have been I think I really was waiting for "Nothing Human" to come in and give some relief from all of that. I am very much looking forward to seeing the Doctor deal with the Cardassian surgeon.

But about "Infinite Regress"... Is anyone else less than enthralled about the prospects of watching this episode?

Annie -- 25 Nov 1998, 6:29 PM

Jason, don't count me in on not looking forward to viewing "Infinite Regress." I look forward to every single Voyager episode.

Possibly, you are not looking forward to it because it is a Seven ep, and she was shoved down our proverbial throats last season. I, myself have forgiven TPTB for that, at this time. I do enjoy Seven, and am curious to know more about her years with the Borg. The ep looks like she will be dealing with emotional feelings on her part in assimilating so many unwilling races/people. I think that she needs to grow in that way, for us to be able to continue to like her as "most" of us do at this point.

The "Seven of Nine" book was quite unfulfilling for me in that way. I would truly like to see Seven realize suffering for her part in destroying so many people. I would like see her feel the guilt. This episode seems to promise just that. If it doesn't, I will be disappointed again.

Anyhow, I am rambling on, and look forward to seeing Infinite Regress.

D'Alaire -- 25 Nov 1998, 8:55 PM

Infinite Permutations...Eric, I do pity you. This episode was full o' stuff well-put, so I really enjoyed IR. I'm not very keen on a Seven-centered episode this soon again, but this one worked for me.

I love psychology, in every way and form, but especially developmental and abnormal. It interests me to no end, and I love seeing variations of it in Trek. Though I'm certainly no expert in MPS (Multiple Personality Disorder--Baktag not included), I mainly like this ep for that offshoot study, a Borg with MPS. Before I rewatch IR again, I will be rehashing all my old texts, as I did after reading Pathways and seeing Extreme Risk.

Off the bat, I will say the sequences of "chaos" were truly frightening. In one way, it was a look inside what possibly is going on inside the mind of a person with MPS, and in a totally different way, it was a great reminder of what a terror the Borg truly are supposed to be. I loved that look within, and JLR performed it very well. It was incredibly interesting to me.

Also Seven's dealing with her imperfections, being unable to handle being less than perfect--sick--and not knowing how to show strength when down (reminded me of B'Elanna in Faces for one), was nice to see, as definitely was Mama Kate's support. "You hold on, even when you think it's hopeless" (approx.) was lovely. But the topic in itself was an excellent show of both Seven's arrogance and vulnerability.

Tuvok's desperate mild meld--where have I seen a desperate mind meld like that before?! I'm racking my brain, it's on the tip of my tongue! But it was cool to see. "All these new personalities floating around, it's too bad we can't find one for you," was classic, perfect Doc.

Seven under Horndog Son of K'Vohk's influence bit B'Elanna!!!! Aaaaauuuuugh!!!!! I nearly hit the floor! But what made it great, though I expected it, was the scene after with B'Elanna giving Seven the stare, and then --"Does this qualify as our second date?" Roar!!! And Doc's, "Just consider me your chaperone." Snort!

But B'Elanna got right to work and was the Engineer this week, which I loved, of course. ; ) Even so, I really wanted B'Elanna to beat the bolts out of Seven--heh, heh--or least whack her good, but I'd have been pretty d@mned stunned, too, in her position...eeee. (cringe)

And what was that about Janeway's line--"Don't tell me it's come to blows between those two" (approx)? Huh? Huh?

There were a lot of great lines in this. "Naomi Wildman, sub-unit of Ensign Samantha Wildman" made me spit my espresso. Lot of good stuff like that. (Agh! What was Tuvok's joke in the ready room?!) And a 47 so blatant that even I caught it--in the PD sub-whatevers (I forgot what she was referring to exactly).

Miss Pomers was cute again this week. I'll decide in a re-watch whether or not I'm taken with her b-plots. What I liked on first view, though, is that she served as a part of the plot, even if little meaning was put into the "get well" pic she drew for Seven, and Seven's decision to "tutor" the little sub-unit in the end. Was it because one of Seven's personalities had bonded in a way with Naomi, and Seven was looking to...explore some of those personalities? It looks like it, but it could have been a little clearer.

This was a great plot, with AOTW used effectively--meet up, explain their purpose, go away, maybe make the end a bit more perilous. But if you're not going to explore them, make a little do a lot and get out. They did that very well this time around...unlike other eps--Grr.

IR was also good for its transitions. There was build up and humor throughout, answers and the inevitable emergency, with a failure that, before it failed, had me glancing at the clock. And just when I thought the pace was starting to drag, it picked back up.

I know there's more, and my little nits will have to come later when I've had a chance to see it without distractions (I had little cousins running in and out throughout). There was a lot to look at this week, which brings me to one of my little...observations.

Was it just me that noticed, in the opening shot of Seven in the regeneration chamber, the the blinking light lit up her breasts and crotch like those neon X-rated girlie signs? Hmm.

But a great ep -- with Senior Staff drinking coffee at the meeting and Seven acting out those personalities (great job on that), &c that's I've already said. Thumbs up from me, Ebert. ; )

Jason -- 25 Nov 1998, 8:23 PM

Well, I was wrong-- this episode was quite good after all. I think I was too worried about the multiple (yawn) personality aspect of the episode. And when the Doctor told Seven that she had the equivalent to this syndrome I did groan. Please, no more 20th century terms in diagnosing problems in the 24th century! "Clinical Depression" from "Extreme Risk" was enough. It strikes me as something that could potentially become very easily dated.

Medical terms not withstanding, this episode was pretty good on the whole. At times it seemed as though it was intended solely as a showcase for the talents of Jeri Ryan. And she certainly did do a great job in most of her performances. The characters were surprisingly well written and had some nice continuity attached to them. I thought it was very interesting that Janeway noted that amongst them was a Krenim scientist. But at the same time I find it surprising that Janeway talked as if debating over temporal mechanics with them so stereotypically -- after all, Janeway has only ever met one of them. And Kes' warnings couldn't have detailed too much about the Krenim as she herself only weathered one attack from them in "Before and After". Despite those quibbles those references were ones that I appreciated nonetheless. (I also loved the continuity of Klingon mating rituals being initiated by a bite on the cheek. I knew I'd seen it before but it took me awhile before I remembered that it comes from TNG's "Genesis".)

The only other real objection I had with this episode was with the crew encountering yet another Borg cube. If stumbling on Borg ships are this common, why haven't the Borg sent more than one ship to assimilate the AQ? The mystery and awe is taken out of the Borg when we see them in some form every four or five episodes. Although I think that dealing with the ventriculum was well done, I find it hard to believe that crew would be able to inhibit the ability to adapt of any Borg technology much less the heart of the vessel.

I really liked the cinematography inside the mind meld. I think that it represented Tuvok trying to find Seven through all the chaotic memories pretty well. (It was also nice to see so many alien species and so much colour! Voyager's walls tend to get drab after awhile.)

A question... so all those memories are within Seven? How is this so? I don't recall if they explained it. I thought they were being transmitted to her. If they're really stored within her, I don't understand why they would disappear when the ventriculum was cut off...

Aside from my quibbles and points of confusion, I thought this episode held together fairly well dramatically... a nice entry, but all the same, I'm looking forward to at last what may be a fun episode in "Nothing Human". Voyager so far has had a lot of episodes with emotional baggage attached. And while I like that direction, it gets to be a little wearisome when we get four or five in a row. I'm ready for cheesy sci fi as only Jeri Taylor can do it now.

D'Alaire -- 25 Nov 1998, 9:19 PM

Though I adore the psych., and as much as I thrive on picking the Voyager's brains (not necessarily through angst, though), you're right in that it's been pretty dang crammed into these first eps, ITF aside.

I'm more than ready for some non-baggage studies, too. Though I don't expect NH will be all that "light," it will be a little aside the heavy burden of being one's self zone.

Oh yes, I'm definitely ready for next week! (Gasp...sob!)

Leonie -- 25 Nov 1998, 9:25 PM

What?!?!, Eric you didn't see it?!? I was jumping up and down thinking about a certain line and idea that I knew you would have absolutely loved!!!

Tell you what? I'll save it for Sunday!!
Nah I won't.

It was the time when Seven declared her romantic intentions to B'Elanna and bit her on the face. I thought to myself, two hot Voyager Babes, fighting each other, Seven in the new blue suite and there is an implication of hot Klingon loving to come, coupled as always with a good fight?

Is someone scraping Eric off the TV screen now?
But you didn't see it.

I enjoyed this one also. Ryan is an excellent actress, I got lost in her performance as the woman looking for her son in Wolf 359. And let's not forget the scene with Mama Kate.

Lots of good lines in there. Doc's about getting Tuvy a personality. The second date and chaperone thing. The fact that B'Elanna thought that Tom had put Seven up to a playing a joke on her. (hmm P/T alert!! Normal couple activities revealed. I liked that)

I was a little afraid when I saw Naomi with Seven and I will admit to giving a groan. But she was in moderation and this was an adult ST show and she was definitely a child in an adult environment. Not a child in an adult environment which was trying hard to be childish like OUAT.

I had a couple of little things that made me go hmm..

I was surprised that Action Kate wanted to give the instrument of Borg annihilation right back to a race so that they could kill off the Borg. I thought that she might have pulled another "Prey" decision with the piece of technology that she was holding. But she didn't. I guess that pulling a fast one on Capn Kate and getting on her shit list is one fast way of getting her to obey the Prime directive.

She also wanted to leave the debris field without even taking another peak. Not our third and fourth season Janeway by a long shot. I'm not saying that I don't agree, I'm just pointing some things out.

Did anyone else see the oblique reference to "I Borg" in TNG? Actually I should say parallel (universe). Picard did not send the virus into the Collective. Janeway let this other race do exactly that.

I did have a comment about the JetC discussion.

That seemed a bit off to me.

Why are we having this discussion about who was right and who was wrong about the integration of Seven when she is ill? Chak's objection were not about whether or not she could survives an individual, but whether or not she could think of herself as one and not act as a member of the collective betray the ship and seek to get them assimilated.

Seven has shown that she does in fact think as an individual (although she still doesn't speak as one. Nope, apparently there is no Starfleet 24th century issue of Roget's Thesaurus, Terry :-) or if there is Seven hasn't read it yet) (And now, horrors of horror, Naomi is learning to speak as a Borg drone also!!!) She has proven herself in that respect. And it is obvious that Chak thinks so. So why is Janeway doubting that in this moment?

And it seems awful soon for it too. This woman does not give up easily. And neither does she admit that she's wrong easily also. So why is she doing it here? So TPTB can give us a chance to hear doubt herself or question her judgement? And what difference does it make anyway. She was right. That's why I enjoyed Scorpion. For once Janeway came face to face with the knowledge that she was WRONG!!!!

IF that is the case, it was not the scenario for it. I can think of hundreds of times that she could have and should have questioned her decisions. But the decision of Seven, and in this instance it was just off.

All in all a good show, acting, writing and story line. A keeper. (As if there's one I don't have) and a re-watchable episode.

Sigh,
The board is sure quiet tonight.
Thanks D'A, Jason et al. I thought I would be the only person to write something tonight.

Terry -- 26 Nov 1998, 12:37 AM

Which reminds me of another hackneyed scene. Janeway tells Chakotay, "Maybe you were right about Seven." Oh man, I was groaning. I thought, *Now he will tell her that he's thought about and has now changed his mind. He will argue her original point-of-view to her.* And he did. I HATE it when I can predict exactly what someone will say in such a situation.

It was just a case of the writer trying to reinforce that Janeway's risks always work out. I would have enjoyed the story more if Chakotay had been a little petty or pessimistic and said, "Maybe you were wrong."

Roxanne -- 27 Nov 1998, 10:08 AM

I had a different take on that scene. I saw it more as Janeway saying "I'm exhausted. I'm concerned and I can't do anything but be supportive for her since I'm the one besides Tuvok that she trusts the most."

Of all things, a captain likes to feel in control. This is a time when she wasn't in control and couldn't do anything to gain back that control.

Yes, the comments Chakotay made were cliche, but more to tell Janeway that things would be okay.

So call me the hopeless optomist.

Terry -- 26 Nov 1998, 12:15 AM

Infinite Regress was uninteresting.

I didn't really dislike it but never was excited by the story. It seemed to me to just be a showcase for Jeri Ryan's acting skills. She did a good job played very several very different characters. But it all seemed rather pointless to me.

Mindy pointed out to me that the show missed a chance to explore Seven's psyche more realistically. If Seven has these other personalities within her, she could have faced them and dealt with them. Instead they just popped out and never interacted with her, one another, or the other crew in any meaningful manner. I would have preferred a story where these personalities were more aware of the situation.

Tuvok's mind-meld scene typifies that idea. He doesn't communicate with any of the other personalities; he just struggle physically in some weird (and okay cool-looking) psyche-space. He grabs Seven and saves her life. It was more like magic than psychology.

After a while, all of the new personalities popping out became ridiculous to me. It reminded me of Tom when he freaked out in sickbay in Threshold when he started to attack Janeway, talk about pizza, ask for a kiss, mention losing his virginity. It crossed over into farce.

Good things. I liked Naomi's scenes with Seven. But with a caveat. Seven needs to have a real human relationship with someone on the ship to further explore her character. Apparently, the writers have decided against that relationship being with any of the regulars. I look for much more Naomi and Seven (without having read the spoilers). My small gripe is that Naomi will get more airtime than many on the regular cast this season.

Mindy thought the AOTW was completely unnecessary. I have to agree. Braga and Co. seem unable to write a script with just a personal story without any external enemies or spatial anomalies. Species 6339? just added an unneeded complication to what could have been a more compelling psychodrama.

More nits: Trek cliches. When B'Elanna is trying to dampen the Borg Viniculum?, she says, "The power levels are going down ... 80% ... 75% ...." I knew that the levels would start going up and the attempt would fail. Voyager writers are such hacks with that cliche. The first technobabble solution always, almost works, ... and then fails. Boring.

Janeway's arrogance. I can't say that I strongly disagree with Janeway's decision ... but she's interfering with another species' fight for survival from the Borg. In order to save one single life of a friend, she is willing to risk ruin of Species 6339's plan to fight the Borg. She did so, at first, unwillingly but then refused to let them have the Borg Viniculm back immediately. No time for another poll, I guess.

I was surprised at Seven's agreement to Tuvok's mind-meld. She asked if it had risks for Tuvok. When told, "Yes, but it could help you," she agrees. I was expecting her to refuse Tuvok's offer and refuse to risk his life and health. Why did the writer have her ask if she didn't care?

The Klingon persona was overdone. Too violent and moronic. Why pick up a vegetable when it's obvious that it's not meat? And why trash the mess hall? And why be so quick to jump the first Klingon female? Aren't they supposed to mate for life? And the Ferengi just seemed stupid. (Okay, most Ferengi are morons.)

The episode seemed to just be based on the high concept, "Seven has Borg multiple-personality disorder." And the writer just tossed out wildly different personalities to have Jeri play without bothering to have it really matter. Bottom line: not bad but something of a pointless muddle.

Mr. Mac. -- 26 Nov 1998, 9:08 AM

Infinite Regret. Ditto, Terry. Everything you said, I thought. The best critic was my wife and both cats. They all fell asleep on the couch this morning while watching it.

Basically, the entire episode consisted of slapping together as many different, identifiable persona and having Seven of Nine switch between them. There was no plot to speak of, and each persona didn't have a purpose.

The best moment of the entire episode was Seven's presence in Engineering after she (as a male Klingon) came on to B'Elanna. B'Elanna says something like, "Is this considered to be our second date?"

That's all for now. Hey, Flite, still waiting for the numbers from the last episode.

Vic G. -- 26 Nov 1998, 11:24 AM

Terry, I enjoyed reading your comments about the show. You expressed everything I was thinking about saying. The only thing I want to add is that I did enjoy seeing 7/9 in a different light. I get so bored with her stern, disciplined personality... very rarely smiling or laughing. It was a pleasure seeing her go from that Borg persona to the fun-loving little girl personality in a blink of an eye. I thought Jeri was wonderful but the story itself was just mediocre.

Roxanne -- 26 Nov 1998, 2:06 PM

Terry, we have to stop meeting like this. I keep agreeing with your comments. I have nothing more to say about it except, can we have another menace besides the Borg please?

Carol -- 26 Nov 1998, 3:06 PM

Sybil? Sybil? Who am I speaking to now Sybil?
I'm going to make these comments short. Thanksgiving dinner is going be ready soon and I'm hungry. :-D

Underwhelming, but OK episode, much better than Seven last episode. I enjoyed lots of parts of it, and they made up for the many bits I didn't.

-- Jeri Ryan's no Sally Field, but she was able to play most of her multiple personalities with distinction. My favorites were the little girl and the Ferengi. Though her Vulcan was pretty non-distinctive from Seven's regular cold, emotionless persona.

-- Seven's scenes with Naomi were the highlights of the episode for me. Since Seven missed her childhood in a way, it's nice to see her going back and reliving it again by "playing" with Naomi.

-- Katie the Compassionate Mother-figure and Katie the Arrogant reared herself in this episode (Compassionate for Seven's plight, Arrogant with the AOTW), but I didn't mind. She actually seemed quite willing to hand over that Borg-whatever to the AOTW, but wanted to protect her own first, which is fitting with who she is.

BTW, I agree that while the J/C scene was nice, it seemed slightly out of place to have that discussion, though I think I understand what the writers were going for as it took place after Seven confessed that she didn't like dealing with the voices she missed back in One. This episode was the flip side of that episode over a year ago. Seven missed the voices Janeway disconnected her from and, now that they were back, she couldn't deal with them and didn't want to loose her individuality to them.

-- The whole last act between Seven and Tuvok was ridiculous IMO. For a Vulcan, Tuvok got quite "emotional" at times, shouting the "Your mind, to my mind..." mantra and then calling calling to Seven.

Anyway, that's all for now. I may go more in-depth later.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

ande -- 26 Nov 1998, 3:33 PM

Well this is odd ... I usually agree with Terry and disagree with Jason. Not so this episode. I rather enjoyed it. I liked the different personalities in 7 and the scenes with sub-unit Naomi Wildman.

There were a lot of funny lines in this one even though the episode was a little psycho and scary. Is it going to be a running joke that anytime someone wishes to mate they pick B'Elanna? I loved it when 7 bit her on the cheek. Is Tom rubbing off on B'Elanna? Instead of kicking 7's ass, she made a d@mn funny joke.

I agree that the Janeway/Chakotay discussion about 7 was stupid. Why is Janeway questioning herself now? 7 is fitting in better than even Janeway could have hoped.

Got to go, time for turkey.

Mrs. Mac -- 26 Nov 1998, 7:07 PM

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! I hope you are all home, safe and sound. You west coast people are probably in clean-up stage about now. I'm stuffed. The turkey has been devoured, the company gone (except for my mother), and Mac, mom and I sat down to watch another turkey: Infinite Regress. I tried watching it last night (early this morning) but I was too tired.

To recap:

"I am Borg. Sybil of Borg. You may call me Seven of Nine, no, Twelve, no, 47 and Counting." I see the movie now. Sally Field playing "Seven of Several Dozen" and Joanne Woodward as her champion, Captain Janeway.

Was there a plot? A Borg subspace signal interferes with Seven's circuitry. As a result, personalities of the people she assimilated begin to emerge to the point when Seven's own characteristics are overwhelmed by their presence. It was a showcase for Jeri Ryan. I was amused by the initial appearance of the child in Seven but I was annoyed by most of the other personalities. The Vulcan was too much like Seven. The Klingon was in heat and Torres almost let her have it with a pipe that qualified as one of Ginny's phallic symbols. The Ferengi was particularly annoying. Did anyone think that she moved just like C3PO in Star Wars? The bent arms, the short steps? If she had a cigar (don't go there) and a moustache she would look just like Groucho Marx.

Notes:

A Torres slip? Torres was surprised to hear that an organism could attack technology. Doesn't Titanic decay qualify as such? Essentially it is an organism eating away at our own inventiveness, yes?
A hairdresser from Heaven: Seven's hair was messy while she was on the biobed. When she got up not a strand was out of place. I want to meet her hairdresser.
Flash! Makeup man runs out of ideas! Did anyone notice that the skull of species 6339 looked just like the creature that attaches itself to Torres next week?
Conversation that made no sense:
Seven: "Doctor, you've shown me a great deal of patience."
Doc: "Not at all."
Huh?

In short, I wasn't impressed. Naomi was cute. Shouldn't she be in school? It must have been the Thanksgiving holiday on Voyager.

Let's recap the season for the women of Voyager:

1) Janeway suffered from severe guilt, depression, and frustration.
2) Torres suffered from severe depression.
3) Seven suffered from Sybilitis.
4) Harry suffered from 15 years of guilt to the point that he actually said the word "sex" without giggling. Oops, sorry, Harry's not a woman.

Contest.

47 suborders of the Prime Directive - spoken by Naomi.
One near coffee sip by Janeway. Close but no cigar (don't go there).
One irrelevant by Seven, which doesn't count because she said, "Irrelevant, I am Borg."
One species, Species 6339.

Possible 47 situations to which I challenge Ginny to find:

· One of Seven's personalities said that she had 12 brothers, 9 older and 3 younger.
· While Naomi played (?) with Seven, she said "Red 14, 4".
· Deck 9, section 23.
· 18 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 hour.
· 027 mark 3.
· Origin group 124 option 22 theta.
· Wolf 359.
· Stardate 52356.2

[Don't forget the 173 Delta Quad Species]

I won't even mention how nuts my mother thinks we are as we wrote these possible 47s down.

There were several references to the number 13: 13 new neural patterns, Tomba was assimilated 13 years ago, 13 Species 6339 died from the Borg, Power down to 13 %. We should have had a "13 mentions" category! Mrs.Mac

Shawnster -- 26 Nov 1998, 10:27 PM

About Tomba's assimilation. Tomba was assimilated 13 years ago. That would be in 1985 or stardate 40000.1 or something close to that. Two years before the first episode of TNG in 1987 on stardate 41153.7. The first enounter with the Borg came during the second season episode "Q Who" when Q flung the Enterprise-D into Borg space on stardate 42761.3

Of course, the argument could be made that the Borg were present in Federation space during the end of season one. Several outposts along the Romulan Neutral Zone were wiped out by an unknown force. (TNG's "The Neutral Zone").
During "Q Who" the destruction is described as being just like that caused by the Borg, but no definite connections are
ever made.

Hmmm....

Cmdr. 8472 -- 27 Nov 1998, 7:14 AM

I was like, "Hello? Voyager people? Ship have torpedos and phasers. Torpedos and phasers can be used to destroy things. Use torpedos and phasers to destroy Borg whatever it was."

The ending was really, really predictable. After they had disabled the thing, I said out loud, "Beam it into space." and right then, Janeway said something like, "Beam it into space." Then again, there really wasn't another way to solve the problem.

Shawnster -- 26 Nov 1998, 9:50 PM

Infinte Reflections. First off, kudos to Jeri Ryan on her outstanding performance. I thought the multiple personalites and sudden changes between them were very well done. So did my dad. It's not often he asks me first if I watched Voyager (usually I ask him) but today he did. He was just as impressed. He even likes Naomi Wildman.

As for me, that little welp better not be saving the ship every week. I'd like to like her but could just as easily shove her out the nearest airlock if she proves to be too much of a child prodigy.

My only big question about "Infinite Regress" is: Why didn't they just destroy the borg contraption? One good torpedo, heck, probably a phaser blast would do the trick. If that didn't work, they could always beam it aboard then scatter the molecules.

Another complaint: Why did they sit there and take the poinding while B'Elanna was trying to deactivate the borg thingie? They should have been running at warp 9 the whole time. Instead they just sat there and allowed themselves to get shot. They only split after B'Elanna shut the bloody thing down and beamed it out into space.

Also, for such powerful soundings ships, they sure didn't do a lot of damage to Voyager.

Now, back to Jeri Ryan. Two weeks in a row she delivers a supurb performance (Timeless was just last week wasn't it?) She has proven over and over again to be a versitle character actor.

Nice to see we're moving beyond the Janeway vs. Seven scenes. Janeway here retained the role of mother figure, worrying over a sick child. I disagree with our captain though, when she told Seven she understood what she was going through. Oh, really? When was the last time Janeway suffered from multiple personalities?

Next week: I don't even want to think about it. Even in the previes that big bug stuck on B'Elanna's chest looks absolutely B rate. Shudder.

O. Deus -- 26 Nov 1998, 10:24 PM

Ethical Question Regarding Seven's Personalities. Since technically these aren't created personalities as in actual multiple personality syndrome but actual people including Starfleet officers who were at one point assimilated by the Borg...it seems that there might be an ethical obligation to try and extract their neural patterns into the holodeck. The core of a person after all is the mind and if there were a thousand people inside Seven, they still do deserve to live.

Jason -- 26 Nov 1998, 10:51 PM

Ethical Question Regarding Seven's Personalities. You raise an intriguing question, but one that I'd raise is whether the personalities we saw manifested in Seven of Nine were actual consciousness or if they were stored reactions... only a part of an individual rather than the person's full being. If the case is that it was simply a piece of that person's consciousness there probably wouldn't be much point to trying to restore them. We've seen before that Borg have programmed physical autonomic functions that can be activated even after death... it's conceivable that similar functions exist within the brains of drones as well... storing certain personality traits for whatever reason. (Hey, I'm not saying it's likely, I'm just saying it's possible.) Personally, I don't even get why these personalities exist *within* Seven of Nine. I thought the viniculum was transmitting them to her. I think I have to re-watch this episode because I'm still searching for an explanation about this entire aspect of the show.

About saving the identities, however: transferring consciousness in the holodeck is probably pretty prohibitive... in "Our Man Bashir" we saw that neural patters take up a lot of space. I haven't seen "Lifesigns" in a long time so I don't know if this was confirmed in that episode as well, but if what is established in "Our Man Bashir" is consistent, at the very best Voyager may only be able to save four or five individuals, but that would come at the cost of much of the ship's operational capacity.

Although it may be preferable to try and save these people.... this is a phenomena which Voyager's scientists and even Seven herself barely understand. Bringing these personalities to the surface almost caused the loss of Seven in this episode. They may not to needlessly risk this again, especially as there's a certain amount of security in knowing that these "people" are safe and not going anywhere in the back of Seven's mind.

O. Deus -- 26 Nov 1998, 11:17 PM

Well a test of consciousness as opposed to reflex. The personalities were able to react to new stimuli, the Ferengi was able to deal with the existence of Voyager, the Klingon was able to deal with the existence of Seven and while they didn't form new schema which might be preferable, they weren't simply running on a loop like the Wolf 359 mother. These personalities existed inside Seven because the Borg collective eras individuality and the result spreads the neural patterns around suppressing any individual pattern.

OMB actually contradicted most of Trek which showed that personalities can be stored inside computers without that much trouble, OMB just needed to manufacture a crisis, Lifesigns on the other hand stored a personality inside a fairly tiny computer chip, so did Ship In A Bottle.

While your explanation may or may not be correct, the issue was never raised. The personalities were treated like real multiple personalities which are artificial as opposed to the real personalities of actual people.

Mrs. Mac -- 27 Nov 1998, 7:38 AM

Interesting rewrite of IR, O'Deus. What an interesting thought, O.Deus. I think your idea would have made a much better plot - or even a plot at all. To take it even further, what if personalities appeared in Seven that the crew recognized? For example, what if Seven's parents appeared? What if KES suddenly appeared (wouldn't that be a rip!)? Or even someone from the Alpha quadrant who went on an exploration mission and was assimilated. Someone like Janeway's Mark? Or Harry's parents? Wow. You hit the jackpot with your idea.

Even without conjecturing on whether or not to allow the entities to live, certainly the crew would want them to manifest themselves so that they can 'speak' to them for as long as possible.

I think the writers missed a golden opportunity.

D'Alaire -- 27 Nov 1998, 8:10 AM

Ooooh, I like it!!! Actually, when I watched it, I'd sort of hoped (expected) that would happen -- like the Starfleet Officer would have been a friend of Janeway's (or someone else's) that had just disappeared (since the time index, as mentioned somewhere else, set the officer's assimilation a few years before SF knew about the Borg), or if B'Elanna had actually known that Klingon from wherever, something like that.

That was filed into the little nits I'd had but didn't have the time to go into. But yes, they missed out on that one.

Michelle -- 27 Nov 1998, 10:39 AM

Infinite Seven - Perpetual Seven aka All Seven All The Time. I had to say it.

Actually I thought the episode was pretty entertaining. Not Trek entertaining . . . but okay nonetheless. I enjoyed watching Jeri "do" the other personas. Serious eye-candy for the gentlemen as well!!

I didn't even want to toss out Little Naomi. It's important for us to *see* her occasionally but "Captain's Assistant"? PLEASE let's not make her a part of the Senior Staff (or give her equal screen time anyway). Memories of "Acting Ensign Wesley Crusher" abound.

*And do you suppose the writers of Voyager and soap operas work off the same calendar? I "get it" that Naomi is alien and therefore grows at an accelerated rate . . . but wasn't she born in the second season. They do that on soaps too . . . age the children to make them "more interesting." Not that I watch any soaps mind you - at least not anymore.*

I guess I am getting a bit tired of the "psych" episodes. Too much like work to me!

I agreed with many of the "nits" that folks have posted. Janeway/Chakotay's little talk . . . Tuvok mind-melding with Seven . . . but overall, I enjoyed it.