“Projections”

Wow, I find it amazing how most of the Voyager episodes you have rated four stars are my least favourite (and Voyager remains my favourite series, even though I have recently warmed to DS9). I thought this one started out good, though I wondered why The Doctor didn't find it incredulous that the Doctor's program was only activated ("when a ship-wide Red Alert was initiated", according tot he computer) AFTER the ship had been evacuated. But as soon as Barclay came in (and I love Barclay, by the way, but not here) it was so blatently obvious how the episode would end that I completely lost interest. And the "punch" at the end really felt like the script came out too short and they had to add something in just to meet the 43-minute episode length!

I guess it all goes to show that if you want to nitpick something, anything, you're always going to find material. And when you don't care, you can concentrate on what really matters.

This episode was OK, but far from a four star rating. It's one of Brannon Braga's weaker efforts.

Another case of disagreement Jammer. Sorry. Having watched this episode a second time, I'm able to understand the twists and turns better. And it is fun to Dwight Schultz again. But this is the type of VOY episode I care for the least: the holodeck/tech problem episode which has nothing to do with Voyager's "lost in the Delta Quandrant" situation.

It is a well-acted episode, but contributes nothing in the grand scheme of things (although that could be said about most VOY episodes). This would be an interesting idea on TNG, but for me I just feel overall this is a waste of an episode. Especially so early in VOY's run. Unfortunately, in the end, "Projections" come across (to me) as an example of just how quickly the writers were moving away from the series' original premise.

"oh, piece of shit, it was supposed to be a bottle show... I was out the door". Nah, just kiddinng. That was Maurice Hurley's musings on "Shades of Gray". Very enjoyable episode, this one.

Despite the weak ending where Janeway explains everything, this was a fun episode, with Picardo & Dwight Schultz making a delightful team.
I also liked the moment where Doc tells Kes that she's beautiful. I always suspected that he had developed feelings for her, similar to Odo's for Kira on DS9.
Sadly, this potential was undermined when TPTB got rid of Kes & not Neelix-UGH!!!!

I liked this episode because it raises important questions in Artificial Intelligence. The main issue is "when does an AI entity know that it exists in the right space for itself". Allied to this is "how can an AI entity recognize and possibly communicate between multiple instantiations of itself. This story is closely allied to Vernor Vinge's award winning story "The Cookie Monster" and I suspect Vinge sketched an orignal story for this episode. But the original story would have had to deal with something more complex - "how does an AI entity know that what it is seeing is a projection from reality, even if that may be a holo-projection, or is actually a delusion generated inside its programming that has no existence in reality outside of its own program. I suspect this last aspect was considered too complex for the average viewer to grasp and was written out of the script. But its skeleton remains in the program having the roles of real people and holo-people reversed - a delusional variation that the Doctor would find very entertaining. At the end of the more complex version, the Doctor would have needed to have his delusional variants of himself deleted and some checks put in that he did not create any more alter-egos.

I like this episode (I like pretty much any episode that focuses on the Doctor) but the main problem with these kind of episodes is we know that none of it's really happening from the start which makes them hard to get into.

I didn't think this was a 4-star outing. There are much better 4-star episodes in Star Trek than this. Maybe for Voyager, it's 4 stars... but I can even think of several 4-star voyager episodes that absolutely crush this one: Timeless, Drone, and Living Witness. I would say these are the 3 best voyager episodes ever made. Projections is far worse.

The problem I have with this episode is that it really doesn't fit in with the series' premise, and is forgettable.

The ending is the real culprit - it has no impact at all. I just say there, thinking to myself: "Is that it?"

If there was some higher concept about a sentient being in a holographic program trying to come out... or his program becoming more self-aware... it was lost on me. The impact just wasn't there. I can think of many other episodes in TNG that did this kind of concept so much better.

This is a 3-star episode. It's interesting, and seeing Barkley is all well and good. The ending is so lack-luster that this alone creates an anti-climatic payoff that I don't think can be aware 4-stars at all.

I have to join team disagreement over here too. This was a good episode. But, I don't think it was a four star episode.

I particularly agree with kieran. It's hard to get into an episode you know will inevitably be irrelevant to future episodes. Plus, this show could have been done on any Star Trek series. It almost feels like a hold over from TNG.

But, that said, I loved watching the Doctor and Barclay interact. They were wonderful together. I also liked the moment with Kes when he tells her she's beautiful. I even enjoyed the break neck twists at the end of the episode. All in all, I'd say this was one of Brannon Braga's better scripts.

This one gets three stars from me.

I was able to buy into most of the explanations given for everything plot-wise. The radiation rationale within the program was well thought out, but the true nature of the problem was not. I would have liked a more specific reason for why the program malfunction was working towards convincing the Doctor to destroy the entire program. For example if it were a virus planted by some rival EMS holoprogram designer, that might work better for me. Simply having Chakotay say it was a malfunction seemed like a cop-out and anticlimactic. Other than that, I enjoyed the acting chemistry, humor, and 'ship in a bottle' theme.

I wonder if Barclay's cousin Frank is an intentional dig at late-stage Scrappy Doo-ish A-Team addition Frankie.

I agree with the four stars whole-heartedly. Every time you finally get a handle on things another layer of the onion is peeled off and you're left even more bewildered than before. The Doctor really shines as he tries to power through it all with logic even when confronted with premises that'd convince an ordinary man his sanity had abandoned him.

While this had the workings of a good episode, it was disappointing for a few reasons:

- As mentioned before, it's hard to get into because we know how it'll end. Clearly, the Doctor is not actually on Jupiter Station, but on Voyager. When you get down to it, there's no real conflict to be felt.
- So much talking. Barclay appears and more or less explains the entire plot in one sitting, then Chakotay does the same for a bit, then Janeway at the end.
- The mental turmoil and confusion caused by the Doctor's existential crisis and the struggle to figure out the truth is never really resolved. It's as if the writers said, "OK, show's over, just make all the bad stuff disappear."
- I saw the dream-within-a-dream thing a mile away.

In spite of that, the first half of the episode had me genuinely intrigued as to what had happened to the Doctor or the crew or who or what or WTF.

This episode became a classic as soon as Chakotay posed the fate of the doctor's existence in terms of the doctor choosing what he (did not want to admit that he) wanted - being human so he could be with Kes - or choosing an unidealized existence. The pursuit of an idealized existence would have led to death, just like in Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. This episode in fact rewrites Death in Venice as a comedy rather than a tragedy, since the doctor makes the ethical choice to avoid an idealization, and he thereby gains life, though it is just a "representation." (Hm, just like Kant affirms that empirically real objects are nothing but representations in his Refutation of Idealism of the first Critique...)

This is one of my favorite episodes of all trek because of the humor and acting. The whole thing seems implausible, however. I really doubt that such a complex but mostly consistent simulated story (Barclay trying to prove to the doc that he should destroy voyager) would come out of a computer malfunction caused by radiation. And how exactly does Chakotay project himself into the holodeck from an engineering console? Anytime something goes wrong with my computer, I get random garbage results. Still, it's fun because of the replay of the first episode and the humor involved.

Why all the bad vibes? Sure, it wasn't a proper "4-star" outing like The Inner Light or Yesterday's Enterprise, and at times it did feel a bit "Total Recall"-esque. But take a breath and a step back: this episode developed a character, was well acted, well directed, funny, and thought-provoking - everything we'd normally want from Star Trek.

3-stars. 3.5 if the writers had bothered to explain why the Doctor is sentient (he's a Moriarty-type hologram, that's why Barclay's involved!).

This episode would have been better if it had taken place later, after Voyager made contact with the Alpha Quadrant. The reason is that then it would be plausible that Zimmerman was running a Voyager simulation, so we wouldn't have been so sure that he really was the Doctor, and not Zimmerman.

W-o-w! This is a true joy! One of the very best episodes any Trek has ever delivered. Not only because in fact Jammer is right and the execution was perfect, the script impressivly good.

But actually, becase it delivers one of the deepest episode dilemas I've ever seen in scifi show and in a very soft way. Why so deep? Well, when Kas makes the final joke with The Doctor, it just got clear that overall, he had just received in this episode the touch of humanity like the fairy gives to Pinoccio. Not because he will be really a human from now on, but because The Doctor will now know the most quintessential of human's things: the doubt. And among doubts, he will have the most quintessential of the humans'questioning: "who am I?".

For someone who is so certain of this and of his purpose in life - well, because he IS a programmed hologram -, having these certainties at least 1% transformed forever into questions is the closer to being human that any logical race (Spock), android (Data) or hologram could desire.

Fantastic. Absolut joy.

To me this is like TNG's Frame of Mind, in that it's a series of illusions that can be almost overwhelming to keep track of.

But for some reason I like this one a whole lot more. I liked that there's a lengthy build up at the beginning of the episode. I especially liked the callbacks to Caretaker.

Totally agree on the rating for this one.

Even knowing how it ends, this episode is about pitch perfect in nearly every sense. I do not think its a slam-dunk classic but one of the closest yet for Voyager up to this point. Fantastic insight into the inner workings of the Doctor abound here. If that's not part and parcel to character growth, which is in turn inherently important to "the bigger picture", then I don't know what is.

Speaking of which, dismissing a whole episode just because it's a plot you don't want to see is not properly judging the episode on its own merits. There's a difference between "it's a bad ep because its not what I wanted" and "its a bad ep because writing, acting, dialogue, etc". No, the episode itself isn't part of the bigger picture, but then the majority of Voyager episodes aren't, anyway. What IS important here is the character insight and development which is a necessary part of great storytelling which, in turn, enhances the bigger picture, as it were. Just my two cents in response to a few above comments.

Anyway, great job here. Really enjoyable all around with fantastic performances and dialogue. The very last scene: Cutest Kes moment ever plus Doctor cautiously poking his arm into the corridor equals huge grin for me.

3.5 stars.

Glad someone else brought up Frame of Mind. But I disagree, I thought FoM was a better episode than this. And I'm trying to figure out why.

After all, in a way, this episode is more meaningful than TNG's version. FoM was a fluff Riker episode, giving him something interesting to do but not showing much of anything surrounding his character. Whereas here, we do get some sense of the Doc. He does seem to be a bit torn between his programming and his desire to be human. And although I still don't like the thought of the Doctor trying to become human or anything at this stage, at least that''s something a bit weighty.

But what about the rest of it? See, FoM was just a heck of a lot of fun. Yes, there was never any doubt that Riker was really a Starfleet officer, but the twists and turns worked very well anyways. We went back and forth between the Starfleet reality and the mental institution reality, with plenty of crossover between the two to make sure you never know what's going on (a fellow inmate claiming to be from Starfleet, the jailers showing up on the Enterprise, etc). But better yet, they weren't just false flags; it all makes perfect sense once you see the whole episode. And even better yet, they don't completely explain to you what went on; you have to figure out for yourself which parts of Riker's memories were real and which weren't and which ones ended up jumbled together. In short, the plotting was very clever.

And I think the plotting of the confusion was better there than in this episode. Although, really, it's pretty good here. The first act, before Barclay appears, is interesting enough, in which we try to understand what happened to the ship, while the plot sneaks in a few hints that something may not be right (scans not working on the crew, etc). Then we get into the Barclay part, and it becomes a bit more routine. We have the explanation, the initial dismissal, the eventual agreement, then the confusion, and the dramatic "which way will he choose" routine. That's the problem, it's routine. I mean, it's well scripted, but it ends up just going through the motions. If this episode had taken place later in the series (after Voyager had contact with Starfleet), then maybe we could have had some question about what really is real.

But I don't want to drag on this episode too much. What works? Barclay and the Doctor are very fun to watch. Chakotay's speech, as others have stated, was very good. The Doctor portrayed his confusion very well. And all the scenes were mostly entertaining to watch except when technobabble appeared. And heck, it was a pretty fun romp. But most importantly, the Doctor did, in fact, choose his programming. We don't really need another AI wanting to be human yet. Let's keep the Doc wanting to be a program for a little while longer. Even if he is wondering about what a different life would be, it's nice to see him actually be content with what he has. It's not the expected answer, so it works a bit more.

I'm glad so many fans enjoyed this episode, but definitely not me. The two most annoying characters in the Trek universe (Neelix and Barklay) in yet another holodeck malfunction episode...

It's interesting to me how few comments there are on the most obvious, glaring and massive Plot-Hole ever:
How would Zimmerman, back on Jupiter Station and prior to ANY communication reaching Starfleet as to what happened to voyager know that Neelix and Kes exitsted? At All?
How would it know the original doctor on board was gone and the EMH was the replacement? How would Zimmerman have had ANY idea whatsoever that B. Torres, a Maquis, would end up being a Lt. and Chief Engineer?
How would Zimmerman have known about the Kazon?

This episode was written without thinking the plan all the way through... and how Jammer could say that every potential plot hole was covered is mind boggling. The Plot holes were bigger than the Delta Quadrant.

InternetName, I agree. Just rewatched this episode and had the same thoughts.

But, we are treated with the first of all the wonderful Doc-centered episodes.

Great performances by the EMH and Barklay and a very enjoyable episode.

But I can't go 4 stars because of the aforementioned gaff.

3 stars for me.

InternetName and Yanks, I believe that the implication is that everything we have seen so far on Voyager is a simulation that Dr Zimmerman created. So he would not 'know' about all that happening because in the real world it didn't. He made it up. This is obvious because Barkley says that the Dr was using the program to study the long term effects of a crew stuck out in space with no way to reach home (or something to that effect). Also, when Barkley tries to prove that the Doctor is real he takes them back to the start of the the simulation, which is the first episode. I don't see this as a plot hole.

I really like this episode, and I agree with the review. Its one of the best so far. I am watching through the show for the first time so I don't know how it will progress but I heard a lot of negative things about Voyager before I started watching. I agree its not as good as DS9, but not as bad as I was led to believe.

The only thing letting this episode down for me is the lapse in logic that occurs within the first few minutes. The computer tells the Doctor that he was activated by a ship-wide red alert, but at this point the crew had been evacuated. This tells us indirectly, contrary to everything we've seen in Trek so far with red alert being automatically activated in emergencies, that Janeway, her ship under attack from hostile aliens and severly damaged, her crew in danger, decides to evacuate the ship and ONLY THEN does she decide to declare a red alert!? A little more thought being put into the script could have avoided that it only my lampshading it.

I'm starting to realize why Voyager was such a failure as a series. It wasn't the writers, it was the fans. I completely agree with Jammer here that this is one of the better episodes of Voyager, able to go toe to toe with some of the other decent episodes from TNG or DS9. But reading through these comments you can see that this episode was still 15 minutes too far into the future for the average slack jawed fan to appreciate. Voyager had some bright ideas, but they were tempered by a need to dumb them all down for the lowest denominator. Shame too. It really could've been something.

No one commented on the funniest part in the whole episode. When the doctor asks "Who is Barclay", and it is explained that Barclay was in charge of developing the doctor's social interactions, or something to that effect. Hilarious. And it explains a lot about the doctor's eccentricities.

Strong episode for the Doctor, who can clearly carry off being centre stage with aplomb at this point of the show. On the whole this is very nearly a superb episode, but it seems to spend a lot of time circling around itself rather than moving forward and the multiple twists - as well as the deflating ending disappointment - tend to take the momentum out.

We do have some superb dialogue, and the scene with Neelix and the Kazon is crazy fun. "My best sauté pan" indeed. 3 stars.

"Did I program Mr. Paris to be so annoying?"
"Actually, I programmed him. I modeled him after my cousin Frank."

This line was a missed opportunity to connect Paris back to Nick Locarno, the cadet Robert Duncan McNeill plays in the TNG episode, "The First Duty".

Reading the negative reviews here, most seem based on the idea that Voyager should have been about being "lost in the Delta Quadrant". And episodes that distract from this are somehow pointless. (There are also some reviewers who are confused about the plot, but they're missing the point, so I'm ignoring that).

This is a solid character episode. We learn that - like Data - the Doctor has to deal with a desire to be human. We don't know this when the series begins. We only learn the extent of it through the series. And, interestingly, the Doctor HIMSELF doesn't realize it. He doesn't realize he has feelings for Kes, etc.

In "Voyager in the Delta Quadrant" terms, perhaps its a 'reset button' episode. But in character terms, we learn a lot about one of the more interesting characters in the ST canon. The episodes really should not always be ranked along the "how well they fit the Delta Quadrant high concept" thing. People miss some really great things that way.

Dunno why I'm replying to a random comment by "Dave" from last year, but it strikes the right chord of sad irony in me that I just have to.

"I'm starting to realize why Voyager was such a failure as a series. It wasn't the writers, it was the fans. I completely agree with Jammer here that this is one of the better episodes of Voyager, able to go toe to toe with some of the other decent episodes from TNG or DS9. But reading through these comments you can see that this episode was still 15 minutes too far into the future for the average slack jawed fan to appreciate. Voyager had some bright ideas, but they were tempered by a need to dumb them all down for the lowest denominator. Shame too. It really could've been something."

This is a supremely cynical comment about a fan audience renowned for comprising educated, intelligent, and open-minded people. Engineers and physicists are notoriously big fans of TNG, and a lot of fans growing up on TOS are massively hopeful about Trek's view of the future and are in it for the message rather than the explosions. Trek changed the lives of many fans, and inspired others to become astronauts, scientists, and more.

If you're going to insult the fan base of a franchise, this was the wrong one to choose, man. 15-20 years later I can see a case for claiming the mentality of viewers across the board has changed, but Voyager came right on the coattails of TNG, beginning almost right after TNG ended. To blame the TNG audience for any shortcomings in Voyager is beyond ludicrous. I like how, inadvertently, the above comment does seem to grant something inferior about Voyager, but decides it must have all been a deliberate ploy by the divine writers aimed at the stupid fans.

What a crazy turnabout, jeez.

@Peter - For what it's worth I think you're both right. The UPN promos were often quite clear about the fact that the brass was targeting idiot fans. Now I fans personally think the idiots they were targeting didn't exist and that the brass were morons, but meh. The argument can be made that VOY catered sometimes to the lowest common denominator, bit I don't think the fans wanted that.

@ Robert,

Even if you're 100% correct, what you're really saying is that the people promoting Voyager were too stupid for the fans - that they were ignoring the real fanbase and catering to basically no one. How can anyone blame the fans for that?

Even if we grant that there was some kind of lowest common denominator that the producers decided to reach out to, we can simply note that literally every sample group of individuals has a lowest common denominator. It's tautological, in fact. For someone to base policy on that lowest denominator cannot possibly translate into culpability for the rest of the sample group. You cannot blame the majority for the existence of a minority that literally cannot fail to exist in any sample group.
"There should never be the lowest of you!" What a sentiment.

Let's face it. If the Voyager producers marketed for the wrong audience then they are stupid. If they hired writers, and the writers are the ones who wrote for the wrong audience, then once again the producers are stupid. Problems like this originate at the top. The fan base can never be blamed for something like this. The very fact that there *was* an intelligent and loyal fan base is already a godsend. You cannot ask for more; all you can do is ruin it.

@Peter G. - I personally was NOT blaming the fans in my comment. I was kind of saying the same as you that Dave's "Voyager had some bright ideas, but they were tempered by a need to dumb them all down for the lowest denominator." might have been true, but NOT the fault of the fans.

"Even if you're 100% correct, what you're really saying is that the people promoting Voyager were too stupid for the fans."

Yes, that's exactly what I'm saying.

DS9 needed a ratings boost they got a Klingon Warrior and VOY needed a ratings boost so they got Barbie of Borg (the fact that Jeri is an amazing actress and that the writers actually did a pretty decent job with the character is irrelevant, we know what they were trying to do... the poor woman nearly passed out in that costume). Look at the promo with "The Rock" (another good episode despite the fact that they were actually crossing over VOY with their wrestling program), the rumors that they only kept Kim because he made it into that magazine, a lack of continuity that often made TNG look serial and a refusal to step away from the series bible on characters like Kim. All because their viewers were too stupid to follow changes.

That said a lot of good came out of VOY and the cast was awesome. But the powers that be were idiots and they thought we were too.

@ Robert,

I more or less agree with you. But I think we're talking at cross-purposes, because from the text I was quoting this was the most pertinent part:

"But reading through these comments you can see that this episode was still 15 minutes too far into the future for the average slack jawed fan to appreciate."

His comment was clearly not about the producers or the promoters, but about the stupidity of *average* fans, and in particular, a reference to that stupidity as exemplified by the comments section *here*. We can read between the lines and realize what he meant is that people who criticize the show (or an episode) are morons, because it is awesome.

It's one thing to argue that the execs chose to cater to the lowest common denominator. It's quite another to claim that the average Trek fan WAS the lowest common denominator, and that they were too slow in the head to appreciate the genius that Voyager was producing. That is pure nonsense, and self-congratulatory nonsense at that.

@Robert & Peter G.

UPN fans in general (especially of that era), we're not the brightest bulbs in the box. I mean just look at UPN's lineup during Voyager's run: Sweet Valley High, Clueless, Breaker High, As If, Homeboys in Outer Space...the list goes on.

Even if Paramount wasn't pandering to dumb Star Trek fans, it was at least pandering to dumb UPN viewers.

@ Chrome,

Ok. But is the implication there that the posters on this site are holdover UPN fans? Note again Dave was using the comments here as evidence of the stupidity of Trek fans when Voyager was on the air. He did not make reference to Nielson reports or other information taken from the 90's.

Also, I find it a little far-fetched the UPN's viewership suddenly became a relevant enough subset of Trek viewers that they could plausibly be referred to as the "average" Trek viewer. It's not like UPN was only shown in the remote countryside. The standard behavior for a Trek fan would be to tune in to DS9 at 7 pm on ABC and then watch Voyager at 8. It's not like it's hard to switch the channel from one to the other. Maybe someone who's studied TV production will know more than me, but I seriously doubt major networks at the time had dedicated viewers that would just turn on a channel and leave it on regardless of what show was playing. "I'll watch anything on UPN, I don't care what!" I would suspect that the vast majority of viewers would tune in to a particular show either to try it out or because they already knew it. Someone might be dead-set on watching TV at a particular time, but probably not on a particular channel.

@Peter G.

Certainly *some* are holdover UPN fans. But I'm not saying Trek fans are stupid or that Voyager was targeted at dumber Trek fans. More the opposite. I can see a scenario playing out like "Well Trek fans will watch this either way, so let's try to dumb it down so our core audience demographic won't get scared by techno-babble and watch it too."

Also, I think at least some consideration has to be given to UPN fans, even if they aren't the average Trek fan. Consider that UPN was a young network when Voyager aired, and UPN would go to great lengths to keep its viewer base happy, if it meant upsetting some Trek fans (which it apparently did).

That's not to say that Voyager is a dumb show, I think many of the shows were very smartly written, but it's hard to ignore things like "PRO WRESTLING IN SPACE" as obvious gimmicks to non-Trek fans.

@ Chrome,

What you say makes sense. Why do you think some people on this site are specifically UPN 'holdovers' (i.e. people who were dedicated specifically to the network, rather to any particular show on it)? The only evidence of this Dave cites are the apparently stupidity of the posts, as he sees it.

In any case I still don't see how any of this translates into to the 'average' Trek fan being too 'slack-jawed' to follow what's going on in an episode.

@Peter - Wholeheartedly agree. My point was just that Dave drew the wrong conclusion from the right data point.

Data point being that UPN was targeting VOY towards idiots and conclusion being that the people watching were idiots.

Whereas reality was that everyone I knew that watched VOY were very much ANNOYED at the non-existent fans that were being targeted. Or if they existed I never met any.

As to UPN hold overs, I'm a firm believer that just because you can enjoy cheetos doesn't mean you can't enjoy fine wine and caviar. The fact that UPN audience liked Wrestling and As If doesn't mean they couldn't (and did) enjoy some of VOY's more sophisticated fare (like Blink of an Eye).

Or to put it another way, if I could divine information about my wife's intelligence based on the stupidest TV shows she watches we'd not be married :P Liking fluff is ok, it doesn't preclude you from also liking other stuff. But often I felt VOY's powers that be felt a large share of it's viewers couldn't handle intelligent fare, and I think that's preposterous!

To summarize the asshole that is Peter G, "I will classify this 3 star episode as one of Voyager's best so that I can then on this tirade where I call everyone who likes Voyager a basement dwelling neckbeard." The problem isn't the fans, it is assholes like yourself who want to believe that you are a special snowflake who is better than everyone else. When you make such shitty posts like this you do nothing but show that the real common denominator is asshats like yourself who simply refuse to get along with everyone else.

"To summarize the asshole that is Peter G, "I will classify this 3 star episode as one of Voyager's best so that I can then on this tirade where I call everyone who likes Voyager a basement dwelling neckbeard." The problem isn't the fans, it is assholes like yourself who want to believe that you are a special snowflake who is better than everyone else. When you make such shitty posts like this you do nothing but show that the real common denominator is asshats like yourself who simply refuse to get along with everyone else."

Your aggressively toxic remarks speak for themselves. But I find it especially comical that you attribute me as saying that this is one of Voyager's best, which I do not think it is. It's icing on the cake that the exchange you're 'replying' to was me defending the users on this site from an attribution that their posts prove that they are idiots undeserving of good Trek. I guess you've proved me wrong :p

Lol Barclay bwahahahahahaahaha. A fine romp through the AI doc's mind.

As a stand alone story it is mildly entertaining.

It does absolutely nothing for the overall series of Voyager, as nothing actually matters in the end.

Frame of Mind is a far better episode. This one leans too hard on the technobabble radiation. There's no compelling story underpinning it. Kes and the Doctor's conversation about wondering about the nature of one's existence is too little, too late to bring meaning to the past hour of randomness and arguments about whether to shoot the magnetic constrictor coils.

I am ok with giving this a 4 solely for Picardo's performance. The Doctor here is deliciously sarcastic, finicky and funny. "Banjoman". LMAO.

Not really getting those who say they immediately dismissed this as a "hologram episode" that didn't move the series forward. Knowing that Voyager was not developed with a serialized storyline, I tend to try to take each episode on its own. This was an interesting study in "reality", well-acted, thoughtfully conceived and kept me guessing.

Doc having trouble when visiting holodeck.
Well.. who's better than Barclay for holodeck problem, our beloved holo-dict character, and the result is.... Awesome!

Barclay even mentioned to Doc he has HTDS (Holo Transference Dementia Syndrome), coming from Barclay.. this is really something, and to prove his point.. he slap Doc in the face!. Picardo reaction is priceless!.

The two man has great chemistry, and watching them changing line with their antique-ness is a real pleasure!

The malfunctioning so conveniently provide everything the program need to trick the Doctor into believe he is a real person (Barclay his assistant, Kes as wife, life-sign, and complete bio Zimmerman of holo-Voyager). All of this can be explained by read and using the memory data on Doc to create the delusion.
But one thing that bother me and the big game changer for all of this is the ability to feel pain, where that come from? His program doesn't need and have this, so that's kinda come from nowhere.

The delusion of Doc also suggest his desire to become a 'real person', not only just a programming. That's expected actually, with The Doc pretty much is a Data version of Voyager.
The ending is interesting, show us that Doc accept his nature that he is a 'mere program', but with an obvious foreshadowing he is (or will become) more than that.

Great episodes, but I don't think it has a big impact, depth, outstanding, or become a classic one to warrant 4 stars.

3 (***) stars

when the Doctor views the last log left by Janeway,.....who would stop RIGHT in the middle of a catastrophe to stop, chat to a camera,, and record a log?

I agree with Jammer 100%. This is absolutely the best Voyager episode yet. One of the better Star Trek episodes in general.

I think part of that, at least for me, is that I don't really care for many of the characters on Voyager. Too many of them annoy me. The Doc doesn't and neither does Kes. And I always liked Barclay. The three of them being the main characters in this one helped alot.

And Kes telling the Doc not to tell Neelix they were married in his delusion because he would get jealous, only goes to show what a terrible character Neelix is, yet again.

I hate plot holes with a passion, and I couldn't see any obvious ones in this episode. That's impressive, seeing how convoluted it was.

I would have liked a little better explanation of how this all happened, other than 'a radiation surge', but that's a minor point.

And Kes is hot.

4 stars from me for sure

2 stars. Vastly overrated

Michael Piller once mentioned that “it all happened in your head” episodes were kinda cheap and unsatisfactory and I fully agree. This had some intrigue and WTF?!? Vibe going on much like TNG Remember Me, Future Imperfect, Night Terrors but unlike those excellent outings it went the TNG Eye of the Beholder route with its dream ending or at least the holodeck equivalent which made this episode a major disappointment. A great episode needs BOTH a good set up AND a satisfying payoff. This only had a part so I find it a very lacking hour

This episode is deeply fascinating BECAUSE it all happens in someone’s head - someone who’s not meant to have a head that things happen inside like this! Seeing Janeway’s weird dream for an hour would be boring and pointless. Of course she has weird dreams, we all do. But the doctor doesn’t.

All of the supposed plot holes too, it’s dream logic. Each new revelation or event only follows from the one directly preceding. It feels just like a dream. But the doctor isn’t supposed to be someone who dreams, or someone who madly tries to force logic in a place it doesn’t belong, only noticing after strange things happen that they were strange - he’s meant to be a program that follows strict logical steps. But he’s clearly not, and if you didn’t get it more subtlely from previous episodes, this one spells it out.

The feedback loop is that the doctor doesn’t know if he’s real or not. Wanting to be real indicates that you’re real. A holographic doctor doesn’t, shouldn’t want to be real. Yet if you’re real, you don’t want to be real, you just ARE. You can see this episode as the one where he truly came to life in a way. So he’s thinking - can I be real if I’m not flesh and blood? If I’m stuck in one room? And he feels like the answer is no, but that still doesn’t stop him believing he is real. So he is confused.

This is part of one of the long stories on voyager, the doctor’s existence as a person. This is what people who dislike Voyager claim to want out of Voyager so I don’t understand the complaints. I’m glad Jammer likes this one as much as I do anyway.

Definitely feels like a Braga episode -- and one of his better ones. All these illusions seem to have some bizarre way of "making sense" with radiation bursts / anomalies / holodecks etc. and it made for an entertaining but mostly inconsequential episode.

Picardo and Schultz make a fine team -- good writing in terms of their lines and the overall concept for the episode which is to make Doc question his existence. There was one final part that I didn't understand -- after Tuvok and Kim in sickbay explain what had happened, then Barclay and Kes (as Doc's wife) reappear. I take it this was one last glitch before Janeway sets things straight in the holodeck. But the episode is all about unexpected twists and it just does these things a bit too arbitrarily for me. It's like the perfect storm has to take place for specific subroutines in Doc's program to be affected by some BS radiation while he's in the holodeck.

Gotta give credit to this episode for messing with my mind -- was perfectly prepared to watch Doc phaser the warp core and then have the episode resolve itself, but then Chakotay pops up. Thought the commander could have been more forceful with Doc in telling him to forget Barclay's advice.

3 stars for "Projections" -- a lot to like here as the tables are turned on Doc with Barclay's explanation seeming so sound as an experiment Dr. Zimmerman was conducting. The episode did give the sense of almost helplessness for Doc in the early part. It's a good experiment in putting a character through the ringer and keeping the viewer guessing, but I don't think it's as good as "Cause and Effect" (as Braga efforts go). Might be, however, a landmark episode as far as Doc's character development and future efforts to experience humanness.

No way this is a 4-star episode. Maybe 3-stars, but no more. The basic flaw in the story is that we KNOW that Barclay story is the illusion because if it isn't, there is no Voyager tv series. So what we're left with is the Doctor looking anxious trying to figure out what is reality and that can only take you so far.

Here's where it might have been better. If the Barclay version referenced the messages received via the Romulan scientist and then built the simulation based on the known facts contained within that message (the crew makeup, the Kazon, etc.) Then we would still have the Voyager universe from the tv series but also with a reasonable belief that the Barclay story is true. It would have kept us guessing, rather than - well, quite frankly - annoyed.

I really liked this episode. I'll watch every Star Trek episode that Jonathan Frakes or Lavar Burton directs because they almost always do a phenomenal job. I wouldn't give this on 4 stars, but I enjoyed the comedic chemistry between Schultz and Picardo.

Teaser : **** , 5%

The EMH is activated in sickbay, which is empty. Hmm. The computer informs him that he was activated automatically when a red alert was declared. He calls the bridge to get some answers, but it turns out the entire crew is gone. Like with “Faces,” this is the perfect way to tease an episode.

Act 1 : ***, 17%

The computer reads a laundry least of problems; in addition to the missing crew, half the ship systems are down, there's damage and main power is gone. The EMH access Janeway's last bridge log, which gets him a little more up to speed—the crew abandoned ship and Janeway and Torres stayed behind to try and stabilise the warp core, apparently succeeding. And of course, after all of that, THEN Janeway decided to call a red alert. Hmm. With appropriate melancholy, the doctor records a log summarising his situation. Seeing as how his “usefulness has come to an end,” he determines to delete himself. But then, there's a rap-tap-tapping at the door. The EMH arms himself...with a hypospray. Cute. But it's only Torres—she says the sensors are malfunctioning and gets him a little more up to speed. The Voyager was attacked by the Kazon which led to their current predicament, who then tractored the escape pods and warped away...leaving the valuable Federation technology behind? Hmm. More mystery...none of the doctor's tricorders are registering Torres' lifesigns, so he has to diagnose her by eye before treating her minor injury. However, the captain is trapped on the bridge and needs immediate medical attention, so Torres is going to send him there. Send you say?

TORRES: For the past few weeks we've been setting up holographic emitters on critical decks. We were hoping to set up a remote holo-projection system, give you access to other parts of the ship.
EMH: Why wasn't I told about this?
TORRES: We hadn't even tested the system yet. There was no guarantee it was going to work. I guess the Captain didn't want to get your hopes up.

Really? That's awfully considerate of her to spare the hologram's feelings. Hmm. Well, after a short while, Torres completes the tech tech and transfers him to the bridge, while Torres will head back to Engineering. He arrives on the highly-damaged bridge and remarks, “Well, it's bigger than I thought.”

Act 2 : ***.5, 17%

The EMH finds Janeway unconscious under a girder...the tricorder up here isn't working either, so he guesses at the right hypo and helps her to her feet. Within about 2 minutes of his arrival, Torres calls, having successfully crawled back to Engineering and repaired the comm system. Hmm. Well anyway, before they can get underway with repairs, there's a call on the newly-restored comm system from Neelix who reports an emergency in the mess hall. Janeway's only option for rescue is to transfer the EMH. So he arrives to find Neelix in a food fight—yes really—with a Kazon. Neelix is keeping the oaf at bay by throwing the contents of his kitchen at him, while the EMH sneaks around (and hilariously). He tries to attack the invader, and manages to distract him long enough for Neelix to knock him out with a frying pan. Slapstick and Star Trek aren't always the best combination, but Picardo and Phillips make it work. Neelix has reverted to his pre-”Jetrel” puffed up self, damn it, but the exchange leads to a curious discovery: the EMH has been injured in their scuffle—and is bleeding. Something must be wrong with his programme. The doctor calls Janeway to have himself returned to sickbay.

He is further disturbed by the fact that his injury is causing him pain. A tricorder scan reveals that he, unlike everyone else he's scanned today, is emitting lifesigns. When he asks the computer to analyse his programme, the computer is unfamiliar with that programme. Hmm. The EMH is maddened by this odd contradictory information, culminating in the reveal that the CMO of the Voyager is listed as Lewis Zimmerman, who was established as the EMH's creator in “The Cloud.” HHHMMMM. The doctor pulls up a profile on Zimmerman, who looks exactly like Robert Picardo. The interplay between him and the computer is highly amusing. This little investigation is interrupted by the arrival of the whole cast so far, Janeway, Torres, Neelix and the Kazon prisoner. Man these people are moving quickly today. He explains the odd problems with his programme, the computer database and his new biography. Janeway thinks their new remote projectors are confusing the computer, so she orders it to shut down all the Voyager's holograms, and in a genuine WTF moment, everyone in sickbay except the doctor disappear. This gives Doc quite the headache.

Act 3 : ****, 17%

“Simulations? I'm talking about real people.”

The entire crew is stored in computer memory (bloc 47 [duh] alpha). Well, the EMH is going to need to talk about all of this with somebody, and lucky him (and us), that somebody turns out to be Reg Barclay, who appears in holographic form. Apparently, after his therapist/masturbation fantasy crashed the Enterprise, he found himself a job as Dr Zimmerman's assistant on the Jupiter Station. In fact, holo-Reg tells the EMH that they are actually on Jupiter Station at this very moment, that the Voyager is actually a computer simulation, and that the EMH is actually Dr Zimmerman. Oh, and he has a wife, too. This information is delivered marvellously by the ever reliable Dwight Schultz. I love the way he paces about the room before telling Doc not to panic. Hilarious.

The Voyager is a programme that Zimmerman wrote in order to study the effects of putting Maquis and Starfleet together in an isolated starship, in other words, the premise of the series Star Trek: Voyager. Reg explains that there was a radiation surge on the station which caused an accident on the holodeck (of course), injuring Zimmerman and affecting his memory. Reg of course isn't real—I mean he is real, but he's a hologram—I mean he's a holographic *projection* of the real Barclay who is really in a control booth; the Voyager isn't real but the danger is to the EMH, who isn't really an EMH (which isn't really a thing), but to Dr Zimmerman, who the EMH really is, who is real. Got all that?

BARCLAY: Look, Doctor, it's very important that you believe me. You're losing your sense of identity. You're starting to think that you're part of the programme and that's, that's not good. It's called HTDS. Holo Transference Dementia Syndrome.

Ho ho ho...and who would know more about that than Barclay? Well, Reg needs to prove to the Doctor that he is being truthful, so, in a callback to “Phage,” he slaps him in the face, inciting Doc to give it right back. The slapstick, again, is carried magnificently by the actors. Barclay dematerialises for a few seconds, then re-appears having consulted with the neurologist AND tech crew—the transporter won't work, the holodeck is locked up and Zimmerman's brain is melting. Man these people work FAST. Barclay says the only answer is to complete the programme so it will end and they can access the holodeck. And the programme (the series) ends one of two ways: the Voyager makes it back to the AQ in one piece or is destroyed. So, “Lewis” is going to have to blow the ship up to hasten things along before his brain melts.

Act 4 : ***.5, 17%

Well, the Doc is going to need more convincing than holo-Reg's word and the readings of a tricorder Reg hands him. So, Reg resets the programme, and we find ourselves in the EMH's first scene of the series, right in the throws of “Caretaker.” Tom and Harry are there, just as they were before, but the Doc realises he's reliving events and humorously quizzes the lovers about their situation, beginning to show genuine skepticism. The Doctor takes a...slightly disturbing pleasure in deleting the characters of Paris and Kim, but he remains skeptical. So he decides to destroy the holographic memory core on the ship. If Doc is a hologram, he should disappear for ever.

The pair arrive in Engineering as Janeway is in the midst of those repairs to the warp core. Doc tries to repeat his trick: “Computer, delete Janeway!” And it doesn't work. Oooo boy, buddy. Reg explains that the programme is freezing up or something. The Doc prattles on to Janeway about the plot their in, about Banjoman and the excruciating pain they're all about to suffer. Picardo's delivery is pure gold, of course. Then of course, the entire crew is beamed to the array. So, Reg hands him a phaser and he shoots the memory core, and the computer confirms that all of the hologram are offline. Doc finally concludes that he is a real person—one in mortal danger. Reg begs him to phaser the warp core as the Doc's headache returns—a result of his brain melting. He takes aim, but right before he fires, Chakotay appears and tells him to stop. HHHHHMMMMMMMM.

Act 5 : ****, 17%

Chakotay *also* has an explanation about what's going on; today's events are a projection being created by the EMH's programme. There was indeed a radiation surge, but it was on the Voyager's holodeck, and the pain he's feeling is a result of damage to his programme. If he destroys the ship, he destroys himself. Seems equally plausible to Reg's explanation, but Reg has a trump card:

BARCLAY: You don't have memory circuits, you have a mind, and it's being damaged.

Eventually, Doc starts to become overwhelmed with the pain and Kes appears, as a human, saying she's his wife and doesn't want to lose him.

BARCLAY: Lewis, how would you rather think of yourself? As a real person with a real life, with a family that loves you? Or as some hologram that exists in a Sickbay on a starship lost in deep space.
CHAKOTAY: This isn't about what you want. This is about what you are. Just because you're made of projected light and energy doesn't mean you're any less real than someone made of flesh and blood. It doesn't matter what you're made of. What matters is who you are. You're our friend, and we want you back.

This is pretty fascinating stuff. Both Barclay and Chakotay are offering the Doc alternative realities which bestow him with personhood, either as a real human being with a life, or as a hologram who has real relationships.

The EMH wakes up sickbay, in the midst of telling his wife, Kes, that he thinks she's beautiful, only to find himself telling Ocampa Kes the same. The crew explains that they've extracted him, and how Barclay (the real Barclay) actually did interact with the EMH during his design phase, hence the all-to-accurate personality. The senior staff are called to the bridge and Kes appears to give the EMH some shit over his “beautiful” comment, but this quickly devolves into another episode—Kes wants to save their marriage, Barclay re-appears, fish-eye lens, Zimmerman is injured and speaking with Janeway's voice—it's very creepy and effective, but finally we find ourselves in the holodeck, where we've been all along, with the crew standing around him, having finally teched the tech.

In the epilogue, the EMH wonders aloud to Kes why his programme got so existential and esoteric in the face of a tech issue. This time, Kes really does play a little trick on him:

EMH: I know exactly who I am and what my purpose is. I am the Emergency Medical Hologram aboard the starship Voyager.
KES: Are you sure about that?

The Doc pokes his hand out the door to confirm that it vanishes, a subtle nod to Barclay who pondered that data cube in the epilogue of “Ship in a Bottle,” and asked the computer to “End programme,” just in case.

Episode as Functionary : ****, 10%

This episode succeeds on multiple levels, capitalising on the excellent character groundwork laid in “Heroes and Demons,” but using the central character question to generate, or perhaps project the plot into existence. To begin, with the exception of the epilogue in sickbay (the EMH's usual abode) and the establishing shot beforehand, every single scene of the episode is actually taking place in the holodeck without us realising it. In a franchise with eight years of holodeck stories behind, pulling off this illusion is extremely impressive. Moreover, having all of the scenes take place on the familiar sets, but with the Doctor feeling so out of place cues us in to the claustrophobic perspective of the Doctor himself. When he isn't faced with medical drama or in computer oblivion, what is the Doctor to do but ponder his own existence, stuck in a room that doesn't even have a window into space?

Of course, the reset to “Caretaker” also cues us in to the episode's metatextual commentary. The EMH's function on the series is/will be the same as Zimmerman's alleged function in the programme—to observe, to comment on and to evaluate the human condition of the “real people” on the Voyager. This is very much the Spock/Data/Odo role, of course, but framing it like this and and leaning heavily against the fourth wall is something Trek doesn't usually handle this well (c.f. “Explorers”). *This* is Doc's purpose.

The episode is also extremely funny, capitalising on the talents of Schultz and Picardo, both in the witty banter and the slapstick. This comedic glue ties together the disparate tones of plot weirdness and meaty characterisation. We are shepherded through explanations to the impossible mystery through to the existential questions by dialogue, which is nothing short of brilliant.

The way in which the EMH's mind casts the different crew is also very illuminating: Torres is his saviour, with her tech tech providing a promise of one day opening up his world; Janeway is a soft antagonist, with the power to expand or curtail his exploration into personhood on her whim; Neelix is a clown; Kes is his greatest champion, her unique affection expanded into full-blown romantic love; Chakotay, the spiritual one, is the angel who appears to bestow meaning on his life *as it is*; and Barclay is a reminder of his past, when the delineation between hologram and real person was absolute.

While the fake-out at the end seems like just another narrative trick (and perhaps it was intended to be), what works so well about it is that it re-casts Chakotay's somewhat trite little speech to him (“it doesn't matter what you're made of!”) That's not THE ANSWER, because this is still taking place within the projection. The answer is actually far more nuanced. Barclay posits that what makes Doc/Zimmerman “real” is the fact that he has a family, a life and a fleshy mind, while Chakotay counters that the EMH can be real too, because he has friends who care about him. But what if Barclay was wrong to begin with? Why is having a wife and a job and a brain that can be melted by technobabble “real”? Why does the Doctor have to measure himself against the metrics humans use to establish their intrinsic value? It isn't a case of 'we are all real and if you make yourself more like us, maybe we'll let you join the club.' No, the Doctor is free to define his own existence on his own terms. In the beginning of the episode, the Doctor, believing the crew to be gone or dead, decided to delete himself, having no discernible purpose. In the end, as a hologram, he may indeed be confined to a single room all his life—but in that very holodeck, he can be anything, go anywhere, and never die.

Final Score : ***.5

I enjoyed this one, I usually roll my eyes at holodeck error episodes but this was fun to follow along.

This was a good holodeck episode, “Ship in a Bottle” good. Not a silly holodeck episode, with Picard and co. dressed up as 18th-century Naval officers, and not twee, and much better than a Janeway holonovel episode. This was also much better in every way than the episodes exploring, about whether Data is human, because the exploration of the Doctor’s status arose entirely naturally from the logic of the events in the story and the series; it was not preachy, as so much of TNG is.

It was good to see Reg Barclay - we always see a great deal of the Bridge officers, and it was a pleasant change to see a lower-ranking character get some of the attention instead. On the whole, Voyager divides its attention between the Bridge officers, and the all-important lower ranks, rather well; better, perhaps, than TNG does.

Revisiting this episode after several years - I'd forgotten all about it, but it still holds up. The interaction between Neelix and the Doctor in the Mess Hell during the Kazon attack is particularly well done. Great comic timing from Picardo and Phillips.

To me this episode is a great idea with a flawed execution. I think the biggest weakness of this episode is that, considering the events from the Doctor’s perspective(and NOT the audience perspective), I mostly don’t think he should have been torn between destroying the ship or not at any point.

When Barclay first shows up and claims the Doctor is a real person and needs to destroy the ship, there is simply no reason for the doctor to hesitate anywhere near as much as he does. Barclay proves beyond any doubt whatsoever that the Doctor is not on the real ship, so it’s not like he would be putting anyone’s life at stake by destroying it(the plot will later declare it would have put his own existence at stake, but there is absolutely no way for the Doctor to know or suspect that given the information he has at this point). Barclay’s explanation that he is a real person who has forgotten literally every memory from his entire life has to be considered farfetched, even in-universe, but it doesn’t really matter because either way the ship obviously isn’t real. And to the episode’s credit, the Doctor does eventually make the obvious decision to agree to destroy the fake ship.

The pendulum snaps almost completely in the opposite direction once Chakotay walks in though. From the Doctor’s perspective, I guess he can’t be certain that Barclay’s “you are a real person and will die if you don’t listen to me” claim is false, but it seems flimsy as hell given Chakotay is the first alleged hologram to be acting out-of-character in Barclay’s explanation. For Barclay’s explanation to be real, the holodeck can’t just be randomly “malfunctioning”, it basically has to have become a sentient malevolent entity that wants to kill Zimmerman(by making him doubt Barclay).

Despite that though, I think there is an interesting question the episode poses to the Doctor: Barclay’s explanation is almost certainly false, but his explanation still claims he is a real person. Chakotay’s explanation is that he is still a hologram. If the Doctor considered the value of his holographic existence to be completely worthless then even the 1% chance that Barclay was telling the truth would be the better choice. A 1% chance of something is still more than a 99% chance of nothing.

The two final gripes I have with that though are:

1. Even *if* he only considered “real” biological lives to be worth anything, he would be saving those lives as a hologram. So it could never have been a choice between a 1% chance of something vs a 99% chance of nothing.

2. The way the scene plays out, it seems like he never actually makes a choice at all! He doesn’t actively choose to believe his holographic existence has as much meaning as a “real” one would. He just appears to be incapacitated by pain until the clock runs out and Voyager makes the question go away. I think the episode would have been far stronger if the Doctor had made a clear choice.

But still, I thought it was a good episode because it’s clear there was a strong idea besides just the mystery of what the hell was going on. For comparison, I don’t like “Frame of Mind” from TNG specifically because it feels like there is no point besides waiting for the episode to explain the cause of the obviously(from our perspective) fake scenario.

Really liked this episode.
The only weakness I perceived was, that the main character of the episode, the Doctor, was too passive in the resolution and it was all resolved and explained on the outside. Otherwise very enjoyable.

Sick with the flu, home from work, going through the series for the umpteenth time. Was not sure another replay would not be boring and unsatisfying. However, I was wrong. I love this series. I guess because I love the interplay of characters and the idea fostered by Janeway of famiily as opposed to TNG, where Picard is not exactly the warm and fuzzy type and was more about duty and excellence. Which brings me to this episode. Up until this episode, I felt that Voyager was, after so many years, surprisingly good and satisfying on many levels, so much more so than the scifi blockbusters and TV series we are currently being subjected to. But this episode was so disappointing and predictable that I finally had to scroll through to the end. The opening premise was very interesting. I thought it was going to be one where the Doctor had been left alone and had to figure out what had happened and develop and execute a plan to bring back the crew and save the ship. But instead it just seemed like a series of vignettes with various characters coming at the Doctor to convince him that things were not as they seemed. No real interaction among crew members. Most episodes have several plot-lines that operate simultaneously off the main theme. There are lessons to be learned, personalities that unfold, and humor. And the focus on one character was IMHO an unwelcome change possibly introduced by Jonathan Frakes (not sure about this as I am not a Trek historian). I have no idea why there are so many positive comments. I would give this one star. It was predictable and confusing and hard to follow. To adequately analyze the logic was too tiresome for me. I know there are huge plot-holes (as some have presented in their comments). The bottom-line for me was that it was not worth the effort to work out the logic. I am guessing people who gave it positive reviews liked it because of the idea of a complex story within a story like some computer program logic with nested For Next Loops. As a viewer, i compare the experience to lying in a hospital bed and having specialists and nurses constantly appearing at your bedside taking blood, repeating the same questions, and just generally being in your face. When I got to the point where I realized that the Doctor was not going to have to save the ship and rescue the crew and interact with the characters in "real life", I lost interest. It was obvious that the Doctor was either going to decide that he was human or a hologram and to blow up the ship or not. We unfortunately were forced to endure the pleading and the threats of the other characters. In the end the decision was made for him with the flip suggestion after all that he had been through at the very end by Kes that his reality still may not be what he perceived it to be. The introduction of Barklay was, at this point in the series, IMHO, seemed ill-timed and confusing. The later introduction of Barklay in the series made more sense and seemed appropriate as Barklay was responsible for figuring out a way to communicate with Voyager.

As a non-US-citizen fan of Trek, who is watching this episode for the first time in 2020, I am quite amazed by all the comments.

I didn't know about UPN, about its viewership, etc. Reading how the commenters attributed certain features of this show to the channel on which it was broadcast is fascinating.

Yet, there is another feeling I got. It looks like (I might be wrong) some of the commenters who gave low ratings are Voyager fans, who are complaining about why the episode does not further the "quest" to reach the Alpha Quadrant.

It might be so. But as a person who does not really care about that "quest", but more about what Star Trek tries to talk about the human quest of searching meaning in life, I think it was an excellent Trek episode.

Obviously people's reasons for watching ST are varied (which is healthy for the show), but it is good to see that VOY offers some beef also to people like me, who don't really care whether they reach the Alpha Quadrant or not. It is the personal voyages that count.

Good episode - great comic timing especially between Phillips and Picardo in the mess hall Kazon scene. Nicely done.

Yet again, Jammer massively over rating a Voyager episode, when you keep in mind the DS9 ratings which I thought Jammer said was superior.

This felt similar to TNG's Frame of Mind or Future imperfect for the twists, and inferior to Ship In A Bottle for the holodeck angle.

Saying that, I did enjoy it. A solid 7 for me.

When sampling some older Trek series, I usually pick a few of Jammer’s 4 star episodes to curate for quality. This worked pretty well for TOS and TNG. Jammer’s lofty praise of “Projections” made it an easy choice for first Voyager episode to watch.

And… I’m underwhelmed. The obvious plot progression made me think there had to be a major twist ending to warrant Jammer’s high regard. Something similar to the ending of 10 Cloverfield Lane, where the battle for who’s reality is “real” is won by the antagonist. But “Projections” ended exactly the way everyone knew it would.

The episode gets good marks for Frakes’ directing, and Barclay, Doc, and Janeway turn in fine outings. But this being my first exposure to the minor players in the Voyager crew, I was distracted by the stilted, on-the-nose delivery of lines. Trek is known for its technobabble, but you can usually see a difference between an actor who says the words with the comfortable familiarity that an actual crew member would have, versus one who enunciates every syllable because the word is new to them.

Dave’s earlier comments about critical fans being too dumb to appreciate this episode received the reaction it deserved, by Peter G and others. I’ve noticed that in many of these discussions, there are posters who try to earn “ingroup” points by elevating individual disagreement to group level conflict, as if a difference of opinion involving n=2 is indicative of two stable opinion blocs of which they happen to be representative. In more recent threads, if someone dares to express a political-adjacent opinion that is both unpopular and inarticulate, they are pounced on as some sort of bumbling rube who needs an education and pat on the head, followed by an “aren’t they dumb folks?” sentiment out the door to invite mobbing.

On a more positive note, Elliot’s breakdown (I think!) of this episode was a master class in postmodern criticism. I may disagree vehemently, but anyone who can find a way to use the word “metatextual” in discussing such a simplistic episode is a grand writing talent in my book. I look forward to seeing more of his comments in my wanderings.

Back on topic, can anyone recommend a few Voyager episodes they consider classics?

@ Narissa'a Bath Water,

"Back on topic, can anyone recommend a few Voyager episodes they consider classics?"

I'm a bit biased on this front, but if you want to look at some that are generally admired, I'd go to Death Wish, Scorpion, Living Witness, maybe Pathfinder. Meld might also be a good option.

I would add Eye of the Needle, Prime Factors and Jetrel. And of course my personal favourite, The Thaw.

If I think of what I'd call VOY classics, it may not necessarily be the ones I rate the highest like "Scorpion" but episodes that, to me, come across as distinctly Voyager. Like even though I think of "Scorpion" as the best VOY episode, to me it is not quintessential VOY in that it is a lot like BoBW in ways. Nevertheless, I'd have to call it a VOY classic.

Some other VOY classics for me are:
- "Barge of the Dead" -- terrific character examination of Torres
- "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy" -- classic VOY Doctor humor
- "Year of Hell" -- VOY gets very gritty (and I guess the big reset is a VOY specialty)
- "The Thaw" -- a triumph for Janeway and employing trickery
- "Tuvix" -- ethical debate, whether you like how it was handled or not
- "Infinite Regress" - Ryan's acting talent on display (she's the star of the series)
- "Someone to Watch Over Me" -- VOY humor at its best
- "Blink of an Eye" -- maybe the best sci-fi concept VOY ever did
- "Eye of the Needle" -- poignant
- "Mortal Coil" -- the best Neelix episode, good exploration of the onset of suicide
- "One Small Step" -- great way to examine the human need to explore
- "Drone" -- maybe a bit like "I Borg" but still a tour-de-force from Ryan
- "Prime Factors" -- a slow build up to a riveting end, Janeway chews out Tuvok
- "Prey" -- for me the 2nd best VOY episode (interesting how my 2 best VOY episodes involve Species 8472)

@ Rahul,

I can see why people would like the ones you mentioned. I avoided some of them because I feel that they're more of a personal taste thing. For instance, I find Tinker Tenor irritating, and One Small Step kind of boring, and Year of Hell underwhelming (not that I dislike it). I was trying to come up with options that have a The Inner Light unanimous agreement kind of situation.

The Thaw is just like The Inner Light - with clowns.

@Peter G.

It's hard to come up with a VOY episode as strong as "The Inner Light" -- perhaps only "Scorpion" is on that level (though it gets there via a different route).

I was actually trying to take my personal preferences out of the equation and come with a partial VOY list of some of the episodes that are examples of strong, quintessential VOY, ergo classics. It comes down to what I think VOY did particularly well and how it tries to distinguish itself from TNG, DS9 mainly.

Comedy is one of VOY's strengths -- it did it better than any other Trek series aside from TOS. So that's why I think Tinker Tenor ought to be considered.

I believe "Year of Hell" is generally thought to be one of VOY's most noteworthy episodes, though I think it's only good for 7.5/10.

As for "One Small Step", I think there are some really quality moments, again as 7 of 9 learns about an aspect of humanity -- a major theme in VOY. It's a real winner of an episode for me.

@Rahul

No "Death Wish" or "Living Witness" because those were the two best Voyager episodes due to their philosophical value.

Some of my favorite Voyager episodes:


One Small Step
Blink of an Eye
Distant Origin
Nemesis
Year of Hell
Prey
Living Witness
Drone
Timeless
Counterpoint
Remember
Barge of the Dead
Muse
Someone to Watch Over Me



It's not a great series, but you might as well just watch them all and make up your own mind. What else have you got to do?

Crap. I posted too soon. As I said, I'm not a big fan of Voyager. The first time I tried to watch it I really wasn't impressed and soon gave up in it. The second time I did what you're doing and asked for recommendations. Well, that worked out better but I still didn't watch more than a few episodes. The third time was the charm. I still didn't start with episode one. Instead I went with Scorpion part 1 and went from there and after Endgame I went back and watched the first 3 seasons.

In hindsight I should have just started with the pilot. Why? Because even though the vast majority of episodes suck there are character moments that build up and make me appreciate the good episodes all the more. Year of Hell loses a lot of its impact if it's the first time you meet the crew.

It's a double edged sword though because there are a lot of character moments that make me hate the characters too.


So to sum up: Voyager could have been great, but wasn't. The writing is frequently bad, I dislike most of the charchters and out of 170 episodes I only like somewhere around 30 to 35 of them. But there are hidden gems to be found. The only way you can find them is to dig for them though. The good news is that once you've found YOUR hidden gems you never have to watch the bad episodes again.

I'll weigh in with my own list of VOY favorites, although this is based on a crowdsourced curated rewatch of the first four and a half seasons only--so far.

Eye of the Needle
Meld
Death Wish
Remember
Unity
Distant Origin
Worst Case Scenario
Drone
Latent Image

@Marlboro
>Barge of the Dead

What made you choose that episode? I found it unremarkable and gave it a 2/10. < nag> I wish Jammer would create a separate general chat section for these discussions < /nag>.

Honestly, my memory is terrible and I can't remember. Those episodes came from a list I made a few years ago.

I tried re-watching some Voyager episodes last night, but I couldn't finish any of them. These characters just annoy the shit out of me.

Sorry about my "Watch 'em all!" advice, NBW.

@Marlboro it's just not for you. I love Voyager and love the characters. Only Neelix in his early parts is annoying. I find DS9 to have my most annoying characters. Sisko come across as deranged oftentimes. Brooks is a bad actor and the writers made him do some awful things. Jadzia is dull and irritating. Although I must say the supporting characters are what make the show good.

I think on average Voy has more enjoyable character than TNG too.

Now when I see this all I think of is the Rick and Morty “simulation of a simulation inside another simulation’ bit. Probably not where it came from but it’s so convoluted in the last 20 minutes.

Wow, contrary to opinion of many, the episode was boring, predictable and anything but compelling.

45 minutes of my life I will never get back.

Nope. Just watched this episode on TV again and it's poop. I came in here expecting a scathing review... but 4 stars?

What?

My main issue with the episode, and it's the foundation of the episode, is WE know it's not real. When the Doctor starts to think he's human, when Reg turns up to confirm this... is WE know it's not true. So it doesn't matter if the rest is skillfully put together or not, all the twists and the turns, it's all pointless.

And then of course, the magic reset button? Everything is resolved by the episodes end by the main protagonist doing... absolutely nothing.

45 minutes of total poop.

I'm surprised by all the comments that the story is a fail solely because we (the audience) know it's all an illusion and not real. Show me the Trek episode where that isn't the case (notwithstanding something like "11:59" where there isn't any action by the main characters). Other than a kill because an actor is leaving the show, we know before we even start watching that all will be set right by the end of the show or arc. Yeah, we know this isn't real and the Doctor really is the hologram we've always known. We also knew Picard and crew would get out of the "Cause and Effect" time loop, that Picard would come back to his own life in "The Inner Light" and "Tapestry," that Sisko and company would not get blowed up in the wormhole in "Sacrifice of Angels," that "the doctor has returned everyone to normal" will be the standard line at the end of every show with character mutation, etc. That's part of the suspension of belief we have to have when we sit down to watch any fictional TV show or movie.

I don't know that I agree this one was four stars, but that we knew the end result isn't the reason it's not.

After many years, I watched this episode again. I would like to give it 4.5 star rating.

A few people complained that this episode is not in line with series' premise. Not sure what does that mean ? Perhaps they want to see voyager keeping moving forward and shooting down an alien enemy warship fleet on its way?

I believe a sci-fi movie should not just show visible challenges, such as hostile aliens e.g. Borg. but also invisible challenges, e.g. the time space dimensions, anomalies, realities vs. delusion. After all, 97% of our universe is made up of mysterious dark energy / dark matter. The universe we can see is only 3%. It is logical to believe voyager will encounter more challenges from anomalies than visible aliens.

Furthermore, there are scientific hypotheses that our own existence might be just holo-projection of a surface of a blackhole, that the galaxy and the world we see might be a projection or delusion. If that is true, then we might not be much different to the Dr.

At the end of the episode, the doctor says: I know exactly who I am and what my purpose is. I am the Emergency Medical Hologram aboard the starship Voyager. Then Kes responded: Are you sure about that?

At first, I did not understand what Kes meant. Does anyone know the answer to her question?

Now I can see what she means at a deeper level.

Super fun! I enjoyed it . The doc is awesome!

Wow, some of the comments/takes here are harsher than I'd have imagined. I lightly disagree with Jammer, in that:

* This is not better than "Ship in the Bottle" because that's apples to oranges. The only similarity is both involve the holodeck. This episode is better compared against "Frame of Mind" and I would say is the equal of that

* This is not Voyager's best installment to date. It's tied for that honor with Jetrel.

Those are minor nits though. Concur with Jammer's 4-star rating.

Thinking of my comment (https://www.jammersreviews.com/comments/?id=120064) on The 37s, this is another episode that was clearly meant for S1. Another S1 Stardate and the non-banana phaser prop. My supposition is The 37s was still meant as the season finale, just based on tone, this is a great episode but doesn't give "season finale" vibes.

I'm really curious why TPTB decided to mix up the air order the way they did. Other commenters have mentioned a podcast that I do not (currently) have the time to listen to. Can anyone shed light on the rationale behind this decision? Was it the first (of countless) example of UPN's business needs creatively interfering with Voyager? :-(

I love the Doctor, but I'm not a big fan of this episode.

I'm no fan of Barclay, either, but that aside, his appearance makes no sense. Chakotay tells the Doctor that everything he is experiencing are delusions drawn from his memories, but he has no memory of Barclay and doesn't even know who he is. In one of his delusions, Kim tells him that Barclay worked on his design, but is that actually true? It seems that if it were true, the Doctor would have had access to that information and would have recognized Barclay's name, if not his face.

It just seems like a contrived way to work the character into an episode.