Star Trek: Voyager
"Concerning Flight"
Air date: 11/26/1997
Teleplay by Joe Menosky
Story by Jimmy Diggs and Joe Menosky
Directed by Jesus Salvador Trevino
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Scandinavia." — Tuvok on his origin, proving he's bad at small talk and lying
Nutshell: An amiable but overwrought and unsatisfying hour of character interplay.
"Concerning Flight" is inoffensive, but it's also uncompelling. It's rather absurd, and the absurdity is exploited for surprisingly little purpose. What we have here is the so-called "high concept"; where else but on Star Trek could you have a story that can be summarized "Leonardo da Vinci finds himself on an alien world where he must help the captain of the USS Voyager retrieve the ship's main computer processor, which has been stolen by alien thieves"?
Sound laughable? Well, it's definitely not easy to take seriously, and by the end it's downright ludicrous. But, surprisingly enough, this premise does not reduce da Vinci to the status of a run-and-jump action hero (much to the contrary of the trailers). What it does do is supply a basic plot that is used as an excuse to give Captain Janeway and the holographic simulation of Leonardo da Vinci (John Rhys-Davies) a lot of time to talk to one another while embarking on their mission.
The plot: Alien pirates with "translocator" technology fly by Voyager and beam key devices off the ship (says Tom Paris, AKA Lt. One-Liner, "I feel like we've been mugged."), including the main computer and Doc's portable holo-emitter. Ten days later, after tracking the aliens to their homeworld, Janeway goes undercover to get the crucial technology back. As it turns out, da Vinci has somehow been downloaded into Doc's portable emitter and is living in a workshop owned by the leader of the space pirates, a guy named Tau (John Vargas). The fact that Tau has a name is hardly relevant; his primary purpose is to get hit on the head from behind—knocked unconscious by a sneaky Janeway or da Vinci. Anyway, a series of events causes Janeway and da Vinci to team up together to find the Voyager computer (which is stored away in a warehouse setting similar to where many B action movies are filmed). Da Vinci is an unwitting pawn in a plot larger than he can imagine. He still thinks he's in the 16th century and believes he has arrived in the New World, mistaking the alien planet and all its technological wonders as, well, "America."
The rest of the episode is pretty much about the Janeway/da Vinci relationship, so to speak, but I had a lot of trouble accepting it on the story's terms. For one, the whole idea of such a casually sentient hologram bothers me a little bit. The Doctor is a different story because he has been learning and coexisting with a human crew for years. But now, it appears any hologram can simply be downloaded into the portable emitter and carried around on away missions at will, whether it's Leonardo da Vinci, James T. Kirk, or William Shakespeare (maybe William could recruit some aliens to do a theater production of The Merchant of Venice before sneaking up and hitting the bad guy in the back of the head).
But fine; let's say I do accept this on the story's terms. There's still no reason that Janeway, at several points in the story once she knows where she is going—whether she's sneaking around the warehouse or climbing up a hill—couldn't simply turn off the program and put the emitter in her pocket to save time and get on with her mission.
I know, I'm nitpicking and poking fun, but there's no reason not to, because the scenes between Janeway and da Vinci just aren't worth the time spent on them. There's a lot of dialog between Janeway and da Vinci, but what in the world is it supposed to mean? This is an episode of overwrought and excessive exposition, with long stretches of "interesting" dialog and events that don't ring true. There's a point where Janeway and da Vinci stop to have a drawn-out conversation that's practically about the nature of existence, never mind that the two are supposedly fleeing from their alien pursuers. I might be willing to forgive the plot silliness if this dialog were truly effective, but it isn't. None of this benefits Janeway's character in any discernable way. I suppose it benefits da Vinci's character in a way, but who cares? This series is not about Leonardo da Vinci. In words Seven of Nine might use, "It is irrelevant."
John Rhys-Davies and Kate Mulgrew, for all their charms, cannot save this episode from its own sense of overly cute self-importance and excessive "cleverness." When the point came that Janeway and da Vinci were to escape their pursuers in da Vinci's flying device, it felt utterly, 100 percent contrived and gratuitous, as if to say "What Leonardo da Vinci 'epic' would be complete without a 'historic' flight in his craft?" I don't believe I've seen a sillier, more canned attempt at cuteness on such a "grand" scale than this illogical escape sequence provides. (How convenient that da Vinci happened to have earlier placed this contraption in the same vicinity where Janeway transports them to!)
I'm sorry—I don't mean to sound cynical, but this whole episode left me pretty cold, and came off as little more than a pointless (albeit amiably portrayed) exercise staged for the mere sake of doing it. Character- and dialog-wise the show goes into pretentious excess; plot-wise, the story is sometimes entertaining, but provides a poor means for framing the dialog and characterizations, which just don't belong within the confines of the premise.
I guess the writers felt da Vinci was a character the audience wanted to see, so they consequently structured a story around him. I have nothing against the da Vinci character, and I certainly don't have anything against Davies (on the contrary, I have a lot of respect for his screen presence), but he should stay in the holodeck and not be dropped into this goofy comic-book mayhem. There's a time and place for everything, but Leonardo da Vinci does not belong in the middle of a plot to help the Voyager heroine retrieve her 24th-century starship computer core.
Next week: From the looks of the preview, it's a rerun of "The Gift." No, wait; it's a rerun of "The Raven." No, wait; a rerun of "Revulsion." Oops, no; an immediate repeat of "Concerning Flight." Wait—the press release says "Displaced." Ah, the hell with it—I give up. It's not new, and that's all I need to know.
Previous episode: Random Thoughts
Next episode: Mortal Coil
50 comments on this post
Fri, Jan 4, 2008, 8:46pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 17, 2008, 4:28pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Apr 28, 2008, 2:38pm (UTC -6)
"There's too much interference, I can't get a lock on him."
and
"They bypassed security protocols."
Mon, Apr 28, 2008, 2:39pm (UTC -6)
"There's too much interference, I can't get a lock on him."
and
"They bypassed security protocols."
Fri, Aug 1, 2008, 1:52pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Aug 26, 2008, 4:37am (UTC -6)
Fri, Oct 2, 2009, 10:20am (UTC -6)
Mon, Feb 8, 2010, 10:43am (UTC -6)
I'm just glad the da Vinci program was running. Can you imagine if someone had been running a porno?!?
Tue, Aug 24, 2010, 8:49am (UTC -6)
Tue, Apr 26, 2011, 8:54am (UTC -6)
"Sure, I'll give da Vinci the resources he needs to build a flying contraption on the top of a hill, he's a hologram, he'll never try to escape with it!"
"Oops! They've escaped in the flying contraption! They're now 10 feet away, it's no use trying to shoot at them!"
Wed, Jan 25, 2012, 12:44am (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 4, 2013, 10:07pm (UTC -6)
Voyager transporters fail so much because they have to, to allow so many stupid plots to continue.
Sun, Apr 7, 2013, 1:53pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Jun 29, 2013, 6:51pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 8, 2013, 5:11pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Apr 15, 2014, 10:47am (UTC -6)
Awful episode. Implausible plot, childish story, cartoonish execution.
Besides, I am also one of those who just can't stand anymore "There's too much interference, I can't get a lock on him", not to mention "they bypassed security protocols". At this point, when I listen these lines, my mind already goes off the episode.
Thu, Aug 28, 2014, 1:27pm (UTC -6)
Concerning flight? Ah...no thanks. I'll take the boat.
1 star.
Mon, Sep 1, 2014, 10:49pm (UTC -6)
Still, it's pretty improbable that the dude who keeps stealing technology wouldn't eventually shoot himself in the foot by angering so many/certain strong aliens when he takes their stuff. Eventually the passerby would know he was there and take violent action.
Also, and this is a problem I have with more episodes than just this one, how come all these variable technologies are compatible? Voyager is from the Delta Quadrant, and no aliens they meet would be able to automatically understand/use their stuff, much less know what stuff is best to steal.
Mon, Sep 1, 2014, 10:50pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Apr 6, 2015, 7:59pm (UTC -6)
Shooting at an unaware Janeway from behind and STILL missing, despite having all the time in the world to take proper aim and only standing 10 feet behind her? Even a Stormtrooper would be ashamed of such a miss.
And in the end, when Janeway and Da Vinci escape on their flying machine (don't even get me started on that) they literally only shoot once, then apparently stand around doing nothing for a minute, watch the good guys take off, pointlessly run towards them and then look on helplessly and Janeway and Da Vinci glide to safety. Did they just forget they have guns?
On the bright side, I enjoyed the small tidbits between Seven and Harry and Seven and the Doctor. Doc going mental from getting locked up in his cage and Harry trying to teach Seven some manners. That was enjoyable at least. Completely irrelevant, but still fun little breaks in the 'action'.
Mon, Apr 20, 2015, 5:34pm (UTC -6)
Kieran - "at one stage Da Vinci is shot and was surprised that he wasn't hurt. I thought he would then realise he's a hologram and have a breakdown which might have been interesting" - there's a reference to the da vinci character interpreting his surroundings through the limited parameters of the programmed character e.g. he interprets the aliens and strange planet as people in "america". He's a hologram of a renaissance character so he couldn't possibly conclude from being shot and unharmed that he's a hologram - something he's never conceived of. Now if it was explained to him that he was an artificial man etc. etc., he could.
As terrible episodes go at least this one made efforts to explain the terribleness....and yes i'm answering 5 year old questions
Mon, Oct 26, 2015, 9:49am (UTC -6)
As much as I want to like this one, it's usually a skipper for me.
I truly LOVE John Rhys-Davies' Da Vinci and Janeway's interactions with him; but this episode is just nuts. It's clearly written for him, but I agree with Jammer, he should stay on the holo-deck or at the very most on Voyager.
There is however, a part of me that enjoyed watching Da Vinci seeing his machine work, albeit with some help.
1.5 stars.
Sat, Feb 13, 2016, 6:23am (UTC -6)
Ironically though, it was Seven who had the best scenes. 2.5 stars.
Wed, Jun 8, 2016, 11:08pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Jul 23, 2016, 2:13am (UTC -6)
Sat, Aug 27, 2016, 4:37pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Oct 30, 2016, 9:04pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Feb 2, 2017, 5:50pm (UTC -6)
John Rhys-Davies is majestic!
Tue, Jun 6, 2017, 2:06am (UTC -6)
Also, it's obvious why the bad guys only shot once when Janeway and da Vinci glided away. They were utterly shocked at how ridiculous the situation was. How would you react if the people you were chasing suddenly decided to skate away using Hot Wheels tied to their shoes?
Fri, Jul 21, 2017, 11:52pm (UTC -6)
Doesn't this create some severe ethical issues in how the holodeck is used?
What does it say about the nature of life and sentience?
Or, alternatively, if the Da Vinci character (as sophisticated as he appears) is not sentient then doesn't it cast doubt on the validity of the Dr's supposed claim to sentience?
I'm confused!
Sun, Sep 3, 2017, 11:03pm (UTC -6)
Of course, there are some hiccups in the plot: how does the mobile emitter end up on da Vinci? Why does da Vinci appear to have weeks or months worth of memories of his time with the new "prince,"? By this year, the Federation has no anti-theft technology?
Nonetheless, the magic of the episode lies in the mix of the wonderment of da Vinci at 24th century technology, his clever attempts to render it intelligible, and the hilarity of Janeway carting da Vinci around as she does some high tech sleuthing. Minor dialogue is often winning,; for example, interactions between Seven and the Doctor, Harry and Tuvok in separate instances are nicely understated. The highlight of the episode is seeing Janeway and da Vinci gliding through the air and vanishing via transporter. The scene recalls ET, but with a touch of silliness. Overall, an endearing and entrancing episode.
Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 7:33pm (UTC -6)
I liked the scenes with Seven and Doctor.
I found it interesting that Da Vinci's programming required him to get winded when running up hills (and needing help from Katarina).
Did Voyager lower their shields to beam them up, while being fired upon by 15 or so ships? Honestly, I always thought that while the shield emitters work together, it would be possible to shut one set off so they could beam through. This time, it'd be one of the lower emitters, because they were not being fired upon from the bottom. And I think this is not totally unreasonable, as they often have "aft shields are down/gone", so they turn the ship around. Turn off a set, beam, done. VoilĂ !
Enjoy the Day Everyone... RT
Thu, Oct 19, 2017, 10:02am (UTC -6)
Sat, Dec 2, 2017, 5:56pm (UTC -6)
How would the pirate dude know there was a hologram running in the computer? How would he know what the mobile emitter even was? Even if he did know those things, why would he put the hologram into the emitter? How would he know how to use any of this stuff in the first place? And why would he then keep this strange man around? He doesn't know who Leonardo DaVinci is. How is Leo talking to everyone without a translator? How did Leo convince this guy that he was a genius, set up a lab, invent and build a new flying machine, visit a bunch of 'fortresses', make intricate maps of the entire area, and all the other crap he did, all in less than 10 days?
And they say that his maps are even better than what they can do with the topographical computer on Voyager. Riiiight.
Why does Janeway drag him around all over the place?! Shut him off and put him in your pocket for god's sake.
And yeah, why can't they transport until they get to 500km above the surface? Why not? No reason at all. And why does it take literally 5 min to go from 1000km to 500km? It would take Voyager about 1/50th of a second to go that far even at 1/2 impulse. No reason at all.
This episode sucks balls big time.
1/2 star.
Mon, Dec 4, 2017, 3:25am (UTC -6)
John Rhys-Davies is majestic!"
Seconded.
Sun, Apr 1, 2018, 3:58am (UTC -6)
Here it failed, became silly and stupid. To me it seemed like a holo deck story within a holo deck story.
The idea displaying the contrast between Da Vincis mind and world against a world 900 years later is really good, but this was a spoiled opportunity.
Mon, May 7, 2018, 7:48am (UTC -6)
Look, everything in this episode is a plot contrivance designed for only one purpose, to get us to the scene where daVinci gets to experience his dream of flight. Nothing else before that is relevant or dramatic or makes a lick of sense. For example, the ineffectual baddie who stole the all important critical essential computer core is rendered unconscious. So? Beam him up to the ship and make him BARGAIN for his freedom!
And we discover that the all important critical essential computer core is housed in this guarded warehouse. So? Beam down a full security contingent armed with phaser rifles and enough firepower to conquer Paris (okay, bad example) and seize it. But no, let's not do that. Let's send ONE person and a 15th century hologram to try to get it back.
Fast Forward rating: Keep your finger on the FF button until you get to the scene where daVinci flies. Play that scene and then press End and go onto the next episode. You won't be missing anything.
Wed, May 30, 2018, 7:37pm (UTC -6)
Also, the plot is super simplistic. Alien pirates steal technology, Voyager finds them and retrieves them while Janeway and Da Vinci work on the ground. No real twists or unexpected turns. The character bits don't make up for the ultra basic plot. But I did like Tuvok's line to Da Vinci when he says he's from Scandinavia! (Like Data saying he's from South America in "The Big Goodbye").
It's definitely over the top cheesy in the end when Da Vinci and Janeway manage to fly (it never worked before but now it works with the weight of Da Vinci and Janeway somehow).
1.5 stars for "Concerning Flight" -- kind of a light-hearted adventure where nothing is to be taken seriously, no lasting effects. (Might as well not have been made). Not sure what the point is of giving Da Vinci some added inspiration given that he's a holodeck character. Weakest episode of a decent VOY Season 4 thus far.
Thu, Jun 14, 2018, 10:04pm (UTC -6)
No, wait... the LEAST they could do was take Janeway's communicator back from him, so she could be in contact with her ship instead of (as far as she knew) having her and Leonardo single-handedly rescuing the computer core on their own. (Lucky she hit upon the same method for making it more visible for beam-out). But no, she doesn't bother, doesn't tell anyone where she's going, doesn't have a com badge for the better transporter lock. It really annoys me when characters have to be stupid for the plot.
Though in response to Xylar 3 years ago: the guard wasn't aiming at Janeway, but at Leonardo (and hit him). Promotion for that one guy!
Wed, Sep 19, 2018, 10:40pm (UTC -6)
Just really fun and an original way to get a Holodeck character out into the world. Some funny lines and really great scene with Leonardo and Katherine flying.
Lovely. A four star for me.
Thu, Nov 8, 2018, 9:54pm (UTC -6)
I agree! Actually, I was surprised they hit one of the ships. Those little ships were flying rings around Voyager, and without computer targeting, I thought it would be hopeless (Like when in the Wrath of Khan, they tried targeting without sensors in the nebula)
@ Mal
You, and the rest of the people who make such "jokes" must lead very crude lives.
@ Caine
Yes, I did too! I guess I'm just not an old fuddy-duddy like some! No, but seriously, why do some of you watch Star Trek if you hate it so much?
@ Scubabadger
Exactly! That's why he did ask if he was a spirit, or if it was sorcery. If he said, "Am I a hologram?", it would REALLY be unbelievable
Sat, Jun 8, 2019, 8:44pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Jul 22, 2019, 4:33pm (UTC -6)
Sat, Aug 17, 2019, 7:01pm (UTC -6)
i. Tuvok claiming to be from Scandinavia.
ii. Janeways parable of a small bird and its relation to human intellect.
2 Stars.
Tue, Aug 20, 2019, 5:49pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Nov 10, 2019, 3:57am (UTC -6)
Sun, Mar 8, 2020, 9:54pm (UTC -6)
Mon, May 11, 2020, 1:40pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Aug 18, 2020, 1:47am (UTC -6)
This episode could easily have been less than half as long without losing anything at all. The Da Vinci guy--who, judging by his diction and enunciation, is a theater actor--was boring, improbable, implausible, extraneous in the extreme. "He" added nothing to the plot; if anything, he slowed down the action to a frustrating halt at critical moments. Thank gods for the fast-forward button.
What is really interesting though is that the commenters above show a split. Some hated the episode, some found it barely watchable, but some were rapt about it. That's quite a success and a hallmark of good writers: stimulate a discussion and promote controversy. Something tells me that was a chance byproduct though rather than done by design.
Wed, Jan 20, 2021, 10:17pm (UTC -6)
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