“Concerning Flight”

Why the heck didn't they just beam the stuff back up?

Interference from a scattering field, or something. Perhaps a flock of starlings. Don't ask why when watching Voyager - they can come up with convenient technobabble to cover EVERYTHING.

... that's too true. The two "convenient" lines used most often are:

"There's too much interference, I can't get a lock on him."

and

"They bypassed security protocols."

Unfortunately, that's too true. The two lines most often used for convenience are:

"There's too much interference, I can't get a lock on him."

and

"They bypassed security protocols."

It was a bit stupid of them to shoot at and destroy one of the ships beaming away their technology. What if it was the ship with the computer core on board?

Maybe I am not that smart - but how the hell can Voayger track the bad guys when their computer core is stolen? Doesn't everything on the ship depend on the computer? Hold on, let me take the hard drive out of my laptop here and see what

Nick, that's the best comment I've seen on this site or any other in a long time. As they say, LOL LOL LOL etc.

@Nick: LOL

I'm just glad the da Vinci program was running. Can you imagine if someone had been running a porno?!?

I think the writers didn't know what to do with this episode. 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. But no, he kept bumbling along to the finale. I like Rhys Davies but this is not why I watch Voyager.

AH, STUPID CRIMINALS!

"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!"

It started bothering me when Janeway didn't just beam the unconscious "prince" once he was knocked away and used him to negotiate getting all his stuff back. Then Chakotay won't fire on the 13 ships shooting at them... Normally I have a very good imagination and a great way to suspend my disbelief enough to enjoy a lot of things so long as I'm entertained. I had a hard time with this episode for a reason.

Awful episode. So full of contrivances. So they could beam the computer on board from their orbit, but even with it installed they had to go to a lower orbit to beam Janeway on board after the site to site transport? And it takes 5 minutes for voyager to get to a lower orbit?

Voyager transporters fail so much because they have to, to allow so many stupid plots to continue.

For me, this was the worst episode so far in this season. Too boring, made too little sense, brought nothing to the table and was silly without being fun. There were perhaps some isolated moments that were entertaining, but overall it missed the mark and not very worthwhile. 1.5/4 from me.

I'm sad that Mr. Rhys-Davies was not used in a more interesting episode. This one was senseless.

Was I the only one who enjoyed this silly, fun-loving kid's show of an episode? Anyone?

@Nick LOL LOL

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.

I also very much like John Rhys-Davies and really enjoy what he brings to the da Vinci character. Unfortunately, this is not how I wanted to see him utilized. This is the first true clunker of this season (at least the utterly frustrating "The Raven" consisted of 50% awesome) as it serves absolutely no purpose other than seemingly being in love with itself and the aforementioned titular character. A few nice pieces of dialogue and reliable performances can't save this one.

Concerning flight? Ah...no thanks. I'll take the boat.

1 star.

While Jammer's opinion is completely reasonable, I'm a bit more amused by this episode than him. If nothing else, it makes me smile.

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.

Lol, I meant Voyager is from the alpha quadrant.

These aliens are some of the slowest, dimmest, most clueless criminals since the Kazon. 30 guards in one building and they can't prevent one intruder from beaming out key technology? Those guys need to be fired.
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'.

Nick - "how the hell can Voayger track the bad guys when their computer core is stolen" - I think they made some reference to backup systems coming online but that it would take a few minutes for everything to kick in. Cold standby so to speak.

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

Well, I guess we've had too many good Voyager episodes :-)

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.

Not really much to say about this one, other than I thought it was serviceable enough and that it at least had a fairly fresh premise that took a decidedly different approach by having Leonardo be the lead. If you can get over that contrivance then everything else - including handily positioned flying machines - falls into place.

Ironically though, it was Seven who had the best scenes. 2.5 stars.

Has anyone checked on Nick???

This one is a guilty pleasure for me. For some reason I take great delight in seeing Da Vinci trying to comprehend all of this 24th century technology.

watchable (*)

I Hated this episode. I kept fast-forwarding through the endless blah blah between Janeway and daVinci, but it still didn't help. Hated the premise, hated the dialog, hated the Dumb Criminal of the Week....I wouldn't give it more than a half star personally.

Absolutely loved this episode, utterly charming. :)

John Rhys-Davies is majestic!

Too much tech to think simply. When Janeway and da Vinci were on their way to the storehouse, they could only detect the mobile emitter, and weren't sure if Janeway was there. They were literally walking to the storehouse over the Southern California Desert landscape. Are there no telescopes on Voyager? They can detect specific details of the borders of space-faring races (Year of hell) from parsecs away (or really far away), but can't magnify a view of the surface of the planet they're orbiting?! How hard is it to look out the !@#$% window?
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?

Are holodeck characters as sentient as the Dr so easy to produce?
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!

I agree with Paul Allen, and others who praised the episode. It was delightful and refreshing.

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.

Hello Everyone!

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. Voilà!

Enjoy the Day Everyone... RT

Janeway: "This is Leonardo da Vinci we're talking about. Simulation or not, he's one of the greatest creative minds in Earth's history." Oh, great. I'll remember that next time. "This is Napoleon Bonaparte we're talking about. Wikipedia article or not, he's one of the greatest military minds in Earth's history. I'm sure I'll be able to conquer the world with it in no time!" In all seriousness, this episode was dreadful and the worst of the season so far, despite John Rhys-Davies' (and Melgrew's and Russ') amiable performance. The mugging, which affects some but not all systems at random for what the plot needs, is there only to set up the Janeway/Leonardo stuff, but that is all painful to watch, which seems to be intended as a tribute but ends up making Leonardo da Vinci look like an idiot throughout. Oh, so he believes this is all America, does he? So he gets shot straight through but doesn't have to find out why and accepts it, huh? So much material comes down to Janeway trying to convince Leonardo to stop asking questions and to accept his limitations, and I'm not sure why we need to see the Leonardo hologram learning that he's out of his depth. The big emotional flight at the end is maybe meant to be some sort of cheer moment, but I'm not sure that "Leonardo da Vinci's flying machine succeeds, based on Janeway's advice to him and based on 24th century alien ultralight materials" is all that meaningful, especially when the cheer moment seems to be around proving that Leonardo da Vinci *was* smart, after all. Thanks, but I think we knew that. For comparison, Doctor Who's episode featuring Vincent Van Gogh (spoiler) managed to have an uplifting (if bittersweet) ending of having Van Gogh realize that he would eventually be appreciated, and it's given weight because of the tragedy of his life, and it's particularly about appreciation that actually happens, because of work he actually did, rather than an elaborate "well, I bet if he were alive in the future and had a cool best friend and had access to future tech he'd be able to accomplish his goals!" wish-fulfillment stories. Janeway should have just turned the damn mobile emitter off, of course. It's too bad John Rhys-Davies didn't get a better vehicle, I guess (and when I say "vehicle" I don't mean that glider). 1 star.

Why would the mobile emitter have a starfleet signature?

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.

"Absolutely loved this episode, utterly charming. :)

John Rhys-Davies is majestic!"

Seconded.

Agreeing on the acting skills of John Rhys-Davies and also accepting that some contradictions in the behaviour in characters must be allowed, this was to much. I quite seldom complain about the irrationality in the behaviours. I try to look behind and appreciate the sense rather than the details. But somehow the concept must fit together and be reasonably consistent.

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.

1-star.

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.

Just an excuse to get Janeway and Da Vinci in a "real" adventure together. I think this is one of those supposedly feel-good VOY episodes but I found it silly and overly contrived. I think there was really 1 good bit of dialog between Janeway and Da Vinci when the captain tries to explain to Leonardo that there are realities beyond his comprehension as if he were a sparrow. The whole thing of Da Vinci asking questions etc. got annoying -- like why he didn't want to leave the new world, why he survived being phasered etc.

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.

Yes, a light-hearted bit of fluff, SouthofNorth has it just right about its whole purpose. And even if they weren't going to bargain with the baddie, the least they could do was beam him into a brig so he couldn't alert his defenses, since he knew what Janeway was after.

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!

Loved it, one I would watch again, if only to listen to Janeway say what my Italian mama used to say when she finally had all us kids ready to go: Andiamo!

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.

@Russel

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

Brilliant. 5/5! The interactions between Janeway and Da Vinci are writing gold. A brilliant homage to pursuing your dreams, however impossible. One of voyagers best!

Good trolling, Robbie.

Silly, but all things considered not too bad. Two things stood out enough to make it a bearable one:

i. Tuvok claiming to be from Scandinavia.

ii. Janeways parable of a small bird and its relation to human intellect.

2 Stars.

I really enjoyed this episode. I understand there were some plot holes along the way but honestly, it's a good Star Trek episode to escape into. If you have to, pretend it's a holonovel gone rogue. Turn the safety off. Occasionally we all have to escape.

Surprised no-one mentioned the casual way Chakotay let the guy leave with Starfleet technology. In the past Janeway was willing to self destruct the ship to stop Starfleet tech getting into alien hands, now they couldn't care less. This kind of casual disregard for continuity is what turned me off Voyager.

More like "Concerning Filler," amirite?

I appreciate the fact that Star Trek sometimes goes for whimsical concepts like "Captain Janeway goes on an adventure with a hologram of Leonardo da Vinci". Every episode can't be dead serious drama, and I enjoy both John Rhys-Davies' performance (and that amazing voice) and the conceit that Da Vinci believes that he's in America. A lesser actor might get lost in the shuffle, but Rhys-Davies has the presence to make the episode work, in my opinion. Even so, Jammer is right, Janeway ought to just turn off the holographic emitter, put it in her pocket, and things would go a lot faster because she wouldn't have to debate the nature of existence with a simulation!

Rewatching this after a good decade, which itself was a rewatch more than a decade after the show aired. 20+ years later, I still loathe this episode as much as I did back then, having just turned 18.

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.

Pretty boring, but some very good looking FX work.

"Hey, who should we cast as this old Italian guy?"

"How about the fat British guy from Sliders?"

"Brilliant!"



Christ, was this show sponsored by the Italian Tourism Bureau or something? They can't get enough of this "Master Da Vinci" set, can they? A complete waste of a great guest star in another mindless Voyager holodeck episode.

Nothing like Covid to get a guy to watch old science fiction shows. I can see by the review and the comments that this episode is somewhat unpopular. The story seems uninspired, and I was 100% fine with the Da Vinci hologram when it was on the holodeck where it belonged, but giving him his own planet-side adventure just seemed weak to me. "It's America!". Ha. Right. In the 1500s [Da Vinci died in 1519] it took 6 weeks to cross the atlantic [if the ship made it at all]. Here we have arguable a genius inventor believing he was "knocked out, and spirited away on a ship to america". Really buddy? You think you slept through a 6 week journey?

Aside from that, my biggest issue with this episode, is the inherent lack of concern that the crew feels about leaving behind most of the star fleet technology. In earlier seasons, when the crew was interacting with the Kazon, they wouldn't let a single scrap of their technology be left behind or used. Even as they have traded with other races of aliens since then, they trade things that are not starfleet technology but rather are consumable resources like...minerals, or plasma, etc. I believed in the fundamental understanding that they refused to leave starfleet alpha quadrent tech behind as they traveled. So I feel somewhat betrayed by the writers who so flippantly left it behind in this episode. Chakotay even let the guy they beamed aboard with the stolen tech TAKE IT BACK WITH HIM! Like really Chakotay? I have seen you make bone-headed decisions, but this one takes the cake. Perhaps they should have left you back on that planet to "fight the nemesis" after all. You couldn't compensate him for his loss in some other way than letting him walk out the door with starfleet tech?

Finally, while I understand that Voyager couldn't engage the planet or ships in combat freely while they were missing their computer processor, but once they had it back and were fully operational, I really wanted to see them take back ALL of their stolen technology, and punish the Prince of thieves by disabling or taking away the transporter technology he is using to Space pirate innocent passerby. [We learned during the episode that Tau stole that technology too, and is using it to make himself wealthy]. I really missed that karma and justice of this episode...just leaving half the stolen goods behind and sailing off seemed very unsatisfying to me. Missed opportunity here.

Also, my least favorite lines at this point:

"Evasive Maneuvers" *Insert Greek Letter here* Omega, Alpha, Beta, Delta pattern etc. They always say they are evading, but it never actually seems to work at all. -.-

100% of the time, immediately after saying they are taking evasive maneuvers the enemy weapons fire strikes them anyway, resulting in the camera shaking impact. Flashes of light from the various consoles, immediately ruined Janeway Hair, and on occasion a random dead side character with no name.

"Command Override Janeway Pi one one zero" Really Biotch? You haven't changed your damned password in 3 years?! The password dozens of people and even some aliens have -heard you use-? No wonder the security protocols are always being locked/overridden. -.-

Had to Google this episode to see if anyone else was as annoyed as I by this ridiculous episode.

Janeway, turn off the emitter and finish this nonsense!

"Fire at will."

"I have the will, but not the means, Captain."

hahahahaha

It's a fun episode - but it's not doing anything clever. The biggest issue I have with making holograms indistinguishable to sentient beings and, further, explaining that they can "expand their program" is that you are effectively saying that all holograms would be protected and have rights under the Federation - as they are life forms. They would all pass a sentience test. They're possibly even a race (Voyager stupidly actually made this the case via "Photonics"). It seemed to be as early as The Next Generation that the lines were being blurred WAY too much in this regard. Moriarty was meant to be a total one off - but now it's like a few chosen commands to the computer - some tinkering to the "matrix" - and you have a new self-aware lifeform being born. Kind of takes away from Data being unique too, doesn't it? Dr Soong should just have visited a holodeck instead of all that programming slave labour shit.

If you want an army of Borg hunters - just replicate 1000000 military holograms and replicate 10000 ships. It destroys internal logic and realism long term. But, then, di I ever expect the majority of Trek writers to think this deeply? Of course not.

"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. " -- Jammer

I suppose if one were Seven-of-Nine, one would find the whole of it irrelevant. It is sad when the following lines fail to move us:

da Vinci (to Janeway): " When are we not in prison? When are our lives free from the influence of those who have more power than us?"

OR

da Vinci (responding to Janeway's analogy of a bird's perception of the world, i.e., 'say that you were just a sparrow'):

"Still... the limits of my mind would prevent me from understanding."

Janeway: "And as a man, can you accept that there may be certain realities beyond the limits of your comprehension?"

da Vinci: "If I did not accept that, then I would be a fool."

OR

da Vinci ( after pointing out his first memory to Janeway, that being, as it was actually, a raptor) :

"All my life I have wanted to fly--
Perhaps my failure to do so has caused my heart to remain in flight-- leaping from one thing to another--
never satisfied-- never complete."

Janeway: "And now that you've actually flown?

da Vinci: "Now who knows what I cannot accomplish?"

All good dialogue....and these lines do ring true. Glad that I watched, got past the obvious plot set-ups, and took in the strengths. Not at all irrelevant to my mind. 3 stars.

Jammer says "there's a lot in this episode that doesn't ring true", and that line encapsulates my feelings about this episode perfectly.

There's something artistically dishonest about this episode. The impression I get is that the producers started off with the idea of a "hologram stepping off the holodeck". Then they arbitrarily made this hologram Leonardo da Vinci. Then they reverse-engineered a theme to justify the episode ("It's about freedom!"). Then they shoe-horned references to da Vinci and flight ("See, he's free!"), then they wedged in a "glider scene" at the end to tie it all together.

Interspersed with all this are little scenes which strain to connect to one another. I don't buy anything about them (despite the script's insistence that they're "about the forces perpetually conspiring to limit da Vinci"). The whole thing feels not like the work of a writer with something to say, but of a committee struggling to utilize a great character (the da Vinci hologram), and a great actor (who plays da Vinci), and a great historical figure (da Vinci).

Compare to TNG's Sherlock Holmes adventures, which are amongst the best that show ever did.

I would say this episode does one thing well, though. In an effort to track down stolen property, Janeway travels to a planet which buzzes with activity. We learn that aliens from all over the quadrant congregate on this planet - in orbit and on land - a facet which is quite rare for Trek, which typically portrays planets as racially and culturally homogeneous places.

After Trent's comment I reread what I wrote and for a second thought when I mentioned "the mugging" I was talking about Rhys-Davis' acting rather than the robbery haha. (I'm a fan of Rhys-Davis but I do think he liked hamming it up in this role.)

"After Trent's comment I reread what I wrote and for a second thought when I mentioned "the mugging" I was talking about Rhys-Davis' acting rather than the robbery haha. (I'm a fan of Rhys-Davis but I do think he liked hamming it up in this role.)"

There's good clowning, and bad clowning. Rhys-Davis did some good mugging in Indiana Jones, where the clowning and the gravitas of the actual story fed each other rather than being a distraction. In this episode he pays to me more like Sideshow Bob than like a great historical figure. Contrast with the performance of Moriarty in TNG and it's a complete joke. Rhys-Davis is a super-energetic performer, but that can go a bad way. I mostly think a bad script and bad director will get an actor like this to embarrass himself rather than come off as charming. I didn't like his use in Scorpion either. Something about the pretention of "Katharina" irritates me. It sorts of reeks of grasping at something you fear you don't already have in the script. On a literal level him calling her that is roughly equivalent (and equally as goofy) as if she had called him Leonard, or worse, Leo. Leo from Vince.

@Reuben K.

"When Janeway and da Vinci were on their way to the storehouse, they could only detect the mobile emitter, and weren’t sure if Janeway was there. They were literally walking to the storehouse over the Southern California Desert landscape. Are there no telescopes on Voyager? They can detect specific details of the borders of space-faring races (Year of hell) from parsecs away (or really far away), but can’t magnify a view of the surface of the planet they’re orbiting?! How hard is it to look out the !@#$% window?"

They could have scanned for human life signs. It seems pretty likely that Janeway was the only human on that planet.

@Drew

"Like really Chakotay? I have seen you make bone-headed decisions, but this one takes the cake."

Maybe he makes those decisions because we are far from the bones of our grandfathers.

This felt like Voyager's stab at an after school special.

I agree with the above, this was far from the best episode, but, it did have some great lines, such as da Vinci's muttering that it was ''as hot as Vulcan...'', and, when Tuvok responds, he replies off-handedly ''An island off the coast of Sicily...'' XD XD XD

I thought they weren’t meant to leave their technology in the hands of other races. Transporter module and phasers left behind in that warehouse.

Isn't Flint the immortal also Leonardo? (Flint is a cool idea, but IMO they went overboard with the historical figures, and Jerome Bixby wanted to go ever further and make him Jesus himself) ... anyway I now find any mention of Leonardo d V in Trek distracting for the reason.

This was a fun one. I like how they used a practical location (some kind of factory?) as the setting for the storehouse.

I always get John Rhys-Davies and Brian Blessed confused for some weird reason, but still his role as Leonardo da Vinci was well done. Good to see him brought back from a previous episode with a much bigger role.

Also, I like how respectful Janeway was to him. It is neat seeing a hologram of a historical figure react to the future as fantasized in Star Trek (Moriarty did this too in TNG-although of course he is fictional)

I think I am in the minority, but I am sorry that they never let Janeway finish her holonovel in the earlier seasons. To me, this kind of comes close to it (albeit, it is 200 years and a nation off)