Star Trek: Voyager
"Good Shepherd"
Air date: 3/15/2000
Teleplay by Dianna Gitto & Joe Menosky
Story by Dianna Gitto
Directed by Winrich Kolbe
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Shockwave approaching! Contact in four, three, two, one..." [nothing] "...more or less." — Celes
Nutshell: Fresh and entertaining on the whole, but where's the ending?
The opening teaser sequence of "Good Shepherd" begins with a CG shot that starts from outside the ship and tracks in on Captain Janeway in her ready room. The sequence ends with a parallel shot that tracks out from a window way down on deck 15, where a lone crewman looks over an order on a PADD that has just been handed to him. The order has traveled from the top of the chain of command to the bottom, while we've watched it travel from channel to channel. It's a fresh and interesting little sequence, and it sets the stage for "Good Shepherd," a fresh and interesting show.
"Good Shepherd" isn't exactly of the dramatic caliber of TNG's "Lower Decks," but the ideas are similar. It gives us the workings of the starship Voyager from a different perspective, from those of crewmen who see the higher-ranking officers as intimidating bosses rather than friends or acquaintances. Funny, how I just mentioned in my review of "Ashes to Ashes" that we're never permitted to see this perspective. I guess it's better late than never.
The general idea here is that three members of the Voyager crew have "slipped through the cracks" of the Voyager family. They're misfits of sorts, whose work performance isn't the greatest. They've been noticed because they don't fit the model. In five-plus years, none of these three has been on an away mission.
Janeway's idea is to play the "good shepherd" looking out for some members of her flock that have gone astray. She decides to try bonding with these crew members by assigning them to an upcoming study mission on the Delta Flyer, which she is commanding.
What makes this episode a pleasure is that it gives these three young crewmen interesting, quirky personalities. We have Mortimer Harren (Jay Underwood), an abrasive fellow who detests space travel and would rather be on a stationary study post "re-postulating the origins of the universe" (in Torres' words). There's Tal Celes (Zoe McLellan), a Bajoran woman whose technical skills aren't the best, which prompts her to constantly agonize over her weaknesses. And there's Billy Telfer (Michael Reisz), a wide-eyed hypochondriac who scans himself with a medical tricorder in the early a.m. hours, hoping he can call in sick to avoid his away assignment. (There's also a bit part here for Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, as Crewman Mitchell. His part is irrelevant, but as a Rage fan, I just had to make mention.)
Once the story puts us on the Delta Flyer, the routine mission of course turns unroutine. The plotting is nothing worth writing home about—involving some "dark matter" lifeforms that run into the Flyer and cause problems and damage. (And don't even bother asking me about the plausibility of dark matter as applied here, because I haven't a clue about the physics.) But what this plot does do is serve as a capable device for revealing the characters' personalities. The dialog and the character interplay are very nicely written, with a natural ring.
Harren's haughty coldness is perfectly conveyed—being just forceful enough without going too far as to be implausibly off-putting. Make no mistake: This guy would like nothing better than to be left alone, and he has very direct—and acerbically amusing—lines for letting other people know that. (When Janeway comes to deck 15 to recruit him for the mission, he asks her, perhaps not unreasonably, "Are you lost?" Janeway obviously hasn't been on this deck for some time.) We learn that Harren never had any desire for space travel, but got assigned to Voyager as a one-year temporary prerequisite that became a long-term mission when the ship was thrown to the other side of the galaxy. I enjoyed the way he'd turn Janeway's efforts to "help" him into proof that she truly has no idea who he is or what he wants. (Janeway calls him by his first name and he responds, "My mother didn't even call me that.")
Celes is a more vulnerable person with understandable self-doubts. She strikes me as a credible average person who isn't up to a job that demands more than average, rather than the perfectly skilled problem solver that most people on Voyager seem to be. Her confession that she crammed her way through Starfleet Academy shows an honesty and an awareness of her limits. She has a discussion with the captain that almost hurts to hear: She knows she doesn't have the skills to make it on a starship, but being trapped in the Delta Quadrant has given her a job she probably couldn't sustain under normal circumstances. ("I don't deserve to be on your ship, captain," she says. "And I'm not really a part of Voyager. I just live there.") Particularly interesting is the fact that she's Bajoran and her awareness that her getting through the academy was probably made somewhat easier by "sympathy votes" based on Bajor's unfortunate situation.
Wide-eyed Telfer is a bit goofy—he talks a lot and he's afraid of anything he can't see that might possibly infect him with any symptom. This would probably be the reason why the lifeforms choose him when they decide to temporarily abduct somebody to their realm and then return him carrying some sort of parasite. Telfer doesn't have the built-in depth of Celes or Harren, but he's likable enough and gets some interesting interaction with the other characters.
In the middle of these personalities is Janeway, trying to remain as accessible as possible. Mulgrew turns in a pleasant understated performance that blends Janeway's roles of leader and confidant into a human persona who can either be firm or easygoing depending on the circumstance. She provides a solid anchor for the episode. It's good work.
Do you even care about the weird dark-matter lifeforms? I didn't, and I don't think the creators cared much either (otherwise they might've actually revealed what they wanted). The aliens exist to provide a little mystery, put our characters in jeopardy, force them to think their way out of it, and give the visual-effects team a chance to blow something up real good (in this case the rings around a gas giant).
Where "Good Shepherd" stumbles is in its lack of a satisfactory conclusion. The show comes screeching to a halt almost immediately after the jeopardy crisis is resolved, which sits strangely considering how well we've come to know these three new characters. It's almost as if the writers ran out of time and had to forego the typical extended dialog wrap-up we often get for these sort of stories ... which is exactly what this episode needed. In reality, Joe Menosky says that wasn't the case—the swift ending was intentional—but I think it would've been better to get a more concrete idea of the direction these characters might've been headed after this adventure. Considering they get such a nice setup and such compelling dialog through the story's action, it seems wrong that they don't have a voice after the mission has ended. It feels incomplete and that's a shame. Janeway's little wrap-up speech to Chakotay is far too obviously scripted and not particularly useful.
But I still highly recommend a bulk of "Good Shepherd." It's a break from the routine, and the casual dialog is skillfully conceived. We come to understand these people and their personalities, problems, and quirks, and we grow to care about them. The episode has the right approach, emphasizing character interaction and discussion.
Next week: A rerun of "Barge of the Dead," still the season's biggest winner in my book.
Previous episode: Child's Play
Next episode: Live Fast and Prosper
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92 comments on this post
Thu, May 1, 2008, 5:21pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Sep 16, 2008, 6:45pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Mar 6, 2009, 11:13pm (UTC -5)
Also, it presents Captain Janeway in a terrible light: that she can't even maintain basic discipline on her ship (which also runs completely counter to Captain Ransom's statement in Equinox, Pt. 1), and that she would tolerate these slackjaws without imposing any sort of corrective discipline. Instead, the episode portrays her in her "aw shucks, Ma Bell" routine where she trains her subordinates by treating them like misbehaving children.
The writers tried to duplicate the success of TNG's Lower Decks, but instead, they only managed to piss me off. Aye carumba.
Sun, Nov 22, 2009, 11:22am (UTC -5)
Other than that, this episode once again makes me hate Janeway (pompous, deluded, idiotic, take your pick) and the "Good Shepherd" stuff was sickening (the opposite of what we got in the - IMO - very good 'Lower Decks' of TNG).
Oh yes, and the is no ending, is there? Just Janeway's delusional ramblings. Also, it's a shame we'll likely never see these three again after all that... heaven forbid we have any sort of continuity or continuing characters, eh?
Final observation I'm surprised doesn't annoy more people... why the HECK do they need to physically CARRY the orders on a Padd from one end of the ship to the other?! Can't they use the comms? Or the computer? Or anything?! Oh, I noticed on the Flyer Janeway tells Celes to upload her tricorder info into the computer... and Celes seems to be punching it all in MANUALLY! I guess there is no wireless in Voyager's tech. Or intercoms.
Sat, Apr 24, 2010, 2:30pm (UTC -5)
Janeway: "What the hell is wrong with you!"
Harren: "It was trying to kill us!"
Janeway: "You don't know that!"
Harren: "We were at risk!"
Janeway: "I gave you a direct order!"
Don't know why I liked that exchange, but I did.
Tue, Jul 13, 2010, 10:26am (UTC -5)
Two things, as others have mentioned: It comes WAY too late in the day and it's difficult to believe that there are still "misfits" on the ship never previously identified, after everything Voyager has been thru. Secondly, the ending is poor, not so much because it's cliched, as EightofNine said, but because it is rushed, and leaves many questions unanswered and the whole conundrum of the show unresolved.
Three stars is perfect.
Wed, Mar 30, 2011, 2:44pm (UTC -5)
Love the concept, as something that hasn't really been done before (Lower Decks yes, but pretty different really).
I actually liked Janeway in this episode. For once she's balanced to an almost Picard-like level: caring and kind, but firm when she needs to be. This Janeway is far better than the battleaxe we are often faced with.
For the most part the misfits were interesting and it felt worth watching an episode about them. I thought yellowshirt was a bit too much of a brat sometimes though - credit where it's due to Janeway for her patience, as I'd have had the sarcastic and abrasive little turd dangling out of an airlock...
Final Fantasy VI + Voyager combined in-joke: This time Celes couldn't get a Locke.
Spot the mouse pointer moving around the LCARS interface in the escape pod. Um?! :D
All in all pretty good. It used Voyager's premise to its advantage, which I always enjoy. Three stars seems absolutely right.
Tue, Apr 12, 2011, 5:13am (UTC -5)
Sat, Sep 3, 2011, 1:31pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Sep 6, 2011, 5:00am (UTC -5)
I enjoyed the guest characters though - so much so I kind of wish they could be grafted onto the main cast. There are so many pointless 'hangers-on' in Voyager's main cast of characters. I'd happily dispense with Harry, Neelix, Chakotay and Tuvok in order to make way for someone like Harren, who struck me as the most potentially interesting of the three. Even Celes and Billy had a freshness about them that could have reinvigorated the series a bit. I'd love to see them in the series again...but I know that's 99.9% unlikely (forgive me if I'm wrong, I don't think I've seen any Voyager beyond this point).
Sun, Sep 18, 2011, 10:39am (UTC -5)
Reminds me of the original V series where they had this advanced technology, but messages were always being delivered to Diana and the others in person, and on actual paper notes.
Wed, Sep 28, 2011, 8:51am (UTC -5)
Haran's explanation of how it's his genes that determine who he is not where he grew up as well as Celes's about how she knows she doesn't belong in Starfleet and that she got in only due to sympathy votes are blasphemy on liberal-dominated TV.
Sat, Feb 18, 2012, 9:21pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Mar 16, 2012, 3:14pm (UTC -5)
My nitpick is this: When does how much anti-matter remaining determine the *top speed* a ship can go? (Or shuttle, in this case.)
Combined with how often they're looking for more dilithium, I'm starting to wonder if the writers got the two mixed up. And after burning food in a replicator, I think the writers forgot how the ship works.
Or they just don't care.
Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:47pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Jul 10, 2012, 9:14am (UTC -5)
Tue, Jul 10, 2012, 10:00am (UTC -5)
And then Locke posted. My day, made.
Sat, Jul 14, 2012, 3:35pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Jul 14, 2012, 3:37pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Oct 14, 2012, 2:00pm (UTC -5)
What were you looking for, the scene to last until they "came to", and dramatically pondered the first day of the rest of their lives?
Thu, Jan 3, 2013, 1:47am (UTC -5)
Thu, Jan 3, 2013, 2:16am (UTC -5)
1. No need to take all 3 newbies in one away mission.
2. Surprised Janeway didn't know the way to a particular area.
3. Janeway seemed to be overly upset when the alien lifeform is killed (true to Trek philosophy though).
Fri, Jan 11, 2013, 3:05pm (UTC -5)
Just saw this again on CBS, or half of it anyway. Forgot about the mouse pointer appearing, but spotted it again! Hilarious blooper.
Agree with my own assessment of Janeway as pretty decent in this one.
Yellowshirt guy was still insufferable. I think he needs more than this mission, he needs a good slap. He makes early Squall (FF8) look friendly and extroverted. The other two weren't too bad, they were a bit loser-ish for people who've been on the ship for 6 years but they pulled through. That guy though, ugh.
Mon, Jan 28, 2013, 3:54am (UTC -5)
The other thing I find awkward is about Seven. Has she become the efficiency officer ? If I were a crewman, moreover a Starfleet officer with years of training, I'd be pissed to know that a former Borg has that much influence. In addition, I'd resent her "I'm superior and better than you" attitude. I'd have understood if she had asked a private meeting with Janeway to complain, but here, it looks like a formal senior officer's meeting.
Granted, that's a nitpick about an otherwise very enjoyable episode, but it's something that's always bothered me.
Tue, Jul 9, 2013, 7:48pm (UTC -5)
Also, the other kid is more of a hypochondriac than Barclay and he went 6 years without this being brought to light? Barclay's idiosyncrasies were called out a very short time after he came on board and that's on a ship with a complement of over 1,000 people, where slipping between the cracks would be easier to do. I am in full agreement that an episode like this would have been far more suited to season 1 or 2. I didn't hate it but I didn't love it either.
Tue, Aug 6, 2013, 11:48am (UTC -5)
It was very solidly made and I loved the fresh, mismatched, quirky characters who made the story work that much better (it would have been very dry if it had just been the regulars solving yet another crisis without a unique hook or a hint of freshness).
I got a kick out of the impressive space visuals, although I think a good old fashioned slime-drenched prop would have worked better for the dark matter creature!
I liked the characters and I liked this fun, little unconventional Voyager adventure. 3 stars from me, I'm glad to finally be a little more positive about the second half of season 6 for a change!
Fri, Aug 16, 2013, 12:30pm (UTC -5)
mostly, cause we wont see these 3 again.
Harren's character was a hoot. i kept thinking,"how can you talk to a captain like that." but dang it was fun.
it had a 4 star start..but i think it ended with 3.
Fri, Sep 20, 2013, 5:51am (UTC -5)
As others have pointed out, it comes far too late in the day, and we've never seen these characters before and never do again. The fact they could still be this incompetent, neurotic and attitudinal by this point in the series beggars belief. It's a small ship.
Tue, Dec 3, 2013, 12:25pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Dec 3, 2013, 1:09pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Jan 29, 2014, 4:58pm (UTC -5)
Lastly, due to the character's collective experience in the shuttle craft, we can all infer that they have indeed changed, and will not be quite so isolated from the rest of the ship from this point onward.
The episode was also a great character study for Janeway, allowing her to display different aspects of her leadership philosophy.
Mon, Feb 17, 2014, 12:34am (UTC -5)
Mon, Mar 10, 2014, 9:46am (UTC -5)
The problem is that three new characters appearing out of nowhere at this point in the series is implausible. It was okay on the Enterprise-D because it was a big ship and personnel transfers happened all the time (and there was Sito, whom we had seen before).
Mon, Mar 31, 2014, 8:10pm (UTC -5)
Mon, May 26, 2014, 11:51pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jun 5, 2014, 12:57am (UTC -5)
That said, I did like Janeway's trying to understand them. Several moments between them worked for me. It's a shame they're never going to be seen again. The standard for Voyager, obviously.
I'm also not a fan of the "good shepherd" routine, again implying that Janeway is a parent and the crewmen her children that need to be rescued. It makes her seem like a self-righteous ass.
Sun, Jun 29, 2014, 10:30pm (UTC -5)
By the way, you don't get to be captain of Starfleet's newest ship without knowing the deck plan. Even if she didn't before, she had 6 years to become familiar with a whole 15 decks. Come on. I know that scene was meant for comic relief, but this stupid writing makes Janeway look bad.
The only thing I liked about this episode was the brief exterior shots at the beginning and end. I remember them doing this occasionally in the first couple of seasons, then they seemed to forget about it? It's a shame this effect wasn't used more.
Sun, Sep 7, 2014, 2:35pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Sep 7, 2014, 8:50pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jan 1, 2015, 4:32pm (UTC -5)
Arachnea - I had the same reaction. Who is Seven to call out someone's inefficiency at a senior staff meeting? I thought she worked in Astrometrics anyway. I believe Seven is an interesting character but I always thought that Janeway gave her too much latitude.
Sun, Jun 28, 2015, 1:42am (UTC -5)
Be that as it may, the dark matter centipede was very creepy and none the worse for being an obvious and predictable plot point. Actually the episode was enjoyable despite the overplayed caricatures and Kate Mulgrew's contemptible on screen presence.
These three sixth-year misfits are far more interesting than any of the main characters.
And, for the record, if we're ever on a smallish space ship and a dark matter centipede alien bursts out of someone's neck and starts destabilizing the core or whatever, you shoot it. That's an order.
Tue, Sep 8, 2015, 12:37pm (UTC -5)
Sun, Dec 20, 2015, 9:31am (UTC -5)
It is incredible that these three can still be how they are after 6 years, especially Billy, who after being experimented by the Caretaker, being stranded on Hanon IV, brushes with Borg nanoprobes, macroviruses and telepathic pitcher plants to name a few, is still a hypercondriac!? If I'd survived all that intact I'd think I was invincible! Tal being incompetant is another that in 6 years no one tried help her of give her something she could do.
Now I can understand Herrons annoyance. It was Janeways fault they're out here. But Janeway, nor Seven, seemed to realize they could have solved 2 out of 3 problems by switching Tal and Herron's jobs. Put Tal on Deck 15 pushing buttons that I think someone said even a monkey could do and have Herron in astrometrics doing something he's trained in and would actually be good at! Maybe then he wouldn't feel as bitter...
Someone above mentioned Janeway having memorized Voyagers plans but couldn't navigate Deck 15. Well she had been down there since taking command; the spatial rift that she used in "Deadlock" was on Deck 15, which interestingly didn't look nearly as cramped as it does here!
And in the briefing near the start, Kim talks like he doesn't know Tal (hard to believe with a ship of 150 after 6 years together but whatever), but later we learn in "Haunting of Deck Twelve", which is a flash back to before this episode, Tal smashed Harry in the face with a toolbox, and he didn't remember her for that alone!?
Fri, Feb 5, 2016, 9:59am (UTC -5)
Thu, Feb 18, 2016, 9:21am (UTC -5)
Thu, Feb 25, 2016, 9:32am (UTC -5)
Sat, Mar 5, 2016, 8:54pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Mar 9, 2016, 8:34am (UTC -5)
Mon, Mar 14, 2016, 2:47pm (UTC -5)
The characterisation is not quite en pointe here - Telfer is a little broad and Harren a little off putting - but Celes right on the money as someone who just isn't really good enough to be on the ship. And it is of course a classic cliche for a group of misfits to bond together in adversity. But that's not to say this isn't handled well enough, it's just a little Sesame St in its lessons. 2.5 stars.
Tue, Mar 29, 2016, 7:55pm (UTC -5)
- That was a horrible FF6 pun Cloudane, and I applaud you for making me laugh from it!
- I wonder what Sheldon from Big Bang Theory thinks about this episode? Namely because Crewman Harren is that exact same personality. Extremely intelligent, extremely selfish, extremely arrogant.
- I for one don't think this episode was necessarily "too late" in the series. It is not surprising that Janeway doesn't know about these problem crewmen: it's not her job. It is the first officer's job to take care of personnel issues (see Lower Decks for another example of this). And by all accounts, Chakotay did that job as well as possible. Harren was being antagonist? Give him a job away from everyone. Tal Celes was incompetent, so put her in the least important job possible. And Telfer does his job just fine, as long as he doesn't go on away missions. None of that requires Janeway's attention. None of it necessarily requires Janeway's attention even now, but she wants to deal with things because she feels motherly towards the crew.
- Wait, so Janeway is now comparing herself to the Good Shepherd? She is literally comparing herself to God now? Whoa, her random mental problems took a weird turn there.
- I think it helps to look at this episode more as a "slice of life" than a deep character development episode. Like I said, I don't think anyone necessarily required Janeway's attention, but she tried to be a good shepherd here. It was a nice gesture, but they don't need to solve all the problems in a magical 45 minute episode. Unfortunately, that seemed to be what the writers wanted.
But what, exactly, did Janeway do? Telfer's problem was cured by dealing with a nightmare situation, not any wonderful psychological help from Janeway. Tal is still incompetent, so nothing changed there. That leaves Harren... Well, is he changed? He was still insubordinate, still ignoring the chain of command, still not communicating. Admittedly, he was willing to sacrifice himself for the good of the ship, indicating that he was starting to feel a sense of community with the crew he's ignored for 6 years. But then again, maybe he calculated that he was dead anyway and this was his best shot... Still, I will grant her one instance of helping out, even if it is a small one.
But that's good. Turning these crewmembers into perfect little officers in one away mission would be unrealistic and trite, about what I'd expect from Voyager's character episodes. Instead, we only see the start of a change, and perhaps the only change that happens. Maybe Celes never improves; in fact perhaps it's logical that she never improves. But she can at least come to accept her limitations and know the captain is accepting of her. Perhaps Harren will remain selfish and arrogant, but he might spend a bit more time with the crew or be more willing to use his talents for the good of the ship. Little changes, that's all we need. So while I think the ending was a bit trite, with Janeway claiming her mission was a success, the fact that we don't blatantly see it helps.
- The fact that they kept calling her Celes instead of Tal did bug me at first, but this might have actually been an accidental continuity reminder of something nearly forgotten. Remember when the Bajorans were introduced in the episode Ensign Ro? She mentioned that many of the Bajorans switched their name around to adapt to Federation standards, even though Ro did not. So maybe Celes was one of those people. We never heard of this on DS9 because, well, maybe that was only true for refugees. DS9 focused on the Bajorans who stayed on Bajor, not the refugees, so maybe they never changed. See, it totally makes sense!
- Speaking of Celes, I was quite surprised. I would never have expected Hollywood to show, quite blatantly, the problem with affirmative action. They actually handled it reasonably well; it was clear that that was the analogy, but it wasn't overstated and didn't get preachy. Show, rather than tell. Probably because the writers themselves didn't make the connection. At the very least, it was a decent enough justification for why Celes managed to graduate and join Voyager. And who knows, maybe she was wrong. Maybe she did just barely pass on her own, but her own insecurities cause her to consider herself more of a failure than she actually is.
Tue, Mar 29, 2016, 8:24pm (UTC -5)
It should be surprising. Janeway is, essentially, the mayor of a town with
Tue, Mar 29, 2016, 8:28pm (UTC -5)
It should be surprising. Janeway is, essentially, the mayor of a town with fewer than 200 inhabitants. [original post truncated by "less than" symbol] As MartinB said earlier, everyone should know everyone by now. They should recognize each other by body odor! Elementary school principals can learn every student's name in 9 months, so Janeway has no excuse.
Thu, Mar 31, 2016, 8:10pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Apr 5, 2016, 9:36am (UTC -5)
Tue, Jun 14, 2016, 1:18pm (UTC -5)
I thought the guest actors hit it pretty well. Just hammy enough to get the job done.
I agree with Skeptical. I'm one that doesn't think this episode was "too late". I think because it's later in the series it's more realistic.
I also didn't mind the ending so much. So we don't get a preachy Janeway blab at the end that so many complain about? This was fine, the goal of the episode was reached. She reached out and touched some folks that are pretty much out of reach for her. She also didn't magically change them, just gave them some self confidence.
Good for her.
3 stars is about right.
Mon, Aug 1, 2016, 3:56am (UTC -5)
Fri, Sep 9, 2016, 3:40pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Nov 17, 2016, 6:01am (UTC -5)
2 stars. This was just fluff.
I get the cosmologist, but how the hell did the other 2 make it through starfleet academy? Ok, Celes claims it was the result of cramming, and some Bajoran bias (affirmative action?) but if that's the case they really overdid her incompetence. They should have merely made her nervous, not hopeless.
And the hypochondriac? Doesn't starfleet give their applicants a psyche test? Or did I miss something? If he came with the Maquis crew it would have made sense, but I don't remember anyone mentioning that.
Fri, Jan 27, 2017, 10:16am (UTC -5)
Sat, Feb 11, 2017, 3:44am (UTC -5)
Still though, not Voyager's best. The actors themselves didn't seem to have much chemistry with each other either, unlike the ones in TNG. Also, was it just me or did the hypochondriac look a bit like a watered-down version of Julian Bashir?
Fri, Apr 7, 2017, 9:27pm (UTC -5)
Wed, May 17, 2017, 2:11pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Jun 15, 2017, 11:16pm (UTC -5)
I really like the Harren character and I wish we'd been introduced to him earlier or seen more of him later. There's a ton the story could've done with him - here you've got a guy who's basically Richard Dawkins but doesn't want anything to do with the ship, but takes a step at the end of the episode. Would've been nice to see him pop up as an extra now and then and continue to come out of his shell.
Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 12:31am (UTC -5)
Also agree Equinox crew could have added a nice edge here...use PTSD instead of hypochondria.
Sat, Jul 22, 2017, 1:50am (UTC -5)
And about 130 of the other crewmen have never been on an away mission either as far as I can tell, and they aren't misfits. Maybe take some of the non-misfits instead. But then you couldn't have had boring one dimensional characters, that 'learn' something.
1 1/2 stars
Tue, Sep 5, 2017, 4:55am (UTC -5)
The character Harren is recognisable (Asperger syndrome?) also Tal Celes feels real. Billy Telfer on the contrary does not really fit in. It was also disturbing with that he had a relationship Tal Celes. With a girlfriend he is not really an outsider.
Even though this was not in itself a fantastic episode I found it entertaining and good.
Fri, Oct 6, 2017, 12:57am (UTC -5)
(Exactly the same question I posed when I watched this episode in its original run)
Second time around (maybe third) I still have no clue. Jammer was my last hope and he couldn't really tell either (I presume from reading his review).
Chakotay also asked "what happened?"
Alas, no answers from Janeway either. She just went into the good shepherd yadi-yada that I found..... cheesy!
Good episode until the last 4 minutes. Then, as I said, I don't know what happened.
Dianna Gitto wrote this episode and it is apparently (according to IMDb) her only credit for Voyager, or Star Trek, or anything else.. period.
Tue, Oct 17, 2017, 3:15pm (UTC -5)
Wed, Nov 1, 2017, 6:53pm (UTC -5)
Where they episode fails is the ending and the mysterious life forms that just turn out to be a plot device. The personalities of the 3 misfits is a bit extreme as well -- especially the hypochondriac. Actually they all don't belong on a starship. It wraps up too quickly after the explosion. And how was the Mortimer rescued in the explosion when his escape pod is off in some other direction? And after all is said and done, we don't know what happens to the 3 misfits -- do they change in any way?
The aliens didn't work for me -- reminds me a bit of the creatures in TNG's "Conspiracy". We don't get any resolution to what they are all about -- the science behind them being related to dark matter etc. is probably going to displease some folks too.
I liked how Janeway didn't absolutely lose it with Mortimer or the other 2. Good episode for Janeway for sure. Wonder how Picard would have treated Mortimer who kills the alien against Janeway's wishes. But who knows what it would have done to the vessel...The Bajoran woman was pretty pathetic -- so much self-doubt. Star Fleet dropped the ball here in admitting her.
Barely 2.5 stars for "Good Shepherd" -- good but predictable premise that wasn't very well executed. The 3 characters were well portrayed, as extreme as they were and I think this is one of the better episodes for showing how good a captain Janeway can be. A fair bit of wonky "sci-fi" here as well.
Fri, Apr 27, 2018, 11:59pm (UTC -5)
Tue, Sep 4, 2018, 10:53pm (UTC -5)
I found this one pretty boring. I’ll admit I don’t care for lower deck characters. I want the cast front and center. The plot made no sense and was boring.
Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 10:01pm (UTC -5)
I don't mean to say there's no skill in being a medic, or a nurse, but it requires less of the type of work Tal Celes particularly abhorred, and it is a position routinely backed up by a more capable professional (the most capable, according to the Doctor)... It's almost perfect for her.
Tue, Oct 30, 2018, 9:48pm (UTC -5)
Janeway is great with them and their various needs.
The alien trying to communicate story was lame, though. And the overall story became a little dull. I don't understand how Mortimor got back, but maybe I missed something there.
Mon, Nov 12, 2018, 3:12pm (UTC -5)
I love Janeway.
Fri, Dec 28, 2018, 3:17pm (UTC -5)
Every potentially adversarial character is either dispensed with immediately, or else their character is inexplicably made tame from one episode to the next. I think this partly explains some people's love of Janeway. It's not because she's a good or interesting character, but because that the writers created the illusion that she's a sound leader by removing any sensible voice of opposition.
That said, I did appreciate that she gave Mortimer the room he needed to dislike her and even to be insubordinate. I just didn't care for her savior complex.
Wed, Oct 2, 2019, 11:01pm (UTC -5)
Thu, Oct 3, 2019, 1:08am (UTC -5)
Thu, Nov 14, 2019, 1:07am (UTC -5)
Your comment summarize my thoughts exactly.
A nice 3-solid-stars-story.
Sat, Jun 6, 2020, 11:28am (UTC -5)
Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 11:59pm (UTC -5)
Sat, Dec 12, 2020, 10:21am (UTC -5)
))Janeway claimed that she'd memorized the entire layout and schematics for all of Voyager before taking command, but here she needed to be told to turn left instead of right...((
Yeah, it's NOT like the ship hasn't been severely damaged and virtually re-built several times ("Scopion" - cough-cough -"The Killing Game" -cough-cough). It's NOT like Borg technology had been incorporated and then subsequently dismantled.
Seriously: Even in a standard ship patrolling the Alpha Quadrant, it might occasionally happen that, in the course of routine maintenance, an extra wall might need to be erected or a Jefferies Tube re-routed. And who knows what modifications might have been necessary when installing "Quantum Slipstream Drive?"
Wed, Jan 27, 2021, 10:55pm (UTC -5)
"I kept trying to imagine these characters (particularly Herrin) in the predicaments that we saw earlier, like "Year Of Hell" and "The Killing Game". "
And Basics...and Demon...
Mon, Oct 4, 2021, 9:46pm (UTC -5)
Tal Celes, I liked a lot. She just needed some encouragement, and seemed suited to work in Sickbay based on her innate empathy.
Billy Telfer, the hypochondriac...glad that he survived, and glad that he overcame his debilitating neurosis.
It was a good show, and I liked the minimalistic ending focused solely on Janeway, exhausted, but successful, but I do regret that these characters, who I grew to like, get no further exposition. 3.5 Stars
Sat, Oct 9, 2021, 9:35am (UTC -5)
Tal Celes is seen later on in a different episode.
Thu, Dec 16, 2021, 5:51pm (UTC -5)
HARREN: We don’t belong here.
TAL: Or it didn’t belong in the Delta Flyer.
That reminded me of the Horta's message "NO KILL I" in "The Devil in the Dark," when Kirk wondered if that was "a plea for us not to kill it" and Spock suggested it might mean that it wouldn’t kill them.
Thu, Dec 16, 2021, 5:58pm (UTC -5)
Don’t they have e-mail in the twenty-fourth century? Or voice recognition software?
Thu, Dec 16, 2021, 8:50pm (UTC -5)
Fri, Dec 17, 2021, 12:21am (UTC -5)
"Don’t they have e-mail in the twenty-fourth century? Or voice recognition software?"
There are places where voice recognition is far less convenient than typing. A busy workspace with lots of people running around is one on these places.
The way PADDs are handled, though, is indeed silly. Lots of computer-related things from classic Trek have aged horribly once the internet came around.
Wed, Feb 23, 2022, 12:44am (UTC -5)
Tue, Apr 5, 2022, 12:48am (UTC -5)
- While it might have been better earlier on, I don't think it's unreasonable that there were still "misfits" by S6. On a ship, even one not trapped in the Delta Quadrant, it's simply difficult to replace people, and there's no guarantee that the next person you get will be any better. At any given time there are always a couple of people who can't be trusted with much and that's sort of built into the system. The people around them pick up the slack and life goes on. In over a decade I only remember one person actually being fired and sent home. Humans are creatures of habit, people fall into routines very quickly and the routines persist unless something major comes along to disrupt them. I think it's totally possible to have many crewmembers on Voyager who are just "along for the ride" especially with all the cool kids hogging the Holodeck and the Astrometric Lab.
- Janeway not knowing her way around Deck 15 is also pretty reasonable. People have their jobs and I'm sure Janeway always had something more pressing to do than stroll around a blank corridor. I often worked in the holds and knew all of their idiosyncrasies and knew all of the cargo by the end of a voyage. By contrast, the captains I worked for really had no clue about the state of the holds because there was always another email or spreadsheet to deal with. The captain disappearing into the holds is going to be a real problem because they're always being called on the phone or radio every few minutes. In the same vein, I knew the basic layout of the engine room but never went poking about just for fun because it was just something you didn't do. I imagine it would be pretty much the same on a starship. I appreciated that they used different sound design for Deck 15 as well to make it feel like an alien environment to the captain.
- The 90s writers, who usually didn't know much about military or pseudo-military environments, actually nailed the types of "misfits" you find aboard ships. Telfer, the hypochondriac in the episode was genuine; in real life they are usually lazy people who just want light duties to accompany their paycheck. Once again, inconvenient to send them home, and expensive to send them to doctors, you kind of come to an unspoken arrangement where you don't ask too much of them and they keep their complaints to a minimum and ride out their tour. Celes, the incompetent, is also common, once again, others just usually pick up the slack around them and they do their time and move on. The third type, Harren, is pretty much everyone aboard ship though. Everyone is really only there for a paycheck, pretty stressed and short-fused. Instead of being an outlier, he is really par for the course. Also, no one really makes great friends aboard ships because of the workload and also everyone being split on different watch rotations, so not having an amazing social life wouldn't be seen as strange. I think it is more likely on military ships where the workload is lighter but even there you have too many people competing for free space. A person with Harren's temperament is actually pretty well-suited to mundane shipboard life. The people wanting to play Captain Proton all the time would be the ones having the tough time.
- Celes didn't attend the Academy, it's said she took "Starfleet training courses," so she probably went through whatever Starfleet boot camp consists of. To "get in" she basically had to be of a certain age and in good health, not be the "best of the best" like Janeway and the others.
Overall I liked this episode because I saw it more as a commentary on Janeway's failure to appreciate anyone that wasn't in her chosen clique. Club Janeway includes the usual senior officers but also Seven and Neelix who have no rank. All of them handle everything aboard ship and also get free passes constantly. I realize the budget is the reason for that but episodes like this help to balance it out a bit.
Fri, Jul 15, 2022, 4:30pm (UTC -5)
1. Janeway doesn't know the layout of the ship's lower decks.
2. Janeway ably holds her own against the pretentious Mortimer (for every barb he throws her way, she has a sharp retort).
3. The aliens, while perfunctory, were mercifully allowed to be alien. They weren't fully explained, their motivations weren't bothered with, and they managed to retain their mystery.
I generally like Janeway when she's portrayed as a protective mother, and this episode milks these traits well. Yes, it's odd that she suddenly cares about these "lost" crewmen so many years later, and the episode's climax is too neat, but her sense of love and concern shines through, and the episode captures well the closed-loop of Starfleet service; you serve it and it serves you.
Wed, Jan 18, 2023, 10:34pm (UTC -5)
Last I heard, Starfleet wasn't like taking final vows in a Religious Order; these people haven't committed to stay for the rest of their lives. Would it really be so awful for these folks to be honorably discharged (after all, they made at least nominal efforts to keep doing the duties to which they may have come to believe themselves unsuited), and given some help to build civilian careers onboard? TNG, after all, showed us that there are roles for civilians on a starship. Would it really be so terrible for Celes to become "a waitress in the mess hall"?
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