[VOY] Cynics Corner Review: "Riddles"
David E. Sluss
O
R Star Trek: Voyager: "Riddles"
N as reviewed by David E. Sluss
E
R copyright (c) 1999 Tiger Bay Publishing
[ADMIN] This Cynics Corner Review is dedicated to the memory of Cronan
Thompson, who, as many readers probably already know, passed away last
week. Always opinionated, often abrasive, occasionally brutal, but
normally a blast to read nevertheless, Cronan will be missed by Cynics
everywhere. Give those angels Hell, kid!
Devil just bought a brand new, Devil just bought a brand new,
Devil just bought a brand new penthouse in Heaven.
"Paradise in Distress," Golden Earring
Spoilers ahead!
THE BOTTOM LINE: There's a good episode screaming to get out, but in
space, no one can hear you scream.
CYNICS CORNER RATING: 6.0
QUOTABLE OF THE WEEK: "Surely you could find something more
productive to occupy your time." Many viewers undoubtedly told
themselves the same thing...
CHEAPO PROP OF THE WEEK: Which Voyager staffer do you suppose donated
that old View-Master that was used to reveal the aliens?
CARDBOARD CUTOUT OF THE WEEK: The character of Inspector Nimrod, or
whatever his name was, was so thin that at certain angles you'd need
one of those View-Master gizmos to see him. The X-Files parody
aspects of his characterization are clumsy, the acting by guest-"star"
Mark Moses is atrocious, and the character's actions are arbitrary and
inconsistent. Take, for instance, how obsessed Nimrod is over finding
proof of the existence of the invisible aliens. In the end, thanks to
his newly-enhanced View-Master and Tuvok's frosting skills, he finds
them. Yet he seems practically eager to give up his technology, and
the proof he so desperately sought, in order to help Janeway get the
information she wanted from the aliens. While it's a nice change of
pace for the Forehead Alien of the week to be something other than a
villain or an obstructionist, it's got to be done better than this.
MEDICAL QUACKERY OF THE WEEK: Star Trek medicine, like all of its
science, is largely a crock of course (and, Trekkie Rationalizers,
spare me the old saw about how the Air Force looked into creating
biobeds, and other crap of that sort, will you?), but this week
presents us with more proof of that fact than usual. For purposes of
seeing the almighty reset button get hit again, we are asked to buy
the idea that "We can cure brain damage if we know what weapon was
used to inflict it." So, someone could put six bullets through Kim's
head, further damaging his brain, and as soon as The Doctor knew what
the bullets were made of, Kim would be as good as new, right? There's
no logic or reason to that at all, even in the 24th Century, where
we've been told at various times when the plot dictated it that "We
still don't know how the brain works"; indeed, in this very episode,
The Doctor characterizes the Vulcan brain as an enigma. Still, I
wonder what Braga was hit with, and whether he can be "fixed"...
OLD ACQUAINTANCE FORGOTTEN OF THE WEEK: In some ways, this episode
can be viewed as a thematic sequel to "Tuvix," except of course for
the fact that continuity-free Voyager can't be troubled to make
references to past events, even when they're appropriate. Let's face
it, Tuvok and Neelix shared body and mind for a couple of months in
"Tuvix," and all indications were that they remembered the experience
after being forcibly separated. Wouldn't that give Neelix some
insights during his attempts to rehabilitate Tuvok, or at least some
things to say that were less banal and insipid?
COURT-MARTIAL OFFENSE OF THE WEEK: Say, how about Janeway offering
tactical information about nearby races to the invisible aliens in
exchange for information necessary to save her crew member? It's a
bit muddled as to whether she actually gave them that information or
whether Nimrod's View-Master was enough to buy them off, but it's
rather shocking that she would offer such a thing. For all intents
and purposes, she was willing to sell out a number of races to a
potentially dangerous species to help one of her own. Even among all
the other controversial, improper, and illegal actions Janeway has
carried out over the years, this one stands out, I think.
UNINTENDED LAUGH OF THE WEEK: There was plenty to ridicule here, but
Tuvok's method of communicating the cloaking frequency was just the
icing on the cake...
NEXT WEEK: Look at all the kEwL explosions and F/X! Must be
November.
--
// David E. Sluss (The Cynic) \\ // "I'm impatient with \\
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\\ Cynics Corner Interactive //\\ learned to live without it." //
\\ http://users.dhp.com/~sluss // \\ Klaatu //