Star Trek: Voyager Reviews L

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).


“False Profits” See this for a plot summary.

A sort of political episode about Ferengi capitalism. The attitude of Ferengi, and many capitalists in the real world, is illustrated by the exchange between a Ferengi and a local:

Local: I am a sandle-maker from the poorest quarter of the city.

Ferengi: The laziest you mean.

There’s some other things that illustrate capitalism among Ferengi (and some of today’s capitalists


“Remember” See this for a plot summary.

This episode is about genocide. The group being targeted is resisting technological progress that society is making. First, the existence of Amish people shows that such people can co-exist with a modern technological society. In any case, exterminating people because they reject technology obviously is bullshit.

The story is well done- the genocide and the cover-up well illustrated. Although I wouldn’t mind a more positive ending, I kind of like how they leave things sort of up in the air about whether or not the truth of the genocide will be confronted by the Enaran people.

I’ll take this opportunity to briefly describe one of my very favorite books. It’s called “Fatherland” by Robert Harris. It’s an alternative history novel where Nazi Germany wins the war and there is a cold war between them and the US. A Berlin police detective who’s almost a dissident, stumbles onto evidence of the Holocaust. The Final Solution was completed but there’s no official records and no one talks about it, although some people more or less understand what happened. The detective investigates and discovers the truth.

If you’re not much of a reader, there’s movie that’s been made based on the novel.

Anyway, this episode get four out of four stars.


“Sacred Ground” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.

“Future’s End” Parts 1 and 2. See this and this for a plot summary.

Although non-political, a very good two-parter. I say that partly because I generally always like time travel ST episodes. Also, I generally like Sara Silverman, who guest stars.

I give it four stars out of five.

“Warlord” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode, but tiny thing that could be considered anti-homophobic. While a male consciousness in inhabiting Kes, she kissed Tuvock, a male. On the other hand, like most of the other same sex kisses in ST, it’s noteworthy that Kes is inhabited by a villain.

Anyway, I give it three stars of five.


“the Q and The Grey” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode, although as a sort of Civil War buff I kind of liked that aspect of it. I give it three stars out five.


“Macrocosm” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it two stars out of five.