145 – The Haunting of Deck Twelve

Grade: C

Summary

The ship nears some kind of nebula, and all of a sudden, they shut down the power. Neelix becomes scared, but then holds it together somewhat, since he has to make sure the new Borg kids don’t get scared. It turns out there’s something freaky about Deck 12.

Commentary

Eh, I’m not impressed. Sorry, it had some creepy moments – like when people suddenly showed up on camera – but it wasn’t enough to actually make it a great episode. The Borg kids they’ve picked up (oh, by the way, what happened to the Borg infant they found on that ship?) can’t act worth beans – especially the twins.

It’s only a little bit mysterious. If you have never seen a Star Trek episode before, maybe you’ll be surprised at how this thing ends. I knew almost immediately what was going to happen and why people were not allowed on Deck 12.

This episode should not be used as an example of Kate Mulgrew’s best acting. In fact, I’d say it was rather comical when she was being attacked by the alien. She’s not a tremendous actress anyway, but in this she’s actually pretty atrocious. Probably wasn’t all that interested in the show anymore. Sometimes I wish Voyager had been more like Law and Order and actually allowed regular characters to be replaced when they were no longer interested. No such luck here.

Well anyway. So a subpar story, bad acting, pedestrian directing. It all adds up to mediocrity.

Of Note

Tuvok says he doesn’t sweat until it gets to be 350 Kelvin. That’s about 170 Fahrenheit, which is hotter than the recommended temperature for cooking chicken. I guess Vulcans have some pretty thick skins.

You may recognize Crewman Celes, who was played by Zoe McLellan. She was also one of the junior officers who went on an away mission with Captain Janeway in the episode The Good Shepherd. If you watched JAG a few years later, you probably also saw McLellan in several episodes there as well.