167 – Friendship One

Grade: B-

Summary

A space probe from Earth enters the atmosphere of an alien planet. Then, Janeway is ordered to proceed to the area where the probe should be found and retrieve it.

Commentary

So here we have yet another connection to Earth and the Alpha Quadrant. Wow. So it just so happens (coincidentally) that Voyager is exactly in the area where this probe would have arrived some 200+ years earlier. And somehow Starfleet actually knew where this probe would have been found, and they knew Voyager was nearby.

I’m sorry, but this is all far too coincidental for me to accept. We’ve already had so many connections to the Alpha Quadrant that this becomes one too many. If this had been the only one, and if Voyager had known from the very beginning of the series that they might actually stumble across this thing, then maybe I’d give it points for originality. But as it stands, it’s really not all that great.

After Voyager finds out what happened to the probe, the storyline gets bogged down into some stupid hostage plot. About the only good thing this episode offers is the notion that perhaps Earth’s excitement at discovering alien life caused a worldwide calamity. Other than that, there’s not much to see here.

Of Note

Lt Carey just so happens to show up again, but then he gets killed off. Why him? Who knows. I guess the writers were tired of coming up with random extras, so they pulled someone who hasn’t been seen in 5 years.