5 – Unexpected

Grade: C-

Summary

For several hours, the Enterprise has been experiencing random power fluctuations and assorted problems. Soon, the crew finds out the cause of the problems – a cloaked ship has been trailing Enterprise inside their plasma wake. Commander Tucker goes on board the alien ship to help fix their warp issues, and he returns a bit different than when he left.

Commentary

This is a bit of a silly episode. You’d think if the aliens couldn’t fix their own ship, why should someone else be able to? I also wonder why it would cause problems to Enterprise if some other ship was following it. It seems to me like the radio in your own car somehow starts randomly changing stations just because some other car is tailgating you on the highway.

So at the end, Trip says to the Klingons that if they help them, maybe the other aliens would share their technology with them. So the technology the Klingons want is the holodeck. Really? Not the cloaking device? Since when have Klingons ever been interested in holodecks?

Other than that, this is an OK episode, but I so far haven’t seen much of a compelling reason to keep watching this show. Hoping it will get better.

Of Note

In this episode, Julianne Christie plays the female alien who takes an interest in Trip Tucker. She previously appeared in the seventh season Voyager episode “Homestead,” which is the one where Neelix decides to remain with her on the asteroid instead of continuing on to Earth.