“Dreadnought”
Written by Gary Holland
Directed by LeVar Burton
Season 2, Episode 17
Production episode 135
Original air date: February 12, 1996
Stardate: 49447.0
Captain’s log. Wildman is in for her weekly prenatal, and everything is fine. She, Kes, and the EMH have a lengthy discussion about what to name the child, though they only discuss male names. (The child will be female, and she’s been pregnant for over ten months at this point, so they should know the kid’s sex, shouldn’t they?) She’s reluctant to follow her husband’s Ktarian tradition and give the child the father’s name, which is Greskrendtregk.
Voyager encounters the wreckage of an automated vessel that was destroyed by a powerful weapon—the vessel is made of duritanium, which isn’t easily damaged this badly. They beam the wreckage on board, and Torres and Chakotay recognize the energy signature of the weapon used to destroy it: it belongs to Dreadnought.
Dreadnought was a prototype missile the Cardassians developed to use on the Maquis with incredibly sophisticated tracking, weapons, and navigation systems, with an explosive payload that could destroy an entire moon. But the detonator itself was subpar, and when it was fired at Chakotay’s cell, it didn’t go off. Torres boarded it and reprogrammed it to work for them. She even replaced the computer’s AI, giving it her voice.
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However, after she fired it toward the Cardassian planet Aschelan V, it was lost in the Badlands. They assumed it was destroyed by a plasma storm, but the area where it was lost is near where both Chakotay’s ship and Voyager were snatched by the Caretaker. They’ll need to adjust the sensors to be able to find the thing, as it was designed to be difficult to detect.
Torres admits to Paris—who was late and disheveled for the initial briefing, for which he was rebuked by Chakotay—that she didn’t tell the whole truth in the briefing, and is grateful to Chakotay for not ratting her out. Chakotay said that his cell shot the missile at the Cardassians, but in fact Torres did that on her own without consulting anyone. Chakotay had been disappointed in her at the time, and she was grateful that it never made it out of the Badlands. Paris also admits that he envies Torres in how well she’s fit in to Voyager, and Paris wishes he could say the same.
When they find it, Torres is concerned. It’s taking an evasive course, which means it’s noticed that Voyager is tracking it. But of more concern is that the targeting scanners have been activated, which makes no sense, as it shouldn’t do that until it’s on approach to Aschelan V, which is now 70,000 light-years away.
Jonas contacts the Kazon-Nistrim, talking to his new handler, Lorrum. Jonas, however, only wants to talk to Seska. The conversation is cut short by an alert that someone else wants to use a subspace channel. It’s Janeway contacting the world of Rakosa V, which is where Dreadnought is heading. An inhabited planet that has already detected Dreadnought, Rakosa is similar enough to Aschelan that the computer on board has obviously mistaken it for the Cardassian world. Janeway assures First Minister Kellan that their intentions are not hostile and they will do everything they can to stop the missile from striking his world. Kellan is skeptical, and also assembles his own defenses.
Torres is able to beam over to Dreadnought using her access codes—which only makes sense, as she created those codes when she reprogrammed it. After considerable work, she convinces Dreadnought that they’re in the Delta Quadrant now, and that the target world is not Aschelan V. The missile stands down.
After beaming back, Torres, Chakotay, and Janeway discuss the many possibilities of how Dreadnought can be used for spare parts. That is interrupted by Paris announcing that the missile has powered back up and is headed for Rakosa V once again. It will arrive in 51 hours. And Torres’s access codes don’t work anymore.
Kellan sends a fleet to intercept the missile, though neither he nor Janeway are sanguine about the fleet’s chances. Meanwhile, he’s organizing an evacuation.
Torres and Kim work to get her back on board the missile, and after numerous attempts, finally get her on. Dreadnought makes it clear to Torres once she beams aboard that it believes that Torres has been suborned by the Cardassians and is working against them. Dreadnought also thinks the whole notion of being in the Delta Quadrant is a silly goose. Torres keeps working to take over the systems, Dreadnought fighting her the entire time. She detects damage to navigation systems—probably endured when the Caretaker snatched it—which explains why it won’t accept that it’s in a new quadrant. Dreadnought also shuts down life support, so Torres must get her work done before she runs out of air.
The Rakosan fleet does not fare well against Dreadnought, and retreats. Janeway’s final gambit is to set Voyager to self-destruct and intercept Dreadnought before it strikes Rakosa. Kellan is touched by the self-sacrifice, but Janeway says they have no other choice. All hands save Janeway and Tuvok (and the EMH, who can’t go anywhere) abandon ship, the security chief doing so only after insisting that he be there in case something happens to Janeway.
Torres manages to activate a Cardassian backup program that tries to take over the missile, which at the very least distracts Dreadnought enough for Torres to try to access the weapons systems and blow it up.
Dreadnought once again examines the facts, and this time comes to the conclusion that Torres hasn’t been suborned by the Cardassians due to her willingness to self-sacrifice. Torres manages to breach the containment field. Tuvok is able to beam her off the missile before it’s destroyed, and Janeway stops Voyager’s self-destruct with a minute to go. The EMH beams Torres to sickbay and Janeway and Tuvok work to bring all the escape pods back to Voyager.
There’s coffee in that nebula! Firmly believing that the captain goes down with the sinking ship, Janeway refuses to disembark from Voyager, insisting on piloting her to her destruction in order to save the lives of the Rakosans. Before leaving his post, Paris tells her the starboard thrusters are a little sluggish, and then thanks her for everything.
Half and half. Torres gets to spend most of the episode talking to herself, as Dreadnought speaks with her voice as well. She feels tremendous guilt for unleashing the missile on the Delta Quadrant, and, like Janeway, is willing to sacrifice herself to save the Rakosans.
Mr. Vulcan. While Chakotay’s attempt to stay behind falls on deaf ears, Janeway does allow Tuvok to stay behind. One wonders if he preferred to go down with his captain rather than be stuck on Rakosa with Chakotay in charge….
Please state the nature of the medical emergency. The EMH is still trying to find a name that suits him, and he and Wildman and Kes talk at length on the subject. Kes is surprised to realize that he’s open to non-human names.
Janeway also totally forgot about him when she gave the order to abandon ship, which annoys him (not without reason).
Forever an ensign. Kim is a voice of encouragement to Torres when she’s trying to beam herself back onto Dreadnought.
Do it.
“They made this missile adaptable, evasive, armed with its own defensive weaponry—in other words, unstoppable.”
“So how did you stop it?”
“We didn’t. It got through all our defenses, worked like it was supposed to—except for one minor detail: it didn’t go off.”
“Leave it to the Cardassians to build such an incredibly advanced tactical weapon and then arm the warhead with an old kinetic detonator.”
–Torres, Neelix, and Chakotay discussing the history of Dreadnought
Welcome aboard. Dan Kern lends a cautious dignity to the role of Kellan; he previously appeared as Picard’s fencing partner in TNG’s “We’ll Always Have Paris.” We also have two old recurring regulars—Nancy Hower as Wildman and Raphael Sbarge as Jonas—and one new one—Michael Spound as Lorrum, taking over from Mirron E. Willis’s Rettik as Jonas’s Kazon contact.
Roxann Dawson also doubles as Dreadnought’s computer voice. The Cardassian computer is voiced by an uncredited male voice rather than Judi Durand—who voiced Cardassian-built computers seen on DS9—to distinguish it from Dawson’s. And, as usual, Majel Barrett does Voyager’s computer voice…
Trivial matters: This episode establishes that Wildman’s husband is Ktarian, the half-alien nature of the pregnancy explaining why it’s gone on for more than ten months now. Wildman’s next appearance will be four episodes hence in “Deadlock,” when she at last gives birth.
Her husband is given the name of Greskrendtregk, and he will be mentioned several times over the course of the show. He is seen in your humble rewatcher’s short story “Letting Go” in the anthology Distant Shores, which is about the people left behind in the Alpha Quadrant. Greskrendtregk organizes annual gatherings for the families of Voyager’s crew to memorialize their going missing. (At the end of the story, when Voyager has made contact with the Alpha Quadrant, he changes those parties to being on the anniversary of the day Voyager made contact, so they have something to celebrate. Greskrendtregk is also thrilled to learn that he has a daughter now.)
Rollins, the tactical officer from “Caretaker,” is mentioned as having been in a fight with Paris, the first mention of the character since the pilot.
Dreadnought is the first thing besides Chakotay’s ship and crew that Voyager has found that was also brought to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker.
While Gary Holland, who was the executive director of Paramount’s advertising and promotions department at the time, got sole credit for writing the episode, it got an uncredited page-one rewrite by Lisa Klink.
The control panels on Dreadnought all have the same shatterframe design as the Cardassian-designed consoles on Deep Space 9 on Voyager’s sister show.
Set a course for home. “Authorized entry detected.” Everything comes together perfectly in this taut, intense thriller of an episode. Large amounts of credit go to Lisa Klink’s final version of the script over Gary Holland’s draft and to LeVar Burton, whose directorial work is always superlative.
So many little touches make this episode work, starting with the opening—which actually has nothing to do with the rest of the episode, but it’s nice to look in on Wildman and see how she’s doing with her pregnancy, and how the EMH is progressing with his endless search for a name. Indeed, it’s one of three multiepisode plot strands that are just in the episode enough to remind us they’re there without overstaying their welcome or getting in the way of the plot. Jonas’s contact with the Kazon is actually plot-relevant, as Dreadnought is something the Kazon in general and Seska in particular would want to know about. And Paris is getting more and more insubordinate.
The heart of the episode, though, belongs jointly to Roxann Dawson and Kate Mulgrew. Janeway’s conversations with Kellan are excellent, putting a human face (well, sentient face, anyhow) on the threat to Rakosa. A bond quickly develops between the two, and we once again see that Janeway’s superpower is to develop a rapport with someone she’s just met in about half a second—we’ve seen it before with Telek R’Mor, with Labin, with Jetrel, with Amelia Earhart, with Caylem, and with Mabus. Throughout, Janeway makes sure that she’s dedicated to saving the lives of the Rakosans no matter what, which is what heroes are supposed to do. Credit to Dan Kern for making Kellan a real person whose fate the viewer becomes invested in.
And Dawson’s dual performance as Torres and the Dreadnought computer is simply amazing. What I particularly like is that the computer talks like a computer, repeating certain key phrases, and engaging in the circular logic of a machine. The exchanges between Torres and the computer are a much more clever version of all those original series episodes where Kirk managed to somehow talk a computer into putting up its little feet and go “urk!” The scenes in “Dreadnought” are written by people with a much better understanding of the binary nature of computers, and it’s fun to watch. I especially loved when both computers were competing with each other for dominance, both using the same key phrases to try to assert that dominance.
As with “Prototype,” this is an episode where Torres must science the shit out of something to save lives, and it’s once again a winner, Torres’s passion and unwillingness to give in serving her well as she saves the day once again.
Warp factor rating: 9
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I’m skeptical the Cardassians could design a ship so unstoppable but since that’s the central premise of the episode, I have to let it go. This is a better episode than Prototype and one of Voyager’s stand outs.
It also feels a bit like the TNG Moriarty episodes were a program attempts to out-think its creator. With much less absurdity since Torres would have actively tried to make the program unbeatable and counting on her back door to defuse the ship if she had to. That it could decide she’d been compromised probably wasn’t in the original design specification.
Finally, a non-forehead alien! Have I said how much I love Kate Mulgrew’s acting? Her facial expressions alone are superlative. I was actually kinda emotional when it looked like Voyager was going down. She just really sells the stoic heroism. And when Tuvok insisted on staying and her grateful look…perfect. This is definitely one of the best Voyager episodes.
That LeVar Burton guy is kinda good at directing.
The fact that the Badlands were such a fertile fishing ground for the Caretaker makes me imagine an alternate version of the show where the crew was made up not only of Starfleet and Maquis members, but also the crew of a Cardassian civilian ship of some sort. You’d have to abandon the more episodic nature of the show to do that premise justice, I think, but lots and lots of opportunity for drama and moralizing. (Hey, didn’t I promise not to try and rewrite the show until we hit the Q civil war?)
@1 That it could decide she’d been compromised probably wasn’t in the original design specification.
But it does feel like a very Cardassian touch, thinking back to DS9’s “Civil Defense.”
Man, I love this episode! It’s as near perfection as these things get. I like how the opening in sick bay provides a look at how (some) of the crewmembers have come together, accepted the situation they’re in and going forward. The three of them exchange a good amount of conversation that isn’t just centered around the medical diagnosis, but they actually talk about their families and – in the Doctor’s case – a personal concern. Nicely done.
I also felt that the actor playing Kellan did a superb job. We only see him from the perspective of a ‘talking head’ and interacts with Janeway only through the communications screen, but he really gives the character more than we might have expected. And while I know we’re only partially through just the second season of Voyager, Janeway and/or Torres-centric episodes seem to always be superior.
I never thought of it before when watching this episode, but it is a good observation by you Keith to wonder if Tuvok just might be a little uncomfortable with being ‘stranded’ on Rakosa with Chakotay now in command of the crew.
@3 CuttlefishBenjamin: each time I’ve watched this episode I also wish that they could have had a storyline developed later on the series where they would have encountered a ship with a Cardassian crew that had been pulled in to the Delta Quadrant as well….and instead of the character Seska perishing, have her survive, then rescued by that vessel which then encounters Voyager. It would have made for a good 2 – 3 episode story arc.
As is often the case, I don’t have a strong memory of what I thought of this episode. Except that it’s a major case of small-universe syndrome that Voyager runs into an object that a member of its own crew had personal experience with. But coincidence drives a lot of fiction, I guess. It helps a little that the Maquis conflict was so concentrated around the Badlands, but still, space is so huge that it’s still quite improbable.
Also, didn’t the Caretaker scan ships with a coherent tetryon beam before sending the displacement wave to abduct them? We know he was searching for compatible life forms. So why would he have taken an uncrewed missile?
@4/darrel: My Voyager spec script (which I never submitted because I got to pitch to them after my DS9 spec script got me an invite there) involved the crew encountering a colony of Cardassians taken by the Caretaker and debating whether to let some of them join the crew.
It’s a fairly competent episode, which makes good use of Torres as an actual engineer. Certainly better than Prototype. Plus, given how Voyager was always advertised as the first female-led Trek incarnation, it’s nice to get an episode entirely driven by them for once, including its underrated writer.
Klink once again proving to be the best writer on staff as we get believable dialogue and conflict out of these characters, Kellan included. For once, the Delta Quadrant seems populated with actual people rather than archetypes. Plus, we get loads of tension and a convincing ticking clock premise. The plot is something we’ve seen before dating back even before HAL 9000, but Klink nails the execution. Also, it occurs to me that Holland’s three Trek pitches resulted in above-average if not outstaning episodes (DS9’s The Collaborator and Children of Time speak for themselves).
My only real complaint is the fact that this plot MacGuffin originated from the Alpha Quadrant and just happens to be Torres’ own creation. As @Christopher put it, this falls into small universe syndrome and it feels way too coincidental. Once again, it seems as if the writers prefer to revisit Alpha Quadrant elements rather than develop new ones for the Delta Quadrant. The Maquis should be rooted in character rather than serve as plot generator all the time.
There’s also a bit of an issue with the weapon’s mission itself. Obviously, we know this is driven by an artificial being, capable of making decisions as to when it chooses to deploy the warhead, but am I to believe this thing has been travelling through the Delta Quadrant for months without choosing a target? Feels a bit contrived. To quote Dennis Hopper’s character in Speed, “A bomb is made to explode.”
Also, the less said about whining Jonas trying to reach Seska the better. And the Paris arc continues to meander without reason or logical progression. Last episode, he was conducting pool bets being all rebellious. Now, he’s sorrowful and regretful as he leaves his post during the evacuation? If I didn’t know better, I’d say this was a staged plot.
@6/Eduardo: “am I to believe this thing has been travelling through the Delta Quadrant for months without choosing a target?”
Its target was already preset. It was programmed to travel through space until it locked onto its target planet. So until it coincidentally encountered a planet that matched the parameters of its target, it would indeed have just traveled through space. If it hadn’t been on the right course to encounter this planet, it probably would’ve just kept going indefinitely until it ran out of power.
@6 I remember when I first saw this episode a million years ago that I didn’t quite understand what was happening with Paris but knowing now what happens later, it makes sense. And given that it was an act, why wouldn’t he be truly sorrowful when he legitimately thought he was abandoning ship?
@8: It makes sense Paris being regretful and sorrowful if he’s being his usual self. But if he’s supposed to be playing the role of a rebellious insubordinate officer, would he show his real feelings or any semblance of care?
Personally, I feel it only reinforces the fact that this whole rebellious phase is really just an act. But in the overall arc, they wanted to surprise viewers with that revelation on the upcoming Investigations. But if it was supposed to be a surprise, they gave it away by making the surrounding episodes as inconsistent as they are with his character.
The missile was on target for a specific Cardassian world. It didn’t activate until it found a planet that scanned as similar to the Cardassian world in question. In a nice touch, both were the fifth planets in their respective systems, probably both surrounding the same type of star.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
By the way, I can see why Jennifer Lien basically shrugged when she got the ax. When’s the last time she actually had an impact on an episode?
Austin: “Cold Fire,” which was only seven episodes ago. And then “Persistence of Vision” only two episodes prior to that.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
@Keith – Well that was more of a rhetorical question :) It’s just really noticeable how little she was used in season 2 when you binge the show. I’m not even sure when the next episode is that will feature her doing something other than assisting the Doctor.
This was a good, clever, taut thriller. However, it still could have been better. My main gripe isn’t the small universe syndrome (let’s see, we’ve met Amelia Earhart, the aliens that met Chakotay’s ancestors, and now a Cardassian missile so far with more improbable coincidences to come!). No, my main gripe is that’s is so convenient how Torres’ reprogrammed Cardassian missile never in fact ends up killing anyone. How very lucky that the first ship Dreadnought destroys is automated, and that no one on Voyager or the alien fleet is killed when the missile attempts to defend itself. I just thought the show would have been a lot more effective dramatically if Torres had to truly live with the repercussions of her actions. Instead, this is an easy way out. I also feel like the episode just abruptly ends – truly a self-contained episode with no ongoing consequences aside from the Jonas and Paris arcs.
@13/Austin: Kes-centered episodes this season were “Elogium” and “Cold Fire” with notable stuff given to her to do in “Persistence of Vision”, “Deadlock”, and “Parturition.” But yes, she does seem to fade away into the background too often. I feel like she became much more prominent in the latter half of season 3 but I guess by then it was too little too late.
This is an excellent episode, and I love how Torres switches up her methods to out-think the computer after it reactivates. The attempts to reason it out of its belief it’s heading for the right target are reminiscent of Asimov, then getting the Cardassian backup program to compete with the updated computer in an almost War Games style tactic. I also like that the episode doesn’t limit itself to treating it as a purely intellectual challenge – at the end of the day, Torres has a phaser, so shooting some critical components makes perfect sense as a solution.
A simple premise (a bit too simple in places: as has been said, would the Caretaker really have brought along an unmanned Cardassian weapon?), but the result is a tense battle of wills. B’Elanna tries method after method to stop Dreadnought, essentially trying to outthink herself, and ultimately has to rely on a distraction and brute force to stop innocent bystanders paying the price for her past mistakes. Meanwhile, Janeway again shows the compassion that saw her strand Voyager rather than abandon the Ocampa, as she prepares to sacrifice her ship and her life to save another group of virtual strangers.
Another step on the road to Paris and Torres’ later relationship with their heart-to-heart in Engineering: Perhaps it’s significant that it’s him she chooses to confide in about the decision she made to use Dreadnought. Later revelations in “Investigations” undermine the talk somewhat, although there may be some truth in Paris noting he’s envious about how well B’Elanna has fitted in aboard Voyager. I certainly think he’s sincere when he makes a point of thanking Janeway before leaving her for possibly the last time. Of course, it’s the ever loyal Tuvok who actually chooses to stay with her.
Confirmation that the Doctor is still trying to think of a name after his false start in “Heroes and Demons”: The scene of Kes desperately trying to suggest alternatives is both sweet and amusing, tying for the funniest moment of the episode with Paris’ dry “When a bomb starts talking about itself in the third person, I get worried.” Lorrum refers to Culluh as being alive, which kills one of my theories. Rollins is mentioned for the first and possibly only time since “Caretaker” and we learn he’s now a lieutenant. The Doctor gets left behind during an evacuation, for real this time. We see for the first time that Voyager’s self-destruct sequence only requires authorisation from Janeway: Previous ships have needed two or three officers. Given that captains going rogue is hardly unheard of, that seems like a very badly designed system…
I think there’s a slight misrepresentation of Dreadnought’s view on Torres. It starts off believing she’s been coerced by the Cardassians and/or the Federation (who are also opposed to the Maquis’ actions and she’s just beamed over from a Federation ship after all) into trying to stop the mission (and mentions this was among the scenarios Torres programmed it to react to). Later on, it decides that if she’s willing to sacrifice herself, she must have actually turned her back on the Maquis.
@6 and @9: I’ll have my own thoughts on Paris’ apparent inconsistent characterisation when we get to “Lifesigns”, but I don’t think it’s too bad at this point. The idea seems to be that Paris wishes he could be a good officer on Voyager but his own flaws are getting in the way: That’s certainly the way it presents it to Torres, that he regrets that he keeps messing up.
@11 and @13: Leaving aside the fact that Kes is one of those characters who can make a big impact on an episode with a small role (as she arguably does here), I’d say she has significant roles coming up in “Lifesigns”, “Deadlock”, “Tuvix” and “Resolutions”.
@14: It’s not dwelled on, but it certainly looked to me as though some of the Rakosan ships attacking Dreadnought got blown up.
@16: If indeed some Rakosan ships were destroyed with people on board them, then lip service should have been made regarding that fact with Torres acknowledging that she had a direct part in that.
“Hello, B’Elanna.”
Another standout episode, in season 2! This is the other episode my mind goes to when recalling this season, with Dreadnought saying hello so calmly, then later deciding to murder its programmer. Roxann Dawson and Kate Mulgrew make this episode, displaying Janeway’s compassion and B’Elanna’s fierce determination.
@6/Eduardo: It’s easier to watch Paris’ thread here in hindsight, knowing that Janeway had Paris acting the way he was to flush out the spy. So when Paris thanks Janeway for everything, it’s a genuine moment.
@14/GarretH: I watched this one twice, and I saw at least three Rakosan ships disintegrated by Dreadnought’s plasma wave.
I don’t have much to add. A solid episode all around. Anything showcasing Roxann Dawson’s talents ain’t a bad time.
FYI, the “Delta Flyers” podcast with Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeil is now up and running. I listened to the first episode and already got a bunch of info I never knew before. Like, did you know the guy who played Short Round in Temple of Doom auditioned for Harry Kim? Things that make you go… huh.
@19: Oh wow! I’ll definitely have to give that a listen! And that’s Ernie Reyes, Jr. you’re referring to, also of “Goonies” and “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” fame and a talented marital artist. Would have been very interesting if this more famous actor got the part of Harry Kim instead.
@17: At the time, she’s rather preoccupied trying to save a few million other people, and then the episode ends rather quickly (it seems like less than a minute from Dreadnought blowing up to executive producer caption) so there’s not really the opportunity to get a reaction from her.
This was most definitely a rock-solid episode; it helps that the essential premise is simple but iconic enough to sustain a full blown standalone feature film, which is always a good place to start!
@20/GarretH: No, Short Round and Data from The Goonies were played by Ke Huy Quan, now known as Jonathan Ke Quan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ke_Quan
Reyes’s only appearance in the Indiana Jones franchise was in Crystal Skull as a “Cemetery Warrior.”
I watched Josh Gad’s The Goonies reunion on YouTube recently. The guy who played Data still sounds just like he did as a kid in that movie. It’s kinda freaky.
This episode has one virtue you didn’t mention: It shows the danger of dual-boot operating systems and programs that battle over the same DLL files.
-An Anonymous Nerd
@23/CLB: Well, I’ll be! I must have somehow confused the two actors many many years ago and just went with that presumption for all this time. Thanks for the correction. And it’s still cool that the guy from Indiana Jones/Goonies auctioned for the role of Harry Kim, even if that wasn’t Ernie Reyes, Jr.
I agree with everything KRAD said. It’s episodes like this that make VOY worthwhile; the problem with the series was always that the percentage of dreck was higher than on TNG or DS9.
@3@@.-@ I also put in a spec script where Voyager encountered a caretaker-nabbed Cardassian vessel. Things didn’t end nearly as well as in Cuttlefish’s version though —
@20 GarretH: “talented marital artist”: BEST TYPO EVER. *That’s* a series I would watch :-)
S
This one’s notable among the dozens of Trek episodes that involve a ticking clock, in that it features two separate countdowns- B’Elanna trying to thwart the computer, and the Voyager self-destruct sequence. B’Elanna, of course, succeeds just in time and gets beamed out by the scorched skin of her teeth, but it’s nice that Janeway has the relative luxury of an entire minute left when she cancels the self-destruct.
@2 Austin: Mulgrew is a pretty good actress as far as playing a role is concerned, but part of the job entails working well with other cast and crew, and that aspect of her job leaves a lot to be desired. I have heard interviews with other people on the show who said she was extremely difficult to work with.
I have seen her in interviews and she is the type of person I would hate to work with. She comes across as very condescending and dismissive of people. I saw one interview in which she said comparing her to Katharine Hepburn was “odious” and she implied the interviewer wasn’t giving her proper recognition on her own terms.
Well.
She ought to be flattered by being compared to Hepburn. She was an extremely accomplished actress who broke a lot of barriers for women in Hollywood. She was also much more successful than Mulgrew has been as far as getting leading roles in movies with good reviews.
@29/RMS81: Mulgrew came to terms with the Katharine Hepburn comparisons in 2002 when she was cast in Tea at Five, a one-woman show in which she played Hepburn, and which was written with her in mind.
Rather than a “missile”, Dreadnought should be called an “armed drone ship”. If it was a missile, it wouldn’t be able to destroy a ship without detonating, and ceasing to exist. And someone can even BOARD it.
@31/MaGnUs: Agreed, I think drone is more accurate. But who knows, maybe in the future the definition of a missile will change, hah
As for the episode, it’s great and riveting and I don’t even mind the small universe syndrome so much considering Dreadnought and Voyager were on a generally similar course back to the Alpha Quadrant. Although as CLB is so fond of pointing out, space is incomprehensibly huge. Even a slight variation in trajectory (likely, considering Voyager takes many detours during it’s various adventures) would probably result the two ships missing each other. But whatever, we wouldn’t have this episode otherwise. And without the personal stake with Torres, the episode wouldn’t be as good.
My only other gripe is how powerful the weapon is. I don’t buy the irony that is pointed out in the episode that the Cardassians would fail to provide the best detonator possible on what is probably their most advanced piece of weapons technology. As Garak once pointed out, Cardassians are sticklers for paying attention to detail. However this is a very minor gripe, the episode is still fantastic.
Dreadnought takes its lead from Hal 9000 or Dark Star as it tries to commit mass murder in order to follow it’s own distorted program. VGR will even return to that well again in S5’s Warhead. Roxanne Dawson does a fine job of playing the hotheaded Torres and the calm, sentient AI as they both try to outmanoeuvre one another until someone (or something) must die. LeVar Burton (always a much better director than an actor) handles the steadily worsening situation like a pro.
13: That would be Lifesigns. 16: I think Rollins was a Lieutenant in Caretaker too. 24: It’s funny that Jonathan Quan tried out for Harry, but in the end I think he would have found the role too frustrating for someone of his energy (and the name of his character in The Goonies was Data so that’s a very funny coincidence in regards to the future). 28: It’s not uncommon for a bomb to stop at the very last minute. In fact, it’s become something of a cliché. 29: Jeri Ryan found Kate Mulgrew an absolute nightmare to work with but we’ll cover that when Seven of Nine joins the crew in S4.
Surprised this got such a high rating, it’s a good central performance from Roxann Dawson but the whole premise is a bit silly. I don’t buy the concept of the Dreadnought at all and the Caretaker clearly doesn’t “take care” what he does with potentially dangerous weapons and just let’s them wander off randomly into space. Also did we need another self destruct command countdown that was never going to be carried out? in the middle of a season in which the very name of the programme is the name of said ship threatened with destruction there is no drama as it’s clearly not going to happen.
@34/chad: I’ll never understand why “We know they aren’t going to die” is a criticism. We almost always know that. Just like we know they aren’t really in danger at all because they’re imaginary characters played by actors standing on a set, and that they filmed it months before we see it (or decades before in a rewatch) and came out of it perfectly fine. But we choose to suspend disbelief about those things and pretend they actually exist. So why is it allegedly so much harder to pretend we don’t know if they’ll survive? That’s a strange place to draw the line.
What matters to the story is that the characters don’t know if they’ll survive. We engage with fiction by relating to the characters, by imagining ourselves in their places and empathizing with what they’re feeling, setting aside our objective awareness that none of it actually happened. So as long as the characters don’t know if they’ll survive, it shouldn’t matter whether we know it.
@34 it’s the use of the aborted self destruct countdown sequence that I was mainly taking issue with, I felt it had been done to death already and it would be one of the few missteps In The other wise excellent First Contact movie as well.
34: As soon as the Caretaker realised what Dreadnought was and that it was no use to him, he just sent it on its (less than) merry way. His concern for the Ocampa and his impending death were all-consuming by then.
I was surprised by how formidable Dreadnought was in comparison to most of the Cardassian ships that we’ve seen up to this point, but it occurs to me that it’s a kind of forerunner of the automated weapons platforms that they go on to use in the Dominion War. Perhaps automated military hardware is a particular specialty of the Cardassian Union. I wonder if they used any other “Dreadnoughts” during the war.
@38 Dreadnought feels a bit Obsidian Ordery so maybe once they were wiped out, no more missiles were made.
Also, I like the coincidence of my getting to this entry on the night after “possible Harry Kim” Ke Huy Quan just won an Oscar, alongside his costar who was/is a Trek regular, the amazingMichelle Yeoh.
I always wondered why an unmanned missile had an internal life support system at all??
Did I miss something in the story??