'Memorial'

Stardate: Unkown
Written By: Brannon Braga
Directed By:Allan Kroeker
Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)

This is a good drama for all the crew dealing with a catastrophic incident that succeeds because of its powerful emotional punch and moral dilemma that nothing can be done about.� It's the perfect kind of story that has repercussions without drastically effecting the crew.� Typical of Brannon Braga, which isn't a bad thing by the way.

"Memorial" has the crew experiencing the memories of alien troops who are weary and are sent to evacuate a colony for what reason we never discover. When the troops come to the last group to evacuate some of the remaining colonists shoot at the troops in a surprise attack.� In the flurry of the battle the evacuated colonists run, and the troops being weary and not able to control themselves and the colonists start shooting at the colonists to try and stop the confusion.

In the end there are no colonists surviving.

A memorial at the planet where the incident occurred is sending the memories, but the memories are fragmented because the memorial is loosing power.

I enjoyed the way "Memorial" brought the story to us with the Delta Flyer crew getting the memories first, and how they where incorporated like Harry in the Jefferies Tube and Neelix with Naomi in the Galley. I also enjoyed how each of the crew could recognise other members of the crew as though they were all there.

Eventually most of the crew get fragmented memories. Almost everyone got a good shot at something this time around.� Neelix was "Memorial's" surprise edition to the events while Harry was greatly involved, his story added greatly to the drama.� Tom also had a good shot, Robert McNiel overacted a bit with his shouting and screaming though.� Chakotay was the poor recipient and had an important part, but not a dramatic part.� Janeway was the most dramatic and I enjoyed her scenes after the battle, "We murdered these people!" she screams.

All in all everyone had something good to do with Neelix and Janeway having the most fun!� But I give special credit to Garret Wang who pulled off a wonderfully realistic portrayal of his persona's anguish.� Robert Beltran sadly didn't have that much to do and didn't exactly excel at what he did get.

The filler stuff with the TV and all that wasn't too good.� To be honest I didn't see the point but I enjoyed it, to a degree, Paris' typical male reactions; not listening etc were amusing.

I agree with Janeway's decision to keep the Memorial active, but placing a buoy in orbit I disagree with.�� By doing that, she defeats the purpose of the Memorial's existence.� Now that it's repaired people will better understand the events because the memories wouldn't be fragmented.� But of course Janeways decision wasn't meant to be satisfying to everyone!

I do have some nit-picks though, the technology used in the memorial would have to be so advanced that it could pick out the survivors memories?� I understand it would have to be the survivors otherwise there wouldn't be memories to get, but this technology is very advanced and these aliens didn't seem that advanced to me.� And we never did find out why the colonists were being evacuated either which would've closed that last thread up.� I think "Memorial" would've been more powerful if we had just a brief explanation.

I was impressed by the nitty gritty battle scenes, they where very well directed and they looked great.� I was also impressed with the Memorial itself.� That was quite a large set (would it be called a set or a prop?).

"Memorial" was quite moving in many places and pits the crew with a moral dilemma that they cannot control making it even more powerful.� Some parts were surprisingly slow but there is enough intrigue here to keep me interested and entertained.� One of this season's highlights!