'Message in a Bottle'

Stardate: Unknown
Written By: Rick Williams
Directed By: Nancy Malone
Rating: ***** (out of 5)

What do you get when you cross two EMH�s who hate each other, a wicked ship, Romulans, the Tal Shiar and Voyager�s first communication with Starfleet?  A fantastic, and very funny, episode!!

Nowadays, when someone says �I�ve found a Federation Starship!� do you believed them?  Absolutely not!  So to discover that this isn�t any alien trick, hoax or temporal anomaly is fantastic.

�Message in a Bottle� couldn�t have succeeded so well without the fantastic talents from Bob Picardo and Andy Dick.  Their chemistry is fantastic.  There are too many great moments between these two to mention here, suffice to say there are a lot.

And all the elements I mentioned above; the Romulans, the two EMH�s, Voyagers first communication with Starfleet, the Prometheus, brilliant SFX, all come together wonderfully to create an hilarious, but in the end heart-warming episode.

The Prometheus is a cool ship, but it seemed too �Comic Bookish� to me, and not as Trek as other ships.  I would imagine the Prometheus was just a Plot Device for this episode and probably not going to be seen again.  And how easily are the tactical systems operated?  Why do you need all that crew?  I suppose they must give the huge population of the Alpha Quadrant a job someplace!

The continuity was great.  Finally a mention of The Dominion War!  But just how far away is Voyager from Earth now?  Well, it�s hard to tell given their journey started out as 75 years to get back, almost four years travel, Kes�s gift taking 20 years off . . . they could make it back in their lifetimes at least, which would be a bit more comforting!

Actually, looking at Voyagers travels, we may soon see deep space Romulan missions or something like that.

I almost considered giving �Message in a Bottle� ****1/2 due to the ridiculous side story of Tom and Harry trying to make a new EMH.  Doesn�t Voyager have a backup module, and if they didn�t, why try to create such a complex tool like the EMH?  It was a waste of time, for the characters and as filler.

One great aspect was the crew�s reaction to the events, anticipating their arrivals and news and occupations.  Despite all Voyagers problems as a series, it�s still exciting that at some stage we are going to get a great homecoming episode.  I guess that�s one reason I�m still watching.

�Message in a Bottle� is a great episode in terms of long term goals and by itself.  And it was nice to see that Janeway isn�t alone, as Starfleet tells her.  But look especially for the hilarious antics of EMH and EMH Mk II, especially when they shoot a Federation ship!  LOL!