'One Small Step'

Stardate: 53292.7
Written By: Mike Wollaeger and Jessica Scott
Directed By: Robert Picardo
Rating: ****1/2 (out of 5)

"One Small Step", an episode that manages to be a Typical Voyager Adventure, an interesting look into Earth's past, and at the same time provides great incentive and homage to the space program's benefits and dangers.

This was definitely a Seven of Nine episode disguised as a Chakotay episode! Seven learns the importance of history and the driving force behind explorers and pioneers, the Voyager crew themselves included, maybe even herself.� But Seven learning about historical importance was too obviously a Plot Device, in fact, so was the Delta Flyer being damaged and Chakotay's Aeres obsession.

I'm able to forgive the writers for the Spatial Anomaly clich�; the Delta Flyer in Jeopardy clich�; the Finding Something from the Alpha Quadrant clich� and the . . . well, you get my point.� If it weren't for the strong story of John Kelly, this episode would have flunked.

Actually it's surprising how forced "One Small Step" seems when you really think about it, but somehow it comes through and does a fantastic job becuase at its core this is what Trek is about, daring to be different and face the unknown.

I do have some problems with the Graviton Eclipse, A lot of shield modifications are needed to be made to the Delta Flyer before it can enter the apparently dangerous anomaly (even the Borg needed shield modifications). But a 300 year ancient Earth spacecraft can survive getting inside, contain someone inside, and than survive intact for hundreds of years.

I didn't realize Chakotay was so passionate about the Aeres 4.�� It has never been indicated that Chakotay has any interest in this.� It looks like TPTB finally realized Robert Beltran wasn't earning his paycheck and needed somework to do.� And I'm not saying that it's his fault.� Although his obsession was written in such a way that it didn't look too forced on the character.

Seven's attitude towards Chakotay after putting their lives at risk was enjoyable, "Read it for yourself!" she says!

John Kelly was acted pretty well, but his character wasn't too three-dimensional. I suppose it doesn't matter too much because the scenes with John Kelly are few and far between.� The scenes with him in it weren't cringe worthy or anything, his character just wasn't defined too well, his scenes were still powerful becuase of the awe of his situation, not becuase we feel for the character.

I'm glad we got to watch the entire log, I was fascinated with this fictional Mars mission.� It was all very realistic, even the sets where well done and the CGI of the Ares 4 was breathtaking.

One of the most memorable scenes in "One Small Step" is John Kelly's much deserved funeral.� Janeway's speech was very touching, and so was the Torpedo being fired out into space as the credits appeared on the screen.� I love a good ending!� Talking of classic moments, there was also the Doctors "One small step for a hologram, one giant leap for mankind!"

There is a line spoken by Janeway that seems to capture the essence of Star Trek and the episode, "If scientific knowledge was all we were after then the Federation would have built a fleet of probes, not starships," and how true that is.� "One Small Step" should be a reminder that the unknown is something to be embraced and explored, even on the spur of the moment. This is a wonderful episode that has a heart warming story, good dialogue and best of all, it's Star Trek.