'Parturition'

Stardate: 49019.1
Written By: Tome Szollosi
Directed By: Jonathon Frakes
Rating: *** (out of 5)

Certainly not the most original or groundbreaking episode of anything I�ve seen, but it�s not bad for what it tries to do, and it does have its moments.

So it uses the old �Two rivals sent into a difficult situation� routine as it�s major premise, and with any major try at originality it comes off as �been there, done that.�  But that�s not to say I didn�t enjoy �Parturition� because one thing that manages to make this enjoyable are the performances from Ethan Phillips and Robert Duncan McNeil.

Their �hair� throwing antics are a joy to watch and the jealous Neelix suites the situation perfectly.  I also enjoyed the Tom and Harry discussion at the beginning.  (Looking at the names here, they aren�t original are they?  I mean �Tom, Dick and Harry� anyone?  Sorry.)

Jennifer Lien fares okay as Kes doesn�t have any idea how to deal with such a situation, and Robert Picardo has some good typical Doctor scenes.  I loved how he �eavesdrops� on the Bridge crew!  But I loved it when Kes was so confused she wanted them o get back safely so she could tell them off and say �I�m never going to speak to either fo you again.�

The baby alien part of the story throws the episode from one cliched plot to the other.  I didn�t mind it, but it really had not much to do with the other situations.  All it added was one brief action scene on Voyager.  This part of the story served little purpose. 

I guess it helped heal relations with Tom and Neelix, but somehow �Parturition� seemed uneven due to the baby alien side of the story.  It would�ve been better if the baby alien, or its guardian, served a better purpose in the long run.  I did however, enjoy the caring of the little critter by Tom and Neelix.

I found the hand puppet alien to be okay, so it didn�t look too realistic, but never mind.  What I thought was silly was the aliens themselves.  Humanoid?  Come on, so a humanoid species are laying eggs and leaving them.  They have the intelligence to build grand spaceships and clothing, but they don�t have the sense to keep their kids with them.  Why were those eggs there in the first place?  Why were there only three eggs in the nest?  Why was there even a nest?

I did enjoy Paris�s line at the end �If you hear muffled screams consider that a request for a beam out!�

For once the romance, or bitter conflict from romance, plot is better than the �heartwarming� and �action� side of things.  Over all, the best way to describe �Parturition� is �normal,� that�s all there is too it.