'Scientific Method'

Stardate: Unknown
Written By: Sherry Kliene and Harry Doc Kloor
Directed By: David Livingston
Rating: *1/4 (out of 5)

Here we have a relatively normal and abysmal episode of Voyager containing little thought and effort.  Well, that�s my personal opinion.  Alien�s experimenting on others is not a new science-fiction concept and has been used before on Star Trek, like TNG�s �Schisms� which was a fantastic and eerie look into aliens doing experiments.  �Scientific Method� adds nothing new to the concept and nothing great either.

First of all, these invisible aliens managed to get close to people and probe them while they are awake without them feeling a thing, apart from the experiments effects, of course.  That�s impossible, even for Trek.  It wasn�t mentioned that these aliens could not be felt! 

And also those ridiculous objects on people�s heads are pushing things.  How could people not notice such large objects on their heads and faces?  Even if they where weighed little, someone could still feel it.  It�s absurd.  Janeways implants weren�t so bad, but even what she had on her pushed it.

I also can�t see how the aliens couldn�t notice the Doctor�s actions.  I�m sure such an operation would have someone monitoring the ships systems, just in case.  Even to protect themselves from the �lab rats� who could quite possibly make fatal errors that could cost the entire ship.  So much medical knowledge but no common sense, amazing.

Still more stupidity from the aliens; when that one female was caught, why couldn�t she beam off the ship and retreat or go invisible again?  If it�s against protocol to speak with the victims than why is it possible to continue experimenting on the subjects with their knowledge.  Besides, the alien beamed of the ship later anyway.

The alien even threatened to terminate the crew.  How scientific is that?  They might as well just flee with the knowledge they got.

The captured aliens debates to Janeway where very weak, they seem to have moral values, and yet they can say things like �So would you benefit from the experiments if it was the other way around� or something to those words.

Janeways recklessness was understandable if silly.  Flying into Binary Pulsars with a 1 in 20 chance of survival?  The crew had better chances with the experiments.

While I�m bagging, the invisible ships exploding near the hull would�ve caused significant damage, and also, are we supposed to believe that the Doctor was able to remove and reverse the aliens� damage completely?  I doubt it.  The Doc�s good, but not that good.  And why not one more, the Doc was able to use a holographic thingamajig on Seven cortical implants?  For that to be used, it would have to be replicated, and I doubt you can replicate and use a holographic device in this way.

Apart from those nits there where some good scenes, probably the highlight of the episode was Janeway�s dressing down of B�Elanna and Paris, which was well deserved.  The other was Janeway�s scene also, her disciplining talk to Tuvok was good, as was Tuvok�s �Shall I flog them as well?�

I�ve done a lot of complaining on �Scientific Method� but I did get some small enjoyment from the episode; it kept you intrigued during the first half and despite the ending being silly, it was exciting.   So �Scientific Method� was an episode with a lot of flaws, to be watched when your brain isn�t working and you have some spare time.  It shouldn�t have been called �Scientific Method.�