'Unforgettable'

Stardate: 51813.4
Written By: Greg Elliot and Micheal Perricone
Directed By: Andrew J Robinson
Rating: * (out of 5)

Poor, poor Chakotay gets stuck with messes like this.  You must feel sorry for Chakotay, a character that gets a small amount of screen time, rare episodes, and even rarer good episodes.  A character we all feel sorry for even if he hasn�t had much development over the years.  Robert Beltran is a good actor, don�t TPTB feel confident with Rob�s acting?

Well there�s the obvious question lingering on your mind once you�ve watched �Unforgettable,� how in the hell could the crew forget three entire weeks?  What are their memories of that period?  And how is it possible that they can�t be remembered?  Even by Trek standards, this is a pretty lame concept.  Even if you could believe that, it�s possible that �Unforgettable� could have some nice drama.

How unfortunate though is there is no chemistry between Beltran and Virginia Madsen, who plays Kellin.  These two don�t suite each other and don�t even try to make it work.

So, with two actors who can�t work together, a lame plot and script, not even the directing of Mike Vejar could pull this one out of trouble, but Andrew Robinson (DS9�s Garak) tries his best.

If Kellin can be remembered while she�s there, why only when she leaves is she able to be forgotten.  Interesting biological science, or just stupid and ridiculous writing?  I�m guessing you can pick which is which!

And why couldn�t Kellin have given Voyager those modifications before the battle?  If she, and the crew, knew the Tracers would come looking for her than it would�ve been logical to find out any knowledge she has.

Those where the whole point of the plot, and it�s mucked up.  Is that to say this episode is totally pathetic?  No, it�s not actually.  Because while the main plot is crap, there are some wonderful moments in here, and believe it or not those moments are between Neelix and Chakotay.

Their two main scenes together are wonderful, both about the concept of love.  Both scenes have good dialogue, and are quiet scenes that do well to get a point across.

Actually, the flashback�s this episode shows would�ve been so much better than what we have here.  It still could�ve had similar issues, and had a much much better story.

Probably the highlight of the episode was Tuvok�s joke: �Mr. Neelix could use an assistant in the mess hall. It's perfectly logical. All the qualities you mentioned would help in defending Neelix against the periodic wrath of the crew." LOL!  Apart from that, the SFX are outstanding, Voyager is looking so much more full and darker with the CGI.

So an episode that has a plot as silly as anything I could conjure up in ten seconds, has some nice scenes, but it doesn�t save it from failure.  To use the old, and worn out phrase: � �Unforgettable� was quite forgettable�