Written By: Joe Menonsky
Directed By: Terry Windell
Rating: *** (out of 5)
I suppose its good that the writers are acknowledging that past episodes do have an impact and are not forgotten. The continuity is great. But unfortunately it�s the follow-up that suffers.
Seven discovers that a tractor beam from a cloaked ship pushed the Caretaker�s Arrays� tetrion reactor into a fold in subspace created by Tricobalt torpedoes fired from Voyager, Tricobalt being a substance not usually in a Starfleet ships complement. Seven also uncovers that a Cardassian ship was brought by the Caretaker, and disappeared.
This evidence leads Seven to confront Janeway and Chakotay separately using the same evidence but drawing different conclusion, believing Janeway is working with Starfleet to establish a military presence in the Delta Quadrant and going to use the Catapult to get reinforcements, and believing Chakotay is planning on resparking the Maquis resistance and using the Catapult to launch attacks against the Federation and the Cardassians!
Interesting, and evidence enough to convince them both. But when we discover that this is all just Seven�s human brain trying to cope with all the information from her new alcove, and the conclusions are wrong, this evidence supports that something is still going on. And Seven should now by know to ask the Doc when fiddling with her Borg implants and her alcove.
So where did the tractor beam come from? Mr. Tash? And if someone did in fact steal it, how could they have known about the tear in subspace and about get their act together so quickly?
It seems to me that Tuvok is the only one who could�ve been responsible because he set the yield of the weapons. But that still doesn�t explain why there was Tricobalt in the weapons inventory. Is there any left?
And the Cardassian ship: it disappeared, so where did it go, and what was it�s plans? And how did it disappear?
So as you can see there are a lot of unanswered questions, that unfortunately won�t be answered. If these issues weren�t brought up now, than they won�t be brought up at all. And it�s these questions being unanswered that is the element holding back �The Voyager Conspiracy.�
The Janeway and Chakotay scenes; both their dining scenes and when they confront each other are reminiscent of �Equinox� and are fantastic scenes. It�s great seeing them as friends and even better seeing them as enemies.
Seven telling Janeway and Chakotay the conspiracies are interesting the first time, but long and boring the second time. A lot of Internet reviewers hated that this was another �Seven lesson� episode, but I had no problem with this. I feel its contrived to allow for Voyager�s presence in the Delta Quadrant to be not on purpose, just as I felt when the Borg Queen tells Seven she was planted on Voyager in �Dark Frontier.�
The way the stories are told in a kind of flashback was great, and seeing some of those old scenes is nice. I�ve realized that the scene of Voyager being hit by that disruption in the Badlands is a fantastic SFX shot, it looks wonderful even know.
�The Voyager Conspiracy� was a nice piece if writing, and was directed well. The plot wasn�t the problem, the follow-up was. In a very typical X-Files way, we will never find out the answers to the questions brought up here. Simply put, �Voyager Conspiracy� is not bad.