Prey

This episode was very well done, though writing could have been improved on a little bit. I will admit that this season has taken a large step up for the series, but I have found the early episodes with Seven of Nine a bit difficult. Ever heard the term OP in gaming? Seven is the Over-Powered character of the Voyager series; overly knowledgable, super strength, technologically advanced. Jeri Ryan is an amazing actress and once Seven as a character begins to grow and expand, the episodes she features in become much better. This episode also showcases an excellent Tony Todd, albeit almost completely unrecognizable as the Hirogen hunter.

However, I have never understood some reviewers obvious disdain for Captain Janeway throughout this series. Some seem to insist that she lay a course for the Alpha Quadrant and let that be that. No research, no discoveries or curiosity. Would this make for an entertaining show for you then? Episode after episode of ships maintenance and officers log reports?? Yawn.

Yet still, others have complained that Janeway is not forceful or aggressive enough. Is there a problem with compassion? Would you prefer a militaristic version of ST along the lines of Battlestar Galactica? Fine, it already exists.

One of the best aspects of the Star Trek universe as originally envisioned by Gene Roddenberry was the idea of EXPLORATION, seeking out new life and new civilizations... yes I'm quite sure I've heard that somewhere before. As for the crew that reviewers get so touchy over, they signed up for Starfleet, they knew the risks of job. To Janeway's credit, fighting what would appear to be an overly hostile ENTIRE quadrant, she has managed to keep a crew and ship together against terrible odds. Facing very difficult decisions on a nearly weekly basis, finding the balance between duty and compassion, hostility and peace, Janeway has done an admiral job with one of the most difficult situations in the ST universe.

Sorry, Species 8472 vs Hirogen

I will disagree with other reviews about the sense of Cpt Janeway - species 8472, despite the peril it poses, deserves some compassion, at least as a dramatic device. Describing it as pure evil was unfair - in general, non-humanoid species are rare enough in Star Trek, and usually shown as xenophobic (probably to explain why they are not around much).

Anyway, the episode was quite good, except of course for the captain's hypocrisy (or, better, the writers' disregard for continuity): she is unwilling to sacrifice the hunted alien even if it saves the whole of Voyager, but no one is there to remind her of that time she killed a guy called Tuvix.

Once again Voyager encounters the Hirogen, this time the Hirogen aren't trying to hunt them, in fact their ship has been disabled, one of them is dead and the other severely wounded. They take the wounded Hirogen aboard little knowing that its prey is still around, it isn't until something breaks in from outside the ship that they realise they have something more dangerous than one wounded Hirogen to worry about; his prey was Species 8472, the one species that even the Borg are scared of. When the Hirogen wakes up he demands to be released to continue his hunt but Janeway is having none of it, even when further Hirogen ships attack Voyager she refuses to let them hunt the Species 8472. It turns out their prey is wounded and just wants to return home and Janeway decides to help. This decision leads to a serious disagreement with Seven of Nine... perhaps Seven is becoming a little more free thinking than the captain intended.

This was a decent episode which nicely illustrated the contradictions in having a chain of command while also expecting free thought, something Seven has difficulties with as she wasn't raised in such a system.

Once again Janeway ignores a chance to move on in order to explore a new species. In this case, Tuvok and Seven have already had an encounter and were nearly killed. Seven expresses her disdain for the Captain, reminding her how foolhardy she is. The issue is a hunting force going after a creature and Janeway's stupid decision to bring the thing on board their ship. I don't know if the writers were meaning to show Katherine as incompetent as she seems, but it certainly plays out that way.

The episode takes the Hunters, the Hirogen, to the extreme. They're hunting the Borg hunters, Species 8472, now. It's exactly as cool as it sounds. I love it. But I'm after a different feeling here. The episode should trigger a feeling that's not obvious, but possible to achieve from this point: Disillusion-Rejection-Oblivion. The Hunter species, the Hirogen, feel so real because they are based on real-history's Prussians in North-Eastern Europe. Their country is now extinct. Put yourself in the shoes of a bystander, watching the Hirogen. Say, like the Prussians, they just lost their empire. Nothing to call home, anymore. And still, the Hirogen keep chasing insanely stupid goals: Hunting other species. And no other species tells them how stupid that is! The Hirogen consider everyone else prey! They never get any feedback. And you (Captain Janeway) won't tell them, either. In fact, you can't. The Hirogen openly admit, they oppose anything you're going to do. 'Hello, enemy.' As a result, you'll watch them, too, in a state of Disillusion-Rejection-Oblivion.