Resistance

The original star Trek always had a massive amount of humanity and care for others. Not surprising given the era it was made. Altruism was a given.

TNG and DS9 were incredible wooden, sterile and clinical. Above all they were boring. Characters had little humanity.

Then along came voyager. A breath of fresh air as it brought back the ethos of the original series.

Unfortunately, voyager didn't get off to the best start. It took quite a while for the series to flourish and break the shackles of the two previous ST derivations.

Quality of writing and production values increased as it progressed.

Then Along comes Resistance.

Finally we see the original philosophy of ST show itself in all it's splendor.

Resistance is an incredibly moving story. I shed a tear at the final scene with kat and Joel Grey.

You've got tuvok showing his suppressed human feelings. Just a spock did at times.

Finally, Voyager shows itself It shows what was always there but only eluded to.

A perfect star trek story. Worthy of Captain Kirk and crew.

This actor really shines in this role. He is a true craftsman of the trade. Definitely going to find more of his roles to watch.

While this episode does not have much story depth and does not move the storyline forward, it is another good character building episode for Janeway.

While undercover on a planet that is oppressed by a terror regime whose guards randomly arrest people and lock them away forever, Tuvok and Torres are imprisoned and Janeway finds herself wounded in the shed of a stranger. This stranger thinks Janeway is his lost daughter. On first glance, he just seems to be a lunatic. But we learn that he has lost his wife and his daughter to this regime and his wife is still imprisoned. Who would not become crazy under such circumstances?

Every other character might have left this stranger and his crazyness behind or treated him with disrespect, but Janeway again establishes a very emotional bond between him and her. Although she is not fond of having him around during the rescue mission, he ultimately saves the day and the crew's lives. Janeway's reaction when he takes his last breath is heartwarming and you also have the feeling that she really means it - great performance from her. I like how Janeway, although often harsh and direct, can also be warm, hearty and some kind of mother figure to her crew or even to completely strangers and new life forms. For example when Kes was in heat and everyone around thought, she lost her mind. Janeway though persuaded her to drop the force field and calmed her down by just hugging her after she realized what her problem was.

This is one of those Trek episodes that is pretty stupid at first blush. In so many other stories We would be treated with a bunch of hand wringing about the totalitarian government, prime directive etc.

But in this one the evil disposition of the regime is just context for the main story. A lot of other bits and pieces of this one just do not make sense at all.

However we get to see Kate Mulgrew dust off her acting chops and try to keep up with Joel Grey.

The scenes they share can be a little cloying in parts. But overall it's some solid character driven story telling with a bittersweet ending.

I generally rank Voyager near the bottom among all Trek shows. STNG had better characters and stories. DS9 had better character development and compelling story arcs. Voyager was a ship full of annoying people regurgitating STNG and TOS stories with slight tweaks. It was formulaic but filled the craving for Trek production values and Jerry Goldsmith scores.

Except for once every season some newbie on Paramount's lot would try to actually demonstrate some creativity and do some real storytelling. This is one of them.

Of all the episodes prior to this one in the first two seasons, this is the closest to classic Star Wars that Voyager comes in visual style, story elements, and emotional heft. The guest performance by Joel Grey as the broken and deluded Caylem is an unforgettable gem, and Kate rises expertly to the occasion presented by the script and Grey's beautiful work. In fact, the entire cast elevates their game; Tim Russ and Roxann Dawson share an excellent scene as prisoners, and Robert Beltran steps gamely into the captain's chair aboard Voyager. Alan Scarfe is also excellent in his guest role as Augris, the Mokra bossman. (Neelix, the Doctor, and Kes are all gratefully set aside for an episode.) Winriche Kolbe's direction is superbly cinematic. It's a beauty of an episode and for me a perfect 10/10, even though it contains none of the philosophy 101 fun of so many other episodes. It's a simple tale that feels like it takes place a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.