The 37's

Voyager discovers cryogenically frozen people from the 1930s.

There are some great ideas here such as the origins of the 37's and the dilemma the crew is placed in, but I think the two aspects of the story make it all feel a bit rushed and ill conceived.

I dislike the hostage situation because it feels forced and eats up way too much screen time. These minutes could have been used by the Voyager crew looking in more depth at their dilemma and making it feel like a genuinely difficult situation.

Instead of putting the budget into landing Voyager on a planet, I think they should have shown something of the fabulous cities referenced by Janeway. At least one matte background would have been nice.

None of it is bad filmmaking, but there is nothing particularly interesting in what happens and to me it feels like wasted ideas.

The cast are all good, especially Katie Mulgrew. David Graf who played Eugene Tackleberry in the Police Academy film series also guest stars. At one point he has to threaten people with a gun, which (for an 80s child) is obviously a highlight.

A very interesting story but they don't explore the possibility within it.. They could have shown the crew giving technology, replicators, working with them to establish the place as a true settlement, so many possibilities but the episode just ends.. Very odd.. Still fun to watch tho.

This story was pushed as the second season opener. It opens with the Voyage crew finding rust. It is from a 1937 Ford pickup truck floating around in space. Then a SOS signal beaming from a nearby planet. Captain Janeway decides to land the starship on the planet.

The crew find some humans in stasis, one of them aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart. It seems something abducted people of Earth in 1937. When the people are revived they are understandably confused but security was lax. Earhart's navigator pulls a gun, it seemed they were not checked properly.

It emerges that a race called then Briori kidnapped some 300 humans back in 1937 and transported to the Delta Quadrant as slaves.

Captain Janeway encounter the descendants of the original 300 who have built cities on this planet. Janeway decides to offer her crew a choice. Continue the voyage home or some could stay behind with the human descendants of the 37s.

This could had worked as a finale where they could had have some Voyager crew stay behind. There is human world here. The ending was too neat given that for most of the first season there was supposed to be disharmony.

I liked how little the Voyager crew knew of 20h century history. Like what is gasoline or the combustion engine!

An episode that take 30 minutes to come to its point, 10 minutes to discuss the point, and that's that.

An episode about aliens that have kidnapped humans and brought them to a planet as slaves. In the time between 1937 and the current year, a lot has happened. The human slaves revolted and now have the planet to themselves. However they had around 8 humans in cryogenic stasis. No explanation is given as to why they are kept in stasis other than that the other humans think they are dead.

This episode is more about the prospect of staying on a planet that "feels like home" over the perils of getting back to home. That's really the whole idea of the episode itself and we never really a chance to explore that aspect of the plot. The moment we get to point, we have 10 minutes left, enough for a monologue from Janeway and a few conversations here and there about it, but all in the span of 5 minutes. The build up took so long to achieve and the resolution below average.

Overall, skippable episode. Nothing stands out, not even David Gaff, who was a memorable character from the Police Academy movies. Nothing to see here with starting Season 2.

It was said this episode was a screenplay written for Season 1, so I will assign this episode to that season and take the next episode as season 2 and see if this season starts off better with that in mind.

I like the idea of a human settlement in the delta quadrant that originated from humans that once were abducted by aliens. Unfortunately the execution of this story is done poorly.

If we forget the more than questionable portrayal of a star ship without wings first gliding through the atmosphere and then landing on a planet, or that they find Amelia Earthart in one of the cryo chambers - I find it doubtful that a civilization will evolve into an advanced society after only 400 years. While the USA thrived in a similar time span, one has to consider that it was a British colony and all sorts of goods were transported over there. Unless this civilization were not able to steal technology from their abductors, they would have basically started from scratch. How to process ore for example if you lack even the simplest tools made out if iron or steel in the first place? How to cut trees to build the first shelters? They also did not bring farm animals or seeds with them (unlike the first settlers in the USA).

And then we never see those three cities they built. First rule of film making: Show, don't tell. The low budget of Star Trek series often destroys the illusion and imagination, the immersion into the story.

Also, how comes not a single crew member wants to stay on this planet and start a new life? There are always people with a different opinion or a different life situation. Just imagine someone that has nothing and no one on earth to return back to. Or an older person that most likely will never return alive if Voyager even manages to travel 70,000 light years (if they stop at every planet or space anomaly this seems rather impossible anyway). Or a young couple that wants to start a family. At least 20-30 people should have shown up in the cargo bay with the wish to stay. But no one showed up. Not even a single Maquis crew member of which many are not comfortable on the Voyager anyhow. And the explorer Amelia Earhart, that was frozen for 400 years, missed all the technological innovations, has always been bold and wanted to embark into the unknown, stays on the planet??? Ridiculous.