Friendship One

This is sort of interesting. Voyager and her crew are victimized by a man who speaks for a culture that nearly destroyed itself by trying to adapt technology from an Earth probe. When people do outrageous things and don't look at the consequences, the first they to do is to blame someone else. After 300 years, how could Voyager have anything to do with this destruction. The probe could just as easily have brought prosperity these people. They made their own beds. And to make matter worse, this megalomaniac decides it's his right to deprive everyone else based on his own hatred. He talks about how nothing they do will bring back all the dead. That is such a ludicrous statement, designed for him to keep his hatred and venom intact.

An interesting episode that deals with the question of what actually happened to all the probes that we humans sent into space to make first contact with alien civilizations.

Voyager is supposed to recover a probe that was sent out 300 years ago and was actually intended to share knowledge and technology. But just like when ordering from cheap Chinese online shops: you can throw the manuals straight into the trash can because of the incomprehensible nonsense. The species that received the probe apparently misunderstood something in the technical specifications for antimatter technology and thus irradiated their entire planet. Happens, but at least the kids can now sled and build snowmen all year round - thanks to the nuclear winter.

In essence, this episode can be compared to what has happened regularly in our own history, when developed civilizations have encountered seemingly less developed civilizations. Be it native Americans, the cultures of Central and South America, feudal Japan, African peoples... When these cultures came into contact with Western culture, their way of life often not only changed drastically, but often also worsened. If a civilization has not yet crossed a certain technological threshold itself, technology introduced from outside often leads to disruptive, unpredictable changes in these cultures.

However, I wonder why humans continued to launch such probes into space after Cochrane carried out his warp flight and made first contact with the Vulcans. It would have made more sense to contact other species through the Vulcans instead of randomly launching a few probes into space.

And as is always when a crew member has to bite the dust on an away mission - then one of the many nameless officers is taken and given a generic name like Joe for his five minutes screen time.

There is an Enterprise episode remarkably similar to this that actually aired in the same year. It was called Terra Nova. Won't get into that here though. Friendship One is the first time in a long time the alien cultures perspective has been treated with such respect and consideration. Not preachy or one-dimensional. Picard said in the first contact episode to instantly transform a society with technology...will be harmful and destructive. And here we see how true that was. The inhabitants want to go to a place where the poison rain didn't fall (essentially). Seven and the rest of the crew want to do more. Not entirely on board with Janeway instantly walking blindly away as soon as she thought her mission was done, not even considering trying to fix the disastrous hell Earth itself made for these people. But unfortunately, it's what I'd come to expect from Voyager by this point. And most especially from the increasingly bi-polar captain. I recognized that myself because I am...literally. But she was just written that way until she was irredeemable. This just happens to be the most...unforgivable in-explicable example of her arrogant cocky-self righteousness.

But when the planet starts to shake as Voyager is 'bombing' the continent, the leader fo the survivors understandably flips out and wants to destroy the hostages. The native woman, who has been pretty much the only person to talk to teh humans being held on this planet pulls a gun on him:. Telling him to cool his jets and let them do thier jobs. To trust these strangers. "Look at my child. They said they'd help him. And they did."

Voyager receives its first official Starfleet assignment to locate the historical Friendship One probe.

The concept of the probe is excellent and is an important part of the Star Trek franchise, but unfortunately the plot devised to explore Voyager's mission to retrieve it is unoriginal and not very well done.

I don't have a problem with the themes the writers incorporate nor the points of view presented in the story. I have my own opinions on most of the themes covered Star Trek but don't take the franchise as seriously as some of the more angry reviewers. Ultimately the writers have the creative freedom to incorporate whatever issues they want into the material. End of!

What I struggled with is how annoying the characters become and frustrating it is with the focus fixed solely on the probe's consequences. Personally, I think they should definitely have covered these issues, but not let it dominate the episode. There could have been a short scene or sequence that address the ethics and then concentrated the remaining time on putting it right. Rather than string out a relatively tedious hostage drama, the suspense could have been created from the crew devising and executing the solution.

Oh and the less said about Lt. Joe Carey the better!

Excellent idea, but disappointed they didn't take a different or more original approach.

It's a 5.5/10 for me but I round upwards.

Now that the Federation can have regular contact with Voyager, they ask that they look for the Friendship 1 probe that was sent to the Delta Quadrant a long, long time ago. However, when the shuttle team land, they find that the place IS inhabited (despite the sensors) and these people are really angry. They blame the Earth for their plight, as they used the technology that powered Friendship 1 (antimatter) and destroyed themselves. Sure, a few folks remain, but they look nasty and are suffering from the aftereffects of the antimatter explosion. Not surprisingly, these folks are very hostile and soon take some of the away team prisoner. Now they try to use the team as a bartering tool and things get even nastier very quickly.

This episode features some very nice make-up effects. The sore- covered aliens look really realistic and nasty. While the baby didn't look great--the rest of them sure did. In addition, the story is pretty exciting and worth seeing.

By the way, this story seems a lot like an episode from "Space: 1999" concerning a probe powered by a 'Queller Drive'. This system ended up killing things because of its toxic emissions--and soon folks effected by it come looking for retribution!