Friendship One

Considering how close we are to the end this is a remarkably good episode.you know nothing good is going to happen when an extra is sent on an away mission but I felt the plot worked incredibly well loved the little kid.

I won't go into a detailed plot synopsis, suffice to say that Voyager is sent to investigate a lost Earth probe, eventually finding it in the hands of survivors of a doomed civilization that used technology from the probe to eventually destroy itself.

By far the most interesting aspect of this episode is the fact that it is the first Federation mission assigned to Voyager after being lost in the Delta quadrant. As for the rest of it, the motivations of the alien race (yes, yet another hominid species with some facial appliances stuck to their faces) are nonsensical. So, you found this probe and mishandled the tech and you're blaming people 300 years later? Dumb. These aliens would make great Catholics, with their original sin.

Boil it down to the actions of the alien leader and he seems even more stupid. Voyager ambles along, demonstrates that, even though they acknowledge that Earth could be seen as partially culpable for their plight, they want to do their best to correct the terrible ramifications... and he does his level best to thwart Voyager's every move to help them. If you had the right actors, who could maybe sell the idea that the aliens have been driven insane by their plight, this idea might work. But the people they hired aren't those actors, so all you think while you watch this episode is "Why the Hell is he doing that?!?!". Why? Because script, that's why.

Outside of the idea of finally being able to carry out Federation-issued plot lines, skip this lame attempt at a morality tale

Stardate: 54775.4

As we see on Enterprise, the Vulcans established a presence on Earth since First Contact, and supervised Earth's progress with warp technology and space exploration. Shortly thereafter, Earth sends the "Friendship One" probe to pre-warp civilizations.

Fast forward to the present: With regular communications to the Alpha Quadrant established, Starfleet sends a mission to Voyager: retrieve the 21st Century probe sent from Earth.

Once the probe is located on a nearby planet the away team is shocked to learn of the non-friendly impact it has made.

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."