Friendship One

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.

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.

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!

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."

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