Unimatrix Zero

I am rewatching Voyager and I'm glad it's almost to the end. I'd forgotten how much I hate the Borg. Literally, the worst, most boring enemies in the Star Trek universe. They have no personality and the drones just about put me to sleep. Only one season left to watch and then never again.

As Janeway and Voyager infiltrate a Borg cube we are left in the dark, wondering what is going on. They are sticking their necks way out (literally). There is a planet where drones can separate themselves from the collective and Janeway has decided to aid them. She and Torres and Tuvok go to the cube. I'll tell you something. That Borg queen is about as sinister as one can be and this is a ultimate confrontation between her and Janeway. They crossed paths before and the next episode should prove very enlightening.

Seven discovers a virtual world for some Borg drones to visit unseen by others. Janeway uses this as an opportunity to disrupt the collective.

This contains some great plot ideas and exciting sequences. I love the concept of Unimatrix Zero and Janeway's plan. The final scenes are well made; however, you feel this type of cliffhanger has been done before, and everything will work out fine.

Performances of all actors are good, with a few nice touches like the early Tom Paris scene and the increased level of humanity required from Jeri Ryan in her Unimatrix scenes.

It makes you want to know what happens next, but also hope it doesn't retread ground covered by The Next Generation.

When the episode begins, Paris is re-instated as a lieutenant because of his nice behavior (if you remember, he previously lost his rank due to his completely disobeying Janeway's orders when they visited a water planet a season ago). However, the fun and games are, of course, only a prelude to bad things.

Soon the plot becomes all about a weird hidden safe haven for SOME Borg. In other words, some strange anomaly allows a small number of the drones to spend their recharging time in a happy haven (Unimatrix Zero) for folks to live out virtual lives as non-drones. Of course the Queen of the Hive isn't thrilled and is trying to locate all these drones and kill them. When Voyager finds out about this, the Captain wonders what they can do to facilitate the drones to not only live out their individual lives in the Unimatrix but extend this to their waking lives.

All in all, a very creative and cool episode--as are all the Borg shows. Well worth seeing and episode 2 in this series is even better.

The big showdown between Janeway and the Borg queen has begun. Who will prevail in the end?

In this episode we once again learn a lot about Seven's past. For example, that she had an online friend who was something like a virtual lover for years. And that there is a place, Unimatrix Zero (something like the Metaverse, only without the big glasses), where a small number of special Borg drones come together in a virtual powwow during their regeneration cycles and interact with each other as individuals, separated from the hive and hidden from Borg FSB. However, why this dream world is just a rather lame jungle in which you will have seen everything after the fifth transcendence remains a mystery.

But following the old communism tradition, the Borg queen is not at all pleased with the fact that some of her mindless drones live out their individuality and even think for themselves. And now the collective is even being infiltrated by Western Starfleet propaganda! The enemy of every collective community and every collective species is the individuality within the uniform mass. Just as a worker bee is supposed to collect honey and not write poems, a Borg drone has to subordinate itself to the collective and thus to the Tsaritsa. Anyone who disobeys will be dismantled.

Janeway, Tuvok and Torres sneak not at all inconspicuously onto a Borg cube to load a virus into the systems that will enable the special Unimatrix Zero drones to offer resistance - even if resistance is otherwise futile. For this mission they bring bulky phaser rifles, which are useless after just two shots as the Borg shields naturally adapt. Despite the fact that this behavior has long been known, no one on a Starfleet ship seems to have thought of perhaps trying ballistic weapons against the Borg. Or grenades, flamethrowers, gas or, if necessary, simple spears. A few well-aimed stabs should disable any Borg drone. That would at least be more effective than a haymaker from Janeway. And it wouldn't hurt to strap thick metal protection around your neck in addition to wearing standard armored military combat gear. Could at least make the injection of nano probes more difficult.