INFINITE REGRESS 
INFINITE REGRESS
Seven of Nine begins manifesting numerous personalities when her neural patterns are disrupted by a Borg interlink signal. Species 6339 infected the Borg venkular (nice makeup-word!) with a virus that in turn effects Seven and gives her the drone version.
It is so exciting to see Star Trek tackle a character and topic that they have never before dealt with. Seven and her becoming human angst. How original! :::snerk::: That said, I do have to add that Jeri Ryan did an adequate job with the many personalities that her character(and we) had to endure. My favorite was the Ferengi. Ms. Ryan seemed to have all of those little nuances down that endear those little creatures to us – the fast talking, fast walking sharp gestures and the hand movements.
I thoroughly enjoyed, as always, the performance turned in by Robert Picardo. He, along with Kate Mulgrew, has long since been the glue that holds this barge afloat. His performance is consistantly stellar and I have no idea how the Emmy committee can continually keep overlooking him. His presence in scenes even helps us endure Butt-Crack Barbie, whose usual suspects were even more prevalent than usual in this episode. Ratings must be lower than expected. If she was not standing sideways, she was laying sideways. And the hip thrusts on the table in sick bay added a nice touch. I also enjoyed seeing the fillings in her mouth. This is the third episode in which I have noticed that she seems to have filled cavities in her back teeth. I guess the Borg don’t get to the dentist very much.
The comedy award for this episode goes to the Doctor (as usual) for his remark to Tuvok, "With all of these new personalities floating around, it's a shame we can't find one for you". I must have watched this scene at least six times. Truly the highpoint of the episode. The interchanges between Tuvok and the Doctor remind me of the scenes between Spock and Dr. McCoy. Trust me on this one, Berman. Copying off the original series is still not going to make up for shoddy writing.
I am still not quite sure what the point was to have Wesley...uh...Naomi tracking Seven in her efforts to become a bridge assistant. I dearly hope that we aren't going to be seeing much more of the child. I am in agreement with Captain Picard -- no children on board! Anyway, does Naomi’s mother know she is just wandering around the ship? Shouldn’t someone be watching her? She is, after all, only three years old! And why does she only have Neelix and her mother to play with? I thought that everyone was very excited when she was born. Doesn’t anyone pay attention to her? I can hardly believe that Kathryn, or Chakotay for that matter, would ignore a child.
Speaking of Kathryn, why was she wearing a football helmet in this episode? Oh....it was her hair. I know there is a J/C letter writing campaign attempting to resurrect itself again. I say we have a "bring back the ponytail" campaign instead. We might have better luck.
[Side note: I saw another preview for Star Trek 9 during this episode Voyager. Why would Riker shave his beard??? He looks like a doof! Deanna can have him.]
I just have one big question for this whole episode -- why didn't Voyager just blow the "venkular" up? Or travel really, really far away? They didn't even try that, nor did they discuss any other options at all. Why would they not try to destroy it? This doesn’t make any sense. Not even for Rick Berman. I guess the writers couldn’t think of anything else to write about, but (no pun intended) wanted some excuse to show Barbie’s assets.
Overall, I found this episode to be a little dull. Nothing exciting, new, or different happened. The thrill is completely gone from this worn sci-fi machine and the time to gracefully exit has come and gone. I am completely mystified how one series – DS9 – could be so well crafted and the other look like something made in the boy scouts’ summer camp. The "writers" (if one dare call them that) seem more interested in getting their proverbial rocks off than in entertaining an educated audience. I am uncertain why TPTB have not transitioned Butt-Crack’s slutsuit into a Baywatch chick’s swimsuit and just gotten their pandering over with. I guess that’s next season. And, above all, there were no J/C moments at all. There was a tiny scene on the bridge with both characters, but no chemistry at all. Just two co-workers having a conversation about past decisions. What a disappointment all the way around.
This episode gets a 4 out of 9.
Section 2 of 2: The Review
