This Week's Episode: "Alice"
Summary: After bartering with the alien keeper of a junkyard, Paris retrieves a damaged shuttle which he soon repairs. However, he begins to show bizarre side-effects to the crew, as an alien presence of the ship convinces Paris to fix the shuttle and leave Voyager.
Rating: 6.5
Best Scene: The continuous shot in the corridor following B'Elanna's outrage after being trapped inside "Alice"
Worst Scene: None that I can really recall.
Best acting award goes to: Robert McNeill as Tom Paris
Best Line: No memorable lines.
Impressions: Well, well. The episode that broke the streak of good Voyager episodes. Tsk, tsk on "Alice". Although the story was somewhat interesting (even though we have seen this thing before), the episode is still somewhat of a failure. Perhaps a few more revisions might have cleaned a few things up, but it is difficult to say.
Since so many mindcontrolling alien stories have been done before, in order to make "Alice" succeed, the writers really needed to take a new edge to an old and tired storyline. Unfortunately, the episode just feels like a rehash of things that we've seen before: not necessarily in Voyager and Star Trek, but in television/movies in general.
The episode does have it's moments. The rebuilding of the Alice was interesting, and I have to say that the direction really impressed me: take for example, in the scene following B'Elanna's near death attack by Alice in the corridor. The shot is one continuous shot following from B'Elanna and Tom's argument to Alice appearing out of nowhere. The shot continues as we see Alice behind Tom, and then directly in front of him. A very neat and effective technique used by the director, Star Trek veteran David Livingston. This creepy effect is made even more effective by the acting talents of both Robert McNeill and Roxann Dawson.
So how could the writers have made 'Alice" in general more effective? Firstly, I believe that they were on the right track: making the episode have somewhat of a creepy, dark mood to it. I believe if they had followed up with more creepiness (Alice appearing out of nowhere), the episode might have been saved. But maybe not. Again, it is difficult to say.
This episode was certainly light fare. In the previous four episodes, we've had storylines that will permanently affect Voyager's characters. However, after this episode, it is difficult to foresee any changes in Tom, or even in Tom and B'Elanna's relationship. So, I believe this hurts the episode as well.
I don't have too much more to say about "Alice". It certainly wasn't a memorable Voyager episode, and joins the ranks of "Tom Paris episodes gone wrong". It is now in the company of episodes such as "Vis a Vis", "Ex Post Facto", "Threshold", "30 Days"(which I did somewhat enjoy...the effects were incredible!). So, I've concluded that the writers need to stop focussing on Tom Paris storylines...they just never seem to measure up to par to other character stories. Thus, give me a B'Elanna, a Doc, or even a Neelix episode instead. Neelix you ask? I have to admit, episodes like "Mortal Coil" and "Once Upon a Time" have made the character grow on me. Go figure.
So, for great direction of a weak story, I have to give this episode a 6.5 out of 10. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but then again, I could be too generous as well.
