Star Trek Voyager Reviews Written by Someone Who Actually LIKES the Show! -- The 37's

Well, let's see. This is a review of the Star Trek Voyager episode, "The 37's," which is really something of a hoot. It's full of spoilers and intended expressly for the enjoyment of Voyager fans and people who always wanted to know how to spell "Amelia Earhart." If you don't like Voyager, I can only grieve for your wounded soul and refer you to some place perhaps more to your liking.

How about Cosmotions?

Not interested? Okay then....

INITIAL VIEWER EXPERIENCE
Hmmm, I wish I'd had a beer or two before this episode started, because this story line definitely expects you to relax (in the Joel Hodgeson sense of the word)....Still, it is a kick watching Janeway talk to Earhart, and finding this little piece of Earth so far from home...Aw, good ending.

PLOT
Voyager is tooling along in space, minding its own business, when it detects signs of rust in space. Now, it's hard to make rust without oxygen, so they're intrigued enough to follow it up, and they find gasoline. Then they find a truck! Is it the old SNL routine [which I totally tried to find a link for, but couldn't. This blooper reel's pretty good, though.]? Will Elliot Gould come out of the truck and fire them?

No, actually, it's just a truck, a 1936 Ford truck, to be exact. Paris, it turns out, studies antique vehicles as a hobby, and in the cargo bay he lovingly looks over the old piston-cylinder engine. Janeway, meanwhile, identifies the horse manure in the truck bed (another connection to Kirk?). Paris even climbs inside the truck and starts it up, causing everyone else to duck for cover while Tuvok whips out his phaser and scans for snipers. While he's in the truck, Pairs turns on the radio and finds, to everyone's surprise, an old-Earth SOS.

They head to the source of that signal and find a planet with so disruptive an atmosphere that they cannot scan or transport or even fly a shuttle through it. Janeway not only wants to help whoever is sending the SOS, but also thinks that whatever brought that truck so far into space might also be able to take Voyager home. She orders the ship in for a landing, and, with quite a bit of fanfare, Paris puts 'er down.

The away team walks out of the ship and splits up, with Chakotay's teams investigating a strange power source and Janeway, Tuvok, and Kim going to find the source of the SOS. The source turns out to be an airplane from around the same era as the truck. The SOS is powered by an alien battery, which Janeway leaves the others to study when Chakotay finds that the power source lies inside a large cave. She joins Chakotay and a security detail and goes into the cave, and eventually they find a strange chamber which holds a series of containers, which in turn hold....Ben and Jerry's Chucks o' Frozen People! Eight people in all. Janeway rubs at the foggy glass of one contain and sees a Japanese man in a WWII-era uniform. The next container has a woman, whose name tag Janeway reads out letter by letter: "A. E-A-R-H-A-R-T."

Back in the conference room, Kim gets to be the one who doesn't know who Earhart is, and Janeway gets to show her admiration for the aviator by going over Earhart's history, including all the different theories people came up with in 1937 to explain her unexplained disappearance. Of course, the silliest theory, ha ha, was that she was abducted by aliens. Mulder would be so pleased.

Paris thinks they should wake up these frozen people, and Janeway agrees. Using only humans, and Kes with her ears covered, they return to the chamber and wake up these sleeping people. Janeway and Earhart have a long moment of eye contact, with Janeway looking ready to beg for an autograph.

Fred Nunan, Earhart's navigator, blusters and generally acts annoying while Janeway tries to explain that they're on a distant planet, in the year 2371, and speaking each other through universal translators. They seem somewhat hesitant to believe her.

Finally, Fred pulls out a gun and Janeway makes the decision (an iffy one, if you ask me) to allow him to hold them hostage rather than have her crew stun him with phasers.

Chakotay signals from the ship that they're getting readings of energy displacement on the surface. The aliens may be in the area. But Fred uses the open link to announce the hostage situation and demand to speak to J. Edgar Hoover. Janeway tries to explain that things are not as he thinks, and that Kes is an alien, but, says Earhart, the little girl's strange ears don't "mean Martians invaded Earth."

"Actually," says Kim, "it was the other way around." That is, Earth conquered Mars. No one seems to appreciate this bit of history.

Chakotay gets ready to rescue Janeway with a rifle brigade.

Gun-totin' Fred, who's drinking from his little flask [Wouldn't the bourbon have that icky freezer taste?], listens to Janeway flatter Earhart by telling her about how historically important she's become until, finally, Earhart figures it's better to trust Janeway than to stand around in this cave all day. Earhart and Fred go with Janeway and Kim to see what's outside, while the others hang with Paris and Kes.

Unfortunately, just then Chakotay's rifle brigade are attacked by gray-suit-covered aliens. When Janeway's little company comes out of the cave, Fred is shot in the crossfire, which I think is my favorite part of the episode. Anyway, Chakotay keeps the aliens busy while Janeway circles around and gets the jump on them.

However, the aliens turn out to be humans named John Evansville and Karen Berlin. John and Karen are just as surprised that Janeway is not an alien, a "Briori," in particular. Turns out it was these Briori who took the humans from Earth 400 years ago to use as slave labor.

On Voyager, the Doctor heals Fred, though there's some silly love-confession-retraction between Earhart and Fred first (all on Fred's side) that really makes me wish he'd just died.

In the conference room, John accuses Janeway of taking "the 37's" [Hence the title!] and disturbing the sacred shrine. The humans on this world are descendants of the original 300 people from 1937 that the Briori brought to this world. These people revolted against their slave masters and established their own colony, which now has over 100,000 humans in it, living in three lovely cities.

Janeway explains that the last of the 37's were not dead, but asleep, and asks if maybe the ship the Briori used is still around. No, John explains, it was destroyed in the slave revolt. While Janeway swallows her disappointed, John invites everyone to tour his world. Janeway is pleased enough with the offer to show him the bridge, where he meets Earhart and barely restrains himself from kissing her feet.

Chakotay reports on the ship's condition to Janeway, who is sitting in her ready room, worried that her crew may want to stay on this human-run world. The colony is lovely, and the culture very similar to Earth's. Is she the only one so intent on getting home? she wonders. How can she deny her crew the opportunity to stay if they want to, but then how will they get home at all if too many want to stay? There are only 152 crewmembers on Voyager as it is. They need at least a hundred to make the ship function. [Does that mean the writers feel they can kill off fifty ensigns before the show has to end?]

Chakotay says that he could never think of this world as home, not when there's still an Earth to get to. Janeway decides that she'll make an announcement. Anyone who wants to stay can do so.

In the mess hall, the 37's eat Neelix's earth-like food and talk about how good life could be here for them. Earhart's the only one not sure. She'd really like to fly Voyager around.

Kim and Torres talk about how they both feel tempted to stay. A lot of the crew do.

Outside, Earhart finds Janeway and tells her she's decided to stay, and Janeway says she's going into the cargo bay in a half-hour, where all those of her crew who wish to stay will be assembled.

Looking decidedly pensive, Janeway walks down the corridor to the cargo bay, Chakotay at her side. They discuss whom they might find in the bay, but Janeway says she doesn't want to lose anyone. Right outside the cargo bay door, she finally shows some real vulnerability to Chakotay by confessing that she's a little afraid to go inside. He assures her that no matter what he knows they'll get home, and they go inside.

The bay is empty, however, and Janeway looks extremely pleased. Chakotay seems pleased that Janeway is pleased.

On the bridge, Janeway is met by the standing salute of the crew, and she makes a lot of personal eye contact before giving the order to get back underway to the Alpha Quadrant.

On the surface, John, Fred, and Earhart watch Voyager leave.