Star Trek: Voyager — 1x10 — Prime Factors

Aired 1995-03-20

SpaceOpera.com rating:2

Average reader rating:4.77

Synopsis

An alien leader refuses to share valuable technology with Voyager.

Remarkable scenes

Harry discovering that he's traveled nearly 40,000 light years using this species' transporter.
Tuvok walking in on Torres, Carey, and Seska, only to find out that Tuvok is on their side.
Janeway's surprise and even disgust upon learning Tuvok had betrayed her trust.
Tuvok: "My logic was not in error, but I was."

Review

These "here's another way for Voyager to get home! Oops, sorry!" plots do get rather tiresome, especially in the first freakin' season, and this one is a pretty bad offender. Not only do our aliens of the week look exactly like humans, but with a little more effort, Voyager may have been able to get the literature underground to send Voyager 40,000 light years closer to home instead of going through the unresponsive official channels and leaving when asked. That said, it is credible that people make mistakes. Voyager could have maneuvered their way into a better deal with the literature underground, but that's just not how it went down. A disappointing episode.

8 reader comments

What the hell is wrong with Janeway? She acts absolutely devastated that (Oh my god!) some of her crew members would actually gasp violate the laws of a society to get a paltry 40 THOUSAND light years closer to home! As if she'd rather be marooned in the Detla Quadrant than break someone's rule.
Uh, what? When you're stuck 70 years' worth distance from home, the rules change a little. The Prime Directive isn't quite so prime. I understand non-interference, of course; but harmlessly breaking one of this planet's laws, not hurting anyone and not causing any long-term damage, is worth even getting a thousand light years closer, what to speak of forty thousand. She seems to be worse than Picard in this way!
Oh well.
by DJB | 06/23/2009 at 4:42 am

I gotta go with djb on this one. This is a fairly good episode, but Janeway should have just gone with the literature in the first place.
by Goblin | 06/30/2009 at 2:02 am

This episode is when I first noticed how inconsistent Janeway is with the Prime Directive…one episode she is harping on it like a banshee, and the next she is completely wiping her ass with it.
by Keith WP | 05/08/2012 at 2:55 pm

There is no Prime Directive issue in this episode. It's just a matter of whether to violate the Sikarians' own law.
by Peremensoe | 07/19/2012 at 1:37 pm

Not really impressed with the aliens in Voyager so far, they all seem to be exactly like humans or not very creative. The plots have been pretty repetitive as well but the first few seasons of most trek is pretty lackluster so I guess I'll wait and see.
by Psycroptic | 07/29/2012 at 8:14 pm

"It looks like most of these asteroids support class M atmospheres".
No they don't. For comparison, the planet Mars doesn't support a breathable atmosphere. There is absolutely no way an asteroid has such an atmosphere.
by Rob Herbert | 01/18/2015 at 6:50 pm

It's not completely impossible. If the asteroids have a super dense core, they could possibly exert enough gravity to retain a significant atmosphere. Pretty far fetched, but definitely not in "absolutely no way" territory.
by Eric Newport | 01/18/2015 at 8:17 pm

The platform uses the principle of folding space. Janeway says this has been theorized, but noone has been able to develop the technology. She must have forgotten that they use warp speed :)
by Jens-Ivar Seland | 06/13/2015 at 4:55 pm