Star Trek: Voyager — 2x20 — Investigations

Aired 1996-03-13

SpaceOpera.com rating:6

Average reader rating:6.77

Synopsis

Neelix smokes out a traitor.

Remarkable scenes

The doctor: "I'm a doctor, not a performer." Count 14 for "I'm a doctor, not a (blah)" style lines, which McCoy was famous for.
The scene where Janeway tells Neelix that Paris is leaving the ship.
Neelix talking to Paris about his decision to leave.
The doctor unable to contain himself concerning his time in the spotlight.
Jonas trying to cover up his secret transmissions.
The doctor interrupting Jonas' attempt of murder.
Janeway and Tuvok spilling the beans on their plan to discover who the saboteur is.
Neelix killing Jonas.

Review

This one's obviously been building a while. I was satisfied with the progression of the events. There wasn't anything too amazingly impressive in the episode, but some highlights were Voyager's decent use of arc building. Granted, the whole Jonas / Tom's behavior arc was little obvious and could have been done better, I'd rather have it than do without it. Neelix is where this episode shines. His little local television program reminded me somewhat of cheesy local TV stations, but it gave Neelix something fun(ny) to do for a change. It was nicely shown in this episode; I especially the doctor's (or rather his lack of) involvement in the show, though I am glad we don't see anymore of Neelix' television show. It was a bit obnoxious, and much more of it would have been over the top.

5 reader comments

Personally, I enjoyed this episode quite a bit. I never for a moment guessed that there was a connection between Paris' behavior and Jonas' behavior. So when Janeaway finally revealed what was going on, it came as quite a twist to me. I guess I'm not used to Star Trek employing the plot twist.
I also enjoyed Neelix's little tv show. If you've ever waited in line at the Jaws ride at Universal Studios and seen the "Wake up, Amity" show, you'll agree with me when I say that this reminded me alot of it. The best, however, was Neelix giving that mole an ass whooping. Jonas was such a bitch.
by Pete Miller | 08/08/2006 at 2:57 am

I enjoyed this one too and I agree with the previous commenter that it was far from obvious there was a link between Jonas and Tom.
My one gripe isn't just about this episode. Does nobody know how to fight unarmed any more? And the jump-at-opponent-who-moves-and-you-fly-into-the-disintegrator is such a cliche!
by Rob Herbert | 08/19/2010 at 3:47 pm

I wanted to make a single comment here: I strongly disagree that Neelix' program was a cheesy and obnoxious addition, and I am actually disappointed it is not to reappear again.
I thought this was a brilliant device with a unique function that's hard to put your finger on… Voyager is a crew of over a 100 people… granted that's not over a 1000 like the Enterprise, but it is still a sizable group. Having Neelix' show shown to a "mass audience" had this odd effect of giving one the sense of the entire crew, and tying that crew into a cohesive mass.
With Neelix around with his little PAD, whenever something happened you got this tiny sense of consideration for what the entirety of the crew would think of things.
Watching the show, you got the sense that you were one of those nameless crewmen on board, being filled in on the details… It was neat to look through the eyes of a more realistic audience for a moment…
It also gave Neelix something potentially important rather than just funny to do… I would've really preferred that he keep on as the resident journalist and added extra color and an extra dimension to everything on Voyager.
Having an independent journalist on board clearly put an unexpected spin on events and unforeseen pressures on Janeway and Tuvak, which was really interesting to watch.
So, in short, I don't think this should've been dismissed as a one-time novelty, either by us the viewers or the show's producers. This was a serious and effective little plot device, and I regret that it's use was limited to a single episode.
by wanton | 08/31/2011 at 3:50 pm

(I hope this makes it into Kethinov's factoids! )
Out of a kind of critical mass of curiosity about Star Trek's ubiquitous pointed sideburns, I searched on memory-alpha and stumbled into an unrelated but nevertheless cool piece of trivia: At 2:45 into the episode, standing in the hall and talking to Harry is none other than Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein, reigning King of Jordan!
(en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AbdullahIIbin_al-Hussein)
That sounds like a joke, but it's absolutely true. He's a longtime Trek fan and the cameo was arranged as a kind of surprise by his U.S. advisor (Al-Hussein was Crown Prince at the time). See link below for more info.
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Abdullah_II
by gen | 02/14/2012 at 9:40 am

I loved the way in which Neelix watches Jonas die and then walks off without any sense of sadness about what happened. As he leaves Engineering, he's more like 'hehe! I got him!'
by Dave Hudson | 03/15/2014 at 10:14 pm