Star Trek: Voyager — 5x09 — Thirty Days
Synopsis
Paris is confined to the brig.
Remarkable scenes
- Seeing the Delaney sisters, finally.
- Tom: "Well you've done it again, Harry." Kim: "What?" Tom: "Fallen for the unattainable woman. First it was a hologram, then a Borg, and now the wrong twin."
- An all-water planet. Fascinating.
- The Delta Flyer investigating the core of the ocean planet.
- Tom discovering the origins of the ocean planet.
- Tom's "radical action to protect the ocean."
- Janeway deflecting Tom's missile attack on the oxygen refinery.
Review
Tommy was a bad boy so Mommy threw him in his room for a while... okay, well I can't make fun the episode too much because it's wonderfully original and visually spectacular. The ecological issue is still pretty fresh, it's not often examined in Star Trek. Tom Paris tells us the story from his jail cell of how he ended up in prison again. He tried to take "radical action to protect" a unique alien all-water planet, but Janeway was able to stop him before he completed his task. It's an unhappy ending in a way, even Janeway agreed with Tom's principles, so it would have been nice if he had succeeded. But he didn't. Not only did he accomplish nothing, but he ended up sitting in jail for thirty days for the attempt. I'd be feeling pretty lousy too if I were him. The drama, unique directing, unique aliens, and unique setting make this a most remarkable, if sad episode.