'Bleak and Sad from the Get-Go' (The Delta Flyers, s1 e15)

Let's have another quick look at a Voyager episode I more or less skipped during my watchthrough as a result of my grudge (since overcome) against this guy:

Ethan Phillips as Neelix.

When I first saw this one I wrote: "This episode is probably pretty good; it's not them it's me. I'm not the guy to properly evaluate this - I just can't with this guy." 

Am I the proper guy to evaluate it now? Probably still no. But I'm a fan of Neelix now, so I feel a mild obligation to re-visit all those episodes I unfairly maligned previously. And it gives me an excuse to dig up the “Jetrel” episode of The Delta Flyers and see what Robbie and Garrett had to say about it all.

(A side-note: my Monday morning tradition is to listen to the new Delta Flyers episode. This morning’s - I started working on this Monday morning - was “Tattoo” and was a hoot. I've been wanting them to get Picardo on the show and they finally did via phone.)

Anyway, back to today's revisit. The plot:

Jetrel, the man who invented the Metreon Cascade, a deadly weapon which destroyed Neelix's home on the Talaxian moon Rinax during the war between Neelix's and Jetrel's people, comes aboard Voyager claiming to seek test subjects for a treatment to a disease caused by exposure to the Cascade. It is, however, a ruse. He wants to use Voyager's transporter technology to try and rematerialize the disassociated remains of the victims of the Cascade. The experiment fails, and Neelix forgives a dying Jetrel.

Well. It's not a terrible episode, but it's still not a favorite. Ethan Phillips does some good bits here and there, and the reveal at episode's end about his own misrepresentations/ guilt is a worthy twist. But, as RDM notes (I pulled one of his quips for the title of this post) it's all a bit one-note, and the b-story doesn't really match/ mirror the A-story. Which is like Trek 101 of the Berman era. 

He also mentions another Drama 101 sort of moment when he notes how the episode deprives the audience of the "full meal" of the monomyth/ hero's journey. Most stories utilize this structure; it's what an "arc" is. (May I interject here and say I really like RDM's thoughts on drama in general? I find his insights into the biz and drama to be consistently worth listening to.) What this episode lacks is both dramaturgical story structure - something I bet even the most passive viewer recognizes as missing without even knowing the terms of the workflow - and utilization of the camera. 

The ending (again this is all riffing on RDM's comments from the episode) is a good example. Neelix's hero's journey is complete. His inner shame has been revealed, his fury re-negotiated, he's a new man, forgiven. Yet the camera stays on the guest (Jetrel) while Neelix returns and leaves. What? It's Neelix's journey, not Jetrel's! Well, it's both, but Neelix is the hero of the stroy, not to mention (duh) the actual cast member. The camera should be on him and used to show the "flip" in Neelix's journey. RDM relays something Rick Berman told him: it's motion pictures, not still life. The screen should capture movement, and the movement should tell the story. The camera is a narrator.

All this sort of talk really blows my skirt up. I like this kind of stuff a lot. Listening to artists and writers talk about the mechanics and symbolism of storytelling always fascinates me, as does anything through a sort of Joseph Campbell/monomyth lens. 

Speaking of Rick Berman, Garrett mentions here how Jetrel (James Sloyan) is basically doing a Berman impersonation throughout, either intentionally or accidentally. Interesting. 

And speaking of Sloyan, this is now my third opportunity to say "Oh hey, James Sloyan, I like that guy." He does good work everywhere he appears. Sure, like some asshole, I called him "Jason Sloyan" in my original write-up of "Jetrel" but let's not let that retcon my sincere appreciation for the actor's work, on Trek and elsewhere. 

Couple of notes from my re-watch:

- In the pre-credits sequence Tuvok refers to logic when planning his billiards shot. Is it really logic that dictates the geometry of billiards? It's logical to assume a controlled force plus trajectory/ angle will result in the desired outcome, sure, but the way he puts it is slightly... well, illogical.

- Jetrel is supposed to be Oppenheimer, I guess. I'm not sure if it's mentioned whether the Talaxians had a similar "Manhattan Project" brewing. Not that it needs to be an exact one-to-one; I mean, a sci-fi spin on a real-world moral quandary is pretty much why we're here. No problem with that, but it adds to rather subtracts from the one-note-ness. 

- Along those lines, if you want to tell this kind of story but have no intention of rising to the level of Rush's "Manhattan Project," just skip it. Make that the bar to clear, whatever your intention.

- I had as one of my notes that Ethan Phillips plays this one a little too angrily for me, but then it makes sense in the end. He's filled with shame and disgust with himself as well as trauma and rage, etc. The choice makes sense as an actor. He does some stuff with just his eyes and mouth that impressed me. Sounds kinda wrong.

- Another note that I had to change due to plot events: “I mean how many Talaxians are left for this cure to work on?” Not many, right? Jetrel's cover story is kind of flimsy. I guess he's relying on Neelix to be distracted by his own emotions. (Correctly, as it turns out.) 

- I still don’t quite get Neelix/ Kes. I was glad they talked a little about this in another episode of The Delta Flyers, but it's implied that their relationship is never consummated. So in what sense are they a couple? It's perfectly fine to have a non-sexual relationship, of course, but their dancing around certain things is confusing. Especially given her age and that whole Kes-mating-cycle episode. 

- The big monologue of horrors in the big scene between Neelix and Jetrel is the kind of thing that looks good on paper but is just too much when actually done. These sorts of things - when a character delivers the "I still smell the charred bodies..." sort of script, with slow zoom and appropriate keyboard tones - never work. 

In the comments section of my original review aforelinked, Bryant Burnette wrote something worth quoting here: "This is a good example of the series taking advantage of the conceits which are particular to it. The whole thing only works if transporter technology is unknown to the races who are involved; so it couldn't have been done on TNG unless the role of Neelix was filled out by a guest star; and then, it loses a lot of its impact. DS9 could get closer, thanks to the wormhole, but it's still got the same problem. So good on ya, Voyager! This was an example of you being quintessentially you."

Good point. And this would be an excellent list to make for Voyager: episodes that could only work in the Delta Quadrant.

I bet it would be unfortunately brief. I love Voyager, but I do wish some of its Delta-Quadrant-ness had been isolated and augmented in the mix more. 

In closing: voted dead last in my initial rankings, I'd probably move it up into the top ten now, maybe just below "Phage."