------------------------------------------------------------------------
By BrianB on Friday, July 09, 1999 - 7:09 am:
RUMINATIONS: I think this is the first android/robot story since TOS, not including TNG's Soong androids.
Torres nurses a robot back to health and he returns the favor by kidnapping her. Surprise, surprise.
To save herself and V'ger, she must find the missing link these superior beings have failed to do themselves on a prototype which will allow the robots to reproduce. What a bogus premise. The Beasts want us to believe this race can't replicate themselves because they require a unique energy signal? Well why not? They've done worse.
Naturally, B'Elanna succeeds but then sees the real purpose of why the robots must reproduce and therefore, kills her young Frankenstein.
When will Starfleet learn that robots (excluding Data) are no good?
Dig Unit-3947 using his literal "hand phaser" twice. Once on the transporter cop and once on Torres.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Alfonso Turnage on Sunday, July 11, 1999 - 8:49 pm:
Season two was a dreadful year for Voyager; there was only four episodes that year that were good. This was not one of them in my opinion; almost, but not quite.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mark Swinton on Tuesday, October 26, 1999 - 12:44 pm:
I didn't think it was too bad, actually.
The real problem was that three or four shows later, the creators focussed on Torres again- against yet another artificial intelligence!!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By mf on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 10:51 am:
Why is Torres working on the robot in the engine room instead of in a lab? Imagine in TOS finding a robot and bringing it down to the engine room to work on?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Chris Thomas on Wednesday, December 29, 1999 - 11:53 pm:
What they never explained in this episode is why the robots all had such shoddy looking exteriors.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Aaron Dotter on Sunday, February 06, 2000 - 3:03 pm:
Well, if all you need them for is a war, you don't need to waste time with aesthetics.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Chris Thomas on Sunday, February 06, 2000 - 11:56 pm:
True but they looked like they would easily fall apart.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Chris Thomas on Friday, February 18, 2000 - 10:38 pm:
When the robots kidnap B'Elanna and keep her prisoner on their ship, what do they feed her? She has 72 hours to succeed.
And why was the actor who played Unit 3947 relegated to the end credits - he was Alien of the Week, surely?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Lee Jamilkowski on Sunday, April 02, 2000 - 9:24 pm:
When Janeway ponders the idea that they may have stumbled into a robotic war, it just sounds plain silly. Like somehting out of an old sci-fi serial or movie. "Has Voyager wgotten invovled in a robotic war? Don't leave your seat until we find out, right after the commercial break."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By ScottN on Monday, April 03, 2000 - 9:30 am:
Homage madness:
Torres' line:
"My G-d, what have I done?" - Viktor Frankenstein
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By DonnaL on Monday, April 03, 2000 - 12:30 pm:
An old-fashioned nit: When they first show Janeway on the Bridge, the first officer's chair is empty. But then after the captain goes to that upper center station, there is a two-shot and suddenly Chakotay has appeared in his chair!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By ScottN on Tuesday, April 04, 2000 - 3:47 pm:
Actually, in this episode, Chakotay comments on the number of shuttles (I forget the exact verbage) and says they don't want to lose any more!
I guess they hadn't figured out how to make self-replicating shuttles yet.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Chris Thomas on Saturday, April 08, 2000 - 12:08 am:
Maybe they beamed Chakotay in?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Jeremy McAlpin on Saturday, April 08, 2000 - 12:41 am:
In this episode, if you look closely in the lab before they start constructing unit 0001, you'll notice hands from the robots from Short Circuit. Thought you might want to go back & look at it!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By cableface on Tuesday, August 22, 2000 - 5:43 pm:
Something else, along those lines: At one point,on the Robot ship, Torres uses a device that looks like a large, chunky tuning fork to scan one of the power modules.The instrument she uses look very much like the gadget which K identifies as a universal translator when he is showing J around HQ in Men In Black.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By George on Thursday, September 21, 2000 - 11:38 pm:
Would Torres having stabbed unit 0001 really have stopped the Pralor? Wouldn't they be able to repair the power module? It's still a power module that uses a "generic" energy signature, even if Torres impaled it. The Pralor still have the knowledge, and that is unchanged.
What were the Pralor robots programmed to do after defeating the Kravic? Self destruct? Lie dormant? Have a victory party?
The Builders should have just let their robots keep fighting, even if they themselves had declared peace. Or, they should have found some way to convince their robots that they (each side) had won. They should have realized that robots capable of waging war would not be a good idea to be enemies with.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Tricorder on Thursday, April 05, 2001 - 11:04 pm:
A below average-to-average episode. There was no grand adventure and no major character development -- except B’Elanna becoming a conformist by accepting orders without fisticuffs.
Nits and observations: When the robot is kidnapping B’Elanna, Janeway motions to Tuvok and he leaves for the transporter room. Right after the commercial break (during which no or little time has elapsed), he’s back at his security station.
A “47”: B’Elanna rescues Automated Unit No. 3947
Another reference to other ’80s sci-fi movies: B’Elanna adjusts the flux capacitor on the prototype before it activates. The flux capacitor is what made time travel possible in the Back to the Future movies.
Finally, did you notice the seeds of love being sewn? Tom rescues B’Elanna. How mushy!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Palandine on Friday, April 06, 2001 - 7:54 am:
Chakotay says that one of the Old Maquis Tricks (TM) that B'Elanna came up with was to use the holo-emitters to project an image of a ship into space.
Excuse me? A rag-tag band of terrorists would have access to ships with holo-emitters? Isn't that a little like the PLO having an officers' club at one of their hideouts? I understand that a lot of the Maquis ships were stolen or otherwise acquired Starfleet ships, but I have a hard time thinking all their recreational systems would still be intact.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Merat on Friday, April 06, 2001 - 12:18 pm:
Training sims, Palandine. At least that what I thought there were using them for...
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Vicky on Wednesday, July 18, 2001 - 1:04 pm:
I adore this episode (and Dreadnought, surprisingly enough as the storylines are very similar). I especially like the line "My God, what have I done?" I think its great the way Roxann Dawson delivers it. After watching this episode, whenever my brother and I looked at each other we'd come out with "my God, what have I done?"
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Teral on Friday, July 27, 2001 - 6:02 pm:
I found the line about stumpling in to a robotic war very funny since "ST:Voyager" is followed by the British show "Robotwars" on my local broadcaster.
But otherwise a disapointing episode, I espicially disliked the talk between B'Elanna and Janeway about B'Elanna's "motherhood" in the end.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By cableface on Friday, January 04, 2002 - 10:50 am:
This may have already been mentioned, but it look as if the dent in Unit 3947's head disappears completely when he says something to Torres after she almost gets 0001 working the first time.But then I missed the few minutes leading up to that, so maybe it was fixed.......
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Wednesday, March 20, 2002 - 4:46 am:
The opening supposedly is 3947's point of view, but when it zooms in on a monitor displaying 3947 the face of 3947 is aimed at the ceiling, not turned to a side looking at a monitor.
Why did TPTB give the androids humanoid faces? They could have gone out of their way to create a truly alien looking face, but instead stayed with a basic human appearance. Sheesh! What a wasted opportunity.
NANJAO: B'Elanna's quarters have a Septarian nodule & a bonsai tree. I wonder if they belonged to the previous occupant or if B'Elanna carried them with her on Chakotay's ship?
Why does 3947 need clothes?
It appears that all the shots Voyager is taking are on the Bow, so why are Aft shields failing?
B'Elanna is not allowed to leave the room. So why didn't she ask where the toilet was?
The whole plot falls apart with the power source garbage. The robots are built from identical parts, but each power source produces a slightly different energy signature.
1. If the robots build these things identically, why should the power differ in any way?
2. Why does only one robot work with one power signature? Does the energy somehow prime the robot to only accept that exact frequency?
As near as I can figure, this energy thing was something done because the builders might be worried about rebellion, but why not do something more sensible, like a self-destruct code, or an off-switch?
Janeway orders Kim down to Engineering to supply more power. What's he going to do, man the oars, run in a squirrl cage, pedal an exercycle?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By An Exhausted Pokemon on Thursday, March 21, 2002 - 12:01 pm:
Janeway orders Kim down to Engineering to supply more power. What's he going to do, man the oars, run in a squirrl cage, pedal an exercycle?
It's the treadmill, trust me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By KAM on Friday, March 22, 2002 - 2:15 am:
Ever read Melonpool? The Steel Duck's engine is a giant hamster wheel powered by a 300 lb. hamster.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By KAM on Wednesday, April 10, 2002 - 6:08 am:
Since 3947 watched B'Elanna make a new power pack shouldn't he know how to make a new one?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Anonymous on Wednesday, May 21, 2003 - 12:44 pm:
Janeway orders Kim down to Engineering to supply more power. What's he going to do, man the oars, run in a squirrl cage, pedal an exercycle?
sort of, he's gonna hook himself up to the core and use his biolectric energy to feed it energy.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Must Destroy Earth, Must Destroy Earth on Sunday, June 08, 2003 - 10:24 pm:
What would have been really funny was if B'Elanna took the robot she fixed in engineering (3974?) on a tour of Voyager (to the holodecks) and showed it Paris playing a Chaotica program. Then we could see Paris get hopping mad over the fact that 3974 had just vaporized Chaotica's evil robot believing it to be an enemy robot of 3974.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By John A. Lang on Friday, May 21, 2004 - 7:58 am:
NANJAO: This story reminds me of "What Are Little Girls Made Of? In that story, (like this one) a bunch of mechanical entities turned against their creators when the entities saw that their creators didn't want them around anymore.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Will on Wednesday, April 19, 2006 - 10:28 am:
I see the Voyager crew is suffering from Enterprise-D-itis, as they park an unknown, alien, potentially-lethal robot just SIX FEET AWAY FROM THE SHIP'S WARP CORE!!! Way to go, guys! Got a death wish, do you? Did you learn that little trick from Geordi LaForge??
Seriously, on a ship that's supposed to be roughly the size of Kirk's Enterprise, there should have been several available labs that could have been used to put the robot in. After they tried to hook him up to engineering ports, they left him alone, like so much forgotten Christmas presrnt wrapping. For all they knew, the robot was simply waiting for a chance to be left alone, then would destroy the core, and do the Kazon's dirty work for them.
B'Lanna and Janeway's conversation at the end was kinda weird. They were talking like the robot was B'Lanna's child, not a collection of gears and power units and data banks in the shape of a humanoid. More tech silliness transferring personality onto something that wasn't alive. It was just a robot, people!
B'Lanna acted like she'd actually met Data, if her smile and recollection of his existence was any indication. I wonder when they met?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mr Crusher on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 2:26 pm:
Its not really important if she has met Data or not is it?
And Data isn't really "alive" either, are you also saying that its "tech silliness" they way the Enterprise D crew treated him all those years on Next Generation too? I think you miss the point of Star Trek.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By dotter31 on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 3:20 pm:
I think Will was just wondering if B'Elanna had met Data. Many of us wonder about things which are not neccesarily important- that's the essence of nitpicking.
It's possible they might have met, but I don't think so. As the only android in Starfleet B'Elanna may have studied him or heard about him by reputation. He may have visited the Academy during her brief tenure there.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By dotter31 on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 3:32 pm:
I think this is the first android/robot story since TOS, not including TNG's Soong androids.
That's like saying the next Star Trek movie will be the first one since the sixth one, not including seven through ten. :-) Why don't stories about Data count?
To save herself and V'ger, she must find the missing link these superior beings have failed to do themselves on a prototype which will allow the robots to reproduce. What a bogus premise.
Why?
The Beasts want us to believe this race can't replicate themselves because they require a unique energy signal? Well why not? They've done worse.
Why is this a problem?
When will Starfleet learn that robots (excluding Data) are no good?
This is a similar statement to the first one- why is Data excluded?(and he's not a robot, but I will assume you meant android.)
Why does 3947 need clothes?
Maybe they don't, but perhaps the Builders programmed them that way so they fit into society. I doubt they are designed like Data(who needs clothes because he is anatomically correct, though he had to be programmed that way.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By LUIGI NOVI on Tuesday, September 19, 2006 - 7:07 pm:
B'Lanna and Janeway's conversation at the end was kinda weird. They were talking like the robot was B'Lanna's child, not a collection of gears and power units and data banks in the shape of a humanoid.
Luigi Novi: I think the point was that Torres invested a lot of her emotions into not only reactivating the robot, but in devising a way to save his entire race. Being forced to undo all that was difficult for her, because it was a major technological breakthough that she had achieved.
Will: B'Lanna acted like she'd actually met Data, if her smile and recollection of his existence was any indication. I wonder when they met?
Luigi Novi: She did not smile, and I don't see how knowing of his existence means that they necessarily met.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Mr Crusher on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 11:59 am:
This episode was directed by the actor that played Commander William T Riker on Star Trek The Next Generation.
. . . . and the next post will no doubt be something equally witty and smart ass by Polls Voice or one of his cronies.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Anonymous on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 12:10 pm:
Naw.Thomas Riker aka Jonathan Frakes.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Polls Voice on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 2:08 pm:
Actually, someone beat me to be being witty...
AHHH!!!
I'm not the wittiest of Nitcentral anymore!!
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By the 74s tm on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 2:12 pm:
Poll/Torque/whatever!
lol
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Torque, Son of Keplar on Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - 8:19 pm:
No, seriously, It wasn't Torque or Polls. Do an IP check and see for yourself.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Anonymous on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 7:25 pm:
Torq-I betcha its ScottN.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By ScottN on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 7:49 pm:
Nope, not me.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Polls Voice on Thursday, September 21, 2006 - 8:50 pm:
Not me from the Family Circus?
------------------------------------------------------------------------
By Anonymous on Friday, September 22, 2006 - 11:38 am:
Torq just tell me where you at- They say I'm from Rancho someplace. the Ip numbers mean nuttin to me.