"Prey"
Air Date: February 18, 1998
Star Date: 51652.3
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we're going to do on it!
As the episode begins, a pair of Hirogens hunt a stranded member of Species 8472 (See "Scorpion"). They appear to kill it but later Voyager discovers the ship destroyed and only one Hirogen still alive. As holodoc attends to the Hirogen's injuries, Species 8472 crawls over Voyager's hull and rips its way onboard. Eventually, with the Hirogen's help, the crew corner that wounded member of Species 8472. Against orders, the Hirogen then attempts to finish his hunt but Tuvok shoots him and the Hirogen is returned to Sickbay. Meanwhile, six Hirogen vessel appear and demand the return of the hunter and his prey. When Janeway refuses, a battle ensues that damages Voyager sufficiently to allow the Hirogen to escape Sickbay and reengage Species 8472. Understanding that Janeway has determine to return the member of Species 8472 to fludic spaces, Seven then violates the captain's wishes and beams both intruders to a Hirogen vessel. The Hirogen leave. Janeway is miffed and Seven's future access to Voyager's primary systems is denied as punishment for her actions.
Brash Reflections
I enjoyed this. Good episode for a Brannon Braga show! Lots of nice touches. The bit with the holodoc teaching Seven etiquette was very cute! And they did the artificial gravity thing! Yea! And Seven wore something else besides a skin-tight body suit! Yea! As COOL GRAPHICS of the Species 8472 walking on the outside of the ship!
Just a couple of minor things before I let you have it fellow nitpickers.
I was amused that Chakotay, Tuvok and Paris beamed onto the damaged Hirogen ship and the first thing they seemed to do was fan out and loose sight of each other! Wouldn't it be a better idea to stick together until you evaulated the threat?
And, at one point in the battle between the Hirogen and the Voyager, the creators gave us an exterior shot of the ship running in very close quarters with Hirogen vessels. Oddly enough, Paris says a bit later and he can still out manuever them for a few minutes! Not much manuevering room from what I saw!
Until next time!
Reflections from the Guild
(Note from Phil: I haven't verified these reflections but they sounded good to me!)
Alex Otis: Well that was a pointless episode. I did, however, like Holodoc's lesson on please and thank you with Seven. Okay, here's the nit. Why did Paris have to track a mouse through a Jeferies tube. The only way a mouse would be on board is it was a crew member's pet. Not once have we heard anything about anyone on Voyager being allowed pets. (Note from Phil: It's possible that was just a joke!)
Johnson Lai: When the Doctor crossed the force field in sickbay to treat the Hirogen, the wrong sound effect was heard (namely, they played the one associated with holographic projection).
David D. Porter: V-ger counts the number of life forms, but they don't bother checking the species? It's not a good idea to make assumptions. *Why* is there only one creature aboard?
Instead of sending two bridge officers to check out the hull breech, it seems to me the *closest* repair team should investigate. It's particularly foolish to send the Tactical Officer away while potentially hostile ships are closing.
If the faceplates of the environmental suits polarize automatically (and 380 years in the future, they certainly should), a flash grenade or similar weapon would probably prove useful. Even if 8472 isn't stunned, it would be revealed.
Our friendly hunter seems quite sure of his ability to read 7's expression--specifically, he says it's 'a look I've seen a thousand times.' Just how many humans has he encountered? Are Herojin (sp?) facial expressions that similar?
Cap'n J says that 'when (7) first came to Voyager,' she made allowances. Her memory seems to be somewhat selective. As I recall, 7 was all but forcibly abducted against her will.
This episode certainly has provided some interesting character development. Where might this lead?
Michael Apple: Not a bad episode tonight. It kind of lost steam as it went along, but overall it was decent.
The scene in the beginning of the episode was cute. Holodoc is just the best. They should base the entire show around him.
Is it just me, or is Janeway the wimpiest captain in the Fleet? How many times this episode does Seven go against Janeway's orders? And in the end, she's just barred from key systems, like that will stop her Borg stuff anyway. If I were the captain, I would have put Seven to work cleaning the bussard ramscoops and pumping the bilge.
And, speaking of Janeway, they really need to establish her character better. All this erratic personality changes, from "motherly captain" one second to "move-over-action-Kirk" the next, really need to stop. One time, she'll kill Tuvik to restore Neelix and Tuvok, the next she'll risk wiping out the entire ship to save one species 8472, a race that tried to annihilate the entire galaxy!
Paris mentions that he chased a mouse down a jeffries tube. Do you really think that there would be mice on the ship? How easy is it to find them with a transporter and transport them off the ship? Fer cryin' out loud.
So, Neelix is now a security man. How long do you think it will take for him to realize his destiny: as security chief? ("Before and After") It certainly would give him more things to do now that Kes is gone.
Next Week: ST:TNG "Violations" Pt. II
Shane Tourtellotte: Was it just deja vu, or did they use the footage of the Hirogen applying warpaint to his helmet that we saw previously in "Hunters"? Also, I may have been misdirected, but the warpaint appears to change color and position. Aboard the ship, it's two stripes of white on the right(ours) side of the helmet. On the asteroid, it's stripes of red on either side.
When did 7o9 get that Bridge station right behind the command chairs? More to the point, since when has there *been* a Bridge station there? I don't seem to remember it before, except perhaps in the previous episode.
Why does it take the away team on the Hirogen ship a few minutes to locate the one lifesign aboard? It's only behind a door: not exactly heavily shielded from their tricorders. (Okay, I know, the reason is so we can wander through the ship, gasping at their gutting implements and the severed head.)
When B'elanna is in Sickbay, note where The Doctor stands as we pan back from her. Very well blocked. I suggest a new Glossary term: HOP, for Hiding an Obvious Pregnancy. The director and Mister Picardo were quite obviously HOPping in this scene.
How are you supposed to refit a phaser rifle, which fires energy beams, to discharge nanoprobes instead? Energy and matter are two quite different things. I don't see how the machinery would be compatible.
No 47s in this episode, unless you count Tuvok announcing that he's holding position in Section 94. 94 divided by 2 equals ...
Hirogen skin must be awfully tough. He's with Chakotay and Paris in a section of the ship that's lost life support, which suggests vacuum and near absolute zero cold, and half his face is exposed outside his helmet and breathing mask.
When the Hirogen blasts Paris, why doesn't a big, nasty, charred hole appear in Paris's spacesuit? (Obvious answer: Because Paris would then die, and then who would be left to carry on the tremendously built up and then neglected romance with B'elanna?)
When Tuvok and 7o9 fire at the Hirogen, why does he fall? Haven't their rifles been modified to fire anti-8472 nanoprobes? Those shouldn't work against a Hirogen.
When Tuvok and 7o9 fire at the Hirogen, why does he fall? The deck is in zero gravity.
How did 7o9 beam the 8472 and the Hirogen through the Hirogen ship's shields? Or through Voyager's shields, assuming they were still active?
There are still multiple regeneration slots active in the cargo bay, to service one -- count her, one -- Borg. (Note from Phil: No doubt, Seven likes to move around.)
Johnson Lai: How did an 8472 ship get so far away from the invasion point, i.e. Borg space? Kes threw Voyager 10 years ahead. (Note from Phil: And that's a lot of light years!)
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON: You can't tell by look but the voice gives away that the Hirogen is Kurn. (Note from Phil: Yup, yup, yup, yup!)
I realize it was damaged but seeing what their weapons did to the Borg one would think it still could do some damage.
Nice to see a teaser that doesn't start off Voyager so we can see that other things happen in the universe.
The Hirogen firearms are from the Men in Black.
When first seeing the Hirogen ship why didn't Voyager take off?
The pan of the inside of the Hirogen ship a skull is seen that looks very similar to a Predator mask.
Chakotay states they were hunters. Why couldn't Tuvok have said that last episode.
Once again we have a Kirkinization of Janeway. When hearing an 8472 was on board, she grabs a phaser and goes searching.
Torres said that panel should have command codes on them. I thought Data said that all ships had them in "Hero Worship"(TNG)
Once again they needed to recycle the ST:FC space suits.
Tuvok stating "You missed." seemed like an attempt at humour. But Humour is not logical.
Didn't they have the info on how to create a quantum singularity when 7 o 9 opened one in "Scorpion, Part II"(VGR)?
The story sounds that this guy is E.T.. Why not phone home?
The situation Janeway described with the Cardassians sounds like Setlick III.
I believe that this is the closest thing we can get to an Aliens vs. Predator storyline. The idea is in movie limbo at the moment.
2/23/98 Update (Note from Phil: A quick reminder. It is not my intention to upload every message that I receive on an episode. I will always upload comments--i.e. "I enjoyed the episode." "I felt like the episode lacked . . ."--but if a nit has already been picked, it's picked . . . unless I decide to list it twice because it's repicked in a funny way or I just wasn't certain it had already been picked and I was bombing through my mail and I let it pass just in case!)
Matt Nelson: This episode proved to be highly disappointing. Not
only was it NOT exciting (far too much talking heads syndrome), but
it made me lose ANY respect for Janeway as a leader. More on that in
a minute.
While Chakotay is walking by the knife collection in the Hirogen
ship, you can see some movement along the wall to his left. It
almost looks like an extension cord's shadow.
Kudos to the creators! I was not expecting the severed head.
Slightly startling, to say the least!
While "hunting" the 8472, Tom takes the rear. (Oh, and BTW, the look
Chakotay gives Tom after the "mouse" comment is priceless. You can
practically hear him saying, "Shut up. Just SHUT UP.") Gee, he's
doing a good job of covering their butts by looking at the Hirogen's
BACK!
Starfleet security makes a pathetic showing in this episode. The
Hirogen walks all over them, they can't contain (or find) 8472... The list goes
on and on.
Ok, here's where I start a little rant. Time and again, Seven of
Nine has shown BLATANT disregard for Janeway's orders, and received no
more than a head shake and a "you naughty, naughty Borg" look. Now
we see her not ONLY defy Janeway outright, but ACT totally against
her wishes. Does Janeway finally take a hard line on her? NO! She
gives Seven ANOTHER slap on the wrist and sends her to her room!!!
All during the last scene I was chanting, "Brig, brig brig brig,
brig, brig brig brig.." But ohhhhh no.. Naughty Seven can't use the
ship's systems (unless, of course, Janeway WANTS her to...) And then
Seven makes Janeway look like an idiot by getting in the last word!
I've had it. Janeway is a pitiful excuse for an officer. Tuvok
would have had Seven in the brig, with cuffs on. I say we make him
captain.
Laurel Iverson, New London, MN: I have never understood how away teams are picked out. It seems likethe only time that "redshirts" get sent is when someone needs to get
killed. However, since that wasn't the case this episode, they continue
to send important members of the command crew. Same thing with checking
out the hull breach or some other emergency situation. There's @150
people on the ship. Can't any of them go check out problems? They have
to send the guy that flies the ship?
And speaking of the rest of the crew, I've always wondered about the
kind of resentment that they must have that Neelix, and now Seven, come
on board and suddenly are key members of the crew that get in on all the
command crew meetings and decisions. What about these people with all
that starfleet training and experience? With no opportunity for
promotion, I bet someone would be happy to be "Morale Officer" in order
to be allowed in on all those good meetings. You might even get someone
willing to wear Seven's stilletos if they'd get the kind of privledges
that she has enjoyed. ;)
Rob: The number #1 nit from "Prey" (this week's Voyager) ...
Not that Tuvok had to read about them being hunters, despite having been
captured by them lask week in "hunters"
Not that Tony Todd Hirogen's helmet paint chnaged from two stripes white to
red and red periodically.
But, if the 8472 was really left behind after the Voyager/Borg attack, as it
relayed to Tuvok in telepathy, then ...
since KES pushed Voyager ten zillion miles, how did he keep up if he
was stranded from fludic space?
We want that ship I think :)
Don Ferguson of Queens, NY: Hello fellow nitpickers,
My VCR is busted so I cant review this episode. I dont recall any nits
but of course that doesn’t mean the episode isn’t packed with
them...this is after all a Voyager episode right? :) Since I cant remember
any nits, I'll just drop off a few comments.
When the away team was first on the hirogen ship, Why didn’t we see
piles of Dead hirogen? it would have been a nice touch to se some
continuity in species 8472's own rituals, true this would have tipped off
the voyager crew too early and we wouldn’t have gotten the
suspenseful moment when Janeway and chuckles hear that 8472 is on
the ship but they could have still shown the pile without letting the
away team see it.. such as show the away team walk past a doorway
and as they pass, pan into the room and show the pile.
how did 8472 get from the hirogen ship to voyager? and how DID it get
through the shields? they never explained that... as shown later in the
episode, it could not pass though the restraining fields..and I would
assume main deflector shields are a lot more powerful. Besides the
shields.. starships usually bean away teams from a fair distance from a
ship, if memory serves, transporter distance is a few thousand Kliks.
how did the little guy cover that kind of ground in such a short time?
(That was a nit,wasnt it? OK so I lied about not having any ;)
well I was let down... I wanted to see the little bugger get home, Oh
well.
why didn’t Janeway think of revving up a portal t o ship 8472 back
home from the beginning... she knows the sucker is ripping the ship
apart..at this time the hirogen ships are far away (they might not have
even shown up at this point..I dont recall) and janeway doesn’t know
how to stop it or what to do with it, so why dont open up a portal while
they still had the time and tose the little guy through? True, she didn’t
know thats all he wanted at first but who cares.. it seems like the
quickest way to get the little fella off the ship.
Scott McClenney: I really didn't understand why Janeway was so mad at 7 during this episode especially when you consider that 7's action in the end helped to save the ship and everyone.Shouldn't she
have given her a medal instead of reprimanding her? Also since when does disagreeing with
the captain mean that you get thrwon into your quarters? No-one else has been confined to
quarters for disagreeing with any of Janeway's decisions,but when 7 does she gets tossed
back into the cargo bay. A bit of tension between our good captain and favorite Borgette? In
any case 7 was RIGHT when she beamed both Species 8472 and the Hirogen hunter out of
Voyager. Consider the fact that Species 8472 had always been inimical to Voyager's crew(the
atttack in Engineering,what Kes said about them in Scorpion part 1,etc.)I'd say what 7 did
was the ONLY thing she could have done. Also consider that at the time the ship was being
torn apart by the Hirogen ships and you see what I mean. (Note from Phil: Well . . . Seven has been extremely insubordinate. Of course--in the beginning--so was Torres but Janeway was able to sweet talk her into straightening up.)
Michael Janis: Not a bad episode, although Janeway continues to play it a little weak on
Seven. (Captain Picard would have beamed Seven into space by now...)
In the teaser, the Hirogen were trying to track species 8472 on an asteroid.
You would think they would try to be a little more stealthy and shut those gun-mounted flashlights off!
Is it just me, or do the Hirogen seem to have shrunk since the last episode?
In "Hunters", the show went to great lengths to demonstrate the Hirogens'
immense size compared to humans (especially in scenes with Tuvok and Seven on
the Hirogen vessel). However, in this episode, while the Hirogen is still
quite large, he's not near as gargantuan as before (maybe this Hirogen isn't
full grown yet?)
During the Voyager's battle with the 6 Hirogen vessels, the ship takes a nasty
rocking and Paris says that they have lost the port nacelle. Five seconds
later, the ship rocks again and Paris says they have lost the starboard
nacelle. Then why, oh why, does Janeway ask if they can persue the Hirogen
when they take off with species 8472!?! (I guess Janeway went to Warpdrive
Basics 101 with Deanna "What's-a-warp-core-breach" Troi).
Janeway knows that the Hirogen society is centered around "the Hunt". It is
the focus of their culture, and their reason for living. How can she justify
denying the Hirogen to finish their hunt, simply because THEIR beliefs don't
coincide with HUMAN beliefs. I'm starting to understand why Tuvok left
Starfleet back in his early years (remember his little revelation to Janeway in
"Flashback").
Ed Watson of Downington, PA: Boy were the nits flying on Voyager last night!
As the Hirogen ship was first approaching Voyager, I am sure I
heard Tom say, "He's slowing, SIR". Aren't all such comments on the
bridge directed toward the captain? And isn't this the captain who said
she doesn't like to be called sir?
During the away mission to the Hirogen ship, Chakotay twice mentioned
the life signs (that is, plural) they were looking for. Didn't Harry
say there was only one life sign?
On that mission, Tom had his phaser in the opposite hand from his wrist
light. Isn't the purpose of those lights to make it easy to point a
phaser and the light in the same direction without using two hands?
Also, when Tom first saw the Hirogen body armor on the floor, the shot
changed to show the helmet. When the shot came back to Tom, his phaser
was magically in it's holster. We never saw him put it away.
Species 8472 attacked two Hirogen hunters and four Voyager crew members
in this show. None of those people suffered the same effects as Harry
did when he was attacked in "Scorpion".
In engineering, Janeway called Tuvok to bring him up to date on 8472's
attack. She clearly started speaking before she touched her comm badge.
So the entire deck was without gravity. Chakotay and Tom magnetized
their boots, and then CRAWLED into a Jeffries tube. Are the suits' knee
pads magnetized as well?
On the initial hunt for 8472, the Voyager rifles were loaded with
nanoprobes, and the Hirogen had his weapon. Two questions: Do we know
what effect nanoprobes would have on the Hirogen? He was the one shot
with the Voyager rifle. Also, if the Hirogen weapon was capable of
doing serious damage to 8472, why didn't it kill Tom instantly?
Why, when Janeway knew the Hirogen ships were coming, and she had four
hours notice, didn't' she just WARP OUT OF THERE!!?? Even if
the Hirogen ships were capable of high warp, she still could have bought
some more time.
There were many references to 8472 being trapped on deck 11. Then when
seven opened the access panel after the creature got out of the force
field, Harry reported someone trying to access transporter control from
deck 5.
Lastly, not a nit, just a judgement. Seven was right about turning over
8472. I am sick of these high and mighty 24th century humans deciding
that they would be better off dead with their principles in tact, than
alive and back home with a moral dilemma to face. Nothing in this life
is absolute. It could easily be argued that Janeway was violating the
Prime Directive by interfering with the Hirogen way of life. She wasn't
responsible for that creature being in the Delta quadrant, and she
shouldn't have been risking her crew by trying to protect it and send it
home. How did she know that opening that singularity wouldn't bring
another 1000 ships through to invade again? Seven, was also right about
Janeway in the last scene. Janeway wanted Seven to be more human, but
is now punishing her because she is not turning out to be the kind of
human Janeway would have her be.
Richie Vest of Fountain Valley, CA: A good episode. I do have one major nit thought:Harry said someone was trying
to active the transporter from Deck 5. We see that it is Seven doing it.
She is trying to beam away 8472 and the Hirogen. But what is she doing it
on Deck 5 when 8472 is on Deck 11?
Robert Cook of Anacortes, WA: An anti-nit: someone noted that the Hirogen face-paint changed colors-
there were two hunters; the guy who eventually survived put on white,
the one who later died used red. (Or if you prefer, the guy who lost his
head used red..)
Speaking of that head, this isn't really a nit, but it wasn't much of a
surprise when Tom stops, bends over, and says "Hey! Someone lost their
helmet!" As soon as he said that, you *knew* what you were going to see.
Expanding on Corey Hine's comment- it's like the crew has never even
talked to a Hirogen before this episode. "Gosh, they're nomadic
*hunters* who collect trophies!" Didn't 7 and Tuvok file a report when
they got back from their captivity? I realize they got more info from
searching a ship, but they could have written the dialogue a little
better.
Mike Brzozowski: A neat episode, but not, of course, without its nits...
The Hirogen hunter, 7, and Tuvok are all on a deck with no gravity. The
Hirogen's boots are apparently magnetized, so he can walk on the deck, just
like Paris' boots are. When Paris gets shot he doesn't fall down because
although his boots are magnetized, the rest of him isn't. When the Hirogen
is shot, why does he fall down? There's no gravity!
OK, so maybe all his armor is magnetized. But First Contact establishes that
phaser rifles are magnetic (Worf, Picard, and Hawk all set them down on the
hull to turn off the maglock). So that would make it considerably harder for
Tuvok to swing a rifle at the Hirogen, being that it would stick to every
part of his suit. Tuvok must be just that good...
So all their rifles are shooting Borg nanoprobes. The same nanoprobes which
are used as all-purpose assimilators. Would this be a wise thing to be
shooting at mere mortals (non-8472)? If it stuns 8472, what would it do to
someone else?
Seven says 8472 was the only species to offer "resistance" to the Borg.
What, so every other species held welcoming receptions?
Janeway takes away 7's access to "primary systems". What about transporters,
the system she used to cause trouble in the first place? Or shuttles? Or the
weapons locker? Presumably none of these are primary systems; primary
systems implies (and should mean) the systems absolutely necessary in a
combat situation. This probably covers the main deflector and comm systems,
but still, Janeway's not much of a disciplinarian...
Wouldn't all this finally provoke some thought about security protocols on
board? Hmm...maybe access to key systems should be restricted. But that
wouldn't be nearly as fun now, would it?
Next week looks like major PAL; why are we supposed to think one of
Voyager's crew...never mind...
Dominic Lazaro of Brooklyn, New York: This seems to be a dialogue blooper. When Tuvok speaks to Neelix in
the mess-hall and tells him that he he should trade in his spatula for a
phaser on account of the two dangerous beings onboard, Neelix gives Tuvok
an affirmative reply and addresses Tuvok as Leiutenant. Last time I
checked, Tuvok holds the rank of Leiutenant Commander (I checked the pips
on his collar and there were two solids and a holow) and the shorthand
address for this rank is usually Commander. What gives?
Tuvok claims that Voyager's weapons have little or no effect on the
Hirogen vessels' armor. While I do not dispute this, I do dispute an
obvious protocol oversight. The crew retreived the Hirogen played by
Tony Todd from his derelict vessel. The vessel was diabled. Janeway
gives 7 of 9 this long speech of how the risk of snding an away team to
the derelict vessel is justified by the chance to learn more about the
Hirogen. I would think that one thing that I would like to learn are the
Hirogen tactical capabilities. This may be accomplished by extensive
sensor sweeps and even some in depth analysis on samples taken from the
hell. I would think that the crew would have plenty of time to do this
extremely important task. I know that everyone finds culture to be such
a fascinating study but one part of culture is tool technology (this is
an important consideration for physical anthropologists). What happened
here, did Tuvok have better things to do. Since Tuvok may be preoccupied
with violent imagery, the sight of all the tools used in savage ritual
may have overwhelmed him and caused him to neglect other concerns (joke).
At the end of the episode when we see the poignant debate between
Janeway and 7 of 9, why does Janeway not continue the debate. Surely
Picard would have been able to give 7 of 9 some interesting "food for
thought" ( Although 7 of 9 doesn't seem to be much for eating). I guess
that was Picard's uniqueness, that would be his capacity and penchant for
debate. By the way, I am getting tired of these episodes that focus on
7 of 9. Yes, I know how tight that catsuit is but what about the lives,
relations and dilemmas of the other crew members whom we have been on
this voyage with for nearly four years?
Blake Hodgetts of Eugene, OR: [I've been reading these pages for years, but this is the first time
I've ever gotten it together to submit something right after seeing an
episode.]
Yet another episode in which Voyager gets all but blown to pieces. I'd
hate to be on the clean-up crew on that ship. She must spend so much
time in repair that it's a wonder she makes any progress toward Earth at
all. Maybe they'd better revise that ETA a little bit.
In response to the person who's wondering about the mouse to which Paris
refers, and whether there would be pets on Voyager: why would the rules
be different than on the Enterprise? Don't forget about Data's cat,
Spot. It's quite possible that someone's pet mouse might have gotten
loose. It's true, though, that sensors should have been able to detect
it, so they could beam it back to its cage.
When Janeway tells the Hirogen in sickbay that he'll cooperate or else
he doesn't get to play, he -nods- to signify assent. How does Janeway
know that a nod means "yes" to his people? He could be telling her to
take a flying leap.
The Hirogen asks Janeway for his weapon...and she gives it to him??? My,
she's trusting, considering the way relations between the races have
been in the past. I imagine Tom will want to have some words with her
during his recuperation.
Regarding the comment by someone that the deck "without life support"
would be in vacuum and close to absolute zero: not necessarily. Those
conditions would be caused by an unsealed hull breach, but the hull
breach -was- sealed by the structural integrity field. Lack of life
support presumably means that air and temperature controls were shut
off, but that doesn't imply an airless void. We've seen starships
without life support for extended periods before, and no-one was in
spacesuits. In this case, the life support was shut off deliberately by
the 8742 entity. (And why doesn't anyone make up a name for these
things? Couldn't we call them "scorpions" and be done with it? Or
"Scorps"?) (Note from Phil: Or we could call them the "pians"!)
When the Scorp drops on B'Elanna in Engineering...why doesn't it kill
her? (I know, I know... There's a glossary term for it...what? There
isn't? (I just looked and couldn't find it! What, too obvious?) I'm
speaking of SOUND, of course: Senior Officers (Usually) Never Die. The
demise of Tasha Yar, of course, was critically unSOUND, as would have
been B'Elanna's death in this instance.) (Note from Phil: I like it!)
When the forcefields went down temporarily, the Hirogen in sickbay
somehow overpowered two armed guards and escaped. How did this happen,
exactly? The guards ought to have been just as aware as the Hirogen when
the field went down; they should have been alert enough for at least one
of them to have been able to take him out. And are they dead? Janeway
doesn't make any mention of their fate; usually she cares when crewmen
die.
I loved Seven's dressing-down by the Captain when she was arguing with
her: "You have just crossed the line." And then she sent her to her room
until it was all over -- classic. My kids related to that one really
well. I was expecting worse consequences, though, for her eventual
insubordination. (Although -- what could she do to her, really? Throw
her in the brig for the next 70 -- whoops, 65 -- whoops, 60 -- years?)
The "telepathy" FX for Tuvok were the same shots as in "Scorpion", with
the nifty clover-pupilled 8472 eye.
That's all I can think of for the moment...it's kind of fun not to have
had everything thought of already.
Mary Frances Folz Donahue: I just saw "Prey" and I thought it had a humorous nit. When the
Heteron (or whatever the heck they are) was boasting to Chakotay and Paris
about how good its body armor was, it said it once chased its prey through
the neutronium mantle of a star. (Paris then says "I once chased a mouse
through a Jeffreys' tube; which considering what we know about Jeffreys'
tubes may be just as improbable) I laughed out loud. Chakotay should have
laughed too. You do not walk through neutronium. You in particular don't
run through it. If you had a chunk of neutronium the size of a baseball,
it could pass through the earth ( probably gobbling matter along the way).
If you have enough neutronium (superdense matter which is made of neutrons
crushing against each other, you get a black hole. Even if it weren't a
black hole, he would have been subject to pressure so crushing he would
have been torn apart and asphyxiated at once. If he had been on a chunk of
neutronium with a gravity he could handle (let's say the size of a beach
ball) it would have stuck to him, like a tar baby, never letting go and
alowly dissolving him. You see, what keeps us from sticking to the earth,
say, when we fall, is the em force, which is much, much stronger than
gravity. Neutronium is so dense because neutrons do not experience em
force! All they experience is weak force interactions and gravity.
So to sum up, this hunter had a penchant for exaggeration, and
Chakotay and Paris looked silly taking him seriously. *Really* silly.
BTW, there's another funny scene. I'm not sure where, but while
the Heteron has two guards facing him in Sickbay, Janeway strides in (with
Tuvok, I believe). Before she comes in we see the doors she will stamp
purposefully through. The lens they used was so distorted (to visually
exaggerate Janeway's entrance, I believe) that the security guys' heads
came out like skewed trapizoids. It was pretty funny.
I didn't notice any plot nits, but we do have to consider
this-when the Heteron was returned with the erstwhile "prey" to the
others, they left *immediately*, not even a potshot in return. This is
very striking. Are these people very honest? Does their honor force them
to keep such a pact? Do they fixate on one prey over all others? I didn't
think their society was at all viable (the amount of energy needed to
power their ships Supplied by the paltry takings in flesh? Not!) but
obviously they must hold some respect for their equals in order to hunt
in "packs". Well, this is something to watch. When they inevitably lie to
Voyager about something, we will be wondering why they called off the dogs
last time, when they had the upper hand.
PS V'ger and DS9 have improved, but something's still missing...
Chris Booton: I thought this was a very good episode. It combined a few cute moments with
good fighting sequences and character development. A few nits I did notice
Near the beginning when the hirogen ship stops just in front of voyager,
just how does it stop? Did someone put on the brakes as not to crash into
Voyager? The dialogue indicates it simply stooped due to engine failure (if
I remember properly) but since there is no friction in space it should just
keep moving forever until a physical object stops it.
how come when the 8472 attacks people they do not get that body eating
thing that Harry got? I suppose that it's injuries could have prevented it
from spreading that but for something that was injured it sure moved well.
The footage of the 8472 telepathically talking to Tuvok is mostly from
scorpion parts 1 and 2, but it was good use of already used footage.
Since the 8472 can also talk to Tuvok it makes one wonder why they did not
attempt it in scorpion.
Once again during a battle we see a federation ship getting hit over and
over again and returning fire only after they have taken heavy damage.
Michael S. Felmar: A nice moment was when someone asked "how did it get through our
shields" and, rather than two minutes of technobabble, which the writers
could easily and all too frequently do, Janeway gives the right answer -
who cares, lets go handle the problem. I know this is really going to
bug the techies, but it's a definite blow for better storytelling.
As for the concept of Kirkanization, Jimbo really wasn't the hothead we
all like to remember. Certainly HE never kept a phaser behind his chair
(maybe Janeway's expecting a maquis mutiny?) What he DID do was command
his ship. He'd have relieved 7 the moment she shocked that hirogen a
few weeks back. He would certainly have brooked none of her attitude.
(of course, the truth of the matter is that as soon as her hair grew in
he'd have bedded her and dropped her off on the nearest asteroid, but
that's beside the point . . . )
Tuvok's telepathic contact with the alien was handled awfully casually.
Thirty years ago, thanks in large part to Leonard Nimoy's input, such a
phenomenon was treated as mysterious and, more importantly, deeply
personal. We always had the impression Spock was carefully guarding
himself from th echaotic, random, sometimes violent thoughts of his
shipmates. But since TNG the writers (at least since Fontana left in
season 1) have breezed over that whole aspect of telepathy. Can you
imagine the thoughts Deanna Troi must have been reading every time she
entered 10-forward in one of her skinsuits? Was she offended? Did she
ignore it? Block it? Never a word. Maybe 24th century man is a eunich.
It would explain an awful lot.
Nat Hefferman of Lexington, MA: [The scene between Tuvok and Neelix] struck me as being totally superfluous. The only reason I can think of
that it's in the show is that Ethan Phillips's contract calls for him to have
screen time in every episode. (Note from Phil: Everybody gets a line!)
Just before the 8472 attacks Torres in Engineering, we're treated to a good
glimpse of Roxann Dawson's pregnant belly. Suddenly the cameraman realizes
his mistake and begins to zoom in slowly on her face. (Makes me wonder why
they simply didn't reshoot this. Maybe they thought we wouldn't notice?
Yeah, right.)
So, how *did* the 8472 get through the shields?
Jared Showalter of Sarasota, FL: Seven's behavior seemed odd. I can't remember any indication that the Borg felt malevolence towards species that were successful in resisting
assimilation. (Note from Phil: It might be fear more than malevolence. Or maybe malevolence born of fear!)
Seven tells Janeway that returning the 8472 to its domain is tactically
unsound because the Hirogen will kill them. If they go into the domain
of species 8472, isn't that who they have to worry about? Even if the
Hirogen follow, the outcome depends entirely on what side species 8472
takes. Not that Janeway's decision was the best from a tactical
standpoint, but Seven's grasp of the situation seems wrong.
The only person shot with the nanoprobe phaser rifles is the Hirogen.
Why do they even work on him?
Mark Bowman: Toward the end of the episode, there was the usual console explosions.
However, even after the explosions, the consoles were still online
(infact, Tom began to operate a control panel only a second *after*
it exploded)! How do these things continue to work? Back in the days
of Star Trek the Next Generation, when a console exploded, it would
stop working, period, and have burn marks to boot.
Tony H Forbes: Yup, this is the all time leader of creative titles. No question.
When Tuvok and Kim analyze the Species 8472 (?) blood, it appears in a
powderish form. Later, when they hunt it on the gravity-less deck 11, it
is VERY liquid.
Oh yeah. Let's talk about the gravity less deck 11. When Tuvok reports
that the gravity is failing, it looks like he is about to float right off
the deck. Later on, we see padds, and 8472 blood floating around. None
of these things really had any upward momentum, so why were they floating
around? This is sort of the same thing as happened in Star Trek VI.
Now, here's my explanation: is it possible that the artificial gravity on
the ship works sort of like a rubber band, and when it shuts off, the
band breaks, and the momentum carries everything up. (Well, the ship is moving and it wouldn't take much to set them in motion. My problem with ST VI is that the objects seemed to leap into the air [although some nitpickers have attributed that to the elasticity of the surounding objects suddenly freed of the downward pull. Perhaps!])
There seems to be a LOT of gravity on that asteroid.
Also there seems to be atmosphere on the asteroid, because otherwise the
two Hirojen wouldn't leave their eyes open to the vaccum, wouldn't they?
Murray Leeder: Superior to the past few episodes. Not terrific, but entertaining
enough. But why do another "Random acts of kindness" episode for Seven?
They all ready did that in "Day of Honour"!
Janeway sure didn't seem very anxious to grill the Hirogen on his prey.
And somebody please explain to me how the Hiro knows that it's a "he"?
So Seven can beam the Hiro and the 8472 not only through Voyager's
shields but through the Hirogen ships as well?
And why do all 6 suddenly take off? Voyager was weakened and would make
a good hunt! Does that strike anyone else as overkill?
BIGGEST NIT OF ALL: How come we never heard what the decoded messages
from last week were?
Glenn St-Germain of Edmonton, Alberta: I have to wonder if Janeway has lost her mind. There's a member of
a hostile species on board which gave the Borg a run for their money,
there's a fleet of hostile warships en route from a species which
considers other species to be hunted prey, and one of the hunter
species tells Janeway "Let me have my prey and I will tell my people
not to harm you". Sounds like a very good deal to me!
In the arguments between Janeway and Seven-of-Nine, I have to side with
Seven. 7o9 put the survival of her ship and her shipmates above that of
the 8479 (or whatever their number is -- don't they have a name?).
She made the right call. I can't understand Janeway's actions or decision at
all.
In the last scene, 7o9 makes a good point about individuality, about how
Janeway took her on board and made her an individual (against 7o9's will,
I might add!), and now when she shows some individual initiative -- one which
save the collective butts of the entire Voyager crew! -- she gets punished
for it. (Thanks a heap, Kathy. Now how do I transfer off this ship?)
The only thing I can think of is that Janeway is still bitter over finding out
that the boyfriend she left behind has gotten married....
Linda Orcutt of Langhorne, PA: Even though 7 o 9 was wrong to disobey the captain's orders, I think she
did the right thing! After all, this bug just ripped a hole in the
ship, shut off life support, and was the cause of Voyager being shot at
by several Hirogen ships!! Not to mention Voyager's previous run-ins
with this species! I can't believe Janeway wanted to save it.
When the Hirogen were getting ready to hunt 8472, one of them sticks his
finger in white war paint and puts two rather sloppy stripes on his
helmet. When they get down to the asteroid, he has two very nice and
neat white stripes on his helmet. (The other guy had red stripes.) I
can't believe he took the time to neaten up his stripes!
I also was glad to see 7 in a space suit (do you think it had high
heels?) ... (Note from Phil: Obviously not! ;-) Didn't you see the way Seven was galumping around in that space-suit. Evidently, the poor dear doesn't know how to walk in anything *but* spike-heels!)
Josh Truax of Platteville, WI: Last week it was "Hunters". This week it's "Prey". With titles like
these, you'd think this was a two-part episode (a la DS9's "In
Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light"). It's not, but it might as well
have been. If "Hunters" introduced us to the Hirogen in earnest,
"Prey" developed them more fully as a race, and as Voyager's latest
adversaries. The descriptions of Hirogen society in the dialogue
reminded me a lot of the Kazon -- but to me, the Hirogen are the Kazon
done right. Whereas the Kazon were little more than Klingon wannabes,
the hunting culture of the Hirogen makes them considerably more
interesting.
Nitpicking time: As I'm sure you've noticed, the Hirogen we see in this
episode bears a striking resemblance to... Kurn, son of Mogh! (Not to
mention, Jake Sisko in his later years.) Then again, it shouldn't come
as any surprise that Tony Todd was cast in this role. The Hirogen are
tall by humanoid standards, and Todd is quite tall himself. Since the
character's name was never given, I'll just call him "Kursko" from now
on, in homage to Todd's previous Trek roles...
In the teaser segment, Kursko and his partner track down and shoot the
8472. Just before the fade to black for the main title sequence, Kursko
calls the hunt a "kill," even though the 8472 is still moving! Of
course, subsequent events make his choice of words even more absurd...
While searching the Hirogen vessel, Paris finds the other Hirogen's
head, no longer attached to its body. Its eyes are closed, and its
facial expression is remarkably composed. Does this seem right for
someone who has been decapitated alive? (I've read some rather graphic
accounts of guillotine executions during the French Revolution. Even
paraphrased they would be very unsettling, so I'll just say that
beheading apparently is not quite as quick and painless a way to go as
it is often perceived...)
All throughout the episode, Janeway talks about how much she wants to
make peace with the Hirogen. Yet she interferes with their hunting of
the 8472 at every turn. Hellooooo? Compassion and mercy are all well
and good, but not only do Janeway's actions to protect the 8472 directly
contradict her stated goal of getting back on the Hirogen's good side,
but they are another wanton Prime Directive violation on her part. (Keep
in mind that Voyager is in Hirogen space, interfering in the central
aspect of Hirogen society. If that doesn't qualify as an egregious
Prime Directive violation, Starfleet might as well "throw the Prime
Directive to the winds...")
When the 8472 damages the environmental systems and artificial gravity
on one of the lower decks, several senior officers don environmental
suits with magnetic boots, as we saw in ST:FC, to pursue the 8472.
Unlike the boots worn by Picard and company in ST:FC, these ones don't
make that sucking sound when they make contact with the floor...
7/9 claims that the 8472 were the only species that were able to resist
the Borg. Excuse me? There's at least one more such species -- one
that 7/9 deals with every day now...
Last, but certainly not least, Janeway's punishment of 7/9 at show's end
(restricting Seven's access to primary systems) makes perfect sense, but
it also makes great fodder for future nitpicking. How long will it be
before the writers slip and have Seven access a primary system without
authorization? Answer: Not long enough for any self-respecting
nitpicker to have forgotten about it. Later, everyone!
Steve Oostrom, Oshawa, ON: I just saw "Prey," and found it an interesting episode, despite the usual
problems. First of all, for a damaged Species-8472 ship, that one sure got
some milage, going ten thousand light years away from their entry in Borg
space (and the flashback suggests that this 8472 was part of that invasion,
and not a separate one). Perhaps Voyager should go back and investigate
the bioship (if it is still there, since it can obviously move fast).
Personally, I am not fond of the Hirogen. I did not like them in the first
two episodes they were shown, and then Tuvok's analysis of them confirmed
my feelings. This is a nomadic race based on hunting other species. Where
do they get their ships from? What happens if their hunting peeved off
some large and powerful race in this region of space, who then decide to
wipe them out? Then again, perhaps that is what happened in the past
(explaining Tuvok's reference to no apparent homeworld), but if the Hirogen
are somehow tied to the now-lost network of stations, that would make them
targets for a race bent on revenge.
Although perhaps not impossible, I found it hard to take that 8472 could
crawl on the outside of the ship. What was it hanging onto? It also
looked to be too large compared to the height of the hull section it was
climbing on and the airlock it was beside (but a neat effect zeroing in on
him). Worse was that the alien broke through the hull of the ship.
Presumably that is pretty tough, and 8472 burst through that with enough
force to shake the ship and without weapons or other tools.
The zero-gravity mention was nice, but the low camera angle on Tuvok when
he experienced it was not. It looked fake.
This is not a nit, but an observation. Here was one instance when the
doors were not reading the script. In the opening scene on Voyager between
Seven of Nine and the doctor, Seven turned to the doors, which opened for
her. She stopped, to continue the conversation and backed away from the
doors, which then closed. When she finally did leave, the doors opened
again. Other times, the doors would have stayed closed on her first
approach to them, knowing she still had lines to give. It was a nice
touch, something I noticed right away.
Rebecca Bare: I think I may have a nit for the last Voyager episode. I need to listen to the show again, but I think that at
one point on the bridge, Harry said he could find only one lifesign on
board the ship. Later, when Chakotay and Tuvok were searching the ship,
Chakotay said "there are lifesigns in here", as in more than one person
alive. When they opened the door, there was only one person alive. So
does one person have one lifesign or more than one?
Pam Knowlton - Moses Lake, WA: Not a bad episode, but a little flat. I believe both Harry chasing 8472
with Tuvok and Neelix being asked to help security were EGAL's. There
was no real reason for either of them to be involved.
I think expecting 7o9 to act like a rational adult is a bit unrealistic.
She's a really intelligent sociopath, and I certainly wouldn't turn
her loose on a starship without close supervision. And Captain Janeway
really let her get away with too much without any correction. What did
she expect? Also, instead of boring all of us with the Cardassian
story, the Captain should have pointed out to 7 that since the Borg are
a genuine threat to humans, by 7's own logic she should have been thrown
out an airlock with the other Borg. Might have made a little more
impact on her.
About the mouse, Tom didn't say he had chased a mouse on Voyager.
Jeffrey's tubes would be in use all over Starfleet, wouldn't they? Of
course, that doesn't speak well of their intruder alert systems, now
does it? Hmm... Tom chasing a mouse, maybe it's name was Jerry? :-)
Steve Braun of Houston TX: 8472 seems quite weak in this episode: On that asteroid the Hirogen seemed to hurt it quite easily (speaking of that asteroid, sure had earth-like gravity, and for only an asteroid) It just crawled, bleeding, right through the hull, but it didn't really seem
like they had a hard time finding it or out about it. They just look at the blood, and know it is 8472, shouldn't it dissolve the jeffries tube floor (destroys anything that touches the cell)
Everyone finds it easily. How cunning and devious at taking over a ship, hiding in an airless corridor
with no gravity, just sitting there, floating and sitting around being sad. If I were taking over a ship I would probably do something more useful. Even if I didn't need to breathe. Took him a while to regenerate in that corridor. The bio-ships used to destroy a dozen borg cubes and then keep fighting, didn't seem to need much time to heal. And he just runs through borg space, some ten years distance. (He might have been on the other side of borg space, eight months distance then, sure is weak without all his friends.)
When he attacks in main engineering, there are several casualties, but they
aren't growing moss on them like Harry did, they just seem a little tired.
Before it attacks they secure the warp core. After it attacks they secure it
again.
And last: they modify the phaser rifles to shoot modified nanoprobes, wouldn't
they just sort of fly off like dust, they are NANOprobes, unless you pack them
in a bullet and let them take over his DNA from there. Which apparently they
did not do.
David T. Shaw, from Hamilton: I have just seen "Prey," read the nits, and have some to add.
The first thing I have to say about this is that Janeway has completely
screwed up in the training of Seven. For many episodes the Borgette has
been acting completely out of line- ordering the Captain and Exec around
(Message in a Bottle), shocking a newly contacted Alien into unconsciousness
(same episode) and generally voicing her opinion at inopportune times (Like
most of this episode). And what does Janeway and Chakotay do? Nothing. And
then Janeway gets all shocked that Seven disobeys orders and effectively
removes her from the crew.
Equivalent behaviour in training a dog would be to smile indulgently as it
piddles on the paper, and then hit it with a cattle prod because it piddles
off the paper. I find it amazing that a Captain that read Chakotay the riot
act so quickly (and effectively) would allow this state of affairs develop so.
Besides, 7 was right- an incredibly power alien that wanted to destroy the
galaxy is fighting another powerful alien that wants to skin the crew,
neither is confined- what do you do? It might not have been the best
action, but it was certainly a defensible one- get rid of both threats at
once.
Speaking of Janeway, her story of the Cardassian POW seemed to me
particularly pointless. It is not that I don't agree that they did the
right thing in saving his life, but there was no moral to the story for
Seven to latch onto. She basically said "Its human to help those we hate,
and I did it, so I must be right..." I found this unfortunate for there is
an obvious answer to Seven's question of "Explain" You show compassion to
your most hated enemies in the hopes that they may eventually become friends."
In the same conversation, 7 accused Janeway of trying to justify her
decision to help 8472. And Janeway denied it- but she was justifying it,
she thought it was the right thing to do and was trying to explain her
reasons to Seven. Isn't that 'justification?'
Seven made an interesting comment: after 8472 left engineering, she said
that it was tricky and devious and would find some efficient way to destroy
the ship. Well, yes- if it wanted to destroy the ship. Why should it? It
is flying hunters and is seeking sanctuary- why doesn't anyone point that
out, at least as a possibility.
Janeway said "This is not a hunt, it's a slaughter." Interesting- 8472 was
being chased for several months, killed a hunter, trashed a ship, escaped
time and time again, and this isn't a hunt? Just because it is the end of
the hunt doesn't mean it wasn't a hunt to begin with (and once 8472
regenerated, would she again allow the Harojan to hunt it?)
The Harojan claimed that he walked on a neutron star- very impressive
boast. I personally don't believe that it is possible, but it does tie into
the communication arrays with the black holes as power sources)
Speaking of Harojan technology, it is obvious that they must have
transwarp. The only way that Species 8472 could get to this sector of space
would be transwarp, and it didn't use transwarp to escape from the Harojan,
therefore the Harojan must have transwarp to keep pace with 8472's ship.
QED 8-) But don't you find it amazing that none of Voyager's crew wonder
what species 8472 was doing ten years of travel from were they were last seen.
The ridiculous of a power beam weapon firing matter has already been
mentioned, must be that Donut factor thing.
Tom was acting as rear guard in the hunt, but he wasn't guarding the rear,
he kept facing forward - if 8472 did double back, it would have had easy
pickings.
The "fight" between Voyager and the Harojan wasn't anything much- six ships
flying in close formation, and nobody firing (I guess they were trying to
cripple the ship without blowing up the prey...)
So, a Borg encryption code is used to tap into the transporters, and
Chakotay makes the amazing logical deduction that 7 did, and then told
Janeway because she would never be able to figure it out...
George Padovan of Bridgewater, NJ: A *great* suspenseful, character-driven episode! I *love* it! The conflicts between Seven and Janeway were suspenseful and heart-pounding!
I don't think we'll see the last of these conflicts between the Captain
and Voyager's ex-Borg, since they'll be debating more in the future.
I'll be looking forward to the Kat-Seven fights! (grin)
Just I feel Janeway is *pushing* Seven to be more human to fast for the
sake of the 8472 alien. There's no way she could force humanity on
Seven, she have to experience it on her own, so that speech she gave
(though touching) was more liked a sale sign to get Seven to help when
it'll be against her nature to do so.
Nit Alert! Nit Alert!:
I thought in "Scorpion" and "Scorpion, part 2" that Species 8472 can't
be stop by any tech except nanoprobes, which Seven points out to the
Hirogen in this episode. However, a simple force screen can hold back
8472. Huh? If nanoprobes are the only tech that can stop 8472, how come
a force screen can? It *shouldn't*. 8472 could had easily slip pass the
screen.
Okay, so Seven refuses to open a door to 8472 realm. In "Scorpion, part
2", she used one of the Bridge's stations to open the door back to the
Milky Way, so... the process to open the door *should* already be in the
computer's memory since the computer keeps track of every panel used and
records a log. From the log, Torres could had easily figure out what to
do without needing Seven's knowledge.
When the Hirogen escaped Sickbay, he wasn't wearing his helmet. But...
when he confronted Seven and The Doc, behold he's *wearing* his helmet!
Liked he *knew* where to find his helmet fast enough to confront Seven
and The Doc in time to prevent Seven from tranquilizing 8472. There's
was not enough time to go searching for his helmet, so he shouldn't be
wearing his helmet when he confronted Seven and The Doc.
Yeah, liked I'm going to believe the preview that next week's episode
that one of the Voyager men violated Seven. It's definitely a PAL.
Jeff Muscato: Aside from the fact that its apparant that someone wanted to show off some
military terminology (point position, as you were, etc.) I don't get why
you would modify a phaser rifle to shoot nanites or nano-probes or whatever
they call them. Phaser rifles have an emitter crystal and prefire chambers
and if you modified it to shoot nanites, all that would be left would be
the outside casing/grips/sight/light, etc. It would be better to just
build something new to shoot them. Also 7 said to use "level 5" which
wouldn't make sense unless she was referring to how many nanites to shoot a
second or something, in which case she should have said that, since most
crew members probably wouldnt know that level 5 means a certain number of
them per time frame (unless she set up the phaser's controls to set the
number of nanites per second as to what level the phaser's controls are set
on).
they said the enemy ships were 50 thousand kilometers away and then they
started discussing about fighting. If I remember correctly, phasers (on
the Enterprise-D; Voyager's may have better range) work to 300,000
kilometers, and torpedos can work without a significant loss of
propulsion-fuel up to 1.5 million kilometers.
Just how did 7 input "borg encryption algorithims" from a tiny 10-button
keypad in a corridor access panel?
after making those submissions i'm now looking through other people's --
someone said that there aren't any "47's" -- what about 8*47*2? (I realize
that this number was established in an earlier episode, but...)
[Concerning the references to Kurn,] Techincally, Kurn no longer exists, although I forget the name of the
Klingon that Tony Todd now plays. (Remember, Doctor Bashir changed him to
be of another family, and he thought he lost his memory in a shuttle
accident...)
Jordon Wolfe: I don't believe this has been brought up or not and perhaps maybe I
missed something along the way but... With Species 8472 running about,
how come it wasn't able to infect any of the people it came in contact
with as it did with Harry back in Scorpion. Apparently all it takes is
a simple brush against it. I also don't think its weakened condition
would have prevented this.
Adam Ward Seligman & Julie Ann Wilde: So does the species 8472 escape from forcefield after it
held the creature for four acts. HUH?
This nit curtosy of my wife Julie Ann Wilde. Why was Seven
of Nine sent to her chamber instead of to the brig? Why did Seven of Nine
have the only access to the Borg Nanoprobes (Didn't The Doctor develope them?)
Shane Tourtellotte: Correction: the Hirogen's warpaint didn't change between the ship and
the asteroid. It was the other Hirogen wearing the white paint. Sorry.
Biran Henley: Oh! I get it! last week's episode was called "Hunters" this week's was
called "Prey". Got it. Cute.
A pretty enjoyable episode, I thought. Great FX with 8472 hoppin' and a
boppin on the hull of Voyager.
I also think that any episode where we see unusual exterior shots
of the ship is worthwhile.
But There Were Nits ... Oh, yes ... there were nits.
LEAN- The closing shot of Act 2 with 8472 on the hull of Voyager promped
me to ask "What, can anything just come into contact with the ship and
the ship not know about it ?" Good thing they reminded us (me) that 8472
is invulneralble to sensors.
But on that note, how is that possible? I mean, sure I can buy
that Voyager's sensors might not identify the body of the alien, but can't
the sensors at least tell that there's something outside the saucer that's
not just empty space?
Apart from that, good thing for 8472 that he/she/it knew not to
walk in front of any open windows or port holes when it was taking it's
stroll outside Voyager. Gotta keep that element of surprise!
Cap'n Kathy seems to be able to forget enemies when its
plot-convenient for her to do so. This is the same person who thought
teaching the Borg to assimilate 8472 wasn't such a bad idea a few months
ago. ("We might be doing the Delta quadrant a big favor!" -- Scorpion) One
of those things nearly killed Harry for criminy's sake! She seems to be
awfully forgiving alluvazudden! " Okay, one of your guys nearly eats my ensign, and then you punch
a hole in my ship, and run amuck through engineering ... sure you can have
political assylum!"
Janeways' patience with 7 of 9 soars into the ridiculous at this
episode, particularly when 7 questions Janeway ... ON THE BRIDGE!!!
That boldness would demand a strict dressing down from Janeway. But our
beloved captian never quite gets around to this untill seven of nine
outright disobeys an order ... which of course saves the ship. This seems
a little wierd to me. Seven is in dire need some bridge protocol and maybe
even obedience school. (sorry -that was unkind!) But the fact that she
rescued Voyager at the end is not even brought up by Janeway! Let's face
it folks, Neither Janeway or Helm-boy were coming up with any bright ideas
to fight off the Hirojens.
Good thing the Hirojens broke off the attack once their prey was
captured and never even thought that the Voyager crew would make a hundred
or so good trophies.
Sorry, but Janyway's inspirational story about the skirmish with
the Cardassians kinda fell on a stone heart in my case. Unless I heard
wrong, Janeway's unit was outnumbered by the Cards, and they were trying
to hold a position. Sending your men out to rescue a wounded foe seems
like a dumb move on the commander's part, when every man and every weapon
that's in your defensive line counts. Sending two guys to a possible death
in the midst of a fight where those two guys could come in real handy just
doens't seem right. Concern for the lives our your men aside, I think the
commander made a tactically foolish decision, one that could have
consequences beyond that of two possibly dead crew.
Ross A. Fillmore, Columbus, OH: Interesting episode. Oh, those pesky little moral dilemmas!
Do asteroids have atmospheres? Granted the Hirogen were wearing breathing
apparatus but they had nothing covering their faces. Likewise, 8472 must
not need any kind of protection from the cold or vacuum of space. Amazing
that it did so well on the ship.
There were several great lines from this ep:
"Have a pleasant day." 7 to Dr.
"He'll be under your supervision, Commander. If he steps out of
line, shoot him!" Janeway to Chakotay.
Unanswered questions: Just what is 7's job? They seem to have her doing
all kinds of things that don't really place her in one specific function.
Aside from her ill bedside manner at least I can see her as a more
plausible nurse than Tom. She learns quickly and she is efficient, as long
as she doesn't euthanize someone who is "damaged" beyond her capabilities
to repair.
No one said that humanizing 7 would be easy, but I could see where that
final scene was leading. I have to agree with 7 on this one. Although the
Borg are structured in a collective with no individuality, Janeway's
humanizing then relinguishing of individual control doesn't seem much
different than what the Borg do. Every society has a structure with a
chain of command. The difference between the Borg and us is that the Borg
work on a collective consciousness allowing them little deviation from goal
and higher efficiency. With individual consciousness there's more
randomity, more variables, more deviation from goal, and less efficiency
(I'M SCARING MYSELF!), but the heirarchy is still there!
3/2/98 Update
Roland and Lorraine Spickermann: We thought it might be Kern, too... but the voice of the hunter sounded
to us a lot like the man who plays the adult Jake Sisco in a recent DS9
episode. (Can't remember the name of the episode, but you surely
remember it: Capt. Sisko gets caught in some warp bubble, reappears
every few decades, and the only way for him to return is for the aged
Jake Sisko to commit suicide.) Possibly that person played Kern, too? (Note from Phil: The one and the same! Tony Todd! ;-)
Mitch Nozka: Why didnt 7o9 beam the Hirogan and 8472 into the transproter buffer?
great lines: ..And you have just crossed the line.
or: Thank you for being a patient..patient
or any other line in the beginning when 7o9 was reciting with the Doc.
Scott McClenney: Still say that 7 was right about beaming the Hirogen and Species 8472 off of Voyager. Her comment toward Janeway that the captain was afraid of 7's indiviuality was GREAT it shows that our fave Borgette has learned a bit of irony in her time on Voyager. As far as the extra alcoves in the cargo bay, maybe they decided to use them as spares just in case and in space you never know what
will go wrong. In any case shouldn't 7 not need to spend so much time regenerating now that
she is eating solids? I think that Jeri Ryan has done a lot to shake up Voyager since there
hasn't been too much conflict among the crew for a very long time and 7 really helps to put
the needed conflict back in the stories. BTW:The scene where Holodoc is trying to teach 7
manners was FUNNY!!!!:)
Bob Canada: When Voyager comes discovers the derelict Hirogen ship, Tom reports that
its slowing, then as the engines go off-line, he reports that its
coasting to a stop (like an old Buick that ran out of gas). Uh...no. In
real life, if a ship's engines failed, it wouldn't stop--inertia would
keep it going at the same speed forever. Same thing happened in Search
For Spock, when Scotty tampered with the Excelsior--it sputtered and
coughed and stopped.
I think Tom's line about hunting a mouse was probably a joke too, but
watch the Hirogen's face when he says it. He gives Tom a look just like
Chakotay--sort of a "what a smart-aleck" kind of look. I guess the
Hirogen's translator must have told him what a mouse was, so he could
understand the context of Tom's little joke.
Janeway tells Seven that its wrong to sacrifice the 8472 alien just to
save their own lives. Hmm...I guess "The needs of the many outweigh the
needs of the few, or the one" was just Spock's personal motto.
Rene Charbonneau: An anti-nit : In this episode, Seven Of Nine said that Species 8472 was
the only species that offered TRUE resistance to the Borg. Some one
said this was not true, that humans have offered resistance to the
Borg. Seven said, "TRUE RESISTANCE". Species 8472 destroyed 100s
of Borg planets, ships and drones. All humans have done is destroy 2
borg vessels...big deal! (the Borg have destroy maybe a 100 Federation
Starship).
Anyway, personally, I was on Seven's side : Janeway punished her for
saving the ship? I think that Janeway is sometimes to willing to risk
over 100 lives to save a member of a species that tried to destroy
them.
Adam Seligman: One more but a biggie - Why does the Voyaher need a transporter room
or techs? It appears you can initiate site to site transport from anywhere
in the ship simply by rerouting a EMS box. This seems to be poor if not
downright dangerious design. (Seven does this in the last act to the two
baddies.) (Note from Phil: Supposedly site-to-site transport takes moe energy so using a transporter room is like instal flourescent light bulbs in your house. A good idea but not required.)
Joe Griffin: Probably not a good idea to name Species 8472 "Scorpion," as I believe
the little (recycled) Aesop's fable Chakotay told in "Scorpions" cast
the Borg in that role. S-8472 would have been the body of water to be
crossed--the obstacle the two enemies teamed up to overcome.
(Lennon realized years later that the Walrus was actually the bad guy in
Carroll's poem and that he should have written "I am the Carpenter.")
So, the titles...
Michael Gurwitz of Washington, DC: Fun episode, with great effects and good ol' Star Trek philosophizing. I
also loved the anti-hunting angle.
NIT: When Voyager detected 6 Hirogen ships coming at them, they
estimated they were 4 hours away. Why did Voyager hang around until
the Hirogens arrived? What, they couldn't open a quantum singularity in
some other part of space? If I was Janeway, I'd have scooted out of
there at warp 9 and told Belanna to work on the quantum singularity
technology. But no! They had to hang around until the Hirogens showed
up and attacked.
Makes no sense!
Dustin Westfall of Fullerton, CA: Most of the one's I saw were already taken, so this will be short.
Are those face masks merely breathing apparatus, or are they something
more? Last 2 eps, they wore the masks the whole time. Now, in this ep,
they only wear them when in vacuum.
Also, are these 2 man ships that the Hirogen fly? I don't think we've
seen anymore than 2 at a time on a ship. They sure seem pretty big for
only 2 crew. (Note from Phil: Well . . . they do need some space to store their trophies!)
Robert Melton of Stockton, California: One note that should be mentioned either regarding this episode or the
previous one. Virtually all alien races seen to date have used similar
user interfaces for their spaceship designs. The controls are either
voice activated or touch sensitive (with an occasional telepathic
interface). I thought it should be noted that even though Hirogen ships
use warp technology at least as advanced as voyager's they don't waste
time and effort developing wimpy easy interfaces. They push buttons and
turn dials to make the necessary adjustments. I like this. It would make
sense, if such things as computer interfaces take such a low priority in
their society.
Bob Weiss in Bowie, MD: On the Voyager episode "Prey," the creature known as 8472 strikes Belana Torres and three other crewmen, but none of them suffer the serious mutation
effects that ensign Kim suffered the first time 8472 touched a human. The
doctor states that their injuries are not that severe!
Jason Krietsch: I forgot one very good nit, In voyagers prey, They get to 40,000km away from
the herogin ship, but Janeway wants to get with in transporter range, so a
more advacnced ship than the enterprise D has inferior transporters.
Dominic Lazaro and Ewa Bajor of Brooklyn, New York: Upon viewing this episode a third time, I was struck by a few
more items that I wished to comment about.
When the away team were transported aboard the derelict Hirogen
vessel, they were struck with horror when viewing the various remains of
prey which the Hirogen had methodically treated. One especially notable
sight was that of skeletal remains suspended from the ceiling in some
sort of mesh. I am not an anthropologist but I believe that those
remains looked as if they were quite human. This seemed odd since I was
under the impression that the crew of Voyager were the first humans to
come into contact with the Hirogen. I would expect the skeletal remains
of another species to have some sort of variance from the normal human
variety. I know that there are some analogies that have been known to
exist between two seperately evolving species that are nothing more than
coincidential but this again popints the continuing humanoid-centric
views of the Star Trek creators. Are we led to believe that the
Preservers were indeed that prolific?
7 of 9 ctated that Species 8472 were the only species to offer the
Borg what she referred to as true resistence. Am I a little off here or
have the Borg forgotten about the denizens of the Federation. I guess
since Captain Picard was instrumental in both of those infcidents it does
not count as resistence since he was, for a time, one of them. Perhaps
this is attributed to their own incompetence (swipe). Speaking of "true
resistence", I remember that during the first part of year of hell,
B'ellana and Kim were trapped in one of the turbolifts as a result of a
Kenin attack. B'ellana was seriously injured and in order to pass time
and (I suppose) to keep B'ellana's mind from focusing on trivia, they had
a trivia contest going between them. Harry asked B'ellan to name the
first craft with warp capability. B'ellana had difficulty answering this
question and the two did not have time to resume the challenge when 7 of
9 managed to free them from the turbolift. 7 of 9 seemingly managed to
overhear the two and responded to Harry's query by naming the Phoenix
Rocket (which we all remember from Star Trek: First Contact). When Harry
complemented her knowledge of the history databases, 7 of 9 informed
Harry that the Borg were present at the maiden launch of the Phoenix. We
know that but I was wondering how she knew that? Wasn't the whole Bprg
plot to go back in time and contact their counterparts in the past. If 7
of 9 knew of these events, then how could she actually say that the Borg
were present during the launch of the Phoenix Rocket. If the collective
was aware of this, would that not obviate the need to rig the
Enterprise's deflector array as a beacon that would summon the Borg
counterparts of that past era. Now I may be thinking in 1-dimensional
terms but I do not know how this could be possible?
I would also maintain that linear time or non-linear time are not
postulated and this represent a gaping unknown that we may only treat
theoretically. If so, what theory may this temporal invariance be
ascribed to? (Note from Phil: To comment would be to illustrate that I can only think three-dimensionally)
What took Paris so long to react to the Hirogen hunter once he started
to strike Chakotay. I was able to utter three "shoot'ems"'s before he
was able to shoot Paris. Since they did not say anything of Paris
getting killed, I guess that the Hirogen hunter's weapon only stunned
Paris. How does one set the energy levels on one of those things. Did
the Hirogen hunter only intend to play with the pecies 8472 creature? Is
that what took the time of three "shoot'em"'s: to reset the weapon to stun?
This has dogged me since the begining of the season. What is the deal
with fluidic space. If there is fluid, there is matter which means that
space is being occupied. Why not call it the "water-univers",
"water-dimension" or "waterworld"(joke)?
Is it actually wrong to save a single being to save the life of the whole?
According to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Ricardo Montalban it is (please
do not contradict me by mentioning the sequel).
Janeway orders 7 of 9 to assist by supplying more nanoprobes
(somewhere toward the latter half of the episode). We thought 7 of 9
refused to assist the crew of Voyager on anythink pertaining to not
killing the Species 8472 creature.
Aaron Nadler, New Cumberland, PA: I noticed something kind of funny about the space suits used during the 8472 zoo scenes. The speaker / ventilator underneath the helmets of all
the suits look a bit artificial, like they were painted on with a model paints
brush. They aren't in even rows, like you would expect a speaker to be, but
kind of hastely painted on.
Paul MacEachern, Hudson, MA: Great character development is this one. I believe this is a great set up
for Seven's assault next week. How much compassion will the Captain
give her? Will Seven learn some humility from her episode and begin to
understand Janeway's morality? We'll see.
I wonder about the Hirogen's weapons. They don't really seem to do
any damage. Wouldn't Tom's space suit blow out when the Herogen
blasted him, or can these suits absorb discharges from an energy
weapon?
I'm sometimes amazed at Janeway's arrogance. What makes her
think that she can negotiate with a race that is bent on one
thing, the hunt? Isn't there a point where the Captain has to
admit that some species have tendencies and can't be changed?
Seven may be her personal project, but that doesn't mean she
can always wave her diplomatic wand and make everything right
in the universe every single time! Too much Kirkanization here!
Jeff Winkle: I am starting to think Janeway is really a changeling on a death wish.
Her line of reasoning makes no sense when she decides to let Speicies
8472 go. Let's put this into proper perspective shall we:
1) They are in Hirogen space, and they want to make peace with the
Hirogen to avoid being blown out of space.
2) They find a member of a hostile race that is being hunted by the
Hirogen...who want that creature as a trophy. In exchange, one of their
leaders has voulenteered to speak to the others on Voyager's behalf.
3) Several of the Hirogen ships show up (heavily armed and armored).
Voyager's weapons are no match for them.
To quote a wise Vulcan "The needs of the many outweight the needs of the
few, OR THE ONE." Using this logic, if you could get a
"Fly-Through-Our-Space-Free" card by turning Species 8472 over to the
Hirogen, wouldn't the smart action be to fly to the nearest Hirogen
ship and beam both over. The Hirogen would be happy, you could have a
chance of living beyond Hirogen space intact, and I am sure 8472 would
take several of the hunters with it. Or, if you really want to stir up
a hornet's nest, open a portal to their universe and let 8472 and the
Hirogen in (then close it and run like crazy). Granted, that wouldn't
exactly be within regs, but then again...everyone would be happy (or
dead, in which case their attitude would be moot).
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we're going to do on it!
If you would like to add some comments,
drop
me a note at chief@nitcentral.com with the Subject line "Prey". Please include your real name, city and state (or province
and county as the case may be) in the body of the e-mail so I can give you
credit if you are the first person to bring up a particular nit. (Remember
the legalese: Everything you submit becomes mine and you grant me the right
to use yourname in any future publication by me. I will do my best to give
you credit if you are the first person to submit a particular nit but I make
no guarantees. And finally, due to the volume of mail received at Nitpicker
Central, your submission may or may not be acknowledged but that entry will make you a part of the Nitpickers Guide if you aren't one already!)
"Hunter"
"Prey"
Let's continue...
"Carcass"
"Pelts"
"Large Meat Freezer"
"Patties and Jerky"
"Rabbit Season/Duck Season"
Copyright 1998 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.