![]() Wanted: New forum members! Do you have the right stuff to be an arch-angel member? Must be:
|
| Once Upon a Time Review | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Sun Feb 7, 2010 2:29 am (518 Views) | |
| SLagonia | Sun Feb 7, 2010 2:29 am Post #1 |
![]()
100 post angel
|
So, why am I reviewing Once Upon a Time? Afterall, this is one of those episodes you skip right over, the kind you read the description of and decide it's not worth your time, and who can blame you, really? It's main character is Neelix, the only character to exceed Wesley Crusher on the Annoying meter, co-stars a child actress, an overgrown blue sperm and a block of wood, spends a great deal of time on the holodeck and has yet another shuttle crash. Who in hell would like this episode? Well... Me. Yeah, I know, came as a shock to me too, but I have a soft spot for this episode. I've even gone so far as to call it the most under-rated episode in Voyager history, and have ranked it within my elite top-100 episodes. It dealt with very serious issues that can't be technobabled away, had many very subtle moments that really added to the story, and was an all-around good episode. Before I get into the episode itself, I would like to get my requisite bashing in right here and say that the trailer for this episode, like most other Voyager episodes and UPN shows in general, had absolutely nothing to do with the plot and was a totally misleading waste of time. The trailer (it's available on YouTube), essentially says that the episode is about Ensign Wildman dying and Neelix taking over as her father... Um... No, that's not what the episode is about. But what do you expect from a UPN show. So the episode begins in the forest of forever. I'll get out of the way now that I don't hate flotter, mainly because he doesn't play a very large part in the story. Unlike most annoying characters of his kind, he gets out of the way and only serves as story aid, not a character. Anyway, Naomi Wildman enters. It should be noted that this is the first appearance of Scarlett Pomers in this role, and her first major role of any kind, which would later lead to a semi-successful acting career and a far more successful singing career. She plays this role perfectly - Her character is very awkward and is a mesh of ages from four to sixteen... And honestly, that's exactly what she should be. She's a smart girl and has spent her entire life around adults. She should not be a typical child, and especially not a Hollywood child, none of whom ever act properly for their age. Anyway, after a little bit of fun between Flotter and a block-head named Trevis, Naomi is called away by Neelix because of her bedtime, and is excited to hear that she's received a message from her mother. They speak briefly, basically just establishing that Sam is away and Naomi misses her, and that she was supposed to come home tomorrow but will be delayed. After Naomi leaves, Sam lets Neelix know the real story - That they ran into some ion storms and their lives may be in danger. We cut to The Flyer and things aren't looking so good for Sam, Tom and Tuvok. After the credits we have a somber assembly in the meeting room as they listen to The Flyers' last communication. Harry, Chief Wild Eagle and B'elanna discuss the situation while Janeway makes it clear she's willing to fly straight through the ion storms to get her people back. Neelix... Um... Why is Neelix in this meeting? I'm sorry, but if I'm discussing rescue operations, I'm not going to ask the burger-flipper at McDonalds how best to go about it. Anyway, Neelix asks what he is to tell Naomi, and the rest of the crew seems to want to be honest with her and tell her the truth. Neelix disagrees, hoping for a happy ending, and Janeway uncharacteristically doesn't force her opinion down his throat and delegates taking care of Naomi to Neelix... Yeah, I wouldn't even trust Neelix with a gigapet, but as far as the internal logic of this show goes, it makes sense. Down in the galley, Neelix and Naomi have a rather cute little conversation that reminds me just how much more mature Naomi is than Neelix. I think it's here when we realize that Naomi has effectively stolen this episode away from Neelix - This has become her story, not his. Her character is so much more interesting and compelling that Neelix is taking a back seat even in his own episode. Anyway, Seven enters the room and Naomi expresses her fear of her, calling her 'The Borg Lady.' After Neelix is taken aside by Harry, Seven approaches Naomi to ask if the chair is occupied, and we have by far the best moment in the episode. Watching her reaction to Seven is hilarious, and her aghast reaction as Seven walks away is priceless. Back on The Flyer, we've got issues. Tom is looking for somewhere to set down (even though The Flyer can't actually land), and by the time they realize the planetoid can't be landed on, it's too late, and a crash is the only option. Tom gets her down in one piece, but they are buried under tons of rock, and Sam is severely hurt and needs surgery. It gets worse; The rock is preventing them from trying to leave the shuttle, and the cavern is full of poisonous gas... More on that in a bit. Back on Voyager, they've found The Flyer's last known location, but it doesn't look good. There's nothing but debris on sensors, but Janeway figures The Flyer was strong enough to survive the impact and sends search parties out. Down in sickbay, The Doctor is giving Naomi a lesson in biology, and is his typical patronizing self, and they prattle on about symbiosis for a little bit. "My mom says cooperation is more important than competition," she says, which is clearly shown by how The United States fell after 80 years and the Soviet Union is still going strong. Anyway, the upshot of this scene is that Naomi won't stop talking about her mother, and The Doctor can't seem to change the subject fast enough. Heading back toward the holodeck, Neelix tells Naomi all about his sisters and how they used to play in a real forest, and the naive Naomi doesn't seem to realize they're dead. I like this - Children are naive but not stupid, and often Hollywood inverts that. So in the holodeck, we meet the Ogre of Fire, who burns the forest down and wipes flotter out right in front of Naomi's eyes. This is awfully cruel for a children's show. I have the feeling if this happened in real life there would be massive protests from family groups. Anyway, while she is obviously scared, Naomi's first thought is to find what happened to him, while Neelix's first thought is to take her away from the holodeck. In essence, this is a microcosm of the entire episode. Life is a scary thing, but facing it head on is how you handle things. Naomi is wise beyond her years and is trying to march straight into the mouth of the beast, while Neelix is more concerned with protecting her than letting her learn about how the world works. The problem is that this simply leads to more problems - While Naomi tries to face the problem head on and find out what happened, she can confront her problem, either solve it or realize it can't be solved and move on. When Neelix takes her away from this course, all it does is make her miserable, since she has no closure on the matter. Children need to be protected, I'm not debating that, but there's protecting and then there's smothering. A good, experienced parent would have known to let the scenerio play out, but Neelix, trapped in his own memories of grief, is trying to protect Naomi so much that she becomes trapped in a world she can't confront. More on that shortly. So down in engineering, Harry is making a stuffed Flotter for Naomi... Yeah, take some time out from the search for her mother to design a Flotter doll. It's not like you have more important things to do. Harry tells Neelix of how he used to play Flotter as a kid, and considering how the holodeck was brand new when he was about fifteen... Um... I have so many Harry jokes I could use right now, and I'm really having trouble picking one, so I'll just let you pick your own, I mean, they're all good. Neelix takes this time to have a bit of a breakdown, and panics at the thought of having to tell Naomi about her mother. It should be noted that Neelix is actually far more concerned through this episode of having to tell Naomi than what Naomi would feel, which is further evidenced by the fact that he is completely ignoring her deteriorating mood in the hope that she'll suddenly revert to blissful ignorance. However, whereas I usually bash Neelix for being a self-centered prick, this actually makes perfect sense in terms of the story - His being an ass here is not intrinsic to his character the way it normally is, it's circumstantial. He's had a huge weight added to his shoulders these passed few days, and he can't stop from thinking about what he went through as a child, and is projecting on Naomi. This is made clear in the next scene, when Neelix comes to tuck her in for the night (I won't make any pedophile jokes, it's an innocent scene). Naomi at the time is busy studying evaporation in an effort to get Flotter to reliquify. While Neelix admits she's smart for this revelation, he still doesn't see passed his own projections - She's showing clear evidence that she is strong and resourceful, and that she handles life better when she can confront it, yet all he can think of is himself, and how he wished he could erase his personal loss from his memory. Again, this makes perfect sense in terms of the character and the situation - Neelix has always been self-centered, and his projection here is a natural extension of that. Neelix walks into the other room and calls a picture of his sister up. It's a shot from Mortal Coil, and this rather candid shot is a terrible picture to be using considering she looks more like she's about to suck my blood than say cheese. I'm not sure why they picked this one in particular, but whatever, it's a good scene, and shows that Ethan Philips can act despite his character. So we come back from the break into the worst scene in the episode. Neelix is dreaming of running from a metreon cascade, and the two people he is running with fall down, and then just sorta spasm on the ground for a few minutes while Neelix calls to them to stand up... There is nothing, I repeat, NOTHING stopping them from getting up, yet they just sorta lie there for several seconds and break dance like they're having a seizure while the cascade hits. This is a pretty strange dream considering Neelix was never on Rynax when the cascade hit, so it can't be a memory. So much could have been done with this scene and in the end it was a complete flop, but whatever, at least it was fast. Moving on, Neelix heads up to astrometrics to see how things are going, and Seven is of little comfort to him. He tries to speak with her about her family, and expresses a sort of envy that she can't remember her parents. Seven tries to tell him that Naomi will adapt reguardless of what happens to her, and Neelix, acting like a total ass, patronizes her and makes a snide remark about 'Borg wisdom.' Neelix heads up to the bridge next, and Janeway informs him that it's not going well. Neelix is becoming increasingly aggitated at the bad news, and Janeway tries to convince him it may be time to tell Naomi, since the odds aren't looking good at this point. Neelix, the self-centered prick that he is, makes it clear he's going to keep distracting her, and Janeway, realizing how bad this has gotten, orders him to tell her. Neelix gets pissed off and refuses, and Janeway gives him the stare of death that gets him into her ready room. Janeway tells him very simply that if he doesn't tell her, she will, and Neelix flies off the handle, that she has no right to interfear with his god-daughter... Neelix, you have no real say here, no matter what you may think. A God-parent's job is to look after the spiritual upbringing of a child, not to rule over her with an iron fist. Get your self-important ass back to the kitchen and brew some coffee, you little hedgehog. Eventually, he caves and says he'll tell Naomi in the morning. Back on The Flyer, an attempt to polarize the hull to help Voyager find them fails and Sam begins to face the inevitable, that they're not going to make it, and someone will need to look after Naomi. Tuvok, at first acting like a cold-hearted jerk, eventually shows why he has been so fondly remembered, and quickly confronts Sam with the logic of the situation; That she has been an exceptional parent, and she has prepared her child for the world around her, and that she will prosper without her. This is true in just about every way - Naomi has proven to be adaptable already in this episode, and the only thing holding her back now is Neelix. On Voyager, as things always are in Hollywood, the news came just a little too late to Naomi, who wakes up and head to the bridge... Seriously, where's the security on this ship? When a four year old child can walk around freely and make it to the bridge, anyone can. It's no wonder this ship is taken over so often. Anyway, on the bridge, Naomi sees the horror displayed right in front of her. The search isn't looking good, and she has a front row seat. She stand there with her best deer-in-the-headlights look for several seconds before someone finally realizes she's there and she runs. Neelix gives chase, but showing how much smarter she is than the furball, sends him on a wild goose chase while she retreats back to the forest of forever (doesn't anyone use these holodecks? ). Down in the caverns... You know, those caverns that are full of florine gas that is instantly lethal? You know, the stuff that the crew of The Flyer can't breath in? Chief Wild Eagle is drilling away without a care in the world and no need for gas masks. Back on The Flyer we have a scene that is almost perfect in every way - Tom is making his last recording to B'elanna, and it mostly consists of jokes about day old pizza and Captain Proton. He even ends it with a detached 'so long.' Even moments away from death he can't properly express his emotions to the girl he's in love with. This scene is actually heart-breaking in its complete lack of emotion, accompanied by Tuvok and his insistance on making his final remarks in written form, essentially detaching himself from them in an additional way, unable to properly convey his feelings. The one among them who can express herself is Sam, who has the pure emotion of a mother's love for her daughter to draw on, and delievers the only emotional goodbye of the group. So contrasted with the others, this short piece of diologue takes on a whole new layer of power. Well... The one complaint I have was that it was kinda short and simplistic. I think it would have been better if we were led to believe that this was the first half of what would be a longer message, which would happen off camera. My other problem is that the situation has changed. This is now about a ticking clock and not about Sam's injuries, which means that we now know she's going to survive, since Tom and Tuvok obviously won't be dying. If the ticking clock were Sam's injuries and not oxygen depletion, the rest of this episode would have a far more dramatic feel. Back on Voyager, Neelix has finally tracked Naomi down, and, again showing how much smarter she is than Neelix, she has reliquified Flotter and is using him and Trevis as bodyguards. When Neelix tries to delete them, Naomi has already locked him out. Finally, Naomi lets him through, and they talk for a bit. This is another perfect scene, mainly because it seems to take a very different look at Neelix than we are used to. I've been very vocal about how Neelix is a self-centered jerk while the crew seems to treat him like he's this great guy. Here in this scene, that fact seems to be embraced, as the one person in the entire world he loves for unselfish reasons is actually teaching him about how to deal with his loss, and not the other way around. In fact, the contrast here is staggering - Neelix recounts his story to Naomi, and despite feeling the most serious grief she has ever felt in her life, facing the loss of her mother, she buries it to comfort Neelix. I've always said that the mark of a good person is when they let their own feelings go in order to help others. When someone is going through a tough time, and ignores their suffering to console another, that is the mark of a good person. Naomi here completely buries her emotions in order to comfort Neelix and his grief. It is at this moment that we see truely what has transpired over the course of this episode - Neelix let his own grief interfear with helping Naomi, shielding her and trying to keep her in a blissful ignorance which he logicly knows is the worst thing to do, whereas Naomi brings out Neelix's problem and consoles him, ignoring her feelings for his benefit. Naomi, effectively, is teaching Neelix about life. This is the most powerful moment of the episode by far. Unfortunatly, it's broken up by that damn ticking clock, which just became another ticking clock. In six minutes, the ship will be overtaken by a serious ion storm... We had a ten minute ticking clock about ten minutes ago, why do we need another one? Anyway, with six minutes until the ion storm has hit, two minutes until the crew sufficates and a few minutes until Sam drops dead from her injuries (seriously, people, one clock was enough), Chief Wild Eagle makes it through, and the Flyer and all aboard her are rescued. Naomi and Sam are reunited in an underplayed and touching way, and we head back to the forest of forever. The one last WTF moment of this episode hits here, though. Flotter recognizes Sam from her days playing Flotters stories as a child... How does Flotter remember her? Putting aside the obvious inconsistency with the invention of the holodeck, does this mean that Flotter can remember everyone who plays his holodeck stories? Considering Sam must have been on a different holodeck using a different program, that means that all Flotter stories must be keeping track of their visitors... My God! Big Brother isn't watching you, Flotter is! Anyway, once that is passed us, we fade out, thankful never seeing Flotter again, but also thankfully, heading into a few more years where Neelix has begun a character shift and Naomi will be used far more often. Anyway, a few thoughts on this episode now; You may be asking why I left some obvious nit-pick problems with this episode out of my summary when I usually revel in them. It's simple; I liked this episode. Hang on, hang on, I don't mean that I'm going to ignore them in some sort of effort to make this episode look better, I mean that when I am engaged in the story, and want to see what happens next, those little things get ignored. Do I care that they've apparently added another Aristotelian element? Or that Naomi never had a combadge on despite taking it off being a big deal later? Or that Flotter is incredibly inappropriate for children? No. These and many others went completely unnoticed on my first watch, mainly because I was so interested in the episode. An episode like, for example, Distant Origin can be easily picked apart because I was so bored and cynical that I noticed every little problem. This episode isn't like that at all. Most of this can be attributed to Michael Taylor, who is a strong candidate for greatest Trek writer since Dorothy Fontana (his other credits include The Visitor, In the Pale Moonlight, Counterpoint and Someone to Watch Over Me, among others). He writes a fantastic screenplay, and even though some editing or directing mistakes were made, I was interested enough to overlook them. But anyway, the heart of this story, as mentioned earlier, lies in its role reversal. This episode was all about Naomi teaching Neelix to let go of his past and, essentially, to grow up. For a four year old child to teach an adult about life... Well, it's risky, and can fall flat if done poorly. However, this avoided that through simple quality and proper structure. But as in everything, there were problems here. The story on The Flyer was frankly stupid in concept, saved only by its brilliant execution. Every scene on there was very well done, but the concept itself is stupid; We know they're not going to die - You've sucked every bit of drama you can out of this with the multiple ticking clocks and the inability to separate Sam's chances for survival with the two main characters. It was doomed from the start. A better idea would have been to focus more on Voyager - In fact, having no scenes aboard The Flyer would be best, leaving us to find out along with the crew what happened. Putting Sam on there with Carey, Vorik or some other minor character would have ratcheted the drama up as well, since the episode can be framed as if she's not going to come back... Which actually might have worked better. I probably would have ended it with the crew getting to her a few minutes too late. Anyway, it's possible to have most of the scenes we already saw by doing this - Stumble across Sam's message to Naomi instead of watching her record it, for example. The drama potential was enormous. An idea for the filler to make up for the loss in scenes when removing the Flyer would be to increase Seven's screentime. It seems to be set up earlier that Naomi is afraid of her - Maybe some resolution to that would be nice. Have Seven adopt the motherly role she later would. This brings the contrast between Seven and Neelix's philosophies on Naomi to a boil as Seven demands from Neelix that she be told, and Seven ends the episode learning from Neelix's mistake and looks into her past, and her parent's files. Anyway, that's just some ideas I had while writing this review. As always you are free to disagree. Let the fun begin. |
|
"How did you make it to captain without understanding warp theory?" "I order the helm to go and the ship moves." -Chief Wildman and Captain Winters in episode 6 of Cardinal "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" -M. L. King; Inscribed on the dedication plaque of USS Cardinal "If it doesn't work, paint it" -Unofficial motto of the Starfleet Border Patrol R.I.P Figment 1992-2009 R.I.P Bob Sheppard: 1910-2010 | |
![]() |
|
| spocklet | Sun Feb 7, 2010 3:26 am Post #2 |
|
Live long and prosper.....!!
![]()
|
An excellent review, SLagonia. Not one of my favourite eps, it has to be admitted, but by highlighting certain things you've made me re-think my opinion. Yes, Naomi does seem wise beyond her years, which is seen in other eps she's in, often telling it as it is, without all the technobabble. We often think of kids as basically dumb, but they're a lot more mature than we give them credit for. As for Neelix, I didn't really like the character, especially while Kes was on board (Jealous ?? Me ?? Nah !!), but he did seem to 'grow up' and become less annoying as the series went on. I've noticed in Star Trek, the main action is obvious, whilst minor stuff is basicaly just 'filler', and cutting to the Delta Flyer falls into the 'filler' category, likewise the bridge. The main story is Naomi and Neelix, but since the other actors have contracts to appear, they are given something to do seemingly relevant to the main story. It's also too much to expect Neelix and Naomi to carry the entire ep alone, even though they probably could have. 'Chief Wild Eagle' threw me for a moment, til I realised who you meant. Hmm, do I think Chakotay was a viable character ?? I'll reserve judgement for now. But I'd like to have been at the planning meeting way back before Voyager was ever made. I can just imagine how it went; "So, we have this spaceship, Voyager, chasing these criminals, and they end up in the Delta Quadrant. After a lot of problems, which they overcome of course, the criminals are incorporated into crew, the main criminal made second in command, and they all get along just fine." Yeah, and Santa Claus arrives every xmas, right !! The one scene in the ep that stands out for me, is right at the end. We've been led to believe that the Delta Flyer crew are dead, or close to it, and Naomi is called to the sickbay, seemingly to say goodbye to her mother's body. But she's alive, and a joyful reunion follows, definitely tear-jerking. |
| R.I.P. Gummy, we'll miss you bro | |
![]() |
|
| SLagonia | Sun Feb 7, 2010 6:56 am Post #3 |
![]()
100 post angel
|
Well thank you, I did my best. Just as I like to point out the major flaws in what people think are good episodes, I'd also like to point out the good in under-rated episodes. And yes, I understand they were filling contractual obligations by forcing everyone into stories, but I think that is very telling about the problems of an ensable cast. Could Voyager have been better, I wonder, if they focused on just a few characters. When this problem crept up in Cardinal I re-structured the series to be about three characters, and had the others as secondary, creating five levels of characters, each level having a corrosponding number of episode appearences. Voyager may have been better that way. And the Chief Wild Eagle comment goes back to my Tatoo review - One of my first. I still refer to Chakotay as that whenever I do reviews. I named him after a terrible American Indian stereotype from F-Troop (which, despite the obvious racism was a hilarious show) because he is essentially just a 90's version of that stereotype. As for the Flyer being filler, one thing I never mentioned in the review was something I've mentioned in other reviews - Trek is often at its best when the internal story is the main one, and this episode is a prime example. |
|
"How did you make it to captain without understanding warp theory?" "I order the helm to go and the ship moves." -Chief Wildman and Captain Winters in episode 6 of Cardinal "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" -M. L. King; Inscribed on the dedication plaque of USS Cardinal "If it doesn't work, paint it" -Unofficial motto of the Starfleet Border Patrol R.I.P Figment 1992-2009 R.I.P Bob Sheppard: 1910-2010 | |
![]() |
|
| VioletCloud | Sun Feb 7, 2010 10:10 am Post #4 |
|
Water Tribe!
![]()
|
Great review! I think I will take some time this week to watch this episode! |
All my posts are done from my tablet. I apologize for all strange errors in my posts... as swype hates me. ![]() | |
![]() |
|
| AWOLangel | Sun Feb 7, 2010 3:57 pm Post #5 |
![]()
|
the flotter reconizing samantha part bugged me too |
|
All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.--Abraham Lincoln | |
![]() |
|
| Ltpondwater9 | Mon Feb 8, 2010 2:44 am Post #6 |
|
**Tomahawk Chop**
|
Overall it was a good review and I agree with some points, laughed at others and well I may have to bust you balls for some and ignore the rest. I've responded to it elsewhere already though.
|
![]() | |
![]() |
|
| SLagonia | Mon Feb 8, 2010 11:37 am Post #7 |
![]()
100 post angel
|
And I've responded elsewhere
|
|
"How did you make it to captain without understanding warp theory?" "I order the helm to go and the ship moves." -Chief Wildman and Captain Winters in episode 6 of Cardinal "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter" -M. L. King; Inscribed on the dedication plaque of USS Cardinal "If it doesn't work, paint it" -Unofficial motto of the Starfleet Border Patrol R.I.P Figment 1992-2009 R.I.P Bob Sheppard: 1910-2010 | |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
![]() Join the millions that use us for their forum communities. Create your own forum today. Learn More · Register for Free |
|
| « Previous Topic · VOY · Next Topic » |
| Track Topic · E-mail Topic |
5:50 PM Jul 10
|

|
|
|
Theme by Sith of Outline
Hosted for free by ZetaBoards · Privacy Policy














5:50 PM Jul 10
