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Once Upon a Time Review by Steve Perry (now you know whom to blame for all the late reviews) Airdate: November 11, 1998 Written by: Michael Taylor Directed by:John T Kretchmer File Photo || Mission Log || Opinion Poll Short Take: Interesting idea that didn't always work, but was nonetheless worth it Brief Summary: Neelix must tend to an anxious Naomi after her mother is apparently lost on a mission Review: "Once Upon a Time" was getting jeers when word got out that it involved a magical story. Folks, when you hear something that crazy, remember that there must be a good idea behind it, since they wouldn't throw that much money away without some reason. And also remember a TNG outing like "Imaginary Friend," and *then* complain. "Once" was probably even better than the much praised TNG episode "Cost of Living," which had nude mudbaths but not much else. This is not to say that it was great, just that it tried a lot of new things that mainly worked, most of the time. By new things, I mean the holostory, as well as the general idea of someone having to tend to a kid who may have lost their mom (as opposed to another story, about the aftereffects, like TNG's "The Bonding.") They all worked because they tried to tie back into the feelings of one of the characters of the show. What can I say? What sold the episode was its emotional core. It need that emotion, because kid episodes are hard to do when they try to be just kid episodes. There is a certaint amount of predictability (as opposed to inevitability) to little Naomi fidning out her mother is in trouble... we know they'll try to hide it, she'll find out, someone will confront her, but in the end we all live happily ever after. Not only is it all trite, but to watch you need a mop to clean up all the sickly sweet molasses resulting from having a kid on screen. That didn't happen with Once. Part of it is because the actress playing Naomi, Scarlett Pomers, was outstanding. The other reason was that a significant bulk of the story was devoted to the person caring for the kid, not the cute kid herself. The Neelix stuff was just right... enough to give us the background and see where he is coming from, without making it the plot itself. Something like losing your family isn't resolved in one episode, people. It should never be resolved. Giving us this little side bit about Neelix worked here, as opposed to The Bonding, where the Worf stuff felt like Another Klingon Ritual. One thing that surprised me was the lack of screen time for the holostory. Coming in, you'd think I'd be glad that little Naomi didn't eat up 20 minutes of air time with Chutes and Ladders Land. But, actually, after seeing the sheer *fun* of it, I left wanting more. HIWTE (Had I written the episode), we would have had more of Flotter and Treezus, with Samantha solving problems and such with that fun science. Or at least HEARING about her doing this. As it was, we had these two neat characters mainly as bookends, which is a shame. The shuttle sideplot may seem like a cliche, but I'd argue that it isn't. People getting stuck is part of exploring space; it happens. My major complaint is that the situation had no gravity to it. No, I mean importance, not the other kind of gravity. Tom saying farewell to Belanna was simply awful... in a way, I was hoping he would say he wished he could marry her... anything but crack and joke and then suddenly cut off. Shoot, discuss life and death. Ensign Wildman's stuff was fair, and Tuvok *did* work, particularly when he told Wildman about how Naomi would cope (great speech), though with that said the Tuvok/Tom schtick got a bit old in spots. This is a horribly short review. It's not that I'm lazy. I just can't think of much more to add. Here, I'll add this: I think my discomfort with the episode arises from the fact that preparing a kid for death isn't by itself enough to build a show around. The Neelix stuff helped to counter that, but as it was, we got one interesting idea that itself should have been a piece to a much larger episode idea. There. I liked what the episode tried, both in terms of its story and its emphasis on characters. It didn't always payoff, but I've come to expect that with Voyager. You could argue that we didn't get *enough* experimentation, that we didn't see more of the story or something gutsy like killing Wildman and leaving Naomi to Neelix. Yet, five episodes in, and the show has produced only one forgettable hour, Extreme Risk, which I haven't reviewed yet, ha ha. "Once Upon a Time" was a strong character piece and an hour well spent, even if it didn't always feel like the Star Trek we're so use to. Some short takes: - Anyone else find it really odd that in the middle of a crisis Janeway would turn to Neelix and ask about the kid? She did just that one time on the bridge -I enjoyed how Flotter was a Federation story... a sort of Barney. It's good to see 24th century culture for once. -Holodecks are evidently old, since Cap'n Kate played that story when she was a kid - Don't ask me how that same program was able to recognize Samantha Wildman. I doubt she brought a copy with her to Voyager. It has records of everyone? - Kim was GOOD! His scene with the doll was actually well acted! Rating: B- Rankings 1)In the Flesh 2)Drone 3)Night 4)Once Upon a Time 5)Extreme Risk Next week: 100... looks good | |
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