Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Alice (1999) User Reviews

Illogical conclusion

[alsation72 · 6/10 · 8 March 2013]

Tom Paris comes into the possession of a derelict alien vessel from a trader's lot, calling it 'Alice'. It is quite ugly in actuality, they could have done better.

The ship features a neural interface that quickly adapts to Tom Paris, influencing his thoughts and behaviour. Needless to say he becomes a different person as he resorts to stealing parts from Voyager to get his repairs done. Alice has become a constant presence in the form of a woman that only Paris can see.

Can you imagine two alien technologies from opposite sides of the galaxy being compatible? But anyway ...

Eventually Alice is ready to leave Voyager for "home". Paris is by now so enmeshed with the alien technology that the Voyager crew have to employ some trickery to extract him.

Alice goes "home" into a 'particle fountain' and destroys itself.

One question ... why was this ship so intent on suicide? It is never mentioned, no one ever comments on how ludicrous and illogical this is.

And considering the ship was also haunting the trader, wouldn't he have been far more adept at finding parts for the ship and repairing it?

If all the ship wanted to do was kill itself in a spacial phenomenon then why was Tom Paris so necessary? And if it was why didn't the ship make the trader take it to the 'particle fountain' long beforehand?.

More to the point: the ship was capable of trapping B'Leanna Torres inside itself and attempted to kill her. The ship could do this on its own but it couldn't fly itself into a spacial phenomena? It needed to sacrifice a pilot for no good reason? Just illogical!

I do like this episode, but the ships sole intent to destroy itself, with no explanation of why, was a very weak plot device in my opinion.

I hope I was right to laugh with it

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 14 July 2020]

One reviewer has described it as Voyager meets Stephen King's Christine. I was thinking more like Top Gear meets Christine with a bit of Fatal Attraction.

Petrol-head Tom Paris has an affair with a with a fast space ship that takes on a seductive female persona intending to stimulate his need for speed and question his devotion to his loved ones.

It starts off strongly with Tom and Harry trying to guess Tuvok's age in an exchange of banter that sets a comical tone and implies there will be more laughs to come.

We witness Tom unravel as Alice gets her claws into him and the consequences this has for his wife and the rest of the Voyager crew. During this we have some fun observations on unfaithfulness, addiction and the male ego. Harry Kim's reference to the Ferengi rules of acquisition was good.

The sight of Tom in a silver spacesuit plugged into a ship's helm with multiple different colour cables sticking out of his torso feels too ridiculous to be anything other than satire, so I can't say I take it so seriously that I had a problem with any perceived silliness. As some moments have a dramatic tone, I can't rule out that some of it is meant to be taken seriously.

It's entertaining if you are looking to pass the time, but if you are not a fan of the Tom Paris character and don't care for B'Elanna Torres, best skip this one.

Nonsensical motivations

[Hughmanity · 7/10 · 9 February 2021]

Tom Paris finds a 'Christine' ship (only he dubs it Alice) and gets hypnotized into take the ship "home" at all costs.

Many things make no sense about this episode: 1. Why is "home" a 'particle fountain' that according to Janeway is suicide to fly into it? Never explained why the ship wants to go there/kill itself. 2. Why does the ship even need a pilot, much less an expert one? Seems like a simple suicide trip, Alice couldn't have flown there on her own once repaired? 3. If the trader had also been under the ship's influence and had all these spare parts lying around in his junkyard, why wasn't the ship already repaired when Voyager found it? Or at least not a heap of junk in total disrepair? 4. Why is Starfleet security protocol the worst? Hey, here's this ship that mind-melds with the pilot, just go ahead and give it a shot, see what happens! No testing, no mandatory follow ups in sick bay afterwards? Bah who needs them.

This episode had potential but left most of it on the floor.

Stupid Twilight Zone Episode

[Hitchcoc · 6/10 · 10 September 2018]

Tom Paris and his motor-head affinities buys a shuttle from a junk dealer. The problem is that it has advanced technology that drives him to an obsessive attraction for the thing. It even takes the form of a woman in his head. I won't say much more, other than it has evil intentions. Not very imaginative version of the machine taking over the human.

Wasted potential & illogical plot. Could have been great.

[wwcanoer-tech · 6/10 · 8 November 2021]

Voyageur increasingly feels like it was written as a school assignment that must be completed in one day. I fully concur with reviews "Nonsensical motivations" & "Illogical conclusion".

Contrary to the review "space is big", we completely accept that space is crowded with many alien races that all breath oxygen and, unless the plot requires it, the universal translator can translate any language perfectly from the first word uttered. But we (at least I) get annoyed with the everyday inconsistencies and plot gaps.

Revealing the "infected" trader destroyed the plot. The trader remains controlled by the ship, which inflicts a "cerebral hemorrhage". The doctor says that his "neural pathways were recently restructured" and have a "neurogenic signature".

That makes no sense! For the ship to take over him, he must have repaired it. The ship would never let him remove any parts and would force him to offer the ship to every person that visited his junkyard. In fact, it would force him to keep it in pristine condition, ready to go. To explain why it is hard to sell, it should be much smaller so that they can explain that no-one wants a ship that can only carry one person with barely room for a suitcase. Or explained how it was outdated, max warp 2 or something.

It makes no sense that the computer can rewire a person's brain such that it can control that person via detailed hallucinations when not connected to the ship. But we accept that! It's the Sci-Fi wizardry that we expect and want. However, far better if they could explain how it works better than the doctor did.

Never fully explained is why the ship needs a pilot. That's problematic because we see the ship do a lot on its own, such as trying to kill Belana. It's trivial for the ship to pilot itself though empty space. This needs a better explanation. More than the trader saying that it's required. They could explain that it's an old ship, very limited computer capacity, or very slow technology, that's why it needs a pilot, it taps into the 90% of our brain that we don't use (even though that's a myth). They could comment that "it's a remarkable design. With only x they can run an entire ship." Brainstorm for an hour and a decent explanation could be developed.

Why does Tom need to use astrometric? Just so that Seven can make an appearance? Maybe the ship will demand updated star charts but it's lazy to have Seven see the path. It would make more sense (to me) if the ship kills the trader for trying to reveal the destination. When revived he can state the destination and why a pilot is needed to reach that destination. Ex. The anomaly is a passage to their world but has a biogenic force field that will only let ships pass if they are complete with biogenetically attached pilots. Or that the reaction time is needed to navigate the fountain's the whatchamacallit vortices, eddies or charged particles that can tear apart a ship.

A big shock was when the doctor says that Tom's is hurt by phasers hitting the ship. Feels like they cut out a scene. If the ship's shields prevent getting a lock on him, how can the doctor monitor him? We should have seen a quick clip of Janeway asking the doctor "Can you see him, is he ok? Yes. He's ok. It should be safe to transport." Probably should have explained how Tom can even be transported while he's integrated into the ship.

The biggest piece missing: Tom having fun with the ship! He could fly into a convenient asteroid belt, or just around pylons, exclaiming with glee how responsive the ship is, that there's no reaction time. The ship moves as fast as he can think. He would do this at impulse, before the warp drive is operational. Would have been more engaging than Chakotay berating Tom for missing shifts.

This could be heightened by having Tom evade the phaser blasts. (Maybe that's a step too far because humans still have perception time that would take far longer than the time for a light pulse to reach the ship, but it would be fun. Make Voyager work, to fire two phasers in rapid succession so that Tom moves into the second when he avoids the first.)

Also, "Alice" is revealed to early. There would be more suspense if we didn't see extent of Alice's presence until later, closer to when the crew discovers it.

Another Space Trans Am for Tom.

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 9 February 2023]

Well, we have a cautionary tale here about what can happen when a 50 year old guy decides to rebuild a trans am and becomes obsessed to the point that it completely disrupts his life and relationships.

As I finished watching this episode I was pondering why did Alice want to go into the particle fountain. She said it was here home, right? But she's a computer program, right? Is she a computer program from another dimension? Is she organic and her conscious has been imprinted in the computer? Why does she feel the need to influence her pilots to get to the particle fountain? How about she just asks for help? Unless of course there is a nefarious reason why she cannot ask for help --- but that is never explained.

The only thing I can take away from this episode is a soft ball commentary on the consequences of unrestrained obsession.

Wait, was Alice a representation of the hot starfleet babe that Tom was talking about early in the episode?

I got a lot of questions here.

Tom loves his new ship

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 30 March 2010]

When Voyager comes across a trader selling various ship components Tom is immediately drawn to a small vessel which he convinces the captain to acquire as an extra shuttle. He has no idea that this ship, that he has named Alice, will come to take over his life after he activates its neural interface. The effect takes the form of a beautiful woman who only he can see, she constantly urges him to get the parts needed to repair her even though this means taking parts from Voyager. When B'Elanna boards her and tries to access her systems Alice tries to kill her, Tom saves her but won't believe his ship tried to kill her, instead believing she must have touched the wrong button. When B'Elanna heads off to inform the captain Alice forces Tom to return to the ship and take off. Once in space she integrates him into her systems and heads off towards a particle fountain, an anomaly which would destroy any ship getting too close. With the Doctor's help B'Elanna must access the interface between Tom and Alice so he can be saved.

This episode was fairly enjoyable and Claire Rankin was good in the role of the personification of Alice and Robert Duncan McNeill did a fine job as Tom Paris as his personality changed due to Alice's influence. The story itself was pretty interesting and it was nice to see that Tom wasn't the first to fall for Alice's charms.

A bit like "Christine" and "Voyager" put together.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 1 March 2015]

This is a pretty dopey episode of "Star Trek: Voyager". In many ways, it's a lot like the Stephen King story "Christine" (about a car that is possessed and controls its owner)!

When the show begins, a galactic junk peddler comes to do business with Voyager. Inexplicably, Paris insists that they buy what appears to be a junky old shuttle. Once they do, he begins to spend every waking moment restoring the ship--at the exclusion of all else. Soon it becomes obvious that the machine has a sick hold over Paris--one that might even allow it or him to kill in order to keep them together!

The plot is just ridiculous and is yet another reason to hate the Tom Paris character. He's a shallow man-child and this show doesn't do anything to say otherwise. Not terrible...but not good in any way.

Good story. Characters inconsistent.

[smiledaydream · 8/10 · 16 March 2021]

It is a good story. Captain, B'Elanna, crew, 7 of 9 all act out of character to allow plot to proceed. This could have been avoided. Still, a good story. Note the doctor knows what he knows from another patient. The goof is wrong and a spoiler but I could not edit to report. Avoid the goofs until it ends.

Haunted, possessed, manipulated

[tomsly-40015 · 5/10 · 17 January 2024]

Well, I don't really know what to think of this episode.

After Paris buys an old shuttle from a scrap dealer and brings it back into shape with a lot of work and sweat, the shuttle's AI appears to him as a human apparition and manipulates his thoughts. And of course this AI is female and the apparition is a good-looking woman who has Tom wrapped around her finger. The type of cinematic depiction reminds me of the DS9 episode "Afterimage", in which Ezri is only mentally connected to a former host, but he also supports her as a person - so that the viewer apparently doesn't get confused when she constantly talks to herself. Or even more so.

In any case, Tom's personality is changed by the shuttle's AI and in the end he is made to fly the shuttle to an energy fountain (or something). Apparently this is her home, although I wonder why an AI - which had to be programmed by someone and then built into this shuttle - would live in or come from some space nebula or whatever.

These constant episodes about crew members being possessed or manipulated by an alien force are also starting to get boring. This is also made fun of in the series Lower Decks. These types of stories are pretty frugal, because you can suddenly give a crew member completely different character traits and make him act contrary to his character. And after the exorcism, the crew member is completely back to himself as if nothing had happened. It has the advantage that you can forget all these events at the end of the episode, because there are no long-term consequences for the persons involved. Much easier than actual character development over multiple episodes and seasons.

space is big

[the-hfo · 8/10 · 14 December 2007]

I love star Trek in all its iterations. But, this is what is wrong with all of the different series. To paraphrase the great Douglas Adams, space is big. Really big. For this man to run a business out in space is preposterous. The possibility that the Voyager crew would EVER come in contact with another race is improbable. Coming into contact with a now race EVERY WEEK. It is to much. The most likely scenario for the Voyager crew is: miraculous transport to the Delta Quadrant escape from the caretaker escape from the Caison eighty years of travel while never coming into contact with another living soul return to Earth generations later