Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Drive (2000) User Reviews

Nice idea but doesn't quite work

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 1 August 2020]

Tom and Harry enter the Delta Flyer in a race set up as a friendly competition between previously conflicting species.

The episode starts off with the promise of an exciting race set against a tense political backdrop, but it ends up trying to do too much.

The main problem for me is the shifting focus from the race, to politics, to comedy, to romance and back again. I'm just guessing the writers were trying to say there are more important things a stake than a race, but for this to work they have to keep things interesting.

A significant amount of time is dedicated to Tom and B'Elanna's mixed race relationship, contrasting with other characters lack of tolerance and acceptance of integrated societies. As good an idea as this is, I do not think it really works. Tom and B'Elanna are decent characters played by good actors but unfortunately they do not have strong material to portray their romance. It feels forced with unnatural sounding dialogue as they tend to awkwardly, over-explain their feelings. (Harry Kim and Irina's lines are equally as unimaginative)

That being said there are some enjoyable moments: The crew being more interested in the race than duty; Seven of Nine advising B'Elanna how to handle Tom; and Neelix turning commentator.

I rate it as a 5.5/10, but round upwards.

A race and relationships

[Tweekums · 6/10 · 3 May 2010]

While out testing upgrades to the Delta Flyer Tom and Harry get involved in an informal race with an alien woman called Irina. It turns out that she is on her way to rally and suggests that Tom should enter in the Flyer. Captain Janeway readily accepts his request to take part thinking it will help crew moral. One person who is not so pleased is B'Elanna who had been looking forward to a holodeck holiday with Tom which she had spent some time arranging. Trying to save their relationship she persuades Harry to let her take his place in the race. After an audacious manoeuvre the Delta Flyer finishes the first stage in the lead although it might have caused an accident that injured Irina's copilot. It turned out it wasn't the Flyer that caused the accident but an act of sabotage. In the final leg Harry takes over as Irina's copilot largely because he has a bit of a crush on her. Once again something goes wrong with her ship and Harry realises why; she sabotaged it herself so that she would be well away from the finish line when the other ship she sabotaged exploded... that other ship being the Delta Flyer.

This wasn't a bad episode and I enjoyed the idea of the Flyer taking part in a race it could have given us excitement without an antagonist or great peril; it was a pity that instead we got a clichéd plot featuring sabotage, it was also a bit of a shame that during what should have been an exciting climax we got a rather soapy scene between Tom and B'Elanna. The final scene where we see the words "Just Married" written on the Delta Flyer was pretty corny but earned a chuckle.

Tom, the man-child, enters a race.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 4 March 2015]

This episode is very reminiscent of the Star Wars movie where young Aniken Skywalker is in some sort of hovercraft race. Here, it's much the same sort of thing but the race is in space. However, Tom Paris is flying this craft--so the pilot is clearly someone LESS mature than Aniken!

When the show begins, Tom meets a kindred spirit who loves to speed about in a shuttle. She informs him that her race and three others are having a big race to celebrate peace--and Paris is welcome to join in if he'd like. However, selfish Tom totally forgets that he's been promising B'Elanna for ages that he'd take her to the holodeck for a little vacation! Oops. This sort of thoughtlessness gets B'Elanna wondering if she really should remain with the man- child, Tom.

Talk about light-weight plots! A race?! Still, it plays reasonably well but ends on a very unhappy ending--B'Elanna agrees to actually marry that schmuck! But I DID like the final scene of them in the shuttle--it's kind of cute.

Star Trek Nascar

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 16 February 2023]

For those Nascar dad's out there --- finally.... finally we get what star trek has always been missing .... A SPACE RACE. As I sat down to view this episode I was certain that there would be a scene of a ship 'bumping' another one like that Urnheart guy, right?

Well, nothing meaty to chew on with this one. Tom chooses the race over the weekend holodeck retreat that Torres had spend substantial amount of time in arranging. Fortunately for Tom Paris we have Neelix to provide some insight views on romance ---- I for one would have moved in on a Latina Klingon in a heartbeat. Torres ends up coming through strong for the relationship by choosing to be Tom's co-pilot and thereby getting to experience something that Tom enjoys and still have time together. What a sweetie pie, right? Most of the women I know would have gone with the passive aggressive approach and needle me for going on my nascar race adventure instead of spending time with them.

Turns out that Tom Paris is a good guy (I guess) and they get married?!

When will Harry Kim get a break? We can now add 'falling for a terrorist' to his list of failed romances.

I kind of enjoyed this silly episode despite it being ridiculous. There is a valuable message about avoiding the pitfalls of passive aggressive behavior in lieu of telling the people how you feel about them honestly. Profound? Well, no. But probably a good philosophy to adopt.

A good idea that suffers from choppy presentation...

[karacter · 5/10 · 23 June 2010]

(SPOILERS) The idea of a "race in space" has never been introduced in the Star Trek Universe before, and so there was great opportunity in "Drive" for a truly exciting and unique Trek adventure. Unfortunately, the end result, while not terrible, falls far short of its potential.

The main fault seems to be too many subplots (the race, warring factions & sabotage, AND Tom & B'Elanna's relationship problems), which require the viewer to constantly jump from one to another to the extent that one feels almost as if one is watching three different episodes at the same time instead of just one. In trying to be many things, "Drive" fails to by any ONE thing, and so the show ends up with a "choppy" and jumbled feel to it.

I, for one, would have loved to have seen more emphasis on the race itself- the individual racers, the bizarre vehicles they were piloting, the potential unknown hazards along the race course, etc. (The pod race in "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" (1999) is a great example of how visually interesting- not to mention fun & exciting- a multiple species space race can be).

Finally, I was rather disappointed that a major Star Trek Voyager event- the marriage of Tom Paris & B'Elanna Torres- happened off screen and was somewhat haphazardly tacked on at the very end! What's up with that? One would think that the marriage of these two major characters would deserve at least a token amount of screen time.

Perhaps "Drive" would have worked better with a little more "breathing space"- as a two part story arc, there would have been more time to explore & develop all the subplots. As it stands, it seems a little rushed & out of focus.

Boooooring!

[Hitchcoc · 4/10 · 15 September 2018]

At no point did I have even the slightest interest in this epiode. I am so bored when Tom does his 1950's motor head stuff. Why not just play Fonzie in Happy Days. The other thing that is also incredibly boring is his relationship with B'Lanna. Their constant snuggling and shows of affection just become tiresome. I find them both tedious when they are together. Really weak episode.

French fries and ketchup have more chemistry than Tom and B'llana

[DragonFireBreather · 5/10 · 25 October 2022]

Riker and Troi ..these two are not. I've never cared for either one as characters but put them together and it's even worse. B'llana and Neelix are my least favorites, but B'llana takes top prize as her character is irritating, annoying, brash and angry. You put that with Tom who is not exactly a stellar character either and you have a forced pairing that we must endure. They simply have no chemistry together, it's just not there.

The race story was good that's why I'll give it a 5 .. but way too much of B'Tom. I don't care for their romance so when they are given this much screen time the episode drags.

I love the show though, but they can't all be winners of course. But ultimately I'm disappointed they forced these two characters together when they simply don't mesh well and had no business being put together romantically.

The love race

[tomsly-40015 · 3/10 · 28 January 2024]

If you're going to make an episode about a space race, then you should show a space race and not get lost in relationship chitchat. Especially not when it's about Paris and Torres.

Tom and Harry have more chemistry when they're in a scene together than Tom and B'Elanna. There's just no spark between them. There's no infatuation and no love to be felt. In addition, neither character is what you would call complex or deep. Rather the opposite. Paris is always thinking about old cars or shuttles and is basically a man-child. And Torres is simply unsympathetic and constantly on edge. Janeway and Chakotay exude more hormones when they're together in intimate togetherness - purely professionally, of course - than Tom or B'Elanna. I sometimes ask myself who actually casts the actors in series like this and then comes up with the idea of making characters who don't fit together have a relationship.

And it's long become a running gag that Harry always falls for the wrong women. A hologram, a former Borg drone, the wrong one of two twins, a rioter on a generation ship, a dead woman brought back to life and now a terrorist. Finally give the boy a breather.

The race itself is pretty lame. The most entertaining part is Neelix's reporting. Tom and B'Elanna even have time to discuss their relationship problems while they're still in the race and should be concentrating on the track. In the end, they lose the race because this episode is actually about terrorism and not about the race itself. Sometimes a little less story would be better to give the plot some room to unfold. The writers should perhaps decide whether they want to make an episode about a space race, about Tom and B'Elanna's relationship problems or about extremists who want to sabotage the celebration of a peace alliance.

Tom proves once again he's a selfish jerk

[txriverotter · 4/10 · 1 July 2022]

I'd say Tom and B'Lanna deserve each other, because they both are very emotionally stunted people, but I think Tom takes the cake and even B'Lanna doesn't deserve that.

Tom meets a fellow space Motörhead who tells him about a race coming up, so naturally he gets totally excited and forgets everyone and everything else, including his fiancé and their upcoming vacation. One B'Lanna has worked tirelessly to arrange for them, swapping holodeck times with many different people.

Then when he has to tell B'Lanna what he's done, he tries to blame it on the Captain. "Oh, I told the Captain about this race I was invited to and she was so excited." And "I'm sure the Captain will understand if I tell her I can't race." Words to that affect.

So he's not only an immature selfish jerk, but he's a coward and a liar too.

Then at the next we have this sappy confrontation scene between the two of them, and Tom tries to convince her the only thing he cares about is her. Well I'd say the proof is in the pudding. How many times has he dumped her for one of his latest obsessions? His 69' Camaro, Alice the CreepyShip, this race? How many others?

The more times I binge this show every few years, the less tolerance I gave for Paris and his BS.

The relationship just doesn't work

[Hitchslapped · 5/10 · 28 February 2023]

I'm sorry but I just can't stand B'Elanna. She should've never been the chief engineer and her relationship with Tom Paris has no chemistry whatsoever.

B'Elanna is like a rebellious and annoying teenager in season 1 and she is like a rebellious and annoying teenager in season 7. There is no development of her character despite plenty screen time throughout the entire show. She occasionally has an idea for fixing something but other than that she is just rude and over emotional. It's like a prototype character for Star Trek Discovery. She has no place being on a federation starship, let alone being in a leading position.