Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Hope and Fear (1998) User Reviews

Too good to be true

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 15 February 2010]

Captain Janeway still hasn't managed to decrypt the message they received from Star Fleet several episodes previously so when they meet Arturis, an alien who is an is a natural expert in all forms of communication, she invites him to take a look at the code. With his innate abilities he soon decodes some of the code which includes a message about a new Star Fleet ship that uses slip-stream technology which could get them home in months, this ship has been dispatched on auto-pilot and is waiting a mere ten light-years away. When they get there they set about checking the ship is fully operational after its flight and familiarising themselves with the new technology. While doing this a strange piece of alien technology is found; it turns out the ship is not what it seems, rather than being a Star Fleet ship it is an alien ship and that alien wants revenge on the crew of Voyager for helping the Borg defeat species 8472, an action that let the Borg go on and assimilate his people. Arturis plans to kidnap the crew and take them to Borg space but as his plans are discovered he must make do with Janeway and Seven of Nine. When he enters the slipstream the crew of Voyager follows although the ship isn't capable of such high speeds for long. As Seven and Janeway try to escape the race is on to get them off the ship before they are caught in Borg space and assimilated.

This was a rather good episode; it was nice to see that they sometimes have to deal with the consequences of their choices earlier in the series. On the down side they did seem rather too quick to trust Arturis, it seemed a bit more than a coincidence that Star Fleet would send a ship to a location that would be nearby just as they met somebody who could translate the message, also the crew of Voyager managed to get the new technology to work on they ship rather quickly, still these are small matters that didn't spoil my enjoyment of the episode. As well as the main story the prospect of a speedy return to Earth has consequentness for the crew, in particular Seven of Nine who is unsure about going to Earth and expresses a wish to leave the crew and stay in the Delta Quadrant.

An excellent episode

[rjcroton · 9/10 · 25 October 2007]

For me, this episode epitomised what Voyager could have been.

What made DS9, or even TNG in a limited way, intriguing was how what they did was permanent: they weren't warping off at the end of the day, leaving whatever problem behind. Voyager was king of this. Arturis is a tragic character, and there could have been some excellent episodes built off the premise of people trying to exact revenge on Voyager because of their actions, or even helping Voyager. The Hirogen almost did this, but it was only to ask FOR help. Not really the same.

And the initial concept is a very cool idea. The USS Dauntless was a great idea, but I'm glad it was an illusion. It was too quick a solution, but if it was real it could have changed or ended Voyager. Really their journey through the Delta Quadrant wasn't as decisive or as interesting as the producers and writers hoped.

So, fittingly, this episode brings Hope for the series, but also Fear.

Intuition

[thevacinstaller · 7/10 · 2 December 2021]

An alternative title for this episode could have been "intuition" ----- I am very happy to see starfleet captains displaying intelligence ------ I always enjoyed when Kirk would use his intuition back in the TOS days and it is good to get a reminder that Janeway has the 'right stuff'.

I do not blame Arturis for losing his mind with revenge ----- His entire race is dead and that's a level of loss that I cannot comprehend.

I appreciate the writers providing us with consequences to decisions made in the alpha quadrant.

A well executed season finale.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- S4 Overall:

• We get a 7.03 average score over 26 episodes. That puts this season into the middle of the pack for score rating and that feels fair to me.

• This season was a bit of a rollercoaster ride in terms of writing quality.

• My personal favorite episode was 'Nemesis' with Chakotay being unknowingly indoctrinated into an army. Wonderful episode.

• Seven of Nine is universally beloved it seems but I miss the number of Tuvok/Neelix centric episodes we would get.

• No real standouts for acting this season. Tuvok/Janeway/Doctor/Neelix/S09 all solid.

In the Fold?

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 3 September 2018]

This is a nice ending to the Fourth Season. An alien named Arturis has amazing skills. He can read and interpret numerous languages. Neelix brings him on board after a planetary shopping trip. He is seemingly kind and thoughtful. But there is a mystery. Soon a ship appears with a Starfleet signature and things go sour. This ship is the answer to their dreams (or so they think). This is a good episode because of the continuing evolution of Seven. I wonder if her conflicts with Janeway are over or she will continue to be a constructive thorn in the side. The episode is well paced and doesn't have some of the maudlin stuff that sometimes invades this series.

What a Sad Waste

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 7 October 2013]

In the middle of Season 4, Voyager used the Hirogen's Ancient Array to shunt The Doctor's Program to the Alpha Quadrant, in return Starfleet sent "Letters from Home" plus a segment of irrecoverable Data. Irrecoverable, until now.

Enter Ray Wise who was a Proto-Vulcan in the Next Generation Episode "Who Watches the Watchmen" as "Arturis", from an interesting Race of people who have large brains, he can learn any language from hearing only a few phrases spoken in it. He is also good with Mathematics, and he is able to create an Algorithm that "decodes" the scrambled message. In it are Spacial Coordinates. Voyager finds there a Prototype Ship equipped with "Quantum Slipstream Drive" and it had been flown to the Delta Quadrant on Autopilot.

A Gift Horse which is a little too convenient. When the complete Message from Admiral "Windbag" Hayes (Jack Shearer) is played, it explains this is a Prototype that can get Voyager's Crew safely home in 3 Months.

I believe it. That is, I believe that the NX-01A Dauntless can do it. But Janeway has a wind up about something, a Ship and a Way Home delivered to Voyager's Doorstep?

Even in real life, there is always some Gift-Horse twist.

This new development also brings up issues. What about the Doctor's Main Program in Sickbay? And Seven, does she really want to go to Earth?

But the Dauntless is an impeccable piece of Engineering. It's a magnificent Ship. No Replicators or Holodecks, but it has Crew Quarters, enough to hold the entire crew.

But even while considering using this new miracle, Janeway is not willing to dump Voyager like an Old Sock. She has Engineering copy the Quantum Slipstream Tech and install it into Voyager, so they can take it along too. The Dauntless can tolerate the stresses of a prolonged Slipstream Flight, but Voyagers Structural Integrity Fields are inefficient for the task.

But Seven is not ready to go to Earth yet, as she Argues with Janeway about Janeway's obsession about returning to Earth, Janeway is looking at the one Data Block that Arturis said was too corrupt to fix, and finds a way to fix it.

And the information in that Block tells a different story than the one told on The Dauntless. At the same time, Harry finds a Power Glitch in the Dauntless Engine Room, which when scanned reveals an Alien Power Console- "Not All is As it Seems".

When confronted with these new inconsistencies, Arturis tries to shift suspicion to Seven. But it does not work, even "evidence" that Seven is tampering is placed too conveniently and too easy to find.

So as they try to grab Arturis, he overpowers them to break open a console to grab a huge lever, and the Alien Structure of the Dauntless Bridge becomes apparent.

Voyager is able to beam most of the crew off, leaving Janeway and Seven at Arturis' lack of Mercy.

Arturis' Race had a vested interest in the defeat of The Borg. But when it did not happen, the Borg invaded his Homeworld. Arturis describes the plight of his Race as hundreds of Borg Cubes invaded their space, sweeping aside all resistance and leaving his people to their worst fears.

Ray Wise was probably the best Actor in the whole world to embody this, he has played many similar characters, all with lost hope. In a way, he is like Walter Bishop of Fringe, a gifted individual who has lost his mind.

Had there been more time, Janeway could have talked him down from his plan and gotten him to Join Voyager's Crew. But Arturis was a man plagued by the wrong choices. As a Survivor of a Borg Attack, he had a beautiful Ship to go wherever he wanted, but he opted to use this gift to pursue Voyager and "Make Them Pay" for what Janeway had done.

In this way, he takes Janeway totally by surprise, she is not expecting his torrent of hate and revenge. She deals with it the best she can.

Fortunately, the Slipstream Tech was easy for Voyager to install and use, they catch up with The "Dauntless" and take her shields down in short order, beaming Janeway and Seven off in the nick of time.

Alas for poor Arturis, we'll not see him anymore, for what he thought was H2O was H2SO4. But I suppose Borg Drones are immune to Hydrochloric Acid.

If only he had turned his talents toward something better, at least for himself. We never learn even the name of his race, what kind of man he was, what he did, what his interests were.

To get that information, we would have to ask The Borg Collective.

Ship was to basic

[greatoptician · 8/10 · 15 June 2023]

What no Holodecks. No Replicators. I can see why Star fleet would not put holodecks on the ship. But only one Transporter and no replicators, what happens to the field replicators or emergency transporters that they use if the field. That is when I knew it was a sham. If Star Fleet was sending a rescue ship they would have put those things on it. Also why did the scan of the ship nit pick up the alien materials used in the construction of the vessel. If they can detect an old pickup trucks hydrocarbon emissions from ten light years away, I would think they would be able to detect alien materials. Still a good episode. I have never seen this episode I did enjoy.

People are too hard on Captain Janeway...

[ileas · 10/10 · 25 July 2020]

I hope that's not because she's a woman, but I digress. So, spoilers galore, since I just re-watched this. It starts with the coolest looking game I've ever seen on any Star Trek episode; I forget what it's called. It involves shooting a runaway disk with phasers on a holodeck. Anyway, Janeway wins most of the rounds, which infuriates Seven. She's younger, has more stamina, and increased eyesight thanks to Borg implants, so she feels she should have been able to win all rounds. Janeway explains the game really isn't about strength, but involves tactical problem solving and intuition. She tries to leave, but Seven tries to stubbornly start a new game. She tells her to be a good sport and leaves. Later on, she's still trying to decipher the message Starfleet sent, but she still can't. Nelix introduces her to an alien named Arturis, who has natural linguistic abilities. He can decipher alien and computer languages easily, so Janeway asks for his help with starfleet's message. While doing so in astrometrics with Seven, Janeway not so subtly asks Seven if she's ever encountered his species before right in front of him. Maybe she thought for some strange reason that seven would suddenly develop the ability to be tactful. At any rate, Arturis isn't upset, and brushes it off. We then see some relatively boring stuff. They find a cool ship that can supposedly take them home in a short amount of time, they want to tow voyager along as well, they make modifications, yadda, yadda, yadda. In astrometrics, janeway, who has learned to be suspicious, is trying to decipher the part of the message that Arturis said was too degraded. She and seven have a heated argument about Seven's remaining in the delta quadrant. This is the one that really feels like a mother arguing with her teenage daughter. The daughter (Seven) wants her independence, or so she thinks, saying she has outgrown humanity, but Janeway knows that, realistically, she couldn't care for herself out there, and besides, this is really about her fear of not being accepted on earth. The argument is interrupted by the computer relaying Starfleet's real message. Suffice to say, their new alien friend has been lying to them. So, fast forward past the scuffle on the alien ship, onto the reason why Arturis has been lying. His species had fought off the Borg for centuries, but lately, the Borg have been getting closer to defeating them. Then they got involved the war with species...I forget the number, because frankly, I hate numbers. Let's just stick with species. Anyway, Arturis' people were counting on that war to wipe the Borg out, but then Janeway made the deal with the Borg, species went back to their own space, and the Borg finally were able to assimilate the people. It's a sad story and all, but throughout the telling of it, I kept wondering why his people didn't take advantage of the situation, and use their slipstream tech to whisk everyone off to a place far away from the Borg, instead of developing a wait and see, and let's hope species will leave us alone attitude. And captain Janeway was right. Species was more of a threat. They wanted to purge the whole galaxy(in other words, kill everyone). At least with the Borg, everyone would still be alive, in some fashion. Sure, it's upsetting to be assimilated, but after, you won't care. In captivity, Janeway tries reasoning with the unfortunate dum-dum, but he's too consumed by hatred, saying revenge is all he has left (bull). To sum up, Janeway and Seven are rescued, and on the bright side, Arturis is reunited with his people in Borg space...yes, it's as a drone, but again, at least they're alive. I'm sorry, Janeway haters (not sorry), but Janeway is my favorite captain, and not just because she's a woman, although that's part of it,(hey, I'm a woman, too, so sue me). She really cares about her crew, she's like a mother to them. You see it in her facial expressions, even when she has to shove feelings aside in order to be the captain. Seriously, just watch her face when a member of her crew dies, like in the beginning of the episode One. Don't get me wrong, the male captains of Star Trek are fine, they're good men, but their relationships with their crews are too, idk, impersonal, distant, formal...Janeway has always struck the perfect balance in my eyes. She knows when to be strict, or stern, and she knows when to be understanding. I can practically tell what she's thinking just by her body language, facial feature, and tone of voice. I don't get that with the other captains. That's just how I feel.

The Gilligan's Island Syndrome Revisited

[spasek · 9/10 · 26 March 2021]

Come on, people. You knew that Voyager wasn't going to find a way home that easily in the same way that people quickly figured out that Gilligan and the castaways weren't getting off that island. So, as a viewer, you just had to sit back ans wait and see when the other shoe was going to drop.

I'm still very much enjoying the scenes between Janeway and Seven as Janeway continues to interact and help Seven with her evolution. However, sometimes I wish that Janeway would given Seven more space to find her own way rather than tell her through means of control. I think Janeway still harbors some fears about Seven, which is why she "teaches" Seven in the way that she does. Still, I love how Seven isn't going to influenced so easily. As the series continues, I can only hope that Janeway will come to appreciate Seven more.

We have a fascinating season finale in which we find that an action of Janeway's from last season comes back to haunt her. Sometimes, we don't immediately see the consequences of decisions, and it's often sad when it is devastating to someone else. Still, revenge is never the answer. There is reason why the Chinese proverb states, "Before seeking revenge, dig two graves." Revenge is like drinking poison with the hopes that it will kill the other person. And our alien friend finds out--all too late--the consequences of his own choices!

This is a good, solid finale to a great season. Seven's addition to Voyager was just as big of a boost as Worf was when he joined Deep Space 9.

Good episode, but highly illogical

[paradeigmas · 6/10 · 17 October 2019]

As per Voyager's usual MO, this episode contains many illogical decisions such as confronting the alien aboard the alien ship instead of beaming everyone back to Voyager first. Coupled with lazy writing that allows the Voyager to clone alien technology in a matter of hours to achieve transwarp velocity, but only once. Voyager's writers are boldly going where Star Trek has never gone before.

Good episode with strong character moments.

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 26 July 2023]

Voyager has another chance of getting home using more advanced technology.

If you accept that this is the obligatory plot where Voyager gets hope of returning home before having it dashed by associated contrivances, there are plenty of positives.

I like how it connects to a previous episode and the consequences those events. This make the overarching narrative feel stronger.

Certain characters get memorable screen time, particularly Captain Janeway and Seven of Nine with the development of their relationship and psychological factors involved in their clash. Their clashes are always good value for screen time and Katie Mulgrew and Jeri Ryan are great.

So many plot holes!

[Win-5 · 6/10 · 1 March 2020]

Aside from the fact that both Janeway and Seven of Nine were far more indecisive than they've ever been, this story relies on one "coincidence" after another. They just happen to meet someone who can help with their current problem! And it just happens that he can use this to his advantage! And it just happens that a very-helpful ship is nearby! And on and on, I ran out of patience long before the "stunning" finish.

It could have been really good...

[st_heinz · 7/10 · 15 November 2020]

The episode had the potential to be really good. The result is not really bad either. The effects are good, the acting is fair and there is definitely tension and action. Even the basic idea is okay. But: Unfortunately, the story is strange at best. There are so many plotholes that you just shake your head. How many coincidences are believable? All things fit exactly just for the story to work at all. That looks very constructed. Even at the beginning, the alien acts so suspiciously that it is clear that it is a trap. The story just isn't convincing in the end...