[.ca] Star Trek Voyager:E #23

From Amazon.com:
Original airdate: 10/9/95. Stardate: 49068.5. Tormented by jealousy, Neelix is enraged by Tom Paris's crush on his beloved Kes, and it's not long before the Voyager crewmates are having a food fight in the ship's mess hall. Kes is confused by this jealous rivalry (Ocampans mate for life, she explains, prompting the Doctor to observe "your literature must be very dry"). The diplomatic Janeway--who needs to replenish dwindling food supplies--sends Paris and Neelix on a shuttle mission to investigate nutrient sources on a nearby planet. A crash landing forces the battling crewmates to settle their differences, especially when they discover a humanoid/reptilian hatchling in a cave, slowly dying because Paris and Neelix have inadvertently cut off its source of nutrients from the planet's "trigemic vapor" atmosphere. Meanwhile, Voyager battles an alien ship, ultimately discovering the reason for its aggression. The outcome casts Paris and Neelix as proud (albeit temporary) godparents, and while the plot's a bit flimsy, "Parturition" allows for some buoyant character development, and that little lizard is awfully cute, if you can ignore the low-budget animatronics. Sharp dialogue saves the day, and kudos to series regulars Ethan Phillips and Robert Duncan McNeill for making the Paris-Neelix feud so enjoyably juvenile. --Jeff Shannon

Turns out Tom Paris has character!:
I thought that this was a great episode, and it did alot to develop the characters of Tom Paris and Neelix. I was very pleased when Tom stood the test and did what was right instead of simply taking what he desired. Tom shows us here once and for all that he does have a tremendous amount of integrity...something that was in question at the beginning of the series. I also thought the alien baby was pretty cute....I don't remember any other ST episodes that used an alien baby in quite this way, and I thought that Berman & Co did an effective job of combining plot lines in this episode.

Neelix vs Tom:
This is one of my very favorite episodes ever! It's like one laugh after another. I quote: #1 Tom: Can I make a suggestion? Neelix: Your the commander of this mission, you can make any suggestion you want. And if you make it an order, I'll even have to obey it. #2 Tom: Harry, I'm in trouble. Harry: So what's new? Tom: I think I'm in love. Harry: So what's new? Tom: With Kes. Harry: Kes! #3(while physically fighting in the mess hall) Neelix: I'll kill you! Tom: Too late. I'm betting your hair pasta already did the trick. He he! You've got to see this episode!

An overly contrived episode about Paris and Neelix:
One of the key elements of Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeil) during the early seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager" was that he was trying to redeem himself from being a hot head always in the dog house. However, Paris started to lose points with me in this episode when he started putting the moves on Kes (Jennifer Lien) despite the fact she came aboard with Neelix (Ethan Phillips). In Episode 23, "Parturition" (Written by Tom Szollosi, Aired October 9, 1995) Kes wants to take flying lessons from Paris and immediately becomes interested in her. Neelix figures this out before Kes and attacks Paris in the mess hall. Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) decides that for some reason it would be good to send Paris and Neelix off together to find some new food supplies. They head for the nearest planet, encounter electromagnetic disturbances, and make an emergency landing. "Voyager" is aware of this (a nice twist for once) and Janeway sends off a Search & Rescue mission. Unfortunately the planet has dangerous vapors that force the two stranded crewmates to seal themselves into a cave while "Voyager" has an inconvenient attack from an alien vessel. The situation on "Parturition" is about as contrived as you can get, but Szollosi does come up with a rather unexpected way of making Paris and Neelix reconsider their situation on multiple levels. However at that point the episode gets rather contrived and when the main plot line and the sub plot come together you are surprised, but not in a good way. On the one hand the idea that Paris would step out of line with regards to Kes makes a certain amount of sense, but this episode over traumatizes the experience. I can appreciate why Neelix would be upset that Paris would be casting eyes at Kes, but turning to physical violence is really too much to buy. So while Paris might be acting in character, Neelix's over reaction is just another in a long series of contrivances; after all, Kes considers herself mated to Nelix and anythign Paris is doing does not even come up on her Ocampan radar. There are some nice moments in the cave between the two when they find a common cause for which to work together, but the set up is just too much to really see it as being anything significant. Consequently, "Parturition" is a below average episode of "Voyager" for me. There had to be better ways of getting to this point without overloading the contrivances.

A new member of the family:
This is a great episode of voyager. It was made back when Neelix and Paris weren't the best of friends and there's some good ole bickering between the two of them. I highly recommend this episode for its character developments. Many new friendships form in this episode. If you're a fan don't miss out.