Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive. Neelix learns that the hard way as #PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers engages in "Fair Trade" - and we ain't talking about Janeway's coffee here.

I wasn't terribly impressed with this one back in '97. After this rewatch though, it might be one of S3's most underrated episodes. Neelix's desperation to remain useful to the Voyager crew starts him on this downward spiral he can't pull himself out of.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers
breaks out the high explosives, phaser rifles, and even an old-fashioned Bowie knife for good measure to do some bug huntin' in "Macrocosm".

No particularly thorny moral dilemmas or other meaty topics being debated here, just Janeway in full Ellen Ripley/Sarah Connor mode as she fights to purge her ship of the "macrovirus" that's infected her crew - before the Taktak do so with considerably more collateral damage.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers continues with "Warlord" and "The Q and the Grey".

"Warlord" is not to be confused with "Lord of War" - though having Nicolas Cage in this episode might have made it more entertaining. The body-hopping-evil-spirit premise is recycled from early DS9 episode "The Passenger" - but unlike that episode, "Warlord" squanders it - and Jennifer Lien's phenomenal performance - on a by-the-numbers Game Of Thrones wannabe tale.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers takes the Borg Queen's advice and watches our "Future's End" - Star Trek's first visit to "present"-day Los Angeles. (#StarTrekPicard spoiler alert: It won't be the last.)

Like Star Trek IV before it, and Picard S2 after, "Future's End" is a fun romp through the viewer's "real" world. The only thing missing is the punk on the bus - though I suppose Tuvok could have dispatched him as easily as Spock did.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers treads on "Sacred Ground" - the one where half of the latter podcast, @robertdmcneill, makes his directorial debut - and where Capt. Janeway gets a small taste of Capt. Sisko's Emissary dilemma.

Much like Sisko in his dealings with the Prophets, and the religion built around them, throughout DS9, Janeway finds herself in a predicament that science and logic can't fully explain or resolve - instead, it requires a leap of faith.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers continues tonight with a doubleheader of episodes that couldn't be much further apart in tone: "False Profits" and "Remember".

"False Profits" follows up on TNG S3 episode "The Price", and is closer in how it depicts the Ferengi to that series than to the more complex take offered by DS9, but in the end it comes off as neither fish now fowl, but just a silly toss-off that Voyager could have done without.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers continues tonight with a doubleheader of "The Chute" and "The Swarm" - two episodes I didn't particularly care for back in '96. "The Chute", at least, left a stronger impression this time around.

Not unlike DS9 "Hard Time", "The Chute" presents an inventive way of accelerating the mental effects of a prolonged stint in prison, in this case via "the clamp", putting Paris, Kim and their friendship to an extreme stress test.

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers went on a weird acid trip of an episode a few weeks ago (with "The Thaw"). Now here comes the "Flashback".

This was Voyager's Star Trek 30th anniversary event episode, but with a premise tied to Star Trek VI, it felt more like a "5th anniversary of the 25th anniversary" event (not unlike the 30th anniversary itself). But how does it hold up today, nearly 30 years removed from THAT?

The answer: Surprisingly well.

After completing S1 of #PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers, I recapped my top three episodes of the season.

I'd planned to do that with S2 as well, followed by an overall Top 5 of the #StarTrekVoyager series so far, but as it turns out, my entire Top 5 - in fact my Top 8 - so far are all from S2 anyway.

So, I will start by recapping my S1 Top 3:

#3: "Eye of the Needle" (#11 overall)
#2: "Caretaker" (#10 overall)
#1: "Emanations" (#9 overall)

Having finally recovered... somewhat... from the effort of compiling and posting that epic New Year's "Resolutions" thread, #PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers wraps up #StarTrekVoyager S2, and opens S3, by getting back to "Basics".

It was an interesting choice to include "Part I" in the first half's title, which telegraphed its cliffhanger nature. (TNG never did this, despite cliffhanger finales being par for that particular course.)

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers rings in the new year with - what else? - "Resolutions", the high-water (Highwater?) mark for Janeway/Chakotay 'shippers.

Oh, boy... where to begin? Yeah, I do have some issues with this one, that I've been looking forward to finally getting off my chest for months now. So, grab some popcorn, and maybe whatever liquor you have left over from last night too - fully unpacking this one's gonna take awhile...

Never let it be said that I didn't keep my New Year's "Resolutions".

I did promise an epic review thread for this episode, after all. (That's coming later today. How much later depends on how wired up I still am after this rewatch.)

#StarTrekVoyager #PaxFedVGRewatch
#MissionLogPodcast #TheDeltaFlyers

A heads-up: I've already written up most of my talking points for "Resolutions". I'll wait to revise/post them until after #PaxFedVGRewatch-ing that episode on New Year's Day (natch), but I can already say that that thread is going to be EPIC - at least twice as long as this "Tuvix" thread which is already one of my longer ones. Maybe the longest episode review thread I've ever done for either #PaxFedDS9Rewatch or #StarTrekVoyager.
#MissionLogPodcast #TheDeltaFlyers

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with Delta Log - or is it The Mission Flyers? - continues with "Tuvix".

(Hmm... would that make #MissionLogPodcast the Tuvok of Star Trek podcasts and #TheDeltaFlyers the Neelix, or vice versa?)

Let's just get this out of the way right away...

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with @MissionLogPod and @TheDeltaFlyers goes on the worst head-trip ever, with the one and only Michael McKean in "The Thaw". In this episode, the mind-fuckery goes to eleven.

The stasis tech gone awry at the heart of this episode is a bit reminiscent of Dr. Giger's "cellular entertainment chamber" from DS9 "In The Cards". What could possibly go wrong? Well... a fear clown, apparently. Who needs soulless minions of orthodoxy when you have McKean?

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers continues with the curious case of the Drayans, aka "Innocence" - another episode I'd almost completely forgotten about going into this rewatch.

At its highest level, this is the story of a first contact gone awry, only to be set right in the end - another episode that could have been right at home in TNG, or even DS9; it reminded me a little of the latter's S2 episode "Shadowplay".

"Deadlock" is a mind-bending, rip-roaring thrill ride of an episode, and my favorite of #StarTrekVoyager so far on #PaxFedVGRewatch. Janeway's sage words for Kim at the end pretty much say it all: "Weird is part of the job."

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with #MissionLogPodcast and #TheDeltaFlyers comes to a fork in the road... and takes it, in "Deadlock". Voyager and everyone aboard is duplicated - though, to paraphrase Odo, I don't think the universe is ready for two Kathryn Janeways.

Until now Voyager hadn't had many high sci-fi concept episodes, and the ones it had (*cough*Threshold*cough*) didn't always turn out well (*cough*lizardbabies*cough*). But "Deadlock" sees the writers and cast kick things up another notch.

It's a mystery to me/The game commences...

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with @MissionLogPod and @TheDeltaFlyers does some private (and not-so-private) "Investigations", and uncovers the truth about Tom Paris's misbehavior over the past few episodes.

It's a mystery to me/The game commences...

#PaxFedVGRewatch-along with @MissionLogPod
and @TheDeltaFlyers
does some private (and not-so-private) "Investigations", and uncovers the truth about Tom Paris's misbehavior over the past few episodes.