Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Voyager, Episode 10: Prime Factors [VHS]

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In "Prime Factors," Episode 10 (Aired: March 20, 1995) of the series, "Voyager" visits Sikaris, a planet known throughout the Delta Quadrant for its hospitality so that the crew can enjoy some shore leave. It turns out that the Sikarians love to hear visitors tell stories about far off places and adventures. Harry Kim (Garrett Wong) ends up telling the story of "Voyager" to Eudana (Yvonne Suhor), a young woman. Eventually she suggests they go some place a little more private and ends up taking Kim to a nice little planet 40,000 light years away. The Sikarians have advanced technology that allows them to fold space (think the Guild Navigators in "Dune"). So, the good news is that the Sikarians have a way of getting "Voyager" 40,000 light years closer to home. However, the bad news is that the Sikarians have a prohibition against sharing their technology with races that are less advanced.

However this is not the end of the story because one of the Sikarians offers Kiim the technology in exchange for more stories about "Voyager." Once again, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is caught between her rock of ethics (she does not want to get the technology through a back channel once the leader of the Sikarians has refused) and the hard place of the crew's situation (this technology can get "Voyager" more than halfway home). Meanwhile, several of the former Maquis members of the crew, led by B'Elanna (Roxann Biggs-Dawson) and Seska (Martha Hackett) decide they have had enough of Janeway's taking the high road and decide to make the swap anyway. However, they discover somebody else has beaten them to the punch.

"Prime Factors" (Story by David R. George III & Eric A. Stillwell, Teleplay by Michael Perricone & Greg Elliot) finally gets the series back to exploiting the uneasy alliance beteen the former Maqui and Starfleet personnel. Unfortunately, in coming up with a couple of twists for the climax of the episode, the story chooses to sacrifice character for surprise. Even if we are only 10 episodes into the first season, the writers should have known they were making a big mistake (I am trying to not to spoil the episode, but if you have seen it then you understand why their choice was inherently flawed). However, I did appreciate that there was an effort to have the Federation enjoy getting the short end of the Prime Directive for once, although this ends up being a minor part of "Prime Factors" in the end. Overall, the episode is ambitious, but is flawed in its execution. It is also interesting to go back and see how they are setting up Seska for her time in the spotlight down the road.

This episode of Star Trek Voyager is okay, but I wouldn't exactly call it one of the better episodes of Season One of the show.

Here, the Voyager crew encounters an alien race who may have the technology to get them home, the the aliens are unwilling to help. Instead, they are more interested in the entertainment that the Voyager crew can provide through their stories of the Alpha Quadrant.

Certainly an interesting turnabout commentary on the effects of the prime directive...but I wouldn't call this episode a "must see" for the typical viewer. If you are a hard-core Trek fan, however, it's certainly worth a look.

It's not a wonderful episode, and the product is a bit over-priced for one Star Trek Episode.