Customer Reviews

Star Trek: Voyager - Episode 29, Prototype [VHS]

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I don't know why, but there's just something a bit cute about these "automated units".

They're the most polite androids you'll ever see in this Star Trek episode or *ANY* episode...

It's pretty shocking to find out that these "automated units" are evil.

I like the design on them too. And the display you see at the beginning of the episode is much more REALISTIC and FUTURISTIC than then "Red display" you see in "Terminator I and II".

There's something I like about these "automated units."

I enjoyed this episode of Voyager, but if I have one criticism, it is that I would have liked for the writers to have used this episode to better aquaint us with the character of B'Elanna Torres. Unfortunately however, I didn't learn anything new about Torres through this episode - it was just "more of the same". Torres is smart. Torres is competent. Torres is stubborn. Torres has a temper. Okay...I get it! Now let's get below the surface!

The best thing about this episode, in my opinion, is that it provides a "textbook case" of why the Prime Directive is so necessary. Torres learns this the hard way in "Prototype". Turns out, Janeway is much wiser than Torres originally thought!

If you've ever seen this episode, you know what I mean.

This episode starts out from the point of view of Automated Personnel Unit 3947, a damaged robot found by the Voyager crew floating in space.

Torres makes it her personal crusade to save the robots "life." Once reactivated, 3947 kidnaps Torres and takes her to its ship and threatens to destroy Voyager if she doesn't build a prototype so its people can "reproduce." After successfully doing so, she realizes the real reason the robots were made incapable of reproducing, and ends up destroying her creation.

At the end Torres and Janeway have a rather sappy discussion of how good Torres felt creating a new life, and how sad she was at having to destroy it.

There are much better episodes to spend your 14 bucks on.