Product Details

• Actors: Roxann Dawson, Tim Russ
• Directors: Roxann Dawson, Tim Russ, Gabrielle Beaumont, Kenneth Biller, Cliff Bole
• Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 2, 2000
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000003K9K
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #71,099 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Television > Star Trek: Voyager

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
What kind of guy is Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) exactly? Keeping in mind that his character was introduced on Voyager as a pilot thrown out of Starfleet for covering up an accident, then later jailed for his (bungled) role as a Maquis mercenary, one might say he's a heel seeking redemption at Voyager's con. But "Ex Post Facto" suggests he's still a scoundrel at heart.

When Paris and Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) dine in the home of Banean scientist Tolen Ren (Ray Reinhardt), Tom becomes distracted by the restless beauty of the man's wife (Robin McKee), leading to an illicit liaison that ends with the murder of Ren. Paris is accused, found guilty, and uniquely punished by experiencing Ren's death, from the victim's point of view, every 14 hours in his mind. It's up to Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ) to get to the bottom of the mystery.

There's lots of controversy about the value of this episode. One camp believes Paris is unfairly stereotyped, that the film noir elements in the script and visual style are perfunctory, and that the story is a rehash of The Next Generation's "A Matter of Perspective." Others, particularly writer Michael Piller, believe it to be a blend of detective drama and The Twilight Zone. In fact, all those assessments are valid: the episode is both overly predictable and dark. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover
Kim and Paris visit the homeworld of the Baneans, a people at war with the nearby Numiri. There they meet with the head of military science, Tolen Ren, to discuss potential scientific advances that may help Voyager find a faster way back to Federation space. Ren's wife, a much younger woman named Lidell, does not make Kim or Paris feel very welcome. Later that night Ren is killed and Paris is blamed for the murder. His Banean sentence: to relive the violent moment of the crime from the victim's perspective for the rest of his life. Only after Tuvok mind-melds with Paris is it discovered that a shorter man had murdered Ren. Just who that man was is only detected by Ren's faithful watchdog, Leeka.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the Lot, May 7, 2000

By	D. E. W. Turner "dewt" (Hereford, AZ, USA) - See all my reviews

To me, this episode is the best of all the Voyager episodes either before or after. The reason being the interesting method of punishing murder and the Holmesian manner of Tuvok's investigation. Tuvok has never been as good as in this episode and the intriguing cultural differences have never been as imaginative.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trek noir, February 18, 2001

By	Jeffrey A. Cross "His Illustriousness" (Marblehead, MA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

As with the DS9 episode "Necessary Evil," there's a good film noir feel to this story. While Tuvok doesn't really come off as a good PI figure like Odo did, there still exists the old noir trademarks like the dispassionate, chain-smoking mystery woman, marital infidelity, and a whole slew of differing flashbacks on what really happened. There's also a good space battle sequence to keep it from getting too mired in the noir genre.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Of A Great Bunch!, April 18, 2004

By	Andre' S Grindle "Funk Meister" (Bangor,ME.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although I will recommend the new Voyager Complete First
Season DVD THIS is a season highlite.It presents the show in it's more cryptic pre-Seven Of Nine years in a wonderful tale
about an alien race who punish convited criminals by forcing them to relive the final moments of their victems life's.Effective alternative to capital punishment?NO-as you'll
see here it takes a Vulcan mind meld to curb the damage done to
Tom Paris after he's framed for murder.Excellent use of
dream sequences and flashbacks-reminds me of something Orson
Welle's might've done has he been a modern science fiction
television writer.