star trek voyager worst case scenario

Worst Case Scenario (episode)

View history
1.2 Act One
1.3 Act Two
1.4 Act Three
1.5 Act Four
1.6 Act Five
2 Log entries
3 Memorable quotes
4.1 Title, story, and script
4.2 Cast and characters
4.3 Production
4.4 Reception
4.5 Continuity and trivia
4.6 Apocrypha
4.7 Video and DVD releases
5.1 Starring
5.2 Also Starring
5.3 Guest Star
5.4 Co-Star
5.5 Uncredited Co-Stars
5.6 References
5.7 External links

Summary [ ]

B'Elanna Torres looks apprehensive as she walks down the corridor on the ship and approaches the turbolift to report for duty , and even more so as Chakotay joins her casually. Once they are in the turbolift, Chakotay begins asking a series of strange questions pertaining to his dislike for Tuvok and mentions that in fact a lot of the crew are not happy with the chief of security and Captain Janeway for that matter. He wonders whether Torres agrees, stating that there will be some changes around here. It seems a mutiny is in the works. All of the Maquis and 25 of the Starfleet crewmembers are behind him, and he wants to know which side Torres is on once the shooting starts.

Act One [ ]

On the bridge , Torres and the other officers go about their duties, pushing buttons as if they are doing something, when Captain Janeway announces she will be going off in a shuttlecraft with Tom Paris and leaving Chakotay in command of the ship . Chakotay tries to convince the Captain to bring Tuvok with her, without success. The first officer has Harry Kim perform a diagnostic that shuts the transporters down before a pair of security personnel arrive with what Chakotay claims to be the duty roster . As soon as Janeway's shuttle goes to warp , Chakotay tells all hands to begin their plan and commences the takeover, stunning Tuvok and Kim before moving on to the rest of the ship. Torres goes along with his plan. Then there is a surprise: they turn a corner to find Seska .

The siege continues through the mess hall – where Neelix takes their side. With the senior officers in the brig and the rest of the loyal Starfleet personnel held prisoners in an empty cargo bay , Chakotay announces his plan of dropping the senior staff off at the nearest habitable planet and taking USS Voyager straight home – this time without letting mighty "Starfleet principles" get in the way. He offers the remaining crew the chance to join him, when suddenly Paris enters the cargo bay and asks Torres what's going on. It is then revealed that this has all been a holo-program depicting a Maquis mutiny. Torres tells Paris that she was doing a routine purge of the database to get rid of old files when she came across this holonovel, telling Paris that it is a very compelling story. Paris asks who wrote it, and Torres admits she doesn't know as the author has encrypted the program to protect his or her identity, presumably due to the controversial plot.

Tom Paris in gold uniform

Act Two [ ]

Torres and Paris discuss reporting the program to Captain Janeway, but decide it best if they get a "full report", so Paris has a go with the program. During Paris' run, he walks down the corridor wearing an operations division gold uniform . Chakotay approaches Paris the same way he approached Torres, and knowing what will happen, Paris eagerly goes along with the plan. When it is time for Chakotay's mutiny, Paris attempts to warn Tuvok, but it is too late; once again, Tuvok and Kim are shot, but this time Paris joins them and the other loyal Starfleet officers in the brig. There, Paris grows impatient with simply "waiting around", but Tuvok insists that they wait for an opportunity to overpower the enemy. Chakotay eventually comes along to take everyone but Tuvok and Kim to cargo bay one. There he gives the same speech as before, when Torres ran the holonovel, which inspires Paris to join him.

Paris and Torres now discuss the holonovel eagerly in the mess hall, and Paris reveals that his constant switching loyalties has apparently caused Chakotay to assign him to menial tasks. Torres advises him to go along with the mutiny from the start, since that is a lot more fun to play out. As they talk about plans of attack, Neelix wanders by and reveals that he too has played the program, and describes his own strategy; he tried to send a secret message to Janeway's shuttle , but was caught by Chakotay. It seems Torres told The Doctor , who told Neelix, who promises his lips are sealed; but as he speaks, Kim shows up asking them about the holonovel Ayala told him about.

Paris and the mutineers are on the bridge again, out of uniform and in control despite problems with the warp core likely the result of a saboteur . As Janeway and the holographic Paris return in their shuttle, she has a chilly reunion with Chakotay, who genuinely does not want to hurt anyone. However, she attacks Voyager head-on and beams aboard with Paris as it opens fire to destroy her shuttle. Chakotay and Paris take the turbolift to the brig, where Janeway and her former first officer shoot one another before Paris comes face-to-face with himself. Paris and his holographic counterpart have each other at phaser point…

…when suddenly the program shuts down leaving only an empty holodeck. Paris tries to resume the program but fails, as the computer explains no more story has been written so cannot continue. Paris is left very frustrated at the lack of conclusion.

Act Three [ ]

" I've been running it too. " " Anybody else? "

In the holodeck, Torres and Paris try to access information on the author of the holonovel from the computer. Despite Torres' knowledge of computers and Neelix's gift of gab, no one is able to find the mysterious author of the holonovel. Janeway brings it up at the next staff meeting, by which time the program has been accessed 47 times by 33 different crew members. Of course, everyone present has tried it (save Janeway and Chakotay), but no one knows who made it, so she tells them to talk to their respective staff and find the author. However, Tuvok reveals that in fact it was he himself who wrote the program, albeit not as a novel but more as a tactical training exercise for his security personnel in the event of a mutiny. He explains that he wrote the program when the Maquis crew had just joined the Voyager crew and when the possibility of a mutiny was very real. But when the two crews began to successfully work together, he realized that the threat of an insurrection was increasingly unlikely and the program might have ended up inciting ill feeling between the crews and and therefore deleted it – until Torres recovered the file. Paris asks if Tuvok intends to continue, but Tuvok instead wishes to permanently delete it since he still feels it could cause discontent between the Starfleet and Maquis crews and expects Janeway to agree. However, contrary to his expectations, Janeway tells him to 'loosen up'. She tells him that while he may have intended it to be for tactical training it has clearly become some harmless fun, and stresses the need for original sources of entertainment now that they are so far away from home . Even Chakotay jokingly speculates that finding an ending to the novel is necessary because, if Tuvok doesn't write one, the crew will really mutiny to find it out by itself. Paris then volunteers to write an ending, and Janeway jokes that she is excited to see how her character will manage to outwit the mutineers.

Tuvok finds Paris in the mess hall, working diligently on an ending for the novel. When he suggests helping him craft the novel with some level of organization and logical application, Paris casually states that he doesn't need any help in that regard as he is sort of making it up as he goes along. He tells Tuvok that in his version, Paris and Janeway retake the ship and Janeway decides to execute all the conspirators. Tuvok objects that this is a completely implausible plot development, since Captain Janeway would never do something so inhumane. But Paris laughs his objections off, saying that this isn't real life but just fiction. Tuvok reiterates the importance of applying logic when writing stories and characters, citing the Vulcan Dictates of Poetics , which state that a character's actions must flow, inexorably, from his or her established traits. But again, Paris laughs off Tuvok's insistence on logical application and in fact finds his own interpretation of things more fun. The two continue butting heads over the Dictates of Poetics versus pure fun until Torres and Neelix each drop by to offer suggestions. Much to Tuvok's annoyance and objections that this isn't a romance novel , Torres wants to see some passion and heart in the story. Paris suggests adding a passionate scene between "the Starfleet conn officer and the Maquis engineer." Neelix, on the other hand – while not making any plot suggestions – tells Tuvok that he was completely misportrayed as he would would never betray Captain Janeway like the holographic Neelix did. Paris jokes that Tuvok must have forgotten to follow the Dictates of Poetics , at which point Tuvok suggests that it might be best to move their work to some place more quiet.

The two go to the holodeck , where they find The Doctor waiting with his own set of suggestions. Once Tuvok gets rid of The Doctor, Paris tries to get rid of Tuvok… only for Tuvok to reveal he is the only person who can make alterations to the program. Paris concedes defeat and agrees to let Tuvok finish the program with him. Tuvok prepares the holonovel for additions and has the holodeck open the narrative parameters file of the program. Suddenly, the hologrid begins to glitch while the transporters on Voyager shut down, the comm system goes off-line, and the holodeck controls become scrambled. The holodeck safety protocols are also disengaged. Tuvok and Paris suddenly appear in the brig, face-to-face with none other than Seska. It seems the Cardassian spy found Tuvok's program some time ago and rewrote it so the ending will be not-so-happy for its participants. Seska tells a confused Tuvok and Paris that they have ten seconds to run for their lives or she will shoot them with a phaser.

Act Four [ ]

Tuvok tries to disable the holodeck program and contact help, but to no avail. Seeing no other alternative, Tuvok and Paris run from the brig where they encounter Captain Janeway, whom they almost immediately recognize as being holographic. "Janeway" asks them to help her retake the ship by transporting into the cargo bay. Tuvok thinks that they shouldn't participate in the scenario, as it presents the least possible risk. After all, Seska may have programmed the holographic Janeway to betray them. Janeway configures the transporter and tells Tuvok and Paris to go when Chakotay and Seska appear at the door. Janeway defends herself with a phaser rifle, but it malfunctions and she is killed. Seska then tells Tuvok and Paris to run. Paris tells Seska that none of the simulation is real, including the holographic Chakotay who is attracted to her. She gets angry and has Chakotay shoot Paris' arm with a phaser, removing any doubt that safety protocols on the holodeck had been disabled. Tuvok and Paris run once again. They enter sickbay to try to treat Paris' phaser wounds. The Doctor appears and says he's going to treat Paris' second-degree phaser burns, but he uses a hypospray to inject twenty ccs of nitric acid into his arm. Tuvok tries to help Paris, but The Doctor grabs him and starts to choke him. The Doctor's arms are the only part of him that are solid, so any attempts to hurt The Doctor are unsuccessful. Once The Doctor is finished "treating" them, he throws Tuvok and Paris out.

On the bridge, the real Captain Janeway asks for information on Seska's modifications to the holodeck program. It turns out that on stardate 48671, a month before she left Voyager , Seska found the program and modified it. She triggered her modifications to activate when Tuvok re-opened the narrative parameters file. To make matters worse, Seska put in various booby trap subroutines to prevent the crew from helping Tuvok and keeping him trapped on the holodeck. For example, if the holodeck doors are forced open, the holodeck will explode. Janeway gets an idea to help… perhaps she could modify the program by co-writing it in a manner that would ultimately help Tuvok and Paris.

Inside the holodeck, Tuvok and Paris are traveling through a Jefferies tube where they encounter a plasma fire behind a door. Tuvok isn't able to close the door, but all of a sudden a plasma extinguisher appears. Paris extinguishes the fire and crawls down to the next deck. Tuvok and Paris realize they are being helped from the outside; however, Janeway is only able to make minor changes. A display appears telling them to go to the weapon's locker for additional help. When they reach the locker, however, Chakotay and a group of Maquis appear, and Paris and Tuvok are captured. Janeway, outside the holodeck, learns that Seska had programmed the holodeck to adapt to any changes that were made to it.

Act Five [ ]

In engineering, Janeway and Torres are re-writing the program to help Paris and Tuvok. Harry Kim reports that the altered program has burned out the transporter access relays, so they can't simply beam them out of the holodeck for the time being. Meanwhile, in the holographic cargo bay, Seska tries to have Tuvok and Paris killed, but Janeway alters the Chakotay hologram character to prevent him from cold-bloodedly murdering the two. Angrily, Seska kills Chakotay to prevent any interference in her plans. Undeterred, Janeway decides another way to modify the program: she rewrites it to include a Rukani attack. Tuvok and Paris are able to take the weapons from the crew during the attack. Seska refuses to give up and activates a sixty-second auto-destruct , which would destroy the holodeck and everyone on it in the process. Tuvok tells Seska that he set his phaser rifle to kill and he will fire if she does not disable the auto-destruct. Seska refuses and demands that he hand over the phaser rifle to her. Tuvok does so, and Seska deactivates the self-destruct. She then turns the phaser rifle on Tuvok and Paris, intent on killing them. However, the weapon malfunctions, killing Seska. Tuvok reveals that he had reconfigured the rifle to malfunction in the same way it had for the holographic Janeway in the transporter room . With the holographic Seska dead, the story has come to an end and the simulation finally shuts down. Kim reports that the transporters have been brought back online, but Janeway assures him that there is no rush.

The senior staff is having a discussion in the mess hall about holo-novels. Chakotay says that he looks forward to the next one, just as long as in whatever they write next, he is not the bad guy. Neelix suggests a story about a cook on a starship, similar to his own life. Tuvok says that if they decide to collaborate on a new holo-novel, they will choose a subject much less close to home.

Log entries [ ]

Personal log, Tom Paris

Memorable quotes [ ]

" Under my command, we won't let almighty Federation principles get in the way of opportunities the way Janeway did when she destroyed the array that could have gotten us home. And we won't be wasting precious time stopping to investigate every insignificant anomaly that we come across. What we will do is use any means necessary to acquire technology that can shorten our journey. To hell with Starfleet regulations. You have fifteen minutes to make up your minds. "

" Remember the good old days when it was impossible to keep a secret on a ship this small? "

" You never should have crossed her, Tuvok. " " SHE has been dead for over a year! There was no way to predict this turn of events. " " I guess we should have known Seska wouldn't let a little thing like death stop her from getting even. "

" I don't care what kind of story it is, as long as I'm not the bad guy this time. "

" Now up until now the story has been nothing but action, which is fine, but what it needs is a little heart, a little emotion. " " We are not writing a romance novel, Lieutenant. "

" No offense Mr. Vulcan, but I don't think you understand my character very well. " " Tuvok, did you forget to follow the Dictates of Poetics ? "

" Twenty ccs nitric acid – a little proverbial salt in the wound. "

" Mr. Neelix, if Mr. Paris and I do create another work of holofiction, I assure you, we will choose a subject much less close to home. "

Background information [ ]

Title, story, and script [ ].

In Germany, this episode's title (translated back into English) is "Rebellion Alpha", after the holo-program (which is called " Insurrection Alpha " in the English version of the episode).
This episode had the working title "Novelty". [1] (X)
While writing this episode, co-producer Kenneth Biller attempted to add a certain comedic flavor to the installment. He said of the episode, " I won't say it's an out-and-out comedy. It ultimately has some serious jeopardy to a couple of the characters, but it's a comic musing on the creative process. It operates on a lot of different levels. It's a little inside stuff about the creation of the show, the process of writing for Star Trek , and the interaction between the actors who we write for, and the writing staff. It was a lot of fun to write. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 113)
The episode's final draft script was submitted on 14 February 1997 . [2] (X)

Cast and characters [ ]

Actress Martha Hackett appreciated the reappearance of her role of Seska in this episode, that character having recurred in Star Trek: Voyager 's first two seasons. Hackett said of this episode, " Even when I had been off the show for a season and, you know, we pretty much thought Seska had disappeared, there she was. She came back to haunt them – in a very clever way, I thought – when they brought [her] back as a hologram. And […] you know, it was kind of fun to go back to that, [to] bring all those storylines back up again. " ( VOY Season 3 DVD special features) Hackett also commented, " I thought it was great that she thought ahead and planned something that would mess with people even after she wasn't around. " [3]
Not only did Martha Hackett like the way in which this episode brought back the character of Seska, but the actress also enjoyed appearing in the installment. " I was really pleased when they invited me back. I thought it would be great fun, " she remembered. " It was really nice to go back and the cast were all very welcoming. Also, it was enough time after I'd had my baby, so I felt myself again and was more free to work. I had worked just after I had my son, but a bit too soon afterwards, and it was a little stressful. This episode was good timing. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 34 , p. 40)
Janeway actress Kate Mulgrew counted this as one of her eight favorite installments of Star Trek: Voyager 's third season. ( The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine issue 14 , p. 32)
The episode was also pleasant for Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill , who said that he " really enjoyed the episode with Tuvok, 'Worst Case Scenario', " and related that the reason he found this episode to be " a lot of fun " (in common with the two-parter " Future's End " and " Future's End, Part II ") was due to " a comic side that comes out of both of us [ meaning himself and Tuvok actor Tim Russ ] when we share the screen." ( Star Trek Monthly issue 37 , p. 44)
Jennifer Lien ( Kes ) appears in this episode only as a hologram, with the same hairstyle she sports for most of the first three seasons.

Production [ ]

During the making of this episode, at least two flubs were made. One was while filming the scene wherein the real Paris notifies Chakotay that Holo-Paris and Janeway are returning to the ship. After Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill gave Chakotay actor Robert Beltran this news, Beltran paused and then, breaking character, asked McNeill, " How do you know? " to which the cast and crew erupted into laughter. The other was during filming of the scene in which Tuvok is shot by Chakotay; Tuvok actor Tim Russ dramatically over-performed his reaction to being shot. These outtakes were included in the UPN special Ultimate Trek: Star Trek's Greatest Moments .

Reception [ ]

Ken Biller was ultimately delighted with his script for this episode. He noted, " This is maybe my favorite script of all time. " Biller also liked, in this episode, the performances of some members of Voyager 's main cast. He remarked, " I think [it] really shows off some of the actors in our cast who are very strong with comedy. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 113)
This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 4.0 million homes, and a 6% share. It was the least watched installment of Star Trek: Voyager 's third season (on first airing). [4] (X)
Nevertheless, Martha Hackett believed that the reappearance of Seska in this episode had fan support. The actress noted about the fact that Seska is brought back as a hologram, " That's something the fans appreciated. " ( VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
Cinefantastique rated this episode 3 and a half out of 4 stars. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 113)
Star Trek Magazine scored this episode 3 out of 5 stars, defined as "Warp Speed". ( Star Trek Monthly issue 32 , p. 93)
The unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 187) gives this installment a rating of 8 out of 10.

Continuity and trivia [ ]

This episode represents a follow-up to the tension between the Maquis and Starfleet crews that was apparent through many episodes of the first season, notably " Parallax ", " State of Flux " and " Learning Curve ". Although Tuvok does not reveal exactly when he wrote the holonovel, it is likely to have been before " State of Flux ", in which Seska is revealed to be Cardassian and leaves the ship.
This episode is both the twelfth Voyager installment to feature the character of Seska and the second Season 3 episode to do so, she having died in the third season premiere " Basics, Part II ". Owing to the way in which that episode ends, Martha Hackett was initially unsure whether her character of Seska would return after it. She later explained, " I always thought that they could bring me back in some incarnation. You know how it is in Star Trek – if you die, you can come back! But on the other hand, it wasn't exactly a cliff-hanger with Seska. So it could have gone either way. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 34 , p. 40) Following her inclusion in this episode, Seska would reappear once more, in the seventh season episode " Shattered ".
When Seska returns in this episode, she is in holographic form and with her Bajoran disguise, having looked Bajoran in all of her episodic appearances of Season 1 . However, the holographic Seska also slightly differs, in appearance, from how the actual Seska ever looked. " We […] see Seska in an incarnation we had never really seen her in before, " Martha Hackett commented. " They changed everything – her hair and costume – because it's her creation in the hologram. " ( Star Trek Monthly issue 34 , p. 40)
Seska left the ship shortly after stardate 48658.2 (in the first season episode " State of Flux ") but, according to Torres in this episode, Seska modified the holo-program on stardate 48671. This is only possible if the events of " State of Flux " transpired over the course of several days, though it is reasonable that Seska would choose that time to modify the program, if she thought there was a chance she would be caught.
A reference to the events of the series premiere " Caretaker " is made in this episode, when the holographic Chakotay cites Janeway's order to destroy the Caretaker's array as one of the reasons for taking over the ship.
This is the sixth and final episode to feature the recurring character of Michael Jonas , although only his voice is heard here, and as part of a holographic program (the character died in " Investigations "). According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 186), the performer who voiced Michael Jonas in this episode was not Raphael Sbarge – the actor who regularly portrayed Jonas.
When Paris and Tuvok are discussing new ideas for a holonovel, Torres and Janeway suggest a Western or a detective story. These suggestions may be in reference to Captain Picard 's Dixon Hill (from Star Trek: First Contact as well as from episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation ), a Western program in which Worf and Alexander participate (in TNG : " A Fistful of Datas ") and the conceptual origins of the Gothic Janeway Lambda One mystery holonovel (which appears in " Cathexis ", " Learning Curve ", and " Persistence of Vision " but was originally intended to be a Western in " Eye of the Needle ").
Reference to 47 : At the staff briefing, Chakotay says that the program has been used "47 times by 33 different crew members." Also, Tuvok's security clearance code – used for accessing the "Insurrection Alpha" program, and also for attempting to cancel the self-destruct of the holographic Voyager – is "four-seven-seven-four".
This episode resembles DS9 : " Civil Defense " in that the crew, in both cases, triggers an old computer program which (1) they are unable to shut down and (2) is threatening to kill (in this episode, some of) them. However, the computer program here is meant for members of the crew while, in the case of "Civil Defense", it is a defense system left over from the Cardassian occupation , meant to be triggered in case of a Bajoran uprising at Terok Nor .
This episode features the fourth of nine times that Kathryn Janeway 's death is depicted over the course of the series. Previous episodes that depict this include " Time and Again ", " Deadlock ", and " Before and After ". On this occasion, the version of Janeway that succumbs to death is a holographic recreation, and the cause of death is a booby-trapped phaser rifle which triggers when she attempts to use it.
The holonovel features a Class 2 shuttle , though such a shuttle would not appear until the second-season episode " Threshold ", long after the holonovel would have been written.

Apocrypha [ ]

Tuvok's program is referenced in the story "Command Code" (by Robert Greenberger ) from the tenth anniversary compilation Distant Shores . The story indicates that Tuvok reconsidered the program, following an incident involving a species called the Dresh, in which he temporarily disabled Chakotay's command codes in the belief that Chakotay was reverting to Maquis methods in a crisis before Chakotay's counter-argument helped Tuvok recognize that Chakotay had played by the book as much as possible. He estimated that he had only completed what he assumed to be a quarter of the scenario.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video ): Volume 3.13, 20 October 1997
As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway / Kathryn Janeway (hologram)

Also Starring [ ]

Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay / Chakotay (hologram)
Roxann Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres / B'Elanna Torres (hologram)
Jennifer Lien as Kes / Kes (hologram)
Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris / Tom Paris (hologram)
Ethan Phillips as Neelix / Neelix (hologram)
Robert Picardo as The Doctor / The Doctor
Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok / Tuvok (hologram)
Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim / Harry Kim (hologram)

Guest Star [ ]

Martha Hackett as Seska (hologram)

Co-Star [ ]

Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

References [ ]

47 ; 2372 ; all hands ; amusement ; auxiliary database ; away mission ; bearing ; Bolian ; booby trap ; brig ; Caretaker's array ; Cargo Bay 1 ; cc ; Class 2 shuttle ( hologram ); coffee ; compression phaser rifle ; computer log ; conspirator ; counterstrike ; date ; decryption protocol ; detective story ; deus ex machina ; Dictates of Poetics ; dilithium matrix ; duty roster ; emotion ; EPS conduit ; Federation ; fiction ; force field ( electrostatic force field ); frying pan ; headache ; heart ; holofiction ; holomatrix ; holonovel ; holodeck ; holodeck safety protocol ; hour ; insurrection ; Insurrection Alpha ; internal sensors ; Intrepid class decks ; intruder alert ; jack-in-the-box ; Jefferies tube ; junior officer ; kill setting ; kiss ; leader ; literary device ; logic ; Maquis ; Mister Vulcan ; mutineer ; mutiny ; narrative parameters file ; narrative subroutine ; nitric acid ; parody ; phaser ; phaser burn ; plasma extinguisher ; plasma fire ; plasma manifold ; plot ; plot twist ; pool ; practical joke ; privacy ; quarters ; rebel ; red alert ; relay access port ; rodent ; romance novel ; Rukani ; Rukani sector ; Rukani vessel ; rumba ; sabotage ; Sandrine's ; sarcasm ; self-destruct ; security officer ; senior officer ; Starfleet Regulations ; Starfleet uniform ; story ; stun setting ; tactical training ; T'Hain ; title ; toast ; training program ; transporter ; Transporter Room 1 and 2 ; turbolift ; Vulcan ; Vulcan (planet) ; week ; Western ; writer's block

External links [ ]

"Worst Case Scenario" at StarTrek.com
" Worst Case Scenario " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
" Worst Case Scenario " at Wikipedia
" "Worst Case Scenario" " at MissionLogPodcast.com , a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
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Star Trek: Voyager – Worst Case Scenario (Review)

Worst Case Scenario is a flawed episode of Star Trek: Voyager . It is also breathtakingly ambitious.

There is a strong argument to be made that Worst Case Scenario is the strongest Star Trek script ever written by Kenneth Biller. It is a story about storytelling, using the holodeck as a jumping off point for all sorts of self-reflective commentary on the sort of creative compromises necessary to get an episode of television (and in particular an episode of Voyager ) on the air. It also benefits from a cracking starting premise, a wonderful opening act, and some playful direction from Alexander Singer. All of these elements help to distract from obvious weaknesses.

Rebel, rebel.

Worst Case Scenario has a number of serious flaws. It makes very little sense from a logical perspective, with the script guilty of many of the criticisms that Tuvok makes of Paris’ approach to the craft of writing. The ending is rushed. The episode owes a sizable debt to Our Man Bashir , a much stronger episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine that used the holodeck to make similar (and more convincing) arguments about the nature of storytelling. Like many good-but-not-great Voyager episodes, Worst Case Scenario refuses to follow its ideas to their conclusions.

And yet, in spite of all of these issues, Worst Case Scenario is an endearing and playful piece of television. It is far too chaotic and unfocused to rank with the best of the franchise, but it is distinctive enough to stick in the memory without ever being embarrassing.

It’s all up to you.

The storytelling logic in Worst Case Scenario is loose, even by the standards that Voyager applies to concepts like characterisation or motivation. This is most obvious in the second half, when Worst Case Scenario is obligated to generate some stakes by turning the mutiny holonovel at the centre of the episode into a death trap that has been hijacked by holo! Seska. Of course, Seska is the most logical choice for that plot function; Lon Suder was not so sadistic in his violence, while Jonas was hardly the most convincing antagonist. However, it still makes no sense.

To be fair, Voyager was never a show particularly invested in characterisation. Seska is a prime example of this. In the first season, Seska had a reasonably consistent sense of motivation. In episodes like Prime Factors and State of Flux , Seska was defined as a character willing to do whatever it took to get home quickly. However, later episodes quickly lost any sense of direction for the character. She proved happy to remain with the Kazon Nistrim, while becoming monomaniacally fixated upon becoming Chakotay’s baby mama in Manoeuvres .

Well, hey. At least Seska’s hugely improbable attraction to Chakotay remains consistent.

Even looking beyond Seska, Voyager arguably has the most hazily-defined ensemble of the three twenty-fourth century Star Trek shows. Janeway’s personality is notorious fickle, prone to pivot on the whim of a plot. Tuvok is a stock Vulcan. Harry Kim never evolves past the factory settings of “young” , “inexperienced” and “insecure.” The decision in the third season to tone down the more stereotypical New Age Native American characterisation of Chakotay was a good decision. However, the writing staff never bothered to develop anything in its stead.

In fact, the militant and mutinous holo! Chakotay presented in Worst Case Scenario does not seem like a jarring contrast to the regular version of the character. Three seasons into the show, almost half-way to the end, Chakotay is still so hazily defined that it is entirely possible that he might be motivated by the logic that the ends could justify the means. Tellingly, the real Chakotay objects more vocally to his plot function than to his characterisation. “I don’t care what kind of story it is, as long as I’m not the bad guy this time,” he reflects on the possibility of a follow-up.

Well, to be fair, holo! Chakotay is a lot more exciting.

Even allowing for all of this, the characterisation of Seska in Worst Case Scenario makes no sense. Once the holonovel begins spiralling out of control, Torres discovers that Seska made the changes “about a month before she left the ship.” To be clear, these are changes that are designed to murder the Chief of Security in the most ridiculously showy manner possible. As soon as Tuvok trips that particular trap, everybody on the ship knows what is happening. The bridge lights up, and the crew are locked out.

Seska did not plan to abandon Voyager in State of Flux . In fact, her original plan seemed to be to remain on the ship while passing technology to the Kazon in return for support. Seska only defected to the Kazon when her treachery was discovered. With all of that in mind, why would Seska do something like this? Murdering Tuvok would most likely lead to her exposure, particularly given the way that holo! Seska brags so brazenly and ridiculously about it. It is fun to imagine what might have happened had Tuvok walked into the trap while Seska was still on board.

She certainly knows how to make an entrance.

After all, there is some suggestion that Seska was willing to do serious damage to the ship as part of her revenge upon Tuvok. She rigs the holographic ship to self-destruct, which in turn sets the holodeck to explode. “I don’t know how she rigged it, Captain,” Torres reports, “but when she ordered the self-destruct it initiated an overload in the holodeck power relays. The whole grid is going to blow.” What the hell is the point of all of this? Why would Seska do such a thing?

According to Worst Case Scenario , Seska is motivated by the treatment of the Maquis in the holonovel, feeling betrayed by Tuvok’s suggestion that they are inherently untrustworthy or mutinous. It is an understandable sentiment. Tuvok even alludes to it in the briefing, warning his fellow officers, “The programme has the potential to incite animosity among the crew and must be permanently deleted.” It is surprising that Chakotay is so relaxed about his portrayal in the programme, given that Tuvok betrayed him to the Federation.

Maq-ing the Maquis.

Seska makes this argument when she confronts Paris and Tuvok. “I would have thought all that time you spent spying on us might have given you a little more insight into the Maquis,” she teases, “but after looking over what you’ve already written, I can see you need a little help.” It is not the most elegant motivation, but it works reasonably well in isolation. Except, of course, that Seska was never a true believer in the Maquis. Seska was a Cardassian spy sent to infiltrate Chakotay’s cell, to betray him to her government.

Worst Case Scenario draws Seska in the broadest possible terms. In fact, she seems to be the antagonist of the episode because she is the closest thing that Voyager has to an iconic antagonistic figure. It does not matter that her motivations do not really fit the needs or demands of the plot. Seska can be shoehorned into the role of baddie because she fits that archetypal template. Seska was never a particularly nuanced or complicated character, but Worst Case Scenario is invested in the most two-dimensional version imaginable.

“Well, the image buffering is working, but the personality still can’t be rendered in three dimensions.”

Indeed, there’s a sense that the episode just really needs the audience to go along with it. Martha Hackett embraced the ridiculousness of her resurrection :

“I thought it was great that she thought ahead and planned something that would mess with people even after she wasn’t around,” Hackett said of the episode “Worst Case Scenario,” which resurrected her character in her original Bajoran guise. “There could have been more of that all along, every time there was a problem on the ship – ‘Oh, there she goes again!'”

Seska is very much a round peg being forced into a square hole. Her motivations are inessential. Worst Case Scenario needs an antagonist. Seska is an antagonist. So, she fills the role. It does not matter how awkwardly.

Janeway or the highway.

Then again, it feels very much like this might be the point of the exercise. About midway though Worst Case Scenario , Tuvok and Paris have a conversation about story construction. Discussing his plans for the next story beat, Paris suggests, “Well, I was thinking, Paris and Janeway retake the ship, and then she decides to execute all the conspirators.” Tuvok balks at the idea. “That is an entirely implausible plot development. Captain Janeway would never behave in such an inhumane manner.” It is a statement that seems hilarious after Equinox, Part II .

Still, assuming that this observation is true of Janeway’s character at this moment, Paris does not buy that as a reason not to tell the story. “This isn’t real life, Tuvok,” he insists. “It’s fiction.” Naturally, Tuvok disagrees. “Logic is an integral part of narrative structure,” he states. “According to the Dictates of Poetics by T’hain of Vulcan, a character’s actions must flow inexorably from his or her established traits.” Paris counters, “Well, I don’t know anything about T’hain, but I do know what makes an interesting story, and that’s unexpected plot twists.”

Actually, more like Chakotay or the highway…

It feels like a conversation that has taken place inside the writers’ room on Voyager on several occasions. In each case, it seems like the writers have aligned with Paris more than Tuvok. In fact, the second half of Worst Case Scenario repeatedly mocks Tuvok for his storytelling affectations. When Neelix objects to his characterisation, Paris taunts, “Tuvok, did you forget to follow the Dictates of Poetics?” Once holo! Seska starts hunting them, Paris quips, “So, Tuvok, anything in the Dictates of Poetics about how to escape from a ship full of insane holograms?”

It goes without saying that Paris and Tuvok represent a false dichotomy. It is entirely possible for a plot twist to catch the audience by surprise and be entirely true to character. Christopher Nolan films are frequently built around such developments, which serve to enrich the narratives on returning to them. Even within Deep Space Nine , there are a number of big twists that are entirely in keeping with character motivation. Garak’s torture of Odo in The Die is Cast . Dukat’s betrayal of the Alpha Quadrant in By Inferno’s Light . Odo’s betrayal of Rom in Behind the Lines .

Taking his (Nee)lix…

Worst Case Scenario frequently feels like a commentary on how the writing staff approach writing for Voyager . The production team seem to align much more closely with Paris than with Tuvok. When Tuvok suggests mapping out an arc of where the story might possibly go, Paris rejects the idea out of hand. “I told you, Tuvok. I’m just making it up as I go,” he insists. “We cannot proceed without a carefully constructed outline,” Tuvok counters. However, the climax of the episode quickly devolves into a series of panicked rewrites racing towards an ending.

As with so many other Voyager episodes, Paris and Tuvok are repeatedly assisted by contrivance and convenience: an extinguisher appearing exactly when needed, a perfectly-timed alien attack, a weapons locker stacked with goodies. It recalls the techno-babble-driven solutions to other episodes like Favourite Son or Displaced . Sitting around a mess hall table at the end of the episode, in what might be the show’s most self-aware moment, Janeway toasts, “Who says deus ex machina is an outdated literary device?” It’s surprising there is not a literal reset button.

All (re)set.

To be fair, Tuvok eventually defeats holo! Seska by using weaponised irony and deploying a well-timed Chekov’s Gun. After holo! Seska murders holo! Janeway by sabotaging a phaser rifle, Tuvok boomerangs the trick back around on her. “Seska’s not the only one who knows how to cause a phaser malfunction,” he observes. It is a smarter (and more earned) ending than most Voyager episodes. However, the story still leans on the contrivance that defeating holo! Seska ends the story. (It seems more likely she would have rigged the holodeck to blow in that event.)

To be fair, Worst Case Scenario makes very clever use of the holodeck. Too frequently, the holodeck is treated as an excuse to have the cast play dress-up for a week while the writers get to play with the imagery and iconography of other genres. The best holodeck stories use the science-fiction concept to play with bigger ideas, like artificial intelligence in Elementary, Dear Data or the nature of reality in Ship in a Bottle . It is refreshing to see the Star Trek stand-by used as a commentary on storytelling.

Talk about a hot ending.

As Zoë Sofoulis argues in Smart Spaces @ The Final Frontier , the episode makes great use of the holodeck as a metaphor for storytelling:

The meta-televisuality of the holodeck was brought out particularly acutely in an episode titled Worst Case Scenario near the end of Star Trek: Voyager’s third season, where the crew get involved in playing, then rescripting, an unfinished holonovel of a mutiny on Voyager featuring all the regular crew and secretly written by the security officer Tuvok as a training exercise. In support of the crew’s involvement in this diversion Captain janeway makes a speech about the importance of entertainment, culture and the arts, which resonates directly with the viewer’s own experience of watching Star Trek as entertainment. Various versions of the mutiny scenario are played out, and characters comment and criticise the way their scripts have been written, much as real actors would do with actual Star Trek scripts. Then the scenario turns dangerous once Tuvok gets in to finish the story, because the maquis saboteur Seska has completed the scenario in a way that puts the safety protocols off-line and threatens to kill Tuvok and Paris who is assisting him. “Who says deus ex machina is outmoded?” Janeway remarks, as she frantically scrambles to rewrite Seska’s narrative and script helpful events and tools into the story to save the two members of the crew.

In fact, at one point in the episode, Janeway and Torres are shown to be watching the drama play out on a small monitor that resembles a television screen.

How will Tom and Tuvok get out of this one?

Of course, the holodeck is not a perfect metaphor for television storytelling. In some ways, it seems better suited as a metaphor for more emersive narratives like video games. Indeed, there are several moments in Worst Case Scenario that seem to allude to the stylistic sensibilities of video games. There is a branching structure to the narrative, as evidenced by the differences in the story experienced by Paris and Torres. There are heavily-scripted dialogue and plot exposition scenes between the action. There is instructional text directing the player to the armoury to stock up.

Worst Case Scenario consciously alludes to these ideas. The characters talk about resetting the narrative to play out alternate scenarios. “I’ve decided to take B’Elanna’s advice and replay the holonovel, this time as a full-fledged member of Chakotay’s team of mutineers,” Paris reflects. “I hope it turns out better than before.” In the messhall, Neelix offers, “Chakotay caught me, phasered me, and the programme reset. Next time, I’m going to pretend to go along with the conspirators and then stage a counterstrike.”

All fired up.

The episode is structured to be repetitive, as Torres and Paris play through the same basic premise in different ways. There is the suggestion of loops and narrative choke-points, as if there are certain hardcoded storybeats that cannot be prevented by the player. There is even a fleeting suggestion of the amorality of this emersive storytelling. After all, Worst Case Scenario plays through a mutiny scenario – a scenario that runs largely counter to the franchise’s utopian philosophy.

In discussing their approach to the game, Paris and Torres debate the relative merits of siding with the mutineers. In what could possibly be read as a character-based decisions, Torres hesitates before siding with Chakotay while Paris makes a big show of being a rebel before aligning himself with Janeway. In fact, Tuvok even aligns the holographic version of Paris with Janeway, suggesting that the former jailbird is actually a boy scout in disguise. However, the crew also understand that these decisions are in theory value-neutral, having no consequences outside the game.

Paris is a little yellow this time around.

“You should have tried going along with the mutiny from the beginning,” Torres urges Tom. “It’s much more fun.” It should be noted that Worst Case Scenario was released in the mid-nineties, around the time that violence in video games was coming to public attention. The Entertainment Software Rating Board had been formed by the industry in 1994 as an attempt to pre-emptively block external regulation . The video game Phantasmagoria had generated no shortage of controversy on its release in 1995 . Mortal Kombat was a lightning rod of controversy .

Things were about to get even more heated. Following the school shootings at Columbine and Heath High Schools later in the decade, the morality of video games would become a heated and controversial subject . Jack Thompson would file lawsuits trying to hold video game companies responsible for the actions committed by teenagers who had played their products . The release of the Grand Theft Auto video game series would open up a new front in the culture war . As such, the dispassionate approach that Voyager adopts to these moral choices is quite compelling.

Press “Ctrl + F” for Grand Theft Starship.

It is important not to overstate how eager Worst Case Scenario is to embrace (or even explore) the amoral world of video gaming. This is not Westworld , after all. There seems to be an unspoken assumption that the only “proper” ending to the adventure has Janeway retaking the ship; Tuvok’s first draft ends with her return while Paris’ first thought is to have Janeway assume command and brutally punish her opponents. Still, the script’s willingness to accept that the moral choices in a video game are part of the fun feels progressive in the context of the nineties.

Still, while there are elements of Worst Case Scenario that play as broad commentary on the nature of video games, the episode feels very much like an exploration of the writing style on Voyager . In some respects, the episode is at once a critique and a defence of the way that the production team have approached the show in its first three seasons. Indeed, the entire basis of the holonovel is an exploration of the squandered promise of Voyager ‘s basic premise, the tension that existed between the Starfleet and Maquis crew.

Little Kim.

In fact, Tuvok claims to have been inspired by the possibility of this sort of tension on the ship. “When you first invited the Maquis to join our crew, I believed that mutiny was a very real possibility,” Tuvok explains to Janeway. “With that in mind, I began to write a training programme for junior security officers to prepare them for such an eventuality.” Indeed, there were a number of early first season episodes that dealt with that tension; Parallax and Prime Factors both flirted with the possibility.

However, Voyager very quickly integrated its two crews and smoothed down the rough edges. Tuvok did not even get time to finish his story. “As the two crews began to work together, I concluded that the threat of an insurrection was increasingly unlikely,” he acknowledges. Given that Tuvok last accessed the file before Seska sabotaged it about a month before her departure in State of Flux , it seems likely that Tuvok reached that conclusion less than half-way through the first season. That feels about right.

Holding the crew to Ransom.

holo! Chakotay criticises the direction of Voyager . He promises, “You’ll be part of a crew that’s going to do whatever it takes to get us home as fast as possible. Under my command, we won’t let almighty Federation principles get in the way of opportunities the way Janeway did when she destroyed the array that could have gotten us home. And we won’t be wasting precious time stopping to investigate every insignificant anomaly that we come across. What we will do is use any means necessary to acquire technology that can shorten our journey.”

These are all very valid charges against the creative decisions made early in Voyager ‘s run. holo! Chakotay points out that there was never any debate about compromise or pragmatism when it comes to the ship’s situation. holo! Chakotay even draws attention to the series’ over-reliance on the stock “anomaly of the week” shows and the lack of emphasis on the basic premise of the series. Voyager is a show that never feels like it actually explored its core premise or its raw potential. holo! Chakotay takes the creators to task for this.

Chakotay is A-Okay!

Robert Beltran would be proud . The irony is that the rebellious and assertive version of Chakotay presented in Worst Case Scenario is much more compelling than the stock character who spurs exposition every other week. Beltran does not have the same raw charisma and charm that Jonathan Frakes used to stretch Riker beyond his two-dimensional origins, but he can play the cheeky and feckless rogue presented in Worst Case Scenario . The episode demonstrates that Chakotay’s biggest problem lies with the character’s direction more than the actor.

Indeed, Worst Case Scenario even seems to tease out the tense relationship that existed between the writers and the cast on the show. When Tuvok and Paris agree to write the ending to the holonovel, they find themselves beset by suggestions from their crewmates. Neelix is particularly self-centred. “He would never betray the Captain the way he does in that story,” Neelix insists. “No offence, Mister Vulcan, but I don’t think you understand my character very well.” Later, he proposes a new story “about a daring trader who becomes a cook on a starship.”

Author, Author.

This obviously reflects the awkward dialogue that would unfold between the creative staff and the performers working on the series. Robert Beltran has not pulled any punches in condemning the writers for various decisions they have made . Garrett Wang has been similarly blunt in his assessment of his relationship with the powers that be . Even Kate Mulgrew had a very strong and visceral reaction to the decision to add Seven of Nine to the cast at the start of the fourth season . There is a sense that the dynamic on Voyager could be quite tense.

However, as much as Worst Case Scenario is a criticism of Voyager or an exploration of various tensions, it is ultimately also a vindication for the writers’ approach to the show. Ultimately, Paris is proven correct. Logic and internal consistency are revealed to be secondary to the demands of the plot. Lazy writing is justified by necessity. In fact, Janeway is forced to re-write the programme coming down to a literal deadline, perhaps capturing the experience (and the inelegance) of writing for television.

Bringing Voyager low.

In some ways, Worst Case Scenario feels almost like a celebration of fan fiction. It is an episode in which the lead characters seem excited at being coopted and reimagined through the lens of what Torres describes as a “what if” , or what comic book fans might call an “elseworld” , or what genre fans would consider an “alternate universe.” Far from being outraged that some stranger has written a story using their likenesses and character traits, the senior staff seem to endorse the possibility.

“I’m more than just a Captain,” Janeway states in defence of holonovel. “I’m the leader of a community, and communities need entertainment, culture, creative outlets. Since we’re not exactly privy to every new piece of music or holonovel that’s written back home, I think it’s only natural that we should start creating our own.” It reads almost as a defence of the way that certain writer appropriate characters in the public domain or through fan fiction, using them to give voices to perspectives or communities often overlooked; like female or LGBT fans .

“Okay. You can write it Tom. But no slash.”

It should also be noted that the use of the holonovel within Worst Case Scenario solidifies a trend within Voyager . Much like Distant Origin , there is a sense that Worst Case Scenario hints at a motif that will soon become recurring. In Distant Origin , it was the idea of the story told from a perspective outside of the primary characters. In Worst Case Scenario , it is the concept of a story featuring copies or duplicates or doppelgangers of the original cast. Indeed, these two types of stories would occasionally overlap, as in Living Witness or Course: Oblivion .

The holonovel in Worst Case Scenario features holographic counterparts of the primary cast, copies of our regular characters that arguably play a much larger role in the story than any of the “flesh and blood” lead characters except for Tom Paris himself. Over its seven year run, Voyager becomes increasingly fixated with copies and replicas and interpretations of the lead characters. It frequently seems like the universe is populated with imitations and photocopies of the crew, to the point that it is hard to know what the “real” crew actually is.

The hard cell.

Deadlock was very much ground zero for that narrative trend. That second season episode featured two versions of the eponymous ship staffed by two identical crews, culminating in two versions of Janeway going head-to-head. However, the Voyager crew would spawn historical replicas in Living Witness , a cloned ship in Demon , con artist impersonators in Live Fast and Prosper , theatrical tributes in Muse , and holonovel characters in Author, Author . This is without getting into time-displaced copies, like the future! Janeway in Endgame .

While Deep Space Nine would visit the mirror universe roughly once a year, the show’s sense of time and reality never seemed quite as fragile as that on Voyager . In many ways, Voyager was a show rooted in the nineties zeitgeist, and part of that seemed to be a recurring anxiety about the nature of its existence. Voyager suggested that reality was a malleable construct, prone to distortion or manipulation in episodes as diverse as Projections , Year of Hell, Part I , Year of Hell, Part II and Latent Image .

Tuvok and roll.

Film and television were fixated upon this idea of a mediated and distorted reality. The Matrix is very much the poster child for this nineties fascination, but Randy Laist puts it in a broader cultural context :

Even though each of these cyberpunk narratives establishes its own mythology of how reality is structured, taken as a whole, the proliferation of these films suggests an increasing cultural inquiry into the phenomenological issues associated with a new kind of mediated reality. Another cinematic trend within which we can position The Matrix is that of ironic meta-movies, movies that self-consciously incorporate their status as pop-cultural products into their own thematic and narrative structure, such as The Brady Bunch Movie and its sequel, A Very Brady Sequel, Scream and its sequels, the Pierce Brosnan instalments of the James Bond franchise — GoldenEye, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day — and South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut. The defining feature of this subgenre is that the films’ characters inhabit a reality that has the ontological status of a television show or film. These films reflect a situation similar to that depicted in Pleasantville and The Truman Show, in which human reality has become “televisualised”, depleted of the existential and humanist values associated with the classical understanding of reality and reorganised according to the values of mass-media culture. Encompassing both the cyberpunk films and the meta-movies is a wider cultural-cinematic trend of films that engage in one way or another with the Baudrillardian theme of the implosion of reality and representation. Seminal films of “the long 1990s”, such as JFK, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, True Lies , The Player, Jurassic Park, Natural Born Killers, Forrest Gump, Pulp Fiction, Face/Off, Fight Club, and Being John Malkovich, all engage with the problems and possibilities associated with the new style of reality that emerges following the collapse of the Cold War and the advent of simulacral technologies such as cloning, virtual reality and digitisation. Considered from within the context of these prevailing trends, The Matrix clearly holds a privileged place in the canon of 1990s hyperreality cinema.

Episodes like Distant Origin suggest that Voyager is fascinated with the idea of storytelling. Worst Case Scenario takes that idea one step further and suggests Voyager is fascinated with the idea of its own storytelling.

“I have some very strong feelings about Janeway’s direction as a character.”

In fact, it is worth comparing Worst Case Scenario to Our Man Bashir . Both are holodeck episodes that consciously play with the idea of storytelling. Indeed, Worst Case Scenario even borrows several cues from Our Man Bashir . It casts the ensemble in supporting roles as holodeck characters. It even has characters interrupt one another during their private time on the holodeck. “Are you in the habit of just walking in on people’s private holodeck time?” Torres demands. Paris responds, “We had a lunch date, remember?” Very Bashir, and very Garak.

However, both holodeck episodes speak to the perspective of the individual shows. Our Man Bashir is very much an episode about subverting the genre clichés and the expectations of this sort of story, much like Deep Space Nine was willing to subvert the expectations of a Star Trek series. In contrast, Worst Case Scenario is a collection of energetic plot developments thrown together with little regard for logic and with a fair convenient “deus ex machina” , much like the average episode of Voyager .

Deus without end.

To be fair, Worst Case Scenario has a lot going for it even beyond these cheeky postmodern reflections. In an interview with Cinefantastique , Kenneth Biller acknowledged that the episode was a lot of fun to write:

I won’t say it’s an out-and-out comedy. It ultimately has some serious jeopardy to a couple of the characters, but it’s a comic musing on the creative process. It operates on a lot of different levels. It’s a little inside stuff about the creation of the show, the process of writing for Star Trek, and the interaction between the actors who we write for, and the writing staff. It was a lot of fun to write.

That sense of fun and adventure shines through in Worst Case Scenario , particularly when contrasted with something as soul-numbingly dull as Displaced . It seems like a forty-five minute episode that was fun to air.

The write stuff.

There is a playfulness to the teleplay. Most notably, the episode waits until the end of the first act to confirm that it is actually a holonovel, although most astute observers will have figured it out by that point. Much like the decision to keep the first act of Distant Origin away from the title starship, Worst Case Scenario ‘s willingness to wait so long before hitting the words “computer, freeze programme” speaks to an endearing confidence. Voyager spends far too much time compromising for its audience with scripts like Macrocosm or Darkling . This confidence is reassuring.

In fact, the first act of Worst Case Scenario is genuinely brilliant. Without providing clumsy exposition or voiceover, there is a slowly building sense of “wrongness.” There is a weird feeling of discontinuity to the dialogue and the action, based on what the audience knows of the crew at this point in the run. Why isn’t Torres wearing her rank insignia? How could this possibly be considered Chakotay’s first time in command? Why are Maquis tensions suddenly an issue now? Why is Seska there? Why did Seska refer to Torres as a “Starfleet” crewmember?

Hard to pin down.

Is this an alternate universe? Are the crew being affected by a strange interstellar phenomenon? For anybody paying any real attention “holodeck episode” quickly becomes the only possibility, and Worst Case Scenario confirms that theory at just the right moment. These little elements might seem frustrating if stretched over a single episode. However, it comes just late enough for the audience to feel smart for figuring it out, and just early enough that the plot can continue from that starting premise.

Even when the climax of the episode devolves into a silly little run-around, the script moves quickly enough that it is never boring. More than that, director Alexander Singer keeps the plot ticking over. Even when the holonovel’s introductory sequence plays on repeat for Paris, Singer finds a variety of new angles and tweaks the action just enough that it never becomes dull or lifeless. It is a credit to all involved that Worst Case Scenario flows so smoothly. Voyager has messed up the execution of much simpler story ideas in episodes like Rise .

Breaking out of the box.

Worst Case Scenario suffers from a lack of sense or coherence, which is appropriate for an episode offering a commentary on the production of Voyager . At the same time, it is energetic enough (and fun enough) that it can get past these limitations, which feels like it captures the best possible interpretation of Voyager .

You might be interested in our other reviews from the third season of Star Trek: Voyager :

Basics, Part II
False Profits
Sacred Ground
Future’s End, Part I
Future’s End, Part II
The Q and the Grey
Blood Fever
Favourite Son
Before and After
Distant Origin
Worst Case Scenario
Scorpion, Part I

8 Responses

Martha Hackett is great. I know the character was underwritten, but she milks every scene with her great facial expressions. See her crocodile grin when she says the holodeck has “been sealed”.

I never laugh watching the show, largely because the characters are as funny as a tumor. But the mere thought of Neelix coming at you (with a flaming hot iron) makes me chuckle every time. Tom was amusing in this episodes, too. The holodeck episodes always see him at his best.

I don’t know. I kinda laughed at Tuvok murdering Neelix in Meld.

But then, that might just be me.

Martha Hacket was not too pleased with the way Seska was killed off at the start of the season, so she returns at the end of it in what seems like an attempt by the writers to redress the balance. I have to say that Worst Case Scenario is a much more satisfying swan song for Seska and it certainly was for Hacket. You can see how much fun she’s having as she gets to do her departure from the show all over again and this time gets it right (she also suits the new hairdo much better than her S1 do).

Although WCS is not really intended to be more than a bit of late season filler, it emerges as one of S3’s better episodes. Seska’s not a bland antagonist like the Nyrians (who must rank as one of Trek’s most anonymous villains) and Martha Hacket gleefully chews on the scenery as she gets to stage her own takeover of Voyager (how many times has that happened this year?), even if it’s just a holographic one. I liked all of the little S1 touches and changes in perspective to the program as it feels like a nostalgic throwback to Voyager’s early years before the sweeping changes of S4.

Seska’s trap buried within the narrative is really the equivalent of an Easter Egg (I kept expecting something else to happen if I stayed through the end credits), which we’ve seen in similar episodes like Ship in a Bottle, Civil Defense, Babel and Badda-Bing, Badda-Bang. And Tom and Tuvok’s adventures on the Holodeck are as fun as they’re shared adventure in Future’s End. Yeah, Worst Case Scenario may be just trying to clear away some of the clutter before season’s end, so it’s ironic its one of S3’s more wholly enjoyable episodes.

Yep. It’s not particularly brilliant, but it’s fun. And that sense of fun carries the episode surprisingly far.

As much as I tend to love Voyager at its goofiest, it proved to be too far of a stretch for me to accept the idea that most of the crew, much less their captain, would be anything but apprehensive with people on the ship living out a detailed fantasy where the Maquis and Starfleet crew members ended up in a shooting war with each other over a conflict that was only a few years old and still very fresh in most crew members’ minds.

Sure, the show abandoned the series-long conflict that might have grown out of its split-crew concept, and while that decision squandered one of the biggest points of interest available to it at the premiere, it’s possible to accept that, within the fictional world of the series, nearly everyone aboard circled the wagons real quick in mutual defense of the ship.

But… just a few short years later, still trapped decades of travel away from everyone and everything they knew, that the Maquis crew would want to be reminded that the ship’s security officer betrayed all of them, then planned their defeat as mutineers by running his officers through a violent and graphic simulation of the same? That’s… kind of insane. That they’d want to play out the simulation themselves or that the captain would agree to that, is COMPLETELY nuts. In any believable plot, it would generate animosity, resentment and distrust that simply could not be ignored or reversed without serious consequences to the friendships among the main characters, at least within that single episode.

Imagine if you found out the security guards at your job had secretly identified you as a potential threat to be put down with lethal force based on your past associations, and had started creating a simulation training themselves to do so that included your name and likeness! How comfortable would you be working at that job in the future? Would you trust those security guards to look out for YOUR safety any further than you could throw them? Assuming your boss wanted people to get along at work, do you think they’d encourage people to play that simulation for fun? Now imagine your workplace is a million miles from nowhere, everyone’s there by accident and no one has the option of going home…

This seems like an episode that mutated from a mediocre pitch to a downright sleep-deprived-punchy, off-the-rails end result. That it was filmed and shown on TV suggests those behind this particular episode not only had little idea how to manage the show they were running, they also either had an extremely poor grasp of how people work (see above) or (more likely) they were utterly uninterested in making the characters in any way believable and not yet able to strike the sitcom-like tone they needed to make THAT work.

That’s all very fair. However, I think that it’s a larger issue with Voyager rather than a problem with this individual episode. At the very least, Worst Case Scenario is true to what Voyager is. It’s far ( faaaaaaar ) from a perfect episode, particularly when the last act turns into generic nonsense. However, it’s also fun and interesting for a lot of its runtime, which is more than can be said for a lot of Voyager episodes.

I’ve been going back and watching Voyager, guided in part by your reviews here, and that seems an accurate assessment!

Ha! Glad to be a (hopefully worthy) companion piece!

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The Impossible Box

Through the valley of shadows.

Worst Case Scenario

The Starship Voyager, having been pulled to the Delta Quadrant by a powerful and mysterious alien being called the Caretaker, now finds itself in an unknown region of space, seventy-five thousand light years from home.

The crew of Voyager are doing their best to make the best of their situation and are attempting to adapt to their new lives, as well as trying to find a way back home. However, they soon discover that the region they are in is dangerous and inhabited by many hostile alien species.

In this episode, the crew of Voyager finds themselves in a particularly difficult situation, as they receive a distress call from an unknown alien vessel. After they manage to locate the ship, they find that it is full of holographic copies of the crew of Voyager, all of whom are in the midst of a simulated war game.

The holographic crew explain that they have been trapped in the game for months, and that the only way to free them is to win the game. The Voyager crew are hesitant to participate, believing that doing so will put them in danger. However, they soon realize that they have no choice but to enter the game in order to save the holographic crew.

Once they enter the game, the crew of Voyager are forced to fight off various simulated enemies and complete various missions in order to progress through the game. However, they soon find that the game is far more difficult than they expected and the holographic crew are running out of time.

While the crew of Voyager attempt to complete the increasingly difficult tasks, they must also deal with the fact that their very lives are at stake. If they fail, the holographic crew will be stuck in the game forever and the crew of Voyager will be forced to live out the rest of their lives in the Delta Quadrant.

As tensions rise and the stakes become even higher, the crew of Voyager must rely on their courage and their abilities in order to win the game, save the holographic crew, and find a way back home. Will the crew of Voyager be able to succeed and find a way back home, or will they be doomed to a fate worse than death in the Delta Quadrant?

Equinox (part 2), persistence of vision.

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Worst Case Scenario Stardate: 50971.5 Original Airdate: May 7, 1997

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Star Trek: Voyager

Worst Case Scenario

Members of the Voyager crew clandestinely participate in a hidden holodeck program where the ship's Maquis members stage an insurrection.

Martha Hackett

Majel Barrett Roddenberry

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Kate Mulgrew

Robert Beltran

Roxann Dawson

Jennifer Lien

Robert Duncan McNeill

Ethan Phillips

Robert Picardo

Garrett Wang

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Worst Case Scenario

A buried holonovel with high entertainment value depicting a Maquis mutiny is discovered.

In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “Worst Case Scenario” and episodes with end-of-season-itis. Plus! The guys chat about the bland charisma of Robert Beltran, the difference between a holo-novel and a holo-program, and forced comradery.

Post author By Wes
Post date 10/10/2023

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Greetings, Trekkers and podcast aficionados! I’m Wes, and along with my co-host Clay, I’m thrilled to welcome you to another insightful episode of “ The Pensky Podcast .” Today, we navigate through the intricate narrative layers of “Worst Case Scenario,” the 25th episode of the third season of Star Trek: Voyager, originally aired on May 14, 1997. Crafted by screenwriter Kenneth Biller and navigated under the directorial gaze of Alexander Singer, this episode stitches together a plot that is as unconventional as it is peppered with missed opportunities.

“Worst Case Scenario” lures us into a unique narrative, where the discovery of a holo-novel depicting a Maquis mutiny on Voyager sets the stage for a layered discussion about loyalty, rebellion, and the dynamics within our beloved starship crew. It’s here that Clay and I delve into a hearty discussion about the wasted narrative potential of Star Trek: Voyager as a series, considering how the foundation of complex histories and alliances among the crew could have paved the way for richer, more nuanced stories and conflicts.

The peculiar structure and pacing of this episode don’t escape our scrutiny. We traverse the winding paths of its unusual narrative turns, addressing how its somewhat jarring transitions and evolving plot points lend a distinct, albeit somewhat disjointed, quality to the story arc. And let’s not forget Robert Beltran’s portrayal of Chakotay : while exuding a steady, reliable presence, we find ourselves mulling over his somewhat bland charisma and how it intertwines with the unfolding plot, especially in light of the mutiny setting.

Seska’s plot for posthumous revenge via the holo-novel offers another rich vein for discussion. Her strategy, both deviously clever and, arguably, a tad on the goofy side, propels us into an exploration of character motivations, villain archetypes, and how this impacts the tension and payoff within the episode. Furthermore, we navigate through the somewhat forced camaraderie among the characters, pondering whether it serves as a cohesive glue for the crew or emerges as an incongruous element amidst the extant interpersonal dynamics.

In conclusion, “The Pensky Podcast” thrives as a platform where episodes like “Worst Case Scenario” are untangled, and the threads of narrative, character, and thematic elements are laid bare for exploration. For those eager to dive deeper into the expansive universe of Star Trek, our Patreon page awaits, teeming with additional content that propels you further into the boundless cosmos of sci-fi discussion. Engage with us, and let’s explore the stars together!

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‘star trek: voyager’ — the 15 greatest episodes.

We boldly go — and revisit the top episodes from 'Star: Trek Voyager.'

By Aaron Couch , Graeme McMillan September 23, 2016 6:00am

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'Star Trek: Voyager' Episodes — The Best 15

Star Trek: Voyager went where no Trek had gone before — with the pilot stranding the ship in the Delta quadrant, decades away from home at maximum warp.

Kate Mulgrew ( Janeway ), Robert Beltran ( Chakotay ), Roxann Dawson (Torres), Jennifer Lien ( Kes ), Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris), Ethan Phillips ( Neelix ), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Tim Russ ( Tuvok ), Jeri Ryan (Seven of Nine) and Garrett Wang (Kim) helped keep Trek alive for seven seasons from 1995-2001, breaking ground as the first show toplined by a female captain.

To mark the 50th anniversary of Star Trek this month, The Hollywood Reporter counted down the top 100 episodes of Star Trek across all six TV series. Now we're breaking that list down even further — ranking the episodes by individual series. (Check out our rankings from the original series , Next Generation and Deep Space Nine .)

Here, you'll find some of the cast Voyager sharing what makes these episodes among the best of what Janeway's crew had to offer.

"Caretaker"

The series premiere for Voyager promised a Star Trek like none before it, with it boasting a female lead, a mixed crew of Starfleet and Maquis , and a ship alone in the Delta Quadrant. Premiering seven months after the end of Next Generation , the pilot did take some inspiration from the adventures of the Enterprise-D, whose crew on more than one occasion was flung to the far reaches of space (only to be returned by the end of the episode).

"It was a 31-day shoot. T ypically , it would take 14 days to film a two-part episode," recalls Garrett Wang (Harry Kim). "It was exciting to meet my co-stars for the first time. For this episode we filmed at a multitude of locations, which kept it interesting."

"Mortal Coil"

"Mortal Coil" dealt with life, death and belief, with Neelix (Ethan Phillips) brought back from the dead thanks to Seven of Nine's technology, only to dive into a deep depression after returning to life with the knowledge that his people's heaven does not exist. Eventually, he turns to suicide.

" Chakotay finds him just as he’s just about to beam himself out into the void. Chakotay tells him he is needed on the ship for his unique gifts," recalls Phillips, who says the episode is his favorite. "The brilliance of the episode is its lesson: There is no security in life, safety is a myth, and what saves us in the face of this great uncertainty is the kindness we bestow on each other."

It's a meeting of like minds (literally) when two versions of Voyager are stuck in the same space and two Janeways must work together to get them out of it. Our Voyager is disabled, and Janeway offers to sacrifice her crew so that the other crew might live. The episode added a new layer of grit to Voyager , with an entire crew facing its death with grace, and our Janeway in particular being unphased by the prospect. In an oft-forgotten piece of Voyager trivia, the Ensign Kim we start the series with is not the same Kim we finish it with, as he's replaced by the Kim on the alternate Voyager.

"Worst Case Scenario"

Tuvok , it turns out, is quite the author. A holodeck program he wrote as a training exercise in case his Maquis shipmates staged a coup ends up becoming all the rage amongst the crew. Unfortunately, he stopped writing the program once he determined there was little risk of a revolt taking place — thus the novel has no ending. In classic Star Trek fashion, there's a twist, and yes, it involves safety protocols being turned off. (Why is this still an option?)

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tQBxxfLvz0]

Showrunner Brannon Braga's love for the high concept is evident in this episode that starts 15 years in the future, revealing how just how unsuccessful Voyager was in attempting to get home (It might have crashed just weeks after the previous episode the audience had seen) before trying to undo the damage thanks to both the vagaries of time travel and the guest appearance of The Next Generation 's Geordi La Forge ( LeVar Burton, who also directed the episode.) Although the future glimpsed ended up never happening, it nonetheless made an impression on Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), who got a confidence boost from his future self.

"Since 'Timeless' was the 100th episode of Voyager , the executive producers wanted it to be the signature episode. Brannon Braga referred to it as Voyager 's 'City on the Edge of Forever,' " says Wang. "Playing future Kim and current Kim gave me a chance to really stretch as an actor. In fact, it was during the filming of this episode that Robert Picardo (The Doctor) came to me and said, 'Garrett, you can act!' ( laughs )."

"Future's End Parts I & II"

Every Starfleet crew deserves a chance to return to 20th century Earth, and Voyager was no different. After a time ship from the 29th century attempts to destroy Voyager for a future transgression, both ships are flung back to 1990s America. Although Star Trek IV remains the gold standard when it comes to excursions in contemporary America, this one has plenty of charm too. Bonus points for Tuvok and Paris turning their portion of the story into a buddy comedy.

"Hope and Fear"

Just one season into her tenure, Seven of Nine makes an important choice in the show's fourth season finale, deciding that she doesn't want to return to Borg space — which is exactly where she's headed thanks to an untrustworthy alien (Ray Wise, clearly enjoying the role) who's attempt to help the Voyager crew is revealed to be a sham, wasting an important chance to get the ship home … and teasing the audience with the possibility of a new Starfleet ship along the way.

"Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy"

Voyager wasn't exactly known for its comedy episodes, which makes this late entry in the series — written by series regular Joe Menosky from a story by cartoonist Bill Vallely — so enjoyable. The Emergency Medical Hologram (Robert Picardo , rarely more fun) gives himself the ability to daydream, not expecting how valuable it will be when the ship comes under surveillance by an alien race who have reason to believe the Doctor's fantasies.

Not for the first time — "Timeless," anyone? — the series finale features a future that seeks to undo itself by righting previous wrongs, but there's so much more to be found than simply rehash: a long-awaited showdown with the Borg, the answer to whether or not Voyager would ever get home (Technically, two answers, given the time travel hook of the story) and, most importantly of all, the revelation of what the Emergency Medical Hologram has chosen to name himself after years of consideration. That alone earns it a place on this list. (The answer, by the way, is Joe.)

"Blink of an Eye"

While Starfleet crews often seemed like outsiders when visiting alien planets, rarely was that as keenly felt as this episode, in which time passes differently between the starship and the planet below, giving the Voyager the chance to watch a society evolve before its very eyes. Featuring a pre- Lost Daniel Dae Kim in an early appearance as an alien astronaut, this episode harkened back to the hard sci-fi roots of the franchise's origins.

Wait, there is an alien race out there more powerful than The Borg? On the one hand, the introduction of Species 8472 was a game changer both for Trek and Voyager . It was a mindblowing notion that the Borg might have to team up with anyone, much less Janeway . On the other hand, it was the beginning of making the Borg a lot less scary.The two-part episode introduced Seven of Nine, which changed the entire dynamic of the series, with the character becoming a focal point starting with season 4.

"Living Witness"

After 700 years of being offline, a backup copy of The Doctor (Robert Picardo ) is reactivated, to discover a historical recreation of Voyager's journey has painted the ship and its crew as genocidal maniacs.

"It is classic science fiction, taking on an issue — revising history to serve a political agenda — in a way we can only dream of," says Picardo . "Regarding the shooting of this episode, I remember that the guest actor, Henry Woronicz and I both had excellent Ed Wynn ( Mary Poppins ) impressions and rehearsed our very dramatic scenes using our 'Dueling Wynnes ' to the initial amusement and eventual exasperation of all present."

"Equinox Parts I & 2"

While Voyager purposefully shied away from the grittier implications of its displaced crew series concept — something that later fed into Ronald D. Moore's Battlestar Galactica reboot, after his short-lived experience on the show — this two-parter offered an exciting glimpse into what could've been, with the introduction of another Starfleet crew lost in the Delta Quadrant that had fallen prey to their worst impulses in their attempt to survive. Consider it a welcome view into a darker Voyager we didn’t get — if a somewhat frustrating one, as well.

"Year of Hell"

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Erb5DdMW4jU]

Voyager at times gets grief for not being as gritty as the premise promised, but even the most cynical of fans can't deny that "Year of Hell" delivered the goods, with the crew battling a genocidal villain ( Kurtwood Smith) manipulating time itself. His opening act: erasing an entire civilization from time itself. If that's not dark, we don't know what is.

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Worst case scenario (1997).

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Star Trek Voyager: Worst Case Scenario

2 comments:

I have often wondered how Starfleet dealt with the Starfleet crew members who were former Maquis. After all, even though they would have read it in the logs, Starfleet Command would not have had the benefit of living through the experience(s) that Voyager did. Did they simply honour Janeway's designations and promotions?

Great review Juliette! Yes, this is so much fun. It's a pity they didn't flesh out the Seska storyline more. She was such a great villain.

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Recap / Star Trek Voyager S 3 E 24 "Worst Case Scenario"

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B'Elanna Torres discovers a holodeck program on Voyager simulating a Maquis rebellion where Commander Chakotay calls for a mutiny after Janeway leaves the ship on an away mission. This program soon becomes popular as the crew try it out for themselves, either taking the side of the mutineers or Janeway loyalists trying to retake Voyager from the Maquis.

While Paris is trying the program, he discovers that the program is unfinished, leaving everyone wondering who created it in the first place. Tuvok admits to being the program's creator, having designed it as a training simulation in case the members of the Maquis actually attempted a mutiny, but not completing it when he saw how the members of Starfleet and the Maquis were getting along with each other .

This episode provides examples of:

Aborted Arc : This episode lampshades how the cultural conflict between the Maquis and Starfleet personnel that was established in the show's first few episodes was quickly abandoned and has been virtually ignored for the better part of three seasons. The premise of the episode allows the writers to temporarily revive it in a holodeck setting.
All There in the Manual : A short story released in one of the compilations after the show had ended details both when Tuvok decided to stop writing the program Insurrection Alpha , why he did so, and that he had only completed what he estimated to be about 25% of it.
And You Thought It Was a Game : Tuvok admits he wrote the program as a tactical simulation , not a holo-novel. Seska's rewrite shifts the program into Hunting the Most Dangerous Game .
Anti-Villain : Holo-Chakotay. Yes, he's the bad guy for committing mutiny, but he's committed to executing a non-violent mutiny, is willing to recruit anyone who is willing to join him, and offers extra provisions to those who will get left off the ship. His mission statement for returning home is also pretty reasonable: take every opportunity to get home faster without worrying about scientific discovery along the way.
Backwards-Firing Gun : Happens twice — first to Holo-Janeway, then Holo-Seska.
Badass Boast Holo-Janeway: You've just threatened the wrong woman, Chakotay.
Breather Episode : Although it becomes a Crisis of the Week plot in the second half, the Leaning on the Fourth Wall comedy does allow a lighter moment before "Scorpion".
To Season One.
After helping to save the day, Janeway suggests doing a western as their next holo-program. Now there's an idea...
The program's version of Seska is an In-Universe example. The Maquis all obey her even though Chakotay is supposed to be their leader, Chakotay is madly in love with her, and her plans are so perfect that the heroes only manage to defeat her by hacking various Deus Ex Machinas into the program. Given that the real Seska was the one who rewrote the program and that, like most Cardassians, she has a very high opinion of herself, this was pretty much inevitable.
Neelix says the next holonovel should be about a daring trader who becomes a cook on a starship.
Virtually everyone tries to pressure Tuvok into turning their characters into this in the rewrite, leading to as much frustration as he's allowed by being a proper Vulcan.
As benefits an episode about the writing process, it's a literal gun. Tuvok uses Seska's Backwards-Firing Gun trick to kill her.
The mutiny is launched while Holo-Janeway has left the ship to meet with an alien race called the Rukani. The real Janeway uses them to pull a Deus ex Machina .
The Chessmaster : Seska created the booby-trapped program a month before she left Voyager, and it's gone active over a year after she died .
Chick Flick : Tuvok doesn't like B'Elanna's suggestion they add a little 'passion' to the novel. Seska does the honors of chick-ifying the story a bit by having her holographic self and holo-Chakotay fall in love with each other in the rewrite.
Chronic Backstabbing Disorder : Holo-Neelix quickly changes sides to the mutineers, a development the real Neelix takes offense to. In fairness to Tuvok, the program would have been written not long after "Caretaker", when Neelix abused their trust so he could rescue Kes.
Cliffhanger : Tuvok created an accidental one when he stopped writing the program.
Several clues cue hardcore fans that the teaser is taking place earlier in Voyager's continuity. In the opening scene, B'Elanna is wearing a Starfleet ensign's pip, and Chakotay is speaking openly of how "the Maquis" aren't getting along with Tuvok and Janeway, along with stating they're still seventy years from the Alpha Quadrant (he also never once calls her by name, only 'Ensign'). Janeway and Kes are wearing their original hairstyles, and Jonas is called on the comm even though he was killed back in Season 2 (albeit clearly not being voiced by Raphael Sbarge). The wham moment is Seska's appearance after her death in "Basics, Part II".
Seska's motive for revenge on Tuvok is that he was a Federation undercover agent who betrayed them, which fits with the fact that she was still posing as a member of the Maquis at the time.
Crazy-Prepared : Not only did Seska's reprogramming seal the holodeck and disable the safety protocols, but it also deactivated the transporter rooms and comms. There are also boobytraps to destroy the power grid if the crew attempts to pull the plug and the reprogramming can adapt to whatever changes Janeway and Torres attempt to make.
Creative Differences : In-Universe between Tom and Tuvok.
Dead Fic : To everyone's frustration. Tuvok is ordered to finish it, despite Insurrection Alpha never having been a holonovel in the first place.
Deadly Doctor : Holo-EMH "treats" Tom's phaser burn by injecting him with nitric acid, No Sells his attempt to attack him when he's choking Tuvok and then tosses both of them out of the Sick Bay with one arm. "A little proverbial salt in the wound."
Death Is Cheap : Seska shows that a minor thing like death doesn't stop her from being the Villain of the Week . And Janeway dies again, this time as a holodeck character.
Depending on the Writer : The holoprogram has four different authors, each with a different purpose.
Designated Villain : Invoked in-universe. Chakotay jokingly observes that he was made the bad guy in the holo-novel and hopes the next one is different.
Deus ex Machina : Janeway rewrites the program to have an alien ship come to their aid, giving Tuvok time to snag a phaser rifle. At the end of the episode, the characters are sitting around, talking about the program and Tuvok compliments Janeway on this move. " Who says deus ex machina is an outdated literary device? " she responds.
Diabolus ex Machina : Seska's program adapts to any ploy by those trapped inside it.
Digital Avatar : Seska, for her deceased actual self in her revised version of Tuvok's program. Tom Paris comments that Seska wouldn't let a little thing like death stop her from getting even with Tuvok.
Everything Is Trying to Kill You : Seska is quite the sadist.
In-universe, Janeway's insistence that the Holo-novel be completed over the wishes of the original author could be seen as a bit of this.
Another in-universe example occurs after Paris insists he'll work alone. Tuvok reminds him that only he has the authorization to make changes to the program.
Fake Action Prologue : Chakotay's mutiny, which Tom walks in on to set up the Proscenium Reveal .
Fake-Out Opening : The opening scenes are presented in such a way that makes it appear as if B'Elanna is trapped in an Alternate Universe or that there's some other sort of Mind Screw at work. Everything and everyone except for her is just off somehow and B'Elanna acts confused by her surroundings, and that's before Seska unexpectedly turns up seemingly alive and well. It's not until The Reveal when Tom breaks in (when he's supposed to be off the ship with Janeway) that the real plot is revealed, and that B'Elanna is just following along with the program.
Torres is complaining that the holonovel doesn't have any romance. Paris: I could add a steamy love scene between the Starfleet conn officer and the Maquis engineer . Torres: Oh, that's realistic!
Tom's interest in writing a holonovel eventually leads to the Show Within a Show The Adventures of Captain Proton , a program that emphasizes fun and action over characterization , as per his arguments with Tuvok.
There are a few hints about the episode opening with a Fake Action Prologue (e.g. Torres being referred to as an ensign and never by name, Jonas still being alive, Tuvok saying Chakotay is still new to being first officer, Janeway's hair in the power bun that preceded "Future's End", etc.).
The first time Paris plays the holo-novel, he tries to thwart the mutiny and gets thrown in the brig. After the holographic Tuvok stresses the importance of biding their time and following proper procedure and states that it may take up to a week for a good opportunity to break out to present itself, a bored Paris asks who wrote this holo-novel.
Fake Defector : One of the options in the program, taken by Paris and Neelix. B'Elanna says it's more fun to join the rebellion .
Freudian Excuse : Torres (a former member of the Maquis) joins the mutiny immediately. Paris (a guy with a problematic history on both sides) initially tries to stop the mutiny the first time he plays and then switches sides when it's convenient for him.
Good Is Boring : B'Elanna advises Tom to go join the mutiny from the beginning, as it's more fun. Tom agrees when he finds Tuvok's plan for foiling the mutiny is to do nothing till next week's episode.
Halfway Plot Switch : A comical story turns dangerous due to Seska's tampering with the holo-novel. Also applies in-universe, as decisions of those playing the ensign in the game can vastly affect the course of the story.
Heel–Face Revolving Door : Invoked by Tom as a way to test the progam's limits. He begins the program assuring Holo-Chakotay that he'll side with the mutineers, but once it actually begins, tries to save Tuvok. Then when Holo-Chakotay makes his offer to the captured crew, Tom steps forward to join him. He later notes to B'Elanna that this sequence of events made Holo-Chakotay so suspicious of him that he would only allow Tom to do minor maintenence work.
Hilarious Outtakes : A scene where Tim Russ hams up being shot, and Robert Beltran flubs his line. Look for it on Youtube. Paris: It's Paris and Janeway. Holo-Chakotay: (long pause) How do you know? (general laughter)
Holodeck Malfunction : Justified by deliberate sabotage.
Hypocrite : Seska wants revenge on Tuvok for betraying the Maquis, when she herself is a Cardassian infiltrator.
After Paris tells Tuvok that he's going to have Janeway execute the mutineers, Tuvok complains that this is against Janeway's established personality and that characters should not deviate so tremendously. Neelix walks over and insists that he would never betray the captain like he did in the holonovel. Paris makes fun of Tuvok over this point.
And the Holo-EMH throttling Tuvok; "You're looking well."
Killer Game Master
Klingon Promotion : When holo-Chakotay argues against killing Tom and Tuvok (as Janeway reprograms him to), holo-Seska shoots him.
Laser-Guided Karma : The program was set to become a Deadly Game the next time Tuvok logged in. He does so with Tom Paris, the other crewmember who betrayed the Maquis crew to the Federation.
Tuvoks reasons for abandoning the simulation boil down to "the show's writers dropped the Maquis plot without really doing anything with it".
Chakotay says that the mutineers' new mission will not waste time by investigating every random anomaly the ship passes, reflecting a common criticism of the show's concept.
Load-Bearing Boss : The program shuts down when Holo-Seska is killed.
Mexican Standoff : Several. One memorable shot is Paris doing this with his holographic counterpart and the program shutting down afterwards.
Mirror Match : Having taken the side of the mutineers, Tom is startled to be pointing a phaser at himself as a Janeway loyalist. Then the program shuts down .
Most Writers Are Writers : A lot of the dialogue resembles a writers' room argument over how to write a Star Trek: Voyager episode.
Muse Abuse : Averted as everyone finds Insurrection Alpha rather amusing, even Chakotay who's the villain of the program. Neelix is the only one who takes offense, and that doesn't stop him from playing it.
The Mutiny : Though played out as a training simulation.
Mutual Kill : Holo-Janeway and Holo-Chakotay stun each other.
Mythology Gag : Janeway thinks the next holonovel should be a Western. Janeway's preferred holonovel was originally going to involve herself as a Western pioneer , but was replaced with the Gothic romance novel . invoked
New Era Speech : Holo-Chakotay gives one after seizing Voyager . Chakotay: Take a good look around you. You're under armed guard. You may also notice that your senior officers aren't here. They're in the brig. They'll be put off the ship at the first habitable planet we come to. All except Janeway and Paris, who will arrive at their rendezvous coordinates to find that Voyager 's not there. In short, I've taken control of the ship. I don't blame any of you for the mistakes of your leaders, so I'm giving you a choice. You can be put off the ship with your superiors or you can do what Neelix and some of your other crew members have already done and join me. If you do, you'll be part of a crew that's going to do whatever it takes to get us home as fast as possible. Under my command, we won't let almighty Federation principles get in the way of opportunities the way Janeway did when she destroyed the array that could have gotten us home. And we won't be wasting precious time stopping to investigate every insignificant anomaly that we come across. What we will do is use any means necessary to acquire technology that can shorten our journey. To hell with Starfleet regulations. You have fifteen minutes to make up your minds.
New Rules as the Plot Demands : The original holonovel was built as a functional training tool and wouldn't allow the player to cheat through modifying holodeck settings, but Seska writes a new scenario where it actively manipulates the rules to ensure their eventual death. Tom and Tuvok are stuck in a situation actively working against them , and their only hope is Janeway as a Deus ex Machina rewriting the program in real time to give them a fair shot.
No Ending : Or so Tuvok thought.
Not Bad : What Tom says after Tuvok uses Seska's backfiring gun trick against her .
Not Himself : The holodeck Chakotay is overly friendly yet stilted in interacting with the real characters, notably pausing to allow them to reply to his comments , an early sign that it's a holodeck program.
The Not Secret : Word quickly spreads of Insurrection Alpha despite (or because) of its subversive nature. Which makes it puzzling that no one knows who wrote it. Paris: Remember the good old days when it was impossible to keep a secret on a ship this small?
Off the Rails : The primary development in the second half of the episode, where any semblance of a story or training purposes are thrown out the window in an Everything Trying to Kill You mode.
Only the Author Can Save Them Now : Invoked in-universe by Janeway, who intends to "rewrite" Seska.
Other Stock Phrases : "You'll never get away with this." (Holo-Harry to the mutineers), "I've been waiting a long time for this." (Holo-Chakotay before he shoots Tom), and "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself." (Holo-Seska before she tries to kill everyone)
Out of Character : First, Tuvok got Neelix's character completely wrong (something Neelix later objects to). Then Tom Paris wants to have Janeway execute all the mutineers. And when Seska got at the character profiles...
Platform Hell : What Seska's programming turns the holo-novel into. Everything is designed to torture whoever's trapped and actively be unfair.
Post-Mortem Comeback : A highly adaptive hologram of Seska enters the program and manipulates it to her own ends.
Put Down Your Gun and Step Away
Railroading : Seska programmed the holodeck to do this when Tuvok and Paris were on the verge of getting the upper hand.
Reasonable Authority Figure : When everyone thinks the program is a mere holo-novel, Janeway and Chakotay are good sports about it. They want to know who wrote it out of mere curiosity. Janeway also sees the value in the crew creating their own fiction as a stress reliever, especially since they're cut off from all the newest forms of media back in the Alpha Quadrant.
The Reveal : Everyone assumes that Insurrection Alpha is an action-adventure holonovel with some Take That! jabs at Janeway's command decisions. It turns out to be a program created by Tuvok to train his security officers against a Maquis mutiny.
The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized : Once Seska gets a hold of the story.
Running Gag : Once Paris volunteers to complete the program, other crewmembers keep butting in with suggestions.
Save-Game Limits : Possibly because the program is unfinished, Torres has to reset it so that Paris can play from the start.
Self-Fulfilling Prophecy : Invoked; when the Maquis and Starfleet crewmembers end up working well together , Tuvok realizes his program could itself create tensions between the two groups and deletes it. Or so he thinks. Tuvok's expectations are subverted when they find it and enjoy it .
Smooch of Victory : Holo-Seska and Holo-Chakotay snog after killing Holo-Janeway. No one is impressed.
Snark-to-Snark Combat : Tom and Tuvok arguing over the changes to the holonovel.
Spread Shot : Seska: I wouldn't do that if I were you. This phaser's set on wide beam. I could take you all in one shot.
Superdickery : The Teaser with Chakotay asking B'Elanna to take part in The Mutiny .
The Tape Knew You Would Say That : Seska activates the Self-Destruct Mechanism , keyed only to her voice. Holo-Seska: If you don't hand over that phaser rifle, everyone on this ship is going to be dead in... (waits) Computer: Self-destruct in forty five seconds. (Seska grins)
Technician vs. Performer : Ultimately why Tuvok and Paris are urged to work on the program together. Tuvok's precision and faithfulness to accuracy has resulted in a realistic scenario without strawmen or melodramatic pomp... but it's also bogged down in strict adherence to reality and can't really deviate with surprise developments. This necessitates Tom creating a more entertainment-focused moderation, as there wasn't any option for a true Face–Heel Turn . (In theory, since we never get to see the outcome of their effort.)
Complaining about the holo-novel not having an ending, Paris says it's sadistic. Later he's put through Seska's version of Hell.
B'Elanna rejects the idea that she might have a steamy romance with Tom as completely unrealistic. They'll officially begin a relationship just four episodes later.
Unwanted Assistance : Everyone offering writing tips to Paris and Tuvok. Paris also treats Tuvok's offer as this, until Tuvok reveals that only he can rewrite the program.
Vitriolic Best Buds : Tuvok and Tom.
Welcome to Corneria : The program always starts with Chakotay approaching the player character in a corridor on the way to the turbolift and starting the same conversation.
Who Writes This Crap?! : Paris's comment the first time he runs the program when the holographic Tuvok in the brig suggests that they might need to spend as long as a week observing their captors for weaknesses. "A week?! Who wrote this stuff?" This is a clue that he's in a training scenario, not a holodeck adventure where Rule of Drama prevails.
Win to Exit : Once Holo-Seska gets herself killed courtesy of Tuvok's phaser sabotage, the program ends.
With All Due Respect : Janeway to Tuvok, telling him to "loosen up".
Worst Aid : Seska's version of the Doctor decides to treat Paris's phaser wound with 20cc's of nitric acid! Doctor: A little proverbial salt in the wound.
Write What You Know : In-universe with Tuvok, as this was a training simulation. At the end of the episode, he notes that any future holo-novels will not be so close to home.
Writing by the Seat of Your Pants : In-Universe —this is how Paris wants to finish the program, much to Tuvok's disapproval.
Star Trek Voyager S 3 E 23 "Displaced"
Recap/Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager S3E25 S4E1 "Scorpion"

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Did Star Trek: Voyager really have the best pilot?

S tar Trek: Voyager is a great show, spoiler alert on that one. We've given plenty of love to Voyager over the years and for a lot of reasons. Kathryne Janeway is one of the best-written captains, the scenario that Voyager is in highlights the strengths of the crew and the depth of their humanity. The entire ship is just beautiful from top to bottom and they even found a way to move off of the instant gratification of food replicators.

So much of what the show did was brilliant, but if I'm being honest, I always felt the pilot was less great than it could've been. There were certainly moments in it that added to it, for sure. Like docking at Deep Space Nine and watching Quark of all people make Harry Kim sweat before being saved by Tom Paris. It was awesome.

Yet, the time they spent on the Caretaker's Array I felt was long, and at times boring. I never really thought about Voyager's pilot being good or bad, not until Giant Freaking Robot bestowed the moniker of "best pilot" on it while proclaiming that Deep Space Nine was the worst pilot in franchise history.

I didn't see any of that coming, so consider me "shooked". Their arguments as to why one is perceived as bad and one is seen as good are in dispute, Deep Space Nine's pilot is very "slow". It focuses more on the emotional toll that Benjamin Sisko has had to deal with for the last few years, and his hatred for Jean-Luc Picard. It's a powerful episode, but not "fun".

Voyager's is very "fun". From the reveal that one of the Maquis was actually a member of Janeway's crew, to the introduction of Neelix and the whole issue they had with the Kazon. It was a lot of fun for the most part, but I still wouldn't say it was the "best".

For me specifically, though, I wouldn't say Star Trek pilots should be seen as "good" or "bad' as they're all important but are also all looking for their legs. They're not great. You don't want to start any person's fandom off by showing them the pilot. You show them "In the Pale Moonlight" or "Scorpion" first, then you go back.

Though, for my money, I would say of the golden era of Trek, Enterprise's pilot was my favorite, and of the Nu Trek era, I would say Strange New Worlds is the best. In fact, I would argue that Strange New Worlds is arguably the best pilot in the franchise's history; if I believed in that sort of thing.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Did Star Trek: Voyager really have the best pilot? .

Screen Rant

12 star trek female villains ranked, worst to best.

Star Trek has a long list of female villains that have faced off against Kirk, Picard, Janeway, and Sisko, but who's the best at being the worst?

The best Star Trek female villains include complex characters like the Intendant and the Female Changeling.
The Female Romulan Commander and Alixus offer early examples of intriguing female villains in Star Trek.
While some female villains like the Borg Queen excel, others like Seska from Voyager fall short of their potential.

While the canon of iconic Star Trek antagonists can often feel like an exclusive boy's club, many of the franchise's best villains have been complex female characters. For nearly 60 years, many of the best known villains in Star Trek movies and TV shows have been male, from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) to Shinzon (Tom Hardy). Looking back, it feels quite regressive, and speaks to a wider issue with how women were written in early Star Trek .

For example, the notorious Star Trek: The Original Series finale "Turnabout Intruder" features Dr. Janice Lester (Sandra Smith), who was presented as a hysterical woman scorned, rather than a multi-layered and complex villain. However, even in those early days, there were one or two memorable female villains that could hold their own against Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). While Star Trek 's movie villains have been predominantly male, the TV shows of the 1990s and 2020s introduced some truly iconic recurring female villains to the franchise .

Every Major Star Trek Villain Species, Ranked

12 alixus (gail strickland), star trek: ds9, season 2, episode 15, "paradise".

The impact of Alixus (Gail Strickland) is relatively minor. However, Alixus is an incredibly compelling Star Trek: Deep Space Nine villain who deserves to sit alongside some franchise greats. In DS9 season 2, episode 15, "Paradise", Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) are stranded on a planet that has abandoned technology in favor of a more simple life. Alixus is the leader of this traditionalist community, but Sisko and O'Brien soon unearth the darkness at its core. Alixus was a Federation scientist who had theorized that a return to nature would be better for humanity in the long run.

Gail Strickland had previously appeared with Avery Brooks in Spenser: For Hire .

To prove her point, she sabotaged the colony ship, the SS Santa Maria, forcing it to crash-land on a remote planet. Alixus installed a duonetic field generator that prevented all technology from operating, forcing the colonists to live by her new vision. To prove her thesis, she resorted to cruel punishments and stood by and let her colonists die from easily curable ailments. Gail Strickland plays Alixys with such nuance, transforming "Paradise" from a filler episode into an underrated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine classic . Her electric scenes with Sisko foreshadow the DS9 captain's later conflicts with other zealots.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

11 Seska (Martha Hackett)

Star trek: voyager, seasons 1 to 3.

Star Trek: Voyager 's Seska (Martha Hackett) was a fantastic idea for a character, but very poorly executed. Introduced as one of the secondary Maquis crew members of the Valjean, it quickly became clear that Seska was hiding something. Not only did Seska want Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) to lead a mutiny against Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), she was also a Cardassian spy in disguise. These two elements combined ended up confusing Seska's character in Voyager , as an outnumbered Cardassian would surely have set their sights on an alliance with Janeway, not the Maquis .

Martha Hackett previously played the Romulan Sub-commander T'Rul in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's season 3 premiere "The Search, Parts I & II".

Eventually, Seska left the USS Voyager, to make an alliance with the Kazon in an attempt to capture the ship. The motivations for Seska's plan to capture Voyager were seemingly rooted in her disappointment at being scorned by her former lover, Chakotay. Disappointingly, one of Star Trek: Voyager 's most interesting villains was reduced to the level of Captain Kirk's evil ex-girlfriend, Janice Lester . The most successful plot by Seska was only discovered after she'd died, when a holodeck simulation of a Maquis mutiny turned into a deadly trap in Voyager season 3, episode 25, "Worst Case Scenario".

Star Trek: Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before.

10 Asencia, The Vindicator (Jameela Jamil)

Star trek: prodigy season 1.

Janeway's ship was once again infiltrated by an enemy alien in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1. Masquerading as a Trill ensign, Asencia helped track the USS Protostar, in the hopes of activating its deadly Living Construct weapon and destroying Starfleet. Asencia's true identity was discovered after Janeway and the USS Dauntless rescued the Diviner (John Noble). Hoping that the two Vau N'AKat could work together, Asencia was shocked when the Diviner chose his daughter Gwyndala (Ella Purnell) over their plan to destroy Starfleet. In the Prodigy season 1 finale, Asencia successfully activated the Living Construct and returned to her own time .

Asencia's story will presumably continue in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 , as Admiral Janeway heads into the alternate future to rescue Captain Chakotay and his crew from the Vau N'Akat. It's therefore hard to rank Asencia higher until her story plays out in full. However, judging by the ruthlessness and cunning that Asencia displayed in Prodigy season 1, it's clear that Janeway and the crew of the USS Voyager-A will have their work cut out for them.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy is the first TV series in the Star Trek franchise marketed toward children, and one of the few animated series in the franchise. The story follows a group of young aliens who find a stolen Starfleet ship and use it to escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony where they are all held captive. Working together with the help of a holographic Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the new crew of the USS Protostar must find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant to warn the Federation of the deadly threat that is pursuing them.

9 Female Romulan Commander (Joanne Linville)

Star trek: the original series, season 3, episode 4, "the enterprise incident".

In Star Trek: The Original Series , season 2, episode 4, "The Enterprise Incident", Captain Kirk is tasked with stealing a Romulan cloaking device . Part of the plan requires Lt. Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to seduce an unnamed Female Romulan Commander (Joanna Linville), who is attracted to the Vulcan. However, unlike Seska in Star Trek: Voyager , the Female Romulan Commander's ambitions lie far beyond romantic interests. She believes that capturing the USS Enterprise for the Romulan Star Empire will be a boon for her career progression, and wants Spock to serve alongside her.

Years after the events of "The Enterprise Incident", the Federation was banned from developing cloaking technology thanks to the Treaty of Algeron.

Having seemingly turned on Kirk and even killed him in a fight, Spock keeps the Female Romulan Commander interested while Kirk infiltrates the ship. However, the Commander saw through the ruse and beamed aboard the Enterprise to try and take it by force, or have it destroyed. The plan to steal the USS Enterprise is foiled, and the Female Romulan Commander is left embarrassed by falling for Kirk and Spock's fight and losing the cloaking device to the Federation. Interestingly, Spock doesn't throw the Female Romulan Commander into the brig, and instead takes her to standard quarters, implying his seduction wasn't all pretend.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

8 Lursa and B'Etor Duras (Barbara March and Gwynyth Walsh)

Star trek: tng, ds9 and star trek generations.

The House of Duras were sworn enemies of Worf, Son of Mogh (Michael Dorn) in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . After Worf killed the House's patriarch in TNG season 4, episode 7, "Reunion", Duras' sisters Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh) were left seeking vengeance. The House of Duras tried to instigate a Klingon Civil War, and even provided a Bajoran terrorist with the explosives needed to destroy the wormhole in DS9 season 1. Following the aborted Klingon Civil War, the Duras sisters effectively became guns for hire, placing them in the orbit of Dr. Tolian Soren (Malcolm McDowell) in Star Trek Generations .

Star Trek Generations was a disappointing end for the Duras Sisters, as they never really got a final confrontation with Worf . Sidelined as Soran's muscle, the sisters and their Klingon crew did manage to destroy the USS Enterprise-D, but their own ship was destroyed soon after. Weirdly, Generations never lingered on what a big deal this would have been for Worf, given how the House of Duras had been behind many of his issues with the Klingon Empire. This dissatisfying ending means that the Duras Sisters can't make it into the top tier of female Star Trek villains.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

7 Sela (Denise Crosby)

Star trek: the next generation, "redemption" and "unification".

Sela was the Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), who spent years working for the intelligence services. Sela's first notable operations against the Federation were brainwashing Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) to assassinate Klingon governor Vagh (Edward Wiley) in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Mind's Eye". Sela tried again to destabilize relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation when she supported the Duras Sisters' attempt to take control of the Klingon Empire. Sela's plans were foiled by Captain Picard and a Starfleet armada that prevented Romulan reinforcements from entering Klingon space .

Denise Crosby conceived the character of Sela as a means to return to Star Trek: The Next Generation after enjoying the experience of making "Yesterday's Enterprise".

Sela became the mastermind behind an attempted Romulan invasion of Vulcan, by manipulating Ambassador Spock's reunification mission. Using a holographic duplicate of Spock, Sela hoped to convince the Federation that an incoming fleet of Vulcan ships contained a Romulan peace envoy, and not an invasion force. Picard, Data, and Spock foiled Sela's plan, and she was incapacitated with a Vulcan nerve pinch, never to be heard from again. It was an ignominious end for Star Trek: The Next Generation 's best Romulan villain.

Spock’s Star Trek TOS Romance Explains His TNG Vulcan & Romulan Dream

6 valeris (kim cattrall), star trek vi: the undiscovered country.

Lt. Valeris (Kim Cattrall) is a great Star Trek villain because there's a genuine emotional impact on the crew of the USS Enterprise-A. It may have been better if Saavik betrayed Spock in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , but the weight of Valeris' betrayal is still impactful. Valeris' cold Vulcan logic dictated that peace with the Klingons was illogical , which is why she joined the Khitomer Conspiracy. Spock's protégé helped to frame Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) for political assassination, and deliberately hindered the investigation.

While Gene Roddenberry objected to her inclusion, Saavik was actually written out of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country because Kirstie Alley declined to return to the role.

Valeris' coldness makes her quite a compelling Star Trek villain, as she genuinely believes her many crimes are based on logic. It's a fascinating insight into how interpretations of logic can differ from Vulcan to Vulcan, as proved by Spock and Valeris' clash in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Interrogated by Kirk and forced to endure a controversial mind meld with Spock, Valeris finally revealed the identities of the conspirators, and was taken to the Khitomer Conference to publicly unmask the conspiracy.

5 Vadic (Amanda Plummer)

Star trek: picard season 3.

Vadic was one of the most unpredictable foes ever faced by Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. A Changeling tasked with delivering Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) to the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), Vadic took some big swings to achieve her goals in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Vadic's awesome ship, the Shrike, almost destroyed the USS Titan-A and its crew during their multiple skirmishes in the course of Picard season 3 . Vadic even found time to kidnap Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in an attempt to secure the assistance of Captain William T Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Amanda Plummer is the daughter of Christopher Plummer, who played the villainous General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

It's a testament to Amanda Plummer's unique portrayal of a Star Trek villain that it wasn't immediately clear that Vadic was a Changeling . The scenes in "Dominion" in which Vadic described the brutal treatment of Changeling prisoners during the Dominion War were beautifully performed by Plummer, adding depth to Star Trek: Picard season 3's villain . It even elicited a degree of sympathy, but Vadic soon lost that when she began executing members of the USS Titan-A's crew. Eventually, she was blown out into space by Jack Crasher, where, ironically, her Changeling body solidified then exploded into pieces.

Star Trek: Picard

After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

4 The Intendant (Nana Visitor)

Star trek: deep space nine (various).

The Intendant, the Mirror Universe variant of Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) is one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's most memorable villains. DS9 brought back the Mirror Universe in a big way, and the Intendant played a key role in each return visit. Kira's dark opposite was effectively the Gul Dukat of the Mirror Universe's Terok Nor, ruling the station with intimidation, manipulation, and violence. She was assisted in her tyrannical role of the station by Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson), who opposed some of the Intendant's more holistic methods .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine producer Michael Piller had been rejecting Mirror Universe episodes since his days on Star Trek: The Next Generation . However, he and Ira Steven Behr finally figured out that the most interesting story to tell would be the aftermath of the fall of the Terran Empire, as seen in DS9 's Mirror Universe episodes.

The Intendant eventually lost control over the Terran rebels, thanks to various Mirror Universe incursions by Kira and Captain Sisko . This led to her losing her position, and being imprisoned aboard Regent Worf's flagship in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7. Hoping to win favor with Worf, the Intendant orchestrated a plot to have the flagship fitted with a stolen cloaking device. However, the cloak was sabotaged, leaving the flagship open to attack from the Terran rebels, striking another blow against the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, and giving the former Intendant a chance to escape with her life.

3 Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher)

Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) was one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's most fascinating characters. First introduced in the DS9 season 1 finale, Vedek Winn was a religious zealot who objected to Sisko's closeness to the Bajoran Prophets. This jealousy of Sisko eventually poisoned the calculating religious leader even further, pushing her to more and more extreme lengths to bring herself closer to her gods. Played by Oscar winning actress Louise Fletcher , Kai Winn's descent into hell across seven seasons of DS9 was compulsive viewing.

Louise Fletcher and Michelle Yeoh are the only two Star Trek stars to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.

While Kai Winn had a redemption of sorts in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's finale, it was still rooted in the cowardice and pettiness of her character. When she realized that the Pah wraiths wanted Gul Dukat as their emissary and not her, she decided to put her faith back in Sisko. While that saved Bajor from destruction, it's hard to ignore that Kai Winn's motivations were once again rooted in Bajor's higher beings ignoring her.

2 The Female Changeling (Salome Jens)

The Female Changeling (Salome Jens) was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's most interesting female villain . The spokesperson for the Dominion Founders, she was a master manipulator, and a steely villain with little regard for the "solids". The Female Changeling's attempts to manipulate Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) were compelling viewing, and ultimately solidified the Constable's loyalty to his friends aboard DS9. Seen as a god by the Vorta, the Female Changeling also appeared to delight in manipulating Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) by playing him off against the Breen in the latter stages of DS9 's Dominion War .

Salome Jens also played the First Humanoid, now referred to as a Progenitor, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "The Chase", which Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is a sequel to.

Salome Jens' performance as the Female Changeling was utterly compelling, delivering her lines with an icy sense of superiority befitting a species that set themselves up as gods. When the Dominion War ended in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finale, the Female Changeling was taken into custody for her multiple war crimes. However, despite Odo's attempts to educate his people to move past the Female Changeling's ideology, those like Vadic still wanted to destroy the Solids following the Dominion War.

1 The Borg Queen (Alice Krige)

Star trek: first contact, voyager, picard.

Introduced in Star Trek: First Contact , the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) is the greatest female villain that the franchise has produced . Unlike her drones, Star Trek 's Borg Queen had a personality, and used that to seduce others into joining the Collective. Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) seemingly fell under the Borg Queen's spell in First Contact , but was merely distracting her so he could avert the Collective's plan to sabotage the Phoenix's first warp flight. The Borg Queen's consciousness was stored elsewhere, able to be downloaded into a new body, which is why other actress have played the role originated by Krige.

Each Borg Queen performer has brought something new to the character, the most notable being Annie Wersching and Alison Pill's partnership in Star Trek: Picard season 2 . Their co-dependent relationship revealed new information about the Borg Queen that humanized her somewhat. Through her connection to the Queen, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) discovered that the Borg long for connection, and the Queen is ultimately lonely. Rather than being a retcon, this was a callback to the Queen's previous relationships with Data and Picard, confirming that they were the only matches for Star Trek 's most enduring female villain.

Star Trek: First Contact is available to stream on Max.

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"Star Trek: Voyager" Worst Case Scenario (TV Episode 1997)
Star Trek: Voyager "Worst Case Scenario"
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Star Trek: Voyager Rewatch: “Worst Case Scenario”
Star Trek: Voyager Rewatch: “Worst Case Scenario”

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COMMENTS

Worst Case Scenario (Star Trek: Voyager)
Star Trek: Voyager. ) " Worst Case Scenario " is the 67th episode and the 25th and penultimate episode of the third season of Star Trek: Voyager. This episode focuses on events that take place on a spacecraft virtual reality system (a Star Trek holodeck on board the USS Voyager ), involving a plot based on factions established earlier in the ...
"Star Trek: Voyager" Worst Case Scenario (TV Episode 1997)
Worst Case Scenario: Directed by Alexander Singer. With Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Lien. B'Elanna's discovery of a holonovel projecting a Maquis takeover of Voyager enthralls the crew, but a hidden edit could kill its mystery author.
Worst Case Scenario (episode)
A buried holonovel with high entertainment value depicting a Maquis mutiny is discovered. B'Elanna Torres looks apprehensive as she walks down the corridor on the ship and approaches the turbolift to report for duty, and even more so as Chakotay joins her casually. Once they are in the turbolift, Chakotay begins asking a series of strange questions pertaining to his dislike for Tuvok and ...
Weekly Episode Discussion: VOY 3x25 "Worst Case Scenario"
"Worst Case Scenario" Star Trek: Voyager 3x25. 66th out of 168 release in VOY. 471nd of 727 released in all. Original Airdate: 14 May, 1997. Stardate: 50953.4 (2373) ... I hate to say this because she's one of my least favorite Star Trek characters, but Seska is one of the better villians in ST. She's conniving, smart, and motivated, and her ...
"Worst Case Scenario"
By being more outlandish, "Worst Case Scenario" ends up, really, being all the more typical. But this is a good episode nonetheless, with some very clever scenes. The first half of the episode is superb, as we're introduced to a brewing Maquis mutiny that turns out to be a holodeck simulation written by an anonymous author.
Why Voyager
Celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Star Trek: Voyager, this is one of 50 episode reviews of the 4th live-action series in the Star Trek franchise.Tweet us @...
Star Trek: Voyager
Worst Case Scenario is a flawed episode of Star Trek: Voyager.It is also breathtakingly ambitious. There is a strong argument to be made that Worst Case Scenario is the strongest Star Trek script ever written by Kenneth Biller. It is a story about storytelling, using the holodeck as a jumping off point for all sorts of self-reflective commentary on the sort of creative compromises necessary to ...
Worst Case Scenario
Worst Case Scenario. The Starship Voyager, having been pulled to the Delta Quadrant by a powerful and mysterious alien being called the Caretaker, now finds itself in an unknown region of space, seventy-five thousand light years from home. ... We are a Star Trek fan site, dedicated to providing exciting synopses and plot summaries for our ...
"Star Trek: Voyager" Worst Case Scenario (TV Episode 1997)
B'Elanna's discovery of a holonovel projecting a Maquis takeover of Voyager enthralls the crew, but a hidden edit could kill its mystery author. Members of the Voyager crew furtively participate in a hidden holodeck programme where the ship's Maquis members stage an insurrection. When words gets out, Tuvok and Paris get trapped within the ...
Worst Case Scenario
A holo-novel is discovered in the computer banks, in which Chakotay raises a Maquis mutiny on Voyager. Then, when Paris and Tuvok discover that the pr…
The Voyager Transcripts
CHAKOTAY: And when the shooting starts, I'm going to need to know which side you're on. JANEWAY: Well, Commander, Voyager's all yours. CHAKOTAY: There's a first time for everything, I guess. Don't worry, Captain, I'll keep your ship safe and sound. JANEWAY: I'm sure you will.
Watch Star Trek: Voyager Season 3 Episode 25: Worst Case Scenario
Worst Case Scenario. S3 E25 46M TV-PG. A holo-novel is discovered in the computer banks, in which Chakotay raises a Maquis mutiny on Voyager. Then, when Paris and Tuvok discover that the program has been altered, they and the Voyager crew must race to stay one step ahead of a holographic Seska.
Worst Case Scenario
Episode Guide for Star Trek: Voyager 3x25: Worst Case Scenario. Episode summary, trailer and screencaps; guest stars and main cast list; and more.
Worst Case Scenario
On this show, our podcasters renact Star Trek scripts with some creative voices and reinterpretations.This week's episodeStar Trek: Voyager"Worst Case Scenar...
Worst Case Scenario
Worst Case Scenario. With Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill. The Delta Flyers is a weekly Star Trek: Voyager rewatch and recap podcast hosted by Garrett Wang and Robert Duncan McNeill. Each week Garrett and Robert will rewatch an episode of Voyager starting at the very beginning. This week's episode is Worst Case Scenario.
Worst Case Scenario
A buried holo-novel with high entertainment value depicting a Maquis mutiny (Tuvok's "Worst Case Scenario") is discovered.
"Worst Case Scenario" (VOY 3.25) and why it's the only ...
"Worst Case Scenario" is, in fact, one of my favorite Voyager episodes. Unlike other holodeck episodes, this one does not take you out of the Star Trek setting. Instead, it is used to explore a different path that the show COULD have taken, had the writers been more willing to stray from the boy-scout Lawful Good idealism that is both the ...
'Star Trek: Voyager' Episodes
The series premiere for Voyager promised a Star Trek like none before it, with it boasting a female lead, a mixed crew of Starfleet and Maquis, and a ship alone in the Delta Quadrant.Premiering ...
"Star Trek: Voyager" Worst Case Scenario (TV Episode 1997)
This notion quickly vanished in Season One and the Voyager crew became a "family" just like all the other Star Trek crew. "Worst Case Scenario" reveals another path which the show could have taken which certainly would have made it unique. A multi-episode story arc about a true hostile takeover might have made for a very interesting season indeed.
Doux Reviews: Star Trek Voyager: Worst Case Scenario
Star Trek Voyager: Worst Case Scenario. by Juliette. "You've just threatened the wrong woman, Chakotay." B'Elanna agrees to join Chakotay in a mutiny - but something weird is going on, as Janeway and Chakotay barely know each other, and Seska is somehow alive and well... This is another episode I really, really like and always enjoying re ...
Recap / Star Trek Voyager S 3 E 24 "Worst Case Scenario"
At the end of the episode, he notes that any future holo-novels will not be so close to home. Writing by the Seat of Your Pants: In-Universe —this is how Paris wants to finish the program, much to Tuvok's disapproval. A page for describing Recap: Star Trek Voyager S 3 E 24 "Worst Case Scenario". B'Elanna Torres discovers a holodeck program on ...
Star Trek: Voyager 325
Original UPN trailer for "Worst Case Scenario" of Star Trek: Voyager.14 MAY 1997 - 9:00 PM ON UPN22 OCT 1997 - 9:00 PM ON UPN
Did Star Trek: Voyager really have the best pilot?
Kathryne Janeway is one of the best-written captains, the scenario that Voyager is in highlights the strengths of the crew and the depth of their humanity. The entire ship is just beautiful from ...
"Worst Case Scenario"? More Season 3 of Star Trek: Voyager
Greetings, Trekkers and podcast aficionados! I'm Wes, and along with my co-host Clay, I'm thrilled to welcome you to another insightful episode of "The Pensk...
12 Star Trek Female Villains Ranked, Worst To Best
Disappointingly, one of Star Trek: Voyager's most interesting villains was reduced to the level of Captain Kirk's evil ex-girlfriend, Janice Lester. The most successful plot by Seska was only discovered after she'd died, when a holodeck simulation of a Maquis mutiny turned into a deadly trap in Voyager season 3, episode 25, "Worst Case Scenario".

Worst Case Scenario (episode)

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