Sunday, May 12, 2013

Flesh and Blood

**** (4 stars out of 5)
Apparently the locals include the Nebari from Farscape and the Ovions from classic Battlestar Galactica.  But we're not concerned with organic beings today so much as the holograms they created to serve them.  Or in the Hirogen's case, created to hunt for sport.

Did you ever loan someone a book or DVD or something and then it got lost or broken? That's rough, but it's not very much like this. Using Voyager's technology, the Hirogen built intelligent, learning holograms that bleed and feel pain. Because that sucks, the holograms revolted.

Iden, a simulated Bajoran zealot sick of being killed for fun, freed other programmable Alpha Quadrant simulations and stole a warship. Kejal, his holographic Cardassian engineer, is the closest thing he has to a voice of reason. Iden, however, wants to free every photonic from servitude. Save every Child of Light, if you will. Of course, he places their worth intrinsically HIGHER than that of organics, whether or not the holograms can even THINK. It's easy to see where Iden's coming from, but the guy would kill an organic to "free" the picture on their driver's license.

Once "rescued", the EMH tries to get Iden to play nice with the meatbags. Donik (the Hirogen Nerd who initially gave the holograms enough smarts to rebel) advises Captain Janeway in her efforts to spread peace like thick, creamery butter. But no one else seems to want any.

Good to see the AI from 'Think Tank' is still getting work: tonight he plays the part of the renegades' holoprojector.

"Flesh and Blood" is feature-length fun, probably the best movie-length Voyager episode since the pilot. Some reviews I read complained that the Hirogen holodeck technology somehow got thousands of light-years AHEAD of Voyager. Remember for a moment that from the first episodes in which they appeared, the nomadic Hirogen had a communication relay that spanned the ENTIRE galaxy. Clearly they got it working again. The bigger question is why they expend so much energy playing Space Lizard NRA and so little having Space Lizard Nookie. Also, do these holograms still send Janeway Mother's Day Cards? Just asking.

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