Not the Worst Star Trek Episode Ever

Fairy Tale Lesson 101:

Always stop and talk to the old people.

*Slight spoilers*

I recently rewatched Star Trek: Voyager's "Sacred Ground." The episode has an overall rating of 6.0 on IMBD, which is about right. Unfortunately, it reached that rating by receiving either a single star ("So stupid! Not scientific! Doesn't belong in the Star Trek universe! Self-righteous religious attitudes!") or full stars ("So profound! So what if it upset the atheists?! Science v. spirituality!")

Here's the thing:

1. The story is totally in keeping with Star Trek . . .

. . . including The Original Series, which tackled everything from serial killers to ghosts to the devil-bought-your-soul episodes. Like Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Star Trek does everything. Okay, yes, "Spock's Brain" was pretty stupid, but most brain-episodes are pretty stupid, no matter how full of scientific mumbo-jumbo.

Although purists often want to insist that Star Trek is SCIENCE while Star Wars is SPACE OPERA, Star Trek is first and last a storytelling enterprise--which is why people like me like it so much.

In any case, Star Trek: Voyager tended more towards anthropological/sociological sci-fi; this episode falls into that category.

2. It's classic mythology.

The captain has to undergo religious rituals in order to save Kes. She endows everything she sees
with religious meaning and purpose. She makes it what it is even though she could have simply asked the Spirits/Gods/Guides/Ancestors for help at the get-go (within the first five minutes of the ceremony).

And yet, the initial five-minute journey is replete with iconic motifs: violating sacred ground; the use of story (precedent) to claim the right to speak to the Spirits; an underground cavern; a guide who must be recognized as such; a gift to the guide; a purification ritual; a conversation.

Anyone who knows anything about mythology knows what Kathryn Janeway should ask in that room.

3. The theme is pretty cool.

Yes, it is religious. It is also psychological. The story of Namaan and Elisha has the same theme. So do a myriad of current books about assumptions embedded in the human-animal brain.

Janeway creates the narrative problem  (okay, well, other than supposedly culturally sensitive Kes being zapped for the equivalent of "stepping on the grass"). She assumes that everything has significance. She assumes that the ritual must be BIG and PROFOUND and AWESOME--which says way more about human expectations, wiring, and self-indulgence than anything else.

4. What's the problem? Why would I still give the episode a 6 (but not a 1 or a 10)?

Inconsistent Characterization: Up until this episode, the captain has shown a capacity for curiosity. Suddenly, she loses it? She doesn't talk to the old folks in the room? Really? She hasn't demonstrated this degree of impetuousness before. Why now?

Estelle Harris, Keene Curtis, and (off-screen) Parley Baer

Lack of a Decent Briefing on the Ship: Anyone who knows mythology knows that she missed an important clue with the old folks. I can't believe that someone--from Neelix, who likes to tell stories, to Tuvok, who knows Vulcan mythology, to Harry Kim, who enjoys Beowulf--wouldn't have piped up and said, "Hey, don't forget to ask questions of the first few people you meet!"

Points Automatically Deducted for Pontification: The final speeches by said old folks are a tad heavy-handed. And unnecessary (but the narrative arc was sparse to begin with so . . .)

However, I did like seeing Keene Curtis (also a Stargate alum)!