Exasperated Calculator: Star Trek & Economics

Tuvok and Neelix are stuck on an away mission together. This is mainly another attempt at the Tuvok/Neelix relationship story that so miserably fell flat on its face in previous episodes, mainly because Neelix came across as an intolerant jerk. Here Tuvok is made to look like the intolerant jerk, which strangely enough makes a…

Dr Bashir is selected as the template for the Long-Term Medical Hologram. There is a lot of interesting stuff in the story – Julian’s relationship with his parents, a new insight into the Federation and the things they do. But the plot hinges on a scene so stupid that I had to cover my eyes.…

The Doctor goes a bit too far in self improvement. I chose to read this episode as an analogy for tech support, and what happens when you let the end users too much freedom to upgrade their computers. Just remember, your computer at work is locked down for your own good! The Doctor, and especially…

Cardassia joins the Dominion, and the battle comes to Deep Space 9. That big fleet turns out to be mainly interested in helping out Cardassia, and so the attack on DS9 is left to what is, really, a James Bond supervillain plot. It felt like a weak use of the Changeling-Bashir. The best stuff is…

Voyager comes across a disabled Borg cube. My biggest concern about the Borg is that they’re too hard a threat for a single ship to deal with. And as a result the only way to tell good stories will be to dumb them down. So far this episode avoids that, managing to keep the Borg…

Worf and Garak try to track the source of a Cardassian call for help. So, in the last few episodes: * Odo can shapeshift again. * The Maquis has lost a leader and is crippled. * Bajor decides to not join the Federation. And now we find out Bashir has been a changeling infiltrator for…

A Vulcan member of the crew undergoes pon farr, and B’Elanna catches it too (even though she’s not Vulcan). Voyager was going to have to get around to this one eventually, given the length of their journey home. It was also a good choice to add a Vulcan crew member, rather than use Tuvok. But…

Sisko obsessively chases after the traitor Eddington. OK, so the ‘obsessed with a goal’ plot isn’t exactly new. But it’s well delivered, and we get a glimpse at a darker side of Sisko’s personality. Eddington is also a great villain – I hope we see him again. Bonus points for using *Les Miserables* rather than…

Janeway gets caught in a time loop. Or catches the Phage. Or dies and haunts Voyager. Or is possessed by an alien. I’m not really sure to be honest. I’m going to be charitable here, because Voyager finally tried something a little bit ambitious. OK, it’s a bit unsure of itself, and probably got a…

Odo tries to raise another orphan changeling. Last time we dealt with Odo’s father issues, in [*The Alternate*](http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com/archives/2012/03/trekathon-303-the-alternate-ds9/), I said that it was a good idea with bad execution. Here we finally get the execution. Odo finally says his piece, and Dr Mora finally shows some insight. There isn’t enough time to really get into…