An Energy crisis, silver blood and duplicates. All on the episode that originally aired on May 6,1998. This is Demon.
The Episode:
Captain’s Log Stardate Undetermined: Demon
With the ship running low on resources, they must confront a Demon Planet and the creatures that live there.
The Story:
Once again, Voyager is running low on fuel and resources. I swear, this seems to come up often…especially after they run the holodeck almost none-stop. I mean, I guess we can blame it on the Hirogen this time…I mean, they did kinda use a ton of their resources when they turned Voyager into an giant VR simulation…but anyway, without more deuterium, they are stuck so….they find some on a demon class planet nearby and, while it is way too toxic to even orbit…they figure…well they kinda have to do something.
So, after figuring out they cant beam the deuterium off the planet and they cant send a probe, Kim and Paris take a shuttle to the dangerous planet that could kill them only to find a massive puddle of silver liquid that… you guessed it, is chock full of deuterium. With a plethora of deuterium rich liquid to sample, Tom goes exploring while Harry gets the much needed data. Tom returns only to find that Harry has fallen in and ends up saving him….but their suits get damage and they collapse.
Back on the ship the Doctor has to deal with some of the crew living in sickbay as a means to ration energy while Janeway and Tuvok discover that they have lost contact with their away team. Not wanting to risk another shuttle, that really shouldn’t exist at this point, Janeway chooses to risk them all and lands the ship. Chakotay and Seven find the missing shuttle and soon find Paris and Harry but something is strange….Paris and Harry can survive the hostile environment sans suits….whaaaa?!
Having already collected a ton of deuterium, Paris and Harry return with Chakotay and Seven only to discover that they can’t breath on the ship. Rushing the pair to sickbay, the Doctor places Paris and Harry in a shielded area filled with the planets atmosphere and soon discovers that they have absorbed the ‘silver blood’ and have been altered to be able to survive on the planet. Unfortunately the Doctor can not reverse the process meaning they will have to stay behind when Voyager departs.
Seven, Chakotay and Kim head out to get more info while Paris remains in sickbay for tests. Soon the exploratory team find something even more shocking…Tom and Harry…still in their environmental suits! How can this be? Tom is on the ship and Harry is right there with them. Back on the ship Janeway and Torres discover that the silver blood might be alive and has duplicative properties… but their discovery is cut short when a giant pool of silver blood begins to form around the ship causing it to sink.
With the real Paris and Kim back on Voyager, the Doctor discovers that the Silver Blood can sample DNA and recreate living beings. The duplicates seem to not have any memory of being duplicates but, when Tuvok activates a nadion burst in order to pull the ship from the lake it is sinking in Silver Paris and Kim suddenly double over in pain. Silver Harry agrees to go ‘talk’ to the pool of silver blood and they soon reach an agreement. The Silver Blood has taken on sentiance after duplicating Harry and Paris so it asks to duplicate others who are willing and it will let Voyager go free. Janeway agrees and, after many of the crew are duplicated, Voyagers heads off leaving a race of silver blood duplicates behind.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
What is it with this ship running out of fuel at the most inopportune times. I swear, when they are ‘well stocked’ they are the most wasteful crew in the quadrant only practicing rationing when it is absolutely necessary. Seriously, this crew uses the holodeck far too often for a ship that needs to save energy and resources. We all know that the holodeck uses a blend of holograms and replicator technology in order to work so…why the heck do they use it so much?
Okay, that rather major complaint aside, this episode is actually really cool. While Voyager does waste all of its time exploring a dangerous planet to literally get nothing in return…which seems like a trend with this crew, the idea of a liquid entity gaining sentience is pretty awesome. Especially when the sentience is able to duplicate people down to their very memories. How crazy would it be to discover that, not only are you not you but you are essentially a new life-form as well?! The thing that makes this episode great…well, I can’t really talk about that just yet. In fact… you will have to wait a bit….let’s just say that this is not the last we see of the silver blood.
One thing I love about this episode is the character interaction. We get a really great focus on Harry and Tom focusing on their growing relationship. This episode really shows how far they have come as friends firmly establishing their kinship and trust in one another. One interesting thing that is noted is how Harry has started taking more of an aggressive stance in his job. In fact, we see Harry really step forward causing Tom to ask if he is trying to buck for a promotion. The interesting thing isn’t that Harry is exhibiting more initiative it’s that Paris notes that Harry is not acting ‘like himself’. Harry responds that he just had a good idea and even references his experiences so far, including the Borg, Species 8472 and even dying…however he forgets to note that he is…in fact, NOT the original Harry Kim. Remember? The Harry Kim that left with Paris from Deep Space Nine died and was replaced with a Harry Kim from an alternate universe along with the infant Naomi Wildman. While this fact is quickly forgotten and glossed over, Tom’s comment that Harry doesn’t seem like himself is right on the money…he isn’t…himself that is. This gets even crazier when alternate Harry is replaced by the silver blood making the Silver Harry a duplicate of an alternate Harry. So, yeah, Harry really isn’t himself.
Not only do we get a great continuation of the Harry and Tom relationship and the rather interesting case of a duplicate duplicate harry, but we get some cool moments that really inform on how the crew are finally getting along. Neelix and the Doctor have a fun interaction when Neelix has to move in for a brief time. This is a relationship we will see again and it is a blast to see them interacting more. There is also a really cool moment where Torres recommends that Chakotay take Seven of Nine with him on an away mission. Torres is known to not really get along with Seven but this one brief moment really shows how she can separate her personal feelings from her professional ones. Torres has really grown since she became the Chief Engineer and this single line really shows just how much she has.
Overall, very cool premise with some fantastic character development all around. In fact…this episode gets even better later in the series as I hinted at above….trust me the silver blood’s story is far from over.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- 0 photon torpedoes fired, 19 remaining.
- 0 shuttlecraft lost or destroyed, -1 remaining
- Vorik appears in this one so he is still there. In the back ground. Doing things.
- It is implied that the entire crew fits in cargo bay one….that must be a massive cargobay… well.. I mean its not like it has any shuttlecraft in it so…sure okay..heh.
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: One
For more reviews: check out the weekly series called Key Movies Of My Life that comes out every Thursday and for more retro TV goodness check out the rest of the Retro TV Reviews here.
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Late To The Game 10/28/2020
Special Thanks to Memory Alpha as they are one of the best sources for details on Star Trek information available. Although I have a pretty deep knowledge on the subject, they have proven invaluable as a regular resource.
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