Basics, Part II (episode)

With the Kazon-Nistrim in control of Voyager, the crew must return to basics in order to survive on a harsh world inhabited by alien natives and animalistic predators. Meanwhile, Mr. Suder and The Doctor attempt to assist Mr. Paris' attempts to retake Voyager. (Season Premiere)

Summary

Whilst Janeway and her crew are struggling to survive on the desolate world on which the Kazon have abandoned them, a confused Suder hides on Voyager and is then contacted by The Doctor. The Doctor and Suder both attempt to plan a way of retaking the ship. However, Suder feels uncomfortable because he may have to kill some Kazon after he has spent months trying to get violence out of his mind. When the Kazon believe that they have located an intruder on Voyager, Suder does what he can to draw them away from sickbay with an old Maquis technique of using a piece of medical equipment, a portable thoron generator. The thoron particles from this device interfere with tricorders so they can't read anything else but the particles, but Suder gets caught by a Kazon and is forced to kill him before he can alert Seska of his location. After doing this, he returns to sickbay where he tells The Doctor what he has done. Suder needs time to calm down from his actions and uses a Vulcan meditation technique that Tuvok taught him. The Doctor tries to comfort Suder by telling him he had no choice, but Suder still feels uneasy. Unfortunately, they can't do much, at least until they establish contact with Tom Paris who asks them to sabotage the vessel. Despite The Doctor's strong objections, they agree.

On the planet, the crew tries to cope with the harsh conditions and split up into groups to start of in search of shelter, food and other supplies. Neelix and Hogan find humanoid bones near a tunnel that appears to have been cut out of the rock and Hogan suggests they may have been left by the primitive humanoids they spotted in the distance shortly after being marooned. Neelix orders him to gather the bones up so they can use them for tools and weapons. As Neelix goes to help another crewmember, Hogan gets dragged into the tunnel by a huge lizard. They rush to save him but are too late and only find a few scraps of his uniform.

In the mean time, Janeway has found shelter and is deeply saddened by the news of Hogan's death. She orders her crew to be more careful and to hold on, as she will not allow her crew to be destroyed by this planet. Later when the search for food and water is less than successful she tells the others to eat grubs if need be, a suggestion that is fortunately unnecessary when they locate eggs and edible vegetables. Chakotay makes a grim offer to use the shards of Hogan's uniform as solar stills to gather water. Janeway recognizes their dire need for water and orders him to do it.

When the night falls and temperatures plummet they are forced to huddle together for warmth and Chakotay becomes very angry at himself when he fails to create fire. Janeway tells him not to blame himself because no one is having any luck at it. They conclude that the wood is unsuitable and they need kindling, which they create by using locks of a woman's hair. Also it appears that Samantha Wildman's newborn baby, Naomi Wildman, is having difficulty coping with the planet's environment as a result from being born in space. Later in the evening, Neelix wanders away from the camp when he goes to get larger rocks to put around the fire. He is kidnapped by a group of the primitive humanoid people. Kes goes in search of him and is also captured.

Janeway sends out search parties after them. Chakotay's party finds them and he tries to communicate with the leader of the group. The elderly leader tries to appease Chakotay by letting him have Neelix but he and the group are reluctant to hand Kes back because they obviously think of her as a suitable and desirable mate, going so far as to fight over her amongst each other. Chakotay and Neelix refuse to leave without her and the leader offers one of the group's young females in exchange for Kes. Neelix is angered by the offer but Chakotay tells him to stay calm. He tries to reason with the primitive leader by telling him that the girl belongs with them and that Kes must go with him and Neelix. He tells Kes to calmly get up and walk away with him and Neelix. But this enrages the primitive group and they start to chase them. Even as Tuvok and others try to fight them they are forced to enter one of the caves in hope that natives know of the dangerous creatures inside them and will not follow them in. Unfortunately the natives force them deeper into the cave when they try to smoke the Voyager crewmembers out. Inside the crew struggles with one of the ferocious creatures and one of them gets eaten by it. Janeway and her group then distract the natives and the crew manages to escape.

Later, young Naomi's condition is gradually getting worse but there is little they can do for the infant. When the senior officers begin debating as to whether they should prepare to engage the natives again, the crew's priorities shift quickly when a nearby volcano begins to erupt. They flee in search of higher ground and encounter the group of natives once more. However, Chakotay manages to gain the group's trust by saving one of the young female natives from a lava stream. The leader of the natives leads the crew to safer ground and as Naomi is nearing death, the tribe leader saves her life by treating her.

On board Voyager, The Doctor and Suder successfully carry out their sabotage plan the moment Paris attacks the vessel with the help of several Talaxians. Suder, however, is killed heroically in the process.

The Kazon flee in the escape pods and one of their ships as Paris retakes Voyager. He collects the rest of the crew and sets a course for the Alpha Quadrant...

Log Entries

Medical log, stardate 50032.7. I have determined that Commander Chakotay is not the father of Seska's child. I only wish there was some way to inform him. What am I supposed to do? Lead a revolt with a gang from Sandrine's? Conjure up holograms of Nathan Hale and Che Guevara? I'm a doctor, not a counterinsurgent. Get hold of yourself. You're not just a hologram. You're a Starfleet hologram. Maybe . . . maybe I could access a tactical database, teach myself guerrilla warfare. But that would take time.

Memorable Quotes

"I'm a doctor, not a counter-insurgent. Get a hold of yourself. You're not just a hologram, you're a Starfleet hologram!"

- The Doctor, to himself

"Trapped on a barren planet, and you're stuck with the only Indian in the universe who can't start a fire by rubbing two sticks together."

- Chakotay, to Janeway

"If you can help me with repairs, we can be on our way in a few hours."
"Lieutenant, our ships are no match to Voyager, and your shuttlecraft can hardly-"
"Commander Paxim, my people are counting on you! Look, no one knows Voyager like I do. I know every vulnerabilty, every blind spot. Don't worry, I have a plan. "
" (sigh) Very well, we'll rendes-vous in an hour. Paxim out."
" (to himself) One hour. I should be able to come up with some kind of plan in one hour."

- Tom Paris asking for help from Talaxian Commander Paxim

"Sticks and stones won't break my bones, so you can imagine how I feel about being called names."

- The Doctor, to Seska

Background Information

File:Hanonianlandeel.jpg

The Hanon IV land eel

When The Doctor asks the computer for the ship complement, it responds "89 Kazon... and 1 Betazoid", but forgets Seska and her baby, though the baby, as a hybrid, could have been counted as a Kazon. However it may be that Seska, who is a spy and most likely a member of the Cardassian Obsidian Order, because of her training as a spy and her deeply paranoid personality will most likely have masked her lifesigns in order to avoid detection.
This episode marks the deaths of Seska (Martha Hackett), Lon Suder (Brad Dourif) and Hogan (Simon Billig) and the final appearance of Maje Culluh (Anthony De Longis) on the series. (His picture is shown to Seven aboard the timeship in "Relativity", albeit as part of a data file depicting the Kazon in general.)
Voyager never encounters the Kazon again (although a temporal anomaly causes Engineering to regress to this period in time in "Shattered"). They are also briefly seen again in "Living Witness" in a deeply flawed recreation of Voyager where a few Kazon are enslaved crewmembers onboard of Voyager where they where being used as members of the Warship Voyager's fighting force. The next major enemy race (the Borg) do not make their full appearance for another season.
We learn in this episode that Tuvok taught Archery Science at the Vulcan Institute for Defensive Arts for several years.
Scott Haven previously played Virak'kara in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "To the Death".
The remnants of Hogan's corpse are later excavated by the Voth and helped the alien species come in contact with Voyager in "Distant Origin".
This episode marks the first appearance of Voyager's escape pods.
The Kazon crew wear the Starfleet combadges on the right side, instead of the familiar left.
As shown in the It's A Wrap! sale and auction, one of the black costumes worn by the natives of Hanon IV was later reused as a shirt for Verin in "Friendship One".
After retaking Voyager from the Kazon, Janeway orders Paris to "Take us away from our new home and set a course for the old one." Seska had called Hanon IV the crew's "new home" in "Basics, Part I".
Suder's character was killed in this episode much to the disapproval of several staff writers largely because producer Jeri Taylor didn't care for him. ^{(citation needed • edit)}
This was Michael Piller's last Voyager script, though he would remain a creative consultant on the show.
Piller's original script was much different than the episode that aired. In the early draft, Maje Culluh and Seska's baby would have died while Seska and Suder would have lived. As well, the baby would have been Chakotay's son. It is believed that Piller and Taylor fought over this episode which promted Piller to leave the show. Piller has publicaly stated that Taylor and Berman gave up too soon on the concepts they had established early on and that like TNG, Voyager would have most likely taken off during its third season.

Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.1, 13 January 1997.

This volume sees a slight change in the sleeve design - the episode band is segmented, and the episode names are placed along the bottom of their segment.

As part of the UK VHS collection Star Trek - Greatest Battles: 16 November 1998.
In feature-length form, as part of the UK VHS release Star Trek: Voyager - Movies: Volume 1 (with "Future's End"), 14 August 2000.
As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection.

Links and References

Previous episode:
"Basics, Part I"

Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3

Next episode:
"Flashback"

Basics, Part II (episode)

Contents

Summary

Log Entries

Memorable Quotes

Background Information

Video and DVD releases

Links and References

Special Guest Star

Guest Stars

Co-Stars

Uncredited Co-Stars

References

Fan Feed