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Following a brutal battle with the Hirogen, Voyager is captured and the crew is taken hostage. With half of them forced to run the ship for the Hirogen, the other half are forced into violent holodeck simulations designed for the Hirogen to continue their hunt.

Summary

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Captain Janeway, altered to look like a Klingon, battles several other Klingons. A Hirogen interrupts the battle and stabs her. He calls Sickbay to tell them that the Captain is injured and needs medical attention.

The USS Voyager has been taken over by the Hirogen and they are using the holodeck to hunt the crew in various programs. Each crewmember has been fitted with a neural interface that makes them believe they actually are the character in the holodeck program.

The Captain, Seven of Nine, Neelix, and Tuvok are put in a simulation of the Nazi occupation of France. They are running a chateau, but are secretly working for the French Resistance, while the Hirogen are working alongside the Nazis. The "Resistance" deciphers a radio message telling them that the Allied forces will arrive within days, and they must assist by disabling the Nazi's communications.

One of the Hirogen, Turanj, gets dissatisfied with "playing the game", and ends up shooting Seven of Nine and Neelix. They are taken to sickbay, where it is learned that the Doctor has been patching everyone up repeatedly. The alpha, Karr, explains that the idea of this endeavor is to repeatedly hunt without killing, satisfying the need, but allowing a more stationary and stable society to emerge, something the Hirogen never had.

The only member of the senior staff not being hunted in the holodeck is Ensign Harry Kim, who is being forced to convert the entire ship into one large holodeck. At the order of Karr, he diverts more and more power as he expands the hologrid. Additionally, he manages to use the new emitters to summon the Doctor and plan to retake the ship. He explains that there is a way to access the bridge controls from the holodeck, but someone needs to be in the holodeck to access the controls. The Doctor says that it's time that they use their Borg.

The Doctor manages to wake Seven of Nine and explains to her that she must engage the bridge access relays when he disables her neural interface by using one of her Borg implants to jam it.

When she "wakes up," she is astonished to find herself singing on stage, and quickly excuses herself. Since her character has shown resistance to Janeway in the past, suspicions that she is a Nazi sympathizer now come to a head with her new unwillingness to continue to sing while Janeway pumps the commandant (Karr) for information.

As the Allied Captain and Lieutenants Chakotay and Tom Paris organize their troops, and Janeway reaches the emitter planning to blow it up (which happens to be the wall where the bridge interface is). Janeway's interface is disabled, just as artillery barrages create a simulated explosion which blows a hole in the holodeck wall, and the characters do not know what to make of it -- the program is still running. They begin charging into the "Nazi bunker", taking the war to the rest of the ship.

Memorable Quotes

"I must discontinue this activity. I am not well."

- Seven of Nine, after the Doctor's tampering restores her memories and identity mid-song.

Background Information

  • This is the third mention of Nazi Germany in Star Trek. The Nazis first appeared in TOS: "The City on the Edge of Forever", and "Patterns of Force". The Nazis return in ENT: "Zero Hour", and "Storm Front", when agents from the Temporal Cold War send Captain Archer and the Enterprise NX-01 back to the Second World War.
  • The Hirogen's entire culture and the plot of this two parter seem to take inspiration from the classic short story "The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell where a man becomes trapped on the private island of a hunter who has become bored with big game hunting and now hunts other humans. DS9: "Captive Pursuit" had explored a nearly identical idea several years earlier.
  • Both Captain Janeway and Neelix are seen wearing Klingon uniforms in this episode. Tom Paris would later wear one in VOY: "Prophecy".
  • Originally aired as a two-hour episode alongside "The Killing Game, Part II".
  • A Citroen 2CV Charleston (red and black) can be seen in this episode, but this car has been produced only in 1980 and the first car of this type was produced in 1948.
  • The german troopers have US-style boots, instead of the standard Wermacht footwear of that time.
  • After The Doctor disables Captain Janeway's neural interface, the Hirogen guard holds him with a weapon at his head, as though he were a humanoid.
  • This two-parter marks the only episodes where Roxann Dawson's pregnancy is intentionally shown on screen. Seven of Nine clarifies that her character's pregnancy is holographic, but in the Season 4 DVD extras, Dawson was relieved that she didn't have to hide her body while filming this arc.
  • Jeri Ryan does her own singing in this episode.
  • The text that appears on screen when The Doctor accesses Janeway's profile is a summary of the events in the Season 2 episode "Resolutions".

Awards

  • This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series.

Links and References

Guest Stars

Uncredited Co-Stars

References

Battle of Wolf 359; Dover; Fifth Armored Infantry; France; Goulot; Hirogen; Hirogen philosophy; Hirogen warship; holodeck; hologram; hologrid; Klingon; Nazi; Tarpahk; Sainte Claire; US Army; Second World War; The Concert; US 29th Infantry Division

External Links

Previous episode:
"Retrospect"
Star Trek: Voyager
Season 4
Next episode:
"The Killing Game, Part II"
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