Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Workforce (2001) User Reviews

One of the better 7th season adventures!

[karacter · 9/10 · 5 July 2010]

The story isn't completely original, of course (crew members held captive on an alien planet requiring other crew members to "go under cover" to rescue them is a fairly common Star Trek adventure), but fortunately it has been tweaked enough so that it ends up being a fresh approach with lots of clever surprises at every turn.

Coupled with really outstanding visual effects & sets representing an alien city, some genuinely suspenseful moments, and the fun of seeing the cast play "themselves" in an alternate reality, this installment ends up being an excellent and highly enjoyable Star Trek adventure, certainly one of Voyager's very best.

Although the entire cast shines here, Tim Russ and Robert Picardo are especially noteworthy for their excellent performances.

Janeway and her boyfriend

[amanda5458 · 8/10 · 26 September 2007]

A great episode, where the crew is forced by an assault with radiation to abandon ship. They seek help from a nearby planet where instead, their memories were selectively altered to make them happy with taking jobs in a society experiencing a work shortage. The Doctor remains behind in his new role of ECH, repairing the ship and worrying when his crew doesn't return as arranged. Of course, the ship was part of the commandeering plan and the attackers attempted to salvage it. The Doctor saved the ship by hiding in the nebula.

Chakotay, Kim and Neelix, out on a mission, return and embarked on a rescue mission after locating their people. Tuvok started to remember and managed to communicate this to Seven before breaking completely down and was hauled away for engramatic resequencing. Seven investigates further with the help of a law official.

Meanwhile, Janeway develops a romance with Jaffen (James Read) a nice fatherly type from a race that don't have fathers. This came out as a joke and story he told about a hostile encounter with a man who tried to insult his father. It was interesting to note a character that evidently breeds asexually, that is male and very sexually interested in Janeway. This would not be a usual combination. However, the plot and acting are up to the usual good standard of the Star Trek legacy.

A new life for the crew

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 22 May 2010]

When this episode opened I wasn't too sure what was happening, Captain Janeway was turning up for a job on an alien planet; was it the latest holodeck program? was she going undercover to investigate goings on there? No, she and most other crew members had been captured by aliens and had their memories altered to believe that was where they belonged. The only members of the crew not taken were Chakotay, Harry and Neelix who were on an away mission at the time and The Doctor who is now the "Emergency Command Hologram". While most of the crew get on with their new lives Tuvok starts to realise something is wrong even though he can't fully recall his past life. When Chakotay and the others find the planet the crew are on he and Neelix go down to the surface to recover the crew but that isn't as easy as it should be as they have no idea who he is. They manage to beam B'Elanna back to the ship but as the episode ends Chacotay finds himself cornered by local security while Voyager must move away as it comes under attack.

This opening episode of a two part story was pretty good, establishing the characters in their new lives and setting up potential villains or allies. It was nice to see the Doctor get a chance to use his ECH subroutines and his bickering with Harry about who was in command while Chakotay was on the surface was amusing. Another thing I liked was how the crew retained many of their characteristics; Seven was still obsessed with efficiency and Tom was still rather laid back.

A wonderful parable

[neilajarn-720-47635 · 10/10 · 24 June 2013]

In the true spirit of Star Trek this episode mirrors the plight of humanity perfectly.

How many people suffer in a job they do not enjoy ? All to keep a waning economy afloat.

This is the essence of the very message Gene Roddenberry wanted to convey when he conceived the Star Trek idea, he wanted to show us where we are as a people.

The thrill this episode gives is immense because the crew are escaping from a mundane reality that so many of us settle for.

Its a wonderful parable.

A creative way to increase your workforce.

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 8 March 2015]

When Chakotay, Kim and Neelix return to Voyager after a mission, they cannot find the ship at first. It's been hidden and heavily damaged--with the Doctor in command and all the crew gone! The Doctor explains what has transpired. Shortly after the three left for their mission, the ship struck a space mine that flooded the ship with radiation. The crew had to abandon ship or die. Then, ships came to scavenge Voyager but the Doctor (acting as Captain) was able to evade them until the three crewmen returned.

Here's the weird part. The crew were rescued and given drugs to destroy their old identities. Now they are workers at some giant refinery- type plant with no recollection of Voyager! So, it's up to the remaining crew to sneak onto this nasty planet and secret the crew back to Voyager and deprogram them. When the show ends, however, a mission to extract B'Elanna isn't going well. She doesn't want to go, the enemy attack Voyager AND Chakotay is about to be captured!!

All in all, a very exciting and original sort of show. I liked the idea of a race who will go to ANY length to get workers for its industries. My only complaint, and it's a very minor one, is that in Tuvak's flashbacks, what you see SHOULD be from his point of view but it isn't! Heck, you can even see HIM during these scenes.

Economic slavery in a paranoid thriller

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 9 August 2020]

Most of the Voyager crew find themselves living alternate lives working at a power station on a strange planet.

This is a very interesting concept that made me think how people's lives can defined by the jobs they do and role the economy plays in trapping people into lives they might otherwise not lead.

The above is presented in a pretty entertaining and thrilling two part conspiracy story. Part 1 establishes what everyone is doing and how they got they got into the situation and sets things up nicely for part two.

Everything that happens with each character makes sense. It's great how you see the personality traits of some coming out in their current situation. Tom Paris for example is still the same Tom Paris, but without the stimulus of his Voyager adventures and stability of married life you see he's initially back in self destruct mode before someone similar to Janeway takes him in.

The episode's theme continues on board Voyager where The Doctor is in Emergency Command Hologram with another opportunity to command the ship. Does he identify with this more than his intended program?

What about Kathryn Janeway? Is she happier in her new life? If the opportunity comes to return to Voyager will she actually take it?

This one has a lot of intrigue and strong performances. So much so it was the first two part episode in the series that hooked me enough to watch them back to back.

Perhaps the Best of All

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 18 September 2018]

I remember how impressed I was when I watched this the first time. Harry, Neelix, Chakotay, and the Doctor find themselves alone on Voyager. The rest of the crew was forced into escape pods and landed on a planet where workers are in great demand. The society, which has the ability to erase memories and add new personalities, has the rest of the crew working at some kind of refinery. Only Tuvok, who is haunted by his past, keeps some recollection of his past life. Janeway fall in love with a fellow worker. Meanwhile, the workers are given periodic injections to keep them in this state. Chakotay and Neelix go to the surface to investigate. The Doctor and Harry are in charge of Voyager. A very clever plot with lots of striking implications.

Summary

[Hackintosh · 8 August 2006]

Stardate: 54584.3

The crew of Voyager carry out their normal lives as workers on an industrial planet called Quarra, totally unaware of their time on Voyager or their situation in the Delta Quadrant.

Chakotay, Kim and Neelix, return from their trading mission on the Delta Flyer to find the ship abandoned and adrift in a nebula, with only the Doctor on board.

The Doctor informs them that the ship fell into a trap which forced them to abandon ship in the escape pods, allowing them to be captured. The Doctor has heard nothing from them since.

After going undercover on the planet, Chakotay, Kim, Neelix and the Doctor must now find a way to return the crew and restore their memories, while evading local authorities who have uncovered their plan.

Entertaining but...

[rkehler3 · 7/10 · 10 June 2021]

This two-part has a good premise, but par for the course throughout Voyager, you have to overlook the inconsistent writing and plot-holes. In this case, we have another Conundrum (1992) situation, where the antagonists are somewhat technologically inferior to Starfleet (inability to solve their labor shortage problem with some simple automation) yet somehow they can skillfully manipulate people's memories. But otherwise enjoyable.

Not bad but my least favorite

[robert-macc · 7/10 · 1 February 2024]

The reason I don't praise this episode like the others is because of the Allied Nordicist Yankee "Friends"-watching "Seinfeld"-hating punk of a father, of the stuck-up girl, himself: John Aniston. This episode foreshadowed two things: UPN being bought by CBS (or at least halfway via half of its stations, the others were Fox, or NBC-owned), and "Enterprise" (the closest thing UPN had to something from unpopular The WB, hence why it wasn't a popular show). I guarantee you the cast didn't love him being on the show, but it's not like John Aniston respected this show, and only seemed to go on it because Jeri Ryan was in it. The classic tension between UPN (the "Voyager" crew proper) and The WB (Jeri Ryan). That being said, this still had more culture than anything on The WB at least, and that's including the negative aspect of this episode. The episode is a good watch as the Voyager crew is stranded on a planet, that is a workplace planet, and the villains are somewhat open about it too. In a bad way, this is because of Aniston's presence. But it's still a watch if you can get past Aniston's annoying presence.

A mindless worker is a happy worker

[tomsly-40015 · 6/10 · 9 February 2024]

While the actual plot of this episode has an interesting central storyline (basically it's about modern slave labor, but whips and chains have been swapped for mind manipulation), I still wonder if it was necessary to spend a double episode on this. There are much more interesting episodes with more complex story elements and a more tightly woven plot that could easily have been extended into two episodes. E.g. "Blink of an eye" - here I would have liked to see how the doctor spent his time on the planet or would have liked to find out more about the evolution of this planetary society over the centuries.

The first episode of "Workforce," however, only picks up speed very slowly. The doctor as captain ("Emergency Command Hologram") is excellent and it is also interesting to see how Janeway adapts to her new role as a worker and even enters into a romantic relationship. But whether this should have been spread out in a whole episode - certainly not. After a short time, you actually understood what was going on in this factory and that the crew was being subjected to perfidious manipulation of their identities.

Furthermore, this factory seems to have an extremely inefficient work system - despite Seven as the new efficiency supervisor. Hundreds of workers are needed to do nothing more than operate and monitor one or two machines (which, by the way, look like Borg technology - only blue instead of green). No wonder this society is desperately looking for skilled workers. But instead of kidnapping unsuspecting travelers and implanting a new life as happy workers into their minds, their companies should first optimize their workflows, their technical infrastructure and the training of their employees.

Great episode

[orthohawk · 1/10 · 11 November 2019]

But Stargate SG-1 did it first. (Sept 2000; Season 4, ep 10)

Probably good story but ruined by poor editing

[jimdavidson-19532 · 3/10 · 11 December 2018]

I'm always mystified when I see what might otherwise be a good story ruined by poor editing. In this strung together yarn, voices are often masked behind heavy music burying lines in flurries of horns, clarinets and synthesizers. There's probably a story there but it's hard to find. You're better off going to a loud bar and chatting it up with a drunk. You'll get a better story.

(Sigh) Two Filler episodes in a row

[dave-kuhn · 3/10 · 11 November 2020]

Sorry, but this makes up two stupid, irritating episodes in a row. Thhhhhuuupph!