Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Unimatrix Zero (2000) User Reviews

Very fun two-part episode but it jumps the shark.

[Alex-594-514783 · 7/10 · 29 June 2018]

This is one of those action-packed episodes that is super fun to watch. Mostly I like Star Trek for how it makes you think but sometimes it's nice to take a load off and just have some fun. The whole idea of Unimatrix Zero is cool and unique and Voyager wanting to help preserve it is a great premise. Not to mention I always love Borg episodes that involve Janeway and the Borg Queen.

What I don't really love is the way they jump the shark toward the end when part of Janeway's plan is to have her and her away team actually become Borg drones with some sort of inhibitor from the doctor to keep the voices of the collective out of their heads. When Picard got assimilated in TNG it was a huge deal. Bringing him back was treated as no small task and he had to suffer with their implants in him for pretty much the rest of his life. Seven of Nine reinforces this notion that leaving the collective is a life-long process even if we're only talking about the superficial mechanical components and ignoring the mental journey.

They brush off this over the top plan by feeding the audience some hand-waving explanation about them not being Borg for too long so they can be totally reverted back to normal. This flies in the face of Locutus who was a Borg for less than a day and struggles the rest of his life because of it.

Ultimately it's still a fun episode. I just wish the writers could have thought a little harder about a clever Janeway plan that didn't involve trivializing assimilation, which up until then was a much scarier consequence than this episode makes it seem.

Dream time for Borgs

[Tweekums · 8/10 · 28 April 2010]

When Seven of Nine wakes from her regeneration she is disturbed having had what she thought was her first dream. In it she was in a forest where somebody addressed her by her real name. Trying to reassure her that it is perfectly natural the Doctor agrees to monitor her the next time she regenerates. When she does she returns to the forest where the other people tell her that they are in fact Borg drones and that until she was freed from the collective she too came to what they called Unimatrix Zero when she regenerated. The Borg queen has learnt of Unimatrix Zero and is working to find those drones and destroy them. Seven persuades the Captain to help those drones; in order to do this the captain, Tuvok and B'Elanna must infiltrate a Borg Cube; as the episode ends things do not look good for them and the words "To be continued" appear on the screen.

This episode was a great end to season six which once again pitted Janeway against the Borg queen. The idea that some Borgs were connected in they dreams in a place where they were individuals but had no knowledge of it when awake was interesting and could lead to further character development for the Borg. There were plenty of exciting moments and a few slightly gruesome scenes. The cliffhanger ending left me looking forward to the next episode.

A safe haven for Borg?

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 4 March 2015]

When the episode begins, Paris is re-instated as a lieutenant because of his nice behavior (if you remember, he previously lost his rank due to his completely disobeying Janeway's orders when they visited a water planet a season ago). However, the fun and games are, of course, only a prelude to bad things.

Soon the plot becomes all about a weird hidden safe haven for SOME Borg. In other words, some strange anomaly allows a small number of the drones to spend their recharging time in a happy haven (Unimatrix Zero) for folks to live out virtual lives as non-drones. Of course the Queen of the Hive isn't thrilled and is trying to locate all these drones and kill them. When Voyager finds out about this, the Captain wonders what they can do to facilitate the drones to not only live out their individual lives in the Unimatrix but extend this to their waking lives.

All in all, a very creative and cool episode--as are all the Borg shows. Well worth seeing and episode 2 in this series is even better.

JanewayQutus of Borg

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 17 October 2013]

The Borg have a Disease. The Queen is concerned for her Drone Army, she wants very much to heal these unfortunately infected Drones.

The Problem is, they don't remember that they are bad Borgs, naughty, dreaming Borgs. So they do not understand as Beta Borg Queen Suzanna continuously deactivate them, chop their heads off, and display a collection of Drone Heads all in her Parlour. If you look very closely, one of the Drone Heads is Data's Head from "Time's Arrow parts I and II".

Waste not Want not with Trek Props, unless of course Paramount wants to Auction them all off to the richest people in the Galaxy. I wonder who bought Data's Head, and if they paid "4.7" Million bucks for it, like Picard's Inner Light Flute?

OK, I digress- Sothby's is Irrelevant.

Seven of "The Number where the Digits are the Inverse of themselves" seems to be Dreaming, she sees a beautiful forest. Is she in Neelix's Afterlife-Forest? No, she sees people that are familiar somehow.

The Doctor is proud of this new development, until it is revealed that Seven is NOT Dreaming. She meets an AlieMan named "Axum" (Mark Deakins) and a Klingon named Korok (Jerome Butler) - And she knows them... A Woman named Laura (Joanna Heimbold) and some various aliens and other Sundry folk.

This is Unimatrix Zero - A construct where Drones are aware of their past existences, where they can be and look like who they were before Assimilation, and Seven can become Anika Hansen once more.

But Bad Suzanna the Queen is a desperately Seeking Suzanna, seeking the Interlink Frequencies for this little Node, which permeates the Whole Collective.

Axum and a reluctant Korok are in fact pleading for Help from Anika in salvaging this Private Idaho where they can put their feet up while regenerating and maybe smoke cigars.

And they have in fact developed a Virus that will permanently Hide everyone with a particular Mutation from the whole collective.

But since they forget all about it, they have no way if injecting the Central Plexus of any ship with this - The Plexus is what links all of the Drones in the collective into one giant Mosh Pit.

So they inquire of Anika to ask of Janeway, who is only eager to help them. Janeway with the help of The Doctor and B'Elanna concoct a way to infect The Collective and hide these souls from the peering eyes of Beta Queen.

Only one Problem, in order to get access to the Central Plexus, Janeway, Tuvok and B'Elanna must needs be ASSIMILATED.

Janeway makes one nasty looking Borg Drone, excellent Cliffhanger.

Can't Wait Till Next Year

[Hitchcoc · 10/10 · 14 September 2018]

As Janeway and Voyager infiltrate a Borg cube we are left in the dark, wondering what is going on. They are sticking their necks way out (literally). There is a planet where drones can separate themselves from the collective and Janeway has decided to aid them. She and Torres and Tuvok go to the cube. I'll tell you something. That Borg queen is about as sinister as one can be and this is a ultimate confrontation between her and Janeway. They crossed paths before and the next episode should prove very enlightening.

AXUM LIED to 7 of 9

[awbusa · 10/10 · 24 November 2020]

I always believed that AXUM implanted memories into 7 of 9 to manipulate her into helping him

I would've loved to have seen AXUM'S BORG ship get DESTROYED

Excellent concept but a familiar end to a season

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 31 July 2020]

Seven discovers a virtual world for some Borg drones to visit unseen by others. Janeway uses this as an opportunity to disrupt the collective.

This contains some very strong plot ideas and exciting sequences. Particularly the concept of Unimatrix Zero and Janeway's plan. The final scenes are well made, however you do feel that this type of cliffhanger has been done before and everything will work out fine.

Performances of all are good with a few nice touches like the early Tom Paris scene and the increased level of humanity required from Jeri Ryan in her Unimatrix scenes.

It does make you want to find out what happens next but also hope that it doesn't retread ground covered by The Next Generation.

Resistance is futile even in your dreams

[tomsly-40015 · 7/10 · 27 January 2024]

The big showdown between Janeway and the Borg queen has begun. Who will prevail in the end?

In this episode we once again learn a lot about Seven's past. For example, that she had an online friend who was something like a virtual lover for years. And that there is a place, Unimatrix Zero (something like the Metaverse, only without the big glasses), where a small number of special Borg drones come together in a virtual powwow during their regeneration cycles and interact with each other as individuals, separated from the hive and hidden from Borg FSB. However, why this dream world is just a rather lame jungle in which you will have seen everything after the fifth transcendence remains a mystery.

But following the old communism tradition, the Borg queen is not at all pleased with the fact that some of her mindless drones live out their individuality and even think for themselves. And now the collective is even being infiltrated by Western Starfleet propaganda! The enemy of every collective community and every collective species is the individuality within the uniform mass. Just as a worker bee is supposed to collect honey and not write poems, a Borg drone has to subordinate itself to the collective and thus to the Tsaritsa. Anyone who disobeys will be dismantled.

Janeway, Tuvok and Torres sneak not at all inconspicuously onto a Borg cube to load a virus into the systems that will enable the special Unimatrix Zero drones to offer resistance - even if resistance is otherwise futile. For this mission they bring bulky phaser rifles, which are useless after just two shots as the Borg shields naturally adapt. Despite the fact that this behavior has long been known, no one on a Starfleet ship seems to have thought of perhaps trying ballistic weapons against the Borg. Or grenades, flamethrowers, gas or, if necessary, simple spears. A few well-aimed stabs should disable any Borg drone. That would at least be more effective than a haymaker from Janeway. And it wouldn't hurt to strap thick metal protection around your neck in addition to wearing standard armored military combat gear. Could at least make the injection of nano probes more difficult.

The Borg most boring of all enemies

[hopesjourney-101-492923 · 1/10 · 5 September 2021]

I am rewatching Voyager and I'm glad it's almost to the end. I'd forgotten how much I hate the Borg. Literally, the worst, most boring enemies in the Star Trek universe. They have no personality and the drones just about put me to sleep. Only one season left to watch and then never again.