Weird Star Trek Episodes: Elogium aka "A Very Special Episode of Star Trek: Voyager!"

I think this is the look I had when I saw a small mouse on my counter top recently.

I just realized I haven’t done anything Star Trek related yet. I’m one bad fan, ain’t I? I think I got a little tired of Trek after last year, so I needed a break. I think the fact that I was coming upon Voyager was also a cause. Recently, I’ve started at the beginning with the show. It’s… well, it’s not as bad as SfDebris has said but it’s not really good either. It’s just another Trek show in its early years, so you know how that goes. Today’s episode probably fits in that mold. “Elogium” is a Season Two episode. It was originally supposed to be a Season One episode, but they decided to move it for some reason. I can definitely say that it shows.

In the episode, Voyager encounters a swarm of beings that live out in space. As Voyager gets closer to the swarm, the swarm magnetically pulls the ship into their nest. This somehow causes Kes, an Occampa, to act pretty weirdly. She’s in an eating frenzy and her temperature’s rising. Neelix takes her to Sickbay to get her checked out. It turns out that the swarm’s energy patterns are making Kes go through a premature “Elogium,” the time when Occampian females hit puberty. When these females hit this phase of life, they have to mate soon or they may not be able to have a child after it passes.

Do you like the new look, Chakotay? I call it, "A Sweet Summer's Day."

Of course, Kes and Neelix aren’t taking this lightly. They both go back and forth on whether they’re ready to have a child. Meanwhile, Chakotay and Janeway are wondering if this ship could handle being a generational ship. Eventually, the crew finds out that the swarm is attracted to the ship’s warp signature and looks at it as a potential mate. They find this out when a bigger being, a “suitor”, come and attacks the ship. Thanks to a suggestion from Chakotay, they’re able to get the swarm to get attracted to the bigger being and they get out of there. In the end, Kes decides not to have a child at this point and it even turns out that she may be able to go through the phase when she’s ready. The episode ends as Ensign Wildman comes to Janeway and lets her know that she is expecting a child soon.

I thought the episode was alright. I think this was the first time I’ve actually seen this episode. The plot of Kes going through Elogium was somewhat entertaining. I especially thought the stuff with her eating random crap was actually pretty funny. With the way she was acting, I was wondering if she was pregnant or something. Thankfully, we didn’t get Voyager’s rendition of TNG’s “The Child.” I thought that the aspect of Kes and Neelix wondering about having a kid was alright. We actually got a nice moment about Tuvok and his children.

Oh man... will someone please keep the mustard away from Kes?!??!?

The other plot of Voyager being stuck in the swarm was alright. It wasn’t anything special but I did get a smirk at Tuvok mentioning “sex appeal.” There is stuff that make the episode a bit rough to get through. We have Neelix being annoying in places. The first scene in Sickbay and his complaint to Janeway was pretty annoying. Plus, the whole plot of Voyager being viewed as a sex object is kinda out there. Overall, this was alright and definitely fits as an early season episode. It definitely ain’t the best but I can’t call it the worst either. Well, that’s all I got for now. Here’s hoping I can get through Voyager intact. Peace, God Bless, and don’t let the Neelixs in your life get you down.