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Voyager crew members experience disturbing and violent hallucinations.

Summary

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B'Elanna Torres and Harry Kim try to create a makeshift holo-projector so The Doctor can materialize in Engineering. However, it only makes his image appear as a few inches tall. A very stressed Captain Janeway is ordered to take some time off in a holodeck by the Doctor as per Starfleet regulations that in the absence of a counselor, the ship's doctor takes over. While she's there running Janeway Lambda one, the plot diverges from the original story, and Lord Burleigh professes his undying love for her.

Back on the bridge, a Botha vessel is approaching. Janeway is called to the bridge, where Neelix explains that the Botha are not very welcoming to visitors. The alien ship hails them, and they are confronted by a figure obscured by bright light.

Janeway goes to lunch in the mess hall, where Neelix is cooking. Janeway sees a plate of cucumber sandwiches, the same one she saw in the Holodeck. Neelix then serves her tea in the flower cup one of the girls in her program broke. Janeway goes to Engineering to investigate these strange occurrences. She has Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Torres run a diagnostic on the Holodeck systems. Nothing out of the ordinary is found. Janeway goes to sickbay, where the Captain tells The Doctor that she's been seeing images from the holodeck around the ship, mostly of the little girl from her holonovel. While she's there, she experiences another hallucination, but this time Kes sees it too; the little girl appears, but then seems to travel towards and into the Captain. The Doctor tells the Captain to go to her quarters and get some rest.

Inside her quarters, the Captain hears her fiancé Mark's voice speaking, but cannot find it. She opens the hallway door, and sees Mrs. Templeton with a knife she uses to try to kill Janeway. Janeway calls for security and is suddenly seen in sickbay, fighting with Tuvok instead of Mrs. Templeton. Janeway is hallucinating again. Kes says that she can again see the hallucination as well. Janeway hands over command to Commander Chakotay as a precaution.

The Botha ship hails Voyager. The man Janeway spoke with earlier demands to know their intentions, what types of weapons they have and their defensive capabilities. Tuvok interrupts the conversation with a warning that two cloaked ships have been detected flanking Voyager. The vessels de-cloak and start firing on Voyager. Ensign Kim notices that the other vessels are being controlled by the lead ship. Voyager's shields are penetrated, and the Botha being orders their surrender. Janeway returns to the Bridge and demands to see who the alien really is, and is confronted by an image of her fiancé, Mark. The other bridge staff, however, are surprised to see close relatives instead. Tuvok sees his wife (T'Pel), Tom Paris sees his father. Tuvok becomes unresponsive and carried away by his hallucination, and very soon everyone on the bridge is affected, including the Captain.

Lieutenant Torres is in Engineering, attempting to discover the cause of the hallucinations. Her theory involves creating a symmetric warp field to block the effects. However, she is carried away by a hallucination concerning her hidden affection for Commander Chakotay before she manages to finish the work.

Soon, everyone on the ship is catatonic, apart from Kes and The Doctor. They decide to attempt to finish Torres' work. Kes heads to Engineering, and is almost diverted by a hallucination of Tom Paris with heavy plasma burns. However, she focuses on the job, and continues on her way.

KesHallucination

Kes's hallucination

In Engineering, she manages to communicate with the Doctor, and they attempt to create the warp field. However, a hallucination of Neelix arrives, and tries to stop her, first with reasoning, then with painful hallucinations about her face blistering and burning. The Doctor tells her to concentrate, and look at Neelix to send the hallucination back to him. This works, and the fake Neelix falls to the ground in agony, and reverts back to his real form (the Botha alien).

Kes is successful in establishing the warp field, and everyone is woken from their catatonic state. The Botha recovers, but then vanishes, along with the other ships, leaving the crew wondering if he was ever with them or not.

Log Entries

  • Captain's log, supplemental. We have no explanation for the mysterious disappearance of the telepathic alien. We can't even be certain that he was actually here. He seems to have left us with any number of unanswered questions.

Memorable Quotes

"You're a powerful little thing."

- Botha Alien, speaking about Kes


"I'd really like to accommodate you, but you see...I'm not really here."

- Botha Alien, when confronted by Captain Janeway


"It's not even tempting."

- Tom Paris to Captain Janeway when his father shouts at him from the view screen

Background Information

Story Development

  • Executive producer Jeri Taylor had been eager to do this episode since the first season of Star Trek: Voyager but was opposed to doing so by Paramount studio executives. She recalled, "It was a show that I had wanted to do since last year. I got a great deal of opposition from the studio, in both story and script form. They thought it was a very soft story and they just didn't get it. They want more fights and more aliens. They weren't high on this at all and didn't want it to appear as early in the year as it did." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Fellow executive producer Michael Piller remarked, "This was a script that [Jeri Taylor] was struggling mightily with." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 77) Taylor was busy at work on this episode while executive story editor Kenneth Biller, with Michael Piller's assistance, was preparing to write a second draft of "Initiations". (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 76)
  • At least one of the reasons why Torres and Kim, in this episode, work on fitting holoprojectors around Voyager is that the production team of Star Trek: Voyager had, by this point in the series' run, become fed up with The Doctor almost always being confined to sickbay. (Beyond the Final Frontier, p. 286)

Cast and Characters

  • Chakotay actor Robert Beltran was intrigued by and enjoyed the scene involving Torres experiencing a passionate, Botha-induced hallucination involving a seductive Chakotay. "That was a fun one," the actor enthused. "That was very interesting to me because it revealed in Torres how she might be feeling about Chakotay. This entity reveals all of our fantasies, and we got to see how she feels about him." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #7)
  • Torres actress Roxann Dawson did not, on the other hand, interpret the fantasy scene as signifying that her character was in love with Chakotay. Indirectly referring to the Botha, Dawson related, "I felt that the strength of that alien, the way he could get to us as humans, was that he understands the deep need, whether you're a Vulcan, or a half-Klingon or whatever, that we all have to love and to be loved. The things that would put us into those trances were very deep needs. I think for B'Elanna, it wasn't a reflection of a direct attraction to Chakotay. He represents so much to her, a father figure, a mentor, her teacher, her coworker, and he is an attractive man. I think it was a desire to give in to a side that she does not give into easily, and that was what caused her particular trance. I don't think that necessarily means that he is always on her mind. It probably took her by surprise [....] It was more of a reflection of her need to please, to fulfill, all of these things are very real, very human. [....] I didn't read it [as an implication that Torres just desired Chakotay] when I read the script. It did say something about all of the characters who succumbed to those needs of wanting to love and to be loved, those things that we shove away, and push away, and don't want to deal with." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 103)
  • Lindsey Haun, who played Beatrice Burleigh in both this episode and "Learning Curve", would later play Belle in "Real Life".

Production

  • This was the first episode that James L. Conway directed after helming the feature-length fourth season opener "The Way of the Warrior" for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Michael Piller said of Conway's work here, "I think James Conway did a fabulous job in making something out of a fairly average story into an excellent piece of television." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 86)
  • Roxann Dawson and Robert Beltran found that filming the fantasy scene involving B'Elanna Torres and an illusionary Chakotay was an hilarious experience. Dawson later said of "Persistence of Vision", "All I remember from that one was not being able to stop laughing when we were doing the love scene between Chakotay and me. Robert Beltran and I just kept cracking each other up." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #12)
  • One aspect of this episode's production that Mrs. Templeton actress Carolyn Seymour enjoyed was the filming of the scene in which her character attacks Janeway. Shortly after working on the episode, the actress remarked, "Recently, we actually shot a scene where we had a cat fight. One of the directors wanted to take it out but we are hoping we can keep it in, and I think we will get to. It was really good and we enjoyed shooting it." (Star Trek Monthly issue 17)

Effects

  • The Botha alien uses a Kazon ship as one of his illusionary vessels. The other illusionary ship is not identified. However, the oft-reused studio model for the Talarian observation craft was used for the unidentified craft here and, this time, it was redressed with a purple glow from its nacelles.
  • The shot of Tuvok miraculously finding himself on Vulcan incorporates, as its background, a section from a matte painting that was used in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. (See File:HMS Bounty leaves Vulcan.jpg)

Continuity

  • According to Jeri Taylor, this episode "began Janeway on a journey she needs to take, which is resolving the matter of her lover, Mark." Taylor added, "We cannot put her into romantic situations until she decides he has given her up for dead and moved on, and the only wise thing for her to do is the same." {Where No One Has Gone Before)
  • "Persistence of Vision" was also the working title for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season two episode "Shadowplay".
  • This is the third of three episodes that feature Janeway's Gothic holonovel. The holonovel had originally been developed for "Eye of the Needle" but was not shown onscreen until "Cathexis". (A Vision of the Future - Star Trek: Voyager) It had subsequently appeared in "Learning Curve". Of the holonovel, Jeri Taylor stated, "In my heart I would like to see [Janeway] sort of finish this novel and start another one next season. Whether that will happen, I cannot say. We may return to a different holonovel for her, but [...] I thought it was great fun [....] We wrote a conclusion in which everything got knitted up, because I thought it was a shame to just leave it." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) The follow-up conclusion to the Gothic holonovel was ultimately never produced, however.
  • This is the only episode of the series to address B'Elanna Torres' attraction to Chakotay. However, the issue is additionally raised in the novel Pathways by Jeri Taylor, the same person who wrote this episode. Robert Beltran considered that Torres' fantasy involving Chakotay might be a sign of things to come. "Maybe he'll feel the same for her," the actor speculated, midway through the second season. "That's not quite confirmed, but it's possible and it sets the stage for some further development of their relationship." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #7) However, Roxann Dawson dismissed the possibility that her character might become romantically involved with Chakotay. She commented, "People can interpret B'Elanna's feelings for Chakotay in a lot of different ways. I see Chakotay as a combination of mentor and father figure for B'Elanna. She might have some romantic feelings towards him in a kind of Freudian sense, but I don't see them getting together on any other level than as a mentor and pupil." (Star Trek Monthly issue 20)
  • The color of the warp core changes in this episode from a pinkish-blue to a whitish-blue and stays this way until the end of the series.

Reception

  • Once this episode was produced, the initial fears of the Paramount studio executives were put to rest. "It got made and everybody loved it," Jeri Taylor remembered. "Then we got all the phone calls that said, 'Wow, that turned out well.' I knew it was going to work." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) Michael Piller was also pleased with the episode's final form. He remarked, "The show turned out particularly well, yet it's not a show that is about anything." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 86)
  • The surreal quality of this episode was somewhat apt, considering that it first aired a day before Halloween. (Delta Quadrant, p. 78)
  • This episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 6.1 million homes, and a 9% share. Along with the earlier Season 2 installment "Projections", this was the joint fourth most watched episode of Voyager's second season (on first airing), with the same Nielsen rating as "Projections" but a slightly lower share percentage than that episode. [1] Despite its high ratings, this episode has repeatedly failed to appear in the top five of fan polls testing the popularity of episodes in Star Trek: Voyager's second season. (Star Trek: Communicator issue #108, p. 18; [2])
  • Fans who viewed this episode included actor Robert Picardo's two young daughters, who took delight in repeatedly watching their father in this installment. Picardo noted, "Their all-time favorite is the one [when] they shrunk me down to the size of a fire hydrant. They got a big kick out of that, couldn't keep their fingers off the rewind button on the VCR." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 29, No. 6/7, p. 92)
  • Star Trek Monthly gave this episode 4 out of 5 stars, defined as "Trill-powered viewing". (Star Trek Monthly issue 13, p. 50)
  • Cinefantastique gave the installment 2 out of 5 stars. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 84)
  • The reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 78) scored the episode 7 out of 10.
  • An element of this installment that did not garner much audience appreciation was Janeway's holonovel. In fact, the lack of appreciation for the Gothic simulation was the reason it did not continue after this episode. Jeri Taylor remarked, "That was one of those things that we were not getting the feedback from the fans that seemed to justify its continuing. A lot of people had problems with Janeway being in what would be considered a servile position. A lot of people just aren't fans, as I am, of Gothic novels and just sort of didn't get it." Taylor subsequently remarked that, although she had enjoyed the holonovel, she was "never afraid to cut our losses if something isn't working." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages)
  • Another facet that drew complaints from fans was the romantic fantasy scene between Torres and Chakotay, as some fans feared that the scene weakened Torres' character. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 86) Surprised by this response, Roxann Dawson laughed and exclaimed, "So many people gave me such flak about that, as if I had written it. It was amazing, the letters, and the comments. Mostly the women really spoke out strongly against it, and felt that it was a cop-out. I totally disagreed with that." Moments after subsequently remarking that the surprise she believed B'Elanna felt at the content of her own vision was probably equal to the audience's surprise at the sequence, Dawson further commented, "At [Star Trek] conventions, a lot of people [were] feeling that the writers just felt that the only thing B'Elanna was about, was being in love with Chakotay. That wasn't what the message was at all." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 103)
  • Both Jeri Taylor and Michael Piller believed this episode had a positive impact on the success of subsequent episodes in Voyager's second season. Taylor reckoned, "I may be wrong about this, but it was the first show of the season that got a little buzz coming from the audience." (Captains' Logs Supplemental - The Unauthorized Guide to the New Trek Voyages) At the end of the same season, Michael Piller said, "We needed anything we could get in the beginning of the season. It wasn't until Jeri's script 'Persistence of Vision' marked the beginning of the turn [....] We started building on that momentum and I think if you look from that show on we consistently started doing interesting things." (Cinefantastique, Vol. 28, No. 4/5, p. 77)
  • This episode was nominated for an Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series (along with DS9: "Our Man Bashir").

Video and DVD releases

Links and references

Starring

Also starring

Guest Stars

Co-Star

Uncredited Co-Stars

References

Ashmore; biogenic field; Botha; coffee; ice cream; cucumber sandwich; electrolyte; fried murt cake; Janeway Lambda one; Davenport, Lucie; Engineering; Lieutenant Hargrove; holodeck; holonovel; holo-projector; Johnson, Mark; Kazon; Libby; magnetic plasma constriction; mess hall; Mithren; Mollie; Mozart; multiphasic scan; niccel strips; piano; psionic field; Seltin pâté; Seltin wood fungus; Starfleet's interactive database; telepathy; turbolift; vegetable bouillon; Vulcan; Vulcan lute; wood throk

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