VOY - Drive

[MerelyAFan]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v949.php

Voyager's own version the Fast and the Furious, fitting given it focuses on the best flyer in Paris and the most pissed off with Torres.

[CrypticMirror]

It is not that chilling or surprising that a terrorist group would threaten to bomb a race, and really the race organiser guy ought to have taken every threat seriously. I mean, for decades there wasn't a sporting event in the UK except Liverpool or Celtic football games which the IRA didn't threaten to bomb. That includes the various city marathons. It was just kinda a fact of life you had to shrug your shoulders at an accept it as normality.

A big event to celebrate the end of hostilities? You can bet terrorists and bad faith political actors (and rogue security agencies) would be all over that, peace may pay dividends to society at large, but there are a lot of people who make their living with killing and would resent the loss of income and prestige. It would be more shocking if there were not a terrorist attempt on this race.

Actually it would also be more entertaining if, in a Clouseau-esque pile up, all the various bombers did nothing but blow each other up during it. Man, I'd watch the hell out of that episode.

[Riedquat]

So - it's Harry falls for the wrong girl. Again.

[Darth Wedgius]

The comment about not being able to make more torpedoes really hit home for me when Voyager uses one as a starter gun. Kind of like using a tomahawk missile as a starter gun for a yacht race. Maybe it was getting close to it's use-by date.

I think I like this more than SFDebris did. Some character development is nice to have, and none of the crew had to be idiots.

[FaxModem1]

As a teenager, I felt cheated with this episode, as we were promised an exciting race, and got mostly relationship issues. Later on, as I got more invested in the characters as an adult, I cared a lot about how B'elanna was viewing their relationship and her wondering if she was viewed by Tom as just someone to have fun with.

So, if you're in it for the race, you'll disappointed. If you're in it for the romance, you'll enjoy it.

[Mecha82]

Over all Drive is not bad episode. Well at least not on Voyager standards any way. Not that's high bar mind you but still.

[bronnt]

So - it's Harry falls for the wrong girl. Again.

At least THIS time, when he fell for the terrorist girl, he actually was able to stop her plans instead of being used by her as a tool and then pining for her at the end of the episode. So that's an improvement, he managed to make himself useful.

[Mabus]

The episode was OK, though I feel the Stargate episode Space Race was a bit more interesting in some regards.

[clearspira]

Interesting fact: the actress who played Irina was also the first Tora Ziyal and one of the green women from Ent: ''Bound''.

An interesting career: chaste and naive Gul Dukat's daughter, to terrorist, to criminal who uses rape pheromones to get what she wants. I'll give her this much though: she does put in three completely different performances. I love Jeffry Coombs as much as anyone but every character he plays is Weyoun in one way or another.

[Rocketboy1313]

Couple things, I really like the white racing uniforms. They look neat, a good change of pace, I am sure they exist to be action figures with the Delta Flyer playset, but I still think that they look cool. I kind of wish that the show had more of these kinds of gear changes for event episodes. And for me, the white helps foreshadow a wedding.

Other point, I feel like this should have been a two parter and a season final. I think that encountering each of the space fairing races and helping them with speeches about the Star Fleet gospel, super science chicanery, and heroism would have been a good way to set up Voyager as a peace maker and the idea of having a big sporting event hosted by Voyager as a peace event would be a good story. You would only need 6 episodes to set it up.

And with the juice of being a two part big event they would have been able to throw more money into the race, and enough time for more subplots. Janeway and Chakotay playing diplomat (could even have them take very different positions on when war is justified as he left Star Fleet to be a Masques), Tuvok trying to provide security against terrorists and having to work with a security force mixed of the various races that are now making peace and using the Doctor to help with a forensic investigation, Harry having a dead end love story, Neelix and Seven having a comedy subplot about being race announcers, and Tom and Torres getting married.