Living Witness

"Living Witness" is the 91st episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager, the 23rd episode of the fourth season.

"Living Witness"
Star Trek: Voyager episode
Episode no.Season 4
Episode 23
Directed byTim Russ
Story byBrannon Braga
Teleplay byBryan Fuller
Brannon Braga
Joe Menosky
Featured musicDennis McCarthy
Production code191
Original air dateApril 29, 1998 (1998-04-29)
Guest appearance(s)

The events from Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant, in the 2370s, are viewed through the eyes of history as museum spectators observe recreations of the past, nearly 700 years after the initial events. The Doctor's program is found and reactivated, allowing him to set the record straight. The episode deals with the topic of historical revisionism and is considered by critics as one of Voyager's best episodes.

Setting

The episode is partly a review of events in 2374, partly the experiences of a copy of the Doctor’s hologram program in the year 3074, and partly a review of these two time periods by historians in an unspecified more distant future.

Plot

The episode opens with a scene on the "warship Voyager", an unrealistic depiction of the ship which turns out to be a museum's recreation of events. Although the brutality and detachment of the crew is chilling, there are several dark, campy elements of the alternate reality that provide comic relief: the crew wear altered versions of their uniforms with no combadges or rank insignia, but sport black gloves and turtlenecks. First Officer Chakotay (Robert Beltran)'s name is repeatedly mispronounced (as "Chak-ooo-tay") by the crew and his tattoo has grown in size as to cover half of his face and appears in the design of Māori Tā moko markings. Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) sports a butch haircut and excessive schadenfreude. Meanwhile, the holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo) has become an android mass murderer and torturer with neon yellow-green eyes while Tactical Officer Tuvok (Tim Russ) has a sinister sense of humor; former drone Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is a full Borg with several other Borg drones serving as shock troops aboard Voyager. The depiction also shows several Kazon as part of the crew, assumed to have been conscripted along with the Borg. Neelix (Ethan Phillips) is not the cook, but a part of the bridge crew and a brutal henchman.

In the actual course of events, Captain Janeway had agreed to provide the Vaskans with medical supplies in exchange for dilithium crystals. The Kyrians, who were at war with the Vaskans, boarded Voyager to stop the deal, which they thought was a military alliance of some sort. During their time on the ship, they stole a data module carrying a backup copy of the Doctor. Seven hundred years later, this module was part of a Kyrian museum exhibit which showed their version of the encounter. This biased encounter showed Voyager as a warship with a savage and sadistic crew that was willing to commit genocide. Even the Vaskan in the simulation became horrified over the atrocities committed, but the simulated Janeway told him it was too late to stop now.

Quarren (Henry Woronicz), the curator at the museum and always fascinated by Voyager's story even though they were "the bad guys", had found (with the help from an archaeological team) the Doctor's backup module three weeks prior. He was able to activate it using Voyager's own tools. The Doctor, upon seeing this biased simulated version of history, is appalled and offers to show Quarren his own accurate version of events from 700 years ago aboard Voyager. Initially, the Doctor's claims that Voyager was unfairly depicted by the Kyrians are ignored, with Quarren only agreeing to hear him out because the fact he is a hologram, not an android, already casts the simulation's accuracy in a dubious light, and he is told he could be held accountable for war crimes when he presents his version of history before the Commission of Arbiters. The Doctor states, however, that a presently non-functional Starfleet medical tricorder would settle the issue of who killed Tedran, a Kyrian revolutionary hero who died during a raid on Voyager.

After fending off an angry mob of Vaskans intent on destroying what they now know to be a museum of false history, the Doctor initially wishes to abandon his quest to set the 700-year-old historical record straight and says that the truth may cause more harm and violence. Quarren objects, saying that the tension between the Kyrian and Vaskan cultures has already reached the breaking point. Quarren stresses that both races on his planet need to hear the truth about the real course of events on Voyager. This persuades the Doctor to continue searching for the tricorder.

The episode ends an indeterminate number of years later, as the museum's new curator explains that the two species finally made peace thanks to the efforts of the Doctor and the information from the tricorder, although he always regretted that he would never see any of his friends again. It is revealed to the viewer that all the scenes that they had been witnessing were computer simulations revealing real life events which occurred in the past, such as the Kyrian-Vaskan conflict, Quarren's discovery of the Doctor's backup program, and Quarren and the Doctor's proposal to the Commission of Arbiters. Following the peace, the Doctor served as the surgical chancellor for the Kyrians and Vaskans for many years, but eventually he took a ship and departed for Earth; he said that "he had a longing for home". As for Quarren, it is stated that he lived only six years after seeing the Kyrian-Vaskan reconciliation.

Reception

In 2012, Den of Geek ranked "Living Witness" the second best episode of Star Trek: Voyager, behind "Year of Hell".[1]

Jamahl Episcophan of Jammers Reviews writes that "Living Witness":

"...is a standout story that is well told and thoroughly engaging. It features a central problem that is both relevant and unique. I haven't seen a Voyager outing quite like this one, and it pleases me to take in a story that can get its hooks into us for an hour and make us care about what's happening on the screen...."Living Witness" isn't quite perfect, but it manages to pull off a balancing act of Voyager-esque elements and come off wonderfully. It's original and entertaining, and it made me care about the characters, the most important of whom weren't even Voyager crew members."[2]

SyFy ranked "Living Witness" as one of the top ten episodes of Star Trek: Voyager in 2015.[3]

In a 2016 article highlighting the best episode from each Star Trek series, Digital Trends gave "Living Witness" an honorable mention.[4] TrekNews.net ranked this the second best episode of Star Trek: Voyager, in 2016.[5]

In 2017, Space.com rated "Living Witness" as the 6th best Star Trek episode overall out of its seven hundred plus episodes.[6] The Hollywood Reporter rated "Living Witness" the 3rd best episode of Star Trek: Voyager,[7] and the 34th best episode of Star Trek overall.[8] In 2012, Den of Geek ranked this the 2nd best episode of Star Trek: Voyager, noting the "evil Voyager" segment as entertaining.[9]

In 2017, Den of Geek ranked actor Henry Woronicz as the character featured in this episode, Quarren, as the 7th best guest star on Star Trek: Voyager.[10]

In 2017, Vulture listed this episode as one of the best of Star Trek: Voyager.[11]

In 2019, CBR rated "Living Witness" the 6th best 'holodeck' episode of the Star Trek franchise.[12]

References
  1. "Top 10 Star Trek: Voyager episodes". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2019-07-02.
  2. "[VOY] Jammer's Review: "Living Witness"". www.jammersreviews.com.
  3. Granshaw, Lisa (2015-01-16). "20 years later: Our top 10 episodes of Star Trek: Voyager". SYFY WIRE. Retrieved 2019-02-23.
  4. "The Best Star Trek Episodes from Every Series". www.digitaltrends.com. December 2016. Retrieved 2019-06-05.
  5. Michelle (2016-02-23). "10 Best 'Star Trek: Voyager' Episodes". TREKNEWS.NET. Retrieved 2019-06-11.
  6. Entertainment, Elizabeth Howell 2017-09-20T16:19:28Z. "The 10 Best 'Star Trek' Episodes Ever". Space.com.
  7. ""Year of Hell" - 'Star Trek: Voyager' — The 15 Greatest Episodes". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2019-02-21.
  8. ""E2" - 'Star Trek': 100 Greatest Episodes". The Hollywood Reporter.
  9. "Top 10 Star Trek: Voyager episodes". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2019-06-06.
  10. "Star Trek Voyager: 10 Great Guest Performances". Den of Geek. Retrieved 2019-07-11.
  11. www.vulture.com https://www.vulture.com/2017/09/the-star-trek-universe-a-beginners-guide.html. Retrieved 2019-07-28. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  12. "Star Trek: Ranking the 20 Best Holodeck Episodes". CBR. 2019-01-04. Retrieved 2019-03-26.
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