Thirty Days

This starts out great. I'm in the first few minutes and I am going to start this review because I'm really enjoying the way this starts. They keep really great writers for the show. Not every show is the best which only means it's great because it's Star Trek but it's not as great as every other Star Trek. But this is really fun. Still great fun. OK I have to watch. ... It plays out OK but it doesn't stay as great as the first five minutes. But it's a solid story. It stays in line with the rest of the show. It doesn't violate any of the characters personalities. It was fun seeing Stanford Blatch.

Tom Paris is seen having his insignia removed and being broken to Ensign at the beginning of this episode. He is also sentenced to 30 days of solitary confinement. He then recounts and a letter to his father what got him in this predicament. It turns out a planet has been found that is entirely covered with water. It has produced an interesting race that lives beneath the ocean. But through foolish overuse of oxygen generation, the ocean is being depleted. The government stands in the way of circumventing this problem and Tom, in his insubordinate way, disobeys orders and finds himself in the brig. The story is interesting and I think the conclusion is the way it should be. Janeway and crew acted in a positive way assisting the aliens, but they needed to be the ones to take the advice.

Much like Tom Paris - I was always fascinated with exploration as a kid. Air, sea, space you name it, I loved it. Seeing the Delta Flyer turn into a submarine for this episode and the Monean's whole under sea civilization reminded me of Sea Quest (another 90s show I loved; until they jumped the shark).

This is one of my favorite episodes of Voyager that I missed during its first-run. When I found it when I watched the show for the first time since it's first run about 10 years ago - I couldn't believe it I had missed it.

If you have an interest in the oceanic exploration, Jules Verne, Robert Ballard (guy who found the Titanic), or anything of that nature (you've obviously gotta be a Trekkie too), you'll love this episode.

Tchüss!

How is it that Paris had a 5 o'clock shadow for 30 days straight, not shaving. How can anyone make such an unimaginably moronic mistake as that? I mean seriously! He grew a 5 o'clock shadow (stubble) within the first day and it never grew anymore for the next 29 days. That is honestly the worst writing I've ever seen.

This is a lame "protect our planet" episode which just isn't very believable to me. Voyager has explored so many planets and met so many civilizations - if they would take meassures in their own hands all the time, if alien species pollute their planets or treat their citizens badly, then they would not have come very far. Take the Malon waste disposers for example. Tom didn't invade their planet to destroy their cargo vessels!

In this episode Tom is determined to take meassures in his own hands when an alien race, that lives on a artifical ocean planet, is about to slowly destroy their homeworld by using their industrial facilities to produce oxygen. While Voyager gives the officials information about how to use a different technology to save their planet, they don't seem to be willing to act quickly. Tom is upset and wants to destroy some of those facilities on that planet to force the alien officials to rebuild them - with new technology that won't destroy their planet anymore.

This whole "Eco Robin Hood" image doesn't fit Tom Paris. I did not believe a word. Also, how comes he always has hobbies and is interested in things, that are currently needed in an episode? Of course Tom is also an aficionado of the ocean, marine life, aquatics, the navy... Janeway later demotes him to ensign because of insubordination. At least that was satisfying to watch.

When Tom is in the brig for 30 days I wondered: Where is the toilet? It is just a tiny room with a bunk. No toilet, no washbasin, no shower, not even PJs... what do they do if he needs to pee? Lower the force field and accompany him to the restroom? By the way - I never have seen any restroom on the Voyager! Also, even worse than being bored in the brig for 30 days must be, to be the prison guard in the room next to the brig. This poor guy has to stand at his console without any diversion and watch Tom in the brig the whole day. What a lame job.