An Hour On Planet Hell

"Parturition" Plot Summary:

The crew goes to "Planet Hell," which gave off readings of high concentrations of particles which seemed to indicate food sources, but when they arrive, they discover that the world is apparently a barren rock. Paris and Neelix take a shuttle down but crash on the surface, and take refuge in a cave when they're unable to contact the ship.

Inside the cave, they discover a hatching alien, which they take care of while working out their differences - Neelix thinks Paris is after Kes and is furious, while Paris thinks Neelix is an irresponsible annoyance and a lousy cook. The two bond caring for the baby, Paris admits to impure thoughts about Kes but tells Neelix that he'd never betray a good friend like the Talaxian, the baby's mother comes back for it, and Voyager sails on.

Analysis:

This was a pretty harmless waste of an hour...and episode which will be remembered largely as the one where Janeway had short hair that mysteriously grew back by the next week. Tom and Neelix are both likeable characters, but the writers have got to come up with better stories for them than insipid stuff like this. We learned nothing new about either of them, the ship's mission wasn't forwarded by these events, we didn't discover an exciting new alien species since we're never going to see this one again...what was the point?

I'll remember this episode for the scene in Janeway's ready room where she and Chakotay had a warm, paternal talk about the need for resources and exchanged a lot of smiles. I could watch the two of them read the phone book to each other, the chemistry's so strong.