The Swarm
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 25 September 1996
- ON
- UPN
- STARDATE
- 50252.3
- DIRECTED BY
- Alexander Singer
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 149
WRITTEN BYWritten by Mike Sussman
Voyager weighs a risky shortcut through hostile alien territory, while the Doctor's memory begins to fail and his personality may not survive the repair.
Red alert: the full plot, ending included. Haven't watched yet?REVEAL SYNOPSIS
After Paris and Torres are attacked in a shuttle, Voyager learns that the space ahead belongs to a xenophobic species whose small ships act together like a swarm, latching on to vessels and draining their energy. Going around would cost precious time, so Janeway decides to slip through. Meanwhile the Doctor is forgetting things: after nearly two years of constant use, his program is overloaded. Kes calls up a diagnostic hologram modelled on his creator, Dr Lewis Zimmerman, who recommends resetting the Doctor, erasing everything he has become. As the swarm attacks and Voyager's weapons rebound on the ship, Kim discovers that the alien vessels are linked in a lattice, and by targeting single ships the crew breaks through. In sickbay the diagnostic program sacrifices itself to stabilise the Doctor's matrix. He seems to have been reset, but later hums a snatch of opera while treating a patient.
- 01The first appearance of the holographic Dr Lewis Zimmerman. Robert Picardo changed wardrobe 18 or 19 times for the split-screen work.
- 02Picardo suggested the Doctor's love of opera, and sang the vocals himself.
- 03Foundation Imaging's first episode as Voyager's regular CGI supplier, creating thousands of tiny alien ships for the attack.