The Best of 'Star Trek: Voyager' - 'Equinox'

Written by John Edward Betancourt

When it comes to the rich tapestry of the Star Trek universe I've had a lot of trouble finding true gems when it comes to the later years of the franchise. Voyager and Enterprise were not without their fluff and the powerful stories we enjoyed in the previous three television series were simply not as common in the two aforementioned shows.
 
I still watched both of them of course, because hey, it's Star Trek. But while I was enjoying a Netflix binge the other day, I found an episode of Star Trek: Voyager that managed to challenge the mind and deliver some incredible conflict in the two-part episode; ‘Equinox’.  

In this episode, the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager answer the distress call of another Federation vessel in the Delta Quadrant, the U.S.S. Equinox, and its crew has not fared as well as Kathryn Janeway's. They've seen plenty of hell since they arrived in this part of the galaxy, and with good reason. The crew of the Equinox, unsure if they will ever see home have abandoned the principles of the Federation and have created their own new enemies in an all-out attempt to get back to Earth. 
 
I've said it before and I will say it again, I love Trek stories that explore characters that abandon the ideals of the Federation. Not only because it creates great drama, because it does, but due to the fact that it adds a sense of realism to the show and the best science fiction stories always challenge the norm. In this case, the story was even more unique for Trek because it became a story about survival. The crew of the Equinox immediately encountered trouble upon their arrival in the Delta Quadrant, and half of the crew was lost in their first encounter with a new species. Such actions rattled the ship's Captain, Randolph ‘Rudy’ Ransom, to the point where he simply tossed Federation ideals to the wind in order to keep his people alive.

It's a stunning idea, one that I cannot recall the Trek franchise ever addressing before this particular tale and it made for one of the most thought-provoking episodes of Voyager and Star Trek for that matter that I have ever seen. This poor crew was broken at its core, frightened and desperate to see tomorrow. It was a terrifying ‘what if’ for the crew of the Voyager and a sad story that I was eager to watch again. If you have Netflix, check this one out, it's a reminder that while Star Trek: Voyager was not the strongest show in the franchise, it had its moments of glory.  

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