The Killing Game

Infobox Star Trek episode
name = The Killing Game


Mademoiselle de Neuf
series = VOY
ep_num = 86 and 87
prod_num = 186 and 187
date = March 4, 1998
writer = Brannon Braga
Joe Menosky
director = David Livingston
guest = Danny Goldring as Alpha Hirogen
J. Paul Boehmer as Nazi Kapitan

stardate = 51715.2
year = 2373
prev = Retrospect
next = Vis a Vis"The Killing Game" is a two-part episode of "", the 18^th and 19^th episodes of the fourth season. A Hirogen hunting party has taken over "Voyager" and put its crew to work as living holodeck characters. Their minds are controlled by neural interfaces which make them believe they are their characters, and the Hirogen hunt them in two holodeck programs. The first half of the episode has a 4.4/5 and the second half of the episode has a 4.3/5 on the official Star Trek website (as of May 17th, 2007). [ [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/episode/72221.html http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/episode/72221.html] "Startrek.com" Retrieved on 06-02-07 ]

Episode synopsis

Captain Janeway is a Klingon warrior complete with holographic cranial ridges when she is critically wounded by a Hirogen participating in a Klingon holodeck program. The Hirogen heals her wounds and she is put back to work in a second, more spectacular program: a town in Nazi-occupied France circa 1944. The Hirogen find Nazism fascinating, and are using the program to experience life in a military bent on conquering the planet. The Hirogen take on the roles of Nazi officers patrolling the town of St. Clare, with "Voyager"'s brainwashed crew as their prey, members of the French Resistance.

Janeway is now Katrine, a dapper French restaurateur and leader of the underground plotting against their Nazi occupiers. She works with a dour bartender (Tuvok), who is loyal to the movement, and a chanteuse and munitions expert (Seven of Nine, whose voice was not dubbed during the songs). Neelix plays a baker who ferries messages and secret codes to the resistance headquarters. He is eventually wounded and transferred to the Klingon program after his recovery. B'Elanna is a very pregnant French girl named Brigitte whose affair with a Nazi Captain allows her access to enemy areas (Roxann Dawson actually was pregnant while filming this episode).

The Hirogen enjoy using the "Voyager" crew in the simulation, because they are more rewarding to hunt down and kill than are holograms. In Sickbay, The Doctor is furious that he must repeatedly save his crewmates from life-threatening wounds sustained as they are hunted in the simulations. He is also distressed that has already been one Voyager fatallity. Harry Kim, who is being forced to expand the holodecks throughout the entire ship, works with The Doctor to wrest control of the ship and its crew from the Hirogen.

The Doctor finds a way to release Seven and Janeway from their neural interfaces, and the two plan to break the Hirogen's hold on the rest of the crew. Just then, the Americans storm St. Clare with the help of the French Resistance. Captain Miller (Chakotay) and Lt. Bobby Davis (Tom Paris) arrive to take down the Nazi stronghold in the town, calling in an air strike to blow up German headquarters. The explosion overloads the holo-projectors' already strained circuitry and blasts an opening from the holodeck into the rest of the ship. Holograms invade "Voyager" and the ship becomes a World War II battleground.

Janeway fights off holo-soldiers and Hirogen Nazis to plant explosives in Sickbay. When it blows, the neural interfaces release the "Voyager" crew and they find themselves immersed in a war, or in the case of Neelix, amidst a herd of drunken Klingons. Meanwhile, the leader of the Hirogen captures Janeway and she realizes what he is trying to do. His own culture will never survive with their lifestyle of wandering in scattered hunting parties, and if he could establish holo-programs his people could stay together and experience countless hunts of all kinds. Janeway takes advantage of his wisdom and the two establish a truce.

Unfortunately, one of the other Hirogen has become inspired by Nazi philosophy. He assassinates his leader and aims to conquer "Voyager"'s crew in the spirit of righteous domination. Just in time, Neelix and The Doctor manage to merge the holo-programs, unleashing the murderous Klingons on the Nazis before they can execute the "Voyager" crew. Harry overloads the holodecks and the program finally ends.

After days of fighting, a truce is called between "Voyager"'s crew and the Hirogen. The Hirogen agree to leave "Voyager" in exchange for holodeck technology.

References

External links

* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/episode/72221.html The Killing Game, Part I] on StarTrek.com
* [http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/episode/100925.html The Killing Game, Part II] on StarTrek.com