The premise of this episode really does not quite make sense. The Doctor has now matured for seven years. He would not freeze away crew members and impersonate them to save the Captain from some alien traders holding her hostage to obtain a warp drive - and only the Doctor knows about it!
The episode would not have fitted earlier in the series because the Doctor would not have had the attachment to do what he does here. It does not fit later in the series because the Doctor has a lot of experience and understands that such a situation is best resolved working with the crew. And no, the feeble excuse that the aliens can see what he sees and hear what he hears is not enough to explain it: he communicates with the crew in subtle ways at the end, so why not right away? He's not stupid, you know.
The episode is still sort of silly fun as the Doctor tries to imitate B'Elana, Chakotay and other assorted characters he's stowing away in the ship's morgue as they catch on to his scheme to save the captain alone while sacrificing the warp drive. And it features those bumbling aliens from The Hive, who have decided to become highway robbers. So if you take it in the vein of a comedic escapade at the penultimate tick of the clock of Voyager's final season, it's OK. Hence still a 5.
If you like The Hive and the Doctor, watch the "Tinker, Tenor, Soldier, Spy" episode again and see how it's done right.
The episode would not have fitted earlier in the series because the Doctor would not have had the attachment to do what he does here. It does not fit later in the series because the Doctor has a lot of experience and understands that such a situation is best resolved working with the crew. And no, the feeble excuse that the aliens can see what he sees and hear what he hears is not enough to explain it: he communicates with the crew in subtle ways at the end, so why not right away? He's not stupid, you know.
The episode is still sort of silly fun as the Doctor tries to imitate B'Elana, Chakotay and other assorted characters he's stowing away in the ship's morgue as they catch on to his scheme to save the captain alone while sacrificing the warp drive. And it features those bumbling aliens from The Hive, who have decided to become highway robbers. So if you take it in the vein of a comedic escapade at the penultimate tick of the clock of Voyager's final season, it's OK. Hence still a 5.
If you like The Hive and the Doctor, watch the "Tinker, Tenor, Soldier, Spy" episode again and see how it's done right.