Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Learning Curve (1995) User Reviews

Tuvok and the kids in detention

[thevacinstaller · 6/10 · 28 March 2020]

It turns out that the maquis handbook for conflict resolution involves defensive yelling or punching people in the face. Dalby does have a horrific backstory of having to watch his wife be raped and killed by Cardassians that we discover during some 'bro' talk at the holodeck pool hall. Yikes. Dalby --- you need to schedule some hug sessions with Kes.

What we have here is like a John Hughes movie with a dash of Disneyified Full Metal Jacket. That's right folks --- Tuvok has to try to get through to the bad kids in detention.

We do ultimately get an uplifting 'when we work together we are stronger' message out of this but it's quite clunky and the writing is not strong enough to warranty a true emotional response.

Random thoughts:

• I did like the idea of Dalby looking out for the young Bajoran --- trying to sway him in a better direction. There was potential with that story element.

• The doctor is pretty hilarious in this episode. Telling Torres he cannot discuss the med gels condition as it would be against doctor/patient confidentiality.

• Neelix shows that he has a perceptive side and can diagnose a problem with Tuvok based on his seating pattern.

I can't remember if any of these 'bad kids' characters come back up in Voyager? That would be interesting if they did.

SEASON 1 OVERALL:

• The average score for the season based on my reviews is a hefty 7.56 out of 10. Believe it or not this is the 2nd best score for a season of star trek with season 3 of TNG being the only season ranked above.

• My overall feeling about Voyager is that the writers/actors clearly knew what this show was about from the very first episode. There is a chemistry with the crew and the writers put out some very creative sci fi episodes and that will always get a firm pat on the back from me.

• Best performance of this season goes to Janeway. Mulgrew's performance reminds me a lot of Shatner's Kirk ----- she is trying to hit a home run with every single scene she is in. The Doctor is great, I love the sultry voice of kes, Chakotay is good despite not liking the role initially his performance doesn't let that indifference shine through, Neelix is damn likeable and well performed ----- what can i say? I like the space cheetah.

• This season only had 16 episodes so I do not think it is fair to compare it to other seasons of trek with 24 episodes. I really enjoyed this first season and the insane stories the writers came up with.

Tuvok tries to train the Maquis

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 25 June 2010]

Despite working aboard Voyager for some time some of the ex-Maquis crew members still aren't doing things the Star Fleet way and Tuvok gets the job of giving lessons in Star Fleet protocol to the four Maquis crew deemed to be most in need. Although he has teaching experience at Star Fleet Academy he doesn't have an easy time with these four, Crewman Dalby constantly challenges his authority and leads the others in refusing to participate further in the training... They return after Chakotay floors Dalby telling him he has a choice between the Star Fleet way of doing things or the more aggressive Maquis way. While Tuvok puts them through a rigorous training regimen there are other problems aboard Voyager; the ship's bioneural gel packs have become infected and are ceasing to work, the cause is eventually traced to some of Neelix's cheese and a plan to eradicate the virus is established. When it is put into operation Tuvok and his trainees are caught in a cargo bay and a leak of poisonous gas leads him to order three of them to evacuate while he returns to help the fourth who is injured. He is overcome by the fumes but the others manage to return and open the door then rescue them both, this leads to Dalby and the others gaining a new respect for Tuvok.

While not the most exciting episode it provided some nice character development for Tuvok and shows that the crew still isn't fully integrated but is getting there. Armand Schultz did a good job as the confrontational Crewman Dalby and Derek McGrath was fun as the talkative Crewman Chell.

Certainly watchable but pretty ordinary

[Paularoc · 6/10 · 24 July 2012]

It becomes apparent to Tuvok that the Maquis are not fully (and understandably to me if not Tuvok) integrated into the crew. Janeway's solution is to have Tuvok train four Maquis selected by Chakotay in the ways of Star Fleet. The Maquis selected are very unhappy about this and refuse to participate until Chakotay brings them round with a demonstration of "the Maquis way." While the boot camp like training is going on, Voyager is being threatened by catastrophe as the bioneural gel packs that operate all of the ship's systems (including life-support) are breaking down. Since the Tuvok character is one of my least favorites, it is not surprising that I found this show basically ordinary despite the fact that the especially bitter Maquis Crewman Dalby was both believable and interesting. The two best bits in the show were when the Doctor talks to the gel pack and the brief interlude of Janeway in the "ancient English" halonovel. The episode does see further development of the Tuvok character.

Episodes like this are why I prefer the company of dogs.

[sloopnp · 6/10 · 8 July 2020]

It's really annoying watching adults act and think like children. Is it that difficult for the Maquis to understand that you are on a Federation ship, so you have to abide by their rules to some degree? I wanted to "Chakotay" each of them upside the head. And why in the world would Janeway want to spend her free time wearing restrictive, boring clothes and hanging out with bratty, rich children? Go fight a dragon or something. Nobody in this episode was tolerable to watch.

Not what you'd expect in a season finale

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 6 February 2015]

According to IMDb, "Learning Curve" was not meant as a final episode of season one. It's very clearly the case, as usually on all the newer Trek series there is a big finale where something HUGE occurs- -and it often comes in the form of a two-part episode. Here, however, the show just seems like another episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" and nothing more. This isn't so much a complaint--I just don't want the viewer to assume the show is anything more than it is.

When the show begins, Captain Janeway is in the holodeck doing some stupid program that looks a lot like "A Turn of the Screw" and "Jane Eyre". Fortunately, something interrupts and the plot begins in earnest--a meeting with her, Chakotay and Tuvak. It seems that Tuvak is concerned because several of the Maquis crew members suck when it comes to discipline. The solution they come up with is to put selected members, the problematic ones, through a boot camp style program so that they learn discipline and teamwork. There is a serious problem with this, however, as the four folks chosen really, really suck. What's worse, the teacher assigned to these folks is Tuvok--and, it turns out, he ALSO sucks! How will they work all this out in order to make them all team players?

This isn't a bad episode...in fact, it's pretty good. But don't expect a big battle or the like.

A bit cheesy for me

[snoozejonc · 7/10 · 21 June 2022]

Tuvok is assigned the task of teaching a rebellious group of ex-Marquis the ways of Starfleet.

This is a reasonably enjoyable yet highly unoriginal Star Trek episode.

All I can say about the cheese-related shenanigans that drives the sci-fi aspect of the story, is that it is fun.

Likewise are many of the scenes involving Tuvok if you do not think too much about them and try to forget original series episodes like 'The Balance of Terror' and 'The Galileo Seven'. The biggest issue for me is that it portrays Tuvok as inept in his role as a Starfleet Academy training offer, so if you can overcome that you will likely enjoy.

I would have liked to have seen this type of Marquis story earlier in the series and the guest characters return in later episodes but I cannot judge this one on those factors.

Tim Russ leads this one very well. Armand Schultz strays over the top with a few lines but is mostly good as an antagonist written with some clichés.

For me it's a 6.5/10 but I round upwards.

Tuvok's boot camp

[kevinkraczkowski · 8/10 · 21 May 2021]

This is a better episode than the rating would indicate, in my opinion.

Tuvok is charged with teaching a condensed boot camp to four of the more problematic Maquis. He encounters a lot of attitude, but eventually ends up earning their respect.

As a former Soldier, I was reminded strongly of the first few days of basic training. Tuvok was near-dead-on as a demanding drill sergeant. Also dead-on was how the cadets banded together (along with Tuvok) when presented with an actual life-threatening situation.

The "B" story, such as it is, involves a viral agent that attacks the bio-gel packs which power the ship. To say more may give one spoiler too many.

Star Trek: Voyager - Learning Curve

[Scarecrow-88 · 7/10 · 21 January 2017]

Although I do think "Learning Curve" is a good episode of the show, it doesn't exactly serve as maybe a memorable means to close the official first season of "Voyager". Just the same, as a Tuvok episode, it fits the bill nicely, I thought. Any chance to introduce conflict in the typical logic-based (and rigid Starfleet) philosophy of Vulcan Tuvok, I think it proves to be worthwhile. Though the results of this episode were never in doubt (it proves to chart a predictable path where those opposing Tuvok eventually see past the rules and regulations expected when wearing that uniform and why they must adhere to the demands of operating a Federation starship in the unknown quadrant of an uncharted galaxy), the subplot involving cheese causing an infection that is shutting down the Voyager's operating systems is more of a joke that is far from the most thought-provoking or compelling a season close could expect. Poor Neelix never had a clue his cooking of this cheese would cause the ship to face dire malfunctions possibly even shutting down life support…but Torres does a good job of easing his conscience. "Get the cheese to the sickbay!" Maquis officers having a hard time adapting to Federation protocols are selected for training with Tuvok to get them up to speed with patterns of behavior and action as Starfleet officers; Dalby (Armand Schultz; who I thought was especially good), especially borders on insubordinate with Tuvok who takes him to task over how he "fixes things" without consulting with superiors, operating more as a Maquis than Federation officer. Dalby's aggressive behavior and hardly-concealed anger (he hates the Cardassians for a nasty, sexually violent incident involving a woman he loved, admittedly joining the Maquis to kill as many of them as possible) stems from a tough past, and he's protective of Gerron (Kenny Morrison), who is riddled with insecurity and low self esteem, also having endured much during his short adult life. Included is a chatty, lazy, and defensive Chell (Derek McGrath) and defiant, resistant Mariah (Catherine MacNeal) as other Maquis crewmembers needing a lesson in working together, obedience, following orders, and understanding the duty of a Starfleet officer. Chell is quite a hoot as the chatterbox always disrupting others while they are talking and unyielding in his defense of every action and reaction committed by him.

The holodeck training program involving a rescue mission interrupted by Romulan warbirds coming out of cloak where the officers fail in what appears to be an unwinnable situation is always a fascinating determination of what those facing such seemingly inescapable odds might try, and Tuvok's response, understanding that retreat might have been an option, with the Maquis mentality in full effect for his trainees unwilling to see that as an option, produces reflection for the Vulcan on what he might should do to improve his standing with them. Neelix using flowers to emphasize what Tuvok might want to consider in reaching them proves that the unlikeliest of sources of advice that can make all the difference…Neelix proves to be an invaluable character, much in the same way Guinan was on the Next Generation.

Intense performance from Schultz as Dalby, not the easiest student to cultivate into a Starfleet officer; nonetheless, Dalby sees that Tuvok is more than capable of seeing beyond the logic, understanding that "bending the rules" can be necessary. The incident trapping them in a cargo bay, initiating an escape plan offers a chance for Tuvok to prove his meddle as a leader, willing to risk his life for one of them. The pool hologram sequence between Dalby and Tuvok sets the stage for exactly why they are at odds...it is a quality character scene showing that Tuvok is trying to reach out and understand.

Lower Maquis Decks

[XweAponX · 10/10 · 17 July 2022]

How does a piece of cheese cause Tuvok to take a small group of Maquis "students" under his "wing"?

You'll have to watch this to find out. Crewman Dalby (Armand Schultz - Vanilla Sky) is a Maquis crewman who was just going about his business, mainly, fixing things when they needed to be fixed without checking on if the repair process itself would cause even more inconvenience. It does, and it interferes with something that the Captain is doing- which turns this into a huge, shipwide issue that Tuvok has to deal with.

This thing about checking with your superior before doing any random fix-it job, this is that tiny little thing called "Starfleet protocol", which basically rubs Maquis crewmen the wrong way. The very beginning of this episode is the textbook example of why, on a starship, not just a starship but on any military vessel, you can't just do things that you perceive need to be done. The chain of command has to be checked with to make sure that the planned operation does not turn into a catastrophe. This is true with the US military as it is here in Starfleet.

But on Voyager we don't exactly have the ideal crew situation. Because that small Maquis vessel that Chakotay flew into the Kazon/Trabe ship in the Pilot Episode? Which was so small that we originally thought had only four people crewing it, had possibly 30 Maquis inside.

We had seen those ships before on TNG and in Deep Space Nine, and in those shows they always appeared to be 4-man vessels.

So now, in Voyager, we find out that this particular Maquis ship had many more people inside of it.

Ok, so we just have to accept it, then.

We had been meeting a lot of these people in the previous episodes. So it just comes down to suspending disbelief and agreeing that those ships could hold many more people, maybe they were "Tesseract" ships, like the ship from the future that they found in "Enterprise"- much larger on the inside than it appeared on the outside.

So... crewman Dalby, after being confronted by Tuvok, makes "protocol" into a new Maquis dirty word... which then makes it also Chakotay's problem.

So a Maquis "Lower Decks Club" has to be formed.

Which included: a Bolian (Derek McGrath) as the talkative Crewman Chell... A Bajora, Crewman Gerron (Kenny Morrison, who was Atreyu in The Never-Ending Story II)... A girl with a festive bandana (Catherine MacNeal as Crewoman Henley), as well as Dalby.

These have become Tuvok's new students. But Tuvok is at an impasse with himself because he is frustrated at his inability to be able to teach these kids a single thing. Everything that he attempts, fails miserably.

But what we have here is a pretty good story about how something that was merely an inconvenience turns into a shipwide emergency focusing on these four "students", eventually becoming a bonding experience that neither they, nor Tuvok, ever expected.

I think it is unfortunate that we were introduced to these characters in this way but we only ever saw crewman Chell ever again. They could have and should have been used more, especially in the episode where the Seska hologram takes over the ship... or the episode where the disgraced Vedek programs Tuvox's brain from the Alpha quadrant, who then uses Tuvok to ignite a small Maquis rebellion on the ship... there was even an episode where Janeway takes on a small Lower Decks Club of her own, needless to say that there were also the crewmen left over from the starship Equinox.

But this episode was merely a 1st Season interlude. Not too many dire things had happened to Voyager... Yet. In this episode the focus is the Maquis lower decks but also on one of Neelix's big cooking blunders.

What is hilarious about this episode is that the small thing that Neelix attempted to do revealed a severe design flaw with those double blasted "Bio-Neural Gel Packs", The Starfleet engineer that thought up the tech did not consider that things having biological "circuitry" can get sick, and the pack would need to be able to recover from that illness the same way a person would recover from it.

Fortunately a solution was thought of by the Doctor, but how in 57 inferno blazes can Be'elana make it happen?

Tuvok Cuts the Cheese

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 13 August 2018]

This final episode of the first season is so lackluster. First of all, there are biopacks that get infected by spores from Neelix's cheese. What the .....! So in order to not compromise things any more. How anyone could keep a straight face is beyond me. Then we have Tuvok playing drill instructor to the Maquis who have been exhibiting insubordinate behavior. He acts like an idiot with no sense of who he is dealing with. Not to mention, the Maquis act like recalcitrant seventh graders (believe me, I know. I taught them for 43 years). The whole thing, leading up to a contrived conclusion is almost embarrassing. I'm amazed they got a second season after this.

Not Meant to be a Season Finale

[alyzu · 4/10 · 13 June 2019]

It's OK. Yes, Tuvok is kind of a jerk at the beginning, but he's a Vulcan, and they're not exactly known for their social skills. And, yes, the crew members he's training don't want to be part of Starfleet, but they're in a position where they don't have much choice. They're part of a crew whose members have to rely on one another. Keeping a massive chip on their shoulders isn't going to help anyone. I wanted to slap the "leader". Granted, he's had awful things occur in his past, but his attitude could get others killed. Just shut up and get on with it, dude! Grow up! BTW, this was originally supposed to be a midseason episode, which is why it doesn't work as a season finale.

Tuvok is an idiot, a tyrant, and utterly clueless

[phenomynouss · 1/10 · 24 June 2010]

So after nearly the entire season of not addressing the fact that several of the crew members are Maquis who did NOT want to be a part of Starfleet, they finally get around to addressing this.

It turns out the biological crap they use to power Voyager is dying out, and cannot be repaired, because replacing mechanical stuff that can be repaired and upgraded with biological stuff that cannot be replaced or repaired is stupid.

So it turns out one of the Maquis crewmembers found one of the malfunctioning areas and repaired it, causing the brief power surge. Tuvok happens to be in the area, and asks him what he's doing. He then gives the PERFECTLY LOGICAL explanation that he saw there was a problem, and he fixed it. Instead of reporting to higher ups and going through a chain of bureaucracy that would likely see the ship lose all power long before anyone got around to fixing it.

TUVOK has a problem with this, and chews out this man, causing him to freak out and yell at him.

So after complaining to Janeway, she appoints Tuvok to try to teach four Maquis crewmembers the Starfleet way and try to integrate them with the rest of the crew.

On the first meeting, Tuvok snottily lashes out verbally at the crewmembers for the most menial and insignificant of 'offenses', such as speaking out of line, all while interrupting them when they ARE speaking IN line, shutting them up, and punishing them with physical labor for trying to explain themselves.

One of the crewmembers isn't standing upright and staring at Tuvok, so he goes and chews him out, forcing him to say he understands Tuvok, and to keep his head up. Then their de-facto leader, Ensign Dolby tells Tuvok the blatantly obvious; THEY NEVER WANTED TO BE IN STARFLEET! THEY NEVER WANTED TO BE HERE! THEY HAVE NO CHOICE BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL STRANDED TOGETHER! He says they have tried to adapt to Starfleet and work together, whereas Tuvok is just abusing and harrassing them for his own pleasure.

Rather than address them, he says they are insubordinate for trying to leave and orders them to stay where they are.

You don't need to be an emotional people person to peacefully deal with them without behaving like a machine.

Speaking of people persons, later on Chakotay asks Dolby about the event. Dolby says they're willing to learn, but they're NOT going to tolerate being treated like teenaged cadets. They tell how Tuvok picked on them, and forced one of them to run laps.

So naturally, the proper response is for Chakotay to PUNCH HIM IN THE FACE! I am not joking. This would be hilarious if it weren't treated so seriously, and as though it were the REASONABLE thing to do. Naturally, Chakotay, being the Starfleet first officer--- Oh wait, Chakotay IS A MAQUIS HIMSELF! So we get some more scenes of torture, not physically but psychologically, with Tuvok snottily chewing them out for their being out of uniform. It consists of one crewmember wearing a hairband, one wearing a necklace UNDERNEATH THEIR UNIFORM WHERE YOU COULD HARDLY SEE IT, ONE HAVING SCUFFED BOOTS THAT ARE NOT POLISHED, and Dolby, whom Tuvok just doesn't like, apparently.

So Tuvok then has a surprise for them, in the form of an exercise at 1900 hours for field training. This consists of... RUNNING! We get an overly long sequence set to HAPPY MUSIC featuring Tuvok forcing the Maquis crewmembers to climb and run around the ship for no real reason with no breaks, and with many parts in front of other crewmembers, WHO LAUGH AT THEM! After they've finished running, Tuvok reveals they've run 10.1 KM, and that he increased the gravity by 10% to make it harder. Then, because two of them stopped several times, he forces them to KEEP RUNNING! More hazing includes Tuvok forcing one of the Maquis crewmembers to do what amounts to scrubbing toilets with a toothbrush by making one of them "degauss" a transporter pad with a device that would take him 26 hours to complete.

Then comes a wargame situation, where they are ambushed by TWO Romulan Warbirds and die and lose. Of course, Tuvok expects them to learn from their mistakes without telling them what they did. They did everything by the book, exactly the way Starfleet would. He then says they should have retreated.

... except that they were under ATTACK by the Romulans that saw their hull breach and shields buckle. By retreating, they'd likely be destroyed even faster, as their warp drive would have needed some time to warm up and engage.

Of course, that's not what's explained by the Maquis, they just pull a Klingon by saying "WE DON'T RETREAT!" SHOCKINGLY, Tuvok CAN'T FIGURE OUT WHY HE'S NOT GETTING THROUGH TO THE MAQUIS CREWMEMBERS! He talks about how he's taught THOUSANDS of Academy cadets and made real success with them.

Except that those were teenagers who WANTED to get into Starfleet. These are Maquis adults who DO NOT WANT to be a part of Starfleet, and HAVE NO CHOICE! Again shockingly, it's NEELIX who helps Tuvok, by telling him he should BEND the rules and ADAPT to the Maquis and try to get to know them! UNBELIEVABLE that TUVOK is too damn STUPID to figure this out on his own! Speaking of which, it turns out Neelix's cheese is what is making the biological components sick and threatening to destroy the ship. It just wouldn't be "Voyager" without something like that.

And so at the end, Tuvok bends the rules a bit, and this somehow makes up for ALL the abuse the Maquis went through, complete with the tawdry, hackneyed line from Dolby "If you can learn to bend the rules, I'm sure we can learn to follow them".

Learning Curve

[Prismark10 · 5/10 · 12 January 2024]

Learning Curve ended up being the season finale as some episodes were carried into the second season.

It was an underwhelming way to end matters. The Voyager's bio neural gel packs are malfunctioning. The crew need to get to the bottom of this as the gel packs cannot be replicated and not many supplies left.

Tuvok figures that some cheese that Neelix has created might have contaminated the gel packs. It leads to a hot, sticky situation.

However that is not the end of Tuvok's problems. He has been tasked to deal with four Maquis crew members who are not fully fledged observers of doing things the Starfleet way.

In a timely way, the first season ends how it began. The conflict between Maquis and Starfleet. It shows how Chakotay has moved on, even punching the recalcitrant Crewman Dalby who wants to stay loyal to him.

It would have benefitted the series more, if these crew members showed up later on.

Okay, Not exciting.

[ElspethG · 4/10 · 15 February 2020]

Tuvok has these crew members reenacting the Kobayashi Maru program used at the Starfleet Academy. The Starfleet version puts the starship in a no win situation. It's the same thing here. Had no idea that retreat was an acceptable solution to this test.