Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series) Natural Law (2001) User Reviews

Another Great Seven Episode!

[spasek · 8/10 · 3 August 2021]

I'm not sure I've seen a "bad" episode with Seven yet. I can say the same thing for Tuvok. My two favorite characters of this series with Paris and the Doctor both being right up there for me too.

Once again--at this point, you just have to "go with" how many times they've had to crash land a shuttle craft-- we have more stranded crewmembers as Chakotay and Seven find themselves stuck on a planet with an energy barrier.

This time, they come across a friendly but extremely primitive humanoid species. Chakotay with a broken leg is unable to avoid them, and Seven is left to try and find a way through the energy barrier to emit a signal for help.

The humanoids find a way to help Chakotay's leg and a young girl helps guide Seven to the fallen debris of the shuttlecraft. The relationship she forms with the young girl is touching as Seven finds hereself violating her own principles--as well as Starfleet's--to save the girl's life. One of the best things I love about this series is how Seven continues to evolve and learn. I wish the same could be said for the other characters--save for the Doctor.

On a humorous "B" story, Paris is forced to take a safety piloting course after breaking rules of pilot safety. Of course, there may be no better pilot in the Star Trek universe than Paris, and it's his quick thinking and superior skills that helps preserve the humanoid species in the end.

Stranded in a stone aged culture

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 28 May 2010]

While on their way to a conference Seven and Chakatay's shuttle crashes through an energy barrier and they find themselves stranded amongst a stone aged culture called the Ventu. While they attempt to avoid breaking the prime directive they find the Ventu are more helpful than they expected; helping them find the remains of the shuttle so they can lower the energy shield to beam out. In orbit Voyager also tries to find away through the barrier which they have been told was erected by aliens to protect the primitives from more advanced people, the Ledos, elsewhere on the planet who wanted to exploit the them. When Seven finally gets the shield down it is clear that the Ledos haven't given up their hopes of exploiting the Ventu and are willing to use force to prevent Voyager re-establishing the shield. In a light-hearted sub-plot Tom breaks local piloting regulations and is forced to take a pilot training course with an officious local.

The main story was pretty good, I liked the Ventu who communicated through a sign language which Chakotay tried to learn the basics of. The idea of having an advanced civilisation exploiting a primitive one was admittedly rather cliché but worked well enough. The secondary plot provided a few laughs especially when he abandons his class to remove the Ledos from Ventu territory while under fire.

Missed an opportunity

[fran-veal · 6/10 · 3 August 2019]

I loved Voyager, but some of the episodes were hit or miss. For me, this episode was a miss because you had Seven and Chakotay stranded on a planet, but nothing was done to develop the relationship that was dumped on us in Endgame just two episodes later.

We already know Seven has a bit of a crush on Chakotay from the Human Error episode earlier in the season. Rather than allowing a relationship to build naturally over several episodes, it's sprung on us as an afterthought.

The episode itself was kind of meh, although I did enjoy the performance of a young Autumn Reeser as one of the natives.

I'll skip all the Prime Directive dialogue that's been discussed in other reviews, but yeah- there's that too.

Not a bad episode with some good character moments

[snoozejonc · 6/10 · 23 November 2023]

Chakotay and Seven crash the shuttle and encounter an uncontacted indigenous community.

This one has some good moments of visual storytelling during Chakotay and Seven's interaction with the Ventu and with each other. It also works fairly well for the overarching arc involving the two characters and particularly how they are portrayed in the series finale. Jeri Ryan and Robert Beltran do well with the material.

Some of the prime directive themes and the situation between the Ventu and Ledosians are familiar concepts within Star Trek but fairly thought provoking nevertheless. Although I did not feel as inclined to take it as seriously and think about it as deeply as some reviewers, as the plot is not that intriguing.

The subplot involving Tom Paris is okay, but for me not as funny as the writers probably thought it was at the time.

Welcome to the jungle

[tomsly-40015 · 7/10 · 12 February 2024]

If you consider that there are still native tribes on our planet who live in isolation somewhere in the jungle or on a remote island, this episode seems quite realistic. And just as the countries in which these tribes live usually establish reserves and protection zones so that they can maintain their way of life undisturbed, this species is also protected from the outside world - with an energy barrier.

And just as Seven struggles with the question of whether these native people would be helped more if they had access to progress, knowledge and the amenities of modern civilization, as a viewer you also ask yourself this question. Is it morally justifiable to deny technology, access to modern medicine and education to a tribe that lives deep in the jungle away from our societies? But just as Chakotay raises the question of who ultimately decides which way of life is better, you also have to ask yourself the same question about these tribes on our planet. After all, our ancestors led such simple lives in harmony with nature for thousands of years, while our modern, digital life has existed for less than a hundred years. Maybe living in the jungle with a bow and arrow is ultimately the more sustainable model in the long term.

This time the composition of the away team at least makes sense for the story. Chakotay once again represents his view as a descendant of the Native Americans and is concerned that the culture and way of life of this tribe could be contaminated by external influences and that they would therefore lose their original life. Seven, on the other hand, is focused on logic, efficiency and technology and believes that the potential of this community is not being fully realized and that this tribe could achieve much more if only they had access to education and technology. However, in the end, Seven changes her mind and even becomes concerned that her actions could lead to the energy barrier being deactivated one day - and who knows what will then happen to the life and habitat of this species. Perhaps she has once again contributed to a species and its culture being assimilated... although not by the Borg.

Chakotay and Seven really do great justice to the Prime Directive.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 8 March 2015]

The Prime Directive is often mentioned on the Trek shows. Its concept is that the Federation should NOT interfere with native species and allow them to grow naturally. Here they play lipservice to it at times.

Chakotay does some lousy piloting of the shuttle and gets way too close to an area they were told not to approach! The invisible shield above smashes their craft and he and Seven crash through the barrier and land below. There they encounter a very primitive tribe of nice tribal folks and almost immediately Chakotay starts interacting with them. I guess that the Prime Directive was recently repealed. Seven, however, thinks that the Prime Directive DOES still apply and disagrees with Chakotay. She then shows her devotion to the Prime Directive by losing her tricorder--something which she never recovers and they eventually leave behind. Later, with the help of the natives, they find a way to contact Voyager. Unfortunately, now the Ledosians plan to improve the lives of these tribesmen---and it's all made possible by the break in the invisible dome caused by the shuttle.

There's another minor plot in which the always impulsive and child- like Paris gets in trouble with some locals due to his hotdogging while piloting his shuttle. They insist that he take a class on how to fly! The Captain agrees and even though he thinks it's beneath him, he takes the class--always looking for a way to skip out this. After all, he IS a man-child and being responsible just ain't how he rolls. Fortunately, his instructor is NOT wowed by Paris' lies and attempts to get out of the class or end it prematurely.

In the end, after massive exposure of the Federation to the tribespeople, the Captain then decides to close this dome forever. This is sort of like deciding your daughter will remain a virgin after she's already had her baby! All in all, a confusing and morally ambiguous episode that just seemed inconsistent and odd to say the least.

Primitive Folk

[Hitchcoc · 5/10 · 20 September 2018]

Chakotay, through his carelessness, almost gets killed and he and Seven end up on a planet with a primitive group of people. They form a bond with them but come into conflict with a more advanced race who want the property to themselves. We all know how this will end. We also have a tiresome subplot with Paris having to take introductory flight lessons from a pedantic old guy who is unyielding in his instructional syllabus. This is really dull. The whole thing is so predictable and seemed endless.

Janeway the Anti-Scientist, Liar, Cheater

[phenomynouss · 1/10 · 7 September 2010]

Leaving aside the stale mediocrity of the episode, I'll get right to the stupid.

The episode involves a planet in which there is a primitive tribal culture literally locked under a forcefield shield that was established by another alien species hundreds of years ago that has disappeared. These people are directly related to the highly advanced species that is currently interacting with Voyager.

Naturally, Tattoo-boy and Seven of Nine get stuck in this when their shuttle crashes into it, all because Idiot-face wanted to look at the planet from the shuttle. They accidentally get involved with these tribal people, which Chakotay at first tried to avoid, due to the Prime Directives.

However, his Prime Directive dribble goes right the hell out the door once they do find him, and he has the GALL to chastise Seven of Nine for NOT attempting to connect and communicate with the people, and FURTHER interfere with their lives.

So towards the end, they manage to break open the forcefield using technobabble, and the civilization immediately comes down to explore and research the tribal peoples, a unique opportunity comparable to modern-day people not just of our own technology, but our ideals and policies of non-interference with a tribal culture.

BUT JAAAAAANEWAAAAAAAAY HAS TO GET HER TYRANNIC SELF INVOLVED!!!~! Because this is the show that brought you "Tattoo", an episode so filled with spiritual love and respect for Native Americans, they established in canon-Trek that they were primitive, culture-less savages until they were touched by White Men from space, and who brought you Chakotay, a walking stereotype of Native American cliché's that often interfere with its own continuity (A man who fights the Cardassians in defense of his home also espouts that "home is wherever you happen to be"), NATURALLY THIS IS A BAD AND TERRIBLE THING! Let's get this clear; these civilized people are not the "Manifest Destiny"-era Americans, or Colonial Europeans. They do not plan to subjugate or exterminate these people, or study them while moving them to controlled environments and uprooting their culture. These are people who have been given a unique opportunity to witness FIRST-HAND the genesis of their own civilization, LITERALLY untouched by anyone.

BUT JAAAAAAAAAAAANEWAAAAAAAY SAYS NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Because this goes against the New Age pseudo-hippie spiritualism, Janeway absolutely REFUSES this scientific opportunity, DESPITE BEING A FORMER SCIENCE OFFICER HERSELF, and decides to MANIPULATE THE PRIME DIRECTIVES TO SERVE HER OWN PURPOSES, by claiming that the technology used to open the forcefield is HERS, so she's gonna take it back because of Starfleet policy of non-interference with their planet...

DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY ALREADY INTERFERED BY OPENING IT IN THE FIRST PLACE, MUCH LESS CHAKOTAY AND SEVEN OF NINE MAKING CONTACT AND COMMUNICATING.

So what she allows by an accident born of pure stupidity in order to save the lives of one dimwit and one former Borg, she disallows in the name of cultural and scientific enlightenment of an ENTIRE CIVILIZATION! Naturally, since they go against JANEWAY'S point of view, these civilized people take all of 2.2 minutes to START FIRING ON VOYAGER! So Janeway escapes, denying an entire civilization the chance to study and better understand and appreciate their own past, for pretty much no coherent or logical reason other than fear.

Yes, fear. Fear that these civilized people might destroy the culture of these tribal peoples. This fear would be well-founded if these civilized people showed anything BUT reverence, awe, and respect for these people already. Even then, it doesn't say much about the benevolence of Earth that they utterly shut down a huge opportunity for learning out of fear.

(in The Simpsons' Comic Book Guy voice) Worst Episode Ever?

[ttapola · 4/10 · 15 June 2009]

OK, I am intentionally exaggerating in the title of my summary. But this really is quite bad. For starters, the A plot takes a coma-inducing twenty-five minutes to start moving and in the end, the final five minutes (before the epilogue featuring Seven of Nine and Chakotay) have been stuffed so full that the flash by in such a hurry that it's not worth the long set-up. And, of course, this is yet one boring Prime Directive episode. Then there's the B plot, a "comedic" story of Tom Paris having to attend flight school. It's so not funny that it makes me want to cry. Of course, it *conveniently* merges with the A plot in the end. So conveniently that it constitutes as lazy writing. The only saving grace of this episode is, of course, Jeri Ryan as Seven and an all too brief appearance of semi-legendary rent-a-dislike-able-elder-guy Ivar Brogger who's been in pretty much every TV show that amounts to something. Some interest may be also found in the fact that this is credited as Autumn Reeser's (the lovely Taylor in The O.C.) first acting work, but she's practically unrecognizable, a ten-year-old in alien make-up. So, in the end, a boring episode with only curiosity value.