Concerning Flight
- Episode aired Nov 26, 1997
- TV-PG
- 46m
After aliens raid Voyager, Janeway discovers her Leonardo holodeck character living independently at a trading post under the patronage of a shameless "prince" of thieves.After aliens raid Voyager, Janeway discovers her Leonardo holodeck character living independently at a trading post under the patronage of a shameless "prince" of thieves.After aliens raid Voyager, Janeway discovers her Leonardo holodeck character living independently at a trading post under the patronage of a shameless "prince" of thieves.
- Leonardo da Vinci
- (as John Rhys Davies)
- Alien Guard
- (uncredited)
- Alien Trader
- (uncredited)
- Alien Trader
- (uncredited)
- Rotciv Visitor
- (uncredited)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaJaneway says James T. Kirk claimed to have met Leonardo Da Vinci. This happened in Requiem for Methuselah (1969) when Kirk, Spock, and McCoy met a man named Flint, a 5000-year-old man from Earth, who claimed to have assumed the identity of many different artists throughout Earth's history, including Leonardo.
- GoofsWhen Voyager is trying to get the Captain back on board they're under attack with the shields up. It's been established that Voyager cannot transport anything through the shields. So they should not have been able to transport the Captain back to the ship.
- Quotes
[da Vinci is baffled by the "magic" technology he has encountered]
Captain Kathryn Janeway: Let me ask you something. If you were something other than a human being, if you were a different kind of animal... If you were a small bird, a sparrow, what would your world be like?
Leonardo da Vinci: I should make my home in a tree, in the branch of an elm. I should hunt insects for food, straw for my nest, and in springtime I should sing for a companion.
Captain Kathryn Janeway: And you would know nothing of the politics of Florence, the cutting of marble, or mathematics.
Leonardo da Vinci: Of course not.
Captain Kathryn Janeway: But why not?
Leonardo da Vinci: My mind would be too small.
Captain Kathryn Janeway: As a sparrow, your mind would be too small, even with the best of teachers?
Leonardo da Vinci: If Aristotle himself were to perch on my branch and lecture till he... fell off from exhaustion... still the limits of my mind would prevent me from understanding.
Captain Kathryn Janeway: And as a man, can you accept that there may be certain realities beyond the limits of your comprehension?
Leonardo da Vinci: If I could not accept that... then I would be a fool.
- ConnectionsReferenced in Star Trek: Lower Decks: Terminal Provocations (2020)
The setup in itself is kind of interesting, aliens stealing tech from the ship but then it all goes downhill from there. The Holodeck representation of Leonardo daVinci is copied on the Mobile Emitter by the thieves and works for them on an alien planet. As if an inventor and artist from the Renaissance era could possibly be of any real use in the 24th century, the "Prince" of thieves even creates a workshop for daVinci to work in. It just doesn't make any sense and it's hard to believe, Star Trek veteran Joe Menosky wrote this. The "Prince" is shown to be a ruthless capitalist - why would he waste resources in a holo-program of a hundreds of years old historical figure of earth? What could daVinci offer?
Remember it was an important plot point in the past, not to let Federation technology fall into alien hands? It was a real problem when the Kazon were around. Who knows what could happen? But here, Chakotay even lets one guy keep his Phaser rifle and other stuff and tells him to get out. I'm sorry: what?
At times embarrassing, the dialogue between Kathryn and Leonardo makes little sense, given his 24th century environment. He doesn't seem to be irritated that all these aliens are supposed to be Americans. It's played for comedy - even when he fires a phaser - but it's just silly and nonsensical.
The criminals also forgot to secure or reprogram the stolen computer processor. Janeway can just input orders with her still active security code.
Kate Mulgrew and John Rhys-Davies are good actors but this is just a silly story. The villain is weak and the repurposed factory set unconvincing as an alient industrial plant.
While there is some lesson here that Leonardo should not do so many things at once? Or not to give up? But it has nothing to do with Janeway, which makes this a fine lesson for daVinci but it's ultimately pointless, because he is just a holodeck character and also because it doesn't really teach any other real character a lesson.
This is one of the shows that feel very 90's - but not in a good way. If you want to cringe while Captain Janeway girlishly smiles at a hologram of Leonardo daVinci while in mid-air on a (luckily previously built) flying apparatus, then go ahead.
A bottom-of-the-barrel episode in the likes of Fair Haven.
4/10.
- vsek
- Apr 14, 2021
Details
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- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime46 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
- 4:3