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In “The Cloud”, Star Trek: Voyager gets close and personal with everyone aboard the ship. We also have a sci-fi plot/monster of the week, but “The Cloud” seems so interested in the crew that the sci-fi plot almost feels like a red herring. Until it isn’t. Is this episode the inspiration for Star Trek: Enterprise’s “Breaking the Ice“?
The Wikipedia plot summary for “The Cloud”:
Captain Janeway‘s log states that several weeks have passed and the crew have become more like an “extended family”. Neelix has been serving his special recipes to the crew, to help save replicator power, but Janeway has been cut off from her regular coffee and Neelix’s alternative is unpalatable. After encountering a strange nebula with signs of omicron particles, which could supplement their rapidly depleting energy reserves, Janeway orders the ship into the nebula. En route, Janeway and Chakotay discuss the lack of a ship’s counselor and the effect it could have on morale. As the ship goes through the cloud, it comes across a natural energy barrier keeping them 7000 km from the particles they need. Ensign Kim engages thrusters to breach the barrier, which closes behind them.
As the ship enters further into the nebula, it encounters trouble: the shields begin to drop in power, reserves begin to fade, and the impulse drive triggers a dangerous reaction. Voyager leaves the nebula immediately, but now must use a photon torpedo to breach the barrier. The ship has sustained damage, and unidentified material from the nebula is attached to the hull. B’Elanna Torres and the Doctor investigate the material and discover that it is organic. They now realize that the nebula is in fact a living organism, and that by breaching the barrier they injured it.
The crew find a way to heal the nebula: the Doctor points out that it has a regenerative power, so they need only be a helping hand. Janeway takes Voyager back inside to repair the damage done in the first encounter. Torres attempts to modify the engines to produce a suitable beam of energy, though the ship is more depleted than before. As they enter, the natural defenses of the nebula attack the ship more intensely, lodging it deeper and further from the wound. Chakotay finds a flow of energy in the nebula and believes it is a circulatory system. The ship reaches the injury using the flow, initiates the repair, and leaves as it heals.
In side stories, Neelix appoints himself the ship’s morale officer; Janeway receives help from Chakotay in finding her “animal guide” from Native American folklore; and Tom Paris takes Kim to “Chez Sandrine”, a French bistro he frequented on Earth that he has recreated in the holodeck. After the mission, Janeway and other crew members relax at Chez Sandrine.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss “The Cloud” and the sexual proclivities of Tom Paris. Plus! The guys talk about the Star Trek formula, the emptiness of Neelix, and body language from the captain’s chair.