Eye of the Needle (''Star Trek: Voyager'')
| "Eye of the Needle" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Voyager episode | |
| Episode no. |
Season 1 Episode 6 |
| Directed by | Winrich Kolbe |
| Story by | Hilary Bader |
| Teleplay by |
Bill Dial Jeri Taylor |
| Featured music | Dennis McCarthy |
| Production code | 107 |
| Original air date | February 20, 1995 |
| Guest appearance(s) | |
| |
"Eye of the Needle" is the sixth episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager. The screenplay was written by Bill Dial and Jeri Taylor based on a story by Hilary Bader, and it was directed by Winrich Kolbe. It premiered on UPN on February 20, 1995.
In this episode Voyager discovers and explores the nature of a wormhole.[1]
Plot
Voyager detects the signs of a wormhole and changes course to investigate, in the hope that it can be used to shorten Voyager's journey to Earth. To the crew's disappointment, it is discovered to be a decaying micro-wormhole whose aperture is only about 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter. Nevertheless, Captain Janeway suspects that it could be used to transmit a message to the Alpha Quadrant, and launches a micro-probe into the wormhole to determine where it exits.
The probe gets stuck in gravitational eddies, and is unable to pass any further. Meanwhile, a vessel at the other end of the wormhole is investigating and making scans of the probe. The crew of Voyager detect the scans and make contact, using the probe as a communications relay. The vessel identifies itself as a Romulan ship in the Alpha Quadrant.
Janeway asks the Romulan captain to relay messages from the crew to their families and Starfleet. At first he refuses, but relents after Janeway asks about his own family, who are far away on Romulus.
Before long, Chief Engineer Torres suggests to Janeway that the probe could be used as a relay not only for communications, but for transporting the crew directly back to the Alpha Quadrant. Tests are conducted and all found successful. The Romulan captain arranges for a support vessel to rendezvous and accommodate the Voyager crew, and is then invited and transported to Voyager.
It is then discovered that the Romulan (Dr. Telek R'Mor of the Romulan Astrophysical Academy) is from 20 years in the past. The micro-wormhole transits both space and time. The crew are unable to transport back to the Alpha Quadrant for fear of altering history, and similarly the Romulan cannot try to prevent Voyager's fate before it occurs without also altering events. Instead, they decide that Dr. R'Mor will deliver the messages in 20 years, after Voyager has left the Alpha Quadrant, thus preserving the timeline.
After R'Mor is beamed back to his ship, Chief of Security Tuvok reveals that, upon researching the computer's data banks, he has discovered that R'Mor died four years before Voyager left the Alpha Quadrant, before he could have passed on the messages. The crew hope that someone else delivered them after his death, but are left with no way of knowing what happened to their messages.
Reception
Reviewers Lance Parkin and Mark Jones enjoyed the episode, praising its suspense, its twists and its depiction of the crew's frustration at their fate.[2]
Out of the 16 (15) episodes in Season 1 of Star Trek: Voyager which was broadcast in the spring of 1995, "Eye of the Needle" tied "Caretaker" for the highest rated episode on TV.com as of 2018.[3] Both of the episodes had a rating of 8.7 surpassing the next closest which was "State of Flux" which had rating of 8.5 as of 2018.[4]