Changes: Fair Trade (episode)

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A meeting with an old friend lands Neelix in an ever-deepening hole of trouble.

Summary

For some time, Neelix has been trying to expand his usefulness; he has been considering roles as an engineer, or a security officer, or some other more official job. As the crew of the USS Voyager arrive at a dense, menacing cloud barrier, the Nekrit Expanse, they stop at a space station administered by Bahrat to take on supplies. Neelix advises caution.

During the away mission to the station, Neelix meets up with an old friend, Wixiban ("Wix"), who was in a smuggling operation with him a long time ago. After the jovial reunion, Wix and Neelix get to talking. While Neelix impresses his old friend with the tales of Voyager, he finally admits that he thinks he may not be needed anymore. His knowledge of space goes only as far as the Nekrit Expanse and he is no longer useful as a guide. As a result, he has been trying to acquire a map of the area on this station.

Wix says he knows where to get one. He also tells a different story, one of great difficulty and burdensome debts. Playing upon Neeli sympathies for him, he asks for a favor: he wants Neelix to get a Voyager shuttlecraft which he and Wix will use to complete a secret transaction. He explains that he is selling medical supplies and wants to do it in secret to avoid the station master's twenty percent cut of the profits. All Neelix has to do is hide this information from the crew. Neelix agrees.

Unfortunately, the true nature of the transaction becomes apparent when Wix and Neelix meet the potentional buyer. He is the same man who tried to sell drugs to Commander Chakotay and Lieutenant jg Tom Paris when Voyager first docked with the station. From Wix and the drug smuggler's interaction, Neelix deduces that the medical supplies can actually be used as a narcotic, making this trip not only highly dangerous but highly illegal. The buyer attempts to get the drugs for nothing by trying to kill both Talaxians. This results in a firefight and Wix kills the buyer in self-defense with a phaser he took from the shuttle. In panic, the two of them beam out and fly the shuttle back to Voyager – leaving the dead body to be found by Bahrat's men. Bahrat later charges Chakotay and Tom Paris with murder, since a Federation phaser's energy signature was detected.

Neelix is furious at being betrayed but Wix soothes him with more emotional manipulation and convinces him to cover it up and not tell anyone on the ship. The supplier, not at all happy with the loss of their drugs, agrees to let them live if Wix can get some warp plasma from Voyager. Wix persuades Neelix to help him once again but when Neelix tries to steal it, he can't bring himself to do it.

However, to save their lives, Neelix devises a plan, which Wix reluctantly agrees to. He and Wix tell the truth about the incident to Bahrat, who is furious. They are then able to talk their way out of being put into cryostasis by explaining that these smugglers are defeating internal security and that they will help Bahrat and his men catch the criminals when they return for the plasma. Expecting their attempt to be futile, the station master agrees.

Neelix gets a canister from Bahrat with tainted warp plasma and deactivates the safeties. The supplier arrives to meet with Neelix and Wix. When he accepts the canister he realizes that it is worthless but Neelix quickly tells him the canister has been leaking plasma into the room and any energy discharge from his weapon will ignite the entire section. Bahrat attempts to arrest them but the supplier fires anyways and the ensuing plasma fire knocks Neelix unconscious.

When he reawakens in sickbay, he is told by Captain Kathryn Janeway that Wix has gone on his way and that the supplier has been killed. Only then does Neelix come clean to the captain as to how the situation arose: he wanted a map and got caught in a cover-up. After a stern lecture, Neelix prepares to take leave of the ship but is barely able to contain his excitement when the captain explains to him that the crew is a family, he cannot simply walk away. He is unaffected when she sentences him to two weeks of cleaning out the ship's exhaust manifolds.

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Log entries

"Captain's log, supplemental. I have called a meeting of the senior staff to inform them of some very disturbing news I have just received."

Background Information

The writer of this episode's teleplay was long-time Star Trek science consultant André Bormanis. As such, this was the first of seven Star Trek: Voyager episodes that Bormanis was involved in writing. Regarding the idea of the Nekrit Expanse that he introduced in this episode, Bormanis recalled, "The Nekrit Expanse is something that I came up with, for my first script for Voyager. We wanted to suggest a region of space that was rather dangerous, that was difficult to navigate. It was too big to go around, we had to figure out a way to go through it. And the Expanse itself, I kind of modeled after some of the regions that we've identified, in telescopes, in our galaxy that you probably wouldn't want to send a space probe into, at least not very far [....] So that was the basic idea. You know, sort of a dark and spooky place that would be very difficult to navigate, very dangerous, and we have no idea what's on the other side because it's sufficiently opaque that our sensors can't penetrate very far into it." (Real Science With Andre Bormanis, VOY Season 3 DVD special features)
Although a long-running romantic relationship between Kes and Neelix apparently ends in the earlier third season episode "Warlord", their break-up was never shown, so a scene was written for this episode to give the relationship some closure. The character moment, set in Voyager's science lab, was scripted as scene 48 and starts with a scene description that – referring to Kes and Neelix – includes the significant sentence, "She has no way of knowing that he believes this is the last time he will ever see her." (Star Trek: Voyager Companion) Neelix actor Ethan Phillips said of the scene, "I go into the science lab and I see Kes, and I haven't talked to Kes since 'Warlord,' which was several episodes back. And I talk to her and I say, 'You know, I know we've drifted apart, and I know that we're no longer a pair, but I want you to know that I still love you and that you'll always be my best friend.' And she receives that information, she hears it and tells me back the same thing, basically. And we have a kind of a closure, and it was a lovely little scene." (Voyager Time Capsule: Kes, VOY Season 3 DVD special features) The scene was deleted from the episode due to time constraints. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion) Phillips noted, "It was cut, it was not included in the final show, because they had to trim." (Voyager Time Capsule: Kes, VOY Season 3 DVD special features) The scripted version of the scene can be found, in its entirety, in the Star Trek: Voyager Companion.
Garrett Wang (Harry Kim) does not appear in this episode, being one of only two occasions when Wang does not appear, the other being the later third season episode "Blood Fever".
In airing order, this episode marks the debut of the recurring character of Ensign Vorik (although he also appears in "Alter Ego", which was produced first). This male Vulcan character was introduced prior to his central role in "Blood Fever" so that audiences would be familiar with him by then. Vorik subsequently reappears at least once a season, right up until the end of the series run. The character was played by Alexander Enberg, the son of Star Trek: Voyager co-creator and co-executive producer Jeri Taylor. On Star Trek: The Next Generation, Enberg once played a character similar to Vorik, appearing as a Vulcan engineer named Taurik in the episode "Lower Decks". Jeri Taylor once suggested that Taurik and Vorik were twin brothers.
The next Star Trek role that James Horan (Tosin) played was that of First Ikat'ika in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "In Purgatory's Shadow" and "By Inferno's Light".

Jesús Salvador Treviño and Carlos Carrasco — Actor Carlos Carrasco and director Jesús Salvador Treviño, during production of this episode

This is the only appearance of Carlos Carrasco (Bahrat) in Star Trek: Voyager. He previously played D'Ghor in DS9: "The House of Quark" and a mirror universe Klingon in DS9: "Shattered Mirror". His next and last Star Trek role was as Krole in DS9: "Honor Among Thieves".
The weapon that Tosin levels at Neelix during the warp plasma undercover bust is a Varon-T disruptor prop from TNG: "The Most Toys".
This was the first Star Trek episode directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño. Having previously directed episodes of other television series, a meeting with Jeri Taylor had subsequently led Treviño to helm this episode, prior to being invited to direct both other episodes of Voyager as well as episodes of DS9. One preparation method that Treviño utilized was watching many previous Voyager episodes. He recalled, "Before I did my first episode of Voyager, I had spent several weeks viewing almost every episode that they had done. So when I did 'Fair Trade,' I was pretty clear on the back stories of a lot of the people." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 119, pages 65 & 69)
The space station set in this episode was artificially extended via blue screen. Treviño remembered, "Voyager was to visit a space station out in a different sector of space, and we wanted it to look like a place that would house a lot of different aliens. Of course, we had a limited set. Richard James, the production designer, had built this set and working with him we devised a way in which I could shoot the same set using blue screen, ... giving our story a much grander looking production scale. What I wound up doing was I shot a plate looking back in the other direction, and then I put that plate of the same environment with different people and I popped it into the blue screen, so in effect it doubled the distance of the set. And I did that three times." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 119, p. 66)
In summation of this episode, Treviño remarked, "It was a Neelix storyline and I had a great deal of fun doing it. We got, I think, an excellent show out of it." (Star Trek: Communicator issue 119, p. 65)
In the later third season episode "Distant Origin", a group of Voth scientists visit the Nekrit Expanse station while tracking down Voyager. A canister of warp plasma they acquire at the space station is an acknowledgment of the events of "Fair Trade", providing good continuity links between the episodes. However, the writers apparently forgot that Neelix destroyed it in this episode and that the warp plasma was a lower grade substitute.

Reception

This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Hairstyling for a Series. It beat out DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations" which was nominated in the same category.
This episode was also nominated by the Art Designer's Society as one of their five finalists in the category of television.
When Neelix actor Ethan Phillips watched this episode years after its production, he found that he was very proud of the episode. On 25 November, 2003, Phillips remarked, "About six months ago, this guy asked me to speak at a college about the business of acting. They showed a bunch of stuff I had done. One thing they showed was an episode of Star Trek. 'Fair Trade,' where Neelix deals with these intergalactic drug dealers. I hadn't seen the show. I don't think I ever saw it. And we all sat down and watched it, and I was just blown away. It was such a good show. The acting, the lighting, the music; the whole production. It was great television, and I was really proud of it." (Voyager Time Capsule: Neelix, VOY Season 3 DVD special features)

Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.7, 2 June 1997
As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection

Links and references

Guest stars

References

47; bio-mimetic gel; cryostatic suspension; deuterium maintenance; dilithium matrix; duotronic probe; environmental control; exhaust manifold; fire snake; gagh; gravitic caliper; impulse response filter; isonucleic residue; Kes; Kolaati; magnetic spindle bearing; Nekrit Expanse; Orillian lung maggot; pergium; type 2 phaser; plasma canister; plasma injector; plasma storm; reaction control assembly; replicator; rhuludian crystal; spectral analysis; toffa ale; Ubean; warp plasma; warp plasma particle

External link

Template:NCwiki

Previous episode:
"Macrocosm"

Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3

Next episode:
"Alter Ego"

@@ Line 56: / Line 56: @@
 == Background Information ==
 * The writer of this episode's teleplay was long-time ''[[Star Trek]]'' science consultant [[André Bormanis]]. As such, this was the first of seven ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episodes that Bormanis was involved in writing. Regarding the idea of the [[Nekrit Expanse]] that he introduced in this episode, Bormanis recalled, "''The Nekrit Expanse is something that I came up with, for my first script for ''Voyager''. We wanted to suggest a region of space that was rather dangerous, that was difficult to navigate. It was too big to go around, we had to figure out a way to go through it. And the Expanse itself, I kind of modeled after some of the regions that we've identified, in telescopes, in our galaxy that you probably wouldn't want to send a space probe into, at least not very far [....] So that was the basic idea. You know, sort of a dark and spooky place that would be very difficult to navigate, very dangerous, and we have no idea what's on the other side because it's sufficiently opaque that our sensors can't penetrate very far into it.''" (''Real Science With Andre Bormanis'', [[VOY Season 3 DVD]] special features)
-* Although a long-running romantic relationship between Kes and Neelix apparently ends in the earlier [[VOY Season 3|third season]] episode {{e|Warlord}}, their break-up was never shown, so a scene was written for this episode to give the relationship some closure. The character moment, set in ''Voyager''{{'}}s science lab, was scripted as scene 48 and starts with a scene description that - referring to Kes and Neelix - includes the significant sentence, "''She has no way of knowing that he believes this is the last time he will ever see her.''" (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'') Neelix actor [[Ethan Phillips]] said of the scene, "''I go into the science lab and I see Kes, and I haven't talked to Kes since 'Warlord,' which was several episodes back. And I talk to her and I say, 'You know, I know we've drifted apart, and I know that we're no longer a pair, but I want you to know that I still love you and that you'll always be my best friend.' And she receives that information, she hears it and tells me back the same thing, basically. And we have a kind of a closure, and it was a lovely little scene.''" (Voyager ''Time Capsule: Kes'', [[VOY Season 3 DVD]] special features) The scene was [[deleted scene|deleted]] from the episode due to time constraints. (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'') Phillips noted, "''It was cut, it was not included in the final show, because they ''had'' to trim.''" (Voyager ''Time Capsule: Kes'', [[VOY Season 3 DVD]] special features) The scripted version of the scene can be found, in its entirety, in the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]''.
+* Although a long-running romantic relationship between Kes and Neelix apparently ends in the earlier [[VOY Season 3|third season]] episode {{e|Warlord}}, their break-up was never shown, so a scene was written for this episode to give the relationship some closure. The character moment, set in ''Voyager''{{'}}s science lab, was scripted as scene 48 and starts with a scene description that – referring to Kes and Neelix – includes the significant sentence, "''She has no way of knowing that he believes this is the last time he will ever see her.''" (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'') Neelix actor [[Ethan Phillips]] said of the scene, "''I go into the science lab and I see Kes, and I haven't talked to Kes since 'Warlord,' which was several episodes back. And I talk to her and I say, 'You know, I know we've drifted apart, and I know that we're no longer a pair, but I want you to know that I still love you and that you'll always be my best friend.' And she receives that information, she hears it and tells me back the same thing, basically. And we have a kind of a closure, and it was a lovely little scene.''" (Voyager ''Time Capsule: Kes'', [[VOY Season 3 DVD]] special features) The scene was [[deleted scene|deleted]] from the episode due to time constraints. (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'') Phillips noted, "''It was cut, it was not included in the final show, because they ''had'' to trim.''" (Voyager ''Time Capsule: Kes'', [[VOY Season 3 DVD]] special features) The scripted version of the scene can be found, in its entirety, in the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]''.
 * [[Garrett Wang]] ([[Harry Kim]]) [[Main character non-appearances|does not appear]] in this episode, being one of only two occasions when Wang does not appear, the other being the later third season episode {{e|Blood Fever}}.
 * In airing order, this episode marks the debut of the recurring character of [[Ensign]] [[Vorik]] (although he also appears in {{e|Alter Ego}}, which was produced first). This male [[Vulcan]] character was introduced prior to his central role in {{e|Blood Fever}} so that audiences would be familiar with him by then. Vorik subsequently reappears at least once a season, right up until the end of the series run. The character was played by [[Alexander Enberg]], the son of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' co-creator and co-executive producer [[Jeri Taylor]]. On ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'', Enberg once played a character similar to Vorik, appearing as a Vulcan engineer named [[Taurik]] in the episode {{e|Lower Decks}}. Jeri Taylor once suggested that Taurik and Vorik were twin brothers.
-* The next ''[[Star Trek]]'' role that [[James Horan]] ([[Tosin]]) played was that of [[First]] [[Ikat'ika]] in the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episodes {{e|In Purgatory's Shadow}} and {{e|By Inferno's Light}}.
+* The next ''Star Trek'' role that [[James Horan]] ([[Tosin]]) played was that of [[First]] [[Ikat'ika]] in the ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' episodes {{e|In Purgatory's Shadow}} and {{e|By Inferno's Light}}.
 [[File:Jesús Salvador Treviño and Carlos Carrasco.jpg|thumb|Actor Carlos Carrasco and director Jesús Salvador Treviño, during production of this episode]]
 * This is the only appearance of [[Carlos Carrasco]] ([[Bahrat]]) in ''Star Trek: Voyager''. He previously played [[D'Ghor]] in {{DS9|The House of Quark}} and a [[mirror universe people|mirror universe Klingon]] in {{DS9|Shattered Mirror}}. His next and last ''Star Trek'' role was as [[Krole]] in {{DS9|Honor Among Thieves}}.
@@ Line 66: / Line 66: @@
 * The space station set in this episode was artificially extended via blue screen. Treviño remembered, "Voyager ''was to visit a space station out in a different sector of space, and we wanted it to look like a place that would house a lot of different aliens. Of course, we had a limited set. [[Richard James]], the production designer, had built this set and working with him we devised a way in which I could shoot the same set using blue screen, ... giving our story a much grander looking production scale. What I wound up doing was I shot a plate looking back in the other direction, and then I put that plate of the same environment with different people and I popped it into the blue screen, so in effect it doubled the distance of the set. And I did that three times.''" (''[[Star Trek: Communicator]]'' issue 119, p. 66)
 * In summation of this episode, Treviño remarked, "''It was a Neelix storyline and I had a great deal of fun doing it. We got, I think, an excellent show out of it.''" (''[[Star Trek: Communicator]]'' issue 119, p. 65)
-* In the later third season episode {{e|Distant Origin}}, a group of [[Voth]] scientists visit the [[Nekrit Expanse]] station while tracking down ''Voyager''. A canister of warp plasma they acquire at the space station is an acknowledgment of the events of "Fair Trade", providing good continuity links between the episodes. However, the writers apparently forgot that Neelix destroyed it in this episode and that the warp plasma was a lower grade substitute.
+* In the later third season episode {{e|Distant Origin}}, a group of [[Voth]] scientists visit the Nekrit Expanse station while tracking down ''Voyager''. A canister of warp plasma they acquire at the space station is an acknowledgment of the events of "Fair Trade", providing good continuity links between the episodes. However, the writers apparently forgot that Neelix destroyed it in this episode and that the warp plasma was a lower grade substitute.
 === Reception ===