Changes: The Chute (episode)

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Harry Kim and Tom Paris are found guilty and detained in a prison where a neural implant gradually drives the inmates mad.

Summary

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Ensign Harry Kim and Lieutenant jg Tom Paris are imprisoned after being accused of using trilithium to bomb the Laktivia recreational facility on Akritiri, killing 47 off-duty patrollers. Paris tells Kim that they are in a Akritirian maximum security detention facility more than 300 meters underground with fifty other prisoners. They are controlled by a neural implant called a clamp, which makes the prisoners paranoid and violent.

The only exit is a chute which the Akritirians use to send food and new prisoners into the holding area. However, it is protected by a force field which shocks anyone who touches it. Kim finds a way to disable the field. As Paris and Kim attempt to escape, the other prisoners find them and stab Paris.

Kim takes Paris back to their shelter but it has been taken over by other prisoners. He then approaches Zio and offers to take Zio with him while he escapes in exchange for shelter, food and bandages. Zio and Kim disable the force field and climb up the chute, only to find that it leads to a hatch into space. They are not underground but imprisoned on a space station, escape to the "surface" is impossible.

Kim tries to convince the other prisoners that they need to join together to raid the vessel that brings food and prisoners, however, they refuse. Kim goes back to the shelter where Paris is resting and finds that he has taken apart the device that disrupts the force field. Kim is furious and the two fight, Kim nearly killing Paris. Zio tells Kim that he should kill Paris because he is a drain on resources.

On Voyager, Captain Kathryn Janeway is trying to negotiate with Ambassador Liria of Akritiri so that she can find her crewmen. They tell her that Kim and Paris have confessed to the bombing and that Voyager is the only possible source of the trilithium used for the bomb in the sector. Two Akritirian patrol ships appear and threaten to board Voyager and imprison the entire crew causing Janeway to order a retreat. Lt. jg B'Elanna Torres reports that paralithium can also be converted to trilithium. She informs Janeway that paralithium is much more common because it is used to power impulse ships.

Voyager reviews its logs of vessels that their sensors recorded while in orbit of Akritiri and finds four that are powered by paralithium. They track down the vessels and find the bombers: two siblings named Piri and Vel, who are affiliated with a terrorist group called Open Sky. Janeway goes back to Akritiri and offers to exchange them for Kim and Paris. However, the ambassador refuses, saying that Kim and Paris' convictions cannot be overturned.

Janeway approaches the bombers, who say that they know the location of the prison. Janeway offers to let them go if they give them access to the prison. Janeway decides to get close to the prison in Neelix's small ship.

Back in the prison, the prisoners are suddenly alerted to the arrival of someone coming down the chute. The prisoners crowd around, ready to "greet" the new arrivals, when Janeway comes down the chute wielding a large weapon. She stuns several of the prisoners as Lt. Tuvok comes down the chute after her. The two senior officers are able to locate Kim, who brings them to Paris. The four Starfleet officers make their escape, just as an Akritiri ship announces its plan to board the Talaxian vessel.

Back on Voyager, Kim, Paris, Neelix, Janeway and The Doctor gather in sickbay at the end of the Doctor's treatment of Paris' wounds. Paris and Kim go to dinner together and Kim awkwardly tries to apologize to Paris for almost killing him. Paris stops him short, saying that he doesn't remember that. "What I remember," he says, "is a voice saying, 'This man is my friend. No one touches him.'" The two friends leave to enjoy a hearty, much-dreamed-about dinner.

Log entries

"Captain's log, stardate 50156.2. After 72 hours, Lieutenant Paris and Ensign Kim are still missing, and I'm quickly losing patience with the Akritirian authorities. They continue to deny us access to the surface, and they've yet to confirm whether our crewmen were killed in the bombing."

"Captain's log, supplemental. So far, we've located three ships with paralithium plasma emissions, but none of them appears to have produced explosives. We're currently in pursuit of a fourth vessel."

Memorable quotes

"I'm only in the mood for good news today, ambassador."

- Kathryn Janeway, to the Akritirian ambassador

"This man is my friend; nobody touches him."

- Harry Kim, to prisoners about Tom Paris

"Right now, I'm so hungry, I could eat a bowl of Neelix's leola root stew."
"Me, too. Never thought I'd say that."

- Harry Kim and Tom Paris

"Tom, listen to me. I... I almost killed you."
"What are you saying? You're the one that kept me alive."
"I was ready to hit you with the pipe. Don't you remember?"
"You want to know what l remember? Someone saying, 'This man is my friend. Nobody touches him.' I'll remember that for a long time."

- Harry Kim and Tom Paris

Background Information

Of all the sets in the first three seasons of Star Trek: Voyager, the alien prison set for this episode was the most challenging to design. This was because the set was required to facilitate considerable interaction with the actors. Set designer Richard James commented, "The prison set centerpiece was a chute which Kate [Mulgrew] had to slide down and there's not a great deal of rehearsal time for the sets. So edges had to be eliminated, the iris of the chute made to open and close effortlessly, and the crawl space had to be easily mounted by Garrett Wang and Robbie McNeill, as well as be able to accommodate the camera." Co-executive producer Jeri Taylor recalled that the episode had "pages and pages of scenes to shoot in this ship prison that was supposed to be claustrophobic." She continued, "Through connivery and clever thinking Richard was able to make this cramped single set look like two or three sets. The way he designed and redressed the exits and entrances, he provided the illusion of different levels and sections." (Star Trek: Communicator, issue #111, pages 53 & 54)
This episode entered production on 15 July 1996. (Star Trek Monthly issue 20)
This was the first episode to be produced in the third season, as "Sacred Ground", "False Profits", "Flashback" and "Basics, Part II" were produced in the second season and held back for the third. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion)

Shooting The Chute — Director Les Landau talks with Vel actor James Parks during production of this episode

This is the only episode of Voyager's third season that director Les Landau worked on.
To give the episode an unusual visual style, most of the camera work in the prison used hand-held cameras. (Star Trek: Voyager Companion) Explaining why this technique was used, Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill recalled, "Les Landau was making his farewell show with that episode. He was going off to work with Steven Spielberg on High Incident. So, Les was experimenting with styles he could use on his next series. Much of 'The Chute' was done with hand-held cameras [and] I love when we can do Voyager differently." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11) This episode, however, was not the final Voyager installment directed by Les Landau; he would return to direct the sixth season episodes "Drone" and "Counterpoint" as well as the seventh season installment "Virtuoso", thereafter directing a single episode of Enterprise – namely, "Sleeping Dogs".
Robert Duncan McNeill thoroughly enjoyed this episode. He remarked, "'The Chute,' I loved [....] 'The Chute' was sort of a combination of The Road Warrior and NYPD Blue. It was a very good show, and Garrett Wang and I had some very meaty stuff to do." (The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine, issue #11)
Shortly after appearing in this episode, Neelix actor Ethan Phillips (who enjoyed episodes wherein his character acted heroically) said of this installment, "Neelix also gets to play the hero in an episode we've just shot. He doesn't have a lot to do in it, but he does rescue Tom Paris and Harry Kim and kind of saves the day." (Star Trek Monthly issue 20)
Two of the Akritirian inmates wear a costume originally created for the Aaamazzarites in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Paralithium is introduced here as a further branch of the "futuristic" lithium family of starship fuels, producing the highly dangerous trilithium as a by-product.
Reference to 47: Paris and Kim are accused of killing 47 soldiers in a bombing.

Video and DVD releases

UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 3.2, 3 February 1997.
As part of the VOY Season 3 DVD collection.

Links and references

Starring

Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring

Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres
Jennifer Lien as Kes
Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris
Ethan Phillips as Neelix
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok
Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Guest stars

Co-star

Rosemary Morgan as Piri

Uncredited co-stars

Stunt doubles

Al Goto as stunt double for Garrett Wang

References

2296; 47; acetylcholine; Akritiri; Akritirian; Akritirian cargo vessel; Akritirian maximum security detention facility; Akritirian patrol ship; barbecue; Baxial; brigade; Chateau Lafite Rothschild; cherry pie; clamp; Delaney, Megan; emergency vehicle; fettran sauce; fire ant; flambé noodles; food cake; fudge ripple pudding; grocer; Heva VII; Heva VII refueling port; hospital; hotel; hypothalamus; liter; ion propulsion; Laktivia recreational facility (Laktivia canteen); lamb; leola root stew; multispectral subsurface scan; mushroom; onion rings; Open Sky; paralithium; plasma; pulse gun; potato; Risan bean; Sandrine's; shrimp; synaptic stimulator; T-bone steak; trilithium; warden; wild rice

Previous episode:
"Flashback"

Star Trek: Voyager
Season 3

Next episode:
"The Swarm"

@@ Line 80: / Line 80: @@
 ==Background Information==
-[[File:Shooting The Chute.jpg|thumb|Director [[Les Landau]] talks with [[Vel]] actor [[James Parks]] during production of this episode]]
 *Of all the sets in the first three seasons of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'', the alien prison set for this episode was the most challenging to design. This was because the set was required to facilitate considerable interaction with the actors. Set designer [[Richard James]] commented, "''The prison set centerpiece was a chute which [[Kate Mulgrew|Kate [Mulgrew<nowiki>]</nowiki>]] had to slide down and there's not a great deal of rehearsal time for the sets. So edges had to be eliminated, the iris of the chute made to open and close effortlessly, and the crawl space had to be easily mounted by [[Garrett Wang]] and [[Robert Duncan McNeill|Robbie McNeill]], as well as be able to accommodate the camera.''" Co-executive producer [[Jeri Taylor]] recalled that the episode had "pages and pages of scenes to shoot in this ship prison that was supposed to be claustrophobic." She continued, "''Through connivery and clever thinking Richard was able to make this cramped single set look like two or three sets. The way he designed and redressed the exits and entrances, he provided the illusion of different levels and sections.''" (''[[Star Trek: Communicator]]'', issue #111, pages 53 & 54)
 *This episode entered production on {{d|15|July|1996}}. (''[[Star Trek Monthly issue 20]]'')
 *This was the first episode to be produced in the third season, as {{e|Sacred Ground}}, {{e|False Profits}}, {{e|Flashback}} and {{e|Basics, Part II}} were produced in the second season and held back for the third. (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'')
+[[File:Shooting The Chute.jpg|thumb|Director [[Les Landau]] talks with [[Vel]] actor [[James Parks]] during production of this episode]]
-*To give the episode an unusual visual style, most of the camera work in the prison used hand-held cameras. (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'')
+*This is the only episode of ''Voyager''{{'}}s third season that director [[Les Landau]] worked on.
+*To give the episode an unusual visual style, most of the camera work in the prison used hand-held cameras. (''[[Star Trek: Voyager Companion]]'') Explaining why this technique was used, Paris actor Robert Duncan McNeill recalled, "''Les Landau was making his farewell show with that episode. He was going off to work with {{w|Steven Spielberg}} on ''{{w|High Incident}}''. So, Les was experimenting with styles he could use on his next series. Much of 'The Chute' was done with hand-held cameras [and] I love when we can do ''Voyager'' differently.''" (''[[The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine]]'', issue #11) This episode, however, was not the final ''Voyager'' installment directed by Les Landau; he would return to direct the [[VOY Season 6|sixth season]] episodes {{e|Drone}} and {{e|Counterpoint}} as well as the [[VOY Season 7|seventh season]] installment {{e|Virtuoso}}, thereafter directing a single episode of ''[[Star Trek: Enterprise|Enterprise]]'' – namely, {{e|Sleeping Dogs}}.
+*Robert Duncan McNeill thoroughly enjoyed this episode. He remarked, "''{{'}}The Chute,' I loved [....] 'The Chute' was sort of a combination of ''{{w|Mad Max 2|The Road Warrior}}'' and ''{{w|NYPD Blue}}''. It was a very good show, and Garrett Wang and I had some very meaty stuff to do.''" (''[[The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine]]'', issue #11)
 *Shortly after appearing in this episode, Neelix actor [[Ethan Phillips]] (who enjoyed episodes wherein his character acted heroically) said of this installment, "''Neelix also gets to play the hero in an episode we've just shot. He doesn't have a lot to do in it, but he does rescue Tom Paris and Harry Kim and kind of saves the day.''" (''[[Star Trek Monthly issue 20]]'')
 *Two of the Akritirian inmates wear a costume originally created for the [[Aaamazzarite]]s in {{film|1}}.