History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E4Phage

* OrganTheft: Neelix has his lungs stolen via TeleportGun, forcing the Doctor to create temporary HardLight substitutes. The Vidiians actively engaged in this as it was the ''only'' way for them to survive the Phage that afflicted their entire race, though they do say that try to limit their theft to taking organs from corpses.

** And another one re Paris.

* OrganTheft: Neelix has his lungs stolen via TeleportGun, forcing the Doctor to create temporary HardLight substitutes. The Vidiians actively engaged in this as it was the ''only'' way for them to survive the Phage that afflicted their entire race.
* PetTheDog: After Janeway agrees to spare the Vidiians, despite their villainy in attacking Neelix and robbing him of organs he needs to survive, Motura shows empathy by pushing Dereth into saving Neelix's life. The latter had claimed there was no point in examining Neelix, but Motura counters that because their medical technology is so advanced, they may find a solution--and after what Dereth did, it's the least they could do.
* ThePlague: The Phage. It is described as a disease that not only attacks every organ and system in the Vidiians' bodies, it even goes after their genetic structure. And because it is adaptable, every attempt they have made to halt or cure it has failed. As a result, thousands die every day, and they've suffered from it for centuries.

* PunctuatedForEmphasis: When Neelix starts to panic over his confinement. ''"I want... to be... released!"''

* ReactionShot: On the pretty transporter chief, just before we're [[TheGrotesque shown the Vidiians for the first time]].

* TheSnarkKnight: The Doctor spends the episode in full snark mode.
** Much of it is aimed at Tom Paris.

* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: The Vidiians were cultured and peaceful before the Phage ravished their species.

* ForgottenPhlebotinum: The Vidiian scanner that the crew recover is never mentioned again, despite being far more sophisticated than any tricorder. Althhough since Dereth uses it find a compatible donor for Neelix, presumably he takes it back with at the end of the episode.

* ForgottenPhlebotinum: The Vidiian scanner that the crew recover is never mentioned again, despite being far more sophisticated than any tricorder.

''Voyager'' is en route to a rogue planetoid to harvest some dilithium crystals. When Janeway arrives at her personal dining room, she discovers that Neelix can converted it into a kitchen. Before Janeway can order him to get his shit outta her dining room, the ship arrives at the planetoid. Neelix begs to join the away mission, and Janeway lets him go. But within the caverns of the planetoid, no one can find any dilithium in spite of their sensor readings showing it all around them. Neelix goes off alone and gets ambushed by a strange alien, leaving him convulsing. The away team beam him directly to sick bay, where the Doctor discovers that his lungs have been removed.

%%* PetTheDog: Motura pushes Dereth into saving Neelix's life.%%Which is an example how?
%%* ThePlague: The Phage.
%%* ProudScholarRace: What the Vidiians used to be, before the Phage.%%Was what?

** Yallitaians apparentlt have [[SpareBodyParts three spinal columns]].

* FromBadToWorse: Janeway jokes with Chakotay about the meal she'd like to have, then gripes about having to settle for Starfleet emergency rations. Then she enters her private dining room to find Neelix has turned it into a kitchen and is cooking up an AlienLunch.

* PetTheDog: Motura pushes Dereth into saving Neelix's life.
* ThePlague / BodyHorror: The Phage
* ProudScholarRaceGuy: What the Vidiians used to be, before the Phage.
* PunctuatedForEmphasis: When Neelix starts to panic over his confinement. ''"I want...to be...released!"''

* WhenSheSmiles: The Doctor maintains his DrJerk persona, except for when he wakes up Kes from the transplant operation with a genuine smile.

* RecycledPremise: Remember "Spock's Brain"? Ladies and gentlemen...it's "Neelix's Lungs"!
* ReflectingLaser: Averted; the plan works because the laser will reflect off the mirrors, but ''not'' an actual ship.

* WhenHeSmiles: The Doctor maintains his DrJerk persona, except for when he wakes up Kes from the transplant operation with a genuine smile.

Meanwhile, Janeway leads an away team to investigate scene of the crime, where they discover a hidden organ harvesting lab. Inside, the alien drops its organ-stealing device and sets off on a ship, so Janeway and crew beam back and give chase. The alien ship flees inside a hollowed-out asteroid. Against Tuvok's warnings, Janeway orders ''Voyager'' to follow. Inside, the ship is hiding among numerous reflections of itself, but a sweep of the ship's phasers on low power reveals the true ship. Janeway has its two occupants beamed aboard.

The aliens, are Vidiians, who are suffering from a disease called the phage that requires them to constantly replace their organs. The lungs they stole from Neelix have been modified and cannot be repurposed back to Neelix without killing their intended recipient. Janeway is unwilling to kill the Vidiian to save Neelix and can't inflict any punishment that seems right, so she simply tells them to warn their people to stay away from them from now on. In thanks for her mercy, the Vidiians offer to share their medical knowledge to help Neelix. Working together, they discover a way to transplant a crewmember's lung into Neelix, and Kes volunteers. Neelix is saved, and Kes replaced Paris as the Doctor's new assistant.

* AmusingAlien: Neelix [[MoodWhiplash until his lungs get ripped out]]. He tries hard to maintain a sense of GallowsHumor re his predicament, but [[AndIMustScream it doesn't last]].

* TheBait: The dilithium traces.
* BizarreAlienBiology:
** Neelix boasts there are "a few Yallitaian engineers who'd give [[SpareBodyParts all three of their spinal columns]] to know where this planet is!" For all he knows, they may well have done so literally.
** After Neelix's lungs are removed, Kes offers to donate hers, but neither the Ocampa or anyone else on ''Voyager'' is compatible with a Talaxian.

* CloningBodyParts: Averted; Neelix cannot have his lungs replicated as they're too complicated. This forces the Doctor to develop holographic lungs as a temporary measure until the crew can either track down his stolen organs or find a compatible donor.

* {{Foreshadowing}}
** Neelix asks the Doctor if he can sing. The Doctor just looks exasperated, but will become quite the tenor in later seasons.
** Kes starts her training as a nurse.
** The Vidiians are introduced as a menace for ''Voyager''.

* LethalChef: After Janeway orders Neelix on the Away Mission, he volunteers a nearby RedShirt to keep on eye on the kitchen, which is in the process of going up in smoke.

* [[HallOfMirrors Planetoid Of Mirrors]]: The Vidiian ship hides inside a hollow asteroid lined with reflective surfaces. ''Voyager'''s solution was to fire a lower powered phaser which bounced around until it hit the non-reflective enemy ship.

* ThouShaltNotKill: For once, this has a good effect. Motura convinces Dereth that in exchange for Janeway not throwing them out the airlock they should help the man whose lungs they stole. Dereth is able to use their superior medical technology to adapt a lung donated by Kes.

* WickedCultured: Motura is a sculptor, while Dr Death...I mean Dereth talks with an upper class accent and snobbish tone.
* TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled: This episode gave further ammunition for [[TheScrappy Neelix bashers]] -- the rich dilithium deposits he brings ''Voyager'' to have all been mined out, and may have been TheBait for the Vidiians. OK, [[LetsSplitUpGang they were ordered by Chakotay to split up]], but Neelix doesn't return when ordered because he's too curious about the strange energy readings behind a solid wall...you'd think with Neelix's past as a deserter, salvager, small-time criminal and purveyor of food poisoning, he'd be naturally cautious.

[[caption-width-right:350:Sucks to be you, Neelix.]]
The one where Neelix ends up in an iron lung.

While on an Away Mission, Neelix is attacked by an alien who surgically removes his lungs. While the Doctor keeps him alive by creating a pair of holographic lungs in Sickbay, ''Voyager'' goes after the aliens and finds out that they did so because they and their society have contracted a disease called "the phage", which requires constant organ replacements for the victims to survive. They offer to transplant a willing donor's lung into Neelix to replace the ones he lost, saying that they have the technology to make the organs of any species compatible with another, and Kes decides to be the donor so that Neelix will survive.

* TheSnarkKnight: The Doctor

** And earlier: "The man drives a 700,000 tonne starship [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything so somebody thinks he'd make a good medic]]."
** The Doctor leans over Neelix to adjust the biobed, saying, "Don't worry, I'm not going to kiss you." Neelix snarks back that he'll hide his disappointment.

-->'''[[http://them0vieblog.com/2014/09/23/star-trek-voyager-phage-review/ Darren Mooney]]''': Like every other episode of the first season, "Phage" seems more like a pleasure cruise than a desperate journey. Sure, there are references to scarcity and rationing. “We’re on our way to a rogue planetoid which Mister Neelix tells us is an extremely rich source of raw dilithium,” the [[CaptainsLog opening log]] tells us. “If he’s right, this could go a long way toward easing our power shortage.” Of course, there’s never been any indication that the ship has a power shortage, whether before or afterwards. All the lights are on at full blast. All the repairs from the mess made in Caretaker have been completed leaving the ship itself in mint condition.

--->'''KES:''' I thought Tom Paris was assigned to you.

** And earlier: "The man drives a 700,000 ton starship [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything so somebody thinks he'd make a good medic]]."

--->'''DERETH:''' Strange. According to my readings, [[ProjectedMan you are not here]].

* MilkingTheGiantCow: The actors playing the two Vidiians. "It is the ''ooonly'' way we have to ''fight'' the ''Phaaaage''."

* The47Society
-->'''EMH:''' The blood gas infuser will keep him alive for another forty-seven minutes.