The Cloud (Star Trek: Voyager)

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.

Reviewers Lance Parkin and Mark Jones said the episode was "almost ridiculously straightforward and predictable".{{cite book|last1=Jones|first1=Mark|last2=Parkin|first2=Lance|year=2003|title=Beyond the Final Frontier: An Unauthorised Review of the Trek Universe on Television and Film |publisher=Contender Books |location=London|isbn=978-1-84357-080-6|page=276}}

In 2017 ScreenRant ranked "The Cloud" as the 10th most hopeful episode of all Star Trek episodes up to that time,{{Cite web|url=https://screenrant.com/star-trek-next-generation-enterprise-franchise-optimistic-hopeful-future/|title=Star Trek: 15 Episodes That Will Give You Hope For The Future|date=2017-01-10|website=ScreenRant|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-18}} and said it was the source of Captain Janeway's line, "There is coffee in that nebula".

In 2017 Den of Geek said the episode was dull and is one of the reasons "why Voyager isn’t everyone’s favourite".{{cite web |title=Star Trek Voyager: An Episode Roadmap |date=15 September 2017 |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-voyager-an-episode-roadmap/ |access-date=September 15, 2017 |ref=34}}

In 2020 Tor.com rated the episode 6 out of 10 and said it had comedic performances by Robert Picardo (as the EMH) as well as the introduction of the holographic French bar, Sandrine's.{{Cite web|last=DeCandido|first=Keith R. A.|date=2020-02-06|title=Star Trek: Voyager Rewatch: "The Cloud"|url=https://www.tor.com/2020/02/06/star-trek-voyager-rewatch-the-cloud/|access-date=2021-04-24|website=Tor.com|language=en-US}}

This episode was released on LaserDisc in Germany in 1996, paired with "Phage" for 49 DEM.{{Cite web|title=LaserDisc Database – Star Trek Voyager: 1st Season vol.3 [PLTGB 35211]|url=https://www.lddb.com/laserdisc/42769/PLTGB-35211/Star-Trek-Voyager:-1st-Season-vol.3|access-date=2021-02-25|website=www.lddb.com}} 1st Season vol.3 included "Phage" with the German language title Transplantationen and "The Cloud" as Der Mysteriöse Nebel on a single double sided 12" LaserDisc, with a German audio Dolby Surround soundtrack.

In 2015, astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti tweeted the line from this episode about coffee from the International Space Station, accompanied by an image of her wearing a Star Trek uniform.{{Cite magazine|title=Is Samantha Cristoforetti the Most Awesome Astronaut Ever?|language=en-us|magazine=Wired|url=https://www.wired.com/2015/05/is-samantha-cristoforetti-the-most-awesome-astronaut-ever/|access-date=2021-02-16|issn=1059-1028}} The station was getting a shipment of supplies including coffee in an incoming Dragon cargo spacecraft. The spacecraft carried the ISSpresso machine which would allow coffee beverages to be made aboard the Space Station. The tweet was accompanied by her wearing a Star Trek uniform.

Cristoforetti was the first Italian woman in space and broke records with nearly 200 days in space; she was awarded the Ordine al merito della Repubblica Italiana by Italy.{{cite web|title=Samantha Cristoforetti becomes Cavaliere di Gran Croce|url=http://www.italoamericano.org/story/2015-7-20/samantha-cristoforetti|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150810172940/http://www.italoamericano.org/story/2015-7-20/samantha-cristoforetti|archive-date=August 10, 2015|access-date=2015-07-21|website=Italoamericano.org|df=mdy-all}}{{Cite web|last1=O'Brien|first1=Joe|last2=Sherden|first2=Amy|date=2015-07-08|title=Record-breaking astronaut becomes internet sensation|url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-07-08/astronaut-samantha-cristoforetti-internet-sensation/6604868|access-date=2019-12-07|website=ABC News|language=en-AU}}

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• {{IMDb episode}}
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Category:Star Trek: Voyager season 1 episodes

Category:1995 American television episodes

Category:Television episodes directed by David Livingston

Category:Television episodes written by Brannon Braga

Category:Television episodes written by Michael Piller