[Nate the Great]

JANEWAY: It's virtually a desert. Not one ocean, not one river. It has all the basic characteristics of an M-class planet except there are no nucleogenic particles in the atmosphere.
TUVOK: That would mean the planet is incapable of producing rain.
JANEWAY: I've studied thousands of M-class planets. I've never seen an atmosphere without nucleogenics. There must have been some kind of extraordinary environmental disaster. As soon as repairs are complete, we'll set a course for the fifth planet.



I don't like technobabble being used to explain "can't produce rain". The Caretaker may be responsible, but you can handwave his influence without resorting to technobabble.


NEELIX [on viewscreen]: Well, there's really very little that you could offer me. Unless.
JANEWAY: Yes?
NEELIX [on viewscreen]: Unless of course, you had water.


And here we are. This whole "water is rare in this part of space" thing is just stupid. I understand that the Ocampa aren't warp capable and Neelix's ship isn't big enough to evacuate everyone, but everyone else has ships to go somewhere else that DOES have water.


Or are you telling me that the Caretaker affected the nucleonic particles in ALL of the planetary atmosphere in this sector?



OCAMPA DOCTOR: Our society is subterranean. We've lived here for over five hundred generations.


Are we talking Ocampan or human generations? Sometimes the Universal Translator really does seem to raise more questions than it answers.


NEELIX: And to immerse myself in water. Oh, do you know what joy this is? No one around here wastes water in this manner. Good sand scrub, that's the best that we can hope for.


Is sonic shower technology that much more advanced than replicators?


PARIS: Yeah? But on the other hand, if I save your butt your life belongs to me. Isn't that some kind of Indian custom?
CHAKOTAY: Wrong tribe.
PARIS: I don't believe you.



Well, that's insensitive.


PARIS: Isn't there some Indian trick where you can turn yourself into a bird and fly us out of here?


And that's just nuts. Now is not the time for jokes!


JANEWAY: You're sealing the conduits before you die.
CARETAKER: If I don't, the Kazon will steal the water. But in a few years, when the Ocampa's energy runs out, it won't matter. They'll be forced to come to the surface and they won't be able to survive.


And the Caretaker couldn't just transport the Ocampa to another planet...because?


JANEWAY: Mister Chakotay said something about his life belonging to you? He'll be taking responsibility for your safety.
PARIS: I think I'm going to enjoy this.
JANEWAY: Don't be so sure.



Did this ever come into play?


The Fiver


Chakotay: Ha! Chakotay 1, Cardassians 0!
Tuvok: (detecting the wave) Um, you might want to reconsider that....



Are there some missing first lines, or is this just a halfbaked joke?


Tom: Hey, wanna be Voyager's version of Bashir and O'Brien?
Harry: Works for me.



I see where this joke came from, but it's not quite accurate. Bashir thought that he knew everything and had to be deflated, Harry wants to be Ideal Starfleet Man and needs to be seasoned.


Mark: You know, honey, they say a fool and her dog are soon parted.
Janeway: So what? Bye now.



This was one of the first scenes that I added to our TV Tropes page, I still remember it well.



Neelix: Welcome to part 2, and get out of my junkyard!
Janeway: Want us to give you everything you need for free?
Neelix: I grudgingly accept.



I seem to remember this gag being used in another fiver as well. Am I just imagining things?


Janeway: You jerk! You nearly got us killed!
Neelix: Yeah, but you're getting Kes out of it!
Tom: You know, he's got a point.


He really does.


Other Kazon: You guys really, really suck! Just for that, we'll provide an ineffective recurring menace for two whole seasons!
Chakotay: Bite me. What's the worst you can do, convince my girlfriend to defect?



Seska really should've been part of the pilot.


Janeway: Well, Tom, you're the pilot now. Don't blow it.
Tom: Bite me. What's the worst you can do, demote me?



Insert ominous "dun dun dun!" here.


Memory Alpha


* The writers wanted to get away from the cerebral nature of "Emissary" and do a more action packed pilot this time. I'd say that they failed utterly. A good step in being less cerebral would be getting rid of the enigmatic nature of the Caretaker. That was really dumb.
* There was much discussion about whether or not the Maquis would be given Starfleet uniforms, but Rick Berman ultimately decided on uniforms because he didn't want the conflict in every episode. Which shot the whole premise in the foot in the first episode, thanks Rick!
* At first Janeway's holodeck program would've been Wild West themed (I remember that now, it would've been too expensive to shoot outdoors and with horses).
* The creators were worried about looking like Janeway broke the Prime Directive. I say that their were more important ethical considerations in play. After all, Janeway didn't create the situation that required Prime Directive violations, the Caretaker did.
* Most of us remember that Janeway's first name was originally going to be Elizabeth, but I didn't know that it was changed because there already was an Elizabeth Janeway, she was a prominent writer in the fifties and sixties.
* Susan Gibney was an early contender for the role of Janeway, but I question how this would've worked without heavy alien makeup. Her portrayal of Leah Brahms really stuck in the minds of the fans (unlike Tim Russ's performance in "Starship Down", for example).
* I didn't know that it was Bujold who quit, she wasn't fired. She admitted that she wasn't ready for the faster pace of television production.



Nitcentral (there may not have been a formal Nitpicker's Guide, but Phil Farrand did maintain a site back at the turn of the century!)


* Tom was made a full Lieutenant in this episode, yet later episodes will give him Lieutenant Junior Grade pips. I guess these are the same shoddy uniform replicators that gave Tuvok Lieutenant Commander pips when he was supposed to be a regular Lieutenant.
* There was debate on whether or not Janeway could have brought Mark and her dog along. My immediate rejoinder is that Mark has his own life on Earth and might not want to be on board. Plus Voyager isn't designed for families.
* Much debate about whether destroying the Array was the only option.
* Stadi's shuttle flips from 74656 (Voyager) to 1701-D, and then back. Sheesh, talk about a rookie mistake on the part of the special effects department.
* Discussion about the canonicity of Mosaic and Pathways.

* Apparently the original nurse who died was Vulcan, and she smiled too much. Oops.
* Someone brings up that if Voyager had used a delayed fuse on a bomb to get home before the array blows up that the Kazon would've figured out how to defuse it. I think that this is nonsense. The Kazon don't have transporters or replicators, so it's easy to assume that their sensors aren't as good. And even if they found the bomb, it would've been easy to set it up to detonate when tampered with. No way are the Kazon smart enough to figure out Starfleet technology that fast.