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Before I do Caretaker I'd like to cover the writer's guide and series bible.
Star Trek Voyager Bible Cardassians within the Demilitarized Zone continue to harass Federation outposts, and while Starfleet responds to any significant aggression, some colonist have decided to take matters into their own hands. This is a fundamental problem with the whole premise. Back in "Journey's End" the Cardassians promised to leave the ex-Federation citizens alone if they stayed peaceful. If they're still hassling the colonists this just shows that they can't be trusted. Furthermore, why is Starfleet responding at all, they specifically said that the colonists who choose to remain in the DMZ are renouncing their citizenship and will not be rescued. One problem that is NEVER brought up is that regardless of the precise status of the DMZ residents, if the Cardassians are bullying them around this must count as militarization by definition. That's a treaty violation. This group of resistance fighters calls itself the Maquis, and they are becoming more than a nuisance. The Federation considers them outlaws. Seriously, why are the Maquis using an Earth term when they should be using a Bajoran term? It's not like the average viewer knew about the WWII Maquis so they could make the connection. Their quest is to find a "shortcut" home...but the Voyage captain also insists that...they behave as a Starfleet crew. They will continue to go boldly, to explore, study, and investigate, so that when they do return, they will have amasses a vast wealth of knowledge about a heretofore unexplored region of space. It occurs to me that this would be a much more reasonable conflict between the Starfleet and Maquis crews. Even if the Starfleet people want to explore, the Maquis would be continually breathing down their necks asking why they're not looking for wormholes and resources exclusively. Because let's be real here, what's the point of gathering data about the Delta Quadrant if they're destroyed before any of it can get back to the Federation? [The Maquis] are idealistic nonconformists who believe passionately that they are taking the only course of action they can to protect themselves and their loved ones from continued Cardassian aggression. Except, you know, ask the Federation to be evacuated. Duh. As SF Debris said, these people have been here a few decades at most. That's not enough time to develop the deep emotional connection to the land that people on Earth today have. Did the Maquis leadership say that any DMZ colonist who asks to be evacuated to the Federation will be locked up? Some are Starfleet officers who have resigned their commissions or dropped out of the Academy. Some have been asked to leave Starfleet. And most of them are Bajorans who just want to fight Cardassians. And yet this aspect never comes into play in Voyager except for the Crell Moset episode. Did the Voyager creators think that their viewers were exclusively from TNG and not DS9? In addition to the two regular characters that are Maquis (Chakotay and B'Elanna), we assume that some twenty more have come on board... Well, this one was retconned rather quickly. One big problem is that the Val Jean is explicitly called a raider and yet everyone acts like the Maquis lived on it full time. Raiders are supposed to be small and quick, so why is this thing stuffed with personal belongings? Janeway is by no means the only female captain in Starfleet. But it is generally acknowledged that she is among the best, male or female. She embodies all that is exemplary about Starfleet officers: intelligent, thoughtful, perspicacious, sensitive to the feelings of others, tough when she has to be, and not afraid to take chances. Hi Jeri Taylor! As SF Debris said, a big problem with the writing is that Janeway had to always be right or else people would take her less seriously for being a woman. This is completely antithetical to the Trek philosophy. Each of these adjectives will be proven to be incorrect in one episode or another. Chakotay himself develops a strong bond with Janeway. He has known of her, heard of her diplomatic and tactical exploits, and realizes that they were to be dumped at the ends of the galaxy with an Captain, they're lucky it was this one. None of this was carried on to the actual show. There was an accident during a war games demonstration, a pilot was killed, and Tom Paris, fearing his reputation might suffer and derail his career, lied and placed the blame on the dead man. The fault was actually his, and had he simply owned up to that, he would have been disciplined. But he was young, and was terrified of bringing disgrace onto his illustrious family. I wish that they had explained this version more to distance him from Locarno. It would've made the "Locarno is a bad guy pretending to be a good guy, and Paris is a good guy pretending to be a bad guy" thing more explicit. [The Maquis] offered him the one thing he wanted most-to pilot a sleek starship in situations which require extraordinary prowess. This weakens Paris-the idea that he could be happy just being a pilot without respect or glory. He of all the crew is not dismayed by the cruel fate which has befallen them: what does it matter that they're at the ends of the galaxy? He's flying a ship and having adventures, that's just what he wants to be doing and it doesn't matter particularly to him where it happens. This should've been established earlier instead of that womanizing nonsense with Kes and the Kazon plot. If anything the "Tom joins the Kazon" thing should've been a first season plot. He has an affection for B'Elanna, seeing in her a soul at war and reminding him of himself. This is odd, as I thought the Tom/Kes/Neelix triangle would've been established earlier. In the 22nd century, a group of Indian traditionalists became dissatisfied with the "homogenization" of humans that was occurring on Earth. Strongly motivated to preserve their cultural identity, they relocated to a remote planet near what has now become known as the Demilitarized Zone. We covered this in "Journey's End", but a big problem is the idea that this colony has existed since the 22nd century. In the 22nd century known space didn't extend anywhere near Cardassian/Bajoran territory. Even the Irish transcendentalists were still in Federation space, just a previously unexplored portion of it. No no, any American Indian colonies near the DMZ are a few decades old at most. I still don't see why these guys can't just be moved to a planet firmly within Federation space. But he was "contrary" at the Academy, also, and found he had difficulty adhering to the rigid codes and rules. This was also ignored in the actual show. [Chakotay has a wolf as a spirit guide who appears in his dreams to give guidance] This is never seen, but would've made for an interesting recurring theme. [Tuvok's] grandfatherly presence is comforting to many, particularly the young and headstrong B'Elanna... That one didn't make it to the series, did it? He goes about his duties with diligence...but more than anyone else, Harry is suffering. This should've been a bigger subplot: Harry putting on the brave front of an ideal Starfleet officer while on duty, but when off duty speaks of his fears and loneliness to Tom and B'Elanna. He doesn't want to disappoint Janeway or his parents. But no, Starfleet officers are perfect and never complain about this stuff, even to mourn. Stupid Voyager writers. It occurs to me that it would've been nice to have Chakotay as his confidant, he would know how to sympathize and keep the nonessential stuff a secret from Janeway. As a member of the Maquis, B'Elanna had finally found an outlet for many of her frustrations, a tangible enemy against whom she could fight...Now, on Voyager, that foe has been taken away, and her own inner frustrations are thrown into marked relief. Without an enemy, B'Elanna is forced to deal with angry parts of herself that no longer have an appropriate outlet. Another aspect that should've been explored better in the show. She turns many heads, but the person she has designs on is Tom Paris. If the Torres/Paris thing was part of the writer's bible, where did the love triangle with Kes come from? Doc Zimmerman I'm not sure how well it would've worked giving Doc a real name. At least at first. The EMH has no need of a name beyond "EMH". He wouldn't see the purpose of having one. Because of the huge power drain that replicators place on the ship's systems, the crew must, for the first time in years, eat real food. Another plot point that was never fully developed. As SF Debris said, they should be growing and canning food all the time.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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January 16th, 1995, "Caretaker"
Fiver by Zeke The Episode GUL EVEK [on viewscreen]: Maquis ship, this is Gul Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order. I didn't remember that the Cardassian was Evek from "Journey's End". It's almost like the creators WANT us to complain about the inconsistencies with the prior episode. (Inmates are busy constructing something. They all wear ankle-tags... This seems odd. Why would you still need ankle tags in the 24th century? You'd think you they'd just inject a microtag under their skin. JANEWAY: Tom Paris? Kathryn Janeway. I served with your father on the Al-Batani. I question why Janeway would think that invoking Admiral Paris would be a good first impression for Tom. PARIS: You'd like me to lead you to my former colleagues. I was only with the Maquis a few weeks before I was captured, Captain. I don't know where most of their hiding places are. JANEWAY: You know the territory better than anyone we've got. This is a really flimsy premise for bringing Tom along. DS9 should've been mapping the Badlands this entire time, especially after the Maquis revealed themselves. PARIS: Chakotay will tell you he left Starfleet on principle, to defend his home colony from the Cardassians. I don't think that this ever really came up after this episode. JANEWAY: Officially, you'd be a Starfleet observer during the mission. Paris being reinstated as a real officer instead of the provisional rank that the Maquis had seems odd to me. Especially since Chakotay wears the provisional pips when he actually had the rank of Lieutenant Commander before leaving Starfleet. PARIS: Stadi, you're changing my mind about Betazoids. STADI: Good. PARIS: Oh, that wasn't a compliment. Until today I always considered your people warm and sensual. STADI: I can be warm and sensual. PARIS: Just not to me. STADI: Do you always fly at women at warp speed, Mister Paris? PARIS: Only when they're in visual range. Tom is very charming and clearly has practiced his methods for getting women, but I question why he'd try them on a Betazoid when they can instantly tell how phony he's being. STADI: Some of the traditional circuitry has been replaced by gel packs that contain bio-neural cells. They organise information more efficiently, speed up response time. And yet these things never came into play as anything other than a gimmicky plot device. Furthermore even if they can do processing faster, you still have the delays introduced by converting isolinear to bioneural, then bioneural to isolinear again. KIM: We were warned about the Ferengi at the Academy. QUARK: Warned about Ferengi, were you? KIM: That's right. QUARK: Slurs about my people at Starfleet Academy. Slurs? It's the truth! Even so, I thought Starfleet officers were trained to leave their prejudices in their quarters (see "Balance of Terror"). DOCTOR: Oh yes. The observer. PARIS: That's me. As a matter of fact, I seem to be observing some kind of problem right now, Doctor. DOCTOR: I was a surgeon at the hospital on Caldic Prime at the same time you were stationed there. We never actually met. As SF Debris said, isn't it convenient that all the people who hate Tom die? In the case of the doctor I don't think that anti-Paris opinions should've been expressed, or else we're going to think that the EMH is an improvement over this grump. JANEWAY: She's pregnant? MARK [on monitor]: The puppies are due in seven weeks. JANEWAY: Oh, Mark. You've got to take her home with you. MARK [on monitor]: With me? I just got the rugs cleaned. Ugh. If starships can be self-cleaning, why can't all Federation homes (with the obvious exception of the retro folks like in "Sub Rosa", of course)? JANEWAY: Ensign, despite Starfleet protocol, I don't like being addressed as sir. KIM: I'm sorry, ma'am. JANEWAY: Ma'am is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer Captain. And yet "ma'am" and "Captain" will be freely used in roughly equal numbers over the next seven years, so what's the point of this exchange? PARIS: Tomato soup. COMPUTER: There are fourteen varieties of tomato soup available from this replicator. With rice, with vegetables, Bolian style, with pasta, with PARIS: Plain. COMPUTER: Specify hot or chilled. PARIS: Hot. Hot, plain, tomato soup. This is just dumb and a waste of time. It's not even funny. A simple "tomato soup" should default to hot, plain soup. PARIS: Was the accident my fault? Yes. Pilot error. But it took me a while to admit it. Oh, fourteen varieties and they can't even get plain tomato soup right. KIM: They said you falsified reports. PARIS: That's right. I wish they'd made it clear that the problem wasn't the pilot error, it's the falsified reports. And even at this point it's clear that Paris is not Locarno. PARIS: Look, I know those guys told you to stay away from me. And you know what? You ought to listen to them. I'm not exactly a good luck charm. KIM: I don't need anyone to choose my friends for me. A good scene, and a fine example of "Locarno was bad pretending to be good, and Paris is good pretending to be bad." CAREY [OC]: Possibility of a warp core breach. JANEWAY: Secure all engineering systems. I'm on my way. I never liked this bit. Janeway was a science officer, not an engineering officer. This makes her either look like she doesn't trust anyone but herself to do anything or she has the compulsion to be in the part of the ship in the greatest danger at all times, which I suppose is the same thing. COMPUTER: Warning. Warp core microfracture. Breach imminent. This is where you do an emergency shutdown, clear out all the matter and antimatter, then fix the fracture. PARIS: We lost our nurse too. Are they trying to say that on a ship of 150 people the medical staff was two people? That's just dumb. EMH: Tricorder. Medical tricorder. What's a normal tricorder doing in Sickbay anyway? (The corn is as high as Kim's eye... Cute. Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day... DAUGHTER: Hey, let me show you around. The root cellar's right over there. KIM: What's down there? DAUGHTER: Potatoes, onions. But it's real private. Yikes is that inappropriate. The Caretaker thinks that a strategy to keep the crew here is to offer sex? CARETAKER: You don't have what I need. They might. No, you'll have to leave them. I'll buy that Torres' genetics might be more useful to the Caretaker than the others, but Harry? He's an ordinary human and I doubt that Asian genetics are sufficiently different from that of other races when it comes to alien reproduction compatibility.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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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.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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I can't help but feel that DS9 and VOY should've had three part pilots. For Voyager of course they wouldn't be yanked to the Delta Quadrant until the end of Part One, giving plenty of room to establish the characters. Show what life was like on a Maquis ship, introduce Seska and other important Maquis side-characters, give the doomed Voyager crew a chance to do something other than hate Tom Paris, etc.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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January 23rd, 1995, "Parallax"
Full warning, nits ahead. The acting was good all around, it's just a shame that none of the scenarios make sense. Fiver by Admiral Sab The Episode CAREY: We were having a disagreement about the power grid. She wanted to realign the lateral plasma conduit. I told her that would cause an overload. As usual, she wouldn't listen. So I told her to step aside and let me handle it. She pushed me away from the console. I pushed back. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the deck with blood pouring down my face. B'Elanna isn't Chief Engineer yet. Hence she should follow Carey's orders. Furthermore assault is a crime that she should be punished for. TUVOK: Where is Miss Torres? Does B'Elanna not have a rank yet? Tuvok is usually pretty good about referring to people by their rank. CHAKOTAY: I've confined her to quarters. TUVOK: I would like her moved to the brig until formal charges can be filed. CHAKOTAY: Formal charges? Come on, Tuvok. We're seventy five years away from the nearest court. Are you really going to hold her in the brig for that long? TUVOK: The Captain has the authority to try Miss Torres here on the ship, considering the extenuating circumstances. After DS9's growing pains when it comes to specific numbers you'd think the creators would've known enough to lock down these recurring facts this time. In the early days the trip will take 75 years, yet by the end of the season it'll be 70 years. Ugh. This fact should've been in the writer's guide. As for "confined to quarters" versus "brig", I must bring up the fact that in the real Navy the brig is for short term use only, with the expectation that a trail or hearing will occur in the near future, where serious punishment will be held off the ship. That can't happen on Voyager, so alternate punishment methods must be created. Off the top of my mind one of the lower decks should be retrofitted as a virtual penal colony. That is, minimal quarters, basic food being sent down from the mess hall, a rudimentary gym, and grunt work to do. No holodeck or mess hall privileges. And tell Harren that he either does real work in Engineering or he's going to be living down here permanently. CHAKOTAY: Well, I'd like to settle this on my own without filing charges and without involving the Captain. And here we reveal Chakotay as an idealistic idiot. He's one of the few Maquis that actually was a real officer, he should know better than this. The captain must be involved and charges must be filed. TUVOK: She struck a fellow officer. That is a court martial offence. CHAKOTAY: She's a Maquis, and in the Maquis, sometimes you have to push people out of your way to get things done. TUVOK: Miss Torres is no longer a member of the Maquis, and with all due respect, Commander, neither are you. Allowing Miss Torres to get away with a clear violation of regulations sets a bad example for the rest of the crew. It makes it appear as though you were showing favouritism toward the Maquis. Exactly. Chakotay is not supposed to be this stupid. SESKA: We heard that Captain Janeway's going to put her in the brig for two months, and that all the Maquis are going to be restricted to quarters when they're not on duty. CHAKOTAY: Not true. This is not the right way to introduce Seska. Furthermore, this is a ridiculous scenario. Restricted to quarters is little better than solitary confinement. Plus, aren't all of the replicators in the quarters supposed to be turned off by now to conserve energy? SESKA: We just want you to know that if things do get our of hand, we're ready to back you. CHAKOTAY: What does that mean? JARVIN: In case you want to take control of the ship, you have our full support. CHAKOTAY: If I ever hear you talk that way again, I'll personally throw you in the brig for mutiny. It's way too early for a mutiny plot. Stuff like this indicates that the Maquis can never be trusted and shouldn't have power over Starfleet officers. CHAKOTAY: Or I could send you back to work with the understanding that you'll apologise to TORRES: Apologise? He was the one who CHAKOTAY: Not just a simple apology. A personal one, over a hot cup of pejuta. Pejuta is the Lakota word for coffee. I question the point of this Indian word, because most of the audience won't recognize it. And frankly the first time I saw the word I thought it was a Bajoran drink (it certainly sounds like one, doesn't it?). Captain's log, Stardate 48439.7. As we maintain a course back to the Alpha Quadrant, we're conducting what would normally be routine maintenance to the ship. Routine, that is, if we had access to a starbase. Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant for something like 45 days. WAY too early for maintenance that requires a starbase. The final status of the Maquis regarding officer status and posting should've happened before the two week mark. For that matter, in the real world the Maquis should've made an offscreen mutiny attempt, which would actually be a good background to this episode. JANEWAY: What about alternative energy sources? Ensign Kim, have you had any luck getting power from the holodeck reactors? KIM: Not yet. We tried hooking them to the power grid and we ended up blowing out half the relays. The holodeck's energy matrix, it just isn't compatible with the other power systems. And here we go. This plot point was always stupid. What's the in universe reason for isolating the holodeck's power source? JANEWAY: Neelix, this is a briefing for the senior officers. NEELIX: I see. Well, I, I am the senior Talaxian on board. Kes is the senior Ocampa. And I do know more about this region of space than any other member of the crew. KES: We have some excellent suggestions, Captain. Why did Neelix and Kes wait 45 days for this? Truth be told this episode should've been a week after Caretaker and the ship's problems should've been from Kazon damage, not lack of starbase support. KES: I've been thinking that you might be able to convert one of your lower decks into a hydroponics bay to grow your own food. I understand that the replicators are down and that the emergency rations won't hold out much longer. And yet in future episodes the hydroponics bay will be shown as one room, not a deck. Not enough room to provide fruit and vegetables for 150 people. Incidentally hydroponics is growing plants without traditional soil. I get that the term is used to sound more futuristic, but with an entire deck to work with you could beam up some soil from a planet and grow more crops. Whenever we see hydroponics in the future we just see small plants in suspended bowls. Maybe you could grow herbs and stuff like spinach like that, but to have proper crops you need proper garden beds.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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JANEWAY: Okay. The personnel situation. We've managed to find a replacement for the Transporter Chief, but we still need an Astrogation plotter, a Chief Engineer, medical support personnel.
You waited 45 days for this? And why isn't Carey already Chief Engineer? JANEWAY: Regarding Sickbay, we still need a Chief Medical Officer. NEELIX: What about that electronic man down in Sickbay? TUVOK: It is an Emergency Medical Hologram and its abilities are limited. It can only operate within the confines of Sickbay. PARIS: Not to mention its lousy bedside manner. CHAKOTAY: Perhaps we should assign somebody to train with the hologram as a field medic. Again, 45 days? Several people should've been training with Doc the week after they arrived. JANEWAY: Good idea. Lieutenant, I understand you studied biochemistry at the Academy. PARIS: Er, only two semesters. JANEWAY: Close enough. You just volunteered to become a field medic. Ugh. It's not like Tom already has a full time job. And wouldn't this be a great job for some of the non-Starfleet Maquis? Or are we going to imply that Janeway doesn't trust the Maquis to have control over a Starfleet officer's life? Unfortunate implications all around. Incidentally I seem to recall that the reason Tom took two semesters of biochemistry was that he had a crush on a girl that was majoring in that field. TORRES [OC]: I was thinking we could remodulate a tractor beam to match [Engineering] TORRES: The subspace interference. It might be enough to cut through the event horizon. [Bridge] CHAKOTAY: A subspace tractor beam? TORRES [OC]: Exactly. Yeah, this is complete nonsense. Tractor beams only operate at warp within the warp bubble. This is talking about cutting through the equivalent of a warp bubble. JANEWAY: Let me be blunt. What you tried to do just now was out of line. CHAKOTAY: In what way? JANEWAY: When you decided to call Torres in Engineering. CHAKOTAY: I've worked with her. I know what she's capable of. We needed an answer right away and I knew she could give us one. Yes, this was a major misstep on Chakotay's part. JANEWAY: Carey is the senior officer in Engineering. CHAKOTAY: If you look at it that way, none of my people will ever have seniority. JANEWAY: That's the problem, right there. They're not your people. You're treating the Maquis on this ship like they're still your crew. Chakotay's response should be "if I don't defend the Maquis, they will mutiny. You do know that, don't you?" JANEWAY: The Starfleet officers on this ship have worked all their lives to earn their commissions. How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as their superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together? A good point. Both sides have good points, and if the show took advantage of the possibilities offered by the scenario, we could get good plots. But no, conflict is bad in Star Trek (whether or not that still applies is a screed for another time). Frankly Tuvok should already be running a compressed Academy course for the Maquis to earn their commissions. It would've made a good subplot for the first season. CHAKOTAY: Permission to speak freely. JANEWAY: Go ahead. CHAKOTAY: I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer. Exactly. This should've been where Chakotay says, "either you have at least three Maquis senior officers, or you have none and the Maquis will mutiny immediately. They will beat you and then I'll be the captain and you'll be the spat upon crewman." EMH: That's it? KES: I'm sorry if EMH: So it begins. The trivia of medicine is my domain now. Every runny nose, stubbed toe, pimple on a cheek becomes my responsibility. Again, 45 days? Was the stardate just picked out of a hat? EMH [OC]: May I request you activate monitor input forty seven, your Emergency Medical Holograph channel? Obvious 47 is obvious. Wouldn't Sickbay be a bit higher on the list than 47? Top three at least. CAREY: Is our priority here really the Medical Holograph system? Actually it is, Carey! We have people sick NOW and the EMH is currently the only member of the medical staff. I'm beginning to think that your seniority wasn't earned.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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JANEWAY: If your analogy's correct, how do we get through that sheet of ice?
TORRES: Look for a crack. JANEWAY: Or make a crack. Take something and smack it into the ice until it buckles. TORRES: Wait a minute. What if we've already made a crack in the ice? JANEWAY: When we first entered the event horizon. (Er, how do you make a hole in gravity?) Exactly. Here we have the start of what SF Debris calls the Magic Meeting Room, a place where metaphors become real. JANEWAY: If we saturate the event horizon with warp particles, we might be able to see the escaping through the rupture we made when we entered. Warp particles? What the heck are those supposed to be? Couldn't you just use tachyons? JANEWAY: Mister Tuvok, take the main deflector off-line. Mister Kim, reroute the port and starboard plasma flow to the main deflector. We can use it to generate a warp field. The sheer amount of nonsensical Treknobabble in that one dialogue would make me BSOD if such things were possible. JANEWAY: We found the crack. That's the important thing. Now, how do we make it bigger. TORRES: Put a wedge in it and force it open. We could try a dekyon beam. Dekyons were last featured in "Cause and Effect" where they were used to send a transmission to Data in the next time loop. I don't think that these two cases are reconcilable. The Fiver Janeway: I can't think of anything to do with Kes and Neelix, so I'm putting them on the senior staff. The Dilbert Principle in action. Paris: I don't blame you! Hey B'Elanna, wanna take a shuttle with me later? We could start something called P/T*.... Torres: Oh, that's realistic. The link leads to the 5MV FAQ, which doesn't mention P/T at all. Is it the wrong link? Carey: Congratulations on being Chief Engineer, Torres. Torres: You don't mean that. Carey: Who cares? I'm disappearing in two episodes. Yeah that's one of the weird things about Carey. He features in two more episodes before his sudden disappearance. Then he appears twice in episodes where he's used as a marker to indicate "this is the past" as though he died. Then he reappears in "Friendship One" just to die. Memory Alpha * Brannon Braga outright said that he didn't care at all about technobabble consistency in this episode. He also implies that he doesn't care about people who do care about it. * In the first draft of the script the Maquis ship was explicitly called "Zola". It's now usually known as the Val Jean. * Memory Alpha has a nit of it's own. Janeway says that both Voyagers have exactly the same readings, but their Voyager should show two fewer lifesigns because they're not on the ship. * Seska is in Engineering, but in this episode they mistakenly put her in a Science uniform. Oops. Nitcentral * Someone points out that the close captioning calls Doc "Zimmerman". Whether this is really a nit is up to interpretation. * Much discussion about calling the ship "The Voyager" instead of just "Voyager". * Neelix mentions the Illidarians, but the ship won't visit them until the end of the season. Shouldn't the ship have moved past them by then? * Many mentions of how the event horizon isn't a solid object that you can't punch a crack into.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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January 30th, 1995, "Time and Again"
One of my biggest problems with this episode is that the status quo still hasn't been settled and all of a sudden we're doing a TNG episode as though we have all the time and resources in the world. This should stir up the Maquis again. Furthermore Seska should've had a proper introduction by this point. Fiver by Zeke The Episode PARIS: People are going to start pairing off, and if we don't get to the Delany sisters in Stellar Cartography soon, somebody else will. KIM: I've got a girl back home. PARIS: So what? I've got five. KIM: I plan on seeing mine again. PARIS: Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry. You really think she's going to wait for you? KIM: I hope so. PARIS: Let her go. Let her have a husband and kids and a good life, while you and I have the Delany sisters. Mourning the loved ones left behind is important, but Harry is being silly here thinking that he'll be home with Libby in a matter of months. Remember that the only known stable wormhole is nowhere near here. I'm not saying that he HAS to start dating right now, but he has to stop talking like his relationship with Libby is currently active. Oh, and Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant for a month. I'm amazed that Tom would wait a month before hitting on the Delaney Sisters, or that they'd still be a available at this point. PARIS: Look, they come as a pair. It's a double date or no date. Well, that's stupid. JANEWAY: Take us into orbit. CHAKOTAY: Density patterns on the surface show artificial waterways and a global aqueduct system. There is a civilisation down there, Captain. JANEWAY: Or there was. What do we know about surface conditions? TUVOK: Radiation is within acceptable levels. Atmosphere, breathable. So we're not here to get resources, we're not here to make friends, we're just here for curiosity. This should've been another Starfleet/Maquis conflict. TUVOK: A Romulan research colony was nearly destroyed during the testing of one these devices. It lead to the Polaric Test Ban Treaty of 2268. It makes you wonder when Starfleet found out about these experiments because it was clear that the Romulans were relatively isolationist during the TOS days. Again I recommend the John Byrne comics where the Romulans were blatantly manipulating the Klingons during TOS. PARIS: Are you sure? What do these numbers stand for? SHOPKEEPER: Rotations, intervals, fractions. Same as any timepiece. Fourteen kalodas. PARIS: A fair price. I might stop back later, if there's time. (Paris rejoins Janeway.) PARIS: If I understood correctly, this world is going to be destroyed sometime tomorrow. Sure Tom, we totally buy that you can do conversions in alien time units in your head with minimal knowledge of it. It reminds me of SF Debris' farcical depiction of him as being the most capable member of Starfleet. CHAKOTAY: How do we find them? TUVOK: If I know Captain Janeway, she would activate a subspace beacon to assist us. KIM: We're counting on it. Yeah, because from what we know of the technology available on the planet it can be combined with their commbadges to create a subspace beacon. They'll totally be able to find the necessary tools as well to manipulate the tiny components. I'm reminded of when Doc Hyde in "The Darkling" tried to reprogram himself by tapping at his mobile emitter with a proverbial toothpick. EMH: Missing. The Captain is missing. It seems I've found myself on the Voyage of the Damned. Very well. Please advise the highest ranking officer who is not missing, to see me at his earliest convenience. Even from the start Doc was proving himself to be the breakout character. JANEWAY: We can assume that Voyager will be looking for a way to reach us. I'll set my comm. badge to emit a subspace beacon. So this is just a preset on the commbadge? It occurs to me that the commbadges should be programmed to emit a subspace beacon the instant it can't make regular contact with a ship or other Federation facility. It would've made episodes like "Time's Arrow" a lot shorter as well. JANEWAY: Don't even think about it, Tom. The Prime Directive is clear. We cannot allow our presence to alter this planet's natural course of events. PARIS: Even if the natural course of events is annihilation? JANEWAY: Yeah. I can almost hear SF Debris ranting in my head. I'll skip the PD screed, except to say that in this episode the Temporal Prime Directive would seem more applicable. LATIKA: I know you're lying. JANEWAY: Young man, we're here on a business trip and we have a lot of work to do. LATIKA: The officer told me you came here on the continental transport. JANEWAY: That's right, we're from Kalto Province. LATIKA: Yeah? Well I just talked to the transport attendant, He told me four people came today from Kalto. Two of them were a lot older than you and they had a child with them. JANEWAY: Well the attendant was wrong. That was us. What is this accomplishing? Is the following joke really worth the screentime for this plot cul-de-sac? LATIKA: So, where's the child? PARIS: We ate him, because we are demons and we eat children and I haven't had my supper yet. (The boy runs off.) This screentime would be better used by having the Maquis crew telling Chakotay that this came from Janeway's obsession with exploration.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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KES: I have to go with you.
CHAKOTAY: There's nothing down there you want to see, Kes. NEELIX: That's what I told her. KES: I've already seen it. I have to go. Using Kes in a Troi-like role as telepathic Swiss Army Knife is a bad idea. It pigeonholes her character up front and makes the show look like even more of a TNG ripoff. Her powers should be distinctly different from Troi and her other characteristics should be emphasized first. For example, it's the third episode and she should've started her medical training by now. KIM: The comm. badge is designed to self-activate when the casing is destroyed to help searchers locate victims. This is reasonable, I just wish that it was set up to activate for things much less than a destroyed case. Sensing excessive pressure or temperature changes, etc. Having a few circuits that only activate when the air has dangerous stuff in it, etc. JANEWAY: Think about it, Tom. Before we got involved, these people were planning to commit some kind of sabotage next week. We were the ones who forced a change in their schedule. Because of us, they decided to begin today at four hundred rotations, and we know the detonation takes place today at just after four hundred and one . PARIS: Four oh one twenty two eighty four. Wait a minute. You're saying we're responsible for an explosion even though it occurred before our ship arrived here. JANEWAY: We've travelled back to a point in time before the explosion, so, yes, we can be responsible for it. You know what quote from "Time's End" I'm thinking of, so let's move on... (Makull opens the bag and Janeway takes out a phaser. She fires it at the growing wormhole.) [Ruined corridor] TORRES: I'm getting nadion particle resistance from the other side. I'm always glad when Voyager is actually consistent with the Treknobabble. We learned that phasers use nadion beams back in "The Mind's Eye". (The wormhole is defeated by Janeway's phaser, blowing the away team backwards in slow motion. All the crewmembers disappear from the planet surface.) And here's the big problem. The episode never happened. I remember when Jim Wright over at Delta Blues recapped "Year of Hell" with just the first and last scenes because nothing else happened. I really should be recapping Delta Blues as well in this retrospective, come to think of it. The Fiver Paris: Hurry up, the Delaney twins are waiting. Kim: Not interested. Paris: Come on -- if you don't start having romances, you'll never get to star in "The Disease." Kim: This is a bad thing? Yeah, we'd all be happier if "The Disease" never happened. Neelix: Don't worry, your vision was probably just a bad dream. Kes: Sorry, Neelix, this ain't "Waking Moments." I'm not seeing enough of a parallel to justify this joke. Paris: Uh oh -- looks like the planet blows up tomorrow. Janeway: Well, at least we have these local clothes. Paris: Wait -- the store's selling two Starfleet uniforms now! I want one. Tom can act like an eager kid sometimes, can't he? Doctor: Let me get this straight -- you two are unknown aliens, there's an entire Maquis crew aboard, and the captain is missing? I really hate this ship. A great line, I remember adding it to our TV Tropes page. Memory Alpha * First of nine episode where a version of Janeway dies. Nitpicker's Guide * The local clocks use Arabic numerals. I'm fine with this one since we already know that the Universal Translator can project an image of the local's lips forming English sounds. * Doc scanned Kes in Caretaker and knew about the Maquis, yet in this episode he's forgotten. Oops. * Why are they afraid of damaging subspace with their gadget when the explosion already damaged subspace? That's how Janeway and Paris were sent back in time! * How convenient that the locals happen to look like humans so Janeway and Paris can blend in. * If Janeway and Paris were on the surface with active commbadges yesterday, why didn't the ship's sensors detect them yesterday? * The cop points out how weird our heroe's clothes are, yet doesn't notice the holstered weapons. Oops.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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Having been reminded of Delta Blues, it's time to catch up with entries for the episodes thus far.
Caretaker Part One Stadi changes the subject as something else comes into visual range. "That's Voyager," she announces, pointing to a ship on one of DS9's upper pylons; it somewhat resembles a, inverted plastic tablespoon with warp nacelles attached. More of an inverted soup spoon, but it's an interesting image. Janeway introduces the two to her first officer, Lt. Commander Cabot--a friendly looking white man with a full head of mostly-grey hair. So both of Janeway's first officers are Lt. Commanders? What's up with that? Did the costumer's not know that full Commanders exist, or is this another shallow attempt to make Janeway look better by making others look worse? Sickbay is burning. Harry and Tom, the first to arrive, assess the damage rapidly; Paris looks for survivors (none--doctor and nurse are dead) as Harry extinguishes the flames from the console that killed them. Are they implying that medical staff is supposed to be only two people? Wouldn't there be another doctor or two to operate during the other shifts? Paris returns and reports to Janeway that all of the crew are accounted for, scattered throughout the "farm." How would he know the number of the surviving crew OR their names? I don't think there was even time to survey the remaining crew and make new assignments. Paris arrives on the bridge just in time to see three armed, back-to-back Maquis materialize: Chakotay, Tuvok, and someone without a name. (I guess he won't last long.) Actually I think that's Ayala. He'll be a recurring background character for many episodes to come. [Tom's] anger is replaced by something resembling shame. Did Chakotay's words cut a little too close to the bone? What was Paris' true purpose in joining the search mission? Latinum? Surely not; he was never offered payment. Early release from prison? It seemed he was well on his way to that anyway, for good behavior. All the venal motivations ring false here; could it be the Bad Boy was looking for redemption, or a second chance to prove himself? Despite the animosity shown him, Paris has comported himself with admirable skill and determination, even initiative, since putting on the uniform. That he looks so contrite suggests his own remorse processors are functioning at peak efficiency, and that's a good sign. But time will tell. Gotta love Jim Wright's writing style. "Time for what?" Janeway demands. "I must honor a debt that can never be repaid," he says cryptically. She offers to help, with all the Federation resources at their disposal, if he'll tell her the problem. He laughs without humor, amused at their feeble offer. "I've tried things your puny comprehension would choke on. You couldn't help." It's an interesting question: could the Voyager crew have helped the Caretaker if he'd just been honest? After all, we're given to understand that Voyager has the most advanced tech in this area of the quadrant. Plus Starfleet has dealt with many advanced lifeforms that choose to take humanoid form. Caretaker Part Two Janeway isn't sure what to think, until the debris starts falling away with a clatter, and the shadows behind the junk is more visible...ultimately to reveal a character not terribly unlike a Tellarite in appearance, but with subtle differences. Neelix looks like a Tellarite to you, Jim? Yikes. Neelix repeats that there's likely nothing she could offer him...unless...well, if they had any water to spare... Janeway, recalling the utter lack of water on the 5th planet of the system, understands immediately that this is a bargaining chip she has in abundance, as long as the replicators are working. This introduces a new question...did the Caretaker damage the atmospheres of all the planets in this sector? Why would he do that? He certainly acts like his only debt along these lines is to the Ocampa. Tuvok seems less than thrilled with Neelix. Bad first impression, I guess. He dresses loud, talks loud, thinks aloud, and seems to exude a stench that could fell a mugatu from fifty meters. Oscar and Felix were a better match. You just know they'll be fast friends eventually. Oscar and Felix were The Odd Couple. I had to look that up. It's probably a better comparison than the McCoy and Spock thing that they attempted on occasion. The man says they've been living underground for over 500 generations; they lived on the surface until The Warming began, and the surface became a desert. You have to wonder if these are Ocampan generations (4-5 years) or human generations. Because there's a difference between 2000 years and 13,000 years. Reclining in a big-tubbed bubble bath (in the first bathroom on a starship I've seen, as far as I can recall) Neelix is awash in luxury, and loving every minute of it. I was ready to dispute Jim's claim, but upon thinking about, had we seen a bathroom before this point? Not counting the retractable toilet in STV, of course. Neelix finally asks if the replicators can whip up clothing as well, and Tuvok says Yes. "Can they make me a uniform like yours?" he asks hopefully. "It most certainly will not," says Tuvok. (Who knew then that this would become one of Neelix's fondest desires?) Was it, though? Not counting alternate realities, the only times I can remember Neelix wearing a uniform is for specific away missions like the orbital tether episode and the Malon freighter episode. We get our first look at the Kazon--they look like a Reggae band that's fallen on hard times. Ha ha. Never liked the Kazon makeup. Nothing about them was well thought out. Jabin, despite the humble surroundings, is clearly not an idiot. He knows that water, despite its value to his people, is nothing compared to the means of making it. He wants that technology. Janeway doesn't mention the Prime Directive (that bad habit comes later); she just says it's integrated into her ship's systems (thus raising the stakes to the limit: "you want the technology? You'd have to take the whole ship." She might as well have double-dog dared him to declare war right then and there.) Yeah, that was dumb. What episode was it when they said there's such a thing as being too honest? After the welcomes, Daggin asks how Kes made it back. She points to her associates and says they rescued her from the Kazon. (Question--if those who make it to the surface never return, and those below the surface don't have much contact with the surface except through the Caretaker--how do they know about the Kazon?) Good point, and one that never occurred to me. "We're not finished yet," Torres says. "I learned a few things Old Sneezy never taught in his survival course." "Sneezy?" Kim asks, curious. "Commander Zakarian," she explains. I'm trying to think of alien races that are prone to sneezing. Aside from the Ferengi when using bettle snuff, I can't think of any. Children have to grow up, Janeway points out. She whips out Shatner Discourse #14, required reading at the Academy, and lectures the Caretaker on something he should already know--explorers got that way by treading through adversity, overcoming challenges, growing stronger by working up to ever-more-complex tasks. Janeway, having seen the Ocampan heretics in action, and knowing of the inconquerable spirit of at least one--Kes--she suggests to the Caretaker that they have a better shot at survival than he's given them credit for. It seems to comfort the old guy. It's an amusing concept-a whole course on Kirk's speeches.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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Parallax
Janeway drafts Paris to begin training as Holodoc's assistant. He had two roughly applicable classes at the Academy, which for this ship was as close as anyone came to being qualified. Paris didn't seem at all pleased by the assignment--and, as subsequent episodes proved, he wasn't up to the task. Whether it's because he just wasn't qualified or because he effectively practiced passive resistance, I don't dare venture to guess. When did Tom prove incompetent at medical tasks? He was never enthusiastic about them, but he did his best. Carrey, of course, lords his apparent seniority over Torres, and condescends to her enough that half of Engineering seems to root for her to break his nose again. Torres, however, seems to be slightly unnerved from her previous encounter with the captain, and isn't in a mood to break anything at the moment. Torres isn't all spitfire and right hooks; she has some skeletons in her closet she hasn't shown anyone yet. Could it be that the Klingon Tsunami is actually...suffering from low self esteem? Nah, couldn't be. Good insight. That was always a problem with Voyager-character development didn't happened at the same rate as TNG. This is particularly odd because the higher-ups told the producers to knock it off with the Maquis conflict and try to be TNG Part Two as much as possible. And on TNG the cast was allowed to have character growth once Gene was kicked out. Tom Paris asks what the heck they're talking about--"we got the signal before we got stuck...how's that possible? Am I making any sense here?" To which Janeway replies, "no. But that's okay." She pats him on the head like a good little Gump and gets back to chatting at warp 9 with Torres. (I'm not bothering to pass on the science, because it gave me a headache trying to follow it. I'll side with Paris on this one; just look cute, keep your mouth shut, and be ready to drive fast when given the word.) Hehe. We also get to meet Carrey, Torres' rival in Engineering; a Bajoran/Maquis engineer who is fitting into the Voyager crew even less well than Torres; and we see the first "date" between Kes and Holodoc. Ew. Time and Again This was the second straight episode where effect preceded cause. Perhaps they didn't want us to forget this "valid literary technique" so soon after introducing it in the black hole episode. My personal feeling about such things is that it's crap, and when they try to cram too much Trek Science into an episode I lose interest. The more time they waste on science, pseudo science, and other technosputum, the less time they can devote to plot and character development. He has a point, albeit a debatable one. The progression from "we can't violate the prime directive" to "well, we already violated the prime directive, so we might as well spill it," was too abrupt and there was little in the way of body language or other cues to suggest that she had made the transition in a plausible way. Another debatable point, but it must be pointed out that Kirk was even more cavalier about the PD at times. These time-twist stories can be effective, but it still boils down to, how does the time-twist affect the characters? How do they react, how do they change? This is what's really interesting. In this Voyager episode, you really didn't see any of that, which is why I was so disappointed. Cue comparisons to "Year of Hell" again.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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February 6th, 1995, "Phage"
Fiver by Kira The Episode JANEWAY: Assuming we do find dilithium on this planetoid, we're going to need a refining facility on the ship to process it. CHAKOTAY: Lieutenant Torres has already asked permission to start modifications to the auxiliary impulse reactor. It could be converted into a crude dilithium refinery. Yeah, this is complete nonsense. JANEWAY: I'm sure it can. Tell her I want regular reports on her progress every step of the way. Are you sure you won't join me for breakfast? I was thinking of having eggs Benedict with asparagus, strawberries and cream. CHAKOTAY: Ah. JANEWAY: I said I was thinking about it. I'm actually having ration pack number five. Stewed tomatoes with dehydrated eggs. CHAKOTAY: Mmm. Sounds delicious, but I've already had my vacuum-packed oatmeal this morning. Cute moment, but completely antithetical to the modified premise. At least establish replicator rations before you start talking about MREs. Also, stewed tomatoes and eggs sounds disgusting. JANEWAY: Well, you might have asked me first. This used to be my private dining room. NEELIX: Your? Your dining room? JANEWAY: If you had checked the ship's directory, you would have noticed that cabin one two five alpha deck two is designated as the Captain's private dining room. Why would the captain need a private dining room? Picard didn't even have a private dining room! Couldn't they have at least designated this as an officer's private dining room? TORRES: It also looks like there's a series of subterranean caves with an oxygen-nitrogen atmosphere. CHAKOTAY: Class M. It'll make mining a lot easier if we can go in there without environmental suits. And once again the writers think that the only requirement for Class M is a breathable atmosphere. They forget gravity, air pressure, temperature, etc. It's annoying every time. NEELIX: Wait a minute. I'm getting unusual readings from this rock face. Traces of organic energy. Looks like a bio-electrical signature. I think there's something alive down here. It's about two metres into this rock face. CHAKOTAY [OC]: Neelix, I said get back here! Neelix, did you hear what I said? NEELIX: Just one minute, Commander. I wish that they'd had a conversation between Neelix and Kes by now about how Neelix feels that he has to prove himself useful in as many ways as possible lest Janeway throw him off the ship. But no, Neelix just makes himself look like an idiot over and over again. EMH: The infuser will keep his oxygen levels stable for the next hour or so, but after that he'll die. His lungs have been removed. At no point does Doc even bring up doing surgery to more formally connect Neelix to an external life support system. There has to be a larger version of this infuser that you can connect to the biobed, turning it into a proverbial iron lung. JANEWAY: Can't we fit him with a pair of artificial lungs? EMH: His respiratory system is directly linked to multiple points along his spinal column. It's too complex to replicate. This bit of Treknobabble seems to be obtuse for the sake of being obtuse. Just say that Talaxian lungs have more complex connections to the nervous system that Doc won't be able to account for before Neelix dies! EMH: The man drives a seven hundred thousand ton starship so somebody thinks he'd make a good medic. I had a whole screed planned about comparing the size/mass of Voyager with the Enterprise-D, but to summarize 700,000 metric tons seems a bit light for Voyager. I understand the real world reason why Paris was made field medic, we don't want to hire another recurring character (although I wonder why Ayala or Seska couldn't have been the nurse, come to think of it). But his piloting skills are irrelevant to Janeway's decision, it was because he had taken a vaguely related course at the Academy. But seriously, Doc should have a few nameless nurses in the background by now. Don't name them, don't pay the money to have them talk, but HAVE them. EMH: Computer, is there an identification matrix on Mister Neelix from the last time he used the transporter? COMPUTER: Affirmative. EMH: Transfer it to console four. Ugh. There's some information in the ship's computer that Doc can just access "telepathically". Then again, you could say the same thing about Data, but I'll skip that screed. PARIS: I thought you just said we can't replicate his lungs. EMH: We can't. But if I can reconfigure my emitter array I might be able to create a pair of holographic lungs for Mister Neelix. PARIS: Holographic lungs? EMH: If it's successful, we can precisely control his pulmonary functions to allow normal breathing. This is of course nonsense, but if we allow for holographic lungs then we must also allow for the eventual creation of proper artificial lungs down the line because we'll have created the "blueprint" through the hologram. EMH: The magnetic containment field that creates the illusion of my body can be modulated to allow matter to pass through it or be stopped. I might be able to modulate the holographic lungs in the same way, allowing oxygen and carbon dioxide to pass from the lungs to the blood stream. This is overly simplistic, but I get the metaphor. KES: How long will he have to stay like that? EMH: For the rest of his life, unless the holo-lungs can be replaced by his original organs. And he will never be able to leave the holographic environment of this room. The holo-lungs would disappear the moment he went out the door. Even if I'll buy that Doc can make holo-lungs within the restraint of the biobed, there's no way they could be used if Neelix is moving around. We're talking about holographic resolutions down to the size of molecules. No way could that be maintained if they have to be in motion as well. TUVOK: This room is the source of the dilithium signature we detected earlier. The power systems here are running on an unusual dilithium matrix. KIM: So there are actually no dilithium deposits on this planet. TUVOK: It would appear not. So Vidiian technology generates energy emissions that resemble that of dilithium? That introduces more questions, but I'll skip the screed. PARIS: Okay. The isotropic restraint is activated. He won't be able to move more than two microns in any direction. Oxygen molecules are 300 picometers. 2 microns is seven thousand times larger. In other words, moving 2 microns is way too big if you want to avoid killing Neelix. NEELIX: Well, if I'm going to be in here a while, now's as good a time as any to tell you. Your ceiling is hideous. EMH: I didn't design the room, I just work here. NEELIX: Something with a bit of colour would help. Maybe a nice tapestry or a painting. Could you dim the lights a little? Yeah, now is not the time for comic relief. Neelix should be gibbering at this point. For a social creature like him the idea of being trapped in a bed for the rest of his life would be horrifying. NEELIX: Oh, fine. I have a little accident, I lose a pair of lungs, and the next thing I know Paris is swooping in like a Rectillian vulture. KES: What are you talking about? NEELIX: Didn't you hear the way that he said that? I'll be on the bridge if you need me. If you need me. KES: Neelix NEELIX: Why doesn't he just pull the plug on the holographic emitter and get it over with. Get me out of the way so he can have you all to himself. KES: Neelix, you're over-reacting. Tom's been very supportive. NEELIX: Ah, so it's Tom now, is it? KES: You really have nothing to worry about. We're friends, that's all. NEELIX: It's not you I'm worried about. It's him. He's just one big hormone walking around the ship. Don't you see the way that he looks at you? Let's move past Neelix's jealousy or Kes' obliviousness, I've ranted about them enough in the past and will continue to do so. The important part is that Kes has made it clear that as long as she's with Neelix she will be loyal to him. I'm reminded of that time on Friends when Ross and Rachel were going through a rough patch and Ross was jealous of Mark. It took Monica yelling at Ross to get it through his head that just because Mark was hitting on Rachel that doesn't mean that Mark will get Rachel, Ross should trust her. The same thing applies here. It doesn't matter how much Tom hits on Kes, he won't get anywhere as long as Kes is devoted to Neelix.
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mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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TUVOK: I could describe to you in detail the psychological observations I have made about you over the past four years which lead me to conclude you are about to take this ship inside the asteroid. But suffice it to say, I know you quite well.
Four years? Tuvok has known Janeway since 2356, that's fifteen years! Yeah, yeah, new show, growing pains, etc. but still! NEELIX: Doctor, wait, don't leave. EMH: I'm not leaving, Mister Neelix, I'm simply going back to work. NEELIX: I can't see you over there. I feel like I'm all alone. Ugh. Put a set of VR glasses and headphones on Neelix and free up a hand to operate some variant of a mouse and let him entertain himself. TUVOK: No, Captain. The walls are emanating severe electro-magnetic interference. I cannot scan them directly. JANEWAY: It's like trying to move through a hall of mirrors. You never know when you're going to walk into the glass. PARIS: I'm still picking up the alien's ion trail. Maybe we should follow that. CHAKOTAY: He might have left a fake ion trail to lure us in here. It could lead us right into one of those walls. So use the tractor beam in short bursts to map the walls. Duh. You can have it be a slow process to build up a 3D model of this chamber before you can move freely. JANEWAY: That's a chance we're going to have to take. Tuvok, extend the deflectors to maximum range. If we do run into something, it'll give us an extra margin of error. Oh sure, turn the ship into a bumper car! Great idea! MOTURA: Yes, it attacked our people over two millennia ago. It consumes our bodies, destroys our genetic codes and cellular structures. JANEWAY: So you harvest the bodies of other beings to replace your own tissues as they're consumed by this phage? MOTURA: Our immuno-technology cannot keep up. The phage adapts. It resists all attempts to destroy it. Our society has been ravaged. Thousands die each day. There is no other way for us to survive. It occurs to me that this would be a great way to tie into the Borg. Suppose the Vidiians had found a way to resist assimilation, so the Borg created the Phage to weaken them so that either they died out or got weak enough to be assimilated down the road. JANEWAY: Take a message to your people. If I ever encounter your kind again, I will do whatever is necessary to protect my people from this harvesting of yours. Any aggressive actions against this ship or it's crew will be met by the deadliest force. Is that clear? DERETH: Quite. Well that's cold blooded, and I can't help but feel that this is part of Jeri Taylor's machinations to make her seem strong at the expense of common sense. DERETH: Which of you will donate a lung? KES: Me. NEELIX: No, absolutely not. It's too dangerous. Let someone else do it. KES: No, I want to do it, Neelix. I'm willing to take the risk. I get Kes' devotion, but her lung is much smaller than Neelix's. This transplant would leave both of them unable to exert themselves at all. They could've at least thrown in a line about Kes's lungs are easier for Doc to replicate and implant and have Kes donate BOTH of her lungs to Neelix. The Fiver Chakotay: Neelix, what happened? Neelix: GAK! Chakotay: Someone stole your lungs? Neelix: GAK! Chakotay: Then how are you saying "Gak"? Neelix: Shut up. Timmy fell down a well? Hehe. Doc: I'm sorry, but Neelix will never be able to leave this restraint. Kes: NOOOOOOOO! Doc: And he'll have to spend the rest of his life in Sickbay with me. Neelix: NOOOOOOOO! It's amusing to ponder whether or not Doc or Neelix would be more tortured by this arrangement. Neelix: I'm bored. Will you sing for me, Doc? Doc: Pfft. Me? Sing? That'll be the day. Hehe. I was able to get a lot of examples for our TVTropes page from this fiver. Kes: I'll give Neelix one of my lungs. That way he'll remember me even after I'm gone. All: BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Janeway: Good one, Kes, but go ahead anyways. This one seems a but tasteless. Neelix mentioned Kes plenty of times in the later seasons. Memory Alpha * Originally it was supposed to be Paris' heart stolen. To me a problem with this is that I jolly well expect Doc to be able to replicate and implant a human heart. It would have to be either Kes or Neelix to justify inadequate medical knowledge. * Originally the Vidiians were called "Vaphorans", but the actors couldn't pronounce the word the same. Nitcentral * The terms "planetoid", "planet", and "moon" are used for the Vidiian base, these aren't remotely synonymous. * Even if the Vidiians could transplant Neelix's lungs back, wouldn't they be tainted by the Phage by now? * Much discussion about whether this episode is a ripoff of "Spock's Brain." I feel that the similarities are weak enough to not really play a factor (although I wonder if Doc has the Fabrini medical database in him). * Why didn't Janeway immediately impose isolation when the Phage was brought up? * Someone wondered why Doc couldn't clone new lungs using Neelix's DNA. I would immediately retort that Doc doesn't know enough about Talaxians yet. Were the Delta Quadrant races seeded by the Progenitors? I'm not sure. * How come they only took Neelix's lungs as opposed to all of them? * Someone else brought up my idea of a transplant from someone that Doc COULD make new lungs for. Delta Blues * Jim wonders if Doc is more capable of emotion because of the bioneural gelpacks. I am extremely dubious of this idea.
__________________
mudshark: Nate's just being...Nate. Zeke: It comes nateurally to him. mudshark: I don't expect Nate to make sense, really -- it's just a bad idea. Sa'ar Chasm on the 5M.net forum: Sit back, relax, and revel in the insanity. Adam Savage: I reject your reality and substitute my own! Hanlon's Razor: Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity. Crow T. Robot: Oh, stop pretending there's a plot. Don't cheapen yourself further. |
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