"Set a course... For home." They were a couple hundred thousand kilometres away from Earth, and she tells the helmoboy to plot a course for the fricking planet right in front of them? There's manual control which is basically point in the direction you want to go while applying thrust, and then there's plotting a course, which is getting the computer to do math, vectors, geometry and shit, and then feed all that math into the helm. Did she really get someone to "plot a course" for the last 15 seconds of their journey home? I know bad shit kept happening to them and kathy wanted to outjinx and idiot proof the last step through the threshold but wow... That's just ridiculous.
JANEWAY: We're alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We have already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear. Both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation, but I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back. Mister Paris, set a course for home. It's merely a literary device... a bookend.
Iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinteresting. Even though Harry plotted the original course, and Seven took three years off revising Harry's course when she signed up and... So it wasn't just this episode. She's never known what "plot a course" means.
"The long-lost Starship Voyager's return to Earth came tragically today, as her Captain ordered full thrusters just as they were making final orbital approach. The impact instantly killed everyone on board and created an extinction-level event, razing the Federation's capital world. Rescue shuttles are still searching for survivors..."
It's just Captain Kathy micro-managing her crew again. She thinks if she doesn't personally order Tom Paris to set a course for the planet that's just a few kilometers in front of them, then he might accidentally over shoot and end up in orbit of Venus instead. Which would be a hell of a homecoming.
I'm fine with the line but the delivery bothers me. I think it's supposed to come off as relieved but Mulgrew delivers the line with sadness, at least that's how it feels to me. I'm not expecting the enthusiasm and conviction she had in "Caretaker," but I'd like to see a little happiness from the fact that they're home, they can see their loved ones and they cut 68 years off of their frikkin journey! But that might just be me.
I'd like to think that Mulgrew felt that Janeway would be a bit sad at returning so quickly.I agree with Campe98 that they should be happy since they could finally return home,but I guess Janeway had worries about what would happen next,hence explaining her sad tone.As Harry had mentioned earlier in the episode,it was all about the journey,and now,the Voyager family would be split apart soon.Not to mention that her future self had just sacrificed herself just so that they could get home early,that could have also contributed to her melancholy.