Episode of the Week: 3x19 "Captain's Holiday"

Risa is all about sex, but since Star Trek is a family friendly show it can't show any of it. Sure, we'll objectify women like you wouldn't believe and have stories where our only main female character is raped by a magical alien, but sex where it's enjoyed? Star Trek has Standards!

But on a more serious note, the only thing good that Risa has done was give SFDebris a good joke on how out of place Chekov's dialogue was in Star Trek Generations.

Chekov: You and you. You've just become nurses. Let's go.
SFDebris: The only time Chekov's ever said that line was to the two hookers on Risa.​

 

That is what fan fiction is for.

Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

Really... Trek has always been juvenile about sex. I'd say DS9 was the most.... mature... that's not the word, maybe real about it. Even then you had Quark renting out sex holoprograms every other episode.

 

This was an adult romance. Ira Steven Behr did a brilliant job creating Vash. One of the reasons I loved this episode and the Picard/Vash pairing was we were seeing the Captain in a romance with a smart, strong-willed, independent woman. She told him right off the bat - "This isn't a starship, Jean-Luc. I don't follow orders."

Watch the episode – she outsmarts him. Vash, not Picard, was the one that realized who the Vorgons were and that they were the ones who originally stole the Tox Uthat. He was about to hand it over to the bad guys. Vash stopped him.

Watch Qpid. Vash was not intimidated by Q in the least. She out smarted him too. She completely derailed Q's little scenario by cozying up to Sir Guy and talking her way out of the execution. It was Picard's gallantly heroic, if somewhat sexist, insistence on saving his ladylove that gave Q the win. Q admitted he had no control over the scenario and that at noon the next day it would end. If Picard had left well enough alone Vash and Sir Guy would have had their little mock wedding and the game would be over. This was why Q looked absolutely panicked when Vash comes down the steps with Sir Guy.

This is The Doctor and River Song twenty years before the new Dr. Who.



Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

What if Vash gave up her adventuring days, married Picard and stayed as a recurring character for the rest of the series? Would that have been so wrong?

Given Vash and Picards chemistry I kind of wonder if him and Janeway could have got something going.

 

I would have loved it! I always wondered how a P/V marriage might have looked with my P/V fanfic simply being my own speculation. Would they have shown more of Vash's academic side? Would they have put her on dig sites or in lecture halls? (DS9's episode "Qless" refers to the Daystrom Institute wanting her to speak on her travels.) Would they have shown more of Picard's interest in archaeology? Or would Vash have become a reoccurring bit player, the officer's wife/civilian scientist role that Keiko played?

In my opinion, Vash is one of those underutilized characters with a virtual goldmine of untapped potential. Granted, I'm sure my P/V fanfic stories center more on Vash and her relationship with Picard than the series realistically would have if it had gone the P/V marriage direction but that is the glory of writing fanfic.


Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

That would have been terrible and a disservice to the Vash character.

 

But the Picard/Vash shippers would rejoice!

 

Not if it was written well.

Only if it was written well.

The trick would be to tone her down slightly without destroying her brash irreverence. It is done all the time on long running series;Vala Mal Doran on Stargate SG1, Ziva David on NCIS, Castiel on Supernatural.

Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie

 

I think by having her settle in one place you would destroy the thing we love about her character.

 

Except that the Enterprise herself isn't exactly a ship that settles in one place either. You might say that she and Picard's ship have something in common.

 

Yeah, Vash would gain access to tons of places by staying with the enterprise. I guess starfleet wouldn't like that very much though.

 

Or Starfleet might look at it from the point of view that they always know where Vash is and what she is doing. The situation giving them the ability to direct her talents to a more productive use.

Or Starfleet might not care. Kasidy Yates married Sisko after doing jail time for smuggling.

Most likely her past antics (which are no different then other archeologists we've seen in canon) would be taken lightly or just ignored and future antics would be toned down. That whole speed of plot thing.

Warmest Wishes
Whoa Nellie