A few Voyager Memories/Thoughts

[Marc Voorhees]

I have undertaken the ordeal of sorting through all 10-12K of my Star Trek CCG Cards (nerdy, I know) and I came upon the voyager set today. Sorting the cards reminded me of a few vent worthy things that I thought I would mention, just to unburden myself:

1) Joseph Carey: What bulls@#$. Killing him off like they did? Come on man....

2) Equinox: Survival above all else. I disagree with the ethical warfare that Janeway went on. Better to be alive than dead with your principles. And of course, despite Janeway's heavy handed tactic that toed and in my mind broke the line, there will be no repercussions because her log entry will be the official record of the incident. The victors write history

3) Equinox crew: Wish there was a follow up episode or two where they were included even as a minor part. Would have been nice to get some closure

4) Shuttlecraft: I wish I could fit 20 shuttles into my hanger bay....



Sorry for venting, when I was a kid, VOY was my absolute favorite. watching it on UPN50 was my sunday routine. Sadly though, as I have aged, the show has not carried forward particularly well in my mind. I still watch a few episodes for nostalgia, but I don't think I could ever watch it beginning to end again. I do remember having a MAJOR crush on Janeway and finding Seven to be annoying to my younger self.

Just a few thoughts that popped into my head on this trip down memory lane.

Cheers All!

 

[Catarina]

I am the opposite. I was unkind to it as a teen. I was disappointed week after week with the direction and relationships. As an adult I better understand some of those outcomes (doesn't mean I like it) and for nostalgic reasons I can sit back and enjoy. Some episodes I don't revisit in each season but it still has a place. always.

 

[Starborn Dragon]

Voyager is not my favorite, but i do enjoy the show.

When it first started, I got some of my friends to watch it. And I predicted a few things that were going to happen.

I predicted that they were going to have to go through Borg space, and that eventually Janeway would end the Borg, and possibly with some sort of time travel involved.

But I didn't predict the coming of Species 8472, Seven of 9, or the story of Endgame.

 

[Lynx]

I see it like this:

1) I totally agree on Carey. It was rude and meaningless to kill him off. Unfortunately, those in charge did seem to like character destruction.

2) Here I agree with Janeway. There are certain limitations about how to behave. The Equinox captain went too far.

3) Equinox crew: I agree here. I would like to see more of those people and what happened to them when they returned to Earth.

4) Shuttlecrafts: No problem when we have The Torpedo and Shuttle Building Team on board!

 

[hux]

1) Didn't mind them killing off Carey but would have preferred some build up to the event. Maybe a few episode before we could see Carey, listen to him talk about his family, make him feel more like a regular. Killing him off the way they did was like killing of Ayala. It was a cheap, cynical, empty trick.

2) Madwoman.

3) Equinox crew and the Maquis just sat in the basement tugging each other off until they reached Earth.

4) Never noticed the Shuttlecrafts until years later. Meh, space magic.

Voyager is and always has been my favourite despite its (many many) flaws. The thing that appeals to me is the travelling community element and the feeling of building a family over the years (though that didn't go as far as I would have liked either).

 

[stardream]

I find I am being kinder to the show than I was the first time around. I think I'm just more relaxed about it and suspended my disbelief and all that. Not nearly as nitpicky as I was.

Concerning Carey. I agree there should have been some sort of build up to his character but then the more 'savy' among us would know that is how these things are played out. Make us care about a minor character and then kill him or her off.

Haven't gotten to Equinox this time around yet. I honestly can't remember how I felt about it. I'm looking forward to gauging my own reaction.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Joe Carey - I'd have to agree. His death was meaningless when it came--six years after he'd been last seen. I think he would've had a more impactful and meaningful death had it come earlier. Bringing him back just to die was just annoying.

Equinox - I can seen both sides here: the need to survive and the desire to hold onto your principles. Janeway does go a bit mad (nearly killing Lessing) on her quest for revenge.

Equinox Crew - It would've been nice to have had a follow up episode or two, even just to see them in the background, or some mention of them after the episode.

Shuttlecraft - Just a small hint of the shows bigger problems.

I started off loving VOY, but as the series went on I lost interest in it (can't remember much of season seven). Looking back on it, VOY is the show I'm most disappointed with. It could've been a real good story of the struggle to survive and overcoming great adversity, but with the reset button at the end of every episode then it just wasn't able to develop and grow.

 

[MacLeod]

I suspect the reason why we didn't see Carey for a long time, was because the writers thought they had already killed him off. As others have said his death might have had more impact had we seen him a bit more and got to know him.

 

[Catarina]

Carey's death would have been huge they played it right. Why not bring him back as that reanimated alien instead of the nameless chick? Because Harry would have stooped to a new low of desperate and we'd dry heave.

 

[Marc Voorhees]

I never thought about the Joseph Carey situation from the side of there being so little development. Maybe because if they had just killed off a generic Redshirt, I wouldn't have batted an eye, but since he was there and developed a bit from the beginning it just seemed a bit more unfair.

More Carey episodes at the end my have made that better and seemed more tragic than punitive.

Glad I am not the only one who struggled with the Equinox/Maquis crew thing.

Interesting to see many of us react to Voyager so differently years later(going both ways) I wonder why that is. I fin myself responding to TNG about the same, and I find myself understanding DS9 more than I did as a kid, but still liking it quite a bit. I wonder why Voyager is so different in this regard?

 

[Catarina]

More Carey episodes at the end my have made that better and seemed more tragic than punitive.

Glad I am not the only one who struggled with the Equinox/Maquis crew thing.

Interesting to see many of us react to Voyager so differently years later(going both ways) I wonder why that is. I fin myself responding to TNG about the same, and I find myself understanding DS9 more than I did as a kid, but still liking it quite a bit. I wonder why Voyager is so different in this regard?

Unfair indeed.

Well, I can't put it into words for others but I said last year:

Voyager is like a family to me. They embarrass me with episodes like Threshold and they force me to face I too, don't finish everything I start. Can I get a reset button? But I can't imagine myself any other place than on the journey with this crew. Something like that.

 

[stardream]

That's an interesting question. I feel the same way about TOS, TNG and DS9 as I did when the shows were 'live'. I like them very much before and I like them now. I have yet to re-watch Enterprise so I can't use that as part of the gauge.

I remember things annoying me before about Voyager and they don't annoy me now. I just sort of shrug them off. Why that changed I have no idea.

 

[Lynx]

More Carey episodes at the end my have made that better and seemed more tragic than punitive.

Glad I am not the only one who struggled with the Equinox/Maquis crew thing.

Interesting to see many of us react to Voyager so differently years later(going both ways) I wonder why that is. I fin myself responding to TNG about the same, and I find myself understanding DS9 more than I did as a kid, but still liking it quite a bit. I wonder why Voyager is so different in this regard?

Unfair indeed.

Well, I can't put it into words for others but I said last year:

Voyager is like a family to me. They embarrass me with episodes like Threshold and they force me to face I too, don't finish everything I start. Can I get a reset button? But I can't imagine myself any other place than on the journey with this crew. Something like that.

You can also do like I have done:

Try to find logical explanations for some of the most embarrasing things and contradictions. Like regarding "Threshold" as a nightmare Paris had, invent The Shuttle and Torpedo Building Team to explain the ridiculous amount of wasted shuttles and torpedoes, regard the pathetic creature which showed up in "the episode which should not be mentioned" as a being from a mirror universe and regard my own Kes fanfiction stories as canon for what has happened to the character after Voyager ended.

Not to mention only watching the seasons and episodes you really like.

Not to mention that it's actually funny to try to figure out reasons and solutions for certain contradictions too.

 

[stardream]

You can also do like I have done:

Try to find logical explanations for some of the most embarrasing things and contradictions. Like regarding "Threshold" as a nightmare Paris had, invent The Shuttle and Torpedo Building Team to explain the ridiculous amount of wasted shuttles and torpedoes, regard the pathetic creature which showed up in "the episode which should not be mentioned" as a being from a mirror universe and regard my own Kes fanfiction stories as canon for what has happened to the character after Voyager ended.

Not to mention only watching the seasons and episodes you really like.

Not to mention that it's actually funny to try to figure out reasons and solutions for certain contradictions too.

What gets me about Threshold is up to a certain point its not a 'bad' episode. Its not the greatest either but it could have easily simply gone into the 'just another episode file' along with some of the others that I forget about until I re-watch. Not bad or good or offensive. Just there.

I have my own head canon about it. I turn the episode off at that 'certain' point and pretend that instead of devolving Paris starts to evolve and starts to acquire all knowledge of all things similar to the Q but of course its happening too fast and there is some techno babel metaphysical nonsense and he gets brought back shaken by the whole experience.

I like the idea of a Shuttle and Torpedo rebuilding team! It is real. I believe.

 

[Lynx]

I like the idea of a Shuttle and Torpedo rebuilding team! It is real. I believe.

Yes!

Let me quote from the Kes Website page "Voyager Mysteries-and how to solve them:

The amount of Shuttles and Photon Torpedoes

Voyager always did seem to have an endless supply of shuttles and photon torpedoes. No matter how many shuttles they destroyed or how many torpedoes they did blow up, despite their talk of limited resources, they always had new ones to blow up and destroy. Now that's because of:

The Torpedo and Shuttle Building Team!

This would be the perfect explanation to why Voyager always had shuttles available despite losing them in episode after episode. It would also explain where characters like Dalby, Henley, Chell, Gerron, Vorik, Carey, Rollins and Samantha Wildman were during most of the time in the Delta Quadrant. They were building new shuttles and torpedoes both day and night!

 

[stardream]

Yes!

Let me quote from the Kes Website page "Voyager Mysteries-and how to solve them:

The amount of Shuttles and Photon Torpedoes

Voyager always did seem to have an endless supply of shuttles and photon torpedoes. No matter how many shuttles they destroyed or how many torpedoes they did blow up, despite their talk of limited resources, they always had new ones to blow up and destroy. Now that's because of:

The Torpedo and Shuttle Building Team!

This would be the perfect explanation to why Voyager always had shuttles available despite losing them in episode after episode. It would also explain where characters like Dalby, Henley, Chell, Gerron, Vorik, Carey, Rollins and Samantha Wildman were during most of the time in the Delta Quadrant. They were building new shuttles and torpedoes both day and night!

I had a look at that site. Funny ideas they came up with to explain the Nick Larcano/Tom Paris problem.

Weren't they at the Academy around the same time? Or was Paris there first? You would think someone (professors...Boothby) would notice...I mean I think would notice someone who looked like that anyway but to see two of them?

 

[RagazzaMatta]

1) Didn't mind them killing off Carey but would have preferred some build up to the event. Maybe a few episode before we could see Carey, listen to him talk about his family, make him feel more like a regular. Killing him off the way they did was like killing of Ayala. It was a cheap, cynical, empty trick.

2) Madwoman.

3) Equinox crew and the Maquis just sat in the basement tugging each other off until they reached Earth.

4) Never noticed the Shuttlecrafts until years later. Meh, space magic.

Voyager is and always has been my favourite despite its (many many) flaws. The thing that appeals to me is the travelling community element and the feeling of building a family over the years (though that didn't go as far as I would have liked either).

Well said. Regarding 3, well, glad I'm not the only one who thought that, haha!

VOY is also my favorite for pretty much the same reasons. I felt the crew was more like a family than the other Trek series (which I also love), and I liked watching enemies become friends and characters change as they either together to get home.

 

[Lynx]

Yes!

Let me quote from the Kes Website page "Voyager Mysteries-and how to solve them:

The amount of Shuttles and Photon Torpedoes

Voyager always did seem to have an endless supply of shuttles and photon torpedoes. No matter how many shuttles they destroyed or how many torpedoes they did blow up, despite their talk of limited resources, they always had new ones to blow up and destroy. Now that's because of:

The Torpedo and Shuttle Building Team!

This would be the perfect explanation to why Voyager always had shuttles available despite losing them in episode after episode. It would also explain where characters like Dalby, Henley, Chell, Gerron, Vorik, Carey, Rollins and Samantha Wildman were during most of the time in the Delta Quadrant. They were building new shuttles and torpedoes both day and night!

I had a look at that site. Funny ideas they came up with to explain the Nick Larcano/Tom Paris problem.

Weren't they at the Academy around the same time? Or was Paris there first? You would think someone (professors...Boothby) would notice...I mean I think would notice someone who looked like that anyway but to see two of them?

I haven't managed to sort that out yet.

I know that Tom Paris was born 9 November 2346 (Stardate 23855.06).

Wesley Crusher was born 23 July 2348 (Stardate 25558.74)

Unfortunately no birthdate for Nick Locarno.

The accident in "The First Duty which Locarno and Crusher was involved in took place in 2368. No dates for Paris's accident.

Due to that information, maybe we can assume that Tom's accident took place in 2366. Maybe the fact that Tom was in Marseille for some time during his studies, Tom and Nick never met.

 

[stardream]

Yes!

Let me quote from the Kes Website page "Voyager Mysteries-and how to solve them:

The amount of Shuttles and Photon Torpedoes

Voyager always did seem to have an endless supply of shuttles and photon torpedoes. No matter how many shuttles they destroyed or how many torpedoes they did blow up, despite their talk of limited resources, they always had new ones to blow up and destroy. Now that's because of:

The Torpedo and Shuttle Building Team!

This would be the perfect explanation to why Voyager always had shuttles available despite losing them in episode after episode. It would also explain where characters like Dalby, Henley, Chell, Gerron, Vorik, Carey, Rollins and Samantha Wildman were during most of the time in the Delta Quadrant. They were building new shuttles and torpedoes both day and night!

I had a look at that site. Funny ideas they came up with to explain the Nick Larcano/Tom Paris problem.

Weren't they at the Academy around the same time? Or was Paris there first? You would think someone (professors...Boothby) would notice...I mean I think would notice someone who looked like that anyway but to see two of them?

I haven't managed to sort that out yet.

I know that Tom Paris was born 9 November 2346 (Stardate 23855.06).

Wesley Crusher was born 23 July 2348 (Stardate 25558.74)

Unfortunately no birthdate for Nick Locarno.

The accident in "The First Duty which Locarno and Crusher was involved in took place in 2368. No dates for Paris's accident.

Due to that information, maybe we can assume that Tom's accident took place in 2366. Maybe the fact that Tom was in Marseille for some time during his studies, Tom and Nick never met.

There was only a two year age difference between Paris and Crusher?

(goes away for a few minutes to think about this)

Great site btw.

 

[Lynx]

There was only a two year age difference between Paris and Crusher?

(goes away for a few minutes to think about this)

Great site btw.

Thanks!

The year of birth for Wesley Crusher is from Memory Alpha.

The year of birth for Tom Paris is from Memory Beta.

Tom's birthday is my invention, I took the same day as Robert Duncan McNeill's birthday.

As a matter of fact, I was also surprised that there was only two year age different between Paris and Crusher.