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Why does this show seem determined not to acknowledge "Voyager?"

What was the catalyst for Seven leaving Starfleet?


  • Total voters
    28
Which reminds me: does everyone here know about Lora [ex- Shane] Johnson's
Lora's Heart and Neck Fund
$8,315 raised of $27,000 goal • 119 donors

My name is Lora Johnson. I was born with multiple rare birth defects that without proper treatment will prove fatal.

My heart isn't structured like most people's and as a result I'm now dealing with congestive heart failure that has come on with age. I've begun treatments and medications that I must have if I am to live. The daily fatigue is debilitating and I'm very limited physically. My heart failure also makes any other surgeries I need, such as on my neck, far more dangerous. The inside of my neck did not form properly, causing chronic mass infections, loss of healthy tissue and difficulty swallowing. My treatment was badly mishandled by a surgeon when I was a child...


(I gave on hearing of hers; more at:

BTW...and I wish I could "broadcast" this to everyone on bbs (do folks here read the "new member intro"--hell, where is that? I know I saw it...)

ANYWAY...I was about to say this: if I come across as arrogant, that's not because I am arrogant. Well, not exactly; I have "opinions" I'm certain are right (the world's NOT flat...I could add more, but won't), some I'm not certain of (but believe strongly in...there are other sapient species out there)...and tend to express both rather strongly. More strongly that a lot of folks do.

(how's my style here so far? serious question; I certainly don't mean to fail at communicating!)

I am however aware both that I come across as arrogant...and that I know I know more than a lot of people about a lot of things, and therefore have many "opinions" about many subjects, a broader range of subjects than I've most people familiar with (as I'm pretty sure applies to most if not all posters here). Mind you, I only consider myself "expert" in a few...but above-average in more than a few.

expert:
TOS lines & aired data retention
airships
spaceflight history
first & second wave feminism
nuclear weaponry strategy and history
SDI (missile interception) technology and R&D history of same
rules and regs of hard SF
the works of E.E. Doc Smith, Olaf Stapledon, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven and a few others

pretty damn close to expert:
how fascism arises and operates
US military aerospace R & D and procurement (NOT aircraft strategy or flight operations)
how women "work" (read into this what you will; I am not bragging, nor cutting notches on bedposts...my "number" is average...nor talking only of sex)

fair to good working knowledge:
Leftwing American history of 1920s-1970s
LGBTQI issues (NOT political history; And the Band Played On is the only nonfiction work I've managed to read only once due to its horrific content; I reread the first volume of Solzhenizyn's (probably spelled wrong; screw it, I'm tired) Gulag Archipeligo every year or so

good enough working knowledge to enter and pass a graduate level entry course:
Nazi & Soviet history
(maybe) LGBTQI literature by American authors

enough info to fake it:
(I can't make this list..."fake it" with who? most folks outside an academic environment, per my experience. I've always thought I'd be seen through if I attended an "elite intellectual" party in everything below pretty damn close to

My dad was quite arrogant. A trait which infuriated my mom and I was that he'd ask "Do you know about X?" and if told "Yes" would then tell you about "X" as if you knew nothing. I don't mean to do that; if I'm longwinded it means I'm "speaking" with the knowledge that to leave out any part of an argument might puzzle someone who didn't know that particular part (Say I'm discussing spaceflight history and tech; I can't be sure all users here know as much as I do about that).

I try to counter coming off like my dad (who did, I think, look down on folks who knew less than him) by remembering that anything I know is an accident of my having been raised to be curious, i.e., self-"educating"

I also sometimes repeat to myself in the most over-acted style the following, so to damp down the temptation to ever say either of them out of anger when misunderstood (which does not mean, "disagree with," as I love to argue):

SPOCK: I see no reason for answers to be couched in riddles.
GUARDIAN: I answer as simply as your level of understanding makes possible.

DAYSTROM: Seminars and lectures to rows of fools who couldn't begin to understand my systems. Colleagues. Colleagues laughing behind my back at the boy wonder and becoming famous building on my work. Building on my work.

I'm also fully aware (I think) of many if not most (probably not most) of the ways I'm fucked up. The following, which I found here, really spoke to me:

I’ve always been bad at parties because the topics I bring up are too depressing, such as everything that’s wrong with my life, and everything that’s wrong with the world, and the futility of doing anything about either.
-- Olga Khazan

But I do know this, by heart (I can even sing it fairly well, I think:

There is no one, no one at all,
never has been and never will be a lover
male or female
who hasn't an eye on, in fact they rely on,
tricks they can try on their partner
They're hoping their lover will help or keep them
Support them, promote them
Don't blame them
You're the same!
How about erring on the side of staying on topic? This is a thread with a specific subject, not your personal Blog.

I've also removed the GoFundMe link from the completely random Lora Johnson post; direct solicitation/fundraising is something we generally don't allow.
 
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Didn't realize I was coming across as a blogger. REDACT THAT...you are exactly right...it DID come across as exactly that. I sincerely apologize.

In re: LGBTQI and Lora, though...lots of posts are pretty free associational here and otherwise. Lora Johnson post followed in that fashion from my saying what we'd say of Picard having Q tell Seven "I don't have a son"--pretty natural "this topic then that one" if you ask me.

Had no idea direct solicitation/fundraising was something not "generally" allowed, though even if I had known I'd have thought rattling a tin cup in re: a third party's life-threatening medical issues a reasonable exception (no argument meant, nor sarcasm; anyone interested can find it...which reminds me, do most folks know of her situation?
 
Although Seven did vocally reference Voyager's time in the Delta Quadrant in "Stardust City Rag(PIC)," directly linking Icheb and herself to that ship and to VOY as a series. I would love to hear more references to VOY in the show but to be frank it's not as if every spinoff makes direct, regular references to the shows that preceded it. TNG only occasionally tossed in dialogue nods to TOS outside the three TOS cast member appearances, DS9 mentioned the Enterprise-D as little as possible and VOY's callbacks to DS9 topics like the Dominion War and the Gamma Quadrant were few and far between even after the Pathfinder Project linked Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant and Starfleet.
 
Since Lora's fundraiser was mentioned, it's worth noting the removed link in question was to a fundraiser posted 6.3 years ago, and was last updated over 4 years ago. I've seen nothing from/about her since then, so no idea what her current situation is.
 
Oh, and Seven of Nine. She's a regular on this show now. So one would think that at some point, they might be able to just slip in a little hint about how she went from an astrometric scientist to a ranger. I don't mind the direction for the character, if there's just some explanation. Or a hint of an explanation.

Roughly 30 years has gone by since Voyager has returned to the Alpha quadrant. I'm 53 years old, and I can't recall the last time I discussed what I was doing in my life or career 30 years ago. We develop and grow and don't necessarily need to discuss how or why we are where we are.
 
Roughly 30 years has gone by since Voyager has returned to the Alpha quadrant. I'm 53 years old, and I can't recall the last time I discussed what I was doing in my life or career 30 years ago. We develop and grow and don't necessarily need to discuss how or why we are where we are.
Exactly. Despite beliefs to the contrary, humans are not static. I am nowhere near the same person I was even ten years ago, and my opinions and mood have changed dramatically. Expecting characters to be static is one of the most crippling aspects of engagement with fandom.
 
I don't think the writers don't want to acknowledge Voyager. I do think it would be natural for a character to reference the past. No, not as in "I broke up with my first crush 30 years ago because..." But smaller things people tend to bring up or mention in passing. Aside from Picard, they are simply not very interested in exploring these characters. "A former crewmate from Voyager told me ..."

Aside from Rios' little childhood anecdote, nobody references their previous lives. There were several moments earlier after they lost Elnor, when Raffi was lashing out at Seven, that I expected Seven to say, "remember, I lost a son, too, so stop acting as if I couldn't possibly unerstand and stfu." (Well, she'd probably be nicer about it.) Or, Elnor's upbringing/ moms are only ever rreferenced by him killing people or saying "Choose to live."

References to the past is not something they do often, is what I'm saying, although it would feel natural to me. (And no, I don't think they'd need to explain that to new viewers. It would be enough to know that Seven lost a kid, or that Elnor had 10 mommies who are proud of his graduation or whatever. Those are just arbitrary examples.)
 
I don't think the writers don't want to acknowledge Voyager. I do think it would be natural for a character to reference the past. No, not as in "I broke up with my first crush 30 years ago because..." But smaller things people tend to bring up or mention in passing. Aside from Picard, they are simply not very interested in exploring these characters. "A former crewmate from Voyager told me ..."

This. Seven is interesting enough as-is that they don't need to give fan service and reference Voyager.
That said, if they want to bring back Harry Kim, and have him STILL be an ensign, I'd be perfectly fine with that.
 
Maybe Seven doesn't give a crap about her time on Voyager since it was a difficult and painful growing experience.
 
Reconnecting with her human self and Hansen ancestry probably led her to realize she had to take the coming years to become the person her parents meant for her to be. A functioning human adult with a set of goals and the drive to improve herself, and eventually joining the Fenris Rangers to fight violence and crime out on the frontiers of Federation space allowed her to do some of that.

Simply coming home, stepping foot on Earth and becoming Annika Hansen once again wasn't going to work.
 
So that was possibly the best way they could have resolved why Voyager rarely gets a mention, ties in with what we've seen over the season about the reactions people have to Seven due to her being a former Borg, and gives more of the Seven/Raffi dynamic.

Name drops, loosely filled in gaps, happy Burnsey
 
But Starfleet must have been nuts not to utilize her even without giving her a commission...or why not Daystrom Institute...or another scientific organizations in the Federation. She would have made a very valuable asset.
 
But Starfleet must have been nuts not to utilize her even without giving her a commission...or why not Daystrom Institute...or another scientific organizations in the Federation. She would have made a very valuable asset.

I’m not so sure. Given how Starfleet refused to let Jean-Luc fight the Borg in First Contact and he was Locutus for “just” a few days, somehow I think they’d be even more hesitant towards someone who was a Borg drone for pretty much all their life. Caution, suspicions, etc.
 
Yeah, but they could have "utilized" her somehow.

They could have in a civilian role but I think the pain of being rejected from Starfleet, being the key point of the discussio w/ Raffi was enough for Seven to realise that she would always be Borg in their minds and lead to her joining the Rangers.

So agreed - the could have but Seven clearly didn't want to
 
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