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TNG Season 2 is what the Delta Quadrant should have been like

Why? Why was it necessary for the Delta Quadrant to be consistently dangerous? How is that good writing?
 
Because space, by its very nature, is a dangerous place. At the same time, it's wondrous and exciting. I would argue that showing how dangerous space is should be the case for EVERY show.

Having said that, I will say VOYAGER did make space pretty dangerous. Episodes like "PARALLAX", "HEROES AND DEMONS", "CATHEXIS", "TWISTED", "NON SEQUITUR", "DEADLOCK", "REAL LIFE", "GRAVITY", and "BLISS" illustrated space being dangerous.

What VOYAGER could have done was make more of those things unexplained or kept mysterious at the end. (The mystery of why the Botha did what he did and if he ever was there to begin with was one of the reasons why "PERSISTENCE OF VISION" is so good.)

I have always said that TNG season 2 really made space feel dangerous. And while I think VOYAGER season 1 did a great job of making space feel dangerous again, I didn't get the same mysterious sense that TNG season 2 did.
 
Because space, by its very nature, is a dangerous place. At the same time, it's wondrous and exciting. I would argue that showing how dangerous space is should be the case for EVERY show.

Having said that, I will say VOYAGER did make space pretty dangerous. Episodes like "PARALLAX", "HEROES AND DEMONS", "CATHEXIS", "TWISTED", "NON SEQUITUR", "DEADLOCK", "REAL LIFE", "GRAVITY", and "BLISS" illustrated space being dangerous.

What VOYAGER could have done was make more of those things unexplained or kept mysterious at the end. (The mystery of why the Botha did what he did and if he ever was there to begin with was one of the reasons why "PERSISTENCE OF VISION" is so good.)

I have always said that TNG season 2 really made space feel dangerous. And while I think VOYAGER season 1 did a great job of making space feel dangerous again, I didn't get the same mysterious sense that TNG season 2 did.

Yeah. Thinking about the issue i feel that the cinematography and tone of TNG Season 2 make a big difference and would have been great for Voyager.
 
Yeah. Thinking about the issue i feel that the cinematography and tone of TNG Season 2 make a big difference and would have been great for Voyager.


It would have been great for VOY and not for the other Trek shows? Like the remaining seasons of TNG, DS9, ENT, DIS, PIC and SNW? What about those shows? Surely this mysterious and dangerous tone and cinematography could have benefitted all of the shows?
 
More like TNG season2, euh? Let's see what that would get us ...

1 "The Child"
Kes spontaneously becomes pregnant and gives birth to a mysterious child. Neelix doesn't buy her innocence and gets into a fit of rage,
2 "Where Silence Has Lease"
Voyager becomes trapped in a spatial phenomenon. Here they are subjected to unusual experiments by the whim of a being 'unlike any they have encountered before' but somehow, the script still feels recycled.
3 "Elementary, Dear Kim"
After Ensign Kim easily solves an medical whodunit, Tom Paris asks the computer to make an opponent capable of covering his tracks in such a setting. The result is the EMH, whose medical knowledge actually turns out to be quite useful.
4 "The Outrageous Okona"
Voyager is caught up in the schemes of a flamboyant space rogue on the run, while the newly minted EMH explores humor with the help of a holodeck comedian (Joe Piscopo).
5 "Loud as a Whisper"
The crew play host to a deaf, telepathic ambassador (Howie Seago) who mediates difficult peace negotiations with the assistance of his trio of telepathic interpreters. No reason for the Voyager detour or involvement in local matters that don't really concern the Voyager crew is given.
6 "The Schizoid Man"
An alien scientists cheats death by uploading his memories and personality into the EMH.
7 "Unnatural Selection"
The Voyager receives a distress call from an alien ship , discovering its crew has apparently died of old age. The race is on to solve the mystery before scientists on a research colony suffer the same fate. We get to see crew age even faster than Kes.
8 "A Matter of Horror"
Chakotay is assigned to a Kazon vessel in an attempt to start diplomatic relations with said species, as a gesture of trust. Let's just say the experiment doesn't end well.
9 "The Measure of a Man"
After the EMH refuses an order from a paranoid Janeway to be decompiled for research reasons, a hearing is convened to determine if an accidentally generated but sentient program can be considered property of the crew.
10 "The Dauphin"
The Enterprise hosts the young leader of a single-episode race. Soon, Ensign Kim finds himself falling in love with her. However, Salia and her guardian harbor a secret. Again, no reason whatsoever is given for Voyager hosting the leader of an alien world in the first place.
11 "Contagion"
A dangerous alien computer virus runs rampant through the Enterprise after Tom ill-advisedly runs alien software without check what it actually would do. Turns out a reboot is the simple solution, the ship apparently having no permanent memory accessible to the virus. Inexplicably, the reboot doesn't seem to affect the EMH.
12 "The Royale"
Tuvok and Neelix investigate a structure on the surface of an icy gas giant, which appears to be a hotel from 20th-century Earth. When they try to leave, they are prevented from doing so, and are forced to stay. Hilarity ensues when both non-humans have to improvise their parts.
No reason for the link with 20th century earth is provided, which is puzzling since they're still in the Delta Quadrant.
13 "Time Squared"
Captain Janewaw encounters her unconscious future self when Voyager becomes caught in a time loop where she is destroyed by a space anomaly. At the end of the adventure, captain Janeway remarks: My advice on making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don't even try. Not even with extremely dull ones such as these.
14 "The Icarus Factor"
Chakotay's estranged father visits Voyager, and B'elanna's friends discover she is about to miss an important Klingon rite of passage. Two problematic points aren't brought up in the episode: Chakotay's father (1) should be in the Alpha Quadrant and (2) is supposed to be long dead anyway.
15 "Pen Pals"
The Prime Directive is threatened when Tom befriends the child of a pre-warp planet that is suffering from devastating volcanic activity. No problem really, since they're only passing through and will be out of communication range in 24hrs anyway.
16 "Q Who"
Q (John de Lancie) flings Voyager 7,000 light years towards Federation space and into a confrontation with the deadly Borg. At the end, Janeway is really pissed off. Not because of their Borg confrontation, but because Q flung them back to their original position at the end of the episode undoing their 7000 LY gain. She would've beaten those Borg anyway as she's the GOAT, duh!
17 "Samaritan Snare"
A group of seemingly dimwitted aliens, the Pakleds, kidnap Torres to "make their ship go".
18 "Up the Long Ladder"
Captain Janeway must find a way to rescue two radically incompatible cultures, one a primitive Irish farming colony threatened by solar flares, and the other a colony of clones facing inevitable genetic degeneration. Why Janeway would interfere with such alien Delta Quadrant creatures is, once again, never explained, and also we'll never see what becomes of them after this episode. However, she creates a 19-century Irish town holoprogram after this experience that later gets its own arc.
19 "Manhunt"
Kes enters her Elogium, meaning she has to find a mate quickly and her instincts drive her to explore all options. No male on board is safe.
20 "The Emissary"
The Voyager crew must deal with a ship full of Klingons in stasis and unaware they are no longer at war with the Federation. How they ended up in the Delta Quadrant is never explained (hm, I'm starting to notice a pattern here).
21 "Peak Performance"
The EMH fails to beat a humanoid at a game of Strategema and exhibits self-doubt.
and finally ...
22 "Shades of Gray"
A festive compilation of all Ensign Kim Must Suffer moments since Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant!
 
"Up the long ladder" could still work with the S.S. Mariposa stranding in the Delta Quadrant and Voyager becoming aware of both colonist groups like they did with the humans in "The 37" .

I see no reasons not to keep the link to 20th century earth in "The Royale". The entity who kept Richey alive could have been hailing from the Delta Quadrant. Or even better, keep the identity of the human skeleton and how it ended up on the planet a mystery ;)

"The Icarus Factor" could have been a Neelix episode, with some adjustments,
while the situation with the Klingons in "The Emissary" could have been explained similarly to what happened, when Voyager really encountered a Klingon vessel...

And "Shades of Grey" could have been a "Neelix Must Suffer" episode, with some actually new footage :devil:
 
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It would have been great for VOY and not for the other Trek shows? Like the remaining seasons of TNG, DS9, ENT, DIS, PIC and SNW? What about those shows? Surely this mysterious and dangerous tone and cinematography could have benefitted all of the shows?

Of course it would have been great to have it more on TNG, which is why season 2 is the one being called upon as the highlight of the dangers and mystery of space.

With DS9, they did such a remarkable job with the characters that you honestly don't notice the lack of mystery. Having said that, I have mentioned that the one thing I would change on DS9 is gave some more Gamma Quadrant exploration, so it falls in line with my one wish for DS9.

With ENT, they did make space dangerous again, but not very mysterious because quite a bit was explained. So yes, ENT could have used more of that.

With PIC, exploration is not even wgat the show is about, so the point is rendered moot. Add in the fact it's arc based, and it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

With DISCO... again, because of the heavy reliance on arc based stories, this will never happen. Which is honestly a huge point against it. It has enough problems that I don't think adding this would help much.

With SNW, frankly, doesn't need it. It's awesome as is.

Which brings me back to VOYAGER. Especially in season 1, they had the danger there, and a number of times the mystery, too. I just wish there was more of it. I'm in the minority opinion, I believe, that season 1 of VOY was really, really good... especially when you don't take out the 4 leftover episodes.
 
Why? Why was it necessary for the Delta Quadrant to be consistently dangerous? How is that good writing?
It didn't hurt DS9's first two seasons; it's called conflict. How its executed is what matters and how the characters overcome them? I'd rather more of that than the GOAT being her wonderful self getting out of anything overpowering which would be impossible for any of the Star Trek Captains before her. I wouldn't mind an officer in her first Starship command act like it was her first command and learning the ropes in a hostile area of space is one hell of a learning curve. I would've liked her to learn there are some situations going by the book could get her crew in some serious dangers, but she learns to weigh the good and bad but all of this I think would make a very compelling character.
 
Season 2 was not perfect but in hindsight t was more of what I have come to expect in Star Trek. You could see Michael Piller's stamp on things.
 
22 "Shades of Gray"
A festive compilation of all Ensign Kim Must Suffer moments since Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant!
Would have been Ok if Janeway said at the end: "Wow, Harry, you've been through quite a bit. I guess you deserve to have something good happen to you now... Lieutenant Kim."
 
More like TNG season2, euh? Let's see what that would get us ...

1 "The Child"
Kes spontaneously becomes pregnant and gives birth to a mysterious child. Neelix doesn't buy her innocence and gets into a fit of rage,
2 "Where Silence Has Lease"
Voyager becomes trapped in a spatial phenomenon. Here they are subjected to unusual experiments by the whim of a being 'unlike any they have encountered before' but somehow, the script still feels recycled.
3 "Elementary, Dear Kim"
After Ensign Kim easily solves an medical whodunit, Tom Paris asks the computer to make an opponent capable of covering his tracks in such a setting. The result is the EMH, whose medical knowledge actually turns out to be quite useful.
4 "The Outrageous Okona"
Voyager is caught up in the schemes of a flamboyant space rogue on the run, while the newly minted EMH explores humor with the help of a holodeck comedian (Joe Piscopo).
5 "Loud as a Whisper"
The crew play host to a deaf, telepathic ambassador (Howie Seago) who mediates difficult peace negotiations with the assistance of his trio of telepathic interpreters. No reason for the Voyager detour or involvement in local matters that don't really concern the Voyager crew is given.
6 "The Schizoid Man"
An alien scientists cheats death by uploading his memories and personality into the EMH.
7 "Unnatural Selection"
The Voyager receives a distress call from an alien ship , discovering its crew has apparently died of old age. The race is on to solve the mystery before scientists on a research colony suffer the same fate. We get to see crew age even faster than Kes.
8 "A Matter of Horror"
Chakotay is assigned to a Kazon vessel in an attempt to start diplomatic relations with said species, as a gesture of trust. Let's just say the experiment doesn't end well.
9 "The Measure of a Man"
After the EMH refuses an order from a paranoid Janeway to be decompiled for research reasons, a hearing is convened to determine if an accidentally generated but sentient program can be considered property of the crew.
10 "The Dauphin"
The Enterprise hosts the young leader of a single-episode race. Soon, Ensign Kim finds himself falling in love with her. However, Salia and her guardian harbor a secret. Again, no reason whatsoever is given for Voyager hosting the leader of an alien world in the first place.
11 "Contagion"
A dangerous alien computer virus runs rampant through the Enterprise after Tom ill-advisedly runs alien software without check what it actually would do. Turns out a reboot is the simple solution, the ship apparently having no permanent memory accessible to the virus. Inexplicably, the reboot doesn't seem to affect the EMH.
12 "The Royale"
Tuvok and Neelix investigate a structure on the surface of an icy gas giant, which appears to be a hotel from 20th-century Earth. When they try to leave, they are prevented from doing so, and are forced to stay. Hilarity ensues when both non-humans have to improvise their parts.
No reason for the link with 20th century earth is provided, which is puzzling since they're still in the Delta Quadrant.
13 "Time Squared"
Captain Janewaw encounters her unconscious future self when Voyager becomes caught in a time loop where she is destroyed by a space anomaly. At the end of the adventure, captain Janeway remarks: My advice on making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don't even try. Not even with extremely dull ones such as these.
14 "The Icarus Factor"
Chakotay's estranged father visits Voyager, and B'elanna's friends discover she is about to miss an important Klingon rite of passage. Two problematic points aren't brought up in the episode: Chakotay's father (1) should be in the Alpha Quadrant and (2) is supposed to be long dead anyway.
15 "Pen Pals"
The Prime Directive is threatened when Tom befriends the child of a pre-warp planet that is suffering from devastating volcanic activity. No problem really, since they're only passing through and will be out of communication range in 24hrs anyway.
16 "Q Who"
Q (John de Lancie) flings Voyager 7,000 light years towards Federation space and into a confrontation with the deadly Borg. At the end, Janeway is really pissed off. Not because of their Borg confrontation, but because Q flung them back to their original position at the end of the episode undoing their 7000 LY gain. She would've beaten those Borg anyway as she's the GOAT, duh!
17 "Samaritan Snare"
A group of seemingly dimwitted aliens, the Pakleds, kidnap Torres to "make their ship go".
18 "Up the Long Ladder"
Captain Janeway must find a way to rescue two radically incompatible cultures, one a primitive Irish farming colony threatened by solar flares, and the other a colony of clones facing inevitable genetic degeneration. Why Janeway would interfere with such alien Delta Quadrant creatures is, once again, never explained, and also we'll never see what becomes of them after this episode. However, she creates a 19-century Irish town holoprogram after this experience that later gets its own arc.
19 "Manhunt"
Kes enters her Elogium, meaning she has to find a mate quickly and her instincts drive her to explore all options. No male on board is safe.
20 "The Emissary"
The Voyager crew must deal with a ship full of Klingons in stasis and unaware they are no longer at war with the Federation. How they ended up in the Delta Quadrant is never explained (hm, I'm starting to notice a pattern here).
21 "Peak Performance"
The EMH fails to beat a humanoid at a game of Strategema and exhibits self-doubt.
and finally ...
22 "Shades of Gray"
A festive compilation of all Ensign Kim Must Suffer moments since Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant!
Best Star Trek Season 2 ever.
 
Of course it would have been great to have it more on TNG, which is why season 2 is the one being called upon as the highlight of the dangers and mystery of space.

With DS9, they did such a remarkable job with the characters that you honestly don't notice the lack of mystery. Having said that, I have mentioned that the one thing I would change on DS9 is gave some more Gamma Quadrant exploration, so it falls in line with my one wish for DS9.

With ENT, they did make space dangerous again, but not very mysterious because quite a bit was explained. So yes, ENT could have used more of that.

With PIC, exploration is not even wgat the show is about, so the point is rendered moot. Add in the fact it's arc based, and it wouldn't make a difference anyway.

With DISCO... again, because of the heavy reliance on arc based stories, this will never happen. Which is honestly a huge point against it. It has enough problems that I don't think adding this would help much.

With SNW, frankly, doesn't need it. It's awesome as is.

Which brings me back to VOYAGER. Especially in season 1, they had the danger there, and a number of times the mystery, too. I just wish there was more of it. I'm in the minority opinion, I believe, that season 1 of VOY was really, really good... especially when you don't take out the 4 leftover episodes.
Season 5 had some great episodes exploring the space they were in and its mysteries. Night, Bliss, Timeless, Bride of Chaotica!, Thirty Days, Course: Oblivion, Equinox (I), Counterpoint, The Fight, In the Flesh.
 
More like TNG season2, euh? Let's see what that would get us ...

1 "The Child"
Kes spontaneously becomes pregnant and gives birth to a mysterious child. Neelix doesn't buy her innocence and gets into a fit of rage,
Perfect

2 "Where Silence Has Lease"
Voyager becomes trapped in a spatial phenomenon. Here they are subjected to unusual experiments by the whim of a being 'unlike any they have encountered before' but somehow, the script still feels recycled.
same

3 "Elementary, Dear Kim"
After Ensign Kim easily solves an medical whodunit, Tom Paris asks the computer to make an opponent capable of covering his tracks in such a setting. The result is the EMH, whose medical knowledge actually turns out to be quite useful.
Why would it be Kim? Have Kes trying to teach the EMH a lesson, after EMH (still the ass he was in the early seasons) making a remark about challenges being easy, and Kes' idea creates some kind of *insert technobabble* crisis on the ship...

4 "The Outrageous Okona"
Voyager is caught up in the schemes of a flamboyant space rogue on the run, while the newly minted EMH explores humor with the help of a holodeck comedian (Joe Piscopo).
Would be interesting since those two has some passing resemblance.

5 "Loud as a Whisper"
The crew play host to a deaf, telepathic ambassador (Howie Seago) who mediates difficult peace negotiations with the assistance of his trio of telepathic interpreters. No reason for the Voyager detour or involvement in local matters that don't really concern the Voyager crew is given.
eh

6 "The Schizoid Man"
An alien scientists cheats death by uploading his memories and personality into the EMH.
Cool, tho it may mean they won't do Body and Soul most likely

7 "Unnatural Selection"
The Voyager receives a distress call from an alien ship , discovering its crew has apparently died of old age. The race is on to solve the mystery before scientists on a research colony suffer the same fate. We get to see crew age even faster than Kes.
Nah, I'll just have Harry Kim age.

8 "A Matter of Horror"
Chakotay is assigned to a Kazon vessel in an attempt to start diplomatic relations with said species, as a gesture of trust. Let's just say the experiment doesn't end well.
instead of Alliances?

9 "The Measure of a Man"
After the EMH refuses an order from a paranoid Janeway to be decompiled for research reasons, a hearing is convened to determine if an accidentally generated but sentient program can be considered property of the crew.
They aren't gonna do a hearing, plus they already had a legal episode in season one.

10 "The Dauphin"
The Enterprise hosts the young leader of a single-episode race. Soon, Ensign Kim finds himself falling in love with her. However, Salia and her guardian harbor a secret. Again, no reason whatsoever is given for Voyager hosting the leader of an alien world in the first place.
They kinda did this....

11 "Contagion"
A dangerous alien computer virus runs rampant through the Enterprise after Tom ill-advisedly runs alien software without check what it actually would do. Turns out a reboot is the simple solution, the ship apparently having no permanent memory accessible to the virus. Inexplicably, the reboot doesn't seem to affect the EMH.
I'd have Harry Kim or B'Elanna do this, not Tom Paris- why are you having Tom do things he wouldn't have any business doing...?

12 "The Royale"
Tuvok and Neelix investigate a structure on the surface of an icy gas giant, which appears to be a hotel from 20th-century Earth. When they try to leave, they are prevented from doing so, and are forced to stay. Hilarity ensues when both non-humans have to improvise their parts.
No reason for the link with 20th century earth is provided, which is puzzling since they're still in the Delta Quadrant.
or it just may be just a simulation of an alien fantasy

13 "Time Squared"
Captain Janewaw encounters her unconscious future self when Voyager becomes caught in a time loop where she is destroyed by a space anomaly. At the end of the adventure, captain Janeway remarks: My advice on making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don't even try. Not even with extremely dull ones such as these.
Have some kind ominious message showing She made it home while the crew didn't.

14 "The Icarus Factor"
Chakotay's estranged father visits Voyager, and B'elanna's friends discover she is about to miss an important Klingon rite of passage. Two problematic points aren't brought up in the episode: Chakotay's father (1) should be in the Alpha Quadrant and (2) is supposed to be long dead anyway.
Have it be Neelix's father, who wasn't on Rinax as he had believed, with an offer, not realizing his father had gone down a darker path than Neelix had after the war. Dark enough that Neelix wouldn't want to stay behind.

15 "Pen Pals"
The Prime Directive is threatened when Tom befriends the child of a pre-warp planet that is suffering from devastating volcanic activity. No problem really, since they're only passing through and will be out of communication range in 24hrs anyway.
Again, why Tom Paris? I'd have it Harry Kim or perhaps Kes who decided to take an interest in primitive communication methods.

16 "Q Who"
Q (John de Lancie) flings Voyager 7,000 light years towards Federation space and into a confrontation with the deadly Borg. At the end, Janeway is really pissed off. Not because of their Borg confrontation, but because Q flung them back to their original position at the end of the episode undoing their 7000 LY gain. She would've beaten those Borg anyway as she's the GOAT, duh!
Why not the Dominion?

17 "Samaritan Snare"
A group of seemingly dimwitted aliens, the Pakleds, kidnap Torres to "make their ship go".
Even better than the TNG version

18 "Up the Long Ladder"
Captain Janeway must find a way to rescue two radically incompatible cultures, one a primitive Irish farming colony threatened by solar flares, and the other a colony of clones facing inevitable genetic degeneration. Why Janeway would interfere with such alien Delta Quadrant creatures is, once again, never explained, and also we'll never see what becomes of them after this episode. However, she creates a 19-century Irish town holoprogram after this experience that later gets its own arc.
I'd make this about two colonies of a local alien race Neelix barely knows about.

19 "Manhunt"
Kes enters her Elogium, meaning she has to find a mate quickly and her instincts drive her to explore all options. No male on board is safe.
I'd have it caused by a pair of aliens, being kept in statis, only for Kes to catch on when they are coming out of sleep and realizing they were terrorists.

20 "The Emissary"
The Voyager crew must deal with a ship full of Klingons in stasis and unaware they are no longer at war with the Federation. How they ended up in the Delta Quadrant is never explained (hm, I'm starting to notice a pattern here).
They did this....

21 "Peak Performance"
The EMH fails to beat a humanoid at a game of Strategema and exhibits self-doubt.
and finally ...
Sure

22 "Shades of Gray"
A festive compilation of all Ensign Kim Must Suffer moments since Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant!
I"d make this a Chakotay episode, with flashbacks of his fights with his father, the Maquis, causing an incident as a young Ensign, taking care of his grandfather, meeting an old flame"
 
I'd have Harry Kim or B'Elanna do this, not Tom Paris- why are you having Tom do things he wouldn't have any business doing...?

Because I don't think those two would be so careless as to run a piece of software without doing any background checks. (Though there probably is a counter example eluding me where they actually do ? :) ). Tom might (see Alice).

Again, why Tom Paris? I'd have it Harry Kim or perhaps Kes who decided to take an interest in primitive communication methods.

In this case, I don't quite remember my reasons for selecting Tom. Then again, I also see no particular reason for taking Kim or Kes.

Why not the Dominion?

Why the Dominion? That's DS9's turf, not Voyager's, and neither is it on Voyager's route home.
 
Because I don't think those two would be so careless as to run a piece of software without doing any background checks. (Though there probably is a counter example eluding me where they actually do ? :) ). Tom might (see Alice).
B'Elanna allowed an alien technology she knew little about, to be plugged in, right in main engineering.


Why the Dominion? That's DS9's turf, not Voyager's, and neither is it on Voyager's route home.
True. The Dominion could work (as in the message Q was trying to tell Picard) as Q most likely knew they'd come across the Dominion within a decade....
 
B'Elanna allowed an alien technology she knew little about, to be plugged in, right in main engineering.

Assuming you're talking about Prime Factors: true, but only because that was the only shot they were going to have at it, as Janeway wanted to leave immediately and the planet was crucial for the technology to work properly. It was that moment, or never (or at least till they found another planet with suitable properties but they'd have to keep it a secret all that time).
 
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More like TNG season2, euh? Let's see what that would get us ...

1 "The Child"
Kes spontaneously becomes pregnant and gives birth to a mysterious child. Neelix doesn't buy her innocence and gets into a fit of rage,
2 "Where Silence Has Lease"
Voyager becomes trapped in a spatial phenomenon. Here they are subjected to unusual experiments by the whim of a being 'unlike any they have encountered before' but somehow, the script still feels recycled.
3 "Elementary, Dear Kim"
After Ensign Kim easily solves an medical whodunit, Tom Paris asks the computer to make an opponent capable of covering his tracks in such a setting. The result is the EMH, whose medical knowledge actually turns out to be quite useful.
4 "The Outrageous Okona"
Voyager is caught up in the schemes of a flamboyant space rogue on the run, while the newly minted EMH explores humor with the help of a holodeck comedian (Joe Piscopo).
5 "Loud as a Whisper"
The crew play host to a deaf, telepathic ambassador (Howie Seago) who mediates difficult peace negotiations with the assistance of his trio of telepathic interpreters. No reason for the Voyager detour or involvement in local matters that don't really concern the Voyager crew is given.
6 "The Schizoid Man"
An alien scientists cheats death by uploading his memories and personality into the EMH.
7 "Unnatural Selection"
The Voyager receives a distress call from an alien ship , discovering its crew has apparently died of old age. The race is on to solve the mystery before scientists on a research colony suffer the same fate. We get to see crew age even faster than Kes.
8 "A Matter of Horror"
Chakotay is assigned to a Kazon vessel in an attempt to start diplomatic relations with said species, as a gesture of trust. Let's just say the experiment doesn't end well.
9 "The Measure of a Man"
After the EMH refuses an order from a paranoid Janeway to be decompiled for research reasons, a hearing is convened to determine if an accidentally generated but sentient program can be considered property of the crew.
10 "The Dauphin"
The Enterprise hosts the young leader of a single-episode race. Soon, Ensign Kim finds himself falling in love with her. However, Salia and her guardian harbor a secret. Again, no reason whatsoever is given for Voyager hosting the leader of an alien world in the first place.
11 "Contagion"
A dangerous alien computer virus runs rampant through the Enterprise after Tom ill-advisedly runs alien software without check what it actually would do. Turns out a reboot is the simple solution, the ship apparently having no permanent memory accessible to the virus. Inexplicably, the reboot doesn't seem to affect the EMH.
12 "The Royale"
Tuvok and Neelix investigate a structure on the surface of an icy gas giant, which appears to be a hotel from 20th-century Earth. When they try to leave, they are prevented from doing so, and are forced to stay. Hilarity ensues when both non-humans have to improvise their parts.
No reason for the link with 20th century earth is provided, which is puzzling since they're still in the Delta Quadrant.
13 "Time Squared"
Captain Janewaw encounters her unconscious future self when Voyager becomes caught in a time loop where she is destroyed by a space anomaly. At the end of the adventure, captain Janeway remarks: My advice on making sense of temporal paradoxes is simple: don't even try. Not even with extremely dull ones such as these.
14 "The Icarus Factor"
Chakotay's estranged father visits Voyager, and B'elanna's friends discover she is about to miss an important Klingon rite of passage. Two problematic points aren't brought up in the episode: Chakotay's father (1) should be in the Alpha Quadrant and (2) is supposed to be long dead anyway.
15 "Pen Pals"
The Prime Directive is threatened when Tom befriends the child of a pre-warp planet that is suffering from devastating volcanic activity. No problem really, since they're only passing through and will be out of communication range in 24hrs anyway.
16 "Q Who"
Q (John de Lancie) flings Voyager 7,000 light years towards Federation space and into a confrontation with the deadly Borg. At the end, Janeway is really pissed off. Not because of their Borg confrontation, but because Q flung them back to their original position at the end of the episode undoing their 7000 LY gain. She would've beaten those Borg anyway as she's the GOAT, duh!
17 "Samaritan Snare"
A group of seemingly dimwitted aliens, the Pakleds, kidnap Torres to "make their ship go".
18 "Up the Long Ladder"
Captain Janeway must find a way to rescue two radically incompatible cultures, one a primitive Irish farming colony threatened by solar flares, and the other a colony of clones facing inevitable genetic degeneration. Why Janeway would interfere with such alien Delta Quadrant creatures is, once again, never explained, and also we'll never see what becomes of them after this episode. However, she creates a 19-century Irish town holoprogram after this experience that later gets its own arc.
19 "Manhunt"
Kes enters her Elogium, meaning she has to find a mate quickly and her instincts drive her to explore all options. No male on board is safe.
20 "The Emissary"
The Voyager crew must deal with a ship full of Klingons in stasis and unaware they are no longer at war with the Federation. How they ended up in the Delta Quadrant is never explained (hm, I'm starting to notice a pattern here).
21 "Peak Performance"
The EMH fails to beat a humanoid at a game of Strategema and exhibits self-doubt.
and finally ...
22 "Shades of Gray"
A festive compilation of all Ensign Kim Must Suffer moments since Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant!


I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed. There are a good number of Season 2 VOY episodes that I liked. There are a good number of Season 2 TNG episodes that I liked. But I see no need for VOY to do a copy cat of the Season 2 TNG episodes. That doesn't make any sense to me. Nor do I find this a viable argument that the Delta Quadrant in VOY Season 2 should have exactly been like the Delta Quadrant in the TNG Season 2 episode, "Q Who?". This strikes me as an attempt to make the Delta Quadrant seem monolithic and that isn't good writing to me.
 
I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed. There are a good number of Season 2 VOY episodes that I liked. I see no need for the series to do a copy cat of the Season 2 TNG episodes. Nor is this a viable argument that the Delta Quadrant in VOY Season 2 should have exactly been like the Delta Quadrant in the TNG Season 2 episode, "Q Who?". This strikes me as an attempt to make the Delta Quadrant monolithic and that isn't good writing to me.

Well, that's fine with me. It wasn't meant to be taken seriously in the first place. And yes my objective in writing was to make it as much as TNG season 2, just for fun. Of course a serious attempt at a rewrite of VOY season 2 would (hopefully) result in something far better.
 
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