Re: A Hater Revisits Voyager
Agreed again, GodBen.
This episode is utterly stupid (just why did those aliens choose to eject that pickup in space?) and like you said the cloud mumbo jumbo was just an excuse to use the ship-landing feature they had designed into it, and a rather lame one at that. I think they should have picked a more meaningful reason to use it the first time.
It seems the dramatic goals of this episode were two-fold. First, let Janeway meet one of her childhood heroes. Second, let the crew meet a well-established group of humans and decide whether it is worthwhile to continue onward. Fair enough. That said, I have long thought it could have been handled much better, and much more believably.
(If I may derail for a moment. I'll return control when done.)
First, Voyager doesn't find a pickup truck in space. They pick up an automatic distress call which appears to be Starfleet. Closing in, they find an old automated recorder-marker buoy (not unlike the one from the Valiant in TOS's 'Where No Man Has Gone Before.') It turns out to be from a Starfleet ship (which I'll call the Earhart) reported missing near the Romulan border in the 2190s. They detect what appears to be a Starfleet warp signature coming from a nearby world. Warping there, they come under attack from an old Starfleet ship - in fact, the Earhart itself (possibly Daedalus class) apparently still running after all these years with newer tech patched on.
We would discover that the Earhart accidentally fell through the Barzan wormhole years ago, was stranded when the wormhole shifted, and wandered through the Delta Quadrant aimlessly for years, not knowing where they were (the maps of the era lacking sufficient info to clue them in) until finally discovering the uninhabited world and settling on it, keeping their ship running to supply and defend the colony. For many years, they have been bullied by a neighboring alien race (possibly Kazon?) This has left them rather paranoid, and also, since the Prime Directive was relatively new at the time, they may've taken some liberties. Voyager helps them deal with their alien problem while bonding with the humans. Similarly to how it was presented in the aired episode, the Voyager crew are then offered the choice to stay behind with the Earhart descendants, or carry on, and offer them the similar choice to come with them. This cultural exchange and deliberation would force the Voyager crew to face the possibility that they might never be able to get home, and might have to settle as the Earhart did. I would definitely have had some of the Earhart descendants come with them, but the Earhart (being slower) and the majority of its descendants stay behind. It might also be interesting if some of the Voyager crew wanted to stay behind but were pursuaded otherwise behind Janeway's back by Chakotay.
Anyway, that's roughly how I'd have done it. You can have your thread back, GodBen. I think you were generous rating this episode as well as you did, and I'll let you have the last word:
Agreed again, GodBen.
This episode is utterly stupid (just why did those aliens choose to eject that pickup in space?) and like you said the cloud mumbo jumbo was just an excuse to use the ship-landing feature they had designed into it, and a rather lame one at that. I think they should have picked a more meaningful reason to use it the first time.
It seems the dramatic goals of this episode were two-fold. First, let Janeway meet one of her childhood heroes. Second, let the crew meet a well-established group of humans and decide whether it is worthwhile to continue onward. Fair enough. That said, I have long thought it could have been handled much better, and much more believably.
(If I may derail for a moment. I'll return control when done.)
First, Voyager doesn't find a pickup truck in space. They pick up an automatic distress call which appears to be Starfleet. Closing in, they find an old automated recorder-marker buoy (not unlike the one from the Valiant in TOS's 'Where No Man Has Gone Before.') It turns out to be from a Starfleet ship (which I'll call the Earhart) reported missing near the Romulan border in the 2190s. They detect what appears to be a Starfleet warp signature coming from a nearby world. Warping there, they come under attack from an old Starfleet ship - in fact, the Earhart itself (possibly Daedalus class) apparently still running after all these years with newer tech patched on.
We would discover that the Earhart accidentally fell through the Barzan wormhole years ago, was stranded when the wormhole shifted, and wandered through the Delta Quadrant aimlessly for years, not knowing where they were (the maps of the era lacking sufficient info to clue them in) until finally discovering the uninhabited world and settling on it, keeping their ship running to supply and defend the colony. For many years, they have been bullied by a neighboring alien race (possibly Kazon?) This has left them rather paranoid, and also, since the Prime Directive was relatively new at the time, they may've taken some liberties. Voyager helps them deal with their alien problem while bonding with the humans. Similarly to how it was presented in the aired episode, the Voyager crew are then offered the choice to stay behind with the Earhart descendants, or carry on, and offer them the similar choice to come with them. This cultural exchange and deliberation would force the Voyager crew to face the possibility that they might never be able to get home, and might have to settle as the Earhart did. I would definitely have had some of the Earhart descendants come with them, but the Earhart (being slower) and the majority of its descendants stay behind. It might also be interesting if some of the Voyager crew wanted to stay behind but were pursuaded otherwise behind Janeway's back by Chakotay.
Anyway, that's roughly how I'd have done it. You can have your thread back, GodBen. I think you were generous rating this episode as well as you did, and I'll let you have the last word:
