3 Episodes

[Cathara]

Hi,
I'm in the middle of a rather large uni assignment on Star Trek, and I'm at a bit where I need to examine fan reactions to the episodes in question. So I figured I'd ask here.

What do you have to say about TNG's "Chain of Command", VOY's "Equinox" and/or ENT's "Anomaly"? I'm basically looking at torture as portrayed in Star Trek and how it's been covered differently over time, how this ties in to the themes of the series'. Thoughts?

 

[Admiral Shran]

Chain of Command - Loved it. It showed exactly how dehumanizing torture is to the victim.

Anomaly - Loved it. It, and follow-up episodes, showed that torture is not only dehumanizing to the victim, but also, in the end, to the perpetrator as well.

Equinox - Hated it. It basically boils down to saying that torture is okay as long as the victim is a bad person.

 

[Cathara]

Really? I thought "Equinox" went a fair way to showing that torture was always morally unacceptable, that doing so no matter the reason meant becoming the enemy. What with Janeway realising that by leaving that guy in the room like that was so akin to what Captain Ransom and his crew were like. I also really felt for the holodoc when he realised how little it had taken to make him torment 7-of-9 like that.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Except Janeway doesn't learn that lesson.

She tortures the guy and when Chakotay interferes by stopping it and then later questions her actions, she relieves him of duty. Later, when Tuvok questions her actions, she threatens to relieve him as well.

Then the episode ends with Chakotay saying he was wrong to question her.

Add to that the fact that we have absolutely no follow up to it in later episodes and it's clear to me that Janeway didn't learn anything.

Enterprise, on the other hand, had Archer torture a guy and then feel so guilty about it in later episodes that he was willing to go on a suicide mission, i.e. kill himself, in order to atone for his actions. We see that he's been dehumanized by the torture as well. Even in the following season he talks about how he doesn't want people thanking him for saving Earth from the Xindi or saying what an inspiration he is to their kids. He knows what he did was wrong and that he is, therefore, essentially a bad person. He knew he had to do it, but hates himself for it nonetheless.

Voyager just brushed the whole thing under the rug by essentially saying that the Equinox crewmember was guilty of genocide and so, therefore, Janeway has nothing to feel guilty about.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Haha, the Janeway torture scene in "Equinox" is a major source of fan disagreement!
But basically, Janeway doesn't really seem bothered in the end and she doesn't face any consequences.
One of the reasons for Ronald D Moore leaving the Voyager staff was actually that last scene in "Equinox", he was furious that the writers weren't dealing with such a huge issue and brushing it under the rug as Admiral Shran said.

The torture in Chain of Command shows us the strength of Picard and is made to seem extremely ugly, while the torture in "Equinox" is shown to be not that big a deal since our protaganist is doing the torturing.

 

[Cathara]

Hm, I suppose I could have been reading things in that weren't there but I always saw Janeway as admitting her being at fault during that little speech with the plaque.

I always saw that whole "it's never fallen before" as a "well, I've never screwd up and went all dark side that bad before", and Chakotay suggesting putting it back up as a simple "well straighten up and fly right and it'll be cool". To me that scene showed her seeing her own wrong doing.

 

[RyuRoots]

Chain of Command - Loved it. It showed exactly how dehumanizing torture is to the victim.

Equinox - Hated it. It basically boils down to saying that torture is okay as long as the victim is a bad person.

Never saw Anomaly, but otherwise I totally agree. The problem with Equinox is that we, the viewer, are not shown any lesson learned from Janeway's actions. She goes all psychotic, and then has the NERVE to be the one to give the severe dressing-down to the Equinox survivors at the end. I thought they were gonna do something interesting with this "he who fights monsters" sort of plotline, but it ended up being "Oh, she did go nutso on Ransom and his crew, but it's fine since she's the captain".

One "oops guess I went too far lol" REALLY doesn't cut it.

 

[Admiral Shran]

^ Exactly, we don't see her face any consequences for her actions.

What the Equinox crew did was wrong, no doubt, and they more than deserved a dressing down. However, Janeway was NOT the one to deliver it after what she did in this episode. She tortured a man and then offered to give the entire Equinox crew over to the aliens, i.e. let them be killed, just as long as she got her revenge on Ransom.

And to that the fact that Chakotay flat out says that he was wrong to question her authority and actions, and it's just a slap in the face to the viewer. We were being told, in NO uncertain terms, that Janeway could not be held accountable or even considered to be in the wrong because she's the "good guy."

Also add to that the fact that the man she tortured is now going to be serving on Voyager UNDER HER COMMAND! So, in other words, she tortured someone, faced no punishment for it, and then got to remain in control of him (shown by her SEVERELY curtailing his, and the other Equinox crewmembers, liberties aboard Voyager).

You know, I like Voyager; I really do. But this episode was awful.

 

[RyuRoots]

^ Exactly, we don't see her face any consequences for her actions.

What the Equinox crew did was wrong, no doubt, and they more than deserved a dressing down. However, Janeway was NOT the one to deliver it after what she did in this episode. She tortured a man and then offered to give the entire Equinox crew over to the aliens, i.e. let them be killed, just as long as she got her revenge on Ransom.

And to that the fact that Chakotay flat out says that he was wrong to question her authority and actions, and it's just a slap in the face to the viewer. We were being told, in NO uncertain terms, that Janeway could not be held accountable or even considered to be in the wrong because she's the "good guy."

Also add to that the fact that the man she tortured is now going to be serving on Voyager UNDER HER COMMAND! So, in other words, she tortured someone, faced no punishment for it, and then got to remain in control of him (shown by her SEVERELY curtailing his, and the other Equinox crewmembers, liberties aboard Voyager).

You know, I like Voyager; I really do. But this episode was awful.

Completely agreed on all points! It's disappointing because the episode had a lot of potential, but it gets wasted since they don't explore the consequences of Janeway's actions at all.