Ransom and the Equinox

[Daddy Todd]

...Star Trek can be seen as a show about what you get when you have a culture that's designed to bring out the best in humanity, and Moore's Battlestar Galactica is a show about what happens when you have a society that brings out the worst in humanity.

I find it interesting that nobody has pointed out what I think of as the most obvious observation about nuBSG. Namely, it is explicitly a reflection of, and a commentary on, the USA post-9/11.

The US did plenty of heinous things in reaction to the destruction of the WTC; we were acting as if we had been confronted by an extinction-level event when, in reality, it was really a fairly minor wounding.

I think RDM was extrapolating from how the US reacted to that event, and making us look at what we might do in the event of a truly epic attack, like a nuclear holocaust.

I mean, after all we did attack and occupy a country that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the 9/11 attack (Iraq) simply because we could, killing tens of thousands in the process. Seriously, that was pretty bad.

I don't think RDM had any idea how to keep the show going after that initial set-piece, so he generally substituted soap opera for social commentary -- and the ending was pure junk.

But I think he did hold us up to a funhouse mirror and make us look at how badly we acted in the wake of our tragedy. There were plenty of individual heroes in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, but our government(s) were little better than Admiral Cain as actors on the world stage.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I was reading an article where Ron was lamenting the use of technobabble in Trek, claiming they just wrote things like "Captain, we used the tech to tech the tech" in scripts and had interns fill in the placeholders later.

No, not interns. The Writers' Guide suggested that prospective writers use the word "tech" to indicate where a futuristic scientific term would be required, and the appropriate words were brainstormed for the script by the likes of salaried science advisors and consultants, such as Naren Shankar.

 

[Christopher]

I find it interesting that nobody has pointed out what I think of as the most obvious observation about nuBSG. Namely, it is explicitly a reflection of, and a commentary on, the USA post-9/11.

The US did plenty of heinous things in reaction to the destruction of the WTC; we were acting as if we had been confronted by an extinction-level event when, in reality, it was really a fairly minor wounding.

I think RDM was extrapolating from how the US reacted to that event, and making us look at what we might do in the event of a truly epic attack, like a nuclear holocaust.

I mean, after all we did attack and occupy a country that had absolutely NOTHING to do with the 9/11 attack (Iraq) simply because we could, killing tens of thousands in the process. Seriously, that was pretty bad.

But again, we didn't all do that. Some reacted that way, others reacted differently. Yes, after 9/11 there were a lot of people who gave into racism and violent xenophobia; I remember a story about a Sikh store owner being beaten or murdered by some idiots who couldn't tell the difference between a Sikh and a Muslim Arab. But there were also plenty of people who stood up against the bigotry. Heck, in the immediate wake of 9/11, President Bush and his administration made an admirable effort to educate the public and condemn violence against Arab- and Muslim-Americans in the strongest possible terms, something I really respected -- although then he had to go and ruin it by invading Iraq.

I've never objected to the fact that characters in BSG did bad things; I just wanted to see more characters doing good things to balance it out. There were some, yes, but it seemed to me as though most of the time, Helo and Sharon were the designated sane people while virtually everyone else around them was screwing up horribly or being totally idiotic.

 

[Jarvisimo]

I've never objected to the fact that characters in BSG did bad things; I just wanted to see more characters doing good things to balance it out. There were some, yes, but it seemed to me as though most of the time, Helo and Sharon were the designated sane people while virtually everyone else around them was screwing up horribly or being totally idiotic.

Lol on Helo and Sharon being the positive whipping boys (or boy and girl)! Though Athena-Sharon had her fair share of nastiness too, being originally a spy and then a manipulator, and finally vengeful against targets unjustified (the Natalie 6) and justifiable (Boomer). Helo was the audience's eyes on Caprica in season one, and never quite lost that isolated nobility. As for other noble characters, you forget Dee & Billy (though I do not mean them as a couple, but independently of one another - Billy as president presumptive, and Dee as both Adama's consciences at times).

You are right to say how often characters were deliberately made to screw up on BSG, sometimes for purposes of plot (Billy being shot by Starbuck, for example, or Ellen Tigh's machinations in the Colonial Day episode). But arguably for every story-derived messification of a character, there was one that came as much more from reasons true to the characters (though it did seem to last ages, I think the Adama-Starbuck affair was very true to each of them as established by that point in the story).

However, I do think that Moore, Weddle, Thompson, Taylor, et al *, tried to infuse their more messy characters with positivity too. As I said before even the Branson-esque Cain was seen to be capable of forgiveness, modelling the example set by Adama and Roslin had set towards each other after Kobol.

And arguably the darkest acts on SG a great deal of sense in context. I think the most perfect act that portrayed the Pegesus-ification of people was the Mutiny, where half the secondary cast, led by Gaeta - having felt betrayed and hopeless after the finding of Earth and suddenly being in bed with the Cylons acted in a manner understandable. I think only Zarek's machinations in the arc were demonstrably monstrous, though I might be forgetting things.

* why is it when we talk of BSG we only talk of Moore's creative insight, and not, for example, these Trek alums, or Rymer, Eick or other peeps-in-charge?

 

[Christopher]

* why is it when we talk of BSG we only talk of Moore's creative insight, and not, for example, these Trek alums, or Rymer, Eick or other peeps-in-charge?

Actually I consider Eick to be the main problem. As I believe I already said above, I think the episodes Moore wrote struck a better balance of positivity and negativity. I remember one or two moments where, in the middle of a dark and solemn story, a couple of characters would be having a conversation and one of them would mention something funny and they'd both just break up and it would be very silly and heartwarming and human. But I don't think there were nearly enough of those moments in later seasons or in episodes not credited to Moore (although, yes, I'm aware that the showrunner has a hand in every script). And other Eick-produced shows I've seen, like the Bionic Woman remake, have been pretty dire, so I don't have a lot of faith in his abilities.

Anyway, I'm tired of talking about BSG. Maybe there's a rationale for all the darkness, but I didn't enjoy watching that much darkness and I sure don't enjoy talking about it at length.

 

[SicOne]

Helping with recovery and rescue in the immediate aftermath of a regional disaster such as the Joplin, MO tornado or Hurricane Katrina, knowing that state and/or federal help was on the way or would be shortly, is vastly different than the aftermath of an extinction-level event like the Cylon devastation of the Colonies, or a global thermonuclear war on Earth.

Except that federal help wasn't on the way shortly after Katrina. Things were allowed to get far worse than they ever should've if the government had been on the ball, and a sizeable portion of the population of New Orleans felt abandoned and discarded. And yet there were still tales of great nobility, selflessness, kindness, and humor alongside the tales of despair and depravity.

Which is fair, but even Hurricane Katrina's situation was radically different from an extinction-level event. Since such a thing has never happened--at least not in living memory--I don't know if we really have any idea what the general reaction amongst survivors would be one way or the other.

I think it would be more along the lines of portions of S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire...even the most antisocial git-offa-my-land swamp dweller knew that there would be some help at some point from some state or Fed agency after Katrina.

For Ransom and the crew of the Equinox, they knew they were stuck, had significantly fewer resources on a Nova than an Intrepid-class ship, and lost half the crew in short order. I don't blame them the least for what they did. Get home however you can, and face the music afterwards. Even a Federation jail beats dying slowly of starvation in interstellar space, or so I would imagine.

 

[Sci]

Except that federal help wasn't on the way shortly after Katrina. Things were allowed to get far worse than they ever should've if the government had been on the ball, and a sizeable portion of the population of New Orleans felt abandoned and discarded. And yet there were still tales of great nobility, selflessness, kindness, and humor alongside the tales of despair and depravity.

Which is fair, but even Hurricane Katrina's situation was radically different from an extinction-level event. Since such a thing has never happened--at least not in living memory--I don't know if we really have any idea what the general reaction amongst survivors would be one way or the other.

I think it would be more along the lines of portions of S.M. Stirling's Dies The Fire...even the most antisocial git-offa-my-land swamp dweller knew that there would be some help at some point from some state or Fed agency after Katrina.

For Ransom and the crew of the Equinox, they knew they were stuck, had significantly fewer resources on a Nova than an Intrepid-class ship, and lost half the crew in short order. I don't blame them the least for what they did. Get home however you can, and face the music afterwards. Even a Federation jail beats dying slowly of starvation in interstellar space, or so I would imagine.

And what about the innocent people they murdered?

 

[SicOne]

What people?

 

[Christopher]

What people?

You know, the sentient aliens they killed and burned as their fuel source?

 

[Edit_XYZ]

And what about the innocent people they murdered?

The first sentient alien only a FEW of Equinox's crew interacted with was killed by them, as per their account, by mistake - which is not to say the action of these few was not culpable; as to the culpability's form, at the very least they acted recklessly.

Afterwards, the crew were attacked by many of the sentient aliens - and killed them in self-defense.
And yes, they used the aliens' bodies to power their ship.

The Equinox's crew fell short of federation morals, yes.
But the crew (especially those who were not involved with the death of the first captured alien) were not even close to being the mass-murderers you paint them as - happily murdering "innocent" people who, you failed to mention, constantly attacked them, intent on destoying Equinox and killing everyone aboard - and quite a few of the crew were killed by aliens prior to the ecounter with Voyager.

The crew most definitely did NOT deserve to be sentenced to death.
And Janeway, by her actions, did sentence them to death; a penalty not found in the federation penal code.

Janeway fell short of federation morals as well; to claim moral superiority on her part is unjustified.

 

[The Wormhole]

But the crew (especially those who were not involved with the death of the first captured alien) were not even close to being the mass-murderers you paint them as - happily murdering "innocent" people who, you failed to mention, constantly attacked them, intent on destoying Equinox and killing everyone aboard - and quite a few of the crew were killed by aliens prior to the ecounter with Voyager.

The crew most definitely did NOT deserve to be sentenced to death.
And Janeway, by her actions, did sentence them to death; a penalty not found in the federation penal code.

Well, everyone on the crew with the exception of Ensign Gilmore turned on Ransom when he finally decided to stop killing the aliens. And besides, Janeway did beam away the Equinox crew before the ship was destroyed. The only ones left behind were Ransom (who voluntarily stayed) and the bridge officers (who shielded themselves to prevent beam out).

And the Federation does execute anyone who violates General Order 7. True, that's not applicable in this circumstance, but the Federation does still have a death penalty.

 

[Christopher]

And the Federation does execute anyone who violates General Order 7. True, that's not applicable in this circumstance, but the Federation does still have a death penalty.

First off, that's a Starfleet general order, not a civilian law, so saying "the Federation" is a bit misleading. Second, using the present tense is misleading; we know the order existed in 2267, but we don't know if it still applies in the 24th century. I believe Burning Dreams established that it was repealed c. 2320. And it certainly wasn't enforced after "The Menagerie," so all we can say is that the order was on the books, not that it was actually carried out in practice at any time.

 

[SicOne]

What people?

You know, the sentient aliens they killed and burned as their fuel source?

Clearly, it would have been nice for all parties involved if that hadn't proved necessary. But if the Equinox crew didn't want to be marooned in space, they had to resort to a Plan B. It's been awhile since I've seen the episode, but if memory serves they were just toodling along at impulse speed with no food. By "no food", I can only assume it means that all replicators were empty (else they'd have peeled up the carpet and dumped all non-essential ship parts into the replicator recyclers)(oh, and gone nekkid so they could have their uniforms turned into foodstuffs) and emergency rations, nutrient cubes, what-have-you, were consumed...OR...that there was not enough energy to power the replicators, even if they came to a dead stop and channeled impulse engine power to the replicator systems, or whatever Treknology Trekplanation they could come up with to allow the replicators to make chow. Since apparently the latter didn't happen, I lean towards the former.

Bottom line, dudes, unless they were prepared to begin cannibalizing each other, they were all going to starve to death, to say nothing of ever making it home.

They limped into orbit of the world where the hospitality aliens summoned the liquid-Schwartz aliens (for lack of better descriptive terms for both species, and if you've seen Spaceballs you'll understand the reference...), but IIRC no further mention was made of food. That suggests there was nothing on the hospitality aliens' planet that humans could eat or could convert to edible foodstuffs without replicator systems power...which brings us back to needing more ship power to make food, much less try to get home.

I do take some exception at the manner in which the Equinox crew abducted the liquid-Schwartz aliens. They just opened up an aperture and let one fly into their space, sealed the aperture behind it, and set about the conversion process. It doesn't appear that they made any attempt to communicate with the liquid-Schwartz alien leadership to arrange for that species to hand over their redundant surplus population (their version of convicted murders, pedophiles, ultra-religious figures who protest soldiers' funerals, and smarmy politicians) for a mutually-beneficial relationship with the Equinox. Additionally, the liquid-Schwartz aliens didn't look all that cuddly to begin with; it's not like Ransom and his crew were pitchforking Ewoks (yub-yub) into the boilers. But that's beside the point.

In a perfect universe, the Equinox crew would have discovered some other way to get home that was considerably more compliant with Federation law and values, but insofar as I remember how the episode went, this was all they had left before they all died.

 

[SicOne]

But the crew (especially those who were not involved with the death of the first captured alien) were not even close to being the mass-murderers you paint them as - happily murdering "innocent" people who, you failed to mention, constantly attacked them, intent on destoying Equinox and killing everyone aboard - and quite a few of the crew were killed by aliens prior to the ecounter with Voyager.

The crew most definitely did NOT deserve to be sentenced to death.
And Janeway, by her actions, did sentence them to death; a penalty not found in the federation penal code.

Well, everyone on the crew with the exception of Ensign Gilmore turned on Ransom when he finally decided to stop killing the aliens. And besides, Janeway did beam away the Equinox crew before the ship was destroyed. The only ones left behind were Ransom (who voluntarily stayed) and the bridge officers (who shielded themselves to prevent beam out).

We don't necessarily know that "everyone on the crew" except Gilmore turned on Ransom. All we knew was that Max, et al on the bridge turned on him. Of the Equinox Five that survived, all we know for certain is that Noah Lessing and Marla Gilmore knew of the experimentation and implementation of what was occurring with the liquid-Schwartz aliens. The other three individuals may have had no idea what was going on, or at least the depth thereof. On a ship that small with only about 40 people left alive, odds are that the surviving five knew in a general way what was going on, but I wouldn't think the Equinox leadership necessarily divulged every detail down to the crewman level, Lessing exempted. Even if a handful of the crew objected, Ransom and Max may have just run roughshod over the objectors...much like Janeway bulldozed Chakotay when it came to her interrogation of Lessing.

The entirety of the Equinox crew had some guilt-by-association, to be sure, but there were a helluva lot of mitigating circumstances involved.

 

[SicOne]

All of the above being said, I think the remainder of the season would have been much more interesting if the Equinox crew had come clean, some manner of resolution and restitution had been possible with the liquid-Schwartz aliens, and both ships had worked together (or Equinox appropriately and intelligently cannibalized) to continue the journey. Imagine the storytelling possible in the remainder of the season with some fresh blood among the crewmembers; Max and Tom as rivals for B'Elanna's attentions, where Gilmore and Chakotay might have taken things, the interaction between both ship's EMHs...

 

[Christopher]

Clearly, it would have been nice for all parties involved if that hadn't proved necessary.

Good lord, "necessary?" Do you really have such a poor comprehension of the underlying themes and morality of Star Trek that you can propose with a straight face that it would ever be accepted as "necessary" to murder defenseless sentient beings for one's own survival? What kind of nihilistic, morally bankrupt universe do you imagine Star Trek takes place in? Have you actually watched the shows? Starfleet officers are supposed to be ready to sacrifice themselves to protect innocent lives, not the other way around. The kind of monsters who'd think they were justified in victimizing others for their own self-interest are the kinds of people that Starfleet is dedicated to standing against. (I'm reminded of a great line from a Leverage episode, from Elliot to a militant survivalist nut: "You'd kill to protect your rights. A real soldier would die to protect someone else's.")

 

[SicOne]

Clearly, it would have been nice for all parties involved if that hadn't proved necessary.

Good lord, "necessary?" Do you really have such a poor comprehension of the underlying themes and morality of Star Trek that you can propose with a straight face that it would ever be accepted as "necessary" to murder defenseless sentient beings for one's own survival? What kind of nihilistic, morally bankrupt universe do you imagine Star Trek takes place in? Have you actually watched the shows? Starfleet officers are supposed to be ready to sacrifice themselves to protect innocent lives, not the other way around. The kind of monsters who'd think they were justified in victimizing others for their own self-interest are the kinds of people that Starfleet is dedicated to standing against. (I'm reminded of a great line from a Leverage episode, from Elliot to a militant survivalist nut: "You'd kill to protect your rights. A real soldier would die to protect someone else's.")

Yes, Christopher, "necessary".

Ransom and his crew were going to die. The liquid-Schwartz alien they were checking out had already died, and they then discovered they could turn it into fuel. What would you have had them do, flush the remains down the toilet?

High-minded principles are fine when you're able to eat and on your way home, but when you're gonna die and are marooned on the far side of the galaxy, well, then you bend to the occasion. You think he made a bad call. Well, human beings aren't infallible. Even in Star Trek.

I felt that Ransom had a higher responsibility to his crew than he did to an unknown alien species. Shit like that is what got Voyager stranded in the DQ in the first place, when Janeway might have been able to get the Caretaker array to send her back home at the expense of the Ocampa...as high-minded as she was at that moment of the crucial decision, don't try to tell me that there weren't times that she and others didn't think they made the wrong call. That said, trying to find another way back to the Federation in an Intrepid-class has a helluva lot higher chance of success than in a Nova-class designed only for short-duration planetary exploration, or so I perceive it.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I have a high comprehension of the underlying themes and morality of Star Trek. I don't think the show takes place in a nihilistic or morally bankrupt universe at all; rather the reverse. Yes, I have actually watched the show. I'm just saying that given the Equinox's situation and their imminent fate, and the scientific discovery they basically lucked out in obtaining, they made the right call. What Starfleet officers are supposed to is what is necessary to get their crew home. Or have you forgotten about Janeway's deal with the Borg, for example? Or the various actions of Section 31 for the greater good?

 

[Christopher]

Yes, Christopher, "necessary".

Ransom and his crew were going to die. The liquid-Schwartz alien they were checking out had already died, and they then discovered they could turn it into fuel. What would you have had them do, flush the remains down the toilet?

Good grief, did you even see the episode? Get your basic facts straight.

JANEWAY: The alien compound. Ten isograms. If I understand your calculations, that's enough to increase your warp factor by what, point zero three percent for one month? Unfortunately, that boost wouldn't get you very far, so you'd need to replenish the supply and that means killing another lifeform, and then another. How many lives would it take to get you back to the Alpha quadrant? I think you know the reason we're under attack. These aliens are trying to protect themselves from you.
RANSOM: Sixty three, that's how many more it will take.

And note, that's 63 more than they'd already killed. At that point, they were about 4/7 of the way home already, suggesting that they'd already killed around 84 aliens to get as far as they had.

High-minded principles are fine when you're able to eat and on your way home, but when you're gonna die and are marooned on the far side of the galaxy, well, then you bend to the occasion.

NOT if you are an ethical sentient being who recognizes how evil it is to kill other sentient beings for your own selfish interest. Not if you are a Starfleet officer who SWORE AN OATH TO GIVE YOUR LIFE TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT. How the hell can you not understand that that is how Starfleet officers think? How can you have the slightest degree of familiarity with Star Trek and think they could be that monstrously nihilistic as to MURDER INTELLIGENT LIFE FORMS BY THE HUNDREDS just to get closer to home?

And "necessary?" Don't give me that. They could've found a planet, settled down to live there.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I have a high comprehension of the underlying themes and morality of Star Trek. I don't think the show takes place in a nihilistic or morally bankrupt universe at all; rather the reverse. Yes, I have actually watched the show. I'm just saying that given the Equinox's situation and their imminent fate, and the scientific discovery they basically lucked out in obtaining, they made the right call. What Starfleet officers are supposed to is what is necessary to get their crew home. Or have you forgotten about Janeway's deal with the Borg, for example? Or the various actions of Section 31 for the greater good?

Janeway's deal with the Borg proved to be a serious mistake. And Section 31, in case you haven't noticed, are the bad guys. They're monsters who commit evil acts in the name of what they claim to be the "greater good." You have missed the point of Star Trek to an astonishing degree.

 

[SicOne]

Yes, Christopher, "necessary".

Ransom and his crew were going to die. The liquid-Schwartz alien they were checking out had already died, and they then discovered they could turn it into fuel. What would you have had them do, flush the remains down the toilet?

Good grief, did you even see the episode? Get your basic facts straight.

JANEWAY: The alien compound. Ten isograms. If I understand your calculations, that's enough to increase your warp factor by what, point zero three percent for one month? Unfortunately, that boost wouldn't get you very far, so you'd need to replenish the supply and that means killing another lifeform, and then another. How many lives would it take to get you back to the Alpha quadrant? I think you know the reason we're under attack. These aliens are trying to protect themselves from you.
RANSOM: Sixty three, that's how many more it will take.

And note, that's 63 more than they'd already killed. At that point, they were about 4/7 of the way home already, suggesting that they'd already killed around 84 aliens to get as far as they had.

High-minded principles are fine when you're able to eat and on your way home, but when you're gonna die and are marooned on the far side of the galaxy, well, then you bend to the occasion.

NOT if you are an ethical sentient being who recognizes how evil it is to kill other sentient beings for your own selfish interest. Not if you are a Starfleet officer who SWORE AN OATH TO GIVE YOUR LIFE TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT. How the hell can you not understand that that is how Starfleet officers think? How can you have the slightest degree of familiarity with Star Trek and think they could be that monstrously nihilistic as to MURDER INTELLIGENT LIFE FORMS BY THE HUNDREDS just to get closer to home?

And "necessary?" Don't give me that. They could've found a planet, settled down to live there.

Anyway, back to the issue at hand, I have a high comprehension of the underlying themes and morality of Star Trek. I don't think the show takes place in a nihilistic or morally bankrupt universe at all; rather the reverse. Yes, I have actually watched the show. I'm just saying that given the Equinox's situation and their imminent fate, and the scientific discovery they basically lucked out in obtaining, they made the right call. What Starfleet officers are supposed to is what is necessary to get their crew home. Or have you forgotten about Janeway's deal with the Borg, for example? Or the various actions of Section 31 for the greater good?

Janeway's deal with the Borg proved to be a serious mistake. And Section 31, in case you haven't noticed, are the bad guys. They're monsters who commit evil acts in the name of what they claim to be the "greater good." You have missed the point of Star Trek to an astonishing degree.

Yeah, I saw the episode. When it aired, ten years ago or something like that. I caught part of it on a rerun a few years back but don't remember it chapter, line, and verse. If you do, or have it on video, more power to you. But as I recalled for the purposes of this thread, my memory was that the Equinox crew summoned one, it died in short order and they felt bad about it, but then discovered the body could be used to enhance their warp drive and power their systems. After a hearty meal, they apparently decided to summon more and use them for the above-mentioned nefarious purposes. But insofar as I can recall, the first alien was summoned not for the specific purpose of being shoveled into the warp core. Again, I don't have it on video, nor did I feel like digging up the episode on the Internet at that specific time that I posted. So if I'm wrong in my interpretation on the order of events from an episode barely remembered, just say so. You appear to have a transcript handy; put the whole thing surrounding the initial incident up so that we may all refresh ourselves pending further discussion.

A boost of point-zero-three percent of a warp factor? For only one month? I'm no mathematician, but it occurs to me that you would need more, much more than another 63 liquid-Schwartz aliens to make it the other 3/7ths of the way home. I didn't run the numbers myself, but it makes sense to think of that. Oh, and you'd better grab some spares, just in case. Granted, it doesn't help my argument to mention that mathematical discrepancy, but in the interests of intellectual honesty I felt I should point that out. Too bad the aliens couldn't power a transwarp conduit. It would have shaved some time off the Equinox's journey.

Evil? When they did what they had to do to maintain ship power, to say nothing of getting home? Nope. Evil, in my opinion, is more malicious in intent. I view what they did as more of an operational necessity if they wanted to have a shot at making it home. If that decision was evil, it was more benign than malicious. On the one hand, if they didn't do this then they were screwed and would have starved to death. On the other hand, they do this and can possibly make it home. Given a choice between a slim chance and no chance, they did what I believe most other human beings would have done. And again, their situation was considerably more dire than that of Janeway's upon leaving the Caretaker's array. Like, orders of magnitude more dire.

As I suggested, altruism is great when you're not gonna fuckin' die from making the "right" choice.

"Not if you are a Starfleet officer who SWORE AN OATH TO GIVE YOUR LIFE TO PROTECT THE INNOCENT?" (sorry, I don't know how to divy up the quotes...my bad). Uh, my innocent crew trying to make it home alive to their innocent families trumps the interests of the liquid-Schwartz aliens. Sucks, but there it is. You'd shit if I was your captain...but your crew would frag you if you were their's, when you had a way out of a life-ending predicament for what was left of your entire crew and didn't take it.

Yeah, sure, they could have found a planet to live on and settled there. Maybe. If I remember the dialogue right, they had just enough energy to limp into orbit of the world of the hospitality aliens. Probably not enough energy to break orbit, to say nothing of the years-long journey at impulse speeds to another inhabitable planet. They probably would have died well before that. Remember, they hadn't eaten in several days already. Could they have settled on the hospitality aliens' planet? I dunno. I don't think the episode covered that. It's irrelevant. They wanted to get home, were willing to do what they did and live with the consequences. That's making the tough call.

Section 31, I view, is a necessary foil to the Tal Shiar and the Obsidian Order and whatever rough pronounciation of consonants that sounds like a dog barfing up a ground squirrel names the Klingon equivalent. I don't know if S31 predated the latter organizations existence, but they appear to be the rough men (and women) who stand ready to do the distasteful but necessary things that the residents of the Federation don't really want to think or know about. Life, even fictional life, isn't all black or white; it is shades of gray. There's innumerable compromises, subtle and gross, in everyone's lives. Even a "good guy" political entity like the Federation. Oh, I get the point of Star Trek. It merely needs a spritzing of reality. Weren't the actions of Section 31 responsible for keeping the Typhon Pact from finishing a slipstream prototype? Wasn't Ross a member of Section 31? Didn't he and others get rid of President Min Zife and a few other wrongdoers in recent Trek lit? Weren't those actions deemed necessary at the time in order to avert further troubles? You'll have to refresh my memory on that situation.

Frankly, I like it more like that; fiction is more enjoyable if it's more realistic in nature, at least to me. If everyone in the Federation just sat around all kum-bay-ahh and no one was willing to do the bad shit, the Federation would have been eaten alive by enemies that would take advantage of its weakness. Starfleet's primary purpose is exploration but defense has to be a strong second; however, defense is considerably more easy to accomplish if you have an organization that is more offense in preemption. Such an organization, by necessity, must work in the dark. Boys, say hello to Section 31. To give a contemporary relevance, as the whole WikiLeaks thing has shown us, not only does the U.S. have their fingers in a whole goddamn bunch of pies but also do other nations, allied and hostile alike. Some malicious fingers, some benign, some completely necessary, some just shit-disturbing. Shades of grey, my friend.

Anyway, Equinox lucked into the discovery that the liquid-Schwartz aliens could be converted into energy for the ship, with enough aliens shoveled willy-nilly into the warp core they could get home, and even if they were jailed for life upon arrival they'd still get three-hots-and-a-cot, and THAT surely beats starving to death in interstellar space. All the moral handwringing about it isn't gonna change my opinion, pardner.

With all of your capitalizing of words and your anguished tone that shows through in your posts on this issue, I do feel compelled to point out to you that it's just a fictional show and that no nasty-looking aliens actually died in the production of Star Trek:Voyager. You seem to be getting all verklempt about it out of proportion. May I suggest a nice tall glass of liquid Schwartz?

 

[Stevil2001]

I don't think Christoper is suggesting that it is unrealistic for the Equinox crew to have acted as they did, but rather it is by no means justifiable. I cannot imagine Captain Kirk or Captain Picard acting as Ransom did.