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Another Voyager 1st-time watch thread

Year of Hell is what Voyager should have been for most of its run. If so, it would have been the best ST out of all of them. Stupid UPN.

Some days I wish that had been the case, and others I think it would have been very monotonous after a while - I sometimes felt BSG's constant melodrama was a bit much.

I totally would have been down with it being a whole season, though. Wasn't that the plan before UPN poo-poohed it?

Yeah, Brannon Braga wanted it to be a season-long arc, but UPN, of course, put a stop to that (like all good ideas).
 
Year of Hell is what Voyager should have been for most of its run. If so, it would have been the best ST out of all of them. Stupid UPN.

Some days I wish that had been the case, and others I think it would have been very monotonous after a while - I sometimes felt BSG's constant melodrama was a bit much.

I totally would have been down with it being a whole season, though. Wasn't that the plan before UPN poo-poohed it?

Yeah, Brannon Braga wanted it to be a season-long arc, but UPN, of course, put a stop to that (like all good ideas).

Ronald D. Moore was very briefly on the Voyager staff and left in anger. His frustrated contemplations of what Voyager could and should have been inspired his work on BSG.

I won’t go so far as to say that BSG is what Voyager should have been, but it does in a lot of ways demonstrate the potential that Voyager had and blew.
 
I’ve just seen Year of Hell, Part II. (I watched the teaser last night, but the rest of the episode just now.) My comments.
That was a GREAT story...

...except for the $@#&ing reset button at the end!!! What IS it with these people?


TUVOK: It is inappropriate to contradict the Captain in front of the crew.
SEVEN: That was not my intention. I simply pointed out that her decision was wrong.
TUVOK: In your view.
SEVEN: And yours. I know you well enough to say that.
TUVOK: Then you should also know that my trust in Captain Janeway is absolute. The decision you or I might have made is irrelevant.
SEVEN: As a Borg, I submitted to a single authority, the Collective. Over the past several months I’ve been encouraged to think and act as an individual. It is difficult to know when to restrain myself.
TUVOK: Remember this guideline. The Captain is always right.
For all I’ve been saying about her being an autocrat, it should be said for her that she’s an autocrat supported by popular consensus. The crew believes in her infallibility. Not that that gives her the right to disregard the rights of species like the B’omar...


I wonder what would happen if the EMH tried to assert such authority, but my guess is Janeway would simply deactivate him or alter his programming.
I didn’t have to wait long for an answer.

In the teaser of Year of Hell, Part II, she demands trioxin from the doctor. He demurs, saying the triox could damage her and she needs proper treatment, “Doctor’s orders.” She barks at him, “Captain’s orders! Trioxin, now!” He gives in and sarcastically comments, “I’m only the Chief Medical Officer. What do I know?”

I don’t have a copy of Starfleet’s regulations to refer to, but nonetheless I’m pretty sure they make the CMO the legitimate authority on this issue.
And later in the episode:
EMH: As Chief Medical Officer I have the authority to relieve you of your command.
JANEWAY: You’re not going to do that.
EMH: If, in my medical opinion, your judgment has been impaired, I can. And I will.
JANEWAY: Try it and I’ll shut down your program.
Which is exactly what I said she would do.

EMH: By refusing my orders you risk a general court-martial.
JANEWAY: Compared to what I’ve been through the past few months, a court-martial would be a small price to pay. If we make it back home I’ll be happy to face the music.
LOL! Just a couple of hours ago I posted:
I’d cut Janeway more slack if she acknowledged that she was constantly overstepping her authority as captain of Voyager, violating Starfleet regulations, Federation law, and the rights of anyone who stood in her way, that there could be consequences for that, and that she was prepared to accept those consequences.
OK, I guess she just earned a little slack from me.

But then she loses that slack when the reset button is pressed at the end of the episode. :p


CHAKOTAY: You’re not doing anything against Annorax. That’s an order.
PARIS: What are you going to do? Take away my Holodeck privileges?
CHAKOTAY: Either we maintain our command structure or else we settle our differences the old-fashioned way.
Maquis Chakotay! We don’t see him often enough.


CHAKOTAY: You didn’t need to fire on that planet!
ANNORAX: I am altering history on a massive scale. The destinies of countless star systems are in my hands. The fate of one species is insignificant.
CHAKOTAY: You’re trying to rationalize genocide. One species is significant. A single life is significant.
Annorax somehow missing the obvious rebuttal, “OK, one species is significant. So are all the ones I brought back by this same action.”


PARIS: And Captain Janeway attacking from Voyager. That is, if the Captain’s still alive.
CHAKOTAY: She’s alive. Send the message.
Another endorsement for her infallibility.


TUVOK: A vessel is approaching off the port bow, Captain.
JANEWAY: On screen.
KIM: They’re hailing us.
JANEWAY: Open a channel.
KRENIM COMMANDANT [on viewscreen]: You’ve entered Krenim space. State your identity.
JANEWAY: Captain Janeway of the Starship Voyager. We’re just passing through, trying to get home.
KRENIM COMMANDANT [on viewscreen]: This region is in dispute. I suggest you avoid our territory.
JANEWAY: Thanks for the warning.
KRENIM COMMANDANT [on viewscreen]: Good journey.
CHAKOTAY: Tom, plot a course around Krenim space.
PARIS: Aye, sir.
WHY THE #^&( DIDN’T YOU JUST DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!!
WHY THE #^&( DIDN’T YOU JUST DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!!
WHY THE #^&( DIDN’T YOU JUST DO THAT IN THE FIRST PLACE?!!!
 
It starts on "Day One," so it looks like we're in for a...

"Year of Hell, Part One"

Wow. That's about all I can say right now. What an episode.

First, though, I need someone to help me. I recall Kes warning them about the Krenim and chroniton torpedoes in "Before and After." In particular, she knew the phase variance of the "struck" torpedo. How come nobody remembers that? Or did that not happen in the "real" timeline? I'm a little confused.

Second, I've got a potential logic problem. Voyager runs into Krenim on stardate 51whatever because Kes threw them 9,500 light years ahead. In the "Before and After" timeline, it would have taken them ten more years to get to this part of space, by which time Kes would be dead.

Solution: "Before and After" Voyager found another way to get pushed along, I guess. Is there something else?

I'm not so joyless and pedantic that I let these questions ruin the episode for me, but I'd like to know if anyone else has thought along these lines.

Now, down to the episode: it's great. The Krenim are good enemies, and Annorax seems to know something nobody else does. Neat to see the ship getting battered like that.

I was surprised that Janeway and Torres survived part one--I thought for sure the broken teacup at the end of act II(?) foreshadowed one or both of them buying it. I can see why they kept Janeway alive, though: this is really her episode.

Can I take a minute to say how much I love her new hairstyle? It's great. Much, much better than what she had. So the hair stylists got something right.

The standout scene of the episode for me was blind Tuvok shaving himself. Just the way he did it said so much about his pride and determination without having to say a word. Brilliant stuff. And he and Seven worked well together. It's a totally different dynamic than Kes/Tuvok, since there's a bit of master/student as well as (presumably) her guilt about causing his blindness. Again, nothing's said, but it's beautifully done. And just the look on his face when he took his station for the last battle of the episode--powerful stuff.

Even though something in me recoils every time Neelix says "Mr. Vulcan" (identifying someone primarily by their race/ethnicity just runs against everything I believe in), I appreciated his more distant (than Seven's) friendship and support of Tuvok.

I'm not totally sure about the end, or the logic of sending some of the crew away while keeping a skeleton crew on board. If you're going to ditch the ship, ditch it, but if you're going to stay, I wouldn't think there would be too many superfluous crew members left, particularly with so many systems down. But I can live with it.

I'm looking forward to the conclusion. Since we only got about 2.5 months in part one, I'm guessing we've got a lot to go through.

And, Captrek, the captain has to be something of an autocrat, since ultimately the buck stops with her. It's her responsibility.

These episodes are generally a fan favorite. Glad you like them as well! :)

Rumor has it that it was the actress who finally told them to just let her have her own dang hair. So I don't know how much credit we can give those sneaky stylists with their love of plastic-y Lego haircuts. :lol:

It is odd that the crew did not know the phase variance of the torpedo, or that the word "Krenim" did not raise any alarm bells when they first happened on by to talk with the Zaal.

As far as the torpedo goes, that initial timeline change at the start could have borked their memories. It still doesn't explain why the Krenim fellow at the beginning didn't worry them, though. Perhaps Annorax's other incursions had altered their memories as well? They made very deliberate references and even copied two whole scenes from Before and After... so... not sure what they were thinking there.

I would assume they made some kind of jump in Before and After, as well. They clearly had to get past Borg space somehow. Perhaps the Krenim Imperium was more "restored" when they ran into them or something.

Anyways, the breaking teacup is in there on purpose. ;)

EDIT: Whoever directed this should have gotten an Emmy; I am not even kidding. Some of the shots are just agghhsfihaseufaseuf awesome.


I reasoned that the multiple time incursions that the Krenim went through changed "this" Voyager's past, so our Voyager's Kes never met the Krenim/

As for how Kes met them the first time distance wise, your logic is as good as mine.

More impossible to explain away is why the Krenim didn't remember Voyager... oh well. Can't always close every loophole. ;)

One of the things I loved about "this" version of the Krenim story, is how its the OPPOSITE of Kes' story. With her, jJneway and Torres died and the "boys" have to deal with it.

With this one, Chakotay and Paris are kidnapped, and the girls need to deal with it.

I agree with the Tuvok/Seven dynamic, loved the conversation about her offering to shave him! (The only man on board that a) wouldn't care since he's a Vulcan and b) even if he wasn't Vulcan he couldn't fully enjoy it since he's blind. :devil:)

As for the Mr Vulcan... isn't that because when they first met, Neelix thought Tuvok's name WAS "Vulcan". Its kind of like Harry calling B'Elanna "Maquis". A pet name more than a slur.

As for new tech, isn't this where we see the tactile/holographic interface so Tuvok can keep working?
 
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^ I didn't know the origin. I just think it's strange that one of the goofiest-looking aliens on the show keeps harping on Tuvok because he's not human. Maybe that's why he does it.

I"m on to...

"Year of Hell, Part II"

I'm probably going against the grain here, but this one didn't really do it for me.

I liked a lot of things about the episode, but in the end I just felt kind of unsatisfied by it.

First, what I liked.

The look of the ship continues to impress, and the crew's increasing desperation. The part where Janeway burns herself while getting the deflector back on line does a good job of showing her determination, as does her sparring with the Doctor.

Which brings up a more interesting question--one that I believe has been raised once or twice before ;)--of whether Janeway abandons her "Starfleet principles."

It certainly appears that way in this episode. She disregards a direct order from the CMO, which is a clear violation of Starfleet protocol. It's the kind of thing that she reamed Chakotay and Torres out over in Season 1. As of now, it appears that she believes the ends justify the means--disturbingly, just what Annorax believes. (more on this later)

The rest of the VOY crew continued to impress, with Seven and Tuvok stealing the show.

The look of the episode was great--I really believed this was a critically-damaged starship.

The Chakotay/Paris experience on the Krenim ship was good, and Annorax was a compelling character who got more interesting.

Janeway's "final" scene, where she crashes into the time core, had shades of Picard in "Yesterday's Enterprise." Good stuff.

Now, the bad:

I still don't know why Janeway took a half-measure: abandoning most of the crew, while keeping the senior staff on VOY. This is an awful idea any way I think about it. The only way it works is if she thinks VOY is doomed, in which case she stays behind to "go down with the ship" while giving the rest of the crew a fighting chance--George Kirk in ST09 is the best example I can think of, though Mirror Forrest in IAMD is another. (I know both came "after" this episode)

There's no way that Voyager has a better chance of defeating the Krenim or getting back home with a half-dozen crew on board than 100 or so. Based on what we know about how the ship operates--even routine maintenance requires several departments--it just doesn't make sense.

Instead, she basically makes it impossible to keep Voyager operational and condemns the "other" crew to either death or exile. Space is huge! How could she track down all those shuttle and escape pods, even if she got the ship away from the Krenim?

This actually dragged down the episode for me, because it really makes no sense. I might have disagreed with her Borg alliance in "Scorpion," but I saw some logic in it. Here, there's none that I can see.

In the final battle, she runs the ship herself again, something that should be impossible in the best of circumstances, let alone when it's all shot to hell. And didn't some of the Voyager crew die when those two ships got destroyed?

Philosophically, is this where Janeway crosses the Rubicon? Or was it in "Scorpion?"

I can understand her desperation here, but it doesn't say a lot about Starfleet protocol that it goes out the window when things get tough. Was Chakotay so insistent on maintaining discipline with Paris because he was living well, or was it because he was able to beat the crap out of Paris if push came to shove?

So some disturbing questions here.

And I'm not saying I hated the episode, or that it wasn't entertaining. It's just that it has Janeway make a really, really illogical decision that in the end doesn't really contribute to the story. They could have had much of the crew killed by a compartment blowout or something if they wanted to winnow down the crew, though there isn't much point in doing so, since we usually only see a small part of it anyway.
 
I thought it was a great episode. I think Janeway knew that there was a slim chance that Voyager would make it, so she evacuated all non-essentials first and kept the command team there just in case some sort of miracle happened. Then she told everyone else to leave because that was when she really knew there was no hope.

I haven't seen the episode in a while, so sorry if none of this makes sense. I just really, really appreciated the interaction between Janeway and Tuvok at the end. It made me tear up a bit.. so touching.
 
Shatnertage! Quit trying to THINK about things! Tsk tsk tsk. You've gone and let your brain ruin a very fine episode.

Seriously, I do love this episode. A lot! Even though, as you pointed out, there are things about it that make no sense at all. The character moments more than make up for the plot holes, IMHO.

Wait 'till you watch "Course: Oblivion" and we can have this exact conversation again. ;-)
 
I still don't know why Janeway took a half-measure: abandoning most of the crew, while keeping the senior staff on VOY.

Because of the damage to the vessel, the life support systems were no longer capable of sustaining the entire crew. They were however capable of sustaining seven people.
 
More YOH2 comments:

1) Annorax is the expert on how the timeship works and has had 200 years to work on the problem. If destroying the timeship is all it takes to restore the original timeline, why didn’t he figure that out?

2) Isn’t the original timeline one in which Annorax invents a timeship? Uh oh.
 
^ I didn't know the origin. I just think it's strange that one of the goofiest-looking aliens on the show keeps harping on Tuvok because he's not human. Maybe that's why he does it.

I"m on to...

"Year of Hell, Part II"

I'm probably going against the grain here, but this one didn't really do it for me.

I liked a lot of things about the episode, but in the end I just felt kind of unsatisfied by it.

First, what I liked.

The look of the ship continues to impress, and the crew's increasing desperation. The part where Janeway burns herself while getting the deflector back on line does a good job of showing her determination, as does her sparring with the Doctor.

Which brings up a more interesting question--one that I believe has been raised once or twice before ;)--of whether Janeway abandons her "Starfleet principles."

It certainly appears that way in this episode. She disregards a direct order from the CMO, which is a clear violation of Starfleet protocol. It's the kind of thing that she reamed Chakotay and Torres out over in Season 1. As of now, it appears that she believes the ends justify the means--disturbingly, just what Annorax believes. (more on this later)

The rest of the VOY crew continued to impress, with Seven and Tuvok stealing the show.

The look of the episode was great--I really believed this was a critically-damaged starship.

The Chakotay/Paris experience on the Krenim ship was good, and Annorax was a compelling character who got more interesting.

Janeway's "final" scene, where she crashes into the time core, had shades of Picard in "Yesterday's Enterprise." Good stuff.

Now, the bad:

I still don't know why Janeway took a half-measure: abandoning most of the crew, while keeping the senior staff on VOY. This is an awful idea any way I think about it. The only way it works is if she thinks VOY is doomed, in which case she stays behind to "go down with the ship" while giving the rest of the crew a fighting chance--George Kirk in ST09 is the best example I can think of, though Mirror Forrest in IAMD is another. (I know both came "after" this episode)

There's no way that Voyager has a better chance of defeating the Krenim or getting back home with a half-dozen crew on board than 100 or so. Based on what we know about how the ship operates--even routine maintenance requires several departments--it just doesn't make sense.

Instead, she basically makes it impossible to keep Voyager operational and condemns the "other" crew to either death or exile. Space is huge! How could she track down all those shuttle and escape pods, even if she got the ship away from the Krenim?

This actually dragged down the episode for me, because it really makes no sense. I might have disagreed with her Borg alliance in "Scorpion," but I saw some logic in it. Here, there's none that I can see.

In the final battle, she runs the ship herself again, something that should be impossible in the best of circumstances, let alone when it's all shot to hell. And didn't some of the Voyager crew die when those two ships got destroyed?

Philosophically, is this where Janeway crosses the Rubicon? Or was it in "Scorpion?"

I can understand her desperation here, but it doesn't say a lot about Starfleet protocol that it goes out the window when things get tough. Was Chakotay so insistent on maintaining discipline with Paris because he was living well, or was it because he was able to beat the crap out of Paris if push came to shove?

So some disturbing questions here.

And I'm not saying I hated the episode, or that it wasn't entertaining. It's just that it has Janeway make a really, really illogical decision that in the end doesn't really contribute to the story. They could have had much of the crew killed by a compartment blowout or something if they wanted to winnow down the crew, though there isn't much point in doing so, since we usually only see a small part of it anyway.

The escape pods always threw me off as well, but here's where my brain always went with it:

Out-of-universe-answer: Probably what you said: they wanted to bring down the amount of crew on board and make the situation more desperate.

In-universe: Janeway's speech at the end of Part I gave me the impression that there was a set rendezvous point for all the escape pods and shuttles outside Krenim territory. Additionally, the ship was too damaged to support the full crew compliment and could not be repaired. Whole decks were pretty much missing. There would have been 100+ people all huddled up in the top few decks with little to do, eating all the food and breathing all the air. She probably thought they were more likely to live by spreading out, dangerous as it was. Space is, as you said, pretty big :)

Likely Janeway didn't want all her eggs in one basket and thought they'd be better off since Voyager was the only thing Annorax was after. (Of course, if the timeship was somehow able to disable Voyager's time-shield and use the weapon, the pods'd all be erased anyways. Poof!)

Yeah, bad deal that she ignored Doc. IMO, Doc's assertion that she sit there and do nothing was pretty stupid, considering there were only a few people on board and everyone was needed, but still.
 
^ It makes sense that the ship couldn't physically handle the remaining crew--they might have articulated it better, though. Though, judging by the condition of the ship, more crew would have meant more repairs getting done. And I don't even want to start thinking about what the crew in the escape pods was supposed to be eating. I can see them having a few days rations, but not enough to sustain full complements for months at a time.

Also (if I can riff off an old Simpsons joke) I'm going to be filing a class action suit against Paramount. We were promised a year of hell, but only got 257 days. Clearly, this was misleading advertising at its most perfidious. :)
 
Shatnertage! Quit trying to THINK about things! Tsk tsk tsk. You've gone and let your brain ruin a very fine episode.

Seriously, I do love this episode. A lot! Even though, as you pointed out, there are things about it that make no sense at all. The character moments more than make up for the plot holes, IMHO.

Wait 'till you watch "Course: Oblivion" and we can have this exact conversation again. ;-)

Course: Oblivion made me cry. I'll just say that right now.

Caution: Semi-Rant alert!

And, I agree about what you said about over-thinking. Whenever someone says Janeway is being bipolar or illogical, I just shake my head. Sure, she can be really frustrating and selfish, but if you think about it, emotions can be very illogical, and I always think Janeway reacts with her emotions most of the time. Sure, it's different than Picard and some other famous Trek leaders, but I think Janeway being that way (which is VERY human) was refreshing and gave the show a more organic feeling to me, rather than the strict no-nonsense leader some people expect leaders to be.

I'm not aiming this rant toward anyone, I just have always started writing this paragraph and quickly erased it because it sounds so silly, but it's how I see things. I hope I made some sense in all of this and I hope I didn't upset anyone.. If I didn't just accept the character as the character, I would go insane trying to figure out why she did the things she did.

Rant over! :borg:
 
^ It makes sense that the ship couldn't physically handle the remaining crew--they might have articulated it better, though. Though, judging by the condition of the ship, more crew would have meant more repairs getting done. And I don't even want to start thinking about what the crew in the escape pods was supposed to be eating. I can see them having a few days rations, but not enough to sustain full complements for months at a time.

Also (if I can riff off an old Simpsons joke) I'm going to be filing a class action suit against Paramount. We were promised a year of hell, but only got 257 days. Clearly, this was misleading advertising at its most perfidious. :)

I think they couldn't repair anything no matter how many people they had 'cause they had no raw materials to repair anything with. All those replicator rations were probably going to food and/or clothing, judging by Janeway's little speech to Chakotay about the watch. They also had only a finite amount of those gel packs, and I'm sure a lot of those little fellows went to gel pack heaven by the end of Part I.

And what did the crewmen in the escape pods eat? Each other, of course! The lower the rank, the more likely to be on the dinner menu.

I never noticed we only got 257 days! So... so is it Almost a Year of Yell? The Better Part of a Year of Hell? Approximately a Year of Hell? 257 Days of Hell? A Year of Hell, Give or Take?
 
^ It makes sense that the ship couldn't physically handle the remaining crew--they might have articulated it better, though.
“Life support is nearly gone. Voyager can no longer sustain its crew. I promised myself that I would never give this order, that I would never break up this family, but asking you to stay would be asking you to die.”

How much more articulate do you need?
 
^ It makes sense that the ship couldn't physically handle the remaining crew--they might have articulated it better, though.
“Life support is nearly gone. Voyager can no longer sustain its crew. I promised myself that I would never give this order, that I would never break up this family, but asking you to stay would be asking you to die.”

How much more articulate do you need?

Yeah, but then they sustained part of the crew for another half a year--I was thinking something more along the lines of..."The ship can only handle a crew of 10. By TECHing the TECH, we'll be able to get by with that many people." Just something to make it more believable that you could somehow fly a ship with about 1/20th of its crew.

Again, it's not something that soured me on the show or anything; it's just something that bugged me that makes me wish they'd made a few tweaks.

How about "Approximately 70.4% of a Year's Worth of Hell" for an alternate title? That would be the version with Vulcan subtitles.

or "I Can't Believe It's Not a Year of Hell?"
 
Random thoughts on “Random Thoughts”:

NEELIX: I just haven’t been with anyone since Kes, and I’m feeling a little rusty. I could use some advice.
PARIS: The best advice I can give you is to just be yourself.
That’s not only the most obnoxious self-righteous cliché piece of advice in the world, it’s also the most useless. People for whom “just be yourself” works are people who don’t need to ask for advice on the subject.

NIMIRA: Lieutenant B’Elanna Torres, you are under arrest.
TORRES: On what charge?
NIMIRA: Aggravated violent thought resulting in grave bodily harm.
JANEWAY: Are you saying it’s a crime to think about violence?
NIMIRA: Yes.
TORRES: That’s ridiculous.
This should have been a practice drilled into the heads of Starfleet captains at least since Wesley’s incident in Justice and probably Kirk’s incident in Friday’s Child: Learn about the laws and customs of the place you’re going before you beam down.

Of course, teaching that to Starfleet captains would have cost us a lot of episodes.

JANEWAY: You know the rules, Tom. We can’t pick and choose which laws we’ll respect and which we won’t.
Is this the famed Janeway inconsistency?

PARIS: While Tuvok and the Captain are reviewing the evidence, B’Elanna’s sitting in a Mari jail cell waiting for some sort of lobotomy. We can’t let that happen.
CHAKOTAY: What did you have in mind?
PARIS: Break her out.
CHAKOTAY: And risk an all-out confrontation with the Mari?
PARIS: They’re a bunch of pacifists. They’re no match for us.
CHAKOTAY: You’re probably right, but before we start resorting to extreme measures, don’t you think we should give the Captain a chance to find a legal solution?
PARIS: By the time that happens, it may be too late.
CHAKOTAY: I’ll tell you what. Why don’t you come up with a rescue plan, one that minimises the possibility of violence, and I’ll review it.
PARIS: Just trying to keep me busy, aren’t you?
CHAKOTAY: Can you blame me?
PARIS: I’m serious about this, Chakotay.
CHAKOTAY: So am I. If your plan is sound and the Captain doesn’t have any luck on her end, I’ll recommend we attempt the rescue.
I may have spoken too soon. Apparently the Voyager rules of engagement are as follows: Respect aliens’ laws as long as we can do so without sacrificing our own interests, but at the end of the day, if it comes to a choice between respecting the rights of aliens and protecting our own interests, fuck the aliens!

TUVOK: Then you don’t accept the Chief Examiner’s conclusion?
JANEWAY: I’m not dismissing it but I’m not going to accept it blindly either.
Yay, the lucky teacup is back!

NEELIX: I can’t believe she’s dead.
TUVOK: I know this is difficult for you, Mister Neelix. If it will ease your suffering, I am willing to tug on your whiskers.
:eek:

TUVOK: I was thinking abut what you said. Your interest in my unconscious thoughts. Perhaps we could help each other.
GUILL: How would we do that?
TUVOK: By telepathically exchanging violent images. That is what you want, isn’t it? To see what’s buried in my unconscious.
MALIN: Who is he?
GUILL: Quiet. Why should I trust you?
TUVOK: Because you know we are very much alike. Perhaps I was mistaken.
GUILL: Wait. Maybe we can be of use to each other, but you’ll have to get rid of this. Come back later, Malin. If I’m right, I’ll have thoughts to share that are darker than anything you can imagine.
Let me get this straight. Tuvok believes that Guill is dealing in black market dark thoughts that have recently resulted in a savage beating and a murder. He discards his comm badge and undertakes a solo black op that starts with giving Guill more dark thoughts and has no plan to protect himself from being jumped by Guill’s cohorts (who have evidently been partaking of their product) and beaten. Is that logical?

JANEWAY: I’d like to send a search party.
NIMIRA [on viewscreen]: I can’t allow that.
JANEWAY: Why not?
NIMIRA [on viewscreen]: We can’t risk further violations of our laws.
PARIS: That’s ridiculous.
JANEWAY: Tom. I really don’t think we pose a serious threat.
Um, really? The crew may not be composed entirely of half-Klingons, but still, they haven’t purged all violent thoughts the way the Mari have. Really the only person on Voyager who isn’t obviously a potential threat is Tuvok, and he’s missing. (And, ironically, he has turned out to be a great threat. He has already provided some dark thoughts to the black market and gotten himself captured.)

Maybe the doctor would be safe too. Can Mari telepaths pick up thoughts from a computer program?

TUVOK: You don’t understand the truth of violence. Its darkness, its power!
Telepathic choking! Way to go Darth Tuvok!

JANEWAY: Apparently, outlawing violent thought hasn’t made it go away. All you’ve done is force people to share it in back alleys.
The War on Violent Thought is a failure!

I’d love to see the Mari ballot propositions on Medical Violent Thought. Needs a prescription.
 
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Here are some non-violent musings on...

"Random Thoughts"

From the title, I thought this might just be everyone having extreme ADD. Would have made for an interesting episode.

Instead, we got a pretty good one. First off, it's a Tuvok episode, which is half the battle right there. Second of all, it's got alien violence porn, which is interesting in and of itself.

For some reason, a lot of the episode felt familiar. My wife brought up a comparison to TNG:"Justice." What is it with these planets who punish people for doing things they don't know they're not supposed to do? I can see the Kretassans getting steamed over Porthos peeing on their sacred tree, but stepping on flowers or wanting to bash a guy who knocked into you for a split-second isn't really in the same category.

Would have liked to see Janeway with the dreadlocks and the chainsaw, though.

Side note: was Roxann Dawson pregnant when she filmed this? I head she was pregnant for much of season 4, but if she is here it's pretty early on. I still felt protective towards her when she got bumped (husbandly instinct).

Also, both of us were astounded that Neelix could even think about hooking up with someone like the fruit seller--she was totally out of his league. I guess that musk is pretty effective. Could that be where Anchorman got the "Sex Panther" joke from?

I liked the noir-ish elements of Tuvok uncovering the hidden underground of violence porn users and dealers. Interesting take on the idea.

There are also some "Big Ideas" here--at first, it seems to be a very 1990s inquiry into the perils of political correctness, but then it turns into what seems to be an anti-prohibition lecture. Interesting how that shifted...

Chakotay is again the voice of reason, not wanting to play Worf to Paris's Riker (from that episode with the bisexual alien that Riker fell for, before she got "cured").

And he seems pretty resigned to the captain always being right. "She's still the boss" indeed. It's kind of cute.

So this was a fun one, if maybe a bit derivative of past InvestigationTrek. Made me think about how hard it would be to control my thoughts.
 
^ It makes sense that the ship couldn't physically handle the remaining crew--they might have articulated it better, though.
“Life support is nearly gone. Voyager can no longer sustain its crew. I promised myself that I would never give this order, that I would never break up this family, but asking you to stay would be asking you to die.”

How much more articulate do you need?

Yeah, but then they sustained part of the crew for another half a year--I was thinking something more along the lines of..."The ship can only handle a crew of 10. By TECHing the TECH, we'll be able to get by with that many people." Just something to make it more believable that you could somehow fly a ship with about 1/20th of its crew.

Again, it's not something that soured me on the show or anything; it's just something that bugged me that makes me wish they'd made a few tweaks.

How about "Approximately 70.4% of a Year's Worth of Hell" for an alternate title? That would be the version with Vulcan subtitles.

or "I Can't Believe It's Not a Year of Hell?"

Re: 1/20th the crew.

I think this was just a "given", ever since Scotty figured out how to run the Enterprise with just 4 people... :rofl:
 
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