Another Voyager 1st-time watch thread
- Thread starter Shatnertage
- Start date
Yeah that doesn't quite work, does it.
Pretty interesting that even as recently as 1995 people weren't really able to see how networking would explode in growth and capabilities.
OK, I'm back an episode that made me want to send an SOS...
"Message in a Bottle"
Despite being an episode that focused on the Doctor, this one was pretty brutal to watch. It's definitely on my shortlist of worst VOY episodes. There was one tiny redeeming thing about it, but otherwise...awful.
Is Torres wearing the new labcoat thing because Roxann Dawson's pregnancy is showing? I guess so. I am feeling more oddly protective towards Torres in the confrontations with Seven.
So they have to email the Doctor to this ship that's 60,000 light years away, and if it goes bad he's gone forever. Like my wife said, don't they make a backup of anything?
I guess that the Eugenics Wars caused "control-c" to be lost to humanity or something.
And now there's a competition...who is the most annoying guest character in this episode? The EMH Mark 2 wins, naturally, but not without competition from the Romulans. This was not a coup for the casting director. Even the security guard guy at the end looked miscast, and I think he had one line.
What's the fascination with taking a big strong ship and breaking it up into three smaller, weaker ships? I was never a fan of saucer separation, and I fail to see why multi-vector attack mode is such an innovation. I don't think it even looked that cool.
So it was really painful to watch, to the extent that I seriously considered pulling the plug on it. But I persisted, to be rewarded with a wonderful moment of actual acting in the end when Janeway learns that "You Are Not Alone" (forgive me for the Doctor Who reference).
I really hope they start getting better. I'm in desperate need of better sci fi. On a lark we watched ST: TMP last night and this morning (neither of us had ever seen it and it was on Netflix instant watch), and The Twin Dilemma is next in my Doctor Who watching list.
"Message in a Bottle"
Despite being an episode that focused on the Doctor, this one was pretty brutal to watch. It's definitely on my shortlist of worst VOY episodes. There was one tiny redeeming thing about it, but otherwise...awful.
Is Torres wearing the new labcoat thing because Roxann Dawson's pregnancy is showing? I guess so. I am feeling more oddly protective towards Torres in the confrontations with Seven.
So they have to email the Doctor to this ship that's 60,000 light years away, and if it goes bad he's gone forever. Like my wife said, don't they make a backup of anything?
I guess that the Eugenics Wars caused "control-c" to be lost to humanity or something.
And now there's a competition...who is the most annoying guest character in this episode? The EMH Mark 2 wins, naturally, but not without competition from the Romulans. This was not a coup for the casting director. Even the security guard guy at the end looked miscast, and I think he had one line.
What's the fascination with taking a big strong ship and breaking it up into three smaller, weaker ships? I was never a fan of saucer separation, and I fail to see why multi-vector attack mode is such an innovation. I don't think it even looked that cool.
So it was really painful to watch, to the extent that I seriously considered pulling the plug on it. But I persisted, to be rewarded with a wonderful moment of actual acting in the end when Janeway learns that "You Are Not Alone" (forgive me for the Doctor Who reference).
I really hope they start getting better. I'm in desperate need of better sci fi. On a lark we watched ST: TMP last night and this morning (neither of us had ever seen it and it was on Netflix instant watch), and The Twin Dilemma is next in my Doctor Who watching list.
Hmmm. I think you will find the rest of Season Four swings from really not a lotta fun to really awesome. Or at least, I did.
Yes, Roxanne Dawson is wearing the Starfleet secret pregnancy uniform. Too bad she didn't have a giant lab coat like Gates McFadden did.
HELLO THANK YOU I am not at all a fan of a) having an unbacked up EMH as the sole doctor on the ship, or b) letting said unbacked up EMH go running around risking his photonic neck. I'm sad to say this theme will come up again in future eps. But, based on what you said you did like about this episode . . . don't want to give too much away . . . but there are other moments in future episodes that I think you will also enjoy.
Yes, Roxanne Dawson is wearing the Starfleet secret pregnancy uniform. Too bad she didn't have a giant lab coat like Gates McFadden did.
HELLO THANK YOU I am not at all a fan of a) having an unbacked up EMH as the sole doctor on the ship, or b) letting said unbacked up EMH go running around risking his photonic neck. I'm sad to say this theme will come up again in future eps. But, based on what you said you did like about this episode . . . don't want to give too much away . . . but there are other moments in future episodes that I think you will also enjoy.
It also seemed to be a rehash of the episode where they met the Romulan guy in the past, except they went to the Romulan ship instead of the Romulan coming to them.
Another quibble is the 60,000 light year thing. Are they 60,000 ly from Earth, or from the border of the Federation? I never really got that. Isn't the Federation 8,000 ly across?
Is this the first we see of the Hirogen? I saw the episode(s) where they take over the ship already, and I liked them.
I have a feeling that, after one episode of The Twin Dilemma, I'll be praising "Message in a Bottle" as the best TV eve.
Another quibble is the 60,000 light year thing. Are they 60,000 ly from Earth, or from the border of the Federation? I never really got that. Isn't the Federation 8,000 ly across?
Is this the first we see of the Hirogen? I saw the episode(s) where they take over the ship already, and I liked them.
I have a feeling that, after one episode of The Twin Dilemma, I'll be praising "Message in a Bottle" as the best TV eve.
Yeah, try not to think about that too much. Especially try not to think about how Kirk could travel clear across the galaxy on a semi-routine mission. Just . . . don't.
Yes, this is the beginning of a short Hirogen arc, and they'll turn up again later after this mini-arc is over.
^I think it's their distance from Earth proper, since it's the seat of the whole Federation and the main goal of the journey. When they talk about home, they often show and mean Earth, even though not everyone's an Earth native.
I like this episode, despite Andy Dick. It had some good lines, and it is an important setup for the upcoming mini-arc. So, it's probably good you didn't shut it off altogether.
I
DO
NOT
LIKE
ANDY
DICK.
Just had to get that off my chest. Carry on.
I like this episode, despite Andy Dick. It had some good lines, and it is an important setup for the upcoming mini-arc. So, it's probably good you didn't shut it off altogether.
I
DO
NOT
LIKE
ANDY
DICK.
Just had to get that off my chest. Carry on.
Season 4:
Obviously Scorpion 1 & 2. Seven is only in part 2.
"The Raven" (The start of T/7)
"Scientific Method",
both 2 parters... "Year of Hell" and even more so, "The Killing Game",
"Hunters" (with my fav 7of9 line: You will find our Captain a formidable opponent and our ship heavily armed.) and its companion piece... "Prey",
"Retrospect",
"Omega Directive",
"One",
"Hope and Fear"
Instead of gathering up some random episode, I decided to watch the next one on the DVD, which was...
"Hunters"
It's mail call at USS Voyager...only some people aren't getting letters. And oh yeah, a really hostile new race is not happy about them using their network to get them.
Question of the night came from my wife, who continues to have an unshakable faith in the idea that species' moral advancement equals their technological prowess. "Why would a race that civilized get so upset about someone using their system to get mail?"
Me: "Maybe they've got limited data plan and and charged a LOT for overages."
That would explain it.
Of course the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb in this episode is the way that's the way the "letters" get from Astrometrics to the various crew members: still hand-delivered on PADDs. I know other people have talked about this, but since it's a major part of the episode, it's pretty jarring, particularly considering that, when this episode was made, even I'd been using email for four years or so. Funny that, going back to TOS, they could route a video message anywhere in the ship, but by VOY no one had figured out how to do the same with text.
Makes sense if you just say that Trek doesn't happening in our universe, that's it's a parallel universe where, starting in the 1960s, more R&D was invested in propulsion and ship-building than IT.
Back to the episode. When the lead Hirogen puts that white and gray paint on his forehead before starting the hunt, I thought it looked like a bird pooped on his head.
For someone who's not supposed to have feelings, Seven is awfully concerned with what the Captain thinks about her. Or is the Borg just a giant suck-up collective?
Paris and Torres--is there just not a lot of chemistry there? And I can't stop subconsciously thinking "Don't stress her out! She's pregnant, for God's sake. Take it easy on her."
Awesome of Torres to confront Kim about Seven. It's more clear with every episode that he should have taken her up on her offer back in "Revulsion." He'd have become a legend on the ship (if he'd have survived), and he wouldn't have everyone razzing him about it.
I really don't care about Kim not getting a letter from his parents yet.
The big news that came from the Alpha Quadrant wasn't the destruction of the Maquis (and since we've never met these people, we don't care that much), but the marriage of Mark.
Could Chakotay make it more obvious that he desperately wants to be the one to console Janeway? And could she be any more obviously saying "I'm just not into you?"
So Seven and Tuvok get captured by the Hirogen. And they manage to mess up Seven's hair, which now makes her look much better. I really like this look much better than the ultra-structured one she usually sports.
Would have liked to have seen the Hirogen fight Seven and Tuvok in one-on-one combat, but I guess that's not their gig. Tuvok kills one of them in a way that's pretty graphic for Trek, even though we don't see blood.
And down goes the cell network. Uh oh.
Was I the only one who thought, when Janeway asked Tuvok for his "impressions" of the Hirogen, it would have been hysterical if he put a jockstrap on his face and started talking like one of them? Or if he'd have just arched an eyebrow and said, "I can inform you of their tactical strengths and weaknesses, but I must warn you that I am not proficient in mimicry."
It was a really good episode--I'm looking forward to "Prey."
This was a very good episode--a mix between action and character.
"Hunters"
It's mail call at USS Voyager...only some people aren't getting letters. And oh yeah, a really hostile new race is not happy about them using their network to get them.
Question of the night came from my wife, who continues to have an unshakable faith in the idea that species' moral advancement equals their technological prowess. "Why would a race that civilized get so upset about someone using their system to get mail?"
Me: "Maybe they've got limited data plan and and charged a LOT for overages."
That would explain it.
Of course the thing that sticks out like a sore thumb in this episode is the way that's the way the "letters" get from Astrometrics to the various crew members: still hand-delivered on PADDs. I know other people have talked about this, but since it's a major part of the episode, it's pretty jarring, particularly considering that, when this episode was made, even I'd been using email for four years or so. Funny that, going back to TOS, they could route a video message anywhere in the ship, but by VOY no one had figured out how to do the same with text.
Makes sense if you just say that Trek doesn't happening in our universe, that's it's a parallel universe where, starting in the 1960s, more R&D was invested in propulsion and ship-building than IT.
Back to the episode. When the lead Hirogen puts that white and gray paint on his forehead before starting the hunt, I thought it looked like a bird pooped on his head.
For someone who's not supposed to have feelings, Seven is awfully concerned with what the Captain thinks about her. Or is the Borg just a giant suck-up collective?
Paris and Torres--is there just not a lot of chemistry there? And I can't stop subconsciously thinking "Don't stress her out! She's pregnant, for God's sake. Take it easy on her."
Awesome of Torres to confront Kim about Seven. It's more clear with every episode that he should have taken her up on her offer back in "Revulsion." He'd have become a legend on the ship (if he'd have survived), and he wouldn't have everyone razzing him about it.
I really don't care about Kim not getting a letter from his parents yet.
The big news that came from the Alpha Quadrant wasn't the destruction of the Maquis (and since we've never met these people, we don't care that much), but the marriage of Mark.
Could Chakotay make it more obvious that he desperately wants to be the one to console Janeway? And could she be any more obviously saying "I'm just not into you?"
So Seven and Tuvok get captured by the Hirogen. And they manage to mess up Seven's hair, which now makes her look much better. I really like this look much better than the ultra-structured one she usually sports.
Would have liked to have seen the Hirogen fight Seven and Tuvok in one-on-one combat, but I guess that's not their gig. Tuvok kills one of them in a way that's pretty graphic for Trek, even though we don't see blood.
And down goes the cell network. Uh oh.
Was I the only one who thought, when Janeway asked Tuvok for his "impressions" of the Hirogen, it would have been hysterical if he put a jockstrap on his face and started talking like one of them? Or if he'd have just arched an eyebrow and said, "I can inform you of their tactical strengths and weaknesses, but I must warn you that I am not proficient in mimicry."
It was a really good episode--I'm looking forward to "Prey."
This was a very good episode--a mix between action and character.
I'll try to remind you to brace yourself before you watch "Good Shepherd". The PADD misuse in that ep is truly shocking.
Random bit of trivia for the day = McNeill's wife was also pregnant at about this time. So . . . there's no point to that comment; that's why it's called random trivia.
My personal favorite part of this episode is Seven talking to the enormous Hirogen, cool as a cucumber. "You are a crude species. Only your size makes you formidable."
How freaking annoying that I posted this same joke last night and nobody noticed, then somebody else comes along and posts it and gets a triple lol.
Where'd you post it?
I was just ripping off of Airplane II, anyway.
I was just ripping off of Airplane II, anyway.
^ Someone else has seen Airplane II?! Cripes, I thought I was the only one! 
As for Hunters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LghbXH7Zm0
If you skip to about 0:24, you can see the final scene in this episode was originally a little less one-sided between Janeway and Chakotay. For whatever reason, a snippet of this scene was included in this promo. And that's my bit of random trivia!
As for Hunters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LghbXH7Zm0
If you skip to about 0:24, you can see the final scene in this episode was originally a little less one-sided between Janeway and Chakotay.
For whatever reason, a snippet of this scene was included in this promo. And that's my bit of random trivia!
^ That was a great trailer!
And taking that bit out completely changes that scene.
The Voyager (human) guys in general aren't doing so well. Paris is the exception, with both Kim and Chakotay stuck in these one-sided attractions.
When the holo-doctor's having more luck than you, you know your in trouble. Although some might say that luck has nothing to do with it.
And taking that bit out completely changes that scene.
The Voyager (human) guys in general aren't doing so well. Paris is the exception, with both Kim and Chakotay stuck in these one-sided attractions.
When the holo-doctor's having more luck than you, you know your in trouble. Although some might say that luck has nothing to do with it.
Well, heck. If they had included that scene, even I might have become a J/Cer. Um, a Janeway/Chak'er, I mean.
As for Hunters:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LghbXH7Zm0
If you skip to about 0:24, you can see the final scene in this episode was originally a little less one-sided between Janeway and Chakotay.
Is it bad that I have this saved in my favorites on YouTube?
Seven thinks:
Seven says:
Seven is awesome.
I love Jeri, but sometimes I can’t help but picture Robbie the Robot in that catsuit. No, you can’t have some.
Robbie would’ve had trouble with that line.
Note how the blue states and red states fit the uniform colors.
I’m not sure what kind of state that is, except the kind I don’t want to visit.
I finally hunted up an hour to sit down and watch...
"Prey"
The Hirogen are back! And one of them does that bird crap thing with his forehead again. What is it with that?
This episode was even better than "Hunters," almost entirely because of the awesomeness of the guest actor--Tony Todd, who I believed played Worf's brother Kurn in "Sins of the Father." The voice is definitely familiar. And it's the perfect voice for a Hirogen. As my wife describes it, "He sounds like a wolf would if it could talk." He really makes the episode work.
The rest of it is pretty neat, too. I loved the shot where the camera zooms in to see Mr. 8472 on the hull.
Which brings up a pet peeve: neither of the "aliens" got a name. I understand why they didn't get Mr. 8472's name, but couldn't they have given him a nickname? For some reason, I like "Blinky." The Hirogen guy, on the other hand, definitely should have shared his name.
Did anyone else think it was awesome when Tuvok knocked him out?
So I get to the big moral dilemma of the episode: do they help the Hirogen capture Blinky, or do they help Blinky get back home?
As in Tuvok, I don't really know what the right decision is. Blinky didn't exactly have clean hands, having come into our universe to do some nasty stuff. And the Hirogen were in a position to help Voyager. So I could see where some people would wash their hands of the situation.
On the other hand, there's the idea of fair play, and that you don't hit a chap while he's down--which unfortunately I think died with World War I (that's what they said in Remains of the Day, anyway). Will showing mercy make you feel better about yourself if the person you help comes back to kill you? I'd say not.
I think both Janeway and Seven were right, and they were both wrong. Janeway's idealism was fine for a situation as contained as the Cardassian border skirmish, but probably not the best way to introduce themselves to this part of space. Seven should have followed the chain of command once the decision was made.
I think it's a better episode for not having such a clear-cut "good" and "bad" way of handling the situation--very morally gray.
"Prey"
The Hirogen are back! And one of them does that bird crap thing with his forehead again. What is it with that?
This episode was even better than "Hunters," almost entirely because of the awesomeness of the guest actor--Tony Todd, who I believed played Worf's brother Kurn in "Sins of the Father." The voice is definitely familiar. And it's the perfect voice for a Hirogen. As my wife describes it, "He sounds like a wolf would if it could talk." He really makes the episode work.
The rest of it is pretty neat, too. I loved the shot where the camera zooms in to see Mr. 8472 on the hull.
Which brings up a pet peeve: neither of the "aliens" got a name. I understand why they didn't get Mr. 8472's name, but couldn't they have given him a nickname? For some reason, I like "Blinky." The Hirogen guy, on the other hand, definitely should have shared his name.
Did anyone else think it was awesome when Tuvok knocked him out?
So I get to the big moral dilemma of the episode: do they help the Hirogen capture Blinky, or do they help Blinky get back home?
As in Tuvok, I don't really know what the right decision is. Blinky didn't exactly have clean hands, having come into our universe to do some nasty stuff. And the Hirogen were in a position to help Voyager. So I could see where some people would wash their hands of the situation.
On the other hand, there's the idea of fair play, and that you don't hit a chap while he's down--which unfortunately I think died with World War I (that's what they said in Remains of the Day, anyway). Will showing mercy make you feel better about yourself if the person you help comes back to kill you? I'd say not.
I think both Janeway and Seven were right, and they were both wrong. Janeway's idealism was fine for a situation as contained as the Cardassian border skirmish, but probably not the best way to introduce themselves to this part of space. Seven should have followed the chain of command once the decision was made.
I think it's a better episode for not having such a clear-cut "good" and "bad" way of handling the situation--very morally gray.
Similar threads
