Another Voyager 1st-time watch thread

[Shatnertage]

Wow. That's my first reaction to...

"Timeless"

Incredible teaser, as Voyager's stuck in a glacier. Gotta be a good story there.

As it develops, it's an interesting story. Voyager has a a chance to use quantum slipstream drive, and the ship ends up getting destroyed. Chakotay and Harry try to save it 15 years later.

There were some great little touches in this, like a drunk Seven doing her version of, "I love you, man. No, I really do. I'm not just saying that."

The real star is Harry Kim, though. I'm guessing that this episode is Exhibit A for those who say that Garrett Wang is capable of great acting when the script allows him to. I wish that we had "Harry" on Voyager instead of "Ensign Kim." He's that much better. But the final scene, where Ensign Kim gets the message from his future self, is great as well.

This was the first episode of the season that really had me wondering what was going to happen next. There were some epic visuals, like Voyager crashing on Hoth, and it was nice to see Captain LaForge.

I'd be fine with seeing more unpredictable fare like this. And there was also a wonderful lack of Flotter dolls.

 

[JanewayRulz!]

Great ep.

Epic ep.

"You owe me one."

 

[HoneyBLilly]

I tear up during this ep. It was brilliant. And while I'm not a huge fan of Braga's it showcased just how incredible his writing could be. Definitely in my top ten favorite episodes.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Timeless is my all time favorite VOY ep. I love everything about it. And YES give us that Harry!!!

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

My favorite episode in the series, definitely.

 

[exodus]

The only setback in "Timeless" for me is a small nitpick.
The scene where Chakotay & Kim are out in the snow standing on Voyager under the ice, the scale is off. Voyager should be allot bigger or they should be smaller from the angle it's shot at.

 

[Markira]

I loved "Timeless" as well. I'm a sucker for time travel shows; they always intrigue me. Garret Wang's performance was awesome, very enjoyable and believable. Ensign Kim's lines are incredibly dull and most of the story lines involving him up to this episode have been hokey at best, giving Wang no opportunity to show any skill at all. Not saying the man should have won an Emmy, but his work on "Timeless" was great.

My Chakotay fangirl report is that I like him with the salt-and-pepper hair much better than the slick pure-black look he's been sporting. Too bad when the timeline was restored, so was the hair dye.

Oh, and no thanks for the link to the flotter doll. That thing is nightmarish.

 

[Shatnertage]

Yeah, and even Harry's hair looked better in this episode. Why couldn't they have let him wear it like that instead of the plastic look for the rest of the show?

In-universe, since he saw his future self sporting that 'do, he could believably say, "I need to make some changes" and start wearing it that way.

 

[froot]

"I killed them. They trusted me and I killed them!"

Damn. It's hard not to love this ep. One of my favorites, too.

 

[Markira]

Yeah, and even Harry's hair looked better in this episode. Why couldn't they have let him wear it like that instead of the plastic look for the rest of the show?

In-universe, since he saw his future self sporting that 'do, he could believably say, "I need to make some changes" and start wearing it that way.

LOL, good point. He did get a good glimpse of himself. And knowing how badass brave he could be should have given him a good shot of self-esteem going forward - not the petulant, "I don't wanna be young ensign kim wah wah wah" stuff, but real, "Look how I've grown as a person and see what I can accomplish." Oh, well. If Wang is to be believed, the powers that be weren't of a mind to flesh his character out any more than what we got.

 

[exodus]

Yeah, and even Harry's hair looked better in this episode. Why couldn't they have let him wear it like that instead of the plastic look for the rest of the show?

In-universe, since he saw his future self sporting that 'do, he could believably say, "I need to make some changes" and start wearing it that way.

It would have made young Harry look too old.

Look at Chakotay.
When his hair isn't gelled up, he appears younger.
When his hair is gelled, he looks older.
It's why they kept changing Janeways hair from old school marm bun to the younger looking bob or why they stopped giving Tuvok a receding hairline after s2.

Trust the make-up artists & hair stylists.
They know all these tricks and when to use them.

Harry's hair was the least of the characters problems.

 

[Shatnertage]

I'll try to keep one personality typing as I talk about...

"Infinite Regress"

Tease of Seven going down to the mess hall for a midnight snack, doing the ravenous devouring thing. Reflection of a Klingon as she's chowing down. My heart sinks as I realize that this could be Voyager-speak for "she's pregnant/horny."

Actually, she's got Borg multiple personality syndrome because of an almost-incomprehensible technobabble issue with a piece of Borg wreckage.

I think this episode is what people mean when they talk about technobabble-driven plots. It's not "Kirk has to find a way to defeat the Gorn" anymore. It's "Torres has to construct a dampening field to compensate for the vinculum's subspace carrier wave before the clock runs out." I can see why this didn't earn the show many casual fans.

There are some good moments, though. It's a godsend to see Jeri Ryan finally get to ditch the monotone and actually show some personality, even if it's other characters' personalities.

But my wife's giggling while Seven was strapped down to the bed in Sickbay raises another issue. Usually I'd be the last person to discuss parts of actors' anatomies, but since my wife said, "Oh my God...they're sticking up past her nose!" it's kind of hard not to say anything when Seven's thrashing around the table and you've got two completely rigid globes bouncing around in your face. It kind of takes you out of the "crewmember in distress" vibe. Would it have killed them to let her wear a sweater or a labcoat, or something?

Naomi Wildman's also great--I'm not usually a fan of child characters but she's pretty good. The "bonding with Seven" stuff was sweet, in a fun way. Just think, if they didn't have the cheat of "forehead alien advanced aging," she'd probably just be getting out of pull-ups now.

So the aliens who created the virus to destroy the Borg, who have killed most of their species off, don't jump at the chance to turn off the vinculum so they can help a Borg drone. What a shocker!!!

This might have been covered by a technobabble answer that I missed, but why not just beam the vinculum into a star? That would stop it. Because if they leave it behind, won't the aliens just turn it back on, and Seven will start receiving the virus again through subspace? I really didn't get the actual plot here.

So this was a pretty silly story that had its moments. Not bad TV for 42 minutes, but not mind-blowingly creative, either.

 

[Shatnertage]

I'll try to keep one personality typing as I talk about...

"Infinite Regress"

Tease of Seven going down to the mess hall for a midnight snack, doing the ravenous devouring thing. Reflection of a Klingon as she's chowing down. My heart sinks as I realize that this could be Voyager-speak for "she's pregnant/horny."

Actually, she's got Borg multiple personality syndrome because of an almost-incomprehensible technobabble issue with a piece of Borg wreckage.

I think this episode is what people mean when they talk about technobabble-driven plots. It's not "Kirk has to find a way to defeat the Gorn" anymore. It's "Torres has to construct a dampening field to compensate for the vinculum's subspace carrier wave before the clock runs out." I can see why this didn't earn the show many casual fans.

There are some good moments, though. It's a godsend to see Jeri Ryan finally get to ditch the monotone and actually show some personality, even if it's other characters' personalities.

But my wife's giggling while Seven was strapped down to the bed in Sickbay raises another issue. Usually I'd be the last person to discuss parts of actors' anatomies, but since my wife said, "Oh my God...they're sticking up past her nose!" it's kind of hard not to say anything when Seven's thrashing around the table and you've got two completely rigid globes bouncing around in your face. It kind of takes you out of the "crewmember in distress" vibe. Would it have killed them to let her wear a sweater or a labcoat, or something?

Naomi Wildman's also great--I'm not usually a fan of child characters but she's pretty good. The "bonding with Seven" stuff was sweet, in a fun way. Just think, if they didn't have the cheat of "forehead alien advanced aging," she'd probably just be getting out of pull-ups now.

So the aliens who created the virus to destroy the Borg, who have killed most of their species off, don't jump at the chance to turn off the vinculum so they can help a Borg drone. What a shocker!!!

This might have been covered by a technobabble answer that I missed, but why not just beam the vinculum into a star? That would stop it. Because if they leave it behind, won't the aliens just turn it back on, and Seven will start receiving the virus again through subspace? I really didn't get the actual plot here.

So this was a pretty silly story that had its moments. Not bad TV for 42 minutes, but not mind-blowingly creative, either.

 

[HoneyBLilly]

Love the Ferengi part where she's trying to buy the view screen in Astrometrics.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ZkF-qRhp8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
"Of course I'm Ferengi. Is that some kind of insult about the size of my ears?!"

 

[T.D. Possum]

The Ferengi bit is funny.

I always tear up a little when she doesn't recognize Janeway, but she's asking her to help her find her son after Wolf 359.

 

[exodus]

The Ferengi bit is funny.

I always tear up a little when she doesn't recognize Janeway, but she's asking her to help her find her son after Wolf 359.

Yes, that's one of the best parts.

I'm not sure what the OP means with: "The show didn't earn any casual fans"
I know allot of folks on other message boards and off, who's first exposure to Trek was Voyager.
Back during Voyager original run this place was full of casual Voyager viewers.
"Infiniate Regress" I also believe earned Entertainment Weekly best 100 Trek episodes.

 

[Shatnertage]

^ What I meant was that the technobabble-laden plot isn't really the kind of thing that's going to pull people into the show. If I've been watching Trek for 30 years and I've got trouble keeping it straight, I can only imagine what it's like for people who've never seen the show.

Plus, the plot is solved by technobabble, not any real character-driven action. If Seven had been unwilling to trust Tuvok during the mind meld, but then he convinced her to trust him, THEN all the other personalities disappeared, you would have had something: Tuvok willing to sacrifice himself to Seven, and Seven reaching to him for help in a way that shows both vulnerability and strength. Instead, the problem goes away because Torres finds the right frequency amplitude for the dampening field. That's what I mean.

The episode has some good moments, but it's not in my personal top 100 list. It's probably the best performance I've seen from Jeri Ryan so far, though.

The really funny part, which I forgot to talk about in my post above, was 1) when the aliens arrived dressed in Tron costumes with glow-in-the-dark piping. "Maybe they're going to a rave?" I wondered aloud.

Fast forward to Tuvok's mind meld, and Seven's mind is basically a very creepy haunted house-themed rave. It really did remind for commercials for a haunted house.

The part with the little girl screaming was legitimately disturbing--I was very glad my daughter had already gone to bed. But I kept cracking up, thinking that it was just Voyager's Haunted House party gone wrong.

And while I'm at it, the sound of the multitude of voices that Seven kept hearing was a little off for me. It sounded more like the bleachers at Wrigley Field than an collective of minds screaming in pain and confusion.

 

[froot]

"Infiniate Regress" I also believe earned Entertainment Weekly best 100 Trek episodes.

Yes, probably because of the "bouncing globes" shatnertage mentioned.

 

[Markira]

"Infinite Regress" definitely showed some of Jeri Ryan's good acting skills. I thought she was great. Technobabble solutions don't really bother me, especially if I don't spend too long trying to make sense of them. But, I do hate a missed opportunity to deepen character relationships - I think shatnertage's idea about the Tuvok-Seven missed opportunity would have been great to see on screen.

 

[exodus]

^ What I meant was that the technobabble-laden plot isn't really the kind of thing that's going to pull people into the show. If I've been watching Trek for 30 years and I've got trouble keeping it straight, I can only imagine what it's like for people who've never seen the show.

Plus, the plot is solved by technobabble, not any real character-driven action. If Seven had been unwilling to trust Tuvok during the mind meld, but then he convinced her to trust him, THEN all the other personalities disappeared, you would have had something: Tuvok willing to sacrifice himself to Seven, and Seven reaching to him for help in a way that shows both vulnerability and strength. Instead, the problem goes away because Torres finds the right frequency amplitude for the dampening field. That's what I mean.

The casual fans don't care about the technobabble.
Most are used to sci-fi like Star Wars or Back to the Future where science is also fiction, so technobabble plays right into that. They don't care how a lightsaber or replicator work, they just accept it does. That is why they are called casual viewers and not die hard fans. The casual viewer pays attention to the acting performances in my experances. Mostly only the die hard fans need Trek fiction to be explained scientifically which is why they complain about technobabble.