CARETAKER: Rating and discussion

[Mrs Paris]

I figured the best way to start this off would be with the first episode, CARETAKER.

Out of all the series (yes i've seen all of the pilots for them) Voyager's pilot episode was the best one in my opinion. While I don't think it's Voyager's strongest episode by far, as far as the premiere it was fantastic. It set up the premise of the show wonderfuly, and it introduced the characters fantasticaly.

 

[CorporalClegg]

I gave it an eight. Yes, it was the best pilot, but it could've been better as an episode.

 

[exodus]

I think the pilot was kinda hokey with Banjo man & Corn lady as representations of the Caretaker. I just wish for once Trek would represent more European culture rather than White Bread middle America once in a while.

 

[PhoenixIreland]

I think the pilot was kinda hokey with Banjo man & Corn lady as representations of the Caretaker. I just wish for once Trek would represent more European culture rather than White Bread middle America once in a while.

AMEN!

We saw Paris once, apart from that I think Trek gives us the impression that the rest of the planet was obliterated in WWIII.
TOS had the world map represented on the bridge alone but after that they kinda lost it, Reed from Britian and O'Brian from Ireland...what happened to Africa, Asia, South America, Oceana?
Even the first black captain was from America...so was the first woman, so was Kirk, then in TNG they got confused between the UK and France (why not just make him British)

It was definitly the best pilot I think DS9 had the poitential for a great pilot if half of it wasn't Siskos head behind a bright light with the sound of a heart beat.

 

[Michael]

Ten Exploding Shuttles™ out of ten for "Caretaker". "Emissary" is the best Trek pilot, but this doesn't make "Caretaker" any less attractive to me. It's very promising, introduces all the characters rather nicely and is very exciting to watch.

Plus, I still remember seeing this as a teenager. I was so excited about the new series. I read everything about it and loved the pilot.

 

[Navaros]

I voted 1-Horrible because I did not like how by the end of the episode, it was evident that VOY had completely thrown away it's own official premise.

Namely:

Pulled to the far side of the Galaxy, where the Federation is 75 years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

What's the point of having a premise if it's going to be thrown away by the end of the first episode, like they did in Caretaker.

 

[Mrs Paris]

the maquis thing has been talked about a lot. On one hand it would have been interesting to see more of a conflict. But on the other hand the maquis never realy had a conflict with the federation itself right? Plus everyone knew that they had to work together to make the best of a bad situation

 

[Michael]

But on the other hand the maquis never realy had a conflict with the federation itself right?

Well duh, no. They fought the Cardassians as well as the Federation.

Plus everyone knew that they had to work together to make the best of a bad situation

Yeah, but some would have actually liked to see that.

 

[kimc]

I think the pilot was kinda hokey with Banjo man & Corn lady as representations of the Caretaker.

I gave it a 9 for the same reason.

I just wish for once Trek would represent more European culture rather than White Bread middle America once in a while.

I always thought they were taking their idea of Federation culture from the background of the captain who was from Indiana. Speaking for white bread middle America though we're not all banjo men and corn ladies.

 

[Lynx]

"Caretaker" is the best pilot episode for any series I've ever seen.

It's also one of the best episodes of Voyager and one of the best Star Trek episodes.

The whole episode is exciting from beginning to end, the main characters are introduced one by one in a very good way and the whole story is good.

After watching this episode, I became a Voyager fan immediately and could hardly wait for the next one.

I've re-watched it from time to time and I'm still getting a kick out of watching it.

I'll give it 10 points out of 10.

 

[Kio]

I really didn't like that episode. I think I've only watched it once and I only have vague memories of disliking it, so no specifics are coming to mind. They did manage to set the characters up well, and the space battle was good, but I think there was too much banjo man for me.

 

[JayTheTrekkie]

Are you planning to do the poll threads for each of all the episodes in all 7 seasons too?

Anyways, I gave Caretaker a 9 out of 10. It was a great start for Voyager.

 

[Mrs Paris]

Are you planning to do the poll threads for each of all the episodes in all 7 seasons too?

Anyways, I gave Caretaker a 9 out of 10. It was a great start for Voyager.

oh yes, I will do one of these for EVERY episode

 

[Saxman1]

10 out of 10. I hadn't seen it in years and the Mrs. and I watched it mid last year when we started collecting the show on DVD. We both still thought it was a 10!

 

[JayTheTrekkie]

Are you planning to do the poll threads for each of all the episodes in all 7 seasons too?

Anyways, I gave Caretaker a 9 out of 10. It was a great start for Voyager.

oh yes, I will do one of these for EVERY episode

Awesomeness

 

[stj]

I voted 1-Horrible because I did not like how by the end of the episode, it was evident that VOY had completely thrown away it's own official premise.

Namely:

Pulled to the far side of the Galaxy, where the Federation is 75 years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

What's the point of having a premise if it's going to be thrown away by the end of the first episode, like they did in Caretaker.

The situation and characters established in the first few episodes are the premise! No matter what the PR said, no matter even what the TV Guide description said, the official premise is what is on the TV screen. Don't they call it canon? If you have to read producer interviews or listen to podcasts to understand the show, then either the writing or the viewing is incompetent. In the case of Voyager, the characters of Kes and Neelix proved in the first episode that Voyager is not about Starfleet/Maquis conflict.

It seems the real point to the Maquis was first to have a bunch of characters on board who wouldn't be real unhappy at not going to jail back home. Thus, most characters would be upbeat and the series wouldn't wallow in homesickness. The 37s completed the process.

Also---A real live Cardassian was something Starfleet and Maquis could disagree about. Writing Seska off the ship was removing the source of conflict. So the Maquis premise wasn't dumped in Caretaker, but later.

For whining about the Maquis to be anything other than childishness you have to make a case that the Maquis/Starfleet conflict had some sort of outstanding dramatic truth. To ignore telling that story would then be dishonest. Except the Maquis are even sillier than Klingons!

PS Dropped the rating to 8 because Banjo Man was only a comfortable figure to young TV producers raised on reruns of Fifties and early Sixties sitcoms!

 

[Lynx]

If we're talking about the premise for the series and how it was showed up in "Caretaker", I do think that Voyager was true to it's premise for at least the first three seasons of the show.

The series was meant to be about a Starfleeet ship lost in the Delta Quadrant, with a mixed crew of Starfleet and Maquis and that was exactly what we saw in "Caretaker" and in the coming episodes as well.

OK, there will always be opinions about how this and that character was used in the series and if the Maquis became Starfleet too quickly. There are always some details which could have been done better. But as I see it, the Starfleet-Maquis issue was handled good by the writers and producers. Don't forget that the Starfleet and Maquis crewmembers had to cooperate in order to solve the difficult situation they were in and trying to get home. That was the primary goal for everyone on board the ship.

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

Loved seeing the badlands, great placement of characters. It was well written, we had a nice introduction of characters. Yet coming to the show knowing those TNG episodes I still wasn't sure if Paris was the same guy from the Wesley Crusher's training accident or not ? Great premier but the Banjo spoiled the mood a bit.

 

[crouteru]

6

It's entertaining, but I can't help but feel it has too much of that trek campiness at times, like when the crew are abducted and taken to that outdoor party simulation.

I also don't think Janeway carefully considered her options when destroying the array and stranding her crew. Why not use those tri-cobalt devices on the Kazon ships, for example?

It's better than TNG's pilot, but not better than DS9's or ENT's.

 

[Sakrysta]

I just splurged on the Amazon.com sale and ordered all the Voyager sets, so I'm watching my way through them now. It has been quite a few years since I've watched the show, and I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm giving the pilot and 8 - it's solid, but loses points for the hoedown.