Still it seems a bit of an unworthy conceit to count each trip as two entries. From the standpoint of gauging differences in their experience in doing so, why would there be any variation, say, in the entry from either direction in By Any Other Name?
I engaged in the pedantry of individual through-trips chiefly to prompt discussion on this very thing, I guess. There is this massive difference between in and out in that episode, but also the subtler differences vis-á-vis the other two episodes; our explanations can be categorical, episode-specific, or passage-specific, then, and it would be nice to explore all three.
What is interesting to consider is that none of their crew was mentioned as having been killed or other wise affected Mitchell-style, Rojan may have just omitted admitting that possibility, but I guess that the reason is that their prodigious mental faculties don't extend to the realm of esper abilities, or at least as humans understand the phenomena
Facts on the issue are few indeed - at most, we might speculate that a generational ship would have to have more crew, especially if the procreative roles of the Kelvans reflected those of their human disguises.
But Kelinda actually refers to multiple ships, and makes it sound as if she is speaking of the ships involved in the Milky Way expedition ("our ships
were..."). Single-person ships don't sound like generational designs, so the implication would seem to be that there were multiple larger ships, of which the only known survivors are these four, probably from one and the same ship given their shared lifeboat. Were all the other ships destroyed or presumed destroyed at Barrier entry? Or did different ships attempt entry at different points? (Even in the latter case, our arrogant quartet would probably assume all the others were lost anyway, being no better than their own.)
The odds are in favor of Kelvan casualties IMHO - possibly even massive ones. But whether those involved any Mitchellification, we have no way of telling. The Kelvans themselves acknowledge an inability to communicate across the Barrier, so news of unwelcome divinity would be unlikely to reach the four survivors.
if you prefer a bland, dull, generic sort of cloud of dark gas in space, just because it corrects a small dialogue inconsistency, then art and design must be lost on you.
I have no great emotional involvement in the specific type of art chosen. The only thing that matters is that the effect be distinct. So both versions of the episode could be declared flops in this respect if you wish.
Perhaps on the other occasions they basically punched through it like a projectile, fast... maybe that's the only way to do it and not get lost in it. I don't remember for sure.
In the pilot episode, the heroes went in, found it was too much for them to cope with, and had no trouble finding their way back out again, all at low warp and without getting through to the other side. So that's one rationalization ruled out. (And unfortunately, rationalization is all we have, as the writers themselves clearly weren't interested in keeping detail like this consistent.)
There's a sort of Voyager mentality sometimes, with the remasterers. An effect like that generic stormcloud would be very much at home in Voyager. It's just dull conveyance of information over trying to excite and stretch the spirit and imagination.
At least it is new art, rather than footage recycling. Opinions vary on art. Opinions on lazy xeroxing vary less, although there's always Andy Warhol...
Timo Saloniemi