Its not like any of those people were actually real
YEARS ago, during Voyager's second season, I flopped down into my friend's sofa to complain about my horrible day.
"HOW COME..." I cried, "I can't handle this silly customer... when Janeway can handle getting thrown to the otherside of the galaxy, no backup, no starbases, no hope of getting home in her lifetime, and the stupid Kazon are attacking her everytime she turns around."
Then I sighed dramatically and added... "I guess it helps that she's FICTIONAL!"
Janeway was simply written not to have any love interests
Well, that'snot
exactly true.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9P6lRE5BVI
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J9P6lRE5BVI[/yt]
In fact she
was portrayed as having a significant love interest in season 1 & 2... one which elicted one of my favorite interactions between her and Kes during season two's "hated" morality play.
JANEWAY: Do you have feelings for him (Tuvix) too, Kes?
KES: No, I don't. I mean, how could I? I still love Neelix, and I'm not ready to give up on him, no matter what the Doctor says.
JANEWAY: I know how you feel. You're experiencing what people on this crew have been going through since we first got stranded in this quadrant. Do we accept that we're separated from our loved ones forever, or do we hold onto the hope that someday we'll be with them again?
KES: What do you do, Captain?
JANEWAY: Oh, I struggle with it every day. Sometimes I'm full of hope and optimism. Other times. Then I dream about being with Mark and it's so real. Then when I wake up and realize it's just a dream, I'm terribly discouraged. In those moments, it's impossible to deny just how far away he really is. And I know that someday I may have to accept that he's not part of my life anymore.
KES: So are you saying that I should just accept that Neelix isn't a part of my life anymore?
JANEWAY: I would never tell you or anyone else to give up hope, Kes. I think the best thing you can do now is give yourself time.
Not to put too fine a point on it, but IMMEDIATELY after she has this epiphany in
Tuvix... Janeway finds herself stranded on a planet, ostensibly for life, with Chakotay. A situation that doesn't bother her until she senses he and perhaps she are thinking too far outside the "Command" box and she tries (unsuccessfully?) to place parameters on their planetside relationship.
Did that relationship follow them back to the ship? That is certainly up for vociferous debate; what isn't, however, is that after
New Earth Mark and his presence were no longer referred to until season 4 when she got her kiss off letter.
CHAKOTAY: How are you doing?
JANEWAY: Me? I'm fine.
CHAKOTAY: You'd say that if you'd just had your legs torn off by a Trakan Beast. Look what you've been through in the last few days. We finally make a connection with home and then it's ripped away from us. We manage to make another enemy who's going to try and hunt us down and destroy us, and on top of that ...
JANEWAY: It's all right. You can say it. On top of all that, I got a Dear John letter. It wasn't really a surprise. I guess I didn't really expect him to wait for me considering the circumstances. It made me realize that I was using him as a safety net, you know, as a way to avoid becoming involved with someone else.
CHAKOTAY: You don't have that safety net anymore.
JANEWAY: That's right. Then again, my life is far from uneventful here in the Delta quadrant. It's not like I would have had a chance to pursue a relationship even if I had
realized I was alone.
When
Kirk's relationships didn't work out, he just moved onto the next girl in the next port.
When
Picard got too emotionally involved with a member of his crew, he just transferred her off the ship.
Sisko? Well,
I like the man but didn't he IMPRISON
his girlfriend at least once before he married her?
Sometimes celibacy is a good thing.
Unless you have access to a holodeck.
