I just watched Year of Hell and Random Thoughts. I started this series really liking Janeway for her strong will and how she upheld the principles of the Federation. I believed she used her moral compass as guidance because it was the best way to make it home without the ship descending into anarchy. Now, I'm starting to believe Janeway is just insane and is recklessly putting her crew in constant danger. My eyes really opened when watching Year of Hell part 2. First Seven points out that the captains bold plan of attack is flawed since the ship is so badly damaged. Overruled. Then the Doctor relieves the Captain of duty, to which Janeway just threatens to shut him off and refuses. (I don't know why the Doctor didn't just alert the entire staff of his decision so Tuvok could assume command.) Then there's that last moment where she proclaims, suddenly, "If that ship is destroyed, all of history might be restored. And this is one year I'd like to forget." What? Where did that idea come from? How did Janeway formulate that theory? How could she have possibly known that brute force, like smashing a keyboard on a computer, would just fix everything? (which by the way, is the weakest way out for these writers. Grand Nagus: Shame on you!) There's no evidence to suggest that this device will just magically make everything right or undo all of it's own changes if it's destroyed. If it had such a protocol, why wouldn't Captain Annorax have uncovered it after hundreds of years? Destroying it might have done nothing, stranding everyone in a timeline where there was no chance in Earth's Hell for Voyager's crew to make it to the Alpha quadrant. For Janeway to even suggest this idea is crazy. She formed a thought with no basis of inspiration or provocation and assumed it to be true and risked her life and others based on this. She's done this once before, in Sacred Ground where Janeway just decides to put Kes' life in danger based on the religious nudges of fanatic wisdom. "If it's the Sage's will!" Indeed. Why don't we all live that way, on luck and prayer? "if it's the will of the dice, then it's meant to be! Oh dice, what has your servant done to upset ye so? Hast thou not prayed hard enough? Paid favor at the bar long enough? Dost thou wish my pockets barren?" So what about Random Thoughts? She didn't seem bad in that episode right? In this episode, B'Elanna has a dark thought that incriminates her on a world of telepaths. Janeway does everything she can to try and resolve the issue and prove B'Elanna's innocence to a panicked constable afraid of losing the order she's proudly achieved. There's nothing wrong with that at all. Picard pretty much damned prime directive to save a stupid, stupid Wesley from getting executed for a crime. But then, just before the episode was about to end, Janeway seized the moment to remind me that she was insane and here to stay. Seven approaches and postulates, "Your philosophy of exploration exposes Voyager to constant risk. If you maintain a direct course to Earth and avoid all extraneous contact with alien species, it will increase your chances of survival." To which Janeway, with a smirk, casually replies, "Well, that would make a dull ride home." Of all the things that Janeway could have said to justify this (and there are some good reasons) she went with "then our survival story would be booooorrrring! UGH!" Maintaining excellent restraint by not ridiculing the Captain, Seven counters, "Your Chief Engineer and Security Officer were nearly lost today. That is unacceptable." Unacceptable indeed Seven. What's Janeways response? Remorse? A hint of hindsight wisdom as she reflects on prior mistakes, wondering what she might've done different to ensure the safety of her crew? A slow sip of coffee while she prepares a moving statement inspired by recent events, tempered by federation principals... PFFT! "To you, maybe, but not to me or my crew. Our experience with the Mari gave us an insight into a culture we've never encountered." Translation: I don't care that B'elanna and Tuvok almost died. I'll risk the lives of the entire crew on this 50 year voyage home just to learn a little bit more about how the Goboworms of Yomamma VI fart. "Tuvok died learning that Goboworm farts are deadly. It was the Sage's will. Peace!" Remarkably, Seven didn't choke Janeway.
Not an easy post, my friend :-) I will toss my thoughts out shortly, but suffice to say everyone has their own perspective on the Captain. I assume you knew that and just want to get into our beliefs in the matter. :-)
Being courageous and sticking to your principles and curiosity in the face of death is the basic premise of TNG era Trek so I don't think she's a bad captain because of that. But I think her decision in Scorpion to save the Borg in order to get through their space was pretty awful.
It's not that she was a bad captain, but that she was inconsistently written. Mulgrew had the personality pretty much locked down in "Caretaker", and stayed in it as much as she could. But it took years even for Janeway to decide on a hairstyle she liked.
Here I agree. I think the writing for the character started to wrong in season 4. Up until then, Janeway had been a captain with compassion, a captain who really cared for each one of her crewmembers and ready to sacrifice herself for each one of her crewmembers. Still she could take tough decisions and act as a captain which the crew had trust in. From season 4 and onwards the writing for the character became erratic. She could be great in one episode and totally nuts in another. I prefer to remember the captain from seasons 1-3 and therefore I think that she's a great captain.
I also think there were some very vocal members of fandom who went into the show not wanting to like it simply because the captain wasn't a man. If they were receptive to a woman captain, they would say Mulgrew was all wrong for the part because of an existing dislike for the actress due to a previous role or gossip column articles. Some complained she was too old, so apparently she wasn't pretty enough for them.
For people who claimed she was too old ---> first of all, she's 15 years younger than Patrick Stewart and nobody seemed to have an issue with him. Second of all, age and gender shouldn't matter since Star Trek was based upon the idealistic vision that in the future everyone is treated equal anyway. If someone has that backwards mentality I don't get why they would be a Trek fan anyway. Third of all, good thing they didn't go with the original actress then since she is more than 10 years older than Mulgrew, if that's how backwards people were anyway. I love Janeway (obviously since she's my avatar and namesake), but I'm on an iPad and can't adequately retort this thread typing like this. I do agree that she was inconsistently written but Mulgrew acted the part so well and always with the same idea in mind for the character that it doesn't bother me as much. I do wish that the writers hadn't done certain things with Janeway though, but I also like the fact that she has strong emotions and isn't picture perfect. I also think people need to understand that Voyager's situation was different than any other Trek. Janeway forever!
As I've said before, Mulgrew's age never bothered me. I'm 4 years older than she, so she was just right. I'd never followed her career closely, but I knew she'd been in the business 15 or 20 years by the time Voyager opened for her.
Oh Melakon I didn't mean you!!! I meant the universal "you". And yea she was on a few soaps and other things before Voyager.
Could care less that Janeway was a female Captain, don't see what that has to do with it anyway. But I'll also echo the sentiment that the fault wasn't with Mulgrew but with the writers and how at times they could be inconsistant with her.
noooo! My tablet browser crashed. Here I was all typing two thumbing while holding an 8" screen. I really need to buy a USB keyboard or something. I don't feel like retyping to all your query so I'll just say no, she's not a bad captain. How was she to know she had to live up to our expectations? (Borrowed from 11:59 which you'll see soon) Let's face it, some people have been measuring her from the get go. She was out in space where pressure was mounting. I'd rather see a flawed hero than an untouchable one that meets who we think Janeway should measure up to eg: Picard, etc. I do agree with the disconcerting line in Random Thoughts, but on close examination it might be her way of saying "we let go along time ago of being overly cautious." I would have liked a deeper explanation than the one the writers used Janeway to speak of. my first thoughts season 4 and on were all over the place. Do I love her? do I fear for her? who is "right?" I did grapple with that but in the end I'd serve with her...(As a Maqui of course. I don't like star fleet which is why I enjoy the lost premise :-)
She was a much worse admiral than a captain if "Endgame" was any indication. On an episode by episode basis, my appreciation for Kate Mulgrew's portrayal of the character generally overcame the deficiencies in the writing, certain episodes excluded. And hey, Insane!Janeway was fun every once in a while (Equinox part 2 comes to mind).
I thought Mulgrew did a fantastic job. She and Picardo combined to make some of the worst scripts watchable. There's only so much you can do with "There's coffee in that nebula".
I think she is a good captain overall. She cares about her crew and acts as a sort of motherly figure to them and for the most part is fair and just. She does have her moments of insanity but can you blame her? She and her crew are alone in the Delta Quadrant! I think that would make anyone go a little crazy.
The argument for not being a good Captain is her willingness to sacrifice the big picture in order to protect her crew. Scorpion, not thinking about who she's hurting by protecting the Borg. Endgame, reversing years of history to save the twenty people who would have died. Heck, if she didn't happen to stumble across 8472's training facility and get the opportunity to calm them down she would have gotten Earth destroyed.