Let's talk about Equinox

[Sisko4Life]

Really, there is so much that can be said about this two-parter. I'm really a Deep Space Nine fan, but this was probably my among my top three favorite Voyager episodes, mainly because of the added dimension that it brought to both humanity and Voyager. It was much more realistic.

But anyway, I loved Equinox Part I but found Part II to be a serious let-down. Janeway really ruined it when she was flippin' shit, and the Equinox's engines conveniently stall long enough for Voyager to track it down and win (as the damn ship always did). I didn't particularly like the Equinox crew, but I certainly felt like they were a lot more "natural" than Voyager's. I mean seriously, what is there to be happy about when your 35,000 light years away from home???? Why wouldn't you be feeling a little bet rebellious?

Anyway, I hate to criticize Voyager in comparison with Deep Space Nine, but I think a multi-episode arc could have helped the sixth season in general, as well as be the highlight of the show. This story arc had so much potential and was seriously let down by the fact that it was 90 minutes and probably only spanned a few days in Trek time.

So my suggestion is... Equinox leaves Voyager at the mercy of the aliens, and then speeds off with its nucleogenic death warp (I mean, I wanted to see the damn thing in action). Then see a test of Voyager's skills and Janeway's leadership to eventually track down Equinox. It would give us more of an insight on how the Equinox crew survived when met with other species, we could get a close look at one of their procedures and see if Ransom really regretted everything. Furthermore, the end of the arc could be Voyager finally reaching the Equinox (perhaps under attack) after having to move on and THEN seeing how Janeway responds. I guess I'm comparing this to the Occupation Arc of DS9, but I think it would have at least been a large achievement to do something similar for Voyager. Any thoughts?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Really, there is so much that can be said about this two-parter. I'm really a Deep Space Nine fan, but this was probably my among my top three favorite Voyager episodes, mainly because of the added dimension that it brought to both humanity and Voyager. It was much more realistic.

But anyway, I loved Equinox Part I but found Part II to be a serious let-down. Janeway really ruined it when she was flippin' shit, and the Equinox's engines conveniently stall long enough for Voyager to track it down and win (as the damn ship always did). I didn't particularly like the Equinox crew, but I certainly felt like they were a lot more "natural" than Voyager's. I mean seriously, what is there to be happy about when your 35,000 light years away from home???? Why wouldn't you be feeling a little bet rebellious?

Anyway, I hate to criticize Voyager in comparison with Deep Space Nine, but I think a multi-episode arc could have helped the sixth season in general, as well as be the highlight of the show. This story arc had so much potential and was seriously let down by the fact that it was 90 minutes and probably only spanned a few days in Trek time.

So my suggestion is... Equinox leaves Voyager at the mercy of the aliens, and then speeds off with its nucleogenic death warp (I mean, I wanted to see the damn thing in action). Then see a test of Voyager's skills and Janeway's leadership to eventually track down Equinox. It would give us more of an insight on how the Equinox crew survived when met with other species, we could get a close look at one of their procedures and see if Ransom really regretted everything. Furthermore, the end of the arc could be Voyager finally reaching the Equinox (perhaps under attack) after having to move on and THEN seeing how Janeway responds. I guess I'm comparing this to the Occupation Arc of DS9, but I think it would have at least been a large achievement to do something similar for Voyager. Any thoughts?

I think an arc for season 6 would have been interesting, taking up the whole season with a determined hunt-down of the Equinox... perhaps even ending mid season with Ransom dying and the Equinox surviving. With Equinox sticking around for the rest of the series, before being sacrificied as a meat shield for Voyager at the end.

 

[Boy Wonder]

I agree, a multi episode arc would have worked wonders for season 6 with the Equinox crew. Season 6 is a pretty weak season overall.

Though I disagree with the OP about part 2 being a let down. Bad ass Janeway was great, I'm just sorry she never killed that crewman. It would have been great, Janeway becomes what she is trying to stop. So much material.

 

[DonIago]

I could see Equinox being more than a two-parter, though for me they'd need to do less with the Evil Holodoc and Seven being interrogated at that point. However, I have concerns about it as a season-long arc (or longer). Concerns that, conversely to how longevity weakened the Borg, it would make the Equinox appear to be too strong an opponent or Voyager too weak/foolish to deal with them properly, i.e. why hasn't the Voyager crew kicked their asses yet?

Regardless of the fate of the Equinox and how long it took to resolve it, never showing the surviving crew again was a misstep.

 

[JNG]

I didn't particularly like the Equinox crew, but I certainly felt like they were a lot more "natural" than Voyager's. I mean seriously, what is there to be happy about when your 35,000 light years away from home???? Why wouldn't you be feeling a little bet rebellious?

Rebellious? Yeah, maybe I would not shine my Starfleet shoes every day.

Genocidal? No.

 

[Rÿcher]

Let's talk about Equinox, baby
let's talk about you and me
let's talk about all the good things and the bad things that may be

 

[dave_R_treker]

Whatever happened to the Equinox crew that survived. There were five that survived. I know they were stripped of there rank, but did we ever see them again?

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Whatever happened to the Equinox crew that survived. There were five that survived. I know they were stripped of there rank, but did we ever see them again?

They play poker with the subspace-damaging warp engines and the Borg baby every sunday.

 

[dave_R_treker]

Whatever happened to the Equinox crew that survived. There were five that survived. I know they were stripped of there rank, but did we ever see them again?

They play poker with the subspace-damaging warp engines and the Borg baby every sunday.

ahh, figured so much

 

[DonIago]

It is the only logical conclusion...

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

a number of things/inconsistencies really bugged me in this two parter:

1. The Equinox is supposedly taken to the same Array by the Caretaker, yet they encounter none (not even the Borg) of the same species as Voy (probably to make it believable that a weeny Nova-class ship could last that long)

2. The Equinox had been using the nucleogenic aliens to travel great distances, yet Voyager is able to track them (the nomadic ppl who summoned them -- are they even capable of warp travel??) down within the time of the episode

3. When the nucleogenic aliens farted anti-matter, there were no huge explosions

4. Capt. Ransom says something like if they could keep going (using the aliens as fuel) they'd reach Earth in a month (or something significantly less than the ~35 yrs for Voyager). i mean, how fast were they going??? i was under the impression that Nova class max warp was less than that of Voyager (corresponding to a lower cruising speed than warp 6) and that the aliens were used to boost the engines up to about what Voyager's speed was....

was there any mention of the Equinox finding wormholes as shortcuts?? if so, it might explain how janeway traveled all the way back to the antimatter-farting-aliens-summoners homeworld, but i doubt it since the ds9 wormhole is supposedly the only stable one

 

[2 of 10]

This is an reoccuring problem with all Trek series, however, since unlike DS-9 or anyother Trek series Voyager was stuck for year after year in the DQ, one would think that a character from a previous episode would at least be seen, even if in the background in the messhall perhaps.

The five from Equinox, were stripped of all rank and bacame crewman, really how many crewman did we really see from episode to episode. Not many at all. So, it's not really any surprise that they vanished from Voyager, never to be seen again.

Resistance is Futile

 

[kimc]

Bad ass Janeway was great, I'm just sorry she never killed that crewman. It would have been great, Janeway becomes what she is trying to stop. So much material.

I agree.

At the end of Part 1 when Ransom left the Voyager crew to die I was so peeved I remember thinking "I hope next season Janeway kicks some serious ass!" When Part 2 opened with Janeway carrying "Betsy" I knew they were going to deliver.

I know the scene with Lessing is pretty controversial and the fact it's still discussed says something about it's power, imo. I'm glad she didn't go as far as killing Lessing though - she managed to stop herself from becoming what she hated.

 

[Luminus]

The Equinox should have been assimilated. Period. How could they have never encountered the Borg? Do you see how big Borg space is?

http://www.ucip.org/science/newmaps/quadrants.jpg

There's no way to go around the collective without adding a serious amount of extra time to their voyage. Since Ransom acted like he didn't expect the Borg to be living in the Delta Quadrant, it's reasonable to assume that he wouldn't have taken this futile precaution. Futile being in that any route around the collective would have turned the Equinox into a generational ship.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

The Equinox should have been assimilated. Period. How could they have never encountered the Borg? Do you see how big Borg space is?

http://www.ucip.org/science/newmaps/quadrants.jpg

There's no way to go around the collective without adding a serious amount of extra time to their voyage. Since Ransom acted like he didn't expect the Borg to be living in the Delta Quadrant, it's reasonable to assume that he wouldn't have taken this futile precaution. Futile being in that any route around the collective would have turned the Equinox into a generational ship.

apparently, burning more and more creatures allowed the Equinox to travel something like 10,000 ly in 2 weeks, or something like that, so they probably could've gone the long-way around, or found wormholes....

it'd probably have been easier to just go for the GQ wormhole tho

 

[Ro_Laren]

I think that the storyline could have been expanded to more than two episodes. That being said, it is still one of my favorite Voyager storylines. But did we ever see the Equinox crewmen on Voyager after the two episodes or did they go into hiding along with the Borg baby?

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

 

[Akiraprise]

I've always thought that the fuel aliens were based off the Etherians from Elite Force.

Would have made for a neat tie in to the game.

 

[Luminus]

The Equinox should have been assimilated. Period. How could they have never encountered the Borg? Do you see how big Borg space is?

http://www.ucip.org/science/newmaps/quadrants.jpg

There's no way to go around the collective without adding a serious amount of extra time to their voyage. Since Ransom acted like he didn't expect the Borg to be living in the Delta Quadrant, it's reasonable to assume that he wouldn't have taken this futile precaution. Futile being in that any route around the collective would have turned the Equinox into a generational ship.

apparently, burning more and more creatures allowed the Equinox to travel something like 10,000 ly in 2 weeks, or something like that, so they probably could've gone the long-way around, or found wormholes....

it'd probably have been easier to just go for the GQ wormhole tho

The borg can travel faster than Federation ships. They would have detected the Equinox and moved to assimilate. Why would Ransom go around a region of space, since no one knew it was filled with borg? The writer's just screwed up once again. That story should have taken place in season 3.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

The Equinox should have been assimilated. Period. How could they have never encountered the Borg? Do you see how big Borg space is?

http://www.ucip.org/science/newmaps/quadrants.jpg

There's no way to go around the collective without adding a serious amount of extra time to their voyage. Since Ransom acted like he didn't expect the Borg to be living in the Delta Quadrant, it's reasonable to assume that he wouldn't have taken this futile precaution. Futile being in that any route around the collective would have turned the Equinox into a generational ship.

apparently, burning more and more creatures allowed the Equinox to travel something like 10,000 ly in 2 weeks, or something like that, so they probably could've gone the long-way around, or found wormholes....

it'd probably have been easier to just go for the GQ wormhole tho

The borg can travel faster than Federation ships. They would have detected the Equinox and moved to assimilate. Why would Ransom go around a region of space, since no one knew it was filled with borg? The writer's just screwed up once again. That story should have taken place in season 3.

i don't think the borg would go out of their way to assimilate a little nova class vessel (8 decks and 80 crew)