Lt. Joe Carey

[c0rnedfr0g]

I was watching 'Friendship One' today, and I'm sure this has been asked before, but what was the deal with Joseph Carey? He was somewhat frequent in Season 1, then disappeared essentially until Season 7, albeit an appearance in Season 5 and Season 6. But both of these appearances were in the past.

Why was he not seen in the 'current' timeline for 6 years? Did the writers want to kill him off so badly in Season 1 that they hoped two flashback appearances would make the audience think he had been dead the whole time? Why remind us of him anyway, then ultimately kill him off in the final season?

Any ideas? What was going on?

 

[Finn]

They thought it would be nice to have someone we knew get killed off rather than a random redshirt. Sure they could have went with Vorik or Sam Wildman or one of the twins but..

 

[mythme]

Many assumed that he had died, perhaps during a Kazon attack sometime early in Season Two because he was never seen again after "State Of Flux". An assumption reinforced by his "guest" appearances in "past timeline" sequences in "Relativity" and "Fury" which also take place during the first season, as if the writers were telling us "hey remember this guy? yeah, he was around during Voyager's early days". The along comes "Friendship One" six years later and PRESTO - there's Carey. So unless the viewer was incredibly faithful to the series or had a good memory, the impact of his death was negilible. As stated above, Vorik or Sam Wildman would have been a much better choice.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

but I thought, after all this time, it was insulting how they treated his death like 'just another joe'

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

Well he is just another "Joe"

 

[ria 75]

Kill Sam Wildman?? How cruel!

But I agree on this: why bring him back just to kill him? That's lame.

About the twins, isn't it frustrating that, for a long time, they are alluded to and have no face, then they make an appearance, and then they disappear completely!?

It's like those characters who appear in the last season and they were on Voyager the whole time. Where the hell were they hiding? I understand the casting issue, but it's like on Lost. It's weird to introduce new characters in a predetermined group... which is why killing Carey may make more sense than killing some nameless redshirt.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

Yeah, it's possible the writers were trying to react to criticism of killing characters no one had ever seen before. But Carey hadn't been seen for sooo long... I bet the writers were keeping a few random characters "alive" that they could randomly kill off at some point, especially to make a situation seem more serious

 

[LeadHead]

It's too bad they brought Carey back just to kill him, but Paris mentioned in "Before & After" that Carey was killed by the Krenim in the Alternate timeline Kes experienced. He was alive, just never seen. Maybe he was running the Engineering NIght shift or something.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

i guess it did provide some closure to that charcter. "where had he been for 6 seasons?" people wondered. Apparently, awaiting a random and meaningless death. if i was janeway, at the end of the episode, i would've beamed up carey's assassin and publicly executed him... but she'd never do that...

 

[exodus]

Didn't Janeway mention he was reassigned to Shuttle Building?

Davidant32, I don't believe Carey's death was meaningless. It meant something to us the audience and I think that's the impact the writers were going for. I think they wanted us to feel something for a character we were fimilar with.

 

[Jeri]

Carey was kind of a tragic figure; first B'Elanna busts him in the nose, then she gets his job, and then he gets whacked. I guess he just has that kind of face.

 

[exodus]

Carey was kind of a tragic figure; first B'Elanna busts him in the nose, then she gets his job, and then he gets whacked. I guess he just has that kind of face.

That's what you get for being a poor clone of O'Brian.

 

[ria 75]

Yeah, it's possible the writers were trying to react to criticism of killing characters no one had ever seen before. But Carey hadn't been seen for sooo long... I bet the writers were keeping a few random characters "alive" that they could randomly kill off at some point, especially to make a situation seem more serious

Oh, come on, they may also be kept on standby for other purposes than getting killed.

 

[Jeri]

Carey was kind of a tragic figure; first B'Elanna busts him in the nose, then she gets his job, and then he gets whacked. I guess he just has that kind of face.

That's what you get for being a poor clone of O'Brian.

Great minds -- I was thinking of the "torture Joe Carey" scenario, too.

 

[Herkimer Jitty]

I would direct people to the Terrible Episode ideas thread in General Trek for my theory on Carey.

 

[Odon]

You're all forgetting that the last time we saw Carey was when he was suspected of being a traitor and Janeway ordered him confined to "quarters for the duration of the investigation".

It's obvious that poor Joe was locked in his quarters and forgotten about for the next few years, even after Seska turned out to be the traitor.

 

[c0rnedfr0g]

You're absolutely right, and that barely makes more sense than the last answer. Stuck in his quarters for 5 years, he probably got hooked on hundreds of years of tv, video games, and movies, and really didn't want to go back to engineering, where consoles regularly explode. Probably counted his lucky stars until he was unfortunately remembered and sent on an away mission, where he died (ironically, as he'd be avoiding danger in his quarters!).

 

[Lynx]

I could never understand why they had to kill off Lt.Carey and I could never understand why he was more and less invisible after season 2. He was a good character and would have deserved better than being killed off in a bad episode.

I guess that the whole thing with Carey being left out for so many seasons and then killed off is another example of bad writing.

As for what he was doing all those years when we didn't see him, my theory is that he was the chief of the Torpedo and Shuttle Building Crew!

 

[Odon]

OK seriously though, it could simply have been that the actor wasn't available. Remember that if they have to write 'Joe Carey' into a scene and the actor can't make it, the scene has to be rewritten.

 

[Anika Hanson]

I dont really mind what they did with Carey, the only thing that is strange is when the showed him in episdoes like fury.

The one I didnt like at all was the Lyndesy Ballard story. I didnt even know who she was when she returned and Im sure I never saw her with Harry Kim ever even though they are suppose to have had this great friendship. They should of featured her (more) in the show if they wanted to bring her back, it just didnt make any sense.