My first voyage with Voyager

[R. Star]

Investigations... sigh. It was a really cliche filled ending to all this Paris/Jonas intrigue that had been quietly building up. Neelix decided he's has a new hobby. The next day he's suddenly an authority on it. Does no one realize that he nearly screwed everything up with his interfering? Janeway asked him NOT to go poking around because it would ruin their plan and coincidentally, everything Paris is doing. He's really a self-absorbed jerk. But we knew from episode 1 when he lied to the crew, and risked their lives that he wasn't quite trustworthy. He was going to get HIS headlines, it didn't matter the consequences.

Then there's Jonas himself. He was doing so well until this episode. There were doubts in him, things he would and wouldn't do in his spy capacity and a depth to him almost. Then he just turned into a stereotypical villain in this one. Complete with the cliche scream and charge the hero who's standing on the edge of a precipice.

Really all this episode did was conclude a long and slow push of the reset button that was so typical on Voyager. All those subplots for the past several episodes, just get hand waved away, there's no lasting effects on the characters, we never see Neelix be a journalist again, and Seska and Culluh are still just tailing Voyager like they have been for over the last year.

 

[Alpha Flyer]

Congrats for uncovering King Abdullah! :-) He is a huge Star Trek fan (they're opening a ST theme park near Amman soon, I gather).

I have a higher opinion of Investigations than R. Star. I liked the idea of a macro-plot that develops over 4 or 5 episodes -- they don't happen very often on ST. I also thought it followed nicely on Threshold, and Tom's confession to Janeway that he needs to prove himself. I have this theory that she conceived the plan with Tuvok very shortly thereafter -- in a somewhat calculating way (as in, "he'll do anything ..."). The dynamic between Tom and Chakotay should have been explored better though -- ultimately it was Chakotay who was betrayed by Janeway, who didn't trust him enough to involve him, and the only one who ever really apologizes to him is Tom. (I did write a short story on the C/P dynamic early on in this sequence, called "Far From Home".)

I also liked the awkwardness of Tom's apology to Chakotay. Some people would say he was an ass about it, but frankly I think he just doesn't really know how to act as he's been put between the command team and really was in a difficult situation. He's also used to being a failure, so being lauded as a hero is great, but he's clearly not entirely believing it. So he turns it all into a grand joke -- as he tends to do with most things that matter to him -- and Robbie McNeill is a good enough actor that you can see in his face that it's not a comfortable one.

As for Jonas, he was a serious failure as a spy. In one of the previous episodes you see him communicate with Seska and the Kazon and he is just such a bumbling moron, a real amateur when he tries to impress these people. So I wasn't surprised when he totally overreacted with Neelix throughout the episode. Basically he's a little shit who's in way over his head.

Neelix? Yeah, irresponsible journalism 101. Right up there with Wikileaks for putting people in harm's way. I do, however, like the way he brushes off the Doctor and his ego as a running gag.

 

[R. Star]

I liked Tom's role in this. He really was the hero of the episode. Though the Kazon demonstrate how stupid they are yet again. Their idea of a prison is a room you're told not to leave? That has a working computer with sensitive information? Those morons deserve to lose. How do they even keep those ships they stole working? I can just see a dozen Kazon with "Warp Engineering for Dummies" books fumbling over a warp core.

As for Paris/Chakotay, for awhile I was actually thinking they remembered that Paris and Chakotay didn't like each other as painfully established in the pilot, during this arc. But it was a false alarm of course. No more friction and the reset button was applied.

Neelix brushing the Doctor aside was beautiful. Picardo always delivers a top notch performance and his wounded ego cannot be denied!

 

[Qutluch]

Deadlock

The opener starts with Wildman helping Neelix in the kitchen and she goes into labor. Kes and the Doc help her deliver the baby. Wildman is having difficulties in her birth and I am thinking they are going to do a cesarean, but how silly of me, of course they will beam the baby out. (Wouldn’t it just be easier to deliver all babies that way? Why torture women with child birth if it safe to transport babies out?) The Viidian show up on VOY’s censors just as Wildman has her baby.

There is a brief spacial rift because of the plasma rift and there is an alternate reality that occurs. The ship is attacked by the Viidians, The Doc is swamped because the baby is sick, and there is an influx of injured passengers coming in because of the attack. The crew keeps trying to fix the problems, but they are occurring faster than the crew can make repairs. Kim is sucked into space, and B’Elanna reports him as dead. ((Too bad)) When Kes was going to help she disappears into a spacial rift, and there are over 600 fractures in the hull. Things look pretty bad and even worse when Tuvok announces that the baby died. Then the events change and everything is fine.

Wildman’s baby is just fine, but she did have the baby during the time when Janeway had her visions. Kes seems to be able to go back and forth between the two different versions of the VOY. There is a shift throughout the episode from one VOY scene to the other. The two VOY’s eventually figure out how to contact one another. The two Janeways decide to meet (the cut Janeway received on her face in one reality really helped to tell them apart; good planning)! It was so funny to listen to the two of them argue against each other!

The Vidiians infiltrate the Voyager and begin stealing organs and make a dash to get the new baby! Janeway sends Kim to get the baby and bring it to the second Voyager and the infiltrated VOY has set the self-destruct…BOOM!! The Vidiian ship and the VOY have been destroyed….So which VOY was destroyed? This episode confused me a little…too much jumping back and forth!!

Favorite part: Janeway arguing with herself.

Least favorite part: There was too much jumping around. While it was fun to see Janeway argue it against herself it was also confusing. It was a very sci-fi-ish episode with dual realities and the mixing of the two realities, but I just didn’t care for this episode as much. I wonder how the people on the safe VOY felt when there alternate selves died. Were they happy because it would have been too confusing to understand and live with a second them, or were they deeply saddened by the loss of themselves?

 

[R. Star]

The scene of Harry getting blown into space alone makes this episode worthwhile. Really though, apparently the Viidians are tailing Voyager too this whole time in order to harvest a 150 people's organs... or their territory simotaneously spreads for two years along with the Kazon... yeah.

This episode is basically like drugs for Janeway fans. It gets them euphoric and dellusional both at the same time. Bunch of random stuff going on, but really you basically knew how it was going to end. Though this is a more creative push of the reset button than usual.

 

[Qutluch]

The scene of Harry getting blown into space alone makes this episode worthwhile. Really though, apparently the Viidians are tailing Voyager too this whole time in order to harvest a 150 people's organs... or their territory simotaneously spreads for two years along with the Kazon... yeah.

This episode is basically like drugs for Janeway fans. It gets them euphoric and dellusional both at the same time. Bunch of random stuff going on, but really you basically knew how it was going to end. Though this is a more creative push of the reset button than usual.

Your right, my favorite part really was Harry Kim getting blown up! However, I was sad when he got sent back with the baby...why couldn't they just let him die?? I get the episode for Janeway fans; it really was directed at them, but it just didn't do it for me. There was too much "random stuff going on".

 

[Delsaber]

Your right, my favorite part really was Harry Kim getting blown up! However, I was sad when he got sent back with the baby...why couldn't they just let him die??

I remember reading somewhere that this was the actual plan, but Garret Wang had certain reservations about, well, not being employed any more, I suppose.

Since they never really developed his character anyway, killing him off here wouldn't have changed much going forward. Although I do wonder if having that extra slot open would've allowed for both Kes and Seven of Nine later on...

 

[Qutluch]

Innocence
The shuttle crashed on a moon and a crewman died. Tuvok tried to help him, but alas the un-named man died (anyone surprised?). Tuvok encounters children who live on the moon (they too crash-landed and apparently all of the adults died). When Tuvok told the children that he could help them they all ran up to him and gave him a hug…I loved Tuvok’s expression here!

There are two parts to this episode: Tuvok on the planet with the kids who appear to be scared of the Boogey Man and Janeway who is meeting with a new civilization; the Drayans. It was very amusing to watch Tuvok baby-sit these children…I believe he even showed emotion or lack of emotion (patience)! The kids hear a ship and get scared when it comes close. They tell Tuvok that it is their people coming to hurt them. Tuvok hides in the forest with the small fries, and they explain that their people brought them to this moon so the “Boogey Man” could take them away. That night two of the children disappeared. Tuvok briefly initiates contact with Janeway and she decides to bring another shuttle to the moon without the Drayan’s approval. Tuvok is able to get his shuttle craft off of the moon, but they are fired upon by the Drayans. The Drayans, Tuvok, and Janeway all meet on the planet and it is revealed that the Drayans aging process is the exact opposite of those on Voyager. The “Child” is actually 94. Tressa is comforted by Tuvok who acts like her guardian. It was a really touching moment when the two of them share her death experience together.

Favorite part: We actually get to see some emotion from Tuvok!! I enjoyed hearing him interact with the little people. We even get a feel for how much he misses his own children. This was a nice piece for Tuvok and his character’s development. The episode also gives insight into the Vulcan’s culture.

Least favorite part: No Neelix and no Doctor

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I couldn't choke it down, the reverse aging. I have happily sat through all manner of sci fi ridiculousness but that was too much.

Also, I always expect to see Darth Vader in the cave.

 

[Alpha Flyer]

Still on Deadlock here -- it's been a tough couple of weeks at work.

Not one of my favourite episodes. What really bugged me is that here's Harry, who has just watched ALL his friends die (Tom particularly messily, as I recall, being butchered in the corridor although I may be having false memories here); then he comes back onboard the ship where everybody thinks HE is dead, and all he gets is a pat on the back and a patronizing "weird is part of the job"??? I mean, yikes.

As for Innocence -- cute, but ... duh. Could have been profound, but wasn't.

 

[Qutluch]

I couldn't choke it down, the reverse aging. I have happily sat through all manner of sci fi ridiculousness but that was too .

I agree. My mind immediately tried to imagine someone giving birth to a full size being and I cringed and decided to ignore the whole idea of reverse aging!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I think they must come from eggs..

 

[Qutluch]

One would hope!

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

And you know they could have taken one sentence to explain it. To stop the leg crossing visuals that the big reveal gave us.

 

[R. Star]

Sometimes you wonder if they just have discussions about these... "Hey you know what would be cool?" "What?" "A planet were everyone aged backwards, instead of getting old and dying, they get young and die." "Woaaaaaah!" "Uh... but that doesn't make any sense if you stop and think about it for a second..." "Quiet you, you're just the janitor, your opinions don't matter!"

 

[Qutluch]

Sometimes you wonder if they just have discussions about these... "Hey you know what would be cool?" "What?" "A planet were everyone aged backwards, instead of getting old and dying, they get young and die." "Woaaaaaah!" "Uh... but that doesn't make any sense if you stop and think about it for a second..." "Quiet you, you're just the janitor, your opinions don't matter!"

NICE!!

 

[Qutluch]

The Thaw


Wow! The opening began with Kim whining…so surprised! On a side note, I kind of feel like Paris’ hairline is rapidly receding! I don’t think I have mentioned this before, but I really like the openings music. I often find myself humming it.

Voyager picks up an automated transmission from a damaged world. The transmission suggested that a few members of the world were able to survive the cataclysmic event that “killed” the planet. Five humanoids were put in stasis and three survived. Voyager beams these individuals onto the ship and tries to figure out why they did not reawaken when they were supposed to. We have our plot! A mystery: Who, Why, and How??

In order to figure out the mystery Kim and B’Elanna enter the other two stasis pods to speak with the individuals to figure out why they had not exited the pods. When they enter the pods they are in some kind of evil-cracked-out-circus-of-the-damned-world where the members of the circus want to kill them by beheading. (Were the writers on acid? No, really. Were they)? The three in the stasis pods enter the scene and stop Kim’s beheading (DAMN!)! They keep teasing us with a potential Kim death. One member of the evil-circus-of-the-damned taunts them, and tells the two of them that they cannot allow the humanoids to leave because the evil-circus-of-the-damned would cease to exist. They also pointed out that the reason the other two died was because the fear of beheading caused a heart attack…So, if the fear of losing your head is what causes the heart attacks for the humanoids (because they are in a make-believe world and their physical bodies don’t actually lost their heads)… why can’t Kim and B’Elanna reason out that if they are beheaded in the stasis world their bodies would be fine. It seems like they could rationally withhold the fear and leave…. This is a huge plot flaw right? Or, am I overthinking the whole thing? They need Tuvok…or the DOCTOR!! Yeah, for the Doctor! The Crazy in charge (the embodiment of fear) argues with the Doctor, and is upset because he cannot read the Doctor! Janeway trades herself for all of the other hostages…or at least pretends to via hologram and defeats The Fear, who vanishes into the backdrop.

Least favorite part: 1. If they are going to show a crazy evil circus at least let us see some awesome feats of strength or cool acrobatics in the background. 2. The whole plot flaw thing kind of ruins this episode. 3. The point of the episode was to show that anyone can overcome their fears; okay, I understand the moral rational for the episode, but it could have been executed in a stronger fashion. Finally, The moral of the story: Don’t do drugs!

Favorite part: They torture Kim! Although, this leads to another disappointment in the show…the lack of continuity between episodes. I feel confident assuming Kim will not re-address his stress from the mental torture in this episode.

 

[Delsaber]

Given the VR-esque nature of The Thaw's story, I often wonder how it would've turned out if William Gibson wrote it instead.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The Thaw is one of my least watched eps, I absolutely loathed it the first time round. I'm going to rewatch it tonight. I've been rewatching the ones I avoided recently (most of which are in seasons 1-3, the pre-7 years).

 

[R. Star]

The Thaw is one of my least watched eps, I absolutely loathed it the first time round. I'm going to rewatch it tonight. I've been rewatching the ones I avoided recently (most of which are in seasons 1-3, the pre-7 years).

Evil Clowns just don't cut it. Though Janeway basically outeviling the evil clown comes as no surprise. Though she failed to follow through by killing Harry after she "rescued" him.