Re-Watching VOY

[Lord Garth]

"Lifesigns"

In Brief: The A-Plot with the Vidian woman, Denora Pel, was great. The B-Plot with Paris was wearing out its welcome at this point. I wish these two plots were in different episodes, so this whole one could be focused on Pel.

The A-Plot: Pel's body is critical condition so, through technobabble aided by TECH already within Pel's brain, the Doctor is able to project her mind into a holographic version of herself that looks like how she would've if she hadn't been afflicted by the Phage.

I feel really bad for Pel. It's great that she gets to see what she'd look like unaffected. But I feel horrible for her that she'll have to look that way again when she goes back to her own body.

An interesting nuance is that Torres doesn't want to help Denora at all at first. She remembers what the Vidians did to her in "Faces". I don't blame her. I'd feel the same way. Then, when Pel enters the room, looking normal and healthy, Torres sees Pel as a person instead of as a monster. Because now Torres sees a person, she's willing to help. Just like was said in "Is There In Truth No Beauty?" (TOS), perceptions of ugliness are the last of human(oid) prejudices. A credit to the episode for not dragging this out and letting it only last for the one scene, which is all we need.

In her holographic state, Pel can't go anywhere besides Sickbay, except for the Holodeck. The Doctor takes Pel to Sandrine's... and I have to say that they really hit it off. Anyone who says Star Trek can't do romance is full of shit. I could really feel it with the Doctor and Pel. After they get back from Sandrine's, and it looks like they're about to kiss, I thought the Doctor should've. In the heat of the moment, I bought into it that much. Immediately afterwards, I started wondering to myself, "Yeah, but how would that work with her in Vidian Space and Voyager heading towards the Alpha Quadrant?"

The conversation between the Doctor and Kes about Pel gave an opportunity for real growth with the Doctor. Even though he wasn't programmed for romance, his adaptiveness has now allowed for it, and Kes encourages him to pursue a relationship with Pel. But then, the Doctor tells Pel -- in a matter-of-fact way -- "I feel attracted to you and I wonder if you felt the same the way?" And right in front of Kes! I can't hold it against the episode or the Doctor. He's in uncharted territory. The look on Kes' face is priceless. Her facial reaction was the same as mine. Then Pel says she thinks they should keep their relationship professional. But it's not what the Doctor said, it's how he said it and went about it.

The best use of Paris in this episode is when the Doctor asks him for advice on how to handle rejection. Then, on the other end, Kes gives advice to Pel.

It all leads to the Doctor taking Pel on a date on the Holodeck and it was very creative. Something you wouldn't see anywhere else. The Doctor with Pel in a '57 Chevy on Mars. The Doctor starts pointing out constellations. But we're not here for an Astronomy lesson. Then the Doctor and Pel kiss. The choice of a song fit as well. "I Only Have Eyes for You". Great pairing up a '50s song with a '50s car. On Mars. A very Tom Paris thing to do, but it worked like a charm. Just a great scene, and I'm glad the Director decided to just stay with it for a little bit, before cutting to the next scene. More on that soon.

Now Pel really doesn't want to go back to her body. She doesn't think the Doctor will love her anymore. And she won't be able to stand her appearance again. The Doctor says he'll still love her, and that they can be together as long as they can be. Two weeks before they reach where she was originally headed. I didn't remember that this episode ended with just them dancing. A perfect way to close out the episode. And, in fact, I think how this episode deals with Pel is the opposite how Vina was dealt with in "The Cage". Whereas in "The Cage", Pike wants Vina to be given back her illusion of beauty and she says she can't go back with them, in "Lifesigns", the Doctor is dancing with Pel at the end with no illusion and her looking as she really does.

The B-Plot: Oh, my God. This is the point where the Paris and Jonas subplots really begin to wear out their welcome. Had this been in a different episode, I'd be more forgiving, but not here. Let the main story with "Lifesigns" stand on its own! Paris shows up late again, Chakotay wants to do something about it, Paris gives him attitude, he shows up late again, Chakotay says he's relieved, they get into an altercation, and Paris is taken to the brig.

At this point, when the series was first airing, I was wondering what was going on with Paris. After I knew what was really going on, seeing what happens here feels especially cringe-worthy.

Then there's Jonas. He finds out Seska's been getting his messages after all. The groundwork for "Basics" is laid when she says she wants to kidnap Voyager because she doesn't want to raise her child on a Kazon ship. Then she tells Jonas to sabotage something, which we never get see. To be continued?

Overall: This should be a 10. The B-Plot is too intrusive, too grating, and too tonally different from the rest of the episode. If it wasn't for the Re-Watch Thread, I'd skip over those scenes. But, for completeness, I can't. So, two points off. I give this episode an 8.

 

[Starflight]

Lifesigns is the first 10/10 for me, even with the dopey B-plot. Honestly as bad as the Jonas plot is, and it is bad, it just makes me laugh on rewatches since you know it's all leading toward the dumbest conclusion in history, and the sheer nonsensical audacity of Janeway's plan to make Paris alienate everyone around him is hilarious.

The A-plot is just superb though, easily the best the show's done so far. We're in a really good stretch here in the back half of season two, The Thaw and Tuvix might both also be 10/10s for me.

 

[Oddish]

Season two was one of the better seasons, IMO.

 

[Farscape One]

Season two was one of the better seasons, IMO.

Agreed. Some great ones in here...

"PERSISTENCE OF VISION", "MANEUVERS", "RESISTANCE", "DEATH WISH", "ALLIANCES", "MELD", "LIFESIGNS", "DEADLOCK", "THE THAW", and "TUVIX".

The only actually bad (produced) season 2 episodes are "NON SEQUITUR", "PARTURITION", "FALSE PROFITS", and "FLASHBACK".

All the others are decent to good.

 

[Lord Garth]

I think I'll have more people on my side with "Tuvix" than I thought. I mentioned where I stand on that subject several years ago. If you remember, you remember. Otherwise, you'll find out when I get there.

This wasn't part of my plan, but I'm going to re-watch "Investigations" next. That's where my mind is already at anyway, so why not? I'll do two DS9 episodes next week to balance things out. Have to keep everything in sync!

"Investigations"

First off, what I said above about the B-Plot intruding too much in "Lifesigns" might've made it sound like I probably hate "Investigations", but that isn't true. I just thought the two stories didn't go well together. Taken on its own terms, I think there's a good idea within "Investigations" and the whole Jonas/Paris arc. It just comes down to a matter of the execution of said idea.

Neelix begins a new series where he updates the crew on what's going on with Voyager. We'll overlook that Neelix is recording on a camera with what looks like 240i resolution and a 4:3 aspect ratio. It's all frothy, feel-good, breezy stuff. Kim tells Neelix he should go for something with more substance, so Neelix dabbles into journalism, where he uncovers that someone has been sending uncoded transmissions somewhere. Specifically, someone informing the Kazon that Paris has left Voyager to serve on a Telaxian ship.

It gives Neelix something to do, that's true, but I think all of it was unnecessary. Drop all the Neelix scenes, then take the scenes related to the Paris/Jonas storyline from "Lifesigns" and put them here, at the beginning of the episode. Then those scenes would feel like they'd be somewhere that fits better and it still gives the setup of Paris looking like he wants to leave Voyager. Jonas sabotaging the magnetic constrictors even picks up directly from when Seska told him to do that in the previous episode.

Jonas, the character not the actor who plays him, seems so fake when Neelix asks him about if anyone could send anomalous transmissions. That should've made Neelix suspicious of Jonas immediately. Right then and there. Instead, Neelix falls for the trap Jonas set for him, and thinks it was Paris who sent transmissions to the Kazon instead of him. That's two other things Neelix should've realized: 1) evidence can be planted (how could this not even occur to him?) and, 2) the first answer he finds might not be the right one. I know because the show has told me Jonas is the traitor. Neelix on the other hand, because of the type of life he had before Voyager, should've had the street smarts to know as well.

When Neelix's overenthusiastic journalism makes it sound like Paris is the one who betrayed Voyager to the Kazon, Janeway wants Tuvok to get him into her Ready Room ASAP. Chakotay's there too. And that's when Janeway and Tuvok tell Neelix -- and Chakotay! -- what's really going on.

Chakotay has a lot more restraint than he should've. He should've looked a lot more furious that Janeway and Tuvok kept him out of the loop. Again! It's actually the second time they've pulled the wool over his eyes. The first time being "Caretaker". A reaction with the same level of intensity from "State of Flux" would've been perfect here. "You were working for her. She was working for them! Was anyone on that ship working for me?!" But nothing. Janeway tells Chakotay they needed a good performance while Paris was pretending to act up.

Going back to earlier in the episode, I kept thinking to myself, Paris must've felt really shitty inside when Neelix, Kes, and Kim all thought he was leaving for real. And he had play it straight. It's painful but it's a good type of painful. This had to be tearing Paris up inside. On the other hand, people who care about Paris might feel upset that they were led along by this ruse for so long. Even if that act was strictly under Janeway's orders.

Despite making Neelix look gullible for not being able to pick up on things, "Investigations" has Paris and Seska picking things up very quickly. Neither trusts each other, and Seska's suspicions are proven correct when she finds Paris sending transmissions to Voyager.

The last unintentionally goofy part of the episode is when Jonas tries to kill Neelix in order to keep from being exposed. They make Neelix look like he doesn't have a dirty bone his body (which isn't true) while Jonas becomes an incompetent fighter. Jonas was with the Maquis, he's probably dealt with Cardassian violence and attacks, and you're telling me he can't win in a fight against Neelix? Sorry, but there's no way Neelix would've stopped Jonas if it was all going to come down to fisticuffs.

But Neelix manages to save himself, Jonas is stopped, Paris is rescued, and it's revealed that everything Paris had been up to for the past several weeks was just an act. If I were Paris' closest friends, I'd feel betrayed to be strung along like that.

A note to Neelix: this is why you don't report things until you have all the facts! Otherwise, your rampant speculation doesn't match up with anyone else's, and it's only making things worse by adding more speculation on top of other speculation.

Overall: "Investigations" isn't a favorite of mine, but it isn't terrible. So many things I would've done differently, but I'm fine with some of what we got, even though it was mixed in with some stuff I didn't want and left out a lot I think we should've had. I give it a 6.

 

[Oddish]

My feelings about "Investigations" have gotten a little more complex over the years. Yes, I enjoy it. And yes, it was an effort by the Voyager writers to create both some on board tension and a multi-episode story arc. These things would be abandoned in the latter part of the show, where privation and internal dissention gave way to a seven-year Princess cruise.

The downside, of course, was that the "internal dissent" I spoke of was revealed to be pretense on Tom's part and resolved (fatally) on Jonas's. If this episode featured these desired elements, it also was the beginning of the end if them, to the show's severe detriment. I wasn't as surprised by Neelix's ability to fight off a trained Maquis officer, someone with his disreputable past would have to be able to handle himself.

I found the idea of "A Briefing With Neelix" to be charming, and wish we'd gotten more of it, though I suppose captain's logs are too traditional as exposition to dispense with. But maybe a few mentions here and there. The Big Red Reset Button strikes again.

Some of this one's best moments were related to Tom's imminent "departure". The discussion with him and Neelix, for example. Plus, Neelix's tribute to him. Even Tom and Harry's goodbye showed the genuineness of their friendship.

Though it's fun, I can't give it higher than a 7, because of the direction it was taking the show in.

 

[Lord Garth]

The downside, of course, was that the "internal dissent" I spoke of was revealed to be pretense on Tom's part and resolved (fatally) on Jonas's. If this episode featured these desired elements, it also was the beginning of the end if them, to the show's severe detriment.

It's something else I have a mixed opinion on. Obviously, they weren't going to write Paris out of the show. So, if they were going to have dissent, I think it would've helped if they had a character who they didn't feel like they'd have to hit the reset button on and wasn't crazy like Suder. And wasn't as one-dimensional as Jonas. Someone with legitimate grievances who doesn't fall in-line with whatever Janeway says and isn't crazy. This someone would also have something to go back home to and thus wouldn't be able to bring themself just leave Voyager.

Seska would've been perfect for this type of role. If she hadn't turned out to be a Cardassian and hadn't gone to the Kazon. In the absence of that, a new character similar to early Seska, but who sticks around.

Seven gives dissent later on, especially during the fourth season, but it's not the same type of thing.

 

[Oddish]

Seska would've been perfect for this type of role. If she hadn't turned out to be a Cardassian and hadn't gone to the Kazon. In the absence of that, a new character similar to early Seska, but who sticks around.

If Seska hadn't gone the way she had, she could have easily been Voyager's resident Zachary Smith, antagonist, anti-hero, and general thorn in her captain's side because she didn't immediately join the Janeway Cult the way all the others (except Jonas) did. But also useful, sometimes. DS9 had Quark and Garak... maybe Voyager could have used a character like that.

 

[WarpTenLizard]

I liked Caretaker, but IMO they should've spent the whole first season integrating the Maquis fully into the crew. The first season could've ended with a devastating disaster that really forced them to stick together against all comers. Sure, there were some differences of opinion, but I think that the integration was so smooth it lacked credibility. I'm not saying that there should've been constant fights between the factions, but a bit more friction would've been nice.

Agreed. More time integrating the Maquis, and training a new medical staff. That's how Tom and Kes should have become friends, and how Tom's doomed crush on her formed. And Kes excelling in the class among the others should've been how she became the head nurse.

Personally, I'd also have liked to see the Maquis keep their Maquis uniforms until "Hunters" in Season 4, when they learn the war is over; then have them finally fully integrate into the Starfleet crew.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Deadlock"

This was an episode I was particularly excited to watch on my projector, up against an entire wall. Voyager getting split and all the chaos that happened on one of the Voyagers. I'm going to call it Voyager A since that's the one that survives and was focused on first, and I'll call the other ship the Voyager B.

The pyrotechnics crew must've had a blast with things blowing up everywhere on Voyager A. When I first watched the episode in 1996, I felt bad that Wildman lost her baby, but when Kim died, that's when I knew something was up. "They're not going to let Kim die!" Then the other shoe dropped.

Voyager B, in totally perfect condition, figures out that it's unintentionally crippling Voyager A, after Kes B disappeared from her ship ended up on Voyager A. This episode did a great job of surprising the audience by going against expectations. I thought for sure that Voyager A would destroy itself to save Voyager B. The interaction between Janeway A and Janeway B is priceless, when Janeway A orders Janeway B off her ship and says not to force her to use security to escort Janeway B off the ship, "because you know I'll do it".

Then the Vidians arrive, they see Voyager B but not Voyager A, then Janeway B sets Voyager B to self-destruct and sends Kim B and Wildman B's baby who survived over to Voyager A. When the Vidians arrive on the bridge, is another priceless scene where Janeway welcomes them and then the ship explodes! That's probably one of my favorite self-destruct scenes ever. It's even better than the "GET OUT! Get out of there!!!! Get out!!!!" scene from TSFS. The Vidians here were just as clueless as those Klingons on the bridge of the Enterprise, right before everything blew up.

Another great line is when Kim B feels weird to be on Voyager A, as he makes sense of it all (I'll stop using letters now), and Janeway tells him, "We're Starfleet Officers. Weird is part of the job!"

The other interesting thing in this episode is something that you couldn't get in a normal, present day, 20th (or 21st) Century Medical Drama. The fetal transport. That's a creative way for Star Trek to use its technology, apply it to the medical field, and depict something you couldn't see on another show.

There's only one problem I have with this episode, and only one. You've probably already guessed it, so I'll say it just to say it: it's a more than a little silly that damage so extensive to Voyager can be repaired in three days. It would've made more sense to say it would've taken a month, then have a time-skip between episodes after this. Maybe start off the next episode with everything having just been fixed, to let the audience know what happened here hasn't been forgotten. But does this effect my enjoyment of the episode in any way? No. Pointing something out is different from it changing how much I like an episode. With that in mind, I give it a 10.

"Deadlock" is one of my favorite Brannon Braga episodes. Up there with TNG's "Cause and Effect". I know there was this whole thing against B&B in the late-'90s and early-'00s (including from me), but credit where credit is due. When he knocks it out of the park, he knocks it out of the park.

 

[Oddish]

Deadlock:

Pluses:
- The dilemma overall.
- Giving Harry a moment of heroism.
- Two Janeways.
- Dead Janeway's final line. Talk about ice water in her veins...
- Surviving Janeway's final line. Weird IS part of the job.
- Bringing back the Vidiians.
- Introducing Voyager's most winsome crew member.

Minuses:
- That one-person self destruct sequence. Is it that hard for Chakotay or Tuvok to chime in "Computer, confirm self destruct. Authorization [name] gamma four seven"?
- Voyager is pristine by next episode despite getting the crap kicked out of it.

Overall: 8.5/10

 

[Farscape One]

"DEADLOCK" is one of the very best of VOY, particularly early series VOY.

Regarding the damage being completely gone in the next episode... I can't fault this one for the others dropping the ball on that. I don't think that's being fair to "DEADLOCK".

 

[Lord Garth]

Overall, when I look at "Innocence", I give it a 6.

I'm going backwards with my review of the episode since it was about aging backwards and living life backwards. It was interesting to frame this episode around Voyager and the aliens of the week misunderstanding each other. But I don't think the concept of reverse aging makes any scientific sense. Aging is the result of cellular decay. Growing up is the process becoming more developed. With reverse aging, you're born decayed. Then, instead of growing up, you grow down and undergo the process of becoming less developed. The only way this works is if there's some sort of technobabble or bio-technobabble in play.

Janeway and Tuvok are both in respective tight binds. Tuvok has to keep the children he's watching over safe, as they disappear one-by-one. Janeway has to deal with a people who want her away, but she can't leave until she's rescued Tuvok, who won't leave unless the last child that he's watching over is safe.

I feel bad for Tuvok having to watch over those children while he's trying to repair the shuttle. But, at the same time, I'm impressed with his abilities as a parent. No doubt it comes from his experience of raising four children, and it shows. The children become annoying to watch, but Tuvok really carries those scenes.

When Janeway is giving the aliens a tour of Voyager, they don't look favorably over what they perceive as her valuing technology over people. Janeway tries to explain, but they misunderstand. Following up on what I said earlier, later on in the episode. Writing this backwards has been an interesting experiment. I like changing up the format every now and then.

"Innocence"

 

[Lord Garth]

Snowed in. We're getting our first real snowstorm of the year in Massachusetts. With nowhere to go, only so much housecleaning I can do, and I want my day off to be a day off, that's meant watching a bunch of stuff. And you know what? It's funny that I'm snowed in, because the next episode of Voyager is called...

"The Thaw"

The first time I ever saw Michael McKean was as Lenny on Laverne & Shirley, back in the '80s when I was a kid. But the show I associate with him the most is Better Call Saul as Chuck McGill. Jimmy McGill, a.k.a. Saul Goodman's brother. Chuck is the most stuck-up, straightlaced, humorless character ever. So, to see Michael McKean as Fear in Voyager was the quite the reverse from what I'm using to seeing him as. I never thought about it before re-watching the episode just now, but I think Michael McKean would've made a good Joker. If Jack Nicholson hadn't been available, Michael McKean could've easily pulled it off.

There's one scientific implausibility, but I'll get that out of the way as fast as possible. When you're in stasis, your mind doesn't need to be kept active. If you go into suspended animation and are revived, then -- from your point-of-view -- one moment you'd be in 2026 and the next, you'd be in some crazy future year. That's the way it's supposed to work if it's ever successful. But setting that aside, because it doesn't affect my enjoyment one bit...

Voyager comes across bodies on an alien planet that are in stasis -- "stasis" -- and their minds are experiencing a virtual reality that makes it look like they're in some circus freakshow funhouse that's crazy, scary, creepy, outlandish, and as colorful as can be. The set designers and costume designers just went wild this episode. Bozo, Romper Room, and Zoobilee Zoo all pale in comparison to this. If you have no idea what any of those are, you fail the Age Test.

Kim and Torres go into the simulation to find the people in stasis who are living there. And they also find Fear. And on my God. He immediately takes to Harry Kim. He's like a son to Janeway, like he says. He knows all about everyone in the simulation, he can read them emotionally. And he's going to have Big Fun with Harry! So will all his Crazy Minions!

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Big Fun! He'll let Torres go, so she can tell technobabble stuff to Janeway, but not Harry Kim! He then threatens to cut off Kim's head, then the Doctor arrives in the next of time (thank God) to spoil everything. Then he delivers the line of the episode after he brings things to a screeching halt. "I don't get out often."

After that it becomes a tit-for-a-tat. Can the Doctor -- and Janeway -- outsmart Fear? Can they rescue Kim and the other hostages? One of them doesn't make it. They had to do that, to show that Fear can kill. But I'm glad everyone was able to make it out...

... in exchange for Janeway. Then the twist! It's not Janeway, but a holographic version of Janeway. She stares down Fear, he loses all of his frantic energy. Then everything goes dark. Turns out Fear can only thrive when it controls the situation. Once Fear is no longer in control, once Fear can no longer subdue, Fear falters, and goes away. Meaning it dies.

A visually entertaining episode that confronts one of the most primal of emotions, then conquers it with ingenuity. I think it could've gone crazier even still, and Fear was fooled a little too easily so the episode could end. I refuse to believe he'd be so gullible as to give up everyone just to be with Janeway. If they'd have been able to come up with something more and still been able to pull it off in the show's runtime, it would've been perfect. As it is, I give it a 9.

EDITED TO ADD: I just looked at the episode list...

... and coming up next is "Tuvix"!

Uh-oh.

 

[Farscape One]

I LOVE "THE THAW"!

One of the very best of early VOY. McKean was perfectly cast.

(And clowns ARE creepy as hell.)

 

[Oddish]

Only dumb thing about "The Thaw" is that it proclaims that if a person is guillotined in the simulation, they suffer a cardiac arrest and die for real, apparently permanently and irrevocably. But we were able to bring people back from cardiac arrest in the 20th century.

But I'll still give it a 9, for the awesome contribution to Kathryn Janeway Facts: "You have nothing to fear except fear itself... unless you're Kathryn Janeway. Fear itself fears Kathryn Janeway."

 

[Lord Garth]

We've got The Blizzard of '26 outside. I have to get ready to shovel some of it soon. It's going to be start-and-stop, start-and-stop. No way am I finishing it all, and I'm sure to be exhausted at the end of each time. At some point, in-between shovelings or after I'll review "Tuvix". That's its own type of heavy shoveling. I'm feeling both exhilarated "Let's do this!", and dread "Let's get this over with!" Yesterday was even crazier. I reviewed four episodes. One DS9, three Babylon 5. Today, I'm only doing the one. But, after this, I'll only have two episodes left of DS9 and VOY each for the aired '95-'96 TV Season.

Before we begin proper, I have my own take about "Tuvix", and I assume whoever's reading has theirs. My goal is NOT to change anyone's mind, but only to give my own perspective. So, that was my preface. Pretty soon, probably within a few hours, here we'll go!

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[Oddish]

Ah yes, the great Tuvix controversy. This should be fun.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Are you going to (re)watch the LD episode Twovix?

 

[Lord Garth]

Are you going to (re)watch the LD episode Twovix?

Yup, that's part of my plan. After "Endgame", I'll touch up upon Star Trek: Nemesis, and then I'll be putting on the Lower Decks episode. It'll be a first-watch for me, since I stopped watching LD after the second season.