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Re-Watching VOY

And I hope Starfleet Academy features a hologram of Admiral Harry Kim. Shove a pie in the face of the "Forever Ensign" crowd once and for all.
 
While I understand why writers like to use the crutch of the multiverse to throw our familiar characters into situations they normally would not be permitted to experience I think it gets used far too often. I know they say there is a "prime" universe but it just feels cheap somehow to tell a great story with no lasting consequences.
 
I wonder what the Harry of "Non Sequitur" would have done if he'd known that his future held six years of frequent suffering, romantic catastrophe, and the potential unjustified ruination of his Starfleet career (@Lord Garth 's prediction, not mine)... would he have been so eager to go back?
 
I wonder what the Harry of "Non Sequitur" would have done if he'd known that his future held six years of frequent suffering, romantic catastrophe, and the potential unjustified ruination of his Starfleet career (@Lord Garth 's prediction, not mine)... would he have been so eager to go back?
The wink should've given away it wasn't a serious prediction. I'm pretty sure that shortly after Voyager got back, he was promoted to Lieutenant.

But anyway, I don't know that being stationed on Earth would be something he'd be thrilled with either, considering it wasn't his first choice. He wouldn't hate his job, but I think he wouldn't love it either. It would be just a job. If he's not willing to stay even for Libby, then I don't know what else would prompt him to stay.
 
I'm pretty sure that shortly after Voyager got back, he was promoted to Lieutenant.
And I think everyone else knows that too. That's why they have been so careful to ensure that the canon fate for "our" Harry is unknown. Once it is, the "forever ensign" game ends, because they can't intelligently justify Harry staying an ensign once they're home.

But anyway, I don't know that being stationed on Earth would be something he'd be thrilled with either, considering it wasn't his first choice.

Maybe, but Harry's smart, and he's got a knack for building things. He helped create Seven's astrometrics lab and the Delta Flyer, among other things. That may be why, despite his high class standing, he didn't get on Voyager in this timeline... the SCE saw his talent and asked for him.

In any case, I figured that the SCE was his alternate choice, just in case someone else got the Voyager post.

If he's not willing to stay even for Libby, then I don't know what else would prompt him to stay.

That's why there needed to at least be some conflict involved in that episode's plot.
 
Ome thing I will credit "NON SEQUITUR" for is Harry's sense of survivor guilt. It comes to its fullest in "TIMELESS", so this episode does help establish that character trait.
Oh, definitely. And it's very likely that survivor guilt compels him to do things most of us probably would not. But it just seems odd that he didn't even seem conflicted. Even when barista guy gave him a legit "out".
 
"Parturition"

Janeway's hair in this episode looks more like how it does later on in the series. Kim's on the flute. And Paris thinks he's in love with Kes! I don't buy Paris/Kes any more than I do Neelix/Kes. Anyway, Janeway has a slight wave going on. Torres has a new wig. Noticing a lot with the hair this episode. Neelix even offers hair pasta.

And Janeway tells the Doctor stop eavesdropping. And I've run out of other things to focus on. So back to the main focus.

Paris and Neelix get into a food fight over Kes. Right. So. This is elementary school in the cafeteria on a bad day. Maybe at most, middle schoolers acting like they're in elementary school on a bad day, and like Kes is Paris' first crush or something. Neither Paris nor Neelix are acting their age.

Immediately afterwards, Paris and Neelix are summoned by the Principal. Sorry, I mean the Captain. Both are wearing hair pasta. In front of Janeway. If this wasn't part of the Re-Watch, I'd be skipping over it. But nope, I'll grit my teeth and bare through it.

So. naturally, Paris and Neelix have to go on a mission together in a shuttle and Janeway -- quite correctly -- tells them to get over their differences.

Kes is upset that Neelix and Paris are fighting over her. All I'll say is that Kes is better than either of them. She doesn't like that Neelix is so insecure. The Doctor says there's nothing she can do about it. I think that's not true. She can set the record straight for Neelix and Paris about how she feels.

Except Neelix and Paris are on a shuttle. They argue some more, the shuttle crashes, we're half-way through the episode, and I'm going to take a short break.

Picking up where I left off. Neelix and Paris find a hatchling, they take care of it until its mother arrives, and they apologize to each other before they're rescued.

It's nice that they make up at the end, but it's not enough to save the episode. I give it a 4.

"Parturition" is a necessary evil. At the end of last production season, it seemed like they wanted to develop a triangle between Paris, Kes, and Neelix where Paris and Neelix would be at odds with each other over Kes. Then, at the beginning of this production season, I think they decided they didn't want to go that way after all, and this was their way of writing themselves out of it.
 
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This is a first and probably last for me ever. I watched half an episode of DS9, namely "The Visitor", stopped it, wasn't in the mood to put on the second half, and put on VOY instead. No, this is NOT to say anything bad about "The Visitor". I just have to be in the right type of mindset and have to mentally prep myself for watching it. Something I don't have to do with...

"Persistence of Vision"

This episode was a slow burn at first but then picked up more and more steam as it went along. By the of it, it occurred to me that this is the most Voyager episode of Voyager up to this point. So much of what's here will be used elsewhere later on. The crew lost in a dream state is something we'll see again in "Waking Moments". Characters seeing specific other characters who are important to them is something we'll see a variation of in "Bliss". Janeway being swept up by a fictional character in a story that takes place in the 19th Century is something we'll see in "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk".

At the beginning of the episode, there's even the seemingly hard-headed alien that won't allow them the pass through a certain region of space they say they claim. He looks dark, shadowy, and intimidating. But instead of Voyager being fired upon, they just start seeing things one-by-one. Leaving only Kes with her mental powers and the Doctor, being a hologram, the only ones who can't be affected. Kes is able to overcome any temptation to succumb to the dreams and overcomes when the alien tries to stop her after he tries to stop her, and it makes Kes the one to save the day. I think it was a nice change of pace.

It's interesting who the characters choose to see and what it says about where the characters are at this point in the series. Janeway sees Mark, which reminds us that she hasn't forgotten about him. Tuvok sees his wife. Kim sees Libby. Torres sees a Chakotay that loves her romantically. Paris has no love interest, so he sees his father, who wants to put him down. So, if this alien can't get them someone with a lover, they'll find a way to get them another way, with family. That Kes sees both Neelix and Paris is probably something lingering from the dropped idea of there being a Paris-Kes-Neelix love triangle.

This dream-like state that almost everyone ended up in was slowly built up to. At first, it's only Janeway who's seeing things before she becomes completely lost in what she sees and mentally feels like she's somewhere else. The subtle hints are everywhere at first. Like the cucumber sandwiches and the cup with flowery design on it that looked like it was from Janeway's holonovel.

I like the concept of Janeway's holonovel, but I feel like there should be more to the execution. The language doesn't sound 1800s-y enough, in my opinion. It should sound longer, even more prosaic, overly elaborate, and very flowery. As elaborate as the mansion and as flowery as the cup. There's a lot of time spent in the holonovel and it wouldn't have felt like it was taking up time if they did more with the story in the holonovel itself. I don't care about the kids that much. I want more rivalry with Mrs. Templeton and more steamy romance with Lord Burliegh. But anyway...

At the end of the episode when Kes manages to overcome the alien and the Voyager crew snap back to normal, I appreciated that they weren't able to find out anything more about him. Without being familiar with this area of space, they couldn't even begin to know where or what to look for. Which is taking advantage of the Delta Quadrant setting.

Overall, not a heavy or weighty episode, and it does take a while to get going, but I do like the mind games, getting some glimpses into the characters even if it wasn't that deep, and I like how much they gave Kes to do. The responsibility for saving Voyager was on her. And credit to originating so many types of ideas that I'd come to associate with the series. I give it a 7.
 
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