Retro Review: Non Sequitur
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Garret looks better when he lets his hair down...literally.
The only thing I found mildly interesting about this episode was seeing alt Paris living a life of dissolution. Speaking of which...Kim had more chemistry with him than he did with Libby.
Like many so so episodes there is a good episode hiding in there. I liked the premise but it was badly executed.
The only thing I found mildly interesting about this episode was seeing alt Paris living a life of dissolution. Speaking of which...Kim had more chemistry with him than he did with Libby.
Like many so so episodes there is a good episode hiding in there. I liked the premise but it was badly executed.
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What I really want from a Voyager episode is something that's really boring and focuses almost exclusively on Harry Kim... Said no one, ever.
This is a horrible, bland, stupid episode. This episode wishes it was Threshold. Neither the character (Harry) not the actor (Garrett) can carry an episode at the best of times but carry one this utterly forgettable? No chance.
Can someone explain to me why this stunningly beautiful woman is with Harry? She's apparently crazy about him. Umm why? Is this yet more evidence that in the future we all just live clean, sanitised lives where everything's perfect for some reason that we haven't quite worked out. We all just love our jobs (whatever they are) and have perfect partners who adore us despite us not having any discernible personality or charisma. Good little worker bees, living sensible and sterilised existences in a paradise that is constantly and vigorously scrubbed with disinfectant.
Then there's some idiotic story about aliens (the cafe bloke) being responsible for some reason (it was an accident. We don't understand what happened but if you recreate the accident and use our magic time stream, you might get home again... or end up a billion years in the future. We're not sure). Thanks, you've been most helpful.
Then there's bad boy Tom. Sigh. The whole thing is awful.
The only part of this episode that intrigues me is Daniel Byrd. What about his life on Voyager? Yeah, that's right Harry, screw poor old Daniel out of a fabulous life-changing journey with the Voyager gang but worse than that, deny us, the audience, a character that was almost certainly more interesting than you could ever hope to be.
This is a horrible, bland, stupid episode. This episode wishes it was Threshold. Neither the character (Harry) not the actor (Garrett) can carry an episode at the best of times but carry one this utterly forgettable? No chance.
Can someone explain to me why this stunningly beautiful woman is with Harry? She's apparently crazy about him. Umm why? Is this yet more evidence that in the future we all just live clean, sanitised lives where everything's perfect for some reason that we haven't quite worked out. We all just love our jobs (whatever they are) and have perfect partners who adore us despite us not having any discernible personality or charisma. Good little worker bees, living sensible and sterilised existences in a paradise that is constantly and vigorously scrubbed with disinfectant.
Then there's some idiotic story about aliens (the cafe bloke) being responsible for some reason (it was an accident. We don't understand what happened but if you recreate the accident and use our magic time stream, you might get home again... or end up a billion years in the future. We're not sure). Thanks, you've been most helpful.
Then there's bad boy Tom. Sigh. The whole thing is awful.
The only part of this episode that intrigues me is Daniel Byrd. What about his life on Voyager? Yeah, that's right Harry, screw poor old Daniel out of a fabulous life-changing journey with the Voyager gang but worse than that, deny us, the audience, a character that was almost certainly more interesting than you could ever hope to be.
The basic premise is alright; the execution was unforgivably awful. Remove Cosimo, and any explanation for the time-or-space-travel. Push Libby from supporting to "By honey, have a good day at work" and axe her from the rest of the episode. The odds of waking up in this new "swapped life" right before a big meeting on a project you never, ever worked on before in your life are quite slim, IMO. Although it would have worked better with him waking up IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MEETING. Or something. Tom Paris as Kim's demigod clearly didn't work; it would have made just as much sense meeting quark running a daboo tavern in Marseilles (that would have been awful too).
Kim living such a good life and desperate to return to Voyager didn't make any sense either.
The one good opportunity missed by the producers would have been to reduce Kim to recurring (or fire him altogether) and make this Daniel Byrd take his place - all of a sudden - on Voyager for the rest of the season or series.
My revised story would match NS to YoH:
Act 1: Kim wakes up in bed, with Libby, both naked, remember both Voyager and Starfleet Engineering.
Can't understand why he remembers being on Voyager and living in San Fran for the past <months, years etc.>.
Can't understand why he remembers building an experimental runabout when he has no background in practical spaceflight engineering.
Act 2: Kim goes home, reviews Voyager, recalls attending the memorial at HQ. (NO SECURITY ISSUES).
Act 3: Meets Paris in Marseilles. Paris has a drinking problem but is also a successful businessman, he owns the pub. Paris doesn't remember Quark; was paroled for Time Served.
Act 4: Something Starfleet.
Last 5 minutes of episode: On Voyager, the ship has just barely shook off the first attack by the Krenim timeship. At the Ops station is Daniel Byrd, fully in tune with his ship, as if he's always been there.
End credits.
Kim living such a good life and desperate to return to Voyager didn't make any sense either.
The one good opportunity missed by the producers would have been to reduce Kim to recurring (or fire him altogether) and make this Daniel Byrd take his place - all of a sudden - on Voyager for the rest of the season or series.
My revised story would match NS to YoH:
Act 1: Kim wakes up in bed, with Libby, both naked, remember both Voyager and Starfleet Engineering.
Can't understand why he remembers being on Voyager and living in San Fran for the past <months, years etc.>.
Can't understand why he remembers building an experimental runabout when he has no background in practical spaceflight engineering.
Act 2: Kim goes home, reviews Voyager, recalls attending the memorial at HQ. (NO SECURITY ISSUES).
Act 3: Meets Paris in Marseilles. Paris has a drinking problem but is also a successful businessman, he owns the pub. Paris doesn't remember Quark; was paroled for Time Served.
Act 4: Something Starfleet.
Last 5 minutes of episode: On Voyager, the ship has just barely shook off the first attack by the Krenim timeship. At the Ops station is Daniel Byrd, fully in tune with his ship, as if he's always been there.
End credits.
I like this episode. It's a good episode where Harry is actually doing something and show some guts and potential.
An interesting and a bit thoughtful episode which shows us "what if?". It's also interesting to see what could have happened to Paris if not.. Well, everything ends up right in the end.
I'll give it 3 points out of 5
An interesting and a bit thoughtful episode which shows us "what if?". It's also interesting to see what could have happened to Paris if not.. Well, everything ends up right in the end.
I'll give it 3 points out of 5
Well for one he's a decent looking guy with a good job. Most guys in that category don't have trouble attracting girls. He's also shown to be a loyal, stand up guy to his friends and crewmates. Of all the complaints about this episode, the fact that his girlfriend loves him is probably the last issue that comes to my mind.
Personally though, I would just stay where I was. Who the hell is Daniel Byrd? I'm sorry he took my place but I didn't put him there. The aliens did. If I could rescue him I would but I wouldn't risk my life on some plan that may not even work.
I would help out my boy Tom any other way I can. I could try talking to some people at the academy to maybe take Tom back into Starfleet somehow. Or maybe encourage him to take those navy jobs he always wanted (ocean navy not space navy). At least on Earth he is safer than in the Delta Quadrant
But I also owe it to my parents, my gf to be here for them. The rest of the Voyager crew, I knew them for what? A few months? They are just workplace colleagues for the most part. I'm sure Harry has life long friends from childhood all the way to the Academy that he values more.
So maybe I'm not as much as a stand up guy as Harry. I'm more selfish. I would feel bad for the Voyager crew as there is a good chance they are going to die in the Delta Quadrant. But there's no goddamn way I'm going to volunteer to give up my life on Earth and all my friends, family, girlfriend so I can quite possibly die in the Delta Quadrant with the rest of the crew. Me dying along with them doesn't benefit them in any way. If I can't rescue anyone anyway, why jump onto a sinking ship. (Obviously Voyager does survive the journey home, but there was no way of knowing that from Harry's perspective)
So anyway maybe this makes me a selfish prick lol. But in my defense I'll quote Captain Picard
"Who is to say this history is any more 'correct' than the other? You? NOT GOOD ENOUGH DAMN IT!! NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!"
I always skip this one when I re-watch VOY.
2 things that would have made this episode a 10.
1. Seeing Tom beat the shit out of Quark.
2. Just as Harry is about to destroy the Timestream he is in, and it's too late to stop the switchback, Libby says "but Harry, I'm pregnant, and you're the father!"
1. Seeing Tom beat the shit out of Quark.
2. Just as Harry is about to destroy the Timestream he is in, and it's too late to stop the switchback, Libby says "but Harry, I'm pregnant, and you're the father!"
Everyone in the future has a good job (even the people who have shit jobs).
Libby could literally walk down the street and find fifty men who are better looking, have better jobs, and are loyal, stand up guys but... they would also have something called charisma.
Everything about the (90's) Trek future looks insipid and banal. Sterilised and clean. Structured and normalised. But when they started applying this to the people too, that's when i shuddered. I bet Kirk had VD at least once.
Obviously then, she was a salt vampire.
Garret Wang isn't a bad looking guy. I'm not sure what the problem is with that...
And even though we didn't see it I'm sure Libby has a pretty good job. She does in the books anyway.
However I do wish they had gone into a bit more detail about her. What do they have in common? Aside from being pretty why is Harry with her? Is she worth staying for? All we got was a cipher.
Contrary to what some here might think yes Harry could get other girls if he wanted. He is cute in his way. Not my type but I can see why some would like him.
Barfight with Quark. Unpleasant shape shifter. Yes I would have liked to have seen that.
And even though we didn't see it I'm sure Libby has a pretty good job. She does in the books anyway.
However I do wish they had gone into a bit more detail about her. What do they have in common? Aside from being pretty why is Harry with her? Is she worth staying for? All we got was a cipher.
Contrary to what some here might think yes Harry could get other girls if he wanted. He is cute in his way. Not my type but I can see why some would like him.
Barfight with Quark. Unpleasant shape shifter. Yes I would have liked to have seen that.
1. He sat in her seat at a concert. Most people get called a #### up when they can't follow assigned seating. It's possible that she saw him in her seat and sat on his lap for the entire concert, rather than she spent 12 minutes holding him up by his hair and teaching him how to ####ing count past 10. This is why he is a puss: It's took the boy three weeks to screw his determination into a point fine enough to ask her out on a dinner date.
21 days.
Libby the salt Vampire could have drained 4 guys in that time and been looking for a fifth when he finally called. Libby the human being is probably a little classier than that.
2. In the novels it says that she became an intelligence agent while Harry was away. I call bullpoop on that and put forward that she was always an intelligence agent and that this child was her mark who she was handling. Whether that means that they knew Voyager was going to be lost, like the Romulans did, or if they thought that Harry was going to be important for a different reason, I'm not sure, or maybe since Red Squad, all cadets are followed to make sure they don't flush the Federation.
21 days.
Libby the salt Vampire could have drained 4 guys in that time and been looking for a fifth when he finally called. Libby the human being is probably a little classier than that.
2. In the novels it says that she became an intelligence agent while Harry was away. I call bullpoop on that and put forward that she was always an intelligence agent and that this child was her mark who she was handling. Whether that means that they knew Voyager was going to be lost, like the Romulans did, or if they thought that Harry was going to be important for a different reason, I'm not sure, or maybe since Red Squad, all cadets are followed to make sure they don't flush the Federation.
this is not uncommon in the real world with shy individuals. Also since everyone in the federation is nice and sterilized, she doesn't get mad at him for taking her seat, she just get all polite and apologizes for reserving her seat where he sat.
