The Continuity and Serialization of Voyager

[DigificWriter]

Like I said, I don't see it as being a continuity error per se; it's more of a 'continuity anomaly', I guess is how I'd characterize it. It's ultimately not a huge deal, though.

Anyway, I really enjoyed Projections and, although I can't recall ever having seen it in its original airing order, I do have to say that I think it takes on an entirely different context as Episode 1x17 than I think it it would have as Episode 2x03.

 

[BruntFCA]

Becuase they suck at continuity.

TORRES: Anyone know this Barclay?
EMH: I took the liberty of reviewing his personnel file. He's had a rather colourful career, not to mention an unusual medical history. He's recovered from a variety of maladies, including transporter phobia and holo-addiction.
JANEWAY: Well, whatever his problems, he certainly came through for us.
CHAKOTAY: Starfleet should give him a promotion.
SEVEN: I've finished analysing the data Mister Barclay sent. The hyper-subspace technology is promising. I believe we can look forward to future communications with Earth.
NEELIX: Well, that calls for a toast.
JANEWAY: Care to do the honours, Tom?
PARIS: To my Dad. It's nice to know he's still there. And to the newest honorary member of the Voyager crew, Reginald Barclay. Whoever you are.
JANEWAY: To Mister Barclay.

I never thought about it before but the Doctor telling the entire senior staff about Barclay's medical history was kind of a dick move, I wonder if he does that often.

EMH-"...and that's when ensign Kim contracted space herpes."

Naomi Wildman-"That's nice Doctor but what does that have to do with my check up?"

 

[Guy Gardener]

'continuity anomaly'

Anomaly?

Dude you're in denial.

My opinion on Voyager is that it's very entertaining but fricking lazy.

I'm middle of the road.

If you can't notice that this was a monumental fuck up, you sir are a gushing zealot.

Projections didn't happen.

It was never filmed and never aired.

And you most certainly did not buy it on DVD.

(Netflix, what the fuck ever.)

Can't you imagine Dwight saying "Does this mean that my royalty checks for that episode a couple years back are going to stop?"

 

[DigificWriter]

^ In a perfect world, there should've been a reference, direct or indirect, to Projections in Life Line at the very least (if not in Pathfinder as well). That doesn't necessarily make the lack of such a reference a continuity error, though.... hence why I called it a 'continuity anomaly'.

I don't think being reluctant to unequivocally call it a continuity error is being in denial of anything, BTW.

 

[Guy Gardener]

There was a reference to Projections.

They referenced the gaping hole in "reality" where it used to be.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Now you're just getting melodramatic. Projections should've been referenced,yes, but the lack of a reference to it doesn't mean it never happened.

 

[Guy Gardener]

What they should have referenced was Swarm.

Can you figure out why?

 

[DigificWriter]

What they should have referenced was Swarm.

Can you figure out why?

I don't know that I've actually ever seen The Swarm, so, no, I can't, actually.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Doctor's Memory was erased in season 3, and he had to start over from a blank slate, but it was implied in the final seconds of the episode that his old life was coming back to him... And in the following episode, False Profits, there was no learning Curve, it was as if the wipe had never happened... Because maybe his old memories did come back completely, or they suck at continuity.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ That's good to know, although the fact that False Profits was produced several episodes before The Swarm might mean that we weren't supposed to draw any conclusions from it as to the status of The Doctor's memory.

 

[Guy Gardener]

My original argument. Almost any episode can be aired in any order because Voyager doesn't attempt to create continuity.

It's like saying the vegetarians are lackkuster about eating meat.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ Just because Voyager was aired in a randomized order doesn't mean it lacked continuity... a case in point beyond the examples I've already presented being that, in Future's End P2, which was produced after The Swarm, The Doctor directly references losing his memory in that episode.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Someone has been thumbing through memory Alpha.

EMH: I recently suffered a severe programme loss and I'm still in the process of retrieving my memory files, but apparently on a few occasions I have been projected into other locations. Undoubtedly you're using a similar procedure.

Berman and Braga were mostly at the same level, sure Berman was absolutely in charge, but Braga (Who came and went, and shared different levels of power with yet others during the course of the series.) couldn't be pushed around like a minion without consequences... But the no continuity decision is attributed to Berman and Braga as a conjoint singular being.

Braga wrote Future's End, and Braga was the one telling his minions to ignore and run from continuity even if he didn't. It's not lke he was going to fire himself for ignoring himself.

Do as I say, not do as I do.

 

[DigificWriter]

If Voyager had been aired more or less in production order (except in instances where story order dictated otherwise), the perception that it lacked continuity wouldn't be as prevalent.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You just agreed with me %100 finally.

It doesn't matter what order you air them in, it still makes sense.

 

[DigificWriter]

^ I don't see how my above statement supports the idea that the episodes could be randomly ordered and still have things make sense, as everything I've been posting/talking about demonstrates that although episodes were aired randomly, there was in fact an order that they ought to have been aired in.

 

[Harvey]

If Voyager had been aired more or less in production order (except in instances where story order dictated otherwise), the perception that it lacked continuity wouldn't be as prevalent.

Is that really the case, though? I know airing episodes out of order meant a *few* things got jumbled, but for the most part my impression has always been that the difference between broadcast order and production order wasn't much.

 

[Melakon]

There was a reference to Projections.

They referenced the gaping hole in "reality" where it used to be.

Must have been that hole Harry fell through and died during "Deadlock".

 

[Guy Gardener]

If Voyager had been aired more or less in production order (except in instances where story order dictated otherwise), the perception that it lacked continuity wouldn't be as prevalent.

Is that really the case, though? I know airing episodes out of order meant a *few* things got jumbled, but for the most part my impression has always been that the difference between broadcast order and production order wasn't much.

Viewing them out of order jumbled barely anything, almost nothing up because there wasn't almost any continuity demanding a strict viewing order, baring the introduction or exit of a character or the addition/removal of a new set or prop (I spent half a page listing that shit precisely.)

Production order and airing order might not have been so different, but Voyager was eventually made for the casual viewer and they could have watched seasons backwards for all that was expected of them.

They were able to miss three weeks, or a year, because they needed to get drunk with their friend/s, or they could watch a couple VHS tapes from last season for the first time and it blends in with everything they are familiar within the present.

The casual viewer had no respect for their televisions.

 

[DigificWriter]

I wanted to mention Elogium and the problems with airing it as part of Season 2, as well as the problems it causes as-produced.

Elogium doesn't really match up with normal Human female gestation - especially once you throw Fury into the mix (I'll get to that in a bit) - but it's far less problematic if it's restored to its proper place in Season 1, where it follows Projections (in which The Doctor indicates that it's been 6 months since the events of Caretaker). It is possible for women to not realize they're pregnant until they actually go into labor, and some of the reasons for this phenomenon occurring are stress, a lack of typical pregnancy-related side effects, and/or the baby being 'inactive', and I can very much see any or all of these things having happened to Ensign Wildman, which would explain why she didn't find out she was pregnant - or really 'show' - until she was 6 months along.

Stardates notwithstanding, I can also very easily see Deadlock taking place within 3 months of Elogium, which would actually do away with the apparent problems with Sam Wildman's gestation entirely.

As for Fury, I don't see anything in that episode that precludes its events from constituting a different timeline where Wildman's pregnancy was in fact doubled because of the baby's Ktarian genes.

I personally think Fury causes more problems than it fixes, and would therefore be inclined to think of Wildman's pregnancy actually being fairly normal and one or a combination of the 'outside factors' I mentioned above being the explanation for why she only learned she was pregnant 6 months into said pregnancy, but to each their own.