The Season 2 (mini) Arc

[hux]

I'm a huge fan of the Seven character and i genuinely believe that she elevates the show (and other characters) to a higher standard and makes Voyager significantly more enjoyable

But.....my favourite season is probably season 2. It has some of my favourite episodes but best of all, it has a real sense of a season long (ish) arc that revolves around the Kazon, Seska, the Voyager spy, Tom leaving the ship before concluding nicely with Basics

Yeah the conflict between Paris and Chakotay isn't entirely convincing but at least they keep it up and continue the arc with little moments to show their increasing dislike of one another and Tom's pretend malcontent behaviour (Prototype, Meld, Dreadnought, Lifesigns) and in and around these episodes we get Maneuvers, Alliances, Investigations which push the story along

The fact that Neelix is suddenly a hard hitting journalist for all of one episode was a bit silly (nothing before, nothing since?) and really, they should have thought about throwing in a few more..."A briefing with Neelix"...moments before we got to Investigations....but anyway

I wish we'd seen more of this in other seasons (every time i rewatch Voyager, i always really look forward to getting to season 2) and while the Kazon were a little disappointing as villains (though improved by Seska's involvement), i still really did enjoy the whole arc (or mini arc) of season 2 and loved the (slight) move away from standard episodic Trek

Good stuff

 

[Lynx]

I'm a fan of season 2 too.

All of the episodes are good, except for "Threshold" and that episode is actually funny in some places. "Tattoo" could have beem written better without stupid things about native Americans as descentants from the Delta Quadrant.

Otherwise it's great stuff.

The best thing is that all the main characters get a piece of the action.

My favorite season 2 episodes are Cold Fire, Persistence Of Vision, Basics, Alliances and Meld.

 

[Dukhat]

"Tattoo" could have beem written better without stupid things about native Americans as descentants from the Delta Quadrant.

Huh? The episode didn't show that Native Americans were from the Delta Quadrant. It showed that an alien race from the Delta Quadrant visited Earth in the past and had contact with the Native American tribe Chakotay belonged to. It was one of the best episodes of the series IMHO and had a lot of character development for Chakotay, which unfortunately he had none of later in the series.

Yes, the first two seasons of Voyager were the best, and unfortunately it went all downhill after that.

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

My favorite season 2 episode is Tuvix, maybe because absolutely every one in it, except their collective victim Tuvix, behaves like a perfect asshole. I mean, how cowardly of all the bridge crew to ignore Tuvix's cry for help. Someone with whom they have been close for weeks, pretending to be his friends. It's rather unique to see an episode where every one takes the role of the bad guy...

 

[Melakon]

^ I disagree about who's the asshole in the episode, but that's not what this thread is about, and there are already several threads about "Tuvix".

Regarding the mini-arc, I liked Seska a lot better before they turned her into a Cardassian.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Why call it a mini arc?

That implies that that there was a larger arc, or another arc.

 

[hux]

^ I disagree about who's the asshole in the episode, but that's not what this thread is about, and there are already several threads about "Tuvix".

I also disagree (but i'm too tired to have that discussion again right now....the last Tuvix thread i was involved in, i started talking about Descartes.....it's Christmas...i can't handle that)

Why call it a mini arc?

That implies that that there was a larger arc, or another arc.

Just because it wasn't a full season long arc. It doesn't really get going properly until "Maneuvers" and then sorta gets dropped by the time we reach "Investigations"

Then there's five none related episodes before we reach a conclusion with "Basics"

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

Why call it a mini arc?

That implies that that there was a larger arc, or another arc.

Or that it meets all the criteria to be called an arc except its size...

 

[Kobayshi Maru]

^ I disagree about who's the asshole in the episode, but that's not what this thread is about, and there are already several threads about "Tuvix".

I also disagree (but i'm too tired to have that discussion again right now....the last Tuvix thread i was involved in, i started talking about Descartes.....it's Christmas...i can't handle that)

Why call it a mini arc?

That implies that that there was a larger arc, or another arc.

Just because it wasn't a full season long arc. It doesn't really get going properly until "Maneuvers" and then sorta gets dropped by the time we reach "Investigations"

Then there's five none related episodes before we reach a conclusion with "Basics"

Apart from the Xindi of Ent's third season, was there ever a (full size) arc in Star Trek?

 

[Guy Gardener]

I wonder if the crew got detrimental tremors when A Briefing with Neelix finally closed down after Homestead?

Or did Chell take that too when he annexed Neelix's kitchen?

 

[Seven of Five]

Heh.

I enjoyed the experimentation with arcs in season two, even though the final outcome was often lacking. I liked seeing the mystery unfold with whoever was transmitting data to Seska, and having Paris's fakeout to find out the truth. What sucked was Neelix of all people uncovering the conspiracy. I'd seriously be asking questions of Tuvok's competence if a hedgehog is better at his job.

There was the ongoing Paris-Kes-Neelix thing - did it pop up in two episodes or three? I liked that it eventually came to a head in Parturition, but then their argument was crapped all over by suddenly being the Odd Couple, and looking after that young creature.

The Kazon weren't amazing villains, which hurt the integrity of that ongoing arc.

I wish the show had used arcs more.

 

[Tosk]

Why call it a mini arc?

That implies that that there was a larger arc, or another arc.

Or that it meets all the criteria to be called an arc except its size...

How big is an arc?

How long is a piece of string?

 

[Guy Gardener]

From it's centre, to one end, doubled.



An arc is more than two episodes that follow on from one other storywise that don't all have the same name?

 

[Lance]

"Arc" is a broad narrative term, really. It could mean *anything*, it's just a description of the overall direction in which a single narrative or character thread takes over multiple instalments.

The problem is that people on teh internetz have mistaken the word "arc" as meaning something analogous to long-form serialization. But it is not, nor has it ever been, a member of the serialization party. And anyone who thinks "arc" means 'A long-form storyline that encompasses more than one episode' needs to discover the definition of 'Serialization' and then get back to us.

'Serialization' requires arcs. But arcs do not necessarily automatically equal serialization.

Star Trek had plenty of arcs. But it had very little by way of serialization.

 

[tomalak301]

Some of my favorite episodes from Season two were the Kazon episodes, like Maneuvers, Alliences, Basics I. The only episode I didn't really like in that arc was Investigations, which was a shame because it was the reveal of the traitor and it should have been done better.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I hate it when people say Archs.

Arc in science is up, plateau, down.

 

[Lynx]

"Tattoo" could have beem written better without stupid things about native Americans as descentants from the Delta Quadrant.

Huh? The episode didn't show that Native Americans were from the Delta Quadrant. It showed that an alien race from the Delta Quadrant visited Earth in the past and had contact with the Native American tribe Chakotay belonged to. It was one of the best episodes of the series IMHO and had a lot of character development for Chakotay, which unfortunately he had none of later in the series.

Yes, the first two seasons of Voyager were the best, and unfortunately it went all downhill after that.

Well, I would have avoided that "alien DNA" thing and the "Sky Spirit" came up with a story which left Chakotay stranded on an alien planet after a shuttle crash. There he would haveencountered some aliens which way of living was similar to his ancestors and therefore he would start to think about his past. The flashbacks to Chakotay's youth were interesting and gave the character a good background story.
As for Chakotay, he's one of my favorite characters, a character who could have been used better, although he was good in the first three seasons.

 

[Lynx]

Some of my favorite episodes from Season two were the Kazon episodes, like Maneuvers, Alliences, Basics I. The only episode I didn't really like in that arc was Investigations, which was a shame because it was the reveal of the traitor and it should have been done better.

I also like the Kazon episodes. Every time my "favorite villains" Culluh and Seska showed up, I knew that it would be a good episode.

As for "Investigations", I actually like that episode!

 

[tomalak301]

Some of my favorite episodes from Season two were the Kazon episodes, like Maneuvers, Alliences, Basics I. The only episode I didn't really like in that arc was Investigations, which was a shame because it was the reveal of the traitor and it should have been done better.

I also like the Kazon episodes. Every time my "favorite villains" Culluh and Seska showed up, I knew that it would be a good episode.

As for "Investigations", I actually like that episode!

I don't know. It wasn't bad, but everything seemed to lead up to that moment (The traitor, Paris being disobedient) and the conclusion they came up with was "A Breakfast with Neelix". It seemed like they could have done a little better.

 

[hux]

I don't know. It wasn't bad, but everything seemed to lead up to that moment (The traitor, Paris being disobedient) and the conclusion they came up with was "A Breakfast with Neelix". It seemed like they could have done a little better.

It could have been better but i like the fact that they at least tried. The "Enterprise arc" is the one that defines all the others but that came later and this one was probably the most successful to that point. I think TNG had a couple of those..."invasion of the body snatcher"....type episodes that linked together and possibly did some other stuff like that though i can't recall

But the Voyager arc had a noticeable thread going through it by which i mean it would seem incongruent to those watching episodes out of sequence (unlike most Trek). Paris starting up a betting syndicate (why?) Paris being late all the time for no apparent reason. Just little touches that connected the dots leading up to "investigations" and an attempt to maintain an ongoing story

I thought it was nice stuff

Could have been better but as someone who thinks the Enterprise arc is extremely over rated (it really drags for me), i thought Voyager's mini arc was reasonably effective