Timeless Question

[parsonsm]

On my voyager rewatch and I've just finished Timeless.

Something always bugged me about this episode.

So they have some special crystals that are degrading and they have a limited time to use them.

If they are in the slipstream for too long they crash and burn.

Fine.

But in the short time it worked they got '10 years closer to home.'

So the obvious question,

Why don't they just to something like 30 sec jumps on repeat, instead of one long burn?

That way the variance in the slip stream doesn't have time to occur, and they still get to use the crystals before they degrade.

They could do like 20 2 year jumps etc.

 

[Markonian]

Good question.

That the engine works for very short jaunts is only learned by the crew at the end of the episode. By then, they're out of benamite.
Presumably, they never come across another source of benamite, otherwise Admiral Janeway wouldn't have needed to accelerate their return home.

 

[parsonsm]

Good question.

That the engine works for very short jaunts is only learned by the crew at the end of the episode. By then, they're out of benamite.
Presumably, they never come across another source of benamite, otherwise Admiral Janeway wouldn't have needed to accelerate their return home.

As much as I love Trek, its things like this that at times ruin episodes for me.

 

[David cgc]

There could also be a period of acceleration involved. Ten six-minute trips incurs as much (or more, with the start-stopping) wear as one one-hour trip, but doesn't get nearly as far because the ship never reaches top speed.

 

[parsonsm]

There could also be a period of acceleration involved. Ten six-minute trips incurs as much (or more, with the start-stopping) wear as one one-hour trip, but doesn't get nearly as far because the ship never reaches top speed.

That's a good point.

I guess I've never thought of slipstreams in trek as a speed that is increased up to, more 'enter the slipstream and instantly achieve that speed.'

I was imagining it to be very similar to how the Borg use transwarp tunnels for instance.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Maybe it works for 10 seconds before boom or maybe it works for 4 seconds before boom. Who is to say what the rules are with only such a tiny statistical sample to draw from?

Shut your eyes, stick your tounge out and try to almost lick a whirling electric fan without cutting your nose off.

 

[Ragitsu]

Blonde or Redhead?

White meat or Dark meat?

Individualism or Collectivism?

 

[Phaser Two]

As much as I love Trek, its things like this that at times ruin episodes for me.

Whether it's the high overall intelligence of the premise and most of the writing or the dedication and high overall intelligence of the fans, Star Trek plotholes are very frequently resolved in a satisfying way. In all of TOS (my all-time fave TV show with Voyager right behind), there are perhaps three plotholes that I have given up trying to explain. Not a bad success rate. And for all the whining about Voyager's writing, it holds up very well too.

 

[Ragitsu]

If the characters are compelling and the story interesting, I can forgive most technological inaccuracies/inconsistencies.

 

[Summer Solstice]

It's a good question but I've never worried too much about the methods they use in the episodes where they try to get home immediately because they clearly weren't going to get home until the last episode. I like Markonian's explanation.

 

[Oddish]

Same reason Voyager's 38 torpedoes quietly turned into an apparently infinite supply: they didn't bother to spend 10 seconds technobabbling out an explanation.

 

[Qonundrum]

I'd like to think that it takes 29 seconds for the engines to rev up.

VOY has a habit of pulling ideas and names out of a hat.

The lizard issue in Threshold has an easy workaround as well. Just zip home and treat everyone. They have cancer cures in the 24th century as well, so dope up with any experimental plot maguffin goop and be done with it. Yee-haw.

It's not limited to treknobabble, either: Look at the Ktarians as another of several examples. TNG introduced one, who used Riker's libido as a steppingstone and almost conquered the entire Federation as a result. Oops. VOY reintroduces the species by name, but none of the Ktarians look like Etana. Memory Alpha, Beta, Cousin Oliver, Doozy, and the rest didn't exist back then so one episode must have gone into a modicum of detail or else the show was wallowing in namedrops and other throwaway fanservice.

That said, I do stand up for a lot of VOY episodes as they're genuinely good. But these script letdowns are the sort that TNG and DS9 didn't engage in as frequently.

 

[Qonundrum]

There could also be a period of acceleration involved. Ten six-minute trips incurs as much (or more, with the start-stopping) wear as one one-hour trip, but doesn't get nearly as far because the ship never reaches top speed.

I should have read the last few posts before I preached to the proverbial choir, but, naah!

Maybe it works for 10 seconds before boom or maybe it works for 4 seconds before boom. Who is to say what the rules are with only such a tiny statistical sample to draw from?

Shut your eyes, stick your tounge out and try to almost lick a whirling electric fan without cutting your nose off.

Ditto!

Whether it's the high overall intelligence of the premise and most of the writing or the dedication and high overall intelligence of the fans, Star Trek plotholes are very frequently resolved in a satisfying way. In all of TOS (my all-time fave TV show with Voyager right behind), there are perhaps three plotholes that I have given up trying to explain. Not a bad success rate. And for all the whining about Voyager's writing, it holds up very well too.

Agreed and seconded. As much as there's plenty of nitpicking, of which a fair amount is not undeserved (for any show, even the best have imperfect nitpicks and the worst shows still have one or two robust episodes), the good aspects do get brought up and VOY's only failing was starting up at around the same time as franchise burnout. And all series do have plot holes and nitpicks; when the story really works it's a psychological thing as the issues aren't dwelled on as much. And plenty of stories have few, if any. And, indeed, "Blink of an Eye" is a rock-solid classic. As are scores of others, but anything post-season 4 VOY is worthy of huge praise for feeling fresh and confident and robust.

If the characters are compelling and the story interesting, I can forgive most technological inaccuracies/inconsistencies.

^^this