Voyager again, for the first time

[Guy Gardener]

Seriously though, couldn't B'Elanna has jail breaked easy? Just thought her captors asleep and dead.

hell.

If she could think a murder, why couldn't she think her innocence?

 

[NightJim]

Managed to squeeze another in.

Concerning Flight

Love the premise, super sophisticated transporters used for stealing. The idea that the Doctor's holo-projetor was stolen and used on a normal holo-program was nice, and the rest of the episode was just rather neat but nothing too exciting.

Plus another example of Harry Kim, the man who manages to cock block himself.

 

[Guy Gardener]

You're not pissed off about Requiem for Methuselah?

Jim Kirk met Leonardo DiaVnchi.

How hard would it have been for Janeway to bump into the real Leonardo DaVnichi while looking for the holographic Leonardo DaVinchi?

 

[DigificWriter]

Since the OP has posted about Random Thoughts and Concerning Flight, I'll do likewise.

Random Thoughts
This episode reminded me of equal parts Ex Post Facto, Remember, and Necessary Evil, with a little bit of Babylon 5 and BSG flavor tossed in as well.

The concept of a society in which thought is actually policed isn't one I can remember seeing in Sci-Fi before, although it WAS fairly predictable that all wasn't going to be as 'sunny' as it was made out to be.

Concerning Flight
I really liked this episode, which reminded me very much of the kind of stories that Babylon 5 often told. It was neat getting to see the Leonardo Davinci hologram again, and although I've seen reviews of the episode criticizing how 'casually sentient' he's written as being, the way he was written didn't strike me as being much different than how Vic Fontaine was written on DS9.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Leonardo's flying machine was a helicopter.

Okay...

http://www.google.co.nz/images?q=da..._group&ei=BmOUUqO8AafJiAfb1IGIDA&ved=0CCEQsAQ

There's a glider too.

But the helicopter would have been cooler.

 

[NightJim]

You're not pissed off about Requiem for Methuselah?

Jim Kirk met Leonardo DiaVnchi.

How hard would it have been for Janeway to bump into the real Leonardo DaVnichi while looking for the holographic Leonardo DaVinchi?

I've not seen that much TOS. I know. Sacrilegious. It's on my list, but considering how long Voyager is taking...

Though YouTube threw Mirror, Mirror at me the other day (Which I hadn't seen before) so if there's more I might catch one every now and again if and when I stumble across any.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Mirror Mirror is the best MU ep IMO. And a great TOS ep

 

[NightJim]

It was really good.

Oh and I watched Mortal Coil

An Interesting concept, how to tackle a lose of faith in a show that is set when humanity has moved past that. Well, except for Chakotay, so he gets a fair airing this episode along with his 'faith music'. Though he's a bit bloody heartless to start with. "Sure Neelix, you can help me, while I rewatch your death. I'm sure you'll love that."

Good Neelix episode. I wonder if they trot these out once a season to remind us he's not quite as annoying as we think.

What about Seven's death cure though? We know have the ability to bring someone back before 72 hours. Isn't that going to cause a few problems story telling wise a bit further down the road?

 

[Guy Gardener]

It depends on how they die.

And really the entire crew would have been asked if they want to be part Borg for a few months until they are entirely over their death.

Wavers and DNRs would be signed in triplicate and notarized to see that this did or did not happen for each crewman facing the dark side of death's backside later on at some point.

Joe Carey obviously signed a DNR, which is Why the Admiral did not go back in time another 2 weeks to save him.

 

[NightJim]

True, that plasma bolt just sort of fried his brain tissue, I guess it wouldn't do much for a phaser burn through the chest.

 

[NightJim]

Waking Moments

A decent invasion story, being attacked through their dreams. Though I couldn't actually work out what the aliens plans were. Keep them asleep till they die? Then what?

The 'ticking clock' aspect at the end was a little forced though. Chakotay had to do something to stop them right there and then, why? What was stopping the Doctor making another Red Bull injection? For that matter why couldn't the Doctor just go down to the planet, it was written as if that just wasn't a possibility, as if the writer didn't get the memo that that particular restriction was removed two years ago.

Love the Janeway standing in front of an exploding warp core to test her hypothesis.

More Harry being rubbish around Seven. At least Garrett Wang actually got to make out with her for once.

Roxann Biggs pregnancy is obviously in full effect now, with that weird jacket coming in, and I can't count the times she positioned herself with back to the camera or something in the way. I especially like the scene where they try to photofit the alien and she leaning on a chair back.

 

[AgentCoop]

Weird jacket? What do you mean? It's a perfectly standard Starfleet crew garment that we've never seen anyone else wear. Ever.

You can tell it's official. It has pens and things sticking out of the pocket.

 

[Guy Gardener]

She was just holding in a fart for 9 months.

 

[NightJim]

With most of the shows I keep up to date on taking a break, it seems I had a good run to keep going on Voyager. Meaning I watched Message in a Bottle last night.

This is the second time I've gone in thinking it would be a different episode, the first time being the one with Eye of the Needle in season 1. Interestingly enough both star Romulans.

The episode I remember is the one Janeway finds out that Mark has moved on, which isn't this one. This one is the Doctor taking a trip to the Alpha Quadrant, meeting the replacement EMH and stopping a bunch of Romulans stealing a prototype ship.

I find the Prometheus to be an interesting ship. One built around the same idea of the Galaxy's saucer separation, but more battle orientated then the "let's drop the civilains off" from TNG. I always loved saucer separation was annoyed that the budget wouldn't stretch to doing it that often.

The two EMH's are fantastic together. The whole Andy Dick thing is wasted on me because he's just an unknown over here, but at least they're funny, and this episode ends up being pretty lighthearted despite it being another hijacked ship.

Also regarding Janeway and Chakotay getting it on back in the end of Season 2. The way she says she's writing to Mark, there's an almost apology in her voice. She pauses between her family and him. It may never be stated but I'm even more convinced it's an unwritten part of Voyager that they had a short term thing when they were off the ship.

Hello Hirogen, I barely remember you. Judging by the titles of the next two episodes I'm going to be reminded though.

 

[DigificWriter]

My thoughts on Mortal Coil, Message in a Bottle, and Waking Moments.

Mortal Coil
This episode is really the 'sequel' of sorts to both Sacred Ground and Coda from Season 3, and gives us some additional nuances to Neelix's character, which, as a fan of his, I really liked. I also liked getting to see both Samantha and Naomi again, and thought the decision to have Naomi be the reason Neelix chose not to kill himself.

Message in a Bottle
This is one of the few episodes of Season 4 that wasn't new to me, but I enjoyed it even more this time around than I did the first time I watched it. Robert Picardo and Andy Dick really play well off of each other, and it's fun getting to see them work together to outsmart the Romulans. I also like the way the writers introduced us to the Hirogen.

Waking Moments
I really liked this episode; it reminded me of several of my favorite episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, namely Nightmares (Buffy S1), Fear, Itself, Where the Wild Things Are, and Restless (Buffy S4), and Life of the Party (Angel S5), and the idea of aliens attacking the crew in their sleep was a neat one.

 

[NightJim]

Hunters

Ha that episode I remembered was the very next one. It's name fooled me.

Man that Harry b-story was pretty damn boring. "Did my mummy write to me?" Jesus Harry, it's no wonder you can't get laid.

I love the final Janeway solution. Outnumbered? Sic a blackhole on them. She's getting a quite the regular hard ass now. She might have set out to follow Starfleet rules, but she's reallyall about keeping the crew together now. It's pretty awesome.

And after last week's tease we now have the Hirogen. I'm not sure about them. They come across like a bad Trek copy of the Predator. Doesn't really sell their hunting at all. They have superior firepower, but no real skill or tactics to back them up. It's a poor start to what could have been a good enemy.

Also, with the satellite network, I guess the idea is that the Hirogen just co-opted them like Voyager was trying, and anyone using them deserves destroying. But what about outside their territory? The implication is that the Hirogen could be an enemy for the rest of the run, since they're so territorial over the network. I'm can't quite voice why this bugs me so much.

That said, I do like Janeway's actions accidentally destroy the whole array. I hope that when the reach the next one in line they try and reboot it, since we're told they just shut down, but I doubt it's covered.

 

[AgentCoop]

For me the problem with the Hirogen was that I just never gave a damn about their boring culture. Shoot me for saying it, but I even found the Kazon more interesting.

 

[NightJim]

Based on this episode alone, I agree with you. I nearly wrote that they come across as a another attempt to go at the same concept as the Kazon, but from the other end, and the writers went too far with it.

 

[Guy Gardener]

The Kazon were an insulting allegory for the LA gang problems of the time, meanwhile the Hirogen were an insulting homage to Predator.

Well, I suppose since they were both very insulting, they are kinda the same.

 

[DigificWriter]

Hunters
I happen to really like the Hirogen, whom I've always seen as representing what the Jem'Hadar would be if they weren't a 'slave race' for the Founders, and Hunters is a nice way to truly introduce them and their culture after they were 'teased' in Message in a Bottle. However, the thing that really makes this ep work for me is the subplot involving the crew receiving letters from home. Voyager often gets criticized for not having character development, but episodes like this really dispel that myth, especially when it comes to characters like Janeway, Tom, B'Elanna, and Seven. Harry also gets a bit of character focus, although he does come across as a bit too overeager and slightly pushy.