Tom had one friend, Harry, at the beginning of the series. I assume Janeway was ambivalent, Chakotay barely tolerated him, and the rest of the crew either actively disliked him (some Maquis), resented him (some ‘fleeters) or didn’t particularly care. So, when did the crew begin to think he was an okay guy who was good at his job: piloting and being the chief conn officer. I assume before Invistigations which, according to Neelix’ dialogue takes place ‘almost a yaer’ into their journey. Certainly not at Ex Post Facto. He unveils Chez Sandrine in The Cloud, but in Faces he’s in charge of the mission that goes to hell (I think) and I wonder how many people hold him responsible for Durst’s death. So, any opinions?
I'm not sure about the rest of the crew, but I think Torres probably started viewing him differently in Faces. I think he started getting along better with Neelix in the episode where they look after the baby reptile on the planet until it's mother shows up. As for the majority of the crew. Probably when he rescued them in Basics Part 2.
Beginning of season 3? Wow, tough crowd! I can see B’Elanna starting to change her opinion of him after Faces, and maybe Chakotay if she wrote an incident report and her read it, which seems reasonable. In Investigations, Neelix has a line about first meeting Tom ‘almost a year ago’, so Basics might be 15 or 18 months in? That seems like a long time to hold on to dislike or even ambivalence for someone who turns out to be a good officer and a pretty friendly dude. Tom was kind of an ass for the first half dozen episodes, and not entirely likable, imo. But by Prime Factors he’s been on that double date with the Delaney sisters and Harry, and B’Elanna and Seska are laughing with him over it. I do wish the writers had played a little more with their grief and shock and anger, and the difficulty in merging the two crews. And Ha! I don’t think Janeway had much of a choice in Threshold.
You are correct about the Delaney sisters going on a date with Tom and Harry. Perhaps I should have said after Basics there was no longer any doubts. Most of them probably liked and respected him before that.
I think by the end of the first season-his charm and multiple skills had largely won him over to most of the crew.
I would say Harry liked him by the end of Caretaker. Chakotay respected him by that point too as Tom did risk himself to save Chakotay. Janeway never held any animosity, almost seemed to give him a second chance on the basis of the respect she had for his father. B'Elanna and Seska both seemed to like him in Season 1 , beyond that I agree any holdouts would have probably changed their mind when he saved everyone,
I watched Time and Again last night and he was a smarmy ass. I love him, I do, but wow! Maybe it was all an act, a denence mechanism. Apparently I am a Tom Paris apologist. I don’t know why I’m so curious about this; I guess it just always bugged me that the two crews got along so well, so quickly. Seemed like a missed opportunity.
Tom betrays starfleet and the federation by joining the marquis, given a chance he then betrays the marquis by helping janeway hunt them down. Yeah, he's a great guy.
I think he proved after Caldik Prime that he’s very good at making a bad decision. And then another, and another. He was bitter, emotionally immature, and in a bad situation and looking for an out. He was never a real Maquis: he took the job so he could fly again. So I doubt he looked at it as betraying them. But I was referring to how he grew into being a decent guy and a good officer (sort of) after he was stranded in the DQ. I saw a meme once that branded him as ‘chaotic neutral’ and I agree (Thirty Days, “We’re in the DQ, who will know?!”) I think it was blind bad luck that Tom ‘led’ Janeway to Chakotay’s ship, and he likely knew he couldn’t pinpoint a secret base when he agreed to help. He thought he was playing her for a chance at early release. I also viewed the Maquis as freedom fighters, not terrorists, at least in Caretaker’s time. But I’m not as immersed in TNG and DS9, so I can’t really say. I suspect that the terrorist label was pinned on the Maquis as an appeasement to the Cardassian government. Again, I’m not a scholar of the other series, though I do wish I were.
I guess it happened gradually. Some people among thje crew may not have liked him from the start, especially not some of the Maquis. But after a while I think he was accepted by the crew. His piloting skill and his easygong manners did probably help him. My guess ist that he was accepted by most of the crew at the end of 2371, some time around the episodes "Twisted" and "The 37's". I also guess that he probably had a talk with Chakotay some days after Voyager left the Ocampa planet, sort of: "Hey, I never betrayed you. I actually let myself get caught so that you could get away" as it is described in Jeri Taylor's book "Pathways". He already had Chakotay's respect after saving his life on Ocampa, not to mention the fact that since they all were in the same boat, most of them realized that they had to cooperate to get home.
If he had Chakotay’s respect after Caretaker, imo it was grudging at best. Likely Chakotay felt he owed Tom a debt, but I doubt Chakotay actually started to like him until sometime in season two. And I suspect there were a handful of people on board who never truly warmed up to him, but didn’t actively dislike him, either (Mort Herron?). Conversely, I’m sure some of the younger crew liked him well enough from the beginning, and certainly by The 37’s, once he’d settled down and stopped behaving like an ass. I just find the whole concept interesting: you throw a bunch of disperate—and desperate—people together, effectively isolate them for seven years, add some tremendous stressers and lots of boredom, and see how they do. I admit that because I read and write fic, I sometimes mix up my fiction/fic, so thanks for helping me mull over this stuff.
Perhaps his liking Tom was set back a bit after the truth came out about the undercover op. in Investigations. Yes, Chakotay knew the truth of why Tom had been acting the way he did after the Capt. and Tuvok told him. But I think Tom might have pissed him off again a bit when Neelix interviewed him. Like maybe he enjoyed pushing Chakotay's buttons just a little too much. Just my opinion. That's why I originally said maybe it took until Basics to really click for everyone. As for Mortimer Harren. I don't think he liked anyone.
Shouldn't Tom have worn a non-Starfleet pin because he was a disgrace, and also shouldn't he had been ranked lower than Kim? The writing was on the wall with that character; the core brainstormers wanted a Riker-type character and they stopped at nothing to have one on the series.
(Stupid ipad won’t let me quote). Tracy Trek: I agree about that interview pissing off Chakotay. I imagine he thought he had Tom’s respect, and though he could understand Tom’s ‘secret mission’ on one level—Chakotay was once a Starfleet officer—it must grate to think Tom enjoyed it. Also, Mort is one of my favourite characters. STEPhon IT: As for Tom wearing pips, he was an Academy graduate, and he was cashiered out for lying (conduct unbecoming?) not for the shuttle crash itself. He may even have been a Lieutenant jg at the time (ignoring the costuming mixup with pips in the first few episodes). So, no, imo, he wouldn’t (couldn’t?) have been a lower rank than newly graduated Harry. Someone, please, correct me if I’m wrong. I was never a fan of the Ryker-type character, though (brain fart) that actor at least pulled it off. But RDM couldn’t, imo. Early Tom was just smarmy. I’m glad the writers/directors went in another direction with him, but I guess part of a fic writer’s mindset is to explain inconsistencies, and make it seem like everything was done intentionally to flesh out a character.
There are 2 stories that I have read recently that 2 of the quotes below remind me of. Both stories are on Fanfiction.net and AO3: Elegies by Delwin. Spoiler Tom overhears some of the crew talking about Durst getting killed under his command. The Mercenary by Jamelia116 Spoiler It has a similar plot point. Tom is recruited into the Maquis by his old academy classmate Ro Laren. If I recall correctly, he lets himself get caught so she will not be caught. It's part of a series of stories. She goes on to help rescue another person named Thomas (someone with a face that is very familiar to her and to the reader) who was arrested and imprisoned by the Cardassians for being a Maquis. There was another thread on here where I think it was discussed why he didn't have a provisional pin like the Maquis. I don't know where to find it though.
Yes, I’ve been slowly sifting through old threads but I really don’t have the time for that right mow. I read Delwin’s fic recently, and likely read the other ages ago, unless it’s new. Thanks.
No Jamelia's Mercenary story and series have probably been around since the PTCA days. I used to post on the discussion forum there as well.