Why eject the escape pods in Year of Hell? It makes no sense IMO.

[eepruls]

I watched Year of Hell the other day and it's a great episode with some really nice character moments like Seven and Tuvok, B'Elanna and Kim in the turbo lift, Janeway hugging Tuvok and staying alone on the ship, etc. It's a shame that it was all a reset button in the end.

My question pertains to Janeway's decision to launch all the escape pods and send everyone on their way while they're standing on a ship that still works (barely, but it works). It's a great visual when they eject the pods but to me it makes no sense.

Countless times in the second part they talk about not having enough people to make all the repairs. Well, duh, you sent everyone away. Why not keep everyone on board, fly into the nebula, and repair as much as you can. I bet the warp core repairs wouldn't take three weeks or whatever because you'd have more than just B'Elanna working on it.

Those escape pods would get picked off so easily and they're not exactly shuttles with room to move around. Did Janeway expect them to float around for months and survive? Seems like putting the crew in escape pods is the "asking them to die".

 

[Deks]

Well, Janeway mentioned that Voyager can no longer support it's own crew at the end of Part1.
And I think she wanted to preserve as many lives as possible because of the fact they made it that far and didn't want this skirmish with the Krenim and Annorax to be the death of them all.

However, I do agree with the fact that the repairs could have been done in a much faster capacity had the crew stayed onboard.
You can easily cram all of them on 2 or 3 decks (the habitable ones) and make repairs in a nebula as it was already mentioned.

One would think that the escape pods would be able to locate friendly races and places to make pit stops or arrange for transportation.
But I do agree they can be easily picked off one by one like that.

 

[BlobVanDam]

The ship was severely battered by that point. It seemed beyond repair at this point, even for a full crew. They'd never sustained that level of damage before, and they were being constantly pursued by the Krenim.
The escape pods definitely make them easy to pick off, but I guess they figured it was better to give some people a chance of surviving by splitting up than for them all to surely die by staying. It was a hopeless situation, and it was a desperate measure without any good options left.

And for the record, the reason I loved YOH is because it DID hit the reset button.

 

[froot]

Shatnertage brought this one up too.

The ship could literally no longer support everyone. Whole decks were missing. People would have been sitting in areas like the Mess Hall with nothing to do since they couldn't repair anything.

They had more of a fighting chance not putting all their eggs in one basket and splitting up.

 

[Shatnertage]

Yeah, I go back and forth on this one. I can see the point that froot is making, but they needed to spell it out a little more. Next time I watch it, it probably won't detract from my enjoyment of the episode, though.

 

[kv1at3485]

So why not live in the escape pods and use the entire ship for "spares"? Surely there are still supplies left on board.

Sure is better than just jumping overboard into the middle of nowhere.

 

[HoneyBLilly]

I agree with froot and shatnertage and as I say just put on your "Voyager goggles" and go with it or your head will hurt.

Speaking of the goggles I'm gonna go put them on and watch Equinox Part II and try not to get too angry.

 

[froot]

I agree with froot and shatnertage and as I say just put on your "Voyager goggles" and go with it or your head will hurt.

Speaking of the goggles I'm gonna go put them on and watch Equinox Part II and try not to get too angry.

I never said that. I think the idea made sense. However, I can see why it might have been good to chunk up the ship itself for parts. I'm sure they divvied up their food and energy supplies for all the pods and shuttles, though.

I think we were supposed to see this as an extreme last-ditch effort for survival. Note also that the Krenim ships were specifically looking out for Voyager. The little escape pods could probably pass under the Krenim radar, so to speak.

Also, I love Equinox I and II. I find them fascinating. But that's another can o' worms.

 

[BlobVanDam]

I agree with froot and shatnertage and as I say just put on your "Voyager goggles" and go with it or your head will hurt.

Speaking of the goggles I'm gonna go put them on and watch Equinox Part II and try not to get too angry.

Forget Voyager goggles. I don't think even beer goggles can help with Equinox pt 2.

 

[eepruls]

I think we were supposed to see this as an extreme last-ditch effort for survival. Note also that the Krenim ships were specifically looking out for Voyager. The little escape pods could probably pass under the Krenim radar, so to speak.

By the time they ejected the escape pods, Voyager had their temporal shielding which threw off Annorax's calculations and caused the Krenim to revert to a pre-warp state or something where they no longer controlled the sector or were a threat. Janeway says, "Out problem may have just disappeared and I want to know why." So the only ship that was looking for them and who was a threat was Annorax's ship.

I still say that I'd rather serve with 140 other people on one deck, working together towards a single goal of repairing the ship (and supporting each other) then be stuffed with another couple people into a broom closet with no windows, limited air, and the constant fear that someone might get sick. Think about Trip in "Precious Cargo". You want to spend months in a vehicle that is for short term only? What about the shuttles, or heck, Neelix's ship?!

 

[HoneyBLilly]

I agree with froot and shatnertage and as I say just put on your "Voyager goggles" and go with it or your head will hurt.

Speaking of the goggles I'm gonna go put them on and watch Equinox Part II and try not to get too angry.

I never said that. I think the idea made sense. However, I can see why it might have been good to chunk up the ship itself for parts. I'm sure they divvied up their food and energy supplies for all the pods and shuttles, though.

I think we were supposed to see this as an extreme last-ditch effort for survival. Note also that the Krenim ships were specifically looking out for Voyager. The little escape pods could probably pass under the Krenim radar, so to speak.

Also, I love Equinox I and II. I find them fascinating. But that's another can o' worms.

What I was saying was that I agreed with you and shatnertage and that I just went the easy route and put on the "Voyager goggles" to go with it. They're very effective.

And I love part 1 of Equinox, it's part 2 that's the problem.

I agree with froot and shatnertage and as I say just put on your "Voyager goggles" and go with it or your head will hurt.

Speaking of the goggles I'm gonna go put them on and watch Equinox Part II and try not to get too angry.

Forget Voyager goggles. I don't think even beer goggles can help with Equinox pt 2.

Nope. Didn't work. Hence why it was followed by Tinkor Tenor Doctor Spy and Barge of the Dead. There's just something about that episode. Idk what it is, but it's the only episode I can't stand from Voyager.

 

[Akiraprise]

I always thought it was dumb to split the crew up too. Like Janeway said half the ship was destroyed, but that still left the other half to use. Stick together, repair Voyager as best they could, and get the hell out of Krenim space should have been the plan. Those poor little escape pods without weapons, shields, warp, or impulse drive would have been easy pickings for pretty much any alien race. The space shuttle Discovery could probably take one out.

 

[JB2005]

*visions of a robotic arm just repeatedly pounding an escape pod!*

 

[Saquist]

They couldn't support all of them.
Seems pretty simple. They kept all they could. It implies life support was almost irreparable to a certain level.

 

[exodus]

Well, Janeway mentioned that Voyager can no longer support it's own crew at the end of Part1.
And I think she wanted to preserve as many lives as possible because of the fact they made it that far and didn't want this skirmish with the Krenim and Annorax to be the death of them all.

However, I do agree with the fact that the repairs could have been done in a much faster capacity had the crew stayed onboard.
You can easily cram all of them on 2 or 3 decks (the habitable ones) and make repairs in a nebula as it was already mentioned.

One would think that the escape pods would be able to locate friendly races and places to make pit stops or arrange for transportation.
But I do agree they can be easily picked off one by one like that.

How could repairs be made if the replicators were off line?
If you can't fix them because you can't replicate the tools.

 

[JB2005]

^ Spare parts...presumably they still have parts of the ship (shuttles, spare escape pods, Harry) that they can cannabalise for what they need?

 

[exodus]

^ Spare parts...presumably they still have parts of the ship (shuttles, spare escape pods, Harry) that they can cannabalise for what they need?

I'm going out on a limb here and assume for the ship to look as badly as it did, they might have already done that and it still wasn't enough.

Hey, folks said they wanted to see them struggle and suffer.

 

[JB2005]

^ They still had all the escape pods they launched...

 

[exodus]

^ They still had all the escape pods they launched...

Which as you saw was more important to the safety of the crew than keeping the ship whole. Janeway was smart in that aspect because if cannibalising the ship fails, then you'd still need a back up plan which might be to abandon ship. The well being of the crew still comes before a material thing like the ship itself.

 

[JB2005]

^ Ok, now i'm not familiar with the specifics of escape pods, but they most be at least roomy enough to allow people to live in, yes? So why not have the crew live in the escape pods (without ejecting them) and then you have a basically empty ship...