Workforce

[tomalak301]

Just curious if this episode is well liked amongst Voyager fans. The reason I ask is because I listen to a Voyager podcast each week and this weeks episode was all about rewriting Workforce. The three hosts pretty much said this episode was boring or just didn't work, and that really surprised me because I remember thinking it was probably Season 7's best set of episodes.

I ended up watching it again tonight (Admittedly, it's been a long while) and it still holds up, probably more today as a commentary about labor shortage and drafting a workforce. There was a movie quality to this episode, vis a vis Janeway's relationship with Jaffen or the conspiracy plot, or just getting the crew back on the ship. I really enjoyed this story and was wondering if I was in a minority. In terms of two parters and season 7, I liked these episodes more than I liked Flesh and Blood.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I liked it, felt different for VOY. Had poignancy for the Captain.

 

[tomalak301]

I liked it, felt different for VOY. Had poignancy for the Captain.

I think what I liked about Janeway's story was that it kind of felt like we got to see what Janeway's relationship with Mark was like. With Chakotay, they never really had that relationship, and that is a failing of the series as a whole. Still, it was nice to see Janeway settling in, having that relationship and really embracing it (And this time with a real person, not that Fair Haven stuff).

 

[R. Star]

I'd be a mix of the boring/not working bit of it. If you stop and think about it a moment, in an age where technology has progressed this far.... what exactly is the need for forced labor again? Not to mention the characters not knowing who they are bit was done in the Killing Game already, so that aspect was nothing new.

Really the only part I liked was the ECH pulling rank on Kim.

 

[Melakon]

I don't pay any attention to the opinions of Trek review sites. Some of them think it's cool to completely trash an episode, especially if they don't like the series overall.

Like many Trek episodes, Workforce presents some interesting ideas, some nice visuals, and is generally entertaining. Some of it works, some of it doesn't.Though I probably would have liked it a little more if it hadn't been a two-parter, it feels like there's some padding to me.

But Ralph Malph as a bad guy is worth something.

 

[tomalak301]

Well, it wasn't a review site, but I just wanted to see how well liked, or disliked it was amongst you guys. I was surprised it was getting as ridiculed as it was, since I thought fans held up those two episodes in a high regard.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I just realized you were tomalek.

And yes to the Mark comparison, they are definitely cut from the same fabric. And you know it shows that there was something of the Captain still in there, she didn't choose a man where you looked at him and thought "brainwashing".

 

[BruntFCA]

2 of the better episodes from season 7 IMO.

 

[jaz'a]

I enjoyed it. It had a different feel to it and I found that refreshing. One of my favourites from season 7.

 

[Jeri]

Workforce was great; who wouldn't like seeing Tom and B'Elanna fall in love again. Just very interesting to turn the crew box on its edge a bit and see what happens.

 

[hux]

I like episodes where the ship is deserted with only a handful of crew aboard....wish there were more of them

The stuff on the planet was ok i guess....entertaining enough

and I liked it when Tuvok explained how irony can often be a source of humour

 

[Melakon]

The wonderful thing about Vulcans is their behavior patterns are so well established, when they start acting like regular people, it's immediately a Twilight Zone moment.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I really liked "Workforce". I also liked the Stargate SG-1 episode "Beneath the Surface" which aired six months earlier and told the EXACT same story. I started a thread about the similarity a couple of years ago, IIRC they're both blatant ripoffs of the same novel or short story or something?

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Do you have a link to the podcast? Is the "The Delta Quadrant Podcast"? I've been listening to those lately, haven't heard the Workforce one yet though.

 

[Danny99]

Really the only part I liked was the ECH pulling rank on Kim.

I hated that part of the episode as I did with a lot of later Doctor scenes. I really hope it's not Robert Picardo's acting because I really like him, but it just seems like they went out of their way to make him a pompous asshole. His scenes with Kim are just that. His "An Emergency Command Hologram outranks an Ensign" was cringeworthy. I was hoping Kim would just say "Computer, deactivate EMH" and end the whole bit.

 

[R. Star]

Really the only part I liked was the ECH pulling rank on Kim.

I hated that part of the episode as I did with a lot of later Doctor scenes. I really hope it's not Robert Picardo's acting because I really like him, but it just seems like they went out of their way to make him a pompous asshole. His scenes with Kim are just that. His "An Emergency Command Hologram outranks an Ensign" was cringeworthy. I was hoping Kim would just say "Computer, deactivate EMH" and end the whole bit.

Only to have the computer reply, "Insufficient authorization."

 

[Captain Kathryn]

Oh come on...how can you hate on the ECH?!?!!!

 

[Danny99]

^^ Easily. I can see it being useful in a situation, but the writers decided to use the opportunity to give the Doctor some horrible lines and make him into this jerk. He doesn't work with Kim, he basically talks down to him for the episode and then at the end, they decide "Oh, I guess we're equals."

It worked as a daydream, maybe even in practical applications, but the writers failed heavily in the execution.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

He was already a jerk. He just learned that you get more lovin' by not being a jerk when you're a doctor. He has yet to learn this about command.

I think he drops bedside manner 101 from his playlist because he is now a photonplated dictator with delusions of godhood.

 

[Melakon]

The jerkholeness of his personality comes from the real Dr. Zimmerman basing the template on himself. It wasn't enough that it looked like him, he wanted it to act like him too. And apparently they were such insufferable dicks they got relegated to mining operations.