QUARK: It's so bubbly and cloying and happy. GARAK: Just like the Federation. QUARK: But you know what's really frightening? If you drink enough of it, you begin to like it. GARAK: It's insidious. QUARK: Just like the Federation.
Fundamentally, as much as they talk shit, at the end of the day they like the Federation. The Federation makes them better people and they know it.
They do, and that is precisely why they hate it.
I saw a tweet about something like "Universities/Colleges aren't big liberal brainwashing institutions, but they're the first place most of their students get to meet a really wide range of other kinds of people outside the group they grew up with." That's the Federation. Most of the other major races are fairly isolationist by nature if not outright policy, but if they spend enough time dealing with all these other races and other points of view they can't help but be changed by it.
Quark and Garak felt like they were perfectly happy as stereotypical examples of their species; Quark the profit-obsessed Ferengi, and Garak the Cardassian who'd dedicated his life to The State, and was willing to do anything in service of it (even be exiled. Even if he wanted to go back, he never actually blamed it on Cardassia).
But they got exposure to the Federation ideals, and it got them to look at themselves from the outside. Having done that they found themselves changing without even wanting to, and they blame the Federation for it.
Garak didn't even make it past the Bajorans, and I'd say it was his effectiveness at "interrogation" that did him in. He could handle torturing other Cardassians, no problem; all the Cardassians he dealt with were assholes neck-deep in Cardassian backstabbing so it didn't bother him. It was easy for him to identify with them to get into their heads, there was no cost to it there.
But then he encountered the Bajorans and had to empathize with them to do his job, and eventually it broke him so completely that he just quit Cardassia and everything he'd been aggressively brainwashed and tortured his entire life to support. Then he stuck himself in self-exile on DS9 in constant mild suffering because he couldn't figure out what he should be punished for: breaking for the sake of the Bajorans or giving up on Cardassia. He probably could've gone anywhere in the Federation but nope, he stays in the one Federation place close to both Cardassia and Bajor.
And then he has to deal with the Federation long-term and he ends up realizing "oh shit, they really actually care".
So, with significant hesitation, I've decided to do a full rewatch of Voyager. I hate myself that much, and I'll probably end up hating most of you.
Voyager probably works best if you view it almost as a parody of Star Trek. It's as if aspects of the setting that probably should've received more critical or subversive treatment were instead dialed up to 11. Over-reliance on nonsensical technobabble, the frequency and ease with which the reset button was abused, the way threats like the Borg and Q Continuum were constantly recycled (and subsequently devalued) for sweeps weeks, the cartoony levels of irrationality among monocultural alien empires/species in contrast to the enlightened and open-minded Federation led by humanity in all of its dynamism, the way main characters held fast to principles they previously or would later find abhorrent - all of it contributed to an experience that felt incredibly cheap and fanficky.
In a lot of ways, it's like Lower Decks without the self-awareness.
But one could also say that contributed to the overall charm of the show. Ron Moore would go on to express disappointment with how VOY wasted its premise and didn't challenge its characters (or audience) enough but really, sometimes people just want a comfy cruise through space where humanity can solve problems, be right all the time and just generally exude awesomeness.
So, with significant hesitation, I've decided to do a full rewatch of Voyager. I hate myself that much, and I'll probably end up hating most of you.
Voyager probably works best if you view it almost as a parody of Star Trek. It's as if aspects of the setting that probably should've received more critical or subversive treatment were instead dialed up to 11. Over-reliance on nonsensical technobabble, the frequency and ease with which the reset button was abused, the way threats like the Borg and Q Continuum were constantly recycled (and subsequently devalued) for sweeps weeks, the cartoony levels of irrationality among monocultural alien empires/species in contrast to the enlightened and open-minded Federation led by humanity in all of its dynamism, the way main characters held fast to principles they previously or would later find abhorrent - all of it contributed to an experience that felt incredibly cheap and fanficky.
In a lot of ways, it's like Lower Decks without the self-awareness.
What even is a sweeps week, I never did figure that out.
So, with significant hesitation, I've decided to do a full rewatch of Voyager. I hate myself that much, and I'll probably end up hating most of you.
Voyager probably works best if you view it almost as a parody of Star Trek. It's as if aspects of the setting that probably should've received more critical or subversive treatment were instead dialed up to 11. Over-reliance on nonsensical technobabble, the frequency and ease with which the reset button was abused, the way threats like the Borg and Q Continuum were constantly recycled (and subsequently devalued) for sweeps weeks, the cartoony levels of irrationality among monocultural alien empires/species in contrast to the enlightened and open-minded Federation led by humanity in all of its dynamism, the way main characters held fast to principles they previously or would later find abhorrent - all of it contributed to an experience that felt incredibly cheap and fanficky.
In a lot of ways, it's like Lower Decks without the self-awareness.
What even is a sweeps week, I never did figure that out.
Ratings, at least back in the old days, by Nielsen boxes. Advertising pricing (how much the networks could charge) was primarily based on ratings during a week or two at specific time of year (March or April?).
Television networks would try and goose ratings during that time, either with high profile celebrity appearances, or escalations of narratives (a long running character being killed off, or a wedding, crap like that).
So, with significant hesitation, I've decided to do a full rewatch of Voyager. I hate myself that much, and I'll probably end up hating most of you.
Voyager probably works best if you view it almost as a parody of Star Trek. It's as if aspects of the setting that probably should've received more critical or subversive treatment were instead dialed up to 11. Over-reliance on nonsensical technobabble, the frequency and ease with which the reset button was abused, the way threats like the Borg and Q Continuum were constantly recycled (and subsequently devalued) for sweeps weeks, the cartoony levels of irrationality among monocultural alien empires/species in contrast to the enlightened and open-minded Federation led by humanity in all of its dynamism, the way main characters held fast to principles they previously or would later find abhorrent - all of it contributed to an experience that felt incredibly cheap and fanficky.
In a lot of ways, it's like Lower Decks without the self-awareness.
But one could also say that contributed to the overall charm of the show. Ron Moore would go on to express disappointment with how VOY wasted its premise and didn't challenge its characters (or audience) enough but really, sometimes people just want a comfy cruise through space where humanity can solve problems, be right all the time and just generally exude awesomeness.
One that got me early in the first episode, was...
Chakotay - "Are you reading any plasma storms ahead?"
Tuvok - "One. Coordinates 171 mark 43."
According to Memory Alpha, this is a common used terminology, but it's still wrong. <number> mark <number> is a bearing or heading, not a coordinate. <number><number><number> is a coordinate.
Bearings are two circular 360 degree planes, both starting with 0 as dead ahead, the first going to the left (port is 90, aft is 180, starboard is 270), and the second going up and over (vertical up is 90, backwards from the first direction is 180, vertical down is 270). From a practical perspective, the second number should never be between 90 and 270 though, as it's literally backtracking. Bearing 151 mark 165, for example, is the same as bearing 331 mark 15.
Heading is identical to bearing, except that instead of giving a direction relative to the nose of the ship, it's pointing the nose of the ship in that direction from when it was asked. For example, if a ship is travelling in a random direction, and the captain says "Make your heading 60 mark 315, then the ship is turning to it's relative 2 o'clock, and diving down at a 45 degree angle, from it's current heading.
Coordinates on the other hand, are done as a three number system, marking the X, Y and Z axis, with a defined centralized point (0, 0, 0 is apparently a nav beacon near the core worlds), with positive X being towards the center of the galaxy, positive Y being to the right of that on the galactic plane (Alpha Quadrant), and positive Z being above the galactic plane.
What makes it particularly eyetwitchy for me, is that it's not only not a coordinate, it's completely the wrong direction from what was asked. Chakotay asks for something that's ahead. Tuvok gives him something that's almost directly behind, and coming down from slightly above (think the cropduster scene from North By Northwest).
What? I'm not a navigation nerd, YOU'RE a navigation nerd!
CambiataCommander ShepardThe likes of which even GAWD has never seenRegistered Userregular
edited August 2021
The author of these Onion titles matched to DS9 screenshots hasn't made any new ones since last year, but I still reread them sometimes because damn they're a really great match up.
Cambiata on
"If you divide the whole world into just enemies and friends, you'll end up destroying everything" --Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Went to a real in-person theater to watch The One with the Whales tonight. It really holds up, and the titles and opening theme have a lot more Galaxy Quest in them than I remember from my youth, or vice versa.
The TOS cast are really putting in solid work, and Nimoy’s direction is crisp and skillful in a way I totally missed when I saw this in the theater as a callow youth.
I give it five out of five grandmas “spontaneously” regrowing a kidney. Rarely have I regretted spending $12 on nachos and a drink less than this evening’s outing.
Also, I nearly forgot - I noticed in the credits that the same person was credited as “punk on the bus”, writer of the song the punk is blasting on that bus, and associate producer so over dinner I looked them up on the Internet. Gentlebeings, I give you Kirk Thatcher, definitely in the running for coolest person alive: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Thatcher
So, with my state (Victoria, Australia) being in lockdown, and literally having nothing else to do, I've been able to burn through the next five episodes of Voyager. I've seen these before (as mentioned, I got to at least the 7/9 episodes), but they didn't resonate with me enough that I've remembered them, at all.
Honestly, I'm kind of surprised, but it's not been as bad as I remembered. Maybe I had different expectations 20 years ago.
Parralax - Voyager investigates a singularity, gets trapped with a time-dilated mirror of itself, and has to figure out which is real, before escaping. Good introduction to B'Elanna, with one exception. She should have been given brig time or some other punishment, for breaking that officer's nose.
Time and Again - Voyager investigates an explosion, and Janeway and Paris get sent back to before the explosion. Turns out that them getting sent back was the reason for the explosion when the rest of the crew try to rescue them. Kinda jumping into time travel/displacement pretty hard, being the second episode to have it be a primary factor. Still, an interesting episode, that had an entertaining twist, but that also dismisses the inevitability of fate, when they don't investigate the planet, and therefore don't cause the explosion.
The Phage - Biothiefs lure the crew in, and steal Neelix's lungs. Other than some obvious handwaving (sorry, the whole lung removal and survival thing was a bit much, lung replacement, and they had time to set up the alternative would have been a little more reasonable? Also, holographic lungs INSIDE the body, had me thinking Trump UV light inside the body, and *shudders*), it was not a terrible episode, though given the lure, it was clearly way more pre-meditated than they made it appear when Janeway has the confrontation. Neelix just being the fucking worst didn't help, both ignoring Chakotay being responsible for the problem he ended up with, and then the whole jealousy/let-me-die subplot later. Ethan Phillips deserved better than what the writers did to him. Only real upside of the episode was the Doctor explaining to Paris about holotechnology, and Picardo being able to slap McNeill.
The Cloud - Voyager enters a nebula that turns out to be a living being, hurting it in the process. Kes loses the worst fucking wig in the history of television (shit, Arrowverse flashbacks to the island aren't that bad). Neelix has a great rant, and while it's accurate, Kes cuts it apart pretty well, explaining the Star Trek philosophy.
Neelix - "These people are natural-born idiots if you ask me. They don't appreciate what they have here. This ship is the match of any vessel within a hundred light years, and what do they do with it? "Well, let's see if we can't find some space anomaly today that might rip it apart!""
Kes - "I don't think the captain is an idiot. She cares a great deal about her crew."
Neelix - "You don't care a great deal about your crew and introduce them to the specter of death at every opportunity. And I speak as a member of that crew now. I'm not sure I would have wanted you to come along had I known that this is what we..."
Kes - "I think it's wonderful."
Neelix - "Wonderful?"
Kes - "If I were captain, I'd open every crack in the universe and peek inside, just like Captain Janeway does."
Eye of the Needle - Voyager finds a tiny wormhole, and communicates to a ship in the Alpha Quadrant, only to find out it's a Romulan, only to find out that there's a temporal anomoly (again!), and it's 20 years earlier on the other side of the wormhole. Again, not a bad episode, but the B-plot with Kes and the Doctor introduces an issue I have. If the Doctor is as sentient as he appears to be, then the treatment by the crew is abhorrent. And it makes the treatment of other holograms, especially ones created for the express purpose of physicality/sex (like some of the regulars at Sandrine) pretty fucking icky. While I appreciate that the Doctor was given a personality, and Picardo was allowed to be a growth character, it does raise certain broader ethical questions.
Will go back to watching more in a couple more hours.
The full story is great. Nimoy's many talents as a director apparently didn't extend to picking out music and he tested some New Wave stuff, and Thatcher hated it. He and Mark Mangini performed it in a hallway and recorded it on a tape deck and presented it to Nimoy as the pure distillation of annoying asshole on the bus music.
I actually spent quite a while in the 90's scouring p2p services for the song and until I got a chance to read the Star Trek Encyclopedia I didn't realize Edge of Etiquette literally existed for two days just to keep Leonard Nimoy from using shitty music in a movie.
The residuals don't come from Star Trek IV, though, the song was used again in Frankie and Annette's Back to the Beach.
Hevach on
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Thatcher is such an unfortunate name for a punk...
I dunno, Kirk Thatcher almost has that 80s counterculture discordance like Mojo Nixon. (Yeah he was psychobilly, but psychobilly is punk-adjacent)
I think it's more that the Thatcher name is associated to a certain Margaret, who was an antipunk.
And you don't think a certain Nixon was anti-punk?
All I know is that Margaret Thatcher would kick Nixon's ass in a fight.
It's a pretty safe bet anyone but Commissar Yarrick would be outmatched.
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MrMonroepassed outon the floor nowRegistered Userregular
Something I never noticed about IV until seeing it last night:
Chekov leaves a phaser and a communicator with the US goddamn Navy in 1986 and no one gets on his case about it or makes a big deal about it at all
I also never as a child understood how funny it was that they leave the one Russian guy on the crew to be captured in the bowels of an American aircraft carrier in 1986.
Only some holograms are advanced enough to be sentient. The explanation for the EMH is that he was running constantly for so long he developed sentience, although that doesn't totally make sense with what happens in even Voyager, much less the other shows. But the lady Klingon the computer pulls up to spank you definitely isn't alive.
Only some holograms are advanced enough to be sentient. The explanation for the EMH is that he was running constantly for so long he developed sentience, although that doesn't totally make sense with what happens in even Voyager, much less the other shows. But the lady Klingon the computer pulls up to spank you definitely isn't alive.
Something I never noticed about IV until seeing it last night:
Chekov leaves a phaser and a communicator with the US goddamn Navy in 1986 and no one gets on his case about it or makes a big deal about it at all
I also never as a child understood how funny it was that they leave the one Russian guy on the crew to be captured in the bowels of an American aircraft carrier in 1986.
The Navy never realized the phaser and communicator were real because the radiation broke them. After all, why bother examining the props involved in a kook's fantasy?
Rather than acknowledge the embarrassment that a nutjob or a spy got inside a nuclear aircraft carrier and then disappeared, the government likely buried everything that happened and forgot about it. Add in the loss of records from World War III/the Post-Atomic Horror, and you can see why nobody knew Pavel Chekov infiltrated the Enterprise CVN-65 200 years before he was born.
I though they specifically modified the Doctor so he can expand his programming, which later turns into him writing all sorts of new subroutines for stuff like opera and sex.
Voyager also had "experimental neural gel packs" we don't hear about often outside the series, maybe that together with the long run time of the emh and the modifications to allow for expansion made it all possible.
I mean the enterprise D was also the only (?) ship in the federation that got that experimental bynar computer update, that could also explain some holodeck shenanigans.
Would be funny to have an episode a few hundred years later where the USS voyager, enterprise D and the
discovery
meet up as the historically first sentient ships in star fleet
Just quantum extrapolate a multi temporal... Tachyon.... Thing.
Look, they brought back Dr. what's his name as an interdimentional magic mushroom person and Tasha Yar as a time traveling alternate universe half Romulan identical twin rape baby. They've done dumber shit already.
Just quantum extrapolate a multi temporal... Tachyon.... Thing.
Look, they brought back Dr. what's his name as an interdimentional magic mushroom person and Tasha Yar as a time traveling alternate universe identical twin rape baby. They've done dumber shit already.
I know it's accurate but damn, hearing it put like that is brutal.
Only some holograms are advanced enough to be sentient. The explanation for the EMH is that he was running constantly for so long he developed sentience, although that doesn't totally make sense with what happens in even Voyager, much less the other shows. But the lady Klingon the computer pulls up to spank you definitely isn't alive.
Right, but then you have the ethical issue of when sentient life begins, and is it right to terminate it before it does so?
Anyways, locked down, nothing to do, sped through the rest of Season 1.
Ex Post Facto - Paris does a Kirk/Riker impression, gets involved with a married alien, and then is accused of her husband's murder. Honestly, the headpieces distracted me so much I wasn't able to focus on the plot. Which was annoying, because I saw in the opening credits it was directed by Levar Burton. I will say I don't mind Tuvok, Mind Detective.
Emanations - Investigation of an asteroid graveyard has Kim teleported back to a place where they believe the teleportation is 'ascension'. Nice little case study on the afterlife, with Janeway summing it up pretty well with "I'm not certain. But I am certain about this -- what we don't know about death is far, far greater than what we do know.". Ensign Kim died on his way back to his home planet ship, but he got better.
Prime Factors - Risa in the Delta Quadrant. I do like the argument in the ready room, that it's Voyager that it feels bad to be on the wrong side of the Prime Directive when the Sikaris refuse to give them maguffin spacial trajector that'd get them more than halfway home (more, if they could repeat the process). B'Elanna stepping up at the end to take responsibility, but Tuvok taking the bullet (and an off-screen demotion) was cool.
State of Flux - Spyhunter mission, after it's revealed there's a traitor supplying the Kazon with technology. Honestly, I have no recollection of Seska from my earlier viewings of the series, and haven't minded her up to now (and a look at IMDB says she's back another eight times, still no recollection), but this episode didn't resonate. Too many unnecessary twists and turns, and the conclusion stank as the most obvious solution to "Who's the spy?" is deactivate all command authority they have, until it's cleared up. Also, I didn't think you could transport through active shields, and with Kazon ships in the area, got to assume they were up. Have her use a shuttle, or heck, an escape pod.
Heroes and Demons - Aaaaaand we're out of ideas already. Frikkin "trapped in the holodeck, Beowulf edition". I didn't mind the interaction with the alien species, but any time Star Trek decides to do a holodeck episode, I tune out a little. Only reason I stayed in at all, was the Doctor having the lead role. Robert Picardo's expression when he was pulled out of the simulation after the monster took his arm (and yes, I'm aware of the literary reference) was worth the watch. But seriously, given the frequency of inability to terminate programs, and the holodeck overriding safety protocols, that holodecks seem to have, they're fucking deathtraps.
Cathexis - Alien bodyswapper in da house. Had some interesting takes (the alien wasn't the bodyswapper), and a great subversion with B'Elanna and the Doctor over the medicine wheel. Introduction of Brian Markinson of who I'm a big fan (yes, I know). I do remember the Janeway holonovel from earlier viewings, because it's just as frikkin terrible now as it was then. Just feels like a PG version of BDSM submissive. "I'm captain of a starship, and I cosplay as a servant". Bleh.
Faces - Crewmember duplication episode. I did like the general concept, and allowing B'Elanna to explore both sides of her nature. Was weirder seeing Dawson with no prosthetics than with the full Klingon kit. Resolved in the kind of nice tidy fashion you expect from that era of television. Side note, Vidiian restraints are for shit. Sorry, if you can't contain a Klingon (strong, but not exceptionally so) with metal restraints, maybe you shouldn't be restraining people? Also, bye bye Brian. Two episodes, and you end up as a skin mask.
Jetrel - Neelix comes face to face with his people's version of Mengele (though the consequences and regret were more Oppenheimer). It was really good to see Ethan Phillips getting to play a somewhat serious role for an episode, and not the ship jester (a role I loathe). I thought the idea of ending it the way they did was very well done, that even though Jetrel was unsuccessful in his final attempt at redemption, the attempt itself was enough for Neelix to give Jetrel forgiveness and peace.
Learning Curve - The ship is "sick" (thanks, Neelix), and Tuvok puts some Maquis in boot camp. Pretty ordinary episode, definitely not something I expected as a season finale (and apparently neither did anyone else). Quick IMDB check shows that only one of the four "boots" ever makes a return appearance (Chell, the Bolian), so that makes it even more pointless.
Side note, anyone have a quick explanation on why Voyager's nacelles variable? Seems an unnecessary articulation, given a) they don't move much, and b) there doesn't seem to be any reason to 'flatten' them. An F-14 has variable position wings, but they serve a purpose, extended they provide lift at low speed, retracted, they reduce drag at high speed. What's the purpose of lowering the nacelles?
ADDITION - When researching the below, I found the answer. It's for the same "reason" as the F-14, except in space that reasoning makes zero sense. And even though it's capable of atmospheric flight, there's no aerodynamic reason to have them variable. Clearly the reason is "Rule of cool", which whatever.
Second side note, as @autono-wally, erotibot300 mentions, it's got experimental gel packs, that are compromised in this episode, and maintain most critical systems. Who at Star Trek ship design thought it was a good idea to have critical components not be easily circumvented/replicated/replaced? I understand that some things on a starship just can't be easily replaced. But not building redundancy into most core systems? Yeah, that's a massive design flaw. Especially on a ship that Memory Alpha writes "The Intrepid-class was designed for long-term exploration missions.". Bad design.
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
Two words: Section 31.
It's informal canon that Section 31 knew about the Borg since the incident with Archer and the NX-01, but they suppressed the knowledge from the rest of Starfleet and the Federation. It's probably why their tech is so much more advanced than the rest of the Federation, they retro-engineered salvaged Borg tech from the 24th Century. They also sponsored the Hansen family to go find out more about the Borg and report back to them. When the El-Aurian were rescued, as soon as they mentioned the Borg they were most likely taken away by Section 31, debriefed thoroughly, and told to never speak of it again to prevent a mass panic.
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
she probably was, but that was some 100 years and one visit to heaven ago.
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
Two words: Section 31.
It's informal canon that Section 31 knew about the Borg since the incident with Archer and the NX-01, but they suppressed the knowledge from the rest of Starfleet and the Federation. It's probably why their tech is so much more advanced than the rest of the Federation, they retro-engineered salvaged Borg tech from the 24th Century. They also sponsored the Hansen family to go find out more about the Borg and report back to them. When the El-Aurian were rescued, as soon as they mentioned the Borg they were most likely taken away by Section 31, debriefed thoroughly, and told to never speak of it again to prevent a mass panic.
“We have top men working on it now.”
“…Who?”
“…Top… men.”
Side note, anyone have a quick explanation on why Voyager's nacelles variable? Seems an unnecessary articulation, given a) they don't move much, and b) there doesn't seem to be any reason to 'flatten' them. An F-14 has variable position wings, but they serve a purpose, extended they provide lift at low speed, retracted, they reduce drag at high speed. What's the purpose of lowering the nacelles?
ADDITION - When researching the below, I found the answer. It's for the same "reason" as the F-14, except in space that reasoning makes zero sense. And even though it's capable of atmospheric flight, there's no aerodynamic reason to have them variable. Clearly the reason is "Rule of cool", which whatever.
IIRC, the articulated nacelles was in response to an episode of TNG. They learn the warp drives the Federation uses (and, likely, everyone else) are tearing up subspace and will potentially unravel the entirety of the galaxy if they continue using them, with damage being worse as the speeds go higher.
The Feds answer was "Okay, we'll slow down a bit, except in emergencies, and try to avoid places where the damage is already really bad".
Apparently, the variable position on Voyager's nacelle's was supposed to further mitigate the damage for Star Trek Science reasons. Until it was completely forgotten (or all the starships were upgraded to shiny new environmentally friendly warp drives) a few years later.
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
Two words: Section 31.
It's informal canon that Section 31 knew about the Borg since the incident with Archer and the NX-01, but they suppressed the knowledge from the rest of Starfleet and the Federation. It's probably why their tech is so much more advanced than the rest of the Federation, they retro-engineered salvaged Borg tech from the 24th Century. They also sponsored the Hansen family to go find out more about the Borg and report back to them. When the El-Aurian were rescued, as soon as they mentioned the Borg they were most likely taken away by Section 31, debriefed thoroughly, and told to never speak of it again to prevent a mass panic.
Also, to be fair, the only reason the Federation runs into the Borg at all (ENT aside) is that Q hurls the Enterprise directly at a cube. The Borg should not be a threat to the Federation due to to sheer lack of proximity. "Look out for these people, they're monsters,if your great great grandchildren meet one" is a bit..eh.
Now of course, once they do show up ahead of schedule...
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
Two words: Section 31.
It's informal canon that Section 31 knew about the Borg since the incident with Archer and the NX-01, but they suppressed the knowledge from the rest of Starfleet and the Federation. It's probably why their tech is so much more advanced than the rest of the Federation, they retro-engineered salvaged Borg tech from the 24th Century. They also sponsored the Hansen family to go find out more about the Borg and report back to them. When the El-Aurian were rescued, as soon as they mentioned the Borg they were most likely taken away by Section 31, debriefed thoroughly, and told to never speak of it again to prevent a mass panic.
Also, to be fair, the only reason the Federation runs into the Borg at all (ENT aside) is that Q hurls the Enterprise directly at a cube. The Borg should not be a threat to the Federation due to to sheer lack of proximity. "Look out for these people, they're monsters,if your great great grandchildren meet one" is a bit..eh.
Now of course, once they do show up ahead of schedule...
that's not true.
Q gave the Federation a warning, there were a number of episodes before that with outposts getting scooped up by an unknown force on the Romulan border, that was the Borg getting a little taste of the Federation and they were well on their way to entering the Alpha Quadrant.
The mind controlling bugs were also originally supposed to be Borg, but they didn't have the budget for a race of Klackons so they retconned that later, so i guess it doesn't count.
I'd like to know why she didn't think the Borg were worth mentioning to the Federation after Starfleet rescued her people. You'd think she'd be raving hysterically about it like a lunatic.
Two words: Section 31.
It's informal canon that Section 31 knew about the Borg since the incident with Archer and the NX-01, but they suppressed the knowledge from the rest of Starfleet and the Federation. It's probably why their tech is so much more advanced than the rest of the Federation, they retro-engineered salvaged Borg tech from the 24th Century. They also sponsored the Hansen family to go find out more about the Borg and report back to them. When the El-Aurian were rescued, as soon as they mentioned the Borg they were most likely taken away by Section 31, debriefed thoroughly, and told to never speak of it again to prevent a mass panic.
Also, to be fair, the only reason the Federation runs into the Borg at all (ENT aside) is that Q hurls the Enterprise directly at a cube. The Borg should not be a threat to the Federation due to to sheer lack of proximity. "Look out for these people, they're monsters,if your great great grandchildren meet one" is a bit..eh.
Now of course, once they do show up ahead of schedule...
The Borg has been operating inside Federation and Romulan space before then though. They had assimilated some outposts which was causing tension between the two. They never really go anywhere with it, but it is mentioned in the episode we meet the Borg on screen. I still head canon the weird insect things from season 1 TNG being Borg connected. Mostly because it was supposed to be until someone looked at the cost of having that race on screen.
El Aurians are a race of listeners, not informants. When Scotty saved Guinan from that ship, she knew that one of the other refugees with her would go on to destroy worlds. When she arrived on the Enterprise she knew the circumstances of Data's death and didn't know if he could be recovered or not... She may not have known if Picard left the Nexus and thus may have suspected she knew of his as well.
The only time she shard her insider knowledge was to push Tasha Yar to change the timeline.
Just watched an episode of Enterprise, they dispersed some kind of warp dust that collected in another ship's intake and disabled thier engines. Usually I ignore technobabble but the concept of engine intakes, in the vacuum of space, made me laugh.
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Garak didn't even make it past the Bajorans, and I'd say it was his effectiveness at "interrogation" that did him in. He could handle torturing other Cardassians, no problem; all the Cardassians he dealt with were assholes neck-deep in Cardassian backstabbing so it didn't bother him. It was easy for him to identify with them to get into their heads, there was no cost to it there.
But then he encountered the Bajorans and had to empathize with them to do his job, and eventually it broke him so completely that he just quit Cardassia and everything he'd been aggressively brainwashed and tortured his entire life to support. Then he stuck himself in self-exile on DS9 in constant mild suffering because he couldn't figure out what he should be punished for: breaking for the sake of the Bajorans or giving up on Cardassia. He probably could've gone anywhere in the Federation but nope, he stays in the one Federation place close to both Cardassia and Bajor.
And then he has to deal with the Federation long-term and he ends up realizing "oh shit, they really actually care".
Voyager probably works best if you view it almost as a parody of Star Trek. It's as if aspects of the setting that probably should've received more critical or subversive treatment were instead dialed up to 11. Over-reliance on nonsensical technobabble, the frequency and ease with which the reset button was abused, the way threats like the Borg and Q Continuum were constantly recycled (and subsequently devalued) for sweeps weeks, the cartoony levels of irrationality among monocultural alien empires/species in contrast to the enlightened and open-minded Federation led by humanity in all of its dynamism, the way main characters held fast to principles they previously or would later find abhorrent - all of it contributed to an experience that felt incredibly cheap and fanficky.
In a lot of ways, it's like Lower Decks without the self-awareness.
But one could also say that contributed to the overall charm of the show. Ron Moore would go on to express disappointment with how VOY wasted its premise and didn't challenge its characters (or audience) enough but really, sometimes people just want a comfy cruise through space where humanity can solve problems, be right all the time and just generally exude awesomeness.
What even is a sweeps week, I never did figure that out.
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Ratings, at least back in the old days, by Nielsen boxes. Advertising pricing (how much the networks could charge) was primarily based on ratings during a week or two at specific time of year (March or April?).
Television networks would try and goose ratings during that time, either with high profile celebrity appearances, or escalations of narratives (a long running character being killed off, or a wedding, crap like that).
It was a dumb system.
One that got me early in the first episode, was...
Chakotay - "Are you reading any plasma storms ahead?"
Tuvok - "One. Coordinates 171 mark 43."
According to Memory Alpha, this is a common used terminology, but it's still wrong. <number> mark <number> is a bearing or heading, not a coordinate. <number><number><number> is a coordinate.
Bearings are two circular 360 degree planes, both starting with 0 as dead ahead, the first going to the left (port is 90, aft is 180, starboard is 270), and the second going up and over (vertical up is 90, backwards from the first direction is 180, vertical down is 270). From a practical perspective, the second number should never be between 90 and 270 though, as it's literally backtracking. Bearing 151 mark 165, for example, is the same as bearing 331 mark 15.
Heading is identical to bearing, except that instead of giving a direction relative to the nose of the ship, it's pointing the nose of the ship in that direction from when it was asked. For example, if a ship is travelling in a random direction, and the captain says "Make your heading 60 mark 315, then the ship is turning to it's relative 2 o'clock, and diving down at a 45 degree angle, from it's current heading.
Coordinates on the other hand, are done as a three number system, marking the X, Y and Z axis, with a defined centralized point (0, 0, 0 is apparently a nav beacon near the core worlds), with positive X being towards the center of the galaxy, positive Y being to the right of that on the galactic plane (Alpha Quadrant), and positive Z being above the galactic plane.
What makes it particularly eyetwitchy for me, is that it's not only not a coordinate, it's completely the wrong direction from what was asked. Chakotay asks for something that's ahead. Tuvok gives him something that's almost directly behind, and coming down from slightly above (think the cropduster scene from North By Northwest).
What? I'm not a navigation nerd, YOU'RE a navigation nerd!
The TOS cast are really putting in solid work, and Nimoy’s direction is crisp and skillful in a way I totally missed when I saw this in the theater as a callow youth.
I give it five out of five grandmas “spontaneously” regrowing a kidney. Rarely have I regretted spending $12 on nachos and a drink less than this evening’s outing.
Also, I nearly forgot - I noticed in the credits that the same person was credited as “punk on the bus”, writer of the song the punk is blasting on that bus, and associate producer so over dinner I looked them up on the Internet. Gentlebeings, I give you Kirk Thatcher, definitely in the running for coolest person alive:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirk_Thatcher
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Honestly, I'm kind of surprised, but it's not been as bad as I remembered. Maybe I had different expectations 20 years ago.
Parralax - Voyager investigates a singularity, gets trapped with a time-dilated mirror of itself, and has to figure out which is real, before escaping. Good introduction to B'Elanna, with one exception. She should have been given brig time or some other punishment, for breaking that officer's nose.
Time and Again - Voyager investigates an explosion, and Janeway and Paris get sent back to before the explosion. Turns out that them getting sent back was the reason for the explosion when the rest of the crew try to rescue them. Kinda jumping into time travel/displacement pretty hard, being the second episode to have it be a primary factor. Still, an interesting episode, that had an entertaining twist, but that also dismisses the inevitability of fate, when they don't investigate the planet, and therefore don't cause the explosion.
The Phage - Biothiefs lure the crew in, and steal Neelix's lungs. Other than some obvious handwaving (sorry, the whole lung removal and survival thing was a bit much, lung replacement, and they had time to set up the alternative would have been a little more reasonable? Also, holographic lungs INSIDE the body, had me thinking Trump UV light inside the body, and *shudders*), it was not a terrible episode, though given the lure, it was clearly way more pre-meditated than they made it appear when Janeway has the confrontation. Neelix just being the fucking worst didn't help, both ignoring Chakotay being responsible for the problem he ended up with, and then the whole jealousy/let-me-die subplot later. Ethan Phillips deserved better than what the writers did to him. Only real upside of the episode was the Doctor explaining to Paris about holotechnology, and Picardo being able to slap McNeill.
The Cloud - Voyager enters a nebula that turns out to be a living being, hurting it in the process. Kes loses the worst fucking wig in the history of television (shit, Arrowverse flashbacks to the island aren't that bad). Neelix has a great rant, and while it's accurate, Kes cuts it apart pretty well, explaining the Star Trek philosophy.
Eye of the Needle - Voyager finds a tiny wormhole, and communicates to a ship in the Alpha Quadrant, only to find out it's a Romulan, only to find out that there's a temporal anomoly (again!), and it's 20 years earlier on the other side of the wormhole. Again, not a bad episode, but the B-plot with Kes and the Doctor introduces an issue I have. If the Doctor is as sentient as he appears to be, then the treatment by the crew is abhorrent. And it makes the treatment of other holograms, especially ones created for the express purpose of physicality/sex (like some of the regulars at Sandrine) pretty fucking icky. While I appreciate that the Doctor was given a personality, and Picardo was allowed to be a growth character, it does raise certain broader ethical questions.
Will go back to watching more in a couple more hours.
I actually spent quite a while in the 90's scouring p2p services for the song and until I got a chance to read the Star Trek Encyclopedia I didn't realize Edge of Etiquette literally existed for two days just to keep Leonard Nimoy from using shitty music in a movie.
The residuals don't come from Star Trek IV, though, the song was used again in Frankie and Annette's Back to the Beach.
It's kind of a great punk song, honestly. Plus leave it to Star Trek to have a punk song with the word "eschew" in it.
I dunno, Kirk Thatcher almost has that 80s counterculture discordance like Mojo Nixon. (Yeah he was psychobilly, but psychobilly is punk-adjacent)
I think it's more that the Thatcher name is associated to a certain Margaret, who was an antipunk.
And you don't think a certain Nixon was anti-punk?
All I know is that Margaret Thatcher would kick Nixon's ass in a fight.
It's a pretty safe bet anyone but Commissar Yarrick would be outmatched.
Chekov leaves a phaser and a communicator with the US goddamn Navy in 1986 and no one gets on his case about it or makes a big deal about it at all
I also never as a child understood how funny it was that they leave the one Russian guy on the crew to be captured in the bowels of an American aircraft carrier in 1986.
Not YET.
The Navy never realized the phaser and communicator were real because the radiation broke them. After all, why bother examining the props involved in a kook's fantasy?
Rather than acknowledge the embarrassment that a nutjob or a spy got inside a nuclear aircraft carrier and then disappeared, the government likely buried everything that happened and forgot about it. Add in the loss of records from World War III/the Post-Atomic Horror, and you can see why nobody knew Pavel Chekov infiltrated the Enterprise CVN-65 200 years before he was born.
I mean the enterprise D was also the only (?) ship in the federation that got that experimental bynar computer update, that could also explain some holodeck shenanigans.
Would be funny to have an episode a few hundred years later where the USS voyager, enterprise D and the
Details Schmetails. Maybe one of those decided to stay and got away unnoticed
Look, they brought back Dr. what's his name as an interdimentional magic mushroom person and Tasha Yar as a time traveling alternate universe half Romulan identical twin rape baby. They've done dumber shit already.
I know it's accurate but damn, hearing it put like that is brutal.
Right, but then you have the ethical issue of when sentient life begins, and is it right to terminate it before it does so?
Anyways, locked down, nothing to do, sped through the rest of Season 1.
Ex Post Facto - Paris does a Kirk/Riker impression, gets involved with a married alien, and then is accused of her husband's murder. Honestly, the headpieces distracted me so much I wasn't able to focus on the plot. Which was annoying, because I saw in the opening credits it was directed by Levar Burton. I will say I don't mind Tuvok, Mind Detective.
Emanations - Investigation of an asteroid graveyard has Kim teleported back to a place where they believe the teleportation is 'ascension'. Nice little case study on the afterlife, with Janeway summing it up pretty well with "I'm not certain. But I am certain about this -- what we don't know about death is far, far greater than what we do know.". Ensign Kim died on his way back to his home planet ship, but he got better.
Prime Factors - Risa in the Delta Quadrant. I do like the argument in the ready room, that it's Voyager that it feels bad to be on the wrong side of the Prime Directive when the Sikaris refuse to give them maguffin spacial trajector that'd get them more than halfway home (more, if they could repeat the process). B'Elanna stepping up at the end to take responsibility, but Tuvok taking the bullet (and an off-screen demotion) was cool.
State of Flux - Spyhunter mission, after it's revealed there's a traitor supplying the Kazon with technology. Honestly, I have no recollection of Seska from my earlier viewings of the series, and haven't minded her up to now (and a look at IMDB says she's back another eight times, still no recollection), but this episode didn't resonate. Too many unnecessary twists and turns, and the conclusion stank as the most obvious solution to "Who's the spy?" is deactivate all command authority they have, until it's cleared up. Also, I didn't think you could transport through active shields, and with Kazon ships in the area, got to assume they were up. Have her use a shuttle, or heck, an escape pod.
Heroes and Demons - Aaaaaand we're out of ideas already. Frikkin "trapped in the holodeck, Beowulf edition". I didn't mind the interaction with the alien species, but any time Star Trek decides to do a holodeck episode, I tune out a little. Only reason I stayed in at all, was the Doctor having the lead role. Robert Picardo's expression when he was pulled out of the simulation after the monster took his arm (and yes, I'm aware of the literary reference) was worth the watch. But seriously, given the frequency of inability to terminate programs, and the holodeck overriding safety protocols, that holodecks seem to have, they're fucking deathtraps.
Cathexis - Alien bodyswapper in da house. Had some interesting takes (the alien wasn't the bodyswapper), and a great subversion with B'Elanna and the Doctor over the medicine wheel. Introduction of Brian Markinson of who I'm a big fan (yes, I know). I do remember the Janeway holonovel from earlier viewings, because it's just as frikkin terrible now as it was then. Just feels like a PG version of BDSM submissive. "I'm captain of a starship, and I cosplay as a servant". Bleh.
Faces - Crewmember duplication episode. I did like the general concept, and allowing B'Elanna to explore both sides of her nature. Was weirder seeing Dawson with no prosthetics than with the full Klingon kit. Resolved in the kind of nice tidy fashion you expect from that era of television. Side note, Vidiian restraints are for shit. Sorry, if you can't contain a Klingon (strong, but not exceptionally so) with metal restraints, maybe you shouldn't be restraining people? Also, bye bye Brian. Two episodes, and you end up as a skin mask.
Jetrel - Neelix comes face to face with his people's version of Mengele (though the consequences and regret were more Oppenheimer). It was really good to see Ethan Phillips getting to play a somewhat serious role for an episode, and not the ship jester (a role I loathe). I thought the idea of ending it the way they did was very well done, that even though Jetrel was unsuccessful in his final attempt at redemption, the attempt itself was enough for Neelix to give Jetrel forgiveness and peace.
Learning Curve - The ship is "sick" (thanks, Neelix), and Tuvok puts some Maquis in boot camp. Pretty ordinary episode, definitely not something I expected as a season finale (and apparently neither did anyone else). Quick IMDB check shows that only one of the four "boots" ever makes a return appearance (Chell, the Bolian), so that makes it even more pointless.
Side note, anyone have a quick explanation on why Voyager's nacelles variable? Seems an unnecessary articulation, given a) they don't move much, and b) there doesn't seem to be any reason to 'flatten' them. An F-14 has variable position wings, but they serve a purpose, extended they provide lift at low speed, retracted, they reduce drag at high speed. What's the purpose of lowering the nacelles?
ADDITION - When researching the below, I found the answer. It's for the same "reason" as the F-14, except in space that reasoning makes zero sense. And even though it's capable of atmospheric flight, there's no aerodynamic reason to have them variable. Clearly the reason is "Rule of cool", which whatever.
Second side note, as @autono-wally, erotibot300 mentions, it's got experimental gel packs, that are compromised in this episode, and maintain most critical systems. Who at Star Trek ship design thought it was a good idea to have critical components not be easily circumvented/replicated/replaced? I understand that some things on a starship just can't be easily replaced. But not building redundancy into most core systems? Yeah, that's a massive design flaw. Especially on a ship that Memory Alpha writes "The Intrepid-class was designed for long-term exploration missions.". Bad design.
Two words: Section 31.
It's informal canon that Section 31 knew about the Borg since the incident with Archer and the NX-01, but they suppressed the knowledge from the rest of Starfleet and the Federation. It's probably why their tech is so much more advanced than the rest of the Federation, they retro-engineered salvaged Borg tech from the 24th Century. They also sponsored the Hansen family to go find out more about the Borg and report back to them. When the El-Aurian were rescued, as soon as they mentioned the Borg they were most likely taken away by Section 31, debriefed thoroughly, and told to never speak of it again to prevent a mass panic.
she probably was, but that was some 100 years and one visit to heaven ago.
“We have top men working on it now.”
“…Who?”
“…Top… men.”
IIRC, the articulated nacelles was in response to an episode of TNG. They learn the warp drives the Federation uses (and, likely, everyone else) are tearing up subspace and will potentially unravel the entirety of the galaxy if they continue using them, with damage being worse as the speeds go higher.
The Feds answer was "Okay, we'll slow down a bit, except in emergencies, and try to avoid places where the damage is already really bad".
Apparently, the variable position on Voyager's nacelle's was supposed to further mitigate the damage for Star Trek Science reasons. Until it was completely forgotten (or all the starships were upgraded to shiny new environmentally friendly warp drives) a few years later.
https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Force_of_Nature_(episode)
Also, to be fair, the only reason the Federation runs into the Borg at all (ENT aside) is that Q hurls the Enterprise directly at a cube. The Borg should not be a threat to the Federation due to to sheer lack of proximity. "Look out for these people, they're monsters,if your great great grandchildren meet one" is a bit..eh.
Now of course, once they do show up ahead of schedule...
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that's not true.
Q gave the Federation a warning, there were a number of episodes before that with outposts getting scooped up by an unknown force on the Romulan border, that was the Borg getting a little taste of the Federation and they were well on their way to entering the Alpha Quadrant.
The mind controlling bugs were also originally supposed to be Borg, but they didn't have the budget for a race of Klackons so they retconned that later, so i guess it doesn't count.
The Borg has been operating inside Federation and Romulan space before then though. They had assimilated some outposts which was causing tension between the two. They never really go anywhere with it, but it is mentioned in the episode we meet the Borg on screen. I still head canon the weird insect things from season 1 TNG being Borg connected. Mostly because it was supposed to be until someone looked at the cost of having that race on screen.
The only time she shard her insider knowledge was to push Tasha Yar to change the timeline.