VOY: “Parturition” and “Persistence of Vision”

Date: September 24, 2020

Season 2, Episodes 7 and 8

Musical Accompaniment: Violin Songs

Interstellar News: I am still exhausted. Today I received balloons, a stuffed teddy bear, and Krispy Kreme donuts from the two most important people in my life, and it helped a bit. I wish it helped more, but I can only do my best.

“Parturition” in TL;DR: Voyager is in need of food and they arrive at a “Class M” planet that might have some, so Paris and Neelix head down in a shuttlecraft until the transporters can be fixed. They snipe at each other because Paris is in love with Kes and Neelix is jealous. They find a nest of eggs and one hatches and they decide to keep watch until their parent comes back. They keep the baby alive, the parent comes back, and Voyager is able to move on from the planet that wasn’t really useful at all.

Favorite Quote:

Neelix: Tell me something. In that Starfleet survival course, did your father teach you to check for life signs before you seal yourself inside a cave?

Paris: I checked for life signs. There weren’t any.

Neelix: There are now.

Neelix asking a very, very good question.

“Set a course for Planet Hell, Commander.”: This was a very standard, but very needed, episode. Neelix needed to stop being a jealous ass who took things out on Kes because other people were nice to her and Paris needed to stop acting like a lech, which he sort of proves he can do here. For both of them, their past is in the past and this is a chance for them to move forward. I absolutely loved the little lizard baby, who reminded me of the Koopas from Super Mario Bros., and the way Paris and Neelix got all paternal and adorable in making sure the baby would survive and then be accepted by its parent. Kes gets a bright spot too where she decides she wants them to come back only so she can tell them to go to hell, and then they both come back the best of friends and she’s totally floored. The crew also, unfortunately, has to go a day out of their way for the hope of sustenance and they leave empty handed. 5 green balloons for this episode.

“Persistence of Vision” in TL;DR: Everyone wants a piece of Janeway, who is this close to losing her shit, when the EMH orders her to get some rest and relaxation. She rejoins her holo-novel and later starts hallucinating that elements of the holodeck have followed her out. The EMH begins to run some tests while Janeway leaves Chakotay in charge of dealing with the Bothans, whose space they are traveling through. The Bothan mind-fucks everyone and leaves Kes and the EMH as the last two standing. Kes is able to push to hallucinations away and the EMH talks her through what Torres was doing and Kes saves the day, but the Bothan disappears.

Favorite Quote:

Janeway: Why did you do this to us?

Bothan: Because I can.

Well he didn’t strike me as the kind of alien who said “because I said so”, but he kinda is.

“You’re a powerful little thing. I must say, you surprised me.”: At first I was reminded of “A Fistful of Datas“, where everyone wants a bit of Picard’s time, and I thought this would be another “holodeck as a plot device” episode, but it wasn’t really. This episode reminds us that the crew all have something or someone waiting for them at home, even if it’s not all hearts and flowers. What begins as Janeway having delusions from her holo-novel quickly morphs into the whole ship being taken over by telepathy or technology of some kind. Kim sees Libby, Paris sees his father, Janeway sees her boyfriend, Tuvok sees his wife, and Torres hallucinates that she and Chakotay have a night of mad, passionate lovemaking. One of these is not like the others, Torres has an overactive imagination. The EMH is able to walk Kes through Torres’s notes, but Kes gets to save the day because of her powerful mind and abilities. Lots of twists and turns here and it was fun that our usual heroes all succumbed, eventually, to the whims of the alien. It was disappointing, however, that we don’t find out more about the Bothans (no, that’s not the one you’re looking for) as a race or why this one dude picked on Voyager and her crew. I am also sad they never figured out how to transfer the EMH to engineering. Some things we’ll never know. 7 Krispy Kreme donuts for this episode, you know all my favorites.

TA Out!