Date: August 11, 2021

Season 7, Episode 24

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: I have to wake up stupid early tomorrow to go to my early as fuck dentist appointment that 6-month-ago-me thought would be a good idea. Spoiler alert: it won’t be. I am not a morning person.

TL;DR – Part 1: Voyager spent 23 years in the DQ before returning home. They’re at a 10 year reunion where Kim is a Captain, Naomi has a daughter, Tuvok is not well, and Janeway is an Admiral. The EMH has an organic wife, Paris is a holo-novel writer, Torres is the Klingon liaison, and their daughter is on a mission for Janeway. Apparently Seven of Nine died and Chakotay was never the same and has also died, so Janeway goes back in time to prevent it.

There are scenes in the past, which for everyone watching is just the continuation of the last episode. Torres keeps going into false labor, Chakotay and Seven begin dating, Neelix is virtually keeping in touch, and Tuvok’s condition begins to surface. A Borg superhighway appears and future Janeway makes her way to past Voyager.

Favorite Quote:

Chakotay: Crewman Chell’s asked about taking over in the mess hall full time.

Janeway: Neelix left some pretty big pots and pans to fill. Does Mr. Chell feel he’s up to the challenge?

Chakotay: Apparently so. He’s prepared a sample menu.

Janeway: Plasma leek soup? Chicken warp core don bleu?

Chakotay: If his cooking’s as bad as his puns, we’re in trouble.

Janeway: Oh, I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind giving his Red Alert chili a try.

I absolutely love and hate the puns at the same time.

“Where’s your sense of adventure? // I left it in that nebula and I’m not going back for it”: Part 1 gives me everything I want in a finale, kind of. In the skip ahead to the future we see what has happened to most of the gang. We don’t get to meet Naomi’s father, or see her mother for that matter, and we don’t really know what happened 10 years ago… aside from the fact that Kim was finally promoted past Ensign. The flashbacks, as they were, hint at what’s to come but it’s really hard to get invested in Janeway’s mission because no one’s life seems too terrible. Yes, it’s awful that Seven died and it killed a part of Chakotay… but what about all of the folks who died in all the missions before? Was it a mistake that Janeway made? Without knowing what happened, I’m unsure why she’s going back… but I am glad we got to see a “where are they now” type thing, even if Janeway’s about to fuck it all up.

TL;DR – Part 2: Admiral Janeway drinks tea (gasp) and tries to get Captain Janeway to go back into the nebula and take the conduit home now before bad things happen. Seven regenerates and gets a visit from the Borg Queen. Captain wants to destroy the transwarp hub while Admiral wants to use it to avoid 23 deaths and Tuvok’s condition becoming untenable. Ultimately, the Captain wins while the Admiral faces the Borg Queen with a pathogen that causes the Unamatrix to explode. A Borg Sphere chases Voyager through the hub, but are ultimately destroyed and Voyager is greeted by a surprised welcome party as baby Paris-Torres is born.

Favorite Quotes:

Captain Janeway: I want to know why you didn’t tell me about this.

Admiral Janeway: Because I remember how stubborn and self-righteous I used to be. I figured you might try to do something stupid.

Captain Janeway: We have an opportunity to deal a crippling blow to the Borg. It could save millions of lives.

Admiral Janeway: I didn’t spend the last ten years looking for a way to get this crew home earlier, so you could throw it all away on some intergalactic goodwill mission.

Captain Janeway: Maybe we should go back to Sickbay.

Admiral Janeway: Why, so you can have me sedated?

Captain Janeway: So I can have the Doctor reconfirm your identity. I refuse to believe I’ll ever become as cynical as you.

Self… make a note. Don’t time travel.

Janeway’s Jam: “Must be something you assimilated.”

“Oh, the almighty Temporal Prime Directive. Take my advice. It’s less of a headache if you just ignore it.”: The second part of the episode is all over the place. The Admiral wants to tuck tail and go home, and again it’s hard to get behind her to all of this just because of Seven. Okay so there are 22 other people she’ll save by doing this, but how does she know anything will be different this time? There were lots of good and fun things, like the baby betting pool and the whole bit of Torres being in labor and being the feisty Klingon we all know and love. There’s some advances in technology, like the neural implant (a la “Alice“), and some good debates about what decisions were made in “Caretaker” and other pivotal moments throughout the series.

It also makes sense that Q wouldn’t help them get home if he knew what damage Voyager was going to deal to the Borg, but that also required the time travel stuff to work and now my head hurts. I guess what doesn’t quite work for me is the Admiral finally going with the Captain’s plan and being so ready to die when it seemed like her mission was to get them to go home. The second part of the episode just jumps around so much and while the ending is what I wanted all this time — they get home! — there’s no “where are they now” or anything like there was at the top of the episode. Did Kim remember he had a girlfriend? Does Tuvok tell his wife that he danced and had sex with her holographic image? Does Naomi meet her father? What happens to the other 5 transwarp hubs? I HAVE SO MANY MORE QUESTIONS. While I am so glad the crew got back with 23 more people than they expected, and 16 years sooner to boot, was it all worth it? Guess we’ll never know. It only took Janeway 7 years to get them home, but I’m still mad about Joe Carey and what they did to poor Kes, so no more rating for you Voyager! So there 😛

Next time I’ll tackle the last TNG movie, Nemesis, and then it’s onto Enterprise.

TA Out!

Date: August 10, 2021

Season 7, Episodes 22 and 23

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: These are the last two episodes before the finale! The new semester starts next week and I am totally not ready! Why am I using so many exclamation marks?!?!

“Homestead” in TL;DR: Neelix and Naomi throw a party for “First Contact Day” while Chakotay finds a colony of Talaxians living in an asteroid field. Paris, Neelix, and Tuvok are originally treated as hostiles while Voyager is dealing with miners who want to destroy the Talaxian’s home. Neelix and the crew offer to help the Talaxians defend their home and they continue their journey. Neelix decides he wants to stay with Dexa and Brax and Janeway makes him the ambassador to the Delta Quadrant.

Favorite Quote:

Neelix: Cheese perogi. Zefram Cochrane’s favorite.

EMH: They have absolutely no nutritional value.

Neelix: This is a party, Doctor. Sometimes you have to forget about nutrition.

Neelix is right. Calories don’t count when you’re at a party.

“I’m just a cook who sometimes imagines himself to be a diplomat.”: This episode is EVERYTHING. It starts off with Neelix throwing a party, Voyager helps a group of people who are in need of assistance, Neelix finds a new family, and Tuvok is not only supportive of Neelix but he also dances! Paris gets to play dad (“If you two don’t stop it, I’m going to come back there and separate you.”) while Chakotay and Kim make me cry when they’re such good wingmen to Neelix. Naomi mentions “Tuvix” and also provides Neelix with the push he needs to leave, as she isn’t as reliant on him anymore since she’s older. This is the perfect ending for Neelix and I cried a lot. I’m giving this a 10 because I loved it so much. It’s probably not perfect, but it’s an episode I wouldn’t mind watching again when I needed to bawl my eyes out.

“Renaissance Man” in TL;DR: The EMH and Janeway are on their way back when they’re attacked. Janeway starts acting strangely and eventually we find out she’s really the EMH and Janeway is being kept hostage by two aliens who want Voyager’s warp core. The EMH pretends to be several crew members as they figure out what’s happening and eventually he’s double-crossed. Voyager eventually figures out what’s going on and saves the Captain and EMH, with the help of one of the aliens who feel repentant. Unfortunately the EMH is destabilizing and he thinks this is the end so he professes his love for Seven, among other things, and then Torres fixes him.

Favorite Quotes:

EMH: What did you expect me to do, let them kill you?

Janeway: I expected you to follow my orders.

EMH: You might as well have been ordering me to put a phaser to your head. Voyager can survive without a warp core, but not without a captain.

Janeway: Now it doesn’t have either.

They are both not wrong. Well, except the EMH is kinda wrong because there’s a chain of command and Chakotay would take over being captain if he needed to.

Janeway: Now, when you’re on the holodeck with the captain, there are two rules you have to follow.

EMH: I understand.

Janeway: First, leave your rank at the door.

EMH: Not a problem. The second?

Janeway: No opera.

I absolutely love Janeway when she’s being witty.

“You said you wanted us to spend more time together.”: This is a pretty ‘meh’ episode. The EMH is spectacular but I was able to figure out it was him almost right away, especially when they both weren’t on the screen right away. This is at least the third time we’ve seen the Hierarchy aliens, the first was in “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy“, and I’m glad the second in command decided not to follow his “superior” officer. I did love how overly dramatic the EMH was at the end where he was “making amends” and then has the grace to be bashful when Torres fixes him. Otherwise, though, this episode doesn’t do much for the one before the finale and I’m kinda over it. This episode earns itself 5 museums in one day.

TA Out!

Date: August 9, 2021

Season 7, Episodes 20 and 21

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Today was an interesting day filled with lots of work, a bit of play, and some more Enterprise. I’m doing a double post tonight and hopefully tomorrow so I can get more caught up to where I’m at in the rewatch.

“Friendship One” in TL;DR: Voyager, now in contact with the AQ, is given a mission to recover an old Earth probe… Friendship One. Neelix, Paris, Chakotay, and Carey find it on what’s not quite an abandoned planet. A man named Verin, the local leader, wants a new home and believes it’s the people of Earth who are to blame for what’s become of their planet. The EMH is able to heal one of the locals and save what would have been a stillborn baby, but not before Carey is executed by Verin because he’s a petulant child. The rest of the locals side with Voyager, who helps them fix the atmosphere, and Janeway laments another loss.

Favorite Quotes:

Torres: Being pregnant doesn’t make me an invalid.

Paris: No, it doesn’t. But there’s a toxic atmosphere down there and you’re breathing for two.

Torres: All right, you win. But if we have another baby, you carry it, and I’ll go on the away missions.

Paris: It’s a deal.

Torres makes a good point, Paris makes a good point, and in the end they have a very calm and adult conversation. What show am I watching again? Who says Klingons can’t be reasonable?!?!

Chakotay: The urge to explore is pretty powerful.

Janeway: But it can’t justify the loss of lives, whether it’s millions or just one.

Janeway, lamenting about Carey. Too bad she didn’t do this all the other times, sigh.

“When you need to infiltrate a toxic environment, it helps to be a hologram.”: I absolutely swore, upon seeing Carey, that if he died I was going to riot. I seriously considered stopping Voyager and just not finishing the series… but the completionist in me won. There are some things I did like about this episode; like Kim finding the probe, Janeway and crew getting a look at the unintended consequences of past actions, Torres and Paris having a very appropriate conversation about risk, and the local folks realizing that Voyager was just trying to help. I cannot, however, forgive the writers for killing Carey so close to the end… so I absolutely refuse to rate this episode. Neener neener.

“Natural Law” in TL;DR: Chakotay and Seven get stuck behind an energy barrier and meet some very primitive natives, the Ventu. Chakotay nerds out and figures out how to communicate with them, but eventually realizes he may have overshared. Voyager tries to work with the Ledosians to try to free Chakotay and Seven, though Seven eventually figures it out on her own. Paris is stuck doing flying lessons while the Ledosians start to interfere with the Ventu. Voyager decides to close the barrier again to protect the Ventu.

Favorite Quote:

Kleg: According to the maintenance records, you were this vessel’s chief designer. I make it a point of professional pride to research every case I’m assigned to. Are you familiar with that term, Lieutenant? Professional pride?

Paris: Yes, sir. In fact, that is why I’m so eager to get underway. I want to prove to you that I’m a good pilot.

Paris doing everything he can to get out of flying lessons.

“Their isolation may limit their potential, but if that isolation ends, so will a unique way of life.“: I didn’t really enjoy the whole “Paris goes to flight school” bit, aside from it doing its best to teach Paris humility. I did love Chakotay and Seven on the planet with the Ventu and the lessons they each learned. It was very much what the Federation meant when they wanted to explore new worlds and not interfere with other cultures. Seven learns that technology is not everything and Chakotay realizes that even the smallest gestures can have the longest lasting impacts. This episode earns itself seven “borks” from the Swedish Chef.

TA Out!

Date: August 6, 2021

Season 7, Episode 19

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Today was quite busy for a Friday. We also continued our Marvel Movie marathon with Ant-Man, and I’m sure I’ll write about that soon.

TL;DR: Voyager makes the first transgalactic comlink with Starfleet. The crew gets to see Earth and each gets a token for 3 minutes to phone home. The EMH uses his time to speak with a publisher about a holonovel he wrote based on the crew. Paris and the rest of the crew beta test the holonovel and explain to the EMH that some people may think it’s real. The publisher distributes the novel anyway and then there’s a trial to see if the EMH is really a person or not. The arbiter eventually decides to rule the EMH is author enough but doesn’t decide if he’s person enough. The Mark 1s are seen doing manual labor but got their hands on the EMH’s book, and it sparks something.

Favorite Quotes:

Seven of Nine: Your time has expired.

EMH: You could have let the man finish his sentence.

Seven of Nine: I believe your ego has received enough stroking for one day.

Seven cutting the EMH off after his 3 minutes are up.

Janeway’s Jam: “Our definition of what constitutes a person has continued to evolve.”

“This Captain Janeway sounds like a lovely woman. Maybe I should write her.”: This is Voyager’s version of “The Measure of a Man“, though with much less of a conclusion. The episode begins with the sight of Earth, which made me misty eyed, and we get to see folks connecting with their loved ones throughout the episode. Kim’s parents are amazing, Seven connects with her Aunt, and Torres reconnects with her father. The parts where everyone plays through the holonovel are interesting, even if they’re cringey at times (especially when Paris reprograms the EMH as going after his patients). I loved Paris skipping through the very verbose intro, seeing holo-Chakotay with a Bajoran earring and a strange tattoo, holo-Paris with a mustache and being a philanderer, and Janeway being a murderer. It’s all so very over the top and it’s all so very much the EMH because he’s always embellishing.

The parts that rang true were when the crew treated the EMH like a substandard thing, not even a person, but it honestly hasn’t been like that for a few seasons. Paris and the EMH working things out in the end and then the episode taking on a whole other life as a fight for the EMH’s person-hood was a turn I didn’t expect, but really enjoyed. I loved that Tuvok was defending the EMH, because honestly… who argues with a Vulcan and wins? The stories that Seven, Kim, Barclay, and Janeway eventually told made it feel like someone was cutting onions in my living room. There were bits of wonky-ness in this episode, but I think it mostly redeemed itself. I don’t like that we’re left with unfinished business, but I’m comfortable giving this 7 key chains that don’t follow the laws of physics.

TA Out!