Date: January 9, 2021

Season 5, Episode 25 and Season 6, Episode 1

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Sorry for being absent the last few days. Between what’s happening in the real world and my personal life, it’s been a rough few days.

TL;DR: Voyager encounters the Equinox, another Federation ship taken in by the Caretaker and lost in the DQ years before. The Equinox has been under attack by aliens from another realm, but it comes to light they’ve been using these aliens for fuel. Many of the Equinox crew escape back to their ship with Seven, the Doctor, and a field generator while the other EMH has infiltrated Voyager. Chakotay and Janeway get into it on several occasions, Voyager figures out a way to connect with the attacking aliens, and the captain of the Equinox has a last minute change of heart but their first officer leads a mutiny. The captain goes down with his ship in order to save Voyager and what is left of his crew, they are all put under supervision, and Seven offers to help the EMH install security protocols.

Favorite Quote:

Ransom: You know, once we get our enhanced warp drive back online, we’ll be on our way home, but it’ll still take months to get there. You can spend that time in the brig, or you can become part of this crew. I’d prefer the latter.

Seven of Nine: I’d prefer the brig.

Ransom: You know, Janeway’s not the only Captain who can help you explore your humanity.

Seven of Nine: You would be an inferior role model.

Seven with the snappy comebacks.

“You’re cute when you’re jealous.”: Part 1 is all about figuring out what the crew of the Equinox is up to, listening to their story, and also seeing how another ship adapted to the DQ. I really thought we were going to find out more about Caretaker and there would be similar stories to how they got through Kazon, Borg, and other hostile territory. Instead we get Torres’s old boyfriend, who is never quite the good guy he seems at first, a blonde for Chakotay who ultimately breaks his heart, a gentle giant for Seven who also betrays the trust, and Captain Ransom who knows how to verbally spar with Janeway. We also get to see how the other half lives when you have to make more sacrifices due to a smaller crew or more limited resources. The best part of this first part is how Chakotay deals with the crewman who clearly has PTSD and he’s just such a wonderful first officer.

“Holodeck 2, tomorrow, 1600 hours. Just you, me, and a tuning fork.”: Part 2 brings us to a conclusion that I both saw coming and didn’t. Of course the Equinox was going to be destroyed somehow, I knew that. What I didn’t see coming was some of the crew joining Voyager. It’s a great way to add some new faces, bring some new Starfleet drama onto the ship, and make up for some of the crew that have been lost along the way. Ransom has a change of heart, because Janeway has that effect on people, and he goes down with his ship as a penance for all the bad that he’s done. His first officer and some of the others who were just looking to get home more quickly also have karma swiftly bite them in the ass, but playing Devil’s advocate I just can’t blame them on some level. The rift between Janeway and Chakotay is a mile long, and for once Chakotay is 1000% correct and Janeway is just plain wrong. Seeing the EMH work double duty, especially when ours has his ethical subroutine deleted, is creepy and evil and he plays it well. No one suspects the evil EMH to be on Voyager and Seven works so well with what she is given once our doctor is turned.

As a season finale, season opener two-parter, this wasn’t as compelling as it could be… so this earns 6 games of Ticket to Ride.

TA Out!

Date: January 5, 2021

Season 5, Episode 24

Music Video of the Day:

Interstellar News: Today I worked my first “full” day in quite a while. My email wasn’t too terrible and it was nice to see some folks over Zoom.

TL;DR: Kim is on his fourth night shift in the big chair when they receive an automated distress call and change course. He leads the away team, with the Doctor, and find a warhead that believes it’s a person because it’s memory is damaged and it’s a very advanced artificial intelligence. They beam it aboard and discover it’s actually a weapon of mass destruction, but the Doctor advocates for transferring the AI into a holomatrix. During the transfer he’s taken over, the AI takes over Voyager, and eventually memories are restored where it realizes the war is over and it was launched accidentally. Kim eventually convinces the weapon to stand down, transfer itself back into the warhead, and destroy the other missiles that were also accidentally launched.

Favorite Quote:

Kim: I hope I made the right decision.

Chakotay: About changing course or waking me up?

Kim: Sorry, sir, but I thought…

Chakotay: Relax, Harry, you did the right thing on both counts.

Chakotay ribbing Kim, because Kim is still green around the edges.

“Just promise me one thing. When you reach the top, you’ll remember all the little people you climbed over to get there.”: What promises to be an interesting side plot (the anniversary of Torres and Paris’s first date and Paris forgetting) is totally dropped after the first two minutes and that made me sad. The rest of the episode is interesting. Again we have the EMH getting excited for another AI entity, like in “Revulsion“, and again things get out of hand while the Doctor is trying to advocate for artificial life. This also has bits of “Prototype” in it, where Voyager is trying to do good and help a being in need… no matter how much organic material it does or does not have, and then they get held hostage. The difference here is that Kim is able to make a difference, which I really liked. He makes a lot of good decisions along the way and his commanding officers encourage and trust him. I didn’t hate this episode, but I also feel like it’s not really a “new” and exciting plot that I didn’t see coming. Well, I didn’t see it taking over the Doctor and that was fun… so that earns this episode 6 minutes and 28 seconds of “Two Step” by the Dave Matthews Band.

TA Out!