Date: December 27, 2020

Season 5, Episode 18

Musical Accompaniment: The last two songs on Fantasies & Delusions, “Film Noir” and “Dublinesque”

Interstellar News: Today I watched Ratatouille with a dear friend and participated in a virtual baby shower for another friend.

TL;DR: Chakotay was boxing in the holodeck and some aliens who live in chaotic space, and pulled Voyager in with them, try to communicate with him through a gene he has due to his heritage. It causes him to hallucinate, however, and he thinks he’s being trained by Boothby for a big fight. Chakotay encounters his grandfather, who also had the gene, and eventually communicates with the aliens who help him get Voyager out of chaotic space.

Favorite Quote:

Janeway: Tuvok tells me you’ve got a mean left jab.

Chakotay: Never spar with a Vulcan.

Chakotay trying to give his captain some good advice.

“It’s not an hallucination, not a vision quest. It’s a prize-fight!”: I’ll be honest, this was not one of my favorite episodes. It bounced around way too much, I wasn’t sure what was a flashback and what was happening in linear time, and they use the word “crazy” to describe a gene that causes Chakotay to have visions. As a counselor, I highly detest that word to describe a behavior that happens because of a biological function in a person’s body. I was also lost for a lot of the episode, although I did enjoy the boxing scenes and the way Chakotay was so immersed in the lingo. I thought it was an interesting way for the aliens to communicate, similar to “Bride of Chaotica” but just different enough to make it interesting. Not really a lot to say about this episode other than it gets 4 chubby cats meowing asynchronously.

TA Out!

Date: December 26, 2020

Season 5, Episode 17

Musical Accompaniment: Continuing Fantasies & Delusions, as each song is quite long.

Interstellar News: Tonight we social distanced with three dear friends around their bon fire and it was good to get out, though it was hella cold outside.

TL;DR: Paris, who is strangely a Lieutenant again, and Torres get married, Seven catches the bouquet, and the happy couple gets showered in rice that suddenly disappears into Voyager, as the ship is falling apart. They’ve installed the enhanced warp drive and believe they’ll get home in two years, give or take a few side quests. Torres and Seven realize Voyager was affected by the enhanced warp drive when suddenly Torres and a few others get sick, in fact the whole crew has cellular degradation. Torres dies and Chakotay and Tuvok figure out that they’re actually all of the duplicates that were created during the last few minutes of “Demon“. Janeway still thinks their mission is to get back to the AQ and nothing will deter her, except for Chakotay dying. Once this happens she has the ship turn around to try to get back to their planet, but more folks die and deteriorate. Janeway dies, Kim is in charge, and their time capsule explodes so they send out a distress call. The real Voyager finally gets in range but is too late, the ship has completely lost shape.

Favorite Quote:

Neelix: Are you sure this rice isn’t supposed to be cooked? Steamed, fried?

EMH: The idea is to shower the couple with a symbol of good fortune, not garnish them like a roast chicken.

Rice is no longer used in outdoor weddings as it can make the birds explode.

“We’ve come too far to be stopped by dust.”: This was a fun little episode, because some of the clues where there. Paris suddenly being back to his promoted rank, he and Torres getting hitched when there was no proposal beforehand, and the enhanced warp drive (where there was no mention of it before) was all a little fishy, not to mention the bit with the rice. However I had completely forgotten about the events of “Demon” until Chakotay and Tuvok were doing their investigation. I knew something was up when Torres died, but once I realized these were the duplicates it was hard to feel shocked when someone else died. The Janeway duplicate was so deep in the fantasy of Janeway’s life and mission, as were the rest of the crew, that they kind of screwed themselves when they didn’t immediately return to the planet. Once they realized what they were, they should have all said “fuck it, let’s go back to our home where we can live and be happy”. I’m also wondering what happened in the 10 months between when they were off having their own adventures if the real Voyager ever encountered someone who had heard of them and thought it strange. It was kind of fun and kind of gross to see them all deteriorating, but I will admit to not really being invested in their journey as much when they didn’t immediately turn around. 6 sweet potato dumplings for this follow up.

TA Out!

Date: December 23, 2020

Season 5, Episode 16

Musical Accompaniment: Finishing my 4-star playlist and then moving on to something else.

Interstellar News: Merry Christmas Eve Eve!

TL;DR: Voyager has been helping the Varro, who are on a multi-generational ship and generally distrustful of outsiders, fix their engines for the last two weeks. Janeway and Jippeq have a tentative understanding with each other, but it’s Kim and Tal who have fallen madly in love despite clear fraternization rules. Kim asks Seven about love, she likens it to a disease, and Paris covers for Kim but eventually Kim has to go to sick bay and tells the Doctor who has to tell Janeway. Janeway does her best “I’m mad and disappointed, now stop seeing her”, but Kim can’t bring himself to let go of Tal. Tuvok and Neelix find a Varro stowed away in a Jeffries tube and Chakotay finds out that there are Varro who want to leave the ship and it’s clear there is sabotage afoot on the Varro ship. Kim borrows a shuttlecraft and they visit a nearby nebula but are caught by Tuvok and Tal is in trouble for sabotaging the ship. The Varro ship begins to explode but Voyager shields them enough to evacuate. Some of the smaller ships decide to stay together, but others decide they want to settle on their own planet. Kim and Tal say goodbye, Kim continues to refuse treatment for his broken heart, and Janeway explains how protective she’s always felt of him. In the mess hall Seven comes to thank Kim for completing some scans, reconsiders her analogy, and wishes him to get well soon.

Favorite Quotes:

Doctor’s Orders: “Sometimes I think everyone on this ship has been possessed by alien hormones.”

Seven of Nine: The Borg have referenced this condition in over six thousand assimilated species.

Kim: Condition? You make it sound like a disease.

Seven of Nine: Physiologically, it bears a striking similarity to disease. A series of biochemical responses that trigger an emotional cascade impairing normal functioning.

Seven is not wrong. Being in love can be absolutely awful some times.

“You had intimate contact with an alien species without medical clearance?”: I would watch this episode again if only for the Doctor. He was more upset at Kim for breaking protocol than I think even Janeway was. I mean we find out Starfleet has a regulation and a WHOLE HANDBOOK regarding inter-species relations, but not a word for what to do when you’re lost in space… come on now. This was also a real coming of age story for Kim who reminds Janeway and all of us that he’s been on the ship for five years and he’s not just a kid any more. Unless Tal was willing to come on Voyager or Kim was willing to stay behind, they both knew their relationship was going to come to an end. This is the one piece that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me, though, is why didn’t that happen? If they were so in love why didn’t one of them decide to stay, especially if the bond is supposed to be for life and could have been life threatening to Tal. We went awful quick from the Varro captain being all gloom and doom to “oh, we have medication for that”, and it makes me tilt my head like a puppy who is confused. I did enjoy the sabotage plot where it starts off small, but then it escalated all too quickly in my mind. A decent episode and it gets 6 songs that are all titled “Untitled”.

TA Out!