Date: December 6, 2020

Season 5, Episode 1

Musical Accompaniment: The last few songs that start with ‘G’, and they all have the words “good” or “green” in them.

Interstellar News: It’s the week my birthday is in and the sixth day of my birthday month, woo hoo!

TL;DR: Kim and Paris are recreating “Captain Proton” on the holodeck when the Doctor busts in because they’re eating into his time and then they overload the hologrid. Janeway has sealed herself off from the crew, she’s doubting her decision four years ago, and they’re traveling through a desolate region of space for at least the next two years they’ve nicknamed “The Void”. Voyager detects high levels of theta radiation, the ship drops out of warp and goes completely dark because of a dampening field. Three ships of aliens attack, one gets stuck in sickbay, and a Malon ship appears which sends the other ships in retreat. The Malon captain wants the creature, in exchange he’ll take them to a vortex that gets them out of the void, but is tight-lipped about why. The creature tells Janeway that the Malon have poisoned their space with their waste so Janeway offers to show them how to purify it, but they’re not interested. Janeway decides to collapse the vortex in order to save the creatures, but the crew won’t let her do it alone. They enter the vortex, destroy it so the Malon cannot use it any more, and come out the other side where they can see stars.

Favorite Quote:

Chakotay: Seven, I want good news. That’s an order.

Seven of Nine: Then I must disobey. I have no good news to report.

I absolutely love Seven.

“Oh, what I wouldn’t give for a few Borg cubes about now. Anything for a little distraction.”: Watching this episode during the time of Covid-19, it hits a little hard. Thankfully I have a job that has kept me very busy, but I can understand how soul crushing it can be when there is nothing to do. What bothers me the most, though, is that they didn’t plan to use this time to cross-train everyone. The Doctor could use someone other than Paris to help out in sickbay, everyone should know a bit of engineering for when they need to run repairs, Neelix can teach cooking classes, etc. Honestly, they should have been doing this the whole time. This is also a really key episode in understanding the repercussions of disposing toxic waste into the aether, because there is always something to disrupt and always someone who pays the price. The Malon were only interested in their profits, cough Ferengi cough, and had no love loss for the creatures of the void. The crew decides they need to do what’s good for them and the creatures, if they can, get through the void and blow up the vortex so the Malon can’t easily dump their waste. If all of the creatures are already infected, however, I’m not sure how much that will help… but they also can’t fix the entire quadrant. 6 butterscotch flavored hard candies for this episode, because there was the world’s worst mutiny.

TA Out!

Date: December 4, 2020

Season 4, Episodes 25 and 26

Musical Accompaniment: Finally started songs that start with the letter ‘G’!

Interstellar News: Happy 4th day of my birthday month!

“One” in TL;DR: Seven and the Doctor work on her social skills in the holodeck, it doesn’t go well. Voyager encounters a Mutara class nebula that causes the crew to become violently ill, one member even dies. As it will take a year to go around or a month to go through, the Doctor creates stasis chambers for each of the crew who will remain there until they’re out. He and Seven are the only two able to function, but after 10 days the mobile emitter futzes out… as does a lot of the other technology. After 29 days, Seven has strange dreams and then hallucinates an alien invader as the radiation affects the Borg implants. The Doctor goes offline, Seven panics about being alone, and she still has 17 hours before they’re safely out of the nebula. She hallucinates some more and passes out, only to wake up in sickbay to find everyone has made it through. Seven joins Torres, Paris, and Kim at dinner and they all poke fun at Paris.

Favorite Quote:

Kim: Come on, Tom. Sleepy time.

Paris: What if we had to get out in a hurry?

Janeway: You can unlock the unit from inside, Tom.

EMH: Do I detect a hint of claustrophobia, Lieutenant?

Paris: Why do they have to design these things like coffins?

Kim: Should we replicate you a teddy bear?

Just an adorable exchange between Kim and Paris. I’ll take a stuffed bear, tiger, dragon, and otter… please.

“Leave it to Mr. Paris to be just as much trouble now as when he’s awake.”: As someone who is terrible, horrible, no good, and very bad at being alone, I totally understand Seven here. After the headbutting she and Janeway have gone through this season, it’s absolutely a risk but it’s also a great way for both Seven and the Doctor to proves themselves as being able to handle sticky situations. Many of the choices made sense, though I’m also questioning how some of this was accomplished. I get moving everyone onto one deck so it’s easier to check their vitals and make sure everyone is okay, but I also don’t know how he was able to come up with ~150 in such a short span of time. I will admit it was a nice twist to have Seven hallucinate and then be vulnerable and share about a time in her past where she was alone and it did not go well. One part I really enjoyed was the second time Seven and the Doctor were in the holodeck, as she does really well with Neelix and Janeway on the engineering problem – even if it was not small talk. I also loved when they thought engineering was exploding and she walks in anyway and goes “false alarm”. 7 Sevens for the Doctor and Seven.

“Hope and Fear” in TL;DR: It’s been five months since “Hunters” and they still can’t decode the message from Starfleet. Paris and Neelix come back with supplies and an alien named Arturis who needs a ride to the next system. He’s apparently great with patterns and decodes the message, so they travel to find the Dauntless. It’s got a quantum slipstream engine and should get them home in three months, but Janeway is super skeptical about all of this. Janeway recovers the actual message, Starfleet has no idea what to do and hopes to see them whenever they get back, and Kim finds alien technology hidden behind a panel. Turns out Arturis wants revenge on Voyager as it’s their fault Species 8472 was defeated and then assimilated his people. He is able to abscond with Janeway and Seven and Voyager tries to keep up before the get to Borg territory. Chakotay is able to beam them out and they make it 300 light years closer to home before the modified engine runs out while Arturis is assimilated by the Borg.

Favorite Quotes:

Janeway: A way home. We’ve waited for this moment for years. Why don’t I feel more enthusiastic?

Tuvok: Perhaps my mental discipline is rubbing off on you.

Tuvok’s got jokes.

“I will survive. On what, Borg perfection?”: Why does no one say “we can’t leave Voyager for anyone to find” or “would be a shame to destroy such a good ship”? There’s some small remark about trying to get the ship to come along, but it’s so small of an afterthought. I love that Janeway remains skeptical, Seven acknowledges her fear, and Torres declares Klingon to be “too robust” for her. It’s only right that Janeway not get her hopes up too much, especially with some of the near misses they’ve had. It’s all too neat of a package, but it also shows some real consequences of their alliance with the Borg that she didn’t really have time to think through at the time. I am glad they finally were able to decode the message, even if it was not great news, and they were able to make some forward progress. I knew they weren’t going to make it home, but I didn’t know how Arturis fit in. It was an excellent way to bring the season opener back, not only to highlight how far Seven has come but also to show the impact Voyager has had on this part of space. 6 hard coffee candies for this episode, and a decent way to end a pretty good season.

TA Out!

Date: December 3, 2020

Season 4, Episodes 23 and 24

Musical Accompaniment: Still on songs that start with the letter ‘F’, there are quite a few apparently.

Interstellar News: It’s the 3rd day of my birthday month!

“Living Witness” in TL;DR: 700 years in the future, the Kyrians have a museum dedicated to their history and they show a holodeck recreation of what they think happened when Voyager “butted into their business”. Janeway and crew wear black gloves and she’s cold, the Doctor is an android, Chakotay’s tattoo now covers half of his face, Seven is her old Borg self and there are other Borg on board, along with Kazon and others that Janeway supposedly assimilated and enslaved. The simulation shows Janeway executing two of the Kyrians making way for the Vaskans to take over like the Cardassians did Bajor. Quarren finds a backup of the EMH and runs it, so the Doctor tells his side of the story. Unfortunately for the Kyrians a lot is wrong since they were really the aggressors. Some Vaskans come to destroy the museum and another war breaks out so the Doctor offers to lie instead of setting the record straight, but both he and Quarren decide to tell the truth and that issues in an era of peace and harmony. Quarren dies some years later but the Doctor stays to help the planet get on their feet medically and then he decides to travel toward the AQ to see if the crew made it home.

Favorite Quote:

EMH: Voyager wasn’t a warship. We were explorers.

Quarren: Yes, I know. Trying to get home, to Mars.

EMH: Earth! You see, you couldn’t even get that right. This is a nightmare.

I mean, they had a 1 in 9 chance of getting it right… and yes, Pluto is a planet!

“History has been abused. We keep blaming each other for what happened in the past. If you don’t help us now, it could be another seven hundred years.”: At first, I thought this was a weird Mirror Universe episode. Right away you know something is wrong with the black gloves and cold demeanor. Then everything is just a little off, like the EMH looking more like Data and less like himself, Chakotay’s tattoo suddenly taking up the entire side of his face instead of just above the eye, and even Tuvok… smiling (shudder). Once it’s revealed to be a simulation it starts to make sense how some things were right and other things were way, way off. When the Doctor does his recreation it’s so different from what Quarren expects that he’s immediately distrustful and shuts down the Doctor. I absolutely love that Quarren eventually comes around and wants to learn the truth, no matter how painful, just as the Doctor eventually becomes more concerned with the well being of the planet rather than the image of Voyager. It’s an absolutely wonderful ending where Voyager being in the DQ may have caused 700 years of strife by their act of trying to make a deal, but eventually the EMH is able to help them move to a place where they can coexist and be at peace with one another. 9 orders of steak fajitas for this episode, with an extra side of guacamole!

“Demon” in TL;DR: Voyager is running out of power and they are running on “grey mode”, the crew all have to find different places to stay. Seven finds deuterium on a demon-class planet, and they decide to take the risk. Kim volunteers to modify a suit and mine the deuterium with Paris. They take a shuttle down, find liquid deuterium, but then Kim falls in and both of their suits are compromised and they pass out. When they don’t return, Janeway decides to land Voyager on the surface. Neelix and three others invade sickbay to temporarily stay in and the Doctor is less than pleased. Chakotay and Seven of Nine go after the boys but they find Paris and Kim alive and without their suits and a large cache of deuterium. The four of them beam up but Paris and Kim can’t breathe, so the Doctor gets them the air they need as they were “bioformed”. Back on the surface Chakotay and Seven find the bodies of Paris and Kim still in their suits and they all realize the liquid was able to make copies. The substance, speaking through duplicated Kim, demands to copy the whole crew. Janeway makes a deal, let Voyager go and she’ll ask the crew if anyone is willing to be copied so the substance can try to create a new way for itself. Voyager is shown leaving as a duplicated crew are left waving goodbye on the planet.

Favorite Quote:

Chakotay: Looks like they went this way.

Seven of Nine: My tricorder isn’t picking up any life signs. How did you reach that conclusion?

Chakotay: Footprints. I guess you never assimilated any Indian scouts.

Seven is curious and Chakotay is being cheeky.

“A deep, almost fluorescent green, if I remember correctly.”: At first I was worried that the silver substance was going to be like the black blob that killed Yar, so I was pleased it just wanted to make more of itself and could be reasoned with. I will admit I didn’t see the copies coming, I thought that this was going to be a medical mystery episode. That was a nice twist. My biggest problem with this episode is they’re all like “oh no, we’re running out of fuel” and then THEY DON’T TELL US IF THEY GOT THE FUEL OR WHAT. I mean we have to assume that happened, but does that mean they took not-quite-sentient silver substance for fuel in exchange for making clones of the crew? I just have a lot of problems with a copied Starfleet crew being left in the DQ just chilling, as they share all the same memories and are genetically modified. I don’t really see a problem if I think hard, though, as the duplicates really, really, really wanted to stay on the planet and seemed perfectly happy there… so no harm, right? 6 regular flans with ripe blueberries on the side for this one.

TA Out!

Date: December 2, 2020

Season 4, Episode 22

Musical Accompaniment: The only song that comes to mind:

along with songs that start with the letter ‘F’ (my favorite letter) from my 4-star list.

Interstellar News: It’s the second day of my birthday month! I had a wonderful walk today, an excellent shower after, a charming chat with a dear friend, and a rather tremendous amount of fun playing virtual poker this evening.

TL;DR: Two cloaked ships fire near Voyager and one hails them, a female voice asks for Chakotay’s help. They rescue her and, in sickbay, she asks for asylum and then explains her story. Kellin is Ramuran and their biology causes others to forget them. She encountered Voyager a month ago, spent two weeks on the ship tracking a runaway, and then she and Chakotay fell in love. She went back because she had to but then decided to run away so she should be with Chakotay. The crew spends time trying to confirm her story and Kellins spends time trying to make Chakotay fall in love with her again. It works but then another Ramuran finds her and uses their version of a neuralyzer and her memories fade. Chakotay tries to make her remember but she decides to return to Ramura. He writes his memories down so they can’t be forgotten.

Favorite Quotes:

Chakotay: I thought you might like to get something to eat, unless your memories of our mess hall aren’t good.

Kellin: As a matter of fact, I was quite fond of Neelix’s food.

Chakotay: Now that’s something that’s hard to believe.

Chakotay and Kellin have some light banter while getting to know each other, again.

Tuvok’s Truth: “I’d rather not engage in speculation. It is a dangerous pastime.”

“Love is a chance combination of elements. Any one thing might be enough to keep it from igniting.”: This was a strange combination of 50 First Dates, Men in Black, The Notebook, and The Little Mermaid for me. Okay, so it’s mostly the first movie but we’ve also got the memory wiping technology from MiB, one party trying to get the other to fall in love again from The Notebook, and really only the one scene that I note above from The Little Mermaid. Chakotay asks himself at the end if there was anything he could have done at the end and bro, seriously, YOU COULD HAVE KISSED THE GIRL! Well, not without her consent of course, but the fact remains is that’s how she convinced you so the answer was right in front him the whole time!! Also, what is with Chakotay and blonde women? Who does he think he is, Kirk? Unless I missed it, we went though about half the episode before we found out her name was Kellin, which I found strange. Otherwise, this was a fun mix of romantic movies and science fiction biological babble. I don’t know why, but I really found this episode to be a melting pot of heartbreak, mystery, and very specific biology concerns… but overall an entertaining love-in-an-hour episode that earns itself 7 dinosaurs dancing the MAMUSHKA!

TA Out!