Date: November 21, 2020

Season 4, Episode 13

Musical Accompaniment: My 4-star music list, as I realize I’ve been listening to the 5-star almost exclusively.

Interstellar News: We got a new couch today and it’s wonderful!

TL;DR: The crew all experience nightmares and encountered the same alien in their dreams. Kim and five other crew members are stuck in dream land so Chakotay induces lucid dreaming and meets with the alien who tells him to leave their territory and the crew will wake up. The crew do wake up but it’s a ploy by the aliens to take over the ship, except Chakotay’s really still asleep and the Doctor reports he’s been asleep for over a day. The rest of the crew is asleep and experiencing a group unconsciousness, Chakotay wakes up again and beams down to the planet where the alien bodies are located. Chakotay wakes up one of the aliens, aims a torpedo, gives them an ultimatum, and then Voyager gets to head on their way… though everyone now has insomnia.

Favorite Quote:

Janeway: Either I’ve become impervious to antimatter explosions, or we’re still dreaming.

Torres: A warp core explosion should have destroyed the ship.

Janeway: If I were awake, or if any of this were real, which it obviously isn’t. Things just weren’t adding up. Chakotay’s disappearance. The warp core failing to eject. And as Chakotay said, lucid dreaming is about taking control, so I took a chance.

Tuvok: Surely there must have been a less extreme method of testing your assumptions. As Captain, you shouldn’t be taking chances with your life.

Janeway: I’m touched by your concern, Tuvok.

Janeway being snarky, Torres being an engineering, and Tuvok being logical.

“I won’t dignify this inquisition with a response.”: This was an episode that certainly kept me on my toes. It didn’t take me long to realize everyone was dreaming, but it was weird that Kim and Seven were making out and that was his nightmare, or that everyone was terrified of the alien that invaded their dreams. This is something that rings true to me that would happen if you lived and worked with the same people for four years, you begin to discuss things you might not usually. I loved the twists where Chakotay didn’t realize he was still sleeping and wasn’t really sure if he was awake, it kind of reminded me of when Data and Picard where in the holodeck or when Riker didn’t know what was real. I also liked when the crew was stuck asleep with the aliens having taken over the ship and Seven’s idea of creating a diversion is to beat up Kim. I’m a little sad that the end is “I don’t know if I’m awake or not but I’ve totally got all my weapons pointed at you and the EMH will blow you all up if you don’t let us go”, but it also tracks with Chakotay taking matters into his own hands once he realized there was no way to tell if he was awake or not. 7 orders of crab rangoon for this episode, with yummy sweet and sour sauce.

TA Out!

Date: November 20, 2020

Season 4, Episode 12

Musical Accompaniment: Taking Back Sunday

Interstellar News: It was a beautiful day for a drive, but I am le tired.

TL;DR: Neelix helps Naomi Wildman get to sleep and then goes on an away mission with Paris and Chakotay to try and harness some protomatter. There’s an accident and Neelix dies, but back on Voyager he’s revived by Borg technology. Neelix still wants to celebrate Prixin but starts to lose faith after two things happen: he didn’t see his sister in the Great Forrest and he sees himself die during the holodeck simulation Chakotay runs. Neelix is pissed at Seven for reviving him, he feels like a piece of him is missing, so he asks Chakotay to help him on a vision quest. The quest has everyone in his life telling him he should have stayed dead, so he records a goodbye message and tries to space himself. Chakotay and Wildman eventually help talk him down and he goes to help Naomi go back to sleep.

Favorite Quote:

Seven of Nine: You will be assimilated.

Neelix: No time for that now. Maybe later.

Neelix is on his vision quest and completely ignoring dream-Seven of Nine.

“My palette is sufficiently broad”: This was a hell of an episode but it also left me with a lot of questions. If the “bring people back from the dead” technology has been in Seven’s brain this whole time… why didn’t she suggest it when a crew member died in “Scientific Method“? Will this cause for the crew to have to indicate if they wish to be resuscitated using Borg technology or not, sort of like a space DNR? I do continue to like Seven and the way she talks, especially when she’s talking about “reactivating” and “salvaging” Neelix like he’s a Borg drone and not a person… but it’s an apt analogy. I also think it’s a good use for Chakotay to be an acting ship’s counselor, given his background, but he’s also too laid back about Neelix missing his appointments. This episode takes us on an emotional roller coaster. First we’re shocked at the accident, then saddened at the death of Neelix, then surprised by Seven’s technology and Zombie Neelix, and then completely feeling for the pain Neelix is going through so much that he feels he needs to commit suicide because he’s not really alive in the first place. It takes a village and the ship has become a family for Neelix, and this episode proves that. 7 hugs for everyone.

TA Out!

Date: November 19, 2020

Season 4, Episode 11

Musical Accompaniment: AFI and punk friends

Interstellar News: Another beautiful walk today despite the cold.

TL;DR: While running the da Vinici program in the holodeck, Voyager comes under attack by someone who de-materializes items from the ship. Kim and Seven work to track down the missing technology and send away teams after them. They find da Vinci walking around via the Doctor’s mobile emitter, and he thinks he’s been brought to America and is working for a wealthy patron. This patron is a bad dude named Tau who stole all of the stuff and sells it to the highest bidder. Tau catches Janeway, da Vinci helps her escape to where their stuff is being held, they send it to Voyager, and then are rescued.

Favorite Quote:

da Vinci: Che bella! There’s a mechanical woman inside.

Janeway: In a way, yes. Initiate a level four induction relay overload.

Janeway: That’s it.

da Vinci: And now?

Janeway: We wait for the Portuguese

da Vinci is flabbergasted by the voice of the computer and Janeway has him convinced her crew is Portuguese.

“Earthquakes and idiots. Florence be damned.”: This was an interesting story on what it feels like to be mugged in space. Janeway is hanging out with her hero when someone flies by and steals their technology. I disliked that they didn’t seem more upset about leaving Federation technology in the Delta Quadrant as they have in the past, but maybe that’s because they didn’t think it would upset the balance of power like it would have with the Kazon. I did enjoy the segments with the Doctor as he had been enjoying his freedom thanks to the mobile emitter and hated being “imprisoned” in sickbay. I loved how enthusiastic da Vinci was about being in “the new world” and how he wasn’t phased by the new materials and technology. It was a fun little mystery but nothing exciting really happened, aside from them getting the flying machine working. 6 fried pork dumplings for this episode.

TA Out!

Date: November 18, 2020

Season 4, Episode 10

Musical Accompaniment: Some classical piano music

Interstellar News: I got to organize a cabinet today, and it was wonderful! There was the promise of organizing a closet today too, which makes me a very happy person even though it didn’t happen.

TL;DR: Voyager is taking shore leave with the Mari, a telepathic race that has apparently outlawed violent thoughts. A man runs into Torres, beats up a man in the market, and then Torres is arrested because it is her thought that caused the attack. She’s to be charged and is to undergo an engramatic purge and then let go, but it’s dangerous. Tuvok and Janeway review the evidence to see if it may have been someone else while Paris comes up with a rescue plan. A woman is killed in the market place because of the same thought, and Tuvok questions Guill who was with Torres when she was bumped into. He’s apparently part of the Mari black market that deals in violent thoughts. Tuvok gets beat up but eventually makes it back to Voyager with the evidence he needs to exonerate Torres and stop the purge.

Favorite Quote:

EMH: Fortunately the Mari didn’t get very far with the procedure. You can return to duty, Lieutenant, though perhaps with one or two fewer violent engrams in that fiery head of yours.

Torres: It’s all right, Doc. There are plenty more where those came from.

EMH: Duly warned.

Torres acknowledging both her temper and her Klingon side.

” I dread the day when everyone on this ship agrees with me.”: At first I thought this episode was going to be like “Remember” where the Mari man bumped into Torres and somehow gained her temper. This, however, was much darker and I liked it that way. This was an interesting combination of 1984, Equilibrium, and Fight Club… but in space! The Mari believe they are superior at avoiding crime and the “police” think everything is hunky dory and the people are angels, but there’s a dark underground that craves dark and twisted thoughts. It’s an episode that keeps you guessing for a bit and then gets you thinking. At first it looks like a transfer of anger, then it’s an interrogation, then it’s the balance of abiding by local laws while also not harming the crew, then there’s a second attack and all bets are off, and finally there’s the realization that Guill is more than he seems. Even then, Tuvok is beat up and possibly compromised because he’s using a lot of his telepathic power that he hadn’t accessed much in all of the time Voyager has been in the DQ and quite possibly before.

My biggest gripe is that it’s not clear if they knew the law or not. In “Justice“, Wesley Crusher didn’t know the local law and almost paid for it with his life. I would think that if Janeway and company knew of the “think only happy thoughts”law, they would have tried to be more vigilant. I’m not saying that ignorance of a law excludes you from abiding by it, but when a telepathic species can tell your intentions… that changes things significantly. Tuvok is wonderful in his pursuit of the truth, Janeway is capable as ever in her “captain mom” role, Paris is the dutiful boyfriend that also works to free Torres, Chakotay is a fantastic second-in-command and interface with the crew, and Seven continues to learn about humanity and what it means to gain knowledge through observation rather than assimilation. 9 Borg drones for this episode, all of whom are equally as flummoxed as Seven of Nine.

TA Out!