Date: October 22, 2020

Season 3, Episode 14

Musical Accompaniment: Red Hot Chili Peppers tonight

Interstellar News: Happy 22nd Day of Halloween! Was able to go out and get coffee with a friend today. We huddled in our cars, far away from everyone, and sighed about how no one else was wearing a mask. Le sigh indeed.

TL;DR: Voyager is investigating an inversion nebula that is behaving in an unexpected way. Kim has fallen in love with a holodeck character named Marayna and goes to Tuvok to try to purge his emotions. Tuvok finds Marayna intriguing and they become friendly, to which Kim completely blows up at. Voyager goes to leave the area but find they are unable because “Marayna” has taken over the ship, she has fallen in love with Tuvok. They identify a ship hidden in the nebula, Tuvok beams over and finds the real life Marayna who is tired of being alone. He convinces her to leave Voyager alone, returns to the ship, and apologizes to Kim for hurting his feelings.

Favorite Quote:

Tuvok: I am not aware of anyone on the ship with that name.

Kim: She’s not a member of the crew. She’s a character on the holodeck.

Tuvok: You’re in love with a computer subroutine?

Kim: That’s the problem.

Tuvok: Interesting.

Tuvok, the absolute master of understatement.

“To see through an emotional complex is to rob it of its power.”: So I thought this was going to be more like “Ship in a Bottle” or “Elementary, Dear Data” but it turned out to be a fun Delta Quadrant twist on that. Kim spends the whole episode realizing he’s not only predictable but there are no secrets on a ship stuck in space, and you can feel the pain of him having to grow up on the ship in full view of everyone. Now that they’ve been in the DQ for 3 years, you can see the seeds of people trying to pair off or at least secure themselves someone to love. Vorik and Paris sort of fight over Torres and it’s interesting how different the two men are but how the both seem to be attracted to Torres. Torres, on the other hand, doesn’t really seem to give a fuck about either of them… literally and figuratively. The part where the holo-characters attack Tuvok, Paris, and Torres was a little scary and quite well done. In the end, I feel bad for Marayna who found someone she never expected and was forced to take drastic measures to try and keep him. She totally went about it the wrong way, and Tuvok would have totally stayed if she was really going to hold the ship hostage, but I can understand finally figuring out what you really want, what was missing from your life that you didn’t know, and having it torn away from you before you can even figure out what it was. An overall pretty awesome episode, 7 really full burritos for this one.

TA Out!

Date: October 21 , 2020

Season 3, Episode 13

Musical Accompaniment: Listening to Good Charlotte tonight, lots of punk rock. “Some things never change, like the way I say I love you.”

Interstellar News: Happy 21st Day of Halloween!

TL;DR: Neelix wants to help out more so he tries to be useful to Tuvok and then Torres, but then they encounter the Nekrit Expanse. They head to the supply station on the outskirts and deal with the manager, Bahrat. Neelix runs into an old friend, Wix, and shares that he hasn’t been beyond the Expanse and he fears Janeway is going to kick him out unless he can prove he’s useful to keep around. Wix says he can get Neelix a map but only if Neelix helps out with delivering medical supplies, that totally turn out to be narcotics and the deal goes south and someone dies. Bahrat and Tuvok investigate because of the Federation phaser signature and Wix lies to them both. Eventually Neelix and Wix create a plan to catch the bigger crime fish, which mostly works until there’s an explosion. Neelix comes to in sick bay where Janeway chews him out and then tells him to get to work scrubbing exhaust manifolds.

Favorite Quote:

Janeway: Oh no, it’s not that easy. You can’t just walk away from your responsibilities just because you made a mistake. You’re part of a family now. and you have obligations.

Neelix: But, I can’t guide you. I can’t advise you. I don’t know what’s coming.

Janeway: Well, that’s not the point, is it? None of us knows what’s coming. That’s what Starfleet is all about. We are all in this together, Neelix, and we have to be able to count on each other no matter how hard it gets.

Janeway telling Neelix what we all need to hear… NO ONE KNOWS WHAT’S COMING!

“I don’t remember you ever being so squeamish about twisting the truth.”: This was an absolutely wonderful Neelix episode. He spends all this time worrying about his place on the ship, he forgets to ask Janeway what she actually thinks. This is another “honesty is the best policy” episode and this lesson never gets old for me. I’m all about honesty and constant communication, which is unfortunately too much to ask of some people. Anyway Bahrat was a lot of fun and made an impression for just being in this one episode. The part where Wix does a trade for a trade for a trade reminds me a little of Nog and the Great River and it’s all super ridiculous to go through for a map. The most powerful part is when Neelix explains he did one small thing which led to another until he was in way over his head and then Janeway was like… yeah you made a mistake, let’s get past this like adults. It’s never to late to go back and learn from your mistakes or admit when you’ve fucked up. I also loved when Neelix asks Paris about why Paris went to jail and it’s a pivotal moment in such a short conversation because Neelix realizes he just doesn’t have it in him to keep lying. We make decisions every day and always can choose a different path, though some paths cost more than others. I’m giving this episode 6 layers of lasagna with 5 different cheeses mixed in.

TA Out!

Date: October 20, 2020

Season 3, Episode 12

Musical Accompaniment: Stone Temple Pilots

Interstellar News: Today was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.

TL;DR: Neelix helps apologize to the Tak Tak for Janeway as there was a communication mishap. They get back to find Voyager adrift, something interfering with their instruments, and it’s really hot. Neelix and Janeway get separated, so she heads to engineering and Lara Crofts it and then gets stung. She finds some of the crew passed out in the mess hall, makes it to Sick Bay, and the EMH fills her in on what happened. They were helping the Garan who contracted a virus that became a macrovirus and, even with protocols in place, the EMH beamed aboard the virus which then attacked the crew. He finally developed an antigen, which he gives to Janeway, but he can’t get to the crew… so they work together to destroy some of the now life-size viruses and distribute the antigen.

Favorite Quote:

EMH: Commander. I’d like to apologize for my over-zealous behavior on the away mission.

Chakotay: Compassion is nothing to be sorry about, Doctor. It won’t be the last time you’re faced with a moral dilemma in the field. But if it makes you feel any better, your performance was exemplary.

The EMH goes on his first away mission now that he’s more mobile.

“I thought Klingons didn’t get nauseated. You have a redundant stomach.”: This episode can be boiled down to “Janeway is a badass and the EMH is her almost-just-as bad ass sidekick.” The marcoviruses kind of reminded me of the stabby scorpions from the original Clash of the Titans from the 1980’s. I enjoyed Neelix being useful at the beginning, helping Janeway overcome a totally unintended insult, but hated that he was sidelined after that. The EMH going on his first away mission was awesome, for him, and Chakotay was perfect in the big chair while Janeway was gone. The EMH also did not just sit there in sick bay, he developed a cure, but then he was sidelined because the mobile emitter does have its downsides. The thing that got me was the Tak Tak coming back and damaging Voyager in just the exact spot so they can’t send the cure? Come on! Though I will say the most bad ass thing was Janeway thinking to use the holodeck as a homing beacon (looking at you Wreck-It Ralph) and then deploying a bomb that eradicated the marcoviruses. 7 bunches of delicious red grapes for this episode, because badass Janeway is badass.

TA Out!

Date: October 19, 2020

Season 3, Episode 11

Musical Accompaniment: Minus the Bear and associated acts

Interstellar News: We are now back to your regularly scheduled programming, apologies for the delay.

TL;DR: After witnessing a star go supernova, a rare occurrence per galaxy, Janeway returns to her room to find Q who wants her as his mate. He keeps showing up and harassing the crew, eventually conjuring a puppy and telling Janeway that he’s lonely. Suddenly a red haired, female Q shows up, his ex, and there are also two more supernovas because the Q continuum is in a state of civil war. Q and Janeway beam into the war zone while Lady Q is stuck on Voyager and tries to get them toward the continuum. Q wants the continuum to have more freedom, inspired by Quinn, and the other side wants things to get back to “normal”. Janeway tries to get them to settle peacefully but she and Q are instead going to be executed. Voyager and Lady Q arrive a t the nick of time, Lady Q and Q decide to procreate, and there are no more supernovas. Sometime later Q arrives to ask Janeway to be the godmother to his little boy.

Favorite Quote:

Q: I know that you’re probably asking yourself, why would a brilliant, handsome, dashingly omnipotent being like Q want to mate with a scrawny little bipedal specimen like me?

Janeway: Let me guess. No one else in the universe will have you.

Q: Nonsense. I could have chosen a Klingon Targ, the Romulan empress, a Cyrillian microbe.

Janeway: Really? I beat out a single-celled organism? How flattering.

Janeway waving her hands in abject sarcasm.

“War can be an engine of change.”: So my absolute favorite guest star who only had two appearances on TNG as a Klingon and one as a Vulcan is back and she’s absolutely fantastic as Lady Q. Torres, however, gives her a run for her money with her quick wit and superbly timed pettiness. This really starts off like every other Q episode, except this time you maybe believe him for just a little until you realize he’s instigated a civil war. It was great fun to watch Janeway and Lady Q run around in civil war era skirts and being genuine badasses despite the massive layers, and all of the men looked sharp in their uniforms. The ending, however, makes absolutely no sense. It was still a fun episode and Lady Q calls Paris “helm boy” and Chakotay just gives the “go ahead nod” and I laughed hysterically at that. It’s also very “Q” in that their way of procreating is touching fingers. Despite the ridiculous ending that just ended because we got to time and the script said so, it was great fun and I wouldn’t mind watching it again mostly because of Janeway and Lady Q. This episode earns itself 7 empty food storage containers that used to hold all of the things I cooked this weekend.

TA Out!