Date: October 13, 2020

Season 3, Episodes 6 and 7

Musical Accompaniment: MOAR iTUNES!

Interstellar News: Happy 13th Day of Halloween! Internet went out this afternoon so I went into the office like a real person instead of working from home. Thankfully my building is closed to the public, I have my own office, and almost no one was there.

“Remember” in TL;DR: Voyager has made friends with the Enarans who have telepathic abilities. Kim has a crush, Torres is having super vivid dreams, and Neelix is excited to put on an Enaran night in the mess hall. The dreams Torres has are memories of a woman named Korenna and it’s a story of the Enarans of the past where they had a civil war and Korenna was Juliet to a Romeo. Torres figures out it’s one of the older women along for the ride, she’s passing on all of her memories because she knows Torres won’t let things slide. Unfortunately, the others found out and Korenna is killed. The Enarans leave, refusing to admit that anything happened, but Torres passes along the memories to one of the younger Enarans so they do not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Favorite Quote:

Jessen: Maybe Harry could give us a hand?

Torres: Well, I’m sure he would if you asked him. Harry, you got a minute?

Kim: Sure.

Jessen: Could you help us check the modified power relays? There’s a minor flow problem.

Kim: I’d be happy to help

Kim is always happy to help 🙂

“I wonder how long it’s been since I did anything that surprised you?”: At first I really liked Brel, he was all about consent and ethics and seemed a stand up guy. Then he went and murdered one of his people and that’s just not that cool. I also loved that Torres was super into her dreams but didn’t stop because the sexy stuff turned into political intrigue, she genuinely wanted to see how the story ended. Korenna’s memories are very compelling. You see her as a young woman who is in love with a boy from the “wrong side of town”, her father wants only the best for her but is also sending everyone who wants to live a certain way off world (or maybe even killing them), and eventually she buys her father’s bullshit and turns over her lover to the authorities. She later educates children that the “other people were bad and so they all died” which is totally sugarcoating genocide. The story kind of falls apart for me, though, when Torres busts into the farewell party and just starts shouting as Torres is wont to do. I’m not sure how many others on the ship knew about the dream, given her warning to Chakotay and also doctor-patient confidentiality, so it may have come out of left field for a lot of people at the party. The very end, though, is good because she offers to share the memories with one of the Enarans, who should have had it in the first place. I see a lot of those same topics play out in today’s political arena and it saddens me that we can’t live peacefully with one another all these years later. 5 deep fried vegetable dumplings for this one.

“Sacred Ground” in TL;DR: The Nechani have invited the crew to take shore leave and tour their temple when Kes gets severely injured. There is a clear separation of Church and State here and the monks refuse to talk to Janeway, so Kes is going to die unless they can figure something out. Neelix finds information on a ritual, the monks are pleased and surprised and allow Janeway to complete it. She meets her guide, who is not what she expected, and then three elderly people who ask her to wait. She instead asks to complete the ritual. She holds a rock, paints a wall, climbs a rockier wall, drinks some tea, and gets bitten by a snake to travel to the spirit world. The Spirits say she already have everything she needs to heal Kes, but the EMH can’t get anything to work. She goes back and the three elderly folks tell her what to do, she did all the other stuff because it’s what she expected a ritual to be like… now they are asking her to have faith. She does what they ask, after objection from Chakotay and Neelix, and Kes wakes up. The EMH is able to retroactively explain why Janeway’s decision worked but she’s a bit disillusioned.

Favorite Quote:

Janeway: When other children were outside playing games I was doing mathematics problems.

Guide: Mathematics. I can see why you enjoyed it. Solve a problem, get an answer. The answer’s either right or wrong. It’s very absolute.

Janeway: I’ve always found that satisfying.

Samesies, Janeway. Samesies.

“If you can explain everything, what’s left to believe in?”: First, I am absolutely horrified at the host who didn’t warn the crew that there were certain places that were off limits. Second, he was truly upset by what happened and also super surprised about the reaction from the monks. It was enough to balance out. I am suuuuuuuuuper torn on this one. On one hand, it’s a very compelling episode about the mysteries of the universe and where faith may or may not play a part in it. Janeway’s always been the explorer, always wanting to find out how things work, and in her mind there’s a process you follow to get to an answer. I liked that the Spirits took her on the journey she expected because she wouldn’t have believed them otherwise. On the other hand, I believe there are answers to every question. Some of those answers may not be understood by every single person, or some things may not be readily explained, but there’s an answer out there and it’s not just 42. I liked that this caused Janeway to pause when the EMH was describing why the thing worked when they thought it wouldn’t, because it shows just how little we really know about the universe and it helps the captain to remember she’s only human. It’s one thing to be able to reverse engineer a problem and say why something worked when you didn’t think it was going to, but it’s another thing to walk blindly into the light and have faith that what someone told you was true when someone else told you it’s false. Janeway was willing to walk through not-quite-literal fire for Kes because the crew are her children, just like my advisees are mine. 5 books staring at me, waiting to be read, but I’m so tired.

I also thoroughly felt this line: “Most of the challenges in life are the ones we create for ourselves.”

TA Out!

Date: October 12, 2020

Season 3, Episode 5

Musical Accompaniment: YouTube wasn’t working, so iTunes it is

Interstellar News: Happy 12th Day of Halloween!

I’m dedicating this post to my step-Uncle who passed away on Sunday. He suffered from MS but always had a positive attitude, especially when it came to a good party and good food. He always said his wheelchair gave him wings.

“False Profits” in TL;DR: Voyager finds evidence of a wormhole and a replicator on Takar, along with two Ferengi from the TNG episode “The Price“. Arridor and Kol have taken on the role of the Sages from the epic poem “Song of the Sages”, but they have taken advantage of the local population for their own personal profit. Janeway reasons that since the Federation was host when the mishap occurred it’s their duty to fix it, so they send in Neelix disguised as the Grand Proxy after their first meeting doesn’t go so well. Neelix is eventually found out, but it turns out there’s an end to the poem where the Sages depart. Just before the townspeople burn the three Ferengi, they’re beamed back to Voyager. The Ferengi escape, however, and are pulled through the wormhole which promptly disappears.

Favorite Quote:

Tuvok: Captain, I must remind you that the Ferengi are not members of the Federation. They are not bound by the Prime Directive. Nor would it seem that the Prime Directive would allow us to interfere with the internal affairs of this society, as much as we may disapprove of what the Ferengi are doing.

Janeway: The Federation did host the negotiations. And if it weren’t for those negotiations, the Ferengi wouldn’t be here. So one could say, without being unreasonable I think, that the Federation is partially responsible for what’s happened, and therefore duty bound to correct the situation.

Tuvok: That is a most logical interpretation, Captain.

Also, the Nagus can’t share in some of the Ferengi profits and they can’t pay their taxes or whatever… so maybe they are wanted back.

“Options? There are none.”: I knew this episode was eventually going to happen once I knew that Voyager took place in the DQ. It would have been a big missed opportunity to have these two stranded and not see what happened to them. I was, however, a bit shocked and disappointed at several things. The women in the temple were clothed, though just barely, which is very un-Ferengi (I’m super kidding on this one, folks). Aside from Neelix being the shortest and closest to Ferengi height, why did they choose someone who wasn’t warned about the Ferengi at the Academey? I guess the biggest downer here is that they could have gone through and gone home, but they had to play the heroes. Yeah I get that’s what heroes do, but then you have to stop pretending getting home is your number one goal. It’s more like a long term goal where you can explore as much as possible until you find the “right time” to go home. I was also not really buying the villagers just now feeling like they could overthrow their gods, but I also don’t know how else they would make wings of fire. I think there was just too much technobabble in this episode for me, especially since there wasn’t really a compelling reason for why they couldn’t go back after it other then Kim saying so. 4 pieces of dried pineapple for Howie.

TA Out!

Date: October 11, 2020

Season 3, Episodes 3 and 4

Musical Accompaniment: Spooky Music for Spooky Season

Interstellar News: Happy 11th Day of Halloween! The is entitled “The Review”, heh.

“The Chute” in TL;DR: Kim and Paris are imprisoned after being wrongfully accused of a terrorist bombing. There are no guards, but also no means of escape, so the prisoners fight among themselves. Paris is stabbed and Kim makes a deal with another prisoner as well as using his technical skills to try and climb up the chute that dispenses the food. Unfortunately the other end leads to space so there’s no chance of escape. Voyager finds the ship responsible, it has two young people on it, but the Akritirians won’t let Paris and Kim out. Janeway convinces the kids to take her to the prison where she and Tuvok break out Kim and Paris in the nick of time, as the device implanted in their head almost made Kim kill Paris.

Favorite Quote:

Paris: You did a terrific job, Neelix.

Janeway: I agree. Excellent piloting.

Neelix: I’m glad to hear you say that, Captain, because I’ve been thinking. Until Tom here gets back on his feet, perhaps I could, er, try my hand at conn for a while.

EMH: That won’t be necessary. Lieutenant Paris is just fine, thanks to excellent doctoring.

The EMH must always have the last word.

“This man is my friend. Nobody touches him.”: This episode boils down to “Alcatraz in space” with Janeway getting to be the badass who tries everything. In prison Paris is the protector and Kim is his bitch, but after Paris gets stabbed Kim really steps up to the plate and not only protects his friend but doesn’t take his eye off the prize of escape. It’s heartbreaking when he gets to the top and finds out there’s no escape, almost as much as it is when the EMH reveals that Zio was right and the clamp was stimulating aggressive tendencies. Janeway also goes through a lot this episode, though nothing as physically grueling as what Paris and Kim go through. First she tries diplomacy, next is detective work, after that comes a sneaky plan with the finale being her and Tuvok coming in guns blazing. It was a fun episode and I enjoyed it. 6 otters, happily swimming in the pool.

“The Swarm” in TL;DR: Torres and Paris are in a shuttle when two aliens beam aboard and shoot them. On Voyager, the EMH is singing opera and then has to attend to Torres and Paris. Torres is fine, Paris needs some help, and the EMH is starting to forget things. His memory circuits are degrading due to a cascade failure, partly because of all the “useless” information that doesn’t pertain to medicine and partly because he’s been on for so long. In order to avoid a factory reset, Torres runs the diagnostic program in the holodeck which produces a holo-Dr. Zimmerman and Kes tries to graft its matrix onto the EMH’s. Meanwhile Voyager tries to avoid a hostile race, fails at sneaking, and then chain reactions their way out. The EMH overlay works, kind of, as he’s similar to how he was in “Caretaker” but also hums the opera he was singing at the top of the episode.

Favorite Quote:

Janeway: I’m not going to tell this crew we’re adding another fifteen months to this journey. We’ll have to find another option.

Tuvok: If we are not to go around their space the only available option is to go through it.

Janeway: Precisely.

Janeway has finally found something she won’t stand for, though I am surprised she didn’t try diplomacy first.

“You are questioning my bedside manner?”: I kind of hated that the new alien race didn’t have anything to do with the EMH’s memory issues, but then it was kind of amusing that it’s his personality that caused the issue in the first place. It was extra fun to have the EMH and an impression of Dr. Zimmerman in the same episode. I also loved that Kes was the one to consider getting to the root of the issue instead of just slapping a bandage on the problem and hoping it fixed it. She’s really coming along in her problem solving skills and applying the knowledge she’s learning in the medical field to other every day problems. I was surprised and shocked that Janeway was so caviler about storming through an enemy’s territory, but maybe she’s had enough of the side quests for a while. This was a very ‘meh’ episode and it only gets 4 York peppermint patties.

TA Out!

Date: October 10, 2020

Season 3, Episode 2

Musical Accompaniment: Elder Scrolls music by Ambient Worlds

Interstellar News: I’ve actually watched up to Episode 6 but need more time , and energy, to write. I’ve also recently updated my Rankings page.

TL;DR: There’s sirillium in that nebula! Unfortunately the nebula causes Tuvok have a vision and pass out. Tuvok tries to meditate, thinks they’re in Klingon space, and has another vision. The EMH believes it’s a suppressed memory that’s killing Tuvok, so Tuvok and Janeway mind-meld. Suddenly they’re on the Excelscior with Captain Sulu, Rand, and a 30 year old Tuvok just as Praxis is exploding. Sulu wants to rescue Kirk and McCoy, they encounter a similar nebula, and then Kang finds them. Tuvok and Janeway have no idea why they are there and not in his memory of the little girl falling. Back in the memory something goes wrong with the meld, Sulu sees Janeway, and Tuvok’s bunk mate dies. The EMH realizes Tuvok has a virus and kills it, it was implanting the false memory.

Favorite Quotes:

EMH: If you were human, I’d say you had a severe panic attack.

Tuvok: I am not human.

EMH: No kidding. I don’t know what happened to you, but there can be any number of explanations. Hallucination, telepathic communication from another race, repressed memory, momentary contact with a parallel reality. Take your pick. The universe is such a strange place.

The EMH is extra sassy and I am all here for it.

Tuvok’s Truth: The human fascination with fun has led to many tragedies in your short, but violent, history. One wonders how your race has survived having so much fun.

Janeway: We could have just asked her.

Tuvok: Asking female officers for their clothing could lead to misunderstanding.

After knocking out Rand for her uniform so Janeway could blend in, Tuvok says the most perfect thing ever in the most Vulcan way possible.

“Mr. Neelix, I would prefer not to hear the life history of my breakfast.”: My biggest gripe about this episode is… DID THEY GET THE SIRILLIUM? I mean, it’s the whole reason they went to the nebula and we don’t get a resolution, come on! The mind-meld this time reminds me of the Pensieve from Harry Potter in that Janeway was able to be an observer in a memory. It’s a medical mystery that turns out to be something Tuvok has been carrying around with him for 80+ years. I was hoping to find out something about Tuvok’s childhood, but this was a fun curve ball as it was something completely unexpected. I was so excited to see Sulu, Rand, and Kang and thought it was also a nice touch to show just how fucking old Tuvok is. I wonder how many Vulcans have several careers, like Tuvok, or do they all devote their entire lives to something like Sarek did. It was also nice to learn something new about Tuvok that Janeway didn’t even know, that he was a bit prejudiced and jaded, that he eventually came to his own terms about Starfleet and humanity, that he chose to raise a family for 50 years before heading back out into space. This episode had its problems, but it was a lot of fun. 7 bags of BBQ potato chips and a nice dip to go along with it.

TA Out!