VOY: “Parallax” and “Time and Again”

Date: September 8, 2020

Season 1, Episodes 2 and 3

Musical Accompaniment: Disney piano music

Interstellar News: Four loads of laundry complete and one hell of an emotionally draining day, ugh.

“Parallax” in TL;DR: Janeway is trying to best manage the crew and Chakotay advocates for some of the Maquis to be promoted. They run into a spatial distortion and notice a ship being pulled into the singularity so they try to help. Nothing works so they try to visit another planet for help when they realize they haven’t moved and they are the ones stuck in the singularity and it was a reflection of their ship… insert some technobabble about temporal mechanics here. Janeway and Torres geek out over figuring out a way to bust a hole and totally bond, even finishing each other’s sentences, and also have to make the hard choice to figure out which Voyager to get back on because one isn’t real. The choose wisely, Paris does some fine piloting, and Torres is promoted to Chief Engineer. All the while, the EMH’s projector is malfunctioning and no one remembers to fix it so he keeps shrinking.

The ship from Event Horizon
This is not the event horizon you are looking for. Fun fact, I’m not allowed to watch this movie because husband says it’s “nightmare fuel”.

Favorite Quote:

Kes: I’ve been thinking that you might be able to convert one of your lower decks into a hydroponics bay to grow your own food. I understand that the replicators are down and that the emergency rations won’t hold out much longer.

Kim: What about Cargo Bay 2? It was designed for organic storage and it already has adjustable environmental controls.

Janeway: When can you start?

Kes: Me?

Janeway: It’s your idea. It’s your project.

Janeway giving Kes a project, because what else is she going to do?

“If you’re wrong, we’re going to have a long time to debate it.”: There’s a bit of “The Immunity Syndrome” here and a lot of “Where Silence Has Lease” but of course with a Voyager twist. I loved that Janeway gave Kes a project because it was her idea but then hated that she basically turned about and gave Carey Torres’s idea simply because he’s an OG Starfleet officer. I get that the Maquis joined their crew out of necessity and Janeway isn’t just going to promote them above Starfleet officers, but at the same time she’s LOST IN SPACE and needs the best people in the positions. I also liked that Chakotay is trying to make the best of a bad situation, he could have easily been plotting to take over the ship.

a some-ecard with two women "Oh no! we have nothing to talk about without men!"
Janeway and Torres pass the Bechdel-Wallace Test with flying colors

My favorite part, though, was when Janeway and Torres do the thing when two people get on the same wavelength and finish each other’s sentences… it was fantastic. Janeway is totally a science nerd in a similar way that Sisko showed his love for engineering. I can totally see young boys and girls watching this show and seeing that anyone can do science and it’s totally cool. Their chemistry also shines when they’re in the shuttlecraft together. Torres is so sure but so is Janeway so they each present their argument and ultimately Janeway reasons in a way that would make Tuvok proud, plus she’s the captain, and Torres abides. I also enjoyed the EMH because he just wants his program to run correctly and for people to remember to use him properly: state the medical emergency and turn off the program when you’re done. It’s just like when you leave a room and make sure to turn the lights off or shut the front door and lock up when you leave the house. A very good second episode that earns itself 6 sun-butter and jelly sandwiches, so as not to kill me.

“Time and Again” in TL;DR: Paris is trying to get Kim to go on a double date with him when they’re hit by a wave, there’s been a horrible accident at a nearby planet. Tuvok, Janeway, Paris, and Torres beam down to investigate when Paris and Janeway are sucked into a subspace fracture and are on the planet one day before the accident. Kes is having some visions and goes to the EMH for assistance, but there’s no brain scan on record for her and the EMH is shocked to find out there’s new crew members that he doesn’t have a file for. Janeway and Paris discuss the Prime Directive but then come to realize that they’re the reason for the planet’s destruction. As Kim and Torres try to save them, Janeway stops it which resets everything to the top of the episode. Kes comes to the bridge and is delighted to see the planet is undamaged.

Favorite Quote:

EMH: Another crew. That’s nice. This is the Emergency Medical Holographic system to Captain Janeway.

Neelix: She’s not on board. She’s missing on the surface of a planet.

EMH: Missing. The Captain is missing. It seems I’ve found myself on the Voyage of the Damned. Very well. Please advise the highest ranking officer who is not missing, to see me at his earliest convenience. You may shut off my program now.

The EMH has had enough revelations for the day.

“You have a lovely brain. Everybody should drink plenty of fluids.”: Kes reminds me of Guinan in “Yesterday’s Enterprise” where she knows something happened, isn’t quite sure what’s real, and then settles on being happy that all is “right” in the universe again. The EMH is overwhelmed by the limits of his programming, his being used so much more often than before, and having responsibility he wasn’t prepared to handle. The exasperation can be heard in his voice and seen in his face. He’s this very interesting mix between Vic Fontaine, Data, and the sassiest bits of Sisko.

The title of this episode made me think of this sound by The Counting Crows.

The bulk of the episode focuses on Janeway, Paris, and the Prime Directive. On one hand I understand Janeway’s position. They don’t know anything about this area of space or anything about the inhabitants of the planet, and it’s not their job to interfere. However Paris has a point that now that they’re there and in the past, why not find out what happened and see if they can prevent it? Maybe Voyager was sent to right the wrongs of history in the Delta quadrant, no wait we’re not in an episode of Quantum Leap. The improv skills must be taught at the Academy because I can’t imagine this many people in the 24th century are that good at lying when thrown into an unusual situation. Paris jumping in front of the kid and being shot helps to try to redeem Paris, but he’s also shown twice in the same episode being proud of his cheating ways… so it’s a wash. Janeway has no idea what’s going to happen, but she realizes she’s got to do something and it takes a lot of courage to do what she did. Overall, I’m over time travel episodes for a while. I’d like 6 rolls of sushi, please.

TA Out!

VOY: “Caretaker: Parts 1 & 2”

Date: September 7, 2020

Season 1, Episode 1

Musical Accompaniment: I’m feeling this violin mix today

Interstellar News: For the first time in at least five years, I did not have Labor Day off. Husband did, though, and was able to get some things done that have been on his to do list for some time. Oh, and we bought a couch that won’t be ready until November and I’m not sure why.

As we’re starting a new series, I though it was time for a bit of a change. The summary, now titled “TL;DR” will be just enough to remind you what the episode was about. If you’ve never seen it, this is probably not the post you should be reading. I’ll still keep my favorite quote(s) and my thoughts, as always.

TL;DR: A Maquis ship (led by Chakotay) goes missing and Voyager (captained by Janeway) goes after them in the hopes to rescue their Security Chief (Tuvok) and arrest the Maquis. An entity known as “the Caretaker” abducts both ships in the hopes of finding a suitable replacement as he’s dying and has been taking care of the Ocampa people. Unfortunately for them the Caretaker lives in the Delta quadrant, 70,000 light years (75 calendar years) away from home. The crews work together to rescue Kim (Starfleet) and Torres (Maquis) and they receive help from Neelix and Kes, but eventually Janeway makes the decision to destroy the array once the Caretaker dies so that the enemies of the Ocampa will not destroy them. They combine the crews, determined to still explore new worlds, but also to make it home before 75 years have elapsed.

The Caretaker's array
“It’s not crunch time yet, Mister Kim. I’ll let you know when.”

Favorite Quote:

Emergency Medical Hologram: That’s enough. This is a sickbay, not a conference room. Visiting hours are over. Everyone except my patient is to leave immediately.

Janeway: Computer, end Medical Holographic Program.

The EMH disappears.

Having already met Robert Picardo in “Doctor Bashir, I Presume?“, I’m super excited about the EMH

“Didn’t they warn you about Ferengi at the Academy?”: A new crew, a new introduction with new music, and a new format to my posts. The beginning of the episode gets me interested in all of these new characters, though it was great to get a glimpse of Quark and Morn. Also, the beginning of the episode started with a Satr Wars-esque word scroll, so that was fun.

Neelix, Kim, Kes, Paris, EMH (back row). Chakotay, Janeway, Tuvok, Torres (front row)
All the people

Chakotay is the first indigenous character I’ve seen outside of one TOS episode and when the Cardassians were being bullies in TNG and I’m happy to see him in a starring role. Torres is another half-Klingon half-human character who I’m instantly excited about because of my love for Klingons and K’Ehleyr. As soon as Janeway mentioned someone had infiltrated the Maquis, I knew it was Tuvok because Vulcans and renegades don’t really make sense. I’m also pretty sure Tuvok was in one of the DS9 Mirror Universe episodes, because he looks familiar. Paris is going to be a complete and utter tool and I’m pretty sure I’m going to hate him, especially with the things he said to Chakotay… simply vile. Kim is the green one on the team but I think I’m going to like watching him grow up. Most of the medical staff is killed so we get the EMH and I am totally going to love him, I can just tell. Neelix and Kes did not leave much of an impression for me, but maybe they’ll get better as time goes on. Last, but certainly not least, is Captain Janeway. She’s already so fantastic because she prefers to be addressed by her rank, which makes so much more sense than calling everyone “sir” , and does what she needs to do. I loved how she was a disheveled mess but multi tasked on the way down to engineering and fixed her hair because she’s the captain damn it and she needs to look nonplussed. Her decision at the end was perplexing, but she made the call and right away it shows us what kind of captain she’s going to be.

The parents from the Beverly Hillbillies TV show
Tell me the woman offering lemonade doesn’t look just like mama here…

I spent a lot of the episode muttering “what the fuck?”, especially when it looked like the Beverly Hillbillies had taken over the episode. I would have liked it better if the self-destruct had just worked and Janeway didn’t make the conscious decision to destroy the array, but I also understand she felt responsible once the Caretaker died. I didn’t understand, however, how the Kazon lived on a desert planet and couldn’t find water… but they had spaceships with firepower. Yeah, that totally makes sense (as I wave my hands in abject sarcasm). I was also disappointed that the speech at the end was so upbeat and there was no mention of the crew members on either side that were killed. I get during the middle of everything that there was so much going on and they were stranded, you don’t really have time to think about it. Once things settled down, however, there should have been some mention of the First Officer, the Chief Engineering, the entire damn medical staff, and any Maquis that were lost… but there was nothing. Stadi, for example, I was excited to get to know and I even gasped when she died because I thought she would at least be a recurring character. Overall I’m already invested in finding out how they cut 75 years into 7, but there’s still a lot of questions and some things that I just didn’t jive with. That leaves this season and series opener with 6.5 pumpkin spice donuts.

TA Out!

Star Trek: Insurrection

Date: September 6, 2020

Musical Accompaniment: Ahsoka Tano meditation music

Interstellar News: Today’s Sunday morning movie was Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. I rooted for three very smart dogs and the minor part played by Captain Janeway, who I will get to meet tomorrow when I start Voyager.

Luis-style Summary: We open to a scene that reminds me of “Paradise” followed by a duck blind as seen in “Who Watches the Watchers“. Data, apparently, has begun to run amok and he shoots at the duck blind exposing the Starfleet and So’na officers to the Ba’ku. On the Enterprise-E Worf arrives in the midst of the senior staff entertaining a new protectorate of the Federation and they get news of Data’s sudden behavior, so they ditch the party and head that way. Meanwhile, Data shoots at the So’na ship and we find out the So’na were allies of the Dominion. Picard and Worf try several tactics to try to recover Data but in the end it’s a song from a play that distracts Data enough for Worf to neutralize him.

“Mr. Worf, do you know Gilbert and Sullivan?”

The away team, with Picard because apparently Riker gave up that rule, beam down and meet the leaders of the village who have warp capability and know technology but have refused to use it (just like in “Paradise”!). La Forge finds out that Data was shot by the So’na and that’s what enacted his fail safe, so they travel to where he was shot and find a cloaked ship that’s set up as a holodeck that looks exactly like the planet they’re on. Turns on the So’na and Starfleet were going to pull a “Homeward” and transport those on the planet out while they were sleeping so they can harness the metaphasic radiation that keeps its inhabitants from growing older. In fact the Ba’ku have been there for over 300 years and the Enterprise‘s crew starts to see the effects, literally, as La Forge’s eyes work for the first time ever.

A cat with large eyes "Oh God! I can see forever!"
La Forge’s eyes were suuuuuuuper dilated.

The So’na and Admiral Dougherty meet up with Picard and Dougherty explains the mission, which Picard believes is an attack on the Prime Directive. Picard gets in civilian gear where he is joined by the rest of the senior staff, save Riker and La Forge who will take the Enterprise and go appear to the Federation Council while the others evacuate the village. About 100 people are transported out during the evacuation but the crew does everything they can to interfere. The So’na send ships to intercept the Enterprise and, guys, RIKER IS IN CHARGE OF THE SHIP. The ship is beat up but Riker is able to fend them off and not kill everyone, whew. The Ba’ku head into the caves, Picard and Anij fall in love, Data tries to understand Artim, and Crusher discovers the So’na are really Ba’ku.

Spider-man pointing at Spider-man
The Ba’ku and the So’na pointing at each other, right?

Apparently 100 years ago some of the younger Ba’ku wanted to explore, tried a coup, and were exiled when they failed. Two of those are Ru’afo and Gallatin who created the probe and are working with Dougherty. Ru’afo kills Dougherty when he’s asked to stop but Gallatin decides to help Picard because there are people still on the surface. With help from Worf and Data they are able to transport Ru’afo and his bridge to the holodeck of the ship from the planet to make them think the probe was successful when, in fact, it was stopped.Ru’afo figures out how to transport to the collector probe and Picard goes in after him. Picard sabotages it and Riker transports him out, leaving Ru’afo to die. Gallatin embraces his mother back on the planet and the So’na surrender. Picard vows to come visit Anij with his leave time, Data plays with Artim, and Riker and Troi hold hands as the credits roll and they beam up to the Enterprise.

TL;DR: An asshole admiral makes a deal with the So’na so that everyone can live forever, or at least for a long time. Picard and crew find out and put a stop to it because that would mean relocating the inhabitants of the planet, which is against the Prime Directive.

Favorite quotes:

Picard’s Poetry: “Some of the darkest chapters in the history of my world involve the forced relocation of a small group of people to satisfy the demands of a large one. I’d hoped we had learned from our mistakes, but it seems that some of us haven’t.”

Gallatin, seeing the Enterprise hurtling towards him: He wouldn’t?

Worf, talking about Riker: Yes, he would.

Worf may only say a few words but he says them with such gusto.

“How many people does it take before it becomes wrong?”: So this boils down to another asshole admiral in Starfleet who thinks they are doing something for “the greater good” but they never learn. While it’s awesome that the So’na try to relocate rather than kill the Ba’ku, Picard makes the very valid statement that it doesn’t matter how many people… it’s always wrong.

Frozone: "we're talking about the greater good"
“Honey, have you seen my super suit?”

There’s a little bit of everything in this movie. There’s humor when Data is a floating head, gets tricked into singing along, and when Crusher, Troi, Picard, and Riker are all talking at top speed because they’ve all been together for so long. Riker and Troi flirt in the most adorable way possible, Riker looks jovial and Troi looks like she’s having fun in the moment, but it’s all for the fans and doesn’t do anything for the plot. La Forge gets his moment to see, Worf suffers through Klingon puberty again, and Picard gets to have a romance with supernatural benefits. I do wish they talked more about slowing down time, because it was quite interesting and more supernatural than science fiction. I loved that Data’s “feral” state is to always be the good guy and that he tries so hard to be loved by all, especially children. He’s always been fascinated by children (looking at you “Pen Pals“) and he admits it’s because he never had a childhood so he can’t really understand it. I loved that everyone got to shoot the drones, Crusher and Troi included, and it felt very much like Duck Hunt.

Duck Hunt video game screen
“Definitely feeling aggressive tendencies, sir.”

I dislike that they let Ru’afo die in such a horrible manner, they are not supposed to kill the bad guys unless absolutely necessary. Riker could have totally locked onto both lifeforms and gotten them both out before the explosion. I also didn’t really like the dress whites and that’s mostly because that’s a HORRIBLE decision to have WHITE be the primary color. You can always tell when something gets dirty when it’s white, always. I’m sure there are other things wrong with this movie, but nothing bothered me as much as this. I mean yeah, why is the Federation doing shady deals with Dominion allies? Who were the aliens on the Enterprise and why don’t we get to know more about them? Why did the Federation have a cloaked vessel? How are they going to stop people from finding this planet? Although there wasn’t a lot of “bad” in this movie, it somehow didn’t have as much gusto as First Contact and it certainly wasn’t as compelling as the story of II – IV. In the end, it’s all about the message… don’t remove people from their homes.

Movie rating: In comparison to the other movies on my Rankings page, I believe it earns itself a warp 6.7, but this is only because I rate it between The Search for Spock and The Undiscovered Country and my movie rating system is all messed up. I truly enjoyed the trio of Star Trek II, III, and IV and this movie was a bit of an mixture of several different episodes.

TA Out!

Dragon Con Goes Virtual

Date: September 5, 2020

Dragon Con Goes Virtual
2021, I am so looking forward to you.

As everything since March 2020 has been basically cancelled and conventions have gone online, so has Dragon Con this year.

As such, they have 24 hours of programming on three different channels plus the different tracks have their programming.

My favorite, by far, is the American Sci-Fi Classics Track run by Gary and Joe.

Tonight they announced a special Roll-A-Panel and I can’t miss it, so my post on Star Trek: Insurrection will have to wait until tomorrow.

Enjoy the Con and be safe.

TA Out!

DS9: Series Finale “What You Leave Behind: Parts 1 & 2”

Date: September 4, 2020

Season 7, Episode 25

Musical Accompaniment: The Shadow soundtrack

Interstellar News: Another Day of Dragon Con Goes Virtual with two panels this evening and watching DCTV all day. I’m still so bummed about missing out on everything this year. Tomorrow I will watch Insurrection and on Sunday I will begin Voyager.

So what had happened was…: Bashir and Ezri wake up together and make a pact not to die in the war. O’Brien is going to teach at the Academy after the war is over, but hasn’t had the heart to tell Bashir yet. Yates has awful morning sickness. Odo is joining the crew of the new-Defiant in the hopes of finding Kira. Sisko gets a vision from his Prophet Mother. Quark and Vic play cards while everyone is off finishing the war.

Go Fish card game
Quark and Vic play “Go Fish” because tongo isn’t in Vic’s programming

The Founder promises the Breen whatever they want, specifically Earth and Romulus, because she just wants the war over. Garak, Damar, and Kira inspire the workers to revolt and there’s power failure all over Cardassia. The Founder orders a city to be leveled as penance for the people uprising, but that simply inspires more Cardassians to turn. The battle on the front lines begins and the Founder has no idea at how it’s progressing. The trio is caught in Mila’s basement, she is killed for her trouble, but the Cardassian guards shoot the Jem’Hadar so the trio can escape. Communication is restored and they see the Cardassian fleet has started to fire on the Dominion, so the Founder orders all Cardassians to be destroyed, immediately. The Breen move to the front lines and most of the Jem’Hadar are carrying out the Cardassian genocide orders when Damar, Garak, and Kira storm the castle. Damar dies, Garak kills Weyoun, and Kira tries to reason with the Founder who is insistent on the Federation and its allies losing resources even if the Dominion fails, it won’t surrender.

Never give up, never surrender - from Galaxy Quest
What’s more perfect than a Star Trek meme? A Galaxy Quest meme.

By this time the Federation/Klingon/Romulan forces have made it to Cardassia Prime and Odo beams down to try to reason with the Founder. He links with her, cures her, and she finally orders the troops to stand down. She will stand trial to be judged for her crimes while Odo will return to the Great Link to heal them and teach them about all he’s learned from the solids. Ross and Sisko pour out some bloodwine for their homies while Martok drinks straight from the bottle remembering his. Garak is bittersweet about being home.

Dr. Evil "pour one out for my homies"
I loved it when Martok said “Humans. Pah.” and something in Klingon with such disgust.

On Bajor Dukat and his sight are back. He and Winn go to free the Pah-wraiths, but first Winn has to bring fire to the fire caves. Winn blesses some wine and shares it with Dukat only for him to find out it’s poisoned and he dies as the sacrifice the Pah-wraiths demanded. The senior staff return to DS9 and everyone heads to a party at Vic’s. Sisko has to leave abruptly as he senses a disturbance in the Force. The Pah-wraiths have taken over Dukat, Winn belatedly tries to destroy the book but is engulfed in flames for her trouble, so Sisko tackles Dukat over the cliff and into the flames. Sisko is met by his mother who tells him the Pah-wraiths are now forever sealed in the cave and he can now stay in the Celestial Temple to help bridge the gap between the Bajorans and the wormhole aliens.

HERCULES (disney) on the steps of Mount Olympus
Sisko being asked to join the Celestial Temple reminded me of when Hercules was asked to join the gods on Mount Olympus.

Back on the station Yates has a vision from Sisko who tells her he’ll be back at some point, but his work isn’t done. She takes care of Jake who puts the finishing touches on the model house. Worf and Martok head to Qo’noS so Worf can be the Federation Ambassador to the Klingon Empire and Martok can do Chancellor things. The O’Briens pack up and move to Earth and the rest of the crew, including Quark, reminisce and have flashbacks. Odo tries to do the Irish goodbye, but is stopped by Quark, and he and Kira get to the Great Link so Odo can save them. Kira becomes the commander of DS9 and Nog is promoted. The episode ends with Jake looking out and the wormhole opening.

Favorite Quotes:

Bashir: I’m sure we’ll see each other again.

Garak: I’d like to think so, but one can never say. We live in uncertain times.

Garak certainly captures the mood of 2020.
Everyone at Vic's
“This may be the last time we’re all together, but no matter what the future holds, no matter how far we travel, a part of us, a very important part, will always remain here on Deep Space Nine.”

Vic: Hey, pallie. If you’re here for another game of ‘go fish,’ I’m a little busy right now.

QUARK: Actually, I’m here for the end of the war goodbye to Chief O’Brien goodbye to Odo goodbye to Worf party.

Apparently, they have a lot to celebrate.

“All right, I’ll prepare some food. Nobody should die on an empty stomach.”: A few items before I begin. An “Irish goodbye”, as described to me by one of my Irish friends is when you duck out of the party without saying goodbye to anyone because you don’t want to make a big deal out of leaving. This is contrasted with the “Italian goodbye” where it takes two hours to leave the party because you have to say goodbye to each person and then you start bullshitting with one another, and all of a sudden it’s 2 am. I say all that because Mila is totally the Italian grandmother of the bunch, making sure they’re all fed before they go off to war.

I thought the episode was over, and then it kept going. The pacing felt weird and they kept wrapping things up. In fact, I completely forgot about Winn and Dukat in the caves and was thinking the party at Vic’s and a little montage would be the end, but nooooooooo we still had like 20 minutes of episode left. The beginning of the episode was great as it showed what everyone was doing on the station, on Cardassia, and even on Bajor. There was a lot to wrap up and eventually we got there. The Dominion was going to kill as many solids as they could even if they were going to lose, because those resources could not be replaced as easily. There’s an urgency with the Klingons, Federation, and Romulans (not that they’re seen really) to have this war over even if it will cost, because it’s been going on for too long. This wasn’t the strongest series finale ever, but it at least answered a ton of questions that were still lingering and wrapped up several story lines. Odo realizes it’s finally time to heal his people not just from the disease but also from their fear of the solids, it’s why he was sent out in the first place. Sisko also realizes he needs to bridge the gap between his people (humans/Bajorans) and his other people (the wormhole aliens/Prophets) and he knows that Jake and Yates will have each other while he is gone doing important Emissary work. I still rank DS9 as my favorite Trek so far but this season finale lowers the overall rank of the season a bit for me. 6 shots of flavored rum, pick your favorite.

The title of this episode reminds me of a song by Sister Hazel:

“Take It With Me” from Lighter in the Dark, an excellent and recent album

TA Out!