The Star Trek Thread, Phase II

I do like the handling of Chakotay. He could have been a character who believed in a very strong sense of right and wrong more than any oath to Starfleet, hence why left to join the Maquis. It's better than him being Janeways' neutered lapdog and could have lead to strong conflict between them.


"Fuck that."

VOY: "Survival Instinct"

Ron and Vaughn make this one worth it.

VOY: "Barge of the Dead"

Interesting. Bye bye, Ron.

Pretty amazing that it took three episodes of VOY for Ron to throw in the towel after being with Trek for a whole decade. It must have been like watching the olde KTBEU get nuked, and then seeing nuMI6 as the result, he just couldn't tolerate it.

I've always assumed it was like working in retail; he led a charmed existence for a time, then fell prey to the kinds of politics that don't even have the slightest rational basis, and can't be defended against except by walking away.

VOY: "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy"

Went and read Syke's review. Wow, I actually really enjoyed this episode. To me it just... worked. And it's rare that I actually enjoy an episode of VOYAGER.

I have to say, I've always written off Jeri Ryan as a pair of tits in a catsuit, but she's actually very appealling.

VOY: "Alice"

wut?

I knew something was wrong when Chakotay remarked "We have a full complement of shuttles..."

The lady who played Alice is hot.

VOY: "Riddles"

Are the writers of VOYAGER reading my mind? How could they have known that I've always wanted to see an episode where Tuvok and Neelix become best buddies?

:roll:

But hey, Mark Moses!

(pics of Tuvok choking Neelix)

Tuvok: Riddle me this, Mr. Neelix. How can you breath when I cut off your air supply with my powerful Vulcan grip? What's that? I can not hear you, you will have to speak up. Oh right, you can't because I'm cutting off your air supply with my powerful Vulcan grip.

VOY: "Dragon's Teeth"

Watchable. *shrug*

The White Tuxedo wrote:

VOY: "Riddles"

Are the writers of VOYAGER reading my mind? How could they have known that I've always wanted to see an episode where Tuvok and Neelix become best buddies?

:roll:

Huh, I don't even remember that one at all. Maybe it's good I'm forgetting VOY.

Or maybe I missed the point of the episode. I attention faded in and out.

I swear there are like four different "Tuvok and Neelix set aside their differences and learn to be friends" episodes.

VOY: "One Small Step"

I enjoyed it as a sorta TOSish kinda episode. However, I don't buy Seven getting choked up.

One thing that I like in Trek shows (and it's something that my concept series APOLLO sorely lacks because I could never figure out how to fit it in) is having characters with distincty "non-human" outlooks. Spock in TOS. Data and Worf in TNG. Odo, Quark, Dax, and Worf again (and better) in DS9. The Doctor, Tuvok, and Seven in VOY. T'Pol and somewhat Phlox in ENT.

They simply see things differently or have a different experience than the human characters. Sometimes they catch shit for it, especially the Vulcanians. That's par for the course, though you'd think an organization like Starfleet, who wears tolerance on their spandex sleeve, would stop trying to ramrod human values down other's throats. Anyway, what bugs me is when the writers of the episode try to change these chracters and make them more human. Seven is a Borg, it's all she's ever known. Who is to say that she has to abandon that and be like everyone else. It would be much more interesting from a writing standpoint to have her be the voice of that way of thinking, much like Spock was the voice of logic in TOS. But I digress.

The other thing that I didn't buy in this episode was Chakotay drooling over this Mars mission. I just don't buy Chakotay as a scientist. Not everyone in Starfleet has to be a wide-eyed, do-gooder. Starfleet isn't NASA. It's NASA meets the US Navy. DS9 gets this, where not everyone in Starfleet is obsessed with science and exploration. It's also a military organization, if only for protective purposes. It's totally valid for someone to join Starfleet to serve a more martial purpose. And that's how I see Chakotay. I'd say he's a little like Sisko in that (this is how I'd have him be) he's the guy you'd want commanding your unit in a fight. He's a natural leader, and you know he'll go to the mat for anyone on his team. That's who I think Chakotay is.

Anyway, I enjoyed the episode. I just think it should have been someone other than Chakotay.

Yeah, one thing that aggravates me about VOY is how totally inconsistent the character's interests are. Chakotay is suddenly really into archeology in one episode, for instance.

Look at TNG, a show where the character's personalities usually boiled down to "race, job, one hobby", but at least that was consistent all the way through. Riker liked jazz, Picard liked archeology, Data liked painting, etc. etc.

VOY just invents backstory and interests for the characters on a whim. Look at an episode like "Thirty Days" where SUDDENLY Paris is all "I always wanted to be a sailor" when everything we knew about him screamed "fighter pilot" more or less.

It also annoys me that there is always one character really into 20th century Earth. Sulu, Riker, Bashir, Paris, Tucker etc. That always felt cheap. Sulu was pretty mild, Riker's interest was filtered through a primary interest in jazz, and Bashir it grew out of his spy fantasies -- but with Paris it's just silly.

The White Tuxedo wrote:

"Hey, Hill. Did I ever tell you how I'm really into the 11th century?"
"..."

"An intruder in 4MMR, I say again, an intruder in 4MMR..."

"He's a retard or something!"

VOY: "The Voyager Conspiracy"

Seven's theories are so easy to poke holes in that it's not even fun.

The episode itself has a massive hole. Seven's paranoia is set off by discovering that the catapult is powered by the same kind of reactor as the Caretaker Array, and her investigations show that some kind of cloaked vessel tractored the reactor off of the Array as it exploded for unknown reasons. While she works this into her first two theories, once it's found out that Seven has been malfunctioning and is talked down, this detail is completely forgotten about and never explained. Who tractored the Array reactor and why? Was it the same one as in the catapult? The episode doesn't care.

VOY: "Pathfinder"

Well, I liked it. Barclay seems to be such a genius that his emotional issues don't keep from getting kicked out of Starfleet. But even though he saves the day, is he gonna get any more counselling?

I didn't like how his problems weren't actually resolved. It's like, yes your crazy theory was right, but you're still fucked up.

"Good Shepherd"
This is an episode that should've been done in season three or something, but I guess it takes this long for the writers to realize there are other people on the ship than the main cast. After all, "Lower Decks" (TNG) was in seventh season and that's basically what this episode is ripping off. I do like the notion that there are people on Voyager who thought they'd be onboard for a year and were never suited to the idea of a long trip and were now falling through the cracks. I also like the implication that part of the problem is there's no room to grow, personally. No one's getting transferred or promoted so the same seven people go on all the away missions and if you were a third grade sensor analyst six years ago, you're still one now. But I find it infinitely frustrating that the contrivance that makes the mission go awry, that seems to chase and wreck the Delta Flyer, that the characters debate the nature of and that the episode provides interesting clues about, is NEVER EXPLAINED AT ALL. The crew is rescued and THAT'S IT. Fuck this show.
And I liked this more when it was called "Lower Decks".
# of Crew: 138 Total -- 118 Starfleet, 13 Maquis, 7 Civilians
# of Shuttles: -4
# of Warp Cores: 2
# of Photon Torpedoes: -36
# of Gel Packs: 30
Distance to Alpha Quadrant: 25,521.8 lightyears
Opportunities to Get Home Missed: 11

All I remember of that was Jay Underwood playing an asshole and Tom Morello's cameo.

VOY: "Fair Haven"

I can't believe how shitty this episode is. Janeway becomes Barclay? Up there with "A Night in Sickbay" as one of the worst handlings of a Trek captain in the franchise.

And it's a shitty program! It doesn't even look like Ireland. Near the end, cuz I was zoning out from sheer boredom, did someone raise concerns during a time when the ship was in danger that Tom's new holoprogram might get fucked up?

Is anyone actually going to pay money ($12.50) to see this on the big screen?

http://cinemark.com/movie-detail.aspx?node_id=70164

Furthermore, the 2 episodes they chose as being "most popular" for ST TNG, I totally disagree!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708698/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708842/

Popular with who?

Someone who doesn't know anything about Star Trek?

j7wild wrote:

Popular with who?

With me.

I hate STAR TREK.

That's why I dig THE VOYAGE HOME.

j7wild wrote:

Is anyone actually going to pay money ($12.50) to see this on the big screen?

http://cinemark.com/movie-detail.aspx?node_id=70164

Furthermore, the 2 episodes they chose as being "most popular" for ST TNG, I totally disagree!!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708698/

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0708842/

Popular with who?

Someone who doesn't know anything about Star Trek?

Why would they show FIRST SEASON TNG on the big screen?? Those episodes are HORRIBLE!