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Jan. 24th, 2021 01:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skygiantsI absolutely did not notice when we slipped from S1 to S2 of Voyager until innerbrat pointed it out midway through the second or third episode of the season. Anyway! We're in season 2 now!
13. Cathexis
Okay, so in this episode:
- a mysterious alien force is possessing Voyager crew members and causing them to sabotage the ship
- meanwhile, Chakotay has been very-nearly-killed by the mysterious force, but his ghost is floating around the ship stalking his murderer
- everyone spends the entire episode trying to figure out who's doing the sabotage and accusing each other of being sus
In other words, it's Voyager: Among Us! A great time had by all until the very end when it turns out that Tuvok was the imposter the entire time and then completely failed to give us a cathartic post-possession scene between Tuvok and Janeway -- it was literally just three episodes ago that Janeway was expressing how Tuvok was the person she trusted and relied upon most! Why even do a possession plot if you're not going to lean into the incredible angst of being forced to betray the person who trusts and relies upon you the most against your will! Voyager, what are you doing!!!
Anyway. It's fine. I'm over it. The Among Us episode was fun. It's FINE.
14. Faces
THIS EPISODE WAS NOT FINE. THIS EPISODE WAS BAD.
Okay, so here, Paris, B'Elanna, and a doomed redshirt get captured by the organ-stealing aliens -- and may I remind everyone that Janeway let the organ-stealing aliens go last time with a promise that they won't steal organs from Voyager anymore? Yeah. That worked out great. ANYWAY. The organ-stealing aliens split B'Elanna into her component human and Klingon halves ... the Klingon half is VERY VIOLENT and VERY ANGRY and does not a single bit of engineering and the human half is weak and sad and cries a lot and it all feels incredibly biologically essentialist and horrible.
And, like, the thing is -- B'Elanna's conflicted relationship with her Klingon heritage is interesting and messy and complicated and if this episode had been all internal? If the whole Human B'Elanna and Klingon B'Elanna thing had been a holosuite metaphor or something? I wouldn't have hated it! But the fact that it happens literally on the show, that we are expected to believe that this is how people literally work, that you can split someone with multiple heritages into their component bits and each half will display All Stereotypical Traits Of That Heritage and none of the rest of it, and that feels bad, actually. (Human B'Elanna is also notably whiter-looking than Klingon B'Elanna, because this metaphor about science fiction racism wasn't uncomfortable enough already.)
(Also, B'Elanna was raised by her Klingon mother, not her human father, and yet her mother is hardly mentioned at all in this episode about B'Elanna's relationship to her Klingon heritage, which seems! an oversight!)
In the end Klingon B'Elanna sacrifices herself for Human B'Elanna, because of course, who then asks to stay Human B'Elanna but has to have her Klingon heritage re-engineered back into her for health reasons. The fact that the rest of the episode contained Tom Paris being heroic and a redshirt dying in face-stealing body horror was just the cherry on the Least Favorite Episode So Far cake.
15. Jetrel
This Sad Real World Metaphors episode, on the other hand, I did not hate! In this one we learn that Neelix's people were involved in a messy war which ended when their adversaries deployed a space nuclear bomb, the inventor of which is now traveling the galaxy warning people who might suffer from subsequent space radiation sickness. What I like about this episode:
- we don't know any of the underlying causes of the war or if there was a 'good' or a 'bad' side before the war
- Neelix lies about having been in the army when in fact he was a conscientious objector and draft dodger; his feelings about the war are really messy in a way that leaves a lot open for nuance
- the overall gist is about taking responsibility for atrocities and war crimes
The actual plot is clunky and Kes continues to be a character who exists only to be a helpful sounding board for other people's feelings, but overall I still liked this quite a bit more than I expected to.
16. Learning Curve
This is a Tuvok episode AND an episode that acknowledges that the Voyager and the Maquis crews are still having problems! Despite these signs of promise, I did not like it, mostly because it seemed like such a patently bad idea to try and improve the morale of Maquis crew members who didn't want to be in Starfleet by forcing them to go through horrible non-voluntary Starfleet boot camp that I truly could not believe that both Janeway and Chakotay were like "yeah, sounds great! This'll do the trick!"
Also, despite the fact that they gained points by remembering the difference between the Maquis and Starfleet crews, they promptly lost them again immediately by the fact that no one remembered Tuvok was a Maquis traitor and spy and someone really probably should have been still mad about that instead of just "mad because Tuvok runs a strict boot camp."
That said I hope we see some of these one-off Maquis crew members again, I would like to know more about the Saddest and Angriest Teen Bajoran.
Season Two
1. The 37's
This is some truly top tier Star Trek nonsense -- the Voyager crew follows an ancient SOS back to a planet where they find a bunch of Earth humans from 1937 in statis! including AMELIA EARHART! -- and is really enjoyable as such, except for the fact that it truly beggars all belief that Amelia Earhart would not want to come along on subsequent adventures. Every episode since then has featured at least one moment where one of us announces, "if Amelia Earhart were here, AS SHE SHOULD BE, this plotline --"
And look: we know why Amelia Earhart did not get to come along. Amelia Earhart did not get to come along because Janeway spends the entire episode ardently flirting with her and if Amelia Earhart stayed around everything would immediately get too gay for the network to be comfortable with it. However, there is an AU version of the show where they ditch Paris with the nice retrofuture human civilization on this planet and bring Amelia Earhart along instead and I do wish that version were available for me to watch.
That said, I'm not sure why Frank Noonan was the semi-antagonist of the episode, but I did really love:
FRANK NOONAN: I'm dying! Amelia, I have to tell you, I've always loved you!
AMELIA EARHART: uhhhhhhhhh
THE DOCTOR: Okay, fixed. You're fine.
FRANK NOONAN: ..... please forget I said that.
AMELIA EARHART: thank god! forgetting IMMEDIATELY!
2. Initiations
Chakotay adopts a horrible teen who wants to kill him!
ME: aww, I like this kid, he reminds me of Nog somehow!
DEBI: well, that would be because he is played by Aron Eisenberg
ME: ....... yes that would be wouldn't it
I am almost as sad about the fact that they couldn't keep Kar the Horrible Kazon Teen on DS9 as I am about the fact that they couldn't keep Amelia Earhart, but I understand that Aron Eisenberg was busy and Nog is very important. Nonetheless!
There's a B-plot about the Voyager crew attempting to locate Chakotay and his horrible teen, but almost nothing happens in it except technobabble. We have decided that part of the problem with Voyager right now is that every episode rests entirely on its A-plot and they have not yet actually learned how B-plots work.
3. Projections
Weird Holo Shenanigans wherein a projection of Lieutenant Barclay from TNG tries to convince the Doctor that he's a real person and everything about Voyager is a simulation. I have never met Barclay on TNG andinnerbrat hates him with a fiery passion and both of these probably had an impact on my overall assessment of this episode as 'moderately dull' and 'kind of pointless'.
4. Elogium
Janeway is trying so hard to respectfully investigate some alien life forms when the alien life forms unfortunately decide that the Voyager spaceship is very sexy and attempt to mate with it, causing Kes to fall immediately into alien puberty heat and decide whether she wants to use her one chance THIS VERY MINUTE to have a baby with Neelix or nah.
Any time when we have to think too hard about the Kes/Neelix relationship, especially in context of the fact that Kes is two years old, is usually not a good time and this is no exception. That said, I'm awarding mild bonus points for the fact that Kes gets to have at least some emotions and opinions that are not about being a sounding board for the emotions and opinions of male characters, and also for the fact that Janeway expresses some extremely sound reproductive ethics, namely "I don't love the idea of babies onship but I am not going to restrict anyone's choices about sex and pregnancy so if babies happen we will Just Have To Cope."
In the end, babies do not happen for Kes, but they do happen for a one-off named crewperson who will probably never be seen again. I'll be pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong!
5. Non Sequitur
Harry Kim wakes up in an alternate universe where he never joined the Voyager crew and instead has a really lovely life with a great job and fiancee in San Francisco. Somewhat hilariously, Harry is not tempted for even ten seconds by his lovely life and beautiful fiancee and great job and high-walkability-score San Francisco apartment! He's got to get back to Voyager right away to suffer with all of his friends! IT'S THE ONLY ETHICAL CHOICE!
I am 90% sure that 90% of the reason this episode exists is so the writers can have the exchange "I'm going to Marseille!" "Why?" "To see Paris!" "But you just said you were going to Marseilles!" and in all honesty I cannot blame them for it.
innerbrat pointed it out midway through the second or third episode of the season. Anyway! We're in season 2 now! 13. Cathexis
Okay, so in this episode:
- a mysterious alien force is possessing Voyager crew members and causing them to sabotage the ship
- meanwhile, Chakotay has been very-nearly-killed by the mysterious force, but his ghost is floating around the ship stalking his murderer
- everyone spends the entire episode trying to figure out who's doing the sabotage and accusing each other of being sus
In other words, it's Voyager: Among Us! A great time had by all until the very end when it turns out that Tuvok was the imposter the entire time and then completely failed to give us a cathartic post-possession scene between Tuvok and Janeway -- it was literally just three episodes ago that Janeway was expressing how Tuvok was the person she trusted and relied upon most! Why even do a possession plot if you're not going to lean into the incredible angst of being forced to betray the person who trusts and relies upon you the most against your will! Voyager, what are you doing!!!
Anyway. It's fine. I'm over it. The Among Us episode was fun. It's FINE.
14. Faces
THIS EPISODE WAS NOT FINE. THIS EPISODE WAS BAD.
Okay, so here, Paris, B'Elanna, and a doomed redshirt get captured by the organ-stealing aliens -- and may I remind everyone that Janeway let the organ-stealing aliens go last time with a promise that they won't steal organs from Voyager anymore? Yeah. That worked out great. ANYWAY. The organ-stealing aliens split B'Elanna into her component human and Klingon halves ... the Klingon half is VERY VIOLENT and VERY ANGRY and does not a single bit of engineering and the human half is weak and sad and cries a lot and it all feels incredibly biologically essentialist and horrible.
And, like, the thing is -- B'Elanna's conflicted relationship with her Klingon heritage is interesting and messy and complicated and if this episode had been all internal? If the whole Human B'Elanna and Klingon B'Elanna thing had been a holosuite metaphor or something? I wouldn't have hated it! But the fact that it happens literally on the show, that we are expected to believe that this is how people literally work, that you can split someone with multiple heritages into their component bits and each half will display All Stereotypical Traits Of That Heritage and none of the rest of it, and that feels bad, actually. (Human B'Elanna is also notably whiter-looking than Klingon B'Elanna, because this metaphor about science fiction racism wasn't uncomfortable enough already.)
(Also, B'Elanna was raised by her Klingon mother, not her human father, and yet her mother is hardly mentioned at all in this episode about B'Elanna's relationship to her Klingon heritage, which seems! an oversight!)
In the end Klingon B'Elanna sacrifices herself for Human B'Elanna, because of course, who then asks to stay Human B'Elanna but has to have her Klingon heritage re-engineered back into her for health reasons. The fact that the rest of the episode contained Tom Paris being heroic and a redshirt dying in face-stealing body horror was just the cherry on the Least Favorite Episode So Far cake.
15. Jetrel
This Sad Real World Metaphors episode, on the other hand, I did not hate! In this one we learn that Neelix's people were involved in a messy war which ended when their adversaries deployed a space nuclear bomb, the inventor of which is now traveling the galaxy warning people who might suffer from subsequent space radiation sickness. What I like about this episode:
- we don't know any of the underlying causes of the war or if there was a 'good' or a 'bad' side before the war
- Neelix lies about having been in the army when in fact he was a conscientious objector and draft dodger; his feelings about the war are really messy in a way that leaves a lot open for nuance
- the overall gist is about taking responsibility for atrocities and war crimes
The actual plot is clunky and Kes continues to be a character who exists only to be a helpful sounding board for other people's feelings, but overall I still liked this quite a bit more than I expected to.
16. Learning Curve
This is a Tuvok episode AND an episode that acknowledges that the Voyager and the Maquis crews are still having problems! Despite these signs of promise, I did not like it, mostly because it seemed like such a patently bad idea to try and improve the morale of Maquis crew members who didn't want to be in Starfleet by forcing them to go through horrible non-voluntary Starfleet boot camp that I truly could not believe that both Janeway and Chakotay were like "yeah, sounds great! This'll do the trick!"
Also, despite the fact that they gained points by remembering the difference between the Maquis and Starfleet crews, they promptly lost them again immediately by the fact that no one remembered Tuvok was a Maquis traitor and spy and someone really probably should have been still mad about that instead of just "mad because Tuvok runs a strict boot camp."
That said I hope we see some of these one-off Maquis crew members again, I would like to know more about the Saddest and Angriest Teen Bajoran.
Season Two
1. The 37's
This is some truly top tier Star Trek nonsense -- the Voyager crew follows an ancient SOS back to a planet where they find a bunch of Earth humans from 1937 in statis! including AMELIA EARHART! -- and is really enjoyable as such, except for the fact that it truly beggars all belief that Amelia Earhart would not want to come along on subsequent adventures. Every episode since then has featured at least one moment where one of us announces, "if Amelia Earhart were here, AS SHE SHOULD BE, this plotline --"
And look: we know why Amelia Earhart did not get to come along. Amelia Earhart did not get to come along because Janeway spends the entire episode ardently flirting with her and if Amelia Earhart stayed around everything would immediately get too gay for the network to be comfortable with it. However, there is an AU version of the show where they ditch Paris with the nice retrofuture human civilization on this planet and bring Amelia Earhart along instead and I do wish that version were available for me to watch.
That said, I'm not sure why Frank Noonan was the semi-antagonist of the episode, but I did really love:
FRANK NOONAN: I'm dying! Amelia, I have to tell you, I've always loved you!
AMELIA EARHART: uhhhhhhhhh
THE DOCTOR: Okay, fixed. You're fine.
FRANK NOONAN: ..... please forget I said that.
AMELIA EARHART: thank god! forgetting IMMEDIATELY!
2. Initiations
Chakotay adopts a horrible teen who wants to kill him!
ME: aww, I like this kid, he reminds me of Nog somehow!
DEBI: well, that would be because he is played by Aron Eisenberg
ME: ....... yes that would be wouldn't it
I am almost as sad about the fact that they couldn't keep Kar the Horrible Kazon Teen on DS9 as I am about the fact that they couldn't keep Amelia Earhart, but I understand that Aron Eisenberg was busy and Nog is very important. Nonetheless!
There's a B-plot about the Voyager crew attempting to locate Chakotay and his horrible teen, but almost nothing happens in it except technobabble. We have decided that part of the problem with Voyager right now is that every episode rests entirely on its A-plot and they have not yet actually learned how B-plots work.
3. Projections
Weird Holo Shenanigans wherein a projection of Lieutenant Barclay from TNG tries to convince the Doctor that he's a real person and everything about Voyager is a simulation. I have never met Barclay on TNG and
innerbrat hates him with a fiery passion and both of these probably had an impact on my overall assessment of this episode as 'moderately dull' and 'kind of pointless'. 4. Elogium
Janeway is trying so hard to respectfully investigate some alien life forms when the alien life forms unfortunately decide that the Voyager spaceship is very sexy and attempt to mate with it, causing Kes to fall immediately into alien puberty heat and decide whether she wants to use her one chance THIS VERY MINUTE to have a baby with Neelix or nah.
Any time when we have to think too hard about the Kes/Neelix relationship, especially in context of the fact that Kes is two years old, is usually not a good time and this is no exception. That said, I'm awarding mild bonus points for the fact that Kes gets to have at least some emotions and opinions that are not about being a sounding board for the emotions and opinions of male characters, and also for the fact that Janeway expresses some extremely sound reproductive ethics, namely "I don't love the idea of babies onship but I am not going to restrict anyone's choices about sex and pregnancy so if babies happen we will Just Have To Cope."
In the end, babies do not happen for Kes, but they do happen for a one-off named crewperson who will probably never be seen again. I'll be pleasantly surprised to be proven wrong!
5. Non Sequitur
Harry Kim wakes up in an alternate universe where he never joined the Voyager crew and instead has a really lovely life with a great job and fiancee in San Francisco. Somewhat hilariously, Harry is not tempted for even ten seconds by his lovely life and beautiful fiancee and great job and high-walkability-score San Francisco apartment! He's got to get back to Voyager right away to suffer with all of his friends! IT'S THE ONLY ETHICAL CHOICE!
I am 90% sure that 90% of the reason this episode exists is so the writers can have the exchange "I'm going to Marseille!" "Why?" "To see Paris!" "But you just said you were going to Marseilles!" and in all honesty I cannot blame them for it.
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Date: 2021-01-24 09:01 pm (UTC)That is really neat and I hope is followed up on by the show. I have seen about a half-dozen episodes of Voyager, but not this one or its potential sequelae.
- the overall gist is about taking responsibility for atrocities and war crimes
I realize I am also intrigued by this episode because it reminds me thematically of "The Defector," one of the TNG episodes I keep mentioning that I have remembered vividly since nineteen-ninety-handwave and never had the chance to rewatch and really hope are as good as I recall.
[edit] As dawn breaks over Marblehead, let us admit I am really intrigued by this episode because I am a person who writes things like "The Trinitite Golem."
I have never met Barclay on TNG and innerbrat hates him with a fiery passion and both of these probably had an impact on my overall assessment of this episode as 'moderately dull' and 'kind of pointless'.
I am pretty sure that I have already inflicted my feelings about Barclay on you in the comments of some previous Star Trek-related post, but they boil down to: I love him as a concept and I liked everything about his introductory episode until it blew the knees off its own moral at the climax. I've gotten the impression that although he reappeared after that point, many of the episodes in which he was featured were dumb as rocks, and I feel bad if that carried over to Voyager.
I am 90% sure that 90% of the reason this episode exists is so the writers can have the exchange "I'm going to Marseille!" "Why?" "To see Paris!" "But you just said you were going to Marseilles!" and in all honesty I cannot blame them for it.
I can respect that.
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Date: 2021-01-24 10:27 pm (UTC)Trek is really, really good at this!
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Date: 2021-01-29 03:42 am (UTC)I saw on your DW you ended up watching it; as a person who writes things like "The Trinitite Golem," what did you think?
(I also love the concept of Barclay and have the general impression that his execution truly does not live up to it, but I know so many people with wildly varying opinions of him that it's hard to judge!)
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Date: 2021-01-29 03:45 am (UTC). . . I'm writing way too much about it as we speak. Watch, er, the usual space.
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Date: 2021-01-29 03:48 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 12:25 pm (UTC)I HOPE YOU'RE HAPPY.
(I'm going to bed.)
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Date: 2021-01-29 01:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-24 09:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 03:43 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-24 10:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-24 10:24 pm (UTC)I would ship this ship.
Completely off topic, but did you notice there's a series about Noor Inayat Khan in development? https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jan/14/life-indian-princess-fought-nazis-tv-series-noor-inayat-khan
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Date: 2021-01-24 10:53 pm (UTC)FINALLY.
(Please don't screw up the casting of Leo Marks.)
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Date: 2021-01-29 03:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-25 12:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 03:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-25 10:43 am (UTC)I mean, it would still have been a bit of a Very Special Episode, but the implications would have been a lot less unfortunate....
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Date: 2021-01-25 02:01 pm (UTC)Because that's kind of one of the issues with stereotypes in fiction, isn't it--even leaving aside everything else wrong with them, they're so boring.
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Date: 2021-01-28 02:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-28 04:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-28 04:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 03:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-25 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-01-29 03:47 am (UTC)