Star Trek: Voyager: Juggernaut Rewatch

January 29, 2018 8:23 AM - Season 5, Episode 21

"Somebody set up us the bomb." "All your waste are belong to us. You have no chance to survive make your time..."

Memory Alpha is the Juggernaut, beeyotch:

- According to the unauthorized reference book Delta Quadrant (p. 305), the Malon freighter's interiors were redresses of sets previously used for the Borg interiors of the earlier fifth season episode "Dark Frontier" and the freighter's helm console was a revamp of the equivalent console from the USS Dauntless, featured in the Season 4 finale "Hope and Fear".

- It is not explained how Voyager encountered the Malon, tens of thousands of light years, from where they were first encountered in "Night" and "Extreme Risk". The previous encounters with the Malon were before Voyager used the slipstream drive in "Timeless", and the transwarp coil in "Dark Frontier", to cover the distance that would have normally taken 25 years to cover at normal warp speeds. Either Malon ships are faster, which is unlikely considering their less advanced technology, or they have access to another subspace vortex, like the one seen in "Night".

- This episode received the worst ratings during the course of the series upon its initial airing, having been moved from its usual weekly spot, gaining only a 1.7 Nielsen rating and a 2.5 million share.

"Whatever you say, Miss Turtle Head."

- Tuvok, to B'Elanna Torres

"Take it from me, getting B'Elanna to control her temper is like convincing a Ferengi to leave his estate to charity."

- Tom Paris, to Tuvok

"Once you get past the, the choking reflex, it's really, it's really not so bad."

- Neelix, about his radiation remedy

Poster's Log:

Not the worst episode, not a great one. The basic plot is the Runaway Train, subtype Full of Nasty Stuff, not unlike the movie Unstoppable, based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident (which happened a couple of years after this episode aired) and co-starred AOS' Chris Pine; I think that there have been other real-life incidents with trains carrying dynamite and whatnot. The episode has a lot of questionable details that we can skip over because they're of a piece with other things that have been noted about other episodes; one that I would like to point out is the sheer destructive potential of a single Malon ship, which would have wiped out everything within (does math via Google) 113.1 cubic light years or so; that's destructive potential somewhere between the sun-killing trilithium bombs of Star Trek: Generations and DS9's "By Inferno's Light" and the Omega particle. I realize that they have to up the stakes a bit, since space is really big and mostly empty, but, you know, fucking orders of magnitude--how do they work? (Plus, as Memory Alpha points out above, they should be way out of the Malons' turf by now.)

Regardless, the real focus of the episode is a) social commentary about how that sort of disregard for the environment can come back to bite you in the ass, and b) B'Elanna's bad temper. The latter has also been discussed before on here, and while there are still some problematic aspects to the hot-blooded Latina stereotype, the ep also makes the point that racism is still a part of Federation life, to some extent, not only with B'Elanna's childhood experience but with Tom's comment. (We've also seen this on DS9 with the comments about "Cardies" and "spoonheads".) The former is likewise a continuation of what's been established about the Malons as trash lords, but it has a more trenchant commentary about capitalism from the perspective of the ordinary worker than the Ferengi's greed and glitter: yeah, they're dying from the crap that they're transporting, but the money's really, really good. Neelix's inclusion on the mission made a lot of sense, with his background with various crappy jobs, although I could have done without the scene of him gagging on his own cooking. I also liked the scenes aboard the Malon ship, although the revelation of the "monster" came as no surprise--that could have been me remembering it from the original broadcast, but it seemed a bit telegraphed. Still the team running around the dirty ship in a desperate race against time was pretty well done; it reminded me a bit of Alien: Resurrection.

Poster's Log, supplemental: Casey Jones is maybe the best known person in America who tried to stop a runaway train, particularly with the aspect of martyrdom as part of his story--but let's let Johnny Cash tell you all about it.

posted by Halloween Jack (12 comments total)

Particle of the Week: Theta radiation.
Pointless STO Comparison of the Week: As I mentioned last time with the Malon, their ships are available for player use via lockbox. The ships are not even *close* to the power portrayed on the show.

Ongoing Counts:
* Maximum Possible Photon Torpedoes: -1.
* Crew: 134.
* Credulity Straining Alpha Quadrant Contacts: 10. However, I wish I'd made this counter inclusive enough to tally this too - as Jack mentions, it's highly implausible for them to encounter the Malon here. Given how casual they are about it, it's pretty clear the writers just aren't paying attention to the big jumps Voyager makes every so often.
* Janeway's Big Red Button: 2 aborted self-destructs, 1 successful, 1 game of chicken, 1 ramming speed.

Notes:
* I barely remembered this one either.

Unlike The Fight, I'm pretty sure I saw this one, but remembered almost nothing.

* I do not like how B'Ellana is treated.

The latter has also been discussed before on here, and while there are still some problematic aspects to the hot-blooded Latina stereotype, the ep also makes the point that racism is still a part of Federation life, to some extent, not only with B'Elanna's childhood experience but with Tom's comment.

Yep. Plots about B'Ellana are, if anything, worse than ones about Chakotay because while his are often shockingly racist, hers stack sexism on top of that. Portraying a female officer as unable to prevent herself from breaking someone's camera feels like something out of a 'lady bosses amirite' routine. It also paints the Doctor in a very bad light, refusing to get out of the way of a fellow officer. So just the framing is pretty bad.

The reaction of 'make her meditate' isn't okay either. This isn't the first time B'Ellana has literally called out 'you cannot order me to feel something or not' and been rebuffed.

That entire subplot is nauseating. It also feels like a throwback to S1, with 'is a person like that even fit to be in the chain of command?'

Anyway, yeah. Put me off immediately.

* The Malon social commentary didn't grab me.

I think it's because this is a retread of the last one. A race like the Malon or the Ferengi can work as a one-off, but if you keep bringing them back, you run into 'how do these guys even work?' Very little about them makes sense here - like Jack's gone over, we have problems like 'what are the Malon even doing here?' 'Why is the explosion so big?' 'Why doesn't Voyager offer this guy new tech like they did with the last jerkass Malon?'

They tried to give the Malon layers here, with the one guy being a sculptor and the core guy wanting to sabotage the ship, but they're mostly just too transparently a plot device for me, and this is not a well I needed to return to.

For what it's worth, I mostly felt the same way about the Ferengi too - DS9 had some good stories with them here and there, but I would've been happier with something a little less Saturday Morning Cartoon over on that show too. Like... sticking a parody in the middle of a serious drama is a risky move narratively - it has the potential to undercut anything else you're doing.

* The disaster story was okay.

Didn't know this was based on a real thing. I really appreciate the background notes you and Cheeses offer. Thanks again, guys. :)

The plot itself... I didn't remember it the first time, and I probably won't remember it very well next week either. I think it's because the setup made me angry and the adventure itself is just okay. I mean, the visuals are okay, the pacing's okay... it's competent, but it doesn't really stand out. In a way, that's worse than being bad: at least people remember Threshold.

*shrugs*

Anyway, yeah.

Oh:
Neelix's inclusion on the mission made a lot of sense, with his background with various crappy jobs, although I could have done without the scene of him gagging on his own cooking.

This is a good point. We're seeing Neelix being used as a real, useful member of the crew lately, and that's a good thing.
posted by mordax at 8:53 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I'll add one other thing this episode has going for it: Ron Canada. He reliably brings interest to middling episodes (see also the DS9 where Worf is on trial). But apart from that, I agree with you guys.

They tried to give the Malon layers here, with the one guy being a sculptor and the core guy wanting to sabotage the ship, but they're mostly just too transparently a plot device for me, and this is not a well I needed to return to.

I never watched this deep into the series when it aired, but I wonder if it would've felt as transparent back then. The '90s were real big on "pollution is bad and polluters are bad"; it seems possible to me that this element of the episode might've come off better within that context, but I can't know for sure. Maybe somebody else can speak to that more accurately.

The basic plot is the Runaway Train, subtype Full of Nasty Stuff, not unlike the movie Unstoppable

Anybody seen this? Is it worthwhile? I liked the similar Deepwater Horizon well enough (heh, WELL enough).
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 9:37 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

I never watched this deep into the series when it aired, but I wonder if it would've felt as transparent back then. The '90s were real big on "pollution is bad and polluters are bad"; it seems possible to me that this element of the episode might've come off better within that context, but I can't know for sure. Maybe somebody else can speak to that more accurately.

It would've. I don't remember Juggernaut, but I felt this way about Night during the original run.

More broadly, this trope annoyed me since I was a kid. I understood they were trying to be helpful, but never really believed preachy stories were actually effective - in trying too hard, writers undercut whatever good a story was trying to do because it's just.. too uncool to take seriously.

I realize Star Trek was frequently pretty blunt, but I feel their best efforts used a good story to tell us something, rather than told us something at the expense of it. (The Balance of Terror comes to mind offhand as an example of Trek being elegant with this.)

I also think this bad habit in the media is part of why Gen-Xers like myself got accused of being so cynical: I'm sure I sounded more jaded than I was as a boy because I didn't like hamfisted storytelling even if I agreed with the message.
posted by mordax at 10:10 AM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

Seen which? Runaway Train, the 1985 Jon Voight, Eric Roberts flick or Unstoppable, the 2010 Denzel Washington, Chris Pine movie?

They both have their admirers among certain groups of film fans, but I'm not sure I'd recommend either to just anyone.

Runaway Train is interesting in that Akira Kurosawa came up with the original idea that was then made by Andrey Konchalovskiy, a major Russian director most noted for his epic Siberiade, who sort of sank in Hollywood, even though he did make some interesting films, oh, and Tango and Cash. The mix is a bit odd, with Voight and Roberts giving gritty, quasi-method performances, Kurosawa's idea being pretty basic symbolism in his manner, and Konacholsky seeming to want something more to sink his teeth into visually.

Unstoppable is mostly loved by Tony Scott auteurists, which is a small but dedicated subset of film fans, but it too has some fine visuals, a bit of a simplistic allegoryesque story with some added ridiculousness in its trappings in terms of realism, and the usual solid performance from Washington. There are some added points of interest for those who want to dig into Scott's body of work, but that definitely isn't most people, and even if that seems appealing, Unstoppable isn't at the top of the list for Scott anyway, Deva Vu, Man On Fire, and Domino would be better choices.
posted by gusottertrout at 10:12 AM on January 29, 2018 [2 favorites]

(That said, Juggernaut is not the most egregious example of this I can think of - the Ferengi probably take that prize - it's just one more reason to invent a new alien of the week rather than overexpose the Malon.)
posted by mordax at 10:18 AM on January 29, 2018

Thanks, Cheeses, I forgot to mention Ron Canada. He was good enough here, but he really shone in "Rules of Engagement."

Also, WRT some of the anviliciousness of TOS, it got pretty thick in the third season. ("See, people who are black on the left side and white on the right side are like this...") Per mordax above, the best episodes put the story first.
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:17 AM on January 29, 2018 [1 favorite]

This episode is weird, I mean it's almost a really good turn for the show, with them developing more emotional depth to their encounter than usual and in giving it some grey areas of relative perspective rather than the more usual method of stripping out the complexity of the issues for the more starkly contrasting battle of right and wrong. If they hadn't built the episode as being "about" B'Elanna with their complete blindness to the problems in their concept of the character and how she relates to real racial perspectives then they might have had winner here.

It's so damned annoying how they use alien species as racial stand ins for real world issues, but can't conceptualize what they're doing enough to see how they're not really addressing the issues but duplicating them with their "jokes" and utter failure to see alien races as being as "real" as the human crew. That failure destabilizes so much of the alleged values they see themselves as promoting that it really undermines the series and franchise to a large degree as it isn't just Voyager with this problem.

The shows get so intent on rewarding the viewer's more innocuous prejudices about entertainment that they ignore the deeper prejudices of values they propagate through what they see as entertaining. It makes many of the shows, at best, self negating for anyone who cares enough to try to parse the values espoused and there are far too many times they don't even reach that best case scenario. The failure to really believe in the world's they create can push viewers to more notice the artificiality of the creation and the hands behind it all.

Anyway, we've gone over the B'Elanna issues before and they've been mentioned above so to avoid exasperation I'm not going to dwell on them further in regards to the utter stupidity of the set up around her upbringing and anger. It's wrong from multiple angles even under their own concept of the character. If that set up had been dropped then the events on the Malon freighter might have actually worked since Dawson is quite good once she gets away from Tuvok and Chakotay's framing of the problem and supposedly how she should handle it.

The Malon themselves, though ranging a little bit from previous encounters were handled well for their own sakes, but as foils for B'Elanna were much more troubling given their history and the sympathy afforded them as a contrast to B'Elanna's attitude. The individual concerns of the different Malon then essentially hid the larger more meaningful discussion on the conflict because they were used as a measure for B'Elanna's character traits rather than just as an added complexity to a larger debate. It sapped B'Elanna's more reasonable objections to their activities of some meaning since we were asked to attend more to her emotional state than her values.

Once they were on the freighter, there was some moderate success in this since the actors did a fine job in embodying their characters, but the damage from the opening mistakes was too strong to fully overcome. The issue of anger and reaction to injustice is an important one that could have had some useful examination here judging from the second half of the episode as there were some effective moments where the emotions and ideas did mesh well, but it shouldn't have been framed as being a judgment of B'Elanna and set in the terms it was.

Better would have been to have more Neelix and B'Elanna on the ship from the start and less of the activity on Voyager. This could have been a really good episode for Neelix as a contrast to B'Elanna and how both find themselves responding to a difficult problem where the balance of emotions could have shifted more between them and their approaches to the problem. All in all I quite liked the best parts of this episode, but really disliked how it was put together as a whole. It's also yet another of lord only knows how many examples of the writers rethinking an old idea and dropping it in to the series long past the time it makes sense to do so. It just shows the lack of foresight and structure they had behind the scenes on the series.
posted by gusottertrout at 12:42 AM on January 31, 2018 [3 favorites]

It's so damned annoying how they use alien species as racial stand ins for real world issues, but can't conceptualize what they're doing enough to see how they're not really addressing the issues but duplicating them with their "jokes" and utter failure to see alien races as being as "real" as the human crew. That failure destabilizes so much of the alleged values they see themselves as promoting that it really undermines the series and franchise to a large degree as it isn't just Voyager with this problem.

Yeah, this is a very good way of putting something that makes me uncomfortable about the franchise as a whole sometimes.

On the one hand, Trek is utopian, and it means well. Voyager too - I've talked before about how this is my line for 'real Trek' versus 'JJ-abomination-trek.' Real Trek isn't military SF, it's diplomacy SF.

But meaning well doesn't really free people from the blind spots of privilege, and one thing that happens when you have it is assuming your perspective is complicated and nuanced, while everyone else is one-note, lacking a rich internal life. (This dovetails with some thinking and talking I've been doing about race relations elsewhere in this community lately.)

In fiction, it comes out as 'the nonhumans literally are that exaggerated/simplistic/caricatured.' So you can't be racist against Ferengi because they don't exist, but people who would *create* Ferengi are demonstrating a mental framework I find suspect and distasteful because of how I believe it will be misapplied in the real world. I also don't like it being propped up to kids as a good way to think of the Other.

Thank you for articulating that so well, that really helped me put some inchoate wrath into potentially useful focus. :)

Better would have been to have more Neelix and B'Elanna on the ship from the start and less of the activity on Voyager. This could have been a really good episode for Neelix as a contrast to B'Elanna and how both find themselves responding to a difficult problem where the balance of emotions could have shifted more between them and their approaches to the problem.

... I really like that, actually, especially because on paper, the contrasts between their characters are really interesting: on the one hand, you have this intense, focused, determined person. On the other, you have someone more conciliatory, less confident, more about compromise. Both of them are used to being survivors and outsiders, and really seen some shit.

B'Ellana and Neelix: they fight crime, would be absolutely fascinating. (And in fairness to the show, they've done enough work on Neelix that I do now think of him as a good character. I'm still really put off by him in the early years, but he's good post-breakup.)

Of course, it's a testament to the quality of their story that I'd rather just imagine your pitch.
posted by mordax at 11:28 AM on January 31, 2018 [3 favorites]

... I really like that, actually, especially because on paper, the contrasts between their characters are really interesting: on the one hand, you have this intense, focused, determined person. On the other, you have someone more conciliatory, less confident, more about compromise. Both of them are used to being survivors and outsiders, and really seen some shit.

B'Ellana and Neelix: they fight crime, would be absolutely fascinating.

There's a reason why most fanfic tends to focus on relationships rather than running through a standard-issue plot.
posted by Halloween Jack at 1:44 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Hm. I hadn't thought of that. Makes sense, though. :)
posted by mordax at 11:10 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

In fiction, it comes out as 'the nonhumans literally are that exaggerated/simplistic/caricatured.' So you can't be racist against Ferengi because they don't exist, but people who would *create* Ferengi are demonstrating a mental framework I find suspect and distasteful because of how I believe it will be misapplied in the real world. I also don't like it being propped up to kids as a good way to think of the Other.

This is something that came up for me in that latest episode of Discovery, which then sort of dovetailed into the Voyager discussion. On the one hand there is this desire to please the fans and keep the shows light and entertaining enough to draw them back each week, while on the other there is the real need to take the ideas you're putting forward seriously within the context of the worlds you create. Those two things must be balanced, with the latter needing to define the concepts your show is about.

If you have aliens, then the show needs to see them as "real" even at the risk of losing some supposed entertainment value from winking at the audience in shared knowledge of the artifice of it all. An episode like Bride of Chaotica skirts the edges of that by closing the episode without really dealing with the 4th dimension photonic beings as an encounter, while leaving it just vague or open enough to allow that such considerations could have maybe taken place offscreen. The priority there was the entertainment, but with some added resonance coming from a more holistic view of science fiction tropes as they've changed over time. They finessed the idea just adequately enough for the photonic beings' departure not to ring too empty, even as some of the attitudes involved could still be questioned. It worked thanks to that, while here they fell hard on the wrong side of that divide due to their own failings seeing the larger concept of their characters.

Some of the premise was compelling, less the toxic waste angle in its own right, and more the issue of layered complicity and victimhood involved with the crew transporting the waste and the various reasons or incentives involved in their activities. Setting that against the idea of anger at injustice is interesting because of the layers of accountability and complexity involved. Anger at the situation is reasonable, anger at some of the actions or plans is as well, but those are confronted by those larger systemic issues that the crew isn't entirely responsible for, yet not entirely free from being held to account for nonetheless.

My thought was that they could have used Neelix and B'Elanna more as shifting counters in their feelings towards the situation, with Neelix first responding more to the victimization of the crew who have to serve in such a situation, while B'Elanna looked at the issue more systemically. As matters evolved then Neelix and B'Elanna could have been forced to deal with the "phantom" together and have to come to some resolution over the use of force in such a situation where violence may have been unavoidable, but no less unjust at a deeper level for that. Having the two of them act together in the end would have removed the issue of it being "about" B'Elanna and more an issue of deeper moral perspective and concern. I found the directing and choice of ending on the visual effects of the encounter without adding a pat summation to be quite good, but I wish they had found a better way to get there.

They've found Phillips/Neelix's strengths as an actor and character now in the sincerity of his performance, so he's much much less a problem character for me. It's funny that much of the cast seemed to be pigeonholed in roles that didn't use their skills well to being with at all and some still are being set against their best abilities. MacNeill's strengths as an actor don't come through well in his sarcastic mode, Dawson's quick anger is a one note played the same way each time, and Beltran's grim Maquis leader act is lifeless. (Russ though was always on point.) That is, no doubt partially coming from the writing of those bits, but it also isn't using the cast to their best talents. All three of the actors show their best talents, as I see them, in their more compassionate moments or in moments of mutable emotions, so writing them and having them perform to stock specifications of some central "trait" that defines them was a mistake from the start.

But meaning well doesn't really free people from the blind spots of privilege, and one thing that happens when you have it is assuming your perspective is complicated and nuanced, while everyone else is one-note, lacking a rich internal life. (This dovetails with some thinking and talking I've been doing about race relations elsewhere in this community lately.)

Absolutely yes, and it can hold for me as much as the shows. It's something you have to try and be vigilant about and accept that your perspective isn't the defining one, even if it feels "true" to you since people in other situations will undoubtedly have a different take on things. Dialogue, for me, is the best way to find those alternative points of view, while questioning things like media is a good way to draw out that conversation with a willing group of conversants. Thankfully you all are great and are willing to engage with my meandering thoughts and push back when they don't feel suitable.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:19 AM on February 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

This is something that came up for me in that latest episode of Discovery, which then sort of dovetailed into the Voyager discussion. On the one hand there is this desire to please the fans and keep the shows light and entertaining enough to draw them back each week, while on the other there is the real need to take the ideas you're putting forward seriously within the context of the worlds you create. Those two things must be balanced, with the latter needing to define the concepts your show is about.

This is a good point, yes.

Dialogue, for me, is the best way to find those alternative points of view, while questioning things like media is a good way to draw out that conversation with a willing group of conversants. Thankfully you all are great and are willing to engage with my meandering thoughts and push back when they don't feel suitable.

You too. I've been learning a lot both from figuring out how to say what I'm feeling better, and from hearing the thoughtful takes you guys all have too. I'm glad I'm here.

In a way, I guess this means Voyager was successful in one of Gene Roddenberry's main wishes for Star Trek generally: we're moving at least a few inches toward a better world through discussing it.
posted by mordax at 11:01 AM on February 1, 2018 [1 favorite]