Star Trek: Voyager: Parallax Rewatch
January 9, 2017 9:21 AM - Season 1, Episode 3 - Subscribe
Voyager investigates a quantum... singularity... thingy. As you do. The real urgent question is, is B'Elanna going to spend the rest of the series in the brig? Plus, the Doctor is being a little short with his patients.
Memory Alpha doesn't have time for your "conflict resolution" bullshit, Starfleet--you got a problem with that?:
- One influence on this episode was the prospect of bonding the Voyager crew. Executive Producer Michael Piller stated, "I wanted the ship out there and into danger to see how the crew reacted. So we created this strange time-space anomaly that we were involved with, and then we were going to see how this crew would work together." Brannon Braga remarked, "We knew we wanted to do a Maquis/Starfleet adjustment episode; and it needed to come early. It turned out that would be 'Parallax.'" Indeed, at least one of the reasons that Braga was eager to become involved in the early stages of Star Trek: Voyager (having missed the chance to work on the writing of the script for the pilot episode, "Caretaker", due to having been on vacation) was that he wanted to have a hand in developing the characters. Of his earliest influence on the series, he said, "I was involved in developing the stories, and wrote the first episode after the pilot. I was very eager to get involved from the beginning, for all the obvious reasons. I wanted to see what it was like to shape characters."
- The idea of B'Elanna Torres' promotion to the head of her department was transplanted into this episode. Jeri Taylor recalled, "We had planned originally to make B'Elanna the chief engineer and Tom Paris the conn officer in the pilot, and then it just seemed overkill, so we lifted that out and attached it to this." Having Torres become the chief engineer in this episode not only set her up in that position for the rest of the series but also provided motive for the tension between the Maquis and Starfleet sides of the crew. Brannon Braga explained, "The [series] bible said the Chief Engineer is B'Elanna Torres. Well, she's not made chief engineer in the pilot. Her earning the job probably should be her first episode, which can also embody the Maquis-Starfleet conflict that is going on, because if you make a Maquis chief engineer, there are lots of Starfleet people in line for that job who are going to be pretty pissed off. So that was a good character situation to exploit." Braga also stated, "One of [the] things we wanted to accomplish with the first episode was getting B'Elanna into position as chief engineer, so that concept fit a lot of criteria."
- Brannon Braga lost no sleep worrying about the particulars of the technobabble used for the anomaly of this episode, as his top priority was dramatizing the plot itself. He explained, "Normally, the way we write stories is we come up with what we want to do dramatically [....] We add science later. And it works out much better that way. Though 'a quantum singularity' is a mouthful, I decided to use it anyway; but I literally could have called it 'a quantum fissure,' 'a quantum sinkhole,' anything. And who cares? Who really cares?"
- Jeri Taylor was pleased that this episode develops the relationship between Janeway and Torres. "We were able to put in place the whole arc of B'Elanna and Janeway," Taylor noted. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 4/5, p. 34) She also remarked, "I think a nice arc occurs between B'Elanna and Janeway from conflict and skepticism to a real bonding, problem solving and, ultimately, affection."
- Michael Piller liked the character development of not only Janeway and Torres but also Chakotay. Piller commented, "What appealed to me most about 'Parallax' was how it illuminated the relationship between Chakotay and B'Elanna and Janeway; how Janeway was going to deal with this first issue with the Maquis, how Chakotay was going to be the man in the middle and how, ultimately, B'Elanna was going to fit into this crew. Essentially she went from being the most outside force on the ship to being brought into the inner circle [....] Ultimately, what worked was the triangle between Chakotay, Janeway and B'Elanna. The more time we spent with that, the better the show became."
- Actress Martha Hackett was cast in the role of Seska by Director Kim Friedman, who – a few months beforehand – had helmed the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine outing "The Search, Part I", in which Hackett had portrayed T'Rul. Regarding Seska, Martha Hackett recalled, "When they first gave me the role, they said, 'You know, she's a member of the Maquis and she's one of Chakotay's gang before they joined up here. She's vigilant about the beliefs of the Maquis, the energy behind that kind of rebel: "We're gonna do it a little differently."' That was the background they gave me." The actress also remembered, "It was clear that her point of view was, we shouldn't have done this, why did we join up with the Federation? We should have stayed a splinter group. That was all that had been spelled out for me."
"She's the best engineer I've ever known. She could teach at the Academy! You're right, Captain; I do consider these to be my people because nobody else on this ship will look out for them like I will. And I'm telling you: you're going to have to give them more authority if you want their loyalty."
"Theirs or yours, Commander?"
- Chakotay and Kathryn Janeway
"I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer!"
- Chakotay
"In command school, they taught us to always remember that maneuvering a starship is a very delicate process, but over the years, I've learned that, sometimes, you just have to punch your way through. Mr. Paris, full impulse power."
- Kathryn Janeway
"''Sometimes you just have to punch your way through.' I'll have to remember that one."
- Tom Paris
Poster's Log:
Yeah, there's something about quantum pluttifikation, but the real work of the episode is to get some of the stuff regarding the merging of two crews who have not just different but antithetical views about how to get things done. One of the things that I took away from the DS9 rewatch is that there are some Maquis who simply don't agree with the Federation/Starfleet way (Cal Hudson), and some who really hate the Federation and Starfleet (Eddington, who couldn't pass up any opportunity to taunt and berate Sisko). The idea that Janeway could put the Maquis into Starfleet uniforms and declare that this was going to be a Starfleet ship, by golly, and have it all work from day one was a fool's paradise that she was soon cast out of. They get the situation to work because Janeway, a former science officer, finds a level that she can relate to Torres on, and after they geek out together she uses that to establish trust and convince Torres that "Starfleet" is more than just an epithet that the Maquis can throw at their uneasy bedfellows. It's not an awful lot more than the perfunctory a-mutual-crisis-causes-us-to-set-aside-our-differences-and-work-together plot, and I wish that it had been given a lot more time and room to develop. (Not that the problems with former Maquis will go away this quickly--there will be more than one occasion in future episodes when it's a factor--but I'm thinking that it should have been more of an organic, ongoing, background-radiation sort of thing, instead of a more-or-less annual "We used to be Maquis" episode, in the manner of DS9's annual O'Brien torture episode.)
On the other hand... Seska! One of my favorite VOY secondary characters and one that should have been kept around longer, IMO. There's a Tumblr artist who has redesigned many of the TNG/DS9/VOY alien races to look a lot more alien, and with the redesigns has sometimes significantly revised a particular character's backstory; in this one, Seska not only stays on the ship but becomes Kes' best friend. WARNING: if this is actually your first watch, this illustration not only gives a big spoiler for Seska, but also shows a couple of characters who haven't been introduced yet. Here's the link.
Other neat bits: Kes and Neelix asserting themselves, literally demanding (in a cheerful but assertive way) a place at the table, and Mini-Doc.
Problems that I had with the episode: I would have preferred that the problem that they had to work together to resolve have been more tied into the previous episode than simply be the Random Quantum Pluttifikation of the Week. The Kazon are pretty pissed at Voyager, and part of the work that this episode could have done would have been to make them a bit more than the road-company Klingons that they mostly were. A more serious thing, I think, is that although Torres tends to attribute her anger management issues to her Klingon side, I don't really buy that; Worf rarely loses his shit, and even more rarely hurts someone as bad as Torres hurt Carey. So, Torres--the first main character with Latinx ancestry, who is played by the first Latina actress to be on the show AFAIK--is, you know, hot-blooded. (At least this is usually averted with Robert Beltran, although as we've already seen, he's going to be saddled with generic Native American cliches. I found his use of "token", as quoted above, significant.) This will be mitigated in future episodes, both by throttling down the aggro and by suggesting that Torres' real problems are rooted in part by internalized racism.
Poster's Log, Supplemental: Although the actress who plays Torres currently goes by Roxann Dawson, she was billed on the show as Roxann Biggs-Dawson, having been previously married to Casey Biggs, aka Damar from DS9. Small galaxy!
Memory Alpha doesn't have time for your "conflict resolution" bullshit, Starfleet--you got a problem with that?:
- One influence on this episode was the prospect of bonding the Voyager crew. Executive Producer Michael Piller stated, "I wanted the ship out there and into danger to see how the crew reacted. So we created this strange time-space anomaly that we were involved with, and then we were going to see how this crew would work together." Brannon Braga remarked, "We knew we wanted to do a Maquis/Starfleet adjustment episode; and it needed to come early. It turned out that would be 'Parallax.'" Indeed, at least one of the reasons that Braga was eager to become involved in the early stages of Star Trek: Voyager (having missed the chance to work on the writing of the script for the pilot episode, "Caretaker", due to having been on vacation) was that he wanted to have a hand in developing the characters. Of his earliest influence on the series, he said, "I was involved in developing the stories, and wrote the first episode after the pilot. I was very eager to get involved from the beginning, for all the obvious reasons. I wanted to see what it was like to shape characters."
- The idea of B'Elanna Torres' promotion to the head of her department was transplanted into this episode. Jeri Taylor recalled, "We had planned originally to make B'Elanna the chief engineer and Tom Paris the conn officer in the pilot, and then it just seemed overkill, so we lifted that out and attached it to this." Having Torres become the chief engineer in this episode not only set her up in that position for the rest of the series but also provided motive for the tension between the Maquis and Starfleet sides of the crew. Brannon Braga explained, "The [series] bible said the Chief Engineer is B'Elanna Torres. Well, she's not made chief engineer in the pilot. Her earning the job probably should be her first episode, which can also embody the Maquis-Starfleet conflict that is going on, because if you make a Maquis chief engineer, there are lots of Starfleet people in line for that job who are going to be pretty pissed off. So that was a good character situation to exploit." Braga also stated, "One of [the] things we wanted to accomplish with the first episode was getting B'Elanna into position as chief engineer, so that concept fit a lot of criteria."
- Brannon Braga lost no sleep worrying about the particulars of the technobabble used for the anomaly of this episode, as his top priority was dramatizing the plot itself. He explained, "Normally, the way we write stories is we come up with what we want to do dramatically [....] We add science later. And it works out much better that way. Though 'a quantum singularity' is a mouthful, I decided to use it anyway; but I literally could have called it 'a quantum fissure,' 'a quantum sinkhole,' anything. And who cares? Who really cares?"
- Jeri Taylor was pleased that this episode develops the relationship between Janeway and Torres. "We were able to put in place the whole arc of B'Elanna and Janeway," Taylor noted. (Cinefantastique, Vol. 27, No. 4/5, p. 34) She also remarked, "I think a nice arc occurs between B'Elanna and Janeway from conflict and skepticism to a real bonding, problem solving and, ultimately, affection."
- Michael Piller liked the character development of not only Janeway and Torres but also Chakotay. Piller commented, "What appealed to me most about 'Parallax' was how it illuminated the relationship between Chakotay and B'Elanna and Janeway; how Janeway was going to deal with this first issue with the Maquis, how Chakotay was going to be the man in the middle and how, ultimately, B'Elanna was going to fit into this crew. Essentially she went from being the most outside force on the ship to being brought into the inner circle [....] Ultimately, what worked was the triangle between Chakotay, Janeway and B'Elanna. The more time we spent with that, the better the show became."
- Actress Martha Hackett was cast in the role of Seska by Director Kim Friedman, who – a few months beforehand – had helmed the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine outing "The Search, Part I", in which Hackett had portrayed T'Rul. Regarding Seska, Martha Hackett recalled, "When they first gave me the role, they said, 'You know, she's a member of the Maquis and she's one of Chakotay's gang before they joined up here. She's vigilant about the beliefs of the Maquis, the energy behind that kind of rebel: "We're gonna do it a little differently."' That was the background they gave me." The actress also remembered, "It was clear that her point of view was, we shouldn't have done this, why did we join up with the Federation? We should have stayed a splinter group. That was all that had been spelled out for me."
"She's the best engineer I've ever known. She could teach at the Academy! You're right, Captain; I do consider these to be my people because nobody else on this ship will look out for them like I will. And I'm telling you: you're going to have to give them more authority if you want their loyalty."
"Theirs or yours, Commander?"
- Chakotay and Kathryn Janeway
"I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer!"
- Chakotay
"In command school, they taught us to always remember that maneuvering a starship is a very delicate process, but over the years, I've learned that, sometimes, you just have to punch your way through. Mr. Paris, full impulse power."
- Kathryn Janeway
"''Sometimes you just have to punch your way through.' I'll have to remember that one."
- Tom Paris
Poster's Log:
Yeah, there's something about quantum pluttifikation, but the real work of the episode is to get some of the stuff regarding the merging of two crews who have not just different but antithetical views about how to get things done. One of the things that I took away from the DS9 rewatch is that there are some Maquis who simply don't agree with the Federation/Starfleet way (Cal Hudson), and some who really hate the Federation and Starfleet (Eddington, who couldn't pass up any opportunity to taunt and berate Sisko). The idea that Janeway could put the Maquis into Starfleet uniforms and declare that this was going to be a Starfleet ship, by golly, and have it all work from day one was a fool's paradise that she was soon cast out of. They get the situation to work because Janeway, a former science officer, finds a level that she can relate to Torres on, and after they geek out together she uses that to establish trust and convince Torres that "Starfleet" is more than just an epithet that the Maquis can throw at their uneasy bedfellows. It's not an awful lot more than the perfunctory a-mutual-crisis-causes-us-to-set-aside-our-differences-and-work-together plot, and I wish that it had been given a lot more time and room to develop. (Not that the problems with former Maquis will go away this quickly--there will be more than one occasion in future episodes when it's a factor--but I'm thinking that it should have been more of an organic, ongoing, background-radiation sort of thing, instead of a more-or-less annual "We used to be Maquis" episode, in the manner of DS9's annual O'Brien torture episode.)
On the other hand... Seska! One of my favorite VOY secondary characters and one that should have been kept around longer, IMO. There's a Tumblr artist who has redesigned many of the TNG/DS9/VOY alien races to look a lot more alien, and with the redesigns has sometimes significantly revised a particular character's backstory; in this one, Seska not only stays on the ship but becomes Kes' best friend. WARNING: if this is actually your first watch, this illustration not only gives a big spoiler for Seska, but also shows a couple of characters who haven't been introduced yet. Here's the link.
Other neat bits: Kes and Neelix asserting themselves, literally demanding (in a cheerful but assertive way) a place at the table, and Mini-Doc.
Problems that I had with the episode: I would have preferred that the problem that they had to work together to resolve have been more tied into the previous episode than simply be the Random Quantum Pluttifikation of the Week. The Kazon are pretty pissed at Voyager, and part of the work that this episode could have done would have been to make them a bit more than the road-company Klingons that they mostly were. A more serious thing, I think, is that although Torres tends to attribute her anger management issues to her Klingon side, I don't really buy that; Worf rarely loses his shit, and even more rarely hurts someone as bad as Torres hurt Carey. So, Torres--the first main character with Latinx ancestry, who is played by the first Latina actress to be on the show AFAIK--is, you know, hot-blooded. (At least this is usually averted with Robert Beltran, although as we've already seen, he's going to be saddled with generic Native American cliches. I found his use of "token", as quoted above, significant.) This will be mitigated in future episodes, both by throttling down the aggro and by suggesting that Torres' real problems are rooted in part by internalized racism.
Poster's Log, Supplemental: Although the actress who plays Torres currently goes by Roxann Dawson, she was billed on the show as Roxann Biggs-Dawson, having been previously married to Casey Biggs, aka Damar from DS9. Small galaxy!
I guess I gotta get this outta the way: I was excited to watch an episode of Star Trek Voyager. Last week's thread was that much fun, at a time when I could really use some.
Particle of the Week: 'Warp particles.'
Unasked For STO Observation of the Week: Voyager lacks the tactical seating required to slot Chakotay's previously deployed Attack Pattern Omega, or they could've escaped the singularity's crowd control effect with the press of a single button. Someone should get a lower tier version, stat.
Actual observations:
* Them ditching the Ocampans was, indeed, still jarring.
I wanted maybe five minutes of the Ocampan Council being like, 'No thanks, we believe the other Caretaker will return and help us before we die.' Just... something to show the crew aren't callous bastards, leaving an entire people to die in a hole without even a 'hey, need some help?' call.
* Neelix and Kes crashing the meeting was, as noted in the post, pretty endearing.
I was annoyed at first, but Neelix had a point. It was also nice to see Janeway go ahead and integrate them into the ship *without* press-ganging them. It's clear their official capacity (in the ship's logs) must be some kind of observer/advisor status. This episode also further showcases Kes as a potentially valuable crew member: a hydroponics bay is a suggestion that a Starfleet character, (used to post-scarcity), would be less likely to come up with.
* Speaking of press-ganging: this episode does not fill me with confidence in Janeway or Chakotay's ability to integrate the crews.
The idea that Janeway could put the Maquis into Starfleet uniforms and declare that this was going to be a Starfleet ship, by golly, and have it all work from day one was a fool's paradise that she was soon cast out of.
This is absolutely true. The way they handle B'Ellana should've happened with the entire Maquis crew, even if it was mostly off screen. As it stood, they just press-ganged these folks: 'join us or else.'
That's not how you get Starfleet officers - it leads to morale problems, betrayal and a host of other issues that will, in fact, plague the ship later. They just should've seen that all coming, and tried to head it off by interviewing these people and figuring out what *they* wanted, given the material constraints. Sure, they were criminals... but they were also going to be on the ship for probably the rest of their lives, and not all of them were cut out to be part of the chain of command. They should've considered something like a MACO squad, or just noncommissioned techs or something. Expecting them *all* to behave just because they had uniforms was actual crazy talk.
The way Chakotay handles Seska and no-name was also dire: he just threatens them. No appeal to, 'C'mon guys, we can't run this ship with like ten guys.' No, 'I'm frustrated too, but -'. It was hamfisted, and inconsistent with the approach he took later.
* Problem of the week managed to be amusing, despite being dumb.
The technobabble was pretty bad. Like:
Though 'a quantum singularity' is a mouthful, I decided to use it anyway; but I literally could have called it 'a quantum fissure,' 'a quantum sinkhole,' anything. And who cares? Who really cares?"
There's a guy who never, ever listened to a Star Trek fan. Also, they stretched the 'ice' metaphor way too far. (I was willing to let Neelix being wrong about an event horizon slide - I'm willing to just cover my ears and pretend they were deliberately making him look dumb, given the 'splaining he was doing with Kes.)
That said, linking the Doctor's shrinking to the problem's actual solution was a pretty good notion - kept all the problems tied up to a single common cause, let B'Ellana get in a decent save at the staff meeting and provided an excuse for a pretty hilarious visual gag. I thought that was a pretty good move.
* Janeway and B'Ellana bonding was actually pretty good.
Trek has never really had enough women. Even here, they're not the majority. It's always nice to see them pass the Bechdel Test in spite of that. I liked watching Janeway shoot down Paris for pilot, and I liked her and B'Ellana coming to a lasting understanding over a shared CGI problem. It was better than I remembered.
* I think I would've preferred Chakotay's hypothetical.
Voyager as 'some Starfleet crew are stuck on a Maquis ship 75 years from home' could've been a lot more interesting, as they would've had to argue, fight and demonstrate the superiority of their values instead of just assuming they were right. dng's scenario from last week beats it, but I feel that's another possibly more interesting 'what-if' scenario for the show.
* This:
The Maquis/Starfleet tension would have been welcome if it didn't have that afterschool special level of subtlety that is also a prime characteristic of Voyager.
Janeway *literally* watching over B'Ellana later was just too much, wasn't it?
* This too:
A more serious thing, I think, is that although Torres tends to attribute her anger management issues to her Klingon side, I don't really buy that; Worf rarely loses his shit, and even more rarely hurts someone as bad as Torres hurt Carey.
Major agreement. I wish they had skipped that, or dealt with it better.
... long winded as that was, I imagine I have forgotten something and will have to post again shortly. Until then, looking forward to what everyone else was thinking. :)
posted by mordax at 11:15 PM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
Particle of the Week: 'Warp particles.'
Unasked For STO Observation of the Week: Voyager lacks the tactical seating required to slot Chakotay's previously deployed Attack Pattern Omega, or they could've escaped the singularity's crowd control effect with the press of a single button. Someone should get a lower tier version, stat.
Actual observations:
* Them ditching the Ocampans was, indeed, still jarring.
I wanted maybe five minutes of the Ocampan Council being like, 'No thanks, we believe the other Caretaker will return and help us before we die.' Just... something to show the crew aren't callous bastards, leaving an entire people to die in a hole without even a 'hey, need some help?' call.
* Neelix and Kes crashing the meeting was, as noted in the post, pretty endearing.
I was annoyed at first, but Neelix had a point. It was also nice to see Janeway go ahead and integrate them into the ship *without* press-ganging them. It's clear their official capacity (in the ship's logs) must be some kind of observer/advisor status. This episode also further showcases Kes as a potentially valuable crew member: a hydroponics bay is a suggestion that a Starfleet character, (used to post-scarcity), would be less likely to come up with.
* Speaking of press-ganging: this episode does not fill me with confidence in Janeway or Chakotay's ability to integrate the crews.
The idea that Janeway could put the Maquis into Starfleet uniforms and declare that this was going to be a Starfleet ship, by golly, and have it all work from day one was a fool's paradise that she was soon cast out of.
This is absolutely true. The way they handle B'Ellana should've happened with the entire Maquis crew, even if it was mostly off screen. As it stood, they just press-ganged these folks: 'join us or else.'
That's not how you get Starfleet officers - it leads to morale problems, betrayal and a host of other issues that will, in fact, plague the ship later. They just should've seen that all coming, and tried to head it off by interviewing these people and figuring out what *they* wanted, given the material constraints. Sure, they were criminals... but they were also going to be on the ship for probably the rest of their lives, and not all of them were cut out to be part of the chain of command. They should've considered something like a MACO squad, or just noncommissioned techs or something. Expecting them *all* to behave just because they had uniforms was actual crazy talk.
The way Chakotay handles Seska and no-name was also dire: he just threatens them. No appeal to, 'C'mon guys, we can't run this ship with like ten guys.' No, 'I'm frustrated too, but -'. It was hamfisted, and inconsistent with the approach he took later.
* Problem of the week managed to be amusing, despite being dumb.
The technobabble was pretty bad. Like:
Though 'a quantum singularity' is a mouthful, I decided to use it anyway; but I literally could have called it 'a quantum fissure,' 'a quantum sinkhole,' anything. And who cares? Who really cares?"
There's a guy who never, ever listened to a Star Trek fan. Also, they stretched the 'ice' metaphor way too far. (I was willing to let Neelix being wrong about an event horizon slide - I'm willing to just cover my ears and pretend they were deliberately making him look dumb, given the 'splaining he was doing with Kes.)
That said, linking the Doctor's shrinking to the problem's actual solution was a pretty good notion - kept all the problems tied up to a single common cause, let B'Ellana get in a decent save at the staff meeting and provided an excuse for a pretty hilarious visual gag. I thought that was a pretty good move.
* Janeway and B'Ellana bonding was actually pretty good.
Trek has never really had enough women. Even here, they're not the majority. It's always nice to see them pass the Bechdel Test in spite of that. I liked watching Janeway shoot down Paris for pilot, and I liked her and B'Ellana coming to a lasting understanding over a shared CGI problem. It was better than I remembered.
* I think I would've preferred Chakotay's hypothetical.
Voyager as 'some Starfleet crew are stuck on a Maquis ship 75 years from home' could've been a lot more interesting, as they would've had to argue, fight and demonstrate the superiority of their values instead of just assuming they were right. dng's scenario from last week beats it, but I feel that's another possibly more interesting 'what-if' scenario for the show.
* This:
The Maquis/Starfleet tension would have been welcome if it didn't have that afterschool special level of subtlety that is also a prime characteristic of Voyager.
Janeway *literally* watching over B'Ellana later was just too much, wasn't it?
* This too:
A more serious thing, I think, is that although Torres tends to attribute her anger management issues to her Klingon side, I don't really buy that; Worf rarely loses his shit, and even more rarely hurts someone as bad as Torres hurt Carey.
Major agreement. I wish they had skipped that, or dealt with it better.
... long winded as that was, I imagine I have forgotten something and will have to post again shortly. Until then, looking forward to what everyone else was thinking. :)
posted by mordax at 11:15 PM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]
This episode seemed to me to be a solid step in the right direction for the show to take. I agree that much more could have been made of tensions between the Starfleet way and the Maquis, but with Chakotay and B'Elanna having been in Starfleet once themselves, they sort of nipped some of that in the bud anyway, and anything more than tension and differences of approach and perspective probably would have proved as difficult and troubling in its own way as it would be rewarding given how small the crew is and where they are.
That said, the Seska side of the Maquis perspective should have been drawn out more. Without going into spoilers too much, I'll just say that she was one of their best characters as she developed and they definitely could have made even more and better use of her due to that. Along with that, there could have been a little more initially done with Janeway and Chakotay's decisions involved in destroying the array instead of using it to go back to the Alpha Quadrant. Some discontent on the Starfleet side could have arisen as well, allowing for some more examination of Janeway and Chakotay's relationship, both in how they work together to maintain unity and in where they might differ in handling their respective crews.
This episode gave some hint of that, but more could have been done with it and still kept the more optimistic Rodenberry attitude about cooperation and growth. I don't think that needs to be rejected to make a show interesting, just handled more in depth and "realistically" in accord with the perspective of the world today informing the dilemmas "tomorrow". Oh, and I agree that Seska, like Kes, should have been developed more thoroughly as a character. Both of them had potential to be more interesting than they are, and the actors portraying them suggest more than they are given.
As an aside I won't yet pursue as it is looking to future episodes, they really didn't do well in setting up the romantic relationships on the show much at all. Kes and Neelix is a flat out disaster, and most of the others hinted at or shown aren't big improvements. They had characters /actors who gelled and could have provided a lot more interest, but they seemed to prefer to stick with some preplanned notions instead and they don't pay off well. But that can be looked at more later.
B'Elanna and the Captain bonding over science/engineering geekery was a fine touch, and the Mulgrew and Dawson worked well together and made it work. Using this episode as a way to better define the characters and assign then their stations was both sensible and a chance for a nice little non-alien threat story which are always welcome. The anomaly itself was simple and pleasing enough as a dilemma, regardless of the science behind it. Character episodes built around examples of personality through problem solving tend to work consistently well in each of the different series they've made.
Chakotay gets some good use here too, and comes across better than Janeway in the first half of the episode, which is an interesting sort of take on Janeway's character as she often seems to start off on less than sure footing with some of her perspectives, but adapts and comes out looking better for the process in the end. It's something I really like about her character, as it gives her a little more feeling of depth in a way, or at least makes her more down to earth, um, figuratively speaking.
I wasn't so keen on Neelix and Kes inserting themselves into the meeting as they did though. It's one of those things that would rub me the wrong way and get me wondering why I decided to take them on in the first place. Why just them? There are other races not represented in the staff meetings, surely they could make Neelixy claims as well. It felt like Janeway allowed Neelix to force himself in to the decision making, which doesn't seem sensible, other than from a "main cast member" perspective, especially since Neelix misled them before and has not really shown himself to be all that trustworthy.
Kes suggesting the hydroponics idea was nice, and her interactions with the doctor likewise. It is, however, perhaps a bit unfortunate that they so quickly and completely push Kes into the quiet and caring mode of character that nullifies some of the more rebellious attitude we saw in the first episode where she goes against the Ocampans in leaving the underground and stands up for her actions and against their beliefs on her return. I also say that because Lien shows a nice range of emotion and seems to handle aggression better than Dawson does with B'Elanna.
I never really warmed to B'Elanna as a character, in part due to what's already been mentioned, though I didn't connect the Latina aspect to it until Halloween Jack mentioned it, and that makes a lot of sense, even if not intentionally done. B'Elanna has some good episodes and moments throughout the run of the show, no question, but the aggression thing doesn't play well much of the time since it doesn't even come across like anger exactly, more insecurity, which is, I suppose fine, and something they trace, but which is also a bit too much in its portrayal being a constant irritant. She does better with examples of a wider breadth of enthusiasms and expertise than they seem to allow her. Although, perhaps, rewatches will change my feelings about that since they've, so far, made me appreciate some aspects of the show more than my first viewing.
Speaking of that, the way they are building the doctor's personality and his relationships with the crew is a good example of the longer term planning they did. They are doing a nice job showing his development as a crew member in his interactions with everyone else, while keeping it light enough to still provide amusement on individual episode merits. Something I'd like to see more of with the rest of the cast, and in some instances did find over time once they settled a little more on how things were working.
Enough for now, maybe I'll add a bit more later once I think about it some more. Like mordax said, it's funny actually looking forward to watching Voyager episodes now that there is some discussion about them. This rewatching is fun and puts the show in a better perspective for me.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:49 AM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
That said, the Seska side of the Maquis perspective should have been drawn out more. Without going into spoilers too much, I'll just say that she was one of their best characters as she developed and they definitely could have made even more and better use of her due to that. Along with that, there could have been a little more initially done with Janeway and Chakotay's decisions involved in destroying the array instead of using it to go back to the Alpha Quadrant. Some discontent on the Starfleet side could have arisen as well, allowing for some more examination of Janeway and Chakotay's relationship, both in how they work together to maintain unity and in where they might differ in handling their respective crews.
This episode gave some hint of that, but more could have been done with it and still kept the more optimistic Rodenberry attitude about cooperation and growth. I don't think that needs to be rejected to make a show interesting, just handled more in depth and "realistically" in accord with the perspective of the world today informing the dilemmas "tomorrow". Oh, and I agree that Seska, like Kes, should have been developed more thoroughly as a character. Both of them had potential to be more interesting than they are, and the actors portraying them suggest more than they are given.
As an aside I won't yet pursue as it is looking to future episodes, they really didn't do well in setting up the romantic relationships on the show much at all. Kes and Neelix is a flat out disaster, and most of the others hinted at or shown aren't big improvements. They had characters /actors who gelled and could have provided a lot more interest, but they seemed to prefer to stick with some preplanned notions instead and they don't pay off well. But that can be looked at more later.
B'Elanna and the Captain bonding over science/engineering geekery was a fine touch, and the Mulgrew and Dawson worked well together and made it work. Using this episode as a way to better define the characters and assign then their stations was both sensible and a chance for a nice little non-alien threat story which are always welcome. The anomaly itself was simple and pleasing enough as a dilemma, regardless of the science behind it. Character episodes built around examples of personality through problem solving tend to work consistently well in each of the different series they've made.
Chakotay gets some good use here too, and comes across better than Janeway in the first half of the episode, which is an interesting sort of take on Janeway's character as she often seems to start off on less than sure footing with some of her perspectives, but adapts and comes out looking better for the process in the end. It's something I really like about her character, as it gives her a little more feeling of depth in a way, or at least makes her more down to earth, um, figuratively speaking.
I wasn't so keen on Neelix and Kes inserting themselves into the meeting as they did though. It's one of those things that would rub me the wrong way and get me wondering why I decided to take them on in the first place. Why just them? There are other races not represented in the staff meetings, surely they could make Neelixy claims as well. It felt like Janeway allowed Neelix to force himself in to the decision making, which doesn't seem sensible, other than from a "main cast member" perspective, especially since Neelix misled them before and has not really shown himself to be all that trustworthy.
Kes suggesting the hydroponics idea was nice, and her interactions with the doctor likewise. It is, however, perhaps a bit unfortunate that they so quickly and completely push Kes into the quiet and caring mode of character that nullifies some of the more rebellious attitude we saw in the first episode where she goes against the Ocampans in leaving the underground and stands up for her actions and against their beliefs on her return. I also say that because Lien shows a nice range of emotion and seems to handle aggression better than Dawson does with B'Elanna.
I never really warmed to B'Elanna as a character, in part due to what's already been mentioned, though I didn't connect the Latina aspect to it until Halloween Jack mentioned it, and that makes a lot of sense, even if not intentionally done. B'Elanna has some good episodes and moments throughout the run of the show, no question, but the aggression thing doesn't play well much of the time since it doesn't even come across like anger exactly, more insecurity, which is, I suppose fine, and something they trace, but which is also a bit too much in its portrayal being a constant irritant. She does better with examples of a wider breadth of enthusiasms and expertise than they seem to allow her. Although, perhaps, rewatches will change my feelings about that since they've, so far, made me appreciate some aspects of the show more than my first viewing.
Speaking of that, the way they are building the doctor's personality and his relationships with the crew is a good example of the longer term planning they did. They are doing a nice job showing his development as a crew member in his interactions with everyone else, while keeping it light enough to still provide amusement on individual episode merits. Something I'd like to see more of with the rest of the cast, and in some instances did find over time once they settled a little more on how things were working.
Enough for now, maybe I'll add a bit more later once I think about it some more. Like mordax said, it's funny actually looking forward to watching Voyager episodes now that there is some discussion about them. This rewatching is fun and puts the show in a better perspective for me.
posted by gusottertrout at 1:49 AM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
One thing that never quite jumped out at me on previous VOY run-throughs, which some of you have mentioned, is that Lien is really an impressive actress and that just makes her character's stories and eventual fate more sad.
I'll also mention (not sure anyone else has) how well-done the effects are in this episode, and in the series generally IIRC. VOY was definitely the slickest of the Treks (at least until He Who Shall Only Be Spoken Of Via Initials).
It was also nice to see Janeway go ahead and integrate them into the ship *without* press-ganging them.
And yet this opens the door for Neelix to ignore orders on an upcoming away mission. I guess we can give the writers that "out," but maybe there should've been some discussion of a field commission.
I liked her and B'Ellana coming to a lasting understanding over a shared CGI problem. It was better than I remembered.
Script-wise, it works, but performance-wise I found it worse than I remembered; they both have the emotion cranked up a little too far past the red line. You half expect them to start making out.
Like mordax said, it's funny actually looking forward to watching Voyager episodes now that there is some discussion about them. This rewatching is fun and puts the show in a better perspective for me.
As a fairly avowed Voyager critic, I'd actually have to agree!
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:18 AM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
I'll also mention (not sure anyone else has) how well-done the effects are in this episode, and in the series generally IIRC. VOY was definitely the slickest of the Treks (at least until He Who Shall Only Be Spoken Of Via Initials).
It was also nice to see Janeway go ahead and integrate them into the ship *without* press-ganging them.
And yet this opens the door for Neelix to ignore orders on an upcoming away mission. I guess we can give the writers that "out," but maybe there should've been some discussion of a field commission.
I liked her and B'Ellana coming to a lasting understanding over a shared CGI problem. It was better than I remembered.
Script-wise, it works, but performance-wise I found it worse than I remembered; they both have the emotion cranked up a little too far past the red line. You half expect them to start making out.
Like mordax said, it's funny actually looking forward to watching Voyager episodes now that there is some discussion about them. This rewatching is fun and puts the show in a better perspective for me.
As a fairly avowed Voyager critic, I'd actually have to agree!
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 3:18 AM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
A bit ago, I helped put together a list of a handful of well-regarded but still "crisis-of-the-week" type episodes from each series, in order to introduce a friend to Star Trek. This was one of the picks for Voyager, the others being ‘Blink Of an Eye’, ‘Bride of Chaotica!’, ‘Distant Origin’, ‘Year of Hell’, and ‘The Void’. Based on this sample, the friend wound up liking Voyager way more than TNG. (We did also inform her that Voyager is notoriously uneven, though.) (Also she independently wound up liking DS9 the most with no prodding from me, yay)
I haven't hopped on this rewatch yet but I think I will! I haven't watched Voyager since it aired, when I was ages 8-14, and I never came away thinking "man this is terrible" - at least no more frequently than I did with my other contemporaneous faves the X-Files and Buffy, which definitely both had their share of awful episodes. So I'm wondering how it'll feel to revisit it now. Since I'm going in knowing that it's supposed to be the-worst-trek-ever-except-for-enterprise-which-barely-even-counts, maybe my low expectations will result in me really liking it!
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:44 AM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I haven't hopped on this rewatch yet but I think I will! I haven't watched Voyager since it aired, when I was ages 8-14, and I never came away thinking "man this is terrible" - at least no more frequently than I did with my other contemporaneous faves the X-Files and Buffy, which definitely both had their share of awful episodes. So I'm wondering how it'll feel to revisit it now. Since I'm going in knowing that it's supposed to be the-worst-trek-ever-except-for-enterprise-which-barely-even-counts, maybe my low expectations will result in me really liking it!
posted by showbiz_liz at 11:44 AM on January 10, 2017 [1 favorite]
I haven't watched Voyager since it aired, when I was ages 8-14, and I never came away thinking "man this is terrible"
I had recently been wondering, actually, whether the 8-14 age range might have been the perfect one at which to experience this series. I regrettably was well beyond that when VOY premiered.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 12:04 PM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
I had recently been wondering, actually, whether the 8-14 age range might have been the perfect one at which to experience this series. I regrettably was well beyond that when VOY premiered.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil at 12:04 PM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
Since I'm going in knowing that it's supposed to be the-worst-trek-ever-except-for-enterprise-which-barely-even-counts, maybe my low expectations will result in me really liking it!
It's debatable as to whether it's the worst-trek-ever-etc., but regardless, whatever notional standing it has relative to the other series doesn't mean that it isn't worth watching. I mean, I'm watching it, despite my deep disappointment in some, not all aspects of it. It fails in many of the ways that DS9 succeeded, but it also succeeds in some ways that DS9 missed; some individual episodes are among my favorite moments in the entire franchise. (Your list above includes many of them.) And sometimes it's just as fun to tease out how things could have been better, especially when there are clues that the creators of the show would have done things that way if they'd been given as free rein as the DS9 showrunners had been.
WRT the 8-14 thing, I think that it's significant that VOY has the only really decent girl character of Trek in Naomi Wildman; Molly O'Brien in TNG/DS9 only got rare and relatively short appearances, except for "Time's Orphan", which was... problematic.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:14 PM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
It's debatable as to whether it's the worst-trek-ever-etc., but regardless, whatever notional standing it has relative to the other series doesn't mean that it isn't worth watching. I mean, I'm watching it, despite my deep disappointment in some, not all aspects of it. It fails in many of the ways that DS9 succeeded, but it also succeeds in some ways that DS9 missed; some individual episodes are among my favorite moments in the entire franchise. (Your list above includes many of them.) And sometimes it's just as fun to tease out how things could have been better, especially when there are clues that the creators of the show would have done things that way if they'd been given as free rein as the DS9 showrunners had been.
WRT the 8-14 thing, I think that it's significant that VOY has the only really decent girl character of Trek in Naomi Wildman; Molly O'Brien in TNG/DS9 only got rare and relatively short appearances, except for "Time's Orphan", which was... problematic.
posted by Halloween Jack at 2:14 PM on January 10, 2017 [2 favorites]
I liked the understated way that Kes, Neelix, and the Doctor all reinforced B'Elanna's arc: The default assumption is that the Starfleet crew can handle everything, and anyone else who wants to contribute has to step up and make their value known. The Doctor is least successful in establishing a place for himself, because he lacks the agency (and holo-emitter) to force himself into conversations.
I also liked that when the Doctor asked Janeway to be briefed about quantum whatsits that might affect the health of the crew, her solution is to patch him in to the ship's database rather than just having someone tell him in person. Because of course no human is going to deign to give status updates to a mere hologram.
But I wish that the B'Elanna arc had given more time to her shortcomings as a leader. Her goalposts moved about halfway through the episode — in the first half, nobody doubted her technical knowledge, the question was whether she was able to lead effectively. Then in the second half, she had a great technical solution and the leadership questions were basically dropped. (She did ask Lt. Carey for help with Starfleet procedures, but there's a lot more to leadership than being able to follow process and procedures correctly.)
It's a sore point for me, because I've worked for managers with great technical knowledge who were outstanding individual contributors, but terrible leaders. The person with the best ideas often isn't the one you want in charge — especially if they have a history of being hostile to alternative suggestions.
posted by Banknote of the year at 7:21 PM on January 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
I also liked that when the Doctor asked Janeway to be briefed about quantum whatsits that might affect the health of the crew, her solution is to patch him in to the ship's database rather than just having someone tell him in person. Because of course no human is going to deign to give status updates to a mere hologram.
But I wish that the B'Elanna arc had given more time to her shortcomings as a leader. Her goalposts moved about halfway through the episode — in the first half, nobody doubted her technical knowledge, the question was whether she was able to lead effectively. Then in the second half, she had a great technical solution and the leadership questions were basically dropped. (She did ask Lt. Carey for help with Starfleet procedures, but there's a lot more to leadership than being able to follow process and procedures correctly.)
It's a sore point for me, because I've worked for managers with great technical knowledge who were outstanding individual contributors, but terrible leaders. The person with the best ideas often isn't the one you want in charge — especially if they have a history of being hostile to alternative suggestions.
posted by Banknote of the year at 7:21 PM on January 10, 2017 [4 favorites]
That's a good point about B'Elannna's leadership ability falling out of the picture in the second half of the episode. I guess one could look at it as Janeway deciding that her new bond with Torres, the info from Starfleet, Torres' engineering ability, and Chakotay's recommendation as sufficient cause to promote her even with some lingering questions about her leadership skills, and since we saw Lt. Carey's own weaknesses in that area, as exemplified by his treatment of Torres before the Officer's Meeting, he too may not have been an ideal candidate, which Janeway could have known since he was under her command already. That's giving a reason to something that doesn't really make itself apparent directly, so in that sense it isn't a solution for the show's failing, but it could be a way of showing how Janeway makes decisions as well, even without definite information, as she also showed in her actions opening the fissure. As in "sometimes you have to punch your way through".
posted by gusottertrout at 4:59 AM on January 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
posted by gusottertrout at 4:59 AM on January 11, 2017 [1 favorite]
I can get behind that reading of the episode, gusottertrout. But, like you said, it would have been nicer to make that more explicit.
posted by Banknote of the year at 12:32 PM on January 11, 2017
posted by Banknote of the year at 12:32 PM on January 11, 2017
This episode may have been what most endeared me to VOY in the first season. Although B'Elanna's defensiveness and belligerence is a little over the top, she and Janeway operating in tandem to solve engineering problems—two women characters, working together that way, on TV in 1995? That happened pretty much never. (I was going to say outside of maybe Buffy, but she wouldn't be on TV for another two years.) I mean this is around the same time that Troi & Crusher only had one-on-one conversations on TNG about romantic interests, either with curlers in their hair or while wearing jazzercise outfits. Maybe there were times on DS9 with Jadzia & Kira, but even there, "Old Man" Dax was the more prominent aspect of Jadzia's personality. I just remember it feeling like a big deal at the time.
And gusottertrout makes a good point about Carey's leadership shortcomings. Sure, Torres punched him in the face, but one wonders what led up to that altercation. Torres' turning point in her defensive attitude comes when she learns from Janeway that not everyone at the Academy was out to get her. From Episode 1–2 we know she has a sort of Jekyll/Hyde personality issue with a fair amount of self-loathing for "the Klingon half" of herself, which we will see in more explicit terms later. I guess the point being that her promotion to chief is the exact sort of self-esteem boost she has been needing in order to feel she has a place among a Starfleet crew, thereby being more amenable to making it work not just as an engineer but as an officer.
posted by obloquy at 2:56 PM on January 14, 2017 [2 favorites]
And gusottertrout makes a good point about Carey's leadership shortcomings. Sure, Torres punched him in the face, but one wonders what led up to that altercation. Torres' turning point in her defensive attitude comes when she learns from Janeway that not everyone at the Academy was out to get her. From Episode 1–2 we know she has a sort of Jekyll/Hyde personality issue with a fair amount of self-loathing for "the Klingon half" of herself, which we will see in more explicit terms later. I guess the point being that her promotion to chief is the exact sort of self-esteem boost she has been needing in order to feel she has a place among a Starfleet crew, thereby being more amenable to making it work not just as an engineer but as an officer.
posted by obloquy at 2:56 PM on January 14, 2017 [2 favorites]
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Star Trek in general suffers from exposition dialog to explain to the viewers what's going on but no series does it more than Voyager.
The Maquis/Starfleet tension would have been welcome if it didn't have that afterschool special level of subtlety that is also a prime characteristic of Voyager. Many Voyager episodes are like walking into a house without walls. You can see the foundation, the pipes, the studs. Never mind the walls, the floors, ceilings, fixtures, etc. They're rarely built, just in case you fail to understand the point of the story. Chakotay handles the situation well, attempting to ensure the former Maquis are not second class crew members, but the resolution was obvious from a mile away.
I do like that one of the consistent messages that Star Trek focuses on is forgiveness, understanding and growth rather than eternal condemnation. Both Paris and Torres have similarities to Ro Laren and the system in which they all live under is shown to be less than perfect for those who do not fit the Starfleet model.
posted by juiceCake at 10:54 AM on January 9, 2017 [3 favorites]