What Star Trek Ep/Movie Did you Watch Today?

[Jeff O'Connor]

That was a great read, Digi. I would have given you the green, but apparently I still can't until I give more to someone else, so... I'll do it later.

Reading all that is making me both excited at the prospect of, and all the more apprehensive of, giving Voyager another run. There are such great concepts throughout the series, but they're often executed so poorly.

[nx01a]

Drop your jaws and bulge your eyes, fellow Trek-sub-forum-ites, for I have begun re-watching Voyager Let's all hope I come away from it with a more positive attitude than I've had to it to date, hm? It happened with Enterprise, so maybe lightning will strike twice
Star Trek: Voyager 1.01-02 "Caretaker"
But the experience is marred by a lot of ridiculous or cringe-inducing scenes (the southern banjo hoedown springs immediately to mind). And then there's Janeway's moronic decision to maroon her crew instead of, say, giving the tricobalt bombs a fuse
I just can't figure how it is that Neelix is floored by transporters, but Kes doesn't even blink when Janeway turns off the EMH.
And then there's the Kazon, a ridiculous and lame new alien race who are just...ugh. They're just lame bandits, who look like leper Klingons having a bad hair day. When did these ever seem like a good idea? Or, for that matter, to keep bringing them back
Star Trek: Voyager 1.06 "The Cloud"
And after seeing the kitchen debut in the previous episode, we now see the rest of the Mess that Neelix co-opted from Janeway. And uh....wow. For a ship that only has 140 or so crew at launch, that is a huge Captain's dining room! And I'll freely admit to *facepalming* at Janeway's "there's coffee in that nebula" line. Oh my is the beginning of this episode ever geared toward Janeway's decadence as captain
And incidentally, I started watching this before the latest addition to my Ignore List started up his 'voyager r00lz' thread

I'm glad that you're giving VOY another shot... but why anger yourself with all the bad episodes? Edit, my son! Edit!

>I didn't like the southern ho-down, much like I couldn't stand baseball in DS9. At least Tom Paris and his 20th C sci-fi obsession both made sense and was entertaining.
>Kes came from the Ocampa homeworld, specially created and protected by the Caretaker. I'd venture she saw some pretty advanced things down there. Neelix... I got nothing.
>Tuvok said it would take several hours to access the program to send them home. There were already more Kazon ships on the way. There was nothing Janeway could do but blow up the array there and then.
>The Kazon ARE ridiculous. If you squint, they're Klingons.
>"There's coffee in that nebula!" still makes me smile.

Keep up the rewatch! And don't feed the trolls!

[Jeff O'Connor]

I'm curious, what exactly makes the Kazons so reviled by fandom? I'm not asking because I'm a closet Kazon worshipper or anything. I just haven't seen most of the series in so bloody long.

[DigiFluid]

I'm glad that you're giving VOY another shot... but why anger yourself with all the bad episodes? Edit, my son! Edit!

Heh...it's been so long since I've watched the show that I can barely even remember which ones were the really bad ones. The only one I've nixed for sure is Threshold. No thanks.

much like I couldn't stand baseball in DS9. At least Tom Paris and his 20th C sci-fi obsession both made sense and was entertaining.

Little bit of mixed response to that from my end....I really loved the DS9/baseball relationship, even though personally I don't particularly care for the sport. I thought it added an interesting dimension to the series overall.

Kes came from the Ocampa homeworld, specially created and protected by the Caretaker. I'd venture she saw some pretty advanced things down there.

Okay, I can buy that

Tuvok said it would take several hours to access the program to send them home. There were already more Kazon ships on the way. There was nothing Janeway could do but blow up the array there and then.

Ehh....I'm still not totally convinced. Particularly since, as far as they knew, Kim and Torres were still captives of the Caretaker and they just decided 'hey let's go have a look where the energy pulses are going'. They had all the time in the world to figure a way home; and considering they'd been pulled across the galaxy in literally seconds, I think 2 casualties is more than acceptable losses if it means getting 160 others home.

The Kazon ARE ridiculous. If you squint, they're Klingons.

I'm curious, what exactly makes the Kazons so reviled by fandom? I'm not asking because I'm a closet Kazon worshipper or anything. I just haven't seen most of the series in so bloody long.

Does that clear it up for you Jeff?

They're just such a....lame villain race IMO. The make-up and hair styling on them is horrific and just laughably bad... We're talking about people that are societally really no different than roadside bandits; how they ever got space travel is a mystery. How one of the most advanced new ships in the Federation fleet is apparently at their mercy is also a huge inexplicable mystery. They're just...bad. Bad bad bad

[Jumper_One]

You went that far and didn't watch "What You Leave Behind."

Weak

DS9 - The Sword of Kahless.

Bah... More Kilngons.

DS9 - What You Leave Behind

[nx01a]

Ehh....I'm still not totally convinced. Particularly since, as far as they knew, Kim and Torres were still captives of the Caretaker and they just decided 'hey let's go have a look where the energy pulses are going'. They had all the time in the world to figure a way home; and considering they'd been pulled across the galaxy in literally seconds, I think 2 casualties is more than acceptable losses if it means getting 160 others home.
They're just such a....lame villain race IMO. The make-up and hair styling on them is horrific and just laughably bad... We're talking about people that are societally really no different than roadside bandits; how they ever got space travel is a mystery. How one of the most advanced new ships in the Federation fleet is apparently at their mercy is also a huge inexplicable mystery. They're just...bad. Bad bad bad

I'm afraid you lost me, Digi. The Caretaker transported them to Voyager after they were, ahem, probed. He also transported Janeway et al back to Voyager after they beamed back over to talk to him the second time. They really had no choice but to follow the pulses in hopes of finding their missing crew at that point; beaming back over again would have had the exact same response from the Caretaker.
When Janeway decides to blow up the array, it's after we're told that there're more Kazon ships on the way AND after Tuvok estimates that it'll take hours to activate the advanced alien transportation system and after Kim and Torres were rescued. Torres is right there on the bridge being restrained by Chakotay after Janeway announces she's destroying the array. The crew had no time to try to activate the system to get themselves home. If they tried, the Kazon would have most likely reached and attacked Voyager again, not to mention trying to board the array.

The Kazon were only a serious threat because of Seska. They're basically [and sadly] a metaphor for slavery, as we find out in a second season episode featuring their former masters, the Trabe.

[Jeff O'Connor]

And apparently they're bad. Bad bad bad!

[DigiFluid]

Yup

[stargatefan234]

VOY: Scorpion Part 2
DS9: Once More Into the Breach

[DigiFluid]

Star Trek: Voyager 1.07 "Eye of the Needle"
Kind of silly to be doing a 'maybe we've found a wormhole home!' episode this early on in the show, and I'm wondering what the hell a "microprobe" is (and why Voyager is carrying them). But it's a very neat sci-fi concept. I like that it's a big hope that's ultimately dampened because of a temporal shift at the far end.

There's a few nice character moments speckled throughout the episode as well. Kes showing concern and gratitute to the Doctor after he was so callously dismissed by a random Lieutenant, the Kim/Torres chat about home in Engineering, and that 'holding their breath' moment on the bridge while they were waiting to see if a there would be return signal were all very nice.

In fact, the entirety of the 'humanizing the EMH' B-plot is a good addition to the show this early on. I love how Kes automatically and without compunction treats him as an equal, and I like how she's the one who brings the her concerns about the Doctor to Janeway. I'm finding myself very surprised at how much I'm liking Kes this early in the game.


Star Trek: Voyager 1.08 "Ex Post Facto"
Yeah I really should've skipped this one. I don't know what it is about sci-fi in general that makes them feel that they all need to do this story, it's so bloody boring





More later....don't have enough time right now to start another. Mum's birthday today, so we're out to dinner in a little bit

[Raw_Deal]

Bah... More Kilngons.

Sorry... I don't really care for the Klingon episodes...

[Ncc-72452]

In honor of Star Trek's 44th birthday, I'm planning on watching "The Man Trap," the first episode to air on NBC back on September 8th, 1966. To think, I was still two decades (roughly) away...

[Jeff O'Connor]

In honor of Star Trek's 44th birthday, I'm planning on watching "The Man Trap," the first episode to air on NBC back on September 8th, 1966. To think, I was still two decades (roughly) away...

Indeed. I was born a few weeks before TNG premiered. I watched "The Man Trap" earlier, myself.

Digi, what was "Ex Post Facto" about?

[Jeff O'Connor]

Nevermind. Just Memory Alpha'd it. Uh, yeah, what the hell is up with the rampant need to do this episode? Seriously, I agree with you. I did kind of like it in SG-1, though. The TNG version bored me to death recently, and I can't imagine the VOY one would win me over.

[DigiFluid]

Digi, what was "Ex Post Facto" about?

It was the....main cast member is accused of murder on alien world and convicted because of false memories story. In this case, Tom Paris.


Star Trek: Voyager 1.09 "Emanations"
The premise for the story here is....a little flaky. They just happened to be transporting at the exact same instant as the burial ceremony, and it just happened to involve the same 'frequencies' (as it were) that transplanted two bodies in this way? That's stretching credulity quite a bit IMO. A bit too much for me to swallow. And the aliens' facility looks uh....QUITE a bit like sets from DS9. The walls, the control panels, the lights, everything.

I think the episode really suffers as a result of story bickering between scientific jargon and spiritualism. I can see that they tried to mirror stories here; Kim the science-ey human in the faithful world on one side and spiritual girl aboard Voyager on the other, but it just didn't work for me.


Star Trek: Voyager 1.10 "Prime Factors"
I think the bazaar on the alien planet seen here was eventually recycled on DS9 as the village courtyard in Children of Time.

Anyway round 2 in the first year stories of 'dashed hopes of going home that we knew wasn't going to work out this early anyway'. Nothing much to write home about here, except that I really don't like Tuvok's betrayal. It just seems incredibly out of character even this early on in the show. And the whopping slap on the wrist that was given out for the betrayal, come on

Oh, and I laughed really hard when someone said that the warp core plasma temperature was 43 million Kelvin That's like....50 times hotter than the core of a star, I don't think anything we build, even in the 24th century, could POSSIBLY handle that level of heat.

It was nice to see some solid screen time for Seska though. That's good at least.


Star Trek: Voyager 1.11 "State of Flux"
The commanding of this ship....leaves a lot to be desired. Rather than ordering an immediate beam-out upon discovering the Kazon ship, Janeway is cool with Chakotay just slowly rounding up the groups into one area before coming up. On top of that, Chakotay's all 'you guys just chill here while I go look for someone' *facepalms* And then we've got poor Lt. Carey, who was recently passed over for promotion in favour of a criminal, and is now being harassed and accused of betraying the ship! Poor guy!

And then, and then! we find out that Chakotay was running a Maquis ship with not one but two spies from two separate intelligence agencies in his little crew. Oh MAN, the command staff in this show leaves a LOT to be desired!

Putting all that aside, I like this one--Kazon and all. I find it a little odd that Janeway is unfamiliar with any missing ship reports, when we find out a few seasons later about the USS Equinox. What I really like though is how this really introduces the first real story arc of the series. Namely, Seska's betrayal.

I don't know that I really buy into her explanation, 'building a base of power', but I really enjoy that it did happen and that it fleshes out the Maquis past as well. And I really enjoy that she called out Janeway on her ridiculousness and Chakotay for following her. That was well-earned and well-deserved in this episode alone, never mind anything that happened before.


Star Trek: Voyager 1.12 "Heroes and Demons"
Strange that this episode, yet another holodeck gone berserk story, took nearly half the run-time before it actually got started. I'm even more weirded out to see Marjorie Monaghan here as Freya; the only other thing I've seen her as is Number One in Babylon 5. She has a bit of an odd voice.

Anyway, good to see Robert Picardo finally getting a chance to stretch his acting legs here.