Tanktimus the Encourager Posted January 12 Report Share Posted January 12 Your voyager reviews are, as ever 1 Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
Everstorm Posted January 12 Report Share Posted January 12 I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed that I know exactly which episodes you are describing, but either way, your reviews are extremely entertaining 😁 1 Quote Life before Death Strength before Weakness Journey before Destination Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 12 Author Report Share Posted January 12 45 minutes ago, Everstorm said: I don't know whether to be proud or ashamed that I know exactly which episodes you are describing Hey, my plot descriptions are extremely, extremely accurate! 2 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 12 Author Report Share Posted January 12 WWJD? 03xsomething Real Life Janeway would: Go looking for a fight. Be like, "science, fuck yeah!" And then go look for a fight with that, too. What happens: Hide contents Someone has a very tasteful living room and fireplace. It looks like it's in suburban Space Colorado. Or, I guess more accurately, suburban Space California. Someone also has a very 1950s Stepford wife lining up the 2.5 children by the door to send their father off to work in style. Again, fifteen seconds in, and I'm convinced that the underlying theme of this episode is mistrust the patriarchy. This stereotypical mid-century modern 1950s family is not to be trusted. It is sinister. This is sickeningly clear on the underlying inequalities of the so-called traditional nuclear family. It's the EMH. Of course it is. One of a very small number of dudes on this ship who is (understandably) wildly unclear on the assignment when it comes to being a good human. He shows up in sickbay, and Kes asks after his new holofamily, and he's all, "they're everything I could have hoped for". So this is gonna be an episode on how patriarchal expectations are a trap and an illusion, but an initially seductive one for men. The bridge crew are apparently arriving at Alderaan only to learn it's been turned into rubble. By Alderaan, I mean their new space friends' space science clubhouse. So Janeway decides to follow the space exhaust trail of the unimaginably powerful aggressors. Loyal, but not smart. This is a thing with her. Any hint of a fight, and she's throwing down. Belanna is the first to reality-check the EMH's Pleasantville experience. She's dubious when he mentions creating himself a family to better understand all those biological beings with their attachment to "family ties". She had a complicated family experience, okay. She is outright skeptical when he says he's enjoying the experience. He obviously is not doing it right. She wants to meet them. Conveniently, the EMH's wife asked him to bring colleagues home for dinner. So he invites her and Kes, saying "the little woman" has been wanting them to come over. Belanna's body language at that red flag, guys. It is... very controlled, but I expect there is planning going on. This family, guys. Belanna is so, so unimpressed. Interesting hairstyle, though. Halfway through dinner, she pre-emptively freezes the program to avoid barfing, and storms out. She tears a strip off him for fantasising, and even Kes, who is about as unworldly as the EMH, is a bit, "yeah, this is kinda fake, bro". Oh dear, Belanna offers to tweak the program to make it more real. This will be hilarious. On the bridge, the ship goes to red alert, cuz the dangerous crap they're chasing is appearing, and half the ship is offline. This is why you don't chase aggressive shit without a plan. It seems to be an anomaly and not a Borg. So that's something. Then it disappears. Tom's all, "stuff is back online, I think I can put some distance between us and that," and Janeway is seriously like, "maybe we don't want to". Girl, high marks for bravado, but I question the risk assessment. Chakotay is all, "I know I'm normally the mellow, sensible one, but there's free power in that thing, and we're rationing the replicator. What does a guy have to do for a bacon cheeseburger around here?" I question that math. I suspect the energy expended in shields and repairs and propulsion during this episode could easily cover a few replicated dinners for the crew. The EMH is all, "Belanna is right, I need a more authentic human experience with more randomness. This will be great. My databases cover all the parenting skills." It was not great. The house is a mess and his kid likes emo Klingon metal and his wife is late for work and it's his turn to cook and his daughter can't find her gear for sportsball practice. Honestly, it's very sweet. There was that whole "it's the 90s and family life is a wholesome mess" vibe on TV back then. His son's emo Klingon friends drop by. Interesting that Belanna's idea of the most annoying shit was Klingon. His daughter is screaming, his son won't do his homework and has "business" with these friends. Totally scoring some Klingon weed. Tom complains to Neelix that they keep having the same weird alien casserole, but everyone's out of replicator rations, so the captain's weird obsessions don't look so crazy now, do they? There's lasagna in that nebula. Tom goes to hit on Belanna and finds her reading an escapist novel called "Women Warriors at the River of Blood". Guys. I want that book. It is a Klingon romance novel. Tom decides to read it. To hit on Belanna better. Knives will probably be involved. Sensible tradition. Space time anomalies interrupt their flirting. The ship surfs the gravity waves and they launch a probe. Nooooo! My recording ends there! This is the worst! When will I find out how the EMH learns to defeat the inner patriarchy? The patriarchy ruins everything. The patriarchy even ate my recording. I will read all the novels called "Women Warriors at the River of Blood". 3 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Ranger Hal Posted January 13 Report Share Posted January 13 2 hours ago, sarakingdom said: Nooooo! My recording ends there! This is the worst! When will I find out how the EMH learns to defeat the inner patriarchy? Noooo! I actually remember this episode (at least the EMH part of it) and was looking forward to your summary! I hope you find a new recording. Quote Challenges: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24, #25, #26, #27, #28, Current Walk to Mordor: 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 Link to comment
Everstorm Posted January 13 Report Share Posted January 13 Oh, that episode was tragic 😥 Quote Life before Death Strength before Weakness Journey before Destination Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 13 Author Report Share Posted January 13 16 minutes ago, Everstorm said: Oh, that episode was tragic 😥 They do not defeat the patriarchy? 🥺 36 minutes ago, Ranger Hal said: Noooo! I actually remember this episode (at least the EMH part of it) and was looking forward to your summary! I hope you find a new recording. The library probably has it, but it'll take me a while to get it. Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Everstorm Posted January 13 Report Share Posted January 13 1 hour ago, sarakingdom said: They do not defeat the patriarchy? 🥺 No. The EMH mostly learns about the powerlessness to control others or their fates, even when you have their best interests at heart. It was a heart-wrenching episode 💔 Quote Life before Death Strength before Weakness Journey before Destination Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 13 Author Report Share Posted January 13 WWJD? 03xsomething Distant Origin Janeway would: Be a lab specimen. Get into paleontology. Weirdly, put paleontology ahead of recovering Chakotay. (I'm trying to remember other times he's gone missing. He's done that recently, but I don't remember it well. Maybe she figures he can take care of himself for a few hours, and it's the ensigns she's got to recover in a more timely way, with no evolutionary science breaks.) Get aggro when threatened. What happens: Hide contents Lizard person in a cave. Lizard archaeologists in a cave. Digging up humans. Not the most action-packed intro there. Lizard archaeologists assembling a human skeleton. And waxing poetic about their ancestors. Honestly, this is very Lizard David Attenborough, which has some charm. Lizard David Attenborough can't get science funding, which is very realistic. His dead body appears to be wearing a Voyager uniform in the recreation. He's also given it green lizard skin, which is a joke about dinosaur recreations that still works. These lizard people do not seem to have breasts, which is delightfully anatomically accurate. Now Lizard David Attenborough is fleeing a heresy charge. So he spends weeks hunting Voyager and picking up artifacts and eating bugs. For fun, I mean, not out of necessity. It's a cute sequence. They go invisible to observe the human specimens. They observe Tom and Belanna's courting behavior. "The males appear to be subordinate to that female. Perhaps a matriarchy." "My conclusion exactly." Voyager, I love you sometimes. Harry detects the cloaked lizards on the bridge and Tuvok sets up a force field to contain them. Who's the specimen now, Lizard David Attenborough? Not so clever now, are you. They do manage to flee the bridge without being unmasked, so we're gonna have a lizard hunt. A quick one, cuz Voyager has figured out the cloaking field, so Chakotay and Tuvok uncloak them some lizards, and the lizard grad student shoots Chakotay with a poison dart, and Tuvok shoots the lizard grad student, and Lizard David Attenborough beams back to his ship with Chakotay's body. Lizard grad student appears to only speak lizard clicking around humans, which is refreshing. Rather than be interrogated, the lizard lowers his body temperature and puts himself into lizard hibernation stasis. On the research ship, Lizard David Attenborough revives Chakotay and seems to be able to talk to him. I mean, Chakotay is one of the best guys you could kidnap for an ethnography chat, so this could go worse. The EMH has also found the genetic markers that match humans, like Lizard David Attenborough. Janeway takes the EMH to the holodeck to check out hadrosaurs, which have the right head crest for these dudes. I knew it was a familiar head crest. Chakotay and Lizard David Attenborough are having the same chat, about evolution on destroyed continents. They are pals now. Chakotay suggests that next time they try saying hello first, and Lizard David Attenborough is all, "Sorry, dude, we're still old-fashioned about mammals, I'll know better next time." Chakotay is all, "No prob, bro, now let's swing back to Voyager and swap me for your grad student. I bet he hates the food there." Lizard David Attenborough is all, "Uh... slight problem, I've already booked you for the dissection package scientist convention to get me off my heresy charge." Chakotay is not thrilled. Tuvok and Tom cloak apples. We all need a hobby. Voyager appears to have run into the mother ship of heresy lizards. They beam the entire ship into a holding bay. The whole ship shuts down. This is sort of wild. No electronic things are working. Tom and Tuvok head for a Jeffrey's tube to get back to the bridge, only Tuvok gets poison-darted by a lozard invader and orders Tom to go without him. I like the pacing in this episode. The Kes one dragged sooooo slooooow, and this one really goes along at a good clip and slams some major plot developments into you without a ton of warning. Lizard David Attenborough is given the choice of going back to face his charges, or the Lizard Inquisition will destroy Voyager to destroy his evidence. I'm not sure they've thought through that logic; surely destroying evidence is good for them either way. Lizard David Attenborough doesn't wanna be responsible for all those deaths, but he also doesn't wanna see his work discredited. Chakotay is a pretty clear thinker about this, thanks to being the mellowest guy on the ship, and is all, "Then it's a good thing you've got more evidence standing in front of you," having reasoned that, yes, they likely will destroy the inconvenient evidence - Voyager - if this guy doesn't win his case. Seriously, dude is calmer than the damn Vulcan. Janeway refuses to cooperate with Lizard Inquisitors because they're holding her prisoner. She would not be as quick a clear thinker as Chakotay if they swapped places. She is not mellow. Not at all. A lizard on Voyager finds the ship blinking a message about a weapons override and a Paris authorisation, and then Tom Paris uncloaks and knocks the dude out. See, this is why you should spend time cloaking apples, it means you're carrying the cloaking device when you get attacked. People in this story are less dumb than in the Kes story. That story, the plot relied on everyone being stupid, even unusually stupid. In this story, it relies on everyone being smart. This is better. He contacts Janeway and tells her he's got torpedo control and she just needs to say the word. Lizard Inquisitor is like, "who the hell is that?" Janeway's all, "My pilot. He's gonna blow a hole in your ship. Hang onto something. Fire, Tom." Katherine, you are in an enclosed space. This is... this is the most Janeway thing to do, honestly. It's been a while since I've watched Voyager, and I keep forgetting she's hella aggressive and always hits back harder than they hit her. Lizard Inquisitor takes them offline again. Oh well. I kinda wanted to see her and Tom do that. (Tom Paris really gets her sometimes. Which, come to think of it, is a dynamic they've set up before.) Lizard David Attenborough shows up in court with Chakotay and refuses to recant. Chakotay speaks up about how Voyager's records show the genetic markers in question show up all through his planet's history, not random convergence. But how would he know? He was busy being kidnapped when Janeway and the EMH discovered that. He has no idea what the Voyager records say on the subject. This episode is very "politicising data by turning facts into matters of opinion, and claiming the facts are politicised", and that hits harder lately. Lizard grad student is made to testify against them to save himself. He was so loyal. Lizard David Attenborough tears into the head inquisitor, and Chakotay tries to get him to chill. He has no chill. Head Inquisitor screams, "We are not immigrants!" Which, uh, has some resonances today, too. So Chakotay goes, "actually, let's talk about your objectivity". He's apparently learned enough lizard history offscreen to point out that lizard doctrine has changed before. Bit glib as a plot point, let's see what else you've got. Head Inquisitor is like, "This theory is appalling, it makes us a race of pathetic refugees scrabbling across the universe," and Chakotay is all, "Or it makes you the first sentient species of earth, thriving despite the most dangerous odds, brave enough to launch themselves into space and stay together as a culture. Denying your past is denying that strength." He's pretty convincing. This dude is good at his job when both the writers and the actor show up for work on the same day. Doesn't help, Lizard David Attenborough is sentenced to a prison colony. And so is all of Voyager. Lizard David Attenborough protests this unfairness to Voyager, and is offered another chance to recant. So he's reassigned to metallurgy, and Voyager is told to get out of the very merciful and nice and fair head inquisitor's sight forever. This episode is nearly over, so it looks like... they're not going to win. That's unusual for Trek. I mean, okay, maybe not for the counterculture space station show, but for the pollyanna starship shows, that's unusual. I kinda like it. Lizard David Attenborough is all, "Goodbye, my friend. Ugh, I suck at metallurgy, they've punished me with mediocrity at a career I hate." And Chakotay is all, "That sucks, man. Have a globe of earth to remember how brave your people were once." Okay, that was pretty cute. Also well paced and clever, and aged alarmingly well, unfortunately. 5 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 13 Author Report Share Posted January 13 Week 2 Day 5 It is absurdly cold. It's particularly absurd because it's not very cold out today. But I am absolutely fucking freezing. Maybe this should become a baking day. Getting trays in and out of the oven between work jobs is probably a warm thing to do. Challenge tasks: Spend an hour doing something fun: Voyager Make something pretty, fun, or festive: cranberry muffins Bonus making: a few rows of a bigger pepeppermint-swirl crochet project Drink 4 liters with electrolytes: 3/4 Exercise breaks: 0 Meditation breaks: 0 Support tasks: 4pm hydration check-in 9pm hydration check-in Make a warm nest Fix evening routine timers Winter goals: Hibernate (in progress) Break out the coziest clothes (in progress) Wrap more gifts Sled with a yeti 4 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Rurik Harrgath Posted January 13 Report Share Posted January 13 On 1/11/2023 at 12:40 PM, sarakingdom said: and white-hot anger. This one is my favorite because it's the closest I feel to alive sometimes 🤣 okay but seriously though. 1 Quote [Level ??] Rurik, the Wayfinder Class: Gloomfall Gunslinger (Artificer/Gunslinger) BRUTALITY 11 | FINESSE 10 | VIGOR 11 | INSIGHT 14 | WILL 13 Equipment: The Alchemist greatcoat armor, Longshot adventuring rifle, Slicer & Dicer dual blades, with adventurer's pack containing an alchemist's kit. "Rangers have to at least give up on pants. It's a special rule we enacted after Rurik became a Guild Leader.” – DarK_RaideR "Did I just get my ass kicked by a member of Metallica meets History Channel's Vikings?" - Wild Wolf "By the Well-Oiled-and-Meticulously-Groomed Beard of Rurik!" - Tanktimus the Encourager Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 WWJD? 03xsomething Displaced Janeway would: Trust her instincts. Do the math. Consider escape a moral imperative. Science things and save people. Pull some pretty coercive powerplays. Not exactly a pushover. What happens: Hide contents Belanna storms out of batleth training, while Tom runs after her like a disappointed tennis coach who doesn't know why his star pupil hit the net and slammed down her racket. He's been culturally insensitive. He's all, "best workout I ever had, c'mon!" and she's like, "you ambushed me with that Klingon bloodsport shit, and I am done". He'd better be on Lower Decks, because he was absolutely made for it. In the middle of their culturally insensitive quarrel, a confused alien materialises and wants to know why he's been adbucted. As one does. They have no idea where he's from, they're in the middle of nowhere. Kes is missing. She disappeared from the ship the same moment this dude showed up. Belanna is still pissed off that Tom called her hostile, and demands Harry tell her whether she's hostile or not. He's all, "Ma'am, I wouldn't say it that way... er, no, I mean." She's forthright. And speaks her mind. And has a bit of a temper. But that's very different from being hostile. Very different. She realizes Harry looks afraid for his life. She checks some sensor readings, and Harry disappears. And the bridge gets a new alien. Then a random crew member goes. Then Tuvok. Then 18 more people. Everyone is crossing their arms in this scene. Must be Starfleet training. I should do that more often, and be more Starfleet. Janeway's all, "Right, all the security measures," and Chakotay is like, "to be fair, they're super confused people off the street," and Janeway is all, "none of this passes the smell test, my friend, this is not cool, and has not been cool since the first one showed up". She's all, "they're replacing our crew one by one every nine minutes, and at this rate, there will be no more of us in eighteen hours, tell me that doesn't make you nervous". Scientists do the math on their gut feelings, y'all. Half the crew is now gone. Fortunately, not many of the senior staff. And fortunately they picked up an astrophysicist. Current theory: they accidentally snagged a forming wormhole in the ship. The captain disappears mid-order. The astrophysicist in question is stroppy and demanding. The bridge is now manned by Chakotay and an ensign serving as new chief of security. She has the appropriate sense of how ridiculous that is. They're down to 40 people. So Chakotay seals off a lot of the ship and puts various critical things behind forcefields and tells the ship to only take orders from authorised crew. Dude is still a pretty good captain. He's got that ensign at her ease, and he's got a good sense of the security issues, even if he hopes it's paranoia. I'm starting to see why people call him the best first officer in any of the series. He actually is quietly very good at his job. Astrophysicist is still annoying. Belanna's all, "It's what we're not finding that's unusual. Impossible, in fact." So the astrophysicist told her not to run this useless scan; it was useful. Then told her the results weren't unusual; they were impossible. Now he's all, "maybe it's a different natural phenomenon". This dude is a problem. It's not natural. As soon a she says that, astrophysicist dude knocks out the security guy in grabs his phaser. Totally an invasion. An invasion of confused suburbanites. He moves Belanna to the head of the disappearance line. She appears next to Janeway, where they're all being held prisoner by polite but uninformative people. Tom and Belanna note that the atmosphere is suited to humans, not the needs of this other species, so it's clearly a holding pen designed for them. Fourteen people are left on Voyager. Some security guy finds the unconscious security guy in engineering, so Chakotay goes to have a talk with their alien guests. The armed sort of talk. They're all missing and crawling through Jeffries tubes. So Chakotay sends his whole crew to engineering and the bridge to secure them, and the poor bridge ensign only manages to phaser two aliens before one phasers her. I'm confused why more stuff isn't safely sealed off, as ordered. Ah, Chakotay is all, "they're even decrypting our access codes, they must have been in our computers before". They're not dumb invaders. It's just him and Gennaro now, so he's like, "we're not gonna win this one, so sabotage everything you can get your hands on, kid". You forget sometimes that he was a guerilla leader. The alien bridge crew are like, "we've nearly got full access, but, importantly, no navigation control, because of this two pesky saboteur humans". Good job, guys. Way to destroy useful things. Someone has crashed the main power reactor. Chakotay turns up the lights and blinds all the aliens. The aliens wanna delete the EMH. Gennaro is now gone, and has been for seven minutes. Chakotay has two minutes to save the EMH. He downloads him into the mobile emitter and grabs it right before he disappears. Can I just take a moment to note how awesome Tuvok is? He managed to slip out of the prison compound, locate thirteen other compounds in the woods holding their people, and slip back in. That's yer damn head of security. The alien spokesperson on the planet is all, "Yes, this is how we take over ships, colonies, all the things. So many things. We're not cruel." She's all, "you'll be happy here, we programmed stuff with your food recipes and movies, you should be grateful, better accept it". Tuvok is all, "natural barriers in every direction out there, not passable," and Chakotay is like, "conveeeeenient," and Janeway is like, "Yeah, all this shit seems fake, my dudes, super holographic". Harry spots a visual distortion, and a lizard comes through to say, "Hi, neighbor! We're in the holographic prison next door. Nice compound, oddly green, but whatever works for ya." Then he's all, "Wanna barter for stuff? The last people here didnt have that concept, but I bet you do." And they're like, "Last people, eh? Escape possible, then, eh?" And the lizard is all, "welllll, if you wanna die from a plague, I guess". It took him nine years to find his way through the holographic force fields from prison to prison. That is the information Janeway wants to trade for. It is apparently worth two small baskets of earth food. I know how to make two small baskets of earth food. Anyone wanna barter for how to detect holes in the fabric of reality? Belanna is modifying the EMH to see the holographic shit generating all the fake prison stuff. He's basically having an ecstacy trip where everything is beautiful. Then she apologizes to Tom for being oversensitive about the Klingon program. And he apologizes to her. And the EMH messes it up by psychoanalyzing her using aggressive posturing to defend an emotional sensitivity, and Tom messes it up more by agreeing that's soooo Belanna. Honestly, he deserves whatever he's gonna get. What he gets is, "You're one to talk, you hide everything that bothers you with a joke." The EMH is all, "Very valid observation, there are many forms of defense mechanism." Basically, the lesson here is, dont ever bring the EMH as the third wheel on a date. Belanna figures this out and hits his mute button slightly too late. Tom is all, "I'm just trying to be friendly to someone super determined to have no friends!" And Belanna is all, "If being my friend sucks so hard, why not stop trying?" And he's all, "Maybe I will," and she's all, "fine," and he's all, "fine", and the EMH is all, "*points at mute button in an annoyed fashion*". Chakotay and Tuvok are making weapons out of parts Neelix is scavenging. Those two have such a weird relationship. I hope Neelix is scavenging non-holographic parts. That's gotta be a worry in a holographic environment. Chakotay praises Tuvok for improvising, which he didnt think Vulcans generally had a talent for. My guy, you're normally not the one making the slightly racist comments. But you are sometimes the one doing a backhanded insult of Tuvok, so maybe that's it. Then Chakotay is all, "Reminds of those academy survival training courses," which, my dude, obviously Tuvok took, too. Tuvok is all, "Nah, I learned this shit before it was cool. Vulcans leave kids in the desert for months with a knife as a basic childhood rite of passage." And Chakotay is all, "yeah, man, you got me, look at us, two dudes bonding over shit-talking each other". The EMH is all, "I'm soooo booooored, looking for these portals is soooo boooooring", and Belanna is like, "suck it up, you walking tricorder". So he does, and finds one, and bolts back to his medical job. A small expedition and the nervous lizard check out what looks like a control center. It has doors to all the prison habitats. Tuvok and Janeway figure out they're holding thousands of prisoners in nearly a hundred habitats, and they're on a ship in space, and then someone triggers a security alarm. The warden is like, "I might need to use force on these prisoners," and the Voyager aliens are like, "We gotta get back there as soon as we have warp to back them up." A security team finds the lizard who is all, "Not my fault! They made me! They went that way!" Tuvok nerve pinches a lot of dudes and Janeway finds the swapping transporter. The warden sends a desperate call for help to the Voyager aliens. That's more besieged than I'd have expected her to be by four people having to quick look at the computer. Tom and Belanna hide in a habitat after their weapons die. It's arctic, which is bad, except these aliens hate cold more than they do. Janeway sciences the transporter and is all, "it's so long range, no wonder it can only do one person at a time". Tom warms up Belanna's hands by blowing on them and rubbing them, which is like the most innocent Trek seduction ever. Normally it's Kirk getting his shirt sliced off at nipple-height or Riker going, "Nice boots, wanna fuck?" Janeway and Tuvok realize they hid in the -20 degree habitat, and are all "we've got to get them out, they can't survive that long". Tuvok spots Voyager arriving. They're running out of time before reinforcements. Belanna is all, "I like the idea of hypothermia," and Tom is all, "March, soldier, or I'll carry you out," and they get beamed back to the human habitat in a suspicious embrace. For the warmth, guys, honest. Then two Voyager bridge aliens materialise in the arctic habitat, cuz Janeway has a dark sense of humor. Then Janeway shows up and says, "Here are my terms, surrender my ship and release all your prisoners." And they're like, "No," and she's like, "That's cool, your crew will be joining you here, then". See, the thing is, she did not need them to agree in order to get her ship and release the prisoners. I guess she just wants a negotiated capitulation for... reasons? They get real cold and agree. Janeway sends all the prisoners home to their native worlds. Tom is hanging out on the Voyager holodeck, which seems like the last place you'd wanna be after a swanky holoprison. Belanna's like, "Things were a bit chilly there for while BETWEEN US. Sorry, meant to not say that last bit." And he's like, "Yup, guess so," and she's like, "Nice that it's warmer BETWEEN US look sorry I don't know where that bit comes from". So they hang out in the sun for a bit. 3 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Everstorm Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 Ooh! Me! 🙋♀️ 3 Quote Life before Death Strength before Weakness Journey before Destination Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 WWJD? 03xsomething Worst Case Scenario Janeway would: Not even know what's gonna hit her. Always escalate in the face of threats. Support artists. What happens: Hide contents Belanna looks around like she's looking for someone, then gets surprised by Chakotay, who's all, "Mind if I walk with you? Time we caught up. Soooo... how's it going?" Then, weirdly, he launches into something anti-Tuvok. "That guy still hassling you? Dunno about you, but I can't imagine spending 70 years with that guy, and a lot of the crew agrees with me." That can't be the real Chakotay. Sure, he'd think that shit, cuz we're apparently back to those two rubbing each other than wrong way, but he would never, ever say it. Tuvok is a very good Starfleet officer, and Janeway's bestie. Chakotay is a very good first officer. He's Mr "This crew is now a Starfleet crew, and will be solidly integrated and like it, goddammit". He's Mr "Whatever makes this ship run smoothly for the captain". He's a damn pro. He is not sidling up to the chief engineer going, "How's about the little mutiny against the security chief?" Then he's all, "So are you in? While we're at it, I don't think Janeway is winning any popularity contests, either." On the one hand, hooray, we finally get a Maquis intrigue episode, only two years late! On the other, my guy, you spent a whole episode between then and now staring into Janeway's eyes besottedly, telling her how personally devoted you were to her, telling her she was your moon, your stars, your mythical warrior woman made flesh, and in every other episode you're making the ship run perfectly for her and taunting amorous Q on her behalf. This "not winning any popularity contests" line is as credible as a chocolate teapot. Belanna's like, "You're testing me, yeah?" Chakotay is all, "You're a good officer, and I wouldn't wanna see you get hurt." Man, he is stanning hard for mutiny. Belanna halts the turbo lift turbo lift goes, "What is this?" Chakotay goes, "There's gonna be some changes around here. All the Maquis are down, and about 25 of the Starfleet crew. When the shooting starts, I'm gonna need to know which side you're on." So that escalated quickly. Janeway prepares to hand the ship over to Chakotay while she goes on an away mission with Tom, and Chakotay is all, "I've been thinking, wouldn't you be safer if you had Tuvok with you? Could be dangerous down there." Tuvok is all, "I've made plans for her safety, but you are still adapting to being first officer. I'd better back you up here and, uh, make sure you're worthy of the trust the captain has placed in you." It's like we're back in season 1 again. It's not like season 3 Chakotay hasn't commanded the ship a lot. Since there are no weird camera effects showing hallucination or time distortion, and no one has a goatee, must be the holodeck. Come to think of it, that is a slightly season 1 hairstyle on Janeway. She's not much for the updo anymore. So evil!Chakotay is all, "Great, we're all good officers here, you keep a close eye on that shuttle, and, Harry, why don't you start that transporter maintenance we've been putting off CONVENIENTLY TAKING IT OFFLINE wait that's the quiet bit." Harry is all, "Shouldn't we wait to make sure the captain is okay? That'll conveniently take the transporters offline for some ne'er-do-well." Tuvok is all, "Ensign, you've been given a direct order." Evil!Chakotay is all, "You done with the wink wink internal sensors?" And Belanna's like, "um... working on it 😟", and he's like, "I hope you are," and two burly security dudes should up on the bridge with a "duty roster" for him. Tuvok reports Janeway's shuttle has gone to warp, so Chakotay announces to all hands that it's time, and shoots Tuvok. The burly security dudes shoot the helmsman and try to get Harry, but not before he triggers a red alert and calls security to the bridge. Evil!Chakotay is all, "Don't bother, Harry, we've got control of all the teams, and all the off duty Starfleet people are locked down in quarters". Even evil Chakotay is super laid back about his evil plans. It's Belanna who shot Harry, but she does not seem cool going along with this. Evil!Chakotay moves the ship out of range of the shuttle and takes her with him to crush some resistance on deck 2. Belanna is all, "shooting Harry was hard ". Evil!Chakotay is all, "don't worry, we're not killing anyone today, he's just stunned". They go to shoot their way through the people on deck 2, when Seska bails them out with a phaser rifle, and Belanna is like, "What the hell, you have definitely not been a crew member since season 2, and Chakotay should not be glad to see you after the bizarre and violent breakup you guys had. Have I fucking time travelled or what?" Seska's all, "Some of Janeway's people are trying to set up a command center in the mess hall," So they shoot their way in. Neelix swaps sides, the little yellow jerk. Still, he's usually more loyal than that. He's occasionally down for a noble lost cause. Seska takes Belanna to help round up the rest of the Starfleet crew, and is all, "Just make sure you don't forget what side you're on. I'm not the pushover Chakotay is." Evil!Chakotay is all, "Listen up, lower decks swabbies, your senior officers are in the brig and are gonna get put off the ship next planet we hit, but that's not your fault, so you have the choice to join us. And we will be taking the fast route, not wasting time on exploration and Starfleet principles. Any means necessary. Let me emphasise, to hell with Starfleet regulations." This... this is very unlike this guy. When the real Chakotay finds out what holofanfic Chakotay is like, he's gonna be pissed. He is so Starfleet it hurts. Despite, uh, that slightly illegal guerrilla partisan career he had. That was a minor exception. Tom Paris is all, "Belanna, what's going on here?" and not piloting the shuttle, so Belanna freezes the holoprogram. Seriously, though, for ten minutes they played that very straight, and I like it. Belanna is all, "Are you in the habit of barging in on private holodeck time?" And he's like, "You're hardly dancing the naked rhumba with a Bolian," which I 100% believe is a program they have. She's all, "shit, I lost track of time and missed our lunch date". And he's like, "I thought I'd find you shooting pool, not hanging out with, like, Seska. What the hell is this?" And she's all "Squeee, it's super cool, I recovered this deleted 'what if' holonovel about a Maquis mutiny, and it's soooo compelling and believable. Total mystery who wrote it. They've gone to so trouble to hide that." And Tom is all, "Yeeeah, why would they go to so much trouble?" And Belanna is all, "Think about it, you write this story where the player is a security officer approached by Chakotay to mutiny, it's pretty inflammatory stuff! Fanfic is so cool." Tom is all, "You think we should tell the captain?" Belanna's all, "...probably." Tom is all, "We... can't give her a full report if we don't play it to the end, can we?" Belanna's all, "Nope." Tom is all, "Great, then can you reset it for me?" and Belanna is all, "Awwww, I just got to the good part!" and Tom is all, "Come on, Belanna, I wanna play!" So they reset it. Tom looks like he's looking for someone, then gets surprised by Chakotay, who's all, "Mind if I walk with you? Time we caught up. Soooo... how's it going?" Then, weirdly, he launches into something anti-Tuvok. "That guy still hassling you? Dunno about you, but I can't imagine spending 70 years with that guy, and a lot of the crew agrees with me." Tom is waaay more into this mutiny thing than Belanna. In fact, he is the one who mentions it to evil!Chakotay, who is not being very forthcoming. Evil!Chakotay halts the turbolift and goes, "Where'd you hear something stupid like that? Don't believe everything you hear." Dude, Evil!Chakotay is apparently no idiot, and you're gonna be thrown in the brig before the mutiny even starts. Or not. He gets the mutiny assignment and locks down the crew. Janeway prepares to hand the ship over to Chakotay while she goes on an away mission with Tom, and Chakotay is all, "I've been thinking, wouldn't you be safer if you had Tuvok with you? Could be dangerous down there." Tom hears his fanfic self say the shuttle is ready, so he exists here. Tuvok is all, "I've made plans for her safety, but you are still adapting to being first officer. I'd better back you up here and, uh, make sure you're worthy of the trust the captain has placed in you." So evil!Chakotay is all, "Great, we're all good officers here, you keep a close eye on that shuttle, and, Harry, why don't you start that transporter maintenance we've been putting off CONVENIENTLY TAKING IT OFFLINE wait that's the quiet bit." Harry is all, "Shouldn't we wait to make sure the captain is okay? That'll conveniently take the transporters offline for some ne'er-do-well." Tuvok is all, "Ensign, you've been given a direct order." Evil!Chakotay is all, "You done with the wink wink internal sensors?" And Tom is like, "yessir!", and he's like, "I hope you are," and two burly security dudes should up on the bridge with a "duty roster" for him. Tuvok reports Janeway's shuttle has gone to warp, and gives Paris an extra long look. So Chakotay announces to all hands that it's time, and shoots Tuvok. Tom yells at Tuvok to get down, but not in time, and throws himself at a burly security dude before he fires at Harry. It doesnt go well. He's taken to the brig with Harry and Tuvok. Tom is like, "Tuvok, we should escape and take back the ship," and Tuvok is like, "we will," and Tom is like, "...now," and Tuvok is all, "you total fucking amateur," and Tom is thinking, "my lunch break is almost over, c'mon". Tuvok is all, "We are observing the enemy," and Tom I all, "we've been doing that for an hour and I'm bored," and Tuvok is all, "I'm not concerned with your amusement, we follow procedure in a crisis." Tom complains about the dull fanfic writing. Tom gets taken to the cargo bay with the other lower deckies, which is a bad choice when he's betrayed them once already. Evil!Chakotay is all, "...we will be taking the fast route, not wasting time on exploration and Starfleet principles. Any means necessary. Let me emphasise, to hell with Starfleet regulations." So Tom joins up again. In the mess hall with Belanna, he's like, "...and by that time, he was so suspicious of my motives that I got assigned to lubricating crap in engineering!" And Belanna's all, "You should try go along with it from the start, much more fun," and Tom is all, "Next time I totally will." Neelix walks up and, in a stage whisper, is like, "I hear you're talking about the new holonovel!" The look on Belanna's face is, "No one invited you, you annoying yellow prick". Neelix managed to get himself killed sending a message to Janeway, and tells them about his next strategy. Tom is all, "Um, I thought we were keeping this secret, honey?" And Belanna is all, "I didn't tell him!" Neelix is all, "I heard about the from the EMH." Belanna is all, "Oh, I might have told him." But no one else knows. It's cool. Then Harry comes up and is all, "So what's this Ayala tells me about a new holonovel?" Just a goofy mutiny situation comedy, guys! Tom replays as a total mutineer, and makes it several days into the story, when Janeway's shuttle reappears. Evil!Chakotay and Janeway have the most polite conversation about the situation imaginable. Although, honestly, she's still not the sort of enemy you'd like to have. It's kind of funny that soft-spoken, mild-mannered Chakotay is actually credible as someone who is a legitimate challenge for her, but he sort of is. Then he makes his mistake. He's all, "I'm reasonable, I'll even send you extra provisions. But if you engage us, I'll destroy your shuttle." Because Janeway has one single response to threats: escalate the situation. He is toast. This battle goes badly for Voyager, so he's forced to destroy the shuttle. He looks more upset about it than Seska does. But holo-Paris and Janeway got aboard the ship first and are freeing prisoners. So Chakotay takes Tom to stop her. In the brig, she frees everyone, shoots Chakotay, and he shoots her, and Tom finds his holo self holding a gun on him and telling him to drop his weapon, and then the program ends. He can't get the computer to start to start up again, because the fanfic writer didn't finish uploading the story. This is why you filter for completed works in the fanfic archives. Belanna still can't decrypt the author of Insurrection Alpha, so they can't ask how it ends. At the next weekly staff meeting, Janeway is all, "So I gather there's a popular new holonovel." And Chakotay is all, "It's been accessed 47 times by 33 different crew members." Do not believe those easy-going smiles, guys. You are about to hit tag-teammed into oblivion by Space Mom and Space Dad. They will find out who scratched the car, and they will make you feel lucky you just get grounded. We do not joke about mutiny in this house, young lady. Janeway is all, "I don't suppose anyone here knows what I'm talking about...?" Everyone. Everyone, that's who. Belanna has the survival instincts to say, "Uh, actually, I'm the one who found it on an old hard drive I was cleaning, and, uh..." Tom is not gonna let her do that on her own, and is all, "I've been running it, too." Chakotay is all, "Anyone else?" My guys. He knows 33 people have played it 47 times. You think he does not know precisely who those 33 people are and how many times they've played? Neelix and Harry reluctantly put their hands up. Tuvok is the only one who hasn't. Tuvok is their only good child. Janeway is all, "Mm-hmm. Well, each of you, talk to your staff and find out who wrote it." "That won't be necessary," says Tuvok. "I am the author." He is no longer the good child. Everyone is all, "I never knew you wanted to be an author! And such talent!" And Tuvok is all, "Ahem, no. You misunderstand. It's a training program for credible threat. It seemed likely when you invited the Maquis to join us." And he's right, but Janeway looks very unamused now. Also, this story is only halfway over, and that fact worries me. Tuvok is all, "But I never finished it, because the two crews began to work together, and it seemed less likely. In fact, the program itself seemed more provocative than anything, so I deleted it." Tom is all, "Forget that, you need to write an ending!" And Tuvok is all, "No doubt the captain agrees it is too inflammatory to exist." He looks sort of offended when Janeway tells him to loosen up. I guess we do have a sense of humor about mutiny in this house. She thinks it's harmless fun. Babe. No. Rethink that. Like, 10 out of 10 for not taking yourself too seriously, but it is never a good idea to give people access to a game where they repeatedly kill you and get desensitized to mutinous ideas. Have you never moderated an internet forum? However, she is very, very unconcerned about Chakotay leading a mutiny against her, isn't she? But, and I stress this, there are 20 minutes left in this episode, so there's plenty of time for him to do so. Tom volunteers to write an ending. Janeway cannot wait to see if Captain Janeway manages to outwit the conspirators. No pressure, Tom. Tuvok reluctantly gives Tom his fanfic notes. Er, the probability studies he based the scenario on. Tom does not want his creative genius infringed. Because his creative genius is drunk. Tuvok regrets abandoning this fanfic. Regrets it so bad that he starts lecturing Tom about the role of logic in narrative construction and the Vulcan theories of poetics. The rest of this episode is going to be 18 minutes of lectures on Vulcan literary theory? A bold choice, and one I support. Tom knows what makes a good story, and that is unexpected plot twists. Tuvok say if Tom turns it into a parody, he will take his fanfic and go home. Belanna's all, "Artistic differences, guys?" and Tuvok is all, "I would hardly call his ideas artistic," and Tom, looking for some ice to put on that burn, complains about Vulcan poetics. Yes, I'm down for 17 more minutes of this. Belanna has suggestions. More... heart. Tuvok immediately shuts that down, saying they are not writing a romance novel. Tom is all, "We?" And Tuvok says he's decided Tom needs a co-writer. I would read a Vulcan romance novel. Especially, as we've established, one called "Warrior Women at the River of Blood". Tom agrees to add a steamy love scene between holo-Tom and holo-Belanna. She does not find this realistic. Neelix comes over with coffee and literary suggestions. Well, no, he would never interfere with the sacred creative process. But he has comments. About the Neelix character. I really hope they have to workshop the finished piece before the end of the episode. Tuvok suggests he and Tom finds quieter place to work. That is a suggestion Tom likes. He does not like the suggestion that they outline the rest of the chapters. Or that he is compromising Tuvok's creative vision. I hope this never ends, I'm so down for Insular Writing Group Voyager. It does not end. The EMH is waiting for them in the holodeck with notes for further chapters, lengthy feedback, and dialog suggestions. Tuvok sends him back to sickbay. Tom is all, "I've got it from here". Tuvok is all, "Not if I'm the only one with clearance to add to the program." Tom is all, "I need a co-writer after all." They start up the program in edit mode. This drains power from the ship and shuts down comms and two transporters. Also, the visual effect in the holodeck was a little wibbly. So this will not end well, and I may not get my argument about poetics. Tuvok and Tom are in the holo brig. That is suspicious. And holographic Seska is all, "Hi, Tuvok, I see you've opened this in edit mode again. So now I've got you." I did not sign up for a lecture in Cardassian poetics. Seska is all, "You betrayed us when you spied on the Maquis, and judging by this program, you never understood us. We're gonna fix that. I've finished this program. It's gonna be fun. The holodeck has no escape. And no safety protocols. Now run." Holo Janeway gives them weapons and recruits them to help free prisoners. Tom is all, "We need the allies!" Tuvok is all, "Seska programmed this, we can't trust any allies. We should not participate." Seska and Chakotay interrupt, and Janeway dies horribly when her phaser rifle malfunctions. Chakotay tells Seska she's incredible and pull her into his arms. So this is now a romance novel after all. She tells them to run again. They decline to participate. Tom sasses her a little about how unrealistic this Chakotay is. So she has evil romance novel Chakotay shoot him in the arm and tells him to run or else. So they do. Tuvok has an idea. They go to holo sickbay to see if the holo stuff will treat the injury. It is not a great idea, because the double-holo EMH has been programmed to be super strong and torture them. Then throws them out. They decide not to try the mess hall, where holo Neelix will no doubt burn them with a pan. They go to hide in the Jeffries tubes. On the actual bridge, Harry and Belanna find that Seska caused the system failures. There are boobytraps if they try to extract Tuvok and Tom. But Janeway is like, "But you're telling me it's still in edit mode. If Seska can rewrite Tuvok, I can rewrite Seska." Harry asks Tuvok what the dictates of poetics say they should do. This is the content I'm really hoping they get back to. They do not. There is a plasma plume behind a hatch they can't close. Everything is rigged to torture them. Then a plasma extinguisher appears. They use it. Tuvok correctly predicts someone is helping them, but can only make small changes. Seska's program adapts. That's not sensible, but it is thrilling, which makes it bad Vulcan poetics, but a good Tom Paris plot twist. Seska arranges an execution for Tuvok and Paris. Janeway manages to change Chakotay back enough to save them. So Seska kills him. So someone attacks the ship. It is apparently the people holo-Janeway was visiting at the start of the program. Tom and Tuvok get weapons in the chaos. So Seska orders the ship to self-destruct. This will apparently be real in the holodeck. Tuvok is gonna kill her, but she convinces him it's more logical to surrender, so he does, and when she tries to kill him, her phaser rifle malfunctions. Tuvok observes she is not the only person who knows how to make that happen. The computer ends the program. Everyone toasts happy endings. Guys. Not until we hear what Vulcan poetics have to say about that. Janeway extols a good deus ex machina. Tom is glad she didnt get writer's block. Belanna wants a sequel. Janeway wants a western. Belanna wants a detective novel. Chakotay wants to not be the villain next time. Neelix has a brilliant idea for a story about an annoying yellow schmuck. That conflicts with Tuvok's artistic principles. Highly acceptable. (That is a technical term in Vulcan literary criticism.) And one of the better holodeck stories out there. 3 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 2 hours ago, Everstorm said: Ooh! Me! 🙋♀️ /cdn-cgi/mirage/c1366f622a80ba39af3e098356d5031f96e74a0a39a2cc2ba7a6caa5e20bfdbb/1280/cdn-cgi/mirage/c1366f622a80ba39af3e098356d5031f96e74a0a39a2cc2ba7a6caa5e20bfdbb/1280/https://rebellion.nerdfitness.com/uploads/monthly_2023_01/77ffuq.jpg.4824f1310a3d52cf7e724e729490b136.jpg SOMEONE WHO WILL TALK ABOUT VOYAGER WITH ME. That earns you three baskets of Earth food. 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 WWJD? 03xsomething Scorpion Janeway would: Flirt with da Vinci. Be very space-married. Be sleep deprived. Can relate. What the hell. She what. Make deals with the devil. Sure, that'll work. Probably be stubborn enough to do it. I think maybe she's space-divorced now. (Although the guy she's space-married to seems hard to shake, so he might not agree. He is pretty pissed, though.) What happens: Hide contents I'll be honest, I'm not a huge Borg fan. The thing with a giant assimilation baddie is that they're by design very samey-samey. And I'm not very into pew-pew space battle, which doesn't leave lot of point to them. Starting out by destroying two Borg cubes is a nice touch. Someone dislikes the Borg as much as me. Leonardo da Vinci. Must be another holodeck episode. We're having a lot of those. Janeway is flirting with him so can work in his workshop. Shut up, it's nothing like me and Ukrainian Santa. She fixes his mechanical thing and critiques his flying machine drawings. They are going to design a glider. She got her workshop space. She gets a call down to engineering, cuz a probe has some bad news: they are entering Borg space. The belly of the beast. There is one clear passage through Borg space. No one is asking what Borg are so scared of that they'll cede a passage through their home territory. I think it's not that space turbulence they're talking about. Everyone's all, "we're totally ready," which good, cuz they have to go through fast, since the Borg captured a probe and know they're there. The EMH is working on a Borg vaccine, and Kes has a convenient telepathic image of Borg corpses. And the destruction of Voyager. A ship is coming up behind them, and some turbulence is keeping them from going to warp. Sorry, that's a low estimate. Fifteen. Fifteen Borg ships. Enough to make even Commander Chill lose some chill. The Borg ships mostly ignore them and fly past. The last one in formation scans them and moves on. Janeway takes that as good omen? Is she high? She's not high, she's putting on a good face. In her private office, Chakotay is like, "So we haven't eaten since last night, dinner?" And she's all, "No, too busy obsessing over every personal log entry of everyone who's met the Borg before." Her excerpts are making Chakotay smile. Because she's imitating the officers who wrote that horrifying shit. So he's the one who's high. Seriously, dude is here trying to get the dinner date and telling her there's an ensign who does great imitation of her, while they're thirty minutes from certain death. It might be to get her to laugh, which she does. Janeway is all, "Every captain must occasionally emote about duty in a bleak way. When is the risk too great? Can the crew accept spending the rest of their lives in the Delta Quadrent? I'm so alone with this terrible responsibility." Chakotay is all, "When that moment comes, we'll face it together. We'll make a good decision. You're not alone while I'm here." They're so space-married, guys. She's all, "Three years ago, I didn't even know your name, and today I can't imagine a day without you." To be clear, the show is leaving zero doubt that they are 100% married. Yes, they're not, and for good principles on the part of the actors, and it's good it's ambiguous, but also they 100% are. The shippers are not imagining it, this is pretty blatant. Janeway is called to the bridge. Every one of the fifteen Borg ships has disappeared off sensors. So they go to check it out and find rubble. This is why you do not just fly into empty corridors in Borg space. Janeway and Chakotay do not jump to conclusions that this is an ally. One of the reasons that I'm glad the show doesn't confirm anything is that it's very rare to depict this sort of loyal friendship involving women, or really any friendship that doesn't involve sex. And far more rare to have a man in the endlessly loyal sidekick role. People can imagine Watson as a woman, but rarely Holmes. Harry picks up the new alien leaving a Borg ship. It doesn't respond to hails, transporters, or tractor beams. So Janeway sends Chakotay into the Borg ship with a team to get scans, cuz they need to understand this weapon. Loyalty does not prevent ordering him to do something insanely dangerous for the ship. Someone's got to. So he takes half the bridge crew. My guy, take more expendable people. In the wrecked Borg cube, there are still a few functioning (and malfunctioning) Borg, so Tuvok tells everyone to look non-threatening. Borg are good horror design, I'll give them that. They find the body pile from Kes's visions. Chakotay gets permission to board the alien death ship. The one more dangerous than the Borg. You brave idiot. Harry downloads Borg data on the cube, and hears scary noises. He's never seen a horror film, so he goes to investigate. These broken Borg are super creepy. It's like broken wind-up dolls. Kes has a vision that Harry is in danger, so Voyager tries to beam them out. And can't. So Belanna tries experimental skeleton shit, cuz nothing makes a horror show better than skeleton shit. Giant alien praying mantis swipes Harry. They beam him out in time. The mantis ship powers up weapons and gets one good hit on them before they warp out. Kes is all, "They're a telepathic species, the pilot contacted me just now, and it's these dudes we should be really frightened of, not the Borg. They said the weak will perish." Harry is in sickbay with dying-Borg disease with weird yellow pus lines on his face. He is weak and will perish. The EMH says the alien cells are eating him from the inside put, and every treatment fails, including simple sedatives, so he's gonna be conscious while it eats him. Th EMH and Janeway technobabble a reason why the Borg can't assimilate the mantis people. The EMH is all, "but I've modified Borg nanoprobes to defeat these guys," because exactly what you want is Borg that can do that. It's his only treatment for Harry, though. Personally speaking, I find Harry an acceptable loss. Belanna's all, "We looked at Harry's Borg data, we know more about this species 8472 now. Including where they come from." And Chakotay is all, "Get the captain. Right the fuck now." This, I repeat, is why you do not count on mysteriously clear corridors in Borg space. One hundred and thirty mantis ships and more arriving. Kes can hear them. They're honestly a bit Babylon 5. It's an invasion to destroy everything that exists. Janeway's like, "Right, Chakotay, that moment we spoke of is here." And he's all, "That corridor is certain death, we are not going." So the options are face the Borg in Borg space, or turn around and essentially give up on getting home. Which she cannot tell her crew she's doing yet. So he tells her to sleep on it, because she is sleep deprived. That is sensible. Maybe not very situationally aware. But they seem to think they're safe enough from things. Instead she goes to see Leonardo da Vinci. I totally forgot that was this episode. She goes to him for counselling. He suggests prayer and monks. She's reluctant, but suddenly considers an appeal to the devil: a treaty with the Borg. She wants to give the Borg the nanoprobes in return for safe passage. Guys, the Borg can fight these guys, but they will assimilate them. You will then have 8472 Borg. She turns the EMH into a dead man's switch to safeguard their knowledge against assimilation. She sends everyone out after announcing this, and turns to Chakotay and goes, "So you were quiet." And it was because he strongly disagrees and will not say so in front of the crew. He makes a very strong case for the sort of courage that involves acceptance of things you can't immediately change. She makes a very strong case for the sort of courage that involves grasping closing windows of opportunity when everything else is lethal. He makes a strong case for not assisting morally indefensible regimes. She mostly has pragmatic answers to that, and he's like, "You're blinding yourself to other options. I know you, and sometimes you don't know when to step back." Which is completely true. She does not. That is her single consistent response to threat: hit it harder. So she's like, "Do you trust me?" And he's like, "That's not the issue." And she's like, "It is. Remember saying we'd face this together, side by side?" This is an enjoyably horrible argument, because they both make a lot of very good points. And he's all, "I'm no good to you if I don't tell you honestly what I think," and she's all, "Debate time is over, the decision is made. Do I have your support?" And he's all, "I'm the first officer, I will follow ypur orders, but I still believe this fatal mistake." So Janeway's all, "I guess I really am alone." Which, again, they both have very reasonable points of view there, and neither is a their best. Seriously, though, this is dude who led a mission onto a Borg ship and mantis ship without complaint. He should get a few points for following ridiculously lethal orders. A Borg ship tries to assimilate them, so Janeway starts a very tense negotiation. Borg do not negotiate. They beam her into their cube and are like, "State your terms." And she's like, "You'll get this after we get safe passage through your space." And they're all, "Unacceptable. Our space is vast, that'll take too long. Give it to us now." And she's all, "No." And the Borg are like, "Have you seen these 8472 fuckers? Our survival is your survival." And Janeway is all, "No, safe passage first." And the Borg are like, "Make your proposal," and she's all, "We'll work together, you'll need help manufacturing this stuff." Then the Borg cube is attacked by an unexpected 8472 ship. Sorry, ten. Ten of them. TO BE CONTINUED? Probably they won't die. I mean, this is season 3, and the show runs for four more seasons. Pretty sure it's not as Borg, or as 8472 corpses. The Borg cube did seem to drag Voyager away from the main fighting. 2 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Everstorm Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 I have to say, it isn’t very Starfleet of Janeway to upset the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant in favor of the Borg for more-or-less personal gain. While the Borg aren't exactly a primitive race, it borderline violates the Prime Directive. Quote Life before Death Strength before Weakness Journey before Destination Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 1 hour ago, Everstorm said: I have to say, it isn’t very Starfleet of Janeway to upset the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant in favor of the Borg for more-or-less personal gain. While the Borg aren't exactly a primitive race, it borderline violates the Prime Directive. Allow me to make the argument that she actually follows her Starfleet obligations. No species involved is not warp capable, so the Prime Directive doesn't come into play. And, importantly, species 8472 is from a different universe come to cleanse this one of life, so she's actually protecting the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant. It's not interference in a local spat between local powers keeping each other in check, it's the first days of a genocide from outside. Species 8472 is invading this universe from some pocket universe, and is not planning to leave anything in this universe alive. Her Starfleet obligation, arguably, is to protect native Delta Quadrant species from 8472. (And also the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma quadrants, while she's at it.) It's sitting it out to save her crew that would have been violating her Starfleet obligations for personal gain. They dwell a lot more on the interpersonal conflict of "I can't tell my crew we're quitting", but the thrust of the closing window of opportunity speech is that whenever 8472 is done with the Borg, they're coming for everyone else, and Voyager will have done nothing to protect anyone when they had the chance, in return for a few years of peace and quiet. They don't have the option to avoid conflict with 8472, they just have the option of now or later, and now has the greatest chance of preventing harm. 2 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Everstorm Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 42 minutes ago, sarakingdom said: Allow me to make the argument that she actually follows her Starfleet obligations. No species involved is not warp capable, so the Prime Directive doesn't come into play. And, importantly, species 8472 is from a different universe come to cleanse this one of life, so she's actually protecting the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant. It's not interference in a local spat between local powers keeping each other in check, it's the first days of a genocide from outside. Species 8472 is invading this universe from some pocket universe, and is not planning to leave anything in this universe alive. Her Starfleet obligation, arguably, is to protect native Delta Quadrant species from 8472. (And also the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma quadrants, while she's at it.) It's sitting it out to save her crew that would have been violating her Starfleet obligations for personal gain. They dwell a lot more on the interpersonal conflict of "I can't tell my crew we're quitting", but the thrust of the closing window of opportunity speech is that whenever 8472 is done with the Borg, they're coming for everyone else, and Voyager will have done nothing to protect anyone when they had the chance, in return for a few years of peace and quiet. They don't have the option to avoid conflict with 8472, they just have the option of now or later, and now has the greatest chance of preventing harm. Ah, I had forgotten that 8472 were alíen even for aliens. That changes things. 1 Quote Life before Death Strength before Weakness Journey before Destination Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 33 minutes ago, Everstorm said: Ah, I had forgotten that 8472 were alíen even for aliens. That changes things. This sort of thing, I'm finding, is extremely common in discussions of Voyager's, and in particular Janeway's, flaws. (Starting with the pilot: using the array to get home was not an available option when she destroyed it, but that's not how people remember it.) Part of the reason for the rewatch was seeing how it had aged, now that we're further away from the expectations of the time, and how much its reputation matched what was onscreen. It was due a reevaluation. (And only part way in did I realize how much of Voyager I've actually never seen before! I've clearly seen episodes here and there through at least season 4, but the last season I saw in its entirety might be 1 or 2. I was sure I'd seen more than that.) Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 5 hours ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: Welcome to the Delta Quadrant. I'm not enjoying my reaction to this comment, would you mind taking it down? 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Tanktimus the Encourager Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 3 hours ago, sarakingdom said: I'm not enjoying my reaction to this comment, would you mind taking it down? No worries. It's gone. Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 14 Author Report Share Posted January 14 15 minutes ago, Tanktimus the Encourager said: No worries. It's gone. Thanks! I hate to discourage any Voyager discussion, but it was a huge rant trigger. I didn't wanna give it headspace every time I scrolled past, and you didn't deserve any Very Serious Takes landing on you for a quick joke. 1 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
Tanktimus the Encourager Posted January 14 Report Share Posted January 14 13 minutes ago, sarakingdom said: Thanks! I hate to discourage any Voyager discussion, but it was a huge rant trigger. I didn't wanna give it headspace every time I scrolled past, and you didn't deserve any Very Serious Takes landing on you for a quick joke. Totally get it. Thanks for letting me know. 1 Quote Current Challenge "By the Most-Righteous-and-Blessed Beard of Sir Tanktimus the Encourager!" - Jarl Rurik Harrgath Link to comment
sarakingdom Posted January 16 Author Report Share Posted January 16 I am doing all the things. And hydrated well. And doing more things. So I am getting chocolate. It is so earned. 5 2 Quote I felt like I could run forever, like I could smell the wind and feel the grass under my feet, and just run forever. Current Challenge: #24 - Mrs. Cosmopolite Challenge Past: #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11a & #11b, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23 Link to comment
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