30th Anniversary VOY Discussion Marathon

[Nate the Great]

I can't help but feel that DS9 and VOY should've had three part pilots. For Voyager of course they wouldn't be yanked to the Delta Quadrant until the end of Part One, giving plenty of room to establish the characters. Show what life was like on a Maquis ship, introduce Seska and other important Maquis side-characters, give the doomed Voyager crew a chance to do something other than hate Tom Paris, etc.

[Nate the Great]

January 23rd, 1995, "Parallax"

Full warning, nits ahead. The acting was good all around, it's just a shame that none of the scenarios make sense.

Fiver by Admiral Sab

The Episode


CAREY: We were having a disagreement about the power grid. She wanted to realign the lateral plasma conduit. I told her that would cause an overload. As usual, she wouldn't listen. So I told her to step aside and let me handle it. She pushed me away from the console. I pushed back. Next thing I knew, I was lying on the deck with blood pouring down my face.

B'Elanna isn't Chief Engineer yet. Hence she should follow Carey's orders. Furthermore assault is a crime that she should be punished for.

TUVOK: Where is Miss Torres?

Does B'Elanna not have a rank yet? Tuvok is usually pretty good about referring to people by their rank.

CHAKOTAY: I've confined her to quarters.
TUVOK: I would like her moved to the brig until formal charges can be filed.
CHAKOTAY: Formal charges? Come on, Tuvok. We're seventy five years away from the nearest court. Are you really going to hold her in the brig for that long?
TUVOK: The Captain has the authority to try Miss Torres here on the ship, considering the extenuating circumstances.

After DS9's growing pains when it comes to specific numbers you'd think the creators would've known enough to lock down these recurring facts this time. In the early days the trip will take 75 years, yet by the end of the season it'll be 70 years. Ugh. This fact should've been in the writer's guide.

As for "confined to quarters" versus "brig", I must bring up the fact that in the real Navy the brig is for short term use only, with the expectation that a trail or hearing will occur in the near future, where serious punishment will be held off the ship. That can't happen on Voyager, so alternate punishment methods must be created.

Off the top of my mind one of the lower decks should be retrofitted as a virtual penal colony. That is, minimal quarters, basic food being sent down from the mess hall, a rudimentary gym, and grunt work to do. No holodeck or mess hall privileges. And tell Harren that he either does real work in Engineering or he's going to be living down here permanently.

CHAKOTAY: Well, I'd like to settle this on my own without filing charges and without involving the Captain.

And here we reveal Chakotay as an idealistic idiot. He's one of the few Maquis that actually was a real officer, he should know better than this. The captain must be involved and charges must be filed.

TUVOK: She struck a fellow officer. That is a court martial offence.
CHAKOTAY: She's a Maquis, and in the Maquis, sometimes you have to push people out of your way to get things done.
TUVOK: Miss Torres is no longer a member of the Maquis, and with all due respect, Commander, neither are you. Allowing Miss Torres to get away with a clear violation of regulations sets a bad example for the rest of the crew. It makes it appear as though you were showing favouritism toward the Maquis.

Exactly. Chakotay is not supposed to be this stupid.

SESKA: We heard that Captain Janeway's going to put her in the brig for two months, and that all the Maquis are going to be restricted to quarters when they're not on duty.
CHAKOTAY: Not true.

This is not the right way to introduce Seska. Furthermore, this is a ridiculous scenario. Restricted to quarters is little better than solitary confinement. Plus, aren't all of the replicators in the quarters supposed to be turned off by now to conserve energy?

SESKA: We just want you to know that if things do get our of hand, we're ready to back you.
CHAKOTAY: What does that mean?
JARVIN: In case you want to take control of the ship, you have our full support.
CHAKOTAY: If I ever hear you talk that way again, I'll personally throw you in the brig for mutiny.

It's way too early for a mutiny plot. Stuff like this indicates that the Maquis can never be trusted and shouldn't have power over Starfleet officers.

CHAKOTAY: Or I could send you back to work with the understanding that you'll apologise to
TORRES: Apologise? He was the one who
CHAKOTAY: Not just a simple apology. A personal one, over a hot cup of pejuta.

Pejuta is the Lakota word for coffee. I question the point of this Indian word, because most of the audience won't recognize it. And frankly the first time I saw the word I thought it was a Bajoran drink (it certainly sounds like one, doesn't it?).

Captain's log, Stardate 48439.7. As we maintain a course back to the Alpha Quadrant, we're conducting what would normally be routine maintenance to the ship. Routine, that is, if we had access to a starbase.

Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant for something like 45 days. WAY too early for maintenance that requires a starbase. The final status of the Maquis regarding officer status and posting should've happened before the two week mark. For that matter, in the real world the Maquis should've made an offscreen mutiny attempt, which would actually be a good background to this episode.

JANEWAY: What about alternative energy sources? Ensign Kim, have you had any luck getting power from the holodeck reactors?
KIM: Not yet. We tried hooking them to the power grid and we ended up blowing out half the relays. The holodeck's energy matrix, it just isn't compatible with the other power systems.

And here we go. This plot point was always stupid. What's the in universe reason for isolating the holodeck's power source?

JANEWAY: Neelix, this is a briefing for the senior officers.
NEELIX: I see. Well, I, I am the senior Talaxian on board. Kes is the senior Ocampa. And I do know more about this region of space than any other member of the crew.
KES: We have some excellent suggestions, Captain.

Why did Neelix and Kes wait 45 days for this? Truth be told this episode should've been a week after Caretaker and the ship's problems should've been from Kazon damage, not lack of starbase support.

KES: I've been thinking that you might be able to convert one of your lower decks into a hydroponics bay to grow your own food. I understand that the replicators are down and that the emergency rations won't hold out much longer.

And yet in future episodes the hydroponics bay will be shown as one room, not a deck. Not enough room to provide fruit and vegetables for 150 people.

Incidentally hydroponics is growing plants without traditional soil. I get that the term is used to sound more futuristic, but with an entire deck to work with you could beam up some soil from a planet and grow more crops. Whenever we see hydroponics in the future we just see small plants in suspended bowls. Maybe you could grow herbs and stuff like spinach like that, but to have proper crops you need proper garden beds.

[Nate the Great]

JANEWAY: Okay. The personnel situation. We've managed to find a replacement for the Transporter Chief, but we still need an Astrogation plotter, a Chief Engineer, medical support personnel.

You waited 45 days for this? And why isn't Carey already Chief Engineer?

JANEWAY: Regarding Sickbay, we still need a Chief Medical Officer.
NEELIX: What about that electronic man down in Sickbay?
TUVOK: It is an Emergency Medical Hologram and its abilities are limited. It can only operate within the confines of Sickbay.
PARIS: Not to mention its lousy bedside manner.
CHAKOTAY: Perhaps we should assign somebody to train with the hologram as a field medic.

Again, 45 days? Several people should've been training with Doc the week after they arrived.

JANEWAY: Good idea. Lieutenant, I understand you studied biochemistry at the Academy.
PARIS: Er, only two semesters.
JANEWAY: Close enough. You just volunteered to become a field medic.

Ugh. It's not like Tom already has a full time job. And wouldn't this be a great job for some of the non-Starfleet Maquis? Or are we going to imply that Janeway doesn't trust the Maquis to have control over a Starfleet officer's life? Unfortunate implications all around.

Incidentally I seem to recall that the reason Tom took two semesters of biochemistry was that he had a crush on a girl that was majoring in that field.

TORRES [OC]: I was thinking we could remodulate a tractor beam to match
[Engineering]
TORRES: The subspace interference. It might be enough to cut through the event horizon.
[Bridge]
CHAKOTAY: A subspace tractor beam?
TORRES [OC]: Exactly.

Yeah, this is complete nonsense. Tractor beams only operate at warp within the warp bubble. This is talking about cutting through the equivalent of a warp bubble.

JANEWAY: Let me be blunt. What you tried to do just now was out of line.
CHAKOTAY: In what way?
JANEWAY: When you decided to call Torres in Engineering.
CHAKOTAY: I've worked with her. I know what she's capable of. We needed an answer right away and I knew she could give us one.

Yes, this was a major misstep on Chakotay's part.

JANEWAY: Carey is the senior officer in Engineering.
CHAKOTAY: If you look at it that way, none of my people will ever have seniority.
JANEWAY: That's the problem, right there. They're not your people. You're treating the Maquis on this ship like they're still your crew.

Chakotay's response should be "if I don't defend the Maquis, they will mutiny. You do know that, don't you?"

JANEWAY: The Starfleet officers on this ship have worked all their lives to earn their commissions. How am I supposed to ask them to accept a Maquis as their superior officer just because circumstances have forced us together?

A good point. Both sides have good points, and if the show took advantage of the possibilities offered by the scenario, we could get good plots. But no, conflict is bad in Star Trek (whether or not that still applies is a screed for another time).

Frankly Tuvok should already be running a compressed Academy course for the Maquis to earn their commissions. It would've made a good subplot for the first season.

CHAKOTAY: Permission to speak freely.
JANEWAY: Go ahead.
CHAKOTAY: I have no intention of being your token Maquis officer.

Exactly. This should've been where Chakotay says, "either you have at least three Maquis senior officers, or you have none and the Maquis will mutiny immediately. They will beat you and then I'll be the captain and you'll be the spat upon crewman."

EMH: That's it?
KES: I'm sorry if
EMH: So it begins. The trivia of medicine is my domain now. Every runny nose, stubbed toe, pimple on a cheek becomes my responsibility.

Again, 45 days? Was the stardate just picked out of a hat?

EMH [OC]: May I request you activate monitor input forty seven, your Emergency Medical Holograph channel?

Obvious 47 is obvious. Wouldn't Sickbay be a bit higher on the list than 47? Top three at least.

CAREY: Is our priority here really the Medical Holograph system?

Actually it is, Carey! We have people sick NOW and the EMH is currently the only member of the medical staff. I'm beginning to think that your seniority wasn't earned.

[Nate the Great]

JANEWAY: If your analogy's correct, how do we get through that sheet of ice?
TORRES: Look for a crack.
JANEWAY: Or make a crack. Take something and smack it into the ice until it buckles.
TORRES: Wait a minute. What if we've already made a crack in the ice?
JANEWAY: When we first entered the event horizon.
(Er, how do you make a hole in gravity?)

Exactly. Here we have the start of what SF Debris calls the Magic Meeting Room, a place where metaphors become real.

JANEWAY: If we saturate the event horizon with warp particles, we might be able to see the escaping through the rupture we made when we entered.

Warp particles? What the heck are those supposed to be? Couldn't you just use tachyons?

JANEWAY: Mister Tuvok, take the main deflector off-line. Mister Kim, reroute the port and starboard plasma flow to the main deflector. We can use it to generate a warp field.

The sheer amount of nonsensical Treknobabble in that one dialogue would make me BSOD if such things were possible.

JANEWAY: We found the crack. That's the important thing. Now, how do we make it bigger.
TORRES: Put a wedge in it and force it open. We could try a dekyon beam.

Dekyons were last featured in "Cause and Effect" where they were used to send a transmission to Data in the next time loop. I don't think that these two cases are reconcilable.

The Fiver

Janeway: I can't think of anything to do with Kes and Neelix, so I'm putting them on the senior staff.

The Dilbert Principle in action.

Paris: I don't blame you! Hey B'Elanna, wanna take a shuttle with me later? We could start something called P/T*....
Torres: Oh, that's realistic.

The link leads to the 5MV FAQ, which doesn't mention P/T at all. Is it the wrong link?

Carey: Congratulations on being Chief Engineer, Torres.
Torres: You don't mean that.
Carey: Who cares? I'm disappearing in two episodes.

Yeah that's one of the weird things about Carey. He features in two more episodes before his sudden disappearance. Then he appears twice in episodes where he's used as a marker to indicate "this is the past" as though he died. Then he reappears in "Friendship One" just to die.

Memory Alpha

* Brannon Braga outright said that he didn't care at all about technobabble consistency in this episode. He also implies that he doesn't care about people who do care about it.
* In the first draft of the script the Maquis ship was explicitly called "Zola". It's now usually known as the Val Jean.
* Memory Alpha has a nit of it's own. Janeway says that both Voyagers have exactly the same readings, but their Voyager should show two fewer lifesigns because they're not on the ship.
* Seska is in Engineering, but in this episode they mistakenly put her in a Science uniform. Oops.

Nitcentral

* Someone points out that the close captioning calls Doc "Zimmerman". Whether this is really a nit is up to interpretation.
* Much discussion about calling the ship "The Voyager" instead of just "Voyager".
* Neelix mentions the Illidarians, but the ship won't visit them until the end of the season. Shouldn't the ship have moved past them by then?
* Many mentions of how the event horizon isn't a solid object that you can't punch a crack into.

[Nate the Great]

January 30th, 1995, "Time and Again"

One of my biggest problems with this episode is that the status quo still hasn't been settled and all of a sudden we're doing a TNG episode as though we have all the time and resources in the world. This should stir up the Maquis again. Furthermore Seska should've had a proper introduction by this point.

Fiver by Zeke

The Episode



PARIS: People are going to start pairing off, and if we don't get to the Delany sisters in Stellar Cartography soon, somebody else will.
KIM: I've got a girl back home.
PARIS: So what? I've got five.
KIM: I plan on seeing mine again.
PARIS: Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry, Harry. You really think she's going to wait for you?
KIM: I hope so.
PARIS: Let her go. Let her have a husband and kids and a good life, while you and I have the Delany sisters.

Mourning the loved ones left behind is important, but Harry is being silly here thinking that he'll be home with Libby in a matter of months. Remember that the only known stable wormhole is nowhere near here. I'm not saying that he HAS to start dating right now, but he has to stop talking like his relationship with Libby is currently active.

Oh, and Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant for a month. I'm amazed that Tom would wait a month before hitting on the Delaney Sisters, or that they'd still be a available at this point.

PARIS: Look, they come as a pair. It's a double date or no date.

Well, that's stupid.

JANEWAY: Take us into orbit.
CHAKOTAY: Density patterns on the surface show artificial waterways and a global aqueduct system. There is a civilisation down there, Captain.
JANEWAY: Or there was. What do we know about surface conditions?
TUVOK: Radiation is within acceptable levels. Atmosphere, breathable.

So we're not here to get resources, we're not here to make friends, we're just here for curiosity. This should've been another Starfleet/Maquis conflict.

TUVOK: A Romulan research colony was nearly destroyed during the testing of one these devices. It lead to the Polaric Test Ban Treaty of 2268.

It makes you wonder when Starfleet found out about these experiments because it was clear that the Romulans were relatively isolationist during the TOS days. Again I recommend the John Byrne comics where the Romulans were blatantly manipulating the Klingons during TOS.

PARIS: Are you sure? What do these numbers stand for?
SHOPKEEPER: Rotations, intervals, fractions. Same as any timepiece. Fourteen kalodas.
PARIS: A fair price. I might stop back later, if there's time.
(Paris rejoins Janeway.)
PARIS: If I understood correctly, this world is going to be destroyed sometime tomorrow.

Sure Tom, we totally buy that you can do conversions in alien time units in your head with minimal knowledge of it. It reminds me of SF Debris' farcical depiction of him as being the most capable member of Starfleet.

CHAKOTAY: How do we find them?
TUVOK: If I know Captain Janeway, she would activate a subspace beacon to assist us.
KIM: We're counting on it.

Yeah, because from what we know of the technology available on the planet it can be combined with their commbadges to create a subspace beacon. They'll totally be able to find the necessary tools as well to manipulate the tiny components. I'm reminded of when Doc Hyde in "The Darkling" tried to reprogram himself by tapping at his mobile emitter with a proverbial toothpick.

EMH: Missing. The Captain is missing. It seems I've found myself on the Voyage of the Damned. Very well. Please advise the highest ranking officer who is not missing, to see me at his earliest convenience.

Even from the start Doc was proving himself to be the breakout character.

JANEWAY: We can assume that Voyager will be looking for a way to reach us. I'll set my comm. badge to emit a subspace beacon.

So this is just a preset on the commbadge? It occurs to me that the commbadges should be programmed to emit a subspace beacon the instant it can't make regular contact with a ship or other Federation facility. It would've made episodes like "Time's Arrow" a lot shorter as well.

JANEWAY: Don't even think about it, Tom. The Prime Directive is clear. We cannot allow our presence to alter this planet's natural course of events.
PARIS: Even if the natural course of events is annihilation?
JANEWAY: Yeah.

I can almost hear SF Debris ranting in my head. I'll skip the PD screed, except to say that in this episode the Temporal Prime Directive would seem more applicable.

LATIKA: I know you're lying.
JANEWAY: Young man, we're here on a business trip and we have a lot of work to do.
LATIKA: The officer told me you came here on the continental transport.
JANEWAY: That's right, we're from Kalto Province.
LATIKA: Yeah? Well I just talked to the transport attendant, He told me four people came today from Kalto. Two of them were a lot older than you and they had a child with them.
JANEWAY: Well the attendant was wrong. That was us.

What is this accomplishing? Is the following joke really worth the screentime for this plot cul-de-sac?

LATIKA: So, where's the child?
PARIS: We ate him, because we are demons and we eat children and I haven't had my supper yet.
(The boy runs off.)

This screentime would be better used by having the Maquis crew telling Chakotay that this came from Janeway's obsession with exploration.

[Nate the Great]

KES: I have to go with you.
CHAKOTAY: There's nothing down there you want to see, Kes.
NEELIX: That's what I told her.
KES: I've already seen it. I have to go.

Using Kes in a Troi-like role as telepathic Swiss Army Knife is a bad idea. It pigeonholes her character up front and makes the show look like even more of a TNG ripoff. Her powers should be distinctly different from Troi and her other characteristics should be emphasized first. For example, it's the third episode and she should've started her medical training by now.

KIM: The comm. badge is designed to self-activate when the casing is destroyed to help searchers locate victims.

This is reasonable, I just wish that it was set up to activate for things much less than a destroyed case. Sensing excessive pressure or temperature changes, etc. Having a few circuits that only activate when the air has dangerous stuff in it, etc.

JANEWAY: Think about it, Tom. Before we got involved, these people were planning to commit some kind of sabotage next week. We were the ones who forced a change in their schedule. Because of us, they decided to begin today at four hundred rotations, and we know the detonation takes place today at just after four hundred and one .
PARIS: Four oh one twenty two eighty four. Wait a minute. You're saying we're responsible for an explosion even though it occurred before our ship arrived here.
JANEWAY: We've travelled back to a point in time before the explosion, so, yes, we can be responsible for it.

You know what quote from "Time's End" I'm thinking of, so let's move on...

(Makull opens the bag and Janeway takes out a phaser. She fires it at the growing wormhole.) [Ruined corridor]
TORRES: I'm getting nadion particle resistance from the other side.

I'm always glad when Voyager is actually consistent with the Treknobabble. We learned that phasers use nadion beams back in "The Mind's Eye".

(The wormhole is defeated by Janeway's phaser, blowing the away team backwards in slow motion. All the crewmembers disappear from the planet surface.)

And here's the big problem. The episode never happened. I remember when Jim Wright over at Delta Blues recapped "Year of Hell" with just the first and last scenes because nothing else happened. I really should be recapping Delta Blues as well in this retrospective, come to think of it.

The Fiver

Paris: Hurry up, the Delaney twins are waiting.
Kim: Not interested.
Paris: Come on -- if you don't start having romances, you'll never get to star in "The Disease."
Kim: This is a bad thing?

Yeah, we'd all be happier if "The Disease" never happened.

Neelix: Don't worry, your vision was probably just a bad dream.
Kes: Sorry, Neelix, this ain't "Waking Moments."

I'm not seeing enough of a parallel to justify this joke.

Paris: Uh oh -- looks like the planet blows up tomorrow.
Janeway: Well, at least we have these local clothes.
Paris: Wait -- the store's selling two Starfleet uniforms now! I want one.

Tom can act like an eager kid sometimes, can't he?

Doctor: Let me get this straight -- you two are unknown aliens, there's an entire Maquis crew aboard, and the captain is missing? I really hate this ship.

A great line, I remember adding it to our TV Tropes page.

Memory Alpha

* First of nine episode where a version of Janeway dies.

Nitpicker's Guide

* The local clocks use Arabic numerals. I'm fine with this one since we already know that the Universal Translator can project an image of the local's lips forming English sounds.
* Doc scanned Kes in Caretaker and knew about the Maquis, yet in this episode he's forgotten. Oops.
* Why are they afraid of damaging subspace with their gadget when the explosion already damaged subspace? That's how Janeway and Paris were sent back in time!
* How convenient that the locals happen to look like humans so Janeway and Paris can blend in.
* If Janeway and Paris were on the surface with active commbadges yesterday, why didn't the ship's sensors detect them yesterday?
* The cop points out how weird our heroe's clothes are, yet doesn't notice the holstered weapons. Oops.

[Nate the Great]

Having been reminded of Delta Blues, it's time to catch up with entries for the episodes thus far.

Caretaker Part One

Stadi changes the subject as something else comes into visual range. "That's Voyager," she announces, pointing to a ship on one of DS9's upper pylons; it somewhat resembles a, inverted plastic tablespoon with warp nacelles attached.

More of an inverted soup spoon, but it's an interesting image.

Janeway introduces the two to her first officer, Lt. Commander Cabot--a friendly looking white man with a full head of mostly-grey hair.

So both of Janeway's first officers are Lt. Commanders? What's up with that? Did the costumer's not know that full Commanders exist, or is this another shallow attempt to make Janeway look better by making others look worse?

Sickbay is burning.
Harry and Tom, the first to arrive, assess the damage rapidly; Paris looks for survivors (none--doctor and nurse are dead) as Harry extinguishes the flames from the console that killed them.

Are they implying that medical staff is supposed to be only two people? Wouldn't there be another doctor or two to operate during the other shifts?

Paris returns and reports to Janeway that all of the crew are accounted for, scattered throughout the "farm."

How would he know the number of the surviving crew OR their names? I don't think there was even time to survey the remaining crew and make new assignments.

Paris arrives on the bridge just in time to see three armed, back-to-back Maquis materialize: Chakotay, Tuvok, and someone without a name. (I guess he won't last long.)

Actually I think that's Ayala. He'll be a recurring background character for many episodes to come.

[Tom's] anger is replaced by something resembling shame. Did Chakotay's words cut a little too close to the bone? What was Paris' true purpose in joining the search mission? Latinum? Surely not; he was never offered payment. Early release from prison? It seemed he was well on his way to that anyway, for good behavior. All the venal motivations ring false here; could it be the Bad Boy was looking for redemption, or a second chance to prove himself? Despite the animosity shown him, Paris has comported himself with admirable skill and determination, even initiative, since putting on the uniform. That he looks so contrite suggests his own remorse processors are functioning at peak efficiency, and that's a good sign. But time will tell.

Gotta love Jim Wright's writing style.

"Time for what?" Janeway demands. "I must honor a debt that can never be repaid," he says cryptically. She offers to help, with all the Federation resources at their disposal, if he'll tell her the problem. He laughs without humor, amused at their feeble offer. "I've tried things your puny comprehension would choke on. You couldn't help."

It's an interesting question: could the Voyager crew have helped the Caretaker if he'd just been honest? After all, we're given to understand that Voyager has the most advanced tech in this area of the quadrant. Plus Starfleet has dealt with many advanced lifeforms that choose to take humanoid form.

Caretaker Part Two

Janeway isn't sure what to think, until the debris starts falling away with a clatter, and the shadows behind the junk is more visible...ultimately to reveal a character not terribly unlike a Tellarite in appearance, but with subtle differences.

Neelix looks like a Tellarite to you, Jim? Yikes.

Neelix repeats that there's likely nothing she could offer him...unless...well, if they had any water to spare...
Janeway, recalling the utter lack of water on the 5th planet of the system, understands immediately that this is a bargaining chip she has in abundance, as long as the replicators are working.

This introduces a new question...did the Caretaker damage the atmospheres of all the planets in this sector? Why would he do that? He certainly acts like his only debt along these lines is to the Ocampa.

Tuvok seems less than thrilled with Neelix. Bad first impression, I guess. He dresses loud, talks loud, thinks aloud, and seems to exude a stench that could fell a mugatu from fifty meters. Oscar and Felix were a better match.
You just know they'll be fast friends eventually.

Oscar and Felix were The Odd Couple. I had to look that up. It's probably a better comparison than the McCoy and Spock thing that they attempted on occasion.

The man says they've been living underground for over 500 generations; they lived on the surface until The Warming began, and the surface became a desert.

You have to wonder if these are Ocampan generations (4-5 years) or human generations. Because there's a difference between 2000 years and 13,000 years.

Reclining in a big-tubbed bubble bath (in the first bathroom on a starship I've seen, as far as I can recall) Neelix is awash in luxury, and loving every minute of it.

I was ready to dispute Jim's claim, but upon thinking about, had we seen a bathroom before this point? Not counting the retractable toilet in STV, of course.

Neelix finally asks if the replicators can whip up clothing as well, and Tuvok says Yes. "Can they make me a uniform like yours?" he asks hopefully. "It most certainly will not," says Tuvok. (Who knew then that this would become one of Neelix's fondest desires?)

Was it, though? Not counting alternate realities, the only times I can remember Neelix wearing a uniform is for specific away missions like the orbital tether episode and the Malon freighter episode.

We get our first look at the Kazon--they look like a Reggae band that's fallen on hard times.

Ha ha. Never liked the Kazon makeup. Nothing about them was well thought out.

Jabin, despite the humble surroundings, is clearly not an idiot. He knows that water, despite its value to his people, is nothing compared to the means of making it. He wants that technology. Janeway doesn't mention the Prime Directive (that bad habit comes later); she just says it's integrated into her ship's systems (thus raising the stakes to the limit: "you want the technology? You'd have to take the whole ship." She might as well have double-dog dared him to declare war right then and there.)

Yeah, that was dumb. What episode was it when they said there's such a thing as being too honest?

After the welcomes, Daggin asks how Kes made it back. She points to her associates and says they rescued her from the Kazon. (Question--if those who make it to the surface never return, and those below the surface don't have much contact with the surface except through the Caretaker--how do they know about the Kazon?)

Good point, and one that never occurred to me.

"We're not finished yet," Torres says. "I learned a few things Old Sneezy never taught in his survival course."
"Sneezy?" Kim asks, curious.
"Commander Zakarian," she explains.

I'm trying to think of alien races that are prone to sneezing. Aside from the Ferengi when using bettle snuff, I can't think of any.

Children have to grow up, Janeway points out. She whips out Shatner Discourse #14, required reading at the Academy, and lectures the Caretaker on something he should already know--explorers got that way by treading through adversity, overcoming challenges, growing stronger by working up to ever-more-complex tasks. Janeway, having seen the Ocampan heretics in action, and knowing of the inconquerable spirit of at least one--Kes--she suggests to the Caretaker that they have a better shot at survival than he's given them credit for. It seems to comfort the old guy.

It's an amusing concept-a whole course on Kirk's speeches.