#picard rewatch reaction

[annikasevenshots]

Star Trek Picard: S2E1 Rewatch Reaction (spoilers!)

Only thing in my head is Star Trek: Retirement Home. let's go senior citizens!

Laris you are everything. You are girlboss. You are. The world. ♥️

Laris is just so soft. I love her.

Romance slightly more palatable this time round just wish they didn't have picard fall in love with a lookalike first

RAFFI SITTING ON THE STAGE NEXT TO PICARD SO TRUE

RAFFI WINK RAFFI WINK

ELNOR BABY ELNOR BABYYYYYYY YES ELNOR FIRST ROMULAN SO PROUD OF YOU MY BABYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Raffi's little nod at "look up" SHE IS SO PRETTY

TRANSITION TO BEAT UP LA SIRENA SO TRUE

SEVEN HI!!!!!!!! HER LIL FACE!

Seven with a wrench so true

Seven's eye roll?????????? I LOVE HER

EMMET

SEVEN TACKLE SEVEN TACKLE SEVEN TACKLE SEVEN T

actually dead

SMILEY SEVEN SMILEY SEVEN HAPPY SMILEY SEVEN BABY SMILEY SEVEN

Seven's "No" at Emmet?? She is baby

"Developmentally appropriate relationship skills" and yet she's still the perfect match for Raffi <3 feral cat x golden retriever energy

Oh soji you are everything <3

oh agnes (fond headshake)

LET SOJI BREAK INTO DIPLOMATIC SONGS YOU COWARDS

hahahaha drunk agnes waltzing into the bridge

STARGAZER PAN SO TRUE 😍

HAHAHAHA PICARD TALKING ABOUT UPDATING THE KOBAYASHI MARU AND THEN HIM DOING IT IN THE COMICS

Elnor baby!! Elnor's music!!!!!

Raffi being protective of Elnor now that I know the context? Lowkey soulcrushing. God raffi you're killing me with how human you are

Raffi's little wink AGAIN YOU'RE KILLING ME HERE

BABY SMILEY SEVEN SHOWING BIG BROTHER RIOS THE SHIP SHE SCUFFED UP

seven is so punk rock and so baby about it at the same time i love her. baby punk. baby smiley cheerful baby

"What are you doing here?" RIOS AND SEVEN BEING SIBLING ENERGY THEY'RE SO BABY

"My ship" "correction: MY ship" THEY 🥺♥️

why the fUCK DID WE WRITE RIOS OUT THIS HURTS MEEEEEEEE I NEED SEVEN RIOS INTERACTION

Lieutenant Sing's hair! Pretty!!!

Listen i know the show is called star trek picard but "help us, picard" is laying it on a little thick with the main character energy

Kind of zoned out during Picard and Guinan's scene but LOL everyone telling Picard to go to therapy. lowkey laying it thick innit. Raffi's lowkey right though this season really has been Picard ripping through the fabric of time and space to heal his inner hurt. ever heard of a psych eval y'all?

Laris ❤️‍🩹

SEVEN!!! SMILEY BABY SEVEN!!!!!!!!! SWAGGERY SEVEN!!!!

God i forgot how smiley Seven was in the first episode. fenris seven was HAPPY SEND. TWEET.

Fenris Seven was HAPPY FENRIS SEVEN WAS HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HAPPY. FENRIS. SEVEN. a whole BABY.

Seven's voice getting deeper when talking about the borg? and how people distrust her still? oh seven 🥺❤️‍🩹

i just. seven of fricking NINE

jeri ryan's acting ages like fine wine 🤌🤌🤌

Seven and Rios 🤝 on being careful? i actually love them both so much they can do no wrong

Seven and Rios are such an underrated duo i love. them 🥺

HAHAHA Seven taking her baby phaser from her belt. having seen her lug a CHONK MACHINE GUN this is so funnyyyyyy

LMAO JURATI JUDGING THE QUEEN'S ATTIRE BABYGIRL YOU CAME UP WITH THIS

"we require... POWER" IS SUCH A BASED LINE UNTIL YOU REALISE THE QUEEN LITERALLY JUST NEEDS BATTERIES LMAO

Ngl though this Borg Queen's costume is BASED. hell this season's costumes are AMAZING. i LOVE the embossed wiring on the fabric. love love love. shiny shiny love shiny

PICARD ZERO ZERO ZERO DESTRUCT ZERO??????????????? THIS HAS EVE POLASTRI 1-2-3-4 ENERGY LMFAO

AYYYYYYYY CONFED!VERSE!!!!!! love me some evil twin worlds mmmmmm

Picard SHOUTING for Laris?? Hehehehe

BONJOUR Q

costumes are based. they're leng. they're peng. whatever the kids are calling it these days

In conclusion I watched this instead of Rings of Power. Seven of Nine you are my actual sunshine. Spinoff when???

#expect more salty rewatch reactions #i gotta be honest this was... Not a Good Season #but still better than rings of power ig #reaction #picard rewatch reaction #s2e1

[isagrimorie]

I just want to revisit Seven's vision-- I mentioned it before but it was only on multiple rewatches that I realized Seven of Nine is kind of colorblind or saw the world through a green filter.

I first realized this when I watched Picard s2 and I was so confused as to why Seven looked at this anomaly and didn't immediately go: BORG!

If I were in a Star Trek world I look at anything and this green color starts, I would run away because I know that's Borg.

But it always confused me why Seven never did and it was rewatching Relativity on Star Trek Voyager, I realized it was because Seven can only see this:

The kind of green glow won't stand out to Seven!

Also, this hints that even if Seven's right eye is Organic, it might mean her Organic eye might have Borg enhancements.

They even hinted this when Seven became the Queen of the Artificat Cube:

It's not one eye she saw the world in Borg Green, she saw Borg Green with both eyes, and when she briefly became the Queen both of Seven's eyes turned dark with a starburst of Borg green.

Which, is why BTW, when Seven first realized she's fully organic Human for the first time in her life-- her reaction should've been similar to colorblind people and saw the world in technicolor for the first time.

I'm not saying Seven should have reacted like Winston Bishop from New Girls

(Fast forward to 0:06 to avoid the flashing intro).

But I'm not not saying Seven shouldn't react this way and then Seven realizes she has a deep, abiding hatred for the color yellow or something ridiculous.

It would be hilarious if Raffi and Seven discovered that together.

#seven of nine #winston bishop #star trek voyager #star trek picard #body of borg #bet no one's ever compared seven to winston bishop #BUT I DARE TO #Youtube #borg physiology

[spocks-husband]

OKAY SO after forcing myself to finish Voyager I am finally watching Picard so I'm gonna liveblog my reactions to episode one for the Enjoyment Of The People. Spoiler warning obv lol

-the cinematography is so yass

-oh my god it's my husba DATA?????

-WHAT

-HELLO???

-or is that B4...?

-I have to rewatch the TNG movies :/

-When did Jean-Luc start drinking his tea with milk????

-i love my husband Jean-Luc so much hes so hot even at 83 <<3

-uhhhh what's. Oh my god. Oh it was a dream. Oh I'm gonna kill myself.

-THE DOGS NAME IS NUMBER ONE ☹️

-AWWW HE'S BACK IN FRANCE :(

-who are these new people

-i'm uncomfortable

-WHAT the fuck is up with the replicators

-OH DAMN LMAOOO THEY BOUTTA DIE

-omg I'm from Seattle too she's just like me fr fr

-me when I'm murdering bitches

-of course the Black boy dies immediately ‼️ yasss ‼️‼️

-Intro was kinda meh ngl :/

-why is there SO much piano going on

-my beautiful old man boyfriend...

-JEAN LUC SPEAKING FRENCH IS GONNA MAKE ME CUM.

-sorry ☹️

-omg ....... Who is this sexy romulan man......

-DECAF??????

-he looks so tired someone please let this man go home 😭😭 my poor baby Patrick :(

-literally who are these people

-I always forget about that the Romulan supernova happened outside STO 💀

-Why is she bullying my bf. Kill yourself.

-GOD HE'S SUCH A GOOD ACTOR I'M SCREAMINGGGG

-I need to perform this monologue

-literally who is this girl 😭

-can you leave my husband alone please

-the writing just took a random turn downward

-PLEASEEEE I'M SO IN LOVE WITH HIM

-stop looking at him like that 🤨🤨

-dahj has Mary Sue energy I'm sorry 😭

-STOP TOUCHING HIM I'M GOING FERAL

-i also hallucinate Data being in my backyard

-Its probably just because we have better camera quality now then we did in the nineties but Brent's contacts are making me so uncomfortable 😭

-why does he say stasis like that 💀

-THE PICARD DAY BANNER :(

-DAUGHTER??????

-didnt we already do this in that one TNG episode

-OHH wait is she an android

-i want Jean-Luc so bad no one understands

-WAIT OH MY GOD I JUST GOT IT

-I JUST UNDERSTOOD WHAT'S HAPPENING

-HOLY SHIT

-Why are they making this sad old man run so much he's in his 80s 😭😭

-WAIT DID SHE JUST DIE LMAOOO NO FUCKIN WAYYY

-Number One is my favorite character other than my boyfriend, he's so perfect

-"I haven't been living, I've been waiting to die" OKAY SO YOU CAN WRITE WELL YOU JUST CHOSE NOT TO FOR THE PAST LIKE TWENTY MINUTES LMAOO

-omg hi B4!!

-i miss data ☹️

-DR MADDOX???? UGHHHH

-PAIRS??? THERE'S TWO OF THEM????

-that transition was bomb asf

-HOT ROMULAN GUY HOT ROMULAN GUY why is he British OH MY GOD THERE'S THE OTHER ONE

-damn straight to the traumadump

-this dialogue is kinda stilted tbh

-erm is that a Borg cube 🤨🤨

Overall rating 6/10

#star trek #axel rambles sometimes #liveblogging #pic #picard #tng

[worflesbian]

so ive finished my s4 finale rewatch and much as i fucking loved those episodes, the misogyny was Glaring, namely in the way they brought back denise crosby just to have tasha retroactively kidnapped, held hostage for four years, forced to have a baby, and then executed like was any of that necessary? just to have her half-romulan daughter show up and give picard manpain? they didnt even explore the concept fully bc it was crammed in as a side plot to a high action two parter, we got no reactions from the people tasha was closest to (deanna, data, worf) bc there was too much going on.

then there was the way lursa and b'etor were written which like, i love a camp villainess as much as the next dyke but i cant believe how much skeevieness was going on there. there are ways to make your female villains sexy while still writing them as People rather than sexually aggressive woc caricatures, it was really uncomfortable.

#ik i go on about klingons and racism all the time but when i actually sit down and watch it im like well. this is racist huh #ghitlhpu'wij #klingon ep liveblog

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - TNG Season 1

Originally posted on Twitter 17 March 2021 - 6 April 2021

Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with ENT, DSC, STX, TOS, TAS, and TOS FF, mini-reviews will document my progress.

Encounter at Farpoint: TNG's pilot is the weakest of the various series premieres. Saving graces are John DeLancie's fully-formed Q, the McCoy cameo, the visual effects, Patrick Stewart's commanding performance, and the greatest tag line: Let's see what's out there, indeed. 5/10

The Naked Now: This episode would have worked better once we knew our heroes a little better (perhaps after "The Arsenal of Freedom"). Since we're still getting to know them, this rehash of a superior TOS episode is flat on arrival. Fully functional, it ain't. 4/10

Code of Honor: It's a racist piece of dogshit. Next. 0/10

The Last Outpost: Man, these Ferengi that allegedly eat their enemies must be as bad the Klingons or the Romulans! Uh, no. They're bad, but not in the way we've been expecting. The T'Kon Empire is worthy of follow-up. 5/10

Where No One Has Gone Before: TNG’s first great episode. Reality powered by thought is a classic Trek idea. Kosinski and the Traveler are excellent guest characters. I’m not the biggest Wesley fan but I cheer every time he calls out Riker. 8/10

Lonely Among Us: There’s just not enough story here to sustain an entire episode. Also, justice for Engineer Singh, reduced to a wig on a chair in one scene. The Antican and Selay makeup, however, are very well done. 5/10

Justice: 90% of this episode is hot garbage. The remaining 10% goes to Picard’s speech about absolute justice (something governments still struggle with), and Crusher’s grief over losing her son. If the Edo really were this primitive, would Picard have stopped there at all? 3/10

The Battle: Wesley’s smugness (and the weak writing for Crusher and Troi) drags the score down a bit, but this is a fairly good first season effort. Learning more about the otherwise enigmatic Picard through a Ferengi’s quest for revenge works. 8/10

Hide and Q: Q’s return so soon after the pilot tries to do something interesting, but it’s not an engaging story. 6/10

Haven: Lwaxana Troi is a love her or hate her character, and I adore her. Wyatt’s chemistry with Troi makes him a believable rival with Riker for Troi’s affections. The Tarellian ship is a striking design. 7/10

The Big Goodbye: While this episode is responsible (for better or worse) for holodeck malfunction stories, this one has a reasonable amount of tension. The reaction to Whalen’s shooting is an excellent in-universe touch. Redblock is effortlessly malevolent. 8/10

Datalore: I would imagine this was the first time people really took notice of just how damn good Brent Spiner is. Evil twin plots aren’t new to Trek, but this is a good one. Glad to see both villains again at later dates. 7/10

Angel One: It’s a sexist piece of shit. Next. 0/10

11001001: The visuals are striking, as are the Bynars. The holodeck scenes with Picard, Riker, and Minuet are worth the price of admission. A solid mid-season installment. 7/10

Too Short a Season: Fountain of Youth episodes are corny at best. A combination of makeup and casting dooms this one from the start. The Iran-Contra parallels come through loud and clear. 4/10

When the Bough Breaks: The Aldeans' plight is sympathetic. I just get the feeling that there's not enough plot to sustain an entire episode each time I watch this one. It's not objectionable but it's not oustanding, either. It just is. 5/10

Home Soil: Some very subtle commentary on the ravages of colonization gets lost in the "ugly bags of mostly water" scene at the very end. Malencon's death is somewhat gruesome for Trek (at least until the airing of the season finale). 6/10

Coming of Age: An excellent first season effort, with Wesley's exam and Remmick's investigation serving as the impetus for the title. Will we see Quinn and Remmick again? Time will tell. 8/10

Heart of Glory: A strong Klingon episode that sows the seeds for RDM’s sublime “Sins of the Father”. All killer no filler. 8/10

The Arsenal of Freedom: Confining this episode to a soundstage limits the scope and stakes of this one, but I do enjoy Crusher and Picard’s scenes. I especially love the Lower Deckers on the bridge. Some good commentary on the military-industrial complex here. 7/10

Symbiosis: Did Nancy Reagan write this stinker? A bummer that this was one of Merritt Butrick’s final roles before his too-early death from AIDS. It could’ve been a great one, but it’s just mediocre. 5/10

Skin of Evil: The first time a series regular dies…for good. The behind-the-scenes tales are legendary, but aside from the goofy oil slick monster, Yar’s senseless death (randomly, in the line of duty) and touching funeral elevates this episode. 7/10

We’ll Always Have Paris: I don’t know why, but this one works for me. I like the sense of isolation as our heroes track down Manheim; and the time distortions are fun, even if the science doesn’t make sense. 7/10

Conspiracy: This episode's shocking climax still hits hard over thirty years later. The unnerving feel of the episode kicks in from the jump and is sustained through to the chilling tag. A shame that this wasn't followed up in live-action. 8/10

The Neutral Zone: The return of the Romulans is dramatic, but the best scenes for me are in the 5th act and the tag. Picard's speech to the refugees is an inspiring summation of Star Trek, and even after an uneven season, it's hard not to be energized for what's to come. 8/10

And with that, TNG Season 1 comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 5.84/10. Highest score(s): “WNOHGB,” “The Battle,” “The Big Goodbye,” “Coming of Age,” “Heart of Glory,” “Conspiracy,” “The Neutral Zone.” Lowest score(s): “Code of Honor,” “Angel One.”

#star trek #star trek tng #great star trek rewatch

[giffingthingsss]

Post-TNG movies reaction. 

Binged what I hadn’t seen before I cut the cord. I didn’t rewatch First Contact cuz I’ve seen that a couple times already. 

They’re not horrible. I got the impression from the fandom that three out of four were the worst movies ever made or something. They were fine. 

As a person on the TNG periphery I heard complaints about how Picard acts here vs. how he acts on the show. The ‘action hero’ stuff is hilarious to me and I can’t really take it seriously, but as for him being a little ‘loose,’ eh. I mean didn’t TNG end with him starting to be more social with the crew? So he’s loosened up a bit. Good for him.

The villains are pretty weak overall, but I don’t think that’s a problem exclusive to the TNG movies. I didn’t think Khan was a good villain either (shudder, gasp). Don’t even really remember the other TOS villains, aside from Sybok who wasn’t really a villain. A couple dorky Klingons, if memory serves. 

I didn’t love any of these. I liked the themes in Generations. I liked the Zephram Cochrane stuff. I liked the humor of Insurrection and the B4 baby in Nemesis. I liked bits of all of them. None of the plots or villains really blew me away. I like the Borg Queen better on Voyager. 

Overall

[ltcommanderandroid]

Headcanon: Emotions

Rewatched Generations recently (for the first time in a really long time) and it made me question just how the emotion chip functions in relation to what I maintain were preexisting and developing emotions already there.

Without the emotion chip (TNG 1-7)

What Noonien Soong could never have anticipated when he designed Data not to have emotions was that he would have been able to develop them on his own, which is precisely what was occurring throughout Data's time on the Enterprise and, to a lesser extent, before.

Hampering this was that, at many times during his life, particularly early on, Data had been told that as an android he couldn't have emotions. So convinced by this, while still on the Tripoli, he wrote a subroutine which sought to provide other explanations for emotional reactions and to repair circuits if reporting such blatant examples of malfunction. In essence, he dampened his own ability to feel, he internalized people's prejudice towards him. This is why, when clearly demonstrating emotional responses, he will adamantly deny them.

However, in the area of his positronic brain designated for emotional responses and meant to be dormant (essentially, Noonien hadn't removed the section of his mind dedicated for that purpose, just deactivated it, not uploaded any emotional programs, and removed the connector nodes to it), Data's own emotional programs began to form. This was particularly true after he uploaded Lal's memories into his own, as this included the emotional programs she was developing. His automatic self-repair systems began to form connections to that isolated part of his mind, increasingly allowing emotional responses. However, they tended to be quiet and elicit no physiological responses, only behavioral ones.

With the emotion chip (Post-Series, Canon)

The emotion chip, in many ways, functioned exactly the same way as the forming circuits. It provided a connection to that isolated part of his mind and was designed, as Noonien had assumed that he would not have any emotional reactions, to inflict emotional context onto given situations and input emotion programs into those supposedly empty processing centers. However, it actually did more harm than good.

The proximity of the chip to the unexpected circuits were what caused it to overload and fuse. Eventually, the chip burnt out the existing circuits and Data was left only with the imposed emotions of the chip, which often did not access the emotional programs he had already developed correctly as they were designed to interact not with those but with the ones which had come 'pre-installed' on the chip. In many cases, both the existing emotions and the chip's ones were activated at once. The combination and, in some cases, contradiction, of emotional responses resulted in those emotions often being overwhelming and difficult to manage.

With the new positronic brain (Picard S3)

The upload of Data's consciousness included the emotional programs he'd unknowingly been developing, but separated him from the damage done by the emotion chip. When placed into the Daystrom android, which had emotional circuits already included, he was able to, for the first time, access those emotions without 'outside' influence of the emotion chip. As those programs had, in some cases, been left half-formed or partially overwritten by the chip's programs, the integration of Lore served to patch the code and complete him. It was, even though Data was not solely Data any longer, truly the first time he'd felt emotions that were truly his own.

With the emotion circuits (Post Series, AU)

In this verse, the emotion chip is never installed, which results in a dramatic shift to many of the events of the films, most notably that Data's original body is not destroyed and he goes on to be First Officer alongside Captain Riker.

Given the opportunity to continue to develop those delicate circuits to his emotional center, Data begins to become aware of its presence. He eventually decides to delete the long-standing program of denial and, in doing so, reworks his responses from 'I cannot feel' to 'I believe that I feel'. Unlike canon, where the emotion chip provides false physiological responses, the emotion circuits begin to connect emotions to his existing physical responses and sensors.

While more muted, these responses are more integrated and, in many instances, easier for him to process. For instance, he has learned that fear is a sudden shift of all processors to vital systems and danger assessment programs, which can often result in slight overheating of these sections. Happiness and pleasure are a chorus of positive responses from all systems. Frustration is an overactivity of processors... and something he feels whenever attempting to achieve humor, for he has yet to realize that what he finds funny isn't the same as what other people would. Some, alternatively, are almost entirely based in mental reactions and elicit no physical response at all... yet.

#headcanon #Life is What You Make of It: Headcanon

[punalippulaiva]

I started watching Deep Space Nine for the first time since it was on the TV in Finland in the 90s (only the first four seasons back then for some reason, I've only seen individual episodes of the remaining seasons). I've only done The Emissary so far, but my reactions to that can be summed in two parts: a) man this hits different as an adult and b) man the writing.

On a): I never liked Sisko as a teenager. Looking back, it was because of my own daddy issues. Sisko is very much portrayed as Jake's father, and having literally zero positive father figures in my life at the time, I saw him through my own lens as inherently manipulative and untrustworthy (to be fair, he is manipulative - the very first episode has him blackmail Quark - but never does it to his own people). Rewatching as a parent is a whole different experience; I cried during the first four minutes when Jennifer dies and he has to abandon her and assume sole responsibility of Jake.

On b): Ohh, so many things. Sisko's antagonistic discussion with Picard is pure gold, showing us this is a very different Star Trek from TOS and TNG in the very first episode. But on a more general level, it's interesting how some things are already there - Dax is herself from the beginning, and her relationship with Sisko works beautifully - but on other things the writers clearly have no idea what they're doing. Bashir in particular, who is reduced to being captain obvious, except for the one discussion with Kira where he comes across as an inconsiderate asshole.

And then there's O'Brian. I know it's probably because the scene was moved to a different location (it really reads as if it was designed to be in a TNG episode), but he really put on his old Enterprise uniform to go to the bridge of the Enterprise just to chicken out on talking with Picard. Either it was beautifully intentional in making it clear this dude was really going to miss the Enteprise, or unintentionally making the man a hilarious nerd.

#star trek #ilves rewatches ds9

[siskolesbian]

my mom only very rarely sends me Star Trek related things but 90% of the time they are a) from Facebook and b) about Miles O’Brien, which is a thrilling combination

#she discovered an account on Facebook dedicated to the can I please have food O’Brien meme and was like ‘what is this???’ #important to note she’s been a star trek fan since tng was on air but never ever rewatched it since like 2000. very funny reactions #also about her but irrelevant: she’s getting carry out from my fav restaurant and then she and my dad and I are going to watch picard :) #eilís.txt #text #miles o'brien #ds9 #tng

[cristobalrios]

PicardPositivity Day 13: Seven of Nine Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix Zero-One The Ex-Borg Fenris Ranger from the Delta Quadrant

I have definitely talked about our Chaos Trio before, but on this our Seven's day, I really have to talk about how much I adore Seven.

She has been my favorite character from my favorite Star Trek for years, and I literally squealed when she was revealed to be in Picard, and I never do that. I get excited, but never involuntarily scream. I remember the first time I saw that trailer with her in it. I was not expecting it at all, and I was watching the preview before showing it to my family. I was planning on mentioning it to them later that a new trailer came out, but that "later" turned into "immediately" after I saw Seven and literally squeaked trying not to actually scream, because they didn't know the new trailer existed, they were in the same room, and I didn't want them to know I had watched the trailer without them. That "immediately" was so immediate, though, that I didn't actually finish watching that trailer and totally missed that very last clip with Data at the end (the first clip we'd seen of Data, too, if I remember correctly, although we already knew Brent Spiner was in it but we didn't know about Jeri Ryan), and only saw that part when I rewatched it with my family a minute later. I did tell them I had watched it, though, it was literally just a momentary "oh I shouldn't make too big a reaction because they don't know what's happening and I don't want to explain it to them" reflex.

Anyway, this is the preview in question:

And I adore how our badass Ex-Borg Fenris Ranger from the Delta Quadrant turned out, although I hate that things have been so hard on her, and I am devastated about Icheb. Raffi/Seven at the end there was a surprise and a great one, and I adore every interaction she has with Rios. I need Rios giving her the "you hurt Raffi I hurt you" protective sibling speech. I need Chaos Trio bonding. It looks like we'll get some more interaction in s2 and the hints are tantalizing. I can't wait to see where Raffi/Seven goes. I can't wait to see Rios and Seven's bond developing. I can't wait to see more of Raffi and Rios's friendship. I can't wait I can't wait I can't wait.

You know what I need? Actual interaction with Seven and the Holo Squad. She had that bond with Doc. I just. Really want to see Emergency Holograms of all kinds just automatically gravitating towards Seven. I want to see Seven and Emmet snipe at each other. I want him to tell her to her face that her ship was hideous and her to snap back and for him to just be like "damn I guess she's alright. Still has terrible taste in ships though." I need her to see elements of Doc in each of the holos and I need it so much.

And I love her and Elnor. And I love that Elnor and Raffi bonded and Elnor and Seven bonded and, well, he's Their Kid now. He saw badass warrior women and went "alright new moms!" and they just went, "yeah, I guess you're right!"

Oh, and I only have one Seven meme that I've made, somehow, so I'm just adding it here:

PicardPositivity Prompts My PicardPositivity Tag The General PicardPositivity Tag

#PicardPositivity #Seven of Nine #Cristobal Rios #Youtube

[this-is-a-love-story-isnt-it]

I really enjoyed your post about Seven of Nine being autistic-coded. Can you talk about some of your favorite moments through that lens (either in Voyager or Picard)? Also what other Star Trek characters do you see as neurodivergent in some way? (Barclay always comes to mind for me!)

Aah, thanks so much! I was a bit nervous about posting that. So I’m glad it’s gotten a positive reaction from people.

I started rewatching Voyager from the beginning and then realized I don’t really like it as much as I used to, so I decided I was going to watch Seven’s episodes, but I’m still struggling to get through that, so I kind of watched a few of her early episodes and a few season 7 episodes. Nothing stands out to me specifically that I can remember- just the whole thing of not being very sure how exactly to communicate with people, some of the things she says are super blunt and things that neurotypical people keep to themselves… stuff like that. Also using the holodeck to practice dating basically (yuck, Chakotay, though)… i wish I had a holodeck sometimes where I can practice relating to people!

And since I’ve been watching Voyager, Tuvok has a lot of autistic characteristics, and it’s funny how him and Seven can relate with each other sometimes. But all Vulcans are kind of like that- really logical and serious, kind of don’t understand why humans are the way that we are…

I’m going to rewatch her scenes in Picard, though, so I’ll get back to you about what autistic-type characteristics I still see in her now that 20 years have passed.

#ask #seven of nine #star trek picard #star trek voyager

[annikasevenshots]

Star Trek Picard: Season 3 Episode 5 Reaction (spoilers!)

ESMAR!!!!!!!

BABY LAFORGE BEING A SLEEBY GORL??????

NO TVEEN NO NO NO

EVERYONE NOOOOOOOOOO

this is a dream right lmao

There we go

COME HOME??????? EXCUSE ME?????????

Shaw and Seven being like 🧍🏻‍♀️🧍🏻‍♀️

Riker and Picard knowing they're in trouble teehee

WHAT THE FUCK SEVEN BEING REINSTATED IS SO FUCKING FUNNYYYYY

DID HE FUCKING KNIGHT HER THIS IS SO FUNNY LMAOOOOOOOOO

Crusher still being so clever and amazing. I love her.

At least the lighting is better this episode lmao

RAFFI

RAFFI

RAFFI

IVE MISSED YOU MY WARRIOR PRINCESS

She's so eager to fight PLEASE

The Klingon music SLAY

"Patience my ass" omggggg

Deadass thought Raffi was going to kick the fucking station

PLEASE "can you not put holes into my floor" BIG MY SHIP ENERGY

ROSCAN??????

"Sometimes work is fun" raffi pls

"LISTEN UP" RAFFI???????????? 🥵

Oooooooh the MUSIC

USS INTREPID SLAY

pls seven just sitting there like 🪑

Wheezing at Shaw being so smug

What is he humming

Lowkey thought Picard was doing Morse code with his Adam's apple

Also the lighting is much better this time round I'm ngl

RO LAREN?????????????????

OH MY GOD SHES SUCH A MILF???????????????????

t…treason?

Why is Seven hiding Jack pls

What did she give him a mf bodysuit?

Ooooh prophecies etc etc

OMFG POOR BABY LAFORGE

SISKOS DAD WAS RIGHT

CHANGELINGS HAVE BLOOD NOW TEEHEE

Ro🧍🏻‍♀️she's actually so milf wtf

Why are they reassigning the Titan ummmmm

Ooooh the Bajoran earring part

How does Raffi know about the son

"Find me" HELLO????????? CONNECT US???????? BITCH THE FUCK?????

JACK WHAT IS HAPPENING

WHAT THE HAP IS FUCKENING

WHAT IS GOING AWNNNNNNNNNNN

MOBILE EMITTER RAFFI

EMERGENCY EMOTIONAL SUPPORT RAFFI

HOLY FUCK SNIPER RAFFI AYAYAYAYYSSUYSHSHSHAHAHA

I love u Crusher

Crusher is so SMART!

Go AWFFFFFFFF PICARD

Interrogation time 👀 But I do hope we get a Saffi interrogation at some point

H. Holodeck?

10 forward set recycling 😂😂😂

OLD STYLE CHIMES YAY

SAFETY PROTOCOLS????????????

Is this the emotional catharsis Terry was talking about?

Raffi still being grumpy anyway I love her

Someone zoom in I need to see if she has the belt

"Ye olde fight to the death?" TEEHEE

Raffaela House of Musiker????????

RAFFI????????

YES MISS DOES HER OWN STUNTS LETS GOOOOOOOOOOO

THE KLINGON THEME

we know they're faking that death lol

"I was supposed to give a speech" shut up Picard 💀

STOP NAMEDROPPING JANEWAY I KEEP GETTING HEART ATTACKS

What if Worf was another hologram lol

"How you doing big guy" HAHA AWWWWWWWWWW

Daystrom 👀👀👀

How tf is that Vulcan just Giving Them Stuff

ROS EARRING????????????

RUN FROM WHAT OH SEVENNNNNNNN

RO. RO. RO. OH NO.

ARE THEY BRINGING HER BACK TO K WORD HER HELP HELP HELP NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

RO

PLEASE GOD NO

UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

I HATE EVERYTHING

actually hate everything sm

OMG HOW ARE THEY MAKING THE INTREPID SEEM LIKE AN ENEMY

SEVEN BEING LIKE "most of our crew was transported there" PROTECTIVE SEVEN HI

open the RED DOOR I HATE THIS

My head hurts

Why does Jack fight so good make it make sense

RO!!!!!!!!!!!

SO RO WAS WORF'S HANDLER???????

BRO THIS SHOW DO BE BUSSINNNNNNNNNNNNN

Crusher 🥺

In conclusion, I watched this at 1am because it dropped on UK P+ early

#reaction #star trek picard #s3e5 #quite liked this one ngl #also probably because raffi was back #man as soon as i'm done with my work i'm doing a full first-half rewatch #i've probably missed so much #picard spoilers #star trek picard spoilers

[isagrimorie]

There’s been recent discussions on reddit about each Captain’s questionable decisions and actions. And, of course, the Tuvix thing keeps getting brought up, I wouldn’t be so annoyed with it, if everyone and their brother hasn’t been consistently beating on a dead horse about Tuvix. Or Janeway’s deal with the borg, or the Equinox thing. Or the Caretaker thing.

But one thing I don’t think isn’t discussed as much is Sisko’s actions after he went after Eddington.

I love Sisko, he’s Top 5 Trek Captains for me but that was such a dubious thing to do and on rewatch I was so shocked that the show tried to frame Sisko launching a biogenic weapon at a planet as a good thing.

Sisko and Jadzia even laugh about it after, robbing the whole action and implications of that actions.

I don’t want to do this Captain is Better than This Captain, and Fandom’s reactions to Sisko were also terrible when it first aired but also IMO poisoning an entire planet just because it housed Maquis was not great. (And the story tried to soften the blow by saying it just means the Humans and Cardassians just exchanged planets).

IMO, this also led to making it seem that Starfleet condoned this actions and Kira, of all people, was okay with it.

I think the story would have been better served if they ended the story showing that it also took a toll on Sisko. SISKO POISONED A GODDAMNED PLANET THAT WAS HOME TO A LOT OF MAQUIS.

I guarantee if Janeway had done this, we would have heard nothing but years of Psycho!Janeway.

I’m not a fan of Eddington but he also made it a point that no Starfleet crew they engaged were seriously injured. Humiliated and bruised but not dead or dying. The response was not proportional.

Fans and fandom had this narrative that Janeway never reaped the consequences of her actions when she almost always did. It went to the point that Peter David had Janeway killed and turned into a Borg Queen because of ‘Hubris’ in the Trek Litverse.

When Janeway died in the Litverse there was this overwhelming tone of ‘ding dong the witch is dead’ that was so noxious and that Beta canon validated them…

It was just terrible all around. I’m a huge fan of Sisko but the way the episode didn’t do Sisko any favors but Sisko also had a benefit of serialized format and epic arcs to bolster his reputation.

Meanwhile, the writers put Janeway in interesting situations where she’s pushed into making decisions and fandom would run Janeway over coals over it.

Sisko and Janeway are both interesting Captains placed in a pressure cooker and they responded to the best of their abilities and frankly, a lot better than most characters would have. Their flaws and foibles are what make them interesting, as well as their ability to stand by their decisions, for good or ill. They are cut from the same cloth, IMO.

The difference lies in the fandom reaction, this is why I’m glad in the past few years Voyager and Janeway are getting a second look. Sisko is already a beloved icon within fandom, now we just need to get liveaction Trek to get them on board*.

(*I know its an unpopular opinion but I feel the mentions in Picard s3 was a good start in liveaction, hooking the changeling into the larger plot of Trekverse and showing a photo of Odo. But I wish to have them overtly in the next few projects.)

#star trek #thinky thoughts #benjamin sisko #kathryn janeway

[caitlinsfandomthoughts]

Watching Star Trek TOS For the First Time! Season 1 Reaction

I’ve been a TNG, DS9 and Voyager fan for maybe 10 years but had never watched TOS until I decided that I would. And then I realised I couldn’t live with the possibility of the internet not being able to know my incoherent rambling reactions if it so desired. Most of these were written the day after I saw them but with the early ones it was later so sorry if I don’t remember your favourite.

Season 1:

The Cage: Be still my beating heart why must number 1 leave the show? Why?! Imagine a world in which Majel Barrett got to continue to be her in the Star Trek universe instead of Lwuxana (sorry I don’t love her) and Nurse Chapel. She’s so beautiful I love her. And she gets to where pants and be the second in command. While the episode for sure has sexist moments it does seem like there was more of an actual effort to present to future as having gender equality. When you compare this to the ultra mini skirted version of the actual show, it does feel like executives went through it to make it more marketable. It’s been noted by others that she is quite similar to what Spock’s character became: the cold, logical one, while Spock smiles in this episode. While I ended up loving Spock I still would’ve loved to see a woman in that kind of role, especially in the 60s. Although I’m not sure she would’ve been treated that well.

So Vina can’t like, get medical treatment from Starfleet doctors who know how to put a human body together? No? We’re just gonna leave her there? She’s too ugly? She’s better off living in a fantasy world where she’s pretty? Ok then…

The Man Trap: I don’t even really remember this one so I’d have to rewatch it.

Charlie X: Charlie sees women and becomes an incel, Kirk has to try and teach him not to be. This is a decent goal that somehow culminates in a space boxing match. Kirk loses his shirt. Sexual tension is presumably resolved. Uhura sings.

Where No Man Has Gone Before: The pants are back. Man becomes some kind of god and Kirk beats him up if I remember correctly.

The Naked Time: This is where The Naked Now comes from. This one was less sexual, which is probably a good thing, and less drunk, which is too bad cause I love drunk Crusher and Picard trying to focus on work while their brains won’t brain. Highly relatable mood. This one is where the immortal line “sorry, neither” comes from, spoken by Uhura in response to Sulu calling her a “fair maiden.” According to the internet that was an ad lib and I so hope that’s true cause it’s amazing. Also according to Spock Sulu is a “swashbuckler at heart” which is cool and all but I wish we got to find that out by him actually being a character that we know the personality of rather than a background diversity guy who gets to say a couple of lines sometimes. Also each to their own but shirtless Sulu is infinitely more attractive than shirtless Kirk.

The Enemy Within: Bad. Women at Warp podcast said it best, it’s bad because they say the evil Kirk is still Kirk and is needed for him to be a good captain/person. This could’ve been ok if he didn’t do something so irredeemable, or they could’ve not had him be defined as a true and necessary part of Kirk, but you can’t have both and sell it as an ok message. Rand not being able to look at ‘good’ Kirk after really makes it feel real, her acting in general makes it feel too real.

Mudd’s Women: Women take beauty pills that make them have makeup on and men find them too ugly to marry without them even though they are still beautiful. Also said women were kinda slaves but don’t worry about it! *hand waves*

What Are Little Girls Made Off: I don’t know what the title has to do with the episode. This is the episode where Nurse Chapel is introduced even though she was in a previous episode. And she’s taken more seriously than I thought she would be. Kirk gets an android version of himself made by a guy who he already doesn’t trust and doesn’t predict that maybe that’s not a good idea. Apparently to make an android all you need to do is put one person and one dummy on a giant plate and spin them around real fast. If only the guy who wanted to take apart Data in Measure of a Man knew.

Miri: Problematic. I think the crush angle could’ve worked if it was one sided, but Kirk played into it and it was creepy, and you know, also manipulative, assuming Kirk doesn’t actually feel the same way and is using it to get her to help them. That’s my more charitable interpretation anyway. Also McCoy doesn’t know how vaccines work. Also this episode doesn’t know what puberty is, or rather when it starts. If the virus is supposed to get to you then, that starts round the preteen age. Miri is older than that even though she’s not an adult.

Dagger of the Mind: This was the first one where I was starting to quite like it and it was feeling a little more like Star Trek to me (I know this is the first Star Trek but there’s a certain way 80s/90s era Star Trek feels to me). I really liked the beginning where it was setting up this whole maybe prisoners become violent because of how the prison treats them thing and that it was challenging the viewpoints of some of the main characters, although McCoy was already team prisons are bad and I love him for that. It then went more into the lobotomising asylum type story which was still ok. The guy turned out to be a doctor rather than a prisoner which I didn’t like cause I wanted the prisoners to be humanised. Although you could’ve done a “see anyone, even ‘innocent’ non criminals can be turned violent with this treatment” but they didn’t really emphasise that.

The Corbomite Maneuver: I don’t remember this. Kirk playing poker with some alien I think. Edit: I’m been informed this is the one where the alien turns out to be a lollypop guild kid lip-syncing to an adult’s voice, which I do remember, and probably thought it was some kind of sleep-deprived fever dream.

The Menagerie Part 1 & 2:  I laughed so much when they wheeled Pike out and I finally got the Futurama reference in Where No Fan Has Gone Before. I mean I obviously knew the whole thing was a Star Trek Reference, but I had never seen that specific imagery before and now the joke makes sense! Also Pike wanting to go back there seems kinda wrong. I mean they say he’s a vegetable mentally I think but he doesn’t seem to be? I can kinda get that he’s got more incentive to be there than Vina who could probably be helped by Federation doctors but also, he hated that place and spent the whole episode trying to get out of it and it doesn’t feel like a fitting ending for him.

The Conscious of the King: And here begins Star Trek’s love affair with Shakespeare. The only thing I have to say really is, if I didn’t mishear something… a father and daughter played Macbeth and Lady Macbeth? A married couple. And no-one thought that was weird? She was the daughter of a dictator though so there was an Ivanka Trump vibe.

Balance of Terror: Romulans. Spock wasn’t sure that they were related to Vulcans till this ep, though he suspected it. How far back did they split for it to be unknown? I like that the Romulans were sympathetic and we had scenes with them just in their ship from their perspective, and they had some conflicting views with each other. And I really like how Spock was suspected as a spy cause racism and of course he wasn’t and saved that guy cause he’s the better person. That said I found this episode pretty boring and I don’t know why. I kinda wish it turned into a witchhunt situation and was more about the racism on the Enterprise, kinda like The Drumhead from TNG.

Shore leave: Wtf was this episode?! And I don’t ask that because the white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland showed up, or that it was a random holodeck planet episode, that’s fine. When the White Rabbit appeared I was just like, ok it’s going to be one of those episodes, that’s fine. Holodeck episodes are fun, I don’t even mind a random magic alien or two appearing for no reason to wreak havoc, say by making everyone larp as Robin Hood, that’s all Star Trek, that’s Star Trek doing a Star Trek, what I didn’t like is this episode goes nowhere! McCoy sees the White Rabbit, we’re off to a good start, Sulu “Swashbuckler at Heart” sees an old gun that he geeks out on, cool. Kirk sees some woman of course. Also there’s some guy fending off a tiger. Random female guest star of the week rather than letting Uhura be part of the story gets her uniform torn by some guy. Then she imagines a princess dress and if that were me as soon as I realised I could think things into existence I would just imagine all my dream clothes. Kirk imagines an old student friend who is attempting very hard to be Irish (thank you Colm Meany for saving us from this).

Anyway so the planets a holodeck cool. And I’m like, Spock should beam down, I wanna know what he’ll see, this is where the episode could get interesting. And then it happens, but nothing happens, they don’t even make much of a deal of him not seeing anything. But then I thought what if! What if Spock didn’t beam down and this was another imagination?! What if he was some alien with some ulterior motive OR better than that we get to see Spock as imagined by whoever was thinking of him. You could go down a very fanfic road if it were Kirk’s imagined or desired view of him, or maybe you could show different people’s perceptions and then they still suspect he’s not acting like himself even though it’s how they see him, but its not quite right, cause it’s not actually how he is. Or at least I thought they were going to find out what was going on. But NOPE none of that happens. Instead leprechaun guy shows up again and Kirk just wonders off to fight him for the next fucking millennium! The uniforms they wore at the academy seem like they were made out of better quality material than that of a Starfleet captain’s. Poor Kirk must be having to replicate new uniforms every other day. Then they laugh I think, and sexual tension is presumably resolved. Then the aliens show up and are like yeah this planet is a holodeck we thought you’d like it also McCoy died but he didn’t and I’m like THEY DIDN’T CONSENT TO THIS. But then they decide to party.

It reminded me of a Red Dwarf episode called Better Than Life where they knowingly go into a virtual reality game which is basically the same as this planet. But over time Rimmer keeps sabotaging what he imagines cause he hates himself so much his brain won’t let him have nice things. And it’s still a comedy, but there’s an opportunity for exploring the character’s psyche with this setup that wasn’t done here and that made it boring.

The Galileo Seven: This episode was good!! In contrast to the last one it delivered on promises it made, it had a satisfying ending, it’s probably my favourite so far. The whole time I was like this should be about how Spock can be wrong and logic isn’t everything to be a good commander. But given the quality of the previous episodes wasn’t that great and Spock was always right about everything I didn’t trust them to do that. BUT I WAS WRONG. I thought it would be about how just because you don’t have emotions doesn’t mean you can disregard those of the crew. But instead it was about how he couldn’t predict their enemy wouldn’t act based on emotion rather than logic. And then he admitted he was wrong and helped the guy bury the other guy, and then they were about to die and McCoy was like at least I’ve lived to hear Spock say he fucked up. And then Spock jettisoned the fuel so that it might act like a flare but it gave them less time and I was like no you’ve learned nothing! Don’t just do things that severe without asking your crew. But then after they were saved it was described as an act of desperation rather than anything logical and Kirk was like that’s an emotion isn’t it? You acted on emotion? And Spock was like well yes but I’m not gonna say it like that.

I like that emotion was good actually. I think it’s a fine balance between the message of its ok to be different and using Spock as an analogy for racism, and inadvertently neurodiversity, but also not buying into the idea that emotions = weakness and lack of emotion, or emotional repression = objectivity. Even if you don’t factor emotion into your decisions (which would be impossible unless you don’t experience emotions at all) it doesn’t mean that you don’t have personal biases in your perspective. So I’m glad Spock was wrong for once.

The Squire of Gothos: This is Q this is Proto-Q. He does all the same things that Q does; he shows up in clothes that are way out of date (and he thinks they’re from 900 years ago when they’re clearly early 19th century) and he flirts with the captain. Oh and he has powers, maybe they were computer powers, but not all? And he goes on about humans being brutal, warmongering people but he’s kinda into it. He fights Kirk but there was actual tension so it wasn’t annoying like the one with the Irish guy. And then it turns out he was just a kid exactly like the Futurama episode, except he is a kid not 35. I think him being a kid makes the flirting seem weird though.

Arena: Kirk and the Gorn at Tanagra. Kirk fights a lizard because aliens wanted to encourage them to not fight by telling them to fight. I thought maybe these lizards could be proto Cardassians but then I thought they can’t be they don’t talk, but then he spoke so I thought they could be, but then he was the one who was invaded and was only defending his people so I thought they couldn’t be, unless that was actually just lies and justifications in which case they definitely would be, but then that would undermine the message of the episode so I guess not. I wonder how many leaders have killed each other before these alien’s negotiation tactic actually worked.

Tomorrow is Yesterday: This was fun. There were a lot of twists and turns. I wonder if it was before or after the moonlanding. Every plan just makes it worse and more and more people keep getting exposed to the future. Kirk could’ve easily just closed the door and beamed back at the end but instead opts to punch like six people. (I think this is where “a woman?” “Crewman.” Comes from).

Court Martial: What if Kirk actually did it though? Would that be more interesting? Maybe. At least here he has an age appropriate love interest. She’s prosecuting against him which is surely a conflict of interest. AND she has a uniform with a longer skirt! And it actually looks good, like it looks like an actual dress that she can sit down in and it still looks like a dress and not a crumpled up shirt. It’s elegant but it’s still short. I could see this being an option (for any gender) as a dress uniform but it would still make no sense when they’re serving on a ship.

Return of the Archons: I am LIVING for Spock in a medieval style hood. It’s giving me Peter Cook in a Mother Superior’s wimple in Bedazzled vibe, it’s not quite on that level of beauty, but it’s close. For some reason Sulu returned from the planet in 18th century gear but then everyone else is dressed like it’s the 19th century, with some medieval robes thrown in, and this annoys me more than it should. Maybe it’s because he’s a swashbuckler at heart. Apparently they had a completely peaceful society except for the nightly purge they seemed to have going on that is never mentioned again.

Space Seed: KHHANN! I liked this a lot until the end. I want to know the lore behind Data’s Dad having his middle and last name. Edit: Actually only the middle name is the same and the last name is just similar. I still think there’s lore there (excuse the pun), probably he’s a descendent of his cult followers or something. The story seemed to be eugenics bad and also the type of guy to basically be a eugenics cult leader would be super manipulative and abusive but just charming enough in a relationship. It does a pretty good job of showing the abuse in his relationship with the historian woman, how he switches between being loving and I guess charming, and flattering to being abusive and degrading. I wish that the historian woman could find someone that she can explore domination and submission with consensually cause that seems like it would be what she really wants. Anyway but in the end they just let him go? Like he tried to take over the ship but they were like here have a colony. They compared the place to Australia when the colonists arrived at Botany Bay and that it could be... I forget what the word was but basically ‘civilised’ and No NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO STOP RIGHT THERE NO Australia was already populated and didn’t need eugenicist cult leaders who were demonstrably bad to show up make it ‘better.’ AND THEN the historian is given the choice to go with them and she does and its framed like it’s good? Or at least ok? When they just did a pretty decent job of showing how abusive and manipulative he was and she had redeemed herself by turning against him? So I get that they probably wanted to bring him back although they’re probably not gonna bring her back, but they could’ve easily had him escape instead.

A Taste of Armageddon: Suicide machines. I forget the rest.

This Side of Paradise: SEX POLLEN! Well it’s more fall in love pollen, I guess, for one character. There’s a woman and there’s the music and the soft focus and BUT WAIT then the camera cuts to Spock not Kirk! Because she has taste. It’s about this point that I think the ‘Spock’s the most popular but Shatner wants to remain the star so we’ll emphasise their character’s relationship thus inadvertently inventing slash fic’ might’ve started. It’s time for a love triangle! She makes Spock get the sex pollen, which is not getting consent, and then he falls in love with her and is climbing trees and is all happy. Kirk can’t get a text back from Spock. Then Kirk and two others get the pollen except Kirk didn’t, but he did, but anyway I thought everyone would be horny but they weren’t they were just brainwashed. Soon Kirk is all alone on the bridge, then he gets the pollen and is happy to live as a poly triad but then he gets angry and it’s gone. Then he calls Spock to the ship and approaches the situation in the only way Kirk knows how: Homoerotic punching! So they fight for not long enough and then Spock is cured but he’s a little sad, there’s sadness in his voice, it’s not quite so matter of fact. Then Spock’s gf gets sad and the sex pollen is gone too, Spock might still have feelings for her but he has responsibilities to the ship and “to that man on the bridge” which if he was saying to just mean once again the whole ship, and its mission and the captain in a professional sense, seems a little redundant, which would surely be illogical.

The colonists get sad that they haven’t done anything for years because the sex pollen made them unambitious but I would argue maybe the sex pollen was right and you were better off just vibing. This episode was more interesting and less silly than I thought the creator of sex pollen would be. At the end Spock says that for the first time in his life he was happy. While every other character could still easily become addicted to a thing like that they could at least know they would experience happiness or any feelings again in their life, for Spock it was going back to nothingness.

Devil in the Dark: Spock calls Kirk Jim which I don’t think he has before, when he’s talking over the communicator and he’s worried he’s in danger, there’s some actual fear or urgency in his voice. Also the moment that got me was when Kirk wanted to send Spock back the ship cause he didn’t trust him to kill the creature and Spock was like “but… I’m not really as useful there I am here… so…” If I was writing it I would’ve played that up more but anyway, I like that they didn’t kill the creature. I like that McCoy said the thing. And also said “I’m starting to think I can cure a rainy day.” He’s my favourite.

Errand of Mercy: It’s kinda becoming the Kirk Spock show now, I like the ship but I miss McCoy. I like that the passive pacifists who Kirk was so angry with were actually more powerful. And KLINGONS! Oh yeah the orientalism, the yellow peril, it’s… it’s there all right. They were played a lot colder here, a little Cardassian maybe, still bloodthirsty but I don’t believe this guy has to do it himself to feel honourable, he can kill for sure but he’s fine ordering someone else to do it and being a chessmaster too.

The Alternative Factor: God this one was boring. But it does have a man with the worst beard wig I’ve ever seen. Now he’s stuck fighting the bad version of himself or something to save the universe. So remember that when you’re watching later Trek series, all of this could suddenly be destroyed if one of them gets tired.

The City on the Edge of Forever: UHURA GETS TO GO ON AN AWAY MISSION! Aaaand she doesn’t get to do anything :/ The usual three go back in time! To the 60s again! Oh wait… that’s meant to be the 30s? Oh. That’s some tall hair that lady has for the 30s. But at least said lady is a character, she’s a little perfect but she does things, she has strong beliefs, she might be written a little idealised, but she is still written like a person compared to almost every other Kirk love interest. “He says it (captain) even when he doesn’t say it” is an interesting line. So she has to die, I still think they could’ve just convinced her that you don’t make friends with fascists but ok. They never say what the Clark Gable movie is.

Operation Annihilate! Kirk’s brother dies, and so does his sister in law, leaving his nephew without parents. This is never resolved and the episode ends with them laughing about how Spock got his eyesight back.

#star trek tos #star trek tos reaction #star trek reaction #star trek tos season 1 #star trek tos season 1 reaction #star trek tos first time viewing #Spock #Kirk #McCoy #Uhura #Sulu #is a swashbuckler at heart #crushing on number 1 #you don't make friends with fascists #sex pollen #spirk #is a fun ship #wtf was shore leave though #futurama #at least I've lived to hear Spock say he fucked up - Dr. McCoy

[antimatterpod]

Transcript - 70. Clinton-Era Star Trek

Liz: And why are we passing up an opportunity to criticize Rick Berman? We love that shit!

Anika: Let's always criticize Rick. Definitely everything wrong is Rick Berman.

You can listen to the original episode here.

Anika: Welcome to Antimatter Pod, a Star Trek podcast where we discuss fashion, feminism, subtext and subspace, hosted by Anika and Liz, and Cali the cat. This week we're discussing the pilot episode of Star Trek Voyager, "Caretaker".

Liz: So it's the 35th anniversary or something. No, that cannot possibly be it. 25th?

Anika: 30th. 30, isn't it?

Liz: No, I was thirteen when I first saw it, and I'm thirty-eight going on thirty-nine. So it's got to be the 20th. Right? No, 25th...

Anika: No, it's definitely not -- um, it could be 25th. Because the 20th, I did a panel for the 20th. And that was probably five or six years ago?

Liz: I feel like 1996 plus 25 might be 2021?

Anika: I don't know! Math!

Liz: Welcome to Antimatter Pod, the podcast where we don't do maths.

It's the 25th anniversary of "Caretaker", and I'm really really curious to know, when was the first time you watched it?

Anika: I don't remember! I remember watching "Emissary". I did not see "Encounter at Farpoint" first, I saw it, years after having seen Next Generation.

Liz: Which is really the way to do it.

Anika: Yes. And Enterprise, also, I have no actual memory of watching the pilot, but I probably did. I probably watched Voyager and Enterprise live, but I don't actually have a good handle on it. If it was 1995, I was -- yeah, I didn't have a Star Trek group at that point. I was in college, you know, so I was, like, making new friends.

Liz: You weren't ready to unleash the full force of your geekiness?

Anika: Yup. I mean, I was a ridiculous person, you know, there's no way that I wouldn't have been known as a geek by pretty much everyone.

Liz: I actually have very vivid memories of the first time I watched "Caretaker", because I received it on VHS as a Christmas present the year I was thirteen. I really remember how much I liked Janeway, and I wished -- like Kate Mulgrew has a very unusual voice, and that was sort of everyone in the family's reaction. And I'm like, Yeah, it's a weird voice, but I love her, shut up.

And the next day my parents' marriage ended, so...

Anika: Wow. Okay!

Liz: I don't think these things are really connected. But in my mind, and in my heart, they very much are.

Star Trek wasn't really my main fandom at the time. TNG had ended, and I was very deep into having feelings about seaQuest DSV. So -- there are probably still dozens of us.

Anika: I loved that show.

Liz: It was so great. We could talk about my OTP for seaQuest next. But yeah, that was my first encounter with Voyager, and I didn't really become a capital letters Voyager Fan until a few months later, when we accidentally got season two videos.

Anika: Accidentally. Yeah, I don't know. It's a good pilot episode. Not a good episode.

Liz: I want you to expand on that.

Anika: So the thing about pilots is, there are very few good ones out there. It's really hard to introduce a show in a way that isn't cliched, and isn't, like, a bunch of people expositing about everything you need to know about them to each other. It's a -- it's hard. It's hard to do it well.

Liz: Yes. If you want to see a bad pilot, I highly recommend the pilot for Babylon 5. It is unwatchably bad.

Anika: Voyager still has plenty of pilot problems, like, "Caretaker" still has plenty of pilot problems, but they cover a huge amount of ground. They introduce so many things, and when you think about all of the stuff that has to happen in this episode versus, say, "Encounter at Farpoint", which is really just a bunch of people introducing themselves to each other -- that's literally all that happens in "Encounter at Farpoint".

Liz: And not even by name.

Anika: And then Riker watches what happened in the opening scene? I mean, that is a terrible, terrible pilot, and a terrible episode.

Liz: My friend and their partner have decided to start with Star Trek at "Encounter at Farpoint". And I'm like, I love you. You are good people. You don't deserve this.

Anika: Don't do it! No.

But -- so what I like about "Caretaker" is that everyone except B'Elanna -- and I will tell you more about that in a little bit. But everyone except B'Elanna has an introduction that is not them introducing themselves to each other. Or to the audience. They don't stand and say, "Hello, I am Harry Kim."

There's like little bits and pieces, like the -- what we learned about Harry Kim is what Janeway says about him to Tuvok, you know. What we learn about Tom Paris is that, you know, he's in prison. And the first time we see Janeway is Tom looking up at her, and it pans up and she's got her hands on her hips. And she's like, "Hey, I'm totally in charge, and I'm here with Obi Wan Kenobi to rescue you."

So it does pilot things. We get that there is tension between everyone and Tom Paris, like, literally everyone and Tom Paris, there is tension. And we get that there is tension between the Maquis and the Starfleet people, we get that Janeway and Tuvok have a very close, established relationship. Like, there's a lot of established stuff going on?

The Janeway and Tuvok stuff is so much better than the Picard and Crusher stuff, like, I can't even -- they're worlds apart in terms of how they play.

Liz: And not just because the language of setting up a platonic friendship between a man and a woman is different from setting up a romantic tension. Seven years have passed, and the writing is different. And Janeway -- the woman is the one in a dominant position. And it's just better.

Anika: It's just better, it's just better. But the actual story is not. Like, the whole Caretaker thing, it's clearly a plot device, it's very deus ex machina for "we have to get them lost in the Delta Quadrant. Like, we have to get them to the Delta Quadrant, and then we have to get them lost here."

And so, while it is entirely Janeway's choice, she's the only one with agency. She takes it away from everyone else. There's no meeting to discuss any of these things. And it's all very driven by this "there was, a guy, an ancient guy who, like, steals people and keeps them as pets. And his favorite people, like, he needs to" -- it's just ridiculous. Like, he's seeding himself so that someone -- so his child will be stuck with this horrible job of taking care of his ant farm of Ocampa.

Everything about it is bad. Like, nothing in that whole story is good. He's a bad person. And it's so wildly ridiculous. Like, he dies before they can even begin to understand how any of it happened? Like, they just blow up the array?

Liz: It's sort of like the writers going, "Oh, shit, we really don't want to ask too many questions about this guy, we'd better kill him as fast as we can."

Anika: Exactly. So. So if you start to think about this story at all… Being a pilot that introduces you to these characters and this situation, it's bad. But if you're just watching to be introduced to these characters and this situation, it's good.

Liz: I have never thought about it in those terms until you said this in our preparation, but I think that's a really, really good point.

And I'm going to confess that I have not re-watched "Caretaker" to prepare for this episode because I have seen it so many times, I can quote big chunks of it by heart. And, honestly, it's actually not that rewatchable. Deep Space Nine is not my favorite Trek, but I have seen "Emissary" so many times, and I enjoy it every single time. After a while, watching "Caretaker" starts to feel like a chore.

Anika: Yeah, because what's actually happening is not interesting.

Liz: Yeah, yeah.

Anika: And it's just full of holes, and I just get mad at everybody if I start thinking about it.

Liz: That's before we get into the bit where the Kazon exist.

Anika: Oh, the Kazon. They tried so hard to make the Kazon happen. And it just never happened.

Liz: Re-watching season two for my blog, I was struck by the fact that, with a different writing team, the Kazon could have been really fascinating and nuanced and interesting. And instead, it's basically white people having a moral panic about Black people. You know, they explicitly said that the Kazon were, like, "They're based on East Los Angeles area gangs!" And I'm like, Sure, okay. That's potentially interesting, but you're all white people. And, you know, we find out that thirty years ago, they freed themselves from slavery. And that's why the--

Anika: Thirty years!

Liz: I know! I know! That is my own lifetime! [But] that's why they're low tech and dysfunctional and desperate. And they're not given even an ounce of empathy, or sympathy, or even consideration. Even "Initiations", which I think is a good episode, and certainly, by far the best Kazon episode, there's just -- there's one good Kazon, and that's it.

And I do think part of the problem is that we never see their women, we never see them in any situation other than hostility. But mostly, I think the problem is that the writers are racist.

Anika: And the one good Kazon is a kid.

Liz: Yeah, yes.

Anika: It's almost like it's like a white savior -- or a Chakotay savior story, you know, like, Dangerous Minds--

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: -- where Michelle Pfeiffer goes into the inner city to save it.

Liz: The mental image of Chakotay as Michelle Pfeiffer is amazing. And yeah, that is a really messed up genre, and the only good thing it ever gave us was "Gangsta's Paradise".

So, yeah, that limitation in the perception of the Kazon is built right there into this pilot. And a lot of people go, you know, "It's so stupid how they have spaceships and they don't make -- they can't replicate or create their own water." And it's like, this would have been a great opportunity to explain some of their history instead of going, "Surprise! It's actually really racist!" a season later.

Anika: Yep. It's just really bad. Everything's bad about the Kazon. They're not great. They're not good villains. And anything -- every time they are almost interesting, they're almost instantly not interesting and/or racist at the same time.

Liz: It troubles me that the series with the first female captain is also the first series where sexism and misogyny are treated as anything other than a joke. We've had the Ferengi for years, and it's always been, "Haha, they like women to be naked." And it's only now that suddenly these writers are forced to empathize with a female character, that they're like, "Oh, maybe that attitude is ... bad?"

Anika: Maybe it's bad. We never see a Kazon woman.

Liz: Right, are they living in -- is it a Kazon Handmaid's Tale thing? Or are they warriors in their own right? Do they have their own politics? Are they trying to pull the strings from the background and maybe doing so more successfully than Seska because they're further in the background? We don't know. We'll never know.

Are we the only people who look at Star Trek and go, but what if the Kazon came back?

Anika: So we're definitely the only people who look at Star Trek and think, what if the Kazon came back?

But Cullah was almost an interesting character. And, really, the most interesting he ever was was when he took the baby, and, like, cared. That he cared about any of that happening, that he cared about Seska dying. It was like, Oh, my gosh, this is a real relationship all of a sudden. So it's just interesting. And they had a lot of interesting Macbeth scenes that were fun, that could have been so much better if they'd leaned into that instead of what they did.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: But we're we're getting beyond the scope, because we're supposed to be talking about "Caretaker", and Cullah is not even in it

Liz: Turns out we could do a whole episode on the Kazon

Anika: Whoops!

Liz: That's really gonna get the listeners.

Anika: Let's talk about our first impressions of the crew.

Liz: So the scene where Tom looks up, and there's Kathryn Janeway with her bun of steel and her hands on her hips, and, you know, in her very first scene, she tells us that she was a scientist before she was a captain. I fell in love.

And yet, the pilot is really eager to tell us that just because she's a woman in command doesn't mean she's ... not a woman.

Anika: She has the world's most boring fiance.

Liz: Oh my God.

Anika: I hate -- like, my favorite part is that they're talking, they're facetiming on the viewscreen and all, and she's lliterally doing work while talking to him. Like, this is the last -- and they don't know that it's gonna be the last time for seven years, or whatever, but it's still gonna be months. And yet, she's just doing her work, and he has to tell her to look at him, which is hilarious. But he's also -- he's so milquetoast, I don't care.

Liz: He's just sort of your standard extruded Star Trek male love interest.

Anika: And then there's puppies. She loves her dog.

Liz: She loves her dog. She likes to be called ma'am rather than sir. It's a very 1990s "don't be too threatened" scenario, which is interesting, because you contrast that with Major Kira, who, I think, as the second lead, rather than the primary lead of the show, has more freedom to be abrasive, and unlikable, and unfeminine.

Anika: Yeah. But even in Deep Space Nine, like, Jadzia is super feminine. In presentation, at least, and the more it goes on, she gets -- the more they were like, "Don't worry, we also have this pretty one." Like, Nana Visitor is gorgeous, just, you know, don't yell at me. But--

Liz: After the pilot episode, she went and cut off her hair into -- it's not even a pixie cut. It's a really butch style. And she did that without getting the permission of the producers. She was just, like, that's how Major Kira would have her hair.

And then, over the next seven seasons, they worked really, really hard to force Kira into a feminine mold.

Anika: You're right, they absolutely do it to Janeway [too]. She has that whole Jane Eyre holoprogram thing that -- everything she does in her free time is, like, from the 19th century. It's just very weird. She's super old fashioned in her forward thinking scientist future ladyness.

Liz: I think a lot of that is down to Jeri Taylor, and the fact that she was already, for the '90s, older than the generation of feminists who were defining the movement at the time. I realized once that she's only a year younger than DC Fontana.

Anika: It's interesting. Kate Mulgrew was forty when she started Voyager, but according to apocrypha, she was playing five years younger, like, she's not supposed to be forty.

Liz: No, I've heard that too, that Janeway was meant to be about thirty-five. Which, I mean, I guess? Maybe?

Anika: [What that] means is that she is admiral super young. That's what I take out of it. So good on her. It's just weird. It's like, why? I don't know. It's just very Hollywood. It's very, "Oh my gosh, we can't have a forty-something woman in a starring role. We can't possibly do that. So, okay, we got this one and, and we're gonna go with her, but she's not really forty. You can still be attracted to her. You're allowed, everybody."

Liz: You know, "We've got her in a corset so she's thin, and she's in high heels so she's tall and she'll walk in a sexy way."

It really struck me, the first time I watched Discovery, the first time I watched "The Vulcan Hello", how feminine and comfortable Michelle Yeoh looked with her hair in a ponytail -- and it's a very loose ponytail -- and she's wearing flats. I was like, Oh my god, this is what Janeway could have been.

Anika: Right.

Liz: Now, I know that the next character on our list is Chakotay, but I think we should talk about Tom, because he and Harry the POV characters for this pilot. It's sort of telling that Chakotay is sidelined from the beginning.

Anika: I always say that there are three co-protagonists in this pilot. Tom, Janeway, and Kes are the people who have a point of view and an arc.

Liz: Yeah, you're right.

Anika: And everybody else is just sort of in their orbit.

Liz: Even Kes barely has agency.

Anika: It's a giant cast, so they couldn't -- and again, B'Elanna is not -- like, the B'Elanna that I know and love is not in this pilot. She's just not even actually there. There is a B'Elanna in this pilot, but it is not even close to who she is. And she's barely on screen. She's just an angry Klingon lady, that's all she is.

Liz: Who almost flashes her whole boob in one scene.

Anika: But she immediately -- like, the very next episode is a B'Elanna episode. So it's sort of like, "We didn't put any effort into her in the pilot, because we're gonna, you know, we're gonna have a whole episode about her. It's gonna be okay." And it's great, "Parallax" is a way better story.

Liz: Yeah, I don't think that's necessarily a bad choice. That's like Discovery taking six episodes to introduce it's whole cast. And I think B'Elanna is better served by that, but it's interesting how objectified she is in this story.

Anika: Yes.

Liz: To get back to Tom, I listened to the Delta Fliers episode on "Caretaker" when it came out. I'm sort of at peak Star Trek podcast, so I've gotten behind on them. But that's Robert Duncan McNeill and Garrett Wang talking about their memories of each episode. And--

Anika: It's very fun.

Liz: --among the things that I enjoyed were Robert Duncan McNeill calling himself out for how sleazy Tom is towards women, particularly Janeway. But he blames himself and I'm like, I'm pretty sure you are following a script, dude. Like, this is not your responsibility.

But also, he says at one point that Tom Paris was considered as a potential love interest for Janeway, and that they were going to cast someone older for the role.

Anika: I've been saying that since the beginning. Janeway and Paris, as we all know, are my OTP of Voyager. And I'm not off that! I ship that! Like, I ship literally everything. But it's always going to be -- Janeway and Paris are going to be the most important to me, in terms of Voyager characters, just partly because, again, I was, what, 20? And I -- not even--

Liz: Yep.

Anika: It was formative, you know, it's like, I loved Voyager so much, and I loved Janeway and Paris. The first fan fiction that I read and wrote was Janeway and Paris. Iit's just gonna be them.

And so the idea that they were ever considered, quote, unquote, canon, it just makes me feel like I wasn't a crazy person reading into the entire first two seasons.

Liz: No.

Anika: I firmly believe that you can see a relationship behind the scenes in the -- you know, up until he starts having a thing with B'Elanna.

Liz: No, in fact, there's a point in season two where Robbie is like, "I think this is around the time they stopped pushing Janeway and Paris and started moving towards Janeway and Chakotay."

I found that really interesting, because the other thing that we know about the development of Voyager is that they always wanted a Nick Locarno type of character. They always wanted Robert Duncan McNeill in the role. And, honestly, that doesn't mean that they never considered casting someone older. We know that there were legal issues with having the Nick Locarno character, and that's why he's Tom Paris.

And, you know, it's like how they auditioned men for Janeway and women for Chakotay at one point. Like how DS9 auditioned white men for Sisko, you throw everything at the wall and see if it sticks. But I think the AU with an older Paris would have been interesting.

Anika: I'm fine with it as is. I like the ten-year age gap, personally, but I don't even mind -- I wouldn't mind the five-year if she's really thirty-five. Whatever, fine. Then we're closer to a five-year age gap. But I like the idea of her, like, meeting him when he was a kid and then forgetting that that happened.

Liz: Not giving him any thought, and then meeting him as an adult and going, oh.

Anika: "Whoa."

Liz: Yeah. That would have been really cool because it's a sort of borderline creepy storyline that we see a lot with men and younger women. And I don't remember ever seeing it with women and younger men. And I like an age gap, and I like a relationship where there -- there are problematic elements to be negotiated.

Anika: Yes, exactly. Oh, my favorite things.

Liz: But also I think Tom Paris in the pilot is a deeply terrible person, and I hate him.

Anika: Oh, yeah.

Liz: So many of my friends are watching Voyager for the first time and going, Wow, Tom Paris, he is the worst. And I'm like, Yeah, but wait a few seasons, he's going to be the suburban dad of everyone's, I don't want to say everyone's dreams, but he's going to be peak suburban nice dad. And it'll be great.

Anika: You said that Robbie says that he blamed himself for being skeezy -- see, I give Robbie all the credit for him not being skeezy. I'm on the other side, where I really feel like they tried, they tried to make Tom Paris that guy, the guy that I don't ever like and never want in my Star Trek, and they keep trying to put him in Star Trek. Like, every series has that guy. And it was Tom Paris.

And he was just not capable of playing it. He put so much warmth into these horrible lines and situations that you couldn't -- you couldn't read it that way. And so there was, like, oh, there's something deeper here, he's not just hitting on people, he's lonely. He's not just, like, he's not getting, you know, doing -- he's not trying to hit on the captain in her pool [game] or whatever, he's actually trying to make a friend. He's telling her that she matters to him because she's giving him these second chances.

I read all of my Janeway/Paris stuff into these early seasons where he has horrible storylines, because the actors aren't acting like he's a skeevy, horrible person.

Liz: No, and all of Tom's good qualities are -- or seem to be -- Robert Duncan McNeill's good qualities. You know, he's open, he's generous. He's kind of funny, kind of a dork, but self-aware about it, and very passionate about holding up the people that he loves. That seems to be Robert Duncan McNeill. And that is who Tom Paris becomes.

But I also think, like, what you were saying about how he's not flirting, he's trying to make friends, I also think that his background in terms of having neglectful and emotionally negligent parents, he needs people to like him. And if the only way he can do that is to make them attracted to him -- to build an attraction -- that's the strategy he'll use.

Anika: It's such a psychological thing that really happens, and again, often with women.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: I gotta say, this might be a good place to say, where Voyager does an incredible job of giving all of the men various feminine traits or, like, you know, stereotypically woman-centered things that happen--

Liz: Right, right, Chakotay is sensitive and domestic. And Tuvok defines himself to a large degree by his parenthood, and Neelix is the cook, and the Doctor is a caretaker, and Harry -- with Harry, I feel like a lot of it's bound up in anti-Asian racism, to be honest, and the emasculation of Asian men. But he is another very sensitive and gentle guy who doesn't really like -- he likes to be romanced, he doesn't like to be seduced.

Anika: It's great. And then, you know, the women -- we get B'Elanna in the engineering role. And she's also angry all the time.

Liz: Yes.

Anika: And Janeway is a scientist and in charge, you know, she's the authority.

Liz: And Seven -- Seven, when she's comes, in is sort of her own thing altogether. But she's the Spock. She's the Odo. She's the Data. And it's notable that the most classically feminine of the characters is Kes, and she's the one who is treated as a failure and discarded and in the fourth season.

Anika: Yeah. They don't know how to write for her, is what it comes down to

Liz: I think it's that thing where they don't know how to empathize with women who don't act in some way, like men. And this is all very binary and very steeped in stereotypes and generalization.

Anika: But it's very '90s.

Liz: It is so '90s.

Anika:

I can say, as a child of the '90s -- I can still call myself that -- that it's what we were grappling with. Like, the '80s were -- there was this whole power fantasy stuff, right? And then the '90s were, you know, grunge and riot grrrls. And so there's just -- this show, like, yeah, it's using all those stereotypes, and so that's why I'm calling them feminine traits. I don't think that cooking or being a good parent or having soft hair or being a musician is feminine in any way.

Liz: No, but we are dealing in stereotypes.

Anika: It's gender coding. That's what I'm talking about.

Liz: Relatedly, one of the reasons Janeway's character is considered 'inconsistent', and I'm using air quotes because I don't think that's actually -- I don't think she's the worst in terms of inconsistent writing and Star Trek captains. But -- (Archer) -- but part of the reason for that--

Anika: My trash boy.

Liz: --is that all the writers had a different feminine stereotype or archetype in mind when they were writing Janeway. Some people saw her as a schoolmarm and Jeri Taylor saw her as an earth mother for some godforsaken unknown reason. And it seems like no one was really able to go, "Hey, what if we get past the stereotypes and archetypes and just write her as a ... person?"

Anika: It's just bad. And it's true. There are definitely inconsistencies where she -- the one that I always point out is that she has this super faith thing where she literally has a scene where she explains the concept of faith and God to Harry Kim. And then, a season later, she has to go save Kes from whatever horrible thing is holding Kes hostage.

Liz: And suddenly she's a TV atheist.

Anika: Yeah. And it's like, what are you talking about? That is not Janeway. It's just wrong. You can't have it both ways. And so there are inconsistencies.

I think you're right, that it's a problem with different people having -- like, putting different ideas of who Janeway is onto her.

Liz: And certainly, Archer is at his worst when they try and force him into an equally narrow masculine box.

Anika: Yeah. Right.

Liz: So, the patriarchy. It hurts men too!

Anika: But I do think that, yeah, Janeway isn't alone in her inconsistencies. And I also think, of every Star Trek character, or every captain, she has the most reason to be inconsistent.

Liz: One hundred percent. Because she's the only one--

Anika: She shouldn't be--

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: She shouldn't be consistent when she's holding the entire, like, the idea of Starfleet and the Federation herself. She's gluing it together in a place that doesn't know what any of those words even mean.

Liz: And she can never get a break. Picard can take a holiday and go to Risa, and wear skimpy shorts, and have a fling, and have adventures. Janeway has to do all that in the context of her ship.

Anika: Right. And she's always captain. She never gets to not be captain, even if she's in the holodeck hanging out.

Liz: Yeah. Basically, Voyager is 2020, and Janeway is working from home.

Anika: So I cut her a little slack.

Liz: Hah, I cut her a lot of slack.

Anika: And I write into my own little headcanons that it is all of this psychological stuff that she's dealing with. Uou know, I say, Oh, well, she was depressed then, so she was making these choices. So.

Liz: Honestly, Janeway makes sense to me. There are inconsistencies, but she holds -- like, she feels consistent emotionally. And that's what's important.

Anika: Right.

Liz: Let's talk about Chakotay, who you've described here as the most stereotypical Native character ever.

Anika: It's just really sad.

Liz: I -- yeah.

Anika: Like it's sad on every level, because now, creating a Native character now, which they should definitely do, but putting that character into Star Trek, that character automatically is stuck with the Chakotay baggage. And that's just so upsetting. We're never going to get this clean, quote unquote, Native character, because of this mess that we got with Chakotay, where he -- like, it was already bad, the TNG episode isn't any better. That episode is really bad.

Liz: That's the episode "Journey's End", which sets up either Chakotay's home planet or one very much like it, colonized by Native Americans, because that is absolutely how Indigenous people work.

Anika: So bad. And then they get kicked out, kind of like in Picard, you know, Starfleet's like, "You gotta leave now, because the Cardassians own this place." And it's like, but they don't really? And no one really does?

So, right, it puts them on the wrong -- it's just all it's all bad. It's all bad. And it's all very much a white person writing what they think an Indigenous person is.

Liz: Right.

Anika: All it did the dream watching, and--

Liz: The vision quest...

Anika: --none of it is true. That's where I end the sentence, none of it is true to the idea of an Indigenous character. And it's just it never gets good in Voyager. I want to like Chakotay, and I have troubles.

Liz: To their credit, they hired a consultant. Unfortunately, the consultant was a white fraud, a Native faker, who was already notorious for being a fake, and Native American groups had been warning Hollywood for years that he was actually a white guy. So they start off on a bad foot.

They audition a lot of Native American actors and decide they're too, quote unquote, on the nose, meaning too Native American. So they cast Robert Beltran, who is a very talented Mexican American actor, who doesn't seem to have any Native heritage. I don't know how Indigenous identity in Mexico works, but to my knowledge, he doesn't really participate in Native culture, or anything like that. So, yeah, they just went for the nearest brown guy, basically.

Anika: And the thing is, if he was Mexican American, and not Native, that would be better,

Liz: Right, or just a Mexican American character who has some Native heritage that he is learning about, like, that is a really interesting story. But like, so much of it is dated even for 1996.

Anika: Right. That's right, exactly.

Liz: I remember as a kid cringing every time they use the word Indian, because even then I knew that the new and appropriate term was Native American. And just the whole "I hear in some tribes, if I save your life, you belong to me" -- that's a setup for a slash fic. It shouldn't be canonical.

Anika: Yeah, everything about poor Chakotay is poorly done. And the further we get from Voyager, like, the more time goes on, the -- [it gets] more blatantly bad. It really starts to stick out.

Liz: I understand what you're saying, that everything they do from now is tainted by what they did with Chakotay. But I really do think that new Trek, the Trek Renaissance, needs Indigenous representation.

Anika: They should definitely do it.

Liz: Yeah, like Discovery films in Toronto and there is no shortage of hugely talented Native Canadian -- I think it's Canadian Aboriginal? Of Indigenous Canadian actors. And and, obviously, Evan Evagora in Picard is half-Maori ... but he's playing a Romulan, so.

Anika: I'm not saying they shouldn't do it because of all this baggage. I just feel sorry for the actor.

Liz: Yes.

Anika: I feel badly for the person who has to deal with it.

Liz: Also because they're inevitably going to end up on panels with Robert Beltran, and honestly, he seems like a dick.

Anika: Everything I've seen of Robert Beltran has been very, like, dismissive, I guess, is the best way -- like, when people bring up to him that, you know, maybe it wasn't the best representation of an Indigenous population, he sort of gets defensive and doesn't listen.

Liz: Yeah.

So let's move on to the greatest character in all of Star Trek...

Anika: Tuvok?!

Liz: Tuvok! Yes.

Anika: I have a Tuvok standee in my house now. I love it. It's just -- Tuvok is amazing. Best Vulcan by far.

Liz: Yes.

Anika: His relationship with Janeway is so precious to me. I just love everything about it. I love how warm it is right off from the beginning. I love that he is just as -- he does crazy stuff for Janeway, the way that Kirk does crazy stuff for Spock. It's that same level of "that's insane," and I love that. I love that they have that relationship. And I'm forever sad that they are the least represented in fan fiction. Like, even, like, platonic. I'm not saying -- I do, I would ship them. But...

Liz: But we don't even have fic about them having adventures.

Anika: Right? There's just -- I mean, Tuvok, yes, best character in Trek. Chemistry with everyone is highly -- [but] he's the least represented in Voyager. It's very upsetting to me because it cannot not be racism. There's just -- I don't have another explanation for why Tuvok is so ignored.

Liz: I have a theory, but I think the primary reason is indeed racism. But I also think it's that Tuvok enters the series as a man who already knows who he is, and his regrets are mainly behind him, and he doesn't really change much over the course of the series, save that he unbends to an extent to reveal his affection more than he did at the start. But, on the whole, he's not the most dynamic character.

And I love that about him! I love his stability, I love the respect that he has for everyone, even Neelix, who often doesn't deserve it. And I think he is a character who is almost the heart and soul of the show in a way that's easily overlooked because he is entertaining and fun to watch with every single other regular character.

When I put it like that, the only reason he is overlooked -- aside from -- like, I really do think a lot of it comes down to racism

Anika: Yeah, he absolutely is stable. And he absolutely does -- he's a supporting character in every way? He supports, but it's sort of like, so shouldn't he be supporting people? Can't we still write fic about that? I don't understand.

Liz: Now I'm thinking that if he was a white guy, he would probably be the male bicycle of the cast. Like I realized the entire cast minus Neelix is basically the bicycle, but now I'm side-eyeing fandom extra hard.

Anika: I just love Tuvok so much. And I have written Tuvok, but I've definitely written for January and Paris. So I'm also part of the problem, I guess.

Liz: I will confess that I completely overlooked him until my current rewatch, so I am not excusing myself from anything here.

Anika: I try to give him, you know, his due, at least in my ensemble fic. I don't actually write much Voyager fic right now.

Liz: No, no. I haven't for years

Anika: And also T'Pel, too, I'm, like, on a mission to give T'Pel literally any characterization whatsoever.

Liz: Someone somewhere out there is going to write me a Janeway/Tuvok/T'Pel fic, and I'm going to be very grateful.

Anika: Nice.

Liz: We're almost at an hour. Let's talk about Harry Kim. Every time I watch "Caretaker", I'm blown away by how beautiful Garrett Wang is, and the floppiness of his perfect '90s non-threatening boy hair. It's magnificent.

Anika: That's absolutely true. One of my photo caps, he just has amazing hair. One shot, you know, my, like, tagline for Janeway is that her hair is fabulous. And I was like, Oh, HIS hair is fabulous, and I compared it to Poe Dameron.

Liz: Oh, no, you're not wrong. I said something in my "Q and the Gray" post about how the only redeeming feature of that episode was Harry's floppy hair. And then I mentioned that when I linked to it on Twitter, and Garrett Wang replied, and I -- I cannot be acknowledged by the actors in that way. Like, I want to objectify you, you don't get to respond. This is a one-way relationship.

Anika: Poor Harry Kim. Harry Kim is another one who is routinely overlooked by fandom. But unlike with Tuvok, there are like the rabid Harry Kim fans who will come to his defense and do write him, usually with Tom, but--

Liz: I understand that there is a thriving, powerful of Tom/Harry shippers, and I don't ship it, but I fully respect them.

Anika: And so he has his own little corner, I guess, of the fandom. But it is still true that, in wider fandom, if you're gonna ask non-Voyager fans -- but Trek fans -- they'll point out Harry Kim as a waste of space, that he has no characterization whatsoever--

Liz: Lies!

Anika: --that, literally all they know about him is that he was never promoted during the series. And it's just, it's gross.

Liz: Which is, again, racism.

Anika: Which is just really bad.

Liz: Because Rick Berman did not like Garret Wang.

Anika: Exactly. What I do when I'm watching Voyager, and I really saw it -- like, Voyager actually does a good job -- you know how we were always complaining about making the bridge crew annoyingly prominent in Discovery? Voyager does a really good job with their giant ensemble. And to be fair, they're all like actual regulars.

Liz: They are, which I do think was a mistake.

Anika: They're supposed to be prominent, but little things. Like there's this great part where we learn that Harry wears a mask to sleep, and why. And, of course, he has his clarinet and his love of music, that he, saved up replicator rations to make a clarinet because he left his actual one at home.

And he has his fiancee, and when he is in that little bubble reality where he's back on Earth, and he has like a favorite coffee place, and he has a favorite coffee order. And it's like, those are the details that I want. You know, they're like throwaway -- not important to the plot. They just tell you who Harry is.

Liz: And what he values.

Anika: And he's a really sweet guy that cares about community, and knows people's names, and pays attention to little things. I don't understand the criticism that Harry Kim doesn't have character, because he has so much character.

Liz: What I don't get is this idea that Harry Kim is bad with women. He is wildly successful with women. He just finds it uncomfortable when women come at him aggressively. Like--

Anika: Yeah!

Liz: --that's it. And I think, again, this memetic idea that Harry is bad with women is racist, because it comes up in the script, and people accept it as reality, but it's not remotely true.

Anika: It's not true. And it's weird. He has plenty of little one-off relationships.

Liz: Right!

Anika: It's strange. It's strange. And also this idea that he's not promoted. That's not on Harry.

Liz: No. That is, in universe, on Janeway and, in reality, on Rick Berman

Anika: Right.

Liz: And why are we passing up an opportunity to criticize Rick Berman? We love that shit!

Anika: Let's always criticize Rick. Definitely everything wrong is Rick Berman. And, you know, all of them. Brannon Braga and Jeri Taylor aren't -- they're better than Rick Berman, but they aren't great.

Liz: No, no, I'm very fond of Braga because I share his tastes for weird science fictional time travel stuff. Buuuuuut...

Anika: There's stuff. There are things that are questionable. And obviously Rick Berman is a trash person and not the way that Jonathan Archer is.

Liz: No, he is a trash person in the low level #MeToo way.

Anika: Right. But back to Harry.

Liz: Yes.

Anika: Harry had a fiancee, so I don't exactly understand how he's bad with women. And in the new Janeway autobiography, he gets back with her.

Liz: Oh, nice!

Anika: I was like, Oh, that's actually -- like, I always sort of I make fun of [Libby] almost as much as I make fun of Mark, but that's really not fair to Libby, because she--

Liz: She has a personality.

Anika: In the one episode we get with her -- yeah, she has a personality, they actually have a really sweet relationship that I'm sort of, like, I can cheerlead that, you know? And since I don't like any of his canon relationships in the show, it's like, sure, he gets back together with Libby. They have a happy life, that's great.

Liz: Yeah, I love that for him.

Anika: I'd also -- while we're because we're allegedly talking about "Caretaker"--

Liz: Oh, yeah.

Anika: The pet names, the way that B'Elanna and Harry call each other Starfleet and Marquis, every once in a while it comes back up, and every time I'm happy, and I love their relationship the way that it -- like, it's not actually in the show. But their relationship that is seen in those tiny moments where they call each other by these pet names, and they support each other and, like, share, Tom is really great.

I just wish that they had built on the potential of those characters and that relationship, and that we got more of that friendship.

Liz: And it really feels like they were setting the groundwork for a canonical romance. And I have to believe that the only reason they didn't go through with that was, again, racism.

Anika: Yeah. Racism.

Liz: Because it had faded well into the background before they worked out that Roxann Dawson had amazing chemistry with Robert Duncan McNeill. And I like Tom and B'Elanna, but I also would have liked Harry and B'Elanna.

I just think at some point early on, they decided, "Actually this Asian kid, we're not going to do anything to support him or uphold him."

And, you know, allegedly he was the one -- almost the one who was fired at the end of season three, and then Garrett Wang made it onto the People's most beautiful 50 Most Beautiful People of the Year list, and they ditched Jennifer Lien instead.

Wang has said that that's not entirely accurate, and I think I'll have to dip back into Delta Fliers when he discusses that, because certainly Jennifer Lien seems to have had problems even then.

Anika: Yes.

Liz: And I hate that her career came to an end because I wonder if she would have been in a better position now than if she had -- if it had not [been her that was let go]. For those who don't follow Voyager actors in the news, Lien has not acted for a long time, and I think is living in Texas, and has racked up a bunch of criminal charges. And basically -- "don't do meth" is the moral of the story.

Anika: Her story reminds me a lot of Grace Lee Whitney's.

Liz: Yeah. And you know, Whitney really struggled with addiction for a very long time, and got through it and her career revived, and she wound up having a successful and happy life. So I hope that comes true for Lien as well. Is this a good segue to talk about Kes?

Anika: Yes. I love Kes, and they from the beginning did not know how to write her. They did not know what they were going to do with her. I hate her introduction. I love Kes as, like, the girl who's climbing up the rabbit hole.

Liz: The fairy princess going on adventures.

Anika: But I hate the fact that we meet her as battered and bruised, and a prisoner, and being saved by Neelix, who's lying to our heroes in order to do it. Everything is bad about that. That's not just -- that's just not good.

Liz: I think even if Janeway had been the one to save her, it would have been better.

Anika: Yes.

Liz: But yeah, I think the whole Neelix/Kes relationship was--

Anika: Oof!

Liz: --poorly conceived. Yur note here is that Kes is an abuse victim and also a literal child. And to be honest, I never have any problem accepting the Ocampa for fully grown adults at the age of one, and they are sexually mature and emotionally mature -- or as emotionally mature as an adult twenty-year-old can be, and there's nothing skeevy happening here. But nevertheless, the gap in age between Ethan Phillips and Jennifer Lien is so great?

Anika: Right.

Liz: I think if they had cast someone younger as Neelix, it might have worked, but it was so far from being a relationship between equals.

Anika: The issue with the actors' ages is, because they're both playing aliens, and they're both playing aliens that are new, even -- like, they're not even Vulcans or whatever, that we're aware of, we don't know how how old either -- like, I guess we know that Ocampa live to be seven-years-old. But until she comes back in "Fury", I was always sort of like, What's seven? You know, we made up time, seven in the Delta Quadrant could be eighty, we don't know. You know, it's another thing that you shouldn't think too much about in science fiction.

And then, Neelix. The thing is that even if he is a young -- what is he? Talaxian? Even if he is a young Talaxian, he has a ship, he has a job. He was in the military for a while, and left.

Liz: I was gonna say, his history in the military makes me think he's considerably older than, say, thirty?

Anika: Yeah. He's lived too much to have this. And she literally lived her two years underground, being one of the Caretaker's ants in his ant farm. [Note from Liz: we regret to report that Kes is, in fact, one year old in "Caretaker". She turns two in "Twisted" and WHY DO I KNOW THIS WITHOUT LOOKING IT UP?] She has no experience whatsoever. So putting those two together is the -- it's just not balanced in any way.

Liz: No. And I, as much as I love an age gap, there are certain conditions that have to be in place for me to be on board. One is that, in experience, or intelligence, they have to be equals. And two, the story has to acknowledge the unevenness and the consequences of that. And Voyager tried really, really hard not to.

Anika: Right.

Liz: It felt dishonest in a way. And then there was the whole Neelix jealousy subplot that came along a season or so later. It really served both characters poorly. I like Neelix? But I like him best after Kes breaks up with him in season three.

Anika: I like him best, really, after Kes is gone. Unfortunately,

Liz: No, no, that makes sense. I think sometimes a relationship holds a character back, even the memory of it. And it's easier to overlook the skeeviness of the Neelix/Kes relationship once Kes is gone.

Anika: And the issue is that Neelix's other closest relationship is with Tuvok, who is another person who -- like, Tuvok is Mr. Boundaries, and Neelix doesn't know what a boundary is.

Liz: Yeah. That's my other beef.

Anika: So my -- like, I get why they put those two characters together, and why they built up that relationship. But when you look at the way that Neelix treats Kes, and the way that Neelix treats Tom, and the way that Neelix treats Tuvok together, it doesn't make Neelix look good.

Liz: No, no, you kind of have to take him -- you really have to compartmentalize him.

And it's a shame, because I love Kes, and I really identified with her when I was a teenage girl. Obviously I identified with Janeway, and weirdly, I sort of overlooked B'Elanna because she was so angry, and I was very much in denial about being an angry teenage girl. But I love her now, obviously.

But one of the reasons that they thought Kes was unappealing was that she was too much aimed at the teenage girl demographic. And in the costume book, they describe her as dressing like a teenage girl. And I'm like, you keep saying that like it's a bad thing!

Anika: Hollywood -- society as a whole -- really looks down on teenage girls.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: And, you know, a politician says something that you don't like, and they say, "Oh, just like a teenage girl." And it's like, what? What are you talking about? So yeah, it's just bad.

Liz: I'm just saying, you know, who were the first to be into the Beatles? Teenage girls.

Anika: Well, teenage girls are great, and we should always support them. I have that -- that's one of my, like, reusable hashtags, #SupportTeenGrls, because it's just, it's just silly. It's silly not to.

Liz: I think that Kes could easily have coexisted with Seven. Like, I think it would have been really fascinating.

Anika: Yeah! You've said this before, that they should -- like, they should have had, like, five regulars and a bunch of supporting characters. And that's true.

Liz: If they had gotten to season four and dropped, say, Kes and Harry down to recurring, so there's not the pressure to have them in every episode and not the pressure to give them stories--

Anika: And Neelix! Why are we keeping Neelix?

Liz: Oh yeah, no, Neelix has to go.

Anika: Just saying. But for some reason, they were really against all of, like, that.

Liz: Ironically for a science fiction show, I think Star Trek in the '90s was really afraid to change.

Anika: Yeah, it's because, you know what happened with Terry Farrell, where she was like, "Look, I don't want to be a regular. I still want to play this character. I just don't want to be a regular," and they were like, "No." And--

Liz: You say "they", but--

Anika: --they wrote her out and brought in someone else. Yeah.

Liz: It's Rick Berman.

Anika: We all know who.

Liz: This is a great episode for criticizing Berman. I love it.

Anika: Itwould have made so much more sense to spread the love. But ... I don't know, they wrote B'Elanna really well, so I gotta give them that. B'Elanna is my -- you know, B'Elanna and Seven -- but Seven is, like, on a whole other level. B'Elanna is--

Liz: Seven is extraordinary. B'Elanna is also--

Anika: --an incredibly well-written character over seven seasons. She goes on a journey. And they check back in with her at the same time, you know, every season. And it's really clever, and it's really well done.

I don't know how they did so well with B'Elanna when they did so poorly with others. But they did. And maybe -- I said that she's angry all the time, and that's a, quote unquote, masculine trait. And so maybe it just was easier to do -- like it was easier for the writers to write that. But you said that you didn't initially identify with B'Elanna.

Liz: No.

Anika: I want to repeat something I said on a panel some years ago now, where I said, B'Elanna is my Spock.

Liz: I remember you've talked about that before, and I think it's a really great point. And I think having a character who is as angry as her, and as conflicted about her identity, and whose story carries over seven seasons -- and it never really comes to an easy resolution. She goes forward, she goes backwards. She has good days, she has bad days. I think it's an absolute masterclass in writing a key supporting character over time.

Anika: That she is consistent in her inconsistency, that all of the inconsistencies that come up in B'Elanna 's story are there -- are pointed out, are part of the plot, are, like, "We're gonna deal with this now."

And she's consistently going back and forth in different ways, and she never gets over her -- like, she never fully gets over her identity issues. She's dealing with, an anxiety issue pretty much throughout the entire -- even in the seventh season, she's still dealing with that anxiety.

Liz: Yeah!

Anika: And that's true to life. And so it's just really well done. I think that if they had paid more attention to her, they would have screwed her up.

Liz: That's exactly what I was going to say.

Anika: It's exactly the right amount of attention.

Liz: I feel like B'Elanna's story succeeds because she's a supporting character, and she's not the focus of attention the way Janeway and Seven are. And therefore, there's not the pressure riding on her, and not the level of attention, and they can just go through and quietly tell a good story, you know, the way they did with Worf in TNG. Worf's story back then was very -- pre-Deep Space Nine -- was very consistent and very well-told. I mean, you need to have tolerance for Klingon shit, but I'm a bit fond of Klingon bullshit.

So -- so we have not discussed the Doctor.

Anika: Oh, the Doctor. Well, he is barely a person in this first episode.

Liz: He's just Cranky Siri.

Anika: He's literally the program. He doesn't do anything new. He grows -- that's a character tha goes on quite the journey over Voyager, you know, it's kind of required of that character to grow in many ways.

Liz: But what's interesting is that he wasn't planned to be a funny character, and that was something that Robert Picardo brought to the role. And it almost leads to him taking over the series. Like, I find the Doctor very wearisome. And this argument that Seven of Nine takes over, when the Doctor is there every second episode. Seriously?

Anika: Yeah, Seven takes over in a way that, like, Tuvok, Chakotay -- B'Elanna's pretty -- like, B'Elanna's always second tier, that's where she exists. So she doesn't change. Tom arguably -- but Tom still gets to do all his Tom stuff.

But Harry, Chakotay and Tuvok, definitely, are sort of put in the shadows by Seven. You're absolutely correct, the Doctor has just as much character stuff. But he's been there all along, I guess. Like, you don't see it as a change, because what happens is his story doesn't go back the way that Tuvok's and Chakotay's -- he's not put in that box.

Liz: I think it frustrates me with the Doctor, whereas it doesn't with Seven, because I feel like, with Seven, they were doing something genuinely revolutionary in terms of the character and the way her story was written. And it obviously built on a lot of great writing from other science fiction series.

But Seven was new, and the Doctor is just, you know, mash up Data with McCoy and you've got the holographic doctor.

Anika: I am interested that you said that he wasn't meant to be funny, because I can't actually imagine him as not funny.

Liz: No, I know!

Anika: Like, what even would that be? That would literally be like, you know, Siri talking to me. That's not interesting.

Liz: I get the impression that he was basically conceived as Medical Siri. And I guess because it was the '90s and we didn't have Siri, then no one realized how boring that concept would be. And I think the idea always was that he would grow -- go on this journey of personhood, but it's Robert Picardo, who made it a journey of comedy personhood.

Anika: I like it. I like that. I can't imagine it another way.

I don't love the Doctor, I think I agree with you that it's just sort of tired. It's like, we did Odo, we did Data, we did Spock. And Seven brings something different to those same tropes, whereas the Doctor doesn't, really.

The Doctor is basically Data again, not the same personality, but it's sort of the same idea. He's also put on trial to prove that he exists, and he's also used in poor ways. I like the Doctor-centric episodes that aren't about his identity, but are more about how his identity fits into his community.

Liz: Yes, no, that makes sense. And, yeah, I don't dislike the Doctor. I just get tired of him by the end of season seven.

Anika: I mean, I think that's fair. I think that he also has a harsh personality.

Liz: Yeah, a little goes a long way. And honestly, I don't think he's a very good doctor. So ... he's not ... yeah.

Anika: I wouldn't want Siri to be my doctor either.

Liz: No, and we know that he was programmed by one of the biggest creeps in Starfleet.

Anika: Yes!

Liz: And I'm not even talking about Reginald Barclay!

Anika: Well, yeah, it's kind of amazing that he is a nice person at all, really, when you think about it?

Liz: Sheer luck, and also the influence of Kes.

Anika: Yeah, I was gonna say, it's the people. And that's why those are the more interesting episodes. Because someone building an identity is not as interesting as someone becoming more of themselves because of the interactions that they're having.

Liz: Right, yes.

So your note here is, "Janeway's choice. If this were a Cardassian ship, we'd be home now. If this were a Klingon ship, we'd be home now. If this were a Vulcan ship, we'd be home now. Why are humans?"

Anika: I'm just saying.

Liz: Which brings me to my thought, like, we don't see Seska in this episode, but I have to think that the whole Caretaker shenanigans -- it's just a very bad day for her. She's thrown to the other side of the galaxy, she's abducted, she's put through tests.

Then it turns out that Tuvok was a spy, and she didn't even notice, and that it has to be embarrassing, even though he didn't notice her, so at least they're even.

And then this Starfleet captain goes and traps them on the other side of the galaxy, and she has to wear a Starfleet uniform, and she's going to be on this ship for seventy years pretending to be a Bajoran?

Anika: Seska's worst day ever.

Liz: Uh, yeah, basically.

Anika: But, yeah, so obviously I was quoting Seska in the "If this were a Cardassian ship, we'd be home now." One of the best lines, best episodes? Yes. But, one hundred percent, Klingons and Vulcans would also not have done this. And probably Andorians. It's pretty much very human to do this.

Liz: It is. And I think it reflects the way that we have a strong sense of justice and decency and also a dash of paternalism.

Anika: I guess it's also a super American choice?

Liz: That brings me to my note here, "the Social Security controversy", because this episode ends with Janeway telling the Caretaker that, you know, children have to grow up and the Ocampa have to learn to stand on their own feet.

And a lot of -- this aired around the time that Bill Clinton was tipping a lot of people off Social Security, and a lot of left-wing and liberal viewers interpreted this episode as having a subtext -- basically an anti-Social Security subtext.

And it's interesting, because all through the series, Voyager does sort of have this odd, low-key reactionary tendency. You know, refugees are a bit scary. These former slaves are scary, and not white, and all of that stuff. And it's really built into the pilot.

Anika: Yeah, it's definitely there. And, you know, Voyager is my Trek, I guess, as you say.

Liz: And that's how we can criticize it.

Anika: And that's how we can criticize it, right. And I am very critical all the time.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: Of many of the things both within the storylines, and things that happened behind the scenes and outside of -- and like, why things happened the way they did, and the storylines and stuff like that, all of that.

I can't watch an episode without thinking about the different things, and the way that I saw it when, again, I was a very young adult (in terms of science, not an adult at all) and yet, being asked to make decisions that they kept saying would affect my whole life. "Where do you want to go to college? What do you want to major in? What are you going to do with your life?" You know, and it's like, I don't know.

Liz: "I'm a kid, man."

Anika: And Voyager was my show at that time. And I was also -- like, I've mentioned before, on various places, I went through a -- I was -- I had a mental breakdown during Voyager. As Voyager ended, within six months after Voyager ended, I was hospitalised. So it I think it was even -- because -- if it ended in May that -- yeah, it was like, less than.

So it's just really -- I was becoming a person when Voyager happened, and on the backside of it, on the other end, when it was over. And I literally named myself after Seven of Nine. So when I say that Voyager shaped my personhood, I mean, it literally. Watching this show, at that time of my life, it shaped how I think, and how I feel, and how I see. And that's why I can look back on it without my rose colored glasses, and say, Whoo, that's really rough.

And I'm on Tuvok's side, whenTuvok was like, "This is not our job. We are, we are -- like, that guy was overinvested in this nonsense, and you're just -- you're just continuing that, and you have even less reason to be doing this."

That's why I love Seska so much. That's why I'm always talking about Seska, because Seska's the one who's pointing at it and saying, "This is -- like, letting the Kazon do whatever they want is a wrong decision. But what you're doing is also a wrong decision." And--

Liz: I don't think Janeway is necessarily wrong. I think the Kazon would have probably wiped out the Ocampa if they were left to their own devices. I think, if you can prevent a genocide, then you should do so.

Anika: Everything I know about the Kazon ... I don't think that they could--

Liz: You don't think they're capable?

Anika: 'Cos there were two ships.

Liz: Yeah, that's true.

Anika: Like how would -- I don't see people who have to steal water being able to take out the Ocampa.

Like, the Ocampa not being able to defend themselves is a problem, that is true, the Ocampa not being able to leave their planet. But I guess my point is that the Caretaker is the one who put them in that position.

Liz: Right.

Anika: And Janeway still, like -- yeah, they blow up the array and the two Kazon ships, but then they still leave. Like, the Ocampa are still hanging out on their planet, right?

Liz: And they don't even know about the danger. They don't even know that the Caretaker is dying.

Anika: So I don't see how Voyager taking care of this one threat, and then bouncing, is actually better for the Ocampa.

Liz: It's so typical of '90s Trek.

Anika: I guess there's no right choice here is the real -- the real answer is, there's no good choice, and so I'm fine with Janeway's choice. I just think--

Liz: As opposed to killing Tuvix, which is the only right choice.

Anika: I'm just saying that the idea -- like, Janeway's saviorhood is super -- you can tell that her dad was an admiral, you can tell that she lives and breathes Starfleet. And that's interesting, and that's good, and that makes her a great character. I just am that person who says, also Starfleet can be bad sometimes.

Liz: Yes. And also, I think that if this had been a Next Generation episode, there would have been a meeting about it where everyone argues the rights and wrongs of destroying the array and incorporating the Maquis into the crew. But because they're so set on establishing Janeway as a, quote unquote, strong female character, there was no room for that consultation. She needed to make that decision or else they thought it might be sexist, I guess?

Anika: I guess? She just comes off as like --

Liz: High handed.

Anika: Yeah. It's just, literally Tuvok is like, "Hey, maybe let's not do that." And she's like, "No, I'm gonna do that." And then--

Liz: I'm sorry. When Tuvok speaks, you should listen.

Anika: Right?

I mean, the truth is, in more than one episode, Tuvok, like -- in the teaser, Tuvok will say something, and then it'll turn out to be correct. And the entire episode would not have happened if we just listened to Tuvok.

Liz: See, this is why Tuvok needs to join the cast of Star Trek: Picard. Like, maybe their episodes would be shorter, but they will have a much easier time getting things done.

Anika: They also need an adult.

Liz: And obviously Picard is not -- you know, he's the cool granddad.

Anika: But yeah, so I just think it's very human. It's very American. It's very, it's very '90s, as you say. Absolutely. Like that is -- and it's interesting to look at it from our lens of now, to look back and think about how the entire series is based on this one decision.

Liz: Yeah. I don't think I know enough to really say this with any intelligence, but I'm not going to let that stop me! It sort of highlights the difference between liberalism and leftism? And I think Voyager thinks it's very liberal, and is actually very centrist.

Anika: Right, which is what liberalism is.

Liz: And that is so 1990s. This is Clinton-era Star Trek.

Anika: Very much so.

Liz: Yeah.

Anika: Well, that was fun!

Liz: We have talked about "Caretaker" for about as long as "Caretaker" runs. I'm so proud of us!

Anika: Whoops! Um, before we wrap up, I have one thing I wanted to say.

Liz: Yes?

Anika: This aired in 1995.

Liz: Oh, shit!

Anika: So it's actually the 26th anniversary.

Liz: Oh, that's so interesting!

Anika: But since 2020 was--

Liz: 2020?

Anika: --you know, let's just skip over that, we can call it the 25th.

Liz: 25th with an asterisk. Yeah, that makes sense, because I was born in '82. So I was thirteen in the summer of '95. Cool. Okay. I'm really glad that we got this sorted out.

Anika: I was like, okay, when did I graduate? I was trying to figure out exactly how old I was. And so yeah, so I looked up the air date and, yeah.

Liz: My very first memory of being aware of Voyager was a column about Genevieve Bujold quitting the role. And I had a scrapbook where I cut out and saved any Star Trek related articles that happened to cross my path. I saved this article because it was basically, overworked, underpaid journalist thinks that being a starship captain sounds much easier and doesn't know what Bujold was complaining about.

What I took from that column at age about twelve is, Ooooh, another Star Trek, and this one has a lady captain! I don't know if I can ship a lady captain because any of the crew will be subordinate to her in rank. Oh, well, I'll watch it anyway, and I'll probably like it. Anyway, when's seaQuest on?

And look where we are now.

Anika: That's so funny.

Liz: I think I was a weirdly sexist little kid, actually.

Anyway, thank you for listening to Antimatter Pod. You can find our show notes at antimatterpod.tumblr.com, including links to our social media and credits for our theme music.

You can also follow us on Twitter at @antimatterpod, and on Facebook, and every single episode I say I'm going to be better about sharing episodes on Facebook at every single support night I forget.

If you leave a review on Apple podcasts, or wherever you consume your podcasts, the more reviews the easier it is for new listeners to find us.

And join us in two weeks, when we will be discussing the classic TOS episode "City on the Edge of Forever".

#star trek: voyager #antimatter pod #podcast transcripts

[jonfucius]

Great Star Trek Rewatch - The Original Series S1

Originally posted on Twitter 16 October 2020 - 26 October 2020

Star Trek: The Original Series Season 1 is up next in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. As with ENT, DSC, and STX, mini-reviews will document my progress.

The Cage: Star Trek’s would-be pilot from 1964 suddenly has incredible relevance to today’s Star Trek: Discovery. This is one of my favorite episodes of any series, and it gave us TOS’s only two-parter. Pike goes from wounded, vulnerable leader to the man we know in DSC. 10/10

The Man Trap: A solid but unremarkable episode. I can see why NBC picked this one to be the first episode shown, but it's not nearly as strong as "The Cage" or "Where No Man Has Gone Before." The creature makeup scared me as a child and still evokes a little primal fear. 6/10

Charlie X: Adolescence is challenge aplenty, and more so when you're omnipotent. This isn't a horrible episode, but it's not great either. Thus begins TOS's frequent encounters with all-powerful beings of energies. Extra point awarded for Spock and Uhura's duet. 7/10

Where No Man Has Gone Before: Star Trek's second pilot, and a stronger entry than the previous two. Kirk's speech about humanity needing its frailties is a nice counterpart to his need for his pain in Star Trek V. 9/10

The Naked Time: This episode is famous for our heroes acting out of character, and while it is entertaining I feel like it would have been more powerful if it came a couple episodes later. 7/10

The Enemy Within: Evil twin and transporter accident episodes are a well-worn Trek trope these days, but this is the first and arguably one of the best. Shatner does some good work portraying both sides of Kirk's psyche. 7/10

Mudd's Women: I love Roger C. Carmel in the role of Harcourt Fenton Mudd.

THAT BEING SAID

I hate this episode. It's misogynistic, it's gross, it's sexist, it's everything wrong with TOS distilled into one interminable slog. This episode gets one point for Roger C. Carmel. 1/10

What Are Little Girls Made Of?: Ruk is a little scary, and the android makeup effects are decent for the mid-60s, but the premise (are duplicates with our full selves really us?) isn't fully explored. Hoping S2 of Star Trek: Picard really dives into this idea. 6/10

Miri: The titular Miri's crush on Kirk is cringey (to say the least). The duplicate Earth really has no bearing on the plot, other than a "huh, weird" reaction at the top of the episode. The "Fountain of Youth=DANGER" plot is an old Trek trope, given birth here. 5/10

Dagger of the Mind: I've always had a crush on Dr. Noel (Kirk clearly did as well). Woodward, Gregory, and Hill are excellent in their roles, and the neural neutralizer was kinda frightening to young Jonfucius. Plus, who doesn't love a good Christmas episode? 8/10

The Corbomite Maneuver: Here's an episode that should've aired first, in place of "The Man Trap". The Balok puppet is frightening, sure, but it's a classic Star Trek story of realizing the "bad guys" are merely misunderstood. Shows Kirk as a master tactician, as well. 10/10

The Menagerie, Part 1: An ingenious reuse of the unaired "The Cage" footage that establishes history for Spock and the Enterprise, thus growing the show's larger universe. 10/10

The Menagerie, Part 2: Spock's trial concludes, as we learn that the whole point was to give Pike a new life. 10/10

The Conscience of the King: Beginning Star Trek’s long association with the Bard, this one is steeped in Shakespearean tone and plot. A truly tragic ending, moody direction, and heightened performances sets this murder mystery apart from others. 9/10

Balance of Terror: When Star Trek: The Original Series fires on all cylinders, it puts out episodes like this one. A tense naval battle with a melancholy ending, this is one of the best episodes of all time. Mark Lenard is superb as the Romulan commander. 10/10

Shore Leave: Finnegan is just the worst. A surreal escapade with just a little camp. Serviceable and cromulent. 7/10

The Galileo Seven: Spock still has a lot to learn about humanity. Star Trek's first shuttlecraft mishap is still one of its best. Great visual effects (especially with the remastered edition). 8/10

The Squire of Gothos: Trelane is a rough draft for Q, and boy is most of this episode rough. The twist at the end is pretty great, however. 6/10

Arena: I've seen this one a few times, and each time, I fail to understand why the fandom adores this one. It's very slow in the middle, made up for by the unseen Gorn attack at the top and Kirk's morality play at the end. 7/10

Tomorrow is Yesterday: A light-hearted time travel yarn with a compelling guest performance, deftly told by D.C. Fontana’s script (with some obvious Gene Coon touches). One of my all-time favorites from TOS. 9/10

Court Martial: Technically the 2nd courtroom drama (“The Menagerie”), but it is the first one to use a trial to examine our heroes. Shoutout to Richard Webb’s Finney, and a court-martial panel with an Afro-Portuguese and South Asian membership - a rarity in 1960s TV. 7/10

The Return of the Archons: Kirk's first opportunity to talk a computer to death, this episode is surreal and a little creepy. However, I don't consider it to be of The Body (of outstanding episodes). 6/10

Space Seed: Gee, I wonder if we'll ever follow up on those Augments left behind on Ceti Alpha V…

Jokes (and problematic brownface aside), this is rightly a classic episode. 9/10

A Taste of Armageddon: A thoughtful meditation on human nature and war, another strong S1 entry. I can't help but feel some parallels to the Americans who have just shrugged and accepted COVID-19 as a fact of life, rather than something that can be defeated. 8/10

This Side of Paradise: A strong acting showcase for Shatner and Nimoy. Some classic philosophical banter in the tag. 8/10

The Devil in the Dark: An episode that rightly deserves the epithet "classic." Ignore the goofy Horta costume and focus on the story. Classically Star Trek through and through. 10/10

Errand of Mercy: Introducing the Klingons with John Colicos was a masterstroke. The brownface is horrendous, but the performances and the story are superb. 8/10

The Alternative Factor: The "what is the worst episode of TOS?" debates rarely mention this absolute turd. Might have something to do with being sandwiched between two pretty great episodes. "Mudd's Women" at least has Carmel's performance going for it. 0/10

The City on the Edge of Forever: It's certainly in contention for the GOAT title, but it's not my all-time favorite. Still, Harlan Ellison's script (rewritten by Roddenberry) and the performances are firing on all cylinders, and the ending is truly shattering. 9/10

Operation -- Annihilate!: This episode creeped me out as a kid, but it's a wimpy episode to end a season on. 6/10

And with that, Season 1 of TOS comes to an end in my Great Star Trek Rewatch. Final score: 7.43/10. Highest score(s): "The Cage," "The Corbomite Maneuver," "The Menagerie," "Balance of Terror," "The Devil in the Dark." Lowest score(s): “The Alternative Factor."

#star trek #star trek tos #great star trek rewatch