Didn't Janeway memorise all conduits and Jeffrey's tube of Voyager but doesn't know where a Junction Room is?
This episode is off to a good start: spectacular windows, a look into the "lower decks", Seven's proficiency report, Janeway's genius field day idea ... That's all very promising. I was always interested in the "little" people that work on the ship but that we know very little of. There must be hundreds of people keeping this machine "afloat". And I've always wondered if there are crewmen that were not supposed to be on a starship for extended missions but were "accidentally" aboard "as guests" when Voyager got flung away from home.
But the story turns out to be very predictable: an accident, an emergency, a small group of inexperienced junior officers working together, overcoming obstacles, growing on that experience and even their superior learns a thing or two. It's a shame that we aren't as attached to any of these crewmen like - let's say - Barkley from TNG or Yeoman Janice from the original series, cause these characters are totally unknown to us (they should have probably made the characters from Tuvok's cadett class from an earlier season reappear) . The personalities of the motley crew members with all their shortcomings and qualities ain't even dull, but why should I care? They probably won't return to the show. This episode isn't totally bad but it's not great. Okay-ish.
PS: Nice planetary rings. Nice window zooms. (Nice Naomi science project planet in the episode before) Did they buy a new graphics card or something? 2000 future tech ...
I thought we're getting Voyagers version of "Lower Decks". No, not the animated show. But this is different in many ways.
Where the TNG episode made me care for the characters, I couldn't care less here. Voyager always displays problems when it comes to secondary characters and their impact on the story. The just aren't that interesting.
On the Enterprise the department heads, Dr. Crusher and Worf, show deep care for their subordinates, and help them with their problems. And B'Elanna ? She shrugges everthing off and goes like "Yeah, I tried but if he doesn't want to I don't care". That's bad leadership to say the least.
And ultimately this episode is more about Janeway anyway. The title refers to her and the episode ends with her stating she achieved what she wanted. She just can't accept that there are people on the ship that don't want to be there. Who are victims of circumstance and can't, or don't want to, adapt. Even Chakotay thinks it might be better to relief them of duty and that it wouldn't hurt the ship. It might help those crewmen. Oh no, says Janeway, not on my ship. I force them together and make them see my view. They'll come around.
Since this is Voyager we'll most likely never know if they did.
The trope with inexplicable trans-dimensional aliens that seem super hostile but are really just trying to communicate with the crew and then conveniently disappear when the plot is finished with them is a bit tiresome at this point.
I liked the light-hearted setup more than the conclusion, but I still think most of the dramatic moments work; felt a a little trite in the end, though. Also, Zoe McClellan is outstandingly pretty, and adorable as Tal Celes, but gives a really touching performance near the end. I missed that Tom Morello was in this at first, and I think that serves as praise, because he didn't seem out of place. The main two other co-stars gave fine performances, and the script asked a good bit of them.
Seven's performance evals were a riot, with her 'Alpha Autist', no-nonsense responses, and Janeway's line about deactivating them was unintentionally hilarious. A touch of very early onset dementia on my part, or just gallows humor given how often Janeway tries to sacrifice the crew to prove how virtuous she is?
To that, Janeway's response to Telfer's resolved hypochondria was nonsensical, and seems like it came from an earlier draft that didn't include his undetectable parasite.
Shout by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2018-12-10T13:27:36Z
This tried a bit to hard to be a Voyager version of the TNG episode 'Lower Decks' (and that's all the more disappointing given that Voyager has ALREADY DONE this back in season 1's 'Learning Curve').
It followed a very standard and predictable plot. The inexperienced crew go on a trip with the Captain and a life-threatening situation occurs. They fight through their fears and doubts to prove to themselves that they are able to handle a crisis. Blah blah blah. We've seen it all before. Where the episode does stand up a bit is that the new crew members are all fairly unique people with intresting quirks. Unfortunately they're not really very easy to like, which derails things. Harren in particular continually speaks to Janeway in an incredibly disrespectful way and I'm surprised that he gets away with it all.
I'd be pretty happy to see more of Tal and Billy, but this is Voyager: I'm not expecting to see/hear of them ever again. Maybe I'll be surprised.
Fun little appearance by musician Tom Morello.