Distant Origin: man Voyager has accidentally left a lot of tech behind in places.

This is making a not so subtle social statement. Chakotay is still a really respectable character. He conducted himself very well after being kidnapped. And his speech is also respectful and carefully worded. But I do have a bit of a problem with how they chose Chakotay for that role. Of course they chose him to be the one to talk about ancestors and heritage.

This was a middle of the road episode. I prefer when the message is delivered a little more subtly. The camera angles were also really strange, especially in the last episode. It was a slow pace to an episode but still definitely interesting. And again, I appreciate how Chakotay conducted himself.

Displaced: I loved the Tom and B’Elanna scene at the beginning. Someone (please shout so I can credit you, I can hardly remember character names let alone usernames) was talking about how B’Elanna identifies less with her Klingon side, and yet the crew seems to force that identity on her. This is a prime example of that.

B’Elanna just muted the doctor! That entire scene was brilliant.

It was so beautifully awkward when Tom and B’Elanna teleported back to the human habitat. Their relationship is making me so happy. It’s not even a relationship yet.

Man the rest of this episode didn’t matter because I was so wrapped up in Tom and B’Elanna. But it was a good episode! It was a clever idea, nice of Chakotay to think of bringing the doctor along. Guys I still don’t understand what Ops is or what Harry’s actual job is.

Worst Case Scenario: Chakotay, what on earth are you doing??

This feels like they’re a few days into their mission, not years.

Oh thank god it was a hologram. Okay now that we’re here... I like that it’s Tuvok’s program. I think that was clever. I also think it was a very smart decision for them to have him stop writing it because he expected it to incite animosity.

Oh this hurt my soul a little bit. Believe it or not, I write things other than Star Trek blogs. The worst thing is having your mother tell you how to rewrite your poetry.

This was an interesting way to bring back Seska without bringing her back. Is she really dead? That last scene with all of them was adorable. I wish we got more whole crew scenes- the briefing room has been used much less since season 1. I harped on this way more in DS9 but I love watching complete teamwork. Everyone (except Neelix and Kes, really) working together. I wish the Doctor had been more involved in this episode. I’ve been talking about it less on Voyager because there are just so many main characters. But when it happens it makes me really happy.

Basic Part 1-oh man this time it really is the Borg.

Okay, don’t go and INVESTIGATE the Borg ship you found that was destroyed. You have an opportunity to pass safely so DO IT. God.

We don’t usually see this kind of alien on Star Trek. I’m really interested to see how this plays out, because I would love to see more of the horror genre type alien integrated into Star Trek. They also don’t have to be the bad guys. But they have interesting physiology, abilities, technology.

The disease that Harry has actually freaks me out a bit.

Awe Janeway isn’t alone. Tuvok supports you!

I like that this is a creative solution in dealing with the Borg that doesn’t rely on a crazy 1 in a million rescue attempt. It relies on working through science and diplomacy to negotiate with a seemingly unwilling, unendingly aggressive species.

Scorpion Part Two: I kind of love the Borg equating a group mind to a larger scale and thinking on a large scale. Individuals can have large scale ideas. But the Borg take it a step further- every action is large and decisive.

Annnd that’s exactly what the theme ended up being. But Chakotay was way out of line, in my opinion. Going 5 days back, while you still held the upper hand, to prevent a technologically/physically superior species that was already on the ship, was the right choice. Chakotay knew what he wanted to do, and saw an opportunity to do it, despite being too deep into one plan to switch.

I’ve never loved those “appeal to your humanity,” tropes. He could have come up with literally anything else to distract her. I do think it was clever for them to use the implant on Chakotay to distract her.

Why are we not punishing Chakotay? Come on! That was a direct order, given with sound mind, and he wasn’t in a desperate situation to justify disobeying it.

Also can I just point out that these things had a seemingly indefinite number of ships but Voyager only has so many torpedos. I don’t see why they thought they were a threat? That feels a little misbalanced.

I’m excited about 7/9. I really liked parts of this episode, others were kinda meh and inconsistent. I like Voyager’s approach to problem solving. I don’t like how they keep seeming to outwit/outgun these species with vastly superior technology. As I would in much of Star Trek, I would love to see the diplomacy actually work out.

Podcast talk, for those of you who are interested!

I just finished the podcast up through their discussion of Learning Curve. I have to say that I’ve loved their talk about Jetrel and Learning Curve. McNeill just went in there. It was honest. I also appreciate Wang jumping in an saying nice things about it because it’s fair. Not every episode of any mass series like this is going to be perfect. Yeah, it sucks to be heavily involved in the not so great ones. But it happens. I found it interesting that he also didn’t like Learning Curve. The reasons that Learning Curve didn’t work dramatically are exactly why I loved that episode. It wasn’t serious. It relied on characters that weren’t the main regulars, the danger was low. It worked. They didn’t like the scene where Chakotay punched his guy because it technically didn’t reflect Star Fleet values and there wasn’t any consequences/learning from it. But while I’m all for consequences, I actually think that reflected the morals of the episode and how everyone has to bend. I just love how listening it felt like having that discussion. It was comfortable and funny.

There probably won’t be a blog tomorrow, I’m sorry! But you guys were all here for this one anyway.