Flare Sci-Fi Forums: Some commentary on "Friendship One" (minor $)

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Posted by The_Tom (Member # 38) on :

Hurray for Citytv, another early Voyager. I missed the first ten minutes though.

In short, a very TNG-feeling episode... similar pacing, character chemistry etc. It wasn't, thankfully, a TNG ripoff. The idea behind it was fairly fresh, and we see some interesting interplay between all the character, and thankfully avoidance of the Voyager-5-minute-ending(TM). Not spectacular by any means, but solid.

Continuity hounds: Yes! They did it again! Two eps in a row with a far higher-than-usual continuity count. They really did their homework when it came to Friendship One, as the tech derived from it is very similar to the look of the Phoenix consoles from ST:FC. No iconography or space agency names on the thing from the days of the early Earth as far as I could tell (might have been in the first ten minutes) but the name is written on the casing in a similar style to the Starfleet pennants on the sides of modernish starships--red stripes and the name in black in that font. Carey returns, and we get a hint of what he's been doing for the last few years: builing a model Voyager in a bottle that looks very very cool. (j/k, but the ship in a bottle is nonetheless impressive.) We get proof positive that modified photon torpedoes can do anything. Both Neelix and Seven get the opportunity to give Quarklike speeches about the flaws and merits of humanity, Paris gets to do the ER thing, Janeway seems to make Chakotay part of the decision making process for once.

Some nifty directing, too, and for the first time since "Waltz" I've actually appreciated the use of the tried-and-true cave set... it actually contributes to the "feel" of the scenes rather than being an irritating reminder of the show's budgetary limitations.

All in all a solid outing.

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"I can be creative when I have a good idea. That just happens way too rarely."
-Omega, April 6

Posted by MIB on :

Kick ass..........

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"We have to get drunk immediately."----Gattaca

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

In the spring of 1977, Dr. Carl Sagan assisted NASA in compiling a series of audio recordings to be placed aboard the Voyager I and Voyager II spacecrafts. The golden phonograph records enclosed in the two Voyagers, which were designed only to explore the Jupiter and Saturn systems, had a shelf-life of a billion years. In his 1994 best-seller, Pale Blue Dot, Sagan enumerates the phonograph's contents: "greetings in 59 human languages and one whale language; a 12-minute sound essay including a kiss, a baby's cry, and EEG record of the meditations of a young woman in love; ... and 90 minutes of the Earth's greatest hits -- Eastern and Western, classical and folk, including a Navajo night chant,...Stravinsky, Louis Armstrong, Blind Willie Johnson, and Chuck Berry's 'Johnnie B. Goode.'" Of the fifty-nine human greetings, one was by President Jimmy Carter.

This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. We human beings are still divided into nation-states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization.

We cast this message into the cosmos. It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some -- perhaps many -- may have inhabited planets and space-faring civilizations. If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message:

This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so that we may live into yours. We home someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. This record represents our hope and our determination and our goodwill in a vast and awesome universe.

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Star Trek Gamma Quadrant
Average Rated 8.32 out of 10 Smileys by Fabrux (with seven eps posted)
***
"Oh, yes, screw logic, let's go for a theory with no evidence!"
-Omega 11:48am, Jan. 19th, 2001
***
"I think this reason why girls don't do well on multiple choice tests goes all the way back to the Bible, all the way back to Genesis, Adam and Eve. God said, 'All right, Eve, multiple choice or multiple orgasms, what's it going to be?' We all know what was chosen" - Rush Limbaugh, Feb. 23, 1994.

Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :

I get to see this episode on the weekend but I know what happens. So, let me just say one thing:

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE!!!!!

I weep. If *anyone* was gonna make it home...

Mark

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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"

- Carl Sagan, "Contact"

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Joe? Joe doesn't die.

Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :

Huh? Those lying production BASTARDS!

Mark

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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"

- Carl Sagan, "Contact"

Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :

Major Spoilers...
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I hate to break this to y'all, but Joe Carey does indeed die about halfway through the episode. Sorry.

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Nic: She's not a practicing lesbian. We need PRACTICING lesbians!
Me: I have a camcorder.
Nic: But no lesbians.
Me: Ahhh... no.
Nic: DAMN IT MAN! WE NEED LESBIANS! LOTS AND LOTS OF LESBIANS!

ICQ Conversation From January 23, 2001.

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

Sigfried,

I'm going to beat you up.

It would've been more shocking for Mark if he'd seen the episode believing that Carey WOULDN'T die. Dramatic tension. Honestly, now.

Posted by Krenim (Member # 22) on :

Yeah, Mr. Carey kicks the bucket.

Earth sure doesn't have a great track record when it comes to its probes, does it? Nomad gets merged with an alien probe and goes about eradicating all life in the universe. Voyager 6 winds up on the other side of the galaxy, fixed up, and makes its way back to Earth as V'ger, turning everything in its path into data. Now Friendship One...

Alien 1: There's a probe heading towards us, sir.

Alien 2: Where'd it come from?

Alien 1: Some planet called Earth.

Alien 2: WE'RE DOOMED! DOOMED, I TELL YOU, DOOMED!

And once again, another prime opportunity to mention the Krenim goes by...

*Smites Voth, Kobali, and Vaudwaar*

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"The Long Kiss Goodnight begins, more or less, with Geena Davis being kicked in the head by a deer. This was the high point of the film."

- Sol System, 2/24/01

Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOE!!!!!

Mark

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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"

- Carl Sagan, "Contact"

Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :

Jeff, you're going to beat me up? I dare you! I double dare! I double-dog dare you! Come on! HIT ME ONE MORE TIME!

::spanks rear end::

You want this!? You wanna kick it!? Come on, Jeff! Give it a try! DO IT!

YES! I AM DELICIOUS!!!!!

Posted by Masao (Member # 232) on :

Spoiler !!!!!!!
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I probably won't see this ep until sometime in 2003, but I just heard that it's established that Earth uses antimatter by 2067? Can anyone give me more details about this? Is antimatter actually used to power starships or only groundbased reactors? If true, this marks the first shot in TPTB's war upon the Starfleet Museum. I'm going to kill those bastards.

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When you're in the Sol system, come visit the Starfleet Museum

[This message has been edited by Masao (edited April 26, 2001).]

Posted by Harry (Member # 265) on :

Masao, I fear that if the prequel series called "Enterprise" is true, then it will become an all-out war between the Museum and The Powers!

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"Fuck L Ron Hubbard and fuck all his clones.
Fuck all those gun-toting
hip gangster wannabes."
-Tool, Ænima

---
Titan Fleet Yards - Harry Doddema's Star Trek Site

Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :

Whatever happened to the days of killing nameless redshirts. I can't believe the writers bring back Carey only to kill him off for no reason.

And can't Seven bring people back from the dead like in "Mortal Coil"?

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"Let me ask you something, Mr. Garibaldi, a purely philosophical question. On a scale of 1 to 10, how stupid do you think I am anyway?" - Bester
Federation Starship Datalink: Brand new look, fresh minty scent, same great taste!

Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :

They killed him for a reason! His death had more effect than a nameless red-shirt, do you not agree? It would've had more effect if they'd shown Carey a few times a season -- how long has it been since his last appearance, anyway?

Look, what has more effect? Lt. Carey dying, or Ensign Brumfeld, who we've never seen before? I mean, come on people. Look at the emotions it has stirred! "They killed Joe! Nooooo!"

(Minor $$ for coming eps below. You've been warned.)

You know, this close to the end, they could've killed Paris, or B'elanna, or Kim, or Chakotay, or Neelix, or Seven of Nine, or Janeway ...

And, since Neelix is apparently being written off in the recently renamed "Destiny", they very well could HAVE killed someone off ...

Posted by Teelie (Member # 280) on :

Well they could've killed Vorik off instead, not Joe.

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�

Posted by Mark Nguyen (Member # 469) on :

That's a good point. They could've just as easily killed off someone who wasn't terribly popular... Vorik would've done rather nicely. OTOH, if they didn't bring Carey back, we would've been always wondering where he *did* go.

Mark

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"Why build one, when you can have two at twice the price?"

- Carl Sagan, "Contact"

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

When did Carey become so "popular", anyway? I had forgotten he ever existed until the past couple years when people started bringing up the subject of where he went...

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"Although, from what I understand, having travelled around the Mid-west quite a bit, apparently Jesus is coming, so I guess the choice now is we should decide whether we should spit or swallow."
-Maynard James Keenan

Posted by The359 (Member # 37) on :

OK, anyone care to tell me why Friendship One had STARFLEET PENNANTS on her hull? The simple fact that it had the Arrowhead is bad enough!

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"No, 3 & 6 are mandatory, so you only have to do them if you want"

Alex, fellow classmate, trying to explain an assignment (2/2/01)

Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :

Of course, it was quite stupid of the writers to think that ANYONE would use antimatter in their planetary power grid. You use supplies of already existing material to generate energy (coal, uranium, etc.). Antimatter doesn't exist naturally in any significant quantity available to planetary populations, and thus would not be a viable power supply. It's used in starships just because it's the most compact possible energy source. It still takes more energy to create than it gives back.

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"How do you define fool?"
"I don't attempt it. I wait for demonstrations. They inevitably surpass my imagination."
- CJ Cherryh, Invader

Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :

My view on why there was the arrowhead on the hull of Friendship One:

E-E goes back in time to prevent Borg from assimilating humans. They meet with Cochrane and Lily. They see the arrowhead emblem and remember it. When time comes to build Friendship One, Cochrane and Lily are consulted. They help in design and/or construction. They also remember the arrowhead and place it on the probe. (possibly intentionally to honor the future E-E and Starfleet as well as humanities future as well) Probe is launched. Arrowhead may vageuly remain in Earth history. When Starfleet is created, they use a slightly different arrowhead based on the "future" design on their ships and stations. (Not knowing the full source of it's origin) It's also used to represent the Enterprise. The arrowhead is slightly modified and adapted to represent all of Starfleet. It's modified over the years and by coincidence is modified "back" to the "future" version, still not knowing it's this version that starts the whole arrowhead design and usage in process.

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[Bart's looking for his dog.]
Groundskeeper Willy: Yeah, I bought your mutt - and I 'ate 'im! [Bart gasps.] I 'ate 'is little face, I 'ate 'is guts, and I 'ate the way 'e's always barkin'! So I gave 'im to the church.
Bart: Ohhh, I see... you HATE him, so you gave him to the church.
Groundskeeper Willy: Aye. I also 'ate the mess he left on me rug. [Bart stares.] Ya heard me!

Posted by Daniel (Member # 453) on :

Oooh, cool idea. Did Lily ever see the banner form of the emblem though? I mean, I know she saw the emblem somewhere, but it's a pretty big coincidence to make the arrowhead with the twin red streaks behind it and never have seen it before.

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

Who says the delta and red stripes weren't simply invented by the Friendship-1 builders, and the design has survived over the centuries? If this probe was so immensely important to Earth history that Paris and Kim had to memorize the recording inside it in third grade, it's entirely possible that the logos were intentionally used by Starfleet.

Posted by Dat (Member # 302) on :

Lily did see the arrowhead on everyone's combadge and maybe on the dedication plaque as well when she was on the bridge. Cochrane may have see the commbadges as well. I don't think any of them ever saw the pennant though, but perhaps Cochrane had a closer look at the exterior of the Enterprise when we weren't looking.

Posted by Sidewinder (Member # 50) on :

I do have a question about this episode and Seven. Like other episodes, we saw her extract nanoprobes and donate them for a good purpose, but isn't she going to run out of them? Or does her body manufacture them??

Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :

I expect her nanoprobes are self-replicating.

And I don't see why a causality loop is necessary. The "delta" and penant need to have been invented at some point. I don't see why it couldn't have been that early, w/o E-E influence...

Posted by Daniel (Member # 453) on :

Now, I know it's REALLY not canon, but that book Star Trek: Federation had a great explanation for the origin of the arrowhead. The star in the center was supposed to stand for c or the speed of light. The outer curve on the left was the energy curve needed to reach c, and the outer curve on the right shows how the energy requirements drastically drop off after c has been attained. The curve below the star represents the energy curve when warp fields are used.

P.S. And Cochrane was the one that came up with it.

[This message has been edited by Daniel (edited April 30, 2001).]

Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :

The symbol, plus commentary.

I'm with TSN. I think we should avoid time traveling symbology whenever possible.

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OH NO< THE OLD MAN WALKS HIS GREEN DOG THAT SHOTS PINBALLS!~!!!
--
Jeff K
****
Read three (three!) chapters of "Dirk Tungsten in...The Disappearing Planet" and nothing at all will happen.

Posted by P0sitr0nic on :

As for where Carey went, as he IS an engineer, I always assumed he had been assigned to 24/7 Shuttle building duty, as Voyager seems to go thru them at a rate unheard of in all of Starfleet history..