posted
Dal still annoys the heck out of me. And I’m starting to think that the Kobayashi Maru scenario has passed from meaningful history to tired Starfleet cliche. (I know, it’s a kids show and this episode probably the primary audience’s first exposure to the idea.)
But damn if this episode wasn’t fun! I owned the “Starship Creator” computer game back in the day, and the crew selection reminded me of that. The voice editing was obvious but I didn’t care. (I kinda want to go back and figure out which episodes they took the dialogue from. Some were obvious to me, like Spock’s lines from “Balance of Terror” and “Unification II”.)
The nicknames cracked me up. I’m going to have a hard time not calling Dr. Crusher “Big Red” now.
And they give us some tantalizing hints for the background of the Protostar. Considering that the flashback was 17 years ago, I think it’s pretty obvious to anyone who’s watched Voyager that we’re dealing with time travel. Whenever the Protostar was launched, apparently not too many years after Voyager got home, it got thrown back in time and crashed. What the connection is to Gwyn’s people remains to be revealed.
-------------------- “Those people who think they know everything are a great annoyance to those of us who do.” — Isaac Asimov Star Trek Minutiae | Memory Alpha
Registered: Nov 2000
| IP: Logged
This episode follows directly from the previous one. The ship exits protowarp after having gone a distance of 4000 light-years and is now in the Gamma Quadrant.
Yes, Dal continues to be obnoxious, especially when he once again shuts down the rest of the crew wanting to seek asylum from the Federation. He and Jankom find their way into the holodeck, where Janeway practically goads him into the Kobayashi Maru scenario. He selects Spock, Uhura, Odo, Dr. Crusher, and later Scotty as his bridge crew. Everyone except Dr. Crusher is voiced by audio clips taken from previous episodes/movies. It was sweet to have Gates McFadden return to the role for new dialogue.
As far as the Kobayashi Maru becoming stale at this point; I disagree. This is the only the... third(?) time we've actually seen it. Not only that, I was thrilled that Dal actually tried just ignoring the distress call, which is an option I've wondered about for a long while. (Mostly because the STO version of the Kobayashi Maru scenario has the Maru itself act horribly suicidal.)
Rok spends most of the episode worrying that Murf is going to explode after eating some photon grenades. The fact that Murf is able to absorb the explosion and look none the worse for it leads Rok to announce that Murf is indestructable.
Gwyn is feeling down after having left her father, especially since she feels her translation skills are unneeded now that they have a universal translator. Zero tries to cheer her up, and the two of them find some classified files in the Protostar's computer. Not even Janeway knows what they are.
We get an interesting flashback to 17 years ago when the Diviner decides he needs a progeny to continue his work. Oddly, the Diviner appears to be subservient to Drednok at this time.
We end the episode as the crew comes back together on the bridge just as Gwyn unlocks the classified data, which weirdly includes some data in the language of her people. We end the episode finding out that the previous captain of the Protostar was Chakotay! Hopefully with Chakotay now being integral to the plot the writers can actually give poor Robert Beltran something to do.
Other random thoughts:
Hey, it's the mind-control game from "The Game"!
Also, yeah, time travel almost certainly has to have occurred. The stardate for the Diviner's flashback has him looking for the Protostar before Voyager's return to the Alpha Quadrant.
-------------------- "Kirito? I killed a thing and now it says I have XPs! Is that bad? Am I dying?"
-Asuna, Episode 2, Sword Art Online Abridged
Registered: Mar 1999
| IP: Logged
I wasn’t going to watch but everyone has been raving so I did. Alright, I guess. Wonder how long it’ll be before Dal reverts to being an asshole. Well, I say that, but we all know the answer is “next week.”
Shik
Starship database: completed; History of Starfleet: done; website: probably never
Member # 343
posted
Maybe he's not looking for the Protostar ship, but the Protostar proper. Then he learns Starfleet found it & plopped it into a ship, so...
4000 ly isn't that far, so they're obvs on the close borders, which is really weird given child harvesting. That, too, makes me wonder if there's some sort of "genetic key" thing that's gonna come into play later.
Nice cover with the "Warp 9.mumblemumble".
Also, Krenim, I get what you're trying to say, but "protowarp" sounds like an early form of warp. I hereby suggest "turbowarp", because that thing spools up & goes like a WRX with a nitrous setup.
-------------------- "The French have a saying: 'mise en place'—keep everything in its fucking place!"
Registered: Jun 2000
| IP: Logged
posted
Also, it would appear that in between the mid-2380s uniform (PIC flashbacks) and the late-2390s one (PIC present day), there may have been another one in use. Not much detail visible in that one holo of Chakotay, but it may have been almost the TNG-style equivalent of the DS9-style late-2390s one?
posted
Would like to see it. Just binged watched the first 5 episodes. For some reason Paramount+ in Australia hasn’t put it up for viewing. Quite annoyed. Quite liking the series so far.
-------------------- "Bears. Beets. Battlestar Galactica." - Jim Halpert. (The Office)
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Printer-friendly view of this topic
