#Janeway: WELL. Let's see what Tuvok has to say.

[peachviz]

I finally finished Voyager so you know what that means.

It’s a Voyager Wrap Up and notes party:

(Beware: hot takes ahead)

- I like and I hate this show. It was my slowest watch. I should have probably started with this instead of DS9 bc as you all know nothing can top DS9 and when you start out with the best meal nothing can compare. But tbh I don’t know if it would have made a difference.

- There’s a problem with this show that I’ve noticed that it’s a common problem within Star Trek as a whole. This one was just noticeable. There’s parts where they build up plots and characters and then half way through they just give up.

Kes was the biggest atrocity, they couldn’t figure out what to do with her so they give up on her and replace her with a new shiny toy. Won’t even get into the misogyny of the situation, we are all aware I don’t have to keep beating a dead horse. (Also aware of the hostile situation on set I’m not interested in that debate)

Chakotay is another example. He starts to lose lines and he kind of just floats. Tuvok is another big one. Because why tf did I have to sit through more Neelix focused episodes than Tuvok???????

Like the writers constantly do this but it’s so noticeable with this series. It’s like Patrick trying to open Sandy Cheeks’s door in SpongeBob and he just holds his hands over the door and goes, “Open Seasme!” The door doesn’t open and he shrugs and goes “Well, I’ve done all I can do.” That’s the writers of this show.

- while on the topic of Neelix. Here’s a hot take. What an incredibly pointless and annoying character. He made a lot of episodes unwatchable. Kes and Neelix have to be the worst poison I’ve ever ingested from Star Trek as a whole and I had to sit through TNG sexism and somehow this pairing was the worst. How incels feel about JarJar Binks is how I feel about Neelix. If you like him, great. If you don’t like him, let’s hug.

- there is something about this show that I feel they do better than DS9 and that is mental health episodes. It’s so subtle and there doesn’t have to be a lot of theatrics. While DS9 is good at portrayal, there are things that Voyager does with the Doctor, Seven, and even B’Elanna that I found the most relatable

- which btw B’Elanna is like super relatable it’s almost scary. I love Kira Nerys, she’s still my all time favorite, but I find myself gravitating to being like B’Elanna. I feel like she had the best character development besides Seven. Now granted, she can do some really selfish fucked up shit. Like the Doctor’s holofamily, etc, but I find her character refreshing. This show needed that.

- Seven of Nine. Idk what to say to make everything fit so here’s a lightning round. The cat suit is fucking annoying. We had to have Gene Roddenberry dying to get Deanna Troi in a real uniform and then we have the goodness of DS9 just to have the men be like “we need to bring back sexy” and then bring this wonderful character just to keep her in a cat suit. A suit, btw, that she doesn’t even want to be in bc in all her holo fantasies she’s either in a uniform, pants, or literally anything else. And don’t even get me started on Chakotay and Seven. What an odd paring with zero chemistry. It felt almost fatherly and then that shit happens bc they had to dispel the J/C shit and I think it was along the lines of Beltran getting tired of Chakotay being a “chump”. ??? Idk if that’s the exact quote but like boooooo that’s boring. It’s just ew no thanks.

- but seven is a wonderful character and if there weren’t so many men in the writing room then we could have had it all. Looking forward to seeing what Picard retcons

- Janeway is an amazing captain and I’m glad we have a complicated female captain but this goes along with my first topic. For the first four seasons, until she cuts her hair, there’s still too many cooks in the kitchen. You have her naked somehow multiple episodes per season until 4 (?) and then she has that dumbass governess holo program. Like by the time she has her hair cut, we could have just had all that from the start. Everyone say thank you Kate Mulgrew

- lastly, I’m glad that J/C didn’t become canon while they were away bc sometimes yearning is hotter than having. Kate Mulgrew stating that it was inappropriate for an office place romance bc young girls shouldn’t have to see (once again generalizing a quote) is totally valid. And tbh I feel like it would be a distraction to Janeway specifically

Idk in closing it’s an alright watch. It wasn’t really spectacular to me anyway. There were a lot of good parts, but I feel like it lost steam midway through season 6 and a lot of it was rocky. I could just be getting Star Trek fatigue.

Picard is next and then Prodigy. Probably won’t even go near Enterprise and I’ll be doing an actual rewatch of discovery to finish it. And another rewatch of lower decks bc now I’ll be able to understand it in total. So the Rankings below will exclude prodigy, ent, Picard, and discovery.

Current Series Ranking:

1) Deep Space Nine

2) Strange New Worlds

3) The Original Series

4) Lower Decks

5) Voyager

6) The Next Generation

Current Captain Ranking:

1) Sisko

2) Janeway

3) Pike

4) Kirk

5) Picard

6) Freeman

Anyway, I have two voyager edits to get off the ground and my notes app looks like the Bible so getting this footage is going to be super time consuming.

Now onto Picard

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep18: The Killing Game pt 1

I love this one!! This has always been one of my favorite Voyager stories, and I never get tired of it. It's just so much fun. The entire crew having holodeck shenanigans in 1940s outfits? Heck yeah!!! Historical dress up play time is one of my favorite genres of Star Trek story, so I'm not gonna be super critical of the plot here. But I actually do think it was a cool concept to use the Hirogen taking over the ship, and using the holodecks for simulated hunts, as a device to get the crew into a 'safeties off' holoprogram, without just saying "whoops another malfunction!"

At first it seemed a little far fetched that the Hirogen would do that, but as the story went along, they show more of this particular Hirogen leader being more thoughtful than the other Hirogen we've seen. I actually thought it worked to have this forward thinking leader wanting to find a way to bring his people into the future, and save them from being scattered nomads obsessed with the hunt. The conflict between him and his more traditional second in command set up the ending well too.

I think dropping us in in the middle of the simulations already running really worked here, it lets the audience piece together what happened as more context is revealed to us, and kind of mimics the disorientation the characters themselves experience when they later realize what's really going on.

I absolutely love having the crew be resistance fighters in WWII France, and having them all think it's real is an even better stroke of genius, it's a like an alternate universe fanfiction, and all of them fit their holodeck personas so well. (Maybe a little too well, idk how the Hirogen knew Tom and B'Elanna were a couple to write them their little romantic subplot, but I don't even care! It's cute and I love it!! Star crossed lovers fated to be together in every reality is one of my favorite tropes, so I'm totally here for it!!)

I also love the sets in this episode- the nightclub run by Janeway's alter ego is a gorgeously atmospheric little spot I'd love to hang out in. The French village set is very pretty, and actually outside on a backlot rather than inside a soundstage, so it feels a lot bigger, and makes the story feel a little more epic. Despite it being a holodeck environment, there's always an extra aura of authenticity when they actually film things outside.

And of course, the fashion- everybody is serving looks in their 1940s clothes and hair the whole time. These are hot people to begin with, but the entire crew just becomes 1000% more attractive in these outfits. I mean look at this:

Captain Janeway in this white Marlene Dietrich suit?! MA'AM!!!

And then Tuvok in this white suit?! SIR!!!

Seven of Nine in this silver lame dress with her hair down?! A gift!!!

Even Neelix looks cute AF in his little French villager outfit:

Then they have dapper daytime outfits that are also major slays:

Ugh!! So much gorgeous!! (Apparently, my sexual orientation is just: Voyager Crew in 1940s Outfits)

And then Seven of Nine shows up in a cute little beret, and convinces me that she's actually adorable:

AND THEN we get American GI Tom and Chakotay:

Good lord, stop with all the hotness!! (Who knew a little brylcreamed hair was all it took to make Chakotay seem hot to me??)

It's fun to see them all subtly change the way they speak and act a little bit to fit the period and the setting- Roxann was a little softer and more refined as Brigitte than as B'Elanna, Tuvok and Seven show a little more emotion as their French personas than they usually do, Chakotay using the old-timey American slang that usually only Tom would know or use. (Tom, meanwhile, looks and acts pretty much the same- he's the very model of a wholesome middle american guy whether it's the 1940s or 2370s lol.) Yet they all still maintain their core character traits and relationship dynamics, even when they don't know who they really are. It's fascinating to watch and very thoughtfully done.

Meanwhile, poor Harry is left out of the simulation to try to hold Voyager together while the Hirogen divert all power to holodecks, and the Doctor is in charge of fixing up crewman who get wounded in the simulations. Harry secretly tries to find a way to disrupt the neural interfaces that keep the crew from realizing what's really going on, so that they can retake the ship.

The crew's holodeck personas plan to destroy communications at the German headquarters, and once again, we have fabulous outfits where they dress up all in black to sneak in:

Illegal levels of hotness going on here!! Rude!! How dare!!

Also Tuvok in this newsboy cap weilding a machine gun is just, like, hot damn:

(In real life guns are not cool, but in the story he's using it against nazis, so go off king!!)

So then, I forget what happens exactly, but the safeties are off, so when a bomb goes off, it doesn't stay confined to the holodeck, and it tears a hole through the ship's walls and reveals four decks worth of exposed corridors. I honestly don't remember Voyager's holodeck being that tall, the ceiling of the set we've seen was only like two decks tall, maybe 3, max, but maybe holodeck 1 is meant to be the bigger one, and maybe they've only ever shown us holodeck 2 up till now? Idk, but honestly, I don't even care, because it looks cool and I'm having fun!!

So that's where the cliffhanger leaves us, with Harry and the Doctor only having disconnected Seven and Janeway so far. I remember watching this for the first time as a kid and being totally enthralled by it. I was already a history nerd, and I grew up watching old Hollywood movies from the 40s, so this was very much my jam, even as an eleven year old. And by golly, I've never gotten tired of it in all these years, despite it being one of the few I would always rewatch whenever it popped up on a re-run.

Tl;dr: One of the most fun and genuinely exciting holodeck adventure stories in all of Trek, featuring the whole cast looking hot as hell in 1940s outfits, and shooting nazis. What more can you ask for, really?

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time! monday we did voy's "prey" and ds9's "honor among thieves" and last night we did voy's "retrospect" and ds9's "change of heart."

prey (voy):

man, i guess we really are just dealing with the hirogen for the rest of this season and possibly more huh...

like, theyre just not that interesting or scary? it's fun that they turn guys into little empty water balloons and all but that's really all they've got going for them

idk, voyager has a such a unique opportunity to do multiple cool "villain" aliens given the nature of their journey and they just keep coming up with duds. like at least romulans and klingons are cool, you know? the borg are cool. the kazon, vidiians, and hirogen have all kind of sucked. at least the vidiians had fun creep potential. they did wear that one guy's face.

however it gets a reluctant semi-pass from me because firstly the ethical debate was not so clear-cut - at first you were like yeah this alien is going bananas on our ship let this guy hunt it and then when he hunted it and it was so pathjetic and just wanted to go home you were like eeeh maybe just let it go home. not anything particularly deep, but still

and SECONLDY seven of nine and janeway's tension...fucking crackling. i don't like that janeway was so mean to her at the end and seven has a GREAT point that janeway is sort of afraid of who she's becoming (someone "cold") and wants her to become a more acceptable kind of person...man, the autism. anyway that scene was great. the rest of the episode kind of sucked though

honor among thieves (ds9):

the premise of this one is awfully shaky...like, starfleet can just order o'brien to do undercover work against his will? sure??

also, i know this bond was supposed to be more father/son but honestly they just played it like two byofriends falling in love. which was hilarious, but cannot sustain an episode

like. most of it was pretty boring. we didn't even get a good little vorta freak. i know they can't use weyoun bc he would have recognized o'brien instantly but also can we not find some other little freaky twink...we've done it before. come on

also, it was a fucking bummer. like he had to leave behind his cat and just die.

like it had very little substance or lasting impact...it wasn't even a good o'brien suffering episode. idk. surprising dud from ds9

retrospect (voy):

ooh when i tell you this episode made me mad.

i actually saw the summary on imdb, suspected it would be hinky, and then read the background info on memory alpha to get a better idea of what was gonna go down. i figured it would makle me really really REALLY mad and i was right but if i had sat thru that whole episode thinking seven had been raped or sorry metaphorically raped or whatever and then it turned out the aesop was about the danger of FALSE MEMORIES AND FALSE ACCUSATIONS i would have been beside myself

like sure yes false memories can and do happen and that's real bad. however, this whole episode was anti believe women. like, the emh looks like a stupid jackass for believing a woman. tuvok and janeway look smart for doubting and questioning her. etc etc

and then of course seven gets traumatized when she's ALREADY having a bad time/in trouble and then has to feel bad that this guy killed himself or whatever

and then on memory alpha it says they meant to leave it deliberately vague as to whether he assaulted her or not which 1. that didn't seem very vague, it seemed like seven was a silly little liar for believing the emh and the emh was fucking stupid for believing seven. and then poor uwu guy who killed himself 2. IS NOT EVEN A GREAT STAND-UP GUY. DID WE NOT SEE HIM SHOVE HER AND YELL AT HER. maybe if he shoved her he deserved to get his nose broken! lmao at how everyone wanted to two-sides that encounter as well when we clearly saw him get physical first 3 IF IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE VAGUE WHY DID EVERYONE AT THE END CHOOSE TO BELIEVE IT WAS FALSE like it's """left open""" but also the emh begs janeway to KILL HIM at the end so he can never fuck up this bad again?? it's not left vague, it's a fucking copout

whoever wrote this should be ashamed. they probably vote third party. fucking asshats. easily the worst in s4 so far and perhaps in the ranking for worst voyager episode so far

change of heart (ds9):

WAHHHH this one was so good

i've always thought worf and dax were cute but i was never INVESTED before this. you know?? now i'm invested. and i do unfortunately know how things go for jadzia in the futuire

i really thought worf would never leave her there but he DID and then he went back..........wah

AND!!!!!!!!!!!!! sisko had to yell at him about it officially but personally told him he did the right thing WAHHHH

i hope jadzia got the honeymoon of her fucking life later. jesus christ she's got him totally wrapped around her little finger. like the heart eyes he gives her...absolutely incredible

card game: i thot bashir was acting to put quark off guard. like he was pretending to be sad. but no. he really did get got.

hilarious also that quark continues to pine.......she really did break so many hearts huh. worf got sooo lucky

TONIGHT: we haven't decided yet, it's either voy's "killing game parts 1 & 2" or ds9's "wrongs darker than death or night" and "inquisition." i definitely know which of those I'M looking forward to most.

[mylittleredgirl]

voyager high school au

i feel like we as a species are really missing an important angle on this much-abused trope.

usually high school aus take our current, fully developed characters and de-age them into teenage equivalents (tuvok is captain of the chess team, harry is in all AP classes but is somehow a freshman forever, seven demolishes at quiz bowl and "steals" the class president's prom date at the last minute because she hasn't realized that lesbianism is an option, etc).

however, if you have to send them to high school, i think it would be much funnier if we imagine them as they canonically were as teens.

--

janeway is an admiral's daughter who stormed off after losing a tennis match and dramatically walked home like 5 miles in the rain. you just know that if she got a 98 out of 100 on a project (still solidly an A+!) she would go up after class to argue the two point deduction. she might actually be the class president, but idk if the other kids are happy about it.

chakotay is a sullen, angsty kid who hates his dad, hates his tribe, and just wants to go to junior college and never set foot on the rez again. so many internalized things to unpack. this boy is a mess

Passion Punk™️ tuvok canonically got kicked out of the house for saying that everything his dad believes in fuckin sucks

b'elanna also thinks her culture of origin fuckin sucks. child of ugly divorce, regularly suspended for brawling. she may have gotten sent to klingon religious school to scare her straight at one point? i gotta look that up but i'm pretty sure it happened

like janeway, tom is also an admiral's kid. everyone says he has sooooo much potential but he spends all his time crying in his room and reading jules verne

seven is in a massively abusive cult. this one's not funny at all ☹️

harry is the best adjusted out of everyone. great relationship with his parents, probably has had the same girlfriend since eighth grade (who is also well-adjusted). youth orchestra. early decision to harvard. i typed out "voted most likely to succeed," but that's definitely wrong, because it would be tom out of nepotism or janeway out of grit (and nepotism). if it were a category though, teenage harry would be voted "most likely to just have a nice life."

kes is the smartest kid in her grade but you would never know it because she just hangs out with the hippie kids in the woods behind the school, eating moss off trees and planning to run away from home

all we really know about neelix's pre-war childhood is that he had a huge loving family. i'm extrapolating here from the skills and attitude he has as an adult, but when i transpose this into a modern high school AU, i imagine his parents running the local diner and letting all of neelix's loser friends (see the rest of this list) eat there for free.

the doctor sprang into being as an adult so i'm not sure what to do here. you could argue that he was kind of a canonical teenager in season one, in which case he's that autistic kid who everyone remembers showing up to kindergarten with a briefcase and a full suit, having already memorized A thru G in the world book. somehow you never really see him anywhere except on school grounds. this year's special interest is opera.

vorik is also there.

[motelpearl]

I'm watching star trek voyager so I'm gonna put my thoughts below & keep adding onto it (yes I'm going from tng -> voy & skipping ds9 for now at least even though I feel like I'm missing out on context bc trekkies seem to hold ds9 as like the gold standard of star trek but I watched a couple episodes & I just couldnt dig it)

the relationship of kes & neelix is so bewildering to me like what does she see in him like hes not even a bad person but he's just a lot dumber than her & has that "where's my hug" type guy energy also he's like so old not even in a sugar daddy way just in a boomer way like doesn't kes's species only live 9 years

I hope tom paris goes through some character development because as of right now he's soooooo annoying like referring to chakotay as an "indian" all the time......ugh one would hope we wouldn't still be doing that in the 25th century also I knew from seeing online discourse that chakotay's writing is stereotypical in a well intentioned but still badly-aged way & it's not ruining the show for me but whenever he closes his eyes & the panflute music kicks in I just sigh deeply

the vidiians are fucking terrifying bruh its giving a cure for wellness

I HATE HISTORICAL REVISIONISM IM SORRY BUT IT WILL NEVER FEEL COMFORTABLE TO ME EVEN IF THEYRE DEAD. NOT THE MARK TWAIN RPF IN TNG NOT THE AMELIA EARHART RPF HERE IT JUST AINT RIGHT

OKAY MAYBE I WAS WRONG WHEN I SAID NEELIX ISNT W BAD GUY BC WHAT DO YOU MEAN KES IS A PREPUBESCENT 2 YEAR OLD

not the voyager defeating an alien by becoming submissive & breedable (of course the voyager has a blue plasma trail & pronouns....)

JANEWAY WANTS CHAKOTAYS DICK SO BAD PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER GIRL WHERES YOUR DECORUM

tuvoks hairline is so fascinating to me

not belanna being lowkey in love with chakotay too & then them showing his bare ass in the next episode....rick berman was on this man like a fat kid on a smartie

FUCK THE KAZON UGLYASS BEASTS

seska needs to be in jail bruh

I SWEAR TO GOD IVE WATCHED ENOUGH STAR TREK THAT I CAN TELL JUST BY THE CAMERA ANGLES WHEN AN EPISODE IS DIRECTED BY JONATHAN FRAKES LIKE HE'S ALWAYS DOING WEIRD DUTCH ANGLE TRACKING SHOTS & STUFF LIKE THAT

so I heard that threshold is like the worst episode in the entirely of star trek & after watching it I honestly dont think it's that bad like sure it's an implausible premise but it's not as bad as like code of honor or sub rosa

NOT BEEF BEING A Q....TWO OF MY WEIRD NERDY INTERESTS ARE OVERLAPPING ALSO THE CAST LIST OF THIS EPISODE SCARES & EXCITES ME. FUCK Q SEXIST ASS MOTHERFUCKER FIRST HE CREEPS ON THAT TEENAGE Q THEN HE KILLS ALYSSA OGAWAS BABY NOW HE SAYS WOMEN CANT BE CAPTAINS & SEXUALLY HARRASSES JANEWAY. DIE.

I always wonder how they get the alien makeup on babies like in this episode with the baby with horns on its head & that one episode of tng where they showed baby borg. also the concept of teleporting a baby out of the womb for an easier delivery is hilarious

tuvok & neelix toxic yaoi?

bruh if this episode is setting up the possibility of suder just letting out his violent impulses one last time & going scorched earth on the kazon & the doctor helping him by means of holographic skulduggery & then tom paris showing up with a cavalry of fucking talaxians to lay the smack down I'm gonna laugh so hard

TOM PARIS FINALLY STARTING TO REDEEM HIMSELF

THE PORTRAYAL OF 1990S EARTH IS SO FUCKING FUNNY TUVOK WEARING A DURAG TO COVER HIS EARS PLEASEEEEE

time travel episodes stress me out so much though like PLEASEEE put the tricorder away. not belanna & chakotay getting kidnapped by hillbillies omg the shots where the guy kicks chakotay & then belanna kicks the guy were edited so weirdly

starling reminds me so much of elon musk

is the alien possessing kes bisexual?

too bad q got to die of old age instead of janeway giving him the electric chair

janeway gettin her lara croft on we love that

why cant vulcans just jack off during pon farr like I thought hand stuff was their whole thing

this isnt voyager specific but shuttlecrafts should really have seatbelts like the amount of times people randomly get injured because turbulence throws them out of their seats....WE SOLVED THIS ISSUE 500 YEARS AGO

not tuvok building the Doohickey

why are they leaving harry unattended on a borg cube WHY DOES STARFLEET NOT MANDATE THE BUDDY SYSTEM HES JUSTA LITTLE GUY & NOW HE'S GOING TO GET ASSIMILATED

WHAT THE JESUS IS THAT

awww bless kes I knew she would leave & I was worried she would die but I'm glad she left on a lighter note

"welcome to the worst day of my life" hi my name is belanna dark'ness dementia raven torres (yes I know losing the warp core is serious but that line was giving "we live in a society")

DID HARRY & SEVEN HAVE SEX. BRUH

eugh I wrote in my other star trek thread that borg assimilation is one thing that just gives me such deep discomfort like even though the borg gradually become sort of overdone the concept of assimilation becomes increasingly terrifying regardless like seven's backstory just creeps me out so much like the concept of her parents just being these sort of rebellious scientists who thought they were gonna make some great discovery out in the delta quadrant (sidenote I hope it gets explained more how exactly they got out there like did they go through a wormhole too?) & just stumbling upon these unimaginable horrors that they had no chance of fight & having to watch as their naivete & hubris destroyed their childs life & everyone they previously knew had no idea where they went or what happened to them EUGH ITS SO CHILLING

wait how did they get the warp core back was I not paying attention

tuvok getting his gilf certificate in the mail we love to see it

species 8472 are terrifying even though the CGI is so low-poly

okay this is a pretty pointless criticism but it annoys me how all the female characters wear heeled boots & on that note the grey turtleneck under the uniforms looks so ugly like post-s3 TNG had the best looking uniforms & this isnt coming from a biased place just bc tng is my favourite (also the movie era uniforms that were red & had random white straps were SO UGLYYYY & DUMB LIKE HOW CAN YOU TELL ANYONES RANK OR DEPARTMENT IF THEYRE ALL RED)

I hate the way the borg queens spine swings around like a cat's tail

opening the episode with harry kim getting his tiddies sucked....ON PRIMETIME TV? IN THE 90S?

I just know that anti-alien-sex law got put into place because of riker

since like late season 3 I'm finally starting to understand why trekkies say janeway has sexual tension with literally everyone

a vulcan shedding a single tear when hearing an artificial lifeform perform a piece of classical music? NOW WHERE HAVE I SEEN THAT BEFORE......*taps chin pensively*

tuvok & neelix detoxified yaoi?

BARCLAY & TROI YASSS

NEVERMIND NOT BARCLAY BACK ON HIS HOLODECK BULLSHIT

not the space Irish again (also from what I've seen irish people are apparently really offended by the irish reunification of 2024 meme <\\\3)

if janeway were alive in 2024 she'd be on tumblr making posts like "I need to get sent to the seaside for my health"

I didnt expect the episode "virtuoso" to suddenly take such a resonant turn but in the age of generative ai it's strangely prophetic

the double whammy of seeing jeffrey combs & the rock as the guest stars in this episode

I got injured the other day & have been pretty much bedbound because of it & whenever a scene takes place in sickbay I think "spare dermal regenerator 🤲"

they bring back kes just to give her makeup that makes her look like Christopher Walken <\\\3

ugh I love troi shes such a queen

why does the borg queen look like this -> 🥺

honestly I'm kinda sad that I'm on the final season

poor tuvok man first he almost gets assimilated, then he gets mind controlled, now hes just trying to fuck but he's thwarted by political tensions

I kind of want to rewatch st: picard since I know seven's backstory now & have the context of the borg's decline like I saw trekkies saying janeway "handled them" but now I know the exact circumstances

omg I know chakotay & seven somehow end up together (at least for a while) when the show ends bc I've had so much of voyager spoiled (tbh that seems to the usual reason i watch shows, I get a bunch of it spoiled & then I'm like "but how do those dots connect") anyway that literally makes no sense bc I can't think of a time theyve ever interacted since seven became a character but like chakotay & janeway were RIGHT THERE THEYVE HAD TENSION SINCE SEASON 1 IM NOT EVEN A SHIPPER CAUSE IDC THAT MUCH BUT IT WAS RIGHT THERE (& I read the wikipedia page for each episode after I watch them cause idk I like learning behind the scenes stuff & in the "reception" section of each page theres always something like "fans were disappointed that janeway & chakotay did not bang like screen doors in this episode") LIKE THE FANS WANTED IT IT WAS A LOGICAL COURSE OF ACTION IT WAS SET UP SINCE SEASON 1 & THE WRITERS CHICKENED OUT. WHY THOUGH?

noooo belanna dont do eugenics ur so sexy aha

POOR TUVOK BRUH SEASON 7 IS JUST A YEAR OF TUVOK SUFFERING

THE DOCTOR MAKING PHANTOM OF THE OPERA REFERENCES....DID HE JUST BECOME MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER (even though he pronounces "fantome" entirely wrong)

"she's suffering from dysphoria syndrome" janeway trans?

I know this show was made in the late 90s/early 2000s but nothing hammers that point home like seeing the same exact fishing rod toy I had as a kid in this episode that aired a month after I was conceived

just when I thought the Q couldnt get more annoying....one of them is a teenage boy

NOT SOME WRITERS BARELY DISGUISED FOOT FETISH SEEPING IN.....I COULD NEVER BE AN ACTRESS

one thing that has never stopped annoying me is the fact that we literally see naomi wildman be born onscreen & then she goes from newborn -> 9 year old over the course of like 2 seasons

okay I finished it & I'll need more time to collect my thoughts but the basic idea is: I liked the show but I feel like there was lots of possibilities that went unexplored but one thing I especially liked is that unlike TNG (which is still my favourite trek) the female characters got storylines that didnt just revolve around interpersonal stuff (ie. family/romance) but actually got to use their specific skills

but now I'm rewatching the first couple episodes of because I honestly had no idea what was going on (I didn't even realize the doctor was a hologram until like halfway through season 1 & I didn't realize tuvok was spying on the maquis until like season 3) & one thing I have noticed is that NEELIX WAS SO FUCKING UNHINGED IN THE FIRST EPISODE LIKE HE COMES OFF LIKE HEATH LEDGER AS THE JOKER IN THAT SCENE WHERE HE VIDEOCALLS VOYAGER & STRUTTING AROUND THE TRANSPORT ROOM IN HIS PIMP COAT & ALL THE WATER STUFF LIKE WHO IS THIS MAN also belanna's makeup was so bad I'm sorry <\\\3

[bumblingbabooshka]

This ask is nsft

https://www.tumblr.com/bumblingbabooshka/731751400775761920

Hold up hold up hold up bro. Your tags. They are making me Think.

Do you... do you think Tom is into being cucked?? Like, he's obsessed with making people cheat on their partners but not even with him and then he basically tells Harry he enjoys being romantically rejected like, sir?? Are you trying to tell us something???

I think Tom more likes being uhhh....like, what's a lesser version of playing the victim? He likes having something to be lightly angsty and miserable about in my mind. If he was actually in a cuck situation like for real I can't see him enjoying it - he'd just be jealous and angry. He's also just very insecure and prone to thinking negatively so even if that sort of situation came to pass I can imagine it slowly devastating him over the course of several weeks - it wouldn't be great let's say HEHEHE...In MY mind. His weird thing for trying to get people to cheat on their partners reads to me as either convoluted projection (Ex: Harry gets with a woman that I introduced him to - that's me in his sex life it's like we're having sex. I hate that this woman is having sex with Harry and not me God I love Harry I hope he's happy I wish he'd break up with her she's not good enough for him etc etc) <- This until he passes out. or him wanting to .... almost bring another person down morally so he feels better about himself? The two people we see him do this (this = meddling in the romantic/sexual life of) with repeatedly are Harry & Tuvok who are both 'Gold Standard, Exemplary, Upright' people in their own respects. Harry's a model Starfleet officer, an excellent friend, the kind of person you just want to like and who's earnest about wanting to like you too. He has parents who love him, he's optimistic, perfect golden boy who saved Tom's life a thousand times in Tom's eyes. Meanwhile Tuvok is also an exemplary officer and a very...strict? individual. He's Vulcan so that's alien to Tom but as far as Vulcans go he's a very 'Vulcan-Vulcan'. One might say a model Vulcan? AND (which I think Tom would care about more) Tuvok is a very loyal person. He's loyal to Janeway, to Starfleet, to his wife, he's not insecure - he doesn't second guess himself and he doesn't seem to even have a DESIRE not to be which I think Tom would hate, even if only subconsciously. <- I think consciously he'd just be like "He needs to lighten up a little!" My personal theory is that with Harry, Tom is more lightheartedly wanting him to 'Let loose! Have fun!' like I don't think he resents Harry (because he loves & admires him), he just wants to be close to him. Extremely close. The closest. If HARRY'S best friend is HIM....well <3 While Tuvok...I could see him harboring some (again convoluted, weird) resentment there. I can imagine him being legitimately frustrated by Tuvok's unwavering and seemingly effortless discipline and loyalty because those aren't traits Tom has and seemingly believes are unattainable or superficial. He seems like the type of guy who'd be like "Well sure everyone WANTS to [cheat on their partner]." Do you know what sort of guy I'm talking about? Like, well EVERYONE /WANTS/ to do this but they don't because xyz. Like, the fact that Tuvok was attracted to Noss but DIDN'T give in to that and betray T'Pel really was whipping that man into a frenzy because in Tom's mind if Tuvok is attracted to Noss and she reciprocates, WHY would you not give in??? There's NO reason...You might never see T'Pel again and even if you did - it's not like she'd have to know! If logical Tuvok does [moral wrongdoing] then what chance could Tom POSSIBLY have of not doing [moral wrongdoing] as well? Though I don't think Tom is the introspective sort of guy so I don't think he'd even notice these sorts of reoccurring behaviors let alone analyze them. He'd probably be more likely to say something like "It just annoys me!"

[galactic-pirates]

Ok so Episode 7.

Spoilers etc. fair warning.

No Raffi? C’mon why? Ugh!

Actually no in all seriousness it doesn’t make sense. The changelings have a plot re: frontier day and they are running out of time. Rather than focus on the fight they instead are searching for Riker. Like no offence but is that really a priority?

I am especially aghast to be honest because when they enacted the plan and for Vadic off her ship (when they knew Riker was on the shrike as that’s where his code came from) they didn’t send an away team to rescue him? Like did they just forget?

I am sick of this Data/Lore plot as it is sucking up airtime and I can’t see how it’s relevant. When Geordi was explaining again about the personality partitions, I was just like “this is taking too long, unless this becomes super important” but it feels like it was just there so Lore could take the ship which was mega convenient for the bad guys and thus stupid. Vadic having a contingency which explained why they were so confident - that made sense. Winning through luck because Lore had a moment of fun? That was not foreseeable. I repeat what I said last week. Data has died twice, let him go. I love the character don’t get me wrong but enough is enough.

Tuvok guest appearance (well as a changeling) was unexpected! I didn’t know any Voyager alums were appearing so that was cool. I liked how Seven tricked him into revealing he wasn’t Tuvok but otherwise… “they are not taking the bridge” and then 2 seconds later… 🤦‍♂️

A pet peeve of mine is when a character is brilliant, and the writers dumb them down, so other characters can also look good/the villain can win etc. It is lazy storytelling to build a character up at the expense of another. I see it all the time and ugh it is aggravating. Seven is so much better than this. Not just Seven either. I get it that the ‘heroes’ are who we are following but it is just not realistic that they are the only ones who know about the changelings and are doing something. They name dropped Janeway again and if she isn’t replaced with a changeling and thus in a cage masterminding an escape, I am going to be pissed if she doesn’t play a role in the ‘final battle’ so to speak. She doesn’t have to appear but if there isn’t a mention of her being badass well… jumping and sharks come to mind.

StarFleet making these changelings like Frankenstein’s monster doesn’t shock me. I have a always seen the darker side. The ideals of the institution are admirable but it’s made up of people, and people aren’t perfect. They get scared or selfish and they make choices. Beverley somehow forgetting she iced two invaders in the opening episode with her “I am considering not following do no harm oath” was a bit like ship has sailed on that one. Honestly though the whole “wrestling with the morality” plot point would be really good if they spent more than 2 seconds on it. They aren’t spending their limited time budget wisely. Some episodes feel like filler as they didn’t have enough plot to stretch, others are just too rushed and not spending enough time on the points that matter.

So Picard’s brain issue, which Jack inherited, isn’t actually that and Jack is now telepathic. Random evolution seems unlikely but all I can think is Q did something given his fondness for Picard. Although Vadic saying “he was never really yours” to Beverley is giving me Anakin vibes. Like is Jack actually Picard’s son or somehow created to enhance whatever is going on with him? As a Stargate fan I snigger about ATA gene but honestly I have no idea. How have people not noticed the red eyes thing though?

I am reasonably sure that they are wrong that they want Jack’s blood to animate Picard’s body. But given the deadline of Frontier Day… I just don’t know and there are what three episodes left? The pacing is worrying. The cast too big to do anyone justice. I really have no clue why they wrote Rios out just to being in Shaw. I had thought they wrote out the new characters to bring back the old TNG crowd, but then they invented more characters? Logic not found.

Honestly I am at the stage where I just want to know what the canon is so I can fix it more accurately in my head.

Next week really needs more Raffi. Somehow they will have to retake the Titan. Maybe Raffi saves the day? I know, never happening but I can dream. I missed her this week :(

[mylittleredgirl]

i so agree op that she would have stayed undercover but consider: the seska storyline would have been so much meatier if it had been tied into the deep space nine "second skin" revelation that not only are cardassian deep cover agents surgically altered, they're brainwashed as well to believe their own cover story.

i mean, she didn't need to be cardassian at all for her actions in state of flux—any member of the maquis who's reckless and hates being stuck under starfleet rules could have tried to trade secrets (as we see later with that forgettable guy in season two, who i assume was a mercenary in the maquis since he was so willing to collaborate with a now-unmasked cardassian spy). she makes the tuvok program still believing she's a bajoran, and does it either a) out of impulsive murderous rage that she thinks will succeed and divide the crew when it's revealed that tuvok died in a holodeck accident when the fake maquis crew he created killed him, or b) because she doesn't actually think he'll ever open it again—he did try to delete the program—and it's just a fun act of catharsis for her (which i think is a tidy explanation for what happened in canon).

i do think seska's intelligence agent backstory justifies the kind of puppet mastering she's able to do with the kazon, so it's probably necessary for that part of the plot (and it's fun to torture chakotay with it). but why not make it as interesting as possible?

do her memories get clearer on their own once the doctor unmasks her based on her biology, or does she do it herself? have an episode of seska in the brig for replicator crimes while her memories duke it out, and the question of how cardassian is she until she's all the way cardassian. make everyone wrestle with racism, use janeway's desire to convert strays to make her try to save seska, give b'elanna something to do in this episode because seska's her Best Friend and she has so many conflicting internalized racism feelings herself. let seska play them into believing she just wants to forget and go back to being bajoran (and what does the doctor's ethical subroutines say about that??), maybe some "it was just my cardassian programming making me do these things, maybe you're right and i can still contribute here," before her big Fuck You moment.

but of course, she still remembers having been bajoran seska, even if she has now recontextualized it. she remembers genuinely caring about these people. both janeway and the audience can want there to be a chance of saving her, and seska can play with that. her love-hate with chakotay makes more sense. all in all more fun, i think. if only the two shows talked to each other...

The thing about "Worst Case Scenario" is that Seska rewriting a program to torture and ultimately murder Tuvok for his "betrayal" of the Maquis suggests that she was loyal to the Maquis, and not only because of her feelings for Chakotay. She would've had to booby trap the program before "State of Flux," because she's under intense scrutiny then and there's not really enough time anyway. Which suggests to me that she was fueled by real rage: if Tuvok had reopened the program, and been killed by it, how could she have possibly gotten away with it? She wasn't planning to leave at that point, and (!) she specifically depicts herself as Bajoran, not, in some big gotcha moment, as Cardassian:

When Seska returns in this episode [...] the holographic Seska also slightly differs, in appearance, from how the actual Seska ever looked. "We […] see Seska in an incarnation we had never really seen her in before," Martha Hackett commented. "They changed everything – her hair and costume – because it's her creation in the hologram." (Star Trek Monthly issue 34, p. 40)

(Emphasis mine)

This, coupled with her big speech in "State of Flux," makes me wonder whether she would've ever revealed herself as Cardassian, if she hadn't been caught. She seems still to believe in the superiority of Cardassia ("If this had been a Cardassian ship, we would be home now!"), yet follows up with,

"I did it for you. I did it for this crew. We are alone here, at the mercy of any number of hostile aliens, because of the incomprehensible decision of a Federation captain. A Federation captain who destroyed our only chance to get home. Federation rules. Federation nobility. Federation compassion? Do you understand? [...] We must begin to forge alliances. To survive, we must have powerful friends."

We are alone. We must have powerful friends. I don't know how this has never occurred to me, but textually speaking, with the notable exception of Incomprehensible Federation Captain Janeway, Seska seems deeply invested in the community she is ultimately forced to leave. It's, actually, a kind of reverse Ro Laren situation. What a twist.

[stitching-in-time]

Voyager rewatch s4 ep9: Year of Hell pt 2

I definitely haven't seen this one since it first aired, because the only things I remember from it were Janeway and Tuvok hugging, and the ship crashing. Literally everything else in this was like new to me, which was completely wild to experience after more than two decades.

Why I didn't rewatch it again in all this time, I don't know- I remember thinking 'ugh' whenever I'd see it on a rerun and flip channels, but it's actually a lot better than I gave it credit for??? Maybe as a kid all the sad, scary stuff the crew goes through just made more of a negative impression on me, and I know I would have been very worried that somebody would get killed off back then. I had a deeper attachment to Star Trek characters than any other shows I watched, so the stakes always felt a little bit higher in Star Trek, versus other shows I didn't care about as much.

But anyway, I was clearly way too young to realize how hot the whole crew was yet, because I didn't remember the part where Chakotay and Tom are aboard the Krenim timeship at all. And oh boy, watching it as an adult? with Tom in that costume with that v-neck top? Incredibly distracting. Like, excuse me sir, how dare you be that pretty?? All tall and blonde and blue eyed with your tousled hair and your unbuttoned shirt?? Illegal levels of hotness!!! go to jail for 1000 years!!!

But aside from making my fangirl brain go brrrr every time Tom appears on screen, I do think the scenes on the ship with the Krenim bad guy, Annorax, were very interesting and well done. We learn that Chakotay and Tom have been held captive there, in solitary confinement, for two months, before Annorax decides to let them out. He brings them to have dinner with him in an attempt to convince them to work with him to help him get his timeline back, and restore Voyager in the process. Tom is pissed off and skeptical, but Chakotay plays it more diplomatically, and tries to hear Annorax out. Annorax does a convincing job of presenting himself as cultured and reasonable, until he tells them that the little feast he's treating them to is actually a macabre repast made up of the last existing delicacies from civilizations he's erased from existence. He tells them how he's been manipulating the timeline with the time weapon on his ship for 200 years, existing outside of normal time, trying to get the calculations right to bring the entire Krenim empire back, like some sort of Flying Dutchman in space. Chakotay and Tom are horrified, and Tom won't hear of helping him, guessing that the only reason Annorax is asking them is because he hasn't been able to find and destroy Voyager yet. He storms out, but Chakotay stays, hoping there might be a way to use the time weapon in a less violent way to accomplish what Annorax proposed.

Meanwhile, back on Voyager, the seven remaining crew members are fighting tooth and claw to keep the ship together, hiding in a nebula to avoid the Krenim and try to repair their failing systems. Janeway, as usual, powers through it all by throwing herself into work, rarely eating or sleeping, risking her life time and again, and ignoring doctor's orders to rest when she gets sick or injured. (She has a rare moment of sentiment when she finds the watch Chakotay gave her still in his quarters, despite her order to recycle it. She doesn't know of he's alive or dead at this point, so she's too moved to be angry, and she picks it up, and puts it on her belt, like a good luck charm.) The Doctor tries to relieve her of command when he thinks she's pushing herself too far, but Janeway hits him with the reality that she can just say no- they have no security officers, they have no brig, no energy for more forcefields- he can't enforce any orders on anyone. He tells her he'll record her refusal in his log, and that she could face a court-martial for disobeying, to which she responds with a wry smile that they'd have to get home before she could ever face a court martial, and she's the one who's going to get them home, by continuing to work. Even making it out alive to face a court martial would be nice for her, compared to what they're going through. She walks off, leaving the Doctor to contemplate his abstract principles, while she, as always, is forced by necessity to do the real, hard work to hold things together and shoulder the responsibilty for the ship and crew, alone.

Back on the Krenim ship, Chakotay works with Annorax to learn how to use his time weapon, and Tom buddies up to the crew, trying to gather what info he can from them that might be useful against Annorax. He tells Chakotay the crew are unhappy in their endless mission, and that they could be convinced to mutiny against Annorax with their help. Chakotay says no, and wants to try to use the time weapon, which Tom disagrees with, and they come pretty close to having a fistfight over it, since Tom (rightly) thinks Annorax is a maniac, and that Chakotay has been swayed over to Annorax's side. Whether Chakotay actually has been swayed or not is kind of open to interpretation- Annorax certainly was giving him a lot of seductive speeches about what an art form the manipulation of time can be, and Chakotay seems to earnestly believe he can find a way to use it for good. And if he was actually just playing a long game, and trying to earn Annorax's trust so they can get the better of him, he absolutely should have told that to Tom, rather than letting him think he's sympathizing with the enemy, and thus giving him a good reason to not follow his orders. At any rate, Chakotay seems to finally realize that Annorax is a madman who can't be reasoned with once he learns that his centuries of meddling with the timeline stem from accidentally erasing his own family in one of his attacks, and that everything he's been doing has been a desperate attempt to get them back. They watch in horror as he uses the time weapon to erase an entire planet, and Tom finally convinces Chakotay to go with his plan. Tom gets his Krenim friend to let him send a message to Voyager, and to help them shut down the time weapon so Voyager can attack.

By the time Voyager receives Tom's message, Janeway has assembled a small fleet of allies to stand against the Krenim- Voyager is nearly crippled, so she sends the rest of the crew to the alien ships, and stays behind on Voyager to coordinate the attack that now has a fighting chance, thanks to Tom's help. This is the scene I always remember, of Tuvok attempting to convince Janeway not to stay on a compromised Voyager to die. But Janeway waxes poetic about how a captain always goes down with the ship, and how Voyager is more than just a ship, it's their home, a part of their family that she can't abandon. Tuvok knows her too well to argue, so he gives her a Vulcan salute, and accepts a hug from her in return. Her face as he returns her embrace for one rare and probably final time, when she almost breaks down as she says goodbye to him, only to snap herself back to composure, to send him away in order to do what she has to do, is an absolutely devastating moment, and an incredibly subtle piece of acting from Kate Mulgrew.

Even standing alone on her wrecked ship, battered and filthy, with Chakotay's watch tucked into her belt, Janeway still exudes the air of a Captain, and leads the charge to the Krenim ship. (Which looks so much like Babylon 5! I honestly have to wonder whether it was intentional- I can't imagine anyone working on Star Trek wouldn't have been aware of that show, or what their space station looked like. Though whether it was a nod to them or a dig at them, I don't know.)

As soon as Annorax sees Voyager, he wants to destroy it, but his second in command holds fire long enough for Tom to take the time weapon offline. Even with regular weapons, Voyager is too damaged to fight back, so Janeway decides if she's going down, she'll take them with her. Only Kate Mulgrew could sell that incredibly cheesy 'time's up' line with so much conviction that I buy it completely. I get why her whole crew would die for her- I would die for her too. If you watch this show and still say you wouldn't die for her, you're lying. Janeway supremacy forever <3

Somehow, Janeway figures that taking out the timeship might reset the timeline, so she has her ships disengage their temporal shielding and rams Voyager into the Krenim ship, destoying them both.

And the timeline resets!! How? I have no idea! How did she know that would happen? I also have no idea! Would it have been nice if that theory were introduced into the script earlier, and played with a bit more so it didn't seem like a crazy last minute add-on that was too convenient to be true? Yeah! Am I mad enough about it that I'm gonna complain about it too much? No! Do I just enjoy the badass ferocity of Janeway ramming her ship into a bad guy's ship to save millions of lives, even if she has to risk her own to do it? HELL YEAH!!!

So we end up back on Voyager before the Year of Hell began- everything is pristine and lovely, and the crew is looking forward to their little opening celebration for the new astrometrics lab. A Krenim hails them, gives them a friendly warning that their territory is in dispute, and recommends going around their space for safety. Janeway thanks him, and sets a course to avoid their space. They go on their merry way, never knowing the year they endured in another timeline.

And the last scene is of Annorax, back at home, with his wife, going over his time manipulation research, and ignoring her until she insists the research can wait, and that he should have breakfast with her. He agrees, but his research is still there, and it's a chilling thought that without knowing the 200 years he spent trying to fix his mistake, he might make it all over again one day. (But seriously, in 200 years, he didn't figure out that blowing his ship up would reset the timeline and bring his wife back?! Like that's literally all he had to do?! But Janeway guessed that correctly in one split second hunch?! Not the best writing in the world, but hell, I'll give it a pass because Janeway badassery! I love you, my captain!!! No thoughts, just Janeway!!!)

Tl;dr: The ending wasn't as strong as the beginning, but it was an exciting ride, with some really fine moments. I won't be waiting another 20 some years to rewatch this again, I can tell you that!

[shesquaredpodcast]

As I’m rewatching however, it is even more blatant that Janeway and Seven were supposed to be a couple. In the span of two episodes which I ADORE (4.14 and 4.15) when they receive the transmission from Starfleet after Seven sees she can get a message to the Alpha quadrant using the Dr - all of it is laid out.

When Starfleet sends the message “You’re no longer alone” and the camera focuses in on Janeway - it’s really showing that she is absolutely who is carrying this on her shoulders. All of it. The strain, the worry, the unknown of if she’ll ever get these people home. She’s doing her job and suddenly- they’re not alone anymore. It was a beautiful moment.

But let’s go further. Exploring in the Delta quadrant seemed nonsensical to Seven specifically and she said so to Janeway.

“Keep on course to the Alpha Quadrant and stop being delayed” and you’ll be more likely to be successful and Janeway told her it was their way to explore, but truthfully doing so was the only thing - the only stability they knew.

Basically - If they focus on being lost that’s all they’ll ever be. But if they are exploring and cataloging and making first contact then they still have a semblance of normalcy.

Janeway can’t allow herself to accept that they are doing anything other than that; that they are anything but on a deep space mission because otherwise … she can’t accept the despair.

Janeway NEEDED VOYAGER to be a ship of exploration just as much as the crew did because otherwise it was all about them probably not making it home all the time. How far away they were would be the primary focus not secondary or tertiary. It’d be all they focused on.

Seven’s primary drive and singular goal in 4.14 and 4.15 is getting back to the Alpha quadrant. It’s it. That’s all she’s focused on. B’Elanna calls her a bitch basically, scoffs that she’s now “giving orders” when she excitedly demands Janeway and Chakotay come to Astrometrics, and she’s called blatantly rude and all kinds of things by B’elanna but she refused to leave her post.

She flat out refused to leave her post in Astrometrics. She did it not because she had someone in the Alpha quadrant to get back to - she refused to leave her post (4.14) and missed appts in sickbay because she was clearing up messages from the relay from Starfleet command (15) NOT because she cared about it herself. But because Janeway did. She didn’t sleep in days. 58 hrs. She did that because she cared about someone - someone who needed someone to care about her.

She retrieved 6 words in 58 hrs.

58 hours straight.

And she got excited when she got the 6th word. When the doctor snarkily questioned the logic of that excitement, she angrily replied, “This message is important to the Captain.”

As if that is all the explanation needed. Because it WAS.

And when Janeway comes into Astrometrtics right after and Seven tells her what the messages may be containing, she demonstrates a moment of trust and says, “Well I might just hope that it contains a plan for bringing us back to the Alpha quadrant.”

This kind of hope was the very thing Janeway had just chastised her closest people for daydreaming about and then she proceeded to immediately state what she was holding hope for. She immediately let her guard down and spoken openly about her own desires and hopes.

To Seven.

Seven fought tooth and nail to get 6 words of text in 58 hrs - not sleeping a wink to do so because it was “important to the Captain”. Let that sink in.

Now we know why Seven was so persistent.

LITERALLY in the same episode, when Seven volunteers to go forth and try to retrieve messages from Starfleet and people’s families because they have to get closer to the relay, Janeway sends tuvok with her. This causes Seven to believe that Janeway may be distrustful of her still, and after everything she’s been doing to show she cares, she can’t take it.

She straight up asks Tuvok if Janeway doesn’t trust her once she establishes he won’t lie to her.

His response is the ONLY thing that gives her comfort.

WHY?!

Tuvok wants to know that exact thing and asks her why Janeway’s opinion is so important to her and she gives him a bs reason about the Captain’s opinion being important to everyone, right? He merely looks skeptical.

Remember that TUVOK IS TELEPATHIC. He knows these feelings already. This is now the second time he has commented to Seven that she is expressing affection and trust and distress over the Captain.

And once again they parallel Tom and B’Elanna and Seven and Janeway.

Seven and B’Elanna, who both have NO ONE back home to be working furiously towards getting a letter from, literally work tirelessly to download the messages and Tom and Janeway both get messages they don’t want. It’s blatant.

Want more? Tom and Janeway both confide in B’Elanna and Seven in Astrometrics about their feelings. Now RIGHT after that Janeway tells the truth of her letter to Chakotay - not sharing her hopes, only her truth and disappointment. That’s ALSO exactly what Tom does, too.

And since Janeway and Chakotay were 100% built to be confidants and intimate with each other - what can we infer when the only other person Janeway does that with is Seven?

Finally, Janeway straight up says in ep 15 that she was using Mark as a safety net to avoid becoming involved with someone else. She flat out says that to Chakotay.

Someone who maybe was showing her devotion and concern by pushing her own self to the very limits?

Just like Janeway?

This is when Janeway/Seven began.

[moncapitaineee]

So I was bored and decided to do a Q x Shy! Vulcan! Female! Reader. Because why not-

(Actual Q quote)

Y/N looked around in her quarters. She just left starfleet and is now serving on one of the best starships in history the uss Voyager. No doubt she was very proud of her achievements as a vulcan it might be rare but she was but there was a downside, her communication skills weren’t the best. Yes she’s Vulcan and she should have decent communication skills but that was wrong. She heard her door chime. “Enter.” Y/N said and the captain walked in. “Hello Lieutenant Y/N I’m Captain Janeway I apologize for not being able to introduce myself when you transported here.” The captain introduced. “It is q-quite alright.” Y/N said forgiving the captain. “Well good your first shift starts in 3 hours understood?” “Yes Captain understood.” Y/N said.

A couple months later she now was adapted to where she could be for the rest of her career. She enjoyed being on the wonderful starship, and people began understanding that she had trouble communicating with others so at times they help her. One day, Y/N was called to the Captain’s ready room and when she arrived she saw the captain and somebody else. It was a man. He was tall, he had curly hair, his hair was a bit messy, Y/N had thought that the mans eyes looked quite unusual, he also wore captains clothing and he was speaking to the captain..more like arguing. ‘Who’s this?’ Y/N thought and as soon as Janeway turned around she saw Y/N. “Oh- Lieutenant L/N sorry to keep you waiting.” Janeway says smoothing her uniform. Y/N turned back at the man and he simply just rolled his eyes at the captain. Then Y/N saw that the man had took a quick look at her but she didn’t bother with it. “Captain what did you need me for?” Y/N asked. “Oh yes I just wanted to introduce you to somebody.” “Ahem I’m not a somebody, Kathy.” The man interrupted sounding very hurt. Janeway simply chuckled and rolled her eyes and then looked back at Y/N.

“Lieutenant, this is Q, an immortal, omnipotent species, has infinite power apart of the Q continuum been on the ship a couple years now he won’t be a bother..at least one could hope so.” The Captain chuckled as she introduced to the man. Y/N glanced back him and he looked at her. ‘Q’ she thought.

“What are you staring at?” He snickered and smirked with a hint of mischief or was it smugness? Y/N just looked away embarrassed. “Well C-Captain I’ll be heading back now..” “Alright, Lieutenant see you later.” Y/N nodded and she left. Once she left her whole face was green, she kept her head down and she got on the turbolift to engineering. Once she got there everybody saw her green face and knew something had happened. Torres walked to Y/N smiling. “Well Y/N what happened? Why so..Green.” Torres giggled. Y/N smiled and said. “I met a very- handsome being-“ Y/N said. Torres gasped. “Who is it?!” She excitedly asked. Y/N bent over to her ear and whispered and explained. Torres smiled. “Looks like Tom Paris owes me a personal ticket to the Holodeck.” Torres said aloud. “Why?” Tom asked. He freezes and then remembers. “Ooooh.” He said responded in realization. He pouted and got to work. “You probably should go see Tuvok ask for his advice about it.” Torres recommended. Y/N thought about it and nodded a yes. She left engineering and looked for Tuvok.

Once she had found him in the mess hall she sat down across from him. “Oh Lieutenant what do I owe this visit?” Tuvok asks casually. “Well I- share these feelings for somebody and I don’t know what to do.” Y/N explained. “Who is it?” Tuvok asked. “Q..” she said quietly. Little did she know Q had been watching her and he was sitting near harry Kim and looking at her. He watched as Tuvok explained how she shouldn’t let emotions ruin her job especially as a Vulcan. Y/N nodded and agreed, thanked him and left. Weeks went by and Y/N still didn’t know what to do it was like the female vulcan was in the mists of choosing human or Vulcan and it made Y/N feel very stressed out.

One afternoon, Y/N was working very hard in engineering, everybody could tell she could use a 2 hour break but they all stayed silent about it and simply just continued to work. Finally Torres decided to speak up about it. “Y/N” She spoke said. Y/N looked over and said “yes?” “You need a break. It’s not a recommendation it’s a order.” Torres spoke to her with a soft but stern voice. Y/N sighed and gave in she decided to go to holodeck and relax there. Once she got into holodeck she made a memory of her very Vulcan childhood. She was looking and walking around remembering the old days suddenly Q appeared out of nowhere. Q spoke. “Your description of me is ‘very handsome being?’ you know you could’ve said more.” Q said smiling. Y/N face and ears turned a darker shade of green. “Well- I-“ Y/N tried to speak but she couldn’t and put her head down. Q smiling simply cupped her face. “Thank you.” Q said thanking the flustered Vulcan. Y/N smiled at his thank you. Then Q leaned in a kissed Y/N. She smiled and kissed him back deeply but softly.

[kncrowder88]

Voyager and Romance

So, the thing about Voyager and romance that sticks with me is they seem to do one couple really, or more accurately two characters, any real justice overall. And that is B’Elanna and Tom. While moments for that relationship may not be perfect that is rather realistic for relationships, as no relationship is perfect all the time so that is tolerable. This post though isn’t going to be about looking at that particular relationship though but primarily at other relationships. Largely because a discord server I am in was talking about Counterpoint and I realized why I both love the episode but also have weird feelings with it. Which, I’ll touch more on that specifically after I discuss the relationship stuff (as that plays a part).

So, I will preface this with it has been a bit since I’ve done a binge of Voyager and really a full binge of Star Trek in general. As such, I may forget a few relationships on the show and overall, throughout Trek in general. From what I can really toss together … I honestly am beginning to believe that when it comes to Voyager and the other shows (the older ones not the new ones – I am not including any NEW Trek in this) that for some reason the relationship writing with Voyager was rather different. Like, they gave 3 characters active relationships prior to being stranded. That being Harry Kim, Kathryn Janeway, and Tuvok. Out of these three we get Janeway and Tuvok holding onto those relationships in their own way while … it seemed mildly convenient for Harry to mention it when it suited him, I guess (like that time Tom wanted to set them up for a double date or you know when he ended up in that alternate timeline but still wanted back with Voyager even more like). Like, the reason I don’t list Tuvok-T’Pel above is because we don’t actually get to SEE that in full, we just get to see Tuvok’s side of it and his dedication – we don’t see the relationship, we don’t see the couple.

Harry and Tom, prior to his relationship with B’Elanna, seem to frequently do this sort of two bros dating around thing which is fine but like … same time the show used them for that. And once they settled Tom with B’Elanna they used Harry in those plot lines when it worked. Thus the alien STD episode and the “how dare you not get the standard permission from your CO and CMO” line (like they really put that into a Trek ep and I’m still unable to not picture Riker, Kirk, Picard, and everyone other Trek character constantly getting permission for their latest romance – just remember Jadzia and Worf likely had to get permission from Sisko and Bashir if the Trill and Klingon weren’t already approved of in the system just saying, that’s a thing that happened). Anyways … my point is they went out of their way on this. Like, when Kes was with Neelix they wrote Neelix to be that jealous judgmental boyfriend who literally got upset she knew where other people’s quarters where, she was nice to Tom, she was … just yeah. They wrote Tom to come off as a player pulling Harry into it, when Tom settled down Harry seems to pick that up (I mean you got his “omg Seven” phase and the alien STD stuff and lord knows what else I’m forgetting with him).

And to top this off I haven’t even touched on the “Janeway can’t have a romance” stuff yet. Which is where my real problem is. Like, its bad enough they brought in Jeri for the sex appeal (which lets be honest stems from the fact they couldn’t use Janeway for that – which I get, Kate was right in the whole concept of the audience target having to keep respect for a female lead and sex appeal couldn’t be a focal point but they could have balanced it right and regrettably because they couldn’t that meant Jeri got all of the other side of the coin). Many of Seven’s eps center on romance or social stuff and honestly that is a whole other WTF post in its own right because it all leads up to the sudden get with the one person on the ship who didn’t want you here in the first place and who also would have served better as the male adult guidance figure/father figure than as a ROMANTIC partner but hey BS happened behind scenes to cause that chaotic romantic on screen set up. But yeah … this is just another example of the poor Voyager romantic plot lines.

Chakotay’s romantic plot lines are usually – and by that, I mean pretty much always – with these strong independent women. But usually, at least from what I recall, they are also typically the “needs help” (damsel in distress/can’t do it alone/etc.) plot. Like, Riley was strong independent but also set up to need help in regard to getting her little collective put back together on the planet. You got Kellin, again another strong lady who yet again also needed help. At least in the ep she’s in and if I recall much of the info on how they fell in love during that time as well – primarily with getting away from danger at the start and then during the initial romance finding her target. Valerie is the only one who doesn’t fall into the needs help plot and that’s largely because she was being manipulated by Chakotay for information – which honestly just goes to show how well Chakotay was at the whole undercover stuff (which tells us a lot about what he could have been doing as a Maquis). Seska was the plot point of “you once dated her, now she is going to badger you to get with her again and when that fails, she’s going to assault you” …. like all of Chakotay’s romances are literally him either 1) being manipulated (as that’s what Seska and Riley did) or 2) being the kind guy or 3) not an actual relationship (either because its undercover work or because the writers were too cowardly to make him and Janeway canon).

Then you got Janeway. Then you got KATHRYN JANEWAY. You know, the one where Kate Mulgrew said no romance, no sexualizing, no doing that sort of stuff because the audience had to maintain respect for the character. I’m sure someone has the exact various quotes out there. Like … this is why we don’t have JC as canon. But what we do got instead is …. Janeway in Prime Factors being flirted with by the administrator as if that’s going to get him what he wants because “female leader means flirt with her”. We got Janeway and a period drama holodeck adventure in the early years which was clearly meant to be her romantic tête-à-tête early on that never got followed up with. We got “delete the wife” with the Fair Haven plot point (because its totally respectable to see the FEMALE LEAD, the STARFLEET CAPTAIN, just straight up DELETE THE WIFE of another individual - yeah, I get its meant to be humor factor because hologram but come on). You have her whole thing with Mark which we get tidbits off but again similar to Tuvok we literally only get to see her side of it – the only couple moment of theirs we get is the comm call in Caretaker.

But Jaffen? You are correct. We got that lovely and touching and wonderful romance with Jaffen …. Oh wait … they had to remove her from the ship, strip her of her memory, and her autonomy in order for her to have a relationship with another individual. And yes, by losing her memories, by losing what made her who she was as a person, she did lose a sense of autonomy. She entered into a relationship without a full sense of independent choice. The point in which she made a choice in that episode, the point in which she – Kathryn Janeway – made a choice with all of the person, the individual she is, was at the end when she had her memories back and could decide based on the values and beliefs and all that she is. What I’m getting at is the people on that planet deliberately took away who she was, they took her memories and her ability to make the decisions they knew she would make --- they did that deliberately (that’s even established in the episode) --- and as such her decisions while in that state are not truly her full independent decisions but the ones impacted by the state she was forced into.

And while I love Resolutions, while I love all the JC goodies, we get in that ep … Yet again the only time we get to see Janeway in any sort of romantic situation is when they remove her from the ship. When they remove her from command. When they strip her of that setting. This time, though – well the first time – she keeps awareness and has to go through lose of it all in order to even start to let it all happen. I love the episode, I do, but I just find it rather amusing they went “’Hey we gotta strand them what should their tasks be on the planet?” and they immediately went “Well Janeway is scientist how about that” “Okay and he can build, Chakotay can start building. Man builds house, right?” and then like went “oh and then she can start a garden” …. Like really? Really? That’s what you got for me. Oh, and then there is the monkey. That’s the romance this ep. Boat, science, monkey.

Then we got Kashyk. We have dealt with Kathryn throughout this series dealing with various leaders of various styles. As mentioned, Prime Factors guy attempted flirting. Other leaders pulled similar or worse or even dismissed her …. Like the list goes on. Counterpoint is a great episode because it deals with prejudice and is rather dark. The thing is, had Janeway been able to have a healthy romantic relationship on screen to counter this episode this episode probably would have come off better. Episodes like Prime Factor could have been done different (that leader didn’t need to be as flirty for example). One or two eps through the series having creepy dudes she had to deal with, fine, whatever … that be a nice impact for the audience. But when you have to many prior to Counterpoint – even if its minor, small stuff – it makes this episode so much harder for fans. Especially the female fans who deal with this constantly.

See, here’s the thing with this ep…. Some of the fans who watch … we know Kashyk well. We know that character. He is that male leader, that male power figure, who uses the power he has to manipulate those in his control to get what he wants. And Kathryn … Kathryn was in his control. Kashyk is listed as a relationship on memory-alpha. But much like how I view Seska with Chakotay … I do not view Kashyk as a proper relationship. In Devore space, Kathryn did not have proper power. She had people in her command, on her ship, that she had to protect. That she knew she had to protect. Her own best friend … lives in her hand … and Kashyk right there willing to kill them. Willing to snatch them up and destroy them. And he used that power to manipulate her and play her. Yes, she played him right back but … did she truly have a choice? Did she have any other choice but to play his game? What would have happened if she said no? And that … that is why this episode is so unsettling for some people. And why this relationship being considered on is so off putting … that the writers, that memory-alpha, that the fact I’m putting it on this list as one of the ones on here for Voyager says so much … they wrote this as one of her relationships while out there … she had to do what so many women had to do to stay safe, to keep people she loves safe, and that’s not a relationship.

Voyager could have done romance/relationships such better justice.

[curator-on-ao3]

Fic Writer Review

Thank you to the brilliant and wonderful @procrastinatorproject for tagging me. I love this stuff! 💕

how many works do you have on AO3?

71

what’s your total AO3 word count?

382,259

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

Five Star Treks — The Next Generation, Voyager, Deep Space Nine, Discovery, and Picard (though primarily Voyager and Picard).

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Feet on the Ground, a post-Endgame Kathryn Janeway/Chakotay story I wrote at the request of a lovely friend who wanted my take on how those two could have a happily ever after.

Bad Ensign, which, despite being rated T, introduced the Bad Ensign sex game into the Trek fanfic universe — much to my pride and delight (if anyone wants to join the Bad Ensign party, please do!).

The Halo Effect, a post-Endgame Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris story in which our heroes, somewhat unexpectedly, fall in love and find happiness together.

Tuvok’s Secret, a little Kathryn Janeway and Tuvok friendship crackfic in which Tuvok trusts one person onboard to keep his secret.

The Nest Between Them, which shares my take on how the Seven/Raffi handhold at the end of Picard season 1 may have come to be.

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

Yes! I respond to comments because I like to thank people for commenting. It’s so nice when readers reach out to say kind things about my stories, so I like to let them know I appreciate it.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh, man. I’ve written a lot of angsty endings. Maybe What You Feel is What You Are and What You Are is Beautiful, a Janeway/OC story (and my first E fic 🙈) that I wrote upon request and was really, really tough to end.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

I write crossovers within the Trekverse. The craziest that I wrote unprompted is probably Asunder, in which Gegen (the dinosaur scientist from Distant Origin) and a grown-up lizard baby go in search of Kathryn Janeway and Tom Paris, with Geordi La Forge tasked by Starfleet to find the two officers who disappeared years before. There’s obscure TNG canon in there about warp fields damaging subspace, plus obvious Threshold zaniness and I honestly think the whole thing holds together (though I do feel a bit like the crazy-eyed-guy-with-ribbons-connecting-pictures meme right now).

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Not really, no.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

If we’re calling “sex” smut, then yes, I do — the healthy kind that entails valid self-expression and love. (Every so often not that kind, but usually.)

have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not that I’m aware of.

have you ever had a fic translated?

Yes! I’m excited and honored that In the Doorway, a small, angsty, not-a-happy-ending Kathryn Janeway/Tom Paris fic is available in Russian at https://archiveofourown.org/works/32368054.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! In addition to the fun mentioned by @procrastinatorproject in her post, I co-wrote with @cnrothtrek and @gijane-7702 the fic Long Nights on La Sirena — a purposefully silly look at how sexual knowledge Seven assimilated could benefit Raffi (and lovingly irritate the rest of the La Sirena crew). Good times.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

I really don’t know.

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Eh. I’m sort of lukewarm on all of my WIPs right now. I’m waiting for a really good idea, I guess.

what are your writing strengths?

Word economy. World-building. Details.

what are your writing weaknesses?

I’m a big believer in “trust your reader,” but I sometimes take that too far and don’t explain things that I think are clear (but are, in fact, clear only to me). I’m working on figuring out when to explain and when something doesn’t require explanation.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

The few times I’ve done this in an actual other language (not copy and paste Klingon, for example), I’ve been fortunate to be able to find a native speaker beta. I think that’s best.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

Star Trek Voyager.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

I am grateful to have written all my stories, but I have two favorites:

I’m really proud of The Monster. That fic has a lot stacked against it — rare pair (Kathryn Janeway/Raffi Musiker), modern AU, etc. But I think the theme about the strength and validity of love works well, and wouldn’t be as powerful with another pairing in another context. It was fun, too, to include other characters from across the Trekverse to see how they would fare in 1990s New York City.

I’m really fucking proud of The Autobiography of Kirsten Clancy. Yes, she had all of three scenes, but she’s the most powerful woman we’ve ever seen in Starfleet, and I needed to chart a possible course for how she became Commander in Chief. I wanted her to have a true 24th century Starfleet life, full of love and adventure and duty and bravery and all the rest. And I truly think I gave it to her — and fell in love with her universe along the way.

I tag @ussjellyfish, @amoderngirl, @70thousandlightyearsfromhome, @regionalpancake, and anyone else who is in the mood for this. It was fun!

[qwertyfingers]

we know that bobby only watched ds9 and dean watched the tos movies for sure which implies he's seen tos as well (plus he calls jack spock). so what do you think everyone's favorite trek is? sam is without a doubt a tng fan first and foremost. i think out of all tos movies cas prefers the wrath of khan because he Feels Things when kirk and spock do the ta'al through the glass. charlie has definitely seen some trek (we've seen her llap), do you think she's into tos first and foremost? anyway let's talk about star trek nights in the bunker.

OKAY SO I HAVE. MANY MANY THOUGHTS ABOUT THIS. SORRY THIS IS SO LONG.

like. like of COURSE bobby only likes ds9 of course he does i could have told you this without the show becuase like. bobby is That Bitch. i think rufus will have watched TOS at least because leonard nimoy worked hard on linking jewish faith and practices into the vulcan lore and i think that would mean something to him. bobby will catch rufus smiling at him sometimes while they’re watching ds9 and ask him what all gruffly and rufus will smirk at him and say something about sisko with jake and bobby with dean and bobby will just cough and take a swig of whiskey and rufus will raise his eyebrows but let it slide. rufus definitely makes a comment once about dean&cas being like jake&nog that totally flies over dean’s head but bobby is all knowing eyebrow raise about.

i think cas and jack would really like discovery. while it has some issues with inconsistency, pacing, being a little dark, it also does better than the other TV treks at utilising the nature of film as a medium to instill a sense of wonder, at space and the world, and that’s something they’d really appreciate. i have my own issues with disco, but an obol for charon is as close to the central core of trek that disco ever gets. cas and jack also like that one in particular because they like listening to all the different languages being spoken. they all love michael (everyone loves michael). cas’ faves are stamets and reno because they’re mean and gay, jack’s fave is tilly because she’s excitable and bright and he latches onto that. dean likes reno because she’s got spunk. sam’s fave is airiam and he will never forgive them for killing her off. sam, cas and dean all feel an uncomfortable kinship with both ash and culber - they’ve both been the one with monster teeming under the surface, controleld by something not themself, but they’ve also all spent that time in hell/purgatory, separated from everyone they love.

thinking about episodes that would really get to them all, darmok is. THE ONE. i have a whole unfinished essay about darmok as the platonic ideal of star trek; the perfect distillation of everything trek is SUPPOSED to be about. it doens’t always get there but by god it tries! that speech michael gives in the disco s2 finale - “There's a whole galaxy of people out there who will reach for you. You have to let them. Find that person who seems farthest from you and reach for them.” - that’s what darmok is about!!! it’s all about a situation where real communication seems impossible, where everything we know about talking and learning has broken down. and picard says, okay, i will find another way. i can’t relate to you, you can’t relate to me, but by god i’m going to try. we all meet people we have trouble communicating with in our lives, and often, those people will not care about changing their own ways to accommodate us. for people with autism, adhd, psychosis, the list goes on, this is a very common occurrence. it’s exhausting and frustrating and alienating. darmok is all about crossing that barrier. about reaching for someone through a world of difficulty and learning how to talk. learning how to share something with someone who seems out of our reach. it’s beautiful, it’s heartwrenching, it means more to me than i can easily put into words! 

anyway i think the bunker fam would experience a lot of emotions watching it together. there’s defintiely a lot of hugging eachother, sam cries a lot and won’t look at anyone until after the episode ends. jack just asks a lot of questions and talks about his progress learning sign language with cas. dean snakes his hand into cas’ halfway through and doesn’t let go. doesn’t show the emotion on his face, but he clutches harder at the emotional beats. cas runs his fingers through jack’s hair and thinks a lot, and decides not to say anything unless dean talks first. its just a Lot for everyone. 

dean def makes them marathon all the TOS and TNG movies. it’s an experience everyone needs at least once. i think you’re right about cas and TWOK with the ta’al through the glass, but also ‘this simple feeling’ and the hand hold would make him feel crazy. bones being the one that spock entrusts with his katra DEF makes dean feel some type of way because as much as destiel is kirkspock-coded, dean IS bones, and seeing spock trust bones so completely despite how at odds they were when they first knew eachother would dig deep into dean’s psyche and make him more than a little bit nutso. the movies are way too long for jack so he mostly sits and plays animal crossing while they watch and looks at the screen when everyone else gasps or when something exciting is happening that holds his attention for a while. sam’s fave is nemesis precisely because it’s terrible and he loves how camp it is.

dean has definitely seen all of trek. i refuse to believe someone who watches as much tv and films as dean wouldn’t sit and watch the whole shebang. i think he’s probably seen TOS and the TOS movies more than the others because its easier than sitting through 7 seasons, but i think rather than that being his favourite he’d just have really strong opinions about the best episodes of each one? like if you asked him what his favourite is he’d say you can’t answer that because they’re all so different from eachother

VOY - bride of chaotica, non seqitur, macrocosm for the favourite episodes. seven, janeway and tuvok would be his favourite characters. he think toms a bit of a knob but also feels a kinship with him for the similar brand of bab dad-ism but he wouldn’t be able to put that into words. he’s also a fierce defender of threshold being a good episode (he’s right for that)

DS9 - our man bashir it’s our man bashir. he doesn’t dislike ds9 but its very plot heavy and he didn’t care for it when he was younger. rewatching it after living through multiple supernatural wars he’d probably appreciate it more. i know for a fact he cries every time there’s an episode about sisko being a good dad. jadzia and garak are his faves

TNG - he LOVES q. he also absolutely will not be caught dead referencing how much loves q after cas comes into his life because sam will do the little brotherly knowing eyebrow raise at him and he will die of embarrassment. he regularly references ‘there are four lights’ because he’s a fucking nerd. he has made cas watch elementary my dear data and fistful of datas a half dozen times each at LEAST. cas KNEW how dean was going to be about the cowboy hat he’s defintiely got into full cowboy getup at home just for watching movies and in cas’ head star trek is fully to blame.

TOS - oh there are so many good TOS eps to choose from. obv he loves most of the series becuase TOS has MANY banger eps, his favourites are probably like. mirror mirror, amok time (baby dean defintiely had some kind of crisis watching it for the first time; i know the rituals are intricate). i know deep in my bones that dean watched the conscience of the king (introduction of the tarsus iv massacre) once and then spent his entire teenage years writing fic about that in his head, whether he posted it or not. dean related too much to those experiences of shared hunger. city on the edge of forever is one of everyone’s faves for a reason (and i’m STILL mad we never got a closer take on that episode in spn it could have been so fun). 

ENT - he definitely thinks enterprise is stupid and he’s not wrong but he has also definitely watched it and been very repressed about the whole thing. mans was like oh i feel a kinship with malcolm reed the obviously repressed queer man. i will never examine this feeling ever again thank you <3 he also makes fun of archer for being obsessed with, of all sports, water polo. shran is his favourite character because he’s a little shit and makes him laugh, and t’pol, because t’pol is a badass and he’d appreciate that. i can’t remember the title of a single episode off the top of my head though lol.

i can see what you’re saying about sam being a TNG stan. i’m conflicted though, I feel like TNG’s generally the favourite of 1) obnoxious nerds who think knowing trivia facts makes them smart, 2) men desperately trying to seem masculine and 3) people who’ve watched it three times and have extremely complex thoughts on the personhood and rights of robots. i could see sam fitting into the third group, but people who are in it for the robot feelings are a coin flip between voyager and tng being the fave, and i just have a feeling that voyager would be his favourite. i know kid sam is getting gender envy watching voyager in shitty motels while dad and dean are out, trying to find the words for it. his first semester at stanford he talks a friend into giving him the janeway haircut and rides that high for months. sam’s favourite characters are seven and EMH. 

sam and dean have definitely had dozens of long drawn out debates about philosophical topics in star trek. do the holograms deserve rights and if so which ones. are the romulans and vulcans still meaningfully the same people. was spock right for trying to foment reunification by going undercover on romulus. can the borg be redeemed. etc etc.

i haven’t seen any of picard at all so i can’t comment. i also think sam and dean probably read a lot of the trek books? they’re pretty common to find in secondhand bookstores and cheap, would have been even cheaper back in the day. sam probably doesn’t care for them much, dean has a few solid faves though. i’ve only read the disco books so i can’t comment anything specifically (besides the fact that i think dean read dead endless and cried like a baby), but some of the TOS and DS9 books are gay as hell and i know dean was eyes emoji-ing that shit. 

[bumblingbabooshka]

Fake Voyager episode where the ship is invaded by parasitic aliens which take the form of those close to you.

The episode begins like any normal episode but at the very end of the cold open someone appears on the bridge. It’s...Mark? Instead of being shocked Janeway just laughs softly and says something like “I told you not to come onto the bridge while I was working!” and Mark says he couldn’t help it, he just couldn’t wait to see her again! The crew laughs softly. Camera zooms in on Mark’s smiling face as he wraps an arm around Janeway, ominious sting - we know something isn’t right. THEME TUNE! These aliens are telepathic and feed off of desire - with loneliness being especially potent to them. (They can only manifest in a disguised physical form if your desire is for a physical thing Ex: An animal, a diamond ring but they’ll feed on any desire.)This unfortunately made Voyager and her crew a gigantic target for them. They also have the ability to make it so you believe that they’ve always been there. Because of this, no one aboard Voyager finds it strange that their loved ones have appeared. The doctor knows something is wrong (as he doesn’t have a brain to leech off) but the aliens quickly turned him off, saying he was malfunctioning. Seven of Nine is also a complicating factor because while she is lonely she does not have anyone she knows that isn’t already on the ship. I think the aliens would probably just try to have her put in the brig or confined to her quarters. Same with Naomi, who has everyone she’s ever known already aboard. She’s very frightened of her “dad” who has suddenly appeared and who seems to know Naomi knows it isn’t him. Eventually everyone is able to realize that something has gone wrong and fight back against the aliens! Whew. Hey wait where’s Tuvok? Tuvok is a DELICIOUS meal for these aliens. He’s very lonely and fiercely protective of the alien whom he believes is his daughter, Asil, as a small child. The Asil alien quickly becomes stronger and the stronger she becomes the harder it becomes to snap Tuvok out of his delusion.  Like, the more you become attached to the thing the alien’s pretending to be the stronger it becomes and the more it can do to entice you and the more enticed you are the stronger it becomes and the stronger it becomes- Onwards and onwards. The less you believe that the alien is the thing you desire, the less you desire it, the weaker it becomes. The aliens also communicate telepathically so while those under the aliens’ influence can hear/understand them perfectly well - once you are broken free you can only hear a strange shriek and croak sound. This makes it difficult to convince others of anything since you can’t respond to what the alien is saying at that point. So the crew is throwing all the aliens out into space or whatever as they shriek and writhe and croak and Tuvok is in his quarters as some security ensigns approach his door. The Asil alien tells Tuvok that they’re going to kill her - she doesn’t want to die, please, help her. Tuvok assures her that he will not allow that to happen. Fighting ensues. At the climax of the episode Tuvok manages to be convinced by Janeway to let the Asil alien go so that she flies out the airlock, shrieking. However, he does this while still under the delusion (logically, it makes sense to trust Janeway and not what he realizes is his emotions.) and so he hears what sounds to him like Asil shrieking, betrayed, dying. He collapses.  At the end of the episode he and Janeway talk. Janeway tells him that it wasn’t Asil. No matter what he heard or saw, it wasn’t her. Tuvok doesn’t respond/gives a weak response and she leaves. Tuvok goes to some drawer and pulls out a box with pictures of his family. He looks particularly at the ones with him and Asil. Zoom out...zoom out...Episode ends.

[ieattaperecorders]

I’m seeing a lot of TMA Star Trek AU on my dash, and it seems largely TOS-based. I love TOS, but allow me to propose: Star Trek Voyager AU.

The crew in Voyager aren’t on a scientific mission, they’re survivors lost 70,000 light years from Earth. It’s campy fun Star Trek stuff, but instead of having the resources and support of the Federation, the crew is alone - trying to get back to known space, forced to depend on one another. Found Family ensues harder than you can possibly imagine. 

Captain Sasha James!! Janeway is capable, cool-headed and good at managing the crew on a personal level, but it’s hard to really know her. The pressures of her role mean she wears masks even with people she cares for, which fits Sasha perfectly. 

I’m inclined to put Tim as her First Officer – it’s a good role for him, and the Captain and First Officer must be a dynamic duo. Science Officer works for Jon, though with the reduced crew and vulnerable situation, he might end up with multiple roles. I like the idea of Martin as medic (and I’ll get more into that later, because oh boy.) Georgie can take Neelix’s role, (though she refuses to stop saying that the Admiral is the official Morale Officer and she just interprets for him.)

Half Klingon Melanie King!! Half Klingon Melanie King struggling with anger issues and frustrated with people who define her by them!! Who had to push and fight to keep from being dismissed because of her heritage!! Half Klingon Head of Engineering Melanie King!! 

THE BORG. THE BORG, GUYS. Think of the possibilities that threat could present to these characters.

Danny Stoker was assimilated by the Borg. It was Tim’s motivation to join Starfleet. He refuses to talk about it until the day the crew is cornered in Borg-occupied space and makes contact with a drone that bears a disturbing resemblance to him. 

(Danny Stoker as Seven of Nine and, like, twelve paragraphs of JonMartin under the cut.)

Tense standoffs ensue and the crew escapes with the Danny-drone still on their ship. Sasha (the only one Tim told about his brother) makes the risky call to subdue him and sever his link to the Collective rather than killing him.

Now Tim has the brother that he thought was gone forever, but he’s profoundly changed. He doesn’t seem like the Danny he remembers, he might even be a threat. Meanwhile Danny is lost without the Collective, struggling with the idea of individuality as well as his memories/emotions regarding Tim. 

They have to negotiate around both their traumas if they want to heal and recover, but at least they have a chance to know each other again. (And the rest of the crew helps.)

Now, the chief medical officer on Voyager is a hologram - intended to be turned on only in emergencies, but left running nearly all the time due to the lack of medical staff. Over time his personality expands beyond his original programming, the others start treating him less like a computer program and more like a member of the crew, and friendships eventually develop. (It’s one of those “am I a person? What does it mean to be a person?” stories. Voyager has a lot of that.)

There’s two directions I could see that going. One is Helen/Michael slots into the role. (Either or both, who says the Emergency Medical Hologram doesn’t have two interfaces?) Personality-wise they’ve got the campy smugness, and the whole “am I a who or a what?” thing works super well. I mentioned Martin as a medic and the idea of him having to put up with Helen’s bullshit/getting to irritably banter with Helen is very good.

BUT ALTERNATELY, Martin is the medical hologram. Instead of leaning into the “inhumanity” angle, we lean into the angle of being initially overlooked/not seen as one of the crew, then slowly making meaningful connections. (Can squeeze in a “self-worth outside of what you do for others” character arc too.) 

Jon is for sure the first one to treat Martin like a person. It’s a reversal of S1 Jon being an ass to him, but it feels appropriate for Jon - who can sympathize with creatures that aren’t human, even when others don’t. There’s another fun parallel - in canon, Martin continues to treat Jon like a person even as he becomes less and less human. Here, Jon treats Martin like a person from the beginning and he becomes more and more of one.

Plus, come on, think of all the “Jon gets injured and Martin has to overclock himself/push past his intended limits to save his life” scenarios. Think of Martin getting a crush on Jon early because he’s Nice To Him, panicking and trying to hide it. Think of Emergency Medical Hologram Martin taking an interest in poetry instead of opera.

The Lonely may not exist in this AU but I bet being turned off feels a lot like it : (

I like Vulcan/half Vulcan Jon, so we can slot him there. (He’s not a parallel for Tuvok, that wouldn’t fit - he’s just Jon and he’s Spock and he’s on Voyager and you’re all going to have to deal with it. Besides, “half Vulcan/caught between two worlds/struggling with the concept of Emotions” is so good for Jon.)

Now mix half Vulcan Jon in with Hologram Martin and imagine the pining. IMAGINE IT.

Jon refuses to accept he has feelings at all, let alone romantic feelings for someone else. And Martin? He isn’t even sure he’s capable of love, if what he’s feeling is real or some flaw in his programming.  Jon’s nice enough to him – sometimes Martin thinks he even sees him as a friend, but surely there are limits? The absurdity of a holomatter projection thinking that it’s in love with him must be too much for even Jon to indulge.

They’ll get there after four or five seasons of mutual longing, of course. Probably in some intensely dramatic circumstance. 

In fact, that’s a thought - something something backup drive holding Martin’s personality is stuck on a planet that’s incredibly toxic. (Maybe filled with poisonous fog because, of course, gotta keep the aesthetic.) Something something Vulcan physiology, Jon is the only one who can survive on the surface long enough to get it. 

He has Martin’s mobile emitter with him while he goes after the drive, and the whole time Martin is trying to convince him to stop. It’s too dangerous, the planet is killing him, Martin’s given up on himself but he doesn’t want Jon to die too.

“You don’t have to do this, the default program for me is still on the ship, it can be reset.” 

“That is not you. Your personality, your experiences, everything you’ve gained over these years would be lost.” 

“But it has all my medical knowledge. It can do my job just as well, you’ll still have a doctor - -” 

*losing all pretense of a Calm Vulcan Exterior* “I did not come here to retrieve our doctor, I came to get you back, and I am not leaving without you!!”

(Of course they get back safely and Jon immediately collapses upon returning to the ship, then it’s Martin’s turn to make sure he doesn’t die.)

Also it’s Star Trek so holograms can be solid, they’ll get those fabric rustles in don’t worry.