#gotana-retz

[sshbpodcast]

Top 3 Star Trek Voyager characters

By Ames

We’re inching ever closer to the end of Voyager on our watchthrough over on the A Star to Steer Her By podcast, so we’re starting to wrap up the show here on the blog as well. You saw us do it earlier with The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine, so we won’t disappoint. Here are our favorite minor and one-off characters from Star Trek: Voyager.

And you know what? There are so many good ones that we barely had any overlap! The show really does a good job in creating new characters from the Delta Quadrant who are original, relatable, and intriguing. Some of these will seem familiar because they probably came up in some of our season wrap posts or other blogtivities, but we’ve got more to say about them here! Grab a seat in the mess hall, check out our faves below, and listen to our banter on this week’s podcast episode. The real voyage was the friendships we made along the way.

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Caitlin – I’ve grown accustomed to your face

Barclay

Icheb

Q2

Caitlin’s kicking us off this week with some characters that really grow on you over the course of their stay on the show. While we may not have always been onboard with him in TNG, Barclay comes into his own in Voyager when he gives himself a purpose that is commendable, watchable, and perpetually successful. We’re also big fans of the understated, nerdy, and traumatized Icheb and the more he showed up, the better he got. And Q2 came so far in his eponymous episode that we couldn’t help coming around for him and his journey!

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Chris – Stick around, why don’t ya?

Quinn

Danara Pel

Mezoti

Boy do we wish we could have kept these characters around, and their episodes teased us all over the place with whether they would continue existing or not. We have opposite conclusions between Quinn and Danara Pel, the former opting heartbreakingly to end his existence despite the crew’s well-made arguments otherwise, and the latter being convinced by the doctor to keep going even after a taste of life without the Phage. And finally Mezoti, our favorite child character hands down, we’ve discussed at length already.

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Jake – A few good dead men

Tuvix

Telek R’Mor

Gotana-Retz

Jake has a habit of picking characters who just want to do the ethical thing and get martyred for it, like Jarok in TNG and Marritza in DS9. And he’s done it again! Tuvix, for instance, becomes a beloved crewmember who just wants the opportunity to live in the extremely thought-provoking episode of the same name. Our Romulan friend from the past chooses to trust the Voyager, but his fate has already been sealed. And Gotana-Retz saves the ship from his fast-moving people after learning more about what’s really going on in his sped-up life.

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Ames – Resistance is not futile?

Lon Suder

Mezoti

One

My three characters all learn to overcome their programming (sorta; you try coming up with themes) to become better, more lovable people. I’m probably entirely biased because I’m so easily swayed by Brad Dourif’s amazing performance, but Lon Suder is also just plain fascinating! And by his second appearance, he’s put in so much work into changing that it’s even more fascinating! Again, I’ll laud our amazing droneling Mezoti, and raise you one One to boot because I just can’t help but love it when Borg characters find their humanity.

— You probably picked up the pattern by now, but this means we’ve got Voyager villains on the docket for next week, so definitely make sure you’re following along so you don’t miss that. Also don’t miss the couple more episodes of Voyager watchthrough coverage over on SoundCloud or wherever you listen to podcasts, tell us who your faves are over on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t provoke the Borg.

[dgcatanisiri]

The USS Gorkon was Admiral Nechayev's flag vessel in TNG's Descent.

There was also the Sitak during the battle to retake DS9, shortly after meeting the actual Admiral Sitak.

Also among the vessels in the Battle of the Binary Stars was the USS Shran.

And among the vessels at Earth in the Frontier Day attack was the USS Gotana-Retz, which is the name of the astronaut from the Weird Planet Displaced in Time.

So it does happen, but, as said above, usually it's an IRL issue of wanting the audience to recognize the names. It's one of the many side effects of the fact that the writers and audiences are (or are at least presumed to be) human.

I’ve been thinking about this for a bit now, but like, why aren’t there Federation ships with alien names??? All the ships are like “USS Excelsior”, “USS Colorado”. But like, where are the ships named after Vulcan stuff? Or Andorian? It’s not the Earth federation, it’s a federation of PLANETS. If there are some and I’m just blind please enlighten me.

[data2364]

Robert Picardo  as   The Doctor   2000  in Star Trek Voyager   "Blink of an Eye"

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Blink_of_an_Eye_(episode)

[captainjanevvay]

[simptasia]

daniel dae kim is only in the last 10 minutes of the deservedly beloved voyager episode “blink of an eye” and yet he steals the entire fucking episode

[lionowlonao3]

'Blink of an Eye' is, imo, one of the best episodes not only of Voyager or of Star Trek, but of any television series ever. The scene with Gotana-Retz sitting on the hill as an old man makes me cry every time. I'd love a film or a novel that follows up on these events. Maybe I'll write one.

[trek-captain-on-the-bridge-blog]

Star Trek: Voyager - Season 6; Episode 12 "Blink of an Eye"

I enjoyed this episode, and it was only made better by a guest appearance by Daniel Dae Kim as Gotana-Retz

[sshbpodcast]

Top Five Star Trek VOY Episodes

by Ames

We made it back to the Alpha Quadrant, y’all, and it was a pretty good trip! Overall, we’d say Star Trek: Voyager is a pretty decent contender for one of the best series in the franchise. Sure, we here at A Star to Steer Her By are probably still on Team DS9 for the most part, but our plucky friends lost in the Delta Quadrant are at least giving TOS and TNG a run for their money in terms of overall episode quality, character development, and consistency. Hell, TNG’s first season alone brings its average way down, so it might be a pretty close race!

Considering Voyager usually gets overlooked on a good day and unfairly criticized on a bad day, it’s a damn good show with a lot of stunning episodes that leave the audience invested, affected, and ready for more. And now that we’re out of episodes, we’ve assembled our favorites of the series for you to warp through below, and/or listen to on our finale episode of the podcast (series discussion at 1:29:20) which features even more picks from guest star Liz. Bon voyage, Voyager!

[images © CBS/Paramount]

“False Profits”: Chris We’d be remiss if we didn’t include some of the fluffy comedy shit Chris loves (I’m just as shocked as you are that it’s not Bride of Chaotica!), so here’s a very funny yet very Star Trek example that brings back the two Ferengi all the way from TNG’s “The Price.” It’s a pretty deep cut for a reference, but they certainly run with it in an ultimately satisfying way, complete with putting Ethan Phillips back in Ferengi makeup, as we saw in TNG’s “Ménage à Troi” and will see again in Enterprise’s “Acquisition.”

“Course: Oblivion”: Ames Just for the whiplash of it all, let’s pivot from a fun romp of an episode to a deeply depressing, tragic episode in “Course: Oblivion.” The inevitable demise of all the Silver Blood Duplicates is like watching a slow-motion car crash: you know what’s going to happen is going to be upsetting but you can’t tear your eyes away. And the nihilist cherry on top of this ice cream cone of sadness is that their message never even gets through! It’s so successful at being so bleak!

“Memorial”: Caitlin Let’s kick off a handful of noteworthy episodes that examine how we connect with and remember history, starting with a space genocide that plays out in the memories of anyone who happens along as both a memorial to its people and a not-so-subtle disparagement of Holocaust deniers. The post-traumatic stress disorder that the crew displays is also expertly done, making their reactions to atrocity something personal and all the more intriguing, like “The Inner Light” on a whole ship’s scale.

“Remember”: Caitlin Before getting saddled with Paris, B’Elanna Torres had some really good character work early on, and her living out the moments in the life of an Enaran woman in her dreams gives Roxann Dawson quite a lot to play with. We also did a lot of comparing this episode to the classic “The Inner Light,” and for good reason! Dawson really shines in this role, and we also get a spellbinding portrayal of the really troubling Enaran culture and their genocide of the Regressives.

“Blink of an Eye”: Jake One of the cleverest episodes of Voyager comes in this fast-paced planet that develops quicker than you can ascertain, and thus allows for us to view the full evolution of a culture’s advancements in perfect little vignettes. And it all culminates with a hopeful and touching moment with one of Jake’s favorite characters, Gotana-Retz, finally connecting with the ship that has shaped his planet’s history and saving their asses.

“Distant Origin”: Ames Here’s another episode that’s almost too clever for its own good. The Galileo allegory is so strong and fascinating that we entirely accept that some sapient dinosaurs left earth at some point, which should be so silly as to utterly distract from the episode, but Forra Gegen is just so earnest and his plight to open the eyes of his people to their forgotten history so reasonable that we just go with it! Plus Chakotay is probably the most in character he ever gets to be all series long and it’s great to watch!

“Death Wish”: Chris While Q is at his best when paired with Jean-Luc, and his other appearances in Voyager may stretch credulity a little bit, this episode shows us a side of the Continuum that is refreshing and new. Quinn’s depiction of life as a Q as a prison is rather fascinating, and he expertly plays a compassionate character whom you root for even though you feel conflicted by it because his winning the trial will result in his death. But that’s the kind of moral conflict that Star Trek plays so well!

“Nothing Human”: Caitlin Speaking of moral conflicts, we’ve got another ethical debate on our hands in this allegory to Nazi medical experiments. While everyone here on the podcast was firmly in the camp that it is okay to use medical knowledge obtained through deplorable means, it’s still a fascinating reminder to see the full context of what it means to use data from someone like the Cardassian Josef Mengele. The science fiction lens of this real-world allegory is just what Star Trek is for.

“Relativity”: Ames I have such a soft spot for this episode. I’m a sucker for a really interesting use of time travel in storytelling, and the way this episode is structured: chef’s kiss. The twist that it was a crazed future Braxton the whole time. Yes. The weirdly sexy dynamic between Seven and Ducane. I’m there for it. And the best thing of all is seeing Jeri Ryan in a Starfleet uniform, looking fly as hell! Her character journey is now complete because someone finally dressed her well.

“Eye of the Needle”: Jake Another very soft spot of ours is in this season-one episode featuring another of Jake’s favorite Voyager characters. This is the first time (of many) that the Voyager comes this close to finding a way back home to the Alpha Quadrant only to have those hopes dashed to bits by circumstance. It’s so Voyager-specific a story that it’s actually quite perfect. So many episodes could be TNG in Voyager clothes, but it’s episodes like this one that really gave a particular voice to the show.

“Homestead”: Caitlin The literal journey the Voyager characters go on is a big part of the whole series (even when they dipsy doodle around on sidequests so often), and the most complete and meaningful character journey is Neelix’s. Throughout the show, we’ve seen him grow as he got further and further from his homeworld, became an important fixture on the ship, and developed friendships with the other characters (like Tuvok, as you’ll see in a moment). So the closure his character gets in “Homestead” is too perfect for words.

“Riddles”: Caitlin, Chris The Neelix-Tuvok relationship is on full display here. Where normally they’re paired together for the comedy of an odd-couple dynamic, this episode really shows the love these two have for each other. And Tim Russ acts his butt off as a Tuvok who is struggling to recuperate from a serious injury, trying to find himself again, and being supported by his best friend. It’s so good that it didn’t even make Caitlin’s tops list of that season, but has reemerged in the finals!

“Jetrel”: Chris, Jake One more Neelix episode to round out his character, and this is one of the early ones. We’ve already talked about some good allegories on this list for Galileo and Mengele, and appropriately for this moment, we’ve got another great scifi lens to view Robert Oppenheimer (almost said Barbie, but alas). Jetrel is a fascinating character just like Oppie, but Neelix really steals the show with the remorse he feels for draft dodging and then surviving an atrocity that would have killed him. Damn, those are some deep layers for a usually fun character.

“Year of Hell”: Ames, Jake This may be one of the best two-parters in Star Trek, as it never lost momentum and its conclusion was that jaw-dropping kind of satisfying that marks really good writing. Watching the ship and crew getting more and more wounded over the course of the two-parter was excellent to see, and the character Annorax is one of our favorite Voyager villains. And for good reason! Kirkwood Smith infuses that character with such humanity and resolve you almost root for him. Almost.

“Living Witness”: Ames, Chris, Jake Finally, the episode with the most votes from your SSHB hosts is yet another original way of looking at how people represent history, and how so much of it is told through the biased lens of whoever’s in charge. But the best thing about “Living Witness” is how much the actors get to really ham it up by portraying evil versions of their usual characters. It’s like doing a mirror universe episode, but more thought provoking, less contrived, and less doofy.

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See also: our Bottom Five Star Trek VOY Episodes list. And why not: here’re all the seasonal tops and bottoms from seasons 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7!

Welcome back to Earth! We hope you had as great a time following along with Janeway and crew throughout the series, but we’ve got more Star Trek on the way! Next on the docket is the one you’ve no doubt been waiting for, so make sure you’re following along here as we finally fill out the classic Trek roster with Star Trek: Enterprise in our watchthrough on SoundCloud or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also hail us on Facebook and Twitter, and give one final toast: To the Journey!

[data2364]

via Trekcore.com

Robert Picardo (The Doctor) and Daniel Dae Kim (Gotana-Retz) 2000 in Star Trek Voyager ”Blink of an Eye“.

https://data2364.wordpress.com/2017/10/05/daily-star-trek-5-oktober-2017/

[lionowlonao3]

star trek friendshipfest 2017

dear author, i’m looking forward to seeing what you come up with, i’m sure it will be wonderful. i’m pretty open to what kind of story you write. if you are up to it, i would enjoy a story with a lot of plot and technobabble and adventure stuff going on around the actual relationship aspect, and i would also enjoy seeing other characters involved as well as the two main characters. if you can find a way for a cat to show up, that would be awesome (you can harm the humanoids if it’s relevant to the story, i don’t mind that, but please don’t hurt the cat). that said, please do not include any super graphic depictions of violence or medical procedures or other bodily harm as i’m really squeamish. i also dislike power imbalances between characters beyond the normal rank system in starfleet/military-modelled organisations thank you, and i hope you enjoy participating in friendshipfest 2017.

hikaru sulu & nyota uhura (tos) most of the characters on tos don’t get much development to be honest, so there’s not much to go on here, and honestly i just wanted to request a story involving uhura, and i picked sulu because why not? i like to think these two, chekov, chapel, rand and maybe scotty have a lot of shenanigans going on when triumvirate isn’t there. i also love that scene in the film “the final frontier” when sulu and chekov are lost and try to claim theres a storm causing that but she’s like yeah it’s nice and sunny and calm but i’ll keep your secret.

guinan & ro laren & jean luc picard who doesn’t love guinan and her sage advice? i love guinan & ro, guinan & picard AND ro & picard and i couldn’t pick which one to go with, but also i think their triad friendship is very important. after all, picard’s friendship with ro wouldn’t be the case without their friendships with guinan. there’s so much complication here between these three: guinan and picard meeting in time’s arrow and again whenever it was in the 24th century, there’s picard being shocked at guinan calling ro her friend when she doesn’t say that about many and therefore listening to what ro had to say, and i loved how guinan didn’t let what had happened colour her view of ro like everyone else did (i’m sure guinan had heard.

data & julian bashir i really loved the way julian reacted to data in “birthright part 1”, being excited about, and asking about, things like his hair growth and his breathing, things that most people don’t even consider, and how much data really appreciated that.

jake sisko & julian bashir i like to think that julian sees ben and jake as fatherly and brotherly figures, respectively, and i think there was a wasted opportunity not giving these two more screen time and story arcs together. i also think the events of “nor the battle to the strong” play a really important part in that.

kira nerys & ben sisko an honestly underrated friendship. things start off awkward as they do with a lot of the friendships on ds9, particularly the tension between sisko, the reluctant emissary and kira, who doesn’t know how to deal with working with someone who is an iconic figure in her beliefs. over time, they both come to accept these roles and become good friends. particularly relevant episodes include “destiny”, “starship down” and “accession”

ben sisko & dax i really love the fact that ben has now been friends with 3 dax hosts in a row, and how their friendship must be a very unique one to each of them. when he first met jadzia, ben struggled to reconcile curzon and this young person he’s never seen before, but it led to a really strong friendship between the two, and when ezri joined the station, he was pretty much the only one (besides quark, but god knows what was going on there) who didn’t find her presence uncomfortable to begin with (nor did jake, but he must have known curzon too and therefore perhaps went through that with jadzia, too. i just find the whole concept very interesting and would love to see further exploration on it.

seven of nine & naomi wildman being the only child on voyager (for a long time) must have been difficult on naomi, and i think part of why she connected with seven is that while seven is an adult, she spent most of her adult life as a borg drone after being assimilated as a child, and as we see in the episode “survival instinct” when she and some other drones were severed from the collective, those who had been assimilated as adults returned to their previous personalities, but seven struggled with this and couldn’t transition back as easily. seven has a lot to learn about society and how to behave with people, as naomi does, but naomi is a child with that luxury, seven has an adult body, adult capabilities and adult responsibilities, and i imagine with naomi it is a space where she can relax from the tremendous pressure of trying to constantly follow social protocols she doesn’t understand.

kathryn janeway & gotana-retz this could really be gotana-retz & any voyager crewmember, but he spent the most time with janeway during the episode, “blink of an eye” which is honestly one of my favourite episodes not only of voyager or star trek, but of any tv show ever. if there’s another voyager character you would like to write him with as well as or instead of janeway, i am open to that. i just love the entire concept of the episode (i always cry in the final scene with elderly gotana-retz sitting on that mountain watching voyager leave) and anything based on it would be awesome!

[captainjanevvay]

[captainjanevvay]