#schrodinger's voyager

[thresholdbb]

Not watching Voyager and feeling like... I miss Voyager

Watching Voyager and feeling like... I miss Voyager

[grinchwrapsupreme]

thinking about Red Dwarf again and something I've never been able to articulate about it is the way in which its continuation impacts the story specifically because every time they make new content with it they confirm, by virtue of the show existing, that the crew still hasn't gotten home

Like when they finished in '99 there were 10 years in which the audience could reasonably hope that maybe they succeeded, but then Back to Earth airs and no, sorry, they're still out there. And then there were 3 years of hope followed by "No, sorry, they're still out there" and it just keeps going and every time they release a new series or a movie or a special it continues the story, yeah, but it also canonizes the fact that they are not home yet, because it's not like Voyager where the crew eventually sees Earth again and the audience can breathe a sigh of relief, no, the crew is trapped on the ship in deep space so long as Doug Naylor keeps coming back

And I just think that's a really interesting effect of the medium on the story because whenever there is no series the Red Dwarf crew is the Schrodinger's Cat of lost voyages, both alive and dead, both home and lost, and every few years they open the box again and confirm the cat is still dead and we KNOW that Lister dies on the Dwarf we KNOW, it's been canon for decades, but maybe this time it'll be different, maybe if we leave the box shut they'll get home

[everygame]

A Mind Forever Voyaging (PC)

Developed/Published by: Infocom Released: 14/8/1985 Completed: 17/11/2022 Completion: Finished it. Trophies / Achievements: n/a [Apologies for interrupting, but before we get to the article I'd like to mention that you can pre-order a copy of exp. 2600, my brand new zine, right now and get more of–and help support–writing like what you're about to read. Unless I've put you off, but this is a good one so I hope not.]

Do you have any famous works that you’ve always been… scared to start? I don’t mean intimidated–I haven’t read say, Infinite Jest not because it’s long, but because [jerk-off motion]–but that something is talked of in such hushed breaths that you’re worried it just won’t live up to whatever you might have imagined?

I have it a lot, and because I generally try to read as little as possible about things before I experience them, it’s not so much that I’m imagining these incredible things, as much as there’s this astonishing possibility space out there that it almost feels… wrong to cut it down to just the one thing. Schrodingers’ video game.

For A Mind Forever Voyaging, all I’ve known until now is its striking cover art, and that it’s Steven Meretzky’s attempt to grapple with Regan’s then-recent re-election by landslide. So it was with some trepidation that I started pouring over the box, feelies and manual.

The manual is worth reading, with the most empathetic piece of writing I’ve experienced by 1985 in video games, as we’re introduced to the game’s central concept: you, the player, are “PRISM” who, raised in a perfect simulation believing themselves to be the real person Perry Simm, discovers that, well, no, they’re actually just an AI.

It gave me enough pause that I actually put the game down and didn’t start it for several more weeks! If anything, the possibility space had got larger.

A Mind Forever Voyaging, now I’ve played it, is kind of a hard one to discuss. On hand, it’s flawed. As deeply flawed as any Infocom I’ve played up to this point has been, and for many of the same reasons. On the other, it’s a genuinely captivating piece of speculative (interactive) fiction that will probably stick with me forever, not least because while it might over-extend itself on specifics, politically and thematically it is one hundred percent correct. 

Let’s get to those specifics. First up, the game really requires you to read the manual. While it’s nothing as complicated as Suspended (which I still can’t believe was only Infocom’s sixth game) there’s a similar sort of “mode switching” as you begin not able to walk about and pick up stuff but can simply switch between locations in communication mode (largely able to just see the same locations, or veg out and watch the news) or read backstory in library mode. It’s really here that you get to what could be considered the game’s most major flaw–how self directed the player has to be for most of the time.

This isn’t the same as something like Planetfall, where the player is primed “you’re stuck on this planet bro” it’s actually literally like “you’re a computer and there’s nothing to do?”

There are big swathes of this game where you’re stuck typing “wait” or even resorting to “wait 120 minutes” which I found almost… shocking. It’s made all the more baffling by the fact that the game has a news network that you can “watch” but when you’re in the mode time passes at a crawl, meaning that you’ll probably burn through basically the entire thing (hundreds of lines of script) just waiting to get to the first simulation!

The meat of the game is in that  simulation, however, and this was a massive surprise to me. The game presents what is pretty much the only direction the player gets–that as PRISM, you’re supposed to do a lot of very mundane things in a simulation of a small town, Rockvil, ten years in the future, like eat in a restaurant and speak to a clergyman–record them, and then deliver the recordings to see if the government’s transparently republic agenda known as “the plan” will work. It’s here the game takes a massive diversion from what I’d expect from a Infocom game at this point, because you enter a genuinely huge recreation of a town that is nigh-unmappable, with hundreds of rooms and most rooms having as many exits as there are compass points.

Don’t get me wrong, this is a meticulous recreation of a town and is an extremely intentionally designed space, but it’s also not a “designed space” as any video game developer would know it now. I quickly gave up any pretense of mapping the space–relying on the one decent map I could find online–and began wandering.

And wander I did. To be honest, you don’t genuinely need a map outside of the one that comes in the manual, as you aren’t really needing to hunt anything out. As has been written elsewhere, in A Mind Forever Voyaging, you are an observer, not an active participant, and as a result, simply wandering as your wont takes you and recording what you find interesting or pertinent is genuinely enough to progress.

Of course, that’s as long as you understand that, because once you’ve managed to “complete” the tutorial-like first simulation, the game literally goes “oh, we don’t have anything for you to do now. Entertain yourself.”

I know that it’s easy to accuse modern players of wanting everything on a silver platter (or at least, with a silver arrow pointing in the direction of the platter) but I really do find it hard to believe that even players in 1985 didn’t find this kind of thing frustrating. Noodle around long enough, and you’ll work out that you can get to a simulation twenty years in the future. But what do to there? Might as well just record the same stuff you did ten years in the future, right?

And it’s here we hit what is–confusingly–A Mind Forever Voyaging’s most glaring flaw but also what might be the thing about it that makes it the most memorable. For the majority of the game all you do is revisit Rockvil and record how it changes across the years. It’s repetitive, and by the fifth time you do it you are almost certainly tired of the same interactions.

But it’s also a perfect experience in seeing the slow decline of society under rule by Republican values. In 1985, this was just a scary warning of how the future could look. In 2022, it’s a sharp shock to the player, showing them how much has been lost and how much more will be lost if we continue the way we have. It is too easy to experience the decline of our civilization as a frog, slowly boiling, and A Mind Forever Voyaging asks you to remember what temperature the water actually is.

As Steven Meretzky noted in 2017, everything came true. The game features a border force who act as judge, jury and executioner; viciously racist policing, and the complete MAGA-fication of politics long before anyone even imagined such a thing. Even the things that seem far fetched in the moment–a supreme court giving the ok to religious fundamentalists seizing government property?–doesn’t seem that absurd when you ask “could the current supreme court have sided with the far-right extremists in the Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge?” the answer is yes, obviously yes.

And isn’t it disturbing that you’ve probably already forgotten about it?

It is painful, genuinely painful at points, to be playing a game that shows horrible things happening in a decade to represent a society that is past the point of no return and recognise that these things are already happening around us. That Meretzky was far too kind to expect things to not have gone to totally hell until 2050 at the earliest.

To be honest, a game like A Mind Forever Voyaging is as vital now as it’s ever been, and while I can’t recommend it without caveats, I actually rather like that I’m not completely certain that my instincts on its subtler “flaws” are correct or not. Lack of direction and the need to endlessly wait at points? Yeah, those are bad. But I can’t decide if choosing to create a huge, often samey and empty Rockvil is actually worse than making something more tightly designed. Rockvil might feel more real to me because I had to traipse through several parking empty parking lots; I can’t tell if it’s an acceptable price to pay that so many descriptions are generic (I got tired of things being described as a “totally ordinary [noun]”). Wouldn’t it be more interesting to have puzzles to solve? Like, shouldn’t I have to steal a ration card to make the ration card fraud arrest happen so I can record it? Or would the ludic nature of that undo that sense that Rockvil is real, and I’m genuinely experiencing it?

With modern eyes, I think I would prefer the latter (tighter, have some puzzles) but I don’t actually blame Meretzky for going the other direction at all–especially considering the one puzzle in the game (avoiding being killed in act 3) involves, annoyingly, having to wait (again!) in the right place at the right time to even notice what’s going on (I really don’t know what the hell was going on with Infocom’s playtesters sometimes.) But the only thing I really don’t think works in the game is the saccharine epilogue. The digital antiquarian goes into probably too much detail on it, but he successfully raises that A Mind Forever Voyaging’s setting, movingly portrayed or not, doesn’t make a ton of sense if you go one level down, and ultimately only serves as backdrop for a polemic, which would ring more true I think without the San Junipero wish-fufillment. There’s no guarantees a utopia awaits if we do the right thing now. It requires constant vigilance.

(And I have to agree that casting Perry Simm as mere observer does him a disservice–memory was at a premium even with a new extended Z-Machine interpreter allowing 128k instead of 64k to fit the game into, but that the game’s descriptions are often so dispassionate, and we never see or experience Simm grapple with his new existence as an AI is a disappointment. But A Mind Forever Voyaging is already doing so much, probably too much.)

So after all that, how do I feel now that A Mind Forever Voyaging is the thing that it is, rather than whatever I imagined it could be? Incredible, honestly. I’m richer for having played it, warts and all.

Will I ever play it again? It’s an interesting question. I’m not sure I’d choose to play it again–the slow decline of society is… slow. However, it’s a game I would relish showing to others.

Final Thought: Late summer/early autumn in 1985 was insane. A Mind Forever Voyaging was quickly followed by Super Mario Bros. in September and that was followed by Ultima IV days later. Hard to argue that these three don’t represent in many ways the peak of creativity in video games even now.

Support Every Game I’ve Finished on ko-fi, either via a one-off donation (pay what you like) or by joining as a supporter at just $1 a month. Supporters receive an automatic 35% discount off physical zines, like exp. 2600, which you can order now.

[randomoranges]

have time, will post lamao

more ancient decade old fic. wow. [no im NOT over how OLD these ARE okAY lamao]

IAMP

Welcome Home

328

 Another one inspired by a drawing Lomitzz made.

Oliver fumbled with his keys, for a moment, exhausted and looking forward to being on the other side of the door. He had spent the last seven days hopping around the continent, going from one meeting to the next, with dignitaries and ministers alike, changing time zones too frequently, and now, he wanted to be home.

 The flight had been long, he hadn’t been able to sleep much, despite how tired he was, and he had a pounding migraine. On top of that, he was also hungry and the thought of either preparing something, or ordering in and having to wait for the delivery, put him off from the thought of food.

 He finally managed to get the door open and the first thing he noticed, other than the lights that were already on, was the smell of something baking. For a moment, he was convinced he was hallucinating, but then he heard the sound of the television, followed by a very distinct French curse.

 Oliver’s heart leapt, for a moment. He closed the door behind him, and walked in. The television went off and a moment, or so later, he was greeted by his two cats and his lover. Schrodinger leapt at him and Oliver had to take a step back under his weight. He scratched him behind his ears and his cat gave a content purr, before jumping on top of his suitcase.

 Fred decided his leg would make a good place to hang on to and Oliver had to pry her off gently, before she made holes in his pants. She mewled happily in greeting, and Oliver let her rest on his shoulder, which only left him with one person to greet.

 “I… hello.” He finally settled for.

 “Salut.”/ “Hey.” Jean told him, nonchalantly, arms crossed over his chest as he tried to casually lean back against the wall. Oliver made no comment as to the apron he had over his jumper and tried hard to figure out why Jean was here.

 “How did you get in?” He asked instead, hoping he didn’t sound too irritated. He wasn’t, for starters, but he was exhausted and knew he could sound tetchy without wanting to.

 Jean took out the spare key he had given him, what felt like a lifetime ago. In actuality, it had been after the second week he had moved into this place, but that wasn’t the point.

 “Comment était ton voyage?”/ “How was your trip?”

 Oliver wanted to tell him it had been fine and that he could leave now, but something stopped him from doing so.

 “Horrible. Absolutely horrible.”

 Jean nodded and stepped towards the kitchen and Oliver had no choice but to follow him, the cats in tow.

 “Pourquoi tu m’en parles pas, pendant qu’on mange? Ch’t’ai fait à souper. J’ai fait une quiche. Végétarienne, comme t’aimes.”/ “Why don’t you tell me about it while we eat? I made you supper. I made a quiche. Vegetarian, like you like it.”

 Oliver was surprised and took a seat at his table. He found it strange how his kitchen only ever looked, or felt homey, when Jean was in it and when he cooked in it. He brought that certain extra element to it he could never manage to. Even before, in their old house… He shook his head. He was too tired to reminisce. He did enough of that already.  

 Jean shooed Fred from the chair and set the table, before he retrieved the quiche from the oven. He cut up two pieces and brought them back, before taking a seat himself to Oliver’s right. Oliver thanked him and then took a bite of the quiche. It was exquisite and just what he needed. There was always something that hit differently about the first meal back home. Already, he felt a smidge better.

 Once he had made a fair dent in his piece, he told Jean about his trip and the other listened, attentive as always when he wanted to be. Oliver knew, deep down, that Jean didn’t particularly care about what it was that Oliver had done throughout the week, but the fact that he listened was enough.

 The quiche consumed, Jean went to do the dishes, Fred following close behind, while Oliver took care of his suitcase, Schrodinger enjoying the brief reprieve from the other two.

 By the time his suitcase was empty, Jean was putting the last of the dishes away. Oliver stepped behind him and hugged him from behind, resting his chin on Jean’s shoulder. He gave a small content sigh, kissing Jean’s cheek.

 “Thank you.” He murmured. Jean gave him a sideways look and smiled softly.

 “Ça m’fait plaisir.”/ “My pleasure.”

 “If you want… you don’t have to leave right away… you can stay a little longer.” His cheeks coloured slightly and he hoped Jean wouldn’t see.

 “Ça m’dérangerais pas.”/ “That would be nice.”

 They headed to the living room and Oliver curled up by Jean’s side. Jean caressed his shoulder and played with his curls, slowly easing the horrible week from his mind. When he fell asleep, sometime later, Jean easily carried him off to the bedroom and tucked him in. Oliver hugged the pillow close and mumbled something incomprehensible that had Jean still for a moment, afraid Oliver would wake.

 He debated long enough, whether to stay or head back to his own place, and finally decided it would be nice to feel Oliver’s smaller body pressed close to his. He lifted the covers and crawled into his usual place, moments before Oliver sought him in his sleep, snuggling up to him. Schrodinger claimed the foot of the bed by Oliver’s side and Fred perched herself, somewhere close to Jean’s head. For once, Jean didn’t mind and simply held Oliver, closing his eyes and welcoming sleep as well.

 FIN 2

 Started writing: October 6th 2013, 8:02pm

Finished writing: October 6th 2013, 8:37pm

Started typing: December 18th 2013, 11:11am

Finished typing: December 18th 2013, 11:30am

[isagrimorie]

With all the TNG and even Voyager nostalgia, I can't help but feel like DS9 is being paid dust.

I know how you feel, I felt and still feel the same when Star Trek Picard started out.

But now I am also a mix of feelings because as much as I want DS9 get more attention… I also don’t want to get DS9 wrong.

DS9 became the beautiful thing it was because it took time to go from standard episodic story to a well done serialized story. It had room to breathe and become.

It had the time to have excellent stories and tbh, terrible stories. (The Ferengi ones… oof).

In this day and age of 10 episode seasons they don’t have the time to be that and more likely there will be an adjustment period.

Also, with everything in limbo I can imagine anything I want to my favorites.

So yeah, I both feel like I want DS9 to get more things at the same time I am grateful they can’t screw up my beloved DS9 characters because they’re not there.

Schrodinger’s DS9.

[biology-geology-beaches-india]

Aphorism 168. The Philosophy of Tropical Littorals and Seashores. Satyendra Sunkavally..

[nesonkin]

Matt Holt’s strange involvement in the plot and a little bit about the world building

I will start off by saying that I’m only writing this because Matt is my favorite character but I will talk about some other semi-important characters with a side of a world building complaining. I'm neither a professional writer nor do I have an English degree. I’m just a small fan with opinions. I will be biased and there’s nothing you can do to stop me.

It’s a long post full of me ranting about things that aren’t necessarily important. Proceed at your own risk.

When I was on my tvtropes.org voyage I saw a trope used to describe Matt and it sticks out to me the most.

This one bugs me in particular because it’s true. He does have a lot going on that isn’t related to Voltron and, as a rule, it’s barely elaborated on. 

But his off-screen story doesn’t just affect him alone as a character.

You see, when Matt was introduced he had ties to two of the main characters: Shiro and Pidge. Getting him back was a goal that they worked towards. When he was found his character seemingly drifted from Shiro (they had 1 single interaction and it wasn’t even the real Shiro smh) and so he became the extension of Pidge’s character (in their goal to find dad) and a link connecting Voltron to the rebellion.

The fun part begins once Pidge’s arc is concluded with her and Matt sending dad to Earth. Because that’s the last you see of Matt in S5 as well. And to make the matters worse in S6 he’s not even mentioned. According to the Word of God, he was with the rebels the entire time while the season’s focus was primarily on Lotor and his shenanigans. Which leads us to Matt’s second purpose – his involvement with the Voltron Coalition.

It was at this moment I realized... he was merely a side character that was never promised to be important.

When Matt isn’t glued to his sister he spends his time with the rebels: helping people, fighting Galra, freeing planets and living his Mass Effect dreams, apparently. But if you pay close attention to the rebel fighters you notice that everything they do is irrelevant. They’re seemingly there to fill the background. Doing the dirty work while the chosen ones take care of the important things. They were the supposed heroes of the universe, before Voltron, who fight against tyranny but in the end? They are as exposable as Shiro’s boyfriends. And the writing proves that time and time again by unnecessarily wiping them out for shock value (I’d probably understand the decision if they were going for an anti-war theme but that’s not the case).

So, when your character’s first purpose is concluded and the second one isn’t treated with care what’s going to happen next? Matt is the third missing pilot from the Kerberos mission, he’s Pidge’s brother who went through hell and back to get where he is. He helped Pidge complete her Galra map with his own data he collected and when vld acknowledges that there are other factions fighting for freedom he’s presented as valuable ally who’s not only smart but is also capable in combat. And he WAS supposed to be important in S7. Yet, here we are. 

Now, the reason Matt’s character screentime has been so inconsistent is primarily because his voice actor (Blake Anderson) wasn’t available, so his role in S7 was filled by Sam. It’s understandable but it also creates a very strange character who, like Schrodinger’s Cat, is both relevant and irrelevant.

Matt, however, isn’t the only one to suffer from this. There’s also a character that is beloved by the majority of OG Voltron fans. It’s a princess that’s described to be strong willed, fierce and skilled in combat. Many expected her to be the rebel (one specific rebel at that) and what became of Romelle in vld is a blessing to some and a disappointment to others. With time you begin to realize that her one and only role in the show was pulling up them receipts about Lotor to hold him accountable and then fade in the background once the deed is done and the plot no longer needs her. Which is very weird considering Romelle was Lauren’s favorite character...

One would also note Slav’s total disappearance after the second season and then reappearing in S8 as a character that plays a role more important than whatever Matt and Romelle were doing the entire season. Slav’s disappearance can probably be explained by him joining the rebel fighters in S3 and we all know what happens to rebels in this show.

You might think, “Christ, why is this girl so salty about this one group not being important in the show? As if it wasn’t obvious they were never going to do anything outstanding because it’s about Voltron, not space hobos”. And here’s when I start talking about worldbuilding.

In order to make your world feel complete and rich you put effort to develop solid worldbuilding. You create new races, planets, cultures, social systems, factions, relationships between factions, conflicts, anything within the framework of your space opera.

Normally, I wouldn’t compare a multibillion dollar franchise with hours of content and years to develop to an animated show for kids but in this case I just can’t help myself. So, Star Wars. A story about evil warlords being defeated by the chosen one who harbours magical powers within; all while being supported by the rebel forces. Well, that sounds familiar. 

There’s a reddit post that talks about worldbuilding better than me so you should check that one out. It not only provides critique, but also examples to make it better.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Voltron/comments/mauvh2/1_the_worldbuilding_of_voltron/

I’m only focusing on the impact of the rebel fighters here (in that post they’re referred to as the Voltron Coalition). 

In Star Wars we have the Rebel Alliance. They’re immediately recognized as an important faction and we can tell that there are people fighting against tyranny because we see them act. With more content we get to learn more and more about the rebels and their history. This is a very crude summary so don’t quote me on that.

In Voltron the rebel fighters were first described by Rolo as lucky few who managed to escape Galra or simply haven’t been enslaved yet. In S3 we learn that this is not the case and that somewhere out there exists a group of freedom fighters who fight against Galra. But we only figure that out because they saved Matt once. Their first real appearance happens when Remdax and Vakala capture Kuron. And finally when Voltron Team somehow manages to contact one of the groups and invites them to Olkarion. 

The rebels' biggest showdown happened during their attack on the Zaiforge cannon. After that everything related to rebels and the coalition happens off-screen because the focus shifts from fighting the Galra to Lotor’s mega quest.

And of course, that’s when the unthinkable happens. When Voltron Team decides to link Galra’s map with the map from the Castle of Lions... leaving the blades and the entire coalition exposed. But that’s a rant for another time.

As far as the coalition goes they’re never involved in anything that has to do with Lotor. Or anything at all for that matter. You can’t tell if they’re fighting for their lives or if they’re just chilling at Luxia’s hot tubs. You can axe them from the story just fine and it will still be manageable. The world feels empty already. And this sucks.

In this reality everything revolves either around Voltron or the Galaxy Garrison, apparently.

I want my rebels spin off.

[holdharmonysacred]

all right, i have not seen fate/requiem spoilers on this, but i realized a little while ago that this could be a thing so i’m calling it now:

Kuchime the otaku guy who looks like Vincent from Catherine is Nzambi’s master

Context note for people who didn’t read volume 1 - Kuchime is this guy that Erice and the gang meet out on the streets being just. one of those guys you see in every city ever just performing music out in the wild, in this case he plays depressing songs that sound like they’d be played at a funeral on a guitar. He’s explicitly a member of the otaku subculture, which has pretty much died out in Akihabara in Requiem’s world, and the gang ends up befriending him after Voyager wanders off and goes hog wild watching him perform.

What’s important is that Karin tried to invite him to see the show at the Colosseum when they get tickets, but he very conveniently doesn’t show up to join them. Then when shit starts hitting the fan but also right before the zombie stuff happens, he texts Karin and just says “Sorry”. At the end of the volume Karin thinks she saw him hanging out among the wreckage at the Colosseum in the aftermath of the whole zombie incident, but they don’t really go to check if he is there or not or what he’s doing. All of which is shady as hell, but it’s only now that I see that his profile is located right next to Nzambi’s in volume 2 that I’m going “Oh. Oh!!!”

so i’m calling it. Kuchime is Nzambi’s master, and the reason he doesn’t show up when invited, texts Karin an apology when things start going bad, and is schrodinger’s at the scene at the end is that he somehow knew what was going to happen. I was baffled when I saw people going “oh i don’t trust this guy” today upon only just seeing him but now that I think about it I think you guys might be right and i’m the fool for thinking “oh he’s just the music otaku guy”.

[schrodingerskatfish-blog]

I’ve a fanfic for @azrarepairweek! (if that’s okay! Along with old fanart above ^)

First chapter for Day 1 prompt: Supernova (”A star ending its life in a huge explosion”)

Aldnoah () Odyssey

Far in the future, Princess Asseylum of Mars embarks as the sole human occupant on a year-long voyage to the planet Earth. But as she discovers, on the first ship of its class Aldnoah, you need never be truly alone.

To see the sky for what it is / You have to trip and fall. / Is it best to love and lose / Or never love at all?

(A SciFi!AU, with Asseylum / Slaine and Seylum / Inaho)

“Say, tutor?”

“Yes, Princess Asseylum?”

“It really is beautiful, isn’t it? Our Mars.”

The girl whirled gracefully from the porthole’s view she had been contemplating, and turned to face the interior of the compact starship.Her long, light loose hair billowed about the hands she clasped behind her back. She bobbed in place consideringly and asked, “What do you think, tutor?”

“I am afraid I have no opinion to offer you, princess.” The words, while apologetic, were certain and unafraid. “As you are aware, I am merely equipped to offer you the collected information available for your education, as your onboard tutoring program. As such, I can recommend many persons who share your view of Mars. The famed Earth musician Gustav Holst composed a suite inspired by Mars, and several painters -”

Asseylum laughed, already grown familiar with this routine, though not tired of it. She hoped never to grow weary of her sole companion, incorporeal as he was, for the duration of her long journey. “Thank you, but we still have to form some opinions together, you and I! But it’s not fair. You already call me by name, though more formally than I would like.”

“It is the title I have been programmed to use.”

Asseylum smiled wryly. “You did meet me under that name. And I find it awkward to suddenly change the names of friends. Is it the same for you?”

“As you know, princess, as a program I have no preference.”

Asseylum knew the self-abnegating reticence she heard was merely her imagination. As it informed her himself earlier, her disembodied A.I. tutor’s voice was merely a product of advanced lingual protocols and a talented vocal source. She pushed forward anyway. “In that case, what should I call you? ‘Tutor’ is only a placeholder. As we seem to have skipped becoming formally acquainted, I’m afraid you shall have to introduce yourself.”

“Certainly, princess. I am the Saazbaum Corporation’s Troyard Educational Software for 11th Form with Expanded Earth Curriculum 2014 version, mark II. Pleased to meet you, Princess Asseylum vers Allusia.”

“Likewise! But that name… isn’t that your model?”

“Yes, princess.”

“So, there are replacements with that exact same model designation, correct?”

“Of course, princess.”

“That won’t do. We are the only two to have witnessed this view of Mars together from this window. We share memories now. You’re irreplaceable to me. There must be some particular name or number, just for you?”

“I suppose there is my product identification number, princess.”

“And what is that?”

“It is 51A1N3, princess.”

“51A1N3… ‘Slaine’. Is it alright if I call you Slaine?”

“As you wish, princess.”

Asseylum was less sure this time that had she imagined the awed emotion in Slaine’s voice.

(If you’d like, please read the rest at SchrodingersKat at AO3 or Schrodinger’s Kat at FF dot Net)

[dancingqueendc]

FYI: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TIME OR SPACE: Time-Space doesn't exist outside Earth:"time/space can only be measured on Earth"/"from Earth". There's no such thing as "space"/"void". Everything is filled with electromagnetic energy frequencies/vibrations, sound and light(x-rays to gamma-waves, et al, etc.). We are all"made"of energy....we are all energy-wave-beings: Light is only visible through Earth's atmosphere (gases! metals, Noble gases, and other chemical compounds, water vapor, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, helium, et al, etc.). This is 4th grade-8th grade science, grammar-school education! Everything is"created"&"manifested" in the Mind/from the Mind, we project the hologram that we call"physical realm"/the 3rd-dimension(dementia). We are ALL-ONE, we are Existence, Creation-Creator, ONE-BEING, and when we are in Harmony with self-existence, at peace in LOVE-energy states of being, we can"create"/manifest anything(ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE)in our Mind/Collective-Consciousness and share thought/emotion/knowledge through Constellation-Energy. We don't need money, material objects, to exist. We are Existence. We are all infinite FREE-ENERGY-BEINGS/SPIRIT. We can create/manifest anything we want, if we are completely free in spirit, strong enough, let go of all negative-thought-energy/emotion/experiences and focus on being ourself:positive energy-being/state:"I am that I am": just BE/EXIST and do nothing(physical realm) and use our Mind/Collective-Consciousness to exude PeaceLOVEjoy-pure LOVE-happiness and when we are this state of being/existence, pure and completely in LOVE-energy/when we are LOVE-energy/state of being, then we can create anything with our Self/LOVE-Energy and know(Collective Consciousness) EVERYTHING: THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TIME/PAST=FUTURE=PRESENT. It is always NOW/PRESENT=GIFT OF EXISTENCE/BEING- POSITIVE/LOVE-ENERGY=BLISS AND THIS STATE/BEING/EXISTENCE/TO EXIST(I AM THAT I AM), THEN ALL IS ONE: THERE IS NOT SUCH THING AS TIME, and time can only be observed on Earth/from Earth. To "escape" "physical realm"/"earth" we only need to go deep into Our Mind/SELF/CONSCIOUSNESS. There are no such thing as planets: the light shimmering and flickering in the night sky are electromagnetic energy frequencies/light and sound energy waves filtering through the atmosphere of earth. And all this "place" is, is a holographic projection from/of OUR MIND.

If we all would just love OURSELF=EACH OTHER=ONE ANOTHER, then we can/would cure all problems/ailments and become the PERFECT-BEING WE TRULY ARE: PURE LOVE=PEACE=JOY/EXISTENCE. LOVE THY NEIGHBOR AS THOU SHALT LOVE THYSELF.

Don't believe the false religions, false prophets, false gods, false messiah(s):"I DON'T BELIEVE IN ANYTHING....I JUST BELIEVE IN ME". Don't believe everything/anything you see/read/hear....BELIEVE ONLY WHAT IS TRULY TRUE IN OUR HEART/LOVE/EMOTION-MIND/THOUGHT/INTENTION-SPIRIT/BEING/EXISTENCE. We are all Schrodinger's cat, we exist both as light and sound frequency waves and can be in multiple places simultaneously since THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS TIME-SPACE. WE ARE EXISTENCE, OMNIPRESENT EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, OMNIPOTENT ALL POWERFUL PEACELOVEJOY-BEING/EXISTENCE OURSELF. WE ARE CREATOR-CREATION-EXISTENCE: WE ARE ALL ONE, WE ARE ALL-ONE, WE ARE ALONE-TOGETHER. WE ARE ALL ONE EXISTENCE, OMNIPOTENT AND OMNIPRESENT, ALL POWERFUL PEACELOVEJOY-BEING, EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE/SIMULTANEOUSLY. THAT IS HOW WE KNOW EVERYTHING BECAUSE WE ARE EVERYTHING. WE CAN SEE/KNOW EVERYTHING THROUGH OUR MIND/COLLECTIVE CONSCIOUSNESS/CONSTELLATION-ENERGY. DO NOT JUDGE:WE ARE NOT HERE TO JUDGE OURSELF/EACH OTHER/ONE ANOTHER/ONE AND OTHERS. WE MUST LEARN TO FREE OURSELF, BE COMPLETELY FREE OF ALL "sin"/"without"-LOVE(PeaceLOVEjoy)=TRUTH ANS THIS ONLY TRUE TRUTH IS THE TRUTH THAT SHALL SET US FREE OF Earth/material realm/holographic universe/projection of/from our Mind/Self/Existence. We can create and return to our origin/al state of existence: PURE UNCONDITIONAL LOVE=PEACE=JOY=TRUTH with our Mind. "the Mind is a terrible thing to waste": The Mind is OurSELF/EXISTENCE. We must, and can, remove all barriers(#ADA) and heal OurSELF=heal Each-Other because LOVE/LAUGH(TER) IS CONTAGIOUS. LAUGHTER IS THE ONLY TRUE MEDICINE BECAUSE JOY=PEACE=LOVE, AND THIS IS THE ONLY TRUE TRUTH. We ALL are PeaceLOVEjoy INFINITE FREE-ENERGY BEINGS/SPIRIT kind compassionate forgiving loving....just let it all go, let go of all the material/physical realm/dimension(s) and embrace our True Self: PeaceLOVEjoy infinite-free-energy-eternal-Spirit-Beings. We are FOREVER....WE ARE OMNIPOTENT OMNIPRESENT CREATOR-CREATION-EXISTENCE. WE ARE EVERYTHING. "I AM YOU" AND YOU ARE ME, WE ARE MIRRORS OF EACH OTHER, WE ARE ALL LIKE THE CONCRETE, MADE UP OF EACH OTHER, WE ARE MADE OF EVERYTHING/EVERYONE WE WILL HAVE EVER MET/EXPERIENCE IN OUR EXISTENCE. "NOTHING MATTERS" Everything is....EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING CAN'T BE NOTHING. SO EVERYTHING/EXISTENCE IS ETERNAL, INFINITE FREE-ENERGY-BEING/SPIRIT, AND WE ARE EVERYTHING AND NOTHING, SIMULTANEOUSLY, THUS WE CAN CHOOSE TO EXIST OR CHOOSE TO END OUR PART OF EXISTENCE. DON'T KILL OURSELF: IT'S NOT WORTH IT. BEING NOTHING, NOT-EXISTING, IS FOREVER: SO THAT IS WHY WE'RE ALWAYS TRYING TO SAVE OURSELF/ALL PARTS OF OURSELF THAT ARE AFFECTED BY NEGATIVE ENERGY/"THE NOTHING"NESS AND WANT TO CEAAE TO EXIST, THUS WE MUST CARRY OURSELF WHEN PART OF OURSELF IS TOO EXHAUSTED/TIRED, SICK/WEAK TO GO ON....THEN WE MUST HEAL OURSELF, GIVE OURSELF LOVE/PeaceLOVEjoy to rest, recover, rejuvenate, recycle our Spirit Energy, recharge, and renew ourself, just like our Spirit-sisters&brothers plants and animals all living beings, ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, CAN RE-NEW, RE-GROW, THUS SO CAN WE.....THERE WAS ONLY ONE SET OF FOOTPRINTS IN THE SAND.....BECAUSE I CARRIED YOU. CARRY OURSELF, BE OUR BROTHERS'(SISTERS')KEEPERS.....BECAUSE WE ARE ALL ONE, WE ARE ALL-ONE, WE ARE ALONE-TOGETHER. WE ARE ONE. WE ARE WON. WE ARE EVERYTHING/EVERYONE SIMULTANEOUSLY, OMNIPOTENT OMNIPRESENT CREATOR-CREATION-EXISTENCE. anything not of/from LOVE is false, false gods, false religions, false prophets, false messiahs....if it's not of/from LOVE/PeaceLOVEjoy=TRUTH THEN IT IS FALSE. DON'T BELIEVE ANYTHING WE SEE/READ/HEAR.... TRUST ONLY IN LOVE/WHAT'S IN OUR HEARTS: i❤️u=u💓me me=we u+me=we TOGETHER UNITED WE STAND, DIVIDED WE FALL..... LET'S STAND TOGETHER IN PEACELOVEJOY-INFINITE FREE-ENERGY-BEING/SPIRIT OF TRUTH=LOVE=PEACE=JOY = EXISTENCE = WE ARE ONE, I AM YOU!

By comparison, Blue Origin, founded in 2000, has received $496.5 million in 33 contracts.

Both Blue Origin and SpaceX (along with Dynetics) received lucrative NASA contracts in 2020 to build lunar landing systems to carry NASA astronauts for Artemis moon missions.

A NASA spokesperson eventually confirmed Blue Origin would receive $579 million, while SpaceX and Dynetics would receive $135 million and $253 million, respectively.

On July 13, Blue Origin received approval Monday from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to carry humans on the New Shepard rocket into space on July 20.

New Shepard, which stands 60 feet tall, was specifically designed for Blue Origin's space tourism venture and has successfully completed 15 test launches, with the latest on April 14.

The capsule that rides atop New Shepard seats six passengers and is equipped with reclining seats.

Each of the seats has a window that are said to the 'the largest to fly into space.'

Cameras line the interior, allowing travelers to share their memories that are truly out of this world.

The crew is set to travel 62 miles above Earth's surface, where they will experience weightlessness due to the zero gravity and see the curve of the planet with the darkness of space as the backdrop.

Blue Origin's maiden voyage will, however, travel farther than Branson's who reached an altitude of 53.5 miles over the New Mexico desert before gliding safely back to Earth.

It is not clear how long they will spend just beyond the edge of space, but Blue Origin has stated in the past that paying customers will spend as much as 10 minutes in zero gravity before returning to Earth.

The billionaire space race is fueled by optimism that space travel will become mainstream as nascent technology is proven and costs fall, fueling what UBS estimates could be a $3 billion annual tourism market by 2030.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, as well as Musk's SpaceX, have also discussed using their rockets to link far-flung global cities.

UBS says that long-haul travel market could be worth more than $20 billion, though several barriers such as air-safety certification could derail the plans.

Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said: 'Putting the world's richest man and one of the most recognized figures in business into space is a massive advertisement for space as a domain for exploration, industrialization and investment.'

Blue Origin has not divulged its pricing strategy for future trips.

In 2018 that Blue Origin was planning to charge passengers at least $200,000 for the ride, based on a market study and other considerations, though its thinking may have changed.

Washington state-based Blue Origin is largely self funded by Bezos, who has been selling over $1 billion worth of stock in Amazon per year to fund the company.

The company recently conducted its first astronaut rehearsal in preparation for sending the first manned New Shepard into space.

The mock crew traveled the designated path of future spacefaring tourists, which included traveling to the launch pad and climbing up the tower to the passenger capsule.

While celebrities and the uber-rich appear to be a core market for space tourist jaunts, at least initially, industry sources expect Blue Origin to include some philanthropic component to its ticket strategy.

The idea of sending paying customers to the edge of space was once only a plot in science fiction films, but many companies other than Blue Origin are turning the epic journey into a reality.

THE BILLIONAIRE SPACE RACE: HOW BRANSON, MUSK AND BEZOS ARE VYING FOR GALACTIC SUPREMACY

Jeff Bezos in front of Blue Origin's space capsule

Dubbed the 'NewSpace' set, Jeff Bezos, Sir Richard Branson and Elon Musk all say they were inspired by the first moon landing in 1969, when the US beat the Soviet Union in the space race, and there is no doubt how much it would mean to each of them to win the 'new space race'.

Amazon founder Bezos had looked set to be the first of the three to fly to space, having announced plans to launch aboard his space company Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft on July 20.

The billionaire mogul will travel with his younger brother Mark, a charity auction winner who's shelling out $28 million and pioneering female astronaut Wally Funk, 82.

However, Branson has now announced he's planning to make a suborbital flight nine days before Bezos and his brother. He revealed on Twitter that he plans to be Astronaut 001 on Virgin Galactic's July 11 test flight.

Although SpaceX and Tesla founder Musk has said he wants to go into space, and even 'die on Mars', he has not said when he might blast into orbit.

SpaceX appears to be leading the way in the broader billionaire space race with numerous launches carrying NASA equipment to the ISS and partnerships to send tourists to space by 2021.

On February 6 2018, SpaceX sent rocket towards the orbit of Mars, 140 million miles away, with Musk's own red Tesla roadster attached.

Elon Musk with his Dragon Crew capsule

NASA has already selected two astronauts who will be on-board the first manned Dragon mission.

SpaceX has also started sending batches of 60 satellites into space to help form its Starlink network.

Musk hopes this will provide an interconnected web of satellites around Earth which will beam down free internet to people worldwide.

Branson and Virgin Galactic are taking a different approach to conquering space. It has repeatedly, and successfully, conducted test flights of the Virgin Galactic's Unity space plane.

The first took place in December 2018 and the latest on May 22, with the flight accelerating to more than 2,000 miles per hour (Mach 2.7).

More than 600 affluent customers to date, including celebrities Brad Pitt and Katy Perry, have reserved a $250,000 (£200,000) seat on one of Virgin's space trips.

Branson has previously said he expects Elon Musk to win the race to Mars with his private rocket firm SpaceX.

Richard Branson with the Virgin Galactic craft

SpaceShipTwo can carry six passengers and two pilots. Each passenger gets the same seating position with two large windows - one to the side and one overhead.

The space ship is 60ft long with a 90inch diameter cabin allowing maximum room for the astronauts to float in zero gravity.

It climbs to 50,000ft before the rocket engine ignites. SpaceShipTwo separates from its carrier craft, White Knight II, once it has passed the 50-mile mark.

Passengers become 'astronauts' when they reach the Karman line, the boundary of Earth's atmosphere.

The spaceship will then make a suborbital journey with approximately six minutes of weightlessness, with the entire flight lasting approximately 1.5 hours.

Bezos revealed in April 2017 that he finances Blue Origin with around $1 billion (£720 million) of Amazon stock each year.

The system consists of a pressurised crew capsule atop a reusable 'New Shepard' booster rocket.

Bezos is one of the richest men in the world and Blue Origin has successfully flown the New Shepard rocket 15 times.

At its peak, the capsule reached 65 miles (104 kilometres), just above the official threshold for space and landed vertically seven minutes after liftoff.

READ MORE

NASA Names Companies to Develop Human Landers for Artemis Missions | NASA

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin Targets Bigger Space Goals - WSJ

Share or comment on this article:Elon Musk wishes Jeff Bezos 'best of luck' as he heads to space for the first time

41 comments

This Is the One Technology People with Diabetes Need

Dexcom

DON'T MISS

Prince Harry 'says he DOESN'T need Queen's permission' to write $20m Megxit memoir as Royal aides fear more 'truth bombs' and 'poor me introspection' in tell-all 'book by Harry, written by Meghan'

'When the end is in sight': Kelly Ripa teases shirtless husband Mark Consuelos as she bends over in another cheeky Instagram snap

Conor McGregor reveals his $3.5MILLION Lamborghini yacht has been completed as he shares a snap of the vast 63 ft liner

'Last day of being 29!': Demi Moore's daughter Scout Willis wears nothing but bikini bottoms to mark the last day of her twenties

PIERS MORGAN: Harry's turned the Queen's motto of 'never complain, never explain' into 'always complain, always explain, never stop whining'

Celebs are jumping on the tequila bandwagon - but is it any good? We speak to local experts to discover how to know you're getting the best tequila

Gisele Bundchen is 41! She gets a tribute from husband Tom Brady in Portuguese as he gushes 'I love you so much' while sharing a photo of the model with their daughter

Prince William and Kate Middleton are 'on a public charm offensive' to prove to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle that they're happy and 'not trapped', royal expert claims

'I haven't had a wax in a min!': Lily Allen jokes about hiding her modesty with a can of Coke as she displays her toned physique in lilac underwear

Sting, 69, and wife Trudie Styler, 67, live it up on yacht on the Amalfi Coast where they bump into Jessica Chastain... before shirtless rocker strips down to trunks

'She asked me to marry her': Joshua Jackson reveals his wife Jodie Turner-Smith broke tradition by popping the question to him as he gushes over the 'incredibly romantic' moment

'I'm literally never using my iron again': Shoppers are snapping this handheld steamer for less than $30 on Amazon

Fashion label beloved by Kendall Jenner and Bella Hadid launches VERY racy crop top - so would you dare to wear it?

Simon Cowell's girlfriend Lauren Silverman, 43, slips into a plunging white swimsuit as she joins the music mogul, 61, and their son Eric, 7, for a family getaway to Barbados

Meghan Markle's BFF Jessica Mulroney shares snap of Naeem Khan gold beaded dress she wore to the evening reception of Duke and Duchess of Sussex's wedding (and it weighed 30lbs!)

Mick Jagger, 77, puts on a loved-up display with ballerina girlfriend Melanie Hamrick in rare post to mark her 34th birthday Rolling Stone frontman made a rare appearance

Catherine Zeta-Jones, 51, claims she eats Cadbury's chocolate and cream tea with scones EVERY DAY - and enjoys fried English breakfast and French toast at the weekend

Vanderpump Rules reunion! Lala Kent and Randall Emmett receive support at Switchgrass premiere from castmates after multiple firing scandals

Nina Agdal shows off her slender physique in a black bikini as she poses while hanging off the side of a boat

Jeff Bezos' girlfriend Lauren Sanchez plants a kiss on her billionaire beau just moments after returning to earth following his space launch

Naomi Osaka hits back at Megyn Kelly after she criticized the tennis superstar's decision to shoot a Sports Illustrated cover while complaining about media pressure

Was it my fault? Yes' Britney Spears' boyfriend Sam Asghari causes a minor car crash near her Thousand Oaks home

They're game! US women's beach volleyball team hits the sand for their first training session in Tokyo - sporting the same tiny bikini bottoms that Norway's were FINED for not wearing

Queen Rania, 50, chats with Jill Biden at the White House after King Abdullah II met with Joe amid Jordan's frosty relations with US following Trump's move of Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem

Celebrity Dating Game: Carmen Electra picks real estate agent to go out on date on ABC revival show

LeBron James' agent Rich Paul 'dropped hint about his closeness with Adele back in May'... as his uncle reveals his humble beginnings in Ohio

'Talk about having it both ways': The Morning Show hosts mock Prince Harry for saying he wrote his $20million memoir 'not as a prince'... before signing off with his royal title

M. Night Shyamalan makes world premiere of new film Old in New York a family affair as he shares spotlight with wife and their three daughters

Justin and Hailey Bieber opt for comfort as they arrive back in LA after their whirlwind Cabo getaway with manager Scooter Braun

© Associated Newspapers Ltd

ADVERTISEMENT

Daily Mail Online

[bandedshadows]

Voyager review.

This is long overdue (I was caught up with life stuff and had to stop liveblogging), but I actually finished watching Star Trek: Voyager last week. 

Judging by the length of this post, HOLY SHIT, do I have a lot of feelings.

TL;DR: I’ll give it a 7/10. 

My verdict: 

Voyager had a number of truly extraordinary moments sprinkled among clusters of average to very low points. 

I still loved Janeway a lot, even though there’s notable issues with her characterization. (Kate Mulgrew’s gr9)

Seven’s introduction gave the show a much-needed kick up the next level, but they ended up overdoing it imo.

Some characters are more developed than others, but I found the crew to be generally likeable. 

Continuity? What’s that?

prime directive... prima directa... primal dialga... perma dry roof... pearl digestive... prophylactic dental... partial deposit... parking at disneyland...

I still enjoyed Voyager very much, but oh boy, did this show have many, many flaws. I also took it upon myself to read up on Voyager’s behind-the-scenes issues for context, and jfc, the production is even messier than the text. Put two and two together and it’s obvious why the show took the course it did. 

I’ll go into detail behind the cut. It’s very long. Spoilers ahead :).

[CUT]

I’ll start with the negative points:

The ‘Endgame’ episode was... abrupt. It was still emotionally impactful, but it wasn’t the most graceful way to tie things up. Correct me if I’m wrong, but the show was given fair warning that the 7th season was going to be their last? If that’s the case, I expected more pre-finale plot development before this out-of-pocket Deus Ex Machina plot of future!Janeway pointing out a shortcut to the Alpha Quadrant. Or at least all the Borg encounter episodes could’ve added up to building Voyager’s path home. Endgame’s resolution is acceptable, but it really should’ve been spread out for the last half season. 

The serial, episodic format of Voyager ultimately led to all the aspects in which it fell short. Particularly in continuity and character development. There were bad episodes, average, above average, and then there were GREAT ones. 

But, it’s always Schrodinger’s cat on whether the next episode is going to be watchable or not, as well as which Janeway is going to show up.  

At times, Janeway would be stringent when it comes to the prime directive. Other times she unquestionably abandons Starfleet protocol to be a good samaritan. One day she backs out of complicated situations in order to prevent any losses of life. Another day she’s adamant in achieving her goals even if means accruing some casualties on the way. She gave Harry shit for sleeping with a girl from an alien race without getting medically checked, but then makes out with Devore!Spencer Tracy-lite Bashyk next episode. 

Over the course of the show, Voyager had many episodes that were forgettable. I found myself having to skip a lot of the holodeck fillers (Fair Haven is the worrrrrrssttt), some of the bottle episodes where the crew get first contact with alien races that would predictably betray them, and at times near the end, my fatigue of Seven and the Doctor can get me to tune out of their more unimpressive episodes. 

But then there’s also episodes where they delve deep into character development, but they never acknowledge the character’s growth in any subsequent episodes. The better episodes of Voyager often feel like missed opportunities for more in-depth exploration. B’Elanna undergoing depression was a great plot point that they could have explored more. The episode they did on her about her self-hate for her Klingon half was great but how she came to terms with her Klingon identity felt incomplete. Her character always fascinated me, but I seriously needed more.  #JusticeForB’ElannaTorres

The episode “Mortal Coil”, for example, explores Neelix coping with the loss of his belief system after experiencing death. HIs usual positive outlook was compromised because he realized there��s no heaven and he’s questioning the point of living. Neelix is far from my favourite, but I kind of relate to what he went through. Before the next episode started, it looked like he’s headed to a darker path. Perhaps this change will interfere with his approach to being the morale officer, or he’d don a more assertive aura in future eps. Then he’d be a more interesting character. But NOPE, next episode he’s back to his old sunny self. Missed. Opportunity.

I’m going to echo what I said in this post I made awhile back. I do love Seven’s character, I truly do, but the balanced family dynamic of the crew was special. She didn’t have trouble integrating into the cast, but she pretty much hijacked the show from then on. She’s a great, well-developed character but I found myself longing for the others to get as much depth as she did. 

I just read up on the Jeri Ryan/Brannon Braga stuff,  the beef between Mulgrew and Ryan, the writers willfully shortchanging the actors they don’t like (Beltran, Wang getting less focus episodes), the intense working conditions, and just... the general toxicity of the environment (not to mention Rick Berman’s an ass). I see how the behind the scenes conflicts could’ve influenced the show and now that’s just... really irresponsible.

Now, for the positives!

The writing of her character is flawed, but I thought Captain, *ahem* ADMIRAL Kathryn Janeway was a splendid captain. We wouldn’t know which Janeway showed up each episode, but I love all the versions lmao. Before I binged Voyager, I was already defensive of her from a symbolic standpoint, being the only female captain to lead a show and all. But it turns out that defensiveness was justified. Janeway is both strong, yet fragile. Authoritative, but warm. Adventurous and scientific, but can also get reclusive. She was overly curious, stubborn, and indecisive, but ultimately handled her woes with grace. She proudly demonstrates her iron will, but her empathy for others always prevailed. Her character arc took many paths and turns (intentional or not) but I enjoyed how the character was conducted as the leader of the ship. I felt a different affection she particularly shows to her crew that I don’t think other Trek captains ever did. 

If anything, I have to credit Kate Mulgrew for masking the inconsistent writing quite well. Janeway came off as layered and multi-faceted instead of mischaracterized. 

As for the rest of the cast: they each have their own quirks and they all helped prompt the dynamic of the team. A number of them fell flat towards the end, like Kim & Chakotay, (but I guess it was for the best because of the racist elements of the Chakotay character and Kim’s infantilization. I really wish the writers got more creative with them though.) But either way, all the chracters contributed to the crew in their own way. Each one of them did have a standout episode. They all took a while to find their footing at the beginning, but they all eventually grow into it. 

Now, when Voyager has a great episode, it’s REALLY, REALLY GREAT. 

By far my favourite episode in the entire show is the “Year of Hell”. There’s been plenty of episodes where the crew undertook mishaps but always came out unscathed. But in the “Year of Hell”, this conflict took the crew to dark, new places that really challenged their limits. They were plunged in a darker place of total despondence and desperation, where they got in each other’s nerves, they sacrificed things they love, and the situation tested their hope and will for survival. The desperate situation made for compelling interaction between the characters in how their dynamic changed after their morals were compromised. I also enjoy the laid back nature of Voyager, but I do wonder what it would’ve been like if the whole show had been like this?

Other favourites were: 

Living Witness-- a poignant examination of the nuances behind historical remembrance. An issue that is still relevant today. At first I was going to be annoyed if the point of the story is to clear Voyager’s good name, but later on, The Doctor says that the obsolete Voyager’s reputation is irrelevant to the creating peace between the two factions. *cough*Japan downplaying wartime aggression to clear their name*cough*

Timeless-- just a well-done episode. Yes, once again, they dabble into alternate timelines, but this episode brings such emotional weight and splendidly tackles the issue of survivor’s guilt. Kim’s finest moment. Also, Geordi my king!

Deadlock-- Another space-time episode, but the duplicates really posed a formidable challenge to the crew. It was also a testament to their nobility and sacrifice.

Scorpion-- the game-changer for the show. Also, Seven’s first appearance!

Equinox-- again, this episode featured the crew encountering a real moral dilemma. One of the few episodes that treated the prime directive with a non-simplistic, nuanced approach.

Resolutions, The Chute - ‘cause I’m shipper trash.

Anyway, this was tiring to write. I’m thinking of taking a break from sci-fi shows for a while, then maybe I’ll rewatch TNG or BSG again. Voyager was the only Trek I haven’t watched chronologically and it was nice to witness ‘new’ Star Trek again. This is really long, but I spent over 120 hours watching this, sooooo...

[garudabluffs]

Our quantum problem

When the deepest theory we have seems to undermine science itself, some kind of collapse looks inevitable

(In Schrödinger’s famous thought experiment, the cat’s quantum state would resolve in next to no time, leaving us with either a live cat or a dead one, not some strange quantum combination of both.)

“... beables are epiphenomena. The American psychologist William James once poetically described human consciousness as ‘Inert, uninfluential, a simple passenger in the voyage of life, it is allowed to remain on board, but not to touch the helm or handle the rigging’. Much the same might be said of a de Broglie-Bohm beable. Collapse-model beables, on the other hand, give as good as they get. Their appearance is governed by rules involving the quantum wave function, and yet, once they appear, they in turn alter the wave function. This makes for a far more interesting theory, mathematically as well as scientifically.”

“To borrow a phrase from John Bell, trying to speculate further would only be to share my confusion. No one in 1899 could have dreamed of anything like quantum theory as a fundamental description of physics: we would never have arrived at quantum theory without compelling hints from a wide range of experiments."

READ MORE https://aeon.co/essays/what-really-happens-in-schrodinger-s-box?utm_source=Aeon+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3804a22de2-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2018_05_21&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_411a82e59d-3804a22de2-70417325

[tonguethulhu]

I think human interaction sucks 90% of the time because we always expect things out of people.

We expect people to always agree with us, to not be a bigot, to always be honest, and to never have a negative thing to say against you

We all follow our own paths, like the individual waves of light flowing from the sun -

But this light is not our own - we can bend and we always find our end

We can cast a dark shade, or a shallow shadow

Any light that that seeks to place itself perpendicular to yours, must not be from the same source.

But I doubt I’ll ever be able to fully realize the human condition and all of it’s intricate contradictory absurdities, and why our interactions are always so strained.

Ultimately, we all want to connect - through sales, relationships, sex, blood, shared interests. Although, deep down we all despise each other, and ourselves as a whole.

What can we expect, or should we expect from others? That they will not hurt us? That they will not lie? Unconditional love, or unrestrained loathing?

Should we expect nothing?

Can we expect nothing?

Or is it all a matter of perspective? If we could see the shapes from multiple angles, I think we would find that it, the human condition, will appear differently from each.

Does it change if you observe it? Can you force it to bend to your will? Can you trick it to find the inedible cheese at the end of the maze?

Sometimes I think the only solution to the human condition, is to stop trying to find the solution. But if that is the case, then the suffering we are consistently presented with will never yield.

Or perhaps strife & contradictions are the only thing that make us real. The contrast - the thick black ink against the grain the off-white page.

The answer must surely lie in the philosophy of Schrodinger’s cat - that everything is true, and false, simultaneously.

“The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age.” -H.P Lovecraft

[lexicalberries]

me: this one's not terrible; it's just odd.

fic: At Voyager's welcome home party, Kathryn's and Chakotay's families surprise them with an unknown fact.

me: how can it be unknown? if the families are doing the surprising then they must know? is it a schrodinger's fact?