Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager: Eye of the Needle

I consider this episode to be typical of the problem with Star Trek: Voyager. A good setup, an interesting and engaging crisis, particularly excellent acting, and a muddled ending that seems to undermine everything.

Plus, this episode makes absolutely no sense less than halfway through the first season. I mean, no sense.

Plus, it's a "Voyager may get to go home!" episode. Which automatically means the audience is just waiting for some deus ex machina excuse for why it won't work, which is what happens with every single "Voyager may get to go home!" episode to the point where I can barely remember any other distinctions between them.

At least this one has Romulans, and I love me some Romulans.

As always these rewrites will be thematic, rather than chronological. You can get a straight synopsis over at the Memory Alpha Wiki.

No respect! Nyuk nyuk nyuk.

Let's deal with the plot first, because it is the least interesting and the most stereotypical. First, all that energy loss from "The Cloud" last week? Never mentioned. Never even alluded to. Can we assume they went to that planet Neelix talked about at the end of the episode?

The idea of scarcity in a normally post-scarcity universe is a good one, and I really wish Voyager could have explored it. I am not really sure why the writers chose not to pursue this, other than the occasional line about replicator rations that seem to come and go as needed.

So the first rewrite we make is... this episode is not the sixth episode of the season. Why? Two reasons. First, it screws with continuity. The next episode, Ex Post Facto, actually takes place on a planet with an advanced civilization, where Voyager could be getting needed energy reserves. That is a much better continuity link.

I mean there was that time we... um... and that thing we...

But the second, and most important point, is the deus ex machina. At the end of this episode the excellently-played Romulan Captain R'Mor says that he could send a message to the Federation before Voyager's launch, warning them that they should not launch the mission, and what will happen if they do. Janeway says that is unacceptable, because Voyager has had an impact on the Delta Quadrant, and removing Voyager would change lives.

What? What?

What lives have been changed? Let's go over all the events since Caretaker, shall we?

1.) Parallax. Voyager was alone in a Nebula. No lives beyond Voyager were affected.

2.) Time and Again. The entire episode was "just a dream", and never happened. Even in my rewrite, the Voyager crew are still the cause of the problem they solve, and they slip in and out with as little cultural contact as possible.

3.) Phage. Granted two aliens are met in this episode, but they escape completely unchanged. There is no reasonable way to think the presence or absence of Voyager would have changed much. I know, butterfly effect and all that, but Star Trek has always shown that minor variances in a timeline are acceptable.

4.) The Cloud. Once again, Voyager causes all the problems that they later fix. Removing Voyager from the equation just means the problems were not caused in the first place, and the end result is the same.

So that leaves Caretaker. On the surface, this might have a point. Had Voyager not blown up the Caretaker's Array, the Kazon-Ogla would have taken it and used it for all sorts of mischief. Or would they? The only reason the Kazon were stirred up in the first place is because Neelix and the Voyager crew had screwed with them. In my rewrite this is more explicit, but even in the original episode it seems clear that if Voyager had never shown up, the Caretaker would have activated the self-destruct on the array and things would have been just as they were.

Why would they ever think Neelix would have an opinion?

So who does Voyager never having arrived affect? Neelix and Kes. And only Neelix and Kes. And who are the two people who are not in any way consulted about what they think? Neelix and Kes. Neelix doesn't even show up in this episode, despite having a personal stake in what happens to Voyager. Which means once again, Janeway is making decisions that affect Neelix and Kes without bothering to talk to them.

If this episode were placed in the second season, or even later in the first season, this excuse would work, but not now. But beyond tearing this episode out of its established order, what can be done?

Well, we can throw it all on the Deus Ex Machina. That is something I am reluctant to do, but since Deus Ex Machina is inherent in every "Voyager Might Get Home" story, I may as well embrace it.

In my rewrite R'Mor points out that he will have to clear all such transmissions with his government to have them sent to the Federation, but to avoid contaminating the timeline he will wait twenty years before doing so. He cannot guarantee that his government will actually send them on, and he can guarantee that his government will read them.

It's not my fault the wormhole looks like that.

Janeway has Tuvok edit out anything in the messages that might contaminate a 20-year-old timeline, and encode the whole thing on an older-style data-crystal. They do not encode the warning not to launch Voyager, however, because that in itself might contaminate the timeline. That message will be delivered personally by R'Mor.

Then, after they send R'Mor back to his own time, nothing changes. They find out R'Mor died. But Tuvok points out, logically, that it could mean any number of things. The data crystal containing messages might have been sent on to the Federation. Or perhaps the Romulan Government decided to suppress knowledge of Voyager's launch, but sent the messages on after the fact. They cannot be certain whether the messages got through or not. Which gives the faint glimmer of hope that the original episode had, but without the self-sabotage.

So, that's the plot taken care of, let's look at the characters!

She might be a Pollyanna, but at least she's no Mary Sue.

Kes is the standout actress of this episode, along with the Doctor, and her subplot is excellently done. From the first hints that Ocampa are herbivorous (with her drinking spinach juice), to her helping the Doctor realize that he is becoming more than just a hologram, she is spot on.

Because of my rewrites, I would change the bit where she talks about returning to Earth. Instead, she intends to go forward on Neelix's shuttle and keep searching for ways to save her people. But she remains good-natured about it, and says that of course she will not stand in the way of Voyager returning home. This scene should be part of her conversation with Janeway, thus making it clear that Janeway has discussed this with her. She can even mention that Neelix agrees, though he has come to love being on this ship.

Speaking of Janeway and Kes, it's clear in this episode that Janeway feels less like a Captain around Kes, and more like a mother. Which actually is a nice edge to her character, especially since Kes is cleverer and more capable than anyone realizes, causing mother-hen Janeway to underestimate her. That lets Kes do great things like convince Janeway to give the Doctor credit as a human being in this episode.

And this, right here, is why Voyager will never
measure up to The Next Generation.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that Janeway apparently knows absolutely nothing about what sentience is. For being a former science officer, she seems to know nothing about the tests the Federation has set up for sentience. One of the best TNG episodes was "The Measure of a Man", where Data goes on trial to prove he is a person, not a possession. It was a marvelous exploration of what sentience means, and the climactic trial scene in particular should be viewed by any sci-fi fan.

So why does Janeway seem so ill-equipped to discuss such things here? Kes grew up in a civilization without advanced hologram technology, or apparently artificial intelligence, so for her to insist that the Doctor is a person is very much in character. It looks and acts human, so it must be human.

Janeway should talk about the difference between an actual human and an imitation. She should say that holographic artists have created very convincing simulacrums, but that they lack the ability to pass the tests of sentience, as established in "The Measure of a Man": Intelligence (meaning not only raw data, but the ability to learn and make new connections between data), Self-Awareness, and Consciousness.

A hologram has none of these things, normally. They have a limited ability to expand and react based on their surroundings, but they only know what they are programmed to know, they do not expand on that knowledge to any significant degree. They are not self-aware, most of them do not even know that they are holograms, and even those rare ones that do assign no value to that realization. They are not conscious, in the sense of having a string of experiences bound together.

Oh, Doctor. We all wish Voyager was more than just
a rehash of fragmented plots from yesteryear...

Except the Doctor is different. He was not at first, but he has begun expanding his abilities to account for his new duties as chief medical officer. He is clearly aware of himself, of just what he is, and of his place among the crew, to the point where he can desire more than he has (that ability to desire beyond programming is a key sign of self-awareness and consciousness). And finally he seems to have a consciousness, though his programming and memories can theoretically be altered, still unaltered he builds upon his experiences.

Janeway should be talking to Kes about the tests for sentience, while Kes should point out that the Doctor has passed those. Janeway might mention that she cannot prove that for certain, and Kes can ask whether or not he should be given the benefit of the doubt.

In "Measure of a Man" this issue took the whole episode, but Janeway is a former science officer. She is almost certainly aware of the Data ruling, and her later actions toward the Doctor show that she embraces it, at least in principle. So this can still be dealt with as a mere subplot. When Kes points out that the Doctor might pass the tests for sentience, Janeway decides he should be given the opportunity to prove himself. This is far more poignant than simply arguing that he is fulfilling the functions of a human, and thus should be treated as one.

Robert Picardo's acting is spot on. The Doctor has never considered trying to be more than a hologram, but once that option is presented to him you can see how desperately he wants it, a desperate desire he probably never even recognized himself.

The Final Frontier... of SCIENCE!!

Another thing I like about this episode is the return of the Science Buddies! I like Kim and B'Elanna working together. We find out that B'Elanna was raised by Klingons, which makes sense, and they throw in a sudden outburst against Romulans that is very in-character for a Klingon. In addition, Kim's near horror as B'Elanna says she has no family to contact is perfectly in character for the naive, idealistic Starfleet Ensign. You mean some people don't have perfect families like Kim's? The horror of that realization is all over his face.

B'Elanna's jaded cynicism contrasted with Harry's idealistic optimism is why the Science Buddies relationship works, just as Tom's rugged devil-may-care attitude contrasted with Harry's by-the-book nature is why their relationship works.

Kim and B'Elanna's back-and-forth in the episode is great, except... it seems to be Kim making all of the real announcements and breakthroughs, even when they are working together. Doesn't B'Elanna outrank Kim? It seems B'Elanna is constantly being overshadowed by Kim and Janeway. She's an engineering genius. We need to see that.

But Kim is a genius too, so how do we show both?

I would define their genius carefully. B'Elanna is the technical genius. She can take a hypospray and turn it into a gatling gun. She can get every last drop of power out of a starship engine, and reconfigure shields into every possible arrangement. She can strip down anything, and rebuild it to make it better.

Kim is the theoretical science genius. He's able to take warp field theory, or temporal mechanics, and extrapolate the next big discovery. He's able to look at a wormhole, an realize that if they disrupted its phase variance by just a bit, they can change its properties.

Okay. You have some kind of identity crisis regarding your
Klingon half, and I'll fall in love with an unattainable woman.

This is how they work together. If they come across a piece of alien technology, B'Elanna finds out how it works, Harry finds out how to make it even better, and then B'Elanna builds what Harry has devised. That is the Science Buddy way.

So during this episode Harry figures out that they could get a message through the wormhole past the phase variance, and B'Elanna figures out how to use the microprobe to do that. B'Elanna realizes that the subspace signal is very close to a transporter signal, Harry does the calculations on how to account for the phase variance, and B'Elanna figures out how to make the transporters do that.

This way they are no longer stepping on each other's toes, they are feeding on each other's skill, turning into a scientific tour de force. And that is awesome.

There is one other theory I want to float. This is the last episode where Janeway really wants to go home. You can see it in her expression when she utters those fateful lines at the end, "Then let's move on." She tried, with all her might, to make this happen. She sought every possibility. And fate snatched it away from her by killing R'Mor four years before he could deliver their message.

Hopeful Captain Janeway is gone. This is the true birth of Janeway, Star Tyrant. No more does she want to get home. Now, survival means everything. And survival means keeping her iron grip over her ship. It's all she has left.

Now, it might surprise my readers, but I would keep that in there. Because I want that edge to her personality. I want her to be the cold, pragmatic one, contrasted to Chakotay's more idealistic, empathetic one. Of course, as my rewrites continue, I will have her struggle against this colder, darker side of herself, instead of surrendering to it as she does in the show.

Ultimately the plot accomplishes nothing, just as all "Voyager Might Get Home" plots accomplish nothing, which is why I hate them. But there is some good character development in here. It is certainly not the worst Voyager show. And that's the best thing I can say about it.

That's right, Kate Mulgrew. Go for that Emmy.