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.

Jeffrey Rewrites Voyager: Parallax

The first episode of Voyager got the Starfleet and Maquis crews to the Delta Quadrant, established that they are on a journey home, and established that the mixed crew will have to work together. So obviously, the second episode has to show that tension, and it also has to highlight the two characters who were glossed over in the first episode, B'Elanna and the Doctor.

Which Parallax does... in a way that makes the Maquis seem completely unimportant by burying the central conflict between the crews, to only be brought out again occasionally. In addition, Parallax gives us our first taste of a problem that only got worse and worse as the seasons wore on: Janeway, the evil megalomaniacal star tyrant.

Now keep in mind, in my rewritten universe Chakotay and the Maquis are still in their old uniforms, and Chakotay is not just Janeway's lapdog. You may want to refresh your memory by looking at last week's post.