Today on "Making Sense of Voyager's Wacky Continuity," we will discuss the Vulcans aboard the U.S.S. Voyager. Namely, where the hell they were that whole time.
Officially, "Voyager" only showed us four Vulcan crew members: Tuvok, Vorik, the nurse killed in "Caretaker," and the Maquis woman in "Repression" (Season 7).
But these are not the only ones. Multiple episodes all the way up to "Endgame" confirm that there are more Vulcans onboard.
In “Endgame," Janeway asks Tuvok if his condition can be helped by one of the other Vulcans on Voyager, and Tuvok says, “None of them are compatible.” He doesn't say "neither of them are compatible," but "none of them," indicating that there are more than two other Vulcans.
So where have they been all this time?
Hiding in plain sight, perhaps?
There are plenty of crew members in the background whose ears and eyebrows are either hidden by hair, or just out of focus. We can fudge some of them into being among the other Vulcans, or part-Vulcan hybrids. Here are a few candidates:
Blonde hair isn't common among full-blooded Vulcans. But if Sela, the human/Romulan hybrid, can be blonde, then surely a Vulcan/Human hybrid can be as well.
Another possible hybrid is Ensign Swinn, from "Resolutions" (Season 3). The writers probably meant her to be Human, but the actress's natural ears make it easy to presume that her character has some Vulcan ancestry.
Then there's this background crewman. Again, this is just how the actor looks in real life (I assume). But in-universe, Vulcan ancestry is highly suspect.
...but why didn't we ever hear about them?
In "The Huanting of Deck Twelve" (Season 6), the computer lists several names while glitching out. Among them are "Ensign Trumari" and "Crewman Unai." Multiple fans have decided that Ensign Trumari is that Maquis Vulcan (or Romulan!) in "Repression." As for Unai, that could be a Vulcan name, or it could be African, Asian, or any number of Earth cultures that could use more representation in "Trek."
Additionally, many aliens on "Star Trek" have names that happen to also be names on Earth. Spock, Lon Suder, (Natima) Lang, Kang, Dax, (Lenara) Kahn... So it's entirely possible that some of the Human-sounding names we hear could actually be non-human crew members, especially if the spelling is never confirmed onscreen. "Macormak" may be an Irish name on Earth, but it could plausibly also be Vulcan. "Ensign Ryson" might really be Ry'sinn.
Then there's the possibility of aliens just having Human names, for whatever reason. Adoption, mixed heritage, parents naming a child after a Human friend, etc.
"Blood Fever" (Season 3)
This episode left many viewers with the impression that Voyager had no female Vulcans, or even that Vorik and Tuvok are the only two Vulcans onboard period. But neither is ever said in the episode. And there are plenty of reasons why Vorik wouldn't just mate with one of the Vulcan women onboard: she's married, she's gay, she's impotent, she's taken a vow of chastity, she's got a telepathic STD, she's just not into him...or, most likely, Vorik is just a picky son of a bitch who won't settle for any less than B'Elanna Torres.
Counterpoint (Season 5)
Oy. This one is the hardest to get around, but I'll try.
"Counterpoint" is a fantastic episode. But if it has one sin, it's the continuity error of stating that Vorik and Tuvok are Voyager's only Vulcans. Still, we might be able to fudge our way around this.
Why didn't Janeway mention the other Vulcans to Kashyk?
Why would she? She likely couldn't hide Tuvok and Vorik's contributions to the mission from Voyager's logs. But if the other Vulcans weren't involved in any major incidents involving their telepathy, then maybe it was easier for Janeway to conceal their existence from the Devore.
For the record, when discussing Voyager's telepaths, there is no mention Kes, Stadi, and the Vulcan nurse from "Caretaker," although Lon Suder does come up. Why Suder was more noticeable to Kashyk than those other three is anyone's guess. The point is, if Kes, Stadi and the nurse--all once members of Voyager's senior staff--never came up in the discussions of telepaths, then there can easily be more lower-decks telepaths who also went unmentioned.
So, where were the other Vulcans in "Counterpoint?"
Maybe they were just off camera. Maybe the other Vulcans were in transport stasis, and re-materialized just out of the audience's line of sight.
Or, maybe they didn't have to hide in stasis, because they could conceal their telepathy from the Devore scans. This could be due to mixed ancestry, or having not used their telepathy in many years, or maybe just some very difficult mental tricks that not all Vulcans can perform. The Doctor could make them appear human temporarily, although he'd have to do so in a way that would fool Devore scans.
In conclusion, we can find the other Vulcans on Voyager, if our imaginations are elastic enough.
A massive major thanks to Memory Alpha and TrekCore. Memory Alpha's lists of every unnamed background crew member, and TrekCore's screencaps of every episode from every "Star Trek" series, make it possible for nerds like me to obsess endlessly over irrelevant shit. More "Voyager" ramblings are to come!
Time to dive back into the age-old debate of Voyager's crew complement
The stated number of crew members on Voyager fluctuates throughout the series, as it should. They lose and gain many people over the course of seven years. However, the number is always between 140 and 160 people. The number of named crew members listed on Memory Alpha is something like twice that amount, if not more.
On top of that, a disproportionate number of the names are Human and Western. Not unusual for a list of U.S. Air Force officers from the 21st Century, but for a Starfleet crew in the 24th Century? Unlikely.
And some of the names are just plain impossible. We have commanders and lieutenant commanders listed in the duty rosters, who aren't members of the senior staff. And we have names that keep appearing in various ships and space stations, at the same time! Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Jeri Taylor, etc. They love to hide the names of behind-the-scenes people in those lists as Easter Eggs, but I want an in-universe explanation.
Given all of the damage, repairs and updates Voyager undergoes, it's not a stretch that the duty rosters are just glitchy, and regularly burp up random names that are not real crew members.
I like to think that with the lack of entertainment in the Delta Quadrant, many officers get a kick out of seeing what wild names the computer will generate today. "Where does the computer keep getting this 'Commander Jeri Taylor' from?"
Some specific names might even have become telltale signs that the ship's systems are malfunctioning.
"Uh-oh...uh, Lieutenant? It looks like we've got 'Charlie Quizzlink' joining us again today."
B'Elanna clenches her teeth, and mutters under her breath, "Seven! That damn drone is performing an unauthorized upgrade again, I'll bet!"
That said, some of the names must be real. Ironically, those listed names tend to do a much better job at representing Starfleet's global diversity than the names we hear onscreen, which tend to be very generic and British.
As stated in my other post, the onscreen characters probably have generic Western names so that the studio doens't have to worry about which extra to cast. But for names that only appear in writing, anything goes. And funny enough, with many of these names they didn't even have to try: they tend to be names of behind-the-scenes production staff, who were just naturally a diverse bunch.
Some personal favorites of mine, that I chose to believe are real crew members on Voyager:
Kristine Fernandez
Arlene Fukai
Diane Overdeik
David Orlando
Hindaki Shibunawa
Ikuyo Seuphon
Lisa De Moraes
Bob De La Garza
Jon Djanrelian
Suzi Shimizu
Abraham Rawski
Zayra Cabot
Mary-Ellen Bosche
Pierre Rhan
Evelyn Rameau
Maricella Ramirez
Cosmo Genovese
George Rosa
David Rossi
Henri Scheimer
Wendy Drapanas
Fernando Sepuvelda
India Shigihara (probably an off-worlder, named for her family's home country)
Brad Yacobian
Dawn Velasquez
Elaina Vescio
Jessica Leong
Art Codron (I say it's French a woman, named Artemise)
...I know you can't judge a book by its cover. But these names imply far more intriguing characters than "Crewman Foster" or "Ensign Hickman." This actually looks like a crew of people from around Earth and its colonies, each with their own special place back in the Alpha Quadrant that they miss.
Likely glitch names:
Charlie Quizzlink
John Schoolcraft
Keith Rockefeller
Waverly Smothers
...Yes, that last one is a real name of a real staff member on "Star Trek." Truth can be stranger than fiction. And hey, it's the future. So even Charlie Quizzlink and John Schoolcraft could be real. But there's something surreal about these names, that makes them feel like something a glitching computer would surprise you with.
Definitely glitch names:
Commander Rick Berman
Commander Brannon Braga
Commander Jeri Taylor
Ken Biller (he's listed on both Voyager and the Prometheus, while the two ships are on opposite sides of the galaxy!)
...alternatively, these might not be glitches, but code names for restricted files. Though one would think a code name would be less conspicuous. Maybe some of those generic boring names are the restricted files.
In conclusion...
Memory Alpha lists something like 300 crew members for Voyager, which is too many.
By eliminating names that:
Only appear in writing
Only appear in a dream, hallucination, or the holodeck
Can plausibly be aliases
Can plausibly be misspeaks by characters
Are redundant repeats (Memory Alpha assuming that any discrepancy in a background character means it's a new character)
....brings that number all the way down to about 130 or so. And that's including people who died or left the ship.
Adding the 27-30 written names I really like bumps it back up to about 160. Again, including crew members who didn't end up sticking around.
Making room for those cool written names might involve some fudging of the boring names we hear onscreen, but it's doable if your brain is elastic enough. And my brain is silly putty.
Megan and Jenny Delaney seem to be fairly beloved minor characters on "Voyager." And like most of "Voyager's" supporting cast, their characters were severely undeserved. We saw them onscreen only once, in "Thirty Days" (Season 5), and only in their "Captain Proton" costumes; that image of them in their green science uniforms comes from a deleted scene, that doesn't seem to be available to the public.
In seven years, we learn very little about them. We never find out how or why two sisters are serving aboard the same ship. (Seems a bit unusual.) When Borg twins Azan and Rebi come aboard, no one ever mentions the Delaney sisters. (One might think two pairs of twins would have some common ground.) No one ever remarks on the fact that their family lost two daughters. Whenever the twins are mentioned, their purpose in the story boils down to "hot twins" gags. And even that goes underused; sexy twins searching for dates in the Delta Quadrant could've led to some amusing anecdotes, with them hooking up with aliens or something.
What a missed opportunity.
For those who read fanfiction, "My Sister's Caretaker," by Yours Truly, describes how the two sisters ended up on the same ship, and why they were among the first onboard to forgive Tom Paris for his past. Laura Schiller's story, "We to I," has Megan Delaney counseling Rebi about disagreements with one's twin.
At any rate, I've gone through the screencaps on TrekCore hunting for background ladies who could plausibly be Megan or Jenny.
Actors Are No Object
Canadian actresses Heidi and Alissa Kramer played Megan and Jenny respectively, in the episode "Thirty Days" (Season 5). Though the Kramers never appeared again on "Voyager," that doesn't mean Megan and Jenny didn't. "Star Trek" frequently recasts its recurring characters, often with no subtlety at all. (Captain Braxton and Naomi Wildman, for instance.) The actors just need to look close-enough.
Add that people change their hair, and Voyager's crew-members frequently seem to change departments (and thus uniform colors), and....it's still surprisingly hard to find women who could plausibly be the sisters. But I tried.
Another thing to note is that while Tom Paris does say that the twins "do everything together," he only says that very early into Voyager's journey ("Time and Again"). Obviously the sisters would need each other's emotional support after being suddenly stranded in the Delta Quadrant. But once they settled into the situation, there's no reason to think that the sisters were never apart from each other for seven years.
"Learning Curve" (Season 1)
It might be one of the Delaneys who lets Chell drink her water during his jog around the ship. We don't see many other people in the Mess Hall at this time, and no other woman who looks like the other twin. But they don't literally have to do everything together.
We only see this woman from the back. But from the back she looks a hell of a lot like a Delaney, with short hair. The guy she's with could just be a friend; but this has the feel of a date, which would be in line with the Delaney twins' flirtatious reputations.
"Lifesigns" (Season 2)
I'm gonna say that's a Delaney at the science station.
...and behind the Doc in Sandrine's.
...and watching Tom Paris shove Chakotay to the ground, on the Bridge. (Sorry, this is the best screencap I could get.)
"Year of Hell" (Season 4)
It's hard to see much with this dark lighting. But the blonde woman next to Tuvok has a similar facial structure to the Delaneys. We can assume that 24th Century methods for hair coloring don't fade like modern hair dye, so if Megan or Jenny tinted her hair blonde before things got bad, it would stay blond until she deliberately changed it back again. We can also presume that Neelix isn't the only one who switched departments and got a new uniform, in this timeline. The only other woman who looks like a plausible match is this injured crewmember.
It may also be that one or both twins are simply not visible to the audience. It's a dark Mess Hall, and there are surely more survivors that just what we see here onscreen. Given that it's the Year of Hell, it's also possible that one of the twins has died by this point.
"Relativity" (Season 5)
A woman resembling one of the Delaneys observes the ping-pong game, notably standing near Harry Kim.
"Repression" (Season 7)
The Delaney sisters love the holodeck and cosplaying. Naturally they'd attend Tom's showing of "Bride of the Corpse." It's true that when we first saw this program at the start of the episode, the audience members dressed like the 1950s were all holograms who were just part of the program. But given how popular costume-LARPing is in the 24th Century, there's no reason not to think that at least some of these 50s-dressed people are Voyager crewmembers dressing for the occasion.
I see two women who could easily be the Delaney twins. One sitting with Harry Kim, the other right behind them with an brown-haired man. Since Megan is said to be the more "artistic" twin, she might be more likely to dress up in period clothing for a '50s movie showing. Maybe she decided to give Harry a chance after all! Or maybe Harry finally decided to give Jenny a chance, and it's bold athletic Jenny who decided to dress up while shy Megan stayed in uniform.
I never noticed, but it looks like Seven and the Doctor are there too (right behind who I take to be Jenny Delaney and her date).
But what about that Maquis meeting earlier in the episode? Most official sources assume that Megan and Jenny were both from Janeway's original Starfleet crew, but that's never confirmed. I've always liked to think that one twin was Maquis, and the other transferred to Voyager while trying to find her runaway sister. But if that's so, we don't see anyone during the Maquis meeting who looks particularly like the Delaneys. But if the Maquis twin changed her uniform and/or hair color, she could be one of the women seen only from the back. There's also a green shoulder in the back with no clearly identifiable owner, that could also be a Delaney.
"Author, Author" (Season 7)
The one on the far left in green, at least, can be one of the twins. None of the other women looks similar enough to plausibly be her identical twin, unless we say that one twin is recovering from severe facial injuries of some sort. Again, the twins don't have to be together everywhere.
"Shattered" (Season 7)
This Maquis woman could arguably be one of the twins. Begging your pardon for the self-promotion again, "My Sister's Caretaker" has Megan Delaney as the Maquis twin. I'm leaning towards presuming that this is her. It seems like the kind of loose clothing a bohemian artist would wear. (One might think athletic, aggressive Jenny would be the Maquis. But I felt that was too obvious. Megan, as the "quiet, artistic, sensitive" twin, moved far out with artsy friends to a colony, and joined a passionate Resistance, while competitive athletic Jenny pursued a rigid Starfleet career. But that's purely my personal interpretation of these underutilized characters; to each their own.)
"Homestead" (Season 7)
That certainly looks like a Delaney, behind Harry Kim. I don't see anyone in this shot who looks close enough to her to be the other twin, but it's a big Mess Hall.
During his final walk out of Voyager, Neelix passes one brunette science officer....
...and then another who looks just like her!
If this wasn't deliberate than...wow. Those probably aren't identical twins in real life, but they certainly look like they're intended to be the Delaneys! One might expect the sisters to stand closer together. But given their playful personalities, maybe they wanted to "confuse" Neelix one last time, as their own way of saying goodbye.
Today on "'Voyager's' (lack of) Continuity," we discuss Ensign Lang. A woman in Season 3 and early Season 4; then a POC man from mid-Season 4 onward, with the first name of Timothy.
The female Ensign Lang (Deborah Levin) plays a significant role in "Displaced," Season 3. She appeared before that in "Blood Fever," and afterwards in "Year of Hell" (Season 4.) She was seen operating Tuvok's security station in his absence more than once, indicating that she was a Security Officer.
The man pictured above (played by Sylvester Foster) first appeared as a security guard in "Scientific Method." He appeared as a Security Officer many more times, finally being identified as "Crewman Lang" in "Warhead," at the end of Season 5.
Then, in "Imperfection" (early Season 7), Tech. Timothy Lang appears in a list of Voyager's casualties.
Memory Alpha presumes that "Tech Timothy Lang" is the same man as "Crewman Lang." But this isn't confirmed, as far as I know.
How many Langs we got on this ship anyhow?
Lang is a common surname. But Voyager's relatively-small crew is comprised of people from all over Earth, plus a few other planets. That lowers the probability of the same surname appearing twice by coincidence. Still not implausible though.
Since it's the 24th Century, one might think that there's one Lang who underwent some physical transformation. Lang could be transgender (and transracial?). Lang could be an alien who "regenerates" like in "Dr. Who." But if so, then Lang transformed more than once, because in "Relativity" (Season 5), we're shown that this man was already a crewmember in Voyager's second year in the Delta Quadrant.
...however, he is never called "Lang" in that episode. His name is never clarified in that episode at all.
This opens up another possibility: this man's last name was originally something else. Then, prior to "Warhead," he married Ensign Lang, and took his wife's surname. It's the 24th Century after all.
I never cared for the idea that the ten main characters were the only ones having life-changing experiences, while the rest of the crew just pressed buttons for seven years. I like to think that the Langs had a full story playing out over the course of Voyager's journey. They fell in love on Voyager, and got married some time before "Warhead." Timothy wanted to leave his old surname behind, for whatever reason. (Maybe he had issues with his family; or maybe he was an orphan assigned a surname that never meant anything to him; who knows.) Then, some time prior to "Imperfection," Timothy died. Maybe he was a casualty in "Equinox," or maybe he died in the battle against the Borg in "Unimatrix Zero."
Or maybe two boring humans with the same common surname boarded Voyager in "Caretaker." And pushed buttons for seven years.
When Tom Paris's "West Wing" program infected Voyager's casualty lists:
I'm not being a smartass. That's my actual in-universe explanation for this nonsense.
For those who don't know, this screencap is from the Season 7 episode "Imperfection." Seven of Nine brings up a list of crewmembers who Voyager has lost over the course of its journey. The first three names are real crewmembers. (Marie Kaplan, Lyndsay Ballard, Timothy Lang.) The rest are all characters from "The West Wing."
This lame inside-joke really screws Voyager's continuity. We could say that these West Wing names are crewmembers who died in "Caretaker." But one of them is a friggin' Commander, a higher rank than Voyager's original First Officer, Lt. Commander Cavit!
Okay, maybe Commander J. Bartlett was on temporary assignment to oversee the arrest of the Maquis. One of those Lt. Commanders could be Voyager's original doctor, who wore the rank pips of a Lt. Commander. Maybe it's just a coincidence that all the names on this casualty list are Human, and European at that. The names on listed crew manifests throughout the series far exceeds Voyager's stated crew complement of 140-160 people, indicating regular glitches in the duty rosters. But maybe these seven schmucks are real crewmembers, who just happen to all have European names, and who were never mentioned in dialogue or writing until now.
Or maybe this has something to do with the fact that Voyager just got out of a major battle with the Borg in the previous episode ("Unimatrix Zero"). Where would a damaged computer pull names from a popular 20th Century television program? Most likely, from the same part of the ship that contains information on other 20th Century programs. Tom Paris watches "The Untouchables" and "Loony Tunes" on his TV, so it's not a stretch that he had also begun watching "The West Wing" at the time Voyager had its most recent battle.
I can't wait to see B'Elanna's reaction when she sees this.
