Finally, we’ve made it to the Delta Quadrant in A Star to Steer Her By’s character spotlight series, as we turn our focus to the crew from Voyager. And who better to start us off than our intrepid Intrepid-class leader, Captain Kathryn Janeway? She stalwartly leads the crew through uncharted space, wheels and deals with new alien species, kicks countless asses, and drinks copious amounts of coffee. What’s not to like?
Well, some things, as you’ll see below in our patented list of all Janeway’s Best and Worst Moments throughout the series (and beyond!). What’s in the Delta Quadrant doesn’t actually stay in the Delta Quadrant, you see. So count the number of times Janeway self-destructs the ship as you read on below and listen to our countdown timer over on this week’s podcast episode (T-minus 57:33). There’s coffee in this blogpost!
Ralkana? He said you’d been shot.
One of the early gems of Voyager is “Resistance,” and Kate Mulgrew is on high display throughout. When she comes to understand Caylem’s tragic history, Janeway embraces his cause with compassion and empathy. And when the poor, senile man is dying and continues to mistake her for his daughter, Janeway lets him believe his delusions because they’re all he has.
Hello. I’m Captain Kathryn Janeway. Welcome to the Bridge.
We joke a lot on A Star to Steer Her By that Janeway’s go-to tactic is self-destructing the ship. And she gets to actually carry that through for the first (but not last) time in “Deadlock,” taking out a whole bunch of Vidiians with her. Lucky for us, a spare Voyager crew (including a bonus Harry and Naomi) are saved as a result, since any other time it’s a trick you can only pull once.
There’s nothing to fear… except Kathryn Janeway
Throughout the sensory-overload nightmare fuel that is “The Thaw,” Fear the Clown torments the people within his holo-environment until he crosses paths with Captain Janeway and she proves to be the most cold-blooded of them all. She cleverly tricks him into releasing the hostages before ripping the rug out from under him with the reveal that she isn’t really there.
You’re part of a family now, and you have obligations
Watching the crew become more of a family as the seasons progress is a highlight of Voyager, and the way Janeway comes to trust Neelix is lovely to watch. In “Macrocosm,” she makes him an ambassador, and an episode later in “Fair Trade,” her “you’re part of our family” speech when Neelix admits to feeling like he no longer has a purpose on the ship proves how she values him.
Time’s up
Not only is “Year of Hell” one of the best two-parters in all of Star Trek, but it also has yet another instance of Janeway destroying the ship! She takes it upon herself to save her crew from the Krenim and their very pretty, very powerful timeship by plowing what’s left of the Voyager directly into that sucker. And she even gets a great sendoff line to go with it!
For what it’s worth, you made a tempting offer
If we’ve learned anything from the first several seasons, it’s don’t cross Janeway or she will double-, triple-, or quadruple-cross you right back. Evidently, no one clued in Kashyk in “Counterpoint” because he tries to use her to find a wormhole and nab some telepaths, but she’s been prepared for that the whole time. Pity, the two of them were almost cute together.
I’m a little busy right now, helping a friend
It takes her quite a while (most of the series even), but Janeway slowly makes steps to accepting the EMH as people. By “Latent Image,” she’s agreed to let him process his trauma, even though it would be much easier to deal with if she just erased it (again) like the program he is. She even sits with him while he has existential crisis after existential crisis.
Her Royal Highness, Arachnia, Queen of the Spiderpeople!
As far as comedy episodes go, “Bride of Chaotica!” is one of our favorites. You can tell everyone’s having so much fun, especially Kate Mulgrew as she throws herself fully into the over-the-top role of Queen Arachnia. Janeway pretending to be a B-movie villainess is just candy to watch, and she saves the invaders from the fifth dimension. All in a day’s work!
I make a better you than you
Jake thinks he’s very funny in making me include this one on the Janeway list, but here we go. So Dala in “Live Fast and Prosper” isn’t really Janeway, but she does make cunning deals and schemes with the best of them. And hell, the bonafide Janeway delivers as well by foiling her counterpart’s dastardly plans and throwing her in the brig where she belongs.
I’ll start my own Federation, with blackjack and hookers
When the Voyager is stuck in the titular void from “The Void,” everyone’s begging to resort to piracy – it just looks so fun! – but Janeway puts her foot down. Despite being so far from home, she has tried her darndest to unhold Starfleet ideals, and starting her own miniature Federation is her way of showing that people are better when they work together. Void friends forever!
Must’ve been something you assimilated
While I could pick on Admiral Janeway for breaking the Temporal Prime Directive in “Endgame,” I’m just too impressed by how she so thoroughly owns the Borg Queen. She knows diplomacy won’t get her anywhere with the Borg, so she lets herself get assimilated to pass on a neurolytic pathogen that takes out the whole collective and saves Voyager!
Set your compass to Starfleet
Finally, we’ve been pretty forthright about our love for Star Trek: Prodigy, and Admiral Janeway really gets some great moments to chew the CGI scenery. In the season one finale, “Supernova,” she stands up for the Protostar crew, especially sticking her neck out for Dal in a way that is so pure and supportive that you root for the whole group. We're so excited to watch season two when it’s up on Netflix!
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Worst moments
And if you win you get this shiny banjo made of gold
What the whole series boils down to is the long journey to get home from the Delta Quadrant… but it’s kinda Janway’s fault they’re stuck there in the first place due to her needlessly selfless actions in “Caretaker.” And then there are countless opportunities to get home after that that she squanders to uphold Starfleet rules. Who’s gonna know, Janeway?
The Trolley Problem solution for maximum murder
Probably the most infamous action Janeway takes is the murder of Tuvix in the eponymous “Tuvix.” Sure, it’s to get two crewmembers back, and I’ve heard that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one, but it is straight-up cruel the way she forces Tuvix to medbay against his will, kicking and screaming the whole way that he wants to live.
I couldn’t help it, said the scorpion. It’s my nature.
Boy, does Janeway know how to put her crew in needless danger by making snap decisions and then arguing about them a lot (a lot) with Chakotay. Her decision to team up with the Borg in “Scorpion” against the newly introduced Species 8472 is frankly insane. There’s no reasoning with Borg, lady. I’m with Chakotay on this one: you can only trust a scorpion to sting you.
You must comply
In “Scorpion,” Janeway promises to return Seven to the collective when they finish the whole Species 8472 thing, but instead Janeway straight up kidnaps the poor drone and makes the decision to deprogram her in “The Gift” like the cult victim Seven is. It’s all entirely against Seven’s wishes and a little uncomfortable to watch because our new Borg has no agency yet.
Get down with your bad self
Okay, Jake is being a pill again and insists we include Janeway’s fictional counterpart from “Living Witness” using biogenic weapons against the Kyrians. And yeah, it’s not actually Janeway – it’s a purely fabricated story the Kyrians concocted for their biased history program – but ya know what: I love how diabolical and ruthless this Janeway is so much that I’ll include it.
I’ll be benefiting from other people’s suffering
Even more uncomfortable than watching Janeway force individuality on Seven is watching Janeway straight up ignore the DNR from Torres in “Nothing Human.” We sorta get that Seven can’t make her own decisions because she’s essentially a cult victim, but Torres is of sound mind when she refuses to accept surgery from Crell Moset and Janeway won’t hear it.
Sit in the corner and think about what you did
We did a whole other blogpost about when it’s a good idea to break or uphold the Prime Directive after watching “Thirty Days.” Janeway refuses to let Tom save the Moneans and throws him in the brig for a month for trying to help them. It’s inconsistent to say the least when captains decide to hide behind the almighty Prime Directive, and Janeway is the biggest offender.
You’re malfunctioning, and you need to be repaired
We praised Janeway a moment ago about how she respects the Doctor’s agency in “Latent Image,” but all through the series leading up to that, she struggles to think of him as a sapient person. It’s revealed in this episode that she’d ordered his memories of Jetal wiped as a way to deal with his trauma – something she’d surely never do to one of her solid crew members.
The Handbook on Personal Relationships is three centimeters thick
Season 5 is well represented in this list, and you’d think that after that long, Janeway would have a modicum of respect for her forever ensign, Harry Kim. But in “The Disease,” she sets a double standard out of nowhere that crew members can’t bang aliens without permission. Hello? Janeway, everyone has already broken that, not just Harry, your special little boy.
Every captain gets a little torture as a treat!
We get to watch Janeway go full Captain Ahab on the Equinox crew in “Equinox.” She hunts down Ransom like he’s her white whale. She tortures Lessing for information. And then she fires Chakotay for doing his job of being the most moral character in the room. It all feels out of character, but that’s kinda the point because this is what the Delta Quadrant pushes people to.
Delete the wife
Speaking of seeming out of character. In “Fair Haven,” Janeway designs herself a holo-boyfriend and then falls head-over-heels in love with it. We fully support the captain going and getting holo-laid, especially since it’s unethical to bang her subordinates, but she should know better that this guy is just a sex toy and not a real person – she did program him that way!
Two Janeways are better than one
There’s a whole new meaning to arguing with yourself in “Endgame.” Turns out, Admiral Janeway originally doesn’t want to wreck up the Borg as we gave her credit for above, but withholds her plan from her younger self and then tries to pull rank while everyone else is rallying to save millions by taking out the Borg. Ladies, can’t we just work together… to kill Borg!
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And we’ve finally made it home to the Alpha Quadrant! That’s all from Janeway today, but we’ve got her whole crew to peruse through for the upcoming weeks, so make sure you’re venturing through Voyager with us here, follow along with our Enterprise watchthrough on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, sip some coffee with us over on Facebook and Twitter, and lift your mugs to a toast: to the journey!
With a double-dose of DS9 behind it, it's time to pop over to the Delta Quadrant to try our hand at recasting Voyager. It's possibly some of our most eclectic choices yet, but there's also a fair share of overlap. Let's get to it with:
Jake's Cast
Jake has largely plumbed the world of science fiction franchises for his cast this week; we've got some recurring faces from his and others' previous choices. But also there's some famous faces from the world of comedy.
[Janeway: Sigourney Weaver; Chakotay: Esai Morales; Tuvok: Chad L. Coleman; Torres: Gina Torres; Paris: Katee Sackhoff; Kim: Grace Park; The Doctor: Bald Asshole Larry David; Neelix: Nathan Lane; Kes: Karen Gillan; Seven: Lee Pace]
Caitlin's Cast
Caitlin continues her pattern of moving a Trek regular over from another cast, as well as moving a Voyager guest into a regular role. But we've also got possibly our first stage actor pick, and a Jake pick in a different role.
[Janeway: Patricia Arquette; Chakotay: Dallas Goldtooth; Tuvok: Samira Wiley; Torres: Jennifer Lopez; Paris: Connor Trinneer; Kim: Natalie Dew; The Doctor: Kurtwood Smith; Neelix: John Candy; Kes: Kristen Bell; Seven: Sigourney Weaver]
Ames's Cast
A lot of unexpected picks from Ames this week, but they all make a crazy kind of sense. It's a mix of comedians, sci-fi alumni, and a certain former boy wizard turned seeker of quirky roles. We also get a 1:1 overlap between her and Jake.
[Janeway: Amy Poehler; Chakotay: Common; Tuvok: Jason Momoa; Torres: Lupita Nyong'o; Paris: Katee Sackhoff; Kim: Selena Gomez; The Doctor: Daniel Radcliffe; Neelix: Jennifer Coolidge; Kes: Dave Foley; Seven: Adam Driver]
Chris's Cast
Chris took this opportunity to bring up Mystery Men, which he manages to bring up way too often. He's also got a double 1:1 overlap with Jake, an Ames-inspired pick, an unintended Trek recast, and his usual "someone I saw recently" choices.
[Janeway: Sigourney Weaver; Chakotay: Wes Studi; Tuvok: Idris Elba; Torres: Gina Torres; Paris: Cary Elwes; Kim: Steven Yeun; The Doctor: Jane Lynch; Neelix: Robin Williams; Kes: Amanda Seyfried; Seven: Léa Seydoux]
And that's our next one down. Enjoy these ones? Got some of your own you'd prefer? Any chance you found us accidentally and have NO IDEA who we are? Check out our podcast on your favorite podcasting application, over on Soundcloud, or our YouTube channel. You can also find us on BlueSky or, if you're an old like us, Facebook.
One series to go in this little project, folks! So if you want to see how we consign people to Enterprise be sure to come back next week!
Tuvok & Seven co-parenting the borg children should've been real and canon like it is in my heart. It makes sense that Seven suggests Neelix as a good possible caregiver but with how ready Tuvok was to take responsibility for Tressa in 'Innocence' it seems to me like such a wasted opportunity that he doesn't really seem involved at all with the Borg children.
With my ha-ha glasses on, there's comedic potential in their dynamic and I think certain people on the ship would hint that it might be the catalyst for a romance but there is 0 romance between them. They're both such proud, I'm-better-than-you type people and I know they'd have strong opinions on how to raise the Borg children that sometimes conflict. 'My Ex-Borg Drone is an Honor Student' type PTA parents. The potential for Tuvok being the (comparatively) more easygoing one is also quite funny.
Also, with my sincerity goggles on, I can easily imagine Seven becoming overwhelmed with the sudden responsibility of caring for four children. I understand that everyone on Voyager sort of cares for all the children but Seven is placed as their primary guardian/mother-figure which is a lot to put on someone who's only been fully sentient for a few years herself. Just learned how to eat solid foods semi-recently and now she's a single mom?
I think there could be an episode where Seven is clearly struggling with managing four children, her own work duties, her desire to be alone/pursue her own interests, and everyone's expectations for her (womanhood, humanity etc). No one's behind malicious but it's a lot of critiques coming from all sides. Then one evening she's working in astrometrics before someone...B'Elanna? Comes in for some work thing and is like "So, how did the bedtime story go?" because the kids were excited for Seven to read them to sleep and Seven's like I Have To Go Right Now so she rushes to the cargo bay expecting to see a lot of disappointed faces but instead Tuvok's in there, reading aloud.
Tuvok gestures for her to stay quiet and finishes the last line. Mezoti, the last clinger-on, finally lets herself regenerate.
Seven and Tuvok talk in his quarters about how difficult Seven's been finding the task of essentially raising four kids because I think she'd put a lot pressure on herself because of her personality + Janeway's expectations since she was the one who said Seven should be their guardian. I also think she'd be bewildered by not being able to do this 'task' efficiently.
Tuvok talks about how he also found the experience of being a father difficult and bewildering, and he only had one child at the start. He encourages Seven to rely even more on others, that it won't make anyone think less of her for "not being able to handle it" and gives examples from his own life. He makes a point to tell her about how Janeway also helped from time to time - covering his shift or picking up one of his kids etc, to show Seven that he doesn't believe Janeway wants her to try to do everything alone.
Seven thinks about this for the night. The next day, in the mess hall, she suggests in front of everyone "We should raise the children together. As a unit." Tuvok's confused. Seven says she noticed a lot of responsibility was shared between Tuvok and his wife. A parental unit. It also leaves the children with another primary caregiver in case one of them dies. ("Dies?" Mezoti asks so Tuvok pulls Seven away).
Tuvok tries to explain that he meant more 'it takes a village' (in his Vulcan way) but Seven is like "You like the children. You've raised children. You are reliable. You are more knowledgeable in certain aspects of this general process while I possess superior knowledge of their unique ex-Borg needs. You told me to rely on others. The children can't stop talking about story time. Are you in?" and Tuvok, somewhat dazed, agrees. Seven says Good. Then she leaves.
Tom claps Tuvok on the shoulder. "Congratulations, Dad!"
Hey, so in Spain, recently, there's been a big issue and it's still going on.
Please watch this video to know what is happening rn.
People are suffering and there have been incidents already.
Also, excuse my pronunciation, I was very nervous here.
Not many people are talking about this. We can't do much but WE NEED TO KEEP PUSHINGGGGG.
Before you call ME racist too, people have been attacked already.
People in Ceuta can't sleep. They're scared. And calling them racist just makes it worse.
No, immigrants aren't bad. Hell, I know a lot of immigrants! My mom is one herself. Who knows, maybe in a future I'll be an immigrant as well because Spain is getting worse.
One thing is immigrants, another is people who get sent to my country because they are not wanted in theirs for being extremely problematic (thieving, murdering, raping ect ect...)
If you want proof and source, I'll give it to you. People are CRYING and BEGGING for help.
If you don't empathize, you're just another drop in the bucket, fuck you.
If you're still reading this, please, make this post viral.
Please, all the people in Spain, stay safe. This is a problem. Coming to a country is not the problem, stealing, murdering and raping, that's the problem.
These are not immigrants. They are terrorists. Immigrants want a peaceful life, terrorists bring destruction and chaos.
I can’t believe this. I used to live in Spain, and I stayed there for 3 years before moving to another country.
It’s the only home I can actually think of as being home. I have never felt safer, more cared about, and more appreciated than when I was in Spain. Most of the Spanish people are kind and welcoming, even bigots often keep their opinions to themselves and just live and let live (from my experience, at least).
Spain is a beautiful place with wonderful people, and it’s awful that people are coming to the country I love just to hurt others. Others who welcomed my family even when we were at our lowest.
Immigrants are always welcomed, like my family and I were, but they are not when they come for the sole purpose of inciting fear, intimidating the people, and committing horrible acts against innocents.
Thank you for tagging me, Ducky, otherwise I never would have known what was happening to my home.
@micaruhi @skyycaramba @clemtimely @themorbiddarling @sothisish0witends + open tags, obviously
Wow, so the To the Journey Voyager documentary physical backer exclusive edition finally arrived.
There's bonus content and the Kate extended interview is great, very in depth about where she was mentally back then. But they really done her dirty by not fixing her makeup.
Most of the rest bonus content is so out of place with some of it being straight up trash. Why would I give a flying fuck about what Paramount execs have to say in a lengthy interview?
Then you have actors on both sides of the camera and there is literally not ONE main Voyager cast featured in it????
Trubute at Paramount premiere, again filler content so that the docu creators can give themselves a pat on the back.
And then Fan Confidential video which is trying to cater to the community by having ST Cruise audience talk about how much Star Trek Voy means to them, but in all honesty, who is gonna watch that? If you're a fan of people at conventions trying to tell how much a franchise means to them before asking the actual question whilst everyone else is getting more and more agitated in the queue, this is for you I guess.
Bonus features are incredibly tone deaf. I expected extended interviews from the rest of the Voyager cast for what is supposed to be a Voyager centric documentary.
The Jeri Taylor (RIP) interview was interesting because you could see she was past pretending. The interview vibe is basically "fuck the entirety of that process" when talking about writing for Voy. You get the sense that she went through hell and was glad to have it behind her. It's especially jarring when watching it right after Kate's interview which has the classic Janeway hope core vibe.
This entire project, from the way it was handled, to communication and final feature film has been nothing but a great pile of disappointment. What a waste.
gamechangershow
germansingergirl
amandla
