FEVER FEBRUARY DAY 4: Fixit Friday
What is a fixit fic, you wonder? Itâs a missing scene, or usually a coda, and sometimes a complete rewrite of an episode that needsâŚmore. More/better. Sometimes just a smidge more, sometimes a lot. Sometimes an episode needs a set up, or an argument needs an explanation, or a justification, or sometimes the episode simply needs a denouement.
A list (pulled from nowhere) of the top five six P/T episodes that need fixing accord to the sheer volume of fanfic codas/etc Iâve seen:
Tom doesnât get to meet & hold his baby? After BâElanna being pregnant for most of the season & her pregnancy/the baby being used as a plot point for several episodes? After the writers making her finally go into labour just as theyâre about to make their last/best try for home so Tom has to choose: fly Voyager through that Borg transwarp corridor or witness the birth of his daughter? Come on!
âŚno wedding?!?!?! And donât try to tell me that the wedding in Course:Oblivion counts. Iâve also seen several fics that try to explain WHY BâElanna is done with Tom & believes that since he forgot their romantic weekend getaway for his bit of macho-adrenaline infused foolishness, it means their relationship is over. Also, how does he manage to propose AND convince her to accept without telling her that he loves her? Give me some wedding vows and an âI love you, BâElannaâ please.
Big song & dance throughout the episode about their marriage/BâElannaâs pregnancy/Tomâs impending dadhood, with zippo followup at the end. Especially since Tom was held hostage on that toxic planet. Especially since Joe, BâElannaâs senior engineer & right hand man, was murdered and it could have easily been Tom instead! One little scene of BâElanna running into sickbay to see him or her being in the friggen transporter room when he beams back.
Heâs going to check on Harry?! Really?! Really?!?! After that amazing, passionate, all-too-public corridor kiss in the beginning of the episode? After the Doctor interrupts them? After BâElanna is yanked away on that away mission before they spend some quality time together exploring their budding new relationship. After BâElanna nearly dies on that away mission and is likely transported straight to the sickbay, arriving at Tomâs feet half dead, Tom is going to check on Harryâs precious feelings instead of escorting BâElanna back to her quarters. Okay.
Tom knows sheâs not acting normally. Tom wants to help. Tom even gently confronts her about it and discusses her odd behaviour with Captain Janeway. Tom pilots the new shuttle. BâElanna kicks Vorik off the shuttle & takes his place on the mission. BâElanna eats âfeel betterâ pancakes alone in the mess.
Tom was ready to take out a shuttle & search the system planet by planet until he found her. They even worked in Tom & BâElannaâs relationship into the script when Kelis confronts BâElanna about her love for him. How about a ting Welcome Back sickbay hug when she beams back up to Voyager?
That fight in the mess. Why is Tom being so bitchy/cranky/disgruntled toward BâElanna? Why is intentionally attempting to instigate an argument? We know why - because theyâre building up to BâElannaâs house of cards durato tumbling down In Extreme Risk. Show us this, please!
Okay, for BâElanna it was only two days. No need to panic. But for Tom, before it was two months it was forever! And instead of them actually reuniting we get Tom telling Tuvok and Noss about their reunion and how blasĂŠ BâElanna was about him being back. Fine. At least we got more than nothing.
That wonderful, amazing, gut-wrenching argument in Tomâs quarters leads to⌠zero resolution for Tom & BâElanna. âIâm sorryâ âYou know where to find me.â Does he go find her after he beams back up from that planet? Does she swallow her pride & find him? Does Tom have a hard time moving past his false memories of that battle? Do they pretend it all never happened? Weâll never know.
Fine. Leaving them hanging (haha!) set up that wonderful opening scene in Revulsion, but would it have killed them to include a quick scene of BâElanna waking first (she has 3 lungs so maybe had more oxygen in her system) in sickbay, seeing a sleeping Tom, verifying that heâs okay then reevaluating what sheâs just done & running like a startled deer? Or conversely, Tom waking and noting that sheâs gone, freaking out because he thinks sheâs dead, being reassured that sheâs been released, realizing that sheâs not standing vigil over his sickbead and deciding that her âI love youâ wasnât actually true & she only said it to make him feel comforted because they were dying. !!
She didn't see him off, she can at least welcome him back! Or confront him about his âmissionâ to rout the Maquis traitor. She cared enough about his behaviour inâŚDreadnought? If sheâs pissed about the whole thing, letâs see it!
Maybe she doesnât care that he was stabbed in that filthy prison and almost died?
âHi honey, Iâm home.â A five second scene of a hug would have sufficed.
Just give her the freaking present!! And show them together after BâElanna is back. Tom was ready to go in, guns blazing, to get her back, remember?
Letâs talk about that holopregnancy, okay?
A short scene with BâElanna confronting Demon-Tom would have been wonderful because to her, heâs a monster who replaced her boyfriend, and for him, heâs the actual Tom Paris who loves her. Let him talk her into contributing her DNA.
They donât even have to address his lame ass final message to her. One welcome home, Iâm so glad youâre not dead hug would have sufficed.
âŚSense a pattern here?
Ohhh⌠thereâs definitely a missing conversation/argument here!
What did they fight about? When? Why? Contrary to popular belief, barring mind control/alien influence, they rarely argue. (Suck it, Harry & KJ!)
Her ex appears from nowhere & we get nothing? Not one little scene in pt 1 with Tom prodding and her reassuring him that he has nothing to worry about? Nothing at the end when Max, that rat bastard, turns out to be exactly the man she dumped in SFA? Okay.
Fine. Hug Janeway when Tomâs right there! How about a little scene of her teaching him Klingon?
This oneâs easy! A little scene, in their quarters, of Tom urging her to wear that Maquis outfit more oftenâŚ
At some point Tom figures out that it was the Doc, not BâElanna, he kisses in engineering, right?
Almost perfect but not quite: PROPHECY
I love this episode. I love everything about it. I would have added a kiss. That is all.
So, my darling fic writers, find an episode to fixate on and fix it!