VOY Season 1, Episodes 1 & 2 (Netflix S1 E1): Caretaker
Rating: 4
Voyager has a lot of great premises, and the establishment of these ideas is the main reason the premiere gets a 4. The concept of getting lost in the delta quadrant provides a lot of opportunity to both build an entirely new set of alien civilizations and add some serious ongoing stakes for the crew to overcome. The premise of a Maquis crew and Federation crew being forced to combine would conceivably be a way to examine federation ideals and build interesting relationships between characters. Even the more immediate premises for the Caretaker and the Ocampa are cool. For a lot of fans, especially those coming from watching DS9, the lack of follow-through with these premises lowers their opinion of Voyager in the long run, but the less-serious, and less-dire feel for the show also ends up being a positive for others. Maybe its better to just leave aside any expectations at this point.
You can read more about this episode at Memory Alpha
Trek.fm gives this episode an 8/10
StarTrek.com contributor Jordan Hoffman gave it 3/5
Notes:
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Open with some action!
It’s funny that they’re trying to make us think Paris is cool
It would have been nice if Paris was actually cool…
…Instead of people just talking about how he’s the best pilot ever.
File under: Tom Paris: Best Pilot Ever
Yeesh the back and forth between Paris and the Batazoid is terrible…”Do you always fly at women at warp speed, Mr. Paris?” “Only when they’re in visual range.”
It’s a nice approach to the ship while it’s docked at Deep Space Nine
Oh yeah, Janeway is engaged
I wish I got to know some of the people that died more, and I wish I got to know some of the crew that survived less.
Undercover Tuvok is pretty great.
This scene between Janeway and Tuvok conveys some real emotion and establishes a rapport between the two characters that feels genuine.
B’Elanna is kinda insane in this episode
The Kazon and Ocampa and their less developed world is a good idea.
Neelix and Kes in love is gross, and so is Kes’ hair.
Tuvok figures it all out, of course.
Paris and Chakotay’s witty banter while Paris saves his life is really really terrible. Paris: “You’d rather die than let me be the one to rescue you?” Chakotay: “Fine, be a fool. If I have to die, at least I’ll get the pleasure of watching you go with me.” Paris: “Isn’t there some Indian trick where you can turn yourself into a bird and fly us out of here?”
Why can only the caretaker’s children care for the Ocampa? Why is it easier to pull strangers from across the galaxy instead of getting in contact with his own species? I have a feeling they made this caretaker weird and vague because they didn’t have real explanations at the time. It’s not a big deal, I was just curious about the caretakers.
There’s some Prime Directive stuff at the end.
File under: Prime Directive
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