1.6 — “The Cloud”
Plot: A series of character vignettes, starting with Janeway’s quest for coffee, are tied together by a plot involving a trip inside a nebula which is not what it seems.
Thoughts: I quite enjoy this episode, which feels to me like a collection of short stories aimed at deepening the relationships between the characters and bringing them into sharper focus, despite that I may have nearly nodded off during the heavy technobabble sections (“Mister Kim, are you showing omicron particles in these currents?”).
Let’s start with Janeway. Voyager is totally new to me, but the memes about the Captain’s taste for coffee are not. It’s a much more satisfying predilection than hot tea, isn’t it? The Earl Grey always seemed like a marker of Captain Picard’s high-mindedness and cultural reserve. Do a Google image search of “There’s coffee in that Nebula,” and you get numerous hits. It’s a great line. Janeway’s inner uncertainty (shared with us in her Captain’s Log voiceover) and need for creature comfort helps her intuit the same need in her strained crew, and to take a risk that outwardly seems improvident (and indeed does not pan out).
When Chakotay shares with her his cultural tradition of animal guide, Janeway’s reaction is not to offer measured and distant respect for his venerable cultural traditions. It’s surprise, followed by a shrug and a glint and a “Let’s try it!” Already she seems more relatably human than Kirk or Picard, and perhaps even Sisko. She demonstrates her values by risking the ship to go back and heal the creature, which is a strong enough story point to excuse some of the technobabble stream that follows.
I like her so far! Kate Mulgrew seems to be settling into the role. She is making me look forward to more episodes.
Robert Beltran as Chakotay is doing a good job of bringing intensity and charisma to the fore without playing a stereotype of a Native American. According to Wikipedia, he’s Mexican-American, not Native American, which I imagine would cause comment if the role was being cast today, instead of in 1994-1995.
Neelix is still finding his footing. The direction seems to be to make him more conservative that the Starfleet characters. Which is interesting, since he’s supposed to be the roving alien with multicultural experience who finds his soulmate in another species. I’m sure the primary writer, Michael Piller, had fun with Neelix’s monologue about Janeway’s command decisions (“These people are natural born idiots!”).
The Doctor remains funny, and can even troll the Captain. What an improvement over Crusher.
The holodeck scenes in Sandrine’s I can probably do without. It seems incongruous that they don’t have enough power for the replicators, but the Holodeck is online.
4 out of 5 nucleonic beams.
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