Wanderlust

1.7 — “Eye of the Needle”

1.7 — “Eye of the Needle”

Plot: The Voyager finds a tiny wormhole too small to travel through which allows messages to be sent to the Alpha Quadrant.

Thoughts: This is a good story which advances the central theme of Voyager’s plight, lost and lonely far from home. I am officially looking forward to new Voyager episodes now, despite the proliferation of technobabble beyond even the high watermarks established by TNG.

I count at least two good science fiction storylines. First is the question of whether under the circumstances Voyager should ask for a warning to their younger selves that would prevent them from being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. And, do Janeway and crew have the courage to stick to their convictions if they perceive there is a chance this warning could cause harm to others?

I’m not sure I see the harm in sending the warning. Janeway says “We’ve already had a huge impact on this quadrant. People and events here would be drastically affected.” But is there evidence these people wouldn’t be as well off or better without Voyager? Even if they aren’t, might not Voyager do equal or greater good in the Alpha Quadrant during the same range of time?

A better argument is that if Voyager were warned, it wouldn’t have rescued the Maquis crew in the first episode, who might have been lost. So even if withholding the warning can’t be justified on utilitarian grounds, certain members of the crew may have an interest in stopping it. That would have been interesting to explore.

The second storyline involves the Doctor, or Emergency Medical Hologram as I should call him, who struggles with the meaning of his existence and wants to be given a name. His story is much the same as Lt. Cmdr. Data. Of course he is sentient. It doesn’t take yellow makeup and stilted mannerisms to queue up a good AI story.

It does occur to me, as we watch the EMH teach medicine to Kes, if she’s so smart, why is she with Neelix?

The scene in which Janeway talks to the Romulan captain alone in her quarters at night is lovely.

3 out of 5 microprobes. Microprobes?

http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Eye_of_the_Needle

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4 responses to “1.7 — “Eye of the Needle””

  1. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Yes, I did like this episode!

    Thanks for fixing the plot hole because I too was thinking “you mean like accidentally destroying then saving a culture experimenting with weird energy technology? And blowing a hole in then healing a giant space creature?” The main people who’ve benefitted are probably Kes and Neelix.

    I guess a recent theme could be “if you broke something in the Gamma Quadrant, fix it!”.

    I was struck by how hopeful Janeway is about everything. Once I found out it was a Romulan, if I were Captain I’d have given up at that point on further negotiating.

    I really wanted to find out that the scientist had made amazing scientific discoveries or that his daughter had initiated a Romulan-Earth peace compact or something… so was disappointed to hear that the big news was just that he had died. Oh well.

    Yes, I have often wondered why Kes stays with Neelix. Loyalty, perhaps? Or maybe, despite possessing intelligence (or at least, curiosity empathy and an eidetic memory) she doesn’t value it as much as other things, like creativity, loyalty, curiosity, generosity, bravery/adventurousness. I do think he’s an admirable character with something creative and unique to offer even if his social judgment is not the best and he is not the most physically attractive being by Earth standards. I like that he is not as much of an obvious caricature as most of the recurring aliens on Star Trek start out being (a little bit but not as much as others).

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  2. Blair Jones Avatar
    Blair Jones

    Randi Cohen Kevin Black Who knows why some couples find each other attractive? Think about some of the people you know that you’ve thought “what on earth does she/he see in the other” not to mention the hoary old “he’s way too good looking to settle for her” or “she must just love him for his money/power/position/title….”

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  3. Kevin Black Avatar
    Kevin Black

    I agree with you… I just don’t feel like we’ve been given much to go on with those two. How long have they known each other? What do they like about each other? What little we have so far is an episode where Neelix is fairly jealous and controlling, and not much else to go on.

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  4. Randi Cohen Avatar
    Randi Cohen

    Good points, both of you! I would like to see the explored more.

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