2.1 — “The 37’s”
Plot: Discovery of a Ford truck in space, receiving a distress call over AM radio, leads the Voyager crew to discover Amelia Earhart and a group of other caricatures from Earth in the year 1937 on a planet in cryogenic stasis. Yes, in the Delta Quadrant. The crew must also decide what to do after discovering a human colony far away from home.
Thoughts: The comments preserved about this episode on IMDB and Memory Alpha are fairly complimentary, which puts me in a painful heterodox position. Because I can’t find much to like about “The 37s.”
For starters, I have to call BS on everything. There is no way that a 1937 Ford could be in good working order after spending 400 years in space. Radiation and space particles would reduce it to a bare husk in less than a year. The idea that it would have water and gasoline, and start readily right after its discovery, is scientifically illiterate.
How did this car get into the Delta Quadrant? Why was it left to tumble through space? Why should Voyager stumble across it?
How is it receiving an SOS over AM radio? The premise is that the 37s were kidnapped by aliens, who surely didn’t set up the signal themselves. At one point Kim states that the signal is travelling at the speed of light, but to travel to its source, Janeway orders travel at warp factor six, which according to Google is over 392 times the speed of light. C’mon people.
Other things that receive no explanation: What was the object of the Briori in putting these eight people in long-term stasis? What is the source of the alien tech sending out the SOS, and who rigged it? How did Voyager miss the presence of several large cities on the planet during approach and landing? What happened to all the trinimbic turbluence in the atmosphere, when it’s a summer’s day on Earth on the surface?
At the distance the crew is from Earth, why are we talking about 400 years passing? Time is surely relative at these interstellar distances. Has no one heard of relativity?
The Briori had no better source of slaves closer to home?
How is everyone breathing in a Class L, oxygen argon atmosphere? The location they are shooting in sure looks like Earth (class M) to me. In fact, they were forced to use a matte painting to block out the Hollywood sign, which was visible from the shooting location.
What are these amazing cities like, which we never see?
Another serious question. Why do you bother to put Amelia Earhart in your show, if you have no take on who she is, or what she’s like? This is a boring character. Her doofus male co-pilot almost receives more dialogue and screen time. Is it just to have an occasion to remind us that, like Earhart, Janeway is a trailblazing female aviator? The fact that the character is Amelia Earhart does not drive any aspect of the plot, it just allows them to fill a modest amount of time jawing about her history.
“The 37s” was intended to be the first season finale before the UPN network decided to end first season early and push four episodes into second season to make an early start on Season Two. The producers thought this episode was exemplary somehow. I see more of what’s wrong with the series than what’s right with it.
That said, it’s cool to see them land the ship.
2 out of 5 distress calls on interstellar AM radio.
Leave a Reply to Randi Cohen Cancel reply