*NOW VOYAGER* The Official Newsletter of the Kate Mulgrew Appreciation Society Volume II Number 4 [Group photo from Denver] *SAY 'SALAMANDER'!* Here we all are at StarFest in Denver! Con reports inside. Back row: Cheryl Waldie, Alanna Whitestar, Jeanne Donnelly, Ian Forsyth, Jennifer Loehlin, Barbe Smith, Richard Henline, Dennis Hollinger, Lynda Foley. Second row: Jan Davis, Charlene Sanford, Lauren Baum, Mary Taylor, Marilee Steele, Kim Carnes, Rachael Quereau, Sashi Alexandra German, Daniel Chaim Anderson, Paul Anderson, Glenn Bogue, Beth Shuman, Jani Fleet, Amy Wulschlegger. Third row: Juliann Medina, John Hogg, Laura Bowen, Anna Shuford, Mary Daly Solman, Kate Mulgrew, Dottie Ronhovde, Christie Golden, Carol Martin-Mahoney, Ruth Burns. Bottom row: Meredith Antonelli, Anne Davenport, Maryann Jorgensen, Michelle Erica Green, Maria Russell, Jennifer Martin. Photo by Joan Testin. Count me among those who hated Janeway in "Tuvix," loved everything about "Resolutions," and was satisfied with most of "Basics Part I." The diversity of opinion herein is stunning... *REVIEWZZZZZZZZ* INNOCENCE Drayans? Diplomacy? Hot damn. Janeway doesn't have to keep to herself as a science officer anymore, and her glee is almost obscene. Other than this, we will be treated to a fascinating glimpse into the Vulcan philosophy of intentional dysfunctionality in parenting: "Vulcan parents never shield their children from the truth. It would only hinder their ability to cope with inevitable difficulties." "You must learn to exercise control over your own imagination." "Vulcan children learn to detach themselves from their emotions at an early age." And from their Vulcan parents as well, would be my guess. I think we now have a fairly good idea of just what it is that turns our Vulcan friends into the repressed neurotics we know and love. Parenting. What a surprise. Tuvok's relationship with the 'children' has its moments, of course. It's obvious (in a Vulcan sort of way) that he grew attached to the children and that--underneath all that forced stoicism--Tuvok actually has (shudder) emotions. He just doesn't know what to do with them (and neither did his daddy, nor his daddy's daddy, nor... well, you get it). Both Tuvok's adventures with parental non-responsiveness and Janeway's diplomatic forays take place within a context that both the story and I leave to the end: the deus ex machina of reverse aging as a way to explain what-all's going on here. That such a process is so unlikely as to be practically impossible, in anything other than a universe we wouldn't recognize as being anything like our own, is best left unexamined. So we won't talk about the colossal evolutionary unlikelihood of an organism's producing less and less mass with age. We won't examine the fat question mark at the end of any natural system that would produce an organism that becomes physiologically younger through time. And we won't question a plot where the oldsters evince every sign of childhood which miraculously disappears right at the end so that the 'child' can tell Tuvok he reminds her of her grandson. In short, it would not be a good idea to point out just how contrived this week's plot really is. If you close your eyes, ignore the great color and effects, and pretend you're back in the 60s, this might have been a decent plot for an early episode of "Outer Limits." Sometimes I do this. It's a nice way of reminding myself of how much our sense of wonder has changed, how much more we now demand of entertainment. It's why some of the early shows now seem childish--yes, even some early TOS. We also demand more because we now have a lot more than we once did. Think of it. Currently, you can now tune in on TOS, TNG, DS9, and VOY each week. I guarantee that on some channel near you, they're all on, even most of the movies. Now, if you remember--and I do!--the days when TOS wasn't even in reruns, consider how happy you'd be to have seen just this one episode of Voyager. With that in mind, I'll bet this week's episode is starting to look a whole lot better...er...maybe not. --Richard Hanson I think this must be the long-rumored episode about Voyager finding Mork. We not only get reverse aging, we get an imaginary creature called the Morag. Lisa Klink did the honors for this fine, evenly-paced teleplay. I only had a couple of problems with this episode. One is the inordinate amount of death and dying portrayed this season. The other is the blatant violation of the Prime Directive. Janeway barely blinks an eye or has a hair out of place as they descend unknowingly to the Drayans' sacred moon. She makes such an issue about it in other episodes that this seems grossly out of character. I wish the writers were consistent about it. And as lovely as I found Chakotay's speech (was that really a Native American dialect?), why weren't the universal translators working? On to the good stuff-and there was a lot of it. Tuvok finally got an episode where he didn't come off as an arrogant pinhead. He tried to get the Drayan children to behave like little adults. Little did he realize the irony of this, for he was dealing with his elders. The children were well-played and adorable. First Prelate Alcea was a compelling character, one I would like to see again. I misjudged her too. I thought for sure she was a villain. The ending had me completely fooled. The Morag appeared to be a symbol for the Grim Reaper. We never got to find out how the children really died, or if they have a choice in the matter. It seems to me that when you get to be a certain age, they cart you away to this moon. Perhaps it works efficiently for the Drayans, but it seemed kind of cold-blooded to me. Despite comments made by Paramount and various actors, it certainly doesn't look to me like they're trying to push Janeway and Chakotay apart. Besides all those lovely smiles they exchanged (did I count three?), we got another protest from the XO when Janeway wanted to go on an away mission. The Big C has been doing a lot of that lately. And when Janeway is about to depart, I swear she winked at Chakotay. There was also the provocative little tale he told her about mistakenly propositioning an alien dignitary. No, I think they are building us up for "Resolutions," after which they'll either let this thread die forever or leave us hanging for the next few years. So, I will take one episode at a time and hope they give us a nice, slowly developing friendship. Back to Tuvok for a moment. Tim Russ has a wonderful voice and it was nice to see him using his musical talents on the show. I also liked his discomfort when the children kept hugging him. He seemed lost at sea. I was praying that they wouldn't lose another shuttle. It seems like they have an endless supply of them. Good shot of the shuttle coming out of the shuttle bay. I don't think we've seen that view before. All in all, a decent episode. Hope to see more from Ms. Klink. --Elizabeth Klisiewicz I enjoyed this episode very much. I thought that this was a very well balanced episode, something that I believe the writers have been striving for from the inception of Voyager. They may have finally hit their stride with "Innocence." Balancing action and suspense, tension and tenderness, poignancy and humor, I think this is one of the most well rounded episodes to date. The writing was well done. Tim Russ did an excellent job with his portrayal of Tuvok, showing us a side of the Vulcan that we had not yet seen. It is always refreshing and exciting when the writers give us a more in depth look into the makeup of the characters. Kate Mulgrew came through with her usual superb performance. Captain Janeway handled the diplomatic role of a first contact situation with grace and strength. I thought the changes in command style as the situation evolved were appropriate and well done. Of course, Kate's ability to move from one emotion to the next with fluidity is what brings life into this character. I am very glad that the writers are putting Janeway into a more active role, such as with her going after Tuvok herself. There is, I am certain, a fine line tobe drawn between the Captain acting as the Captain and the Captain taking unnecessary risks that endanger herself, the ship, and the crew. I do, however, find it refreshing to see a move active Captain, harkening back to the days when it was never questioned that Kirk would lead the away teams. I think the writers are doing a nice job of blending the command style of both Kirk and Picard in their writing of Janeway. I am certainly glad that they are not less willing to write her leading her crew in dangerous situations because she is a woman. Overall I found this to be a wonderful episode. As this season comes to a close, I look forward to more well balanced and deeply touching episodes to hold us over until fall.. --Siobhan Wolf THE THAW One of the really great things about science fiction, when it's good science fiction, is that it allows us to think about how we might deal with things that, so far, we haven't dealt with. I'm not talking about the world coming to an end and turning into a giant ice-ball...although I suppose that an icy death will be tough to deal with. No--I'm talking about the propensity for modern human beings to become subservient to their computer programs. Here we have a computer program that doesn't want to die. Big surprise! The difference, in this case, is that the human participants are semi-conspirators in the computer's little game. So here we go again, malevolence on the part of a computer program. Balance? After all, isn't the holodoctor a kind of computer program, and Data before him? Good programs and baaaad programs. Black and white? Yes? No. Once again, the writers are missing the real fear that lives behind the computer programs that are becoming so important a part of our lives. I refer, of course, to the evil force that has me, even as I write these words, concentrating more on my laptop than on enjoying this show. I'm referring to the fact that modern man is spending more and more time on the wonderful time-saving programs of ever-more-powerful computers. So far, few writers have achieved the subtlety (or creativity?) to find a way to deal with this real threat. Hence this episode devolves into being about fear, and our baser emotions as taskmasters, terrorists if you will. This is a theme that was treated nicely years ago in a little 50's sci-fi treat called "Forbidden Planet," with a much younger Leslie Nielsen co-starring with Anne Francis, Walter Pidgeon (and the first cinematic appearance of Robbie The Robot). On that dark planet, baser emotions were amplified and transmogrified into something invisible and nasty (accompanied by really scary electronic musical scoring). Here, a bit more crudely, fears and hatreds and so on are changed and rearranged without being altered much in the process. Of more terror is the prospect of spending eternity with the satanic clown created by the computer interface. As in many stories dealing with this often rehashed idea, being nagged by someone distasteful apparently represents a fate worse than death to the writer (perhaps a result of too many Hollywood lunches with obnoxious producers). The moment where the Holodoctor-as-hero appears in the dreamscape and corrects the clown's scalpel technique was choice. As was so often the case with Data, the writers seem to take solace in the unemotional quality of programmed logic. In other words, faced with the fear of computers grown strong and with all too human evil, we must take refuge in the computer as lacking in emotion, indeed in its very lack of humanity. As usual, then, the real fear is of ourselves. Janeway's method of dealing with all of this is strategy and tactics. Her military and scientific mind is battling a very human malevolence. The hero battles not the machine, but the mentality that made the machine. In this sense, the episode is the retelling of a story told many times before--perhaps too many times and better told previously. Even though Janeway speaks of fear as though fear was the enemy, the program is not convincing as an elemental force. Beyond the macabre trappings and the makeup, the program isn't much more impressive than the mean, the boorish, the petty individual that, alas, all of us run into sooner or later. The end is good. Janeway confronting fear is the echo of all those great captains that came before but a lot more comfortable in the role. The Kobioshi Maru scenario apparently can't be beat by any mere computer villain. Fear is, itself, afraid in the end and fades away with Janeway's whispered "I know" ringing in its ears. And now the crew can go back to depending on its replicators and gel-packs and holo-programs, back to getting stitched up by the holo-doctor and fussing over the warp-drive technology that both liberates and enslaves. The real villain is safe. --Richard Hanson I told myself that I would write this review without referring to any Z rated movies about clowns. Since TV Guide already beat me to the punch, I'm off the hook (and so are the people reading this). "The Thaw" started out as a jarring and nightmarish ride through the minds of some otherwise forgettable aliens; unfortunately, Joe Menosky's teleplay could not sustain the tension long enough to keep this episode even remotely interesting. "The Thaw" held my attention for about half the episode, then it lost momentum and seemed interminable. I enjoyed the teaser more than anything else; I was happy to see Tom Paris thwarted in his womanizing efforts for a change. Look how much trouble he has gotten into already ("Ex Post Facto"). I don't recall hearing about Nicoletti before--maybe they can do something with this story idea. Michael McKean, the main event, has had an interesting career. I first remember him as the goofy Lenny on "Laverne and Shirley." Later, he became David St. Hubbins in "Spinal Tap"--named for the patron saint of quality footwear. Fear was a dumb name for his Voyager character--he was about as menacing as Bozo on a bad day (maybe they should have saved Brad Dourif for this role). Fear's best moments were when he was pitted against Holodoc, or throwing comments at Harry about hitting flat notes in a Mozart concerto. However, I have to give McKean credit for doing a lot with very little to go on. This Fear was the creation of five alien minds. I can understand the fear of not waking up; it must parallel the fear of death many people have. But it was difficult to imagine that anyone would conjure up a clown to torment themselves. Of course, these aliens appeared kind of helpless and didn't do much of anything to get themselves out of their situation. Why didn't the computer system have some kind of failsafe to protect human life? And finally, why didn't they think of using the same technique on Harry and Torres that they did with Janeway? Ah, they had to make this episode stretch yawningly for 45 minutes. What other reason could there be? Picardo's talent was wasted here. Sure, he had some good lines--the one about Janeway and the off button comes to mind. But where was the biting sarcasm we have come to know and love? Menosky didn't make any of the characters look bad, but neither did he grant them any new depth. People like Harry Kim are still as one-dimensional as their cardboard counterparts. Mulgrew managed to rise above so-so material, and I didn't have a problem with her saving the day, but the ending was rushed. Fear was a self-aware byproduct of alien imaginations, and he wanted to continue his existence. Remind anyone of Dr. Moriarty in the TNG episode "Ship in a Bottle?" He even thought he'd have Janeway as his companion, how sweet! Speaking of sweet, next time Neelix and Tuvok experience the Ultimate Meld. --Elizabeth Klisiewicz This was a very well done episode. From start to finish it grabbed hold of me and had me sitting at attention, wating to see what was going to happen next. I thought the concept of interacting with and having to conquer a manifestation of fear was both interesting and thought provoking. The way this episode was handled impressed me, especially that in no way did it belittle humans' (and aliens') reactions to fear. On the contrary, this portrayal of fear showed the people in a very sympathetic light. It gave the viewer an inside, and alternative, view of what people are experiencing when caught in fear's clutches. Having seen this episode, I hope that we all have more compassion for ourselves and others the next time we are caught in fear. From the very beginning, Captain Janeway was once again in the thick of the action. I love this! It is wonderful to see the Captain at the conference room brainstorming with the senior officers. That she takes each one's suggestions and weighs them right alongside her own is impressive. One of the many qualities I admire about Janeway is her respect for the thoughts and ideas of her officers. It shows a strength of leadership when she looks at all ideas with an equally open mind. I am sure that this, rather than a dictatorial approach, serves for a smoother running ship. Janeway's involvement in the cargo bay once the hibernation equipment was transported aboard is another quality that I love about this Captain. I find it fascinating and compelling to watch her in action as she problem-solves out loud, feeling myself right there with her as she puts herself into the thick of the situation. I know that if I were a Starfleet Captain, this would be my style of operation as well. I am increasingly thrilled that women of my era have Janeway to look up to as a model of what heights they can achieve. I was also pleased with this episode in the way Harry Kim was written. Finally, it seems, Harry is being given some depth, and we are being shown that he is more than a cute young kid who is way out of his element. Harry seemed to have matured a great deal, this fact lending him the ability to not be bullied by Fear. Not until Fear pulled out all the stops did Harry succumb to it, and he recovered quickly when the Doctor intervened. I was cheering for him the whole way and am very glad the writers are starting to portray him as more grown up. It is hard to imagine that having lived through the experiences he has without doing so--being put through the cenotaph then being resuscitated in "Emanations," going through the time shift and being back on Earth in "Non Sequitur," and having one of his selves die while the other self saved both him and Ensign Wildman's baby in "Deadlock"--I'm glad to see the writers have this factored in as well. The part of Fear was extremely well written. Casting Michael McKean in the role was a stroke of genius. For me that had the double effect of my thinking, "I know that voice. Where have I heard that voice?" throughout the episode. That applied both to the emotion fear itself as well as the actor who portrayed it. As fear is one of the most clever and conniving of the emotions, I was impressed with the writers for showing just how multi-faceted and intricate dealings with this emotion are. Fear is a bully and a clown, angry and petulant, and ever insistant on having its own way. This was portrayed very well. An impressive task and one done with class and good taste. One scene in this episode stood out to me as having been long overdue. In the conference room when Neelix suggests that a good laugh will make all fear dissolve and everyone glared at him to shut him up, I raised a shout of hooray! Though he may be a Talaxian, and Talaxians may be a light-hearted and somewhat goofy species, it is about time that someone started letting Neelix know when his behavior is inappropriate for the situation at hand. This is something that I hope continues as Voyager travels on through the Delta Quadrant. My favorite lines from this episode belonged to Janeway. The one I liked the most is: "I know fear." Kate Mulgrew's deliverance was fabulous. I was clapping my hands and giggling in anticipation at what the good Captain was going to dish out to fear. It is an amazing experience to see Kate perform these scene-stopping, and often heart-stopping, lines. This line comes before we (or Fear) know that the Captain is a holographic simulation come into the computer environment. Though I had no doubt Captain Janeway herself would give Fear a run for his money, this twist was particularly brilliant. Only in retrospect did I wonder why they hadn't tried this in their first attempt. It is only fair to assume that they honestly believed dismantling the optic pathways would be successful. Ending the episode with, "Starfleet Captains don't easily succumb to fear" was a fitting finale. Fear has been conquered, and he knows it--he can then say, "I'm scared," only to have Captain Janeway reply with an almost evil glee, "I know." I loved the scene fading to black and the final, timid, "Drat," with which the episode concludes. In the end, when we have conquered our own fear-demons, I am sure that this is exactly how they feel. This was a very well crafted, well written, and well acted episode. Way to go!. --Siobhan Wolf Squiggy the Clown. Right, this looks like another episode best seen drunk. I fill one of my ultra-collectible McDonald's Jurassic Park cups to the brim with rum and coke and head upstairs to curl up with the remaining cats and watch from the comfort of my aged sofa. Plot, plot...where is the plot? Ah, there it is! Life support pods that haven't opened yet. Let's blindly toss the Prime Directive aside and wake 'em up! Woo hoo! This calls for a big swig of rum and coke and a handful of yummy popcorn. So, they beam the whole array up to the ship (what about the power supply? Oops, right. Suspension of disbelief. Sorry) and start tinkering. You know, they could have at least mentioned the Prime Directive, you think? Drink more, Jen. It's just a show. Why are they so willingly strapping themselves into a system that's obviously malfunctioning?!? It's killed two people already! Hush, my rational brain. Have some more to drink. Remember, if they didn't do that, there would be no show. Okay, now they're inside, and it's pretty interesting. And there's Mr. David St. Cubbins himself. I keep expecting to hear "Sex Farm" playing as the clowns cavort, but I have to keep reminding myself that this isn't Spinal Tap, and there are no knobs that go to eleven here. Actually, Michael McKean is doing a pretty good job. Pretty good indeed. Nice touch, the way the music stops instantly every time the Doctor appears. Now why didn't they think of sending him into the system in the first place? Ah, right. Without Harry as a hostage, there'd be no show. Silly me. Drink more. All right, we've found a solution! No, we can't have. There's fifteen minutes left in the show. Damn! Maybe I should get rid of the clock when I watch Voyager. There'd be more suspense. I take another sip of rum and coke and wait for B'Elanna's rescue attempt to go wrong. Aha! There is goes. Oooh...nice touch having someone actually die. Makes the Evil Clown seem all the more evil. There has to be a Spinal Tap song to cover this situation. "Stonehenge"? No. "Lick My Love Pump"? Maaaaaaaybe. And now you're sending in Janeway? Okay, calm down, there has to be a perfectly rational explanation for this. She wouldn't just toss herself into the situation without any forethought. Well, she has in other episodes...shut up, rational brain! A hologram? Wait, is she a holographic projection of Janeway or an actual independent hologram like the Holodoc or Sandrine? And if she is a real hologram, then how did they program her so well in only two minutes? Right, drink some more. Stop thinking. This is actually a very well written ending, so stop looking for nits. Ahhhh...a good use of fading to black. Okay, it wasn't all that bad, I guess. Stupid set-up, weird follow-through, decent ending. Next week--the Rippers from Tank Girl! No, it's Tuvix. Hmmm...it really looks like a Ripper from Tank Girl... Better get really drunk, just in case. --Jennifer Pelland (Siubhan) TUVIX What do you get when you cross...? Never mind. I liked this one, right down to the transporter's tasteful blend of Neelix's suit and Tuvok's uniform. Oh sure, it's been done before. On Star Trek, what hasn't? But rather than concentrating on the difficulties that Kirk had coming back as both hyper-aggressive and wimp in an early rendition of this theme, on Voyager we get at least a glimpse at what this kind of effect has on the people around the victim. As usual, the holodoctor makes the whole thing a lot more bearable with the unintentional humor we've come to expect of him. Even Janeway seems to be coming back to her usual self. The remark about flattery getting Tuvix nowhere is in line with the self-confidence I admire in the captain. Luckily, the writers haven't given up in their characterization of her gifts as a former science officer. At first, Kes's dilemma is more important than all of this. Having worked with both Tuvok and having a relationship with Neelix, Kes seems to have the biggest burden to bear. It's hard to conceive of the difficulty of not only losing two incredibly important people but having someone around who would always remind you of both without truly being either. It was particularly nice to see Janeway talking to Kes. Note the way Mulgrew massages her throat as her voice begins to crack in speaking about her own concerns. I am always struck by how a few minutes of Mulgrew being allowed to stretch herself as an actress justifies the entire show in my mind. There is a quality of humanity in the character of Janeway that can bring a sense of reality to almost any situation. What a pity that the writers seldom employ it. What's a bit more difficult to accept is Tuvix's comfort with his situation. I was equally bothered by Tom Paris' quick acceptance of life as a newt. Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd be a bit more bothered by being turned into a hybrid between myself and someone of another species that I don't even like. Janeway said that nothing like this had happened in transporter history, but Tuvix acts like it's an everyday occurrence. Of course, by the time the good doctor is ready to perform the operation that will separate the two halves, Tuvix is too happy in his accepted role. And this presents Janeway with a dilemma, the 'predicament,' as she puts it. Janeway is wise enough to recognize the separate existence of the two individuals that have made up "Tuvix." Her attempts to do the right thing are what the show was supposed to be about from the beginning. For his part, Tuvix makes some good points. The very fact that Janeway has to agonize her way through this decision is proof of the maturity of the concept. That Janeway has to perform the operation personally is a nice touch. Not pulling a Kirk and making a tough decision that someone else will have to carry out...no, Janeway has to administer the hypo herself. This is the real possibility that lies behind every moral decision. No easy answers for Janeway--the essence of reality. --Richard Hanson I do not have a long history of Star Trek under my belt, so I can't say whether this show establishes a precedent or not. What I can say is that Kenneth Biller is proving to be one of the best writers on the Voyager staff. I cannot think of any other instance where dark and light was balanced so evenly, except maybe in his earlier effort this season ("Lifesigns"). We have traveled many dark hallways with our intrepid travelers. Death seems to lurk around every corner. Janeway is faced with a terrible moral dilemma--kill one lifeform to spare two others. Have any of the other Trek captains been faced with such a horrible choice? I think not. I have read varying viewpoints on why Tuvix should have been allowed to live. On the surface, he cooks better than Neelix, he's a crack pool player, he's stunning in paisley, and he gets along with the First Officer. Janeway allowed Suder, a murderer, to live. I disagreed with that decision and agreed with Tuvok's assessment of the situation. Now, we have an innocent victim of a transporter accident, and Janeway pulls the plug. It's not until after it's over that we get to see the horror on her face. Since Janeway doesn't have the benefit of Starfleet arbitrators to counsel her, shouldn't she have met with her crew and made a decison that way? Obviously, she had to decide the way she did, or the show as we know it would end. But couldn't they have come up with a more merciful way out? Maybe Tuvix gets sick and his body rejects the joined molecules. Then the doctor could find a way to bring our two regulars back. Some may want to find this heretical, but I liked Tuvix better than Tuvok or Neelix. This genetic combination, along with some stamens and pistils, produced a stimulating hybrid. No more of Neelix's horrible singing, and forget about Mr. Vulcan's rigidity and humorlessness. Kudos to Tom Wright for carrying this part throughout the episode. I enjoyed different glimpses of Tuvix interacting with the crew. These brief sketches provided more insight into his character than actual dialogue. I wish Voyager would do more of this type of thing--visual imagery often presents a far more powerful statement than a few lines of type in a script. Biller seems to excel in peeking through the cracks at people's lives to give us more insight. I cannot help but remember the power of his script "Eve" in The X-Files. We also got to see Janeway's rarely glimpsed nightgown. A shame that it was wasted on Kes. Janeway has been presented as a mother figure in the last two episodes; Fear tells Harry that Janeway is like a mother to him, and now we have her consoling Kes. It's not the first time, and I doubt it will be the last. We forget that 2 year old Kes is little more than a teenager in Ocampan years. I enjoyed the contrast between Kes's plight and Janeway's own mixed feelings about Mark. I imagine we will be treated with more of the same in next week's episode. Like many Trek episodes, this one ended too fast and left me with some questions. Did Tuvok and Neelix retain the memories of Tuvix--much in the way Trills carry the memories of their symbionts? A little reflection on this "symbiogenesis" would have been appreciated by this viewer. This is a minor complaint. Overall, an excellent episode. Touches of humor were tucked into its nooks and crannies, and worked well to balance out the grim decision Janeway had to make at the end. --Elizabeth Klisiewicz This was a very compelling episode. One viewing was certainly not enough for me to draw any firm conclusions about it. Personally, I like best those episodes which leave a lasting impression, force me to look at the issues portrayed, and leave me thinking about what happened long after the television has been turned off. "Tuvix" was definitely one of those episodes. From the moment of the transporter accident, the audience is caught up right alongside the crew. The writing and acting were very well done, and I felt the emotions that the crew must have felt as they struggled both to understand and to resolve this current mishap. However, right along with the crew, I also found myself becoming fond of Mr. Tuvix. The casting for this role was exceptional; Tom Wright is to be commended. At times I could really see the Neelix in Tuvix, and at other times, I could see the Tuvok. This character was, in my opinion, a very well blended combination of the best of both men. That very fact was compelling, but on further review it made me stop and think. Would not the worst qualities of both men be in there as well? Certainly Tuvix was adaptable and did a very good job of finding his niche and fitting in. At the same time, it seemed somewhat oversimplified to suggest that he would so readily and easily be accepted amongst the crew. Captain Janeway was in a most delicate position throughout this episode. Her first instinct, to assign Tuvix to the mess hall in Neelix's place, was the correct one, in my opinion. I believe that the problems with this situation began to assert themselves when she granted him the rank of Lieutenant and placed him among the bridge crew in Tuvok's place. It did not ring true to me that she was persuaded by Tuvix to make this decision. I think the fact that Janeway would have considered this to be a breach of security was an oversight. Granted, she had little choice but to do everything she could to make Tuvix feel at home,but the fact remains that it is when he was accepted by her as bridge crew that the rest of the crew, as they should, fell in behind her position. This set up the grounds for the conflict when the Doctor finally came up with a way to restore Neelix and Tuvok. I do not believe Janeway ever gave up on them, nor that she would have allowed Tuvix to gain the impression that when a solution to the accident was found, that it would not be pursued. The scenes with Kes and Janeway were some of the finest we have had this season. It was a relief to me that she was willing to be completely honest with Kes, sharing her deepest feelings and fears. This is something that audiences have been wondering about for some time, and it came as a reassurance to me that Janeway is multi-dimensional in her feelings. This is one of her most endearing qualities--that she does not become "weaker" because she has feelings and that her feelings are a natural and expected part of her persona. Kate Mulgrew, of course, is the reason that this works so well--her ability to project strength and tenderness at the same time, her ability to dive into the deepest emotions and not be overwhelmed by them, her ability to lead and feel. I am increasingly grateful to the powers that be for having cast Kate in this role. It is definitely hers. The end of this episode was heart-wrenching. I had to stand with the crew behind Captain Janeway's decision, but I wish that we all could have heard what she was going to say to Tuvix had he followed her into her ready room as ordered. That the crew stood behind her came as no surprise; this has become a well-bonded group. Sometimes I miss the little tensions between Starfleet and Maquis whichmay have resolved itself a bit too quickly and too easily. However, the look of protection toward the Captain that flashed across Chakotay's face when Tuvix resisted her is almost enough to make me forget about the little details. There is a bond here that is very apparent on screen, through the looks and the energy between these characters. The Captain's steel will got her through the separation procedure. I admire the strength and comittment she had to be able to complete it. The decision not to restore Neelix and Tuvok when the avenue arose would have been the same as a decision to leave Paris and Janeway in their "evolved" state in "Threshold." The Captain made the only decision that she could. However, having to perform the necessary operation herself was quite an unexpected twist. I am glad the writers kept the Doctor to his Hippocratic Oath. It was, no doubt, his certainty that Janeway would and could complete the procedure that made this possible for him. Though it appeared at the outset of the separation that Janeway had no feelings about what she was doing, the parting shot of her alone in the hallway with her deep feelings playing across her face then returning to command posture said more than any words ever could have. Again, my hat's off to Kate Mulgrew for her brilliant portrayal. --Siobhan Wolf I went into this episode thinking that it had the potential to be even worse than "Threshold." I'd even started writing one of my trademark drunken episode reviews before watching the show. But after watching it, I realized that I couldn't do justice to this episode by writing a goofy review, because it was the most deeply disturbing Star Trek I've ever seen, one that has completely destroyed Gene Roddenbery's vision of a future utopia. I don't think I'd want to live in the future portrayed in "Tuvix." I knew going into this that Tuvok and Neelix would have to be separate entities by the end of the show because this is Voyager, not Babylon 5. Major characters don't die in Star Trek--not without a lot of advance fanfare and hoopla. And they certainly never change. So I knew that somehow, Tuvix would cease to exist by the end of the show, just like I knew that Paris would become human again at the end of "Threshold" and that B'Elanna would become her old self again at the end of "Faces". The trick on Voyager's part was to sustain a sense of suspense, to make me keep guessing and wondering how they would reach the inevitable outcome. And might I say that outcome was horrific. Mind you, until they reached the point where the Doctor had come up with a seemingly "fool-proof" plan to separate Tuvix into Neelix and Tuvok, I was thoroughly enjoying the show. It was filled with inspired acting, specifically on the parts of Tom Wright, Mulgrew, and Lien. Wright did an amazing job blending Tuvok and Neelix's mannerisms. I was blown away by his performance as Tuvix. And the scene with Kes in Janeway's quarters was riveting, if only because of Mulgrew's performance. The lines themselves were unremarkable--Mulgrew made them special. The quality of the acting never diminished, just the ethical reasoning of the crew. The moment that Tuvix declared his desire to live, the argument should have been over. Tuvix was a living, breathing, sentient being with all the rights and privileges therein entailed. Tuvok and Neelix were functionally dead. Their memories lived on in Tuvix, but their individual consciousness was gone. How did Janeway know that she wouldn't just end up with two brain-dead bodies? How do you restore "consciousness"? And even given that that is a non-issue, would Janeway order an orphan to be destroyed in order to reconstruct her parents from her genetic coding? I don't think so. Given Janeway's reluctance to submit Suder to the death penalty, it seems extremely hypocritical of her to submit Tuvix to the same, even though he was guilty of no crime other than existence. Janeway, and indeed the entire bridge crew of Voyager, was simply being selfish. Kes's admission that she wanted Neelix back was the most pure and glaring example of that. When Tuvix vociferously pleaded for his life on the bridge and nobody moved to support him, it sent chills up my spine. This was "groupthink" at its worst. I couldn't help thinking of Nazi Germany and the way the general populace condoned the atrocities committed against the Jews. I wanted somebody, anybody, to stand up and decry this horrible act, this murder, but nobody but the Doctor did, and he only did so because of the Hippocratic Oath. I'm glad Janeway showed remorse at the end, but frankly, she should have been a whole lot more conflicted than that. She killed an innocent man so that two functionally dead men could be brought back to life. I do not like that vision of the future. If that's what it means to live in the 24th century, then I'll stay right here, thank you. --Jennifer Pelland (Siubhan) If any Trek episode might cause Gene Roddenberry to roll in his grave, "Tuvix" hits pretty close to the mark. I was absolutely repulsed by this story. Does a cold, calculated, and intentional execution of a lifeform by a starship captain really live up to Roddenberry's optimism for the future? Would Janeway, a character who up to this point has always been in touch with her emotions and shown great empathy for her crew as well as other lifeforms she's encountered, really carry out such a callous act without a word of remorse for her victim? Sure, she showed emotion after euthenizing her victim, but wouldn't she have given at least some verbal justification for her decision or perhaps had some last words for the being? Instead what we see during the course of this episode, through its thoughtless writing, is a very humanized character become dehumanized. Worse yet, we're never given a decent explanation for the transition. So what if Tuvix was an accident? He is still a person, and justifiably he does have the right to control his existence. Did we not address this issue in TNG's "Measure of a Man"? The fact that the Doctor didn't even have ability to restore Neelix and Tuvok initially, and eventually sought out a solution that would lead to Tuvix's demise, makes me uncomfortable. The lack of foresight here is incredible, particularly from the Doctor. Yes, he tried to save Tuvix, but would he really have been the only one to do so? The crew toward the middle of the episode, including Kes, began toaccept the death of Neelix and Tuvok. Why should they be so selfish as to justify another death in order to get their comrades back? As a Starfleet officer, I would expect Janeway to have the common sense and ethics to realize that she can't play God with someone else's life--that individual choice and freedom are integral to an individual's right to exist. Even if she did not come to that conclusion, and had to make a difficult decision, at the very least she ought to have some respect for the lifeform she was about to murder. What we see in this episode is a total disregard for life, an ugliness of humanity, and a really distasteful martyr scene. There's even a bad analogy to Christ with Tuvix's "forgiveness" line. Is this truly what exploring the "human condition" is about, Ms. Taylor? Mr. Piller? If it is, I want out--at warp 10! --Ian Forsyth This show sets up one of the deepest moral dilemmas ever posited in a Star Trek episode, and resolves it without flinching once from the implications of either choice. Tuvok and Neelix are combined, creating a new entity who takes on an identity and a will to live of his own. When the means to separate them becomes available, he resists and is forced to undergo the procedure. There is no easy out here, no technobabble solution, no gloss to take away the sting, as so often has happened in episodes like "Jetrel" or "Faces." This immeasurably increases its quality as a morality play and as science fiction. The characterization of Kathryn Janeway took a tremendous leap here, showing us both her uncertain and doubting side and her terrifying steel as a commander when torn between two dreadful alternatives. The conclusion is left debatable, in the tradition of the best Trek, but I would argue that Janeway was right to do what she did and in the way she did it. Neither of her choices was a good one, and no magical third alternative appeared at the last minute. She had to carry her decision through to the bitter conclusion, and she had to do it entirely by herself. The doctor, quite plausibly, would not perform the operation to separate Tuvix into his component "parents," so Janeway threw the switch herself. It was the logical conclusion to an episode that took its time creating the dilemma for her and placing the responsibility for its resolution directly at her door. Should she have brought anyone else in to make the decision, such as a jury of crewmembers? She has no recourse to Starfleet Command as Kirk or Picard or Sisko would have had. The TNG episode "The Measure of a Man," in which Data's fate was decided by a panel, might be a model for "correct" Starfleet procedure in a case like this. But Janeway can bring in no outside arbiter. Everyone on Voyager knew Neelix and Tuvok, and came to know Tuvix. No one is impartial, no one can be detached from the consequences. And how can she place the responsibility for such a decision on the shoulders of others when they are subject to the same biases she has, and do not have the will and the training of Starfleet captains? No one could bail her out on this one. She's in charge. Captains make life and death decisions for others. That is the nature of command and its heaviest burden, and in Starfleet, only exceptional individuals are entrusted with command. Janeway in her utter isolation has been thrust into the essence of her post: ultimate responsibility. She cannot delegate or look upwards for instructions. If she fails in will, the ship fails. There will be no second chances for her or for Voyager if she falters in crisis, so she makes her decisions and requires that they be obeyed. The captain who could order the Array destroyed cannot balk at a question of one life versus two. Should any person have that kind of power? For good or ill, she does, and she has little choice but to exercise it. She's said on more than one occasion that Voyager is not a democracy, and that she can't take votes on important decisions. This might not taste good to civilians, but it is the only way to run a military or any other group that depends so much on cohesion and quick action. Passing the buck on any high-level question would lead to an untenable situation. There's no time for a show of hands in combat. Tuvix made a moving plea to live, but he was trying to undermine her authority in doing so (which would have been out of character for both his "parents," especially Tuvok.) What Starfleet officer worth his salt refuses to save two lives even at the cost of his own, challenges the captain on the bridge, and appeals to other officers to resist her? He believed he was right, and although biased by his own will to live, he had a good argument, but for him to have prevailed at that point would have destroyed Janeway's command. Success in war frequently demands that some lives be sacrificed to save others. If Janeway has the authority to order crewmembers to risk their lives and die in combat, which is certainly the case, then she has the authority to order Tuvix to die in order to save Neelix and Tuvok. He is a member of the crew and a Starfleet officer, and entirely under her jurisdiction. No one would condemn her for sending soldiers out into a firefight to save other lives, even if the soldiers objected, and her action was morally equivalent, though she had a long time to ponder it and had to commit the "violence" herself. This wasn't random cruelty; it had a very specific goal and was necessary. Every officer on the bridge knew that, and acted accordingly. The mathematics are very clear; one dies, two live. What commander of conscience could evade that equation? And Janeway has a conscience, a very sensitive one. She consulted others along the way to her decision, and she knew it was the only one she could make, but she felt every agonized nuance of the emotions involved, and great pain at the final act. There is no callousness here. Her armored manner in Sickbay was not a sign that she had no regard for Tuvix's life, but the opposite. She had a task to perform, she had to do it in public without faltering, and she did so. There was nothing more to say to him, though if he had allowed her to give him her decision in private, she would have had a great deal to say. He deprived her of that opportunity and of any comfort she might have gained or given. He demanded that she force him to die, and so she had to face that fact pure and raw. She did, and she still knew she was right in her decision and could carry it out personally. Again, she cannot delegate the smallest part of this. When she nearly gave way to grief in the corridor afterwards, she suppressed it with the knowledge that it was self-indulgent. She doesn't have the luxury of doing only what makes her feel happy. This was the best of a very bad bargain. Sometimes there is no such thing as a good decision, and it takes someone with Janeway's strength to act under that weight. I am awed and frightened by that kind of strength, but I'm glad Voyager has it to rely on. There is no one else to wield it for her. --L. R. Bowen When I saw the previews for this episode, I was a little leery. The creature Tuvix was giving me nightmares--something about the eyes weirded me out. But now that I've seen it, I have to say it wasn't Tuvix that bothered me, it was the end of the story. I'm joining the ranks of those viewers who believe Janeway made a decision totally uncharacteristic of herself. I don't believe the Janeway we know would sacrifice a new life form, not even to restore two dead crewmembers. Mine is not the definitive opinion or the last answer. But here's my reasoning anyway: Tuvix was born a fully-grown, sentient, emotional being. He was capable of feeling fear, trauma and betrayal. I cannot believe Janeway would have chosen to murder him. The Kathryn Janeway we know would have decided that Tuvok and Neelix had died in a transporter accident, and murdering a new life was not a justifiable way to bring them back. Refer to "Phage," when she wouldn't kill a Vidiian--Neelix's admitted executioner--to save Neelix. "I don't have the freedom to kill you to save another," she said. "My culture finds that to be a reprehensible and entirely unacceptable act." Here, Janeway killed an innocent life form to save two crew members. This is inconsistent. I got the feeling in this episode that the writers were reaching for a flaw in Janeway's character. They must have known her decision was in total violation of Starfleet policy. As she injected Tuvix with the tracer chemicals, I watched closely her steely, emotionless expression, and wondered if we were to infer that Janeway was blocking out her conscience. Was she letting her personal feelings override her sense of right and wrong? Was she missing her confidante Tuvok? Was she pitying Kes for losing Neelix the way she lost Mark? Was she feeling guilty that an innocent, sweet alien like Neelix lost his life aboard her ship? It was unclear. But the episode brought to mind something Kate Mulgrew said on a late-night TV talk show last year. She described Janeway as a woman with flaws, capable of making great mistakes. (I'm paraphrasing.) Was this a moment when Janeway's weakness--her love of her crew--caused her to stumble as captain? It's the only theory I can think of that would explain this sudden inconsistency in her philosophy, in her way of life, in the example she sets in her leadership. Still, I don't think this flaw was written as well as it could have been. I could have seen Janeway having an initial impulse to dissolve Tuvix, but then reconsidering that idea with some deeper thought. In the episode, she did agonize over the decision. That alone could have stood as evidence that Janeway is human, that she's tempted to make selfish choices sometimes. So how should this episode have ended? I suppose there are any number of ways. I like the idea of Janeway talking Tuvix into giving up his life for Neelix and Tuvok. If anyone could reason along these lines, Janeway could. She would give her own life for any crewmember, and she indeed came close to doing so for her double in "Deadlock." I think she could have appealed to Tuvok's moral conscience inside the Tuvix character, and persuaded him to sacrifice himself. I wish the script had been written along these lines. The bright spot of this episode for me was Tuvix himself. He wasn't nearly as eerie as I thought he would be; rather, he was a gentleman, and a being with great depth of feeling. The blending of intellect and emotion is an old theme in literature, but I felt Tom Wright added a complex, appealing personality to Tuvix, the embodiment of both. I also thought the mechanics of Tuvok and Neelix's merger was ingenious. To blame it on a flower's sexual reproduction was a truly original idea. And yet as Tuvok would say, it was logical, for it made a connection to the reproduction/abortion issue, which may well have been what the writers were intending to comment on. Overall, I liked the episode but feel it needed some work. I hope to see the writers tackling even more social commentary in the episodes to come. --Jennifer Martin RESOLUTIONS Not the final chapter, and not really the beginning, either, though some may think they have come in on the first page. The story has been told, very quietly for the most part, for a year and a half of broadcast. This is not an ancient legend, but it is an archetype, and one with elements so new and so fundamental that it opens extraordinary vistas at the same time it resonates deep within our consciousness. We have read the prologue. We have turned through the early pages, wondering what was going to come, unsure even if we would find any more text beyond that we created ourselves and for the other readers with us. Sometimes we wondered if we needed a magic formula to develop the invisible ink--and now we have it. The words have resolved; they are there for anyone to read. The story is real, and it has finally reached the screen. It's almost superfluous to mention that this was a superb Tuvok episode, that Harry Kim showed more character than he ever has before, that Kes shone, that the continuity with previous episodes was nicely interwoven. "Resolutions" is tightly written, viscerally involving, and has very few unnecessary elements. It's among the best things Jeri Taylor has ever done, and among the best Voyager episodes ever, even when we take some of our passionate biases into account. The few slightly-wrong notes were amusing rather than annoying; it's funny to see Tuvok threatening Kim with the brig for his outburst on the bridge when Tuvix, who was part Tuvok, had a similar outburst last week. Janeway not the outdoorsy type? That's very believable when we see her heading off to check insect traps in the woods dolled up in a 1950s housedress and slip-ons--with her handbag on her shoulder, no less. And she does seem extraordinarily fond of monkeys with no discernible plot function. We don't really care. Not when she takes baths with such...contagious enjoyment. The setup to the toe-curlingly warm and sensual scenes in which Chakotay gently lets her know what so many of us have known for months is deliberate and careful, almost too much so. We realize that many other viewers have not been reading the story the way we have, and need introduction and a little coaching--but it almost feels as if our man and woman need a hefty push to think of each other as man and woman, and that is manifestly not so. Especially on Chakotay's side, and his oblique confession of loyalty (and--dare we?--love) is one that could only come forth after long thought. He's known this for a long time. Is Kathryn Janeway really so willfully blind? She is extraordinarily able to set aside anything that gets in the way of her personal vision of the proper course. That's a useful trait in a captain who has to keep consistency in her outlook, but it begins to look more than a little strange that she could forget her own actions since she brought the Maquis and their leader under her wing. Remember "Parallax"? Remember "The Cloud"? "The 37s"? "Elogium"? We do. She knew what she meant when she told Chakotay she would be coming to him for advice about mating behavior... Very properly, for such an early stage in what should be a gradual process, there is no unambiguous love scene. That would have seemed rushed and ungraceful, though with an undeniable short-term payoff for the viewer. They are just beginning to explore the universe of possibility when the process is interrupted and they must return to duty. Did they or didn't they...? They would have, and that's the important thing. Neither of them can ever deny this again. And finally, Janeway knows what's going on here. She doesn't yet realize that the bond between Starfleet and Maquis is a marriage, embodied in the partnership of the commanders, but perhaps one day she will, and let that partnership develop naturally. Anything--protocol, memories of old lovers, personal timidity of character or production executive--that ultimately keeps Janeway and Chakotay apart will be artificial, a contrivance. The force of legend exists here. We only ask that the plot be allowed to form itself and grow like that garden Janeway planted. Some are indifferent to this story, and a few hostile. But any attempt to close the book again or declare it complete at this point would be more damaging to the real emotional core of Voyager than the worst episodes have ever been. We don't ask for Romance front and center, or endless spats between star-crossed lovers, or screen-fogging erotic encounters. We can provide those from our own imaginations very nicely, and those aren't Star Trek, anyway. Janeway and Chakotay is Star Trek, the way Kirk and Spock is Star Trek. It is the theme, not the overt subject. We know how bound together the captain and commander are, and how bound they are to their crew, and their crew to them. For once, the symbolic marriage could be a real one, and another legend be added to the wonderful body of myth we have loved for thirty years. Janeway and Chakotay could exist in living color and official canon, and here is the seed planted at last. Pray for rain. --L.R. Bowen I've waited two seasons for this episode, and Jeri Taylor did not disappoint me. Everyone on the J/C platform has been keeping a close watch on the touchy feely count as well as those games of eye tag. How many episodes have we feasted on? "Parallax," "The Cloud," "Ex Post Facto," "Elogium," "Maneuvers," "Alliances," "The 37s"...well, the list is longer than this, but you get the point. Everything we believed to be true was revealed in Chakotay's "ancient legend": this angry warrior has loved Janeway from the first. Did anyone else sigh as loudly as I did? Press releases did not prepare me for the satisfaction I felt throughout "Resolutions." Kate and Robert were both outstanding, and I also have to credit Tim Russ. I cannot consider the time on the planet a B story, so let's say that both A stories were woven together nicely. Tuvok was formidable as he took over command of the ship, and I found his cold stoicism a bit frightening. Yet, Tuvok was following orders to the letter. Even if he can't show emotion, he was not immune to the loss felt by everyone. Harry Kim is just as loyal to the Captain as Tuvok, but he is ruled by passion. Interesting to see him almost relieved of duty. And very neat to see the contrast between his reaction and Tuvok's. People might say that Tuvok was out of character to disobey an order, but he did so in "Prime Factors" so this did not surprise me. The interaction with the Vidiians was predictable. As I've stated in earlier reviews, Denara Pel is the only female of that race we've encountered. She is only one voice in a military regime that seems to be ruled by men. Dr. Pel revealed the desperation her people feel to find a cure, and there was no reason to suspect this encounter would be any different. I am glad that Tuvok listened to Kes and tried an alternative. I suppose his logic told him mutiny might be inevitable if he didn't at least try it another way. And now we get to the meat, or should I say fluff? The lovely exchanges between Janeway and Chakotay. Taylor gave this episode an unhurried pace by starting off with the already infected pair on the planet. I thought this was a clever way to buy time for those of us who worship at the J/C throne. These could be crumbs that Jeri is throwing us, but I hope the trail continues. We get to see a side of the two senior officers that is rarely revealed on duty. It starts with Chakotay's total surprise when Janeway tells him to call her Kathryn. He covered up his reaction well by joking about getting back to her on that. The Commander often uses humor and stories from his tribe to express himself. I enjoy that about him. We know that Chakotay is a private person, because B'Elanna told Janeway that was so. This is consistent with Chakotay's angry warrior tale. I also enjoyed the fact that he cooked. Who could resist him? And talk about hands on. Not only could he build anything he wanted, he also gave killer backrubs. I have complained about the lack of character development for Chakotay. We have seen the sensitive, soulful counselor that most of us have fallen in love with. This season, the former rebel's machismo has reared its ugly head. One could see that Brando impression from "Maneuvers" as a master manipulator at work, but one could also find him offensive. Often when we are given a piece of the puzzle, it contradicts what we have seen before. Now, Jeri has given us back the Chakotay we know and love. Please, let this trend continue! I'm not saying he shouldn't show us that Maquis heart beating every so often, but let's at least see some consistency. Janeway's surprise at this man started with the bathtub scene (more on that later) and developed into the look of wonder as the legend unfolded. I don't think it ever occurred to her that Chakotay had serious feelings for her. Her unwavering determination to get her crew home has left little room for more personal feelings. Janeway has made this sacrifice at the possible expense of her own happiness. She is the ultimate scientist for many of the scenes on the planet, and this is typical of what we know about her dedication, devotion, and sworn duty as a Starfleet officer. Even though her first officer questions her, he never argues too strongly in favor of giving up. Everything Chakotay does is for his Captain's best interests and his own. He never misses a beat. I find it difficult to decide which scene I preferred: the bathtub or the backrub. The monkey was used to good effect to draw Chakotay out of their shelter, but I found him distracting after that. I think Janeway smiled more at the monkey than at Chakotay. Anyway, the bath scene was great and it was fun seeing Janeway revel in the steam and suds. I'm happy that Chakotay wasn't a peeping tom--instead, he had an excuse to look at Janeway. That long, loving look he gave her almost made me melt into a puddle, but I was nearly undone when she became aware of his interest. Later, we have that wonderful backrub. Has Jeri been reading our stories? Then, another one of those hooded looks Robert Beltran is famous for. I loved how he caressed her hair for a moment before he flipped it over her shoulder. The intense pleasure on Janeway's face coupled with the wonder on Chakotay's as he actually got to touch her so intimately was handled extremely well. Finally, I enjoyed the sexual frustration they both felt. Janeway almost lapsed into her scientist mode when she wanted parameters defined about their relationship. However, Chakotay proceeded with that great if slightly corny story. Usually Janeway is the verbal one, but here her expression revealed what words could not. Things I would like to have seen: Jeri might have shown us Janeway's delight when Chakotay presented the bathtub to her. And when they resumed their duties, I also thought an exchanged look and maybe a wink from Chakotay would have been appropriate. I will be extremely disappointed if there is no follow-up to this change in their relationship. I am not expecting much, because Star Trek has never given us a mature relationship between peers. Yet "Resolutions" was a wonderful viewing experience I will cherish for many moons. --Elizabeth Klisiewicz I love Jeri Taylor!! Even though this was rumored to be the episode to "satisfy" the J/Cers, it proved to be more wonderful than I could have predicted. A huge THANK YOU to Jeri for writing the episode and for fighting so hard to make it what it became. Keep it up! That said, I suppose it is redundant to say that I enjoyed this episode tremendously. It was by far my favorite of the season. Despite any complaints that may have been offered about this episode and the budding relationship between Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, in my opinion this is just good Trek. Harkening back to the TOS days, we are seeing the development of a friendship and command relationship that has not been seen since Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock. There was no doubt that these two were dear friends, trusted confidantes, and starship officers. Janeway has the making of such a partner here in Chakotay. Thank goodness she need not be alone at the top as Picard was throughout the run of TNG! Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran have incredible chemistry onscreen. Through subtle looks, grins, remarks, and gestures, the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay has been building throughout the season. Finding themselves stranded on "New Earth" proves to be their biggest, yet most crucial, challenge yet. While watching, I couldn't help but think that it could go one of two ways: Either Kathryn could let down her professional guard and let Chakotay in, or she could continue to stay safe behind her walls. I am so thrilled that she let those walls down! Seeing this woman, strong and professionally competent as well as vulnerable and full of deep feelings, leaves hope for strong women everywhere who are striving to develop and maintain their indivudual sense of self as well as a relationship with a partner. And Chakotay! He is a most considerate and deeply commited partner. The "angry warrior" story left me in tears as it did Kathryn. There was no doubt any longer, no question of how he felt. I'm sure there was no way she could have withstood that honesty and emotion coming from him at that moment. I am grateful that she didn't try. In my opinion, only in making choices for partnership and commitment and through forming these strong bonds does Voyager stand a chance of ever returning home. This episode gave us so much; nothing that I can say does it justice. It gets better with each viewing! As we anticipate the end of this season and the beginning of the next, I only hope that this is one story arc that Jeri Taylor will not let fall by the wayside. --Siobhan Wolf Well, the moment we all waited for has left a trail of sweet memories and happy hopes for the future. Can we tell I loved this episode? But to explain my 14-year-old nirvana, I'll take Chakotay's tack and tell a story. After "Resolutions," my 11-year-old sister stormed up to my third floor abode. "This sucks!" she yelped. I hate to use such a comparison, but it was akin to B'Elanna glowering at Chakotay in "Parallax." "What are you grinning about?!" "'Resolutions,'" I said sweetly. "What?! Did we watch the same episode?!" she cried. "They didn't make love! They didn't even kiss!" "They didn't have to." (I didn't think it prudent to voice my beliefs that maybe they did.) "Huh?" my poor, immature sibling said, scratching her carrot top in confusion. "Don't you see? If they kissed on the show, the writers would never let them in the same room alone again. They'd have "Attached" it, buried the whole thing like Picard and Crusher, and Chakotay would have started yelping, "Kathryn, there's something I have to tell you," every time the ship went into warp!" "Oh..." she nodded, only vaguely attuned to the theory. Then Gabriel, my buddy from Robert Beltran's home town of Bakersfield, called. He hadn't seen "Resolutions" yet since it didn't air there for another hour, and he was eager to hear my opinion on the topic. "So, Em, what did you think? Did it suck? Did they "Attached" it?" "Nooo..." Then I admitted, "They didn't even kiss." (On screen, I mentally added.) "So you hated it," the poor adolescent male reasoned. Sometimes I think 11-year-old girls and 14-year-old guys are on the same wavelength. "No!" I shrieked. "I loved it! Gabe, it was subtle, moving, and touching! It was just how it should have been!" "Oh," he agreed, though he didn't get it. I hung up in disgust. End of story, though I haven't proclaimed my love to anyone or looked meaningfully into any eyes but my Janeway/Chakotay wallpaper, and back to my deep thoughts on "Resolutions." Unlike "Attached," the infamous TNG P/C episode, they didn't end a story with a thud in 52 minutes--they began the deepening of a beautiful relationship and an arc that has been growing for two years, despite traitors, fights, and "space cowboy" incidents. This relationship is what has kept the Maquis and Starfleet together, and what has kept many of us watching. Finally, our patience was rewarded: we heard rumors that they were actually going to film what we thought could never happen. After we realized it was no joke, we read everything we could on it, circled our calendars, and waited, and hoped, and prayed. Despite our unthinking, pure joy, some of us worried. Most of us know what TPTB do to any hope of a mature relationship between a Captain and...well, anyone. We've seen Kirk (boy have we seen Kirk!), and we've seen how the writers turned my first Trek hero, Jean-Luc Picard, into an emotionally immature man incapable of building a lasting relationship. I feared they would do that to my newest heroine, Kathryn Janeway--and that would be blasphemy. In fact, I swore to myself I would give up Trek if they violated Janeway in any way. Luckily for us, TPTB for once behaved like mature adults instead of goofy adolescents (most adolescents, I mean--some of us are different!) and gave us what we wanted: the depth we've seen all along, played up in a perfectly orchestrated episode, without blowing out of proportion. "Resolutions," I hope, is only the foundation of a story that will continue to fulfill its promise for seasons to come. It was ironic how this episode turned out. Kate Mulgrew has been oft-quoted as saying how she'd like to have Janeway fall in love with an alien who died at the end of a few episodes, with a heart-wrenching grieving scene for herself (we've already been there on Trek far too many times). Yet in a perverse sort of way, Kate got her wish. The Chakotay and Kathryn on New Earth were much different than those in uniform--aliens, almost. In a similar light, you might say they sacrificed themselves for their crew's sake. However, we won't see this effect on the pair, the ship or its crew until next season...but that's another episode, folks. --Emily Clare Friedman I feel like I've been waiting for this episode for all the years I've watched Star Trek. For once there was a relationship between two people that wasn't over at the end of the hour, which can't be ignored or forgotten. I can't wait to see what they do with J/C next season. I expected more sexual tension in the beginning when they got stranded together, but Janeway acted like the whole thing was no big deal--even when she told Chakotay to call her Kathryn. I liked that. It proved she has no problem being close with him, only she couldn't say something like that on the ship when she was his captain. I like the bathtub scene too--he wasn't really leering at her, just looking appreciative. She has never seemed threatened or angry when she caught him looking at her before, but it was more intense here because she was wearing a lot less and no one else was around! Well, other than the monkey which I didn't really understand. There was more tension when they were running through the woods together and huddling under the table. That scene was sort of overdone with the music and thunder crashing, but the next scene made up for it when Janeway realized her research was ruined and tried not to show how upset she was. Mulgrew and Beltran both got to show a lot of range in this episode, which is one of the reasons for letting their characters stay together on the show. They can act like very different people if they're not just captain and first officer. Plus this show proves that they could do it without either of them being weakened--she remained true to her scientific research and goal to get them out of there even when he protested, and he did what he likes to do, building things and working on traditional art, even when it made her uncomfortable. I liked how Janeway and Chakotay both kept their senses of humor. It reminded me of the end of "The Cloud" and the beginning of "Phage" from last season, when they flirted all the time. I was surprised Janeway got so uptight when she realized he desired her--she must have figured that out by now! I didn't like how she acted like he was pressuring her, when it was obvious she was upset at herself for wanting him too--if they had a casual affair on that planet and it didn't work, their relationship would be even worse than on Voyager, where they'd have protocol to fall back on. It should be obvious to everyone now that they can handle being in love and working together. Chakotay's fake Indian legend was great because what he was really saying was that he loved her all along. The writers can't take that back as if they were always platonic. I think they probably made love, but they might not have been in a rush because they thought they had the rest of their lives to be in love. Whether or not they did, they both acted like they wanted to, maybe on that boat trip they never got to take. I hated the ending at first, but the way Janeway was staring and making a fist on the bridge makes me think that she couldn't say what she was really feeling, and I liked that Chakotay called her "Ma'am" which he never does, like he was afraid of saying her name if he tried to say "Captain." I just hope Jeri Taylor knows there weren't any "resolutions." --Susan Johnson I awaited "Resolutions" with considerable anticipation. Finally, there was going to be an actual episode dealing with that unacknowledged attraction between the captain and her first officer. People had been gushing about it on the net all week. When I finally saw the episode, though, my reaction was mixed. There were some very nice Janeway/Chakotay scenes--the one where she's standing in a bath towel talking about primate physiology while he's appreciatively studying hers, for instance. The scene in which he tells her the phony legend and she reaches out to him, which could have been unbearably corny, worked quite well thanks to excellent performances by both actors. In the context of this episode, the interaction between them seemed consistent and in character for both. It remains to be seen, though, whether this experience will have any lasting effects. In the past, the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay has seemed inconsistent, with what should have been serious crises somehow forgotten in the space of a week. Even for those of us who don't think there should be a sexual connection while Janeway is still hoping to get back to the Alpha Quadrant, the relationship between the two is important and needs both consistency and evolution over time. In sum, the romantic bond was nice but whether it had any real importance is undetermined. The subplot with the Vidiians, however, simply did not work. The Vidiians were not known to have a cure for the disease (nor was there any reason why they should--the planet is devoid of humanoid life, so why would they have spent any time there?). On the other hand, they are known to steal people's vital organs. Under the circumstances, it is implausible that large portions of Voyager's crew would have unanimously supported the idea of revealing to the Vidiians the location of their presumably only lightly-armed captain and first officer. This renders the conflict between Tuvok and Kim artificial, which is unfortunate because it's otherwise rather fun to watch Kim suddenly finding himself the leader of a rebellion. Then, once Kes has convinced Tuvok to go along with the harebrained scheme of contacting the Vidiians, and the rendezvous has been demonstrated to be a trap, confirming that Tuvok was right in the first place, what does he do? He lets a Vidiian talk him into dropping Voyager's shields while the ship is under attack. This guy is supposed to be the security/tactical officer? I'm inclined to think some of that orchid wound up in key areas of his brain, but this isn't the first time his competence has been sacrificed for the sake of some plot twist or other. It makes him look bad and it makes Janeway look bad for picking him and continuing to back him. The Vulcan Anti-Defamation League needs to start a letter-writing campaign. --Jennifer Loehlin Janeway and Chakotay are obviously the epicenter of this episode, but something needs to be said about Tuvok. The secondary storyline was so jarring, it was downright distracting. Every time a Voyager scene came up, I groaned--I wanted to exit the ship and go back down to the planet with Janeway and Chakotay. I've heard of offsetting the main act, but this was ridiculous. Here we had an opening for some fantastic character development: Tuvok in charge of a ship without the first- and second-in-command to guide him. Why did the writers make him look like a schmuck, much as they did with Spock in "The Galileo Seven"? Vulcans do not have to fall flat on their faces when in charge of humans. They just have to stretch their limits, and in this episode, Tuvok was as rigid as a 1,000-year-old redwood tree. Take the moment Tom Paris asked Tuvok if he could just "feel as rotten about this as we do." Tuvok responded, "You are correct that I am unable to experience that emotion. And frankly, I fail to see what the benefit would be." This was too callous a response; a more intriguing one would have been a quiet, "I fail to see any alternative." Vulcans are not emotionless beings, they are controlled beings. This scene should have given us a first glimpse of the conflict Tuvok was experiencing. Incapable of feeling rotten? Baloney. Janeway was his best friend. During Harry Kim's rebellion on the bridge. Tuvok leaps to his feet and dismisses the guy as if a Vulcan could be threatened by a young ensign (and as if Vulcans bark, yell or bellow). Kim scraped a raw nerve--Tuvok is as tempted to contact the Vidiians as everyone else, but he knows his orders, and his intellect tells him to steer clear of them. The struggle for Tuvok is to keep his own emotions under control, not to keep Harry Kim under control. Later, in his quarters, Tuvok should have patched things up, not made them worse. A gentle "You cannot appreciate what it means to be in command of a starship" would have made a perfect line for this scene. Harry needed kind guidance and wise mentoring. Instead, Tuvok ordered the kid to shut up, a Riker-ish, snap-you-back-hard, military approach. Can you picture Sarek reacting this way? This also should have been the scene where Tuvok realized most of the crew was willing to risk their lives for Janeway and Chakotay, and recognized mutiny looming. I give the writers credit for making Tuvok feel honored by being compared to Kes's father. I also give them credit for having Tuvok take full responsibility for the Vidiian rendezvous. Considering that it really wasn't his idea, this revealed a noble streak in him. Finally, I give major points for the battle between Voyager and the Vidiians. Tuvok saved everyone with his quick thinking, mastery of nerves, and total command of the bridge. He proved himself to be one helluva battle commander. Because of that redeeming scene, I give the writers only five lashes with a wet noodle instead of 10. I still hope they round out Tuvok in the future. This episode should have been 2 hours long--one hour to develop the Janeway/Chakotay thing, one to develop the Tuvok as Captain storyline. If any episode this season deserved two hours, it was "Resolutions." --Jennifer Martin BASICS PART I I've had to wait a whole week to write this, hoping I would cool off. In retrospect, there were some good points to the season cliffhanger of Voyager. On the adventure side, we have imminent danger to the ship and crew, the captain getting pushed around, a seemingly insoluble problem, etc. Aid, if it comes at all, will be coming from the unlikeliest of quarters--the ship's bad boy, a holodoctor who can't even go anywhere, and the resident psychotic. In the meantime, Captain Kate and company are stranded on a leftover set from "The Land That Time Forgot" sans command and sans Voyager! Nevertheless, think this plot is horribly, horribly contrived. Is Kathryn Janeway really so moronic that she will sacrifice the safety of the entire ship to get a closeup look at Chakotay's baby? Oh, that's right--they've come up with holographic images to confuse the enemy, which, if you think about it, makes about as much sense as going up against Adolf Hitler with an arsenal of home movies. Do all starship crews throw up their hands and allow themselves to be herded like cattle as soon as they realize they're outnumbered? Has Seska gone brain dead and forgotten the capabilities of the holodoctor to the extent that she wouldn't even check to make sure his program has been turned off? But there's something worse than all of this, a way in which the writers of Voyager have surrendered themselves to allowing Voyager to become just another television show. And since I don't write reviews for other television shows, I am officially going up on my soapbox now. I am, of course, referring to the subject of "cliffhangers." I can still remember when one of the first television cliffhanger endings became the actual ending of the show; the show was "Alienation," and I remember a lot of people who really enjoyed that show feeling very bitter for years about the way it ended. From the standpoint of the writers and the producers, cliffhangers are great. They help compete in the ratings, you don't have to tie up any loose ends until next season, the fans are left wanting more. Now, I grew up at the tail end of the era of cliffhangers. I remember watching recycled episodes of "Rocky Jones: Space Ranger," "Ramar of the Jungle," and "Flash Gordon." Some of these were so popular with the kiddies that once, whole movies (the Rocky Jones flicks) were intentionally carved up in order to present them as a series of cliffhangers. Guess what? It got old. So is what's going on now. It's cheap, it's gimmicky, it's contrived, and above all, it's an insult to the viewer. Of the shows I currently watch, only Babylon-5 had the class to do a two-parter which ended at the end of the season and in which a great many loose plot ends were tied up. In fact, the season ender of B5 was the inverse of every other science fiction and adventure show that ended this season in that it seemed to go out of its way to answer questions rather than asking them...and the current rumor is that this only happened because the writer/creator was afraid B5 wouldn't be renewed. Now that's sad, that supposed giant intellects like Berman and Straczynski don't seem to have the requisite fiber to cut against the grain and really, really be different. I'll be very honest with you. Even if I did find the idea of Janeway and the crew caught on the backlot of Jurassic Park believable, I wouldn't care. I'm tired of a great potential story like Voyager being treated like a Saturday matinee, I'm tired of talents like Mulgrew, Picardo and Beltran being treated like soap-opera extras, and I'm tired of the Star Trek Universe of Gene Rodenberry being treated like something out of Amblin Entertainment. If "Basics, Part I" is any example of that which is to come, Star Trek: Voyager is too good a story to be left in the hands of its own creators. --Richard Hanson This was an exciting and dramatic episode, yet I find it difficult to review. Maybe because it's a cliffhanger and there is still unfinished business. Michael Piller did an outstanding job with character development as well as action sequences. I admit there were some predictable scenes. Everyone knew they would go after Chakotay's child or there would be no story. And who can trust the Kazon? They've done nothing to show their good side, so there's no reason to think that Tierna would be any different. Tierna's suicide was effective but painted with a heavy hand. The doctor being projected into space made me laugh both times I watched it, but Picardo usually has that effect on me--still, it was a cheap gimmick and detracted from the battle sequence. I am sure this was an expensive episode, so they had to cut corners somewhere, but stock footage from "The 37s"? I also wondered how the Kazon took over the ship so easily. How did they know how to operate Voyager? Where did they get the command codes? The real star of this episode was Robert Beltran. He is an excellent actor when he's given decent material to work from, and he's had two good episodes in a row. We saw the return of the fierce Maquis warrior who looked like he was ready to throw Tierna through the bulkhead. Yet we also saw his vulnerable side as he spoke with Kolopak. I was extremely happy to see a return to his vision questing. I think we've seen a total of two instances ("The Cloud," "Initiations") where this has been mentioned in more than a passing manner. Kate Mulgrew also had some meaty material to work with, and she did a superlative job. Janeway was a tower of strength even as the ship took off from the planet. Marvelous. I loved the scene in Janeway's ready room. Bravo! Chakotay has never spoken with the Captain so openly and honestly about Seska. His outburst about this not being his responsibility was wonderful--he trusts Janeway enough to show his true feelings instead of going off on his own. His confidante in "Maneuvers" was Torres; I was elated to see the change, and hope it signals continued strengthening of this command relationship. It also seems to indicate that the effects of "Resolutions" haven't been left to rot in a corner, and sets up the emotional dynamics for the rest of the episode--Chakotay looking over at the Captain to gauge her reaction to Seska's transmission, Chakotay helping Janeway up after being decked by Kulluh, and again when they landed. I noticed that Janeway called him Chakotay rather than Commander for most of the episode. I suppose all us pro-J/Cers are looking for every moment we can find. We also have the B story of Suder and Tuvok. Some may feel that this detracted from the plot, but I enjoy seeing this slimedog return. Brad Dourif gave a good performance that was alternately creepy and overzealous. You could almost see Janeway shudder as she tried to exit gracefully. The scene with Neelix was beautifully shot. I enjoyed the glimpse of Neelix's strange eyes followed by the glitter of Suder's black, fathomless orbs. A killer on the loose in Part Two. I can hardly wait to see who he dispatches. Finally, there is the triumphant return of Seska. Oh, she can pretend to be the meek, demure consort of the Maj, but the contempt oozed from her voice as she gave orders to check for life signs or destroyed shuttles. Kulluh will rue the day he got involved with her. She's been playing everyone for a fool, and she had the last laugh as she sat there breastfeeding in Chakotay's chair. "Basics" ended the season with a bang. There will no doubt be endless speculation as we wait through the long, hot summer for the conclusion. This one ranks in my top 5 for the season. More, I say! --Elizabeth Klisiewicz I enjoyed "Basics I" for many reasons, among them the fact that this was more of a Janeway episode than its touting as a Chakotay-oriented show. In most Voyager episodes (possibly with the notable exception of "Tuvix"), we have seen the crew confronted by some major problem, and just when the chips seem to be down, they come through in the end with some measure of victory; the fact that the repair crews are able to completely repair Voyager by the next episode must mean they are quite good. What makes "Basics" different from this consistent happy-ending premise is the fact that we see two of our main characters personally and professionally beaten...which, frankly, should not come as much surprise simply because the crew knew they were walking into a Kazon trap from the get-go. Janeway's confrontations with Kulluh date back to "State of Flux," and she has made it clear time and again that she doesn't like him--and visa versa. Her personal and professional defeat comes not when Voyager is taken by the Kazon and her crew is stranded on that prehistoric planet, but when Kulluh slaps her to the ground: he forcefully shows her that he commands Voyager and her. Chakotay is defeated not only by the takeover of the ship, but also by Seska's ability to lure them all into a rather clever trap, through him. If it were not for his decision to go after the child, Voyager would never have been captured. Chakotay may have been the instigator of all the action in this episode, but I still consider this a real Janeway episode with Mulgrew at her best. We get some very good dramatic dialogue and expressions from her that we have not seen before and it's just a joy to watch. When Voyager is preparing to fire on the Kazon ships, Janeway says "not yet... not yet"--there is such command and strength there. We saw real tactical skills from Janeway this time around. I'd follow her into battle any day. The whole 30-second sequence when Janeway calls for evacuation: she turns her head in a slight jerk--I can't help but think there's guilty denial going on there. Then she calls for the self-destruct sequence and the computer responds that it's unable to comply. Some expressions are worth a hundred words, and this was one of them! That look of disappointment on her face was heartbreaking. And The Slap--Janeway did what we expected of her: she went down and came right back up in Kulluh's face! She really pushes it with him and shows no real fear at doing so--proving beyond a doubt that we were right in supporting her as a strong commander from the beginning. My faith in Janeway has never wavered, and this episode rewards me with that decision. The scene I found most moving of all was toward the end when the crew are locked in the cargo bay as Voyager lands on the planet: I think the hardest thing to watch in the episode was Janeway kneeling on the floor. There seemed to be such a sense of dread, anger, disbelief and personal disappointment in her expression. I watch this shot and can't help but believe she's thinking, "I am responsible for this. This is my fault. This is my crew and I've led them into all of this. How am I going to get them out of it?" I would love to see a heart-to-heart on the planet in Part II with Janeway and either Tuvok or Chakotay, where they address any possible guilt she has over this happening... ...because the way I see it, this all happened under her command and the whole mess can be traced back to mistakes in judgment that she made. I am sure that we are all adult enough to handle some critical discussion of our beloved Captain. Yes, this story started with Chakotay's wish to retrieve the child from Seska. However, this whole nasty affair, including battles, Voyager's takeover, the dismal ending, can be blamed on just one person: Captain Kathryn Janeway. I may worship the ground she walks on, but I know major mistakes when I see them. She never should have gone with the Doctor's plan of using the holoemitters to give false ship signals, due to the simple fact that it would take too much power. Janeway knew they were going to be deep in Kazon space; why did she not consider the dangers? What if something went wrong and they needed that power? Voyager might have gotten away. You get only one ship... and Janeway seems to have come to the conclusion that this risk was worth losing the entire ship & crew for. She also made an error telling the Voyager crew to stop fighting the Kazon as they boarded the Bridge. If Janeway & Co. could have held their own on the Bridge and defeated the troops there, they would have had a base of operations from which to take back the ship. I know that numbers are a factor here--there were more Kazon than Fleet people--but I have a nagging feeling that she gave up too easily. This leads into another issue: Why didn't Janeway lock down the Bridge command controls? How many times has it been done on TNG? We know Janeway did it once already in "Persistence of Vision." As Tuvok would say, logic would have dictated Janeway's appropriate course of action: immediately after the Bridge was taken, she should have disabled it. This would accomplish two things: The Kazon wouldn't get a functioning ship with which to strand her crew, and there would be no Prime Directive problem--the USS Voyager would not be traveling the Delta Quadrant under the control of an alien race. I thought of two good reasons why Janeway might not have activated the lockout command: either those secondary back-up systems that went awry would not have permitted it, or Janeway knew she would be spelling her own death warrant in addition to the rest of the Bridge crew. Janeway has demonstrated in past episodes that she has no problem "going down with the ship," so I don't think it was her own life she was thinking of; the fact that she got up in Kulluh's face not once, but again after The Slap, and then continued to speak up, means fear was not in her mindset at that time. But I could see Kulluh killing her officers one by one, trying to get them to unlock the controls (Khan in "Space Seed" comes to mind.) Okay kids, together now: What is Janeway's authorization code? "Janeway Authorization Pi 110." As a big believer in the Prime Directive, I don't have many problems with how many times Janeway has called for the destruction of the ship, but this is turning into the laughable TNG first season "Picard surrendering" problem. I find it worrying that Janeway would find her ship in this position so many times in such a short period. I am uncertain self-destructing the ship was the only option in "Basics I." This is what bothers me about her sole ability--which we have never to date seen on any other Starfleet vessel--to self-destruct the ship. I wanted a second opinion. Speaking of whom, let's start placing blame elsewhere. I still think part of his desire to risk the ship for the child was stupid male pride at work. I wish someone would have listened to Janeway's personal doubts about Seska, for crying out loud! Tuvok is to blame here as well. Where is Security on this ship? How many times has this starship been boarded with next to no resistance? The Vidiians and Kazon have outnumbered the Voyager crew, but there never seemed to be even an attempt made on Tuvok or Security's part to stop it. If Voyager was deep in enemy space and there was even a remote possibility of being boarded, why wasn't everyone wearing a phaser at their waists? It would have helped in hallway gunfire, the takeover of Engineering, and defending the Bridge. Also regarding Mr. Security/Tactical--Why did it never occur to him what those Kazon ships were firing at for hours on end? Why did it not cause him to extrapolate and think about which systems would be damaged by this concentrated attack? Frankly, I am disappointed in Tuvok, Torres and Janeway on this point. As I said in the beginning, I actually enjoyed this episode quite a bit from the dramatic aspect of something we have never really seen before: A starship captain is personally and professionally beaten by a long-time enemy, and the rest of the crew must suffer for her mistakes. That makes for real drama, and that's something I look for in Trek, but do not always see. I just hope the writers for "Basics II" were able to come up with a conclusion to this mess that does not overlook the powerful personal consequences to our favorite Captain. --Sashi Alexandra German Kamikaze Kazon. I love it. Exactly the kind of thing that Seska and Kulluh come up with when they put their knobby heads together. Janeway knew she was heading straight into a trap in "Basics," even without Chakotay's suspicions (thank you, Michael Piller, for showing us the Big C's instincts are not always wrong). But sometimes a Starfleet captain's gotta do what her gut tells her. So many themes of the season came together in this episode that it was like the final movement of a symphony. This was a remedy for all the mistakes Chakotay made in "Maneuvers"; he accepted help and cooperation from the crew instead of trying to deal with his old lover on his own, and actually said, "This is not my responsibility!" when Seska called with her desperate message. Apparently he realized that Seska is everyone's problem, though it hits him especially hard. The fact that he could finally get through to his father after years of trying was a wonderful carry-over of his personal epiphany in "Tattoo." Of course, in its disastrous finale, "Basics" was also the perfect illustration of what Chakotay was afraid would happen if he let others get involved in his troubles with Seska. I loved the scene in Sickbay as he listens to the description of her "death," not trusting the narrator, fighting conflicting emotions...there's no hate like that of former intimates, but a man like him would never forget he once thought he loved her. Will Voyager maintain that kind of character edge? It's one of the best things about the show when tough questions aren't waffled away in the last five minutes. Leave the jagged bits, the points of conflict in place--that's where the truth tends to lie. I had a sense of foreboding danger and watchfulness, exactly as everyone on board must have had, and also a sense of inevitability--some things you simply have to do or cease being a whole human being, so to speak. What's temporary safety when you ignore imperatives like a child? OK, you avoid a big Kazon trap this time, but if you don't fight for what's important to you, what's the point? Better a live dog than a dead lion? That's not Starfleet, and that's not Janeway. She chose to be a lion, and she lives and is willing to die like one. If I were on that crew, I'd have made up my mind about serving with her a long time before this. One could make a case that the characters were manipulated into place, that the movement of the plot was transparently structured--but there are so many classic stories like that, which make almost a virtue of their obvious artifice. The point is the reaction of the characters to the situation they find themselves in, and both Chakotay's struggle with his moral imperatives and Janeway's determination in her mission and grit in the face of a terrible setback got me right there. The actors deserve a lot of the credit for that, for finding the truth in a stylized story. You can tell Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran know their Shakespeare. --L.R. Bowen I think the writers were trying to set up a Kobayashi Maru test in this episode. For those who don't remember Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the test is a no-win situation that cadets face in battle simulations. It means damned if you do, damned if you don't; toss a coin and pick your course of action, you'll lose either way. But I didn't buy that "Basics I" was a no-win situation. It was pretty clear to me that the logical course of action for Voyager was not to go after the baby. The whole dilemma reminded me of the situation the United States faced with Somalia back in the late 1980s. The news media broadcast horrid photos of children skeletal with starvation. To appease an outraged public, President Bush sent troops to feed the hungry and "restore order" to the country. The soldiers all but got their tails kicked by the rebel groups who were ruling the streets, dying Somalians were chased away when they lined up for food, thugs seized the supplies, the regime in power remained, American troops were attacked and ultimately slinked away. In retrospect, military strategists said the whole operation should never have happened; the choice to launch it was ruled by emotion, not by hard-headed logic. No concrete goals were gained, nor could they have been because of the political reality. Instead, money, food, supplies, and patriotic blood were lost, and the Somalians felt betrayed. The same problem applied in "Basics." Although there was a strong emotional impetus to go to battle for the baby, a more sound strategical choice would have been to try a different route to get it back. The baby was just as likely to be Kulluh's; if it was Chakotay's, it would likely have been executed before Voyager could arrive. If he let it live, Kulluh likely would have protected it, to use later as a bargaining chip against Voyager. Thus the whole setup probably was a trap; otherwise, resourceful Seska would have found a way to escape with the kid ("Hel-lo, Vidiians. Care to try some Cardassian DNA?") In sum, this baby was pretty safe in the short term. And even if it weren't, pitting a single ship against a Kazon fleet was insane. Janeway's motherly compassion would not override her hard-headed sense. Nor would lofty Starfleet principles about the value of all life. A better course of action would have been a slower, covert attempt to infiltrate the Kazon--better odds than one ship against eight. Instead Voyager goes into battle, and Janeway gets the wool pulled over her eyes, tactically speaking. I found it unlikely that Janeway (or someone else) wouldn't have realized the Kazon were going after the ship's command systems with all their duck-pecking. Janeway thinks fast; a three-minute huddle with Tuvok, Chakotay and Torres would have been long enough to figure out the Kazons' intentions, and come up with a plan to thwart them. Janeway and crew didn't have to sit back and let that pounding happen to them. If Voyager had to be taken captive for the season-ending cliffhanger--and I don't fault this ending; it's an interesting test of the crew's collective mettle--I think the whole process should have happened quickly, as in "Deadlock." Having watched Janeway for two seasons, I can't help but believe that if she would only surrender the ship if there was no chance (and no time) to fight back. I don't have trouble believing that Voyager can be taken over, just with the mechanisms the writers used to achieve this. However, the stage is set, the crew grounded, and we wait for "Basics II." I will be interested to see whether the captain redeems herself in getting her ship back. Hopefully, the writers won't let Tom Paris take all the credit. --Jennifer Martin Well, looks like it was a good thing Janeway's parents took her on those backpacking trips. She and her crew get to spend the summer trapped on a not particularly hospitable planet without their accustomed technology--no replicators, no sonic showers, no phasers to heat rocks, not even the proverbial paddle. Compared to this, merely being 70,000 light years from home, cut off from Starfleet, and kind of short on antimatter and shuttlecraft was cushy. It's an intriguing scenario, though I'm sure glad I don't have to write myself out of it. Getting out of it, however, is for next season. In my view, this is a very good episode except for Act I. Once the decision to try to find Seska and the baby has been made, Janeway and Chakotay both handle themselves well. Janeway is particularly splendid as a commander during the battle with the Kazon, remaining calm and adapting quickly as the situation changes. She manages to look strong in defeat as well. During the confrontation with Kulluh, she doesn't let either fear or anger get the better of her, but maintains her dignity and does what little she can to protect her crew. (Seska is, of course, slimily marvelous as usual--I particularly liked the way she demurely assures Kulluh of her respect for him, without having been given permission to speak.) Once they are marooned on the planet, Janeway immediately moves on to the tasks at hand, maintaining a sense that there is hope of rescue and the considerable difficulties the crew faces can be overcome. She ought to be good at that sort of thing--she's had a lot of practice--and she is. Still, that last look at her beloved ship is enough to turn this reviewer into a pool of goo. The episode gives us a lot to think about over the summer, which is sort of the point. How are they going to get Voyager back? How are they going to survive on the planet in the meantime? Are those really giant lizards, and are they going to eat anyone? Is Suder going to get to redeem himself? Where the heck is Spike Wildman? We can also indulge ourselves in revenge fantasies about Kulluh--so far, mine involve locking him in Janeway's holonovel. It was also fitting that the last episode of the season contained so many references to previous episodes. Seska's pregnancy, Suder's imprisonment, the difficulties with transferring the holodoc outside of sickbay, even the soup container from "Prime Factors" we've seen before. It's a nice review, and little elements of continuity like that are important in preserving the sense that these are real people having real experiences which don't all show up in discrete 45-minute packages. And, of course, this is a much better episode than TNG's end-of-the-second-season recap episode "Shades of Gray." The only really major problem with the episode is how they get into the situation in the first place. Seska's plea to Chakotay for assistance is a pretty obvious trap. As presented in the show, Janeway decides to risk her entire ship and crew in a probably futile attempt to rescue a child possibly fathered, against his will, by Chakotay. There are excellent reasons why a showdown with Seska is overdue, but they are not discussed--it's purely a matter of trying to save the baby. In this context, Janeway's decision is not rational. It's the way a Vulcan might expect a human to act-- guided by emotions rather than logic. It's not the way any competent starship captain ought to act, and I don't care how many times they've done it in the past. You can't go around jeopardizing an entire ship and a crew of a hundred and fifty or so (not to mention hundreds of Kazon lives) to save one individual. A baby, however cute it may be and whoever's DNA it may contain, is not a higher principle. Janeway can risk her own life to save a baby if she wants to, though she probably shouldn't, but she has no right to ask this of her crew. It also raises the ugly question of whether she would have done it if, say, Hogan's DNA had been stolen, or whether Chakotay gets special consideration. On the whole, the episode is a success, but it's hard to toss off the weakness of the basic premise as a merely cosmetic problem. The decision makes Janeway look irresponsible. Surely Seska's clever enough to come up with a better trap. --Jennifer Loehlin "Basics, Part I" was Classic Trek. Technobabble abounded, weapons were raised in anger, and by the end of this action-oriented story, the entire crew was in dire straits. An overriding sense of tension and inevitability contrasted with moments of pathos (Chakotay and Kolopak) and cheesy humor (Doc In Space). There was Tom Paris riding off in what appeared to be a futile effort to bring help. There were nasty aliens with hidden agendas and hidden explosives. There was The Trap, which we all could see coming light-years away, and which closed inexorably about Voyager despite Janeway and crew's valiant efforts to evade it. There were Seska and The Maj, unseen at first, but so obviously involved that we could almost hear them chuckling gleefully in the background. And, above all, there was the cause, the reason why Janeway was willing to undertake the potentially disastrous mission in the first place. How many times have we seen the efforts previous Starfleet captains and crews have made to protect innocent pawns in some deadly game? Spock tried to convince us that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, but if "the few" happen to be innocents in danger, Kirk, Picard, and Sisko have never hesitated to intervene, and it was reassuring to see Janeway follow her distinguished predecessors. Rescuing Chakotay's child (if Seska is to be believed), for personal, humanitarian and strategic reasons, may have meant knowingly walking into a trap, but Janeway's past actions have shown her to be fearless when defending her principles. Destroying the Array, trying to save a helpless baby--doing it because it's the right thing, regardless of the consequences--may seem foolhardy to some, but I expected no less of her. My admiration for her courage and willingness to act according to her conscience knows no bounds. Those who criticize her for losing Voyager and for putting her crew in jeopardy, those who judge her for the results rather than the effort, are missing the point which this show has made ever since "Caretaker"--that this is a captain who feels no compunction to stick her neck out and risk losing her head if she feels strongly about the cause. Whether in defense of an entire race or one single, helpless child, her vision remains true and her actions bold. Jim Kirk would be proud. The story arc involving Suder has given us to believe that Tuvok has been making great strides with the Betazoid, helping him to control his violent urges and to activate his conscience. That Suder is left behind, the likely savior (along with the Doctor) of the ship, was surely predictable. What wasn't predictable was seeing Suder in action, the model prisoner trying to help the ship with his unique skills--except that despite Tuvok's best efforts, this guy is still insane! How very bold of Michael Piller to set this man forward as a potential hero, perhaps the only one who can deliver Voyager from the hands of her enemies, and yet show us that he hasn't morphed into some kind of saint. That Voyager's fate rests in the hands of a psychopath and a computer program is new, yet it's still somehow familiar, because in Trek, even the madmen sometimes have the capability to rise above their own limitations and soar among the stars. It would be nice if Paris comes through, or Janeway and her crew manage to triumph on their own, but I won't mind at all if turns out to be poor, deluded Suder who saves the ship in the end. Spock would be proud. --Diane Nichols *THE KATE MULGREW FILM FESTIVAL COLUMN* ALIEN LOVER by Anne Davenport With dozens of cable channels out there hungry for programming, it is inevitable that they will dig up everything--of high and low merit--including this TV movie from Kate Mulgrew's deepest, darkest past. I had thought that her first work was on the soap Ryan's Hope, but there seems to have been at least one project preceding even that. Movies like this must be considered one of the hazards of the acting profession. In stage work, at least all that early, thespiatic 'learning experience' disappears into the ether. But when it is recorded on film or videotape it can come back again and again... Such is the case when the SciFi Channel aired what is surely the job that got Kate her Screen Actor's Guild card, judging from the 'Introducing Kate Mulgrew' in the opening credits of Alien Lover, originally shown as something called a "Mystery of the Week." A brief rundown of the plot, such as it is: an orphaned, mentally unstable teenager, Susan, comes with her cat, Herman, to live with her well-meaning aunt and uncle and their snotty teenage-genius son, Jude. She soon discovers that the little voice whispering to her in the house isn't coming from inside her head, but is emanating from a TV set underneath the discards of her cousin's workshop up in the attic. Turning the set on introduces her to the title character--whose name, incidentally, is Mark--an inter-dimensional young person who lives in a world where parents are locked up so they can't bother the kids. She develops a special-friend relationship with him whilst the relatives downstairs think their niece is cracking up again. Just when she's about to reach into the TV screen, Jude stops her, revealing that he owes his genius status to the teachings of Mark--who had been using him to get into our dimension to do his evil deeds here. Susan, being a little unbalanced already, doesn't believe Jude, and doesn't seem overly distressed when he is sucked into the TV set later (neither was I). The family is just about to have Susan carted back to the funny farm when Mark pulls off the grand finale and Susan introduces him to the aunt, uncle and psychiatrist. The program ends on the happy note of the alien lover grinning, now free to wreck havoc in our dimension with bad special effects. The copyright on Alien Lover is 1975 and the clothes tell it all. Kate's bell-bottomed jeans, every other person wearing a turtleneck, the aunt's fluffed hair, and the hideous, plush bathrobes that the entire family wears all confirm that the 1970's were a fashion wasteland. Naturally Susan's TV set alien lover is the worst dresser of all. He wears a pseudo-futuristic, polyester body suit with wide belt and collar accents that would make a Logan's Run costumer cringe. Even his hair is bad, styled into dark, pre-Man from Atlantis curls that make the viewer wonder: are they fake, or a real wig? Alien Lover is clearly an inexpensive, videotaped production with only five major characters, plus a couple of incidental ones. The only setting is the aunt and uncle's house, which looks like a leftover from Dark Shadows. A youthful, round-faced Kate is in every scene, talking to herself, her cousin, his roommate, the aunt, the uncle, the psychiatrist, the cat, and especially to her blue-glowing special friend in the TV set. She and the story labor long upon the inequities of life for lonely, long-suffering teenagers and the lies their parents tell them--a worn plot built on the dregs of the generational disputes of the previous decade, with a cheesy, sci-fi twist. Were the 70's really like that? I'm afraid they were. One final warning: look away if your sensibilities are delicate. Herman dies. THROW MOMMA FROM THE TRAIN By DeAnn G. Rossetti There are two things writers loathe above all others: writer's block and plagiarism. Writer's block (being psychologically unable to write) is to writing what ringworm is to skin: it makes you seek anything to stop that itch immediatly. Plagiarism (having your work stolen by another writer) is more like the Phage, a hideous, deforming disease that will eat you alive with hatred and bitterness. Throw Momma is the story of Larry Donner (Billy Crystal), a writer plagued with both the 'block' and the onus of plagiarism, provided deliciously by Kate Mulgrew as Larry's ex-wifeMargaret Donner, the woman who stole his novel and made it a bestseller. Pity the man as he types the same three words--"The night was"--while Margaret tells Oprah Winfrey that "once I was blissfully divorced, freedom overcame me, and I was allowed to become the writer, the artist, that I was never allowed to be in my prison-like marriage." When a friend points out that Margaret "looks great," Crystal responds "It's a well-known fact that criminals don't age--criminals, and Dick Clark." The TV interview continues with Kate tossing out barb after barb like "I watched him at the typewriter and I thought "My God, I can do that in spades...and clearly, I could." And just when you thought poor Larry couldn't writhe any harder, we learn that Kate is now living in Hawaii ("I just adore a tropical climate"), and that, when asked point-blank how she produced a best-seller her first time out as a writer, Kate tosses her head, flashes her eyes into the camera, and says, "Well, Oprah, it's the story of my life!" while Larry goes ballistic in front of the TV: "It's my life, you slut!" He also points out that Margaret not only stole his book, but spent some of the divorce settlement on a pair of large heart-shaped diamond earrings that glitter throughout her little chat with Oprah. Soon after, it's revealed that Larry teaches adult-education writing classes at a local community college. Every teacher's nightmare student is represented here, from a horny old man who wants to write a coffee-table book on Women I'd Like to F__k, to a woman whose story about a submarine crew includes technical phrases like "the thingie that turns on the thingamabob." By far the most pathetic member of his class is Owen (Danny Devito). Owen is trapped at home taking care of his elderly, crabbed mother, who has apparently been the victim of a stroke. Anne Ramsey does an excellent job of making Owen's Momma a repellent, foul-mouthed brute with lank, greasy hair and a vicious temperment. If you don't hate this woman within 5 minutes of hearing her screech "Owen, get your fat little butt in here," you are either a saint or a geriatric nurse. The plot revolves around a misunderstanding rendered thus: Owen is trying to write a mystery story for class, and Larry helps him out by explaining that in a mystery, characters need motives, methods, and alibis. He gets Owen to see a Hitchcock movie to illustrate how mysteries are created. Unfortunately, the film is "Strangers on a Train," where two men meet and agree to kill each other's wives. After overhearing Larry yelling to his new girlfriend that he wishes his ex-wife were dead, this gives Owen ideas. So Owen breaks into Margaret's fabulous home, overlooking some glorious Hawaiian scenery. There he watches as Margaret's tall, dark and handsome gardener strolls in wearing only a towel around his muscular abdomen. (Attention J/Cers--if you're in need of a good lovemaking scene between our fair Kate and a hunky Spanish-speaking Adonis, this one's for you.) Kate looks at said hunk, murmurs "May I borrow your towel?" and proceeds to have hot, sweaty monkey-love with her "big chihuahua" who barks and bites her throughout the scene. Kate plays it for all it's worth, even stopping to take a call from her agent (whom Margaret has also stolen from Larry) while attempting to stop her barking and yipping lover by saying "Down boy!" Following this interlude, Owen follows Margaret onto a cruise ship where she's attending a party, and as she leans over the side of the boat to retrieve one of those dazzling diamond earrings (gotta love the rear-end cheescake shots of Kate's long legs), Owen pushes her overboard. He then calls Larry to say "I've done it, is there anything else you want from Hawaii?" and expecting Larry to kill his mother for him, like in the Hitchcock movie: "Criss-cross!" Inevitably, the cops are after Larry for suspiscion of killing his ex-wife, and Larry ends up staying at Owen's house, seeking a way to kill his belligerent Momma. Mayhem and sight gags ensue, with the result that Larry can't kill Momma,and can't return home because everyone has given damning statements about Larry's feelings toward his ex-wife. The result is that Larry, Owen and Momma end up on a train, where Larry saves Momma's life instead of throwing her off, and in so doing is thrown off the train himself. Next we see him in the hospital with a cast on his leg, watching his Margaret on TV, where she is telling the world about how she "fell off the boat" retrieving her diamond earring and was saved by a man whom she intends to marry after writing a book about her miraculous esacpe from death. Larry dreams of strangling her with a tie, and suddenly wakes with the urge to write. He finishes his magnum opus, called "Throw Momma From the Train," and Owen arrives to tell him that he, too, has written a book on their experiences. To Larry's relief, its only a pop-up book for kids. Soon after, we see the successfully published Larry on the beach with his girlfriend and Owen getting ready to snorkel, spouting some cutesy lines like "Look at him--he's a buoy with hair!" For my money, this misogynistic flick was a bit too free with the epithets and screams of "slut!" everytime we see Margaret. The film never establishes why Margaret stole Larry's novel, or even that she really did, as we are given the picture of Larry as a loser who can't seem to do what he admonishes his writing students to do every night: "A writer writes--always!" The agent, played as a lisping gay stereotype by Rob Reiner, mentions several times that in 7 years, he's never gotten one piece of publishable work from Larry. Larry even has trouble making love to his new girlfriend because when his writing is blocked, everything is blocked--so we have scenes where his girlfriend reads him the "Little Engine that Could" as an aphrodisiac. Hence the men are supposed to be seen as charming little boys in need of love, understanding and no female authority figures, but the women who are intelligent or competent are touted as evil bitches. This looks like equating male loss of power with the female executives who were gaining ground in the boardroom in 1987, the year of the film's release. If that kind of underlying message irritates you as much as it did me, you might want to skip this movie. If, on the other hand, you have a firm grasp of your VCR remote, you can fast forward to Kate in her altogether during the juicy scenes and get a few chuckles. And yes, hair-watchers, we do see the pre-Janeway bun in this movie, if briefly, before she falls into the sea on the cruise ship. In contrast to her filmy lavender-and seafoam-green outfit, it's rather classy--whose idea was that shiny lavender eye-shadow, anyway? I wonder what Chakotay would say if Janeway called him "my big chihuahua"? Now that I'd pay to see! *KATEWATCH* Sashi joyously brought her laptop, so we have this wonderfully complete report on both of Kate's appearances onstage in Denver! STARFEST '96 20-21 APRIL 1996, DENVER, COLORADO by Sashi Alexandra German I'll start by saying that I have never traveled this far from Philadelphia for a Star Trek convention before. The only reason I did this was to see Kate Mulgrew, who doesn't seem to be coming anywhere near the central East Coast anytime soon. I went with some high expectations, and not only were those expectations met, they were exceeded. If anyone ever gets the chance to see Kate, they should ride, climb and fly to be there. She is not only a class act, but shows a wisdom, respect and maturity that so many Star Trek stars of the last several years have shown they seriously lack. On Saturday, Mulgrew came on stage in a brown velvet dress with a large gold necklace hanging down the front. Her hair was rather short, ending just above the shoulders--she said she had just had it cut after they filmed the last scene the night before. She was very animated on stage, walking back and forth between questions from the audience broadcast from microphones on each side of the stage. Other guests at the convention simply sat in a chair in the middle of the stage; she stood the whole time and walked around, even though she was probably quite tired. More than most any other guest I have seen, she took questions from children, and more importantly replied to them with real answers. On Saturday Mulgrew was asked the same question by three different children, and every single time she replied with the same answer in three completely different ways--making the children feel good about their questions, and making us respect Mulgrew for having the smarts to go out of her way to treat children like intelligent adults. I have not seen many actors do this over the years and it was a most pleasant surprise. She began her talk by saying that the cast had just finished filming for the season the previous night at 3:00 a.m. She went home by 4:30 and got out of bed at 6:30 to catch her flight. She was tired, but glad to be in Denver; they had completed the second part of a two-parter ("Basics 2"), the opening episode for 3rd season. Explaining to the massive crowd that in any actor's career, very rarely does one come across The Role Of A Lifetime, she said you sometimes come close but can't get it--and sometime you are lucky enough to have it fall into your lap. She said the role of Kathryn Janeway is the perfect role for her, a 40-year-old actress; she knew she loved the character from Day One, when she tried out for the part. "I find it breathtaking to be the first female captain in Star Trek." She goes to work every day on a cloud of happiness, giving her heart and soul to the role (she mentioned this many times, both on stage and in our personal Sunday brunch, and it was most gratifying to hear). Mulgrew said working on the series is very hard, and that if it were not for the fans and her own support system, she feels the character of Janeway would never have been created. She thanked the fans for essentially giving her the best role she could ever have. When asked what it was like "to be catapulted from being a regular star to a Trek superstar?" Mulgrew replied that she found it "very daunting." She said she was trying to explain all of this to her son (who was at the convention) and he seemed very uninterested. She added that Trek is its own "marvelous creature" with such a fantastic group of people and a foundation of fan support which shows a great passion for sophisticated science fiction. She feels she must be responsible to fans because they are helping to create what she does. TREK: She shared some thoughts and insights concerning her experience so far with Voyager, complimenting the cast and crew on their fine work and often how fun it is to work with everyone--"except for Tim Russ." She and Tim are in the middle of a prankish rivalry that she says she will win. She said Tim "is dead meat" and that the Denver audience was more than welcome to tell Tim that personally when he comes there in the fall for StarCon. She called Russ "naughty" because he's never dressed and sometimes she has to zipper him up in order to prepare him for a shot. She implied he hadn't cleaned his socks or robe in years...but she added that she adores him. On how she found out she was hired as the new Voyager Captain: She drove home from the network audition and walked in her front door. "My beloved housekeeper of 12 years grabbed me and said I had to listen to my phone messages!" Mulgrew said she "never listens" to her answering machine messages but was dragged to the kitchen, "You must listen to your messages now, do it now! Do it now!" At the end of all the messages was, "Hello Kate, this is Rick Berman. Welcome aboard Voyager, Captain." Mulgrew reported, "At this point I did what every good Catholic does and dropped to my knees, thanked God and broke out the champagne!" When asked if she found anything intimidating about trying out for the part of Janeway, she said that she had heard Paramount had tried out something like 900 actresses for the role. When Genevieve Bujold was hired and then immediately quit, the word got out that the days were too long, the schedule too rigorous and the whole project too much for anyone to handle. Four days after Bujold left, Mulgrew was asked to audition again and went to work that very Friday. When she arrived on the set, she knew that everyone--crew and cast--were staring at her and wondering what she would do. Everyone was under the impression (as was she) that the entire project lay on her shoulders and that if she failed, so would the show. Her very first scene was walking onto the bridge with Paris and Kim and showing them their stations. She said the director, Winriche Kolbe, took her aside and said, "You're known for giving fabulous dinner parties. The Bridge is your dinner party. Have fun." And then she did the scene, and everything worked out. (I must add that Garrett Wang has been quoted at several conventions as saying that when Mulgrew came onto the Bridge, he knew the cast finally had their Captain; she seemed to take command immediately and knew exactly what she was doing.) She was asked whom she may have based the character of Janeway on. Mulgrew's exact response was, "She evolved out of the bowels of my being." She said she is the second oldest of a large family with eight brothers and sisters. Her mother would often make her help out with the running of the family, so "command came naturally..." When asked the age old-question of what it's like to work with the other actors on the show, she said the camaraderie among the crew is quite genuine: they have a real center of happiness and sense of privilege in working on the show. Regarding the actors themselves: Robert Beltran does "Deliverance" impersonations, and when things are really slow, he stands on his command chair and does Frank Sinatra songs with a Spanish accent. Robert Duncan McNeill is very sweet looking, but dangerous. He has a game: "Who can make Kate laugh?" While she is on camera, he makes certain hand gestures to crack her up--she says she hasn't fallen for any of his tricks yet. Ethan Phillips she described as her "real sweetheart." Once they were shooting a scene and he looked up at her with a strange gaze, and she asked him what was wrong. He replied, "There's no problem. I just love my Captain." Ethan also acts as McNeill's pretend agent, in charge of finding him work "when his pretty-boy phase is over." She loves to with Roxann Biggs-Dawson because she is very energetic and intense about her work. Mulgrew feels the part was cast really well; problem is, the few times Roxann loses control and starts to laugh, everyone starts to laugh, and they often can't do a thing for at least 3 hours! Jennifer Lien she described her as "an enigma," a bit of a loner but with an element of superb acting that Mulgrew says makes her believe there is this wonderful, true actress inside. Garrett Wang sincerely believes that he is enjoying life quite a bit: "He has many interests, most of them spelled G-I-R-L-S." Whenever she has shots with him, she often has to clear a bunch of women out of the way. Regarding character development and cast control, Mulgrew said she felt it was time for Chakotay and Janeway to start arguing, or, as she put it, "got at it on the mat." She wants a deepening relationship with him and a better understanding, but she also feels he should be arguing with her more on some of her decisions. She feels that Janeway's two best friends are Chakotay and Tuvok. She said all the actors have their character input taken seriously; however, not all of the actors take advantage of this. She wants Tom Paris's character better developed--she wants to get to know more of his history and wants "to see the pilot," not just the "playboy." She would also like to see more of Torres' character developed, her Klingon side and more of that "voracious sexuality... and how about with Tom Paris!" She'd like to see more depth in Harry Kim and what he does at Ops. She complimented Robert Picardo with single-handedly creating his character, and said he has no problems calling up the writers and producers every time he has a complaint with his dialogue. There is no name planned for the holographic doctor at this time, "other than 'Successful'," Mulgrew joked. She likes Rick Berman a great deal and feels, for the most part, that he is greatly underrated. She described him as one of the most professional and detailed producers she had ever worked with. He goes through every episode, every shot, every angle and will not hesitate to order a reshoot on anything he doesn't approve of. She also enjoys working for Executive Producer Jeri Taylor and respects the higher-ups at Paramount for deciding to go with a woman captain for the Voyager series. Someone asked about her voice and the controversy about it. Mulgrew said during the beginning of Voyager filming, people had a problem with the cadence, saying she was a cross between Katherine Hepburn and Mickey Mouse. She then did a little Hepburn imitation for us (very funny) and added that she believed "a man originally made that remark." Almost as if on cue, a male fan came up to the microphone after that comment and said that he knew of terrible letters Mulgrew had been sent by male Trek fans, complaining about a female captain and how there was no place for her in Trek. He said that all he wanted to say "on behalf of all intelligent male Trek fans everywhere, thank you for being so good and for being a role model for all people" (everyone cheered the guy). When asked what the oddest thing she ever had to do on "Voyager" was, she said it came in the most recent episodes they finished filming ("Basics" Part 1 & 2). She said the crew of Voyager was abandoned on a planet with no technology, and Chakotay was unable to start a simple fire. She said, "Can you imagine? My Chakotay, my Maquis warrior, Mr. Macho, and he can't even start a fire?" That seemed pretty silly to her. In the episode "Deadlock" where the two Janeways are talking to one another, Mulgrew said on Saturday that it took 19 hours to film that 5 minutes...then on Sunday she said it took 18 hours to film! She said the opticals were obscenely difficult and required precision movement and timing--she couldn't move even an 8th of an inch or the shot was ruined. She was asked which episode to date best reflects her work as Voyager's commanding officer. She replied "Death Wish"; she felt Janeway was at her absolute best in that episode, but she also liked it "because that madman John DeLancie," her good friend, was in it. She liked the story so much because she felt the focus and intensity on the issue of suicide was "valuable and had merit." She said it reminded her of current issues in society brought to the forefront in the manner the original Trek series did. Regarding the hair issue: As script coordinator Lolita Fatjo said in her appearance at the Towson, MD Vulkon convention this past March, Mulgrew is obviously sick and tired of the topic. Mulgrew herself said too much time has been wasted on this. Her view is, "Just put it up, leave it alone and let me act." She said no one ever complained about Patrick Stewart having no hair, so why spend so much time on her? Plot and characters are important, not hair. She said that if she had to concentrate on hair & technobabble details vs. character and leadership, she would go with character and leadership--no contest. (Lots of applause from the crowd here!) She also demonstrated that her own hairstyle wouldn't work for Janeway, since she's constantly pushing it back from her face, and "it would not do to have the captain saying, 'Just a minute, Commander, my hair...'" (fiddling with it as she spoke)! Interestingly, she said when "Eye of the Needle" aired and she was shown in with her hair down, she got lots of mail, mostly from men. She said she doesn't mind doing those scenes with her hair down, just not on the Bridge or at work on the ship. When asked about the possibility of gay or lesbian crew members, Mulgrew immediately replied, "You've seen them, believe me." She said she understood the issue and felt that perhaps it would be addressed in an episode one day, perhaps one of the senior staff members would be revealed as gay or lesbian. On her favorite Star Trek bad guys: she isn't worried about the Kulluh, but she is afraid of what Seska is capable of. Regarding the Kazon, she goes back to what Ethan Phillips says: they're the biggest villains in the Delta Quadrant, but they can't find water? In general she likes "sophisticated villains." The Vidians are a real threat--she feels they are fascinating and diabolical, and that the organ snatcher concept and their need to survive is a great idea. A young child asked what it was like to pretend to be in space? Mulgrew said, "Pretending in general is a great thing," and that pretending to travel through space, meet aliens, and visit planets is nothing short of exciting! She feels the sets are beautiful. "The Bridge is just gorgeous," with details given to every plaque, every console. About the techie questions, how many photon torpedoes Voyager still has left, and how many shuttles, etc., she said the writers do read the scripts but cannot keep track of everything. When she thinks she sees something really ridiculous in a script, she picks up the phone and makes calls and asks what is going on. She says she does have input over how her character is written. When asked if Voyager would meet the Borg, Mulgrew responded "I don't think so" but that we were not to quote her because she has been wrong before. She did say Voyager has "bigger fish to fry." She revealed that it takes 7 to 9 days to film each episode, sometimes as many as 10 days. The 2nd season finale and 3rd season premiere took a total of two weeks, with on-location filming. Asked by a child if Janeway was ever going to have a baby, Mulgrew laughed and said probably not, that staggering around the bridge "would give a whole new meaning to red alert!" She queried, "Besides, who would I have a baby with?" and then admonished the audience not to answer! PERSONAL: Mulgrew said she is divorced and has two sons. She comes from a large Irish Catholic family with 42 nieces and nephews! She graduated from high school two years early in order to go to college--she laughingly said that being smart had nothing to do with it--it had to do with wanting to get out of Dubuque, Iowa really badly! She left home at the age of 17 to learn how to act, going straight to New York to start studying. She was asked by a 12-year-old child how she got interested in acting. Mulgrew said, "Something happens when you're 12 years old. The rest of your life is about to be determined before you become a woman." She said she was in her home in Iowa one evening and was looking at the house and the land and suddenly realized she wanted to be an actress. When she told her parents, her father said she could go off to acting school, but she would have to pay for it herself. "But Dad, I'm 12 years old! How am I suppose to pay for it?" "Get a job," he replied. So she became a short order cook and "worked under the table for four years" and then left for acting school in New York when she had enough money. Her mother got her interested in acting. She was born in Iowa and grew up in a large home out in the country. She felt that through literature, she could explore her writing. At the age of 12, she was asked to read one of her poems in front of the whole class. Her mother told her that she was good--but not that good--and told Kate to read another poem , written by a literary author. Mulgrew said all the kids cried, her reading having been very powerful, and she was hooked. She went to many schools for acting over the years, one of them the Stella Adler Master Class. She said she beat out thousands to get in--but it was very tough work. Stella was "an epic lady." Mulgrew described a time when she was playing Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. She thought she had done a scene really well, but then Stella came over and literally grabbed her by the hair, dragged her across the stage and said, "This is mediocre! Go back to Iowa!" Mulgrew said she was crushed when she was told this, said there was no way she could go back home. She she did the scene again 10 times until she got better. In general, she feels that "acting is a dying art" because people are no longer training and learning acting skills. She thanked Stella for yelling and screaming at her and making her into an actress. Originally she just wanted to work in theater. She was living in New York and working as a waitress during the day and a bartender at night. Eventually she found an agent and went on several auditions. After her first day, she came home and got a call from her agent who said she had gotten the part of Mary Ryan in the soap opera Ryan's Hope, and also a part in a Shakespearean group. She said she really wanted to just do the stage play and not the soap opera...so she wound up calling her mother and asking for advice. Her mother suggested going with what her heart said, and that was theater, so Kate in the end went with both! She implied that it was typical of all children to ask for advice from their parents and then just ignore it. She said she enjoyed playing Mary Ryan a great deal and thought it was a good character. When asked her hardest role ever, Mulgrew said there were two-- in both cases, she was the wrong age for the parts. The first role she mentioned was Hedda Gabler, the second was St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, the first person born in the U.S. to be canonized by the Catholic church. She said she would like the opportunity to do both roles again at this time in her life, though she claims she's getting "a little long in the tooth" for the roles. Mulgrew was asked about what she likes to read. "The greats"--Tolstoy, many Russians authors, and of course "Shakespeare is not to be discounted." She likes Austen, Emily Dickinson, and Dickens. Mulgrew addressed all the young people in the audience and told them "reading is the key to knowledge and the passport to happiness." She recommended that everyone take the time to read for at least 15 minutes before going to bed every night. By the time you're 40 you will have had the chance to read many great works. Mulgrew speaks French and Italian fluently (but said nailing Star Trek technobabble is like learning Greek and Japanese!) When asked if she personally really loves coffee as much as Janeway does, Mulgrew replied, "How do you think that got in there?" She said she is Irish, which means she will drink any kind of coffee but not decaf. On the subject of food, she said she has a very strange diet! She drinks 7-8 cups of coffee a day, doesn't feel hungry until 5 p.m. For dinner she has a glass of wine, a leg of lamb, roast potatoes and spinach. That meal has worked for her for years and she's happy with it. She doesn't eat sweets, but thinks the wine she drinks takes care of that...She loves to cook, and said she could not live without her kitchen. She also loves to throw parties. Among her other favorite things: she loves to have a hot bath with a good book and listen to Pavarotti, she has "four great lady friends," and her boys are her favorite people. Regarding her ability to handle modern technology, she has been told she has a computer, a FAX machine, and a VCR in her house, but she known nothing of how to use them! Mulgrew appeared recently on a talk show and was asked what three people from history she would invite to a dinner party? She replied Jesus Christ, Eleonora Duse, and Satan. Who was Eleonora Duse? Mulgrew described her as the greatest actress ever, an Italian mystic, whom she greatly respected. Her single favorite actor of all time? "As hard as this may be to understand, I would die for Marlon Brando." She mentioned Mutiny on the Bounty and The Godfather movie series as incredible examples of his work. She said "he has a presence that is utterly transcendent." Her favorite female actress is Meryl Streep, whom she called "a genius." She also likes "the British contingent": Emma Thompson, Kenneth Branagh, etc. Favorite actors she has worked with: Richard Burton, having acted opposite him in his very last film; David Jensen, Rip Torn, and, of course, John DeLancie is the best! Her adolescent sons are not Star Trek fans; they only watch episodes when she points out a particular one of interest. Does she believed in the existence of aliens or in any of the spirituality that First Officer Chakotay believes? She said yes, and that in general she learned that the only good answer to a question is 'yes' because... why not? Why wouldn't other aliens or beings exist? Why isn't spirituality a real thing? She said it's also a little megalomaniacal to believe that we humans are the only ones around. The last question she was asked was about similarities between herself and Captain Janeway; she said there are many. Kate Mulgrew aspires to be Kathryn Janeway. She joked that it certainly wouldn't be the other way around. She said Janeway is brave and honest, a scientist, an investigator. To have met the Janeway character "is like God coming down and kissing me and saying, 'I am going to make you very happy.'" Mulgrew was asked whether she has any desire to direct: she said no, that directing takes "an intense objectivity" that she feels she does not have. She feels very involved and biased toward her character and work and would probably not be able to direct. There is a technical expression while filming called "hair in the gate" which means dust has gotten on the lens. Mulgrew said there have been times that has happened after a perfect take "where alcoholism makes sense." She recently had a very positive experience at the White House in Washington D.C. She was asked to meet with an organization called "Women of Science" and meet with the President and Mrs. Clinton. She was able to meet with Hillary Clinton, who had just gotten off a plane from a 2-week trip abroad and must have been exhausted. Mulgrew said Mrs. Clinton was beautiful and elegant and "had an air of dignity about her." She said Mrs. Clinton seemed to have this "intelligence that made her seem so easy, gracious and clear. I thought this broad ought to be the driver's seat." Mulgrew was obviously very impressed. At one point a couple came to the microphone and addressed Mulgrew and said that they were getting married in a week and were asking "for the Captain's blessing." Mulgrew asked them if they were really deeply in love and they said "yes" and she gave them her blessing. She then started talking about how women used to have terrible pressure at a young age to get married and have kids immediately--it didn't matter how much they loved the men. Mulgrew said it is very important for people to be deeply in love before deciding to commit to one another. People need to take the time to find the one true love in their lives. (She mentioned this philosophy of love regarding women on both Saturday and Sunday, and I couldn't help but get the feeling that she was very passionate on this particular subject.) When asked if she could just leave Earth and be Janeway, would she? Mulgrew said no, she wouldn't, because she wouldn't want to leave her kids. "Besides, I have the best of both worlds right now--I can do both." But she did say that if she could take her kids with her on Voyager, she'd be outta here! At the end of her talk on Saturday, a Starland announcer came on stage and presented Mulgrew with a birthday cake (with a USS Voyager on it) and about 4,000 people sang "Happy Birthday" (she turned 41 on Monday April 29th). I have to tell you, there's something to be said for being in a crowd of thousands of people and everyone singing this song--it was fun! Christie Golden, author of five novels including Star Trek Voyager #6: The Murdered Sun, joined us in Denver and graciously signed autographs while we waited for Kate. Her fans will be happy to know that she is awaiting the go-ahead for a second Voyager novel, tentatively titled Marooned; in the meantime, readers can check out her new fantasy novel Instrument of Fate. Here's a photo of herself and Kate, and Christie's account of brunch: ADVENTURES WITH CAPTAIN KATE by Christie Golden It had not been the kindest of weeks thus far. I had what felt like the mother of all colds, and I'd just driven an hour and a half at 7:00 on a Sunday morning from a writer's convention in Colorado Springs.I should have been in bed, pumped up with Vitamin C, not heading back up toward Denver and StarFest and meeting all the good folks of Now Voyager--and, especially, meeting Kate Mulgrew. But there I was. Heck, wouldn't you have been? The room was chilly, but the warmth of the people assembled upon meeting me sure made up for it. And then, like icing on the cake, in came Kate Mulgrew. Small, to house such a large personality. Slim, even more than she looks on the television. And animated. And freckled, begorrah. And warm, much more accessible and genuine than the print interviews I'd read made her seem. After what must have been a grueling weekend, she appeared truly delighted to meet the members of her fan club...and me, their pet author. She settled down, accepted a cup of coffee but nothing else, and immediately cut to the chase. What did we, the viewers, like? What did we want to see? As she spoke, and more importantly as she listened--and really listened--to our words, I realized what was going on with those interviews. They could only report the words. They could not really capture the sparkle in this intelligent woman's eyes, the warmth and sincerity in her voice, the kindness of the hand she lay affectionately on a shoulder, the openness of her body language. And, therefore, they couldn't really do her justice. She seemed pleased when I offered her a copy of The Murdered Sun with the inscription, "For Kate Mulgrew, who made Janeway such a joy to write for." And she asked point-blank if I were planning to submit to the show. When I hemmed and hawed, there was a flicker of Janeway in the order to Do So. And when I jokingly asked, "Can I tell them Kate sent me?" she replied, "Oh, you bet." Hee hee. So, I've got these ideas... In assuming the mantle of a Starship Captain, Mulgrew took on enormous responsibility. Too often, and not without reason, one sees actors lamenting "typecasting" and the pressure put on them by fans--akin to being loved to death. If Kate Mulgrew lives to be a hundred and forty, she'll never shake Janeway. She knows this. She has accepted it--and, moreover, she recognizes that along with the tough stuff, she's been given a gift. Kate Mulgrew spoke eloquently of the hard hours, of the pressures, of the demands of the role..."and I get up happy every single morning. I love Janeway." We do too, Kate. And let me let you in on a secret. After meeting you, I've realized that so much of what we respect and admire about a certain Kathryn Janeway comes directly from a certain Kate Mulgrew. Thank you--for both. Barbe wrote the following speech as an accompaniment to Kate's birthday present from Now Voyager--an actual star in the heavens, registered in Kate's name on April 29, 1996. For the curious, the star is located in the constellation Andromeda, RA 23h 41m 22.87s D, 46 degrees 52' 24.276", Magnitude MV 11.4. SMITH'S 1700 FREQUENT FLYER MILES FROM GETTYSBURG ADDRESS By Barbe Smith One year and a couple weeks ago, The Powers That Be brought forth on this continent a new Star Trek, conceived in the Delta Quadrant, dedicated to the proposition that all Captains are created equal. Now, we are engaged in a great ratings war, testing whether that Voyager, or any other sci-fi so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure with a female captain. We are met at a momentous gathering place of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of this universe, as a fitting birthday gift to that woman who has maintained her dignity in the face of mutating crewmen and delusional seduction while steadfastly pursuing a course towards a better cup of coffee. As an actor, she has persisted through technobabble and hairstyle changes, and sacrificed her social life, that this nation might have a decent Monday night program. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should honor her. But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot evaluate, we cannot fully appreciate this show. This woman, this brave individual, and her comrades, who struggle through endless days to produce this work, have elevated it far above our own poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what I say here--but it can never forget what Voyager has done for UPN. It is for us Trekkers, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who strive weekly have thus far so nobly advanced (with the possible exception of the salamander-morphing episode!) It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task before us...that we highly resolve that these fine actors shall not have worn wool uniforms in vain--that this nation, under Viacom, shall have a new birth of episodes--and that Star Trek, of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from these airwaves. KATE CONS AND APPEARANCES Remember: ALL DATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE. Please contact the event organizers before purchasing tickets to see a guest. Pediatric AIDS Foundation Carnival, Los Angeles, California, June 9, (310) 395-9051. Vulkon in Orlando, Florida, June 22-23, (305) 434-6060. SeaFair Torchlight Parade, Seattle, Washington, August 2. Creation in Minneapolis, Minnesota, August 4, (818) 409-0960. Creation in Detroit, Michigan August 17-18, (818) 409-0960. *THE FUNNY PAGES* "RESOLUTIONS" TOP 10s These are by tigger@cais.cais.com and ocampb@aol.com: TOP 10 LINES OF J/C DIALOGUE CUT FROM THE FIRST DRAFT: 10. "I sure wish we had Neelix here with us to make us some leola root quiche." 9. "It might make sense for you to cut off all that hair to conserve shampoo." 8. "I just love these transparent partitions between the bedrooms!" 7. "Drat! I left my medicine bundle on the ship! Well, it always turns up again anyway." 6. "Just give a holler from the bathtub if you need any help washing those hard-to-reach spots." 5. "So who's better, me or Seska?" 4. "Hey, Kat, I'm starving. Go cook me some mushroom soup." 3. "Let's go get the monkey and play 'Me Tarzan, you Janeway.'" 2. "Chakotay, what do you do with yourself all afternoon when you go off in the woods?" 1. "Let's pretend we're giant salamanders." TOP 10 J/C ARGUMENTS WHICH ALMOST RUINED THEIR BUDDING ROMANTIC RELATIONSHIP: 10. "Why do you insist on rolling the toilet paper over the top when I want it back along the wall?" 9. "Have you been using my hairpins to pick your teeth?" 8. "If you always snore that loudly, I'm going to sleep in the woods." 7. "Ugh! You always leave a wad of slimy hair caught in the bathtub drain!" 6. "Eeeew! Stop drinking right out of the container! Use a cup!" 5. "Dammit! Every time I turn the thermostat down, you push it back up!" 4. "If you're going to complain about which way I fold your underwear, you can do your own damn laundry." 3. "Don't you ever knock??!!!" 2. "I couldn't find my toothbrush, so I borrowed yours." 1. "You insensitive jerk! You left the seat up again!" TOP TEN THINGS SURE TO HAPPEN AFTER J AND C LEAVE THE PLANET AND RETURN TO THE SHIP 10. Janeway creates a new recreational program on the holodeck called "Monkeying Around." 9. Chakotay builds Janeway a bathroom which includes a walk-in closet for all of her hair equipment and a hot tub built for two. 8. Harry throws away his clarinet, lets his hair grow and starts playing the electric guitar in a band called WormHOLE. 7. The Doc puts Tuvok on lithium after he becomes addicted to Emotions and develops bipolar disorder. 6. Neelix develops a new and exciting dish using the insects that Janeway collected on the planet. Everyone says that they taste like chicken. 5. Janeway and Chakotay start having drills to prepare for future plasma storms. 4. Chakotay becomes a licensed massage therapist, and Janeway develops a disease called Chronic Knots on Knots Syndrome. 3. Janeway misses the monkey so much that she orders the ship to return and get him, even though it will extend their journey home by 15 light years. 2. Chakotay writes a book called How Not to Make Love to a Woman. 1. Janeway finds out that she's pregnant, and blames it on Seska. OHHHHHHH THAT FEELS GOOD The "Resolutions" nookie survey is running about 80% They Did It, 20% They Did Not, but the plus side is rising--several people have changed their vote to Yes after repeated viewings or particularly juicy fanfic sequels. For what it's worth, Kate and Robert both say No, though we suspect Jeri Taylor differs--and she would know! Yet even without an onscreen answer to the big question, the Big C scored big on the season-ending touchy-feely count. Through "Basics Part I": Chakotay: 36 [Finally knows the true meaning of peace] Kes: 16 [Tears will get you a hug every time] Paris: 15 [Still getting Janeway alone on shuttles] Kim: 8 [And he wanted her back very, very badly] Neelix: 8 [Who gets credit for the Tuvix touch, him or Tuvok?] Tuvok: 8 ["Sex!" "I beg your pardon?"] Torres: 7 [The only thing she has to fear is Fear itself] Doc: 3 [Almost lost in space] *KATHRYN JANEWAY, FEMINIST HEROINE* HAVING IT ALL IN THE 24th CENTURY by Michelle Erica Green I had fun in Denver with many of the Janeway/Chakotay fans in this group. We'd put an official panel together so we'd look respectable, but we also brought our "Janeway/Chakotay '96" posters and our action figures and our fan fiction. So imagine my surprise sitting in a room with these people who'd been campaigning for J/C all along--on the net, on our electronic list, on these pages--and listening to them remain utterly silent when Kate Mulgrew asked whether we really wanted to see Janeway and Chakotay together on the show. Here I'd been running everyone's editorials, jokes, stories, and reviews, thinking this was an issue people really cared about...and nobody wanted to admit it. To be fair, even I was afraid of sounding like a slushbrained romantic, and I suspect no one wanted to speak up against Kate's stated wishes; in her actual presence, it was very easy to think no man alive was good enough for Janeway. But I was still unsettled. And I had to ask myself: when did this become my cause? I suspect the real genesis of this question was a discussion I had with a member of ACAFEN-L--an internet group of scholars who study fans and media trends--made famous in Harper's magazine recently by Henry Jenkins of M.I.T. via his analysis of the Whitewater juror in Trek uniform. My academic friend was complaining about how disappointed she was with Voyager. "They do too much domestic stuff on that show just because they have a woman captain! I don't want to see a woman captain have to deal with who's running the kitchen and who's having babies. I want her to fight battles and do all the flying around Captain Kirk got to do!" I found myself disagreeing. Not with everything--of course Janeway should get to do everything Kirk got to do--but I really don't want Janeway to be like Kirk, especially not when it comes to attitudes about relationships and domestic life. Not because I'm conservative about such things--it would be really interesting if Janeway practiced polygamy, or fell in love with a woman. We get plenty of sex on Trek. It's the desire for hearth, home, and affection that there's been noplace for, just like in today's corporate workplace. In other words, why can't Janeway fight space battles and fly through nebulas, and grow vegetables and play with kids and find lasting love? Why are wonderful careers and domestic happiness always presented to women as an either-or, even in the 24th century? Someone asked Kate in Denver if she would want to trade places with Janeway, and Kate immediately said, "No, because then I wouldn't have my family." She said she'd only think it was worth it if she could take her kids with her to the Delta Quadrant. I wonder just how good a role model Janeway makes for women when even the woman who plays her--and says she adores her--wouldn't want to be her? Different people have different needs for independence and intimacy, and if we'd gotten a Janeway shown to be happiest when working alone, like Picard always seemed, I'd appreciate her self-reliance even though I'm not sure we need another Elizabeth I or Mother Seton to serve as a model for chaste female power. What we really need is proof that by the 24th century, there won't be such a chasm between being a leader and being a sexual, social, family-oriented woman. I don't mean to imply that women need romance or domesticity to be happy...but a lot of people want these things in addition to fulfilling careers, men as well as women. From the way Kathryn Janeway has been characterized, she's someone who much prefers closeness to command distance. I recognize that we were given this Janeway--the one with the domestic holonovel and the dogsitter, whom she misses so much that in "Persistence of Vision" she nearly wrecked the ship just to prove her fidelity--to make sure we understand that Janeway is a Real Woman outside her job. I resented that watching the early episodes, but at this point it's part of who she is. Over the course of two seasons of Voyager, her relationships have become part of who she is as well. And if her friendship with Chakotay has been constructed as evolving, if it's mutual and passionate, that is not a problem for this character. Trying to avoid such a development would be much more damaging; the feeble attempts to do so which have been made on the show, having Janeway behave priggishly while Torres swoons over Chakotay, have made the women look hormonal and Chakotay look like an inconstant jerk. "Resolutions" was so satisfying not because it gave us a J/C love scene, but because it demonstrated that these characters work well together even apart from the roles they play on the ship. We've already seen that Janeway can let down her hair, literally and figuratively, and remain a very strong individual--and that Chakotay's feelings for her go well beyond command loyalty. Trying to put a stop to that connection would harm both characters. I would not have chosen to have the writers develop a romantic relationship between the central officers before the show premiered, but it's there. The only people I know who feel strongly that Janeway and Chakotay should not be together are young girls who identify with B'Elanna and think she should get Chakotay, men who think Janeway's too old and stodgy for Chakotay (this really comes up often on the net), women who think Chakotay's too much of a follower--read: wimp--for Janeway, and women who want Janeway to be independent of the need for any man. The latter might be interesting if it were possible, but Janeway would be a different leader if she were that self-contained--if she didn't touch people, cry, need friends. In the episodes where she tries to play Solo Moral Ruler of the Universe, like "Tuvix" and "Alliances," she comes off as rigid and cold, a worse stereotype than a maternal or romantic characterization of a woman in charge. The mythical male demographic audience will never accept Princess Kathryn, but they'd learn to be comfortable with a sexy, earthy Janeway who's unthreatened by her own gender. The fact is that even a lot of women don't identify with Janeway--because she's too self-reliant and sure of herself, because she doesn't "give in easily to fear." I've heard it said that she's perfect, but that's meant as a compliment when said with resentment and disbelief. Some of the people in this very fan club have written stories which seem to have the express goal of taking Janeway down a notch, even getting her raped or forced to prostitute herself for the sake of the crew. If women fans are willing to employ historic forms of female degradation to prove Janeway's femininity, they will not shirk from her doing something as human as falling in love. I've asked various people to write me a good anti-J/C column for this publication, because there are excellent reasons--dramatic, social, feminist--why it shouldn't be done on the show. But the ones I've seen have left me steaming mad--one turned into an attack on working mothers, one got so involved in criticizing the lack of character arcs that the topic was forgotten, one got so obsessed with what a great pair Chakotay and Torres make that you'd have thought Voyager was Macho Maquis Warrior and His Klingon Sex Machine. And let'sget real on the romance issue: Trek is mainly action-oriented science fiction, and not even the most rabid J/Cers want Janeway and Chakotay in one another's arms at the end of every episode. But I hear "Melrose Space" concerns, the creators' worry that dealing with domestic issues would automatically turn the show into a soap opera. They seem unaware that the very act of evasion makes relationships on Trek look more like soaps than real life. Real people do not get possessed, catch diseases which make them horny, or get stranded in places where they can read one another's minds. Real people do fall in love--even in inappropriate situations, on the job, with subordinates--and it generally lasts more than 52 minutes. And real people usually find that the rewards of being with someone outweigh the price. The dramatic tension on Voyager would be a lot stronger if Janeway and Chakotay were together. Right now they can never really have arguments, because it would weaken their images as captain and first officer--he's not supposed to question her orders, she's supposed to keep him in line--but if they were lovers, they could have private disputes as equals, they'd learn better from one another, and the level of emotional involvement would be a lot higher. On Trek, love is never realistic, yet gender stereotypes almost always are. I lost my sense of humor during "Death Wish" when Q commented upon how wonderful it was that Janeway could be a captain and still retain her femininity. If that's remarkable to a 24th century alien, then Janeway's gotten us nowhere; it means that the women of her century are still aware that they can't have the boudoir and the bridge, they can't raise kids and raise shields, they can't have love and leadership at the same time. My fantasy for the 24th century is not that all women who want to command starships will get one of their very own--that's not realistic in any sort of meritocracy--but that people of either gender who are qualified to command starships will not be asked to give up family, intimacy, and all sense of home. Sisko took longer to make captain than Kirk because he had Jennifer and Jake; he seems to think it was worth the delay, not to turn into a lonely geezer like Kirk did. I'm less afraid of Janeway's gender compromising her leadership than I am of Trek's aversion to domesticity compromising its depiction of women as leaders. Of course there are risks. There will be people who see Janeway as weak and diminished every time she expresses feelings, and there will be viewers who want Janeway and Chakotay together for reactionary reasons, because they see her as a romantic heroine or they think her sexuality is safer tied down to one man. Nonetheless, I think it would be more of a compromise to conservative standards to refuse to let her have an ongoing relationship than it would be to depict her in one--even a traditional monogamous heterosexual pairing. Trek's producers are surely aware that Janeway's character is a paradigm for women in positions of power everywhere. Many such women want partners and families. and are disgusted with the media messages that women can never have both, at least not at the same time. If I have to settle for a Janeway who's compromised to the lowest common denominator in the viewing audience, would I still want her on TV? Well, sure. I think Janeway is a great a role model for girls who want to be leaders and scientists, and for older women who get endless warnings about females only being valuable while they're young, nubile, and unthreatening. But would I want to watch Voyager every week? Would I want to be running a fan club for Janeway? Would I want to be Kathryn Janeway? If she can't do what most of our male politicians and astronauts and generals take for granted--hold the lives of people in her hands, yet have a life of her own--then, like Kate, I wouldn't want to trade places. When Janeway makes me feel despair rather than hope about the future for women, I'll know it's time to change channels. RELATIONSHIPS AND RESOLUTIONS by JoAnn Braker "Resolutions" the answer to a J/Cer's dream. Or is it? Is this the beginning of a long term relationship or just a bone thrown to placate the many fans who have written to the Star Trek producers asking for just such a relationship? In its thirty years, Star Trek has been a mirror to our world tackling numerous social and moral questions with depth and sensitivity. However, when it comes to tackling realistic adult relationships, Trek fails miserably. Its history is marred with disasters such as Kirk/Rand, Spock/Chapel, Picard/Crusher, Riker/Troi, Troi/Worf, Dax/Bashir, Kira/Odo and many others. All these relationships were hinted at, all were shot down or just as quickly forgotten. Most fans have probably lost track of the number of "alien of the week" romances that has long been a staple of the series. With all of the advances made by human beings in the 24th century, romance seems to be nonexistent. With this history, Voyager fans were probably prepared for much of the same when the new series premiered. Voyager, however, is different. There is no outside life for this crew. Their entire world is confined to the 150 people on board ship with them. They will, to quote Kathryn Janeway, "eventually begin to pair off," and by far the most popular couple seems to be the Captain herself and Commander Chakotay. Their popularity is generated primarily by the terrific onscreen chemistry between Kate Mulgrew and Robert Beltran. Now, I know there are many people who will argue against this particular relationship. I decided the best way to argue for a romance between Janeway and Chakotay is to look at the reasons which have been lobbied against it. 1. Any romance on board the ship would weaken Janeway's character. Anyone who's a Janeway fan should have more confidence in her than this. The common belief seems to be that falling in love automatically weakens a female character. She begins to think with her heart and emotions rather than with her mind. This is an example of the double standard that Trek has long tried to eliminate. A man can be strong and in love, while a woman cannot? Falling in love does not make a woman weaker; in fact it can serve to strengthen any character regardless of gender. and many people who feel "lost" can find themselves when they fall in love. The alternatives to a Janeway/Chakotay romance would weaken both characters. No one can expect the characters to be celibate for the entire journey, nor can I see either character engaging in an "alien of the week" type romance. Both of these situations would be inconsistent with the development of both characters. Therefore, both Janeway and Chakotay would likely seek a romance with a fellow crewmember. However, Janeway has already stated in "Elogium" that as captain, that is a luxury she cannot enjoy. Chakotay is in the same situation, considering that he is one lucky Kazon shot away from the captain's chair. The only people they have to turn to is each other, and a wonderful pairing that is. 2. A Janeway/Chakotay romance would mean major changes to the show. What would happen if Janeway and Chakotay fell in love? They would be very concerned about each other, to the point of being emotional on the bridge? They already are. Janeway's near tears in "Manuevers" and Chakotay's near insubordination in "Dreadnought" were examples of such emotional displays. They might flirt on the bridge? Check out "Elogium"--I'd call that flirting. No, the truth is there would be very few changes in the series. Both Janeway and Chakotay are professionals, neither would bring their relationship "to the office." In reality, the only changes we should see would be subtle: having meals together; spending time at Sandrine's; going on shore leave. Except for the occasional episode that would focus directly on them and their relationship, there would little or no change to the show. 3. Romance makes for poor drama. What could be more dramatic than having to make a decision that is for the good of the majority, knowing that it could kill the person you love?Both Janeway and Chakotay could end up in this position at any time during the series. Already shows such as "Tattoo", "Manuevers", and "Resistance" have forced both Janeway and Chakotay into command decisions that place the others life in their hands. All of these types of decision would be even more profound where Janeway and Chakotay to admit their love for each other. 4. A romance would hurt the show's ratings. ER. Chicago Hope. NYPD Blue. All of these shows have the same thing in common, they are hit shows that are centered on the relationship between characters. Romance would not hurt Voyager's ratings; it might even help. Relationships require work and compromise on both parts. In the modern world a romance between a commanding officer and his/her executive officer would be taboo. But Star Trek is about the future--a future in which humans have developed to a point where two people who work closely together can have romance without compromising their positions or affecting their reputations. I have literally watched Trek my entire life. It has rarely disappointed me and has been very good at correcting its mistakes. For thirty years, the handling of adult relationships has been a major mistake--a mistake that this fan believes it's time to correct. *COPYRIGHT VIOLATION CORNER* These stories both arrived mere hours after the broadcast of the episode which inspired them--two similar different takes on Janeway, just like "Deadlock." Paramount owns the characters and the events of the show, but has no monopoly on what happens offscreen. FIVE MINUTES by L.R. Bowen "Harry, you've got five minutes. Get the baby." Poor Harry, dumbfounded brown eyes, a puppy told to get out of my sight. "But, Captain--" Chakotay, awful clarity of vision, don't look at him, Kathryn, not now, he's gone still, perfect rest, not tense, not slumped, phaser still dangling in his hand, he was fighting so hard a moment ago... "Move it, Ensign. That's an order." Stubborn, Harry, I don't like that because it's too much like me, and watch it, that's going to get you killed some day, and did a few hours ago--Chakotay's head jerking around as if he'd echo me, but he knows he needn't say a word. Did she cry when you died? Such a lonely death, poor boy, the hand slipping, clasp gone, all alone out there, forever. Get out of here. Go and live, Harry--and thank that little girl for your life while you're at it, because without her to think of you might have been too damn stubborn after all. Go. Gone. "Computer, initiate the self-destruct sequence." Turn to the chair, last time, Kathryn, he's shadowing you, turning to your side, last time, he'll sit quiet by you once more. No pause. "Authorization: Janeway, Pi One One Zero. Set at five minutes and mute voice warnings." And settle, straight-backed, face forward, but look at him now. Clarity, perfect rest. The deep breath, the composing of the face, he sets that phaser carefully down, to fight no more, forever. Last time. "Enable." And the voice tells me, with all the passion of her programming, that Voyager has her sentence and the gun to her head, the noose around her throat, poised at the cliff, the pursuers near but not near enough, the maiden leaps when they think they have her. They'll clutch her by her slender waist, fumble to tear the gown, and she'll smile. No fate worse than death for me, she says, and you go with me, ravishers, fall past me into fiery hell. Goodbye. Tom, goodbye. The seat's vacant, the pilot's lost now. Did you die well? Kes, I won't think of bodies laid open, bright eyes harvested. That's not my memory. Fair face, farewell. Five minutes to fill, with memories. Less time to live, less of the creeping dark, dear God. Less time for the reapers to do their work. Pass, oh, pass, backwards, turn backwards, Time in thy flight. Make me a child again, just for tonight... Rain and snow, sun and water. Love and knowledge, home, and outwards. Can't think of it all. Shouldn't think of it all. Look forward. Live. Last time. All gone with me, God, all together, thank God. No one left alone. Goodbye, Tuvok. I'll come with you soon, my friend, not soon enough. Keep it tight, Kathryn, keep the breathing steady, the eyes dry. There are no tears, for this is war. I'll rise, when they come, and I'll greet them, and welcome them, the body-slaves of death, who fight so hard against her with death herself at their head. So much death in their cause of life. I'll have no conscience for that pitiable fact. There are no more tears for them. Shift beside me, though he's just now settled. Breathing, deep, slow, feeling his life beat within him, looking for the center of it, to clasp it. He'll hold it in the cradle of his hands, no memories, but lift and raise his life, an offering, forward to his ancestors. They'll be standing all around us now, holding out their hands, wondering that they came so far for one life, to fetch him home. Who goes with him? "Kathryn..." Oh, light, lightness, and it burns the eyes, shocks the lids wide open, blindness fallen at once, vision blurring. The sting's too much. No, don't say this, I need my resolve, I need your perfect rest. I will greet them, and say, Welcome, and I will have no tears. Don't do this. "Kathryn, please look at me." Will you make this as hard as possible? Do I deserve this at your hands, Chakotay? Don't say this. Don't tell me what I have to live for, what I might have had to live for. For five minutes, even. "Just look at me." No sob, no breaking, just soft voice, a little hoarse from all the shouting he's done below decks. How many did he see die? So many he's seen die, and is horror the last sight for his eyes? Will you leave him so alone, with only death to take with him? "Please." I'll turn to him, last time, I'll turn and let him see the resolve. He doesn't want tears. This is some kind of peace, this awful clarity. He's holding out his right hand, cupped a little, his life an offering in the hollow of his palm. Death not to part. All of us together, clasping hands outstretched to us in a long chain, linked hand to hand. In the cradle of his palm, a new life. Five minutes, and it's a lifetime, and he'd give it if it were fifty years. All his life, and mine. And I'll take it, and turn over the palm to spill it into my hand, receive it myself. To count out the seconds of a life is impossible, like counting breaths, or the universal drifting stars, but I'll count them, name every one. I can shape each of them as a moment distinct; beginning, middle, and end, each unique, each passing me in their ranks with their slow deliberate tread. I see them march forward, one by one, and fall. The enemy claims them, and oh, God, grant me every moment of my life. There is no creeping dark, and there is no horror, and it shall have no dominion. I will not go gentle. I will go dry-eyed, and with a greeting on my lips, and with every soul ranked behind me, ready to go with me. And beside me, one more; the last soul, the last moment, who will stay with me when all the others have gone before. I will stand when the time comes, with him turning to me, shadowing me. I will go with him. He's looking at me with eyes that have never seen me before. His hand resting in mine, palm down. I will not cling, but I will grip, to print my fingers in his flesh, to leave some mark of my life. I will at last leave something of myself with him. Touched, so many times, but never having lingered. He will leave something of himself with me. Something has just been born, and we carry it between us, cradling it in our palms, holding it against the dark, and the reapers. No one can take it to safety now, poor new child, and it dies with us, five minutes old. No... Must it take the long journey home with us? Can we compel someone to carry it away and to its parents' embrace? Or has it a perfect twin already, waiting, gestating, unborn? Will she let it come forth, oh, Kathryn, will you let it grow, will you let it live to learn to speak? This child is mute. Let it speak, let him speak, let him ask you to turn to him, to look him in the face. His lips parted, dear God, his eyes that have never seen me before. I will have this my last memory. Turbolift doors open, and there they are, hideous as the damned. Harry, I know you made it past them, a tiny life in your hands. I know it. I'm turning, and the clasp is broken, but he's with me still. As long as he lives, no more than an arm's reach away. "Hello." Rise, and greet them, steady-voiced, dry-eyed. He's right behind me. I've got backup, buster. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway. Welcome to the bridge." They're surprised at my calm, I think, and quite right too. Suspicious; and too late, alas for them. Did they never think that we could meet them with the death they try so hard to cheat? She has risen to meet them, her slaves. There's one of them, pointing at the display, red numerals counting down. Two more seconds. Each, a lifetime. They are no longer looking at me, and I have greeted them. I've died well. I will turn, and take his hand, and let him encircle me. Let us fuse at last, scatter together. They are all waiting for us. The shape of this moment, forever set, indestructible. Beginning, we embrace, and my head goes to his chest, our handclasp caught between us. He's warm and alive, his body firm in my arms, his breaths so deep I feel them on my hair. Tighter, and I breathe only his scent, the universe contracting in his embrace. We hover like that until the end of the moment, when his head comes down, mine goes up, and we almost meet. Almost, because the swift whisper passes over us, and we stand rigid, shells that hold us no longer, and we drift away. COUNTDOWN by Janet Coleman Sides "Warning. Auto destruct sequence initiated. Warp core breach in four minutes, fifty-five seconds. There will be no further audio warning." Kathryn Janeway sat back in her chair, inhaled through her nose. Her heart was pounding, and why not? She had, after all, less than five minutes to live. She gripped the armrests and wondered in a flicker of morbid hysteria if she would feel it when every molecule in her body and brain vaporized. The scientist in her said no, but she didn't have time to listen to the scientist anymore. She glanced to her left, and there was Chakotay, pondering her as he often did, as if nothing were amiss, dark eyes gleaming calmly over that private little smile. She found an answering smile quirking at her lips, and suddenly it was all right. She would end, but her other self, on the other ship, had promised to bring the crew home--and Kathryn knew that she would keep her word. She glanced down at the little screen on her console, blinking funereal black and red, marking the deathwatch. Four minutes. She reached out and shut off the display. Four minutes was enough. Kathryn had had a friend at the Academy whose passion was comedy. She had proudly played numerous audio selections for Kathryn, and one of them was nagging at her memory now. She couldn't remember who the comedian had been, or what era or planet he was from--though the friend had known, and announced these things down to the last detail. The selection had concerned a "two minute warning" that people supposedly heard before they died. The comedian had suggested a number of hilarious ways to spend your final moments, but then added, "Give a speech. Everyone has a two minute speech in them. Something you know, something you love...Two minutes." Something you know. Something you love. Yes, of course. "Chakotay," she said, as always carefully pronouncing each syllable to preserve the smoky, exotic sound of his name. His eyes, so deep and dark, seemed to surround her with their light, excluding everything and everyone else on the Bridge. Time dilated, infusing the planes of his face with a surreality so acute that he looked like a painting by Rembrandt--if Rembrandt had ever dared try to paint a face like Chakotay's. "Kathryn," murmured Chakotay, eyes roving her face as if committing it to memory. Unaccountably, she blushed at the sound of her given name in his mouth, then immediately felt foolish for it. There was no more time for none ssentials like rank or protocol. She knew that, but he had never said it before, and she longed for him to say it again. There was so much she wanted to tell him. Where could she begin to begin? The first time I saw you I felt a shift inside, a change of balance, the heat of homecoming...? or when I think of Seska hurting you, using you, I feel that I could reach through impossible distances of space to grab her by the hair and cut her throat? She strove desperately to speak, but she was so crowded with words that none of them could fit through her mouth. And he sat regarding her, that little smile fading now, listening in somehow to the turmoil of confessions that held her silent. How much time now? How much time had she wasted? Her torrent of thoughts was halted in abrupt confusion as Chakotay stood up. Her eyes tracked his motion, but he only stood there, the serene smile once again in place, and rather than crane her neck back to gawk at him she felt she should stand too. As she did, standing next to Chakotay there on her doomed Bridge, she wondered when she was supposed to experience the fabled phenomenon of one's life passing before one's eyes. And then, absurdly, in her mind's ear she heard it. It was a memory, a clear arrow of recollection back to that evening at the Academy, listening to comedy recordings with Ophell Tzarik. She heard the man's gravelly voice, heard the slight echoing acoustics of the audience hall in which it had been recorded. Two minutes. Get your shit together... Unable to stop herself, Kathryn Janeway laughed aloud. Chakotay quirked an eyebrow at her, his smile slowly morphing into a more puzzled version. It didn't last very long. As soon as the brief bubble of laughter released her, she stepped in close to him, snaked her hand round the back of his neck, and pulled him down to her upturned mouth. His arms encircled her instantly, crushing her close as their mouths met, a little too hard: fleetingly, she tasted blood. She did not care. There was no time, and she had wanted to do this for too long. His short-cropped hair prickled at her fingertips, and the astonishing heat of his body flared around her like the corona of a star. The smell and taste of him made her moan low in her throat. The initial clumsy frenzy abated, she found his kiss thrilling, alive with the patient strength that was Chakotay. He clutched her against him as if to suggest that even a core breach could not separate her atoms from his now, cradling her head in one big palm. It was a pity there was no time for more. But it was enough. They had only just paused for breath, smiling into each other's eyes, when the lift doors swished open and a pack of half-melted horrors swarmed onto her Bridge. Instantly they stepped back from one another, turning to face the threat. Kathryn glanced at the helm display, saw what was left of the countdown. She felt Chakotay squeeze her hand. The warmth transmitted through that simple touch wrenched a smile of triumph from her. She grinned at the invaders like a wolf. "I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway," she said to them, barely able to keep from crowing. She sent a silent prayer of godspeed to her twin. "Welcome to the Bridge." She had just enough time to squeeze Chakotay's hand in return before the end. (Author's note: the comedian is, of course, George Carlin.) *ALL ABOUT NOW VOYAGER* Welcome to the officially sanctioned Kate Mulgrew Appreciation Society. This newsletter is published bimonthly by Michelle Erica Green and Paul Anderson, P.O. Box 34745, Bethesda, MD 20827-4745. You can reach us online at tigger@cais.cais.com or thepooh@aol.com. Send SASE for information or $5 for sample issue, or e-mail us for the electronic edition. Current yearly dues, $25/U.S., $32/Canada-Mexico, $40/Overseas (U.S. funds only), are subject to change without notice as rising printing and mailing costs affect our ability to produce this newsletter. This is a not-for-profit, amateur publication and is not intended to infringe upon the rights of Paramount Pictures or any other broadcasting or motion picture corporation. All material herein is copyrighted by the authors, except for the copyrights, trademarks, and patents of Paramount Pictures and its licensees. You may not reproduce any part of this newsletter without written permission of the editors and/or writers. If you received this newsletter electronically, you may not forward it, excerpt any part of it, post the illustrations, nor disseminate it in any other manner without permission of the editors. The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of the editorial staff, Kate Mulgrew, or Paramount Pictures. Look for Now Voyager on the World Wide Web at: http://gl.umbc.edu/~mpanti1/kate/kate.html. *WE ARE FAMILY* No, Jennifer Lien does not have a fan club. If anyone needs the address of any of the DS9 clubs, Enterprising Women, Paramount, or anybody we missed last issue, let us know. Send SASE when writing to any of the groups listed below, and tell 'em where you found 'em! THE COMMANDER Official Robert Beltran/Chakotay Fan Club c/o B.J. O'Leary P.O. Box 183 Reading, PA 19603 B3 PRIME Official Roxann Biggs-Dawson/B'Elanna Torres Fan Club c/o M. Russell 1630 Ft. Campbell Blvd., Suite 143 Clarksville, TN 37042 blilsism@aol.com RANDOM FLIGHT Official Robert Duncan McNeill/Tom Paris Fan Club c/o Brenda Antrim P.O. Box 3583 Abilene, TX 79604 bantrim@delphi.com EPIC (Ethan Phillips International Club) Official Ethan Phillips/Neelix Fan Club c/o Joe Christiano and Rande Goodwin P.O. Box 4818 Waterbury, CT 06704 randeg@aol.com CARPE (Central Alliance of Robert Picardo Enthusiasts) Official Robert Picardo/The Doctor Fan Club c/o Tracey Ledel, RNC Box 373, 1277 Linda Mar Shopping Center Pacifica, CA 94044 traceldel1@aol.com VULCAN INSIDERS Official Tim Russ/Tuvok Fan Club P.O. Box 8248 Long Beach, CA 90808 CERES 1 Official Garrett Wang/Harry Kim Fan Club P.O. Box 13767 Sacramento, CA 95853-3767 SESKA'S SCANDAL SHEET Official Martha Hackett/Seska Fan Club c/o Donna J. Abate 3699 Barnard Drive #517 Oceanside, CA 92056 southpawdj@aol.com CHRISTIE GOLDEN'S NEWSLETTER Information About Christie's Books P.O. Box 620272 Littleton, CO 80162-0272 BOLDLY GOING A Bi-Monthy Trek Fanzine c/o Planet Walk 5320 Barcelona Garland, TX 75043 *PHOTO AND ART CREDITS* 1, 19--Photos © Joan Testin 1996. 3, 17--Illustration © Anne Davenport 1996. 4, 11, 14--Illustrations © Jennifer Pelland 1996. 6--Illustration © Joy Locke 1996. 9, 23--Photos © Paramount Pictures 1996. 16--Photos © SciFi Channel 1996. 17--Photo © Orion Pictures 1987. 18, 20--Photos © Lauren Baum 1996. 21--Photo © Alanna Whitestar 1996. 22--Illustration © L.R. Bowen 1996. 27, 28--Illustrations © Yul Tolbert, Timeliketoons 1996. *CREDIT WHERE CREDIT IS DUE DEPARTMENT* Kate Mulgrew: We are all tremendously appreciative of how much you give of your time and yourself, not just to us but to all your fans. Larry Goldman: Thanks much for all your assistance! Michele Fischer: Without you we could never have done any of this. Much thanks, and enjoy your maternity leave. Kathe Walker: The most accessible, informed, accomodating, friendly con organizer I've ever met. Thanks for everything! Anne Davenport: Who did a staggering amount of work for our con table, and proved to be a team player in every possible way. Joan Testin: For the sample newsletters, for the photos, for the T-shirts, for the line about sex with Janeway . Laura Bowen, Kim Carnes, Maryann Jorgensen, Jennifer Loehlin, Jennifer Martin, Juliann Medina: These women conducted our two panels, which were a big hit with the people who attended them! Thanks also participants! Barbe Smith: Who organized the acquisition of Kate's gift and card, then wrote the superb speech with which to present them. Jan Davis: Who hosted the tea at the Brown Palace along with Barbe, and broke the ice among all these strangers! Meri Antonelli: She's the one who provided the badges, drove us around, and also did more than her duty at the Now Voyager table. Lynda Foley: For reasons which will not be enumerated here in their entirety...thanks for sharing your suite with all of us! If anyone has a photo of you in your deluxe Trekkie outfit, we'll be sure to send it to Kate and Jeri so they can see the real you! Sashi Alexandra German: For taking notes for the rest of us! Alanna Whitestar: Club costume maven, who helped me collate the last Now Voyager in time for the con. Mary Daly Solman and Juliann Medina did local reconassaince, being Denver natives, and Juliann also got Christie Golden to come to our gathering. There is a reward out for the first person to tell the whole story about the underwear... Cheryl Waldie: Our very patient official videographer/librarian! Christie Golden: Who shared her talent and advice with us. Anna Shuford: Whose name I have perpetually misspelled, who will be doing a con newsletter at the end of the summer. L.R. Bowen: My favorite author, who put up with people in our room all weekend and with Daniel wearing her son's Voyager uniform. Have I told you lately that I love you? Maria Russell, Jeanne Donnelly, Beth Shuman, and everyone I'm forgetting: THANKS! Now Voyager c/o Michelle Green and Paul Anderson P.O. Box 34745 Bethesda, MD 20827-4745 FIRST CLASS