“Gravity”
Written by Jimmy Diggs and Nick Sagan & Bryan Fuller
Directed by Terry Windell
Season 5, Episode 13
Production episode 205
Original air date: February 3, 1999
Stardate: 52438.9
Captain’s log. We flash back to Tuvok’s adolescence on Vulcan, where we find out that he developed a crush on an alien woman at his school, and was therefore kicked out of school and sent by his parents to see a Vulcan Master to train him in how to master his emotions.
In the present, Noss is on a Class D planet hunting for spiders to eat, using a sonic device to get them to come out from under rocks and then stabbing them. She sees a shuttlecraft crash, which we all recognize as a Voyager shuttle. She works her way over to it to find it empty. While she’s trying to salvage stuff from it, Paris shows up. She threatens him with a weapon and takes the medikit he’s carrying and some other stuff as well. As she heads back to her own crashed ship, she’s jumped by two aliens who try to take her stuff, but Tuvok arrives in the nick of time and takes them down. He brings her back to the shuttle after noting that she is already familiar with it based on the items she stole.
The combadges are on the fritz, so they can’t understand what Noss is saying. Tuvok is able to heal her bruises from being attacked, and also gives her some of their rations.
Most of the shuttle’s systems are toast. Communications is one of the few systems working, but every attempt to send a distress signal is bounced back by the distortion that they flew through before they crashed. There are more aliens en route to attack the shuttle, so they retreat to Noss’ crashed ship, which is equally unsalvageable in terms of being able to take off again, but has a force field. They grab what supplies they can, including the EMH’s mobile emitter, which was busted in the crash.
Once safely in Noss’ ship, Paris is able to repair the mobile emitter, and the EMH appears. The universal translator is part of his matrix, so he is able to communicate with Noss. She’s been on the planet for fourteen seasons, and she’s seen tons of ships crash. She’s seen none take back off.
A good deal of time passes. Noss has learned English and is teaching Paris how to hunt spiders, at which he is a mediocre pupil at best. Tuvok is trying to get the shuttle’s distress beacon to get through the distortion and also informs the EMH that he will need to be switched off until needed to preserve power in case they need the mobile emitter as a power source.
Noss asks Tuvok all kinds of personal questions that she seems genuinely interested in the answer to, most of which Tuvok finds unnecessary. She asks similar questions of Paris, who is much more open. It’s obvious to Paris that Noss is falling for Tuvok, and Paris thinks he should take advantage, since they’ve been there for weeks with no sign of a rescue from Voyager—not to mention the fact that he’s unlikely to ever see his wife again even if Voyager does rescue them.
Later, Paris apologizes for insulting Tuvok, but he took no offense. Paris also says that he sees how Tuvok looks at Noss: like someone who wishes he wasn’t Vulcan.
We then flash back again to Tuvok’s youth with the Vulcan Master where he says in so many words that he wishes he wasn’t Vulcan. The Master points out that he is Vulcan, and that means that he must control his emotions, because if he does not, his emotions will control him. In the present, Tuvok also explains to Paris how incredibly turbulent Vulcan emotions are, which is why they must be kept in check, and why he cannot give in to any desire he might have for Noss.
Back on Voyager, it’s only been a couple of hours since the shuttle disappeared. They investigate, and almost get sucked into the same distortion that claimed the shuttle. The starship is able to power out of it, but now they think they know what happened. Seven and Torres are able to retune the sensors in astrometrics, and even with that, they can barely detect the distortion and what’s on the other side of it: an entire star system, including a Class-D planet.
An alien ship from the same species as the ones who jumped Noss shows up. Supervisor Yost informs Janeway that they plan to destroy the “subspace sinkhole” so no more ships are lost. Yost will give Janeway a day to try to rescue her people, but that’s all.
Voyager launches one of their fancy-shmancy multispatial probes, which determines that the shuttle’s distress beacon is present and active, there are plenty of life signs on the planet, but time moves more quickly within the distortion—the away team has been there subjectively for weeks, possibly months—and the whole system will eventually be crushed by the subspace distortion.
On the planet, Paris and Tuvok return to Noss’ ship, having been attacked by aliens. Tuvok is very badly injured, and the EMH is reactivated for the first time in two months in order to treat Tuvok. Noss tries to kiss Tuvok at one point, and he rebuffs her. She leaves angrily, cursing him in her own language and being pissed off about logic.
Some days later, Tuvok is meditating, and Paris interrupts him to berate him for at least not letting Noss down easy. Tuvok tells Paris about his infatuation with the alien woman as a teenager that led to his being sent to the Vulcan Master.
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Torres and Seven are able to modify the probe to serve both as a communications buoy and a transporter booster. They communicate what’s happening to the distress beacon and then make the adjustments to probe so they can use it to beam out whatever’s within two meters of the distress beacon. Their timetable is abbreviated, as Yost has started the collapse of the sinkhole sooner than expected.
The away team receives the message—which Paris has to speed up so they can understand it—which includes the relative time ratios. Janeway says they’ll beam them out in thirty minutes, and Tuvok calculates the time from when the message started to when half an hour will be for Voyager: about two days. The problem is, a bunch of aliens are ganging up on Noss’ ship and tossing photon grenades at them. They just have to hold out for forty-eight hours or so.
After two days, the force field is starting to fail. Noss has to go out and repair it. Tuvok offers to assist, but Noss tartly points out that it’s illogical to risk two lives.
The force field falls, and Noss is attacked by two aliens, who are about to kill her, but then Tuvok shows up and shoots them. He tells her that they would never leave her behind.
Inside, another alien has entered the ship is and grappling with Paris, but then Tuvok shoots him, too. Voyager initiates transport, and they’re all rescued.
Voyager brings Noss to her homeworld. Before she beams down, Tuvok and she share a mind-meld, which leaves Noss smiling happily.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? The multispatial probe was first seen in “Extreme Risk,” and was developed by the Voyager crew in part using Borg tech. It can apparently do all kinds of nifty things that are required by the plot.
Mr. Vulcan. Tuvok gets to do to Noss what Spock did to Leila Kalomi. It’s hell being a sexy Vulcan…
Half and half. Torres gets to do all kinds of technobabble, working with Seven to adjust the sensors to detect the sinkhole and adjust the probe to be a communications booster and a transporter booster. Because she’s just that awesome.
Forever an ensign. When Supervisor Yost first encounters Voyager, he puts the ship in a tractor beam to keep them from falling into the distortion. Kim is in charge of the bridge (Janeway and Chakotay are in astrometrics), and he tries really hard to convince Yost that they don’t need saving, and is totally ineffective in doing so.
Everybody comes to Neelix’s. Noss gives Neelix her recipe for spider, to Paris and Tuvok’s chagrin.
Please state the nature of the medical emergency. Apparently, the EMH has a universal translator built into his matrix. He also complains, “I’m a doctor, not a battery,” when informed by Tuvok that his mobile emitter might be needed as a power source.
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet. We find out that Tuvok’s first major lesson in emotional control happened because of a crush he had on a fellow teenager. Meanwhile, Paris is slightly grumpy that Torres didn’t miss him as much as he missed her, mostly because from her POV, he was only gone for two days, whereas he was away for several months, subjectively speaking.
Do it.
“You speak in riddles because the truth frightens you!”
“You’re right, it does frighten me. You are surprised to hear a Vulcan Master admit to having emotions?”
“Yes.”
“Emotions can be a powerful tool. To deny their existence is illogical. But you must learn to control them.”
“Why?”
“You wish to be taught?”
“I would question everything you say.”
“You would not be a worthy pupil otherwise.”
–Young Tuvok trying to be a rebel and a pain in the ass, and the Vulcan Master saying “Bazinga!” every time.
Welcome aboard: The late Joseph Ruskin lends his magnificent voice (and the rest of his body, natch) to the Vulcan Master. Ruskin is the only actor to have physically appeared alongside the casts of each of the first five Trek shows, having also played Galt in the original series’ “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” a Son’a in the TNG movie Insurrection, a Cardassian in DS9’s “Improbable Cause,” Tumek in DS9’s “The House of Quark” and “Looking for par’Mach in All the Wrong Places,” and (subsequently) a Suliban in Enterprise’s “Broken Bow.”
Leroy D. Brazile plays the teenaged Tuvok; he’ll play a Cardassian later in this TV season in DS9’s “The Dogs of War.” Paul S. Eckstein plays his third of six roles on either DS9 or Voyager, all covered in makeup; his other roles include two Jem’Hadar on DS9 (“Rocks and Shoals” and “The Dogs of War”), two Hirogen on Voyager (“The Killing Game” two-parter and the upcoming “Flesh and Blood”), and he’ll also play a Klingon in the seventh season’s “Prophecy.”
But the big guest is the great Lori Petty as Noss.
Trivial matters: The genesis of this episode was apparently the simple phrase “emotion creates its own logic.”
The mind-meld at the end was suggested by Tim Russ.
This is the first directorial endeavor by Terry Windell, a visual effects designer. He will go on to direct nine more Voyager episodes, as well as an Enterprise episode. Aside from a single episode of Special Unit 2 in 2001, these are his only directorial credits, having since returned to the visual effects side of things. Most recently, he was the visual effects supervisor for Amazon Prime’s The Tick.
Tuvok gives the crew complement of Voyager as 152, which is not likely to be accurate given the score-plus deaths on board. However, that may be the standard complement for an Intrepid-class ship, since Tuvok is giving the ship’s general specs when he says it.
Set a course for home. “Logic! I hate logic!” There are some serious original series vibes going on in this episode, as Tuvok’s struggles with emotion, both in the flashback and in the present, as well as Noss’ struggles with falling in love with a Vulcan, are reminiscent of what we’ve seen on the flagship show, most notably “This Side of Paradise” and “All Our Yesterdays,” with a dash of “Amok Time” and “Journey to Babel” for good measure.
But it works, mainly because Tim Russ has given us the second-best portrayal of a person of Vulcan heritage to date, the best being, of course, Leonard Nimoy. Now this is mainly because Russ (like Zachary Quinto and Ethan Peck after him, in their cases both playing Nimoy’s character) is pretty much taking his acting cues from Nimoy’s performance, but there’s no shame in that.
I have mixed feelings about the flashbacks. Leroy D. Brazile does a good job of matching Russ’s inflections, albeit more emotional, obviously, and I never object to Joseph Ruskin appearing in any role, but the flashbacks don’t really accomplish anything, plot-wise. They’re well-written—I love that Tuvok keeps trying to show how he’s a rebel and he won’t be hemmed in by squares, but the Master pretty much cuts him off at the knees every single time—but their importance is summed up nicely by Tuvok when he and Paris talk on the rocks. It feels like filler in an episode that doesn’t actually have enough story for an hour.
Still, it works. Yes, the story is one we’ve seen before—not just on the original series, but also in “Alter Ego“—but the episode sings mainly because Russ, Lori Petty, Robert Duncan McNeill, and Robert Picardo all sell it. Petty is particularly good in this, giving us someone who is at once very capable of surviving on her own, but also incredibly lonely and eager for companionship. And the anguish of both sides of the doomed romance is palpable.
I was really worried when I watched this the first time that the mind-meld at the end was going to be another TOS callback: “Requiem for Methuselah,” where Spock telepathically wiped Kirk’s memory of Rayna Kapec to spare him pain. It was, therefore, a huge relief to see that Tuvok didn’t do that to Noss, but instead gave her, in essence, himself. It has been stated many times (in TNG’s “Sarek,” e.g.) that a mind-meld leaves each participant with a piece of the other in them forevermore, and that notion makes Tuvok’s parting gift to her both the sweetest and the cruelest thing he could do for both of them.
But hey, that’s love for you…
Warp factor rating: 9
Keith R.A. DeCandido did a panel on the endurance of Star Trek with fellow Trek word-slingers David Mack and Derek Tyler Attico for the Virtual Farpoint Convention last weekend. That panel has been archived on YouTube.
Adolescence seems like a tough time for Vulcans. Of course, being an alien exchange student in a school full of surly, just getting their volcanic puberty emotions under control Vulcans probably isn’t all fun and games either.
A 9? Wow, we must have watched different episodes. This one was pretty bad, starting with the awful acting of the young Tuvok. And I could never stand Lori Petty; there’s something about her voice that is like nails on a chalkboard to me. I totally did not buy Noss and Tuvok’s relationship. It was not earned. It was more like, “And now Noss has fallen for Tuvok.” So, all around, not a very good episode at all.
I am 100% sure this was not the intention, but Tuvok getting sent away to get his emotions purged after being discovered with a girl gave me real strong conversion “therapy” vibes that kind of put me off a little bit. I also think Trek isn’t always great with finding plots for their Vulcan characters that aren’t “Vulcan loses control of emotions.” It is interesting once or twice, but after a while it gets a little old. I always wished they had a Vulcan Maquis on Voyager the way they did on DS9, because I found that to be such an interesting angle to explore. Clearly there were plenty of them who sided with the Maquis (I remember at least 2, Sakonna and another, unnamed one) and it was common enough that no one thought Tuvok wouldn’t be able to blend in. “Vulcan becomes terrorist” is a way more interesting story to me than “Vulcan has uncontrolled emotions” any day of the week.
That said, Tim Russ is an excellent actor who was more than capable of carrying this episode. I loved how they showed time passing by having Noss speak more English- that was a nice touch. Noss is also such a great character, and I remember first watching the episode and hoping she would be one of the people who stayed on Voyager, and being disappointed at the end when she wasn’t.
Hmm, maybe this is another one I need to try to give another shot as I recently started watching but tuned out during the first act after Tuvok brings Noss back to his shuttle and feeds her.
Lori Petty was a legit movie star in the early 90’s and so of course I knew who she was when she was credited in this episode. A League of Her Own is a classic and she was the heart in that movie, although I’d say a number of the actors in that film ended up getting up a lot more attention than she did. And then she starred in the bomb Tank Girl and that was the last I heard of her mainstream film career.
” time moves more slowly within the distortion—the away team has been there subjectively for weeks, possibly months”
You mean time moves more quickly within the distortion. If weeks pass within for hours without, then it’s faster within.
I found this just an okay episode, I think, but it was a nice touch to deprive them of magic instant translators and have them take the time for a language lesson. And having Tuvok and Paris stranded for months was necessary to make the story work, since it would’ve been implausible if Tuvok had opened up too quickly (especially to Paris).
I’ve never been too fond of Lori Petty, but she was an interestingly atypical casting choice for a Trek episode.
Austin: for what it’s worth, my wife is right there with you. She can’t watch Lori Petty in anything, as her voice gives Wrenn the heebie jeebies.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I like this, it has a real Robinson Crusoe-Swiss Family Robinson vibe to it and I am always a sucker for that sort of thing. And finally we find something Paris is not an Ace at; spider hunting.
This is very much a 9. Gravity is a truly memorable, heartfelt outing for Voyager. One that works as well as it does thanks in large part to some superlative direction from a first-timer. In retrospect, Terry Windell should have done more episodes of Enterprise (Breaking the Ice was very good). And in terms of cinematography, this may very well be Rush’s best work on Trek since TNG’s The Inner Light. I don’t recall a location looking this bright and dazzling on any Voyager episode before or after (and that location had been recently used on DS9). It felt closer to a feature film. All that carried by one of McCarthy’s best scores in a while (he always excels when it comes to romantic themes; TNG’s Haven came to mind).
The production elevates a solid romantic story that was already well crafted by Fuller and Sagan. And Voyager yet again nails the guest casting by having Petty up against Russ. Another case of crackling chemistry, only three episodes after Janeway’s own romantic entanglement.
And this kind of concept is never not fascinating. A planet within a distortion where time passes at a drastically different rate than the universe outside is a concept ripe for exploration. And it provides a nice setup to develop Tuvok and Noss’s own story at a more leisurely pace.
I recently wrapped Jeri Taylor’s novel Pathways. As I recall, the Tuvok chapter never had this unexpected development in his adolescence. On the book, teenage Tuvok tries his hardest to distance himself from any emotional attachments, and is very much set in the ways of logic before his parents force him to attend Starfleet Academy to gain a broader perspective of the universe. Nevertheless, Gravity sells this newfound backstory pretty well.
Plus, it gives us a different kind of Tuvok story for a change. Voyager can get tiresome giving us variations on the same Bruce Banner retread of Tuvok struggling with dark emotions. A romance rooted in logic and understanding another species is a nice change of pace, and works here just like it did with Spock and Leila.
I don’t remember seeing this one, but with Lori Petty in the mix I’ll give it a watch. Count me as a fan.
I imagine Noss was feeling resentful and hurt, afraid she’d made a total fool of herself and through the meld Tuvok made it clear that he didn’t see her or her feelings as foolish, and that he’d had a few feelings of his own that he didn’t dare indulge.
And I imagine both agreed it was better that nothing had happened since their feelings had mostly been due to loneliness and isolation and they had no possible future together
“If I was meant to deny my feelings, why was I born with them? Where’s the logic in that?”
I remember finding this one surprisingly enjoyable when I first watched it and…I was right, it is. I’d forgotten that the Doctor was very much of secondary importance. In fact, he’s basically of tertiary importance, since this is definitely Tuvok’s episode and Paris is left playing the foil, from Tuvok’s origin story through to his struggles to remain Vulcan in the present, and we even get to see him demonstrate his worth as a security officer and get more to do than pinch aliens’ necks with his efficient martial arts moves on Noss’ firt set of attackers.
Some of the “boys’ talk” scenes between Tuvok and Paris are potentially problematic, especially when Paris encourages Tuvok to forget about his absent wife and basically take a mistress in the Delta Quadrant. But I guess they’re both being true to who they are. Even back in the first season, there was an aspect of Paris thinking they should forget about reuniting with their loved ones back home and find new ones on Voyager instead…and he’s ironically done exactly that, being one of the few crewmembers to have the person he loves most on the ship with him, although double ironically, in this episode he’s faced with the prospect of never seeing her again. Meanwhile, Tuvok is sticking to his Vulcan nature, denying his feelings because he knows from experience it can be dangerous to do otherwise. He knows he doesn’t have the same luxury when it comes to being ruled by them that Paris and other humans do. (“Too bad,” notes Paris when he affirms that he learned to suppress his harmful emotions, with is very in character for him but not really showing understanding of the Vulcan psyche.) Yet he shows his emotions in his own way: His mind meld with Noss at the end is about as intimate as Vulcans get.
And yes, there’s a touch of “All our Yesterdays” about this one, except without the resident Vulcan having to act out of character.
Quick survival tip: If you’re stranded on a planet and a bunch of main titles characters from a Star Trek show get stranded there as well, make sure you’re the one that befriends them, not one of the ones that attacks them. That way, you’ve got a good chance of going with them when they’re inevitably rescued.
Paris and presumably Tuvok hearing the Doctor speaking Noss’ language when he talks to her doesn’t make a lot of sense: If he’s using a built-in universal translator, shouldn’t everyone hear him in their own language? Neelix turning up for Noss’ farewell for his contractually obliged appearance is a bit eye-rolling.
@12/cap-mjb: “Some of the “boys’ talk” scenes between Tuvok and Paris are potentially problematic, especially when Paris encourages Tuvok to forget about his absent wife and basically take a mistress in the Delta Quadrant. But I guess they’re both being true to who they are.”
On the contrary, Tom was being the logical one there. After all, as far as they knew, Voyager had moved on months before and they were probably stranded there for the rest of their lives. It would’ve been irrational to cling to fidelity to a spouse one had no realistic expectation of ever seeing again. Indeed, Tom was being pretty selfless there, since Noss was the only female companionship either of them might ever have again, and Tom wasn’t jealous that she’d picked Tuvok.
“Paris and presumably Tuvok hearing the Doctor speaking Noss’ language when he talks to her doesn’t make a lot of sense: If he’s using a built-in universal translator, shouldn’t everyone hear him in their own language?”
I suppose it’s “built-in” in the sense that it only enables him to understand others’ languages, not to transmit translations to them like a normal UT would (however the hell it does that). After all, he’s not a living being communicating through a mechanism; he is the mechanism. So he’d speak a listener’s language directly rather than speaking English and having it interpreted somehow.
I really feel that Voyager was helped by flashbacks. I enjoyed the flashbacks on the childhoods of Chakotay, Torres & Tuvok. This episode was also a strong Paris & Tuvok episode.
On the other hand, I know people who remain faithful to their spouses even after their spouse has died. Some people take being married very seriously.
@15/kayom: Yes, there are people who refuse to remarry, and there are whole cultures where a widow is expected never to remarry. I’m not saying such attitudes don’t exist, just that they aren’t based in logic — and that they aren’t the only valid way of looking at things. There are plenty of people who do remarry, and it’s nothing to stigmatize. I’m saying I disagree with cap-mjb‘s implication that Tom Paris is being somehow immoral by suggesting that Tuvok accept the reality that he’ll probably never see his wife again. As I said, Tom is being perfectly logical.
@15 And in fairness to Tuvok, where the rest of the crew might not reasonably expect to reach home (and a disproportionate amount of them seem to be single, anyway), *Tuvok* is very likely to live long enough to, since he has a Vulcan’s lifespan. Given that he turns 100 during the show, he might be only halfway through his life, if he lived as long as Sarek did. While he might not be expecting his wife to still be waiting for him because she thinks he is dead, the fact that he knows he might make it home could factor in to his decision to remain faithful to her. This is actually something I wish the show had gotten into a little more with it’s married characters. It is one thing to be able to move on after your spouse has been declared missing and dead, it is another to move on when *you* are the missing spouse and still hold out hope (however small) of getting home and seeing your loved ones again.
I think what Paris is saying makes logical sense, from the point of view of someone who is a human and for whom a 50 year (is that about what they are at by this point? I can’t remember) trip is probably a terminal one. Tuvok just might have a different perspective. I don’t think either one is really being immoral, they just have different starting premises for their logic.
@17/wildfyre: “And in fairness to Tuvok, where the rest of the crew might not reasonably expect to reach home (and a disproportionate amount of them seem to be single, anyway), *Tuvok* is very likely to live long enough to, since he has a Vulcan’s lifespan.”
In general, yes. But not in this specific situation, where they were stranded and believed that Voyager had probably already moved on weeks before. That’s my point. Under those particular circumstances, it would have seemed essentially impossible that they would ever get home, so Tom was being entirely realistic, and Tuvok was the one being irrational in clinging to an almost nonexistent hope.
“Given that he turns 100 during the show”
That’s a continuity error from a really bad later episode (“Fury”). “Flashback” established explicitly that Tuvok was 29 in 2293, so he was born in 2264, and thus was 107 when the show began.
Would Tuvok really believe Janeway has moved on, given he is supposed to be one of closest friends and thus knows her character better than anyone else? This is a woman who destroyed a Utopian future in an ill advised time travel escapade just to stop Tuvok catching space-alzheimers in the series finale. He knows Janeway would not let him or Tom go.
@13: It’s logical to a point, but it’s logical for Paris. It’s based on the assumption that Vulcans are as in need of that sort of companionship as him. And indeed that all humans are. Obviously the opportunity’s there and a part of Tuvok’s tempted, but there may well be cultural and personal reasons for him not responding to it the way Paris would.
I’m trying to work out if the Doctor’s programme being able to generate an entire language based on “hearing” a few words is more or less likely than it being able to scan the minds of everyone present and translate his words into something they’d understand. I guess if you could do one you could do the other?
@12, 13 – As far as we’re told, the universal translator works by scanning the brain waves of nearby people and then inserting a revised brain wave, where the recipient “hears” their own language. It got me thinking about the situation with the EMH. At first, I thought he was functioning more like Google Translate. But then I realized he wouldn’t have an unknown Delta Quadrant language in his database. So he has to be functioning as a brain scanner. Logically, if he’s doing that, he is essentially functioning as a working UT. Therefore, everyone around him should be speaking the same language and there would be no reason for him to translate manually. Unless, of course, an argument is made that he only has the brain scanning function and not the brain inserting part. I guess that could be true, though it wouldn’t really make much sense to only have half the function.
I wonder if Paris is thinking about Noss rather than Tuvok when he gives his advice? She’s been alone for a very long time, he might empathize with her.
@21/Austin: I don’t know where you’re getting that “inserting a revised brain wave” thing, but there is nothing about that in Trek canon. The only canonical mention of translators scanning brain waves is in TOS: “Metamorphosis,” and that merely says that the translator reads the brain waves and synthesizes a voice approximating the nature of the speaker. It’s never been addressed how translators work in later series where they’re in the combadges, or how they enable different people in the same scene to hear a speaker in different languages.
@23 – Logically speaking, how else do people instantaneously hear their own language? Not only that, but not seeing a lip synch issue. The logical explanation is that the UT is manipulating the receiver’s brain to hear their language and to see the lips match up.
@24/Austin: I’m not debating logic, I’m clarifying sources. You said “As far as we’re told,” but the theory you propounded is not something we’ve ever been told by canonical Star Trek. It’s either your own conjecture or something you read in a non-canonical source, so it’s misleading to talk about it as if it were the official explanation.
@25 – Fair enough. We were never explicitly told that. I just extrapolated something that could feasibly explain what is essentially handwavium (it’s obviously done to avoid coming up with new alien languages and constantly using subtitles). I know that at one point it was said to use projected audio, but that really doesn’t seem feasible, especially in crowds. But you are right; it is my own conjecture.
The boys’ talk scenes were problematic because if Tuvok isn’t interested, for whatever reason, that should be respected, not bulldozed over. Paris was talking as though Tuvok is an ass for not returning Noss’s feelings. Maybe Paris didn’t think it was out of line because he felt sure that Tuvok feels something for Noss as well, but not everyone’s dating decisions are based solely on hormones. People have more cerebral reasons for accepting or rejecting partners all the time.
I’ve always loved Lori Petty and I remember this episode fondly. Tuvok being a Vulcan rebel was greatly amusing. But I felt bad for Noss and Tuvok throughout this episode, which means they did a great job.
@21: That sounds like the “Babel Fish”. “You’ll need to have this fish in your ear.” Useful little critters. And “Farscape” had “translator microbes”.
Another quote from the novel “Debtors’ Planet”, but I think not necessarily unique, is that Data is asked how the Universal Translator works (in the brooch communicator), and he decides to say that it works quite well.
Wildfyrewarning @3:
I agree that Vulcans struggling with their emotions is a theme that is massively overdone in Trek, while the more interesting, IMHO, venues of fleshing out how their alienness intersects, interacts with and differs from human approach is largely neglected, except for the rote and not always appropriate invocations of logic. I have watched through the “Enterprise” series during the last lockdown and what a huge missed oppotunity for fleshing out Vulcan culture it was! Unfortunately, Star Trek, like the bulk of SF that features aliens, very much depicts (western) humanity as ultimately clearly superior to, well, any and all alternatives and constantly attempts to humanize alien characters instead of exploring them.
Speaking of the Maquis, though, their cause is very much self-indulgent and irrational, so them attracting _any_ Vulcans who aren’t badly failing at emotional control is ubelievable, IMHO. Yes, I know that they are another call-back to RL issues, but the circumstances are so different that unlike iRL I can’t summon any sympathy for them. It is not that unflinching application of logic can’t plausibly lead to very dark outcomes – and it would have been very interesting to see exploration of that concept. In fact, something similar was done in one of the films with the TOS crew. But habitable planets are a dime a dozen in Star Trek and the Federation would have provided all the resources that the colonists needed to relocate and flourish, so why should I sympathise with their insistence on spilling blood and trying to provoke another war, rather than doing the sensible thing? They are supposed to be more enlightened than us, to boot!
Concerning Tuvok – I am somewhat lost with all the contradictory implementations of Vulcan telepathy in ST (Enterprise, what the heck was that?!), but shouldn’t his wife know that he is alive from their mental link? And also, of course if he had been trapped on this planet for good, he would have needed companionship eventually if he wanted to survive. Paris knew that at this point, IIRC, which could be part of why he pushed Tuvok towards Noss so insistently. Speaking of Vulcan puberty – wasn’t this what their first pon farr was supposed to be about? Another retcon, I suppose.
@30/Isilel: “But habitable planets are a dime a dozen in Star Trek and the Federation would have provided all the resources that the colonists needed to relocate and flourish, so why should I sympathise with their insistence on spilling blood and trying to provoke another war, rather than doing the sensible thing?”
That’s rather missing the point of “Journey’s End” and Insurrection. Yes, relocation may be easy in principle, but only if it’s consensual. History shows that forced relocations are always destructive and oppressive — indeed, they have historically been a tactic genocide, the deliberate attempt to destroy a culture. As with most things in life, consent makes a profound difference — the difference between a house guest and a burglar, between a customer and a thief, between a family vacation and a child abduction. So the issue is not the mechanics of the act or the ease of doing it. The issue is the right of people to choose for themselves where they want to live. That is a matter of fundamental human (or sapient) rights, not logistics.
Enterprise did start properly fleshing out the Vulcans, in the final season when Manny Coto-the adult in the room took over, but sadly by then the damage done by B&B and especially the 9/11 season was done and it was too late. If only it had been on a streaming service desperate for any sort of content, then it would have got multi season orders no matter what the quality was.
Isilel: Vulcan telepathy has always been portrayed as requiring at least some level of proximity, usually requiring at least touch, and even when there’s no touching involved, it’s always been over miniscule distances. The only time we’ve seen it work over a significant distance is when Spock felt the crew of the Intrepid die, but that was still close by enough to be in range of the Enterprise‘s sensors, and it was four hundred people dying at once. There’s never been any indication that a telepathic link would work over a distance of tens of thousands of light-years.
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
ChristopherLBennett @31:
I haven’t seen “Insurrection” and IIRC “The Journey’s End” has it’s own problems concerning cultural sensitivity. I have no argument with you regarding RL examples – but the rub is that conditions in Star Trek are very different and the Maquis narrative doesn’t take that into account.
There are no such hardships involved in relocation as there inevitably are/were iRL, the colonists don’t have to abandon their communities or their culture, as both can be transplanted wholesale elsewhere, they haven’t been living on the ceded planets for very long, so there is no deep-rooted historical or religious significance, etc. And they are supposed to be more enlightened and rational than us, yet they demand that other people kill and die for their petty selfishness. Which is, IMHO, deeply immoral. All that they stand to lose can be easily replaced, but lost lives cannot. Yet the Maquis constantly try to reignite the war, to trick the Federation into fighting and dying for their spurious cause. I am with “Ensigns of Command” TNG episode, which depicts this behavior as what it is – backward, egotistic and irrational.
Again, I understand that they tried to allude to the very real historical and contemporary issues fully deserving of our empathy, but like so often in SF, they failed to consider that when you drastically change conditions surrounding the conflict, you can’t expect to evoke the same emotional reaction. YMMV.
Kayom@32:
Sadly, I didn’t like what Manny Coto did with the Vulcans either. I appreciate that he had to quickly realign them with the canon of the previous 4 series and films, but IMHO he did so in a very awkward and unsatisfying manner. It could and needed to be so much better and more interesting. For the record, I think that it made sense for Vulcans to act differently while they were on their own – they were surrounded by aggressive civilizations, yet managed to not only remain independent, but to become respected. And it would have been interesting to explore problematic places where adherence to pure logic could have plausibly led them, as well as the speculative structure and advantages of a truly rational society. Unfortunately, “Enterprise” served up an incoherent and dare I say, illogical, mess instead.
Krad @33:
Sure Vulcans are normally touch-telepaths (except when “Enterprise” decided to forget that they were), but wasn’t the mental link between a betrothed/married couple supposed to be different and work over interstellar distances? Didn’t TOS “Amok Time” suggest something along those lines? I have this notion from somewhere, but maybe I am just confused.
@34/Isilel: “they haven’t been living on the ceded planets for very long, so there is no deep-rooted historical or religious significance”
Says who? It shouldn’t be hard to understand why colonists who worked hard to claim a lifeless world and build a home on it, who invested it with their hopes and dreams for their children and descendants, might take pride in that achievement and resent being told to abandon everything they devoted their lives to creating for their heirs. Do you really believe that someone who built their own home last year cares about it less than someone who inherited the family home they were born in? That doesn’t make any sense. People care a lot about the things they build themselves. Especially if they hope that those things will be a legacy for their children.
And bottom line, you don’t get to tell others how they’re allowed to ascribe significance to things. Just because you don’t understand or identify with a culture’s priorities, that doesn’t entitle you to denounce them as wrong. It sure as hell doesn’t justify forcing them to change it.
“yet they demand that other people kill and die for their petty selfishness”
That’s blaming the victims. According to “Journey’s End,” the DMZ colonists were perfectly willing to live peacefully as citizens of the Cardassian Union, as long as they got to keep their homes. They made a very reasonable concession. But the Cardassians broke their word, violated their commitment as a government to take care of their citizens, and harassed and brutalized the colonists. So the colonists are not the ones who should be blamed here. They just wanted to live in peace, regardless of what nation they belonged to. The Maquis arose to defend them once they came under attack. It’s true that the Maquis later went too far and continued the fight rather than take the opportunity to make peace. But that’s on the Maquis, not on the colonists as a whole. If anything, the colonists probably suffered from the Maquis’s rejection of peace, so the colonists shouldn’t be blamed for it.
@34: I think I’m remembering that the novel “The Vulcan Academy Murders” by Jean Lorrah has Spock and his father Sarek discussing Spock’s failed wedding. Spock’s mother is in suspended animation at the Academy for medical reasons and Sarek demonstrates to Spock that he still has a telepathic connection with Amanda when they aren’t in the same room. Spock didn’t have that with T’Pring. I think none of this is in “Amok Time”. Neither is Sarek. And it isn’t necessarily an active connection, Tuvok doesn’t offer to send mail home for the crew telepathically. Another novel declares that Vulcans telepathically perceive the existence of God but this isn’t informative either.
Spock is meditating on Vulcan when he telepathically perceives V’Ger coming into Federation space, but that isn’t at, er, Voyager distance, because nothing is except perhaps for parallel universes arguably. (This may be mainly or entirely in the movie novel, but that has Gene Roddenberry’s name on it so it’s canon right?) And I don’t recall if V’Ger perceives Spock until Spock literally gropes it.
@36/Robert Carnegie: “(This may be mainly or entirely in the movie novel, but that has Gene Roddenberry’s name on it so it’s canon right?)”
No, because it’s an adaptation of a canon work, not an original work in itself. It asserted things that were ignored or contradicted in later productions, including Roddenberry’s own TNG work. (Like high-ranked Starfleet officers having communication implants in their brains.)
Though of course, Roddenberry was perfectly willing to rewrite his own canon in ways that defy the modern myth that “canon” is some kind of guarantee of consistency. Like redesigning the Klingons and asking fans to play along with the conceit that they’d “always” looked that way.
ChristopherLBennett @35:
Let me preface this post by noting that my extended family and I have personal experience with living as ethnical minorities under oppressive regimes, and what it costs to leave and what it costs to stay.
Naturally, it would have been disappointing for the colonists to abandon what they have built and they would have been entitled to their feelings of resentment. But they are not entitled to demanding continuation of the war for their personal convenience. In their reality things can be easily replaced and small, recent sub-cultures, such as theirs*, transplanted wholesale to other worlds. But lost lives are irreplaceable.
* IIRC, only worlds with very small populations were chosen for the swap – at least on UFP’s side. And it is questionable how much their sub-culture diverged from the main Federation one. But their whole settlements, complete with social ties, etc. were supposed to be moved, so they weren’t going to lose anything there either. I guess, they were really attached to the view, or something?
I vehemently disagree with the idea that the colonists refused to leave because of their concern for their descendants, though. First of all, their descendants would have been as well or better off on any random established Federation world, as the series abundantly demonstrated how dangerous life on the new fringe colonies could be. Nor were the later generations guaranteed to stay in any case, unless UFP has a lot less mobility within it’s borders than large countries have right now. And nobody who truly cares about the well-being of their progeny would codemn them to becoming Cardassian citizens instead of Federation ones! Given the Cardassian track record of oppressing their own people and savagely brutalizing the Bajorans, that is. Not to mention that even if they kept their word, the colonists would have still been much worse off, because Cardassians don’t take care of their people like the Federation does.
Of course the Cardassians are to blame! But was it really surprising that they would break their word? Was it really unexpected that UFP would be unable to do anything about it, short of going back to war?
That’s exactly why the colonists should have left – unlike people iRL they could do so while losing very little. And it would have saved lives. Which is why I don’t see how any Vulcans getting involved in the Maquis can be rationally explained.
Robert Carnegie @36:
I remember thinking that Tuvok’s wife should have known that he was alive when first watching Voyager and that he should have been able to communicate with her. I don’t remember why I thought so – possibly what happened to Spock/McCoy in the films colored my thinking. TNG/the TOS films were my entrance into Star Trek in the late nineties, and I read a couple of TOS-crew based franchise books then, so maybe that’s where I have the idea from. I have watched some TOS episodes later, though.
You have a point about V’ger, too. Sure, the distance was smaller, but once we are talking about telepathy on interstellar scale, should it really matter?
@38/Isilel: “Naturally, it would have been disappointing for the colonists to abandon what they have built and they would have been entitled to their feelings of resentment. But they are not entitled to demanding continuation of the war for their personal convenience.”
As I said, I don’t think the colonists as a whole should be blamed for the choices of the Maquis. The Maquis are a small percentage of colonists and outsiders who chose to fight on behalf of the colonists, and whose tactics ended up going beyond what was beneficial for the colonists. The fact that they pursued their cause wrongly does not invalidate the colonists’ right to object to forced relocation. A cause can still be legitimate even if the actions some people take in its name are illegitimate.
“* IIRC, only worlds with very small populations were chosen for the swap – at least on UFP’s side. And it is questionable how much their sub-culture diverged from the main Federation one. But their whole settlements, complete with social ties, etc. were supposed to be moved, so they weren’t going to lose anything there either. I guess, they were really attached to the view, or something?”
You’re making the same ugly argument that Picard stood against in “Journey’s End” and Insurrection — that violating a people’s consent and forcing them to move against their will is somehow okay if it’s a small enough group. The size shouldn’t matter. People don’t lose their fundamental rights just because they aren’t in the majority.
I say again: The fact that you don’t understand their priorities does not make it okay to force them to change. Other people’s rights are not contingent upon your approval of their values. You can argue all you want that they should have moved, but that does not make it right to force them to move. That is never right. Taking away people’s consent is always wrong, no matter what the issue.
This was a very good episode, not least because I appreciate that they didn’t kill Noss at the end to add some cheap pathos. Pathos is easy, give me a happy ending please.
The flashbacks could be seen as superfluous, but this is a Tuvok story, and they’re another layer of depth to his character. “Lost” used a similar device remarkably well, and it’s well used here.
Plus the setup is a clever and intriguing one.
In short, this deserves its 9.
Noss reminds me of Jaylah from ST: Beyond and a bit of Rey from the Star Wars sequels. Or maybe, since she came before both of them in terms of when the movies were created, they remind me of her.
So Voyager nearly lost their entire crew of medical personnel (The Doctor and Paris). They should probably limit sending them both off the ship together, or else train some more personnel. Or maybe they have that backup of the Doctor lying around when the plot demands it.
I finally finished this episode and I found it surprisingly good. Surprising because I don’t always associate Lori Petty with quality but she was solid here; and when I think of Tuvok episodes I think “boring” because that’s how I tend to think of Vulcans in general. However, I’ve noticed a pattern of Tuvok episodes actually being good and surprisingly so because they end up being charming or enlightening which this episode was for both.
There was a lot here I liked: Noss speaking a different language and everyone not understanding her at first and she also gradually learns more English; the time differential where time passes faster in inner-space and Tuvok/Paris/EMH/Noss end up being stranded there for several months and for Noss, much longer (I was never sure how long exactly); the ticking clock of the aliens wearing down the shields of Noss’ ship while the same alien race is trying to collapse the rift in the other ticking clock of the episode; the revelation that the aliens trying to shut down the rift are the same aliens attacking Noss and company; the flashbacks of a young Tuvok; the pairing of Tuvok and Paris, specifically, the conflict between them while being stranded; and the believable romance and rebuffing of one between Tuvok and Noss. I also like there is a happy ending for her, not just with getting the mind meld, but more importantly being rescued and returned to her home world. That way she would never be lonely again unlike in “All Our Yesterdays” where Spock’s love interest is so sadly left by her lonesome at episode’s end.
I guess that one alien that attacked Paris inside Noss’ ship at the end wasn’t close enough to the distress beacon to have been beamed by out Voyager along with everyone else. It would have been a nice and interesting touch if he was rescued and returned to his people, perhaps with him showing gratefulness for being rescued, and then of his people and specifically Supervisor Yost admitting perhaps his people were being too hasty in trying to close the rift/not giving Voyager time to try a rescue.
I always find the notion of romances between stranded people fascinating because undoubtedly that romance is from just those two people being the only ones or of only a few people being stranded in close proximity to each other with no other options. They need that companionship as they’d otherwise be lonely. But then take them out of that isolation and see how long that attachment lasts. They would very likely drift apart seeing that they have nothing in common or grow to even dislike each other, or at a minimum decide to be friends but romantic partners isn’t best. Another series could explore that but obviously Voyager isn’t the right format for such character arcs.
Lori Petty reminds me of Jennifer Lien because of their voices, not because they’re alike, but because it’s like they’re on opposite ends of the spectrum. Petty’s being higher-pitched and grating, and Lien’s being deeper and soothing. It’s a completely excellent casting of both in having them portray aliens with their distinctive voices.
@2/Austin: I did feel the romance between Tuvok was earned. For starters, Tuvok saved Noss’ life. For many, romances believably start that way. Also, she had been stranded for a long time and obviously needed the emotional companionship. Tuvok was also growing lonely for lack of emotional companionship, not just on the planet, but for the totality of being on Voyager as well. He already had a basis of respect for Noss and the romantic feelings, which he was repressing, only grew from there.
I’d rate this one a 7.
I think it’s awkward referring to someone’s title as “Vulcan Master.” I know it’s supposed to sound important and revered but it’s vague. Vulcan master of what? You would never refer to someone as a “Human Master” because it sounds generic or you might think that person is a slave owner.
I always struggle a bit with the way Vulcans manage feelings. Which is not a bad thing at all. It presents a compelling question. I often have trouble understanding or expressing my emotions and have gone through periods of dissociation. So, I guess what I’m saying is, I wish I did feel my emotions more. Sometimes I’m an involuntary Vulcan. Is this talk therapy or a Voyager rewatch?
As another person or two noted here, it was a surprisingly cinematic episode, particularly in the beginning. That’s par for the course in TV these days, but Trek and other shows of the period were rather stagey. So for a moment I wondered if I’d switched to the wrong show or gone through my own time thingy.
Personally, I was glad for the flashbacks. Without them, yeah, we would not have gotten the nuance of Tuvok’s story. Wwe would have needed an extended, rather revealing, monologue, which would have been out of character for Mr. Vulcan.
It can be a rewatch AND talk therapy!
—Keith R.A. DeCandido