# Federation Starship Voyager Questions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [January 17, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326 "2003-01-17T22:36:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@don\_willard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_willard)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/1 "2003-01-17T22:36:24Z")
In the episode where 7 of 9 had to keep the Voyager afloat while everybody else would be kept in boxes except the Dr. due to the scab-causing nebula they had to get through:
1. Why was 7 immune to the rays?
2. 7 said Tom came out of his protective box four times, but I only saw it once, and also, how did he get out, since they were unconscious!
3. Did I miss something?, but where was the rest of the crew? Once in awhile one sees other people on Voyager besides the main actors, and the others are seen in the cafeteria and are referred to, but
I don’t remember seeing any of them in this episode. They must have each been in a protective suspension container somewhere, but when 7 has to redirect power away from containers in order to get through the last few shreds of the scab nebula, she takes the power from the officers instead of from ordinary crew, which would be against policy.
4. Are we to assume that there IS a stasis box for everybody on board?
5. Why did 7 and in general everybody else when it comes up have to run all over the ship to different control panels to do things? Why don’t they just have one control panel?
6. 7 had to keep repairing things, but the idea of repair is evidently just to press some spaces on control boards. If that’s all it takes, why not let the computer just repair everything as needed?
7. Am I the only one who has noticed that the voice of the computer in this Voyager series is that of Deanna’s mother in that other set of space adventures (I can’t think of the name of it but it has the bald Shakespearean captain). Is it ever explained why Deanna’s mother was used?
8. Am I the only one who has noticed that the Borg saying, “Resistance is useless, you will be assimilated” is a parallel to how we are all assimilated by society, for instance by its consumer values that we take for granted? Did the writers know they were expressing how we are all part of the problem in one way or another–that resistance is futile? Or were they aware that our culture is assimilating not only us but the rest of the world, which can’t resist putting up McDonalds and strip malls everywhere so that some day every part of the world will look like America and wherever you go it won’t make any difference: Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, et. al. will be there to assist us?
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### Author:  [@TheeGrumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheeGrumpy)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/2 "2003-01-17T23:04:51Z")
I won’t bother answering most of the points, as the plots of most _Voyager_ episodes are beneath contempt. However…
> [@](#):
>
> Originally posted by **don willard**
> 7) Am I the only one who has noticed that the voice of the computer in this Voyager series is that of Deanna’s mother in that other set of space adventures (I can’t think of the name of it but it has the bald Shakespearean captain). Is it ever explained why Deanna’s mother was used?
Because the voice is that of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry – Gene Roddeberry’s squeeze/widow. She also provided the voice of the computer in the original Star Trek, as well as playing the nurse. She was already the computer voice by the time she was cast as Lwaxana Troi.
And if you pay really close attention, you’ll notice that the computer on Deep Space Nine has a different voice (Judi Durand) because it’s a Cardassian operating system.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [January 17, 2003, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/3 "2003-01-17T23:20:30Z")
Majel Barrett also played the female first officer in the original 'The Cage" pilot, though at the time she was Roddenberry’s mistress and her name in the credits is “M Leigh Hudec”.
> [@](#):
>
> 1. Why was 7 immune to the rays?
The techno-babble reason of the week.
> [@](#):
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> 1. 7 said Tom came out of his protective box four times, but I only saw it once, and also, how did he get out, since they were unconscious!
The impression I got was that they could fade in and out of alertness.
> [@](#):
>
> 1. Are we to assume that there IS a stasis box for everybody on board?
At the rate the expendable crew were being killed off, by the time that episode aired, there wre only twelve people aboard.
> [@](#):
>
> 1. Why did 7 and in general everybody else when it comes up have to run all over the ship to different control panels to do things? Why don’t they just have one control panel?
Military contractors never go for efficiency.
> [@](#):
>
> 1. 7 had to keep repairing things, but the idea of repair is evidently just to press some spaces on control boards. If that’s all it takes, why not let the computer just repair everything as needed?
Drama.
> [@](#):
>
> 1. Am I the only one who has noticed that the Borg saying, “Resistance is useless, you will be assimilated” is a parallel to how we are all assimilated by society, for instance by its consumer values…[anti-consumerist rant omitted]
Probably. I seriously doubt the guy who came up with original Borg idea thought it out in such detail.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/4 "2003-01-18T00:17:57Z")
:dubious:
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### Author:  [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/5 "2003-01-18T00:20:07Z")
The episode in question is called ‘_One_’, if that helps anyone.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/6 "2003-01-18T00:44:26Z")
Oh, pshaw. Everyone knows that the Borg are a metaphor for Communism. Hell, they even call it the Collective.
Basically all the villains in Star Trek can be broken down into several basic groups:
COMMUNISM: Hive Minds, computer-controlled societies, etc.
ROYALTY: “Empires”-- Klingon, Romulan, etc.
CHURCH: Your amorphous, fey energy beings
CAPITALISM: The Ferengi, plus whoever it was that sold those green slave women
The Federation, and by extension Voyager, is generally at odds with all these power structures. (Unfettered capitalism is considered especially abhorrent. Remember, the Federation does not use money!) We can see by process of elimination that the only major political group historically antithetical to all these groups at one time was National Socialism. Remember, also, that the only government ever imposed on an alien civilization by a Federation citizen was modeled on Hitler’s Germany. (Remember that one episode, where Kirk and Spock dressed up as Nazis?) Obviously, therefore, the Federation of Planets is intended as a cryptofascist dictatorship.
Of course, it’s entirely possible to think about these things too much.
Oh, and props for employing the phrase, “scab-inducing nebula.” Great name for a band, eh?
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/7 "2003-01-18T00:48:05Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by TheeGrumpy \*
> **Because the [computer’s] voice is that of Majel Barrett-Roddenberry – Gene Roddeberry’s squeeze/widow.**
I hope she’s not **still** Gene Roddenberry’s squeeze, because that would mean that Gene has come back to life as a _mindless flesh-eating zombie!!_ Aaaaaaaaah!
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/8 "2003-01-18T00:49:07Z")
Of course, “scab-causing nebula” would have been even better. Too bad you didn’t think of that one.
…stupid disabled post edit…grumble, mutter…
The point is, never assume that the Star Trek universe is anything other than a seamless, internally consistent whole. People who try to tell you otherwise are obviously deranged, ignore them.
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### Author:  [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/9 "2003-01-18T00:51:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Terrifel \*
> **We can see by process of elimination that the only major political group historically antithetical to all these groups at one time was National Socialism.**
Aha! I _thought_ I saw a miniature Hitler moustache parading around on Janeway’s upper lip!
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/10 "2003-01-18T01:21:23Z")
Since we don’t seem to care about answering the question, I submit this for consideration:
Does anyone else think that the term Federation Starship Voyager sounds like it should be a knockoff of Space Defense Force Macross?
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### Author:  [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/11 "2003-01-18T01:23:38Z")
The best part about that episode is 7 telling Tom he has a temp of 98.7 degrees. Since they all use Celsius, he must be near boiling!!!
[sub]Out geek that, ya bums![/sub]
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/12 "2003-01-18T02:14:52Z")
Seriously, Don, questions like yours are entirely legitimate, and like Zen koans they are best pondered, not answered. However, an excellent start would probably be Phil Farrand’s _Nitpicker’s Guide_ series of books, in which all the myriad enigmas of the various series are addressed. I’m sure he’s churned out one for **Voyager** by now. You could look him up on the Web; no doubt he’s got a site somewhere. Anyone know what it is offhand?
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/13 "2003-01-18T02:25:40Z")
Wups! 'Pears to be: [www.nitcentral.com](http://www.nitcentral.com)
Let’s see if that worked.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/14 "2003-01-18T03:27:23Z")
[quote]
Oh, pshaw. Everyone knows that the Borg are a metaphor for Communism. Hell, they even call it the Collective.
Basically all the villains in Star Trek can be broken down into several basic groups:
COMMUNISM: Hive Minds, computer-controlled societies, etc.
ROYALTY: “Empires”-- Klingon, Romulan, etc.
CHURCH: Your amorphous, fey energy beings
CAPITALISM: The Ferengi, plus **whoever it was that sold those green slave women** /quote]
That’d be the Orions of the Orion Syndicate fame. Sort of your Barbary Pirates of the 24th Century.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/15 "2003-01-18T03:28:34Z")
Goddamnitalltohell, I hate using 's!
_p’taQ’s!_
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/16 "2003-01-18T04:24:38Z")
Gesundheit.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/17 "2003-01-18T04:26:57Z")
Sorry.
Ooh, and thanks for the “Orion Syndicate” refresher. But now, call me crazy, weren’t they actually from the animated show?
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/18 "2003-01-18T04:35:13Z")
I’m only twenty (and didn’t become a fan until I was eleven or twelve) so the Animated Series was before my time. I’ve read the novelizations though and I believe you’re thinking of the Orion Pirates. I think they’re the same thing as the aforementioned Syndicate and probably even its predecessor.
Also, in DS9’s later years O’Brien went undercover as a member of the Syndicate, so they’re legit, if that’s what you were asking.
Does my post make sense? It seems all awkward and stuff to me.
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### Author:  [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/19 "2003-01-18T04:55:04Z")
Perfectly legible, thank you. I always liked the character of O’Brien, but I fell away from DS9 during the later seasons and must have missed that episode. I’ll have to see if I can catch it sometime.
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### Author:  [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)
#### Post date: [January 18, 2003, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/federation-starship-voyager-questions/149326/20 "2003-01-18T05:03:16Z")
DS9’s my favorite incarnation of Trek. I love the antagonistic and militaristic feel to it when compared to TNG’s Utopia and Voyager’s… uh… Voyager’s uhh… campy feel(?). The only characters I’m not overly fond of are Jake Sisko and Odo.
Everyone else, especially Sisko, both Daxes, Bashir and O’Brien rule.
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