The best theory I’ve heard is that they send out single Cubes to stimulate unique research and development in a civilisation, which they can then move in and take with overwhelming force.
This explains why the Cube(s) lost, and why the Borg seemingly show such tactical\strategic stupidity. On the other hand, there is no canon, or even official evidence for it whatsoever, and the Borg have done dumb things many other times.
I read this amazing epic fanfic similar to the Feds vs. Maquis storyline you describe. It was called Canaan Land by Helmboy. It was a Chakotay/Paris slash (NC-17), but it had an unbelievably great storyline. (Voyager gets home and their arrival is covered up by Section 31 because the cooperation of the Maquis and Starfleet officers would have set too good an example.)
Anyway, it’s fabulous. So much of this fanfic is a million times deeper than what they actually put on the show. (And I’m not just saying it because it so often features the cutest guys in the Delta Quadrant “alone together…”)
Another great example is Yours, Mine, Ours, also NC-17 slash (but Paris/Kim this time.
Those kinds of stories are not new. In the 70s, after TOS went into syndication and got REALLY popular, there were a lot of “Kirk/Spock” stories.
Kirk fucking Spock is as unlikely as Spock turning carnivore.* It’s totally out of character for Kirk to even contemplate doing such a thing. (Gene Roddenberry even addressed this in the novelization of Star Trek: The Motion Picture.)
What was really bizarre about those “K/S” stories is that most of them were written by straight women! I’ve never actually read these stories; I learned about them in The World of Star Trek, by David Gerrold, his look at the Trek phenomenon, written before ST:TMP was made.
What bugs me about this type of fan fiction is the attitude that these characters belong to the fans and not the creators. If they want to indulge in homosexual fantasies (nothing wrong with that), they can make up their own characters. I mean, how would they like it if someone wrote a story about their favorite homosexual character** in a heterosexual affair? I bet they wouldn’t like it at all.
*[sub]Yes, I remember the episode where Spock ate meat and enjoyed it. But that scene was a clue as to how seriously messed up Spock was in that particular episode.[/sub]
**[sub]I realize there aren’t any homosexual regular characters in Trek; for the sake of my argument, assume there is one.[/sub]
I actually like Voyager ever since 7o9 came aboard. Unfortunately, it’s not enough to give a good rating for the whole series and it failed miserably since episode one (which was bad acting and plot wise).
Anyways, the writers for Voyager aren’t as brave as they should’ve been as they always seem to rush to a happy conclusion. Though some were justified in having a happy ending or full resolution (including the Marquis, which were pretty much forgiven since the beginning of the Dominion war in DS9), many other episodes just doesn’t deserve it (e.g. the other Federation ship trapped in the delta quadrant, those crew should’ve been executed or something). Anyways, it’ll be the same writers with “added” ideas but I suspect (to my and many others disappointment) it’ll suck and just stinks to oblivion.
But we’ll see, as all ST series started out sucky but got picked up again in the middle or near the end of it.
Jeeze, I wish Berman would create a 1 month teaser shows with the TNG crew… The good ol’ days…
jovius
Oh, is that all that is bothering you? Sounds like somebody is having issues.
jab, I think you’re missing the point. My take would be that homo-erotic Star Trek stories are written with these specific characters in mind for the fantasy. These writers wish to imagine having sex, being in love, what-have-you with Kirk, Spock, etc., not a character of their own.
And these stories are not professionally published (AFAIK), thus I see no harm done. And the impact that these characters have certainly belong to me, you, whoever.
FTR, I read one off the net a while back. A Kirk/McCoy story. All I remember is that McCoy’s penis was a couple inches longer than Kirk’s, though Kirk’s was larger in girth. It definitely colored my viewings of TOS episodes for a while.
My 400th post–discussing Kirk and McCoy’s dicks. Now, I’m gonna have issues.
Sir Rhosis
A: One writer came up with that (Lucas, supposedly… at the very least, he has final say over what goes on in the movie).
B: That sort of horrendous idea is NOT the norm for the Star Wars series.
C: Midichlorians have been thoroughly rejected by the Star Wars fan base, while all the stupid thinks in ST are embraced by the fans.
I’m just hoping that Lucas arranges a press conference and says, “Look, let’s all just pretend that the Midichlorian crap and Jar Jar Binks never happened, okay?” I mean, the man gave us Star Destroyers and Boba Fett (praise him!), so I think he’s earned the right to make a couple mistakes…
The ST writers, however, put so many holes in the storylines that it’d make a colander jealous.
Might I humbly suggest that Star Trek technobabble vs. Star Wars technobabble, besides being off the point of this thread, is an unproductive road to go down? It can lead to nothing but sorrow.
The impact, yes. The characters themselves, no. It’s like borrowing someone else’s car and saying, “I’m gonna use it any way I like. There isn’t anything you can do about it. So there.” It’s disrespectful.
I’ve wanted to be a writer myself but someone taking a character I created and doing whatever he wanted with it would really upset me, even if the story was never published. I realize there is nothing a writer can legally do about such a thing, but I’m sure some of them wish there was. I know because I’ve talked to some writers (Ellison, Gerrold, Bradbury, Niven) about this very thing.
But they don’t belong to “a writer”. They were written and developed by each person who wrote one of the 170-some-odd episodes of the series in question. And they’ve entered the popular culture. Besides, it’s not like fanfic writers are passing their material off as Paramount-approved, canon, or the like. (Ninetieth verse, same as the first!) If you don’t like it, don’t read it!
I missed several episodes in this last season and didn’t think to look at uniform pips in the finale, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
Did Harry Kim actually reach the end of the series as an ensign? After Paris was given the rank of lieutenant, demoted, and re-earned that rank, while Harry never got anything? After Janeway trusted him to command the ship from time to time? Paris rarely sat in the big chair, as I recall.
If he was promoted, when did it happen?
No, he was never promoted. sigh
thank God for that, if i was his captain, my most quoted line would be “Shut up, Harry!” >SMACK!<
of course, Naomi Wildman would have been executed for being the most annoying character in the history of Star Trek. Even more than Wesley. I would take 1,000,000,000,000,000 Wesleys over Naomi for 3 seconds.
But i think Voyager’s downfall was the lack of continuity, the re-writing of history whenever the writers demanded it, the lack of continuing supporting characters (Joe Carey, anyone?), and the fact that Berman and Braga were proud of that! Why did they think DS9 was a good show, people thought the wormhole was pretty???
Maybe Captain Sam Beckett can save the day…
IMO, they needed another hour for this last episode of Voyager. I still enjoyed the series for the most part. At the end, could it be they realyl are not “home”…good cliffhanger for a movie.
(Apologies for going off-topic)
Sir Rhosis, I love your sig line. Which Doctor said it, in which episode?
Hazel,
Thanks. It is voiced in narration by the 7th Doctor in the very final shot of the very final BBC episode, “Survival,” aired in 1989. The Doctor and Ace (his teenaged female companion), having defeated the Master walk back toward the TARDIS. Ace is feeling down on humanity and life in general. As they walk away from the camera, the Doctor puts his arm around her shoulder in a “buck-up” gesture, and gives that speech in a reverent voice. I left off the final line. After he says …“the tea’s getting cold,” he continues upbeat: “Come on, Ace, we’ve got work to do.”
Great moment. From what I’ve read, the speech was added after the fact–I think the producers had a notion they wouldn’t be coming back the next year.
Sir Rhosis
I normally don’t watch Voyager. I watched every episode for the first two years. Now, in the last two years, I’ve watched maybe 5 or 6. I dunno, it just didn’t interest me.
But I watched the finale. I love nitpicking, so here goes.
What ever happened to doctor patient confidentiallity? “Hey Barkley, Janeway came by to pick up some pills. Since I gave them to her illegally I figured you might want to know about it. Also, since I’m not too keen on keeping a secret about my patients, mind if you share with me this top secret project you’ve been working on? Good.”
So the shields covered everything but the warp nacelles. Imagine my shock as the Borg hit everything but the warp nacelles.
Which starfleet personel, other than Janeway, actually thought that going back in time to save 22 people at a very possible risk to millions was a good thing? Look, 7 of 9 aside, the future looked surprisingly happy and nice. Shit happens and we all have to deal with it. Who helped her with this plan anyway? Seriously, she’s risking having the entire plan blow up in her face AND giving the Borg technology decades more advanced than they have currently.
Speaking of which, there’s no guarantee that the borg didn’t send off the information they’d assimilated to other colonies before being destroyed. Of course, we’ll never know. That’s the end of that Star Trek universe.
B’lana and Tom’s daughter looked surprisingly Klingon for being 3/4 human.
Why did Janeway ask the senior officers their opinion on whether they should go home or not? If the officers can read the minds of their crew, why can’t Janeway read the minds of her officers? Oh yes, because she’s no psychic. Neither are they. So ask everyone. If I’d spent 7 years on that ship, I think I should have been given the courtesy of being asked my opinion, as long as opinions were being asked for. Even if I was just a lowly ensign. I mean, that never stopped Kim before.
Speaking of Kim, that speak he gave wasn’t so much rousing and tear jerking as it screamed out “this is the last episode and we’re going to let every main person milk it for everything they can.”
Time travel is funky. Must I bother to elaborate on the nitpicks there?
Tuvok’s rants about numbers ended up being a red herring. It seemed out of place and could have been cut.