# Why can't Voyager return home? (Star Trek) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 14, 2004, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253 "2004-02-14T22:06:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/41 "2004-02-15T21:07:32Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > The Caretaker (who looks like an old man, but is really a psychedelic Jello mold) has set a self-destruct program to destroy the array so that the Kazon won’t use it to destroy the Ocampa people. After Chakotay sacrifices the Maquis ship to protect Voyager, the Kazon ship damages the array and disrupts the self-destruct program. Janeway decides she can’t allow the Kazon to destroy the Ocampas and destroys the array herself. Tuvok suggests that destroying the array would violate the Prime Directive, but Janeway disagrees citing that they were brought to the Delta Quadrant against their will and they have no other choice. Still, my question remains. Janeway couldn’t get one of her crew to rig up a photon torpedo with a timer, beam it over to the array and get the hell out of there? And there was a voyager episode where they did something exactly like that. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/42 "2004-02-15T21:10:06Z")
Refer to my first post and the ones following it characterizing Janeway as bipolar. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/43 "2004-02-15T21:12:12Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Still, my question remains. Janeway couldn’t get one of her crew to rig up a photon torpedo with a timer, beam it over to the array and get the hell out of there? > > And there was a voyager episode where they did something exactly like that. I’m sure that if the writers had thought of that, they would’ve come up with a reason why it wouldn’t work. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/44 "2004-02-15T21:46:11Z")
> [@Shade](#): > > Though I don’t know why they didn’t just have everyone speaking english. It wouldn’t have been any less plausible than a translator that can understand a new language instantly, would it? In one episode of DS9 a race called IIRC the Skrians comes through the wormhole. The Skrian language has nothing in common with any languages in the translator database and it takes the computer a few days to translate it. Prior to that, the Skrians speak in gibberish. The real goof is not that we hear English, but that aliens mouths move in sync with it. I always assumed that the Federation exchanged information such as language files with friendly species or traded for them with folks like the Ferrengi. So even when meeting a species for the first time, it’s possible that their language is already programmed into the UT. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/45 "2004-02-15T21:54:14Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > [Janeway] bipolarly alternates between rigid application of the Prime Directive and throwing it away due to some moral pontificating that she invents. Actually, I found Janeways decisions as to when to apply the Prime Directive to be amazingly consistent. Every time, without fail, she chose whether or not to violate the Prime Directive based on whichever option would guarantee that the ship **wouldn’t** make it home easily. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Shade](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2bfe46/32.png) [@Shade](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shade)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/46 "2004-02-15T22:25:19Z")
> [@Jayn\_Newell](#): > > Well, technically, it was being translated, verbatim, since that actually was what they were saying. There was just no way for the UT to translate the _meaning_ of what they were saying. In reality, they were probably saying something more like _Huj aracki an kupla de_. Well, yes. But the impression I got was that the use was formulaic enough that when he wanted to express [emotion] he said “Huj aracki an kupla de” and the phrase had become equivalent to a word for [emotion]. It’s like presumably ‘odds’ and ‘ends’ meant something but now a meaning is only attatched to ‘odds and ends’. However, it suddenly occurs to me the translator probably had knowledge of related languages so could get the literal meaning, but hadn’t had time to work out the full translation yet. Anyway, I spoke quickly. I retract my comment. There’s still many things wrong, but that isn’t necessarily the glaring example I first guesed it was. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/47 "2004-02-15T22:43:38Z")
The problem with Darmok’s people (Tamarians?) was that they spoke in metaphor and that the subject changed according to the circumstances in which it was said. It’d be similar to Americans only speaking in colloquialisms like “he kicked the bucket” but it doesn’t always mean someone died. ---
**Author:** ![tracer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tracer/32/20578_2.png) [@tracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tracer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/48 "2004-02-16T00:07:55Z")
Or that you will, in fact, find a boot print on the bucket. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/49 "2004-02-16T00:17:32Z")
Those boots will stick to them like a pair of Tamarian bats. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/50 "2004-02-16T00:24:24Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > The problem with Darmok’s people (Tamarians?) was that they spoke in metaphor and that the subject changed according to the circumstances in which it was said. It’d be similar to Americans only speaking in colloquialisms like “he kicked the bucket” but it doesn’t always mean someone died. You know, I thought “Darmok” was a great episode and all, but I don’t think that language would have worked. How the heck did they tell the stories in the first place? ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/51 "2004-02-16T00:33:54Z")
I saw the _Voyager_ pilot episode, but only when it was first aired. Can someone refresh my memory about the Array? Was it technology created by the Caretaker, or was it created by some other entity/civilization? ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/52 "2004-02-16T00:34:52Z")
Well, I never said the language made sense. This is the same series where Barclay, a human, “de-evolved” into some sort of arachnid creature, after all. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/53 "2004-02-16T00:35:27Z")
The metaphors used came from their mythology. I don’t recall any plot point about the idioms changing in regards to circumstances. The problem was not knowing anything about their ancient mythology. Witness the brainstorming session that Troi, Riker, and Data were doing where they were slowly picking it up. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/54 "2004-02-16T00:36:52Z")
My previous post was to **Archernar**. The Array was the Caretaker’s creation, so far as I remember, **Lagomorph**. It was never hinted at that it had other origions. ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/55 "2004-02-16T00:37:43Z")
> [@Achernar](#): > > You know, I thought “Darmok” was a great episode and all, but I don’t think that language would have worked. How the heck did they tell the stories in the first place? I’ve often wondered the same thing. How in the heck do you get somebody to understand “Juliet on the balcony” without first telling them the story of Romeo and Juliet? And how do you do that when you can only speak in metaphors? A Pakled attempting algebra. ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/56 "2004-02-16T00:39:10Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > The metaphors used came from their mythology. I don’t recall any plot point about the idioms changing in regards to circumstances. The problem was not knowing anything about their ancient mythology. Witness the brainstorming session that Troi, Riker, and Data were doing where they were slowly picking it up. How else would you explain him saying the same few phrases over and over then? If the meaning didn’t change, then he might as well been telling Picard he found hairless simians sexually attractive _ad nauseum_. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/57 "2004-02-16T00:40:02Z")
> [@Laughing Lagomorph](#): > > I saw the _Voyager_ pilot episode, but only when it was first aired. Can someone refresh my memory about the Array? Was it technology created by the Caretaker, or was it created by some other entity/civilization? The Caretaker was a higher advanced noncorporeal lifeform (known as the Nacene), who came from another galaxy. They were explorers to an extraordinary degree. The array was simply one tool made by them. Other info about them is shrouded in mystery (except to Kes). ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/58 "2004-02-16T00:41:27Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > My previous post was to **Archernar**. > > The Array was the Caretaker’s creation, so far as I remember, **Lagomorph**. It was never hinted at that it had other origions. Thanks much. Re: “Darmok”, I remember there was a scene (after they figure the aliens’ language out) where Picard is telling the other Captain some of OUR myths…so they could use those metaphors in the future. But I also always wondered how the aliens told the stories in the first place too. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/59 "2004-02-16T00:42:09Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > How else would you explain him saying the same few phrases over and over then? If the meaning didn’t change, then he might as well been telling Picard he found hairless simians sexually attractive _ad nauseum_. Point me to where your assumption is even hinted at in the episode and I’ll grant it to you. Otherwise, your explanation makes little practical sense. But, hey. I’m always open to new ideas… ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/60 "2004-02-16T00:42:30Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > The metaphors used came from their mythology. I don’t recall any plot point about the idioms changing in regards to circumstances. . Watch it again. At the end, when Picard is back on the bridge using their language. When he says “Darmok and Jilahd, on the ocean” The alien captain says “Picard and (I can’t remember) at Il Adril.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253.md?page=4)