# 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:** 4
**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, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/61 "2004-02-16T00:47:47Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > 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.” Dude, they made new mythology with Picard in order to communicate. It doesn’t invalidate what I already posted about it. And…, my previous explanation comes from _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_. Besides, I’ve seen it about 3 dozen times. It was basically an episode for us anti UT freaks. And a nicely done one at that. ---
**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, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/62 "2004-02-16T00:53:33Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > 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… I’m pulling this out of my ass or to be more polite, being an apologist for the show. It’s been a while since I’ve seen this particular episode and all my posts regarding it are based on my memory of it. I still think that they have to be multi-purpose though. Can you imagine how extensive their mythology would have to be and how many sentence fragments they would need to be able to converse in any meaningful way? ---
**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, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/63 "2004-02-16T00:59:02Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Dude, they made new mythology with Picard in order to communicate. It doesn’t invalidate what I already posted about it. And…, my previous explanation comes from _The Star Trek Encyclopedia_. > > Besides, I’ve seen it about 3 dozen times. > It was basically an episode for us anti UT freaks. And a nicely done one at that. Actually, I misunderstood your earlier post. Re-reading it, I agree with you. The phrases used mean the same thing each time. “Temba, with arms wide” alwats means “Hey, bubbela, ya vant some of what I’ve got?” “The beast at Tanagra” always means “Big scary thing with claws or teeth with the roaring or the growling and the snapping and the hurting and the Glayven!” “Shaka, when the walls fell” always means “XFL, New Coke, DVX” ---
**Author:** ![Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Bambi\_Hassenpfeffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bambi_Hassenpfeffer)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/64 "2004-02-16T01:03:00Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > 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.” Dathon. Picard and Dathon at Il Adril. ---
**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, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/65 "2004-02-16T01:09:26Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > Can you imagine how extensive their mythology would have to be and how many sentence fragments they would need to be able to converse in any meaningful way? Actually, that was our major nit with this episode. A language like that would be impractical for a technologically advanced civilization. A discussion I joined was in one of the fanzines of the time. ---
**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, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/66 "2004-02-16T01:18:41Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > Actually, that was our major nit with this episode. A language like that would be impractical for a technologically advanced civilization. A discussion I joined was in one of the fanzines of the time. Hmm “Is my car working yet?” “Shaka, when the walls fell.” “Have you got a loaner, til it’s fixed?” (Holds out keys)“Temba with arms wide.” “Thanks. What seems to be the problem?” “Okage, his ship adrift.” “Not the wiring again! Jeez, first we lose the pennant and now this! What’s next?” “Mothak’s camp, at sunrise” “I failed the emissions test? What is it with the freaking government?” “Heh. Gedalan, at the castle gate.” “You said it pal!” ---
**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, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/67 "2004-02-16T01:21:29Z")
… 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/68 "2004-02-16T01:49:36Z")
> [@Mr. Blue Sky](#): > > I’m sure that if the writers had thought of that, they would’ve come up with a reason why it wouldn’t work. Except that there was a later episode where in the first 5 minutes, voyager beams a torpedo on board a borg ship, which then explodes after 5 seconds. So they have the capability. ---
**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 16, 2004, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/69 "2004-02-16T01:53:43Z")
> [@HPL](#): > > Except that there was a later episode where in the first 5 minutes, voyager beams a torpedo on board a borg ship, which then explodes after 5 seconds. > > So they have the capability. Oh sure, it’s going to work AFTER they really need it to. This IS the Trek universe after all. 😃 ---
**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, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/70 "2004-02-16T02:00:00Z")
One torpedo? I must have missed that episode. The neutering of the Borg is another reason to hate Voyager. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/71 "2004-02-16T04:33:19Z")
> [@Aesiron](#): > > One torpedo? I must have missed that episode. The neutering of the Borg is another reason to hate Voyager. :mad: Amen to that! The Borg have been turned into such total wimps that they might as well just show them that optical illusion picture and put them out of their misery. I’ll be happy to loan my print of M.C. Escher’s “Ascending and Descending” (the Impossible Stairway picture) for the purpose if need be. Really, tho, has there ever been a stupider weakness? Do you mean to tell me that, out of all of the thousands of intelligent species that the Borg have assimilated, not _one_ ever created optical illusions? ---
**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, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/72 "2004-02-16T05:23:11Z")
> [@Diceman](#): > > Really, tho, has there ever been a stupider weakness? Do you mean to tell me that, out of all of the thousands of intelligent species that the Borg have assimilated, not _one_ ever created optical illusions? It’s not much worse than a computer that locks up if you ask it to calculate pi. 🙂 ---
**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, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/73 "2004-02-16T05:40:48Z")
> [@Achernar](#): > > It’s not much worse than a computer that locks up if you ask it to calculate pi. 🙂 I’m Redjak! Kill! Kill! Everything must die… ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/74 "2004-02-16T18:44:05Z")
Quoth the negative-electrode doctor: > [@](#): > > 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. You can take it a few steps further than that, too. Assume that humans and alien species all have advanced computer technology, and that they all want to be able to communicate with each other (at least enough to say “Prepare to die, scum!”). First, we can suppose that they all have Universal Translators, pre-loaded with as many languages as possible. Even if the translators don’t have each others’ “native” languages programmed in, they might have some third language in common. And even failing that, they’re probably also programmed with a wide variety of symbolic artificial languages, and AI to decipher such languages. And a UT probably also includes a library of picture books, primers, and other samples of literature in its “native” language. So what I’m saying is, on first contact between two hitherto-unknown races, their respective translator computers probably spend a tenth of a second “handshaking” and teaching each other their languages before the organics start talking. ---
**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, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/75 "2004-02-16T19:05:45Z")
With subspace communications being an inherit part of warp technology, **Chronos** ’ little scenario would be easy to implement, too. I say let’s do it! Oh wait, fiction… yeah ---
**Author:** ![elf6c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@elf6c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elf6c)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/76 "2004-02-16T19:34:36Z")
Besides, everyone knows the real answer to all of these questions. Its because they have been making it up as they go along since Voyager started. Named the _Lucas Syndrome_, it manifests itself in glaring plot holes, eye rolling after-the-fact justifications, and a requirement of a really poor memory and a continous suspension of disbelief. Symptoms include Luke tongue kissing his sister, Han Solo’s Kessel Run time, and Archer’s Enterprise meeting the Borg and extensively interacting with the Klingons. Not to be confused with _Spielberg Revisionitis_, which leads to FBI agents threatening E.T. with walkie talkies, and Greedo shooting first. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Gadfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gadfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadfly)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/77 "2004-02-16T20:23:50Z")
My biggest quibble with Voyager: Didn’t the years they shaved off their journey add up to more than it was going to originally take them? Also: Wasn’t there an episode where Q told Janeway that he’d take them home - and she **refused?** I might just be remembering wrong, though. Voyager annoyed me. DS9 was my favorite series, followed immediately by TNG. ---
**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, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/78 "2004-02-16T20:26:00Z")
> [@elf6c](#): > > Besides, everyone knows the real answer to all of these questions. Its because they have been making it up as they go along since Voyager started. I’m shocked, and frankly a little disappointed, that none of you has yet responded with the song— “And I say, Bounce the chronaton particle beam off the main deflector dish, It’s the SS boldly making sh_t up as we wish! The Klingons and the Romulans are no match for us, Cause, when we’re in a bind we just make sh_t up!” Re The Array With all the stuff in engineering and the armory, Voyager’s crew can’t make a good time bomb? Lessee-Multiple anti-tamper circuits, multiple redundant detonators and timers, a subspace field generator that activates when the bomb is armed in order to prevent it being transported. How hard would it have been for the writers to throw in a few seconds worth of information on why this couldn’t be done? In one ep of DS9, aliens wrongly convict O’Brian. The sentence is for a few years worth of memories of prison to be implanted in his brain. As soon as he gets back to the station, Keiko asks doctor Bashir if he can just erase the implanted memories. We’ve seen this done in other episodes, and it’s the obvious solution. Bashir gives some medicotechnobabble on why it can’t be done and we get back to the plot of O’Brian being stuck with these memories. ---
**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, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/79 "2004-02-16T20:27:37Z")
> [@gadfly](#): > > Also: Wasn’t there an episode where Q told Janeway that he’d take them home - and she refused? Yes. I can’t remember the tortorous logic involved though. ---
**Author:** ![FabioClone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5f8ce5/32.png) [@FabioClone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FabioClone)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2004, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253/80 "2004-02-16T20:57:19Z")
Janeway was to be the judge over the suicidal Q. The other Q offers to send Janeway home if she rules that he can’t kill himself. (Yes that’s right. An omnipotent being who can’t kill himself). She rejects his offer and later finds out that the Q continuum is the most boring place in existence. So she allows suicidal Q to off himself (He apparently is completely ungrateful and doesn’t send them home himself). Then I think this decision leads to a Q civil war. If that doesn’t make sense, it’s not my fault. Blame the show. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-cant-voyager-return-home-star-trek/229253.md?page=5)