God of the machine.
T’Pau was a minor character in TOS.
T’Pol is the one on Enterprise.
For instance let’s say we have a story line where a couple crew members from Voyager and on a space station but they’re in disguise and if discovered they would be killed. After 40 minutes of narrow escapes they’re hiding in some containers waiting to be shipped out which are now going through regular inspection. The inspectors are getting closer and closer. Surely the crew members are about to be discovered when a beam breaks in the ceiling and falls on the inspectors killing them and our guys escape to freedom.
The broken beam would be the deus ex machina. Through no actions of any of the characters in the show the climax is delivered.
Or more to the point for Star Trek, someone on the bridge just suddenly says “If we flood the hold with Inverted Gobbletygook Particles then it might just work!” And then they do and it does. We never heard of Inverted Gobbletygook Particles before, we’ll never hear of them again even when they would be useful. It’s just something pulled out of thin air that fixes everything at the last second.
Deus ex machina explained a little more fully:
The term refers to a (then acceptable) plot device of ancient Greek drama in which the plot gets so tangled that none of the characters will be able to resolve it. At this point, one of the gods is flown into the scene by means of a crane, waves a magic wand (lightning bolt, trident, whatever) and makes everything come out the way it is supposed to.
Nowadays, this kind of “magic-solution-at-the-last-moment” writing is seen as sloppy and unacceptable, as you have probably already gathered. Most critical readers and viewers (myself included) feel that a plot that cannot be resolved without resorting to deus ex machina is evidence of bad writing and filmmaking primarily because it is so easy to avoid. There is a long-standing tradition in filmmaking that says “the gun you see in the second reel will go off in the fifth reel.”
Consider the episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation in which perennial Trekker side-thorn Wesley saves the day by use of a reverse tractor beam. Why does that not earn the label of deus ex machina? Because we saw the reverse tractor beam in the first half hour of the show. It was a neat little throw-away special effect lying there in the back of the audience’s mind, just waiting to be utilized for the resolution of the actual plot.
I liked Voyager for the very simple reason that more than half its cast were tolerable or better, something I couldn’t say about TNG or DS9. Sure Harry was pathetic and Neelix never really delivered on any of the comedy relief he was clearly designed for, but the rest were fine by comparison:
Chakotay: Sure he’s passive and quiet, but it took Ryker years to stop being a pretty boy and actually be credible (barely) as an authority figure. Just because Chakotay didn’t do much didn’t mean he had no presence or gravitas in that position from Day 1.
The Doctor: Given that Crusher and Bashir were both absolutely terrible characters, there was nowhere to go but up. Still, he rivals Data in appeal and humor (and unlike Data, he wasn’t overused in too many maudlin ways).
Torres & Paris: Certainly a more believable romance than the myriad of other couplings (and near-couplings). Paris was a little too eager of a pup for a convict and B’Elanna didn’t have as compelling stories as one might’ve hoped given her mixed background, but I liked them together and neither annoyed me, unlike the useless Troi, unconvincing Dax, and tedious Kira.
Tuvok: Holds his own with Spock vulcan-speaking, and that’s saying something. Served as a reliable anchor for the group dynamics and fits in well with the likes of Worf or Odo.
7 of 9: The hottest of all ST women, but never just eye candy. Maybe they gave her too many storylines (and a desparate last-minute romance) but she still contributed more than empty-shell officers like Geordi or O’Brien.
Janeway: Nobody can touch Picard but I certainly liked her better than Sisko. I like Avery Brooks the actor but his character seemed to vacillate between overly-sincere and hyper-constipated, while Janeway mostly got excessively dewy-eyed.
It should be noted that I’m not the degree of fan that dwells on issues of continuity and consistency; as long as I like most of the people involved, I’ll have fun–though even I’ll admit they overplayed the space-time continuum business. And Voyager (especially in the post-Kes years) had a higher percentage of characters that I didn’t find completely irritating or worthless (note I haven’t even mentioned Wesley yet).
Haven’t seen the new show, and don’t watch any of them anymore (in reruns), but I stuck with ST:V longer than the others.
Outrageously nit-picky nit-pick: O’Brien was not an officer.
That’s an easy question.
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Harry Kim :rolleyes:
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Neelix :rolleyes: :mad:
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Excessive time travel (Enterprise is in danger of this).
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On at the same time as the last few seasons of the vastly superior ST:DS9.
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Cherry picking the Next Generation for help.
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Goofy Irish village episodes. Oy.
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The Federation on Prozac style of shows.
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Random Bumpy Latex Super Villans of the Week approach.
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To many Doctor as Data plays.
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Borg Queen. A Queen? WTF happened to the Borg as a collective.
The show wasn’t bad, it just was the worst of the Treks, having to follow in the memory of the superior final few seasons of ST:TNG and ST:DS9.
More nit-picky, and correct.
Yes he was. He was promoted from Chief. I believe on DS9 later in the run. I am sure a avid Trekker will give me a hand on the particular details.
How strange. That’s her voice I imagine for libertarian arguments . . . ducks, runs, changes name and political party . . . .
Some doc please chime in, but I have a friend who’s voice sounds like Janeway’s (but worse) and it’s because he was oxygen-deprived when a baby. Are her vocal chords damaged?
I have liked Star Trek in reruns, and not while it’s running. Better perspective. The lousy acting reflecting current social “fads” is less painful. (E.g., that b**** on DS9 who’s a Bajoran reminding me of a GF from LA. Shudder.)
Voyager, in this respect, leaves me cold. A tiny ship that’s lost in the outer reaches is not having a good time and meeting all sorts of alien creatures. Get off it. It’s sitting confused, lonely and with diminishing supplies. Adding 7 of 9 helped the series, but woman’s lib, much.
Damn smilies-- rot in hell
ST:DS9
I won’t dispute your recollection, but I will suggest that them that should know still list his rank as chief petty officer, which as I understand it, is not commonly considered “officer” rank.
He actually got a job at the acadamy. So i guess he got promoted to “Professor” O’Brien.
Cadet: Prof O’Brien, Cadet S’Patt just beamed his foot to Jupiter again!
Prof O’Brien: Bloody Hell!
Ok maybe I am not getting it- when you all say dues ex machina ending is that like a catch 22? could someone explain that to me?
Alright, let’s use the Voyager finale as the perfect example since that’s what this thread is about.
Future Janeway has come back in time and hands over technology to make Voyager an unstoppable force that can plow through the borg and out the otherside to earth. For some reason that my brain can’t recall they need to send Future Janeway over to the borg because otherwise Voyager won’t be able to get through them. So she’s over there getting assimilated, Voyager is about to be destroyed, and then Future Janeway says something like “Oh, by the way, I’ve been infected with a computer virus that is now completely destroying the borg because you assimilated me.” And Voyager thus gets away while the borg explode. The virus thing literally comes out of nowhere. There was no set up for it, no precedent, it just comes out of the blue to make everything better.
That is a deus ex machina. When the particle-of-the-week stops the space-anomaly-of-the-week, when a character suddenly demonstrates a skill or ability they never had before and never will again in order to save everyone, when engineering manages to fix the problem the ship has been having the whole episode at the very last moment, when the aliens suddenly have a change of heart and take care of things for no good reason, those are deus ex machinas.
I’d like to use an logical but ad hoc point system to reply to: Why was Voyager so bad? (Why people don’t like it will also be covered.)
I’ll compare the 4 modern star trek series since they relate better to each other moreso than any do to the original. Next Generation, DS9, STV, Enterprise
Captains, 1-20 points: Picard 20, Sisko 13, Janeway 4, Archer 10
First officer, 1-15 points: Riker 15, Nerys 13, Chakotgay 4, T’Pol 10
Major Character 1, 1-15 points: Data 15, Quark 13, The Doctor 10, Trip 13
Major character 2, 1-10 points: Worf 10, Worf 10, Tom Paris 4, Flox 7
Major Character 3, 1-10 points: W.Crusher 8, Odo 8, Boobie Borg 3, Hoshi 4
Other characters, 1-30 points: STNG 20, DS9 30, STD(V) 10, STE 15
Plot, Setting, Continuity, Dialogue ect, 1-40 points: STNG 35, DS9 30, STD(V) 10, STE 25
Totals: STNG: 127, DS9: 117, STD(V): 45, STE: 84
So ya that’s my honest appraisal judging each by the same criteria and ya voyager is awful because its composed of awful.
Almost forgot to add in the negatives. STNG: Troi!!! -5, DS9: Beige-Or -5 STE: Travis Maybeabadactor -5, STD(V): Tuvok -5, B’Ellana -5, Harry Kim -5, NEELIX -5000!!!
FYI, this thread is nine years old.
…But Voyager still sucks.
Realized that, but I just finished watching all these series on netflix so I felt compelled to share my judgment of them.
You gave Wesley 8/10. Your argument is invalid.
He left out the “-” in front of the 8, a simple typo, easily made…