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Tv/streaming, collections, great movies, chaz's journal, contributors, now, "voyager": in praise of the trekkiest "trek" of all.

Whatever you say against JJ Abrams’ Star Trek Into Darkness— and I'd say plenty—you can't claim it lacks purpose. Like Abrams' first entry, it seems dedicated to stripping  Trek of its cockeyed optimism, its sense of last-frontier adventurism, and its progressive worldview, and letting the remainder marinate in testosterone and male supremacy politics. So, all the qualities that made  Star Trek special—the deep, silly, starry-eyed, predictable, always-inclusive things that sparked a half-century, trans-global love affair? Gone. In their place: a white man-centered Starfleet command. Random T&A. Plot-poaching from old Treks. The Prime Directive, scrunched. The Enterprise— a starship! —hiding from primitive aliens underwater . 

As we mourn Abrams’ macho Trek obliteration, it’s a good time to revisit Voyager , at once the most Star Trek- ian of accomplishments and the most despised object of fanboy loathing in the franchise's nearly 50-year history. From 1995-2001,   it   offered American audiences something never seen before or since: a series whose lead female characters’ agency and authority  were  the show. It was a rare heavy-hardware science fiction fantasy not built around a strong man, and more audaciously, it didn't seem to trouble itself over how fans would receive this. On  Voyager , female authority was assumed and unquestioned; women conveyed sexual power without shame and anger without guilt. Even more so than Buffy , which debuted two years later, it was the most feminist show in American TV history. 

Voyager  wasn’t some grrl power screed in Starfleet regalia. The ideas and emotions it explored were very much in the  Star Trek  wheelhouse; it just came at them from a fresh--and to some viewers, off-putting--angle. Led by Kathryn Janeway (Obie-Award-winner Kate Mulgrew ), the first female  Trek  captain to carry a series,  Voyager  brought us some of the most convulsively inventive humanist science fiction this side of early  Stephen Moffat-era Doctor Who . 

Set in the 2370s,  Voyager  episodes ping-ponged wonderfully between genres and modes. We got a revolution fought in the safety of dreams (“ Unimatrix Zero ”) and a metaphor-rich engagement with childhood violence and memory (“ The Raven ”). Some episodes spotlighted the kinds of spiritual engagements that frequent  Voyager  scripter Ronald D. Moore would import whole-hog to his post-9/11 remake of  Battlestar Galactica . 

And yet to this day,  Voyager  is often despised in the most grotesque terms, as a  Star Trek  apostate. The loathing isn't as severe as it was when the show went off the air, and  Trek Today  published an ongoing "mock trial" titled “ The Court Martial of Captain Kathryn Janeway ." But while fan consensus seems to have swung around during the last 18 years, albeit with the agility of an aircraft carrier course-correcting,  Voyager  still inspires loathing so deep that whole Youtube channels may be required to feed it. As recently as October 2012, the sci-nerd bellwether site  Den of Geek  asked “ Why do Star Trek  fans Hate Voyager ?” as if the assumption were so widely accepted as to stand unquestioned. The article hit the carotid artery of fanboy animus when it suggested that “the hatred is mostly about those first two words in the title. After all, what is  Star Trek ?” The self-evident answer: not  Voyager .

The show also expected viewers to spend time with an Asian Operations Officer (Garrett Wang), a half-black, half-Vulcan tactical officer (Tim Russ), and a Native American First Officer ( Robert Beltran ) before finally meeting the crew's significant male Caucasians, none of whom fit the traditional Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon/Luke Skywalker/ James Kirk descriptors. One was the hilariously arch medical hologram played by Robert Picardo . The other was helmsman Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill). 

In the context we're exploring here, Paris is particularly fascinating. In theory, he was there carry the flag for straight male heroic signifiers, but there were clues that he was actually there to tweak people's expectation that science fiction adventures had to put a straight white guy at center-stage. The character spent his off-time saving helpless women in his virtual reality simulation of ‘30s SF serials,  Captain Proton --  a sweet spoof of the brand of outer-space swashbuckling that  Roddenberry embraced on the original Star Trek, and that continued, in a more intellectualized way, on  The Next Generation . 

Having devastated the usual gender order of  Trek  product, Bergman, Piller and Taylor then demolished the idea of what their show would do, by putting its characters, and by extension its viewers, in a defensive crouch.

This series wasn't built around officers that could project military force, which is itself essentially masculine, whenever they needed to, and expect to be backed by the full faith and credit of Starfleet, even when they'd done something wrong or stupid. They were isolated, deprived of the usual political-military support network that made all other  Trek  adventures, including  Deep Space Nine , so comforting to fans.

The story began when the USS Voyager was hurled by an energy wave 70,000 light-years, to the butt end of the universe. After that, her mission was simplified: aim Earthwards for a 75-year journey home that the crew was unlikely to survive.

And that was it. No Starfleet hijinks, no strutting around the galaxy, just 150 or so people stuck together for life.  Voyager  often feels less like a continuation of  Trek  as we know it than a challenge in the form of a question: "So you think you know what  Star Trek  is?" The series is an anti-action, existential feminist family drama, shot through with a persistent melancholy that reflects the crew’s desperation.

Yes, it's still  Star Trek , but the sheer unfamiliarity of the crew's predicament was disorienting. This far end of space is haunted by the violence of war. Mass violence carries more weight here, arguably, than in any other incarnation of  Star Trek , and it's no stretch to suggest that the show's tragic attitude toward war comes out of its female-centered perspective.

In a lighter vein, the “Fair Haven” episode threw viewers out of SF entirely and into ‘Ireland’, courtesy of the ship’s virtual reality holodeck. Captain Janeway meets--and modifies to taste--a hot Irish hologram that she utilizes for some carnal R&R. The episode uses its SF tropes to correct assumptions of female guilt and sexual self-pleasure, specifically the idea that it's impossible for a woman to sleep with a man and not become romantically involved.  

Watching Voyager today still a delight, but it's also illuminating in ways that aren’t so delightful. It’s impossible not to feel crestfallen at the systemic de-evolution that we've seen  since. This supposedly great age of TV has give us many fascinating artistic innovations, but its representation of women is problematic at best. If you look at most of many of the high watermarks of the last two decades -- shows such as  The Sopranos ,  The Shield ,  Mad Men ,  Breaking Bad ,  Boardwalk Empire ,  Justified  and  Sons of Anarchy  -- they're all mainly concerned with alpha males struggling to hold onto their privilege during changing times. That's only a "universal" story if you agree that straight white males really are the universe.

In the meantime, the self-determined female leads of  Voyager  -- and  Buffy , and a handful of other unusual genre series -- have been supplanted by strong female characters that aren't really as strong as they seem. As former Salon TV critic Heather Havrilesky noted in her  New York Times  piece, “ TV’s New Wave of Women: Smart, Strong, Borderline Insane ”, even our richest female leads come with a soupçon of instability. "I don’t mean complicated, difficult, thorny or complex," she writes. "I mean that these women are portrayed as volcanoes that could blow at any minute. Worse, the very abilities and skills that make them singular and interesting come coupled with some hideous psychic deficiency." 

And so the title character of  Nurse Jackie  is a pill head.  Homeland 's Carrie Mathison is a bipolar wreck. The reporter Zoe Barnes on  House of Cards  is a semi-sociopath who sleeps with a powerful man twice her age to get scoops. The female characters on  The Newsroom  feel like a man's condescending fantasy of how smart professional women acted thirty years ago, only needier.  The Following  demands that Claire Matthews either beg her serial killer ex-husband not to gut her, or her alcoholic wreck of an ex-lover to save her.

Illness, mental disarray and hormonal imbalance are, of course, the traditional weapons wielded to cut the threat level posted by intelligent, aggressive female heroes.

Flying in the face of that are the women of  Voyager . No matter what psychological damage or tragic history they had to overcome, they always were what they were, not what they suffered from. What  Trek  fans who dislike  Voyager  are feeling might not actually be hate. It may be more like an aggravated fear verging on outright panic that a type of TV heroine that that they thought had been eliminated or marginalized in the years since the series ended won't be forgotten, and could rise again. 

What they're feeling is the terror of potential.

Ian Grey  is a New York writer whose work on visual arts, music, and identity politics have been published by   Press Play , Baltimore City Paper, Lacanian Ink, The Prague Post, The Perfect Sound, Salon,  Gothic.net , Smart Money, Time Out New York, and other forums .  A novel on trauma, sex work and sound is now being shopped . 

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Now, Voyager

1942, Drama, 1h 57m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Now, Voyager is a Hollywood swooner with Bette Davis and Paul Henreid in a melodrama to end all melomers. Read critic reviews

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Now, voyager   photos.

Boston heiress Charlotte Vale (Bette Davis) is a neurotic mess, largely because of her domineering mother (Gladys Cooper). But after a stint in a sanatorium where she receives the attention of Dr. Jasquith (Claude Rains), Charlotte comes out of her shell and elects to go on a cruise. Aboard ship she meets Jerry (Paul Henreid) and falls in love, despite his being married. They enjoy a brief tryst in Rio before returning to the States, where Charlotte struggles to forget him and find happiness.

Genre: Drama

Original Language: English

Director: Irving Rapper

Producer: Hal B. Wallis

Writer: Olive Higgins Prouty , Casey Robinson

Release Date (Theaters): Oct 22, 1942  limited

Release Date (Streaming): Sep 1, 2009

Runtime: 1h 57m

Production Co: Warner Brothers

Sound Mix: Mono

Aspect Ratio: 35mm

Cast & Crew

Bette Davis

Charlotte Vale

Claude Rains

Dr. Jaquith

Paul Henreid

Jerry Durrance

Gladys Cooper

Mrs. Henry Windle Vale

Bonita Granville

Elliot Livingston

Lee Patrick

Deb McIntyre

Mary Wickes

Nurse Dora Pickford

Janis Wilson

Tina Durrance (uncredited)

Irving Rapper

Olive Higgins Prouty

Casey Robinson

Screenwriter

Hal B. Wallis

Max Steiner

Original Music

Cinematographer

Film Editing

Robert M. Haas

Art Director

Fred M. MacLean

Set Decoration

Costume Design

Perc Westmore

Makeup Artist

Edward A. Blatt

Dialogue Editor

Robert B. Lee

Willard Van Enger

Special Effects

Audrey Scott

Leo F. Forbstein

Musical Director

News & Interviews for Now, Voyager

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Sherlock Season 4, Master of None Season 2, Enemy of the State , and More on Netflix This Week

Critic Reviews for Now, Voyager

Audience reviews for now, voyager.

I've avoid seeing this film for years. But, I'm glad I finally got to screen it. Bette Davis is super in this role. There's a depth to her performance that lovers of acting will surely appreciate.

Davis gives a remarkable performance both big and filled with subtle nuances. The over-quoted ending scene feels a bit silly but most of what comes before is a convincing narrative about becoming the best version of oneself even if that means alienating others.

This film tugs on a few different heartstrings, with themes of a domineering mother, being an awkward, depressed young person, finding a deep connection and love with someone who can't be yours, and then personally evolving to the point of being able to transcend all of that, and finding one's path. It's really quite a touching film, and Bette Davis turns in another brilliant performance. The supporting cast around her is strong as well, and features Gladys Cooper (her mother), Paul Henreid (her lover), Claude Rains (her wise doctor). And, how fascinating is it that both Henreid and Rains began filming Casalanca immediately afterwards; clearly a great year for them. The film scores points for me for having its title come from a Walt Whitman line in 'Leaves of Grass': "The untold want by life and land ne'er granted; Now, Voyager sail thou forth, to seek and find," which is appropriate. The film speaks to being honest with oneself, to one's identity, as well as to the person you love, even if it's complicated. I loved the little touches of the inner voice that director Irving Rapper employs, which helps underscore this. It's heartwarming to see how those in love make each other better people. She begins to bloom, and radiate confidence after receiving simple acts of kindness and appreciation. He returns to his passion, architecture, and is more empathetic and understanding of his troubled daughter. The scene where they meet by chance again at a party, and have a conversation interlaced with whispered remarks of tenderness (such as her saying to him she could "cry with pride" over him following his dream) is lovely. At the same time, she's not defined by him, or dependent on him. In fact, the movie is a celebration of independence, and shows how it can be done gracefully and with class. Her strength come through in so many ways: in standing up to her mother, determining her path with another suitor, asserting herself with her old doctor, and ultimately deciding the terms she'll have her relationship with Henreid on. While she admits that "I've just been a big sentimental fool. It's a tendency I have," she also calmly says "Please let me go" when a big romantic moment threatens to sweep her away. The story about his child was touching, as we see Davis help her, as she was once helped, but I thought this part dragged on too long, and needed tightening up. It felt overly melodramatic and false; for one thing, where was the mother? There was a much earlier scene with a Brazilian taxi driver that got silly, and should have been left on the cutting room floor as well. On the other hand, I loved those last lines. He asks her, "And will you be happy, Charlotte?" And she responds "Oh Jerry, don't let's ask for the moon. We have the stars." How brilliant that line is; there is something larger than ourselves, larger than what others consider happiness.

The transformation of Bette Davis is a treat to watch. I have yet to find a film of hers in which I have been terribly disappointed.

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• Danny Peary Cult Movies List
• Films of the 1940s
• The Forties

Now Voyager

• View history

Oscar-winning 1942 film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains. A romantic weepie, Now, Voyager is probably a perfect example of the 'woman's film' of the 40s.

Bette Davis plays Charlotte Vale, a repressed Boston spinster whose tyrannical mother has driven her to the edge of nervous breakdown. Lisa, Charlotte's well-intentioned sister-in-law, feels something must be done. Enter the renowned Dr Jaquith (Rains), who takes her to his sanitarium to begin her transformation. Part of her healing involves a South American cruise, where she meets the charming Jerry...

This classic Hollywood melodrama was well-received at the time, and is seen as one of Davis' definitive films. The scene where Jerry lights two cigarettes and hands one to Charlotte became famous as a subtle way of implying an intimate relationship. The three stars reunited later for Deception .

Tropes: [ ]

• Abusive Parents : Both Tina and Charlotte's respective mothers fit this role. This helps Charlotte understand and help Tina.
• Butt Monkey : Charlotte's status at the beginning of the film. Her niece's teasing leads to this outburst:
• Disposable Fiance
• Driven to Madness : Charlotte is here when the film begins. Her mother might not have done this deliberately, but as Dr Jaquith tells her
• The Glasses Gotta Go : Dr Jaquith takes Charlotte's glasses off her nose and snaps them in two.
• Grand Staircase Entrance : Played with once, played straight the second time.
• The Makeover : Charlotte is first introduced to us feet-first, walking down the stairs. The camera pans up. We see sensible shoes, fat ankles, thick tights and a dowdy dress. After her makeover, she is re-introduced to us in the same way. This time, we see fashionable high-heels, trim ankles, stockings, and a tailored suit. It is played with a little, though, as Charlotte is still shown to be mentally fragile under her sophisticated new look.
• The Mistress : Played with.
• My Beloved Smother : A particularly malign example.
• Parental Substitute : Charlotte takes on this role. It fulfils a lot of psychological needs for all parties concerned.
• Pretty in Mink : Charlotte has a mink coat.
• She Cleans Up Nicely : Charlotte after she gets rid of the frumpy look.
• Staircase Tumble : The malevolent Mrs Vale pulls a tumble deliberately to guilt Charlotte.
• There Is Only One Bed : Jerry and Charlotte end up in a variation of this situation in Rio.
• The Shrink : Dr Jaquith
• Train Station Goodbye
• Troubled Child : Tina.
• 1 Low Tide in Twilight/Characters
• 2 Sailor Moon and The Seven Ballz
• 3 Metamorphosis (manga)

• Show Spoilers
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Category : Now, Voyager

Pages in category "now, voyager".

The following 2 pages are in this category, out of 2 total.

• Now, Voyager
• Now, Voyager/YMMV

Media in category "Now, Voyager"

This category contains only the following file.

• Index Index
• Toggle limited content width

• Danny Peary Cult Movies List
• Films of the 1940s
• The Forties

Now Voyager

• View history

Oscar-winning 1942 film starring Bette Davis, Paul Henreid, and Claude Rains. A romantic weepie, Now, Voyager is probably a perfect example of the 'woman's film' of the 40s.

Bette Davis plays Charlotte Vale, a repressed Boston spinster whose tyrannical mother has driven her to the edge of nervous breakdown. Lisa, Charlotte's well-intentioned sister-in-law, feels something must be done. Enter the renowned Dr Jaquith (Rains), who takes her to his sanitarium to begin her transformation. Part of her healing involves a South American cruise, where she meets the charming Jerry...

This classic Hollywood melodrama was well-received at the time, and is seen as one of Davis' definitive films. The scene where Jerry lights two cigarettes and hands one to Charlotte became famous as a subtle way of implying an intimate relationship. The three stars reunited later for Deception .

Tropes: [ ]

• Abusive Parents : Both Tina and Charlotte's respective mothers fit this role. This helps Charlotte understand and help Tina.
• Butt Monkey : Charlotte's status at the beginning of the film. Her niece's teasing leads to this outburst:
• Disposable Fiance
• Driven to Madness : Charlotte is here when the film begins. Her mother might not have done this deliberately, but as Dr Jaquith tells her
• The Glasses Gotta Go : Dr Jaquith takes Charlotte's glasses off her nose and snaps them in two.
• Grand Staircase Entrance : Played with once, played straight the second time.
• The Makeover : Charlotte is first introduced to us feet-first, walking down the stairs. The camera pans up. We see sensible shoes, fat ankles, thick tights and a dowdy dress. After her makeover, she is re-introduced to us in the same way. This time, we see fashionable high-heels, trim ankles, stockings, and a tailored suit. It is played with a little, though, as Charlotte is still shown to be mentally fragile under her sophisticated new look.
• The Mistress : Played with.
• My Beloved Smother : A particularly malign example.
• Parental Substitute : Charlotte takes on this role. It fulfils a lot of psychological needs for all parties concerned.
• Pretty in Mink : Charlotte has a mink coat.
• She Cleans Up Nicely : Charlotte after she gets rid of the frumpy look.
• Staircase Tumble : The malevolent Mrs Vale pulls a tumble deliberately to guilt Charlotte.
• There Is Only One Bed : Jerry and Charlotte end up in a variation of this situation in Rio.
• The Shrink : Dr Jaquith
• Train Station Goodbye
• Troubled Child : Tina.
• 1 Metamorphosis (manga)
• 2 Arcadia: The Golden Era/Characters
• 3 Complete Monster

• Movie quotes
• Now, Voyager

“Now, Voyager” quotes

“Don't ask for the moon. We have the stars.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“Dr. Jaquith says that tyranny is sometimes expression of the maternal instinct. If that's a mother's love, I want no part of it.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“I didn't want to be born. You didn't want me to be born. It's been a calamity on both sides.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“- Charlotte Vale: So many, many thanks to you. - Jerry Durrance: For what? - Charlotte Vale: For walking my legs off sight-seeing, and for lunch and for shopping and for a few moments today when I actually felt alive.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale Paul Henreid - Jerry Durrance

“You're behaving like a romantic girl of eighteen.” Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Henry Vale

“I want to believe that there's a chance for such happiness to be carried on somehow somewhere.” Paul Henreid - Jerry Durrance

“- Dr. Jaquith: I thought you came up here to have a nervous breakdown . - Charlotte Vale: I've decided not to have one, if it's all the same to you.” Claude Rains - Dr. Jaquith Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“Having fun together, getting a kick out of simple little things, out of beauty like this. Sharing confidences we wouldn't share with anybody else in all the world. Won't you be honest and tell me if you are happy too? Since the night on the boat when you told me about your illness, I can't get you out of my mind - or out of my heart either.” Paul Henreid - Jerry Durrance

“If I were free, there would be only one thing I'd want to do - prove you're not immune to happiness.” Paul Henreid - Jerry Durrance

“- Dr. Jaquith: If you had deliberately and maliciously planned to destroy your daughter's life, you couldn't have done it more completely. - Mrs. Henry Vale: How? By having exercised a mother's rights? - Dr. Jaquith: A child has rights, a person has rights, to discover her own mistakes , to make her own way, to grow and blossom in her own...” (continue) (continue reading) Claude Rains - Dr. Jaquith Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Henry Vale

“I'm my mother's well-loved daughter. I'm her companion . I am my mother's servant.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“- Charlotte Vale: How does it feel to be the Lord? - Dr. Jaquith: Not so very wonderful, since the Free Will Bill was passed. Too little power .” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale Claude Rains - Dr. Jaquith

“I've been living my own life, making my own decisions for a long while now. It's impossible to go back to being treated like a child again. I don't think I'll do anything of importance that will displease you, but Mother, from now on, you must give me complete freedom.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“Some women just aren't the marrying kind.” Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“When she was young, foolish , I made decisions for her, always the right decisions. One would think a child would wish to repay her mother's love and kindness.” Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Henry Vale

“- Jerry Durrance: Are you afraid of getting burnt if you get too close to happiness? - Charlotte Vale: No. I'm immune to happiness and therefore to burns.” Paul Henreid - Jerry Durrance Bette Davis - Charlotte Vale

“I don't put much faith in scientific terms. I leave that to the fakers and the writers of books.” Claude Rains - Dr. Jaquith

“You've never done anything to make your mother proud , or to make yourself proud either.” Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Henry Vale

- Mrs. Henry Vale: The very word "psychiatry", doesn't it fill you with shame, my daughter, a member of our family? - Dr. Jaquith: There's nothing shameful or frightening about it. It's simple, what I do. People come to a fork in the road . They don't know which way to go. I put up a signpost: "Not that way. This way". Gladys Cooper - Mrs. Henry Vale Claude Rains - Dr. Jaquith

• falling in love
• companionship
• determination
• nervousness

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Now, Voyager (1942)

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Screen Rant

How new star trek shows avoid a classic voyager trope.

While Star Trek: Voyager relied heavily on the "reset button" for storytelling, the new Star Trek shows have opted against using the trope altogether.

Unlike series such as Star Trek: Voyager , the newer iterations of the franchise, like Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard , have decided not to use a trope that classic Star Trek  was famous for. "Classic" Star Trek is usually thought of as the five Star Trek series that aired from 1966 to 2005, beginning with Star Trek: The Original Series and ending with Star Trek: Enterprise . As part of their storytelling, all five series relied heavily on a trope that fans like to call the "reset button".

The reset button is the idea that the events that happen during an episode of television will be completely reset by the end, no matter how drastic. This creates what is called episodic television where each episode is a contained story that has no bearing on the other episodes in the series. The opposite of episodic is serialized television, where storylines carry over throughout the season or even the whole series and the audience needs to watch every episode to be able to follow along. The reset button was trendy on television during the 1960s all the way up through the 1990s, the time period in which most of classic Star Trek aired. This was because if viewers missed an episode of a series, it was virtually impossible to catch up before the next episode aired.

Related: Discovery Hit The Reset Button On A Major Star Trek Trope

As such, all of classic Star Trek employed the reset button in accordance with the times. The Original Series and Star Trek: The Next Generation  were particularly guilty of using the trope in its most basic form, and while Star Trek: Voyager was slightly more serialized than the previous series', the show found new and more creative ways to employ the reset button in its storylines. By virtue of the time period in which they are airing though, the new Star Trek shows have avoided the reset button altogether, instead opting for a completely serialized approach to their storytelling.

Star Trek's Reset Button Explained

As previously stated, the reset button was a trope many shows during the latter half of the 20th century employed to make sure that audiences who tuned into a show would not be confused by ongoing storylines if they had not regularly been watching the show. This would usually mean that one episode would be a contained story, with a plot that was resolved entirely by the end of the episode. With the advent of the internet and the gradual migration of many shows to streaming services, the trope is being slowly fazed out of television. This is especially true with shows that air exclusively on streaming services, but it is even true for network television shows as well, since episodes are often available on a streaming service the day after they air.

Because the majority of classic Star Trek aired during the period that the reset button was so popular, almost all the shows use it quite often. The Original Series  employed the reset button in its most pure form, with every episode a single storyline that was resolved by the end and then never referenced again. The Next Generation  moved away from the trope slightly, containing a number of two-part episodes and even some storylines that carried over from episode to episode. For the most part, though, The Next Generation still operated under the principle of the reset button. Subsequent Star Trek shows, like Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Star Trek: Voyager , and Star Trek: Enterprise continued to move away from the trope and incorporate more serialized elements into their storytelling, but  Star Trek: Voyager is remembered as one of the shows that used the reset button in some of the most creative ways.

How Voyager Used The Reset Button

Star Trek: Voyager  aired from the mid-1990s to the early 2000s, at a time when storytelling on television was undergoing a change. Many shows of the time period straddled the line between episodic and serialized, incorporating elements of both into their plotlines. While the internet was in its infancy and streaming was years away from blowing up, shows were becoming easier to rewatch with things like DVD releases and the invention of DVR. As such, while some shows still followed an obsessively episodic format, it was more common to see serialized plotlines as well.

Related:  Star Trek: Voyager Series Ending Explained - How The Crew Gets Home

Voyager was no exception, constantly walking the line between episodic and serialized during its seven seasons. The premise of the show was that the crew was stranded in the Delta Quadrant and attempting to find a way back to the Federation, a conceit that the audience would need to be aware of for episodes to make sense. Voyager also contained a number of plotlines that spanned multiple episodes but found ways to tie itself back to its  Star Trek roots and employ the reset button where possible. This would often be done through the use of time travel, in such episodes as "Timeless", "Year of Hell", and even the series finale, "Endgame" .

Additionally, the season 2 episode "Deadlock" and season 5 episode "Course: Oblivion" are a couple of the best examples of a more creative use of the reset button in Voyager . Both episodes involve a duplicate version of Voyager's crew, and both episodes deal with catastrophic events happening to the duplicates while the real Voyager crew remains untouched, and in the case of "Course: Oblivion" even unaware of what is happening to their counterparts. These creative uses of the reset button allowed Star Trek: Voyager to play around with the trope while still transitioning towards a more serialized format.

How New Star Trek Avoids Using The Reset Button

After Star Trek: Enterprise ended in 2005 , there was a period of 12 years before another Star Trek series came out. The franchise continued during that period with a few new movies, but Star Trek: Discovery was the first Star Trek  television series on the air since Enterprise when it premiered in 2017. Discovery was followed quickly by Star Trek: Picard and more recently by Star Trek: Lower Decks , creating a second renaissance of new  Star Trek shows. With the exception of Lower Decks , which still could be said to straddle the line between episodic and serialized, the new Star Trek series' seem to have largely done away with the idea of the reset button as part of their storytelling.

This is not to say that the idea of the reset button is off the table entirely for either Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard . Discovery has used time travel as a form of reset more than once, most notably at the end of the second season. Likewise, Jean-Luc Picard's miraculous reanimation in an android body in   Picard's season 1 finale is a text-book reset button scenario, altering drastic events so that the characters can continue to function as they were. Despite instances of the reset button in both shows, however, the overall format of the majority of new Star Trek is extremely serialized. It would be almost impossible to watch an episode of Discovery or Picard out of order because each episode builds on the one before it, creating an overarching plotline for the season and even the whole series instead of contained plots from episode to episode. In this way, new Star Trek has left the reset button behind in a way that old  Star Trek  never really did.

Star Trek 's continued phasing out of the reset button has a lot to do with the time period in which the new shows are airing. Audiences today expect serialized content from the shows that they watch, and even though the occasional anthology show is popular, episodic television has become largely a thing of the past. By avoiding the reset button, new Star Trek has also avoided some of Star Trek: Voyager 's mistakes and has been more engaging to watch as a result.

More: Star Trek Discovery Season 3's Many Voyager Parallels Explained

Blink of an Eye (episode)

• View history

Over time and generations, a world tries to uncover the mystery of a strange object in the sky.

• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Continuity and trivia
• 3.2 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Guest star
• 4.4 Co-stars
• 4.5 Uncredited co-stars
• 4.6 Stand-ins
• 4.7 References
• 4.8 External links

Summary [ ]

The new star

The USS Voyager approaches a planet rotating 58 times per minute and, while investigating, the ship enters a gravimetric gradient pulling it into a geosynchronous orbit in which the crew becomes trapped. On the planet, a native is then seen preparing an altar. Just then, an earthquake occurs, and the native sees a new star in the sky, which is Voyager .

Act One [ ]

The civilization, who had been worshiping a deity called Tahal , is confused at the situation. Another of the natives comes to interpret that there is a new deity wishing to be worshiped, orders a new altar to be made for it, and promises allegiance to the new one, calling it Ground Shaker .

The tachyon core of the planet has created a differential in space - time , meaning that time passes much more quickly on the planet than in the rest of space. Within "moments" of Voyager 's arrival and entrapment many years have passed on the surface. The initial entry into orbit coincides with an earthquake interpreted by the inhabitants as an act of a new deity, the Voyager ship appearing as a new bright star in the sky. Chakotay asks B'Elanna Torres to reconfigure a class 5 probe to take pictures every ten milliseconds, and to take surveys of the planet to help try to get Voyager out of orbit. Chakotay goes on to say that this could be the best anthropological find ever; it is one thing to dig and find the history, but to watch the civilization develop before your eyes is another thing entirely. After Torres tells Chakotay that it could take a few hours to reconfigure the probe, he says that they might miss the rise and fall of a civilization. Torres reassures him that they'll just have to watch the next one.

Star of the day

As time passes, the planet's inhabitants quickly change to a pre-medieval level of technology . An old teacher climbs a hill to one of his former students who is now a protector . He believes the star is from another civilization like theirs, and the Ground Shaker their protector, like himself. He intends to send a letter via hot air balloon, and has the teacher write a note for him, asking him to stop shaking the ground.

Act Two [ ]

Torres and Chakotay are fascinated as they observe scans from the probe indicating that the civilization has entered an industrial age, creating roads and more fortified buildings than normal for a civilization in that stage. Furthermore, they can tell the frequency of the earthquakes. The probe, however, soon decays and disintegrates in the atmosphere, as it's operating in the space-time of the planet, equivalent to over 200 years. Chakotay surmises that the civilization is advanced enough that it should be observing Voyager .

On the planet, an astronomical observatory exists. A scientist there is able to observe Voyager through its telescope and is trying to contact it through radio transmissions, however, it is not responding, to both him and his tired assistant's dismay. They are trying one last time before calling it a day when the assistant suggests a personal message in addition to mathematical sequences and constants.

In astrometrics , Seven of Nine detects the transmission and Chakotay recognizes they need to slow down the frequency to interpret it. In the message, the astronomer explains the culture and mythology of the planet's people. In a senior staff briefing, the crew listens to the message. For centuries the society lives with the constant ground-shaking effect brought about by Voyager and its effects on the natural poles and rotation of the planet. Cautious about first contact with a pre-warp society and aware of the accelerated aging causing by the time differential, Captain Janeway employs The Doctor to beam to the planet on an undercover mission to gather data in an effort to find a way for Voyager to escape orbit. As Janeway and Torres prepare to beam him back, the signal is lost.

Act Three [ ]

Voyager 's attempt to break orbit fails

By the time The Doctor is successfully located and beamed back on board, three years have passed on the planet. Overjoyed to see them, he explains that Voyager has been a catalyst for invention and that a space race is in progress to make contact. Voyager is also used as a catalyst for religion, music, art, and even children's toys. He tells the captain that his roommate , with whom he shared an apartment, even composed an aria about Voyager . He said the apartment was destroyed by a rival state's cannon shells when they started a war with the one he was in. The Doctor goes on to explain that the war was finished in "a matter of weeks" when a new treaty was signed.

The planet's space race reaches its climax

He also informs Janeway that he has committed to memory the last three hundred years of meteorological records and some seismic analysis from the planet. Using The Doctor's data, the crew attempts an escape, but after only fifty meters of ascent, seismic activity increases and the exercise is aborted. In the meantime, a space capsule from the planet's surface reaches Voyager and its two-person crew find the crew in what appears to be some form of stasis ; the time differential causes them to observe only microseconds passing on board the ship while they experience several minutes. When they reach the bridge , they witness Neelix in the middle of pouring Janeway some coffee and realize it is not stasis they are witnessing, but a time differential. Right after, they enter Voyager 's time-frame and collapse, to the surprise of the bridge crew . Janeway immediately calls for medical emergency.

Act Four [ ]

In sickbay , The Doctor was able to save the pilot, Gotana-Retz , while the commander, Terrina , does not survive the transition. The Doctor notes that, given his extensive knowledge of local physiology, he is as good as Retz' family doctor. Retz is revived in sickbay in the company of Janeway and The Doctor. After hearing the news of his fallen comrade, he informs Janeway that he is beginning to understand the time differential between his world and Voyager. Janeway explains the difference in time to Retz in greater detail, to which he asks, " So you really haven't been watching us for centuries? " Captain Janeway replies " Actually, we just got here. And we're hoping you can help us find a way to leave. "

Later, Gotana-Retz meets with Janeway in her ready room . Retz realizes that everyone he knew when he left his planet is long dead. He tells the Captain that although he is an accomplished pilot, he lacks the courage of his associates and they made a mistake choosing him. Janeway disagrees, telling Retz that for someone whose life has been turned upside down, he is handling it well. Retz reminisces and tells Janeway that when he was a child lying in his crib, his first memory was not of his mother 's face, but of the sky ship toy hanging above, and now he is the only one of his kind to know its true name: Voyager . It is obvious that he, much like the rest of his species, has always fantasized about what the sky ship is really like. Retz then wonders if Voyager will be the last thing he will ever see. The captain informs him that she has no intention of keeping him aboard against his will, but warns that the longer he stays, the harder it could become for him to return home.

A troubling development on the planet: antimatter tests

Retz takes a moment to think about this and begins to sing in nostalgic reflection, " Star of the night, star of the day, come to take my tears away. Make my life always bright. " As he trails off, he tells Janeway that it's a child's prayer to Voyager . The captain hopes that Retz is not too disappointed in discovering that Voyager is merely a starship. Retz replies, " How often does your very first dream come true? " And although every minute spent aboard means that months and even years pass on the surface, he agrees to help the crew interpret The Doctor's data and find a way to break orbit.

Voyager under attack

As Seven scans the surface she detects warp experimentation. Soon after, Voyager is being attacked by antimatter torpedoes and a tricobalt device .

Act Five [ ]

Voyager is towed out of orbit

The weapons are soon causing major damage to Voyager 's shields , so Janeway convinces Retz to go back to the planet to convince his people the ship is not a threat. He agrees, and returns to his planet with Voyager 's specifications, with Janeway hoping he can convince his planet's rulers to stop the attacks and help them leave orbit. Before the pilot leaves, The Doctor tells him that, when he was living on the planet, he had a son who was probably long dead by this point. He asks the pilot to contact the members of his son's family to tell them about him. The pilot asks how The Doctor could have a son, as he is a hologram, The Doctor just answers " it's a long story. "

Gotana-Retz returns to Voyager

" I feel like I'm saying goodbye to an old friend. "

After more attacks and a planet's year since the pilot returned, two ships appear next to Voyager and deploy a tractor beam to pull it clear. Using a temporal compensator invented on his planet, Gotana-Retz returns one last time to say goodbye before the sky ship leaves forever.

The Sky Ship flies away

Finally, Gotana-Retz, now an old man, sits on a hillside and gazes wistfully into the sky as the star that is Voyager winks out and vanishes. The hillside now overlooks a vast technological metropolis.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" How does this sound? 'The Weird Planet Where Time Moved Very Fast and So Did the People Who Lived There,' by Naomi Wildman… " " Your title is verbose. I suggest you try to condense it. " " The Weird Planet " " Better, but it lacks precision. 'The Weird Planet Displaced in Time' " " Perfect! "

" That's one planet that never showed up on the multiple choice exam. "

" If there's an intelligent species down there, we'll be able to track their development, not just for days or weeks, but for centuries. "

" We might miss the rise and fall of a civilization. " " So, we'll watch the next one. "

" What should I say? " " Oh…glad to meet you. Where are you from? Please stop shaking our planet. "

" What if they're big purple blobs of protoplasm? " " Then you'll be the best-looking blob on the planet. "

" Captain, isn't it time we returned fire? " " We've done enough damage to these people over the last thousand years. "

" You're the best pilot we have, that's why you're on this mission. This is no different than flying your favorite… " " Oh, it's different! " " I can't argue with that. "

" Jason? An unusual name. " " Yes. He was my… son. " " But you're a hologram. " " lt's a long story. "

" If you've ever wanted to report more than the weather, now is your chance. Tell them to clear Central Lake of all traffic: Orbital 1 is coming in for a landing. "

Background information [ ]

• Obi Ndefo previously played Drex , Martok 's son, in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season four premiere " The Way of the Warrior ".
• In the observatory on Kelemane's planet , the hole in which the large telescope is encased in is a reuse of the framework of the Cardassian circular airlock hatch from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . One of the hatches later reappears in VOY : " Tsunkatse ", on Penk's starship , and later in the seventh season episode " Friendship One ", in the Otrin's species cave settlement.
• The book Star Trek 101 (p. 177), by Terry J. Erdmann and Paula M. Block , lists this episode as one of the "Ten Essential Episodes" from Star Trek: Voyager .
• This episode is notably similar to the novel Dragon's Egg , by Robert L. Forward. The novel also involves a Human space ship observing the extremely rapid evolution of a society on a star about which the ship orbits.
• This is the last episode of Star Trek directed by Gabrielle Beaumont.

Continuity and trivia [ ]

• One day on the planet is slightly more than one second long (1.03 seconds) in normal time, so three years on the planet would only be 18.9 minutes in normal time. This would mean that a hundred years on the planet would pass every 10.45 hours. Since Voyager seems to have been in orbit for centuries of planetary time it is likely that the episode takes place over a few days of time for the crew.
• This episode contains a scene in which a member of an alien species writes in English using a pen and ink. This is unusual considering most alien writing depicted in Star Trek is made up of alien-looking characters.
• Although Tuvok describes the planet as having a high rate of rotation "like a quasar ", this property more accurately describes a pulsar .
• Star Trek: The Original Series had an episode entitled " Wink of an Eye " where Scalosians , moving too fast to be seen or heard (other than a faint buzzing sound), board the USS Enterprise and abduct Captain James T. Kirk . However their accelerated life wasn't natural, it was caused by radiation sickness which led to the change of their biochemistry. Accelerated life was natural for Kelemane's species, caused by the nature of their homeworld.

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 6.6, 14 August 2000
• As part of the VOY Season 6 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Guest star [ ]

• Daniel Dae Kim as Gotana-Retz

Co-stars [ ]

• Obi Ndefo as Protector
• Daniel Zacapa as an Astronomer
• Olaf Pooley as a Cleric
• Jon Cellini as a Technician
• Kat Sawyer-Young as Astronaut
• Melik Malkasian as a Shaman
• Walter Hamilton McCready as a Tribal Alien
• Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman

Uncredited co-stars [ ]

• David Keith Anderson as Ashmore
• Michael Bailous as Voyager operations officer
• Richard Bishop as Voyager operations officer
• Christine Delgado as Susan Nicoletti
• Tarik Ergin as Ayala
• Tina Kotrich as Voyager operations officer
• Noriko Suzuki as Voyager operations officer
• Kelemane's balloonists
• Kelemane's weather coordinator (voice)
• Voyager operations officer

Stand-ins [ ]

• Brita Nowak – stand-in for Jeri Ryan

References [ ]

acceleration ; almanac ; altar ; ammonium ; amplitude modulation ; anthropology ; antimatter torpedo ; aria ; astronomy ; Astronomer's grandfather ; athlete ; Belief system ; cannon ; carbon monoxide ; career ; carrier wave ; Central Lake ; Central Protectorate ; class V planetary probe ; coastline ; concert hall ; confinement beam ; crib ; Darek ; decayed orbit ; disorientation ; docking port ; doppler component ; display buffer ; dwarf star ; elemental constant ; epidermal ; exile ; family doctor ; fire-fruit ; frequency ; god ; Gotana-Retz' mother ; gravimetric gradient ; " Ground Shaker "; hemisphere ; high orbit ; holomatrix ; hot air balloon ; internal combustion ; iron ; Jefferies tube ; Kelemane ; Kelemane's planet ; Kelemane's species ; Kelemane's species' sport ; kilometer ; Klingon ; lake ; Lakeside ; Launch Control/Tactical Command Center ; logic ; low orbit ; lyric ; Mareeza ; mathematical constant ; medical journal ; meter ; Milky Way Galaxy ; Mountain ; multiple-choice exam ; mythology ; numerical sequence ; observatory ; opera house ; orbit ; Orbital 1 ; palace ; pat on the back ; playoff ; pre-warp society ; Prime Directive ; prime number ; Protector ; protoplasm ; purple ; space capsule ; quasar ; radio transmission ; Red River ; religion ; rendezvous range ; roommate ; season ; season (sports); scanning range ; shell ; shooting star ; " Sky Ship "; Sky Ship Friends ; state ; Station 004 ; surface ; synchronous orbit ; Tabreez, Jason ; tachyon ; Tactical Air Command ; Tahal ; technology ; telescope ; temporal compensator ; temporal field ; time frame ; Torelius ; tricobalt device ; ultra-high frequency ; warp-capable civilization ; weather ; weather coordinator ; Weird Planet Displaced in Time, The

External links [ ]

• "Blink of an Eye" at StarTrek.com
• " Blink of an Eye " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Blink of an Eye " at Wikipedia
• 3 Ancient humanoid

Giant Freakin Robot

Star Trek's Best Writer Predicted Voyager's Biggest Weakness

Posted: April 11, 2024 | Last updated: April 11, 2024

Star Trek’s Best Writer Predicted Voyager’s Biggest Weakness

Star Trek: Voyager has a legion of fans, but the show has also had some very fierce criticisms over the past decades. Perhaps the most common criticism is that the show overused the Borg, giving us so many run-ins with these cybernetic villains that they no longer seemed like a nearly unstoppable threat. Ironically enough, one of the best Star Trek writers, future Battlestar Galactica showrunner Ronald D. Moore, predicted this problem while writing on The Next Generation episode “I, Borg,” years before Voyager was created.

The Borg Were a Major Threat

The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “I, Borg” was the first episode to bring these bad guys back since the explosive two-part episode “The Best of Both Worlds.” In those episodes, we saw how the Borg easily obliterated 39 Starfleet vessels at the Battle of Wolf 359, and the only reason the Enterprise was able to stop the Borg Cube before it could attack Earth was by hacking into their Collective through the assimilated Captain Picard. The show’s writers knew they wanted to bring these fan-favorite foes back, but they had to find a way to explain how the Enterprise could survive another encounter.

Hugh Develeoped A Personality Once He Wasn’t Terminally Online

Eventually, the Star Trek writers came up with a clever answer: instead of “I, Borg,” having the ship and crew fighting an entire Borg vessel, they must figure out what to do once they rescue the lone survivor of a crashed Borg ship. That survivor is Hugh, a Borg who develops his own personality once he is separated from the Collective. Captain Picard must then face the moral dilemma of whether to send Hugh back to the Borg with a virus that could wipe out the entire Collective or allow him to seek asylum, something which might put the Enterprise in perpetual danger.

Stop Stopping Unstoppable Villains

That Star Trek episode ends on a bitter note, with Hugh (who appears in a later TNG two-parter as well as the first season of Picard) choosing to return to the Collective to protect the Enterprise and his new bestie, Geordi LaForge. Though he didn’t write this ep, veteran Star Trek writer Ronald D. Moore praised the story as “a real good way to bring the Borg back” instead of having another fight because “we keep saying they’re unstoppable and if we keep stopping them it undercuts how unstoppable they truly are.”

Somehow The Borg Returned

For the most part, Star Trek: The Next Generation stuck closely to Moore’s thoughts about the Borg. The Enterprise crew never fought against the proper Collective again in the series, with their last TNG appearance having our protagonists fighting a splinter group of Borg who were weakened by Hugh’s individuality before being discovered and weaponized by Data’s evil brother Lore. The Enterprise was able to defeat a Borg Cube in First Contact, but only with the help of an entire fleet and Picard’s special knowledge (courtesy of his prior assimilation) about the vessel’s secret weak point.

Fan Favorite Borg

Fast-forward to the third season finale of Star Trek: Voyager, and the Borg (who originated in the Delta Quadrant) made a splashy appearance that ultimately gave us the fan-favorite character Seven of Nine. That two-parter was great, but the show kept returning to these villains. By the time Voyager was over, the Borg would appear (in one form or another) in a whopping 23 episodes.

Even for the biggest fans of Star Trek: Voyager, this led to constant questions of why the Borg didn’t simply destroy Voyager as easily as they destroyed all of the ships at Wolf 359. In fact, it was almost certainly those fan questions that prompted a specific line of dialogue in the series finale “Endgame” where the Borg Queen tells Seven of Nine “You’ve always been my favorite” and that because Seven cares for the Voyager crew, the Collective has “left them alone.”

Voyager Made Sense At The Last Possible Moment

In other words, Star Trek: Voyager did address (albeit at the very end) why the Borg didn’t just assimilate Janeway and her crew, but that doesn’t change the fact that the prophecy of Moore came true: constantly showing our heroes defeating these “unstoppable” foes made them seem like far less of a threat. Unfortunately, the franchise didn’t learn from this lesson, and the Borg honestly seemed less threatening than ever before when they returned (with what I can only hope was a last gasp) in the third season of Picard.

For this viewer, the de-fanged Borg proved one thing: that yawning, like resistance, was completely futile.

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