UNCUT - Lifesigns (VOY S2E19) | Star Trek Journey 404
Comments (50)
Don’t forget that Gul Evek. Q, and Morn are also part of the trifecta crew, not just Riker & Quark. And you could argue Riker is not, as Will & Thomas are different characters.
When Voyager first aired I was hung up on the Doctor being more advanced emotionally than Data. With age I'm managing my obsessive fan nitpicking and am really enjoying the Doctor's character development. I'm curious if others share that hang-up and their thoughts on it.
I am VERY happy you guys are inserting Orville into your air date order watch through of Star Trek. At times, the Orville is more Star Trek than Star Trek.
"I'm having feelings again Mac, like some kind of 14 year old kid. You remember feelings?" "Yeah Dennis, I have feelings every single day of my life" - Mac
I have not seen these episodes of Voyager before and I have a theory, but I feel like if I end up being right, it would be a spoiler, so I don't think I should say it.
The Bones mention feels okay to me because the Doctor does often reference great doctors of the past and McCoy is presented as a great doctor.
I agree with you, but I wonder if it would be better or worse if the procedure he referenced was one of the ones we actually saw in an episode (like Uhura’s re-education after losing her memory). I don’t know if it would feel more or less like fan service that way. Like, it would make more sense why it got brought up, but acknowledging that Doctor McCoy has made other contributions to medicine that we haven’t seen builds out his character more. I’m on the fence about it, personally.
Sweet! Hope you enjoyed the package.
Is that you? Thank you!
Obviously the best romance episode in Trek is Aquiel.
This made me giggle!
I agree with you, Josh: Lessons is the best so far, this is 2nd after that. Melora and Merdian were both "C" rated episodes for me.
I like the shirt, Alex.
More name dropping (McCoy)...they must have been bleeding viewers when this first aired.
Janeway passing the buck to Chakotay on disciplining Paris - rank does have its privileges. And yes, I know, it's technically Chakotay's job, but he does have a point that it might very well have been better for her to intervene first.
Setting aside the plot development in the next episode, I agree with her decision to kick it back to him the same way I agreed with Picard’s decision to kick it back to Riker to deal with Shelby or to kick it back to Geordi to deal with Barclay. The chain of command must be respected, and if your subordinate isn’t respecting you, then it’s your responsibility to work on that relationship. You can approach it a few different ways - be a hard-ass, be a stickler for protocol, try to find common ground, try to be supportive, be a problem-solver, etc. What you can’t do is avoid the problem and expect it to get better on its own. If Paris respects Janeway but doesn’t respect Chakotay, then Janeway can’t fix it. Chakotay has to.
Easily one of the best final five minutes in Star Trek so far. The ending could have gone in so many different directions—some of them really bad. But this... this was perfect.
When the final scene opens and it just shows the doctor sitting there by himself, I thought we were going to get a fade out of just him dealing with his feelings after she had died. When that didn't happen, I felt a little bit cheated, even though I was happy for the characters.
And henceforth the Doctor shall be known as Simon Schweitzer Shmullus. Say that 10 times fast. I had a feeling this one was going to be a hit with you guys. Thanks for reading my take BTW. While I do actually like Melora a fair bit, I agree this is much better(certainly better than Meridian). However I forgot how cringe that scene of the Doctor just blurting his feelings out was. That's up there with bro asking Riker if he's Canadian. Love a good awkward scene. I think Star Trek has conditioned us to generally think of holograms(except Moriarty perhaps) as just being programs following a script. Not really sentient. We accept Data is, but a lot of people have a hard time separating the EMH from just being an extension of the ship. A program with preset responses. To some extent that's true, and was likely entirely true in much of S1. But aside from how much more extensive his programming is compared to an average holographic character, the fact the Doctor is adaptive and can learn new skills and behaviors opens the door to him becoming an artificial lifeform who is just as self aware as Data. I don't know if he "feels" emotions as we do. The apparent physical responses are likely responses based on observed typical reactions in similar situations. He doesn't have the chemical and biological processes to experience pain or euphoria as we would. Then again in Projections he seemed to experience pain and it was new to him, so perhaps his programming does have some feedback mechanism that simulates those feelings. At the very least, he seems to have the equivalent of a less potent version of the emotion chip. I think part of what makes the romance work here is that the Doctor and Denara are coming at it essentially from opposite directions. Denara is done with life. She doesn't want to live in a body destroyed by the phage, wasting away and watching everyone around her do the same. She doesn't think there's anything good left to live for, especially after having the chance to live disease free again for a few days. The Doctor on the other hand hasn't even begun his life. He can't think of himself beyond his job, and he frames every conversation in that context. It's only by getting to know Denara that he starts to realize there's more than that to life, or that he can even have a life. She shows him what it means to be alive, and he helps her see that life is still worth living. As for keeping the hologram around, sure it's still in the computer. However if they didn't get her back in her body, her brain patterns would degrade and there would be no Denara directing the hologram. It would just be an empty physical shell. Who she is on the inside would be gone, and that's the part of her the Doctor loves, would of course is the point of the ending. The thing I love about Vidiian episodes is the tonal whiplash. They constantly go from being sympathetic to villainous and then back again. This is obviously the former, but even more so seeing that they used to look like a fairly normal humanoid species. I assume all vidiians are carriers of the phage even if it doesn't manifest right away. Otherwise they could just isolate the kids away from anyone infected and be done with it in a generation.
Love your take!
Alex, I have the same difficulty finding words when people are waiting.... I really hate it. I think it is called working memory, like what is right there to access. Anyway, if I meet you at STLV, I hope I can get two words out, I really enjoy what both of you do. This was a great episode and watching the emotional beats with you is a lot of fun!
I developed a large vocabulary by reading voraciously as a child. I also was an insatiable learner in school and would absorb all kinds of concepts and tidbits like a sponge. However, whenever I was on the spot, I’d choke. I lost a spelling bee ridiculously early. I lost a geography bee by timing out because my brain just glitched and I fully forgot how to talk. People always think I’ll be great on their trivia team, but nope - I seize up all the time. I’ve always, always had trouble accessing words when I talk, and it’s more common than people admit. It used to be a performance anxiety thing or a shortage of metaphorical RAM (like Josh said). Ever since grad school, though, I feel like my brain is just full, and laying down new long term memories (knowledge or experiences) is way, way harder, and I have to fight with my brain and bully it into making space (probably by ejecting memories I actually wanted to keep, like Alex said).
Good to know the oldies station still works in the 34th century! =)
This episode aired in 1996, which was the 30th anniversary year of Star Trek. I think that played a little into the mention of Dr. McCoy.
This was Susan Diols second Trek appearance having also starred in TNGs Silicon Avatar.
If we're talking TNG S2, then nothing in the franchise has given me as much joy as the cable-knit crop top in "Up the Long Ladder." Peak 24th-century JCPenney fashion. For real though, this is a beautiful episode. Just vaguely, it gives me "Pen Pals" vibes, in the sense of having a low-stakes dilemma that's far more satisfying to explore than I initially would have thought. What a gem Robert Picardo is. And you're right, they found the right guest actress to pair him with. Two great performances. I forgot this was the episode with the '57 Chevy makeout session! I also forgot about the Paris-Chakotay beef, which is still a little out of left field but was a solid counterpoint as a B story. I mentioned that DS9 is great at slowing down for the character stories, but Voyager is no slouch either.
You get a heart from me as soon as I read your comment on the fashion statement from Up the Long Ladder!
Really enjoyed watching this reaction. You guys can surprise me by which episodes you end up loving, hating or being neutral about. It’s really showing me that different Star Trek episodes hit different people in different ways, and it makes me appreciate the diversity of Trek storytelling a lot more.
Interesting how one of the big criticisms of Melora is that it's icky for Dr Bashir to date one of his patients, but this episode doesn't get the same criticism.
Well that was different, Melora wasn't dying. Every terminally ill patient deserves 1 pity fuck.
✋Family Guy funny clips 👉Subway Surfer gameplay on loop Cmon Josh, get it right
Also just realized I posted this under the wrong video. Was meant for Accession. Oh well.
I'm not a personal fan of romance stories. However, on my full rewatch with you guys, I find myself connecting with them far more than I did in the past, which is a wonderful feeling. The Doctor is so innocent. He deserves to know love, even if there is often pain accompanied with its boon. Edit: Lol at the end, Josh just staring at Alex, knowing full well it's Leah Brahms. Don't worry Alex, my memory for names is horrid too.
Good episode. Doctor is great. as usual, i cant stand chakotay. ugh. Kick his ass
Chakotay is just a chill dude.
I appreciated my patron takes lashing. 😆 I think my opinion of the episode is colored by my first watch at age 15 when it first aired. I found it boring, and didn't care about the dying woman. The Paris stuff seems all out of character. I really enjoyed watching it with you guys though, and I'm glad you enjoyed it.
Great episode, I always love a good Doctor centered episode
Voyager sex scoreboard Your Killin Me Shmallis SCOREBOARD Paris 3 Jayneway 2 Seska 2 Chakotay 1 Neelix 1 Kes 1 Harry 1 Torres 1 The Doctor 1 +1 new GUESTS Danara Pel +1 new DETAILS The Doctor holodickin’ . An unexpected new member of the board The Doctor.
After the Naked Now there was a rule until Sarek to not make any references to TOS. It was a smart rule. I'm not saying don't do callbacks but they should be few and far between.
If were outside the character of the Doctor it might bother me. But the doctor is continually make callbacks to significant medical history especially as it pertains to his program, he has even name dropped other doctors such as Dr Schweitzer and Dr Zimmerman. It's more surprising that he hasn't already referenced Dr McCoy.
So I never cared that they referenced other Trek in these episodes its the same universe, it hasn’t been cheesy and the McCoy one could easily be missed.
I forgot to add a take on this one, missed the deadline. I'd somehow missed this episode and watched it for the first time about a month ago, and was really pleasantly surprised. Susan Diol's acting is superb, especially given that her prosthetic forehead meant she had no eyebrows and must have limited her facial expressions. I did shed a tear in that scene where she first sees herself in the mirror. Picardo is great too, especially with inducing the cringe in his really awkward scenes.
Back half of S2 is such a massive improvement. I still think the Data mention is the most awkward of this recent string of legacy references, probably because they dwelled on it. And I guess the problem is that these are very surface level references compared to name dropping one-off TOS planets like they've done before. If the Vidiians and the Kazon had their screentime swapped, would that be an overall improvement to the show or would it just cause the Vidiians to feel overused?
Basically every Vidiian episode is a hit, and almost every Kazon ep is a dud. Swap away.
In a way, I was dreading writing this. I have a feeling this is a fan favorite. The thing about it is, I just don't personally enjoy love stories. Just a genre preference (or lack thereof) of mine. I can't really fairly rate this episode. Taking the love out of it, I try and look at everything else. The Doctor's growth and understanding organic humanoids for example, the race against time to save Pel's life, and the message of insecurity of how we look and beauty is skin-deep, etc. I appreciate all that. Greatly. I just don't have any emotional feelings for the love stuff. I'm not a sociopath, lol, in real life I am a hopeless romantic. In fact my friends would tell you I get too invested. But love and fiction is just something I always sort of stay away from. I cannot suspend disbelief with that particular emotion. I can't tell you why. I hate war movies too and find them duller than paint peeling off a wall. So I guess we all have our genres of choice. I will say this is a brilliantly executed episode from a purely objective standpoint. It's just not an episode I would go back to much, unless I am watching a reaction such as this, or binging the show for a friend. No rating due to genre bias. I get there's so much more to this episode than that, but it being such a core aspect, I just don't think I can give a fair subjective opinion on this.
You shouldn't dread writing an honest review of something, your opinion is your own. For me it's jumpy shock-horror films I dislike, despite liking horror / thrillers in sci-fi settings. It doesn't really make sense, but you like what you like! I personally love this one, but I'm a sucker for romantic stuff when it's put in a setting I enjoy.
Didn't have anything interesting to say for the last DS9 episode. Its fine. But this episode of Voyager? *chef's kiss* I love it. The Doctor getting to learn how to be a 'real person' always brings me joy.
LOL, just got to the doctor admitting his feelings scene at 30ish minutes in... You two did not disappoint. The Doctor pronounces the B in subtle. 😁😅😂🤣🤣🤣
Thank you. Without knowing your opinion; i really like this episode.
Me too. Hits me more than I think it should.