Tim – I was rather aghast with Neelix this episode, though. First he had the most 90s Chef Outfit ever.
Ryan – Not to mention the La Brea tar pits coffee.
Tim – His coffee drove Janeway to pierce a majestic alien cloud beast for coffee. Really, it’s his terribleness that drives this episode forward.
Seth – I felt that Neelix combined with the EMH’s wry comments underlined the Voyager’s tendency to stop and look at anything interesting a bit too much. One or the other would’ve been fine, but both in the same episode was a bit excessive, in my opinion.
Ryan – Was Neelix really behaving badly here? His objections to the Captain seemed certainly a bit out of character, but considering he had earlier tricked the crew into aiding his rescue of Kes, if he actually felt the Voyager was putting their lives in danger, his protestations seem to fit.
Tim – I wouldn’t say he was acting badly, necessarily. I suppose I just tend to roll my eyes with his character in general. His busting into the bridge and declaring himself a morale officer just made me kind of put my head in my hands. I was like “Oh…oh god no.” There was a visible sigh of relief when Janeway shut him down from the singalong.
Ryan – There’s a blustering naivety and flamboyance to Neelix that I don’t think would work in a character in a modern science-fiction series. Tonally, our current brand of sci-fiction has gone much darker.
Tim – Absolutely – it’s partially why I’m not surprised (although still disappointed) that they resolve the Marquis/Federation split of the crew so early. Modern Sci-Fi would have run with that conflict for at least a season or two. So it is entirely possible that it’s my own perspective that’s warping my appreciation for Neelix, who probably fit in a lot more twenty years ago.
Ryan – It’s weird to remember that these episodes are almost 20 years old now…
Seth – Speaking of our friend the doctor, one moment that caught my attention was when he allowed B’Ellana to take credit for the Nucleonic beam idea.
Ryan – Indeed! That seemed to be a bit more of a human moment for him. Or at the very least, one that showed the Doctor participating a bit more in the team, despite his constant complaints that he was never meant to perform the duties of a permanent medical staff.
Tim – But on the Doctor point- absolutely. I think it was a great to see him interact with even more members of the crew, and it giving credit to Torres definitely provided another part of his character beyond sardonic wit.
Ryan – What did you guys think of the sci-fi angle for this episode, the nebula that turned out to be a creature?
Tim – I thought it was actually a really interesting idea to start with. I know the writers felt that it wasn’t really enough to fill an entire episode (hence us getting all the other vignettes in the episode), but as a concept it intrigued me.
Seth – It’s not necessarily the strangest life form Star Trek has presented; it’s weird that they had no idea it was alive, though.
Tim – It definitely helps cement the idea that the Voyager has absolutely no idea what’s out here- their assumptions misled them and prevented from recognizing it as a creature. Which is how I read it- this is a creature so obscure that the Federation databases had no means to identify it. What did you think, Ryan?
Ryan – Hmm, I think I had made this clear earlier, but I definitely wasn’t buying this one. Not from the fact that they had no idea it was living to the idea that they had to go in to patch a voyager sized whole in a nebula sized cosmic creature.
Tim – Utilizing the ancient medicinal practice of “…suturing?”
Ryan – Hah, that could have only been worse if Chakotay had proposed it as a tradition passed down with his medicine bag. I just didn’t find the idea terribly compelling. I was wishing the thing had been sentient and had some way of communicating or messing more with the crew.
Tim – That would have been rather interesting, yeah. Consider, for example, if it began to integrate itself into Paris’ Tavern Hologram and began attacking everything in a rage! Actually, after you mentioned that idea, I’ve just realized that there were definitely a lot of missed opportunities with this episode.
Ryan – Or if it had appeared in the Hologram and trapped Paris and Kim in there. They would have to best it in a game of pool (not billiards, mind you) as the crew tries to grapple with the creature on the outside.
Tim – Someone would have shit themselves.
Seth – Yeah, I have to agree. It seems like a weird plot to keep people occupied while they do some character development.
Tim – I suppose for me, overall, this episode just was kind of meh.
Ryan – Very meh.
Tim – I liked it better than Phage, but a lot of the Character development was so piecemeal (having been spread out with interactions between at least 10 of the crewmembers). I tend to enjoy more focused character episodes, personally.
Ryan – Interesting, I would rate this one dead last out of all Voyager episodes thus far.
Tim – We’re a third of a way through the series- considering they’re coming off of both TNG and DS-9, I can see why contemporaries were kind of disappointed with it. There just feels like a lot of promise that isn’t being followed through.
Ryan – For the series as a whole, Tim, or just this episode?
Tim – Mmm, I’d say in general for the series.
Seth – Considering what was airing on DS9 while these Voyager episodes were airing, I could see how it would really suffer by comparison.
Ryan – So to finish this off, were there any cheers from this group when Torres called out Paris and his pool shark hologram for being pigs?
Tim – Of course! I raised my fist and shouted “Hear Hear”!
Seth – No, but there was an appreciative nod.
Join us next week for another installment of Roundtable Voyager! We’ll be discussing Star Trek: Voyager s01e07 “Eye of the Needle” if you would like to watch the episode ahead of time and contribute your own thoughts in the comments of this post. We’d love to have you help shape our discussion! Or, if you’re more interested in “The Cloud”, was there anything you feel we missed, or theories about the episode that you would like to share? Feel free to share your own thoughts in the comments section below!
If you enjoyed this roundtable, please consider donating to Team Acagameia’s Extra Life charity page, where 100% of all funds raised go to support Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.Simply click on the name of the participant you prefer (Dave, Tim, or Seth) and, once at their page, click “Support Me!” All donations are tax deductible and go to support Hurley Children’s Hospital.
I agree with much of the above. This episode (beside the obvious character growth), in my opinion, was once again to show that the Federation ideal of exploration is more likely to get the crew killed and waste their resources.
The start of the episode is intended to reaffirm that the Voyager is worried about it’s power consumption. It brings up the existence of rations for the replicator, and states that some supplies such as coffee are running low.
I think the true point of this episode is the characters and how they are dealing with the hardships being imposed on them.
The “main plot” is not really the main plot. It is in and of it self the filler.
Kes awakening the sentience of the Doctor, along with the idea that he can learn and thus evolve. The idea that he can chose to reprogram himself, or have help externally to do so. The set up on Nelix’s semi neurotic personality for future reference. (his overconfidence, naive nature, and his quick jealousy.)
Janeway’s isolation as captain, and how far she is willing to bend Captain’s protocol and Federation rules to find companionship.
This whole episode was about the crew, and where it failed is that people take the entity in space too seriously.