Their knives freshly drenched in Tim’s blood, Seth and Ryan continue the meaningful discussion.
Seth – So one thing I really appreciated about this episode was how the writers managed to avoid being condescending in their portrayal of the Vhnori. I mean, Ptera has some clear difficulty wrapping her head around the idea that she’s not in the afterlife, and the Vhnori likewise have a hard time accepting that Kim might not be from “the Next Emanation,” but otherwise they’re treated pretty fairly.
Ryan – I was impressed with how totally un-cynically Kim and Janeway approached the alien’s superstitions and religious culture. I actually found the Vhnori’s struggle with mortality (particularly the two who directly confronted the possibility that their idea of the afterlife might not be true) rather unexpectedly moving.
Seth – Once Ptera spelled it out that they believed in a physical, corporeal afterlife, things clicked for me.
Ryan – The medical table point of view on Ptera, the Vhnori female, was (in true Star Trek fashion) bordering on the campy but nevertheless effective at portraying her terror at awakening in an utterly alien place when she expected to be dead.
A gurgle emits from the body laying on the floor.
Ryan – On a somewhat unrelated personal note, this was kind of a strange episode to watch as I had definitely seen it before but I remembered it entirely differently. For one, it was a Next Generation episode and there was a closing shot at the end of a ray of light rising up into the rings of the planet that I evidently completely made up.
Seth – I keep comparing this episode in the back of my mind to the TNG episode “Who Watches the Watchers.”
Ryan – Just reading the synopsis, it sounds like the setup JJ Abrams used at the beginning of Star Trek Into Darkness. Except without the trying to undo the damage bit.
Seth – They play with similar themes about how a visit by an alien race can wreak havoc with a specie’s understanding of metaphysics and theology, but “Who Watches the Watchers” is all about how attempts to limit or repair damage caused by interference can spiral out of control and it doesn’t do as good a job as “Emanations” of treating the aliens with respect. On the other hand, “Who Watches the Watchers” does give an example in the characters of Riker and Troi of how Kim perhaps should have acted if he was more experienced in limiting the effect he might have on an alien culture. In TNG in general, Starfleet officers are much more likely to refuse to give up the facade than to admit that they are aliens and level with the species they are contacting.
Ryan – Kim seems like he’s the character Voyager has most repeatedly thrown into the fire when dealing with interactions with alien species.
Seth – And he’s one of the least experienced officers on the ship, so it makes sense that he’d be a bit clumsy at it.
Ryan – Definitely.
Tim’s body begins to twitch slightly, knocking the table with his foot. Seth kicks it away.
Ryan – Thoughts on Janeway’s speech at the end? A not-so subtle message to the audience, a jab at the cynicism of 90s intellectuals or simply a nice closer with Janeway acting in character?
Seth – Thinking about it, I think it functions in part as a character moment for Janeway. This might play into her desire to be hands on and investigate things personally: She feels she was too pre-occupied with moving up the ranks to appreciate the discoveries happening in front of her. So this sojourn in the Delta Quadrant is in part an opportunity for her to relive that wonder, and she’s advising Kim to see it the same way. But I think it’s also a nod to the audience to make sure they’re not taking the wrong message (e.g. “Man, those aliens had a completely screwed up religion”) away from the episode. I actually want to go back to the very beginning of the episode, when Chakotay is schooling Kim and B’Ellana in anthropology
Ryan – On the ethics of?
Seth – Well, there’s the ethical concerns; my first thought once it became clear that they were dealing with a burial site was “beam out of there immediately and move on.” But I thought it might also be interesting to examine how well Chakotay managed to draw conclusions from a visual inspection of the asteroid.
Ryan – It seemed Chakotay was the most adamant about their preservation of the burial site. Janeway wanted tricorder scans of the bodies (and Kim and Torres were clearly the two least interested in respecting the site). Chakotay’s tricorder concerns seemed almost… metaphysical, and perhaps this is because he was Maquis, seem slightly out of step with Star Fleet’s missions of discovery into the unknown parts of the universe. Conceding the fact that Voyager is not officially on such a mission…
Seth – I agree with your assessment that Chakotay’s concerns enter into the metaphysical, since Janeway initially orders that they keep the tricorders on “passive scans” indicating that they wouldn’t be emitting any rays or particles in order to scan. And likewise the anecdote about the excavation he took part in primes Kim, and by extension the audience, to see the proper role of a Starfleet officer being one of the greatest possible respect for another culture’s beliefs about death and the afterlife.
Ryan – A respect Kim tries to emulate even in the face of bodily harm and ultimately death – though I suppose it’s up for debate whether or not the concealment part of his escape plan was more out of respect or more a necessity to get him home.
Seth – It was certainly convenient that the ritual involved a complete body covering.
Seth then removes the tablecloth from the roundtable and drapes it over Tim’s body. Muttering the incantations required to ensure Tim’s full recovery by next week, he leaves the room.
Join us next week for another installment of Roundtable Voyager! We’ll be discussing Star Trek: Voyager s01e10 “Prime Factors.” If you would like, 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 “Emanations”, 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!
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