Eye Of The Needle

Voyager Revisited: Eye Of The Needle
Jules -- 13 Sep 2001, 21:54 GMT

"I'm getting something, Captain." -- Tuvok

"I'm getting it too. A subspace signal relayed through the probe." -- Paris

"That signal is being transmitted exactly the same frequency and amplitude as our signal. It's a response. Someone received our transmission, and sent one back. And their signal originated in the... Alpha Quadrant." -- Tuvok

If anyone still feels the need to talk things out after the horrors of Tuesday, please go right ahead. That's what we're here for. The Nebula is a community, an extended family, and we've celebrated together in the past... we can mourn together as well, or at least offer a shoulder to cry on.

But for those who'd eagerly seize a little distraction from real life right now, I offer up that retrospective discussion of "Eye Of The Needle".

Jules

"Captain Knockout"!!!
Nina -- 13 Sep 2001, 22:31 GMT

I think it was Quince who christened her that, based on certain scenes in "Eye of the Needle"; and boy, does it fit!!!

What I've always loved about this one is that it dangled the carrot of a fast way home in front of the crew's faces before they'd truly adjusted to their situation. That gives it an edge that later "near misses" to getting home didn't have.

Janeway holding Mark's picture (with Molly in it, too, of course) and giving it the most incredibly tender look, as she hopes this just may work...KM won my heart all over again, with that bit of acting. And again, as she bites her fist after learning that Telek R'Mor is fated to die several years before it will be time to send the crew's messages to Starfleet. And again: "We've got a LONG way to go!", as she picks up the burden she'd thought she could put down and starts off again with it...so bravely that she breaks my heart.

Oh, yes, one more thing. She could, and did, go to bed and to sleep in the middle of a crisis, this early in the journey. I liked that; and I also like it that later on, she couldn't do it anymore as the years of tension began taking their toll.

Yup, this one was a keeper for me - and still is.

This is the Janeway I fell in love with.
Jules -- 13 Sep 2001, 23:31 GMT

(Although possibly not in quite the same way that Jason did. Although I do approve of her choice of sleepwear.)

But the Kathryn Janeway of season one was someone who was aloof from her crew by virtue of having been on the fast track to command and having been buried in scientific research, rather than because she didn't care. She's vulnerable but still tough. And she has a sensitivity and diplomacy when she coaxes that wary Romulan into co-operating with her stranded ship that I find very admirable.

I know that there were a lot of people who wondered about whether they'd dangled the carrot of a return to the Alpha Quadrant a little too soon with this story, but like you I found it an interesting and timely reminder of all that they'd lost, at a time when they still hadn't entirely reconciled to their fate or the fact that there wasn't going to be a quick fix after all.

And yes, that scene where Janeway looks at Mark's picture is a real choker. I know that he was pretty much designed as a safety valve, so that they didn't have to deal with matters of the heart where their female captain was concerned, for the first few years of the journey at least, but I still think that there's something very admirable about Janeway's constancy towards Mark. Even after he himself moved on.

Jules

Another reason for liking Mark
Nina -- 14 Sep 2001, 01:13 GMT

Even though I'm single by choice (and I realize you are, too, Jules), and certainly don't think the character HAD to have a partner, I really liked the concept of Janeway being torn away from a stable and deeply committed love-bond. It made her claims to understand her married crew members' pain far more believable, in addition to giving us moments like that one with the photograph in "Needle."

Re: Voyager Revisited: Eye Of The Needle
D -- 14 Sep 2001, 03:06 GMT

(I wrote this when I rewatched it 3 weeks ago - hope it makes sense)

I've come to like this one better on rewatching than I did the first time, because then I was waiting for the plot complication that would prevent them from getting home and didn't catch some of the underlying character stuff.

Harry's in full "ensign Eager" mode here and it really comes through how anxious he is to get home. His work here also shows he really is the communications expert, which becomes much more apparent in his later work on the sensor & communications breakthroughs. And he's the first person to actually get B'Elanna to talk about her family.

Torres keeps proving Janeway made the right decision in choosing her as Chief Engineer, even if her enthusiasm is more for the engineering breakthroughs than for actually getting home. She's also making the effort to act like a senior officer, keeping her idea about the transporter to herself until she can discuss it with Janeway. It did seem odd to hear the Captain call her just Torres and others refer to her as Chief, but they were more formal at the beginning.

The reality of being CMO was brought home to the doctor in "Phage" but here he finally starts acting like one, pulling rank on the injury prone officer and transitioning Kes from medic to med student and liaison. Kes again forces the issue with Doc and Janeway, who finally starts to acknowledge him as a member of the crew, entitled to respect but expected to conduct himself accordingly. He's now discussed his on/off concerns with both Janeway and Torres, the two people who can do something about it. When do they finally reprogram the system to give him that control? I don't understand his concern with being left running on an empty ship if the crew transported through the wormhole. I can't see Janeway abandoning Voyager for the Kazon to get their hands on; she'd have activated the self destruct when they left.

I guess their letters were lost when the Romulan scientist died, since no one in the Alpha Quadrant knew they were still alive until "Message in a Bottle". And isn't Romulus in the Beta Quadrant, near the Alpha Quadrant border? DS9 did that too, with the Klingons and Romulans referred to as being in the Alpha Quadrant in the Dominion War.

I think the implication was that the Romulans were in the Alpha Quadrant spying on Federation space
Jules -- 14 Sep 2001, 09:43 GMT

No room for NIM. Darn. Does this mean I need to increase the length of the subject line?

Jules

Re: Voyager Revisited: Eye Of The Needle
Begonia -- 14 Sep 2001, 18:52 GMT

She had wonderful hair in those days!!!

Begonia, who up until three years ago also had hair down to my waist, and it used to take two hours a time to wash and comb out!

Re: Eye Of The Needle AKA "Captain Knockout steps out!"
Deb47 -- 15 Sep 2001, 19:14 GMT

Well, I rewatched this one this morning. Mostly as a defense from gravitating to the news again.

One of the things that struck me... besides Nina & Quince's "Knockout" comment, was the very "human" (meaning "personal") quality this show had.

Janeway with the picture of Mark "& Molly"... her nightgown conversation with the Romulan Captain, the way she didn't "need" to put on a brave face as he couldn't see her anyway. The way she looked out the windows of her quarters as if straining to see the way home while talking of loneliness. Trying to make a personal connection with him... "If we were spies, then I wouldn't be asking you what I'm about to ask."... and later when they could see each other... asking him about his family, when he last saw them. She could see he felt greatly about them... and knew she had a hook into his heart.

But again... it wasn't "just" Janeway making connections with another Captain. It was her making connections with Kes... letting Kes teach her something she'd never even considered before... that the soul-less hologram in the sickbay had needs also.

She learned it so well, that she was able to teach it to the hologram herself.

"Are you going to reprogram me?"

No. Just try to find ways to connect with a piece of hardware that could mean life or death for her crew.

"The Captain showed me I must think of myself as more than an Emergency Medical program... I must think of myself as one of the crew."

Whoa.

But it wasn't over.

Not by a long shot.

Remember that 22 year old wet behind the ears Starfleet ensign and that war scarred Maquis engineer?

Don't you just love the way they worked together?

There Kim is, coming up with ways to cut through the wormhole interfenece, and Torres jumping up to "give him a hand".

Together they work hard on not only the problem, but on forging a bond... Letting the green ensign ventilate about the family he left behind... letting the "hard"????"hearted" engineer explain where some of her standoffishness comes from. An absent father, a removed mother... and yet... revealing she IS still capable of feeling. Her "family" is with her... her crew...the Maquis.

And Harry is part of "her" crew now, too.

She helps him on his project, she doesn't take it over on the bridge. But when he succeeds and she sees a potential side benefit, she's NOT shy or objective when she charges at Janeway to tell her the news.

We MIGHT be able to send more than messages home!

Personal connections... together they were trying their hardest to support each other and challenge each other to new heights. Janeway challenging Kim... Kim challenging Torres... Kes challenging Janeway... Janeway challenging The EMH... the EMH helping to challenge Kes in her medical studies... everything was going so well.

Except when Kes realized if "Chief Torres" succeeded, she would have to leave her new friend alone on Voyager.

A peck on the cheek... and before she leaves... his first sad request of the hour.

"Please, before you leave, make sure I've been turned off."

Sigh.

"I didn't want to mention this, while Dr Rmorr was here..."

A man... an enemy... risked his life in the pursit of a scientific endeavor that might have saved theirs. A man "out of time"... a man from a culture that was still 10+ years from running into Picard during that historic recontact... a man who would never achieve at least one of his goals. Greeting Voyager when it returned home.

He never would get that chance to be "an old man". He never would get a chance to spend more than 14 years with the daughter he had not yet seen.

A man they didn't know 30 hours before, and now one they would never meet again.

What did he do with the computer chip?

His govt knew about Voyager's existance... he was waiting for their decision on forwarding their messages. But did he actually give the messages to them once he realized he was "a man out of time?" Did he fear the pollution of the timeline as much as Chakotay did?

Or did the govt have those messages for 20 years, by the time the Voyager left DS9?

Were they surprised when word came that a Mark 1 EMH from Voyager foiled their plans to steal the Prometheses prototype? Were they obsessed by Voyager, as Barclay claimed... because they'd known about it all along?

Who knows.

That's what makes this ep fun for me.

That, and the bittersweet understanding so many of our intrepid crew came to that week.

We are a long way from home, and getting back will require an act of God, if not just immense good fortune.

Time to start looking not just "at" each other... but "to" each other. The way the recurrently athletically injured crewman finally looked to the EMH for succor.

The way the EMH finally realized he would have to think of things in a new light.

Even simple things, he never needed before.

Like...

...a name.

D47

By any other name...
Janey -- 17 Sep 2001, 12:01 GMT

This episode is in an elite class IMHO.

A special class of episodes in my book, with "The Gift" and "Homestead."

This is the one episode that totally gripped me from beginning to end. I loved the others that preceded it and I remember wondering why they did an almost home episode so soon.

But doing it so soon was perfect. The "nwanka," the period of mourning was still so raw. It was so easy for all of them to get so wrapped up in the excitement and the hope pf it all - from the lowliest crewmember all the way up to our dear captain.

But Deb mentioning of the "name" mande me think.

This episode had three key name references:

1) the "Harry Kim" wormhole, the possible short cut discovered by the greenest of them all and the one the most eager to get home.

2) an unknown Romulan captain refused to give his name in a transgalactic phone call home and when he finally did it was based on the trust he'd built and promised to deliver the crew letters to their families (though the discovery of that name only led to a greater diappointment)

3) the Doctor is slowly growing and asks for something normally bestowed upon someone upon their birth.

Consider this episode juxtaposed to the seventh season:

1) our green ensign is seeking to be more than himself, knowing he is better than the ensign he began the mission; he's grown volumes and become a stronger leader and more willing to defend himself and his ideas

2) an unknown Lieutenant delightedly gives his name in a transgalactic phone call to the lost children and when he does instills a hope that is built upon in "Author Author" with the daily chats and his precious gift (and unbeknowst to the crew plays a key role in assisting the Admiral)

3) the Doctor seeks more than a name, he seeks acceptence as an individual under the law; and wins a small victory; protected under the law as an artist and author and in a way "makes a name for himself"

Anyway that was something I noticed.

The thing I can't get over about this episode is that everytime I see it I can't help but get wrapped up in the excitement of it all.

Case in point: B'Elanna, who has no one to go back to really, nearly leaps out of her skin when she discvoers she can rig a transporter beam on the visual link. And there was no hiding Kathryn's excitement over B'Elanna's discovery. The sad part is we never see her that excited and that hopeful again.

My heart crashes to the floor everytime Tuvok stops Janeway in the transporter room after Telek R'Mor leaves. That look she gives him screams "Don't tell me! Please, don't!" Watching their faces fall at the realization that R'Mor isn't going to make it to 2371, Harry nearly collapsing in dismay, B'Elanna grasping at the chance R'Mor may have left a will and Kathryn's inability to grab onto that small hope.

"We better keep moving. We've got a long way to go."

The choking in that voice gets me every time. I heard it in so many episodes that followed:

when she couldn't abandon her principles and her friend did it for her

when she had to let the crew choose their own course and when they all chose to stay

when she had to chose the life of two over the life of one

when she had to find the cure

everytime she had to save one of her own

when the coward went back to hell

when she fought with her first officer

when she made a deal with the devil

when she saved one of the "devils" and let her "angel" go

when the Doc returned from the Alpha Qudrant and "60,000 light years feels a little closer today"

when discovered the message was actually letters from home

when she read her letter from Mark

when they were in the Void

when she confronted the prospect of losing her youngest crewmember's mother head-on

when she confronted the queen, not once, not twice but 3 times in person (and once on the phone)

when she lost a piece of her history, but rediscovered the love of her new family

when she confronted the devil within herself

when one of her own finally appreciated being alive

when Reg Barcley from Starfleet Command called Voyager for the first time

when she confronted by the memory of who someone used to be and tried to fix an angel's broken wings

when she came so close to losing the one she'd saved so many times

when she realized her crew was growing up

when Reg Barcley called Voyager the second time

when Reg gave them his "gift"

when losing one man jarred her sense of well being so much she couldn't even justify her true love - exploration

when she had to say good bye to the only person who truly understood her, because he was the same type of person - one driven by duty

when the Admiral appeared

when the Admiral left

when they "did it."

when they set the final course, "for home."

They had a long way to go, look how far they came.

And now that I have babbled on and on (and I apologize, but its nice to talk about something else, I needed the distraction), I'll end with one final note:

Kes has Captain Janeway wrapped around that little pixie finger of hers.

She does, doesn't she!
Deb47 -- 17 Sep 2001, 13:19 GMT

Dang that Kes!

D47

Just wanted to say that I LOVE...
MindyP51 -- 17 Sep 2001, 19:28 GMT

...EYE OF THE NEEDLE. I think it was THE episode that really turned me on to VOYAGER.

Mindy