Gravity

Terry -- 3 Feb 1999, 5:52 PM

Tomaholics, have your heart defibrillators ready! (SPOILERS)

I just heard a rumor --That's a rumor, Jules-- that RDM --gasp-- takes off his shirt in Gravity. Reports of chest hair sightings are rampant.

Sigh. Life is so unfair! When do we get to get RD topless? Oh, yeah. Drone. Okay, when do we get to see her chest hair?

D'Alaire -- 3 Feb 1999, 7:24 PM

Snort! Nope. However...SPOILERS!
..., keep those defib units out anyway.

Tommy looked dang nice. D@mN nice. Wretchedly nice. Pitifully (for Tomaholics) nice. Tuvvy fans, too, steady. Steady. It's a chest-fest and yummy trouser dee-lite to-nite! (Not to mention it's a nice character piece for Tuvok and a bit of interesting tidbits for Tom, too, but that's beside this point. [grin])

Rrrrowl! RDM gets a bit windswept, and a nice golden tan...mmmmm, plus we get great shots of trousers and t-shirt from the side angle.

shudder...drool...reaching at set maniacally...tremble...SLURP!!!!

THUD. (D'Alaire hits the floor after leaping at the set. Baktag hangs his head and sighs.)

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHUUUUUUUGGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!

I WANT THAT MAN!!! I WANT HIM NOW! (deep breath)

ah. Better now. Baktag--dear p'tahk that you are--Make my tea! HOT!

Good ep, that one. : )

Terry -- 3 Feb 1999, 7:32 PM

Darn you, D'A!

I almost had all of the board chicks whipped into a Tommy-chest frenzy!

Carol -- 3 Feb 1999, 7:47 PM

Not bad, but not great about sums it up for me. I will say this for Gravity -- the eye candy shots of Tom and Tuvok running around sweaty in their T-shirts and Tank Tops was a big plus. :-)

Cheers

Well, if your a Tuvok fan, this is your show. The young guy who played the younger Tuvok was very good and Tim Russ is always capable whenever he's given something of substance to do. The cuts back and forth between the Past Tuvok and the Present were well done.

The Dynamic Duo -- Tom and Tuvok (and RDM and Russ) are always great together. They always play well off each other and had some very good moments together, particularly the one where Tom confronts Tuvok about What's-Her-Names (Noss?) feelings about him and the confrontation later while Tuvok's meditating.

And Lori Petty was good too. I liked her in A League Of Their Own but she has a habit of talking to loudly sometimes as a way to show emotions but ends up just being annoying. However, she was more controlled here (even when she blew-up at Tuvok). I thought they were going to kill her during the final AOTW attack. Glad to know I was wrong.

I really liked the scene of Tuvok, Tom, The Doc and Noss talking together over dinner and Tom admitting that he loves B'Elanna very much. (But the "longest flirtation is Starfleet History"? Not by a long shot Doc :-). Even though he hasn't used the "L" word himself yet, I did believe that Tom really missed her. (Though I still wonder why -- for me at least -- P/T have more romantic chemistry when their apart than they do together. But I digress :-).

Not the director, but the cinematographer deserves a hand. The visuals of the desert (especially of Tuvok meditating on the rock) were breathtaking and made me wish that I was a home watching it on the big screen TV there rather than my 13" one.

Good lines:

I'm a doctor, not a battery.

You know something? I always thought that beneath that cold Vulcan exterior lay a...even colder Vulcan interior. But now, I'm convinced you're a hopeless romantic.

There is no need to insult me Mr. Paris.

Count one shuttle gonzo.

47's heard: The Temporal Differential between the Planet and Voyager was .4744 seconds per minute. I don't always notice 47's but, besides being obvious...

Jeers

... most of the episode I'd say, lagged. I don't think it was the writing as much as it was the pace however. I found my mind wandering during more than one scene, and towards the end of the episode (during the beam out and stand-off with the AOTW's on the planet) I was mentally tallying up 47's and Shuttle Losses for the Pool. :-)

Well, Tank/Leather Girl learned English rather quickly. This was obviously no "Darmok And Tanagra" situation. ;-)

I found a lot of the Bridge scenes anti-climatic. Maybe it was because of the spoilers or maybe because I seen one to many similar dealing with the AOTW over a crashed shuttle, a warp core or what have you that the whole Tit-for-Tat between the Crew and the Aliens didn't convey any suspense for me. But at least no shots were exchanged after the first meeting.

I give up on the crew complement. One episode it's at 127, the next its up to 150, then it's down to 140+ and now here Tuvok says its 152. I'm almost tempted to e-mail Byron Fuller, Brannon Braga and Joe Menoskey the Roll Call Minor Crewmembers Web Address; if I knew it would do any good that is. I almost get the feeling that TPTB are joking with us nitpickers about it at this point just to drive us insane. :-)

Anyway, not the greatest episode. But not a stinker. Guess I'll just steal what the person who saw it three weeks ago and gave some of the tidbits I posted said -- "not good, but not bad. Just OK."

Next Week -- Seven saves the ship -- again. Boy, there's something I haven't seen before. Swell. :P

AnnM. -- 3 Feb 1999, 9:42 PM

Help, as a neubbie, what is AOTW?

I usually follow most abbreviations but... I'm not even close to figuring this one out...or maybe I am... "Alien of the Week." Yes? (If this is right it came to me while I was watching the first part of tonight's show. I got home after it started.

Some of young Tuvok scenes reminded my husband of "Kung Foo" as young Grasshopper. (I believe that was the show. Going through a "senior moment.")

No, Tom didn't use the "L" word but having someone else put the words there for him is just as good. A P/T'er heart.

Eric -- 3 Feb 1999, 9:54 PM

Bingo Ann! But here is my favorite variation on the theme...
ABOTW : Alien Babe of the week!
or...
ABILOTW : Alien Babe in Leather of the Week
or...

ABILWHLKOTWWSON : Alien Babe in Leather Who Has Lesbian Kisses Of The Week With Seven Of Nine. (Sadly they haven't done it yet on Voyager but since they do it on DS9 it may yet happen)

D'Alaire -- 3 Feb 1999, 8:51 PM

Gravity check!....thud. But really...I think I've drooled enough to make my point known.

In short, Gravity reminds me of a thing I think Voyager misses that they've touched on occasionally, but more so tonight--personal effects. Being away from the AQ, the crew by necessity doesn't (in many cases, thankfully) meet up with family, doesn't visit familiar climes. We see a bit of meditation, an vision quest very rarely (one a season or so), Klingons or Cardies in the holodeck.

In short, it was nice to see some background on a character, to visit the familiar--there's been a few, two for Tuvok now. The scenes on Vulcan were nice and very well done (I liked that young Tuvok!--reminded me of a friend from high school, in fact--he looked like a young TR, alright!).

And it was sort of strange to see Tuvok's bittersweet success at suppressing his emotion there. I felt like Tom did, that human's nature of mourning disallowed emotions (something, I'm certain, Tom's had a bit of experience with, offscreen in B'Elanna's troubles--or at least I thought about that, but that's beside the point).

The Lori Petty parts...She wasn't nearly as annoying, like Carol said, in voice, but rather interesting. I wish they'd taken the time to flesh her out more. She felt rather surface to me--or if that was the point (emotions as surface material contrasted with Tuvok's buried feelings), I'd still have wanted to get into her head more. And I too was glad to see her not die. That goodbye was wonderful. It was nice to smile, albeit bittersweet, at the end, for a change.

Tom talking about B'Elanna (spider dinner scene) -- very satisfying. Sorry all you anti P/Ter's out there. I loved it, as of course I would. But I'm not about to touch that one again here. Let's just say that TPTB are wicked--and I know they keep "the words" out of his mouth purposefully. There's no other way about it. But I loved that scene. He doesn't need to say it. It's all there.

Tom talking to Tuvok, especially on the mountain -- reminds me why I love their interaction, and how excellent to see them have a serious, real talk, and to see Tom force the issue. I will happily be watching that scene over and over, too. Wow.

RDM and TR just have this great presence when they are together, and it was refreshing tonight to see Tom not the fool, not the (total) whiner or just playing to get Tuvok's nerves up. This was mature and thoughtful and from the heart. Kudos to it! (If this is an indication of the post 30-Days Tom, I'm all for it! I like him like this.)

Doc, though jibing, was also thoughtful and feeling, too. It was a nice balance of quirks and seriousness from all three. I enjoyed that a lot.

Yes, the pace was dragging (seems to be a habit of late) at times, and yes, those bridge scenes were (though necessary for the resolution, I guess, aside from the dang AOTW) a bit distracting, but I didn't care. I was interested, I was pleased, and I really liked this one. I'm anxious to be able to see it again...

Though I think I'll need that de-fib kit again. Dang, Tom looked slurpulicious!!! (grin)

Terry -- 3 Feb 1999, 9:16 PM

This was a nice but lightweight episode.

Or should I call it low-gravity?

It was pleasant to watch but nothing really fun or thought-provoking. I was surprised how little Lori Petty was given to do in this episode. I expected she and Tuvok to get nearly all of the screen-time. But Paris probably was more visible.

I like Paris but I would rather have seen more of Tuvok and Nos and less of Tom badgering Tuvok about his love life.

Frankly, I'm not one of those fans calling for a Tuvok pon farr episode. I like that Tuvok has a wife whom to he is faithful. And I was uncomfortable with Paris urging him to form a relationship with Nos. So I was glad to see Tuvok resist her charms.

I see that the time differential was necessary to explain how Nos had time to be attracted to Tuvok. And necessary to lead Tom and Tuvok to think that Voyager was long gone and that they were stranded for life.

Dislike: I was upset to see the Vulcan mind-meld used so unimpressively at the end. I think that mind-melds should be reserved for really important life-and-death situations. Not as a cop-out way of getting Tuvok to express his feelings. Especially when the viewers don't get to listen in.

Question: Did Janeway only refer to rescuing Tom and Tuvok? What about the Doc? Unless they implemented the backup Doc (as in Living Witness), he is much more essential than the other two.

Like: I liked young Tuvok and his Vulcan teacher. BTW, that teacher looks familiar. I know that he is a familiar character actor from TV and films but has he been on Trek before?

This was a first, seeing Tom and Tuvok, in a serious episode. Frankly, they don't work as well together as in comedies. But maybe that was just the somewhat awkwardly-written role that the writers gave Tom.

47 Watch: Temporal differential ratio of .4744 seconds per minute
Voyager 30 minutes = Planet 2 days, 11 hours, 47 seconds

Math Check:
0.4744/60 = ratio = 0.007906666666667
1/ratio = 126.4755480607
126.4755480607 * 30 min = 3794.27 min = 2 days, 15 hours, 14 minutes, 16 seconds
But 9 hours already had elapsed, so 2 days, 6 hours - OOPS!
The real ratio should be about 0.4443 but no 47!

Bottom Line: Pleasant but nothing special.

Bummer: Bliss and Dark Frontier. The next three hours of Voyager are all about Seven. What moron at UPN juggled the schedule for this? And why hold back Gravity for February sweeps? Bride of Chaotica was much, much better.

Okay, I get it, UPN. Any Seven ep gets moved to a sweeps period. Infinite Regress, Bliss, etc.

Jason -- 3 Feb 1999, 10:13 PM

Is that not exactly what you wanted?

Just two weeks ago you were talking about how the rest of the season has been so heavy and that it was getting to be too much.

I'm surprised to see that you have reservations about this episode now because it wasn't as thought provoking as the rest of the season has been. I'm confused!

At least, I hope we don't hear about people complaining we have not seen enough Tom this season. If anything, this season has been the character's renaissance, I can't remember another year when he was used as frequently.

The way-cool Vulcan Master was played by Joseph Ruskin, he played Chief Drill Thrall Galt in TOS's "Gamesters of Triskelion" and more lately Tumek, Grilka's handler in her DS9 episodes.

Terry -- 3 Feb 1999, 11:25 PM

I said light-hearted not lightly boring.

I am rather insulting by your low opinion of my expectations, Jason. You seem to think that I want brainless drivel.

I deeply enjoy thought-provoking episodes. But not all heavy and depressing stories are truly intelligent and not all intelligent stories are moody and grim.

But I also enjoy light-hearted, funny stories at times. A proper mix of fun and serious episodes is what I think represents Trek at its best. A really good story can sometimes be funny and intelligent. But if it isn't deep, at least let it be enjoyable.

Gravity was not truly thought-provoking and it provided only short moments of humor. Vulcan suppresses emotion. Been there, done that. And frankly, I thought that its humor was ill-advised at times. Paris' attitude grated on me here just a bit. This story idea would have been better served by leaving Tuvok and Nos alone by themselves.

So far, I have admired the ambitiousness of all of the episodes this season. Even the episodes that I felt were weakest were adequate and just missing being really good by a few flaws. But the mix is a little depressing as each week, another crewman is facing a serious emotional, psychological, and/or moral crisis. With the notable and enjoyable exception of Bride.

I admire Braga's ambition to make each episode a one-hour film. But that pace seems unrealistic. Braga should treat the season like a script. Every scene can't be a climax. And certainly not always an angst-ridden climax.

Gamesters of Triskelion - Yes! That's where I remember him from! Of course! I knew he had been on Trek!

Jason -- 4 Feb 1999, 2:08 PM

"I am rather insulting by your low opinion of my expectations, Jason. You seem to think that I want brainless drivel."

I'm sorry to have given that impression, Terry. In fact I deeply respect and admire your opinions on episodes, many times what you have said about an episode has turned me around one way or the other on what I thought about it.

And never did I intend to imply that you wanted something mindless, but my impression was that your dissatisfaction came with the slate of heavy episodes. This wasn't a terribly fun episode, but nor was it as dark as most of the other episodes we've seen this season-- so it seemed to me that you were unhappy that this episode didn't live up to the standards and tone the rest of the season has set. I guess we simply disagree about how effective this episode was. This wasn't a fantastic episode, but it was different and in it's own way a refreshing change from what we've seen form Voyager this year.

"I admire Braga's ambition to make each episode a one-hour film. "

Hmm, that's something that I feel that they have failed in doing this year. Unlike last year in which many episodes really were like little movies, like "Prey", "Living Witness", "Omega Directive" not counting the two parters and others, this season seems to be striving to establish Voyager as a series, a continuing story.

PegN -- 4 Feb 1999, 5:19 PM

Terry wrote:
I like Paris but I would rather have seen more of Tuvok and Nos and less of Tom badgering Tuvok about his love life. I like that Tuvok has a wife whom to he is faithful. And I was uncomfortable with Paris urging him to form a relationship with Nos.

I agree. I felt Tom (for his good intentions) was out of line. I thought Vulcans mate for life and Vulcans do not express their emotions. Why would Tom want Tuvy to go against his nature? I have this same problem when Neelix wants "Mr. Vulcan" to smile. Where is their respect for this man's culture? He is not human or Talaxian.

Terry wrote:
So I was glad to see Tuvok resist her charms.

What charms would those be?

Terry wrote:
Dislike: I was upset to see the Vulcan mind-meld used so unimpressively at the end. I think that mind-melds should be reserved for really important life-and-death situations. Not as a cop-out way of getting Tuvok to express his feelings. Especially when the viewers don't get to listen in.

I didn't get the impression that he was sharing his feelings so much as helping her understand him. She could understand better his respect and gratitude and friendship towards her, but I think he gave her an understanding of his culture and his devotion to his wife.

Actually it was the compassionate thing to do for her and she deserved that.

I also like the expression on Doc's face with Tom's pat on his shoulder and heartfelt "Welcome back, Doc." Nice touch. Just like Doc's "...competent medic, to boot." comment referring to Tom last week.

Eric -- 3 Feb 1999, 9:42 PM

Tank Girl's Gravity OR Every Planet has a gravity well Tom! Dune? LOL! Sheesh, I'm not a hot shot pilot like Tom, but even I know every planet has a gravity well! LOL, Tom seemed so surprised!

Anyway, this was a good one. Lori was VERY hot in the leather suit, but whoever chose that hairstyle should be slapped repeatedly with a wet noodle. And will wonders ever cease : BACKSTORY!!!

The Good :

Lori Petty! Bring her back PTB!

FX! Nice and simple, but the AOTW ship looked like a Klingon Battlecruiser in some scenes?!?

Nice Dune reference eh? Thumpthumpthump We have WORMSIGN!

More nifty Astrometrics computer animation!

I'm a Doctor not a battery :-) Love the TOS humor!

Tuvok did a nerve pinch! WoooHooo!

The Bad :

That Klingon Battlecruiser through me for a loop, but it looked cool...

I thought all the old style (boxy) shuttles died?

I thought we were finished killing shuttles!

When did Vulcans start living in caves?

Obi-Wan was a Vulcan? You have learned well young Skywa---errr---Tuvok!

D'Alaire -- 3 Feb 1999, 10:13 PM

OH TOTALLY!

I reeeealy should be asleep, but I have to say--

Klingon cruiser! Yep! I was thinking, "All the money they put into the show, and they can't at least paint the model a different color?!" Ooookkkkkaaaayyyy....

DUNE!!!! ROOOOAR!!!!!!!! SPIDERSIGN!! Love it, Eric!

Obi-Wan -- I didn't make that connection, but I do now! LOL!

I hated her hair, too, BTW. Practical, true, as I wouldn't have expected anything aside from short. But the Sinead on a lazy month didn't do her well.

Jules -- 4 Feb 1999, 7:34 AM

Eric, I think you've overlooked something...

The Delta Flyer is invulnerable. Tom crashes it, B'Elanna repairs it. It's in the rules. It's only actually allowed to blow itself to bits irretrievably in alternate timelines that don't count.

So when they want to trash a shuttle or give one away, or when the Flyer's in the shuttlebay with its bonnet up and half the warp drive out on the floor... they break out the old ones and use them instead. They don't look as cool, and they're not built to be all-terrain in the way that the Flyer is, but they're still perfectly serviceable for most purposes. And, since they're standard Starfleet design and the blueprints must be in the database, they're probably rather easier to build new ones of than Tom's hot rod. :-)

"Wormsign"? Wormsign? Heh. The first thing I thought when I saw all those stills of characters standing around in the desert with shrouded heads and binoculars was "Fremen"! Seems it wasn't entirely my imagination reaching out for the nearest parallel...

Jason -- 3 Feb 1999, 10:30 PM

An erratic gravitational pull.

"Gravity" was fairly interesting-- I'll have to watch it again to get a better perspective on it, but visually this show was quite a nice change indeed.

One of the flaws of this season has been a lack of planet shows. Voyager's interiors have always been a bit monochromatic for my tastes so to see such a striking desert landscape with such interesting photography was quite a nice change. This was a sci-fi landscape, and we rarely see that from Voyager.

Lori Petty was very good, much better than I expected that she would be, and her character gradually picking up English was well done. But where was SHE?? She was barely in the episode at all, as such it was hard to believe that a relationship was building between the two, mostly because Paris had to come out and abruptly tell the audience so mid way through.

I loved seeing Joseph Ruskin, a.k.a Drill Thrall Galt from "Gamesters of Triskelion" in this episode! He was a great Vulcan with a very distinguished look.

Unfortunately, he was hampered by a young actor playing Tuvok who seemed to have been unfamiliar with Tim Russ. I've read many times about the producers feeling like they've got burned with guest actors because they hire them and find out they have too much of a 20th century quality. I think this was the case this week. The kid had too much of a street quality. He wasn't Vulcan at all, and I find it hard to believe through his performance that he could have been living amongst dispassionate Vulcans all his life. He would imitate their behavior to some extent, surely.

But there were some interesting nods to continuity, the forcefulness of Tuvok's parents, for one.

Also, the multi dimensional probe was from "Extreme Risk" and the technology was from "Ones shielding in "Drone".

Like another relationship show that Voyager has done, "Resolutions", the relationship's development was very subtle, such that it seems like it's all much ado about nothing, really. This week, both in terms of the relationship between Noss and Tuvok and Vulcan philosophy I feel as if the episode barely scratched the surface.

On the other hand, I was just waiting to see how they were going to kill Noss. I thought that she'd stay behind, and then I thought the sand men would kill her during the raid-- (The raid took two days??) but she survived, which was a pleasant surprise. I would have liked to see her deal with the fact she's only been gone a year despite having been on that planet for fourteen.

All in all, a not bad episode. Not entirely effective, but it's still a pleasant sci-fi episode.

Joyce -- 4 Feb 1999, 2:00 AM

42 minute romance.

I think this episode illustrated very clearly the problem with scripting a one-episode romance, especially when you have to take time out to deal with a rescue effort 'back at the ranch'. There simply isn't enough time to give the viewer enough detail for plausibility.

Nos -- who *was* she? Absolutely the only things we learned about her is that she crashed on the planet long before the shuttle did, was a resourceful survivor, and fell for Tuvok. So? And? Was she a hardscrabble trader or her culture's poet laureate? Were there other people on the ship, and she the sole survivor? Did she fall for Tuvok because he reminded her of her lost love, or because he was utterly unlike any man she'd ever met before?

Since the episode didn't bother to tell us anything about her, I can only conclude that she simply wasn't important. Which means -- the story simply wasn't important.

As for the impact on Tuvok. I'm still scratching my head about what they were trying to tell us here. They showed us Tuvok beginning his training, and Tuvok ending his training, and almost nothing in between, also nothing about the lost romance, and why it was so traumatic. The Vulcan Master was such an obvious copy of Yoda, the old dude in Kung Fu ('ah, grasshopper'), and every other Riddling Wise Man of popular culture that it was almost insulting.

Oh, well. I'm not going to waste too much time analyzing this episode, since the writers obviously didn't.

Ted Mullaney -- 4 Feb 1999, 8:44 AM

Pretty Good. The episode looked very interesting in the previews, and I was REALLY looking forward to it,(at the age of 30, I've officially become a total Trek nerd) but there was something missing from the episode when I viewed it. I think it was a great idea, and I really wanted to find out more about Tuvok's background, but I suppose the limitations of forty-odd minutes of actual airtime just couldn't do the story justice. I think this storyline would have been much better if it was used as the two-hour telefilm instead of the upcoming encounter (again) with the Borg. Even though I freely admit to being smitten with Jeri Ryan, I thing the producers are relying way too much on her character for the "big" episodes of Voyager.

The storyline about Noss and her infatuation with Tuvok could have been so much better if they had just spent a bit more time on it. The whole episode just seemed to be rushed,becoming another installment of Voyager lite when I felt it deserved a deeper treatment.The result was that except for the Tuvok element of the story(which didn't go far enough anyway) the whole episode was really shallow. The time variance thing explained some of this away, but I just would have liked to have seen a deeper story. By the way, I wonder how other peoples opinions are as to the (I feel) too frequent appearances of the Borg on Voyager? It just seems like the studios taken the teeth out of them, remember how unbelievably threatening they seemed when they first appeared on TNG? nuff`said.

O.Bleek -- 4 Feb 1999, 1:51 PM

I agree, the Borg have been uh, neutered.

Hi Ted, yes the once awesome and scary Borg are now dragged out whenever it's time for sweeps. Borg=ratings right? And if you're going to continually bring them back and live to tell, then the next time they appear, it's like, oh yeah, the powerful Borg, no problemo, we can whup their butts anytime baby! Thus diluting the whole awesome Borg effect.

When the Borg were introduced on TNG I thought it was the greatest alien on Trek ever. But Voyager's continued use of them have made them about as scary as the Taco Bell chihuahua!

O.Bleek -- 4 Feb 1999, 1:32 PM

I'm here! And I have a major rant about Gravity.

Hi everyone, long time no see.

I haven't liked many of the episodes this year. Gravity brings home the main reason for that - the writing!

I had a huge problem with the entire Vulcan race being turned into the people who are screwed up and "repress" their emotions. Excuse me? Vulcans are Vulcans. They are different from humans, from Betazoids, from Klingons. Different. Why were they painted as emotional cripples here?

The flashback scenes of Tuvok's childhood training were extremely insulting. I felt that the writers didn't respect what Vulcans are. They showed young Tuvok as a human-like emotional person, who had to go through rigorous brainwashing to get Vulcan-ized. Are they trying to tell us that all Vulcans start out one way, then are forced/indoctrinated to be another way? And that they must constantly strive to keep their inner selves controlled or else go berserk? If they were trying to show that it was just Tuvok having this special problem, they failed miserably.

Blahhh! This scenario flies in the face of everything that Trek stands for. Specifically, about different species and races being respected for what they are. If Vulcans don't show emotion or feel it the same way humans do, does that make them inferior? If Klingons are more emotional than humans - ditto?

I felt from the beginning of Voyager that Tuvok's character was especially poorly written. That the writers didn't know how to make a full, well-rounded Vulcan individual, and that perhaps, in addition, Tim Russ didn't particularly flesh out his role very well. Last night's episode brought this issue home clearly.

I thought RDM did a good job as usual. And Lori Petty, while I don't like the sound of her voice, did a very good job. (And that leather jumpsuit was awesome. I want one of those!)

I for one, am ready for a "Seven" episode. Bring it on.

Joyce -- 4 Feb 1999, 2:17 PM

I'm going to disagree with O Bleek here.

"The flashback scenes of Tuvok's childhood training were extremely insulting. I felt that the writers didn't respect what Vulcans are. They showed young Tuvok as a human-like emotional person, who had to go through rigorous brainwashing to get Vulcan-ized. Are they trying to tell us that all Vulcans start out one way, then are forced/indoctrinated to be another way? And that they must constantly strive to keep their inner selves controlled or else go berserk?"

I didn't find this either insulting *or* inconsistent with what Trek has told us before. From the early days of TOS, it was established that Vulcans *do* have emotions, in fact have emotions much more powerful than human emotions, to the extent that their emotionalism almost destroyed their civilization. Spock himself told us this. That was the reason that Vulcans embraced logic and emotional suppression to such a great extent, because their emotions were literally destroying them. Yes, I *do* think, from what we've been told, that they must 'keep their inner selves controlled or go berserk'.

Granted, we've never seen Vulcan youth being emotional, but I think that's because we've never yet seen Vulcan youth period.

So that part of the episode didn't bother me, though I found the old Vulcan master gig incredibly trite. My objection to this episode is based on my extreme weariness with the plot device that introduces a guest star whose sole purpose in life is to fall in love with the regular.

Taylor -- 4 Feb 1999, 4:27 PM

Gravity an insult to Vulcans?

O.Bleek, I thought about what you said. After reading Joyce's answer, I'd have to say that there's some truth in what you both wrote. Like Joyce said, there's an established history of the Vulcans being so volatile emotionally that they nearly destroyed themselves. Many episodes and books related to Trek also make clear that Vulcans are not without emotions. Instead they have learned to control them. Gravity draws on that history.

But I have to go with O.Bleek's argument that Voyager doesn't always know what to do with a real Vulcan. Tuvok's lack of character development has been really annoying at times. One-liners shot back and forth between Tuvok and Tom are *not* character development, though they are funny. I think the Voyager writers forget some basic aspects of Vulcanism, at least as I understand it. Yes, Vulcans control their emotions, but it's not just a matter of determination. Their lifestyle and way of thinking and feeling has evolved over eons and become a part of who they are. Remember that Trek episode where
McCoy says of Spock that if he were human, he'd probably develop cancer or some other serious physical ailments as a result of such suppression? The point was that Vulcans have adapted physiologically to the way they live emotionally.

The way I saw Gravity, it was an episode that dealt with the nature of Tuvok, rather than the nature of Vulcans in general. Other episodes have shown glimpses of Tuvok as a complex and ferocious sort of Vulcan. Remember the episode Rise? Tuvok's verbal attack on Neelix came from nothing less than fury and malice. He couldn't control himself. And what about Random Thoughts? The sense I got from those episodes, and now Gravity, is that Tuvok is a Vulcan barely in control. Spock as a half-Vulcan had much more control than Tuvok does.

O.Bleek -- 4 Feb 1999, 5:23 PM

Now we're getting somewhere ... Taylor you touched on an important point. In past Treks, we've learned how the Vulcan race developed. But like you said, their emotional suppression was something they have developed over the millennia, not something that happens to each individual Vulcan after they're born. Vulcans have evolved physiologically and psychologically to the level they are now (now in Trek time).

So the Tuvok from passionate youngster to so-suppressed-I-feel-and-act-constipated Vulcan we saw last night didn't ring true, and was in my opinion ridiculous.

It would be as if an episode showed a human such as, well, Tom, as a youngster hanging from trees and throwing his excrement and having to be taught not to do that anymore.

Yes, we've seen that Vulcans have a "berserk" side that comes out on certain acceptable occasions, but that was always treated as a given. I still think showing the indoctrination of a young Vulcan from emotional to extremely stoic didn't work in Gravity. Perhaps it was written with more subtlety, then botched on execution. But the result was bothersome. At least the whole episode was not lost due to the fine acting by RDM and Lori Petty. And I like the Tuvok character, don't get me wrong. Maybe that's why I was so

Terry -- 4 Feb 1999, 6:26 PM

Well, Tuvok is much superior to the DS9 Vulcans.

The DS9 writers really made out the Vulcans to be a race of arrogant bastards who pretend to be above lowly emotions. That Vulcan captain in Take Me Out to the Holosuite was a complete jerk. And his crew as emotionless robots.

Actually, I like the idea of Tuvok being a more typical example of Vulcan. One who does not have the perfect control and placid demeanor of Sarek or Spock. Come to think of it, T'Pau was pretty full of pi** and vinegar.

IMHO, Tuvok has been more consistently written and acted than any of the other Voyager characters. He may be irritable and overly suspicious at times but never too emotional. Apparently, Tim Russ fights to keep the writers from writing his character as too un-Vulcan. In Gravity, I was pleased to see that he ultimately responded to Noss in an affectionate and tender yet not passionate manner. bothered by the poor story.

Ted Mullaney -- 5 Feb 1999, 2:29 AM

Now we're getting somewhere... Intriguing idea about Tom hanging from trees and throwing excrement around. Maybe they could get Jerry Springer to guest-star on that one as alien ringmaster.You know,a touch of the delicately refined ballet of rich human emotions which is the Jerry Springer show might be just what Voyager needs to send ratings through the roof.... Please don`t anyone take this message seriously as I am under the influence of psychotropic drugs.

Tim Holden -- 5 Feb 1999, 2:35 AM

I have not seen this yet, but I do not think this sounds insulting to Vulcans. We sometimes forget that races are made up of individuals. I am sure that ALL Klingons are not bloodthirsty warriors at heart. Not all Rolumlans are duplicitous and untrustworthy. Some Vulcans are more emotional than others, some have better control than others. My favourite Vulcan was Sarek. Although he was the archetypal stoical Vulcan, he showed his love for his son and wife, but flagrantly denied that he did so by pretending that it was all "logical". Vulcan children undergo a trial/ rite of passage where they prove that they have matured and have the basic control of emotion and have the logical presence of mind to become an adult. I cannot remember what the ritual is called but it is a survival exercise where the adolescents are left in the wilderness to fend for themselves. It was described in one of the animated series episodes where Spock goes back in time and poses as a distant relation to his younger self and convinces "himself" to proceed with the ritual.

Vulcans do not speak much about their emotional youth or about their battle to control emotion. It is almost a taboo subject. They prefer to be perceived as calm, lucid and totally in control to the point of being "arrogant" about it.

Ginny -- 5 Feb 1999, 8:09 AM

Give this man a cookie!

My memory may be faulty, but I recall that Amanda, Spock's mother, said something in JOURNEY TO BABEL about how Spock would come home upset because the other Vulcan children teased/taunted him. That sort of conduct would hardly rise to the level of the disciplined, logical ideal that Vulcan adults espouse, so apparently Vulcan children do have to be instructed in the tenets of logic and trained to display the emotional control that we so associate with the Vulcans of TOS.

And I agree with Terry--DS9 never has had a decent handle on Vulcan characters.

Sue_B -- 4 Feb 1999, 6:57 PM

Wilt thou leave me so unsatisfied?....

Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

This seemed to be my personal theme for the evening. I agree with most of the reviewers, there was more to the concept than was played on the screen.

Ways they could have fixed this:
1. How about one of those montages showing time passing. In thirty seconds we could see a variety of scenes that show them gathering food, setting up water stills, fixing up sleeping areas, staring off into the desert distance. The time differential was critical and not demonstrated as effectively.

2. Drop most of the ship-board stuff. Not critical to the story.

3. One more scene with the Vulcans that showed Tuvok turning around. I just never felt I understood why he went back to Vulcan ways (BTW, EXCELLENT analysis by the person who talked about Tuvok's inability to handle his anger in past episodes).

4. One or two lines why Tom cared about a Tuvok/Nos relationship. It seemed more plot device than sincere (despite an excellent RDM performance). Did Tom care because he wanted someone to be happy if he couldn't???

5. It was obvious to me that Tuvok treated Nos different than most. I just never saw the "seduction" that occurred with the Nebula-lady. Perhaps the montage I spoke of in #1 plus a few more shared moments would have done the trick.

ENOUGH WITH THE WHINING...moving on.....

Despite the rushed sense, I truly liked the episode. I saw a great concept with some execution flaws. I think they botched the timing but it wasn't fatal.

Best moments:
1. Tom's rant on the mountain. And the look he gave when he hit paydirt on how Tuvok looked at Nos.
2. Tuvoks "no need to insult me".
3. Nos' expressions. Her bad hair day aside, her physical and facial portrayal gave more backstory than the writers.

Ginny -- 5 Feb 1999, 8:32 AM

I gotta theory on that on why Tom was pushing Tuvok into a relationship with Noss.

Theory Number One--Eagerness To Please

(1) I think Tom had genuinely come to the conclusion that they were never going to be rescued and that they would have to live out the rest of their lives on Tatooine. (Oops, sorry, wrong space opera.)

(2) I also think Tom had become extremely fond of Noss. You can tell by the ease of their interaction when they were hunting spiders and the companionable and affectionate way Noss rested her hand on Tom's shoulder as they were walking back to the ship. Being fond of Noss and having a tendency to want to please the people of whom he is fond, Tom was trying to make her happy by getting her the one thing she obviously wanted--Tuvok.

(3) Tom thought Tuvok also wanted Noss, but was too walled off by his Vulcan discipline to make an overture. I do think this was a little presumptious of Tom (after all, he was one of the few who didn't pressure Seven to be anything other than what she was--a recovering Borg) and may have involved a little emotional projection on his part, but I do believe his heart was in the right place.

Theory Number Two--Enlightened Self Interest

(1) I think Tom had genuinely come to the conclusion that they were never going to be rescued and that they would have to live out the rest of their lives in the Mines of Mercury. (Oops, sorry, wrong episode.)

(2) Although Tuvok tries to brush off Tom's matchmaking attempts by declaring he is not in pon farr at present, it's a-comin'. Tom may just be making sure that Tuvok's feverish gaze doesn't turn toward him at some point in the future, because--let's face it--Tom's a lot prettier than Noss.

Voyager Fan -- 4 Feb 1999, 10:53 PM

I assume this episode was supposed to give us some insight into the nature of Vulcans and Tuvok specifically, but frankly I didn't come up with much by the end of the episode. Do Vulcans have no emotions, as Tuvok repeatedly asserts, or have they just mastered them? There IS a difference. What is it that Vulcans feel for their children and spouses? I believe they feel something, it can't just be duty that binds them together. And I've seen Tuvok behave with compassion, (Once Upon A Time to Ensign Wildman), so why couldn't he have been a bit more compassionate with Nos?

For the most part I enjoyed the flashbacks to Tuvok's youth, although some of those scenes were a bit ponderous for my tastes. And in spite of all the screen time the flashbacks received, not much was actually revealed -- just that Tuvok once had passion but learned to suppress it. He wasn't born a self-proclaimed emotionless being. It was never clear to me WHY self-mastery was so imperative, whether there was a real physical threat to their well being if their emotions ran amok or whether they'd just be like your average, hormonally charged teenage male.

Paris served two purposes (all right three if you include the eye candy function) - he contributed levity to lighten the gravity of their situation, and he furthered the Tuvok-Nos storyline by prodding Tuvok to throw away his eternal marriage vows. I liked him well enough as the wise-guy, but I just didn't buy his insistence that Tuvok abandon his wife and get it on with Nos, particularly on their first night in Nos' ship (the Doctor was still around so I assumed it was still the day they activated him). What was the rush? I can accept that Paris, adorable womanizer extraordinaire, is a "love the one you're with" type guy, and that he might EVENTUALLY talk to Tuvok about beginning a relationship with Nos. But I don't buy Paris pushing things. How long did it take him to have a relationship with B'Elanna anyway? Years! (And he still hasn't come out and said the "L" word himself). Besides, Tuvok was obviously making some progress (as defined by Paris) by looking at Nos as though he wished he weren't Vulcan, so Paris really didn't need to meddle here. And another thing, why did Paris so quickly assume that Voyager wouldn't come find them? After all Mama Kate has done in the past to rescue him? And the fact it was a rescue mission for Tuvok that got them all lost in the Delta Quadrant to begin with? Anyway, I did appreciate Paris yelling at Tuvok for hurting Nos, because I completely agreed with him that Tuvok was unnecessarily brutal. Why did Tuvok have to say, "I have no feelings for you", when he could have just as truthfully said, "I am married and intend to be faithful"?

Moving on...Nos was kind of appealing as a gritty, survive-at-all-costs woman, although her voice started grating on me a bit. She delivered some pretty trite lines though, "Because it is you" and "Good to see your eyes". Blick. Such sentiments were too deliberately guileless for my tastes. Another weakness - we didn't really learn much about her, other than the fact she was tough, she survived for 14 seasons by herself, she could catch spiders and she liked Tuvok. For the most part, Nos didn't engage me, like other one-show-only aliens have (One in "Drone", Kashik in "Counterpoint").

Captain Janeway really didn't have much to do here, just stalk around the bridge issuing orders, deal with stubborn aliens, and solve problems, but no review of mine is complete without an analysis of Janeway. She came across as intelligent, strong, and decisive for the most part, but I did have a slight nit (hard to believe I'm criticizing my much admired Captain Janeway three weeks in a row!) I thought her joke about the away team standing up Voyager for the rendezvous was unnecessary. We the viewers know she'll be successful at rescuing them, and so perhaps we can chuckle indulgently at her joke, but within her - and the crews' - fictional frame of reference there was a darn good chance she WOULDN'T be successful, and in that context the joke seems cold and insensitive.

To summarize my thoughts, "Gravity", while at times interesting, was mostly mediocre. I may have missed something since I only watched it twice, but I still think it merits a mediocre 5.5 out of 10.

Terry -- 5 Feb 1999, 12:27 AM

Fan, I believe that they had been on the planet for months when Paris started urging Tuvok to get involved with Nos.

Fan said:

I just didn't buy his insistence that Tuvok abandon his wife and get it on with Nos, particularly on their first night in Nos' ship (the Doctor was still around so I assumed it was still the day they activated him). What was the rush? I can accept that Paris, adorable womanizer extraordinaire, is a "love the one you're with" type guy, and that he might EVENTUALLY talk to Tuvok about beginning a relationship with Nos. But I don't buy Paris pushing things.

The director did a poor job of showing that much more time had passed for the crew on the planet but it had. I believe that Paris told Tuvok that Voyager was probably 300 light-year away by then. Which would mean the conversation occurred a few months after the crash, not the first night. (At the end of the show, Paris said two months had passed for Voyager's two.) Granted that Voyager would spend some weeks searching but eventually they would give them up for dead and go on.

Voyager Fan -- 5 Feb 1999, 7:34 AM

Maybe, but it was quite unclear ... It was all very confusing because I thought the Doctor was deactivated the day they got to Nos' ship, and he was around for that dinner conversation, and the conversation outside seemed to take place that same night. And when the Doctor was finally REACTIVATED, Paris said the Doctor had been deactivated for 2 months.

But I didn't like the episode enough to watch it again and figure it out so I'll take the Nebulites word for it if you all seem to agree here....

In my book, two months is still too soon to be pushing Tuvok, although it is certainly better than one night!

Ruth -- 5 Feb 1999, 7:04 AM

I agree they did a poor job of showing the passage of time when I first saw Tom talking to Tuvok about Nos, I thought, "whoa" that's a little sudden isn't it. But I had seen the end of the episode live before I watched my tape, and more time must have passed than I realized. Doesn't the scene where Chakotay tells Kathryn that three months have passed on the planet follow closely on the heels of this scene? Or maybe not -- the crew didn't show up until late, did they?

This was an okay episode (what I saw of it; Satan's Robot apparently destroyed my UPN station last week. It's been on the fritz for the past few days, and I could barely make out Our Darling Tom on the fuzzy screen in between periodic blackouts.) I like Tom, and I like Tuvok, and I like Tom and Tuvok together. But as other folks have said it was hard to discern the character's motivations. Plus, I think if they had done a better job of making us feel the passing of time, life on the planet might have seemed more compelling to the viewers.

One other comment about the passage of time. I recall that one of Vickie's criticisms about the Chute was that the clamp was an artificial device to make our guys stir crazy, and why couldn't the guys be shown getting antsy in a more natural fashion. (I think it was Vickie, and that I'm remembering correctly). If Tom, in particular, really felt he was trapped on that planet for eternity, I would have thought he would have been a little more angry and bitter after several months, instead of just turning into Tuvok's dating consultant.

Ruth -- 5 Feb 1999, 7:28 AM

Speaking of the J/C scene ... that I just mentioned (the one in her ready room when he gives her the PADD with info on the planet). When I was watching it I kept thinking no wonder die hard J/Crs don't give up. The mood lighting reminded me of the dinner scene in "Timeless," and did Riker ever get in Picard's face like that? Maybe that's just part of Beltran's acting style; others have pointed out he gets up close and personal with Seven as well.

MEG -- 5 Feb 1999, 12:03 PM

What struck me about that J/C scene . . .was how informal those two are with each other. Riker's reports to Picard generally didn't include such phrases as "Ready for the bad news?" and Picard's responses NEVER included "You're kidding me!" Janeway and Chakotay just seem to relate much more as equals than any other Captain/First Officer duo, except possibly Kirk and Spock. And I think that's a good thing. Setting aside any romantic subtext, the relaxed quality suits their backgrounds (he was a captain too, after all, even if it was in the Maquis) and their current situation far from the hierarchy- reinforcing presence of Starfleet.

What did I think of the rest of the episode? Besides the flashbacks I kept having to TOS's babe-in-the-fur-bikini excursion? Not much. (What was that TOS episode, anyway? "All Our Yesterdays?" I meant to look it up.)

MEG (leaving now to go brief MY hierarchy on the taxi incident.)

Mindy -- 5 Feb 1999, 6:48 PM

Not as GRAVITY-defying as I would have liked.

At work, mostly by myself (one of the other agents is here, but she's really cool)...I'm on the desk tonight, answering phones, etc...which thank the lord aren't ringing!...so I have the chance to spill my guts about GRAVITY. As Terry knows, I was sick with the flu or maybe it's just perimenopause, but I watched it in a haze, but in general I was not impressed. I mean, it was okay to watch, certainly pleasant, but there were nagging things about it that prevented me from really enjoying it (although coming off THE BRIDE OF CHAOTICA is a tough road to follow, I admit.) I am going to watch it again Sunday night, and expect to enjoy it, but don't expect to not be disappointed in some things.

What things?

1. VOYAGER'S TREATMENT OF VULCAN SOCIETY AND CULTURE: I don't know, they just don't seem to get it, not even Braga...it has been my belief that Vulcans start teaching their kids to suppress their emotions almost from day one...and therefore do not need to go to a Vulcan master to learn how to do so...and I don't like the rip-off of Yoda and the Master in KUNG FU that seems to be becoming the prevalent notion of Vulcan society...it's just not oriiginal enough for me...Vulcans are alien, remember? They are becoming more human every day...I mean, have the Master, have young Tuvok as the rebellious student, but do something a little different with it, y'know? Put a twist on it...I also don't like the way VOYAGER portrays mind-melding...we never see any of the joy/agony that historically was involved...go back and watch some of the TOS episodes, especially DAGGER OF THE MIND, which was the first episode to demonstrate the Vulcan ability...Spock says it is dangerous, private, and only used in personal and important situations (I'm paraphrasing)...even Leonard Nimoy hosting on the Sci-Fi Channel has stated that he believes that Vulcan mind-melding has become a pat answer to too many plot holes or as a quick-fix when the alloted episode time is running out. The mind-meld between Tuvok and Noss should have been much more dramatic and emotionally satisfying for the viewer AND for the characters.

2. TOM'S URGING TUVOK TO SLEEP WITH NOSS: All I could think was, Tom, shut up. I was embarrassed for RDM to have to say those lines. He sounded like a high schooler trying to vicariously get laid by getting his best friend laid with the school hottie, know what I mean? Has Tom learned nothing in his relationship with B'lanna? Has he no sense of his shipmate at all? Back to the drawing board for this one.

3. NOSS: Not fully-rounded enough (quiet, Eric!!) Why did she have to learn to speak English and not our boys her language? We could have at least seen them picking up some key phrases and slang...sort of like what happens when an American goes to live in Britain, for instance, and starts saying, "Ring me up" instead of "Call me", or saying "Bollocks" instead of "Balls"...know what I mean? I liked her aggressiveness...going to kiss Tuvok, etc....but after his rebuff we should have seen more coldness towards him or something...and while I appreciate that leather will keep you warm in the cold desert night, she should have been in something more loose and flowing during the daytime scenes...but it was obvious that TPTB were doing a DUNE take...only she wasn't wearing a stillsuit, guys....though she did remind me of Paul's wife, Chani...A LOT. ( Actually, Lori Petty would have been a better Chani than Sean Young, now that I think of it....even though in reality she was probably about two when the movie was made.)

I could go on, but this is a really long submission. Anyway, those are my basic complaints. Still, I'd give it about a five...better than 9 out 10 Ferengi episodes on DS9, that's for sure!

Terry -- 5 Feb 1999, 7:01 PM

I got the impression that Yoda was running a Vulcan reform school for juvenile Vulcan deliquents. That Tuvok had been taught to control his emotions from birth but that his imperfect control was destroyed by his infatuation. Yoda was just helping to him to use the regain his control and better understand its necessity.

It makes sense to me that Vulcans would have imperfect emotional control until they reach maturity. In fact, it seems likely that proof of such control would be a rite of passage into adulthood.

Shawnster -- 6 Feb 1999, 10:10 PM

Hours could seem like days...Sorry for being late.

Well, it was an alright episode. Nothing terrible, but nothing really supurb either.

Another outstanding FX job. I especially liked the spider hunting effects. This is getting to be old hat for the FX crews now.

I did come away from the episode with several nits, in no particular order.

It looked to me that the impact broke the shuttle open. You could see light come in from the whole in the top of the shuttle (a very uniform hole. As if it was part of the door or something.). These two lived through an impact like that?

While I knew from the spoilers that time flowed differently inside the anomaly, I forgot and didn't get that impression until Chakotay and Janeway were discussing it. I thought they could have done a much better job of letting us know something was up. These guys were too clean shaven. Along this line, I thought it was odd for Paris to give up so soon on rescue, telling Tuvok to pursue Tank Girl and whatnot. Well, of course he was willing to give up, to him it'd been months.

So, this ship of hers was protected by a force field? How did they get through it?

Why were the bad guys assaulting this ship? I mean, that was a whole army trying to attack one little girl and her two friends.

Second week in a row Voyager got stuck in something. Couldn't they have at least put those two episodes farther apart?

So, did Tank Girl (Noss?) learn to speak english? How ethnocentric of Starfleet. Tuvok and Paris must have reasoned that it was logical for her to learn their language instead of the two of them learn hers. Pity they couldn't get the universal translator working and just avoid that problem all together.

Ah, the wise sage. I liked the flashbacks to Tuvok's past but I hated the fact that, in the emotional scene at the end with Paris, Tuvok tells us word for word what we've already watched. Why repeat it to us? I was also disappointed that we didn't get to see more of Tuvok's past. This would have been a great way to provide insight into the character and they dropped the ball. Instead the scenes seemed out of place, especially with Tuvok's recap at the end.

By the way, Tuvok's infatuation interest, the Terellian, has four arms.

No, nothing really to write home about. Still, I enjoyed the story about unreturned love, but I enjoyed TNG's version better. In fact, Liaison's was very similar in structure. A woman lives in a crashed ship on a barren planet and fall in love with a Starfleet officer who she nurses back to health. This Starfleet officer (Picard) even crashed on the planet in a shuttle (well, shuttle type of ship). To top it off, the ship the woman and Picard stayed in was a Terellian ship.

I am definitely not looking forward to next week. Voyager gets ate by a giant space whale. Ugh!

Annie -- 7 Feb 1999, 8:19 PM

I loved the episode. Maybe because; it is one of the few Tuvok episodes we have gotten, and maybe it is because we got to see Tom in a T-shirt ;^P'''. I can truly say that I have not seen Lori Petty in many things, but what I have seen her in, she is weird. In this ep, I liked her very well. She seems to be a very talented actor.

When the show first came on, I thought that the boy, viewing him from behind was Tuvok, but as the scene played out, I realized it was Tuvok as a boy. When the boy turned around I thought wow, he really does look like Tuvok! Maybe it was the Vulcan makeup, and maybe it was Tim's son. Once the show was over, I rewound to the beginning credits to see if it was Tim Russ' son, only to find out it wasn't.

I thought the friendships that developed (and refreshed) over the two months while they were there were a wonderful. I loved the scene where Tom was explaining the evolution of he and B'Elanna's relationship, the Doctor's translation for Noss of how she knew Tom must feel about B'Elanna, and his admission of his love for her in front of his friends was a long time in coming. Nevertheless, it was good to hear Tom voice his feelings out loud, if not to B'Elanna, then to his friends, and us.

The scene with Noss and Tuvok after he was injured was very good. It was a little hard to believe (at first) that she was that infatuated with him, then taking the time factor into count, it wasn't so unbelievable. Tuvok's response to her affection were quite in line with his character, even though you could see the inner conflict in his face. I view Tuvok as a genuine honorable man to the end. He would no sooner defile his wife than to deny someone that means something to him to not feel what he cannot. The fact that he ran out to save her at the last hour when he knew there was a possibility of missing the transport gave credibility to his ability to feel (something). I thought the scene when he said goodbye to Noss showed that, as well as his fortitude in dealing with her feelings toward him and

I am a little confused as to why the aliens on the planet were so violent, when their brethren dealing with Voyager were much less so. I give it to the hostile atmosphere of the planet I guess. I'm not saying that the aliens dealing with Voyager were pleasant by any means, but they were not attacking Voyager as their brothers on the planet were attacking our group of stranded. Those guys were downright mean. Anyway, I am glad that the focus was not on the aliens in this one, but rather on the stranded crew and Tuvok and saving the crew from certain death.

Tom's complaint to Tuvok about B'Elanna not missing as much as he missed her, well that was great for me, a P/T'r to the end. Can you just imagine the possible resulting scenarios in that admission alone? Yeah Tom and B'Elanna! I hope we get to see them together again sometime during the remaining season. I won't hold my breath though. I just love the exchanges between Tom the romantic, and Tuvok the stoic most every time. I think they always make a good team. Did I mention above how good Tom looks in a T-shirt? Well, if I didn't, let it be known now that I think Tom looks absolutely wonderful in a T-shirt (in fact he looks good in anything). The color of those underclothes seems to always bring out the blue in his eyes. His hair looked better in this ep too. Tom is just IT among the Voyager men, that's all there is to it.

P.S. - I did not give my thoughts on "The Bride", because I did not see it until Monday of the following week, and thought my comments would be too old, but just for the record, I LOVED IT!

Jules -- 8 Feb 1999, 4:29 AM

I shouldn't worry about late comments, Annie. It's pretty much impossible for me to see and comment on an episode in anything under a week - although I guess there's always a possibility that I can achieve that in Florida in May, if the season's still running - and I still jump in regardless. And I'd guess that there are enough people in non UPN areas viewing by post nowadays that an episode is still "current" even when two or three more have aired.

So, post those comments anyway. Even if they don't get a lot of responses - the serious heckling always takes place in the first week - people are still interested in reading them.

And, on the subject of "Bride"... didn't you think that Tom looked particularly luminous in black and white? And one thing's for certain. Whatever the colour of Tom's eyes, Captain Proton's are definitely grey. :-)

TKS -- 8 Feb 1999, 6:40 AM

To quote Spock "Interesting".

"Not long ago," said he at length, "and I could have guided you on this route as well as the youngest of my sons; but, about three years past, there happened to me an event such as never happened before to mortal man --or at least such as no man ever survived to tell of --and the six hours of deadly terror which I then endured have broken me up body and soul. You suppose me a very old man --but I am not. It took less than a single day to change these hairs from a jetty black to white, to weaken my limbs, and to unstring my nerves, so that I tremble at the least exertion, and am frightened at a shadow. Do you know I can scarcely look over this little cliff without getting giddy?"
A Descent into the Maelstrom
By Edgar A. Poe

I thought that this particular quote was appropriate, since I thought of it when watching the program. This episode didn't seem to be as heavy as most of season 5 so far, but it wasn't terribly light.

Somehow I think I need to take Sylvan classes to inhance my memory. How many writers do they need on an episode anyway. Was Brian Fuller one of the writers.

I wasn't expecting much from this episode, since I am not a fan of Lori Petti, but I have to confess she was much better than I had expected.

I had no problem with young Tuvok being too emotional, after all on many occasions Spock has said that Vulcan's were very passionate, and only logic kept their emotions in check. I don't know if anyone can recall, but in the episode Journey to Babel Sarek smiled when they each expressed affection with thier fingers. I believe Amanda said "...but I love you anyway."

I thought that Tom was out of line, but not entirely out of character, because I could see him saying something like this in season three, but with a little less enthusiasm, and a little more compassion. Tom did realize that Tuvok was married, and Tuvok has always remained faithful to his wife. To be honest with you I don't mind being teased, but I don't think I would like it if Tuvok just blew off his marriage, I think that Tuvok would lose some of his charm. I thrive on the temptation though.
Tom seemed a little pushy.

This Tuvok was a little less compassionate as well. I realize that he was honest with Noss, but he certainly wasn't compassionate on the planet. Is this the same Tuvok from Once Upon a Time while remaining logical, comforted Samantha Wildman? This suggested to me that there was something more to his relationship with Noss than he would acknowledge openly. Tom being quite intuitive saw it, and called him on it. The least Tuvok could have done is be diplomatic with Noss.

The final scene with the mind meld was very touching, although I don't know what Tuvok imparted to Noss, but Noss seemed to have been satisfied with it, and the expression on her face spoke volumns, and that was enough for me.

I liked this one.

Mrs. Mac -- 8 Feb 1999, 9:06 AM

The Tommy, Tank and Tuvvy Show!

Sheesh! After reading all of the reviews I was think the worst when I saw this episode! One thing is for certain: Tuvok has a lot more sex appeal even without kissing a woman than all the tongue wrestling that goes on in a UpChuck episode. Tuvok looks good in a T-shirt, unlike our slightly pouty, bad-in-scoop-neck First Officer.

Melanie Griffith on helium! So THIS is the tank girl that Eric has been slobbering over! Aside from her voice, I thought she did an admirable job. Her scenes with Tuvok were touching. She has the ability to show her concern and love through her facial expressions.

I don't have very many bad things to say about this ep. Did the aliens warship look like a Klingon warbird? I don't know my Star Trek ships but this one looks familiar. Frankly, I surprised that Janeway allowed the aliens to star closing the access hole. Since her crew was still inside I was wondering why she didn't attempt to disable their ship's weapons. There was nothing to indicate that this ship had any more power than their own.

Ginny! Tom loves B'Elanna! He admitted it! Na-na na-na na-na. A touching scene nicely bookmarked by the Tom and Tuvok scene in the end where Tom was frustrated that B'Elanna didn't miss him equally. Afterall, to B'Elanna, he had only gone for a walk in the park.

The little Obi-One-Kanobi was cute. Thank goodness they weren't bald or I'd have a TV Kung-Foo flashback attack.

Say, does anyone know what mission they were on in the first place that required the doc to tag along?