useless desires (Persistence of Vision, s2 e8)

I just realized I posted my drafts out of order! And skipped Persistence of Vision!! So sorry, but also what is time, etc.

"Persistence of Vision" could also be titled “kisses no one wanted to see on television.” There are so many of them! Voyager is a show that is fundamentally bad at romantic subplots, and this episode in particular seems determined to deliver awkward makeout scenes that literally no one asked for.

Truthfully I’m inclined to like this episode - it’s gothic, and it's about feelings, and those are both good things! (Season Two as a whole is strong in the area of feelings-forward episodes, even as it struggles with such matters as “plot.”)

We open with Janeway, modern career woman, losing her cool due to the pressures of command. The Doctor orders her to blow off some steam with a holo-novel, so we’re back to Victorian governess cosplay. 

This show’s conception of self-care is so very nineties - Janeway is a leader, but she’s also a woman, which means that an essential layer in her Maslow’s Pyramid is “putting on a corset and getting snogged by a bargain-basement aristocrat.” The problem with the governess holonovel is that it invokes universalized cliches of gendered desire (bodice-ripper tropes) instead of drilling into what this character, specifically, would look for in a holonovel (my money is on lady doctor/cowboy romance, but I will also accept steampunk adventure, or pirates). Some women dig feeling feminine, but they also want to feel like themselves.

Soon Janeway’s repressed lady psyche, pushed to the brink, begins to spill out into ordinary life. When she dares to enjoy a coffee ice cream (instead of one of her inexplicable cups of soup), she begins to hallucinate. Mark shows up!! A ghostly dog barks!!!

I am usually one to try to get behind a canonical love interest - even if my shippy preferences lie elsewhere, canon relationships shed light on character. But man, I hate this jerk. No doubt real!Mark has many pleasant qualities that phantom!Mark lacks, but let's be real, dude has all the charisma of a bin full of pencil shavings.

Mark (and Mollie) have been on Janeway's mind; we know this because she gave their photo a long, plaintive look before trotting off to the holodeck. Now phantom!Mark declares that, quote, SOMEONE ELSE IS IN YOUR THOUGHTS NOW(!!!) As further evidence of her guilt, a hallucinatory Mrs. Templeton appears and jumps her.

Who the heck is someone else?? One is inclined to assume that we're being setting up for a Janeway/Chakotay romance arc - but it’s hard to feel certain this show isn’t fucking with us, making shippy promises it has no intention of keeping. It seems equally possible that Lord Burleigh is someone else and the writers truly believe that Janeway feels guilty for kissing holograms behind her fiance’s back.

At any rate, atmospherically backlit aliens have shown up; the rest of the crew starts hallucinating, seeing loved ones or, in B’Elanna’s case, a torrid romance with Chakotay?? (I am actually okay with these two as fwb, but their relationship is so fundamentally platonic that, again, it feels like the writers are just messing with us.) Mark shows up and kisses Janeway (gosh, two Janeway kisses in one episode, each one profoundly disappointing).

Only Kes is strong enough to resist these bankrupt conjurings of female desire. Her siren is a Tom Paris who needs to be rescued, which is actually a pretty funny and on the nose interpretation of what Kes is into. Overcoming her urge to engage in some hurt/comfort roleplay, Kes rescues the ship, Medusa-like, by using her telepathic powers to return the awkward to sender.

I enjoy this episode because it’s about women’s personal lives, even though the script seems extremely confused about what those personal lives consist of. Janeway and Torres share a very sweet “welp, that was awkward” scene at the end in which they resolve to be a little less repressed in the future.

Of curse, we can't possibly expect either of them to follow through with their vow; when it comes to nineties television, the richest texts are usually those below the surface. 3/5 surreptitious coffee ice creams.

littol boys :3

Ultimate cringefail; cringe technically-a-furry Threshold AU Janeway dates a hologram while the man raising her lizard babies stands off to the side looking like this D:

I ACTUALLY REALLY LOVE FAIR HAVEN FOR THIS HAHAHA. CRINGE NAENAE THOUGHTIES WHEEEEE::::::

Like I know some of us toy with the idea that Janeway and Chakotay are a little bit relationally closer (Especially regarding Threshold AU) during the events of the TV series, but I'm more in line with the idea that they're strictly plat outside of that one little indulgence they have in Isabo's Shirt hehe, which is fittingly before Fair Haven takes place. :3c And with that I think both Kathryn and Chakotay allow each other their own little indulgences whenever they occur, regardless of how opposed they are of each other's choices. Him pursuing Seven is a big punch in the gut for Kathryn though. :)

Funnily too in regards to Threshold AU, Alice and I had humored the idea prior to Fair Haven that Kathryn would "indulge" herself on the Holodeck similarly to what Tuvok does during the pon farr. What exactly she DOES is left up to interpretation, I'd humored the idea that it starts off as her pre-programming Mark to roll around with and then she discreetly edits the program throughout the course of the series lol (Especially after she gets the Dear John letter from him YEOWCH). With that said hahaha I don't think Michael Sullivan would come as a shock to Chakotay, I love his reaction to it on the show, and I don't think he'd be particularly threatened by the endeavor. I think he'd be glad to see her indulging in a way that is safe to her, considering in Isabo's Shirt she'd confessed to him that what holds her back is that fear of losing him; a hologram boyfriend seems pretty risk-free in that regard.

I love it as well in the show whenever Kathryn gets to pretend she's living another life; as I'm sure in the AU being a single mother of three isn't the most attractive quality to her. Though I do fancy the idea that her and Tom (Who'd likely go the extra mile to childproof his magnum opus holodeck program) would absolutely take the triplets to Fair Haven and dress them up in quaint little outfits teehee and show them around and everything. :3c Chakotay never seems to enamored by the holodeck so I'm sure Fair Haven would be one of their things with the kids.

Janeway Lambda One | Captain Janeway's holonovel in "Cathexis" "Learning Curve" and "Persistence of Vision"

I love your star trek art sooo much!!! If you ever made a Janeway playing card I would jump at the chance to buy a print! Thank you for sharing your creative efforts with us! ❤

oh hello!!! and my pleasure!! I’m so much looking forward to getting into the other shows for this deck of cards... I’m not doing the series in any particular order (and was actually sketching seven’s design today!) Janeway is lined up in my plan for the deck to be the king of clubs, though I’m not sure yet if her fleet counterpart will be her in her lambda one program dress (from learning curve), as a french revolutionary (from the killing game) or as queen of the spider people... hah!

52: Reader, I Reprogrammed Him

Gothic Fiction in Star Trek: Voyager.

Even starship captains, with the whole galaxy to explore, need a bit of mindless escapism from time to time. While Jean-Luc Picard donned his fedora and trench coat to live out a holographic fantasy life as the surly gumshoe Dixon Hill, Kathryn Janeway’s choice of entertainment might seem—at least on the surface—even less in keeping with her “real” personality. In three early episodes of Star Trek: Voyager—“Cathexis,” “Learning Curve,” and “Persistence of Vision”—we see her indulge in a holonovel that appears to combine elements of Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre (1847), Henry James’s The Turn of the Screw (1898), and Rebecca, the 1938 novel by Dame Daphne du Maurier. In her holographic escape from life in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway played the role of a wide-eyed governess who finds herself at the heart of a sinister gothic mystery.

In this episode of Primitive Culture, hosts Clara Cook and Duncan Barrett take a look at the literary influences on Captain Janeway’s Lambda One holonovel, considering questions of female agency, repressed sexuality, and the apparent value of low-brow entertainment to Starfleet’s high-ranking officers. We also question whether a show as bright and cheery as Star Trek: Voyager can ever truly accommodate Gothicism.

Chapters Intro (00:00:00) The Birth of the Holonovel (00:07:00) High Tech, Low Brow (00:17:30) Turning to Screwing (00:22:50) Janeway Eyre (00:36:55) Delta Quadrant Gothic (00:54:35) Infinite Diversity in Limited Combinations (01:06:25)

New podcast episode!

explore stupid nebulas, win stupid prizes (Cathexis, s1 e13)

Oh boy, this is a pretty stinky episode in my opinion, but we get to talk about Janeway's hair some more, so there's that.

We start with Janeway's gothic holonovel! Jeri Taylor was responsible for introducing this storyline, and I see what she was going for, but the problem is that the holonovel is very boring and not terribly credible as a leisure activity for our overworked and underpaid captain. I'm so very confused about Lord Burleigh, who ought to have at least an edge of Byronic charm but is giving us nothing to work with. Of course it is Star Trek and genuine on-purpose sex appeal is hard to pull off.

We do get the first interaction that one could, if you really squint, call sapphic (on the logic that, in a post-Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca world, all interactions between governesses and housekeepers are inherently psychosexual).

I do not love a Victorian gown but Janeway's hairdo is pretty fun! This woman has so much hair and it's hard to imagine her styling it reliably without some help. My head canon is that Voyager has a holographic barber and Janeway regularly heads down to the holodeck when her coif needs coiffing.

Speaking of the coif, she has a more streamlined version of the French twist from the last episode. It's still better than her usual but a bit awkward and helmet-y. Again, I just think that an undercut (or even a pixie cut) is the solution they're looking for. Her poor hair stylists.

The rest of the episode is, appropriately, a ghost story. (It's gothic, geddit?) I guess it's an okay plot - people are getting possessed, someone is lying, there's a ghost cam POV, nothing adds up. For me it lacked stakes and suspense, especially on a rewatch. During most of the episode we just have a general vibe of "something is up"; without substantial more clues, it's hard to feel like we're solving the mystery alongside the characters.

Oh boy, the medicine wheel! I don't feel like I have any business trying to make sense of what's going on here, beyond the fact that the medicine wheel they're portraying seems to have more in common with appropriated New Age practices than Indigenous / Pan-Indian beliefs (and, of course, Chakotay doesn't have a tribe so it's impossible to say what's "correct" for this character).

Also, the whole conceit of "character has a religious practice; science fiction stuff happens that superficially resembles, but does not actually have anything to do with, this religious practice," feels pretty wonky, especially in this case. Once again Chakotay's culture is instrumentalized for the sake of the plot.

I did think it was an interesting touch that the Doctor is knowledgeable about Indigenous medicine. I like this, but it's such a can of worms! The Doctor is able to provide culturally-informed care, but he's still programmed by / presenting as a white guy; I feel there's a tacit implication that inclusive medicine is when white people learn about non-white practices. What if Starfleet vessels had Indigenous holograms programmed by Indigenous people? Or if the EMH had subroutines that adapted his presentation, knowledge, and practices to any patient? What would it mean to decolonize AI, both in our world and in science fiction?

My notes from the scene where Chakotay finally wakes up - "All Doctor wants to do is to write papers, all Janeway wants us to touch her crew inappropriately." Girl, get your hands off that man's chest! Janeway's wandering hands are an iconic part of her performance, and of course good acting often benefits from more physical proximity than would be appropriate in real life, but you are his boss, ma'am.

Yeah, sorry, this one did truly nothing for me. 1.5/5 vaguely racist musical flute cues.

ok like the fast travel version of my thoughts on how they got to the name Philippa because i guess subconsciously it’s always nagged me that her name didn’t have a reason like the rest of them lol (THIS DOESNT HAVE TO BE IMPLEMENTED HAHAHA PORTRAY/ADAPT IT HOW U WANT!!!!!!!!):::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

but LIKE, kathryn has HUMORED the idea of having children. i think she ironically even mentioned it in Threshold of all convenient places haha. in the autobio it also has her reflect on occasion on how she wanted children (even cringe book canon: going so far as to freeze her ova for laters xddddd i wipe away this canon I DONT NEED IT I HAVE MY OWN AMELIA JANEWAY!!!!!!!!) but i seem to recall her specifically also having talked about it with mark and also getting MARRIED obviously,,,,,,,,,,,,

and at first i was like oh,,,, maybe “Philippa” is a name kathryn liked and wanted to name a future daughter of hers,,,,, which is VERY projective headcanon territory that i dont tend to vibe very much..........

AND THEN I WAS LIKE,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, well what if its a name that MARK’S fond of and suggests,,,,,,, in this hypothetical future children conversation they have,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and even more delicious to me would be if kathryn HATED it and laughed at him and teased him about how she’d be nicknamed “Phil” or something silly and poopoo’d the name, but deep down she always remembers that THAT’S the name he’d wanted to name their daughter

and then like,,,,,,, wrapping it into the au around the time that likely Chakotay and Neelix are naming the kiddies,,,,,,,,, i figure theyd had to have asked around or scavenged databases looking for ideas on what to name them. and quite honestly i bet theyd have wanted to have settled on naming Edward “OWEN” but i think running it by Tom would steer them off doing that ‘cause the boy’s got DADDY ISSUES at that point in the series. :) so inevitably they land on the other grandfather haha. and then i think Tom would offhandedly suggest Amelia or neelix and chakotay would think amelia because she’s a pilot and both kathryn and tom took a fancy to her haha. 

and then when i was trying to think of how they’d unearth kathryn’s weird repressed fondness for “philippa” and its association with mark and everything i was likeeeee thinking she might have VERY discreetly in her Janeway Lambda One holonovel maybe have made a little girl named “philippa” that looks weirdly like a next gen or either her and MARK or her and Lord Burleigh hahaha, that i dont think shed have ever actually IMPLEMENTED into the program, but she humored the idea, made it, scrapped it, didnt think about it again. and neelix and/or chakotay stumbling upon this weird buried character she’s made for herself that’s effectively programmed to be her DAUGHTER they figure it’s a name she likes and BLAH BLAH BLAH.

i imagine she’d be taken aback and maybe get a little UPSET at them digging and finding that name and shes like VERY opposed to the idea of them using it to name one of the triplets at first because she’s associated it so closely to Mark and their ideas of a family and everything, but she wont admit that at first, wont confess to herself that these are the children she’s been dealt and everything and its not what she wanted or planned for etc etc. and i bet neelix would be the one to convince her to use it because similarly to his recent experience with kes (YOU KNOW THE SUPER CRINGE EPISODE) you dont know if there will be any second chances or opportunities past this point for having children at the ideal time and everything. :)

212: Black Is the New Black

Voyager Costumes.  Star Trek: Voyager contained an impressive array of costumes, from historical outfits in the "Janeway Lambda One" holonovel and "Fair Haven," to the retro-futuristic costumes of "Captain Proton," to alternate Starfleet uniforms, such as rather dapper-looking flight suits and rather less dapper-looking training uniforms. Add in the alien-of-the-week wardrobes of the Kazon, the Vidiians, the Hirogen, and countless other Delta Quadrant races, and Voyager provides a veritable Delta Quadrant fashion show from week to week!  In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Suzanne Williamson, Zachary Fruhling, and Kay Shaw discuss the best and worst of Voyager costuming. Find out which costumes are Suzanne's, Zachary's, and Kay's most and least favorite costumes in all of Voyager. And who exactly holds Neelix's dappled, multi-color apron as the epitome of Star Trek fabrics?  Chapters Intro (00:00:00) Anti-Costumes (00:01:38) The Underwear Round (00:03:57) Uniform Evolution (00:07:35) The Golden Crew (00:10:08) What's Under That Holographic Kilt? (00:13:24) The Eighties Called and Asked For Their Costumes Back (00:14:51) Vegan Leather (00:16:40) Hashtag: DukatInTheHat (00:20:56) I Am Partial To The Delaney Sisters (00:22:56) Raiding Jake Sisko's Wardrobe (00:25:07) I've Got Dry Ice In My Shorts (00:26:34) Captain Archer In A Baseball Cap (00:30:08) Twenty Ninth Century Yeeeuuuck! (00:33:41) What Future Geeks Will Wear Ironically (00:34:53) Pockets Are Bad M'Kay? (00:37:29) They Must Have Had Bolts of the Stuff (00:40:50) Chanel No. 7 of 9 (00:43:42) Is Grey the New Orange? (00:45:12) Closing (00:48:49)  Hosts Suzanne Williamson, Zachary Fruhling, and Kay Shaw  Production Kay Shaw (Editor) Suzanne Williamson (Producer) Zachary Fruhling (Producer) C. Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Kenneth Tripp (Executive Producer) Bruce Lish (Associate Producer) Joo Kim (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Associate Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) 

New podcast episode!