In the thirteenth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Gods, what a fascinating episode. THIS IS A JOURNEY, Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ALL. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m still in awe at how far the script goes in just forty minutes. This used to be an adorable episode about scientific curiosity and B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s need to activate a mysterious robot and then ROBOT CIVIL WARS and KIDNAPPING and DEATH THREATS and WHAT DID THIS TURN INTO.<\/p>\n
A goddamn spectacle, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what. When the\u00c2\u00a0Voyager\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>team finds a robot floating in space, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prototype\u00e2\u20ac\u009d focuses entirely on one person: B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna Torres. Her curiosity and interest fuels this whole thing, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a beautiful thing to watch. I swear, few things on\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0make me happier than watching B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s infectious excitement. Whenever she gets obsessed with something, her whole face lights up, and she bounces around the ship. I WANT THIS KIND OF ENERGY IN MY LIFE. Despite the apparent impossibility of the task before her, B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna refuses to give up on this project of hers. I LOVE IT. I LOVE WHAT IT REPRESENTS. I LOVE THAT THIS SHOW GIVES B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ELANNA A STORY SO COMPLEX AND MEANINGFUL.<\/p>\n
And seriously, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like every plot twist is another reminder that we have no clue what this show is willing to do to us. I had a sneaking suspicion that the robot was floating out in space for a reason, and I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t believe I was technically right about that. The story is pitched into such a sad direction, though, once 3947 is awakened, and that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why I forgot that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d been wary about them. Initially, I balked at the assertion that helping these robots with their dying power source was a violation of the Prime Directive. How could that be considered a bad thing? They\u00c2\u00a0requested<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0help! Plus, how could machines\u00c2\u00a0evolve<\/i>? It didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make any sense to me. But as Janeway argued her point \u00e2\u20ac\u201c namely that the\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0crew had no business helping the robots and then leaving the very same part of space that would be most affected by what they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve done \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I gradually accepted that she was right. It was distressing, especially since 3947 was so sincere in their need for help.<\/p>\n
AND THEN 3947 KIDNAPS B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ELANNA AND THREATENS TO DESTROY THE\u00c2\u00a0VOYAGER<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0AND THIS IS NOT THE SAME EPISODE IT STARTED OUT AS. Every shred of cuteness or solidarity is obliterated in the span of five minutes, and\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>\u00e2\u20ac\u009dPrototype\u00e2\u20ac\u009d feels much more like a horror movie than anything else. THESE ROBOTS WERE NOT BUILT TO BE SERVANTS BUT AGENTS OF WAR. Do we realize their full potential even after B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna is kidnapped? Nope. And in yet another distracting sequence, I am lulled into feeling good about the work B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna does to create an interchangeable power source for the robots. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hard not to experience this emotion watching B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna work, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s just such an incredible source of joy! She\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s resilient, and her refusal to thrown in the towel here REPEATEDLY is admirable.<\/p>\n
Which is why the ending is so tragic. B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna creates something incredible here, and right after she does, she learns that the two societies who built the robots went to war, made a truce with each other, AND THEN WERE MURDERED BY THEIR ROBOT SERVANTS\/TROOPS BECAUSE THEY DIDN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T WANT TO BE DEACTIVATED. !!!!!! WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THIS SHOW (It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s everything.) Thus, B\u00e2\u20ac\u2122Elanna knows she cannot allow her creation to exist beyond her. She has every right to be proud of this creation, but she has to destroy it or she\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll be contributing to the continuation of this horrific war that they all get trapped into.<\/p>\n
I can barely believe how\u00c2\u00a0heavy<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0this episode got, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s so innocent at first! I was filled with so much excitement! And then these creepy robots ruined\u00c2\u00a0everything<\/i>. Let this stand as a lesson: if eerie, buff robots ask you to help them, TURN THEM DOWN.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Prototype\u00e2\u20ac\u009d can be downloaded\u00c2\u00a0here for $0.99<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mark Links Stuff<\/b><\/p>\n – I am now on Patreon<\/a>! There are various levels of support, from $1 up to whatever you want! You’ll get to read a private blog, extra reviews, and other such rewards.<\/b> In the thirteenth episode of the second season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager, THAT ESCALATED QUICKLY. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[614,656],"tags":[615],"class_list":["post-5675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek","category-voyager","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5675"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5675\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I\u00c2\u00a0will be at numerous conventions in 2016! Check the full list of events on my Tour Dates \/ Appearances page.<\/a>
\n– My Master Schedule<\/a> is updated for the near and distant future for most projects, so please check it often.\u00c2\u00a0My next Double Features for Mark Watches have been announced here.<\/a>
\n<\/b>-\u00c2\u00a0Mark Does Stuff is on Facebook!<\/a>\u00c2\u00a0I’ve got a community page up that I’m running. Guaranteed shenanigans!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"