In the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like\u00c2\u00a0Inception<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0only it came before\u00c2\u00a0Inception<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0and the ending is not nearly as frustrating. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Trigger Warning: For consent<\/b><\/p>\n
Okay,\u00c2\u00a0Inception\u00c2\u00a0<\/i>jokes aside, this is a pretty neat episode. I think it actually has a lot more in common with \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Scientific Method\u00e2\u20ac\u009d from this season, though that episode was far more focused than this one. They share a similar set-up in that the crew experiences something bizarre, and they must band together in order to fight back against a species they can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see.<\/p>\n
But \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waking Moments\u00e2\u20ac\u009d drastically departs in many other ways. The crew is quick to figure out that something is amiss, and there\u00c2\u00a0is<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0some genuine humor here, such as Tuvok\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s embarrassment over his very, very human dream, or Harry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s continued attraction to Seven of Nine. I love how this episode is rooted in Chakotay, not Janeway, and that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s his creativity and riskiness that saves everyone. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also a very creepy idea: what if a race of aliens could trap other beings within a collective unconscious state, one that they could never wake up from, one that they would eventually\u00c2\u00a0die<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0from?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s horrifying, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s why the layers to the dream world work well in this context. It is absolutely necessary that these characters wake up, and since Chakotay is the only one of them to be able to lucid dream perfectly, then the resolution of this nightmare is up to him. (Sorry, couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t resist!) It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of fun to watch, and I certainly would not argue that it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a bad episode. However, the more I think about this unnamed species, the less I understand them. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one question left unaddressed in any believable sense:<\/p>\n
Why?<\/i><\/p>\n
Oh, sure, there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that moment where the main alien complains about the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153waking species\u00e2\u20ac\u009d invading the dream world of their own species, but what does that actually mean? Are there species out there attacking them in the dream world? Or were they just\u00c2\u00a0annoyed<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0that random creatures kept popping into their reality? Even if that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the case, why go after\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>? What do they gain from taking their ship? Was this just petty revenge and nothing more? I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tell! I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel like it was explored in any significant way, and it bothered me. It made the dream aliens come across as evil just for the sake of it, which isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Still, I honestly did enjoy \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waking Moments.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d JANEWAY\u00e2\u20ac\u2122S SMIRK WHEN SHE REALIZED TUVOK WAS NAKED IN HIS DREAM = WORTH THE WHOLE EPISODE, HONESTLY.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Waking Moments\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. I POST A LOT OF CUTE PHOTOS, OKAY. Think of it like a private Tumblr blog that only SPECIAL PEOPLE get to read.<\/b> In the thirteenth episode of the fourth season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like\u00c2\u00a0Inception\u00c2\u00a0only it came before\u00c2\u00a0Inception\u00c2\u00a0and the ending is not nearly as frustrating. 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-5999","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\/5999","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=5999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5999\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n– I have updated my list of conventions and events for the remainder of the year and much of next year.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0Check 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":"