In the fifth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>, the crew finds a possible method back to the Alpha Quadrant, at least until they realize that it comes with bizarre complications. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek<\/i>.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n
Well, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m happy to report that\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0is still weird as hell in season 3. Somehow, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153False Profits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d is both a parody and a serious application of the Prime Directive. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not perfect \u00e2\u20ac\u201c most Ferengi episodes suffer from something, though I recognize that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m biased against them \u00e2\u20ac\u201c but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s an entertaining episode that takes a surreal situation and makes it\u00c2\u00a0even weirder<\/i>.<\/p>\n
I suppose it was pointless to have\u00c2\u00a0any<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0hope that\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0might have been able to use the wormhole, and truthfully, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not what this episode is about. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the dangled carrot, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s it. Indeed, with nearly five full seasons left, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m beginning to realize that the show is probably not going to give\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0a shortcut any time soon. Hell, at this point, I wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t be surprised if this meant that everything happens in relative real time until the final season. So, what does \u00e2\u20ac\u0153False Profits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d turn into once we discard this hope?<\/p>\n
That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a complicated question to answer, but that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s more of a compliment than a complaint. First of all, I never once expected I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d get a sequel to\u00c2\u00a0The Next Generation<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0episode \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Price,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but goddamn, this is a suitable follow-up. This show invokes a fairly common science fiction trope \u00e2\u20ac\u201c where characters from an advanced civilization become gods in the eyes of a less civilized people \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and force us to look at it in a new way. What if you discovered that someone was ruthlessly exploiting people, but removing them from the situation could horrifically damage them in the process? That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the conundrum that Janeway is faced with here, and the writers do a fine job of addressing that conflict while keeping \u00e2\u20ac\u0153False Profits\u00e2\u20ac\u009d light-hearted.<\/p>\n
Which is a strange thing sometimes. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s that scene where we first meet the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Sages,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d who are actually the two Ferengi \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Kol and Arridor \u00e2\u20ac\u201c who fought over the Barzan wormhole in \u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Price.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d After a poor villager begs for help, they force him and the watching crowd to chant about exploiting their own family. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s literal and absurd and horrifying, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a\u00c2\u00a0perfect<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0example of the kind of humor there is in this episode. The writers exaggerate the trope to a ridiculous end here, but I was worried. It seemed like there was an obvious solution to this: just beam the Ferengi out, open the wormhole, and everyone could leave.<\/p>\n
I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t precisely buy Arridor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s \u00e2\u20ac\u0153impassioned\u00e2\u20ac\u009d speech about the needs of these people because HE WASN\u00e2\u20ac\u2122T PROVIDING THEM WITH ANYTHING THEY NEEDED OR WANTED. HE \u00c2\u00a0AND KOL MANIPULATED THESE PEOPLE AND THEN DESIGNED A RELIGION MEANT TO STEAL FROM THEM. No one was uplifted by this system! Literally\u00c2\u00a0everyone<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0was exploited and harmed and suffered because of it! However, I\u00c2\u00a0was<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0fascinated by the invocation of the Prime Directive because \u00e2\u20ac\u201c once again \u00e2\u20ac\u201c Janeway grounded this story in something respectful. In the end, she wanted to find a way to resolve this problem without treating this culture like something disposable. She\u00c2\u00a0actually<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0cared about them, and thus, she and the rest of the\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>\u00c2\u00a0crew devise a method to disguise Neelix as the Grand Proxy so that the Ferengi would willingly leave.<\/p>\n
That actually went quite well, right up until it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. Ethan Phillips was an absolute delight to watch as a Ferengi, y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122all! He was so good in this role! But no one anticipated the Ferengi just flat-out inventing new Rules of Acquisition, such as KILL THE MESSENGER. Yet it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the creative way in which Chakotay \u00c2\u00a0helps to utilize the villagers\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 own beliefs to their favor that saves the day. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a cool idea there, since it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s such a respectful way to get these people to let go of their Sages. Unfortunately, the Ferengi are THE WORST, and their escape causes the wormhole to collapse. The ending is a bit rushed and convenient, but that didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make it any less gut-wrenching. The way Harry says, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There are no options,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d was CRUSHING. Thanks,\u00c2\u00a0Voyager<\/i>.<\/p>\n
The video for \u00e2\u20ac\u0153False Profits\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 fifth episode of the third season of\u00c2\u00a0Voyager, the crew finds a possible method back to the Alpha Quadrant, at least until they realize that it comes with bizarre complications. Intrigued? Then it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time for Mark to watch\u00c2\u00a0Star Trek.\u00c2\u00a0<\/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-5777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-star-trek","category-voyager","tag-mark-watches-star-trek"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/markwatches.net\/reviews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5777"}],"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":"