Did Janeway really strand the crew?

[FaxModem1]

Let's look at the transcripts, shall we?

TUVOK: Captain, I can access the system to send us back to Federation space, but it will take several hours to activate.
JANEWAY: Unless you help us.
CARETAKER: Oh, I wish I could but I have very little time left, so I have initiated a self-destruct programme.
JANEWAY: If you destroy the Array, we'll have no way to get home.
CARETAKER: The Ocampa's enemies can not be allowed to control this installation. In minutes, it'll be destroyed. You have to go. Go now.
(The Kazon ship hits the Array. The holographic barn turns into the high-tech room. There is a giant purple blob at one end.)
TUVOK: The Caretaker?
JANEWAY: Voyager, report.
PARIS [OC]: Kazon vessel

[Bridge]

PARIS: Just collided with the array, Captain. Are you all right?
JANEWAY [OC]: Affirmative.

So, Tuvok directly states that he will need several hours. Let's assume several equals more than three. The Caretaker is intent on stranding them there with his self destruct, so Banjo Man will be no help.

[Array]

JANEWAY: Stand by.
CARETAKER: The self-destruct programme has been damaged. Now this installation will not be destroyed. But it must be. The Kazon must not be allowed to gain control of it. They will annihilate the Ocampa.
(The Caretaker shrinks into a hand-sized rock. Janeway picks it up.) TUVOK: Shall I activate the programme to get us back?
JANEWAY: And what happens to the Ocampa after we're gone?
TUVOK: Captain, any action we take to protect the Ocampa would affect the balance of power in this system. The Prime Directive would seem to apply.
JANEWAY: Would it? We never asked to be involved, Tuvok, but we are. We are.

[Bridge]

Banjo-Man dies, and the self destruct is out of play.

Now here's where the choice comes in. Presuming they can get the Kazon to not kill them and they get the necessary few hours to program the array to jump them back to the Alpha Quadrant(presuming that they don't all die in the process, like a third of their crew did on the way to the Ocampa system), the Kazon will have access to the Caretaker array. Whether or not they get home, there's the unfortunate problem of giving the Kazon, a primitive race who only have warp drive because they were uplifted by the Trabe as slaves and then rebelled and took over the ships, even more powerful technology that can yank ships across the galaxy.

(Voyager is still taking weapons fire.)
JANEWAY: Mister Tuvok, ready the tricobalt devices.
TUVOK: Aye, Captain.
JANEWAY: Open a channel to the Kazon.
KIM: Channel open.
JABIN [on viewscreen]: Be advised, Captain. I have called for additional ships.
JANEWAY: I'm calling to warn you to move your vessels to a safe distance. I intend to destroy the Array.
JABIN [on viewscreen]: You can't do that!
JANEWAY: I can and I will. End transmission.
KIM: They're increasing fire, Captain. Shields are holding.
JANEWAY: Move us four hundred kilometres from the Array, Mister Paris.
PARIS: Yes, ma'am.
TORRES: What do you think you're doing? That Array is the only way we have to get back home.
JANEWAY: I'm aware everyone has families and loved ones at homes they want to get back to. So do I. But I'm not willing to trade the lives of the Ocampa for our convenience. We'll have to find another way home.
TORRES: What other way home is there? Who is she to be making these decisions for all of us?
CHAKOTAY: She's the Captain.
TUVOK: The tricobalt devices are ready.
PARIS: We're in position.
JANEWAY: Fire.
(Two blue torpedoes strike the Array. Mega-KaBOOM as it falls apart.)
KIM: The lead Kazon ship is hailing us.
JANEWAY: On screen.
JABIN [on viewscreen]: You have made an enemy today.
TUVOK: They are withdrawing, Captain.

Jabin says(he may be bluffing for all we know) that he's bringing in additional forces to fight Voyager and secure the Array, giving them a limited window for this.

Janeway's justification though is that she's protecting the Ocampa. Not protecting the galaxy from Kazon dominion, but protecting the Ocampa.

So, with the Caretaker dead, the station's self destruct blown up, and the Kazon firing at them, they would have to:

A. survive the firefight against the Kazon fleet long enough for the Tuvok to figure out the array and set up the array for the jump home.
B. destroy the Kazon, buying enough time for Tuvok to program the array and jump home, and maybe blow up the array on a timed explosive.
C. convince the Kazon to stop firing, set up the array, jump home, and hope the Kazon make good overlords with their new tech advantage.
D. convince the Kazon to stop firing, set up the array, jump home, and hope the Kazon don't know how to reverse engineer Caretaker technology.
E. convince the Kazon to stop firing, and somehow also convince the Kazon that leaving the Array and the Ocampa alone would be a good idea.
F. go to the Caretaker Array, grab Tuvok and Janeway, take care of Jabin, go to Ocampa, and have a nice bowl of Taco Bell meat while they wait for all of this to blow over.
Or....
G. Blow up the Array, and hope the Kazon don't care that they just denied them a vital resource.

I think their best bet for getting home was option B. But how feasible was Option B, considering how hard the Kazon were fighting them?

[PapaPalpatine]

Would the Kazon be able to reverse engineer the Array without breaking it though? I don't recall them having any scientists in there ranks, not to mention this is one of the few species the Borg decided not to assimilate because they didn't want the collective to catch the stupid from them.

[TGLS]

Sure, but the Caretaker (who should know best), was worried the Kazon were going to take control of the array, and use it to blow open the sealed Ocampa habitat, not use it to takeover the galaxy or something. So even if Janeway knows the Kazon are too stupid to figure out how the array works, the Ocampa are still screwed if the Kazon get the array.

[Yukaphile]

I still see nothing to suggest the self-destruct being damaged implies it sped up the time Tuvok could learn to manipulate an alien technology.

[PerrySimm]

The episode tells us straight up that it's Janeway's fault and it's her decision because she's the Captain. But really, it's the Caretaker's fault. More about that in a second. Let's look at the strategies again.

Of the FaxModem1 alternatives, B is most plausible: Use the tricobalt devices on the Kazon instead! Better than 80% odds, to take an estimate. Strategy A is also somewhat plausible (50%?), but mainly based on the later episodes where the Kazon get nerfed. Janeway's assessment that Voyager can't hold out 5 hours in a firefight is probably accurate.

To the listed items also consider:
Strategy H - sabotage the Array. Voyager will keep a key component, like the main computer core, and retreat. The Kazon occupy the Array, but it is useless. They give up and leave (25%) or simply use it as a space condo (75%). Voyager links the alien artifact to its network node to make wondrous new discoveries -- and eventually gains enough allies in the sector to scatter the Kazon, free the Ocampa, repair the Array, and return home (65-85%?)

Strategy I - rig the Array to blow if the Kazon board. Janeway will take the risk that the Kazon won't be able to disable the tricobalt devices without also destroying the Array (15%?) for a better chance of destroying several Kazon ships that will dock on or near the Array (75%). Maybe the Array is also sabotaged as in H, as a potential failsafe.

In either of H or I, it's the Kazon's fault if the Array becomes too damaged to send Voyager home, so Janeway is off the hook. But again, don't neglect to observe the Caretaker's fault for creating the situation in the first place.

Maybe give the poor Nacene a mulligan for destroying the hydrosphere, accidents happen. But in all that time this supposedly powerful, intelligent alien is hanging out there, it never considers a continuity-of-services plan? The Caretaker cares for the Ocampa so much that it sealed them in a vault, failed to train them in any real technical sense, and didn't bother to find a new homeworld for them in all of 2000-2500 years?

We can feel sorry for Janeway for needing to make a pretty bad call in a short amount of time. But what possible excuse does The Caretaker have for letting things play out the way they did? Based on a really long, really dumb track record, the Ocampa and their supposed provider are really, really lucky Janeway was willing to clean up any part of the mess at all.

[AllanO]

I think as depicted in the original two parter, it is as suggested it would have been a risky thing not to blow up the array. Not just for the Ocampas et al. but for Voyager and the crew also. Given that the entire Kazon "civilization" appears to be running on technology they stole from their slave masters, they may not be much for inventing tech, but in terms of figuring out how to use it they are apparently pretty good (Voyager does not know that at the time, but that just means they presumably think the Kazon do have some scientists and engineers who built there space ships and so might be adequate to the task of doing what Tuvok figures out given enough time). If the array has to be functional for the entire time Voyager would be wooshed back to the Alpha quadrant then they can't blow it up the second they activate the system to send them home, giving the Kazon time to rush in and turn off the bombs or self destruct etc. If the send ships half a galaxy away function has a control Z function then the Kazon might use it to get Voyager back to insure their capture of the array remains secret and that they can get all the information Voyager has on it.

As depicted in those episodes Janeway's actions were reasonable and constrained by circumstances even if she acted differently Voyager would likely still be stuck in the Delta Quadrant etc.

However, in later episodes everyone remembers it as if Janeway had a choice, so we can speculate that the original two part episode is not cannon within the show and that the actually events that stuck them in the Delta Quadrant were significantly different.

Or it's inconsistent writing...

[Yukaphile]

A retort:

To Strategy H: Who's to say removing a component wouldn't make it impossible to work? Remember, in the early days, their holodecks were not even compatible with the same ship. So I'm skeptical they could steal it and it would be similar to a Borg transwarp device, especially given that Tuvok was instructed to figure out how to send them home, and he never reported they could take something from the array to do so when Janeway made her decision.

To Strategy I: I think this is faulty because it assumes they can manipulate their explosives to detect Kazon DNA. Has that ever been shown elsewhere? And if so, it's like beaming through the shields. It's too inconsistent to say this was a viable strategy in the context of the episode. It also ignores that the Kazon wanted Voyager, because they had more advanced technology. Their replicators, for example. There was no way they were going to give those up without a fight.

I agree with AllanO, it's just poor writing that gave both sides ammunition.

[Sir Will]

If they had to blow up the array because of the Kazon then the episode needed to say so. It didn't. They made a huge point of talking about how they should do it to save the Ocampa. Janeway repeatedly admits and (sometimes, sometimes now) regrets the decision to destroy it. They keep trying to make it her choice, as Chuck has repeatedly pointed out. So don't blame us for blaming Janeway when the show is doing it too.

[Yukaphile]

That's later writing, not the writing at the moment. Voyager is like Superman's power level in terms of consistency, it's like a bunch of waves spiking up a down, where one week he's surviving the Source Wall exploding, then he can tank supernova, but is rendered unconscious, but then other times he's knocked out by flying into a moon, even though he shattered one when Lex became President and didn't so much as even flinch.

If you want to argue they made it a moral choice, fine. But the existence of those other lines, talking about how long it'd take to set it up, and Chuck's rather inaccurate assertion that Janeway didn't know about the reinforcements (when again, Jabin makes it clear), makes it clear they never would have been able to use it, and that it had to factor into her mind somehow. As I've said, that they even exist points to the poor quality of Voyager's writing. They wanted to make it a moral choice, as you noted, standing up for the innocent, but at the same time, they also wanted to "have their cake and eat it too," the approach Voyager often took, namely in that even if she had tried to get back home, it wouldn't have worked.

[Zefram Mann]

I find it amusing that in this discussion nobody thought of the most obvious solution to this problem.

JANEWAY COULD HAVE LIED TO THE KAZON!

Ahem, allow me to explain. Janeway threatens to blow up the array. Jabin freaks out. In this universe though, Janeway continues that if they give them the time they need to figure out the array and get home, she will leave the array and some notes on how to use it for them. Jabim doesn't know anything about the Federation or why they would never agree to this, why would he? Knowing he's got nothing to lose, agrees. Tuvok gets the array working while both sides have a gun pointed at each-other, and finally sends them home. Kazon beam on board the array to find a tri-cobalt device on a ten-second timer and a note pinned to it saying "Suckers!".

Kirk knew how to bluff for time. Picard knew how to bluff for time. Sisko knew how to bluff for time. Janeway? She stranded her crew because she probably thought she was too good to play poker with the other cadets on a Friday night.