VOY: Mortal Coil Review

[Madner Kami]

It is bleak, but I took the message of the episode as- you find what you need to to keep going.

I never really considered this reality bleak. On the contrary, I find that the realization that this is all there is rather invigoration. If this is all there is, then I have all the more reason to enjoy it while it lasts and explore all there is, because I will not get a second go around. Nothing ever matters, except for what I do now and everything I do now is going to matter to someone else down the line, because the only thing of us that persists after our death is, what we leave behind. Be it a comment in a forum or the people we met and influenced or, for some of us, our children and their children.

What makes me depressed at times though is, how much of my time I wasted and keep wasting with procrastination.

The one episode that's bleaker than this is Fuller's episode from the next season- Course: Oblivion. I'd say it's the most nihilistic episode of the franchise, and easily one of Trek's darkest. I can't find any silver lining in that one.

Oh dear, that is one episode that is easy to overlook, but boy is the darkness of Course: Oblivion black holes levels of dark.

Nihilism is the natural end of atheism though that's the thing. The moment you disregard the existence of God and with it design, then you are admitting you also believe that this is all there is. People like to argue against this fact because it is so bleak and it depresses them.

I vehemently disagree with the assessment of your first sentence. It's neither the natural end of atheism, nor a particularly sensible conclusion though. I would accept argueing, that people who are depressed, be that temporarly or permanently, and who loose their foundation in this world, naturally gravitate towards nihilism. The natural end of atheism though is, that when there is no greater meaning in Life, then it is left to the individual to give Life a meaning.

[bronnt]

But it's Voyager, so conveniently everyone will forget that one time Neelix fucking died and spent days shaken to his very core by next week.

That's basically what it amounts to. His chipper persona is completely shattered and reveals how vulnerable he is behind it. He's got no long term connections. Everyone else on the ship is headed toward home, or (in the case of Seven and the Doctor) growing as individuals so they can find a home. Neelix is the only one who is fleeing his home.

This would have been a great opportunity to recognize that fact and start some long-term character growth. Up until how, the character's motivations have been completely unanalyzed, and that's part of what made him annoying. We saw in "Fair Trade" that he's desperate to remain on the ship, but this is the first episode that seems to give a reason why-his family is dead and his planet was conquered, and this job is the closest he's ever been to comfortable, even if it's taking him forever away from the life he's known.

Here's what should have happened: An ongoing character arc where Neelix wants to join Starfleet, in order to seek his new purpose in life. Not just him butting in and wanting to join security drills, but actually showing him studying as if he's a student in Starfleet Academy, taking classes. You could even draw in a few former Maquis who've decided they want the opportunity to properly enlist as well. Chakotay could basically oversee their education-he used to teach at the academy-and it would give Robert Beltran something actually interesting to do.

[Yukaphile]

What strikes me is that Neelix can't cook pizza. Easily the most mainstream type of food possible. What a useless cook he is.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I noticed that the title of the thread is now VOY - Mortal Coil Review instead of just Mortal Coil Review.

What's the story behind that?

[PerrySimm]

Tom Paris is kinda retro, though. By that day and age you'd think that Andorian cuisine would be more popular than Italian, for example. But Tom Paris loves the 70s. I mean 90s.

The one episode that's bleaker than this is Fuller's episode from the next season- Course: Oblivion. I'd say it's the most nihilistic episode of the franchise, and easily one of Trek's darkest. I can't find any silver lining in that one.

No? Apart from the thin lining of silver blood that accumulates on Voyager, there's the possibility that more than half of season 5 isn't canon. That thought brings a smile to my face.

[Yukaphile]

I don't know if this was brought up earlier in the thread, but... isn't this more of Voyager's retcons and contradictions? I mean, Spock made it clear when he was dead that something happened to him. And yet, Neelix confirms there's nothing, so... what the hell?

[SuccubusYuri]

I mean the obvious answer is that God loves one of these things and not the other xD

[PerrySimm]

Not the first or last brush with the afterlife Voyager runs into by any means. Were there a need to pick a favourite, let's closely consider the afterlife option where Captain Janeway is the food supply!

[ChrisTheLovableJerk]

I noticed that the title of the thread is now VOY - Mortal Coil Review instead of just Mortal Coil Review.

What's the story behind that?

Once upon a time it was suggested I change it. And we all lived happily ever after.

Except Chuck, I mean, he still has nearly half of TNG season one and a ton of bad episodes left to go through so he's not completely happy.

[FaxModem1]

I don't know if this was brought up earlier in the thread, but... isn't this more of Voyager's retcons and contradictions? I mean, Spock made it clear when he was dead that something happened to him. And yet, Neelix confirms there's nothing, so... what the hell?

If that trips you up, just think about the fact that Torres experienced the afterlife a couple of seasons later, even talked to her mother there, while Neelix experienced nothing. Take that as you will.