VOY: Mortal Coil Review

[ChrisTheLovableJerk]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v880.php

I get where Chuck's coming from, I guess it would be hard to feel overly sympathetic to an annoying asshole, lord knows I've felt like that, and the fact that he's hated Nelix since before I was even born is something to take into consideration.

Also, I think Chuck's trying to tell us something about his brother-in-law.

I guess how one feels about this episode depends on how you feel about Nelix. Originally Naomi's mom was going to be the one who died and came back and then had a breakdown and try to kill her daughter and bring her back so someone would understand the pain of being a zombie, but the crew realized this episode would be way too dark.

[Jonathan101]

So, I've been studying depth psychology with an eye to perhaps becoming a therapist one day.

I think Chuck could benefit from some sessions.

[Jonathan101]

http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v880.php

I get where Chuck's coming from, I guess it would be hard to feel overly sympathetic to an annoying asshole, lord knows I've felt like that, and the fact that he's hated Nelix since before I was even born is something to take into consideration.

Also, I think Chuck's trying to tell us something about his brother-in-law.

I guess how one feels about this episode depends on how you feel about Nelix. Originally Naomi's mom was going to be the one who died and came back and then had a breakdown and try to kill her daughter and bring her back so someone would understand the pain of being a zombie, but the crew realized this episode would be way too dark.

This episode was also released round about Christmas I believe, and I could be wrong but I think Bryan Fuller was going through something (maybe a divorce) around the time writing it. Super cheery episode.

P.S. You should change the title to VOY: Mortal Coil, to show it's a Voyager episode.

[Artabax]

Meesah gonna die. Creator's pet in danger and nevah evah dies.
Wesley on Planet of the Aryans.
Eecheb dying because Q Junior's antics.
Willow almost killing the loathsome Sci-Fi fans in Buffy and Buffy almost killing Andrew.

[clearspira]

[url]http://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v880.php[/url
I guess how one feels about this episode depends on how you feel about Nelix.

And that is the laughable thing innit? This guy. This guy who through inaction got two people killed in Basics. This guy who causes food poisoning regularly, nearly killed 150 people with cheese, who nearly killed Torres rock climbing though stupidity, who lies, who cheats, who steals, who manipulates, who spent three seasons being violently jealous of anyone who even interacted with his girlfriend (thats a third of her 9 year lifespan by the by).

THIS guy, we are suddenly meant to feel sorry for when his lungs are stolen or he dies. And the sad thing is, to repeat what Chuck often says: Voyager is where potential goes to die. Because Neelix on paper should have been great. Half Quark, half Han Solo. But in practice? He earned the nickname Shithead for a reason.

[Darth Wedgius]

I didn't know how much of the anti-Neelixism was heartfelt and how much was entertainment. Now...

Now I feel a need to crowd-fund a movie starring Neelix, Jar-Jar Binks, Wesley Crusher, and, possibly, Scrappy Doo. If those pesky weapons of mass destruction treaties don't get in the way. Just for the review...

I... I really shouldn't read the News forums before these.

As far as the episode goes, I think SFDebris said it best: Voyager is a show where good ideas go to die. I think the Justice League cartoon did a better job of handling faith in The Terror Beyond - not in a logical way (Diana has met at least one of her gods, so I'm not sure how much faith applies to her), but as far as emotional impact goes. With a story like this, in a setting like this, I think ignoring the logic and going for how faith affects people might, oddly enough, be the more logical approach.

[bluebydefault]

Wow, I don't remember this one from my times watching through the series at all. Maybe I saw it was Neelix centered and started doing other stuff. I'm not a Neelix fan (although the actor is talented nothing against him). Its like the audience was being punished for not liking him. Plenty of characters start out kind of annoying but grow and change with good writing or when the show creators see they aren't working. Why not Neelix? Why were they so stuck keeping him the same?

If the intent of the episode was to explore Neelix as a character I'm not sure it was successful. If it was to talk about spiritual matters it seems to have failed there too. I would have to do a rewatch to really get into it, but it seems like its half and half without either half being particularly compelling. From the review it seems like the episode was "stuff happens to Neelix the end"

[clearspira]

I think Chuck makes a good point about ''retro''. Either people now watch VOY with the nostalgia filter OR have been so punished and whittled down by ENT, STD and the Abramsverse that they are willing to forgive and defend it. Its the same people who now defend the Star Wars Prequels post Disney.

VOY is still bad. It may not be as bad, but it is still bad. Decent Trek ended with DS9 and we've been on a steady downward slant since. Not to say some of it isn't worth watching of course, but there is a reason I feel why the big screen movies ended with TNG, and when the series was rebooted, was started with TOS. Latter Trek just did not penetrate outside of the fandom and into the public eye like TOS and TNG. Why? Quality. As in ''not much of''.

[Aotrs Commander]

I didn't know how much of the anti-Neelixism was heartfelt and how much was entertainment. Now...

Now I feel a need to crowd-fund a movie starring Neelix, Jar-Jar Binks, Wesley Crusher, and, possibly, Scrappy Doo. If those pesky weapons of mass destruction treaties don't get in the way. Just for the review...

Funnily enough, Scrappy Doo was the only bit of Scooby-Doo I ever really liked. As a child. I'm still not a huge fan now, but I can give credit where credit is due for some of the later series (e.g Mytery Incorporated). Cannot STAND the original series, though.

I, by the by, though him being the villain in the first live-action movie was HILARIOUS. Maybe a little mean-spirited, but HILARIOUS.

[clearspira]

I didn't know how much of the anti-Neelixism was heartfelt and how much was entertainment. Now...

Now I feel a need to crowd-fund a movie starring Neelix, Jar-Jar Binks, Wesley Crusher, and, possibly, Scrappy Doo. If those pesky weapons of mass destruction treaties don't get in the way. Just for the review...

I... I really shouldn't read the News forums before these.

As far as the episode goes, I think SFDebris said it best: Voyager is a show where good ideas go to die. I think the Justice League cartoon did a better job of handling faith in The Terror Beyond - not in a logical way (Diana has met at least one of her gods, so I'm not sure how much faith applies to her), but as far as emotional impact goes. With a story like this, in a setting like this, I think ignoring the logic and going for how faith affects people might, oddly enough, be the more logical approach.

As I understand the REAL Greek religion of the day (and I may well be wrong I am no expert), the underworld was neither Heaven nor Hell as we would understand the term today, it was merely a place where people went after death. This is probably a less traumatic place to lose faith in as Neelix was expecting to see all of his murdered friends and family whereas an actual Greek would be expecting much less. Of course, given how ''rapey'' the actual Greek gods were, I cannot see feminist Diana actually worshipping them. DC is not alone in reinventing the Greek gods to be much nicer than they actually were - it gets real silly in films such as Disney's Hercules cartoon where Zeus was reinvented as basically the all-loving Christian god but with less power.