VOY - Vis-a-Vis

[MerelyAFan]

https://sfdebris.com/videos/startrek/v888.php

It feels like Tom hit a point in the show (roughly around this season) where a lot of his focus episodes, unless he was sharing the plot with Harry or Torres, just kind of blended together. I doubt it was that many, but "Paris feels unhappy in his life and his attempt at escapism causes problems" just seems like it happened constantly in the latter half of the series.

[drewder]

Skynet in a Nokia phone? No wonder it survived the nuclear war.

[clearspira]

It occurred to me once that Steph (the guy in the woman) must have gone through a living hell thanks to the bodyswapping alien. He was probably just going about his day, maybe he answered a distress call or just came across the alien in some bar, and all of the sudden not only did he lose his sex but his entire species all at once. Not only does he now have to deal with being a woman and all of the physical and societal changes that entails (who the hell knows how his new species treats women) but being a different species in Star Trek can have HUGE ramifications.
Imagine waking up tomorrow as a Vulcan going through the Pon Farr. Or being an Ocampa and learning that you only have a few years left to live. Or ending up as a Ferengi woman and suddenly finding yourself being forced naked. That would be some serious, life-changing and horrific shit to have suddenly foist upon you.

I kind of wish that this episode focused more on the real Steph. I get that there is only so much you can do with 45 minutes, but Paris was with him for quite a significant length of time and it would only have taken a few lines to establish something. And I don't know about the rest of you, but if I was in Paris's position, I would at least be CURIOUS. ''Hey... so do you mind if I ask you a personal question? What's it like being a woman anyway?''

''Oh and PS, if you don't want to answer that, how about the specs on your Coaxial warp drive that was entirely theoretical before we met you today? Such a drive would require materials and energy that is space age even for us.''

[Fianna]

Anyone else notice that on the home page, the link to this review identified it as "Riddles" not "Vis-a-Vis"?

[CrypticMirror]

Anyone else notice that on the home page, the link to this review identified it as "Riddles" not "Vis-a-Vis"?

Yeah, but I didn't want to bother Chuck with it. He's got enough on his plate.

[LordFeagans]

This is the episode that I saw one time and one time only. It's just forgettable and uninteresting, and that's Voyager's failing. The bit with the Camaro is mentioned again in later episodes. The new Coaxial Warp Drive, the psychology of the crew being stranded on the other side of the galaxy on a trip with no end in sight and that caused people like Tom Paris to start to half-ass his job and him being what could be the first in just many more officers being done giving it their all... is dropped. Three years of unending attacks, no contact with friends and family members from home, every day the same old grind, season four could have been the time to address the effects of this on the crew, and Tom actions in this episode could have been the first in a story arc that could have made the show improve with the crew looking at the events of "The Killing Game" and coming to the conclusion of "I'm going to live and die on this ship, there is NOTHING other than life on this ship, under this captain, there is nowhere else to go, nothing else to do, no advancement unless the higher-up officers die-off". Instead, it continued in being a series where potential goes to die.

[clearspira]

First off, you know an episode is boring when there is only one forum page after four days lol.

Second, watching the review again I noticed something: its established early on that this isn't body swapping. Its kind of like reverse shape-shifting which is why the clothes implicitly do not change. But when the alien decided to steal Janeway's body, it manages to exchange Tom Paris's clothes with her's despite still choking her when Tuvok arrives. You can't even handwave this as them still wearing each other's clothes as Tom and Janeway aren't remotely the same build.

[TGLS]

But when the alien decided to steal Janeway's body, it manages to exchange Tom Paris's clothes with her's despite still choking her when Tuvok arrives. You can't even handwave this as them still wearing each other's clothes as Tom and Janeway aren't remotely the same build.

But you can handwave it with crazy Janeway:
"You steal my body? I kill you!"

[Rocketboy1313]

I find this episode falls into the "Competent".
I feel that it works perfectly well in isolation, you can sit down, watch it, and be done with it.
Since Voyager has little continuity I am not all that bothered by the lack of a concrete character arc.
Nothing matters so I just treat the show as disposable.

[Frustration]

Then why bother watching it in the first place?