"Concerning Flight"
Air Date: November 26, 1997
Star Date: 51386.4-51408.3
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we can on it. You're welcome to send in addition nits and I will keep them on file but I won't be adding to this file any longer unless something really spectacular comes in!
As Janeway enjoys a holodeck simulation featuring Leonardo Da Vinci, bandits attack Voyager using high energy transporters and abscond with several important pieces of technology including the main computer. The crew track the bandits to a planet where Janeway is surprised to find an incarnation of Da Vinci. The bandit stole holodoc's mobile emitter in the raid as well and Tau--the leader of the thieves--has managed to download the Da Vinci program into it. After locating the main computer, Janeway convinces Da Vinci to help her gain access to the fortress in which is it held. Voyager is able to retrieve the computer but Janeway and Da Vinci are left behind. Conveniently, Janeway finds a stolen site-to-site transporter among the stolen technology and beams herself and Da Vinci into the hillside surrounding the fortress. Tau still pursues however and the pair must eventually take flight in a "flying machine" built by Da Vinci himself. At this point Voyager finally drops low enough in the atmosphere to beam them both aboard.
Brash Reflections
Maybe it's because it's already half past midnight (My wife and I went to see a great theatrical presentation called "Tap Dogs" tonight so I didn't get started watching this episode until 11 PM), but "Concerning Flight" seemed painfully contrived to me. Too many "and it just so happened thats."
On the nitpicking front, everytime we see Janeway on the holodeck she's wearing her uniform. Yet later, the episode does demonstrate that she has other clothes. So why the uniform on the holodeck? Is it "just that comfortable?"
Nice reference to the Classic episode "Requiem for Methusela" by the way when Janeway says that Kirk claimed to have met Da Vinci.
Voyager's transporter range seems to be a lot short--and I mean a lot shorter--than the Enterprise's. NextGen established the "E"s maximum transporter range at 40,000 kilometers. In this episode, Voyager with fully functional transporters can only transport 500 kilometers.
By the way, the closed captioning at the end of the episode leaves open the possibility that Janeway will be Da Vinci's assistant in Francebut the audio for these lines was deleted.
There's lots more but it's late and I'm going to grab whatever comments have come in from other Guild members and go to bed! HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYBODY!
Reflections from the Guild
(Note from Phil: I haven't verified these reflections but they sounded good to me!)
Daniel Gunther of Grovedale Alberta: A pretty good episode. Best line- "Welcome to America!" Or, "There is a mechanical woman inside that invention!" or something to that effect. Now my nit:
At one point, Tuvok tells DaVinci that he is from Scandinavia. Excuse me? SCANDINAVIA?!? (I can tell that Surak is turning is his grave) I thought that Vulcans could not lie. Maybe I was mistaken. Or maybe the creators are mistaken. (Note from Phil: Well, I think that Spock told a falsehood or two when the need arose!)
Gina Torgersen of LaCrosse, FL: After the aliens steal holodoc's mobile emitter, he complains about being trapped in sickbay. But he's not! He can still go to the holodecks, and what about those holoemitters B'elanna installed around the ship? Did she remove them when they got the mobile emitter?
I am really amazed at how fast Voyager can learn about the culture of a planet. They are doing an undercover mission on a planet they just got to! For all they know, they could beam down and discover that standing up straight in this culture means you are going to attack someone and putting your right foot ahead of your left is an accusation of theft!
When Voyager is trying to get close enough to the planet's surface to beam up Janeway and Da Vinci, Paris counts of a few of the numbers. It takes a lot longer for them to go from 900 km to 800 km than it did from 1000 km to 900 km. Even if no time passed when the shot changed to Janeway on the surface, it's still off. I guess they're afraid of not being able to stop and running into the planet so they're slowing down.
Good Line: "Suffice it to say, I was right, she was not." -Seven
Jeff Carpenter of Springfield, VA: I'm just going to start a list...
Why do holodeck characters respond to the ship's shaking, as Leonardo does in the teaser?
The first attack clearly indicates the old problem of the ship shaking on the inside, but not the outside.
The transporter beam is said to target technologicaly advanced items. So why, exactly, are emergency rations and uniforms stolen? (And was some poor guy wearing it at the time?)
That new lab they've got has pleanty of neat looking pictures on the walls that are really pointless. Another point; I think the one you first see when Harry enters is from a real picture the hubble's taken. That picture was also used to create a nebula for the Enterprise-E to drift through at the start of First Contact. (Even if that's not the picture, that story's true.)
In the village square, you can see the poles with red stripes on them, first seen among TNG's Romulans. I think they can be seen in "Unification," and "The Mind's Eye."
And lastly, Tuvok's outfit. Besides the fact that it resembles the FC uniforms, (NOT a nit! It's probably a popular style. Look at our milatary's uniforms and compare them to a standard business suit.) Anyway...this thing was from the DS9 show with the alternate Tuvok. Just odd that the Tuvok from the mirror-universe would have the same outfit, that's all.
Mike Konczewski of Havertown, PA: A delightful episode. Charming, even. Very clever of the writers to think of a way to disable the ship without wrecking it.
Doesn't it seem strange that the central computer core could disappear, and the lights on the ship don't even flicker? Just how sophisticated are the emergency backups?
Why didn't the Doctor appear on the planet as well? He was running in Sickbay.
And how did the alien badguy get Leonardo to work long enough to put the holoemitter on him? He didn't have a holodeck in which to run the program. (Note from Phil: Oooh, good point! ;-)
Janeway used the term "kilometer" and da Vinci didn't ask what's that. The metric system was invented more than 250 years after the real da Vinci died. Okay, so his Renaisance mind "interpreted" it. Why didn't it interpret the voice from the computer better than "a mechanical woman in a box"?
Another example of lost Star Trek technology: in "A Piece of the Action," the Enterprise was able to use its phasers to shoot people on the ground. Why, when sensors indicated that badguys were after Janeway, didn't Voyager zap them? Phasers were working (even tho they didn't even try to shoot the ships buzzing around them).
After da Vinci is hit by alien phaser fire, Janeway sneaks up behind the alien and hits him. Is her gun broken? Why didn't she shoot him?
Speaking of shooting, I'll bet I could have shot down Janeway and da Vinci in their hangglider, especially when it was only rolling down the hill. Instead, the aliens just stood there and looked disgruntled.
And where did this hangglider come from? Did da Vinci build it just in case he needed a get-away vehicle? As Miss Piggy said in "The Great Muppet Caper," "What an amazing coincidence!"
Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Chris Booton: A pretty good episode, interesting idea of a pirate weapon that can beam almost through shields and lock onto anything. It seemed to go fairly smoothly without many nits (or at least I did not notice man), here is what I found;
In both attacks Voyager is allowed to be fired on many times without a single return of fire, during the initial attack even after what the pirates are doing is discovered they still do very little to stop them after they destroy the first one.
While Janeway and Devinchy are talking in the first scene she seems to dry up quite a bit at one point where the camera goes off of her. After that only her hair seems to be a little wet.
The doctor goes insane after he losses his portable emitter, for some reason he forgot that he can transfer to certain areas of the ship such as the holodeck and engineering.
Why doesn't Janeway take a phaser when she beams down?
When they beam Voyager up at the end of the episode there is no mention of lowering the shields, it seems impossible for them to have, considering they were under attack by many ships.
Johnson Lai: Near the end, when Voyager's moving into the 500km transport distance, nobody mentioned lowering the shields to beam up Janeway and Da Vinci. And why didn't Chakotay fire back at the attackers? So they left all that Starfleet equipment on that planet? Whatever happened to the Prime Directive? Besides that, how could they leave behind so many supplies, especially those precious torpedo casings?
George Padovan: I thought this was a *cute* episode. Pirates or Muggers stealing Voyager tech and the crew's attempt to retrieve them was a good story, along with the addition of DaVinci helping Janeway. Cute.
Now for nits:
Okay, I understand it was self-defense, but when they realized their tech was being beamed off Voyager, Janeway says "Open fire" and destroy a ship. Gee whiz, there goes some Starfleet tech right there.
After Janeway made a big speech about not giving away Federation technology to the Kazon and changing the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant, she deliberty *leaves* technology behind on that planet! I mean she left some phasers and tricorders behind without even taking them. And Chakotay did the same with the alien in the Briefing Room - just allow the guy to walk away with the phaser rifle and tricorder! For a Captain and First Officer who is worry about giving aliens an edge by leaving Fed tech, she sure has thrown a loop in this episode. Now I wonder what changes, in the balance of power, will come when the aliens begin to *mass produce* the phasers and other Fed tech left behind.
Besides phasers and tricorders, what other tech Voyager left behind? They never resolved them in this episode - like the warp engine panel and Sickbay's surgical bed. Oh well, we have to wait until the next new episode to see whether these things had been retrived or not.
I thought the holodeck computer is separate from the main processor computer. The holocharacter of DaVinci shouldn't had been in the main processor core!
When Janeway and DaVici were flying, those aliens could had easily shot them out of the sky. Telling me those weapons of theirs were *so* short range they couldn't hit that air glider? No wonder they want to steal other people's tech! They're lower in advance tech than the 20th century! (grin)
Brian O'Marra, Little Rock, AR : Not too bad an episode. Not great, but not too bad. So Tau and his people are space pirates? I wonder if they are related to the Pakleds??
Ruminations: this episode once again address whether matter on the holodeck exists outside. Janeway is dripping wet, her uniform is all dirty from a failed experiment with Leonardo and his flying machine. They fell into a river. She then gets a call to report to the bridge. After the commercial break she reappears dry and clean!
Funny, but when Wesley fell into a brook on a holodeck program from "Encounter at Farpoint," he dripped all over the floor outside the holodeck!!
This episode caused me to raise a question. 7 of 9 I believe has no official rank, much like Wesley in the first two and half seasons of Star Trek TNG. In fact, both seemed to wear the nonrank uniform. Yet she tells Kim (who is an ensign and an officer) to decompile data banks 59 to 17. Then orders it "Now!" Can she give Harry an order? I also wondered about the order of the databanks that 7 lists. Shouldn't it be 17 to 59?
Later Leonardo says that their conversation made him as dry as Vulcan. All of a sudden Tuvok is oblivious as to what Leonardo is referring to. It turns out it is an island off of Sicily. In other words, if Tuvok just told the truth, or else come up with this island, he wouldn't have been put in the position of lying!
Lastly, it turns out that Leonardo becomes useful in helping Janeway escape and retrieve the stolen property. Janeway didn't discern this until a little later in the plot. That conveniently explains why earlier all Janeway had to do was remove Leonardo's mobile emitter when he was demonstrating the phaser. They would have gotten back a weapon, and the emitter.
Corey Hines, Hamilton, ON:- A lot of the equipment in Da Vinci's second workshop were stolen from the Kes ("Attached"[TNG])
Why didn't Janeway take the sight-to-sight transporter device with her? (Note from Phil: Can you site-to-site a site-to-site transporter while you are site-to-siting with it?!)
When the ships attack Voyager at the end of the episode, why didn't they use their transporters to take vital equipment so that Voyager would be crippled. (Note from Phil: I believe Voyager had developed a defense against the transporter by that point.)
David D. Porter: I realize it's a common practice, but this business of bouncing back and forth between English and a character's native tongue is silly, especially when he's addressing his countryfolk.
Gee, good thing H-doc wasn't wearing his mobile emitter when it was stolen, hmm?
Placing an undercover team 'without attracting attention' kind of assumes nobody noticed V-ger's approach to the planet. I don't suppose using a tricorder in public would attract attention, either. Surely tourists do that sort of thing all the time.
'Katerina' seems to have left a great deal of her equipment behind in the 'prince's' warehouse. I would think she would try to recover as much as possible.
David T. Shaw, Hamilton Ontario: Just saw the episode - I am beginning to believe that I am thinking too much when I am watching Voyager - or maybe the writers aren't thinking enough when they are writing them. On to the nits.
So - Voyager is attacked. Shields go up, evasive maneuvers, don't fire back because of no apparent damage - I can handle all of that (although maybe a warning shot across the bow might have been in order). And yet, this ship is apparently scan and transport objects out of the ship with no one noticing until a piece of equipment disappears? The Federation has enemies and potential enemies (the Klingons, Romulians, Carradassians) who all have transporter capabilities. Surely there is a counter-transport station manned during battle stations? Otherwise, it would be pretty short fight - someone transports a photon torpedo into engineering and "Poof." I would have liked to see someone saying "We are being scanned. Transporter signal locking on engineering - I can't block it - attempting to adjust shields" or some such - the ship knows what is going on and works to counteract it (this would have made the threat that Janeway made about the ship being able to block the weapon more believable - as it stood, the ship has never shown itself able to prevent transports - it scared the attackers off by blowing one of them up.)
They trace the thieves - in orbit of a planet with 27 different type of ships around it. They say - "Oh good - with all these aliens here, we can sneak down." I don't buy it - a modern day example would be a small Destroyer sailing in New York harbour, launching a launch to the dock, and a party of people get off, wander around the docks and no one notices. Are we really to believe that the planet won't notice Voyager in orbit? Or that it is the ship that they have recently stolen from? I would have liked a hail - Janeway demanding her equipment back. "Sorry Captain, finders, keepers..." She then could send down an official party to negotiate, and covert parties as well. I believe that it would make the whole thing a little more believable. (Of course, it would have made things difficult for her to be in the away team, but the writers could try a little imagination.)
Oh yes - why is the captain beaming down onto a planet that has aliens on it that have already shown hostile intent? Because she read the script and knew that she would meet da Vinci down there... (Note from Phil: Or . . . it's more Kirkanization of Janeway.)
So - all federation technology emits a homing signal of some kind, does it? I am assuming that they are referring to power emissions, but exactly how you can tell the difference in a huge city loaded with power sources is beyond me. Seems that the "Donut Factor" is at work here.
And Tuvok says that a Federation Signature is approaching - and it turns out to be the mobile holo-emitter. But that isn't Federation - it was built on Twentieth Century Earth (well - kind of - it built in a different time line, but we don't need to get into that here...). I realize it was built from stolen Federation plans, but if old' has-his-name could build an exact replica, then surely Voyager should be able to as well (and then HoloDoc wouldn't have had to whine...)
Speaking of HoloDoc, he really has developed his humanity in the last four years. In the beginning he wasn't even civil, and now he feels isolated from the ship when confined to sickbay. (He could have pointed out to Seven that such conversations they were having is part of being human - social interaction, remaining a member of a community - that sort of thing. After all, I assume that the Star Fleet medical banks that he is programmed with include psychology data as well - another opportunity missed by the writers, sigh....)
There were some very cute moments - Tuvok claiming to be Scandinavian, Janeway's comments about "a Portuguese ship, some Turkish pirates, a couple of hurricanes..." Seven ordering Harry around and showing that she doesn't work well with others. Janeway referring to the classic trek episode of "Requiem for Methuselah." Seven nailing Tuvok for calling Da Vinci Da Vinci instead of "the Hologram" (And we didn't that prickly Vulcan pride {oh - they deny it but we know they have it} cause Tuvok to answer back? Something like "Calling something by a name does not make it that thing. "Da Vinci" is not as precise as "the hologram of Da Vinci" but it does have the merit of brevity." That would have put Borg-babe in her place) 8-)
So there is such a thing as a "site to site transporter" is there? What does that mean exactly? Is it different from a "Site to no site transporter"? I had always assumed that site to site transport was just a matter of beaming someone up, not rematerializing them, and then beaming them back down somewhere else. It seems odd to me that there would be a special piece of equipment for it. (they could have called it a "field transporter" but that would have risen all sort of questions about why we have never seen it before. Of course, now that we have seen it, we can raise those questions anyway....)
So - the criminal mastermind was about to kidnap Janeway - and is knocked unconscious. Why not kidnap him? Beam him up to the ship and demand all the stolen property be returned - I know, it is too simple and we would have never gotten the cool scene with the glider.
And why did the criminal mastermind have Da Vinci wandering about? Was he planning on selling the "inventions" as curiosities? And why give him a phaser? What was he expect to do with it - paint a cool design on the handle? (Maybe it was a test to see how he could adapt - but it seemed odd and I want an explanation.)
So Chakotay is orbiting a planet with ships that have already attacked Voyager before. They have just stolen back a very valuable piece of technology, and a squadron of ships is approaching the ship. Does he order Red Alert? No - he waits for the ships to power weapons. Does this seem a tad belated to anyone else?
I thought that Janeway's analogy was pretty bad. It is true that as a bird da Vinci wouldn't have been able to understand a lot - but in this case the problem wasn't intellect (da Vinci was a genius after all) it was intelligence. Janeway implied that she was far more intelligent than da Vinci because she understood what was going on when he didn't (I would have had da Vinci say something like - "So if I am a bird, you Katelina, are an angel?")
A better analogy would have been "If you went to India, would you be able to speak to the natives, no matter how intelligent you were?" Answer - No, of course not. "In fact, wouldn't a small child have a great ability than you to speak to others - despite the fact that you may be more intelligent?" Answer - Yes. "Well, it is the same thing here - I can't explain it to you because you don't speak the language and I don't have the time to teach it to you..." Or perhaps an analogy of Achilles vs. a musketeer - the musketeer would win, even though Achilles is the better soldier.
The comment of Tuvok's about not making small talk got me to thinking. Why wouldn't Vulcan's make small talk? I know that to each other it might not be logical - but neither is it logical to believe that all other races will act (or even should act) like Vulcans. They should be able to make small talk so they can better work with other races (the same goes for emotions - the fact is that most species use emotions, therefore you should understand them so you can better predict their behaviour.)
One last question - who are the customers of this thief? If he is going around the sector stealing peoples equipment, who is buying it back? Who would even trust his ship in orbit - you could quickly find yourself in an empty hull.
Sorry I talked so much - but it really bothers me when things that could be fixed with a line or two of dialogue could be addressed and fixed - and most of these nits fall into that category.
Kevin Loughlin: Now, this was interesting, if a bit far-fetched. This stolen-goods dealer activates Leo and plays along with the prince-sponsor lole just to have an 800-years-dead guy invent stuff for him?
The computer gave its operating range in 'Degrees Kelvin'. There's no such thing! It's 'Kelvins', because it's an actual measure of relative heat, 0 Kelvins being Absolute Zero.
I wouldn't call that ramp a 'precipice'.
Aside from that, fun enough...
Tony H Forbes: In this episode, the Voyager is attacked twice, and gets smacked. Now, all they seem to do is take "evasive maneuvers" like they actually work. If I was Janeway, then I'd lay into these ships because it looks like just one phaser blast and bam! No more tick ships!
After last week's progress in orbit shots, we take one giant leap back, all the way back to "Caretaker". That's where all of the orbit scenes came from. I kept looking for the Marquis Raider flying next to it.
Janeway makes another bad show as a infantry-person. Twice she puts herself in positions where she blabbers with Leonardo and exposes herself to phaser fire. The most dangerous is the liftoff with the glider. The guys in chase have phasers but they don't take a shot at the extremely-vulnerable craft.
The choice of pictures displayed in the astrometrics lab deserves some scrutiny. All three hail from the twentieth century. One is a shot of Saturn's rings. Another is the "Ring Nebula". The last I recognize as a shot from the Hubble, but I can't quite place it.
Did anyone else think the crawling around in the warehouse was reminiscent of the Great Chekov Chase in Star Trek IV?
Once again, 7/9 had two stock appearances. Fortunately this time, they were worth something.
Love the Kirk reference! But it seems that Kirk is the ONLY one who ever had fun in outer space.
Well, it's nice to see that objects vaporize still. The last time we saw something being actually vaporized by a phaser was in last year's DS9 "A Simple Investigation"...which...incidentally...is on next week...and before that it was a loooooong time.
I have two submissions to make. The first is a great line in this episode: "Earthquakes and fools! Florence be damned!" The second is an acronym, AYS for Another Yoda Speech. In this episode, DaVinci goes off on tangent about how he was never paying attention to what he was doing. In "Empire Strikes Back" Yoda has a similar speech. I welcome people to find other AYS moments.
Mike Wyzard: When Voy regains weapons control, Janeway tells em to fire at the raiding ships. Is this a bright idea? I mean, a ship flys by, beams off lots of important equipment, do you want to destroy it? What if the one they did destroy was the one carrying their main computer chip?
Leonardo shows up on the planet because his program was still active in the computer when the chip was beamed off. Now, setting aside the fact that Janeway didn't say "Save Program" as she ran out of the Holodeck NOR did the computer automatically Save when red alert sounded and she left the room, why would one have the computer's MAIN PROCESSOR running the Holodeck simulations? Why doesn't the Holodeck have a dedicated computer that is networked to the rest of the ship? no, I don't work for Oracle, but it seems like this would be wisest (tho I'm sure no one expects the main computer to ever get beamed off the ship like that).
12/1/97 Update
Alvin L. East Jr. of Las Vegas NV: Since I didn't have to work tonight (let's hear it for holidays!!) I actually got to watch the episode as it aired. Thought it was very good even though da
Vinci seemed to adjusted to the miracles of advanced technology (at least most
of it) way too easily. I mean really, a 16th century man using a piece of
24th century technology for his experiments. Of course there was TNG's
holo-simulation of Professor Moriarty, from the 19th century, and he did very
well with the same technology, so who knows.
Now for my nits.
While I liked the reference made by Janeway to Kirk's claim of having met da
Vinci (TOS - Requiem for Methuselah), didn't Kirk and crew promise not to tell
anyone about Mr. Flint (da Vinci)? And what about that famous ending scene
where Spock appears to make Kirk forget the details of what just happened
because of his broken heart? How would Kirk remember that Flint was da Vinci
in order to pass it on to someone else?
When Tuvok and Janeway first enter da Vinci's workshop and pass the table with
the phaser on it, the phaser is clearly visible, laying on its side. Yet when
Janeway picks it up a few seconds later its laying face up?!? (Note from Phil: Must be one of the Mexican Jumping Phasers.)
They used one of the long exterior shots of the city twice. (I had to go back
and watch my tape to verify this one) If you look just to the right of the
main body of the city during the very first shot of the city, just before
Tuvok and Janeway are shown walking around inside it, there's an airplane
flying in front of the mountains in the background. This exact same shot is
used again just after the scene where Tuvok and 7o9 locate the missing
computer. On my tape the plane appears in the exact same spot and covers
exactly the same amount of space before the shot cuts away.
What's really interesting is there's another shot of the city, just before
Tuvok and Janeway are shown examining da Vinci's maps, that doesn't have the
plane in it. Why didn't they just use this scene for all three shots? And
what's up with the plane? The shot looks to me as if its a CGI cityscape
superimposed over a real background to give it realism. If so, how did they
miss taking out the plane? If not what city did they used to film this
scene? Anybody out there recognize it? (Note from Phil: Or, they used the plane twice just to tweak the nitpickers! ;-)
Richie Vest of Fountain Valley, CA: I liked this episode a lot. John Rhys-davis is a great actor. I enjoyed him on Sliders.
However I have one problem with the epsiode, WHY WAS THE DA VINCI PROGRAM
DOWNLOADED INTO THE MOBILE EMMITER. I hate it when wrilters ask a question
then for get to answer it
Erik Irtenkauf of Portsmouth Virginia: So that's what a site-to-site transporter looks like. It doesn't look very bulky or cumbersome to me. I mention this because if you go back
to the DS9 episode "Visionary" where some type of weapon is beamed into
a wall panel which later kills O'Brien. When Odo and Sisko go to the
source of the transport(a set of empty quarters) Sisko comments that
maybe the culprits did it with a site to site transporter. But Odo says
that he thought of that and a site-to-site transporter would be to bulky
or big. As I said, the little thing they used here didn't look all that
large. (Note from Phil: Then again, this *is* alien technology!)
My other nit is that as Voyager is descending closer to the surface
Paris is reading off there distance. But even as he says they're
getting lower you can see a corner of the planet in the view screen, and
it doens't seem to be gettng any bigger. Aside from those two things,
it was a pretty good show
Chris Powers of Lakewood, Colorado: Janeway and Leonardo are in
the holodeck when Voyager is fired upon. Janeway, as expected, feels the
jolt from the blast. However, Leonardo also feels the blast as, apparently,
so does the rest of the holo-city of Florence as we can tell by the
"Maestro's" comments on an earthquake.
This would not occur, for the holo-emitters are part of the framework of
the ship and would shake in exactly the same manner as the ship itself.
Because the projection is originating from the shaking emitters, then the
projection too would shake in that exact same manner and would not "feel" a
shaking as Janeway would.
Mike: Interesting episode...
Blatant 47: the computer is capable of monitoring 47 million data
channels.
So the main computer core is gone, DaVinci with it, and the ship has no
means of propulsion or weapons. Goofy as this is (have we really
returned to the day of the mainframe?), The Embodiment of Modern
Medicine is still running. If his incredibly complex program is still
running, wouldn't it make sense to harness whatever processing power
he's using to run propulsion?
Speaking of which, they keep saying it was the main computer
_processor_. Why would a holoprogram like DaVinci be stored in a
_processor_?
Several people referred to the suddenly short transporter range, this
was skewed by the shields being up at the time. (Note from Phil: But, but, but . . . I don't think we'd have any problem finding other instances of shields being up and the transporters still working! ;-)
So the best way to get a lock on your most important piece of hardware
is to cause a power surge within it? Hmm, whatever happened to signal
enhancers? Stolen, no doubt, but a power surge still seems like a dumb
risk to take, especially when you're standing right next to the
computer.
What possible technological value are emergency food rations? I can't
remember anyone ever referring to them as fine gourmet.
Interesting that of all the technology stolen (biobed, warp diagnostic
assembly, mobile emitter, computer core, phasers, food rations), they
didn't bother taking the warp core or the replicators or the
transporters or that slick Borg astrometrics lab. Also interesting to
note that the only items retrieved by Voyager were the emitter and
computer core. That biobed might be rather useful the next time someone
suffers a rare genetic mutation.
Ditto for the warp diagnostic assembly, which brings up another point:
If the warp diagnostic assembly is a self-contained unit (not a terminal
for the computer), wouldn't propulsion or weapons also be self-contained
(or at least have backups)? We here in the 20th century have distributed
computing, yet Voyager seems reliant on a mainframe. Convenient when you
want to cripple a ship--bad design. This was reinforced in Basics I
where the destruction of the secondary command processor meant Janeway
couldn't order a self-destruct.
If the doctor was so claustrophobic about being "trapped" in Sickbay,
why didn't he just deactivate himself so he wouldn't be so lonely?
Lisa Solinas: Sigh. Not the best. I'm going to go watch DS9 after this.
Scandinavia? Tuvok says "SCANDINAVIA"?!?! Da Vinci
probably know KNOWS what Scandinavians look like [Of
course, he DID give Tuvok this funny look, so maybe he
knew Tuvok was lying].
The doctor's emitter vanishes. Hasn't Torres scanned it to
determine what makes it tick? Can't she mass-produce them? (Note from Phil: It *is* 29th century technology. Maybe she can't reproduce it? Then again, replicators in "Rival" reproduced a device that could alter the probability factor of reality so . . .)
I don't want to know where Torres learned obscene Klingon
epithets.
Janeway invents colorful lie after colorful lie. Here's a wild
one for you: why not just tell Leo.... THE TRUTH? Sure,
he wouldn't believe her, he'd think she was a loon, but then
again....
On the same quantum filament, Kim beams the whole glider
into the cargo bay. How does Janeway plan to explain this?
Does Chakotay do ANYTHING on the bridge but whine at
B'Elanna? [I can picture her turning into a clone of O'Brian:
"My console's off-line chief.... bah!"]
Will the program keep on going even when Leo leaves for
France? And, by the by, does the program extend beyond
Florence?
I am unsatisfied by Janeway's method of getting Da Vinci to stop
asking her why he got shot and isn't dead. With a situation like
that, there is no approach but the truth. Janeway's good at that
sort of thing. She can't spontaneously come up with an admission
of some sort?
Ross A. Fillmore, Columbus, OH: Fun episode! At times really a hoot. I was afraid they were going to make Leonardo too corny but they kept his integrity.
On to the nits. Did I miss something or were they transporting things left and right while the shields
were up? My understanding is that things can't transport on or off the ship if the shields are up. (Note from Phil: As with much of Starfleet technology, there is some confusion on this point!)
After the ship gets pilfered, Tom says, "Do you get the feeling we have just been mugged?" or words
to that effect. I know it is amazing how slang persists over the
generations, but do you really think "mugged" would be one of them?
Okay, Harry and 7 have worked together for how many months now? When is he
going to get used
to her frankness? Or is he still bedazzled over her, um... accoutrements?
I thought the bit with Leonaro drawing Tuvok's ear was cute.
When Chakotay and Tom were interrogating the guy from the planet, the guy
had a Star Fleet
uniform on. If these people make their business out of stealing technology
(sounds like the
Paklids) why would they steal a uniform?
I wasn't paying attention to star dates but just how long was it between
when Voyager got mugged
to the time they caught up with DeVinci on the planet? Was he really there
long enough to draw detailed maps of the city and to build a flying machine
up in the hills? He must work fast
considering Janeway insinuated he was a procrastinator.
Here is an interesting twist to what could have happened: The bad guy asks
for the communicator. Janeway gives it to him. If the communicators were
equipped with an emergency beam out option,
she could have engaged emergency beam out when she gave it to him, someone
on the ship
would have picked up the signal and if they were on their toes (where's
O'Brien when you need
him?) they could have disabled the weapon he was carrying, and nabbed him
when he materialized.
It would have made for a shorter show, but, wow! what a maneuver if they
had pulled it off!
DeVinci's rantings about Europe being like a prison compared to the new
world was analogical to
his not being able to leave the Holodeck (until now) and the Doctor's
plight of not being able to
leave sickbay.
After DeVinci knocked out the bad guy, why didn't Janeway get her comm
badge back?
Harry says that DeVinci and Janeway have left the city. Without her comm
badge how would he
know that Janeway was with DeVinci? (Note from Phil: No doubt it was a good guess!)
DeVinci kept refering to the "Great Bird" as both the flying machine and
the Spirit of Flight. Could
he also have been refering to the "Great Bird of The Galaxy" (Gene
Roddenberry)?
J. Andrew Keith, Greensburg PA: Well, I guess I'm out of step again this
week. Lots of people hated "Random Thoughts," which I saw as a good
example of classic Trek living on. Lots of people seem to have liked
"Concerning Flight," but I'm not one of them.
Some reasons why:
Okay, we have a pirate culture that is sophisticated enough to figure
out how the mobile emitter works -- don't forget it was a piece of
technology developed in the far future -- but somehow these guys think
Leonardo da Vinci can produce cutting-edge inventions for them. Huh?
It takes Voyager a few days to reach the planet. Somehow, in that fairly
short span of time, the aliens figure out how to use all the stolen
tech, get equipment hooked up and operating (with connections to
non-Starfleet power systems and such, no less, and unleash the da Vinci
hologram. And he, in turn, has time enough to adapt to his new locale,
redesign and build his glider (why there? On that paricular hilltop?
Right where Janeway's going to beam them in the crisis?), make detailed
maps of several notable sites of interest, and work on various designs
for his new "Prince." Huh?
When is Starfleet going to learn not to let the computer respond to
every idiot who tries to operate it? Back in Next Generation we had the
Binars and that trio of 20th Century corpsicles from "The Neutral Zone,"
and now there's this lot, cheerfully accessing the computer without so
much as a by-your-leave. Can you say "password?" There, I knew you
could.
During the period when Janeway and da Vinci are preparing to mount their
rather silly commando raid, Voyager's bridge crew is trying to follow
their progress by sensors. One moment they can pick up the holo-emitter,
but have to guess that Janeway might be there too. Seconds later they
are tracking 30 armed locals closing in. Come on, guys, get it together!
I know Janeway admires da Vinci and all, but wouldn't it have made good
sense if she'd skipped trying to explain things to him every time the
situation got tense and he got argumentive? Why not just TURN HIM OFF?
Switch off the program, pocket the emitter, and get on with the mission.
You just know Kirk would never have taken that much lip from a
computer-generated character . . . Come to think of it, even though she
made a big deal to Tuvok about how useful da Vinci could be to her, he
really wasn't much help. He couldn't remember much about the fortress,
which was the whole reason he was along. It was pure dumb luck that his
glider was on hand when they needed it, and frankly it should have been
an easy target for Tau's thugs if they hadn't been completelt stupified
by the sight of a starship captain choosing to fly that deathtrap
instead of taking her chances on the ground against phasers like any
sensible person would.
Ah, well. John-Rhys Davies left Sliders in search of roles that weren't
silly. Let's hope he finds one some time soon . . .
Lars Ormberg of Rimbey, Alberta: When Voyager is first attacked, Janeway orders evasive maneuvres. About five seconds later we see an external shot, where the aliens are racing
alongside and firing on Voyager, which appears to be practically
motionless. Why isn't Paris spinning the ship around at high speeds?
Or at least accelerating as he veers to the side? No wonder Tau's ships
could "match our course" as Paris said. He didn't do anything special.
Voyager's main computer processor is pretty small. The Enterprise-D has
3 computer cores (engineering, port saucer, starboard saucer), each 8
stories high with each "floor" of the core probably 1200 sq. ft. or more
in size. Voyager apparently only has one main computer, with a
processor maybe the size of a bookshelf that seems to have the
capabilities of the main computer (voice commands, plenty of processing
power, Janeway's command codes, etc). Either computer technology
improved vastly in the fifteen years between the Galaxy project and the
Intrepid project, or the Voyager computer is a pretty watered down
version of the Enterprise. Maybe that's why Voyager only has a 500 km
transporter range (which apparently was only created for the purposes of
dual crisis for Janeway and the crew).
The second crisis was amazing too. Janeway entered co-ordinates
"several kilometres away" that was a brief walk to where DaVinci had
apparently gone to build his glider. Tau and his henchmen apparently
were able to determine where they'd gone from the site-to-site
transporter, follow them there, take exactly one shot during all the
time they were exposed in the open, and then stand and gawk during the
slow getaway of Janeway.
As Voyager comes down to the 500 kilometres, they are again attacked.
Again we see an exterior view of Voyager. No wonder Tom is taking so
long to travel 500 kilometres in a starship, the external shot yet again
shows Voyager at nearly a full stop, with no apparent angle of descent.
Did the producers blow all their money on the city-scape matte shot and
the hand-glider, and be incapable of doling out the cash for new and
relatively simple effects?
Why oh why did Tuvok claim to be from Scandinavia, rather than Egypt? I
mean, isn't Tuvok a little black for a Renaissance-era Nordic man? And
then to be so suprised to hear Vulcan mentioned by Da Vinchi. Does
Tuvok not realize that Vulcan is the god of fire on Earth?
Janeway never bothered to recover her communicator from Tau? Instead
she just takes off without retreiving her means of contacting the ship.
As a result, Voyager has more than a little trouble tracking her
throughout the rest of the show. Yet also nobody bothered locking onto
the tricorder (which can be used as a comm badge), and Janeway never
bothered using it to inform her shipmates that they were en route to the
processor but had been discovered by Tau? Being discovered is the kind
of thing I as a captain on the planet would want to tell my ship so that
they could be valuable in helping me evade my enemy.
When Voyager locates the holo-emitter on the move as Da Vinchi and
Janeway presumably are rescuing the processor, why oh why didn't
Chakotay send himself, or Tuvok, or somebody to go down and regain
communication and provide support?
And is Voyager's computer (approx. 500 billion
calcs./nanosecond) really half as good as Data/Lal (1 trillion in "The
Offspring")?
David Carter-Whitney of Toronto, Ont.: One more nit to add: why exactly is Leonardo out of breath as he and Janeway climb the hill? One presumes that he doesn't have the cardiac
problem that his girth might be associated with if he were flesh and blood. (Note from Phil: Must be part of the simulation! ;-)
Matthew Chiappardi: The set they used for the alien marketplace looked remarkably familair
to the set they used for the alien marketplace last week, and I wouldn't
be surprised if its a set used for other alien locales (marketplaces
included). Gotta shave that production cost. :)
Since I didn't notice anything else, I'm going to take this moment to
express my dissapointment with Voyager as a series. With a few
exceptions, it has been a legacy of lazy writing and missed
opportunities. Since it was set in the Delta Quadrent, they had the
opportunity to make it a show about really cool and interesting alien
worlds and species. Many times it plays like a continuation of 'The
Next Generation' with species (like the one in this episode) that think
and act just like humans. The first time I noticed this was in the
episode (1st season) where Paris was accused of a crime and forced to
watch the memories of his victim.
The same deal in this epsidoe, the aliens just act too similairly to
our heros...it leaves me without the wonder of being in deep space,
exploring strange worlds. They rose to the occasion with style, with
Species 8472, but went way over the top by having them be from another
dimension. It's a shame the creators have not allowed "Voyager" to live
up to its potential the same they did with "Deep Space 9".
Finally, a small response to Daniel Gunther's remarks about Vulcans'
lying. I think the only time we heard about this was from Spock in "The
Final Frontier". Of course, Spock may have just been lying right there
to outbluff the Klingons. It would be logical, or it could just be the
sloppy writing of William Shatner.
I wonder what we'll see next week. (Note from Phil: A rerun! I think.)
Brian Lombard: The site-to-site transporter was rather bulky. Paris had a
hand-held device in "Non Sequiter". Alternate timeline, but same
Federation. (Note from Phil: I thought the site-to-site transporter was from another race but I may be wrong.)
There were two 47s. The computer interface in the town square, and
Kim read off the number 4.7 during the rescue.
Tuvok's outfit came from his mirror universe double in the DS9
episode "Through The Looking Glass".
I may be crazy, but at one point Chuckles calls Torres in
Engineering. All she says is "acknowledged", and it really didn't
sound like Roxann Dawson.
Tom's use of the word "mugged" had me wondering if anyone else
would know what it means. Remember that in "The 37s", Kim didn't know
the word "automobile", and Chuckles didn't know "gasoline".
Brian O'Marra, Little Rock, AR: Phil, I apologize if this is a bit long...Also, I would welcome your thoughts
especially if I may be wrong in my explanation! I hope you find the following
explanation interesting!
First, I felt that Mike Konczewski raised an excellent point about the
emitter not being able to be put on Leonardo since he wasn't in a holodeck.
The creators seemed to imply that the emitter works by being clipped on the
holo-simulations' garb and shut off by being removed!
However, should the emitter work this way? Let me explain....the emitter acts
as a holodeck. It's compact enough for it to go with the simulation. Yet,
instead of grids in a containment chamber (the holodeck) the emitter becomes
that source.
Since the emitter is the source of the simulation...can it be separated from
it?? True, it was detached from doc early in the show when it was beamed off
of Voyager, but doc was in sickbay (which has emitters installed). At that
point holodoc was now projected from sickbay, not the emitter!
We have seen how simulations degrade when removed from the holodeck. They are
out of the containment grids' fields. The TNG episode "The Big Goodbye"
showed this result.
Now, for the removal from the emitter to produce the same result, it would be
like moving the entire holodeck to another location, while the program is
running, and still have the program stay in the same place. Of course the
holodeck would now work from this new location. Wouldn't the program move
with it?
In another words, removing an emitter that is connected to the simulation
would cause you to move the simulation as well! It would be like being stuck
to flypaper. shouldn't the only way to discontinue a program from an emitter
be to turn off the program from the emitter? (Much like shutting off a
holodeck program from the holodeck)
In this show, Janeway implied how the emitter works when Tuvok asked how
Leonardo came to be on the planet. Janeway said that the program was still
running in the computer when beamed off the ship. Tau downloaded it into the
emitter, which then projected the image from it!
This raises other nits or observations...First, why was the program still
running? Janeway got a call from Chakotay that the ship was under attack
while she was running a holodeck program. Shouldn't she have discontinued the
program? Next, why would Tau take an unnecessary step of beaming off the
computer, then the emitter, and then downloading the program into the same
emitter??
Lastly, if the emitter is the source of the program, how does it decide to
project it out from it? Doc has the emitter on his upper left sleeve (I
believe), and now Leonardo has it on the center of his stomach.
(Note from Phil: All good questions but I'm not sure I have any answers. Since the mobile emitter is 29th century technology, who knows what it can or cannot do?)
Simon Crowley: Cute ep', but hardly believable (and Star Trek ever is?)
OK, although there is no damage to the ship, it still shakes around
like a limp dishrag. C'mon. . . .
Cool lines. . . Janeway: "Fire at will!"; Tuvok: "I have the will, but
not the means."
What kind of phaser rifle is that? A new kind of rifle, 60,000 LY
away? Yeah, right.
TFC Syndrome! (Touchy-Feely Captain). She's constantly grabbing,
touching, and patting Tuvok! I think he should complain‹Vulcans
dislike physical contact!
"Parsecs"? (Insert typical Universal Translator rant here)
OK, how could the Starfleet guy that programmed the Da Vinci sim know
of his real personality? This guy's been dead for almost a millenia!
Why doesn't Janeway shoot somebody?!?!
Ah, it's EMERGENCY transporters that have a range of 500 km, not the
main (although the dampening field may have had some effect). (Note from Phil: But did Torres say that Janeway had fully functioning transporters. And is the dampening field around the entire planet?!)
Darryl Tam: Seven critisized Tuvok for refering to Da vinci as Da vinci because he's
a hologram. Didn't she refer to the Doctor as Doctor even though he's a
hologram too?
Why did the Kazon try to steal the transporter thing in a 2nd season
epidsode. Why didn't they just steal the site-tosite transporter?
The aliens take the portable holoemitter, the sugical bed, torpedo
casings,phasers, tricoders,uniforms, warp core diagnostic panel, and the
computer core and the doctor thinks that the holoemitter is the most
important thing? What about the surgical bed?
Murray Leeder: WEIRD!
Tuvok? ALMOST 27 types of ships in orbit? Is that, say, 26 and a half?
So what exactly did this Tau guy have in mind for Da Vinci? Was he just
a novelty to him?
They certainly have presented a sanitized version of Da Vinci! From
what I've read, he was a thoroughly unpleasant person in reality...
I guess Tau is a "hands on" kind of guy. He's quick to head personally
after Janeway and Leo.
And funny how he never thought anything odd of the emitter...
Michael S. Felmar: If the hang glider was so unlikely to work, why didn't Janeway shut off
the holoemitter and go solo? (Presumably the holo-objects it generated
have mass, since they can affect the physical world around them) Also,
the same strategy would have made her escape all the more certain if she
didn't have to wait for Leonardo to huff and puff his way up the hill.
Lastly, Harry's gonna spend the whole trip back to Earth as an ensign if
he keeps letting pretty non-coms in skin-tight outfits order him around.
Matthew McLauchlin: I don't usually use the word "charming" to describe trek episodes, but
this one certainly qualifies.
Kim says they must be "at least" 500 km from the surface to use the
transporters. I believe he means "at most".
Why is there a special device (presumably Starfleet issue) called a
site-to-site transporter? Isn't an ordinary transporter pad used for
this function? (Note from Phil: I really thought I heard Janeway use one of those throw-away race designations before she identified the device. You know . . . something like "It's a black-lunged Wigglethorp site-to-site transporter.")
da Vinci says that he has been "shot". He didn't turn around, so he
never saw the alien until Janeway beaned him (the alien). All he saw was
a blue bolt of lightning erupting from his chest, from what source he
presumably doesn't know.
Those two aliens at the end put up a pretty poor showing. They shoot
once, in about a minute! What are they going to do when Tau finds out?
What is Voyager going to do with an ornithopter in its cargo bay?
Why dos Chakotay so cavalierly give away the phaser rifle? Bad idea, to
someone you've just really [angered].
The following are merely observations.
I thought it was a very nice touch to have John Rhys-Davies (who played
Flint, who was da Vinci in a past life, in "Requiem for Methuselah
(TOS)) playing da Vinci again, and to mention Kirk's encounter with
Flint. (Note from Phil: Um . . . I believe James Daly played Flint.)
So we have a woman in a box. This would be Lwaxana Troi, yes? The
horror...
Derek Moffitt: When Tuvok said he was from Scandinavia, did anyone think of "The Big
Goodbye" (TNG) where Data says he's from South America?
For the first time, we have the speed of a ship's computer: 575 trillion
operations per nanosecond, or 575 zetaflops. Does anyone out there know
enough about computers to figure out whether this is reasonable?
Tuvok hit some kind of "pause button" on DaVinci's mobile emitter. Can
they do that to the Doctor?
These throwaway references to Captain Kirk are getting so common they
deserve a Glossary acronym. We propose KIRK: Kathryn Inevitably Refers to
Kirk. (Note from Phil: He's her hero!)
KMYF moment: between Janeway and DaVinci when she finally does convince
him to go with her.
Was there any reason why Voyager lost Janeway's comm badge signal, or was
that really just a malfunction? Those things have always been pretty
reliable before.
Janeway hasn't changed her access code ("Janeway Pi-110") since the first
season. Picard had a different code every time he used it. Change in
protocol, perhaps?
Why did the phaser beam go through DaVinci? We know he was a solid
hologram before, when he was in his "new workshop", and since he doesn't
even know that he's a hologram, he couldn't have made himself non-solid.
This nit is getting to be really common.
Once B'Elanna got the computer re-installed, she said they now had, among
other things, "full transporters." Two questions: what exactly are
"partial transporters", and how did they beam up the computer itself if it
runs the transporters? (Note from Phil: And why could they beam up the computer from a gazillion kilometers away with crippled transporters but when they had "full" transporters they had to get within 500 kilometers?)
Torpedo counters take note: Two torpedo casings were beamed off Voyager
and never recovered, bringing the total down to at most eleven.
(Remember, the ones fired in the Year That Never Happened don't count.) (Note from Phil: I don't think we have any way to count torpedoes any more since we have no idea what timeline we're in after Year of Hell!)
A few anti-nits:
The shaking of the ship only appeared to move it a few centimeters; after
all, Janeway and DaVinci were able to keep their balance. Given the size
of the Voyager, such a small amount wouldn't have been visible in the
external shots. (Depending on your preferred interpretation of the
inertial damping field, the ship *could* have been moving much more than
several centimeters, and the IDF would have reduced the shaking to that
level. But it's also possible that, if the main computer was already
missing at the time, the IDF was offline and the ship was really only
shaking by a few centimeters, since the attacking ships weren't firing
high-yield weapons but rather using translocators.)
We don't really know that Tau has no holodeck; he seems to have some
pretty advanced technology. But in any case, he wouldn't need one to
download DaVinci's program into the holoemitter.
About that holoemitter: Was it made in the 20th century based on
29th-century plans, or was it actually made in the 29th century? Our
guess would be the latter, since if that 20th-century guy could copy the
holoemitter, then certainly B'Elanna could too. Therefore, the emitter
really *is* Federation technology, albeit at a very advanced level, and so
it might well have a Federation energy signature.
About the beamup of Janeway and DaVinci: It was established in "The Raven"
that Voyager has a way to beam through Federation-style shields. However,
that transport was at very close range, so it's possible that the
transporter range is reduced substantially when beaming through shields.
This would explain both of the nits in this scene at once.
Forty-sevens:
This episode is the 470th hour of Star Trek on television (not counting
the animated series).
Question: Does anybody know what next week's episode is? That preview had
scenes from at least three old episodes ("Scorpion II", "The Raven", and
"Concerning Flight"), and no new scenes at all (that we caught, anyway).
Does that mean we're getting (gasp!) a *rerun*?
Mike Cheyne, Kent City, MI: Always good to see John Rhys-Davies (Sallah from Indiana Jones). I don't
really have any nits, in fact this in the response to the thing about 7
of 9 giving orders to Harry. Actually, she could be giving a suggestion,
which she wants done. Remember that 7 of 9 doesn't really follow
Starfleet protocol a lot as she's still getting used to it.
By the way, that teaser for the next Voyager made no sense and looks
like a shameless exploit of 7 of 9. (NOTE: Jeri Ryan was named one of TV
Guide's Top 20 Sexiest Stars. James Brolin's on there, too.)
Andrew Jenkins: About the spaceway robbery scene...isn't this the reason (well, one of the
reasons) why ship phasers have more than one setting? If there are these
ships flitting around whse weapons are doing something to the shields that
SEEMS insignificant, but are having some effect, and there's no
communication from the ships, shouldn't Starfleet policy be to DISABLE them
before they pop out the secret weapon whose existence convinced them not to
flee in terror when they saw that their weapons weren't having much effect?
Does anyone else have a hard time beliving that these LITTLE fighters have
cargo holds big enough to hold the main computer processor? It looked
pretty big to me, and those ships looked small enough to fit in Voyager's
shuttlebay. And if these transporters take advanced technology, why didn't
Voyager lose a few Phaser emitter segments and a couple of shield grid
emitters? One would think that these ships' weapons were intended to do
SOME damage, but Voyager's shields take it. And when Tuvok FINALLY gets
around to firing, the first hit vaporizes one of the ships! You'd think
that their scanners would register Voyager's shields and phasers as
"Advanced Technology."
So this Chakotay guy, the first officer, who went to the academy, after
talking to this guy who unfortunately bought stolen goods, decides to let
him keep them? I thought Starfleet was against the distribution of their
technology! Why wouldn't he take at least the big phaser rifle and say,
"Tell the person who sold it to you to stop peddling goods stolen from
those powerful enough to take it back." That would seem more like
Chakotay's style.
So they get the processor back. Everything starts working again...except
the phasers. They must've not been working yet, since otherwise Tuvok, the
good tactical officer that he is, would've fired at the ships that are
damaging Voyager and could concievably TAKE BACK the processor his crew
just recovered! (Just why weren't they using the magic theft weapon then,
anyway? Couldn't they set the transporters to steal the power transfer
conduits between the phasers and the warp core? Or maybe the hull
surrounding the antimatter containers? These things have lost of promise as
weapons!)
Shane Tourtellotte: I wonder why Chakotay doesn't call Janeway to the Bridge while these numerous and unfamiliar
ships are converging on them, instead of waiting until an attack begins to summon her.
I believe it's Kim who says he has ID'd nearly 27 kinds of ships in orbit around the planet.
*Nearly* 27? Would that be, perhaps, 26?
I must join the general chorus in saying -- SCANDINAVIA? I thought Vulcans knew everything.
Why wouldn't Tuvok know basic racial distributions on Earth? Any half-decent lessons about
Earth history would tell him that much. We are (were?) pretty obsessed about it.
When paged by Tuvok, 7o9 taps her combadge. According to the tech manuals, you don't have
to do this to respond to a call. Tapping is irrelevant.
When "Prince" Tau catches Janeway in Leonardo's workshop, he takes her combadge. We see him
holding it with his thumb on the front surface. Shouldn't that activate it? (Note from Phil: There is a rumor that combadges are keyed to a person's DNA but we have seen them used by people other than the owners.)
When both Leonardo and Janeway knock Tau unconscious, they do it by clubbing in the small of
the back, not by a conk on the noggin. Is this some peculiarity of local physiology that
renders him susceptible to knockout this way? I'll grant, expert anatomist Leonardo *might*
have figured this out somehow.
Is it my imagination, or is the director deliberately avoiding giving us a look at
B'elanna's abdomen?
As happened in "Darkling", beaming appears to cancel the beamed object's momentum.
Leonardo's glider should have come careening off the transporter pad and crashed into a
bulkhead. Would make an interesting scene: "We've got them, Commander." CRUNCH!
Murray Leeder: And Janeway gave a figure to Da Vinci in KILOMETERS! (Note from Phil: UT! UT! UT! UT! ;-)
Jim Ferris: Sorry I'm a little behind the ball on this one, but I just caught this watching a repeat of
"Concerning Flight"
Toward the end of the episode we see the phaser go THROUGH DaVinci. He's a hologram, and
therefore has no mass. Something that has no mass has no weight. Later we see the
hang-glider effortlessly gliding though the air, when it should be leaning to the starboard
side. Since DaVinci has no mass, he has no weight to counter-balance the weight of our
captain. Hence, her weight would have been the only weight on the glider. In actuality,
the thing should've flown around in a circle...
12/8/97 Update
Kathy Schopp of St. Louis, MO: I know that the novels are not canon.
But since Paramount licenses these to Simon & Schuster/Pocket,(which is a
division of the Parent Company). and of course they want people to read
them (merchandising and all) I just wonder why they are using the same premises from Voyager novels?
I can't remember exactly which one it was at this moment ( I will have to
look through them all) but one of the Voyager novels used the premise of
the computer core being removed. It would be nice if they used a new idea. (Note from Phil: There are only so many ideas in the world!)
Also, while I guess upon thought it shouldn't have happened it is still nice to hear Kirk references instead of the constant Kirk bashing of TNG, (prior to Generations) since without Classic Trek there wouldn't be any Voyager (or DS9 or TNG or any Trek).
John Reese of Austin, TX: Don't know if these are taken or not, but here they are...
When DaVinci is first loaded into the holoemitter, he finds himself in a
bustling center of commerce, and assumes he is in America. Why would he
come to this conclusion? In DaVinci's time, America was still largely
untamed wilderness. (Except for the advanced civilizations that were here
before us, of course, but DaVinci probably wouldn't have considered that!)
When Janeway was so tactfully comparing DaVinci to a bird with a tiny
brain, I thought, "Boy, is she being superior!" Then I realized: She IS
superior! She's human, DaVinci is just a hologram.
The two actors at the end really had their work cut out for them. I can
imagine the director telling them: "OK, act like you're so stunned at
seeing this primitive flying machine that it never occurs to you to use the
weapon you have in your hand." What a challenge!
Joshua Truax: Chief... I was on my way to the Twin Cities for Thanksgiving weekend
when this episode first aired, and only today (the following Tuesday)
did I get a chance to watch it. It was no "Year of Hell", but it
certainly wasn't bad. I skimmed through the nits already sent in, and
most of mine are already spoken for. Still, I must say that I doubt I
wasn't the only one mentally screamed at Janeway's and holo-da Vinci's
pursuers as they took off in Leo's flying machine: "Don't just stand
there and watch them go like a couple of idiots! Shoot them! SHOOT
THEM DOWN!!!"
Actually, the biggest nits come in the preview for the next episode.
Actually, previews, plural, because there are two of them. The one that
aired at the end of this episode is perhaps the ultimate example of PAL.
It was less a preview of an episode than a shameless promotion of
Voyager's new would-be babe, Seven of Nine. However, while watching DS9
on Thanksgiving night in the Twin Cities I saw a different preview for
next week's Voyager. I immediately recognized the episode as
"Displaced" - a rerun from last season, when Seven of Nine had not even
joined the Voyager cast yet! As if that wasn't bad enough, for some
reason the creators changed the "Displaced" preview to include - you
guessed it - a shot of Seven of Nine! Does this mean that the creators
refilmed this episode just to replace Kes with Seven of Nine?
Scott Newton of New Brunswick, NJ: Since when does "technology" mean "equipment"? [Janeway: "We're looking for our stolen technology."] (Or is this a Universal Translator glitch?
I hope the UT is more accurate than this -- what's that old saying about
a slip of the lip sinking a ship?) (Note from Phil: Maybe by the 24th Century "technology" has come to mean "equipment"?!)
Why doesn't anyone notice these two very odd-looking people from the AQ
and one very odd-looking hologram walking around the marketplace?
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we can on it. You're welcome to send in addition nits and I will keep them on file but I won't be adding to this file any longer unless something really spectacular comes in!
If you would like to add some comments,
drop
me a note at chief@nitcentral.com with the Subject line "Concerning Flight". Please include your real name, city and state (or province
and county as the case may be) in the body of the e-mail so I can give you
credit if you are the first person to bring up a particular nit. (Remember
the legalese: Everything you submit becomes mine and you grant me the right
to use yourname in any future publication by me. I will do my best to give
you credit if you are the first person to submit a particular nit but I make
no guarantees. And finally, due to the volume of mail received at Nitpicker
Central, your submission may or may not be acknowledged but that entry will make you a part of the Nitpickers Guide is you aren't one already!)
Copyright 1997 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.