"Unforgettable"
Air Date: April 22, 1998
Star Date: 51813.4
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we're going to do on it! Most nitpickers have the same problems with it and we're taking a lot of laps around the barn! (Although . . . some are *funny* laps! ;-) You're welcome to send addition nits but they will be filed for future reference instead of uploaded.
Unexpectedly, a battle erupts outside Voyager between a pair of cloaked ship. The victor hails Voyager and pleads for help. Specifically, a Ramuran named Kellin appeals to Chakotay. She claims that she was onboard Voyager once before. However, her race supposedly emits a pheremone that inhibits long terms memory formation in other races. Also, her people has developed significant technologies to hide their existence, including computer viruses that can wipe out all mention of their presence. Ramurans have strict prohibitions against anyone leaving their home planet and Kellin had previously come to Voyager hunting a runaway. She says that in the process of the runaway's capture, she and Chakotay fell in love--fell in love so deeply that she decided to runaway herself and return to Voyager. Chakotay finds the story hard to believe at first but when he does finally fall in love with her, another Ramuran comes to the ship, shoots Kellin with a memory erasing beam and takes her home.
Brash Reflections
Nt a bad episode. Not great. But . . . not too bad.
It's late so I'm not going to add many comments but the big one for me was the seeming uncharacteristic behavior of the crew if what Kellin claims is true. She comes to the ship as a bounty hunter. Chakotay helps her and together they catch a Ramuran stowaway. Does this sound like the normal "help the underdog" approach of the Voyager crew?!
And, not once, but TWICE Janeway allows an alien race to infect Voyager's computer systems with a virus that will destroy computer records?! Right.
Reflections from the Guild
(Note from Phil: I haven't verified these reflections but they sounded good to me!)
Matthew Patterson: I thought I would take a day off from nitpicking (it is my birthday, after all) but these were just too easy.
When they first beam on to Kellin's ship, the closed captioning starts going immediately but Tuvok doesn't say whast's shown until a few seconds later.
Once again, there are multiple Borg regeneration alcoves in the Cargo Bay.
Janeway says "match the frequency of the shields to the frequency of their weapons." Isn't that what caused all the trouble in Geneations, when the Duras sisters modified the torpedoes to 257.4 technobabblons, the same as the Enterprise shields, so they'd go right through? Wouldn't you want the frequency to be directly opposite or something?
Gerry Canavan, Randolph, NJ: A rather lifeless outing, in my opinion. I didn't much like this one, but it wasn't awful. The whole premise seemed rather flawed--it's nearly impossible to accept that there is a civilization out there that no one can remember for more than a day.
Didn't Voyager seem a little hypocritcal in this one? They help her catch a fugitive, and they help her when she is a fugitive. What's the message here? Always help the girl? Chivalry's nice, but you'd expect more consistency from Voyager. And I would have expected them to have favored the fugitive over the hunter.
When Seven, Kim, and the hunter are looking at her logs, the hunter says "Look at my logs--you'll see they haven't been altered?" Maybe not, but isn't it possible that she simply *created* fradulent logs? They'd never have been altered, either--they could have been phony the whole time.
Wouldn't charging the ship up with a positive charge work to repulse a proton- beam? That seems like it would be easier to do than Kim's high-tech solution.
New acronym: DAEDA--Doesn't Anyone Else Do Anything? The senior staff is the only people who do anything at all. Away teams, manning the helm, cooking the meals, chasing down fugitives--don't the other personnel on voyager have any function at all?
And where was Seven? Chakotay found Kalin in what looked like Seven's cargo bay/quarters. What was she up to?
Finally, I would have liked to know what was so wrong with Kalin's society. We have all these people who want to leave, and these Tracers who try to stop them, but we never find out *why* people want to leave in the first place. Just 'cause?
Also, it's good to note see a Canavan making it big, even if I'm not technically related to them. Any idea which character Michael Canavan portrayed?
Corey Reid: WIVRON: Logan's Run! Logan's Run! Also: The Hunted (TNG)
Plenty of KMYF moments. One good one is in the mess hall when the ships start attacking.
I think that Tuvok should play Vegas when he gets home (scene in the corridor with Chuckles was priceless.)
Missing in action: B'Ellana Torres
Gina Torgersen: First, at the beginning of the episode Ensign Kim is talking about the Bussard Ramscoops and completely mispronounces the word as "Bassard" instead of "Byew-sard."
Tonight I watched Voyager with my parents (and two cats) and as soon as Tuvok and Chakotay and whoever else was with them beamed over to save whatsername--Kellen?--my father started commenting that it was not a good idea to beam over to a ship in that bad condition--who knew if there was even breathable atmosphere? I said that they would have scanned it with sensors first. Then Tuvok scanned it with a tricorder and determined that it was fairly safe. I suppose he could've been verifying the sensors, but the report seemed a bit lengthy for that.
I can imagine pheromones blocking long-term memory. But there wasn't any satisfactory explanation for why Kellen's species is impervious to sensors. And besides, they're not impervious, but somehow cause the sensors and tricorders to forget everything within a few seconds. That is really amazing, far harder to accept than just being impervious to scanning in the first place. What's more I got the impression that it was a natural ability, or something done to the body itself that causes this.
Vicki Strzembosz: I'm sure someone has already mentioned the alien woman's hair. It was a great touch the way in the flashback segments her hair was shorter than in the present time. I was convinced the entire episode that she was just there to gain control of the ship. It's pretty unbelievable that a stranger appears on your military vessel and within a few hours they have access to your bridge, computors, sensors,etc. She could have wiped them out at any time. The best line was the one about how she could help in the kitchen.
Patrick Wenker: Sorry to say, but I disliked this episode. I thought it was very unbelievable, even for Star Trek. The only positive point I have to make is this: I think Chakotay's love interest had shorter hair for all the flashback scenes. A nice touch.
The episode reaked of the NG episode where the crew, except for Data, had their memories erased because of a xenophobic society that they stumbled upon. The whole concept of a bodily function erasing a living being's (and a computer's) memories is a little thin.
The tracer reminded me of the Batman character in the old cartoon, Superfriends. Batman and Robin always had a weapon or tool in their utility belts for each specific incident. I realize that the tracer's specific job is to get his runaway and erase their memories, but, I don't know, doesn't this seem kinda lame? He just whips this out, and Whammo!, bye bye memories. It just seems to me that this race needs a lot more to do with their time. But I am only one man...
Oh yes, and Chakotay's ethics sermon to the tracer about the morality of keeping their people home on the planet, well, he needs Prime Directive refresher course 101.
Shane Tourtellotte: Sometimes they make it all too easy for a nitpicker. Such was the case with "Unforgettable":
I seriously question sending an away team onto a battle-damaged and unstable ship, that just had an onboard explosion, and from which you were unable to beam anybody before.
How did Kellen know moving the bulkhead atop her would cause the beam to fall. She was under the bulkhead, and couldn't see the beam.
The away team was sent over to stabilize Kellen's ship, supposedly to make it possible to beam people back from there. Now, Chakotay could probably beam with Kellen back to Voyager because his transporter lock also brought her along, but they didn't know yet that her physiology made such locks impossible. They should have thought they were all precluded from beaming back until this 'stabilization' had taken place, and nobody mentioned accomplishing it.
A side note: what is it with Chakotay and blondes? "Unity" last year; "Unforgettable" this season. At least this one's hair didn't come off! :-)
Odd that Kellen would know and use the Terran expression "in a nutshell" ... unless she learned it from Chakotay during her first visit.
This odd Ramuran trait of making people forget them made me wonder, does it work between Ramurans? I can't imagine it would, yet I can't imagine so militantly insular a society somehow learning that this happened with other races.
Janeway asks Kim to hail the attacking Ramuran vessels, and within three seconds(after a few words from Kellen) Kim says there's no response. I'd wait a bit longer than three seconds before giving up.
Ramuran proton beams go right through Voyager's shields, yet during the fight we get a report on how low Voyager's shields have fallen. What does it matter?
Janeway is very optimistic in ordering Tuvok to target weapons systems on ships they can barely detect.
On their sensor modification assignment, Chakotay and Kellen go to Engineering, then climb a ladder to Deck 10. Why didn't they go to Deck 10 in the first place?
I'm sorry. Since when did Neelix become the expert on romance?
After a while, I wondered why Voyager went along with Kellen the first time she showed up. She was an enforcer for a closed society, hunting down a fugitive whose only crime was leaving home. I'd think Janeway more likely to grant *him* asylum rather than help Kellen track him.
In astrometrics, 7o9 and Kim download information on how to defeat Ramuran proton beams from Kellen's ship. I assume that means they stowed her ship in the shuttlebay, but we never heard this mentioned, and I don't think it'd fit. But they can't still be near it, because they're running at warp. Could I have misheard, and they donwloaded her database *before* zooming off?
Very good idea Chakotay had of a written log, to remember Kellen by. Makes you wonder why nobody else thought of it the first time. Makes you wonder why *he* didn't think of it the first time. Could he have had second thoughts about his first relationship with her, and been glad to forget? I guess we'll never know. My memory's already getting kinda hazy ...
And is anyone else annoyed that this is yet another episode that the crew will never recall occurred?
Next week: looks like an alternate universe to me ... or is Janeway just wearing black gloves because her ready room is chilly? :-)
Kirk Johnson, Roselle, IL: I'll have to watch again, I wasn't paying attention to nits. These are the few ideas I had.
They could easily figure out if Kellin's race was actually forgotten after a few hours. It would also give Neelix something to do. Just keep Kellin away from Neelix and don't let anyone mention her to him. After a few hours, see if Neelix remembers her.
Kellin says that any memory of her race is wiped out of the SHORT-TERM memory of any other race they come into contact with after a few hours. Your short term memory can hold up to about nine objects. It's like a "recent" folder on Windows. Once another object is there, an old one is pushed out, only in our minds, it is either erased completely or stored in our long term memory. Here's my point: the crew of Voyager, especially a high-ranking officer like Chakotay, would have better things to do with their short term memories. If it went to their long term memory, however, then they wouldn't forget. That means that the Voyager crew would either remember Kellin forever, or Kellin would have to explain herself not every few hours, but about every 10 minutes. Luckily, the writers changed the premisis for memory loss later in the episode, so everything worked out fine.
Don Ferguson, Queens NY: Hello fellow pickers :) boy this was a packed episode...packed full of nits that is. as usual I found the really obvious stuff, I leave it to my fellow, more experienced nitpickers to find all the juicy stuff.
on with the nits!!
cloaked ships that can fire... I wont even bother wondering if Janeway asked Kalla about obtaining this tech either her first time on board or when she was here to stay this time.
pheromones that block tricorders? pheromones??? I am not biologist but dont pheromones effect animals through sense of smell? do tricorders have a sense of smell? what about the doctor?
Kalla says that others cant hold memories of her ppl and that the memories fade with in a day.. her first time on Voyager must have been interesting, every crew member that hasn’t seen her for a day would be asking" who is that? and why is Cmr. chakotay so....Friendly with her ??
why do Kalla and Chuckles have to climb that ladder to get where they are going? no turbo lifts?
Kim says the weapons cut through the shields like they weren’t there but the outside shots of the ship being fired on do not support this statement, it clearly shows the shield bubble reflecting the beams.Then someone even says (chuckles I think)"shields are down to 30%" (or some other "low, ready to collapse any second but we can hold out as long as we need in order to fin a solution even though in real life the shields would be down by now and we would be DEAD!" figure.)
Nelix seemed very un Nelix like...I cant put my finger on it...its almost as if he was......not annoying or something....NAH, that’s imposible.
Chuckles should have shot the the tracer the second he opened fire on Kalla, I managed to get of 6 "SHOOT HIM!"s before the tracer dropped his weapon had the tracer ment to kill her, he could have reduced her to ashes using even a stun setting for the amount of time he kept that beam on her *snicker*.
the crew helped Kella track down this runaway, toss him in the brig and happily stand by why she wiped him clean of his memories then let her ship him back home. yet when she is the runaway... they do everything in their power to help her???
why oh why is chuckles writing on pen and paper in the end??? he says it is the only way he can keep a record of her.. why? do those magic pheromones make written references to them fade off a padd as well? and if it is this virus the alien implanted.. I have a few things to say about that... #1 the tracer tells chuckles that he implanted the virus, somehow I find that impossible, when did this guy do this? while he was in the brig? it doesn’t seem likely that he would implant the virus before he captured Kella otherwise it would have tipped off the crew if the computers were wiped before he found her, the crew would know someone was on board and an investigation would insue and the ship would be turned upside down and before you know it Nelix would uncover the the tracer and earn his keep on the ship for a few more episodes *wink*. #2 even if the tracer did get a virus implanted in the computer, why didn’t the crew remove it? are you telling me a stranger knows enough about voyager's computer systems after being on board for only a few days that he can implant a virus so flawlessly that no one on board can detect and remove?? not even 7 with her borg-swiss army knife of a brain? #3 if this virus was responsible for why chuckles couldn’t write about his experiences with Kella.. how does this virus work? I am not going to even get into how the virus could have removed all sensor reading and other records off their presence on the ship without leaving a rather large and very noticeable hole in the computer records for all of voyager to notice. instead lets concentrate on written records such as security reports and Chuckles dirary, how does this virus know when a written record is about the aliens? the only way I can think of for the virus to search out a erase selected written records would be through a word search..track down all written records contains certain words such as the alien's names or species or other phrases. however in order for this virus to be effective and not noticeable... it would have to have very selective search perimeters or else it would erase more records then it was supposed to, even records that were not related to the aliens and then ppl would start to wonder why their personal logs were missing and an investigation would insue and..... you know where I am getting at. my question is, if this virus has very selective search perimeters.. wouldn’t it be easy to step over it? example, when chuckles is writing about Kalla, just refer to her as " the woman I fell in love with" or "that special someone that made me forget about getting into the Captain’s pants for a little while" surly this computer virus isn’t so smart that it could search through every written record on the ship and tell that chuckles was talking about kalla and erase the log entry.
Till next week folks (and does next week look interesting or what, but of course thats PAL for ya).. Live long and nitpick!!
David T. Shaw, Hamilton: Just saw "Unforgettable," which I was quite disappointed with.
Firstly, the away team was sent to set the ship up to tractor it- and yet, in further scenes, there was no evidence that this was ever done. Did they just rescue the damsel and leave the ship so that she'd never be able to leave?
When Chakotay pried the bulkhead off of what's-her-name (see- I am already being to forget) why didn't he call Tom or Tuvoc to assist? For all he knew, she had a broken leg or internal injuries that would have making her rolling away impossible (I don't even recall him asking her if she could do it). If Tom or Tuvoc had been there, they could have dragged her if needed. Otherwise, he was risking lowering the bulkhead back on her- which doesn't seem so smart.
I find some of this remarkable- pheromones that cause people to forget. Firstly, what little I know about human memory, I don't believe it could happen- I can imagine a block from short-term to long-term memory (which would have resulted in a really boring episode- no one would be able to remember what was going on) but to disturb memories that are already there- and only those memories- I have problems with that. And why does her continued presence prevent people from remembering things that happened two days ago? I also have problems in believing that even if such a pheromone existed, that it would affect all aliens in the same manner (for example- I find nothing alluring about a cat in heat).
The same objection holds for the medical scanner- blocking it, sure, I can handle that. But holo-doc clearly said that the data wasn't being saved- the device could read the body, but not record. How was that accomplished? Does what's-her-name really believe that running a diagnostic on her navigation logs would satisfy Tuvoc and Seven? The system is hers- how will they be conversant enough with it to see if she tampered with it? It was pretty much an empty assurance. Which brings us to a simple test that no one seemed to think of- if this effect works as claimed, then you introduce what's-her-name to some crew member in an out of the way part of the ship- hydroponics maintenance perhaps, and then go back in a day and see if he remembers her. If he doesn't, then a good part of her story holds up. Isn't it amazing how a ship with several scientists and engineers on board can't come up with a simple experiment?
I found it amazing that the aliens decided to blast away at Voyager without hailing first. They have no way of knowing what is going on board, and it seems that revealing yourself by firing should be a last resort- especially since this ship has already shown it's willingness to turn over people in the past. Since what's-her-name first tried covet operations, and this race is so good at hiding, I would have thought that would be standard procedure. What's-her-name claimed that she tripped an intruder alarm, and that her cloak failed. Things happening in that order seem far-fetched- now if her cloaked failed and then she tripped an alarm, I can buy that. But since the crew had no way of knowing how to disable the cloaking device (it took her and Chuckles two weeks to figure it out, remember) I find that a remarkable coincidence.
This idea that a computer virus will go through the ships data systems and erase all incidences of the first encounter with what's-her-name, I find that unbelievable. Presumably this virus must have changed everything that was related to the incident, and nothing else. Therefore, the records of changing the emitters to make that scan must have been erased (could you imagine Tuvoc reading the log- "It says here that we engaged in a baryon-sweep yesterday- but I have no memory of it, or even why I did it..." Likewise problems with the brig log, security intruder alerts, lab files- all erased? And replaced with what? Gaping holes in the files will be just as bad. And there are no isolated systems? I always imagined holo-doc as being separate from the main computer (since he must manipulate interfaces and read scanners instead of just accessing them). I would think that such a large system would have redundancies and firewalls galore- especially after that bit with Starfleet losing a Galaxy class ship with all hands due to a computer virus. I might be able to believe that a crew of programmers might be able to erase all records without a trace, but not a virus.
There was a stowaway on board, and the crew just handed him over? Why didn't he ask for sanctuary? Chakotay is an pretty thin moral ground there- being upset over something that happened to his girl friend that he himself allowed to happen to someone else not more than two weeks ago.
And one last bit about the memory loss, just to highlight the difficulty in it. The conversation that Chakotay had with Neelix about the ineffability of love- will Neelix remember the conversation? If so, will he remember what prompted it? I see no reason for them to forget the conversation- it was a philosophical look at love- but having the conversation makes no sense unless you remember that what's-her-name was around.
Too bad the doctor didn't investigate the pheromone or the neural-thing-a-bob, both would be useful for away missions that the crew wanted the natives to forget.
I found it interesting to see that everyone forgot that what's-her-name is guilty of murder- I assume that there was a tracer aboard the ship that she blew up in the teaser. Why didn't anyone mention that?
One last point: Harry has once again shown himself to lose all rational sense when talking to Seven. Seven's arguments only make sense if you view the man as merely providing his seed- but one of the points of couples is to help each other raise the child. IF they are incompatible emotionally, intellectually or some other way, then that goal is unlikely to be met. Even if Harry didn't think of that, he could have said that 'closeness' (since he is obviously too embarrassed to say 'sex') between a man and woman is enjoyable, not unlike eating- it is a necessity, but a good chef can make it a treat as well.
I really am hoping that a decent episode comes along soon- I am getting discouraged.
Johnson Lai: Once again, they check the environmental conditions *after* beaming into it.
4/27/98 Update (Note from Phil: A quick reminder. It is not my intention to upload every message that I receive on an episode. I will always upload comments--i.e. "I enjoyed the episode." "I felt like the episode lacked . . ."--but if a nit has already been picked, it's picked . . . unless I decide to list it twice because it's repicked in a funny way or I just wasn't certain it had already been picked and I was bombing through my mail and I let it pass just in case!)
Joshua Truax: Not a bad episode. Not great, but not bad. Just sort of... average.
(Or, to put it less diplomatically, it was pretty blah.) Actually, it's
sort of a cross between "Clues" and "The Outcast", two TNG episodes that
I didn't really care for, so I guess I shouldn't be too disappointed.
Nits: In "Hunters" the creators once again brought Janeway and Chakotay
to the brink of romance. The events of this episode seemed to yank them
back away again. Will this never end? (That's all I'm inclined to say
about this issue. Not only am I sick and tired of being sick and tired
of the creators' waffling on the Janeway-Chakotay romance issue, but
honestly there's no way to say for sure what impact this episode will
have on their relationship in the future -- especially since neither one
will remember Kellen, and all Chakotay has is his handwritten record...)
Cloak or no cloak, how could Kellen and the other stowaway have remained
undetected aboard Voyager for so long? For starters, how would they get
food? They'd have had to siphon off Neelix's stock and/or the
replicator rations of the crew, and even if they could do either of
these things it wouldn't take long for the missing food and/or rations
to be noticed. Sleeping and going to the bathroom (wherever that is)
without being detected would also be problematic for the stowaways, to
say the least...
Kellen says that her race emits pheromones that block people's long-term
memories of contact with her race. First, it seems quite a reach to
presume that molecules of some pheromone would be able to seek out and
suppress specific memories within an alien brain. Maybe, say, a
genetically engineered virus could do this, but not a (compararatively)
simple molecule.
Second, the pheromones supposedly block memories rather than erase them
altogether. Since no one on board remembers Kellen when she first comes
aboard, these pheromones are obviously still in everyone's systems. So
why didn't Chakotay or Janeway think to have Doc Hologram investigate a
possible means of counteracting these pheromones? That way everyone's
memories of their previous contact with Kellen would return, which would
greatly simplify the problem of verifying Kellen's story... (Note from Phil: I got the impression that the pheremone temporarily inhibited the ability of other races to form long-term memories. Of course, *that* would mean that the weeks that Kellin spent on the ship would just a one big blank for some of the crew and not for others. Hmmm.)
In last week's episode Janeway rescinded the Prime Directive in order to
implement the Omega Directive. In this one Chakotay apparently thinks
the Prime Directive is still rescinded, as he tries to pressure the
"tracer" sent for Kellen into reversing the effects of his
memory-disrupting weapon. Aside from the futility of his efforts, this
amounts to an attempt to interfere with the customs of Kellen's
society...
Speaking of this other tracer, Chuckles sure took his sweet time trying
to stop him from using that memory disruptor on Kellen in the first
place. Personally, if I were Chakotay, and some guy was about to zap
Kellen with his memory disruptor, and I had a phaser with a stun
setting, I wouldn't waste time warning him away. I'd shoot first, throw
him in the brig and ask questions later! (True, this would probably also
violate the Prime Directive -- see my previous nit -- but considering
how he is willing to cast it aside later, why not do it now when it will
do more good? In for a penny, in for a pound...)
Finally, the other tracer plants a computer virus to erase all records
of Voyager's contact with him and Kellen. He says he intends for the
crew to forget that the contact ever took place. Yet Chakotay
circumvents this by creating a handwritten record of his relationship
with Kellen. First, isn't this yet another Prime Directive violation on
his part? Second, why didn't the other tracer consider this
possibility? Didn't his people ever use written communication before
they developed computers? The way I see it, he or some other tracer
should have remained on board, cloaked, in order to seek out and destroy
any remaining evidence of their contact with Voyager -- including
handwritten records...
Brian Henley: I wasn't to thrilled when I saw the promo for this episode -
actually, it turned out to be pretty good. I was pretty convinced that
Kellen would turn out to be the bad girl. After all, don't most pretty
aliens of the week turn out that way? Love the interplay between Seven and
Harry! Is this a few more steps along the route of a relationship?
Neelex's remenicings on love as a mystery may have seemed schmaltzy to
some, but I kinda liked it.
But there were nits... Oh yes, there were nits.......
NANJAQ - is Seven's eye implant changing? In the Prolouge it seemed to
give off a greenish glow, and it seemed to be greener.
Chacotay tells Tuvoc to stabilize the hull of Kellen's ship. "Stabilize
the hull?" How does a hull get unstable? They never really explained that.
Can a material that a hull is made out of suddenley become unstable?
Sounds like they'd want to make their ships out of a hardier materiel.
Bodies and ships imperivious to scans, memories of them fade forever, and
they upload computer viruses so that they don't escape.
We are s-t-r-e-a-t-c-h-i-n-g it with these aliens!
How does Voyager run a diagnostics scan Kellen's log enteries when they
can barely detect the ship? How do they know what to look for?
During the flashback where Kellen looses her cloak ... Have we ever heard
that alarm before?
"They're shooting through our shields as if they're not there" ... Uh,
then what was that establishing shot of the shield "bubble" suffering the
impact of the blast. And how can the shields drop down to 29% if they're
just being shot through?
Major KMYF moment with Kellen and Chacotay at the foot of the ladder!! (Of
course, this whole episode promised to be that)
Let me be carefull here ..... soooo..... It would seem that Seven's making
a logical argument for casual sex ...... . I actually think Voyager could
make an okay couple of episodes where Seven explores this facet of
humanity. NOT a bunny show, mind ye, but a serious episode where Seven
examines romantic emotions and all the "talk" that humans (most of us, at
least) associate with the act of procreation, a la TNG's episode "In
Theory".
Chakotay's kinda slow in going for his weapon once the tracer is
discovered in his quarters, doncha think? Actually, shouldn't he be armed
all the time? After all Kellen DID mention that the traces would be after
her, and he is more or less her "bodyguard" (take that pun any way you
please).
The Tracers get to use those "Zap-Your-Brain" guns, but the guy they
capture "doesn't know how it works?" Do all Tracers not know how their
stuff works?
Chacotay shut down the force field to enter the brig. The force field
didn't go back up. Do "whirp" ing sound.
Chacotay usually seems pretty formidable in confrontational situations,
but in the Brig, he seemed almost pathetic and wimpy.
"I've downloaded a computer virus ..." HUH??? A bounter hunter stows away
on your ship, zaps a person who has just asked for political assylum, was
just in the brig 24 hours ago, and Janeway lets him get ANYWHERE near the
computers?? Slick move, Janeway!
I think I missed B'lanna's BIMOL. What was it?
Aw, c'mon! NONE of the species that Kellen's kind ha come across has ever
thought about pens and paper, or non-computerized record keeping, diaries,
or journals?
John Latchem: The review's in the title. Just take off the "Un"
Neelix calls paper ancient. Isn't Neelix Talaxian? Has he assimilated to
Starfleet life that much?
Why doesn't Virgina Madsen (forgot her name already. Kalen or something?)
write down her request on paper, so Chakotay can give it to her later to
convince her.
Neelix is suddenly the expert on love now? Neelix is a freak. His only
success in love was a half year old Ocampa, the equivalent of a teenager, who
dumped him when she was old enough to realize better. This is Ethan Phillips
making up for lost time, after having single lines in the last two episodes.
Speaking of which. Why is Neelix hanging out in the Mess Hall in the middle
of the night with no one there and all the lights out? (Note from Phil: Because he can't get a date! That's why he's dispensing "love information". Snicker, snicker.)
So this alien race is so xenophobic, they allow their cops to retain knowledge
of the outside world? Is this a good idea? Obviously not, since one tried to
leave. And did they wipe her memory completely? Nope. They wipe it, and
apparantly will let her keep the post memory wipe memories of Chakotay. I can
see it now. "Chakotay, help me. I was here a month ago and I said I didn't
love you but I realize I do now."
So, Captain Janeway has no problem letting a strange alien put a virus into
her ship's computer. Does this seem right? Anyway don't they save anything
to disk anymore?
And speaking of this impervious to scanners. Well, how do the Remora detect
each other? What do their doctors use? Our ingenious holodoc can't figure
out how to compensate?
When Virginia Madsen first shows up I got the impression she expected Chakotay
to know who she was. Then she says he wouldn't. So what's with all the
confusion. Does she want to make Chakotay feel uncomfortable?
Good thing she changed her hairstyle since last time, or else we wouldn't know
which scenes were flashbacks.
After the "tracer" used the amnesia ray, I was begging him to use it on me.
WIVRON (Why isn't this in the official glossary yet since I'm not the only one
using it?)
TNG "Hero Worship"-Starfleet Officer rescues someone trapped under debris
"Men in Black"-Amnesia Device
"Clean Slate"-This was a movie in which Dana Carvey woke up every day with a
new case of amnesia, and had to have everything explained again.
TNG "The Outcast"-A repressive society turns a rebel back to a conformist
using a brain-based therapy. (While watching "Unforgettable," I actually
asked someone, "Are you sure Jeri Taylor didn't write this?")
There's a great pickup line to be had from this episode. "Hi, you wouldn't
remember me, but we're a pretty hot item. Unfortunately I keep having to
reintroduce myself because I have a genetic irregularity that produces a
strange pheremone that destroys memory engrams"
*SLAP*
NEWS and PAL: (SPOILER, SPOILER, SPOILER) Contrary to the preview, Next week's episode is not about some
fascist alternate universe Voyager. It is called "Living Witness" and
features an alien race looking back 700 years at when Voyager visited their
planet. Obviously history has not been kind to Voyager.
Michael Gurwitz: So this race has the ability to both erase long-term memories of
themselves in others, and to erase all mechanical proof of their
existence? As a loyal Star Trek fan, I am willing to suspend disbelief,
but c'mon, we're talking World Trade Center-height suspension here!
These Ramurans reflect light, right -- that's how we see them and their
ships. So all videotape (or whatever) of their ships or bodies were
erased by their universal virus? Hmmm. And as for the pheremones which
make people lose their memories, are we to believe that every single
Voyager crewmember was exposed to these pheremones? That the wretch
consigned to cleaning Voyager's boilers in the basement, who never came
within 100 yards of these Ramurans, also forgot that an alien intruder
had been aboard? Thems some mighty powerful pheremones! We are to
believe all this is possible? In the words of the great Scotty, I canna
doit!
Scott McClenny: Well it looks like Chuckles' love life is as bad as Harry's!
I mean one girl he falls for turns out to be a semi-Borg and another is from a species that
others forget after a few hours of seperation. Do you suppose Chuckles could use Dr.Ruth's
help? Do you think Chuckles and Harry ought to double date? Will the Cubs ever make it to
the World Series?
Christine Grabb: I thought it was very *polite* of the Ramurans to pause during their first attack, to allow
for some quality chit-chat between Janeway and Chuckles. Of course, they probably wanted to
avoid any backlash on that "Shields are so low, the next shot will kill us all before Kellin
manages to make changes on the computer, which she's never operated." problem.
Do you think that all the visitors/aliens/hostiles get some sort of Welcome to Voyager
pamphlet? *This short overview will provide you with all the necessary information to take
over the ship, override all security codes, and run any console with no problems. Need to
get aboard without being detected? Taken over the ship and need some modifications done?
These questions and more will be answered at our 2 hour FAQ session in the mess hall. And,
as a thank you for stopping by, please, take some federation technology on behalf of
Starfleet."
Brian Lombard: Beleive it or not, when Kellan was waking up in sickbay, I was
actually thinking that this was Kes! Look at her. The ears were like
Kes. The hair was like Kes. She knew everyone on the ship. I'm
thinking she's aged as an Ocampan, and this is the end result. The
point of all this? She looked too much like Kes. The alien make-up for
her race was totally unoriginal.
Where was Torres? She's never seen in the episode, not even in
Engineering.
Let's see. Ship's first officer falls in love with a mysterious
alien. Alien's society objects, and uses technology to brainwash
it's own, turning them against first officer. Does this sound at all
like the TNG episode "The Outcast"? (Riker's J'Naii girlfriend)
Christopher Cappuccio: Got to get these down before my memory of this episode fades...
Kellin and Chakotay must have really fallen for each other - when
she's cornered in the cargo bay the first time, he points his phaser at
her, she stands there looking at him for a split second, and then
*leisurely* points her gun back at him. Amazingly enough, he lets her!
Obviously they were so smitten that she forgot she was armed and he
forgot that you're supposed to shoot the intruder before they aim their
gun at you.
This memory-loss ability is ridiculous. The *sensors* on the ship
can't lock on to her b/c they *forget* about her? Her race produces a
pheromone that blocks *tricorders*? Actually, there was an obvious
explanation for this: what's preventing Voyager from recognizing her is
the virus that she implanted in Voyager the last time she was here;
it's erasing the data as soon as it's entered. Unfortunately, the
writers decided they couldn't allow a logical explanation to stand, so
they have her actually *say* that her pheromones alter tricorders.
Security on Voyager is at an all-time low. Coming off of last week's
"Nobody listen to the top-secret discussions I'm having about the
top-secret particle here in a public room!", we have the tracers
putting viruses in the computer not once, but twice? The ships weren't
a match for Voyager, it's not as if they could have forced Janeway to
allow the virus. Why on earth would Janeway allow this a second time?
(or a first?)
So this memory-loss effect means that you can't remember Kellin
after a few hours. Wait a minute. First, unless Kellin was with
Chakotay every minute for the day she was there (including his bridge
duty shift), he'd already started to forget about her by the time the
tracer decloaked. Second, didn't a night pass while Kellin was on
board? Are we supposed to believe that despite Chakotay's suspicions,
he had her in his room for the night so he wouldn't forget about her?
(Actually, I suppose she could have snuck into his room during the
night to see him; she was certainly willing.)
Finally, despite Kellin's best efforts, there is no way Chakotay should
be able to have memories of her for more than a few hours. If her magic
pheromones are preventing the formation of long-term memories, then
those memories are *not there*. The episode suggests that somehow you
don't lose the memories as long as Kellin's there to remind you about
her - no, the memories go away in a few hours. So, Chakotay, by the
time that tracer shows up, you've already forgotten about last
night...and the battle the day before...and you're probably wondering
who's in those quarters. (Let's not even discuss all the other people,
the ones that Kellin wasn't even trying to spend every waking moment
with, who remember her anyway...7, Harry, Neelix, Janeway come to
mind).
OK, so let's say that everything the writers say is true. Kellin can
make everyone forget about her, and any computer evidence is removed by
a combination of her magic pheromones and the virus. Is there *no*
physical evidence that a person was on board? There's a broken vase in
the guest quarters. Presumably, there's dirty sheets and other physical
residue in those guest quarters. The ship was in a *battle*, for pity's
sake. Was no one injured? (shades of Worf's wrist from "Clues" [TNG])
Didn't anyone wonder about the new repairs to the hull? Or does Voyager
have regenerative abilities like the ship from "Blake's 7"? (Come to
think of it, that would explain all those shuttles...)
Clay: The species in question has cloaking systems that can make their individual
bodies cloaked. That's why they had to trick the runner Kellen was trying to
find. They are not naturally impervious to sensors. As I understand it,
Paris said that their method of either powering their ship or their propulsion
system makes it seem as though the scanners go right through the ship.
Vivian Gladden: All along Chakotay does not trust Kellin. The ice cream scene in which
Chakotay says that "If you would have had ice cream before when you were
on the ship you certainly would have remembered it" seemed to briefly
verify for a nonosecond that she was not telling the truth. Then then
was never followed up on and from that point on it appears that she was
telling the truth and had actually been there before.
Shades of "Men in Black".
I kept thinking that she might have some agenda like mate with Chakotay
and he turns to ashes type of thing.
Jeff Winkle: In the flashback scene when the Babe-of-the-week is detected, she is
toting a normal blaster...she tells Chakotay that she doesn't want to
hurt him (meaning she is not using a memory-eraser). Yet when the
tracer shows up, he's carrying a memory eraser. Pretty inconsistant,
isn't it? If Kellin was carrying one of those, she could have easily
erased Chakotay's mind, recloaked and gone on her way (and ended the
drama before it started).
What is the difference between a bounty hunter and a tracer on this
planet?
Pop quiz! You are now standing in Chakotay's position when the tracer
shows up pointing his memory-eraser at someone you have become fond of.
Do you:
A) Fire your phaser on stun, knocking him out. Then using his
memory-eraser on him and send him on his way.
B) Stun the tracer and toss him out the nearest airlock.
C) Set your phaser to a higher setting (say maximum) and fry the dude -
yes, you have more than enough time to do so.
D) Do absoultly nothing, wait for him to erase her memory of you, be
upset because nothing else you try to do afterwards saves her, the
eventually forget why you were wasting paper and ink writing about
someone you've already forgotten.
Obviously we all saw what Chakotay did. Maybe he secretly is hoping for
the J/C thing after all.
Did Neelix seem slightly Guinan-like in this episode. The thought of
him giving advice (with his recent track record) suggests the blind
leading the blind.
I hope Roxanne gives birth soon, I miss seeing Torres.
David D. Porter: There's nothing out there? Has Cap'n J never heard of a cloaking
device?
Funny how often away teams formed during a crisis take experienced
personnel off the bridge, hmmm?
Funny that the Chief Engineer wouldn't be involved in the discussion
about the investigation of Kellen's ship.
So, the weapons go through the shields as if they aren't there. Then
why did the exterior shot show the shield bubble activating when the beams
hit it?
Those 'tracers' gave up *very* easily. One hit and they leave?
Cap'n J is awful eager to let this woman make *permanent*
modifications to her ship's sensors. Seems a lot of trust to place in an
almost complete stranger.
Now Kellen is getting access to defense/weapon data. The Feds are so
trusting, it's no wonder they installed IFOS on their ships!
If the tracer got aboard during the battle, why did he wait so long
before 'collecting' Kellen? Was he also gathering data on V-ger?
'A strong and cohesive society.' That describes the USSR pretty well.
There's no way Kellen will stay aboard. UPN couldn't possibly afford
to pay Virginia Madsen to be a continuing character.
Joe Buss: I like Unforgettable.It did have more than its share of the things about
Voyager that really cheeze me off. To wit:
Janeway's befuddled decision making process. A graduate from the Harvey
Dent Decision Making School. She has essentially the same situation twice,
except she forgets it the first time. A being desires to leave his/her world.
Authorities from said world track down said being, and violates his/her civil
rights by erasing large chunks of her memory. Such actions should normally
upset the freedom loving Federation types, but there is that pesky Prime
Directive that says they should respect their laws.
Now the first time Janeway simply turns the guy over without even hearing
his side of it. The second time, she grants asylum, even those Kellah blew up
one of the Remoran ships. (Which gives them a legitimate cause to fire on
Voyager.) Further, she was an active participant in these violations of
dissident rights, so she elicits little sympathy. If any action was called
for, it would be the reverse.
Recycle. It helps the environment. - One of the major things I dislike
about Voyager is that they constantly reuse the same plots that TOS/TNG/DS9
use, except they were much better the first time around. If they really can't
come up with new stories (or characters, for that matter) why bother, other
than to give a brand name to sell affliates on UPN?
Case in point. Doesn't the plot dynamic of Unforgettable remind you alot of
the plot dynamic in TNG's "The Outcast." (Remember, Will RIker on the Planet
of the Janet Renos.) First officer works with alien official, a relationship
ensues, and is then snuffed out by decidedly unromantic officials.
Neelix the Wise? There was a really good performance by Ethan Phillips,
showing just how underutilized he is. But it's completely inconsistant with
the character as he has been established over the last four years.
Didn't the whole plot device strike you as silly? A race that exudes a
pheremone that blocks short term memory in alien species. All alien species.
How could something like that evolve. Or why? And have the ability not to
register on moniterring devices. (For instance, they could never develop
anything like Television, as images would not show up.)
Now despite all this, I like this episode, because it featured a very strong
performance by Robert Beltran. It also had a good guest performance by
Virginia Madsen. And because it was better than average, the Unnecessary
Plagerizing Network buried in a non-sweeps week.
Murray Leeder: It's too bad this episode wasn't abysmally bad, in which case I could
have called it "Unforgivable". But it was still fairly lackluster. It
was much too mundane, predictable, straightforward (light-years above
"Vis-A-Vis", mind you).
The biggest problem was Chakotay. Quite simply, he seemed WAY out of
character this week. First of all, his simple interrogation of Kellen,
trying to find out whether or not they caught the fugitive, seemed to
take days! And there was a complete lack of chemistry between him and
Kellen... I didn't buy them. Also, Kellen summed up Chakotay as always
wanting everything in a nutshell. Frankly, he's never struck me as that
sort. To add insult to injury, we get the embarrassing scene of him
saying that very thing to Kim in the teaser, as if the creators needed
to justify their own out-of-the-blue character trait.
So, we've got cloaked ships in battle. Why bother cloaking the weapons?
In the flashback (just as you said about the Mexican stand-off under
"The Blessing Way"), why didn't Chakotay shoot first. It was on stun,
after all. What's he going to do, wait for her to fire first?
And what was Chakotay doing there? And why did he have a phaser on
hand?
So Voyager has been "a match for the best"? The Voth mothership comes
to mind as an enormous exception. Not to mention Borg and 8472 vessels
(at first).
These Ramurans sure are extremely fascist! Chakotay brought that fact
up with the second Tracer, but seemed completely tolerant of it with
Kellen.
So apparently the Borg have never assimiliated Ramurans. Otherwise,
Seven should have a better knowledge of their defenses.
So Seven, the smartest human in the universe, as per last episode,
can't understand human courtship? Despite all of the information gleaned
from assimilated humans in her brain?
And why didn't Kim just note that humans find courtship enjoyable!
Okay, the last twos acts were majorly messy. First, the Tracer leaves a
message with the broken vase. WHY did he do this? WHY did he wait as
long as he did to erase her memory (seeing how the end result would be
the same anyway). WHY did he do it to herin Chakotay's presence and
allow himself to be captured? And WHY OH WHY did the crew capture him
and stick him in the brig only to let him go afterward?
Steve: Ah, good, an episode, the worst I've ever seen, but at
least I don't have to limit my nitpicking The Big Hit previews. However, next
weeks episode's preview seems quite fitting somehow (I know what it's about, I
read the spoilers too, but now they realize how grievously savage and childish
Janeway is. Now to the nits:
At the beginning, when Voyager get's shot at, it looks like the control panels
are shuddering too, but not along with the ship.They say it's getting closer,
but if they can't detect it, how do they know it's getting closer. Someone (I
don't remember, just notes in sentence fragments) acts surprised that the
sensors don't detect the cloaked ships at all. Romulans have cloaking devices,
Klingons have cloaking devices, in most episodes they are undetectable (or
detectable if you send the whole fleet out there.) If she knows Chakotay won't
remember, and won't believe her, why even bother coming back? They said it
didn't have life support, then just send an away team over, isn't that kind?
Realize that Kellin is wearing high heels, almost as Earth resembling as the
original series! The info isn't staying in the database in the doctor's
tricorder, so why is it staying in the doctor, he's a computer too?! Many
times, she sure doesn't seem impervious to technology (in fact, how does her
body know if something is technological or not, she's on that table, that's
technology, ha!) Chakotay just casually talks to to someone who knows him, but
Chakotay doesn't know at all, shouldn't he be a little MORE confused? This is
not a nit, just my opinion, but I can definitely see why Chakotay isn't
attracted to her! (Well, in the parts he isn't, in my opinion, she looks like
an overweight Ocampa. Just my opinion. Sorry, that was really uncalled for.)
How can Tuvok scan her logs if that race, and everything it makes, is
undetectable? The Voyager-dwellers call it a computer virus, but there was
confusion about the term in I, Borg. Why is 7 interested in small talk all of
the sudden? Chakotay supposedly says pudding is slimy, but is isn't slimy,
it's gooey. The intruder alert just suddenly stops ringing in that flashback
scene. And it wasn't too nice to hide in 7's room, is it? Of course, Chakotay
doesn't like pudding, so why does he order it? They don't trust Kellin, then
they let her use the master situation monitor on the bridge. Voyager targets
that ships weapons, but how do they know where it's weapons are? How does this
alien know where the Alpha Quadrant is (or did they look up how Starfleet
categorizes the quadrants of the galaxy. How do they know english too? And
because not everyone on Voyager speaks english she has to learn Vulcan,
Talaxian...The universal translators wouldn't work because of course she's
"impervious to technology." Chakotay is having trouble sleeping, so he orders
a cup of tea, hope it was decaf, cos' tea has as much caffeine as coffee. (I'm
not sure about that last one, I accidentaly turned the volume down) Proton
weapons shouldn't hurt Voyager much. And even if they did, it should be
obvious that you should just scatter them away. Baryons shouldn't affect
protons much either. Kim and 7 talking about, um, well...uh, I don't quite
agree with their little talk. I don't think it would be too scary if somebody
suddenly started firing their forgetter-beam at one of my friends. And why
didn't Chakotay shoot, light stun would stop him, but not hurt him either?
Impervious to technology? Then the doctor figures out how much of her memory
she lost? The male alien, I don't remember his name, says he knows Chakotay's
desperate (I don't remember what about though), but how does he know how
Chakotay shows desperation? If CapturedGuy (not too good at names when volume
is less than half of normal) is impervious to technology, can't he just walk
through the forcefield? And finally, Chakotay uses an ancient writing utensil.
Looks like some kind of futuristic pen, looks like it would have been made in
the 22nd century maybe? That's not what I just a few hundred years isn't quite
ancient. Sorry that was so long and boring, but I had a lot to say.
Glenn St-Germain: Just when you think the series is starting to get good, along comes an episode
which spoils it... Chakotay gets a call for help from someone he doesn't
remember, but who apparently is in love with him. But she comes from a race
which is so uninteresting that everybody forgets they exist.
No, that's not why people forget. Her (and I can't remember the character's
name) explanation is that her race, the Remorans, generates a pheremone which
causes short-term memory loss, so that any interaction with anyone of her
species is forgotten within several hours. I have a LOT of problems with this
concept:
Pheremones are generally specific to one's own species -- how is is that the
ones the Remorans generate affect every other race they meet in the exact same
way, yet apparently don't work on themselves?
Not only do these pheremones affect everybody else, they are very selective!
The effect of the pheremones erases all memories of interaction with the
Remorans. But apparently, other memories from the period of exposure to the
Remorans remains unaffected. Though there is no *direct* evidence of this, the
fact that everyone in the crew isn't wondering why there is a month-long gap in
all of their memories (corresponding to the time and duration of the female
Remoran's initial visit) indicates that memories which have nothing to do with
the Remorans are left intact. That's precise!
These pheremones are so powerful, in fact, that they interfere with
technology! Ensign Kim can't get a proper transporter lock on her until
Chakotay is with her on her ship. The Doctor's tricorder doesn't register her
vitals. These pheremones are powerful stuff indeed -- though apparently they
don't interfere with the workings of the transporter when they're actually
standing on a transporter pad (in close proximity to the transporter
equipment), and the Doctor, being a technological artifact himself, could
readily percieve her himself. (Okay, she explained to the doc and Chakotay that
their bodies somehow interfere with sensors... but she doesn't explain any
further. So we're left with the pheremones.)
The short-term memory fades after "several hours". Being in continuous
contact with a Remoran apparently prevents the memories from fading right
away, but once the Remoran is out of sight, out of mind, out of range
(whatever), the memories will fade after "several hours". I can just imagine
the month during which she stayed on Voyager... she retires to her quarters
for the evening, and the next morning everyone is asking her "Who are you and
what are you doing on the ship?" because they've forgotten her already.
I haven't even gotten to the storyline itself -- madly in love with Chakotay,
she breaks the most sacred law of her planet ("Don't leave") so she can be with
him. Chakotay, of course, has no memory of their affair from the first time
she visited. But he falls in love with her again, only to have another Remoran
show up and zap her with their own memory-erasing device (being immune to
their own race's pheremones) so that she remembers nothing of her stay on
Voyager. She no longer wants to stay, so she leaves with the Remoran hunter,
and Chakotay is left broken-hearted. Except of course, by the time the next
morning rolls around, he'll have forgotten everything.
(Yes, I know he tried to write everything down before he forgot. But once he
*has* forgotten, what will he make of his own scribblings? Fantasy? Fiction? A
dream?...)
(I had this thought right near the end of the episode: Chakotay is furiously
writing everything down before he forgets it all, and Neelix interrupts him for
some end-of-episode dialogue so Chakotay can explain just what he's doing.
It would have been amusing if, once his conversation with Neelix was over, he
returned to his writing only to realize that he had forgotten what he was
writing about...)
Yes, the Remoran female will have forgotten everything that happened, Chakotay
will have forgotten everything that happened, the computer will have forgotten
everything that happened (because of the Remoran computer virus -- isn't it
amazing that the Remorans can write a computer virus which works with a totally
unfamiliar race's technology?) -- everyone on Voyager will have forgotten
everything that happened... which makes the entire episode rather pointless,
somehow. Now if only *I* could forget everything that happened...
Final comment:
Q. How many Remorans does it take to change a light bulb?
A. I don't remember.
Vincent Morone: It was an ok show but rather well...um...
Oh you know!!!!!!!!!
I agree with you Phil. Janeway and crew would never be so easy to help
a tracer without knowing the full facts like what that persons crime
was. Come to think of it, didn't she pretty much say that?
Why Is Tuvok not helping track down the stowaway? Isn't he like you
kow Security!!!!
Also what is with our first officer? If my wife was getting zapped, I
would:
A: Jump in the way
B: Fire right away
or
C: stand there and look real upset until to let then threaten to shoot
if he dont stop!!!!
Guess what? Not C!!!!!!!
And if she did get zapped, why now get her on film saying she loves you
and wants to stay and oh please please please stay and all that!!!! And
then show it to her!!!
And why do they let her leave. After all, she wanted to stay before she
was hit the the senile ray. Why not make her stay!! After all Janeway
made 7 of 9 stay and she didn't want to!!!!
And why does Chacotay wonder why She doesnt fall in love with him again.
This guy is full of himself. When she came back he didnt fall in
love right away. It took time!!!! He talked all of 5 minutes to her
and was like She loves me not!!!!
Cool ships through
J. Andrew Keith, Greensburg PA: Well, I saw this episode more than 24
hours ago, so things are starting to fade a little, but maybe I can
manage a comment before I forget what I'm talking about . . .
At long last, the secret to Federation scanning technology revealed --
pheronomes!
I'm having a lot of trouble seeing the evolutionary justification for
this broad-spectrum, memory-erasing chemical. I mean, I can see a
defense mechanism that works for some specific type of predator, but
these guys apparently can wipe out the memories of everything they
encounter -- except each other. Must make it pretty rough when they
leave the family cat for an overnight trip.
What I'm really wondering, though, is how this chemical process prevents
memory AFTER the source of the chemicals is removed! As someone else
pointed out, if it's blocking the transfer of short-term memories to
long-term storage it would take a lot less than a day to forget things.
And if the process works directly on the storage of memories, but only
kicks in after the source of the chemicals is gone, it sounds like the
crew may have stumbled on a really bizarre new form of addictive drug.
Or something. What was I talking about? Who are all you people, anyway?
Stephen Crow: Talk about a nitpicker's dream come true...
At the end, Chakotay makes a written record of his
girlfriend's visitor. Good idea: why didn't he do it
the first time around? Or did she "forget" to tell him
that he and everyone else would forget her? They were
already romantically involved, and she doesn't really
come across as the "love'em, leave'em, and make'em forget
me" type.
Doesn't Voyager have _any_ other way to make a record of
Calan's (sic) visit? Couldn't they make a visual record
separate from the computer, so that it wouldn't be wiped
by the virus? Record her image on the holodeck for
replay? Something?
Why doesn't Calan make some kind of record of her request
to Chakotay before her memories are wiped? She seems to
have enough time to do it. Instead, she relies only on
Chakotay. I don't know about her, but I'd find such a
plea much more convincing if it was made by myself as a
holographic image. Even if a visual or holgoraphic
recording might have been wiped by the virus, a
handwritten note would work here.
Speaking of the virus...why do they _let_ the male tracer
unleash it? It seems like they could stop him easily
enough, unless he unleashed it before he was captured and
placed in the brig. Once in there, he presumably has no
equipment to plant a virus with. So either he did it
before he was captured, or they gave him back his
equipment and let him do it _after_ he was released.
Planting the virus before he was captured seems iffy,
unless it has some kind of timed release. It took Calan
some considerable time to track down the stowaway on her
original visit, so a timed-release computer virus could
easily go off prematurely, and give away his presence.
Does the fact that the male tracer essentially warns
Calan of his presence make much sense?
One might question why the computer virus would work on
Voyager's computers, given the race in question has never
met them or has any experience with their systems. Must
be a universal virus.
One might also wonder why the aliens' pheromone ability
to wipe memories works so well on not only humans, but
Vulcans, Bolians, and all the other diverse races that
make up Voyager.
Why does everyone on Voyager remember Calan even though
in some cases she seems absent from their presence for
considerable periods of time? One imagines her running
around the ship to make she encounters everyone at least
once every 48 hours or so.
Wouldn't it also make sense to deliberately keep someone
out of her presence for the 48 hours or so necessary for
them to forget her, just to verify that at least the
memory-alteration part of her story is true?
Which makes you wonder: was everyone on Voyager exposed
to Calan so that her memory-wiping pheromone abilities
could influence them? If someone down in Security, whom
she never met, heard Tuvok say that he was planning on
bringing her on as a security officer, wouldn't that
person remember her, through hearsay, later?
Did Calan also wipe every trace of hair, skin, etc., from
the ship before departing the first time? We've seen
that Starfleet technology is capable of identifying
someone from minute samples. Why didn't they examine
areas the ship she claimed to be in, to verify her
presence there on her first visit. They could use
tricorders, if the computer virus would affect their
search.
Calan must be very neat. We don't actually see her in
any assigned quarters. Presumably she has them, though.
She must have cleaned them up before departing so as to
leave no trace of her presence, so that no one would
enter the room later and wonder why it was used when the
computer had no record of her presence.
How do these people _get_ on Voyager, anyway? They don't
seem to have transporter technology, they don't carry
around space suits, and it seems unlikely they physically
dock with Voyager. I'd think Janeway would be having a
long chat with Tuvok during the times when they can still
remember that Calan and her merry band of stowaways and
tracers were still around so they can remember her and
her activities.
Calan's memory-wiping pheromones, combined with the
computer virus, do a remarkably (fi not unbelievably)
efficient job of wiping memory of the events of her first
visit. For instance, Chakotay has a phaser when he
intercepts her. He presumably checked it out of an
armory somewhere, since he doesn't typically carry a
phaser around. He forgets doing so, which makes sense.
But presumably the computer makes a log of when the
phaser was checked out, if it needed to be recharged,
when it was plugged in and out of a recharger (even if it
wasn't fired, this would seem to be standard procedure),
etc. The computer virus wiped _all_ of this?!? How does
it determine between a weapon being checked out to deal
with Calan, and a weapon checked out for other reasons
(standard inspection, security training, target practice
on the holodeck, drills, etc.)? And if the virus doesn't
wipe this kind of thing, wouldn't discrepancies
eventually show up?
Ditto for, say, the food supplies. Calan appears to have
eaten a number of meals while on-board Voyager (enough to
get a good idea of Chakotay's likes and dislikes, at any
rate). Granted, at this point in the show they typically
don't say much about restocking food, replicator rations,
etc. Still, it seems that Neelix would keep a fairly
tight record of food used. Even if he does this entirely
by computer, wouldn't he eventually notice discrepancies
between the amount of carrots used per the computer
records, and the amount of carrots actually in stock?
Stephen Mendenhall: Once again they have the assumption that biochemicals will have
universally the same effect on every single species. The same foods are
good for everybody, the same pheromones have the same effect on
everybody. In actuality, there's a lot more variation than that even
within a species.This would have been a fine episode if they'd been some
secretive sect of humans, then the pheromone bit would be more
plausible.
Why doesn't Neelix already know Chakotay's likes and dislikes regarding
food?
And this doesn't sound like the same Neelix who didn't know how to be
sensitive to Tom and B'lanna in "Vis a Vis".
There's another problem with the premise. Short-term memory is
preserved. Well, that makes for a less chaotic episode, less confusing.
But they still could have written it with the crew having short-term
memory loss as well.
Making others forget they met you won't do much good if short-term
memory is preserved. Others can still cause a lot of trouble even with
short-term memory.
Why didn't they have Tuvok do a mind-meld? Wouldn't Seven's Borg tech make her immune?
Chakotay doesn't seem very capable of persuading that tracer guy that
his social system is wrong. Kirk did that sort of thing in practically
every episode.
Jeff Carpenter, Springfield, VA: In regards to David T. Shaw of Hamilton's message about Harry and his talking to Seven about relationships...
First of all, he's right, but I can pin-point Harry's error to a
single word. Seven claims to not see the point in all that talking
that goes on between couples. Harry claims it's useful. Seven asks
if the end result is any different. Here is the important part! It
is a yes/no question, with the answer being yes. If it were no,
Harry would be saying that he could take any other ensign back to his
quarters tonight and it would be the same as if it was his old
girlfriend. This is not true. Do you agree? So what does Harry
say? He says no! Seven says she doesn't understand, and I don't
blame her! I couldn't figure out this human condition either with
that logic. No wonder she's afraid to show her emotions around these
people.
Scott McClenny: Ok,one question about Unforgettable:aren't pheremones supposed to work to attract members of the opposite sex? So how could they work on the tricorders,etc.? Well that's actually two questions. Actually this episode was B-O-R-I-N-G....Yawn!
Mark Bowman: How do pheremones prevent the tricorder from storing readings?
Isn't it almost like saying a hard disk can lose data because of a
human virus?
Even though the beams are going through Voyager's shields, they don't seem to
be causing much if any damage (other than shaking the ship a bit).
Speaking of damage, I've noticed that there were no console explosions in the
past couple of episodes.
Roland Spickermann: Is it my imagination, by the way, or are the Voyager folks turning
Neelix into a Delta Quadrant version of Guinan? THat seems like a good
role for him to play...
Jeffrey M. Hall: IWAGE, B . . .
AGAIN, if Voyager's heading for home, as fast as they can, why aren't
they traveling at warp at the beginning of the show??
After she (look, I've forgotten her name, already) fixes the sensors so
Voyager can detect "the Tracers" Janeway tells Tuvok to target their
weapons only. BUT we were seeing their weapons - why can't we tell the
computer to target where we see the weapons??? Why can't Voyager
triangulate their position??
Right after she and Chakotay (not to be confused with Buckwheat, from
"Our Gang," back in TV's B/W days. He's just "O-tay".) engage in high
security activities - that no one else understands how to do - fix the
sensors so they can detect "the Tracers" she says she probably should go
back home. WHAT!! We just let an alien perform high security activity to
the ship, and she want to leave, before we understand if it works or not??
Can't she detect her own people while they're cloaked and walking
about the ship??
And as a corollary: What about cloaked ships? How do they keep from
hitting each other while traveling in a cloaked convoy?? What about a
cloaked group of foot soldiers? How do they keep from bumping into each
other??
When she finds the champagne bottle broken there a huge edit that
confuses and bothers me. How long before she calls Security to alert them
of an intruder alert? How long before they come? Did she only call
Chakotay??
When "the Tracer" talks to Chako-tay in the Brig, it occurred to me -
if she (and her race) give off pheromones that cause other races to forget
about them after 24 hours, wouldn't that cause problems if she were to
remain on board Voyager. "Are you a crew member??" What it only takes
effect after they go on leave. "What do you mean, 'You're a member of our
crew'? We don't remember you." AND wouldn't that cause no trouble at
all, from her planets point of view? If the rest of the world can't
remember that she existed - then how is that a security risk.
Do they have lousy engineers or what?? Chekotay has the memory eraser
weapon, and he has to ask it's owner how it works?? He can't ask his
forgotten love, either?? It could be completely outside Voyager's realm
of technology, but can't he duplicate it like Quark's rival did on DS9
with that device that disrupted "luck", then have a copy so it could be
impervious to any computer erasure, with a paper tag that says, "To be
analyzed later. This is what it seems to do . . ." Wouldn't that be a
helpful device to have later if they accidently drop into Earth's 1960's
and have to rescue a jet pilot who saw Voyager? OR Earth's 1990's and
have to talk to a cute hippie in a VW minibus?
DOES THE term "Flashy Thingee" from the recent movie M.I.B. come to mind??
Does the laws of Voyager/the Federation have any bearing? If the crew
goes to a planet and breaks their laws, there is "heck" to pay. BUT if an
intruder comes on board Voyager and uses his "Flashy Thingee" - well, he's
just expressing himself in the terms of his own culture. Let him go. He
doesn't understand. He cain't help it. Let him take a person who had
pleaded for asylum. It's OK. - - - - - - "HOGWASH!!"
Steve Oostrom, Oshawa, ON: I just saw "Unforgetable," and it was not a
bad episode. I spent a good part of the hour wondering when Kellin's true
agenda would come out, since I found the whole "crew forgets" business
unbelievable. I guess in the end I was disappointed that Kellin's story
was in fact what she said it was.
Although enjoyable, some of the nits could not be missed. First of all,
there was the "proton-based particle beam weapon" that nobody had
developed a defense against. This seems strange. Protons are hydrogen
nuclei and shooting a stream of them is hardly different then flying
through the 10 hydrogen atoms per cubic centimetre of space when
travelling at warp. The navigational deflectors push them aside.
Perhaps the navigational deflectors could be used to deflect this weapon
as well. This weapon did not seem too advanced to me.
It also seems unlikely to me that pheromones or anything like that could
selectively erase the memories of the crew. Afterall, are just memories
of Ramurans and Kellin erased, or all memories of a time period erased?
Wouldn't that leave a gap in their memories, like several days that
simply disappeared. As for erasing the computer virus, that too seems
farfetched. That the second tracer introduced one is even more
far-fetched. After Kellin told the captain how the computer had been
tampered with, wouldn't the crew be on guard for another attempt? I
guess they don't have anti-virus software in the twenty-fourth century.
On the other hand, it seems likely that the second tracer introduced the
virus before he erased Kellin's memory, but somehow arranged it so that
it would not be activated until later. Surely they did not give the guy
access to the computers after he was captured.
I found the idea of cloaked individuals sneaking around Voyager a little
hard to take. Afterall, wouldn't the ship's environmental systems
register the additional oxygen used up, and the carbon dioxide added?
What about doors opening and closing for no reason? Can a cloaked
person hide his or her mass? What about a cloaked person passing by a
crew member who happened to be in the way? Wouldn't that person feel
the movement of air? Couldn't the ship detect that?
Another thing about the tracers. Apparently they can beam onto Voyager,
and through its shields (as in the second battle where Tuvok disables
the tracers' weapons), but they can't beam back off again. This
transporter activity is apparently untraceable.
Robert J. Woolley: Doc says that the woman has a "compound tibular fracture." Assuming he is
referring to the tibia, the adjectival form is "tibial," not "tibular."
Compound fracture means the bone is sticking out through the skin. It is, by
definition, far out of place. Yet all he does is wave an instrument over it and
says it's fixed. Now, I can just *barely* believe that in the 24th century
they'll have a device that mends broken bones instantaneously. But they'll
*still* have to shove them back into position first! (Unless, of course, there's
a mini-repulsing tractor beam in that thar instrument he's using!)
When she is pinned under the bulkhead, why don't our intrepid heros just ask her
how to disable the artificial gravity unit? (For that matter, this would help in
a bunch of other similar situations in all the series.)
When Chakotay first encounters her, he has the "drop" on her. She swings her
weapon around at him. My guess is that every rule in the Starfleet manual would
insist that he instantly fire at her. But he just blithely assumes that she
won't fire first, and talks her out of it. He's might lucky he wasn't vaporized,
and then court-martialed posthumously!
Chris Ng: Just thinking. Harry Kim is one of Starfleet's brightest minds. Plays
the clarinet, mans the Ops console at the rank of Ensign, is totally
boring, etc etc etc. But when 7o9 asks him what the point is of two people
getting to know each other before procreating, Harry just stumbles around
before finally admitting he doesn't know by saying, 'Look, 7, if you don't
get it, I can't explain it to you.' Now, three seconds after 7 asked
Harry, I had it figured out. (It has to do with the two people being able
to raise the child they procreated a lot more effectively if they can get
through five minutes without fighting.) So... run that bit about Harry
being smart by me once again . . .
Stephen Mendenhall: So why couldn't Tuvok do a mind-meld?
It would have been more plausible if the aliens used telepathy on minds
and telekinesis on the equipment. (limited telekinesis--they rearrange
wires and such but can't toss barrels around.)
Sara Greenblatt: "Unforgettable?" I thought the whole point of this story was that the
Ramurans were "un-remember-able"!
On to the nits: As others have already mentioned, even if there
_were_ "selective amnesia" pheromones, they wouldn't affect tricorders
or Holodoc. Aside from that, would *all* Voyager members have the
same biochemistry? (Here we go with that ol'
all-humanoid-races-have-the-same-DNA-argument again.) But even if
that were true, isn't it possible there's a race on Voyager without a
sense of smell? Or an individual with sinus congestion? How would
pheromones work then?
Okay, let's be magnanimous and accept that premise. So, what does the
crew _think_ happened to them? Do they all have a shared
implanted-memory of that time? (I doubt it.) Or does everybody go to
sickbay complaining that they can't remember the past several weeks?
Given that, you'd think they'd realize they had been manipulated
somehow (like the Paxans in NextGen's "Clues")...and then what?
Okay, let's be *very* magnanimous and grant the whole selective wiping
of memories, organic and mechanical. Then what about "stand-alones"?
During that whole time, *no one* handwrote anything? Or took
photographs? Or videos? Or voice recordings?!!!! No one (especially
Chakotay) wanted personal mementos?
It can't be that *all* records are linked to the same database! If
you have a society-wide system running things, you'd better have
isolated backups - and documentation - in case of trouble.
Aside from that:
The Ramurans are supposedly resistant to transporter locks. Yet, it
sure looked like Kellin transported with Chakotay! I don't care if
the original lock was on Chakotay; if the lock destabilized, Kellin
would not have made it over alive. What happened to the plan for
stabilizing her ship and tractoring it in?
In the beginning, we once again had the phenomenon of sound in space -
the bridge crew heard the fight between the the as-yet unseen vessels.
And wasn't everybody calm about it? Tom casually said, "What was
that?", Chak asked about feedback from the modified sensors, and
Janeway meandered in with a not-very-urgent sounding "Report."
Teeny-tiny nit: When Janeway ordered evasive maneuvers, Tom replied
"Yes, sir." (maybe the line was dubbed in later?)
As for Kellin asking for the sanctuary she denied her victim, well,
maybe since Ressik supposedly didn't ask for asylum, Cap'n J was
merely assisting the law officers in a legal procedure, but since
Kellin started off with a plea for sanctuary.... (Yeah, right!)
Sorry, Doc, but I don't believe even a "master of visual diagnosis"
could diagnose a concussion by sight alone.
And, what's with the food? First, Neelix served *fried*
something-or-other with *buttered* carrots; then Chakotay asked him
for advice on a culinary sleep-aid. Neelix. Mr. Delta Quadrant food
expert. The man who thinks leola root is the answer to everything.
And why would Chakotay, whose heritage has a strong connection to the
land, not know about herbal teas? (For that matter, why couldn't he
ask Holodoc or the computer?) I think this was Neelix's "payback" for
those recent BIMOL episodes.
And, of course, not only do we have Janeway allowing the Ramurans to
infect her ship with the virus, she also allows Kellin _direct access_
to the sensors in order to modify them so they can detect cloaked
vessels. (Although she later wimps out and says that a command officer
would have to be present in order to make the modifications permanent.)
Jason Krietsch:The doctor is technology, right? Hes a sentient tricorder. so he shouldn't
remomber her either.
Near the end, Chacotay turns to leave, the doors open, eventhough the dialouge
isn't over, (must be reading your books ad fixing mistakes, eh?)
Dustin Westfall: NO NO NO! How could they follow up last weeks episode with this?!?!?!?
Okay, it wasn't that bad, but let's just say that the crew is better off
forgeting this escapade.
Didn't Tuvok say he didn't read any lifesigns while standing almost
right on top of Kellin? While that would be consistent with her
inability to be detected by sensors, I have to wonder how clumsy she is
to trip an intruder alert.
Why were the tracers attacking Voyager? Why didn't they simply beam in
covertly, like they did, and capture her? Also, why did the tracer break
the vase, revealing his presence? Why not simply wait until she's
asleep, hit her with the memory-eraser-doodad, and beam out?
Tuvok almost made this bearable. "Mr. Neelix could use an assistant in
the mess hall." Hilarious.
Why, when the tracer appear, does Chakotay back up? Is he unsure about
his feelings, again? (Possible reason: He might have been inching for
the phaser, but then again, why not lunge at the guy before he can
shoot?)
**Possible Spoiler**
Next Week: Was anyone else thinking Mirror Universe during the preview?
However, according to the local TV listing and ad, the plot involves
time-travel, 700 years into the past. (Now, how Seven is a part of the
Borg almost 700 years before she was born, I don't know. Guess I'll just
have to wait and see.)
PLEASE NOTE: This file is frozen. I think we've done all we're going to do on it! Most nitpickers have the same problems with it and we're taking a lot of laps around the barn! (Although . . . some are *funny* laps! ;-) You're welcome to send addition nits but they will be filed for future reference instead of uploaded.
If you would like to add some comments,
drop
me a note at chief@nitcentral.com with the Subject line "Unforgettable". Please include your real name, city and state (or province
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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 if you aren't one already!)
Copyright 1998 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.