A love letter to my favorite line in Star Trek: Voyager’s pilot

On this day thirty years ago, Star Trek: Voyager Her journey to the Delta Quadrant began with The first appearance of its pilot“a guard”. famous, VoyagerThe film’s production got off to a rocky start: it already lost its leading star, Genevieve Bujold, after only days of filming. But it was Bujold’s loss Star Trekgains with Kate Mulgrew arrives To slide into VoyagerCaptain’s chair, coffee mug in hand – and what made it perfect for him Star Trek It was clear from the beginning.

There’s a lot of weird and wonderful stuff in “Caretaker.” There are big, bold ideas, like the ship running aground tens of thousands of light-years from Federation space, or how the devastation of its crew during the initial incident necessitated Janeway’s Starfleet officers dealing with new guerrilla allies the Maquis were trailing behind them. There are the little things, like how gorgeous Roxanne Dawson’s hair looks on B’Elanna Torres before it unfortunately gets straightened out the moment she becomes part of Starfleet again (crime!), or the look on Kate Mulgrew’s face when she has to answer that line. “You haven’t lived until you’ve tasted a man’s English” (30 years later and we never learned what English was, so clearly we’re living an empty life).

Lots of joy in what makes Caretaker work as the pilot he is Centered around Mulgrew. Her straightforward understanding of who Janeway is — and how the episode itself never descends into conflict over the idea of ​​a female Captain leading the show — gives Voyager Momentum and energy that arguably the show itself wasn’t always able to capitalize on over the next seven seasons. At some moments she is quite tough, at others a caring leader; We see her pushed and pulled through this strange scenario in which she is assigned a routine mission that turns into a battle for her life and the lives of her crew facing an unknown force, and confronting her with this everlasting sense of justice and mercy. It’s almost ridiculous to think that Mulgrew wasn’t there from the beginning: it’s as if Janeway was created for her. However, despite all of this, one line I read to her in “Caretaker” has stuck with me ever since I first saw it.

It’s a completely ridiculous idea, one of many things VoyagerNotable Quotes. Scene: Voyager He has just encountered Talaxian merchant Neelix, who offers to help act as a guide to the strange new region they find themselves in in exchange for water supplies. But first, he leads them to a world where the crew believes several kidnapped Maquis and Starfleet officers have been taken, only for Neelix to quickly admit that he led them astray: they help him make a deal with the local species, the Kazon. Or more specifically, one of their sub-sects, the Kazun-Ugla.

“The Kazon-Ogla,” Janeway asks, scanning her face in the bright light of the desert world they’re headed to. “Who are the Kazun-ugla!?”

It’s not a funny line. It’s a completely normal font. It’s a completely normal reaction when Janeway realizes that Neelix has manipulated them. But Mulgrew sells this ridiculous doubt of the moment in a way that I can’t help but laugh every time I watch “Caretaker” for the rest of my life as a character. a trip a fan. Exasperation and confusion rise and fall in her voice as she asserts “kazun-ugla.” She doesn’t make fun of the line or have to spout alien names and techno-babble; What stands out is the complete and utter seriousness behind it all, dripping from every syllable of the sentence. Kazon Ugla? from They are kazon-ugla! I cannot explain why you speak to me in this particular way, beyond Mulgrew’s conviction, as you say. In that moment, Kazon-Ogla, whoever he is, is the most real thing in the world to her, and she makes you believe that, no matter how strange it may seem.

Janeway and the rest of the crew will continue to do so Many special momentsand many comprehensive, serious, funny, courageous, and inspiring speeches and exchanges VoyagerSeven seasons. But of all moments Voyager Beyond that, of all the moments I’ve seen now that I’ve watched it Star Trek For the best part of my life, this is the part that randomly creeps into my head like a mental spasm — and it’s what I still think about, and laugh about, 30 years later.

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