Marill Re-Reads Dark Frontier
Here's the stats so far.
Exclaimed Count: 149
Muttered Count: 471
Motto Count: 13
Sexist Crap Count: 21
Jessie's Sin Points: 9
Morgan the Sue Count: 3
Here we are; episode 2 of the Skipped Later #2 trilogy and the second biggest Season One episode. Now it's odd, this is the strongest episode of the trilogy but at the same time it's also not my favourite. Upendi is. It's the strongest for the following reasons: it sticks to its story, its attempts at humour land as they should, the Seven abuse still tickles me today. The reason(s) I favour Upendi over it though lie in the original story. Dark Frontier suffers like The Fight did, which would've been high up there if it had avoided the same issue; too much copy and paste of the original episode. Most of what Morgan says and does is the same as Seven, which is Dark Frontier's biggest crime. Second would be Janeway and especially Chakotay's reactions to the kidnapping/possible assimilation of their daughter. They react exactly as they would if Seven was taken.
Upendi would likely be the strongest of the trilogy if it were not for the quite large singular problem; Part 1. I'll get there in that review though. For now let's have a nice, very likely long, look at Dark Frontier. I'm not even going to humour that it can be all done in one reasonably sized file, I've split it up from the beginning.
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All she could hear was the sound of billions of voices speaking as one inside her head. An hour ago she was looking forward to seeing Earth but now she couldn't even hear herself think. As soon as she was getting used to the voices, they disappeared. Everything was quiet.
Morgan opened her eyes. She looked around, she was back on Voyager. She stepped out of her alcove. The computer voice said, "regeneration cycle incomplete."
Not a bad opening for a Season One episode.
"And this song is called Buzz," Tani said from Chakotay's chair.
"Oh just be quiet," Harry moaned from Kathryn's chair.
The band stuff hasn't canonically happened yet and Harry's already sick of the singing. Can't say I blame him.
"Oh I love this song," Jessie said
"Oh god, I wish I hadn't volunteered for the night shift," Harry moaned.
Tani & Jessie sang along together to the chorus.
No full stop.
Harry, you always do.
Well... it's better than them scrapping over James I suppose.
"Erm, my game is making a funny beepy noise," James said.
Harry jumped out of seat. "Finally, an excuse to get away. Which game is it?" He asked as he walked over to the console James was at.
Um James, aren't you supposed to be a computer nerd/aka a hacker. You're the last guy who should be confused by this.
Haha only noticed the "jumped out of seat" bit. That slipped into the reboot too. Reboot wise it's now fixed :P
"Monkey Island 4," James replied.
"That isn't the game you idiot," Harry moaned.
Maybe he should go back to bed. I doubt any part of that game bleeps.
"It's the sensor array thing. It says that a trans-warp conduit has just opened near by," Harry said. Tani continued to sing. A plastic fan appeared in Morgan's hand and she used to hit Tani on the head with it.
I don't even know where to begin. So I won't.
"Stop singing! The Borg is bloody well coming to get us!" Morgan exclaimed.
"It's only the Borg," Tani moaned as she rubbed her sore head.
Yeah Tani, it's only the people who've assimilated two crewmembers and their shuttle, assimilated you for at least a year or so, gave you Seven. I guess Voyager did humiliate them in that one encounter. It's still 3-1 though and that's not counting Scorpion since Aggressions s$$$ on it.
"Red Alert," Harry ordered.
"Don't bother, according to the scanners it's only a probe. Oh crap the monkey's beating me at Monkey Combat!" James yelled. Everyone collapsed in Pokémon style.
LOL
I'm not laughing at anything here, I'm reminded that this is a Borg probe, manned by Borg drones. Then I was reminded of Holo Q and the infamous manned Voyager probe. And then remembered the Borg manned probe wasn't my idea, it was in the original episode and I felt so much better.
Oh and James, I feel your pain. I truly do. There's a reason it's universally hated amongst Monkey Island fans.
"I'll contact the Captain," Harry said.
"It's okay, I saved recently," James said.
Pfftttsnigger(you don't get legit game overs in Monkey Island)
"I'm not talking about your dumb Monkey Island Game you dip stick!" Harry yelled.
Woah, you two have met right? James makes jokes, he's sarcastic. I'm actually not fully convinced he was truly confused by the beeping earlier. Chill dude! and find some decent insults while you're at it.
"A vessel has been detected...blah blah blah. Activate. Alter course to intercept," the Borg voices said.
Meh, I kept it in the reboot, that should tell you my feelings on this matter.
"Vessel identified, federation starfleet, intrepid class...it's Voyager, destroy, exterminate!" the Borg voices said. All the drones looked confused. Since when had they turned into the Darlecks?
Hehe
"Do as you're told minions! Oh crap, the link has broken again, let me just fiddle with this," the Borg Queen's voice said. Suddenly the Borg turned to zombies again. "Go and exterminate Voyager! Bwahahahahahahahaha!" the Borg voices said.
I'm sorry, I love the crazy Borg (Queen). It's what saved Alternate Scorpion Part 2 from the infamous writers block which happened one episode later.
A few crewmembers were trying to keep straight faces. Tom didn't have enough time and he was still in his pyjamas, his Tweenie pyjamas. He wasn't the only one, Tuvok was in his Dumbo pyjamas and Craig was in his Britney Spears pyjamas. Kathryn, Chakotay and Tom's hair was all out of place too. Craig's hair was sticking up, like if he had been electrocuted. Tuvok's hair still managed to stay in the right place.
I need to go back in time and ask myself what was the big obsession with nightie/pyjamas/etc... with designs like Tweenies on. It won't be the only thing, naturally.
Oh and why I think picking on Tuvok for his Vulcan features is funny, it's the same joke over and over which wasn't funny once.
Reworded, this scene works a treat. The Voyager crew looking ridiculous going up against the Borg and still winning.
Anyway the first copied scenes begin and I suppose changes are not really neccessary if the same happens with the same people.
The viewscreen went off. The probe attacked, hmm that makes a lot of sense.
Yes and so does probes with a crew and holodecks, in the 23rd century. ohsnap
"Ohno, not this again. Don't stare at it, just disarm it," the Borg voices said. The drone just stared at it again. "Stupid link, why does it keep doing this?" It was too late, the torpedo exploded.
Ooph, the joke died. Say goodbye to crazy Borg, the rest of DF's Borg scenes aren't quite so creative. At all.
"I thought we were trying to disable it," he said.
"It's never worked before, remember Test of Time?" Tani muttered. Morgan ignored her.
Oh yeah, we've done this already. I thought it looked familiar.
Is that because Dark Frontier was meant to be in the fifth season part of Season One, but it's sitting amongst sixth ones because Morgan needed more episodes before it happened? Nah, 'course not.
Kathryn turned to face Tuvok, she tried to keep a straight face.
"Can't you do anything right?" Kathryn asked.
:( Did I not like Tuvok back then? If your answer is no and the proof is in S2's finale, then you'd be wrong there. I never felt that I could write Tuvok properly enough so he'd fit in with the madness, at one point I tried and it was awful. At the very least I'm sure I only tolerated him.
Anyway blah blah original lines until:
"I don't know about the rest of you, but I feel lucky today," she walked into her Ready Room.
"I don't," Tom muttered. Jessie and James finally cracked and they burst out laughing.
"Nice pyjamas, Tom," Jessie laughed.
"Nice boyfriend, Jessie," Tom muttered.
I need to get my eyes checked. I always thought this line was "Nice name, Jesse James." That's not what I'm seeing. I must be projecting my hopes onto this and imagining it.
Jessie's face turned red with rage, she tried to storm over to Tom but Morgan and James held her back.
"Jess, he's not worth it," Morgan said. James let go of her. Morgan tried to hold her back on her own but she couldn't. Morgan hit James on the head. "Why did you do that for you idiot?" Morgan growled. Jessie stormed over to Tom and she started to beat him up.
You know what's coming
Jessie's Sin Points: -1
She's in character, I don't give a crap what she does about it. I'm just happy that Tom's actually teasing her over the right thing, and not some dumb cowboy name.
Hmm and Morgan, you weren't even trying were you?
"I hate to interrupt but how can we be collecting debris? There is no atmosphere outside, how can a ship explode. It should implode, there should be nothing left," Seven said. Everyone stopped what they were doing and they stared angrily at her.
Reasonable question but we're in EEEW C/7 ENDGAME SUCKS time now. Oh yeaaaaaahhhh
"No atmosphere outside, did you say?" Morgan asked.
"Of course not, why do you ask?" Seven asked.
Outside Voyager:
Seven was floating outside, she was obviously dead. Meanwhile all Seven haters and J/Cers were cheering and having parties.
I'm tempted, I really am. I'm so curious about this. YES I'M GONNA DO IT.
Seven Dies Count: 1
and so it begins. I wonder if I'd even keep this up till Season Five (good lord, imagine the review lengths!!! *shudder*) and what number it'll be up to then.
Anyway it's not all good, this leads to a writers intermission:
"Marill, can't you stop being nasty to Seven for a second?" Firera's voice asked.
"No, why do you ask?" Marill's voice replied.
"Just checking to see if you were still normal," Firera's voice replied.
What's normal?
"We already know that. It's all the Star Trek writers fault. They're all too dumb," Marill's voice said.
Yeah, I wouldn't throw those boomerang shaped stones.
"How many times to I have to tell you Mr Paris. Stop messing with Jessie, she could kill you if there was nobody to stop her," the Doctor said.
"But Doc, shouldn't she have the lecture?" Tom moaned.
"I wouldn't have to if you would stop provoking her," the Doctor replied.
Yeah victim blaming but at least Tom calls him on it and Doc reasonably explains it. High five.
"This looks like a round ball thing. Lets hope that our little skirmish got back to the hive mind, they'll think twice before they attack us again," Kathryn said.
Borg Beach Ball >x100> round ball thing
"Thanks for the warning," Kathryn said. Harry walked away. Meanwhile Kiara and Naomi were playing with another sphere thing. It rolled away and it hit Harry's foot.
Ha!
Though why are these two even around? Worstparentseva
"The way you fiddle with your commbadge. You do it every time," Chakotay replied.
"No I don't," Kathryn said.
Yeah this is something I'm gonna keep an eye out for during my Voyager rewatch, especially in Scorpion as that's bomb shell haven. I only remember one person even humouring that this ever happened and wasn't made up for this episode. Everyone else reacted with ????
oh and
YEAH, ANY EXCUSE TO LOOK AT HER "COMMBADGES" EY CHUCKLES? LOOK AT THAT SMIRK. I'M ONTO YOU
"Hehe! They fell for it," Firera's voice giggled.
"Why did you do that for Firera, that line makes us look stupid," Raichu's voice muttered.
"I loved that bit in the episode, I don't know why," Firera's voice replied.
"Boring," Marill's voice muttered.
Oh hey look, more "Marill doesn't like shippy crap even though shippy fanfic was the inspiration to write Voyager at all" retcons.
Yeah this is the retcon pic until I see proof Chakotay was right, pre-Dark Frontier. Though to be fair, I don't have my eyes permanently fixed on her chest unlike him.
"Eureka!" the Doctor yelled. He ran up to Kathryn & Chakotay with a Borg arm. Tom followed him. "This is an arm from a medical repair drone. Laser scalpel..." the Doctor said very fast. He waved the arm around and he nearly hit Kathryn and Chakotay in the face. "All rolled into one instrument," the Doctor said finally.
"No Federation Sickbay should be without one," Tom said. The Doctor continued to wave the arm around and it hit Tom right in the face. He fell to the ground.
hehe, probably the only time my overexaggerating style jokes actually work. The Doc waving the arm around, nearly swiping Chakotay in the face evolves into this funny running gag. Love it.
"Excellent, why don't you put it away for the time being," Kathryn said. The Doctor walked off with the arm sticking out. Craig walked past and the arm hit him right in the face.
*tries to hide a laugh while in busy office*
Trivia Time: For some reason during writing of Dark Frontier (and this particular scene) the keyboard broke and I could no longer use the Enter key. This, Upendi and some of Season Two will have these odd double line breaks instead of paragraph ones. It's probably only noticeable if you're selecting the text. It's gonna make reviewing an even bigger pain.
I think the keyboard issues were bitched about in the previous Skipped trilogy, but I can't be bothered to verify for reasons that'd be obvious to any ReReads reader. Also who cares? I'm only warning just in case I stop bothering re-formating and it causes problems later.
ANYWAY, Morgan manages to "somehow" get to the transwarp coil first and aids B'Elanna in getting it to work whilst stealing and slightly altering Seven's lines. Oh right, Seven's dead isn't she, that's why she gets there first. That was anticlimatic, wasn't it?
"At least the Doctor found a new toy," Chakotay said. Meanwhile the Doctor was showing his new arm to Seven, who had magically come back from the dead and didn't seem very interested. He started waving it around again, next thing he knew she was lying on the floor with a Borg arm's imprint on her forehead.
Seven Dies Count: 2
I know it doesn't say but I know she dies here.
Also LOL. This is what I was saying earlier, Dark Frontier's humour works because they're almost all re-occuring gags. The Doctor's arm, Seven dies and is resurrected as if nothing happened, and the already over the "Borg are bonkers" bit.
Morgan continues to talk like Seven and leaves with the Borg Lego brick to translate it.
Kathryn was standing next to the console. On the screen was a damaged Borg Sphere. All, but Kiara, Naomi, Neelix & Triah, of the main cast was sitting at the table.
"What we have here is.. Fort Knox," Kathryn said.
"But I thought Fort Knox was on Earth," Jessie muttered.
"Maybe the Borg have stolen it," James said.
I dunno if I said all of Dark Frontier's jokes are good. If I did, I should really change it to most. This is just... it's, it's ok.
"Shut up you two," Tom groaned. Jessie picked up the Doctor's new toy and she threw it at Tom. He fell backwards off his chair when it hit him in the face.
I stand corrected. It wasn't over.
"That was my toy!" the Doctor screeched. He started to cry. Everyone ignored him.
"Tom translate," Kathryn said. A groan was only his response. "Oh fine. Anybody else know about Fort Knox?" Kathryn asked. Everyone stared blankly at her.
Hehe
"Are you planning a heist?" Chakotay asked.
"As a matter of fact, I am. But we're not chasing for gold, we're going to take a transwarp coil. Think it might come in handy," Kathryn said.
"Isn't that stealing?" Craig asked.
Aaaw Craig, your almost goody two shoes routine and naivety temporarily made me forget about your weird pervy stalking in previous episodes. Nice try.
Everyone but the Doctor & Seven agreed. Tom just groaned from the floor.
"Tom, I told you to get up," Chakotay said. Tom groaned again.
Heh
"The Doctor and I object," Seven said. Everyone stared angrily at her. She looked to the Doctor for help but he was still crying.
"Seven, since when does your opinion count?" Morgan asked.
"Since this is my episode," Seven replied.
"No, it used to be your episode, it's mine now," Morgan said.
Not since Human Error and Endgame burned our eyes and made us all gag.
I do think Chakotay needs to share equal parts of the blame here. Ok he wasn't responsible for Human Error, so part blame. Seven may be the other woman we love to hate, and I already did hate her... which will be the reason why she got all of the abuse. But Chakotay was the other half of the ruined J/C 'ship, he stomped on everyone's shippy dreams. I suppose Seven had her own shippings, the most popular being Doc/Seven. She had three, Harry/Seven and *gag* incesty J/7. Ok never mind, more hate for Seven mwahahahahahaha!
"Captain, why does the writers keep giving my episodes to the new characters?" Seven asked.
"Because you're boring and annoying," Morgan replied.
"I wasn't asking you," Seven said.
"Because the writers don't like you, and frankly nobody else does either," Kathryn replied.
Keep? How many episodes have been stolen so far? The Voyager Conspiracy does not count despite Morgan's best efforts. *quick skim* Do you really want to complain about Hunters, Seven? That's the closest I've seen and future episodes should not count. Even then Thrown Key/Unimatrix still was your episode.
"Overall, you spoilt Voyager by being in episodes far too much, you replaced Kes she could of been a much cooler character when she had those cool powers, you hit it off with Chakotay in Human Error and End Game," Morgan said. Chakotay left the room to be sick.
OH SN...
"I think she's gotten the point Morgan," Kathryn said.
"If she had gotten the point she would of disappeared by now. Anyway you're on the front of nearly every Star Trek magazine, all of the original writers love and worship you just because you wear a silly cat suit, which personally I think is disgusting. You were just added to the show to boost ratings, which it actually didn't and most of all, you are the most boring character ever to be on a science fiction show. End of story," Morgan said.
x100000
It's not only oh snap worthy, there's some truth in there. People have gone on about Seven being a powerful female character, and I call bull on that. She's fan service. Whether or not her character has any depth and development you will always have her stupid padded in one area catsuit shoving her two assets into the camera.
It's a matter of opinion about her character I guess, but I found her development all over the place (something that the same people say about Janeway so *shrug*). I've talked at length about the "I never cry but only do because of a brain deep implant the size of a highlighter", the first dream in late Season Six despite a certain Season Four episode existing, the ohnoes loving someone makes me overload crapfest in Human Error. Seven had zero changes to her character, let alone that was permanent, after Season Four. Watch Night then Endgame (sorry!) and you'll miss nothing - and yes that also includes the C/7 s$$$ too as there's no build up to it anyway haha.
It's ironic that Dark Frontier was the closest Seven was to the character I initially liked from Season Four. The snappy comebacks and defiance, I liked her. Season 5-7 Seven is snorefest eyecandy.
Then there's the one I discovered lately: Morgan's right about the ratings not being fixed by Seven. People have said she saved the show and everywhere I look, I notice the 5-7 seasons never get close to the first two-three season ratings. Sure 4 skyrocketed when she put the suit on, but it didn't last. Opposite is true so pfffffffftHA!
Oh and Seven's another lameass attempt at putting a Spock and Data into a Star Trek show, a failed attempt.
Everyone, but the Doctor who was still crying, in the room agreed with her. Tom was still groaning on the floor. Seven started to cry and she ran out of the room.
Ding dong the witch is dead (again), the witch is dead (again)
Though to be honest, the reboot's far less fourth wall take down is quite a bit more vicious. At least in the original this happens after Seven made Kiara cry and beat Morgan up, so this one feels far more fulfilling.
Though she already got her revenge by killing her.
Reboot Trivia: I imagine I may have disappointed at least one person by changing two out of three of the death scenes into daydreams. I was a little torn about it too since Seven dying and healing quickly is a long standing running joke in the series till the very end.
My gripes about Morgan's was Voyager Conspiracy is based after in the reboot, so apart from the rude pushing and shoving, Morgan has no reason to retaliate this drastically. I don't want readers, new or not, to think she's a psychopath. The scene in Part 2, well I didn't want the same for Tuvok/James obediantly following that order. Also I found the mother daydreaming about Seven dying as well, after Morgan did it in part 1, to be a funnier gag. Don't worry, I think Upendi's part 1 incident is mentioned in later seasons so it'll likely stay around.
"I feel great, I showed Seven up in front of everyone," Morgan replied.
"Not about that, even though I am proud of you. I was talking about the Fort Knox plan," Kathryn said.
Mamma's proud
"Basically we're going to send an empty shuttle to the Borg. They will lower shields to transport it aboard. The away team will beam aboard then. We will need your help," Kathryn said.
"Why?" Morgan asked.
"When you were on that Borg Sphere you must of boarded other Borg ships, undetected, to gain supplies," Kathryn replied.
Oh what's this, Morgan backstory? Another reason I find Dark Frontier a stronger episode than Fugitives and Upendi. We know very little about Morgan, DF does a half decent job of showing some of her past that are relevant, and it gives you the first true glimpses of her pysche and shows basically why she acts out the way she does. I'll get into that in a mo.
"Last night I dreamt about when I was first assimilated into the collective, it felt a little too real," Morgan replied.
"Just forget about it, it was only a dream. I think we deserve a break, do you want some Cherry Coke?" Tani asked. Morgan nodded. Tani got off the sofa and she headed over to the replicator.
One thing I've noticed whilst reading these oldies is how cold and destructive the Tani and Morgan friendship is. Tani's rarely supportive, in Fugitives she was all "face the facts, your dad murdered your mum, hmph!" and here. Then you have Morgan pointing the finger at her when she does something wrong. She slapped her (with a fan?? I hope that was a paper one like what happens in Pokémon) earlier in her panic.
They probably ended up friends because there was little choice, which is pretty sad.
No wonder Morgan drifts over to Craig and James, and at a stretch Jessie. Poor Tani. It's a two sided street, I'll be fair. They're bad for each other.
Flashback time! To 2366. Soooo 15 in 2375, Morgan would've been 6.
"Haha! Say something again," an eight year old girl laughed.
"Why?" Kiara asked. The girl, and two other kids laughed.
"You've got a really stupid voice," the boy laughed.
I always question my bullying scenes, "are they believable" basically. Then I remind myself of the stupidest things I was picked on for and think "people can be utter d$$$heads, of course it's believable."
Yeah picking on a kid's voice is a bit weird, but really, I'm sure it's happened. I was picked on for being skinny, in a class full of skinny kids. With Morgan/Kiara it's clear they didn't like her, blamed her for their situation and looked for the easiest spot to poke.
"Speak for yourself," Tani said. The boy pushed Tani hard and she fell over. Kiara pushed the boy over. The other two girls laughed at her. An twelve year old lad walked over to the five Borg children. He picked up the boy by the ear.
"Don't ever push my little sister again, do you understand me?" the lad said roughly.
OH LOOK, LAD IS BACK. LASS HAS BEEN SO LONELY
Once upon a time Tani was supportive of Morgan. What happened? Am I looking too hard with hind/foresight eyes?
"You're a bit of a lank aren't you. Are all Humans like that?" the first girl laughed. Tiran glared at them and they ran away screaming.
"If those girls cause you anymore problems just beat them up. I have to go on another heist mission," Tiran said.
"Okay, see you later," Tani said. Tiran left the room. The girls snuck back in and they started teasing Kiara again.
Oh lookie, racism.
This does remind me of something. Did Timeline mention that the entire Sphere crew were the kids from the maturation chambers? I can't remember. Clearly they were always meant to be, what with eldest Tiran taking the leader role. Whether it did or didn't, the flashback stings a bit more once you notice what I did, or remember in my case:
Kiara/Morgan was 2 on assimilation, she saw her parents die (Timeline says she knew, but *cough spoilers* how hmm?). She never went into the maturation chamber, never had to listen to the collective for very long. Never intergrated. The rest of the kids would've been forcibly aged, Tani as well (I've already nitpicked this in Timeline), will have been connected for a length of time and then suffered through the chaotic disconnect.
So on one side you have these severely damaged kids, stuck on a Borg ship, older than they're meant to be. I mean, how old is that eight year old. Really? Then you have the 2 year old who joined during the crisis, who they'll see as not having suffered as they have, unaware or uncaring of the trauma she has endured (parents dying for example). In my head the bullying all makes sense. Doesn't make it right no, but yeah understandable. The bullying may not be sophisticated, again the bullies are far younger than they appear.
"What happened?" Morgan asked.
"What do you mean?" Tani asked.
"I was back on the Borg Sphere, ten years ago," Morgan replied.
"I think this work is getting to your head, you'd better get some sleep," Tani said as she handed a bottle of Cherry Coke to her.
Yeah, if you didn't notice anything off before Morgan said something like that, then it's probably not nothing. She didn't doze off or act like she hallucinated, you would've seen that.
Anyways Morgan goes home and starts to hear flashback voices:
"What's wrong, K, are you too scared to step on the scary Borg ship," a familiar but far away voice said.
"I'm not afraid of any Borg ship, I do live on one after all," Morgan's voice said.
"Then why aren't you coming with us then?" Tani's voice asked.
"I just don't want to," Morgan's voice replied.
Naturally they wig her out enough to turn the italics into regular text flashbacks.
Three years ago (2373), the Borg Sphere:
"You're scared aren't you," Jayne teased."No I'm not!" Kiara yelled.
"You are, aren't ya?" Liam said.
"Oh come on Kiara, those stupid drones won't even notice that we're there at all. Even if they did they would think we were one of them," Tani said.
"I don't care, I'm staying here," Kiara said.
The scene continues but the meat of the flashbacks is there. So far Morgan's seemed so confident/cocky, has presented herself as tough girl, lashing out at Seven. Then you get the flashbacks painting her as timid and meek, a victim of bullying, vulnerable. If you recall her past persona is Kiara, who doesn't act anything like this. Yeah she was 12 when this scene happens, but both Morgan and Kiara are generally impulsive like their mum and would be more likely to be denied on this trip, but go anyway.
This and the previous flashback help characterise and humanise Morgan better than all of her scenes in the series so far combined. You should get a sense of why she acts the way she does. Spirits is a good example of this, what with her bravado over going to the planet and her reaction to it.
If that's not your thing, you might have noticed that the flashbacks show up after Janeway mentions her boarding other ships for supplies, which Morgan says she did. Yeah this is only one trip we're shown, but at least it gives you the hint that she's not been on a ship raid so far at the time of the flashback. Food for thought, and it does tie in with what I said in the previous paragraph.
PS. Spoilers for Reboot Dark Frontier, Original never goes there, it only gives you this. Look at those very Human names. Then remember Morgan saying she and Tani were the only Humans (though original forgot Tiran so hey, her word isn't solid). Think about what they're planning to do. Ahem. I couldn't resist, I had to show something about this in the reboot version.
I'm blabbing about probably very obvious things here, so moving on for now. The Naomi Borg dream plays out for Morgan, only using Kiara instead. It's mostly the same until this
"I was in Engineering, the ship was under attack from that Borg Sphere that we're heading for. I saw mum and dad die. I ran out of the room and I ran into a group of crewmembers. They told me to go into the escape pods because the ship was going to explode. I did that but when I was inside I was beamed aboard the ship and they assimilated me," Kiara replied.
Despite what I said above, Morgan and Kiara still share the same story telling talent. It's as great as mine is. OHSNAP
Morgan understandbly freaks out over this familiar list reading, then Kiara gets Borged without batting an eye. Which btw, packs more of a punch than Naomi. Just saying!
Morgan backed away then the whole Cargo Bay disappeared. She was now in Engineering, crewmembers were running around everywhere. Craig ran into her.
"Craig, what's going on?" Morgan asked.
"We're evacuating the ship, didn't you hear," Craig replied.
Just piling on the punches
"The Borg are attacking us, you know that sphere that assimilated you," Craig said.
"How is that possible," Morgan muttered. Suddenly there was a huge explosion. Morgan and Craig ran over to the source. Morgan backed away as Craig knelt down to check Chakotay's pulse.
"He's dead," Craig muttered. He looked over to see if Kathryn was okay. Morgan tried to run out of the room but she bumped into Kiara. Kiara saw her parents dead and she ran out of the room. Morgan tried to follow but everything froze.
Jesus, the Borg Queen did nothing like this to convince/freak out Seven. Yeah she saw Borg running around her Cargo Bay, a nanoprobe through Naomi's cheek, but that was it though. Morgan gets the whole dejavu shebang of her assimilation. If that won't convince you to switch sides, what will?
"I am the Borg. Six of Six primary adjunct of Unimatrix 006, you have become weak," the voice said.
"That's my Borg designation," Morgan muttered.
OOOPH and you were doing so well episode. NITPICK! Why would Morgan have a designation? The canon events have always been the disconnect happened within seconds, maybe minutes after her assimilation. The chaos that causes it happens in that short time.
Also, what's with the three 6's? What are you trying to say there past Marill?
"You are thinking that this is a dream aren't you. It isn't, we've tapped into your neural transceiver. Our thoughts are one. We know about Voyager's plans to infiltrate this sphere, it will fail," the voice said.
Ok, the Borg Queen's nuts and/or she still thinks she's talking to Seven. That's the only explanation for these errors.
Or I hadn't figured out the technobabble for the disconnection yet, there's that. Basically the Borg Queen shouldn't be able to contact her this way. I'll leave it as that.
"Why me, why don't you take Seven, no one on this ship likes her," Morgan asked.
"We're not that desperate. Anyway you are unique," the voice said.
LIAR, YOU ARE THAT DESPERATE
Susanna Queen has an unhealthy fixation on the super special snowflake that got away from her. It's one of the things I hate about Voyager's Borg but did inspire the wacky Borg jokes in FV.
"You sleep in your bed, not on the sofa," Kathryn said softly. Morgan stared at her.
"How long have I been here?" she asked.
"I don't know, I've just came in. Are you okay, you looked terrified," Kathryn asked.
"I'm fine, I just had a bad dream that's all," Morgan lied.
Hmm my issue of Seven and Morgan doing and saying identical things in this episode doesn't bother me as much here. Morgan would do this. It's the part 2 scenes that are the issue.
"Oh and Morgan," Kathryn said. Morgan turned around. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, I can easily send Tani or Seven in your place," Kathryn said.
"No it's okay, I'll go," Morgan said and she walked into her room.
Yeah er, I dunno if this came up before or if it was clear she was going at all, but since it's come up here it's time to whine about it. Morgan's 15/16 here, only Morgan truly has a problem with Seven, no one else. Why is she going on this dangerous trip that will very likely be traumatising for her?
And don't say Kiara went on much worse awaymissions when she was a baby, I will know, find and scowl at you, then start shouting FANFIC DIMENSIONS.
Brrr terrifying.
The next day, on the Borg Sphere:
Harry & Tuvok went an opposite direction to Kathryn & Morgan. Kathryn led Morgan down the corridor.
Oh yeah, no trial runs in the Holodeck, we go straight to the real thing. Anyway back to the same paragraph.
Kathryn led Morgan down the corridor. Morgan nearly bumped into another drone as she crossed a junction. A door opened and she saw a group of Borg putting technology on a small child. One drone moved out of the way, it was Kiara. Morgan ran up to them but as soon as she got there, they all disappeared.
"Remember who you are," the Borg Queen's voice said.
She says this after she confronts "nothing", how rude!
Morgan felt a hand on her shoulder and she jumped. She turned to see who it was.
"Morgan, are you okay?" Kathryn asked.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Morgan muttered. She and Kathryn continued down the corridor.
The narrative doesn't say whether or not Morgan actually did run off after her visions. If she didn't, fine Morgan's just jumpy but still send the poor kid back to Voyager Janeway. If she did, SEND HER THE HELL BACK.
"Morgan, come on!" Kathryn yelled.
"No, I want to stay. I'm going to rejoin the collective," Morgan said.
Um, to rejoin you have to join it.
"Keep moving that's an order!" Kathryn yelled. A Borg force field surrounded Morgan.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA *breathes in and out* HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Morgan's not someone who listens to orders and furthermore, she's not a crewmember with a job. She's your daughter.
Oh the joys of stolen lines.
"I'm not leaving without you," Kathryn said.
"But you'll be assimilated," Morgan said
Oh my bad, she said but instead of and. SO DIFFERENT
I did mention in Conspiracy's review that Janeway/Seven felt more like mother and daughter, so it squicks me out people pair them up. Besides Chakotay's the one who likes the blondes... oh god reopened that C/7 wound. So anyway, it still feels really weird and unimaginative that Janeway tells Morgan, her actual daughter, the same damn thing. At least she reacts, just wait until Chakotay is in the picture.......
Which btw, is why I hate C/7 and will never understand it. Chakotay was the character who liked her the least. It wasn't even a dislike, more of a indifference. B'Elanna hated her sure but I don't think it's the same. Seven would have her tantrums and run off, like in DF, and he'd react like "ho hum, I told you so. Where to next?" The romance comes out of nowhere. I'd accept it if there were signs, but apart from that silly Natural Law episode (I don't count people arguing as shipping hints otherwise my entire character list have slept together) there is ZERO.
Kathryn walked up to the helm, where Chakotay was.
"Where's Morgan?" he asked.
"She decided to stay," Kathryn replied.
Oh ok.
Two drones escorted Morgan through a strange door. They stayed next to the door but she just walked further into the room. The Borg Queen's body was assembled right before her eyes. The queen's head and shoulders (no not the shampoo) was brought down to her body. Once the Queen was fully connected she walked towards Morgan. She placed her hand on Morgan's cheek.
"Welcome home," the Queen said.
Oh, not the shampoo? I was confused for a second.
Will Voyager find their missing crewman? Will the Doctor get his toy back? Who will be next to be hit off that Borg arm? Will Seven actually die and stay dead? Find out next time on Fifth Voyager!!
No they won't find the character the series was created for and revolves around. WHAT A TWIST
I HOPE SO
Hmm, James probably. He hasn't gotten hurt in a while.
Oh boy, yes Seven will die and stay dead. It will be hilarious. Wait, wasn't I supposed to be taking the piss out of these questions? They're not giving me much to work with, god damn it!
Find out next time or in the next couple of seconds after you click the Next button.
But first Midway Stats:
Exclaimed Count: 1 (150)
Muttered Count: 25 (496)
Motto Count: 0 (13)
Sexist Crap Count: 0 (21)
Jessie's Sin Points: -1 (8)
Morgan the Sue Count: 0 (3) stay tuned for Part 2, though she is stealing Seven's Sue points, that's the point hurdur
Seven Dies Count: 2 (2)