Marill
Re-Reads Dark Frontier
Part
Two - "Morgan of Nine meets the Borg Queen"
Last time on Marill Re-Reads Dark Frontier
Pfftttsnigger
Anyway blah blah original lines until:
Reasonable question but we're in EEEW C/7 ENDGAME SUCKS time now. Oh yeaaaaaahhhh
Yeah, I wouldn't throw those boomerang shaped stones.
YEAH, ANY EXCUSE TO LOOK AT HER "COMMBADGES" EY CHUCKLES? LOOK AT THAT SMIRK. I'M ONTO YOU
Ding dong the witch is dead (again), the witch is dead (again)
Naturally they wig her out enough to turn the italics into regular text flashbacks.
Also, what's with the three 6's? What are you trying to say there past Marill?
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.
Oh my bad, she said but instead of and. SO DIFFERENT
And now the conclusion
"What is it now!" she yelled angrily.
"Those aliens from 'Fugitives' are back," Harry said quietly.
Hey, the regular paragraph breaks are back. WTF is that all about? I'm so confused.
Oh yeah, um. Marattans.
"Voyager, give us back our coffee and Cherry Coke!" the alien yelled.
"No, why should I?" Kathryn asked angrily.
"Because it's ours," the alien said.
"Not anymore. I'm sick of your ugly face, now go away," Kathryn muttered angrily.
ohsnap?
"Er, Captain. I think we should give back what's theirs," Chakotay said.
"Shut up you! First you plot to kill me now this!" Kathryn yelled.
Sigh
"But, wasn't that a conspiracy?" Jessie asked.
Different episode Jess, but I can understand the confusion.
"Oops, that machine is still on," the alien muttered. An alien behind him switched off a strange machine.
"Oh, so that's what made everyone go against Chakotay in 'Fugitives'," James said.
Oh yeah, one of the mysteries of Fugitives that was forgotten about. Let's mention it in the following episode as a joke. YAY
I can forgive the scene as it brings us this:
"Torpedo," Kathryn said.
"We ran out," Tuvok said.
"Use Seven," Kathryn said.
"Very well, transporting her now," Tuvok said.
"Fire!" Kathryn yelled.
Tuvok's given up, he's joining the madness. Or he's not truly listening.
EMBRACE THE MADNESS, YOUR PAIN SHALL FADE AWAY IN TIME
But still LOL
Seven Dies Count: 3
If I found this scene so funny, why did I botch it so it didn't happen in the reboot? No Voyager Conspiracy yet and the worst Seven had happen to her was verbal abuse from Janeway, and James slapping her around. To go from that to using her as a torpedo without an incentive would give anyone whiplash. Also as stated, mother and daughter imagining similar things, still funny... to me.
"You may have beaten us this time but we'll be back," the alien said.
"No you won't. Season One has already been wrote, with the exception of Upendi," Tom said.
"Drat, we'll be back in Season Two," the alien said. The viewscreen was turned off.
Watch them show up in Upendi too.
Am I serious? Even I don't know. It's been a while.
The Borg Queen still had her hand on Morgan's cheek. She just brushed it off with her hand. The Borg Queen stared at her like if she was inspecting her.
"You've changed. Your assimilation tubules, your oculative implant. They've taken you apart," the Queen said. She started walking around Morgan. "Hair, garments, but at the core you are still mine," the Queen said.
Black hair, greeny eyes, different fa... wait a minute, I got the wrong ex drone. OH SHOOT
"The Borg have changed as well, I expected reassimilation not conversation," Morgan said.
Oh phew, I did get the right one. I was worried there for a sec. Welcome back Seven of Nine.
"I see they have also given you a sense of humour," the Queen muttered.
"What are you talking about, that wasn't funny and I've always had it," Morgan said. The Queen turned her back from her and walked towards the alcove.
Um Morgan, if you are capable of original dialogue then why did you do that rhymey joke Seven made, which wasn't funny FYI.
"Spoken like a true individual. The last thirteen years must of been a remarkable experience," the Queen said. She turned to face Morgan again. "You are unique."
Well at least in FV's version the Borg Queen is speaking the truth. OHSNAP
I dunno if it's fair to mark Morgan on the Sue'ness if every bit of part 2 (I don't remember any more flashbacks) are Seven's scenes.
Hmm the intention is there. So maybe I should.
"That's why you kidnapped me," Morgan said.
"That is why we put you there in the first place. You believe that the temporal anomaly incident was an accident, do you really think we'd not look for you," the Queen said. Morgan walked up to her.
"What do you mean. The Erona caused that temporal anomaly," Morgan asked.
"Yes, we took advantage of it, and everyone thought it was the Tolg who took advantage. We took advantage of them," the Queen replied.
I GOT THAT ADVANTAGE FIRST, THOSE TOLG ARE COPYCAT DWEEBS
Isn't it interesting the Queen not only remembers trying to assimilate Morgan, but also the temporal anomaly and the vanishing from timeline Tolg ship.
HMMMMMMMMM
"Understood," Chakotay muttered. Kathryn turned to look at Morgan's alcove.
"Why would she want to rejoin the collective?" Kathryn asked quietly.
"Maybe she's been planning it all along," Chakotay replied as he worked at the console.
Yeah that Seven's always been a loose cannon, and you've never liked her Chuckl...
wait my daughter's the one who's gone? OHDEAR
"She's had a number of opportunities to leave before now," Kathryn said.
"Never direct access to a Borg vessel," Chakotay said.
"I was hoping.. er I mean, expecting Seven to do something like this," Kathryn said. Neelix walked up to them.
F$$$$$ hell this is lazy. Told you, this is why DF is not my favourite of the three. Part 2's copycatting truly lets it down. How can Chakotay talk so coldly about his own kid?
For that matter, why are either them discussing the possibility of Morgan defecting? Unlike Seven, Morgan's never really been Borg and has shown zero interest in being so. She's been more than happy doing Human things. I mean the Cherry Coke addiction, how will she get her fix if she's in the Borg. THINK ABOUT IT.
"Captain, permission to recycle all of this debris, it could be handy to repair damaged hull platings," Neelix said.
Woah nelly, or Neelixy, I think this line's been forgotten and butchered to make do.
"One last thing, Morgan's alcove. It uses up a lot of power, should I deactivate it?" Neelix asked.
Hey, can I dismantle your runaway kid's bed? She's been gone a whole 5 minutes.
RIP Neelix. We hardly knew ye.
"You did the right thing," he said calmly.
"I hope you're right," Kathryn muttered.
Chakotay's a bad dad. You don't know Morgan's motives, so how could you know allowing the Borg to take her in exchange for the entire ship was the right thing? You don't know that's even a thing.
NM AT LEAST WE STILL HAVE KIARA LOL
Tuvok walked in. "A member of the crew requested an appointment with the Captain. I told her that you were occupied but she was insistent," Tuvok said.
"Whatever it is I'm sure Commander Chakotay can handle.." Kathryn said as she looked up and saw Naomi hiding behind Tuvok.
WHY WAS I EXPECTING KIARA?
OH YEAH THIS IS FV. COLOUR ME SURPRISED
"Yes ma'am. You see if we change the long range sensors to Morgan's cortical implant frequency, maybe we could find her," Naomi replied.
"The Delta Quadrant is a very big place and Morgan could be thousands of lightyears from here," Kathryn said.
"What if we boosted our deflector range with power from the main deflector," Naomi said.
The kidnapee's name is the only part that is different here. This is shameful.
"Captain, you're not going to give up are you?" Naomi asked.
OF COURSE NOT, THAT'S HER DAUGHTER
"There are a few things you need to learn about being a starship captain. Keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship and never abandon a member of your crew," Kathryn said.
SHE'S YOUR DAUGHTER. HOW ARE YOU NOT GETTING THIS
"Get rid of it," Morgan said.
"You prefer to remain small?" the Queen asked.
"Unique is the word I prefer," Morgan muttered. The Queen walked up to her.
Though I understand the confusion.
I wouldn't be surprised if these slightly retouched lines from her were the 2005 edits.
"Don't be afraid. We won't turn you into a drone. You're much too valuable the way you are, but you've left humanity behind, try to see past their petty emotions as well. Fear, anger, vanity, they've corrupted you," the Queen said. She placed her hand on Morgan's cheek again, Morgan pushed it away.
Same speech but...
1) Why didn't they turn Seven into a drone? Her so called knowledge of Humanity was to make the assimilating cloud virus. Hardly need the individual mindset for that. Yeah same plan here but with Morgan it's a tad more complicated, and it's not spoilery to say that it didn't work so well the last time they tried.
2) Not spoilery because Morgan flat out said it in Timeline, she IS valuable the way she is. The reason isn't stated here though but readers should know it, not that there's anything to remind them or anything.
3) I'm sure cos of her circumstances, fear and anger have haunted Morgan since she was almost assimilated. As for vanity, I dunno if there's been any. She's been cocky but not in a I'M PERFECT like Seven would say.
4) I can't remember the original but I think Morgan's slapping hand rejection is unique to her (I'm sure it is, I'm just paranoid) and is nice to see in this Seven thievery part.
"Isn't it obvious? You're going to help us assimilate humanity," the Queen replied. Morgan stared angrily at her, the Queen ignored it. "We failed in our last attempt to assimilate Earth, lousy Enterprise E," the Queen muttered.
Oh the salty tears are delicious
"What did she say? I'll have to destroy her now!" Marill's voice screeched.
"Can't you wait until Thrown Key Part Two?" Firera's voice asked.
"Way to give away spoilers for Season Two, Firera," Raichu's voice muttered.
Oh Raichu, you should know the routine by now. There's no such thing as a secret this early on. I'm surprised a later James secret or two hasn't been blabbed yet.
"I really do not like those writers, they keep interrupting the episodes," Morgan muttered.
"Look on the bright side, at least it isn't Brannon Braga," the Queen said. Everyone shuddered.
I have my issues with him sure, dating Seven's actress and the time travel obsession, but I have to give some credit. He wrote some goodies.
I'm sure 99.99%, no 100% of Voyager watchers would still pick him over 2001 Marill. Or 2016 Marill for that matter ;)
"Anyway, as I was saying, we failed in our last attempt to assimilate Earth and we won't succeed the next time unless we understand the nature of their resistance. You must be our eyes, let us see humanity."
Bull$$$
I like Voyager's Dark Frontier but it's such a switch your brain off episode. I could write a list of everything wrong with it and it'd probably be longer than my original version, or any rereads.
But let's start with this paragraph first shall we. Let me help you Queenie.
Nobody likes assimilation. All species have resisted. Species 8472 did it the most. Humanity did not win because they were SUPER DUPER SPECIAL with their resistance powers. They won usually because they saw a flaw within your own system:
Using Picard's connection they found the sleep command, which for some reason triggered auto destruct. Conclusion: YOUR FAULT
Assimilating the Enterprise so you can use it to assimilate Earth and seducing Data into giving you full control of it. You decide it'd be fun to torture Picard so the entire collective has their back turned when Data smashes the coolant tanks, oh and you trusted him to do the torpedo firing: YOUR FAULT
If you count Scorpion, maybe don't betray an alliance when you have one drone on their ship, especially after she's already threatened to turn on them anyway.
Getting info from Morgan and Seven, who've accumulated two years on a Human ship, one of which is as inhuman as I am, isn't going to help diddly squat. Especially when your idea is to simply create a slow burning assimilation cloud. You don't need either of their insight for it. You're not using psychology to trick them, this is just another assimilation tactic. Cut the crap. My reboot was bad, but at least I bothered to give you a couple of incentives for taking Morgan that made an eency bit of sense. Sheesh. It's not hard.
"But when I was regenerating, you assimilated what I know," Morgan said.
"Our thoughts are one," the Queen said.
"But you already know what I know, what more do you want?" Morgan asked.
Both Seven and Morgan say this a lot quicker than I do but hey, Queen gives them the same stilted explanation which they seemingly buy, unaware of the pathogen plan.
Oh and NITPICK. Queenie can't assimilate what Morgan knows. Why? Can't say yet but I KNEW THIS WAS TRUE WHILE WRITING THIS. REMEMBER YOUR OWN LORE MARILL FFS AND STOP COPYING
"You are the only Borg who grew up as a drone but was not connected to the collective. Plus, you have lived with humans for five months.
So she didn't really grow up as a drone.
Oh and five month perspective *thumbs up* that'll work!
"What about Tani? She grew up in that Borg Sphere too," Morgan said.
Okay ouch!
I think this is an issue with Morgan but it's part of her character. She speaks without thinking and usually in instances like this, she says it in the wrong way. I can only think of a much later season example at the moment. This is said to a Q:
"Why me? Can't you get your kick from doing nothing while a planet inhabited by billions die?"
DF has a worse/"better" example I know, but it seems like she's coldly putting herself first over others. It's not meant to be presented as such. The second line quoted she's basically calling out the Q on their callousness, that they should be helping not hounding a 20+ year old girl. The first quote is her saying "why are you making me out to be special, I'm not," not "TAKE TANI, SHE SUCKS!"
It's an issue as I'm not keen on Morgan being disliked because of a misunderstood character trait. She's the opposite of her mother in this case, she does not have a way with words.
"Shut up, you're are here now and you will help us," the Queen said.
"You're starting to sound as bossy as Seven. I annoy bossy people," Morgan said.
Oh good, I expect some different hilarity then.
Not really, I expect to be disappointed.
"It turns out that Seven's father's hunch was right. The drone was receiving direct commands from this Borg Queen. I analysed the comm signals, look at the frequency," Chakotay said as he handed a pad to Kathryn.
Lol
Yeah this is Seven's episode, Morgan stole it BUT we still need elements of Seven's version to get to the same ending.
Only we don't. Any half decent writer would dream up a new finale to rescue Morgan, or not for a few episodes. You know, take advantage of it being about a completely different character.
I wasn't and I don't.
I'm still not and didn't want to change that much, or I'd lose the Queen versus Janeway potential. Excusesexcuses
"One thing is certain. She contacted Morgan and the next day she rejoined the Borg. Obviously she exerted some influence," Kathryn said.
"Do you think Morgan was instructed to rejoin the collective?" Chakotay asked.
HOW MANY TIMES... THIS... IS... YOUR... DAUGHTER
"Instructed, coerced. She wanted to go on that mission. When I found her in my quarters she was terrified, I thought she had just had a bad dream, I didn't investigate it, I let her go," Kathryn said.
DON'T BEAT YOURSELF UP. BRINGING THE 15 YEAR OLD GIRL, WHO HAD TO GROW UP ON A BORG SHIP, ONTO A BORG SHIP WHEN YOU ALREADY HAD THREE ADULT BORGS TO MAKE USE OF (SEVEN, JAMES, JESSIE) WAS A GREAT PLAN! WORTH THE RISK LOL
"What's running through that collective mind of yours. You've got thousands of species to choose from, thousands of worlds, why Morgan? They should have assimilated Voyager when they had the chance," Kathryn muttered.
Susanna Queen is an overdramatic dumbass with favourites and grudges, who speaks as if she's an individual leader, not a representive of a collective consciousness. How's that?
"I want you to work with Seven as she does more research on her parents findings. We need to find something that will help us track the Borg," Kathryn said. She picked up her jacket and she headed out the room.
THIS IS THE SECOND EPISODE WRITTEN AFTER C/7 IS A THING, WHY ARE YOU PUTTING THEM TOGETHER???????? OHNOES
"If you're planning a rescue mission those findings will only take us so far," Chakotay said.
HOLY CRAP, THIS IS YOUR DAUGHTER. WHO AM I SHOUTING AT
WHO CARES, JANEWAY SPEECH TIME *hovers mouse over insert image command*
"This will be a long range tactical mission. It may take days, even weeks to find our missing crewman.
Lieutenant Torres is equipping the Delta Flyer with the transwarp coil we 'borrowed' off the Borg...
Nah forget it, it's mostly cut and paste unless I've forgotten the exact line, then it's bodged into lines like this:
Seven and the Doctor has also made something that will hide anybody that boards a Borg ship.
Harhar
It's dumb, they don't have the device that cloaks them from Borg. They needed it to gain the few seconds needed to escape during the heist. Without it they'd be assimilated. But it's not that dumb, since the Queen was always gonna give Seven/Morgan the ultimatum anyway so... their simulations never factored this in. This is fine. I'll allow it.
Ensign Taylor, I want you to come just case we need help cracking some Borg codes," Kathryn said.
Oh dear. This would be all caps shoutable if it weren't for what else I'd been shouting at all throughout. So I'll just complain about the fact that James was never ever considered for the first mission, despite him apparently being useful on two fronts as Janeway says: ex-Borg and ace hacker. I bet Seven really hates him, she can't use her Borg encryption codes with him around lol.
Season 3 spoilers: what does it matter, Janeway was okay with sending 1 year old Kiara into enemy territory. Why wouldn't she volunteer 25 year old James onto a Borg mission, after having Borg trauma of his own, to rescue the 15 year old daughter that was only kidnapped cos she was allowed on a Borg heist. Janeway sucks at this parenting gig.
Jessie put her hand up. "Yes, what is it, can't you see I'm blabbering?"
"Can I come?" Jessie asked.
Anyone who didn't see this coming has not read any (early) FV and/or its reviews at all. I'll assume they've stumbled into this page via a google search and scrolled down, mildly skimming going "wtf is this s$$$" *waves* hi random lurker.
"She just wants to come because he's going," Tom said as he pointed at James. Jessie raised the Doctor's Borg arm. "I'll be quiet," Tom said in a quiet voice.
What, it's true? James can't go without Jessie, especially via transwarp, imagine the carnage. Those leashes are stronger than they look.
"Actually, just in case anything happens you'll need a second ex Borg to help out," Jessie said.
Yeah yeah
"Very well. I'll continue my speech," Kathryn said. Everyone silently groaned. "We will need tactical support when we return. You will be taking orders from Commander Chakotay. Lets get started," Kathryn said.
worst speech ever
well alright, worst Janeway speech ever
Notice Tuvok's the only one who doesn't make it. Swapped for the J/J twins
Anyway who cares about that, it's time to steal another joke as apparently my Dark Frontier had none so far of its own to work with, despite Jessie arm threatening earlier.
"Coil on-line. Trans warp in nine, eight, six, five.." Tom said.
"You missed out seven," Jessie said.
"Did I? I've always had a trouble with seven's, ever since Seven joined the crew. What a coincidence," Tom said.
"We're going to die," James said in a sing song voice.
Tom is the senile computer and James (and Jessie) are the narcissitic underachiever who everyone hates. Okay, I buy it.
"Steady as she goes," Kathryn said. She looked at Jessie, who was looking rather uncomfortable, she then looked over at James, he looked the same way. "Crewman, Ensign, are you okay?" Kathryn asked.
OH LOOK, CONTINUITY........ RUINED
I dunno why I did this. James and Jessie are sooooo meant to be together, so that means they have to be exactly alike and act like really close twins. Piss off!
Yay for continuity. Jessie gets space sick, she did in The Fight with Chaotic Space. Notice James didn't, he was fine. Later Jessie passes out at the sight of blood, which is a condition she has throughout the entire series. It's mentioned to death to be honest. James decides to join in during Games Resistance for no reason whatsoever (for a joke probably, or more likely so with the reveal in that one you still can't take the "lovable" goof seriously ffs), despite the events of Interactions and Disconnected before it which I'm sure show no sign of it and would really compromise their stories if he did have the same condition.
The prequels gave out a good explanation but it was a temporary reaction then to a trauma, not what Jessie has. It never resurfaces again. Why? Because it was Jessie's thing. What's more annoying is that Craig says it was James' before it's shown happening to Jessie. GAWD this is why I have self esteem issues.
Moral of the story is, James stop stealing Jessie's flaws. You have plenty of your own.
"No, I think I'm trans warp sick," Jessie replied.
"Make it double," James muttered.
OH I SEE, IT WASN'T A PERFECT COUPLE THING, IT WAS SO I COULD DO A TEAM ROCKET MOTTO THING. OK MUCH BETTER
Motto Count: 1
"Don't worry Doc, Captain, can I swap seats?" Jessie asked.
"Why?" Kathryn asked.
"Then if I'm sick, I'll be sick on Tom," Jessie replied.
I'm gonna assume Dark Frontier Part 1, and Part 2's opening scene drained all of the humour I had. It took ages to recharge it, it would seem. This issssooooo stale.
Tom fiddled with the console. The shuttle swerved violently.
"You did that on purpose!" Jessie yelled.
"That wasn't funny!" James yelled.
Nope, none of this is funny
"How do you suppose we adapt?" the Queen asked.
"You are the Borg, you tell me," Morgan said. The Queen walked closer to Morgan.
sigh
"Thirty nine vessels are approaching our position. They're firing weapons," the Queen said. The ship shook. She walked closer to Morgan. "We will be destroyed, how do you suppose we adapt?" the Queen asked. The ship shook again, a station exploded.
Now this scene always teed me off.
The Queen basically puts the pressure on Seven with "you'll die if you don't help." Seven then buckles. I know the Queen says she was thinking the same thing and I believe her, but sheesh... WHAT IF SHE DIDN'T. An entire species are taken to be assimilated, only a few escape. I'm an outright coward but I'd rather die, especially if I was trapped on a Borg Sphere anyway, than live with that on my conscience. And I've never been Borg obviously and dunno what it's like. No way.
This scene was really a first chance to show a different character doing or saying something different. Do I take advantage, do I hell.
"Try changing our shields so they absorb their weapons fire," Morgan said.
I should let her off, she's a kid. BUT a kid who's already stubborn and likes her bravado. Also a teenager, how many teens would act like this? BLEW IT
Morgan just folded her arms and glared at the Queen. "Perhaps I've been pushing you to quickly, go and assist the drones that are monitoring the shield matrix, instead."
Too late to prove my teenager point Morgan.
Comply, Six of Six," she said harshly. Morgan rolled her eyes and she headed out of the room. "Six of Six, be efficient."
Okay, does she only call her this when she's scolding her? DO AS I SAY DEMON CHILD
Morgan still in teenager mode. We could've done with that before!
Morgan gave her one more glare and she stormed out of the room. The Queen just smiled in response.
Man, she's not described as not glaring. How does she keep giving her glare after glare? She must be piling on the Janeway skunk eyes she's learned. How is the Borg Queen not in a Alice-Queen puddle by now?
Morgan fiddled with one of the terminals. A drone walked up to her and it tried to do some work there. Morgan groaned and she moved away, the console she started working on exploded in her face.
I do like that Morgan's uncomfortable being around drones, still acts as if it's more of an annoyance than a fear (ohnoes,spoiledthat). She still gets the same explosion in face that Seven does though, who I don't think budged from that console. Can't remember entirely.
Morgan wandered around the ship, all she could see was drones taking the aliens to assimilation areas. She turned a corner and she stopped dead. There were starfleet crewmembers with some of the aliens. She saw Craig with the other aliens and starfleet officers. He managed to push a drone out of the way, he crashed into Morgan.
"Morgan, we've got to get out of here," Craig said in a panicky tone.
There's a reason why Craig's always the one that warns her in these hallucinations.
I don't know what it is.
"How did you get here?" Morgan asked. Some drones came up to them and Craig just dragged her with him.
Touching her up in her own vision, Craig? You never stop, do you?
Suddenly some drones grabbed them both. One drone assimilated him. "No!" Morgan screamed. She felt the assimilation tubules going through her own neck. Everything went blank.
She woke up suddenly to the sound of an explosion. She was lying on the deck, near the console that exploded. She felt her neck, there was nothing wrong. She tried to move but the pain in her face stopped her from moving too fast. Two drones walked up to her and pulled her to her feet. One healed the burns on her face. As soon as they moved away she ran back the way she had came. She stopped suddenly.
Shoddily done, as usual, but I like the idea. I'm all for alterations to the plot that isn't writers, Pokémon and/or motto related.
Morgan has some deep rooted and perfectly reasonable trauma over her assimilation that should've been hinted at in Timeline. That's my only true gripe with this.
I don't have a problem with her still having these visions despite already being kidnapped. They make sense to me for "explosion in face" and "spoilers" reasons. It does though remind me of the "oh I talked to you through that implant/assimliated your knowledge" errors and I get mad again.
One alien escaped and he bumped into her. By instinct she grabbed his arm to stop him. One drone came up to him and assimilated him. Morgan let go of the alien and she ran away as fast as she could.
And we're right back to acting like Seven does, despite the fact her experience before this moment are radically different. FFS
Morgan then moved over to the first drone and she deactivated him. She ran over to the alien on the surgical bed. She tried to pick him up, the other aliens just stared at her.
"Help me," Morgan said.
Hang on, trying to figure out which reaction to post. So I'll post both.
How can the same scene go from exploring Morgan's trauma and the circumstances that should've brought her there in the first place (suffering numerous visions vs Seven's one cortical node communication), to her not only doing what Seven does but also running into the same difficulty doing so.
Season Two spoilers: it's the 2nd off last episode before Season Two, surely Morgan should be strong by now. God. Forget struggling to keep the unconscious drone up on his feet, she should be able to toss him over her shoulder. It's not meant to be that blatant I know, all I needed to show was her putting him down somewhere on her own.
"Assimilation is complete," the Queen replied.
"Three thousand individuals are all drones now. Should we throw a party for them?" Morgan asked.
All right fine, I like that (second) line. Well done. I expect to go right back to copy and paste out of character Morgan now.
"Yes, hearing billions of voices in your head, twenty four seven, that sounds very orderly. Had any suicides lately?" Morgan said angrily.
Oh
Bet this one was a 2005 edit. It's too good for 2001's version.
"You cling to sarcasm because you are afraid to see the truth. Those people are already adding to our perfection. You can feel their distinctiveness coursing through us, enhancing us. Stop resisting, take pleasure in this," the Queen said as she walked closer to Morgan.
"I won't, I'm not as disgusting as you are!" Morgan snapped.
ohsnap
but at least it's an original line
"There is that anger again, you are using it to hide your real feelings of guilt, compassion and sympathy. They're all irrelevant," the Queen said.
"No they're not, they're only irrelevant to boring, ruthless and disgusting people like you," Morgan said. The Borg Queen seemed distracted for a second.
The first disgusting insult was barely an ohsnap, Morgan. Using it a second time so soon is a bit lazy, especially for a Janeway. shame. Janeway's have biting sarcasm in their DNA, it's canon.
"Neither. You're just wasting your time, there are only four people onboard," Morgan replied.
Seven pretending to act nonchalant/neutral while trying to convince Queenie to let go her prison breaks, aok. It's in character.
Morgan doing this is laughable. She's already lost her temper with her, she isn't one to hide that she's emotional. One of many reasons why this particular copycat line is dumb. It's a perfect example of why I complain far more at the copied lines in this than any other episode. Morgan and Seven are meant to be polar opposites, IT WAS MORGAN'S ORIGINAL POINT. SHE WAS THE ANTI-SEVEN. Before she had been developed all she had was that and the Kidz Trek version of her paradox. Sheesh.
"What the hell are you doing!" Morgan yelled.
"I'm sorry that this has to be so painful for you but you are a difficult pupil. Abandon your human frailties, they are the cause of your pain," the Queen said.
"Just let them go!" Morgan yelled.
There, is that so hard? I'm not asking for clever oh snap dialogue from Morgan. She's a 15 year old kid co-erced/kidnapped by someone who caused the death of her parents, stole her childhood, nobody else in her life remembers her being gone, and threatened to do it all over again. Also has terrifying visions of these things. Sarcastic comebacks are nice and all, but let's be realistic here.
"There's thousands of Borg structures, possibly more," James said.
"There's a cube, heading our way," Tom said. The Borg Cube just flew straight past the shuttle.
"Any sign of our sphere?" Kathryn asked.
More of a complaint or two with Voyager's version. Why is Janeway assuming that Seven is still on the sphere? She isn't. They didn't know Unimatrix 1 existed, so for all she knew Seven was dumped onto another cube/sphere. Also, how did they follow the sphere in the first place? It's been a while before they pursue.
On another topic if Harry was in James' place we'd get another "I'm reading 10 structures, make that 100, 1000, two million... no wait it's a thousand, sorry" gem. I dunno what Tuvok's version of this was so dunno if it's a copied. Probably. As you know, I find copied lines far more annoying when vastly different people say them.
"You're technology has changed since the sphere was disconnected from the collective, I don't know much about it," Morgan said.
o_0
You do remember, don't you Marill? Morgan was technically assimilated a few months before this episode. This is a flimsy excuse. If you're gonna reword a copied line maybe put some thought into it.
"Your knowledge for the target species is invaluable," the Queen said. A holographic human man appeared. "Human, blah, blah, blah, blah. Our previous attempts to assimilate them were all direct assaults, they failed. So we've created a better strategy," the Queen said.
The first blah blah I was fine with, it fit with the silliness of the scene. This, it's laziness of the ironic kind.
"You intend to detonate a nanoprobe virus in Earth's atmosphere," Morgan muttered.
Woah did I doze off? That escalated quickly.
"It will infect all lifeforms. By the time they found out what was happening, half their population would be drones," the Queen said.
"What kind of disgusting plan is that?" Morgan asked angrily. The Queen just smiled at her.
Well she is disgusting Morgan, you made that very clear.
"Interface with the central alcove, you may work on the virus there," the Queen said. Morgan folded her arms and just stared at her. "Why do you resist, it's just another assimilation," the Queen asked.
See what I mean? How does Seven or Morgan's very brief time as a Human help with this? Neither of them studied biology. That's what you'd need for this and I really doubt the Borg would need any tips here, they've assimilated plenty of Humans. At a stretch you could argue the Borg might need a little help distributing this virus without being spotted, but how would Seven and Morgan's experience on Voyager help with this? If it did, why couldn't you assimilate this knowledge?
"To you maybe, but this is my species you're talking about here, I'm not going to help you destroy them," Morgan said angrily.
What teenager would talk like this? I'm serious. It's worrying because I was her age when I wrote this.
"I am an individual," Morgan said.
"You're only repeating their words. You sound like a mindless automaton. Comply, or we will turn you into a drone," the Queen said harshly.
OHSNAP TRUER WORDS NEVER SPOKEN
"I am Kiara Morgan Janeway, human," Morgan muttered.
Ohmygodhahahahahaha it can get worse
"I remember Kiara, does she remember us?" the Queen said.
No, that's the point. It'd be interesting that the Queen does, but hey, this is only original Dark Frontier with different names so it's moot.
"I'm not afraid of you, you heartless b****!" Morgan snapped.
"You are one us," the Queen said.
What, she's not disgusting? Yay for "new" insults
"Nothing," Morgan replied. The Queen grabbed Morgan's chin with her right hand.
"Janeway," the Queen said.
And so it begins
Though in my personalised canon Janeway's been the Queen's arch nemesis since Scorpion. You know it makes sense.
"Can we beam into one of the adjoining corridors?" Kathryn asked.
"We could do," James replied.
Haha lazy half arsed line altering since it's a different character. Better than none at all.
"Oh great, he'll probably fire on purpose just to kill us off," Jessie muttered as the Doctor put on James' bio dampner.
Nah, he'd lose his Jesse James fun times. Can't have that.
Oh and lol to the fact that Janeway takes both James and Jessie with her. You know why, I'm not gonna bother. I'm too tired of pointing it out. Just note that the reboot does not do it. The only reason Jessie was on the shuttle at all in it was to keep a Season Five joke/mention canon.
"Can you disable it?" Kathryn asked.
"We could try," Jessie said.
Can you get me a coffee?
We could not.
Can you have a scene separate from each other?
We could. We won't.
"It's not too late to save them," the Queen said, she turned to face the central alcove. Morgan folded her arms again and she gave the queen an icy death glare. "As you wish," the Queen said.
Surely folding arms and glaring is Morgan's default? Why describe it all the time?
Anyway blah blah some of the original scenes play out as before. Morgan keeps talking like Seven.
Kathryn injected a drone with a strange probe. She backed away. "Wake him," she said as she looked at James and Jessie. They just stared at her. "They can't see you remember," Kathryn muttered
Oh ffs
She gently pushed James in the arm.
Season 3 spoilers: this is becoming a meme at this point. Janeway is an awful parent.
He slowly moved over to the drone and he pushed a hypospray in the drones neck. It suddenly awoke and James jumped backwards out if it's way. Kathryn followed it with a tricorder. It walked through the shield.
Ok fine, they're not Tuvok so of course they'd react different to this order and situation. James and Jessie probably also have Borg related trauma like Morgan does. Though to be equally unfair, only Jessie showed any. James seemed oddly cool about his experience. But yeah, a tiny bit of kudos for doing something different.
HOWEVER this is yet another bloody scene of making James and Jessie exactly like their namesake inspirations. Haha Team Rocket are wusses so my James and Jessie are too. OH AND LOOK, UNTIL JAMES IS PUSHED FORWARD BY JANEWAY THEY'RE DOING THE SAME THING. HOW CUTE *GAG*
What's even more frustrating about this is later episodes, written before this, have ickle hints that I was getting rid of these TR quirks very slowly to make way for Season Two's developments. James especially. I write three more episodes and then James does a massive character U-Turn and it's all because I didn't have the stones to develop it sooner, like here for example could've shown him step up despite any fears he has in order to save Morgan. But no, it's funnier to have Janeway poke him forward.
"Resistance is futile," the Queen said. On the screen one of the Borg ships had put a tractor beam on the Flyer. "You have failed them," the Queen said.
"You b****!" Morgan yelled. She stormed over to her and she tried to hit her in the face but the Queen grabbed her arm.
Haha
Kinda roles reversed here. Seven losing her temper and going to bitch smack the Queen was a bit of a shock, but you'd expect Morgan to have done this a couple of times already.
"We thought you'd be an asset to us, we were wrong. You are weak," the Queen said.
"Don't listen to her Morgan, she's irrelevant," Kathryn said as she entered the room. Morgan pulled her arm away from the Queen's grip. "Call them off or I'll destroy you," Kathryn said.
"She's irrelevant" will never ever be an OHSNAP moment. Yeah yeah it's a Borg line being used against her, but it feels so stilted and offpoint. Sorry.
Anyway original Dark Frontier plays out, only with a couple of amendments.
"You'll be destroyed as well, along with you daughter," the Queen said.
Oh we've remembered this, have we?
"They've released the tractor," Tom's voice said.
"Hold your fire, beam us out of here," Kathryn said.
"The field went up again, Captain, I can't beam you out," Tom's voice said.
Another Voyager's version niggle. This entire scene bugs me. It's so rushed, it's all talk. It feels like a Fifth Voyager episode.
now that's an OHSNAP
Let her go or I'll shoot. Fine, tractor beam gone. Yay hold fire, transport. Nope shield back up.zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Also I don't like the fact that the shield is already gone, which no one notices, when Janeway walks in. I don't like that Janeway gives all of her orders in front of the Queen and is surprised she's usurped immediately. What do you expect?
"Morgan, shut down that field," Kathryn said.
"Don't listen to her, she's poisoned your thoughts long enough," the Queen said.
"I'm giving you an order," Kathryn said.
Oh we're back to giving your daughter orders now. I'm not saying she shouldn't tell her what to do, my complaint is she's treating her as if she's only a member of the crew, not her kid. No wonder Morgan hesitates, and unlike Seven she shouldn't.
"You will assist the collective as drones," the Queen said. All of the drones in the room moved closer to Morgan and Kathryn.
HOLY CRAP, AN IMPROVEMENT *collapses*
The Borg Queen vocally telling the drones in the room to ASSIMILATE THEM always bugged the s$$$ out of me. She does not need to do this. THIS moment was the one that inspired the Queen keeps losing drones jokes in FV. Well that and Unimatrix Zero.
So yeah, she doesn't tell them. They already know and converge after the threat. BETTER
"Mum, target the central alcove, it'll disrupt her command interface," Morgan said quickly. The Queen glared at her. Kathryn fired her phaser rifle at the central alcove, it exploded. Morgan and Kathryn beamed away.
Woohoo, that corny "our thoughts are one" line wasn't copied. Good job Morgan.
True the first few times I heard it I thought she was saying "Voyager's my collective, so nyeh", but later showings tell me it's more like "I know this because you wanted us connected so nyeh". Still don't like it.
"Welcome back," the Doctor said.
"Thanks," Morgan said.
The Doc's the one who welcomes Seven back since they're friends, surely James or even at a stretch Jessie should be the ones doing that for Morgan. Nah, can't be bothered.
"Transwarp in six, five, four, three, two, one," Tom said.
The shuttle entered the conduit, a small Borg ship followed them in.
"A Borg ship entered the conduit just before it closed, they're targeting our engines," James said.
"Full power to shields," Kathryn ordered. The shuttle shook as torpedos hit the shields.
"How long until we leave transwarp?" Kathryn asked.
"Twenty seconds," Tom said.
I'm sure it won't take you long to notice what problem I have with this.
It's not just the copied lines FYI
I'll wait.
Clue: there's a reason why Reboot Dark Frontier is twice the size, and it's not only because I wanted to add more scenes into Part 1. Funny fact, Part 1 of the reboot is twice the size of original part 2, while Reboot Part 2 is double the size of original part 1. That's not funny or interesting, but it gave us ample waiting time.
"Craig, torpedos, aim them at the conduit," Chakotay said.
"Commander?" Craig said.
Tuvok's not on the Flyer, so why is Craig manning Tactical?
Headdesk, when facepalms are not enough.
"Commander, I'm detecting Borg signatures, lots of them," Craig said.
"I thought you collapsed the conduit," Chakotay said.
"So did I," Craig said.
And you thought Morgan was a line hogger. Look at Craig, not content with stealing Tuvok's job and quotes, he has to take B'Elanna's and she's there on the Bridge. NO SHAME
Captains Log Supplemental: Using the transwarp coil we have managed to take fifteen years off our journey. Morgan has recovered from her ordeal, and the Marattan's payed us another visit. After our recent events with the Borg, we handled the Marattan's very easily.
I HOPE this log wasn't telling these events in chronological order.
Yep, the Marattans will probably be in Upendi.
YET ANOTHER original Dark Frontier complaint. Until here the years/distance has been very clear. 75,000 lightyears away meant 75 years. Here they travelled 20,000 lightyears but only got 15 years. This isn't another "oh we had to double back to where we were since we flew back to Borg Space, that's why" Hope and Fear like moment. Voyager did not move a sodding inch, the Flyer did. And the log words it as if the usage was Voyager's only.
If the 5,000 lightyear was the there and back journey the Flyer made to Unimatrix 1, fair enough. The original log does not word it as such. *goes to internet to check*
Captain's Log, Stardate 52619.2: we got another 20,000 light-years out of the transwarp coil before it gave out. I figure we're a good 15 years closer to home.
We got another 20,000 lightyears, after the Flyer used it. CLEAR AS F$$$$ DAY
Original Dark Frontier has so much wrong with it, it's embarrassing.
"Better I suppose, I'm still having those dreams. Sometimes I'm in the escape pod, sometimes I'm running within the ship. The worst one is seeing Kiara getting assimilated on the Borg Sphere," Morgan said.
Someone get this girl some medical treatment... and therapy. Though why is she still getting them, foreshadowing, that's why!
"How long do you think these dreams will last?" Tani asked.
"I don't know. I hope not long, sometimes I can't separate the dreams from reality. Luckily the last one like that was when I was with the Borg Queen. I got hit in the face by an explosion and my dream carried on from that point, it looked real," Morgan said.
Oh, so she's not still having the dreams. I'm confused. But anyway Morgan does what she does best, other than copying lines, and recounts stuff we the readers already know, but the characters don't and could easily have been told "off screen".
"Why would I, or anybody else be in that Borg ship?" Craig asked.
"That's what made it more scary, the mystery of it," Morgan replied.
This is a mystery? I need to look up the definition again. Morgan was having nightmares of her own assimilation, which was during Voyager's battle with a Borg ship. You don't need to have an active imagination to figure this one out.
The real mystery was why was it always Craig she kept running into? To my knowledge Morgan's spent more time with Tani and James than Craig.
"I know what can take your mind of it," Jessie said as she and James walked into the room.
"What?" Morgan asked.
"This new program we've found. It's based on Upendi in Lion King 2, but it's got a few nightclubs and cafes there too," James said.
Really bad previews for the next episode. Join us next month!
Though I do like how I tried to turn the Upendi song into something I could use in the series. I mean you'd have to be drunk to comprehend what happens on the Upendi "ride".
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Well let's see how everything tallies up.
Negatives:
1) This isn't a shock, there's a lot of copied lines and events in this. Most of them are in Part 2. It's even more of a sin because the characters involved are completely different. Morgan is not meant to be Seven.
2) I know it's sorta related to 1 but the sin deserves to have 2 points taken from it. The whole point of the episode was to take advantage of a different character in a similar situation. Morgan should've been saying and doing different things, and better yet J/C should be taking it harder. Chakotay still acts like it was Seven that was lost and doesn't really give a crap. Potential wastage that is not only awful but insulting.
It also ruins what could've been the best episode of the season. The jokes and some of Morgan's character development alone elevate Dark Frontier to the near top.
3) James and Jessie merge once more into the Team Rocket twins, only a few episodes before their big changes in Season Two. A shame and a little embarrassing when even Fugitives handles them better.
4) The Borg start out pretty quirky and funny, what with the Queen losing her connection and her hatred of Voyager. Stuff that was planned for FV. That all goes to pot when the copycat stuff drains the life out of the episode.
5) Like Voyager's version, Dark Frontier is full to the brim with pretty obvious plotholes. FV's version keeps some of the originals and has some of its own. Morgan's assimilation and immediate disconnect is and always has been apart of her story, so it's a lazy crime that the Queen talks about talking to her through Borg parts AND THEN claims she assimilated some knowledge/memories of hers while she regenerated. Both of these earn a hundred fiddled with commbadge screenshots, each.
6) Why is Tuvok cut from the episode? I get Seven, but I don't remember ever disliking him. It's true I like him far more in my older age, but yeah this is weird to me.
7) Dark Frontier goes out of its way to replace Seven with Morgan, but ultimately fails because it lazily sticks to the same plot. Seven's parents research still needs to be mentioned a fair few times.
8) Seven's outburst comes out of nowhere. It's obvious that the reasons for this is not only C/7 but it being written after the rest of the season, bar Upendi, had been.
9) Morgan's take down of Seven is glorious... but it's far too fourth wall-y, and after Conspiracy she has plenty of inseries ammo of her own to throw at her. Wasted potential. It doesn't help that a scene or two ago she outright murders her for asking a reasonable question (for the luls but still, probably would've been better if the scenes were swapped).
10) Once more Janeway is more than okay with sending her kids onto awaymissions. Not only that but dangerous ones that would be traumatising to them. This is a bit of a symptom of points 1 and 2 but hey, it's not like this hasn't happened before. I'm just surprised Kiara wasn't invited onto the Delta Flyer. Which reminds me...
11) Where is Kiara in this? I only remember the dream scene. That's a bit strange considering the episode revolves around Morgan's assimilation fears and crappy childhood. Foreshadowing?
Positives:
1) The Seven dies gags are funny as hell (to me anyway), and are a great stress relief for the new horror that was Chakotay/Seven.
2) The Doctor and his arm gag. It's primarily in part 1 where the funny is, but it's still good enough to earn a point.
3) The nightmares Morgan suffers give the readers a new perspective on this new character, and after the stale way she acts in Timeline it's a welcome change. Readers get a good idea why she acts the way she does in other episodes. Her flashback scenes also separate her from Kiara, something very much needed. Her horrific past shouldn't have been shrugged off as nothing, Dark Frontier knows this and goes all out.
4) Probably related, but Dark Frontier probably has the best opening of Season One. Right now I can't think of a one that tops it.
5) Tom's teasing of Jessie and James doesn't involve a cowboy. It's about damn time.
6) As stated Morgan uses her list skills to take down Seven, and I can't deny the need to ohsnap her.
7) 2005's edits (I'm assuming) to Morgan's lines are a godsend. It does make all the copycat lines so much more annoying I'll admit, but at least Morgan shows her Janeway fiesty and sarcastic side in an original manner some of the time, instead of never. I doubt they're the 2005 ones, but the lines where Morgan's acting more panicky and angry as any traumatised kid would are a welcome change too.
8) The assimilate them line is removed completely, no substitutes, the drones advance without any command AS THEY SHOULD.
That's how much I hated the stupid line. Worthy of a point in my DF's favour.*
*Yes the Reboot has her make an order; "assimilate Janeway first." Two explanations and not excuses, I swear. 1) Reboot Dark Frontier shows more disconnection issues, so yeah she would have to vocally order sometimes. 2) The real reason she does it is to threaten Janeway. She's not telling them, she's telling her. It's not clear though, so I'll give you that as a nitpick for the reboot version ;)
Marill's Rating: 7/10 See I told you it'd be high up there if it didn't copy most of the original episode.
Exclaimed Count: 1 (150)
Muttered Count: 54 (525)
Motto Count: 1 (14)
Sexist Crap Count: 0 (21)
Jessie's Sin Points: -1 (8)
Morgan the Sue Count: 2 (5) I forgot to add these during the episode. I decided that I'd mark her as if I would mark Seven, since she does mostly the same things anyway. 1 point for being so special the Queen would spare Voyager to get her, "you are unique". 1 point for the last second she saves the day despite being the kidnapped.
Seven Dies Count: 3 (3)
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Twenty reviews in, what's the rankings so far:
1st: Worse Case Scenario 2 & The Voyager Conspiracy (9/10)
2nd: Aggressions Part 1, Unforgettable, Once Upon A Time, Collective Instinct and Dark Frontier (7/10)
3rd: Timeline and Fugitives (6/10)
4th: Spirits (5/10)
5th: Mental Illness and The Fight (4/10)
6th: Hunters and Mirror Universes (3/10)
7th: Year of Hell, Test of Time, Holo Q and Demon² (2/10)
8th: Timeless (1/10)
9th: Aggressions Part 2 (0/10)
Not many surprises there, especially in the bottom half of the list. Demon and Holo Q are where they should be; slightly better than Timeless and Aggressions 2 but still s$$$ like Test and Year of Hell are.
I always considered The Voyager Conspiracy my favourite, however I was still expecting it to tie or be lower than Worse Case Scenario 2 because I knew there were plenty of flaws within it. Whereas Worse Case I found very little to complain about in the little bit of harmless fun that it was. Still the positives floored the negatives for once, and so they're where they belong; at the top of the rankings. I don't see anything else topping them to be honest.
If you remember Worse Case scoring an 8, you're not going mad. That episode is the only one where the positives outweighed the negatives, and my scoring system doesn't cater for that (would've been something like 14/10). After Conspiracy scored a 9/10 I've been in two minds about whether it deserved a better score than an episode that broke my scoring system. It didn't seem fair. In the end only one big thing was wrong with it, my original calculation was there were 9 positives and 1 truly negative one so 8, which makes no sense for a /10 system. I think the 14/10 or whatever out of ten should've been rounded to 10/10 (perfect for S1) and the 1 negative taken off, giving it a 9 not a 8. I dunno if any S1 episode deserves a 10/10 perfect, so I think the two sharing the top spot will have to do.
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There's not ten episodes left, there's nine. There's ten if I bother with World Domination (unlikely!). My only plan for that is chuck it into the rating once Thrown Key Part 1 is done and rate it 0/10 without giving it a chance (oh and do a quick muttered/exclaimed/motto count and insert into Prepare). If you think I should try to, either because you've suffered through it yourself and want to punish me, or think it's unfair to as there are worse episodes and/or should give it a fair chance, then let me know your opinion in the forums. No account? No probs, just reply to the Support forum's Guest topic. That'll be fine. Anyway before I rambled again, the point was the next ranking will be the final one.