Marill Re-Reads Deep Under

Back during Season Two's early planning (and 3, 4, 5, 6 etc...), the season's only original Voyager parody was meant to be Unimatrix Zero Part 2, and even then it was meant to go down a different path. The idea was that Season One had diverted Fifth away from First Voyager so much, they no longer encounter the same problems.

That did not go to plan. Top of my head there was YWF (Tsunkatse), Bittersweet (Virtuoso), Territory (last ditch Scientific Method). And now there's Deep Under, a different take on Thirty Days.

What the hell happened?

I wish I knew exactly. All I do know is that a lot of the plans for the majority of the series were filler, and with the changes during Season Two (James, Dimension Jump/Why oh Why controversy, Kiara aging earlier than planned, her reveal also earlier, B4FV cast), they were no longer viable. The biggest was the prequels existing at all. Making them meant three extra seasons on top of the eight I wanted. Then it made sense, eight total seasons including the prequels would mean the series ends in Season Five. Appropriate. A lot was shifted around, so much crap was removed. Problem was Season Two didn't have much left, and that's why I think Oasis of Abatua originally was a part of it. Something needed to fill the gaps, and original Voyager was the easy solution.

Season Three now has the honour of departing from the original instead.

For today though, its time to tackle the last Voyager "parody" for a while.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Last time we were treat to a cliffhanger:

The Conference Room:

All of the original main cast were sitting at the table. Kathryn stood up and she hovered by the window. The window showed a beautiful but dark planet.

which we're gonna ignore

swell (yes I forgot this happened)

"How much are we talking about?" Kathryn asked, as she kept a watchful eye on the planet.

"Well lets just say it's enough to last a year," Harry said with a grin plastered on his face.

there's coffee in that ocean planet

"The Flyer can't take all the pressure down where the dilithium is," Harry replied.

oh :(

"We can modify the Flyer to go so far, but the rest of the trip will have to be done by away team members," Harry said.

um

I see your game Harry. That's a rather dark way of getting your gorry bodies fetish

"No, we can modify the suits to allow the team to go down there with no problem. If we were to modify something as big as the Flyer the same way, it would take weeks," Harry said.

lol, bless you with that tryhard explanation *pats head*

"So who volunteers?" Kathryn asked.

Nobody put their hands up, everyone just glanced at the person next to them.

Tom doesn't volunteer?

It's not like he'll get demoted here, this is a different situation

I think

"Maybe we should tell crewmembers who weren't here to hear Tuvok's remark. We have more chance of them volunteering than people who heard him," Tom said.

"I suppose that's a good idea, but we still have to warn them of the risks," Chakotay said.

Considering who does go, I'm going to get this out of the way

J/C are the worst (grand)parents ever: 2

"Oh come on, nothing's going to happen. This is episodic TV," Tom said.

"No it isn't, it's episodic fanfiction," Harry said.

as Tom says, same thing!

Lena, James, Jessie, Craig, Ash Ketchum and Tani walked in.

"So I take it you're the awayteam," Kathryn said.

RIP TANI AND ASH, IT WAS HORRIBLE KNOWING YOU

"Lena!" Kathryn yelled. Lena looked oddly at her, and she took her headphones out.

"Yeah?" Lena said.

"I thought you stopped doing that," Kathryn said.

"All we've been told is that we have to swim to the bloody dilithium Nobody has told us how," Jessie replied. She pulled out a packed of crisps out of nowhere, and she starting eating them. "These things need more salt," she muttered. Everyone stared at her as she ate her Salt & Vinegar crisps.

Um, it's canon at least as of this episode that Jessie can't swim either.

James can't.

Why the hell are they going when swimming is on the agenda?

"Oh, shut up b**ch," Tani said as she folded her arms.

Tani doing what she does best, piece of s***

"You just said one thing, and I hate you for it," Tani replied.

"I just said my crisps needed more salt," Jessie said.

"I didn't mean that, idiot," Tani said.

"Er, I'm confused," Jessie muttered.

"Don't worry, that's normal," Tani said.

Your guess is as good as mine

"If you want to know more about the mission, Tuvok will give you a quick briefing in the shuttle bay," Kathryn said.

"Oh, whoopiedoo," Lena said sarcastically.

*snigger* oh Lena

Again Janeway doesn't think to mention the more dangerous details. Those 2 points are well earned.

"So here's a good question for you lot, why is there two shuttle bays when there only seems to be one door on the ship?" Lena asked. Everyone but Tuvok shrugged.

THERE IS?

the never used Captain's Yacht does not count

"Yes Mr Tuvok," Lena said as she did a brief salute.

haha Lena worming her way into my good books

"No it wouldn't, I'd just swim to the surface," Tani said.

"More like float. There wouldn't be enough oxygen to help you swim that far so you'd die," Ash Ketchum said.

"Even if you did reach the surface, you would just end up floating through space," Lena said.

DO IT, TRY

The team worry about using a shuttle near a planet

"We can't exactly crash, we'd get crushed before we got that far," Lena said.

"Crap, I prefer crashing," Tani said. Everyone agreed.

I'm sure everyone would prefer you sod off too

"We're not going to die, we're main characters. Well except for poor Ashley here. He's a guest star, so he'll probably die," Lena said.

FORESHADOWING WOOHOO iwish

"I wonder why this ocean planet has a crust and everything, when that other one we passed ages ago didn't," Craig said.

Oh Craig, let me help you out

Thirty Days: the "planet" was man made, aliens had moved their oceans to a new spot, the whole episode revolves around the artificial core keeping it there.

A crust as you so put it means it's probably not man made.

"Crap, who let you fly the shuttle?" Ashley asked nervously.

"I let myself," James replied.

I'm pretty sure that whenever he's involved in a shuttle crash, either Jessie's driving or the Borg fancied a visit. Why the fear?

"That maybe so, but you're not a very good proposer," Lena said and she laughed.

"Oh don't start," James muttered.

facts are facts

"Oh, that's why you were angry with me before," Jessie said happily. Everyone sighed.

OH I SEE, Tani's comment about Jessie saying one thing made her hate her again. I get it. I'm so dumb

kinda ruins the so called cliffhanger reveal

Anyways the insult of the season gets changed from slut to cow. Progress!

"So, what was the answer then?" Ashley asked.

"It's embarrassing enough," Jessie muttered.

"It was yes, wasn't it. Lucky sod," Craig grumbled.

Craig eyeing up Jessie now? sigh

"Oh," Craig said, he pointed his finger at James and he laughed mockingly at him.

It may not have been the best proposal but sheesh, James put his heart on the line stupidly in front of the Mess Hall, and you, his ex friend POINT AND LAUGH AT HIM

FU

Tani turned to Jessie. "How could you turn that guy down?" she yelled.

"I'm not ready, and it's not really your concern," Jessie replied.

there you go, cliffhanger resolved

since there's no tension between the two, only Tani and Craig's attempts, no worries. plot time

"Wait a second. I heard off people who were in the Mess Hall at that time, and they said that you said yes," Lena said.

oh dear, they're still being all deny everything? old habits don't die

"Good point, but I would of thought James wouldn't be in public for a while after a public rejection," Lena said.

hmmmmm, tbh I'm not sure either. If he was rejected, he might be mopey a bit

More blabber, then Ash asks who's going to swim in pressure so high that the shuttle can't handle it. Lena outs James as a non swimmer, Jessie OMG ME TOO's. In the end only Lena and Craig can swim, and again I question on a mission they knew involved swimming, why did everyone else volunteer for this?

"So me and Craig will have to go. Can somebody tell me, why did you volunteer if you couldn't swim?" Lena asked.

Nobody had the chance to reply, the shuttle shook violently.

Probably a good thing, there is no decent answer

Everyone looked up to see what she was pointing at. A strange shark looking creature was swimming towards the shuttle.

No problem, the suits will protect us

"If we do the pressure will damage the hull," Ashley said. The shuttle shook violently again.

"Shields are almost gone," Jessie said.

I dunno, a big ass shark tackling the shuttle's might damage it too

"If we don't, we'll be shark boy's lunch," Lena said.

Ashley sighed. "No, it'll just be me since I'm the guest star."

"No more objections? Fine, lets go," Lena said.

bwahahaha

"I think we're safe, for now. God only knows what else is further down," James said.

"I doubt many things could live this far down, unless they evolved down here and have adapted to the pressure," Craig said.

THANKS CRAIG, THAT'S A LOADOFF

"I'll be in the other room if anyone wants me," Lena said, and she left the main room.

"Actually, I think I'll go there too," Jessie said while eyeing Tani, who was giving her a horrible glare. Jessie followed Lena into the back room.

I suppose it is too dangerous to take the garbage out under miles of water

"You've been all huffy ever since that proposition," Ashley said.

"She has a crush on James," Craig sniggered. Tani stared angrily at him.

here, I thought Tani had rebefriended Ash Ketchum. Surely he'd know since she never shuts up about it

"Ooh, I see. Tani and James sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g," Ashley chanted.

"I wish," Tani said quietly. Craig and Ashley stared at her oddly, James didn't hear her.

oddly? I expected her to say this

"Do you mind, I'm trying to fly a shuttle here," James said in disgust.

"She didn't just say what I thought she said?" Ashley asked.

Craig laughed nervously. "Yeah, she did."

What's so surprising, the tree part? I suppose it would be hard to find one where they are

poor James, gagging over the helm

"I still can't believe James asked thee question," Lena said, and she laughed slightly.

"Oh shut up," Jessie muttered.

"No, it's funny. You should have seen Tani's face," Lena said, and she burst into a fit of giggles.

I wonder what Lena's face was like

"I don't care about Tani, she should have gotten over him by now," Jessie said.

Jessie's Sin Points: -1

I AGREE

Jessie nodded in agreement, and she drank some of her Cherry Coke. Lena watched her do so, but something caught her eye.

"Well you've either got that ring on the wrong finger, or you were lying when you said you didn't say yes," Lena replied.

LOL

ROOKIE DENIALLY MISTAKE

Jessie sighed. "Yeah, well it was embarrassing enough when he did it in the Mess Hall. I mean 90% of the people there still thought we were just friends," Jessie said.

"So what happened exactly? Tani went into a strop and she left the room. Ashley and I had to go and comfort her," Lena asked.

"I think a flashback will be easier," Jessie replied.

Yeah that's what Q said and you saw that mess

"Ah," somebody said.

"Eh?"

"Huh?"

"Aye."

"Em."

"Oh."

"You?"

"Why?" Duncan added as he walked in.

"Tea?" Neelix added as he held up a pot of tea

Show of hands who didn't at least see the why coming

Still think its funny though

Tani strops off like Lena says, Lena follows along with Ash Ketchum

"Get up," she said harshly. James slowly stood up, with a nervous expression on his face.

Both she and James tried to ignore all the people going, "oooooh"

Oh gods this is so mean, not that I forgot any of this or anything

"I thought we settled this. Don't you remember what I said earlier?" Jessie asked.

James looked shyly at his own feet. "Yeah, sorry."

aaaw bless him, but at the same time, you ninny doing this in public

He looked up, expecting to still see Jessie's angry face, but that's not what he saw. She had a smile on her face. She stepped closer to him, and she kissed him briefly.

"Just forget it," Jessie said softly.

For those who don't know what Jessie said earlier, and now she wants him to forget

James grinned like a kid, and he hugged Jessie tightly. Everyone finally caught on, and they cheered. Duncan looked up at his parents in disgust.

"Oh please, get a room," he said.

Oh Duncan, that didn't take long did it. And they're only hugging

"Duncan really didn't say that, did he?" Lena asked.

"Yeah, he's a younger version of James. He hated all the so called soppy stuff," Jessie replied.

I assume you mean when he was a kid, he's still a bit off about it now.

"What, like me?" Lena asked.

"Exactly," Jessie replied.

winkwinknudge

meanwhile

"So, what exactly happened then. Did she slap you?" Craig asked.

"No, I'm not telling you what happened," James replied.

"Fine, but you can't stop me from imagining it," Craig said, and he went into a daydream.

Craig's not earning any new fans with this

Craig's daydream:

OH MY GOD, I FORGOT THIS, I LOVE UNRELIABLE NARRATOR JOKES

Instead of James and Jessie, it was Craig and Lena in the same positions.

"Well?" Craig asked.

"Of course I will, why don't we get married in Vegas like our actors did," the imaginary Lena replied.

"Sounds great to me," Craig said.

most of the time. that was dull

"Hello?" he said as he did so. Craig didn't snap out of it.

"I hate to know what he's imagining," James muttered.

thankfully its tame, so far

Tom rushed onto the Bridge. "Sorry I'm late." He rushed to his station.

"Why were you late, Tom?" Kathryn asked.

"If you must know I was getting some information off an unknown crewmember. I lost track of time," Tom replied.

oh Tom, you're really pushing your Lieutananty luck in this one. like tempting fate

"Ooh, what kind of information?" Harry asked in a hyper voice.

"I'm not saying, this time I'm going to let the ones concerned tell everyone the truth," Tom replied.

"You're no fun anymore," Harry said in his hyper voice.

Somebody check Tom's vital signs, there's something very wrong

"If we go any further the shuttle will be crushed," James said.

"Well, somebody's going to have to get Craig out of his trance before we can do anymore. I'm not going on my own," Lena said.

I told you in the last one, mention Annika and that'll sort everything out

"I've got a way to get him out of it," James said.

"Really, how?" Lena asked.

"Ok, let me demonstrate," James said. He stood up and he headed over to where Craig was. "Now watch closely for future reference."

OMG WE'RE GOING TO LEARN JAMES' OFF SCREEN SECRETS, AT LAST

"Get on with it," Ashley said.

When's Friday the Thirteenth again, which one (if any) was it? hmm, totally unrelated dribble

"Ok," James muttered. He smacked Craig over the head. Craig got out of his daydream, and he rubbed his head.

I was close folks

"We'd better get in our swimming gear," Lena muttered and she headed towards the back room. Craig went into another daydream. This time Ashley hit him to get him out of the daydream.

EEEEeeew

not cool Craig, nobody likes a character regression

"I doubt you'd survive if you went in normal swimming gear," Jessie said.

"Yeah, the pressure will crush you like a bug.. actually please go in your normal swimming gear," Tani said.

for once I'm on Tani's side. first time for everything

Lena & Craig, complete with the standard space suits, dematerialised a few metres away from the Flyer. Lena pressed a button on her suit, and a blue shield went around the two of them.

shouldn't that have been done BEFORE they beamed into pressure so high the Flyer can't move

RIP LENA and craig i suppose

"That's all well and good, but I can't see a bloody thing," Craig said.

Lena rolled her eyes. "Well of course. There's no star nearby."

do you guys not have torches

and um Lena, even a star wouldn't help you this deep

They do switch on the lights thankfully and get to work

"Another minute or so, and we'll be there. We can't be long though," Lena said. She looked behind her, Craig seemed to be a bit nervous as he was glancing around. "What's wrong now?"

"Lena, there's something here. I felt it swim past," Craig said.

probably just the Titanic, you big wuss

They both felt something large swim a few centimetres over them. Lena tried to shine the light on what swam past.

A large creature with razor sharp teeth suddenly lunged at the pair, and it didn't hit the shield. Lena pushed Craig as far as she could, and she quickly followed him. The creature just missed taking her arm off by an inch.

wait, it went through the shield and hit Lena

ooookay?

"Anderson to the Flyer, beam us back!" Craig yelled as the creature was only a metre behind him.

In: "You're not in transporter range yet, what's going on?"

no one ever is, and you're surprised?

"Two minutes. We haven't got a choice. We're going to have to get the Flyer closer," James replied.

"Diverting all power to the shields," Jessie muttered and she worked at her station.

"We're going down," James said nervously as he worked at the helm. The shuttle shook violently, and the hull started creaking.

James to the rescue, who'dhavethought

"Is this the scene where I die?" Ashley asked. Everyone ignored him.

don't be daft Ash, it'd be too predictable *snicker*, erm too controversial to kill you off.

If I recall correctly, I decided to keep him around to redeem him instead of taking the easy way out

"Taking us up.." James said, but he was interrupted by something large hitting the shields.

Lena and Craig rushed in.

"We're going to have to go back up, we can't get that dilithium out with that thing around," Lena said.

phasers??

send James but don't show him

send Tani for laughs

"Well going up might be a bit of a problem. The thing has somehow knocked off our power systems," James said.

"Crap, there's something else," Tani said. Everyone looked her way. "We're leaking fuel, if we don't mine any dilithium, we're stuck here."

well shoot

I'm actually surprised though that this plot is going on this long, and here I thought it took the back seat the entire time

"No, there's not enough power," Jessie replied. The shuttle shook again. A few seconds later water burst out from the ceiling.

are you sure it isn't just Craig and/or Tani drooling over their daydreams?

"Captain, the Flyer.. it's moved past the co-ordinates, and it's not coming back," Tom said.

"Why on earth did they go further for?" Kathryn asked herself.

"I may have an explanation. I'm detecting what looks like a lifeform," Harry replied.

he says while imagining half eaten awayteam bodies

"Why didn't we detect it earlier?" Kathryn asked.

Tom turned away from the helm. "Maybe it was too far down for the sensors to detect, and we can only detect it now because it's near the Flyer."

hey, this is FV, no explanations that sorta make some sort of sense

Janeway sees her J/C bad parent score on the eve of Man out of You and decides to send the whole ship down after the Flyer.

If they could do this why...ohwhybother

Ashley finished sealing the breach and he collapsed onto the nearest chair. He put his hand on his soaking hair to keep it down.

an attempt was made

Tani's eyes widened, and she slowly turned herself to look out the viewport. The creature had swam around into view and it was getting ready to swim towards the shuttle again.

The creature was only a metre away from the viewport, James and Craig got away from their stations, and they joined the others in the middle of the shuttle.

well s$$$

"Get into the other room, quickly. If that thing smashes the window we're goners," Lena said. Nobody argued, and they all rushed towards the door. The creature smashed through the viewport, and it backed off. Water started leaking in by the gallon. It wasn't long until the whole room was flooded.

seriously, well s$$$

"You're right there. We're going to have to leave the shuttle," Lena replied.

Tom: Noooooooooooooooooooooooo *activates warp underwater*

"No it won't. There's no way to get away if we're stuck in here. If we're out there, we'll have a better chance of escaping," Lena said.

"You seem to be forgetting the fact that there isn't enough oxygen in the suits to help us get all the way up to the surface," Tani said.

I think Lena's also forgetting the sharks could outswim her

and they have 4 non swimmers

"I don't know about you, but I'd rather take my chances out there," Lena said, and she picked up the helmet for her suit. Everyone looked nervously at each other, and they all eventually nodded.

I know for a fact that this is at the time one of James's worst nightmares. yikes. a twofer

"Mr Tuvok, as soon as you can get a lock on the awayteam, beam them up," Kathryn commanded.

"Aye Captain," Tuvok replied.

The ship started to shake violently.

Next Voyager will get stuck, and they have to wait for a bigger ship to save them

See you in Season Three folks!

The awayteam were out of the shuttle. Lena and Craig were leading the way, the others were struggling behind.

I'm not going to ask again

Lena turns around to save the others, I'm gonna assume the sharks are on their break if they haven't caught anyone

Voyager arrives

"Yes si..." Tom replied. The ship shook violently again.

"What the hell?" Kathryn muttered.

TOLD YOU

YOU THOUGHT I WAS KIDDING

Voyager did a u-turn and it flew up towards the surface. Voyager emerged from the waters and flew back into the depths of space.

means nothing though

"Shields are down, decks 12 to 15 are reporting minor hull breaches," Tuvok replied.

does that include 13?

uhoh

Marill and Vulpix appeared. Everyone groaned in unison.

I AGREE

Vulpix cracks up at the sight of actual food being cooked, screams a chicken quote from Monkey Island and runs out screaming.

nonotkidding

She then runs back in and chases Kyle, the baby, around.

More Monkey Island quotes, even Marill is embarrassed which says a lot and the episode ends. *shrug*

Why was this episode shorter than usual episodes?

because until the end there was no filler

Will Vulpix go back to her 'normal' self?

what's normal?

it's what everyone else is but Marill is not

Will anyone else find out about Jessie and James' engagement?

nope

Why was the ocean in Thirty Days blue when it had no atmosphere to reflect the light onto the water?

um, look over there, a distraction!

Do I even know what I'm talking about?

do I ever?

Find out the answers to maybe some of these questions next time on Fifth Voyager

Hopefully only one, cos next time we're gonna have some half decent but uncomfortable fun

bring it on

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Counter Results:

Muttered Count: 27 (1665)

Lena the Sue Count: 0 (39)

Lena (Child)Abuses Her Power: 0 (36)

Annika Dies Count: 0 (11)

James Dies Count: 0 (5)

James Kill Count: 0 (4)

James Badasses Off Screen For Our Sins: 0 (17)

Just A Little Bit More: 0 (49)

J/C are the worst (grand)parents ever: 2 (41)

Sexist Crap Count: 0 (89)

Jessie's Sin Points: Earned 0, Lost 1 (-1) Remember, she has 36 from Season One to still erase.

Marill's Playing With Her Dolls Again: 0 (75)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Score:

Negatives:

1) I don't buy the whole space suits are easier to mod to resist pressure than the Delta Flyer. It goes further down anyway, then Voyager does. I know needs must but...tsk

2) Speaking of the Flyer, it never says if it's recovered.

3) The awayteam are volunteers who they decide not to inform of the dangers. One is JC's daughter, another a teen girl, another teen boy. Even Tuvok is fine with leaving them to it. Also James, Jessie, Tani and Ash volunteer for a mission that they know involves swimming, when they can't.

4) Tani had some character growth over the last few, but no, regress her back to jealous spiteful bitch giving Jessie a hard time

5) I see what Jessie was going for in that proposal reaction. Still doesn't make it any less mean.

6) Craig's unreliable narration was a massive letdown. Also another complaint related to it I should've spotted the first time. His daydream is Lena saying yes to his proposal and suggesting eloping in Las Vegas. UM, did you forget Territory last "week"????

7) I don't get what the point of the Tom rushes onto the bridge hinting that he knows some gossip scene was

8) A writers scene so bizarre even for them that made me go back in the file and delete most of it. Clearly I saw the episode size and decided to make up some filler.

Sub-total: 8

Positives:

1) Lena's getting better. A lot less abusey and rude, funny sometimes, curious, brave and selfless during the final part.

2) Semi decent little story involving the ocean planet, in an episode which I thought would be 10% that and 90% flashbacks to the proposal and talking about it. Some of it doesn't make sense, still there's some try in there. The threat was interesting, the sharks being able to drain power and go through shields. The Flyer being crippled. Not bad.

3) The alphabet, why and tea gag

4) James' complicated solution to getting Craig to stop daydreaming, sniggered a bit at that

Sub-total: 4

Marill's Rating: 33%

Mostly inoffensive. Fair enough.

Rankings So Far:

#01 Resistance: 53%
#02 YWF: 45%
#03 Disconnected: 40%
#04 Kiss of Death, Bittersweet, Suicidal: 38%
#05 Interactions: 37%
#06 The Resurrection: 36%
#07 True Q: 35%
#08 Cause & Effect, Lea Halalela, Deep Under: 33%
#09 Saturday Night, Precise Timings, The Curse of Voyager: 31%
#10 Games Resistance: 29%
#11 Thrown Key Part 2: 23%
#12 F9: Control Failure: 21%
#13 Why oh Why: 20%
#14 The Atamit: 19%
#15 An Apple A Day, Heiress, Territory: 17%
#16 I Know What You've Done This Season: 16%
#17 Halloween: 15%
#18 Dimension Jump: 14%
#19 The Slayers: 12%
#20 The Love Spell: 10%
#21 Return of Third Voyager: 7%

Next Time: Resistance and J/C worry their crowns will be taken, Jessie hopes that 2/3 of James' counters go up at least one.