Janeway and Chakotay are infected by a deadly virus. Acting Captain Tuvok must abandon them on a planet that will keep them alive.
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By Joshua Truax on Sunday, November 01, 1998 - 12:15 am:
Still one of the most talked-about (and nitpicked) Voyager episodes, "Resolutions" marks the beginning of one of Voyager's more dubious recurring plot threads. Now, I've never been real keen on the idea of courtship between the captain and first officer of a starship, but I wouldn't have minded all that much if a Janeway-Chakotay romance had actually materialized out of this episode. After all, that sort of thing has never been done before in Star Trek, and in this case it would have made some sense. Instead, Janeway and Chakotay (especially Chakotay) merely begin a maddening series of on-again, off-again flirtations and waffling about what their relationship really is, which as of the start of fifth season they have yet to put to rest once and for all. (See "The Q and the Grey", "Coda", "Scorpion (Part I)", etc.) In short, to paraphrase Janeway in this episode, they never do get around to defining those parameters about them!
(This whole J/C thing is even sillier when you consider that Chuckles has since had at least two other romances on the side since "Resolutions", and will get yet another one early in fifth season. Then again, the other women Chuckles has been involved with were nothing but trouble, and this season's one will be no exception according to the spoilers which I won't repeat. No wonder he keeps running back to Janeway!)
Aside from that, "Resolutions" wasn't a bad episode in itself. Its only real weakness was that it tried to stuff too much into a single hour, so in some places it came off looking like a coming-attractions reel. This would have been a good candidate for a two-parter. Better still, the creators should have combined this story idea with the one for "Basics" (i.e. the Voyager crew goes off in search of a cure for this virus, only to have the ship captured); this would given some life to a disappointing cliffhanger finale...
Nits: For starters, what happened to the transporter biofilters? The dialogue at the beginning of the episode clearly indicates that Doc Hologram has identified the virus Janeway and Chakotay carry. If he's identified the virus, why doesn't he just stick the virus into the biofilter and run Janeway and Chakotay through the transporter? (Because if he did that, Janeway and Chakotay would be cured, and there'd be no episode, that's why. This is one of the most blatant ICBNs I've ever seen...)
Even if it was explained why the biofilters wouldn't work on this virus, wouldn't it make more sense to just keep J & C in stasis aboard Voyager until Doc finds a cure, or until they get home and Starfleet Medical can work on them? It's not as if J & C's illness is contagious to the rest of the crew - they themselves had to be bitten by an insect to get it!
J & C's stasis chambers have hinged lids like caskets, that can be pushed open from the inside. The next time we see stasis chambers on Voyager is in fourth season's "One" - but those chambers' lids open by sliding back into the chambers...
Where is the power source for the computer, lights, replicator, etc. in J & C's shelter? I don't recall seeing one, or hearing one being mentioned in dialogue...
What are these "plasma storms" Chakotay mentions on the planet? I thought plasma storms were the kind of thing we saw in the Badlands. Wouldn't it have sufficed to call the storms on this planet "really bad thunderstorms?"
After the storm passes, Janeway finds that all of her insect traps are damaged beyond repair. Because of this, she says, "there's no way [she] can continue [her] research" into finding a cure for their virus. Why not? You've got replicators, don't you? Why not just replicate more traps and keep researching? (Then again, they also have a shuttle, which probably has a transporter, and therefore, a biofilter aboard, if you get my drift...)
At one point Janeway talks about using a phaser, presumably on a high setting, to cut wood. Wouldn't that just vaporize the wood?
After securing the antiviral serum and making their escape from the Vidiians, Voyager returns to the planet at Warp 6. Why just Warp 6? The planet is 70 light-years away. At Warp 6 that trip will take about a month, as opposed to less than a week at Warp 9...
Finally, when Voyager arrives to pick up J & C at show's end, dialogue indicates that they're going to leave the shelter on the planet. Aside from the Prime Directive implications of this, is it wise for a ship in Voyager's predicament to just leave unused equipment behind? They never know when they're going to need it again...
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By cableface on Friday, March 19, 1999 - 3:47 pm:
As the captain says her final goodbyes to the crew, we see a group listening in the mess hall.Through the window, we can see that the stars are not moving, despite the fact that Voyager is supposed to be flying out of comm range at the time.
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By BrianB on Friday, July 09, 1999 - 8:43 am:
No nits, just points-of-interest...
Shades of TOS's "This Side Of Paradise"? Only the planet they received their terminal insect bite preserves J&C's lives.
Kate seeks out a new animal guide, a monkey.
The Doc scraped up, not a scab, but an old acquaintence with scabs, Dr. Denara Pell, the chick who named him Shmullus.
Tuvok made a great captain but you KNEW the crew would pressure him to seek the Vidiians for a cure for #1 and #2.
Tuvok employed a strategy similar to the one exercised by Scotty in the novel "The Kobiyashi Maru", detonating a canister of antimatter.
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By Mark Swinton on Tuesday, October 26, 1999 - 1:07 pm:
Early on in the episode, Tuvok makes a log entry, opening with "Acting Captain's Log".
Later on, he makes another one: "Captain's Log".
Why?
(Probably the same reason he neither changed to a red uniform nor put two extra pips on...)
And the stardates for this episode, particularly given that (for timescale to be correct) J&C would have been bitten by the insect during the "Tuvix" encounter... just plain wrong, in my opinion. They could have done better setting it across stardates 49700 and 49900- after all, "Basics II" happens around 50032.7, meaning "Basics I" was 49999 or thenabouts- rather than making it 49690 and squashing it up chronologically against "Tuvix"!
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By Mark Swinton on Monday, November 01, 1999 - 5:13 pm:
And another thing: as someone rightly pointed out in the board for "Deadlock", Janeway once threatened to use "the deadliest force" against any Vidiians that made aggressive moves on Voyager. In "Deadlock" that finally happened. However Tuvok seems to have forgotten that little detail when telling Kim in this episode that "we were responsible for the destruction of a Vidiian Ship and the deaths of 347 of their people". He says that this would be a reason not to deal with the aliens. Since Janeway made that warning in "Phage", what happened in "Deadlock" was just a carrying out of that threat. (I know, it's tenuous and complex, but the thought did occur to me... What we should really ask is why Harry didn't have an inkling that Janeway had once threatened the Vidiians thus making them not a good to choice to go to with cries for help .
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By Chris Thomas on Friday, March 17, 2000 - 9:33 pm:
What is that pink dress Janeway is wearing? It hardly seems practical.
Tuvok is given the captaincy. Who gets the job of first officer? The Enterprise always replaced its top level of command. Picard goes, Riker becomes cpatain, Data first officer. Riker goes, Data becomes captain, Worf the first officer.
If this problem happened to anyone else on Voyager apart from Janeway, do you really think she would leave them behind?
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By Hejira on Saturday, April 01, 2000 - 6:01 pm:
I don't remember her wearing a pink dress...
Oh well, adds to the romantic mood...Ahem.
I'm still trying to get over the fact that the original episode of "Resolutions" was a lot more steamy.
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By Chris Thomas on Saturday, April 01, 2000 - 8:38 pm:
Trust me, she wore it.
Original episode of Resolutions? Was this episode cut in reruns?
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By stef on Wednesday, April 26, 2000 - 12:50 am:
does anyone remember when B'lanna's deepest secret
was to have Chakotay make love to her? They dumped
that idea fast. (it was the episode when an alien
the immobilized the crew who then lived out their
fantasies in their mi
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By Coral on Wednesday, April 26, 2000 - 5:57 am:
Argh! It's Hejira! *Waves frantically* Hi, Hej, Coral here! Okay... let's get on topic here...
The episode as originally written by Jeri Taylor was WAAAY more romantic, including a kiss. *Legions of J/Cers start attacking Paramount* And I do seem to remember a pink dress... wasn't it when Chak and Kath were discussing making a home on the planet? I could be wrong, I haven't seen the episode in two days!
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By Indian Princess on Wednesday, April 26, 2000 - 6:38 am:
My tribe has a few sayings too: Get some rest. Tomorrow is another day.
[Even the Eagle must sleep?]
My god, I'd like to see the blooper reel from this episode! How the heck did Robert Beltran get those preposterous parables out without laughing?
How did Kate Mulgrew [or Cap'n J] keep from snorting during the Angry Warrior/Brave Woman story?
That kind of "Noble Savage" stereotyping is really as prejudicial and denigrating to Native Americans as direct insults.
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By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, July 12, 2001 - 4:49 am:
The Captain and First Officer beaming down to the planet and endangering their lives... same old, same old. Of course, in Classic Trek I doubt that the sexual tension would be as obvious.
The plasma storm hits so hard that they hide under a table, but they didn't think to move the fragile items onto the floor?
Wouldn't talking to the primate be a violation of the Prime Directive? ;-)
Of course, the Talaxian tomatoes could cause ecological problems if they are left untended, they could grow out of control like kudzu or be poisonous to the indigenous animal life.
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By Rowanne on Saturday, June 08, 2002 - 2:56 pm:
Two nits:
One, the disease was transmitted via a bug bite- I wonder how they both got bitten at the same time?
Two, I'm pretty sure the command structure on Voyager is Janeway, then Chakotay, then Tuvok, then Paris. So it would follow that Tom would be the first offer. Therefore, shouldn't he have been the one to talk to Tuvok, not Kes?
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By Anonymous on Saturday, June 08, 2002 - 11:06 pm:
I think Kes might be closer to Tuvok then Paris. I think that is why Kes went to talk to Tuvok.
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By Stone Cold Steven Of None on Monday, June 10, 2002 - 10:46 am:
"I'll take 'Star Trek Trivia' for $500, Alex."
"The answer is: 'It's been called "The lamest pickup line in Trek franchise history"'. Steven!"
"What is: 'The "Angry Warrior" speech from the Voyager episode "Resolutions"'"?
"You are _correct_ - for five hundred dollars!"
BLING-BLING!
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By Stone Cold Steven Of None on Sunday, July 14, 2002 - 2:44 pm:
Also, I would've thought the First Couple would've taken all their stuff _with_ them when they left; all the Kazon would've needed were directions and some Deep Woods Off! and hey-presto!, they'd've had them some _kewl_ new toys to play with.
And for all you ECW (RIP) marks: Watching Captain Janeway naked in that towel, did you think: "IT'S THE NIGHT KIMONO WANNALAYA DANCED ATOP THE ECW ARENA!"?
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By Justin ODonnell on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 - 5:34 pm:
Why would only the Captain and the First Officer go on an away team mission to the planet? More to the point, why would either of them be on the away team mission? Wouldn't more junior officers be sent instead? (Of course, the real reson is if Janeway and Chakotay had not gone down, there'd be no episode!)
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By KAM on Thursday, April 24, 2003 - 5:50 am:
There would be an episode, it would just feature different characters. (Chakotay & B'Elanna?, B'Elanna & Harry?, Harry & Tom? ;-)
The problem is that the writer was a Janeway/Chakotay shipper & because she was also a producer, heaven forbid the episode focus on anyone else.
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By Stone Cold Steven Of None on Saturday, June 14, 2003 - 10:20 am:
"Why would only the Captain and the First Officer go on an away team mission to the planet?"
That question _begs_ an answer. If, for example, Ensign Anonymous End-Credit Redshirt had gotten worked over in Gul Madred's Fun House in TNG's "Chain Of Command, Part 2", who would've watched it? Ever since Captain Pike took on those huge headed Talosians old- and new-school Trek captains have always gotten into it.
"The problem is that the writer was a Janeway/Chakotay shipper & because she was also a producer, heaven forbid the episode focus on anyone else."
KAM, you say that like it was a _bad_ thing.
If the First Couple being together is so wrong...then I don't ever - AND STONE COLD _MEANS_ EVER! - want to be right.
And that's the bottom line...if you smell what I'm cooking.
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By KAM on Sunday, June 15, 2003 - 5:35 am:
The problem is, the episode ended up just being a big ol' tease. Nothing ever came of it. If someone saw every episode of Voyager, except for this one, they wouldn't feel they were missing anything.
IF this episode had led to a further deepening of their relationship then fine, but it didn't. It was ultimately a pointless episode. The series went on like this episode never happened.
Maybe if the writer had been brave enough to put in something that HAD to be dealt with, like a shot of Janeway & Chakotay lying in bed together with their clothes scattered all over the room, then future episodes would have had to deal with it, and that might have made for some interesting future episodes.
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By Stone Cold Steven Of None on Tuesday, June 17, 2003 - 2:22 pm:
I didn't _expect_ the First Couple to get it on here; she was engaged, after all, and wouldn't have two-timed her erstwhile sweetheart that quickly.
Nor did I expect them to engage in a steamy Titanic-style tryst in the back seat of a shuttlecraft any time immediately afterward.
I _had_ hoped their feelings for each other would grow over time, with the Main Event saved for the series finale.
Of course, the next season Unity aired.
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By Zarm Rkeeg on Tuesday, August 19, 2003 - 12:40 pm:
Finally saw this ep. in reruns a few days ago. Now "Unity" is the only Voyager show I haven't seen!
As for nits, I kept wondering: Why not just leave a portable com array or buoy for J&C, so that they can contact the Vidiians once Voyager has left? Same for Voyager. Why not drop a comm probe and safely contact the Vidiian convoy once Voyager is out of the area and away from iminent attack?
Also, an anti-nit. Joshua Truax asks why Janeway can't continue her studies with the bug traps broken. While the camera angle was a little unclear, I think she was looking at the other tech equipment which was ruined when she said this. Of course, the replicator is still an obvious solution, unless it was destroyed too.
As for how it's powered, perhaps it stores solar power?
I kept waiting for Pell to say: "Ah. I know that planet well. A burrowing insect carries the disease. Oh, by the way, the planet also has violent and life threatening plasma storms that may have already killed your officers." :-)
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By LUIGI NOVI on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 12:36 pm:
Zarm Rkeeg: Why not just leave a portable com array or buoy for J&C, so that they can contact the Vidiians once Voyager has left?
Luigi Novi: Because the Vidiians would attack them and harvest their organs.
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By Zarm Rkeeg on Wednesday, August 20, 2003 - 2:40 pm:
Well, yes, but I thought Janeway and Chakotay weren't concerned about that. Or was it someone on the ship's idea to contact the Vidiians? (I know, 2 days and I've forgotten already. My short-term memory is pathetic.)
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By John A. Lang on Saturday, May 22, 2004 - 9:24 pm:
GREAT SCENE: Janeway in tub!
ANOTHER missed KMYF moment: Janeway & Chakotay
"Probably the same reason he neither changed to a red uniform nor put two extra pips on..." Mark
The red uniform is a good point but the title 'captain' is for anybody in charge of a vessil, no matter what rank he/she/it is. O'Brian pointed this out to Nog in DS9.
During the plasma storm Janeway told Chakotay she had trouble carrying that case. Here's an idea Kathy, use the shoulder strap.
Doc tells his Vidiian friend that they can't beam through the shields yet in most every episode after this one they do. It makes sense that ships would have this capability, since they would know their own shield frequency, but this ep says otherwise, and the Vidiians would have shields as well wouldn't they?
Why would they need that antimatter container? Couldn't they just increase the yield on their torpedoes?
Forgot one: when Voyager fired a photon torpedo at the antimatter thingy the torpedo came from the bottom of the ship, near/at the dorsal phaser array, but there isn't a PT tube there.