In this episode, for a change, the focus is not on the senior officers but on three crew members from the second row. So in Star Trek terms: "Lower deckers". One of the three could be better described as a "lowest decker" though, because he works in the last corner of the ship, deep in its belly, separated from the rest of the crew. When Janeway learns that these three officers are among the low performers in her crew and have never been on an away mission, she quickly takes them on a trip to explore a space nebula. Needless to say, this standard mission doesn't go according to plan at all. Ultimately, however, these three lower deckers can be glad that they haven't been on any away missions yet. Because when Janeway, Tuvok, Paris and the others take nameless extras with them, at least one of them usually bites the dust.
Basically, it's excellent to finally see other crew members and not just the dozen who are usually there on every mission and solve all the problems on their own. To me, however, Janeway's efforts do not seem like an act of a good Samaritan. I felt more like Janeway was disappointed and personally offended that there were people on her crew who didn't live up to her high standards of performance and sacrifice in the service of Starfleet. Even in her conversations with the three officers, she doesn't really seem to understand that there are people who have other goals in life than discovering new planets or becoming a captain one day. Janeway also seems surprised that they don't feel the same pride that she does when they think about events like the confrontation with the Borg or all the first contacts they had in the Delta quadrant.
Basically it's like any job. There are people everywhere who are just muddling through, or who have other priorities in life, such as their family life. Others, on the other hand, are just mediocre and don't want anything more. Not everyone wants to have a career and manage employees one day. In addition, on Voyager, as in any company, decisions are made at the top. Take, for example, a payroll specialist at Apple. Basically, this employee also contributes a small part to the success of this company. But this employee is not at the heart of the company's innovative strength. If this person were to quit tomorrow, it would have absolutely no impact on all the new products Apple is developing.
Mister "lowest decker", for example, only wanted to spend a year on Voyager because it was a requirement for admission to a research center. So this man never had any desire to explore space. But Janeway doesn't seem to really understand this and judges this man's motivations and goals according to the high standards she sets for herself. Basically, she feels that this man's professional motivation and his work are less important than that of an explorer - than what she is and does. Janeway should be asking herself why her ship has 150 crew members when she has handled every crisis, confrontation and life-threatening situation over the last 6 years with the handful of senior officers pictured on the cover of the DVD box . It's only understandable that the rest of the crew falls through the cracks and no longer shows any enthusiasm.
However, I wonder why someone like Seven's assistant in astrometics would take on such a job when she herself realizes that she is not up to the task and she also has nightmares about her work. Star Trek has preached to viewers often enough that the concept of money has become obsolete and that people engage in work to fulfill and improve themselves. So no one has to endure their job just so they can use their salary to pay rent and groceries. Why should this woman do this job that she is not happy with?
1 out of 1 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
