#AND I LOVE JANEWAY AND CHAKOTAY OKAY BUT I'M SAYING THIS AS A FAN OF TREK IN GENERAL

[t-rina]

i love your enthusiasm for prodigy and yes I agree it's awesome!!!!!

i love it so so so so much

it gave me just about everything that i've been missing across new trek and new shows in general and you just gave me an excuse to talk about it

a lot of it goes back to the fact that the first season is 20. fucking. episodes. when was the last time you got a show from western countries with 20 episodes in the last hm. 10 years?

and i honestly believe that that fixed sooo much

character development that didn't feel rushed? got it

found family that was *shown* instead of told? got it

time to explore new and old characters? got it

holodeck adventures? got it

background to new characters? got it

of course i'm biased, i absolutely adore Janeway, which is different to e.g. Picard, who I like, and maybe ST: Picard would have hit differently if he had been my captain (tm)

but then again, i feel like Janeway was there to draw old fans in, and they certainly caught me, but it's not entirely *her* story. Her story is in there, it's important, but each and every story of each and every new character is also important.

they don't have to cram cameos in there. they don't have to connect every single detail to anything that happened before, but there are ties and that is OKAY.

basically what i'm trying to say, they manage to honor the legacy of trek while also expanding on the universe.

somehow i feel like star trek should just go ahead with the animated series, idk they really got something there with prodigy and lower decks

[captainhattersvoyagerstuff]

Why I Still Love J/C

Okay, I just really have to get this off my chest. There are people who don't like Chakotay, or won't ship him with Janeway because of the actor or the bad way Native American representation is shown. Now if you just plain don't want to mess with the character, don't like him, whatever, fine. But please don't let something an actor said or did keep you from loving a character or a work he was in. And don't ignore bad representation - try to improve on it.

I love J/C because I look at what is on screen. Their chemistry and caring relationship is incredible and inspiring to me. Everyone is welcome to their own ships, but that's the only one I have because it just seems so obvious to me. But I keep hearing people gripe about Beltran, or the representation. You can fix that, or read work that is fixed. It's called fanfic. If you're into the fandom at all you can see that fanfic Chakotay is not just like Chakotay on screen and definitely nothing like the actor.

The actor who played Icheb did some very bad stuff, but I hardly hear anyone say they won't use Icheb in a story because of this. So why Beltran? Why can't we just ignore these people instead of calling attention to them over and over? I'm not saying justify what they did, but remember they are real people with their own faults. They played a role, and even the most enthusiastic Star Trek actors are not as in love with the show as its fans are. It's hard to understand it, but it's true. I've watched podcasts with Tom and Harry's actors. They had forgotten many episodes, and didn't even know people didn't like Threshold. Why? Because this was a job for them. Maybe they enjoyed it, but it was still a job.

As far as representation goes, yeah they did an unbelievably horrible job, it's there from the beginning when Paris says racist stuff about "Indians". So I try to research, find stuff that is more accurate hopefully, or at least more respectful. It's a challenge, but worth it because there isn't enough good literature about Native Americans. And as far as Chakotay's character goes, there was, like so much of Voyager, wasted potential. So I try to add in that potential. Many fanfic writers do this wonderfully. I can recommend so many. His background in the Maquis, his faith, etc. We have that power.

TL;DR: If there is a ship you love, or a character, I really hope you don't let actors or bad writing turn you away.

[staringdownabarrel]

I'm glad they never gave Janeway a series-long love interest and instead just gave her Mark, stuck in the Alpha Quadrant, and the occasional love interest of the week who'd fuck off at the end of the episode. There's a couple of reasons for this.

Firstly, one of the reasons why Janeway works for me is because she's not a romance-heavy character. Her focus was always on what was best for the crew and on finding a way back to Federation space.

I don't think this angle of her character really gets enough credit: it was a rare thing for a leading woman in a TV show to not be paired off with someone long-term at some point. Even nowadays, it seems like every other television show wants to pair its women off, even if it would be fine for this specific character living in these specific circumstances to prefer remaining single.

Even if they had have paired her off with someone, the only people they reasonably could have paired her off with long term are people directly under her command. That wouldn't have gelled well with her general demeanor of at least trying to be that kind of classically professional Starfleet captain who didn't get romantically involved with a subordinate.

So if they had have given her a long term romantic pairing, it would have derailed her character both as the staunch professional she wanted to be and as the progressive "doesn't need a man to be interesting" woman she was from an out-of-universe perspective.

Secondly, the canon pairings in the Berman era were awful. The only ones that were at least passable were the O'Briens, Ben Sisko/Kasidy Yates, and Tom Paris/B'Elanna Torres. Some of this is just because I'm genuinely confused as to what most of the canon pairings would have seen in each other, so I think they would have ended up pairing Janeway with someone who didn't quite fit with her. Mostly they just sorta sucked at writing romance in general, to the point where even the passable canon pairings were passable in a "okay, it makes sense that these two are together, but please don't dwell on it too much" kind of way.

I think this point gets lost in a lot of fan circles, too. A lot of the focus in the more ship-y circles of fandom tends to be on these popular fanon pairings, so sometimes the actual romance writing on the source material gets lost. At least with Star Trek, the canonical romance writing is often so awful that it's probably a good thing that a lot of the shippier fans forget it exists.

Still, had they paired her off with someone long term on the show, I suspect it would have ended up being one of those things where people's response would have been something like, "Janeway and Neelix? Seriously, guys? Is this what we're doing today?"

Really, the best thing that could have happened with Janeway in a romantic sense is one of two things. One would have been if early on she had have come out and said, "Actually, I'm mostly aromantic. Mark is the only guy I've ever seen in that light."

There would have been room for this kind of scene in canon. I forget which episode it was, but early on in Voyager there was a scene where Chakotay and Janeway talk about the crew pairing off, and the general tone is that eventually it will happen because of how long their journey is going to be. It ends with Chakotay saying, "And what about you?", with the scene intending to imply that maybe there was a little spark between the two.

This scene could have been changed so that instead of it just cutting to the next scene, Janeway had have replied with, "I'm mostly aromantic. Mark is the only person I've ever seen in that light", and then cut to the next scene.

I think this would have worked because it would have given Janeway an easy out to not be in a relationship; especially if there was never any followup to that scene. It also would have made Janeway one of the very few aromantic characters to have ever been on television, and probably the only one from the '90s, so it would have doubled down on the progressive elements of her character.

The other way they could have gone about this is if they had have set up some holoemitters in her ready room and given her a holographic personification of the ship itself to fall in love with. This could have been a very literal take on Kirk's love with the Enterprise. It also would have worked with Janeway's character in general, as Fair Haven establishes she is capable of falling in love with a hologram.

The subtext here would be the open question of whether or not she's in love with the persona specifically, actually in love with the ship, or if she's in love with her position as captain. All three would be acceptable answers. Still, this is a much more fan fic-y idea and I'm not entirely sure how it'd work in practice.

[make-me-imagine]

Matchup with the Star Trek Voyager, DS9 and Enterprise, please (you can eliminate one of them)

I'm greyasexual pan romantic. I’m Brazilian, my hair is dark brown and wavy and my eyes are dark too, my height is 5,1” I'm retracted, good-tempered, tolerant, materialistic, very absent-mind and I love doing things alone.

My hobbies are: draw, write, read every kind of book and swim (is the only sport I really like after I hurt my knee)

I love listen to indie and rock songs and I love musicals as well (Hamilton and BeetleJuice a are my favorites)

Sci-fi and horror are my favorite genres for series and movies.

Hope you like them!~

Star Trek Voyager: 

I ship you with Chakotay

I chose Chakotay becuase he is very respectful and kind and does not mind having alone time away from his s/o. Though he does of course love spending time with you, this just means that he respects your need for alone time. He is also the type to appreciate someones artistic skills as well as a love of books. 

How you met and his first impression of you: 

You met when Janeway first “apprehended” Chakotay and his crew (the beginning of the series). 

You were introduced by Janeway since you work right under her.

He thought you were quiet, respectful and very observant. 

You were interesting to him, and he often caught himself watching you. 

He learned a bit about you by doing this.

Hearing you hum along to your favorite songs and would often see you drawing in your free time made him someone fond of you though it took some time for you to become close. 

Ways he shows you he loves you without words: 

When you make eye-contact he holds it and smiles fondly at you, you learned to communicate through your eyes, so you could always tell what he was thinking. 

Setting his hand on your shoulder, just to let you know he is there. 

Giving you knew books to read and sharing his favorites with you. 

Best-Friend: 

I think your best friend on Voyager would be B’elanna. She likes being alone too, and finds that your presence is not overbearing. You two can sit in the same room together and feel comforted, yet not feel like you have to entertain each other. She respects your boundaries and enjoys the same music and books that you do. 

- Other ship under cut -

DS9: 

I ship you with Odo. 

Odo is a more reserved person and I think he would appreciate your equally reserved personality. He is often overwhelmed by others and finds you to be very comforting. He does not need to be affectionate, but is not opposed to it if either of you are okay with it. He would love to read the same books as you and share your thoughts on them together. 

How you met and his first impression of you:

You had been around for a while before actually meeting Odo. 

You knew some of the others, Sisco, Jadzia, Kira, etc, but it was not until you were involved in a fight that you met Odo.

The fight actually had nothing to do with you, you just ended up getting roped in. Wrong place, wrong time. 

Odo could tell immediately that you had nothing to do with it, and instead just asked you what happened. 

He could tell you were very tolerant and clear-headed, which he found as a relief.

You were “refreshing” to say the least, compared to the others he has to deal with (quark), and this made him have a soft spot for you. 

Odo from that point on, sometimes sought you out for your opinion. 

Ways he shows you he loves you without words:

When he is working, he will walk by or through your station just to see if you are okay. 

Brings you food and water throughout the day if you are busy. 

Leaves you notes to remind you of certain plans or tasks you had to do, or planned to do. 

Sets up movie nights so you can share your favorite films with him. 

Best-Friend: 

I think your best friend would be Kira. She is a bit blunt and can be harsh, but she only ever conveys these to you in a more sisterly-way. Actually more of a mother-hen way. She is caring and makes sure that you do not get to lost in your thoughts. She also appreciates your love of music and actually became more of a fan of it because of you. 

xx