A Look at Think Tank (Voyager)
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- Опубликовано: 2 май 2023
- Opinionated Voyager Episode Guide returns. A think tank offers to get Voyager out of a jam if they'll trade Seven to them, but they don't know the Starfleet motto: don't bullshit a bullshitter.
"It's clever - by Voyager's standards" is a masterful example of damning things by faint praise.
Hey even a broken clock is right twice a day. And watching Chuck for so long has given me at least some appreciation for Voyager given some of the stuff that would come after.
So what is it by Picard standards?
@@Edax_Royeaux A masterwork.
@@Ozymandias2x oh snap lol
"I'll tell you what she did... She Think Tanked me."
"She Think-Tanked you?"
"SHE Think-Tanked me! Me!"
"Did you ever consider Think-Tanking her back?"
"IT'S not the same!!"
"Seven of Nine, you could become one of the greatest intellects in the galaxy, but that will not happen here, among these limited lifeforms."
Boy, this aged like wine...
Could be worse, she could end up stuck in Picard.
@@Edax_Royeaux but she did end up stuck in picard!
@@Bar_Steward Oh man, even Enterprise was smarter than Picard season 2...
@@Bar_Steward Ever heard of irony or sarcasm?
@@lordmontymord8701 No. Please explain them to me in great detail .
When Chuck said Janeway was playing with a toy, I half expected him to cut to a scene of her talking to Harry or Chakotay.
"Whale like entity."
waitaminute
Ask them about the probe.
I can confirm Chuck is speaking the truth about the UPN commercial for this episode
United Pricks Network
"It's about time the villains did something villainous..."
That's one of the big problems of this episode; Until that moment, there's no reason not to see their side in this, and frankly, even though they may not be nice people, I'm convinced Voyager made The Delta Quadrant a much worse place by removing them. They were saving billions of people, after all.
Hard to say whether they saved more people than they killed given their amoral (at best) dealings.
Funny how Janeway also used the "letting yourself be captured by the enemy so you can sabotage them from within" tactic against the Borg twice.
It worked, didn't it? When every problem is a nail you can't be faulted for always using the same hammer.
In his defense, those pretzels DO make you thirsty.
Neelix's recipes are weapons of ass destruction.
I think the main draw of this episode was the fact that Jason Alexander was here and as a sly, serious-minded villain; a far cry from Seinfeld's George Constanza. Still it's neat that Alexander would come back in the future as the uptight Tellarite Doctor Noum in Prodigy.
He was cheaper to hire by the time Prodigy came out
The lost potential though is if they stuck to the typecasting and did it on DS9 they could have made the mother of all Ferengi episodes.
@@bort5448 Armin Shimmerman, Wallace Shawn and Jason Alexander in the same room and scene? Oh if only...
I never realized that Noum was Jason Alexander.
I found Jason Alexander to be a distraction, because I kept hearing his voice matching up with other roles, but it's a distraction I'll forgive because he does do well in the role and the episode turned out good.
Never leave us, chuck
I enjoyed this episode immensely. One of their better episodes.
As much as I hate type-casting actors, I can't help admit that I would have loved to have seen George Castanza on the Enterprise.
Apparently, Jason Alexander had trouble with some of the technical dialogue in the episode that he would comically reference Seinfeld upon struggling and would start screaming "Jerry!"
Villain: "Haha, you are caught in a net of deadly traps, one worse than the other. You can't escape!"
Janeway: "Show me the way to the deadliest trap - we'll fly right through it!"
Villain: "Don't you think about your crew?"
Janeway: "They knew what to expect when they came on my ship. Today is a good day to die!"
You can't out-think people who don't think.
At least three times, Voyager throws Particle Synthesis at us as a mysterious science. It's not used (that we know of) in the 32nd century. Unless it lead to programmable matter and they kept the holograms just because.
On a unicorn playing an electric guitar: "RIDE FAR AWAY, ACROSS THE MIGHTY RIVER TAY, OVER MOUNTAINS INTO THE UNKNOWN!"
I'm surprised no one made a joke about how Jason Alexander is playing a different character but is also obsessed over Seven.
Kuros disguising himself as a Malon seems so obvious and beneath him it really should've been part of some sort of elaborate I knew you'd know what I did trap.
But then that's Voyager. The genius villains can only be as smart as the writers... who weren't very smart.
Jason Alexander wasn't entirely playing against type. As proof, I refer you to his role as the scumbag lawyer in "Pretty Woman".
I may also be in the minority, but I actually like this episode. I've a liking for wholly cerebral antagonists, and the Think Tank fills the bill. Wonder how they'd do against the TNG or DS9 crews?
He did play a good scumbag there. Definitely the anti-George.
@@YourCapyBro_windows95_3DPipes so, I view all of the cast of Seinfeld as scumbags, so the only difference here is whether or not he's playing it for comedy.
Jason Alexander does a good job in this episode, without qualification.
@@hariman7727 the characters or the actual people, lol?
@@YourCapyBro_windows95_3DPipes the characters.
You actually sold me on "cleaver by Voyager standards"
To anyone else it's a pocketknife. :V
You gotta love Janeway's blatant hypocrisy when she thumbs her nose at the Think Tank giving advice to warring species. Kathryn, remember how you flew up to the nearest Borg cube with the offer to help them commit genocide in return for a lift? Yeah. Good times.
Also: the Think Tank wants an ancient Olmec figurine from Chakotay. How does he even have one in the Delta Quadrant? The Maquis raider he was on exploded before he could bring his belongings over... And if he replicated one, it isn't exactly an ancient figurine anymore, right?
I assume he keeps those things in his pocket at all times. He has very, very large pockets.
Are you talking about species 8472? Or 8**** I don’t remember because it made perfect sense at the time as they were already caught and the new aliens were a muchhhhh bigger threat as they knew so far. Think harder
I think the whole point you may have missed about that opening scene, is that it shows Kuros and the Think Tank are not Chaotic Evil, Utterly Diabolical villains. They’re morally grey villains. They do harm arbitrarily - even “only necessary harm” still has a degree of subjectivity to it. Whereas their harm comes about purely as a means to an end. And if that means they create another problem for a civilisation? Oh well! Those people can either get smart enough to solve it themselves, OR they can ask for help from the Think Tank again - knowing it will come at a price, again.
This is a good episode, and Jason Alexander does well in it.
I really love your reviews
Couldn’t find the UPN ad? I just looked and it was right there on RUclips.
Well, this video was originally made in 2016.
0:53 - Jason Alexander even got to be emcee and roastmaster at the 2006 Comedy Central Roast of William Shatner.
I do like that this episode has non humaniod sapients.
-That fact that the projection of Kuros can drink the coffee corresponds with that fact that he didn't fall through the sofa he was sitting on.
-No, it's not unusual for Seven to think. It's unusual for Janeway to ALLOW Seven to think for HERself! And it's not unusual for Janeway to think. You can't plot without thought! Amirite?
-I agree. this episode was good. I was born in 1980 and I mother was never interested in Seinfeld, so I never had a reason to be into it. I saw pieces of episodes here and there. And I remember the big deal about the series finale being huge for some and not huge enough for others (because you can't please everybody). I had an idea of who George Costanza was and knew he was played by Jason Alexander. But, that was about it. However, I remember liking that Alexander was going to be on the episode - because famous guest stars almost always equal quality TV. I liked Kuros; quiet, even paced, and calculating. He was almost like an android, but evil. Wow, I think I described Lore. ONLY, Kuros apparently had a more subtle emotion chip. Data almost had more emotions than he did - without HIS emotion chip. I think they chose the perfect role for him and he did great with it. A (very manipulative) snake oil salesman with very high intelligence. Neelix cannot fake high intelligence, ha! But, Alexander can fake MENSA level, easily!
-It was clever by Voyager standards, isn't the highest praise. They way you laid out the "damned if you do and damned if you don't" dilemna makes it sounds clever by many high standards.
So UPN was a good fit for Berman as showrunner? 🤪
No weapons of mass destruction while having photon torpedoes?
200 isotons sounds like it would be devastating to shoot at a city, whatever an isoton is.
That's 520 megatons/2.6 megatons. For reference, the Tsar Bomba is 50 megatons.
this old review is better the second time because now I understand the Seinfeld references
"Don't do anything stupid" Hahahahaha, you fools! You underestimate the arrogance of Voyager.
Jason Alexander was a breath of fresh air. He gave a masterful performance.
Both he and the actor who played Red in That 70s Show did great in their guest roles. Too bad we only got to see them once.
@@YourCapyBro_windows95_3DPipes Kurtwood Smith. I agree, they both nailed their guest spots. I wish we could have had more of them
@@bradwolf07 right! That was his name. A lot of character actors are strong and have a lot to offer, it's too bad they don't a ton of chances to show it. Voy had a lot of quality guest stars iirc. It's a real shame that none were ever going to have a chance to be more than a one-time Sally. Actually I amend that- the character of Lon Suder was recurring, but not for long and he was mostly kept out of the way.
I did like the actor who played Cullah, can't remember his name now. He wasn't a big name but he made the most of his character in the few scenes he had and I was sad to see him go, lol. Maybe that was just me, or maybe I was just so desperate for ANY scrap of an ongoing plotline to add more than one layer to the show, good or bad, I would have glommed onto anything they chose to do.
Sadly, other than relatively brief Borg issues later, I believe that was pretty much the only time the writers tried to weave ANY kind of extended development into the show, which for me was really disappointing. TNG was on a whole other level and I never felt it lacked anything for being completely episodic*. Voy however was a totally different animal and different setup. It could have chosen to explore any one of the major problems it was facing and actually develop something more deeply by using arcs, either background or foreground . They don't all have to be season-long ventures either, they could be shorter or longer sequences as necessary.
It's a real shame they didn't. A lot of their bottle eps were actually very decent, and a few were great, and some definitely weren't, but it's just a shame that nothing more consistent was ever developing a piece at a time in the background. Contrast this with DS9 which was complex and multilayered and while it leaned heavily on single eps, it was constantly developing more and more backstory and each character as it went along. I'm not saying Voy never did this, just much, much less.
Damn that Berman. He didn't want to give a damn inch. No depth or continual development for him. What a weirdo.
*Well a few aspects would have been nice to have gotten a longer treatment of, but overall they did a very fine job of providing enough development within their single episodes imo
@@YourCapyBro_windows95_3DPipes rather true. Voyager did find plenty of talent to come in, but they didn't give them enough time.
Cullah was a memorable character. He may have been a petty warlord (in essence), but he made the most of his limited screen time.
Sudar was compelling. Whether when he was cold and psychotic or after the mind meld when he was much more "human" (or Betazed as it was).
Is that a hanar in the tank?
I would give this episode 9.2
I'd give Seven one.
I like Kuros a LOT more than George Costanza, personally.
algorithm comment
I give it an 8
Captain Jerryway
2:50 forget the rock. imagine getting paid in "exposure" or "clout" or some other worthless crap some entitled selfish people believe actually matter, as if you could pay your bills or taxes with exposure. even monopoly money has more worth than that.