Serene Venus

in modern trek, they always present the idea of logic vs emotion, with spock being logic and kirk being emotion, but thats not how tos has it. in tos, the logic vs emption debate is spock vs mccoy. kirk is supposed to be the mediator between the two, sometimes siding with one side over the other, sometimes finding a middle ground between the two. thats why hes the captain, hes able to see all angles and pick the best course

when you make kirk the emotional one, it completely breaks the format, because 9 time out of 10, it means kirk has to be correct. theres no more balance

When I teach rhetoric in my college essay writing/analysis course, it's always with the example of Kirk, Spock, AND McCoy. Ethos, Logos, Pathos--you need all three. Kirk isn't the counterweight to Spock; he's the fulcrum that balances Spock and McCoy.

Kirk isn't emotion. Kirk is ethos: credibility, authority. Spock and McCoy are there to stop him from damaging that credibility by falling back on an authority he doesn't actually have in the situation, to remind him of the logic or compassion that's lacking when an abuse of power would be the easy or basely satisfying thing to do.

Ayala: Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

Chakotay: It was unbelievable!

Ayala: Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!

B'Elanna: Okay, we wanna hear everything. Ayala, get the wine and mute your commbadge. Chakotay, does this end well or do we need tissues?

Chakotay: Oh, it ended very well.

Ayala: Do not start without me! Do not start without me!

B'Elanna: Okay, alright, let’s hear about the kiss. Was it a soft brush against your lips or was it like a, you know, “I gotta have you now” kind of thing?

Chakotay: Well, at first it was really intense, you know? And then, oh God, and then we just sort of sunk into it.

Ayala: Ohh... So, okay, was she holding you? Or were her hands all over the place?

Chakotay: First she started holding me, and then her hands slid up and then they were in my hair.

B'Elanna and Ayala: Ohhh.

*meanwhile*

Janeway eating pizza in her quarters: And, uh, and then I kissed him.

Tuvok: Tongue?

Janeway: Yeah.

And here’s a black and white version, because I kind of like the gritty, dream-like quality it gives the scene!

It’s the morning after in Picard’s quarters. Beverly steps into the shower, radiating bliss and contentment. As the water runs down her face and saturates her hair, a cold realization hits:

I will say, though, I don't think their relationship was ever physical after the planet. Partially because I think that's a thing that would have been shown, and partially because I think that's a line neither of them wanted to cross. They both had feelings for each other, and they both knew it, and they didn't exactly pretend otherwise. There were a lot of moments between them that showed that. But I think they were both reasonably concerned about what might happen if they actually got into a relationship. Like, what if they broke up? How would that affect their ability to work as a team to protect the crew? If they'd been in the Alpha quadrant, I think they'd be willing to do it. After all, if it didn't work out, and they found they couldn't work together afterwards, one of them could always get reassigned. But they were in the Delta quadrant, and had no idea how long they'd be there. For all they knew, it could be the rest of their lives, and they couldn't risk damaging their relationship like that. But they were still willing to do little romantic things together. I just don't think it was physical. Past maybe some cuddling.

Coda is an episode for me that hits all of my favorite tropes. Angst, hurt/comfort, dark, her comforting him, happy romantic ending… it’s perfection. I love it so much. It’s one of my three favorite JC episodes. The Fight, Coda, and Shattered.

I’m 50/50 on them sleeping together in Coda. It makes more sense there than in Resolutions. They’re coming off of the terror of nearly losing each other, the joy of being alive and together. If they had sex on that boat it was restorative and healing and I’m okay with that. The best way to get around Kate’s “no sex” rule is just… not showing it or mentioning it, but creating the situation that would make as much sense for it to happen as for it not to happen. (If that makes sense) (I’m a 50/50 on Resolutions, depending on the fic I’m writing, a mostly yes in Coda and an almost certainly yes in Timeless)

I think they’re adults and know whether what they have is permanent and that they can handle whatever happens. Kathryn’s in-universe hesitation has more to do with the deep depression she sunk into when her father (and fiancé) died, than anything else, I believe. She knows she’s in it deeply with Chakotay and is more afraid of what losing him could do to her.

In "Sacred Ground", when she decides to risk her life on an unknown spiritual journey, and he doesn't leave the screen that was monitoring her vital data.

In "Coda", when she almost dies in his arms.

In "Night", when he defends her to the crew, but is constantly stressed and worried that she might do something suicidal.

In "Scorpion", when she wants an alliance with the Borg and almost dies in the process.

In "Equinox", when she goes mad with revenge and almost kills a man.

In "Unimatrix Zero", when she decides to risk her own life alone to enter a Borg cube.

In "Concerning Flight", when she jumps off a cliff in a contraption with a hologram.

In "Hunters", when he gets super anxious to know if her engagement fell through, and they could already get married.

In "Resolutions", when she appears in front of him with only a towel.

In "Threshold", when he discovered that his Kathryn turned into a lizard and had sex with Tom Paris also turned into a lizard.

Feel free to add ones I’ve forgotten and attack/defend the plausability/implausibility of them.

Transwarp Beaming

From a relatively stationary start to a ship at warp. From Earth all the way to Kronos (144 light years). A software patch to the regular transporter, invented by Scotty, whose alternate self almost died using it to beam to the Enterprise, and who had previously lost Admiral Archer’s beagle when attempting to demonstrate it (Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness)

Subspace Beaming

Across several light-years. A minor modification considered dangerous, known to the Federation and Ferengi. Possibly the same as transwarp beaming. (TNG: “Bloodlines”) The Dominion also had transporters with extreme range (10+ light years), they could use theirs to pluck people from distant targets, something Transwarp beaming may be unable to do.

Beaming Into an Alternate Reality

First done accidently during an ion storm, replicated a century later using a handheld gizmo which interfaces with a regular transporter (downloading extra software?) (TOS: “Mirror, Mirror”, DS9: “Shattered Mirror” etc.)

Beaming Through Time

With the aid of some time-limited technobabbly particles, O'Brien was able to beam people to various periods in Earth’s history. (DS9: “Past Tense”)

Cure All/Anti Ageing/Re-Ageing

Where to start? Kirk and Spock are de-aged in TAS: “The Lorelai Signal”, the entire crew are made their proper sizes again in “The Terratin Incident”, the baby crew are re-aged at the end of “The Counter-clock Incident”, Dr. Pulaski is cured of an ageing disease in TNG: “Unnatural Selection”, the crew are de-aged into children in "Rascals" and it’s reversed the same way at the end. I’m sure there are a few I've forgotten.

Epic Pause Mode

Scotty kept himself alive in the transporter for 70 years, in TNG: “Relics”. The guy he was in there with didn’t make it.

Splitting, Duplicating and Merging

Kirk is split into good and evil halves in TOS: “The Enemy Within” but both are merged again at the end, Captain Christopher is (pointlessly?) beamed into his slightly-earlier self in “Tomorrow is Yesterday”, Will Riker is xeroxed in TNG: “Second Chances”, Tuvok and Neelix, with the aid of a magical plant, merged into one being and then somehow separated again months(?) later (VOY: “Tuvix”)

Become a ghost

The inventor of the transporter lost his son in early experiments (ENT: “Daedalus”), and he spent the next 20 years appearing as a ghost and attacking people.

Chaos loses their mind over Star Trek continuity ✨

(Chaos loses their mind over Star Trek continuity ✨)

For this week’s episode: In canon, Tuvok’s children have wildly conflicting potential ages, specifically his daughter. Come along for the journey.

Janeway and Paris did have chemistry... but not as much as Janeway and Chakotay did

B'Elanna and Harry act like brother and sister. Zero romantic chemistry whatsoever...so they pivoted to Chakotay/B'Elanna

And Chakotay and B'Elanna had less than zero romantic chemistry and felt more like a father-daughter dynamic.

Chakotay/B'Elanna sank without a trace in Persistence of Vision (if the ship even floated in the first place).

Threshold sank Janeway/Paris, probably intentionally, cos you can't come back from a pairing turning into salamanders, having and then dumping three salamander babies. You just can't.

I reckon they sank Janeway/Paris on purpose because they wanted to explore Janeway/Chakotay now that it was obvious that the B'Elanna thing was going nowhere.

And then everyone was suddenly like, nope. No shipping Janeway/Chakotay. Look, we've got a whole episode stating they just want to be friends (the same episode where Chakotay confesses he's in love with her, can't stop staring at her, and is as well wandering around asking Kathryn to step on him, and Janeway who is technically not single looks like she's a hair's breath away from jumping him after his love confession). And their chemistry just continues to grow as the years go on.

So TPTB were like "okay, you want a romance, here, we're going to stick Tom and B'Elanna together". And the fanbase is like... "bit weird, but let's see how it goes".

And honestly Tom and B'Elanna turn out to be a pretty good pairing, and pretty realistic. We all know Tom's punching above his weight, but he knows this too!

And while we're all saying "this is great, we like this pairing," the execs are like "good, now ignore J/C and the incredible chemistry they share (even if both actors bizarrely insist they're indifferent to the bond between their characters (frankly insane behaviour))

And we as a fandom were like "nope, we're going to write like 6 times as much fanfic for J/C than we do for P/T, thank you very much!"

And the funniest thing is that 24 years on from Voyager's end, this is still the dynamic between the fans and the show runners.