Episode 7: Captain Janeway Sucks

We're back again with Episode 7, in which we spend an hour discussing the many reasons Captain Janeway is the worst captain in Starfleet. Yes, worse than the captain of the U.S.S. Grissom (very nerdy Star Trek 3 reference; if you've seen it enough times, you know how bad that guy was, and Janeway is worse). It's not all negative, we also talk about some of the captains we love, plus general Star Trek nerddom (my spell-checker is flagging that word, nerddom... not sure it's legit).
In our second hour Tom introduces us (myself included) to the world of Dark Souls 3, and it seems pretty damn cool, so you should listen if you're not familiar... or even if you are, because it's awesome.
In the show's third hour, we chat up our experiences with tabletop role-playing, and detail the various games we've played together. (Warning: extremely nerdy)
In the fourth hour M. Bison pulls over his truck while Tom re-discovers some classic Kubrick flicks he recently had a chance to re-visit in the movie theater.
The episode isn't really four hours, it's called comedy you noobs. It is, however our longest yet, but it won't seem like it because we're the most interesting guys in the world, screw that Dos Equis guy. Gaming AM. The most interesting podcast in the world. #JanewaySucks

  

2 comments:

  1. Ok, I'm sure Ray would say this response was coming from me as soon as the title of this episode was announced. However, to be clear I am not here to be a champion of Captain Janeway, more to offer a little less judgement? Let me get the other Trek stuff out of the way first. My movie top 3 would go in the following order: 2,6,4. My captain rankings: 1. Kirk 2. Sisko 3. Fraiser (jk) 3. Picard 4. Archer 5. Janeway. In terms of shows, from my perspective what made DS9 arguably one of the best TV shows ever was its use of secondary characters. Never to my memory was there such a collective (pun intended) of Star Trek characters that could carry so much weight. Which brings me back to Voyager......

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  2. ...A show which launched a network along with WWE Smackdown. The pressure to deliver quality was higher than any other Star Trek franchise other than Next Gen. With that being said, I believe that Voyager failed. It provided much less quality than it ever gave. Yeah I'm looking at you Neelix! That is not to say it was an entire waste of time. "The Year of Hell" comes to mind as a high point for the show. Heck, even DS9 has nearly 3 full seasons of average to poor episodes & story arcs. SO, my point there is: like any other show Voyager has its peaks & valleys. Onto Captain Kathryn Janeway.....
    …. Tom basically took the wind out my solar sails (thx DS9) when he said he would be more accepting of her actions had she stepped down at the end of the finale. I couldn’t agree more! It would have made the character flawed but still capable of honor. Instead we are left to see her as totally selfish. We could discuss how it was just a cheap plug to have her in Nemesis, & how bothersome it is to have her giving Picard orders. Yet, as you guys said: Next Gen fans rightfully have much larger issues when it comes to that flick. “For me” the core issue is why did she do it?.....
    …. Was her breaking the Prime Directive wrong, absolutely! Will I defend her cavalier attitude to the rules? Slightly. We have to remember at the time of the show she was the first on screen Captain to ever be removed from star fleet for what could have been the rest of their lives. That can’t be emphasized enough. All the structure we always knew was in place for other Captains was gone. Sure, Kirk, Picard, & Sisko had to make plenty of decisions without consulting Starfleet. However, it was still a very consistent presence. Janeway was on her own which would affect anyone’s long term emotions…..
    ….If you were to say poor writing I won’t argue that. Especially when Captain Archer gets thrown into a quite similar situation later/earlier, which would have led to a protocol being established for Janeway to follow, but I digress. The reason I am not so hard on Janeway is I always looked at her choice in the finale as selfish but no more so than “most” humans would be. Are Starfleet Captains supposed to rise above that? I would say yes. Is it a staple of any command structured organization to be stronger than the emotional urges that can sometimes get in the way? Again “yes”. But…..
    ….I think this is where we get to see something different. This is where I saw the human element override the chain of command & protocol. I actually took less offense in her actions because it was good to see a character show weakness. Depression is a powerful state of being and although Janeway is expected to fight through those demons, she couldn’t. She did what so many people would do. Maybe it’s not what Kirk would do or it didn’t follow the Captain’s bar that was set so high. It did however show me someone who could not live with the pain of loss…..
    …..In my favorite episode of DS9 Sisko must make a life altering decision that blurs the lines of right & wrong. It is compelling television. I see Janeway’s decision in a similar light. I understand her choice is personnel not something that can change the outcome of war. But she is living with an internal war of regret. I was refreshed to see a Captain with flaws & an actual breaking point. Again, the perfect closure for her character would have been to step down afterward with her burden lifted. It’s a shame she didn’t because it would have made her actions even more powerful.

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