The Delta Flyers - Survival Instinct

Episode Date: August 29, 2022

The Delta Flyers is a weekly Star Trek: Voyager rewatch & recap podcast hosted by Garrett Wang & Robert Duncan McNeill. Each week Garrett and Robert will rewatch an episode of Voyager starting at the very beginning. This week’s episode is Survival Instinct. Garrett and Robbie recap and discuss the episode, and share their insight as series regulars.Survival Instinct:Seven of Nine is stalked by three renegade Borg drones, who want to learn from her how to terminate their neural links and become individuals again.We want to thank everyone who makes this podcast possible, starting with our Executive producers Megan Elise & Rebecca McNeillAnd a special thanks to our Ambassadors, the guests who keep coming back, giving their time and energy into making this podcast better and better with their thoughts, input, and inside knowledge: Lisa Klink, Martha Hackett, Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Robert Beltran, Tim Russ, Roxann Dawson, Kate Mulgrew, Brannon Braga, & Bryan FullerAdditionally we could not make this podcast available without our Co-Executive Producers: Stephanie Baker, Philipp Havrilla, Kelton Rochelle, Liz Scott, Eve England, Sab Ewell, Sarah A Gubbins, Jason M Okun, Luz R., Marie Burgoyne, Daniel de Rooy, Chris Knapp, Utopia Science Fiction Magazine, Courtney Lucas, Matthew Gravens, Elaine Ferguson, Brian Barrow, Captain Jeremiah Brown, Heidi Mclellan, Rich Gross, Mary Jac Greer, John Espinosa, James Zugg, Deike Hoffmann, Mike Gu, Anna Post, Shannyn Bourke, Vikki Williams, Kelly Brown, Lee Lisle, Mary Beth Lowe, William McEvoy, Sarah Thompson, Samantha Hunter, Holly Smith, KMB, Dominic Burgess, Ashley Stokey, Lori Tharpe, Mary Burch, Nicholaus Russell, Dominique Weidle, Lisa Robinson, Normandy Madden, Joseph Michael Kuhlmann, Darryl Cheng, Alex Mednis, AJ Freeburg, Elizabeth Stanton, Kayla Knilans, Barbara S., Tim Beach, Ariana, Meg Johnson, Victor Ling, Marcus Vanderzonbrouwer, Shambhavi Kadam, James H. Morrow, Christopher Arzeberger, Megan Chowning, Tae Phoenix, Nicole Anne Toma, Donna Runyon, Nicholas Albano, Daniel O’Brien, Bronwen Duffield, Brandon May, Andrew Duncan, David Buck, Jeremy Mcgraw, Jason Bonnett, Danie Crofoot, Ian Ramsey, Jack Fine, & Susan V. GrunerAnd our Producers:James Amey, Richard Banaski, Ann Harding, Ann Marie Segal, Chloe E, Craig Sweaton, Nathanial Moon, Carole Patterson, Warren Stine, Mike Schaible, AJ Provance, Captain Nancy Stout, Claire Deans, Matthew Cutler, Maxine Soloway, Joshua L Phillips, Barbara Beck, Aithne Loeblich, Dat Cao, Scott Lakes, Stephen Riegner, Debra Defelice, Tara Polen, Jenna Appleton, Jason Potvin, Cindy Ring, Andrei Dunca, Jason Wang, Gabriel Dominic Girgis, Amber Nighbor, Amy Tudor, Jamason Isenburg, Mark G Hamilton, Liza Albright, Rob Johnson, Maria Rosell, Michael Bucklin, Lisa Klink, Jennifer Jelf, Justin Weir, Mike Chow, John Mann, Holly Schmitt, Rachel Shapiro, Eric Kau, Megan Moore, Melissa A. Nathan, Captain Jak Greymoon, David Wei Liu, David J Manske, Roxane Ray, Amy Rambacher, Jessica B, E.G. Galano, Cindy Holland, Craig M. Nakashian, Julie McCain, Will Forg, Max Wilson, Charlie Faulkner, Estelle Keller, Carmen Puente-Garza, Russell Nemhauser, Chris Casiano, Lawrence Green, Jordan Marie Benko, Nicholas Vasilakes Thank you for your support!“Our creations are protected by copyright, trademark and trade secret laws. Some examples of our creations are the text we use, artwork we create, audio, and video we produce and post. You may not use, reproduce, distribute our creations unless we give you permission. If you have any questions, you can email us at [e-mail].”Our Sponsors:* Check out Mint Mobile: https://mintmobile.com/TDFSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-delta-flyers/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the Delta Flyers with Tom and Harry as we journey through episodes of Star Trek Voyager. Your two hosts along this journey are my fellow Trek actor who also portrayed the character of Andrew Sims in the fifth season of the 90s television series Sisters, Mr. Robert Duncan McNeil and myself. your favorite eternal ensign Garrett Wong remember you can get the full version of this podcast by signing up to become a patron at patreon.com 4 slash the Delta Flyers you were wondering what the heck I was leading up to you're like what is he talking about that is that is very funny that I was like Andrew Sims Sims and I was like wait a minute what I did that I could not recall and it's so funny you mentioned sisters yeah because

was when I played tennis with Jim Conway recently. Did he direct that? Oh, no, but he, yes, he did direct sisters. I think he produced it as well.

He worked at the studio. Oh, because he brought that up. And I was like, oh my God, I did that show. And so we were just talking about sisters, me and Jim Conway,

which is one of those like obscure little soapy, you know, 80s, 90 shows. Yeah. Were your scenes with Suzy Kurtz, Salah Ward, Julianne Phillips, Patricia Calimber. Like, who were they with?

Did you remember? I don't remember. Oh, my goodness. I don't even remember the story. I remember shooting. Were you a love interest? Were you a love interest? I think I was like a temporary, like an episodic love interest, potential love interest.

Okay. I think there was a daughter character. One of the sisters had a daughter. Right. Who was on a date with this. I think I was maybe only in one or two scenes. Like I went and met them at their house. Yeah.

and then went out to a restaurant with them, and we filmed it at Warner Brothers in the commissary at night. Oh, nice. I do remember filming it in the commissary because I was like, this is crazy. Yeah, they made it. And eventually, when I'm directing and producing Chuck at Warner Brothers a few years later, or 10, 15 years later, we use that commissary all the time for restaurants.

That's insane. Every time I go in there with Chuck to film the scene, I'd go, oh, I remember the first time when I did sisters and I was in this... We did the same thing. Did Paramount rent out their commissary to TV shows as well? I don't recall that.

I think they did, but you know, on Star Trek, we never had contemporary, like... Yeah, all of our stuff. We could not, we couldn't... It was very rare that we went to like the back lot to film or anything, you know what I mean? Yeah, that's true. Yeah.

It's true. But we did have our Christmas party at the commissary for Star Trek. we did we did last season yes when i couldn't uh when my nightclub connections fell through uh oh that's right you had a you had it was all set up and then we got bumped because someone else came in with more money so i was like oh my gosh what are you doing because i got a i got us a deal on well that garden of eden was what it was so that that that christmas party yeah was kind of the cast gift to the crew that's where it was yes we wanted to have have have a

something where it was really fun for everybody at Christmas and they could bring their kids and dance and we ended up at the commissary. It was great. And we ended up getting that indoor, that inflatable laser tag thing for the kids. Do you remember that? I do remember that. Yeah. That was fun. Yeah. So it was a good time. It was a good plan B backup plans. Yes. Okay. All right. So this week's episode is survival instinct. We just came off of watching a very tense, filled equinox part one and two with a highly questionable morality story, basically. Ethics, morality involved. And now we're on to survival instinct. So season six, Gary. Season six, man, second episode of season six. I can't believe we've already come this far. It's it's amazing. I can't either. I really can't.

Yeah. I feel like in this podcast journey, I'm having similar feelings to when we did the show. Because I remember when we came into season six, we started to go, oh, we're on the downhill side. We kind of knew. We see the finish line. We saw the finish line. Yeah. Once we got a couple seasons in, we felt pretty confident we were going to make it the typical seven that.

That was what Paramount wanted out of the Star Trek shows back there, seven seasons. Right. So we had a lot of confidence. in those middle years that oh yeah we got years of this but then by season six we were all kind of coming in going oh yeah this is the downhill we're we got to start thinking about plans future plans yeah because that was uh season six is is that 99 or 2000 at that point maybe 2000 probably 99 and 2000 over that spread yeah all righty so let's go uh let's go watch this and now we'll be right back with our Recap and Discussion of the episode, Survival Instinct.

Robbie and I are back from watching Survival Instinct. And yes, we are. You were right. Ron Moore wrote. I can't believe it. And I was right on my backup, Terry Windell. So I got that one. Oh, that's crazy.

That's right. Yeah. So we both kind of got together. Terry, I looked up, he ended up directing like 10 episodes of our show. Yeah. But it's interesting because he directed 10 of our show, one of Enterprise, and then nothing else again. He's done, he went back to visual effects. No way, really?

Yeah, yeah. So our show was really the, you know, the only directing except for one episode of Enterprise that he ever did, which is kind of interesting. I'm curious why it's also interesting that I didn't know when I looked at his vision. Visual Effects credits. Maybe I knew back when we did the show, but I had forgotten that he was in the Viz Effects department on Masters of the Universe. What?

Yeah. Oh, my goodness. Yeah. So Michael Westmore, Terry Wendell, all these people. A lot of our crew, a lot of people. Anthony DeLongas, my old teacher. And also, gosh, what was Anthony's name on our show? Remember Cooper, the red-headed electrics, electrician?

He was the lighting guy. I think it was Brian Cooper, Coop, he used to call him. What about? He was on Masters. He, he, he got it. Yeah. No. Yeah.

Coop was running the, uh, the Voyager, um, football pool for many, many years after yeah, we wrapped the show. So Coop and I stayed in touch for a while. Oh, that's, um, yeah, that's, so there's a, it's a small world. It's a master's reunion is what it is. Yes, it is. Okay. Okay. So written by Ron Moore, season six, he's in show running for. a brief moment.

Yeah. Directed by Terry Wendell. Let's talk about our guest stars real quick. Guest stars, we had Vaughn Armstrong again. I mean, he's, you know, he's... He's another one of Berman's faves, I guess. You know, he's a workhorse. He is a workhorse.

He's done a ton of things outside of Star Trek, but he has done probably as much, if not more than any other actor in terms of different roles on different shows and different movies. But I will say in this episode, this is probably the least amount of prosthetics he's had on his face because usually he's covered. Well, on Enterprise, he was a human. Oh, was a human? Yeah, he was a general or something.

Oh, look at that. He probably did a dozen, yeah, a dozen episodes of Enterprise. Okay. Yeah, I love Vaughn Armstrong, by the way. Vaughn is great. Most people know him. So I'm not going to go through his whole resume, but we'll talk about his very first job. I would love to know that.

He did an ABC weekend special called The Gold Bug. And those were Saturday morning live action little stories. I actually did an ABC weekend special called Jeter Mason and the Magic Headset. Later though, not in 1977. Not 1977, no, when you were 13, 84, and I was probably, yeah, it was probably, yeah, 84, 85, something like that. wow look at that yes the gold bug that was his auspicious beginnings all right and then we have bertilla damas and what i didn't realize so bertilla was uh she played three of nine or marika wilcara was her yeah that's right uh you know individual name but her board name was three of nine

Bertilla was born in Cuba Her very first job was on a telenovela called Angelica Mi Vida She played Marta Machado So a soap opera Angelica My Life is what that Angelica My Vida

My Vida my life But here's the crazy thing I watched this episode Didn't make any connection Because you have prosthetics on Basically the whole time Right what I didn't realize is I worked with her after Voyager two times I directed her.

You directed her twice after Voyager? Yes, I directed her on a series called The Nine, where she was a recurring character. Oh, my goodness. It was about bank robbers on ABC. Okay. And then I directed her on a show called The Red Band Society, which was about children's hospital ward. Wow. And she played the mom of one of the kids.

And I directed a big episode with her in that. And she didn't bring up anything about... She didn't bring it up. I didn't bring... She probably didn't make the connection either, because I'm sure she didn't. I had no scenes with her in this episode. That's true. It was also...

And yeah, and I was a director, not an actor. So I don't know why she would have, but Bertilla has worked a lot. And I've worked with her now on other shows. Yes. Oh, wow. Tim Kelleher was four of nine, or Pachan, was his individual name, but his work name, four of nine. His very first job was in 1988

in a horror film called Graveyard Shift 2. Okay. That was his beginning. I wonder, because that's not a very common last name. And the only other person that I know who has that name is the CEO of Southwest Airlines. I wonder if there's any relation. They're probably related somewhere.

I think Tim Kelleher was from the Bronx. He's from New York. so okay and he's i think he's married now to a very successful author writer canadian writers oh wow yes and i think tim has also written some books i noticed as well okay we could talk about these actors and you know forever but but his first job was a graveyard shift to the classic part of him i love it we also had scarlet palmers in the in the show love when she's in the show and we had another actor named jonathan breck played the dying borg he was the one that had that moment with there seven, you know, he died in her arms and looking at her eyes.

And Jonathan Breck played that. His first job was in 1998. So he just started acting right before this. Yes. Before this episode. 1998, a TV movie called I Married a Monster. Huh. Yes.

All right. And that was with Richard Bergey, I think, and Susan Walters. Classic TV. I've worked with both of those actors before. Jonathan Breck, there you go. There's our actors. Well, thank you for that information. Let us now do our poetry synopsis.

Okay, here's my haiku for survival instinct. Here we go. Yes, sir. Ex-Borg drones still linked. Tom and Harry kick rackets. Not much time, but free. Oh, that's nice. Yeah, it's sad, too.

Yeah, and it got Tom and Harry in there, which is. It did. That was most important. favorite part of this episode that scene i said that scene ends down the best scene in this episode was tom and harry i'm i'm not gonna lie it was a good scene with you i agree with you and even if i wasn't if i didn't play tom if i didn't play if i didn't play harry and you didn't play tom i would still say that was the best scene it was a good scene yeah it's funny it's wonderful uh here we go with our limerick synopsis yes please for survival instinct mm-hmm seven is visit

by her past collective, becoming individuals is their only objective. Tom and Harry broke some bones. Seven learned to link the drones. Just surviving or thriving is actually very subjective. Oh. Thinking man's limerick thing. I like that. Yeah.

Good job. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. All right. Let's jump right into this. Right in. First scene, we get this aerial shot of some plant.

planet. We don't know what's going on. Very lush, though. Very lush planet. Yeah, jungly. We see a Borg sphere flying into the atmosphere. And it crashes and explodes in the distance. It was a cool shot. Yeah, I like it. We cut to the wreckage in the jungle. We see some Borg searching through the wreckage. Yeah. And then we reveal seven of nine in full Borg. Yes. Sevens in full Borg. Bet she loved that. Oh, I bet she hated that. Yes. They all gather up near this injured drone and assess the situation and their, you know, their ship is, you know, in pieces.

And their link has been severed from the collection. Yes. And they talk in unison, which I thought was kind of cool. Yeah. You know, Vaughn Armstrong and Bertilla and they and Jerry, they all talk in unison saying no directional coordinates available and it's uh you know they're they're still kind of talking with each other but they say they're not linked they don't know where they are right and my first thought was wow they're all talking normally when we see drones they never speak that's correct like usually it's

you know it's just like jerry talking and they're silent right they're like atomatons yeah so already it was like oh these are going to be characters because they don't usually let write lines for borgs unless they're going to be part of the story Yeah, but they all assess the situation. They realize, or seven realizes that part of the sphere is going to explode. So they decide to skedaddle and get out of there. We jump to a captain's log. By the way, when they skedaddle, they drag that injured drone.

Yeah, they take the injured drone with them. That's right. Because that's going to be important later. Yeah, we get a captain's log. Yeah. Now we have a captain's log from Janeway saying that we have docked at the Marconian outpost. And Janeways agreed to mutual visits.

So basically, it's sort of like open house on Voyager. Exactly what I said. Open ship. It's like, come on down. Take a love. It's a party. Cultural exchange. She talks about this cultural exchange.

Yeah, there's so many people. By the way, on the aerial shot, the space shot, when we see Voyager docked. Yeah. I thought, oh, we're at a space station. And Ron Moore just took over the show from DS9, a space station. Oh, yeah. Look at that connection. Oh, I wonder if this story came out of, he was in the head space of, oh, space stations.

People always have to come and. Right. And this was his segue into Voyager from D.S.9 to Voidder. That's interesting. Yeah. Also, when you do see Voyager docked, it's got that lovely sunset glow. Oh, yeah. It's beautiful lighting.

It's that sunset lighting, that golden hour. Yeah, it looks really cool. Definitely. So anyway, in this captain's log, other than. knowing that, you know, the ship is open to anybody. She also notes that Tuvok has objected to the fact that there are so many visitors on the ship. He's not happy about that. And now we cut over to the bridge. And it is so, I've never seen the bridge that crowded. There's people everywhere. And by the way,

I thought, this is our bridge. Like, I've been on to the bridge of ships before because I've been able to film on them or whatever. Yeah. They're very careful. careful about the bridge like do not touch do not you know right and here we've got like 50 unknown aliens just right bouncing around I'm with Tuvac on this yeah I agree I agree I mean I mean there's field trips going on left and right and come on it's it but then we see Chacote walking through the crowd and the minute I saw him holding that I go oh that thing I do remember that problem yes that prop which evidently you know he talks about it being super heavy but it was plastic and you can tell it looks like it's plastic too so but he's

trying to make his way through and it's so awkward um it's falling over the place he finally makes his way to the captain's ready room and enters where we find jane way being somewhat devoured by this plant in a way it's sitting on her desk it's all over her it's in her hair it's on her face and she just she can't even she's but the thing is she's in she's in a she's an great mood. She's really got good energy. Her energy is totally, yeah, she's, she's happy. She doesn't mind that the plant's sort of

grabbing at her. And Chikote says, look, look what I've got, this really awkward gift from the Canbori. The thing that Chukotay was carrying reminds me of like, you know, sometimes you've seen people's yards, those wind wind arch. It's like, yeah, it's like you put

something in your yard and it's got different things that will rotate around, of different levels. It reminded me of that. One of those. Everything's turning and what, you know, it's, but it's all connected to the center post or something. That's what it reminded me of. Yeah, that or some really weird alien menorah, like, you know, the Jewish candles. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, what is happening here? But, um, so this is a gift from the Kenbori delegation and evidently it's used in some type of ritual game that they play. Um, so then

Janeway and Chocote banter for a second. Then Tuvac enters. And he's got this look on his face where he's very annoyed. And he has a pad. And on this pad, he hands to Janeway, is his security report, which has all these infractions. And the people, things have been pilfered, you know, things are broken. Things are stolen. Yes, there's some stolen things.

It's got some damage to the ship scanner relays. Yeah. Crew members' personal items have been taken. Yeah. Yeah. And Janeway's still very, very relaxed about it. Yeah. It's not that big of a deal. Still thinks this is a good idea. By the way, she says to Jacote, she's got some, she says, we should give them a gift. And she hands Chacote, it looks like a binder with like a, like a technical manual. I was like, what is that like a manual for something? Is she giving away like how the ship? What is that? Is that her journal? I don't know. was going to say that it was a signed script it was a science script yeah i was going to say maybe it was a you know maybe the whole crew of voyager got together made a calendar it was like a like a firefighter's calendar that we posed for them you know or something maybe it was a voyager so did i did i pose seductively

with my clarinet in one yes i think you did like that rose i think you do okay all right and then you're leaning up against your your what is it you're leaning up against a con yeah man spreading now No, no, the car that you're working on. What kind of car was that? What was that? It was a truck. Camaro? And there was a Camaro.

Yeah, the Camaro. So maybe you're kind of like, you know, you're leaning up against your Camero. Camaro, yeah. That's what it is. Yeah, I like it. In our calendar, the Boisier calendar that we give them. We give them as a gift because that's going to really impress them. They'll love that.

So, and every time Janeway says, well, that's not a big deal. Tuvok goes, there's another page. And she goes, oh, okay. Well, that's, well, these are a little bit more. serious, but I'm still fine with it. She's fine with it. She's fine with it. Another page, yeah. So it keeps on going. Tuvot finally says, well, I am pleased that you're pleased.

But the way he says it is so, so, so opposite of how he's so dry. Oh, yeah. So dry. So dry. Yep. I love at the very end, she's, she says, Chikote, it's got me by the hair. Yeah. She's like tangled up in the plant. It's a funny scene. I, I like the energy of the scene as we started. It was good. It is. And all I could think about with that plant is that plant basically was like a cat. You know, cats are just all over the place. Yes. Yeah. That's what I felt. That's what I think. All right. Astrometrics. And we have seven or nine busy, busy, busy, completing her analysis of the

station's power conversion matrix. And little Naomi is there saying, you know, it's now 1245 at lunch. it's it's you you said we would have lunch and uh seven's like no this is going to take me for a while it take me a while to finish this um analysis all i can't do it yeah all i could think of when i watch these scenes with seven and scarlet palmers and jerry rye jerry's in like seven inch heels and she's already six feet tall basically and scarlet i forgot how young she was like yeah something about her in this scene with these scenes with jerry the height difference is insane. In fact, there's a later scene in the hallway

where they had to put the camera down real low to be able to hold the two of them walking in the hallway. I was like, that's really low. They placed that on the ground, basically. She's two feet tall and Jerry's six, seven feet tall with her heels. But it's cute. I love these scenes. It brings out good stuff in seven with the scarlet there.

Naomi says to seven, you promised. And at that point seven relents and says, line. We'll go. We now catch up with them in the corridor, which is still filled with these guests everywhere. It's a little much. It's sort of like, really, guys, you know, let's find like a cargo bay to kind of spread out a little bit. Because it felt like a nightclub. Like, you're trying to get down the whole of a, you know, they were in line for Club Tuvok. I know that. They were waiting. And there was a, there was a bouncer there and very exclusive. That's what it was. That's what it was. But clearly, they're in the way.

And Naomi says, excuse me, multiple times. No one listens. And seven now quickly barks out the order. Stand aside. And the sea of individuals just parts. I got to say when she says, stand aside. Yeah. The camera did what's called a snap zoom.

So they were on a long lens on a zoom. Yep. So you see all this foreground. And then she says, stand aside. And as everybody freezes and moves back, the camera quickly snapped out into a wide shot. Oh, okay. I got to say I didn't like that shot. Okay.

I don't, it's one of those shots. It would have been stronger on a cut for me. If you had been in tight on seven going, stand out of the way and cut hard to a wide shot with everybody's moving back. Yeah. Would it felt more like our show. Yeah. The snap zoom where it kind of whooshes out, it feels like a 1972 low budget film or something. I just didn't, I didn't like that shot.

You didn't buy it. I got to be honest, yes. Well, be honest. That's what you're here for. Okay. Okay. All right. Good point.

We head to Mess Hall, and right off the bat, there's, again, a thousand people in Mess Hall. We hear, we see Neelix for the first time. Neelik says, I'm sorry, there's no more marsupial surprise. And all I could think about was kangaroos being cooked. It was like, oh, my goodness. Everyone was really sad. Even our Voyager crew members. They were so disappointed.

They hung their heads. No more marsupial surprise. Oh, my gosh. It seems like this group of people are the only ones that like Neelix's cooking so far in Syrac. They seem to like it a lot more than normal. Okay. Yes.

We catch up with Seven and Naomi. They're sitting down and they're eating their food. Naomi spots an alien. Do you think they were? were eating marsupial surprise? I don't think so. Did they get lucky and get that the one dish that Neelix is so good at that everybody's. I looked at their platter. It didn't look like there was a kangaroo on there. No. No morecipial surprise for Naomi and seven. Oh well. Marcipio surprise. Is that something that we could come up with in our store? A dish. Marsupial surprise jerky or something like

that? I don't know. Okay. So little Naomi notices an alien and says to seven that's a chivalian right uh and then seven says yes that is and then little naomi so species five two one and then seven kind of gives her a little heck there she says your mother would not approve of this and i don't approve of you emulating the borg and learning borg designations and then seven talks about not enjoying crowds she's not happy about being there and so she's done with lunch well she says i don't enjoy crowds it reminds her of the borg collective. Yes.

And that's kind of important that she's, you know, that we, we establish that she's, her point of view now about the Borg is she doesn't want, you know, Naomi to be a part of it. She doesn't, it's not a good memory. Correct. Correct. So when they're about to leave, an alien walks up and asks seven if she is seven of nine. She says, yes. Vaughn Armstrong.

Vaughn Armstrong. Spoiler alert. Vaughn Armstrong. And then the other thing I was thinking. is she was, everyone in that group was part of her nine people in that small, you know, Unimatrix one. Wouldn't she have recognized Vaughn? You know, I mean, I would, I would, I'm sorry, if I was part of that.

Well, we recognize Vaughn because we've seen them in shows and conventions. I wasn't in a collective with them. So yeah, you're right. I'm saying, like I think seven shit. The fact that I would have liked to have seen seven had a little bit of like day Javu, like, wait a minute. Yeah. I can't, I can't picture, well, I don't know where to place you, but you are in my memory.

I don't know how. I, some of that. But it was almost like she, this was a complete stranger. She's like, yes, I'm seven. How may I help you? And he's like, well, how about this? And he opens up this case filled with Borg synaptic relays. And then she has this rush of memories and emotions, everything starts flowing through her.

And she's wondering, like, where did you get this? And he says, oh, I acquired them from a trader from Orundall 5. And I thought you being a former drone that you'd be interested in these. And she says, yes, I'll take these. Janeway, Captain Janeway will reimburse you for this, no problem. And she doesn't even give him like an invoice or anything like that. She just walks away with them, you know. It must really trust her.

Yeah, very much so. And so she's gone. And she doesn't even, does she even say goodbye to Naomi? me? I don't even think she does. I don't think so. Just cruises both. No, she stays there because she asks Vaughn,

what is your name? He doesn't say Vaughn and he doesn't say two, which is his designation. Yes. He just looks at her and then walks away and little Naomi says, well, how rude. How rude. In another part of the mess hall,

they now, too, has some type of telepathic conversation. Yeah, you think it's telepathic at first and then it cuts to another woman, but because it was Vaughnard. Armstrong. I knew it was, it had to be some Borg. They still had Borg in them. Right. So we see the other two members of the Borg Unimatrix 1 that's survived. It's number three and four that are somewhere else on the ship, clearly. And now they're talking about, okay, she's going to study them. Her regeneration

alcove is in cargo bay two. We should prepare stage three. So they have a plan. Clearly, there's some type of Oceans 11 going on with these three. We don't know what it is yet. And now, we have a bit of a flashback back to the planet surface. And four of nine says that they shouldn't be desecrating the body of this drone. It's against the will of Brodera. And then the question, one of the other drone says, Brodera, who is that? Who's brother? Yeah, yeah. Vaughn answers, supernatural deity worship by species 571. And four says, I am a member of species 571. two then asked for wait you just said i do you consider yourself to be an individual and now this is the beginnings of yes all the all the little seven and seven's like we're not she's not

a part of seven seven's going we're not out she's not individuals we're a collective yeah she's like you shut up you shut up you no no no no you know and she's fighting it every way but these other three drones are exploring their individuality now the beginnings of their or their old individuality. So good scene. We jump over to Cargo Bay 2, where we have a scene with Torres and 7, and Torres is there to help. Yeah, which is very rare.

We don't see Balana helping 7. And not in the cargo bay. She's usually in engineering, if you see the tool, right? But I also have to note, we have, once again, Torres and her curly hair. Sluffy hair. Maybe she's still thinking about Burke or something. Or, I don't know. Maybe.

Your favorite guy, Burke. Yeah. So, you know, basically, Torres says, look, it's just a standard Borg synaptic relay. Seven goes, no, there's something else going on here. There's more with this. I was overwhelmed.

Yeah. Images, memory, sounds. And Torres says, well, maybe it's just nostalgia that you experience. Sentimental feelings about the past and seven snaps at her. Snapsider. I know what that is.

Yeah, she's really. I, yes, I understand nostalgia. Yeah. It's not nostalgia and Belana's like, okay, all right, I'm out of here. Yeah, yeah. And then seven stops her before she leaves and she apologizes. Kind of apologizes. And Barana says, you know, you may not have nostalgia, but you've got some kind of strong feelings.

Yeah. Yeah. We jump to Mess Hall. Yep. And we have the three X drones are discussing whether or not to proceed with their plan. Four is hesitant. Four things. And they're speaking telepathically.

So it's another, at the beginning, another reminder that they are connected. They're still somehow, but they don't have the board, just to be clear, right. They've got scars all over their face and things, but you don't see any of the Borg. The implants are all gone, exactly. And they are clearly not connected with the, with the collective, the hive. The hive mind is not there, but yet they can still hear each other. So it's a, it's a mystery. We don't know why.

And we jumped to back to Cargo Bay 2, and 7 is. asking the computer to begin a multi-polar analysis. And it will take over five hours. So I guess that is her cue to, I'll catch a few Zs, have a little regeneration. Go regenerate, which is what our ex-border waiting for, for her to get in the alcove.

So she goes to regenerate. We cut back to the mess hall, and these guys sense it, because they've tapped in the internal sensors. So they sense it. They've rerouted the internal sensors. We go to the bridge. We go to the bridge,

and Tuvok gets an alert, like something's up yeah yeah some something's up in our security system is alerting us of something yeah we cut to the turbo lift inside the three X drones uh two three and four they're riding in the turbo lift aren't they're riding with other people yeah some other people are in there at first then they the door opens the other people get out and as it shuts three says pause or or hold hold hold and she stops the turbo lift and then they reach up as if they're going to go climb into the guts of the ship and do something. We don't know.

So they start reaching up to climb out. Yeah. We go back to the bridge. And now, and Chikote is approaching Tuvok station. And he says, you know, Tuvok, what's up? What's going on? And Tuvok responds, there was a power fluctuation in the security grid. So now they're dialing down on that.

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we go into cargo bay and our three X drones are two three and four we haven't gotten their names yet right and I'm going to call them two three and four because I can't remember their real names let's do it they climb out of some kind of panel in the cargo bay yeah start creeping over to seven back on the bridge chupote's looping janeway into this says they have a security breach they don't know exactly where yet right and then we go back into cargo bay and they are three or two three and four are beginning their this process whatever they're going to do to seven we don't really know yet but they take this interlink module and stick it up on her alcove so they're beginning the interlink process of some kind and then four is like I don't know if we should be doing this

yeah and three says you know what if we fail we will never become individuals right Now we're starting to figure out, like, what they're, they're trying to do. Yeah. They, we saw in the flashback that they were beginning to think like individuals, but it hasn't happened yet. So clearly they need seven for some reason. Yeah. I like that they have to take all these dramatic pauses and get consensus.

They keep saying, you know, like getting, getting heated with each other. And then they stop and there's silence. And they go, we have consensus. Like, they've heard each other. You know, the three of them. are connected. Yeah, and I guess they can't physically proceed with any plan unless they say consensus and they all agree. There must be a lot of like talking going on that we don't hear in the episode. Because they say later on, like it's nonstop talking. Like I just want silence.

Yeah. Yeah. Two injects seven with his Borg tubules into her neck. They start realizing that seven is beginning to regain consciousness. She does regain consciousness, and she is not happy. She fights them off. She knocks Vaughn Armstrong away. The other two try to grab her. But at that moment, Tuvok and a security detail run in and phaser RX drones and knock them unconscious.

And they're down on the ground. I think dramatic moment with Tuvon and Seven at the end. I got to say, like, when Seven wakes up and the little fight sequence that happens there and Tuvok coming in with the shooting him. It was not a very dynamic action sequence to me. Right. Yeah. It felt very static and it didn't move much.

It didn't move much. It was a pretty quick, quick and dirty. Yep. Not very dynamic. There was no sense of, oh my gosh, seven's in trouble. Yeah. Because she, you know, open her eyes, took all three of them out. Yeah.

Almost. Yeah. But Terry could have been running out of time, too. This could have been the last shot of the day. And he's like, look, let's just, let's just. let's just get this done you know this was my original plan scrap it let's go ahead and shoot it this way yeah yeah for sure yeah and now do we have flashback on planet surface yeah we go back to planet planet surface i i thought this was some type of alien gazelle that they had um interesting i i thought

it was an animal not until i you know kept rewinding it i realized and then i read the script also online this is a piece of the dead drone that they pick out yes that's disgusting it is it is absolutely disgusting so because he does say something like what is it's a biomatter is ready the biometer is ready they didn't say they didn't say we are now about to eat six of nine they didn't say that oh that's gross i didn't know that i figured it was an animal too i thought it was too and then i read the script it was like Yeah, they're taking a piece of the deceased drone, basically. And I was like, ugh, yuck.

Anyway, three says, this reminds me of a bird I ate. And then all of a sudden, all of them start having these memories of their past life. Yeah, they're having all these individual memories. She remembers seven even. Yeah. Seven even remembers. She says, I remember being very afraid. Yeah.

Which is important, actually. That is also important. Correct. She says, I remember being afraid. Three remembers her name. This is a Marika, Marika Willcarra. Four remembers his name, Pachan. Pachan, yeah.

Two remembers Lansor is his name. Is it Lansor? Yeah, Lansor. And they all start. Is it Lansor? Sensor, censor, Lansor, Lansor. Lansor. You want to say it the way Tuvok says it?

Yes, I pull a full, full Tuvok. Yes, I do. But they do all say that they hate the board, which is interesting. Very much so, because they really haven't been detached from the collective that long. And immediately, we hate the board. And seven, at that point, she's like, this is irrelevant data. Yeah.

No more access of memory files. And she's getting heated here. Yeah, no, translation, blasphemy. Irrelevant data was blasphemy from her to the rest of the drones. Yes. She says, no more access to the memory files. They do agree at this point. Okay, fine.

Yep. So they're back. We think that, you know, things are back under control. And that flashback, we go to the sick bay. Yeah. They're on the biobeds. They're all, our two, three, and four are on the biobeds. The doctor's explaining that they had their Borg technology removed,

but they had a very poor surgeon. Their internal organs have been damaged a bit. They've been disconnected from the collective for three or four months, he says. But they're still connected. as a triad. So their brains are somehow acting as an interleague node for the three of them. Yeah. Which they don't understand.

What's also interesting is that on the biobeds, they're laying in order. Two is on the first one. Three's in the middle and four is in the last biobed. So I was like, oh, that's cute. They're all in order. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.

They wake up, though. Janeway says, all right, let's try to find out what happened. How is this happening? Because the doctor doesn't understand. why they're connected to each other, but they're not connected to the collective. So they wake them up. They tell Janeway that they want to be disconnected from each other,

that they can't stop hearing each other's voices in their heads. And they describe being connected in the collective, like white noise. I think seven says that actually. Because if there's millions of voices, then that's like white noise. But then when you only have three, You hear every single word. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I thought that was an interesting way of describing it.

Mm-hmm. We do learn in the scene that eight years ago, their vessel crashed. Right. And they just, they want to know how their subgroup was created. Seven ultimately says that maybe in her memory files, the key to understanding how this link was formed might be there, and that could show them how they could undo it. if seven could go back in her memory files.

I think she also suggests to, she wants to examine the other, the other X drones memory files. Yeah, examine theirs. Yep. And, you know, maybe in her memory files or in their memory files, they can go back.

So she's willing to let them access her memory files in order to figure this all out. So seven takes our three X drones to cargo bay two. A data cable is plugged into the back of four's head. And Seven says, are you ready? And four is ready. Four says yes. And Seven says, well, the data search is complete.

Do you remember anything further? Four says, no. My last memory is of us standing around the campfire. And Seven says, well, that's interesting. The data files in your cortical process appear to be intact. I see no evidence that would explain your lapse in memory. And two also says, well, what about you? Why don't you remember what happened?

Seven doesn't know. She's completely close as well. All she remembers is the campfire. She does remember the campfire like this. Yes, but she also has the same lapse in memory at this point. Yep. And now the question then comes out, why do they still call you seven? Bon Armstrong, two, ask seven this.

It says, why don't you use your human name, your real name? Exactly. She's like, nope, I chose to keep my board designation because my childhood name. My former name was not appropriate is what she says. Because I was a kid, basically because she was a kid and she really doesn't have memories. That's right. These guys were adults. When they were assimilated.

So they have much bigger memory files, if you will. Then we have some interesting dialogue between 3, 7, 2, and 4. 3 says, well, I can't wait to use my real name again. And 7 says, well, there's nothing preventing you from doing so. And 2 says, well, except that most of the time I don't know whether my name is Marika or Pachan or Lance or these names, these memories, they're all blending together and they all believe that it's hard for them

to really share a real emotion or have a real emotion because of the fact that they are all interlocked together that it's not a true individual emotion it's almost like a shared emotion Yeah, you really feel in this scene

the kind of confusion and the pain, how difficult it is that it's just the three of them like Seven Set and Sickbay with millions of us it was white noise and so it was comforting, but this is, this is too small a collective, the three of it, to just be one of three.

Yes. And they don't feel Borg, because that would be millions, and they don't feel human, which would be, or, you know, or an individual. They don't feel that. They're just, they're nothing is basically what they say. They're in between two worlds, right? So they're not Borg, they're not individuals. They're right in between.

and this is why these three are tormented. You know, they want to get past this. They want to live life the proper way. We then jump to a very fun scene, and Robbie and I both agree that this is probably the best scene in the entire episode in Janeway's ready room. Voyager still docked. We see the ship still docked, and then we hear her say.

She says, a friendly game. And it shows Paris with a black eye. Harry Kim was a cut lip and then Paris says well that's how it started and so evidently we you and I were checking out the station yes Tom and Harry are bruised up yeah Janeway says something like skip their you know Paris has this this excuse of well we were trying to culturally exchange yeah he has this long and she's like skip the recruiting speech you were looking for a bar yeah yeah it's like yeah we were yeah Yeah, yeah. So basically, Kim says, yeah, we found a bar. We met a pair of Kimbori who told us about this game that they play with these big, funny looking rackets. And then Janeway goes, you mean one of those? She points behind. And we both look back. And in unison, as a duo that we are, we both say, yeah. And I thought that was good. We timed that well. Yes, we do. You owe me a Coke. And then Paris says, well, in any case, they challenged us to a game. We accepted. But I guess we weren't really aware of all the rules. Janeway. goes because you were drinking and Paris says yes ma'am you see we thought it was a version of tennis but as soon as we hit the first volley yeah the Kim boy hit it to us and then we hit it back to them and then they came jumping over the net and they attacked us yeah started fighting and

then we thought fighting was part of the game and then we're fighting and it was a disaster she's like you're you both are confined to your quarters for yeah but it wasn't just us she when she reads it Because Kim says, well, things got a little out of hand. And Janeway says, a little out of hand. Seven Voyager crewmen, including two bridge officers, along with 13 Kimbori and one Morfinian cafe owner, all arrested. So this is a huge to do. Basically, it was a riot slash brawl that began because of Paris and Kim.

So we are, we are confined to quarters after we go to sick pay to get fixed up. And, and I just love, that's such a great ending, ending little tag where, yeah, she stops us as we're leaving. Did you win? Yeah, did you win? Yeah, did you win? Paris says, oh, yes, oh, yes, ma'am. So you got your yes, ma'am in.

And then Kim says, we kick their rackets, which is a nice little dialogue there. And we're dismissed. Yeah. But again, we head out. Good scene. Very good scene. We head out seven's coming in. Seven comes in.

Yes, that's right. And she tells Janeway, they still have a gap. in their memories, you know, maybe the collective didn't want them to remember. You know, they sort of speculate on like, why can't they remember what is this missing gap in time? Maybe the collective didn't want them to remember, but there's still three of them linked together. Right. And Seven says, well, what if I get linked with them? Maybe I can help fill in the gaps. Right. And, you know. And they talk about the dangers of maybe she gets locked into this triad, which then will become

a quartet, basically, where that she can't get out of it. And Seven says that she feels not compelled, but she feels almost, what's the word I'm looking for? Indebted to? Yeah, something like that. She feels like this is part of her duty.

She wants to help these former drones. Exactly. And Janeway says at the end of the scene, she says, there's an old saying seven, blood is thicker than water. Yeah. that sometimes for friends we're willing to, you know, go above and beyond and do things. I got to comment on two

things in the scene. One thing is the lighting seemed very different in a ready room to me. I don't know what it was, but it seemed very... From other episodes? Moody, yeah. But it was nice. I liked it, but it seemed... And then I thought, well, why is it different? Oh, but maybe because we're at the space station. But then I started

thinking through the logic, and I was like, the outside when we've seen the ship docked, we know where the bridge is and the ready room is on the right side of the ship or at least would face that way. We should see out the windows of Janeway's ready room, the space station. And we didn't. We don't see the station. But maybe they were lighting it like it was around the corner. But it would have been cool. Yeah. I feel like that was a missed opportunity. You could have seen out the windows of her ready room, the space station out there

and had some cool different lighting. Yeah. Anyway, the lighting sort of threw me and it led me down that rabbit hole of why oh yeah there could have been that so yeah anyway anywho next scene we go to the hallway yeah uh this is naomi catching up to seven this is where i noticed that low angle i think it was like she was so short seven seven was so tall but she says uh Naomi says you know i heard about these drones and um did they hurt you she's concerned yeah she's concerned I'm not damaged, yeah. They're seeking information from me. I'm uncertain whether I can help them.

And Naomi is like, we'll be careful. And then out of the blue, Seven looks at Naomi and says, Naomi, do you consider me to be family? Naomi says, well, yes, is that okay? And Seven's like, I have no objection. And Naomi goes, do you think of me as family? And Seven says, yes. So it's a cute little scene right there between those two.

And you see Seven is starting to understand this blood is thicker than Water saying that, you know, that that friendship and connection and all of that is really growing for seven in this. She's starting to get it on Voyager. Yeah. We got a captain's log supplemental. She says that seven of nine has decided to undergo the procedure that will link her mind with the other drones. Despite the risk involved, she feels an obligation to help these distant cousins as how she says it. And now we're back in Cargo Bay 2 and the doctor is also in Cargo Bay 2. Yes.

He's going to, yeah, he's going to monitor. He says he's going to monitor. The beginning of the scene was funny to me though because the doctor and seven were standing in the foreground looking at each other. Yeah. And as we cut into the scene, all of a sudden the drones, it was like they were in a football huddle and it was like action. And they just started walking, spreading out.

I was like, what were they doing? that suddenly they at this particular moment they decided they have to start walking just as the doctors start speaking. It would have been better if they hung out together for a little while and then drifted. It just felt a little like blocking to me.

Yeah. That first scene. Oh my gosh. The first moment of the scene. Yeah. But anyway, yeah, he says he's going to monitor, but he may not be able to help her. He may not be able to do anything.

Right. He's concerned. He's concerned. But she's good with it. she steps over. I love this moment of ready, ready, ready. You know, they kind of one after the other line up and turn and step into their alcoves.

Yeah. And my note here was like, that's why we have extra alcoves for this episode. For this episode, yeah. I've always wondered, why do we have somebody out? We don't really need that many outcodes. Exactly. So now we have a flashback back to the planet surface. Yep.

Right? Yeah. And the crash, the fire. there's a sound then we we kind of roll through all the stuff we've seen so far with a crash but then um we hear a sound and seven starts walking away from this fire alone it's beep beep beep beep beep kind of beeping sound and she finds this this injured drone yes all by himself and he's bleeding yeah and there's a really you can see the fear and like seven is really emotional and the drone looks, is dying and looks into her eyes and dies while he's looking into her eyes.

And you can see her just freaking out and very emotional. And she comes back. She returns back to the fire. And that Borg, I guess they had like an emergency beacon or something. Yeah, yeah. Four of Nine says the collective has located us. The Borg vessel was on its way. And you see this object.

It's like a suitcase. It's got lights on it and it's beeping in the foreground. Yeah, seven says, we'll be one again with the Borg. And two, Vaughn Armstrong says, nope, I do not want to rejoin the collective. And four is right there with two. Four goes agreed. Seven is like, that's a violation of protocols. Three is like, forget the protocols.

You're not a drone. You're a person like us. You have a name, a life. All you have to do is embrace who you really are. And Seven's like, no, no, I don't exist without part of the greater group, the collective. I'm the that is who I am and this goes on for a little bit back and forth until two picks up the communications beacon and just destroys it throws it on the ground you know he's like you know this is not going to happen and seven is seven response error input failure yeah yes input error yeah and she's not happy no we kind of have a little bit of a montage here of like seven left alone she's pacing around by the fire. She's getting herself wound up.

Because they've all left. Remember all three have said, we're leaving. If you want to rejoin the collective, hang out here and seven doesn't leave. She's, yeah, go ahead. She's pacing. Yeah, she's pacing around. She doesn't leave. And then finally, she starts walking into the woods, into the jungle.

And I think first she finds four and puts tubes into his neck and now this is important. And the nano, she injects the tubules into his left side of his. Yeah, that's right. Because these nanoprobes are going to create a new interlink node in your left hemisphere.

Yeah. And she says this to him, right? She says it while she's doing it. While she's doing it. Yeah. And then we see two kind of running or hiding behind a tree. Yeah. When he came up and his arm went up on the tree, he has this cool mechanical.

It came open. And then, yeah, that was super cool. That was pretty cool. that was a practical gag that was very cool. But she does get him, assimilates him, or puts these nodes into his left hemisphere of his brain. Right.

Does the same to three. And then ultimately makes all three of them state their name and their primary function. And they do now say their primary function is to serve the collective. Right. And then she orders them repair the communications beacon. That's right. That they're going to rejoin the collective.

they're going to wait for this, this rescue team. So then we go back to cargo bay out of this flashback, this memory that we've seen and we see what happened and she's the one that did it. And they're all sort of yelling at her. It's like, it's this shot of their faces. They're all up in her face and they're two, three, four. Yeah, blaming her. I wonder if they scripted all of this or if they had them just sort of improving.

I don't know. I doubt they had an improv. Probably not. Yeah. but they were yeah the camera's whipping and then finally seven says somebody help me she yells somebody helped me right and that's when uh two vok enters and uh the doctor says that they what does he say he says something somehow they broke their link with seven and yeah they're malfunctioning malfunctioning he says help me get them to sick base so now they are so clearly they were

not conscious. Yeah, they're still in there. They're still in the alcove. So that image of them yelling at her is basically, they're in her mind yelling at her. That's what I assumed, right?

So they weren't physically doing that. But they did break the link. They're malfunctioning. They have to go to sick bay. We now are in sick bay and the doctor is essentially informing seven that, yeah, once they broke that link, now they really,

if we revive them, Essentially, they're going to have a couple weeks left of lifespan. That's it. Because everything's broken right now. But we can save their lives if we reintegrate them and return them to the collective. And Seven's like, yeah, you know, you can look at the look on her face. She's not happy that this is what's going to, this is the other option. And the doctor keeps saying, but they be alive.

This is my job. My responsibility is to prolong their lives. as long as possible. And then we jump to the astrometrics lab, where Seven is still struggling with this decision. And Chacote's there. And there's this huge conversation between Seven and Chocote talking about

what to do with these drones, you know? So Chocote says, why did you act differently when this happened? Like they had a certain reaction. They wanted to be individuals. Why did you not want to be an individual? Why did you want to stay part of the collective? and she says she's starting to realize finally.

It's because she was assimilated as a little girl. Yeah. So her memories just weren't as deep. Like she didn't have so much to draw on that was drawing these people to their lives, their names, who they were. And also her memories were of being afraid as a little girl, correct? And she's, yeah, she says she panicked. Yes.

Like when she started having memories of her childhood, she started panicking. And so she implanted these nanoprobes. in their left hemisphere to create, to bind them back together. So she wouldn't be alone, you know? And a lot of that happened. I think the trigger was seeing the drone die in front of her. That drone dying in front of her caused her to just think about her own mortality and dying and being alone with no sound of any drones to comfort her.

So that's what made her force the other drones to return to the collective. And Chakotay's like, well, you know, you were overwhelmed by feelings that you could, couldn't begin to understand. So you're not responsible for that. But 70 goes, well, because of what I did, now they're going to be forced to live the rest of their lives in the collective. So she feels, you know, a lot of guilt right now. And the other thing I find really interesting in this scene is she sort of reveals that she erased the evidence of doing this, of, of, you know, putting these nanoprobes in their left hemisphere, whatever her plan was, was to bind them back together and then not get caught. And she's remember she's like this this situation has caused

her to have to remember and face some of those things. And Chocote at the end of the scene ultimately says a month is an individual or a lifetime as a drone. What would you choose? And that's he leaves her with that. Yeah. Like if you could have a short amount of time, but truly be yourself. That's right. Or a lifetime as sort of prisoner, what would you choose? That's right. That to me, that's the heart of the episode. I thought this was a nice scene, too, between Beltran and Jerry. There was nice relaxed chemistry in the scene. It was nice to, it feels like the beginnings. I've never seen him that relaxed before because he's sitting, he's sitting on the astrometrics platform there. Yeah. Just kind of casually leaned over and leaning on. Yeah. It's just not quintessential Chikote.

Yeah. It's very different, very different. But I liked it. I like that. Yeah. Then we go back to sick bay. This is where seven returned. She says survival is office. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. She says survival is insufficient. Terminate this link. Let them be individuals. Right. And this is where the doctor says, you know, his responsibility is to prolong their lives as long as possible. And he asked seven, he goes, are you doing what's really right for the others? Are you doing the best thing for them? Or are you just trying to alleviate your guilt? Now that you have finally remembered what you did and the fact you tried to hide it and all that. But she kind of comes back.

She says, you know, doctor, once upon a time, you were a lot like a drone. You were stuck, stuck in the sick bay. You couldn't get out. Your program is very limited in your experience. Yeah. But yet you were allowed to grow, grow your program and explore your potential. Yeah. And she says in the scene there's a nice connection between the two of them of, you know, only

you and I can understand that doctor. which being technological kind of characters, that's true. You know, very true. We go out to space next, I think. Voyager's still docked there. And we come back into the mess hall and there are our... With no lights, it seems. It's very dark.

They're all standing by the windows. Our three X drones are standing by the windows and it's quiet for a minute. And then three says, it's so quiet. it. And we start to, you start to realize, oh, they did it. They disconnect to them. And then four says, I had no idea you were going to say that. Yeah. I don't even know what you're either of you were thinking. So it's really, it's, it's, it's, it's bliss. It's true bliss for these. Oh, they seem like they're in bliss. It's a nice. They love it. It's a, I was actually moved by this moment. Yeah. I mean, discovering their individuality for the first time. Yeah.

they got three weeks maybe four weeks max and they know it they know that this is the end they've been told that yeah they know that but they are absolutely in a state of just like i said bliss i mean there's nothing else to explain it they're so happy that they're like that um and everyone says we're off two says i'm gonna i'm gonna go see the space station i'm going to meet new people i'm going to fill my life with life again and in the time that i have left four says i'm leaving also i'm going to an uninhabited planet only a few light years from here but i'm going to spend my my final days in nature out in the open air outdoors yeah yeah outdoors that's all he hugs three turns to seven and he says you know my people don't believe in grudges we don't hold grudges so i wish you well

seven of nine and seven says thank you uh four leaves three turns to uh seven and basically says uh we realize she's bejorin right so she says it's nice to be on our federated Starship again because she also served as a Starfleet crew member in engineering. She says she wants this on the Excalibur, right? She wants to stay here on Voyager. Yeah. And she says she says to Seven though, I can't, I know I can't forgive you. Yeah. But I understand why you did what you did, which is a nice kind of, it's, it's a sense of understanding. Yeah. Of why Seven did what she did. Yeah. And by the way, there was the hug with four the yeah i i feel like he's the younger one yeah between four and three

you mean um yeah yeah i think it was between it was that yes it was that he hugs he hugs three and then turns to seven and then leaves afterwards what about yeah it was very emotional to me i just found that moment to be yeah i you know just to kind of get a sense of what the the the experience would be for these characters. I really, I really liked it a lot. Yeah. Had a lot of heart in it. We go to Astrometrics for our last scene and there's Seven working away as she does. Naomi comes in and wants to hang out and basically she says, I just want to spend time with family. Yeah. Naomi says, I thought you might like some company. Yeah. Seven asked why. Naomi says, well, because of what happened with these drones and Seven goes, well, I see that word travels quickly.

And Naomi says, small ship, but I thought maybe you might just want to spend a little time with some family. I felt like this last scene, because the last image of the episode is seven, we're behind seven and Naomi, seven steps over to the console to start working. And Naomi just steps up beside her shoulder to shoulder. But I wish that we had stayed on that image for a minute and then cut into a tight shot of Naomi's hand going over and just grabbing Seven's hand and holding her hand. to me, that would have been icing on the cake to feel like Naomi knows that seven needs some family love and, you know, blood is thicker than water and all those themes. It would have been a nice detail as opposed to we were so far back. Yeah.

It was pretty to look at the, you know, the backs of them together, but it would have been nice to get in a little tighter. Yeah, it would have been nice tag a moment to have that hand holding. I agree with that. Yeah. Yeah. All right. what's your lesson from this entire episode what are you getting out of this my lesson is the quality of a life and the freedom to choose your own life is more important than how long

you live to me it's you know you can live forever but if you're miserable like what's the point you know i'd rather have true authentic happiness and feel fulfilled and have a shorter life than to live forever and be miserable. That was kind of my, my lesson. Yeah. What about you? Mine's more related to the very, why this whole conundrum,

why this whole situation even started in the first place, which is seven of nine's fear, you know, just, and so the lesson really is not to let fear consume you because fear does make you do things that are irrational, that can cause, you know, major issues like this. like these these three drones were linked against their will yep and it happened because seven let her fear overcome her so really just keep fear in check and realize I just realize fear can make you do things that that will ultimately be not a very good outcome so I like that be

careful that's great okay my rating for this episode yes I liked moments in this episode, but I've got to say overall, it didn't have a lot of our cast involved. Okay. And to go back to my my rule of a good episode, it involves all of us. I'm going to give this a seven.

Okay. It's not a bad episode. It's just not as good as it could have been, I think. Okay. I'm going to go higher than you. I want to go 7.5. Okay. I'm going to go 7.5. Yeah. Let's see what our Admiral and Captain's average rating for, survival instinct is 7.3 right in between us. We're doing it again. Right between us. I like it. That's

crazy. I like it. Wow. All right. I'll go with that. Thank you admirals and captains for your ratings. I feel like we're all kind of between Garrett and myself and you guys. We're all in the same ballpark. Getting close. All right. Well, thank you everyone for tuning in for this week's episode of the Delta Flyers. Join us next week when Rob you and I discuss the episode, Barge of the Dead. Ooh. Patreon patrons, please stay tuned for your bonus material. You know, but

Thank you.