History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E1Caretaker

** B'Elanna raises hell in the Ocampan hospital, showing her volatile temperament that she then blames on her Klingon side, [[InternalizedCategorism showing her issues]] with being a HalfHumanHybrid.

* ShoutOut: The ActionPrologue bears more than a passing resemblance to the opening of ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''Film/ANewHope'' -- an OpeningScroll giving a bit of backstory regarding an ongoing conflict with dramatic music in the background, followed by a pan to a running firefight between a small rebel ship (Chakotay's ''Val Jean'') and a large enemy ship (a Cardassian ''Galor''-class destroyer). Only difference is, the rebel ship ''escapes'', by pulling a TryAndFollow into the Badlands' plasma storms.

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Caretaker. While he feels a sense of duty to care for the Ocampa after his species' intergalactic exploration devastated their homeworld, he does so by turning them into a docile childlike people utterly dependent on him. When he begins to die, he proceeds to abduct, rape and ultimately kill sentient beings from elsewhere in the galaxy in his desperate attempt to produce an offspring to continue his duties, as his female counterpart has long since left him.

-->'''Tuvok:''' My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis activities. [beat] And then deliver you into their waiting hands.

* CharacterDevelopment: A single episode version; Paris starts as a disgraced and somewhat shallow ex-con, and finishes the episode by being promoted to a position of trust after risking his life to save others.

* TheConfidant: Though Tuvok maintains his Vulcan reserve, the closeness of his relationship with Captain Janeway is shown by her pouring out her concerns to him in the privacy of her quarters.

* CriticalStaffingShortage: Another reason for incorporating the Maquis into Voyager's crew.

* DamselInDistress: Neelix cons the crew into rescuing Kes, who is being held prisoner by the Kazon-Ogla. To her credit, Kes insists that they return the favour by helping ''Voyager'' get its missing crew back from the Ocampa.

** B'Elanna is a lot more aggressive than in later episodes. This one at least doesn't get ''completely'' ignored after the pilot, as she still has major anger management issues through most of the first season or so, before later mellowing out (though her temper never truly subsides). This one is likely because the producers realized how badly the B'Elanna portrayed here was slamming into [[YMMV/StarTrekVoyager the same kinds of implications]] that had quietly, then ever more loudly, dogged the re-tooled Klingons for years at that point, and stealthily did a (partial) about-face to avoid having another non-white crewman be "the aggressive one". (They would run into completely ''different'' [[MagicalNativeAmerican racial problems]] instead.)

** Voyager is equipped with two [[FantasticNuke Tricobalt Devices]] which blow up the huge Caretaker Array in two shots. Despite the infamous InfiniteSupplies of ''Voyager'', they're never used again. [[spoiler:However the episode "The Voyager Conspiracy" establishes that those weapons are not standard issue for an ''Intrepid''-class starship, yet beyond Chakotay explaining to Seven that their presence in the ship is unusual, it was never explained why they were equipped onboard ''Voyager''.]]
** ''Voyager'' (and the ''Val Jean'') being outclassed by a single Kazon carrier vessel. [[spoiler:In "Basics - Part 1", ''Voyager'' goes up against several Kazon carrier ships at the same time, destroys one completely with only three photon torpedoes and is able to hold off the others pretty well until they're double crossed by a supposed Kazon defector whose body has been chemically altered into a suicide bomb.]] Though it may be because the Kazon carrier ship got a lucky hit on ''Voyager'' just after it arrived.
--->'''Chakotay:''' Their (Voyager's) weapons array has been hit. They're in trouble.

* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: A meta example -- one of the factors that got Robert Picardo the role of the Doctor is that during his audition, he said the character's line "I believe someone has failed to terminate my program" and then ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a night light." Even better, he didn't even know that was Bones' CatchPhrase (besides "HesDeadJim").

** Tom Paris saves Chakotay and jokes that his life belongs to Tom now. Chakotay responds "Wrong tribe!" but repays the favour by keeping the rest of the Maquis from harassing Tom.

* IronicEcho: Quark tries to hawk some jewellery to Ensign Kim, who says they were warned about Ferengi at Starfleet Academy. Quark is so outraged at this speciesism that Harry offers to buy the whole tray… until Tom points out they're being sold at a fraction of the price elsewhere. As they walk off together, Tom says, "Didn't they warn you about Ferengi at the Academy?"

* ItsPersonal: When Tuvok reveals himself as TheMole, Chakotay accepts that he was [[NothingPersonal just doing his job]], but he immediately rounds on Tom Paris, accusing him of having sold them out for money (which Tom had freely admitted to in his opening scene with Janeway). Tom then volunteers to go on the away mission to search for Harry Kim, to find the only person so far who's actually treated him like a friend.

** Quark tells Harry he acquired the Lobi crystals from "a very strange creature called a Morn." ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' viewers will recognise Morn sitting right next to them.
** Chakotay's ship (not named until the Season 7 episode "Repression") is called the ''Val Jean'' [sic], presumably named by Starfleet officer-turned-Maquis defector Michael Eddington, who in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' episode "For the Uniform" was shown to be obsessed with Jean Valjean, the protagonist of ''Literature/LesMiserables''.

** Janeway destroys the Caretaker Array stranding them on the other side of the galaxy (though Tuvok tells her that it will take several hours to work out the technology involved, all while being attacked by Kazon forces).

----

--> '''Janeway:''' Ensign, despite Starfleet protocol, I don't like being addressed as "sir".\\

'''Janeway:''' "Ma'am" is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer "Captain".\\
\\
'''Janeway:''' Ensign Kim, this is your station. Would you like to take over?\\

* MedicalHorror: When they refuse to accept the holographic illusion created by the Caretaker, Voyager's crew find themselves teleported onto a long line of examination tables, [[AndIMustScream helpless to resist]] when a long needle inserts into their stomach. When Tom and B'Elanna wake up in an Ocampan hospital, they find [[BodyHorror ugly growth scars]] on their body from the Caretaker's experiments.

* YouHaveNoChanceToSurviveMakeYourTime

* The47Society: The energy pulse from the Caretaker Array comes at intervals of 0.47 seconds.

* TryAndFollow: Chakotay flies his ship into a plasma storm in the Badlands to escape a pursuing Cardassian cruiser, which is damaged trying to follow them. Gul Evek puts in a report claiming that he forced the Maquis vessel into the Badlands where it was destroyed, but apparently Starfleet doesn't believe this so Voyager is sent to find it.

* PlotDemandedManualMode: A much larger spaceship is hammering Voyager. So Chakotay sets his even smaller vessel on a collision course, but his guidance system is disabled so he has to pilot it manually. He has Voyager put a transporter lock on him to beam him out at the last second.

* HumanoidsAreWhite: Averted; the Kazon and Occampa are shown to have people of different skin color.

* SingleBiomePlanet: The Occampan homeworld is a desert planet. A JustifiedTrope as this is due to an artificial disaster.

** Chakotay's ship (not named until the Season 7 episode "Repression") is called the ''Val Jean'', presumably named by Starfleet officer-turned-Maquis defector Michael Eddington, who in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' episode "For the Uniform" was shown to be obsessed with Jean Valjean, the protagonist of ''Literature/LesMiserables''.

* MedicalHorror: When they refuse to accept the holographic illusion created by the Caretaker, Voyager's crew find themselves teleported onto a long line of examination tables, helpless to resist when a long needle inserts into their stomach. When Tom and B'Elanna wake up in an Ocampan hospital, they find [[BodyHorror ugly growth scars]] on their body from the Caretaker's experiments.

** B'Elanna is a lot more aggressive than in later episodes. This one at least doesn't get ''completely'' ignored after the pilot, as she still has major anger management issues through most of the first season or so, before later mellowing out (though her temper never truly subsides).

** Voyager being equipped with two [[FantasticNuke Tricobalt Devices]] which blow up the huge Caretaker Array in two shots. [[spoiler:The Voyager Conspiracy episode lampshades that those weapons are not standard issue for an ''Intrepid''-class starship, yet beyond Chakotay explaining to Seven that their presence in the ship is unusual, it was never explained why they were equipped onboard ''Voyager''.]]

** Voyager being equipped with two [[FantasticNuke Tricobalt Devices]] which blow up the huge Caretaker Array in two shots. [[spoiler:The Voyager Conspiracy episode lampshades that those weapons are not standard issue for an Intrepid Class starship, yet beyond Chakotay explaining to Seven that their presence in the ship is unusual, it was never explained why they were equipped onboard Voyager.]]

--> '''Neelix:''' Whoever you are, I found this waste zone first!\\

-->'''Gul Evek:''' Maquis ship, this is Gul Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order. Cut your engines and prepare to surrender or we will d-- ''Chakotay shuts him off)''

* DoYouWantToHaggle: Janeway encounters Neelix scavenging a spaceship debris field, and tries to get his help finding their missing crew. They immediately begin [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow some unsubtle haggling]] towards suitable compensation for his services, which Janeway is surprised to find out is...[[MarsNeedsWater water?]]

* Deflationary Dialogue: Neelix does this a lot.

* VerbalBackspace: Neelix does this a lot.
-->'''Neelix:''' Let me guess. You were whisked away from somewhere else in the galaxy, and brought here against your will.\\
'''Janeway:''' Sounds as though you've heard this story before.\\
'''Neelix:''' Sadly, yes; thousands of times! Well, hundreds of times…maybe fifty times.

** Chakotay's ship (not named until the Season 7 episode "Repression") is called the ''Val Jean'', presumably named by Starfleet officer-turned-Maquis defector Michael Eddington, who in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' episode "For the Uniform" was shown to be obsessed with the protagonist of ''Literature/LesMiserables''.