From left to right: Crewmen Mortimer Harren, William Telfer and Tal Celes, all hand-picked for Janeway's latest away mission. And don't they look just thrilled.
A Lower-Deck Episode featuring three crewpeople who are apparently close to the top of Seven's list of problem crew! Crewman Mortimer Harren in the Engineering department seems to be a slacker though he has five degrees, William Telfer, in sciences, is a hypochondriac; and Tal Celes, a Bajoran analyst in Astrometrics, is consistently error-prone. But they've never been on an away mission... Janeway takes it upon herself, as is her duty, to help these three who have slipped through the cracks.This episode provides examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Janeway hits Harren with one when she gets fed up with his superiority complex:Janeway: Isn't there any part of you that feels a bond with the rest of us? When we escape from the Borg or discover a new type of star, don't you feel some pride of accomplishment? When you're in the mess hall, alone at your table in the corner, don't you see the friendships around you and wish, even for a microsecond, you were part of them?
- Armor-Piercing Response: Telfer gets in a few good responses to Harren's condescending attitude.Harren: Nothing disagrees with me more than having to put theories into practical use, but there's no choice, so pay attention to what we're doing here. You can check yourself into Sickbay when we get back.
Telfer: And you can go back to Deck 15!
Harren: That's right, where I don't have to rely on you or your intellectually deficient friend.
Telfer: At least I have a friend. - Body Horror: A large centipede-like alien takes up residence inside Telfer's body. We even see it slithering under his skin while he cries out in pain.
- Book Dumb: Maybe a little harsh, but Tal's issue has a bit to do with this; she's deathly afraid of math and anything technology-related, leading to constant and repeated mistakes.
- Break the Haughty: Harren's character arc in the episode; he's forced to confront the fact that many of his 'brilliant' theories on Dark Matter are wrong, and to face the realities of space exploration head on.
- Brick Joke: The first time we see Harren, he responds to a power-transfer request by saying that he's too busy disproving Schlezholt's Theory of Multiple Big Bangs, which apparently involves demolishing Wang's Second Postulate (whatever all that means). When Janeway comes to recruit him for the mission, he tries to invoke Schlezholt's Theory again, only for Janeway to warn him about Wang's Second Postulate popping up again.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Harren's biggest problem, according to B'Elanna.Torres: When I give him more responsibility he doesn't do the work. Harren wants to be down on deck fifteen. It gives him more time to repostulate the origins of the universe.
- The Cameo: Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello cameos as Crewman Mitchell.
- Character Development: For all the misfits—Telfer gets over his hypochondria, Tal grows a spine, and Harren learns how to deal with weirdness head-on.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Tal has a cameo in "The Haunting of Deck Twelve".
- Delegation Relay: The episode starts by showing how a simple decision by Janeway on the bridge runs down the chain of command until it reaches Harren on Deck 15.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Harren mentions that not even his mother called him "Mortimer." So then what did she call him?
- Probably Morty.
- Everybody Hates Mathematics: Tal Celes."In my nightmares, I am chased by algorithms. My brain just wasn't built to understand this."
- Exact Time to Failure: The typical case of predicting when the shock-wave will hit. Unfortunately, Tal (who can't do math) is put in charge of calculating it:"Shockwave approaching. Contact in four, three, two, one. (Beat as nothing happens) More or less."
- Exact Words: When Neelix accuses Tom of not having said two words to Harren, Tom claims otherwise. He said the two words, "Excuse me" after bumping into Harren in the corridor.
- Explosive Instrumentation: Harren sees it coming and calls for Telfer to cut the power, but Telfer's too wrapped up in another self-diagnosis.
- Fun with Acronyms: Z.G.I.F. - "Zero G Is Fun" - a mnemonic most likely from the Academy days, which translates to Techno Babble.Janeway: Zeta particle derivation. Gamma wave frequency. Ion distribution. Flow rate of positrons.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Harren tries to pull one, distracting the Dark-Matter creatures with his escape pod so the Flyer can escape. Considering the Delta Flyer had time enough to save him and escape, it probably would have been a Senseless Sacrifice.
- Hypochondriac: Telfer. Amazingly, his encounter with the alien bug cures it.
- Insufferable Genius: Why Harren is just fine secluded at the ass end of the ship (literally, Deck 15); he's about to disprove Schlezolt's Theory of Multiple Big Bangs, and he hates putting theories to practical use. He is a lazy thinker and always talks down to everyone. The only reason he's on Voyager in the first place is because his career path required a year of starship duty and he just happened to get assigned to the worst possible one. Notably, though, he tries pulling Techno Babble on Janeway (who comes from a science background) and she manages to flummox him with some additional theorems.
- Internal Deconstruction: Most Star Trek shows focus on seasoned protagonists who are destined for greatness and extremely talented at their jobs. This episode focuses on a trio of crewmen who for various reasons are not good at their jobs but have been stuck on Voyager because of their situation. And senior officers have been so wrapped up in big picture issues that the personal struggles of minor crew members have gone overlooked for years.
- Lower-Deck Episode: Deck 15 is as low as it gets on Voyager.
- More Expendable Than You: Harren steals an escape pod, intent on sacrificing himself to give the Delta Flyer time to escape, because he figures no one would care about his death. Averted when Janeway rescues him.
- A Mother to Her Men: Janeway takes the oversight of these crewman personally, going out of her way to help them overcome their personal issues and treating them as people rather than cogs in the lower decks.
- Mythology Gag: It's said that "Wang's Second Postulate has more lives than a cat." Given that Garrett Wang plays Harry Kim who's famous for being repeatedly killed off in this series...
- Negative Space Wedgie: An invisible one, but one powerful enough to rip a section of hull plating off.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: When Harren kills the Dark Matter alien in the cockpit, Janeway berates him for killing an innocent being and ruining their chance for a peaceful first contact.Janeway: Based on direct observation— you murdered an alien being and destroyed any chance we had to make first contact.
- The Nicknamer: B'Elanna refers to Seven as the "Borg Queen".
- Nothing Is Scarier: Where was Telfer taken? And what was chasing the Flyer?
- Obliviously Evil: The dark matter alien attempts to take over the Delta Flyer and reconfigure the life support systems to keep itself alive, so Harren shoots it to save the crew. Janeway berates him for killing an alien that may not have meant them any intentional harm.
- Oh, Crap!: Telfer's finally got a bug; a BIG one!
- Our Dark Matter Is Mysterious: Voyager encounters a species of dark matter lifeforms that take over Telfer's body and try to communicate. Harren panics and kills one of them, and the aliens attack the ship.
- Platonic Life-Partners: Tal and Telfer are clearly pretty good friends, but there's no indication of anything romantic.
- Puppeteer Parasite: The creature briefly takes control of Telfer's body.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: These three are just ill fits for the kind of mission Voyager has turned out to be on.
- Remember the New Guy?: Justified as the three crewman are said to be at the lowest end of the hierarchy possible and actively trying to avoid being seen.
- Starfish Alien: The away team encounter what appears to be a dark matter alien, something that should be impossible. They don't get a chance to make any real contact, can't even really study what they are or want, and only barely escape the encounter with their lives.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: As Chakotay says, not everyone is cut out for long-term space duty and it's common for even a promising Starfleet cadet to need to transfer to a less taxing assignment. Sadly, given they're thousands of light-years from the Federation, there's no such option for these crewmembers so some are having even more trouble than usual handling this.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Harren's opinion of the Voyager crew, and especially his shipmates on the Delta Flyer mission. He even talks down to Captain Janeway herself.
- Title Drop: Janeway will be playing the Good Shepherd to these three.
- What the Hell, Hero? / Both Sides Have a Point: Janeway tears into Harren for shooting the alien bug against her orders. Except, Harren was acting to protect them and neither of them could be sure of the alien’s intentions.Janeway: What the hell is wrong with you!Harren: It was trying to kill us!Janeway: You don't know that!Harren: We were at risk!Janeway: I gave you a direct order!Harren: What if you were wrong?
