(Thomas Sanders voice) Story time!
While Voyager is in the middle of a blackout, Neelix is put in charge of keeping the ship's children calm. He does this by telling them a story about "The Haunting of Deck 12."This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Abandon Ship: The (possessed) computer forces the crew to do this.
- Activation Sequence: Inverted — there's a deactivation sequence as Voyager's crew shut down power throughout the ship.
- Attack Hello: Tal Celes does this to Harry Kim, thinking that he's a hostile alien.
- Chekhov's Gunman: Tal Celes is the only character from "Good Shephard" to make a reappearance, likely because you need someone to be scared in a ghost story, and it's becoming increasingly implausible for Harry to be still stuck in that role.
- Companion Cube: Discussed when Chakotay overhears Janeway talking to Voyager. He mentions having had long conversations with his Maquis ship.
- Continuity Nod:
- Back in "The Cloud," Neelix raged at Janeway for taking Voyager into a nebula that he would've steered clear of. In this episode, he reveals a bit of backstory to Tuvok that would help explain why he hates nebulae.
- Tuvok suggests that Neelix could put up curtains in the windows so that he won't have to keep looking at the nebula. Didn't he already have that idea?
- The Borg children's apparent comfort with cannibalism fits with earlier episode "Survival Instinct", in which a group of drones (including Seven of Nine) resort to exactly that when stranded on a planet.
- Mezoti mentions the events of "Collective", when the Borg kids were rescued from their cube.
- Cowardly Lion: Neelix. In spite of being so terrified that even Tuvok's attempts at guided meditation don't calm him, when the Vulcan is injured, he does what needs doing to get him to engineering.
- Creepy Child: The children Neelix is put in charge of sport odd stares and are not in the slightest disturbed by topics like cannibalism.They are former Borg.
- Defiant to the End: Janeway refuses to let the creature keep her prisoner aboard Voyager, even when it shuts down life support.Janeway: If you want this ship, you'll have to kill me!Computer: Acknowledged.
- Energy Being: The creature seems to be an electrical-type entity.
- Elevator Failure: Almost kills Chakotay.
- Explosive Instrumentation: Not actually explosive, but the helm shoots an energy bolt that catches Tom Paris in the face.
- Framing Story: Most of the episode is a story Neelix is telling the children.
- Ghost in the Machine: The alien is able to move from system to system within Voyager as energy, eventually taking control of the ship's computer.
- Going Down with the Ship: Janeway almost does this before the alien relents.
- Hypocritical Humor: the last couple lines of the episode:Janeway: So, how'd you do it? Told them fairy tales?Neelix: Certainly not. Some of those fairy tales can be frightening. Ogres and child-eating monsters.
- I Have This Friend: When Neelix asks Tuvok how long the particle-collecting procedure will take, he claims that he wants to reassure an on-edge crew. In reality, Neelix is the one who's on edge and in need of reassurance, as Tuvok easily figures out.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The children (who are former Borg) suggest that after a catastrophe, the survivors of the Talaxian ship Salvoxia survived by turning cannibal. Neelix is obviously uncomfortable with the idea.
- Jump Scare: After the power fails on Voyager, Neelix goes wandering the corridors with a flashlight. He rounds a corner and sees...Tuvok with a gas mask!
- Mythology Gag: Tuvok snarking over cloud spotting is likely a reference to a Not Himself Spock doing just that in the TOS episode "This Side of Paradise".
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The crew accidentally destroyed the creature's home nebula when they passed through it. It's not happy when it finds out.
- No One Gets Left Behind: Neelix makes this very clear to Tuvok.Tuvok: I am injured. Logic dictates that you take the mask and proceed to main engineering.
Neelix: I don't care what logic dictates! This isn't the Salvoxia. We're not drawing lots.
Tuvok: I am giving you an order.
Neelix: And I'm disobeying it. You're coming with me if I have to drag you by your pointy little ears! - Quit Your Whining: Ensign Kim gives Tal Celes a (fairly professional) version of this when she's freaking out about the ship being boarded by Borg or Hirogen.
- Techno Babble: Icheb calls Neelix on the improper use of tech talk, and because of this he doesn't believe that the story really happened.
- That Cloud Looks Like...: When Voyager approaches the nebula in the teaser:Paris: Now, there's a creepy image. Reminds me of something out of Edgar Allan Poe.
Kim: Looks like a vampire bat. You can make out the wings, even the ears. What do you see, Tuvok?
Tuvok: Two Starfleet officers with juvenile imaginations.
Paris: Come on, Tuvok! Haven't you ever looked up at the clouds and seen an animal?
Tuvok: I will never understand the human need to find imagery in something as innocuous as a cloud. - Unreliable Narrator: Being fairly educated about technology, the children immediately notice when Neelix screws up some technical detail of the story and start correcting him. After he points out that they can either keep talking shop about technology or let him tell the story, he proceeds to make several other blunders (such as having Janeway refer to a "dilithium intake" at one point) uncorrected. This is kind of a clue to the audience that if anything anyone does or says in this story seems technically impossible or out-of-character for them, we can chalk it up to Neelix's fumbling the story again.
