Nits for Star Trek: Voyager episode
Nothing Human
1. Rescuing the alien.
Harry reports the alien is a "non-humanoid". Without further information Kathryn orders the alien beamed to Voyager. Yet no one has determined whether the alien can survive in our atmosphere or withstand our air pressure. If the pressure is too low the creature will explode. If the air pressure is too great the creature would be crushed. If the atmosphere isn't the right composition the creature might suffocate or worse.
Nit Value: 0.50
2. The alien attack.
Why did Kathryn grab the phaser from the security officer? Why did Doc claim Kathryn would hurt B'Elanna if she fired the phaser at the creature (the target is a pretty big one and she was at point blank range)? Why didn't the security officer try to help to pull the alien off B'Elanna? How did the alien get through the force field? Why was Harry able to beam the alien aboard Voyager but not off of Voyager? Why didn't Harry try locking onto B'Elanna instead of the alien (she's wearing a comm badge which should make it real easy to identify her)? Upon hearing that the alien was piercing B'Elanna's neck why didn't anyone decide it was worth hurting B'Elanna to get the alien off? Why didn't they pull on whatever was piercing her neck to prevent the creature from doing so? Why did they apparently just sit there and watch this alien do its thing (after all, what's preventing it from attacking Kathryn or the security officer)? Why didn't they assume the alien had faked injury to lure them in so it could attack? Why didn't they assume it was a vampiric parasite and blast it? Why didn't they hit it with their fists, feet, or some other blunt instrument? Why didn't the Doc grab a surgical scalpel and start flaying the thing off of B'Elanna?
This is another example where the decisions made show an unusual amount of foresight. Despite the very obvious interpretations applicable to the alien's attack the participants allow it to succeed, believing it's only trying to save itself.
The consequence of their inaction: B'Elanna's heart and lung are seriously infiltrated and her kidneys are failing and the creature is pumping a paralyzing agent into her blood stream. Yet another case where Kathryn has forgotten her oft-repeated claim that the welfare of the crew is her top priority.
Nit Value: 1.00
3. Suggesting a consultant.
How many of you wondered why they didn't just merge the exobiology files into Doc's matrix and skip the consultant altogether? Doc could offload a variety of personality sub-routines or perhaps a section of the medical programming he's not using at the moment and use that space in his matrix to absorb the exobiology? Wouldn't this be faster and more efficient than calling Harry down to the holodeck, discussing the parameters with the Doc, and all the time spent talking with the consultant?
Nit Value: 0.50
4. Talking with the consultant.
Time is of the essence, right? And both the Doc and the consultant are simply programs in the same computer, right? So why are these programs using verbal communication rather than communicating in bits and bytes at the speed of light?
Nit Value: 0.50
5. Security after the attack.
Where did the security officer go and why is the forcefield down rather than set to level 10? How do these people know that the alien isn't going to do anything but infiltrate B'Elanna.
Nit Value: 0.25
6. The Doc's and Harry's joviality.
Who else thought the good humour was out of place as Doc and Harry walked to the holodeck? They knew the situation was very serious yet he and Harry seem to take a light-hearted approach to creating a consultant to save B'Elanna.
Nit Value: 0.25
7. Selecting a Cardassian to help B'Elanna.
Harry points out that a Cardassian is not "one of the friendliest guys in the galaxy". Why didn't either of them realize that a member of the Maquis, especially B'Elanna, wasn't going to feel comfortable being treated by a Cardassian? And why didn't they decide to pick a different body for the database, like a Vulcan or Human body if it would make it easier for B'Elanna to accept treatment?
Nit Value: 0.25
8. Babbling on.
The on-going discussion in Crell's lab when they first enter seems to me to be a complete waste of time given that B'Elanna's life is supposed to be hanging in the balance and time is of the essence.
Nit Value: 0.25
9. Scanning the alien.
In theory, they couldn't re-create the alien without scanning it, and scanning it with a medical tricorder before it was adjusted by Crell produced no useful results. Yet they had to scan it completely to beam it over from the ship. So why didn't they examine the transporter scan in the first place rather than adjust the tricorder?
Nit Value: 0.25
10. Tuvok broadcasts the transmission.
Last week I gave Voyager a nit for using Harry to erect internal forcefields because that was a security procedure that should have been handled by the security officer. This week I am awarding them a nit for using Tuvok to re-transmit the distress signal when we know that is an Ops procedure usually handled by Harry (as shown earlier in the episode when Harry reported the energy wave was a transmission).
Nit Value: 0.25 (same as last week)
11. Changed premise.
Just a couple of scenes earlier Crell is complaining about the crude instruments in Sick Bay, claiming they'll just have to improvise. But Doc whips up Crell's lab. However, when in Crell's lab and faced with a crude scalpel Crell claims the simplest tools are the most effective because they don't remove the doctor from the patient. Why didn't he say this to Doc in Sick Bay when Doc suggested the creation of Crell's lab?
Nit Value: 0.25
12. Vertical incision.
Just a small nit here. Crell tells Doc to make a "vertical" incision but because of where the camera is located we see what looks like a horizontal incision.
The head is on the left, the alien's right legs are at the top of the screen.
They could have avoided any confusion by leaving out the word "vertical".
Nit Value: 0.01 (they don't get lower than this unless there's no value at all).
13. Pretty good simulation.
Just how does the holo-deck know that the simulated alien has "nerves" in the thorax, or what noise the alien would make when the thorax is cut open? And if it's that smart why isn't the simulation leaping off the table altogether as it did back in Sick Bay to attack B'Elanna (there are no restraints and no sedatives being used).
Nit Value: 0.25
14. Re-initializing Crell.
Let's see. Doc's in the holo-deck, so is Crell's lab, so was Crell, yet Harry wants to re-initialize Crell in Sick Bay.
Why?
Nit Value: 0.25
15. Harry asks Tabor for help.
Harry asks a Bajoran Maquis to help re-initialize a Cardassian hologram. What's wrong with this picture? And just what kind of assistance did Harry need? He just stood there watching Tabor pressing all the buttons. Is something wrong with Harry's fingers?
Of course we needed some excuse to have a Bajoran Maquis accuse Crell of being the mad scientist. But does it have to be so obvious a plot device?
Nit Value: 0.50
16. Tabor's reaction.
Why must Tabor and B'Elanna both treat a hologram as if it were the real thing? It was easy to suggest that B'Elanna might have been delirious at the time, but Tabor just finished re-initializing the hologram so he can't be delirious about what Crell really is. To the point of actually trying to attack the hologram. This gets very silly, not unlike someone accusing a photograph of being a mass-murderer and trying to attack it.
Nit Value: 0.50
17. Doc argues with Crell.
More time wasted.
Nit Value: 0.25
18. Doc remembers "time is of the essence".
Funny how that keeps being forgotten when they discuss music and Doc's accomplishments and Crell's accomplishments and then suddenly it's important again.
Nit Value: 0.25
19. Kathryn recalls her first priority.
Funny how she could let the alien get a grip on B'Elanna and not do anything to stop it and then during the argument claim her first priority is the welfare of B'Elanna. A little late, is it not?
Nit Value: 0.25
20. The second transmission.
Why is the second transmission so different from the first? The ship doesn't rattle and no energy wave is detected. And just what is its nature that it should control Voyager's PA system so they can't quieten the sound?
Nit Value: 0.25
21. The holodeck loses power?
It was made clear in "Night" that the holo-deck has its own power source separate from the ship's systems (TNG has also made this clear). So why is the holodeck affected by the alien's weapon? Why is Doc, with his own holo-emitter, suffering the same fate as Crell?
As a related nit, Chakotay orders emergency power be diverted to the holo-deck. Great idea but since the holo-deck has no connection to ship's power how does he think this energy is going to get there?
Nit Value: 0.50
22. Anti-matter surge?
What the heck is an "anti-matter surge" and how can it be sent along the shield grid (which is made of matter)?
Nit Value: 0.25
23. Kathryn forgets her first priority, again.
Faced with losing power, shields and allowing the ship to become vulnerable, and being unable to communicate with the aliens and not knowing their intent, Kathryn decides to not fire on the alien vessel (not even to cripple its tractor beam) because she has a "gut feeling" the aliens don't want to fight. Obviously the first priority here is to not fight the aliens, and she is willing to risk the welfare of the crew.
Nit Value: 0.25
24. The tendrils withdraw from B'Elanna.
Feels like I've been waiting a long time to write this one up.
Finally the treatment Doc and Crell use on B'Elanna works, which means B'Elanna has all these nice little holes throughout her body (including lungs, kidneys, and liver).
Notice that although Doc mentioned the tendrils had infiltrated B'Elanna's heart Crell doesn't mention the heart when he announces the procedure is working.
That's because we all know what happens when the heart is punctured repeatedly. It fails to work properly, and instead of pumping blood through the veins and arteries simply pumps blood into the chest cavity. By rights B'Elanna should have died of serious hemorrhaging of all her vital organs simultaneously. Yet neither Crell nor Doc mention this and B'Elanna isn't even in a surgical gown, assuming Doc and Crell could work fast enough to plug all the holes.
Nit Value: 1.00
25. B'Elanna's injuries.
Doc claims B'Elanna's "nervous system" has experienced extreme trauma. Yet he fails to mention anything about all those perforations through her liver, lungs, heart and kidneys. This is a changed premise. Whereas before her injuries where infiltration of her vital organs now it is her nervous system.
Nit Value: 0.50
26. Kathryn's decision about the fate of Crell.
Now why is it the fate of Crell is left to Doc when Kathryn authorized the use of Crell's research? If, as Kathryn says, no one is better qualified than the Doc to decide whether Crell's work should be kept or deleted, why didn't she leave this decision up to him when B'Elanna's life was at stake? Looks to me like she's willing to authorize its use but wants someone else to take the blame for whatever happens in the future (i.e. someone dies because Doc deletes it or someone quits because he won't). Having authorized its use and accepting full responsibility for the decision, it is Kathryn's decision to make whether Crell is deleted or not. If she didn't want to make that decision she shouldn't have made a decision over its use in the first place.
Nit Value: 0.25
27. "You have no right to make that decision for me".
Those of you familiar with my nits must have seen this one coming. Twice in the same episode we hear those words "you have no right...". In my opinion both claims were wholly justified. Chakotay realized this and argued in favour of B'Elanna and Tabor. Kathryn, as usual, decides otherwise.
I kept wishing B'Elanna would hurl her comm badge at Kathryn and declare "I resign my commission and you can go to hell." Especially after Kathryn made that crack about "a few demons still around" .
It just convinces me I don't hate the Janeway character enough.
Now then, if B'Elanna continues to serve aboard Voyager in any capacity she is validating Kathryn's decision by continuing to serve under her. Kathryn's decision validated Crell's 'research' which was at the expense of hundreds of innocent Bajorans. Tuvok knows this. Chakotay knows this. So there are but two choices available to B'Elanna, Chakotay, and Tuvok. Either they resign or they mutiny over this. Anything else validates Kathryn's decision which validates Crell's barbarism.
[Author's Note: That's what I said when I wrote the nits shortly after seeing the episode. A week later I watched "Thirty Days" and I realized this nit properly belongs as an addition to "Nothing Human". Here's what I said:
Might as well get this one out of the way first. Once again the reset button prevents any carry-over from one episode to the next. Despite all the histrionics of "Nothing Human" we see that B'Elanna has decided to benefit from Crell's experimentation on unwilling Bajorans after all. Tuvok seems to have forgotten the unethical position his captain took, despite his logical analysis of the problem and conclusion it would be wrong to benefit from Crell's work, and Chakotay no longer seems to care.
For a lack of integrity and the gross histrionics we had to endure in last week's episode not reflected in this week's show I bestow a ten-point nit.]
Nit Value: 10.00
28. Deleting the exobiology database.
Kathryn: "Maybe we can provide you with a consultant"
Doc: "I'd be delighted, but how?"
Kathryn: "By isolating the computer's exobiology data files and merging them into an interactive matrix."
Tom: "A hologram."
Kathryn: "Exactly."
Doc: "That may not be as simple as it sounds. It would need to be nearly as sophisticated as I am. Tactile interfaces. Personality sub-routines."
Tom: "Harry could do it."
Kathryn: "Search the database for the leading exobiologist. If you want to add a personality it might as well be based on a real person."
So we are merging all the exobiology data files with an interactive matrix that consists of tactile interfaces and personality sub-routines, personality sub-routines based on a real person in the database who is the leading exobiologist.
Harry: "You're trying to merge an extensive database with an interactive matrix."
Harry: "Computer. Transfer all reference medical files to the simulation."
Computer: "Transfer complete."
Harry: "Now install personality sub-routines and voice approximation."
Computer: "Installation complete."
Doc: "It is my judgment that the medical consultant program, and all the algorithms contained therein shall be deleted from the database".
Doc: "Computer, delete medical consultant program and all related files."
And that's the way Doc deletes the entire exobiology database and not just Crell's research and personality sub-routines.
Can we say "whoops"?
Nit Value: 0.50
29. The ethics of using Borg technology.
I have to thank a friend of mine for pointing out this one. Did anyone stop to ask about the ethics of using Borg technology? We all know how the Borg assimilate whole species, adding their technological and biological distinctness to the collective. So when Voyager uses Borg nanoprobes to defeat the 8472s in "Scorpion" did someone say, "This is wrong, we're using technology gained through the suffering of billions of people"? When Voyager uses transwarp coils, does someone ask, "Is this the product of an entire species that suffered horribly as it was assimilated and thus their technology was obtained by the Borg"?
Nit Value: 5.00
Summary:
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Nit Value for "Nothing Human": 25.01
Wulf's Nitpicker Rating: -15.01
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10 - Nit Value = Wulf's Nitpicker Rating
(this is the worst rating of any episode this season)
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