Nits for Star Trek: Voyager episode
Relativity
1. When was the device placed?
When Seven is enlisted "for the third time", she is told Braxton's crew believes the bomb was planted on Voyager two years before she arrived, during a period when Voyager was attacked by the Kazon.
One problem, at the beginning of the show Seven detects the bomb before Voyager leaves the Utopia Planitia for its first mission, about four years before Seven joined the crew.
Whoops.
Nit Value: 5.00
2. Why that time?
Ducane tells Seven they believe the saboteur boarded Voyager during an attack by the Kazon because the ship's shields were down, thus allowing the intruder to board the ship. If those were the only times Voyager's shields were down this wouldn't be a problem, but the shields have been down many times before and since. In fact, it is standard procedure to leave the shields down all the time unless dealing with a battle. So this line of reasoning seems very unlikely.
Nit Value: 1.00
3. 29th Century Sensors.
We're told that Seven's ocular implant is superior to the 29th century sensors when it comes to detecting the bomb. This requires some interesting assumptions:
A - that the Borg sensors are over 500 years more advanced than Federation technology.
B - that despite the detailed study which the Enterprise crew conducted on Hugh's ocular implant (in TNG's "I, Borg"), the Federation has learned nothing in the 500 years since to match that piece of Borg technology.
C - that despite the fact the Enterprise-E returned from "First Contact" with a ship full of Borg implants, none of the ocular implants were studied by Federation scientists and/or these scientists learned nothing from these implants.
I don't find any of these assumptions plausible.
Nit Value: 2.50
4. Braxton's version of "Future's End".
As anyone who watched "Future's End" Parts I and II knows, Braxton's version of those events is quite a bit different from what actually occurred. At the end of Part II, Braxton appeared without any knowledge of events that had occurred prior to that final appearance. Because Voyager had managed to straighten out the timeline, Braxton never had a reason to make his first appearance at the beginning of Part I.
The "help" Braxton claims he asked for was for Voyager to allow itself to be blown up, to prevent a catastrophe from occurring in the 29th century. The 30 years in the 20th century Braxton claimed he experienced was the result of Voyager defending itself. When the away team met up with the older Braxton, he realized that he himself had caused the catastrophe when his actions caused his timeship and Voyager to appear over 20th century Earth. The 20th century industrialist, Starling, was intent on using the timeship for his own purposes and when Voyager destroyed that ship it was unable to create the catastrophe that destroyed Braxton's future timeline.
Since the catastrophe never occurred, Braxton never came back in time to destroy Voyager, never asked for their cooperation, and never spent 30 years in the 20th century. This was confirmed when another Braxton appeared at the end of Part II to return Voyager to its proper time and place (in the 24th century Delta Quadrant).
So why is the Braxton in "Relativity" babbling about events he shouldn't know anything about?
Nit Value: 5.00
5. Level ten forcefield.
How is it Seven can send signals out of the forcefield, but not receive them? Does the communications device she's carrying have some kind of power source that boosts the strength of the signals? And if so, why isn't the time ship using the same power source to boost their signals sent to Seven?
Nit Value: 1.00
6. The forgotten bomb.
The older Braxton convinces Janeway and Seven to lower their weapons or he'll blow up the ship. Yet when Ducane orders Seven to arrest the older Braxton, she and Janeway charge Braxton without any concern for the bomb being detonated. Since they know Braxton is insane, why do they try to follow this order? Why are they worried about the bomb one moment, then not worried a few minutes later?
Nit Value: 1.00
7. Janeway being drafted.
When Seven was enlisted, Ducane placed a device on her arm and all three were beamed to the time ship. Yet when Janeway was beamed out she had no such device.
Nit Value: 1.00
8. The bomb.
In keeping with the temporal prime directive, why was the bomb left behind in Seven's possession (she was holding it when Janeway was beamed out and no further mention is made of it)?
Nit Value: 1.00
9. The older Braxton's transporter.
How was the older Braxton beaming around the timeline and across the vast distance between Utopia Planitia and the Delta Quadrant without a ship? And if he had a ship, why was there no mention of it?
Nit Value: 1.00
10. Arresting the older Braxton.
Shouldn't the time cops from the older Braxton's time be chasing him, rather than the time cops from the younger Braxton's time? Why aren't the time cops from the older Braxton's time worried about what kind of paradoxes were created by the older Braxton's interference in the younger Braxton's timeline? And why did the time cops of the younger Braxton's age not feel the need to send the older Braxton back to his own time period?
Nit Value: 1.00
Summary:
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Nit Value for "Relativity": 19.50
Wulf's Nitpicker Rating: -9.50
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10 - Nit Value = Wulf's Nitpicker Rating
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