History Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E6EyeOfTheNeedle

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Voyager is able to make contact with the commander of a Romulan vessel on a classified scientific mission, who doesn't believe their story about being on the other side of the galaxy and cuts off transmission. After some persistence, Janeway is able to make contact again and convince him they telling the truth.

* PhotographicMemory: The Doctor believes Kes has an eidetic memory when she remembers details about her medical studies easily. This must be how they survive with such a short life span.

** Telek R'Mor doesn't recognise Voyager's design. Janeway points out that it's not classified and surely the famous Romulan intelligence service would have told him all the details.

* ImStandingRightHere: Baxter talks about the Doctor [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman as if he's not standing right next to him]].

* TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay: Janeway mentions that the wormhole has a one in four chance if getting them home, implying it can only lead to a point within their galaxy.

Ensign Kim has discovered evidence of a wormhole, which could possibly be a route to rapidly close the distance between ''Voyager'' and home. Even though getting to it is a significant detour, Janeway orders the ship to investigate. But everyone's optimistic mood falls when they arrive and realize that the wormhole is only 30 centimeters across, far too small to get anyone through. But they send a probe through and it gets stuck, but then something on the other side scans the probe.

The crew figure out a way to use the probe as a communication device, and the manage to contact the people on the other side, who claim to be a Romulan cargo vessel in the Alpha Quadrant. They don't buy Janeway's story and cut off communications. Janeway suspects that they're actually a science vessel on a secret mission, which is why they're even more paranoid than normal.

Meanwhile, Kes is interning as the Doctor's assistant and quickly mastering everything he gives her. However, she grows increasingly irritated by the way their patients disrespect the Doctor [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman because he's a hologram]]. She complains to Janeway, who doesn't believe that the Doctor is sentient, but Kes insists that he is and urges her to act. Janeway visits the Doctor and asks if there's anything he needs. He complains about being shut on and off at a whim, so Janeway offers to look into giving him control of when he's on on off. The Doctor is surprised and uncharacteristically appreciative.

The Romulans call back, having confirmed that Janeway's signal indeed originates in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway urges him to relay messages back to the crew's families. The Romulan captain agrees to send her request along to the authorities. To foster more trust between the two ships, they set use a signal amplifier to get visual feed, and the two ships are now able to see each other. The Romulan captain notes that ''Voyager'' [[{{Foreshadowing}} looks different]] than from Federation ship's he's seen. Janeway plays on his feelings of homesickness to convince him to ask his government to make a decision on the matter of the crew's messages before the probe is destroyed.

Torres hatches an idea to use the probe as a relay to transport objects between the two ships. If they can make it work, they could beam the whole crew through. Kes delivers the good news to the Doctor, but he lets her know that his program is too integrated into the ship's computers to ever leave, so he asks that they at least turn his program off before they all go. The crew test the beaming technology with a test cylinder, which works, and the [[{{Foreshadowing}} Romulans are impressed]] by Starfleet's advanced technology.

The captain volunteers to test the beaming on a person, and he beams aboard ''Voyager''. After a stiff greeting, Tuvok suddenly asks the Romulan what year he thinks it is. Puzzled, the Romulan answers 2351, twenty years earlier than it actually is. The wormhole is not only a portal through space, but time. Janeway decides that it would cause too many problems with the timeline if they went back to the Alpha Quadrant 20 years in the past. The Romulan captain gives his name as Telek R'Mor and promises to give the crew's messages to the Federation in 20 years time. After he leaves, Tuvok gives everyone the bad news that Telek died several years before the ship vanished, so they can only hope that he gave their messages to someone else beforehand.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: It's really no secret that the show is going to resolve it's series-defining goal after only six episodes.

* LaymansTerms: Inverted when the Doctor gives Kes a series of medical texts to study, but warns her that they are very technical and "not written for the layman."

Meanwhile, Kes is interning as the Doctor's assistant and quickly mastering everything he gives her. However, she grows increasingly irritated by the way their patients disrespect the Doctor because he's a hologram. She complains to Janeway, who doesn't believe that the Doctor is sentient, but Kes insists that he is and urges her to act. Janeway visits the Doctor and asks if there's anything he needs. He complains about being shut on and off at a whim, so Janeway offers to look into giving him control of when he's on on off. The Doctor is surprised and uncharacteristically appreciative.

The Romulans call back, having confirmed that Janeway's signal indeed originates in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway urges him to relay messages back to the crew's families. The Romulan captain agrees to send her request along to the authorities. To foster more trust between the two ships, they set use a signal amplifier to get visual feed, and the two ships are now able to see each other. The Romulan captain notes that ''Voyager'' looks different than from Federation ship's he's seen. Janeway plays on his feelings of homesickness to convince him to ask his government to make a decision on the matter of the crew's messages before the probe is destroyed.

Torres hatches an idea to use the probe as a relay to transport objects between the two ships. If they can make it work, they could beam the whole crew through. Kes delivers the good news to the Doctor, but he lets her know that his program is too integrated into the ship's computers to ever leave, so he asks that they at least turn his program off before they all go. The crew test the beaming technology with a test cylinder, which works, and the Romulans are impressed by Starfleet's advanced technology.

* DeadpanSnarker

* DefrostingIceKing: Telek R'Mor starts off as a typically paranoid Romulan JerkAss, but warms up to Janeway as the episode progresses.

* DrJerk: There have been so many complaints about the Doctor that Janeway is [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman considering having their EMH reprogrammed]]. Although it turns out that at least part of this is his reaction to the way ''they'' treat ''him''.

* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Yeah, the show is really going to gut its entire premise six episodes in.

* HopeSpot: It's just one after another for ''Voyager'' today. They've discovered a wormhole! But it's too small to fly through. But they establish contact with someone! In the Alpha Quadrant! But it's a Romulan, and he doesn't believe Janeway telling him that ''Voyager'' is in the Delta Quadrant. But she does convince him that she's telling the truth, and then they discover that they can beam through the wormhole back to the AQ! Except that the wormhole leads back through time, and they won't mess up the timeline. Well, at least the Romulan can tell Starfleet about ''Voyager'' after they get stuck in the DQ, so that TheFederation will at least know. Except...he died four years before ''Voyager'''s launch. Well, maybe he made some arrangements for that possibility...right? Or didn't he? Dammit...

* TheLancer: Tuvok tries to ensure everyone doesn't get their hopes up.

* TheMilkyWayIsTheOnlyWay: Janeway mentions that the wormhole has a one in four chance if getting them home, implying they can lead to any point in the same galaxy.

* NoNameGiven: The Romulan scientist refuses to give his name (as for all he knows, this is a trick to get information about his classified scientific mission) but finally introduces himself as Telek R'Mor at the end of the episode.

* PhotographicMemory: The Doctor believes Kes has an eidetic memory when she remembers details about her medical studies easily (justified in that the Ocampa is a very short-lived species, and they ''have'' to learn quickly).

** Chakotay might also be thinking that if ''Voyager'' isn't sent on the mission, the crew of the Maquis ship would be stuck in the DQ with absolutely no way to get home.

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: B'Elanna has a DisappearedDad, is estranged from her Klingon mother, and most of her friends are on Voyager.

Voyager comes across a previously-undiscovered wormhole, which holds open the possibility of getting the crew home. One problem: The other end of the wormhole is in Romulan space. But that may be the least of the problems with this particular shortcut...

* DrJerk: There have been so many complaints about the Doctor that Janeway is [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman considering having their EMH reprogrammed]].

* WriteBackToTheFuture: The Voyager crew give the Romulan messages to keep for their families. [[spoiler:Sadly, historical records show that the Romulan ship gets destroyed before it has a chance to pass them on.]]