Line #160 Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E1Caretaker


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voy_caretaker_1417.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Well, then. We might be out here a while.]]
3
4	->''"Captain, if these sensors are working, we're over seventy thousand light years from where we were. We're on the other side of the galaxy."''
5
6	During a fight with Cardassians, a Maquis ship tries to flee into a plasma storm only to be hit with a beam of mysterious energy. Back on Earth, Captain Janeway is putting together a mission to search for that missing Maquis ship, which has her Chief of Security as an undercover agent on it. She recruits the convict Tom Paris, a former Starfleet officer with a brief history in the Maquis, to serve as an expert observer. Janeway's high-tech new ship, ''Voyager'', is docked at Deep Space Nine, where they pick up their full crew. Paris meets Ensign Kim, a fresh recruit, by saving him from one of Quark's schemes.
7
8	While searching, ''Voyager'' is hit by the same tetryon beam as the Maquis ship. The blast kills a number of officers, including the first officer, helm and ship's doctor. They've been transported to a new location 70,000 light years away. In front of them is a massive array firing energy bursts at a nearby planet. The crew struggle to repair the damage and treat the wounded. In lieu of the doctor, the crew activate the Emergency Medical Hologram, who is informed that he's the only medical personnel on the ship. As the ship starts to get under control, every living member is transported to some sort of old-fashioned, Earth-like farm, where they're greeted by a bunch of farm folk. The crew's tricorders reveal that everything around them is a hologram, but Paris and Kim locate a life form in a barn. The crew congregate there, and the holograms allow them to walk through a portal that opens up. Suddenly, the whole crew is captured and subjected to genetic tests. Both Maquis and Starfleet crews wake up back on their ships three days later, though Kim and the Maquis engineer Torres are still missing.
9
10	The Maquis and Starfleet agree to work together to find them. When the Maquis captain Chakotay beams aboard ''Voyager'', Janeway reveals that his companion, Tuvok, is really her Chief Security Officer spying for her. Chakotay is also angry to see Paris working for Starfleet against him. However, they all agree to beam aboard the Array to get their people back. They find themselves back on the farm, where a lone old man tells them that Torres and Kim might have what he needs to honor a debt that can't be repaid. He is running out of time, so he refuses to return the pair and beams the rescue party away.
11
12	Back on the ship, the crew trace the Array's energy pulses to an M-class planet that nonetheless lacks any rainfall. They deduce that Kim and Torres were sent there. After meeting with a Talaxian named Neelix, who is scavenging the local debris, they recruit him to serve as their guide in exchange for water.
13
14	Torres and Kim awaken in a hospital and find themselves sick, with lesions all over their bodies. They are greeted by the Ocampans, natives of the planet, who assure them that they are not holding them prisoner. The pair have been sent to them by the Caretaker, a powerful entity who provides for all of their needs as they live underground. However, they also inform the pair that their mysterious condition is a fatal one. Luckily, an Ocampan nurse who secretly rebels against reliance on the Caretaker tells them about a secret passage to the surface.
15
16	Neelix leads an away team to the Ocampan planet surface, where they meet another resident species, the Kazon, a barbarous people. Neelix offers to trade water for their help and insists on throwing in an enslaved Ocampan woman into the deal, but the Kazon want Starfleet's technology to create water itself, which Janeway says is impossible. Suddenly, Neelix takes the Kazon chief hostage and rescues the Ocampan slave, forcing the crew to beam away. Back on the ship, Neelix reveals that the former slave, Kes, is his lover whom he swore to rescue. Kes reveals that there are cracks in the planet's surface that can be used to reach her civilization underground and offers to lead a rescue party. Under the planet's surface, both sides meet up and head back to the surface, but a cave-in complicates matters, forcing Paris to rescue Chakotay.
17
18	Tuvok has theorized that the Caretaker is dying, so time is running out to convince him to send them home. Janeway and company return to the Array, where they meet the Caretaker in his guise as the old man. He reveals that he is atoning for destroying the environment of the Ocampans' planet and now must seal the fissures in the surface so that the Ocampans will be protected from the Kazon, who want their water. He's been abducting people because he's trying to find someone he can procreate with and create a new caretaker, but he's run out of time. Janeway convinces him that the Ocampans will be able to stand on their own if given the chance. The Caretaker tries to activate the Array's self destruct so that it cannot fall into the Kazon's hands, but it's been rendered inoperable. He then dies, shrinking down to a small chunk of crystal.
19
20	The Kazon have shown up in a massive battleship, which fights both Alpha Quadrant vessels. It's too much for both ships, so Chakotay orders all hands to beam to ''Voyager'' and rams it with the Maquis ship, beaming away just in time. The Kazon vessel is crippled, and the Kazon vow that they have made an enemy. Janeway is faced with the decision to use the Array to go home--dooming the Ocampans--or destroy it, stranding them all in the Delta Quadrant. She decides that she cannot have the destruction of an entire people on her conscience and destroys the Array.
21
22	Now trapped 75 years away from home at maximum warp, Janeway stitches together the two crews into a single Starfleet crew, with Chakotay as her First Officer. She also grants Paris a field commission of lieutenant. Neelix and Kes also volunteer to accompany them as guides. Janeway gives a speech and promises that, whether through new technologies, wormholes, or finding another Caretaker, they will get back to their loved ones. She then orders a course for home.
23
24	-----
25	!!This episode contains the following tropes:
26
27	* AcePilot: When Janeway tells Tom he'll only be on the mission as an observer, he objects, claiming he's the best pilot she could have. When Janeway orders him to take the helm in the final battle, Tom's face lights up.
28	* ActionPrologue: The episode opens on the Maquis raider ''Val Jean'' being pursued by a Cardassian warship.
29	* AFormYouAreComfortableWith: [[StarfishAlien The Caretaker]] appears as an old man with a banjo, living in an Earth farm house that Tuvok speculates is meant to calm down the abductees prior to their medical examination.
30	* AlienAbduction: Including a medical examination played for horror rather than AnalProbing comedy.
31	* AllIsWellThatEndsWell: While integrating the two crews under one captain [[AHouseDivided makes a good deal of sense]], we don't see any debate on the subject, which is especially notable given how hostile Chakotay is when first meeting Janeway. The Maquis just appear in Starfleet uniform at the end of the episode, the whole issue having been decided off-screen by Janeway and Chakotay.
32	* AlwaysABiggerFish: The Kazon vessels are shown to be tiny in comparison to ''Voyager''. Then a Kazon cruiser turns up that dwarfs ''Voyager''.
33	* AndIMustScream: And Harry Kim does just that as a long needle is slowly pushed into his chest while he's in the Caretaker's examination chamber.
34	* AsleepForDays: Janeway and her crew spend almost three days asleep on the Array. The Maquis were there for even longer.
35	* AssholeVictim: Two of ''Voyager'''s casualties, the original ship's doctor and first officer, just happen to rudely snub Tom Paris before they both die when their ship gets snatched.
36	* TheAtoner: The Caretaker's species accidentally destroyed the Ocampan biosphere. He's been caring for them ever since.
37	* AttackPatternAlpha: Chakotay orders Evasive Pattern Omega while Janeway orders Evasive Pattern Delta Four.
38	* BadassBoast: The very first mention of the titular starship is Janeway expressing pride in her capabilities:
39	--> '''Paris:''' I've never seen a Federation starship that could maneuver through the plasma storms.\
40	'''Janeway:''' You've never seen ''Voyager''.
41	* BarFullOfAliens: Harry Kim is introduced to the audience when he's at Quarks.
42	* BathtubScene: Involving a [[BathsAreFun very happy]] [[FanDisservice Neelix]].
43	* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Zigzagged; Kes is introduced with a black eye and split lip, as Maje Jabin had been torturing her in a failed attempt to find out how to get into the Ocampan city. However she's quickly restored to her full beauty thanks to the wonders of Starfleet medical technology.
44	* BeneathTheMask: Captain Janeway is introduced as an all-business Starfleet captain. Next time we see her, she's gushing with her fiance over her dog being pregnant in the privacy of her quarters.
45	* BewareTheSillyOnes: In this episode, Neelix's oddball behavior hides a more ruthless side demonstrated when he tricks Voyager into helping him rescue Kes, and then takes the Kazon Maje hostage. This is a bit of EarlyInstallmentWeirdness that never pops up again, outside of "Fair Trade" in Season 3 (and even then it's treated more as OOCIsSeriousBusiness).
46	* BigWordShout: Chakotay's "NOW!" for Voyager to beam him out just before his starship is about to [[RammingAlwaysWorks crash into the Kazon cruiser]].
47	* BitCharacter:
48	** Ayala just exists as a background Maquis character, and his role doesn't change much over the course of the series.
49	** Ensign Rollins is there to give Janeway someone to [[TheMainCharactersDoEverything hand over the ship to]] after Cavit is killed, because Chakotay hasn't taken on the role of her First Officer yet and Tuvok is still on the Maquis ship.
50	* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The Caretaker. While he feels a sense of duty to care for the Ocampa after his species' intergalactic exploration devastated their homeworld, he did so by turning them into a docile childlike people utterly dependent on him. When he begins to die, he proceeds to abduct, experiment on, and ultimately kill sentient beings from elsewhere in the galaxy in his desperate attempt to produce an offspring to continue his duties, as his female counterpart has long since left him.
51	* BoxedCrook: Tom Paris is introduced in a penal colony on Earth (namely UsefulNotes/NewZealand). Janeway recruits him to find his former colleagues in the Maquis.
52	* BrutalHonesty
53	-->'''Tuvok:''' I must inform you that I was assigned to infiltrate your crew, sir. I am Captain Janeway's Chief of Security.
54	-->'''Chakotay:''' Were you going to deliver us into their waiting hands, Vulcan?
55	-->'''Tuvok:''' My mission was to accumulate information on Maquis activities... and ''then'' deliver you into their waiting hands. That is correct.
56	* ButtMonkey: Harry seems to suffer the most from the Caretaker's "examination", and he and B'Elanna are the ones who nearly die from his attempt to procreate with them. This pretty much sets the tone of the next seven years of his life.
57	* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: When Tuvok points out that the PrimeDirective would apply in this case, Janeway replies, "We never asked to be involved, Tuvok, but we are."
58	* CaptainCrash: Chakotay crashes the ''Val Jean'', condemning him to seven years bad luck as the NumberOne of another captain and a near-endless string of shuttle crashes with him at the helm.
59	* CasanovaWannabe: Tom tries to charm Janeway, hits on Stadi, and gets cozy with the FarmersDaughter at the welcoming bee.
60	* CasualDangerDialogue: As the stairs threaten to collapse, Tom and Chakotay engage in SnarkToSnarkCombat.
61	-->'''Paris:''' You'd rather die than let me be the one to rescue you?
62	-->'''Chakotay:''' Fine. Be a fool. If I have to die, at least I'll have the pleasure of watching you go with me.
63	-->'''Paris:''' Isn't there some [[MagicalNativeAmerican Indian trick where you can turn yourself into a bird and fly us out of here?]]
64	-->'''Chakotay:''' You're too heavy.
65	* CharacterOverlap: Gul Evek from ST:TNG and ST:''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' is commanding the Cardassian warship chasing the ''Val Jean''. ''Voyager'' launches from Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine, where we have a cameo involving Quark trying to con NaiveNewcomer Harry Kim. The latter continues the tradition of the pilot of a new ''Trek'' series featuring a cameo from the previous one, after [=McCoy=] in TNG and Picard in [=DS9=].
66	* CharacterDevelopment: A single-episode version; Paris starts as a disgraced and somewhat shallow ex-con, and finishes the episode by being promoted to a position of trust after risking his life to save others.
67	* CharacterTic: Our very first sight of Captain Janeway is of her in the trademark [[DynamicAkimbo hands-on-hips position]]. She also has a habit of [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness walking with her hands behind her back]]. Doing this clearly causes Kate Mulgrew to almost stumble when she and Robert Duncan [=MacNeill=] are doing the Janeway/Paris WalkAndTalk over uneven ground.
68	* ClarkesThirdLaw: The Kazon-Ogla are mystified by ''Voyager'''s transporter and decline their gift of water in favor of their transporter tech, which they describe as "making water out of thin air".
69	* TheConfidant: Though Tuvok maintains his Vulcan reserve, the closeness of his relationship with Captain Janeway is shown by her pouring out her concerns to him in the privacy of her ready room.
70	* CriticalStaffingShortage: Another reason for incorporating the Maquis into Voyager's crew; the first officer, the chief engineer, the conn officer, and the entire medical staff are killed.
71	* CrowdSurfing: The Kazon-Ogla give Neelix an impromptu version. It's not because they're having a rock concert.
72	* DamselInDistress: Neelix cons the crew into rescuing Kes, who is being held prisoner by the Kazon-Ogla. To her credit, Kes insists that they return the favor by helping ''Voyager'' get its missing crew back from the Ocampa.
73	* DeadpanSnarker: Harry, when he and B'Elanna are locked in the Ocampan infirmary and he tells her about how ''Voyager'' was looking for her Maquis ship.
74	--> '''B'Elanna:''' You mean you were trying to capture us?!\
75	'''Harry:''' Yeah, consider yourself captured. Oh, I know I have a phaser here somewhere.
76	* DeflationaryDialogue: Neelix does this a lot.
77	-->'''Neelix:''' Let me guess. You were whisked away from somewhere else in the galaxy, and brought here against your will.\
78	'''Janeway:''' Sounds as though you've heard this story before.\
79	'''Neelix:''' Sadly, yes; thousands of times! Well, hundreds of times... maybe fifty times.
80	* DerelictGraveyard: The other vessels brought to the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, currently being scavenged by a very strange creature called a Neelix.
81	* TheDeterminator: Even at maximum speed it will take ''Voyager'' 75 years to get back to the Alpha Quadrant. Janeway declares that they're going to head home regardless, though with an eye for shortcuts that will cut things down to the length of a seven-year TV series.
82	* DistractedByTheSexy: One of the Caretaker's "people", in the form of an attractive young woman, tries this on Harry and Tom to deflect them from their investigations. It works momentarily on Tom, but Harry remains all business.
83	-->'''Kim:''' Paris, she's just a hologram.\
84	'''Paris:''' No need to be rude...
85	* DontCallMeSir: Janeway says this when fresh-out-of-the-academy Kim calls her "sir".
86	---> '''Janeway:''' Ensign, despite Starfleet protocol, I don't like being addressed as "sir".\
87	'''Kim:''' I'm sorry...ma'am.\
88	'''Janeway:''' "Ma'am" is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer "Captain".
89	** Which pays off soon after as a BrickJoke:
90	--->'''Janeway:''' Ensign Kim, this is your station. Would you like to take over?\
91	'''Kim:''' Yes, ma'am.\
92	'''Janeway:''' It's not crunch time yet, Mister Kim. I'll let you know when.
93	* DoYouWantToHaggle: Janeway encounters Neelix scavenging a spaceship debris field, and tries to get his help finding their missing crew. They immediately begin [[IKnowYouKnowIKnow some unsubtle haggling]] towards [[WillTalkForAPrice suitable compensation]] for his services, which Janeway is surprised to find out is... [[MarsNeedsWater water?]]
94	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
95	** Neelix is established as a ConMan (in the vein of Quark) who deceives ''Voyager'' to save Kes and then screws over the local Kazon tribe on the deal they made. Afterwards, Neelix is never portrayed as anything other than a harmless goofball.
96	** Tom Paris is treated like a pariah by the crew of ''Voyager'' and even among the Maquis, with only Harry Kim to call a friend. This was quickly papered over by the third episode, "Time and Again."
97	** B'Elanna is a lot more aggressive than in later episodes. This one at least doesn't get ''completely'' ignored after the pilot, as she still has major anger management issues through most of the first season or so, before later mellowing out (though her temper never truly subsides). This one is likely because the producers realized how badly the B'Elanna portrayed here was slamming into [[YMMV/StarTrekVoyager the same kinds of implications]] that had quietly, then ever more loudly, dogged the re-tooled Klingons for years at that point, and stealthily did a (partial) about-face to avoid having another non-white crewman be "the aggressive one" (they would run into completely ''different'' [[MagicalNativeAmerican racial problems]] instead).
98	** Janeway being willing to break the Prime Directive because "we're already involved." She'll spend the rest of the series as the biggest PD zealot of the entire franchise.
99	** Chakotay is more of a hardass resistance leader in this episode, something that almost never pops up again after the first season.
100	** The Kazon leader, Maje Jabin, is set up as a recurring villain. He never appears again, with the villain role taken by Maje Cullah.
101	** Janeway pronounces "Kazon" with a hard "kh" sound ("[=KHazon=]"), and also seems to put an extra syllable in the second half of the name, so we get "[=KHazon=]-Ogala? Who are the [=KHazon=]-Ogala?" Neither Janeway nor anyone else uses this pronunciation ever again.
102	** Voyager is equipped with two [[FantasticNuke tricobalt devices]] which blow up the huge Caretaker Array in two shots. Despite the infamous InfiniteSupplies of ''Voyager'', they're never used again.
103	** ''Voyager'' (and the ''Val Jean'') being outclassed by a single Kazon carrier vessel. Though it may be because the Kazon carrier ship got a lucky hit on ''Voyager'' just after it arrived.
104	--->'''Chakotay:''' [''Voyager's''] weapons array has been hit. They're in trouble.
105	--->'''Torres:''' Neither of us has enough firepower to stop that ship.
106	** Janeway's glass coffee mug in the scene with Mark makes it obvious she's not taking her coffee black.
107	* EndlessCorridor: Janeway and her crew find themselves looking into a corridor so long that it vanishes into the distance, lined with people suspended in mid-air-- all of the beings who have been abducted by the Caretaker. Next moment they're transported there themselves, helpless to move as a [[MedicalHorror surgical probe is pushed down into their chest.]]
108	* EnemyMine: Janeway and Chakotay team up to find their missing crewmembers. By the end of the episode, Janeway decides the only way to survive is to integrate the Maquis into her crew as brevet members of Starfleet.
109	* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
110	** Janeway's first appearance shows her standing [[DynamicAkimbo in a power pose]] to show that this female captain is no less badass than her male counterparts.
111	** Harry Kim is nearly swindled by Quark, a sign of his extreme naïveté.
112	** B'Elanna raises hell in the Ocampan hospital, showing her volatile temperament, which she then blames on her Klingon side, [[InternalizedCategorism showing her issues]] with being a HalfHumanHybrid.
113	** Jabin describes Kes as weak and feeble, yet says she [[SilkHidingSteel resisted his torture without breaking]]. After escaping, Kes insists they [[TheHeart stay to help Voyager's crew]] and stands up to the other Ocampa who tell her to stay underground, showing her yen to be a BoldExplorer.
114	** Tom Paris may be a rogue and a bit of a {{Jerkass}} early on, but his desire to help his new buddy Harry shows that [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold he does have a heart of gold]], and he does care about his friends.
115	** The Doctor shows exasperation towards the crewmembers he has to deal with, best encapsulated by how he gets frustrated from Harry giving him a regular tricorder rather than the medical tricorder.
116	* ExplosiveInstrumentation: What kills everyone in Sickbay.
117	-->'''Paris:''' They must have been [[GenreBlindness right next to the console when it exploded]].
118	* FaceNodAction: When Captain Janeway suggests to Chakotay that they work together to find their missing crew, Chakotay looks to Tuvok, who gives a nod of approval. Well, he would, seeing as he's actually working for Janeway!
119	* FantasticNuke: Tricobalt warheads, which ''Voyager'' uses to demolish the Caretaker's array. ExpandedUniverse material generally holds them to be specialized for anti-station and anti-material applications.
120	* FieldPromotion: At the end of the episode, Captain Janeway tells Tom Paris that she's giving him a field promotion to Lieutenant and placing him in charge of the [[AcePilot Conn]]. However he's going to be working under Chakotay, who has been made her [[NumberTwo First Officer]].
121	* FirstTimeInTheSun: Kes finds a way out of the UndergroundCity of the Ocampa, and is [[BoldExplorer not in the least deterred]] that the surface of her world is a desert roamed by hostile Kazon sects who torture her for information on where she came from.
122	-->'''Toscat:''' You defied the Caretaker by going to the surface, Kes. Learn from the experience. Follow the path he has set for us.
123	-->'''Kes:''' I've learned very well, Toscat. ''I saw the sunlight!'' I can't believe that our Caretaker would forbid us to open our eyes and see the sky.
124	* {{Foreshadowing}}
125	** The Caretaker says his female partner left long ago to pursue other interests. Janeway is determined to find her, and does so in Season 2's "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E10ColdFire Cold Fire]]".
126	** The Ocampans mention the advanced PsychicPowers their ancestors allegedly possessed, and that Kes will develop in later seasons.
127	** The Doctor gets annoyed because people don't shut down his program when they leave Sickbay. The Doctor's stand over this issue is the first step in his CharacterDevelopment.
128	** There's a mention of the Chief Engineer being killed off-screen. The question of who will replace him is the B plot of the following episode.
129	** When Neelix boasts of his [[LethalChef great cooking skills]], Kes rolls her eyes.
130	** Neelix asks if he can have a uniform like Tuvok's -- his desire to be in Security is a RunningGag in later seasons.
131	* TheGoldenRule: Janeway to Chakotay: "That man is a member of my crew. Treat him with the same respect as you would have me treat one of yours."
132	* HeroesLoveDogs: Janeway is shown persuading her fiancé back on Earth to look after her pregnant dog while she's away.
133	-->'''Mark:''' Is this another "love me, love my dog" demand?
134	* HesDeadJim
135	-->'''Janeway:''' Paris, how's Stadi?
136	-->'''Paris:''' She's dead...
137	** Averted when we see Janeway taking Cavit's pulse.
138	* HellBentForLeather: The Maquis crew.
139	* HollywoodHealing: Chakotay breaks his leg so [[FireForgedFriends Tom can heroically rescue him]], then the Doctor's biobed miraculously lets him walk again so he can rush off to his ship to take part in the battle with the Kazon warships.
140	* HugAndComment: One where the hug is purely one-sided. Upon arriving on the ship and meeting Tuvok for the first time, Neelix enthusiastically proclaims "Good to meet you!" and gives him a big hug. Tuvok -- who, as a Vulcan a) [[TheStoic isn't a hugging person at the best of times]] and b) has a particularly sensitive nose, suggests as politely as he can that the Talaxian might care for a bath, to which Neelix replies "A what?"
141	* HumanoidsAreWhite: Averted; the Kazon and Ocampa are shown to have people of different skin color.
142	* HumanShield: Neelix holds Maje Jabin at phaser point in exchange for Kes.
143	* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: The Badlands
144	* ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder: A meta example -- one of the factors that got Robert Picardo the role of the Doctor is that during his audition, he said the character's line "I believe someone has failed to terminate my program" and then ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a nightlight." Even better, he didn't even know that was Bones' CatchPhrase (besides "HesDeadJim").
145	* IOweYouMyLife:
146	** After ''Voyager'' saves Kes from the Kazon, she helps them find Harry and B'Elanna.
147	** Tom Paris saves Chakotay and jokes that his life belongs to Tom now. Chakotay responds "Wrong tribe!" but repays the favor by keeping the rest of the Maquis from harassing Tom.
148	* InMysteriousWays: The Ocampa authorities just accept that everything the Caretaker does has a purpose, as he's always cared for them.
149	* IronicEcho: Quark tries to hawk some jewelry to Ensign Kim, who says they were warned about Ferengi at Starfleet Academy. Quark is so outraged at this speciesism that Harry offers to buy the whole tray… until Tom points out they're being sold at a fraction of the price elsewhere. As they walk off together, Tom says, "Didn't they warn you about Ferengi at the Academy?"
150	* ItsALongStory: Harry asks why everyone appears to be snubbing Tom.
151	-->'''Paris:''' It's a long story, Harry, and I'm tired of telling it. I'm sure someone around here will tell you before long.
152	* ItsPersonal: When Tuvok reveals himself as TheMole, Chakotay accepts that he was [[NothingPersonal just doing his job]], but he immediately rounds on Tom Paris, accusing him of having sold them out for money (actually, it was for help getting parole). Tom then volunteers to go on the away mission to search for Harry Kim, to find the only person so far who's actually treated him like a friend.
153	* JumpedAtTheCall: Kes and Neelix volunteer to go with ''Voyager'' on their journey.
154	* KillTheCutie: Naturally, attractive conn officer Lt. Stadi is among the [[RedShirt fatal casualties]] of ''Voyager'''s violent ride to the Delta Quadrant.
155	* LivingShip: ''Voyager'' herself, in a way. It's mentioned during Tom's first look of the ship that the computer is enhanced with biological components. Don't worry, [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS1E15LearningCurve we'll see soon enough]] just how much of a bad idea this is.
156	* MagicalNativeAmerican: Poked fun at when Tom (carrying a wounded Chakotay) asks if he can't just turn into a bird and fly them out of there. Chakotay replies, "You're too heavy."
157	* TheMagnificent:
158	-->'''Janeway:''' Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship ''Voyager''.
159	-->'''Neelix:''' A very impressive title. I have no idea what it means, but it sounds very impressive.
160	* ManHug: Neelix gives Tuvok a big hug when they meet. Tuvok ''really'' [[HatesBeingTouched doesn't reciprocate]].
161	* MarsNeedsWater: The Ocampa homeworld was damaged by the Caretaker's technology, making it impossible to rain there. Both Neelix and the local Kazon tribe consider water to be incredibly valuable.
162	* MarsNeedsWomen: Though NoBiochemicalBarriers is averted as the Caretaker can't find anyone whose DNA is compatible with his own.
163	* MercyKill: The Caretaker tried to bury the Ocampa civilization once he knew he was dying and wouldn’t have the means to take care of them anymore. He saw it as the better option to provide the Ocampa with five years’ worth of supplies and close off their tunnels than risk them going above the service where their chance of survival will be minimal.
164	* AMotherToHerMen: In the [[BeneathTheMask privacy of her quarters]], Captain Janeway angsts over her missing ensign Harry Kim, who she barely knows. The trope is lampshaded when she and Chakotay explain to the Caretaker that they can't return home until they've recovered their missing crew, as they are responsible for them.
165	* MoreDakka: ''Voyager'' is equipped with tricobalt warheads and [[{{BFG}} compression phaser rifles]].
166	* MedicalHorror: When they refuse to accept the holographic illusion created by the Caretaker, Voyager's crew find themselves teleported onto a long line of examination tables, [[AndIMustScream helpless to resist]] when a long needle inserts into their stomach. When Harry and B'Elanna wake up in an Ocampan hospital, they find [[BodyHorror ugly growth scars]] on their body from the Caretaker's experiments.
167	* MikeNelsonDestroyerOfWorlds: The Caretaker and his kind. They were just explorers like our heroes who had no idea that their technology would destroy the biosphere of Ocampa.
168	* TheMole: Tuvok is a Starfleet spy on Chakotay's vessel. ''Voyager'''s assignment is to find him when the ''Val Jean'' goes missing in the Badlands.
169	* MoneyToThrowAway: Neelix shoots the canisters of water to provide a distraction so he can escape with Kes and the ''Voyager'' crew.
170	* MoodWhiplash:
171	** The crew are transported from a dark and damaged ''Voyager'' to a peaceful Iowa farm in broad daylight. Then when they insist on snooping around, the farmers quickly turn hostile and break out the pitchforks.
172	** A character version when the crew first meets Neelix, who angrily declares that the debris field he's scavenging is his because he found it first, only to pour on the charm once Janeway says they're not interested in it.
173	---> '''Neelix:''' Whoever you are, I found this waste zone first!\
174	'''Janeway:''' We're not interested in this debris field, Mister...\
175	'''Neelix:''' Neelix, and since you're not interested in my debris...I'm delighted to know you.
176	* MrExposition: Stadi delivers ''Voyager'''s specs as she flies a shuttle toward it. Tuvok works out what's happening with the Caretaker.
177	* MundaneLuxury: Neelix is amazed and [[StarshipLuxurious rather impressed]] that the Voyager crew has such efficient water recycling facilities that he can take a bath.
178	* MythologyGag:
179	** Quark tells Harry he acquired the Lobi crystals from "a very strange creature called a Morn." ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' viewers will recognize Morn sitting right next to them.
180	** Chakotay's ship (not named until the Season 7 episode "Repression") is called the ''Val Jean'' [sic], possibly named by Starfleet officer-turned-Maquis defector Michael Eddington, who in the ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]]'' episode "For the Uniform" was shown to be obsessed with Jean Valjean, the protagonist of ''Literature/LesMiserables''.
181	* NamedAfterTheirPlanet: Assumed by Neelix when he says that "you Federations are obviously an advanced culture." Tuvok has to correct him that {{the Federation}} is made up of many cultures.
182	* NativeGuide: At the end of the episode, Neelix offers his skills in this area in order to stay on board this CoolStarship.
183	* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
184	** Neelix blurts out that ''Voyager'' has [[MatterReplicator technology that can create water from thin air]], and Janeway informs the Kazon that it's integrated into their ship. The Kazon spend the next two seasons trying to get their hands on it.
185	** Chakotay rams the Kazon cruiser, causing it to crash into the Array, destroying the SelfDestructMechanism that would have meant Voyager did not have to stay in the Delta Quadrant to ensure the Array's destruction (assuming that Janeway and Tuvok could have talked the Caretaker out of blowing up the Array himself).
186	** Janeway destroys the Caretaker Array stranding them on the other side of the galaxy (though Tuvok tells her that it would take several hours to work out the technology involved, all while being attacked by Kazon forces).
187	* TheNicknamer: B'Elanna calls Harry "Starfleet" even after he introduces himself. This nickname doesn't last past Season Two. Neelix uses "Mr. Vulcan" for the first time, presumably AccidentalMisnaming as Tuvok said while introducing himself, "I am Vulcan". Unfortunately for Tuvok, [[OddCouple Neelix never stops using this name]].
188	* NoodleIncident: The accident on Caldek Prime that killed three Starfleet officers and ended Tom's career. Serves as an early example of Tom putting on a JerkassFacade when Harry points out that the only reason he was caught and punished was because his conscience made him confess.
189	* NoEndorHolocaust: The Caretaker gave the Ocampa five years' worth of power for the city before his death. Given how dependent on him the Ocampans were, it's doubtful they could figure out for themselves a different power-source. The forcefield protecting them from outsiders will most likely fail as the power dwindles and they'll eventually have to leave for the surface... ''where the Kazon are.''
190	* NoMacGuffinNoWinner: Janeway destroys the Caretaker's Array so that the Kazon wouldn't get their hands on its immense technology, even though doing so would strand her own ship in the Delta Quadrant. To be fair to her, the Caretaker intended to destroy the Array himself before dying.
191	* NoNameGiven: Due to a cut line, the name of the Maquis' ship is not mentioned, and it would not get an official name within the show until season seven, when its name is visible on a computer terminal: ''Val Jean''.
192	* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Janeway and Chakotay have no intention of leaving without finding Harry and B'Elanna first. Then when Chakotay is injured while they're climbing out of the Ocampan city, Tom Paris goes back to get him, risking his life from the OrbitalBombardment of the Caretaker's energy pulses, and Neelix shows his HiddenDepths by doing likewise even though he could have beamed up to ''Voyager'' with Kes. All this forms the basis of a FireForgedFriendship between the main characters.
193	* NoTimeToExplain:
194	** The Caretaker can't be bothered sending Voyager and the Maquis ship back home as he doesn't have the time. While it's because he regards them as PunyEarthlings, he really is running out of time as he's dying.
195	** When the crew reappear on Voyager after being missing for three days, the EMH asks Tom Paris what's been happening. [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman Tom doesn't even bother to answer him]], because he's worried about Harry not beaming back with them.
196	* NoSenseOfPersonalSpace: Neelix immediately hugs Mr. Vulcan. And he hasn't had a bath in a ''long'' time.
197	* NotRareOverThere: {{Inverted}}--the Kazon can't access the water on Ocampa, or even replicate it themselves.
198	* OddCouple:
199	** The inherent comedy of [[PluckyComicRelief Neelix]] and [[TheComicallySerious Tuvok]] is immediately explored.
200	** The mild mannered by-the-book Ensign Kim finds himself LockedInARoom with B'Elanna Torres, a HotBlooded HalfHumanHybrid who got kicked out of Starfleet Academy.
201	* OddFriendship: Harry insists on remaining friends with Tom even though everyone else on ''Voyager'' is cold-shouldering him.
202	* OpeningScroll: Leading to a ''Film/StarWarsANewHope'' ShoutOut too.
203	-->Unhappy with a new treaty, Federation Colonists along the Cardassian border have banded together.\
204	Calling themselves 'The Maquis', they continue to fight the Cardassians.\
205	Some consider them heroes, but to the governments of the Federation and Cardassia, they are outlaws.
206	* OurShowersAreDifferent: Averted when Neelix takes a bath in the guest quarters. Previously he had to rely on a sand scrub. Given that Voyager can replicate its water, the usual restrictions would not be a problem (though later episodes would play it straight with 'sonic' showers).
207	* PatrickStewartSpeech: Janeway urging the Caretaker to let the Ocampa evolve through adversity.
208	* PlanetLooters: The Kazon-Ogla are (in BMovie sci-fi tradition) trying to [[MarsNeedsWater steal water!]] The Ocampan homeworld can't produce rain due to environmental damage by the Caretaker's race, so they beat Kes in a futile attempt to find out how to get into the UndergroundCity. As he's dying the Caretaker persuades Janeway to destroy the Array for fear the Kazon will annihilate the Ocampa without his protection.
209	* PlotDemandedManualMode: A much larger spaceship is hammering Voyager. So Chakotay sets his even smaller vessel on a collision course, but his guidance system is disabled so he has to pilot it manually. He has Voyager put a transporter lock on him to [[TeleportationRescue beam him out]] at the [[JustInTime last second]].
210	* PrimeDirective: Tuvok argues that destroying the Array will violate the Prime Directive. Not for the last time, Janeway decides ScrewTheRulesImDoingWhatsRight.
211	* PunyEarthlings: When Janeway demands her missing crew back from Banjo Man, and them all returned home, he scoffs, "Well, aren't you contentious for a minor bipedal species!"
212	* RailingKill: A variation; an explosion goes off behind a RedShirt and he faceplants right into a Bridge railing!
213	* RammingAlwaysWorks: When Voyager is being hammered by a huge Kazon cruiser, Chakotay flies the ''Val Jean'' into it.
214	* ReverseArmfold: Janeway dealing with Toscat.
215	* RopeBridge: Tom rescues Chakotay from a fire escape-style staircase in danger of collapsing.
216	* RousingSpeech: Janeway gives one at the end of the episode.
217	-->"We're alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We have already made some friends here, and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face, but one thing is clear. Both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew. A Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take seventy five years to reach the Federation, but I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her, and we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere along this journey, we'll find a way back. Mister Paris, set a course for home."
218	* SacrificialLamb: We are introduced to the Betazoid helmswoman Stadi, an unnamed Chief Medical Officer, and Janeway's NumberOne, Lt. Commander Cavit. All are killed when ''Voyager'' is hurled across the galaxy, leaving their positions open for the Maquis characters and the EMH.
219	* SadisticChoice: Janeway struggles with the choice of using the Array to send her ship back to the Alpha Quadrant at the risk of endangering the Ocampa or destroying the Array to protect the Ocampa from the Kazon at the risk of stranding the ''Voyager'' crew in the Delta Quadrant, leading to a longer journey home.
220	* SceneryPorn: Our first view of ''Voyager'' docked at Deep Space Nine, and later when it launches on her first mission, has the obligatory lingering shots.
221	* SelfDestructMechanism: The Caretaker tries and fails to destroy the Array, leaving Janeway to do the job herself, earning the ire of Janeway-bashers across Trek fandom.
222	* SheIsTheKing: Averted, despite it being established in Trek canon that superior officers are called sir regardless of gender. Janeway makes it clear she doesn't like it. "Ma'am is acceptable in a crunch, but I prefer Captain."
223	* ShoutOut: The ActionPrologue bears more than a passing resemblance to the opening of ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''Film/ANewHope'' -- an OpeningScroll giving a bit of backstory regarding an ongoing conflict with dramatic music in the background, followed by a [[StandardEstablishingSpaceshipShot pan to a running firefight]] between a small rebel ship (Chakotay's ''Val Jean'') and a large enemy ship (a Cardassian ''Galor''-class destroyer). Only difference is, the rebel ship ''escapes'', by pulling a TryAndFollow into the Badlands' plasma storms.
224	* SingingInTheShower: Neelix sings in the bathtub, much to the displeasure of Tuvok's Vulcan ears.
225	* SingleBiomePlanet: The Ocampan homeworld is a desert planet. A JustifiedTrope as this is due to an artificial disaster.
226	* SpaceStation: The Caretaker Array, which has a CrewOfOne. ''Voyager'' is first seen docked at Deep Space Nine.
227	* SpaceWestern: The crew is beamed into a holographic simulation of a backwater ranch, with pitchfork wielding, banjo-playing nutters. Neelix has never had a bath. Water is treated as a precious commodity. Marauders are threatening the Array and its inhabitants. The Delta Quadrant of the galaxy is "frontier" space, uncharted and ungoverned.
228	* SpinoffSendoff: Starts with ''Voyager'' docked at ''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]''.
229	* StarfishAlien: Once the Banjo Man avatar [[GlamorFailure goes offline]], the Caretaker appears as a translucent [[BlobMonster blob creature]].
230	* StockFootage: Some of the shots of the shuttle that takes Paris to ''Voyager'' are made up of this, which has the side-effect of the shuttle's registry periodically changing between that of ''Voyager'' and the ''Enterprise''-D.
231	* SurroundedByIdiots: The Doctor doesn't actually say this, but it's no doubt how he feels about dealing with two officers who don't know what trianaline is and can't tell the difference (or are unaware that there even ''is'' a difference) between a scientific tricorder and a medical one.
232	* SurvivedTheBeginning: Half the crew dies right at the beginning, courtesy of a Maquis ship's tetryon beam. They never lost more than a handful of people after that unless there was a ResetButton handy.
233	* SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute: Tom Paris' backstory is very reminiscent of Nick Locarno from [[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS5E19TheFirstDuty "The First Duty"]]. [[YouLookFamiliar They even have the same actor.]]
234	* TakeOurWordForIt: Tom informs Janeway that the rest of Voyager's crew are scattered all over the farm, to save money on extras.
235	* TeamMom: Janeway worries over Harry Kim even though she admits she barely knows him. She also tells off Chakotay for verbally abusing Tom Paris; [[AMotherToHerMen this act probably does more to guarantee Tom's loyalty than anything else]].
236	* {{Teleportation}}: Neelix is astounded when ''Voyager'' beams him onto their ship, the technology being something new in the Delta Quadrant, though the Caretaker has no trouble teleporting people around whether they like it or not.
237	* TerminallyDependentSociety: The Ocampan dependence on the Caretaker Array. How dependent? We later learn that an Ocampan can only ever have a single child. Assuming that this is one child per Ocampa, male or female, every early death or miscarriage permanently reduces the Ocampan population.
238	* ThisMeansWar: A nicely understated version from Maje Jabin.
239	-->"You have made an enemy today." ''(screen off)''
240	* TrashOfTheTitans: Trash of the Talaxians: Neelix has to clear the salvaged debris piled on his spaceship away from his viewscreen before he can talk to Captain Janeway.
241	* TooDumbToLive: When his captain orders the crew to brace for impact, Cavit chooses that moment to go running across the bridge.
242	* TrueMeaningOfChristmas: Tom sarcastically refers to this as part of a reference to ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' when he tells Harry about why he told the truth about the accident he caused after lying about it.
243	--> "The ghosts of those three dead officers came to me in the middle of the night and taught me the true meaning of Christmas."
244	* TryAndFollow: Chakotay flies his ship into a plasma storm in the Badlands to escape a pursuing Cardassian cruiser, which is damaged trying to follow them. Gul Evek puts in a report [[PolishTheTurd claiming that he forced the Maquis vessel into the Badlands where it was destroyed]], but apparently Starfleet doesn't believe this so Voyager is sent to find it.
245	* UndergroundCity: Where the Ocampa live after the Caretaker's race accidentally destroyed their environment.
246	* VengefulVendingMachine: Tom argues with a replicator over tomato soup.
247	-->"Fourteen varieties and they can't even get plain tomato soup right."
248	* ViolenceIsTheOnlyOption
249	-->'''Janeway:''' We have no dispute with you.
250	-->'''Jabin:''' ''[on viewscreen]'' I have a dispute with anyone who would challenge us.
251	-->'''Janeway:''' This is ridiculous. We have no intention of challenging you.
252	-->'''Jabin:''' And I have no intention of letting anyone with your technological knowledge board the Array.
253	-->'''Janeway:''' Jabin, can we discuss this like two civilised--''(Transmission ends.)'' I guess we can't. ''(ScreenShake)'' Fire phasers. [[AttackPatternAlpha Evasive pattern, Delta Four.]]
254	* WakeUpFighting: B'Elanna in the Ocampan medical ward, forcing them to [[InstantSedation tranquilize her.]]
255	* [[WhatTheHellHero What the Hell, Heroine?]]
256	-->'''Torres:''' What do you think you're doing? That Array is the only way we have to get back home!\
257	'''Janeway:''' I'm aware everyone has families and loved ones at homes they want to get back to. So do I. But I'm not willing to trade the lives of the Ocampa for our convenience. We'll have to find another way home.\
258	'''Torres:''' What other way home is there? Who is she to be making these decisions for all of us?!!\
259	'''Chakotay:''' She's TheCaptain.
260	* WeHardlyKnewYe: Voyager's original first officer, doctor and pilot are all killed with only a few lines each to make room for their permanent replacements, who will form the show's main cast.
261	* WhateverHappenedToTheMouse: Gul Evek, or at least in the larger context of the TNG-era shows. While he sends a distress call and his sensor records are given to Starfleet for Janeway's mission, he doesn't reappear before ''Voyager'' gets shanghaied. He likewise will not reappear over on ''Deep Space Nine'' for the remainder of its run. Probably justified given the whole point of Evek's character was to provide connective tissue between TNG and [=DS9=] as the two shows laid the groundwork for the Maquis and the build towards ''Voyager''.
262	* WindowLove: Janeway is talking via SubspaceAnsible to her fiance Mark, ending the conversation by blowing him a kiss and touching her fingers to the viewscreen. Before the episode is over they'll be 70,000 light years apart.
263	* YouHaveNoChanceToSurvive
264	-->'''Gul Evek:''' Maquis ship, this is Gul Evek of the Cardassian Fourth Order. Cut your engines and prepare to surrender or we will d-- ''(Chakotay shuts him off)''
265	----

Context Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS1E1Caretaker