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The Cloud (episode)

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Real World article
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"The Cloud"
VOY, Episode 1x06
Production number: 106
First aired: 13 February 1995
← 5th of 168 produced in VOY →
← 5th of 168 released in VOY →
  {{{nNthReleasedInSeries_Remastered}}}th of 168 released in VOY Remastered  
← 349th of 727 released in all →
Teleplay By
Tom Szollosi and Michael Piller

Story By
Brannon Braga

Directed By
David Livingston
48546.2 (2371)
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With energy reserves nearly depleted, Voyager investigates possible resources inside a nebula, which - as it turns out - is not really a nebula.

Contents

[edit] Summary

"Personal log, stardate 48546.2. Our journey home is several weeks old now, and I have begun to notice in my crew, and in myself, a subtle change as the reality of our situation settles in. Here in the Delta Quadrant, we are virtually the entire family of man. We are more than a crew, and I must find a way to be more than a Captain to these people, but it’s not clear to me exactly how to begin. At the Academy, we’re taught that a captain is expected to maintain a certain distance. Until now, I have always been comfortable with that distance. Maybe this is just the way it works. Maybe the distance is necessary. Maybe more than ever now, they need me to be larger than life. I only wish I felt larger than life. Computer, delete last sentence.":
The Doctor tries to get Janeway's attention

Captain Janeway walks into the mess hall where Harry Kim and Tom Paris are having breakfast. She wonders if Neelix has come up with something interesting this morning. Harry and Tom joke that every meal Neelix prepares is interesting. She jokes that they should not judge him too quickly for after all, he is helping them conserve replicator energy. When she leaves, Harry tells Tom that they should have asked her to join them. Tom brushes Harry's suggestion off, stating that Ensigns don't invite Captains to sit down. Harry does not understand what is wrong with showing a little courtesy, but Tom states that Captains don't want courtesy, they want respect and that's why they don't get chummy with the lower ranks. Harry thinks Tom is really not getting this right because after all, there are not that many Admirals and Captains for her to hang around with.

Captain Janeway is looking around in Neelix's kitchen for coffee but there is none to be found. But Neelix has an even better than coffee substitute, which, much to the Captain's dismay, looks more like a cup of tar, rather than coffee; so she says that she will just use one of her replicator rations. However, Neelix suggests setting an example for the entire crew by drinking his alternative, which does not deplete scarce energy reserves on the ship. While contemplating his suggestion, Chakotay calls Janeway who uses this as an immediate excuse to escape Neelix's coffee alternative by cutting the conversation short and rushing out of the mess hall.

On the bridge Chakotay informs her that Voyager has approached a nebula rich in omicron particles. Wanting to collect some to supplement their power reserves, Janeway orders Voyager to set a new course, jokingly stating that there's coffee in that nebula. While they are waiting to reach the nebula, Janeway asks Chakotay about the state of the crew given their current situation. She tells him that she is worried about them and wished they had a counselor on board. Chakotay says that in his tradition, they talk to animals as their counselors. He tells her that there is a different animal guide for everyone.

Voyager enters the nebula with no sign of trouble. Harry says that it's like nothing he's seen before. Suddenly, Voyager encounters an energy barrier that rocks the ship to a stop. They decide to punch through to get to the particles. After they get through the barrier, they notice that it closes behind them. Neelix, who has been observing all this from the mess hall, is upset about the Captain's decision to enter the nebula and possibly endanger the ship and its crew. Kes tells him that she is not endangering anyone's life but that these people are just natural born explorers driven by curiosity and the desire to learn more about the world around them. Neelix doesn't agree with her and actually thinks that they are nothing but "natural born idiots” who, with a ship that's a match to any vessel in 100 light years, have to stop for every space anomaly to investigate. But Kes disagrees, stating that if she was the captain, she'd open every crack in the universe and peek inside just like Captain Janeway does.

An unknown compound begins to attach to the hull and drain the ship's energy reserves. They turn around to get out of the nebula, but are stopped by the barrier again. This time, they exceed maximum thrusters and fire phasers and a photon torpedo. Harry tells Janeway that as a result of this maneuver, they lost 11% of their energy reserves. Janeway realizes she may just have to give up coffee.

Tom Paris re-creates a pool hall from Marseille, France

Later that night, Tom breaks into Harry's quarters to wake him up and show him a holodeck recreation of a pool hall in Marseille, France; he takes him to Chez Sandrine's: the bar he used to hang around at during his second semester at the Academy when he was stationed in Marseilles for his physical training. Tom tries to help Harry get in the mood by having him relax and try some of the holographic wine and women he created. He tells Harry that this is exactly his idea of home: a little piece of Earth in the middle of the Delta Quadrant. But Harry knows that Tom is just shrugging it off and that he really misses home too.

In the meantime, B'Elanna Torres analyzes a sample of the compound taken from the hull. She notices something strange and wants a second opinion. She takes the sample to The Doctor, telling him that she got it from the nebula upon which the Doctor cynically asks why they even bother acting like they're going home at all if all they're going to do is explore every meter cubic millimeter of the quadrant. The Doctor recognizes the nucleogenic peptide bonds in the sample, confirming that it is organic.

Captain Janeway's animal guide

Chakotay brings Janeway his medicine bundle to help her find her animal guide. Their ceremony is interrupted by Torres. Janeway explains to her what they were doing and Torres tells her that she hopes Janeway has better luck with her animal guide than she did with hers. Chakotay tells the Captain that B’Elanna is the only person he knows who tried to kill her animal guide. B’Elanna goes on to tell them that the matter left on the hull is organic or, more precisely, that it is the organic elements of a much larger lifeform; it appears as if this nebula is not a nebula at all. She states that if they re-enter this lifeform and produce a nucleonic radiation field on the ‘wound’ they caused, it should promote re-generation. Tuvok must modify the shields to suppress the lifeform's natural defense systems.

Neelix becomes upset when he finds out that they are going back in and goes to the Captain to complain. He demands that he and Kes be allowed to wait in his ship while Voyager pursues its mission, but Janeway refuses, telling him that the crew is busy preparing for this and that they don't have time to prepare his ship for launch and that she will most certainly not drop him off on the side of the road every time they hit a bump. She tells him that he is free to leave once they're finished, but for the moment she suggests that he find himself a seat with a good view.

When Voyager enters the nucleogenic cloud, it's hit by multi-polaric charges. Paris loses control and Janeway orders Torres to dump deuterium to get control back. They end up deeper in the lifeform. Chakotay suggests they might be able to ride the lifeform's circulatory system to get back to the wound. Neelix delivers refreshments to the bridge, having appointed himself the ship's Chief Morale officer.

Voyager acts as a suture to heal the nucleogenic cloud being

They arrive at the wound and generate the nucleonic radiation beam. The Doctor suggests that the ship itself can be used as a suture to help the wound heal. To avoid being attacked by the lifeform's defenses, they decide to create a distraction, much in the way Janeway once had to distract her wounded Irish Setter, Mollie. The wound is closed and the crew leaves with a new understanding that what they find in the Delta Quadrant may not always be what it seems.

"Captain’s log, supplemental. We set out to augment our energy reserves and wound up depleting them by over 20 percent. As a result, we’ve set a new course for a planet fourteen light years away that Neelix says might have compatible energy sources to offer us. It is out of our way, but circumstances offer few alternatives. So much for raising spirits...":

Janeway is on her way to her quarters to see her animal guide when she meets Kim in the turbolift. He invites her to join them in the holodeck with the others. She acts as if she never played pool before but pockets several solids on the break, then calls her shot and knocks in the 8-ball without looking, winning the game.

..."A-koo-chee-moya. We are far from the sacred places of our grandfathers, and from the bones of our people, but perhaps there is one powerful being who will embrace this good crew and give them the answer they seek.":

[edit] Log Entries

  • (log entry made by Captain Kathryn Janeway)
"Personal log, stardate 48546.2. Our journey home is several weeks old now, and I have begun to notice in my crew, and in myself, a subtle change as the reality of our situation settles in. Here in the Delta Quadrant, we are virtually the entire family of man. We are more than a crew, and I must find a way to be more than a captain to these people . . . but it’s not clear to me exactly how to begin. At the Academy, we’re taught that a captain is expected to maintain a certain distance. Until now, I have always been comfortable with that distance. Maybe this is just the way it works. Maybe the distance is necessary. Maybe more than ever now, they need me to be larger than life. I only wish I felt larger than life. Computer, delete last sentence."
  • "Captain’s log, supplemental. We set out to augment our energy reserves and wound up depleting them by over 20 percent. As a result, we’ve set a new course for a planet 14 light years away that Neelix says might have compatible energy sources to offer us. It is out of our way, but circumstances offer few alternatives. So much for raising spirits. A-koo-chee-moya. We are far from the sacred places of our grandfathers, and from the bones of our people, but perhaps there is one powerful being who will embrace this good crew and give them the answer they seek."

[edit] Memorable Quotes

"There's coffee in that nebula."

- Captain Janeway


"I've never seen anything like it!"
"Tuvok to Kim. Mister Kim that is a comment we prefer not to hear from a senior officer on the bridge. It makes the junior officers nervous."

- Tuvok scolding Harry Kim


"I'm curious Captain, exactly what are you looking for?"
"I need to know if we did serious harm to this life-form."
"Let's see, you ran your ship through it, fired phasers at it, and blew a hole in it with a photon torpedo. I'd say it's a pretty good chance that you did some fairly significant...."
"Computer: mute audio."

- Captain Janeway and The Doctor


"I found this place just after my pocket was picked walking by the harbor."
"Somebody picked your pocket on Earth?"
"Oh, they just do it for tourists. They give it back... most of the time."

- Tom Paris and Harry Kim, while in Chez Sandríne


"The Commander was introducing me to my animal guide."
"I hope that you have better luck with yours than I had with mine."
"B'Elanna's the only one I know who tried to kill her animal guide."

- Janeway, Torres and Chakotay


"What do you make of it, Mr. Tuvok?"
"I am unable to offer an identification Captain."
"Kim to Tuvok. In other words; 'you've never seen anything like it'. Oh, I promise not to tell the junior officers."

- Captain Janeway, Tuvok, and Harry Kim's sarcastic response.


"I don't think the Captain is an idiot."

- Kes


"Captain, I understand that this nebula we've discovered is some kind of MONSTER?"

- Neelix


"Dismissed. ... That's a Starfleet expression for 'get out'."

- Captain Janeway, to Neelix


"There was no need for you to come to the bridge, Captain."
"Yes, there was."

- Chakotay and Janeway, after Neelix offered Janeway his "better than coffee substitute"


"Paris? Did you program this guy?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"He's a pig. And so are you."

- B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris


"A nebula? What were we doing in a nebula? No, wait, don't tell me. We were "investigating." That's all we do around here. Why pretend we're going home at all? All we're going to do is investigate every cubic millimeter of this quadrant, aren't we?"

- The Doctor


"We talk to animals."

- Chakotay

[edit] Background Information

  • This episode takes place "several weeks" after the events in "Caretaker".
  • This episode is the first to mention Lewis Zimmerman as the creator of the EMH program.
  • The Chez Sandrine holoprogram by Tom Paris makes its first appearance in this episode. It is visited on several occasions over the first three seasons before being replaced by Neelix's Resort program in "Warlord", although it reappears during Season Five in "Someone to Watch Over Me". Robert Duncan McNeill remarked "I think initially the writers felt like it ws a great holodeck [location] - a relaxed sort of cozy atmosphere to create for our series regulars to go hang out and let their hair down. There was something that was just a little too dark and moody. It didn't have enough fun to it. Something about a bar idn't seem like quite the right atmosphere for us. Sandrine's, it was fine [but] I was not heartbroken when they moved on to trying other things." (Star Trek: Voyager Companion)
  • When The Doctor is musing about having the ability to program himself he mentions that he might "create a family" which he later does in Season Three. (VOY: "Real Life")
  • This episode gives the first indication that food and drink on the holodeck (or at least wine) are holographic and not replicated.
  • This episode features a large cloud-like creature that bears a striking resemblance to the planet-eating cloud from TAS: "One of Our Planets Is Missing".
  • A fin is a United States five-dollar bill.

[edit] Video and DVD releases

[edit] Links and References

[edit] Main Cast

[edit] Guest Stars

[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars

[edit] References

Ailis paté, akoonah, animal guide, bantan, billiards, Chez Sandríne, coffee, counselor, Daliwakan, Even better than coffee substitute, Felada onion crisp, heartburn, helium, hydrogen, hydroxyl radical, inertial dampening field, Jupiter Station, lipstick, Marseille, medicine bundle; microprobe, microscope; multi-polar charge, nuanka, nucleogenic cloud being, nucleonic radiation, omicron particle, omicron radiation, photon torpedo, pokattah, pool, reaction control thruster, Replicator ration, Saint Emilion, stuffed Cardaway leaf, suture, Takar loggerhead egg, tea, thoron, Toarian ice storm, veterinarian


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