Game VOY Episode Pitch Game

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Okay, let's try Voyager.

The premise:

It's the 1990s/2000s, and you've been invited to pitch an episode for Star Trek:Voyager. (How exciting!)

Rules
1) Your episode must be something that could have appeared on VOY when it originally aired (think late 90s/early 2000s TV).
2) After you write your synopsis, you get to choose the title of the next one.
3) Titles must be VOY style - single words, fake sci-fi, two word phrases, Latin phrases etc
4) Sequels to real VOY episodes are allowed.
5) Include both A and B stories, where applicable.

I'll start:

"Layers" - The Doctor malfunctions (again) This time, his program is peeling back the layers of previous edits, rendering him less and less able to remember details, perform duties and function as a person. If Voyager's crew can't stop the erasure, soon he will be wiped out completely. (Could be an allegory for debilitating terminal illness.) Meanwhile, Naomi Wildman is about to go through a traditional Ktarian childhood rite of passage, but is reluctant to leave a part of herself behind.

Next episode: "Pi"

 

[Orac]

Pi

Voyager discovers an immense circle in space, could it be a Science Portal to the Alpha Quadrant? Initial scans suggest maybe, further investigation is required. Meanwhile, sickbay is inundated with nauseous crewmembers, the EMH suspects the Science Portal to be the cause and urges Janeway to move away from it, after about 40 minutes of investigation it turns out they were all poisoned by eating Neelix's Leola Root Pie. When Voyager returns to the portal it's gone. Janeway gives Neelix a stern glare of utter contempt.

Next episode: Impairment

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Impairment - Tuvok's Vulcan telepathy is affected by a species that is able to project false telepathic thoughts and emotions, leading a Voyager away team into a trap when he picks up on the manufactured anguish of an imaginary Vulcan crew. Meanwhile, the side effects of a medication that B'Elanna must take for a week puts her in an unnaturally good mood, which causes problems when a crewman under her command requires discipline.

Next episode: "Lone Wolf"

 

[Warp 10 (Pepperoni)]

Lone Wolf: A late season 2 episode that's really just an unaired leftover from season 1, Chakotay leads a landing party on a planet circling a spacial anomaly. Gradually, each person mysteriously dissapears. Leaving Chakotay alone and without response from Voyager, he is visited by a spirit guide (in a misguided and borderline offensive scene) who is late revealed to be an alien shifting people out of phase, for reasons.

Meanwhile on Voyager, Neelix tries to convince Tuvok to teach him how to do a Vulcan nerve pinch.

Next episode: Rising Tide

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

I figured it'd be a Chakotay episode.

I'll do this one as a bonus, even though it's an ENT title already.

"North Star" - Voyager is found to have been followed at a distance by an alien space ship for some time; the ship's personnel believes it to be a stationary stellar object, which will lead them to a destination they wish to head, only to find that since the ship has changed course multiple times, they are hopelessly lost. The crew of Voyager retrace their steps to help the aliens get back on course. Meanwhile, an ex-Maquis crewmember considers setting out on his own and tries to recruit Neelix as a travelling partner.

Next episode: ^ See previous post ^

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Rising Tide: B'Elanna and Harry become trapped on a volcanic island in the middle of a hurricane while trying to retrieve raw materials from the mineral deposits there. They find 2 children who were caught in the storm when exploring and may be forced to make a "Sophie's Choice" as their cave fills with water.

Next episode: "Tumbleweed"

 

[FederationHistorian]

"Tumbleweed" - Janeway is brought to the Q Continuum, to babysit Q Junior. They end up being transported to Indiana in the year 2054, where Janeway comes face to face with a war weary and visibly traumatized Shannon O’Donnel. Janeway must convince her ancestor that the future is much brighter than her current circumstances would suggest.

Next episode: “Permission Structure”

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

@FederationHistorian I hadn't heard of that phrase before, so I looked it up. As far as I can tell, the term didn't exist when Voyager was running. (2008 according to this article)

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/05/03/so-about-that-permission-structure/

 

[FederationHistorian]

Ah, ok, nvm then.

Next episode - "Prom Night"

 

[MakeTea-NotWar]

Prom Night
During another movie marathon night on the holodeck, Tom discovers that B'Elanna never got to expierence a Prom Night of her own growing up. In both an attempted romantic gesture and a way for the crew to relax a little, Tom is sucessfully able to to covince Janeway to to let him throw a Prom Night aboard Voyager but Toms attempts at creating a fun night for the crew quickly spiral out of control, going from trying to perfectly recreate sets and scenes from classic movies to recreating and "fix" his own disasterous teenage prom.

Next episode - "Bleeding Edge"

 

[Tosk]

For what it's worth, I found multiple instances of "permission structure" in articles dated between 1990 and 2001, mostly to do with computing.

 

[Oddish]

BLEEDING EDGE - The Doctor adapts some brand new and experimental modifications to his holomatrix that are supposed to allow him to engage in everyday human experiences like smell, taste, and sensual pleasures. However, like most untested procedures, there are unexpected side effects, including the darker aspects of humanity...

Next up: "Exhumation"

 

[Tosk]

EXHUMATION

Voyager stops off at a planet to gather supplies and while foraging, Neelix stumbles across what appears to be a grave. Janeway is alarmed, as the planet scans had them believe there were no higher lifeforms on the planet. A careful examination of the burial site leads to an amazing discovery. It is not the grave of an individual, but an entire microscopic and advanced civilization. And there are signs that they were wiped out intentionally...

Next time on Star Trek Voyager..."Synergy"

 

[FederationHistorian]

“Synergy” - When Janeway decides to promote Tuvok, Harry Kim, and Samantha Wildman simultaneously, it is treated as a breath of fresh air among the crew. But what starts out as the new normal quickly becomes hectic, as the newly promoted try to change how daily routines across the ship works. Meanwhile Chakotay and Seven of Nine study a gaseous anomaly that treats Borg nanoprobes as a kind of lightning rods. When the Delta Flyer gets too close to the anomaly, Seven is affected, and Chakotay is unable to determine if Seven’s undergoing a medical crisis, or exploring a brand new reality.

Next episode – “The Sins of Zora”

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

“The Sins of Zora”- Voyager encounters a 21st century cryo-ship full of preserved Tiburonians, seeking a cure somewhere in the galaxy for the side effects of Zora's experiments, which have rendered them mentally unstable and physically damaged. The scientists who are monitoring the ship are relatives of these individuals, who love their families and took them away to escape cruel treatment on their homeworld and the inability to be cured in the Federation. The Doctor analyses their research, hoping to find a cure, while Tuvok tries to unlock the mind of one of the deformed, who cannot be returned to stasis safely.

Next episode: "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme"

 

[FederationHistorian]

"Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme" - Voyager encounters a species where cooking is the national sport. Janeway allows Neelix to participate, allowing Neelix to fulfill a long-time dream. When the Doctor, Tuvok, and Chakotay also wish to participate, it leads to an intra-level competition as to who is the best cook on Voyager.

Next episode – “Dieghan”

 

[at Quark's]

Next episode – “Dieghan”

"Dieghan"
As Voyager acquires more and more alien technology -of which some have Borg origins-, a sense of resentment is growing among a part of the crew, particularly the former Maquis. When did they sign up for living the rest of their lives in a sealed tin can, surrounded and imprisened by technology, trying to reach 'home'? Shouldn't they just settle for a simpler life, under nature's gentle tutelage (*) on some DQ planet, after all?

Meanwhile, the former Borg kids are doing a school project on this 22nd philosopher, with holodeck recreations and all.
(*) I'd say nature is anything but 'gentle', but OK.

I'd be strongly tempted to suggest an episode title like Everything Is Curved here, except my Forehead but I can't do that in all good conscience as such a title would be far too directive and not in Voyager style anyway.

Hence: Existence.

 

[FederationHistorian]

“Existence” - When the remnants of the Equinox crew – Noah Lessing, Marla Gilmore, Jason Morrow, Brian Sofin, and Anglelo Tassoni – gather for a private game of poker, they express their frustration of being virtually invisible to the rest of the Voyager crew. When they review the logs of the USS Enterprise-D recalling how Geordi La Forge and Ro Laren were able to disappear due to a cloaking accident, they mutually decide to make themselves invisible by replicating the same accident, confident that the crew won’t miss them. However, their failure to turn up for their assignments leads to the Voyager crew to ask where they all went to, and why they did not notice they disappeared.

For what it's worth, I found multiple instances of "permission structure" in articles dated between 1990 and 2001, mostly to do with computing.

I concur that the term "permission structure" does seem to have a history of sorts prior to 2008. It’s a term associated with marketing, and was only popularized due to politics.

https://web.archive.org/web/2013050...-requires-permission-structure-222510777.html

However, rather than try to make the idea work, I’ll just adapt the idea to the following episode title…

Next episode – “Permission”

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

“Permission” - In separate incidents, various crew members are called to account by their immediate superiors for performing different tasks without permission. Yet each one recalls asking and being granted authorization, even if their superiors don't remember it. While each action is innocuous by itself, together, they might point to a sinister plot, orchestrated by an alien who is attempting to trick them into fulfilling her nefarious plans. Meanwhile, Naomi fears she'll get into trouble when she uses Neelix's kitchen utensils without asking and lets another crew member take the blame, starting a fight between the two (this is coincidental and unrelated to the alien plot)

Next episode: "Present Arms"

 

[FederationHistorian]

"Present Arms" - When the bridge staff is incapacitated after using a shortcut meant to shorten their journey, it falls on B’Elanna, Seven, Neelix and the Doctor to manage bridge duties on the ship. After having to spend a couple of months navigating strange anomalies, gathering information for faster routes home that turn out not to be so, and leading a crew not used to this particular command structure, they end up having more respect for those on the bridge than they did before. Meanwhile, during this crisis, Naomi and the other children shadow the officers learning the various functions and protocols that need to be followed.

Next episode – “Cracked Mirror”