One of the many joys of TiVo is that it records the Star Trek Voyager reruns in the middle of the night. It recently recorded the completely forgettable season 4 episode, Unforgettable. The plot line is this: Chakotay falls in love with a tracer
, a female alien bounty hunter who comes aboard while tracking a fugitive. The tracers are biologically designed to leave no lasting impression; after they leave, other species forget about them within hours. They have supplemented this natural advantage with some unspecified computer virus that wipes any record of their existence from alien computers.
Boy meets girl, boy falls in love with girl, girl wipes boy’s computer memory. Typical 24th century romance.
The episode revolves around the fact that the female tracer has come back on board, where naturally no one recognizes her, and she and Chakotay proceed to fall in love all over again. It all ends badly, of course: she is now being hunted by other tracers, who eventually track her down, wipe her memory, take her back home, and wipe Voyager’s computer memory (again). Everyone’s memory fades, and they all live ignorantly ever after.
Here’s the kicker: in the ending scene, Chakotay is sitting in the mess hall, knowing that the computer’s memory has been wiped and his memory is soon to follow. So he’s writing down his recollection of the whole experience… on paper.
Even in the 24th century, they still haven’t plugged the analog hole.
why can’t i meet a girl like that? i still remember every damn one of ‘em.
Comment by nick — Thursday, January 30, 2003 @ 7:52 pm
Reminds me of the TNG episode where some aliens keep wiping everything on the Enterprise (computer and memory) and Picard keeps ordering Data to never mention the aliens to anyone. Of course, they keep ending up back with the aliens again.
Comment by Jason — Thursday, January 30, 2003 @ 8:48 pm
And here I thought I was the only person that watched Voyager. It never struck me as having a loyal following, but I always enjoyed it. And not because of Jeri Ryan’s foam-molded uniforms.
Comment by Tim — Thursday, January 30, 2003 @ 9:10 pm
Overall, Voyager was comparatively lame (did you see how fat Paris was getting towards the end?). Still, after seeing yet another gel decon scene on Enterprise, I do look back wistfully to a simpler, androgynous time.
Comment by Wrenkin — Thursday, January 30, 2003 @ 9:14 pm
And of course, as with all Star Trek technology, an alien virus is completely 100% compatible and successful with another technology its never come into contact with before.
But the great thing about the episode is Mark’s last line. Its poetry like that which keeps me coming back.
Comment by Adrian Turkington — Friday, January 31, 2003 @ 2:41 pm
If you haven’t already seen the film “Memento” do so - now! You’ll know what I mean when you see it…
(Maybe a proper activity to plug that analog offline time with? ;-)
andersja
Comment by Anders Jacobsen — Saturday, February 1, 2003 @ 7:23 pm
I’ve watched a lot of cra-zay movies … trust me … they can plug the analog hole. And more than just once …
Comment by Taylor — Monday, February 3, 2003 @ 10:46 pm