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Captain Janeway often trusted her instincts, even when the crew doubted her. Here are 10 times her bold decisions proved she was the smartest person on the bridge.
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00:00Janeway encountered a fair bit of contestation during the first couple of years in the Delta
00:05Quadrant, in particular from members of the Marquis who were frequently not too happy with
00:10her vision for survival. Later, faced with Chakotay's sting in the tail opposition with
00:15Seven's more direct Captain You Are In Error moments, or Tuvok's well-intentioned but very
00:20Vulcan scepticism, Janeway stood her ground. The following command decisions may not have
00:27all been moral victories, the captain would be the first to admit. But they were the correct
00:32course of action in the moment, especially with a bunch of doubters in the background who she had
00:38to prove wrong. So with that in mind, I'm Ellie for TrackCulture and here are 10 times Captain Janeway
00:43was right and everyone else was wrong. Number 10. Rejecting Villainy in the Void
00:50When Voyager is pulled into an area of subspace in the titular episode, the crew realise that the
00:56place is quite literally a void. There are no stars, no planets and especially no deuterium.
01:02The only matter of any kind is the other ships that are unwittingly trapped there,
01:06and the competition for resources is hence ferocious and deadly. Even worse, being in the
01:12void is draining the warp core and Voyager is immediately attacked. When it becomes clear that
01:17the ship's resources aren't going to last long in these circumstances, Chakotay and Tuvok,
01:23wondering if they should be more opportunistic whilst in the void, gang up on Captain Janeway.
01:28When they ask if the crew should be willing to die for their principles, Janeway delivers one of the
01:33best, most just ripostes of any captain saying, if the alternative means becoming thieves and killers
01:39ourselves, yes. We may lose a little weight, gentlemen, but we won't lose who we are.
01:44She proposes forming a sort of mini-federation, the Alliance, to share food, supplies and relevant
01:51technologies with anyone willing to play by the rules. No stealing, no killing and no giving up.
01:57Chakotay and Tuvok are immediately sceptical, and later Seven expresses her frustration before
02:03making a rapid about-turn with Fantome. In the end, Janeway is right and her detractors are wrong.
02:09Despite the odd speed bump, the Alliance is such a success that all the ships within it escape the
02:15void with Voyager. Number 9, keeping Seven on board. By the end of Scorpion Part 2, Seven of Nine has
02:23been disconnected from the Borg collective. When Chakotay goes to see Janeway in the holodeck, he
02:28asks incredulously, you plan to keep her on board, doubting that she will even want to stay? Janeway's
02:34reply is simple, they pulled the plug, so they are responsible for her now. Moreover, they can offer one
02:41thing the Borg can't. Friendship. In the year or so that followed, Janeway and Seven were often at
02:48loggerheads. Seven more than once openly contradicted Janeway, and even disobeyed direct orders. Under the
02:54influence of a Borg homing signal, she fled Voyager before being rescued, and she may have
02:59jumped ship of her own free will had the Dauntless not proven to be a hoax. Seven was an unknown
03:05risk for
03:06the crew, and B'Elanna definitely took a while to warm to her. At each stage, however, and often
03:11despite her own frustrations, Janeway supported, protected, and nurtured Seven in her development
03:18as an individual. Janeway's decision to keep her on board was proven right. Seven became a vital member
03:24of the crew, a friend to all, a mentor for Naomi, a lover to Chakotay, and later a partner to
03:33Raffi,
03:33and a central to Picard's mission. And even B'Elanna came around eventually. And speaking of B'Elanna...
03:40Number 8. Trusting Torres. Things could have turned out very differently between the two crews,
03:46Marquis and Starfleet, in the Delta Quadrant. There was nothing other than a common set of
03:51circumstances to suggest that these diametrically opposed groups could and would integrate as they
03:58did. In the beginning, Captain Janeway equally had little reason to trust the hot-headed Torres.
04:03And the feeling was mutual. There were also a few who would have been right to expect a promotion
04:08or two over the newcomer. Hello, Harry.
04:11Let us not forget that it was around this time that Tuvok created his training holoprogramme
04:16depicting a marquee insurrection on board Voyager. When Janeway did promote Torres to the role of
04:21Chief Engineer, somewhat against her own instincts and against expected protocol, she was right to do so.
04:29Chakotay, as a former Starfleet lieutenant commander, was the obvious choice for first officer.
04:34But the nomination of an academy dropout with a troubled pass to a key post was a symbolic act.
04:40It showed that Janeway was willing to place her faith in and work with the diversity of backgrounds
04:45within the marquee. After a bit of a learning curve, Torres, in her position as Chief Engineer,
04:51would contribute more than most to the successful merging of the cruise. Evident from the start,
04:57her expertise would continue to prove Janeway right throughout as a crucial factor in saving the ship
05:03on numerous occasions. 7. Refusing to share technology with the Kazon
05:09In the first two years of its journey home, Voyager was under near-constant attack by the Kazon.
05:15The Kazon's technology was vastly inferior to that of Voyager, but they were much greater in numbers.
05:21By the time of the events of the episode Alliances, Voyager was almost permanently disabled by a Kazon
05:26onslaught, and members of the crew, marquee in particular, became extremely vocal in their views on
05:32sharing technology. Basically, just give them what they want. Janeway categorically refused any notion
05:38of an exchange of technology. This would be a flagrant violation of the Prime Directive,
05:44radically altering the balance of power in the region. The crew had also seen the devastating
05:48effects their technology could have if misused, when Cardassian spy Seska leaked replicator plans
05:55and equipment to the Kazon. Janeway is nonetheless strong-armed against her better judgement into trying to
06:00form an alliance, first with one of the Kazon sects, and then with all of them in peace talks with
06:06the
06:06trade. Turns out, however, that the captain's instincts were right. The trade attempt to massacre
06:11the first Marges present at the talks. Using Voyager as a bargaining point to obtain increased stability
06:17in the region has only led to more conflict. On this occasion, Janeway should have trusted her own
06:24judgement throughout, and not the misplaced suggestions of a good number of the crew.
06:29Number 6. Stopping the Equinox, whatever the cost.
06:33This one is going to prove extremely controversial, and Captain Janeway didn't entirely agree with
06:39herself by the end of the whole saga. When Voyager encountered the USS Equinox, it was under attack by a
06:45race of interdimensional aliens. At first, the two crews play happy reunions. It is soon discovered that
06:52Captain Ransom, though, and his cronies have been capturing and killing the nucleogenic lifeforms to
06:58power their ship and improve their warp factor. Janeway is rightfully appalled and locks them up.
07:03They escape back to their ship, leaving Voyager defenceless against the aliens in the process.
07:08When Janeway decides to go after the Equinox rather than focusing on Voyager, Chakotay accuses
07:13her of pursuing a vendetta. Must a woman always be seeking revenge and not simply seeking justice?
07:20Just saying. Eventually, Janeway relieves him of duty and later threatens to do the same to Tuvok.
07:26It is true that Janeway takes some arguably reckless risks and plays fast and loose with a few moral
07:31boundaries, despite her crew's protestations. But she is right to go after Ransom, and hang the
07:38consequences. Ransom is a Starfleet officer, and he has been committing mass murder to get his crew
07:44home. If Janeway hadn't stopped him in his tracks, there would have been no other relevant authority
07:49to do so within thousands of light years. 5. Leaving that damn nebula
07:55Technically speaking, the events of this entry happened and also never happened.
08:00They are nonetheless a fine example of a win for the Captain when those around her were dubious.
08:06In the two-parter year of hell, Voyager is under near-constant attack by the Krenim,
08:11who seem intent on proving they do have something big in their torpedo tubes.
08:16The damage gets so bad that most of the crew are forced to abandon ship and go it alone until
08:20Voyager can meet up with them again. By the start of the second episode, Voyager has taken refuge inside
08:26a nebula, but it is proving more trouble than it's worth. Janeway makes the executive decision that
08:33we're leaving this damn cloud first thing tomorrow morning. The look on Kim, Torres and the Doctor's
08:39faces tells us that they are sceptical, but they say nothing as she's the captain. With no such
08:44inhibitions though, Seven bluntly states, you are in error. Tuvok, even though he disagrees with
08:50disagreeing, clearly thinks the decision is the wrong one too. If they had waited in the nebula for weeks
08:55on end, it's unlikely that they would have amassed enough allies with whom to share their temporal
09:00shield technology before anoraks could alter the timeline. They also may have missed the message
09:06sent by captured Paris. Ultimately, leaving the nebula when they did was crucial to destroying the
09:12timeship. Janeway's decision was so right, including taking the temporal shields offline at the last
09:18moment that everyone got a do-over as the timeline was restored. 4. Hedging her bets on Kashyyyk
09:26In the episode Counterpoint, Voyager must traverse a region of space controlled by the
09:30D'Vore Imperium, an alien civilisation that outlaws telepaths. To save the telepathic
09:36members of her own crew and a group of refugees they have rescued, Captain Janeway must play a careful
09:42game of wits with D'Vore inspectors. Whilst Janeway certainly gets no opposition from her shipmates,
09:48she must still prove herself right against an entire authoritarian government,
09:53and particularly against lead inspector Kashyyyk. Janeway's success lies in playing note against
09:59note with Kashyyyk. Each are performing a piece of deception. The latter defects to Voyager but is
10:05really only there to capture the telepaths. The former does not know Kashyyyk's true intentions,
10:10so adeptly plays both melody and counter melody to their resolution. It's no coincidence that the music
10:16which bookends the episode is the second movement of Mahler's first symphony. The piece is written
10:21in the form of Elendla, a popular folk dance that preceded the more sophisticated Viennese waltz.
10:28At the start of the episode, it is Kashyyyk's choice of music as his team are ransacking Voyager,
10:33and he is boasting about his knowledge of Earth culture. At the end, Janeway is victorious over the
10:39war. She has ensured the safety of the telepathic refugees, whatever Kashyyyk's motives. She switches
10:45the music back to Mahler as if to mock him for his civilised facade, and to let him know that
10:51she
10:51has outdanced him. 3. Flying the ship through a binary pulsar
10:57She may have been driven to the edge by alien experiments, but she's a badass nonetheless.
11:02In the episode Scientific Method, Voyager's crew are experimented upon by a group of aliens who are
11:07using microscopic tags to inflict ever more severe genetic mutations. When the plan to disable the tags
11:14fails, and a Voyager crew member dies horrendously on the bridge, Captain Janeway is pushed to breaking
11:20point and flies the ship between a binary pulsar. Not only is this one hell of an epic scene,
11:26but Janeway is proven right to the likes of Tuvok, Kim, and the aliens themselves,
11:31one of whom materialises on the bridge in an attempt to stop the captain. Tuvok,
11:35after suggesting a course change to avoid the pulsars, comments that this is a far more reckless
11:41course of action than he has come to expect. Kim suggests diverting all remaining power to shields
11:46when things get really sticky. The aliens' interventions come to naught as Janeway has
11:51locked in the ship's course with her access codes, and neither can the aliens kill everyone because
11:57the work of the entire crew will be needed to get through the star's gravity. With a decisive speech,
12:03you are not in control here anymore, Janeway vanquishes the aliens, transfers all remaining
12:08power to the engines and leaves the pulsars in the dust. If she'd listened to anyone else,
12:14Voyager might still be a flying laboratory, or worse, the third wheel of a binary system.
12:202. Keeping Exploration Going After the Mars Attack
12:24The final episode of Star Trek Prodigy's second season saw the events of the Mars attack begin to
12:30unfold. Admiral Jellicoe delivers the news that Starfleet Command has been asked to scale back
12:35operations and cease all exploration to focus on protecting our own planetary citizens, to which
12:41Janeway astutely objects. She puts forward the important question of, what about Starfleet's
12:47mission of peace across the galaxy? What remains if the Federation stops seeking new worlds, refuses to
12:53help those in need? Well, we need look no further than the events of Picard Season 1 to see exactly
13:00what
13:00would remain and exactly why Janeway was right to object. Take the death of Thad Troy Riker, for example.
13:06The only known treatment for his illness required cells from a positronic matrix, but with the
13:12Federation's ban on synthetic lifeforms, there was no way to save his life. But who's to say that if
13:18further exploration of new worlds was allowed, an alternative treatment couldn't have been found?
13:24But with this scaled back approach, there was nothing that could be done for poor Thad. As for the
13:29result of refusing to help those in need, the devastation and chaos following the Romulan supernova
13:35was extreme, and could have been massively reduced had the Federation remained to aid in evacuation and
13:42rehabilitation. Their inaction led to crime, poverty and plenty of resentment, most notably from Nero,
13:49who caused all sorts of temporal problems as a result of his blame. Janeway was right to send the
13:55Prodigy Hopefuls out into the galaxy to continue upholding the true principles of the Federation.
14:01And although we haven't had a chance to see what they achieved in a third season,
14:06I like to think that they made a huge difference. Janeway put it best,
14:11in a time when the Federation's borders are receding, it's of utmost importance you are a beacon of light
14:17to those beyond our reach, to seek out allies and aid those left behind.
14:211. Taking responsibility for Moset
14:26In the episode Nothing Human, the Doctor creates a hologram to aid him in removing a parasitic alien
14:32from Bellana Torres. When it is learnt that the programme is based on a Cardassian war criminal who
14:37tortured Bajorans for his own medical experiments, the crew are justifiably up in arms. Torres herself
14:44refuses any treatment that would come from Moset, and a fierce ethical debate ensues.
14:502. Now we can't simply descend into the manichaeisms of right and wrong concerning the morality
14:55behind the use of hologram Moset in saving Bellana's life. That situation is far too nuanced for such a
15:02dichotomy. What we can discuss in similar terms is whether Captain Janeway as leader was correct to
15:09make a choice to use him or not. After hearing the arguments, Janeway does decide to use Moset,
15:15as her only concern there and then is the wellbeing of her crew member. They will wrestle with the
15:21morality of the situation after Bellana has recovered. She clearly states that any consequences
15:26of this decision will be my responsibility. Later, when Bellana tells Janeway you had no right to make
15:33that decision for me, the latter replies, I'm the captain, you're my crewman, I did what I thought best.
15:40The point here is that Janeway was right, and well within her rights to make the decision. There is
15:45no hard moral line in this case, only the choice to act, or not to act, and accept the consequences.
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17:02And that concludes our list, but I'm sure there are plenty of other examples of times when Janeway was
17:07right and everyone else was wrong. So if you think we missed one, then do let me know in the
17:10comments
17:11down below, and maybe we'll do a part two. Who knows? Make sure you head over to the various social
17:16media sites and follow us there. I've been Ellie for Trek Culture, I hope you have a wonderful day,
17:21and remember to boldly go where no one has gone before.
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