As I was streaming the entire series of Star Trek: Voyager, one thing stood out to me. That was Kathryn Janeway’s use of discipline. Of course, she does have the Maquis, Tom Paris, Seven of Nine, and Neelix to deal with, none of whom are well-trained Star Fleet officers with an abundance of self-control.
Still, she doles out discipline a lot more than any other captain in the Star Trek universe. Kirk once confined Scotty to quarters for starting a fight (“Trouble with Tribbles”), and Spock was court martialed in “The Menagaerie”, but that was a severe case. As to the other captains, Picard once dressed down a young officer who was involved in the Wesley Crusher incident at the academy, but that was just to see if she was strong enough for a special assignment and wasn’t really discipline. I don’t remember Sisko dealing out discipline and although I haven’t watched enough of Enterprise to know if Archer did, he doesn’t seem the type.
So, we’re left with Janeway. She deals out a lot of discipline, but is she good at it? In fact, I find her quite inconsistent. Let’s talk examples. When Chakotay disobeys orders, steals a shuttle, and goes after Seska, Janeway puts him on report. When Paris disobeys orders, steals a shuttle, and tries to help a planet from destroying itself, he gets demoted and sentenced to thirty days in the brig! OK, so he not only disobeyed Janeway but he also disobeyed the Prime Directive. But was that enough of a reason to be so harsh? After all, Janeway got him released from prison to join her crew, and he’s kept his nose clean up to then.
Let’s move on. In the 5th season, Ensign Kim falls in love with an alien on a ship that Janeway is trying to help, and has sex with her. Janeway gives him an official reprimand for going against Star Fleet policy (over Chakotay’s objections) and tells him to break it off. Not only does Harry keep seeing her, he steals a shuttle to take his girlfriend to see a nebula. Janeway is easy on him this time because she discovers that contact with that species has caused a change in his biochemical make-up. The good news is that it’s treatable, but when she orders him to get treatment, he refuses. A second disregard of orders.
At this point, Janeway merely tells him that she is disappointed in him. The reprimand stands, but there is no further punishment. Sure, there were extenuating circumstances and Kim had a clean record, but she punished him for having sex and did nothing to him for disobeying orders. How is that fair? (I will mention here, that there was another time Chakotay disobeyed orders, but a group of Borg drones separated from the collective was controlling him. Here forgiveness made sense. But he didn’t refuse to get the Borg out of his head.)
Now, let’s discuss Neelix. He conspires with a known criminal, almost steals a part from Voyager, then tries to make a deal with a gang of thugs. What does he get? A few hours cleaning manifolds! Of course, it is true that he is not Star Fleet, and maybe that’s all Janeway felt was appropriate. Still, except for the murderer on board (sentenced to life in jail), Neelix was the only one involved in actual criminal activity.
There was one more problem person on board: Seven of Nine. Having been a Borg since the age of six, she couldn’t be expected to obey, or even understand, all the rules of Star Fleet. Her first infraction involved a member of Series 8472 who had boarded Voyager and was wreaking havoc. Strictly against orders, Seven transported the individual to the vessel of another species where the 8472 would be killed. Janeway was furious, but understanding the issues of reintegrating a Borg, she simply confined Seven to her cargo bay and the Astrometrics Lab. I suppose that’s reasonable. But what happens the next time Seven disobeys orders? Janeway literally throws up her hands and does nothing. I will admit, I feel for Janeway in this instance. There doesn’t seem to be anything that Seven will respond to. Yet, isn’t it a captain’s duty to find out what will?
So, what am I missing here? We know Harry is one of her favorites and Chakotay is her first officer. But what of poor Tom? After taking a chance on him and even entrusting him with a special mission, she throws him in the brig for making one mistake.
Well, one theory is that after four years in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway is getting less patient. She’s tired of the lack of discipline and tired of being disobeyed. So, she picks on Tom, who really, did the right thing, even if he did disobey the Prime Directive. (But don’t get me started on Janeway and the Prime Directive. In the very next episode, she breaks it herself by rescuing a group of refugees and putting Voyager in danger.)
On second thought, that’s not a good explanation after all, since her leniency with Harry came later. So, what happened? She got it out of her system? Or just gave up.
Don’t get me wrong. I like Janeway. She’s been put in an incredibly difficult situation and has handled it well. She cares greatly about the crew, individually and as a whole, but she can be tough and is not afraid to hand out discipline when required. I just think some of her choices were misguided.