291: Pleasure Dome

“Prime Factors” 30th-anniversary reflections

Having heard stories about Voyager—a ship of aliens from another part of the galaxy, lost in a world so far from home—the Sikarians decide to assist. Drawing in Voyager with a distress signal, their leader, Gath, offers a helping hand. He ain’t got a clue how to get them out, but he does think he knows what they need: a little pleasure.

When Janeway accepts the offer of shore leave for the crew, Harry quickly finds a girl who’s hot for stories and then finds himself miles and miles from nowhere, on the planet Alastria, 40,000 light years away. It turns out the Sikarians have a spacial trajector that can zip them around the quadrant. And with everyone on the planet hot for stories, the crew might just be able to trade all the Federation’s literature for a quick ride home.

In this episode of To The Journey, hosts C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing continue our 30th-anniversary retrospective that will take you through all of Star Trek: Voyager, one episode at a time. In this installment, we discuss “Prime Factors” and how the story challenges the principles of the crew while bringing opposing views together as it leverages the promise of the series premise.

Chapters
Intro (00:00:00)
Not Entirely Pleasurable (00:02:13)
On the Other Side of the Fence (00:13:00)
Conflicting Priorities (00:16:49)
Can't Tech That Tech (00:25:23)
Can't Flirt with Harry (00:29:25)
Desperately Seeking Stories (00:31:55)
Tuvok's Betrayal (00:37:45)
Final Thoughts and Ratings (00:48:23)
Closing (00:52:53)

Hosts
C Bryan Jones and Matthew Rushing

Production
C Bryan Jones (Editor and Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer)