#im here for the janeway defence
ds9 is often touted as a response to the utopian portrayal of the federation in tng but i think voyager also works well in that comparison. janeway especially feels like a foil to picard in a lot of ways. they start out very similar, model captains who quote philosophy and believe in the federation above all, but instead of getting to go on grand adventures on the federation’s flagship she’s thrown into a nightmare situation where she’s forced to constantly balance upholding those ideals against the survival of her crew. i think a lot of what people interpret as her being ethically inconsistent is just the result of her working through that conflict every time a new crisis arises. after all, it’s easy to pay lip service to a policy of diplomacy and non-interference but another thing entirely to stick to it during a long-term survival situation. is today the day you take a stand and refuse to back down from what you think is right or do you give up a little bit of yourself so that you can survive?
