Most people peak at that age.

"Let me tell you something, I haven't even begun to peak. And when I do peak, you'll know. Because I'm gonna peak so hard that everybody in the entire galaxy is gonna feel it."

​@@CoralCopperHead Peaking in your early 20s is a pretty sad existence.

@@CoralCopperHeadyou peak in growth rate physically and mentally but if you peak in knowledge and wisdom at that age… well that’s pretty sad

I mean, you could almost say that he peaked in the delta quadrant. Because Tom Paris was basically Nick Locarno. In my own head cannon, they are the same person.

Interesting! I was wondering why her story seemed so open ended.

Turned out to be an excellent episode. But I wish I would’ve seen the original idea

I'm glad that they left Sito dead. It demonstrated the dangers of life in Starfleet, and that what they do is not a game, and that people do lose their lives. Besides, too many people come back to life in the STU. I thought the whole PTSD was excellent, I just didn't like how the memories were implanted, I thought that was dumb. I would have preferred had it been someone say 'Tom Riker', or a character in the TNG that we had not seen in a long time and their absence is explained that they were suffering in this prison.

According to Picard, all 5 cadets were killed when it was banned.

@@augiegirl1 The book itself is non canon but in the book I believe he says that he was part of the back up team that was supposed to be practicing the same maneuver but was told to stop when the initial accident happened.

​@@jakmrnd this is an important difference between star treks EU and the star wars EU, trek has done a much better job keeping a hold on its canon, if this were the star wars EU fans would be saying that the events of the book happened and are canon.

Indeed. It's important to note that as a Bajoran in Starfleet prior to it being formal admitted into the federation, Sito Jaxa was extra-vulnerable as she assumedly had fewer social supports in comparison to cadets/officers who were from federation worlds, and could expect to have more members of their own species around/better cultural accommodations as recognized federation members. That makes what Tom Locarno did to her dirty. But it also makes what Picard do to her, fucking vile beyond comprehension. Think about it. Picard's exact reaction to her trying to make good of her life after being exploited by Tom Locarno, was to push her into a mission (with no small amount of psychological manipulation mind you) where the literal job description was: "Hey, you know that species that enslaved and brutally raped your civilization, and strip mined your planet? Hop in a spaceship with one of those guys, wearing fake bruises, pretend he beat the shit out of you to the point where you are scared, and then go into an escape pod and hope you don't get exploded." And because she's that eager to please authority figures, and has such weak personal boundaries as evidenced by Worf literally beating the shit out of her blindfolded to "teach her to stick up for herself" she says YES. And then DIES. Serious. Fuck Picard. And while I'm at it. Fuck the Federation. If the supposed exemplar of the ideals of the Federation is capable of something that fucking twisted, I want nothing to do with them. IMHO, Lower Decks (the TNG episode) is on par with in the pale moonlight for darkest trek episodes.

@@user-vp7gx4gs3r In that light, I'm surprised Mariner isn't even more jaded.

@@DanielSolis She probably doesn't know the full details of how hard Picard manipulated her. She probably only knows the bits that were on the "official" reports, with all of the worst bits being censored/classified.

Who knew that mixing a bunch of kids with inflated egos, a state of the art weapon and following a leader who is just a kid strung out on amphetamines with delusions of grandeur could end badly?

I'm sorta wondering if they'll end up getting Wesley involved.

I read somewhere that it was royalties based on the Locarno character, held by the "The First Duty" episode writers, would have been necessary to pay for each and every Voyager episode (eventually 168 of them) and that's why Tom Paris was created. I really don't know if that's true, though.

​@GillianMStarlight I remember hearing something similar, thats probably the real reason, they didn't want to pay the writers

@@NX1701 I heard the same thing. Welp....now they have TWO reckless former Starfleet cadets played by Robert Duncan McNeill. Like Timecop, pray that they never cross paths. Strangely LD Locarno and STO Paris both have gray hair, but not LD Paris.

Robert Duncan McNeill said in a 1997 interview that while Tom and Locarno may seem similar, they were actually quite different. He remarked, "Locarno seemed like a nice guy, but deep down he was a bad guy. Tom Paris is an opposite premise in a way. Deep down he's a good guy. He's just made some mistakes." Having had almost a quarter of a century to think about it, McNeill stood by his assessment when he reiterated in 2020, "I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that."

Could be entirely different. Not everyone is cut out or interested to be a pilot. Whereas Red squad looked specifically focused on command.

@@rubaiyat300 that said, piloting is (in most series) a command-track job. For example, Shepard (the one dipshit kid who showed up in both Red Squad episodes) was the helmsman of the Valiant.

It’s only in modern Trek that the helmsman has been an operations-track job

Ortegas was absolutely either a member of Nova Squadron or had a chip on her shoulder over being _rejected_ from it.

@@GSBarlev Erica Ortegas? Doesn't she fly the ship?

It had to do with copyright

You have to pay the writer who wrote the original character, they didn't want to do that so they just well ripped them off instead.

The producers of Voyager claimed Locarno's actions made him irredeemable, and therefore a new character was required. But it was because they didn't want to pay royalties to the writers of "The First Duty" Ronald D. Moore and Naren Shankar to use the character every episode. Robert Duncan McNeill said in a 1997 interview that while Tom and Locarno may seem similar, they were actually quite different. He remarked, "Locarno seemed like a nice guy, but deep down he was a bad guy. Tom Paris is an opposite premise in a way. Deep down he's a good guy. He's just made some mistakes." Having had almost a quarter of a century to think about it, McNeill stood by his assessment when he reiterated in 2020, "I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that."

@@marshallhuffer4713 Honestly, they could have done the same thing with Locarno at that point, putting him as someone more ambitious and having had issues. I still think that they need to do something about linking Locarno and Paris...perhaps having them as cousins or something, and they also need to do the something with the two Ransoms thanks to Lower Decks

​@@marshallhuffer4713 Firmly agree it was absolutely about residuals, but good on Robert Duncan McNeil for taking the direction and internalizing it into character.

Voyager changed Lacarno to Tom Paris, so they wouldn't need to pay 7 years of royalties to the writer of “The First Duty”.

Thank you!@@augiegirl1

McNeill: I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that.

Tom Paris would have been a dirtbag if he hadn’t been given the opportunity to reform

@@keithtorgersen9664 So the difference is opportunity, then. And he wasn't exactly remorseful when Janeway recruited him, from what I remember. He said he was 'happy to' betray his friends for this opportunity.

@BNuts, you’re right, and Chakotay despised him for being an opportunist.

Ironically, Tom actor agrees with you. McNeill: I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that.

@@BNuts McNeill: I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that.

Having Nic on Voyager instead of Tom Paris would've made a great redemption arc and tie back to it's TNG roots imo

@@Robear538 The rumor is that the only reason why he wasn't is because it would have required paying the writer royalties. I haven't bothered to look into it but it is at least plausible. Especially they danced around any specific details of his crimes in the first episode of Voyager.

Starting last week when Nick Locarno was first mention on the show, I have been waiting for Lower Decks to make a crack about him and Tom Paris 😂

In beta canon, they're cousins. However, I should point out that Tom was created to be the exact opposite of Nick in many ways. Nick was irredeemable, while Tom was searching for redemption

@@iainhewitt considering they never actually said what Tom did that got him in prison I think they just wanted people to know he's the same character just by a different name.

​​@@oracle478it does get brought up, but I can't remember the episode. He caused a shuttle accident due to pilot error that killed three of his crew mates. Rather than admit to it he initially gave a false report of the incident. He mentions that things would have eventually worked out for him if he'd just admitted to what happened and it was the falsifying the report that's what actually got him in trouble. After that he joined the marquis which were considered a terrorist group.

​@@wendyheatherwoodMaquis* which was* 🤔

Rutherford: He looks like Tom Paris. Boimler: I don't see it. later - Rutherford: They have, like, the same face. They're identical. Boimler: No, I just don't see it.

Robert Duncan McNeill, who played both, feels the opposite. McNeill: I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that. Besides point mute as Locarno was Genesis Deviced. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jch_dcKjqavYh58.html

Nick Locarno wasn't made part of the Voyager crew because they didn't want to pay seven years of royalties to the writers of the episode in which Nick Locarno was introduced -- hence why Tom Paris was created instead. 🤓

@@pablohammerly448 Now there's the honest answer I believe. I'm sure Viacom/Paramount needed to check with Robert Duncan McNeill and get his approval... yeah right. 🙄

That makes them Starfleet Admiral material.

Apparently the actor pushed for Tom to be a new character, believing that Nick was ultimately irredeemable and didn't have any good in him, instead just being a bully that was willing to step over whoever he needed to to get ahead.

😂

Yeah, I mean other than the 'igniting plasma' bit. it's pretty much a standard 'starburst' maneuver, same as the one practiced by sets of 4 (rather than 5) atmospheric fighters today...look into the repertoires of the Blue Angels, Thunderbirds, and similar flight groups.

Those real-life groups are adults, not college kids.

@@augiegirl1 ...In the US, college kids *are* adults. Young ones, but adults all the same.

see also: the Texas Class

We've still got the next episode- and given that we had "She straight killed him!" with Twovix, I wouldn't put it past them...

RutherFord: That guy look like Tom Paris! Boimler (HUGE VOYAGER FAN): I don't see it.

@@bloglazer9410 thanks for the reminder to check tonight if anything has been said in the new episode.

KITT was a Cylon

same actor

@@jmwloup5110 woosh

Nope, died via Genesis Device. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jch_dcKjqavYh58.html

Tom Paris. They had intended to use the same character, but that would have required paying royalties to the creator of the character for every episode of Voyager Paris appeared in.

@@magical_catgirl AH. Ok. I always wondered about that.

@@richardkinkead7823 That not entirely, the guy who play both char was vehement against playing Locarno (Believing Locarno was irredeemable). McNeill: I think Locarno was a bad guy who pretended to be a good guy. Deep down inside, he was rotten. In contrast, inside Tom was a good guy who pretended to be a bad guy. He sort of wanted everybody to think he didn't give a damn and that he was a lone wolf, but deep down he wasn't like that.

Not unless Tom died via Genesis device and age badly after he got kicked out. kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jch_dcKjqavYh58.html

same actor

WRONG Nick and Tom are two seperate bros and one died via GENESIS DEVICE! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/jch_dcKjqavYh58.html