Star Trek: Voyager/Recap/S3/E25 Worst Case Scenario

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"Worst Case Scenario"

A story from Star Trek: Voyager
Preceded by:	"Displaced"
Followed by:	"Scorpion"
Central Theme:
Synopsis:

Quoting from Wikipedia:

Various members of Voyager‍'‍s crew discover a holodeck simulation called "Insurrection Alpha", in which the Maquis members of the ship's crew mutiny against the Starfleet officers. The program appears unfinished, and its author is unknown. As the program becomes popular, Tuvok admits he wrote the program himself, to train his security officers in the event of a possible Maquis rebellion; however, as the Maquis proved to integrate well with their crewmates, Tuvok abandoned the program, believing that it would only exacerbate tensions on board the ship. However, given how popular that Insurrection Alpha has already become amongst the crew, Tom Paris offers to help complete the remainder of the program with Tuvok's help, turning the program into a full-fledged holonovel.

When Paris and Tuvok start to work on the program in the holodeck, they suddenly find themselves trapped in the virtual brig. They are addressed by the simulation's version of former crew member Seska, who admits that before she had escaped the ship, she had discovered Tuvok's program, and created this trap should he attempt to alter it. Seska's alterations not only affect the holodeck but other parts of Voyager, threatening the well-being of the whole crew. While Tuvok and Paris attempt to survive the simulation, Captain Janeway and B'Elanna Torres attempt to effect changes in the simulation to help them. Ultimately, finding themselves cornered by the virtual Seska and her Maquis crew, Tuvok causes one of the simulation's phaser rifles to overload; the impact ends the simulation, and allows Tuvok and Paris to safely exit the holodeck.

Tropes used in Worst Case Scenario include:

• Depending on the Writer: The story has four different authors, each with a different purpose.
• Deus Ex Machina: Janeway rewrites the program to have an alien ship come to their aid, giving Tuvok time to snag a phaser rifle. At the end of the episode, the characters are sitting around, talking about the program and Tuvok compliments Janeway on this move. "Who says deus ex machina is an outdated literary device?" she responds.
• Diabolus Ex Machina: Seska programs the Holodeck to improvise them.
• Everything Trying to Kill You: Seska is quite the sadist.
• Executive Meddling: Janeway's insistence that the Holo-novel be completed over the wishes of the original author could be seen as a bit of this.
• Foreshadowing: Torres is complaining that the holonovel doesn't have any romance.

Paris: I could add a steamy love scene between the Starfleet conn officer and the Maquis engineer. Torres: Oh, that's realistic!

• Holodeck Malfunction
• Hypocritical Humor: After Paris tells Tuvok that he's going to have Janeway execute the mutineers, Tuvok complains that this is against Janeway's established personality and that characters should not deviate so tremendously. Neelix walks over and insists that he would never betray the captain like he did in the holonovel. Paris makes fun of Tuvok over this point. Paris is being a bit unfair though. Tuvok hadn't touched the program in years, and in fact tried to delete the program because he got so much wrong.
• Killer Game Master
• No Ending: Or so Tuvok thought.
• Off the Rails
• Oh Crap
• Out of Character: First, Tuvok got Neelix's character completely wrong. Then Tom Paris wants to have Janeway execute all the mutineers. And when Seska got at the character profiles...
• Railroading: Seska programmed the holodeck to do this when Tuvok and Paris were on the verge of getting the upper hand.
• The Reveal: Everyone assumes that Insurrection Alpha is an action-adventure holonovel with some Take That jabs at Janeway's command decisions. It turns out to be a program created by Tuvok to train his security officers against a Maquis mutiny.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: Once Seska gets a hold of the story.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: When the Maquis and Starfleet crewmembers end up working well together, Tuvok realises his program could itself create tensions between the two groups and deletes it. Or so he thinks. Tuvok's expectations are subverted when they find it and enjoy it.
• Who Writes This Crap?: Paris's comment the first time he runs the program when the holographic Tuvok in the brig suggests that they might need to spend as long as a week observing their captors for weaknesses. "A week?! Who wrote this stuff?"
• Writer on Board: Neelix's Heel Face Turn in the original program is undoubtedly due to Tuvok's dislike of the Alien Scrappy, as well as his initial mistrust. As Tuvok had just been complaining about Tom's Out of Character revisions, Tom doesn't hesitate to call him on it. That being said, Tuvok abandoned and tried to delete the program over two years prior when his predictions failed to manifest.