You have to be quite a fan of the CBS science fiction series, Star Trek: Voyager, and to have followed it from the pilot to the finale to truly appreciate Star Trek: Voyager – Distant Shores, with each chapter delving into untold stories of the U.S.S. Voyager crew.

    The opening chapter begins with the end scene of the one-hour seventh season and series finale, “Endgame”, with the future Janeway releasing a virus into the collective and the Borg, the Borg Queen and assimilated Janeway slowly becoming immobilised by it. Janeway’s conscious floats and wanders to places of the past. The stories from points in time in Voyager’s journey then begins, telling experiences of particular characters that is not seen in the television series.

    There some memorable chapters such as the chapter that focused on Talent Night, an item that was pass-mentioned at the opening scene of the third season episode, “Coda”, and a couple chapters that focused on Seven of Nine. Those were captivatingly written and a joy to read. There was one chapter that focused on the relationship of the captain and the commander. It offered more than what the show offered, but fans of the pairing, it was disappointing to say the least. However, as stories in the book are inserts in the timeline and events of the television series, it’s understandable as not much could veer from what’s already been written.

    An interesting relationship that was brought up in the book was B’Elanna Torres and Harry Kim. A chapter revealed B’Elanna’s thoughts of Harry as a potential suitor. This was a very surprising thing to have read.

    And so, the strength of this book is that it give more development to the characters, describing thoughts, worries and vulnerabilities that wasn’t apparent in the show. In this respect, it was what kept pages turning; however, the book as a whole was lukewarm; good, but not spectacular. The book was a good read, a nice collection of stories that brings back fond memories of the show, but not a book that makes you want to go find other fans of the show and talk excitedly about it.

It’s true. TV does lie, and it can never be trusted! Just like those fashion and teen magazines with those female models with their flawless skin, thin bodies, and perfect hair. All these images, all lies!

    We know; it’s not news to hear that a lot of these perfect-looking models in our magazines have had hours and hours spent on them to get them looking perfect. And it’s not news to us that television can lie: like the saying goes, “You can’t believe everything you see and hear on TV.” No. But did you know that a lot of the actors on TV play characters who aren’t necessarily the same age as they are? You did? Yeah, we did too. What we didn’t know was by how much.

    We were watching some repeats of 8 Simple Rules one evening. Bridget Hennessy was trying to get together with this jock while she organised a halloween party for the school—we think he was a jock… Eh, nevermind who he was; lets just say he was what TV portrayed as the hot-looking high school guy—and it was then we consciously noted that popular, “hot” guys on TV were always tall, buff, and often looked so much older than their fellow students.

    Curious to find out how much older the actors were than the characters they played (we had no doubts these actors were anything but older), we decided to go online to find some birthdates of actors we knew of who played either the popular guy; or the aloof, mysterious guy in high school (the latter are often also portrayed as the cool, popular guy on TV). We searched for actors like Cory Monteith, Paul Wesley, Robert Pattinson, and Ethan Peck (they all played such characters on Glee, The Vampire Diaries, Twilight, and 10 Things I Hate About You, respectively). What did the search reveal? That the actors have between five to ten years on the characters they play. That’s quite an age difference!

    Casting actors who are so much older than their characters surely creates an image that is too much to ask from a 17- or 18-year-old to try and match up to. It’s true, we did say that TV does not necessarily portray reality, but it’s also a fact that TV can affect the way we view what’s cool and what’s uncool, what’s normal and what’s not; and there will be people who’ll try to achieve what they see on TV. So whether it be broad shoulders, a square jawline, or sculpted abs, it feels like these characters have such an unfair advantage: they have actors who’ve had many, many years to grow and develop, to train and achieve more definition in their physical appearance to play them.

    Having said that, we suppose it’s not totally unachievable. Taylor Lautner (who was 17 years old when he played the role of Jacob Black in Twilight: New Moon) did manage the abs and build quite a few muscles in him; still, his face lacked the definition of older guys. Now guys like Zac Efron in High School Musical, who’s tall and lean, but doesn’t have all those bulging biceps, he looks more like a 17- or 18-year-old in high school. And so he should: he was roughly the same age as the character he played in the High School Musical movies.

    The way we see it, it’s yet another ideal the media has created and set for us. They’ve set yet more unrealistic expectations for us to live up to—expectations that a lot of people will no doubt struggle, if not fail, to meet. Pray for the day when looks aren’t so important, where brains trumps looks, and we can all stop trying to meet up to these ridiculous, unrealistic, standards of the media. We need more TV series that promote brain over brawn—more TV series like The Big Bang Theory where it’s almost cool to be smart.

If we understand Stan Walker’s “Black Box” correctly, the song uses a plane crash and the black box used to keep records of the flight to symbolise a failed relationship, secrets, and surviving the “crash” of the relationship. If that is the meaning, why is the music so upbeat when the lyrics seem so serious, and at times, angry? We just don’t understand why the song is arranged such a way.

    Does anyone think that the lyrics don’t match the feel of the music?