R/S: Why?

[Alelou]

The decon dying thing happened two years later.

We'll just say she cares more about what Malcolm thinks because she knows Trip is low maintenance.

[alt_Toza]

Touché on the timeline - forgot about that, having watched them out of order...

But I like the way you think!

But... "low maintenance" - Trip doesn't need a hug now and again?

[Alelou]

Trip probably wouldn't ever consciously realize he needs a hug until he's been strung out in his own misery for months.

[alt_Toza]

True.

Wonder what Malcolm's hug breaking-point is? 6 months of playing with his rifles all by himself?

[Alelou]

Malcolm's a Brit from an uptight family. He thinks he can go without a hug for years. But in the meantime he just gets more and more sarcastic and pessimistic...

[alt_Toza]

Ah, the way all us Brits do, . Well, English Brits, at least... Can't speak for the others 3/4!

[WarpGirl]

I don't think Malcolm had ever experienced a true honest to God bear hug before becoming friends with Trip. Not because he's English mind you, but because of his psycho abusive family. If they don't know his favorite food, a hug must be abhorent. I'm betting T'Pol understands more about physical contact in a family. But in Hoshi's transporter episode, I got the feeling she was raised A LOT like Malcolm. Only her talents made total social isolation impossible. Therefore while she is the communication expert she doesn't bond easily either. Hence her astounding ability to be happy with a one-night-stand that odds are she will NEVER meet again.

[Alelou]

Mmm. The Scots in my family aren't too warm and cuddly unless they haven't seen me for decades, which, alas, is pretty much how often I see them. That usually warrants a hug, but nothing nearly as lingering as the rib-and-ear-threatening hugs and squeals from the Southern side of the family, or the extended hugs and kisses from the Puerto Rican side of the family.

There may be something to your theory, WG, but I also think Hoshi has more of a sense of adventure than we tend to give her credit for. Sometimes you can have a really remarkably good time with someone who will only ever be a friend you met along the way. I'm not saying it's necessarily a great idea to sleep with someone in that situation, but personally, I always end that episode thinking, You go girl!

[alt_Toza]

I get hugs from my Scots mate more than my English, but having said that, I only see them once every two years, LOL.

My Japanese mate, while recognising the importance of hugs, never tries one. She gets emotional like the rest of our thrown-together bunch of ex-pat mates, but she thinks it should not be done in public. Her father's the same, but her mother is more prone to touching someone's shoulder to say thank you, etc. I guess they're more traditional than some Japanese people I've met, but she's the first 'proper' Japanese person I've been friends with. It's weird - she doesn't speak English and I don't speak Japanese (apart from "shut up!" - that's a looooong story) so we get along in Cantonese. But we sat down and watched Moulin Rouge! in Japanese (awesome dubbing! Could hardly see the difference!) with Chinese subtitles (for me) and roared with laughter - until she blubbed at the end.

We sat through ST VI the same way. She's a closet Spock fan, I think.
I wonder what she'd make of Malcolm. She does like the whole 'proper Englishman' thing....

[WarpGirl]

Well Hoshi says herself that she isn't one for ADVENTURE, but I think that's a little denial also because of her upbringing. Her family are intellectuals, but not like her. If I remember right they didn't like the feild she'd chosen in languages OR Starfleet. And she probably grew up in such a way that fostered her famous nerves, and phobia's. They hinted at some psychosematic issues with her stomach during visits to her grandmother. So yeah, I believe that Hoshi and Malcolm have a lot in common. But at least he tried to write to his little black book when he thought he was going to die. Oh well, I have a long list of reasons why I ship for them.

[alt_Toza]

From the eps I've seen, shipping R/S is obvious - but I read too much into things. Must be a female thing!
They just seem alike in a lot of ways a girl like Hoshi would appreciate. (And yeah, during that Risa trip, I was punching the air for her and her one night stand, too!)

[WarpGirl]

I'm just not that kind of girl I guess, although I will say the guy (whoever he was) was cutish if not my type. No you're not reading into things though, if you go to trekcore.com they have screen caps of deleted scenes check out Broken Bow, it's enough to make us R/S people fall down and die of happiness.

[Aquarius]

The question, really, isn't whether or not any one of us are that kind of girl, but rather whether Hoshi is. I'm with Alelou on this one. There are those out there who are what we might call "free spirits," who might not be looking for commitment or permanence, and feel like they'd more likely regret walking away from the situation not having the experience of being with some one they really, really like.

In Hoshi's case, I don't think it's something she'd do all the time--she doesn't seem to be the "a boy in every port" type...in the Risa situation, I think it was more of an opportunistic thing--the right guy at the right time. She really liked him a lot, knew the odds of ever seeing him again were slim to none, so she went for it, because she'd have more regrets if she didn't. And in Hoshi's situation, where she's on this long mission of exploration and not likely to return to any particular place any time soon, looking for commitment doesn't seem very practical. On the other hand, she's not a nun and would probably want male companionship from time to time, so I think the occasional encounter like this makes sense.

It may not be for your or me personally, but there are some people out there who can have a one-time encounter with someone and feel richer for the experience if it was mutually agreeable.

In terms of Malcolm, I kind of like to think that maybe Hoshi liked him all along, but just didn't feel she had a shot at him, especially since he outranked her. I bet that if she got a promotion, though, she would've more actively pursued him.

[WarpGirl]

I don't believe I said that Hoshi's romantic interlude was OOC for her. I was merely stating that I don't understand why ANYONE of ANY gender has sex with someone they will never see again. It obviously did hurt her, and no I don't think she was a tramp or anything. I Just thought that maybe she would be the type of girl to keep in touch if possible. But she leaves and not only does it never get brought up again, but she never shows interest in a man again for 3 years. I found that odd. Big deal.

[Aquarius]

WG, I didn't say that you said Hoshi was behaving OOC or that she was a tramp. If you don't relate to the notion of a one-time sexual encounter, that's cool. No one is saying anything's wrong with that. Different strokes and all that. It's not my kind of thing either. However, I was talking about people who do, and discussing where Hoshi might fit into the varying degrees of "free-spiritedness".

As for her not keeping in touch, how do you know she didn't? Maybe she did until it was no longer practical. But I'll use this analogy again: just because we never see any of the characters sitting on the john, it doesn't mean that they don't, if we were to imagine that they were real people on a real starship. So I think there's room for interpretation/speculation there, because there's nothing there saying that she didn't. If a fan imagines that this dude left such an indelible mark on Hoshi's life that she did everything she could to stay in touch, that's awesome, there's totally room for that.

And assuming she did keep in touch, why wasn't it brought up? Because that's the kind of little detail that doesn't further the plot for any of the next episodes, and when you only have 46 minutes to tell your story, you don't waste time on bringing that stuff up again unless it's going to be important somehow later on. Otherwise, it bogs the story down, and (I'm sorry to say) Hoshi wasn't really enough of a major player in the cast for the writers and producers to want her personal life to get that kind of attention again so soon, unless it was (again) a Big Huge Plot. I know as a viewer it seems like it's only a couple of seconds to say "Hey Hoshi, did you hear from that guy again?"/"Nah, he's not into the long-distance thing" or whatever, but when you're editing and deciding what does or doesn't make the cut, seconds are precious so oftentimes stuff like that gets sacrificed if it's there.

And if they didn't sacrifice that stuff, we'd have far, far fewer "missing moment" fics.