Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Caretaker (1995)

Basil Langton: The Caretaker

Photos 

Quotes 

• Captain Kathryn Janeway : I don't know what you need, and frankly, I don't care. I just want our people back and I want us all to be sent home.

  The Caretaker : Oh, well now, aren't you contentious for a minor bipedal species.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : This minor bipedal species doesn't take kindly to being abducted!

• The Caretaker : The self-destruct program has been damaged. Now this installation will not be destroyed. But it must be. The Kazon must not be allowed to gain control of it. They will annihilate the Ocampa.

• Captain Kathryn Janeway : Did you ever consider allowing the Ocampa to care for themselves?

  The Caretaker : [laughs pitifully]  They're children.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Children have to grow up. We're explorers too. Most of the species we've encountered have overcome all kinds of adversity, without a caretaker. It's the challenge of surviving on their own that helps them to evolve. Maybe your "children"... will do better than you think.

• Tuvok : Captain, I can access the system to send us back to Federation space, but it will take several hours to activate.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Unless you help us.

  The Caretaker : Oh. I wish I could, but I have very little time left. So I have initiated a self-destruct program.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : If you destroy the array, we'll have no way to get home.

  The Caretaker : The Ocampa's enemies cannot be allowed to... to control this installation. In minutes, it will be destroyed. You have to go. Go, now!

• The Caretaker : Well, you're nothing if not persistent.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : We need you to send us back where we came from.

  The Caretaker : Oh... that isn't possible. I... barely have enough strength to complete my work.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : You're sealing the conduits before you die.

  The Caretaker : If I don't, the Kazon will steal the water. But in a few years, when the Ocampa's energy runs out, it won't matter. They'll be forced to come to the surface, and they won't be able to survive.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Something you did turned their planet into a desert, didn't it? That was the debt that could never be repaid.

  The Caretaker : Well, we're explorers from another galaxy, but we had no idea that our technology would be so destructive to their atmosphere. Two... two of us were chosen to stay behind and care for them.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : There's another like you here?

  The Caretaker : Not anymore. No, no. She... she went off to look for more interesting places.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Why were you bringing ships here, infecting people with a fatal illness?

  The Caretaker : Oh, they... they didn't die of an illness. They died because they were incompatible.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Incompatible?

  The Caretaker : I've been searching the galaxy for a compatible bio-molecular pattern. Now, in some individuals, I found cellular structures that were similar, but I...

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : You've been trying to procreate?

  The Caretaker : I needed someone to replace me. Someone who'd understand the enormous responsibility of caring for the Ocampa. Only my offspring could do that.

• Chakotay : Where are our people?

  The Caretaker : They are no longer here.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : What have you done to them?

  The Caretaker : You don't have what I need. They might. No. You'll have to leave them.

  Chakotay : We won't do that.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : We are their commanding officers. We are entrusted with their safety. They are our responsibility. That may be a concept you don't understand.

  The Caretaker : Oh, no. I do understand, but I have no choice. There just is not enough time left.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Left for what?

  The Caretaker : I must honor a debt that can never be repaid, but my search has not been going well.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Tell us what you're looking for. Maybe we can help you find it.

  The Caretaker : You?

  [laughing] 

  The Caretaker : I've searched the galaxy with methods beyond your comprehension. No. There's nothing you can do.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : You've taken us 70,000 light-years from our home. We have no way back unless you send us, and we won't leave without the others.

  The Caretaker : But sending you back is terribly complicated. Don't you understand? I don't have time. Not enough time!