All references are to [#99 Once Upon A Time] unless otherwise stated.

7. OTHER ASPECTS OF THE HOLOCHARACTERS

The holocharacters and scenarios are eternal, and have been enjoyed by children for many decades in the Alpha Quadrant, and now by Naomi Wildman in the Delta Quadrant aboard USS Voyager. Flotter remembers playing with Samantha when she was a child and recognises her now that she has grown up with a child of her own.

(The text in this paragraph is from TOSTFF, slightly amended/added to by me.) The characters inhabiting the Forest of Forever are constructed to respond on a simple, childlike level, and therefore require continued emotional investment and protection in the same way that real children do. Their partial dependency inculcates feelings of responsibility and confidence within children using the Flotter program, and the resulting poise can then empower them outside the confines of the holodeck. Another programmed element to the characters in the Forest of Forever is their reinforcement of standard parental values. They also have a protective element toward the program's primary participant. (The screenshot to the right shows Flotter protecting Naomi upon the sudden appearance of the Tree Monster.) They are particularly appalled at common less-than-positive childhood traits such as lying, and they react all the more ferociously if an adult has betrayed a child's trust through lies. When Neelix enters the holoprogram looking for Naomi, from whom he has withheld information about her mother's predicament on the crashed Delta Flyer, and Neelix tries unsuccessfully to have the computer delete the Flotter and Trevis holocharacters, Flotter wonders if Neelix can swim which suggests he is thinking of drowning him and Trevis considers hanging Neelix from one of his tree branches. (They do not try to carry out their threats.)

Trevis: "Go away!" Neelix: "Where is she?" Trevis: "She doesn't want to talk to you." Flotter: "You lied." Neelix to Flotter: "I thought you vapourised." Flotter: "Naomi reliquified me. Now leave!"

Trevis warns Neelix: "You be nice." Flotter also warns Neelix: "No more lying."

Unlike usual holodeck characters, Flotter and Trevis know that the players have a life outside the Forest of Forever, although it does not therefore follow that they are aware of the nature of their being in the way that, say, the Doctor knows. Flotter knows that Naomi lives on a starship, and Trevis is fascinated by this, to the extent that he asks if he can visit it. When Flotter meets Samantha again, he comments that she has grown up, and she replies that she is an ensign now.

Neelix looks on as Flotter and Samantha Wildman meet again after many years

One characteristic of Flotter and Trevis is that they love making wordplay including puns. In the chapter Flotter and the Tree Monster, when Trevis comes down from a tree to make Naomi's acquaintance more closely, fascinated by her life as an explorer, he flops to the ground saying, "Timber." (pictured) Later, in assuring her that he is not a monster, he tells her, "My bark is worse than my bite." In the chapter Flotter, Trevis and the Ogre of Fire, Naomi discovers that Trevis' finger is alight because he has put his finger in the flames that have caught a tree branch. Flotter tells Naomi: "I told him not to touch it but this blockhead never listens." ("block" indicating a block of wood) In the chapter in which Flotter leads the player(s) in exploring a castle inhabited by a giant beetle (the chapter name is not given on tv), friends Flotter and Trevis greet each other as follows:

Flotter: "And how are you today, Mr Trevis?"
Trevis: "Feeling a little stiff, my slippery friend."
Flotter: "Oh."
Trevis: "And you?"
Flotter: "Well, now that you mention it, I feel a little washed out."
They laugh heartily together at each other's wordplay.