SUMMARY OF THE CAPTAIN PROTON UNIVERSE

Tom Paris creates a holoprogram to capture the world (or universe) of Earth's 1930s science fiction films: they are in black-and-white, good always triumphs over evil...eventually, the heroes never die, the chief villains may die horribly but come back to fight another day. Action is accompanied by over-dramatic tinny orchestral music and cheesy dialogue.

Earthman Captain Proton (played by Tom Paris), aided by his trusty sidekick Buster Kincaid (played by Harry Kim), does battle against the forces of evil as they try to conquer Earth and indeed the whole cosmos. He is also aided by an unexpected ally, Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People, with her fleet of Spider Ships. Proton travels through space in his rocketship, which is equipped with technology (cutting edge technology in Earth's 1930s, not-so-cutting edge but quaint when viewed from the 24th century!) such as a viewscreen (called the imagizer) and a weapon called the destructo-beam which is powerful enough to knock out the evil Dr Chaotica's death-ray. Proton's ship is in contact with Earth and receives messages on a tickertape machine. For more personal maneuverability, Proton has a rocketpack, which he straps on his back and which enables him to fly both in an atmosphere and through space. He carries a ray gun for defence. His secretary, Constance Goodheart, is a young blonde woman, blessed with beauty and but not much intelligence; she has an ear-piercing scream which she lets out whenever she is frightened by terrors such as Satan's Robot.

A typical narrator's recap of a chapter from 'The Adventures of Captain Proton': "The evil Dr Chaotica kidnaps Constance Goodheart and plans to sacrifice her to Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People. Captain Proton travels millions of miles to Planet X, where he will invade the Fortress of Doom. Chaotica fires his fiendish death ray....certain death for PRoton as his rocketship bursts into flames!"

C A S T

EPISODES IN WHICH 'THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN PROTON' ARE SEEN OR MENTIONED

The holoprogram is also mentioned in these episodes:

• [#97 Extreme Risk]:
  Paris and Tuvok disagree about the design layout of the new Delta Flyer which several Voyager crewmembers, them included, are building from scratch.
  Paris: "Microfractures, Tuvok. Doesn't necessarily mean we'll have a hull breach."
  Tuvok: "And if we do, I suppose these useless design elements from your Captain Proton scenario will compensate for the problem?"
  Paris: "Hey, every one of these knobs and levers is fully functional."
  Tuvok: "And completely superfluous."
  Paris: "Maybe to you. I am tired of tapping panels. For once I want controls that let me actually feel the ship I'm piloting."
   
• [#125 Alice]:
  Paris is so engrossed in restoring the secondhand starship Alice that he forgets he and Kim are due to play the Captain Proton chapter 'The Web of Pain' on the holodeck. He sends Kim to play the holo-adventure on his own.
   
• [#149 Drive]:
  Torres and Paris discuss their relationship while stopped in space not far short of the finishing line of the Antarian Trans-Stellar Rally. They are interrupted by an alert signal. They are being scanned by Kim's and Irina's ship, by some kind of modulating pulse but there is something odd about the amplitude. Suddenly Paris recognises it as morse code - he and Kim use it in the Captain Proton holoprogram. It is an emergency message from Kim! It reads: "Fuel converter rigged. Eject."
   
• [#154 Nightingale]:
  Paris tries to persuade Kim to take him on the mission to return a Kraylor vessel (which Kim later christens Nightingale) to its homeworld.
  "Take me with you, buddy."
  Kim: "Sorry, Tom, this is my mission."
  .......
  Paris: "Then what is it?"
  Kim: "I don't know how else to say this, so I'll just say it: you've always been Captain Proton, I've always been Buster Kincaid." He grins. "It's my turn this time."
   
• [#166 Author, Author]:
  Paris learns the Doctor is about to get his (the Doctor's) holonovel published by the famous publisher, Broht & Forrester.
  Paris: "Oh, sounds like fun. You know, I've never thought about getting my work published. Maybe I could talk to your people about Captain Proton."
  Doctor: "Broht & Forrester deals in sophisticated literature."
  Paris: "What are you saying, that I'm low-brow?"
   
• [#171 and #172 Endgame]:
  When Voyager enters a nebula, the ship narrowly escapes collision with a Borg cube. Voyager leaves the nebula, due to the Borg threat, even though the faster way home means going into the nebula.
  Kim: "Where's your sense of adventure?"
  Paris: "I left it in that nebula, and I'm not going back for it."
  Kim: "Don't you want to find a way home?"
  Paris: "I am home, Harry."
  Kim: "Captain Proton would never walk away from a mission like this."
  Paris: "Captain Proton doesn't have a wife, and a baby on the way."

CHAPTERS OF 'THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN PROTON'

CHAPTER 18: BRIDE OF CHAOTICA!
Captain Proton disables Dr Chaotica's death-ray before he can use it against Earth.

CHAPTER 37:
contents unknown

UNKNOWN CHAPTER NUMBER: CAPTAIN PROTON VERSUS THE COSMIC CREATURE
Captain Proton battles alien invaders.

FINAL CHAPTER: SATAN'S ROBOT CONQUERS THE WORLD
contents unknown