Bonus post - seven-year-old Nathan's favorite characters

I didn't have time to write a post while I was home with my family this weekend - but did find these. Enjoy!

Faces (VOY)

I have seen this episode more times than any other episode of Voyager. I wrote a paper on it for my Feminism in Theatre class in college, and later adapted that paper into a panel which I ran at Connecticon last year. Both of these focused on B'Elanna's racial identity and her expression of gender, looking at the Klingon/Human split as a metaphor for the masculine and feminine aspects of her personality, and also delving into racial stereotypes of Latino women (its easy to forgt B'Elanna's human half is named Torres and from South America.) As fascinating as that discussion was, I don't really feel like rehashing it. I'd like to look more at the craft of this episode, and how despite an absurdly cheesy premise it still manages to shine as one of the gems of the first season.

This is basically only the second B'Elanna episode we've had -possibly third, if we count her sub-plot in Prime Factors, which at least that gave her some good characterization. But the point is we don't know her that well, which makes splitting her in two kind of a risky proposition. This isn't "The Enemy Within" - neither B'Elanna is evil, and in fact the episode is really about B'Elanna being forced to confront the fact that while she may not like her Klingon heritage, it is a part of her she can't deny. But turning a character's internal conflict into an external one is very difficult to do without a certain amount of ham-fistedness.

The use of the Vidians is a really smart way of making the whole concept easier to swallow. The fact that they can essentially clone B'Elanna but can't, you know, grow themselves some organs instead of stealing them from people seems a little off, but other than that the idea of Klingons being resistant to the phage creates a perfect justification for Sulan making the split and also fits perfectly with what we know of Klingons from previous Trek episodes. The Vidians are also interesting characters, and Sulan's scenes with B'Elanna give us more insight into why they do what they do than we got in "The Phage". Finally, it means the episode can do a cool, sci-fi concept, and develop an under-developed character, and develop a recurring villain all in one episode without it feeling crowded, which is quite impressive.

Sulan grafting Durst's face onto his own is the creepiest moment on the show so far. Partially this is because of the inherent creepiness of face-stealing, but part of it is definitely the fact that Sulan genuinely thinks this will make it easier for B'Elanna to trust him. This just shows how warped and bizarre Vidian culture has become. When Sulan says that Durst's organs will save dozens, there's almost a reverence in his voice, like he actually buys this "greater good" idea. The Vidians are extremely evil, but they are also extremely pitiable.

Back to B'Elanna - we learn about her childhood here, and I think that scene is worth looking at. The story she tells Paris here will be told in greater detail in "Lineage", with flashbacks, but its all laid out in the first season, and will inform B'Elanna's character as we go along. Even though each show has had a character of mixed human and alien heritage, B'Elanna is kind of a backwards approach. Spock had occasional flashes of conflict, but ultimately had chosen to embrace his Vulcan side. Deanna Troi lives a well-balanced life, leaning more towards her Betazoid side. Worf struggles to be more Klingon. But B'Elanna has grown up hating her Klingon side, for reasons both political and personal. She blames her Klingon side for her fighting spirit and her uncontrollable temper, but really her temper comes from her self-loathing and inability to find peace with her own identity. It's a struggle that will keep coming around, and it makes her one of the most compelling characters on the show.

Random Observations:

Love the little Neelix/ Tuvok scene at the beginning. Those two are too much fun.

Durst becomes our first real casualty since the pilot.

Minor Character Watch: Lt. Ayala's name is mentioned for the first time in this episode.

The Doctor has some of that amazing Starfleet Plastic Surgery in his programming.

The lies that the Vidian guards tell when they take someone to Organ Harvesting are hilarious. "Where are you taking me?" "A shower and a hot meal."

It's a little weird that Voyager doesn't even try to rescue the other prisoners. Like, even the Talaxian who helped them.

This is the beginning of the Tom/B'Elanna ship.

Tom does that thing that men/ white people like to do in discussions of gender/ race where they compare some negative experience they've had with the other person's experience of oppression even though its totally unrelated, and it really gets on my nerves. It feels like he's belittling her experience by comparing it to his bad haircuts.

Prime Factors (VOY)

            Most of the time, when aliens are really ridiculously friendly and also pretty and only want to help the crew, it is because they are secretly trying to eat us or involved in some kind of mind-control plot. “Prime Factors” subverts that expected twist – the Salcarans genuinely are as nice as they say they are, pretty much. Ultimately, though, Voyager’s crew gets greedy and screws things up, and in the process B’Elanna finds her loyalty tested.

Lunch room gossip.

            The opening of this episode really captures that “family” feeling that made late TNG so watchable. Tom, B’Elanna, and ascended redshirt Lt. Seska are teasing Harry about a disastrous date he had with Jenny Delaney. Seska calls out that “there are no secrets on a ship this small” and we are happy to see a lighter side of life in the Delta Quadrant. Eavesdropping from a nearby table, Janeway and Tuvok are happy to see Starfleet and Maquis crew members finally coming together.

            Which of course cues us in that that bond is about to be challenged. It’s smart to make Harry and B’Elanna the focus of this episode, because their relationship has been a symbol of the integration of the crews thus far. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Voyager receives a personal invitation from the overwhelming hospital but hedonistic (and inexplicably French) Salcarans. The Salcarans offer the crew shore leave, edible plants for their hydroponics bay, new clothes, etc. They even throw a big party for the crew, and it  looks like  both Harry and the Captain are about to get lucky. But then Harry ruins everyone’s sexytimes when he discovers that the Salcarans have the technology to send Voyager halfway home.

Remember the Prime Directive? The one where we don’t interfere with the development of other civilizations? Where we’re not allowed to share technology? Turns out the Salcarans have it too, and as Janeway points out, it’s not so fun to be on the other side. Still, Janeway is not about to get her crew home by violating the laws of another civilization, so she sets about trying to change the Salcarans’ minds.

The person most likely to screw up Harry Kim's love life.

Which brings us back to our two Junior officers, both of whom face temptation. Harry, the young, impressionable rules-follower, is also the one who most desperately wants to get back to his family. Also, his new Salcaran girlfriend happens to have the black market connections that could get him the technology. B’Elanna, who was all for screwing over the Ocampa to get home back in “Caretaker”, is now in a position of leadership and doesn’t want to betray her Captain’s trust. But she, along with Seska and Joe Carey, has the engineering knowledge to use it.

            It’s great to see these characters conflicted on so many axis – desire to get home, duty to their Captain, observance of Starfleet principles – and their decisions are all in-character and believable. The real twist comes when Tuvok discovers the plot and, rather than turning the mutineers in, covers for them. His rationale – that he knew Janeway wouldn’t be able to defy her principles so he was saving her the decision – is rationale. It’s actually very Vulcan, to be willing to bend principle when it makes logical sense to do so, and his final scene with Janeway works because of the relationship that’s built up between the two.

The dressing down.

            Lots of characters barely appear in this episode – Paris, Kes, The EMH, and CHakotay are all mostly absent. But that gave the writers a chance to really let Janeway, Tuvok, B’Elanna and Harry work through this problem in their own ways. And that’s where this episode shines. Voyager is more full of strong personalities than the Enterprise ever was, and it’s at its strongest when those personalities get to clash a little. Janeway is a mother to her crew, but sometimes you disagree with your mother and you act out, and then you have to deal with the fact that you betrayed someone who cares about you. Janeway sees Tuvok as a mentor. She sees Harry as a son. She’s not sure whether to see B’Elanna as both a pupil or an antagonist, but Kate Mulgrew and Roxanne Dawson have great chemistry so I want to see those sparks fly over and over again.

The ending – we steal the technology, but it’s not compatible with ours and doesn’t work – is a bit of a cop-out. It’s the Gilligan’s Island principle, of course, in that if Voyager gets home there’s no show. But I don’t think the episode is undermined. On the contrary, I think it’s the strongest episode yet – it has a compelling conflict, the tension builds effectively, and the characters actually develop.

Random Observations:

Minor Character Watch:

Seska gets a name and a brother back home who’s birthday she’s missing.

Joe Carey has a wife and kids back home himself, and he’s more ethically flexible than we thought. He also seems to be adjusting well to being B’Elanna’s subordinate.

Jenny Delaney gets name-dropped again as the girl Harry will never make it with.

I love the fact that the Salcarans use stories as currency.

The Salcaran ship does not look like a recycled model. The set of their ballroom, on the other hand, is definitely a redress of the Professor’s house from Ex Posto Facto.

Discussion question: Is Harry Kim Wesley Crusher done right?

That climax sure had a lot of technobabble in it.

I’m gonna go ahead and guess that the reason Tom Paris wasn’t involved in the episode after the first scene is that he was out there nailing as many Salcaran chicks as possible.

Parallax (VOY)

Today we're pulling a little switch because Jonah didn't get his article done. Today's scheduled DS9 review will run Friday and Nathan's Voyager review will run today.

Star Trek has gotten us very used to seeing the Federation from one perspective – the inside. But The Federation isn’t paradise to everyone. To B’Elanna Torres it’s a stifling, oppressive system that bogs itself down with unnecessary protocols and regulations. She believes in settling disputes more organically. Unfortunately, she’s also half Klingon, so a small disagreement with acting chief engineer Carey lands the man in sickbay with a broken nose.

It’s a promising way to start a second episode, as news of the altercation reverberates throughout the ship, bringing Chakotay into conflict with Tuvok, B’Elanna, and finally the Captain. And it gets us right to the heart of what this crew is going to have to deal with. The Enterprise was a flagship staffed with the best and the brightest. Voyager can barely keep itself staffed at all.

The A-plot and B-plot are surprisingly well integrated in this episode, which is good because the A- plot, Voyager’s attempt to escape a quantum singularity, is pretty dumb. It’s an escalating series of technobabble that’s eventually solved by more technobabble. But the B-plot, Janeway and Chakotay’s power struggle and Janeway’s search for a Chief Engineer, is compelling enough to keep the episode afloat (The C-plot, a bit of physical humor involving the Doctor shrinking, is merely distracting most of the time.)

So on TNG, Riker would often challenge Picard’s decisions. But Picard knew that Riker always had his safety and the ship’s best interests at heart, and would always back down and follow orders if it came to that. Janeway has no such guarantees from Chakotay. For all she knows at this point, he could still be contemplating a mutiny. This adds a real tension to the scene in Janeway’s office when she calls out her new XO.

Chakotay is remembered in the long canon of Star Trek characters for being always either an obnoxious Native American stereotype or insufferably bland. But early on he’s not like that at all. He’s a rough and tumble Han Solo-type forced into having to adjust to military discipline, a microcosm of all the Maquis on the ship. My guess is the main reason this characterization disappears is that he was too much like Tom (and to some extent, B’Elanna.) The edgy rule-breakers are fun, but too many and the ship becomes total chaos.

As fun as it is to watch him not be boring, Chakotay is somewhat secondary to this episode. Mostly, it’s about B’Elanna and Janeway, and it really takes off when they connect while trying to solve the singularity problem. By the end of the episode, Janeway has decided that the volatile former Maquis has what it takes to be her chief Engineer. But they don’t explicitly trust each other – B’Elanna is still resentful of Janeway for stranding her in the Delta Quadrant, and Janeway is still extremely apprehensive about asking her officers to take orders from a Starfleet academy dropout. And unlike most of the conflicts Voyager sets up, this one won’t have evaporated by season two – B’Elanna remains a deeply conflicted character throughout the series.

I want to take a moment how cool it is for a network show in 1995 to be doing a plotline about two women that doesn’t involve romance at all. The feminism of Voyager is riddled with problems, and believe me, we will get into them, but for now, it’s nice to enjoy an episode that passes the Bechdel test more than just incidentally.

Random Observations:

We will be talking a lot about race, gender, and B’Elanna Torres – another time. Suffice it to say I once wrote a five-page paper on the subject, citing this episode, “Faces” and “Lineage”, and then adapted that paper into a panel I led at Connecticon this year. So it’s something I’ve thought a lot about.

Because she’s half-Klingon, almost no one remembers that B’Elanna’s human father is named Torres, and she’s portrayed by Hispanic actress Roxanne Dawson, making her the first Latina Star Trek regular. Interestingly enough, that honor was supposed to go to Tasha Yar, originally named Macha Hernandez before blonde, blue-eyed Denise Crosby got the part. Just something to mull over.

The C-story does feature a very sweet scene between the EMH and Kes, and they have fantastic chemistry. They’re both kind of naïve in their own ways – Kes is only two years old, after all and technically the EMH is only a few days. He has a lot of preprogrammed knowledge, but not much real experience.

Neelix has a story or an anecdote for everything.

In a rare bit of foresight, Harry Kim mentions that it’s impossible to reroute power from the Holodecks, explaining why they will be able to keep hanging out in French pool halls when they don’t have power to use the replicators.

Recurring character watch: Joe Carey, B’Elanna’s long suffering assistant, will be a familiar face for the next couple seasons. He’s a salt-of-the-Earth type, like O’Brien but less interesting.

Also, is that Seska in a blue uniform?

No new fatalities.

No shuttlecraft lost.