Development centers around Paris and Torres, the latter of whom isn't really showing her true self much. Still, I like watching Torres behave like a Klingon, so it's fun. It also recalls for us the first time Paris saw Torres out of balance, as the complete human woman in "Faces." If someday Paris and Torres have a romantic relationship, he can say he's truly seen both sides of her.
We also find out, though surely we already know, that while Paris is "one giant hormone walking around the ship," he has certain standards. And both of them are certainly good-looking as they pant and make goo-goo eyes at each other.
Tuvok and Chakotay act just as they should. The best moments there come when Tuvok tells Paris to mind his own business, and when Tuvok is convincing Chakotay to let Vorik and Torres fight. His reference to "tradition" when dealing with Chakotay is proof that the Vulcan guy definitely knows how to manipulate people when he wants to.
I hope we never see Vorik again.
THOUGHT
Several dangerous areas here, the most obvious of which is the giggle-sex approach to human relationships we usually see on TV. It looks that way at the start, too. I'm a sucker for stories where someone is attracted to/in love with another person against their will, but those can easily degenerate into misogyny or goofy dialogue. This story takes a right-angle turn from all that as soon as Paris says, "This isn't about the gun, it's about sex." I mean, my God, he actually says the word aloud so we can all deal with the issue head-on. That's not usual family hour fare, whatever most shows pretend.
But this is Star Trek, after all, so there is also the danger of sexless discussions of sex: social customs and metaphors that don't make any sense even if they are supposed to be for space aliens, inappropriate lectures about proper sexual attitudes, a we-are-evolved commentary, junk like that. Torres makes it clear that isn't going to happen with her response: "I think it is. I've picked up your scent, Tom. I've tasted your blood." Not my idea of the greatest pick-up line in history, but Anne Rice has made a career out of it.
So they talk about how they can't have sex (because he's got a conscience) and she really wants to have sex (because she's got a blood fever). I expected that. This all gets heightened by lot of close physical contact that actually gets a little heavier than I expected, but nothing salacious. What I didn't expect was the consciously-learned tone Paris takes while he is delivering lines like, "I'm your friend. I have to look out for you when your judgment's been impaired." The idea, I think, is to show that even in Star Trek's sometimes annoyingly perfect world, it's still not instinctual for people to turn down an attractive person who's all over them. This is obviously a reference to men dealing with women who are drunk, and this is standard date-rape rhetoric. But that's the point -- even in the future, you're still going to feel tempted, but you need to remember that sometimes honor (or decency, or courtesy, or whatever) sometimes goes against everything you're feeling. At such times, you quote your little lesson and try to maintain your control. I prefer this so much to the times Star Trek characters are so effortlessly noble I want to punch them in the prosthetic face.
I was also impressed with how well the episode deals with the whole matter of sex connecting to violence. With the Klingons, we're into an area which definitely would be called sexually abusive if it were with humans. It was therefore terrific to notice that while Torres certainly tries forceful seduction of Paris, she never tries to rape him. At the least, as a half-member of a stronger race, she could have gone a lot father than she did. Now, this might be simply because it's TV, but notice this continues when she's fighting with Vorik. He tries to win the fight, but it's a non-sexual combat, geared towards physical, not sexual, dominance. Also, in the couple seconds where Paris and Torres actually mutually engage in foreplay, the violence has a definite spirit of fun and games. Here, physical mastery is a way of showing that Paris and Torres are "enjoying themselves," not of trying to injure each other. Never once does the show confuse Klingon sexual practices with the desire to hurt the other person, and, looking back over the episode, that seems a tricky line to keep steady.
Contrast all this with how much we despise Vorik for trying to force a mating bond with Torres, even though it doesn't look particularly violent, and the distinction becomes even clearer.
It's popular to complain that Star Trek shows return everything to the status quo at the end. This seems to me standard issue for a TV series, as one simply cannot kill off Harry Kim to make a thematic point, however annoying you might find him. (Wesley Crusher, however, is a different matter all together...) I thought the status quo was brought back nicely this time as well. Torres’ "Careful what you wish for, Lieutenant," beats out Tasha's "It never happened" for knocking Paris off-center, which seems to be where Star Trek sexual males (Riker, Bashir, et al.) spend most of their time.
SPECTACLE
Not so great here, nor really any call for much in the way of s/x (short for "special effects," not the other thing!).
I have one major beef: that was the WORST cave-in I have ever seen. I wasn't even aware it was a cave-in until Paris and Torres walked around and showed they were trapped. Everyone knows a cave-in needs a shot of the rocks falling down. In fact, there was such a shot in the second cave-in of the show. But all we get the first time is a little dust and people falling to the ground. There's even a truly horrible shot where we see Chakotay while we hear Paris's voice. It there were a cave-in, we shouldn't be able to do those two things at the same time.
My one minor beef was with the rocks themselves, which were a bit more overtly styrofoam than usual. Sound effects doesn't cover up things like that, as we all know from watching those plastic containers get opened, clicking all over the place but obviously not made of anything but plastic.
My major praise goes to the use of Tom's handlight. Torres and he often looked quite good in the light/dark treatment, and the symbolism of Tom's trying to keep her in the light while the dark of the Pon Farr worked on her made the point nicely without becoming intrusive. I even liked the couple times the light went right into the camera, giving the scenes a nicely edgy look.
DICTION
The straight-forward approach and some good lines have already been noted. I also liked:
"She bit me...and she seemed to be enjoying it, in a Klingon kind of way...She's really not herself." -- Paris.
"If anyone is going to smash your arrogant little face in, I will. I take your challenge myself." -- Torres to Vorik.
SONG
Always a lovely job, as far as I'm concerned. Keep the orchestra working!
And now I'd like to offer a section devoted to acknowledging the onus of writing stories that are fresh and original while following the precepts of a show that was supposed to be "Wagon Train to the stars," but became an entire universe of fiction zealously guarded by fans all over the world. In other words: what a lot of baggage!
STAR TREK ELEMENTS WE (OR I, ANYWAY) LOVE
Well, I don't know about you, but I've been waiting for a Pon Farr episode since they got stuck in space. However, I thought it would center around Tuvok. We haven't known before this episode that there was any alternative to going home and mating (or killing you captain), so obviously they're opening the door for Tuvok to take the meditating route when his time finally rolls around.
Since I didn't have any interest in Vorik anyway, I was happy enough to see him turn into Mr. You Are MY Mate! I don't think I want to see Tuvok act like that (yeesh, whom would he come on to, Janeway?? Yuck!), so why not make up another guy to do it? We already knew there were other Vulcans on the ship [see: "Flashbacks," which I plan to defend later], so it seems sensible to me they could be used in this way. One thing I've always wanted to know: doesn't this affect the female Vulcans too? That must be a sight: seven years of PMS all rolled up in one all-mighty bang. I've always thought Spock's wife looked far too calm and collected.
I also enjoyed the use of Klingon mating rituals, though it could be argued that Data and Picard had to figure out in "Genesis" what biting people in the face meant, while here everybody knew it already. Still, it would make sense for Paris to have looked it up about Torres, while Data and Picard maybe figured the less they knew about Worf's sex life, the better. The fact remains that the people on the ship, Tuvok especially, have to know that the bite means so that Tuvok can figure out what is going on. And finally, frankly, it seems pretty obvious in context.
More to the point, I really liked the way they worked the Klingon and Vulcan stuff together to get an interesting story out of it all. We've seen so many of these elements before, but I never personally thought of their going together. The repressed violence of the Vulcans and the celebrated violence of the Klingons make a good match.
Getting into the subplot with the Hiding People, I love the idea of them. Naturally this is often what the Borg leave behind once they've assimilated a planet. There are probably many such peoples, spending their whole cultural energy on simply Not Being Found Again. The psychology of their mud-covered outfits was a nice touch.
STAR TREK ELEMENTS WE (OR I, ANYWAY) HATE
As I said, the episode kept nicely away from overly preachy social-relevance stuff, except where it was thematically helpful.
I didn't think much of those spelunking outfits, especially from the side. Pairs already looks enough like the Pillsbury Dough Boy without the aluminum foil. Still, I suppose it was a good thing that they were something different. Black shows dirt so clearly!
Okay, that's the end of this review, for now anyway. I hope you enjoyed it.
Star Trek Voyager Reviews
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