Alter Ego

DVD, Voyager S3 (Alter Ego)

When Holodecks Attack! Seriously though, someone should really sort it out so that the Holodeck cannot possibly lose its safeties, especially when a person is in danger, such as when B'Elanna is being strangled by a Polynesian girl via a garland (garlanded!), and Tuvok has to resort to physical violence to beat off burly mask-wearing Polynesian holo-men. But it's always a good moment when a situation becomes drastic enough for a Vulcan to use that under-control super-strength they so rarely display. I would suggest that if Marayna had had as much control of the ship's systems as to be in absolute control (she wasn't, as displayed by her inability to completely halt Voyager), she would have been able to program the characters to be stronger, so it's fortunate for Tuvok (and Torres), that they must have remained within their programmed levels. Tuvok was the best depiction of a Vulcan on Trek, and here we get to see more than just his 'heroic' side, but the way the character was originally meant to be, as both great friend to Janeway (obeying even an oblique suggestion that 'everyone' should go to the party), and an older mentor to the crew. He'd already shown his mentoring skills with Kes, helping her adjust to her latent telepathic abilities, and this time it was Kim's turn.

I like how this episode dips into many pots and takes a twist and turn to keep us off balance. It begins as a Harry Kim episode, a sort of remake of 'Hollow Pursuits.' In this variation Kim isn't addicted to the Holodeck and the fantasy life therein as Barclay was, quite expertly delineated by the fact that Kim's obsession is with a particular character who is part of a social program that evidently can be walked into by any member of the crew at any time, though it isn't left on at all times as they sometimes have to activate it. It's an embarrassment for Kim because it's such an open, group program, so it's not like he can keep it to himself (even if he hadn't been flagged up for not concentrating on his duties). Kim has been struck by Marayna as not your everyday holo-character, something that would later be studied in greater detail by Janeway when she falls for Michael in the Fair Haven episodes, or explored in terms of a character who's more than the usual, in Vic Fontaine. The story then becomes a mixture of 'The Perfect Mate' since Marayna is all things to all people (well, a beauty to Kim and a brain to Tuvok), and the Moriarty episodes in which the fictional character gained sentience and demanded to be 'let out.' Chakotay even references this event on the Enterprise-D, basically saying 'we've done this one before' to fool you, because we eventually learn that she's no computer creation, but a real, living and lonely person.

This is where the episode becomes a prescient prediction of our times today. No doubt in 1997 when this episode was released people were living something akin to the life Marayna lives, of hiding out in their own, lonely fortresses, not venturing out among their own people, living through the internet and computer games, but now that is truly possible. People really do live out their social lives via social media, online gaming and taking part in discussions on internet sites. We haven't yet been able to beam into someone else's world, but people do have 'avatars' that they make to look as they see fit. All this is seen in the episode when Tuvok eventually tracks down the real Marayna after she becomes emotionally attached to him, and is able to provide an answer for her behaviour, and the suggestion that she give up what has been her job to go back and live with her people. I always wondered if the actress that played the holo-character and the alien at the end were two different people, but there's no reason for that, it's just that the makeup does such a good job with its full face prosthetic, black contacts and raspier, breathing voice, that it was hard to see the same actress in both roles. But it would be strange for her not to have done it which is why it must have been simply good acting. Sandra Nelson would also appear in prosthetics on 'DS9' (in 'Soldiers of The Empire' which would have been made very close to this episode, though I think after it). She should have been used in more roles!

Though the seeds of this episode are in those other 'TNG' stories I mentioned, this one plays with our expectations, giving us a real person behind the creepiness, rather than the usual answer of something affecting the Holodeck, which gives it a fresh spin, while also allowing us to have the chilling moment when a holo-character appears outside of their environment. It's not quite so strange this time as we see Marayna using the Doctor's holo-emitter, but it continues the deception that she's a fictional entity which makes her obsession with Tuvok all the more extreme. The Doctor only makes a cameo (Robert Picardo was making his directorial debut and doing a very good job, only the second actor on the series to do it), but more seeds are sown by his comments, musing on the life of a recreational hologram as opposed to that of an occupational one. Such things as different types of hologram and their rights, as well as sentience and the possibilities of this relatively new intelligence would be explored in greater depth both on this series and 'DS9.' These were all newish concepts that had been built on 'TNG' ideas and were now being furthered, something that couldn't have been done if there hadn't been continuous Trek for years with many of the same writers growing ideas from those established previously.

Though Tuvok is a wise man, and someone to be depended upon, he isn't perfect and so when he has a chance to learn something it enriches a story. In this case, through his interactions with the insightful and intriguing Marayna he reflects on his own behaviour and takes his own advice on remembering that he's part of a community in which he values his colleagues. He even goes so far as to be polite to a holo-girl that asks to join him and Kim! And it takes a lot for a Vulcan to apologise, but he does so to Kim, so we get to see both the wise and sure Vulcan, and the one who recognises that living in a predominantly human community means he should sometimes fit in, and not just when his Captain suggests it! The best example showing he and Kim have resolved their differences is in the way they both agree in not wanting the holo-girl to join them, when earlier they both spoke at the same time to say opposites in conversation with Marayna. And the episode features something of a haunting end when Marayna's last words to him are asking if he will always be alone, a reference to the ship's eternal journey home, subtle, without going into detail, but reminding us that this is a ship lost out on the frontier and gives Tuvok food for thought. I like that he proves loyal to his wife and that she's spoken of, though also not banged over the head of Marayna.

It's a shame there's still no addressing of the Neelix/Kes situation after 'Warlord,' with the pair not appearing together in this episode, though it's good that everyone gets something to do or say. Vorik's attraction to Torres is more of a comical thing at this stage though it would resolve into something quite different in a short time. I guess Vorik isn't much of a Vulcan since Tuvok claims Vulcans don't wear garlands or mingle, but he can be looked on as a lot younger, and also trying to impress Torres, and so perhaps his own intentions aren't the same as Tuvok's. They had B'Elanna in a dress, and seeing her our of uniform (a rarity), it made me wonder why she doesn't have exoskeletal ridges on her front, as Kurn did in 'DS9.' It's never been definitively addressed whether female Klingons have the same exoskeletal structure in the same areas as males of the species, but even if they do, it can be pointed out that Torres is half human, and even her forehead ridges are far less defined than those of full Klingons.

I like to remember the Vulcan background we get, specifically the term for someone who, by their own lack of interest or understanding trivialises your own, as I know people that this can be applied to (the term is soo-lak, for your information!). The access panel in the Holodeck was something of a mystery to me: when Torres uses it, it's inside a pillar that appears to be possible to walk all around, yet we usually see such panels embedded in the walls of Holodecks, so either we were at the 'edge' of the program, though it looked like the room continued, or it was a holographic access panel so that when a button was pressed, it would activate that button on the real access panel. My preferences in terms of lighting in the program would have been to make the it less harsh and to rely more on the burning torches for illumination, specifically in the scene where Tuvok and Marayna look out to sea, a full moon overhead. The sea and sky are so dark as to be barely visible which doesn't quite sell the mood, but it's just one of those minor things that could have been improved (just like when Chakotay hands Janeway a padd and she almost fumbles it!). And Tuvok's Kal-toh board is a more sophisticated example of a miniature holographic projector - we'd seen such things before when Riker had such a device to play music to him, and Kira was given a recording of Varani (also playing music), but this is fully interactive with a pleasingly solid clink to the pieces. I do wonder how far the field extends though, as Tuvok picks up pieces to move around.

As a study of Vulcans, or this Vulcan in particular, the story succeeds, giving us different aspects of Tuvok to explore through his interactions with Kim and Marayna, both of which teach him things, and while we don't really learn much about Harry, and the character could have been seen as being shortchanged by the shift away from him, Tuvok was always the more compelling of the two, and to put him in an uncomfortable romantic situation provides more drama. This can't be placed in the category of Holodeck malfunctions because anything that went wrong with Neelix' resort program was programmed by Marayna, so it's a fresh mix of some old ideas, told with that 'Voyager' edge to the story. I don't think it's a truly 'great' episode as I used to, probably because I've been so spoiled by such stories, but it remains a solidly entertaining and thought-provoking outing, a good one to dive back into the series when you've left it hanging for over a year, because of the ship-bound nature and character study it offers.

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