Barge of The Dead

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Barge of The Dead)

It's Klingon time! Ronald D. Moore, in his last ever contribution to Trek, writing a story on his specialist subject? What could be better and a more fitting, if curtailed, end to his career with Trek? If only it were so simple - for one, this was a 'Story By' credit with Bryan Fuller, and the latter actually wrote the teleplay. While it's always debatable with these things on how much was done by whom, it does appear to lesson Moore's involvement or influence than if he'd been entirely responsible, and, despite the fact I think Fuller was also one of the greats of the 'DS9' and 'Voyager' era, perhaps a collaboration didn't work out well in this case. It's not a bad episode, far from it, it's very close to being a good one when looked at in context of the wider journey of B'Elanna Torres across the series, but it draws attention to deficiencies, and relies on her reaction to this episode in future to give it meaning. Because there really isn't a resolution within the episode, she's simply surrounded by voices representing the people she has roles towards, allows her to express confusion over her identity, and then she wakes up and it was all a dream! Okay, so it is ambiguous whether this really happened or not, and I don't remember if we ever learned of her Mother's fate later, but it was almost like they'd wanted to do a Klingon story, they'd wanted Moore to do what he was best at, and then either this was when he left, or he was having problems preparatory to leaving, and what was an intriguing premise failed to come together sufficiently.

I say sufficiently because there is some great stuff in here. Not least the terrific creation of this Klingon barge of mythology, all creaking timbers and swinging lamps as it travels to Gre'thor, the Klingon Hell (you'd think, considering their love of hardship and trial that in their culture Hell would be more desirable than Sto-Vo-Kor, Paradise), which reminded me of the old BBC production of 'Voyage of The Dawn Treader.' A ship full of Klingons, a couple of familiar actors brought in... Actually this would have been a great way to bring back Robert O'Reilly's Gowron since he'd only died the previous season at the end of 'DS9,' so why couldn't he have been there to think better of his actions and guide Torres? It was supposed to be all about B'Elanna and her Mother so I can see how a cameo or role like that would have moved the focus away from that. Then there's the trademark Fuller weirdness: is this real, is it in her head, and the stuff where everyone slowly becomes more Klingon-like, represented best by Tuvok, the least likely person to fit that mould, but Tim Russ superbly shifts from stolid, dependable Vulcan guide, to harsh disciplinarian, disgusted by B'Elanna's weakness, admiring the blade of a Bat'leth as he expertly swings it around like Worf at his best (I'd have loved to see those two face off with such weapons, that could have been a sight!). I always love the uncertainty of reality, that moment when things have been strange, but then it goes one jot further that shows this is all wrong and you're actually in a nightmare, and Fuller was a master.

I will also give the episode credit for integrating all the characters: what would become the minor characters, Chakotay, Tuvok, Neelix, maybe even Kim, are all involved through the use of B'Elanna's dreams or visions. It makes sense for Chakotay to be the one to come and discuss the situation she's facing since he's a believer in things beyond that which science can explain ("I accept there are things in life that can't be scanned by a Tricorder," was an elegant way to put it), has his own firm beliefs, so isn't a 'science-ist,' or arrogant enough to believe that everything has been satisfactorily explained at this point, and he's also one of B'Elanna's oldest confidants on the ship. Tuvok, too, has always been someone to guide in such matters, which is why it makes sense she consults him, though that's when we start to suspect the bump on the head was worse than first thought (that makes me think of a joke: Why are Klingons so erratic? Because of all the bumps on the head!). Neelix is especially chilling when his jovial, helpful attitude is tinged with mockery, as is the Doctor. All good things in this episode, but what was missing was something to tie it all together. It's ultimately a get-out-quick mentality with the episode suddenly over, and that does hurt it a little. I like a thoughtful conclusion in which to ponder what happened, leaving it open to interpretation and all that, but this demanded more.

Part of the problem was how the character had been handled across the series in recent seasons. She started out as a combative member of the crew that would butt heads with her Captain on a regular basis, slowly gaining her trust and coming to a rapport in much the same way as Seven was taken through difficult first steps to come to trust and be trusted by Janeway, B'Elanna was the model for that. But she'd calmed down a lot before Seven joined the scene and I'm not sure they had a good idea of where she fit in, other than as the Starfleet fixer that is often required in stories. Even that role had been dialled back to some extent, and I think it was a combination of Seven's advancement as a key crew-member, but also Roxann Dawson's pregnancy which reduced her appearances in Season 4. They got more for her with the reaction to the slaughter of the Maquis, but they'd stopped examining her Klingon nature, and perhaps she was one of the characters in Season 5 to be used less effectively in what was generally one of the strongest years. She'd matured under Janeway's care, had flourished as an Engineer and we saw so many strong episodes for her in the early seasons, but they must have realised they weren't pushing her in the best way, merely concentrating on her bond with Tom Paris. As with Tuvok, a way to explore Vulcans while being so far from familiar space, she was designed to be a way to have your Klingons and eat them, too. Not literally, but it was a way to touch on Klingon culture and that hadn't been addressed as much.

I can't say this marked a turning point towards a much greater use of the warrior race on the series, but they must have realised that one of the things many people enjoyed about 'DS9' was its integration of the Klingons, harking back to so many classic stories and connections, and now the other series had ended they had free rein to play with that if they so wished. Not that they didn't before, and not that they hadn't, but being the only Trek series on air gave them the opportunity to appeal to people that loved the race and B'Elanna was the way to do it. There'd be other Klingon stories to come, most notably her own child being considered some kind of messiah by a wandering generational Klingon ship, but I still don't feel they did as much with either B'Elanna or the Klingons as they could have (maybe should've dispensed with the Borg children and had some Klingons aboard instead, for example!). Seeing this episode in that context I wonder if Moore's involvement, leaving as he did, put them off what was his chosen subject, or that it was so heavily tied with 'DS9,' and they embraced the Borg as their Klingons, or maybe there simply wasn't a clear idea of how to progress the series beyond continuing to do these individual stories. It could also be they felt Klingons had been done to death (today is a good season to die!), and weren't inspired on how to explore them in new ways. I could be wrong, maybe B'Elanna had some great Klingon moments this season that I've forgotten, but if so they don't stand out in the memory.

I don't know if it is the case, but there's also the sense of a muddled worldview with the Klingons in this episode, like maybe Moore came up with a lot of the mythology, but left and Fuller did what he wanted. This is coming from the sense that Fuller became someone who didn't care much for canon and continuity judging by his, essentially, rebooting 'TOS' era when he was drafted in to head 'Discovery,' which may not be fair, especially as he was so great at writing for the 24th Century as a younger writer. There's this Kortar guy who pilots the barge to Gre'thor, and this Viking, I mean Klingon, is said to be the first of his race, rose up and killed the gods who created him. Okay, so his gods weren't very godlike is what I would say to that, but then we hear that he was punished by being condemned to ferry the dishonoured dead on their way to Gre'thor, but who punished him? The gods were dead, what are they not telling us? I know myth is supposed to be story, it doesn't need to make sense, but one of the things I liked about 'DS9' for example, was that they were careful to craft these belief systems for characters. It is a harsh system, but then that befits the Klingon character: off to Hell with you because of the sins of your child! Wow, so no grace in this religion then, unless it be the child taking the parent's place, which would seem just as dishonourable for a parent to accept, so they should go to Gre'thor too, after all!

It's a tricky place for Trek, even though by this time they were much more comfortable exploring Faith --- Spirituality --- Religion. The big questions that Roddenberry seemed to like to suggest were all resolved in 'TNG.' It's fascinating to see the worldview of Trek shift and change over the decades (one God in 'TOS,' no God in 'TNG,' alien gods ten a penny in 'DS9,' to the lack of interest beyond action in 'Enterprise' and the modern era), someone should write a dissertation on it all. As I'm sure they have! Janeway being a scientist does make her specially close to the Roddenberry ideal (even if in reality Gene was harder to pin down as an atheist, etc, because he wasn't, and had some very different views than appeared to be expressed through 'TNG' - see 'Gene Roddenberry: The Last Conversation' book by Yvonne Fern), that people like to assume is Trek's attitude, and so it does make sense for her to be against B'Elanna's request to try to recreate the conditions that gave her her vision in the first place. Janeway also has a duty of care to her crew and it was an interesting part of the episode when the argument of freedom of worship came up - it's not what you generally see in Trek! Janeway herself had gone through her own experiences in 'Sacred Ground' which had the same idea behind it: ritual can be meaningless, something deeper and simpler is required. But as she says, she's not going to permit something dangerous in the name of faith, such as sacrificing a child to someone's god.

That's a useful reminder of rational beliefs that were more common when this episode was made compared with today when we seem to be heading towards whatever you choose your reality to be is what everyone else has to accept, even if it's not true (and we already sacrifice children on the altar of pleasure to allow for looser living, so even that which sounds abhorrent when put in Janeway's terms is a sanctioned and protected right in our culture!). In this case B'Elanna wants to put herself at risk, and it doesn't matter that it appears an irrational reason to a scientist, that's beside the point - it's the risk to B'Elanna's life that is most important. If Chakotay wanted to go on a vision quest, take a shuttle and rendezvous with Voyager later, she would allow it, and in fact he did do that in the past, but though she wouldn't believe in his beliefs it wasn't a risk (okay, so he ran into the Kazon and it ended up being so, but the act in itself wasn't inherently risky from a physical point of view and since Janeway doesn't appear to believe in spiritual effects, then she wouldn't have a problem with that either!). Anyway, I found that part of the episode to be a fascinating glimpse into the uncertain worldview of Trek at that time where spiritual things were still not as ingrained in Western culture, though this series helped to move towards that more with Chakotay, B'Elanna and Tuvok, to different degrees, and away from 'boring' Christian theology that had held society together for so long.

Interesting, yes, but also a little troubling from my perspective, even though I rarely had issues with 'DS9' which had faith and belief systems baked into it through and through. The Klingon stuff is bleak and muddled, but perhaps it's less about that than it is about B'Elanna's own identity, and that's where the problem really lies. You can't exactly just say she's suddenly pro-Klingon, but also that side of her had had so little exploration in the past two or three seasons that it really hadn't been an issue. It's like if Kira was portrayed as being a devout believer in Bajoran religion at first, then it never got mentioned and late in the series we learn she doesn't believe any more. There isn't a progression - people should be operating under and acting on how they think, and what they believe is what guides them, but if you don't see evidence of that then it's hard to take seriously. It's a bit of a stretch that she goes from not caring about her heritage to wanting to risk death. It could all have been a dream, but because it was so vivid to her she's willing to take the risk. And it is fun to see B'Elanna in full Klingon regalia - it's almost like they knew they were going to be doing this so they made her hair frizzier in preparation, though of course in reality she had style change at the end of Season 5, long before this episode was even thought of. There are the stabbings and brandings that make this a full Klingon story, 'the smell of the bat'leths, the roar of the blood,' for that full theatrical approach.

And I do enjoy much of it, the blood bubbling up from that piece of Klingon wreckage B'Elanna snagged - I especially enjoyed the thought that a Klingon ship could have discovered the Delta Quadrant centuries before Starfleet, and maybe that's what gave them the idea for the later episode, 'Prophecy,' but they also suggest it could have been a ship gobbled up by the Borg and flushed out an airlock later. Couldn't they have dated the piece of metal to determine its age? That would have made it more definite either way, though it was supposed to be an episode about mythology and using scientific techniques to date something would have rather removed the mystery. And it's not that important. In fact, wasn't that only in the dream part of the episode? I don't recall, but if so then it wouldn't matter how it looked, what it did, or anything! We do get to see our best view of the Shuttle Bay than ever before as B'Elanna pulls off a 'Star Trek V' manoeuvre to whip in, hence her bump on the head - they should have had forcefields to grab the craft and slow it, but then that was in the dream, too, and I think they actually found her shuttle floating in space. Still, it made for an energetic introduction. I also greatly enjoyed the familiar Klingon drinking song that Seven and the Doc duet on, and later we hear most of the senior staff singing, which was from 'The Way of The Warrior' when Worf sings with his crony, so excellent continuity there and presumably included because Moore was involved with it on 'DS9.'

B'Elanna's certainly no Jadzia, though, considering the bat'leth to be clumsy rather than elegant as Tuvok deems it... Well, the Tuvok of her nightmare. I really can't emphasise enough how impressed I was with Russ' handling of it! I also appreciated how visceral was B'Elanna's reaction when she wakes up, hugging her Captain as if she were her Mother, and in my mind they were connected in her mind - maybe that's why she was so difficult to get on with in the early episodes, because Janeway reminded her of her Mother, only exacerbating that thorn in her side, the Captain as dedicated to Starfleet principles as Miral was to Klingon ones. So it does hint at something deeper that hadn't been revealed before, I'll give credit to the episode there. And it ends hopefully, she's unsure if she'll see her Mother alive again, but Miral reassures her that they'll meet again in the next life and maybe yet in this one, too. The use of a Captain's uniform was also very well done as Miral appears at the end in Janeway's guise as the two become further blurred by Torres. Karen Austin worked well in the role, and this time I recognised her from her other character of Dr. Kalandra from 'Nor The Battle To The Strong,' ironically an episode in which she was a human at risk from Klingons. It's a shame they never felt it necessary to bring Miral back, or that Austin was ever in Trek again as both her roles were good. Eric Pierpoint, however, had a longer history and future, in 'TNG,' 'DS9' and a couple of roles on 'Enterprise,' (on that subject RIP Manny Coto, helmer of the last great period of Trek's existence, who died recently at 62), most notably Section 31 agent Harris in four episodes, though he was unrecognisable as Kortar. I should also mention John Kenton Shull playing a Klingon, since he'd played others of the race on 'TNG' and 'DS9' amid other roles, including on 'Voyager.'

In the end this episode doesn't quite do it because it is so lacking in resolution. It could all have been a dream, which, while it can sometimes work, is what's commonly called a cop-out. I wouldn't go so far as to say the episode itself is a cop-out, it's nicely written and I've commented on a number of things that worked about it, but it is hard to take out of the blue like this when B'Elanna's issues seemed to have been long resolved and she'd moved onto other troubles like mourning, or failing to mourn, the Maquis. B'Elanna rages against her confusion, but as her Mother said, it was really just the start, the first step, towards her greater acceptance of her nature and heritage, something that strangely makes it feel more like an episode from a serialised series, except without the ongoing examination, and so it has the worst of both worlds: not much satisfaction as a story on its own, but also no further exploration, and while there's much to appreciate, a few things to think about, and a visual quality that reaffirms this is later in the series thanks to the look of B'Elanna and where things are at this stage, but like the trip to Gre'thor, it's ultimately unrewarding.

**