Tsunkatse (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Tsunkatse) (2)

Wrestling and Trek, together at last as they were always meant to be! Okay, so maybe they aren't natural associates and clearly it was all about shameless cross-promotion (Trekkers would see The Rock and think, 'ooh, I must see what all this fighty WWF stuff is all about,' and in turn, the wrestling fans would queue up to see their hero's acting debut in a proper TV show...), as both 'Voyager' and what was then the WWF, were both up there on the UPN roster. I was trying to work out if I knew who The Rock was when I first saw this episode - I saw it on BBC2 in September 2001, and I'd bought 'WWF Wrestlemania' for N64 in February 2001, so yes, in answer to my own question, I was aware of The Rock and no doubt enjoyed the crossover as being a novelty, even though I wouldn't have seen him in action in 'real life' before 'Voyager' as the closest I came to actual wrestling was the occasional segment of 'WCW' on Channel 5 on a Friday evening. You might think there isn't much overlap between the two disciplines of sci-fi and wrestling, but I suggest there are plenty of people who enjoy a good Trek who also filter over into a spot of wrestling. They are both about all kinds of weird and wonderful characters, with heroes trying to do what's right and villains getting in their way. Wrestling is much more basic in its storytelling, of course, but still, it isn't quite as farfetched a matchup as on first consideration.

The Rock wouldn't be the only wrestling star to make it into the annals of Trek history as his fellow WWE associate, Big Show, would appear in 'Enterprise' as a green-skinned Orion (and apparently Tommy 'Tiny' Lister, who played Klaang in that series' pilot was also a wrestler, tough I didn't know it), but The Rock portraying an alien fighter was closer to his wrestling persona. It's enjoyable to see him performing the same actions even in this slightly incongruous setting: in a franchise where the raising of one particular eyebrow is well known, we get to see another, almost as famous, from another franchise. Then there's the looking side to side and the amusing sight of Seven of Nine being subjected to wrestling moves such as a clothesline or a body slam to the mat. Actually I suspect Seven would have made a great character on WWE - the bionic woman with greater than normal hand/eye coordination, visual acuity and physical strength and stamina. She really looks the part in her silver suit (almost a call back to the famous silver bio suit in which she first appeared out of Borg guise). I also like that she doesn't beat The Rock, as much as she has fighting ability, they couldn't bring him in to be bested by a mere slip of a Borg, and like the similarly named Rocky, she has to taste defeat before victory.

The question of whether she was victorious or not is one of the episode's themes, with an ending that is almost identical to 'The Most Toys' in which Data comes to see Kivas Fajo as an evil man, is possibly about to fatally shoot him and is then beamed away before he can become a murderer. Or Kirk in 'Arena' when he has the Gorn at his mercy and throws away his weapon in an act of compassion to a fallen enemy he has no wish to extinguish. Seven's resolution is somewhere between the two though it has the power of neither, sadly. To be a hunter, or to be prey, or... I wanted the third alternative, but it was merely to be saved from making the choice. Kirk's great moral victory is what solves the Metron's dilemma about how to deal with these aggressive 'lesser' species, and the ambiguity of whether Data would have actually pulled the trigger and what that would mean for him was something that left a shocking aftertaste in a series that was generally quite safe and proper in its characters' actions (though not always [Mr. Worf]). I wasn't so sure there was such a strong payoff for this episode. Partly the situation was different, she was fighting for her life, not judging an evil man; she was dealing with an honourable opponent who'd trained her and wanted her to end it for him, or he would kill her. I did wonder why he hadn't allowed himself to be killed earlier, but then I realised death itself as an escape wasn't his main objective, he wanted to leave one last message to his son, were his son still out there somewhere, by dying in honourable combat.

As always, her experiences as a Borg drone play into how she deals with the situation, in both 'assimilating' the rules of the game (and failing to see beyond the strict confines of order and rule - so much for 'four-dimensional thinking,' the Borg Queen must have kept that for herself rather than share it with drones that might have been liberated by the same level of understanding and intelligence as she apparently had. I say 'apparently' because she wasn't as clever as she thought she was!), but also in not wanting to be like the Borg that she'd been. It does irk somewhat that she continues to feel guilt and shame for a past that she can have had little to no control over. She was a drone, she didn't have free will, and even if she thought she did, she'd been turned into a Borg from childhood and been brought up wrongly in morality, ethics and every other way by the 'State' she inhabited, where personal thought was quashed under one mindset allowing for no diversity of thinking or allowance that their way could be wrong (sounds scarily familiar to today's public schooling...). So she can't really be held responsible for what she did then, she 'converted' to humanity, not easily, and it took some time, no instant change, but converted she was and the episode's ending was somewhat saved by Tuvok's reassurance that the very fact she's experiencing confusing emotions of loss, guilt an remorse, are what reaffirms her humanity. I must say that was rich coming from a Vulcan! It didn't quite fit with his philosophical outlook.

As much as I enjoyed their pairing, a couple of people who were comfortable without engaging in small talk and other such irrelevancies, and thus made a perfect match for a mission (it's even more enjoyable that it's a mission by choice as a way to spend their shore leave - it's not like they've ever been friends, but Seven, as I've noted on many occasions, is the closest to a female Vulcan we ever saw, even including the (relatively emotional), T'Pol!). There's also that line from Chakotay, I think it was, who says Tuvok should be interested in this alien sport of Tsunkatse because Vulcans appreciate martial arts. I'm not sure quite where this idea came from because the whole point of developing the Spock Nerve Pinch in 'TOS' was because Nimoy felt his character wouldn't be martial, he would find a nonviolent solution! But since then we've seen Vulcans go from this apparent pacifistic tendency to full on martial arts experts - 'Enterprise' was the big one for that with T'Pol even teaching others how to perform the Suus mahna (named for writer Mike Sussman), and then of course taken to new levels in 'DSC,' etc. Not that I object to Vulcans being able to be expert fighters, just that they seem to be all about it now rather than finding the peaceful or less painful resolution in such a situation of confrontation. Then he counsels Seven to do whatever it takes to survive when she's going off to fight in the to-the-death Red Match. It just doesn't sound quite right for him to say, though I suppose survival is logical and the whole point of the Hirogen's training was that she should have no mercy and no thought for her opponent, only defeating him.

The Hirogen With No Name is what we should call him as we never heard it. It's great that they worked in an established race, that added so much because we already know that species' main trait is that they're hunters, and what could be more disgraceful to such a one as to be caged. It also gives him a measure of sympathy that the mighty has fallen, that a Hirogen should be someone else's prey, but also that his motivation is more than that, he wishes to find his son. This level of dimensionality to a guest character helped the episode stand out and really made me think of 'DS9' as they would achieve such sympathy for new characters on a regular basis, not to mention developing species and exploring a new aspect to them. I have to say it again, Season 6 has been a surprise in just how many classic episodes there are when I'd considered Season 5 the last great, consistent season of the series. There's still time for them to mess it up (Borg children), and it may be the second half of the season is what I'm thinking of, but this is yet another strong, ensemble story that creates so much good - I felt that warmth again when the characters are together, whether it be the banter between them in this shore leave episode (even Tuvok and Seven have their own equivalent of uproarious hijinks: at the end Tuvok says he owes her a debt of gratitude and her reply is that assisting with the recalibration of the sensors will be sufficient! For them that's like a 'TOS' slap on the back and a good laugh), or the way they work together to deal with the latest problem, it was just such a pleasure to see.

It's not just the main characters benefiting - I don't know whether it was some kind of latent magic left over from 'DS9' that bringing in actors from that series rejuvenated this episode, but while having The Rock (still using his wrestling character's name rather than his own, Duane Johnson, which admittedly doesn't sound that impressive!), was all fine and good, but having Jeffrey Combs and JG Hertzler (in their only episode on the series), is what Niners are really going to get excited about. Even now in an era where both of them have leant their voices to modern Trek ('Lower Decks'), though sadly, as far as I know, haven't yet appeared in any live action, it's thrilling to see an episode out of the blue in a series they weren't generally associated with, and not only that, they're both in the same one and even have scenes together - I was trying to recall if Martok and Weyoun had ever shared a scene on 'DS9' and it doesn't seem likely. Yes, they both appeared in many of the same episodes, but I can't think of an actual scene together, which makes this even more special! Promoter Penk isn't what I would call one of Combs' best roles, more in line with his first ever appearance (Tiron, a one-shot alien in Season 3 of 'DS9'), but he remains deliciously despicable as this master of a worldwide popular sport that kidnaps and uses slaves to fight. Hertzler has the better role as this old hunter who cares for the injured Tuvok and Seven and coaches her in the ways to win.

I would suspect his son had simply been killed by Penk's people all those years ago and his quest to find him will be fruitless, but it's an inspiring quest for the character to depart on so I'm glad they didn't go into the small likelihood of success. And this being 'Voyager' we'd never hear of him again, exactly the kind of character that would have been welcome back if they'd only dared - just imagine if he'd been among the Hirogen in their last story, 'Flesh and Blood,' and his son, too, that would have added further complexity to what was another great episode. But even in his one-off appearance in the series, Hertzler's crusty old tones shine through whatever mask he's given. The Hirogen face looks ever more like a soufflé than ever, a tasty, puffy dessert that does nothing to suggest their dangerous, warrior temperament, and yet somehow they still come across as deadly fighters you wouldn't want to cross. The only complaint I have with their depiction, and this goes all the way back to one of their earliest appearances, 'The Killing Game,' is that they stopped using seven foot (or thereabouts), actors to play them. I understand there's going to be less great actors who are also ridiculously big, but I loved that their first examples were so oversized as to make the Voyager crew look like children, only emphasising their particular nature.

But it's not Hertzler's fault, they'd already used much smaller actors in the roles, and for an old guy he does remarkably well (nor is he in any way short). Obviously being a full head mask they can easily use a stuntman to pull off the outrageous acrobatics, and though I was looking at Seven to see if I could spot when Jeri Ryan was replaced it was so seamlessly filmed and cleverly lit and careful to shoot from the back of her head in the most violent moments that I never did knowingly see her stunt double! The fights were very accomplished, helped by the fact Trek usually had quite a formal way of fighting (I always remember the trademark double-fist hammer punch, then again to the back of a doubled-over opponent to drop them to the ground!), like everything in that era they were so careful to be consistent, and whether it be hairstyles or fighting style, there was so much familiar conformity to Starfleet actions. Nowadays that's all out the window, they don't care a jot about such consistency and every character fights like they're in 'The Matrix,' so a fight like this would have no resonance. But here, the brutal slamming and punching to the face was a real departure and an energetic divergence from the usual form of cleaner, slicker combat.

There's even a hint of that large scale light and sound accompaniment that is so much a part of the glitz and glamour of wrestling, when the lights flash and this deep, throaty music booms out to announce the competitors (the first we see looking remarkably like Gul Dukat, which is even more unsettling when we also have the equivalent of Weyoun and Martok - how I wish they'd hired Marc Alaimo as a cameo, but I suppose then I'd have felt such a great talent was wasted in such a small role!). They escaped having to really pound the budget into the canvas by having it take place in an enclosed room (though the number of alien extras in the sizeable crowd made it seem like a popular attraction which isn't always achieve with crowd casting). The clever twist is that though the audience believe the fight is happening before their eyes (unless the regular fans are among the initiated and know the 'staged' nature of the fights, similar to real wrestling), encouraging them to shout and scream all the louder, it's actually beamed into an identical 'ring' that is holographic, a 3D representation of the real fight occurring cunningly on a moving ship that can avoid any enemies that might take issue with family or friends being kidnapped and forced to fight like gladiators in the Roman Colosseum. Another great story point is how they draw parallels with this boxing/wrestling/fighting sport and Voyager taking on this ship that's big and heavy and kitted out with all the muscle. But as Chakotay says in true boxing parlance, 'the bigger they are...'

And they also know how to make them fall: target them where it really hurts. Every opponent has a weakness and Penk's is his need for viewing figures. It's slightly odd in an episode that is about cross-promoting two of a TV network's most important franchises that they seem to be commenting that beating the villains means disrupting the audience figures as that's exactly what they're trying to boost by making this very episode! (And it apparently was the highest rated of the season, so it worked, at least for this one.) Was it intentional or just a by-product of trying to incorporate a violent sport that doesn't necessarily reflect Trekky values, it isn't after all made so on the nose, it was just that I noticed damaging the broadcast was what they did to get their people out and save the day. We can assume Penk continues his media empire, they didn't destroy the ship or set free all the captives - sometimes you have to know indeed what the better part of valour is! Another appreciation I have for the episode (much like 'The Fight'), is one, that Chakotay's character continues to be consistent with his previously related interests and specialism, boxing and anthropology, and two, that while they do have the Doctor voice the alternative viewpoint, that such bloodsports are ridiculous and damaging, and tut, tut, tut... they don't fill the episode with disapproval - wrestling is such an American staple and to be complaining about it wouldn't be true to the society Trek is really based on. It helps that I enjoy the sport/entertainment to some extent, too! It's very male, as opposed to so much femininity in modern Trek.

It's not like they're saying women are weak, either. This is yet another Seven episode, no bad thing, though of course you can easily imagine that had this story been produced before she arrived it would more likely have been B'Elanna's role to end up in such a position - mind you, any one of them could have been and it would have provided a different story. Such extremes had already been explored with Tom and Harry in 'The Chute,' perhaps 'The Fight' for Chakotay, and no doubt other episodes that aren't jumping to mind for other characters: being forced to fight by aliens goes all the way back to 'TOS' - 'Arena' was already mentioned, but look at 'The Gamesters of Triskelion.' Don't look too hard, that episode isn't particularly one of the best, but it is similar in that characters are captured and forced into combat for their very lives by aliens that enjoy some enforced entertainment. Actually, bickering brains that wager on each match was one of the few things missing from this episode! I can imagine them doing such an overt homage in the current era where callbacks (I can't use the term 'fan service,' it's an oxymoron - one day I'm going to write an essay on that), are so common for little more than recognition of what's past rather than development or exploration of it, and I wouldn't be surprised if they don't bring back the actual talking brains on 'Lower Decks' at some point, if they haven't already...

It's the same way I feel about these characters and how they're not portrayed as 'cool' types. On shore leave, much like Scotty in 'TOS,' or perhaps Sulu and his hobbies, it's normal for them to have people like Tuvok and Seven that would rather eschew the forms of popular entertainment in exchange for 'stuffy' missions that are so close to their normal shipboard roles (even if by this time in Trek production they do seem more a minority to those who do love pop culture, like Paris). But that says how much they take fulfilment from those roles, it isn't a job they perform out of obligation or a wish to escape, but they merely have more freedom in their choices for this period. That was supposed to be one of the unique things about Trek, that people were placed in positions that they were fulfilled in, so they weren't working for mercenary or financial gain, they were developing themselves and contributing at the same time. It does sound a bit Communist now, unfortunately, and it's the ideal, the impossible, considering human nature doesn't change. But it's also Vulcan nature here - as Spock said, for his people to rest is to cease activity, or to put it another way, for Tuvok it's to exercise his intellectual capacity. He does behave Vulcan after all!

It's not that I don't want to see Janeway in an episode, but it was also pleasant to have Chakotay in charge and Janeway getting to experience shore leave (I wonder if she's taken an interest in the health of that poor PTSD guy in Sickbay from the previous episode as he's assigned to the Delta Flyer with her as can be seen in the background). A subplot about Janeway's shore leave could have been wonderful, but you can't fit in everything, and letting the story breathe without her for a change, worked. I wasn't quite so sure on the idea of the Flyer coming in to assist Voyager, as much as it's a well constructed little shuttle I don't see it lasting long against Penk's juggernaut if Voyager itself was finding it tough. I see why they did that - partly to give Janeway a hand in bringing the episode to a conclusion, and partly to ape the Defiant or the Rotarran sweeping in all guns blazing as would sometimes happen so heroically in 'DS9' (another parallel, no wonder this is one of the best of the season!), so I don't begrudge it, and maybe it was small enough to weave in and out of Penk's weaponry? It was also nice to see Seven and Tuvok in a standard Type 2 shuttle, seen so rarely since the creation of the Flyer. What I wasn't so keen on was another alien title. It's always my complaint because it's so easy to make up a word and use it as the title. It's certainly unique, but it shows a lack of invention. How about 'The Art of Fighting' (no, but something better could have been worked out), or anything that hinted at the themes within. Are they banking on people reading it in the TV guide and being curious as what it means, because I suggest it's more likely to put casual viewers off - I don't know what that means so I won't bother watching. Not that it harms the episode in any way.

I also don't see B'Elanna owning a soft toy called Toby The Targ. As has been reinforced so many times she's not a lover of Klingon culture, quite the opposite. I'm quite prepared to accept that this was her exception to the rule and that having it made her feel safe as a child, but on the whole it didn't make sense to me and further demonstrates that they pretty much lost track of the character in general since Seven usurped so many of her roles (conflict, anger, engineering expertise, fighting, accepting her past/culture, being someone Tuvok could help, etc). Again, it doesn't harm the episode, just an observation. What I did love was referring back to good old Parrises Squares (there should have been a joke in there about Paris' Squares being a better game, or something), with a bit of banter about which is the tougher sport, that or boxing. It's just that kind of playful, informal chat, while working in traditional Trek references, that adds so much to the backdrop of an episode, filling it out and not overshadowing the story, but adding even more context to the characters' connection to it. Even Neelix, usually such a peaceful person, enjoys the thrill of combat when they persuade him to come along to the Tsunkatse matches, defending it to the Doctor as a 'wonderful demonstration of athletic prowess,' quoting Chakotay.

It does change to dismay when they see Seven in the arena and instantly realise she's there against her will, and it could potentially be argued that the episode is against such sports since Penk is so immoral and corrupt, but there is a clear, ethical distinction between fighting in a nonlethal match by choice, and the forced combat to the death. No doubt if they'd known such an aspect existed they would have avoided the whole thing. The entertainment value of this episode, regardless of it being a wrestling crossover is high, and in fact I was surprised how little The Rock was in it, just the one match where he batters Seven and trades a few barbs (not 'witty' lines as they so love in modern Trek, or as I would say, corny, but enough to trade up the fight to a personal, psychological one, not solely physical, since that is one of the themes of the episode, overcoming the psychology of a situation). It makes me wish we'd seen her meet Worf and had a little bat'leth training (maybe they did, I have yet to watch 'Picard' Season 3, so here's hoping!), and once again she slots perfectly into a situation through being uncomfortable, but also superbly suited to it if she only chooses to commit. Which she does, this time for Tuvok's sake. Though I wouldn't have minded the situation being reversed and for him to have been the combatant, except he's more comfortable and disciplined to be able to deal with discomfort so there might have been less drama. The reason the crowd had never witnessed a Borg drone fight before is because the Borg wouldn't stand for it, they'd just swoop in and assimilate everyone. She acquits herself well, as do they all. I hear even Duane Johnson went on to do a few other things after 'Voyager,' too...

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