Muse (2)

 DVD, Voyager S6 (Muse) (2)

The reviewer pauses and looks away from his screen, pensively, his thoughts gathering like clouds before the dawning rays of the sun. How can he relay his thoughts, yet he must not remain silent, the truth must be written...

Stage plays in Trek have come to be perhaps my favourite sub-genre, so when a literal play as a platform upon which various themes take root and blossom comes along it must not be taken as a surprise that I consider this to be one of the best episodes of the season, if not the best. It's an absolute delight from opening act to closing curtain, thanks largely to the central guest role of good-natured Kelis, paired with the much missed B'Elanna Torres. Was 'Barge of The Dead' her last substantial role in an episode, way back at the beginning of the season? I feel like I've been starved of her character so this was a joy on more than one level as it's unquestionably a B'Elanna story, in more ways than one! A Trek character crash-landed on a planet, trying not to draw attention, fighting for survival... it's another Trek sub-genre, so we have a fusion of two great story styles, building on some of the most memorable, like 'The Galileo Seven' from 'TOS' or 'The Ascent' from 'DS9.' This is sparse and simple, no high budgets required, which is why they must have been able to build a reasonably sized theatre set and have a crowd of extras for the audience to make it more real than can always be achieved.

Yet it doesn't suffer from the lack of special effects, and that's one of the points Joe Menosky makes in his beautifully crafted script: you can't take it any other way than that he's talking about the state of the industry when he has Kelis say audiences want excitement, the driving force of entertainment, and 'all that kissing' (as B'Elanna describes it in suitably macho Klingon outlook!), while the idea of the 'truth' of the story (which does admittedly sound a bit hippyish, but I took it to mean having something to connect to, or learn from), when thoughtfulness and revelations can be just as potent, if not more so. The test of time has proved such sentiments correct as nothing has changed, we still get served up fireworks as the main course in most things, and especially in Trek's modern attitude to drama - it's fallen into the same traps I feel the 'Voyager' era and its contemporaries often managed to avoid. This is the perfect episode to hold up as great drama that relies on the interpersonal, with a Trekkian message of peace and goodwill to all men. Perhaps that last bit was a little too simplistic, but we're dealing with a Medieval culture here, or even earlier - they've managed to move away from Pagan sacrifice, but are still quick to take offence and go to war, and if a play can change the mind of the man in charge, so much the better. Blessed are the peacemakers...

In the previous episode we had aliens impersonating our characters and so we have again, only this time it's legitimate use, you could say! I didn't notice at first, but the half-face masks of this alien theatrical production are actually in the image of the characters they're playing, you can recognise Janeway's distinctive hair, or Seven's short cut and that just added an extra level of enjoyment. The very concept is a joyful one: imagine the Voyager crew's situation if it was interpreted through an ancient people's eyes. High concept if ever I heard one and great fun to see played out, even without the commentary on the state of the industry or an observation of the power of entertainment to affect people's thinking (both for good, as in this case, but often for bad as we see so much nowadays, culture has shifted so much). It couldn't have been improved if it had been a Seven story, or one for the Doctor, or Janeway. B'Elanna was the perfect choice for this scenario: the short-tempered half-Klingon versus the good-natured (through necessity), of this alien playwright whose existence is always on the edge of destruction from the decisions or punishments of those in power to affect his life. I loved how we see he and B'Elanna meet for the first time - he seems quite nice until he goes towards her with a knife and we see he's already cut her arm a few times before. But it isn't what it seems, he thinks he's doing her good out of lack of medical knowledge where bleeding is seen as helpful!

Their interactions were delightful, everything interpreted into a level of understanding that this 'primitive' can understand, and yet he's also shrewd enough to deal with her and get what he needs, showing no fear of her powers which are beyond him. In her turn, B'Elanna comes to understand the value of this man and his work to influence for good, and though she strays dangerously close into Prime Directive territory I never felt she was unreasonable, it was always in the context of what Kelis' people believed of 'Eternals.' Of course we could argue whether it was appropriate for her to even be impersonating a god-like being, reinforcing whatever beliefs they had, but I was too busy enjoying the interactions to worry about that. While I'm on the subject of problems, I only noticed a couple of others, namely that Kelis was able to operate the Delta Flyer's console to get at the logs, when even the concept of touch screens would be far from his wildest imaginings, and at the end when he sends a written note: I thought the Universal Translator could only adapt speech into the user's tongue, not change how they see writing... Otherwise I simply loved it and it has extra poignancy and pleasure for its guest cast who take so much of the load: Joseph Will is superb, such a nice character, yet still commanding the respect of his troupe. I love that he and Kellie Waymire both had recurring roles on 'Enterprise,' both even appearing in an episode together, though Waymire sadly died shortly after.

She's really good as this jealous girlfriend - I thought from the moody lighting and the way it was shot (much the same way as Kelis coming towards Torres with a knife), that she was going to attack her, it seemed that sinister, but she wasn't evil or violent. To round out the cast we also have a veteran of Trek in John Schuck as one of the Chorus, who would also go on to appear in 'Enterprise' (and is best known for being the Klingon Ambassador in two Trek films), and a major 'Stargate' recurring star in Tony Amendola (Bra'tac). Neither of them gets much to do, but you feel more weight to what amounts to practically background roles, and it's nice to see them both in Trek, Amendola in his only entry. Kathleen Garrett was also previously in Trek as a Vulcan Captain in 'DS9' ('Vortex'), playing Tanis here, the woman portraying Janeway in the plays (with a suitably deep voice). I can imagine her being a good Vulcan, the one she played in Season 1 of 'DS9' a rare example of the race on that series, and which I always think should have been kept in mind for how Vulcans are best portrayed, even though it was only a small role. Vulcans are so rarely played right, especially in recent years, Tuvok being the last great one. He gets a moment to show the qualities of his species in this episode when we're reminded of the endurance and resilience they have, going without sleep for ten days in unceasing search for the two missing crewmen, supported by the sympathetic Neelix with strong tea on standby. Another tiny appearance for Neelix, but reminding me of his ever-present generosity of spirit and role as supporter of others so much.

Harry Kim, too, is given his dues - he may not appear a great deal in the episode (another pairing, like Tuvok and Neelix, or Tom and Neelix last episode, that goes back to the early days), but he was able to make the right decisions to follow B'Elanna in the Escape Pod (seen only last episode!), which saved his life. It's brushed over without comment but he is The Survival King, using all his Starfleet training to walk a vast distance over many days, and though it was only mentioned in dialogue since this wasn't Harry's episode, I was impressed with his success and very happy for how far he's come as a person. It isn't all praise and awards, we also get a little indignity for Tuvok which used to be a running theme in the old Treks simply because Vulcans were so different to others they were often ostracised due to rubbing people up the wrong way from their inherent superiority and lack of affectation being threatening to some. So I don't mind the occasional puncturing, and in this case we see Tom at Helm suddenly hearing a noise, he looks round and it's Tuvok in command, snoring on the Bridge! It jumped out at me that that's exactly what happened with Worf in the final episode of 'Picard' Season 3. In that case I found it a little off-putting that this proud, superior warrior should be ridiculed in that way, but at the same time it was true to his character in 'TNG' and the films, it's just that 'DS9' had shown him more respect. He and Tuvok are of a kind (how I wish they'd met!), so it makes sense, even if I generally prefer Trek not to poke fun at its characters, but to give them dignity.

B'Elanna had great dignity in this episode, she's reduced to minimum technology, her position visualised by being stripped to her undershirt, but if there's anyone you'd want on a crashed ship, it's a Starfleet Engineer! They missed a trick - they could have had her say she's an Engineer, not a poet, but the episode is very much about not falling into lazy ways or dramatic tricks so it wouldn't have been in synch with the episode's message. It's a brave writer who comments on writing and making entertainment, in his episode or film, you're immediately laying yourself open to easy criticism for anything you fail on, but Menosky did a superb job, rose to the task with aplomb (no wonder he didn't fit in on 'DSC'!). Having characters say such things as 'poets' have become lazy, relying on manipulation to move an audience, well, you better get it right, and he did! I love many of the little nuances of the story, like the way the characters are spoken of, or acted on the planet (such as Janeway and Chakotay kissing, much to B'Elanna's bemusement - that has to be poking fun at vocal viewers hoping it would happen for real!), and then cutting to the actual people to provide natural contrast. Like all the best Trek, it's this warmth you feel in the writing, a positive, inspiring joy to proceedings that isn't cynical, depressing or miserable, no matter how bleak the outlook, something that has been greatly lost. Then there's the fun adaptation of the concepts so an alien from another stage of technological development can comprehend, B'Elanna fitting things in to his story to allow herself a way out, and yet she's not creative in that way, she's a tech person, creative in problem solving, not forming narratives.

Surely a reference to 'Arena,' the famous scene where Kirk refuses to kill the Gorn, his deadly enemy, and throws the makeshift knife away, when here, it's the fictional Janeway tossing her spear aside when Borg Queen Seven (something so ridiculous, they actually did that on 'Picard' at one point - and so meaningless it was undone in no time!), is at her mercy. And you can tell Kelis is a born writer, he has his pitch which he's ready to sell to Torres: help him and it will prevent war itself. It also shows the immediacy and adaptability of theatre as opposed to filmed productions which often take a long time to come to fruition - Kelis has but a single week to bring his next play to life. I loved the idea that it had been a temple of 'human' sacrifice that was converted into a theatre which somehow ended such a barbaric practice, in the same way as Voyager journeys on, always to an Earth where 'peace reigns and hatred has no home,' such a poetic and effective way for the episode to make its final bow. When you think about it, this could have been a disaster: a story about aliens doing a play about Voyager? Are you serious? But instead it becomes this lovely creation with serious consequences for both B'Elanna and Kelis' clan, they need each other, despite such vast differences, a message of hope and perseverance. Amazingly, they even managed to score over 'DS9' - an episode on that series called 'The Muse' was one of its weakest, while this 'Muse' is one of the strongest. As Kelis tries to explain Vulcans to one of his actors, 'beneath an unfeeling exterior is a heart that's breaking silently,' one of the keys to great drama. This one is complete amusement, musical beauty, and no museum piece. Muse on that!

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