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We watch "Faces" (S1 Ep.14)
43 Plays2 years ago
Welcome to Janeway’s Children
This week we are watching "Faces" in which Torres is split into Klingon and human bodies for experimentation, leading to a rescue attempt by Voyager's team.
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Transcript
Podcast Length Feedback
00:00:00
Speaker
So just before we came online, Jenny said, let's try to do a fast one. And I was actually going to bring that up because the only feedback we've ever got from anyone who hasn't listened to our podcast is, oh my God, these episodes are so long. That's
Gender Expectations and Toxic Masculinity
00:00:14
Speaker
just when they see the podcast in the podcast app and see one hour 30 or one hour 20. And we all remember what
00:00:25
Speaker
I find myself rubbing up against, you know, negative gender expectations and that, you know, I've always been told, make it as long as possible in any sort of situation. But anyway, that's just the negative stereotyping that one's exposed to as a man growing up in an atmosphere of toxic masculinity. So yes,
Star Trek Voyager 'Faces' Introduction
00:00:44
Speaker
we shall make it short and snappy, unlike my response to your request to keep it short and snappy.
00:00:49
Speaker
Well, we can try, but I guess before we even keep it short and snappy, we should say which episode we're reviewing. Faces. Faces, yes, season one, episode 14. And Jamie, are you ready for your non-one-minute summary? Weirdly, I'm not. I actually really struggled with this one. I mean, it was... I don't know. It was effectively...
00:01:19
Speaker
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of Star Trek Voyager with Belanna's Klingon and human personalities playing the role of her light and her dark angels. And I very much sometimes found it a conflict between ego and id being played out between two theatrical constructs in those two personalities. But I
Plot Summary: Belanna's Split
00:01:42
Speaker
don't think that's a one minute summary and I don't think that's sort of a snappy humorous take on it either somehow.
00:01:48
Speaker
Well, I think that was a highbrow take and some people will love it. So, thank you. And class is something we sound in luck when I'm around. So, okay. Do you want me to try out one minute summary, right? Yeah, good. Okay, here we go. Apologies in advance.
00:02:03
Speaker
So, Bolana, Tom and Durst basically go on an away mission and they get captured by the Videans. And how much? Actually, I probably don't want to give away the ending, do I? So basically they perform some crazy experiments on Bolana and she ends up
00:02:23
Speaker
splitting into two different people, one that's fully Klingon and one that's fully human. Meanwhile Harry, Janeway and Tuvok were working very hard to locate them and then to rescue them and I think I'll leave it at that because I don't want to give away the ending. Brilliant, thank you. I think we've all focused on the wrong thing here.
00:02:43
Speaker
And I'll tell you why. Can you remind me what spelix nelix species nelix is? Oh, Talaxion. Talaxion. I think we should be focusing on the fact that a character in this episode proves that a Talaxion can actually be both competent and helpful without being a figure of fun. So for
Investigating the Missing Away Team
00:03:00
Speaker
me, that's what this episode is about. Or alternatively, we need another Talaxion. But yes.
00:03:07
Speaker
who is actually competent is the unspoken addition to that particular thing. I just always want to offer a disclaimer in case anyone is listening for the first time. Jamie is the only person on the planet who doesn't like Neelux yet.
00:03:21
Speaker
And we don't know that it's just on the planet. You know, by very dint of the fact that this is still a trick, we could be talking other planets where he's disliked. I mean, he wasn't exactly popular in the environment we found him in in the first episode. He turned up his lovable little face in. Yeah. Okay. So I think we're really taking
00:03:42
Speaker
not being snappy. So to move things along, this episode has the shortest opening sequence of any episode we watched. It was so short. But we're kind of opening on what looks like a lab, I guess. And we hear someone say regeneration phase complete. And it's kind of panning around this
00:04:02
Speaker
woman or person with like long hair and arms shackled up like. Yeah. And as it comes around, we see it's Velana, but different. Cling on to Velana. Yeah. And the guy, and you hear a boy saying, Velana, Velana Torres, wake up and she, you're like, what is going on here?
00:04:21
Speaker
and immediately goes to the intro, the shortest intro or opening scene I've seen. But also one of the most immensely sinister ones. Yeah. Because you've got someone familiar who's been changed into a more savage seeming aspect. You've got them effectively shackled in captivity on what looks like a very unpleasant device. And then you're sort of left with that almost immediately. It feels like a more hard-hitting introduction.
00:04:51
Speaker
Yeah, pretty hard. Anything to add, Jenny was very short, so no pressure. Yeah, no, I was just I was more thinking about the snappiness of it. I was thinking, oh, this is a good point. If we if a very short intro and then we discuss it in great depth, this is how we end up talking and talking. OK, so then we have the theme music and then the captain's log.
00:05:18
Speaker
And she's
Neelix's Culinary Comedy
00:05:19
Speaker
kind of starting to understand that Blana was separated because Voyager has been off exploring the Avery system. And they left Blana, Tom and Durst to do some Magnus site exploration on the third planet. And made me think I would never want to be left behind by Voyager. I'd feel very vulnerable. And so you starting to understand that, well, I guess get some clues about the fact that
00:05:43
Speaker
maybe separated and things are not going according to plan, but no one on Voyager knows yet. And then we have this very funny scene in the, I always call it the canteen. I'm not sure if that's what it's called in Star Trek with Neelix and Tuvok and the Vulcan soup.
00:06:00
Speaker
in which Neelix strives to prove to Tuvok that he's seeking to make him feel at home by making him a soup tasting of home. Except Neelix being Neelix, he's in fact changed the ingredients so much that the taste is unrecognizable to Tuvok, who says, is it really a taste of home if you're changing the ingredients in order to taste good to you as opposed to homely to me?
00:06:28
Speaker
To which Neelix's rejoinder is that effectively the soup in its original ingredients was so bland that no one would be interested in it anyway. At which point, rather luckily, they're interrupted by the Captain's summoning. Is it the Captain or Chakotay's summoning to walk up to the bridge with some alacrity?
00:06:48
Speaker
at which point Tuvot takes advantage of the opportunity to wish Neelik's enjoyment of his soup whilst rather tacitly insulting his actual cooking skills and making it by doing so. Yes, as he was bothering me, he's like, enjoy. And then the funniest bit is that Neelik's son, drinks the soup,
00:07:09
Speaker
And then he's like, there's no place like home. So he was like, trying to make the soup to remind him of the poem and just created something that he himself, well, that reminds him of home. I mean, he does drink it
Vidiians' Sinister Intentions
00:07:20
Speaker
with every evidence of discomfort, which I find quite amusing. Yes, there is that funny comedic moment because you're like, oh, he also thinks it's bad. And then he's like, oh, it tastes just like home, whatever. You're like, oh, OK, no, it's just a different way of enjoying the soup.
00:07:34
Speaker
But very, very funny. I do like the moments between Tubok and Neelix. Jenny, I thought you might enjoy that scene, but anything to... Ellie? I know, you know, I don't really. It does seem a bit sort of looking back, it seems a little bit out of place in a way. I'm like, does that connect up in some way to the sort of overall theme or sort of random little comedic character scene between those two? Just some light relief.
00:08:04
Speaker
So the next thing, we are on, I think, the bridge. And Chakotay's kind of reporting that the away team is not at their designated meeting spot. And Harry's explaining how they're kind of scanning or whatever is hampered by the radiation from the Magnus site. And then he picks up that the rock formations on this third planet have kind of changed since they took the first scan, I guess, when they left everyone behind and since they'd come back. So they're like, well, how can I be changing?
00:08:34
Speaker
We don't detect any, um, Oh my gosh, what's the word? Earthquakes, I guess. Um, so they don't know what's going on. Thank you. So to go to immediately, I very bravely suggest an away mission or he wants to find, um, probably because at that stage, Balaan is in that crew and he's, she's still, this is still early days and she's my key ex-maki. Oh, maybe just cause he's a good, uh, come on. Um,
00:09:02
Speaker
But Jane, well, Tuvok is like, we can't afford, well, we don't want to lose anyone else because they've kind of essentially lost the other three crew members. So Harry comes up with a brilliant idea or a fairy tale idea, depending on how you look at it. Breadcrumbs. Yes, very good. So he's going to like put, I think.
Belanna's Internal Conflict and Resolution
00:09:21
Speaker
Transponders. Yeah, transponders. So that they don't lose track of the new away mission.
00:09:29
Speaker
So very busy, I guess, preparing this rescue, well, this away mission and investigative mission. Well, that was very difficult for me to say. We go back to the lab and we see Belano restrained to bed.
00:09:48
Speaker
And she's approached by a Vidian surgeon whose name, it turns out, is Sulan, I think. It gets creepy. It gets creepy pretty fast. This stage, because he starts off by... Oh, sorry. I think... Sorry to interrupt you, Jenny. That's very bad on me. But we should mention for people who do not know what Vidians look like, Jenny, what do they look like?
00:10:09
Speaker
Oh, revolting. Yeah, it's really good makeup. Well, yeah, I find it quite horrifying. Yeah, I mean, you know, I know it's probably, you know, it was, you know,
00:10:30
Speaker
since then there's obviously been a lot of special effects and now looking back it might look a little bit dated but i just think that was quite impressive at that time because yeah i remember watching it back then thinking this is like watching a horror movie it's quite horrifying because yeah it's they're all bits of there's supposedly taken bits of other species and
00:10:54
Speaker
surgically attached them in the place of the bits of them that have been ravaged by the sage, so it's all quite disgusting. Ah yes, because they go around harvesting organs. Ah yes, that's what happened to Neelix in the previous episode. But yes, exactly, very good description, thank you Jamie. Jamie, back to you.
00:11:14
Speaker
Not at all. I was just going to say that, effectively, the fact that we're immediately focusing on a shackled banana and the creepiness is almost immediately exacerbated by the fact that
00:11:29
Speaker
She's addressed by someone who apologizes for her restraints, introducing himself as Sulan, a surgeon of the Vidyan Sedality, which, given what we know from previous episodes of the Vidyan Sedality,
00:11:45
Speaker
is only more disturbing given their predisposition towards harvesting healthy individuals for their organs to try and stave off the never-ending apocalypse for their race, which is the phage. Now that is a good piece that melts their organs. Yeah, that is a really good point. I guess at that moment you're thinking probably the biggest threat is that they're harvesting your organs, but the story's actually going to go in a kind of a different direction.
00:12:15
Speaker
Mmm, absolutely. And this is where it's explained to Bolana what has happened. Now, I would typically sort of jump in, but we've got someone who's far better at the sort of medical side of things than I am. So Jenny, do you want to tell us what he suggests has been done to her? And when it all gets even more sinister, as he outlines her role in his nefarious plot,
00:12:40
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I might accidentally jump ahead because sort of the stories uncovered in lots of sort of jump back scenes between what's going on at Voyager and what's going on with this surgeon and Bolana. Well, I think first we just have to say that he reveals to her that through a mirror that she like she looks different and she looks more Klingon. She looks almost pure Klingon, no longer human. So
00:13:04
Speaker
Yeah, if you could explain the medical procedure that got her there, because that's what he explains to her at this scene. Yeah, because I think at first he says, well first she says you've surgically altered my appearance. And he responds with something like, I've performed no surgery as you know it. So it's a bit mysterious.
Sacrifice and Acceptance
00:13:29
Speaker
As you know, it just sounds terrifying.
00:13:31
Speaker
And I think then it's later that we learn that what he means is that in fact, he hasn't performed any sort of superficial surgery. I can't think of the way to describe it, but just... I think the way I understood it was he basically figured out, or Jamie maybe has it, how to separate her genome and then when used like transporter technology to just reconstitute the
00:14:00
Speaker
cling on DNA into the Klingon person and the human DNA into the human person. So yes, that was the bit I was trying not to reveal yet, because I figured that was later. Okay, because first he was saying how he's not that kind of surgery because you know, in the past,
00:14:20
Speaker
you know, for away missions where they've had to go undercover and things, they surgically alter their appearance. But that's just skin deep. Whereas what you're saying is that's not what they've done in this case. And then it's kind of revealed because, yeah, like what you said, it's something to do with the genetic code. So it's interesting because at this point he reveals, as you say, that he's essentially
00:14:48
Speaker
split her genomes aside with a weird sort of technology. So he split her Klingon cells aside because Klingon cells are incredibly strong, which he comments as he effectively admires her strength. And he believes that she would be resistant to the infection. And at this stage,
00:15:10
Speaker
Volana challenges him asking, why, why do you, how will you know that I'm resistant to the infection? And there's an incredibly sinister one-liner back, which I'm hoping one of you is just going to deliver straight back to me. Oh, no, I don't, I don't know the dumb. I mean, I know what he tells me. In response to a question of how he'll know, he goes, because I have infected you.
00:15:33
Speaker
Yes. With the beige, which we know is like legal. Well, yes. And terrible. So yeah, that's quite the stakes are pretty high for Klingon. As I will go to her from now on. I call her BK. Yes. Oh, wait. I called her KB.
00:15:57
Speaker
So the next scene, we're on like a gangway or in a gangway of some kind, I think. And Paris and Dost are being marched to what are essentially prison barracks, I think. And then once, I mean, it's pretty decent prison for other barracks, I would say, but they are prisoners there against the other world. And they immediately start trying to come up with an escape plan. But Tom says he's like, he doesn't want to do anything or leave without knowing what happened to Volana.
00:16:23
Speaker
At this point, they're overheard by a Tlaxian who laughs in the face of their rescue or their escape plans, because I think he said no one has ever escaped in the six years that he's been there. I think it was six. And he also explains, because Tom has questions about why their prisoners are not just being harvested for their organs. And he explains that Davidians are weak, and so they need, I guess, forced labor or people to do their labor or mining. But they won't hesitate to take your organs once they
00:16:53
Speaker
done with you so you're not safe just because you're in the um it's a space concentration camp yes anyways um well yeah i think it's a labor camp but sometimes i only see understand these things through watching star trek and seeing it because as i've said before i don't understand war um
00:17:16
Speaker
And then he, at this point, I think Thomas finds out that from the Talaxian guy, his name, I did not catch and was not on any... No, I didn't catch it either. I don't think they say it, so I couldn't find it online either. But he tells them that Blahn has probably been taken to the organ processing, or taken to organ processing. So we're back to the away team. It's a little boring scene, I think, but it's Tuvok, Harry and Shikote in the tunnels. Harry's deployed their transponders, so the
00:17:46
Speaker
breadcrumbs are activated. But basically, Chakotay and Tuvok pick up some signals and signs that there were actually five people last day, three of which were the missing crewmates. So they realized that something is perhaps going on. There are alien forces at work. Yeah, exactly. We go back to the lab and Belanna saw a darn bit of restraint. Yes. And she's now, I guess, I still quite
00:18:14
Speaker
I actually watched this twice, but I guess the infection or a fever or something has taken place, so she is visibly suffering. And this is where, again, I think
00:18:27
Speaker
It's performed, the acting I actually think in this sequence is superb because it works to amplify the creepiness because the doctor says something initially which he'd think that's caring. He's saying that because he cares. There might be, you know, something here that isn't completely messed up. He goes, are you in pain?
00:18:45
Speaker
as she confirms that she is, and he says it's remarkable that you're not in more pain. Most people who have the first phage of the phage are in such excruciating pain they sometimes die from it. This is incredible, which is a level of completely misplaced and creepy enthusiasm that for me only heightens this sense of macabre, as the doctor goes on to explain that her body is fighting off the phage and
00:19:14
Speaker
Together we'll eliminate the phage forever, he says at the latter stage of the scene, as though they're some sort of weird and warped team. And he tries to bring Billanna on board, saying that you'll be honoured like no one ever has before, and she spits back at him. Klingons find honour as warriors, not as guinea pigs. To which
00:19:40
Speaker
he he's i think he's taken aback but i can't recall the precise line that he gives back to her um yeah i forgot i didn't even notice that line if she that is hilarious um not um worries like anything um there's also a weird well i guess illusion of some
00:20:03
Speaker
And a form like yours, which I guess is laying the groundwork for some disease. I did notice, sorry, when I was looking, or maybe I'll save it for a little bit later, never mind. No, no, no, go for it. I will save it for a little bit later. It's just a little random tidbit. We go back to the barracks and
00:20:32
Speaker
Oh, and I think at that point, Tom is in the barracks and he's like approached from behind and we can see like someone approaching and it's Milana. And Tom looks surprised. And I felt very surprised because this Milana looks very human. Yeah, I thought that was very well done. I guess we had the hint from the from the
00:20:55
Speaker
kind of too long, but I didn't realize that her human form had survived or was out there some way. Or was also deliberately tailored in the, although it doesn't really matter. Was just the remaining genes.
00:21:07
Speaker
Yeah. They articulate whether that was done deliberately or was an accidental side effect because I, there's never any sort of explanation overtly given for why a human form of belana exists beyond the fact that we use this weird genetic splitting ray and we split out a Klingon from your human Klingon DNA. Oh, and there's a human you running around as well. I mean, at first I thought we shouldn't dig too deep into this because it could be a major plot or not.
00:21:36
Speaker
Or you could argue perhaps that, well, if they can get another human, or they can get another being from which they can take organs, why waste that? Star Trek podcast, point of order, Chief. Yes? He says with his hand in the air, may I make it? Are we here to dig into plot holes or to try and- Oh, we're not. Oh, right, sorry. As you remember, Rose took the pastie. I wasn't sure of our role there. I wasn't sure what we were supposed to do. I think I said the very first one. I'll probably never be able to say anything bad about Star Trek.
00:22:06
Speaker
But we can discuss the, not plot holes, but the possible sort of backstory that they didn't show. So we had offered a potential backstory there as to why. Yeah, there could be a few reasons.
00:22:22
Speaker
I was always really like the first time I watched this I remember so used to seeing Bolana as half Klingon that when I saw the human Bolana I had no idea who it was literally no idea until she I think Tom or she says that. Tom says Bolana I don't know.
00:22:44
Speaker
she looks so different the thing is she does look so different but i think she also acts so different i mean i was like astounded at how vulnerable she comes across in the human form and that actually plays that compared to lonely playing um regular yeah she plays it wildly different doesn't she but i don't know if i just react really strongly but i felt like because i've watched it a few times in the last few years i feel like almost like touched to the core by her like um
00:23:14
Speaker
Yeah, just how valuable she is, not that she's a human. Yeah, it's a bit depressing, isn't it? Like, the human representation is so, you know, just like, crying a lot, very timid. Yeah, it's, but then I like to think that that's more because she has been half-cling on, and she's now experiencing that sort of fully human vulnerability for the first time. And so it's affecting her more extremely than, you know, it would affect all
00:23:43
Speaker
all other humans. But yeah, she does a great job, I mean, playing the two halves. Yeah, I think that actress Roxanne Doss. Yeah, it's brilliant. She explains to Tom, like what happened, I guess, when she was separated and tells her that her pain on DNA was extracted, and that she feels basically sick and weak. You don't really know, I guess, if it's because she's human or because she's had this very intense medical procedure, but she's not taking it.
00:24:14
Speaker
Well, but she also, I think, I mean, we also have this really nice moment where she shares more of her backstory with Tom. I don't know if either of you want to jump in, but you find out. I'd like to jump in because I find this touching and she articulates to Tom that she'd always tried to hide her forehead growing up.
00:24:32
Speaker
And that as she grew up, the Klingon Empire and the Federation were some good terms. And eventually her father left her mother and she and she thought that it was because she was Klingon. So she always tried to hide it. But Phil's conflicted about this now that, or it is intimated now that she's
00:24:54
Speaker
fully human DNA, it sounds as though she misses the side of herself that she tried to hide because of the conflict of generation for her. Well, I think, yeah, I mean, I'm not sure at that point, I think Tom says something like, it looks like you got what you wanted, like when, because, but she said from the moment to, you know, she made the connection and put like a little child brain and her fault, which is
00:25:21
Speaker
really good writing because lots of kids find a way to blame themselves for bad things happen when they're very young. She tried to look human from then on, you know, or tried to, I guess, blend in as much with humans from then on. Yeah, so, and then Tom is like, looks like you got what you want, but she doesn't look like someone is happy with what she's got, I guess at that point.
00:25:46
Speaker
Um, we go back to the caves, um, and two of realizes that the changing rock formations are actually force fields, uh, with the Dean signatures. And he reports this back to the captain on Voyager. And she's like, well, last time we could disrupt their force fields. So try again. And so they've fought blast their phases at this rock face. Nothing happens. It's not working. Suddenly two Indians appear. And so they immediately do a beam up because, um,
00:26:12
Speaker
Yeah, they have. Well, it's just safer, I guess. And that was part of the deal. And we go back to the lab, another scene with Belana Klingon, or Klingon-Belana and Su'an. She's complaining about being chained up, you know, obviously,
00:26:29
Speaker
Klingons. This is one of their worst nightmares, I think. And at this point, she tries to build on that flirtatious moment earlier and manipulates Zul'an a bit. So creepy. I can't actually bring myself to it. I don't want to say that Klingons are known for their voracious sexual appetite.
00:26:48
Speaker
Is that what you don't want to say? Well, I think she says voracious lovemaking, but go with your interpretation because it's less cringy and I help her. I think we hear what we want to hear. We all never know the actual one way. But apparently Klingons are known for this. Yes. But all the while she appears to be trying to twitch her wrist free of its bonds. But her flotation tactic
00:27:14
Speaker
is actually not successful and almost, not really backed by this, but I guess he realizes that she's not just suddenly rediscovering her Klingon essence. Oh, that's a better word. She's... A Klingon what? I don't know where that came from. But she's manipulating him and he realizes that he's so grotesque that he never... Does he say something? Yeah, and he... You don't have to ask me, what does he say something? He says, I have feelings.
00:27:45
Speaker
Well, he sort of thought about that before he started experimenting. Yeah, quite. But he eventually says he has feelings and that there was a time when his race weren't so disgusting and maybe they'll be more seemingly in future. And maybe, and this is where, you know, with the benefit of hindsight gets even more sinister. Maybe when she sees him at some stage, she won't find him so disgusting.
00:28:13
Speaker
physically um he is really living in a fantasy land i mean yeah 100 there's this weird sort of obsession with curing the phage that seems to boil into weird sort of obsessive possessive obsession with belana um
00:28:33
Speaker
which is sort of the dynamic that we're struggling with articulating right now. Yeah, I think it would be a good point at which to move on to the next scene where effectively, I think we go back to Durst and to Paris, if that's correct. Anne Bolana is there, but two gradients arrive and they're like, oh, Tom thinks it's like they're going to get taken back to work.
00:28:59
Speaker
And I think we have a concern about how long is going to cope. But actually in this case, they approached us and they're like, come with us. And Tom Christ intervened saying like, I'm the most senior ranking person here off the script, you should take me instead. And then has the potential to turn into like a gun fight. So.
00:29:15
Speaker
So I fight and I take Durst away. Durst turns around and uses the lines Tom that Tom used to stop him confronting armed guards of they're the ones with the guns, remember? Yes, yes. Which is ultimately a proud line to be remembered by. So Durst is there to win, we don't know what for. We're back on the bridge.
00:29:45
Speaker
Voyager, just to be clear. Yes, we're on the bridge of Enterprise. No, Voyager. Janeway and Chakotay are kind of figuring out that if the Vidanes know that Voyage is around, they might call in reinforcements, also puts their prisoners or the missing crew in more danger. And they've also figured out the Vidane shields have been upgraded so they can't get through. So Janeway's immediate
00:30:14
Speaker
order is like tasks that she assigns to the crew, I guess, is to see if they can figure out how to get through that shield. And we are back in the lab. Well.
00:30:26
Speaker
They had a lot of screen time. Where it's all... I mean, did you find that at this stage you sort of expected the episode to sort of stay at the level of dark it had been and not go further dark? Or was that just me naively hoping at that stage? Because I'd found it really sort of... Oh, this scene is very sinister. Don't know who wants to take it, but... Jenny? Oh, so disgusting.
00:30:53
Speaker
So basically, we have the Lana and then the doctor comes. Let's stop calling him the doctor because we have the doctor. Stulan comes and suddenly turns and we see that Durst's face has pinned over his own. Oh yes. It's just so horrible.
00:31:18
Speaker
And he, and Bolana expresses her disgust and the doctor tries vain, and she accuses him of killing Durst. He says, yes, but his organs will save 12 lives. At which stage, Bolana in a fit of rage tears free of her bonds and strangles the doctor into unconsciousness and then escapes.
00:31:44
Speaker
Yes, she really loses it. At this point, I'll show you my tidbit. The actor who's playing Sulan is the actor who plays Durst. Oh. It's a plot twist. So his face is actually his face, between Usana Jenga and Vadim Thay. That's amazing. When I went on, yeah, Star Trek, I mean, when I went on Wiki.
00:32:13
Speaker
I learned that when I was trying to find out the name of that Talaxian. But anyway, that was a very fun fact. Not to steal the term from another podcast that I listened to. Yeah, definitely not. Couldn't possibly be derivative or steal from another podcast. We're a Star Trek podcast. I've listened to so many podcasts, it's going to happen.
00:32:37
Speaker
Next, we are in the conference room, briefing room, briefing room. And Harry has done deep level scans. And there's a network of microfishers, which appear when the force field remodulates. So I guess when the force field regenerates, remodulates, whatever, they're these little microfishers. And it might be possible to transport someone through the microfisher if they time it very well.
00:33:06
Speaker
But they also realise that's probably their best bet because if they can get someone inside, they can disable the sports field and then they can beat them on us. Now, before we go any further, who would be your choice of the remaining crew members for a mission of this sort? Well, it would be Chikote, wouldn't it? Because, you know, the captain's one of the two top level officers has got to stay on board the ship.
00:33:36
Speaker
So yeah, it's in the second one. But I can never get through my head why they go for Chicote rather than Tuvok. We're head of security. But that's because Chicote has the idea. And when you have the idea, you have to execute it. You know, when you like tell your boss, why don't we do this? They're like, great, why don't you do that? I didn't realize it worked that way with bosses. It's been so long since I was employed.
00:34:00
Speaker
Oh, look like the dream. But I think it's because Shikotei, because Jamie's like, well, what if they, how, you know, they get caught and Shikotei's like, he's the one that has the idea, which is revealed in the next scene, which is in the sick bay, where, as you were saying earlier, Jamie, Shikotei's just had that re
00:34:21
Speaker
facial reconstructions apparently with technology less advanced and technics less sophisticated than the doctor uses to remove a bunion because when someone is complimenting him on the job he's done he says you should see me remove a bunion i mean it was vaguely funny but why was he being
00:34:42
Speaker
So facetious. Maybe he finds bunion removal more difficult than face desecration. Maybe one is like a true medical procedure and one is sending someone into danger and he's a doctor. Or he could have just been putting a mask on his face. Fatty. There were no masks. This is real, real
00:35:08
Speaker
Oh gosh, so Chikote could have been stuck like that. Poor man. Yeah, so we have that little scene. Flash from the doctor. Back on the planet, we're in the caves and Balana and Tom are actually at work. Balana is really, human Balana is really struggling, or Balana human, as Jamie required.
00:35:32
Speaker
Mr. Laxian does something great. Do you want to cover the scene? Because you went on and on and on about this. I was so proud of him proving that that species weren't at the uniform level of competence that Neelik suggests. He offers them water selflessly. He gives them his water. What's the word? Good or bottle. He offers it to them. They take it. He doesn't ask for anything back.
00:35:58
Speaker
and then he goes off and Bologna starts to articulate that she feels terrified and she worries that the removal of her Klingon DNA has left her a complete coward, at which stage Tom gives her an inspirational speech, lifting many of the same sort of themes as are used in Lord of the Rings whenever a hobbit is feeling down on his or her courage. The courage isn't the absence of fear, it's the mastery of it when it rears its ugly little head.
00:36:27
Speaker
And at that stage, oh, sorry, go for it, red.
00:36:30
Speaker
I just want to say, because kind of touching on what Jenny said earlier, Balana has that line where she says, I think they turned me into some kind of coward. She is a little dig at human things. I don't know. Do you feel, you know, discriminated against by Star Trek? Not at all. But it's like, she's been turned into a coward. She's not like, you know, she feels like something's very wrong with her. Not just, not just she's turned human. She's a coward.
00:36:59
Speaker
Sorry, I just had to add that. Maybe the human condition naturally is one of fear. I don't know. Yes, I think. Isn't that the lizard brain and all that? Anyway, we forgot. But yes, he does give her that nice speech. But they're interrupted by some guards again, and they forcibly take Blahn away because she's not working hard enough. Tom tries to stop, but Blahn is like, actually, I mean, she says this very,
00:37:27
Speaker
out loud. She's like, if I go back to the barracks, maybe she can use the opportunity to make contact with the ship because there's these consoles in the barracks, which she might be able to hack. We're back on Voyager and we're on the transporter in the transporter room. And I think she's on the transporter pad.
00:37:47
Speaker
And he's about to be transported through a microfisher, which I can't even imagine how tiny he is. And Shikoto becomes the Deus Ex Machina that they've all been waiting for.
00:37:59
Speaker
You know, I have to be honest, I never understand that reference. So, effectively, a Deus Ex Machiner, sorry, am I going to be really patronising to explain it? No, no. Deus Ex Machiner is a theatrical construct used at a stage in a theatrical performance when the dynamics of the play and the narrative and the plot don't allow for any of the characters caught within that narrative sort of cycle and rhythm
00:38:29
Speaker
to change or break the cycle of events to which one appears to be rolling. So typically it would be the gods intervene and strike this maldua down or something like that. And I'm saying that Chakotay is the deus ex machina of the situation in the planet and the tunnels, because he's the rogue agent who's being injected into the situation to change the dynamic.
00:38:53
Speaker
and the narrative pressure and momentum towards a catastrophic and tragic end for Bolana, human, Bolana, Klingon, and Tom Paris, presumably human. Okay. Okay, I think I understand. There's another term that I really don't understand, which is McGovern, but I don't think... Ooh, I totally know. We don't have time to go into that now. Do you know what would be really helpful? We could Google that.
00:39:17
Speaker
I've tried to learn many times. It's just like, it's not a concept that makes a lot of sense to me. I can, I can see you gritting your teeth as I try and segue us and I'm going to restrain myself. We can, we can, we can have one term, a podcast. So next time we'll explain of a govern. Um, okay. So yeah, as Jokurte has transported, I think it's Janeway who says, well, now we wait because it's a good reminder that once he's through, they have no idea what's going on. Yeah.
00:39:47
Speaker
The next scene we're on the tunnels and Klingon Balana attacks her. Pretty nice to find out what's happened to her friend Tom Paris. It was nice to hear her call Tom her friend. I don't know for some reason with that. And the rest of her crew that came down to the planet.
00:40:07
Speaker
Uh, so he, he tells, he tells everything, he knows. Uh, then we are in the barracks and human Blarner is kind of resting slash pretend resting. I wasn't quite sure. Um, and as soon as the coast is clear, she starts to, um, use the console in the barracks. How did she sometimes on my page? Uh, but she's caught by two videos who are then, um, Oh, what have I written here?
00:40:34
Speaker
assaulted very effectively by Klingon Blanna or disabled by Klingon Blanna. She had some good moves, I thought. I was, I was quite impressed. And human and Klingon Blanna meet, which I thought was quite an interesting scene. And I feel like, I feel like you guys will have far more to contribute here because this has to be like a common trope in sci-fi, um,
00:41:00
Speaker
stuff like whether a future person meets the past person. I felt like this scene was tapping into the wealth of references that I don't actually know. I thought it was the Jekyll and Hyde thing. Or Jekyll and Hyde, yeah. They don't meet each other, right? No, I mean, Jekyll and Hyde are inhabiting within the same body. It's just a case of the potion is taken and the individual switches from
00:41:30
Speaker
calm, rational, composed person of no sort of animal passions or violence to this horrendous maldur who's full of violence and anger and all of these sorts of ill humours. And whilst Balana Klingon isn't an example of that, she's an example and they are juxtaposed as effectively the sort of angel of, you know,
00:41:57
Speaker
being in control versus this wild and passionate but strong and determined and fearless sort of Klingon version and
00:42:06
Speaker
you're effectively given an insight into the two angels that sit on either of Balana, Taurus, or shoulders in any given day, I think. Yeah, that's a nice way of putting it. But human Balana is so overcome or tired, I'm not sure, that she faints and is carried off by Klingon. Throws her over the shoulder and walks her out. And I've only done that once myself, throwing someone over my shoulder and walking them out. But that is a story. And out of interest, who was it?
00:42:32
Speaker
A friend of mine called Tammy. Oh, was it Tammy? Yes, I think it was Tammy. If it wasn't, you sure as hell are going to find out? Sorry, Tammy, if it wasn't you, maybe you, maybe it was someone else. But I think Tammy wouldn't mind me saying her name. My other friend would mind. Well, I've never done that to anyone, bucket list. I used to be much stronger. Had it done to me, though. I distinctly remember Nicola doing this.
00:43:03
Speaker
I love that scene, I don't know why, I just think she acts both characters really well and I think it's hilarious the way human Velana just paints as if she's a lady from the Pride of Petriodismus and then there's just no hesitation at all in the Klingon Velana to just sweep her up and head off. It's very Klingon.
00:43:31
Speaker
Um, the next moment we see them in, both of them, I guess, back in the caves and Clingon Bolana has got a fire going and it's cooking of the fire and human Bolana is just resting or asleep, but she's promptly and rudely woken up by Clingon Bolana. Wake up, Patah, eat. Uh, she offers Bolana a rodent, which looks like a chicken breast to me, I have to be honest. It looks pretty good. What is a Patah?
00:43:59
Speaker
I was hoping one of us would have googled that beforehand, but I'm sure it's consult, a Klingon insult. Or maybe it's the Klingon word for friend. I don't know. It doesn't sound like how you'd say friend, it sounds. Well, I'm kind of deriving a lot of the meaning from the way she said it. Like, wake up, you useless idiot. I don't know. Well, yes. I mean, I've heard Patek a lot on, um, like D space nine, where there are a lot of things that I can't remember.
00:44:26
Speaker
I'm trying to find it as we say it. How do you reckon it's spelled? It's resemblance is the word tuck, which means weird. Is she calling her a weirdo? Okay, you guys carry on. I'm going to find out what this means. I find that I need to know. Human Bolana kind of refuses the rodent and then there is this funny line from thing on Bolana.
00:44:55
Speaker
I'm sorry, I can't replicate you as Soufflé, but basically she's like, you need to eat for strength because I can't keep like carrying you around and risking you. It's a good point. All of which are completely true. She's done both of those things. And then there's like the scene that follows I think is a very good illustration of like the internal battle that would happen with someone, but it's just, you know, visualized externally because, um, um,
00:45:23
Speaker
Polana is all for attacking. This is how we're going to escape. We're going to attack them. No detail beyond attack. And when asked how she's going to do it, she does the equivalent of, let's see if I remember the line, Ron Burgundy in Anchorman saying that I've got
00:45:42
Speaker
Jack Johnson and some other boxer and other fist here waiting ready for you. She lifts one fist and I said I've got this and she lifts another and she's got a dagger in it and she says I've got this and that's all I need. And Balana effectively criticises her for... Which Balana? Sorry. Balana human criticises her for always just wanting to attack and use force and rush in without thinking.
00:46:11
Speaker
While saying it's no wonder we got ourselves kicked out of the Academy, at the end of the scene, she acknowledges that she needed her and she needs her. And yeah, there's, I wouldn't call it a moment of reconciliation, but at least a moment of self-acceptance, I think at the end of that scene, in that they effectively work out a way that they want to work together, which is actually to go back
00:46:37
Speaker
to the lab where she was being held and try and hijack the console and get some comms out to Voyager and also to lower the force field from there. Because it would be the last place anyone would expect her to go having been effectively a Klingon guinea pig there. Yeah, I mean, I thought it was like, there was a moment, I think, where Klingon-Blarna suggests something and the human-Blarna immediately says like,
00:47:03
Speaker
Well, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not exactly in peak condition or whatever. It's just how, it's just like that battle between, you know, the, not maybe not, um, um, optimist and pessimist, but there's like, sometimes there can't be a voice in your brain that's just always looking out for the reason not to do it or the negative, or maybe other people don't know. I think it's like a reflection of how some people's brains are, which was really interesting. But as you say in the end, they kind of.
00:47:29
Speaker
Um, you know, Blana actually apologizes and she's like realizes they need to work together because she needs the brute, but attacking to get back to where they need to get the consul is. And I thought it was interesting that it was Klingon Blana who suggests going back to the lab, not the barracks and have that kind of cunning idea to go where they were least expected to be. So she's not just a brute force. She's also a very clever and strategic. So very nice interesting scene.
00:47:59
Speaker
um so then we we see them entering the the prison barracks i think oh no sorry we're back in so we're back in the prison barracks and tom is there and a vedian approaches him and touches him which he doesn't like because he says somehow i get your hands off me but it's not a vedian it's jakote so um uh and i thought jakote here demonstrated some very quick thinking because but
00:48:29
Speaker
30 seconds. Thomas just told him he thinks the others are at the organ, are at organ processing. That's all he's learned. This is like touching top of shoulder or whatever. He's immediately approached by a God saying, hey, who are you? I don't recognize you. What are you doing here? And Kote quickly whips out this line like, I'm going to, I'm here to take these people to organ processing. I've just had my face grafted. That's why you don't recognize me. I was quite impressed with his, um, on the, you know,
00:48:57
Speaker
Well, I can't think of any words, but like... On the spot, yeah. Yes, thank you. So, yeah, he's there and he's made contact with Tom. Jamie, are you still trying to find out what photography is? Okay. I can tell you that in some instances it's been used to mean weirdo and others to mean coward. Ah, maybe coward. Yeah, must have been that.
00:49:26
Speaker
So now we are back in the lab, and we see human Vlana is kind of at the console trying to bypass the security code, which does trigger an alarm. So they're like, well, I guess everyone's going to know we're here. But she's very calm, like human Vlana. Vlana cling on comments on this. Like, why aren't you scared? This is like the most dangerous situation we've been in, and you're completely calm.
00:49:51
Speaker
You're not frightened anymore, I think. We're going to insist on verbatim quotes every time we put words in a character's mouth. I love how the words like expand by times 10. Jamie has the description.
00:50:17
Speaker
That's so mean. It was very funny. We should get ruined from Weybridge instead of me. He'd be way better. I don't know who that is, but moving on. And Balana's like, yeah, I guess I just don't have time to think about it. So she's like very focused on her task at hand. But then they are interrupted by, I think, I think it's a god first. And then you get shot by playing on Balana and then Sulan enters.
00:50:46
Speaker
Um, as you're like, Oh gosh, but then the rescue team enters. So to go to the video and Tom, I think at that point, um, well, uh, on the bridge to go up picks up that the force field has been disrupted. So I guess they've managed to disable that in the lab. Uh, but back in the lab still on tries to fire on human ballon, but, uh, I've kind of skipped some things here, but, um,
00:51:14
Speaker
Tlingon Bolana dives in front of human Bolana and gets wounded instead. And the doctor screams, noooooo! The Vidian's dirty. He realises that he will no longer be the saviour of the Vidian's sedality. Yes. I know, you won't have a hot wife that he was planning on having.
00:51:39
Speaker
I mean, really, Red, must we objectify folk at this stage with all that's been going on with Luis Ribiales? He thought that she was attractive, so to her, to him, she was attractive. Who are you referring to by he in this instance? Mulan thought that Juan Bolana had a fine form or something. Yeah. I mean, that could describe someone's ability at a particular cricket stroke, Red. Well, she wasn't playing cricket at the time, so.
00:52:10
Speaker
I think she was described as handsome at one point as well. Yeah, well, as Eli James says, he knows little of cricket who only cricket knows red, so maybe they were, we just weren't aware of it. Anyway, I feel we should move on from the subject. This is a little interest to
00:52:27
Speaker
you know, folk who've lost the ashes like those who speak like we have, and carry on. So yes, to the final scene, the climactic climate. Everyone is beamed out, and we have this touching scene on the transporter pad, just to set the scene. Milana, human Milana is holding and cradling Klingon Milana in her arms, and she's wounded.
00:52:52
Speaker
And human Balana is like Pima in a sick bay, like, you know, urgently. And King of Balana is like, what did I write here? Don't something time. There's no time. There's no time. Thank you. And she compliments human Balana on showing incredible courage, which meant that her death was a worthy death. Yes. She takes her hand.
00:53:21
Speaker
actually, which I thought was quite a sweet touch, and we have that little zoom in on them holding hands. And yeah, she now feels, the thing on Balana feels like she's having an honourable death, which is all any good thing on once. Today is a good day to die. A very spot of a concept. You could ask as well, if she'd lived, would there then be two Balanas? Then it would be like two Vicks, but
00:53:49
Speaker
which is coming later. Except I guess they would have... Based on what happens in the next scene with the doctor, I don't know if I'm skipping here, this is the actual doctor, the holographic voyager doctor. He's basically explaining to Balaana that he has to put her Klingon DNA back in because she can't survive without it.
00:54:15
Speaker
So, which doesn't really have a choice. And you're left wondering, would she have wanted it back if she didn't need it to survive? Yeah. Unsure at this stage. But then that makes me wonder, I wonder if the Klingon Balana had survived.
00:54:30
Speaker
Would she be able to continue as a full Klingon? Would she need the human DNA back to survive? If not, then there'd be two bananas, one half human, half Klingon, and one Klingon. Yeah. You wonder if they'd have been friends. Yeah. Well, I think that takes us to this kind of final conversation. What's the one I has with Chikote? When the doctor tells her that, she kind of says to herself, so she's saving my life again.
00:55:00
Speaker
And I think there's a really nice balance there, isn't there? Because she needs the Klingon Balana's DNA in order to survive so that she can synthesise protein. But in the conversation that you're about to allude to with Chikote, she is acknowledging that she also needs her psychologically to be whole. Yeah, she says some, I think, I mean, there's only a few lines, but it sums it up. But she says like,
00:55:27
Speaker
She feels more at peace than she's ever done before, but she also feels incomplete. And she describes how she came to admire the Klingon Balaner's strength and bravery. And I think she still has to spend the rest of her life fighting with her. Yeah, just have to come to terms with that. Chakrati doesn't have much to say to that. He kind of just looks at her understandably and walks off and then
00:55:55
Speaker
She has that moment, I guess, where she's feeling her smooth forehead. That's an odd one, isn't it? Is she feeling it or is she hiding it the way that she used to, I wonder? I think she's like... Well, both. Yeah. I mean, the way she finishes that, she almost seems like... To me, I interpret it, but maybe, you know, like she's happy to be reintegrated into her Klingon self. But... Or maybe it's like, you know, that concept of touching a... I don't know.
00:56:25
Speaker
I don't want to say I'm missing them, but, or a habit of something. I certainly touch the horns when I haven't brushed my hair to cover them. Like maybe that was also something that she always does, like just touch it for it. And then she's like, oh, I'm missing a part of myself. I'm not sure, but obviously because I have the first sense of glasses, I interpret it as like, I mean, also in a way she doesn't have to make the decision, which makes it easier, I guess.
00:56:54
Speaker
Survival is the only option. Yeah, it's an interesting... But I like Janie's thought experiment about what would have happened if the two of them had been able to remain. I'm not sure. I do. If they have fought over certain members of the crew. Which would certain members of the crew have chosen if they were fought over? Yeah, also a good question. And would all three have survived the experience? What I know about... I feel like what I know about Neelix, he would have
00:57:26
Speaker
Oh, yeah. What? What? You liked a strong woman. Okay. I think it was a bit of a fling with the Klingon lady in the later episode. Yeah. I mean, I'm basing a lot. A boy is trouble. Okay, guys. Wow. 57 minutes. 47
00:57:49
Speaker
eight, nine seconds. Snappy. Are we still going? Are you going to cut us off? No, we start to do lessons or themes and star player. And it's still longer than the actual episode. Oh, that's always going to be the case. Fair enough. So for me, I mean,
00:58:11
Speaker
going to break the tradition of going with a fatuous star player. The obvious choice would have been the other Talaxian, but actually I'm going to go with Klingon Bolana for obvious reasons. You think the obvious choice is the Talaxian side character? No, I think you'd be the obvious choice for a fatuous choice to make people laugh. Oh, okay. My actual choice for player of the episode is Bolana Torres. Yeah, I have to agree.
00:58:41
Speaker
Yeah. I mean. But which one? Balana. You mean which Balana? Oh, I thought you meant Balana or the Texan. I loved her portrayal. Let me just, I was, you know, I know his name so well, but I will somehow double start myself. Yeah, Rocktown Dawson. She did such a good job.
00:59:11
Speaker
I don't know. I was just really touched by that performance. Plus, I also really like to see actual acting, like when people can actually do different, because some people just play a version of themselves, I think.
00:59:24
Speaker
Yeah, the human belana is a completely different person always, isn't she? To like the actual half-cling on half-human belana, which is quite bizarre. I've got to say, I actually preferred the cling on belana character, but I think the human belana worked so hard. She did such a great job and there's a lot of crying and like, so I think, you know, she, they both deserve it.
00:59:56
Speaker
Um, so, sorry, I think we all agreed on Bolana one way or the other. Um, I think there were some nice lessons or themes in here compared to some recent episodes. Does anyone want to kick us off? Oh, I can. I mean, I thought, um, I would remember them all. They were so obvious. I didn't write them down, but that whole,
01:00:26
Speaker
you know, also maybe because as you get older, this gets a bit easier, but accepting all the different parts of yourself. Self acceptance. Yeah, into, you know, no longer fighting or hating parts of yourself, maybe actually learning to leverage them and help, like using them to help you, you know, get what you want in life. And just that kind of
01:00:54
Speaker
I think lots of people, well, actually not lots of people have two voices in their head because it turns out 30% or 50% of people have no voice in their head. I think Jamie, you're one of those, right? I mean, the voice in my head right now is feeling very hurt. It's just suggested to him that he's cognitively deficient. I have no voice in my head because it's all outside.
01:01:21
Speaker
I'm going to say that it was a lesson in how the angels of one's nature need each other to actually exist optimally as opposed to always looking to one's good or bad angel to effectively drive on to success. But I'll settle with one should always be suspicious of friends who have no vices. They tend to have some pretty annoying virtues. Who does that refer to? I don't know. I just thought I'd leave it out there and see if anyone got insulted really.
01:01:53
Speaker
Uh, well, my book, one of my best uses devices on display on this podcast all the time. Um, Janie. Oh, wait. This whole time and we've not seen it or something.
01:02:09
Speaker
I also feel a bit like maybe we should explain the comment earlier about... Jamie got so upset, I just decided to give up. Otherwise it sounds... We had this discussion a while back, based on, I think, was it an article you read that was saying about a certain percentage of humans have a constant inner monologue and others just don't?
01:02:34
Speaker
It has nothing to do with intelligence or anything else offensive. It was just a weird quirk, apparently. What were the reasons? I can't remember. The reason why I tied it back to Jamie is because he shared with us once that I think we're just talking about meditation or whatever. He says, when I'm not talking, there's nothing in my brain. That's what you said. That's why it's so huge. I'm having no interval.
01:03:00
Speaker
You said it! You guys have my inner secrets and you repay them to an adoring public. By repay I mean replay. You were just like pointing them out that meditation was pointless to you because every day was meditation. It's just constantly in a meditative state you lucky thing. Wow.
01:03:18
Speaker
These are two of my, well, two of my dearest, dearest friends on this podcast. Maybe not so much longer or maybe misguidedly, who knows? But we're clearly just doing this for the figures, aren't we? Hint, hint. How many that you think I'm intelligent, yada, yada. Probably fair, probably fair.
01:03:37
Speaker
Jim, you're very intelligent, but I'm just basing my assessment on the words that came out of your mouth. Why would you be foolish enough to draw any opinions about someone from what they say about themselves? True. Right, I think on that note,
01:03:55
Speaker
Oh, wait, Jenny, have you learned your lessons or themes or takeaways? Oh, well, I just that was the first thing that came to me read as well, just self-acceptance. I think that's what it's all about, isn't it? And learning to live with and as you say, potentially see maybe silver linings in the bits of yourself that you may be hated as a teenager or
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah. And then I guess there's this underlying theme about the Vadians again, which is all very weird about how this race basically in order to survive have just sort of decided that they're going to kill off other species in order to keep their race alive and the sort of moral implications in that. Yeah. Like I don't want to derail us too much, but that is a very good point that completely when passed me by,
01:04:46
Speaker
But how the bullied become the bullies or the, yeah, something I'm sure we'll touch on again. But yes, they seem to think they have a right because they are suffering to do things that are not acceptable to other people. Well, let's hope they never come calling for Balana's help again.
01:05:11
Speaker
They're a great, I think I already said this when we first came across them, but I think that they're awesome, what's baddie, bad guy. Like they're a really scary bad guy. The thought of a species that's wanting to harvest your organs and, oh, it's horrible. And they're a self-righteous bad guy. The worst of the worst. They want to harvest your organs and they're sort of quite like,
01:05:39
Speaker
Uh, detached, but they're detached and logical about it. And, you know, it's really creepy. Very creepy. Okay. So we haven't kept it under an hour, but one hour, five minutes, six minutes, not bad. Uh, we'll be back in about two weeks for the next episode, episode 15. Don't know the name. I'm not going to waste a second Googling it because then the podcast will be too long. Bye. Woo. Podcast.