'Barge of the Dead'
Stardate: Unkown
Written By:Ronald D Moore and Bryan Fuller
Directed By:Mike Vejar
Rating: ***** (out of 5)
"Barge of the Dead" was due to be a fantastic episode; it 's directed by
Mike Vejar, written by Ronald D Moore and the music is done by David Bell. What better line up for an episode is that? We had this line up
once before with DS9's "Tacking into the Wind," which is my favorite DS9
episode and now again, the talents of these people re-surface. This episode
is B'Elanna's best ever and I'm convinced it's one of Voyager finest too.
In fact this episode also shows us that B'Elanna doesn't really know what
she is, or who she wants to be. In a very clever ending, B'Elanna goes to
Grethor, (Klingon Hell) in the place of her mother, and she discovers that
her hell is on Voyager. Later she is transported back to the Barge of the
Dead, where she confronts all her friends, and shouts "What do you want me
to do, be a good Starfleet officer (looks at Janeway), a good Maquis (looks
at Chakotay), lover (at Paris), daughter (her mother). . ."
And B'Elanna has now changed, she accepts her "forehead and bad attitude,"
and when she awakens at the end, she hugs Janeway, showing that keeping the
people she cares about at arms length isn't the way to go.
Probably the best aspect of the episode is that it never suggests that what
happen is true whether she is actually going to Klingon hell or whether her
mind is conjuring up these images in the hopes of changing her. I doubt
that the images are true after Neelix's encounter with death in "Mortal
Coil," but if it isn't true, than this episode demonstrates how our mind can
make us think differently. How powerful would it be in a future episode to have B'Elanna and her mother sharing this experience? How culturally mysterious that would be?
I do have some Questions regarding the actual Barge, what is its purpose?
Is it there so that the dishonored warriors can think about what they've
done? Why can't they simply go to Gre'thor instead of being on the Barge? This isn't really explained, and I believe it should've been. And I
also don't really understand why Tuvok was the person that was always
against B'Elanna.
There were many complicated visual similies here that suberbly manage to capture the work of a mind, the visual essense of one of the most complicated things ever crated; the mind. And this massive feet is helped by no small part in Mike Vejar's directing.
Helping "Barge of the Dead" a hell of a lot (pun not intended) was Roxanne Dawson's magnicent performance. Coupled with Kate Mulgrew and Robert Duncan McNiel, who each were writtne and played very well here, made this all seem 'real.'
"Barge of the Dead" features some beautiful special effects, from the
shuttle crash which is done in a unique shuttle cockpit point of view, to
Tuvok's skillful Bat'Leth movements, the blood water with the creatures in
it, and Grethor's gates. The Barge itself certainly lives up being the
most expensive set ever built for a Star Trek episode. I got Goosebumps
when the Klingon artifact bled, it just looked so cool.
I loved David Bell's score as well, a cross between DS9's "Sacrifice of
Angels", "Tacking into the Wind" and VOY's "Dark Frontier."
Ron Moore leaves the Star Trek franchise with a bang, his final Star Trek episode proves to be one of his best and despite "Barge of the Dead" supposedly being the episode which brought down the working relationship and maybe even friendship of Brannon Braga and Ron Moore, despite all the rewrites and controversial sayings, "Barge of the Dead" is
superbly crafted, an episode that truly makes you think. For a welcome
change, a Voyager episode has got the story, and is followed through with
thought and imagination.