“Warlord”
Written by Andrew Shepard Price & Mark Gaberman and Lisa Klink
Directed by David Livingston
Season 3, Episode 10
Production episode 152
Original air date: November 20, 1996
Stardate: 50348.1
Captain’s log. Neelix is showing Kim and Paris a re-creation of the Paxau Resort, a favorite Talaxian vacation spot. Kim and Paris think it’s okay, but make additions to it that make it more like a Caribbean island on Earth.
Voyager rescues three people from a damaged Ilari ship. They’re beamed directly to sickbay, but while the EMH and Kes are able to save Nori and Adin, but the third person, Tieran—whom Nori says is her husband—dies on the table. Janeway agrees to bring them to Ilari. Kes befriends Adin and especially Nori, providing a friendly face in their time of grief. In fact, she’s so focused on hanging out with Nori and Adin that she’s late for a holodeck date with Neelix. When Kes explains that she’s going to be spending more time with Nori and Adin, Neelix offers to join her in that, but she brushes him off and breaks up with him.
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When they arrive at Ilari, the Autarch sends a representative to greet them. Nori and Adin are disappointed that the Autarch himself doesn’t beam up—and as soon as the representative materializes, Kes kills him and the transporter chief and wounds Janeway. Kes, it turns out, has been possessed by Tieran, and the time she’s been spending with Nori and Adin has involved using Kes’s knowledge of Voyager’s systems to set up an escape. They beam a shuttlecraft out of the shuttlebay and then themselves onto the shuttle, having locked the bridge out. The shuttle is resistant to Voyager’s tractor beam and invisible to long-range sensors once they go to warp, thanks to the prearranged sabotage.
Tieran brings the shuttle to a rendezvous point, and meets with Resh, who is shocked to see Tieran’s new host body. Resh wants to postpone their attack, but Tieran now has access to Kes’ telepathy, and uses it to hurt Resh until he acquiesces.
The Autarch’s oldest son, Demmas, beams up to Voyager to provide exposition: Tieran is a former Autarch who ruled Ilari two hundred years ago. He was a great leader in war, but struggled with peace, turning into a tyrant. He discovered a way to allow his consciousness to live on in another after his body died, and he’s been body-hopping in the two centuries since, trying to gain his power back. His latest host body died in Voyager’s sickbay, and he transferred to Kes. As far as Demmas is concerned, Kes is gone, but Janeway is more sanguine, and wants to try to save her.
Kim then says they’ve detected the shuttle. Tieran and his crew has beamed down and slain the Autarch, and taken his younger son, Ameron, prisoner. Tieran then places the Talisman of office around his neck and declares himself Autarch.
Tieran reassures Nori that he still loves her, and gives her a flower to show his love. Then he tries to convince Ameron to join him, as having the previous Autarch’s son on his side will help.
Demmas is remaining on Voyager where it’s safe and coordinating those loyal to him from there. The EMH has created a synaptic stimulator that will remove Tieran from Kes’ mind, but it must be attached directly to her. Tuvok volunteers for the covert mission to do so. (Demmas just wants to shoot Tieran, but Janeway won’t accept that as long as he’s in Kes’ body.)
Tieran is suffering from some nasty headaches due to Kes not being a willing host. Adin advises that he go to another host body, but Tieran likes Kes’ spirit, and he especially likes her telepathic abilities. Besides, she’s just a girl, she can’t defeat him…
Tuvok is unsuccessful in his attempt to attach the synaptic stimulator, and is taken prisoner. Tieran tries to interrogate the Vulcan to no avail, and Tuvok manages to touch his face and initiate a mind-meld and bring Kes’ consciousness to the fore. She’s still in there, still fighting him. Tieran is able to break the link and restore his primacy, and he has Tuvok imprisoned.
Tieran communicates with Voyager, saying he bears them no ill will—they saved Nori and Adin’s life, after all—but if they don’t leave orbit, his warships will attack. Janeway leaves orbit.
Kes continues to fight back, and is able to assert herself more when Tieran sleeps—which he’s been trying to avoid doing. Tieran tries to convince her to join forces with him, but she refuses—she can’t get rid of him, but she will keep fighting him.
The next day, Tieran announces that he and Ameron will be married—reassuring Nori that it’s a political arrangement, to make the transition from the old Autarch more palatable to the masses. Tieran also wants to open a library and give every citizen a garden, because he loves plants and flowers, like in airponics on Voyager.
Resh announces that there’s an armada in orbit, led by Voyager. Demmas has gathered his forces and are attacking. They get through Tieran’s defenses. Paris beams to the prison and breaks Tuvok out, while a team that includes Neelix storms Tieran’s redoubt. Neelix places the synaptic stimulator onto Kes’ cheek, but Tieran shifts to Ameron—but then the stimulator is placed on him, which gets rid of Tieran once and for all.
Demmas is the new Autarch and Voyager continues on their way. Kes is devastated, and doesn’t know how her life can go back to normal; Tuvok sagely points out that it can’t, that this experience has changed her.
Can’t we just reverse the polarity? Tieran figured out a way to insert his mind into someone else’s body and take it over. The EMH figured out a way to reverse it. Ah, technology…
There’s coffee in that nebula! Janeway is insistent on finding a way to save Kes and not just take out Tieran regardless of what body he’s in. Demmas is reluctant, but since Voyager pretty much totally saves his ass and enables him to become Autarch, he’s in no position to complain.
Mr. Vulcan. Tuvok completely fails in his mission to stop Tieran, mostly because he didn’t take into account that Tieran is using Kes’ telepathy way more than Kes does. He also is completely resistant to Tieran’s attempts at interrogation, and even manages to establish that Kes is still kicking…
When he drops an Ilari guard with a neck pinch after Paris rescues him, the latter stares and says, “Some day, you’re going to have to show me how to do that,” to which Tuvok’s non-verbal response is a very telling “Yeah, right!” facial expression.
Forever an ensign. Kim and Paris both think that the Paxau Resort program is okay, but a bit bland. They add Caribbean music, brighter clothes, a women’s volleyball team, and snazzier drinks to the mix.
Half and half. Torres goes to the Paxau Resort program and adds a scantily clad towel boy. Wah-HEY!
Everybody comes to Neelix’s. The episode opens with Neelix getting a footrub, an image I will never get out of my mind no matter how much therapy I engage in to try.
No sex, please, we’re Starfleet. While possessed by Tieran, Kes breaks up with Neelix. The couple never does get back together.
Also Tieran remains verbally loyal to Nori when he possesses Kes, but also marries Ameron. (When Tieran announces that he wants all three to be very close, I couldn’t help but think, “Okay, he wants a threesome…”)
What happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. Neelix has programmed the Paxau Resort into the holodeck, a favorite vacation spot among Talaxians. The resort will continue to be seen throughout the season, pretty much replacing Chez Sandríne as the holodeck getaway of choice among the crew.
Do it.
“You’re already deteriorating, and it’s only going to get worse. I’ll find every little crack in your defenses. You’ll feel yourself crumbling from within, your sanity slipping away. I won’t stop until you’re broken and helpless. There’s nowhere you can go to get away from me. I’ll be relentless and merciless—just like you.”
–Kes making her saving roll versus badass while confronting Tieran in her mind
Welcome aboard. Brad Greenquist and Karl Wiedergott make their first Trek appearances as Demmas and Ameron, respectively. Greenquist will be on DS9’s “Who Mourns for Morn?” as Krit and on two episodes of Enterprise as other aliens; Wiedergott will appear on Enterprise also. Galyn Görg, last seen as Korena on DS9’s “The Visitor,” plays Nori, while Leigh J. McCloskey, who will also play Joran Dax on DS9’s “Field of Fire,” plays the image of Tieran in Kes’s mind. Charles Emmett and Anthony Crivello play Tieran’s other minions.
EDITED TO ADD: As noted by Christoher Bennett in the comments, Görg died last week after a long fight with cancer.
Trivial matters: Kes is shown dealing with the aftermath of Tieran’s possession in the short story “Winds of Change” by Kim Sheard in the Voyager anthology Distant Shores.
Kes’s telepathic abilities, last seen in “Cold Fire” and dormant since then, are brought to the fore by Tieran when he possesses her.
Neelix mentions that he has some combat training, likely referring to his abortive career as a soldier in the Talaxian military before he went AWOL, mentioned in “Jetrel.” He also mentions tactical exercises with the crew he’s gone on, something he asked Janeway to be included in back in “Initiations.”
The EMH still has his mobile emitter he got last episode, which enables him to be in the briefing room instead of on a viewscreen. At this point, he has to be considered part of the crew complement. Janeway’s statement in “The 37s” that there were 152 people on board would not have accounted for him, so let’s say there were 153 then. At that point, Seska had left and Durst had died, so they left the Ocampa homeworld with 155. Since “The 37s,” there have been crew deaths in “Alliances” (three), “Meld” (one), “Investigations” (one), “Innocence” (one), the “Basics” two-parter (four), and Ensign Martin in this episode. That makes 142, but the Wildman baby has been born since then also, so there are 143 people on board.
Set a course for home. “I’m not really a monster.” One of the most common tropes of genre television is the possession episode. Star Trek alone has dipped into the well many times (“Return to Tomorrow,” “Is There In Truth No Beauty?” “Power Play,” “Clues,” “The Passenger,” “Dramatis Personae,” “The Assignment,” etc.), and while there are lots of reasons for it, most of the time it boils down to giving the actors a chance to stretch themselves a bit by playing someone other than who they normally play.
Jennifer Lien certainly makes the most of it, as the embittered ex-tyrant is a far cry from the serene Ocampa. At first, she seems very much like the Kes we know. Her interaction with Neelix on the holodeck is the first sign that something’s wrong, as her breakup with Neelix is very out of character—not the breakup itself, but the meanness of it, which is very much not Kes.
And then once the Autarch’s representative beams on board, Lien’s entire face changes. There’s no question that this isn’t Kes, and she plays it beautifully.
Hilariously, she’s more effective than Leigh J. McCloskey, who’s terribly wooden in his one and only scene confronting Kes in her mindscape. It’s kind of amusing that Lien—who is pretty much impersonating McCloskey when she’s being Tieran—is better at it than he is. She brings passion to the role that McCloskey can’t manage.
When Tuvok does the mind-meld, her face changes again, and you instantly see that it’s Kes and not Tieran. Just some superb work from Lien here.
The story itself is a perfectly serviceable coup d’état story. I’m glad they didn’t bother with too much hand-wringing about Voyager getting involved in Demmas’s attempt to take power back. He is the rightful heir, and the usurper is someone who’s kidnapped—and mind-napped—one of their own, there’s no question that they’ll lend a hand to put this right, especially if it means Kes getting saved.
I would’ve liked some more actual closure between Neelix and Kes dealing with the breakup Tieran forced on them, and pretty much any scene in the Paxau Resort could have been sacrificed to have that, as those scenes are very obviously constructed to show that This Is The New Holodeck Hangout, plus anything that would spare us watching Ethan Phillips make idiotic expressions while getting his feet rubbed is worth trying.
However, the final scene between Tuvok and Kes is a masterpiece, as Tuvok once again proves himself a superb mentor to the burgeoning telepath.
Warp factor rating: 7
Keith R.A. DeCandido’s latest Star Trek project was announced last week: he’s one of the contributors to the Star Trek Adventures Klingon Empire Core Rulebook, now available for preorder (print) and download (PDF) from Modiphius. Keith has done a couple of group interviews about the new rulebook, including one as part of the “Day of Honor” event (alongside fellow scribes Derek Tyler Attico and Kelli Fitzpatrick, Jim Johnson, Chris Birch, Nathan Dowdell, and Sam Webb from Modiphius, and special guest, award-winning Trek illustrator Rick Sternbach), and another with Michael Dismuke on the “Continuing Mission” web series (alongside Attico, Fitzpatrick, Johnson, and Aaron Pollyea).
This is probably Voyager‘s best showcase for what a strong and impressive character Kes could be, and what a powerful, compelling actress Jennifer Lien could be. It’s one of my favorites.
It’s also notable for toying with gender fluidity at a time when that was still uncommon. I don’t recall how far they took the physical affection between Lien and Galyn Görg, though.
Sadly, Galyn Görg passed away just last week.
Oh, fuck, I didn’t know that Görg had died! Dammit. Will add that to the post….
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
Not to be too nitpicky, but this line “As far as Demmas is concerned, Kes is gone, but Janeway is less sanguine” should read “Janeway is more sanguine”. Sanguine means optimistic or positive.
Simka: I was about to object, because I had a very clear memory of fixing that when I proofed the post before uploading it, but apparently I didn’t. Herpity-derpity-derp. It’s fixed now (yay edit function!).
—Keith R.A. DeCandido
I love this episode. It is so great to see Lien swagger about in a manner so different from how she usually plays Kes- it is also a chance for her truly magnificent voice to *really* get it’s full use. I love the scene inside her mind with Tieran- how the shots with him are in his throne room, and Kes is in her room on Voyager, until slowly they are both standing in her room, and she has control back. Nice scene, well shot, and not too overdone, IMO. I also *love* the scene where Tieran issues his order for everyone to have a garden, because Lien really does a good job- being imperious and demanding when she says it, talking about gardening fondly, and then showing Tieran’s realization that Kes is influencing him. Well done all around.
Voyager’s involvement in this (although admittedly in the interest of getting Kes back) also smacks on being on the wrong side of the Prime Directive, or at least flirting with it, as this is very much an internal power struggle on an alien world. I honestly don’t mind that- I think these are exactly the sort of compromises they would have to make in order to try to get their people back to the Alpha Quadrant safely- it just seems a bit passed over. On the whole, this episode has a lot of what I think Voyager should have had more of- good character development for Kes, new and interesting aliens, compromises being made, and the directing and camera work go a long way toward making this *feel* like a desperate and sketchy situation, instead of us just being told it is one. The plot has some overlap with “The Passenger” on DS9, but this is a rare case where I actually like the Voyager take on it better.
So when Kes kisses Tuvok and Ameron, is that technically a gay kiss on a Trek show?
I like how Kes lowers her voice when she is Tieran. It reminds me of Stephen Amell on Arrow and how he raised the pitch of his voice when playing flashback Oliver.
I have been waiting to see how this one would be reviewed.
I was never a big Kes fan at the start, but Season 3 gave Jennifer Lien a chance to stretch the character. This is one of my favourite episodes, and I can even tolerate the new crew hangout. (Interesting to note that the crew keeps needing new places to go to relax: Sandrine’s, Paxau, Fair Haven.)
The centrepiece is the confrontation between Kes and Tiernan, a moment where we discover exactly how much Kes has grown since joining Voyager. I subscribe to the theory that Tiernan’s mucking about with Kes’ telepathic skills convinced her that she could in fact make better use of them, and that she was more powerful than she gave herself credit for. (How powerful will be revealed at least twice in future episodes.)
Oh, I forgot to mention Torres in a bikini! Did not expect that. Yowza.
Perhaps we’ll have a chance to revisit this when we get to season 7, but in retrospect I wonder if the events of this episode have anything to do with Kes’s state of mind and behavior in “Fury.”
We didn’t have DS9 and Voyager around here during the 1990’s. Which is why I’ve attempted to recreate the original airdates when I finally watched Voyager last year, and which is why I also did a fresh DS9 rewatch right alongside. This particular week started with DS9’s Things Past, followed by Warlord and capping it off with the release of First Contact in theatres. I did all three in a single night. Interestinly enough, the DS9 episode is the weak link, and it’s an uphill spike in quality from there. Warlord is a fun episode, and the marathon ends with what I consider to be the best Trek feature film ever made. That third week of November 1996 had to have been a fun one for viewers.
Possession stories are so common and formulaic, this could have easily gone wrong. But Lien, Klink and Livingston upped their game for this one. It’s all in the execution.
If anything, Warlord makes me regret even more that the show lost Jennifer Lien. This episode is living proof she has enormous range and is more than able to vamp it up and play a genuinely sexy role, as well as the role of a tyrant. And it also turns out to be an episode with actual consequences! Mobile emitter remains in place, and Neelix/Kes is no more. In the long run, this helps Neelix as a character.
I do have a little bit of a hard time buying the idea that Tieran could be successfully doing this for two centuries. He doesn’t come across as someone who plans that far ahead. Too driven by emotions rather than careful planning. The fact that he embraced Kes’s powers, while ignoring the possibility of her fighting him from the inside speaks to that lack of forethought.
But regardless, even if the plot isn’t that layered, the performances are more than enough to make up for it. Also sorry to hear about Görg’s death. She was one of the show’s better guest stars.
I would’ve liked some more actual closure between Neelix and Kes dealing with the breakup Tieran forced on them
@krad: According to the Voyager Companion, there was in fact such a scene. It was written for the upcoming episode Fair Trade, but was cut due to time constraints. Ethan Phillips did reach out to the writers, asking for more closure on their relationship, but they felt it was time to move on.
I think this episode’s plot is really bland and boring. There is not much interest to the villians, who seem to have no motivation except following their leader. The marriage scene borders on absurd, because Tieran’s “OK, my fleet is fighting, but marriage takes priority” gets accepted with far too little protest. Are these advisors or sycophants?
The episode certainly gets much elevated by Jennifer Lien’s great performance (Tim Russ also excels, as usual), and there are some interesting, but never-followed-up lines that could have provided more texture (Tieran speaking of his welfare projects, the threesome thing). Yet though it comes with tasty sauce, there is not much meat on the bones.
I really enjoyed getting to see Kes show strength and toughness in fighting Tieran. Kes is often used as a supportive character, showing compassion and caring for others. She’s rarely given a chance to demonstrate being more than that. Showing that, when push comes to shove, she’s willing to fight back and even kill definitely adds depth to her character, as well as being a good reminder that “nice” doesn’t mean “weak”.
@11/Luthien: “The marriage scene borders on absurd, because Tieran’s “OK, my fleet is fighting, but marriage takes priority” gets accepted with far too little protest. Are these advisors or sycophants?”
Which is in no way atypical of how things actually operate in dictatorships.
I always remember this one as the implied lesbian sexuality episode, but alas it couldn’t commit to even a female on female kiss which is strange since it was already done the year prior on DS9.
I couldn’t really get too invested in the episode itself because the plot seemed rather pedestrian and involved an alien race and their internal political machinations we don’t much care about. We’re only invested in getting Kes back safely and entertained by Jennifer Lien vamping it up, which she does masterfully.
The new holodeck Caribbean resort program is silly but I at least like it better than Chez Sandríne and represents progress and that we finally get some male eye-candy (good job B’Elanna!). We’ll see Chez Sandríne again though. The Neelix foot-massage and dancing to close the teaser were pretty awful.
I guess Kes took advantage of the Tieran-induced breakup with Neelix to finally be free of him once she was returned to normal. I think there would have been good story potential had she remained with the series to have a romantic relationship with another character: Tuvok? The Doctor? A Paris-B’Elanna-Kes love triangle?
@9: I doubt the events of this episode have anything to do with the travesty that is “Fury” (which aired in season 6, not 7) and the insult that it is to the character of Kes. Rather, I think the premise of “Fury” was simply sold by someone in the writers’ room making the story pitch, “Imagine this, Kes returns but this time she’s pissed and wants to kill the crew!”
That’s sad to hear about Galyn Görg. I remember more fondly her role in “The Visitor” on DS9 which while pretty small, was still nicely played and of course it’s in one of my favorite Trek episodes of all time.
It also occurs to me that Warlord may have indirectly inspired UPN and the Voyager staff towards developing what would eventually become Seven of Nine. I can just imagine an executive watching this and thinking “This show needs more sex appeal”. And then I can picture such an executive taking this matter to Rick Berman, who would then take it to the writers, and eventually Brannon Braga would come up with the character. Thankfully, Seven became more than just eye candy.
@15: It’s no coincidence that “Warlord” was aired in November, sweeps month, because an attractive woman strutting around in a tight catsuit and suggested lesbian sexuality was something UPN and the show runners would undoubtedly imagine bringing a spike in the ratings.
@14/GarretH: “alas it couldn’t commit to even a female on female kiss which is strange since it was already done the year prior on DS9. “
DS9 was syndicated, so it was under looser censorship than a network show like Voyager. Also it wasn’t as closely supervised by Rick Berman, who was the one mainly responsible for refusing to include LGBT characters in Trek. So it was able to get away with more.
Or maybe it’s because there was a lot of backlash to “Rejoined” and UPN/Berman were thus too timid to try again. UPN always had to play it safe with Trek, because their network’s survival depended on its success (note that it ceased to exist not long after Enterprise ended).
Even syndication wasn’t free of censorship. Warlord aired about a week after DS9’s abysmal Let he who is without Sin… The perfect example of an episode about sex and a pleasure planet without actually showing any of it, or even any skin other than tame bathing suits (Farrell’s gorgeous swimsuit aside).
@17/CLB: Yes, there was more leeway to do “gay stuff” since DS9 was syndicated and it was already the ugly stepchild of the Star Trek franchise by that point. And yes, there was a lot of backlash to the episode but arguably just as much praise too. Regardless, it generated a lot of attention and controversy so it’s a shame UPN and the show runners couldn’t be a bit more brave with “Warlord.”
I have to disagree with your point about UPN playing it safe though or at least by the time ENT was on the air because there was no shortage of revealing skin during that series, most evident with T’Pol disrobing several times. And also towards the end of ENT’s run, UPN’s success was no longer tied to Trek. UPN’s audience began to skew young female in the early 2000’s with successes like America’s Neat Top Model and Veronica Hill so canceling a relatively expensive show that reached enough episodes for syndication was no longer a big deal. That the network ceased to exist was more a strategic decision to merge with rival network The WB and thus become the stronger CW which cherry-picked the strongest shows from both defunct networks to carry on with the new network (and still exists to this day).
https://www.today.com/popculture/are-nielsens-miscounting-black-viewers-wbna6847858
@18/Eduardo: Plus, of course, local stations could censor syndicated shows that didn’t fit their idea of community standards. Some markets cut the same-sex kiss out of “Rejoined” altogether, just doing a hard cut to commercial.
In another Paramount show, War of the Worlds: The Series (which was the syndication-package partner to ST:TNG seasons 2 & 3), there was an episode in which the alien villains hid evil subliminal messages in a really racy perfume commercial with a nude man and woman in bed together, showing a startling amount of skin for commercial TV c. 1989-90. My local station wouldn’t even show the episode. I had to watch it over the air on a Dayton, OH station broadcasting from 50 miles away.
@19/GarretH: “I have to disagree with your point about UPN playing it safe though or at least by the time ENT was on the air because there was no shortage of revealing skin during that series, most evident with T’Pol disrobing several times.”
It’s not about how much skin is shown, it’s about whether the standards of the era are challenged. TV has been objectifying women’s bodies for decades, and nudity standards have gotten looser and looser over time, so there was nothing exceptional about an early-2000s TV series showing non-frontal female nudity; if anything, ENT’s sophomoric use of gratuitous skin for titillation was a throwback to the ’80s and ’90s and seemed almost quaint for its day. But in the mid-1990s, the time of “Rejoined” and “Warlord,” showing a same-sex kiss on television was still a rare, bold thing. “Rejoined” was one of the first times it was done. So they’re not the same thing at all.
It’s missing the point profoundly to think this is about sexiness. It’s not about bodies, it’s about relationships and whether they’re counted as valid.
And a fair point about the end of UPN, but certainly at the beginning, Voyager was the network’s anchor, the show it was built around and one of its only early shows to have any staying power. So yes, they were determined to play it safe with the show, which was why it fell so far short of its potential.
True, ENT’s use of skin was blatant pandering and you’re right, it’s not the same thing as Berman-era Trek not being brave and progressive enough to show LGBT-oriented characters and relationships.
And agreed, with VOY, that was definitely UPN’s flagship series while it was on and the network played it safe with the show.
I was going to mention this when we got to Favorite Son, but since the thread moved in the direction anyway: One way the internet improved television is the ubiquity of porn.
That is, in the old days, it was viable to have Enterprise exploit skin or run an episode that’s a thinly veiled extremely softcore porn, because for your average horny person this might actually be their best way to get some sexy content. Obviously those days are dead and buried, because now anybody can get porn any time they feel like it. Hence, sure, TV stars are still sexy and the networks aren’t shy about putting them in flattering outfits. But it sure seems like you have a lot fewer trailers/episodes that are just poor man’s porn, in that now the poor man’s porn is just porn.
@22/Rick: Don’t forget Blood Fever, which we’ll be also covering fairly soon….
“You may have my body but you’ll never have my mind.”
Well, this is new: Having been away for most of the weekend when I’d normally have watched this, I’m basically reading this rewatch straight after rewatching this episode. But enough about me…
This is potentially a very dark one. Voyager’s well-meaning actions in saving a shuttle crew leads to several innocent deaths. I think that’s why the Prime Directive doesn’t come up: As Janeway concludes back in “Caretaker”, by the time they realise the situation, they’ve already influenced it and so have to follow through on it. It’s hard to do something as large scale as this should be on a TV budget, so we basically get a planetary coup which doesn’t really get out of the throne room. Still, the utter brutality of Tieran’s initial assault, including shooting the autarch in the chest point blank, helps to sell it even when most of the fighting takes places off screen.
It’s a stupendous episode for both Jennifer Lien the actress and Kes the character. There’s no trace of Kes in Tieran, except when he’s play acting or when Kes is breaking through, allowing Lien to create a different character entirely. And yet Kes is always fighting for control of the situation, a constant irritation to Tieran and finally holding her ground in the dream confrontation. The final conversation with Tuvok about how her life can never be the same again and they don’t know what direction it will go in is another of those moments that’s rather ominous when you know where her character’s going.
The ending is unfortunately rather confused. The direction seems to imply either Tuvok or Paris kills Nori, swinging round to reveal them straight after, but the phaser blast comes from the wrong direction. Also, the whole point of the synaptic simulator is that it uses the transfer device in Kes’ body to remove Tieran’s consciousness, so why does it work on Ameron, who presumably doesn’t have a transfer device?
90s morality means polyamory and bisexuality are presented as signs of depravity. This aspect hasn’t aged that well. I guess the moment where Kes/Tieran goes to kiss Nori and then gets interrupted was as far as TV executives were willing to go at the time.
Given she’s possessed at the time, the viewer would be forgiven for thinking Kes and Neelix’s break-up doesn’t count. But we never see them as a couple again, so apparently Kes came round and went “Wow, that was a great idea, why didn’t I do that before?” Neelix being possessive again didn’t help. I guess it does match what she says at the end.
As noted, the debut of the Talaxian resort programme, basically the replacement for Sandrine’s although I don’t think it lasts past this season. Interesting that it’s Kim rather than the more obvious Paris who adds a trio of swimsuited “sports champions”. (“What sport would that be exactly?”/“Volleyball.”) It’s jarring, especially on first viewing, to now have the Doctor in the briefing room rather than on the screen. The unnamed crewmember Paris relieves at the conn near the start looks oddly like…Paris. Was that Robbie McNeill’s stand-in?
@22/Rick: I actually thought hardcore porn on the Internet was pretty prevalent already by 2001 when ENT premiered. So seeing a lot of skin by the cast was already pretty tame in my opinion compared to what the general audience could find elsewhere. The only things the showing of some PG-13 rated nudity on the show proved was that UPN/Berman and Braga were getting desperate to appear edgy and sex up the show, and that the cast was in fine physical shape.
I can’t help but observe that Tieran is almost certainly not gone for good, considering. The reason the possession didn’t fully succeed is obviously that “Tieran” is only a partial anagram of the villain’s real moniker…
…namely, the Master during one of the periods when he was having trouble holding onto bodies. Most likely this was just before he found his way to Traken….
I always quite liked this episode. I can’t help but feel that Jennifer Lien was never really given much to do in most episodes, so it’s good to see an episode focus on her. And back when this first aired in the 90s, B’Elanna in a swimsuit was a highlight to teenaged me. The story is good, though I agree it’d be nice to see some closure for Kes and Neelix (I’m sure I remember reading that there was a plan to do this which never made it).
Edit: I see from @10 it was the Voyager Companion which talked about the missing scene giving closure to Kes and Neelix’s relationship.
I forgot to mention earlier: There’s an odd moment early on where Janeway orders Kim to beam off the shuttle’s occupants, then almost immediately orders shields up, and Kim doesn’t confirm he got them until after the shuttle’s exploded. Did they just beam someone through shields again?
@25 – I can assure you that it was not prevalent. It was mostly BitTorrent videos downloaded overnight.
@29: I was thinking more of hardcore porn images which were prevalent on the internet but even for porn films on the web, they were relatively fast to watch on QuickTime and Windows Media players. It’s not like downloading was the only way to watch.
Funny how a discussion on sexuality on Star Trek segues into a discussion of hardcore internet porn in the early 2000’s!
I believe on the DVD interviews Phillips mentions a scene that was cut from Fair Trade where Kes and Neelix actually have a real heart to heart about their breakup. Philips was sad that it was never aired.
Jennifer Lien was amazing in this episode. She showed us so much and what she can do. Major shame she left.
Cold Fire showed us that Kes is powerful and has these powers that the series didn’t take advantage of. She has so much potential. This episode made another reference to her powers again and the writers should have developed her powers further. Scorpion and The Gift showcased them so well. Major missed opportunity there.
Warlord showcased Jennifer’s acting sills so much. I know it was between Kim or Kes to leave but I feel that Kes should have been the one to stay. It would have been great to see her powers grow and how she would have grown over the seven seasons.
I recently discovered some “porn” I’d downloaded circa 1998-2000…. four seconds of a girl in a bikini, with the picture quality of a blurry postage stamp.
I have disliked the way Kes is played since the beginning. What puts me off is the simpering, saccharine, borderline lisping vocal characteristics Lien uses, which (I believe I was informed by these posts) is actually Lien’s own natural voice, so my apologies to her for my harsh criticism. BUT…Wow! This ep showed what the actress was really capable of, and I’m impressed.
@34/srEDIT: I don’t think you’re using the word “simpering” correctly. To simper is to put on an affectedly coy and ingratiating smile or attitude — more like Trance Gemini on Andromeda than Kes’s soft-spoken, serene delivery.
And you’re seriously holding the way she pronounces her sibilants against her? You must really hate Sean Connery.
I think Jennifer Lien’s voice is quite nice. The way in which she uses it for Kes’ regular speaking pattern gives it an appropriate serene alien-ness to it. Even Lien’s unusual scream lends itself well to the character because she plays an alien. If anything, I hear more people complain about Kate Mulgrew’s voice (she’s a smoker, right?) and it’s ripe for parody. Garrett Wang does a funny impression of it at conventions and on his Delta Flyers podcast and the guy doing Star Trek reviews on the SF Debris website does his own hilarious take on the voice and Janeway is portrayed as an evil tyrant.
Neelix’s feet are the big takeaway from this one for me. First the foot massage, and then the closeup on his dancing feet at the cut to the music. Makes me think Tarantino did get to direct Star Trek once. Who thought we wanted to see more of Neelix’s feet.
@CLB: to put on an affectedly coy and ingratiating smile or attitude
Well, yes, I do know what “simpering” means, and honestly, that is the impression her vocal mannerisms have given me from the first episode on.
Look, I understand that others do not have this negative impression, and that’s fine. I even agree with garreth that Mulgrew’s vocal inflections also are often unpleasant and ripe for parody (and don’t get me started on Sean Connery). I don’t understand my bias, I have no background experience or rationale that would at least provide an explanation; it’s just “there” and I can’t shake it. But meanwhile, I will state again, that I was very impressed with Lien’s transformation in this episode, and with the subtle messages she was able to communicate with facial expressions.
@17/CLB: “Also it wasn’t as closely supervised by Rick Berman, who was the one mainly responsible for refusing to include LGBT characters in Trek.” I’ve heard this on another review. I believe it but would like to read more. Is there an article or something I could look up? (PS: Thanks especially for writing Watching the Clock!)
@39/toobeefair: This article is a pretty good encapsulation of gay issues/portrayal on Star Trek throughout its existence along with Rick Berman’s empty promises to include gay characters on Star Trek:
https://www.startrek.com/news/your-guide-to-queer-identity-and-metaphor-in-star-trek
Late to the party this week.
This is the episode I think of whenever I think of Kes, but watching this again, Jennifer Lien, and Kes both kick serious ass. Kes tells Tieran, this “little girl” is gonna fuck you up if you don’t leave my mind, and Jennifer Lien is forceful, seductive and terrifying as Tieran.
It’s been said, but I’ll say it again: it’s a damn shame after this amazing performance that by this time next season, Jennifer Lien will be gone. We see the full range of what Jennifer Lien could do, and she kicks ass and takes names. Plot? Oh who cares really? I’m too busy enjoying Jennifer Lien’s performance.
I’m so sad to hear about Gaylin Gorg; I’ll always remember her quiet performance as the older Jake Sisko’s fiance in “The Visitor.”
Sad to hear about Görg.
After Elogium and now the opening scene in this episode I am convinced there must have been a foot fetishist on the writing staff. This one is a good one and giving Lien more to do than the be the Worthy ( but let’s be honest boring) Kes is a good watch. It’s a pretty generic Sc Fi and fantasy trope to have a good guy possessed by a bad guy but it’s played very well here, much more believable than when Bashir was possessed in a similar way back in first season DS9 (although that was first season jackass Bashir) the less said about the holodeck scenes the better though.. not aged well.
Voyager didn’t just save Nori and Adin’s lives – they also saved Tieran too. I thought Kes was trying to get rid of Tieran. Tieran doesn’t want to give people a garden – he (under Kes’ influence) expects the people of Ilari to grow one. The Doctor was part of the crew complement long before Warlord (certainly since Eye of the Needle). When Tieran contacts Voyager, the proper line is “I’m really not a monster.” Yep, I had a hard time believing Leigh J. McCloskey was Tieran since he and Jennifer Lien have two very different takes on the character (one shouts a lot, the other doesn’t).
7: His name’s Tieran and I think Jennifer Lien is rather underused in S3 (except in Before and After). 10: How do the airdates for Warlord and Things Past coincide? Lien will start wearing skintight outfits later in the season (that foreshadow Jeri Ryan’s). 14: Kes must have thought some of the things Tieran said about her and Neelix made sense. Fury has a great hook for an episode but totally blows it in the execution. 18: How do the airdates for Warlord and Let He Who Is Without Sin coincide?
24: Yeah, that’s one good way to get around the Prime Directive – by having an alien race involve you in they’re affairs. Yep, there is a fair bit of telling and not showing (“20 ships and Voyager”). I’m not sure how Kes expelled Tieran from Ameron’s body either. I got used to the Doctor being outside of Sickbay very quickly. 31: The closest thing to a discussion about it was in The Gift. 32: Garrett Wang nearly got the chop but his appearance in People Magazine’s 50 Most Beautiful People List meant his job was safe. 36: Kate Mulgrew quit smoking the following year. 43: Siddig el Fadil would give a much better performance at season’s end in Dramatis Personae.
I watched an episode of Buffy where there was an anonymous telepathic scream, and I spent most of the episode trying to identify whose voice it was. Then it occurred to me that there’s no reason someone’s telepathic voice would sound like their speaking voice, and ever since it stands out to me. In this case, when Kes was speaking to Tuvoc and switches over to speaking to him telepathically.
Garrett Wang and RDM just covered this episode on their podcast and it may just be my favorite review they’ve done so far, mainly because it was so funny. In particular, Robby shares a story about the original wardrobe design he was supposed to wear for the Paxau Resort scenes which he refused to be filmed in. I seriously cried from laughing so hard!
https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5jYXB0aXZhdGUuZm0vdGhlLWRlbHRhLWZseWVycy8/episode/ZWM2ZWYxNGItNmJjZC00YWIxLTlmYzQtNzk2YWNlNjIwNTlk?hl=en&ved=2ahUKEwid5bCg653wAhVJJzQIHZc5Aq4QjrkEegQIJRAH&ep=6
I remember liking this one; I didn’t remember how homoerotic it was.
From 24:
Exactly what I thought when I saw the ending. Are we to assume that Ameron had the transfer device implanted just in case?
@24 cap-mjb:
Yeah, thanks for pointing this out. On the bright side, for many of us, depravity as a notion wasn’t so bad :) Hot Topics were selling us goth gear, Alanis and Tori were proudly singing top pop songs about getting dark and sexy, it was a fascinatingly different sensibility in ways I’m only lately putting together. Seeing a sexy Kes villain demanding a threesome was not a point against the delightful twistedness of the dictatorial threesome . . .
Also, to add, for all that we’d seen it all before, this ep was very smart in little ways. For all that it was predictable, it kept me guessing.
@49/jofesh: “Yeah, thanks for pointing this out.”
I can’t quite tell if my comment annoyed you or not. If it did, my apologies, that wasn’t the intention.