The Controversial Star Trek Episode Even the Producers Hate

By Chris Snellgrove
| Revealed 10 seconds in the past

As massive followers of Star Trek: Voyagerwe at all times like to look at the manufacturing particulars of various episodes to learn the way every of Captain Janeway’s adventures unfolded. More often than not, they’re love tales about how an attention-grabbing thought was born and have become one other memorable installment in Gene Roddenberry’s sprawling sci-fi franchise. However “Faces” is the uncommon case of a Star Trek episode the place even the producers thought it was a very dangerous thought from the beginning.

“Faces,” like most Star Trek episodes, started very in a different way from what we in the end noticed on display. This memorably cut up half-Klingon engineer B’Elanna Torres into two halves (one totally human, one totally Klingon), and as govt producer Michael Piller mentioned, the primary thought for the story posited that it “might be the results of a hideous focus camp.” sort of expertise. This did not precisely excite the manufacturing staff: story editor Kenneth Biller mentioned “the unique thought was very melodramatic and tacky”, and govt producer Jeri Taylor mentioned: ” “I wasn’t even in favor of shopping for that concept initially” and that “it was a drained thought” that “was too attention-grabbing for B’Elanna.”

The ‘faces’ did not impress the celebrities both Star Trek Producer Brannon Braga admitted that “Often when a present introduces the evil twin, it is on its final legs they usually’re determined. » He initially agreed with the thought of ​​eradicating this acquainted TV trope in season 1, later stating, “I at all times thought splitting her up was a mistake, like making Knowledge human.” He questioned why the present felt the necessity to “resolve any of his emotions”, which is an efficient query contemplating that the stress between these dueling halves of his character would proceed all through the sequence.

Of “Faces,” Michael Piller mentioned, “It was a narrative that lots of people struggled with, and it was nearly deserted at one level. ” Nonetheless, the writers and producers stayed the course as a result of they believed {that a} new tackle the traditional Trek trope of splitting a personality in two (a la Kirk in The unique sequence) had enjoyable artistic potential. The finished episode ended up being successful, and the credit score appears to go totally to Kenneth Biller.

As for the ultimate situation of “Faces”, it consists of the Vidiians, a tragic character. stranger race that’s at all times searching for a brand new approach to remedy the Phage that’s continually ravaging their our bodies. A Vidian scientist finally ends up splitting B’elanna Torres into two elements, a loopy methodology of making an attempt to find the remedy. The alien mind finally ends up falling in love with its captive, Magnificence and the Beast type, and the 2 variations of Torres staff up and escape captivity solely to be reincorporated right into a single physique on Voyager.

Biller is the only real author on the “Faces” teleplay, and he had the unenviable process of taking the Star Trek storyline that nobody preferred and turning it into one thing participating. It integrated the alien Vidiians as a approach to make the physique cut up work, and Piller later mentioned that “it wasn’t till Ken Biller acquired the rewrite that it solved all the issues in a single day.”

In the meantime, Jeri Taylor, govt producer and skeptic of the story, admitted that “Ultimately, it turned out quite a bit higher than we had any proper to count on.” Persevering with, she mentioned: “Ken Biller had the thought to marry this concept [of splitting B’Elanna] with the Phage aliensand that is what I believe in the end made it work and made it plausible.

As you may see, “Faces” is a type of Star Trek episodes that was very tough to supply, and it is a small miracle that this story made it to air. That is a very good factor, although, as a result of this episode’s themes of each horror and identification make it one of the vital memorable episodes of TravelerThese are the primary days. The truth that it focuses on Torres (arguably essentially the most attention-grabbing character within the sequence) is the cherry on high of a replicated chocolate cake (we will solely assume Deanna Troi would approve).