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Barge of the Dead (Voyager episode)
Encyclopedia
"Barge of the Dead" is an episode of the science fiction
television series Star Trek: Voyager
, the third episode of the sixth season. The episode has an average rating of 4/5 on the official Star Trek
website as of September, 2009.
It gives a somewhat uncommon glimpse into Klingon
mythology, most notably concerning Gre'Thor, the Klingon version of Hell, and the role of the Barge of the Dead. It was based on an early idea for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
episode "Soldiers of the Empire".
It was never determined in the episode if B'Elanna's trip is real or simply her mind playing through the psychological implications of her childhood.
, leaves the ship to track down a long range probe. On the way, her shuttlecraft
encounters an ion storm
. Torres performs a high speed landing into the shuttle bay, assisted by a tractor pulse
to slow her crash landing. Sustaining only minor injuries, B'Elanna is shown recovering in sickbay after Tom Paris
, examines her while she was still in the shuttle.
The crew discovers a strange piece of Klingon metal which was found when the shuttle crashed, presumably carried into Voyager after B'Elanna encountered it in the ion storm. When Chakotay
brings the metal to her and they discover it came from the Klingon Empire, they exchange remarks about how the Empire may have been to the Delta Quadrant hundreds of years earlier. Harry Kim
comes to B'Elanna's room later to discuss the metal as well, and after he leaves, the metal suddenly starts to seep blood all over the table. When Torres examines it further, the blood disappears. The scene changes to B'Elanna and Ensign Kim scanning the device in the engineering section of the ship, where Kim remarks that their scans seem to agree that it is simply a piece of metal and that it is very late at night for them both to be up. Neelix
, the crew's head chef and official morale officer, greets B'Elanna, and reveals that he plans to throw a Klingon themed party celebrating the find of the metal out in the Delta Quadrant.
Before the party begins, B'Elanna is with Lt. Commander Tuvok
, the ship's tactical officer and one of only a few Vulcans
aboard. He is helping B'Elanna discuss her possible hallucination concerning the blood seeping from the metal. Suddenly, Tuvok's attitude starts an odd change, as he begins to sound very pro-Klingon in his remarks. Tuvok begins demonstrating to B'Elanna the technique for wielding a Bat'leth after B'Elanna states that it is a "crude weapon". He cuts her on the cheek with it. B'Elanna is then dismissed in apparent shock, and the scene changes to Neelix's party.
At the party, various members of the crew, including the Doctor
and Seven of Nine
, are shown to apparently be getting into the spirit of the party. As Kathryn Janeway
, Voyagers captain, prepares to make a speech, B'Elanna witnesses reality distort; as things move in slow motion, the background lighting changes to red, and she views Klingons moving through the crowd. Suddenly, they attack and massacre the entire crowd, and when one attacks B'Elanna, she suddenly finds herself on the Barge of the Dead.
On the Barge, several Klingons are seen attempting to brand B'Elanna with a mark intended to indicate Klingons who were, due to their dishonor, destined for Gre'Thor. B'Elanna learns from Kortar, the Barge's pilot and the first Klingon who ever lived (now doomed to steer dishonored souls to Gre'Thor on the barge for killing the Klingon gods. Although it is unknown who sentenced him to this punishment.), that it is not her time. B'Elanna witnesses her mother, Miral, suddenly appear on the barge. B'Elanna awakens from an apparent coma.
It is soon revealed that she never actually came out of the crash from the shuttlecraft conscious, but was in a coma for quite some time until she could finally be revived. Thinking about all that happened, B'Elanna seems to become determined to find and rescue her mother, and goes over some ancient scrolls from the Klingon mythology which are in Voyagers database. Learning of a ritual that the warrior Kahless
once undertook to save his own brother from Gre'Thor, B'Elanna convinces Janeway to allow her to be induced into a coma, in order to return to the Barge, and exchange her soul for her mother's. Then she would suddenly be revived in order for them both to escape Gre'Thor. When B'Elanna comes back to the Barge, Kortar reveals that he is aware of her attempt to save both herself and her mother by "cheating" as B'Elanna's mother puts it. He asks her whether or not she would truthfully sacrifice herself to Gre'Thor so that her mother could enter Sto-Vo-Kor. She agrees, and enters Gre'Thor, where she appears on a dimly lit version of Voyager, and it is revealed to her that her eternal punishment will be to live on a facsimile of the ship.
When B'Elanna is once again told that it was "not her time", she appears in several different scenes confronting the crew and her mother, where she finally learns that it was her uncontrolled anger that gave her such dishonor to warrant Gre'Thor. She speaks with her mother's spirit, both saying they will meet one day in Sto-Vo-Kor. B'Elanna renounces the anger that has dishonored her and comes to on the real Voyager.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
television series Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. Set in the 24th century from the year 2371 through 2378, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while...
, the third episode of the sixth season. The episode has an average rating of 4/5 on the official Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
website as of September, 2009.
It gives a somewhat uncommon glimpse into Klingon
Klingon
Klingons are a fictional warrior race in the Star Trek universe.Klingons are recurring villains in the 1960s television show Star Trek: The Original Series, and have appeared in all five spin-off series and eight feature films...
mythology, most notably concerning Gre'Thor, the Klingon version of Hell, and the role of the Barge of the Dead. It was based on an early idea for the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe...
episode "Soldiers of the Empire".
It was never determined in the episode if B'Elanna's trip is real or simply her mind playing through the psychological implications of her childhood.
Plot
B'Elanna TorresB'Elanna Torres
B'Elanna Torres is a main character in Star Trek: Voyager played by Roxann Dawson. She is portrayed as a half-human half-Klingon born in 2349 on the Federation colony Kessik IV. Torres joined the Maquis in 2370 and was serving on the Val Jean when brought to the Delta Quadrant...
, leaves the ship to track down a long range probe. On the way, her shuttlecraft
Shuttlecraft (Star Trek)
In the Star Trek fictional universe, a shuttlecraft is a small auxiliary spaceship carried by the larger craft such as the Enterprise. Shuttlecraft were documented in the writer's guide for the series in 1966 and first appeared in the episode The Galileo Seven. Galileo was the name of the...
encounters an ion storm
Solar wind
The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time...
. Torres performs a high speed landing into the shuttle bay, assisted by a tractor pulse
Tractor beam
A tractor beam is a device with the ability to attract one object to another from a distance. Since the 1990s, technology and research has labored to make it a reality, mostly at microscopic level. Less commonly, a similar beam that repels is called a pressor beam or repulsor beam...
to slow her crash landing. Sustaining only minor injuries, B'Elanna is shown recovering in sickbay after Tom Paris
Tom Paris
Thomas Eugene "Tom" Paris, played by Robert Duncan McNeill, is a character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Paris serves as the chief helmsman and an auxiliary medic aboard the USS Voyager...
, examines her while she was still in the shuttle.
The crew discovers a strange piece of Klingon metal which was found when the shuttle crashed, presumably carried into Voyager after B'Elanna encountered it in the ion storm. When Chakotay
Chakotay
Chakotay , played by Robert Beltran, is a character in Star Trek: Voyager. He is the First Officer of the USS Voyager.-Character biography:...
brings the metal to her and they discover it came from the Klingon Empire, they exchange remarks about how the Empire may have been to the Delta Quadrant hundreds of years earlier. Harry Kim
Harry Kim (Star Trek)
Ensign Harry S. L. Kim, played by Garrett Wang, is a character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. He serves as the USS Voyagers operations officer.-Depiction:...
comes to B'Elanna's room later to discuss the metal as well, and after he leaves, the metal suddenly starts to seep blood all over the table. When Torres examines it further, the blood disappears. The scene changes to B'Elanna and Ensign Kim scanning the device in the engineering section of the ship, where Kim remarks that their scans seem to agree that it is simply a piece of metal and that it is very late at night for them both to be up. Neelix
Neelix
Mr. Neelix is a fictional character in the television series Star Trek: Voyager. He is played by actor Ethan Phillips.-Fictional Biography:Mr. Neelix is a Talaxian originally from Rinax, a moon of the planet Talax, in the Delta quadrant, although his great-grandfather was Mylean. His entire family...
, the crew's head chef and official morale officer, greets B'Elanna, and reveals that he plans to throw a Klingon themed party celebrating the find of the metal out in the Delta Quadrant.
Before the party begins, B'Elanna is with Lt. Commander Tuvok
Tuvok
Tuvok is one of the main characters on the television series Star Trek: Voyager. Tuvok is a Vulcan who serves as the ship's chief of security and its chief tactical officer. Tim Russ portrayed Tuvok throughout the show's run, from 1995 to 2001....
, the ship's tactical officer and one of only a few Vulcans
Vulcan (Star Trek)
Vulcans, or sometimes Vulcanians, are an extraterrestrial humanoid species in the Star Trek universe who evolved on the planet Vulcan, and are noted for their attempt to live by reason and logic with no interference from emotion. They were the first extraterrestrial species in the Star Trek...
aboard. He is helping B'Elanna discuss her possible hallucination concerning the blood seeping from the metal. Suddenly, Tuvok's attitude starts an odd change, as he begins to sound very pro-Klingon in his remarks. Tuvok begins demonstrating to B'Elanna the technique for wielding a Bat'leth after B'Elanna states that it is a "crude weapon". He cuts her on the cheek with it. B'Elanna is then dismissed in apparent shock, and the scene changes to Neelix's party.
At the party, various members of the crew, including the Doctor
Doctor (Star Trek)
The Doctor, an Emergency Medical Hologram Mark I , is a fictional character from the television series Star Trek: Voyager, played by actor Robert Picardo...
and Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine
Seven of Nine is a fictional character on Star Trek: Voyager, portrayed by actress Jeri Ryan. Born human, she was assimilated by the Borg at the age of six. Eighteen years later, Voyager left Borg space with Seven on board, after attempts to negotiate passage through Borg space proved only...
, are shown to apparently be getting into the spirit of the party. As Kathryn Janeway
Kathryn Janeway
Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, is a fictional character in the Star Trek franchise. As the captain of the Starfleet starship USS Voyager, she was the lead character on the television series Star Trek: Voyager, and later, a Starfleet admiral, as seen in the 2002 feature film Star Trek...
, Voyagers captain, prepares to make a speech, B'Elanna witnesses reality distort; as things move in slow motion, the background lighting changes to red, and she views Klingons moving through the crowd. Suddenly, they attack and massacre the entire crowd, and when one attacks B'Elanna, she suddenly finds herself on the Barge of the Dead.
On the Barge, several Klingons are seen attempting to brand B'Elanna with a mark intended to indicate Klingons who were, due to their dishonor, destined for Gre'Thor. B'Elanna learns from Kortar, the Barge's pilot and the first Klingon who ever lived (now doomed to steer dishonored souls to Gre'Thor on the barge for killing the Klingon gods. Although it is unknown who sentenced him to this punishment.), that it is not her time. B'Elanna witnesses her mother, Miral, suddenly appear on the barge. B'Elanna awakens from an apparent coma.
It is soon revealed that she never actually came out of the crash from the shuttlecraft conscious, but was in a coma for quite some time until she could finally be revived. Thinking about all that happened, B'Elanna seems to become determined to find and rescue her mother, and goes over some ancient scrolls from the Klingon mythology which are in Voyagers database. Learning of a ritual that the warrior Kahless
Kahless
In the fictional Star Trek universe, Kahless the Unforgettable is a legendary Klingon portrayed in Star Trek: The Original Series by Robert Herron and in Star Trek: The Next Generation by Kevin Conway.-History of Kahless:...
once undertook to save his own brother from Gre'Thor, B'Elanna convinces Janeway to allow her to be induced into a coma, in order to return to the Barge, and exchange her soul for her mother's. Then she would suddenly be revived in order for them both to escape Gre'Thor. When B'Elanna comes back to the Barge, Kortar reveals that he is aware of her attempt to save both herself and her mother by "cheating" as B'Elanna's mother puts it. He asks her whether or not she would truthfully sacrifice herself to Gre'Thor so that her mother could enter Sto-Vo-Kor. She agrees, and enters Gre'Thor, where she appears on a dimly lit version of Voyager, and it is revealed to her that her eternal punishment will be to live on a facsimile of the ship.
When B'Elanna is once again told that it was "not her time", she appears in several different scenes confronting the crew and her mother, where she finally learns that it was her uncontrolled anger that gave her such dishonor to warrant Gre'Thor. She speaks with her mother's spirit, both saying they will meet one day in Sto-Vo-Kor. B'Elanna renounces the anger that has dishonored her and comes to on the real Voyager.