#834:"Deatwish" Betyg: @@@@ Stardate: 49301.2
F.A: 19 Feb '96
Regi: James L. Conway
Manus: Michael Piller
Story: Shawn Piller
Gäst skådisar:
Gerrit Graham som Quincy/Q3
Peter Dennis som Sir Isaac Newton
Maury Ginsberg som.... SIG SJÄLV !
Jonathan Frakes som William Thomas Riker
John DeLancie som Q
Voyager stöter på en komet som beter sig mycket mysko, och det väcker
nyfikenhet hos Janeway. Hon skickar Torres för att beama upp ett
exemplar, och upp beamas.... en Star Fleet officer. Som uppger sig
heta Q (som jag härmed döper till Q3). Janeway går direkt till Red
alert (vilken min!).
Fast han tycker det vore mycket trevligare med middag, så han trollar
sig själv och Janeway till mässen. Han tackar henne för att hon
släppte ut honom från sin fängelsehåla, vilket Janeway inte fattar hur
det är möjligt. Han säger oxå att han är avundsjuk på Kes som bara
lever i 9 år, för han vill bara gå och dö, men det får han inte.
Så börjar han rabbla sina sista ord, men när han skall trolla
misslyckas han rejält och trollar bort alla män på Voyager.
Och helt plötsligt kommer den gamla "hederliga" Q på besök, som
inleder med att tracka den kvinnliga kaptenen.
Snäll som han är (av någon anledning) trollar Q tillbaks alla män, och
fortsätter med att tracka Chakotay.
Q3 begär då asyl på Voyager, vilket Q tycker är patetiskt men Q3
transporterar Voyager till ett "gammal gömställe" - strax innan "the
Big Bang". Tyvärr hittar Q dom, så Q3 trollar igen - och nu är dom
lika stora som en foton (säger bara - "ready a photon"!). Q hittar dom
där oxå, så Q3 trollar igen och nu är dom... julgransdekoration. Fast
Q hittar dom där oxå.
Nu har Janeway fått nog och lackar ur rejält på dessa smågossar, så nu
går hon med på att ha en liten rättegång för att bestämma om asyl.
Q3 poppar förbi Tuvok för att be honom att representera honom i
rättegången, och han accepterar.
Q3 motiverar sin vilja att dö med att han står inte ut med att vara
odödlig längre, han har blivit utråkad av allt och alla.
Q kontrar med att kalla ett vittne som är expert på Q - sig själv.
Han erkänner att han inte vet vad som skulle hända med Q continuum,
och det tycker Q3 är anledningen att dom inte låter honom begå
självmord - för att dom är rädda för det okända.
Så Q vill kalla lite fler vittnen som kan förklara hur viktigt Qs liv
är - och in kommer Sir Isaac Newton, Maury Ginsburg och... Will Riker.
Newton känner igen Q3 som killen under äppelträdet som inspererade
honom till teorin om jordens gravitation. Ginsberg känner igenom honom
som mannen som räddade Woodstock konserten.
Riker känner inte igenom honom först, men han får se ett foto på en
förfäder som räddades under inbördeskriget av Q3.
(tyvärr inte "Stanley Hazard" :( )
Tuvok kontrar med att visa hur Q3 har "levt" under de senaste 300 åren
och kommer att fortsätta att bo i oändligheten om han inte får asyl.
Janeway går igenom allt hon kan hitta i denna fråga, men hittar bara
en urgammal Booliansk regel.
Janeway försöker snacka med Q om att vara snäll mot Q3, men Q vill
inte vara snäll mot Q3 utan erbjuder istället en tjänst - ta Voyager
tillbaks till jorden. Om Janeway nekar Q3 asyl.
Nu vill Q3 demonstrera för Janeway hur det är att leva som en Q, så
dom beger sig till en visuell representation av deras existens.
Och vips är dom i en öken, vid ett hus, med en fågelskrämma, några
krocketlirare... en mycket tråkig tillvaro.
Q3 påpekar att Q oxå vet hur det är att vara liten revolutionär, och
hur ironiskt det är att denna f.d rebellen nu förespråkar deras
livsstil.
Q börjar funder över vad Q3 sagt om Q continuum, men han har
fortfarande ett jobba att göra. Så han dyker upp i Janeways säng för
att säga att dom gått med på att inte skicka tillbaka Q3 till sitt
fängelse, och på köpet transporterar dom Voyager till jorden.
Eftersom Janeway tror mer på individens rättigheter än statens vilja
ger hon Q3 asyl.
Så när Q3 försöker trolla går det inte eftersom han nu är vanlig
dödlig människa, och Janeway ber honom att tänka efter, om detta nya
liv inte vore värt att utforska hellre än att begå självmord.
Tyvärr kommer han inte på någon anledning att leva utan begår
självmord. Assisterad av Q som levererade det dödliga giftet han åt.
Den lilla rebellen i Q är igång igen :)
Kontinuitet:
Dom farliga Baryon partiklarna härstammar från TNG:"Starship Mine" där
Enterprise var tvungen att evakueras för att rense bort alla
partiklar. Förekom även i TNG:"Suspicions" där dom trodde att
partiklarna var orsaken till Jo'Brils död.
Rasen Bolians börjar bli mer och mer vanlig som referens till annan
kultur (tex. sist när Doc valde namn, eller när dom diskuterade tidig
graviditet).
Trivia:
Karaktären Maury Ginsberg hade inget namn från början, men enligt
Piller gillade alla skådisens namn så mycket att dom döpte karaktären
efter honom.
Två saker som skippades pga tidsbrist - Q kommenterar att dom måste
göra något åt Janeways hår, och så driver han med Tim Russ om det
faktumet att han inte fick rollen som Geordi LaForge i TNG.
I TNG:"Descent", där Sir Isaace Newton dök upp i ST för första gången,
spelades han av John Neville, men här spelas han av Peter Dennis.
Alla på Voyager ville ha med Q i Voyager på något sätt, tom. Kate
Mulgrew som är en gammal vän till DeLancie, men det krävdes ett
exceptionellt manus för att motivera att han kommer dit, och att han
sen inte skickar Voyager hem. Det manuset kom från Michael Pillers 23
åriga son, Shawn, som även skrev uppföljaren "The Q and the Grey".
Kommentarer:
Michael Piller: "Everyone wanted to see Q, but we were just not
willing to create a Q episode. We knew he could go anywhere in the
universe, but we had to have a story that justified it. I was never
happy with the Q episode we did for DS9. It just reeked of stunt
casting. We really wanted a show that would advance the character of Q
and as it turned out the race of Q and when my son heard me talking
about this at home, he came up with the idea that all of us had been
looking for for years, and that is a true creative achievement. I
think Shawn's perception of me as a father and as a boss is about the
same. My expectations of him were high and I think he responded to
that after a while. You know fathers and sons go through that kind of
turmoil, but he's very eager to learn. He's got a natural creative
talent and the bottom line is we've been looking for a Q story that we
would feel comfortable with."
Jeri Taylor: "There was a great deal of discussion whether we could
legitimately get Q on this ship. [..] What were we saying? That Q only
appears to starships that have their own series? Why this one? Could
we develop a relationship between him and Janeway that wouldn't be a
repitition of his relationship with Picard. We had no interest in
doing that. Michael's son, Shawn Piller, sold the story to us that
found a way to get him there which was via the other Q. We
inadvertently beam him on board and he needs someone who knows about
humans. Who Better than John DeLancie for that? So it worked and if it
worked we were happy to do it and we will probably continue using him.
We are not going to bring him on just to bring him on. There has to be
a story good enough to justify it."
John DeLancie: "I think Kate wanted me to be on the show. [..] I think
Rick [Berman] wanted me to be on the show. It just requires a script,
that's all. It requires somebody sitting down and writing it. I think
that their concerns and their expectations have grown as the
popularity of this character has grown, exponentially.
So the task
each time seems more dauting than the [last]. How are we going to
bring him back in a way that is new and revealing? It's daunting for
me. What can I play this time that would be different and a new facet,
a new filter to push all this through? In nine episodes you can begin
to get a better appreciation of who the character is.
We're all making
this up by the seat of our pants ["Oh great, 'the seat of our pants
technology!", Dax - "The Seige"], but at least there are nine attempts
to bring in something new. In some instances the scripts were not far
enough from the last one to really be dramatically new, and then
others [were] a real departure. I think one gets a little overwhelmed
sometimes. [..] I know that there was a discussion at one point where
they said 'You know Q could take them all back', I said 'Yes that's
tru, [but] you might imagine a dialogue that goes like this 'Q, can
you get us back?' 'Yes I can' 'Well, will you?' 'No, I don't think I
will' and that's the end of it.
My feelings is that if the audience is
willing to accept Marcel Marceau [1] walking across the stage pulling
an imaginary leash which is attached to an imaginary dog, they're
willing to go just about anywhere. There needs to be certain logical
things in place, but not too many. We're putting together edifices
["ståtligt byggnadsverk", stoff anm] of the imagination and they don't
need quite the underpinnings that are necessary in real life. [..]"
[om avsnittet i fråga]
"I thought that it was very poignant what was revealed, the fact that
we are in this omnipotent society which seems to have major problems
of its own, to the extent that on if its member even wants to end it
all.
I love the idea that at ine time we were the Algonquin Club [2]
of the universe, but don't find any joy in anything. I thought that
was very interesting. [..] The whole argument concerning the idea that
suicide would be a rent in the fabric [of society], and yet the
contradiction was that an execution wasn't. I forget exactly what the
lines are because I don't remember them very much past when I have to
say them, but [I say] something to the effect that 'It's the crime
that rents the fabric, and the execution pits it back together again',
I though that was a very powerful statement, on the side of, in this
case, capital punishment. Whether one believes in capital punishment
or not, I though it was very interesting that they were willing to go
that far into the issue, and make that argument.
I liked that train of
thought. [..] It was a very different show than is usually the case
for me. Of course I had only done nine of them, up until that point,
but I didn't think that [this script] warranted too much spin, and
smoke and mirrors, that she [screen]play itself held most of the water
and that we really needed to just deal with the issues in the play as
much as possible. Assisted suicide and euthanasia, capital punishment,
these are pretty topics.
I think Michael Piller and Shawn Piller were
able to do what I think Star Trek does best, when it's really on its
game. It can discuss these issues, and being far away out there in
space I guess we get a little bit of perspective. I thought it was
good Star Trek.
[om att jobba med Kate Mulgrew och Jonathan Frakes]
I always enjoy working with Kate. We've know eachother for a long
time. You're so used to working with people you don't know, every once
in a while, when you do get to know somebody you know, it's just fun
to do.
There are familiarities that creep into all of it that are
enjoyable and make for a nice day. [..] We had a great time on one
particular day.
I saw Jonatahn not too long after that and he said
'That was one of the most fun days I've ever had', and I said 'I feel
the exact same way'. It was when Isaac Newton and the gang were there.
All day we were in that little room and we just had a hoot."
Citat:
Torres: "He sais his name is Q ?!"
Janeway: "RED ALERT!!!"
"She never told me she liked rabbits! What is a rabbit?
Is this some new chef she's interviewing?"
- Neelix
"I suppose that's what happens when you put a woman in the captains-<
seat."
- Q
"Facial art! How very wilderness of you!"
- Q to Chakotay
Torres: "This ship will not survive the formation of the cosmos!"
Q: "But think of the honor of having your DNA spread throughout the
universe!"
Q: "I'll stalemate you if I have to."
Janeway: "THE HELL YOU WILL!"
"You're angry when you beautifull."
- Q to Janeway
"Please don't call me 'madame captain'!"
- Janeway to Q
Tuvok: "Have the Q always had an absence of manners, or is it the result
of some natural evolutionary process that comes with
omnipotence?."
Ginsberg: "Far out!"
Q: "Yes."
Q: "Without Q there would have been no William T. Riker at all, and I
would have lost atleast a dussin really good opporunities to
insult him over the years."
Janeway: "One thing you've never been is a liar."
Q: "I think you have uncovered my one redeeming virtue. Am I
blushing?"
"You did introduce us to the Borg. Thank you very much."
- Janeway to Q
"For us, the decease is immortality."
- Q
"I know how to show a girl a good time."
- Q
"You have authority and preserve your feminity so well."
- Q to Janeway
"You've been in my chamber enough!"
- Janeway to Q
Övrigt trivia:
1 : Marceau, Marcel: 1923-, French mime. Famed for his sad-faced clown
character, Bip, he has performed frequently with his
company in the U.S. since 1955.
2 : För mer info om indianstammen:
http://www.dickshovel.com/alg.html