When B'Elanna Torres crashes on an alien planet, her only hope to repair the shuttle and contact Voyager is to accept the help of one of the primitive locals. Kelis agrees to help B'Elanna only in exchange for her stories of life "among the gods" on Voyager, so he might adapt them for the stage to please his patron.
Unsurprisingly, this episode sprang from the mind of Joe Menosky -- who gave Star Trek many "high concept' episodes both effective and... less so. "Muse" was a favorite with many behind-the-scenes personnel on the series, who got to build a miniature amphitheater, costume actors in a classical style, and create face masks to evoke Voyager's main characters. The episode is cast with plenty of "stage-trained actors with sci-fi credentials," including Tony Amendola (from Stargate) and John Schuck (from Star Trek IV). They and their co-stars give us a classic Greek chorus, direct "asides" to the audience, and more. It's all a hoot for any theater geek.
Except that it never really feels like a story with danger or stakes. B'Elanna's life is only in jeopardy (a little) in the opening moments, and after that there can be no doubt that she of all characters is going to (literally) engineer a way to get herself off the planet. Kelis the poet is no threat to her, nor does Kelis' Caesar-like patron ever menace her. If you're a deep enough Trekker to care about the violations of the Prime Directive in giving information to a primitive alien society, you might care about that -- but the episode doesn't even dig very deeply into it. All you have to care about is this alien playwright's livelihood... which, for mystifying reasons, B'Elanna actually decides to do in the final act.
As you can tell, I thought the story fell flat. Some of the trappings are entertaining, though. There's drama within the theater troop (as there always is), with a jealous actress thinking that the writer has a romantic interest in B'Elanna. There's insider talk about the process of writing itself -- how a story needs surprises and reversals.... that don't feel like manipulation or tricks. There's also the writer's self-aggrandizing notion that a good piece of writing can literally change the world.
Then there's a lot of meta commentary about Star Trek itself. The writers tell us basically point blank that they refuse to put Janeway and Chakotay together as a couple, by having B'Elanna mock Kelis' version of that story line. A frustrated actor comments on the difficulties of playing a Vulcan, saying that a typical audience would find an emotionless performance to be "bad acting." Another actor's instinct is to play Seven of Nine for sex appeal, because she thinks that's what the story needs to be entertaining.
Still, the episode almost stalwartly refuses to go near any real emotion or action. Tom Paris has lost both his girlfriend and his best friend, but still can keep it light enough to laugh at a sleep-deprived Tuvok falling asleep in the captain's chair. Kim's ordeal to survive a nights-long walk of over 200 kilometers, all alone and in hostile territory, sounds way more interesting that what's happening to B'Elanna -- but I guess it's too expensive to show us (and doesn't involve Greek theater).
Other observations:
- It strains belief that Kelis is able to understand the Delta Flyer's technology enough to play log entries, when his understanding of science is at a "let's bleed this wounded patient to help her" level.
- Why is it such a sore subject for B'Elanna to talk about Tom Paris? If you're ashamed to talk about the partner you're with, that's saying a lot.
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