Barge of the Dead

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"Barge of the Dead"
Star Trek: Voyager episode
Episode no.Season 6
Episode 3
Directed byMike Vejar
Story byRonald D. Moore
Bryan Fuller
Teleplay byBryan Fuller
Featured musicDavid Bell
Production code223
Original air dateOctober 6, 1999 (1999-10-06)
Guest appearances
Episode chronology
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"Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy"
Star Trek: Voyager season 6
List of episodes

"Barge of the Dead" is an episode of the American

Delta Quadrant, far from the rest of the Federation
.

In this episode, the half-

Kortar
, who ferries the souls of the dishonored on the Barge of the Dead, and Sherman Augustus as the dead Klingon Hij'Qa.

Moore originally developed the episode as part of a pitch for the

Nielsen rating of 3.8/6 ratings share, meaning 3.8 percent of all households with a television viewed it and six percent of homes then viewing television were tuned to it. It was a drop from the episode broadcast the previous week. Critical response to the episode was mixed; some television critics
commended the focus on Torres, and praised Dawson's performance, while others were critical of the representation of Klingon spirituality.

Plot

While returning from an away mission,

Gre'thor
on the Barge of the Dead, and that her mother Miral was placed aboard as a dishonored soul.

Torres awakes to find she has been in a

Sto-vo-kor (a version of the afterlife similar to the Norse Valhalla
) while Torres is escorted into Gre'thor. She discovers that Voyager is her version of Gre'thor, and is confronted by alternate versions of the crew. Miral returns to explain that she cannot fully be released into Sto-vo-kor until Torres completes her journey. Tuvok attacks Torres again with a bat'leth, but she surrenders rather than fighting back. Miral identifies this as the first step in her path. She informs Torres that they will reunite either in Sto-vo-kor or when Torres returns home. Torres is resuscitated and embraced by Janeway.

Production

A man with shoulder length hair is looking towards the camera.
Ronald D. Moore originally pitched the idea for "Barge of the Dead" as a Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode before it was produced for Star Trek: Voyager.

The 43-minute, 56-second episode

season".[4] The barge would later appear in Star Trek Online, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed by Cryptic Studios based on the Star Trek franchise.[5]

Moore contributed to only two episodes in Star Trek: Voyager, the other being "Survival Instinct", the immediate predecessor to "Barge of the Dead". Discussing why he left the series, he said he wanted to further develop more of its story arcs and characters, particularly focusing on the "internal strife among people trapped aboard ship(s) without any reasonable hope of finding sanctuary anytime soon".[6]

Fuller also left Star Trek: Voyager after the completion of the episode, citing disappointment in his lack of control over the show's direction.

Kortar, who ferries the souls of the dishonored on the Barge of the Dead, and Sherman Augustus as the dead Klingon Hij'Qa.[3]

Analysis

A painting of a man guiding a group of people on a boat through a river.
Critics compared the episode's representation of Gre'thor to mythological views of the afterlife, such as the rainbow bridge Bifröst or the river Styx (pictured).

season seven episodes "Lineage" and "Author, Author" resolving her estrangement from her father.[11][13]

"Barge of the Dead" was the first episode to provide a detailed account of Gre'thor, which was previously referenced only in Star Trek: The Next Generation. The title was developed from "the Klingon belief that the dead travel to Gre'thor on a barge steered by a ferryman".

Fek'lhr, who tortures the souls of the dishonored, as being in line with Catholic views of Satan.[16]

Kraemer, Cassidy, and Schwartz argued that "Barge of the Dead" mirrored the Star Trek: The Next Generation season six episode "Rightful Heir" by not providing a clear answer as to whether Torres' experiences in the Klingon afterlife were real or part of an hallucination.[14] The Native American studies scholar Sierra S. Adare was critical of the portrayal of Chakotay—a Native American character—as dismissive of Torres' sincere belief in her experiences, writing that "[n]o Native person would ever dismiss another's visions as hallucinations or tell them to ignore their religious beliefs". She cited it as one instance in which the series represented Chakotay as "the quintessential Tonto in outer space".[17]

Broadcast history and release

"Barge of the Dead" was first broadcast on October 6, 1999, on

Nielsen rating of 3.8/6 ratings share.[20] This means 3.8 percent of all households with a television viewed the episode, while among those households watching TV during this time period six percent of them were actively watching the program.[21] "Barge of the Dead" placed in 93rd place overall for the week. This marked a drop in viewership compared to the previous episode, "Survival Instinct", which had earned a 3.9 rating.[20]

The episode was first released for home media use on

Amazon Video,[25] iTunes,[1] Hulu,[26] and Netflix.[27]

Critical reception

A woman with short brown hair and a black top is talking into a microphone while gesturing with her left hand.
Roxann Dawson, pictured in 2003, was praised for her performance.

Television critics responded positively to Dawson's performance and the episode's focus on Torres. IGN's Peter Schorn wrote that the episode was "[a]nchored by Dawson's panicked performance", and praised the focus on the character's internal conflict.[24] While reviewing the episode as a part of the "Torres Trilogy", Edward James Hines praised it as "impressively manag[ing] to weave an evolving story of personal exploration"; he wrote that all of the episodes involved in the trilogy left a "legacy of imaginative, gut-wrenching storytelling".[10]

The representation of Klingon mythology garnered negative reviews from critics. Despite her praise of Dawson,

main cast.[30]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b "Star Trek: Voyager, Season 6". iTunes Store. January 16, 1995. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017.
  2. ^ Ruditis (2003): p. 325.
  3. ^ a b c Teleplay: Bryan Fuller Story: Ronald D. Moore & Bryan Fuller. Director: Mike Vejar (October 6, 1999). "Barge of the Dead". Star Trek: Voyager. Season 6. UPN.
  4. Tor.com. Tor Books. Archived
    from the original on May 19, 2017.
  5. ^ Bainbridge (2013): pp. 52–53.
  6. ^ Pank & Caro (2009): p. 200.
  7. ^
    Blastr. Archived
    from the original on May 19, 2017.
  8. ^ Hruska, Joel (February 10, 2016). "Bryan Fuller to helm new Star Trek series: What do his past episodes tell us about the new show?". ExtremeTech. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017.
  9. Titan Magazines. December 22, 2010. Archived
    from the original on March 8, 2013.
  10. ^ a b c Hines, Edward James (October 6, 1999). "Barge of the Dead". TrekToday. Christian Höhne Sparborth. Archived from the original on May 22, 2017.
  11. ^ a b Ruditis (2003): p. 7.
  12. ^ Ruditis (2003): p. 319.
  13. ^ Ruditis (2003): p. 315.
  14. ^ a b Kraemer, Cassidy, & Schwartz (2009)
  15. ^ Wenskus (2017): p. 455.
  16. ^ Grech (2016): p. 81.
  17. ^ Adare (2009): p. 95.
  18. CBS Interactive. Archived
    from the original on May 19, 2017.
  19. ^ Brooks & Marsh (2009): p. 973.
  20. ^ a b "Nielsen Ratings: Season 6". Users.telenet.be. Archived from the original on August 21, 2014.
  21. ^ "Frequently Asked Questions About Nielsen Ratings". The Futon Critic. September 19, 2010. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017.
  22. OCLC 58752761. Archived
    from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  23. OCLC 1137680248. Archived
    from the original on February 19, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2021.
  24. ^ a b Schorn, Peter (August 1, 2006). "Star Trek: Klingon (Fan Collective)". IGN. Archived from the original on September 5, 2017.
  25. Amazon Video. Archived
    from the original on May 19, 2017.
  26. ^ "Star Trek: Voyager, Season 1". Hulu. Archived from the original on September 26, 2016.
  27. ^ "Star Trek: Voyager". Netflix. Archived from the original on April 20, 2017.
  28. ^ Green, Michelle Erica (January 13, 2004). "Barge of the Dead". TrekToday. Christian Höhne Sparborth. Archived from the original on May 19, 2017.
  29. Den of Geek!. Dennis Publishing. Archived
    from the original on May 19, 2017.
  30. ^ Baker-Whitelaw, Gavia (August 20, 2017). "9 Klingon episodes to watch on Netflix before 'Star Trek: Discovery'". The Daily Dot. Archived from the original on May 16, 2019.

Book sources

External links
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