Favorite Son (Star Trek: Voyager)
"Favorite Son" | |
---|---|
Star Trek: Voyager episode | |
Episode no. | Season 3 Episode 20 |
Directed by | Marvin V. Rush |
Written by | Lisa Klink |
Featured music | Dennis McCarthy[1] |
Production code | 162 |
Original air date | March 19, 1997 |
Running time | 45 minutes[1] |
Guest appearances | |
| |
"Favorite Son" is an episode of the American
In the episode, Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) experiences déjà vu and develops a rash when the Voyager enters a new sector of the Delta Quadrant. Mostly female aliens known as Taresians tell him that he is not human but is a member of their species. On discovering this is a ruse by the female aliens to attract and kill their men during reproduction, the crew rescues Kim and restores him to his original state. Deborah May and Kristanna Loken play two of the Taresians, Patrick Fabian portrays a man tricked by them and Irene Tsu appears as Kim's mother.
Klink originally developed the script to reveal that Kim is an alien, but this concept was abandoned following multiple rewrites. Wang preferred the original idea, believing it gave his character greater depth and further storyline opportunities. However, the show's writers thought it would be too unbelievable. During filming, the cast and crew adapted the plot as a take on a male fantasy, and Rush modeled the Taresians on geishas. Scholars have discussed "Favorite Son" as a reference to Odysseus' encounter with the Sirens, and analyzed the Taresians' method of sexual reproduction. According to Nielsen, the episode was watched by 6.17 million viewers, a drop from the previous week. The show's cast and crew had a mixed response to "Favorite Son", while the episode received largely negative reviews from critics who viewed the Taresians as sexist stereotypes.
Plot
On entering a new sector of the
After befriending a male Taresian, Taymon, Kim learns that since the Taresians are predominantly female, men are treated as valuable. He participates in Taymon's marriage ceremony with three women. Meanwhile, Voyager attempts to negotiate with the Nasari captain Alben for safe passage. The Doctor discovers Kim is human and a
Production
Concept and development
In her original script, Lisa Klink intended for "Favorite Son" to reveal Harry Kim was really an alien, a storyline that would have continued throughout the series.[3][4] The character would have remained part of Voyager's crew after struggling with the news.[5] Kim's actor Garrett Wang explained in a 1998 The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine interview that this would have included him keeping the alien prosthetics in future episodes.[4] The series' writing team thought it would be ironic to have Kim be an alien since he was the crew member most eager to return to the Alpha Quadrant.[5]
According to the director,
Wang preferred the initial concept, saying it provided Kim with more depth and story opportunities; he explained: "I had always said that it was easier to write for the non-Human characters on Voyager than the Human characters."
Casting and filming
According to Rush, the cast and crew further developed the story to be "a male fantasy piece with a dark twist" while filming. Rush wanted to portray the Taresians with a "sense of tastefulness", but said he had difficulty doing so; he explained: "These
Cari Shayne, Kelli Kirkland, and Star Trek: Voyager
"Favorite Son" was filmed before and after the show's
The episode reused
Analysis
Film studies scholar Djoymi Baker described "Favorite Son" as a reinterpretation of the Sirens from Homer's epic poem Odyssey, with Harry Kim playing a role similar to that of Odysseus.[15] While emphasizing Kim has a lower military rank than Odysseus, Baker attributed his weakness to temptation to his more naïve personality and his desire to be seen as important.[16] She wrote that, unlike the Sirens' portrayal as the "holders of great knowledge", the Taresians used the "dangerous nature of female productive power" to lure their victims.[17] Because of the episode's focus on procreation, Baker said the Taresians shared similarities with the Lemnian women from Apollonius of Rhodes' Argonautica.[18]
Baker argued "Favorite Son" regressed to a "type of gender typing often present in the original series" by adapting Odysseus as a male ensign (Kim) rather than the female captain (Janeway).[17] Disagreeing with this assessment, literary critic Kwasu David Tembo said all the series' characters often display "Odyssean characteristics regardless of species, age, or gender". Tembo interpreted Janeway's relationship with Seven of Nine as an example of a siren song distracting her from returning home.[19]
The Taresians' method of reproduction was also the subject of academic analysis. Pediatrician Victor Grech, in a paper on
Broadcast history and release
"Favorite Son" was first broadcast on March 19, 1997, on UPN at 9 pm Eastern Standard Time in the United States.[24][25] According to Nielsen, the episode was seen by 6.17 million viewers, which placed it 88th overall for the week.[26] This marked a drop in viewership compared to the previous episode "Rise", which was seen by 6.76 million viewers.[27] The follow-up episode "Before and After" had 6.46 million viewers.[28]
The episode was first released on
The VHS packaging draws parallels between "Favorite Son" and the
Reception
Cast and crew response
"Favorite Son" received a mixed response from the cast and crew. Executive producer Jeri Taylor said the episode, along with "Rise", was one of the worst moments in the third season; she summarized it as an "interesting idea that in the making of it just came off as looking a little silly".[32] Garrett Wang criticized "Favorite Son" for not living up to the original script, but still thought it turned out to be an "OK episode".[4] Marvin V. Rush identified "Favorite Son" as weaker than the past Star Trek episodes he had directed—"The Host" and "The Thaw". Rush praised Wang's performance, and believed the story was enjoyable enough to maintain the audience's attention. When discussing the episode's meaning, he pointed to the scene where Harry Kim rejects the drugs offered by the Taresians, and explained: "If there's a message to that show, that's the scene with the message."[6] Rush concluded while there were various causes of the episode being weak, the fault ultimately laid with him since he was the director.[33]
Critical reception
Reviews of "Favorite Son" were negative. Fans have referred to it, along with "
Reviewers were critical of the Taresians for being sexist caricature and lacking character development.[10][35][37] Screen Rant's Kristy Ambrose disliked the episode's reliance on the "planet of lusty women" trope, writing that the Taresians are portrayed as "shallow, sexist stereotypes that would alienate any female viewer".[37] Although she appreciated the episode's focus on Kim,[35][37] Ambrose dismissed the story as the equivalent of "incel fan fiction".[35] DeCandido felt the Taresians were generic, and wrote that the episode treats them like "superficial arm candy and not much beyond that".[10]
The Taresians' method of reproduction was also criticized.[10][36] Harrison found it unrealistic for Kim to believe such an obvious trap; she unfavorably compared the plot to the Red Dwarf episode "Psirens", writing that Kim acts as foolishly as Cat who fell for a similar ploy.[36] DeCandido questioned why the Taresians used this method when they could have used their expertise in genetic engineering to more easily alter their own species to produce more male offspring instead. While discussing the episode's twist, he said answers were not provided for how the Taresians knew enough about Kim's home to convincingly trick him.[10]
References
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Favorite Son" 1997.
- ^ Ruditis 2003, pp. 170–171.
- ^ a b c d Anders 1997, p. 35.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Spelling 1998, pp. 38–39.
- ^ a b c d Weyer 2018.
- ^ a b c d e f Florence 1998.
- ^ Ruditis 2003, p. 148.
- ^ Ruditis 2003, p. 179.
- ^ Kaplan 1997, p. 108.
- ^ a b c d e f g DeCandido 2020.
- ^ "Sanctuary" 1993.
- ^ "Second Skin" 1994.
- ^ McIntee 2000, p. 176.
- ^ Okuda 2018.
- ^ Baker 2010, pp. 85–89.
- ^ Baker 2010, p. 86.
- ^ a b c Baker 2010, p. 87.
- ^ Baker 2010, p. 88.
- ^ Tembo 2020, p. 20.
- ^ Grech 2012, p. 24.
- ^ Noor 2020, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Noor 2020, p. 73.
- ^ Noor 2020, p. 116.
- ^ a b TV Guide.
- ^ The Baltimore Sun 1997, p. 4E.
- ^ Los Angeles Times 1997b, p. F12.
- ^ Los Angeles Times 1997a, p. F11.
- ^ Los Angeles Times 1997c, p. F9.
- ^ WorldCat.
- ^ Patrizio 2018.
- ^ Baker 2018.
- ^ Jones 2020, p. 48.
- ^ Rush 2013.
- ^ Jones & Parkin 2003, p. 304.
- ^ a b c d Ambrose 2020.
- ^ a b c Harrisson 2015.
- ^ a b c Ambrose 2019.
Citations
- Ambrose, Kristy (July 11, 2019). "Star Trek: The 5 Best Episodes Of Voyager (& The 5 Worst)". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on July 27, 2020.
- Ambrose, Kristy (August 2, 2020). "Star Trek: Voyager - The 10 Worst Episodes, According To IMDb". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020.
- Anders, Lou (November 1997). "Star Trek: Voyager's Golden Boy". Titan Magazines. p. 35.
- Baker, Djoymi (2010). "'Every Old Trick Is New Again': Myth in Quotations and the Star Trek Franchise". In Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm (ed.). Star Trek as Myth: Essays on Symbol and Archetype at the Final Frontier. ISBN 978-0-7864-4724-4.
- Baker, Djoymi (2018). To Boldly Go: Marketing the Myth of Star Trek. ISBN 978-1-78831-008-6.
- Tor.com. Archivedfrom the original on August 27, 2020.
- "Favorite Son". TV Guide. Archived from the original on May 5, 2019.
- Florence, Bill (February 1998). "Interview – Marvin Rush". The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine. No. 15. Starlog.
- Grech, Victor (2012). "Infertility in Star Trek". World Futures Review. 4 (4). S2CID 162281920 – via ResearchGate.
- Harrisson, Juliette (December 3, 2015). "Star Trek Voyager: an episode roadmap". Den of Geek!. Archivedfrom the original on December 12, 2015.
- Jones, Nick, ed. (2020). Star Trek: Voyager 25th Anniversary Special. ISBN 978-1-7877-3422-7.
- Jones, Nick; Parkin, Lance (2003). Beyond the Final Frontier: An Unauthorised Review of the Trek Universe on Television and Film ; Season Summaries, Characters, Episodes, Movies. Contender Books. ISBN 978-1-8435-7080-6.
- Kaplan, Anna L. (1997). "Voyager Episode Guide". Cinefantastique. Vol. 29, no. 6/7. Fourth Castle Micromedia. p. 108.
- ISBN 978-0-7535-0436-9.
- @MikeOkuda (March 20, 2018). "I remember that someone forgot to apply the alien writing to all those stick props. Producer Merri Howard and I rushed down to the set with Sharpies to finish them in time for filming" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- "National Nielsen Ratings". Los Angeles Times. March 5, 1997. p. F11. Retrieved August 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "National Nielsen Ratings". Los Angeles Times. March 26, 1997. p. F12. Retrieved August 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- "National Nielsen Ratings". Los Angeles Times. April 16, 1997. p. F9. Retrieved August 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- ISBN 978-0-691-20393-5.
- Patrizio, Andy (December 13, 2018). "Star Trek: Voyager - Season Three". IGN. Archived from the original on August 13, 2020.
- ISBN 978-0-7434-1751-8.
- StarTrek.com (Interview). Archivedfrom the original on January 25, 2013.
- Spelling, Ian (June 1998). "Interview – Garrett Wang". The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine. No. 17. Starlog. pp. 38–39.
- Star Trek Voyager 3.10. from the original on August 15, 2020.
- Story: Gabe Essoe & Kelley Miles. Teleplay: Frederick Rappaport. Director: Les Landau (November 28, 1993). "Sanctuary". Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Season 2. Syndication.
- Tembo, Kwasu David (2020). "'Far from gay cities and the ways of men': Exploring Wandering and Homecoming in The Odyssey and Star Trek: Voyager". In Lively, Robert L. (ed.). Exploring Star Trek: Voyager Critical Essays. ISBN 9781476638737.
- "Wednesday's Primetime". The Baltimore Sun. March 19, 1997. p. 4E. Retrieved August 15, 2020 – via Newspapers.com.
- Weyer, Michael (December 7, 2018). "Star Trek: 20 Casting and Character Changes That Almost Drastically Altered The Series". Screen Rant. Archived from the original on July 22, 2019.
- Writer: Robert Hewitt Wolfe. Director: Les Landau (October 24, 1994). "Second Skin". Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Season 3. Syndication.
- Writer: Lisa Klink. Director: Marvin V. Rush (March 19, 1997). "Favorite Son". Star Trek: Voyager. Season 3. UPN.
External links
- "Favorite Son" at IMDb
- Favorite Son at Memory Alpha
- "Favorite Son" at Wayback Machine (archived from the original at StarTrek.com)