Kazon

In 1996, an action figure of a Kazon was released as part of a second wave of Playmates Toys' Star Trek merchandise.^[21][22] The same year, Applause produced a ceramic mug whose design was based on the face of a generic Kazon male.^[21] Several figures on Kazon spacecraft were released by Revell, such as those for the raider ship and torpedo.^[23][24] Revell included the raider ship figurine as a part of a three-piece set, along with ones for a Maquis ship and USS Voyager.^[25]

Characteristics

History and politics

In the Star Trek universe, prior to the arrival of Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, hostilities between the Trabe and the Kazon led to the Trabe keeping them subjugated. Violence between the Kazon was encouraged to limit the risk of them rising up against the Trabe.^[5] Before being conquered by the Trabe, the Kazon were the most advanced society in the quadrant.^[26] On stardate 2346, Jal Sankur united the sects into the Kazon Order or the Kazon Collective to overthrow the Trabe.^[3][5][26] The Kazon stole the Trabe's technology and ships and, rather than settle on a new homeworld, became a nomadic species. After achieving independence from the Trabe, the Kazon continued to fight among themselves for control of resources and technology.^[3][5]

In Star Trek: Voyager, the Kazon are known under the collective title of the Kazon Order, but the species are also separated into various sections.^[27] While the official Star Trek website lists the Kazon as having eighteen sects,^[27] the episode "Initiations" represents the number of sects as highly unstable and changing every day.^[28] Only eight groups were named in Star Trek: Voyager: Kazon-Halik, Kazon-Ogla, Kazon-Oglamar, Kazon-Relora, Kazon-Nistrim, Kazon-Mostral, Kazon-Hobii, and Kazon-Pommar.^[29] The sects are portrayed as "blood enemies" who rarely make attempts at diplomacy or forge alliances.^[28] At the time that Voyager passed through Kazon-occupied space, the Kazon-Ogla and Kazon-Relora were the most powerful of the eight, controlling the most members and ships.^[4] A Kazon who does not belong to a sect is viewed as a "Goven" or an outcast.^[27] The title "first maje" is used to reference the leader of a sect.^[1] The political structure of the Kazon is built around "political killings inside the sects as well as between sects",^[28] with peace perceived as an impossible construct.^[30]

Culture and technology

During Star Trek: Voyager, Kazon society was represented as patriarchal as males reacted negatively to orders from women.^[4][5] Kazon women are never shown on the series, and are only referenced through dialogue by the Kazon men.^[28] Young Kazon males are raised as warriors, undergoing a rite of passage ritual to earn their adult names. The honorific title "Jal" given to a young Kazon male marks their transition into adulthood; it is given either when the boy kills an enemy in battle or dies in battle.^[3][26] Those who fail this rite of passage are punished either by execution or public shaming.^[28] Fathers and sons are expected to have an emotionally distant relationship, with any signs of affection between them being considered shameful.^[3]

Scholars Christina Niculescu and Yonit Nemtzeanu analysed Kazon culture to explore

Prior to the announcement of a new Star Trek incarnation, Star Trek: Voyager's co-creators Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor conceived the basic concepts and characters during secret developmental meetings.^[34] The Kazon were originally created as a part of the show's basic premise of Voyager's crew being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. Berman, Piller, and Taylor reasoned that the characters would be traveling through an area of space controlled by a new alien race, serving as the show's primary antagonists, and created the Kazon to fill this role.^[35]

The Kazon were inspired by Los Angeles gangs, and were referenced in a "shorthand 'Crips' and 'Bloods' fashion".^[36] The idea for the Kazon as warrior sects, as opposed to a unified race, was introduced by Taylor, who drafted them as "three gangs, with constantly shifting relationships and allegiances. Just as we think we have sorted it out, the balance shifts again."^[37] While discussing the Kazon's original inspiration, Taylor viewed them as a way "to address the tenor of our times and what [...] was happening in our cities and recognizing a source of danger and social unrest".^[38] Piller further described the premise for the Kazon as rooted in gang violence and warfare by clarifying: "Our intention was to create a sort of disorganized anarchy, them-against-them as much as them-against-us."^[39]

In a meeting dated August 17, 1993, Taylor wrote a story outline for the pilot episode "Caretaker" and established the Kazon (then identified as the Crips) as a "gang which, in conflict with two other gangs, competes for territory in this region of space".^[40] Taylor's notes suggest that the show's co-creators considered having the Crips reach a truce with the main characters, which would anger another one of the gangs (then titled the Blood) and lead to them being the primary antagonists.^[41] This idea was later dropped at a meeting on September 10 of the same year.^[42] In the first draft of the script for "Caretaker", Piller named the alien species the "Gazon" and wrote the following description of them:

They are a lean, scrawny people who dress in an assortment of unkempt clothing. Some are in nothing more than rags. Their skin is parched and desiccated; the sun has produced blotches and sores on some. This appears to be a camp of people barely able to survive, bereft of creature comforts and living a harsh, hardscrabble life. They are the Gazon, whom we will come to know, over the course of the series, as a lethal, deadly sect who subject themselves to these dire circumstances in return for the possible acquisition of power.^[43]

During the summer of 1994, Gazon was changed to Kazon, as it was feared that the name sounded too much like Gaza.^[36][44] The producers suggested this change to avoid stories involving the alien race being interpreted as political commentary on the conflicts in the Palestinian territories.^[44] According to the Star Trek: Voyager Technical Manual, the Kazon were originally planned to be split into only two factions (the "Kazon-Sera" and the "Kazon-Ogla").^[45]

Design and casting

The Kazon's design was formulated around the beginning of June 1994. The series' make-up supervisor

Westmore said that he faced several challenges involving the make-up and masks during the filming of "Caretaker". Because of the large number of Kazon present in the first episode, he hired additional make-up artists and mold makers to assist with getting all the actors into costume.[48] According to supervising producer David Livingston, the process of applying the Kazon make-up took multiple hours. Since a majority of the scenes involving the Kazon were filmed at the El Mirage Lake, Livingston and the filming crew were assigned to help the actors feel comfortable in the heavy make-up and prosthetics despite the high temperatures.^[50]

Piller originally envisioned only casting actors between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five to simulate the connection between the Kazon and contemporary street gangs. He said that he wanted the casting choices to convey the alien species as "young, angry people who never lived old enough to have the kind of experience and perspective on the world that, say, the Klingons and

In the first season, the Kazon were introduced as one of three new alien species that could be used as recurring antagonists; the other two were the Vidiians and the Sikarians. The Kazon and Vidiians would be featured in later episodes, while the appearance of the Sikarians was restricted to the episode "Prime Factors".^[52] Westmore found the Kazon to be the most demanding species to design for Voyager's first season, though, overall, he found the make-up and prosthetic work for Voyager easier than that required for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He explained this by comparing the relatively small number of Kazon who appeared in episodes outside of the pilot to the numerous aliens featured throughout Deep Space Nine.^[53] The Kazon's design was modified during the filming of the first season. For example, for the second episode in which the Kazon appeared—"State of Flux"—Westmore removed the ear prosthetics, which had been created originally by hair designer Josée Normand to look like pigs' ears. The pig-ear prosthetics proved to be too cumbersome and heavy for the actors and stunt doubles, and its material was changed to a more light-weight sponge.^[46]

Voyager's writing team devoted a larger amount of screen time in the show's second season to develop Kazon culture and society. Piller described the season as "a deep investigation of [the Kazon] that will turn them, I think, into perhaps one of the top five adversarial alien races in Star Trek's history".^[54] Piller devised the Kazon's story arc in the second season from his experiences working on the 1995 science fiction Western television show Legend.^[55] Taylor was uncertain about the renewed focus on the Kazon, and questioned if they were compelling antagonists. She described them as entirely Piller's idea.^[56]

Executive story editor Kenneth Biller wrote a paper detailing the Kazon's history and societal behavior, as well as their adversarial relationship with the Trabe. Biller compiled all of his ideas on paper to help the various writers create a cohesive narrative for the Kazon across the individual episodes. Developed for one of his episodes—"Initiations"—the notes were also used by Taylor for the creation of "Alliances".^[57] Biller pointed to the character of Seska as a key narrative device for further exploring the alien species. For Biller, Seska "allowed us to go behind the scenes with the Kazon" and "helped to define the Kazon for us".^[58] Nonetheless, Hackett interpreted Seska as having little loyalty to the Kazon, saying: "I don't think she gives a hoot about [them]."^[59]

When discussing his hopes for fan reaction to the second season's emphasis on the Kazon, Piller said: "I'll be curious to know what the audience's perception is, if our investing in the Kazon this season worked."^[39] In response to fans' concerns that Voyager did not incorporate as many science fiction elements as previous Star Trek installments, he believed that the growing focus on the Kazon would serve as the solution. Piller believed the alien species accentuated the show's futuristic storylines, explaining: "There are a lot of people who don't consider a lot [of the season's episodes to be] science fiction." He followed this up by saying: "But certainly you can make a case that facing the Kazon in battle is futurist storytelling."^[60] Taylor viewed the second season as focused on "character-driven, introspective" stories, with a majority of the "action-adventure" aspects being conducted through the appearances of the Kazon.^[61]

Abandonment

Following the end of the second season, Taylor decided to remove the Kazon as the series' primary antagonists, having found the effort to develop the alien species to be unsuccessful. She felt that they never grew into a compelling adversary, despite their appearances in multiple episodes. Taylor argued that the Kazon limited the potential of the series, saying: "It created the curious implication that we are standing still in space, when our franchise is that we are going at incredible speeds toward the

Voyager's cast members had a negative response to the continued inclusion of the Kazon in the series and felt that their removal was the best course of action. Tim Russ commented that the frequent incorporation of the species would strain the credibility of the storylines as the crew would have to eventually leave Kazon-controlled space on their journey home.^[67] He also believed that the Kazon were failures as antagonists, perceiving them to be insufficiently imposing for the main characters and fans to take them seriously. Ethan Phillips agreed with Russ, suggesting that the Kazon's presence should be reduced. Robert Picardo joked that the only interesting aspect of the species was their hairstyle, while Robert Beltran pointed to their lack of intelligence as the main factor preventing them from becoming strong villains.^[68] Kate Mulgrew suggested that the show incorporate a new and stronger antagonist, saying: "We need [...] to encounter enemies of such ferocity, enemies who in fact are quite lethal and frightening. Enemies that you would watch and say, 'Oh, boy, how are they going to get out of this one?' I don't think the Kazon hit the bill."^[63] Mulgrew felt the crew's mission to get home was a more compelling storyline than those related to the Kazon, whom she criticized as "great big stupid giants".^[68][69]

Critical reception

The Kazon have received a negative response from television critics. In his 2005 book An Analytical Guide to Television's Battlestar Galactica, literary critic John Kenneth Muir argued that the events of Star Trek: Voyager lost their urgency with the basing of the second season in Kazon space. He negatively compared Star Trek: Voyager to science fiction television series Battlestar Galactica, writing that Star Trek: Voyager could learn from how "the Galactica must go on, ever forward, to their destination".^[70] The alien species was described as "stereotypical macho space warriors" by writer K. Stoddard Hayes, who was critical of the lack of developed Kazon characters. He explained this up by saying: "No memorable Kazon characters emerge from two seasons of episodes featuring their different factions."^[71]

Critics have also doubted the effectiveness of Kazon as villains. Britt found the Kazon to be among "the silliest, worst antagonists in Trek's history".^[72] Juliette Harrison of the website Den of Geek! wrote that the writers were too focused on the Kazon and Seska storylines. Harrison called them "sub-standard Klingon substitutes" and praised the series' decision to replace them with the Borg.^[66] The Kazon, along with Seska, were placed at number two on a list by Io9's Charlie Jane Anders profiling the 10 least threatening Star Trek villains. Anders explained that the Kazon were more frequently represented as irritating pests than a major obstacle to Voyager's journey home.^[73] Charles Evans of FanSided questioned the Kazon's desperation for water, since they could use their warp technology to gather it from other planets. Even though Evans described the Kazon as starting from a good premise, he did not find them to live up to their label as "the most powerful race in their area of the Delta Quadrant".^[74]

TrekToday's Michelle Erica Green provided extensive and primarily negative commentary on the Kazon story arc in the first two seasons while re-watching the series. The Kazon were negatively compared to the Klingons by Green, who described the Vidiians as a more suitable and compelling candidate to serve as the primary antagonists for the first two seasons.^[75] Green questioned Janeway's resolve to never share Voyager's technology with the Kazon, writing that the species was characterized as "a spacefaring culture with warp drive" so the crew would not be "interfering with a primitive civilization". She argued that the Kazon's attempts to steal a replicator and a transporter rather than offensive weapons lessened their impact as a threatening presence, suggesting that the possibility of relations with the Kazon did not "seem much more heinous than dealing with the Klingons or Ferengi, who oppress women and minorities within their borders".^[76]

Despite negative critical reception of the Kazon, the scene in which they commandeer Voyager was praised by television commentators. Marc Buxton, of Den of Geek!, included the Kazon on his list of the 50 best alien life forms in the Star Trek universe, for their "advanced technology and a back-stabbing bloodthirst" and success in trapping the Voyager crew on a hostile planet.

The Kazon have been interpreted as a sociopolitical commentary on developing countries. George A. Gonzalez presented the Kazon as a pessimistic feature of the Delta Quadrant, which he read as a metaphor for the developing world. Emphasizing the Kazon's mistreatment of the Ocampa, plans to steal from Voyager's more developed technology, and inability to form lasting alliances, Gonzalez describes the series as interpreting race relations in developing countries as "inherently contentious and inevitably destabilizing". He concluded by saying that the Kazon storylines were in line with "neoconservative biases/reasoning".^[80] For a 2015 retrospective review of the Star Trek franchise, MoviePilot's David Trudel wrote that he was disappointed in the breakdown of the alliance between the Kazon and the Trabe in the episode "Alliances". He felt that the series should have featured the formation of a new Federation starting with these two alien species. Some critics viewed the episode as "the moment Trek died intellectually", though Trudel disagreed with this assessment as "fairly dramatic".^[81] In 1996, The New York Times' Jon Pareles offered a less critical assessment of Star Trek's development of alien species, describing them as enacting "exaggerated human tendencies". Pareles identified the Kazon's rebellion against their previous captors in particular as comparable to the political situations in Somalia or Rwanda at the time of his writing.^[82]

References

Citations