Line #48 Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E22Muse


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/voy_muse_010.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:B'Elanna finds herself mixed up with a community theater group, which allows ''Voyager'' to get a little meta.]]
3	B'Elanna Torres crashes the ''Delta Flyer'' on a planet with a Bronze Age civilisation. She is discovered by Kelis, a playwright who mistakes her for a mythical being called an Eternal. Kelis starts writing a play based on her CaptainsLog, hoping to convince the proud ruler of his city-state not to wage war with a neighboring city-state. B'Elanna and Kelis form an awkward alliance, with B'Elanna trying to fix the ''Flyer'' and Kelis struggling to write his play.
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5	Not to be confused with the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS04E21TheMuse The Muse]]".
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7	!!This episode has the following tropes:
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9	* AdaptationalVillainy: Kelis' play portrays Seven not as a reformed former Borg drone, but as the Borg's secret Queen whose HeelFaceTurn was simply a ruse intended to allow her onboard ''Voyager'' as the Collective's [[TheMole double agent.]]
10	* AllPartOfTheShow: When B'Elanna herself steps onto the stage, Lanya denounces her to everyone as an Eternal. Some quick {{improv}} by [[BuffySpeak Chorus Guy]] convinces the Autarch of this trope, and no one dares contradict him.
11	* AncientAstronauts: It's implied Eternals are spacefaring aliens who've visited the planet in the past. Kelis says they have "The power to make the ground open up and the sky to fall -- all the strange events sung by the ancient poets." Certainly ''Voyager'' can make the ground open with a photon torpedo or phaser volley, and the sky fall by having a [[CaptainCrash main character take out a shuttlecraft on a routine mission]] near a ConvenientlyClosePlanet.
12	* AnAesop: Kelis knows what message he wants to send; the problem is how to put it in a form that will [[EasyEvangelism make his ruler take it to heart]].
13	* AndTheAdventureContinues: At the end of the episode B'Elanna beams up to ''Voyager'' in front of the astonished audience, and Kelis gives the FinalSpeech of his play.
14	-->'''Kelis:''' These stories will continue for as long as we have the breath to tell them, and as long as our patrons remain wise and compassionate. And ''Voyager'' will continue on her journey to the [[ShiningCity gleaming cities of Earth]] where peace reigns, and hatred has no home.
15	* AsideComment: In the play, Seven of Nine does this for TheReveal that she's [[TheMole actually the]] [[BigBad Queen of the Borg]], plotting revenge against Captain Janeway. "Say nothing, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou or you too will be assimilated]]." Once she leaves the stage Captain Janeway does the same, telling the audience she knows Seven's true identity and is planning a BatmanGambit. "Say nothing, or I will lose my advantage…and my ship as well."
16	* BeneathTheMask: Captain Janeway looks distraught when it appears Harry Kim didn't survive.
17	* BigDamnHeroes: After hiking 200 kilometers across country, Harry turns up with the transmitter component B'Elanna needs to let ''Voyager'' know where they are.
18	-->'''B'Elanna:''' Harry Kim saves the day. Just the ending I was looking for.
19	* ButNowIMustGo: In the final scene of his play, Kelis asks B'Elanna (the real one) to stay and continue to be his muse. B'Elanna replies that ''Voyager'' needs her, and he has all the inspiration he needs.
20	* CallBack: To [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E24WorstCaseScenario "Worst Case Scenario"]] with its arguments over the writing process and LeaningOnTheFourthWall humor.
21	* CassandraTruth:
22	** Lanya denounces B'Elanna as an Eternal – no one believes her.
23	** According to Kelis' first play, Harry advised B'Elanna to turn back to ''Voyager'' on hitting the subspace eddies, but she pressed on regardless.
24	* [[CaptainCrash Chief Engineer Crash]]: Headstrong B'Elanna Torres wrecks the ''Delta Flyer''.
25	* CompositeCharacter: InUniverse. The play depicts Seven as the Borg Queen.
26	* ConvenientlyClosePlanet: Justified; B'Elanna and Harry were searching for dilithium, and there's a deposit on the world where they crashed.
27	* CoolOldGuy: The unnamed old guy who leads the Chorus; even a real Eternal ascending to the heavens in front of him doesn't throw off his ability to {{Improv}}!
28	* DenserAndWackier: The Voyager crew are mythologized as hammy, horny Greek gods!
29	* DeusExMachina:
30	** B'Elanna Torres provides one for Kelis, who's short of a dramatic ending for his play.
31	** StealthPun: Kelis finds B'Elanna in the wreck of the Delta Flyer and believes her to be an Eternal, which, in effect, makes her a "god from the machine."
32	* DiscussedTrope: InUniverse; Kelis gets into an argument with one of his older cast members, who doesn't like the 'tricks' playwrights use to move their audience as opposed to finding the truth of the story.
33	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything:
34	** When one realizes that this was writer Joe Menosky's final ''Voyager'' script, one better realizes the [[TakeThat correlation between the writer in the script, and the writers in the show's Writer's Room]].
35	** Kelis arguing with an actor about his portrayal of Tuvok resembles a Paramount director trying to educate an actor who's never watched ''Star Trek'' on how to portray a Vulcan.
36	* DownerEnding: Again InUniverse
37	** The first chapter shows B'Elanna dying on the shore after her shipwreck. ExecutiveMeddling forces Kelis to [[NotQuiteDead bring back the character]] (who fortunately hasn't died on him after all), but when the real B'Elanna won't provide a climatic ending…
38	--->'''Kelis:''' B'Elanna Torres dies tragically.
39	--->'''B'Elanna:''' ''(smiling)'' You wouldn't dare.
40	** When Kelis still can't think of an ending by performance time, he sends his muse a note: "Without inspiration, B'Elanna Torres will perish." B'Elanna turns up in time to provide the dramatic yet HappyEnding he wanted.
41	* DramaticNecklaceRemoval: The Autarch casually plucks a jewel from his HotConsort and tosses it to Kelis as a reward for his first play.
42	* DramaticThunder: B'Elanna wants Kelis to get dilithium from the Autarch's hunting grounds. As he'd be executed if found there, Kelis is understandably reluctant. At that moment a coincidental roll of thunder sounds. Kelis' eyes widen as he says, "Did you...?" B'Elanna plays it beautifully, leaning forward and saying with menace, "''Don't'' get caught."
43	* EscapePod: There's one on the ''Delta Flyer'' (as established two episodes before in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS6E20GoodShepherd Good Shepherd]]"), but only with the resources to survive around nine days -- Janeway then discovers Harry had to eject ''ten'' days after this happened. We later find that Harry followed the ''Flyer'''s warp trail, rather than try to get back to ''Voyager''.
44	* FacelessGoons: The Autarch has two helmeted bodyguards.
45	* {{Flanderization}}: The protagonists in Kelis' play are all defined by a single characteristic. [[TheDeterminator Headstrong B'Elanna Torres]], [[EnsignNewbie Young Harry Kim]], [[TheStoic Logical Tuvok]], [[TheCaptain Captain Janeway]] versus [[IceQueen Seven of Nine]] aka the [[BigBad Queen of the Borg]]. This [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything fits with the classic Greek play]] vibe of the episode, e.g. "Wise Penelope" from ''Literature/TheOdyssey''.
46	* {{Foreshadowing}}: Kelis complains of the lack of drama in his play. "Where is the mistaken identity, the discovery, the sudden reversal? Mistaken identity -- a character who is someone else. Discovery -- the moment when that identity is revealed. Reversal -- a situation that turns from good to bad in a blink of an eye." All of these events happen to Kelis and B'Elanna.
47	* GiantWallOfWateryDoom
48	-->'''Chorus:''' A wave as high as a mountain struck the Delta Flyer...
49	* GodGuise: Downplayed in that the crew inspire a [[FanFiction play]] as opposed to a religion. The locals view of Eternals is of powerful beings to be wary of, rather than gods to be worshipped. For instance, Kelis warns B'Elanna that if the Autarch captures her, he will [[CapturedSuperEntity force her to fight his enemies]].
50	* TheGreatRepair: B'Elanna can't fix the ''Delta Flyer'' (among other things, all propulsion is damaged, ''and'' the front window is shattered) but she does succeed in repairing the subspace transmitter.
51	* GreekChorus: In their traditional role as TheNarrator.
52	* GreenEyedMonster: Lanya walks off in a huff when Kelis introduces B'Elanna as another poet. When she discovers the truth she's even more upset; [[MuggleMageRomance how can she compete with an Eternal]], who might well be the very B'Elanna Torres her lover is obsessed over? She begs B'Elanna to leave and threatens to expose her if she turns up at the performance.
53	* IceQueen: Lanya has trouble enacting Seven's haughty demeanour.
54	-->'''Kelis:''' [[RapidFireNo No, no, no, no!]] Seven of Nine is a ''Borg'' -- the scourge of the Eternals. You're portraying her like a shy bride on her wedding night!
55	* InfiniteSupplies: Averted; the ''Delta Flyer'' crashes, but is presumably recovered as always. The mission itself was a search for dilithium.
56	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: The entire episode is this for ''Voyager's'' writers, perhaps even ''Star Trek'' writing as a whole.
57	* TheMenFirst: In Kelis' first play, Headstrong B'Elanna Torres orders Young Harry Kim to AbandonShip while she pilots the ''Delta Flyer'' on the verge of a warp core breach. He refuses, saying "[[TogetherInDeath We die together.]]" B'Elanna replies, "No one is going to die -- go!"
58	* MostWritersAreWriters
59	* MrFixit: Lampshaded by B'Elanna. "I'm an engineer -- I fix things." The damage to the ''Flyer'', however, is too extensive to repair on her own, and even the alloy component Kelis has made using local craftsmen has too many impurities for her to use it with the subspace transmitter. Then Harry turns up with the emergency transmitter from his escape pod, enabling her to construct a rudimentary SubspaceAnsible.
60	* TheMuse: B'Elanna for Kelis.
61	* MuseAbuse: Seven of Nine (whom B'Elanna always finds annoying) is the villain of the play, seducing Tom Paris and plotting to destroy Captain Janeway. In fairness, B'Elanna isn't taking the play very seriously and much of this is likely Kelis's idea for RuleOfDrama.
62	* TheNeedless: After forgoing sleep to search for their missing crewman (he is, after all, Vulcan, and [[BadassBoast can go for weeks without sleep]]), Tuvok falls asleep on the bridge, snoring loudly.
63	* NotSoAboveItAll: B'Elanna gradually gets swept up in Kelis' enthusiasm, delaying her own rescue to provide him with the dramatic ending he wanted.
64	* ObscuredSpecialEffects: When B'Elanna walks on stage and announces that she's going to ascend in a [[FlashyTeleportation dazzling blaze of light]], the elderly Chorus Guy quickly improvs the line "On a far away snow-covered peak", no doubt with this trope in mind.
65	* OhCrapThereAreFanficsOfUs: Kelis' muse is not amused by the blatant {{Shipping}} he writes into the crew relationships.
66	* OverworkedSleep: Tuvok, you really should've had a nap or something. Then you wouldn't be falling asleep in front of the crew, in the ''captain's chair.''
67	* PaperThinDisguise: Kelis introduces B'Elanna as a poet from across the Eastern sea, even though she's got a [[RubberForeheadAliens different kind of forehead]]. Presumably, his fellow performers just assume [[HereThereBeDragons everyone from the mysterious East]] [[FunnyForeigner looks like that]].
68	* PatrickStewartSpeech: Captain Janeway to Seven of Nine/The Borg Queen, in the climax of Kelis' play.
69	-->'''Janeway:''' The battle is over. Go home!\
70	'''Seven/Queen:''' How foolish of you to let me go. Free to attack you again!\
71	'''Janeway:''' And again. And again. Until all your drones and all my crew are destroyed, until ''everything'' we value is gone and there is ''nothing'' left...but our ''hatred''.
72	* ThePowerOfLove: Kelis thinks that by filling the play with romance, his patron's heart will be filled with love instead of anger. B'Elanna points out that it's not that simple -- from the Autarch's point of view, he's surrounded by hostile enemies, so love is the last thing on his mind. Coming from one half of ''Voyager'''s OfficialCouple, this might not be convincing to fans, but it does apply to [[CelibateHero Captain Janeway]], who [[TheChainsOfCommanding deals with a life-threatening crisis every week]].
73	* PrimeDirective
74	-->'''B'Elanna:''' What exactly do you want to know?
75	-->'''Kelis:''' Everything.
76	-->'''B'Elanna:''' It's not possible. We Eternals have our rules. We can't just... give everything away.
77	* ReactionShot: The expressions shown by the Autarch as he watches the play show it is making an impact, but as everyone knows, a bad ending could still ruin everything.
78	* SelfInsertFic: The Autarch assumes this is why Kelis had himself finding a dying B'Elanna after she crashed.
79	* [[ShipperOnDeck Shipper On Stage]]: Kelis proudly shows off ''Voyager'''s first on-screen J/C FanFic.
80	-->'''Tanis-Janeway:''' Chakotay, why must I be denied what [[TheCasanova every other female officer on this ship]] can have?
81	-->'''Jero-Chakotay:''' Captain?
82	-->'''Tanis-Janeway:''' The privilege of your touch.
83	-->''Cue BigDamnKiss. B'Elanna gives Kelis a WTF? look.''
84	* TheShowMustGoWrong: By performance time, Kelis still hasn't thought up an ending to his play and his patron turns up in foul mood. When B'Elanna arrives to save the show, his jealous lover publicly denounces her to his patron.
85	* SpaceIsAnOcean: Literally, as a poet who doesn't even know about Outer Space tries to [[PlatonicCave put what he's heard]] into LaymansTerms his audience can understand. The ''Delta Flyer'' becomes a sailing vessel swamped by a huge wave. ''Voyager'' is a great ship searching for the beautiful island of Earth, after being blown off course by a storm. More or less accurate, actually.
86	* [[SwordOverHead Spear Over Head]]: In the play's climax, Captain Janeway refuses to kill the Queen of the Borg, [[SheatheYourSword throwing aside her spear]] for a PatrickStewartSpeech on the futility of their CycleOfRevenge.
87	* TheStoic: Kelis gets into an argument with Jero, who portrays Logical Tuvok shedding a tear [[ToAbsentFriends over his absent friends]].
88	-->'''Kelis:''' The land of Vulcan has no laughter, and it has no tears. It is a very quiet place. Calm, just like Tuvok.\
89	'''Jero:''' I can't believe that.\
90	'''Kelis:''' You don't have to, just don't cry.\
91	'''Jero:''' The audience won't believe it either. They'll either think Tuvok is an unfeeling monster, or that I am a bad performer.\
92	'''Kelis:''' They'll realise that beneath your unfeeling exterior is a heart that's breaking. Silently, and in more pain than any of us can possibly understand, because that's what it is to be Vulcan!
93	* SwissCheeseSecurity: Kelis is able to play the CaptainsLog. Admittedly, the ''Flyer'' is smashed up, damaging who-knows-what security systems, and the log was probably running when the shuttle crashed.
94	* TakeThatAudience: Against FanFic with its constant {{Shipping}}. They're too busy for romance, OK? Just forget about that GenerationShip [[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E4Elogium suggestion in Season Two]].
95	* TastesLikeFriendship: B'Elanna's initial response to Kelis' desire for inspiration is to drive him away at phaser point. But knowing B'Elanna hasn't eaten for a while, he just returns the next day with some [[NoBiochemicalBarriers berries]] that break down her resistance.
96	-->'''Kelis:''' Tell me about Earth.
97	-->'''B'Elanna:''' I have to sing for my supper, huh?
98	-->'''Kelis:''' We all do, in one way or another.
99	* AThreesomeIsHot: But not hot enough; B'Elanna tells Kelis he'll have to do better than [[TwinThreesomeFantasy Harry kissing the Delaney sisters]] to win his patron over.
100	* TheUnreveal: Kelis explicitly hoped that his play would convince the Autarch to avoid a war(which is likely at least part of the reason B'Elanna decided to help save the play). While the Autarch does seem moved by the performance, the episode ends as soon as the play does, and we never find out whether it worked.
101	* WakingNonSequitur:
102	-->'''Paris:''' ''(whispering to Tuvok, asleep in the captain's chair)'' Tuvok. ''Tuvok.''
103	-->'''Tuvok:''' ''(startled awake)'' As you were!
104	* WorstAid: Kelis cuts B'Elanna to release the heat of her fever. She insists he let her use a dermal regenerator instead.
105	* WritingByTheSeatOfYourPants: InUniverse. Kelis has [[RaceAgainstTheClock only one week]] to write and perform a play that will please his patron. By the time of performance, he doesn't have an ending, and his actors point out that they won't have time to learn it anyway.

Context Recap / StarTrekVoyagerS6E22Muse