Original Premiere: June 17, 2005
Ugh.
Yes,
that is my opinion of this episode. A
firm and resounding “UGH.” Because, like
I have said in about half of all the other commentaries, this episode was HELL
to write. Indeed, the entire final
chapter has been difficult, but this episode embodied everything that drove me
nuts about The Final Frontier’s closing moments. The episode went through no less than four complete drafts, two
complete and total re-writes, and I probably pulled out half of my hair in the
process. Eh… well, that last bit is
probably an exaggeration.
The
biggest problem was, of course, finding the episode. This is essentially the penultimate episode in a string of
ten. And over the course of those ten
episodes, so many plot threads emerged that, at times, it became to difficult
to tame the unruly story—and even more difficult to find an actual
story. So much was going on that I could have devoted entire episodes to just
explaining what the hell was happening—indeed “Eclipse” did a lot of that. The episode itself wasn’t much of a story,
but it had a lot of explaining to do.
And it was a necessary evil, because if readers don’t know what’s
happening, well… that is, in general, bad.
“Words Better Left Unspoken” could have very easily become another
exposition episode, because I had a LOT of stuff to explain. Indeed, the second draft of the episode
featured so much exposition that it became utterly boring and not even I could
write the episode. I doubt you could
have read it without falling asleep in a puddle of drool on your keyboard—but
then your keyboard would have broke and you couldn’t flame me for writing that
pile of crap! Yay!
Hoping
to find an actual story to serve as the episode’s backbone, I decided to throw
in this anomaly-subplot. Yes, the Starlight
was going to encounter another spatial anomaly. On some levels, it worked, because it did give the episode
a backbone. On most other levels,
however, it didn’t work—because we have seen a dozen spatial anomalies this
year alone, because we didn’t need an anomaly to complicate an already
complicated plot, and because the episode was so damn long that I’d still be
writing it. So I lost the anomaly… and
was left with the boring expository episode once again. So I brought the anomaly BACK, and got rid
of Talyere… I figured I could use his scenes in the next episode. But unfortunately, Talyere had some of the
best scenes in the episode. Indeed,
that last scene with Talyere and Alan was one of the best the episode had to
offer—and the episode suffered even MORE because that scene was gone and the
anomaly was in…
So
I threw out the anomaly—it was a good one, too… something like a subspace tar
pit. All these ships unwittingly get
stuck in the anomaly, just like animals got stuck in tar pits back in the
day—and then I brought back Talyere. Of
course, that brought back… the expository episode! For a while, I concentrated on Erin seeking out Kendall’s
treachery, but not even that was very interesting (though it worked with the
anomaly plot). I don’t know what
happened, but at some point, I had four episodes-worth of crap written, and not
enough interesting material to make ONE episode. And the stuff that I did have was all over the board. I had Xi'Yor get killed at one point… I had
the Romulans stealing Eredas-Il and turning against the Federation (because
Eredas-Il was not entirely destroyed in some versions of the episode) … I was
tossing around so many ideas, it was insane!
Still,
I combed through the stuff that I did have, salvaged the decent material, and
copied/pasted my way to success. So if
parts of the episode seem a little disjointed… that’s why. I culled this thing from four separate
ideas. Strangely enough, the final
version of the episode turned out pretty good.
I did go back and augment several plot threads—I expanded Xi'Yor’s role
in the story… and I wisely chose to include Ordikan’s plot. Yes… none of the original four versions of
this episode included Ordikan. I always
wanted him to come back—but it was going to be a big surprise in the final
episode. Too bad!
And
much like “The Oracle of Ages,” people were awed by the plotting wonders that
led to Megan Reinbold’s death. Though
this wasn’t nearly as intricate as the long series of events that led up
to “Oracle,” I did prophecy Reinbold’s death over a year ago, with Talyere’s
vision in “Screams of Armageddon.” Does
this mean that I am the chi-goehs?
Hmm… Anyway, people took to
Megan’s demise fairly well—mainly because, in retrospect, it might have been a
mistake to bring her aboard in the first place. Technically speaking, she didn’t have anything to do aboard the Starlight.
But Justin, I think, justified her
inclusion in the series, so it wasn’t a total loss. I don’t hear a lot about Justin, but I certainly like him;
teenagers in Star Trek have been constantly portrayed as complete and utter
dorks (maybe the creators are appealing to the fan base? J). Jake Sisko was an exception to the rule, but even he was a
goody-goody. So Justin was my attempt
to make a “cool” Star Trek teenager. So
even if Megan Reinbold didn’t work out as a character, her son certainly did.
Now,
I know some people might question Xi'Yor’s lack of vigilance when it comes to
killing Talyere in this episode.
Suffocation is certainly not the most effective means of eliminating
someone—especially if you are an Elorg Overseer and that special someone is your
most hated nemesis. But I didn’t want
to keep Talyere dead for very long.
After all, he did have to get out for his scenes later in the
episode. Plus, we can theorize that
Xi'Yor and Dra’venn didn’t have any other weapons available to them. After all, Talyere and Xi'Yor fought a
hand-to-hand battle on Rebena Te Ra—and Xi'Yor left his weapon inside Megan’s
abdomen. And all of the phasers aboard
the raider… were damaged. Bah. Okay, maybe not. Maybe Dra’venn is stupid?
Maybe he was getting creative?
Maybe he’s a traitor and wanted Talyere to live? Maybe I shouldn’t have had Talyere get
abducted in “Horn and Ivory”? The truth
might never be known…
And
Bator. I know I’m going to hear about
him. But I’m saving that commentary for
the next episode. The final
episode! Five years in the making! It’s almost over! I can hardly wait!