Twilight of the Gods (…And
“The Odyssey” Arc in General)
Original Premiere: April 01, 2003
Rating: ««««
This episode was supposed to be the conclusion of the most mind-blowing,
epic adventure in TFF history. And in
many ways, it was. When the previous
episode, “Infinity,” posed questions about the edge of the universe, we were
treading some very contemplative, very high-concept ground. Though very few people actually stop to
consider it, the edge of the universe is probably one of the most mind-boggling
subjects known to exist. Is there an
edge of the universe? If so, what is
beyond that edge? This string of
episodes really made readers think about all the different possibilities—and
without a doubt, that is my favorite kind of episode… because at that point,
I’m not just providing mindless entertainment—it suddenly becomes
mind-expanding entertainment. And with
Yelss, Drusari, and countless other nemeses to fight, that mind-expanding was
definitely entertaining. But… despite
all of that, this story arc should have been something more.
Originally, this was supposed to be an incredible space
opera. I started planting the seeds for
it early—the very first mention of the Zhargosia Sector came in episode 25,
allowing for an incredible 52 episodes of buildup. Unfortunately, I forgot to plant all of the seeds, and in
the end, that really hurt the arc.
Originally, the Drusari were supposed to find Voyager 2—they just
happened to intercept it with one of their subspace sinkholes. Intrigued by this discovery, the Drusari
started to explore the universe in search of Earth… but then one of their
operatives gets killed on Earth, and the Drusari decide it’s not such a great
place after all. So they start working
to reach the Milky Way using the elaborate wormhole getup we saw throughout
this story arc. Unfortunately, I forgot
to write that particular episode, and the entire storyline got screwed up. So I had this buildup of ships in the
Zhargosia Sector and no way to explain it.
To compensate, I started to weave other threads into the story,
including Xi'Yor and the Yelss and just about every other loose end I could
think of. Unfortunately, while the
Yelss plot worked wonders for their particular storyline, Xi'Yor’s thread
wasn’t going anywhere fast. In fact, I
didn’t know what to do with him, so instead of something incredibly elaborate,
I deftly guided the good Overseer back to the Elorg Bloc where he
belonged. Naturally, the other plot
thread that seemed to suffer was the Drusari plot itself. Without that link to Earth and the
Federation, the threat they posed was really, really distanced; and
while the Drusari provided some great battle sequences in “In the Heart of
Darkness” and “Twilight of the Gods,” that was the extent of it. Tracker Melas’ threats seemed quite empty,
and while he insisted the Ghaib and the Drusari would return—I’m reasonably
certain they will not.
Another storyline that is
threaded throughout the entire arc is the Starlight’s quest for allies
and resources in the Zukara Segment—and in the process, they come upon General
Kron and his… “kronies.” Hahah… This whole thing was partially inspired by the
excellent Voyager episode “The
Void,” which featured Janeway and friends in a similar circumstance—but the
driving force behind the plot was the movie “Dinosaur.” On the surface, it might seem like a kiddie
movie (with talking dinosaurs and all that), but once you peer beneath the
surface, you really see some nice character arcs—like Bruton’s fall from
grace. In the beginning, he’s the
biggest proponent of Kron’s philosophy: Only the strong survive… But after a
chance encounter with the enemy, the tables are suddenly turned. Kron leaves Bruton behind because he’s weak,
and Bruton really has to stop and think about what he’s doing… What’s more important? Seeing that the strong survive, and ensuring
the safety of some—or taking risks to ensure the safety of everyone? Bruton eventually sees the light, but…
Kron’s inflexibility gets him killed.
And I love that kind of stuff.
This story arc also saw a lot of death. Erin died. Jayla
died. Kendall died. Hapless Lieutenant died… Of course, all of them were resurrected, but
still, that was a lot of carking (an excellent euphemism for death, I might
add… cark… Those Aussies… J). At first, the deaths were merely put in
there for shock value. People were
extremely concerned when Erin turned up dead in the end of “The Odyssey, part
II.” Thankfully, readers were a bit
more forgiving this time around—if you’ll recall, fans raised 53 kinds of hell
when Rachael Meyer fell over dead in “Meridian Dance.” This time, however, they must have seen my
vision—because while everyone was definitely concerned, they seemed much more
willing to follow me through to the conclusion of this one. I guess they trusted me to guide them
through it—and I hope I didn’t let anyone down… And while the vast majority of these deaths were intended for
shock value, one of them meant a lot more—Kendall Johnson’s. It was more of a reflection on his character
than a shock… While Kendall has
obviously made great strides in recent years, “Twilight of the Gods” clearly
demonstrates that if things start looking bad, he’d rather walk away than deal
with it. While the implications of this
weren’t explored very much in season four, this thread will definitely pick up
steam during TFF’s final year, forcing leading Kendall to confront his greatest
fears.
As was mentioned in the “Sodom and Gomorrah” commentary, a lot of
the aliens appearing throughout this arc find their inspirations back with the
dinosaurs. While a lot of the
characters, such as Kron and Bruton took their roots from their Dinosaur
counterparts (the Iguanodon), most of the other characters had to be created
from scratch. Thus, I sorted through my
many resources and picked out the most interesting species; I figured this was
a refreshing change of pace from Michael Westmore’s approach—which is to use
living animals as a starting point (this is, of course, not intended to slight
Mr. Westmore. He does some excellent
work, there’s no doubt about that.
Gotta love those Jem’Hadar!). In
fact, my method was very much the same…
Amongst the candidates were the Corthysaurus (Corthyan), Velociraptor
(Mandroth), and Gastornis (Ghaib). The
Drusari themselves were partially inspired by the Bal’rog from “The Lord of the
Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” I
mean, if there was ever an awesome creature, that was it. There’s nothing more ominous that a
Bal’rog. Originally, the Drusari were
supposed to be 50 feet tall with massive, behemoth ships. I don’t think that idea exactly came across
in the episode, but it was defiantly intended.
Those guys were BIG!
And then, of course, there was the good old Anid’akeirus, that
loveable little guy with tentacles and detachable eyeballs… Over the years, Star Trek has had a severe
dearth in exotic aliens. Aside from
Species 8472 and the Horta, very few other aliens come to mind—though I
must admit, Enterprise has done a decent job with the Xindi—both the
Insectoids and the Aquatics are a breath of fresh air (even if the Aquatics
can’t really do anything). Oh,
and those aliens from “Silent Enemy” were also awesome! But I digress. Anid’akeirus… While he
was reasonably humanoid, he was also downright gross. Anid’akeirus, that is.
Gross. Based upon both LOTR’s
Gollum and Babylon 5’s Zathras, he was a delightful character to write for—and
his odd speech pattern was also a hoot.
I wish I could have found something more for him to do—but alas, no such
luck. Maybe he’ll return in season
five?
And finally, there were a fair amount of in-jokes scattered throughout
these six episodes. From the incredibly
obvious (Captain Sheridan, anyone?) to the incredibly obscure (sugar bombs, Lab
16), I went out of my way to pay homage to… a few of my favorite things (not
that I’m a big fan of “The Sound of Music,” but how could I pass that one
up?). Here is a list of all my
favorite in jokes:
In “The Odyssey, part I,” the Odyssey
is moving to intercept the Voyager 2 probe.
And this joke is an obvious one.
Voyager 2 was an actual probe launched by NASA in the late 1970’s to
explore the outer portions of the Sol System.
And unlike modern NASA probes (the cheap, inexpensive ones they send to
Mars), this one actually completed its mission without some sort of critical
failure. It is conceivable that, by the
year 2167, Voyager 2 will be well on its way to interstellar space for the Odyssey
to capture.
And speaking of the Odyssey, it
was crewed by quite an eclectic group of explorers. Captain John Sheridan, Commander Sinclair, and Lieutenant
Franklin can all be tied back to Babylon 5, while Subcommander Vasar has a
striking resemblance to Enterprise’s T’Pol. This ship has undoubtedly intersected more than one interspatial
distortion.
While investigating the probe’s
destruction in “The Odyssey, part I,” Commander Harrison has the computer
replay the sensor data from time index 9-2-4.
In Star Trek: Generations, Lursa and B’Etor find the Enterprise’s
shield frequency by replaying Geordi’s visual feedback from time index 9-2-4.
The USS Khitomer met its
unfortunate demise whilst charting the Anar’qand System in the first half of “The
Odyssey.” Thankfully, its intrepid crew
lives on in some parallel universe called Star Trek: Khitomer—a fan
fiction series written by legendary “Sacrifice of Innocents” author Pete
Tzinksi (who loves it when you remind him of that smoldering pile of dung…
Though let’s get one thing straight—the small amount of Khitomer that
exists is actually quite good).
And speaking of the Khitomer, it
was blown to smithereens in the Anar’qand System, a far-flung region of space
near the Zhargosia Sector. In Final
Fantasy X, after a sultry, moonlit make-out session, Tidus decides to accompany
Yuna to Zanarkand. Tidus says that
he intends to help Yuna, but we all know he was just looking for a little
nookie.
Harrison was caught reading The Return of the King in his quarters in “The Odyssey, part I.” This is undoubtedly the third and final chapter of J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy.
While trapped in a small, sultry
corridor aboard a Ghaib vessel, Talyere speculates that the experience is akin
to being in kel’thuzad, the Elorg equivalent of hell. And it’s an appropriate analogy, because Kel’Thuzad
is an Undead servant of the Lich King in “Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos.”
As was mentioned earlier, both Kron and
Bruton were inspired by the movie Dinosaur. Reena, the tactical officer on Bruton’s ship was an anagram of
Neera, Kron’s sister.
In “The Odyssey, part II,” Captain
Christopher makes a quip about not wanting to steal a transwarp coil from a
Borg ship. Apparently, he’s not quite
as intrepid as our beloved Captain Janeway—because she did just that in the VGR
episode “Dark Frontier.”
When he awakens aboard the Yelss vessel
in the second part of “The Odyssey,” Lucas Tompkins is greeted by an enigmatic
alien called Setzer Umari. In Final
Fantasy VI, Setzer Umaro is one of the many individuals who avail themselves to
your noble quest—which, of course, is to stop that insane SOB, Khefka.
Also in “The Odyssey, part II,” Talyere
mentions that Tantari-class vessels are a part of the Elorg fleet. Little did he know, in “The Legend of Zelda:
The Adventure of Link,” Tantari is a desert inhabited by evil trophy-stealing
Goryias (http://www.sttff.net/pictures/tantari1.jpg,
http://www.sttff.net/pictures/tantari2.jpg).
After Lieutenant Berman falls over dead
in the Starlight’s turbolift, Bator and Hartman perform an autopsy that
is conspicuously similar to the ones seen every week on CSI: Crime Scene
Investigation.
After visiting Eridor in “The Odyssey,
part II,” General Kron leads the fleet to the Rolante System. And after he decides that Rolante is too far
away, Kron then takes the fleet to the Navarre Cluster. Both Rolante and Navarre are featured in the
SNES game Seiken Densetsu III. Rolante
is the Wind Kingdom, under siege by Beigu’s dreaded forces of doom; the desert
nation of Navarre is at the heart of the thieves’ guild.
Doctor Hartman mentions to Alan
Christopher that he is not the Man of Steel toward the end of “The
Odyssey, part II.” And while
Christopher was clueless to the reference, you’d have to have spent the past
several decades in a cave not to know who Superman is…
Also in “The Odyssey, part II,” Captain
Christopher’s breakfast of choice is not Wheaties, but… Sugar Bombs! Yum!
In the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin frequently ingested
Sugar Bombs.
In “In the Heart of Darkness,” Kendall
Johnson notes that copious amounts of condensed lazon are interfering with
sensor readings. This is undoubtedly
good news for King Zarkon—because in Voltron: The Third Dimension,
Prince Lotor used condensed lazon (and a long list of other goodies) to build
Zarkon’s forces of doom. Of course,
Voltron always destroyed the said weapons, but, an evil guy’s gotta try…
Good old Gleeok the Necromancer has
been mentioned several times throughout the series (and was prominently
featured in the first season’s “Black Fire”).
But while TFF’s Gleeok is a hologram, the one featured in The Legend of
Zelda is not—in fact, he’s the evil multi-headed dragon guarding the triforce
in several of that game’s labyrinths.
Just moments after speaking of Gleeok, Christopher proceeds to mention the Forgotten Land of Brigador. In Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Thrall must lead the Orc to the Forgotten Land of Kalimdor.
Whilst peering out into space,
Christopher imagines a quaint little world called Astoria. Apparently, this world was featured in
Seiken Densetsu III, because Astoria was a small village featured in that game—until
that place got trashed by the Altenan army.
And of course, toward the end of “In
the Heart of Darkness,” we have the coming of the Drusari—and as mentioned
earlier, they look suspiciously like the Bal’rog from LOTR. Just to reinforce that link, Harrison asks, “What
is this new devilry?” Of course,
Boromir asks the exact same question in The Fellowship of the Ring. Galdalf, however, manages to survive the TFF
incarnation… oh wait, he wasn’t there.
Never mind.
The episode “New Blood” borrowed its
title from the first episode of “Walking With Prehistoric Beasts,” an excellent
documentary produced by the BBC. That
first episode, by-the-way, is also the one that features Gastornis, the evil
birds that inspired Tracker Melas and the Ghaib.
Also in “New Blood,” Lucas Tompkins met
with a sultry alien female named Likku aboard the Yelss Station. An equally sultry Rikku is a member of your
party in Final Fantasy X… and Final Fantasy X2 (though the latter version of
the character wears a lot less clothing.
Can’t wait for FFX3 J).
While the Yelss are sending telepathic
messages to Christopher in “New Blood,” they mention both “Time’s Scar” and “The
Cogs of Fate.” The Yelss must have been playing Chrono Cross before sending
those messages, because “Time’s Scar” is the title of the excellent opening
theme, and “The Cogs of Fate” are mentioned in the prologue.
Megan Reinbold serves steamed azna for
dinner in “New Blood.” In the DS9
episode “A Man Alone,” Dax orders azna at Quark’s.
Alas poor, Sheridan… Near the end of “New
Blood,” Xi'Yor finds Captain Sheridan’s skull on the floor. Since he’s insane, Xi'Yor plucked the skull
from the floor and started talking to it, an action that mirrors Act V, Scene I
of Hamlet, when the aforementioned Hamlet has a chat with poor Yorick’s
skull. He knew him well, Horatio…
•
Xi'Yor chats with Sheridan’s skull.
At the end of the episode, Xi'Yor holds Sheridan’s skull and speaks to
it. In Act V, Scene I of Hamlet, Hamlet
has a chat with poor Yorick’s skull. He
knew him well, Horatio; a fellow of most infinite jest; of most excellent fancy:
he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rises at
it. Here hung those lips that I have kiss'd I know not how oft. Where be your
gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to
set the table on a roar? Not one now, to mock your own grinning? Quite chap-fallen? Now, get you to my lady's chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch
thick, to this favor she must come; make her laugh at that—pr'ythee, Horatio, tell
me one thing… … …
Those Yelss must be big time video game
buffs. Their new battle cruiser, featured prominently in “Infinity,” bares a
striking resemblance to the Ocean Force Point Temple in Star Fox Adventures. And of course, Lab 16 on that same ship can
be traced back to Chrono Trigger; Lab 16 was amongst the ruins in the future
timeline in that game.
In Star Trek: Generations, Captain
Kirk prepared some Ktarian eggs while chatting with Picard in the Nexus. Bator eats the same thing in the beginning
of “Twilight of the Gods.”
Also in “Twilight of the Gods,” Alan
Christopher mentioned that he once spent the night on Kemada V. Deft readers might have noticed that if one
spells Kemada backwards, they wind up with this very author’s last name…
And finally, Megan Reinbold’s
security code is ‘Reinbold sigma-9-5-7.’
She must have been watching Babylon 5, because Sigma 957 is a planet
inhabited by the First Ones (in “All Alone in the Night,” if memory serves).
