Who Is B'Elanna Really?

[Gotabite 0]

I'm just wondering what many Voyager fans felt about B'Elanna Torres, the Human/Klingon character? In your opinion which seemed to be the dominant part of her heritage, her Human or her Klingon genes, and what makes you feel the way you do?

[barry 0]

I like B'Ellanna Torres I thought she was great in the show and I thought she melowed out a bit when she started to settle down with Tom Paris.

There is one episode I liked with her, I can't remember the name of it but she ended up being split in two with a scared human girl and a tough warrior klingon girl, I thought that episode was good.

[Gotabite 0]

I like B'Ellanna Torres I thought she was great in the show and I thought she melowed out a bit when she started to settle down with Tom Paris.

There is one episode I liked with her, I can't remember the name of it but she ended up being split in two with a scared human girl and a tough warrior klingon girl, I thought that episode was good.

The episode was called "Faces."

[NordicBearskin 0]

I don't think that either side of her heritage had more or less of an impact on who she was. As in Faces, we see that both sides of her ancestry have equal importance and effect on her. I liked it that she was clearly not a typical, 'StarFleet' person who was calm, rational and who didn't allow their feelings to get in the way of her job but that she wasn't also a full Klingon, full of rituals and 'belly-fire'.

[ensign_beedrill 0]

B'Elanna Torres is, as we all are, the sum of her experiences.

 

She was put through a lot as a child. People teased her and made fun of her. She often wasn't chosen to play games, even though she was the best, because she was different. (That information was from the book Pathways by Jeri Taylor.) So she developed a hard shell to hide in and she developed a sort of suspiciousness of others. She went to Starfleet Academy, as her father did, perhaps to follow in his footsteps and perhaps in an effort to become "more human." But I suppose she didn't like it there, being around people she was paranoid were judging her. So, she joined the Maquis. Perhaps to vent some of her anger at others, perhaps for another reason.

 

When we find her on Voyager, she is all of this. Which I believe is why she acts angry a lot and has a bad temper. It all goes back to what she went through as a kid. However, as the series progressed, she began to get a little more open. She began to realize that yes, she could trust other people. She began to come out of that shell. I think Paris helped a lot in getting her to come out. I think she became less of a rebel as she learned that cooperation really is worth the effort. She developed friendships that she never would have if Voyager and Chakotay's ship hadn't gotten snatched to the Delta Quadrant. I think it was a good thing, not just for her, but for a lot of the crew from both ships. As she began to show more and more of her inner self and who she really was, we saw a very interesting person.

 

I don't think any part of her was more dominant. She did try to hide her Klingon half, though. And in so trying to hide it, I think it showed out a little more. Ironic, isn't it?

 

I think Torres was a very dynamic, interesting person. She cared a lot about whatever she was doing. She knew where she stood on certain subjects and she wouldn't let anything sway her from her views. She was quite stubborn that way and often had to learn lessons the "hard way." But the thing about learning lessons the hard way is that you never make that mistake again. She often had a temper, but she was also a caring and loyal friend once you got to know her.

[TransporterMalfunction 1]

She was put through a lot as a child.  People teased her and made fun of her.  She often wasn't chosen to play games, even though she was the best, because she was different.  (That information was from the book Pathways by Jeri Taylor.)

Yes I really like that part of her back story as it builds on the character framework. I think that was also developed in one of the episodes in the first season as well.

[Goose 0]

Stardate:213696.9

 

 

 

I dont think either side really dominated the other but when she got mad i would definitly say she has a Klingons temper

[barry 0]

Thanks for the answer Gotabite.

[Kyalia 0]

I thought that B'elanna's :blink: temper showed more often than her human side, so I have to say that's dominant.

[Sam The Smuggler 1]

Do You Really Wanna Know??

 

Really Really?

 

 

Click for Spoiler:

She's Roxann Dawson :blink:

[edmcgon 0]

Clever Sam. :blink:

[trekzone 0]

I like B'Ellanna Torres I thought she was great in the show and I thought she melowed out a bit when she started to settle down with Tom Paris.

There is one episode I liked with her, I can't remember the name of it but she ended up being split in two with a scared human girl and a tough warrior klingon girl, I thought that episode was good.

The episode was called "Faces."

season 1 cassette 9 (second last)

 

or episode production number 114

 

Click for Spoiler:

Faces

Voyager #114

Synopsis:

 

Voyager's half-human, half-Klingon Chief Engineer Torres is split into two beings by a scientist desperate to cure the plague that's destroying his people.

 

When an Away Team consisting of Paris, Torres and Lt. Durst fails to return, Chakotay, Kim and Tuvok beam down to the planet where the trio was working to investigate. Chakotay traces the missing crewmembers to some caves, but can't break through the Vidiian force field to find them.

 

In an underground lab, a Vidiian scientist named Sulan has extracted Torres's Klingon genetic material to create an all-Klingon version of her. He hopes to create a cure for the deadly Phage disease infecting his race by injecting a pure Klingon subject with the disease. But his interest in Torres is more than purely scientific, a fact the Klingon woman soon picks up on.

 

Trapped in another Vidiian cell, Paris and Durst are stunned when a new prisoner is brought in. It's an all-human version of Torres — the other "half" of Torres that was left after Sulan removed the Klingon genetic material. The guards return and forcibly remove Durst from the cell. Although Paris tries unsuccessfully to help his friend, all the human Torres can do is cringe in fear.

 

The next time Sulan comes to visit the Klingon Torres, she is horrified to see him wearing Durst's face. He has killed the lieutenant and grafted the dead man's face over his own diseased features in the hopes that Torres will find him more attractive. Instead, her anger helps her to break the bonds restraining her. She attacks Sulan and escapes from the lab.

 

Paris and the human Torres are sent out on a labor detail, but when she can no longer work, she's sent back to the barracks. Her Klingon counterpart finds her there, and helps her to escape. In turn, the human Torres comes up with a plan to deactivate the shields for the whole facility, which would allow Voyager to beam them up. The two beings acknowledge that each has unique qualities that contribute to the whole being.

 

Disguised as a Vidiian, Chakotay rescues Paris and they reunite with the two Torreses. Just as they are about to beam back up to the ship, Sulan fires and the Klingon Torres takes the hit to save her human self. She dies after beaming up with the others, but the Doctor is able to use her Klingon DNA to restore Torres back to her original self.

 

Cast:

 

Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway

Robert Beltran as Chakotay

Roxann Biggs-Dawson as B'Elanna Torres

Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris

Jennifer Lien as Kes

Ethan Phillips as Neelix

Robert Picardo as The Doctor

Tim Russ as Tuvok

Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

 

 

Guest Cast:

 

Brian Markinson as Durst

Brian Markinson as Sulan

Rob LaBelle as Talaxian prisoner

Barton Tinapp as Guard #1

 

 

Creative staff:

 

Director: Winrich Kolbe

Story By: Jonathan Glassner and Adam Grossman

Teleplay By: Kenneth Biller

 

credit:TREKZONE.org

[Sirius 0]

I would say that Torres is a deeply troubled young woman.She has had a difficult life,and has never really come to terms with her dual nature.The experiences of her childhood,and her relationship with her mother have caused her to feel uncomfortable with her Klingon heritage,and impulses.She often exhibits this as feelings of shame and self-loathing.But this is not to say that she felt any more comfortable with her human half.Most of her early efforts at assimilating herself into human society (on Earth,at the Academy),were unsuccessful.And this,she blamed also on her Klingon nature.

Torres could have benifited from a ship board counselor.I think she has a lot of problems she must work out,and a lot of soulsearching to do yet.Still,Tom Paris is good for her,and she made some progress as a crewmember aboard Voyager.I generally liked the character(not,however,one of my favorites).