“Distant Voices” won one of its handful of Emmy awards for the aging make up job done for Bashir as he deteriorates throughout the episode. Trek has done that sort of process a number of times, but this is the only win for it. On an odd note, about two-thirds of the way through, Alexander Siddig is the spitting image of John McCain. Poor guy.Joe Menosky, who I have talked about numerous times before as having a hit and miss record of high concept stories, wrote “Distant Voices.” I am not certain how psychologists view the notion of a person associating personality traits with people he knows or saving himself from a deep coma, but as a literary buff, I associated the concept more, in execution, at any rate, with Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Mask of the Red Death.” Whichever way you go, it was an interesting episode. I say that as one who still is not sold on Bashir as a likable character.
Days shy of his thirtieth birthday, Bashir is approached by Quark and a “business” associate named Altovar looking to buy some illegal biomedical materials. Bashir refuses, but finds Altovar later in his lab rummaging for supplies. In the ensuing struggle, Altovar uses a psychic attack on Bashir.
Bashir awakens to find the station damaged and abandoned, save for his closest friends, and himself rapidly aging. Each of his friends has a heightened personality trait that Bashir eventually surmises are his own. He pieces together after a brain scan that he is in a coma, his friends represent aspects of himself, and he must get the station back on line in order to save his own mind.
Each of his friends is picked off by Altovar, one by one. As each goes, so does the aspect of Bashir’s personality represented. Here is where I was reminded of “The Mask of the Red Death,” where each room of Prospero’s castle represented a time period in his life. “Distant Voices” isa heavily rewritten script with the underlying element of Bashir fearing the one set of old age. I suspect there was originally an even deeper homage to Poe’s famous short story.
Bashir eventually saves himself when he realizes he is trapped within his own mind. He can do whatever he wants here. Altovar’s attack is repelled and Bashir recovers.
What is interesting here, in addition to the fascinating and well executed story, is howwell “Distat Voices” serves as retroactive continuity. It has not even been conceived of that Bashir is hiding genetic engineering, but it fits in with the eventual revelation. Bashir once wanted to be a tennis player, but quit for medical school. The excuse presented here is that his parents would not approve. Their motivation is that his enhancement would likely be discovered. Bashir also reveals he purposefully missed an obvious exam question in order to avoid being valedictorian in medical school. He likely did so, not because he could not handle the pressure, but as a further way of covering up his secret.
It al fits in much better than a lot of comics I have seen attempt to pull it off over the years.
I liked “Distant Voices” in spite of my usual ambivalence for Bashir. Menosky sometimes goes too far in his weirdness, but this time out, he hit it right on the mark. The episode has the added advantage of being similar to a number of Brannon Braga episodes like TNG’s “Frame of Mind” and VOY’s “Projections.” Menosky is miles above Braga anyway, but when there areso many similar, mediocre episode to compare with, “Distant Voices” stands out even more.
Rating: *** (out of 5)
