Star Trek: Initiations

Episode: "Initiations"

Series: Star Trek: Voyager

Season 2, Episode 2

Original Air Date: September 4, 1995

via Memory Alpha

Chakotay has been granted the use of a shuttlecraft so he can perform the pakra, a (Star Trek-invented) memorial ritual for his father.  I don't understand why he couldn't have done it in his quarters but it's as good an excuse as any for what comes next.  He accidentally stumbles into Kazon territory.  Once there, he has a hostile encounter with a young Kazon who sounds awfully familiar...

One of the asks of the writers for Season 2 was better development for Chakotay - a good call.  On NextGen, despite second-billing, Riker definitely suffers in the competition for quality material with Data and Worf.  The same could easily have happened with Chakotay (and may yet) without deliberate effort.  "Initiations" is a good start.  However, I always get nervous when they lean too heavily on the Native American heritage angle.  For starters, they would have done well to give him a more specific ethnicity.  The producers saw him as Sioux in the beginning, later Hopi.  The tribe wasn't named on-screen until a fictional one was invented for him.  Also, they could have cast a Native actor.  There were plenty of good ones around in the mid-90s.  Robert Beltran is technically Latino.  Why not tap into his actual cultural identity instead?

The biggest mistake regarding Chakotay, though, was not letting the Maquis story play out for longer.  Once Seska was gone, his character lost dimension he never quite got back.  Now, Beltran is quite frank in his own assessment of the situation.  I recommend David Wharton's piece on Giant Freakin Robot.

But at least for a while in Season 2, they were trying.

One of the most frequent criticisms of the episode has to do with the guest star who played Kar, the young Kazon.  Before we dig into it, let me emphasize that I find the criticism entirely unfair and I'll explain why.

Kar was played by Aron Eisenberg, better known as Nog on Deep Space Nine.  While the makeup is completely different, the voice is instantly recognizable.  Some critics found this off-putting, complaining that it took them out of the narrative.  I dispute this criticism for two reasons:

• Eisenberg had to audition for the part.  It's not as if they created the character for him.  They made him earn it.  And he did.
• 29 years later, it's entirely possible someone might watch the series in the opposite order.  I did.  When I first started digging into NextGen-era Trek back in the DVR days, Voyager episodes were available to me while DS9 ones were not.  So, I saw this episode first and never would have realized the connection.

Furthermore, Eisenberg is great in the part.  Evidently, he and Beltran had loads of fun working together.  Beltran likened it to working with comedian Don Rickles.

Acting Notes

via Wikipedia

Patrick Kilpatrick (great name) played the role of Razik, First Maje of the Kazon sect Chakotay encounters.  It's the first of three Trek appearances for the actor.  Kilpatrick was born Robert Donald Kilpatrick, Jr. in Orange, Virginia, August 20, 1949.  He graduated from Richmond University, then attended NYU for grad school.

He's earned his living as an action film villain.  Movies include Class of 1999, Minority Report and The Presidio.  Beyond Trek, television appearances include Babylon 5, ER and The X-Files.  

In 2021, Kilpatrick ran in the California Governor recall race.  The recall failed.  Kilpatrick won 1.2% of the vote.