Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres

From LoveToKnow Sci-Fi

Angry Young Woman

Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres (Roxanne Dawson) has a temper problem. She made it through several years in Starfleet Academy, but her temper finally got the best of her and she was disenrolled.

Part of the problem is heredity. B'Elanna is half human and half Klingon, and Klingons have never been known for their poise and self-control. Her parents split when she was young, her human father leaving her with her Klingon mother, and B'Elanna always blamed her mother's and her own Klingon natures for the loss of her father. So she always tried, with little success, to suppress the despised Klingon side of her nature.

(It's rather refreshing, considering how many Star Trek characters – or for that matter, how many characters in movies and television overall – have Father Issues, to come across a character who has Mother Issues. Certainly, mothers are at least as likely as fathers to bequeath their offspring with Issues that they must deal with as adults, but that seems less plot-worthy to screenwriters for some reason.)

B'Elanna Torres: Rebel Engineer

After leaving the Academy, B'Elanna found a new home in the Maquis, where discipline was less important than technical competence. And with the spit-and-baling-wire engines of Maquis ships, a competent engineer is a must.

When both the Maquis ship and Voyager are seized by the enigmatic Caretaker entity and thrown to the far side of the galaxy, Torres is taken from the ship for various medical tests. There she meets Voyager's Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) in the same predicament, and despite her anger with Starfleet, the two of them have to work together to escape.

Once the two crews are combined, a replacement is needed for Voyager's chief engineer, killed in the initial damage when Voyager was thrown to the Delta Quadrant. Torres gets the job and must overcome resentment from other Starfleet officers, particular the assistant engineer who believed the job should be his by rights.

Making New Friends

B'Elanna's first friend aboard Voyager is her partner in the Caretaker adventure, Ensign Kim. The two of them with Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) become Voyager's 'younger set', hanging around together in their off hours. Later in the series, B'Elanna and Tom become a romantic couple, eventually marrying and having a daughter.

It would be nice to report that Torres made friends with her Klingon side, but it wouldn't be accurate. In one episode, she was captured by the Vidiians and split into two people, one human and one Klingon. In that adventure, she learned how important to her was the brave fighting spirit of her Klingon side, and yet she only reincorporated her Klingon nature with great reluctance. Later, she even attempted to have the Doctor perform gene manipulation on her unborn daughter to do away with the Klingon brow ridges that had caused her to experience such teasing as a child. B'Elanna's conflict over her dual nature was never really resolved.

And yet despite it all, on Voyager she found a home, she found love, and she found a family.