The Klingon Version of B'Elanna Torres in the Episode Faces

[Ro_Laren]

Is it just me, or did the Klingon version of in the first season episode Faces seem different than the average Klingon female? When I mean different, it is because she seemed to speak slower / in a more strained manner than other Klingon females speak. Was Roxann Dawson just trying to show that Klingon B’Elanna was a little confused or something because she was grown from regular B’Elanna’s extracted Klingon DNA (Klingon B’Elanna was a clone right?)?

 

[T'Girl]

Is it just me, or did the Klingon version of B'Elanna Torres in the first season episode Faces seem different than the average Klingon female?

When I mean different, it is because she seemed to speak slower / in a more strained manner than other Klingon females speak. Was Roxann Dawson just trying to show that Klingon B’Elanna was a little confused or something because she was grown from regular B’Elanna’s extracted Klingon DNA (Klingon B’Elanna was a clone right?)?

A couple of things come to mind. The Klingon version of Be'lanna might have simply been having difficulty speaking with a mouthful of Klingon teeth, she was having to annunciate carefully in order to be understood.

She might have been feeling out of sorts following the stripping away of her Humanity, the side of herself that she most closely identified with. Remember, this is the woman who looked into genetically altering her own child in the womb so the child would have no Klingon physical characteristics.

 

[KaraBear]

Is it just me, or did the Klingon version of B'Elanna Torres in the first season episode Faces seem different than the average Klingon female?

When I mean different, it is because she seemed to speak slower / in a more strained manner than other Klingon females speak. Was Roxann Dawson just trying to show that Klingon B’Elanna was a little confused or something because she was grown from regular B’Elanna’s extracted Klingon DNA (Klingon B’Elanna was a clone right?)?

A couple of things come to mind. The Klingon version of Be'lanna might have simply been having difficulty speaking with a mouthful of Klingon teeth, she was having to annunciate carefully in order to be understood.

She might have been feeling out of sorts following the stripping away of her Humanity, the side of herself that she most closely identified with. Remember, this is the woman who looked into genetically altering her own child in the womb so the child would have no Klingon physical characteristics.

I remember Roxann saying at a convention that she had a hard time with the teeth

 

[lurok]

Probable real-life answer: the fake teeth. And/or Dawson's take on character.

In-universe possible answer: that's just how she spoke. Not all Klingons are the same.

 

[Praetorian]

Also, the slow way of talking seems to be more pronounced right after she wakes up. Perhaps she was still recovering from the procedure.

 

[KaraBear]

yeah she might have been groggy from the procedure, plus as part of having the Phage she was in a tremendous amount of pain

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Probable real-life answer: the fake teeth. And/or Dawson's take on character.

In-universe possible answer: that's just how she spoke. Not all Klingons are the same.

If in real life the fake teeth made a difference, in the real world radical alterations to one's teeth would also affect their speech pattern.

 

[dub]

I thought it was a good way to help separate the two characters even though they're the same actress. So the mouthful of teeth helped in that respect. I think it would have been interesting if this episode came a little later in the series and only one of the two halves survived.

 

[Yanks]

Faces was one of Roxanne's best performances.

This episode made me think of TOS: The Enemy Within.

..and this guy was creepy as hell

To the OP there could be many possiilities. One I subscribe to is Roxanne needed to distinguise between two characters she was playing so speaking in a different pace was probably one way to do it so the viewer would appreciate the difference more.

 

[KaraBear]

I thought it was a good way to help separate the two characters even though they're the same actress. So the mouthful of teeth helped in that respect. I think it would have been interesting if this episode came a little later in the series and only one of the two halves survived.

well even in this one, only one of the two halves survived

 

[dub]

What I meant was -- it would have been interesting if we only saw a fully-human or fully-klingon version for the rest of the series.

 

[Pavonis]

But then they wouldn't have had the Spock character, the one who wrestles with their radically different sides.

 

[dub]

And that's why they should have kept Tuvix. Wait, wrong thread.

I know, "almost not funny." I know.

But isn't Seven the Spock character (and really better than Torres in that function)? I think it may have been an interesting twist to watch Torres adjust to herself being fully Klingon with no one to relate to on the ship, and get into a lot more trouble for her more frequent and sustained outbursts of anger, and be more aggressive and dominant in her relationship with Paris, and get into some fist fights with Seven. Maybe she could get enough replicator rations to replicate a Ferengi tooth filer to make talking easier. I dunno. Just seems like it would have been interesting.

 

[DigificWriter]

I'm currently watching Faces right now, and I love Klingon B'Elanna. It really would have been interesting for Human B'Elanna to have been the one to die, but having Klingon B'Elanna sticking around would've made for a more complicated shooting process for Roxann.

As for her way of speaking, I don't think she spoke significantly differently than any other Klingon female we'd seen previously, but YMMV.

 

[Pavonis]

Just seems like it would have been interesting.

Lots of other things would've been interesting. They decided to make ST:VOY instead.