Re-Watching VOY

[Farscape One]

Getting back into this. I left off with Paris starting to get sick. So, I guess we're going to have to get Down with the Sickness! Cue Disturbed.

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You know what else it reminds me of, since horror was brought up? Alien, when Kane got what he thought was "sick" and Parker was like, "Come on, the food ain't that bad!" When Paris and Torres in the Mess Hall, and Paris starts to feel the first symptoms, that has to be homage to the first Alien movie.

Where is that taking us? That's what we're going to find out as I put on the rest of the episode!

---

"Threshold" (2nd Part of the Review)

Unfortunately, once Paris is taken to Sickbay, can't breathe oxygen anymore, and has veins all over his face, that's when it starts to turn too silly for me. "RIP, Tom Paris. Beloved Mutant." If you're into horror and other weird stuff like this, I can see why you'd like it. But this isn't my type of thing. Then Paris talks about all kinds of random things.

Then he dies, comes back to life, his body changes faster and faster, and he looks like, well what I'd call that is not what I'd call evolved. He should be in a monster movie! This makes no sense, but we'll keep going.

Okay, keeping going. Every time Paris opens his mouth, he's all over the place. It really comes out when he's talking to Janeway. He gets it all out before... he literally takes out his tongue?

I forgot all about that.

Then he's still speaking after he takes out his tongue? That's not possible. You can't speak without your tongue! But anyway... Paris gets worse and worse. If I was watching this with someone else, I'd be completely embarrassed.

After a bunch of technobabble in Engineer to try to get Paris back to normal, Mutated Paris kidnaps Janeway, somehow still knows how to use a shuttle. Three days later, Voyager has located Paris and Janeway on a planet, and -- at the 40-minute mark -- I'm wondering when this is going to be over. Janeway and Paris are now salamanders.

This is an opening for me to weigh in on something: The Doctor says this is a future step in the stage of the evolution of Humans. Brannon Braga was being a contrarian when he wondered, "Who says we have to become more advanced as we evolve?" Now, I'll say that evolution is adaptation to your environment. Adaptation doesn't mean advancement, it only means changing to survive. But under no circumstance can I imagine Homo Sapiens adapting into salamanders. This isn't science-fiction because it's not remotely based on any type of science at all. It's nonsensical, irrational, and only being done because "Why not?" It's anti-science-fiction.

I already couldn't get behind Infinite Speed but was willing to set that aside. I also can't get behind Humans evolving into salamanders but I'm not willing to put that aside. That's a step too far. Losing our mental capacity and reverting into a salamander is NOT adapting to survive. I can't imagine any scenario where that could possibly happen. It only happened in this episode because Brannon Braga somehow thought it was cool.

And how does Janeway become a salamander? Oh wait. She was at "Warp 10" as well. Never mind. Mutated Janeway and Mutated Paris have Mutated Babies. Salamander Babies. After that, the Doctor is able to change Janeway and Paris back to normal.

Why did Jonas think it would be a good idea to report to the Kazon and Seska about Warp 10? Seska probably laughed it off as soon as she heard about what happened.

So, I hadn't seen this episode in 17 years, and now I think it'll probably be another 17. If ever. How do I rate this? Let's see...

I give the first 19 minutes a 6. Not bad, but I don't agree with the concept. High end of Mixed Opinion. I give the next 26 minutes a 1. I think it's completely stupid and ridiculous. So, now, when I put the two together and weight the averages proportionately, it comes out to a 3.1, which rounds down to a 3.

"What?! You give it a 3?!?!!" Yeah. That's a pretty "high" rating, considering that I went into this thinking I'd only give it a 1.

So, that's it. I've broken through the threshold and made it through "Threshold"!

Like you said, fans of horror can appreciate this in ways you might not.

I still stand by my statement of this being a good episode. It's a great Tom Paris character piece.

And The Doctor did say POSSIBLE later evolutionary stage.

I do agree that the babies they had at the end was unnecessary, and just adds an awkwardness to the last scene that wasn't needed.

But my score? "THRESHOLD" is a solid 8.25.

 

[Lord Garth]

A couple of exchanges I got a kick out of. I want to post them before I forget.

---

Chakotay: "There are traces of human DNA. It's them. But I have to admit, I'm not sure which one is the Captain."

Tuvok: "The female, obviously."

Three baby salamanders emerge from a hole in the sand and slither off into the water.

Chakotay: "I don't know how I'm going to enter this into the log."

Tuvok: "I look forward to reading it."

---

Janeway: "I've thought about having children, but I must say I never considered having them with you."

Paris: "Captain, I'm sorry. I, I don't know what to say, except I don't remember very much about, er, you know"

Janeway: "What makes you think it was your idea? Sometimes it's the female of the species that initiates mating."

---

And, of course, this isn't complete without the version of "Threshold" that was done in TAS style!

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Now, I've really covered all the bases! Looking forward to when we get to "Tuvix", the next infamous episode! That'll be interesting too. In a completely different way! But we'll save that for when we get there.

If you want to hear me say it, I'll say it: there are other episodes that I found worse than "Threshold". There, I said it. "And the Children Shall Lead" from TOS comes to mind, so does "Justice" from TNG. Then there's "Let He Who Is Without Sin" from DS9, which I literally have only watched once ever. When it first aired in 1996 and that's it. So, it'll be interesting when I get there too.

 

[Detached Nacelle]

And then somebody else a few years later seemingly tried the warp 10 experiment again and also got salamandered but this time irreversibly. Ah well, he or she is happy on the farm.

 

[Oddish]

I wonder why they didn't have Data or some other artificial lifeform pilot a Warp 10 shuttle. Even if he couldn't take passengers, he could get some major exploration in.

 

[Lord Garth]

"Meld"

Suder's finally here! Tom Paris' mini-arc which leads up to flushing out Jonas starts! And what I am going to start this review off with? Neelix getting on my nerves again! Pestering Tuvok and saying he'll never rest until gets Tuvok to smile. And the pestering is starting to border on harassment. I'm on Tuvok's side.

But enough with that, and onto the real hook. Torres calls Tuvok down to Engineering, where a grisly murder has been uncovered. I already knew what was coming, since I know the episode. But for someone watching this the first time, it would probably be a sharp turn from out of left field.

Aside from Alien: Resurrection, I don't think I've ever seen Brad Dourif play anyone who wasn't crazy. And even in the Alien movie, what he was doing was crazy (helping in trying to weaponize Xenomorphs). And he delivers the crazy in this episode. It's like the role of Suder was written with Brad Dourif specifically in mind. Tuvok is completely perplexed when Suder gives the reason for killing someone as, "I didn't like the way he looked at me."

I think the Doctor is right. We evolved from predators. Suder can't repress those animal instincts. As soon as someone looks at him wrong, he kills them. He's out in the wild. He's in the jungle. To be honest, I'm surprised he managed to hold out until the middle of the second season. An assessment that Tuvok ultimately agrees with.

I'll also say I think Chakotay made a mistake in not telling Janeway, Tuvok, and the Doctor about Suder much earlier. I understand that Chakotay didn't want to make things difficult for his fellow Maquis crew, but Suder's issues didn't have anything to do with that. I don't fault the episode, though. This is a character flaw specific to Chakotay in that he was trying too hard to have all the Maquis crew's backs.

After Tuvok mind-melds with Suder, Tuvok's feelings begin to come to the surface. At first, it's thinking Suder deserves more punishment than what is feasible on Voyager. Janeway knows Tuvok well enough that she immediately picks up on it.

A great fake-out when Tuvok goes to the Holodeck and Neelix acts super-Neelix-y. What makes it such an effective fake-out is that Neelix is already so over-the-top that going slightly moreso doesn't even make anyone think anything is going on. On the surface, it seems like he's just being more annoying than usual. Then Tuvok does what a small part of him has probably wanted to do all along, and strangles Neelix to death! Computer, end program.

When Tuvok sees Suder in the brig, Suder talks about how appealing violence is, since it doesn't require logic and how liberating it feels. He tries his hardest to make it sound good. The only appeal I see is when an aggressor is stopped and can no longer cause you harm. Here, Suder is the aggressor. He never stops to think about how "liberating" or "satisfying" it would feel for someone innocent to be on the other side of said violence. How liberating is that? Liberating maybe because you can do whatever you want. Satisfying you can do whatever you want. But that's it. On a starship, he most certainly can't do whatever he wants. Maybe that's made killing someone on Voyager feel that much more satisfying to do, because it was harder.

After the exchange with Suder, Tuvok goes to his quarters, relieves himself of duty, and smashes everything in said quarters. We don't see any of it and when Janeway visits him, we see the state Tuvok has left things in. Symbolizing Tuvok's own wrecked, mental state. I had an easier time buying Tuvok's ravaging of his quarters here than Odo's in DS9's "Crossfire". Though it's interesting that the two security chiefs wreck their quarters in such close proximity, airdate-wise. Tuvok has had over a century of repressed violent emotion which is being influenced, albeit unintentionally, by a murdering psychopath.

The camera pans across everything Tuvok has done, then stops on the shadow of Tuvok, like something Alfred Hitchcock would do if he were directing. That was a great shot. Even better is we can't see Tuvok himself. He's hiding in a corner, unseen, as he tells Janeway not to enter. As if he's some hoodlum on the street, lurking around the corner. It's genuinely scary when Tuvok tells Janeway not only how many martial arts he knows but how many ways he can kill someone using just a finger. I bet Suder would love to know all the ways he could kill someone using these methods. Then Tuvok rises, has sweat all over him, veins bulging, and his eyes look like those of a killer. None of it is special effects. Just really good makeup and really good acting. Tim Russ nails it.

Then Tim Russ nails it again in the next scene. When Tuvok is in Sickbay, with his emotional suppression removed and his telepathic abilities blocked, he becomes intrigued with the primitive Vulcan state, tells Janeway she's wrong for letting Suder live, and offers to kill Suder for her. He also says that Humans disgust him. There's a kernel of truth in everything he says. I think the normal Tuvok would think that Suder needs to pay for his consequences. I do think that Humans (in general) annoy Tuvok to some degree, he puts up with them at worst and tolerates them at best in a lot of cases. Things he'd never say with his inhibitions intact.

In the middle of the night, Tuvok sneaks out of Sickbay, and heads off to kill Suder. The line of the show is when Suder says, "I'm ready to die, but are you ready to kill?" It's as if Suder is goading Tuvok to kill. Tuvok tries to rationalize it as Suder deserves to die, but Suder says that once Tuvok kills he'll want to keep killing and he'll have to give up his place in civilized society. I think Suder can't stand the thought of being confined to Voyager for rest of his life, wants to be killed, and thinks that if he's going down, then he's going to take the person who Tuvok was up until this episode down with him.

Fortunately, in the end, Tuvok doesn't kill Suder, Tuvok recovers, and Suder is permanently confined to his quarters. This episode was a great vehicle to show off Tim Russ' acting range. Something he doesn't get to do too often as Tuvok. It asks tough questions and doesn't give easy answers. I give it a 10.

I should mention something about the Paris sub-plot, beyond the fact that it exists. He really leans into the Bad Boy image with the betting pool at the pool table. It was a good move not to have Jonas in this episode. On repeat viewings it would've made things too on-the-nose that both were connected.

 

[Farscape One]

"MELD" is one of my favorite VOYAGER episodes. Great look at the nature of violence. And Brad Dourif is always a good casting choice, especially when you're casting nutjobs.

 

[AntonyF]

I've never got the hatred for Threshold. Sure it's hokey, but there are farrrr worse in Trek history. And at least it tried to do something.

 

[Farscape One]

I've never got the hatred for Threshold. Sure it's hokey, but there are farrrr worse in Trek history. And at least it tried to do something.

Hell, there are FAR worse episodes within just VOYAGER itself. ("FALSE PROFITS", "FAVORITE SON", "THE FIGHT", "SPIRIT FOLK", "FURY", and more.)

 

[Lord Garth]

Hell, there are FAR worse episodes within just VOYAGER itself. ("FALSE PROFITS", "FAVORITE SON", "THE FIGHT", "SPIRIT FOLK", "FURY", and more.)

All the other infamous episodes. I won't say what I think until I get to them. But one that you didn't list that I really don't like is "The Disease". I'd take any of the episodes you listed over that one.

"Threshold" never pushed me to the point where I'd be resisting the urge to skip parts of the episode or fast-forward. "The Disease" is a different story.

 

[Oddish]

Threshold" never pushed me to the point where I'd be resisting the urge to skip parts of the episode or fast-forward. "The Disease" is a different story.

Basically, if an episode focuses on Harry Kim and it's not Timeless, it's probably not worth watching.

 

[Farscape One]

Basically, if an episode focuses on Harry Kim and it's not Timeless, it's probably not worth watching.

When rewatching VOY, go skim on Kim?

 

[Lord Garth]

"Non Sequitur" was good. The rest? I'll get back to you on.

 

[Oddish]

It's not as bad as The Disease, Favorite Son, or Nightingale (all of these are episodes I have a specific vendetta against) but it does nonetheless make my Voyager Writers Quiz. Which isn't an honor.

 

[Starflight]

"Threshold" is definitely over-hated, it's literally just a slightly less boring version of TNG's "Identity Crisis". The two parts people hate - warp ten and the salamanders - are the parts that save the episode for me, since it's just half an hour of Tom going "uuugh" in sickbay otherwise.