Was Threshold really that bad?

[Orac Zen]

No, it's not really that bad. It's silly, and the last 15 or so minutes with the "evolution" crap is ridiculous (although TNG's "Genesis" is, if anything, worse), but there's some decent character work for Paris and some humour as well ("I've thought about having children. I've never thought of having them with you.") There are several worse episodes of Voyager (and of the other shows, for that matter).

 

[Spider]

Strange as it may seem, I agree with OZ.

Genesis and Threshold were very silly, but somewhat entertaining in a silly way. But they were not as excruciatingly painful to watch as some episodes I can think of.

 

[stj]

Well, I thought all the Paris emo was tiresome. Unless we were supposed to think it as funny as salamanders as the peak of evolution?

On second thought, I think the joke was supposed to be that Paris nailed Janeway.

So, yeah, I think it was that bad.

 

[Spider]

So, if you were forced to watch either "And The Children Shall Lead" or "Threshold", which would you watch?

Sorry, but I'd take Threshold any day of the week before that Children mess.

I guess when I'm done with all this polling and have let it rest a while, I might do a "Worst of Trek" poll. I would probably have to get a new user ID here afterwards though.

 

[Orac Zen]

stj said:
So, yeah, I think it was that bad.

To each their own. I'd rather watch "Threshold" than "Fair Haven", "Spirit Folk", "Q2", "Demon", "Unforgettable" or "The Fight" - and that's 1) speaking as a dyed-in-the-wool Voyager fan and 2) just naming Voyager episodes. I could name plenty from the other Trek shows that are worse than "Threshold", too.

 

[HortaVorta]

One thing I give this episode credit for exploring, however ineptly: The fact that evolution isn't about becoming more "advanced", but adapting to environmental change.

Then again, the episode erroneously depicts humanity as locked into a single course of evolution, which is a subset of the same misconception.

Which misconception, of course, is hardly new to Trek, what with all those ascended entities who have reached a "higher" stage of evolution (like it's a graduate course a genetic lineage can "complete" in any way other than becoming extinct).

 

[stj]

Orac Zen said:
To each their own. I'd rather watch "Threshold" than "Fair Haven", "Spirit Folk", "Q2", "Demon", "Unforgettable" or "The Fight" - and that's 1) speaking as a dyed-in-the-wool Voyager fan and 2) just naming Voyager episodes. I could name plenty from the other Trek shows that are worse than "Threshold", too.

I wouldn't rewatch Unforgettable and The Fight either---Chakotary emo is no more interesting than Paris emo. But all those other Voyager episodes at least have real stories where people do something besides suffer.

 

[TGTheodore]

DarthTom said:
The only help you get is in TNG's final episode, Riker asks the helmsmen to go Warp 12. Voyager establishes Warp 10 as infinite velocity which makes sense.

Easy to explain. At some point in the future, to avoid having to use as many decimals for speed indication, they make Warp 10, say, Warp 100. Therefore Warp "12" in the new calibration would be like Warp 1.2 in the old.

Next question?

Also, I liked about 90% of "Threshold." Also, it got me into Strange New Worlds V.

--Ted

 

[TimelessTrek]

I liked Threshold. I thought it was an entertaining episode - it's not like it was "The Fight"!!!

 

[Orac Zen]

stj said:
But all those other Voyager episodes at least have real stories where people do something besides suffer.

Again, to each their own. I'd rather so-called "emo" than the characters being depicted as complete imbeciles ("Fair Haven", "Spirit Folk"), the introduction of completely pointless and annoying characters ("Q2"), or episodes with Chuckles as the centrepiece. But that's just me.

 

[Jack Bauer]

It was a pretty good episode until the final act. It's no wher near as bad as it's reputation says it is.

 

[Wicca who Wonta]

TimelessTrek said:
I liked Threshold. I thought it was an entertaining episode - it's not like it was "The Fight"!!!

The fight is the only Voy episode I didn't bother finish watching. So, it's definitely worse than Threshold!

 

[USS Excelsior]

They should not have called it evolution and then they would have solved alot of problems.

But at least it wasn't painfully boring to watch as Sacred Ground.

 

[DarthTom]

TG Theodore said:
Next question?

Also, I liked about 90% of "Threshold." Also, it got me into Strange New Worlds V.

--Ted

Uh huh. Explain than how in ST V they made it to the center of the Galaxy in a matter of hours whereas it would have taken Voyager ~70 years to get back to one quadrant.

 

[number6]

Why is that even necessary? He enjoyed it. You didn't. Why isn't that enough?

 

[TGTheodore]

DarthTom said:

TG Theodore said:
Next question?

Also, I liked about 90% of "Threshold." Also, it got me into Strange New Worlds V.

--Ted

Shatner and the guy dating his daughter (to co-writer) didn't do their homework

Uh huh. Explain than how in ST V they made it to the center of the Galaxy in a matter of hours whereas it would have taken Voyager ~70 years to get back to one quadrant.

Probably the same way they did in "Where No Man had Gone Before" in TOS.

Dramatic expedience.

Don't try to make consistent sense of ANY Trek from the 60's and most from the 70's. Continuity wasn't a concern. Weekly TV production was.

Same actors played different roles on the same shows. Kirk's middle initial changed, trying to make stardates actually mean something, siblings showing up when they'd never been referenced ...

All those stupid little things that some people try to reconcile, just because they were raised on TV that DID try to stick closer to continuity. Star Trek just wasn't that way back then.

--Ted

 

[Freakness]

Threshold is the worst thing Star Trek has ever done. worse than The Final Frontier, worse than Spock's Brain. it was just appallingly bad and gets worse and worse every minute it goes on.

 

[TrekNut87]

No, it's not that bad. Strange, yes but not as bad as some say it is. I liked most of the episode until the last act.

 

[exodus]

TrekNut87 said:
No, it's not that bad. Strange, yes but not as bad as some say it is. I liked most of the episode until the last act.

Me too.

I get a odd thrill at seeing Tom pull out his own tongue, even if it grosses me out at the same time.

 

[Cassiopeia]

This is the episode that got me hooked on Voyager, oddly enough - it was the first Voyager episode I happened to catch after the series started to air. McNeill did a great job regardless of how silly the episode may have been. To this day, my favorite part remains Chakotay to Tuvok upon locating the mutated Paris & Janeway and their offspring: "I don't know how I'm going to enter this into the log."