Star Trek: Voyager
"Twisted"
Air date: 10/2/1995
Teleplay by Kenneth Biller
Story by Arnold Rudnick & Rich Hosek
Directed by Kim Friedman
Review by Jamahl Epsicokhan
"Tell me something, Tuvok. What does your logic tell you about navigating a maze that's constantly changing shape?" — Chakotay
Nutshell: Very poorly done all around. But if "boring" were a virtue, this episode would be a real winner.
Uninteresting mysteries arise on the Voyager when it becomes trapped in yet another spatial anomaly which begins to threaten the ship by slowly crushing it with its bizarre properties.
Forgive the cynicism, but this episode is nothing short of a total failure, definitely Voyager's worst outing to date, quite possibly descending below the level of DS9's ridiculous "Fascination" last season. I guess they got one thing right about this episode—they aired it the same week as the outstanding DS9 season premiere—a day when we don't really have to care all that much about Voyager and its laborious tech storytelling.
An example of the level of thought "Twisted" has to offer: When the ship comes in contact with the anomaly in question, it surrounds them. However, Ensign Kim is quick to note that it surrounds them like a ring, preventing their escape. Excuse me, but in space there are three dimensions, which means that if you are surrounded by a ring, all you have to do is go in the "up" direction to escape. Only a sphere surrounding them would really trap the ship. Talk about limited two-dimensional thinking.
Sure, that may sound a bit nitpicky, but when all you are given in an episode is a barrage of technobabble, there isn't much to do but try to seek plot in the bogus conceptual aspects. Unfortunately, that's all "Twisted" has to offer—an excess in incredibly boring, implausible plotting that presses on as if we genuinely care what all the fancy sci-fi terms mean.
The plot centers around the fact that the distortion ring (or whatever it's called) physically alters the layout of the ship so that the crew members walk around Voyager trying to get to their posts but instead wind up walking in circles and ending up back on the holodeck. That might have been okay for the story's starting idea, but unfortunately, that's all there basically is to the episode. We're treated to four long, repetitive acts of watching various crew members search through a maze that keeps changing configuration. It's about as much fun as trying to fill in a crossword puzzle with no clues.
When Torres finally comes up with a possible solution which may risk destroying the ship in the process, a completely forced and poorly conceived conflict arises between Tuvok and Chakotay regarding the choice for a course of action. Sequentially, Torres' procedure is applied in a completely overacted and very badly directed scene which features both her and Kim excitedly yelling out the procedure's progress indications at the top of their lungs.
The plot alone is a mess. But, in addition, the episode's characterizations make no sense at all. Janeway makes a comment to Kim about how proud she is of him and how he has exceeded her expectations of him. Amiable words, but what prompted them in the middle of the scene in the Jeffries tube? For that matter, where does this sudden conflict between Tuvok and Chakotay come from, considering it's been some nine months since Janeway promoted former-Maquis Chakotay into the position of first officer? Shouldn't we have seen this before? Then there's Torres, whose character runs awry in excessive behavior when she first acts impatient and angry at the situation, then sits down and pouts when things don't go her way. Meanwhile, the scene where a delusionary Captain Janeway sits up and begins shrieking gibberish is so hokey that it's unintentionally hilarious.
The opening and closing aren't of much respectability either. Kes' birthday party in the holodeck is strictly standard fluff, but the whole scene falls flat, while the closing scene in which Neelix comes onto the bridge and says, "Cake, anyone?" ranks as one of the most genuinely annoying "things are back to normal" tack-ons in recent memory.
And what about the mysterious mass of data that the anomaly places in the Voyager's database? Is it really an alien communique? The episode doesn't seem to care in the slightest, so I guess we shouldn't either. And since this encounter ultimately means nothing to us nor the characters and has no real consequences, the show travels nowhere from beginning to end—it's merely a long, pointless Reset Button Plot.
"Twisted" is a hands-down loser. Kim Friedman, who is generally a very capable director (she has helmed several successful DS9 and Voyager shows, like "The Wire," "The Jem'Hadar," and "Jetrel" for starters), has nothing here but a disastrous mess of an episode. I guess that's just proof that sometimes there's only so much a director can do with the given material.
Previous episode: Non Sequitur
Next episode: Parturition
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91 comments on this post
Sun, Sep 21, 2008, 5:45pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Sep 24, 2008, 10:43am (UTC -6)
First, the ending. You said the episode doesn't seem to care about explaining the mass data transmitted to Voyager, and that the show has no real consequences. How many "Crew encounters a strange alien entity" plots in Star Trek have major consequences on the characters? And why did you give a pass to TNG's "Time Squared" for leaving the space tornado's origin a mystery and even the following Voyager episode "Persistence of Vision" where the alien was revealed and then vanished with no explanation of who or what he was. Neither episode had long-lasting effects or a sufficient explanation of the entity's intentions, yet "Twisted" is made out to be lazy rather than mysterious.
I think there were some nice character moments in this episode - Doctor comforting Kes, Paris and Kim discussing how they were afraid, Tuvok's hand moving towards Janeway, Chakotay having to calm Torres (it's clear as I watch this season that they were planning to go somewhere with a Chakotay/Torres relationship) and even Neelix's paranoia of Paris was finally somewhat justified by the extravagant gift he bought Kes.
I don't think it's unreasonable to believe that there has been an underlying tension between Chakotay and Tuvok - Starfleet/Maquis relations were touched on in "Learning Curve" (though the concept as a whole was sorely underutilised overall throughout the seasons) and given Tuvok's relationship with Janeway, I don't see it as too much of a stretch that we haven't seen this before. We are dealing with a Vulcan who doesn't let petty jealousies get the better of him.
What I realy enjoy about this episode is the crew's eventual submission to the entity. If this were TNG, Geordi and Data would be working to the last possible second to solve the problem. But here we see the Voyager crew utterly defeated, and having no choice but to let the alien overwhelm them.
It's not a perfect episode by any means. Neelix's "Cake, anyone?" is right up there with the later seasons' "I'll give you my report in the morning". But like I said, there were some nice if brief character moments (whether they were capitalised on later in the season or not), which puts this far beyond "Fascination" - the latter being a completely contrived attempt at comedy with only the O'Brien's problems and Sisko getting decked by Bariel as the redeeming elements.
Tue, Dec 30, 2008, 6:09pm (UTC -6)
I agree it would have been nice to give us more details on what was in the data, and to have Nelix killed off in this episode. Overall though, I would have given it at least 2.5 stars. Maybe three.
Thu, Jan 8, 2009, 5:02pm (UTC -6)
I consider this to be one of my favourite episodes. I loved it. I love these 'messing with reality' stories...they're always so interesting (at least to me).
:)
Tue, Jun 16, 2009, 1:42am (UTC -6)
The first act is okay, but the rest is the most horrendously written garbage ever to appear in a star trek episode.
Thu, Oct 1, 2009, 10:47am (UTC -6)
While not a great episode, I would give it two stars because I thought, like others have stated, there was some good character interaction, even development. I also liked the scene as the ring is getting closer and closer, they accept the fate and there are no false heroics or hystrical admissions, just resignation and acceptance. As for the maze portion and wandering around, my teen step-son was watching and it had him engrossed, so I count that as a positive, he wants to see more Trek because this mystery had him thinking.
Thu, Oct 15, 2009, 9:40am (UTC -6)
Fri, Dec 25, 2009, 6:07pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Apr 11, 2010, 11:45am (UTC -6)
I just crack up at the thought of Janeway going, "OK, let's figure out what's going on, but, first, let's rearrange the tables so we can sit in a circle like we usually do."
I also agree with Chris that Neelix's reaction to Paris's gift was more justified than his past & future responses but it, sadly, doesn't change the fact that Neelix is an ugly moron who should be thrown out the nearest airlock.
Sat, Jul 31, 2010, 7:04pm (UTC -6)
Actually, it's not gibberish. She says, "It's talking to me -- do nothing!" (This is right after Tuvok says they should give up -- i.e., do nothing -- and Chakotay and Torres are disagreeing.)
Thu, Apr 14, 2011, 8:36pm (UTC -6)
It gets one star from me only because I laughed so hard at Janeway's random freak out in the holodeck. That part was so ridiculous, it was actually sort of fantastic.
Mon, Aug 15, 2011, 9:22am (UTC -6)
The crew just giving up was kind of hard to take because as a viewer that sort of thing just slaps you out of your suspension of disbelief because you immediately know everything is going to be fine. Maybe if it'd been the final episode that sort of thing could provide some tension but now it's just a self-spoiler.
Sun, Sep 4, 2011, 3:52pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Dec 12, 2011, 7:49am (UTC -6)
Thu, Jul 26, 2012, 8:49am (UTC -6)
Fri, Aug 3, 2012, 2:36pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Apr 30, 2013, 2:00pm (UTC -6)
Tue, Apr 30, 2013, 5:45pm (UTC -6)
Why is this episode better than "Threshold"? I would submit that this is the worst episode of VOY's run. It's pointless, implausible, poorly executed and BORING!
I know no one actually likes this episodes, but really, "Threshold," for all its weirdness, is a notch more entertaining than this!
Wed, May 1, 2013, 4:05am (UTC -6)
I can only speak for myself on this - but I enjoyed the idea of the ship layout getting moved around. I thought the execution of this was handled quite well. I will admit that there were some boring scenes in this episode, but I did like some of the more personal dialogue between characters (mostly Neelix and Chakotay).
There were also some things that didn't make sense. Janeway being affected by the entity didn't really add anything. Although, Tuvok almost putting his hand on Janeway at the end and then retracting it was a very cool moment.
The idea that they are facing this doom and gloom situation only for it to be a form of communication is an awesome idea.
Threshold, on the other hand, had an interesting premise. Again, the idea of there being negative consequences to breaking warp 10 is cool...unfortunately, turning into a lizard...really, really wasn't cool. It was a waste of a good idea.
Twisted is definitely not the worst episode, in my opinion. Neither is Threshold. Nightingale would get that honour from me.
Thu, May 23, 2013, 4:49pm (UTC -6)
Sun, Jun 9, 2013, 12:01pm (UTC -6)
I'll agree with Jammer on one thing: Janeway babbling incoherently had me doubled over!!
@Elliott: You find this episode, inter alia, "implausible." And, pray tell, which of the other ~150 shows IS plausible :) And then tell me which of them is NOT pointless! As I said elsewhere, this is not a National Geographic documentary. It's mindless, sci-fi entertainment. There's quite a bit of "sci" and a lot of "fi" in this episode, so it pretty much DOES serve its purpose. If you want something "pointfull" or plausible, try Tomorrow's World :)
Tue, Jun 11, 2013, 10:41am (UTC -6)
Fri, Sep 6, 2013, 5:21pm (UTC -6)
Anyways, this was a good episode... if Voyager were a 30 minute show. They should have just cut 22 minutes of fluff and shown us clips from the first season, or played us music or something!
Thu, Feb 27, 2014, 8:51pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Mar 3, 2014, 7:33am (UTC -6)
Sat, Mar 8, 2014, 7:37am (UTC -6)
Sat, Mar 8, 2014, 7:40am (UTC -6)
Thu, Apr 24, 2014, 5:22pm (UTC -6)
The cliche of "spatial/dimensional anomaly" being the cause of the ship being turned into a labyrinth would have been better than a space critter that swallowed the ship, made space bend in impossible ways, crush the hull (yet it clearly didn't), made people act slow, gave Janeway the big-O, et cetera, only to have the very end reveal the twist (no pun intended) that ruined the whole episode... complete with magical data exchange between both 'vessels'... really?
Kudos, in a way, for trying to do something other than a spatial distortion, but it just doesn't work. But at least they kept the big revelation to the very end... which seems a trifle unfair, now that I'm thinking about it, but if it were revealed earlier I would have changed the channel...
Mon, Jul 21, 2014, 10:38am (UTC -6)
Yeah the premise is silly if you start going "wait how does it connect the ship.. etc etc." but you can do the same thing with almost every trek plot. This particular review seems a bit jaded to me. If this were an episode of TNG I would rank it up there with Remember Me and Time Squared.
Tue, Aug 19, 2014, 10:29pm (UTC -6)
I give this a bit of credit for weirdness, a few good moments, and the ultimate acknowledgement of defeat by the crew. I'm sure there are much better ways to tell that story than this. In the end it all amounts to nothing and is mostly a waste of airwaves.
Half star.
Sun, Nov 16, 2014, 9:30pm (UTC -6)
It's not perfect, far from it. There are a lot of silly parts and random scenes that don't make sense. Like others have said, Janeway's random comment to Harry came out of nowhere, and her random sitting up and shrieking was silly. So execution wise, they could have done better. So what worked?
1) The twisted aspect was reasonably well done. The way the characters responded to the problem was actually reasonably competent given the circumstances, and the amount of humor involved in the situation worked. Even the characters realized it was a bit silly, and it came through.
2) The eventual sense of doom worked excellently. The show went from silliness to dread rather seamlessly, and the fact that nothing seemed to work led to the end quite well. Other than a few brief moments of absurdity as mentioned above, I felt pulled along with the story, which is as it should be.
3) There were some nice character moments, as others have stated. While the Chakotay/Tuvok animosity did seem to appear out of nowhere, it makes sense in retrospect. Chakotay likely can't get over Tuvok's betrayal, and Tuvok probably feels that he should be Janeway's top advisor rather than a Maquis rogue. So while it may be abrupt, it's understandable. The Tom and Torres time together was nice to see too in retrospect given their eventual marriage.
4) I also liked that they didn't solve it via some technobabble solution. It's good to see a failure every once in a while. While Tuvok's strong opinion to do nothing was dumb, seeing everyone resigned to their fate was interesting to see. A bit different from the typical Trek fare.
So no, not a masterpiece, but at least it kept me reasonably engaged throughout the whole episode. It's more than I expected, and it's at least a lot better than the dreck that was Elogium.
By the way, I think there was an intentional hesitation with Chakotay when Janeway asked him if he's ok with Neelix coming along. For all the hype of Neelix being the breakout star, I think the crew realizes that he can be overbearing at times, and the writers allowed that overbearingness to enter into the script. After all, the annoying guy often IS the breakout star of a show (think Homer in Simpsons, Sheldon in Big Bang Theory, etc). So my guess is the actors/writers/directors were intentionally being mildly annoyed with Neelix's antics, expecting the audience to side with Neelix. Of course, the opposite happened.
Wed, Mar 18, 2015, 1:23pm (UTC -6)
If you ignore the silly premise of this episode, and the fact Kate Muldrew sounds like she is having an orgasm at one point, it's actually a pretty entertaining episode. The show needed more character interactions like this, but sadly, they did away with the whole Federation v Marquis angle early on."
I agree with this, and its also one of the reasons I like this episode as well.
Tue, Jul 28, 2015, 12:50pm (UTC -6)
I don't know what sci-fi technobabble is "plausible" or not, so I'm willing to accept the what if's... etc.
The writers have to be given some credit for the ending. Nothing the Voyager crew, Janeway or the captain-less crew could do, dream up, execute, etc. could do anything to stop anything here. I think it's a pretty cool having our heroes realize they are helpless... and even to some degree - accept it. Folks complain all the time about technobabble saving the day etc... here it didn't and folks are still up in arms.
I'm not sure how you can portray these affects better. I actually thought their ramblings etc. were kind of humorous.
With all the Tom/Kes gift brouhaha, what I noticed was some serious chemistry between Tom and B'Elanna when they were paired off. Very telling.
Touching moments in the holo-deck as our heroes await their fate. Tuvok's little hand gesture was touching as was B'Elanna's opening up to Chakotay.
Was this huge data dump ever used or provide any benefit later in the series? I can't remember.
I'll go 2.5 stars here.
Fri, Sep 25, 2015, 3:42pm (UTC -6)
Also, all of these strange little encounters Voyager has in the Delta Quadrant don't really illustrate much about how stranded they actually are & really isn't any different than TNG, TOS, or ENT.
Sun, Dec 20, 2015, 5:51pm (UTC -6)
Why does the map of messed up Voyager show it all wobbly when if the rooms and corridors aren't where they should be surely the ship would look like a jigsaw with all the pieces in the wrong place? Like the map shows, everything is where it should be, you just have a few more corners to go round than normal but it'd still be perfectly navigable.
And I'm sure glad the anomaly dumped all that valuable data about the nearby space in Voyager's database... Funny then that just next episode they're lost again...
Sat, Jan 9, 2016, 2:13pm (UTC -6)
Nevertheless, there are some good things in the character interactions here, and the final acceptance of defeat is indeed a fairly unusual thing in Trek. But it doesn't save the episode. 1.5 stars.
Fri, Jan 22, 2016, 8:32am (UTC -6)
I will say that watching this series in order now and trying not to skip any episodes like I did the last time I attempted to get into the show, that the angle of Neelix's jealousy for the way others act around Kes is getting tiresome. They never seem particularly good as a couple until the show finds a way to 'challenge' their relationship, which always feels forced.
Wed, Feb 3, 2016, 12:19pm (UTC -6)
Somehow the characters facing a no-win scenario when the audience knows they'll win was really boring and the characters, even the ones who usually work, were really annoying.
Fri, Feb 5, 2016, 7:42pm (UTC -6)
I have to disagree as well with the 1 star though. I found the despair and submission so fascinating, and I guess it really is nice to have an episode where something cannot be solved. It makes everything feel very human, very mortal...
Also, there was no "enemy" per se. Probably the same reason why I found Gravity as a movie so interesting. There was no conflict, just survival against the reality of space (I use the term "reality" loosely.
Also, there's so much Neelix-bashing - duly deserved perhaps ^_^ But personally, the whole family vibe Voyager has (and I just watched Naomi being born and saved) really makes me chuckle and feel calm. Neelix adds to that. It does make everything less starfleet-stuffy.
Tue, Mar 15, 2016, 8:26am (UTC -6)
I think it was a mistake for them to try and show us a map of the ship. It took away from the effect a bit. The deformed ship in the map didn't look like it would produce the rearrangement of corridors seen. They should've shown something more unrecognizable or nothing.
I thought everybody's "last words" at the end were kinda cheesy but at least we didn't get any "I've always loved you"s out of it.
The end was a bit anticlimactic but on par with the dullness of the rest of the episode. A whole bunch of debate and panic and suspense and then... I guess they slowly and silently turn green then it's back to the birthday party.
I'm pretty sure when Kim wanted to "turn the implosion into an explosion" he was proposing to switch the Voyager from suck to blow. So that's a win at least.
Tue, Jul 12, 2016, 2:21pm (UTC -6)
I also love Sandrine! She is sexy and that voice... I wish she would have been recurring.
Tue, Aug 16, 2016, 8:53pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Aug 17, 2016, 6:23pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Sep 7, 2016, 12:01am (UTC -6)
Anyways regarding the characters the chuckles/tuvok conflict didn't seem so forced. If anything this should have happened in the first season. At this point I'm sure chuckles is still more than a little sore at Tuvok for being a spy in his maquis crew . Tuvok was simply being contratrian as ship's security as he should be. so I am ok with his addressing his concerns.
This was early on in the second season so I won't say it's too late for those two to have it out. It wasn't so out of left field like S6's "The Voyager Conspiracy." In any event Tuvok remained cool, calm collected like a surefire Vulcan should. Kudos to Tim Russ!
Not so sanguine about chuckles. It was clear Beltran wanted no part of the show. It shows in his acting. Plain insufferable even after seven seasons. Not to mention he talked pretty badly about the show throughout its run. I found him to be a good deal more annoying than Neelix. At least I enjoy Ethan Phillips' work in other areas.
Speaking of Neelix this was during his prime time jealousy years. I believe this 'beast' as he referred to it reared its head first in S1's Phage. I think by the next ep it would resolve itself in a rather silly way, but meh.
No comment on Janeway's swooning after contact with the anomaly.
Funny to keep hearing Torres refer to Ensign Kim as Starfleet even though she outranks him.
I'd give it two to a weak 2.5 stars for character interaction and snippiness at this point in the show. A lot more refreshing than the phoned-in performances we'd see in the final seasons. Well, with the exceptions of Jeri Ryan, Tim Russ and Robert Picardo.
Fri, Nov 11, 2016, 6:18am (UTC -6)
One ridiculous aspect of the story is that the ship could turn into an interlocking rubix cube of changing corridors, without any jagged metal anywhere, and yet could still resemble a functioning ship. I would have preferred they left it open to the viewers interpretation over whether it was literally changing or whether as the Doctor suggests, everyone was a delusional state which would be a more believable plot device.
Most characters also come off more likeable as a result of the episode as well, apart from Neelix who was a neurotic mess.
I don't understand why this is such a scathing review. The reviewer doesn't even seem a fan, reducing scenes that explore character dynamics as "fluff". I get the impression most critics spend more time analysing than they do enjoying.
That giant blue cake looked awesome as well.
Sat, Jan 14, 2017, 1:00pm (UTC -6)
I suppose it's worth noting that this incident and these aliens are referenced again in the Start Trek novel, Protectors. That original contact was a distress signal, as determined by Ensign Kim's research, and voyager returns to the Delta Quadrant to investigate after a series of attacks: memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Protectors
Wed, Jan 18, 2017, 5:43pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Feb 9, 2017, 9:06pm (UTC -6)
The idea is decent, a ship that keep changing it's shape mysteriously, and the crew racing with time to solve the problem.
We got a grasp of what's going on 10 minutes into the show (5 mins of that is wasted/unrelated Kes B'day scene), it's doing quite okay and starting to get eerie by the scene of B'ellana and Baxter in transporter room.
Alas, as usual it's going down hill from there. We got Doctor comedic scene in the holodeck, then Neelix annoying-overjealous scene over Paris and everything after that, completely ruin the tense buildup.
It's not until after another 15 minutes that the plot advanced when Janeway accidentally contact that 'space distortion whatever', rescued back to holodeck, then a real attempt to overcome 'this week anomaly' being made by Torres-Paris, then Torres-Kim (with overplay act) . That attempt took around 10 minutes screen time.
With a total ~35 minutes into the show, we have 10 minutes left.
What happen on the last 10 minutes? Nothing! Yeah literally... nothing...
Tuvok suggest they doing nothing as the attempt proven fruitless so far and another attempt may only endanger them more, while doing nothing is not proven otherwise.
I get the idea of the writer try to convey the nuances of hopeless, defeat, and acceptance, but it's feel really weak. It didn't feel like they are trying that hard anyway, too much time wasted on circling the corridor scene, by the time attempt was made it's on 30 mins mark.
Maybe a better pacing and directing could really help this episode, but it's all too late.
The defeat scene is not really that strong, feel clumsy... and dragging. In part, maybe because of the weak scene before it, in part.. maybe because we know there's not much to it anyway, we know very well the ships will be okay and shiny afterall!
I like the body-languange of Chakotay reaction when told he's going with Neelix, I think that's the best act of Beltran so far.. eh...
And... the scene of delirious Janeway is priceless
"it..s... tal..king...to...me....... do.. no..thing". I'm literally laugh out loud on this scene.
I just hope we have many episodes of Janeway act like this. I'm going to give a bonus 1 star for that scene alone!
1 star for the episode and another 1 star for the delirious Janeway scene
2 (**) star
Sat, Jul 8, 2017, 4:52pm (UTC -6)
They failed completely to convey that to the viewers, because it sounds like she says "Eee talking to bee too gonnding."
Tue, Sep 5, 2017, 11:16am (UTC -6)
Anyway, I kind of like the eventual tone of doom that sets in, and the way the crew keep being led back to the holodeck and that bar, which reminds me a little of something like The Exterminating Angel (an unusual surrealist movie where guests at a dinner party gradually become aware that due to some mysterious force, they are unable to bring themselves to leave the house; Buffy the Vampire Slayer did an episode take-off of it). The episode also plays with the idea of a shifting maze and a labyrinth, and the general idea has a certain spooky, haunted-house quality. It also mirrors the ship's premise overall, where the crew really are ultimately trapped with each other for the foreseeable future with no escape -- and so this is maybe a good way to play up the show's own premise and allow us to see it in a different way. Still, the episode doesn't actually *do* anything with the all-roads-lead-back-to-the-fake-pool-hall premise, and a mildly unusual mood does not an episode make.
As has been pointed out above, the characterization is also terrible, from the sudden, unfounded Chakotay/Tuvok fight to the continuing unbearable Neelix jealousy plot to Janeway's totally inexplicable "you're a bright spot" speech to Kim to Torres' sudden bursts of anger to the Doctor fending off the holo-bar owner's advances. Even basic ideas like Kim suggesting a map are met with bizarre responses --
KIM: Maybe we could make a map.
CHAKOTAY (shocked): Ensign?
The very ending has a certain charm to it, of watching the crew stand by and try to meet their possible fate with calm, even if I'm not entirely convinced by the character interactions at the end. The episode's main strength is the sombre, defeatist tone it cultivates, and responding to The Inevitable by letting it happen is a suitable ending to it. I wonder if this episode might have made a good episode of the animated series or something -- certainly cutting large chunks of the episode out would have helped make it less boring, and made that one strength less badly diluted. 1 star.
Sat, Sep 23, 2017, 12:28pm (UTC -6)
Mainly the whole ring problem. Why not just make it a sphere? Huh? Why not? Huh? So annoying. It's always bothered me about Star Trek that everthing is 2D. Two ships meet in space and they are always perfectly in the same plane with the same orientation.
Then there is Neelix's jealousy again. I can almost understand it when Paris gives her the locket, but later when Kes remembers where people's crew quarters are located, he basically accuses her of being a slut and sleeping with half the ship. I hate Neelix and Kes should have dropped him like a hot potato.
And Janeway babbling out "It's talking to me -- do nothing!" or "Is docking doo be -- goo duthing!" is pointless. Since neither the audience or the crew can tell what she is saying. They should have just had her say it clearly, then the crew could have debated whether to believe her or if she was only delusional. It would have given them some rationale to give up like they did at least, instead of because 'Tuvok says so'. I did sort of like the ending in the holodeck though otherwise.
But the revelation that the ring was intelligent and had uploaded all this data to the computers was idiotic. They never mention any of that again. I would imagine they could have gotten something useful from all that data, but they just ignore it completely. Maybe the thing told them how to get home? Too bad they never checked any of it.
All in all not as bad as the last 2 episodes which were horrendous. But not that good either.
1 1/2 stars
Mon, Oct 2, 2017, 8:02pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 7, 2018, 1:45am (UTC -6)
Star Trek: Voyager relies on Janeway or whoever is on the bridge flying into anomalies/nebulas/trouble, technobabbling, and then bashing the reset button. If we're grading on a scale then this formula must be accommodated for half of Voyager's episodes, not used as a demerit when convenient. The only explicit flaw that I saw was the map. That was a visual lie and should not have been shown unless they were willing to get very funky with it. All of the rest of the things (ship rearranging itself, how does the ship functions when twisted, how does it envelop the ship) are better off assumed to be the work of a sentient anomaly messing with the crew.
This episode deserves credit for serving the characters well at a time when they badly needed it. Arguably the first episode since Cathexis to show the crew working together and interacting for a prolonged period of time. The creepy atmosphere and fun crew interactions (which is one of Voyager's strong points) supersede my desire to nitpick.
2.5
Sat, Jul 7, 2018, 7:34pm (UTC -6)
"Am I the only one bugged by how the reviewer keeps referring to to the ship as 'The Voyager'?"
No.
Sat, Jul 7, 2018, 7:36pm (UTC -6)
"They failed completely to convey that to the viewers, because it sounds like she says 'Eee talking to bee too gonnding.'"
It helps if you watch with the closed captions on.
Tue, Aug 21, 2018, 6:50am (UTC -6)
I liked the "just do nothing" premise and both how hard, and how wise, that was. Don't see that enough on "just do it" action series like this one. I liked Tuvok in this one, particularly.
Sometimes you must relax and surrender to Fate. An important lesson, on Voyager.
On calling the ship "The Voyager," I think of it as idiomatic, the way we say both "the Kroger's" or "Kroger's" around here (when really it's "Kroger"). I was in California, and they kept (sometimes) calling their numbered highways "the." "The 15," or whatever. So anyhow, no, doesn't bug me.
Sun, Sep 9, 2018, 12:26am (UTC -6)
Fri, Oct 19, 2018, 11:25pm (UTC -6)
The distortion ring made absolutely no sense. The episode spends way too much time on filler stuff like the crew wandering around in a maze. There's just not enough here in terms of ideas, plot etc. It's not hallucinations, which might have been better.
What is also bad is the bizarre nature of the interactions among the crew. Why, as Janeway and Kim are crawling around, does the captain decide to tell the ensign out of nowhere that he has been exceeding expectations? This makes no sense. And then there's the pissing contest where Chakotay calls Tuvok arrogant and the Vulcan says he doesn't agree with some of the 1st officer's decisions (or whatever). So there's supposed to be some resentment about Chakotay getting to be the 1st officer instead of Tuvok -- Vulcans shouldn't feel resentment anyway. It was as if this episode tried to artificially manufacture some spice in the midst of the overall boredom/idiocy.
There's the nonsensical technobabble of a shock pulse and particle shower, which doesn't work and Tuvok, who got shut down by Chakotay, gets everybody to do nothing and like magic the distortion wave passes and all is back to normal.
Neelix's jealousy is somewhat interesting -- maybe it's a Talaxian thing. At least it's not bland and it's moderately humorous and I thought Chakotay had a good answer for Neelix's questions about women.
1 star for "Twisted" -- a true VOY turkey here: stupid spacial anomaly that does arbitrary things and nothing useful comes out of it. The characters say some out-of-character things but it's not systematic -- just reeks of poor writing, as they're supposed to be normal. The special effects were bad as well - like a high-schooler was doing them. Sounds like it was meant to be a Chakotay leadership episode as Janeway was out of commission for the most part -- but that would up failing as well.
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 12:57pm (UTC -6)
"The distortion ring made absolutely no sense."
That's the point. If it made sense, they could have figured out a way to beat it.
The blessing of this episode is that technobabble and photon torpedoes didn't win the day.
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 1:02pm (UTC -6)
Yeah, instead bad writing won! Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!
Sat, Oct 20, 2018, 4:40pm (UTC -6)
While I agree it's nice that the solution doesn't come down to more "technobabble and photo torpedoes" and that Tuvok's do nothing is the solution (makes sense to not apply logic since it's an illogical situation), I'd hardly call anything in this episode a blessing. Ultimately it all means too little if anything -- and if it means something, the episode doesn't even make it close to obvious. Have to agree with "Waldorf" that bad writing won the day in this turd of an episode.
What the distortion ring was doing to Voyager was beyond suspension of disbelief -- which you do need a fair bit of in watching VOY.
Thu, Oct 25, 2018, 9:57pm (UTC -6)
Kes arrives in Chez Sandrine's to find many of the senior staff and Neelix there to wish her a surprise happy birthday. She's finally two. The EMH is around, too, serving drinks, putting up with the annoying holo-characters...we get the cake and the candles. Finally, Tom gives Kes a gift, a locket he spent about two weeks' worth of rations to replicate. Please note that he gives her this right in front of Neelix, whose food he will of course have to ingest at every meal the next two weeks. Janeway diffuses the situation while Neelix vents a little bit to Chakotay.
On the bridge, Harry is champing at the bit to join the festivities, but Tuvok isn't inclined to let him off duty early. But the old Vulcan softy finally relents and lets him go under the pretext of inspecting the holodeck. Ah, but there's some space whatever in front of them, so too bad for Harry. Tuvok calls Janeway on the comm, but his signal has gone to plaid or whatever, leading to yet another close up on Janeway's face as we cut to the credits.
Act 1 : .5 stars, 17%
Janeway sends everyone to stations, leaving Kes and Neelix behind. Meanwhile, the anomaly has surrounded the ship, in Kim's words “like a ring.” Now—this episode is not exactly impressing, but I find the comments about “oH wHY doN't theY jUSt go uP or dOwn?! spAce is 3d” fucking pedantic (sorry, Jammer). So, if the script said “sphere” instead of “ring,” that would fix all of the problems? Really? Anyway, Tuvok decides to speed through phenomenon at warp speed, but the effects shut down their engines, so Kim is sent to get the captain up to speed.
-While wandering the corridors looking for Janeway (what, no tricorder?), Harry runs into Baxter, that asshole from “Eye of the Needle.” Remaining within his thinly-sketched character, he reports that he was working out super hard, brah when the com and environmental systems starting fritzing.
-We catch up with Janeway, Chakotay and Paris exiting the turbolift on the wrong deck, a problem Chakotay attributes to the communications system malfunctioning. Okay. A few minutes later, the lift takes them to Engineering and so Janeway yells at the computer to take them to the bridge. There's some A-level scientific thinking there, captain.
-Kes and Neelix are trying to return to their quarters, giving Neelix a chance to prove to Kes that he's totally gotten over his jealousy of Tom. Totally.
-This trend continues as we see Torres end up on deck 2 instead of 11...then on deck 6. She runs into Baxter who's having the same problem.
-The EMH keeps having his programme returned to the holodeck instead of sickbay, so Sandrine can start making out with him because THIS IS FRANCE, MA CHERIE! Hoh hoh hoh.
While the idea of the crew meandering around looking for rooms is sort of amusing, their repeated attempts to just walk around and hope they stumble upon the place they're aiming for instead of, I don't know, pulling out a tricorder, analysing the computer work station, etc. makes them look really dumb.
We cut back to Kes and Neelix. They keep finding people's quarters on the in the wrong place, leading Neelix to wonder how his girlfriend, who has an eidetic memory, could remember where things are. Obviously, she must be fucking all these people behind Neelix' back. But he's not jealous. No...well, keep calling her “sweetie” and mansplaining her own memory to herself will help.
Eventually, Torres runs into Kim, asking him where the fuck they are (I like the “Starfleet” monicker callback to “Caretaker”). Neelix and Kes end up in the same spot, followed by the turbolift trio, meaning we have spent an entire act seeing people walk in a circle and Neelix behave like an asshole. Great.
Act 2 : .5 stars, 17%
So, they powwow in the holodeck, with Janeway summing up the entire act in about 10 seconds. You see the problem. The monotonous conference-room scene is tempered its boring tedium only by the fact that nobody has just off the accordion and all these Beauty and the Beast cartoons continue to flounce about around them. Janeway should hold all the staff meetings here. Torres hits on the idea of trying the transporter, Harry via the Jeffries tubes, so Janeway has everyone split up and search for clues, I mean the bridge. Janeway finally hits on the idea of pulling out the fucking tricorders, Chakotay is saddled with “legendary tracker” Neelix as he tries to find the bridge on foot. The look on Beltran's face is priceless as so he gets to continue his season 1 theme of barely tolerating Neelix' bullshit. Maybe a little “Maquis way” is in order here?
-Paris retraces their steps and manages to get him and Torres to Engineering, so we can get a lame joke where B'Ellana walks in on a crewman in his underwear. Seriously? You didn't see people in their underwear at the Academy? Hiding under rocks or whatever in the Maquis? Sigh...
-Neelix takes the opportunity to annoy Chakotay as much as posisble, buttering him up so he can confess to Commander Handsome about his jealousy over Kes and we can get this after-school special about jealousy being perfectly natural. I don't get it. We seem to be continuing this odd characterisation of Neelix and Kes like they're the ship's teenagers! Did the writers regret not having a child actor on this show, so they just turned the adults into children? Speaking of “Elogium,” didn't Kes tell Neelix that she wanted him to be the father of her only child? WHY are you still so insecure? They run into Baxter and then into Tuvok, who left the bridge to look for the captain. While the first and second officers chat about the ship's status (the “ring” is now in contact with the hull), Neelix just kind of wanders off camera, becoming lost for ever. Thank god.
-Janeway and Kim are crawling around the Jeffries Tubes, failing to get to the bridge. She decides to take a moment and tell Harry that she's proud of him. Erm...okay? The last time Harry did anything noteworthy was in “Heroes and Demons,” when he got eaten by Grendel. Is that why she's so proud? For coming back to life...twice now? Whatever. They run into a stuck door. Janeway pries it open and her arm gets stuck inside leading to an hilarious visual of the tube and her arm being all wavey and green. Always a good sign when intended drama evokes laughter.
Act 3 : *.5, 17%
-Kim manages to pull her to safety, but after a few seconds Janeway starts get dizzy and writhe in pain. In the holodeck, Doc is still fighting off la vielle pute photonique, Robert Picardo doing his best to salvage these pathetic lines when Kim brings Janeway inside.
-In a better scene, Tuvok and Chakotay debate the best way to proceed. Tuvok wants to continue taking right turns, to logically parse out the maze that the Voyager has become. But Chakotay counters that there may not be any logic to this puzzle. Tuvok counter-counters that even chaotic systems have limited degrees of patterning, and so Chakotay decides they should try both ways, Tuvok's logic and Chakotay's...er...Indian hunches? Kidding aside, I like the way the two men's command styles are contrasted; Chakotay is very open to following the Vulcan left-brain approach, but he isn't going to ignore his instincts either. Unfortunately we tie up this scene with a visual oops that rivals the spinning door in “The Royale”: Tuvok walks away from Chakotay who turns around, and we follow him go a few steps before Tuvok runs into him, coming from a different corridor, but the way the shot is filmed it's obvious that Tuvok just ducked around the back of the set. Talk about cheap.
-Torres and Paris are trying their transport to the bridge, but end up getting beamed to Sandrine's pool table instead. So for the third time in as many acts, the whole gang has assembled in the holodeck, except now Neelix is gone, Janeway is injured, and the ship has stopped obeying the laws of physics. I hate Mondays. Through some incredibly slow dialogue, we finally, finally have the crew create an image of what the ship looks like now—which is scrunched up like a tin can. Except that's not at all what we've seen this episode; rooms are on the wrong deck, shouldn't everything look all stretchy like in the Jeffries tube? Tuvok does some math and determines that they have just over an hour before their central location is affect by the distortion. Oh yeah—dun dun dun.
Act 4 : .5 stars, 17%
Sigh...Kim and Torres spout their usual gibberish to explain that they're going to cause a SHOCK PULSE to try and reverse the effects of the ring, a procedure that will kill them all if Torres isn't careful. Mhm. Drama. We even get Torres repeating Doughy's line from “Learning Curve,” “Personally, I'd rather go down fighting,” because this episode hates you. Tuvok wants to try and turn the thrusters on, which assumes they could get to Navigational Control, but whatever. Chakotay is going with Plan Likely Death, because, erm, Maquis. Actually, Beltran really delivers here, reminding Tuvok that, despite Tuvok's knowledge of Janeway's preferred tactics, he is in command, so he sends Kim and Torres off.
Oh my god. So Torres and Kim are babbling the tech, SCREAMING at each other from about 2 meters away in the Engine Room while the camera shakes. Well they do the thing, which causes the lights to flash. But...turns out the failed because the distortions are already moving through the door. Then the episode gets unintentionally hilarious again with Janeway babbling incoherently...something about Snoop Dogg...ah, but then the ring follows Kim and Torres into the holodeck. The camera makes sure to get a facial reaction from every member of the cast before cutting to commercial. Thanks.
Act 5 : .5 stars, 17%
They try a holographic forcefield. Finally, Tuvok speaks up, suggesting they stop trying to fight this thing, delivering a decent little speech about his logic, but this is interrupted by Janeway who sits up and screams (this is from the script):
JANEWAY: Is dogin do be to gandin!
Did you know this was a comedy episode? These poor actors try to make something of the decision to accede to Tuvok's suggestion. Indeed it's more enjoyable to watch them just sit with each other and look morose than listen to these awful lines.
-Tuvok and Chakotay hash out their difference, putting to rest the tension over the latter's promotion over himself, seen most recently in “Learning Curve.”
-Paris and Kim tell each other they love each other.
-The EMH and Kes speak fondly of Neelix (…...) and embrace.
-Chakotay and Torres pray together (did you hear the PANFLUTE??!! Doo doo dooo)
-Tuvok puts his hand by Janeway's shoulder, which is the only bit that isn't cringeworthy.
Finally everyone gets all wavy and weird, and then...it's over. Everything is fine. What a CLIMAX! Janeway awakens, coherent again and explains that her mind, like the ship was twisted in order to deliver an important message by yet another strange lifeform. Sigh...so they have all this new data in their computer, Neelix is fine and has made a cake (hold your applause), Kes wants a picture of him to allay his jealousy (can someone say co-dependent?), and oh yeah, it's her birthday.
Episode as Functionary : zero stars, 10%
Jerry Taylor admitted that all the scenes of people wandering around and the bullshit in Sandrine's and the weird character moments, coming out of no where, were added at the last minute in order to pad out the script. This isn't quite the abortion that “Shades of Grey” was in terms of Trek doing a show to save on costs, but it's close. An incredibly dull, vacuous and brain-dead story. Oh, and if anyone is wondering, this is still better than “Fascination” by approximately 1/40 of a star, which remains the worst episode I've reviewed so far. Skip.
Final Score : .5 stars
Fri, Oct 26, 2018, 9:10am (UTC -6)
LOL. But I dunno, short of going act by act (as you've demonstrated!), it's hard to even find enough *content* in this episode to criticize properly. The ring line is one of like three lines in the episode about the SF problem that actually seem to describe something rather than being just "it's all so weird man, trippy," and it doesn't make sense, and I think that's probably why it gets singled out.
But I do agree though. It's pretty common in mathematical physics to fudge the dimensionality of objects (ring for sphere, sphere for hypersphere, call a ring a 1-sphere and a sphere a 2-sphere, etc.) when the main interest is the topology of an object, and we can probably reasonably assume that Kim, green as he is, would know to go up or down if it were really a ring.
It is pretty funny though if he didn't, and would make Janeway's "You know, you've impressed me a lot and are totally competent" speech even funnier.
Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 9:25pm (UTC -6)
On the funny side, I bust out laughing when I saw Torres’ reaction to seeing a middle aged crewman in his underwear. Same with Chakotay’s understated —and resigned reaction to being asked if he’s okay with having Neelix accompany him. (I bet he was thinking, “Why am I being punished, Captain?”)
Unfortunately, these good parts were weakened by some really bad ones. Perhaps the worst ones were from Neelix. I don’t want to hate him to the point of wanting to toss him out an airlock, but were the writers trying to make him so incredibly annoying? If he were real and I had been Chakotay advising him about jealousy, I would have told him to cool it. His insecurity around Kes often borders on creepy. Just two episodes ago, she made it absolutely clear she sees him as her mate. Any normal person would have put their fears to rest, but not him. The way he very transparently probed her feelings about Paris’ gift was bad enough, but his subsequent questioning about why she remembers where various crew member’s quarters are located really sounded to me exactly like how a possessive and psychologically abusive person would behave. (Speaking from experience here.) If I were Kes, I’d be frightened and planning an exit strategy quick!
And finally, there was the random annoyance of two nameless holo characters. The bar manager with her terrible fake French accent that was practically assaultitn the Doctor was meant to be funny, I think, but was so riddled with cliches that it wasn’t
Funny at all. And the Leonard Cohen lookalike pool player seemed to have no purpose for being there whatsoever.
1 star.
Sat, Jan 25, 2020, 6:54pm (UTC -6)
BTW, They use the pool hall too much. That's two episodes in a row.
Sun, Feb 9, 2020, 4:26pm (UTC -6)
I liked the various character interactions and the way they went from puzzlement and annoyance to a dire situation they simply couldn't fix.
I'm usually with Jammer, but take a departure this time.
Tue, Mar 10, 2020, 9:33am (UTC -6)
Sat, May 16, 2020, 8:03am (UTC -6)
Kirk famously did not believe in a no-win situation. That, in part made his death in Generations so unsatisfying (there were other reasons also, obviously. Why didn’t they give him a proper send-off with full honors as his service and rank demanded?). But in his final moments, recall that Kirk reverted to form. His last words were “it was fun,” and he died with a twinkle in his eye. And man, through three years of TOS, and seven (!!) movies, over 30 years, it was a hell of a ride!
How we approach death says a lot about what kind of person we are.
When you ask, @Elliott, what separates those of us who would give this episode 1 star (like @Jammer), and those of us who would give it 2 stars (on @Jammer’s four star scale), it all comes down to how we view the climax. @Rob in Michigan picked this up right from the first comment on this episode.
I’ll admit, I sometimes just skim @Elliott’s extended reviews of episodes. But this time I read it. Twice. And I agree with it all! Except that, while you describe Act 5 perfectly, you give it 1/2 a star, and I’d give it 3 stars. And that weighted average brings my reckoning of “Twisted” to 2 stars over all, while you give it none.
But let’s take a step back to Harry and Janeway in the Jefferies tube.
How many times before “Twisted” have we seen Janeway and Harry work one-on-one alone together on a problem? Has it been even once? It is a very rare paring.
Recall, that at this point, Harry is just 27.
I don’t know how many of you have 27 year olds working for you. But at that age it is a pretty big deal to work one-on-one with the big boss. I know I don’t get very much time any more with the kids in their mid-twenties like that. We’re usually all too busy at work, and when you’re in charge, it is far more likely that you will be working with someone more senior. Janeway and Tuvok working alone together happens enough. Or Janeway and Chakotay working alone together. But Janeway and Kim??
Those rare times when you are working along with the youngster on your team, those are the best times to tell these youngsters that you value them. Not during an annual review. Or during some meeting in your office. But when you are actually out there working a problem together.
That is also part of leadership.
So I thought it was a good beat.
And it set things up nicely for Act 5. Where we get to see the crew face their own Kobayashi Maru.
Next, some folks wonder about Tuvok “acting out” in a way that might not be very vulcan. But as @HolographicAndrew says, it is very interesting when you think about it.
At the end, in the holodeck, when Chakotay has to pick between Bellana’s plan and Tuvok’s plan, this is the first time Tuvok must realize he has no control. Look around him. His Captain is incapacitated. Bellana has a plan - but she failed out of the Academy, and joined the Maqui, and they can be hotheads. The other officers there are Paris - who, less than a year ago was in jail; there is a holographic EMH; and a 2 year old Ocampa. The only half-way credentialed person is a very young Ensign Kim not even a year out of the Academy.
And now this “Commander” who resigned his commission to join a terrorist organization is going to make a decision for the entire crew. Remember, Tuvok is very familiar with Chakotay’s command style - he served under Chakotay when he was undercover infiltrating the Maqui. So this is the first time Tuvok openly questions whether this particular motley crew is going to do the right thing. And he’s right! Chakotay picks the wrong “solution”.
Which brings us to the emotional climax of the hour.
Faced with death, resigned to follow Tuvok’s sage advice, each crew member reverts to form.
Chakotay prays. Bellana joins him.
Paris puts his hand on Harry’s shoulder (yes, @Elliott, it is out of love).
Tuvok places a hand next to his Captain.
And they each face what they think is the end. With calm stoicism.
If only we could all face inevitability with such equanimity.
Sun, May 24, 2020, 2:12pm (UTC -6)
4 stars
Sun, Jun 21, 2020, 11:02am (UTC -6)
You can be such a picky bastard. You moan about voyager not being alien enough and this is very alien in that it's a spacial distortion that is communicating with the crew.
Your comment about Tuvok and Chakotay is rubbish and ludicrous. You have said previously that the conflict between the starfleet crew and maqui was resolved too quickly and now you question their conflict? There really is no pleasing you is there?
To compare this episode to your precious ds9 episode Fascination is both baffling and an insult.
You are rarely wrong but with this review you make an unwanted exception.
Leanne
Sun, Jul 12, 2020, 3:53am (UTC -6)
How can anyone think this is one of the show's best?
The main plot point - the distortion - is absolutely nonsensical.
On the one hand, it is allegedly twisting the ship. This is the TITLE of the episode and we see it in the computer rendering produced by the tricorder data, and we see it visually when the distortion is shown in the Jeffries Tube, in the Holodeck and as it warps the door to engineering. It seems to operate in these instances as a 'wall' of warping that is moving through the ship like the Baryon Sweep in 'Starship Mine'.
That's all well and good... except for the entire mystery plot. Somehow the portions of the ship that the 'ring' has NOT touched have become a maze. And they are constantly in flux EVEN WHERE THERE IS NO GREEN RING FIELD. Neelix rounds a corner and is then instantly gone. Chakotay and Tuvok then split up and then somehow instantly meet.
Kes and Neelix are walking down one corridor and pass quarters that are on different decks. Torres opens a door in Engineering and finds it's a door to a crewman's quarters.
NONE of this is consistent with a twisting. Everything we see other than when we see the green field itself is untwisted. Perfectly normal looking corridors and rooms - just the rooms have been cut and pasted around like a puzzle. I vividly remember the first time I saw this in 1995 and when the diagram of Voyager being twisted is shown thinking "that doesn't make any sense." The tricorder reading diagram doesn't show anything that suggests that the ship has been taken apart and reformed like a puzzle... just that it has been twisted whole. How then does a corridor suddenly span 4 decks? This is not explained or touched whatsoever.
Then you have the "maybe we should just stop fighting and let it happen" sequence. In every other Trek outing ever, EVERY character fights to the very end and lo-and-behold, they find the last grasp solution within seconds to spare - except in this ONE episode where Tuvok just decides "well, we haven't actually seen anyone die, so maybe let's just see what happens", and everyone bites but Torres. I'd have at least appreciates Chakotay asking her "well, do you have any other suggestions?" and her realizing she has no ideas and that they have no choice.
Then you have the scene where the Engineering experiment causes the ring to speed up - Torres and Kim RUN from engineering to the holodeck to warn them and suggest trying Tuvok's plan when Tuvok says "sorry, no time" and points out that the ring has already reached the holodeck - that was fast... but then they suddenly have three minutes to mull it over before the ring takes the entire room. So it goes from Engineering (wherever that is now) to the holodeck at just under running speed, but it takes 3 minutes to cross a room.
And then we have the final resolution... the ring encompasses everyone and.... FADE TO ANOTHER SHOT WHERE EVERYONE'S FINE?! It's like the director totally knew that this phenomenon makes absolute no sense and there was zero way to get from 'let's just get twisted' to 'it won't hurt us, everything will be fine'. All you needed was one shot of everyone twisted where the green tint fades away and everyone just returns to untwisted or something... but they fade-cut like it was all a dream? Seriously?
Then you have the doctor that is simply useless without his medical tricorder... but moments later we learn there are tricorders in the storage locker. I'm sure a regular tricorder isn't as precise as a medical one, but seriously, wouldn't that at least have given him SOME information? Don't the away teams regularly read certain life signs with a standard tricorder? Or shouldn't they have been able to find and retrieve an emergency medkit SOMEWHERE along their travels someone could have brought back to help the Captain (I would hope there would be at least one in Engineering)
And just to put the cherry on top, moments after this crisis resolves... the bridge crew rushes to the bridge to assess the situation - run scans, etc. Neelix (who has no idea of Kes is alright) arrives CARRYING A CAKE! Which means one of two things: Either he rushed to the holodeck to see if Kes was ok, just missed everyone and then GRABBED THE CAKE (although it seems like he draws the knife in the teaser to suggest he has already cut the original cake, but it's ambiguous) and hurried to the bridge to find her (compare to his hyper panic about Kes's safety the previous episode... and most other episodes)... OR, he stopped to bake or replicate a NEW cake before rushing to the bridge. Certainly the first thing I would do after a near-death experience.
Finally, they ask Neelix "where have you been?!" and he basically says "Now that's a fascinating story... for another time", which is writer talk for "we couldn't think of anything interesting to say" - so why have anyone ask the question at all? Just ask "Are you alright?"
Honourable Mention goes to the non-main-cast like Baxter who is forced to act like an idiot so that the main cast can provide exposition to audience by explaining to him something things he should be able to pick up on his own - One of my biggest pet peeves in Trek is when characters are seemingly unable to parse facts because the plot requires it. Clearly at least by the final time we see him, he should understand that the ship is no longer laid out the way it's supposed to be - it may be confusing to try to figure out how to get from A to B, but for a Starfleet Officer, it seems ridiculous for him to seem confused at WHAT is happening. Clearly something is reconfiguring the ship and you need to stop walking around looking more like you are worried or concerned and less like you're bewildered in a corn maze. Something is seriously wrong.
Sun, Jul 12, 2020, 4:04am (UTC -6)
I do echo Jammer that Janeway randomly stopping mid-crisis in the middle of a Jeffries Tube... immediately after Kim advises her that they are lost, going in circles (which the tricorder disputes) and should have arrived at the bridge 10 minutes ago, and immediately after they begin picking up phantom EM readings, she stops them (not even while crawling... she specifically stops them), changes from concerned captain on a mission into soft compassion mode to tell Harry he's been great on this mission... then immediately gets zapped and we don't know if she is going to live or die... awfully convenient (and completely illogical and contrived) timing... makes perfect sense for her to say it at the END when the ring is about to reach them in the holodeck like Tuvok and Chakotay have a moment, but it makes no sense in the Jeffries Tube.
And I echo Jammer that the ridiculous Janeway babel talk is cartoonish and virtually pointless (I guess they wanted it to represent an attempt to 'communicate' with Janeway that goes wrong... but they already tried this much better in 'Nth Degree' with Barclay. This comes off more like the gibberish virus in DS9's 'Babel' which always felt slightly cartoonish to me, but at least it had a supposed medical explanation behind it in that case. She Janeway had to suddenly sit up and shout instead of perhaps just softly mummbling gibberish is beyond me.
Wed, Jul 29, 2020, 2:03pm (UTC -6)
CHAKOTAY: Who knows what's going to happen when that ring hits us? We might be in for another long journey.
Sun, Aug 9, 2020, 12:17pm (UTC -6)
Thu, Nov 19, 2020, 11:56pm (UTC -6)
It’s at least an ensemble piece, but that means most of the cast is spotting the technobabble.
The first act, when everyone keeps getting lost, is comical if you assume the crew took LSD and are tripping balls.
Thu, Apr 15, 2021, 2:50am (UTC -6)
Don't forget that everyone has their own tastes and visions for everything, including episodes of any show.
Opinions and preferences are NOT facts. So they can't be right or wrong.
That's the nature of opinions: it's something very individual, how someone's brain feels about certain things. Even if those feelings might be objectively illogical or inconsistent, or not being shared by majority of others, everyone still has one right: to like or dislike things that give them entertainment or pleasure: movies, shows, games, food, etc.
It doesn't matter if some episode has some objective issues with writing, or acting, or continuity, or anything else.
It still can be liked or disliked by every individual, and it shouldn't shock you to see that.
Your'e free to like or dislike what you wish, and let others do the same.
Sat, Jul 10, 2021, 6:34pm (UTC -6)
Wed, Jul 28, 2021, 10:15pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Sep 3, 2021, 7:40am (UTC -6)
I'd restructure and simplify this script and just have our heroes lost and constantly running into poor Baxter, who is himself lost and trying to get to the sensor dish. Don't explain the anomaly, don't let our heroes ever get to their destination, just end the episode with everyone once again meeting Baxter, who solved the crisis off-screen by technobabbling the sensor array.
It's a shame Baxter doesn't appear in more than two episodes. The guy gives off a nice vibe-- like some kind of simple, workingclass space man.
Fri, Oct 15, 2021, 5:14am (UTC -6)
Wed, Dec 8, 2021, 2:45pm (UTC -6)
Mon, Jan 23, 2023, 5:45pm (UTC -6)
Needless to say, in my opinion one star is too generous for this episode. Right up there with Threshold as some of the worst Voyager has ever produced.
Wed, Mar 8, 2023, 1:08pm (UTC -6)
There was a time I might have thought, "stationary will be boring," but that would be wrong. It allowed for the development of a entire library of secondary characters whereas Voyager too often got stuck hammering on the same points with the same people episode after episode.
Too many of these "ship in danger" stories had already been explored in TNG, but Voyager just kept going back to the well of "this week's spatial anomaly will threaten complete destruction, but before you can say 'deus ex machina' our team will be on its way to the next one."
Wed, Mar 22, 2023, 11:12pm (UTC -6)
If she had ever watched the show. She said that she had, and she described the episode she had viewed. The producers told her, “Oh, no, not that one! Please don’t judge us on the basis of THAT.” Given thst Seven fid not appear until Season 4, I’d bet the episode she watched, if it wasn’t Threshold, was this one. Awful to the point of being stultifying-Voyager’s “The Alternative Factor.”
Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 7:11am (UTC -6)
Thu, Jun 15, 2023, 2:32pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 7, 2023, 6:04pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Jul 7, 2023, 7:16pm (UTC -6)
Threshold.
Fri, Sep 22, 2023, 11:20pm (UTC -6)
All that said to state Voyager through 22 episodes is awful. This episode - brutal.
Does the show ever get better?
Mon, Oct 16, 2023, 3:15pm (UTC -6)
Fri, Nov 24, 2023, 1:44am (UTC -6)
- at no point did the lead crew members express any concern about the rest of the crew!!!
- what happened to any of the other crew members? No panic and rushing through corridors.
- Crew kept fearing the ship gets torn apart when all the evidence is to the contrary. It doesn't, it "just" gets distorted. No hull breaches, no power drop when engineering and the warp core are exposed.
- the anomaly did not pass through the ship, it closed in on them from all sides but then somehow passed through (instead of retracting).
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