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| Chakotay boxes in a Vision Quest. |
THE PLOT
Voyager has found its way into "chaotic space" (cue dramatic musical sting), where "the laws of physics are in flux... Changes in the gravitational coefficient will cause sudden sheer forces against our hull," Seven gravely reports, adding that only a single Borg cube ever survived an encounter with chaotic space. "Voyager is surely doomed.
But all is not lost! Chakotay, who has never previously displayed any interest in boxing, was running a boxing simulation (with Boothby the Mickey to his Rocky, no less) when the ship encountered the chaotic region. The punch his holographic opponent lands somehow activates a long-dormant genetic marker for hallucinations, and Chakotay begins seeing and hearing things pointing him toward a fight. So he goes on a Vision Quest (*drink*) and realizes that the Aliens from Chaotic Space (TM) are trying to communicate with him - They just need him to step back in the ring in order to do so.
Hence - Rocky VIII: The Fight for Voyager!
CHARACTERS
Capt. Janeway: "Send him back in the ring! When Chakotay becomes reluctant to communicate with the alien voices, fearing for his sanity, Janeway coaxes him to try again. "Your sanity won't do you any good if we remain in Chaotic Space," she tells him. This turns out to be a Vision(!)Janeway, but Real Janeway is near-indistinguishable... Though I'll admit, I got a small laugh out of Janeway recongizing the alien signal from the one question she missed on a Starfleet exam, breathily intoning, "It's the reason I didn't get an A!"
Chakotay: "I need to go on a vision quest." Ugh. Anytime Chakotay utters a statement along those lines, you know you're in for it, and it becomes uninentionally comical when he says it so urgently. Still, by 20 minutes into the episode, it's already clear that this is so bad that it's not like a Chakotay "Native American, and all characterization ends there" acid trip is going to make it worse. Oh, and in addition to a previously-undisclosed interest in boxing, it turns out that Chakotay's family has a history of mental illness - also previously undisclosed. At least Robert Beltran does a decent job of trying to connect with this material... Though given how poor the material is, he honestly might as well have sleepwalked through it.
Doctor: You know things are bad when even Robert Picardo doesn't bother to give a good performance. Picardo overacts, giving the kind of performance you'd expect in a campy 1950s sci-fi/monster flick. Either he knew the script was bad and tried extra hard to compensate, or he knew it was bad and decided to play up the campier elements to have a laugh. Either way, he contributes to the awfulness of the episode, instead of salvaging bits of it as he usually does.
Boothby: Ray Walston, so good earlier this season in In the Flesh, returns... alas, as part of this episode. There's not much more to say about him here. Other than some gibberish about how a boxer is fighting himself and not his opponent, and some very poor tactical advice about how it's better to let your opponent punch you than to avoid punches, he really doesn't serve much of a purpose here. Still, Walston's always a welcome presence, even in a turd such as this.
THOUGHTS
"Doc, can't you do something? Look how much he's suffering!" Is Tom talking about Chakotay, or the audience? Becuase even as the episode opens, it's clear that this is going to be a bad one.
The teaser is so ridiculously over the top, I wasn't sure if this was maybe being played as comedy. Chakotay's writhing around on a bed in sick bay, screaming "Make them stop!" The ship is buckling due to something with the word "gravitron" in it, and B'Elanna urgently informs the captain that, "If we don't get out of chaotic space soon, we'll die." Seriously, "chaotic space?" Are they going "ludicrous speed," too? The entire scene plays like something from a Star Trek parody, rather than an actual episode.
Later, we learn that Chakotay's grandfather was mentally ill, suffering from auditory and visual hallucinations. This being a Chakotay episode, and one that reverts to the early Voyager mistake of characterizing him entirely around being Native American, we learn that his grandfather refused treatment for the hallucinations because his "spirit doesn't want that medicine," because mental illness is somehow spiritual and noble, rather than a disease that prevents you from connecting properly with the world around you. No, in an episode in which Chakotay goes on a Vision Quest, mental illness is a good thing... Presumably, because it might enable you to hallucinate a better episode than this one.
It's still not quite as bad as The Disease was. Robert Beltran is really trying here; and while I won't say he elevates this ridiculous material, he does at least provide some intermittent audience connection with Chakotay. Plus, the sheer idiocy provides a few unintended giggles that keep it from being as dead boring as the very worst of Voyager.
Still, this is bad. Very, very bad.
Overall Rating: 2/10.
Previous Episode: Course: Oblivion
Next Episode: Think Tank
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