Bride of Chaotica!

What a fun, campy episode this one is! It takes place on the hollodeck in a black and white parody of a 1930's Buck Rogers serial. A photonic alien life form from outside of Voyager has accidentally gotten into a battle with Paris's hollo-nemesis, the evil Prince Chaotica. That battle is holding Voyager in a subspace riff, and it's losing power. So members of the crew dress up and ham it up in the hollodeck.

It's a snappy little script, full of jokes and asides, and Janeway is particularly enjoyable as the vampy Queen Arachnia. The story is also highly self-referential, and not all viewers may enjoy that. It's a story about a story, and brings you in full consciousness that you are watching human actors pretend they're in space. You won't go into outer space with the gang in this one, but you will get that feeling like when you're watching a fun play, when all the actors are having a good time and the audience is in on the joke. I love it when series do episodes that are far outside their norm. If you like camp, you'll love this little episode. If not, then you might want to pass.

You're either going to love it or hate it. This is an episode that doesn't take anything seriously. It's completely insane, random, full of plot holes and downright corny but it makes me laugh and therefore I give it an 8. I'm a hardcore Treky but I like to party too, even in the 19th century. Lighten up a little and have some fun. That's what this episode is about.

If you like your ST episodes dark and serious, skip this one. It's a completely silly plot that is surprisingly fun if you'll let your hair down enough to enjoy it. Perhaps it's a generational thing: I *remember* those old Buck Rodgers type serials and this episode recreates the feel of those shows perfectly. No, it doesn't make any sense, but if you can suspend your disbelief enough to go along with time travel, wormholes, the Q Continuum, etc., then wink wink along with this one. They'll get back to blasting enemies quickly enough!

One thing is for sure, I'll bet the actors had fun with it, especially Mulgrew. I mean what serious-minded adult woman hasn't at least once in her life wanted to be (or at least play) a character like Sheena of the Jungle or Arachnia, bride of Chaotica!

Voyager is trapped is sub-space and attacked by photon aliens.

This is a fun tribute to camp sci-fi serials with great art design and enjoyable performances.

If you take Star Trek (or sci-fi) seriously you might struggle with the concept of Voyager characters performing in a Flash Gordon style production. I personally find it quite enjoyable, especially the performances of Katie Mulgrew, Martin Rayner, Nicholas Worth and Robert Picardo as they deliver the over-the-top dialogue and mannerisms. Others like Tim Russ and Jeri Ryan function very effectively as deadpan foils to the madness.

The production design is excellent, particularly the sets, costumes and use of black and white to make it feel like an authentic old fashioned sci-fi serial.

For me it's a 7.5/10, but I round upwards.

It's fun! Don't take it too seriously and don't take yourself so seriously you can't enjoy it. Just like the X-Files, every good scifi show has its silly episodes. If you can't enjoy it, that's a personal problem. 😉