This episode is a lot of fun with great set pieces and costumes. Most of the story is in black and white because it takes place in Paris' holodeck series of Captain Proton, which is some kind of homage to the early Sci Fi movies of the golden Hollywood era.
Although this episode is a little whacky, it isn't complete nonsense. The premise of the story sounds plausible. Voyager is stuck in some subspace fold which makes it pierce into another dimension. The inhabitants there are photonic life forms. Since their dimension also cuts through the holodeck, the holographic world of Captain Proton and the dimension of the photonic life forms are suddenly merged. And since holograms are also photonic beings, they now pose a threat to the photonic beings in the other dimension and are even able to kill them.
Of course, as always, just shutting down the holodeck isn't working. And since Voyager is still stuck, the only solution is to help those photonic beings defeat Chaotica within the simulation.
Mulgrew does a good job impersonating a queen and overacting as it was often done in those old Sci Fi movies like Buck Rogers or Flash Gordon. Both visuals, acting and dialogue really immerse the viewer into this story.
All in all a well done episode that 25 years later still has a special charm due to the cinematography, the sets and costumes. I think, although it is a different kind of episode, it still fits well into the Voyager canon.
