The Fight

Once again a pretty lame "A-koo-chee-moya" episode about Commander Chakotay. Number One has delivered a one star episode yet again (in a universe full of stars). Why do all the episodes with him deal with spirit quests, visions, hallucinations and connections to his ancestors? Unfortunately, Chakotay's character hasn't really been developed in the previous episodes of the series, so every episode in which he is the core of the plot is boring and always follows the same formula. Whenever something mystical needs to happen, Chakotay is used because it combines nicely with his native American origins.

Suddenly Chakotay is boxing in his free time - something we've never heard of before. By the way, a major weak point in contrast to Deep Space Nine. The main characters were often seen there in their free time and as private individuals - O'Brien and Bashir playing darts, Sisko in the kitchen, Dax playing Tongo with Ferengis... that's missing in Voyager. Voyager usually shows something in one episode that is important to the plot. After that you never see or hear about it again. E.g. The doctor's holographic family, Janeway's holonovel as Ms. Davenport and the mystery upstairs (which was never solved) or Neelix' vacation resort on the holodeck. Either only mentioned once in one episode or hasn't been part of another episode in ages. I bet you won't hear anything more about Chakotay's enthusiasm for boxing either.

In this episode, Voyager is once again stuck in some space rift or anomaly. It's about time they converted Voyager to 4 nacelles warp drive so that the ship doesn't constantly get stuck somewhere. And of course there are aliens living in this anomaly who can only communicate with the Voyager crew by making contact with selected crew members through visions and dreamscapes that initially make no sense. Only the writers of this episode know though why they chose the metaphor of a boxing ring and a fight.

Star Trek hardcore fans naturally interpret everything into this episode. Basically, this episode is boring, long-winded and confusing. You can safely take Chakotay's other spirit quest episodes and let them gather dust in the Star Trek archives.

I'll cut straight to the chase--I hated all the mystical American Indian mumbo-jumbo involving Chakotay on "Star Trek: Voyager". Too many of the characters on this show were shallow and needed more depth-- and Chakotay was one of the worst of these. Whenever the show wants to feature his character in an episode, they cart out the 'ol faux American Indian mystical crap. Most American Indians probably cringed whenever they did this one the show and they took SOME genuine cultural beliefs and made them seem like silly clichés.

In this episode, aliens inside 'chaotic space' (that's Voyager-speak for 'we are sitting in the middle of space because we cannot afford to build sets for a new world or make-up for these aliens'). The ship is stuck there and only Chakotay is possibly able to help get them un-stuck. To do this, he goes on a spirit journey and explores his own nutty grandfather, his love of boxing (which NEVER was mentioned before) and his own fears.

This episode has absolutely nothing going for it. You might try watching just so you can see world champion boxer Carlos Palomino in a role as Chakotay's sparring partner, but underneath all that make- up and prosthetics you cannot even tell that it's him. So, if there ever was an episode to skip and pretend that it wasn't made in the first place, my vote would be for this one!

Chakotay begins having strange visions as Voyager enters "chaotic space".

The concept is very simple, but the story is told in a very disorienting way from Chakotay's point of view, which will likely impact what you think of it.

I see why this is an unpopular episode as it combines two themes that have been generally unpopular in Star Trek: Chakotay's Native American "abilities" and the use of DNA to explain certain plot contrivances. Personally, I do not think it is as bad as so many reviewers describe, but to put me through this type of disjointed narrative requires a very satisfying (or at least impactful) payoff at the end. This does not happen and the reliance of a certain gene to underpin crucial plot details is a bit of a stretch for me.

I like the visuals and editing which generate a creepy atmosphere and makes for a quite jarring experience. Plus the boxing imagery and related dialogue (particularly when the Doctor talks about the associated dangers, metaphorically) is pretty well done.

As another reviewer mentioned it is good to see Star Trek portraying life-forms that interact differently, as opposed to actors with American accents and a bit of latex on their face trying to pass as aliens.

I think the acting all round is very good. Robert Picardo is always good, but here Robert Beltran has the chance to play Chakotay in a very stressed and agitated state of mind and does it well.

I think these lower budget "filler episodes" were the main thing I disliked about 90s Trek. You can tell they were low on ideas, budget, and had to go with a less than stellar idea for an episode. Now, don't get me wrong, I am actually a fan of Chakotay and I like him as both a character and actor. But seriously, anything with vision quests just... no... they're not good. The sort of Akutchi Moya fake Native Generic American thing never worked. It would have been cooler if Chakotay was Native American and owned that but we never heard pan flutes or had to deal with spiritual stuff.

Star Trek works when there's less spirituality and more science. This kind of episode just doesn't work in most ways.

I'm giving this episode a solid 8/10. First time I saw it I didn't understand what the hell was happening, I guess I wasn't paying enough attention, now that I've rewatched it I get it. This is a kind of episode where you need to pay attention, the premise is quite simple. Voyager gets stuck in a spacial anomaly called chaotic space, in that space there are aliens that are trying to make contact, chakotay has a dorment gene that they activate so that they can make contact, but that gene gives Chakotay hallucinations and blurred messages.... this episode is vastly underrated.