The Fight

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.

While I understand those who are trying to look into the Deeper aspects of Star Trek, the average and even above average viewer does not do this. If you're a movie critic type of person then maybe you'll like this episode like the few who gave it ten stars, but to the average viewer who watches the show for the technology, general story and action, this is just horrible.

I haven't watched it in a while because when it comes back onto my DVR I just delete it instantly as I recall how utterly ridiculous it was the first few times 8 saw it. Chakotay having a love for boxing that was NEVER mentioned before and somehow Boothby, who is now not only the head grounds keeper but he's Mickey from Rocky and a boxing trainer to? Lol... Just so silly.

People aren't watching Star Trek to judge it like you would Shakespeare or some broadway play. They watch it for the general space concept, the technology, sometimes the girls and space battles to. They watch it for things they don't get in a regular Earth bound TV show, which this episode completely lacks all of these elements. Just terrible

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.

So Chakotay has his turn as the principle character again. Voyager has entered chaotic space where everything is all bent and distorted. They can't proceed because it is unpredictable and dangerous. Chakotay seems to have some boxing chops and he is quite masculine. He goes on one of his vision quests and tries to figure out how they can get out of their predicament. He hears voices and needs to interpret them to figure out what to do. Mostly it is one oddity after another. Perhaps it should be called "Chaotic Plot."

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.