Threshold

That's a weird one. Can't say I'm very fond of the salamanders and offsprings part. So yes, there are some gigantic flaws. But, after suffering throught Discovery S3, I have to say that Threshold now doesn't appear all that bad, and I'm gladly giving Disco the Worst ST Episode Award for... well, many ones deserve it. At least, Threshold managed to be entertaining.

It truly is astonishingly bad. But knowing that going in, it is rather surreal.

You'd think the shuttle reaching "infinite" speed would be as loony as it could get, and then Tom morphing into a Sleestak would be as loony as it could get.

But, wait, there's more!

Tom kidnapping Janeway, them turning into salamanders and having babies.

Luckily, despite the "infinite" speed thing, Voyager is able to track them down, and luckily the Doctor has a hypo spray to cure millions of years of evolution.

You'd think somebody was extremely high when they wrote this, but the production is extremely solid! The makeup on McNeill is top notch, and he acts the heck out of it.

I actually take Paris's transformation and struggle seriously, I think it's a very moving portrayal of mental suffering and the struggle on the part of loved ones to provide care.

If any of these negative nabobs who crap on this episode can appreciate Cronenberg or Carpenter or Barker then they should also be able to appreciate this.

I think Threshold is equally great viewed either as a serious drama or a comedy, there certainly is comedic timing, but as somebody who has had mental health problems and three day stays Threshold feels real.

There are families who have had to see their loved ones die in horrible ways, AIDS victims living long enough to have mold growing on their tongues, cancer patients transformed behaviorally by chemo and radiation therapy.

I'm honestly bothered by the lack of intelligence in these other reviews, even the ones that score the ep highly also go on to bash Voyager as a "bad" show and they call this a "terrible" episode --- I'm baffled!

Voyager is as excellent a show as Next Generation or DS9.

And it's not as though Next Gen didn't already give us "Identity Crisis" where Geordi very casually investigates his and another crew member's transformations.

It's great that in Threshold Tom Paris is believably wigged out by what's happening to him.

There's also the Next Gen ep "Genesis" which is not less whacky than Threshold but Genesis is without any real belivable reaction to the bizarreness that ensues, I think that Threshold is a much better episode than Genesis.

As for people pretending to care about science --- Star Trek has NEVER been scientifically credible, ultimately it's got more in common with the Globe Theater of Shakespeare's time than it does with science education, this is about performers on a stage creating human stories.

I give Threshold a 5/5, an excellent episode.

Tom Paris breaks the warp 10 barrier.

This is a famously panned episode that entertains if you go into it with the right frame of mind.

If you take your Star Trek seriously and appreciate good thought-provoking sci-fi writing, you might find Threshold somewhat of an insult to the intelligence, but if you appreciate wildly implausible ideas brought to life by a professional cast you can still take some enjoyment.

It starts off strongly with a good premise that works with the dilemma faced by the Voyager crew. Tom's ambition of piloting at warp 10 fits perfectly with his character and the build up to the flight is as good as any character work in the show.

Then events turn ridiculous in so many ways it would take too long to cover. The plot contrivances, the scientific implausibility, the reset button ending, and the fact the writers have taken a great Star Trek foundation of the warp 10 barrier and done THIS to it.

Robert Duncan McNeill carries Brannon Braga's ideas (including a tribute 'The Fly') remarkably well in an entertaining performance. I refuse to believe he plays the ranting and raving Paris as anything other than a tongue in cheek homage to Seth Brundle. There is some development for the character in the episode's resolution and the makeup effects are excellent.

Where does it sit on the list of worst Star Trek episodes of all time? It's not great, but it cannot be accused of tedium and I have seen some far worse in Voyager, The Original Series, TNG, and Enterprise.

Honestly I was on board until they said the future of human evolution is salamanders