I struggled to decide if I should do a Voyager episode… After the highs of Deep Space Nine and the fact that Star Trek is leaving Netflix (probably part of Paramount angry that Warner Brothers want to sell to them rather than Paramount). I kind of didn’t want to do the first episodes of Voyager, didn’t want to leave on such a low. For a while I considered doing the 2 parter of DS9 season 4 Way of the Warrior that brought Worf into the show, lots of good to talk about there… But then I remembered there is one episode of Voyager everyone loves and features good use of some of its best characters so in what could be the last time I can easily review a Star Trek episode at the beginning of the year, let’s look into it.

Right away from the start of the episode  you can instantly see what this is an homage to old sci fi serials! Especially Flash Gordon. For anyone that was watching the show in chronological order this has appeared before. Tom Paris, one of the better characters in the show, has these Holodeck novels based on them and now we get a whole episode set around it. Yes its a Holodeck gone awry episode, but it’s a good enjoyable fun one.

After the recap of what happened in the previous chapter of Captain Proton, Proton played by Tom Paris, played by Robert Duncan McNeill and friend played by Harry Kim were about to attack the evil Doctor Chaotica when, well things happen. Turns out Aliens of a photonic nature from another dimension have gone into the Holodeck which because the Holo… science babble means the fake stuff of the Holodeck can kill them, the Aliens also refuse to acknowledge non photonic things as real so see the fake things as real and the real people as fake. And it’s got the ship stuck in space with the Holodeck unable to be shut down and is constantly running the Captain Proton story.

So you get a Star Trek episode where they have to deal with other dimensional Aliens that have caused a Flash Gordon inspired story to go wild. Yeah it’s an enjoyable episode, not really one that has you deal with any heavy subject matter, despite the doctor playing an important role, though he gets a great line later on reminding you why he is the best character in the show.

What’s more to say? It’s an easily enjoyable Star Trek episode and won’t bog you down with information you need from previous episodes so you can easily just pop into it. No instead you can enjoy all the hammy acting, even to the point of using music styled after those serials. The Captain has to pose as the titular bride of Chaotica, Queen Arachnia, though she is not really his bride but more the character he’s obsessed with. So while some people have issues with Janeway, it allows her to play an over the top villain as well for the role.

So if you can, sit back and enjoy this mashing of 90s and 30s science fiction.

Rating : 📺📺📺📺📺