Things become Twisted as Voyagers twists in on itself and no one knows why. Originally broadcast on October 2, 1995 this is, you guessed it, Twisted!
The Episode:
Captain’s Log Stardate 48945.8 Twisted
Encountering an inversion field the USS Voyager begins to twist in on itself threatening the ship and it’s crew.
The Story:
This is a really crazy complicated story so this will be a highly truncated version to make the most sense of it. There is a ton of side stuff but below is the basic story.
As Kes enjoys a surprise party thrown on the holodeck, Tuvok and Ensign Kim discover a very strange anomaly that they cannot identify. Investigating the anomaly they soon discover that they are trapped in some kind of energy field. Attempting to contact Janeway proves fruitless as the anomaly begins to distort the transmission.
On the holodeck, Janeway is concerned when her communication with Tuvok is cut short. Rushing to the bridge, the crew soon find themselves lost on the ship as every path leads somewhere new. Eventually everyone finds themselves back on the holodeck despite their attempts to get somewhere else.
Soon they all determine that the ship is being twisted up by the field and manages to map the ship using their tricorder readings. Determined to get to the Bridge, Janeway and Harry go through the jefferies tubes only for Janeway to come in contact with the anomaly sending her into a strange fugue.
With Chakotay now in command they begin to determine a way to rid themselves of the anomaly and also rescue Janeway. Soon they realize that the only way to fix the issue is to let the anomaly overrun them. Soon everyone is fine and discover that the anomaly was really just an alien life form attempting to communicate. Voyager now has 20 million giga-quads of new information for them to study and it seems the alien helped themselves to their data as well. So, like nothing happened, the crew celebrate Kes’ birthday on the bridge with a cake.
Is this a ‘Good’ Episode:
This is a pretty interesting story dealing with a dangerous situation that ultimately becomes an alien encounter, it is really a pretty tropey episode when you boil it down. I mean, the who concept of an alien doing damage to a ship/throwing a ship into chaos while trying to communicate with them has been done in pretty much every scifi series to date. You would hope that this trope would have been skipped but at least this time it wasn’t Janeway flying Voyager into an anomaly for coffee. I mean there is that.
While the episode is pretty much a filler ‘throwaway’ story, there are some rather important character moments. One big one is the continuation of Neelix’ jealously of anyone who pays attention to Kes, especially when Paris does. Neelix, knowing that Kes has had no experience in life outside of what the two of them have had together, is frightened that she will find someone else more interesting than him. It seems that he is realizing that maybe he doesn’t have enough to offer someone like her. This little bit of rivalry will be revisited again leading to some interesting character developments.
This episode also give Chakotay a chance to shine in his brief stint in command of the starship. While he might not always agree with Janeway’s methods or decisions it is clear that he has the ship and crew’s best interest in mind. It also established that, in the six months they have been lost Chakotay has earned the crews respect and that in and of itself really means a lot. He even finds respect for Tuvok despite his dislike for the Vulcan.
Overall, a cool episode that manages to navigate a trope in a novel way but unfortunately doesn’t quite break out of the Tropes atmosphere. Some great character moments manages to save this one from filler status but only just. All that aside, in the end the ship is given a huge amount of data and unfortunately nothing is ever done with it. Not even so much as a mention later down the road. Was the data not compatible, in another language, the complete works of Amanda McKittrick Ros? Sadly we will never know.
Gleanings and Cool Bits:
- 0 photon torpedoes fired, 37 remaining.
- Kes turns two and celebrates on the holodeck in a bar because that’s how Ocampans do it.
- we also meet up with Walter Baxter once again who, yet again talks about his intense workout. Looking Swole Bro….ugh. no.
Thanks for reading the Retro TV Review, I look forward to discussing the rest of the series with you, one episode at a time every Monday, Wednesday and Friday! Next Review: Parturition
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Late To The Game 5/20/2020
Special Thanks to Memory Alpha as they are one of the best sources for details on Star Trek information available. Although I have a pretty deep knowledge on the subject, they have proven invaluable as a regular resource.
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