Star Trek Retro Review: "Threshold" (VOY) | Worst Episodes Ever

[@kereymckenna4611]

Janeway: I miss the kids Tom. Their little flippers...
Paris: I know Kat-fish but it's for the best.

[@veronicado1016]

😂

[@djwaffle]

🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@Clementx84]

Take your upvote and get out.

[@AndrewD8Red]

I know that meme!
It good.

[@locutus9956]

funny but dont pretent you came up with that one, Ive seen it as a webcomic in multiple places :P

[@JonEric]

Every time 90s Trek does a concept involving evolution, I find myself shouting at the screen, "THAT'S NOT HOW EVOLUTION WORKS!" And "Threshold" isn't even the worst offender!

[@MalzraAirwynn]

Dare I ask what episodes did evolution WORSE than this?

[@thescifiZipacna]

The episode with the Dinosaur descendant species, “Distant Origin” has a scene on the holodeck where they show a species that’s supposed to be the last common ancestor of humans and dinosaurs, named as Eryops. Eryops is a real species, but 1. It’s not the common ancestor of humans and dinosaurs (it’s an ancient amphibian, from after the divergence point between the lineage that led to dinosaurs and the one that led to humans) 2. The species pictured isn’t Eryops but 3. Gorgonops, which is on the mammal/human side of the tree of life and therefore not an ancestor of any dinosaur species.

[@Stray7]

Yeah, there's that "deevolution" from TNG which is a fun way of turning people into animal people, and that one episode of ToS where Spock somehow starts regressing emotionally because he winds up a few millennia before Vulcans adopted Surak's teachings on pure logic (which makes NO goddamn sense whatsoever).

[@Stephen-Fox]

100% and I think I commented similarly on Steve's video from a couple of years back about how bad Trek is at evolution.
When the children's fantasy franchise that conflates metamorphosis with evolution is better at evolution than you're sci-fi series for adults, you've got a problem.

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

Evolution turns out to be predictable in Star Trek due to evolution being guided by an ancient race.

[@air1fire]

This episode occupies every point on the scale from terrible to perfect simultaneously.

[@thing_under_the_stairs]

The salamander babies always crack me up.

[@bigfootwalker5399]

🐸

[@locutus9956]

It really doesnt. It occupies every concievable type of terrible I'll grant but its not 'so bad its great' its just awful in every way

[@sonyakinsey4376]

What gets me is the choice of salamanders. Usually, super-evolved humans get telepathic or telekinetic powers, or frail limbs, and turn into space elves. The writers did try something different, but of all the options, why giant salamanders? It just adds another layer to the cake of absurdity and giving them babies was the icing.

[@CAPSLOCKPUNDIT]

I don't know about Mr Paris, but accelerating my evolution would have left me downright crabby!

[@Blimbus-Blombo]

@@CAPSLOCKPUNDIT 😂😂 good one!

[@AaronLitz]

The writers thought they were being clever and saying something about evolution... unfortunately they didn't have a goddamn clue how evolution actually works.

[@BoydsNest1959]

I thought it was a nod to Kurt Vonnegut's Galapagos, where humans evolve into seal-like beings

[@rudylikestowatch]

There's a video here proposing animals often evolve into the crab form.
I love Steve naming them "Tiktaalik babies".

[@NQR-9000]

Your idea of Tom Paris, instead to becoming a oversize catfish, evolving to be more and more adapted to the Voyager until he is perfectly 'in tune" with the ship but unable to leave it would be a far better premise for a Star Trek episode!

[@THE_Dodge_Morningstar]

Yeah... Yeah something like that would work a lot better. I always tried to rationalize it as Paris occupying all of space and time, forced him to mutate (limited to only using existing materials in his DNA and RNA) into a form that would have the highest probability of survival, in any time period, anywhere in the universe... A Mamma-Salaman-Fish.😂 It was either that, Salt Vampire, or god-like being.

[@edibleapeman2]

Like a blend between the Borg character One from a few seasons later and Barclay’s melding with the Enterprise-D over on TNG.

[@mjmal3741]

If they were going for rapid evolution, my first thought was that he'd 'evolve' into a form more suited for warp 10 travel

[@RadzPrower]

@@THE_Dodge_Morningstar Actually, the fact that he existed everywhere at once does at least give this a small out via headcanon for an otherwise left field choice.
Even something like "he's rapidly mutating. It could almost be seen as an accelerated view of one of many possible evolutionary paths for a humanity which did not need to adapt to any outside pressures. In fact, one of the points at which these random mutations should have ended the process was when he could no longer breathe the atmosphere of the ship. However, due to my intervention, that particular faulty mutation was circumvented and thus allowed the 'evolutionary' process to continue in spite of it" goes a long way towards at least making it clear it's analogy rather than actual evolution and giving a reason for the bizarre path towards salamander instead of an "advanced humanoid" at the same time.

[@THE_Dodge_Morningstar]

@@RadzPrower That's it! Simply changing the dialogue to something like that would have gone a long way. Lol We're still in the realm of silly super science space-planations, but palatable enough that we could just chuckle and accept it as normal Star Trek shenanigans.

[@Me1le]

Its a horrible epsiode, but I do love the bit of banter between Tuvok and Chakotay after finding Paris, Janeway and their salamander offspring.
Chakotay: I don't know how I am going to add this in the log. Tuvok: I look forward to reading it.

[@st.anselmsfire3547]

This episode had such an obvious potential plot - Tom, the egomaniacal hot-shot pilot, will, for a brief instant, become one with the universe. Can you imagine how an experience like that would change a man, especially someone like him? Especially after Janeway gave him that "next Neil Armstrong" pep talk. What would happen if he had that perspective, then briefly became one with the universe, where he would learn just how small he actually is in the grand scheme of things? Or maybe he briefly become all-knowing? Or he becomes sort of like the Buddha? It could've been a deep meditation on the human condition using ridiculous sci-fi, which has created some of the best television that Star Trek has ever produced.
Nah. Let's do space salamanders.

[@KickieB]

Flowers for Algernon! Or something akin to that. He'd get to experience everything and then be forced to return to "normal" human form...

[@bethelhanley5439]

One gets the impression that the writers were too taken up with the (completely unoriginal) conceit that the final stage of human evolution was something lower than our present state to actually consider such an idea. Unfortunately.

[@FuelDropforthewin]

I am reminded of the Hitch-hiker's guide to the galaxy... I think it was called the Infinite Perspective Vortex or something.

[@rwdavidoff]

I think that, like Spock's Brain, is part of what makes it watchable-fun bad, and not just "this is a slog" terrible. Compare this to....I dunno, the boxing one in Voyager, or the one where Kirk loses all his memories and joins a native american tribe for a few weeks. Those are bad too, but they're not mimetically bad because they're not bad in fun ways.

[@rhob2422]

Like the episode of Stargate when O'Neil had the entire ancient database downloaded into his mind, only to have it all removed.

[@IneaFaedyn]

Its crazy that theyre like "okay we can do warp 9.8 and you just figured out warp 10, but you got lizarded so we will never ever return to this research ever. We don't need warp 9.999999999999999 to get to earth in a day."

[@MattMcIrvin]

Since the effect seems to be easily reversible by the Doctor, there's really no good reason they couldn't use this technology to get home even as is.

[@jy3n2]

@@MattMcIrvin "We've finally made contact with Earth. Doctor, send them the formula for the anti-salamander treatment and tell them to have a few hundred doses ready by next week."

[@christianmino3753]

@@MattMcIrvin IDK dude, They had no guarantee that in a few weeks/months/years they weren't gonna revert LMAO. It could still happen now after prodigy LOL

[@KassFireborn]

They really do just shrug and leave the newborn lizard babies there, and nobody cares. It's hilarious. My maternal instincts have been confirmed utterly atrophied, and I'd still be like, "So... we should probably go pick up my awkward lizard children...."

[@dan1216]

SALAMANDERS!

[@akumakorgar]

Doesn't Janeway have enough awkward children on Voyager as is though

[@majuuorthrus3340]

Recurring villain: the salamander children, here for revenge

[@Talisguy]

Not my observation, borrowed from SF Debris, but I love that the Voyager crew can apparently run accurate simulations of something that's theoretically impossible.

[@gretachristina6148]

Yes! It's like running a computer simulation now for going faster than the speed of light. The computer is just going to say, "Nope."

[@alanbear6505]

To quote Dr. Crusher, "Disregard incongruity and theorize". That has to be my favorite command anyone has ever given a computer.

[@KrisHatesWorld]

Despite the quality of this episode, The Doctor foregoing the hypospray to merely bend over and shout "WAKE UP LIEUTENANT!" in Tom Paris's ear is one of the best gags in all of Star Trek.

[@Faction.Paradox]

One of my favourite parts of this story is the shuttle occupying every part of the universe simultaneously in Warp 10, comming out of it at random & it happening to end up a short way in front of Voyager. Must have installed the plot convenience circus.

[@insilencea4599]

They could so easily have just called it rapid mutation, but then Janeway turned into the exact same thing, to the point of still being genetically compatible. The only way this episode makes any sense in canon is if some Q decided to discourage Voyager from achieving Warp 10, and was like, "Hey, wouldn't it be funny if...?"

[@kevingriffith6011]

"I need to do something so embarrassing to them that they'll never speak of warp 10 to anyone ever again." - Q probably.

[@DavidCDrake]

I love this explanation! 🤣

[@marcning918]

That would actually work. Q has been shown at that point to be aware of consequences he didn't cause and just not mention them because they couldn't affect him anyway. Although with his infatuation with Janeway it definitely couldn't be her tom grabs ( which I always thought was weird anyway) it would have been either Kes or Torres.

[@gregoryblack2044]

When I finally watched this infamous episode, I found myself marveling not at its bad points (too many to count), but at how it's a perfectly fine middle sandwiched in-between a horrendous opening and ending. This could have been all about Tom Paris being forced into a horrible situation, and how he becomes unrecognizable to both his colleagues and himself, until he's pulled back from the brink. But that would have involved too much character writing, so instead we got this.

[@Drekal684]

Every time I even think of Threshold, even on a surface level, I am struck by how fractally stupid it is. It's like - you know the Golden Ratio? How you can use it to create an infinitely perfect spiral using a series of rectangles? it's like looking at one of those, and zooming in closer and closer letting the infinite rectangles get bigger and bigger, except instead of geometric perfection you get raw, unyielding stupidity.
Not even the fun kind of stupidity to watch, either. The gross kind. Which makes it even worse.

[@EclecticFruit]

Huge plot hole: if you can handle warp 10 with your spacecraft, and you can permanently fix the problems traveling at warp 10 creates on biological creatures... Why wouldn't you hold a staff meeting/vote about taking the risk, reversing the effects, and arriving at Earth instantly?

[@hewh0wearspants]

Right? Like, the doctor doesn't even have DNA to mutate, and he's the one who knows how to reverse it, it's a no-brainer. Kinda like this episode

[@ellahyland1705]

Especially since the Dr. isn't biological. You'd just have to make sure his program didn't suffer too many neutrino bit flips.

[@JDEhlert]

Starfleet in the late 24th century::
*Tom encounters a woman on the street*
"Wow! Tom Paris! You broke the Warp 10 barrier! You're so cool!"
*someone whispers in the woman's ear*
O.o
"Let us never speak of this again. EVER! You negligent father!!"
Woman stomps off...

[@akumakorgar]

It's funny because there's a far more plausible explanation for Paris changing - since he supposedly reached infinite velocity and was thus in every place in the universe simultaneously - he was on Q'onos, he was on Earth, he was on the surface of Betelgeuse, he was in the Pegasus Galaxy etc, and a countless number of other places, he easily could have come into contact with a lot of WEIRD stuff and that easily could have included some kind of bizarre unidentifiable mutagenic agent.

[@jackalovski1]

Threshold was the first time I ever remember watching a show and realising that it wasn’t as good as I’d convinced myself it was and stopped watching it. It happened with Enterprise when they went to the very first planet for shits and giggles, no protective equipment, no risk assessment and I just thought, these guys have been written like idiots.

[@DrewLSsix]

The irony of the warp 10 barrier is they really didnt need to break it at all. If they aimed for warp 9.9999999 they could have covered 70,000 lightyears in just 2 minutes and 55 seconds.
I mean if you just keep throwing 9s after the decimal you get close enough to infinite speed anyway, the whole universe becomes open to exploration with enough 9s.

[@oerthling]

Obviously this special kind of Dilithium doesn't support decimal points, only integers.

[@jplayzow]

What's stranger still is there's really just not a lot that happens in 3 minutes that wouldn't be fine after like 5 minutes they don't need 10

[@Bastian227]

When Voyager was airing, I can't imagine waiting a week with anticipation of the next episode, only to be grossly disappointed, and then have to sit with that disappointment for another week. Oh wait, I don't have to imagine that; I lived it.

[@alanpennie]

I generally forgot what I'd just watched about 10 minutes after a given episode ended.

[@patrickdodds7162]

While Voyager didn't rip off "And When the Sky Was Opened", but beloved TNG did with "Remember Me". But it did at least give us another fascinating appearance of The Traveler and the great line, "Maybe the problem isn't me, but the problem is actually the universe!"

[@ShikiKiryu]

I was waiting for this one! Voyager not understanding evolution, the first try. The fact you can say 'Emmy-award-winning episode 'Threshold'' is certainly a...statement. I like to imagine when Trip asks for a pan-fried catfish which he promptly demolishes, it's some kind of justice.

[@jonleonard1555]

Janelle Waz had recently reviewed this episode, and I made the point on her video that: It doesn't make sense that the holodeck could properly confirm the experiments. It's shown in TNG that the holodeck could only simulate what the computer understands as a possibility. So when Data tries to transport something from in the holodeck to out of it, it just gives an error, because even the computer doesn't know what would happen. If there's no know way of getting to warp 10, the computer shouldn't be able to confirm it.

[@RandomStuff-he7lu]

They went to infinite velocity... and luckily stopped 3 days away instead of 40 billion light years away.

[@alanpennie8013]

It was The *We need to wrap up this episode and press the reset button so we don't have to think of it again* Constant kicking in.

[@sonicguyver7445]

I saw this when it first aired and even as a teenager I saw just this episode was just bad. The whole hyper evolution thing made no sense. Back then I thought, "Maybe these are potential mutations Paris has in his DNA that might eventually start to appear in future generations." But even that was a desperate reach.
But I was also used to the idea of everything in Voyager resetting to zero without consequences. It's like how a guy on the "Spacedock" channel put it. "Voyager: a show about scarcity and resources that pretty but abandoned its premise in the first 40 minutes."

[@harjutapa]

Honestly, the biggest issue with Threshold from an in-universe perspective is that if there was a way to do instantaneous travel and all you needed to do afterwards was a completely safe (I mean, we never see any problems crop up afterwards) radiation treatment, it would make sense for Starfleet to adopt it, at least for certain specialized vessels.
That kind of instantaneous travel speed would be an overwhelmingly positive factor in all sorts of situations, from war with the Dominion to disaster aid/relief. Crossing the galaxy in an instant, then taking a day or whatever to treat the crew, would be such a massive time saving technique that it would make sense for Starfleet to have a small core of rapid response vessels (some designed for war, some for relief, maybe a few science vessels).
And yet, like everything else in Voyager, there's absolutely no follow up.

[@spikeoramathon]

I've been looking forward to your review of this specifically to see you hit maximum salty. I swear I could've held a Margarita glass up to my screen and gotten a decent dusting around the rim, and still had enough to de-ice the driveway.
Never stop being you.

[@ProgressiveRoxx]

I hate the way this episode (like many Star Trek shows) fails to at least suggest any way the stunningly groundbreaking discovery can be implemented in the future. Sure the Warp 10 thing turns you into a Salamander, but does it have to? Isn't there a shield you could come up with to make it safe? Or have the pilot wear a space suit? Or even build an autonomous message probe that can use the new tech to go back to the Alpha Quadrant and contact Starfleet for help?

[@thegreenmanofnorwich]

Or just go at warp 9.9999999999999999999, don't turn into salamanders, be home and be done with it.

[@gretachristina6148]

I love the idea of the autonomous message probe! Except now I'm imagining the message itself "evolving" into a future form, and Starfleet saying, "Why is Voyager sending a message from the Delta Quadrant about 'One Weird Trick To Enlarge Your Salamander Tail'?"

[@alanbear6505]

At the very least add more storage to the computer on the shuttle and send it out on a preprogrammed course and you do more exploration of the galaxy in 5 minutes than the entire Federation can do in centuries. ...and I shudder at the thought of Section 31 getting their hands on it.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

Or as some other comments suggested, just apply that radiation cure immediately after use!

[@garymarks7863]

My biggest annoyance with the episode, other than it just not contributing anything or telling a good story, is that it breaks the premise of the show. The whole show is based on the ship being stuck away from home, so they now have a way to get everyone home, it mutates them, but they can fix that, so why doesn't it end with them at home? Maybe I don't remember a techno babble reason like, they didn't have enough of the special dilithium to do that, but I'm not going to go back and watch it again to see if that's that case.

[@global2829]

Exactly my thought. The mutation would be a good reason not to use it regularly, but it seems worth it to get the crew of Voyager home.

[@heatherwhalensmith9383]

Threshold is so bad that it's come out the other end for some people in a kind of MST3K kind of way. On Tumblr the fandom often celebrates the airing of Threshold yearly. Threshold Day is celebrated by sharing memes related to the show. I'm not sure, personally, what I think of it all, but it is certainly amusing to open tumblr once a day to be assaulted by space lizard memes.

[@dan1216]

SALAMANDERS!

[@BrianSheppard]

It is a bad episode but I think it's hilarious. The long term implications are outrageous. Will we revisit the Delta Quadrant in a few generations and discover a catfish-salamander civilizations?

[@DavidCDrake]

Justice for the salamander babies. ❤ And Tuvix, of course. ✊

[@kamalalsb7292]

With a lotta bad episodes you can see like - okay, this was what they wanted to put across, but the budget wasn't there or there were problems in the script or last minute notes by the studio resulting in the premise not working properly. With the WORST episodes, the running theme is "What were they even trying to do here?" Threshold really exemplifies that for me, like I can't determine what the intention or message or relevance of this episode was even MEANT to be. It's just a bunch of stuff that happened.

[@nickbell8353]

I appreciate your overview of Emmy-Award-Winning Episode Threshold!
No, seriously, the episode actually won an Emmy for all that body-horror makeup . Say what you will about the episode itself (trash), but Michael Westmore knows what he's doing.

[@OpinionsNoOneCaresAbout]

Every point in the Universe simultaneously? That's not Warp 10. That's the Infinite Improbability Drive. (RIP Douglas Adams)

[@AnotherAriaGrace]

They actually made a "Threshold Tom Paris". I got it for christmas one year, along with a Lwaxana Troi whose only articulation is in her arms and a "Dixon Hill Picard" whose accessories included a floor lamp. All the weirdest figures possible, and I never did get any of the female crewmembers.

[@rhob2422]

I thought this episode was officially removed from canon until it was referenced in Lower Decks.

[@KariIzumi1]

Don't worry, it's directly referenced in Prodigy too 😂😂😂😂

[@alanpennie8013]

​@@KariIzumi1
This episode is too memorably terrible to ever be forgotten.
My guess is if any fan is asked to list the 10 most memorable Voyager episodes Threshold will be on that list.

[@alissapyrich1891]

Imagine if the A plot of the episode were Paris's personal crisis after he does the impossible and doesn't feel any different? Imagine if the characters were well-drawn enough to allow that kind of storytelling. DS9 could have done it.

[@M.McCluskey]

Three things which are good in this (1) The make-up affects (2) Tuvok and Chakotay's exchange near the end and (3) Janeway and Paris' discussion at the end.
But other than that brings out me in hives from a science pov

[@vikrantpulipati1451]

Watching Strange New Worlds after Voyager brought it home just how little technobabble is in the former. Hiring an actual physicist as a consultant means the writers don't have to waste time coming up with nonsense. SNW Spock uses gravitational lensing to detect a romulan ship, which is real physics. Janeway would have just used an inverse whateveron beam or some bullshit.

[@GamesNTech]

They found a way to travel warp 10, found a cure for the problems doing so caused but did not fly home and end the series. Its kind of like adding multiverses to the MCU. Once you open that can of worms nothing matters anymore.

[@kevingriffith6011]

"Wait, wait, wait. You're saying we could retrofit Voyager to go to warp 10, travel all the way back home, then just have the Doctor flood the whole ship with radiation and all be back to normal and in our homes in time for dinner?"

[@thegreenmanofnorwich]

Plus, if you "only" go to warp 9.9999999999 and get home in 8 seconds flat, then you sidestep the whole warp 10 thing entirely.

[@jemeleartis7318]

Same problem when they figured out trans warp and never used it.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

Of course, Star Trek also has multiverses. My immediate, visceral reaction to Star Trek 2009 was that nothing mattered anymore, since, although Star Trek had previously featured parallel universes, we were never required to care about them as deeply as the Prime Timeline. If Prime and Kelvin are equally valid, what about the one where Kirk was killed on the Narada and Spock and McCoy were left to get on each other's nerves on the Enterprise? What about the one we saw in "Parallels" where the Borg won -- isn't that equally valid, making the crew's victory in "The Best of Both Worlds" meaningless? I've gotten over that reaction in the 15 years since, but I was deeply upset at the time.

[@bethelhanley5439]

Behind the idea of the giant salamanders is the same idea that lies behind the classic Outer Limits episode 'The Sixth Finger' (1963), itself based on an earlier short story. While in 'The Sixth Finger' the person subjected to accelerated evolution (played by the late and extremely talented David McCalum, oddly here playing a Welshman, though he was Scottish) reverses course, in the original story the character ends up as a jellyfish.
We have here a case of the reality that many science fiction writers do not actually understand science (I have a science degree). As with 'Dear Doctor' in Enterprise, the result here is that we have a presentation supposedly on evolution that is complete and utter nonsense. Compare and contrast the classic Doctor Who serial 'Full Circle,' written by a schoolboy(!) in which evolution as the adaptation of organisms to their environment is a major plot point. If you're going to use evolution as a plot point, it is probably a good idea to actually understand what the Neo-Darwinian synthesis actually is.

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

And the schoolboy who wrote "Full Circle" went on to become a high-ranking police officer -- a man of many talents!

[@AngerAndScience]

I always like to refer to this episode as "Voyager's Emmy award-winning episode 'Threshold.'"

[@littlsuprstr]

You're really good at this. You make a recap of a bad Voyager episode entertaining.

[@lesm6389]

As someone raised in WV... Damn straight about Chuck Yeager.

[@lesyankee6129]

"You say Chuck Yeager's name, and you say it with RESPECT!!!"

[@MichaelWells770]

My theory was that some kind of super powerful being, such as Q, created all the weird events in this episode, and as such, they never actually happened. And just forgot to taunt the crew at the end.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

My theory was that this was all a holonovel written by Neelix.

[@lesyankee6129]

This episode would have been better if Tom Paris just stayed a salamander. Not by his own choice, mind you, but because the whole crew votes to keep him that way.

[@mydogcanmath]

the cure is so easy, warp 10 could become mundane. "Just got back from my trip around the universe. Just need my anti-catfish booster"

[@ianharac5153]

This is… a really good point.

[@christophergaus3996]

I did not remember Threshhold being so early in the series, somehow I remember it later

[@MarcSGA]

Also the warp 10 shuttle works - why didn’t they just go to earth & then warp irradiate the whole crew back to themselves?

[@alanbear6505]

I believe the canon answer to that is "Hush you!"

[@alissapyrich1891]

This is another example of Voyager lacking a proper sense of scale. There's no reason they had to be working on this for "a few weeks." Why not for months? Why not for a year? They were going to be on the road home for decades.

[@Justsomeguyyuyu]

“Ever since we discovered the megalithium on that asteroid, Harry, Tom and I have picked up where researchers at the Shives Institute left off on their warp 10 project.”

[@MrAirpumpkin]

Reminds me of the episode of stargate atlantis where they find people waving flags with rodney's face on them and it leads into a big flashback about how rodney and shepard have been playing an old atlantian "RTS video game" in thier off time *for over a year* not realizing its actually a science experiment and the units are real people elsewhere in the galaxy. Thats how you inject some scale into a setup that should have taken a while.

[@clairenollet2389]

So, we're going to evolve to lose the use of our hands? No more walking upright, and being able to see what's going on around us, and being able to carry tools? Having short little arms so we can't play musical instruments? How will the salamanders get laid if they can't strum a guitar at their love interest?

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

Paris is irresistible even as a salamander.

[@DLiev]

I was particularly interested in watching the Voyager part of this series when Steve said he had picked Threshold, as I think this is not nearly the worst episode in Voyager. By no means is it good, but there are a couple mildly interesting bits- the body horror, which Star Trek doesn't do much, the entertaining overacting of Robert Duncan McNeil, the reactions of characters as they think they're going to lose Tom which highlights the change in relationships the characters have had from the first episode. In no way redeeming this mess, but some fun bits.
In contrast, I'd do a toss up between Fury and Spirit Folk for worst episode. As well as being terribly written and nonsensical, they also consistently betray the established characters of basically the whole cast, have hooks that are utterly disinteresting, and they both have plots that are basically from better Star Trek episodes ("Where No One Had Gone Before" TOS for Fury, "Elementary, Dear Data" for Spirit Folk.
I don't disagree with any of Steve's points, but I think he missed a trick talking about either of these somewhat more obscure Voyager episodes and an opportunity to discuss betraying character development that has been built up over a series and betraying viewer investment.

[@alanpennie8013]

The truth is that Threshold is bad but entertaining.
The worst of Voyager is bad but boring.

[@matthewphoenix6372]

I remember a younger me thinking that this episode was going to be a semi-rehash of the TNG episode: Transfigurations. Like, occupying every point in space simulataniously is just another way of saying 'Onmipresent' - kinda' getting into higher being territory there. Was Tom turning into some kind of artificially created proto Q? That's awes-
No, Catfish.

[@ThePlayTyperGuy]

Steve touches on something that explains my larger issues with the episode -- it’s not a story. It’s just a lot of “and then this happens.” As Steve mentioned, if the episode was about Tom’s obsession with reaching Warp 10 and the reveal that it was his way of redeeming himself, making his life matter, especially to his father, and that failure had made him realize that this wasn’t the way to achieve this, then you would’ve told a very different story! I’d argue that “Genesis” is more enjoyable because it’s a sort of twisted haunted house episode that leans into the creepiness. Threshold jus fails.

[@ReetinEntertainment]

I had a roommate who was Mexican. His mom would make us food every once in a while. Usually she would say "It isn't very spicy" which meant I would be okay eating it. One time she said "Oh this is pretty spicy" My roommate told me this and I told him "We're going to die".

[@Stettafire]

I adore your roommates Mom and Ive never met her 😂

[@bulbus7062]

All you need to know about Tumblr is that Threshold Day is a proud, celebrated tradition

[@alanbear6505]

Whereas the people on Tinder avoid it because they get catfished enough as it is.

[@skug9bob]

I remember a really old pulp era SF short story, in which a scientist uses the magic of radiation to evolve into ever more big-brained forms, with the penultimate form being a giant telepathic brain - and then turns into single-cell goop, because evolution is circular.
That made more sense than "Threshold."

[@MattMcIrvin]

Edmond Hamilton, "The Man Who Evolved". Hamilton was also known for his work writing Superman comics.

[@kenhallermd8897]

Thank you, Steve, for a video that is MUCH more entertaining than the episode it critiques.
Three things:
1) This is one of the worst ever examples of "The Voyager Reset." "We broke the Warp 10 barrier! Sure, there were problems, but let's address those so we can all get home!" Crickets. The project is never mentioned again.
2) While, yes, I know that's not how human evolution works, a MUCH more captivating example of this trope is from "The Outer Limits" (original series) episode "The Sixth Finger" wherein Edward Mulhare plays a scientist who enlists a simple coal miner played by David McCallum to be a research subject who - as his brain grows, his ears get pointy, and he grows a sixth finger which will stop your heart if he points it at you - evolves into the smartest - and cruelest - person on earth before becoming benevolent and compassionate and ultimately dying of the stress. I still vividly remember watching it as an 8 year old sixty years ago and having the crap scared out of me. Def worth a watch.
3) What happened to hate salamander babies?!?!?

[@mooniejohnson]

Vis-a-vis Janeway and coffee... when I was a barista and at uni (thankfully within walking distance) I created what I called the "Keith Richards." It was 3 shots of espresso, dark coffee, and cocoa powder. I pray it didn't cause any heart attacks, but it got myself and many other students through exams... I think. The memories are fuzzy but the grades were good.

[@mooniejohnson]

(Also everyone can copy it... just do NOT hold me accountable for coronary side-effects, okay?)

[@BCWasbrough]

Episodes like this make me wish screenwriters took their science education more seriously. Nothing can ruin the plot of a TV show or movie like bafflingly bad science. If your plot makes anyone with a high school education go, "That's not how that works." your story is going to fail, and get mocked.
I mean, there's stuff like artificial gravity, or energy shields that get hand-waved away as it's part of the setting. It's fine when it's part of the world building, and not an essential part of the plot. But when bad/wrong science is the focus of the story, or critical elements in it, things break down quickly.
Trek and Dr Who are often the worst at this, but it's sadly common.
Writers! If you get a gig writing for ANY sci show, crack open a textbook!

[@Oh_Its_That_Weirdo]

I was today years old when I learned that tiktaaliks were actual prehistoric animals rather than just a weird monster name in Runes of Magic. So, thanks, Steve. #TheMoreYouKnow

[@FoxerBoxerNaaniwa]

Honestly this episode ranks as one of my top five voyager episodes. To me, it’s very much in that so bad it’s good, super campy and eminently entertaining sphere.

[@spartan117ak]

Like, I guess if his "rapid evolution" was a weird time paradox, evolving to reproduce on that planet they encounter in the future.
or his cells experienced every single environment at once, that's gotta shake things up in weird ways.
It would take so little to "fix", well... I'd make it weirder ideally

[@Kscriv]

The biggest issue for me is the massive, "renders the main plot point of the entire series meaningless" plothole. You can cut your 70 year trip down to 0 with the only side effect being a weird mutation that you have a cure for on standby. Nobody even thinks to bring it up on this ship?

[@SkySharkX2]

I’m so glad you covered this episode, now I can show my dad how screwed up the episode is without actually making him watch it XD

[@michaelramon2411]

This episode is 85-90% of a Lovecraft story, and then they get a magic cure and salamanders.

[@103cubobo]

The set up and execution of "The Sluice is Loose" really made my day

[@BrianS1981]

To paraphrase a Scottish ad for wine gums, Let the Sluice loose aboot this hoose.

[@firefly4f4]

*Jumps to the end to see what the "Enterprise" episode will be*
BOOO!!!!
That's not to say that ANIS is a good episode - it definitely isn't -- but for me it's just boring with Archer acting like a petulant teenager, not helped by Phlox suggesting he's attracted to T'Pol.
I still maintain that "Dear Doctor" is FAR worse, as it offends me both on a moral level and on the grounds that this is supposedly setup for the Prime Directive. Just gross.
I'm with you about "Threshold" -- there's just so much wrong with it that it's fascinating to break down and wonder how it happened.

[@firefly4f4]

This episode has the wonderful line, "multispectral subspace engine design"
Does anyone else hear that and picture some poor ensign shoveling My Little Ponies into the warp core?

[@anthonybernacchi2732]

Also, it can't be true that everyone hates ANIS -- it was nominated for a Hugo.

[@shahzebhasan9995]

I guess Steve already having done a video on "Dear Doctor" (Search "Did Captain Archer Actually Commit Genocide") might have encouraged him to select another episode...

[@BrianS1981]

@@anthonybernacchi2732 Berman and Braga were big fans of nominating their own creations.

[@-epistemus]

ANIS is a good episode, but Dear Doctor is an amazing episodes story wise. (Not gonna mention the evolution argument because that is iffy at best)

[@testname3829]

The funniest thing about this episode was that I remembered the tongue falling off and the baby salamanders, but I had forgotten they acknowledge the infinite velocity and the lizardman phase of the evolution.

[@anyatrioli3734]

Haha! With Torres and Paris, it is always test pilot shenanigans or astronaut shenanigans. Their moment where he gives her the last of his oxygen always makes me ugly cry.

[@francoislacombe9071]

Ever noticed how Star Trek's warp ten and Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's Infinite Improbability Drive look a lot like each other? 🤔

[@martinbcooper]

"Nothing that happens has any lasting consequences, and Robert Duncan McNeil does what he can." - Isn't that the issue with every Voyager episode? Voyager - Code name: Cul-de-sac.

[@burstofsanity]

This reminds me of a DS9 episode where some "star restarter" guy shows up and say that basically they have the technology to just "un-age a star" by converting all the carbon back into hydrogen and it's really quite simple. I was physically pained by the technobabble there too.

[@thegreenmanofnorwich]

Was that Gudeon Seyetik? I think the episode is called Second Sight.

[@Allerka]

That one, "In the Cards" gets a pass from me, because even Jake and Nog are like "This guy is nuts, but we'll humor him because we want his baseball card." The only one who gets taken in by him is Weyoun, which somehow, makes perfect sense.

[@alanpennie8013]

​@@Allerka
Weyoun always gave the impression of being pretty stupid.

[@jasonkeith2832]

I thought Voyager was the only series that had Warp 10 as a barrier? I seem to remember a TNG episode late in the series where they were talking about using a ship that had like Warp 13 capabilities, but can't remember which one it was.

[@bkbreyme]

"All good things..." had ships regularly travelling at Warp 13. I guess the laws of warp physics changed again... just like between TOS and TNG

[@alanpennie8013]

​@@bkbreyme
Threshold is such a famous episode that Warp 10 is now established as an unbreakable barrier.

[@zaphy77]

@@bkbreyme The future depicted in All Good Things was a Q-construct, so it doesn't really count per se.

[@rifter0x0000]

Hard drive space was indeed a limitation Voyager imposed in order to create scarcity. Just like they suddenly needed fuel when every other ship ever has had infinite fuel. (Explained as the Bussard collectors getting more matter as the ship travels, which is apparently a real idea for space travel). They also had to defrag said hard drive at one point because its fragmentation was affecting The Doctor, who had caused it by constantly deleting and changing programs. Someone on the writers' staff was using Windows 98 for sure.
I seem to recall they were able to expand their space at some point. And several times they received data from alien allies - a thing repeated in Enterprise.

[@zombiedoe3404]

this actually reminded me of another reason i dont like voyager; every time they invent some new tech that lets them travel faster than before (and it inevitably goes wrong) they completely scrap the project. they dont even bother trying to improve on it or anything, they just abandon it at the first sign of failure.
how the hell did janeway make it to captain when she gives up so easily

[@SingularityOrbit]

Ned Carrington would have appreciated the Twilight Zone reference. Good on you, Steve.
You often say that continuity isn't important. Consider this, though: the Traveler's appearances in TNG could have been used to fix a lot of this episode's troubles. They could have been messing around with computation data left over from the Traveler's changes to the _Enterprise-D's_ engines. They could have used existing FX of the "bubble space" as a sign that the shuttle had reached Warp 10, giving it some visual oomph. Paris could have encountered something in that "bubble space" that caused the physical changes. Instead of developing a useful Warp 10 travel method with the downside of mutation that requires medical care to correct -- meaning, the Federation should have infinite travel ability in the 24th century -- they'd instead have a new propulsion method they can't safely use because *next time they might run into something entirely different,* and the story could be a reference for another "try to reach Warp 10" story somewhere down the line. _Star Trek: Discovery_ could have been about a 23rd century attempt to reach infinite speed using some weird material from an ancient civilization that cracked it and disappeared -- no pandimensional mold required -- and they could have used the "bubble space" imagery as a subtle connecting reference across three series. It's just one idea, but continuity creates possibilities even as it closes others off.

[@selalewow]

It would have made slightly more sense if instead of evolving, Paris had all his dormant genes kick in. That would explain the whole amphibian thing since we do go through that stage during fetal development. From a science perspective it would have been more acceptable.
The babies though, yah, that was garbage.

[@hibiscusman]

Thank you. Chuck Yeager was a childhood hero of mine. Appreciate the representation.

[@ShinGallon]

I remember in the novel "Vendetta" when hitting Warp 10 was a major plot element in defeating the rogue planet destroyer and it actually felt like a big deal.
Then I think about how in this episodes it's an almost non-event used to set up a badly done The Fly ripoff.
My point is they should let Peter David write Trek TV episodes not just the best novels they ever put out in the franchise.

[@pahawker]

I also said that the time travelling aliens from "Captains Holiday" eventually just zooped back off to the Tapestry homeworld in their future where they could argue about what happened long ago when Mom and Dad were kidnapped by pointy-eared logic guy, and where they are now.

[@ajhoward8888]

This episode was truly the very best of the worst of Voyager. Which by my math puts it pretty near zero Kelvin for all of Trekdom. Well done for grokking that and being able to build a nuanced, witty and thoughtfelt review on this effusively bungling turd-blossum of an episode. Chefs kiss Sir. Truly.

[@Breadnaught-td4ej]

"Okay, we've developed Warp 10, the Doctor has a cure for the mutation side effects. Let's go home!"
"Wait, what do you mean we're not going to use it to go home? It works!"
"Yes, the salamander mutation thing is a side effect. But a side effect the Doctor fixed. Hell, apparently an extra three days allowed him to refine it to the point of being far more effective than the original version."
".... what do you mean the writers didn't realize they introduced a means to end the series, so we're all just pretending not to notice?"

[@THE_Dodge_Morningstar]

😁The Right Stuff... As a kid, I had every person that went to space memorized. Astronaut is pretty much the highest level of awesome a person can achieve. Gordon Cooper!? Lol No athlete or entertainer could top that guy. 😅If I could meet Gordo or Shepard, I would geek out over a firm handshake. Even if Aldrin tried convincing me that Trump is great... I would overlook it.

[@lf2208]

I was looking for your "Treshold" review like two days ago, only to find out that it didn't exist. It's good to see you corrected this!

[@krbacon]

Actually re-watched this one with a group of friends and have to say that is the way to go with this episode. Far better sharing the story's cringe with others while taking it all in. Will say a lot of the core story had a lot of promise which makes it more of a shame some of the production choices made during the script and production process.

[@ninjabluefyre3815]

The first 4/5 of this episode are so effectively creepy. Then the Doctor explains what's actually happening and the whole thing crashes into a brick wall at Warp 10.

[@sirB0nes]

As far as the scientific lore of the franchise goes, I'm pretty sure it was this episode that established the idea of Warp 10 as _the_ speed barrier. I don't remember it being mentioned ever in any series up to this point. In the future timeline of "All Good Things..." Admiral Riker even gives the order, "Get us out of here! Warp 13!"

[@ranuelthebard3751]

I watched this episode when it first aired and I try very hard to forget it exists because whenever I'm reminded I have a lot of anxiety over the poor lizard babies being abandoned like that without a second thought.

[@lokenecummings47]

The Enterprise of the original series reached a Warp of 14.1 in By Any Other Name. That supposedly would have reached Andromeda in only 300 years. But in TNG era, Warp 10 is impossible? This butt of Star Trek trivia inconsistency used to hurt my head.

[@zaphy77]

The warp scale was reconfigured somewhere between TOS and TNG eras. eg. warp 8 in TOS in closer to, say, warp 5 in TNG.

[@georgelionon9050]

@@zaphy77 A scale that goes to infinity while the number goes to 10 is just so moronic..

[@PaulTheSkeptic]

Going faster than light might be physically impossible but theoretically, there's no reason why not. It might not actually be doable but distant galaxies are moving away from us at velocities faster than light. Because they're not moving through space. Space itself is expanding. Theoretically, a spaceship could create a warp field where they expand the space behind them and contract it in front of them. Think of it like a bubble of space around the spaceship then you move the bubble. That way you're not actually moving through space. How do we do that? Well, that's the trick. It requires a kind of energy that might not exist and even if it does exist, getting it is not going to be easy. It's thought that maybe it could be found near the event horizon of black holes. I wouldn't volunteer for that job.

[@claireburr3718]

Thank you for saying Tiktaalik, seen a few reviews of this and everyone says lizard... i always saw it a flawed attempt to depict Tiktaalik and i appreciate you dropping the name.

[@Mazvec]

I remember seeing this when it came out and being flabbergasted at the fact that they had broken the war pen barrier, and never mentioned it again. This was most important breakthrough in science at that point in continuity, and they never came back to it.

[@stoneprevious4294]

I watched this episode with a friend recently and they brought up a point I hadn't really considered: "If the doctor has the knowlege to revert Tom and Janeway back to normal... what exactly is preventing them from just warp 10ing it home?"
My mind defaulted to "warp-10 mail probe" but mutation cleanup does seem to be an equally valid solution.
Having said that... episode bad me no likey 😣

[@impossiblefunky]

I've only seen a handful of episodes -- dropped out a few episodes into the first season -- but I managed to catch this one when I decided to give the show a second chance. Hoo boy.

I could have gone with the idea of accelerated evolution - like you said, it's "Star Trek"..."Star Trek" things happen! - where it gets me is the idea that humanity apparently evolves into salamanders. Not only does that seem like DE-evolution, since as depicted Tom and Janeway didn't seem to be any smarter or sentient than salamanders on Earth, but we humans are MAMMALS. The biggest sci fi stretch in the world can't make a mammal evolving into an amphibian work. I'd better stop here or my tongue might fall out. 🤣

[@Pfalzgarage]

With all its other flaws and plot holes, what winds me up every time is the fact that when Tom kidnaps Janeway and steals the shuttle, he could instantaniously travel to any point in the universe, yet they go and found their little catfish lizard family on a planet a mere three conventional space travel days away. They're lucky Chakotay and Tuvok didn't just say "Well, they could be literally anywhere, I guess we'll have to write'em off and get going".

[@oerthling]

Couldn't agree more, Threshold was the episode that made me give up on Voyager back in the day.
I remember already being annoyed with everybody getting "spiritual" episodes and then Threshold happened and it was so dumb in every possible way. Top contender for Worst Star Trek Episode Ever.
That's when I stopped watching Voyager for years and only got back in when I belatedly found out that it finally became a good Star Trek show in season 3.
Threshold will forever be skipped. it's the kind of bad that's not even fun bad. Probably needs drugs or a drinking game to be made enjoyable.
Trash episode.