The Fight (Star Trek: Voyager)

"The Fight" is the 113th episode of the science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager, the 19th episode of the fifth season.

"The Fight"
Star Trek: Voyager episode
Episode no.Season 5
Episode 19
Directed byWinrich Kolbe
Story byMichael Taylor
Teleplay byJoe Menosky
Featured musicJay Chattaway
Production code208
Original air dateMarch 24, 1999 (1999-03-24)
Guest appearance(s)

"The Fight" is noted for its use of one Voyager's common themes, which is the crewmembers' hobbies; in this case First Officer Chakotay's interest in boxing.[1] Guest stars include Ray Walston reprising the character Boothby and Ned Romero as Chakotay's Grandfather. However, the episode is heavily dream sequence based so the characters are mostly visions within Chakotay's mind or possibly symbolic.[2]

Plot

Chakotay is in sickbay, struggling to communicate with aliens through a vision quest. Through flashbacks, we learn of the events leading up to this scene. Chakotay is in a holodeck boxing simulation where he is knocked out. Shortly after, Voyager is pulled into chaotic space, an area where the laws of physics are in a constant state of flux. Seven of Nine warns that this type of space can easily destroy the ship due to changes in the gravitational coefficient. Chakotay begins to hallucinate, seeing his boxing gloves at various locations on the ship as well as hearing voices. He is taken to sickbay after attempting to fight Tuvok on the bridge.

The Doctor detects a genetic marker for a cognitive disorder in Chakotay, surmising that this is responsible for his hallucinations. Voyager finds another ship in the chaotic space, along with information that some of that crew was also hallucinating, suggesting that Chakotay's hallucinations may be induced by chaotic space.

Chakotay decides to go on a vision quest, hoping to learn more about his hallucinations. There he sees his grandfather, who had the cognitive disorder that has been reactivated in Chakotay. He becomes increasingly confused when the vision quest becomes a boxing match that he can't leave.

He is awakened by The Doctor, where he realizes that aliens were attempting to communicate with him through his vision quest. He struggles to communicate this clearly to the captain and The Doctor, as he continues to slip in and out of reality, returning to the boxing match again and again, as his mind had latched onto the boxing holo-program he had recently participated in. Chakotay fears he is endangering his sanity and safety, but decides going back into the vision quest is the only way to make first contact. He finally accepts a confrontation with his "boxing opponent." The alien sends information on how to escape, using the voices and words of the crew. Chakotay, back on his feet, manually adjusts the ship, being unable to actually explain it to Kim or the others.

After the ship is safe, Chakotay is given some time off, which he uses to further continue his boxing holo-program.

Reactions

The episode is noted for being "atmospheric" and its development of the Chakotay character.[1][2] However, a Star Trek binge-watch guide by W.I.R.E.D. put "The Fight" on its recommended skips,[3] and in 2011 it was rated among the worst episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.[4][5] In 2017, it was ranked among the top 15 worst of all Star Trek television episodes by Screen Rant,[6] and in 2018, it was placed as the 18th worst Star Trek episode by Comic Book Resources.[7] Chakotay was ranked as the 34th best character in 2018,[8] but was ranked the 12th worst Star Trek character in 2016.[9]

Jammer's Reviews rated it 1.5 stars out of four stars.[2] On the IMDb listing of ratings of Star Trek: Voyager, "The Fight" was ranked last of all episodes of the series with a rating of 5.2 in 2019.[10]

In July 2019, Screen Rant ranked "The Fight" as one of the top five worst of the series, claiming that "the character of Chakotay never really had a place to be in the show ....".[11]

Notes
  • Chakotay's hallucinations feature Ray Walston as Boothby, the Starfleet Academy head groundskeeper, as Chakotay's boxing trainer. (Boothby was previously introduced in the Star Trek franchise on Star Trek: The Next Generation (see "The First Duty").)
  • Carlos Palomino is also featured in this episode.
gollark: Yes.
gollark: I also like land value tax/Georgism and UBI.
gollark: Yes, I agree.
gollark: But I do like the idea of having governments compete somehow.
gollark: I S G O O D E R T H A N T O T A L I T A R I A N S T A T I S M

References
  1. "Star Trek: 25 Things Wrong With Voyager Fans Choose To Ignore". ScreenRant. 13 August 2018.
  2. "[VOY] Jammer's Review: "The Fight"". www.jammersreviews.com.
  3. McMillan, Graeme (2015-05-27). "WIRED Binge-Watching Guide: Star Trek: Voyager". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2019-07-23.
  4. McMillan, Graeme (27 May 2015). "WIRED Binge-Watching Guide: Star Trek: Voyager". Wired.com.
  6. "15 Worst Star Trek Episodes Of All Time". ScreenRant. 22 May 2017.
  7. "Star Trek: 20 Episodes So Bad They Must Be Seen". CBR. 12 December 2018.
  8. "All 39 'Star Trek' Main Characters Ranked". 21 March 2018.
  9. "The 15 Worst Characters In Star Trek". ScreenRant. 7 July 2016.
  10. "'Star Trek: Voyager' Episodes Ranked". IMDb.
  11. "Star Trek: The 5 Best Episodes Of Voyager (& The 5 Worst)". ScreenRant. 2019-07-11. Retrieved 2019-07-15.


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