482. TwistedFORMULA: Parallax + Time Squared + (surprisingly) The Nth Degree
WHY WE LIKE IT: The zen moment at the end.
WHY WE DON'T: Everything else.
REVIEW: The things you remember... I remember that around the time this first aired, producer Brannon Braga went on record saying that he didn't see Star Trek as science-fiction, but as science fantasy. Well, that certainly explains things, but it's not something I could get behind. Whether Twisted really came out parallel to that (as my memory has decided to record it) or not, it's still a very good example of his vision. And why it's a bad thing.
Twisted flirts with character development and the human drama that Star Trek was always meant to be (above and beyond its science-fiction underpinnings), but is much too engrossed in its science fantasy premise to show us much else. Janeway has a short pep talk with Harry, Neelix's jealousy intensified on the occasion of Kes' birthday, Chakotay and Tuvok resolve differences they apparently had pertaining to command style, Tuvok shows an almost emotional loyalty to Janeway... but it's all very brief indeed. The last scene as everyone waits in contemplation for the inevitable is the only one with any real resonance and tension. Appreciated, but coming at the end of too long a wait.
Indeed, most of the episode consists of people running around corridors and never getting anywhere (much like the plot). It's a technobabble problem that isn't even coherent within the way it is presented. The map of the twisted ship isn't anything like the rewritten deckplan they actually contend with. The phenomenon is shown as a ring, but the ship can't use the third dimension to fly out of the hole. The malfunctions caused by the distortions are exactly those needed to allow the plot to unfold (including rerouting the EMH back to the holodeck). No one can get back to bridge, but all they do is walk around corridors and the bridge isn't AT the end of a corridor. Opening doors might also be helpful.
The inevitable technobabble solution doesn't work, leaving the more mechanical (thruster out) resolution unworkable, but again, it's all blablabla (as bad as Janeway's aphasia), so how are we supposed to evaluate any solution's merits? In the end, the solution is to ride it out and do nothing. How anti-climactic. Yes, I admit to liking that scene, but I wish we'd gotten to it sooner and milked it properly. This whole episode could have been a character-driven bottle show. Oh yeah, there's a final reveal that'll make you go WHAAAA?? The ring was a sentient force trying to communicate and it dropped 20 gigaquads of information in the computers and... Well, that's it. Nothing more is ever said. The hell?!? If you're going to spring a last minute "Trekkish" reveal, you better be prepared to give us a little more information than that. Cut your upteenth corridor scene or that lame "B'Elanna sees a crewman in his underwear and blushed" moment instead.
LESSON: "Science fantasy" is an excuse to do anything.
REWATCHABILITY - Low: A premise that might as well be an excuse to try out a new special effect, and total mishandling of the episode's pacing and revelations. Voyager is starting to get into trouble.
Comments
Still, it can only get better from here (though apparently, not for about a dozen more episodes, if I recall correctly).
Reminders me of some college night arguments about whether a band was serious in what they were doing musically and thus just a crap band.
Or were they actually subtly parodying bad music and thus hip and ironic.
Much, like Voyager, it only works when drunk.
Strangely enough I think I blocked my memory of that episode until you brought it up.