A real struggle to get through despite having the great Michael McKean. In fact, in many ways he's part of the episode's problem as he is so over-the-top. The whole thing has a horrendous visual style and it pushes the cringe factor to high levels. It feels extremely low-budget. Trek has been guilty of doing this before (TNG's 'Cost of Living' to name one), but apparently any kind of alien party needs to include jugglers, fire breathers and weirdos doing interpretive dance. It's like being in a damn circus and it's certainly nobody's idea of a good time.
And then, the episode manages to pull out a couple of really excellent moments that shows there was something good hiding underneath. Namely, the Doctor's first appearance when he saves Harry from surgery is excellent comic timing and performed wonderfully, and the final moments with holographic Janeway revealing what they've done is a really powerful scene. Both Kate Mulgrew and McKean do truly excellent work and have great dialogue as we fade out, and it's a shame that 95% of the episode is not worthy of that. Indeed, a story about the power of fear should be one of the most relatable, so what happened here is extra disappointing.
Baby Harry in a Stafleet uniform is also worthy of a giggle.
Review by LeftHandedGuitaristBlockedParent2017-11-21T22:22:49Z
A real struggle to get through despite having the great Michael McKean. In fact, in many ways he's part of the episode's problem as he is so over-the-top. The whole thing has a horrendous visual style and it pushes the cringe factor to high levels. It feels extremely low-budget. Trek has been guilty of doing this before (TNG's 'Cost of Living' to name one), but apparently any kind of alien party needs to include jugglers, fire breathers and weirdos doing interpretive dance. It's like being in a damn circus and it's certainly nobody's idea of a good time.
And then, the episode manages to pull out a couple of really excellent moments that shows there was something good hiding underneath. Namely, the Doctor's first appearance when he saves Harry from surgery is excellent comic timing and performed wonderfully, and the final moments with holographic Janeway revealing what they've done is a really powerful scene. Both Kate Mulgrew and McKean do truly excellent work and have great dialogue as we fade out, and it's a shame that 95% of the episode is not worthy of that. Indeed, a story about the power of fear should be one of the most relatable, so what happened here is extra disappointing.
Baby Harry in a Stafleet uniform is also worthy of a giggle.