Absolutely creepy and one of a kind. Done well overall.
25 Reviews
Classic Episode!
winstonsmith_848 February 2021
It's funny, back when this first came out, I disregarded it. I couldn't stand the clown costumes or the behaviour and acting. I remember thinking it was a cheap looking episode made in a quickly designed set in a studio. Well, maybe some of that is still true, but hey, once you overlook that and try the episode out it's actually quite good! Classic sci fi for sure... the Matrix meets a horror show. I felt like our characters took a journey to Hell... a virtual Hell. That plus there was a good use of a "fear" theme throughout the story and how it's sort of symbolic of what we all go through, and how we deal with fear, and overcome it... anyways, this turned out to be a great episode! Funny it took me twenty years to realize it.
That poor little baby
snoozejonc30 October 2022
Voyager discovers a planet with virtually all life wiped out except for 3 survivors who have been held in stasis for 19 years.
This is a strong episode that is quite cinematic and features some very good performances.
The story has an excellent premise with interesting themes about the nature of fear. Everything that happens to the characters works within the sci-fi aspect and is quite intriguing. However, certain specifics that involve threats to the lives of the main characters can never fully work in episodic television.
Visually it is one of the best Star Trek episodes. It feels like something out of the Original Series with its basic concepts and vibrant 60s colours. There are minimal space/alien related effects-driven spectacle and lots of creepy carnivalesque imagery. The cinematography is very effective at maximising the weirdness by framing certain shots with all the background characters looking quite threatening behind the Fear Clown. David McKean looks hideous as this character and his performance is excellent.
How scary is it? I guess that is in eye of the beholder. If you suffer from coulrophobia you will probably find it pretty bad, but for me the horror aspect needs to be stronger given the subject matter. There are moments when characters are shown symbolically to be killed via guillotine, but I think it would have been very effective to portray them experience their worst fears and die as a result. Understandably though, it could not be made this way given it's constraint by censorship. Easily the most disturbing moment involves Harry as an old man and also as a baby. The sight of all those actors in evil costumes passing around a real baby (who looks terrified) is very unsettling and I would never have consented to that as a parent.
For me the performances are a mixed bag. MacKean and Robert Picardo have the best exchanges of dialogue by far and Katie Mulgrew is great as always. One of the guest stars slightly overacts and Garrett Wang's limited range shows a bit.
This is a strong episode that is quite cinematic and features some very good performances.
The story has an excellent premise with interesting themes about the nature of fear. Everything that happens to the characters works within the sci-fi aspect and is quite intriguing. However, certain specifics that involve threats to the lives of the main characters can never fully work in episodic television.
Visually it is one of the best Star Trek episodes. It feels like something out of the Original Series with its basic concepts and vibrant 60s colours. There are minimal space/alien related effects-driven spectacle and lots of creepy carnivalesque imagery. The cinematography is very effective at maximising the weirdness by framing certain shots with all the background characters looking quite threatening behind the Fear Clown. David McKean looks hideous as this character and his performance is excellent.
How scary is it? I guess that is in eye of the beholder. If you suffer from coulrophobia you will probably find it pretty bad, but for me the horror aspect needs to be stronger given the subject matter. There are moments when characters are shown symbolically to be killed via guillotine, but I think it would have been very effective to portray them experience their worst fears and die as a result. Understandably though, it could not be made this way given it's constraint by censorship. Easily the most disturbing moment involves Harry as an old man and also as a baby. The sight of all those actors in evil costumes passing around a real baby (who looks terrified) is very unsettling and I would never have consented to that as a parent.
For me the performances are a mixed bag. MacKean and Robert Picardo have the best exchanges of dialogue by far and Katie Mulgrew is great as always. One of the guest stars slightly overacts and Garrett Wang's limited range shows a bit.
All that was missing...
GreyHunter16 December 2019
Warning: Spoilers
....was a cameo by Patrick McGoohan. While many will likely recall the (later) The Matrix (or, if you're a fan of the Twilight Zone, a similar Matrixesque plot in the '80s edition of the series), the imagery and frantic Sixties-ness of the episode was pure "The Prisoner," though taken to an even more disturbing level.
While this was very much a Holodeck Episode sans the actual Holodeck, it's a fascinating exploration of both human psychology and the nature of machine learning, led by Michael McKean's perfect representation of Fear itself. (I didn't even realize it was the underrated McKean until I came to IMDb) I know many fans groan at holodeck-centric (again, sans the holdodeck) episodes, but one of the things these sorts of episodes allow ST to do is explore issues that might be less personal or accessible in a straight-up encounter with aliens in outer space. In this case, we are given an exploration not only on the nature of fear, but on the nature of identity and self-awareness. The Clown Fear, while clearly an ignoble creature, is also a very tragic one, whose identity is wrapped up in the very thing that requires him to be rejected. He's clearly sentient, and even more clearly possessed of a desire to live, but, at his core, he's also so limited by the very nature of his creation as an unpleasant anthropomorphized emotion that he can't imagine any other sort of existence or any means of behaving outside of his nature.
While the final speech Janeway gives Fear may seem a little trite, an overly neat resolution to the themes, I still found it apt. A metaphor given form is actually a pretty decent use for this sort of milieu, and she makes very good points regarding both the utility and the dangers of fear, and what happens when we let fear control us. My main problem was that, once the nature of the clown's existence became apparent, or even when they realized what the two dead ones died from (that latter was the point I started muttering at the screen), Tuvok was a far more logical choice than B'lenna, and a more logical choice than Harry by orders of extreme magnitude, to go inside the simulation. We just got a speech from Tuvok one episode ago about his lack of fear. How did it not occur to any of the Voyager officers? At least the Doctor went in, which was predictable but sensible. I did have a minor question about the parameters of the doctor's program. As a hologram, wouldn't he be theoretically virtually unlimited in the expression of physical abilities? He should have been able to do more to fight off the other projections and help the man being forced to the guillotine. Hell, he should have been able to climb on top of it and block the blade with his indestructible body.
While this was very much a Holodeck Episode sans the actual Holodeck, it's a fascinating exploration of both human psychology and the nature of machine learning, led by Michael McKean's perfect representation of Fear itself. (I didn't even realize it was the underrated McKean until I came to IMDb) I know many fans groan at holodeck-centric (again, sans the holdodeck) episodes, but one of the things these sorts of episodes allow ST to do is explore issues that might be less personal or accessible in a straight-up encounter with aliens in outer space. In this case, we are given an exploration not only on the nature of fear, but on the nature of identity and self-awareness. The Clown Fear, while clearly an ignoble creature, is also a very tragic one, whose identity is wrapped up in the very thing that requires him to be rejected. He's clearly sentient, and even more clearly possessed of a desire to live, but, at his core, he's also so limited by the very nature of his creation as an unpleasant anthropomorphized emotion that he can't imagine any other sort of existence or any means of behaving outside of his nature.
While the final speech Janeway gives Fear may seem a little trite, an overly neat resolution to the themes, I still found it apt. A metaphor given form is actually a pretty decent use for this sort of milieu, and she makes very good points regarding both the utility and the dangers of fear, and what happens when we let fear control us. My main problem was that, once the nature of the clown's existence became apparent, or even when they realized what the two dead ones died from (that latter was the point I started muttering at the screen), Tuvok was a far more logical choice than B'lenna, and a more logical choice than Harry by orders of extreme magnitude, to go inside the simulation. We just got a speech from Tuvok one episode ago about his lack of fear. How did it not occur to any of the Voyager officers? At least the Doctor went in, which was predictable but sensible. I did have a minor question about the parameters of the doctor's program. As a hologram, wouldn't he be theoretically virtually unlimited in the expression of physical abilities? He should have been able to do more to fight off the other projections and help the man being forced to the guillotine. Hell, he should have been able to climb on top of it and block the blade with his indestructible body.
Trapped with Fear
Tweekums28 July 2010
Warning: Spoilers
When Voyager approaches a planet that had been noted as a local trading centre they are surprised to find no sign of life, it turns out a solar flare nineteen years before had caused the planet to go into an ice age. As they get closer they trigger an automated message saying that some of the survivors are in stasis and should wake after fifteen years. As this time has past they beam the stasis pods back to Voyager and learn that the pods are linked in a way that puts the people in them into a shared artificial environment. There is no obvious reason for them to still be in there so Harry and B'Elanna enter the system using the pods of two people that died. Once inside they find themselves in a weird world that looks like some nightmarish circus ruled over by a strange clown who explains that this world was created from the minds of the people connected to it and those who tried to leave had been killed by frightening them so much that they have a hearty attack. The clown is a manifestation of the fear of those in the system, when told that Janeway will shut down the system even if it risks the people inside rather than leave them trapped he releases B'Elanna. As the Doctor isn't alive he is sent in to negotiate and one of the prisoners makes a suggestion that could disable the system, unfortunately the clown realises what is happening and kills him as a punishment. Eventually the Doctor makes an offer the clown can't refuse; free the hostages and take Captain Janeway in their place, of course she has a cunning plan.
I wasn't that keen on this episode, the basic premise was good but the weird artificial world was just embarrassingly cheesy; it felt like something you'd see in late '70s sci-fi but not something made as recently as Voyager. The ending had a moral-of-the-week feel to it which wasn't the best way to end it, that is not to say the means of defeating the Clown was bad, just the final speech to him about defeating fear. While I wasn't keen on the episode I did think Michael McKean put in a good performance as the clown.
I wasn't that keen on this episode, the basic premise was good but the weird artificial world was just embarrassingly cheesy; it felt like something you'd see in late '70s sci-fi but not something made as recently as Voyager. The ending had a moral-of-the-week feel to it which wasn't the best way to end it, that is not to say the means of defeating the Clown was bad, just the final speech to him about defeating fear. While I wasn't keen on the episode I did think Michael McKean put in a good performance as the clown.
A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984) meets The Matrix (1999)
pershgo26 December 2006
The Voyager crew inspects an apparently deserted planet only to receive an automated message from a cryogenic system which was created to hold the planet's last survivors. It is then found that even though the disaster that the survivors were trying to ride out has come to pass they are still in stasis. When the crew realizes this they beam the cryopods to the cargo bay and find that the people are connected together in some sort of program where their brains are reacting with one another. Inside the program the personification of fear torments the survivors with their deepest darkest fears to the point where some die from the stress. It has been one of my personal favorite episodes of Star Trek: Voyager" (1995) since it first aired and raises many questions about fear, and how we react to it.
Star Trek: Voyager - The Thaw
Scarecrow-886 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
Michael McKean guest stars as "fear", dressed as this deranged alien clown, seemingly a creation stemming from the minds of aliens known as Kohl who decided to enter suspended animation pods until their world makes its way through a solar flare ecological catastrophe. The Kohl five (out of 400,000 people, tragically) were kept in hibernation by a computer which was supposed to wake them four years previously to when the Voyager arrives. To determine why these Kohl inhabitants weren't awakened Janeway and an away team beam down to the planet where the pods and central computer are located. Still in hibernation, Janeway opts to have officers, Kim and Torres, go under (two of the five are dead, having suffered heart attacks strangely) to see why the remaining three Kohl inhabitants weren't released from their pods. McKean's "fear clown", leader of this spirited carnivale, dancing and playing, lost in a delirium of madness and joy, informs Kim and Torres they will partake or else suffer the consequences. Kim, in fact, is bum-rushed and taken to a guillotine to be beheaded! It is only when a member of the Kohl three interrupts is this near-disaster diverted. Janeway being in control of the "kill switch" is reason enough for the clown to hold off killing Voyager officers. The clown wants to have access to brains so he and his virtual reality cohorts could continue to exist. The clown has the minds of the five hostage and will not release them unless others are subverted to the central computer in their place.
McKean is the whole show here. He has this Star Trek mind fiction playground to go crazy, and his clown is quite an animated antagonist. He's obnoxious, unpredictable, juvenile, childish, sly, and "protective of the mental turf provided to him by the computer". It takes some serious creativity to outsmart this "computer dysfunction". The addition of Robert Picardo's artificial intelligent ship's Doctor trying to work as Janeway's negotiator and how McKean dismisses offers one after the other, calling bluffs and responding through threats is part of the episode's charm and story's suspense. How does Janeway and her officers trick the fear perpetrating the Kohl three and Kim (Torres is allowed to leave the pod when Kim warns the clown of the kill switch if she isn't allowed to talk with Janeway about how to rescue those "mentally captured") and get them out of the pods, no longer to be held captive by this computer manifestation? Part of the fun is seeing those in the stasis nightmare trying to figure the clown out but because the computer was designed to read from the thoughts of those in the pods during hibernation that makes strategy a bit more difficult. Only a delay in the computer from reading thoughts gives those in hibernation any chance at all to develop a plan. But McKean as the clown is the standout, just having a ball. As he fades, with Janeway's holographic image informing him of his defeat, the clown finishes by saying, "Drat." Kim under an assault through his fear while the clown enjoys it with great pleasure, aging him to elderly and infant states, with a near scalpel cut into him just averted is a highlight.
McKean is the whole show here. He has this Star Trek mind fiction playground to go crazy, and his clown is quite an animated antagonist. He's obnoxious, unpredictable, juvenile, childish, sly, and "protective of the mental turf provided to him by the computer". It takes some serious creativity to outsmart this "computer dysfunction". The addition of Robert Picardo's artificial intelligent ship's Doctor trying to work as Janeway's negotiator and how McKean dismisses offers one after the other, calling bluffs and responding through threats is part of the episode's charm and story's suspense. How does Janeway and her officers trick the fear perpetrating the Kohl three and Kim (Torres is allowed to leave the pod when Kim warns the clown of the kill switch if she isn't allowed to talk with Janeway about how to rescue those "mentally captured") and get them out of the pods, no longer to be held captive by this computer manifestation? Part of the fun is seeing those in the stasis nightmare trying to figure the clown out but because the computer was designed to read from the thoughts of those in the pods during hibernation that makes strategy a bit more difficult. Only a delay in the computer from reading thoughts gives those in hibernation any chance at all to develop a plan. But McKean as the clown is the standout, just having a ball. As he fades, with Janeway's holographic image informing him of his defeat, the clown finishes by saying, "Drat." Kim under an assault through his fear while the clown enjoys it with great pleasure, aging him to elderly and infant states, with a near scalpel cut into him just averted is a highlight.
Even fear is scared of Janeway.
thevacinstaller7 April 2020
Warning: Spoilers
The performance of the clown playing the emotion of fear is the foundation to this strongly build house of an episode. In true Janeway fashion --- she defeats fear itself.
The fascinating aspect to this episode is the idea of actually living with a physical manifestation of fear that you can touch and interact with and it is has the survival instinct of survival at any cost and that means controlling you.
The idea of being stuck in this carnival horror show for 20 years like the planet survivors is almost too painful to imagine.
There's a nice little meta-message about not summiting to fear and having the courage to confront and accept and master it.
Well executed in terms of acting, physical sets, make up, pacing, resolution.
The fascinating aspect to this episode is the idea of actually living with a physical manifestation of fear that you can touch and interact with and it is has the survival instinct of survival at any cost and that means controlling you.
The idea of being stuck in this carnival horror show for 20 years like the planet survivors is almost too painful to imagine.
There's a nice little meta-message about not summiting to fear and having the courage to confront and accept and master it.
Well executed in terms of acting, physical sets, make up, pacing, resolution.
Doesn't make logical sense
elleho-097217 April 2024
Warning: Spoilers
Fear wants to exist and needs one hostage to do so, but keeps killing them even after refusing to let all but one of them go. The hostages know that this isn't real and death is preferable to living in this cringy clown hell for eternity, yet are still scared when faced with the guillotine. In addition, I find it hard to believe that the doctor couldn't revive someone who has just died from a heart attack. Even when rising stress levels were detected, the hostages could have been injected with some kind of relaxant.
The choice of sending crew members into the machine is questionable enough given that they knew someone hooked up to the machine had been scared to death, but the decision about WHO to send was the worst. Why send their lead engineer who would be better placed outside actually physically altering the machine? When fear came up, why didn't they think to send in Tuvok?
In fact, the whole premise is questionable. On a planet with tens of thousands of people, they only put a handful in stasis chambers? They must be highly talented individuals if they expected that small number to completely rebuild their civilisation. Especially since only two survived. They were also a busy trading planet, yet in 19 years absolutely no one else investigated? No one was evacuated? No one happened to be away during the apocalypse who knew about the stasis chamber plan?
And finally, it's amazing that this alien race on the other side of the galaxy also thought up circus people, exactly the same as earthlings.
The choice of sending crew members into the machine is questionable enough given that they knew someone hooked up to the machine had been scared to death, but the decision about WHO to send was the worst. Why send their lead engineer who would be better placed outside actually physically altering the machine? When fear came up, why didn't they think to send in Tuvok?
In fact, the whole premise is questionable. On a planet with tens of thousands of people, they only put a handful in stasis chambers? They must be highly talented individuals if they expected that small number to completely rebuild their civilisation. Especially since only two survived. They were also a busy trading planet, yet in 19 years absolutely no one else investigated? No one was evacuated? No one happened to be away during the apocalypse who knew about the stasis chamber plan?
And finally, it's amazing that this alien race on the other side of the galaxy also thought up circus people, exactly the same as earthlings.
Conquering Fear
eonbluekarma11 March 2009
Since its creation by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek has explored the fear and doubts of humanity. Whether it was the Klingons in the original series or the Borg in TNG, the series seems to manufacture new ways fear and doubt can manifest itself.
The Thaw takes no backseat to the discussion. The performance by Michael McKean as fear, as well as the filming sequences that accentuate his creepy entourage, are superbly frightening. The costume design sprouts from one of Jim Henson's nightmares. The Thaw should have been nominated for an Emmy for set/costume design.
The thorough, scientific analysis of fear by the Voyager crew gives an enlightening take on how and why fear exists. This scientific approach is what makes so many Voyager episodes stand out.
Classic Voyager.
The Thaw takes no backseat to the discussion. The performance by Michael McKean as fear, as well as the filming sequences that accentuate his creepy entourage, are superbly frightening. The costume design sprouts from one of Jim Henson's nightmares. The Thaw should have been nominated for an Emmy for set/costume design.
The thorough, scientific analysis of fear by the Voyager crew gives an enlightening take on how and why fear exists. This scientific approach is what makes so many Voyager episodes stand out.
Classic Voyager.
Rewatched.. Boring.
twanster-9765526 March 2021
I've watched voyager many times, I tend to avoid this episode but having seen the rest I thought I'd come back to this one and give it another go, it's poor.. Plot holes aside, the acting is fine but the plot is to goofy.. We see the crew overcome so many things from the Borg to species 8472,we see the doctor revive the dead and create holo lungs to keep neelix alive, we have a vulcun who can mind meld and kes who's telapathic, for this eoisto work they had to dumb it down and that's what makes it goofy. The idea was good but the work done to make it work made it silly.
My, Aren't We Angry!!
Hitchcoc20 August 2018
Since there are well over 150 episodes of this series, isn't it kind of nice for one of them to be a bit off the path. When people get all ticked off about something tht doesn't follow the same old "us against the aliens" plot, they send out their depth charges. This is far from a perfect episode but it is creative and thought provoking and sort of frightening. And I thought the "Fear" character was a stitch. I mean, you had to hate him. Of course, if you try to apply conventional criticism to this one, you aren't going to be happy. Just be happy that the next installment will probably be what you want.
Face to face with fear...
Foreverisacastironmess12326 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
When I first saw this back in the 90's I thought it was one of the creepiest things I'd ever seen! Firstly, I would like to talk about the Clown's Mardi Gras from Hell. Yes, the group of constantly prancing mimes(and other things)do look a little cheap and corny if you look right at them, but you're not supposed to. They're a backdrop, their only purpose is to set a certain dark mood and tone, which they do beautifully. The decapitation factor adds greatly to the horror aspect of the situation. I just can't imagine a worse thing to happen to somebody. Made no less scary I'd like to point out, by the fact that the guillotine is actually pink! Apparently even aliens are scared of clowns... I love Michael Mckean's performance, it just carries and makes this whole episode a great one. He's very loud and over the top without being too annoying or campy, all while still maintaining a sense of hidden depth. His costume is nothing like any traditional clown outfit, but the face-paint does a great job of conveying the all that. The personality of the character is that of a malicious, unstable, tantrum-throwing child. He brings to mind the bellowing Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland. (off with their head?) I especially get a kick out of the character during one impressive scene of building terror where he is about to perform some unorthodox space-clown surgery on Harry Kim,(my personal most loathed of all Voyager characters) who seems to endure a ton of abuse in this episode. That poor baby must have been scared to death! I think they overdo the whole 'Mr.Fear' thing for a second, but I love what he says as he looms over Kim with the scalpel. It's very impressive, but to me it's scarier when it's more subtle. The moment is also notable for the first of several hilariously unexpected appearances by the Doctor, who completely changes the tone of the scene. I love how the Clowns listens to his advice for a second before reacting! The Doctor has some really great lines in this episode and watching him and the Clown just play off each other in their scenes is a delight! So, while the Clown is real toony and in some instances corny, he's still a very threatening and dangerous menace-one that surely needs to be "conquered..." ::: I love Captain Janeway in this one. She's really passionate in the scenes where she's stalking around and wrestling with the puzzle of how to outwit and appease what she considers to be literally fear itself. You can tell that Mulgrew was genuinely into the material. Next to the terrific performances of her and Mckean, the chief attraction of this episode for me is the ways in which it delves into the pathos and meaning of fear, and perhaps even the reason it exists. I think a good way to start to face what you're afraid of is to simply not close your eyes to it. Who could mistake the profound double meaning of when the Clown says. "I'll always be here." As a very rare treat, my favourite part is the ending. The entire episode builds up to it just perfect. Janeway's confrontation with the Clown and the way she tricks him into destroying himself is fantastic. The final seconds are just electric and so very poignant, with a suddenly very sad Clown facing oblivion with a cold uncaring representation of Janeway looking on. It's very dark, and could have been in danger of being a downer ending were it not for the wonderful little word the Clown mutters as he winks out of existence. Love that. "Drat!" Foiled! It brings back a little of the his joviality and lightens things up just enough. This is one of my all-time favourite Voyager eps and my very favourite of season 2. It's quite bizarre, but The Thaw is a great example of how acting, direction, a classic attention-grabbing hook and even an absurd villain can elevate a story to greatness. I wholeheartedly recommend it.
Wow, they got it right
deronboyd23 September 2013
Warning: Spoilers
Wow! Someone must have made them sit down and study what the true nature and beauty of TOS was, and said if you don't finally write and produce an episode of that calibre, we're going to take your first born. Only through that kind of duress of Biblical proportions could such a turnaround in quality be made. The first episode of this season, the 37s, is probably without a doubt the single most preposterous episode in Star Trek Cannon, soon followed by several worthy steaming piles of dung throughout this season.
But, I have to admit a few shining, hopeful signs of good, honest, Trek like inspiration started to shine through in recent episodes, culminating with this; an episode that undoubtedly deserves it's place among the very BEST Trek, of any and all flavors. This is Star Trek, not just Roddenbery ST, but Gene L. Coon Trek. And it feels so good....
Even the set is simple, hearkening back to the '60's era Post-Modern, Spartan-esque, colorful vision. Gone are flashy bells, whistles, touchpads, Level 2 Diagnostics, Phase inverted Tachion Pulses; techno-babble. Returned is imagination, characters, and the Greek morality examinations of human existence that made Trek groundbreaking Science Fiction.
Guest star Michael McKean delivers a highly entertaining performance, right up there with Frank Gorshwin, or Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd). He is the embodiment of Fear, and he delights in frightening his victims. And that delight is palpable.
Kate Mulgrew also give possibly her strongest performance yet as Janeway, with almost a Kirk like swagger and demeanor, as against the odds, she cheats not death, but death's companion; fear. And she does it with Kirk's own confident, brash smile. Would Kirk bed her, or would she bed Kirk? A question we can only ponder.
I started to have a criticism that the plot device of the interfaces was a little too Matrix-esque, until I realized this was years BEFORE The Matrix, and it could be said perhaps The Matrix stole from them? Harry and B'Lanna get "jacked in" way before Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus do. And their foe is much more entertaining.
TOS fans, and Trek fans everywhere: rejoice! They got this one right, and they got it good.
But, I have to admit a few shining, hopeful signs of good, honest, Trek like inspiration started to shine through in recent episodes, culminating with this; an episode that undoubtedly deserves it's place among the very BEST Trek, of any and all flavors. This is Star Trek, not just Roddenbery ST, but Gene L. Coon Trek. And it feels so good....
Even the set is simple, hearkening back to the '60's era Post-Modern, Spartan-esque, colorful vision. Gone are flashy bells, whistles, touchpads, Level 2 Diagnostics, Phase inverted Tachion Pulses; techno-babble. Returned is imagination, characters, and the Greek morality examinations of human existence that made Trek groundbreaking Science Fiction.
Guest star Michael McKean delivers a highly entertaining performance, right up there with Frank Gorshwin, or Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd). He is the embodiment of Fear, and he delights in frightening his victims. And that delight is palpable.
Kate Mulgrew also give possibly her strongest performance yet as Janeway, with almost a Kirk like swagger and demeanor, as against the odds, she cheats not death, but death's companion; fear. And she does it with Kirk's own confident, brash smile. Would Kirk bed her, or would she bed Kirk? A question we can only ponder.
I started to have a criticism that the plot device of the interfaces was a little too Matrix-esque, until I realized this was years BEFORE The Matrix, and it could be said perhaps The Matrix stole from them? Harry and B'Lanna get "jacked in" way before Neo, Trinity, and Morpheus do. And their foe is much more entertaining.
TOS fans, and Trek fans everywhere: rejoice! They got this one right, and they got it good.
Avoid like the plague. Horrifically written attempt at horror
micahjrose5 February 2017
Warning: Spoilers
The acting is good. The clown plays psycho control freak quite well. Janeway is strong and the doctor is his usual excellent self.
However, the plot suffers from a hole big enough to drive a star ship through, we shouldn't care if anyone dies as heart failure should be easily handled by the doctor. Being scared to death should be of no consequence. People who have heart failure can be revived now, you'd think 300+ years of tech advancement and less than 1 minute between event and medical response would take care of it.
We already know that Picard has an artificial heart, and Neelix survived with holographic lungs for a time. These folks would have revivable hearts. The goal should have been to kill them in the simulation and then revive them.
The episode is settled in a clever way, but ends too abruptly. There should have been further info on what happened to the survivors. The planet was dead and only two survivors appeared to remain, unless the whole planet is full of more stasis pods. This episode should have ended with two new alien crew members.
However, the plot suffers from a hole big enough to drive a star ship through, we shouldn't care if anyone dies as heart failure should be easily handled by the doctor. Being scared to death should be of no consequence. People who have heart failure can be revived now, you'd think 300+ years of tech advancement and less than 1 minute between event and medical response would take care of it.
We already know that Picard has an artificial heart, and Neelix survived with holographic lungs for a time. These folks would have revivable hearts. The goal should have been to kill them in the simulation and then revive them.
The episode is settled in a clever way, but ends too abruptly. There should have been further info on what happened to the survivors. The planet was dead and only two survivors appeared to remain, unless the whole planet is full of more stasis pods. This episode should have ended with two new alien crew members.
Nothing To Fear
Bolesroor2 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
"The Thaw" is a great episode, wonderfully written, with a great guest performance from Michael McKean.
A group of scientists is stuck in cryogenic stasis by the computer program designed to wake them up. It has gone rogue, and has trapped the scientists in a perpetual coma, terrorized by Fear, in order to keep itself alive.
Fear is manifested in the character of The Clown, played by Michael McKean, who gives the episode just the right amount of dark theatricality. Roddenbury would have been proud.
There are nice twists and turns around every corner, and the stasis program is wonderfully psychotic and surreal, reminiscent of TOS. This is a Trek classic that could sit on the shelf with the best of them. A home run.
GRADE: A+
A group of scientists is stuck in cryogenic stasis by the computer program designed to wake them up. It has gone rogue, and has trapped the scientists in a perpetual coma, terrorized by Fear, in order to keep itself alive.
Fear is manifested in the character of The Clown, played by Michael McKean, who gives the episode just the right amount of dark theatricality. Roddenbury would have been proud.
There are nice twists and turns around every corner, and the stasis program is wonderfully psychotic and surreal, reminiscent of TOS. This is a Trek classic that could sit on the shelf with the best of them. A home run.
GRADE: A+
The worst of Star Trek's pseudo-artisteaque carnivale nonsense
matthewrpratter-5052215 July 2015
Star Trek repeatedly dips into the same bag of "artistic expression" that inspired your kindergarten dance teacher. Streamers, tacky costumes, overwrought movement, absurd fabrics, and gaudy face paint. A sort of interpretation of festival and carnival culture from people who don't quite understand it.
This kind of exaggerated "expressive" performance comes up a few times across several series in the franchise; the "Colony of Free Spirits" on The Next Generation(The Higher, The Fewer!) for example. It was obvious to me as hammy, overacted, and seemed too childish to me when I was in kindergarten, and its an unwelcome addition to Star Trek as an adult.
Performance and creativity are wonderful things, I don't want this review to come across as the bitter complaints of a sour old grouch who hates youthful expression and fun, but these performances are too tacky, gaudy, and annoying for me to sit through on most viewings.
The process of overcoming the villain who generates this environment is satisfying, but only to see the over-the-top characters get their comeuppance.
This kind of exaggerated "expressive" performance comes up a few times across several series in the franchise; the "Colony of Free Spirits" on The Next Generation(The Higher, The Fewer!) for example. It was obvious to me as hammy, overacted, and seemed too childish to me when I was in kindergarten, and its an unwelcome addition to Star Trek as an adult.
Performance and creativity are wonderful things, I don't want this review to come across as the bitter complaints of a sour old grouch who hates youthful expression and fun, but these performances are too tacky, gaudy, and annoying for me to sit through on most viewings.
The process of overcoming the villain who generates this environment is satisfying, but only to see the over-the-top characters get their comeuppance.
Thought Provoking
storyboardcam19 December 2021
Warning: Spoilers
This episode is one of my favourites of Voyager, it is thought provoking, the focus on fear, and conquering such is so interesting. To start off it is certainly creepy when Harry and Torres enter the program, we do not know what it is, but it is slowly revealed, and the more we know the more creepy it gets.
I'd advise anyone to watch it as it is amazing.
I'd advise anyone to watch it as it is amazing.
I wish it went up to 11
BigRichAU8 July 2022
This is worth an 11 just for the sight of Michael McKean hamming it up. A thought-provoking episode that begs the question "If it's possible to keep human minds alive in an artificially created world, isn't it statistically more likely that we're all living in such a world already."
Bonkers and dark ....
sue-dixon7330 August 2023
Warning: Spoilers
I remember watching this episode years ago , when it first came out , I didn't really care for it much then as it seemed to be going off at a tangent from the main story of the series which was the Kazon .
But re watching it , it's a genius episode , so simple , plain sets , no special effects , just good old acting .
The pink guillotine is just chilling , and some of the the characters look like something out of a nightmare .. The clown could give Stephen Kings clown a run for his money , and the very end of the episode.....where Janeway whispers the last word..... Sends a shiver down spine .
Brill episode ..
But re watching it , it's a genius episode , so simple , plain sets , no special effects , just good old acting .
The pink guillotine is just chilling , and some of the the characters look like something out of a nightmare .. The clown could give Stephen Kings clown a run for his money , and the very end of the episode.....where Janeway whispers the last word..... Sends a shiver down spine .
Brill episode ..
Cringeworthy
jeffrsprague15 February 2021
As a huge Star Trek fan of 45 years, I just started rewatching the Voyager series. I do not recall having ever seen this episode before - possibly because I repressed it. I can now declare that of all the series and all the episodes, this is the worst episode ever made.
I can't strand the horrible, garish visuals, the chaos, the maniacal laughing of McKean's character. I hope to never see this episode again.
It's story wasn't horrible - just the implementation of it. This kind of psychological story could have been told in many different ways than this clownish nightmare circus that seems to drag on for hours.
I hope I can sleep after this mess without going into fits of projectile vomiting - which I would find more enjoyable than re-watching this episode.
I can't strand the horrible, garish visuals, the chaos, the maniacal laughing of McKean's character. I hope to never see this episode again.
It's story wasn't horrible - just the implementation of it. This kind of psychological story could have been told in many different ways than this clownish nightmare circus that seems to drag on for hours.
I hope I can sleep after this mess without going into fits of projectile vomiting - which I would find more enjoyable than re-watching this episode.
Very A La Star Trek Original Series
MichZes7 August 2022
This looks a great deal like the original series in its visuals and dialogue. I think this is a great throwback to the Original series. The costumes especially remind me of the original. The costumes look as if the wardrobe department shopped at a garage sale for these items.
I never suffered from Coulrophobia...but this episode sure could have created that phobia within me!
planktonrules15 February 2015
Coulrophobia is the relatively common fear of clowns. I never particularly felt afraid of clowns--but after seeing this episode, perhaps I am becoming coulrophobic! Yes, the show sends us to a land of super-annoying harlequins. As for me, I'd rather meet the clowns in the Twisted Metal games or "It" than hang around the annoying clowns in "The Thaw"!
When the show begins, Voyager finds some folks in suspended animation. They would like to revive them but decide to try sending Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Torres into the weird netherworld where the aliens now live instead of just yanking them all out of this cryo chambers. Unfortunately, the frozen popsicle people are living in a TOTALLY STUPID world filled with hellish clown-like beings. I just wanted them to shut up--and perhaps these folks will be stuck there forever!!
Overall, this is an astoundingly stupid episode. It's awful and annoying and the sort of thing non-Star Trek fans can toss in our faces as a reason NOT to watch the shows! Yecch! This is one of my nominations for worst shows of any Trek series due to horrible over- acting, a script that just doesn't make sense and....CLOWNS!!!!!
When the show begins, Voyager finds some folks in suspended animation. They would like to revive them but decide to try sending Ensign Kim and Lieutenant Torres into the weird netherworld where the aliens now live instead of just yanking them all out of this cryo chambers. Unfortunately, the frozen popsicle people are living in a TOTALLY STUPID world filled with hellish clown-like beings. I just wanted them to shut up--and perhaps these folks will be stuck there forever!!
Overall, this is an astoundingly stupid episode. It's awful and annoying and the sort of thing non-Star Trek fans can toss in our faces as a reason NOT to watch the shows! Yecch! This is one of my nominations for worst shows of any Trek series due to horrible over- acting, a script that just doesn't make sense and....CLOWNS!!!!!
Ultimate Fear is a poor script
laclone25 March 2013
Warning: Spoilers
A race survives a disaster by placing a few (too few to insure a race's survival) into stasis, linking their brains to an adaptive program for stimulation until they can be revived. However, the program adapts into a personification of the emotion of Fear, then entertains itself by tormenting the people for years.
Boring!
The fear/clown character is written so overboard as to suggest the writer has some issues. The whole episode is meant to only take up the 45-50 minutes of a weekly TV episode.
Any race that was that far advanced in the first place would simply have placed people in those deep underground chambers in a cyrogenic stasis, with automatic revival after the short 20 year period of recovery needed by their planets biosphere.
It would only have been a good nights sleep from their perspective.
The whole thing was written as a poor clone of the S. King movie "It", and is deeply disappointing.
Skip this episode and you won't miss anything in the S.T. Voyager series.
Boring!
The fear/clown character is written so overboard as to suggest the writer has some issues. The whole episode is meant to only take up the 45-50 minutes of a weekly TV episode.
Any race that was that far advanced in the first place would simply have placed people in those deep underground chambers in a cyrogenic stasis, with automatic revival after the short 20 year period of recovery needed by their planets biosphere.
It would only have been a good nights sleep from their perspective.
The whole thing was written as a poor clone of the S. King movie "It", and is deeply disappointing.
Skip this episode and you won't miss anything in the S.T. Voyager series.
Awful
keithfmanaton23 March 2023
Warning: Spoilers
Primitive throwback the the tacky original Star Trek and TNG without the charm. It's like a 60s Avengers or Monkees dream sequence. You wouldn't think this was a 90s production? Cheap design less poor sets, no acting & make up. Nothing saves this idiotic mess. Someone should have been sacked for subjecting viewers to the dreadful awfulness. Voyager doesn't really warm up until Seven joins. The early episodes are hit and miss in quality, some of the alien planet sets are cringeworthy. It almost makes you nostalgic for the Kazon with their cardboard hair. The best bit was the music as per usual.
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