Threshold (episode)
From Memory Alpha, the free Star Trek reference.
| This article is written from the Real World point of view |
 |
| "Threshold" | ||
|---|---|---|
| VOY, Episode 2x15 Production number: 132 First aired: 29 January 1996 | ||
| ← | 31st of 168 produced in VOY | → |
| ← | 30th of 168 released in VOY | → |
| ← | 397th of 726 released in all | → |
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| Teleplay By Brannon Braga Story By Michael De Luca Directed By Alexander Singer | ||
| 49373.4 (2372) | ||
Voyager appears to have discovered the key to transwarp flight, and a specially-outfitted warp-capable shuttlecraft piloted by Tom Paris successfully reaches Warp 10. But the side effects of breaking the transwarp barrier may cost the crew their best helmsman.
Contents |
[edit] Summary
[edit] Teaser
Tom Paris is in an experimental shuttlecraft attempting to break the warp 10 barrier. Paris brings the shuttle up to warp 9.95 when the nacelles are suddenly ripped from the shuttle and it explodes. Paris appears sitting on the holodeck floor as if nothing had happened. It was all a simulation. Harry Kim looks despondent, and B'Elanna Torres responds matter-of-factly, "You're dead."
[edit] Act One
The trio goes to the mess hall to think over how to fix the problem. Neelix offers to help, but they don't believe he can contribute anything to the discussion. Paris inquires if he knows anything concerning quantum warp theory and multispectral subspace engine design. Insulted, Neelix informs them that serving for two years as an engineer's assistant aboard a Trabalian freighter makes him well versed in warp theory and demands to know what they're up to. They finally fill him in: after months of experiments, Paris, Torres and Kim believe they have found a way to cross the transwarp threshold using a new form of dilithium they discovered that remains stable at higher warp frequencies. Achieving warp 10 would allow a person to be in every point in the universe simultaneously. Kim notes that getting home could be as quick as the push of a button. A problem occurs when the ship reaches warp 9.95, when micro fractures appear and tear the nacelles from the ship. Neelix tells an anecdote from his past when his ship is travelling through a dark matter nebula. Kim is initially dismissive as this is a totally different phenomenon, but Paris realizes that it is actually the shuttle being ripped from the nacelles, not the other way around. While Kim confirms the tritanium alloy hull could depolarize at that speed, Paris continues, saying that could create a velocity differential, the fuselage travelling faster than the nacelles. As Kim infers, they could fix the problem by installing a depolarization field around the fuselage. Paris calls the confused Neelix a genius and runs out to the holodeck with Torres and Kim.
In the briefing room, the senior staff watch the holodeck simulation and grin as Paris successfully brings the shuttle to warp 10 and crosses the transwarp threshold. Captain Janeway gives Paris the opportunity to start a manned test flight in a real shuttlecraft. She says he has the opportunity to join such great names as Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong, and Zefram Cochrane. Everyone is excited because if this works, then it would mean much more than just getting USS Voyager home; it could begin a whole new era of exploration for Starfleet.
Janeway enters Paris's quarters that night with news that The Doctor discovered an enzymatic imbalance in his cerebellum that appeared during the holodeck simulation. The subspace stresses could kill him from a brain hemorrhage, although the chance is only 2%. Not wanting to take the chance, she will assign Ensign Kim to the flight. He begs her to reconsider, stating that people had always said that Tom Paris was going to do something special someday, and that this was it. Janeway agrees to it, and the next morning Paris boards the shuttlecraft, now named Cochrane and launches it. The shuttle kicks into warp, followed closely by Voyager. After running a few scans on Cochrane's warp field at warp 9.7, Torres clears Paris for transwarp. Voyager ups to warp 9.975, its maximum velocity, for as long as it can. But as Paris surpasses that speed, Voyager must slow and switch to long range sensors to track him. As the crew waits in anxiety, Paris goes faster and faster until finally sensors record warp 10. Then, Paris vanishes.
[edit] Act Two
A search fails to turn up the Lieutenant, but the Cochrane reappears, where they find Paris alive, but with weak life signs. In sickbay, The Doctor scans him and observes Paris is merely sleeping. The Doctor abruptly wakes Paris and he recounts his transwarp flight to Captain Janeway. He says he was staring at the velocity indicator (which read warp 10) and then suddenly he noticed he was watching himself. He could see the outside of the shuttle, Voyager, the inside of the ship, and the sickbay. For a moment, he was everywhere, with the Kazon, the Klingons, on Earth, and he even saw other galaxies. He said it wasn't like anything he ever experienced. Paris only returned because he noticed that the crew was looking for him. Torres bursts into the room and says that the onboard shuttle sensors confirm he flew warp 10, making Paris the first human to break the transwarp barrier. Paris asks Torres to download the shuttle's data core while The Doctor runs further tests on him.
Kim downloads the shuttle's data into the computer core--over 5 billion gigaquads of information--including detailed information on "literally every square meter" of the sector. Janeway orders the data sent to stellar cartography for analysis and creation of a star chart.
After being released from sickbay, Paris is in the mess hall where they are planning another flight to replicate the results of his first test. He begins to say the shuttle's memory core should be increased when all of the sudden Paris feels ill. He thinks it first a stomachache, but then collapses on the floor, writhing in pain. Torres asks the transporter room to beam him to sickbay; however, they can't lock onto him...his pattern keeps changing. Torres calls for The Doctor and tells Paris to hold on.
[edit] Act Three
The Doctor examines Paris in sickbay and says he had an allergic reaction--to the water in Neelix's coffee. In fact, his entire body is mutating; his lungs are no longer processing oxygen. The Doctor replaces the atmosphere in the room with 80% nitrogen, 20% acidichloride. Paris can breathe, but he has a bigger problem. He is suffering from cellular degradation...he's dying. The Doctor and Kes begin using radiation to try to stop it, with little success. Paris becomes delirious, asking for a huge funeral, saying he doesn't trust anyone that doesn't cry (like Torres), and remembering his childhood when he used to cry in his room. He tells The Doctor that he lost his virginity at 17 in his room, which The Doctor says he will note in Paris' medical file. Paris exclaims he wants a pizza with Pepperoni and Kavarian olives. He wants a kiss from Kes, but she can't because of the atmosphere. Before he dies, he makes a last request...to tell his father that he did it. He tries to form another sentence, but he falls unconscious. The Doctor uses a neural stimulator to attempt to revive him, but it doesn't work. The Doctor calls his death and will perform an autopsy in the morning. Kes kisses his body before she leaves sickbay.
That night, as The Doctor is working in his office, he hears a strange rattling in the other room. He walks to Paris's body, where he discovers him alive and well. Paris looks at himself and promptly pulls out a clump of his hair and demands to know what's happening to him. The Doctor scans him and finds something peculiar...Paris has two hearts.
[edit] Act Four
A crewman in his quarters sends data on the warp 10 shuttle flight to a Kazon named Rettik. Even Rettik is in disbelief. Janeway appears in sickbay to see a mutated Tom Paris lying in the biobed behind an isolation field. Janeway offers to help, but Paris is furious. Paris says that he is glad that he's changing and thinks that whatever he will become will be better than what he ever was. He demands that they stop trying to reverse his mutation. He doesn't believe anyone likes him and in fact, they're jealous that he broke the warp 10 barrier. Janeway walks away and concedes there's nothing she can do. Paris pleads with Janeway to help him, but instead he lashes out, hitting the isolation field in front of him. He begins to tell Janeway how small and insignificant she is, when he starts to choke. Paris then pulls out his tongue.
Later, Kes discovers his genetic mutation has increased another 12%. The Doctor and Kes must hurry to save the last bit of Paris's original human DNA. Paris pleads to let him off the ship because he understands "the past, the present is in the future...the future is in the past." He is more...he is everything. They refuse. After further analysis, The Doctor derives a treatment. He plans to revert Paris' body back to his original coding by destroying the mutated DNA using anti-proton radiation from the warp core. They have the system set up in an hour. Paris has mutated even further. He is in a restraint situated next to the warp core in main engineering. The warp core shuts down to give Paris a two-second burst of anti-protons. Paris begins to struggle out of the restraints. The Doctor asks Torres to start a five-second burst of anti-proton radiation, when a commotion is heard in the background. Paris burst out of his restraints. Phaser fire erupts in engineering, then the engineering screen where The Doctor was observing the procedure goes dark. The lights in the room start to flicker. Paris ruptured the port plasma conduit on his way out of engineering, causing power failures all over the ship. Tuvok announces a Level 3 security alert over the comm system.
[edit] Act Five
Janeway is on Deck 6 outside a turbolift when Paris attacks her from behind. She manages to fire her phaser, triggering the internal sensors, but they are malfunctioning due to the power failure. The bridge can't localize her position. Kim reports that she is between between sections 26 and 27 Alpha. Chakotay orders Tuvok's security personnel to Deck 6, sections 21 to 27 Alpha, but it's too late. Paris takes Janeway to shuttlebay two and launches the Cochrane. The Cochrane immediately goes to warp. Just then, main power on Voyager is restored and they're in pursuit. Voyager follows the shuttle until it reaches warp 9.975. Chakotay pushes the ship harder, but slows back when the main computer issues a warning that the ship's structural integrity will fail in 45 seconds. Paris and Janeway cross the transwarp barrier. They're gone.
- "First officer's log, stardate 49373.4, it's taken us three days to locate the shuttle. It appears to have dropped out of transwarp in an uninhabited star system."
The Doctor summons Tuvok and Chakotay to sickbay. The Doctor observes that what happened to Lieutenant Paris was an accelerated form of human evolution. It is possible that Paris shows an advanced form of human life. The Doctor admits that the life form isn't very attractive. The Doctor is still confident that the anti-proton radiation will work to revert Janeway and Paris back to their original human DNA. Kim reports from the bridge that ship's sensors have located the Cochrane on a remote planet. Chakotay and Tuvok beam down with an away team to investigate. On the planet, they see two reptile-like beings with a number of "children." Chakotay stuns the two creatures with his phaser and brings them back on the ship. Chakotay has no idea which creature is Janeway; however, Tuvok notes that Janeway must obviously be the female.
- "First officer's log, supplemental. We've transported the Captain and Mr. Paris back to sickbay. As for their...offspring, I've decided to leave them in their new habitat."
Paris and Janeway are reverted back to their human selves using The Doctor's anti-proton treatments...although Paris is extremely embarrassed about having mated with the Captain. Janeway accepts his apology, but admits she could have also been active in the mating process. She could even have been the one who initiated it. Janeway puts Paris in for a commendation for his achievement. Paris admits he has a few more barriers to break to build his self esteem, but Janeway believes he will easily overcome them.
[edit] Log Entries
[edit] Memorable Quotes
"Can you wake him?"
"I don't see why not. Wake up Lieutenant!'"
- - Captain Janeway and The Doctor, on Paris
"You're not going anywhere. At least not for a few hours. I have some tests I'd like to run on Your Majesty before I release you back into the realm of ordinary humans."
"You may proceed."
- - The Doctor and Paris, after Paris returns from his mission
"If this works, you'll be joining an elite group of pilots. Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong, Zefram Cochrane... and Tom Paris."
"I kind of like the way that sounds."
- - Kathryn Janeway and Tom Paris
"Ugh, I wish Neelix would name something after me that tasted a little better."
- - Tom Paris
"What did he ingest?"
"Just a cup of Neelix's coffee."
"It's a miracle he's still alive."
- - B'Elanna Torres and The Doctor, after Paris first falls ill.
"You are losing me, aren't you? I'm gonna die."
"You are too stubborn to die, Mr. Paris."
- - Tom Paris and The Doctor
"Pepperoni! God, I'd love a pepperoni pizza with Kavarian olives right now. I'm starving!"
- - Tom Paris, undergoing one of his evolutionary changes
"Here lies Thomas Eugene Paris, beloved mutant."
- - Tom Paris, aloud in Sickbay
"Great! Now it will read "...beloved radioactive mutant!""
- - Tom Paris to the Doctor, regarding a radiation treatment
"I lost my virginity in that room. Seventeen. Parents were away for the weekend."
"I'll note that in your medical file."
- - Tom Paris and The Doctor
"I don't know how I'm going to enter this into the log."
"I look forward to reading it."
- - Chakotay and Tuvok, after discovering Paris and Janeway's reptile-like "children"
"I've thought about having children, but I must say I never considered having them with you."
- - Captain Janeway, to Tom Paris after The Doctor restores their human DNA
"Kiss me."
"What?"
"Not you, her."
- - Paris and The Doctor (and Kes)
[edit] Background Information
- Some Paramount staff, including Rick Sternbach and Brannon Braga, discount the events of "Threshold", due to its severe scientific flaws. In an interview included as an "easter egg" on the VOY Season 2 DVD release, Braga admits it was the single worst episode he has written, ever, stating:
- I wrote the episode, or at least the teleplay. It's a terrible episode. People are very unforgiving about that episode. I've written well over a hundred episodes of Star Trek, yet it seems to be the only episode anyone brings up, you know? Out of a hundred and some episodes, you're gonna have some stinkers! Unfortunately, that was a royal, steaming stinker. And... it had some good intentions behind it. It had a good premise, breaking the warp 10 barrier. I don't know where this whole "de-evolving into a lizard" thing came from. I may have blocked it out. I think I was trying to make a statement about evolution not necessarily being evolving toward higher organisms, that evolution may also be a de-evolution. You know, we kind of take it for granted that evolution means bigger brains, more technology, you know, more refined civilization. When in fact, for all we know, we're evolving back toward a more primordial state. Ultimately, who can predict? Unfortunately, none of this came across in the episode. And all we were left with were some lizard... things crawling around in the mud. So. It was not my shining moment.
- The title was also used for a show that Braga executive-produced nine years later (see Threshold).
- The story idea for this episode came from Michael De Luca, who was at the time the head of New Line Cinema. (citation needed • edit)
- The creatures into which Paris and Janeway "evolve" were based on salamanders. According to members of the writing staff, they thought it might be more interesting to have the cycle of evolution go "full circle" and back to Humans' primitive roots rather than a "large-brained, glowing human" as one might expect. (citation needed • edit)
- Jeri Taylor felt that this episode received more backlash from fans than it deserved, but she acknowledged that "the fact that we were turning people into salamanders was offensive to a lot of people and just plain stupid to others." (citation needed • edit)
- After the flight, Tom Paris was found to breathe a mixture of nitrogen and acid dichloride gas. Acid dichloride is not a common chemical name, but it could refer to phosgene, which has two "acid chloride" functionalities.
- The events of this episode represent the fifth time (aside from the series premiere) that the Voyager crew has a possibility of returning home.
[edit] Awards
- This episode won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Makeup for a Series. It beat out DS9: "The Visitor" which was nominated in the same category.
[edit] Video and DVD releases
- UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, CIC Video): Volume 2.6, 8 July 1996.
- As part of the VOY Season 2 DVD collection.
[edit] Links and References
[edit] Guest Star
[edit] Co-Stars
- Mirron E. Willis as Rettik
- Majel Barrett as the computer voice
[edit] Uncredited Co-Stars
- Tarik Ergin as Ayala
- Louis Ortiz as Culhane
- Cindy Sorenson as transwarp human #1
- Susan Rossitto as transwarp human #2
[edit] References
acidichloride, alloy; alveoli; AMU; antiproton; Armstrong, Neil; asteroid field; bio-suppressor field; brain hemorrhage; cerebellum; class 2 shuttle; Cochrane, Zefram, Cochrane, commendation; dark-matter nebula, dilithium; dilithium matrix; duranium; electrolyte; engineer's assistant; gigaquad, human, hyper-evolution, hypothalamus; interstitial fluid; Kalavian biscuit; Kavarian olive; Kazon; Klingon; level 3 security alert; lungs; lymphatic system; multispectral subspace engine design; mutation; neural stimulator; nitrogen, parsec; Paris, Owen; Paris Delight, pepperoni; pizza; quantum warp theory; rad; serotonin; space; subspace torque; technobabble; Trabalian; Trabalian freighter; transwarp, transwarp drive, transwarp threshold; tritanium; Warp 10; warp factor; warp field; Wright, Orville
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