Star Trek: Voyager Showrunner (Kind Of) Defends One Of The Show's Worst Episodes

In the "Star Trek: Voyager" episode "Threshold" — often considered one of the worst episodes of the series — the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager discover a rare power-synthesizing crystal that, in theory, could allow the ship to travel faster than Warp-10. In the lore of "Star Trek," Warp-10 is faster than anything has ever traveled, reaching the point of infinite velocity. An object traveling at Warp-10 would essentially pass through every point in the known universe simultaneously. For a lost ship trying to traverse a 70-year trip across the Milky Way back to Earth, this is a tantalizing proposition. 

To test out these crystals, the Voyager's engineers equip a shuttlecraft with them, and order Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) to pilot it. The experiment proves successful, and Tom Paris returns with a brain full of information about every single point in the universe. Something weird begins happening to his body shortly thereafter, however. His skin begins to flake off and his eyeballs glass over. His fingers grow together, and he spits out his own tongue. It is very reminiscent of David Cronenberg's "The Fly." 

Tom Paris is hyper-evolving, turning into the species that humanity will eventually become in millions of years. Tom, still somewhat humanoid, kidnaps Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and takes her on a Warp-10 voyage, forcing her to evolve as well. As the climax of "Threshold" reveals, humans are destined to evolve into three-foot pink salamanders. As salamanders, Tom and Janeway mate, and have three little salamander babies. This is before being rescued and, mercifully, turned back into humans. The episode is hated for its silliness and for its brazen scientific inaccuracies. 

"Threshold" writer and "Voyager" showrunner Brannon Braga doesn't hate it as quite much as most Trekkies. Braga spoke at the STLV "Star Trek" convention in Las Vegas (covered by TrekMovie), and he argued that the first half of "Threshold" isn't bad. The back half is where it begins to suffer.

It should be pointed out that very few people like "Threshold." As mentioned, Trekkies hate the conceit that traveling at ultra-fast speeds would insitgate a rapid form of evolution, and many rolled their eyes when humans merely evolved into salamanders. Biologists, of course, happily point out that evolution doesn't work that way. The science in "Star Trek" is usually based partly on fact, but "Threshold" is one toke over the line when it comes to fantasy. 

Brannon Braga knows about the episode's reputation, and criticized his own writing while reminiscing about how the sheer volume of episodes he used to produce. With 26 episodes in a season, writers often struggled to come up with story ideas, and "Threshold" was proof of that. Braga, though, admitted that he liked the body horror aspects of the episode. He said: 

"Well, clearly, given 'Threshold,' there were no rejected ideas. We left nothing on the table. [At least] the first half of that show isn't bad."

This was a brave admonition, as Braga had previously said — on the "Voyager" DVDs — that the episode stinks to high Heaven. In his words: 

"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? 'Brannon Braga, who wrote "Threshold!"' Out of a hundred-and-some episodes, you're gonna have some stinkers! Unfortunately, that was a royal, steaming stinker." 

It doesn't seem that Braga has wholly changed his mind on "Threshold," but he does admit that it has its strengths. And, when looking at the franchise as a whole, "Threshold" isn't as bad as episodes like "The Alternative Factor," "Turnabout Intruder," "Code of Honor," "Shades of Gray," or any other number of stinkers. It's merely silly, and that can be tolerated.