2.11 threshold

Working with Kim and Torres, Tom Paris pilots a shuttle to a speed record – warp 10 – made more significant because at warp 10 one is traveling so fast that you are everywhere at once. Paris returns from his experience with fading visions of everyplace in existence and the computer is loaded with complete star maps of the region. Paris is unharmed, or it seems so, until a few hours later his body becomes allergic to water, then to air. His DNA changes rapidly, and he even ‘dies’ and comes back to life, until his tongue falls out of his mouth, right in front of Janeway (classic scene, but be sure not to eat your dinner during this episode). Finally, when he has mutated into what I will describe as a walking frog, the doctor devises a cure, but Paris escapes, captures Janeway, and takes off at warp 10. Three days later, Voyager tracks the shuttle and finds and stuns two life forms that look like huge land-based catfish with legs. The following classic scene take place:

"Chakotay and Tuvok kneel next to the pair of stunned walking catfish)
Chakotay: (studies tricorder) There are traces of human DNA. It’s them. But I have to admit, I’m not sure which one is the Captain.
Tuvok: The female - obviously.
(Both watch as three small creatures, obviously children of the pair, emerge from a hole and slither into a nearby pond).
Chakotay: I don’t know how I’m going to enter this into the log.
Tuvok: I look forward to reading it."

Back on the ship, the doctor performs his magic. Paris and Janeway are human again, but they remember what happened. Paris attempts to apologize to Janeway for ‘what happened’, and Janeway reminds him that he need not apologize – that in some species the female instigates the sex act.

This is a fun, purposely over-the-top episode with some great scenes. It’s worth mentioning, however, that it makes it to the top of the ‘worst of’ episode list of most Voyager fans, so we’ll have to agree to disagree.