10 Most Hated Star Trek Voyager Episodes

10. The Fight Season 5 Episode 18

When Voyager gets trapped in chaotic space where the laws of physics don’t apply, the key to its escape lies within Chakotay, who has to decipher strange visions after he begins hallucinating due to a mental hereditary defect getting stimulated by aliens.

These dreamlike scenes utilize dark lighting, offbeat camera angles, and some distorted imagery like a disintegrating boxing ring to create a nice atmosphere, but they are too obscure in meaning to land an effective punch denying us any fresh insight into who Chakotay is. At some points, we are bombarded with rapid cuts to multiple crew members spouting murky dialogue directly at the camera, at others, we have longer yet vague interactions between Chakotay and his grandfather concerning fear, mentor Boothby yelling generic don't give up advice, and even The Doctor played by a hammy Robert Picardo.

It does make us experience firsthand the same disorientation Chakotay is going through, but with no unifying theme and no emotional thread to latch on to, aside from a halfhearted attempt to characterize Chakotay as afraid of going insane, we end up just tuning out. Overall, The Fight makes a valiant attempt to dive deep into Chakotay’s psyche but ultimately loses via unanimous decision.