'Tsunkatse'

Stardate: Unkown
Written By: Gannon Kenny
Directed By: Mike Vejar
Rating: **1/2 (out of 5)

"Tsunkatse" may prove that Voyager often uses cheap advertising while trying to get as many viewers as possible; but it isn't really all that bad. It's a fairly routine and light Star Trek episode with the story having many flaws. One episode directed by Mike Vejar which isn't all that good.

The game of Tsunkatse is slightly different to other kinds of wrestling but with those bioplasmic charges adding more strategy. What I don't get is the crew of Voyager's interest in the game. I understand Boxing interest, we've had many mentions of that sport still being played, but Tsunkatse matches involve fighting to the death! Not all the time but it happens often. Surely the crew would realize the barbarism of that and not get involved!

But they do get involved. And they soon discover Seven is being forced to fight by a man resembling a DS9 character by the name of Weyoun! It seems silly that the crew didn't realize that contestants would be fighting against their will if some matches are to the death!

Seven is being trained to fight in Tsunkatse by an Hirogen, who seems a lot like DS9's Martok! Martok . I mean, the Hirogen . has been fighting for years and wants to die an honorable death, by training Seven to kill him in the arena. It was good seeing the Hirogen again. Another silly plot point is Seven isn't told whom she is fighting near the end! Even when Weyoun . I mean, Penk (sorry!) . tells Seven its time for the fight, the Hirogen isn't asked to come out too?

As these two battle it out, we see Seven's anger rising to the surface and after resisting to fight the Hirogen for a while, she prepares to kill him. And they are both rescued in the nick of time!

Apart from the silly plot points mentioned, one major part of the plot lacks the dramatic punch it should've. In the climax Seven should've killed the Hirogen. The same message would've been appropriate with the Astrometrics scene at the end with Tuvok and Seven, but by killing the Hirogen "Tsunkatse" would've been so much more memorable and dramatic.

So the plot might not be classic material, but one thing the writers did superbly here is the character interaction. The scene with Harry, Tom, B'Elanna and Chakotay talking about Boxing shows that these are three dimensional characters with different pasts and ideas. The scene might not have been important but it manages to capture the essence of these friendships. There were also other nice touches of characterization between Janeway and Chakotay and Tuvok and Seven.

The Guest appearances were not bad. There was nothing wrong with The Rock's appearance, he simply acted himself, eyebrow and all, which isn't too difficult. His appearance also wasn't too long and not the point of the episode as the promos suggested which I appreciated. As you may have guessed, JG Hertzler and Jeffery Combs who are always nice too see, weren't stand out characters as they were simply Martok and Weyoun in different make-up! I suppose for the Hirogen its okay, but somehow Weyoun and Penk should've been very different characters.

The finishing touches on "Tsunkatse" and my review; the CGI was, as always, pretty good. The sets were also pretty good although the arena's lights really bugged me! Dennis McCarthy's score was annoying also with all that thumping and odd synthesized noises. The fighting scenes lacked much imagination, but were choreographed pretty well.

"Tsunkatse" was the millennium bug of Voyager, huge expectations, most of them bad, and it turns out nothing actually happens despite the hipe! I'm generous. *** stars it is!