Voyager 5x19 "The Fight"

rating: **

the story: Chakotay makes unusual first contact with an alien species with hallucinations of a boxing match.

what it's all about: This is one of those purely interesting episodic adventures (it actually feels a little like Voyager attempting to explain how the Prophets in Deep Space Nine might have first encountered a corporeal being, an alternate to how Sisko does it in "Emissary") that if you didn't thinking of it as merely "the boxing episode," you could enjoy on that level alone.

Of course, it's also "the boxing episode."  It's the title and everything!  So that's probably going to be the primary way to identify it one way or another.  And fine, since the franchise has a long history of aliens confronting Starfleet officers in some manner of combat, whether Kirk and the Gorn in "Arena" or Picard and "Darmok." 

The dude doing the boxing is Chakotay, who for the first time since I think the second season is engaged in a vision quest, which in the early seasons was a defining trait of the character as well as series as a whole.  This may not be one of his most sophisticated spotlight episodes, but it's clearly a memorable one all the same.  There's also another subplot about his complicated lineage, this time a grandfather who had a cognitive disorder. 

Also highly notable is the presence of Starfleet Academy groundskeeper Boothby in his final appearance, like his previous Voyager, fifth season appearance, it's not really Boothby, but it's still a nice reminder that the character had a ton of potential for what had for years been his one and only appearance (Next Generation's "The First Duty").  Like Barclay later, he was a character Voyager saw untapped potential in, and both the series and the character were the richer for it.

criteria analysis:

• franchise - Casual fans will probably take notice on a number of levels.
• series - Nothing here screams that it was absolutely necessary to be told with these particular characters.
• character - Although of course Chakotay has a nice turn that hearkens back to his early days.
• essential - Let's not make too big a deal about it.

notable guest-stars:
Ray Walston (Boothby)