Bride of Chaotica!
| "Bride of Chaotica!" | |
|---|---|
| Star Trek: Voyagerepisode | |
| Episodeno. | Season 5 Episode 12 |
| Directed by | Allan Kroeker |
| Story by | Bryan Fuller |
| Teleplay by | |
| Featured music | David Bell |
| Cinematography by | Marvin V. Rush |
| Production code | 207 |
| Original air date | January 27, 1999 |
| Guest appearances | |
| |
"Bride of Chaotica!"is the 106th episode of theAmericanscience fictiontelevision seriesStar Trek: Voyagerairing on theUPNnetwork, the 12th episode of thefifth season.The episode originally aired on January 27, 1999. The episode largely takes place on theholodeck,which is running a holo-program in black and white instead of the usual color. This was because of a small fire to the Bridge set that had occurred while the episode was in production;[1]as a result the Bridge scenes were shot weeks later after the set was repaired and scenes that were originally set for the Bridge were either entirely rewritten or set on a different part of the ship. The episode satirizes numerous elements of the classic 1936 film serialFlash Gordonand classic 1939 film serialBuck Rogers.
In this episode,Voyagerbecomes stuck in a interdimensional rift as photonic beings from another dimension attempt first contact in the holodeck, meeting the photonic villains ofEnsign Paris' "Captain Proton"program, who promptly attack them.
Plot
[edit]During an episode ofThe Adventures ofCaptain Protonon the holodeck in a recurring Voyager hologram program in the style of vintage movie serials such asFlash GordonandBuck Rogers,EnsignsTom ParisandHarry Kimare forced to leave the program running when spatial distortions trap the ship and disrupt their control over the computer. While the command staff ofVoyagerseek to discover a way to free the ship from the spatial distortions, extra-dimensional aliens, who exist in aphotonicstate, cross from their dimension through a distortion in the holodeck. They are detected and attacked byDr. Chaotica,who believes them to be from thefifth dimension,and whose holographic (photonic) weaponry — though harmless to humans — is deadly to the aliens.
Eventually, the crew discover the war being waged between Chaotica and the fifth dimension and must defeat him by playing out their roles as the fictional Captain Proton (Tom Paris), his sidekick Buster Kincaid (Harry Kim), the President of Earth (theDoctor,who is a photonic being), and Arachnia, Queen of the Spider People - a campy space queen who is destined to be Chaotica's bride. Paris asksCaptain Janewayto take on the role offemme fataleQueen Arachnia. Mortified, she refuses such an indignity, but reluctantly agrees to helpVoyagerout of its predicament.
Inside the program and in full costume, Janeway/Queen Arachnia uses her charms to manipulate Chaotica into lowering the "lightning shield" protecting his fortress under the pretence that her loyal subjects in their "spider ships" can attend their wedding. Chaotica becomes suspicious of Arachnia so she attempts to deactivate the shield but Chaotica traps her in his "confinement rings" force field for double crossing him, telling her he will kill heraftertheir wedding night. Using a vial of her "spider pheromones" to hypnotize Chaotica's guard, Arachnia manipulates him into freeing her. She then deactivates the lightning shield enabling Captain Proton to fire his "destructo beam" at Chaotica and defeat him, thereby freeingVoyagerand allowing ship and crew to continue on their journey home.
Reception
[edit]In 2012,Den of Geekranked "Bride of Chaotica!" as the fifth best episode ofStar Trek: Voyager.[2]
In 2014,io9ranked "Bride of Chaotica!" as the 100th out of 100 of the best of over 700 episodes across the entireStar Trektelevision franchise.[3]In 2019, Comic Book Resources rated "Bride of Chaotica!" as the second most funny episode of allStar Trek.[4]
Dany Roth writing forSyFy Wirein 2017, ranked this the 3rd best episode thatBryan Fullerwrote for; they felt "It's campy, hilarious, hysterical, brilliant, and an absolute joy" and said it might be the best holodeck episode.[5]
In 2019,CBRranked "Bride of Chaotica!" as the best holodeck episode of allStar Trek.[6]In 2021, they highlighted this episode as an example of the series "having fun with its goofier side"[7]
In 2021,Torrated this 10 out 10, remarking "This is simply an enjoyable episode ofStar Trek "despite some misgiving about it making sense, and commending Mulgrew for a "stupendous performance."[8]
Releases
[edit]On April 25, 2001, this episode was released onLaserDiscin Japan, as part of the half-season collection,5th Season vol.1.[9]This included episodes from "Night" to "Bliss" on seven double sided 12 inch optical discs, with English and Japanese audio tracks for the episodes.[9]
On November 9, 2004, this episode was released as part of the season 5DVDbox set ofStar Trek: Voyager.[10]The box set includes seven DVD optical discs with all the episodes in season 5 with some extra features, and episodes have aDolby Digital5.1 surround soundaudio track.[10]
References
[edit]- ^"Bride of Chaotica".The Delta Flyers Podcast.May 15, 2022.RetrievedMay 20,2022.
- ^Harrison, Juliette (October 3, 2012)."Top 10 Star Trek: Voyager episodes".Den of Geek.RetrievedJuly 2,2019.
- ^Anders, Charlie Jane (October 2, 2014)."The Top 100 Star Trek Episodes Of All Time!".io9.RetrievedMarch 17,2019.
- ^Weyer, Michael (January 18, 2019)."The 20 Funniest Star Trek Episodes".Comic Book Resources.RetrievedMarch 23,2019.
- ^Roth, Dany (February 29, 2016)."Every Bryan Fuller Star Trek episode, ranked".SYFY WIRE.Archived fromthe originalon June 2, 2021.RetrievedMay 30,2021.
- ^Weyer, Michael (January 4, 2019)."Star Trek: Ranking the 20 Best Holodeck Episodes".Comic Book Resources.RetrievedJune 14,2020.
- ^"Every Star Trek: Voyager Season, Ranked".CBR.May 21, 2021.RetrievedJune 8,2021.
- ^DeCandido, Keith R. A. (February 25, 2021)."Star Trek: Voyager Rewatch:" Bride of Chaotica! "".Tor.RetrievedJune 8,2021.
- ^ab"LaserDisc Database - Star Trek Voyager: 5th Season vol.1 [PILF-2458]".lddb.RetrievedFebruary 23,2021.
- ^ab"DVD Talk".dvdtalk.RetrievedFebruary 21,2021.
External links
[edit]
- "Bride of Chaotica!"atIMDb
- "Bride of Chaotica!"atMemory Alpha
- "Bride of Chaotica!"atWayback Machine(archived from the original at StarTrek )
