User Reviews

When the crew of Voyager get some shore leave most of them appear to be attending Tsunkatse matches, this is a local martial art. Tuvok and Seven of Nine have no interest in this and take a runabout to investigate a micro nebula. While they are on the way they are confronted by a large ship which beams a small bomb aboard. When Seven wakes she finds that Tuvok is badly injured and that she is expected to take part in the Tsunkatse matches. When she appears at a match the Star Fleet crew are shocked and try to beam her out but find they aren't at a live match but are watching a holographic projection. She does not win the fight but is told that the viewers loved seeing her lose and that her next fight will be a fight to the death. A Hirogen volunteers to prepare Seven for this fight and back on Voyager everybody searches for the source of the signal. They find the ship as Seven enters the arena and finds out that her opponent will be the Herogen who trained her.

This was a good episode which showed just how human Seven of Nine has become, Jeri Ryan does a good job in the role. Fans of Deep Space Nine may recognise the actor who plays Penk, the overseer of the bouts, he is Jeffrey Combs who played Weyoun in DS9. As well as well choreographed fight scenes we see combat between the ship holding Seven and Voyager and the Delta Flyer.

There is a lot of great stuff in this little shenanigan - We start off by Seeing a Hirogen (J.G. Hertzler) beat the tar out of some skinny oaf. I liked the oaf, no cast listing so I suppose it was Stuntee Clayton J. Barber getting his Arse handed to him like a hat in the teaser of this gem.

This show revolves around the sport of "Tsunkatse" which the crew of Voyager has been enjoying along with every other alien in the sector. It reminds me of some of the popular contact sports being played around that time, the Tsunkatse Arena looks like any contact sport that was ever played on UPN13 in LA. I remember they had a contact form of Football called "XFL" at the time that lasted for a few years- The biggest boost that form of football ever had was in the movie "The Sixth Day".

Unfortunately, Tsunkatse was not just an innocent Monday Night Sports offering for your local Dive Bar - As Seven of Sixty-Nine and Tuvix find out to their pain. They are kidnapped by an alien form of Jeffery Coombs and forced to play Tsunkatse or DIE. So Seven agrees, if anything to save Tuvix from a "Red Deth Match".

And her Opponent for this thing was interesting: This was the very first time I ever saw Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. He makes a GREAT Alien, his face in Profile was an Iconic view. That's when I KNEW he had a future as an actor and not only as a well built piece of meat (With Machine Guns added if you count "Doom" or "GI-JOE: Retaliation).

Unfortunately in the clips of the TsunKatse matches, JG Herztler gets skinnier at certain times, while he does some amazing kicks and spins, and Seven's whole FACE changes while she stiff-arms The Rock in a few pain inducing moves. Does the sport of Tsunkatse cause Shape-Shifting to occur or was ODO glad to see me?

That has always been a problem with Trek, editing out Stuntwoman Monica Staggs's face in crucial scenes. But Jeri Ryan could do some great movements in closeup, so when the real Monica Staggs does the hard moves, the closeup makes you believe it was really Seven.

And These Hirogen were some great fighters. Hertzler's Hirogen (He was never given a name) teaches Seven a thing or two about Survival and the art of Tsukatse: But in the end, he intended to have Seven kill him so he could have a death worthy of a Hirogen. Hirogens are great, from their Butt-Style heads to their Armor that could allow them to walk through a Neutron Star, they are by far my most Favourite Delta Quadrant Aliens- And Hertzler gives them a more likable personality.

Of course, Voyager can't have their pet Borg beating up Hirogen on TV, so they cause a Media Blackout much like the Syndex (Exclusivity) Laws from the 1990's.

Of Course, a lot of this is just plain Silly, but The Rock's little cameo and the Hirogen Teacher made this great Network TV in the late 90's/2000's. Personally, I think Seven could have ripped Dwayne's head off and fed it to the Hirogen while they danced playing Violins and setting Janeway's hair on fire, but I highly enjoyed this when it was first broadcast as well as now. God/The Prophets Love The Rock!

Don't get me wrong, I get the idea, why the, then-UPN (United Paramount Network) cross-promote, their 'Star Trek: Voyager' show with that of then-WWF (World Wrestling Federation) 'Smackdown' show. After all, during the early 2000s, 'Smackdown' was the network's highest-rated program, while 'Star Trek: Voyager', by far, the weakest of all of the 'Star Trek: New Generation' spin-off shows, numbering in a few viewers each week. Thus, it seemed only natural to cross-promote it to increase the latter's viewership. The plan work, as 15th episode achieved a Nielsen rating of 4.1 million homes, and a 6% share, making it the highest rated episode of season 6. However, couldn't they make this episode directed by Mike Vejar, a little more sophisticated than what we got!? This Star Trek: Voyager episode written by Gannon Kenney was kinda dumb, only feeding our low brow animistic urges. Originally called 'Arena', before being changed at the last minute, because of the similarities of that title with Star Trek: the Original Series' Season 1, Episode 18 'Arena'. The story tells the story of USS Voyager crew member, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) getting captured while on an away mission and being forced to fight in a gladiator-like fight competition. Without spoiling this hastily-written predictable episode, too much, I have to say, the story is nothing, but a rehash of the typical "forcing a Star Trek character to fight against their will", we seem before in Star Trek episodes, such as 'Star Trek: the Original Series' Season 2, Episode 1 'Amok Time' & 'Star Trek: Deep Space Nine' 15th episode, season 5 'By Inferno's Light'. It wasn't anything new, nor does it give us anything special, beyond, seeing Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson in one of his first acting roles, even if he's pretty much, playing himself as Pendari Champion, with doing pro-wrestling style stunt moves like the 'Rock Bottom' & doing "The People's Eyebrow," a typical Rock gesture. It was a bit disappointing, seeing how Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson was wasted. His character wasn't complex at all. His make-up work was cheaply done and his suit look like putty patrol on steroids. He was a bit shallow. Don't get me wrong, the episode was somewhat entertaining, due to the lowbrow action exploitation violence exploitation, but it doesn't match well, with the Star Trek New Generation smart pacifistic style of solving conflict. Isn't it, a bit weird to see the humanism and optimism aristocratic crew of the USS Voyager turn into blood-driven fanatics, by cheering for people beating up other people? I guess, human society in the 24th century hasn't evolved that much, if extreme animistic personality still existed. It totally sold out Gene Roddenberry's ideal society out. One thing I found a little shortsighted on the part of the Voyager crew was the notion that they weren't really aware of the extent of the Tsunkatse ring violence. How could they not heard about it? They had to see at less, one of these 'red match' in which the fighter, fight a battle to the death. After all, the episode told us, that those matches were very popular. It's doesn't make sense, even if we're to believe that the Federation banned such fighting from airing. Somebody would had told them. Plus, it's a bit preachy, to present the episode, where seeing two people fight to the death is fun to watch, based on the trailer, only to later, recount, how wrong, it was, in story terms. It's not very well conscious. It's a bit of guilt-shaming. Plus, I'm somewhat disappointing with the few guest performances that this episode had. They really didn't help elevate the material, any further than it turn out. First off, I found Jeffery Comb's cameo as martial arts fighting Norcadian promoter, Penk, somewhat offensive and demeaning to Asian Americans. Jeffrey Combs looks like Dana Carvey in really bad Asian Fu Manchu stereotypical make-up. I would rather see, Jeffery Comb play, yet another Weyoun clone than this over-the-top and shallow villain. The other important character here is the Hirogen warrior played by J.G Hertzler. He was a little better than Combs, as he had a commanding presence as he teaches Seven in the ways of the fighting, but somewhere in me, kinda wish, he was playing a Klingon or better yet, a Gorn. Jeri Ryan as Seven was alright for the most part in a physical role. She did some of her own stunt work, and pretty much, match well with both Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson and J.G Hertzler. It's somewhat believable that her character could probably take down, both men if she really wanted to. Her dilemma of losing her humanity and going back to the Borg ways, was somewhat interesting, but it wasn't very compelling, because her fight scene took place, in what looks like an old American Gladiator set. It was very cheap-looking and jarring. This whole episode looks, pretty bad with the lazy make up effects, lightning and limited CGI. In the end, this episode felt very unnecessary. Overall: It felt like sweep month, filler. It really doesn't effect, the later episodes much. It's ridiculous, but highly watchable.

To see "The Roc" Johnson appear on Voyager somehow did not conjure the excitement such an epic moment suggested.

An episode about fighting for sport and combat survival brings the Voyager's officer crew into conflict with an unethical fight promoter of fighting death matches.

7 of 9 must find the lessons of her humanity as she's forced to loose control and kill to save Tuvok. There is a guest appearance by the actor who played commander Shran as a random alien villain in this episode (Penk).

The episode goes from the campy frivolity of the Roc's WWE wrestling persona (which I hated) to the seriousness of human trafficking and forced mortal combat as a spectator sport. Then 7 of 9 is forced to use her Borg combat training as a drone to survive as a human. While 7 does not like revisiting her former atrocities, Tuvok reminds her that it is very human to enlist survival tactics over moral obligations in matters of kill or be killed.

Hold onto your butts folks ---- we have a UFC star trek episode. Not only that but we have some A-Class guest stars to somehow mold this plot into an arc about keeping ones humanity while battling another to the death in the octagon.

If I was in the 7-12 age group, I think I could find some enjoyment in the fight scenes and the karate kid sensei scene with SO9's opponent.

I need to get something out of a star trek episode for me to give it a good endorsement. They attempted to establish a struggle for SO9 to maintain her humanity but it comes off as pasted on --- if you want some weighty exploration of that you can go watch the DS9 'Hard Times' episode.

When Robin Burger came on board as a producer the quality of the episodes rapidly declined, and became a bit dark. This episode has no script and shows that the new script writers are mostly second tier writers, and seem unfamiliar with Voyager. Characters really have nothing to do except attend alien sporting events. Which raises another question, how are they attending them? It's padding for all the fight scenes that I found boring, and we've seen this many times before (The Gamsters of Triskelion). Seven I guess didn't need to regenerate while onboard the WWF space ship. Just a bad episode all around.