{"id":4939,"date":"2018-12-03T15:59:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-03T15:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/223-The-Thaw"},"modified":"2018-12-03T15:59:40","modified_gmt":"2018-12-03T15:59:40","slug":"223-the-thaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relivethemajesty.com\/index.php\/2018\/12\/03\/223-the-thaw\/","title":{"rendered":"2.23 — \u201cThe Thaw\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n

2.23 — \u201cThe Thaw\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Plot:<\/strong> Voyager<\/em> rescues three cryogenic sleepers from a doomed world, only to discover they are in the thrall of a murderous virtual reality imp named Fear. Members of the crew must, for reasons!, plunge into the virtual reality world of the sleepers to rescue them, which soon leaves Harry Kim in Fear’s power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Thoughts:<\/strong> I want to go easy on this one. They are trying something here, and have certainly made an episode that stands out tonally, visually, and thematically from the run of the prior 38 episodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“The Thaw” is like a throwback TOS episode. Simple sets, bright colors. The look of Michael McKean\u2019s clown character invokes the fugitive in \u201cLet This Be Your Last Battlefield,\u201d and his intensity reminds me of Original Series guest stars Frank Gorshin, William Windom, and Morgan Woodward. Thematically it\u2019s closer to \u201cI, Mudd,\u201d “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” “Spectre of the Gun,” or \u201cPlato\u2019s Stepchildren,\u201d which were all episodes that trapped crewmembers in a controlled environment under the power of despotic entities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And OMG! It almost breaks my heart to read on Memory Alpha the comments of the episode director Marvin V. Rush. Marvin Rush is an important person to Star Trek. He was the director of cinematography for seasons three through five of TNG, the first two seasons of DS9, all seven seasons of Voyager<\/em>, and all four seasons of Enterprise<\/em>. He cajoled franchise executive producer Rick Berman into allowing him to direct five episodes over this 16-year run, and “The Thaw” was the second. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rush says: \u201cThe script fit me perfectly.\u201d \u201cI felt I was doing something incredibly important, and I couldn\u2019t wait to start!\u201d \u201cPersonally, this was the most compelling Trek script I had ever read, because from my own life I know what it\u2019s like to be paralyzed by fear.\u201d \u201cIt was so creative; I felt light as air.\u201d \u201cI put all my passion and joy into it\u2026 it was the most intensive seven days of my life! . . . I went way out on a limb to tell the story, as far as I could imagine, and it worked.\u201d \u201cIt was so much more satisfying than anything I\u2019ve ever done before or since, and I will treasure the experience for the rest of my life.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I feel like I would have to be a very bad person to pooh-pooh the product of such sincerity and enthusiasm. On the other hand, is it my fault if the episode is a nitpicker\u2019s paradise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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To me, the crux of the matter is whether Fear, however he was created, is an intelligent lifeform. If he is, they must figure out how to preserve him, full stop. Just like Data or EMH. If he isn\u2019t–look, it\u2019s not difficult, pull out the plug. We keep being assured this isn\u2019t possible. Brain damage would surely follow! Why? Because the plot said so, shut up. Decapitation inside the dream is fatal, because–well, for the same reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Some may find Janeway\u2019s ending speech where she gloats to the clown about conquering fear stirring, but I was thinking \u201cWhy are you dunking on a computer program?\u201d You won, so just shut it down (unless it is sentient, like Moriarty in TNG–it would have been a great cameo to somehow put the two of them in a simulated environment together!). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Briefing scenes in revival-era Star Trek function as a contrived way to dump exposition. A long explanatory paragraph from the writers is broken up into one-or-two sentence chunks and passed around to different members of the cast, seemingly at random, who pretend like they\u2019re having a conversation. While these scenes frequently seem artificial, when your exposition is this far out there they also become unintentionally comedic. The briefing scene in “The Thaw” is a great “Wait… WHAT?” scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The premise that a planet is dying with the population unable to escape is poignant. See Neal Stephenson\u2019s book Seveneves<\/em> (2015) for a masterful story built on this premise (spoiler: the planet is Earth). Will someone please explain to me why they only froze five people? Oh yes, because plot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There is no doubt, however, that \u201cThe Thaw\u201d is directed with verve. My favorite bits are EMH unexpectedly swooping in to the rescue, and particularly the deft ways in which the camera manages to find both EMH and Fear unexpectedly in the scene when they turn up in each shot. As an actor, Robert Picardo outdoes himself playing opposite the excellent McKean. I can silence my nitpicker long enough to grant that Marvin Rush allows the material to rise above the page and into something better than it otherwise has any right to be. The dramatic and unconventional ending was too cute for me, but memorable all the same.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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And look at that! Marvin Rush is now the director of photography on The Orville<\/em>. His journey continues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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2.5 out of 5 Cirque du Soleil performers.<\/p>\n\n\n

http:\/\/memory-alpha.wikia.com\/wiki\/The_Thaw_(episode)<\/a>