The most bizarre Star Trek episode might just be Voyager’s Threshold

The most bizarre episode has to be Star Trek: Voyager’s Threshold, right?

While reading through Star Trek stories, I found one from Screenrant talking about the top ten most bizarre episodes in Star Trek lore. Eating Deonna Troi when she’s a cake? Yeah, Star Trek is a bizarre adventure for sure and has a list of episodes to pick from. Now, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and Screenrant writer Stephanie Marceau believes that The Next Generation episode Conspiracy is the one that really deserves to be labeled the most bizarre. To be fair, it’s one of the most haunting and graphic moments in the show’s history. I disagree, however, and think Star Trek: Voyager‘s Threshold is the most bizarre. Partly because her reason for placing Conspiracy number one has to do with the serialized nature of the storytelling. That despite this huge reveal, nothing is ever mentioned again about the incidents in Conspiracy.

A fair point but one that I think negates the question at hand. Conspiracy features a relatively common science fiction trope. Yet, Voyager’s Threshold is…well it’s just whacked.

Threshold is just creepy from top to bottom.

Basically it boils down to Tom Paris going on a test flight that sees him go too fast and start to de-evolve. In doing so, he ends up capturing Kathryn Janeway, repeating the same test flight with her, and causing her to de-evolve as well. They eventually turn into slug creatures, doink, have kids, and have the whole processed reversed returning them to normal. All while leaving the Paris-Janeway broad on the planet to be eaten, probably.

This isn’t a science fiction trope, this is a science fiction nightmare. As weird and gross as Next Generation’s Conspiracy is, the fact that Janeway and Paris had slug babies together is just the worst of ideas ever. It’s cringe-inducing at the highest level.

Threshold isn’t just the strangest episode in my opinion but arguably the worst in Voyager history. If not all of Star Trek.