"I have no intention of participating in your game." --- Seven
"The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park." --- B'Elanna
Synopsis
Two aliens are fighting in a boxing ring. Colored lights are flashing and the crowd is cheering. In the crowd, there are several Starfleet officers, including B'Elanna and Chakotay.
Chakotay and the crew are on shore leave. The game they are watching is similar to boxing, but it's called tsunkatse. After the game, they beam back to Voyager. Captain Janeway departs with a few other officers in the Delta Flyer. They plan on visiting the nearby Pendari system. She's leaving Chakotay in command.
Janeway leaves and the crew resumes their shore leave. Many crewmembers have become fans of tsunkatse, while the Doctor just can't wait to visit the local museums. Tuvok and Seven, however, have other plans. They take a shuttlecraft to investigate a micro - nebula. While on the mission, they are kidnapped. The kidnappers force Seven to play in the latest round of tsunkatse. She performs well, but she loses. The game's manager is thrilled. Three billion people turned in to watch Seven lose. He then decides to put her in a game to the death. Not wanting her to die, a Hirogen who has been forced to play the game for nineteen years teaches her. He says that he knows her opponent's weaknesses. Seven enters the ring and is shocked to discover that her opponent in none other than the Hirogen himself.
He says he wants a quick death, so he can be free again. She doesn't want to kill him or anybody else, but if she doesn't she will die. They fight. They have targets on their bodies. If the player's target is hit too many times, the person will die. Soon both Seven and the Hirogen only have one hit left to spare. Just before Seven is about to kill the Hirogen, Voyager and the Delta Flyer arm all of their phaser banks and unleash a volley of ruby red beams at the ship on which the matches are taking place. Once the ship's shields drop, Seven and the Hirogen are beamed to sickbay. The Hirogen leaves the ship and rejoins his people, and Seven wonders if she was wrong in trying to kill him. Finally, the crew sets a course for Alpha Quadrant, and they resume their journey toward home.
My Thoughts
"Tsunkatse" was pure entertainment from start to finish. It was full of non - stop action, thrilling music, cool special effects, and a few very interesting plot twists. It certainly wasn't perfect, but I liked it. I must say that the production team did a great job. The sets were very nicely designed. I loved seeing the Hirogen again, but it just seemed a little odd. Isn't Hirogen space nearly thirty years away from Voyager's current location? Anyway, the actor who played the Hirogen has appeared on Trek before, and he did a good job here. After he trained Seven to fight to the death, I was shocked to discover that he was the one she was scheduled to fight. I certainly never saw that one coming. Seven and Tuvok were captured during a shuttle mission once again. The same thing happened in Season 4's "Hunters". Also, B'Elanna finally got to command Voyager. Chakotay left her in charge while he went to the tsunkatse matches. Along with taking command, our favorite chief engineer also managed to dish out some witty remarks during the course of the episode. One of them was, "The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park." The acting was good this week. The Rock did a pretty good job with the scene he had. Jeri Ryan also gave us a nice performance, and the fighting scenes were very realistic. As I already said, the special effects were good. The alien vessel which held the tsunkatse matches was neat, and I absolutely loved seeing Janeway storm in with the Delta Flyer to save the day. I guess I've said enough, so I'll end my review now. My Rating : 9.50 out of 10.00 -- NEXT WEEK : The Borg are back! This time the crew runs into an unfriendly group of Borg children, who seem intent on destroying the crew and returning to the Collective. The special effects for this once look superb.
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