Tsunkatse

"Tsunkatse" is the fifteenth episode of the sixth season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Voyager.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet and Maquis crew of the starship USS Voyager after they were stranded in the Delta Quadrant far from the rest of the Federation.

In this episode, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) is abducted, along with Tuvok (Tim Russ), while on a survey mission and forced by her captors to fight in an arena for the entertainment of others.

It featured Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson in a guest role as a Pendari fighter, and former Star Trek: Deep Space Nine actors J. G. Hertzler and Jeffrey Combs.

The crossover between Voyager and the UPN wrestling show WWF Smackdown was described as a "clever marketing ploy" by Russ,[1] but received a negative fan reaction on broadcast.

Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) attend a mixed martial arts ring sport called "Tsunkatse," while Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) visits a neighboring system in the Delta Flyer.

Seven is brought to Penk (Jeffrey Combs) who blackmails her into fighting in the Tsunkatse matches or else Tuvok will be refused medical treatment.

[1] World Wrestling Federation wrestler and actor Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson appeared as the Pendari Champion in a special guest role.

[2][4] Combs described his character as the "Don King of my quadrant", but was a little uneasy about appearing on Voyager after 35 episodes of Deep Space Nine as some of the sets from his former show had been re-used in a different manner, saying "It felt like how an old person might feel going home, but things are not quite the same.

[7] The episode suffered from a negative fan reaction upon release, with it seen as an attempt to crossover between Voyager and UPN's other show, WWF SmackDown.

"[9] Peter Franks reviewed the VHS release of the episode for Dreamwatch magazine, saying that it was "below average" and could have been a plot used on Star Trek: The Next Generation with Data replacing Seven of Nine.

Young described it as being "uncharacteristically cool from a martial arts perspective" and that "it was nice to see a value-judgement-free depiction of no-holds-barred competition on such a respected TV series.

"[12] TrekNation reviewer Michelle Erica Green described the episode as the opposite of Gene Roddenberry's original ideals for Star Trek but enjoyed the performances of Combs and Hertzler.

However, he thought that the plot was absent but the episode was carried by strong guest stars and gave it a score of two and a half out of four, calling it "entertainingly assembled trash".