Harry, B'Elanna, and three Kohls are trapped in a virtual reality by a clown who will not let them go.
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By Cableface on Friday, March 05, 1999 - 12:55 pm:

In this episode, Harry complains that the acoustics on board are terrible.Tom replies that the ship was built for war, not for clarinet players.(or something along those lines)I didn't think voyager was built for war, more exploration.

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By cableface on Tuesday, March 16, 1999 - 2:13 pm:

On watching this episode, I have to say, it has the best ending of any voyager episode.No need for FX or finishing shots of the ship.The clown realises he's going to die, the music dies down and everything slowly fades to black.The end.
Brilliant.

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By Callie Sullivan on Wednesday, March 17, 1999 - 3:25 am:

I agree - I went absolutely cold when the clown whimpered, "I'm afraid", and Janeway hissed, "I Know". And his little "Drat" just before the lights went out - great great ending!

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By Q on Monday, March 22, 1999 - 1:26 pm:

I thought this episode was kind of creepy, but I do agree that the end was VERY clever.

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By Annonymous no 1 on Tuesday, March 23, 1999 - 5:50 am:

I saw it comming, but it was cool nonetheless

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By BrianB on Friday, July 09, 1999 - 8:22 am:

RUMINATIONS: Possibly Michael McKean's best villain role. Best known as Lenny from Laverne & Shirley, he went on to become some of the most stereotypical bad guys, usually with his Saturday Night Live colleagues.

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By Steve McKinnon on Tuesday, September 07, 1999 - 10:07 am:

I have to disagree with you guys. I disliked this episode intensely, and it has the dubious distinction as the only episode of Trek (all 4 series) that I had to turn off after about the first quarter. I thought it very irritating, and childish, and horribly acted over the top. It made me yearn for the days of "Brain and brain, what is brain?!" and "We reach, Mister Spock."

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By Callie Sullivan on Tuesday, September 07, 1999 - 4:05 pm:

Steve - if you'd stuck with it you might find out why most of the rest of us loved it! You can't say you disliked the episode if you only saw a quarter of it!

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By Matthew Patterson (Mpatterson) on Tuesday, September 07, 1999 - 9:29 pm:

This is one of the only four Voyagers I liked (the other three being Living Witness, One, and The Gift). I thought it was very well done and possibly Janeway's last intelligent command decision.

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By Steve M. on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 8:45 am:

I hated the first quarter, and just found it too irritating to continue. It probably has something to do with my hating clowns and over-the-top acting and silly premises. Space clowns? Yuck. Give me giant talking carrots, please!

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By cableface on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 2:17 pm:

Yeah.......that'd make more sense......

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By cableface on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 2:18 pm:

Yeah.......that'd make more sense......

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By cableface on Monday, September 13, 1999 - 2:18 pm:

sorry about that.my mistake.

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By Mark Swinton on Saturday, October 23, 1999 - 2:49 pm:

Coincidences continue to amaze. The Tall Character looking like a black ghost (his first line is "Perhaps I can help you... you are looking for friends?") is played by Carel Struycken, better known as Lurch in the Addams Family movies. The Clown's fantasy also includes a midget lady who dances around (and bumps into Kim at the start- "Oops! I'm sorry!"). She is played by Patty Maloney. And guess what? She played a dancing woman in the ballroom scenes of the first Addams Family movie!!!!!!
And yes, the ending was good. In fact, this whole episode stood out of Seasons One and Two because of its complete change of pace and originality. Macabre, yes... but one of the best Star Trek episodes ever made!

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By Aaron Dotter on Thursday, October 28, 1999 - 6:02 pm:

Harry says while he is practicing his clarinet that the sound carries through the bulkheads, and then he proceeds to insult Lieutenant (whatever). I wonder if that lieutenant heard that?

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By Mark Swinton on Friday, October 29, 1999 - 1:31 pm:

If you check the episode again, you'll find that it's Paris who insults ENSIGN Baytart ("Obviously [he] doesn't appreciate music").

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By Chris Thomas on Sunday, February 06, 2000 - 7:51 am:

Michael McKean was also in This Is Spinal Tap, The Brady Bunch Movie and that X-Files two-parter where he swapped bodies with Mulder.

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By Spockania on Tuesday, October 03, 2000 - 7:55 pm:

I liked this episode... but I am still not 100% certain why, if people die because of fear, they don't just relax, or at least try to relax. Furthermore... would fear really cause a healthy young chap to have a heart attack? (I admit the old guy who dies does look like he is right on the edge, though)

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By NarkS on Saturday, October 07, 2000 - 9:11 pm:

I liked the episode, just not the ending all that much. Janeway's speech was a little too much "OK, now here's the moral of the story, listen up here!" moments where the writers decided to be a little too metaphorical. Other than that it was a nice episode.

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By Josh G. on Friday, May 04, 2001 - 10:39 pm:

Along with "Living Witness," this is one of my favorite Voyager episodes. I don't know whether its the surreal nature of the dream world or the palpable sense of danger throughout the episode, but it just clicks in my mind.

And I can't heap enough superlatives to describe the final scene. The fadeout made me think of theatre, and that's a good thing

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By Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 3:27 am:

Neelix says that this planet was a major trading center, but then shouldn't word of the disaster have gotten around? Were all the natives on the planet or are there others on other planets waiting for it to thaw out? Did the natives think of trying to save any off world traders who may have been on the planet?

B'Elanna says she has ten more connections to shut off, we hear two more beeps implying eight to go. One person gets killed and Janeway orders them all turned back on. Now stopping the procedure, okay, but why turn them all back on? Would Fear had known if all or just some were turned back on?

My mom laughed when Fear is fading away to nonexistence and his last words are, "Oh, drat."

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By Anonymous on Friday, May 30, 2003 - 6:39 pm:

If Harry would hust remember that there is no fear and he'd be fine ;)

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By Anonymous on Saturday, May 31, 2003 - 1:53 pm:

Somehow the image of Harry in a trencoat and sunglasses, running up and down walls blasting the heck out of everyone all while doging phaser blasts just doesen't seem to fit within Voyagers theme.

The clown isn't very smart. The more people he kills, the less thoughts and stuff he has access to and the less toughts he has access to, the less fun he can have.

Although, if they can get holograms in there (as Doc did). Why not call up a bunch of commando holograms to distract the clown and his buddies while getting harry and the other people out?

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By constanze on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 7:26 am:

ICBN nit for this ep.: after watching the TOS ep. "Specter of the Gun", I wondered why they didn't use Spocks solution - the situation was the same, that not the virtual world would harm the people, but people believing that harm would come to them would suffer damage, so Spock performed a mind-meld to calm them. Since there is Tuvok on board, why not this solution?

In a later ep., Tuvok mind-melds with Suder to help him control his murderours impulses, which must be much more difficult for Tuvok!

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By LUIGI NOVI on Tuesday, July 01, 2003 - 10:19 am:

And the Bill Clinton Award for Least Amount of Moral Ambiguity goes to…
Great Line: “We couldn’t do that….………could we?” -Harry to Paris, after Paris suggests they have Baytart transferred to the night shift so Harry can play his music.

And the Lampshade on the Head Award goes to…
Another Great Line: “I don’t get out much.” -Doc to the Fear Clown, in Act 5, after the Clown accuses him of knowing how to bring a party to a halt.

Which is why the androids of Gadasios III are the target demographic for this series’ producers
Yet Another One: “I’ll choose not to take that personally.” -Doc to Torres, after the chief engineer says that there’s no way an artificial intelligence can replace actual brain functions.

---Notes:
---This episode was originally titled “Fear the Clown.”
---Poor old actor Carel Struycken seems destined to never get full exposure in Trek. As Mr. Homn, he almost never got a chance to speak. As the Spectre in this episode (the tall figure shrouded in black rags with the big grin), we don’t get to see his face!

Union rules regarding use of more than one actor from the movie Small Soldiers
Hal Schuster, in The Trekker’s Guide to Voyager, wondered why Doc wasn’t sent in from the start. Isn’t he the best suited for this mission? (I feel Hal has a point, though since Doc’s engineering knowledge is limited, at least Harry or Torres should’ve gone with him.)
After appearing on this show, a heart attack was a merciful death
Schuster also pointed out that no one tries to revive Viorsa when he has a heart attack.
She’s right. A.I.’s don’t usually disagree with fellow engineers by breaking their noses.
Torres says that there’s no way an artificial intelligence can replace actual brain functions. What about Data? Aren’t his neural functions at least equal to, if not superior to “actual,” or natural brain functions? It’s not like Torres isn’t familiar with Data; she mentioned him to 3947 in Prototype.
Yeah, those natural brain functions are looking better and better all the time, eh B’Elanna?
The crew reason that there is no other way to communicate with the virtual reality inhabitants. Couldn’t Tuvok and Kes attempt to communicate with them telepathically? Why didn’t anyone think of that?
Great, now they’re not only dumb, they’re blind too
After Torres is allowed to leave the virtual reality environment, the show cuts to a commercial, and then there’s a briefing room meeting. Why is it so dark?
Clowining around with the clock
When Doc delivers Janeway’s ultimatum to the Clown at the end of the episode, he notes that the Clown has 1 minute to decide. He then notes:
---52 seconds, but does so only 6 seconds later, instead of 8, then
---43 seconds, but does so 10 seconds later, instead of 9, then
---30 seconds, but does so only 8 seconds later, instead of 13, then
---20 seconds, but does so only 7 seconds later, instead of 10, then
---time’s up, but says this only 11 seconds later, instead of 20. In total, Doc says time’s up after only 42 seconds. Doesn’t this medical computer program know how to tell time? Does he think the Clown doesn’t?

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By John A. Lang on Sunday, May 23, 2004 - 7:25 am:

BEST LINE: "Oh, Drat!" The clown as he fades into oblivion.

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By Anonymous on Sunday, October 01, 2006 - 9:43 am:

The Wizard of Oz’s hold on the 24th century continues! At one point, sounding a lot life Auntie Em, Fear says, “There’s no place like home.” I take it he got this reference from Kim’s mind rather than Torres’. Why? Well, Kim seems to like 20th century films (‘Year of Hell’), and can you imagine Torres singing “Follow the Yellow Brick Road”? Me neither.

Great idea people! The crew finds a bunch of stasis chambers with a computer connecting their brain functions and after finding two people dead in them Harry and BLT decide to hook their brains to this thing. Luigi already mentioned it but this was an incredibly dumb thing to do, and the Doc would've made the best candidate. Furthermore, if they had to send somebody in for some reason, why send the chief engineer?

Maybe it's a cultural thing but why embody fear inside a clown?

Because some people find clowns scary. TV Tropes has a good article on Monster Clowns

I just got through watching this episode again, on Spike TV. I would have handled this differently. When the doctor shows up the first time, I would have had Harry or B'elanna tell the doctor about the alien guillotine, which scares people into having a heart attack. Then I would have had the rest of the Voyager crew prepare a holographic representation of Superman (or some similar character, to avoid copyright headaches) and send HIM into the illusory environment. I would have had "Superman" say, "I'm as real as you are, and you can't hurt me!" Then I would have had "Superman" smash the alien guillotine to pieces.

To me this was the worst Voyager ever,worse than tos' Empath.When it comes on, I refuse to watch it
eeeek.I call it the Clown Guy episode.,

sorry VOyager fans. MY 2 cents.