Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Threshold (1996)

Robert Duncan McNeill: Lt. Tom Paris

Photos 

Quotes 

• Tom Paris : [delirious]  Do you cry?

  The Doctor : [looks unsure]  It's not in my program.

  Tom Paris : Shame. Heh! You know, it's funny. What I remember most about being a kid are the times I spent in my room crying. I liked my room, though. It was quiet in there. People'd leave me alone. I'd keep the door locked, read, play games.

  [smiles] 

  Tom Paris : I lost my virginity in that room. Seventeen. Parents were away for the weekend.

  The Doctor : I'll note that in your medical file.

• Tom Paris : BIG funeral, with lots of pretty girls all crying. Except Torres. Torres doesn't cry, d'you ever notice that? I don't trust people who don't cry.

• Tom Paris : You're losing me, aren't you? I'm gonna die.

  The Doctor : You're too stubborn to die, Mr. Paris.

• Tom Paris : I guess this whole experience has left me feeling a little overwhelmed. Flying at warp 10, evolving into a new life-form, mating, having alien offspring...

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : You've broken more than one record, that's for sure.

• [last lines] 

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : If I'm not mistaken, you've changed quite a few minds on this ship. You've earned a lot of people's respect and admiration.

  Tom Paris : Yeah... but I'm starting to realize that it's... not other people's opinions I should be worried about; it's mine. Seems, Captain, that I still have a few barriers to break. I just hope they're not theoretical impossibilities.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Somehow... I don't think they will be.

• [Paris plans to put the first ever warp 10 flight into practice] 

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : Well, good luck, Mr. Paris. If this works, you'll be joining an elite group of pilots. Orville Wright, Neil Armstrong, Zefram Cochrane - and Tom Paris.

  Tom Paris : I kinda like the way that sounds.

• [Paris has been denied the transwarp flight on medical grounds] 

  Tom Paris : When I was a boy, my father used to tell me that I was special, that one day I'd do something significant. My teachers at school, all the kids, everyone used to say, "Tom Paris is gonna do something important when he grows up." Obviously that didn't happen.

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : This isn't about personal redemption. We're talking about medical risk. Your life could be in danger, and we need you.

  Tom Paris : Captain, this is the first time in ten years I feel I HAVE a life to risk.

• [Paris has horrible mutations over his face and body] 

  Tom Paris : Pretty disgusting, huh?

  Captain Kathryn Janeway : You've looked better. How do you feel?

  Tom Paris : Like a lab experiment gone wrong.

• Tom Paris : "Here lies Thomas Eugene Paris, beloved mutant."

  The Doctor : A fitting epitaph, but I don't intend to let you use it just yet.

  Kes : Radiometric emitters are charged and ready.

  The Doctor : Begin with 45 rads per second.

  Tom Paris : Great. Now it'll read "Beloved Radioactive Mutant."

• [Paris drinks some of Neelix's 'Paris Delight' blend] 

  Tom Paris : Oh! Oh, I wish Neelix would name something after me that tasted a little better.

• Tom Paris : Kiss me.

  The Doctor : What?

  Tom Paris : Not you. Her.

  [nods toward Kes] 

  The Doctor : She can't breathe the atmosphere in here.

  Tom Paris : Consider it a last request.

• Tom Paris : [coming back from the dead]  Wha... what's happening?

  The Doctor : All of your internal organs are functioning again. In fact... you seem to have an extra one.

  Tom Paris : Wha...?

  The Doctor : You have... two hearts.

• Tom Paris : See you at warp 10.

• Tom Paris : [describing his transwarp flight]  For a moment, I was everywhere. I mean... everywhere, Captain! With the Kazon, back home, with the Klingons, other galaxies, it was all there! I don't know how else to explain it. It was like... Well, no, it wasn't like anything.

  The Doctor : Well - I'm glad you had a good time.

• B'Elanna Torres : [while in the Mess Hall]  It's the pylon again. Every time we get close to crossing the threshold... the subspace torque rips a nacelle off the shuttle.

  Ensign Harry Kim : What about a duranium alloy? We could try using it to reinforce...?

  B'Elanna Torres : No, I've thought about that already. It's too brittle.

  Neelix : [Neelix comes over to they're table, which is covered with technical PADD's]  More coffee? Ah... you look like a happy bunch.

  Ensign Harry Kim : We've hit a wall.

  Neelix : Oh, well, maybe I can help?

  Tom Paris : Great! You know anything about quantum warp theory or... multispectral subspace engine design?

  Neelix : No, but I'm a quick study.

  [takes a seat] 

  Neelix : What are we working on?

  B'Elanna Torres : [she thinks this problem is out of Neelix's league]  Do you have anything to eat?

  Neelix : Eh, sure. There are some Kalavian biscuits, uh, somewhere in the kitchen.

  B'Elanna Torres : I guess I'll go find them myself.

  [to Harry] 

  B'Elanna Torres : Fill 'im in.

  Ensign Harry Kim : [trying to phrase this delicately]  Neelix

  [clears throat] 

  Ensign Harry Kim : , it would take too long to...

  Neelix : W-what are you saying? I'm not smart enough? I'll have you know I did two years as an engineer's assistant aboard a Trabalean freighter. I'm well versed in warp theory.

  Tom Paris : Ok. Ok. We'll tell you. We're trying to break the maximum warp barrier.

  Ensign Harry Kim : Nothing in the universe can go warp 10 - it's a theoretical impossibility. In principle, if you were ever to reach warp 10, you'd be travelling at infinite velocity.

  Neelix : Infinite velocity? Got it! So... that, that means... very fast?

  Tom Paris : [that is an understatement]  It means that you would occupy every point in the universe simultaneously. In theory, you could go any place in the wink of an eye. Time and distance would have no meaning.

  Ensign Harry Kim : If Voyager achieved warp 10... we could be home in as long as it takes to push a button.

  Neelix : Wow! And you're working on this?

  Tom Paris : We discovered a new form of dilithium in the asteroid field we surveyed last month. It remains stable at a much higher warp frequency.

  Ensign Harry Kim : The problem is... every time we simulate crossing the transwarp threshold... the nacelles get torn off the ship.

  Neelix : I remember there was a time when I lost a warp nacelle going through a dark matter nebula.

  Tom Paris : This is a very different problem.

  Neelix : I realise that. I'm just using it as an example. As the ship went through the nebula, it sent out a dark matter bow wave. Eventually, so much pressure built up it tore the nacelle from its housing. Now, maybe the same thing is happening to you?

  [that's got Tom thinking about something] 

  Ensign Harry Kim : No, the simulations don't indicate any kind of subspace stress in the nacelles.

  Tom Paris : Wait a minute. What about the shuttle itself?

  Ensign Harry Kim : What do you mean?

  Tom Paris : [getting excited]  Maybe we've been looking in the wrong place? What if the nacelles aren't being torn from the ship? What if the ship is being torn from the nacelles?

  Ensign Harry Kim : The hull of the shuttle is made of tritanium alloy. At the speeds we're talking about... that alloy could depolarise...

  Tom Paris : ...and create a velocity differential. The fuselage would be travelling at a faster rate of speed than the nacelles.

  Ensign Harry Kim : [Tom's enthusiasm is catching]  That means we just have to set up a depolarisation matrix around the fuselage.

  Tom Paris : That's it! Neelix, you're a genius!

  [they both give Neelix a pat on the back, with Paris adding a one-arm hug, before leaving the Mess Hall] 

  Neelix : [to himself]  I have no idea what they just said.

  [Neelix passes B'Elanna on his way back to the kitchen, taking a biscuit from the tray she's holding, leaving her wondering what went on while she was gone] 

• Tom Paris : Admit it. Part of you will be glad to see me gone. I'm the Marquis traitor who sits on your bridge and insults your uniform, remember?