An absolutely classic Star Trek episode where the necessity to save money on a production acted as the creative stimulus for some highly enjoyable dialogue. This was delivered with great enthusiasm by two popular cast members, Connor Trinneer and Dominic Keeting, who's off-screen camaraderie apparently continues to this day (the two often appear at conventions together).
Yes, of course the science is fairly ridiculous but I am surprised how many reviewers have felt the need to point this out. We have seen so much worse over the years and at least Trip uses a fairly plausible method of finding out where the leak is coming from. Anybody remember the Dr Pepper scene from Mission to Mars?
Quite a bit of the back story is a re-run of the Original Series episode the Galileo Seven. The Captain being put under pressure to abandon the search for the missing shuttlecraft and the last desperate ignition of fuel to send out a distress flare were both used to good effect in that episode. Here they are exploited more as a set up for the two crew-mates to get on each other's nerves as they exhaust any ideas for escape and wait for the oxygen to run out.
Underneath the comedy, there are a few serious things being said about how people react differently to the proximity of death. However certain we are that these regular characters will be rescued by the end of the episode, the prospect that they may not escape with their lives this time is at least up for discussion.
Senior Trekker scores every episode with a 5.