Product Description
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STAR TREK VOYAGER details the adventures of the Starfleet's most
adventurous starship, the U.S.S. Voyager, as it is led by Captain
Kathryn Janeway (Mulgrew) on missions into deep space.
.com
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Season One
Star Trek: Voyager began life in 1995 with some truly fascinating
prospects in its two-hour pilot episode. Opening in the 24th
century, a setting contemporary with that of Star Trek: The Next
Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and carrying over story
elements from each of those series, "Caretaker" finds Starfleet
Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) stepping into the middle
of Federation troubles with the Maquis, an army of rebels
violently resisting the interplanetary organization's treaty with
the brutal Cardassians. In the process, both Voyager and the
Maquis ship under surveillance are accidentally catapulted out of
the galaxy's Alpha Quadrant (the familiar stomping grounds of
Starfleet personnel) by a benign but dying being called the
Caretaker. Voyager ends up in the unexplored Delta Quadrant, some
70,000 light years away.
So much seemed dramatically promising in this debut, especially
the unwieldy alliance of Starfleet regulars and hostile Maquis,
and the likelihood that a lifetime spent in isolation, trying to
get home, would lead to the development of a self-contained
society on the ship, yet Voyager never entirely made up its mind
what it was supposed to be about. The curiously cheesy sets and
fascinating, progressive management style of Janeway (half mommy,
half taskmaster) were also new developments in Star Trek culture.
As the 16-episode season continued, character backstories were
developed in such episodes as "The Cloud" (arguably the best
episode of the season), "Eye of the Needle" (underscoring Janeway
and the crew's sadness), "State of Flux" (in which a search for a
traitor reveals a past romance between Commander Chakotay, played
by Robert Beltran, and sexy Bajoran engineer Seska, played by
Martha Hackett), and "Jetrel" (which explores the character of
Neelix, the Talaxian played by Ethan Phillips, during a parable
about scientific ethics and moral responsibility).
Among other notable episodes, "Phage" strikes a nice balance
among character development, story hook, and moral and emotional
conflict when Neelix is literally robbed of his lungs by the
Vidiians, a once-civilized people who are combating a deadly
disease called the Phage by stealing organs. (The disease would
return in "Faces," a fine showcase for Roxann Biggs-Dawson as
Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres.) "Emanations" stirred controversy
among the series' producers and some fans for its philosophical
look at death, and "Time and Again" is a unique time-travel story
in which Janeway and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) get caught
in a subspace fracture that places them just hours before they
know a planet is going to be destroyed. In "Prime Factors,"
latent tensions among Voyager personnel erupts into serious
conflict, an issue revisited in the season finale, "Learning
Curve." Despite a pat ending that resolves the Maquis conflict
much too easily, the episode drives home the fact that Voyager
and its crew are all alone, making the most of a difficult
predicament. --Tom Keogh and Jeff Shannon
Season Two
If the first season of Star Trek: Voyager was a shakedown cruise,
then season 2 represents a vital blossoming of the series'
potential. As Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew maintained Starfleet
integrity in the lawless expanse of the Delta quadrant, and
became the ethical conscience of her still-uneasy
Maquis/Starfleet crew, whose unanimous loyalty would be
dramatically proven in "The '37's" (a first-season hold-over).
Janeway's moral guidance would also assert itself in "Death Wish"
(a "Q" episode featuring NextGen's Jonathan Frakes) and "Tuvix,"
in which life-or-death decisions landed squarely on her
shoulders. Season 2 brought similar development to all the
primary characters, deepening their relationships and defining
their personalities, especially Robert Beltran as Chakotay (in
"Initiations" and "Tattoo"), now firmly established as Janeway's
best friend (and nearly more than that, in "Resolutions") and
command-decision confidante.
Solid sci-fi concepts abound in season 2, although "Threshold" is
considered an embarrassment (as confessed by co-executive
producer Brannon Braga in a self-deprecating "Easter Egg"
interview clip). It was a forgivable lapse in a consistently
excellent season that intensified Janeway's struggle with the
villainous Kazon, exacerbated by a Starfleet traitor in cahoots
with the duplicitous Cardassian Seska (played by Martha Hackett,
featured in a lively guest-star profile). The psychologically
intense "Meld" (featuring a riveting guest performance by Brad
Dourif) was a Tuvok-story highlight, and the aptly titled
"Basics, Pt. 1" provided an ominous cliffhanger, including a
second planetary landing (in a season full of impressive special
effects) that left Voyager's e in question. DVD extras are
abundant and worthwhile, especially the season 2 retrospective
and "A Day in the Life of Ethan Phillips" (who plays Neelix under
a daily ordeal of latex makeup). Several Easter egg
surprises--including a music video performance by Tim Russ
(Tuvok)--are hidden (but easily found) among the "Special
Features" menus on disc 7. All in all, this was one of Voyager's
finest seasons, leaving some enticing questions to be answered in
season 3. --Jeff Shannon
Season Three
After proving its long-term potential in season 2, Star Trek:
Voyager served up some of the best episodes in its entire
seven-year history. The second-season cliffhanger was
intelligently resolved in "Basics, Pt. II," and the fan-favorite
"Flashback" placed Tuvok (Tim Russ) aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior
from Star Trek VI, under the command of Capt. Sulu (Star Trek
alumnus George Takei). It was a brilliant example of interseries
plotting, just as "False Profits" was a Ferengi-based sequel to
the NextGen episode "The Price." The two-part time-travel
scenario of "Future's End" is a Voyager highlight, with clear
echoes (including dialogue lifted verbatim!) of Star Trek's
classic "The City on the Edge of Forever," featuring delightful
guest performances by actress-comedienne Sarah Silverman and Ed
Begley Jr. Character-wise, the season belonged to Kes (Jennifer
Lien, whose tenure on the series was now near its end), Neelix
(Ethan Phillips), and the Doctor (Robert Picardo), who shined
(respectively) in "Warlord," "Fair Trade," and the surprisingly
touching "Real Life" (the latter directed by "Potsie" himself,
Happy Days veteran Anson Williams). By infecting B'Elanna
(Roxanne Dawson) with a fellow officer's "Blood Fever," Voyager
delved into the turbulent Vulcan ritual of Pon Farr, while the
cliffhanger "Scorpion" introduced the relentless, Borg-destroying
villains of Species 8472, which would pose a continuing threat in
subsequent episodes.
Season 3 had a few clunkers (the guilty pleasure "Macrocosm" puts
Janeway in stripped-down "Ripley" mode against invading
macro-viruses, and Ensign Kim is an awkward "Favorite Son" to a
bevy of babes), but for every misstep there's a strong
science-fiction concept, like the highly-evolved Hadrosaurs in
"Distant Origin," which doubles as a compelling indictment of
institutionalized repression. Overall, this is rock-solid Trek,
and the DVD features are equally engaging, albeit growing more
perfunctory (especially the season 3 summary) with each
full-season release. Don't forget the Easter eggs hidden on the
special-features menus, however; they contain some of the set's
happiest surprises. --Jeff Shannon
Season Four
For many fans, Voyager hit its peak in the fourth season, due in
no small part to a certain former Borg drone named Seven of Nine,
Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 0-1, but you can call her Seven of
Nine (Jeri Ryan). Following the season 3 cliffhanger "Scorpion,"
the crew enters an unlikely alliance with the Borg against
Species 8472, led by Seven of Nine, who ends up restoring
(mostly) her human roots and trying to assimilate herself among
Voyager's crew all the time feeling the pull of the Collective
and resisting the mother-hen attempts of Captain Janeway (Kate
Mulgrew). While Seven's curvaceous figure and skin-tight uniform
certainly won over many fans, she was helped by a commanding
presence, good writing ("So you wish to copulate?" was a classic
line), and a stage that was cleared for her by the coinciding
departure of one of the most prominent characters of the series.
Other significant developments of the season included the actors'
getting to stretch themselves out "Mirror, Mirror"-like as evil
counterparts in "Living Witness" (also Tim Russ's directing
debut), the time- and mind-bending two-parter "Year of Hell," a
battle with 1940s Nazis in the two-part "The Killing Game," the
Doctor's comedic sparring with a new rival in "Message in a
Bottle," the Alien-like "Prey," and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan
MacNeill) taking a personal step and sw bodies with an
alien in "Vis a Vis."
The DVD set offers the usual 20-minute season overview, crew
profiles of Seven of Nine (natch) and Harry Kim (both of whom
show warm appreciation for the Trek crowd), features on Species
8472 and the art of matte painting, and episode spotlights.
--David Horiuchi
Season Five
After Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) spent much of Voyager's fourth
season trying to resist the pull of the Borg, and just when the
tide of battle seemed to be turning, she returns to the
Collective in a memorable confrontation with the Borg Queen
(Susanna Thompson) in the centerpiece story of the fifth season,
the two-part "Dark Frontier." The Borg also factor into the
nightmare-laden "Infinite Regress" as well as "Drone," in which a
strange Borg-human-EMH hybrid teaches Seven the experience of
parenthood, of sorts. Species 8472 returns as well, in another of
the season's gritty episodes, "In the ."
The series' historic 100th episode "Timeless" goes back in
history as Kim (Garrett Wang) and Chakotay (Robert Beltran) try
to repair a past mistake (directed by and guest-starring TNG's
LeVar Burton), and in another dizzying episode, "Relativity,"
Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is spending her first day on Voyager when
she discovers Seven, who has traveled back in time to prevent an
act of sabotage. It was also a good season for buddies Kim and
Paris (Robert Duncan MacNeill). In addition to "Timeless," Kim
takes center stage in "The Disease" when he embarks on a
dangerous romance. Paris is thrown in the brig in "Thirty Days,"
and his Captain Proton holodeck simulation goes haywire in "Bride
of Chaotica!" In "Course Oblivion," a ship wedding is the prelude
to a deadly displacement for the entire crew.
It wasn't all slam-bang action. The Doctor's (Robert Picardo)
buried memories lead to an ethical conflict in "Latent Image,"
and he and Seven (the two most consistently interesting crew
members) dabble in the most unlikely of romances in one of the
series' most touching and memorable episodes "Someone to Watch
Over Me." Also, Jason Alexander (then in Seinfeld) guest-stars as
a scheming alien in "Think Tank." Voyager didn't always close its
season with a cliffhanger, but in "Equinox, Part 1" an attempt to
aid another Federation starship in the Delta Quadrant uncovers a
threat that might destroy them both.
The bonus features include a season recap, crew profiles of
Voyager's resident couple, B'Elanna Torres and Paris, a 19-minute
spotlight on the makeup process (Neelix was created as a
combination of Timon and Pumbaa in The Lion King), and "The Borg
Queen Speaks," in which Susanna Thompson discusses the
difficulties of shooting and how she had originally auditioned
for the same role in Star Trek: First Contact. --David Horiuchi
Season Six
In their sixth season trying to return to the Alpha Quadrant, the
crew of Voyager continues to find signs that they may be close to
home. They ran across another Federation starship in the season 5
cliffhanger, "Equinox," which is concluded in action-packed
fashion. Then they benefit from a brief communications link to
home thanks to the ongoing efforts of The Next Generation's Lt.
Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz), occasionally assisted by
Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis). "One Small Step" sets Voyager on
the trail of NASA's first manned mission to Mars (one of the
bonus features details Robert Picardo's post-Trek work with
NASA).
In other episodes, Torres (Roxann Biggs-Dawson) tests the limits
of Klingon honor ("Barge of the Dead"), Tuvok (Tim Russ)
stretches his emotions ("Riddles), Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill)
and Kim (Garrett Wang) embark on a new holdeck program, wrestling
superstar the Rock makes a gimmicky guest appearance
("Tsunakatse"), a former crew member returns ("Fury"), and the
crew discovers a group of abandoned Borg children ("Collective").
The two most interesting characters continue to be the Doctor
(Picardo) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). The former stretches out
numerous times ("Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, ," "Virtuoso," "Life
Line"), and we learn more about Seven's Borg past in "Survival
Instinct" and the season closer, in which Seven discovers that
during regeneration she can enter a dream world called Unimatrix
Zero. There she meets a number of mutated Borg who can exist in
this world in their pre-assimilation state and who also present
an idea for destroying the collective from within. The Borg
Queen, however, discovers the plan and ends the season in a
nightmarish cliffhanger that recalls the great Next Gen episode
"The Best of Both Worlds." --David Horiuchi
Season Seven
After seven long years trying to return home, it's no surprise
that the seventh season of Voyager was emotional. It begins with
the resolution to season 6's "Unimatrix Zero," in which Janeway
(Kate Mulgrew), Torres (Roxann Biggs-Dawson), and Tuvok (Tim
Russ) must find a way off the Borg Cube and Seven of Nine (Jeri
Ryan) faces the loss of the precious bit of humanity she has just
discovered. "Human Error" focuses on Seven's further attempts to
explore her human side (a romance comes from out of the blue).
And if Seven isn't the cast's most fascinating character, it's
the other crew member struggling to find his not-quite-human
identity, the Doctor (Robert Picardo). In "Body and Soul," the
Doctor gets to experience physical life in the body of--who
else?--Seven. He writes a novel in "Author, Author," and in the
first of a pair of excellent two-parters, " and Blood," he
explores what it means to be a hologram in the midst of a deadly
situation involving the Hirogen. In the second two-parter,
"Workforce," the crew is kipped and brainwashed into becoming
ordinary laborers on a planet with a worker shortage, but Janeway
is forced to question whether she wouldn't prefer this version of
a normal, stable life.
The seventh season also saw the first Trek wedding since
Dax-Worff, the return of the old Federation-Maquis conflict, the
continuing efforts of Lt. Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz) to
bring Voyager home, Kim (Garrett Wang) taking command twice (once
with the help of the Emergency Command Hologram), the return of
Q, and Neelix's discovery of a group of fellow Talaxians. The
final episode, "Endgame," is less concerned with misty-eyed
goodbyes than with a bending of conventional views of the
space-time continuum that leads to an exciting showdown with the
Borg queen (Alice Krige, repeating her role from Star Trek: First
Contact but making her first appearance on Voyager). DVD bonus
features include the usual season recap, a 12-minute featurette
on the final episode, and a crew profile of the Doctor. --David
Horiuchi
