By BWilliams / 00:15, 25 June 2004 / Reviews - Products

Editor's Note: Steve Krutzler hopes to offer his perspective on the third season soon, but in the interests of preventing a delay with this review, contributing editor and book reviewer Bill Williams has graciously stepped in.

And now we come to the third season of STAR TREK: VOYAGER. It’s one of those television shows that you either admit to liking or not, depending on your viewpoint. At times for me it felt like VOYAGER was a NEXT GENERATION “wanna-be”, replacing Picard, Data, and the Enterprise with a different crew and a different ship. Like the other STAR TREK series, VOYAGER had its share of bumps and bruises, but there were certain episodes that made the series harken back to the days of the Original Series with a particular sparkle. VOYAGER had its share of serious stories, mixed in with the romps, the bumps, and the bruises.

Of course, this was all in the day before the creative powers at the helm of STAR TREK began running out of gas by resorting to contrived stories and plot retreads not only during VOYAGER’s run but also in ENTERPRISE. Still, there was some energy to VOYAGER, and after several years of watching the series on TV it’s good to see that it’s still there.

1996 marked the 30th anniversary of the premiere of the original STAR TREK, and executive producer Rick Berman saw to it that they celebrated in style. The eighth feature film STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT was released to a huge box office success. On DEEP SPACE NINE, Sisko and crew went back in time to revisit Kirk and company in the comic romp “Trials and Tribble-ations”, the sequel to “The Trouble With Tribbles.” And on VOYAGER we had a nice look back to the days of 'Captain Sulu' and the crew of the Excelsior. Mixed in with a return visit from John de Lancie’s 'Q', several time-travel adventures including one to the 1990’s, the return of a couple of misplaced Ferengi from THE NEXT GENERATION, some new threats, and several serious dramatic turns for the crew, VOYAGER -- like a buried diamond -- still shines once you clean it up.

The third season marked the first time VOYAGER saw a complete 26-episode production run (while the second season had 26 episodes telecast, four of those episodes had been initially produced during the first season but were held until the fall of 1995.) But in these 26 there’s a real maturity to the characters. Each of the nine major cast members undergoes growth and change that adds real depth to their personas, contributing new aspects along the way. 'The Doctor' (Robert Picardo) would undergo major changes to his character this season, not only learning the value of human emotions in “Real Life”, and turning violent in “Darkling”, but also receiving his portable holo-emitter in “Future’s End, Part II”, allowing for more action beyond the confines of sickbay. Jennifer Lien’s under-utilized 'Kes' came into the spotlight in “Warlord”, exhibiting a rare amount of toughness and action to her frequently quiet and demure character, while beginning to see changes in her Ocampan physiology in “Before and After”, which would eventually lead to her departure early in the fourth season’s “The Gift”. 'Neelix' (Ethan Phillips) showed that there’s more to his character than meets the eye in “Fair Trade”. This one episode disturbed me more than the others because of the way that he got taken down several notches throughout the episode, first slowly then all at once. And we saw 'Kathryn Janeway' (Kate Mulgrew) explore her spiritual beliefs in “Sacred Ground”, get caught in a time loop in “Coda”, and become Q’s love suitor in “The Q and the Grey”. Finally, the third season saw the return of a long-time deadly threat, one that would lead to a new crew addition in the fourth season.

I must admit, it’s been a while since I’ve really watched VOYAGER in its entirety. For me this was one of the most haphazard overall viewings of STAR TREK that I had personally experienced since the reruns of the Original Series during those college days in the 1980’s. Not because I didn’t like VOYAGER, but because in those days UPN was a fledgling fourth network, and at the time the only way I was able to catch the first four seasons of VOYAGER was in second-run syndication after the initial UPN telecasts. For a while during the fifth season we didn’t even have VOYAGER, much less UPN, on our cable television system, thanks to the city council. Those were the days I had to rely on a buddy with a satellite dish out in the woods to record the episodes so I could borrow them to watch �" and even then, it was fuzzy. It wouldn’t be until the sixth season that we finally got UPN in our area. Now, with the advent of DVD, I can sit back and enjoy �" or suffer through? �" the series again in its entirety, without having to worry about late nights, cable problems, satellite dishes, or the city council.

One of the most eagerly-awaited episodes of the third season was the first one that went into production that year, the 30th anniversary tribute episode “Flashback,” featuring the return of George Takei as Captain Hikaru Sulu and Grace Lee Whitney as 'Janice Rand', in a recreation and extension of events from STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY. It made sense; after all, 'Tuvok' lived long enough and had graduated from the Academy, making his service aboard the Excelsior certainly plausible. While the 24th century teaser �" basically Tuvok’s weird-sounding Vulcan neurological disease �" was not the most inspired of plot devices, it’s the 23rd century recreation that fans embraced, giving Sulu one more spin at the helm of the Excelsior. The visual effects were on par with the feature film and each of the 23rd century scenes could have easily fit into the framework of the overall film. While the final episode met with mixed results, “Flashback” gave us one of the final glimpses into the past, into pure, joyous STAR TREK, and not the rumbling mass-produced machine it became in years to come.

Time travel again reared its head during the third season of VOYAGER, taking the crew to Los Angeles, 1996. Time travel stories are a STAR TREK staple, and VOYAGER is no exception. In the two-part episode “Future’s End” the VOYAGER crew found themselves investigating a 29th century time traveler who sought escape by going back in time to the late 20th century and interacting with an ambitious technology executive (played to the hilt by guest-star Ed Begley, Jr.). It was in this story that we saw the advent of the holographic Doctor’s mobile holo-emitter, allowing him to freely move anywhere and everywhere. And seeing the VOYAGER crew in modern-day attire is a hoot: Chakotay comes off at his George Clooney-best, Tuvok takes a page out of Spock’s book with a head scarf, and Janeway and 'Tom Paris' (Robert Duncan McNeill) look like they could easily fit into the times. This also continued Paris’ love of the 20th century, a running theme throughout the series. Two of VOYAGER’s most exciting episodes, they're perhaps best evidenced by a line spoken by the 'Borg Queen' in FIRST CONTACT: “Watch your future’s end” certainly had a double entendre that year.

Fan favorites John de Lancie and Suzie Plakson returned as squabbling his-and-her Q’s in the romp through time and space, “The Q and the Grey”. Janeway’s reaction to Q’s proposal to be the mother of his child, and her frequent rebuttals, are classic: Mulgrew and de Lancie play off each other with perfect comic timing. But what begins as a comic adventure turns into a true life-and-death struggle within the Q Continuum, and it’s up to Janeway to resolve everything. Clearly Q’s impact in NEXT GENERATION had been drastically reduced from galactic menace to galactic comedian in VOYAGER’s time, though it would not be his last appearance on the series. Still, it nicely reveals further aspects to the Q Continuum’s view on life, death, and even sex.

The often-repeated plot of holodeck adventures found its way into VOYAGER stories again, as seen in the episode “Worst Case Scenario.” Stumbling across a hidden military training file, it soon develops into a first-person interactive holographic novel co-written by Tuvok and Paris where crewmembers could become either Starfleet or Maquis officers. It would be one of the last episodes to feature fan-favorite Martha Hackett as 'Seska', the former Maquis-turned-Cardassian spy. The twists and turns make this one enjoyable adventure, with skillful direction by frequent TREK director Alexander Singer.

Even with its romps and suspenseful adventures, VOYAGER could also explore serious modern-day themes. In “Distant Origin,” we see Voth scientists attempting to prove that life evolved over the millennia by kidnapping Chakotay. This episode has a wonderful hook to it that baits us in with the often-debated argument of creationism versus evolution, working well on many levels. In the episode “Real Life,” director Anson Williams (forever known to us as 'Potsie' from HAPPY DAYS) gives us an all-too-human Doctor looking to explore what it means to be human by giving him a wife, a rebellious son, and the youngest daughter, Belle. The final moments with the Doctor and Belle are unforgettable and utterly heart-wrenching, bringing the Doctor one step closer to understanding humanity.

Despite many strong episodes, VOYAGER also began to dip into mediocre and hackneyed plots, as evidenced in episodes such as “Favorite Son,” with a race of sexy alien women attempting to convince 'Harry Kim' (Garrett Wang) that he’s a member of their species (oddly enough, Wang would go on to be selected as one of People’s 50 Most Beautiful People during the mid-to-late 90’s); “Remember,” with everything from 'B’Elanna Torres' (Roxann Dawson) having strange dreams to the crew being put on trial for the crimes of their worlds’ pasts; and even “Before and After,” which borrowed time-traveling plot elements from excellent TNG episodes such as “Future Imperfect” and “All Good Things…”. It’s this element of mediocrity that marked a change in the writing from quality to quantity, throwing scripts together just to give the crew something to do.

Heading into the season finale, “Scorpion” not only gave us the Borg, it also gave the Borg something very rarely encountered: an enemy that could wipe them out in an instant. The introduction of Species 8472 made the episode a memorable series climax on par with TNG’s “Best of Both Worlds” in 1990, not to mention the chilling return of the Borg Queen-less Collective.

While episodes such as “Before and After” and “Scorpion” paved the way for Jennifer Lien’s much-publicized departure from the series in 1997, it also paved the way for something either VOYAGER or STAR TREK was not necessarily known for: a new crewmember with a penchant for sexiness. Thus began the “dumbing-down” of STAR TREK as we knew it, sacrificing strong storytelling for sex and rehashed plotlines... but that’s another argument for another time.

Technobabble of a Different Kind

So how does VOYAGER look and sound? Really, really nice, even better than those late night telecasts on the local ABC affiliate or the episodes recorded from a fuzzy satellite dish out in the woods (if you can believe it!). The picture resolution is really excellent, as each episode has been reproduced from its original broadcast presentation in full-frame format. The digital visual effects look absolutely stunning and they represent a real growth in presentation since the DVD representation of the effects seen in THE NEXT GENERATION. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound track beautifully works for this series, though they also have a nice Dolby 2.0 Surround track as well. Subtitles are just limited to English only �" a real shame, since there are multi-ethnic fans around the world and here in the U.S. who would appreciate a foreign language track or subtitles on the set (now if I can just figure out how to get the rear speakers behind me for the full 5.1 experience.)

Packaging and Menus

I now have a question to ask: Whose idea was it to package the nearly-blank VOYAGER DVDs in these clear color plastic cases? Once you get the plastic covers off, all you’re left with is just the case holders and the discs themselves. Why didn’t Paramount do a case set-up similar to the DS9 or even the TNG DVDs? At least in those cases the discs themselves are protected. The front cover illustration of Voyager and the shuttle is nice, as is the back cover description of the DVD contents. The discs themselves are really bland, however, with the disc contents in the middle of the disc hub and barely any text on the body of the disc, except for the STAR TREK: VOYAGER logo and a couple of disc IDs--it’s easy to get these discs confused with blank CDs or DVD-R’s. This is in drastic comparison to the disc artwork on the Original Series, TNG, DS9, and feature film discs. Paramount should know better than this.

As for the DVD menus, these are also mediocre. Each disc starts out with the Voyager shuttlecraft zipping around in space, before settling into different angles in each corner of the screen. The new animation is nice, but we could have had some visual interactivity with each episode or at least a new animated menu background screen. This is about as bad as the static menu screens on the Original Series discs and the INSURRECTION DVD. Paramount has had enough time on their hands to fully embrace the DVD format, including jazzy menu screens. The menu screens here are a step back, unfortunately.

The chapter divisions have improved since the TNG and DS9 DVD sets, with more appropriate chapter breaks placed throughout each episode. This is a good step for Paramount to take, and I hope that they continue to improve on this in future VOYAGER sets, as well as the ANIMATED SERIES and ENTERPRISE next year.

The Extras

Where Paramount missteps in packaging and menus, they make up for in the extra features for Season three. Any time I pick up a new box set of a TV series, this is the first thing I head for: the bonus features. All of the featurettes are mastered in English Dolby 2.0 Surround, and all of the interview clips are in anamorphic widescreen format, which is a nice added touch to the set. There are some fairly good nuggets to it, clocking in at nearly 90 minutes overall, so let’s take a look:

BRAVING THE UNKNOWN: SEASON THREE focuses on the series’ challenges of picking up where things had left off at the end of season two and taking the crew in new directions, with all of the interview clips filmed in 2003. Co-creator and executive producer Jeri Taylor discusses the complexities of resolving the cliffhanger ending in “Basics,” of writing for the Doctor, and of bringing the Borg into the series. Robert Picardo looks back at the changes in the Doctor’s character in “Real Life,” while Roxann Dawson chimes in on the difficulties director of photography Marvin Rush had in filming her scenes with Robert Duncan McNeill in “Blood Fever.” Brannon Braga discusses the enjoyment of writing the two-part time travel adventure “Future’s End,” and he also shares how he sought to do more plot-driven stories, to push the characters and the production to the limit, to tell epic science fiction adventures on a huge scale, This included bringing the Borg back to the series after their impact in FIRST CONTACT, and to create a new threat in Species 8472. Rick Berman chimes in very briefly on the return of the Borg and the introduction of Species 8472, while Garrett Wang talks about filming the effects-driven season finale, “Scorpion.” The feature ends with David Livingston discussing the ever-growing use of CGI effects in the series and the inspiration for Species 8472. Although it sounds like a lot of meat, instead we are given brief bits and pieces here and there without a cohesive documentary about season three as a whole. Not the best feature to start off the extras. Running time: 13:10.

TIME CAPSULE contributes two spotlights on VOYAGER’s resident goodwill ambassadors, Neelix and Kes. The first TIME CAPSULE feature focuses on Ethan Phillips, as he discusses his role of Neelix over the series’ seven-year run, from his first appearance in “Caretaker” to his departure in “Homestead.” Combining new interviews filmed in October 2001 and November 2003, Phillips discusses Neelix’s dilemma in dealing with a former friend-turned-drug dealer in “Fair Trade," while citing “Jetrel” and “Mortal Coil” as his two favorite episodes because of the themes of forgiveness, death, and inspiration. Phillips has a wonderful grasp on what he brought to the role of Neelix, giving him a teddy bear quality to the kids on the series and bringing a strong foil to Tim Russ's Tuvok. He also discusses the fun and the humor he brought to the STAR TREK Cookbook, infusing the cookbook with Neelix’s trademark humor and several David Letterman-inspired “Top Ten” cooking lists in the book. I particularly enjoyed this feature because of the fun Ethan Phillips brought to the character and to the series. Running time: 12:04.

The second TIME CAPSULE feature spotlights Jennifer Lien and her character of Kes, as she is featured in archival interview footage from 1994. Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, and Tim Russ are also featured in new interview clips filmed in late 2003, as they reminisce about their experiences working with Lien, and Kate Mulgrew makes a brief appearance to mention her appreciation in working with Lien. Phillips also discusses a deleted scene depicting the actual end to Neelix and Kes’ relationship, which was originally filmed for “Fair Trade” but cut from the final episode. Interspersed throughout the featurette are scenes from Kes’ more memorable moments, among them “Caretaker,” “Warlord,” and her departure in Season 4’s “The Gift.” This one seemed much more than just one second shorter than the Phillips featurette, because of the lack of a new retrospective interview with Lien or more behind-the-scenes information. Running time: 12:03.

FLASHBACK TO “FLASHBACK” chronicles the ambitious attempt to return to the 23rd century, recreating scenes from STAR TREK VI and integrating Tuvok’s involvement into the STAR TREK VI storyline. George Takei and Tim Russ discuss their involvement in the episode and working with each other, while David Livingston, Dan Curry, and an un-credited Michael Okuda talk about the technical aspects of the episode. Takei is a joy to listen to, as he relates the now-famous story about how he heard about his VOYAGER appearance through the Internet, and he also gives credit to Paramount for their desire to maintain integrity in doing all of the Excelsior scenes right. Toward the end of the feature we get to see some of the raw footage, test shots, and composite shots of the Excelsior and the Klingon Bird-of-Prey. This footage is nice to have, though it could have easily been included with the RED ALERT! featurette. I for one wish they could have included more behind-the-scenes footage on the Excelsior set and even a split-screen comparison of the similar clips from “Flashback” and STAR TREK VI. Running time: 13:36.

RED ALERT! AMAZING VISUAL EFFECTS is the longest featurette on the set, as it spotlights visual effects artists Dan Curry and Ronald B. Moore and the ever-growing library of special effects and the increasing use of CGI in VOYAGER, as highlighted in episodes such as “Basics, Part II,” “Future’s End, Parts I and II,” “Macrocosm,” “Scorpion,” and “Distant Origin.” There’s lots of raw footage, test shots, variant composite sequences, and some blue-screen shots and storyboards included, as well as their final versions. But VOYAGER was not always about pushing the envelope in cutting-edge visual effects; sometimes it’s about cutting costs, as Dan Curry discusses how the Borg sculpture in “Scorpion” was created at his home from a number of Playmates Borg action figures. Curry also discusses how reading books on the history of weapons and on Charles Darwin influenced his designs for the series. Running time: 16:55.

REAL SCIENCE WITH ANDRE BORMANIS focuses on the increasing amount of scientific realism on VOYAGER. Bormanis introduces us to two science consultants, Dr. Neil Tyson of the Hayden Planetarium and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who talk about the reality of many of the different intergalactic phenomena featured throughout VOYAGER and the importance of keeping one foot grounded in reality. Space nebulas, supernovas, dense cloud fields, wormholes, astral eddys, antimatter, curved space, warp speed, even life on other planets �" you name it, STAR TREK has sought to address it over its 40-year history, and VOYAGER is no exception. Without it, it’s just a space fantasy. This is a good look for aspiring astrophysicists and space buffs who like their sci-fi mixed with reality. Running time: 10:40.

Also included on the set is a photo gallery �" set phasers to boring �" and a 60-second trailer for the STAR TREK Experience’s BORG INVASION 4-D adventure, featuring Kate Mulgrew and Robert Picardo. The visual effects for BORG INVASION looks really spectacular and it makes me long that this could have been expanded into a feature film, instead of having to go all the way to Las Vegas to be a part of it.

But wait! As with the previous sets, there are four hidden Easter eggs on Disc 7, in the form of LOST TRANSMISSIONS FROM THE DELTA QUADRANT, running anywhere from a minute and a half to three and a half minutes in length. In the first one, Martha Hackett comments on how the fans responded not only to her character of Seska but also to her involvement on STAR TREK, and how she was grateful to be part of the saga. The second one features Robert Picardo discussing how as the holographic Doctor he got more women than any of the other men on the series. The third one is the longest, clocking in at 3:38, and features an in-depth discussion with Tim Russ discussing the Vulcan ritual of pon farr and its implications, as seen in “Blood Fever.” In the final egg, director David Livingston talks about photographing and directing the Voth aliens for “Distant Origin.”

Unfortunately, there’s no involvement from Robert Beltran, Jennifer Lien, or Robert Duncan McNeill throughout this set, and that’s a shame. The bulk of the featurettes are carried by Robert Picardo, Ethan Phillips, Tim Russ, David Livingston, and Dan Curry, while Rick Berman, Kate Mulgrew, and Garrett Wang make only brief appearances at best. While it’s sometimes tricky to get everyone involved all at the same measure, they should appear nonetheless.

Now comes my caveat with this set, and this is something that I’m sure some people have been addressing since the releases of TNG and DS9 on DVD: where are the episode trailers? Paramount has again neglected to include TV spots in its sets. Even in its cheesiness, the episode previews were something good to watch. Paramount’s STAR TREK property on DVD has been haphazard in deciding which ones get the TV spots and which ones do not. The DVDs for the Original Series, TMP, and THE FINAL FRONTIER have received the benefit of their TV spots included for completion’s sake, yet not the other films, TNG, DS9, and now VOYAGER. I’ve always believed, if you’re going to do it for one, do it for everyone, or don’t do it at all. Perhaps for the eventual ENTERPRISE DVDs they’ll go back to it, but I’m not holding my breath.

Final Thoughts

Incredible visual and audio presentation of the episodes, mixed in with some good featurettes, bland menu selection, the lack of participation on some of the cast and crew’s part, and mediocre packaging makes the third season set a good addition to the VOYAGER DVD library. While the main emphasis here is on the DVD presentation of the episodes, they could do a better job in organizing the menu screen representation and much more information in the extras.

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