The Final Frontier 9/Final Frontier 9 (Disk 2 of 3).adf/LCARS/TextFile/Articles/Voyager_Overview.pp/Voyager_Overview

Text File | 1995-11-16 | 11KB | 209 lines

TF01
3,Star Trek: Voyager - Overview
4,by Marcus Priddey and Simon Plumbe

                           Marcus Priddey
                          ----------------

So what do I think of the  first  season of Voyager? Well, it started
good enough  with  easily  the  best  pilot  in  Star  Trek's history
"Caretaker" and just got better and better from there.

The acting throughout  has  been  of  a  very  high  calibre which is
surprising when you take into account that  some of the cast are very
young (Jennifer Lien is only twenty).

Directing has been  exceptional  with  contributions  from both LeVar
Burton and Jonathan Frakes, with  Jonathan  Frakes and Winrich (Rick)
Kolbe providing the best.

The covers of the tapes,  even  though  they  are of the Voyager from
different angles are of  outstanding  quality.  They  are  a lot more
colourful than the black of Next Generation tapes or the blue of Deep
Space Nine.

Added to all that, the incredible  music  and great effects shots and
we have an exceptional first season.

So what do I  think?  That  I've  got  the  best  job on the Infinite
Frontiers team reviewing this little lot, that's what. Roll on season
two.

                            Simon Plumbe
                           --------------

I have to say that when I first heard about Star Trek: Voyager, I was
probably one of the show's biggest  sceptics. Not only was it another
Star Trek series without the input of Gene Roddenberry, but this time
it seemed to borrow ideas left right and centre from other shows.

Ever since it was first announced, fans were comparing the premise of
the series to Lost In Space, and were saying that the characters were
either too "politically correct" or were just re-writes of older Trek
characters... or  worse!  Most  of  you  can  probably  remember  the
comments made about Tuvok in comparison to Spock, Torres to K'Ehleyr,
and most embarrassingly, the Doctor to Red Dwarf's Rimmer!

Still, I have to admit that  not  only  was I pleasantly surprised by
the first season, but it  has  also  managed to just overtake Classic
Trek as being my  favourite  Star  Trek  show!  I  can't quite put my
finger on it, but there is  just  something about the show that works
so incredibly well. Maybe it's the  cast ensemble - arguably the best
Star Trek has had to-date.  Maybe  it  is  the effects and production
values. Or maybe they have managed  to  capture the Star Trek essence
that latter TNG was lacking. I don't  really  know, but as long as it
is still going to be produced, I don't care!!

Looking at the first  season  as  a  whole,  despite  one or two weak
stories, the season is of  an  incredibly  high standard. Kicking the
season off was "Caretaker", an episode  that  is being hailed by many
as being one of, if not  the  best  Star  Trek  pilot yet. As well as
having a fairly strong story, what made  the episode work so well was
the way the crew fit together as  a family, and you were quickly able
to grow fond of the characters.

Following this came "Parallax".  Nothing  outstanding  here, but this
was still a reasonably  good  episode,  although  perhaps more should
have been  spent  on  the  character  plot  rather  than  the quantum
singularity storyline.

After this was Voyager's first time-travel episode, "Time And Again".
Possibly one of the weak  links  of  the  season,  not because of the
episode itself,  but  because  of  the  sheer  number  of time-travel
stories that we have had to endure  from  Star Trek over the last few
years.

"Phage" followed on from  this,  and  despite  the  premise of Neelix
having his lungs stolen (ala "Spock's Brain"), it proved to be a very
entertaining episode, giving us a  brand  new  villain in the form of
the all too chilling Vidiians.

Then we had the archetypal Star  Trek  story, "The Cloud". While this
was nothing new to Star  Trek,  it  was  a  good  way to show how the
Voyager crew would handle the  type  of  situations  we have seen the
Classic Trek and TNG crews deal with in the past.

By this point in the  series  I  was  getting  a little concerned - I
hadn't yet seen a bad episode!! And  the trend continued with "Eye Of
The Needle" - a purely character-driven  story,  that gave us a great
chance to have a look at the characters real desire to find their way
home, something which hadn't really been  touched upon in a large way
since "Caretaker". It was also rather  nice  to see the Romulans make
an appearance and not, for a change, as an adversary.

Then, it had to happen,  "Ex  Post  Facto"  arrived.  One of only two
episodes to prove disappointing is  the  premiere season. Not because
it wasn't well made or well  acted,  it  was  just that the story had
been seen before several years ago with TNG in the shape of "A Matter
Of Perspective" - both had scientists supposedly killed by one of the
regular crew, and  to  be  frank,  it  was  clearly  evident that the
episode was little more than a re-write.

As  I  said,  the   season   had   two   disappointing  episodes  and
unfortunately, the second one  came  straight  after "Ex Post Facto"!
I'm referring, of course,  to  "Emanations".  While  the story itself
wasn't too bad, and the acting  was  generally  of a high standard, I
just could get around the fact that  every other line of dialogue had
the word "emanation" in it. Forget  Star Trek: Voyager, this was more
like, "Star Trek: The Next Emanation"!!

Once again, the Prime Directive made  an appearance in Voyager in the
next  story,  "Prime  Factors".  Another   solid  episode,  making  a
refeshing change looking at  the  Prime  Directive  from how it could
affect US as opposed to any races we encounter.

"State Of  Flux"  followed  and  proved  to  be  a  popular whodunnit
mystery. While I think it is easy to say that most people could guess
the outcome, it didn't stop the  story from being very engrossing and
has certainly left itself open to a second season sequel.

Next is one of  my  personal  favourites  of  the season, "Heroes And
Demons". I was surprised with  Voyager  as  to how quickly the Doctor
grew on me as a  character,  and  this  episode really is a wonderful
vehicle for Robert Picardo's talents. This  was the turning point for
the character to become an  active  part  of the crew (something that
was to be reprised both in "Projections" and "Twisted"). Superb.

"Cathexis" was  next  in  the  line-up  and  was  another fascinating
mystery story. It  was  a  rather  different  story  for  the team to
produce, but it worked fairly well. And  then, we saw the return of a
familar face (well, bit of them...!).

Naturally, I'm talking about "Faces". This  isn't a new idea for Trek
(it was done with Classic Trek with  "The Enemy Within"), but this is
probably done in a better fashion. Another cracking episode, which is
really proving how much of a threat  the Vidiians are and what little
value they place on others lives.  And  of  course, who can fault the
incredible performance  of  Roxann  Biggs-Dawson  as  both  halves of
Torres?

Oh boy! After this, we were  in  for  a treat with probably Voyager's
strongest episode, "Jetrel". This  is  certainly  a  story that would
make you stop and think, and is a classic along the same lines as "I,
Borg" and "Duet". It was  also  a  good  chance  for Ethan Philips to
prove that Neelix isn't just there for comic relief.

After this, we  were  treated  to  "Learning  Curve",  the first real
insight into the tension that  still  remained between the Federation
and Maquis crewmembers on board the Voyager. It was good to see Tuvok
in a position other than that  of  security  and Tim Russ rose to the
task at hand admirably.

Fans of The Next  Generation  were  well  catered  for  with the next
episode, "Projections" which saw the  long  awaited return of Barclay
to Star Trek. Without giving away  the  plot, this was a superb story
again  for  Robert  Picardo,  and  it  featured  another  exceptional
performance from Dwight Schultz as  Barclay.  Another episode I could
just watch over and over again!

Then we had "Elogium", notable for  dealing with a subject not really
touched upon before in Star Trek,  as  Marcus mentioned in his review
elsewhere. Also, it made a nice  change  to  see a story dealing with
families, but in a more "natural" way.  We have seen families in Star
Trek before, and  we  have  seen  characters  finding  that they have
children they (or we)  didn't  know  about,  but  to see a developing
relationship between two regular characters  in  this  way as is done
here with Kes and Neelix makes for compulsive viewing.

The penultimate episode, "Twisted" is  another great story, that gave
all of the  cast  something  to  do  (again  something  which TNG was
occasionally guilty of not  doing),  and  they  managed to produce an
entertaining engaging  tale,  without  leaving  the  confines  of the
existing sets. This  is  a  wonderful  example  of  how  to make good
television on a restricted budget.

Finally, the remarkable "The  37's".  This  is without hesitation the
best season ending I have  seen  in  Star Trek. Cliff-hangers are all
well and good, but to close  a  season  on  a story like this takes a
great deal more effort. A wonderful end to an incredible first year.


Generally, Voyager's first season  is  probably  about  as close as I
think we'll get as a perfect Star  Trek show. I really can't think of
any way to find fault  with  the  series.  All  of  the cast are just
superb, each putting in brilliant  performances, and have all managed
to demonstrate a variety of emotions during the season.

The special effects have probably  got  to  be  amongst the best ever
seen in Star Trek, either  on  TV  or  in  the movies, especially the
gorgeous jaw-dropping title sequence.  As  well  as  this, all of the
other production standards are of the  quality we have come to expect
from Star Trek, and the music has  once again proved to be another of
the show's strengths.

What I was glad to see  was  the  fact  that  not only did the series
managed to pretty much adhere  to  Gene  Roddenberry's vision of Star
Trek, but also the episodes have managed to remain true to the "feel"
of the original series. Finally,  it  has  something  that I felt was
sadly lacking in The  Next  Generation...  humour.  If  you watch any
Classic Trek, DS9 or Voyager episode,  there  is usually a little bit
of light humour present, just to  break  the story up, and in Voyager
it is handled remarkably well.  Of  course,  most  of this stems from
Neelix and the Doctor, but  the  other  characters have all had their
moments as well.

Overall, I have to  say  that  if  they  can  maintain this standard,
Voyager is going to prove to be  a series that Gene Roddenberry would
have been very proud of.