Star Trek Voyager: The Complete Series
Season OneStar Trek: Voyagerbegan life in 1995 with some truly fascinating  prospects in its two-hour pilot episode. Opening in the 24th century, a  setting contemporary with that ofStar Trek: The Next GenerationandStar Trek: Deep Space Nineand 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, bothVoyagerand 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.Voyagerends 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, yetVoyagernever 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 inStar Trekculture. 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 amongVoyagerpersonnel 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 thatVoyagerand its crew are all alone, making the most of a difficult predicament.--Tom Keogh and Jeff ShannonSeason TwoIf the first season ofStar Trek: Voyagerwas 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 featuringNextGen'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 fate 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 ofVoyager's finest seasons, leaving some enticing questions to be answered in season 3.--Jeff ShannonSeason ThreeAfter proving its long-term potential in season 2,Star Trek: Voyagerserved 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  theU.S.S. ExcelsiorfromStar Trek VI, under the command of Capt. Sulu (Star Trekalumnus George Takei). It was a brilliant example of interseries  plotting, just as "False Profits" was a Ferengi-based sequel to theNextGenepisode "The Price." The two-part time-travel scenario of "Future's End" is aVoyagerhighlight, with clear echoes (including dialogue lifted verbatim!) ofStar 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 Daysveteran Anson Williams). By infecting B'Elanna (Roxanne Dawson) with a fellow officer's "Blood Fever,"Voyagerdelved 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-solidTrek, 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 ShannonSeason FourFor many fans,Voyagerhit 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 amongVoyager'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," theAlien-like "Prey," and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan MacNeill) taking a personal step and switching 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 theTrekcrowd), features on Species 8472 and the art of matte painting, and episode spotlights.--David HoriuchiSeason FiveAfter Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) spent much ofVoyager'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 Flesh."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-starringTNG's LeVar Burton), and in another dizzying episode, "Relativity," Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is spending her first day onVoyagerwhen 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 inSeinfeld) guest-stars as a scheming alien in "Think Tank."Voyagerdidn'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 ofVoyager'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 inThe 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 inStar Trek: First Contact.--David HoriuchiSeason SixIn their sixth season trying to return to the Alpha Quadrant, the crew ofVoyagercontinues 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 ofThe Next Generation's Lt. Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz), occasionally assisted by Counsellor Troi (Marina Sirtis).  "One Small Step" setsVoyageron the trail of NASA's first manned mission to Mars (one of the bonus features details Robert Picardo's post-Trekwork 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, Spy," "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 greatNext Genepisode "The Best of Both Worlds."--David HoriuchiSeason SevenAfter seven long years trying to return home, it's no surprise that the seventh season ofVoyagerwas 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,  "Flesh 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 kidnapped 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 firstTrekwedding since Dax-Worff, the return of the old Federation-Maquis  conflict, the continuing efforts of Lt. Reginald Barclay (Dwight  Schultz) to bringVoyagerhome, 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 fromStar Trek: First Contactbut making her first appearance onVoyager).   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