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Kathryn Janeway - Kate Mulgrew Chakotay - Robert Beltran Tom Paris - Robert Duncan McNiell Neelix - Ethan Phillips Seven Of Nine - Jeri Ryan Tuvok - Tim Russ B'Elanna Torres - Roxann Biggs Dawson Harry Kim - Garrett Wang The Doctor - Robert Picardo 
OTHER SEASONS Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 7 OTHER STAR TREK SHOWS Star Trek The Next Generation Deep Space Nine Enterprise OTHER TREKS THROUGH SPACE Babylon 5 The new Battlestar Galactica 
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Equinox - Part 2The Equinox has stolen Voyager's warp drive and left her to the mercy of the creatures from another dimension. As they try to make their superfast trip home work, Captain Janeway sets off in pursuit, making deals with the Devil as she goes. The high ideals of Gene Roddenberry's original vision for STAR TREK are long since gone as Federation starship battles Federation starship in a fight to the death over who gets to go home. It's about the decisions we make and morality that we are willing to sacrifice. It's also about obssession as the Equinox's captain realises his errors and looks for redemption whilst Janeway goes all Captain Ahab on her crew. She is willing to see one of the crew of the Equinox dead just to get information in the most powerful scene and makes a deal for the rest to save her own crew. In amongst all this there are some dodgy CGI aliens and some much better battle sequences as two starships beat the living hell out of each other. It's only ever going to end one way, but the outcome is hard won. TopSurvival InstinctThe Voyager is docked at a space station and opens its doors to visitors for a cultural exchange. Amongst the sightseers there are three lifeforms with an interest in Seven of Nine. They were once Borg drones as well, but something happened to them when they crashed on an alien world, something that might have been caused by Seven. Finding out the truth might kill them, and her. Guilt is an ugly thing and often we will do terrible things to avoid it, or amazing things to assuage it. This episode deals with Seven's actions whilst she was a Borg drone, but the fact that she and her companions were free of the collective Borg mind at the time make the question much murkier and harder to justify. It gives Jeri Ryan another chance to do her concerned frowning, something that she does very well, and the story at least has the courage of its convictions to come to a conclusion that is a step away from the usual happy outcome. TopBarge of the DeadFollowing a near-death experience, B'Elanna Torres is sure that she has encountered her mother on the Klingon death barge to Hell. The disgrace was brought about by her own rejection of all things Klingon and so she decides to simulate another near fatal event to get back and free her mother, but will the Klingon afterlife spirits be so easily fooled? An episode about the Klingon version of the Greeks' death ferry sounds like a ridiculous idea and even more so when you factor in B'Elanna's mother, but it turns out to be quite a compelling one thanks to the imagery, skewed angles and forced perspective direction and the fact that the story is willing to leave it wide open as to whether it is a genuine afterlife experience or merely her own subconscious mind going mental at itself. The show belongs to Roxann Biggs Dawson with barely anyone else getting a look in and she makes the most of the opportunity. TopTinker, Tenor, Doctor, SpyThe holographic Doctor alters his programming to allow him to daydream, but a probe from a hidden scoutship taps into his daydreams and upsets the balance so that his daydreams take over from reality, giving the eavesdroppers a skewed sense of what Voyager is all about. They determine that they will attack and it is up to the Doctor to find a way to save the day in the real world for a change. The startling opening scene with the Doctor singing opera about Tuvok's Pon Farr is both surprising and extremely funny. The rest of the episode struggles to match it, but there are moments when all the women on Voyager are attracted to him and also scenes where they discover what he has been dreaming about. This is all very much Hollow Pursuits from STAR TREK THE NEXT GENERATION, but there is enough that is new in it to get by on. The most original thing is the aliens doing the eavesdropping. They both look and act in a way that is different from most of the other aliens that we see on the show. It all makes for a light-hearted, fun and utterly disposable episode. TopAliceThe Voyager comes across a junkyard in space and trades for some useful components. Amongst the derelicts, Tom Paris spots a sporty shuttle and gets permission to fix it up himself. It comes complete with a mental link to the pilot to improve reaction time, but the shuttle also has a mind of its own, with its own agenda, and Tom is falling under her spell. Considering that Tom and B'Elanna are supposed to be married, they don't actually seem to spend too much time together. Certainly not enough for her to realise that something is very seriously wrong with him. Neither do any of his friends or his superior officers who let him off being late and out of uniform with a kind word and no sort of punishment. The other problem is Alice herself. The shuttle is intelligent, but is that intelligence in the AI system, an invading alien or something else? Also what's her agenda? She needs a compatible living pilot, but for what purpose? She apparently lives in a place inimical to life, but was she constructed there? Born there? Almost nothing is explained about her except the effect she has on Tom and that isn't satisfying. TopRiddlesReturning from trade negotiations with Neelix in the Delta Flyer, Tuvok is attacked by an invisible alien and left with diminished (for him) mental faculties. Whilst the rest of the crew try to locate the secretive race responsible, Neelix leads Tuvok through the world of emotions and pleasures. When a way to restore him is found, Tuvok doesn't want to go back to the way he was. Almost a reverse of Flowers for Algernon, this story revolves around Tuvok and gives Tim Russ a chance to smile and be enthusiastic, something that is mildly unsettling for the long time viewer. Even so, the story is predictable and the moment when Tuvok faces going back to the way he was before ought to be more moving and powerful than it turns out to be. TopDragon’s TeethThe Voyager discovers a network of subspace tunnels that could cut time off their journey home. The alien race that claims sway over the tunnels takes objection to their presence and wants to wipe their computer. In the escape, the Voyager discovers an ancient race buried beneath the surface of a planet and agrees to help them reestablish their civilisation in return for use of the tunnels, but there are disturbing facts being unearthed about the newly re-awakened species. You will reap what you sow is the message of this episode so don't go sowing war. The script is sloppy with Seven of Nine acting without orders and against protocols for no reason, Janeway not investigating the newly awakened group sooner and the Voyager gaily sailing away from a firefight that they started in the first place. For all of that, it's competently done and passes the time, though it is hardly memorable. TopOne Small StepA strange anomaly appears near the Voyager containing all kinds of space debris. The away team, including a sceptical Seven of Nine, go inside in a hunt for a space probe that went missing from Mars centuries before. It's odd that people will risk their lives, and those of others, for a sense of history, but that's what Chakotay insists on doing throughout this highly contrived storyline. It all feels especially pointless as they are not trying to retrieve the pilot of the probe himself, but merely to hear his story. For once, we can agree with Seven of Nine's analyses that the mission is unnecessary and inefficient. TopThe Voyager ConspiracySeven of Nine builds a device that downloads data directly from the Voyager computer into her brain. From that, she discovers the true mission of the Voyager is to create military alliances within the Delta Quadrant to prepare from a military campaign. She then learns that Chakotay and the Maquis officers are planning a revolt. There are times when you know that doing something is going to be very stupid and cause nothing but tears. Seven's machine is clearly a bad idea from the start and there must be some sort of rule about private experiments considering how often they go wrong in the STAR TREK universe. The conspiracies that Seven comes up with are obviously a bunch of unconnected facts in search of an explanation rather than proof of a hidden agenda and it isn't really believable that the two main officers would believe them or act in the way that they do. Exactly what that tractor beam in amongst the destruction of the Caretaker's array really is, though, is never actually explained. TopPathfinderMeanwhile, back on Earth, Lt Reg Barclay is obsessed with contacting the Voyager at all costs and gets counselling from Deanna Troi when he is discovered spending far too much time in a holographic simulation of Voyager. What's this? A story about Reg Barclay,a much loved but minor character from THE NEXT GENERATION? Isn't this supposed to be VOYAGER? It is nice to see Dwight Schultz back as a noticeably older, but not at all wiser Reg and even Marina Sirtis as counsellor Deanna Troi, but you can't help thinking that this is a sign of the writers getting bored with the Voyager crew if they have to go looking for other stories outside of the ship. This isn't the first time that it's happened and not even the first time this season. The fact that it is as entertaining as any of the tales so far this season, mainly thanks to Schultz, doesn't help forestall the impression. TopFair HavenFair Haven is Tom and Harry's latest holodeck masterpiece, a quiet Irish seaside place a century or so ago where life was lived at a different place. It's beguiling and even Captain Janeway falls under the spell of one of the inhabitants. Can a person fall in love with a hologram? Can a Captain? More importantly, should we really care? The love story at the centre of this episode is told in half the running time and is never really convincing, although Kate Mulgrew does her best to make it so. The average STAR TREK episode running time just isn't enough to build up a realistic relationship between characters that have only just met. It also seems to us that the whole human/hologram love story has been done before. How quaint it is, however, this american view of the Irish. It is unlikely that there ever was a place anything like Fair Haven in Ireland, no matter the cast's protestations that everything is 'authentic'. Authentically what? The Oirish accents wander all over the place and the it's a wonder that nobody says 'begorrah' at any time. As a depiction of a people it's fairly insulting. What's more of a mystery, however, is why anyone would ever want to go there in the first place. Apart from a pint of Guinness in the pub what could there be to do? The place is probably as dull as the episode. TopBlink of An EyeWhilst investigating an anomalous planet, Voyager is caught up in a tachyon field that holds it prisoner. On the planet below, they find that time is running at a different speed and the society is developing at a rate that will make them a threat to the ship in a matter of days. If, that is, they stop worshipping the light in the sky that has brought them earthquakes. This episode aims for the nostalgia and feeling of THE NEXT GENERATION episode The Inner Light, but misses by a mile. The reason is that the captain of the Enterprise was immersed into the alien culture completely for the entire episode whereas here we meet one person from it for a couple of minutes at a time. That's hardly enough time to get to know and be affected by a civilisation. It is telling that the most interesting moments are the Doctor's hints about what happened on his extended (for him) stay on the planet, something that we never see. Now that seems to be a story more worthy of the telling. TopVirtuosoAn alien race with no interest in inferior species have no knowledge of music and hear the Doctor singing. Suitably transfixed, they turn the hologram into a global superstar. Fame turns his head to the point where he resigns from the ship. This episode starts off bright and full of fun as Robert Picardo gets to overplay the Doctor's pomposity. His miming to opera classics never convinces though. Then things turn darker and the story becomes a painfully unsubtle warning about the fleeting nature of fame. The Doctor mistakes the attentions of one alien as love, but there has been no real sign of that, which undermines the end of the plot and Captain Janeway's attitude to the Doctor and his request to leave is also out of character, seemingly written only to serve the needs of the plot. The Doctor signing autographed holograms is worth the visit though. TopMemorialChakotay, Tom Paris, Harry Kim and Neelix return from an away mission suffering from vivid dreams of taking part in a massacre. Janeway takes the ship to retrace their steps and finds that more of the crew are recalling events that there is no record of ever happening anywhere else. This is a mystery story the solution to which is given away in the episode title. The dreamed behaviour is clearly not that of the characters we know and so it's a question of whether they were manipulated or had their memories altered. The solution is quite elegant and not without its own power. It also raises some interesting questions over what is acceptable in terms of making people remember atrocities that they didn't commit, but which ought to be remembered. TopTsunkatseThe Voyager is in a region of space where the gladiatorial sport of Tsunkatse is a phenomenon. When Seven of Nine is kidnapped and forced to compete it becomes clear that the competitors are not volunteers and some fights are to the death. Ah yes, the old story of aliens being kidnapped to fight for their lives in gladiatorial games crops up in most sci-fi shows if they last long enough. As well as STAR TREK'S ORIGINAL SERIES, it has shown up in TORCHWOOD, BABYLON 5 and ALIEN NATION to name but three we can remember off the top of our heads. There is nothing new here at all either in the training behind the scenes, the fighting or the inevitable showdown with a good guy. It's glossy and well enough done, but not memorable at all. TopCollectiveThe Voyager encounters a damaged Borg cube and Chakotay, Harry, Tom and Neelix are caught inside. The price of their return is the Voyager's deflector array, without which the ship would be dead in space. Seven of Nine discovers that the cube is crewed only by five immature drones, abandoned by the Borg when the rest of the crew were wiped out by a virulent disease. These children, though, are Borg and quite formidable nonetheless. The Borg have been weakened as the STAR TREK boogeymen by overexposure and constantly being beaten by various Starfleet captains and now we get an episode based around Borg children. True, these kids seem to be a match for the full might of a Federation starship, but there is always a lingering suspicion that the whole thing could have been sorted out with a good spanking and sending them to bed early. As a result there is no credible threat and no real tension. The resolution also saddles Seven with becoming den mother to the children, something that writers seem to find irresistible when dealing with strong female characters. Even Captain Janeway has to hold the rather unconvincing animatronic Borg baby to remind us she's a woman. TopSpirit FolkThe holographic folk of the constantly running Fair Haven holodeck programme start to become self-aware and to suspect that the visitors from the Voyager are practitioners of black magic. A burning is proposed. That faux-oirish nonsense that is Fair Haven quite frankly does our head in. It's depiction of superstitious buffoons living in fear of the 'little folk' is offensive to the point of racist, not the whimsy it was shooting for and misses by a mile. Predictable storyline, unbelievable acting and quite frankly an insult to the irish, the cast and the audience. TopAshes to AshesAn alien appears claiming to be Ensign Ballard, a crewmember who died some three years previously. She has been reanimated and altered by an alien species that uses the dead of others as their method of procreation. The aliens turn up wanting their 'daughter' back, but Ballard doesn't want to go, leaving Janeway with a problem. Apart from the whole being brought back to life as an alien aspect, this is really a rerun of the NEXT GENERATION episode Suddenly Human with its argument over 'birth' and 'nurture' as determining identity. Changing the boy in that episode to a woman that Harry had a crush on isn't enough to disguise this origin and the sudden change of heart that makes for the peaceful ending is so sudden as to be both inexplicable and unbelievable. TopChild’s PlayThe Voyager is contacted by the parents of one of the Borg children who reconnect with him and persuade him to rejoin their family on the harsh colony world that was his home. Seven of Nine, however, discovers disturbing information about a possible link between the colony and the virus that originally wiped out the crew of the Borg cube. Sequel to and tying up the story of Collective, this is a solid episode that is a bit too predictable to be really impressive. It's aim in showing the growing affection that Seven has for the children and the conflict between that and her duty is obvious from the start but reasonably well done. The set up with the colony world, however, does seem somewhat contrived. TopGood ShepherdAn efficiency report from Seven shows that three members of the Voyager crew are failing in their duties and have never taken part in an away mission. Captain Janeway immediately resolves to sort that out by taking them on a survey of a nearby astronomical phenomenon, but an attack by aliens means that this trio of misfits have to act like the officers they should be or everyone is going to die. Flashback to Reg Barclay in NEXT GENERATION only this time there are three misfits. The whole of the storyline is, however, predictable and follows the arc expected of it, making it somewhat dull and uninteresting. Only the disdain that meets event the Captain from a bored astronomer breaks the surface of indifference from the audience. TopLive Fast and ProsperA trio of aliens impersonate the crew of Voyager in order to con others out of valuable cargoes, leaving the real ship to suffer the consequences. Captain Janeway immediately orders a pursuit, but the false Janeway also proves to be resourceful and stubborn. At last a story that shows a spark of originality and a sense of fun. The shenanigans of the aliens don't exactly threaten the main ship, but the moments where Janeway (the real one) discovers what is going on and faces her imposter are highly amusing. The false Tuvok is also a lot of fun. It's totally disposable, of course, but passes the time well enough. TopMuseThe Delta Flyer crashes on a remote planet leaving B'Elanna stranded and Harry Kim missing. Whilst the Voyager searches for the missing crewmen, B'Elanna strikes up a relationship with a playwright who uses the Voyager as inspiration for his latest play. When the warlord demands another play and battle looms, the playwright hatches an ambitious plan for his latest work of art. 'The play's the thing...' apparently. There is far too much stuff that we have seen before in this episode for it to stand out at all. The crashed crewmember in hiding, the advanced technology and scientific knowledge inspiring the locals, backwards cultures being steered towards peace. That there is a play at the heart of it makes for an interesting introduction and some nice scenes of what might have been, but this is otherwise completely forgettabel stuff. TopFuryKes returns to Voyager, but rather than sharing a welcome hug, she blasts her way to the warp core and uses its power to send herself back in time and masquerade as the younger Kes. She then teams up with the Vidians in an attempt to 'save' her younger self, even if it means that the rest of Voyager's crew will be harvested for body parts. It's a welcome back to Jennifer Lien whose Kes was starting to turn into one of the more interesting characters before she made way for Seven of Nine, but the episode does her no favours at all since it requires her character to act in completely bonkers fashion. She destroys half the ship and tries to get the entire crew vivisected and why? Because she wants to go home and isn't sure of her welcome is the rather unsatisfying answer. What kind of motivation is that? It gets worse when everything is resolved through the use of a hologram message saying 'please don't do this'. And Tuvok has flashes of the future. Why this should be is not explained other than the plot needs him to be able to do it. He's never shown this ability before and neither has any other vulcan character, but who needs logic? It might always be fun to see old friends, but not in nonsense like this. TopLife LineCommunication with Starfleet is finally acheived, but the news it brings the Doctor is that his creator is dying. He has a possible treatment for the condition and has his programme transmitted to Jupiter station where he joins forces with Reg Barclay and Deanna Troi to try and treat a man who is more cantankerous than a herd of hippos in a cactus field. Clearly Marina Sirtis and Dwight Schultz came on a two for one package deal as this follows on from Pathfinder, but is totally contrived in order to find something for them both to do. That said, the character interplay is fun and Robert Picardo gets to play a character even more obnoxious than the Doctor was right back at the beginning. Still, a return to the real focus of the show will be appreciated. TopThe Haunting of Deck 12The power grid of the ship has to be completely shut down, causing the Borg children to wake from their regeneration cycle. In order to pass the time, and to keep them from getting in the way, Neelix tells them a story of events that took Voyager and her captain to the very brink of destruction. There's this energy being that's accidentally picked up by the ship and can't communicate at first and...stop me if you've heard this one before. Having Neelix relate the story to the Borg kids as a framing device doesn't hide the fact that this is a far from original story. Most of the elements are recycled from elsewhere, but the components are assembled smoothly and manage to create a whole that is entertaining, though no more memorable than most of this season. TopUnimatrix Zero - Part 1Seven of Nine is transported in her sleeping state to Unimatrix Zero, a place where some defective Borg drones pass their regeneration cycles as individuals only to awaken once again as clones with no memories of their sleeping lives. The Borg have located several of their number and more are being taken in order to allow the Borg Queen to destroy Unimatrix Zero. Seven begs Janeway to help, the Borg Queen tells her to stay away and a plot is hatched. It's the cliffhanging finale and the show goes boldly where NEXT GENERATION has already gone by having the captain assimilated by the Borg. It would be a dramatic moment to end the season were it not that a single line of dialogue gives away the fact that this is all part of Janeway's plan. We'll have to wait for Season 7 to see how it all works out. The scale of the story is epic enough with huge shots of the Borg collective (OK, the same shot a few times over, but what the heck) and some action showing the Borg at their worst, killing anyone who gets in their way and calmly disassembling heads all around. The Borg Queen is excellently played by Susanna Thompson, with the same disturbing mixture of sexy, slimy, calculation and evil as the Alice Krige original, making her a match for the good captain. The Delta Flyer (pretty much scrappable after Muse) gets totally wasted and Voyager seems a lot more capable of taking on a heavily armoured Borg warship than she ought to be, but these are quibbles in what is otherwise an exciting and dramatic finale. Top |
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