Review of Star Trek Voyager: Season 2

Introduction

The second season of Voyager picks up on the early work of the first, developing the characters that we have been introduced to, and moving around the Delta quadrant meeting new friends, and enemies (some old, some new). It`s fair to say that the Voyager franchise was one which split fan groups, with many despising it a lot. It`s probably one of my favourites and it was good to get into it after losing patience with the often confusing Deep Space 9.

Once again, a DVD company decides that the best way for people to review its products is to miss bits of them out, so my review copy lacks for discs 5 and 6. My comments therefore don`t include those discs. Here`s what season 2 of Voyager brought us. Several of these episodes were produced to be aired in season 1, but they were held over to make season 2 a full 26 episode run.

The 37`s

A 1930s pickup truck has made it out into the Delta quadrant, and some earthlings from the time have also made it into the quadrant in stasis. A twist on the alien abductee story, and Janeway meets another of her heroes, Amelia Earhart. The season opens up in style, with the first landing of a federation starship on a planet.

Initiations

A Kazon child attacks Chakotay`s shuttle and he is kidnapped. But things don`t go to plan for either of them...

Projections

A TNG guest star turns up here with the annoying Dwight Schultz as the annoying Reg Barclay. As you might expect at some point, there`s a problem with the Emergency Medical Hologram, and the Doctor is faced with the fact that he might not be who he thinks he is. A sci-fi staple this one.

Elogium

More Kes and Neelix storyline as Kes reaches her time for mating, influenced by external forces.

Non Sequitur

Ensign Kim appears to be back in San Francisco and has to hunt down Tom Paris to try and find a way back to reality.

Twisted

Once again we find our crew trapped on the holodeck as a spatial anomaly is rearranging Voyager`s configuration at will. Neelix returns as the green eyed monster.

Parturition

Neelix turns green eyed monster once more over Paris and Kes. However, he and Paris are then stranded on an unfriendly planet and will obviously have to put aside their differences etc.

Persistence of Vision

More holo-dangers here as Janeway begins seeing visions from a holo-novel that she is "reading" to relax.

Tattoo

A bit of a tedious flashback episode as Chakotay has spritual and emotional flashbacks after encountering a planet which might be where his ancestors came from.

Cold Fire

Previously before.... We continue with the story of the Caretaker from the opening episode of the whole series, as the crew encounter some more Ocampa who may know the whereabouts of its mate. Kes` mental abilities start to develop further.

Maneuvers

Another story in the Seska/Chakotay mini soap opera. A Kazon attacks Voyager to steal transporter technology. Chakotay seeks revenge against Seska and ends up getting captured. A laughable Eastenders type scene ensues with Seska impregnating herself with Chakotay`s DNA.

Resistance

An away mission goes wrong with crew members captured. It`s time for a prison breakout episode.

Prototype

It`s android episode time, as B`Elanna rebuilds a damaged robot found floating in space. This action makes her popular with the robot, but leads to trouble. The robot does look like something from a Dr Who episode.

Alliances

Voyager is fighting a losing battle in the quadrant and needs to make a shaky alliance with the Kazon. But in the end they end up with their enemies, the Trabe.

Threshold

A horrible episode, although it starts out well enough. Paris breaks warp 10 but experiences some after effects as he starts to evolve further than he might wish to.

Meld

With a murder on board, Tuvok turns detective to find the killer and the motive. But a mind meld goes wrong and he becomes violent.

The following episodes were missing from my set:-

Dreadnought
Deathwish
Lifesigns
Investigations
Deadlock
Innocence
The Thaw
Tuvix

Resolutions

For once the precursor to the season finale doesn`t turn out to be weak or a clip show. Janeway and Chakotay contract an incurable virus and are exiled to a planet which protects them. Tuvok takes command but faces resistance from his crew.

Basics (1)

The season finale brings us to a close, and just as in the opening episode, we get another landing of the ship. But there`s more in the Seska soap opera as she and the Kazon set a trap for Voyager. The crew land up in their biggest battle and biggest mess to date.

Video

A pretty standard mid 1990s full frame transfer and it looks much like the later TNG and DS9 releases. The picture looks better than when first broadcast. Everything looks pretty sharp too.

Some new sets appear, for example the Brig, and the special effects have improved every year that the show has been on. The landing of the ship is probably the highlight of the season though.

Audio

A DD5.1 remix which sounds pretty good. Purists may prefer the original track (you could try the dubbed foreign language versions for this), but I`m voting very definitely for the remix. The extra bass is good, and the surrounds get some good work to do. Dialogue is excellent throughout.

The main thing that this remix highlights for me is the score, as it has with other Star Trek releases. The Voyager theme tune is probably my favourite theme, but I can`t quite pinpoint why.

Features

Almost all of the extras are on disc 7, along with the final 2 episodes of the season. The only episode specific extra is on the first episode, "The 37s", where a "pop up video" style text trivia track is available. It would have been nice to see this on more episodes. Here`s what else you get:-

Braving The Unknown: Season Two.
Designing The U.S.S. Voyager.
Voyager Time Capsule: Tuvok.
Saboteur Extraordinaire: Seska.
A Day in the Life of Ethan Phillips.
Red Alert.
Real Science with Andre Bormans.
Lost Transmission from the Delta Quadrant.
Photo gallery.
Star Trek Deep Space Nine DVD trailer.
Star Trek The Next Generation DVD trailer.
Borg Invasion 4D

The extras follow the same pattern as previous Star Trek series and are made up of interviews and documentaries with footage from the time of the episodes as well as more recent footage shot last year. They discuss the ideas for the season, playing the characters, writing episodes, and designing the series and there`s plenty of behind the scenes footage, particularly in the "day in the life" sequence.

There are also the obligatory trailers as well as the one for the theme park ride "Borg Invasion 4D". Watch out for some easy to find and interesting Easter eggs, including a half apology for the episode "Threshold".

Conclusion

As with most Star Trek box sets, with twenty six episodes of Star Trek, in DD5.1, looking as good as you could expect, what more could any fan want? Maybe more episode specific extras would be nice, but it`s still a good box set. There are some problems with this season particularly the cheap and annoying plot theme of the green eyed Neelix, and the ongoing Seska soap opera which really isn`t up my street. Still plenty of good episodes though and some classic Trek here.

The Doctor has to be my favourite character, providing some excellent comic relief at times and also bringing life to a difficult character.

The picture is as good as can be expected, the DD5.1 remix is great, and the extras are interesting. I`m sure even hardcore fans will find things of interest in them.

Recommended for anyone who enjoys a Trek.....