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Star Trek: Voyager - Season 1 [1996]


RRP: £84.99
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review

Star Trek: Voyager, the first Trek spin-off to be made without any input at all from Gene Roddenberry, made its debut in 1995 and quickly established itself both as markedly different from cosmic cousin Deep Space Nine and as the successor to The Next Generation. Despite a lack of originality in its premise (Lost in Space anyone?), Voyager was nonetheless often a bigger ratings success than any of its predecessors.

In the first series the crew of the Federation vessel Voyager must somehow try to get back home after being catapulted unwittingly to the far-flung Delta Quadrant (in the opening "Caretaker"). The ghost of Katherine Hepburn lives on in Kate Mulgrew's forceful Captain Janeway, who has an equivocal relationship with the Maquis renegade who becomes her first officer, Chakotay (Robert Beltran). Tim Russ gives possibly the franchise's first fully realistic (yawn) portrayal of a Vulcan, and to enhance the alien quotient there's cuddly chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips). Garret Wang must have drawn short straw for character development, since his Harry Kim is never imbued with any of the drama of rebellious pilot chum Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), who was later to get the series' only romance with the seemingly inescapable resident half-breed B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson). Right from the start, though, the fans' favourite character was the deadpan funny man role of Robert Picardo's nameless holographic Doctor. Jerry Goldsmith's graceful theme always opens the show in style. --Paul Tonks


Strongest Start compared to TNG, DS9 and ENT!
Review date: 2008-08-02 Rating: 8 out of 10

OK. I will be completely blunt by saying that this first season of Star Trek: Voyager was by far the best 'first season' of all the other star trek shows that followed the original series. (TNG, DS9 and ENT)

The pilot episode "Caretaker" was also my favourite pilot episode of all the other star trek series, as it was very well written and executed well and most importantly had a good opening for all the major characters of the series.

Highlights of Voyagers Season One would be "Caretaker" , "Phage" , "Faces" and the quiet season final (Very true to what star trek is all about) "Learning Curve". Overall you'll find this to be a very good start to series that has much potencial; will it live up to expectations or not... thats for you to solely decide and judge.

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Reviews


Lost in Space remake? I think not!
Review date: 2008-06-17 Rating: 10 out of 10

I would like to contest the Amazon reviewer's perception of the series. Admittedly I am a Star Trek fan and I am inclined to defend the franchise, however Voyager is by no means a lesser cousin.

The Pilot, Caretaker, is a great feature length storyline that appropriately establishes the premise of the entire series. The Starfleet ship investigates the disappearence of an intelligence agent on a ship belonging to a rogue faction, the Maquis. The Ship gets brought across the galaxy by an advanced space "array" controlled by a species referred to only as a Caretaker that is searching for a compatible mate. This is in the knowledge it is one of only a known two in the galaxy left of its kind.The Caretaker seeks a replacement who will maintain the station's regular transmissions of energy to an apparently desolate planet in atonement to sustain the underground civilisation for destroying its ecosystem. The elderly Caretaker and Voyager crew are then posited in the dilemma of either returning the crew home, but letting the advanced technology of the array and the now-dependent civilisation fall under the influence of nomadic raiders, or destroying the technology and forcing the two Maquis and the Starfleet crews on an estimated 70 year trek to return home.

The reviewer highlights the lack of romance, pointing to only the Torres-Paris relationship in later seasons. This neglects to acknowledge the late-series dynamics of Chakotay and Seven of Nine or even the prescence of Neelix/Kes, the two indigenous aliens who join the crew, as well as a variety of romantic intentions by individual crew members both with each other or with alien species, even holograms. However there is a deliberate reason why romance isn't a dominant theme in this segment of the franchise: specifically that this is not a colony ship, nor is the intent of the plot to settle on a distant planet. If the series deliberately focused on romantic interludes regularly, it would suffer criticism that the men are galactic lotharios in the cast of Kirk, whilst it would then be unlikely that a female Captain in particular would reconcile her command duties with maternal instinct to have offspring. The objective is to get back "home" as using whatever legitmate means is possible, within the mutually acknowledged moral stance of non-interference that the Maquis and Starfleet crews share.

The reviewer attacks Tuvok as being a boring character. In the opening seasons, it is reasonable to suggest that he is a straight man to contrast with Neelix's Hobbit-like enthusiasm, but over progressing series, Tuvok remains coldly deadpan and analytical mentally, but manages to suggest he has mellowed and warmed to characters such as Kes and Seven of Nine in his developing loyalty to them and other more "illogical" characters.

The general premise obviously shows that they are technically "lost" in space with no reinforcements, however it is by relying on ingenuity, determination and diplomacy that the series remains unique, as well as the central conflict over the seven years is how to get home without compromising their principles, as well as bridge the gap between the cultural divides of the Starfleet, Maquis, Aliens and Hologram crewmembers, which the first season predominantly focuses on in addition to the dilemma of limited resources in an unknown and hostile territory.

The reviewer mentions compliments the Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack, which happens to be my favourite of the overtures. It has been forgotten though that the special effects of the series have come a long way from the airfix-kit style props that The Original Series spawned the franchise from and that there are wider uses of CGI landscapes that are seamlessly sewn into outdoor scenes. Space battles, planetscapes and more intricate background computer schematics or close-ups of scientific diagrams have evolved and surpassed early TNG and early-mid DS9 also. It is ingenious also that the series was actually filmed on modified sets of the TNG series.

This boxed set benefits from the addition of a 6th disc containing the features detailed above which appear to have been axed in the Slimline Edition. This is therefore the version a hardcore fan of the series would appreciate with the features and the "Exclusive Content" of the Original Series episode "Arena". Nonetheless it is encased in a hardy plastic case with booklet and embossed Silver Title logo and UFP Emblem and cardboard slipcase with animated menus.

In conclusion I would like to champion that this series is much more than the glib rewrite that the reviewer implies it to be.

70,000 light years and counting...
Review date: 2007-09-25 Rating: 6 out of 10

Before I kick off into my main review of this dvd box set of voyager's first season, I'd like to start by pointing out that unfortunately, unlike the UK vhs releases, this is the "amended" version of Season 1. Originally, Season 1 was to be 19 episodes, but at the last minute the last 4 episodes were pulled from transmission to save for Season 2 (and allow it to be the traditional 26 episode length), even though the stardates were not altered to Season 2 format, and they were still included in the Season 1 package for overseas distribution. This means that Season 1 ends on a decidedly dull note with the mediocre "Learning Curve". The other 14 episodes included here are of varying quality, with a few showing promise, but none particularly thrilling. "Caretaker" is generally regarded as a very strong premiere episode and is definitely better than the Nex Generation's "Encounter at Farpoint". In reality it's ok but not great. More than anything it's a functional episode, setting up the basic premise adequately enough, but it's full of plot holes and contrivances, and the Kazon are immediately annoying, an obvious rehash of the Klingons, but with less depth. The next two episodes "Parrallax" and "Time and Again" are both neat little sci-fi stories and are both more exciting than the feature length premiere, but the remaining batch are all very "hmmmm", with the exception of the penultimate Jetrel", probably the strongest episode in this set.
Despite the run-of-the-mill, unispiring escapades presented here, there's still a bit of fun to be had. The Starfleet/Maquis crew on Voyager are an interesting bunch, and by the end of the season you will have warmed to Janeway, Chakotay, Torres, Paris, and Kim (even if they all get along too well, all things considered). The Doctor is the standout character, Bob Picardo excellently portrays the pathos in the character, with his desperation to be included and respected as an idividual. The final two regulars, Neelix and Kes, are less impressive. Neelix is overbearing and irritating and is just not funny, whilst Kes's character seems too difficult to pin down at times, and the fact that her and Neelix are engaged in a romantic relationship is completely unbelievable.
In conclusion, this first set of Voyager adventures is not great, but it does entertain. And we were lucky it was allowed to go on, as it would get a hell of a lot better.

Very Good, but not quite Excellent
Review date: 2006-07-26 Rating: 8 out of 10

The ending of 'The Next Generation' (or TNG to continue with three-letter abbreviations) left a bit a chasm in the Star Trek universe with Deep Space Nine (DS9) being the only show carrying the torch. Now, there's nothing wrong with DS9, in fact, there's a lot right with it. I'm a Niner, it's my favourite series. However, it doesn't quite fit the traditional Star Trek mould of 'going boldly where no one has gone before'. They're stuck in one place!

Enter Voyager - a Federation starship that gets flung into the Delta Quadrant on the other side of the Galaxy by a mysterious alien known as the Caretaker, and now desperately trying to get home.

The good thing about Voyager is that, because its set on the other side of the Galaxy, all the traditional villians, like the Romulans and the Cardassians, are gone. Which means they're forced to come up with new villians, like the Kazon (okay, they're a bit wimpy) and the Vidiians (sadly underused, kind of like futuristic Frankensteins!). Of course, for continuity, there are still references to the previous series - the fact that half of Voyager's crew are Maquis, that one of them is a Cardassian in disguise, and the Romulans make a cameo appearance all tie the series to its roots.

With the conclusion of TNG, everyone was expecting something fresh and different. Voyager manages to succeed in part, but the first series is a little weak. Clanger episodes include 'Parallax', where Voyager gets stuck in a quantum singularity (black hole) and has to break free by punching a hole in the event horizon. I was laughing my head off watching that! Poor science sticks out like a Vidiian thumb!

However, it appears that lessons have been learned from DS9. Several series arcs are set in motion straight away, including the Seska saga, which concludes in series 3, and of course, the delightful Holographic Doctor's development, who steals the show every time he's on the screen.

And, of course, we have the token Klingon! B'elanna Torres, the ship's Chief Engineer, is certainly one of the most annoying characters, but takes a close third to the pragmatically dull Ensign Harry Kim, whose storylines are meek and just doesn't match up to Tom Paris, and the ridiculously cheerful neo-skunk Neelix.

All in all, the series is pretty good, but it merely offers a taster of the things to come. The series improve as they go along!

The wonder that is voyager.
Review date: 2006-02-22 Rating: 8 out of 10

A great introuduction not only to voyager but to the star trek universe ( after st: deep space nine). I had baught this for my son as his second ever star trek boxset. And he loved it. the bounus a materials are great and give a great insight.

Product Details/Specifications


Actor(s):
Jennifer Lien
Tim Russ
Kate Mulgrew
Robert Picardo
Robert Beltran

Creators:
Kate Mulgrew (Primary Contributor)
Jennifer Lien (Primary Contributor)

Recording label: Paramount Home Entertainment
Manufacturer: Paramount Home Entertainment
EAN: 5014437841933
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 6
Format: PAL,
Release date: 2004-05-03
Number of discs: 6
Audience rating: Parental Guidance
Region code: 2
Running time: 420 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1995-01-16
Language: English (Original Language)

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