Right
up front, I’ll say I really liked STAR TREK: VOYAGER, but I was
never in love with the series, the same way I was with DEEP SPACE NINE.
For my money, DEEP SPACE NINE was the best of all television series
bearing the STAR TREK moniker, while VOYAGER came across as
something of a disappointment, especially during the early seasons. I
think the biggest problem with VOYAGER was that it was too
homogenized- trying to appeal to many demographics and create an audience
for the then fledgling UPN network. VOYAGER might have worked
better had it been a little darker, like DEEP SPACE NINE, and tried
to push the storytelling envelope a little. It was only in the forth
season, when the show ventured into Borg space and added a new series
regular, that it became somewhat darker, more complex and truly
interesting.
The
plot of STAR TREK: VOYAGER focuses on the plight of the Federation
Starship USS Voyager. While in pursuit of a Maquis ship in an area of
space known as the badlands, Voyager is whisked seventy thousand
light-years across the galaxy to the Delta Quadrant, where it becomes
trapped. After an incident that leads to the destruction of the Maquis
ship, Voyager’s Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) decides to
integrate the two crews, with Chakotay (Robert Beltran), the Maquis
captain, serving as her first officer. Seventy-five years away from home
at maximum speed, this newly unified Federation crew begins their trek
across the Delta Quadrant, facing countless unknowns and hostile alien
species. The STAR TREK: VOYAGER ship’s crew also features Roxann
Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Jennifer Lien as Kes, Robert Duncan
McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris, Ethan Phillips as Neelix, Robert Picardo
as The Doctor, Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok and Garrett Wang as Ensign
Harry Kim.
Perhaps
the biggest weakness of the first season is that very few of the aliens
encountered in the Delta Quadrant are particularly interesting, especially
the Kazon, who would seem to have been intended as the chief antagonists
for the Voyager crew (especially in the second season). However, the most
intriguing aspect of the first season is the burgeoning evolution of the
ship’s holographic doctor portrayed by Robert Picardo. Designed for
short-term use, the Emergency Medical Hologram is forced expand beyond its
original programming, when it becomes Voyager’s chief medical officer
out of necessity. Picardo is wonderful portraying the initially poor
bedside manner of "The Doctor," who changes and adapts through
human interaction and having his program made autonomous. STAR TREK:
VOYAGER- SEASON ONE ($130) comes to DVD in a five-disc set that
features all fifteen episodes that were aired in that first year. The
fifteen featured episodes are as follows: Caretaker,
Parallax, Time And Again, Phage,
The Cloud, Eye Of The Needle, Ex Post Facto,
Emanations, Prime Factors, State of Flux,
Heroes And Demons, Cathexis, Faces,
Jetrel and Learning Curve.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all fifteen episodes from STAR TREK:
VOYAGER- SEASON ONE available on DVD in the proper full screen aspect
ratios of their original television broadcasts. Being newer than THE
NEXT GENERATIONand DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER is the best
looking of the three series released on DVD. Similar television level
postproduction techniques were applied to all three series, but over the
course of time there were improvements in said techniques, which produced
superior end results by the time VOYAGER hit the airwaves. VOYAGER
episodes appear somewhat sharper and better defined than did the preceding
series. Certainly not at theatrical levels, the image quality is very
pleasing for television fare. Colors appear strongly rendered, without any
signs of noise and minimal fuzziness during sequences with the most
intense warm hues. Blacks are accurate, whites are clean and contrast is
good, despite being produced for the necessities of broadcast television.
Even with four episodes on a dual layer disc, digital compression
artifacts are always very well concealed.
All
the episodes that comprise STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON ONE feature
soundtracks that have been upgraded to Dolby Digital 5.1 channel format.
The Dolby Digital mix would seem to come from the pre-matrixed sound
stems, which are very good for a 90’s era television program. As
expected, the forward soundstage dominates the mix most of the time,
although episodes with space battles and such do get a bit more surround
action going. Sound effects are generally convincing, plus the recordings
demonstrate very good musical fidelity, which manifests itself across the
front channels and with a bit of fill in the rears. Ambient sounds and
engine noises are usually the most consistent sounds emanating from the
surround channels. Dialogue is crisply rendered and always fully
intelligible. The bass channel provides a good bit of clout to each
soundtrack, although it still falls short of a theatrical presentation. An
English Dolby Surround soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVDs, as are
English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s attractively designed
interactive menus, which provide access to the set up and episode
selection features, as well as the supplemental materials, which have been
relegated to disc five of the set. Braving The Unknown: Season One
is a ten-minute program that looks at the show’s creation. Voyager
Time Capsule: Kathryn Janeway runs fifteen-minutes and features
Kate Mulgrew reflecting on how she got the role of the captain and then
made it her own. The First Captain: Bujold clocks in at
eight minutes and features some of the footage of actress Genevieve Bujold
in the role of Captain, before she left the show for the usual
non-descript reasons of "creative differences," which have
become so famous in Hollywood.
Cast
Reflections: Season One is another eight minute program featuring
all the cast members talking about their experiences in the show’s
freshman year. On Location With The Kazons is a five-minute
tour of one of the show’s outdoor locations. Red Alert: Visual
Effects runs ten minutes and looks at the show’s effects work. Launching
Voyager On The Web is a six-minute look at the show’s online
presence and promotion. Real Science With Andre Bormanis
provides a glimpse at how the show tried to remain "authentic"
by integrating current scientific theory. A photo gallery and a number of
hidden files close out the supplements. One last thing, gotta say I really
liked the funky plastic packaging that houses the set, it is sleek and
efficient and doesn’t take up excessive space- way to go Paramount!
I’m
a Trek fan and have to say that I enjoyed STAR TREK: VOYAGER during
its seven year run. It may not have been the best series to carry the STAR
TREK moniker, but it produced its fair share of interesting stories
and exciting adventures. Paramount has done their usual wonderful job with
the set, so if you’re a fan, you will definitely want to add STAR
TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON ONE to your collection.
Right
up front, I’ll say I really liked STAR TREK: VOYAGER, but I was
never in love with the series, the same way I was with DEEP SPACE NINE.
For my money, DEEP SPACE NINE was the best of all television series
bearing the STAR TREK moniker, while VOYAGER came across as
something of a disappointment, especially during the early seasons. I
think the biggest problem with VOYAGER was that it was too
homogenized- trying to appeal to many demographics and create an audience
for the then fledgling UPN network. VOYAGER might have worked
better had it been a little darker, like DEEP SPACE NINE, and tried
to push the storytelling envelope a little. It was only in the forth
season, when the show ventured into Borg space and added a new series
regular, that it became somewhat darker, more complex and truly
interesting.
The
plot of STAR TREK: VOYAGER focuses on the plight of the Federation
Starship USS Voyager. While in pursuit of a Maquis ship in an area of
space known as the badlands, Voyager is whisked seventy thousand
light-years across the galaxy to the Delta Quadrant, where it becomes
trapped. After an incident that leads to the destruction of the Maquis
ship, Voyager’s Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) decides to
integrate the two crews, with Chakotay (Robert Beltran), the Maquis
captain, serving as her first officer. Seventy-five years away from home
at maximum speed, this newly unified Federation crew begins their trek
across the Delta Quadrant, facing countless unknowns and hostile alien
species. The STAR TREK: VOYAGER ship’s crew also features Roxann
Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Jennifer Lien as Kes, Robert Duncan
McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris, Ethan Phillips as Neelix, Robert Picardo
as The Doctor, Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok and Garrett Wang as Ensign
Harry Kim.
Perhaps
the biggest weakness of the first season is that very few of the aliens
encountered in the Delta Quadrant are particularly interesting, especially
the Kazon, who would seem to have been intended as the chief antagonists
for the Voyager crew (especially in the second season). However, the most
intriguing aspect of the first season is the burgeoning evolution of the
ship’s holographic doctor portrayed by Robert Picardo. Designed for
short-term use, the Emergency Medical Hologram is forced expand beyond its
original programming, when it becomes Voyager’s chief medical officer
out of necessity. Picardo is wonderful portraying the initially poor
bedside manner of "The Doctor," who changes and adapts through
human interaction and having his program made autonomous. STAR TREK:
VOYAGER- SEASON ONE ($130) comes to DVD in a five-disc set that
features all fifteen episodes that were aired in that first year. The
fifteen featured episodes are as follows: Caretaker,
Parallax, Time And Again, Phage,
The Cloud, Eye Of The Needle, Ex Post Facto,
Emanations, Prime Factors, State of Flux,
Heroes And Demons, Cathexis, Faces,
Jetrel and Learning Curve.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all fifteen episodes from STAR TREK:
VOYAGER- SEASON ONE available on DVD in the proper full screen aspect
ratios of their original television broadcasts. Being newer than THE
NEXT GENERATION and DEEP SPACE NINE, VOYAGER is the best
looking of the three series released on DVD. Similar television level
postproduction techniques were applied to all three series, but over the
course of time there were improvements in said techniques, which produced
superior end results by the time VOYAGER hit the airwaves. VOYAGER
episodes appear somewhat sharper and better defined than did the preceding
series. Certainly not at theatrical levels, the image quality is very
pleasing for television fare. Colors appear strongly rendered, without any
signs of noise and minimal fuzziness during sequences with the most
intense warm hues. Blacks are accurate, whites are clean and contrast is
good, despite being produced for the necessities of broadcast television.
Even with four episodes on a dual layer disc, digital compression
artifacts are always very well concealed.
All
the episodes that comprise STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON ONE feature
soundtracks that have been upgraded to Dolby Digital 5.1 channel format.
The Dolby Digital mix would seem to come from the pre-matrixed sound
stems, which are very good for a 90’s era television program. As
expected, the forward soundstage dominates the mix most of the time,
although episodes with space battles and such do get a bit more surround
action going. Sound effects are generally convincing, plus the recordings
demonstrate very good musical fidelity, which manifests itself across the
front channels and with a bit of fill in the rears. Ambient sounds and
engine noises are usually the most consistent sounds emanating from the
surround channels. Dialogue is crisply rendered and always fully
intelligible. The bass channel provides a good bit of clout to each
soundtrack, although it still falls short of a theatrical presentation. An
English Dolby Surround soundtrack is also encoded onto the DVDs, as are
English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s attractively designed
interactive menus, which provide access to the set up and episode
selection features, as well as the supplemental materials, which have been
relegated to disc five of the set. Braving The Unknown: Season One
is a ten-minute program that looks at the show’s creation. Voyager
Time Capsule: Kathryn Janeway runs fifteen-minutes and features
Kate Mulgrew reflecting on how she got the role of the captain and then
made it her own. The First Captain: Bujold clocks in at
eight minutes and features some of the footage of actress Genevieve Bujold
in the role of Captain, before she left the show for the usual
non-descript reasons of "creative differences," which have
become so famous in Hollywood.
Cast
Reflections: Season One is another eight minute program featuring
all the cast members talking about their experiences in the show’s
freshman year. On Location With The Kazons is a five-minute
tour of one of the show’s outdoor locations. Red Alert: Visual
Effects runs ten minutes and looks at the show’s effects work. Launching
Voyager On The Web is a six-minute look at the show’s online
presence and promotion. Real Science With Andre Bormanis
provides a glimpse at how the show tried to remain "authentic"
by integrating current scientific theory. A photo gallery and a number of
hidden files close out the supplements. One last thing, gotta say I really
liked the funky plastic packaging that houses the set, it is sleek and
efficient and doesn’t take up excessive space- way to go Paramount!
I’m
a Trek fan and have to say that I enjoyed STAR TREK: VOYAGER during
its seven year run. It may not have been the best series to carry the STAR
TREK moniker, but it produced its fair share of interesting stories
and exciting adventures. Paramount has done their usual wonderful job with
the set, so if you’re a fan, you will definitely want to add STAR
TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON ONE to your collection.