.
.
Season three is definitely the year that STAR TREK: VOYAGER began
gaining momentum and displaying all the right stuff in its story telling
department. Seasons one and two had too many misses amongst the hits,
which was probably due to the fact that the show didn’t offer the crew
of Voyager a worthwhile nemesis, as they made their long journey home
across the uncharted space of the Delta Quadrant. Fortunately, season
three wastes no time jettisoning those dead quantum torpedoes known as the
Kazon, during a fairly thrilling season opener that resolves a pretty cool
season two cliffhanger.
Over
the course of season three, the crew of Voyager does make it home to
Earth, albeit in the wrong century, not to mention having an encounter
with Captain Sulu (guest star George Takei) of the Starship Excelsior,
plus they end up in the middle of a civil war inside the Q Continuum
(courtesy of everyone’s favorite Q- John de Lancie), all of which builds
to the encounter fans have been waiting anticipating for three years-
namely the Borg! The STAR TREK: VOYAGER ship’s crew features Kate
Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway, Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay,
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.
.
. STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON THREE ($130) comes to DVD in a
seven-disc set that features all twenty-six episodes that were aired in
the third year. The twenty-six featured episodes are as follows: Basics
Part 2, Flashback, The Chute, The
Swarm, False Profits, Remember, Sacred
Ground, Future's End Part 1, Future's End Part
2, Warlord, The Q And The Grey, Macrocosm,
Fair Trade, Alter Ego, Coda, Blood
Fever, Unity, The Darkling, Rise,
Favorite Son, Before And After, Real
Life, Distant Origin, Worst Case Scenario,
Displaced and Scorpion Part 1.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all twenty-six episodes from STAR TREK:
VOYAGER- SEASON THREE available on DVD in the proper full screen
aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts. In terms of visual
quality, season three of STAR TREK: VOYAGER looks as good, or maybe
a tad better than the preceding two seasons. Of course, with seasons one
and two looking quite nifty for an effects laden television production
from the 1990s, season three’s general appearance will more than please
fans. In general, the image appears reasonably sharp and provides good
definition, although it certainly isn’t at theatrical levels.
Occasionally, a mildly soft looking shot pops up, but it’s nothing worth
complaining about. Colors are rendered with a good level of saturation,
and without noise or overt fuzziness. Blacks are fairly inky, whites are
clean and contrast is good, despite being slightly constricted to the
necessities of broadcast television. Even with four episodes contained on
a dual layer disc, digital compression artifacts are usually very nicely
camouflaged.
All
the episodes that comprise STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON THREE have
had their soundtracks upgraded to the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel format. As
expected, all of the tracks sound as though they are re-channeled versions
of the original pre-matrixed surround sound stems created for broadcast.
The forward soundstage tends to dominate each mix, although channel
separation is good across the front. Surround activity isn’t
particularly aggressive, but ambient sounds and engine noises help give
the mostly ship bound episodes a good sense of acoustical space. Of
course, space battles and other action sequences do bring the surround
channels to life, whenever required. Fidelity is quite good on these
recordings; as the sound effects generally come across in a convincing
manner, plus all of the episode scores have a good sense of musical
presence. Dialogue is completely intelligible and the voices are generally
reproduced in a natural sounding manner. The bass channel is respectable
enough for episodic television productions, but it certainly isn’t going
to give anyone’s subwoofer an extreme workout. English Dolby Surround
soundtracks are also encoded onto the DVDs, as are English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s nicely designed
interactive menus, which provide access to the set up and episode
selection features, as well as the supplemental materials, which are
presented on disc seven of the set. Starting things off is Braving
the Unknown: Season Three, a thirteen-minute program that provides
a retrospective look at the show’s third year through a series of recent
interviews with various members of the cast and crew. Voyager Time
Capsule: Neelix runs twelve minutes and features Ethan Phillips
discussing the development of his character over the years, as well as the
extensive makeup applications he endured for the seven year run. Voyager
Time Capsule: Kes is another twelve minute program that features
vintage interviews with actress Jennifer Lien, who discusses her
character. Flashback to "Flashback" clocks in at
thirteen minutes and features George Takei in a recent interview talking
about his guest shot on VOYAGER.
Red
Alert: Amazing Visual Effects is a sixteen-minute look at some of
the effects created for season three. Real Science With Andre
Bormanis is a ten-minute look at the science of the STAR TREK:
VOYAGER universe. Lost Transmission 1 is a very brief
interview clip with actress Martha Hackett, who talks about returning to
the role of Seska in a different context. Lost Transmission 2
is another brief interview clip that features Kate Mulgrew, who talks
about various episodes, as well as a good friend who guest starred on the
show. Lost Transmission 3 is yet another brief interview
clip that features Robert Picardo talking about the episode The
Swarm. Lost Transmission 4 features actor Tim Russ
talking about the Vulcan mating cycle in reference to the episode Blood
Fever. Lost Transmission 5 features director David
Livingston talking about the episode Distant Origin. A Photo
Gallery and a promo for Star Trek: The Experience: Borg
Invasion 4D close out the supplements.
Season
three is where STAR TREK: VOYAGER really starts to get good,
offering regular a foretaste of things to come over the remaining four
years. As for the STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON THREE DVD set,
Paramount has done their usual top flight job providing good looking
presentations for all the episodes, solid sound quality and some great
extras. If you are a Trek fan or a VOYAGER fan in particular, you
will want to add this set to your Starfleet collection.
.
Over
the course of season three, the crew of Voyager does make it home to
Earth, albeit in the wrong century, not to mention having an encounter
with Captain Sulu (guest star George Takei) of the Starship Excelsior,
plus they end up in the middle of a civil war inside the Q Continuum
(courtesy of everyone’s favorite Q- John de Lancie), all of which builds
to the encounter fans have been waiting anticipating for three years-
namely the Borg! The STAR TREK: VOYAGER ship’s crew features Kate
Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway, Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay,
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.
.
Paramount
Home Entertainment has made all twenty-six episodes from STAR TREK:
VOYAGER- SEASON THREE available on DVD in the proper full screen
aspect ratios of their original television broadcasts. In terms of visual
quality, season three of STAR TREK: VOYAGER looks as good, or maybe
a tad better than the preceding two seasons. Of course, with seasons one
and two looking quite nifty for an effects laden television production
from the 1990s, season three’s general appearance will more than please
fans. In general, the image appears reasonably sharp and provides good
definition, although it certainly isn’t at theatrical levels.
Occasionally, a mildly soft looking shot pops up, but it’s nothing worth
complaining about. Colors are rendered with a good level of saturation,
and without noise or overt fuzziness. Blacks are fairly inky, whites are
clean and contrast is good, despite being slightly constricted to the
necessities of broadcast television. Even with four episodes contained on
a dual layer disc, digital compression artifacts are usually very nicely
camouflaged.
All
the episodes that comprise STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON THREE have
had their soundtracks upgraded to the Dolby Digital 5.1 channel format. As
expected, all of the tracks sound as though they are re-channeled versions
of the original pre-matrixed surround sound stems created for broadcast.
The forward soundstage tends to dominate each mix, although channel
separation is good across the front. Surround activity isn’t
particularly aggressive, but ambient sounds and engine noises help give
the mostly ship bound episodes a good sense of acoustical space. Of
course, space battles and other action sequences do bring the surround
channels to life, whenever required. Fidelity is quite good on these
recordings; as the sound effects generally come across in a convincing
manner, plus all of the episode scores have a good sense of musical
presence. Dialogue is completely intelligible and the voices are generally
reproduced in a natural sounding manner. The bass channel is respectable
enough for episodic television productions, but it certainly isn’t going
to give anyone’s subwoofer an extreme workout. English Dolby Surround
soundtracks are also encoded onto the DVDs, as are English subtitles.
3-D
animation and sound serve to enhance the DVD’s nicely designed
interactive menus, which provide access to the set up and episode
selection features, as well as the supplemental materials, which are
presented on disc seven of the set. Starting things off is Braving
the Unknown: Season Three, a thirteen-minute program that provides
a retrospective look at the show’s third year through a series of recent
interviews with various members of the cast and crew. Voyager Time
Capsule: Neelix runs twelve minutes and features Ethan Phillips
discussing the development of his character over the years, as well as the
extensive makeup applications he endured for the seven year run. Voyager
Time Capsule: Kes is another twelve minute program that features
vintage interviews with actress Jennifer Lien, who discusses her
character. Flashback to "Flashback" clocks in at
thirteen minutes and features George Takei in a recent interview talking
about his guest shot on VOYAGER.
Red
Alert: Amazing Visual Effects is a sixteen-minute look at some of
the effects created for season three. Real Science With Andre
Bormanis is a ten-minute look at the science of the STAR TREK:
VOYAGER universe. Lost Transmission 1 is a very brief
interview clip with actress Martha Hackett, who talks about returning to
the role of Seska in a different context. Lost Transmission 2
is another brief interview clip that features Kate Mulgrew, who talks
about various episodes, as well as a good friend who guest starred on the
show. Lost Transmission 3 is yet another brief interview
clip that features Robert Picardo talking about the episode The
Swarm. Lost Transmission 4 features actor Tim Russ
talking about the Vulcan mating cycle in reference to the episode Blood
Fever. Lost Transmission 5 features director David
Livingston talking about the episode Distant Origin. A Photo
Gallery and a promo for Star Trek: The Experience: Borg
Invasion 4D close out the supplements.
Season
three is where STAR TREK: VOYAGER really starts to get good,
offering regular a foretaste of things to come over the remaining four
years. As for the STAR TREK: VOYAGER- SEASON THREE DVD set,
Paramount has done their usual top flight job providing good looking
presentations for all the episodes, solid sound quality and some great
extras. If you are a Trek fan or a VOYAGER fan in particular, you
will want to add this set to your Starfleet collection.