Star Trek: Voyager - Season 2  (1996)

Starring: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Jennifer Lien, Ethan Phillips, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Garret Wang

Creators: Rick Berman, Michael Piller, Jeri Taylor

Rating: NR

Distributor: Paramount Home Entertainment

Release Date: May 18, 2004
Review posted: May 24, 2004

Spoilers: Major

Reviewed by Dennis Landmann

SYNOPSIS

While in pursuit of a Maquis ship in the Badlands, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Mulgrew) and the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager are pulled into the Delta Quadrant. After making a decision that saves an entire species from being destroyed, but leaves both crews stranded, they must join forces to begin a 75-year journey across 70,000 light years of space to return to the Alpha Quadrant, the Federation and home.

CRITIQUE

I thought the first season of Voyager wasn't that bad. The second season is better in terms of stories, but then again it features some weak episodes. The season runs a full 26 episodes now as opposed to first season's fifteen. The more episodes, the more stories can be packaged into the show. However, season two doesn't make much of a statement or headway in terms of the larger story, that is, the crew's voyage back to Earth. There are a few episodes that bring back the idea of getting home faster, that perhaps the crew can obtain some technology or exploit some flaw in space. Whatever those episodes come up with, predictability is apparent. In a way it's frustrating to watch the crew fail or not make it, because we know they most likely won't return home until the last half of the seventh season.

Predictability aside, the second season gives the characters more things to do, in turn further developing their backgrounds, skills, and personalities. The EHM, or Doctor (Picardo), is the focus of episodes like Projections, the hologram program is running on a corrupted loop that could destroy him, and Lifesigns, he helps a dying alien woman survive. In Non Sequitur, which I liked, Harry Kim (Wang) is trapped inside an alternate universe that finds him back home in San Francisco with his girlfriend and a lucrative Starfleet job.

B'Elanna gets to prove herself in the exciting Dreadnought where Voyager encounters a former Cardassian missile ship (modified by the Maquis) that threatens to destroy a planet inhabited by millions of people. In Prototype, B'Elanna repairs a mysterious robot, but her good intentions are not met by the machine, and soon Voyager's safety is threatened. Tuvok stars in two good episodes (and a bad one, but more on that later), Meld and Innocence.

However, the same cannot be said about Chakotay (Beltran) who stars in two rather uneventful episodes despite their good intentions. They are Initiations, a teen Kazon (guest Aron Eisenberg) kidnaps Chakotay to prove himself to his sect, and Tattoo, Chakotay tries to contact the spirits his tribe referred to as the "Sky Spirits". Kes (Lien) becomes pregnant in Elogium, although I didn't much care for it, and befriends a man of her race in Cold Fire, the episode where the crew also encounters the female Caretaker.

Persistence of Vision is a good episode with some mysterious elements. The crew falls into a catatonic state for unknown reasons, and it's up to Kes and the Doctor to rescue them. I also liked Twisted where a spatial distortion ring begins to reconfigure the internal layout of Voyager. Alliances is good, too, in which Janeway tries to forge an alliance with one of the Kazon sects. Investigations is an interesting episode with a good twist that addresses the subplot of a traitor on Voyager, plus Neelix gets into some action. In Deadlock, an exciting episode, an accident in a plasma cloud duplicates Voyager after they are attacked by the Vidiians, which creates unforeseeable repercussions.

The season's evidently weak episodes are Parturition, Neelix and Paris become parents to an infant alien, Threshold, Paris evolves into a strange organism after he breaks the infinite velocity barrier in an experiment (it should also be noted that this episode is one of the most hated by fans), The Thaw, two crew members and three alien people are trapped inside an artificial environment, Tuvix, Tuvok and Neelix merge into one new being after a transporter accident. I wouldn't call Resolutions a bad episode, but it's pretty pointless. Captain Janeway and Chakotay contract an incurable virus and for the safety of the crew are left on a planet that shields them from its effects. Meanwhile, Tuvok is in command of the ship but reluctant to disobey the order not to engage with the Vidiians, an alien race that's familiar with diseases and might possess knowledge of a cure.

As far as season opening and closing episodes go, the second season does an okay job. The 37s is a mildly interesting episode, but the season cliffhanger Basics Part 1 finds its share of high points, however, the story that leads up to the cliffhanger forsakes the crew's objectivity. That is, Voyager finds an injured Kazon and receives a distress call from resident traitor Seska (Martha Hackett), who is in cahoots with Kazon-Nistrim Maje Culluh (Anthony De Longis). What doesn't quite make sense to me is Janeway's assessment of the situation and her decision to enter Kazon space. Granted, the last five minutes make for a good cliffhanger.

Disc 1: The 37's, Initiations, Projections, Elogium

Disc 2: Non Sequitur, Twisted, Parturition, Persistence of Vision

Disc 3: Tattoo, Cold Fire, Maneuvers, Resistance

Disc 4: Prototype, Alliances, Threshold, Meld

Disc 5: Dreadnought, Death Wish, Lifesigns, Investigations

Disc 6: Deadlock, Innocence, The Thaw, Tuvix

Disc 7: Resolutions, Basics Part I, Special Features

THE VIDEO

Paramount presents Voyager in the original 1.33:1 fullscreen format. Colors are generally natural-looking and well-saturated. Detail is quite good and sharpness mostly well-defined. Black levels and dark tones are not necessarily deep, but look just fine. Scenes shot in low light appear less detailed and grainy, but the majority of scenes look bright and detailed. Compression artifacts do not cause any problems, but grain appears in a number of scenes in almost every episode. The print image is free of scratches and looks pretty nice. This presentation is not perfect, but overall pretty good.

THE AUDIO

Paramount presents Voyager in English 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound. Dialogue is clear and easy to understand. The front speakers emit most of the audio, but channel separation is pretty good. Rear speakers do a good job channeling the sound effects and the music score. Surround usage is somewhat limited in the audio-driven scenes, yet there are moments when the audio penetrates the soundfield. Overall, this is a pretty good audio transfer for a TV show. Also available is an English Stereo Surround track plus closed captions. You can select to view the episodes with optional English subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

All special features are located on disc 7. Featured are six new behind-the-scenes featurettes with English subtitles. Interviews are presented in widescreen.

Braving the Unknown: Season 2 (16:29) features interviews with creators/executive producers Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor from mid-2003. Interestingly, Piller admits that of the twelve years he's spent on Star Trek this season of Voyager ranks as one of the top four seasons that we was involved in. As a viewer and moderate fan of the franchise, I can't agree with his assessment. This featurette discusses the character and story developments over the season, and what Piller calls "creative risks". There's also a bit on the different approach to the storytelling, the aliens, and several tidbits, such as the Kazon were originally portrayed as teenagers and based on Los Angeles street gangs. Overall, the featurette isn't very in depth and I thought it should've focused on some of the highlighted and weaker episodes. Aside from a few stories gathered from the interviews, they're not all too telling.

Voyager Time Capsule: Tuvok (13:57) offers a look at the resident Vulcan played by Tim Russ. His interviews are from 2003 and 1994. Rick Berman asked Russ to read a part for Voyager while the actor was working on Star Trek: Generations, and one thing led to another, well, you get the idea. Russ reflects on the character, the influence of Mr. Spock, and certain events in the show.

The next two featurettes seem more like filler material than insight.

Saboteur Extraordinaire: Seska (6:42) focuses on the resident traitor played by Mantha Hackett. In her 2003 interview she recalls filming and tells us things about Seska that we already know. Clips to support the interview are mainly from the first season episode State of Flux. Overall, this is not a very interesting or enlightening featurette.

A Day in the Life of Ethan Phillips (7:03) is a video diary of the actor who plays Neelix. We see him occupied in the make-up department and filming scenes. There's a 1994 interview with him in character but not much else. This one is disappointing and too brief.

Red Alert: Visual Effects Season 2 (12:51) is about what you would expect. Dan Curry, the visual effects producer, hosts this segment about the season two special effects. There are many episode clips as well as temp footage and before-and-after shots to illustrate the effects process. Curry also explains how some of the effects in Deadlock were achieved, such as a scene with two Captain Janeway's interacting opposite each other. There's some decent stuff in here overall.

Real Science with Andre Bormanis (11:26) is a mostly interesting featurette. Bormanis is the show's advisor on all things science and theory. He covers some of the show's scientific ideas and applications, such as planetary ring systems, the exoticism of black nebulas/dark matter, the bio-neural gel packs, and the Phage disease. There's also a bit on the warp technology and infinite velocity.

Page four of the special features menu offers a photo gallery and a Borg Invasion 4D preview trailer (0:57) of the Las Vegas Hilton attraction. There's also a $5 coupon inside the packaging.

There are six hidden extras as well, they're tiny featurettes on specific things. In one of them, found on page three, Brannon Braga admits that Threshold is a terrible episode. Also on that page is a 4-minute music video of Tim Russ singing a song called "Kushangaza". It's a bit strange, but not terrible. There's also something very brief on Lifesigns, as well as two tiny featurettes on episodes The 37's and Deadlock featuring an interview with Kate Mulgrew.

We don't get any commentaries again, and I'm sure it's hopeless that future season sets will have them. The menus are very easy to navigate, but the menu load time becomes a bit too long especially if you watch many episodes in a row. There's no "play all" option for the episodes. The packaging is nice, but also fragile. The lack of disc art is rather frustrating, especially since the Deep Space 9 sets looked great.

Each episode runs for approximately 45 minutes and is organized into eight chapters. Running time for all 26 episodes is roughly 19 hours and 43 minutes. The back of the DVD case lists episode airdates, episode titles and stardates.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I enjoyed watching almost all 26 episodes of Star Trek: Voyager - The Complete Second Season, except for several bad ones. The season doesn't make much of a statement one way or the other, but the characters grow and develop nicely. The DVD edition features good video and audio, though only half of the video-based extras are interesting. At $129.99 list price, the 7-disc set is pretty expensive, but it comes recommend to fans. It's your call.

VERDICT: RECOMMENDED

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