While in pursuit of
a Maquis ship in the Badlands, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate 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
The fourth season of
Star Trek: Voyager is when things go right, and the writers
begin to churn out better stories, and a little more suspense and
intrigue. The actors also get a chance to broaden their skills in
some of the episodes, which is always a good thing. There are more
than several new developments explored this season, including the
love relationship between Tom and B'Elanna, making contact with
home and the Alpha Quadrant, getting through conflicts with the
Hirogens, an alien hunter race, and, last but not least, the
introduction of the sexy yet deadly Seven of Nine, played by Jeri
Ryan.
The writers bring Seven into many of the episodes, which is
why some of the other characters feel a little neglected -
although the previous three seasons focused on the others quite
often. Ryan does a very good job playing Seven, and the writing of
her character is well done, too. Captain Janeway surprises a bit
this season, the writers make her more daring (perhaps in The
Omega Directive and The Killing Game) but also a tiny
bit arrogant (Year of Hell).
Overall, the fourth season is
an improvement over the first three seasons, and the majority of
the episodes are enjoyable, such as standouts Scorpion Part
2, The Year of Hell,
Message in a Bottle, The Killing Game, Living
Witness, Demon, and Hope and Fear.
Other solid episodes are Nemesis, Scientific Method,
The Omega Directive, and One. There are exceptions, however, with a few clunkers, like Random Thoughts and
Unforgettable.
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 Four (21:07) features interviews with
creators/executive producers Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor, and
various cast and crew, discussing the introduction to Seven of
Nine, the loss of Kes, and memorable episodes of the season,
including The Year of Hell, The Killing Game, and
Hope and Fear.
Voyager Time
Capsule: Seven of Nine (13:44) features interviews with Jeri
Ryan and various others talking about the character and so
forth. The featurette doesn't go very in depth, but it gets the
job done.
On the other hand, Voyager Time
Capsule: Harry Kim (14:09) discusses the character of Harry
a little more in depth, and actor Garrett Wang is the only cast
member interviewed for this piece. Pretty good stuff.
The Birth of
Species 8472 (9:35) is about the bad ass aliens. We get
interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, etc.
The Art of
Alien Worlds
(10:42) is hosted by Syd Dutton who discusses the art work and
the matte paintings used in various episodes depicting alien
worlds.
Rounding out the
bonus features is a photo gallery with 38 stills, and a
trailer for Trekkies 2. There's also a $5 coupon
of the Borg 4-D Invasion attraction at the Las Vegas Hilton inside
the packaging.
There are several
hidden extras, or Easter Eggs, as well, they're tiny
featurettes on specific things. Just click left and right on
your remote while in the special features menu to get to them. I
didn't care for some of them, but they're nice to have in any
case. The menus are very easy to
navigate, but the menu load time becomes a bit too long, and
there is no "play
all" option for the episodes.
Each episode runs approximately
45-46 minutes and is organized into
eight chapters. Running time for all 26
episodes is roughly 19 hours and 53 minutes. The back of the DVD
plastic casing lists episode airdates, episode titles and stardates.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Season 4 is better than
the first three seasons, and that alone makes the DVD worthy of a
slightly higher rating. I think the show will get better with season
5-7, but we'll see when those come along. At any rate, Voyager -
Season 4 comes recommended! Fans should try to grab the set,
though it is rather expensive.
