Star Trek Voyager: Season 1
Just like what happened when I was first watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the first season can be a real slog to get through. It took me around a year to get through this first season of Voyager. Without David around, it's difficult to be motivated to watch episodes. I knew what this series was about before going into it, unlike DS9 in which all I knew before I saw it was that it took place on a space station and they would eventually be at war with the Dominion. Voyager's main premise is that the crew has been sent into the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant, so far in fact that no one in the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants truly know what it contains. This is because no one has dared to go so far away from their home into a territory of space they know nothing about. This is also presents an interesting problem right off the back: Voyager cannot contact Starfleet easily, they're all alone in an uncharted section that they have no records of. To get home, they will have to find short-cuts and whatever assistance is offered them to shorten the over 70 years it will take. What surprised me from the first episode was that some of the Maquis was integrated into the main crew. I never knew that about the Voyager series. So it creates some tension and future problems to work out over the course of the series. As for the crew itself -from the first season- it's currently kind of hit or miss for me. Janeway, Tuvok, and The Doctor are probably my favourite characters. Chakotay, Torres, and Paris are in the middle while Neelix, Kes, and Kim I'm not much on board with. But there are 6 more seasons so I'll see how they'll all evolve. I'm aware of one character eventually leaving and another taking their place but we'll deal with that when we get there. :-)
As with my previous season and episode reviews, most of them were taken from Wikipedia with slight edits. I either liked the episodes and/or they have some significance to the series.
"Caretaker": Our first episode begins with a scrolling text introduction to the Cardassian and Federation relationship with the Maquis rebels and proceeds to the opening scene showing the Cardassians pursuing a smaller Maquis spacecraft. The Maquis ship escapes into the Badlands, a dangerous nebula, where the Cardassian vessel is damaged by a plasma storm and the Maquis ship is caught in a displacement wave. On Earth, Captain Kathryn Janeway of the Federation starship USS Voyager recruits Tom Paris, a captured Maquis, from a New Zealand prison to help track down the missing Maquis spacecraft. She's looking for her security chief, who was aboard the ship as a Federation spy at the time of its disappearance. Leaving from Deep Space Nine and dealing with bartender Quark (where the hell is Sisko and the other crew? At least we got to see Morn!), Voyager journeys to the Badlands, where it is scanned by a "coherent tetryon beam" before being struck by a displacement wave that wreaks havoc on the ship. The crew recovers to find themselves in the Delta Quadrant, over 70,000 light years from Federation space. Dead crew members include the second-in-command, helm officer, chief engineer, and the medical staff. The crew activate the Emergency Medical Hologram ("The Doctor") to treat the injured. Before they get their bearings, the crew are transported to a holographic simulation aboard a nearby array by a being called the Caretaker. Seeing through the simulation, the Voyager crew discover the Maquis, unconscious and undergoing strange medical experiments. Before they can react, the crew are subjected to the same experiments. Later, both crews awake on their own vessels and find they are each missing one crew member: Harry Kim from Voyager, and the Maquis half-human; half-Klingon member B'Elanna Torres. Attempts to negotiate with the Caretaker are fruitless as he insists there's no time for such talk. Janeway offers to work with the Maquis leader Chakotay to find the missing people and return to the Alpha Quadrant. The two ships follow pulses of energy sent from the array to a nearby planet. En route, they encounter Neelix, a space trader who is eager to help them out in exchange for rescuing his companion, the Ocampa Kes, from the violent Kazon that inhabit the planet's surface. Kes explains that her people live in a subterranean complex and are cared for by the Caretaker who supplies them with energy, with the only expectation in turn that they care for the beings that he sends to them, each one suffering from a strange disease that appears incurable. As the crews determine how to rescue Kim and Torres, the Caretaker realigns the array and begins firing more bursts of energy. Janeway's security chief, the Vulcan Tuvok, deduces that the Caretaker is dying and is ensuring the Ocampa are kept safe by sealing the underground complex. With time running short, a combined Away Team penetrates the shields protecting the complex and rescues Kim and Torres. The crews again ask the Caretaker to return them to the Alpha Quadrant. He reveals that he was part of an alien race whose technology had long ago accidentally destroyed the Ocampa planet's atmosphere, leaving it an arid desert. In recompense, he and another of his race have cared for the Ocampa ever since. His companion having long moved on, he has experimented on species from distant galactic sectors with the hope of finding a compatible match so that he can reproduce and pass the responsibility to his offspring. With death almost upon him, the Caretaker initiates the array's self-destruct sequence to prevent the technology from falling into the hands of the Kazon. As the Caretaker dies, the ships are attacked by a Kazon fleet. Janeway and Chakotay coordinate a counterattack to protect the array; Chakotay sacrifices his vessel to destroy one of the Kazon ships, but damage to the array disables the self-destruct sequence. Janeway opts to respect the Caretaker's wishes and orders the destruction of the array, despite it being their only chance at returning home. With the array destroyed, the Kazon disengage, and their leader tells Janeway, "you made an enemy today". As Voyager starts on a 75-year journey back to the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway integrates the Maquis into the Starfleet crew, with Chakotay as her second-in-command. Janeway appoints Paris as helmsman, and Neelix and Kes remain on board as guides to the local area of space. I liked this first episode and while I was surprised to see DS9, I wished they'd have the other characters around as a send off to the Voyager crew. As for a few crew members being a part of the Maquis? I never suspected that plot point of the series!
"Parallax": The merging of Federation and Maquis crew and the roles assigned for the remainder of the series. Torres becomes Chief Engineer of Voyager.
"Eye of the Needle": Voyager detects the signs of a wormhole and changes course to investigate, in the hope that it can be used to shorten Voyager's journey to Earth. To the crew's disappointment, it is discovered to be a decaying micro-wormhole whose aperture is only about 30 centimetres (12 in) in diameter. Nevertheless, Captain Janeway suspects that it could be used to transmit a message to the Alpha Quadrant, and launches a micro-probe into the wormhole to determine where it exits. The probe gets stuck in gravitational eddies, and is unable to pass any further. Meanwhile, a vessel at the other end of the wormhole is investigating and making scans of the probe. The crew of Voyager detect the scans and make contact, using the probe as a communications relay. The vessel identifies itself as a Romulan ship in the Alpha Quadrant. Janeway asks the Romulan captain to relay messages from the crew to their families and Starfleet. At first he refuses, but relents after Janeway asks about his own family, who are far away on Romulus. Before long, Torres suggests to Janeway that the probe could be used as a relay not only for communications, but for transporting the crew directly back to the Alpha Quadrant. Tests are conducted and all found successful. The Romulan captain arranges for a support vessel to rendezvous and accommodate the Voyager crew, and is then invited and transported to Voyager. It is then discovered that the Romulan (Dr. Telek R'Mor of the Romulan Astrophysical Academy) is from 20 years in the past. The micro-wormhole transits both space and time. The crew are unable to transport back to the Alpha Quadrant for fear of altering history, and similarly the Romulan cannot try to prevent Voyager's fate before it occurs without also altering events. Instead, they decide that Dr. R'Mor will deliver the messages in 20 years, after Voyager has left the Alpha Quadrant, thus preserving the timeline. After R'Mor is beamed back to his ship, Tuvok reveals that, upon researching the computer's data banks, he has discovered that R'Mor died four years before Voyager left the Alpha Quadrant, before he could have passed on the messages. The crew hope that someone else delivered them after his death.
"Prime Factors": Voyager encounters a very hospitable race known as the Sikarians and is invited to visit their homeworld, Sikaris. Shore leave is organized, and during the visit, Kim and a Sikarian transport themselves to another planet, Alastria. Kim notices that the planet has two stars and must belong to another star system. The Sikarian describes the location of the planet, and Kim deduces that the teleporter device-the trajector-has transported them 40,000 light-years across the Delta Quadrant. Janeway is informed, and asks Gath, the leader of the Sikarians, if the technology could be used to transport Voyager further towards the Alpha Quadrant. Gath states that they are forbidden from sharing technology, by their own version of the Prime Directive. Janeway reflects on how many times the Prime Directive has prevented Starfleet from interfering with more primitive cultures, and how they, Starfleet, are now in the reverse situation. The crew consider how they can bargain for technology, and Kim remembers that stories are valued by the Sikarians. Janeway takes this into account and makes an offer, asking Gath if the Sikarians will transport Voyager in exchange for its entire library of literature. Gath appears to find the offer tempting and promises to discuss it with the other Sikarian leaders. In engineering, Seska is seen in a daze thinking of her brother's birthday in a few days. Torres, Seska and Lt. Carey then examine the spatial rift caused by the trajector to figure out how it works. A while later, Kim is approached by a civilian who offers to bypass the law and hand over the technology in exchange for the literature. Janeway is unable to authorize an illicit trade, so she heads down to pressure Gath once again. Janeway discovers that he is only interested in his own pleasure and never intended to accept her offer. Gath orders Voyager to leave, so Janeway returns to the ship and orders the recall of all personnel. Torres, Carey, and Seska have downloaded the library and, after debate, head to the transporter room. When trying to access the transporter, they are unable to and Tuvok walks in on them. Instead of condemning the engineering team's actions in undermining Janeway's authority, Tuvok goes to the surface and makes the exchange without her knowledge or permission. He returns to Voyager with the trajector, but instructs the engineering team not to attempt to use the device until he has spoken with Janeway. Seska connects the trajector to a console port in engineering so that they can examine it. They discover that the technology relies on the massive crystalline mantle of the planet as an amplifier, and once they depart, the trajector will be useless. As Voyager is about to depart, Torres and Seska activate the trajector. The trajector field forming around the ship produces anti-neutrinos, and the warp core begins building to a breach, because anti-neutrinos are incompatible with Federation technology. Unable to disengage the trajector from the console, Torres destroys it with a phaser. Janeway is shocked to discover Tuvok, her friend and counsel, was the senior officer involved in the conspiracy.
"State of Flux": The crew of Voyager are foraging for food on a planet, when the ship detects a cloaked Kazon vessel and they are ordered to return. Chakotay is left behind to search for Seska, who he finds hiding in a cave. As soon as he finds her, he is fired on by two Kazons, who are stunned by return phaser fire, allowing Chakotay and Seska to escape. Back on Voyager, Seska makes Chakotay his favourite, mushroom soup. She begins to tell him that she and other Maquis have raided Neelix's kitchen to make the soup. Chakotay becomes angry and says everyone involved, including himself, will be disciplined by having their replicator privileges withdrawn for two days. Seska attempts to placate him, but after she hugs him, Chakotay tells her that they both agreed their relationship wouldn't work out and Seska leaves. Moments later, Voyager detects a distress call from a Kazon ship. On investigation, they discover that a piece of equipment on the Kazon ship has caused a catastrophic failure on board, killing all but one of the crew, who is comatose. The equipment bears similarities to Starfleet technology. The crew realize that the technology must have been given to the Kazon by someone from Voyager, and Seska comes under suspicion. The Kazon equipment is behind a force field, preventing further analysis, and so an engineering team starts work on a way to retrieve it. Seska decides to take matters into her own hands and beams over to the Kazon ship, explaining that she must retrieve the equipment to prove her innocence. While on the ship, Seska is injured and gets reprimanded by her superiors when she returns. Janeway realizes that the comatose Kazon might be the only chance of finding out how the technology came into their possession. Another Kazon ship arrives, and after attempting to convince Voyager to stop meddling in their affairs, the Kazon captain, Culluh, demands to see his crew member. Culluh and his bodyguard arrive in sickbay, where the Doctor is treating their compatriot. The Kazon want their man returned, so Janeway talks to the Doctor in private, not eager to release the patient into Kazon hands until she has her answers. Suddenly, Culluh's bodyguard takes out a small needle and injects a neurotoxin into the patient, killing him instantly. Disgusted, Janeway orders Culluh and the bodyguard off her ship. Kes finds Seska has Cardassian blood, which Seska claims was the result of a bone marrow transplant from a friendly Cardassian woman, but Kes is doubtful. Investigations reveal that a message was sent to the Kazon from Engineering, and from the time of the message the two most likely suspects are Seska and Lt. Carey. The senior crew set a trap to identify the traitor, and Seska falls for it. She explains that the Kazon are a powerful race in this quadrant and by giving them technology, Voyager will gain a powerful ally. Janeway informs Seska that such careless sharing of technology could change the balance of power in the Delta Quadrant, and is forbidden by the Prime Directive. Chakotay accuses Seska of being a Cardassian spy on his ship. She then says that living with Starfleet has made him soft, and that she has no clue how she could have ever loved him. She escapes to a Kazon ship using a pre-programmed beam-out. Janeway orders a pursuit, but more Kazon ships arrive and Voyager retreats. Later Chakotay asks Tuvok if he had been naive for being fooled by Seska. After Tuvok admits being fooled as well, Chakotay is reassured and Tuvok cannot understand how humans can find the failure of another pleasing.
"Heroes and Demons": The crew encounters a protostar and Captain Janeway decides to have samples beamed aboard for use as a potential power source. A problem occurs when beaming the samples to Voyager. Janeway recommends to Torres that she should have Ensign Kim's assistance, but he is discovered to be missing. The crew finds his holodeck program, based on the epic poem Beowulf, still running. With each person sent into the holodeck also becoming lost, Janeway sends in the Doctor to investigate, under the assumption that as an immaterial hologram, he cannot be dematerialized in the way the missing crew had been. The Doctor shows signs of nervousness when preparing for his first "away" mission, so Kes encourages him to take a name to embolden him with having an identity of his own. He states that he has narrowed his choices to three but does not reveal them. Once in the holodeck, the Doctor meets Freya, a shieldmaiden, and introduces himself as "Schweitzer". She takes him to the hall, where he is made to prove himself before the others, and after a celebratory meal and everyone has retired to separate rooms, she reappears and suggests that, in the cold of the night when the fire in his hearth has gone out, he ought to join her. Though he dismisses her advances, he relaxes his inhibition in later scenes. Later they are confronted by Unferth, who kills Freya. She dies in Schweitzer's arms. With her last words she speaks his name. As the Doctor investigates, he realizes that alien energy lifeforms were beamed onto the ship within the containment field into which the protostar samples were transported. The missing crew members have been converted to energy by the lifeforms from the protostar, presumably as hostages in retaliation for Voyager's actions. The Doctor releases the energy lifeforms on the holodeck; in kind, the missing crew are returned to their original forms. Afterwards, upon reflection, the Doctor decides not to keep the name Schweitzer, as his memories associated with it are too painful. The bearish characters were the real highlight for me. WOOF!
"Faces": Crew members Paris, Torres, and Peter Durst have gone missing on a mission. They have been captured by the Vidiians. Vidiian Chief Surgeon Sulan has conducted a procedure on Torres, changing her from a half-human, half-Klingon hybrid into two bodies (a full-blooded Klingon and a full-blooded human). He infects Klingon Torres with the Phage, a deadly disease that afflicts his species but to which Klingons have a natural immunity, so he can study her genetics. Chakotay, Tuvok, and Kim form a search party but are discovered by the Vidiians and beam back Voyager. Sulan examines the Klingon Torres while she experiences pain from the Phage. Klingon Torres expresses pride in her Klingon identity, though she remembers hiding her Klingon heritage as a child. Recognizing Sulan's attraction to her, she tries to seduce the scientist and escape, but his desire to find a cure overcomes his lust. The human version of Torres is kept imprisoned with Paris and Durst. Human Torres is characterized as weaker and more timid than her Klingon counterpart, and is deemed too ill to work in the mines. She secretly works on a security console in the barracks in an attempt to contact Voyager but is caught. Meanwhile, Sulan kills Durst and grafts his face over his own to appear more appealing to the Klingon Torres. Klingon Torres escapes from Sulan's laboratory, and rescues her human version. After arguing about their respective weaknesses, and past expulsion from Starfleet Academy, the two halves formulate a plan. Human Torres suggests shutting down the shields for the complex so that Voyager can transport them to the ship, while the Klingon Torres deals with guards. Chakotay, disguised as a Vidiian guard with the help of the Doctor, breaks into the facility at the same time Torres deactivates the shields. Klingon Torres sacrifices herself to protect the rest of the crew members from Sulan. Transported back to Voyager, Klingon Torres refuses medical help to die an honorable death. The Doctor explains that Human Torres would not survive without her Klingon half and restores her to her original self by reintegrating the Klingon DNA. Human Torres admits to feeling incomplete without her Klingon half. After being restored, she realizes that she will spend the rest of her life dealing with her inner conflict.
Season one doesn't end on a two-parter. For a short season, it was overall okay but I know it'll pick up.
