Welcome to the latest issue of TCM, In this issue we will be taking an in depth look at Star Trek Voyager. We have biographies of all the main characters written by Gerri and Eugenia. We also have interviews with Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry and the female Q herself, Suzie Plakson, Also we have an article written by Star Trek Stunt woman Leslie Hoffman.
Finally our Captains Log is written by acclaimed Star Trek author Michael A. Martin. So all that remains to be said is we hope you all enjoy the issue. Live long and Prosper Richard
FEATURES Star Trek Voyager 2371-2378 By Camren T. Burton Star Trek Stuntwoman By Leslie Hoffman Captain Janeway Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra
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Suzie Plakson Interview
14
Commander Chakotay Biography
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Lt. Commander Tuvok By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra The Doctor Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Star Trek Voyager 2371-2378 A Timeline Seasons 1 and 2 By Camren T. Burton Neelix Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Kes Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Seven of Nine Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry Interview Ensign Kim Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Lt. Tom Paris Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Lt. B’Elanna Torres Biography By Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra
6 8
21 23
26 34 36 38 41
51 53 55
REGULARS Captains Log By Michael A. Martin
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Special Thanks: Interviewees: Suzie Plakson and Eugene ‘Rod’ Roddenberry.
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Staff: Writers: Camren T. Burton; Gerri Donaldson; Leslie Hoffman; Michael A. Martin; Richard Miles and Eugenia Stopyra.
Writers: Camren Burton; Gerri Donaldson; Leslie Hoffman; Michael A. Martin; Richard Miles and Eugenia Stopyra.
Graphics: Richard Miles
Production Companies: Roddenberry Productions.
Images: Bing.com Images; Google.com Images; Leslie Hoffman; Suzie Plakson. Head Writers: Gerri Donaldson and Eugenia Stopyra Creative Consultants: Michael Hudson and Rick Pike Assistant Editors: Alex Matthews Editor: Richard Miles Publisher: Richard Miles
In 1994, the unthinkable was happening – Star Trek: The Next Generation was coming to an end. The ratings for season 2 of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were low, but the rumor mill was ripe with speculation about the new Star Trek series in development, Star Trek: Voyager. Set aboard the U.S.S. Voyager, NCC-74656, the series made some bold leaps forward with the casting of a female captain (as a regular), a first for Star Trek. Kate Mulgrew assumed the center seat as Captain Kathryn Janeway. Also surprising to some viewers was the presence of a black Vulcan, Tuvok, played by Tim Russ. Other crewmembers included Native American First Officer Chakotay (Robert Beltran), pilot Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), half-Klingon Chief Engineer B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), Asian Ops officer Ensign Harry Kim (played by Garret Wang, and still waiting for his promotion), a holographic Doctor (Robert Picardo), a Talaxian guide and cook named Neelix (Ethan Phillips), a young Ocampa named Kes (Jennifer Lien), and later a liberated Borg named Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). With Voyager and Deep Space Nine airing at the same time, the loss of The Next Generation was somewhat softened, more so by their movie “Star Trek: Generations” which opened the autumn following the show’s ending. Voyager and Deep Space Nine maintained their own storylines but occasionally crossed paths, maintaining a decent continuity. The two series would also have major impact on the Star Trek fan-film community, as depicted in the following timeline of Voyager’s seven season run. The timeline continues on page 31
I have always been a Trekkie ever since TOS. I even attend the second Star Trek Convention that was held in New York City. Imagine years later to walk onto Paramount Lot and walk into the imagination of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek!!! I had been doing stunts on DS9 for Dennis Madalone, Stunt Coordinator for TNG, DS9 and Voyager. I could not stunt double for Dax or Kira on DS9 due to my height, for I was too short. Then Star Trek: Voyager started up and there was a Klingon-Human Hybrid named B’Elanna Torres. Torres would rather punch someone first and ask questions later. Dennis felt I would be a perfect Double for her. The most memorable stunts I have done for her were on “Blood Fever” where I did the repelling stunt fall with Neelix and the final Pon Farr fight with Vorik.
In “Day of Honour” I did the whole fight for Roxann due to the fact that she was 10 weeks pregnant and the Producer’s did not want to risk the health of Mother and unborn Child. If you watch the fight very carefully, you will see that there are no cuts throughout the whole fight but at the end the camera swings down to the Klingon that Torres had knocked down and then swings back up to…… Roxann!!!!! so that she could say her final line. All we did was to switch places quickly but personally it is one of my all time favorite fights that I have done. Star Trek: Voyager was a major part of my Life for 7 wonderful years. There are so many wonderful memories on and off the set. The main Cast was always friendly and the crew especially Special Effects always took care of the Stunt People who worked on the set. In “Memorial” I had to be phasered in the back. The Head of the Special Effects Department, Dick Brownfield was very upset because up until then no woman had been killed that way on any Star Trek Series. Dick was so concerned about my wellbeing that he personally rigged up the squib (explosive) on my back. That was above and beyond what Dick had to do and that is how I will always remember Star Trek: Voyager. I worked several other episodes as well. If interested about my Career you can always visit: Memory Alpha http://memory-alpha.org/wiki/Leslie_Hoffman IMDB http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0389003/ or my own site: www.stuntrek.com please feel free to ask me any more questions and I will answer them. Thank you Trekkie Central Magazine for inviting me to share my experiences with you and your Readers.~
Personal Log, Stardate 48546.2. Our journey home is several weeks old now, and I have begun to notice in my crew and in myself, a subtle change as the reality of our situation settles in. Here in the Delta Quadrant, we are virtually the entire family of man. We are more than a crew and I must find a way to be more than a Captain to these people Kathryn Elizabeth Janeway grew up on a farm in Bloomington, Indiana. Her father was a Starfleet Admiral. She adored her father and credited him with forcing her to learn how to work things out for herself. When he drowned under the polar ice cap on Tau Ceti Prime Janeway was grief stricken, not moving from her bed for days until her sister dragged her out of bed and coerced her to accept the fact that their father was dead and it was time to move on. One of her heroes were her family ancestor, astronaut Shannon O’Donnell who she believed was the driving force behind the construction of the Millennium Gate also Amelia Earhart a 1930s airplane pilot. These people, along with her father inspired her to join Starfleet. Janeway studied hard often pulling all-nighters with a pot of coffee by her side. Her love for coffee was one of the things she missed most when first lost in the Delta Quadrant. Graduating from Starfleet her first posting was on the USS AlBatani under the command of Captain Owen Paris as Science Officer. Under his patronage she eventually took command of the USS Billings. It was here that she first met Tuvok when she was dressed down by him in front of three Starfleet Admirals for failing to observe proper tactical procedures. Soon after Janeway and Tuvok became close friends and she found comfort in the fact that she could ‘rely on his insightful and unfailingly logical advice’. Her next command was on the Intrepid-class USS Voyager and her first mission was to locate and capture a Maquis ship that had last been reported in the Badlands. Whilst there, the Maquis and Voyager crews were transported against their will by an alien being called The Caretaker into the Delta Quadrant, 75 000 light years away. The Maquis vessel was destroyed while fighting the KazonOgla and the two crews had to start working together when Janeway destroyed the Caretaker’s Array that had the potential to return them to the Alpha Quadrant. Janeway following the Prime Directive meant they were stranded and it would take 75 years to return home. At the Academy, we are taught that a captain is expected to maintain a certain distance. Until now, I've always been comfortable with that distance. Maybe this is just the way it works. Maybe the distance is necessary. Maybe more than ever now, they need me to be larger than life. I only wish I felt larger than life. Computer, delete last sentence.... Early days in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway felt uneasy about how to interact with her crew and especially the Maquis. As time went on the loneliness of being the only Federation ship in the quadrant led her to relax the separation between Captain and crew. She viewed herself as a shepherd looking after her flock and the crew viewed her with respect and admiration.
Janeway was a Captain who was not afraid to take chances, in many cases putting herself in the firing line. She was intelligent, thoughtful and totally committed to getting her crew home. Chakotay, leader of the Maquis became Janeway’s second in command. She slowly began to trust Chakotay and admired the way he handled the crews of both ships. They became firm friends, although not always seeing ‘eye-to-eye’, often sharing a meal and debriefing. When contracting a deadly virus and were left on a planet where the virus was held in remission it was here that Chakotay revealed to Janeway just how his life had changed by meeting her.
I can tell you a story, an ancient legend among my people. It's about an angry warrior who lived his life in conflict with the rest of his tribe, a man who couldn't find peace even with the help of his spirit-guide. For years he struggled with his discontent. But the only satisfaction he ever got when he was in battle. This made him a hero among his tribe, but the warrior still longed for peace within himself. One day he and his war party were captured by a neighbouring tribe, led by a woman warrior. She called on him to join her because her tribe was too small and weak to defend itself from all its enemies. The woman warrior was brave and beautiful, and very wise. The angry warrior swore to himself he would stay by her side, doing whatever he could to make their burden lighter her needs would come first and in that way the warrior began to know the true meaning of peace. When Janeway severed Seven of Nine’s connection with the Borg she took it upon herself to help rediscover her human identity. Janeway became her mentor and role model challenging Seven to remember her past and to pursue what a ‘normal’ life should be. Often at loggerheads with each other as Seven questioned Janeway’s opinions but over time they became friends. It was her personal relationship with Tuvok and Chakotay that was the determining factor for a future Admiral Janeway wanting to change the timeline after Voyager returned from its twenty-three year journey. Tuvok suffered a condition that destroyed his mind, with the cure only available on Vulcan they had returned too late for it to be effective. Chakotay had married Seven of Nine in the Delta Quadrant but she was killed during an away mission and since returning Chakotay died from what Janeway believed was a broken heart. (At Chakotay's grave) Any final words of advice for your old Captain? Wait, don't tell me: I'm being impulsive. I haven't considered all the consequences. It's too risky. Thanks for the input. But I've got to do what I think is right. I know it wasn't easy living all these years without her, Chakotay. But when I'm through... things might be better for all of us. Trust me. Travelling back in time Admiral Janeway provided Captain Janeway with sophisticated anti-Borg technology, including transphasic torpedoes and ablative generator armour technology, in order for her to enter the nebula that housed the transwarp hub. Not in any way unexpected Admiral Janeway sacrifices herself so that her crew get home. As Voyager flies out from the wreckage of a Borg Sphere that surrounded them, she was greeted by the voices of Admiral Owen Paris and Lt Reginald Barclay welcoming them home. After seven years in the Delta Quadrant she accomplished what she had set out to do. She got her crew home.
We're alone - in an uncharted part of the galaxy. We've already made some friends here... and some enemies. We have no idea of the dangers we're going to face. But one thing is clear: both crews are going to have to work together if we're to survive. That's why Commander Chakotay and I have agreed that this should be one crew a Starfleet crew. And as the only Starfleet vessel assigned to the Delta Quadrant, we'll continue to follow our directive: to seek out new worlds and explore space. But our primary goal is clear. Even at maximum speeds, it would take 75 years to reach the Federation. But I'm not willing to settle for that. There's another entity like the Caretaker out there somewhere who has the ability to get us there a lot faster. We'll be looking for her. And we'll be looking for wormholes, spatial rifts, or new technologies to help us. Somewhere, along this journey, we'll find a way back. Upon the return of Voyager to the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and was assigned to Starfleet Command. Here are three things to remember about being a starship captain: keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew!!
TCM: How did you first get cast as K’Ehleyr for The Next Generation, was it on the back of your role of Selar in an earlier episode or did you have to audition for it? SP: I auditioned for it. The stand out memory for me in that audition was...well, wait: I should set up the fact that though I’m profoundly and eternally grateful to Star Trek fans, and have felt so incredibly blessed and honored a thousand times over by my inclusion on Planet Star Trek, I don’t happen to be a SciFi person at all. And as an actor, I tend to come, predominantly, from comedy. So, back to the audition, and the fact that an alien chick with a gnarly forehead should stand at a door and silkily say, “Sorry I’m late, I had to make myself look beautiful,” was something that I knew all the comedy and theatre folks in my life would be in stitches over. Well, of course, it was quite a serious moment, and the “panel of judges” as it were, didn’t, rightfully, crack a smile, which I found rather unnerving. I also think something about my generally (subtly, I hope) comic take on things, probably led to me giving a bit of a wink to someone at some point, which consequently led to a notable note I later received from the producers: “Um, Suzie: there’s no winking in the 24th Century.” (Which frankly, makes me glad I won’t be around to see it, if that’s the case.) Point herein being, even though I’d been on the show before, it took me some time to really grasp the world I was entering, and get on the same train with respect to the tone of things. Not much time, of course, because I got the role on, what, a Thursday, went in for makeup and hair on Friday, shot on Monday. TCM: You have played a number of different characters in Star Trek, did you prepare for them in the same way? SP: Probably. They’re all a thousand years ago now, and remember -it’s television. Hailing back to the speed of light at which one is cast and thrown into the mix, there generally isn’t time to prepare in any depth, nor, frankly, does there need to be. I think I took most of my character cues from the script, as usual, and I’m pretty sure they gave me a few episodes to watch. Though I remember as I write, that I didn’t “need” to see a Vulcan; I’d watched just enough Trek with my brother -- who’s a big Trek fan -- that one of the coolest I-got-cast phone calls I’ve ever made was to him saying, “Mike, you’re gonna freak: I’m playing a Vulcan.” Also, to be noted with respect to my approach to acting and Star Trek: I find it hooks pleasantly into “kid” energy. In other words, the fun, the plain old, ordinary, serious fun of getting clothed in wild makeup and cool costumes and pretending the thing you’re holding measures diseases, or shoots firey rays of some sort is a transformational impulse that comes from a very deep place. And as far as the stunt stuff for K’Ehleyr, they just threw me in the deep end. And with the exception of two stunts, I did everything. It was exhausting. And hilarious.
Egotistically, I was always a little miffed they used me only in close-ups when I thought I was just a bit more convincing than the stunt gal, and we have totally different heights and measurements. The stunt stuff for the Andorian, thank God, was done beautifully by Katie Holmes, who was terrific. I could never have pulled off something so tough, and my body would have been very angry with me. TCM: All 4 of your characters had different personalities, were any them more difficult to play then the other? SP: The Vulcan was the most difficult. Firstly, I’m so insanely animated, that it’s a real challenge to be still. And every decent actor knows that less is more and that projecting with ever so much less takes serious chops. The guy in the new movie (I saw it on a plane), I thought was true genius. If you look closely, in my first scene in “The Schizoid Man”, I look like a deer in the headlights, and my facial muscles are so at a loss I look like a dinner plate.
TCM: How different was it working on Voyager compared to The Next Generation? SP: Different cast, of course, just as much fun and welcoming as Next Gen. - same crew, though, so the experience still felt very similar, very filial, in its way. TCM: There was a ‘sex’ scene in that episode, which the fans found a little humorous; was it interesting to film after the whole build up through the episode? SP: I’m sure it wasn’t filmed in sequence, so we didn’t get the effect of any build-up: at least I didn’t, but I can be a bit dim. I seem to remember it being funny to film, and having to have been informed about what it was we were doing. TCM: Is there anything else you can tell us about your time on the Star Trek episodes you filmed? TCM: In Star Trek Voyager you played the Female Q, how different was she to play from K’ Ehleyr? SP: Well, as vastly different as they are to watch. One’s very, very physically demanding, the other’s just, well, a lot closer to playing Noel coward. TCM: A lot of the Voyager episode ‘The Q and the Grey’ features a Q Civil War, with American Civil War Dress, what was it like to film? SP: It was a blast. I loved it because we were outside, instead of on a dusty soundstage, getting our lungs full of that atmosphere smoke. Much as I love the theatrical effect of the makeup, I loathe the practicum and the hours involved, so with the q, in that era, it was about beauty makeup and a bit -- well, more that a bit, actually -- of hair curling and styling and such. I’m mad for period costume, though I happily took the opportunity to wear sneakers under my dress. It was a gorgeous day, and lots of fun. I was, to be honest, a bit disappointed in the little lace doily afternoon tea dress: I think the Q -- the Q I played anyway - would’ve easily been vain enough to wear something very low cut and ravishing and wildly inappropriate in the middle of a battlefield. But, alas, I was only a hired hand.
SP: Well. You’re asking for a novella with that one. Let’s pick one thing: I seem to, at this sitting, remember being punchy a lot of the time. There’s something about everyone being dressed up in Sci-Fi costumes, working insanely long hours (from dark to dark), being deadly serious about wildly imaginative things, that tends to bring out the giggles in me. And I happen to be an inveterate giggler anyway, and barely professional, if truth be told. I remember on Next Gen., Brent had to enter via the elevator, which was manually operated, and he had to do some crazy number of takes; and the elevator just couldn’t get it together. Hilarious, in my book. I was pretty sure they were going to have to fire me, if I got out of control, and I was teetering, let me tell you. I was very thankful, that I didn’t know anyone well enough for them to realize how dangerous I can be when I think something’s funny. Yeah. It’s amazing I kept it together long enough and convincingly enough to pick up my paychecks. Hey, Thanks so much for asking me to do this. Be well and happy, folks!~
TAKEN FROM WIKIPEDIA.ORG. NO INFRINGEMENT INTENDED.
Chakotay was born in 2329. As a boy, he often rebelled against his Native American upbringing in his father Kolopak's unnamed tribe, with its sometimes strict spiritual and cultural traditions. He dreamed of entering Starfleet Academy, which he finally managed to do at age 15, sponsored by Captain Sulu. (Voyager episode "Tattoo"). He attended Starfleet Academy from 2344 to 2348, where he engaged in the sport of boxing. During his tenure in Starfleet, he was assigned as an instructor in Starfleet's Advanced Tactical Training and achieved the rank of Lieutenant Commander. This may be a reference to the TNG episode Pre-emptive Strike where Ro Laren reveals that her tactical training instructor, a lieutenant commander, left Starfleet to join the Maquis. While not explicitly stated in the series, Chakotay's official biography on the official Star Trek website also states that he was Ro Laren's instructor at Advanced Tactical Training. In 2370, Chakotay's home planet in the Demilitarized Zone was ceded to the Cardassians in accordance with a treaty between the Federation and Cardassia. He subsequently resigned from Starfleet and joined a rogue group known as the Maquis. During his time as a renegade fighter against the Cardassians, Chakotay inducted into his Maquis cell the half-Klingon woman B'Elanna Torres who became his chief engineer. He also invited a Bajoran named Seska and the two became involved in a romantic relationship for a time. However, unknown to Chakotay, Seska was actually a Cardassian spy who had been surgically altered to infiltrate the Maquis. Chakotay was captain of the Val Jean raider (the ship's name appeared on a readout screen in the episode "Repression"). This vessel was destroyed after both it and the USS Voyager were transported to the Delta Quadrant. Captain Kathryn Janeway, the commanding officer of Voyager, offered the Val Jean crew a chance to serve on her ship, and appointed Chakotay as her first officer with the provisional rank of commander (in episode "Caretaker"). Janeway and Chakotay eventually become close friends, though in the second season episode "Resolutions", they experienced romantic tension when they entered a state of self-imposed quarantine on an alien planet, after contracting a fatal virus. After several weeks on the planet, however, the Voyager crew managed to find a cure, and they returned to the ship.
Near the end of Voyager's seven-year journey in the Delta Quadrant, the former Borg drone Seven of Nine chose Chakotay to be the object of her affections in her continuation of her rediscovery of her humanity. In an alternate future, seen in the series finale "Endgame", Seven and Chakotay married, though she died before Voyager reaches home and Chakotay dies in 2394. Chakotay's character is a unifying presence on Voyager. He is well-liked and well-respected by both Starfleet and former Maquis crew members. As First Officer, he often serves as a mentor to the junior crew members and as an intermediary between the junior crew and the Captain.
Tuvok was born on the Vlucanis Lunar Colony on T’Rukhemai in 2264. His parents Sunak and T’Meni thought that Tuvok had a narrow view of the galaxy and enrolled him in Starfleet Academy. Tuvok wanted to continue his study in logic and the Kolinahr discipline but did not want to disobey his parents so in 2289 he joined Starfleet. After his Graduation from Starfleet he was assigned to the science division of the USS Excelsior under Captain Hikaru Sulu. He stayed on the Excelsior for six years but because he was always uncomfortable associating with non-Vulcans he decided to resign from Starfleet to return to his home and continue his study of the Kolinahr discipline. During this time Tuvok was struck by the Pon Farr and was married to T’Pel who had been betrothed to him at a young age. He fathered four children, his sons Sek, Varith and Elieth and daughter Asil and was a devoted father and husband. In 2340s Tuvok made a pilgrimage to Mt. Seleya on Vulcan on foot. The journey took him several months and during his journey he decided that it was time for him to give something back to the universe that had given him so much, so in 2349 he rejoined Starfleet serving aboard the USS Wyoming. Over the next twenty years Tuvok has various assignments including a number of years teaching at Starfleet Academy. After he took part in a covert mission behind Romulan borders he was assigned to Starfleet Command to review the tactical and procedural records of starship captains. It was here that he first met Captain Kathryn Janeway and was appalled by her lack of attention to tactical and security matters in deference to scientific research. In 2371 Janeway requested that Tuvok join her as Tactical Officer on USS Voyager which was her new command. Over time Janeway respected Tuvok’s advice and became a good friend. Tuvok in turn trusted Janeway completely and considered her the closest thing to family aboard Voyager. Under Janeway’s command Tuvok was asked to infiltrate the Maquis and became part of a crew captained by Chakotay. Janeway ended up chasing this ship into the Badlands to rescue Tuvok.
After Voyager was transported to the Delta Quadrant they picked up two natives that wanted to join the crew. A Talaxian by the name of Neelix and an Ocampa named Kes. Over time Tuvok and Neelix formed an ‘odd couple’ relationship. Neelix was always fond of the Vulcan however Tuvok never returned the sentiment because he thought Neelix was frivolous and undisciplined. When Tuvok lost his memory after an attack by mysterious aliens called the Ba’neth, it was Neelix that helped Tuvok to recover, strengthening their friendship. Tuvok encouraged Neelix to be reunited with his people when he joined a lost Talaxian settlement to assist them to develop their society again. As a going-away gift Tuvok danced a brief step, to the delight of Neelix who always said he would get the Vulcan to dance. It was evident through this display that Tuvok had developed at least respect if not affection for the Talaxian. During his time on Voyager his physical, investigative and tactical skills were an inspiration and he was one of the most respected members of the crew. In 2377, Tuvok was diagnosed with a degenerative neurological disease that would eventually eat away at his self-control. To cure this disease Tuvok needed to mind-meld with a blood relative. A simple remedy if you are in the Alpha Quadrant but a death sentence in the Delta Quadrant. Janeway ended up changing the timeline where Tuvok succumbs to the disease by going back in time and bringing Voyager through a Borg transwarp hub all the way back to the Alpha Quadrant in time for Tuvok to mind meld with his Son Sek.
The Doctor also known as “Emergency Medical Holographic Program AK-1 Diagnostic and Surgical Subroutine Omega 323”, had been programmed with an expectation that the program would run for 1500 hours in total. The Doctor who was not given a name due to understanding that it was just a tool was required to become the fulltime medical officer of USS Voyager after the death of all of the medical staff on the ship. Although his outward appearance was that of a human male he did not have reproductive features as it was believed that there was no need for them. The Doctor was programmed with all known Federation worlds medical knowledge and included information on over five million surgical treatments and had the ability to create new techniques and treatments when required. The Doctor was a Hollow Man not only a Holo Man. It had little control over his destiny and in fact initially had no control over whether its program was on or off! This was a frustration for it and it was only when Kes convinced the Captain that it should have the same rights as any other member of the crew giving it control over his (he saw himself as male) deactivation sequence. Kes went on to teach The Doctor about social graces and it was then that ‘his” personality began to develop. The Doctor although technically a medical genius was oblivious to what his patients really suffered. He was considered unsympathetic to his patients although he attempted at times to try to see it from the point of view of his patients! Once he programmed the symptoms of a nasty flu which lasted for a finite 29 hours thinking that he could say “see you lot are just wusses!” but trusty assistant Kes changed the time frame and he finally found out what an illness was like for those that suffered it. Now he understood what his patients went through! Having a hologram crewmember proved invaluable to Voyager and Captain Janeway. The Doctor was able to hide himself in the ship’s computer when the ship was attacked on many an occasion. So much so that he considered that he should be a Command back-up program! The Doctor was if nothing else quite conceited and believed in his own abilities. Sometimes this would find him in conflict with the crew, such as when he wrote a holo-novel with thinly veiled references to the crew. He had sent this to a publisher and although the crew did not like the content they defended his right as a person, albeit not recognised as a sentient being by the Federation, to the copyright of his work even when his publisher tried to say that he had no rights over his work!
Two events in The Doctor’s journey were extremely significant in his life they were his falling in love with another being and his gaining of a remote holo-device from the future. His relationship with a Vidiian who was rescued by Voyager was the first time that he found himself in what may be called a relationship with another being. He even changed his program to give him all the attributes of a human male! With the acquisition of a remote holo-emitter The Doctor was now free to move not only around the ship but also off the ship and now it was hard to stop him. The growth that The Doctor went through on his seven-year journey would fill a very long holo-novel. He saved the ship on numerous occasions, he came through in medical disasters, he taught Seven of Nine how to be human, just like Kes had done for him. He gained hobbies, photography, singing and more. He really became a renaissance man! Voyager’s journey was not only a physical one for The Doctor it was one of personal growth for him as he went from just being a tool that was used in an emergency but a well rounded and developed sentient being.
Caretaker 1 & 2
48308.2
While pursuing a Maquis vessel, the U.S.S. Voyager is pulled 70,000 light-years across the galaxy by a powerful alien called the Caretaker who is protecting a primitive species called the Ocampa. The two enemy crews are forced to work together to survive after being attacked by the hostile Kazon-Ogla. (First appearances of the Ocampa and the Kazon. Lt. Carey appears in Engineering, but isn’t named until “Parallax”.)
Parallax
3
48439.7
Voyager is in an uproar by B’Elanna Torres’ attack on the acting Chief Engineer. Chakotay lobbies for Torres to be the Chief Engineer while Voyager attempts to rescue what they believe is an alien ship caught in the event horizon of a singularity. (First appearance of Seska, second appearance of Carey.)
Time and Again 4 No Stardate Kes has a vision of a planet’s destruction at the same time Voyager passes through the shockwaves of that planet’s explosion. Investigating the phenomenon causes Captain Janeway and Lieutenant Paris to be lost in time.
Prime Factors
10
48642.5
Voyager is invited to a respite on Sakaris, a pleasure-seeking society, which possesses advanced technology that could speed their journey home. (Note: This episode occurs during the movie “Star Trek: Generations”. Seska and Carey appear)
Emanations 9
48623.5
Ensign Kim is lost in a subspace phenomenon which transports him to an alien world – but the locals believe he has returned from their afterlife, while the subspace phenomenon also deposits alien corpses on Voyager. (Seska appears)
Eye of the Needle 7
48579.4
Ex Post Facto
Voyager encounters a miniscule wormhole which allows them to communicate with a Romulan ship in the Alpha Quadrant. The Doctor learns to stand up for himself against crewmen who treat him like an object.
The Cloud
8
No Stardate
Lt. Paris is convicted of murder on Benaea, and forced to relive his crime through his victim’s eyes every fourteen hours. Lt. Tuvok takes it upon himself to re-investigate the incident.
6
48546.2
Voyager enters a nebula to replenish its declining energy reserves – but the nebula is no mere gas cloud. (First appearance of Sandrine’s Bistro on the holodeck. This program would remain popular until season 3)
Phage
5
48532.4
While scouting an asteroid for dilithium, Neelix’s lungs are removed by an aggressive alien attack, and Voyager attempts to capture the thieves and recover the organs. (First appearance of the Vidiians. Seska appears)
State of Flux
11
48658.2
After a close call with the Kazon, Tuvok suspects someone on Voyager of clandestinely selling their technology to the enemy. The two prime suspects are Lt. Carey and Ensign Seska. (First appearance of First Maje Culluh)
Heroes and Demons 12
48693.2
While gathering energy samples from a protostar, several Voyager crewmembers vanish inside a holodeck program based on the epic Beowulf, forcing the Doctor on his first Away Mission. (Note: The Doctor briefly assumes the name ‘Schweitzer’ for this episode. A music track from this episode was also used as the original theme song for the short-lived fan series “Voyages of the U.S.S. Angeles”.
Cathexis
13
48734.2
Faces
Chakotay and Tuvok are attacked on a shuttle mission, leaving Chakotay brain-dead. Bizarre incidents on the ship lead Janeway to suspect there to be a non-corporeal alien intruder on board.
14
48784.2
B’Elanna awakens in a Vidiian laboratory to find herself completely Klingon, while in the Vidiian prison camps, Paris and a very human B’Elanna are held in captivity. Voyager attempts to mount a rescue operation. (Note: Brian Markinson plays both Vidiian Dr. Sulan and the ill-fated Lt. Durst in this episode.)
Jetrel
15
48832.1
An alien scientist named Jetrel boards Voyager, concerned that Neelix may be in danger of contracting a fatal illness, but Neelix is angered by his very presence, as Jetrel was the scientist who designed the weapon that destroyed Neelix’s entire home colony, as well as his family. (Note: Neelix mentions he had little brothers in this episode, but in all subsequent stories, he mentions only having older sisters)
Initiations
21
49005.3
Chakotay is attacked by a young Kazon seeking to earn his name in combat, leading to a confrontation with the Kazon-Ogla sect. (Note: The Kazon boy is played by Aron Eisenberg, better known as Nog on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
The 37’s
20
48975.1
Following an ancient radio signal, Voyager discovers a planet inhabited by descendants of humans abducted from Earth in 1937, where they also discover the fate of Amelia Earhart. (Note: This episode marks the first time a Star Trek ship has landed on a planet)
Elogium
18
48921.3
Twisted
Voyager encounters a swarm of space-borne lifeforms and gets pulled into their group. Kes also begins the Elogium, the Ocampa’s single fertility cycle. (First appearance by Nancy Hower as Ensign Samantha Wildman)
19
No Stardate
On Kes’s second birthday, Voyager encounters a spatial distortion which twists the inside of the ship into an impossible labyrinth.
Projections 17
48892.1
The Doctor is activated to find an empty Voyager, victim of a Kazon attack. But a series of bizarre events proves that things are not what they seem. (First appearance by Dwight Schultz as Lt. Reg Barclay)
Learning Curve
16
48846.5
Four Maquis crewmen are having particular difficulty adapting to Starfleet regulations. Tuvok is assigned to show them the ropes, but the training lessons get off to a very rocky start. Voyager’s bio-neural circuitry is infected with a virus. (Technical finale of Season 1. The next four episodes aired as part of season 2, but were filmed for season 1)
Non Sequitur
22
49011.0
Harry Kim awakens to find himself in San Francisco on Earth, where no one else seems to realize that events have been changed.
Parturition 23 Historical note: U.S.S. Enterprise, NCC-1701-E launched 49037.6
Persistence of Vision 24 No Stardate A stressed-out Janeway begins seeing elements of her holodeck program in real life, while Voyager seeks permission to cross a hostile species’ territory.
Maneuvers
27
49208.5
Voyager is attacked by the Kazon-Nistrim, who have Seska’s assistance in stealing transporter technology for themselves. (Seska’s first appearance as a Cardassian. Second appearance of Culluh. Seska supposedly impregnates herself with Chakotay’s DNA)
Tattoo
No Stardate
Neelix’s jealousy toward Paris and Kes comes to a head when Paris and he crash on a hostile planet and find a reptilian hatchling that needs their care to survive.
25 No Stardate
While searching for needed materiel, Chakotay discovers an ancient symbol from his tribe’s culture which brings him face to face with his people’s Sky Spirits. (First appearance of Chakotay’s father, Kolopak, played by Henry Darrow. Second appearance of Ensign Wildman)
Cold Fire
26
No Stardate
2
Voyager discovers a space station similar to the Array that brought them to the Delta Quadrant, inhabited by Ocampa with powerful mental abilities, learned from the Caretaker’s vengeful mate Suspiria. (Note: Ocampa Tanis is played by Gary Graham who would later have the recurring role of Vulcan Ambassador Soval on Star Trek: Enterprise)
Resistance
28
No Stardate
Tuvok and B’Elanna are captured by an oppressive government while trading for desperately needed supplies, and a wounded Janeway is hidden from the troops by a half-senile old man who believes her to be his long-lost daughter.
Meld
33
No Stardate
When a murder is committed aboard Voyager, Tuvok mindmelds with the killer to understand his motivation, with terrifying results. Paris starts a gambling ring, much to Chakotay’s displeasure. (First appearance by Brad Dourif as killer crewman Suder. Second appearance of Hogan)
Alliances
31
49377.4
After losing several crewmen to Kazon attacks, Captain Janeway reluctantly seeks to end the hostilities by seeking an alliance with one of the sects. (Seska appears. This episode begins a story arc with crewman Michael Jonas, played by Raphael Sbarge, secretly funneling information to the Kazon-Nistrim. First appearance of Crewman Hogan. Third appearance of Culluh.)
Death Wish
30
Threshold
32
49373.4
After successfully breaking the Warp 10 barrier, Tom Paris suddenly begins to undergo a series of bizarre mutations. (Second appearance of Crewman Jonas)
49301.2
While investigating a rogue comet, Voyager accidentally releases a member of the Q Continuum from confinement. When the familiar Q (John DeLancie) appears to lock him away again, he demands asylum on Voyager, with the express desire of committing suicide. (John DeLancie’s first appearance as ‘Q’, Special guest appearance by Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker)
Prototype
29
No Stardate
B’Elanna repairs a robot Voyager finds drifting in deep space, inadvertently dragging the ship into a robotic conflict.
Dreadnought
34
No Stardate
Voyager pursues a Cardassian-built weapon that B’Elanna once reprogrammed to attack enemies of the Maquis, which has now targeted an innocent alien civilization. (Third appearance of Crewman Jonas. Third appearance of Ensign Wildman)
Lifesigns
35
49504.3
The Doctor falls in love with a holographic recreation of a comatose Vidiian female found in deep space. Paris’s dereliction of duty lands him in serious trouble. (Seska appears. Fourth appearance of Crewman Jonas. First appearance of Danara Pel played by Susan Diol)
Investigations
36
49485.2
Tom Paris leaves Voyager to work for a Talaxian convoy. New journalist Neelix investigates a series of strange computer logs, uncovering the presence of a spy on Voyager. (Seska appears. Final appearance of Crewman Jonas. Third appearance of Hogan)
Deadlock
37
49548.7
Voyager passes through a subspace phenomenon which duplicates the entire ship and crew, but both ships cannot exist in the same space and time. (Fourth appearance of Ensign Wildman. Fourth appearance of Hogan. Naomi Wildman is born in this episode, but does not become a major character until season 5)
Basics Part I 42
No Stardate
When Seska pleads for Chakotay’s help to protect their son from an outraged Culluh, Voyager heads into a region of space heavily controlled by the Kazon, only to fall into a brilliant trap. (Seska appears. Fourth appearance of Culluh, second appearance of Suder)
Tuvix
40
49655.2
A transporter malfunction fuses Tuvok and Neelix into a single person who calls himself Tuvix. It seems there is no way to restore Tuvok and Neelix to their individual selves. (Fifth appearance of Hogan)
The Thaw
39
Resolutions
41
SEASONS 3 AND 4 COMING NEXT ISSUE.
49690.1
Janeway and Chakotay must be left behind when they are infected by a virus that the Doctor cannot cure. Voyager’s crew suffers from their absence, forcing Tuvok to risk the ship in an attempt to secure medicine for them. (Final appearance of Danara Pel)
No Stardate
When Voyager uncovers a small group of disaster survivors in suspended animation, Kim and B’Elanna interface with the virtual world inside and Kim is trapped by a computer-generated clown who torments and terrifies his captives for pleasure.
Innocence
38
No Stardate
After a shuttle crash on a class-M moon, Tuvok encounters a group of children who claim they were brought to the moon to die. Voyager makes contact with a very insular alien culture.
Neelix was a Talaxian from Rinax which was a moon in orbit around the planet Talax in the Delta Quadrant. Life was never the same for Neelix after his home was destroyed and his family irradiated along with the rest of the population of Rinax by a metreon cascade during a conflict with the Haakonians. After the war he was forced to become a junk dealer scavenging the planets for whatever he could trade, surviving on his wit, instinct and his conning ways. It was on one of his salvage trips in a debris field near the Ocampa home world that he was discovered by the crew of USS Voyager. The Starfleet crew were searching for some of their missing officers and Neelix suggested they may have been transported by the Caretaker to a city beneath the surface of the Ocampa home world. He offered himself as a guide and took them to the surface of the planet that was controlled by a Kazon sect a scavenging war like race led by Jabin. But Neelix had an ulterior motive for helping Voyager. He had fallen in love with an Ocampa named Kes who was being held as a slave by the Kazon. Water was a scarce commodity on the planet and he persuaded Captain Janeway that they could use the water as trade for information about the missing crew members. However, Neelix really wanted the water to trade for Kes. Even though the Kazon refused to trade, the crew members were about to escape rescuing Kes in the process. Seeing a chance to leave his scavenging ways Neelix offers his service to Captain Kathryn Janeway, as a guide to the Delta Quadrant. She accepts not realising how much of a difference this Talaxian would make on the ship. Straight away Neelix took over the Captain’s Mess (much to her surprise) and changed it into a Mess for the crew. Appointing himself chef, Neelix cooked culinary delights and not so culinary delights as replicator usage had to be rationed due to Voyager’s limited power supplies. Each of Neelix’s dishes was an adventure filled with flavour (not always suited for human consumption) and colour. Each dish was served with a story and a smiling face. Later he appointed himself as ‘chief morale officer ‘making it his duty to cheer up the crew (even if they didn’t want to be cheered up!!) He offered personal counselling sessions and ran a daily intership video program for the crew called ‘A Briefing with Neelix’. Captain Janeway gave Neelix the unofficial title of ‘ambassador’ when he proved that he had a flair for diplomacy.
He also became godfather to Naomi Wildman who had been born aboard Voyager. Each night he would tuck her into bed and tell her stories. While her mother was on away missions he would babysit. Neelix loved and treasured these special times with Naomi. His relationship with Kes did not continue. She found it difficult to handle his jealous nature and eventually decided that she would like to spend some time apart from him. Neelix respected her decision and continued to immerse himself in the life of the ship. After nearly seven years on Voyager Neelix ended up leaving the ship and joining a Talaxian colony that had taken refuge on an asteroid and made it their home. Neelix discovered the asteroid when his shuttle had crash-landed on it. He was nursed back to health by Dexa one of the Talaxian women and ended up helping them to defend themselves against a group of miners who attempted to drive them off the asteroid. Having fallen in love with Dexa he opted to leave Voyager and stay behind with the colonists to live a life with Dexa and her son. The crew were sorry to see Neelix go. Even Tuvok, who Neelix affectionly called ‘Mr Vulcan’ showed recognition of Neelix’s valuable assistance to Voyager by doing a little dance. Something Neelix always wanted to see the Vulcan do. Neelix kept in contact with Voyager right up until the ship entered the Borg transwarp hub to travel back to Earth. He would never forget the time he spent on a small Federation ship from the Alpha Quadrant.
Kes formed a strong friendship with the Doctor and ended up studying medicine and helping the Doctor in sickbay. She not only helped the Doctor in his medical procedures but she more importantly helped the Doctor to interact more easily with the crew teaching him how to act in social situations. Whilst on the ship Kes started to exhibit some of the mental powers her species had long ago lost. Under the guidance of Tuvok, Kes began to learn how to control her mental powers. and her telepathic abilities saved the ship and crew on many occasions. Kes’ affection for Neelix began to change when she felt he was becoming jealous, suffocating and too protective of her eventually calling off the long-term romantic relationship. They remained friends but never returned to the love she had once for Neelix.
Kes belongs to the Ocampa peoples of the Delta Quadrant who only live nine earth years. She was brought up in the underground city in the south of the planet where all Ocampas live because of a disaster that causes the planets surface to become virtually uninhabitable. Kes’ mother wanted her to see the planet’s sun some day, whilst Kes also believed the legends about the metal powers that the Ocampa’s seem to have forgotten. Being a bit of a rebel she eventually left the city through some of the old tunnels to find out what the surface was like. When Kes reached the surface she was captured by the Kazon and in particular the Ogla sect who tried to torture her for information about entering the city. During her time as a slave with the Ogla she met Neelix, a Talaxian also native to the Delta Quadrant, when he stole water from the Kazon-Ogla to bring to her. The two of them fell in love and Neelix promised to return and rescue her. Neelix eventually conned the crew of USS Voyager to help him rescue Kes. On board Voyager the first thing Kes did was to volunteer to establish a hydroponics garden in cargo bay two. The garden provided fresh fruits and vegetables to allow for more variety in meals for the crew.
When Kes became exposed to the powerful telepathic influx of Species 8472, she began to evolve into a different state of being. Kes became telekinetic and was able to carry out delicate surgical operations using her mind. Because of this she found that she could no longer stay on Voyager as her powers were becoming unsafe for the crew as she started to rapidly destabilise at the subatomic level causing massive damage to Voyager. Kes brought a great deal of joy to the Voyager crews her compassion, curiosity and youthful exuberance made her a favourite amongst the crew. Captain Janeway in particular found it hard to say goodbye to Kes as she had had a strong connection with the young Ocampa. As a parting gift Kes hurled Voyager safely beyond Borg space, 9 500 light years closer to home. A year or so later Kes returned to Voyager appearing much older and more powerful and extremely vengeful towards the crew. In her old age Kes had forgotten why she had chosen to leave Voyager thinking the crew had abandoned her. Making her way to engineering she used her powers to inflict extensive damage along the way. A hologram that she had recorded herself before she left Voyager was activated. The hologram reminded her how the crew cared for her and how it was her decision to leave the ship. Janeway asks her to stay but she refused, opting to return to her homeworld of Ocampa.
Voyager made an alliance with the Borg when aliens known to the Borg as Species 8472 attacked both of them, Seven was one of a group of drones placed on Voyager to work with the crew to deal with the attacks. The cube from which Seven was from sacrificed itself to save Voyager as they were the ones with the weapon that would save them both. But with Janeway injured Chakotay made the decision to get rid of the Borg by decompressing where they were working. However, showing the tenacity with which we have come to know she Seven managed to remain on board. With the mission successful Seven attempted to assimilate Voyager but the crew were prepared. Seven was severed from the collective and was now just “one”. Accepting this was hard for Seven, 18 years of knowing everything and not having to make a decision on her own were suddenly gone. Most of implants were removed but not all as some were still critical to her health. There were two particular non-human traits that made her not yet fully human she still had to regenerate and did not eat solid food.
Seven was like a very intelligent and precocious child not knowing how to interact with humans, selfish and egocentric, afraid of what Janeway had forced her to become. Seven contributed much to Voyager as she retained most of the information that she gained whilst as a drone and along with Harry Kim built what would become one of Voyager’s most important tools, The Astometrics Lab. With the aid of this tool the crew were now able to plot courses that allowed them to take years off the journey and ultimately to contact home.
Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01 was a Borg drone for 18 years having been taken by the Borg at age four. Annika Hansen did not always travel with her parents when they went on scientific trips but as this one was for a long period they took her with them. The Hansen’s were pioneers in their field and were studying the Borg even before the Federation knew too much about them. Following them with technology they designed so that they could remain hidden and even go onto their ship they became obsessed with this species. It was only after an ion storm that took down the technology that they were assimilated by the Borg.
So for the next 18 years Annika was a drone and having been assimilated so early she did not remember her early childhood. Being part of a collective was normal for her hearing millions of thoughts that were not her own was just the way it was. Seven had an early taste of being an individual but as she was only 16 at the time she panicked, afraid of being just one, she forced a collective consciousness on three other drones with which she had crash-landed. The others who were adults started to regain their identities but she just got scared because she only had knowledge of life as a drone.
It was slow but Seven began to except her humanity and in a very Borg way tried to plan and develop this side of her. Like The Doctor who took lessons from Kes, Seven began taking lessons from The Doctor. This though was hard work for Seven who was forthright and direct, thinking that she knew more than those around her, finding it hard to follow “The Line of Command” on the ship. Caught between two worlds the one that she knew, as a drone and the one that she was gaining, humanity at was a hard journey for her. Working with people as a single entity and remembering what she had done as a drone meant that she had to face many moral conflicts. Seven’s journey on the ship was not the same as the others in the crew. Her journey was about self-discovery, learning who she was, understanding the human condition and how to be “one” amongst many.
TCM: What is your first memory of Star Trek? ER: I don’t have a super clear first memory of Star Trek, but I do remember conventions. My mother ran Lincoln Enterprises, for fans who purchased Star Trek items in the late 60’s and early 70’s you would have most likely purchased them from Lincoln Enterprises. They went to conventions, Creation Entertainment had a convention at Disney in Orange County California and I loved it for two reasons firstly I would get to spend half the day at Disneyland and secondly I would get to go to a giant costume party, everyone was dressed in costumes and there were tables selling all these cool knickknacks. I must have been around 4, 5, 6 I’m not sure how old. Another memory, again I’m not sure how old I was, but now you’ve got me thinking about it, my father used to have an old 16mm projector in his home office bathroom and on those projector wheels that he would have were episodes of Star Trek and one particular one was the blooper reel from the original series and he would have it on his counter top in the bathroom and a little piece of white card in front of it and he would play the blooper reel for me, now to be honest I didn’t even get what Star Trek was at this time. I could repeat the phrase that I had heard other people say which was my father was a producer on Star Trek or my father created Star Trek but I didn’t know what it was, I just knew the blooper reels were funny because these guys would run down stairs and trip and all sorts of things would happen. So those are my two earliest memories of Star Trek. TCM: Did you ever go to the set of a Star Trek shoot? ER: Well the first time I remember Going to the set was really when I was, it probably happened before this but I can’t remember, the first time I was there was on the set of The Next Generation, in fact the first season. My father like all fathers wanted to teach me about earning a living, so he got me a job one summer at the Paramount lot working on the season one set of The Next Generation and my title was essentially what’s known as a production assistant or a gopher and my job was to essentially run packages, scripts, tapes and everything from department to department all over the lot as well as make coffee as well as a lot of the other important yet
Non-production level things, but I was 13 it seemed like great fun to me at the time riding around the lot. I have to say initially I was kinda mad at my father cause all of my friends had the summer off and they were all playing, we were all 13 we wanted to go goof off and have a good time, but my father forced me to work and so I did. I remember saying ‘do you know how many people would kill for this job’ and I would always tell him ‘they don’t have to kill anyone I’ll give it to them’ (laughs) so that was really my first experience. The sad part, well I wouldn’t say sad, and I wouldn’t say regret either but at that age, I was till relatively young I never went from department to department actually trying to learn how television or how Star Trek was mad. It really was just a fun summers job for me and yes it would have been great if I’d taken a real interest and learn but I’m gonna forgive myself because I was so young at the time, but that was really the first time I was on set. I got to know all the cast, I had free reign of the paramount lot to some degree, and I could go on sets whenever I wanted. It wasn’t that big of a deal at that time, you know, after going on because you kind of get to know the crew get to know the cast and just how everything works but in retrospect looking back at it I do have extremely fond memories and I do miss the experience because it was really like a family even though I was the youngest and I was the producers son could tell all the cast and crew. I mean they worked together between 12 and 18 hours a day. I mean were talking a minimum of 12 hours and it really becomes a second family to them for some of them probably their first family and there was definitely that closeness that everyone had and again it just warms my heart when I think about it. Id love to have that experience again one day in the future on one of my productions.
TCM: Which Star Trek series is your favourite? ER: That’s a simple one for me actually because The Original Series was from 1966-1969. I was born in 1974 so by the time I started watching TV Star Trek already seemed too old for me. I’m a product of the Next Generations (laughs). I love that show, I was 13 when I was working on the set and my father would bring home the final tapes, they were VHS tapes back then, every Thursday night. I wouldn’t say that I got Star Trek by then but I really thought it was a fun show and I watched episode after episode, out of all the series except for the original (the original and the next generation are the two that I have seen every single episode) and even to this day I have to say The Next Generation is still my favourite. What makes it my favourite is the fact that, my father through out his life grew and evolved as a human being, his philosophy, his ideas, his expectations I mean The Original Series had this young Kirk who was willing to get in to a fist fight and even though he did the right or ethical thing at the end of the episode, he was definitely a little bit more of a cowboy, where as Picard was more laid back, used his mind a bit more then his fists and there’s something about his character and in fact the entire cast that I was able to respect more and enjoying more. So The Next Generation it is for me. TCM: What were your initial thoughts when Enterprise was cancelled? ER: TO be honest my initial thoughts were I didn’t care to much. I gave it a chance, I watched the entire first season and I thought it was good, maybe not great but sort of a good Star Trek with a little bit of a rocky start. It had jumped too far ahead for me, in fact I thought the entire first season should be a build up to discovering the Klingons. So I kinda just wanted a slower more natural progression of this young civilization reaching into the depths of space, it just moved a little bit to fast for me. I tuned into the second season for just a few episodes and was immediately turned off and I cant particularly remember why at this time but I remember it just didn’t interest me, and you know how it is, the minute you miss a season or a number of episodes its hard to tune back in. I’d heard that seasons three and four were much better, thanks to Manny Coto, but I never really gave it another shot and even to this day I haven’t given it another shot because I’ve gotta sit down and watch it all over again from one to four. So my first thoughts were kind of I don’t care but I did care that it was, you know, the end of Star Trek running as a TV series, now truthfully I never thought and I still don’t think that its off the air permanently. It had a good run and I figure it needed a hiatus, the audience, the market and the TV waves had been saturated with Star Trek series after Star Trek series and I thought it might be a good idea for it to rest for five, ten or even fifteen years, and to be honest I still feel that way. I think Star Trek will come back on TV whether its in a year or twenty years, its never going to die, the fans are gonna keep it alive and also CBS and Paramount are always going to see profit to be made. So one day they well dig it back up and say well ‘hey lets make something out of this’. I do know that Star Trek will come back in one form or another on TV, I just don’t know when and I don’t know how good it will be (laughs). The last thing I want it to do is to become Star Wars, that doesn’t deal with ethics, humanity, the human potential, we don’t want
science fiction that doesn’t have a statement about the positive attributes of humanity as well as learning from our negative ones. TCM: What did you think of the latest Star Trek Movie? ER: Well to be honest I thought it was pretty good, umm yeah there are plenty of things that I would do differently, there were plenty of things my father would do differently and there were plenty of things that you out there reading this would do differently, but I thought it was pretty good. In fact I was very impressed that they stayed as true as they did to the Star Trek canon. Now I know there’s a lot of naysayers out there that are upset because it went on a different timeline but I have to give them credit for at least doing that, you know they could have gone back and said ‘you know what we’re gonna re-write history and were gonna do it our way’. I would have been very disappointed had they done that, but instead they branched off on to a new timeline which allowed all the original fans, the people who like the original stuff like me to still connect and believe in that timeline, that it does still exist but there’s also a whole new generation and for those of us with open minds there’s a whole other timeline that we can go down, you know I thought it was fairly intelligent and basically very respectful of the current fan world out there. The story was fine but what really made it were the characters, I mean the story was nothing really special it was good guy verses bad guy, planets going to get destroyed, we’ve kinda seen it before, but again done by JJ. its always unique. Where I have to give credit is to the characters, they did a great job of casting, I mean Spock was Spock, McCoy was McCoy, they all did a fantastic job on that and that really helped I think ease some of the pain, some of the fears and some of the expectations we might have had. It lived up to that expectation by really making sure the characters stayed true to the original series, so I thought they did a great job. My only issue, my only gripe if you want to call it that is that at the ed when Neros ship is being sucked into the wormhole type thing and being destroyed. I was happy Kirk said ‘hey we’re willing to offer you assistance if you just as for it’, and of course Nero says no I’d rather die. I didn’t think it necessary that they fire all the photon
torpedoes to “blow them out of the sky” that was a little bit over kill for me and I know that it came from a vengeful Spock who’d just seen his planet destroyed but the true Roddenberry/Star Trek way is to do what they did, offer assistance but then show remorse for and pity for the loss of life regardless of what its done. TCM: When did you first become aware of Star Trek Fan Films? ER: I can’t put a date on it but I can tell you that it was six to eight years ago. The major one was Star Trek New Voyages, I came across either a web series or a DVD and I was extremely impressed by the quality of the sets and the wardrobe. I mean it didn’t seem like somebody just picking up a video camera and goofing off with it, it seemed like a relatively well made production and after I contacted them they sent me a script and the script really seemed to get Star Trek. I as very impressed with it, it was the closest thing to The Original Series since The Original Series at the time, that’s what I was telling people and that’s what o thought about it. I’ve seen a number since. I’m really impressed by the quality and the production values they’re giving it. I’m sure all those hard core people out there say ‘hey it will never be like the original series’, I don’t think that anyone out there is trying to beat or be like The Original Series, may be if they have half a million dollars they can get up to that or now a days they would probably need $1.5million to $2 million but until independent fan film productions get the donation of $1.5 million I don’t expect to see them of the production quality that TV shows are made of these days, but that aside it is the story and the passion that has drawn me to them and that’s why I’m supporting them. I mean hell the studios aren’t making a series right now, the fans might as well do just a good a job representing the Roddenberry name the Star Trek philosophy . TCM: Can you tell us about Roddenberry Productions, like when it was founded and was Star Trek the only show represented when the website was launched? ER: Roddenberry Productions basically came from my fathers company called Lincoln Enterprises. Lincoln Enterprises was a Star Trek merchandising catalogue show that was started in 1968 by my mother and father and it was basically mail order Star Trek merchandise. Anyone who got a patch, a pin or a shirt back in the 60’s, 70’s and even the early 80’s probably got it most likely from Lincoln Enterprises. So my mother ran that basically up until the early-mid 90’s and then it kinda sat defunct for a while. In 2000 I decided to bring it into modern times and bring it online, so I also didn’t like the name Lincoln Enterprises. I know my father was a big fan of Abraham Lincoln but I wanted to bring it closer to home, closer to the Roddenberry philosophy, so of course I called it Roddenberry.com and we simply replicated what my mother has done for so many years but through an online interface. W also introduced new merchandise and at the time it was only Star Trek, in fact for 40 years its only been Star Trek, but now we can open it up and call it Roddenberry merchandise, not just Star Trek merchandise. We don’t branch into Star Wars or any of the other science fiction simply because we don’t have a licence to do so but its merchandising for all Roddenberry products now. Now back to your question of when Roddenberry products begin well that is sort of the umbrella company which houses all the other ones below it that is an entertainment company which houses Roddenberry.com it also houses Trek Nation, Genes Journal and
Days Mis5ing, those are properties which we currently have In development. Roddenberry Productions was started anywhere between three and five years ago and its essentially there to create and invite all forms of science fiction that have that philosophy attached to it. So for example we’re not just putting out any sci-fi about a monster who attacks a city and sci-fi space. This is about anything that has heart, has ethics to it, that has a story about humanity that gives us sort of a look into our potential. That’s what we call the Roddenberry philosophy and there are all kinds of ideas and products and properties that we’re gonna be putting out through Roddenberry Productions. TCM: Can you tell us about some of the productions you have put out? ER: Genes Journal and Rod and Barry are two comic strips currently on the Roddenberry.com website, they are illustrated by David Reddick who is well known in the comic industry, he’s done many comics such as Garfield. Those are two creations that my business partner Trevor Roth came up with, he actually developed both ideas and hired David to illustrate them. So now I think once a week or if not twice a month we have a new three celled comic panes that have a cute little clip of Genes Journal. I should tell you Genes Journals basic concept is Gene (my father) as a little kid and sort of his life experiences that led him to create the idea of Star Trek. So as a young kid he’s got all these characters around him and all these experiences where he will get abducted by UFO’s or something and he’ll meet Klingons or someone who is painted themselves green and they called themselves Orion Slave Girls. They’re just little snippets, fictional snippets of his history and run ins that helped him create Star Trek. Rod and Barry is another comic strip that we have and its about two aliens, ones named Rod and the others named Barry and they were sent out by their evil overload to go and destroy the earth but on their way there they’ve caught some of our TV shows and they have become caught up they become sci-fi fans, so they ‘geek out’ after watching these TV shows. So most of these comic strips have to do with recent sci-fi entertainment events so what ever movies come out at the time, randomly for example the matrix all of a sudden you will find those characters kind of goofing off on each others characters.
TCM: You have recently been releasing a comic book series called Days Mis5ing, can you tell us a bit about that? ER: Well again I’ve gotta give credit to my business partner Trevor Roth, he developed the idea of Days Mis5ing and what it is, is a five book series. Five comic books at least for starters that tell the story of the Steward, which is this non-human character who has the ability to fold time, but only in 24 hour increments, so for example if there were an event and he decided that event shouldn’t have happened or shouldn’t have happened in the way it did he could stop time and jump back 24 hours and some how sort of prevent or change the event, he doesn’t actually jump back but he stops time and throws it back 24 hours and sort of nudges the other characters involved in that activity to perhaps decide to do things differently so that it doesn’t have the same potentially catastrophic outcome it did the first time. That’s it in a nut shell, its available in hard cover from Amazon and a lot of places, but the important part here is not that we’ve just doing a comic book but we’re doing a comic book in a way that people haven’t done before or at least its not as often done. These are real Roddenberry characters and Roddenberry stories, in the way that they deal with ethics, they deal with humanity, they deal with social issues and real questions that we all have. So its very intelligently written and thought out and I think anyone anywhere who’s a fan of Roddenberry and a fan of good sci-fi will really get a kick out of this. I have never been a comic book fan but I am very very into these comic books because they are really well done. One thing that was done differently was that each issue has a different writer and a different illustrator. Normally when a comic book comes out they pretty much have just one or two and they do the entire series. This one what we really did was try and pull from the big names in the comic book names in the comic book industry and see if we could get each one of them to do a book and they did and it proved extremely successful because all they had was a backbone story to stay in line with, they could all give it their own spin whether it was story or illustration, so while the stories all follow the same premise of Days Mis5ing of the Steward, they all have their own feel. Again the exact same thing for the illustrations, they all have the same basic look but they are all drawn differently and it keeps it interesting I think. I think we will probably be releasing another series of five and we hope to have the same success. We would love to get your feedback on these comic books, so please go out and get them, of course we want you to buy them but if you want to steal them that’s fine, to me the most important thing is that we really sort of tap into the Roddenberry audience out there and get their feedback as to whether we’re doing a good job or not. TCM: You have something called Roddenberry Dive Team listed on the Roddenberry.com website; can you tell us what that is and what it does? ER: For those of you who don’t know I am an avid scuba diver. I love the ocean, I love exploring it. It gives so much whether its education or enjoyment or fulfilment, I can explore every emotion out there and its really sort of my place of Zen, its more then just a hobby it’s a passion for me and the parallels between scuba diving and going into space/Star Trek are I think obvious to a lot of us, I mean if you are exploring a strange new worlds you are seeking out alien life and you are going where very few have gone before not to put a too fine point on it, but it really does parallel Star Trek. That’s not why I got into it, I got into diving on its own but again the parallels are pretty blatant there and it just made sense to me that I might as well put some passion into
this or take advantage of my passion and make sort of this dive club and what we’ve called it is the Roddenberry Dive Team and the reason why we call it a team is because its not something out there where we are competing with other teams but it is a group of us getting together and working as a team to educate ourselves and improve our environment so we’ve has a ton of fun with that. We started last May 2009 and its been extremely successful so far. It’s a global concept we hope to reach out to people from all over the world and have them become members of the team, but right now since we’ve just started out we are keeping it localized and small, so its pretty much a California West Coast thing. At least as far as events go. What we hope to do is if people have interest in this we hope for people to start their own Roddenberry Dive Team Chapter in their own state or even country and this would be great because we could all have exchange programs where you come out and dive with us and we will come and dive with you, but again the real focus is not just the gimmicks of Star Trek because we do have a lot of Star Trek gimmicky things. We have Star Trek wet suits and dry suits, we also have things that we call the Red Shirts dives, those are all hooks, those are all the fun things that we get people involved in. The real idea is to get people involved in preserving out environment and bringing awareness to the community as how important not just our oceans are but our planet is and each event that we do we try to have some sort of educational element, we try to have a scientist or someone who can teach us about where we’re diving and why it’s important to preserve it. We try to have them come along and really just sort of bring awareness to why we’re doing it. Now I started this with a gentleman by the name of Greg Martin who lives in Washington and he’s been diving for 30 years and he’s got a passion for Star Trek, what we are doing is to try and gain this movement and bring in as many people as we can. Visit roddenberrydiveteam.com for more information. TCM: Is there anything else you can tell us about current or future Roddenberry Productions projects? ER: Well we do have a number of things in the works like all production companies in Hollywood but the most prominent right now is a project called Questor or for those of you who know it best
The Questor Tapes, it was a series, a two hour pilot I should say, that my father did in 1974 about an android who’s come out of hibernation and has lost its programming and goes searching for its creator. You can actually see it on You Tube if you look up Questor Tapes. We have just sold the rights to Imagine Entertainment which is another production company much more successful then ours so far in Hollywood; they do such shows as 24 and Parent Code. We sold it to them because they are known for doing a high calibre work and we really have high hopes for it. I don’t want to say to much right now because things can still fall through but its looking good and we’ve brought on a writer so far named Tim Marier, he really seems to get the Roddenberry philosophy and really has a passion about incorporating those philosophies into this new series because as I’ve said in a million of my other answers we just don’t want to put on stock sci-fi, Roddenberry sci-fi, Roddenberry entertainment has always been about humanity, its always meant to reveal our follies and our potential from those follies, its really supposed to show humanity at its worst and best and it’s the times when it shows us at its best that it inspires us the viewers to really want to go create that future and that’s what Star Trek did, it said we’re fallible creatures but we learn from our mistakes, we can grow and when we do the right thing we can really be something special. That sums it up for all future Roddenberry productions they will all have that type of philosophy in there. There is another one that I should mention and that’s Trek Nation. Trek Nation is a documentary that I’ve been working on for way too long (laughs). The premise is a son searching to understand who is father was and it’s a documentary where I went out meeting my friends, family, fans and other notables in the entertainment and sci-fi community and asking them what they knew of Gene Roddenberry and who he was. It was great because the close friends of the family could really tell me a bit about the man behind Star Trek and of course the fans tell me about what Star Trek has done for them and how it has inspired them and the other people in the industry tell me what his work has done in the industry and its really a somewhat of the man behind the myth and I’m really proud of it and we have just completed the final rough cut and are sending it out to distribution companies to see if anyone is interested in buying it. I have extremely high hopes cause we have put a lot of time and effort into it and its extremely well done. So look for that sometime in the next year.~
As Harry Kim entered the bridge of USS Voyager little did he know that he would be killed, kidnapped, and captured many times! Kim’s ordeals started during Voyager’s maiden voyage when Captain Janeway was ordered to chase a Maquis ship that had entered the badlands. Due to the self styled Caretaker of the Ocampa planet the ship was transported into the Delta Quadrant along with the Maquis ship. After medical tests on the crew by the Caretaker who wanted to see if he could mate with these species (he couldn’t) they were returned to the ship except for Harry Kim and B’Elanna Torres. They were transferred to an underground Ocampa medical facility by the Caretaker. They were advised that they would die but with the help of an Ocampa nurse they made their way to the surface and were rescued by Voyager. During an away mission Harry found an alien burial ground. When the team was beamed back to the ship Harry was switched with one of the bodies in the burial capsules, and a dead alien was beamed aboard Voyager. Harry Kim found himself on the Vhnori homeworld where the dead came from. Harry was meant to be sent back to the burial ground but to cut a long story short again he was eventually rescued by Voyager alive! While using the Beowulf holodeck programme Harry Kim was captured by an energy being and along with Chakotay was changed into a stream of energy. This time the Doctor rescued him. When Voyager was accidentally duplicated, the Harry Kim from the damaged Voyager was killed after being blown through a hull breach. When the undamaged Voyager was set to self-destruct when they were being boarded by Vidiian Harry Kim the unluckiest ensign in Starfleet!! Unlucky in forces, an alien race that collects body parts, the damaged love, unlucky at staying alive, unlucky in getting a Starfleet ship’s Harry Kim took the duplicate baby Naomi Wildman, who promotion!! had just died on the other ship with him to the surviving ship. In 2349 Harry Kim was born in South Carolina to Mary and John Kim. In 2370 he graduated from Starfleet valedictorian of his class, having earned Interstellar Honours. A talented sportsman and during his Starfleet time was captain of the Velocity team and a three-time Academy champion of Parrises squares, his other sporting loves were volleyball and tennis. Harry was gifted academically and in the sporting arena and was an accomplished clarinet player having played in the Juilliard Youth Symphony. After graduating, Harry applied to be part of the USS Voyager crew and was given a commission on the starship the following year as the Operations officer. Excited and ‘green behind the gills’, Harry Kim boarded Voyager at Deep Space Nine. It was here that he met Tom Paris, who saved him from making a bad deal with the Ferengi Quark and was to become his very good friend.
When Harry Kim was placed into a reality stasis storage facility created by the Kohl he ended up being kidnapped by The Clown which was the fear of a self-destructing race personified, and The Clown had survived by being linked to humanoid sensory functions. Captain Janeway rescued Harry this time. And so it goes on, Harry Kim is duplicated by silver blood aliens on a demon planet and nearly left to die! He believes that he is Taresian and that he was conceived on their world, with his embryo implanted in an Earth woman and now his DNA has brought him home. He is attacked by Species 8472 (and almost died again) and then his body is invaded by alien cells that begin destroying his own cells, but once again was just saved. After seven years, Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant with a not so naïve, not so timid, but still alive and still not promoted Harry Kim.
So how did Tom escape his prison sentence well we really have Tuvok to thank for that! Wanting to retrieve a Maquis ship that they thought was lost in the Badlands Captain Janeway recruited Tom Paris to help in her search for the ship on which Tuvok was undercover. Being the son of one of her Starfleet mentors and that he had some experience with the Maquis Janeway offered Tom a supercargo position on her ship. It seems though that both the Starfleet and Maquis crews that joined together after being pulled into the Delta Quadrant jointly did not think much of Tom as both thought of him as a traitor. However, he found a friendship that would last his life in the form of Harry Kim a young crewmember who helped him come to believe in himself and that maybe he really did have value. But the Delta Quadrant it seems was the best place that Tom could have gone. Although the crews had little trust in him, slowly over the years Tom was able to prove himself. Often he would display bravery and good tactical judgement when put to the test and with Janeway showing trust in his abilities he won the crew over. Tom has saved the ship on more than one occasion, found ability to design spacecraft and was a talented holoengineer. Tom Eugene Paris the son of a Starfleet Admiral was following his family tradition when he entered Starfleet Academy. He discovered that he was a natural pilot when he went on a trip with his father aged eight years of age. Tom had a difficult relationship with his father who was tough and unyielding. Flying was not Tom’s only love he also loved the ocean and at one stage had planned to join the Federation Naval Patrol. Tom’s father was not in favour of this plan and he eventually joined Starfleet.
One of the best things to happen to Tom was his relationship with B’Elanna Torres, finally after a stormy beginning Tom and B’Elanna found a love for each other. This relationship is finally what caused Tom to reach his potential. When the crew of Voyager was finally able to communicate with their families at home, Tom could not bring himself to take part in this exchange fearing that his father had little regard for him and his life choices.
Tom is a passionate man and in his first year at the Academy fell in love with Susie Crabtree who eventually broke off the relationship. Tom took this hard and allowed his feelings to overcome him nearly failing his course. This displays how he led his life in his younger years allowing issues and incidents to overwhelm him and then to make quick and sometimes just the wrong decisions.
Tom as always a passionate man once again made an emotional decision that caused him to be put into the brig by Janeway. This time it was for noble reasons not selfish ones. He wanted to save a world that he considered was being abused by its occupants and he did. Tom had grown! Busted to the rank of ensign for disobeying orders for violating the Prime Directive his reward was not only included the demotion but 30 days in the brig. .
Tom finally made it through his Starfleet Course and was assigned to the USS Exeter but it was not long before his ability to make the wrong decisions again affected his life. Tom made a fatal piloting error that caused the death of three of his fellow officers and then tried to cover it up. Racked with guilt Tom finally told the truth but it was too late, his inability to think logically instead of passionately forced him to resign. So Tom is now free from family obligations and can make his own choices and what does he do, he joins the Maquis! But was his heart really in it? Maybe not because he is captured on his first mission and sent to gaol.
Tom and B’Elanna finally married and even when they had been kidnapped and their memories wiped and not knowing of his relationship with her he found himself looking out for this pregnant woman, his love for her still within him even though he did not know who she was. Finally, Voyager returned home and as they entered Earth’s space Tom and B’Elanna’s child was born. Now he had a family for himself and had grown enough for him to enjoy the prospect of what life will bring to him. Tom’s passion was his undoing and his doing and the journey on Voyager was to see him to grow from a selfish and egocentric youth to a well-rounded, compassionate and focussed man.
B’Elanna a mixed species child of Human and Klingon heritage has had to fight not only what she perceives as racism but also her two natures. Inheriting classic characteristics from both species had allowed her to seek out new adventures, having the courage to meet these challenges head on. Born on Kessik IV and with her mother the only people in the colony with Klingon heritage she believed that she did not fit in. B’Elanna’s father left her and her mother when she was still young and this affected her and her relationships in later life. She joined Starfleet Academy when she was17 and spent two years working towards an engineering speciality. B’Elanna again had a difficult time fitting in with four disciplinary hearings and one suspension. Finally at 19 she dropped out and it seemed that she was looking for somewhere to belong. B’Elanna’s life was saved by Chakotay a member of the Maquis and with whom she would develop a close bond. She had found a place where the displaced in the Maquis where no one cared where you where from and cared nothing about your background. B’Elanna was still an angry women and the Maquis was a place where she could channel that anger into the fight with the Cardassians. Chakotay tried to teach B’Elanna his Native American techniques to deal with her temper and emotions. This had some success but she was the only person that he knew who tried to kill her animal guide. Pulled into the Delta Quadrant by the Caretaker, the Maquis ship was destroyed! Both the Maquis and Voyager crews had to join to not only survive but work towards making it home. Torres was a highly gifted engineer and was made Chief Engineer of Voyager after proving her abilities to Captain earning her respect for her skills. Although B’Elanna had many adventures whilst on Voyager one of the most telling was when she was captured by the Vidiians who were able to separate her human and Klingon DNA when they found that Klingon DNA was resistant to the Phage, a disease that was killing their people. This was one of the most significant life events for her as she was able to understand the two parts that made her whole and who she was. The Klingon part of her gave up her life to save the human side! On her return to Voyager and with the Doctor being able to recombine her DNA she understood for the first time in her life that both sides of her heritage made her whole. The Klingon side was her courage and her passion whilst her human side was her compassion and empathy. It is from this point in her life that she grows and becomes who she was meant to be a courageous, focussed individual, who could still chuck a wobbly with the best of them.
B’Elanna found more on Voyager than just herself she found that she had the ability to command, work under pressure, care for others and the ability to form relationships. Eventually she fell in love with Tom Paris and as in most relationships they found themselves with child. This situation brought back many of the childhood issues that she had thought that she had dealt with. When she found out that the child would show its Klingon heritage she wanted the Doctor to eradicate this DNA Tom found out that she had falsified records to make The Doctor believe it was necessary. Tom was able to convince her that this was not a bad thing and that he would not leave the child as she had thought that the Klingon side of her was what made her father leave her mother. This was another turning point in the acceptance of B’Elanna of her own self-worth. In a future timeline that may not be brought to fruition she became Federation Liaison to the Klingon Empire. B’Elanna it seems has a lot to offer and someday she will believe that herself.
STAR TREK: VOYAGER -- BETTER THAN I REMEMBERED It’s long been a fashionable practice in fandom to downplay the importance of Star Trek: Voyager. Almost from the beginning, the show’s critics characterized it as derivative, dismissing many of its episodes as worn retreads of the more glorious Treks of yore. Voyager was evidence that either the franchise or its custodians (or perhaps both) had grown tired and were in need of a rest. I have to confess to having felt the same way about the show; back in the day I thought it suffered in comparison with Deep Space Nine, whose creative triumphs (particularly during its latter seasons) made Voyager’s alleged shortcomings stand out in sharp relief. But I’ve revised my opinion after my oldest son (James, now eleven years old) and I began systematically watching all the Star Trek television shows and films, a multi-year fatherand-son endeavor that quickly came to be known as our “five-year mission.” Voyager held up a lot better than I had expected. Sure, the show had, and still has, its flaws—the crazy logic of Kazon who could ply interstellar space yet couldn’t find drinking water, the missed opportunities for Starfleet/Maquis crew conflict, and shuttlecraft as numerous as T. J. Hooker’s squad cars—but it also had a lot of heart, especially as the show progressed and the cast members became increasingly comfortable wearing their characters’ skins. As we watched disc after disc, James and I (re)discovered some of the series’ high points: taut actioners like season three’s “Blood Fever,” which evoked TOS “Amok Time” without aping it; the nifty, space-operatic “Distant Origin,” in which humanity comes faces-to-jaws with a reptilian road not taken back on Earth; season four’s “Living Witness,” a chilling echo of the Holocaust; the sheer retro fun of season five’s “Bride of Chaotica!” and the other episodes that featured Tom Paris’s Saturday-serial alter ego, Captain Proton; and the touching, unrequited romance of “Someone to Watch Over Me.” Even though Voyager still can boast a tie for worst Star Trek episode ever (season two’s “Threshold,” in which Janeway and Paris become copulating iguanas, a dreadful show that for me comes in dead even with TOS’s execrable “The Alternative Factor,” and makes “Spock’s Brain” look like Citizen Kane), the chronicle of the U.S.S. Voyager brought forth some truly superb television storytelling. Of course, I’m sure not everyone will concur with me. But in 2010, the year we celebrate Star Trek: Voyager’s fifteenth anniversary, I think that anybody reading these words can agree that the show definitely deserves a second look.
Michael A. Martin is the author of STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE: THE ROMULAN WAR -- BENEATH THE RAPTOR'S WING, STAR TREK ONLINE: THE NEEDS OF THE MANY, and the forthcoming STAR TREK: TYPHON PACT -- SEIZE THE FIRE (fall 2010) and STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE: THE ROMULAN WAR -- IN SHARIEL'S JAWS (fall 2011)