The third season of Voyager brought about a few changes that impacted the series. The continuing saga of Seska and the Kazon comes to an end finally with the second part to Season Two's Cliffhanger
Back to Basics, Part 2.
With Seska and the question of the baby finally solved and out of the way, the season focuses more on singular stories involving some favorites from other series. Q returns to cause havoc in a Civil War inspired episode that continues the consequences of Janeway's decision to let Q committ suicide.
The season also offers some internal conflict among the characters including a romance spat over a hologram between the emotionless Tuvok and Harry Kim. Of course we all know a hologram can't be this real, can she? Tuvok also gets to be part of one of the best episodes of the season with "Flashback" which placed Tuvok (Tim Russ) aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior from Star Trek VI, under the command of Capt. Sulu (Star Trek alumnus George Takei).
Voyager also begins the eventual release of the Kes character who is eventually replaced with Seven of Nine of the Borg. Kes goes through many changes including being taken over by a supposed dead conquerer. The writers felt her storyline had evolved as far as it could which is a shame because she had such chemistry with the doctor.
Voyager mostly was consistent from season to season, offering fans of the series plenty of quality writing with the usual dud somewhere in between. Season three probably wasn't the finest moment for the show, but it still provided fans with a worthy experience.
The DVD includes 25 episodes all of which can be found with synopsis at http://www.tvtome.com/StarTrekVoyager/season3.html
The Disc:
Voyager arrives on DVD with its original 1.33:1 (full-frame on 4:3 monitors) aspect ratio. This is the first time that every episode in a season looks consistently great with plenty of coloring to match the exotic locales. Sounds on the disc are boosted from their television debuts to a Dolby Digital 5.1 English audio track which makes fair use of the space battles and other action packed sequences of the season.
Goodies on the disc begin with the Braving the Unknown: Season Three" feature that is pretty much the cast and crew reflecting on their experiences during this season. Red Alert: Amazing Visual Effects examines the effects work done for the show while Real Science With Andre Bormanis discusses how the Star Trek people try to stay within the limits of scientific fact in order to make the shows and movies as plausible as possible.
Next up are a duo of pieces ‘Voyager’ Time Capsule: Neelix and Voyager Time Capsule: Kes, each of which features interviews with Ethan Phillips and Jennifer Lien about their characters.
Next we have "Flashback to ‘Flashback’" which looks at how the Flashback episode was created and explains why the scenes seen in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country had to be re-shot. Finally there's the usual photo gallery, previews and easter eggs to be found.
bottom line:
Season 3 of the series was likely the best the show had to offer to date. While further seasons may be better, Season three shows just how good the show had become once it was primetime.
4 out of 5
By - Brian Gray
