Five Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Four (1997-1998)

 

Below is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season Four of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway:

FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON FOUR (1997-1998)



1. (4.07) "Scientific Method" - When a string of bizarre illnesses afflicts Voyager's crew, the Doctor, Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and new crewman Seven-of-Nine uncover a team of alien researchers existing out of phase and performing medical experiments on the crew. Rosemary Forsyth and Annette Helde guest starred.

2. (4.16) "Prey" - The crew of Voyager come to the aid of a wounded Hirogen before discovering that his hunting prey, a lost member of Species 8472, has boarded the ship. Tony Todd guest starred.

3. (4.14) "Message in a Bottle" - Using an abandoned Hirogen communications net, Voyager sends their Chief Medical Officer, the Doctor, to a Federation ship in the Alpha Quadrant, where he discovers has been taken over by Romulans. Andy Dick and Judson Scott guest starred.

4. (4.18-4.19) "The Killing Game" - When Voyager is captured by the Hirogens, it is transformed into a massive holodeck, so that the Hirogens can hunt members of the crew who have been fitted with new identities in various scenarios based upon Federation history. Danny Goldring, J. Paul Boehmer and Mark Metcalf guest starred.

5. (4.23) "Living Witness" - The Doctor's backup program awakens in the museum of an alien culture seven hundred years in the future, where Voyager is thought to have been a passing warship full of cold-blooded killers in which the latter interfered in a war between the planet's two ethnic groups. Henry Woronicz guest starred.

Honorable Mention: (4.08-4.09) "Year of Hell" - Voyager comes across a Krenim timeship that is wiping whole species from existence in order to change the existing timeline. Kurtwood Smith and Peter Marx guest starred.

Five Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Three (1996-1997)

Below is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season Three of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway:


FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON THREE (1996-1997)



1. (3.16) "Blood Fever" - While enduring pon farr, a lovesick Ensign Vorik unexpectedly passes it to Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres, affecting her relationship with Chief Helmsman Tom Paris during an Away mission. Alexander Enberg guest-starred.





2. (3.24) "Displaced" - A mystery develops when Voyager crew members are replaced, one-by-one, with aliens from an unknown race.





3. (3.25) "Worst Case Scenario" - When Torres discovers a hidden holodeck program in which the ship's Maquis crewmen stage an insurrection, members of the Voyager crew begin clandestinely participating in it, with surprising dangerous results for Paris and Security Chief Tuvok. Martha Hackett guest-starred.





4. (3.17) "Unity" - Voyager's First Officer, Commander Chakotay, crashes on a planet with a community of unassimilated Borg drones from all over the galaxy. Meanwhile, the ship encounters a Borg cube that is "dead in space".





5. (3.02) "The Chute" - While on leave on the Akritirian homeworld, Paris and Operations Chief Harry Kim are falsely accused of a terrorist bombing. While the two men struggle to survive in a brutal prison, Captain Kathryn Janeway and Voyager's crew race against time to prove their innocence.





Honorable Mention: (3.14) "Alter Ego" - Kim falls in love with a holodeck character from Neelix's Polynesian resort program named Marayna. But when he seeks help from Tuvok to get over his "crush", Marayna begins to behave strangely when she develops an obsession toward the Vulcan Security Chief.

Five Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Two (1995-1996)

Below is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season Two of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway: 


FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON TWO (1995-1996)



1. (2.11) "Manuevers" - After a team of the Kazon-Nistrim warriors steal some Federation technology during a raid against U.S.S. Voyager, Commander Chakotay goes after them on his own and is captured. Martha Hackett and Anthony De Longis guest-starred.





2. (2.21) "Deadlock" - While attempting to evade the organ-stealing Vidiians, a duplicate Voyager is created after it passes through a spatial scission; leaving one of the duplicate ships under attack and the other impervious to attack. Nancy Hower and Simon Billig guest-starred.





3. (2.20) "Investigations" - Lieutenant Tom Paris leaves Voyager and joins a Talaxian space convoy. But when he is kidnapped by former crew mate Seska and the Kazon-Nistrim, Neelix tries to flush out the traitor on board who has been colluding with them. Raphael Sbarge, Martha Hackett and Simon Billig guest-starred. 





4. (2.05) "Non-Sequitur" - While on an Away mission, Ensign Harry Kim mysteriously wakes up and finds himself back in 24th century San Francisco, with no record of him ever joining Voyager's crew. Louis Giambalvo, Jennifer Gatti and Mark Kiely guest-starred.





5. (2.19) "Lifesigns" - Voyager picks up a dying Vidiian woman and the Doctor saves her life by placing her consciousness in a holographic body. As the pair attempts to find a cure for the Phage killing her and her species, he falls in love. Susan Diol, Raphael Sbarge and Martha Hackett guest-starred. 





Honorable Mention: (2.08) "Persistence of Vision" - When Voyager enters a new region of space, the crew begins to experience hallucinations from their past and of their desires. Carolyn Seymour, Warren Munson and Marva Hicks guest-starred.

Excessive Criticism of “STAR TREK VOYAGER”

EXCESSIVE CRITICISM OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER"

For the past two decades, I have never encountered so much criticism of one particular Star Trek show than I have for the 1995-2001 series, "STAR TREK VOYAGER". 

Ironically, I used to buy this negative opinion. Or accept it. One of the reasons I had ignored "STAR TREK VOYAGER" for so many years, because I had assumed that those fans who had deemed it inferior to the other shows in the franchise were right. When my sister found out that the rest of our family was ignoring the show, she fervently suggested that we watch it. This happened when the early Season Five episodes were going through its first run. Well, we did. We watched some of those early Season Five shows. We also watched the previous episodes from Season One to Season Four that were currently in syndication. And guess what? My family became fans of the show.

I am not going to claim that "VOYAGER" was perfect. Yes, it had its flaws. I have even posted a few articles about some of the flaws I had encountered. But I was also able to pick out both major and minor flaws in the other Trek shows at the time - "STAR TREK", "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATION", and "STAR TREK DEEP SPACE NINE" - while still enjoying them. I never really became a big fan of "STAR TREK ENTERPRISE", but there were a good number of episodes that I really enjoyed. 

This fervent need to nitpick everything about "STAR TREK VOYAGER" in order to deem it as some kind of pop culture disaster is mind boggling to me. Every time I access an article on the Internet - especially on a Trek message board - about series, the criticism seemed to strike me as unnecessarily excessive . . . and constant. And most of the complaints I have come across are either about some ridiculously minor flaw or how Janeway was a terrible star ship captain. I do not understand this opinion. Janeway made her mistakes. So did the other Trek captains. What made her worse than the others? Her gender? Star Trek shows were not allowed to have women as the leads, or even worse, in the command position? 

More importantly, these same fans seem very reluctant to point out the flaws - both minor and major - about the other Trek shows. At least not to this extreme degree. What is going on? If you are going to state that "VOYAGER" was simply the worst show in the Trek franchise, do not expect me to buy this opinion anymore. After seeing the show and the others in the franchise, I really have great difficulty in accepting this view. So what is it? What is the real truth? I guess in the end, these are questions that no one can really answer. After all, art and entertainment are subjective.

Five Favorite Episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season One (1995)

Below is a list of my five favorite episodes from Season One of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor; the series starred Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway: 


FIVE FAVORITE EPISODES OF "STAR TREK VOYAGER" SEASON ONE (1995)



1. (1.11) "State of Flux" - Captain Kathryn Janeway and other senior members of Voyager's crew Janeway attempt to flush out a spy who is sending information to a group of aggressive Delta Quadrant species called the Kazon-Nistrim. Martha Hackett and Josh Clark guest-starred.





2. (1.14) "Faces" - When Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, Lieutenant Tom Paris and Ensign Pete Durst are captured by Vidiians during an Away mission, Torres is split into her human and Klingon halves in order for her captors to use her DNA to find a cure for their species. Brian Markinson guest-starred.





3. (1.01-1.02) "Caretaker" - While searching for a Maquis ship with a Starfleet spy aboard in the series premiere, the U.S.S. Voyager is swept into the Delta Quadrant, more than 70,000 light-years from home, by an incredibly powerful being known as the "Caretaker". Gavan O'Herlihy and Basil Langston guest-starred.





4. (1.04) "Time and Again" - While investigating a planet just devastated by a polaric explosion, Janeway and Paris are engulfed by a subspace fracture and transported in time to before the accident. Nicolas Surovy guest-starred.





5. (1.07) "Eye of the Needle" - Voyager's crew discover a micro-wormhole leads to the Alpha Quadrant and makes contact with a Romulan ship on the other side with ironic consequences. Vaughn Armstrong guest-starred.

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (7.21) "Friendship One"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (7.21) "Friendship One"

For such a quietly presented episode, the "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Seven episode, (7.21) "Friendship One" packed quite a powerful punch. For the first time . . . or perhaps not . . . audiences saw the dangers of exploration - not just for the explorers, but for also the explored. 

The episode explored the impact of a late 21st century Earth deep space probe called "Friendship 1" that had made its way to a Delta Quadrant planet called Uxal over a century later. After being lost in the Delta Quadrant for three years, the U.S.S. Voyager managed to contact Starfleet after the crew used a Hirogen relay network to send their holographic Chief Medical Officer to the Alpha Quadrant in the Season Four episode, (4.14) "Message in a Bottle". 

Nearly two years later in the Season Six episode, (6.10) "Pathfinder", Starfleet officer Reginald Barclay managed to contact the stranded Voyager using Starfleet's Pathfinder project. This allowed Voyager and Starfleet to contact each other on a monthly basis. Over a year later, Starfleet assigned Captain Kathryn Janeway and her crew their first assignment - to retrieve the "Friendship 1" probe. The crew's efforts to accomplish their mission led to their discovery that the probe had a negative effect upon Uxal. By the time of Voyager's arrival, it was undergoing a nuclear winter, which had a major negative impact upon the Uxali inhabitants. When an Away team consisting of Lieutenant Tom Paris, ship's cook/morale officer Neelix and Lieutenant Joe Carey landed on the planet, they were taken hostage by a group of Uxali led by someone named Verin. The latter demanded that Voyager's crew transport his people to a safe planet . . . a process that would take at least three years. Naturally, Captain Janeway refused to capitulate to Verin's demand and a tense standoff commenced that eventually led to tragedy. 

During my recent viewing of "Friendship One", I found myself remembering the 1993 movie, "JURASSIC PARK". The episode especially reminded me of the comments made by Jeff Goldblum's character about the dangers of exploration. Yes, some of you might be turning up your noses at such a comparison. But "JURASSIC PARK" and "Friendship One" provided some strong lessons. These lessons seemed to have gone over the heads of both Janeway and most of Voyager's crew. 

The crew's attitude toward the planet's inhabitants struck an interesting note within me. They seemed to be embarrassed by the destruction caused by "Friendship 1", especially since it was an Earth probe. And at the same time, they were angered by Verin's murder of Lieutenant Carey. Janeway seemed only concerned with saving the hostages and acquiring the probe. It took Tom Paris and Neelix - two individuals dismissed by the crew as worthless when the series first began, to remind her and other Voyager crewmen that as Humans (at least a majority of them) and representatives of Starfleet, they had a responsibility to help clean up the mess caused by their ancestors' irresponsibility. If Starfleet had been in contact with "Friendship 1" up until the mid 23rd century, why they fail to recover it before it had disappeared? Especially if Starfleet had known about the probe's antimatter, of which the Uxali were unfamiliar. The Uxali's attitude also struck me as interesting. They were so full of bitterness at what happened to them. Then again, who could blame them? But due to this bitterness, the Uxali failed to realize that taking and killing hostages had only their situation even worse. The Uxali scientist, Otrin, had to remind his people that their bitterness and paranoia were keeping them from accepting the help they needed.

Someone had complained that the solution to Uxal's radiation came too quick and easy. I disagree. Otrin had been working on a solution for years. Voyager's technology, along with Seven's comments to Otrin, finally provided a means to use that solution. But even providing the solution to Uxal brought danger upon Voyager's crew, since the embittered Verin seemed determined to consider Janeway and her crew as the enemy and destroy them.

One of the episode's surprises is that a small moment between Paris and his wife, Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres would end up symbolizing the Chief Helmsman's encounter with a pregnant mother named Brin. Even more surprising, his successful efforts to save Brin's newborn baby from the radiation eventually save the hides of Voyager's crew and Starfleet's reputation. And despite this solution for the Uxali, Voyager still lost a valuable crew member. Also, the episode ended with Starfleet and the Federation's reputations on a shaky ground.

The episode featured some solid performances, including those from Kate Mulgrew, Jeri Ryan, Robert Beltran, Tim Russ and Roxann Dawson. Among the guest stars, I was especially impressed by the performances of Ken Land as Verin, John Prosky as Otrin and Bari Hochwald as Brin. But I have to give special kudos to Robert Duncan McNeill for his performance as Tom Paris in this episode. He did an excellent job of portraying Paris' quiet conflict between his desperation to live, his desire to help some of the Uxali - especially the pregnant Brin, and his quiet disapproval of the crew's arrogant attitude toward the Uxali. I was also impressed by Ethan Phillips' portrayal of Talaxian crewman, Neelix. The latter's quiet recall of his homeworld's destruction seemed even more powerful that the time we first heard about it in the Season One episode, (1.15) "Jetrel". And I also enjoyed how Neelix pointed out the Humans' flaws in a conversation with Verin:

NEELIX: "When I first met them, I thought they were arrogant and self-righteous."
VERIN: "I suppose you're going to tell me you've changed your mind."
NEELIX: "Well, not completely."

Joe Carey. I am quite certain that a good number of the show's fans were upset by his death. To be honest, I thought his character had died a long time ago. Josh Clark's last two previous appearances on the show - Season Five's (5.24) "Relativity" and Season Six's(6.23) "Fury" - had occurred in time travel episodes that featured his character during Voyager's first year in existence. Someone had complained that his death would have been more relevant if he had appeared on "STAR TREK VOYAGER" a lot more often. Again, I disagree. The circumstances surrounding his death made the story dramatic enough. His death proved to be pointless and tragic, due to Earth's carelessness and the aliens' unwillingness to trust. I found Crewman Hogan's death in (3.01) "Basic, Part II"and Ensign Marie Kaplan's death in (3.17) "Unity" upsetting enough. And they were not as well known to "STAR TREK VOYAGER" fans as Carey. Anyway, it was good to see Josh Clark, who provided one last excellent performance before the series' end. 

I might as well be honest. "Friendship One" is not a big favorite of mine. My attitude has nothing to do with the episode's quality. Frankly, I consider it to be one of the most interesting episodes of the series. But I did find it rather depressing. Some did not care about the arrogant or careless portrayal of both Voyager's crew and Starfleet in general. I had no problem with that. Considering the franchise's habit of nearly putting humanity on a pedestal, this portrayal of Starfleet and humanity as flawed - even in the late 24th century - struck me as refreshing.

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (5.13) "Gravity"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (5.13) "Gravity"

Every once in a while, an episode from the "STAR TREK" television franchise featured an episode that featured a few members of the cast being stranded on some planet during an Away mission. In fact, I cannot think of one TREK series that did not utilize this story structure. One of them was the Season Five "STAR TREK VOYAGER" episode called (5.13) "Gravity" 

In this episode, Lieutenant-Commander Tuvok, the recently demoted Ensign Tom Paris and the Doctor crash landed on a planet during an Away mission. Their shuttle got caught in a gravimetric shear and pulled toward the planet's surface. And unbeknownst to them, time is moving faster on the planet than it is throughout the rest of that region of space. Tom remains behind inside their damaged shuttle, while Tuvok scours the area for supplies. During his foray, a lone alien female robs Tom of much needed equipment, before she is attacked by a small hunting group of another species. Tuvok comes to her rescue and leads her back to the shuttle for medical attention. With the assistance of the Doctor, whose Universal Translator was still working, Tuvok and Tom learn that her name is Noss and that she had been stranded on the planet for "14 seasons".

During the following two months on the planet, Tuvok and the others have moved to Noss' damaged ship for better shelter. More importantly, Noss has developed an attraction to Tuvok. He decides to ignore her attraction due to his marital status. Noss' attraction also brings back memories of Tuvok's time with a Vulcan master, who tried to help him purge his emotions, following an incident with another female years ago. Tuvok's failure to respond to Noss' attraction angers her and annoys Tom. Meanwhile, Captain Kathryn Janeway and the Voyager crew uses a probe to find the gravimetric distortion that the Away team's shuttle went into, in order to contact Tuvok and Tom. During the two months the Away team had spent on the planet, Voyager's crew had spent a few hours searching for them. However, a species dealing with the loss of nearly a dozen ships arrives, bent on closing the distortion, which would crush everything within.

One would think that the main narrative for "Gravity" centered around the Away team's survival on the planet and Voyager's attempt to rescue them. The episode's title certainly seems to hint this. But "Gravity" began with a flashback to Tuvok's childhood. As I stated earlier, the much younger Tuvok was sent to a Vulcan master to help him purge strong emotions not only for a female member of his community, but also teach him to control those emotions. One could say that aside from a few incidents beyond Tuvok's control - like mind melding with a Betezoid crew member/killer and dealing with telepathic aliens addicted to angry thoughts - the Vulcan master more or less did his job. However, Tuvok, who considered himself happily married, did not count upon meeting the castaway, Noss. Between their mutual attraction and Tom Paris' encouragement of a relationship between them, it was not surprising that Tuvok resorted to alienating himself from Noss and meditation to avoid caving in to his desire. But this has always been typical Tuvok behavior. Whenever faced with the idea of connecting with someone he deemed a threat to his emotional well-being, he would resort to drastic measures.

I have always had a problem with how Vulcans were portrayed in the "TREK" franchise. The writers rarely appreciated their talent for controlling their emotions. They either want Vulcan characters to embrace emotional response or be more like Humans. Spock was always chided by James Kirk or Leonard McCoy for his failure to "be more human". This was due to Spock being half-Human on his mother's side. The Vulcans - namely Spock and his father, Sarek - were treated with dignity on "STAR TREK: NEXT GENERATION". But honestly, I found their appearances on that show not very interesting. The writers of "STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE" practically villified Vulcans. "STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE"also seemed to vilified Vulcans, despite having one as a main character. It has been a mixed bag on "STAR TREK: VOYAGER". Most of Voyager's crew - especially the Humans - seem to constantly make sly digs at Vulcan culture or express a desire for Tuvok to behave more like a Human. Although Tom seem to regard Tuvok a lot higher than the ship's First Officer, Commander Chakotay, he is one of those who seem to wish that Tuvok be more openly expressive. And yet, there are those like Captain Janeway and Seven-of-Nine who seem willing to accept Tuvok as he was. More importantly, the series has managed to pinpoint that Tuvok's main problem was his tendency to be a loner. Other Vulcan crewmen - like Vorik and one of Chakotay's former Maquis crewmen - managed to socialize with the rest of the crew without losing any aspects of their culture.

Although Tuvok has managed to befriend others like Captain Janeway and Seven on a one-to-one basis, I suspect those loner tendencies did more harm than good in this particular episode. One of Tom's rants against Tuvok was the manner in which the latter rejected Noss' declaration of love. Even I found it unnecessarily brutal . . . especially since I have seen the Vulcan security officer deal with others with more compassion. Tuvok could have been a little more graceful in his rejection of Noss. But I suspect that his attraction to her, his status as a married man and his memories of the last time he went overboard for a woman without the benefit of Pon Farr must have scared him shitless. I must admit that I found Tom Paris' encouragement of a Tuvok/Noss love affair seemed surprising . . . almost tasteless. He could pursued Noss, himself. But she never displayed any romantic interest in Tom. The latter was certainly not interested in Noss. Also, Tom was in the middle of his second year of his romance with Voyager's Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres. He probably figured that he had a better chance of seeing B'Elanna again than Tuvok had of reuniting with his wife, who was thousands of light years away. And I also took umbrage at Tom's unwillingness to understand or accept Vulcan culture and customs. But as I had stated earlier, I understood his anger at Tuvok's rejection of Noss.

I would not rate "Gravity" as among the best episodes of "STAR TREK VOYAGER". The B-plot regarding the castaways' situation on the planet and Voyager's efforts to rescue them struck me as best, unoriginal. But it did feature some pretty decent action sequences involving Tuvok, Noss and Tom's conflicts with the alien raiders. It was the main plot involving Tuvok's feelings for Noss and his Draconian measures to deny them that I found interesting. Unlike many other "TREK"fans, I never had a desire for Tuvok to behave more like Humans. Instead, I enjoyed episodes like "Gravity" that explored the Vulcan's inner feelings, conflicts and especially his interactions with Tom Paris and Noss. Despite all of the action in this episode, it is basically a character study.

"Gravity" featured some solid performances from Kate Mulgrew and the rest of the cast who portrayed Voyager's crew. Leroy D. Brazile's portrayal of the young Tuvok struck me as decent, but occasionally over-the-top. Robert Picardo provided some comic relief in his brief, yet witty portrayal of the Doctor. But the episode featured three superb performances. I have never come across an actress who not only proved to be a more than credible action character, but one with a baby voice. But Lori Petty did a great job in creating an original character like Noss - attitude, voice and all. She also had great chemistry with both Tim Russ and Robert Duncan McNeill. Speaking of the latter, McNeill not only did an excellent job in portraying Tom Paris' usual minor flaws and at the same time, conveying how much the character had grown over the years and how romantic he truly can be. But this episode belonged to Russ, who did such a marvelous job in his portrayal of the subliminally emotional, yet always emotional Tuvok. And this is the first time Russ portrayed a Tuvok involved in a possible romance and he did a superb job with his usual subtlety.

"Gravity" is basically a mixture of a character study and an action episode. Honestly? The action-themed plot surrounding the Away team's predicament on the planet struck me as unoriginal and barely interesting. The character study of Tuvok and his near romance with Noss really made this episode for me. Overall, "Gravity" proved to be a very entertaining, yet not particularly great episode from "STAR TREK VOYAGER".

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (5.06) "Timeless"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (5.06) "Timeless"

The 100th episode of any television series is usually regarded with special interest - especially by television critics. Not all TV series go out of their way to write a special episode for that particular landmark. But many do. The producers of"STAR TREK VOYAGER", Rick Berman and Brannon Braga, along with screenwriter Joe Menosky, went out of their way to write a special story celebrating the series' 100th episode called (5.06) "Timeless". 

The last time I watched "Timeless", it occurred to me that it reminded me of a movie filmed over a decade ago called"FREQUENCY". Both the television episode and the movie featured time travel. Yet, in both, no character participated in any real time travel. In "FREQUENCY", radio frequencies enabled an adult man in 1999 communicate with his father, living in 1969. The writers of "Timeless", which aired nearly two years earlier, utilized Seven-of-Nine's personal Borg components (her interplexing beacon and chronometric node), and a stolen Borg temporal transmitter and later, the holographic Doctor's mobile emitter; to allow an older Harry Kim to communicate with the U.S.S. Voyager crew, 15 years into the past. How did this all begin?

Back in 2375 - early Season Five - Voyager's crew created their own Quantum slipstream drive in order to finally return to the Alpha Quadrant and home. While the crew celebrates, Chief Helmsman Tom Paris informs his friend, Operations Chief Harry Kim that the device might prove to be disastrous, due to a 0.42 phase variance in the drive's system; which could create hull breaches for Voyager and knock it out of the slipstream in mid-flight. To save the project, Harry suggests that two crewmen in a shuttle could "ride the rapids in front of Voyager" and map the slipstream threshold as it forms and transmit phase corrections back to Voyager. The corrections would compensate for the phase variance, preventing a catastrophic collapse of the slipstream. Captain Kathryn Janeway, desperate to get home, agrees to the risky proposal. Harry and Commander Chakotay travel in the newly built Delta Flyer to map out a flight path for Voyager. After Seven-of-Nine reports a phrase variance, Harry quickly calculates the corrections and transmits them back to Voyager. Unfortunately, the correction proves to be the wrong one and Voyager gets knocked out of the slipstream and crashes on an icy Class-L planet with all hands dead. Meanwhile, Harry and Chakotay continue traveling in the slipstream, until they reach the Alpha Quadrant and Earth.

Fifteen years later, both men, haunted by Voyager's destruction and their survival, eventually resign from Starfleet. Harry has discovered what he believes is the right phrase variance to save Voyager. When Starfleet discovers a Borg transmitter, the former ensign and former First Officer Chakotay steal it. With the help of Chakotay's girlfriend Tessa Omond, the pair travel to the sector where Voyager crashed, board the ship, activate the EHM and take Seven-of-Nine's frozen corpse to their ship. Harry and Chakotay asks the Doctor to remove Seven's interplexing beacon and chronometric node, so they could use the objects and a Borg transmitter to send the correct phrase variables to the former Borg fifteen years into the past.

When Brannon Braga first pitched the episode to cast member Garrett Wang, he stated that he wanted "Timeless" to be the show's TOS - (1.28) "The City on the Edge of Forever". Did he and Rick Berman succeed? I think so. If I must be honest, I consider "Timeless" to not only be one of the best "STAR TREK VOYAGER" episodes I have seen, but also one of the best that the entire TREK franchise has offered. Although it is not the only production that has used communication as a means of time travel, it is the first I have come across. If there has been another television episode or movie that has used communication, instead of physical time travel, I would like to know. But this aspect of time travel is not the only reason I find "Timeless" first-rate. This is a beautiful, bittersweet tale filled with desperate hope, tension, close calls, disappointments and remorse over past mistakes. 

Although characters like Chakotay, the Doctor, Captain Janeway, Tom Paris and Tessa Omond played major roles in this tale, "Timeless" really belongs to the character of Harry Kim. In an article I had written a few years ago, I stated that Harry's conservative nature led him to behave in a by-the-book manner, until his emotions drove him to rock the boat. I was being kind. Harry has a nature that is so conservative and by-the-book that when things go wrong, he tends to have a breakdown . . . a fit. I have seen this happened not only in "Timeless", but in a few other episodes as well. In this episode, Harry's "fit" eventually morphed into a bitter, sardonic and obsessive personality. In the 2375 scenes, I could not tell who was more obsessed about returning to the Alpha Quadrant - him or Captain Janeway. And in the 2390 scenes, his obsessive personality - mingled with some bittersweet self-flagellation - focused on his efforts to correct his earlier mistake.

It was easy to see what drove Harry to change the timeline and save Voyager. I had a little more difficulty in figuring out what drove Chakotay to do the same. What drove him to resign from Starfleet and make himself a fugitive from Federation law by stealing a Borg transmitter and the Delta Flyer? It was easy to see that despite a new life with a loving girlfriend by his side, Chakotay could not recover from Voyager's destruction any more than Harry could. Being a more subtle man, he did not wear his despair and guilt on his sleeve. His tour of Voyager's frozen Bridge and especially his reaction to the sight of a dead Kathryn Janeway made it painfully obvious that he remained haunted by the ship's destruction, his initial reluctance over Harry's plan to use the Delta Flyer as Voyager's guide through the slipstream, and especially his captain's death. Even girlfriend Tessa pointed out that his heart has always been more focused on Voyager than on her.

"Timeless" featured some first-class performances. Although most of the cast gave their usual competent performances, there were some that stood out for me. Kate Mulgrew did an excellent job in conveying Captain Janeway's willingness and near desperation to use a questionable plan for Voyager's trip through the slipstream. Robert Duncan McNeill gave a subtle performance as a more serious Tom Paris, who harbored doubts about the effectiveness of the Quantum slipstream drive constructed by the crew. Robert Picardo proved to be the episode's backbone as the holographic Doctor who was not only amazed to find himself online some fifteen years in the future, but also proved to be a voice of reason for the increasingly erratic Harry Kim. Christina Harnos gave a nice, solid performance as Chakotay's 2390 girlfriend, Tessa Omond. And LeVar Burton, who did such a marvelous job as director of this episode, also gave a nice, solid performance as Captain Geordi LaForge, the 2390 version of the "STAR TREK NEXT GENERATIONS" character, sent by Starfleet to stop Harry and Chakotay's attempt to change the timeline. However, the two performances that really shone above the others came from Garrett Wang and Robert Beltran. Wang gave one of the best performances of his career and during his time on "STAR TREK VOYAGER". He did an excellent job in portraying an older and bitter Harry Kim, who is not only guilt-ridden over Voyager's fate, but desperate to correct his mistake. Beltran was equally impressive in a less showy performance as a haunted Chakotay, who tried to move on with a new life and failed.

"Timeless" never made my list of top favorite episodes from the TREK franchise. However, it almost made the list. But I do believe that not only is it one of the best "STAR TREK VOYAGER" episodes ever made, but also one of the best from the entire franchise.