Product Description
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The complete second season of the popular Star Trek spin-off
series. In 'The 37s', the crew discover a 1936 Ford pick-up truck
stranded in space. In 'Initiations', Commander Chakotay is hunted
by a viscious sect of Kazon warriors, but he makes friends with
his young pursuer. In 'Projections', the emergency holographic
doctor is activated, only to undergo an identity crisis.
'Elogium' sees Kes become a compulsive eater. In 'Non Sequiter',
Harry Kim awakes to find himself back home in Los Angeles with
his fiancee having never served on Voyager. Starfleet begin to
believe he is a Maquis , especially when he meets with a down
and out Tom Paris, who also never served on Voyager. In
'Twisted', the ship becomes trapped in a spacial wave of
distortion. In 'Parturition', Neelix and Paris's problems
concerning Kes come to a head, but they have to resolve it when
they are stranded on a planet together. In 'Persistence of
Vision', the captain relaxes in her Victorian Holodeck program,
but trouble occurs when she begins to see images from the
holo-novel outside of the holodeck. In 'Tattoo', Chakotay is
surprised to find an ancient symbol of his Earth tribe on an M
Class planet in the Delta Quadrant. This sparks memories of his
youth on Earth. 'Cold Fire' sees the Voyager being lured to an
array by a highly evolved offshoot of Kes's race. In 'Maneuvers',
the Kazon manage to get aboard the Voyager and steal vital
technology, and it soon becomes apparent that they have received
help from an old adversary. In 'Resistance', the crew beam down
to a planet to find important crystals, but they are overpowered
by the natives. The captain awakes to find herself being cared
for by an old man who thinks that she is his daughter. In
'Prototype', B'Elanna is kipped by robots and given a task
that not only stretches her talents as an improvisational
engineering genius, but also tests her loyalty to her crew and
the Prime Directive. In 'Alliances', the Voyager crew find
themselves outnumbered by the Kazon in the Delta Quadrant and
start to make plans to form an alliance and a united front
against the terror of the warrior race. In 'Threshold', Tom Paris
pilots a shuttlecraft in an attempt to travel at the impossibly
fast 'Warp 10'. He succeeds, but at a terrible cost. In 'Meld',
Tuvok decides to mind-meld with a murderer, but is not prepared
for the emotions that this dangerous act brings. In
'Dreadnought', the Voyager encounters an automated missile system
from the Alpha Quadrant that has mistakenly targeted a planet. It
transpires that the missile is the handy-work of former Maquis
freedom fighter B'Elanna Torres and she must try to disarm it. In
'Deathwish', the crew discover a member of the Q continuum who
wants to become mortal. The Q that is well known to Starfleet
soon turns up to bargain with Janeway for the future life of the
rogue Q. In 'Lifesigns', a dying Vidian is brought aboard the
ship and undergoes innovative from the holographic
doctor. He creates a hologram of the subject and requires some
Klingon tissue to help the lifeless body. In 'Investigations',
Neelix uncovers some buried secrets when he starts some
investigative journalism on behalf of his morale boosting radio
show. In 'Deadlock', the starship stumbles into Vidian territory
and runs into insurable trouble as it tries to avoid being
detected - trouble that could lead to the total destruction of
the ship. In 'Innocence', Tuvok's shuttle c lands on what
turns out to be a sacred planet. where he meets three children
who believe their people are trying to kill them. The Captain
must try to avoid conflict with the isolationist race whilst
satisfying her own sense of what is good. In 'The Thaw', the
Voyager crew come across a planet where the leaders are in stasis
in a simulated computer world where their lives are put at risk
by computer created demons. In 'Tuvix', a transporter malfunction
merges Tuvok and Neelix into one entity, Tuvix. With the original
crew members gone everyone learns to accept, and care for, the
new member, but the Captain is faced with a dilemma when the
doctor discovers a way to reverse the merging. In 'Resolutions',
Chakotay and the Captain are left on an idyllic planet when they
are infected with a mystery virus. Janeway orders Tuvok to
continue the voyage home without them. In 'Basics - Part 1',
Seska sends a message to Chakotay that she has given birth to his
son, and that the infant's life is in danger. The crew have to
decide if Seska is telling the truth or whether she is setting a
trap.
.co.uk Review
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If the first season of Star Trek: Voyager was a shakedown
cruise, then season 2 represents a vital blossoming of the
series' potential. As Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew maintained
Starfleet integrity in the lawless expanse of the Delta quadrant,
and became the ethical conscience of her still-uneasy
Maquis/Starfleet crew, whose unanimous loyalty would be
dramatically proven in "The '37's" (a first-season hold-over).
Janeway's moral guidance would also assert itself in "Death Wish"
(a "Q" episode featuring NextGen's Jonathan Frakes) and "Tuvix,"
in which life-or-death decisions landed squarely on her
shoulders. Season 2 brought similar development to all the
primary characters, deepening their relationships and defining
their personalities, especially Robert Beltran as Chakotay (in
"Initiations" and "Tattoo"), now firmly established as Janeway's
best friend (and nearly more than that, in "Resolutions") and
command-decision confidante.
Solid sci-fi concepts abound in season 2, although "Threshold"
is considered an embarrassment (as confessed by co-executive
producer Brannon Braga in a self-deprecating "Easter Egg"
interview clip). It was a forgivable lapse in a consistently
excellent season that intensified Janeway's struggle with the
villainous Kazon, exacerbated by a Starfleet traitor in cahoots
with the duplicitous Cardassian Seska (played by Martha Hackett,
featured in a lively guest-star profile). The psychologically
intense "Meld" (featuring a riveting guest performance by Brad
Dourif) was a Tuvok-story highlight, and the aptly titled
"Basics, Pt. 1" provided an ominous cliffhanger, including a
second planetary landing (in a season full of impressive special
effects) that left Voyager's e in question. All in all, this
was one of Voyager's finest seasons, leaving some enticing
questions to be answered in season 3. --Jeff Shannon
