Star Trek: Voyager - Season 3 [1996]

Amazon.co.uk Review

After proving its long-term potential in the second series, Star Trek: Voyager served up some of the best episodes in its entire seven-year history. The second-season cliffhanger was intelligently resolved in "Basics, Pt II", and the fan-favourite "Flashback" placed Tuvok (Tim Russ) aboard the USS Excelsior from Star Trek VI, under the command of Captain Sulu (Star Trek alumnus George Takei). It was a brilliant example of inter-series plotting, just as "False Profits" was a Ferengi-based sequel to the NextGen episode "The Price". The two-part time-travel scenario of "Future's End" is a Voyager highlight, with clear echoes (including dialogue lifted verbatim!) of Star Trek's classic "The City on the Edge of Forever", featuring delightful guest performances by actress-comedienne Sarah Silverman and Ed Begley Jr. Character-wise, the series belonged to Kes (Jennifer Lien, whose tenure on the series was now near its end), Neelix (Ethan Phillips), and the Doctor (Robert Picardo), who shined (respectively) in "Warlord", "Fair Trade", and the surprisingly touching "Real Life" (the latter directed by "Potsie" himself, Happy Days veteran Anson Williams). By infecting B'Elanna (Roxanne Dawson) with a fellow officer's "Blood Fever", Voyager delved into the turbulent Vulcan ritual of Pon Farr, while the cliffhanger "Scorpion" introduced the relentless, Borg-destroying villains of Species 8472, which would pose a continuing threat in subsequent episodes.

Series 3 had a few clunkers (the guilty pleasure "Macrocosm" puts Janeway in stripped-down "Ripley" mode against invading macro-viruses, and Ensign Kim is an awkward "Favourite Son" to a bevy of babes), but for every misstep there's a strong science-fiction concept, like the highly-evolved Hadrosaurs in "Distant Origin", which doubles as a compelling indictment of institutionalised repression. Overall, this is rock-solid Trek, and the DVD features are equally engaging, albeit growing more perfunctory (especially the series 3 summary) with each full-series release. Don't forget the Easter Eggs hidden on the special-features menus, however; they contain some of the set's happiest surprises. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews:

Season 3 - when Voyager became unmissable viewing.......2007-10-08

After 2 okish seasons, generally verging on the mediocre, Season 3 of Voyager is a revelation. After the neccessary "Basics - Part 2" to conclude the dull Kazon-induced Season 2 clifhanger, we are finally RID OF THE KAZON! And we have what was unprecedented in Voyager history - an unbroken string of ELEVEN episodes that were all REALLY GOOD!! "Flashback" - Tuvok is forced to recount his time on Sulu's Excelsior; "The Chute" - Tom and Harry's friendship put to the test when they are holed up together in a maximum security prison with the criminally insane; "The Swarm" - the Doctor faces a crisis when his individuality may be killing him; "False Profits" - 2 ferengi also stranded in the delta quadrant (in a previous Next Gen episode)have duped an alien community into worshipping them as Gods; "Remember" - B'elanna is having dreams of another life that exposes the shocking truth behind a seemingly perfect society; "Sacred Ground" - the most cerebral and thought provoking episode of Trek ever made; "Future's End" (2 parts) - Janeway & crew thrown back in time to the 1990s where they have to stop a corrupt businessman from using future techology to alter the history of Earth; "Warlord" - Kes is taken over by the spirit of a dead warrior; "The Q and the Grey" - Q wants to mate with Janeway to help stop a war in the Q continuum caused by Janeway's actions when Q last met her; and "Macrocosm" - Janeway strips down to her vest a la Die Hard and blasts alien scum infecting her ship.

Of the remaining 14 episodes of the season, only a handful would fall into the mediocre category that up until now the majority of episodes had fell into (namely "Fair Trade", "Alter Ego" and "Rise").And admittedly we also get a few diabolical episodes - "Blood Fever"(where B'elanna undergoes Ponn Farr after an attempted rape by Vorik), "Favorite Son" (where Harry seemingly enters a trashy 1950'd B-movie, i.e. planet of the horny women), and "Real Life" (where the Doctor creates his own holographic family in the most cringeworthy episode of Trek ever), but at least they were trying new ideas not done before in Trek.

Just to complete my episode run down, the episodes I've not mentioned yet, all of which are very good, are "Coda", where Janeway has a near-death experience; "Unity", where the crew encounter a society comprised of ex-borg; "Darkling", where the Doctor develops a Mr Hyde style alter-ego; "Before and After", where Kes is travelling backwards through time; "Distant Origin" where we enounter aliens that evolved on Earth from triassic saurians and then fled to escape the impending asteroid collison; "Displaced", where the Voyager is taken over and its crew are transferred into captivity; "Worst Case Scenario" where a holgraphic Seska tortures Chakotay and Tom; and the incredible season finale "Scorpion", whereby Janeway forms an unholy alliance with the borg to defeat the deadly Species 8472.

All in all, season 3 is a wonderful season of adventures, and it looked like Voyager was finally taking its place as a valued Star Trek series. It was truly a time of change for the series, with less focus on the struggle against the Kazon and Delta Quadrant politics, and more varied and thought-provoking episodes. But no-one could have predicted the big change that was coming around the corner...

As good as ST gets.......2006-08-01

Voyager, Season 3 is good television by any standard. The quality is variable, but that is due to an inherent strength of ST: the "point" of the episodes change, from philosophical discussion (often the best), to detective mystery, to high drama, to action/thriller/horror, with a spattering of romance and humor.
Its defects are those usually present in ST; above all wooden acting (Kate Mulgrew is good, the regulars are decent, but the many of the extras would not be accepted in a school play). The CGI looks cartoonish (at least by today's standards) and the sets tend to be small, repetitive and unnaturally clean. This points to the problems of having a new civilization come up every second episode or so: beside populating the galaxy with an improbable number of intelligent species (the Borg know of at least eight thousand four hundred and seventy-two), constructing sets for just one episode inevitably means they are cheap and without wear. Couldn't Starfleet crews stay for longer? The science is more sophisticated than many other sci-fi shows, yet there are episodes where I feel they simply wrap up in technical jargon a preconceived idea. Finally, some episodes seem stretched-out while others are cut short. It would help if the producers allowed some flexibility with the 44 minutes running time. All too often, they have a good idea, but the execution leaves to be desired.
Some highlights:
* The Chute: Has the grittiness that ST too often lacks. Seems to be wound up too quickly, though.
* Sacred Ground: That rare bird, an idea which would seem daft on paper but is made to work by good writing, acting and directing.
* Warlord: Good acting from Jennifer Lien, who has to act two characters. Tieran makes a convincing, even though unoriginal, villain.
* Macrocosm: Some well-directed suspense, despite nonsensical science, but why ape Alien so blatantly?
* Distant Origin: A dud. A tragic hero must have mixed sympathy for the pathos to grip. Good prosthetics, though.
* Scorpion: Good, although the best is in part two (season four). Pity about the CGI. Puppetry would have been an improvement.

GREAT - but WARNING !!!.......2005-01-16

I can't imagine why and I want to believe it is a terrible overlook. The Neelix interview in season 3 episodes contains pieces of the upcoming seasons revealing the end of the story. WHO and WHY did this is not my business but if you did not watch the whole seasons yet, axe (strictly avoid) to view the extras.

For the AUTHORS:
I have not seen the entire seasons yet and I feel very angry for discovering the end of the book while I am in the middle of the story. Unbelievable, you should delete that piece of interview from the next releases.

However, even though I am deluded I purchased the whole seasons set. It is the best series ever made. I am strictly avoiding to go thru the extras, though.

the best so far..........2004-11-02

i thought it was the best voyager season so far. season 3 includes episodes like flashback (where tuvok is back on the bridge of the excelsior as an ensign), the futures end (where the voyager crew end up back in the year 1996),false profit(where two ferengi have ended up in the delta quadrant and are now on a planet pretending to the people there that they are gods.

third times the charm.......2004-09-13

Season three marks the turning point for voyager, in which the meagre villains of the first two seasons, the Kazon, are left behind at last, and the ship and crew begin to encounter more challenging obstacles on their journey home. The writing for the characters in this series is improved on the second season, with each actor being given a more or less equal share of scripts (with the possible exception of the captain of course!). Theres the memorable reaquaintance with Q in one of the funniest Voyager episodes in the seven seasons, and the debut of the Borg in voyager announces the ships biggest challenge yet. The extras are plentiful yet the review of the series has become a lot more linear and basically goes through the poignant episodes of the series rather than give any behind the scenes tidbits. Nonetheless this is a good buy for fans.

Star Trek Voyager: Seasons 1-3 [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Average customer rating:

Star Trek Voyager: Seasons 1-3 [1996] (REGION 1) (NTSC)

Manufacturer: Paramount
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000228EFY
Release Date: 2004-07-06

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