Star Trek Voyager - Vol. 1.2 - Parallax / Time And Again [VHS] [1995]

The first episode Parallax will have your brain working on overload for a long time. It's a complicated storyline that a true Star Trek fan will find tantilating. It also explores the relationship that's developing between the Maquis and the Starfleet crew.

Secondly on this video, Time And Again, again shows how Star Trek Voyager does what it does best; really capture it's audience. In two means. It shows the quality of acting, and the developing relationships again between crew members.

A definite yes from me!

That is the big problem in "Parallax." The little problem is the ship's holographic doctor (Robert Picardo), who is doing the old Steve Martin bit and getting small. While the end result is pre-ordained regarding B'Elanna's promotion, the problem is a pretty good one and helps establish Janeway's authority. More importantly, it keeps the focus on the internal problems of "Voyager" instead of immediately throwing an alien encounter at the crew. Yes, it is convenient that two positions that could be filled by the former Maquis rebels just happened to result from the initial battles during the pilot, but that is a minor matter. There is a nice twist in that the Maquis are the ones who are more willing to be accepted while the Starfleet personnel play hard to get. Besides, things are only beginning to get interesting aboard "Voyager" as we learn that one of the former Maquis, Seska (Martha Hackett) was once involved with Chakotay.

My main problem with "Time and Again" (Written by David Kemper & Michael Piller, Aired January 30, 1995) is that Episode 4 is too soon to be another "Star Trek" time-travel story. The story pretty much flips the old time-travel chestnut that when you go back in time to stop the "Titanic" from sinking you end up being the one that distracts the lookouts so that you effectively cause the disaster by preventing them from avoiding it. Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) have beamed down to a planet to investigate a scene of mass destruction that has eradicated all life. A subspace fracture comes along and suddenly they are in the same spot, but back in the future. Of course the Starfleet officers want to try and stop the destruction from happening, which has something to do with a dispute over the controversial use of polaric ion power, even more so when they discover that they might be the actual cause of the explosion.

The allegorical elements aside (are we being warned against indulging in exotic types of fuel sources?), the main thing that is happening in "Time and Again" with future ramifications for the "Voyager" series is another step in the rehabilitation of Tom Paris. Earlier in the episode his main concern is trying to convince Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) that they should pair up with the Delaney sisters in Stellar Cartography. After all, they are trapped in the Delta Quadrant and people are going to start pairing up to perpetuate the species (Tom is more interested in the act of perpetuating rather than the survival of the species). But being responsible for the deaths of millions of beings might force Tom to start growing up a bit. Meanwhile, the EMH (Robert Picardo) has notice that Kes (Jennifer Lien) does not have her brain on file, which is the first step towards the young Ocampa becoming the Doctor's assistant. Still, with Janeway already feeling bad about having trapped her crew in Delta Quadrant, adding guilt over several million deaths is just overkill (so to speak). Put "Time and Again" later in this first season and I think it would have worked a lot better. Still, these are two solid episodes from early on in the series.

In the episode "One", the "Voyager" has to go across a huge radioactive nebula. During the journey (that will last one month), the astronauts will be put in stasis, to protect them from the radiations. The spaceship will be pilot by the Holographic Doctor and Seven of Nine, because they're immune to radiations. Seven must confront a new situation for her, because she's has never lived in only one person's company; the situation becomes more serious when the Doctor has some malfunctions. This episode is adventurous (because Seven and the Doctor must confront some perils) and introspective, because, during the journey in the nebula, Seven discovers she fears solitude, and she understands that the companionship of other persons makes her personality rich. The discovery of these feelings, causes a positive evolution in Seven's personality.

In "Hope and Fear", the astronauts of the "Voyager" find, in the Delta Quadrant, the spacecraft "Dauntless", sent by the Starfleet; with that ship, Captain Janeway and her crew might return to the Alpha Quadrant in three months. In this episode, as well as the previous, there is a good mixture of action and introspection. The action is originated by the fact that, after the astronauts of the "Voyager" have found the "Dauntless", they must confront a serious menace. The introspection is originated by the fact that, in the episode, Seven of Nine shows her feelings concerning the possibility to return to Earth. When Seven is informed about that possibility, she says to Janeway that she wants to leave the "Voyager", because she doesn't like to live as a human woman. Janeway criticizes Seven's assertions, and says that Seven fears to live a new life. In this part of the story, Seven reveals herself as a woman that is cool, but also genuine and able to make free choices; her opinions about the humans and her refusal to return to Earth, are consequences of her frankness and independent thought. She criticizes the humans because they're not like the Borg, but she doesn't understand that her opinion is originated by her free personality, which was reawaken when she ceased to be a drone. In the subsequent part of the episode, Seven makes a choice between the possibilities to return to Earth and to remain in the Delta Quadrant.