Unhappy with a new treaty, Federation colonists along the Cardassian border have banded together.When a Maquis ship inexplicably disappears during plasma storms in the Badlands, USS Voyager (registry NCC 74656, Intrepid class, sustainable warp factor of 9.975, 15 decks, crew complement of 141, bio-neural circuitry) is assigned to investigate. To assist the mission, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) recruits Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), a reluctant, cashiered Starfleet officer who has also acted as a mercenary for the Maquis. Whilst exploring the renegade ship's last known position, Voyager is mysteriously propelled 70,000 light years from home, by an overwhelming force. Searching this uncharted quadrant of the galaxy, they become embroiled in a centuries old environmental problem on a nearby inhabited world...Calling themselves the Maquis, they continue to fight the Cardsassians.
Some consider them heroes, but to the governments of the Federation and Cardassia they are outlaws.
Special Agent Matti
Janeway is fabulous: hard as nails while retaining an essential femininity (political correctness aside). The moral dilemmas start piling up from the start of the episode and continue after it ends. Lots of special effects, lots of unsavoury characters, lots of dramas, lots of death and destruction. There is a lot of character introduction (and somehow, the most interesting ones seem to have died by the end: Stadi, the bitchy Betazoid; Cavit, the Paris-hating First Officer; the unnamed Vulcan nurse) but you can put up with that.
Chakotay seems a bit bland for a revolutionary but maybe he'll get better when he has more screen time: he was not very proactive during this episode. B'Elanna Torres seems pretty edgy but was over-acted; that will sort itself out in time. Kes is pretty dodgy as she is a very undefined character (nine year life span and unknown mental powers) and why is she hanging around with Neelix? Speaking of whom... what an annoying little rodent. His only saving grace is that he gets up Tuvok's nose. Tuvok is a typically snooty Vulcan, he can't get better as he's perfect already. Tom Paris seems like your standard Aryan good guy gone bad. Something tells me he likes peanut butter and jam sandwiches. Harry Kim replaces Pavel Chekov as the youngest, greenest graduate of the Academy: watch out for alien possessions, kidnappings and bad love affairs. The best character is the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), he's hugely underprepared for his job and has a great stock of dry one-liners.
I like dry one-liners.
This is how you make a pilot for TV, better than Emissary and much better than Encounter at Farpoint. Watch and enjoy.
PG (Low level violence)
Out now
Mister Paris... set a course... for home.