Star Trek: Voyager: Season 1 (DVD)

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Video:
"Voyager" arrives on DVD with its original 1.33:1 (full-frame on 4:3 monitors) aspect ratio. For the most part, the show looks great. Colors are appropriately muted and vibrant when necessary, and there are no compression/authoring problems. However, some special effects shots look blurry and even a little muddy. This is surprising since "Voyager" is more recent than "The Next Generation" and "Deep Space Nine", but its video quality isn´t appreciably better than those of its predecessors.

Audio:
The DVDs´ Dolby Digital 5.1 English tracks are pretty good, but they´re not as active or enveloping as the most recent action extravaganzas. There are a couple of times when spaceships zoom around the room that yield directionality effects and low-end response, but "Star Trek" has always been more dialogue-oriented than other science-fiction works. Therefore, it´s sufficient that the center channel comes through clearly.

You can watch each episode with its original DD 2.0 surround English track (recommended for those of you without DD 5.1 set-ups). Optional English subtitles as well as optional English closed captions support the audio.

Extras:
All of the set´s extras are on Disc 5. "Braving the Unknown: Season One" gives viewers a glimpse of how "Voyager" came into being. "´Voyager´ Time Capsule: Kathryn Janeway" features interviews with Kate Mulgrew about her character as well as about her playing Katharine "Kate" Hepburn in the play "Kate". "The First Captain: Bujold" is quite an amazing artifact as it offers footage of Genevieve Bujold, the first actress to play Janeway before creative differences led to the casting of Mulgrew as the show´s lead. In "Cast Reflections: Season One", several actors talk about their feelings about their first year with "Voyager". "On Location With the Kazons" is a featurette that looks at the production shooting in the desert for the Kazons´ homeworld. "Red Alert: Visual Effects Season One" examines how miniatures were used to depict spaceships in flight. "Launching ´Voyager´ on the Web" re-visits the first official "Star Trek" websites as well as the evolution of those sites into "www.startrek.com". "Real Science With Andre Bormanis" discusses how the "Star Trek" people try to stay within the limits of scientific fact in order to make the shows and movies as plausible as possible. A "Photo Gallery" offers a couple of on-location/on-set stills. Finally, if you get creative with your remote control´s directional pad, you´ll find four Easter Eggs.

--Miscellaneous--
The discs are housed in five Digipak plastic trays that are bound together like the pages in a book. Two clear plastic slipcases prevent the trays from flapping wildly, and episode listings are printed on one of the slipcases.

Film Value:
While I think that "Star Trek: Voyager" got off to a better start than either "The Next Generation" or "Deep Space Nine", the show still suffers from "first-year jitters". I don´t mind that the actors were getting used to each other; after all, their characters were getting used to each other, too. However, many of Season One´s episodes were devoted to establishing characters at the expense of the show being able to impart a sense of urgency. After all, aren´t these characters supposed to be itching to get back home? I find it strange to see myself questioning character development, but some Season One episodes would not be as "objectionable" as they are to me now had they appeared in Season Two or Three. If only Season One had more than fifteen episodes...

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