Captain’s log: stardate 53167.9

First airing on 10 November, 1999, Dragon’s Teeth was written by Micheal Taylor, Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky from a story by Taylor.

The Voyager is forced out of a sub-space corridor by attacking aliens, they find a remote planet and a race of aliens that have been in suspended animation for 900 years. As Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) authorizes a ressucitation, Neelix (Ethan Phillips) and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) discover that this race, the Vaadwaur, may not have been so benevolent as they had hoped.

While the one group of aliens, the Turei are above, wanting to board the Voyager and remove all evidence of the sub-space corridor, the Vaadwaur scheme to steal the Federation starship and its technology.

I like this episode, and apparently it was designed originally to be a double episode and then compressed, and then it was too late to expand to a double episode again, but it works great, and a lot of the effects are outstanding (except the view through the ship’s viewing port when they are on the surface).

And the alien design for the Vaadwaur is pretty cool, definitely alien. Bipedal, sure, but a little unnerving and frightening at the same time. I’m not one to judge the aliens on this show when they first appear, but right from the off I knew these fellows couldn’t be trusted.

It’s a very enjoyable episode, and I love seeing the Voyager in combat as well as maneuvering in the atmosphere. This starship, an Intrepid class, is pretty sweet. The Enterprise will always be my favorite, but the Voyager often proves itself a reliable, fast, and deft moving ship.

Captain’s log: stardate 53292.7

The Doctor, Robert Picardo, directs this episode that was written by Mike Wollaeger, Jessica Scott, Bryan Fuller, and Micheal Taylor from a story by Wollaeger and Scott. It debuted on 17 November, 1999.

It also features Phil Morris as an astronaut from the 21st century, on a Mars mission.

The Voyager enconters a strange anomaly and within it, the derelict of one of Earth’s first manned missions to Mars. Chakotay (Robert Beltran) aboard the Delta Flyer ignores orders to turn back, while within the anomaly, driven by an obsession, and knowledge of the mission, and needing to know the fate of Lt. John Kelly (Morris).

There’s a nice sense of exploration to this episode, and while I’m not sure Chakotay would disobey direct orders over a matter of hero worship, Kelly was one of his idols when he was growing up, this is a great episode for that sense of wonder and discovery, not only about the galaxy, but also where we come from and where we are going.

The Human Adventure continues Thursday as I explore Star Trek: Voyager – The Complete Series on DVD from Paramount Canada.

Boldly go…