This is a special episode of the series, as it's a celebration of the 30th anniversary of the franchise. At the same time, "Star Trek: Deep Space 9" created its homage, the fan-freakin-tastic "Trials and Tribble-ations"--one of the very best Trek shows of all time. The "Star Trek: Voyager" homage is good but not even close to how amazing the DS9 version was.
When the show begins, Tuvak begins having weird flashbacks of an incident he says never occurred. On top of that, he begins to behave goofy and becomes ill. The Doctor thinks some repressed memory* is responsible and Captain Janeway climbs inside Tuvok's head to see his memories and help him recover this hidden memory.
The journey soon takes the pair to the old Excelsior--a ship commanded by Captain Sulu (yes, Sulu!) and it shows much of what led up to Sulu's surprise entrance into the film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". On hand along with George Takei is Grace Lee Whitney** as Commander Rand (formerly Yeoman Rand in "Star Trek") as well as Michael Ansara as 'Kang' (a Klingon from "Star Trek").
Overall, while I enjoyed seeing a few old cast members, the plot itself was only okay at best. It came off as a bit contrived and lacked all the charm and humor that made "Trials and Tribble-ations" such a wonderful episode.
*In the 1990s, so-called repressed memories were all the rage and folks assumed they happened often. However, in the last 25 years or so, so many of these 'repressed incidents' have been shown to have never actually occurred. It's a LONG and complicated and divisive topic-- and one I had to deal with when I was working as a psychotherapist.
**Ms. Whitney was an interesting choice for this reunion episode, as she had actually reportedly been thrown off the original Trek series due to her substance abuse. However, from what she said in her autobiography, she got her life together and is a happier and better person. I love to hear about people overcoming difficulties, so it was really nice to see her here.
When the show begins, Tuvak begins having weird flashbacks of an incident he says never occurred. On top of that, he begins to behave goofy and becomes ill. The Doctor thinks some repressed memory* is responsible and Captain Janeway climbs inside Tuvok's head to see his memories and help him recover this hidden memory.
The journey soon takes the pair to the old Excelsior--a ship commanded by Captain Sulu (yes, Sulu!) and it shows much of what led up to Sulu's surprise entrance into the film "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country". On hand along with George Takei is Grace Lee Whitney** as Commander Rand (formerly Yeoman Rand in "Star Trek") as well as Michael Ansara as 'Kang' (a Klingon from "Star Trek").
Overall, while I enjoyed seeing a few old cast members, the plot itself was only okay at best. It came off as a bit contrived and lacked all the charm and humor that made "Trials and Tribble-ations" such a wonderful episode.
*In the 1990s, so-called repressed memories were all the rage and folks assumed they happened often. However, in the last 25 years or so, so many of these 'repressed incidents' have been shown to have never actually occurred. It's a LONG and complicated and divisive topic-- and one I had to deal with when I was working as a psychotherapist.
**Ms. Whitney was an interesting choice for this reunion episode, as she had actually reportedly been thrown off the original Trek series due to her substance abuse. However, from what she said in her autobiography, she got her life together and is a happier and better person. I love to hear about people overcoming difficulties, so it was really nice to see her here.