Flashback

DVD, Voyager S3 (Flashback)

Some episodes don't need a review, their reputation does them all the justice they require. Almost any episode in which a character crosses over to another series, and even more so if that person happens to be an actor from 'TOS,' is a Very Special Moment and a historical one at that. Though 'Voyager' was stuck in the Delta Quadrant and seemingly far from the continuity of the other Treks, it was still able to plug into the deep and rich history and in this case it was for the purpose of honouring its ancestor, 'The Original Series' to celebrate the 30th anniversary of that first show's beginning. The attitudes on display in the episode may seem to do 'TOS' an injustice - Janeway appears to be particularly condescending to the people of that time, but though it may seem almost scathing now, that was the prevailing attitude towards the old 60s show in the 90s.

It was never my view that 'TOS' was full of dodgy sets and dodgier acting, and that no right thinking person would watch that old rubbish when shiny new and sophisticated Trek was on the air. But that was because I was brought up on 'TOS' in the early 90s, and while I will concede it wasn't the best Trek series of them all, it still stands as worthwhile entertainment to watch today. I would say the argument swung too far the other way in recent years, suggesting that the spinoffs were slow and ponderous compared with the thunderous action and wild stories of 'TOS'. I would even say it has gone too far towards elevating the original past its superior offshoots, but that's a vast argument in itself. The important thing is to realise the attitude of the time was to think of 'TOS' as quaint at best, so Janeway's comments can be understood better in that light. It's heavily ironic that we're now so far down the road as to be able to look back at 'Voyager' in the same way they were doing with 'TOS' - though not as much time has passed, technology and society has moved on apace.

I found Kim's conversation with Janeway to be enlightening - there were no holodecks and no replicators back then, we get confirmed evidence from this chat. The way they lived was different and it's true what they say about space seeming bigger back then. Voyager's across the other side of the galaxy, but in 'TOS' we didn't really even know the galaxy was split into four gigantic quadrants! Although the episode could be said to suffer a little by not focusing on 'TOS' exclusively, maybe Tuvok's story takes precedence because this is another TV series, and what we do learn about his former career, his attempt at Kolinahr, and his life before his current Starfleet service is, to coin a Vulcan phrase, fascinating. As well as the big details of the episode we also learn little things, such as the fact there are at least two Bolians aboard ship - we'd already seen Chell in Season 1, and now we hear of a female member of the race. There are also at least two other Vulcans as Tuvok says he doesn't wish to meld with the 'other Vulcans on board.' Vorik was to come to prominence this season, and I believe a Vulcan female was shown in Season 7.

I can see that the opening breakfast scene is a bit of filler, but it's still a nice moment as we find out a little about Neelix. It reminded me of the 'Meld' episode when Tuvok creates a holographic Neelix so he can kill him after the Talaxian irritates him to distraction, only this time he wasn't trying to get Tuvok to smile, he was testing out a new beverage on him. There's an easy joke to make here about it being Neelix that caused Tuvok to become ill, and it wasn't the nebula after all, but I won't make it. I liked that this nebula wasn't one of the traditional pinkish-red variety we usually see, but a spidery blue phenomenon instead. If you didn't know the episode you could have been forgiven for thinking it was going to be about Neelix flashing back to his time with his family (as sort of happened in Season 4's 'Mortal Coil'), or even Tuvok's boyhood (again, seen in Season 5's 'Gravity'), but the story is cunningly devised so that you can have no clue how we get to that girl falling from the cliff top. It was wise not to go the usual route of time travel, and as it is we still get to see Janeway interacting with people from that time when the meld goes wrong. Who would have ever thought we'd see Janice Rand again, let alone Vulcan neck-pinched for her clothes! I wonder if Janeway did a spot of quick tailoring to make them fit her…

Like Guinan when we see her as a much younger character in 'Time's Arrow' on 'TNG,' Tuvok has a definite youth about the way he speaks and how he reacts to people, far from the wise old logician he is in 'Voyager.' This is very well done, helped by the old film-era uniforms and dialogue, but it's amazing that he can be so different. His being on the Excelsior at such an important historical moment is the linchpin upon which the success of the story resides, and it is a success. You can never see 'Star Trek VI' in the same way now that you know the cup of tea that smashes was brought to Captain Sulu just previously by Ensign Tuvok! In a way he did make an appearance on the Excelsior in real life because the Enterprise-B was Excelsior-class and Tim Russ played a human aboard her in 'Generations'. Full circle!

I haven't even spoken of Captain Sulu. Just on the evidence of this episode I wouldn't say the question of a Sulu TV series would definitely have worked, but I'd have been willing to see it tried. Maybe now that the makers see fit to recast previously set in stone characters with different actors, perhaps such a venture is more likely now than ever before. I love that they went to the trouble of getting as many of the original actors back from the film as possible, and especially that we get to see one last appearance from Michael Ansara, grimacing across a viewscreen as Kang. His role is slight, but it's always great to see him. In Trek nobody truly dies and nobody is gone for good. This gives me mixed feelings because sometimes the finality of death is necessary to make what came before more poignant. The things that can be redone could lose their uniqueness.

This isn't a 'Voyager' episode and it isn't a 'TOS' episode, it is fundamentally a Tuvok episode and so the other cast members aren't given as much to do. But that's fine, and though the episode doesn't sing as the 'DS9' 30th anniversary tribute did, it remains a heartfelt appreciation of the past and an enjoyable mystery/adventure too. The level of attention to detail is the like of which we'll never see again in Trek I fear. I like that mention is made of Kirk and McCoy, that Spock is hinted at, and that Tuvok's situation was the opposite of Spock's: the older Vulcan had pressure from his Father not to go to Starfleet, whereas Tuvok had pressure to join. I wasn't so keen on the caveman child at the end - a good idea to show the history of the virus as it flashed through all the previous hosts, but the last child did look like a neanderthal, but it may have been supposed to be an eskimo. It was difficult to judge whether the sequence was the history of the virus or a series of human races that had hosted it.

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