[Christopher Halsey]

EPISODE DISCUSSION

Flashback
Original Air Date: 11th of September 1996
Series: Voyager
Episode: 3x02

SUMMARY

Whilst investigating a gaseous anomaly Tuvok suffers from a mental breakdown triggered by a repressed memory. As Tuvok and Janeway attempt to find the source of the memory the two instead end up reliving Tuvok's tour on board the USS Excelsior commanded by Hikaru Sulu.

"You'll find that more happens on the bridge of a starship than just carrying out orders and observing regulations. There is a sense of loyalty to the men and women you serve with. A sense of family." - Hikaru Sulu

DISCUSSION

Following last week's discussion of the 30th anniversary Trials and Tribble-ations episode we're going to stick with 30th anniversary episodes as we discuss the Voyager episode Flashback, probably additionally fitting given George Takei's prominence in recent Star Trek news.

Paramount Pictures requested the Voyager team to create an anniversary episode, prior to that the staff had already been looking at a story that involved many of the same elements, Tuvok and Janeway mind-melding to investigate a repressed memory, originally it was intended that the two would re-visit a memory involving Janeway's first command, instead the episode was re-purposed to provide a plausible way to involve the Original Series era without having to rely on time travel.

Originally the episode was to feature Nichelle Nichols and the Enterprise-A with a scene involving Nyota Uhura on the bridge of the Enterprise hailing the Excelsior and providing some necessary plot points, despite Takei pleading with Nichols she declined to take part as she felt the role was too limited.

Did you enjoy Flashback? Do you think DS9 or Voyager did the better job of paying tribute to Star Trek's anniversary? Do you think the effects and filming techniques worked well, did the new material fit well with The Undiscovered Country? Did the Excelsior's warp nacelles being illuminated bug you? What do you think about the thought of an episode exploring Janeway's first command?

[Christopher Halsey]

I quite enjoyed the episode. I love The Undiscovered Country (I tend to prefer it to The Wrath of Khan) and I think the scenes on the bridge of the Excelsior were really well done, they fitted in perfectly with the movie and the attention to detail was great.

My biggest gripe was that the space scenes didn't seem very well put together, the Excelsior CGI model for one just didn't look good quality and 'camera' perspectives didn't look great for showing off either the ship or the action, the scene where the Klingon cruiser is firing on the Excelsior looked particularly jarring to me although that could have had something to do with the photon torpedoes being orange and the way they sort of overtook the Excelsior then curled back round, at warp, to his the saucer section. It's not a massive deal but it's a shame that the scenes on the bridge were so very well put together and it didn't look like anywhere near the same care was used for the space segments.

Also, I just couldn't take the falling off the cliff scene seriously especially the one later on where you see the thing like half a dozen times one after the other. I think they were going for emotional but it just came across as funny to me.

[Infinity]

It wasn't a bad episode, I always like when shows do crossovers (such as DS9 & TNG) so seeing Sulu and the bridge of the USS Excelsior was certainly awesome.

[Avenger]

This was on TV the other week and I really enjoyed it, I think it didn't explore the ending enough as I felt a bit robbed at the end and again they could have made more of the episode, a lot of it felt a bit repetitive

[Christopher Halsey]

This was on TV the other week and I really enjoyed it, I think it didn't explore the ending enough as I felt a bit robbed at the end and again they could have made more of the episode, a lot of it felt a bit repetitive

Hi Avenger, can I just ask, when you say it didn't explore the ending enough, what specifically are you referring to? Do you mean about the repressed memory itself or about the Excelsior aspect?