Decent kickoff to the explorer Trek series has starship Voyager being snatched by this space station called an "array" 70,000 light years across the other side of the galaxy, in the uncharted Delta Quadrant. Captain Janeway loses medical personnel and key members of her Bridge crew. Her chief security officer, Vulcan Tuvok, has been undercover on a ship operated by the Maquis, quasi-Federation / anti-Cardassian group also lost in the Delta Quadrant. In charge of the Maquis vessel is Native American Chakotay and half-human / half-Klingon engineer specialist, B'Elanna Torres. Caretaker is an alien lifeform that protects a species of highly intelligent telepaths known as the Ocampas. A member of the Ocampas is Kes, the beloved of a Taxon named Neelix, who has a vast knowledge of the Delta Quadrant, both wanting to be a part of the Voyager crew's journey to find home. Caretaker is dying, and its ability to send the Voyager back is not an option due to its weakening state. Meanwhile a threat to the Ocampas called the Kazon want the array for their own use, with Caretaker begging Janeway to not allow it. Chakotay might just help in that regard. Included is a desert planet with an underground civilization where the peaceful Ocampas thrive as the Kazon survive above on the unbearable surface where it is hot and water-deprived. Taken from the Maquis is Torres and Ensign Kim from the Voyager, by Caretaker, sent to the Ocampas with Janeway, her "reclamation project (pilot Tom Paris), Neelix, Kes, and Chakotay on a rescue mission to retrieve them. Ultimately this brings members of the Maquis and Starfleet together, even if it will be a bit rocky at the beginning. Paris was responsible for an accident that killed three officers and was temporarily a member of the Maquis...he has a bad rep for only looking out for himself, later proving this to be not altogether true when he saves Chakotay from certain death and volunteers to find Kim on the rescue mission. Torres admits to being in Starfleet to Kim, and her Klingon side produces an aggressiveness and seething anger she has trouble controlling. There is some early Neelix / Tuvok fun when the Taxon gets a nice bath as the Vulcan meets him in his quarters, quite annoyed as logic is tested by spirited glee.
Review of Caretaker
