The pilot episode for the fifth Star Trek television series deals with a group of rebels dubbed The Maquis. While they battle with the Federation, a starship captain named Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) recruits a man named Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill) for a mission in which said starship, the Voyager, will search for a missing vessel. In so doing, the crew and ship are transported all the way across the galaxy by a mysterious array and a cosmic entity named The Caretaker (Basil Langton), that has made it his own mission to care for a subterranean people, the Ocampos.
For a two hour long episode basically designed to introduce the characters and the dilemma they will eventually face, 'Caretaker' does its job. It makes for pretty good (if not great) entertainment, with most of its mileage coming from a ready and able cast that has good chemistry with each other. (Although this viewer can believe that the performances would only get better the more that the actors & actresses got a handle on their characters. Here, Neelix (Ethan Phillips) *is* a little annoying (albeit eager to please).)
Certainly 'Caretaker' begins on the right foot, with an intense action sequence of about three and a half minutes. The writing (by the series' creators / executive producers) kept this viewers' attention, as it created some decent crisis situations as well as a time limit at the episodes' conclusion. At this point, some of the characters, like Chakotay (Robert Beltran), B'Elanna (Roxann Biggs-Dawson), and Neelix weren't actually members of the regular crew, so it is interesting enough to see how they were all brought together. One major point of interest for this viewer was seeing "Death Wish 3" villain Gavan O'Herlihy as an antagonist named Jabin, and he's fun to watch.
The dilemma previously mentioned is that now, for the remainder of the series, the Voyager will have to find their way back home somehow...no matter how long it takes. This viewer did find this to be a pretty good hook for the show.
Seven out of 10.
For a two hour long episode basically designed to introduce the characters and the dilemma they will eventually face, 'Caretaker' does its job. It makes for pretty good (if not great) entertainment, with most of its mileage coming from a ready and able cast that has good chemistry with each other. (Although this viewer can believe that the performances would only get better the more that the actors & actresses got a handle on their characters. Here, Neelix (Ethan Phillips) *is* a little annoying (albeit eager to please).)
Certainly 'Caretaker' begins on the right foot, with an intense action sequence of about three and a half minutes. The writing (by the series' creators / executive producers) kept this viewers' attention, as it created some decent crisis situations as well as a time limit at the episodes' conclusion. At this point, some of the characters, like Chakotay (Robert Beltran), B'Elanna (Roxann Biggs-Dawson), and Neelix weren't actually members of the regular crew, so it is interesting enough to see how they were all brought together. One major point of interest for this viewer was seeing "Death Wish 3" villain Gavan O'Herlihy as an antagonist named Jabin, and he's fun to watch.
The dilemma previously mentioned is that now, for the remainder of the series, the Voyager will have to find their way back home somehow...no matter how long it takes. This viewer did find this to be a pretty good hook for the show.
Seven out of 10.