Customer Reviews

Star Trek - Voyager, Episode 45: Flashback [VHS]

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Tuvok experiences memories from his childhood, but has no recollection of experiencing them. He and Janeway Meld to try and figure things out. Things get a little confusing in there, but in the process the events leading up to Star Trek VI are revealed and Sulu takes command again. A great episode for any fan.

Under the influence of a virus masqurading as a memory engram, Tuvok recalls his days on the Excelsior under Capt. Sulu. A beautiful companion to The Undiscovered Country. Fans of Sulu will love this one.

Would have rated 5 stars if it were not for the contrivance of Tuvok's illness. I would have rather seen it done as a straight story about Tuvok's role on the Excelsior.

"Star Trek: Voyager," Episode 45, "Flashback" (Teleplay by Brannon Braga, Aired September 11, 1996) commemorates the 25th anniversary of the first episode of the original "Star Trek" by bringing back a trio of familiar faces: George Takei as Hikaru Sulu, Grace Lee Whitney as Janice Rand, and Michael Ansara as Kang. The episode begins with "Voyager" exploring a nebula rich in sirillium. Tuvok (Tim Russ) is suddenly plagued by flashbacks of when he was a boy, trying to rescue a girl who is falling from a cliff. The Doctor (Robert Picardo) suspects a repressed memory, which is apparently a very bad thing for a Vulcan, as illogical as that might seem. The required treatment is a mind-meld, but without another Vulcan on board Tuvok has to turn to the person he trusts the most: Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).

The mind-meld takes Tuvok and Janeway back 80 years to his first assignment, on the U.S.S. "Excelsior," commanded by Captain Sulu, who is disobeying Starfleet orders to try and rescue Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy from a Klingon prison planet (the events are those from the film, "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country"). The "Excelsior" passes through a nebula (rich in sirillium) and this time Tuvok not only remembers the girl falling, he goes into convulsions. Apparently something happened when Tuvok's ship was attacked by Klingons during its attempted rescue mission, and it is up to Janeway and the Doctor to figure out what it was and why it continues to affect Tuvok.

Sulu ends up with a glorified cameo in the episode, which is actually a bit disappointing because it really would have nice to see him on his own, mentoring the young Tuvok. I even found myself wishing the backstory had nothing to do with "Star Trek VI" or any other movie. The payoff for Tuvok's repressed memory is okay; it certainly is unexpected and more than makes the requisite amount of sense, but of course you want them to come up with something really special for Sulu's appearance and in that regard "Flashback" falls short. However, I have no doubt that somebody will write a nice "Star Trek" novel regarding Sulu and his young Vulcan officer at some point (if that has not happened already).

Synopsis:

Tuvok experiences a repressed memory that's linked to his first Starfleet assignment on the U.S.S. Excelsior under the command of the renowned Captain Sulu.

As the U.S.S. Voyager approaches a nebula rich in sirillium, Tuvok is plagued by flashbacks of himself as a boy, trying to rescue a girl who's falling from a cliff. The Doctor suspects Tuvok is experiencing a repressed memory, which can cause permanent brain damage in a Vulcan. Vulcan healing techniques call for the patient to mind-meld with someone he trusts, so that together, the two can bring the memory into the Vulcan's conscious mind. Because of their long-standing friendship, Janeway agrees to meld with Tuvok.

The meld takes Tuvok and Janeway back 80 years to the Vulcan's first assignment on the starship U.S.S. Excelsior, commanded by Hikaru Sulu. Sulu served under the legendary Captain James T. Kirk for many years, so his crew isn't surprised when he disobeys Starfleet orders to try and help Kirk and another old shipmate, Doctor McCoy, who are being held for the murder of the Klingon Chancellor. On the way, the Excelsior passes through a nebula that is similar to the one Voyager spotted prior to Tuvok's first flashback. Once again, Tuvok experiences the memory of the little girl falling, but this time he goes into convulsions.

On Voyager, the Doctor revives Tuvok, and Janeway wonders what the little girl had to do with this period on the U.S.S. Excelsior. All Tuvok can recall is that the Klingons ambushed the starship in the nebula, forcing Sulu to abort the rescue mission.

Reforming the mind-meld, Tuvok relives the Klingon attack. He recalls that during the battle, he aided an injured crewman named Valtane, who died in Tuvok's arms. As he goes through this again, the Doctor notices that the Vulcan is again experiencing erratic brain patterns. Unable to break the mind-meld between Tuvok and Janeway, the Doctor exposes Tuvok's brain to bursts of thoron radiation and in doing so, inadvertently discovers the truth. When Valtane died, a strange alien virus that he'd been carrying in his brain migrated to Tuvok's brain, camouflaging itself as a repressed memory. The Doctor increases the intensity of the radiation and is at last able to destroy the peculiar virus, leaving the mind of Tuvok healthy and Janeway nostalgic for the "old days" of the 23rd century when space was still a wild frontier.

i chanced upon this episode by accident and it was one of thebest i have seen in the voyager series.in this episode tuvok due tothe influence of a strange girl has flashbacks to the time of startrek 6 and an abortive attempt to rescue kirk from the klingons afterhe was framed for the murder of chanceller gorkon.the episodefaithfully recreates the scenes on the excelsiors bridge and givesmore time and breadth to captain sulu command of this impressive newvessal.the special effects are excellent in the encounter with theklingon d7 long necked battle cruisers and the firing of the originalphoton torpedos as in star trek i with the very long shafts of lightemanating from them as they are fired at the excelsior.this is anepisode which shows you how a new series based on captain suluscommand of the excelsior could have been but sadly the top brss atparamount failed to make into what could have been a a great new miniseries.