Product Details

• Actors: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips
• Directors: Les Landau
• Writers: David R. George III, Eric A. Stillwell, Gene Roddenberry, Greg Elliot, Jeri Taylor
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, HiFi Sound, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Paramount
• VHS Release Date: May 2, 2000
• Run Time: 106 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000003K9M
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #51,680 in Video (See Bestsellers in Video)

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  Video > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Television > Star Trek: Voyager

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
This fascinating story presents one of the rare instances in which latent tensions among Voyager personnel over their bleak situation (70,000 light years from home) erupts into serious conflict. Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and crew enjoy some downtime among a pleasure-centered race called the Sikarians, who prove wonderfully hospitable and sexy hosts. But they also have something Janeway could really use: the technology to travel 40,000 light years in an instant. Bafflingly, the Sikarians won't share it, and the captain insists on leaving without negotiating with black-marketeers for a rapid-travel device.

Not surprisingly, the actor who had the most trouble with this episode was Tim Russ, who objected to Tuvok's mutinous decision to acquire the technology despite Janeway's orders. Russ vehemently debated the Vulcan commander's motivation (to spare Janeway the ethical dilemma of supporting Sikarian rebels, even in her crew's best interest) with the show's producers. But in the end, Tuvok's crime is tantamount to Spock's sabotage of the Enterprise on merciful behalf of Captain Pike in the original series' episodes "The Cage" and "The Menagerie." In any case, the internal crisis here is the sort of drama Voyager could have explored more often. --Tom Keogh

From the Back Cover
The crew of the Voyager is invited to beam aboard the planet Sikaris, a world renowned for its natives' incredible hospitality, by their leader Gathhorel "Gath" Labin. The Sikarians love to hear stories of other places and travels from visitors and following Gath and Janeway's lead the groups begin mixing. The Voyager's people are overjoyed on the planet, but they soon find out that the Sikarians have their own prime directive which prevents them from sharing their technology with less advanced races. Nonetheless, Janeway asks Gath to use his advance technology to send Voyager as far as he can in exchange for more stories. Even after Janeway is refused the barter by Gath, Tuvok sacrifices his career when he tries to make a covert exchange of stories for technology, with the hope of getting home.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Voyager" gets the other end of the Prime Directive, June 7, 2003

By	Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)

In "Prime Factors," Episode 10 (Aired: March 20, 1995) of the series, "Voyager" visits Sikaris, a planet known throughout the Delta Quadrant for its hospitality so that the crew can enjoy some shore leave. It turns out that the Sikarians love to hear visitors tell stories about far off places and adventures. Harry Kim (Garrett Wong) ends up telling the story of "Voyager" to Eudana (Yvonne Suhor), a young woman. Eventually she suggests they go some place a little more private and ends up taking Kim to a nice little planet 40,000 light years away. The Sikarians have advanced technology that allows them to fold space (think the Guild Navigators in "Dune"). So, the good news is that the Sikarians have a way of getting "Voyager" 40,000 light years closer to home. However, the bad news is that the Sikarians have a prohibition against sharing their technology with races that are less advanced.

However this is not the end of the story because one of the Sikarians offers Kiim the technology in exchange for more stories about "Voyager." Once again, Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) is caught between her rock of ethics (she does not want to get the technology through a back channel once the leader of the Sikarians has refused) and the hard place of the crew's situation (this technology can get "Voyager" more than halfway home). Meanwhile, several of the former Maquis members of the crew, led by B'Elanna (Roxann Biggs-Dawson) and Seska (Martha Hackett) decide they have had enough of Janeway's taking the high road and decide to make the swap anyway. However, they discover somebody else has beaten them to the punch.

"Prime Factors" (Story by David R. George III & Eric A. Stillwell, Teleplay by Michael Perricone & Greg Elliot) finally gets the series back to exploiting the uneasy alliance beteen the former Maqui and Starfleet personnel. Unfortunately, in coming up with a couple of twists for the climax of the episode, the story chooses to sacrifice character for surprise. Even if we are only 10 episodes into the first season, the writers should have known they were making a big mistake (I am trying to not to spoil the episode, but if you have seen it then you understand why their choice was inherently flawed). However, I did appreciate that there was an effort to have the Federation enjoy getting the short end of the Prime Directive for once, although this ends up being a minor part of "Prime Factors" in the end. Overall, the episode is ambitious, but is flawed in its execution. It is also interesting to go back and see how they are setting up Seska for her time in the spotlight down the road.

3.0 out of 5 stars Not a "must see", but good enough, August 3, 2001

By	B. Warrick "Flynnatic" (Marietta, GA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This episode of Star Trek Voyager is okay, but I wouldn't exactly call it one of the better episodes of Season One of the show.

Here, the Voyager crew encounters an alien race who may have the technology to get them home, the the aliens are unwilling to help. Instead, they are more interested in the entertainment that the Voyager crew can provide through their stories of the Alpha Quadrant.

Certainly an interesting turnabout commentary on the effects of the prime directive...but I wouldn't call this episode a "must see" for the typical viewer. If you are a hard-core Trek fan, however, it's certainly worth a look.

0 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars AOK, June 26, 2000

By	"wannabewedge" (Chicago, Illinois, USA) - See all my reviews

It's not a wonderful episode, and the product is a bit over-priced for one Star Trek Episode.