Episode 1 & 2: Caretaker

Right from the start you can see they're at least trying to make it different from previous Trek series, well apart from setting it on a Starship.  It opens not with the crew of the USS Voyager but on a Maquis ship, indeed we don’t see any of the Voyager crew until after the credits and the ship itself after that again.  Another different touch is that this isn’t the ship’s maiden voyage.

But what about the story?  To a certain extent a lot of elements for the pilot were dictated by what they'd laid down for the series e.g. having the ship hurled into the delta quadrant, introducing the season's main villains and needing to get the crews together.  Then of course there's the whole pilot episodes generally aren't that good.  Having said all that the plot was just a tad silly.  Surely there could've been better ways to do it than having an entity bring ships from the Alpha quadrant so they could find a genetic mate.  Aren't there any closer ships/aliens?  Plus don't even get me started on the whole US south setting within the Caretaker's array.  But mostly it feels like a whole been there before kind of plot.

While the plot itself wasn't that good there were nice character moments and ideas within it.  Yes, I really did say that.  The character of Tom Paris didn't annoy me as much this time and I liked the burgeoning friendship he has with Kim.  The Ocampa aliens who only live to about 9 years was another interesting idea which I'm surprised hasn't been used on a main character before.  The allusions to the Caretaker being their god as well were nicely done, but too subtle for my liking.  The use of a holographic emergency Doctor was a good choice and one of the highlights of the episode.  Nice also to see DS9 and Quark again, I hope they bring him back.  Oh wait, they've Quark lite in the form of Neelix and even in this pilot he's showing a tendency to be annoying.

Now Captain Janeway.  How does the first female captain come across then in the pilot?  Well, considering Mulgrew only joined production after it was already in progress and Genevieve Bujold left she did a competent job.  I do think she does better in her softer moments like talking to her partner Mark but I'm afraid she doesn't do "angry" well.  Whether that'll change as she gets a handle on the character remains to be seen.

Tuvok seems a competent Vulcan character but like most playing them since Nimoy they don't seem to be able to not be unemotional when seemingly annoyed as he was by Neelix.  But then who can blame him?

They’ve certainly set up potential conflict for the crew in the future with the disparate elements on the ship; the StarFleet crew, Maquis, the renegade StarFleet officer and the Delta Quadrant aliens.

Apparently the pilot episode cost $23 million dollars to make, making it the most expensive Trek episode ever produced.  More than the infinitely better Star Trek II when adjusted for inflation.

So it wasn't as bad as I remember it but it's nowhere near a good episode.  Oh and I still don't like Harry Kim.