“Caretaker” Review and Commentary
30 years ago this year, Star Trek: Voyager premiered on January 16, 1995 to 21.3 million viewers with the feature-length episode “Caretaker.” Voyager was UPN’s flagship series and the first to premiere on the brand-new television network backed by Paramount. It was the first time a live action Trek series premiered on a television network instead of first-run syndication since the original series in 1966.
Star Trek: Voyager follows the joint Starfleet/Maquis crew aboard the Federation starship U.S.S. Voyager as they traverse unchartered space on their lengthy journey back to Earth after becoming stranded in a distant part of the galaxy.
As with DS9, the show opens with an on-screen situational overview to establish some necessary background, for those unfamiliar with the Maquis from TNG and DS9. From there, it immediately depicts a Cardassian ship chasing a Maquis raider through the Badlands, where we are introduced to our first main characters… Chakotay, B’Elanna Torres, and Tuvok, although their roles aren’t explicitly outlined yet. We are also graced with an appearance by Gul Evek, a recurring character from DS9 and TNG.
The newly christened Intrepid-class U.S.S. Voyager, on its maiden voyage, departs from station Deep Space Nine in search of a Maquis ship that’s gone missing in the nearby Badlands. Bigger than most science vessels but significantly smaller than a Galaxy-class ship like the Enterprise-D, only carrying a crew of about 150, Voyager is the most advanced ship in the fleet at the time of its launch, and among the fastest with a sustainable warp speed of Warp 9.975, just below the theoretically impossible Warp 10 threshold. Voyager uses bio-neural circuitry to speed up processing, along with geometric warp nacelles that raise to improve engine efficiency and reduce known subspace damage caused by high warp velocity.
Voyager is under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway, in her first command. She recruits a failed Starfleet officer who turned Maquis, Tom Paris, from a Federation penal colony to assist in locating the missing Maquis ship.
When a massive displacement wave chases down Voyager, the ship is whisked to the other side of the galaxy to the unexplored Delta Quadrant; 70,000 light years from home – a journey of 75 years at traditional warp speeds. The forced crossing badly damages the ship and kills much of its crew including most of its senior officers. We see right away that Janeway is a hands-on, strong-willed leader. Despite the dire situation, she doesn’t skip a beat as she assesses the situation and directly involves herself in preventing an imminent warp core breach.
Upon arriving, they discover a massive array directing energy pulses to a nearby planet. Soon after, the entire Voyager crew is abducted and probed. One crewman, the brash young Ensign Harry Kim, isn’t returned with the rest of the crew. Janeway makes contact with Commander Chakotay of the Maquis ship, also pulled into the Delta Quadrant, where it’s discovered they share a common problem – with Maquis engineer B’Elanna Torres also missing. A partnership commences between the two crews to locate their missing members and get back home.
The story shifts to the Ocampa – a peaceful alien species living in a protected subterranean paradise beneath the surface of the planet receiving the array’s directed energy pulses. Here we find the missing crew members, who are under the care of the indigenous Ocampa after developing a terminal illness caused by the Caretaker’s medical experiments.
The Caretaker is a powerful sporocystian lifeform who has been looking after the Ocampa in a godlike fashion for almost a millenium, guilt-ridden after accidentally decimating the planet; settling a debt that could never be repaid. The Caretaker’s behavior has recently altered. Along with abducting people from across the galaxy, the energy pulses directed from the array have been increasing to stockpile reserves.
En route to Ocampa, Voyager encounters a rogue scavenger named Neelix who barters to help locate the missing crew. Upon arriving on Ocampa, we learn that Neelix has his own objective – to rescue his lover, Kes – one of the rare Ocampans to make it to the surface – from the Kazon-Ogla – one of the many sects of the Kazon species with each sect competing to control regions of space like gangs do territory. This selfish act threatens Voyager and engrosses it into continuing conflict with the Kazon.
With the help of Kes, and a reluctant Neelix, both missing crewmembers are rescued just as the pulses from the Caretaker’s array turn to weapons fire striking the Ocampa surface to seal off the ancient conduits.
The Caretaker’s motivations are revealed. He’s dying and, in an effort to continue caring for the Ocampa after his death, has been desperately seeking a compatible mate to procreate with by pulling ships across the galaxy. Realizing his death is imminent, The Caretaker activates the array’s self-destruct sequence to prevent the Kazon from benefiting from its technology.
Following The Caretaker’s death, Janeway is determined to fend off the advancing Kazon from seizing control of the array to protect the Ocampa. The Kazon offensive destroys the Maquis ship and its crew is beamed aboard Voyager. When the array’s self-destruct sequence is damaged by a colliding Kazon ship, Janeway destroys the array – cutting off their way home and stranding both crews.
Before setting off on their long journey home, Janeway integrates the Maquis crew into her own, selecting the Maquis leader, Commander Chakotay – a former Starfleet officer, as her first officer. She also elevates Tom Paris to the field rank of Lieutenant to become the ship’s CONN officer.
Critique
As an episode in general, “Caretaker” is certainly not going to place high on anyone’s episode ranker. It does extremely well as a series premiere, however, and there is a lot going on to keep the plot moving.
A series premiere is always difficult to pull off because it needs to introduce the show’s premise and characters all while telling an interesting story. In that capacity, Caretaker serves well as a premiere episode. Most would rank it ahead of TNG’s series premiere but below DS9’s, although I personally think it’s stronger than DS9’s “Emissary” mostly because of the pacing and direction. I would put Enterprise’s “Broken Bow” even higher.
“Emissary” probably has a better story, but it feels cheaper than “Caretaker.” Most estimates do put “Emissary’s” budget at almost half that of “Caretaker” ($12 million vs $23 million), but that doesn’t tell a complete story. “Caretaker” was produced two years later and had major reshoots because of changing Janeway’s actress from Geneviève Bujold to Kate Mulgrew, in addition to changing Mulgrew’s hair style to her signature bun after already shooting with her hair down. On the other hand, most of Voyager’s sets were repurposed from TNG, which may have saved its premiere production budget compared to Deep Space Nine’s necessity to build almost all sets from scratch.
There are a few spots that seem to drag on, but generally “Caretaker” moves along quite well. Some of the scenes are shot extremely well, almost cinematic. One example of this is the introduction between Janeway and Paris where the characters approach from a distance towards the camera in a single uncut dialog. There are some issues with the script and general plot, as well as some of the visual effects.
I have always felt the visual effects of Caretaker were subpar for a big budget premiere episode, even though it received an Emmy Award for them. There are some scenes that are great, including much of the climactic battle sequence where there is camera movement following multiple battling ships, but some shots are very basic, and very tight for some reason. The opening Cardassian chasing the Maquis raider through the Badlands is a good example of this basic movement. Neither ship maneuvers all that much.
The most glaring fault of Caretaker is the plot hole that strands Voyager in the Delta Quadrant in the first place, which has been hotly contested. Janeway’s decision to destroy the array is a clear violation of the Prime Directive – Starfleet’s General Order 1, which governs interference of alien cultures. Doing so directly interfered with the natural events that would have occurred without Voyager’s presence, preventing a potential power shift for the Kazons that would have otherwise transpired. With no prior knowledge of that region of space, Janeway had no way of understanding how the consequences of her actions to destroy the array would ripple through the region. Warned of this potential violation by Tuvok, Janeway incorrectly justifies that the Prime Directive doesn’t apply since they were already involved in the Ocampa-Kazon affair. Janeway later demonstrates post-mortem regret for her decision in this regard. As a consequence, one of her first major decisions as Captain is one of her worst command decisions. Regardless, Janeway is human and humans are capable of making bad decisions. Even so, Voyager’s fate may have been sealed regardless. There is no absolute guarantee they would have been able to fend off the Kazon long enough to activate the protocol to send them back home. Tuvok mentions it would take several hours.
There would have been a better way of executing the same dramatic effect while making the self-sacrifice more honorable. What if the array’s imminent destruction was known right away, before rescuing Kim and Torres? It then becomes a race against time, saving the missing crew members could be at the expense of getting home. Janeway still faces the same significant decision, with a bigger moral dilemma of leaving two behind to get the rest of the crew home.
The whole water desperation subplot is also peculiar. It’s not very believable that warp-capable vessels can’t locate water on a reachable planet, moon, or even a comet that doesn’t trespass on someone else’s territory. It’s mostly a mechanism to depict the Kazon as inferior to Starfleet. It would have made much more sense for the Kazon to be lacking something more rare like dilithium or deuterium, although that is a common trope in Trek.
The Klingon wannabe Kazon in general are a weak antagonist and drag down the series for much of its first two seasons. With few exceptions, they are more of a nuisance than a true threat. In some ways they feel comparable to The Ferengi of TNG – originally intended to be a vicious antagonist only to fall flat. We’ll get more into that in another segment. When examining their role only in this episode, they overall serve their purpose even if they don’t appear all that threatening.
Maje Jabin, leader of the Kazon-Ogla sect, seems to be a capable leader and is portrayed well by Gavan O’Herlihy. Although, it is odd that the primary Kazon antagonist of the series later on is Maje Culluh from the Kazon-Nistrim sect. It would have been more appropriate to introduce Culluh and the Nistrim here, like DS9 did with Gul Dukat during its premiere, or to carry the Ogla and Jabin onward. This feels like disjointed foreplaning.
Cast of Characters
We’ll take a deeper dive into the characters in another segment. For now, let’s briefly touch upon each’s introduction into the series based on this premiere episode.
Chakotay, B’Elanna Torres, and Tuvok are the first characters introduced onscreen, although their roles aren’t explicitly outlined until much later. One could easily discard them as guest characters. In general, it’s hard distinguish who the main players are. Some of those introduced as main characters are quickly killed off. What’s interesting about Voyager’s crew is that four of its senior staff are only elevated to that capacity because of their unique circumstance. Of the original senior staff, Janeway and Tuvok are the only to survive the journey to the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay, Torres, and Paris were all former Maquis; renegades. Kim was fresh out of the academy on his very first deep space assignment. The holographic doctor was only intended to temporarily supplement during a medical emergency. Neelix and Kes, Delta Quadrant natives, aren’t exactly senior officers, but still of the key personnel.
Guest star Scott MacDonald as Ensign Rollins, who we never see again on-screen, outshines most of the main cast. The actor does portray several other Trek characters, most notably as Dolim, the recurring Xindi Reptilian on Enterprise.
Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway truly shines. She’s no comparison to the soft-spoken Geneviève Bujold originally cast in the role. Mulgrew is Janeway. She owns the role from the very beginning, brilliantly blending compassion with authority, able to convincingly play both spectrums in the same scene.
One of the show’s most important scenes is easily overlooked, that of Janeway bidding farewell to her fiancé Mark from her ready room. It establishes that Janeway herself suffers strong personal loss when Voyager becomes stranded. It attempts to portray her decision to destroy the array as a personal sacrifice. The scene is also important in presenting Janeway as a well-rounded character by exhibiting Janeway’s sensitive side to counterbalance her authoritative command style, transitioning between the two in the very same scene, which Mulgrew performs exceptionally well. In some ways, it’s similar to Picard’s observation lounge scene with Riker in “Encounter at Farpoint” where we get to see he’s not a cold-hearted prick at heart.
Another comparable scene in terms of portraying Janeway’s tender side comes at the end of the first part with Tuvok in the ready room. She is noticeably disturbed about the situation, showing particular compassion for Harry Kim. Then she turns her attention to concern of her long-time friend, Tuvok, in what is probably the most emotional scene of the episode.
Of the principal cast, which amusingly consists of three “Roberts,” Robert Duncan McNeil probably stands out next to Mulgrew during the premiere episode in his portrayal of Tom Paris. His character is the most fleshed out and is given significant screen time, present in almost every major scene. In a sense, his character is the only one with an onscreen backstory. Trek fans know that his character was heavily inspired from a character McNeil previously portrayed in TNG’s fifth season episode “First Duy.” It’s the same character in all but name, which was only changed to avoid royalty rights. (insert scene) Was the accident my fault, yes… pilot error, but it took me awhile to admit it. […] The ghosts of those 3 dead officers.
In some ways, Paris is the Ensign Ro of Voyager. We learn right away that he has a troubled history, which earned him a dire reputation. He’s rudely treated by most of the crew, of both Starfleet and the Maquis, who don’t respect him or want him aboard (scenes: I seem to be detecting a problem right here – sickbay; mess hall; Chakotay). He’s portrayed as selfish and immature, also a lady’s man, but we soon see he’s more than meets the eye. We see that he’s bothered by his past mistakes. He’s compassionate and responsible, taking initiative without being asked. Following the death of several key officers, Paris essentially becomes Janeway’s acting first officer until Tuvok boards. Later in the episode, he risks his own life to go back to save Chakotay, who showed animosity towards him earlier. This is a selfless act.
As would become the norm, Robert Beltran’s Chakotay is barely present during the episode, a surprise considering his role as commander of the Maquis ship. Beltran plays the composed Maquis leader well enough with what he’s given. His character is arguably the most underutilized first officer in all of Trek, something the actor has been quite vocal about. It is a lost opportunity for interpersonal conflict between Janeway and Chakotay, which is only demonstrated on rare occasion throughout the series.
Tim Russ as Tuvok is more of a background character until his touching scene with Janeway at the end of the first part. It’s ironic that the most emotional scene involves a Vulcan. He does have a bigger role during the second part, seemingly replacing Paris at Janeway’s side. Russ immediately has his Vulcan character down. Playing a Vulcan without coming off stiff is one of the hardest roles. Russ excels. No one can succeed Leonard Nimoy – the man who created Vulcan mannerisms – but Tim Russ is a good study by taking what Nimoy developed and making it his own.
Roxanne Dawson plays B’Elanna Torres as a moody teenager. She improves quite a bit in the follow-up episode “Parallax” but it’s not until about the third season that her character seems focused. Whether intentional or not, she seems unsure of herself.
Good ole Ensign Kim, played by Garrett Wang, Voyager’s character the writers love to torture, which starts right off in the premiere episode. Like most of the series, his character is a plot device more than anything else – humanizing the stakes; a source of tragedy for a young officer being inflicted by a terminal illness and then becoming stranded on his very first mission. While he has some good scenes, taking charge of the situation in sickbay is Kim’s best scene of the episode. It shows he’s more capable than is previously demonstrated by his tongue-tied anxiousness earlier. Although, I’m not quite sure how he knew how to activate the EMH so effortlessly, when Voyager is supposedly the first to feature this novel technology. Must have read about it in a technical manual. (Scene: On my first missing I’m going to die)
Robert Picardo plays the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH), who will become known as simply The Doctor in the series when he’s indecisive of a name. In triaging and treating the injured crew, we see that he’s extremely capable, despite having an abrasive personality. The Doctor will become a series fan favorite, fulfilling much the same purpose as Data’s character from TNG.
Ethan Philips as Neelix is supposed to be the show’s comedic relief, on the level of Quark for DS9, but he comes off annoying and not endearing. This is witnessed right away and will unfortunately be commonplace for the character especially during the first two seasons, and it even gets worse from here. Neelix’s romantic relationship with Kes, basically the equivalence of a teenager, is cringy and the love triangle that later ensues Paris makes it even more cringy. It would have made more sense for her to be more of surrogate daughter to Neelix. None of these shortcomings are the fault of Philips, it’s the fault of the character. Philips actually delivers an outstanding performance for what he’s given. His character does begin to redeem itself beginning the third season and almost becomes likable later in the series.
Played by Jennifer Lien, Kes shows a lot of potential that is sadly wasted in the series. Her character is an interesting, although complicated concept. In many ways her telepathic abilities sideline her much the same way as Counselor Troi in the Next Generation. The writers didn’t know what to do with her character, and her relationship with Neelix, as previously mentioned, comes off cringy. That, along with Lien’s personal struggles partly contributed to her later departure from the series.
Sets
Most of the U.S.S. Voyager sets were repurposed from the Enterprise-D, which themselves were originally built for Star Trek: Phase II in the late 1970s. They were given new finishes from the bright, warm colors of the Enterprise-D to a darker, cooler color palette, and the windows were altered to match Voyager’s exterior shape.
Sickbay is the most noticeable repurposed set with the layout being almost exactly the same, minus moving the main diagnostic bed from the center of the room to the rear. The other sets had enough changes beyond cosmetic where you do have to really look to notice the similarities. Engineering is clearly the same, minus the pool table and with an expanded second level. The warp core is sleeker which opens up the set, with ability to walk all the way around it. The mess hall steals from the Ten Forward Set, but the gathering space is smaller and the bar area now contains a kitchen. Some of the remaining part of the Ten Forward set were used for the briefing room, which we don’t see in the premiere episode, and ready room sets. The corridors and quarters are also clearly repurposed from TNG.
Although it was essentially the same size as the Enterprise-D, flipped to be wider than longer, Voyager’s bridge set was entirely new for the show. The briefing room, which we don’t see in the premiere episode, and the Ready Room sets both stole elements from the former Ten Forward Set.
Voyager’s sets hold the stand of time. While the Enterprise-D feels more luxurious and comfortable, it is also dated by its 1980s styling cues, much like the 1960s aesthetics date the original Enterprise.
The previous Enterprise sets are more iconic, but I personally favor Voyager’s bridge of them all. It’s cosmetically appealing and practical. It feels more cinematic, designed for panoramic perspectives, perhaps anticipating feature films or a switch to widescreen high definition. Having three distinct levels instead of two levels adds greater perspective, and making the levels accessible by steps instead of swooping ramps improves the flow between the levels. The only thing I don’t really like are the two side consoles. They work, I guess, but feel squeezed in last minute.
Musical Score
“Caretaker” was nominated for two Emmy Awards for its musical score, winning won for Jerry Goldsmith’s main title theme. Goldsmith is always talented – and I would argue the most iconic Trek composer. Also nominated for his contribution, Jay Chattaway composes the episode itself. With 191 Star Trek scoring credits to his name, Chattaway is my favorite Trek composer that never scored one of the feature films, from scoring the beautiful and emotional theme from The Next Generation’s “The Inner Light” to the comedic pieces of Deep Space Nine’s “Our Man Bashir” to the bombastic pieces from Voyager’s own “Scorpion.”
Conclusion
Despite its minor faults, “Caretaker” is excellent as a series premiere, easily the top one or two premiere of the franchise. Every time I see it, I think I’m more and more impressed by it. It has the most depressing conclusion of the premieres, although Janeway’s ending monologue does feel uplifting and hopeful.
“Caretaker” gives each main character a proper introduction while telling an interesting story. Cinematically shot, it’s fast paced, but slows down just enough to keep it from feeling intense. The stakes are extremely high – getting home – and the stakes are lost, stranding the crew 75 years from home. Granted, they had an opportunity to get home had Janeway not felt compelled to help the Ocampa at the expense of getting her crew home. Poor judgment indeed, but Janeway demonstrates on more than one occasion during “Caretaker” that she is a competent and confident leader.
The setup of merging two disjointed crews – Starfleet and Maquis – is very similar to Deep Space Nine’s merging of Starfleet and Bajoran crew, but unfortunately not executed nearly as well with some missed opportunity for interpersonal conflict that Deep Space Nine pulls off much better in the end. For two crews that are supposed to be at odds with each other, they blend too seamlessly.
