Series 2 of Star Trek: Voyager represents a vital blossoming of the series' potential. As Captain Janeway, Kate Mulgrew maintained Starfleet integrity in the lawless expanse of the Delta quadrant and became the ethical conscience of her still-uneasy Maquis/Starfleet crew, whose unanimous loyalty would be dramatically proven in "The '37's" (a first-season hold-over). Janeway's moral guidance would also assert itself in "Death Wish" (a "Q" episode featuring NextGen's Jonathan Frakes) and "Tuvix", in which life-or-death decisions landed squarely on her shoulders. Series 2 brought similar development to all the primary characters, deepening their relationships and defining their personalities, especially Robert Beltran as Chakotay (in "Initiations" and "Tattoo"), now firmly established as Janeway's best friend (and nearly more than that, in "Resolutions") and command-decision confidante.

Solid sci-fi concepts abound in Series 2, although "Threshold" is considered an embarrassment (as confessed by co-executive producer Brannon Braga in a self-deprecating "Easter Egg" interview clip). It was a forgivable lapse in a consistently excellent season that intensified Janeway's struggle with the villainous Kazon, exacerbated by a Starfleet traitor in cahoots with the duplicitous Cardassian Seska (played by Martha Hackett, featured in a lively guest-star profile). The psychologically intense "Meld" (featuring a riveting guest performance by Brad Dourif) was a Tuvok-story highlight, and the aptly titled "Basics, Pt 1" provided an ominous cliffhanger, including a second planetary landing (in a season full of impressive special effects) that left Voyager's fate in question. DVD extras are abundant and worthwhile, especially the season 2 retrospective and "A Day in the Life of Ethan Phillips" (who plays Neelix under a daily ordeal of latex makeup). Several Easter egg surprises--including a music video performance by Tim Russ (Tuvok)--are hidden (but easily found) among the "Special Features" menus on disc 7. All in all, this was one of Voyager's finest seasons, leaving some enticing questions to be answered in season 3. --Jeff Shannon

The second season of Voyager was very well done most of the time. Infact this was the most adventurous season of the series, very much out of this world... Is it good?

Mostly it is pretty good but I'm afraid you'll find some rather bad ones in this boxset; including "Threshold" which might be the worst episode of this series, but don't let that weight this mostly impressive second season down, you'll definatly want the third season after watching the concluding episode "Basics, Part 1".

Episodes: In Order

The 37's *****
Initiations **
Projections *****
Elogium **
Non Sequitur ***
Twisted ****
Parturition ***
Persistence of Vision ***
Tattoo **
Cold Fire ****
Maneuvers ****
Resistance ***
Prototype *****
Alliances ***
Threshold *
Meld ***
Dreadnought *****
Death Wish *****
Lifesigns ****
Investigations ****
Deadlock *****
Innocence ****
The Thaw **
Tuvix ***
Resolutions ****
Basics, Part 1 *****

Overall: The extra's are worth a look and most of the episodes found in this season are quite good; unfortunatly you might find a few you won't care to re-visit anytime soon. (e.g. "Threshold" and "The Thaw".) However the three best episode of the second season I would say are "The 37's , "Death Wish" and "Basics, Part 1".

I hope you'll find some pleasure in watching most of these episodes like I have done before now.

The second season of Voyager gets off with a good start in "The 37's", the episode that initially should have closed Season 1(and indeed did when first shown in the UK, and on UK VHS releases). After which we're immediately thrown into dull Kazon territory with "Initiations" guest starring DS9's Aron Eisenberg. That's the main problem with Season 2 - the amount of ho hum dullness, which is for the most part generated by the excrutiatingly boring Kazon race. Why did the producers of Voyager not realise sooner that NO-ONE LIKES THE KAZON! Luckily, although having "main villain" status they are only the focal point of about 5 episodes this season (all banal).

The rest of the episodes are, on the whole, much better. HOWEVER, (and I think I'd like to say all the criticisms now and save the praise for later in my review) there are 4 episodes that are DIABOLICALLY AWFULL with absolutely NO redeeming features. These are: "Elogium" (another 1st season hangover), in which Kes has her first period and Voyager is surrounded by giant sperms; "Parturition", where Neelix and Tom are trapped on a stormy planet with an alien big bird; "Threshold" in which Tom turns into a lizard; and "Resolutions", where Janeway and Chakotay have to shack up on a deserted planet and Janeway is atrociously out of character for the whole episode. These atrocities and the Kazon banalities aside, the rest of the shows are generally good.

Highlights include the final two season 1 lefovers "Projections", where the Doctor fears he is losing his mind, and "Twisted", where the ship gets all... well... twisted; Kes developing her mental powers in "Cold Fire", Q returning in "Death Wish", a much darker episode than any of his Next Gen outings; Voyager being split in two in "Deadlock"; Harry and B'elanna becoming captives of a sinister and insane clown in "The Thaw", and of course Neelix and Tuvok merging into one individual in the controversial "Tuvix".

In all honesty there's hardly any further character development this series, except we learn some more of Chakotay's back story in "Tatoo", start to expolre Tuvok's dark side in "Meld", and the Doctor continues to grow as an individual. Although it initially appears that Tom is rebelling against Janeway, it turn's out after a few eps to be just a ploy to uncover a spy. Other than this, Neelix is still jealous, Torres is still angry, and Janeway is still an unstable caffine addict.

Season 2, like Season 1, show's promise, but is still not astounding, with many mundane outings. Season 3, would be much better, and Season 4, would truly blow us away...

After the dissapointingly short first season, the second was a dramatic improvement and stands out as better than either TNG's or DS9's second seasons.
Strong sci-fi concepts abound in this season, with an excellent opener 'The 37s' which is centered around alien abductions! Other stand out episodes include 'Deathwish', Voyager's first and best Q show, in which the immortality of the Q is shown to be not so brilliant, 'Lifesigns', a touching Doctor show, 'Cold Fire', a big Kes show which reveals the Ocampa are not so small and innocent, 'Tuvix' a comic and touching episode which deals with the blending of Tuvok and Neelix into perhaps a better single being and 'Resolutions' in which Janeway and Chakotay almost become more than friends.
'Basics' is a stunning finale and gets down to thebasics (no pun intended) of sci-fi, leaving you in considerable suspense for the third season.
My only gripes with this season are the boring villians, the Kazon(surely the Vidiians, superior villians which are underused, couldhave been expanded on) and klunker episode 'Threshold' which shows an evolved Paris and Janeway as sort of lizards! Surely a more realistic effect, never mind a concept could have been used.
This season exceeded expectations after the slow first season and showed Voyager's potential. Not the show's best season, but brilliant none-the-less. A must have for sci-fi fans!

Season two of Voyager, although settling into the formulaic star trek show for several episodes, still manages to reel in some good and memorable episodes. From Chakotay and Janeway stranded together on a planet after they are infected by a virus, to Q reappearing aboard the federation ship, season two isnt half as bad as many fans make it out to be. Though not of the calibre of the seasons to come, Season two is worth buying if you want to collect the rest of the seven seasons and not be left with a gap in the middle!

A word on the overall quality of the DVD set - I was very disappointed to see that the episodes are not in the correct order. In fact, they seem to have been thrown onto the discs in any old order (seems to be the sequence they first aired in the USA.. but really.. I personally prefer to watch episodes in the order they were *meant* to be seen in). The box itself is not as neat as the TNG or Voyager counterparts either.