STAR TREK VOYAGER
SEASON THREE

"We are the Borg"

After surviving three years in the Delta Quadrant, the Starship Voyager and its crew are about to find things getting a lot more perilous.

Basics (Part 2)
The Kazon captures Voyager and the crew are dumped on a planet in its early stages of evolution. As only Tom Paris and Lon Suder have evaded capture, it's up to them and the EMH to come up with a plan to retake the ship.

Flashback
After falling ill to what appears to be a repressed memory Tuvok must perform a mind-meld with Captain Janeway in order to survive. The meld takes them back to when Tuvok was a junior science officer aboard the U.S.S. Excelsior under the command of Captain Hikaru Sulu.

The Chute
Paris and Kim are sent to an Akritian prison after being accused of a terrorist bombing.

The Swarm
Voyager encounters a region of space owned by a mysterious race of aliens that would take 15 months to go around. Upon crossing the boundaries, a swarm of ships attach themselves to Voyager's hull - an act that drains the ship's power supplies and threatens to destroy it.

False Profits
A pair of Ferengi is found masquerading as Gods to a culture still in its Bronze Age. It is discovered that they had arrived through the Barzan Wormhole, which leads back to the Alpha Quadrant, however, its Delta Quadrant end is highly unstable and always moving.

Remember
After Voyager encounter a telepathic species, B'Elanna starts having powerful dreams that depict the life of a woman and her lover in a time of great political and social upheaval. Sacred Ground Captain Janeway has to undergo a rigorous ritual in order to save Kes' life when she is knocked unconscious.

Future's End (Part 1)
Both Voyager and 29th century Federation Timeship, the Aeon are pulled back in time to Earth in the late 20th century. The Timeship Aeon crashes in Arizona during the 1960's, while Voyager appears in orbit around Earth during 1996.

Future's End (Part 2)
While trying to rescue Paris and Tuvok, Torres and Chakotay are captured by a gang of weapons smugglers who believe that they are from the government. Warlord An injured alien named Tieran transfers his consciousness into Kes' mind moments before he dies. He then gains control over her and begins using her abilities to steal a shuttlecraft and return to his home world to attempt a political coup.

The Q and the Grey
Voyager encounters several supernovas in a small region of space. Time soon reveals that it is the after effects of a civil war within the Q-Continuum. Q appears and believes that the solution to the problem is for him to produce a child, and his mate of choice is Captain Kathryn Janeway. Matters are complicated when a jealous female Q appears claiming that Q was her boyfriend.

Macrocosm
Janeway and Neelix return from an away mission to find Voyager adrift in space and the crew barely alive. They soon learn that the ship has been overrun by viral life forms that are rapidly growing in size.

Fair Trade
Voyager encounters a region of space named the Nekrit Expanse. Since Neelix has no knowledge about the space after this point, he tries to make himself feel useful to the crew by trying to obtain a map from an old friend named Wixiban, who uses him as a courier for illegal substances.

Alter Ego
Ensign Kim asks Tuvok to teach him Vulcan emotional control techniques when he falls in love with a holodeck character named Marayna. Kim soon becomes jealous when he sees Tuvok interacting with her behind his back as she tries to seduce him.

Coda
Captain Janeway repeatedly dies after she and Chakotay crash into a planet in what appears to be a time loop. Soon, her deceased father appears and tells her that she is dead and must accept her situation and move on.

Blood Fever
Ensign Vorik expresses his desire to mate with B'Elanna during his Pon-Farr. After they get in a brawl over the matter, Torres begins showing signs of the Pon-Farr herself.

Unity
During an away mission, Chakotay discovers a Federation hailing signature coming from an alien planet. After landing, he learns that all is not peaceful, and those helping him have not been entirely honest about their true origins.

The Darkling
When the doctor tries to improve his personality by incorporating the psychological profiles of famous and historical people, he is overwhelmed by their dark sides and begins exhibiting signs of a split personality, one the regular doctor, and the other dark and evil. Kes asks to leave Voyager when they encounter a race with vast knowledge of the region of space they are currently exploring.

Rise
Neelix is pushed to the limits when Tuvok's attitude becomes too much to bear while the pair is on an away mission to help evacuate a Nezu planet, which is being bombarded with asteroids.

Favourite Son
Harry Kim experiences strong senses of deja vu in an unknown region of space. He soon learns that he is native to this region and that he is T'Karian, not human.

Before and After
Kes begins travelling backwards through time from the moment of her death. With each shift, she comes closer to a solution but she also grows months and years younger at a time.

Real Life
The Doctor decides he should create a holographic family in order to expand himself. When B'Elanna is disgusted by its unrealistic perfectionism, she alters the program to include random events and outcomes with interesting and devastating results.

Distant Origin
An alien palaeontologist discovers a common ancestral link between his people and humans. He believes that this proves that his people (the Voth) evolved on Earth and migrated to the Delta Quadrant millions of years ago, but his government is not as willing to believe his interpretation of the evidence.

Worst Case Scenario
A holodeck program is discovered in which Seska raises a Marquis mutiny on board. The ship is placed in danger when the program is altered and the author is seemingly powerless to stop it.

Displaced
One by one, the crew of Voyager go missing and are replaced by strangers who claim they have no idea how they arrived. Soon, nearly the whole crew is gone, and there is no way of stopping the strangers from appearing and overrunning the ship.

Scorpion (Part 1)
Voyager finally enters Borg space, only to discover a threat more powerful than the Borg themselves.

Star Trek Voyager enters its third season that sees many changes including the loss of a major character and the return of a major villain.

After an exciting second season, fans anticipation for the third season was extremely high but the fourth year produced mixed results. Along with many standout episodes you had shows like Remember, Scared Ground, Alter ego, Rise, Favourite Son and Displaced that didn't really push the franchise in any new direction. These were instantly forgettable stories that raised a lot of undue criticism for the series from not just fans but the studio as well. While the third series might not be Voyager's best it does contain some classic episodes.

The 30th Anniversary celebration episode "Flashback" is an instant classic. The return of Captain Hikaru Sulu, played by original series veteran George Takei, to the franchise was an inspired move by series producer Rick Berman and his team. This is a pure science fiction episode that shows the best that Star Trek has to offer the genre and the amount of dedicate and care that went into its production shows how much people love working on this show.

Future's End marked the start of Voyager's epic mid-season two-parters. This would become a trademark of the show and a highlight for fans that loved two part stories but hated season end cliffhangers. Future's End made great use of that favourite Sci-Fi topic, Time Travel, to allow the crew to go back to 1996. Of course there are the out of time moments, which are quite funny, but the story itself is another good example of how good this series can actually be.

The Q and the Grey sees the return of the always-brilliant John de Lancie, as Q tries to woo Janeway so that he can have a child. This is Q on great form, providing superb comedic moments and continuing the story of the downfall of the Q-Continuum.

Unity is the much-vaunted return of The Borg to the franchise but this isn't the story you might have been expecting. This is a well-written character drama that deals with the problems of being a survivor of the terrors of the Borg.

Before and After gives Jennifer Lien the chance to shine in what is probably Kes's best episode. Here we get glimpses into the future and the past as Kes flitters about through her lifetime, giving her the chance to change things for the better.

Scorpion Part 1 is the Borg story that fans have been waiting for. In the same style as they where in Star Trek: First Contact, this is the Borg like we have never seen them before, running scared. The introduction of a species that the more powerful than them was a masterstroke by the writing team and sets up the upcoming series brilliantly. This is also a killer of a cliffhanger as well.

You can also throw in the episodes Real Life, Blood Fever, Distant Origins and Worst Case Scenario into this excellent category as these really showcase the talents of Robert Picardo, Roxann Dawson and Martha Hackett.

Star Trek Voyager's third season might not have been the best of the seven but it does have some of the best episodes of the series. The introduction of the Borg allows Voyager to really take off and cement its place in Star Trek folklore.