By Drew Dietsch | Published
With all negative Star Trek News fans have been forced to endure recently, it is important to remember the good times.
And the best moment in Star Trek will always be our favorite decade.
The 90s!
The 1990s was the Golden Age of Star Trek, with numerous successful Trek and three different series films.
Running from 1995 to 2001, Star Trek: Voyager It was the last of those series, and also the last television effort Star Trek to get seven complete seasons.
Despite the numerous attempts, no show has been achieved since then.
Almost time TravelerThe reputation has only grown to the point where Captain Janeway is now a coffee meme and seven of nine is a loved character that fans pressed to get their own series.
Star Trek: Voyager He had his ups and downs, but the largest in the program occurred in a specific episode.
The best episode of Star Trek: Voyager
“Equinox” is the story of what could have been: a disturbing vision of what Traveler It could have become if your crew abandoned its principles.
Entering the final of season 5 and the premiere of season 6 in 1999, this two -part cliffhanger seized the program of the program in the same way Next generationThe “best of both worlds part 1 and 2” had a decade earlier.
Five years before the events of the episode, the spacecraft of the Federation Traveler It was stranded in a remote galaxy by the caregiver, an entity that left them in front of a 70 -year trip home.
Determined to defend the values of the stellar fleet, TravelerThe crew established a course for Earth.
Without them knowing, another ship from the Federation, the EquinoxIt was also stranded by the caregiver.
A novatic class scientific container with a team of only 78 years, the Equinox Had a limited armament and a maximum Warp 8 speed, compared to TravelerThe intrepid class design, which had 141 crew members, advanced weapons and a maximum urdimbre speed 9.975.
Unlike the best equipped TravelerHe Equinox Crew chose a darker path, but that is not clear at the beginning.
Whenever Traveler Find the Equinox After five years in the hostile space, they find a ship mistreated under the attack of mysterious alien forces.
The implacable assaults of these nucleogenic aliens through interdimensional currencies, represented with an innovative CGI, consumed a significant part of the episode budget for their ethereal design. He Equinox He is a noisy, his crew decimated.
Voyager’s team seeks in the remains, finding a survivor buried under the debris that gasp: “Tell me if my legs are still there.” This raw line was totally improvised by actor Rick Worthy as Crewman Noah Lessing.
Another crew jumps out of the debris, wildly shooting to non -existent invaders before collapsing, while the removal survivors are almost catatonic due to trauma.
He EquinoxInterior in ruins, inspired by underwater war films as Boot dasContrasts sharply with TravelerAesthetics of the pristine stellar fleet, emphasizing despair.
Janeway and his crew are delighted to find another ship of the Federation in the Delta quadrant, and they for the help of their fellow officers of the star fleet, are going to work on the repair of their ship and work to develop a defense against their attackers.
He EquinoxCaptain, Rudolph Ransom (played by John Savage), a stellar fleet officer once backed, says they don’t know why they are being attacked by these creatures.
The truth is much darker: Ransom’s crew discovered that interdimensional creatures could be killed and turned into super fuel for propulsion.
Leaving Starfleet’s rules and morality, laugh at the legs to accelerate their trip home.
Ransom begs despair – hunger, death, fatality – but TravelerThe crew, directed by Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), rejects his apologies.
When Janeway tries to judge them, the Equinox The crew escapes, damaging Traveler And leaving them vulnerable to vindictive aliens.
Janeway’s fury turns on. On both parties, risk the life of its crew to stop the rescue, threatens to kill a Equinox Crewman for information and relieves his first officer, chakotay or duty when he challenges his orders almost for turbulent.
This darker Janeway was at that time a bold deviation from its diplomatic standard. Kate Mulgrew takes the most of, offering one of her most committed performances, while the cast thrives in a script that gives everyone a moment.
Mulgrew has admitted in the past that his heart was not always in his work as Voyager. She fought with personal problems through much of the production of the program, and there was conflict between it and Jeri Ryan, which exploded in tension in the set.
But for thesis episodes, she chewed landscapes. Janeway becomes the relentless fans of the desired commander, a trafficker of Phaser’s power revenge, evoking Captain Kirk with a chip on his shoulder.
Writers Brannon Braga and Joe lessky deliberately channeled that Original series‘Energy, connecting it in TravelerStakes
The most disturbing subtram of the two parts involves seven of nine (Jeri Ryan) and the doctor (Robert Picardo), student and teacher, kept captive in the Equinox.
Ransom rewrites the doctor’s program, making the healer a sadistic scientist. While the doctor tortures seven, deepening a procedure that could kill her, manipulates her to sing “My Darlin” Clementine “as a sick duet.
The director David Livingston chose this popular song for his mysterious simplicity, a last minute decision that became iconic. Deeply resonating in the EquinoxThe crumbled intestines, the sounds of seven forced to sing a sweet harmony while they are killed by their best friend, are unforgettable.
At the end of the episode, nothing is selfless. Bamparos explode, the fracture of relationships, and not everything is forgive.
It was worth it. “Equinox” was a critical success and fans, praised for its intense performances, moral complexity and film quality.
To 1999 Television guide Review called “Traveler At its smallest point, “while fans surveys in the Internet forums of the early 90s as Trekweb classified it among the best of the series.
His legacy lasts, with fans still discussing Janeway’s ethics and the ranking “Equinox” along with “Year of Hell” and the Axis “Scorpion” TravelerThey are the best hours.
The episode has influenced much later Migration shows, with Star Trek: ProdigyWriters cite their exploration of moral gray areas as inspiration for their 2024 season.
Directed by David Livingston, “Equinox” feels like an epic feature film instead of a television episode. And that is part of why it continues to work so well, decades later.
But at that time, the program’s domestic network did not want to do it. UPN, who would later interfere with, castrated and canceled Star Trek: Enterprise, insisted that they preferred independent episodes about serialized arches to attract casual spectators.
However, the previous success of Season 4 of Star Trek Voyager season 4, “Year of Hell” Cool the Writers and Livingston A right to negotiate a more ambitious story and driven by the characters.
TO Migration The veteran with 62 episodes throughout the franchise, Livingston also pressured and obtained a longer shooting schedule. He had 10 days to work in each episode, instead of the usual 7 given for the session of each episode.
Livingston used hand and faint lighting cameras, inspired by Boot dasfor a sandy film sensation that would work within its budget and time limitations.
The cast tested widely to nail the emotional intensity, with Mulgrew and Savage united on their shared theater history to refine their confrontations.
For Kate Mulgrew, the episode was one of the most prominent aspects of his career. In 2003 Rigid feature DVD comment, she called “the episode in which we all brought our game to”, Livingston places it among his favorite management experiences, in his career.
“Equinox” is not just TravelerThe best episode: it is an idea of how the series could have been if it had been allowed to exceed the limits.
Many cite the “year of hell” of season 4 as the peak of the series, but “Year of Hell” marked the beginning of TravelerRisk taking. Pointed to the will to break TravelerOften, the static formula, a mentality that reached its maximum point with “equinox”.
Equinox captures Traveler At its bold point, exploring what happens when Starfleet ideals fall apart under pressure.
