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With “Voyager” lots of critics claimed at the time the show aired that the “Trek” franchise was running out steam. The ratings of the program also began to fade. Hindsight proves that things weren’t quite as dire as everyone seemed to think. The third season caught the “Voyager” production crew and writing staff catching their breath after a whirlwind of activity the previous year. While the show could be inconsistent, the twenty-six episodes included in this boxed set indicated that the show had fresh ideas and recalled the spirit of the original series in many respects. “Flashback” proved to be an ambitious show recalling events from the film “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country” from a different perspective. The character of Tuvok must relive his time on the Starship Excelsior with Janeway as a “witness” to these relived memories. Likewise the two part “Future’s End” begins with an ambitious storyline focusing on time travel and an explosion that occurs in the twenty-ninth century that, somehow, is connected to “Voyager”. The best was saved for last, though, with “Scorpion Part One” where “Voyager” becomes involved in an interdimensional war between cyborg race The Borg and a vicious race known only as Species 8472. This sets up the fourth season where the character Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) becomes a recurring character. ---

The picture quality for “Voyager” is particularly good. The vivid primary colors of the costumes and the lush foliage of various alien planets grab your attention. I’m also pleased to say that the dark nature of some of the scenes set aboard the ship isn’t as much an issue here as it was for “Deep Space Nine”. The solid blacks and crystal clarity of most of the discs make this one of the best boxed sets I’ve seen in the “Star Trek” series. ***

The remixed 5.1 Surround Sound isn’t as dramatic as I would have liked but it has a tremendous amount of detail and there’s little to no compression evident during most of the episodes. The remix adds depth and a lot more presence to the soundtrack particularly episodes with lots of action. The distortion problems with the sound that was a defect for the first two boxed sets doesn’t seem to occur here (although this is only one set and I could have been lucky). ---

There’s quite a bit of featurettes here most of them running around 10 minutes on average.“Braving the Unknown” features cast members, producers Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Jeri Taylor discussing the highlights of the third year particularly “Basics Part 2”, “Flashback” as well as the two parter “Future’s End and “Scorpion”the season conclusion. “Voyager Time Capsule: Neelix and Kes” features a new interview with Ethan Phillips with Jennifer Lein about the character’s relationship and changes during the third season. “A Day in the Life of a Director” chronicles Roxann Dawson’s first time at the helm as a director of an episode of “Voyager”. We follow Dawson from rehearsals through to the completion of shooting. “Red Alert! Amazing Visual Effects” features visual effects gurus Dan Curry and Ronald B. Moore discussing the challenges they faced on three particularly effects heavy episodes; “Basics Part 2”, “Future’s End” and “Distant Origin”. The deconstruction of the visual effects will be of particular interest to visual effects geeks. ***

A particularly inspired featurette “Flashback to Flashback” looks at the episode involving incidents from the film “Star Trek VI” The Undiscovered Country” and how the plotline from that film was interwoven into a “Voyager” the storyline. Writer/producer and science advisor astrophysicist Andrew Bormanis once again looks at the reality of space as reflected on the series. He discusses wormholes and supernovas both of which feature prominently two pivotal episodes from the third season. We also information on the background of the various characters from the series in “The Voyager Crew: An Inside Look” with co-producer/co-creator Michael Pillar (“The Dead Zone”). Finally we get “Lost Transmissions” which features interviews with cast and crew that were originally shot for promos related to season three of “Voyager”. All of these extras are located on the seventh disc of the set. ---

An exceptionally well thought out boxed set, the only drawbacks to the third season of “Voyager” on DVD are those from the previous ones; the price is steep particularly when compared to other sets such as “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and others. The second drawback is the lack of any commentary tracks involving cast, crew or writers/directors from a given season. These have always been a highlight of “The X-Files” and “Babylon 5” sets. The third and most important is the flimsy packaging for “Voyager”. While the bulk packaging of “Star Trek: The Next Generation” might have been overkill, it seems as if Paramount has gone to the other extreme with this set. A happy medium would have been the design used for “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. While that set could also be a bit flimsy, it balanced the need for solid packaging and the convenience of taking out the discs for fans. The discs are marked with the titles of each episode on the outside as before my only complaint is that the type is small and a bit difficult to read. The disc defects that were so prevalent on season one and an occasional problem such as on season two are less of an issue with this particular set. ***

Overall, the positives outweigh the negatives. I’d like to see Paramount reduce the price particularly given the popularity of this series. Still, we do get a 26 episodes per season unlike most shows which usually have only 22 or, in some cases (“The Sopranos”, “Six Feet Under”) 13 or 15 per set.