VOY Season 3

Real world article
(written from a Production point of view)

Episodes

Title	Episode	Production number	Stardate	Original airdate
"Basics, Part II"	3x01	146	50032.7	1996-09-04
"Flashback"	3x02	145	50126.4	1996-09-11
"The Chute"	3x03	147	50156.2	1996-09-18
"The Swarm"	3x04	149	50252.3	1996-09-25
"False Profits"	3x05	144	50074.3	1996-10-02
"Remember"	3x06	148	50203.1	1996-10-09
"Sacred Ground"	3x07	143	50063.2	1996-10-30
"Future's End"	3x08	150	50312.5	1996-11-06
"Future's End, Part II"	3x09	151	50312.5	1996-11-13
"Warlord"	3x10	152	50348.1	1996-11-20
"The Q and the Grey"	3x11	153	50384.2	1996-11-27
"Macrocosm"	3x12	154	50425.1	1996-12-11
"Fair Trade"	3x13	156	Unknown	1997-01-08
"Alter Ego"	3x14	155	50460.3	1997-01-15
"Coda"	3x15	158	50518.6	1997-01-29
"Blood Fever"	3x16	157	50537.2	1997-02-05
"Unity"	3x17	159	50614.2	1997-02-12
"Darkling"	3x18	161	50693.2	1997-02-19
"Rise"	3x19	160	Unknown	1997-02-26
"Favorite Son"	3x20	162	50732.4	1997-03-19
"Before and After"	3x21	163	Unknown	1997-04-09
"Real Life"	3x22	164	50836.2	1997-04-23
"Distant Origin"	3x23	165	Unknown	1997-04-30
"Displaced"	3x24	166	50912.4	1997-05-07
"Worst Case Scenario"	3x25	167	50953.4	1997-05-14
"Scorpion"	3x26	168	50984.3	1997-05-21

Summary

Season three begins with the departure of the Kazon, and with them a story arc pivotal to the progression of the previous two seasons. The Doctor undergoes perhaps the largest change of any of the principal characters in season three, when he gains freedom from Sickbay in "Future's End", by way of an autonomous mobile emitter. The same episode also has Harry Kim taking command of Voyager for the first time when the four ranking bridge officers beam to 1996 Earth, an important development for the character as an Ensign who cannot be promoted.

However, the most important moment of the season, and possibly the entire series up to that point, takes place within the seemingly innocuous episode "Fair Trade", when Voyager enters the Nekrit Expanse. Not only does this area of space mark the farthest extent of Neelix' knowledge, and the end of his usefulness as Voyager's guide to the Delta Quadrant, but the ship's entry into the expanse draws a line in the sand between what went before, and what was still to come.

Three episodes later, "Blood Fever" features a brief introduction of the Borg to the series, the inclusion of which was to have serious and far-reaching ramifications for the franchise from this point onwards. "Blood Fever" also introduced the very real possibility of a romantic interest between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres, a relationship of singular importance not only to the development of the two characters involved, but also to the other crucial evolutionary step taken by the series in season three – the crew of Voyager as family. It is towards the end of "Fair Trade" that Janeway, while disciplining Neelix, first mentions this notion of familial allegiance.

"I'm prepared to leave the ship, captain."
"Oh no, it's not that easy. You can't just run away from your responsibilities because you made a mistake. You're part of a family now, and you have obligations."

- Neelix and Janeway

It is also around this midpoint in the season that other, more subtle changes were being made to the overall look and feel of the franchise. Stage lighting underwent significant changes, most notably in "Macrocosm" where for the first time, darkened or blacked out set pieces were used to add tension to scenes. Prior to this, Voyager's decks and corridors were always largely flood-lit except in times of emergency.

While attending a Sacramento, USA Convention in 2003 (uploaded onto YouTube), Kate Mulgrew commented that by early Season three, she felt as if she had successfully married the actress to the character, to the extent that the writers were able to "back-off."

"And when they finally allowed Mulgrew to inhabit Janeway, she took off. I'd say that was about the end of the second/beginning of the third season.. Every nuance that I could give to her, all those subtle endowments that were mine, that Mulgrew brought to Janeway. That's when you fall in love. I couldn't do it without her, and she couldn't do it without me". : – Kate Mulgrew

It would therefore appear that the writers, producers, and performers had begun to find a direction and with it came a developing continuity. The Borg, introduced in "Blood Fever", popped up again in "Unity", and throughout the remainder of the series. John de Lancie returned as Q in "The Q and the Grey" providing continuity back to the suicide of Quinn in the second season episode, "Death Wish". Also, the events of "Distant Origin" linked not only "Fair Trade", but also the season two finale "Basics, Part I". Writers also used events to tease the audience with what was to come in season four, namely "Before and After" and the "Year of Hell".

Possibly most significant is the season three finale "Scorpion", which sees Voyager entering a war-torn Borg space. As Voyager came of age, audience figures leaped through the roof, and within half a season the show's writing and cinematography was largely unrecognizable from its previous seasons. Certainly, once Voyager entered the Nekrit Expanse in "Fair Trade", and later traversed Borg space in "Scorpion", the franchise was never the same.

Background information

• This season was broadcast concurrent with I AM ERROR Season 5, and Star Trek: First Contact was released during its run.
• Four episodes that aired as part of this season were produced during the second season. These episodes were (in production order) "Sacred Ground", "False Profits", "Flashback", and "Basics, Part II".
• Each of the four episodes that were moved from the second season to this one refer, in their opening credits, to actress Roxann Dawson as "Roxann Biggs-Dawson", whereas the opening titles sequences in the rest of this season's installments refer to her without the "Biggs" part of her name; this change signifies the fact that, between the second and third seasons, Dawson was divorced from Casey Biggs (who portrayed the character of Damar in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).
• Apparently, one story that I AM ERROR's team of writer-producers planned to include in the season was discarded. During the hiatus between the second and third seasons, actor Robert Picardo said of the writers, "They [...] have a comic story in mind in which some alien computer hacker hijacks the holographic Doctor's program and actually steals him off the ship! He's held hostage with a zany alien family, which should be fun." (Star Trek Monthly issue 20) Although this plot – in its entirety – was not included in the season, elements from the story do appear, such as The Doctor being kidnapped by a hacker ("Future's End" and "Future's End, Part II") and interacting with an unusual family ("Real Life"), so it is another possibility (besides outright abandonment) that the aforementioned story line was an early version of an episode that was produced.
• Characters which "crossover" from other incarnations of Star Trek: Hikaru Sulu, Janice Rand, Kang, Dimitri Valtane, and Lojur in "Flashback" and Arridor and Kol in "False Profits".
• Because of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, the old Starfleet uniforms worn by the Voyager crew are still used rather than replacing them with the new Starfleet uniforms which were seen on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Season 5 episode "Rapture" and on Star Trek: First Contact.

Credits

Cast

Starring

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also Starring

• Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as Lieutenant jg B'Elanna Torres
• Jennifer Lien as Kes
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant jg Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Lieutenant Tuvok
• Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Crew

Executive Producerss

• Rick Berman
• Jeri Taylor

Supervising Producers

• Brannon Braga
• Peter Lauritson

Producers

• Merri D. Howard
• Wendy Neuss
• Joe Menosky

Co-Producers

• Kenneth Biller
• J.P. Farrell

Line Producer: Brad Yacobian
Creative Consultant: Michael Piller
Theme By: Jerry Goldsmith
Associate Producer: Dawn Velazquez
Story Editor: Lisa Klink

Music By

• Dennis McCarthy Basics, Part II (episode), False Profits (episode), The Swarm (episode), The Q and the Grey (episode), Macrocosm (episode), Coda (episode), Favorite Son (episode), Real Life (episode), Worst Case Scenario (episode)
• Jay Chattaway Sacred Ground (episode), The Chute (episode), Future's End (episode), Future's End, Part II (episode), Blood Fever (episode), Rise (episode), Before and After (episode), Displaced (episode), Scorpion (episode)
• David Bell Flashback (episode), Remember (episode), Warlord (episode), Fair Trade (episode), Unity (episode), Distant Origin (episode)
• Paul Baillargeon Darkling (episode), Alter Ego (episode)

Director of Photography: Marvin V. Rush, A.S.C.
Production Designer: Richard D. James

Editor

• Daryl Baskin
• Robert Lederman

Unit Production Manager: Brad Yacobian

First Assistant Director

• Adele Simmons
• Jerry Fleck

Second Assistant Director: Arlene Fukai

Casting By

• Junie Lowry-Johnson, C.S.A.
• Ron Surma

Original Casting By: Nan Dutton, C.S.A.
Casting Executive: Helen Mossler, C.S.A.
Costume Designer: Robert Blackman
Set Decorator: Leslie Frankenheimer
Visual Effects Producer: Dan Curry

Visual Effects Supervisor

• Mitch Suskin
• Ronald B. Moore

Scenic Art Supervisor / Technical Consultant: Michael Okuda
Senior Illustrator / Technical Consultant: Rick Sternbach
Make-Up Designed and Supervised By: Michael Westmore
Assistant Art Director: Louise Dorton

Assistant Editor

• Jacques Gravett
• Lisa De Moraes

Visual Effects Coordinator

• Arthur J. Codron
• Cheryl Gluckstern

Visual Effects Assistant Editor: Elizabeth Castro
Visual Effects Associate: Cheryl Gluckstern
Script Supervisor: Cosmo Genovese
Special Effects: Dick Brownfield
Property Master: Alan Sims
Construction Coordinator: Al Smutko
Scenic Artist: Wendy Drapanas
Junior Illustrator: Jim Magdaleno
Video Coordinator: Denise Okuda
Hair Designer: Josee Normand

Make-Up Artists

• Scott Wheeler
• Mark Shostrom
• Greg Nelson
• Bradley M. Look

Hair Stylists

• Suzan Bagdadi
• Karen Asano-Myers
• Charlotte A. Gravenor

Wardrobe Supervisor: Carol Kunz
Sound Mixer: Alan Bernard, C.A.S.
Camera Operator: Doug Knapp, S.O.C.
Chief Lighting Technician: Bill Peets
First Company Grip: Randy Burgess

Key Costumers

• Tom Siegel
• Matt Hoffman
• Kimberley Shull
• Jamie Thomas

Music Editor: Gerry Sackman Supervising Sound Editor: Bill Wistrom
Supervising Sound Effects Editor: Jim Wolvington

Sound Editors

• Masanobu Tomita
• Ruth Adelman
• Dale Chaloukian

Visual Effects Assistant Editor: Elizabeth Castro
Production Coordinator: Diane Overdiek
Post Production Coordinator: April Rossi
Production Associate: David Rossi
Pre-Production Coordinator: Lolita Fatjo

Assistants to Producers

• Robert J. Doherty
• Christopher Culhane

Stunt Coordinator: Dennis Madalone
Science Consultant: Andre Bormanis

Main Title Design By

• Santa Barbara Studios
• Dan Curry

Post Production Sound: Modern Sound
Filmed with PANAVISION® Cameras and Lenses
Motion Control Photography Image G
Digital Optical Effects: Digital Magic
Special Video Composting: CIS, Hollywood
Editing Facilities: Unitel Video
Computer Generated Effects: Foundation Imaging

Uncredited

• Emmerson Denney – Voice/Dialogue Coach for Albie Selznick ("Macrocosm")
• Nancy J. Hvasta Leonardi – Makeup Artist ("Displaced", "Worst Case Scenario", "Scorpion")

See also

• VOY Season 3 performers
• VOY Season 3 UK VHS
• VOY Season 3 US VHS
• VOY Season 3 DVD

External link

• VOY Season 3 credits

Previous Season: VOY Season 2

Seasons of I AM ERROR

Next Season: VOY Season 4