This feature length episode serves well to introduce the regular characters that will feature in the series and to set up the situation they find themselves in. In the opening scene a Maquis ship is chased into the Badlands by the Cardassians and find themselves caught in a wave that throws them across the galaxy. One of the people on that ship was an undercover Star Fleet officer so a ship is dispatched to the Badlands to find him; that ship is the USS Voyager. We are quickly introduced to the crew we will be spending the next seven years with: Captain Catherine Janeway, Tom Paris a pilot currently in prison and Harry Kim, an ensign on his first mission. Soon after getting to the Badlands Voyager also finds itself flung across the galaxy to the Delta Quadrant. Several crew members are killed in the process this of course leaves several key positions unfilled so when they are forced to join forces with the Maquis there are important positions for them to fill and as the Doctor was killed we get to see Star Trek's first major character who is a hologram. After a visit to the array that brought them to the Delta Quadrant one member of each crew is kidnapped and transported to a nearby planet. In order to get them back they get help from local trader Neelix and Kes. As well as making two new friends in the Quadrant they also make an enemy of the Kazon, the species that appears to control that area of space.
This episode was a good opener as it successfully introduced a full cast of characters, obviously it will take more episodes to really get to know them but this was a good start. It also showed that even though they were on the other side of the galaxy they wouldn't allow harm to come to others to help them get home. While a lot of time is spent introducing the characters there is still plenty of action including a tense scene where the crew attempt to escape from the Ocampa's underground city though tunnels where the stairways are starting to collapse due to an earthquake and a space battle with the Kazon to prevent them gaining control of the array.
This episode was a good opener as it successfully introduced a full cast of characters, obviously it will take more episodes to really get to know them but this was a good start. It also showed that even though they were on the other side of the galaxy they wouldn't allow harm to come to others to help them get home. While a lot of time is spent introducing the characters there is still plenty of action including a tense scene where the crew attempt to escape from the Ocampa's underground city though tunnels where the stairways are starting to collapse due to an earthquake and a space battle with the Kazon to prevent them gaining control of the array.