Star Trek Series Perfectly Recreates Scene From The Movies
Star Trek is a franchise that often finds ways to reference itself, especially in modern shows such as Lower Decks. However, such self-referencing was never as ambitious as what we saw in the Voyager episode “Flashback.” This episode managed to perfectly recreate scenes from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country through a combination of reconstructed sets from the film and the return of several key actors, most notably George Takei as Captain Sulu.
The Star Trek: Voyager episode “Flashback” recreates the opening scene of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
The episode starts with a simple premise: Vulcan security officer Tuvok begins to experience a mental breakdown, and once he realizes that the cause is likely a suppressed memory, he invites Captain Janeway (a trusted friend and mentor) to mind-meld with him. The goal of the meld is to discover what the suppressed memory is, effectively restoring Tuvok’s mind back to him. All of this serves as a fun excuse to revisit Captain Sulu and the USS Excelsior and served as a very “meta” way to ring in Star Trek’s 30th anniversary as a franchise.
Interestingly, while this Voyager episode brought us back to the world of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, it wouldn’t have happened if not for the movie that came after it. Star Trek: Generations had Tuvok actor Tim Russ as a Starfleet officer on the Excelsior-class USS Enterprise-B.
Despite this being a different character that happened to look exactly like Tuvok, this appearance likely served as the inspiration to have Tuvok retroactively serve aboard the USS Excelsior.
If you enjoyed The Undiscovered Country, the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Flashback” is a must-watch ep because it fills in many fun details, including the fact that a thoughtful Tuvok introduced the tea-loving Captain Sulu to a special Vulcan tea, prompting Captain Janeway to sarcastically note how Tuvok never brings her tea.
The bulk of the flashback plot revolves around showing us how Sulu attempted to rescue Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy before they were sentenced to the brutal Klingon penal colony of Rura Penthe.
Interestingly, while this Voyager episode brought us back to the world of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, it wouldn’t have happened if not for the movie that came after it.
Sulu’s solution is as simple as it is bold: in classic Star Trek fashion, he plans to head to the colony by sneaking through a nebula, but he is nearly foiled when he runs into a Klingon battlecruiser captained by Kirk’s old nemesis, Kang. Sulu defeats Kang but is, in turn, rebuffed by Klingon forces and unable to rescue Kirk, who (with the help of Spock) made his own escape from the penal colony.
Meanwhile, Tuvok discovered that what was really affecting his mind was a virus that got passed to him from a dying Excelsior crewman, and the virus disguises itself as a traumatic memory.
Returning Star Trek Actors
Fortunately, Star Trek fans got to experience nothing but good memories with this episode, especially because it brought so many actors back to their original characters. In addition to the return of Takei’s Sulu and Kang’s Michael Ansara, we also saw Grace Lee Whitney return as Janice Rand.
Jeremy Roberts also returned to play Dimitri Valtane, a minor character now given a tragic backstory as someone infected with a freaky alien virus and who later dies when a panel explodes during a skirmish with the Klingons.
Ultimately, the Star Trek: Voyager episode “Flashback” impresses on all fronts, bringing with it an ambitious crossover story, stellar actors, and immaculately-recreated sets. There’s quite literally something here for all Star Trek fans, and the ep is a worthy celebration of the franchise’s 30th anniversary.
In fact, the only downside to watching it is that you’ll feel tempted to binge-watch all the eps and movies it manages to reference, and no amount of mind-melding can remove that temptation from your mind.
