Voyager 'Flashback' - How A Star Trek Episode Almost Launched A New Series
During its seven season run, "Star Trek: Voyager" boldly pushed the boundaries of the franchise's narrative to places few "Star Trek" series had gone before. That's true in virtually every sense of the concept, as the bulk of the series was actually set in quadrants of the final frontier almost entirely unexplored by Federation starships. In exploring those places, "Voyager" was one of the more thrillingly original offerings in the entire "Star Trek" franchise.
As with every addition to the "Star Trek" franchise, "Voyager" was, of course, wholly indebted to the groundbreaking original series. During one Season 3 episode in particular, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and crew paid homage and then some to the O.G. ranks when they had a first-hand encounter with a U.S.S. Enterprise alum, Captain Hikaro Kato Sulu (George Takai). Their paths crossed in an episode titled "Flashback," which found Voyager's Vulcan crew member Lieutenant Tuvok (Tim Russ) engaging in a mind-meld with Janeway before eventually reliving his own time serving on the U.S.S. Excelsior under Capt. Sulu himself.
Joining Takei on the bridge of the Excelsior was another Enterprise alum, Commander Janice Rand, who was played by Grace Lee Whitney since the first season of "Star Trek." According to comments made by the actor in a 2011 interview with StarTrek.com, "Flashback" was originally eyed as a backdoor pilot for more adventures with the Excelsior crew. Unfortunately, the spin-off never materialized, with the one-off "Voyager" episode marking one of Rand's final appearances in the role.
The Sulu-centric Voyager episode nearly opened the door to a bold new Star Trek world
As noted in the interview, 1996's "Flashback" episode of "Star Trek: Voyager" was undertaken as part of the 30th anniversary celebration of the original series' debut, with "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" paying tribute to Captain James T. Kirk and company via a Tribble-centric episode the same year. As for Tuvok's and Captain Janeway's encounter with Captain Sulu and Commander Rand, it occurred largely in the mind of Tuvok as he fought off a damaging virus that created a troubling false memory – one that true Trekkers know coincided with the events of 1991's "Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country."
Fondly recounting the experience in the same StarTrek.com interview, Grace Lee Whitney said, "It was just a great episode. Kate (Mulgrew) was amazing and Tim (Russ) told me that he'd just loved me as a kid, and here we were working together. It was great." She goes on to add, "They [producers] told us it was a [backdoor] pilot for [an Excelsior] miniseries." Unfortunately, Whitney claims producers couldn't generate enough interest to get the miniseries off the ground. Likewise, her own idea to bring original "Star Trek" players back to "Voyager" every few months or so also fell on deaf ears.
Given how much fun Whitney, George Takai, and the "Voyager" crew were clearly having in "Flashback," that dashed miniseries feels like a legit missed opportunity for "Star Trek" bosses. Nonetheless, as a one-off, one could easily rank "Flashback" among the best of the 168 "Voyager" episodes that made it to air.