YMMV / Star Trek Voyager S 3 E 2 "Flashback"

• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The children falling from the cliff have got an extremely tenuous connection to the plot.
• Narm:
  • The montage of Big "NO!"'s when combined with Special Effects Failure.
  • Garrett Wang for whatever reason gives a particularly flat line reading during the scene in Janeway's ready room, about "wondering what it would be like to live in those days" without much wonder.
  • Valtane's informing Sulu of the approaching shockwave also comes across as oddly listless in delivery, when compared to the same actor's delivering the exact same line in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Also, Excelsior's helmsman randomly picked up a thick Eastern European accent...despite the same actor not having one in the film.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: A mild case, as the episode in general is considered one of the highlights of Season 3 and one of the better Voyager episodes overall, but neither Sulu nor the Excelsior appears until nearly halfway through the episode, and there are no interactions between the TOS-era characters and their Voyager counterparts, aside from Tuvok and a couple of very perfunctory bits that Janeway has with Sulu and Rand.
  • The reason for the former fault is partly that Nichelle Nichols was originally intended to reprise her role as Uhura in this episode, however, when she dropped out, her scenes needed to be eliminated as well, and minutes of filler material written to pad out the runtime.
  • The novelization of the episode expands on the flashbacks to include Uhura's appearance and also feature a few 'follow-up' scenes once the threat of the virus has been dealt with so that Janeway can see the conclusion of Undiscovered Country from Tuvok's perspective, as well as a meeting he had with Captain Spock regarding his decision to resign. The novelisation also expands on the threat posed by the virus by having Kes caught up in the illusion as well, to the extent that she nearly attacks a shuttlecraft piloted by Tom and B'Elanna while they're examining the nebula.
  • In a broader meta sense, George Takei cited the reception to this episode in his efforts to push for a series following the adventures of Sulu in the center seat, once development for a new Star Trek series was announced partway into Voyager's run. Despite widespread fan support, the decision was ultimately made that the series would be a prequel to the entire franchise, to fans' considerable disappointment.

---