Early reviews of the Star Trek: Voyager complete second season boxed set, which arrived in stores today for Region 1 viewers, have been very positive of the packaging and features while somewhat more tempered in praise of the series itself.

Eclipse Magazine graded the set a B for features but a C+ for content, for a total grade of B-. "Like its predecessors since [and including] 'Next Generation', 'Star Trek: Voyager' suffered a bit of a slump in season two," wrote the reviewer, who added that after rewatching the season, "I can safely say that it contained as many memorable episodes as utterly forgettable."

Particularly praiseworthy to Eclipse were episodes centered on the EMH and the guest appearances of John De Lancie as Q and Brad Dourif as Suder.

"Of the eps that dealt with the Kazon, only 'Initiations' avoided ponderousness," protested the reviewer, who noted of "Alliances", "the less said the better."

Despite the lack of commentary, the features were highly praised, particularly the "fun trivia text track for 'The 37s'" and the apperances on "Braving The Unknown" of executive producers Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor, who indicate how much they enjoyed working on the series. Tim Russ' singing on the extras earned praise as well.

Meanwhile over at Skewed and Reviewed, Gareth Von Kallenbach described the set as "very impressive".

Voyager did show some growing pains in the second season, as it was clear that the series writers were constantly looking to define the direction of the show and characters," he observed.

However, he rated the set 4 stars out of five, calling the package "well crafted" and praising the visuals and sound.

"The menu functions are well designed and easy to navigate and highly detailed," he wrote. "One impressive edition to the set is a day in the life of segment that focuses on Ethan Phillips, where fans can see what he had to endure in the make up chair to become the lovable Neelix."

The complete Voyager season two set may be pre-ordered from Amazon.com or Amazon.ca.

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