10 -The Michigan Daily - Wednesday, October 14, 1998 'Voyager' aims to venture beyond its predecessors By Gabe Smith Daily Arts Writer The legacy of "Star Trek" is incredible. The series began 32 years ago as a vision from a young TWA pilot who believed in a world without poverty, disease or war. It was a world where material wealth was not needed and where humanity could continue to evolve to new heights of intel- lect. "Star Trek" is now firmly embedded in American culture, with the original series hailed as a classic of television. Four series and eight motion pictures (soon to be nine sometime near Thanksgiving) later, "Star Trek" keeps on truckin'. "Star Trek: Voyager" is the latest creation from the this world, but only until recently has this series shown signs of living up to the original. Launched in 1994, it featured the crew of a starship stranded in the unexplored regions of the Delta Quadrant. Star Trek fanatics may remember that previously there had only been an Alpha and a Beta Quadrant. Viewers aren't sure Star Trek Voyager what ever happened to the Chi quad- rant. Commanded by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the U.S.S. Voyager has been through the meat grinder in its continuing search for ways to get back to Earth. At maximum warp speed, it would take them 75 UPN years to reach home. Tonight at 9 p.m. And Voyager continues its trek (par- don the pun) through the Delta Quadrant as the fifth season begins tonight. The crew is demoralized after navigating through a dense region of space known as "The Void," a region of space where matter is not present. Planets, stars, everything is gone. But the crew's interest is peaked after detecting theta radi- ation that is being emitted by a temporal vortex in space. The ship's crew of Voyager discovers that the radiation isn't com- ing from the vortex but from a huge freighter, commanded by a race called the Naelons (no, not nylons, nay-Ions). The Naelons have used this "Void" as a dumping ground for the radiation produced by their race. Voyager then discovers a race indigenous to the Void and have adapted to its darkness. But the majority of this race is suffering from theta radiation poisoning. Voyager needs to go through the vortex to not be further delayed from reaching home by the Void, but it has to destroy the vortex in order to stop the Naelon ships from entering the "Void" But with "Star Trek," everything is always hunky-dory by the end. The vortex is destroyed, the ship is intact as it makes it through beforehand, and another race is saved. But we've already seen this episode on "Deep Space Nine" or on "Next I Courtesy of UPN The crew of "Star Trek: Voyager" hopes to carry on the "Star Trek" tradition with originality. Generation" - or even when Kirk was in the driver's seat. For the first three seasons, Voyager has floundered with less than stellar ratings, despite it being still the highest-rated UPN show. This show's long stint in sick bay was due to poor structuring and poor writing of the Captain Janeway charac- ter. The plots were banal and recycled. TIME even had a lit- tle blurb a couple of years ago about how the first five episodes of the series could be traced back to five separate episodes of the original "Star Trek." Something had to be done, and actress Jeri Ryan came to the rescue. Ryan plays Borg Seven of Nine, who appealed to audiences. The Borg, a formidable evil race of cybernetic beings were brought back from the dead to increase ratings. But the new depth of character to Captain Janeway in the fourth season is a fantastic improvement. Tonight, we'll see Janeway's vulnerable side. The story touches upon a captain riddled with guilt about her decision to cause the crew to be stranded, and the episode presents aq imperfect "Star Trek" starship captain. What "Voyager" needs is to continue to go where no one has gone before. It is a show that has struggled at times to be unique but has often ended up mimicking its three predeces- sors. But "Voyager" has improved. Characters are taking shape, and recent plots and episodes have been drawing attention. So it might be worth checking out next week's episode which deals with the creation of a 29th-Century Borg drone. "Voyager" may soon no longer be the ugly duckling, or borg drone recently cut off from the collective, of the "Star Trek" universe. The path back to Earth looks very bright. Courtesy 0 fUPN Kate Mulgrew stars as Captain Janeway In "Star Trek: Voyager" on UPN. I.ILI SELF-SERVE COLOR COPIES I kinkos1 530 E. liberty, Ann Arbor 761.4539 2609 Plymouth Rd., Ann Arbor 996-0050 * I Bring this coupon to the Kinko's listed and receive self-serve, color copies for just 59C each. No limit. offer good for letter size, single sided copies on our standard white paper. Offer is limited to one coupon per person. Coupon must be3 presented at time of purchase and is not valid with other offers or discounts. Offer valid at time of purchase only and may not be discounted or credited toward past or future purchases. Offer valid at Kinko's listed locations only. Coupon void where prohibited by law. No cash value. (sl998 Kinkos, Inc. All rights reserved. Kinko's is a registered trademark of Kinko's Ventures, inc. and is used y permissionKinkos requires written permission from the copyright holder in order to reproduce any copyrighted materals AAC320MOST LOCATIONS OPEN 24 HOURS A DAY EXP1l3198 'C' hardly does original 'Contra' justice C: The Contra Adventure Playstation Konami Anyone ever interested in action/platform games has had to have heard of "Contra," perhaps the best of the genre. The player is a soldier battling hordes and hordes of aliens with powerful weapons, like homing missiles and lasers. But if you thought that you've seen it all from the "Contra" series, think again, because this time it's a whole new ballgame. "Konami," like "Capcom," belongs to a group of powerful video game companies out right now. "Contra" is like "Street Fighter" to "Capcom;" it's one ofthe lead- ing titles that made "Konami" famous. In "C," the play- er still has to kill the alien enemy who has nothing bet- ter to do than to invade the peaceful little planet. Yes, the game still has all the original but impressive weapons, and the aliens are still difficult to kill. What is fascinating about "C" is the different game- play it offers. "Konami" had a "Contra" game for Playstation already, and it flopped because it used an overhead per- spective with cheap 3-D glasses. People were disap- pointed, not to mention that they looked silly wearing glasses. This time "Konami" returned to the tried-and- true side-scrolling perspective in parts of the game, so the playing experience will be reminiscent of the good ol' days of "Contra" on the Nintendo and the Super Nintendo systems. The player will also enjoy the dec- ent gameplay and the cool visual effects. In the second stage, "Konami" starts to experiment. We have a new third person 3-D perspective that is a mixture of "Tomb Raider" with the attitude of "Duke Nukem." Although it was not as captivating as the side- scrolling perspective, it was a fine try and actually proved to be interesting to play. The player even has a laser pointer for the gun. But after that, we have the warped overhead view, where visibility is relatively nothing. This is aggravating because a player can be cruising through the whole level, and then suddenly become blind. The bosses were off-screen, and ono can't judge the distance of the bullets nor the level .of the gun, not to mention that the figure is small as lint o the screen. Another flaw of "C" is that it is just for one player "Contra" was always for two players. Why change? But despite all the bad points, "C" is a decent game., It definitely beats the first Playstation "Contra" The controls are good and the music and sound effects are fitting. The graphics are up to date with some well-,: designed 3-D and lighting effects. The difficulty is a lit- tle high, but that's expected from a "Contra" game. Konami definitely deserves credit for trying this new third-person 3-D perspective. Overall, the game contains many perks to keep y interested for a while, but it would be betterW. "Konami" would simply create a straight up "Contra" game that is an upgrade of the original. We already know what works best, so why try the rest? - Stephen Ma Schroder & Co. Inc. is a major investment bank, with headquarters in New York City, engaged in corporate finance, securities research, institutional and private investor sales and trading. Our approach is to develop personalized client relationships founded on integrity and excellence. By combining our specialized industry knowledge, investment banking expertise and the international resources of Schroders plc, we help our clients achieve their objectives around the world. CORPORATE FINANCE ANALYST RECRUITING: rb Presentation & Reception er 15, 1998 ::-f