Part III, Chapter XIII: "Oh, Let's Do The Odyssey"
“Things had really loosened up on set by Season Two. We all knew our roles a lot better, and we’d already become well acquainted by that point. Not that the first season wasn’t fun, but it was definitely more fun from there, even when we tackled more dark material in the show. I know Tuvok is this very stoic character, but I was very much a joker on set, or so I’ve been told. Still, Tuvok has plenty of comedic moments, even if they are mostly at his expense.”
- Tim Russ on Season Two of
Star Trek: Odyssey. [1]
The release of Season Two of
Star Trek: Odyssey was hotly anticipated. It served as a sort of “soft relaunch” for the show, as it moved over to UPN. In terms of tone, it would largely be similar to the first season, especially given that some of the stories had been filmed along with the first season, but had been held off until the second season. Among these was the season opener, “The Things That Matter”, which was originally going to be a “season straddler” to bridge the first two seasons.
Season Two would build on the first season quite heavily, though this did leave some fans who had missed the first season behind somewhat. The move towards “soft serialisation” meant that the show lent itself more to network broadcasting, rather than syndication, where the broadcast order was sometimes altered by the individual stations. [2]
The second season of
Star Trek: Odyssey began airing in the fall of 1996. It received largely positive reviews.
List of Episodes of Season 2 of Star Trek: Odyssey:
The Things That Matter (Part I) [3]
The Things That Matter (Part II)
Death Wish
Sejal [4]
Outpost Morthlan
Dreadnought
In Corpore Sano
Non-Sequitur
Prior Notions
Meld
Xenotransplantation
Assignment: Home
Going Courting
Birth Control [5]
The Warning [6]
Resistance
Non-Human Persons
Deadlock
Visit To A Small Planet [6]
What’s The Matter?
The Chute
Lifesigns
The Resolution
Manipulated [7]
Projections
Coparcenary (Part I)
Bold denotes a story written by @The Chimera Virus
Cast of Season 2 of Star Trek: Odyssey:
Captain Katherine Janeway – Claudia Christian
Commander Chatan – Graham Greene
Commander Evek – Nigel Havers
Lt. Tuvok – Tim Russ
Lt. Rejal – Tracy Scoggins
Lt. (j.g.) Kollin Torres – Kim Cattrall
Ensign Harry Kim – Garrett Wang
Ensign Nick Locarno – Robert Duncan McNeill
The Doctor – Robert Picardo
Falox – Ethan Phillips
Kes – Jennifer Gatti
The move to UPN had definitely had the desired effect. Airing on a Monday, with
Deep Space Nine on a Wednesday, there was a large increase of people tuning in to see the developments in the
Star Trek universe every week. Having the two shows air so close together was, it would seem, a product greater than the sum of its parts, as viewer figures increased for both shows.
As opposed to the 6% figure it had had during the first season, it managed to gain 9%, taking a slight hit after the release of The WB’s
Buffy the Vampire Slayer, for which there was a not insignificant overlap in target audience. [8]
Regardless, the show was continuing to earn its place, and had now found a dedicated fanbase. Further seasons were all but guaranteed should the figures remain as they were. [9]
[1] Tim Russ was, by all accounts, very much a jokester on set. I don't see that changing with this cast. Maybe even a little more?
[2] I've done a lot of reading up on the behind-the-scenes stuff with the stations recently, and I actually understand ratings and the season schedule now. Expect a little more of this kind of stuff in the timeline.
[3] It's the "The 37's" story of OTL, but with a lot of changes.
[4] The "Tuvix" of TTL. It plays out a little differently
[5] OTL's "Prototype"
[6] Both of these stories are based on unused concepts from OTL
[7] OTL's "Menuevers"
[8] Buffy makes another appearance. It will get its own update this year, but it won't be at the same level of detail as Trek or Who, at least, I don't intend for it to be.
[9] I tried to make a "Niners" style nickname for the fans, but Odyssey really doesn't lend itself to that.