TV REVIEW : ‘Voyager’ Trek Leaves Human Emotion Behind

Is Rick Berman a closet Vulcan?

Just asking. Certainly, there are far worse accusations that could be lobbed at a producer, and far worse pilots that could have been engineered than the one christening “Star Trek: Voyager” tonight. The new series’ feature-length premiere is brisk, efficient, densely plotted, sufficiently entertaining, reasonably cerebral and . . . yes, emotionally vacant.

Sounds just like the recent Berman-guided theatrical feature “Star Trek: Generations,” no?

Though it, unfortunately, never slows down long enough for anyone to palpably feel anything, this third modern series spinoff from the original “Trek” has potential charms aplenty in its expedition.

Foremost is a new captain who, for the first time since impetuous Kirk, isn’t a cold fish waiting to be thawed. Kate Mulgrew’s Kathryn Janeway is red-blooded, whether getting kissy-face via videophone with her mate before her ship sets sail into the galaxy or barking clipped orders once underway.

Sexism, happily, seems not to be an issue in the 24th Century. Although fresh-faced officer Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), on his first Starfleet mission, has trouble not calling the cap’n “sir” on initial rounds, there are no cracks among the crew about female leadership.

And said crew is multicultural, what with a Native American first officer, a black-Vulcan security officer, a half-human/half-Klingon engineer (who goes a long way in finally making high, ribbed foreheads sexy), and so on. White guys don’t rate high: Of two in the principal cast, one’s a playboy, the other’s a hologram.

You definitely get your money’s worth in narrative. The Voyager sets out to assist an endangered ship of renegade freedom fighters, but both vessels get sucked into a portal that empties out 70,000 light-years away. Marooned, the Starfleeters and mercenaries must team up to determine the elusive nature of the “Gatekeeper” who brought and abandoned them there.

The climax has Mulgrew making a brave, momentous decision that will leave the Voyager effectively “lost in space” for the run of the series. This severance from the known universe ought to be at least momentarily poignant, but (like Kirk’s “Generations” death scene, where there was hardly a wet eye in the house) passes quickly and perfunctorily.

Perhaps Berman’s brisk matter-of-factness is an overreaction to complaints about how sentimental the “Trek” movies were getting. But vis-a-vis the Voyager’s directive to explore uncharted space, it’s worth remembering that human emotion is the deepest space of all.

* “Star Trek: Voyager” premieres at 8 on KCOP, KADY and KUSI.