I’ve been rewatching Star Trek: Voyager and I’ve been surprised by how little it sucks. I’d seen almost every episode of it when I was much younger but I never thought it was nearly as good as The Next Generation, which it probably isn’t, but it’s still a lot better than I remembered. I’m most of the way through Season 4 and just in the last few episodes there have been some greats like Mortal Coil, Waking Moments, Message in a Bottle, Vis a Vis, and Living Witness, which I think rival some of the best of TNG.
Any favorite Voyager episodes? I guess I’m committed to watching through the rest of the show, hopefully it stays as good as it has been so far.
The only Voyager episode I really liked was “Equinox Part I”. I could take or leave the rest.
If you like Voyager, I’d recommend the short-lived series “Last Resort”. It was basically Voyager on a submarine and it did the stranded far from home and in desperate circumstances plot much much better.
I never thought *Voyager *really deserved all the criticism it’s had. There were some truly fine episodes, but the worst ones truly sucked beyond belief.
I think all the Trek shows were like that. You could pick out a very good 15-30%, a truly awful 15-30%, and the rest were decent/middling. Which shows had the best percentages is a matter of opinion.
IMO, the worst Voyager episodes are pretty much the worst episodes of any Trek ever (Threshold is the only episode of any of the series that I’m aware of the writer apologizing for), but the best (Year of Hell, for instance) are up with the best of TOS and DS9, and well beyond the best of TNG.
And I think Voyager held the middle ground more consistently. TNG might have hit its own quality ceiling more often, but it also hit the basement more often, too (I find 4/7 seasons of TNG unwatchable, aside from a couple random episodes, some of which I mostly like due to childhood fondness).
Just watched Night. Another good episode. “Time to take out the garbage!”
I do wish they’d had to spend the entire episode in a darkened ship, though, the few minutes where the lights were off were pretty cool. All in all season 4 is turning out to be pretty strong.
Edit: Oops, turns out Night is the first episode of season 5.
I last watched the series seven or eight years ago, but I liked it/didn’t hate it also. Two of my favorites are Year of Hell and Course: Oblivion. Season 5, episode 18.
My biggest problem with the show is that the whole premise is based on a massive violation of the Prime Directive, and nobody even seems to notice. If they had followed the rules, they’d have been back home within a day.
I’ve never really cared about the Prime Directive. But you’re right. Still, I’m left with the impression at the end of most episodes that Janeway is a good person and one I’d be glad to know was a captain were I a citizen of the Federation, whatever many fan’s complaints of her might entail.
Voyager had some great episodes, but to me, they never reached the heights of TNG. However, the shitty Voyager episodes never reached the lows that TNG did. TNG had a ton of crap. (I watched every single episode of both shows in a sort of marathon setting, some years apart, TNG first then VOY).
The main problem I had with Voyager is that other than Janeway, Doctor, and Seven of Nine, all the characters are completely forgettable and have no notable, interesting qualities. After a few years went by, I couldn’t even remember most of the character’s names anymore. Chakotay, Tuvok, Paris, B’elanna (sp?)… so boring and forgettable. I barely even remember Neelix and Kes. The only reason I even remember all of their names at this point is because I’ve recently gone back and watched some. Oh yeah… and I think I forgot about Ensign Kim or whatever the asian guy was.
Tuvok was a black Spock with none of the charm. Paris was kind of like Riker I guess (though not the same rank of course), but was extremely milquetoast and forgettable. B’elana was just there. Kim was just there.
But the episodes where Janeway, Doctor or Seven had interesting things to do or say were fantastic. Also, and this is the scary part, the VOY episodes where Barkley and Troi show up, end up being some of the better ones and that should tell you how bad/forgettable most of the characters were. I actually genuinely enjoyed those VOY episodes, and Troi/Barkley were widely regarded as some of the worst TNG characters ever, yet on VOY they shined.
Overall, I think VOY was much more consistent with a lot less HORRIBLE episodes, but never hit the same heights and never had the same great ensemble cast as TOS and TNG.
Voyager’s problem, as I’ve said beforee, was that its producers didn’t have the balls to follow the terms of their premise. If they’d shown the ship gradually getting more run-down and the crew getting more desperate, it would have been much, much more interesting than the TNG-with-a-chick it essentially became.
That’s not to put down TNG, by the way. That show and DS9 both worked in large part because they were different from their predecessors. TNG had the same basic format as TOS, but the captains were quite different an the political climate was very different, and of course the visuals were quite improved. DS9 had similar visuals to TNG, but the long-form storytelling and the cynicism about the Federation made it distinct. But Voyager was just showing us something we’d already seen done better.
I really like Voyager. There are some bad episodes, but that’s true with any series. Chakotay could get a bit annoying and Neelix is best taken in smaller doses. But, Janeway is great, The Doctor is great, Tuvok is an interesting character, and the show overall stands up quite well on repeat views. It’s also easy to watch out of order, unlike DS9. And it is far better than the drek that was Enterprise.
I just finished a binge-rewatching of Voyager and it was actually worse than I remember. Janeway was almost a martinet in her determination remain “true” to the spirit of the Prime Directive. And only the needs of the narrative prevented the series from ending with the destruction of Voyager countless times due to her inept leadership.
While there are some good episodes ( The Doctor had a few solid ones and The Year in Hell wasn’t bad) Voyager slightly edges out Deep Sleep Nine as the worst of the Star Trek franchise.
I think at the time fans were burned out on Trek. Also the premise promised something novel but we basically got TNG Lite which isn’t necessarily bad but felt like a missed opportunity which was frustrating. Sci fi fandom was really for a new type of show and because Voyager wasn’t in, anger was heaped on it.
All that said, it could have helped its cause by being awesome and it wasn’t. It was a C+, B- show at best with some good episodes and many stinkers.
And if Agamemnon had been a forgiving guy, the Illiad would have been a very short book.
If Nelson hadn’t turned a blind eye to some signal flags, the Napoleonic Wars may have ended differently.
:rolleyes:
Just watched the Season 5 episode Once Upon A Time. Another winner. 90% of child actors suck ass but the little girl they got to play Naomi did a great job. So far every Neelix-heavy episode has been great.