Star Trek Voyager - A Thread for Fans (1 Viewer)

[Nelson Au]

Scott, all those episodes I really liked too, with the exception of Coda. Coda was okay.

 

I thought Blood Fever was good, it was another look at Amok Time. And yes, False Profits was a natural for them to do! I skipped Before and After and Displaced. Perhaps I'll play those. Distant Origin was a stand out too.

 

[Neil Middlemiss]

Distant Origin is the kind of episode that Star Trek does best, a critical and evaluative reflection on society through the paradigm of science-fiction. One of the series' best!

 

[Simon Massey]

Ive started watching Voyager again from the beginning but only on Season 1 so far. Forgotten about Eye of the Needle which I thought was really good and really enjoyed Emanations again.

 

FYI Emanations was the first episode of Star Trek I ever watched and it got me watching all the other shows. I remember buying it on VHS years ago and deciding to keep watching. Probably why I enjoy Voyager so much now though DS9 is still my favourite show.

 

Noticed Janeway's hair a lot more which they really cant seem to decide on episode to episode. The again I do like Kate Mulgrew a lot. I heard her do a talk for an hour once on the show and she was really great. I do like her voice too!!

 

[Simon Massey]

Finished Season 1 and onto Season 2

 

Forgotten about the Jetrel episode - very few good Neelix episodes that I recall but this is one of the best of the series I thought.

 

[Ockeghem]

^^^

 

Agreed, it is a wonderful episode. Jetrel stars one of my all-time favorite Trek actors, James Sloyan. His performance as Alidar Jarok in The Defector (TNG) is very good, as is his work on DS9 (I thought he was quite convincing as Mora Pol in The Begotten and The Alternate). But I think his performance in the TNG episode Firstborn (as 'future' Alexander) is probably my favorite.

 

[Nelson Au]

Those early Romulan episodes are my favorites from TNG and Jarok and was a great character. I thought Jetral was a heavy episode. I forgot Sloyan was "future" Alexander!

 

I just saw In the Flesh. Great to see Walston as Boothby again, though as a alien version! And I'm the 5th season now where they have developed the Delta Flyer and Paris has his "infantile" Captain Proton holonovel! Those are fun!

 

[Simon Massey]

On to Season 2 - what the hell is Nog doing in Voyager ? (Initiations). Never realised he was in it. Always love a good Doctor episode too (Projections) . You can see they realised the need to get the doctor out of sickbay more.

 

[Simon Massey]

Twisted - terrible episode where nothing actually happens.

 

Up to this stage there has only been one episode which has really focused on Kes and it was only ok. I dont recall why Jennifer Lien decided to leave the show, but I would suspect lack of anything to do would have been a large factor. I hadnt realised on my first watch of the show how little her character is developed. Other than the jealousy thing from Neelix and a rapport with the Doctor, there has been ver little and even those two things have only been snippets in other episodes or where the focus is on the other character.

 

[Nelson Au]

Funny! There didn't seem to be a point to Twisted.

 

I'm almost finished with S5. There have been a much more consistent number of better episodes here. I only skipped one episode, Nothing Human.

 

I thought Course Oblivion was an interesting visit back to an earlier episode, Demon Planet.

 

But I think the better shows were In the Flesh, Extreme Risk, Drone, 30 Day, Bride of Chaotica, Bliss and I liked Gravity much more this time around. Dark Frontier was a surprise, I forgot it was a two hour special episode. And I liked it. But I can see some who criticize it as being part of the declawing of the Borg. It seems natural now that they are in the Delta Quadrant that they would encounter the Borg more often. I do agree they didn't seem as much a treat to them!

 

[Simon Massey]

Just finished Season 2. Overall I think it is one of the weakest seasons of the show but there are still some great ones in there

 

Best episodes : Projectons, Maneuvers, Meld, Deadlock, Tuvix, Resolutions, Basics Part 1.

Worst episodes : Twisted, The Thaw

 

The standout episode for me was Meld - would have loved to see more of Suder in the show.

 

 

[Nelson Au]

I've gotten through S5 and am into S6 now. Some very good episodes here. Barge of the Dead, Dragon's Teeth, Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy, Equinox, Alice and One Small Step. I forgot that Ron Moore was on the writing staff for a short time and didn't have a very good time and left. His episodes were strong ones.

 

I came across this youtube video, it's a 6 part piece on an E special for Voyager. I saw the first 3 and it was a pretty much puff piece to promote the show. Still interesting to see in hindsight.

 

 

[Ockeghem]

What was the name of the episode in which we heard phrases like 'He glimpsed the before time" or something to that effect? This is the episode where the inhabitants of a planet wanted to die with their faces facing the sun, if I'm not mistaken. That was a wonderful episode, and I can't recall which season it is from, or the episode title. Thanks in advance.

 

Now that I think of it, I can't even be certain that it was from VOY.

 

[Nelson Au]

Hi Scott, I think I know that one, I won't give away one of the plot points, but yes, they didn't want to die facing down. It is Nemesis from season 4.

 

But the line you quoted sounded like Jahn from Miri!

 

[Ockeghem]

Nelson,

 

Thanks. I couldn't recall the name of that one. I want to watch it again.

 

LOL! Yes, it did sound a lot like Jahn! And, I love this line from Miri: "Them and their pills and things."

 

[Nelson Au]

You're welcome Scott! I hope that was the one. It was interesting what they did in that show.

 

I'm into the 3rd disc of Season 6. I thought Season 5 was very strong and had some fun shows and some exciting ones. So it's interesting to see Season 6. It's going more in the same vein of S5. Exploring more broadly and doing character shows. The last 2 I watched was Pathfinder and Fair Haven. I was surprised to not see more comments in the Memory Alpha entry on this one. Did Mulgrew like this one for the more romantic side? I thought I recalled at the time of it's initial broadcast, there was a lot of positive buzz for Fair Haven. I liked it, nice change of pace.

 

And I thought Pathfinder was really good too, though it feels more like a TNG episode obviously and had shades of the Enterprise finale. But they brought it back to Voyager nicely and ended it on a high note.

 

[Simon Massey]

Getting through Season 3 much quicker than Season 2. Enjoyed Basics but a shame they got rid of Suder so quickly. Really enjoyed the Future's End 2-parter.

 

[Kevin Hewell]

Fair Haven is one of the eps that hardcore Trek fans bash Voyager for.

 

[Nelson Au]

 

 

Fair Haven is one of the eps that hardcore Trek fans bash Voyager for.

 

Everything else, the storm and the other stuff was just background noise. I liked Mulgrew's performance at showing some embarrassment when Chakotay sees her letting her hair down and the Doctor when he calls her on it. I think for Janeway, she had a nice emotional affair, not a physical one. And that made her happy for a while, but she knew it wasn't real.

 

But the bigger picture for me is, how the heck can the Doctor have emotions and then have a kid? (Blink of an Eye, the other episode I really liked. Great to see such a young Daniel Dae Kim! I really like the subtle bits there about collecting the entire set of Sky Ship models. And as a story, I thought it was told well and I really liked the emotional tug at the end. But that's for another discussion)

 

In Star Trek TNG, Data cannot have emotions. He's essentially a computer program, just like the Doctor. And they stressed this a lot. But I can see them explain it away as the Doctor's software for emotions was written in to his program. But even if it was, he'd just behave that way, but not necessarily feel. So the times that I thought Voyager went too far was when the Doctor fought for the rights for the Hologram characters. The time he fell in love with the Vidian girl he helped. And when he was helping Seven of Nine learn how to date and then falls in love with her. The episode called Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy, I really enjoyed. It was totally goofy and fun. Which is how I took it. But if you think about it, how can a Holographic doctor have feelings of ambition and wanting to do more! (The Emergency Holographic Captain's collar pips was a nice touch!) And then the most recent one I saw, Virtuoso, which was a nice examination of Fandom, how could the doctor feel like he does there? Adoring the love he got from his fans, letting it go to his head and then wanting to stay on the planet, and his disappointment when his girlfriend was able to create a superior holographic doctor who has a higher vocal singing range. It was great stuff and fun to watch Robert Picardo run with it. It was what made him so lovable. But if you think about it, it is a little far fetched! But it is the 24th Century, so who knows how far artificial intelligence will go.

 

Another episode I really liked a lot was One Small Step. I feel bad for Beltran though. It seemed like it should have been his episode and it turned into Seven of Nine learning to broaden her horizons.
 

PS, now that I think about it, perhaps Seven of Nine becomes the Voyager version of Data. She was human, but was struggling with emotions. I know there's an episode coming up that addresses this. But I haven't spoiled myself on the plot yet. I can't recall how it went, so I look forward to seeing it.

 

[Simon Massey]

After a pretty solid opening set of episodes, Season 3 is pretty disappointing in the middle and then much stronger for the last few episodes. Overall though Id say this seems weaker generally than Season 2 but there are far stronger individual episodes that I really enjoyed. When I had finished Season 2 I felt that was weaker but now Im not so sure. Shame as there are some great episodes in Season 3.

 

Best episodes : Distant Origin, Before and After, Scorpion Part 1, Future's End Part 1 & 2, Unity, Coda, Real Life, Worst Case Scenario, Displaced
Worst episodes : Darkling, Favourite Son, Rise, Alter Ego

 

Since I remember Kes leaves pretty early in Season 4, its nice that the character finally got one good episode (Before and After). Not surprising in retrospect that she was the one who left or was got rid of as there was very little done with the character over the season.

 

Also had to comment on Scorpion which is every bit as good as I remember it for an end of season episode. And some beautiful effects shots of Voyager from the typical shots (I love the bit where it is hit by the bio ship and then jumps to warp )

 

Onto Season 4 which I remember as being one of my favourite

 

[Simon Massey]

You know Im about halfway through Season 4 now and the jump in quality overall is quite striking. Even the average episodes are still entertaning enough.

 

Everyone points to the introduction of Seven on Nine as a major turning point in Voyager. Regardless of why she was appointed I have to give credit to Jeri Ryan, who cannot be stupid enough to not realise part of the reason she was given the job was down to her appearance. Whats great is how she (and I will give the writer's credit too) manages to overcome this and make her a much more interesting character. Kes was presumably intended to be the "fish out of water" with Neelix but she was far too bland a character.

 

But I dont think it is just that. Everyone seems to have grown into their characters far more and the theme of "family" is far more prevalent this season - there is a direction to the show that seemed to be absent in previous seasons. Whilst there may have been too much focus on Seven for Season 4 Im not complaining when u get better episodes as a result.

 

Whilst there are good episodes in the first three seasons, it wasn't consistent. Now there seems to be much more consistency and a much greater number of very good episodes too.

 

One other thing that struck me as I was watching Message in a Bottle and Hunters. The show up to Season 4 did not focus enough on Voyager's unique situation of being stranded far from home and trying to reach the Alpha Quadrant. Episodes like this tended to be far stronger. Reminds me of the episode Eye of the Needle from Season 1. I wasnt particularly interested in the Hirogen, more on the wonderful scenes of the crew dealing with receiving letters from home - Janeway's letter from her now ex-fiance ; Chakotay and Torres dealing with the end of the Maquis.

 

Good season so far Its been such a long time since I saw the show originally and I have only seen it once that most of the episodes Im watching now I have forgotten what happens.