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Lets talk about Star Trek Voyager

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I loved it, but boy oh boy did it have some really awful episodes.
TNG is my favorite, next is DS9, but I feel DS9 had its share of terrible moments.
Original series is fun but I didn't watch it growing up so I don't really have any nostalgia for it.

They need to make a new Star Trek series.
 

Baleoce

Member
Let's also not talk about the horrible fact that Janeway somehow got promoted to Admiral before Picard.

Nemesis-09.jpg

Picard was offered an Admiralship near the beginning of TNG. In season 1 infact. He turned it down because he realises that he serves Starfleet far better in the Captains chair. It's not a position he strives for.
 

Imbarkus

As Sartre noted in his contemplation on Hell in No Exit, the true horror is other members.
Upon further reflection, I think Kirk might have kept Nurse Spapel around...
 

Sickbean

Member
I read your entire OP in a thick Baltic accent.

That's probably the only good thing to have come out of Star Trek Voyager.
 

Jay Sosa

Member
I loved it, afair there wasn't even one crew member I disliked (in stark contrast to all other ST shows besides the original series). So, like I always, I completely disagree with the majority of GAF.

Voyager>DSN>OS>NG>Enterprise
 

Jay Sosa

Member
So I'm crazy cause I have a unique taste. Sure, If you say so.

No worries, I take that as a compliment coming from someone on GAF ;P
 

Vitten

Member
It was OK I guess, some of the later episodes ( mostly those with the doctor and seven of nine) were excellent but there where a lot of stinkers in there as well.

IMO what they show mostly lacked was a sense of continuity like DS9. They hit the reset button a bit too much.. So many things happening had almost no consequence and there was little sense of progression or evolution in the characters.

Also didn't like how the ship and the crew remained so squeakly clean even though they were supposed to be stranded and isolated at the other side of the galaxy.. There was a serious lack of grit, attrition and wear and tear. It would have been cool to see the ship evolve into some Federation-Alien technolgy hybrid as they tried to fix or upgrade stuff with whatever was at hand. Sorta like that episode when they ran into the other federation ship ( I think it was called the Equinox ?) which did NOT have such a wonderful time. I guess they did put in some Borg stuff at the end if I remember but that wasn't much..

Great premise for an edgier and grittier Star trek but for some reason they kept things clean and shallow.
 

Vagabundo

Member
The only way to explain Janeway's character in the show is if she suffers from bipoplar disorder or possibly depression/psychosis and if so then that damn hologram should be shut down for negligence.

Seriously Janeway was a terrible captain and a terribly inconstant mary-sue character. The crew would have jettisoned her after episode 2.

I did suffer through Voyager as it had some decent stuff in it as well as the deadwood.
 

Mindwipe

Member
I'm pretty sure the guy who played chakotay was actually a block of wood that had been brought to life by a fairy

To be fair, I seem to recall even the actor saying in an interview that he hated the role and had repeatedly asked for Chakotay to do something other than be the world's most boring man and unquestionably the dullest terrorist cell leader in history.
 
To be fair, I seem to recall even the actor saying in an interview that he hated the role and had repeatedly asked for Chakotay to do something other than be the world's most boring man and unquestionably the dullest terrorist cell leader in history.

Yeah, but he was quite obviously phoning it in. He could have at least tried to make something of what he had.
 

Jackpot

Banned
To be fair, I seem to recall even the actor saying in an interview that he hated the role and had repeatedly asked for Chakotay to do something other than be the world's most boring man and unquestionably the dullest terrorist cell leader in history.

But to also be fair, his acting even when he was arguing with Janeway was really bad.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
Yeah, but he was quite obviously phoning it in. He could have at least tried to make something of what he had.
No one could have made him interesting. The writers ignored him for 7 years. I would have been angry at the writers too for giving me a character that was little more than Jane way's yes-man.
 

flyover

Member
I actually find most of Season 4 onward to be pretty watchable. My wife loves Voyager, and I'm happy to watch when she has it on.

The problem with Voyager (okay, ONE of the problems with Voyager) is that it never had exceptional episodes. Good ones, yes. Even a few very good ones. But no transcendent episodes. The Year of Hell reset button (a variation on "it was all a dream") prevented it from being such. Would've been really cool if they had been able to make good on having those episodes part of a longer arc, with aftereffects that lasted even past then.

Also, the Doctor and Seven were great supporting characters. But because they were so much better than anyone else, they wound up taking over the show. As the show's run went on, they were put in much more of lead roles than they should've been given.

Therefore, instead of incrementally growing as characters over the course of the show, they had to have massive revelations nearly every episode -- only to be reset by the next week.

Their prominence also gave the show a weird paradox. It watered down their impact some when they were onscreen. And yet when they weren't the focus, it was often glaring how much worse the show was (with some exceptions, like "Timeless").
 
I had been thinking about making a thread about the best Voyager episodes, so this thread will do nicely.

The Thaw (S2)
Death Wish (S2)
Fair Trade (S3)
Scorpion Parts 1 and 2 (S3 and S4)
Message in a Bottle (S4)
Living Witness (S4)
Night (S5) – An interesting premise and Janeway discusses her decision to strand the crew in the Delta Quadrant.
Timeless (S5) – A good story about Harry Kim and Chakotay. Who knew that could happen!
Thirty Days (S5)
Latent Image (S5)
Equinox Parts 1 and 2 (S5 an S6) – To me, the best pair of Voyager episodes. Gives a taste of what the show could have been. When Voyager starts firing on the Equinox, it's kind of hard to watch.
Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy (S6)
Dragon's Teeth (S6) – A great premise that is executed very well. Too bad the Vaadwaur never make another appearance.


I remember Mortal Coil being really good but I haven't seen it in a while. Any that I'm missing?
 

BobLoblaw

Banned
For me it goes:

DS9 > TNG > Enterprise S3-S4 > Voyager > TOS > Enterprise S1-S2 > TAS

I agree with what you say about S3-S4 Enterprise as well. Especially so in S4. They just went all out, and it finally found its footing. Unfortunately it was too late.
I was with you until you put Voyager ahead of TOS. Voyager really was an abomination and to say it was better than a genre changer like TOS is, um, crazy. Swap TOS and Voyager and now we're talking.
 

Loofy

Member
Loved the show. The stories were just so different.

"Voyager is trapped in orbit about a planet with a space-time differential such that, while its inhabitants live through years, Voyager experiences mere minutes."
"Voyager creates a new Astrometrics Lab, which maps a new course that brings them into contact with a Krenim temporal ship that can erase things from history."
"A reptilian scientist trying to prove his heretical theories kidnaps Chakotay and draws the entire crew in conflict between his race's doctrine and the startling truth about its origin." (space dinosaurs)
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
In Star TNG Picard ended up zillions of light years from home, in the same situation as Voyager, he and his crew worked out how to get home in 60 minutes tops.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_No_One_Has_Gone_Before

Janeway took 7 seasons.

You have to open your mind to the possibility she might have been a bit rubbish.
Picard had the Traveller with him.

Janeway only had an omnipotent Q keep dangling home in front of them every once in a while. For the most part they had to fend for themselves. It wasn't until they stole a ride on a Borg warp gate that they actually got home.


I remember thinking they should have gotten home at the end of season 6 and spent season 7 showing peoples reactions to the events and stories of Voyager. Maybe a trial for Janeway for all the rules she broke, of course ending with her being promoted.

Also, they pretty much invented the reset button. Damn writers never wanted to change anything. Hell, Simpsons took more series changing risks than Voyager did. Not to mention Dexter. (Though we all know how that one ended up)

I should really watch a few episodes again on Netflix. It's been a long time.
 
Because of this topic, I just watched Year of Hell.

It wasn't bad, except that literally during the last 10 minutes of the 2-part arc, Voyager suddenly, randomly, and with zero explanation has a fleet of 5 ships following it, of races that we've never heard of throughout either of these episodes. None of the actual people on these ships is ever seen or heard on-screen.

In addition, Janeway apparently made this alliance off-screen during a time when Voyager itself was barely functional and 75% destroyed, and only had literally 7 people on board. The purpose of this fleet was to band together and attack the time-ship that had been causing the temporal disturbances... a ship that none of the other races in this fleet should have ever heard of.

Some of the most lazy story-telling I've ever seen.
 

Desty

Banned
I like the episode Drone the best since One kicked ass.

The worst one was when they got attacked by those macroviruses. I never finished that episode it was so bad. I think that whole episode was based on the word "macro viruses" that were introduced into Word back in the day.
 

Baleoce

Member
I was with you until you put Voyager ahead of TOS. Voyager really was an abomination and to say it was better than a genre changer like TOS is, um, crazy. Swap TOS and Voyager and now we're talking.

I 100% agree with you that TOS was a genre changer and the influence it had has been echoing every since. However, I was rating them in terms of enjoyability to watch. I liked neither. But I'd still rate Voyager slightly more, due to some of the fun two-parters. Then again, I should probably take those points right back for some of the awful borg episodes.
 

MikeDown

Banned
I remember one distinct episode where these aliens boarded Voyager, forcing everybody to play in a WWII simulation.
 

MC Safety

Member
Voyager was terrible for many reasons, chief among them its embrace of technobabble.

Except for the doctor, the crew was pretty bad, too.
 

Savitar

Member
Voyager was so bad.

I was such a Star Trek fan that I kept watching but at the same time knew they were running the whole damn thing into the ground. Any tropes or cliches Star Trek had they basically touched on and made it seems worse, there was nothing bold or creative, everything was played safe. The whole thing was such a disappointment and Neelix, fuck I hated him. Hated him with a passion.
 
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