Often the subject of disagreement, Voyager is talked about poorly by some and praised by others. Seeing plenty of posts about it here. Well ya know - I think Voyager is underrated.
That show took risks. They ran some stories that were just risky in terms of writing and production - sometimes it was a hit, sometimes a stinker. That’s why it has some amazing episodes and some really really stupid ones, because they were willing to take a chance on something uncertain. And I respect that, too many shows these days feel like the same recycled crap because television has become so risk-averse and they’re not willing to take a chance on something that might turn out dumb.
So we got ones like the infamous warp 10 episode, and those are remembered as cases where the show got really dumb. But as an example, Seven of Nine could’ve completely bombed that show. Yes it looked like they were bringing on a bimbo for sex appeal, and they absolutely could’ve went that route with her. Fans might’ve hated the change no matter what. I mean, that’s a big deal, losing a main character and adding a new one - shows don’t always survive that.
Also there are things I notice from a production standpoint. From reading about the making of TNG, one thing I remember is them talking about never wanting to damage the costumes or get them dirty, or damage the set. That increases their production costs, cheaper to just not do that.
But Voyager does this all the time. Uniforms are always getting burned and torn, Neelix spills things on his shirt, the bridge is shown being blown up or completely transformed. All the times they have smoke inside there, there’s something with water, parts are broken off - that’s something they had to clean up for the next episode. If they show burn marks on the captain’s chair, that means they’ll have to be cleaned or the whole prop replaced, at the risk of it not being identical or impossible to fix.
So the point is - respect for taking those risks. Didn’t always land, but plenty of them did.
I really enjoyed Voyager and still watch episodes regularly. For me it was the idea of being so far from the “known universe” and what that would be like.
I love Voyager. It’s one of my go to’s to watch, and when asked, I will always say Janeway is my captain.
But I’m also a Star Trek: Enterprise apologist, so i might be easily pleased.
Janeway is also my Captain.
Enterprise was fine just not great and not really canon but better than the crap JJ Abrams made.
YES! Janeway is a great captain that often doesn’t get credit.
@catshit_dogfart Voyager was my main Trek when I was younger and will always be my favourite. Janeway was awesome, and it’s location in the Delta quadrant, far from Starfleet, made for some unique story opportunities.
When Seven was introduced, I was already bitter about the move Sliders made to remove a beloved character and bring on a hot woman, so I was really upset that Voyager did the same. But grew to love the character over time.
Voyager was fantastic & made me a Trek fan.
I’m still really sad that Kes was written off. Got no problem with Seven, but Kes was a good character on her own.
But, Neelix was pretty crap until Kes was removed from the show. Without her to be constantly jealous of, Neelix finally started to be useful and interesting.
I agree 100%, his spat with Tom was annoying, I liked him better once she was out of the picture.
I think the character of Kes was very poorly written. It limited the acting range of Jennifer Lien, which is only really given a chance to shine in the episode Warlord.
I’m watching through it now for the first time (I already worked through TNG and DS9). I’m liking it a lot more than I expected, given what I’d heard about it. I really like the premise, and Janeway is a badass. Plus even the characters that others don’t seem to like as much, I enjoy. I’m about halfway through season 4 and I have noticed a drastic increase in quality of the episodes too, lots of cool stuff going on, and Seven is awesome. I started calling Janeway Insaneway in my head after a couple of stunts she’s done.
I liked Voyager a lot the first few times. We used to binge it on VHS box sets. There are good and bad episodes like any series. The cast generally do well with what they are given and the design and production quality of the show for its time is excellent. Some of the characters get less development than they could have and the technobabble is often overdone but the show was unfairly treated by a lot of the star trek fandom then and now.
I grew up with Voyager and it holds a special place in my heart. I think it was a show of high highs and low lows, compared to other Treks. I wish they had the bravery to serialize it the way DS9 was.
I totally agree. Voyager is what got me really into Trek. It really set the tone that it’s easy/easier to live by the high minded, aspirational values of the federation when resources are abundant to infinite, but Voyager showed us that those values just as important if not moreso in the darkness.
And let’s be honest, Sisko didn’t really even seem to subscribe to those values, so DS9 wasn’t similar in that regard.
I’ve been ploughing through Trek since April and am finally at season 6 of Voyager. While it is better than I remember it’s still my second least favourite Trek so far. Some really good episodes but the ratio of stinkers and/or just plain boring ones seems very high and I am finding it a real stamina battle.
In my view, having rewatched Voyager again decades after first run, the show not only took successful risks in several episodes like the Demon duology or The Thaw, it has some ‘best ever’ episodes for employing some classic Star Trek tropes.
At the time, I suspect some fans focused on the ‘not new idea’ more than ‘did it better than’ but at this point it’s fairly clear.
For fans who came to Voyager first (including our kids), the original TOS and TNG episodes that Voyager built upon just seem weak by comparison.
More, when SNW does something similar, people are viewing these kind of episodes from the perspective of how well done within a type rather than criticizing them for reworking a trope.
Tuvix.
I never understood the hate, it’s my favorite series!
I know it’s not a storytelling masterpiece, but dammit it gives me the warm fuzzies
Yeah, it’s my comfort show, haha.
Sometimes it’s nice to have a show about people in a dire situation, where instead of everything being shit the lights are on and they’re productively working together to accomplish their aims.
One of the issues I think voyager faced is trek fatigue.
That was at a time where major overarching universes were not a thing. People were not use to a universe being on the air as much as it was. Then fans were upset because how dare it have a female captain. Mix in a lot of other sci Fi on tv, voyager was in a tough spot.
Today I think fans are seeing it for what it was supposed to be. You can put it on and enjoy an episode while on your phone. No need to overly focus, no huge plot lines. Just what rank is Tom that season.
Voyager got me into star trek. Whilst it’s not my go-to to rewatch, I find myself thinking about it more often than any other show. The “cut off from rest of human civilization” is just too good.
What are episodes people think are dumb?
I think the last seasons the writers really had some fun and the actors must have loved those.
Let’s see, I don’t remember episode titles but from memory:
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The one where Harry Kim is having visions of a planet full of hot desperate women who want him for a mate
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The one where they’re on a prison colony and Chakotay has to fight The Rock. And this was before Dwayne Johnson’s film career really took off.
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The one where they go Warp 10 and devolve into lizard creatures. The lizard versions of Tom Paris and Janeway have lizard babies.
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The one where Janeway falls in love with a holodeck character
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The one where Kes comes back and she’s evil
It’s a real mixed bag. Sometimes you swing and you miss, and I respect them for even giving these stories a chance. Also I rather like Tuvix.
I don’t think all of those were that bad lol.
Though Kes is fucking terrible in general.
Such a shame with Kes too. Fantastic actress, badly designed character, poor planning. Wasn’t her fault.
C’mon Fair Haven gave us the line ‘Delete the wife’, it deserves awards for that alone
With Threshold I always was mildly impressed with how they made a point that evolution doesn’t necessarily mean that a species will become super advanced somehow. That they evolved “in-place” instead of over generations is still a pretty bonkers misunderstanding of evolution that they always fall for, but I guess watching them turn into lizards over the next several decades probably wouldn’t make the best TV lol
I agree. Honestly Threshold was a decent episode up until that ending. But the ending… was just too much.
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As I read though your post, I realized there’s similarities to the Star Wars Prequels. They were hated at the time probably for the same reasons you mentioned, it was different, new things were added that the older and louder fans didn’t like, but as time went on, those people quit complaining so much and people realized there was a lot to enjoy… I guess some things just need time.
Interestingly it was almost an opposite phenomenon, Voyager was widely liked at the time but became less popular as serialised TV shows took off.
It’s now coming back again as people are getting a bit burned out by everything having to have a season long plot line
I think that’s what I really liked about DS9 and what happened in Enterprise that I wish could’ve happened with Voyager: front loaded with unserialized episodes but then the final seasons having some real stakes, strong character growth, and a big story to bring the series to a close.
Probably an unpopular opinion but I quite liked season 1 of voyager with the kazon. Had a bit of an exotic wild west feel.
It always amuses me that Seasons 1&2 had the most serialisation, but are often the least liked by the same people that complain the show wasn’t serialised enough
I really like the “vibe” of seasons 1&2. The writing and characters were still finding their footing, but I loved the feeling of wild exploration and risk-taking. Very TOS.