So with this review, I have now finally reviewed all the Star Trek shows that came out during its resurgence in the late 80s, all the 90s and early 00s. Although
Voyager is a return to space exploration on a starship, it like its predecessor
Deep Space Nine, brings a lot of firsts to the franchise. It's the first series to have a female lead character in the captain role, the first to have a Native American character in the second in command role, the first to have a Vulcan character or two in main roles since the original series and the first to be set in a completely different part of the galaxy with old and new alien species to encounter. Also unlike previous shows where nearly every episode was self-contained stories,
Voyager has the ongoing storyline of the crew trying to return to Earth which is expected to take 75 years from the Delta Quadrant and they spend much of the series trying to find ways to reduce that time while continuing the ongoing mission of exploring the galaxy and finding new life and civilizations. Whereas they have pretty much already achieved the "boldly go" part as they are literally many light years away from the Alpha Quadrant. So let's take a look:
Season 1
A Maquis spaceship and the USS Voyager, venture into the Badlands with the nature of their respective visits being different. The two ships get caught in a blast of sorts that brings both of them into the Delta Quadrant, 75 years away from the Alpha Quadrant. A being known as the Caretaker (played by the late Basil Langton)
is responsible for the two crews current predicament, and the two crews work together to find a way home. This results in one of the ships being destroyed and the two crews becoming one crew on the USS Voyager. After destroying a device that may have been their only way back home, Voyager begins its 75-year journey home while encountering strange new worlds, life and civilizations. Although a short season in comparison to the six seasons that would follow, this one sets the groundwork for the show going forward. It's the first time any Star Trek show has done a long-running storyline that spreads across the entire show's existence, and its starts off reasonably well while keeping with the usual flare that the franchise is known for. 9/10
Season 2
So it turns out the reason for season 1's short length was because four episodes were instead moved to season 2. Not a bad thing, but hey ho. As the Voyager continues its journey home, a love triangle forms with Kes (played by Jennifer Lien), Neelix (played by Ethan Phillips) and Tom Paris (played by Robert Duncan McNeill), The Doctor (played by Robert Picardo) becomes self-aware of his existence as a hologram, a few encounters with the Kazon happen and Reg Barclay (reprised by Dwight Schultz from
Next Generation) makes his first of many appearances as he becomes instrumental in seeing that Voyager returns home. I'm not really sure what to make of this second season. Everyone gets a chance to shine and there are key moments that concern things that were set up in the first season. But overall it feels like a mess in terms of development and moving things along. Hopefully it gets better over time. 7/10
Season 3
After an attempt to regain control of Voyager after landing on an inhospitable planet, the crew continue their journey home. In this season, the crew time travel to the 20th Century, have an encounter with the profit hungry Ferengi, Tuvok
(played by Tim Russ) and B'Elanna (played by Roxann Dawson) begin to have disturbing visions on two separate occasions, Kes has a few troublesome things happening and Q (reprised by John de Lancie) makes the first of many appearances in the series in the wake of a troublesome time in the Q Continuum. This is by far a much better season than number 2. It's more focused on developing its characters this time around, and it ends with the surprise twist of an alien race being far deadlier than the Borg. 9/10
Season 4
Following their encounter with the Borg, Voyager manages to recruit Seven of Nine (played by Jeri Ryan) who becomes the first ever Borg enlisted on a Starfleet vessel. With her mind severed from the Borg Collective, she slowly begins to adapt to being able to think for herself and becomes a key asset to the crew as time goes on. Kes meanwhile makes a sacrifice that as a result, manages to bring Voyager several years closer to home. Other highlights from this season include B'Elanna trying to observe the Klingon "Day of Honour" after the warp core is lost (her being half Klingon herself), the ship receiving its own Astrometrics lab, The Doctor meeting another hologram, Chakotay (played by Robert Beltran) fighting in a war and using his Native American skills to assist Voyager, Neelix has a near-death experience and many other adventures. Seven of Nine is clearly the Spock of
Voyager and having her in the place of the poorly received Kes is definitely the right path for the show to go. Its another solid season that gives us a bit more grittiness in the show, but also time for more development and action packed moments, with some comedy here and there. 8/10
Season 5
In this season, B'Elanna and Tom Paris start a relationship while dealing with some dangerous things in the process, The Doctor and Seven of Nine unwillingly merge to create a new kind of Borg, the Delta Flyer is created for further away missions, Seven of Nine has a personality crisis, Captain Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew) reminisces about one of her ancestors, some shenanigans take place on the holodeck and Voyager encounters another USS starship in the Delta Quadrant. While not quite as good as its previous couple of seasons, season 5 definitely has a lot of great moments and times when the writing was a bit meh. Not the best season, but far better than season 2 any day. 7/10
Season 6
In this season, Voyager encounters the Borg once more and manages to sever even more of them from the collective. Other highlights include Barclay finally finding a way to communicate to Voyager at the risk of losing his Starfleet status, a place called "Fair Haven" quickly becomes one of the more popular holodeck programs with its characters becoming self-aware over time, some of the crew become dangerous when they begin to have terrible flashbacks of an away mission gone wrong, Seven of Nine battles The Rock (obviously played by Dwayne Johnson in a guest appearance), The Doctor meets and attempts to treat his dying creator, Kes makes a deadly return (probably as a result of the poor reception her character received initially) and Voyager infiltrates another Borg cube when they learn that some of the drones are gaining individuality. Again it's another okish season with some outstanding episodes, but plenty that are not all that great. Still, its good to see the writers take advantage of something that was bad about the show and change it similarly to how Scrappy-Doo was received before he became the villain in that one Scooby-Doo film. So again, not a great season, but not the absolute worst one. 8/10
Season 7
In the final season, B'Elanna and Tom get married and have a baby (both of which have some interesting things happen), The Doctor finally experiences the joys of food through Seven of Nine, Barclay continues his efforts to bring Voyager closer to home, a crew of holograms begin an attempt to become superior over organics, the crew become brainwashed at one point, Neelix finds his people again and a Janeway from the future arrives to bring Voyager home and deal with the Borg once and for all in the process. The final season is once again not the best season. But it does manage to wrap up all the story arcs that have been established, even while the show's finale is a love or hate affair. Its been a good ride, but could've been better. 8/10
Its not a popular Star Trek series, but it does well for bringing more firsts to the franchise and giving us a taste of what a completely different part of the galaxy may be like. Writing could've been better in later seasons, but overall its a pretty decent show for Trekkies out there and one that won't be forgotten about any time soon with its beloved and memorable characters. 7/10
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