Voyager Review

[TransporterMalfunction 1]

Written by: trekfan2001

From: Australia

 

Date: 2 May 2002

Summary: Occasionally brilliant, but often predictable and standard trek.

 

While Voyager does have a number of brilliant episodes, the majority are extremely predictable and very much bog standard trek. I sometimes wonder if the producers have a few story templates to use when they run out of ideas.

 

Example Template:

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1. Voyager is flying along in space.

 

2. Voyager discovers planet/anomaly/ship.

 

3. There is some sort of problem with planet/anomaly/ship.

 

4. Voyager's crew solves the problem with the help of some extremely lame techno-babble and everyone is happy.

 

5. Voyager continues on it's merry way to the next predictable episode.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

As far as the characters go, they are extremely under-developed. The only way to tell apart a season one episode from a season seven episode is Janeway's hair style and whether Kes or 7of9 is in it. Some characters also do complete backflips in their behaviour and ideas from episode to episode. In some episodes Janeway refuses to break the prime directive to even the smallest degree, but in other episodes she doesn't think twice about breaking it. A good example of this type of attitude change is the way she refused to share transporter technology with the Kazon, but later in the series she shares holodeck technology with the Hirogen. While the other characters don't have quite as many contradictions, they also aren't given the opportunity to develop contradictions because they are often just there to support Captain "Inconsistent" Janeway.

 

They also killed off some great story possibilities by making the ex-Maquis crew fit in so well. There was so much potential for some great stories filled with tension between the Starfleet and Maquis crew, but instead they turned Voyager into one big happy family after only a few episodes.

 

Basically I think Voyager is the weakest of the Star Trek series. It only has minimal character development, it is very predictable and has some of Star Trek's worst ever episodes (eg: the great Tom Paris turns into a giant catfish episode :-) ). However, Voyager is Star Trek and it has its moments of brilliance. Overall it is still a good series and is much better than a lot of the other rubbish that has been produced for TV.

 

Found on IMDB do you find this review to be a fair appraisal of the Star Trek Voyager series?

Edited October 6, 2003 by TransporterMalfunction

[Captain Bolivar 0]

Unfortunately, I would actually have to agree. I don't find myself watching reruns of Voyager nearly as often as I do the other Star Treks. I fear this may end up being the same with Enterprise, even thought I do love the show. I loved Voyager too, but for the reasons listed, I would say it is the weakest Star Trek. Too soon to tell if Entperprise will fall into the same problem, it is showing some promise with season 3.

[fredbroca 0]

I as well would have to agree. There is a lot of great ep. but it always seemed to me that there was something missing and I do beleve they never devoloped the charicters as much as they have had on other star trek but I have started to watch it over again and so far I am finding that I am enjoying the show more now than when I watched it the first time.

[Madam Captain 0]

trekfan2001

Australia

 

Date: 2 May 2002

Summary: Occasionally brilliant, but often predictable and standard trek.

 

While Voyager does have a number of brilliant episodes, the majority are extremely predictable and very much bog standard trek. I sometimes wonder if the producers have a few story templates to use when they run out of ideas.

 

Example Template:

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1. Voyager is flying along in space.

 

2. Voyager discovers planet/anomaly/ship.

 

3. There is some sort of problem with planet/anomaly/ship.

 

4. Voyager's crew solves the problem with the help of some extremely lame techno-babble and everyone is happy.

 

5. Voyager continues on it's merry way to the next predictable episode.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

As far as the characters go, they are extremely under-developed. The only way to tell apart a season one episode from a season seven episode is Janeway's hair style and whether Kes or 7of9 is in it. Some characters also do complete backflips in their behaviour and ideas from episode to episode. In some episodes Janeway refuses to break the prime directive to even the smallest degree, but in other episodes she doesn't think twice about breaking it. A good example of this type of attitude change is the way she refused to share transporter technology with the Kazon, but later in the series she shares holodeck technology with the Hirogen. While the other characters don't have quite as many contradictions, they also aren't given the opportunity to develop contradictions because they are often just there to support Captain "Inconsistent" Janeway.

 

They also killed off some great story possibilities by making the ex-Maquis crew fit in so well. There was so much potential for some great stories filled with tension between the Starfleet and Maquis crew, but instead they turned Voyager into one big happy family after only a few episodes.

 

Basically I think Voyager is the weakest of the Star Trek series. It only has minimal character development, it is very predictable and has some of Star Trek's worst ever episodes (eg: the great Tom Paris turns into a giant catfish episode :-) ). However, Voyager is Star Trek and it has its moments of brilliance. Overall it is still a good series and is much better than a lot of the other rubbish that has been produced for TV.

 

Found on IMDB do you find this review to be a fair appraisal of the Star Trek Voyager series?

Hi there :P

 

I would have to disagree. Voyager was a great series (and it still is a great series) and I have watched several episodes many times. Even though I'm new to the world of Star Trek, I think Voyager is the best Trek series, closely followed by TNG and DS9. The characters, in my opinion, were well developed, especially Seven, The Doctor, Janeway, B'elanna...................actually, they were all well developed. The only character that I thought didn't get enough development was Kes but I still liked her.

 

Of course there were lots of episodes based on Voyager flying alone through space but that was the whole idea of the series - Voyager was trapped in the Delta Quadrant so naturally there were going to be many times when they were by themselves.

 

Anyway, I loved Voyager (and I still love it) but I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

If you find Voyager so predictable, then what are you doing on this site?? I think it would be better for you to keep your opinions about Voyager to yourself. If you don't like Voyager, then go to the other Trek message boards, there are sections dedicated to TOS, TNG, DS9 and all the movies.

 

I know I'm only new to the world of Trek but I think this message board should contain positive discussions about Voyager. There might be some young impressionable people out there reading threads on this message board, that might be discouraged from watching Voyager. It is such a fantastic show so the more people that like it, the better.

 

Just adding my two cents,

 

I just noticed from the top of your thread that you are from Australia. Me too. There should be more Australians on here, preferably ones that actaully have something good to say about Voyager.

 

I'm not trying to cause angst on this message board and you are entitled to your own opinion but I think there are many trekkies out there who are going to disagree with you,

 

Linda

Edited October 4, 2003 by TransporterMalfunction

[Indy 8]

It seems to me that the Example Template can also be used to describe other Trek series as well. TOS, TNG, DS9 (to a lesser extent since the station didn't fly along in space), and even ENT have episodes which fit that template. I think initially Voyager didn't have as much character development, but made up for that in later seasons.

 

As far as storylines about the Maquis learning to fit in with a Starfleet crew, I just saw an episode called Learning Curves which addressed that issue. I hadn't seen that one in a long time and enjoyed it very much. There was also Parallax, which had a secondary storyline to that effect. Granted, there could have been more episodes dealing with that issue, and I think it was touched on in some secondary storylines. It probably could have been played up a little more.

 

As for Janeway's inconsistencies in the Prime Directive, the same could be said for Kirk. Sometimes we should be willing to overlook things like that in the interest of good storytelling.

 

The worst ever episode, I believe, still belongs to TOS in Spock's Brain.

 

Voyager isn't my favorite Star Trek series, but I do watch it on a regular basis. I am somewhat taken aback by the term "standard trek." I don't quite know what the author means by that, since Trek has never been "standard." It has succeeded because it is different and daring. I must conclude that this is simply one person's opinion, an opinion that I do not share.

[trekzone 0]

ds9 re-runs are more fun to watch than VOY, i agree

[Janeway_IDIC 0]

I totally disagree with the review of Voyager. It seems that some people do not trully appreciate or understand Voyager, it is an fantastic series. The story lines are entertaining and their themes are inspiring. The issues faced by the crew are ones we can identify with learn from as the crew face and resolve the issues. The idea that the writers had a short list of recycleable episode topics is rediuculous. As is the suggestion that the characters on Voyager did not develop. Fans of Voyager who have watched the every episode will notice SIGNIFICANT growth and change within individual crew members and the crew as a whole. I agree with Madam Captain, everyone on board Voyager grows and matures during the journey back to the Alpha Quadrant. No one on board Voyager is the same person as when they were first pulled into the Delta Quadrant. Comments about changes to various charcters hair styles are extremely supperficial. To appreciate Voyager fully it is necessary to look much deeper into the issues and philosophies being discussed during episodes.

 

The controvertial nature of many decisions made during the journey home challenges viewers to seriously consider how to apply ethics and morals under unusual circumstances. I believe Voyager is the best Star Trek series ever produced. Kathryn Janeway is a wonderful role model for today's young women, showing them that they can be just as sucessful in challenging leadership roles as men. The show also demonstrates that anyone can acheieve their goals and dreams through dedication, perseverance and optomism. The ENTIRE program is brilliant!!!

[TransporterMalfunction 1]

Hi there  :P

 

I would have to disagree. Voyager was a great series (and it still is a great series) and I have watched several episodes many times. Even though I'm new to the world of Star Trek, I think Voyager is the best Trek series, closely followed by TNG and DS9. The characters, in my opinion, were well developed, especially Seven, The Doctor, Janeway, B'elanna...................actually, they were all well developed. The only character that I thought didn't get enough development was Kes but I still liked her.

 

Of course there were lots of episodes based on Voyager flying alone through space but that was the whole idea of the series - Voyager was trapped in the Delta Quadrant so naturally there were going to be many times when they were by themselves.

 

Anyway, I loved Voyager (and I still love it) but I guess everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 

If you find Voyager so predictable, then what are you doing on this site?? I think it would be better for you to keep your opinions about Voyager to yourself. If you don't like Voyager, then go to the other Trek message boards, there are sections dedicated to TOS, TNG, DS9 and all the movies.

 

I know I'm only new to the world of Trek but I think this message board should contain positive discussions about Voyager. There might be some young impressionable people out there reading threads on this message board, that might be discouraged from watching Voyager. It is such a fantastic show so the more people that like it, the better.

 

Just adding my two cents,

 

I just noticed from the top of your thread that you are from Australia. Me too. There should be more Australians on here, preferably ones that actaully have something good to say about Voyager.

 

I'm not trying to cause angst on this message board and you are entitled to your own opinion but I think there are many trekkies out there who are going to disagree with you,

 

Linda

Hello Linda (aka Madam Captain),

 

I think I should just clarify that while I did post this message on the boards I am actually not the author by the name of trekfan2001. My username is TransporterMalfunction and I reside in England. (I am also a moderator on this site and in particular the Voyager board. If you have any questions about anything on the board then always feel free to PM me and I will do my best to assist)

 

I found this review on The Internet Movie Database and thought that it made certain points that would stimulate an interesting discussion and allow other users to state their beliefs while respecting the views of others, whether they agree, disagree, or agree with certain statements while disagreeing with others. Thats all part of the fun!

 

Anyway, welcome to the boards and I hope you enjoy your time here.

 

TransporterMalfunction

[mj 7]

I disagree with the review, and agree with the comment above that all trek series follow the same basic pattern, except the ones that had the long story arcs ( DS9 and now ENT).

 

Voyager had good character development, and interesting challenges. They also had that "year of hell", which, although erased with a change in the timeline, still allowed us to go with them through a very trying struggle, when they had suffered numerous defeats.

[subcommanderbeavis 0]

trekfan2001

Australia

 

Date: 2 May 2002

Summary: Occasionally brilliant, but often predictable and standard trek.

 

While Voyager does have a number of brilliant episodes, the majority are extremely predictable and very much bog standard trek. I sometimes wonder if the producers have a few story templates to use when they run out of ideas.

 

Example Template:

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

1. Voyager is flying along in space.

 

2. Voyager discovers planet/anomaly/ship.

 

3. There is some sort of problem with planet/anomaly/ship.

 

4. Voyager's crew solves the problem with the help of some extremely lame techno-babble and everyone is happy.

 

5. Voyager continues on it's merry way to the next predictable episode.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

As far as the characters go, they are extremely under-developed. The only way to tell apart a season one episode from a season seven episode is Janeway's hair style and whether Kes or 7of9 is in it. Some characters also do complete backflips in their behaviour and ideas from episode to episode. In some episodes Janeway refuses to break the prime directive to even the smallest degree, but in other episodes she doesn't think twice about breaking it. A good example of this type of attitude change is the way she refused to share transporter technology with the Kazon, but later in the series she shares holodeck technology with the Hirogen. While the other characters don't have quite as many contradictions, they also aren't given the opportunity to develop contradictions because they are often just there to support Captain "Inconsistent" Janeway.

 

They also killed off some great story possibilities by making the ex-Maquis crew fit in so well. There was so much potential for some great stories filled with tension between the Starfleet and Maquis crew, but instead they turned Voyager into one big happy family after only a few episodes.

 

Basically I think Voyager is the weakest of the Star Trek series. It only has minimal character development, it is very predictable and has some of Star Trek's worst ever episodes (eg: the great Tom Paris turns into a giant catfish episode :-) ). However, Voyager is Star Trek and it has its moments of brilliance. Overall it is still a good series and is much better than a lot of the other rubbish that has been produced for TV.

 

Found on IMDB do you find this review to be a fair appraisal of the Star Trek Voyager series?

Totally agree with you.I thought Voyager was going to be awesome when it debuted.It had the potential to be Roddenberry's Wagontrain to the stars,more than any series before it....a ship and crew all alone so far away from home(and a mixed Starfleet/Maquis crew at that!),with Neelix as a sort of alien Sacagawea,leading them through unknown space.But it SUCKED!For all the reasons you stated,and then some.I got sooo tired of shows that focused on Seven and The Doctor at the end! And poor Chakotay got shafted when it came to character development beyond the first season or two,as did Neelix.

Tom Paris should have never lost his badboy attitude,and reckless charm.

Neelix should never have been relegated to the kitchen,with less and less air time.

Seska was a great "face"(good guy)character as a Maquis.They shouldn't have made her into a demented loser of a villain....that was just wrong.Martha Hackett deserved better.

They should have found a way to keep Kes around.I loved the character.

Harry Kim should have been promoted at some point by Janeway,and Kim needed more air time.

The stories should have been more daring and not so formulaic.Take a clue from Lexx,or (damn,I forget the name of the show....)one of the other sci-fi shows and take Trek in a new direction every once in a while.

They could have done so much to improve Voyager.

[NordicBearskin 0]

I don't agree with most of that article. The characters in VOY did grow and develop, you only have to look at 7 of 9 in her first appearance in the show and in her last, it's literally impossible to recognize her. Harry Kim is another great example of VOY's character development. So is Capt. Janeway, who had a fantastic first season episode where she begins to finally feel comfortable in command. It is also a wonderful perclusion of things to come, as in the friendly relaxed manner of the crew and it's captain.

 

Voyager was a great series with (mostly) fantastic shows. Yes it had a few weak episodes at the beginning but to me VOY had the strongest start as a Star Trek show out of TNG, DS9 and VOY.

 

The only thing I would agree on is perhaps the most minor point of all, Janeway's inconsistency. However, we're all human.

 

(By the way, even after two seasons had fallen by and all asssumed that the Marquis story line had evaporated, we were treated to several Marquis centred episodes, one in which the Marquis take over the ship, commanded by Touvok. If only they had done a two-parter... )

[barry 0]

ds9 re-runs are more fun to watch than VOY, i agree

You have got to be joking,Voyager was light years better than DS9

[NordicBearskin 0]

You have got to be joking,Voyager was light years better than DS9 

I beg to differ. VOY is good but DS9...*dreamy sigh*. Utter perfection.

[mr_tinkles 0]

You have got to be joking,Voyager was light years better than DS9 

I beg to differ. VOY is good but DS9...*dreamy sigh*. Utter perfection.

Agreed.DS9 was the best Trek ever,bar none.By comparison Voyager was a waste of film.

[Gotabite 0]

Having read all of the posts here. There are lots of different opinions about Voyager, as with other series. Voyager is now and will always be my favorite series. However, I am not without some critcisms. Still I never saw the episodes as predictable, or boring. There certainly were some episodes that I thought were pretty bad........such as the "catfish episode" mentioned. But Voyager was the story of a space ship lost, trying to find its way back to earth. Therefore there was a great deal of emphasis I thought on the personalities of the crew. We witnessed the development of many personalities including Janeway, Tuvok, Kim, Seven, B'Elanna, Tom, Kes, the Doctor and Nelix.........all of these personalities developed significantly from their original introduction into the series. In addition we saw two children's charcters develop......Naomi and Icheb. The only personality that in my opinion was truly under developed and did not make much of an impact was Chakotay. He started out strong, but there were few episodes which regarded him as a true "second in command."

I think with each series one could find many positives and many negatives. I personally can critcize them all, especially TOS and DS9......and yet if it were not for TOS, I wouldn't be here. In addition it TOS was a very powerful entity in television history for many reason, including its story lines.

I'm just trying to say, that I don't see any series being weak. I think fans each have their favorites....... I see them all as being part of the Star Trek legacy....

[trekkiebabe 0]

I wouldn't say Voyager was a waste of film,but it could have been much better and less predictable.I too was bored with the endless Doctor and 7 of 9 episodes near the end of the series,and also think characters like Kim and Chakotay should have been further developed and focused upon.

[joeybear 0]

I have to disagree with the review. In my humble opinion, Voyager was the best Star Trek effort yet. Indeed, Mulgrew did an excellent job portraying a woman in power, and the series itself took the Star Trek theme to new heights. My only complaint is the finale - what the *! happens, ya know? - mmmm, I smell movie....

Edited October 11, 2003 by joeybear

[A l t e r E g o 9]

I partially agree with the quote but that is not going to stop me from buying the DVD's when released.

 

The area's I agree with pertains to the character growth (or rather lack of) and not mentioned in the quote, the lack of populating that area of space with more interesting species but I concede my expectations may have been set too high.

 

I think the author is way off base for critizing VOY for "not being able to tell the season's apart", that imo, is a strong point. I perfer there not be glaring markers to show the change in seasons.

 

Yes, the template has always been a part of Trek, most trek story template's were originally drawn up in TOS so that can't be a bad thing but I admit there are some templates I don't like as much as others.

 

When those templates [i don't like] are used in any series the result usually is an episode I don't like but that don't make the whole series garbage.

[first_redneck_in_space 0]

I agree with a few points,but all-in-all I think Voyager was an enjoyable show to watch,with good writing,and interesting characters.I hardly ever missed an episode,and taped the majority of the shows and still watch them from time-to-time.

[first_redneck_in_space 0]

Well,I liked Voyager.It was a bit spotty the first season,or so (but all Trek series' are).After that it was well written and directed,and advanced along at a good pace,with good character development,and adherence to overall series continuity was okay,too.I hated the last episode.What was that cr*p?Future Janeway saves the day...I hated that.They should have either remained in the Delta Quadrant,forever a lost ship trying to get home (would have set up some great post-series novels),or gotten home another way,without future help and super advanced tech augmentations to their ship.

The eventual motion picture could have been them getting home,finally.(eventual,I hope)

[Admiral Kirk 1]

I agree with a few points in the review. I think the Voyager started off pretty weak in the story departmment bot improved greatly over time .