Star Trek Voyager
Star Trek: Voyager (also known as ST:VOY or VOY) is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. It was produced for seven seasons from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek series to have had a female captain as a lead character.
The series follows the adventures of the Starship Voyager and her crew who have become stranded in the Delta Quadrant, seventy-five thousand light-years from Earth. Unless they can find some kind of shortcut, it will take them seventy-five years to return to known space.
Although Voyager's ratings were initially solid, they fell dramatically as the show progressed. Many fans feel that Voyager is the weakest of the Star Trek series.
Plots
In the pilot episode, Voyager is sent on a mission to locate a ship piloted by a cell of the Maquis, a terrorist organization. Tom Paris (a former member of the Maquis) is brought out of prison to help find the ship. During a chase through the dangerous Badlands, both ships are transported to the other side of the galaxy by an ancient alien device known as the Caretaker Array. They are attacked by Kazon raiders intent on capturing the device. Rather than using the Caretaker Array to return home, Captain Janeway decides to destroy it to avoid its being misused.
The raiders destroy the Maquis ship, but not before about half its crew were able to safely transport to Voyager. The Starfleet and Maquis crews are forced to integrate and work together as they begin the long journey home. Along the way they must contend with organ-snatching Vidiians, the determined Borg, and the extradimensional Species 8472.
The conflict between the fiercely independent Maquis revolutionaries and the by-the-book Starfleet crew had promise, but by the second season it is largely forgotten and there is scarcely any conflict among the crew. Only Janeway remains wrought for the entire run of the series over the consequences of her decision to destroy their way home.
Themes
Voyager continues the themes presented in the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, such as explorations of space and of the human condition. It also demonstrates democratic principles (peace, openness, freedom, cooperation, and sharing) and philosophical issues such as the sense of self and what it means to be human.
Another common plot theme is the implications of being stranded far from home. Voyager has only limited resources and no easy way to replenish them; its crew is cut off from the normal chain of command and institutions of its society. Their situation frequently faces them with difficult choices of necessity versus idealism.
Star Trek: Voyager possesses humor in higher quantity than any of its sibling series. The sarcasm of Robert Picardo's Emergency Medical Hologram is reprised in Star Trek: First Contact as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Voyager is likely also the only of the series where you may hear an irritated half-Klingon (Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres) crack to a de-assimilated Borg (Seven-Of-Nine): "The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park."
Criticisms
While its predecessor Deep Space Nine was occasionally criticized for being too dark and for having long story arcs which made it difficult for new viewers to pick up, Voyager has been criticized for being too superficial. Some common objections to the series include:
- It tended to recycle plots and follow standard formulas to a fault. It was rare to meet a new alien culture which wasn't out to scam or destroy Voyager. Janeway was usually able to come out on top by sticking to superior morals and applying a large dose of Treknobabble. The series also made a cliche of what came to be called a reset button in which some major change is made to the series' status quo (often involving a lead character being killed off or a storyline taking place over many months or even years) only to have everything reset to normal by the end of the episode, often with the characters having no knowledge of the events.
- The characterization was poor. Several main characters were one-dimensional (especially Ensign Harry Kim), and there was very little conflict or growth among them. The former Borg drone Seven of Nine, while an engaging character, was often flaunted as a sex object by dressing her in skintight outfits which emphasized her well-endowed chest (although this was in keeping with Star Trek tradition of featuring sexily-clad women.)
- Janeway could be seen as an unwieldy blending of Picard and Kirk in an attempt to prove that a woman can be worthy of the position of starship captain. This failed to take into account the fact that Kirk and Picard had diametrically opposed styles of leadership; Janeway frequently made Picard-like defiant moral stances in defense of the rules, only to break them like Kirk. Even Kate Mulgrew has herself acknowledged some of the shortcomings of her character; she said that some fans considered Janeway to have bipolar disorder, and that this was the fault of the writers. Some fans, however, consider Janeway's insanity an intriguing part of the character, even if it was unintentional on the part of the writers.
- Voyager trivialized the Borg, who had been one of the most fearsome and most popular Star Trek villains. Star Trek: The Next Generation established the Borg as awesomely more powerful than the Federation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine reiterated this in its pilot episode. But somehow a single undersupplied Voyager continued to evade or outwit the mighty Borg in encounter after encounter.
- The series finale, "Endgame" was considered unsatisfying by many viewers as it incorporated many of the cliches and formulas mentioned above and did not offer any glimpse of what happened to Voyager's crew after they return to Earth in the "real" timeline.
Cast
Main characters
- Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew)
- Commander Chakotay, a Native American (Robert Beltran)
- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, half-Klingon, chief engineer (Roxann Dawson)
- Lieutenant Tom Paris, navigator (Robert Duncan McNeill)
- Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, a Vulcan, science officer (Tim Russ)
- Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang)
- The Doctor, the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram (Robert Picardo)
- Neelix, a Talaxian, chef (Ethan Phillips)
- Kes, an Ocampan (season 1 through the second episode of season 4) (Jennifer Lien)
- Seven of Nine, born Annika Hansen, formerly a Borg drone (seasons 4-7) (Jeri Ryan)
Recurring characters
- Ensign Seska, a Cardassian agent (Martha Hackett)
- Ensign Vorik, a Vulcan (Alexander Enberg)
- Naomi Wildman, the first child born on Voyager (Scarlett Pomers)
- Icheb, formerly a Borg drone (Manu Intiraymi)
- Lieutenant Ayala (Tarik Ergin)
- Nozawa Kashimuro (John Tempoya)
- Ensign Samantha Wildman, Naomi's mother (Nancy Hower)
- Lieutenant Joseph Carey (Josh Clark)
- Lieutenant Hogan (Simon Billig)
- Lieutenant Susan Nicoletti (Christine Delgado)
- Ensign Michael Jonas (Raphael Sbarge)
- Lieutenant Walter Baxter (Tom Virtue)
- Mezoti (Marley S. McClean)
- Rebi (Cody Wetherill)
- Azan (Kurt Wetherill)
- Ensign Lon Suder, convicted of murder (Brad Dourif)
- Lieutenant Peter Durst (Brian Markinson)
- Crewman Tal Celes (Zoe McLellan)
- Q, galactic gadfly (John de Lancie)
One-time, cameos or infrequent spots
Robert Duncan McNeill played a Starfleet cadet in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty". That character, like his character in Voyager, also got into trouble for violating orders.
Ethan Phillips appeared as a Ferengi in an Star Trek: Enterprise episode and as a maitre d' in the film Star Trek: First Contact.
Tim Russ played the character Devor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine," and also played Tuvok in a mirror universe on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Through The Looking Glass". He also appeared as a human on the bridge of the Enterprise-B in the film Star Trek: Generations.
Abdullah II of Jordan, a well-known Star Trek fan, appeared as an extra in the episode "Investigation."
Relaunch
In the wake of a successful series of original novels collectively known as the Deep Space Nine relaunch, featuring stories placed after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a similar relaunch was planned with regards to Voyager, with novels based upon events occurring following the end of the series. So far only a few "Voyager Relaunch" novels have been published, beginning with Homecoming in 2003. More novels are planned, but at the moment the Voyager Relaunch appears unlikely to reach the same depth and scope as the DS9 version in the near future.
See also
