As someone who watched it with no nostalgia glasses: it is not good trek.
I can’t think of a really outstanding episode off the top of my head (maybe the Tuvix one? But even that is just … rough?). And there are some episodes in there that I actively dislike in a way I don’t with most of the other series.
I like Kate Mulgrew, she was a strong actor for the role and the theme is a banger, otherwise … meh.
I also think it’s fairly weak overall but there are some really great outstanding episodes. Blink of an Eye, Counterpoint, Scorpion, for some examples. And I also agree that the worst Voyagers are really very bad, but are they that much worse than other series’ follies? Is Threshold worse than Code of Honor? Sacred Ground worse than Turnabout Intruder? Fair Haven worse than Profit and Lace?
Originally sole canadian actress was hired to play Janeway…forgot her name, but you can see some original footage on YouTube, she was so bad as captain Janeway. Mulgrew took the character to a whole other level.
Personally enjoyed Voyager, skipping some episodes however, mostly those personal quests… And Neelix didn’t bring much as well.
Enterprise was…meh. Learned to like it and by the third season it felt like they finally found the right direction. Loved the doctor in that series. And the theme song, my god who decided that. Awful.
Strange new worlds is great, feels like it has everything I expect from a star trek series. Atmosphere, decors, characters, theme song…
Star Trek really has 2 different genres, there’s action/adventure and there’s real hard sci-fi where philosophy is at the forefront. Voyager generally appeals more to the action/adventure fans, whereas the previous iterations appeared like the entire series was heading in a more philosophical direction with TOS to TNG to DS9 increasing in their thoughtfulness. VOY was seen as a huge backslide to people who were tuning in largely for the philosophical aspect of the show.
Considering there was and still are very few popular philosophical and thought provoking shows that challenge the viewer’s world view and biases, I think it’s fair to be upset that the new direction of the show is to dumb down everything and focus more on the action.
Of course, that’s not to say that Voyager was completely devoid of any philosophical debate, but I don’t think anyone can make the case that it’s equally as intelligent as TNG and DS9.
I think that’s part of why bringing in Seven of Nine helped the series a lot. Exploring how she adapted to being a human, when she’d been a Borg since she was a child, was much more philosophical and led to a lot of really great episodes.
I’m retroactively annoyed at the stranded but in good repair situation. But voyager failing made Battlestar a thing so…
I also think it’s just a weird transition period for tv. Still had crap budgets and weird unpolished plotlines due to the need for season-long fillers. If you cut each season down to 8-10 episodes as we sometimes do today, could be a fine show.
Voyager was probably the most high concept of the era’s Trek and didn’t really fulfill that promise. It is funny that DS9 kept better track of its roundabouts over Voyager’s shuttles.
They really didn’t nail down the writing of the crew. The Doctor and Seven are the best written. However, out of the rest of the crew, only Tom Paris seems somewhat consistent.
You get some good episodes out of it, but I don’t think it plays with the parts of Trek they were given to its fullest extent. I also feel like, while some of the shows are pure Trek, they aren’t Voyager.
A big part of Voyager’s problem was that the writers had absolutely no clue what to do with Kes. You had one of the main characters being just kind of there and largely useless. Once they brought Seven of Nine in and dropped Kes Voyager got a lot better. The writers had a clear understanding of how to write for Seven and she had a ton of character development over the final four seasons. Hell, I’d even say they did a better job with Neelix once they got rid of Kes, since they couldn’t keep falling back on “Neelix is super jealous of Kes interacting with any male on the crew” BS they did a lot of. (And dear god was that annoying as hell. And I like Voyager!)
I feel like it wasn’t just Kes who had this problem.
The Doctor and Seven were probably the best written characters. Tom and B’Lenna were probably the next two after that. Janeway only got better because she could act as a bad parent to Seven, which vastly improved her character and gave her focus. Neelix and Tuvok kind of drifted off to the background. Kim and Chakotay were blander than that, although Kim got a few decent character beats.
I’m not going to fault the actors on this, since this was the writing.
And Robert Beltran kept upping his salary demands each season hoping they’d fire him, since they were giving him so little acting to do. But they saying yes, so he stayed.
I really enjoyed Voyager. Saw it for the first time in 2020-2023, so maybe that played a part. Of course Tuvok, Seven, EMH, and Janeway were great, but I even liked Neelix as a character.
I’m a voyager fanboy since it aired, but it really doesn’t hold up well.
Nevermind the fact that it is low quality visually and will never be remastered, but the practically non existint continuity really really really hurts it.
I still recommend people watch it, but it would be 3rd of the ‘old’ shows I’d suggest. (DS9 1st always because it is fucking awesome, then TNG because it brought Star Trek to the masses and solidified a lot of ‘canon’)
After watching it completely through within the last few years, I can say I rank it higher than Voyager.
…i mean, let’s be fair: voyager set the bar so low the franchise nearly fizzled-out in its wake and arguably never recovered…
I don’t understand the hate for voyager. Sure it had some problems, but I thought it was great. Both at the time and looking back on it
As someone who watched it with no nostalgia glasses: it is not good trek.
I can’t think of a really outstanding episode off the top of my head (maybe the Tuvix one? But even that is just … rough?). And there are some episodes in there that I actively dislike in a way I don’t with most of the other series.
I like Kate Mulgrew, she was a strong actor for the role and the theme is a banger, otherwise … meh.
I also think it’s fairly weak overall but there are some really great outstanding episodes. Blink of an Eye, Counterpoint, Scorpion, for some examples. And I also agree that the worst Voyagers are really very bad, but are they that much worse than other series’ follies? Is Threshold worse than Code of Honor? Sacred Ground worse than Turnabout Intruder? Fair Haven worse than Profit and Lace?
I’d say it’s worst. Being racist is horrible, but it wasn’t until “Threshold” that ST became actively and willingly stupid.
But “Threshold” won an emmy!
Originally sole canadian actress was hired to play Janeway…forgot her name, but you can see some original footage on YouTube, she was so bad as captain Janeway. Mulgrew took the character to a whole other level.
Personally enjoyed Voyager, skipping some episodes however, mostly those personal quests… And Neelix didn’t bring much as well.
Enterprise was…meh. Learned to like it and by the third season it felt like they finally found the right direction. Loved the doctor in that series. And the theme song, my god who decided that. Awful.
Strange new worlds is great, feels like it has everything I expect from a star trek series. Atmosphere, decors, characters, theme song…
I will die on the Enterprise theme song hill.
It’s been a long way…
Star Trek really has 2 different genres, there’s action/adventure and there’s real hard sci-fi where philosophy is at the forefront. Voyager generally appeals more to the action/adventure fans, whereas the previous iterations appeared like the entire series was heading in a more philosophical direction with TOS to TNG to DS9 increasing in their thoughtfulness. VOY was seen as a huge backslide to people who were tuning in largely for the philosophical aspect of the show.
Considering there was and still are very few popular philosophical and thought provoking shows that challenge the viewer’s world view and biases, I think it’s fair to be upset that the new direction of the show is to dumb down everything and focus more on the action.
Of course, that’s not to say that Voyager was completely devoid of any philosophical debate, but I don’t think anyone can make the case that it’s equally as intelligent as TNG and DS9.
I think that’s part of why bringing in Seven of Nine helped the series a lot. Exploring how she adapted to being a human, when she’d been a Borg since she was a child, was much more philosophical and led to a lot of really great episodes.
I’m retroactively annoyed at the stranded but in good repair situation. But voyager failing made Battlestar a thing so…
I also think it’s just a weird transition period for tv. Still had crap budgets and weird unpolished plotlines due to the need for season-long fillers. If you cut each season down to 8-10 episodes as we sometimes do today, could be a fine show.
Same here. I also don’t see the issue with it. It. Very much fits the vibe of DS9 and TNG and gave us some very iconic characters.
Voyager was probably the most high concept of the era’s Trek and didn’t really fulfill that promise. It is funny that DS9 kept better track of its roundabouts over Voyager’s shuttles.
They really didn’t nail down the writing of the crew. The Doctor and Seven are the best written. However, out of the rest of the crew, only Tom Paris seems somewhat consistent.
You get some good episodes out of it, but I don’t think it plays with the parts of Trek they were given to its fullest extent. I also feel like, while some of the shows are pure Trek, they aren’t Voyager.
A big part of Voyager’s problem was that the writers had absolutely no clue what to do with Kes. You had one of the main characters being just kind of there and largely useless. Once they brought Seven of Nine in and dropped Kes Voyager got a lot better. The writers had a clear understanding of how to write for Seven and she had a ton of character development over the final four seasons. Hell, I’d even say they did a better job with Neelix once they got rid of Kes, since they couldn’t keep falling back on “Neelix is super jealous of Kes interacting with any male on the crew” BS they did a lot of. (And dear god was that annoying as hell. And I like Voyager!)
I feel like it wasn’t just Kes who had this problem.
The Doctor and Seven were probably the best written characters. Tom and B’Lenna were probably the next two after that. Janeway only got better because she could act as a bad parent to Seven, which vastly improved her character and gave her focus. Neelix and Tuvok kind of drifted off to the background. Kim and Chakotay were blander than that, although Kim got a few decent character beats.
I’m not going to fault the actors on this, since this was the writing.
And Robert Beltran kept upping his salary demands each season hoping they’d fire him, since they were giving him so little acting to do. But they saying yes, so he stayed.
I really enjoyed Voyager. Saw it for the first time in 2020-2023, so maybe that played a part. Of course Tuvok, Seven, EMH, and Janeway were great, but I even liked Neelix as a character.
I’m a voyager fanboy since it aired, but it really doesn’t hold up well.
Nevermind the fact that it is low quality visually and will never be remastered, but the practically non existint continuity really really really hurts it.
I still recommend people watch it, but it would be 3rd of the ‘old’ shows I’d suggest. (DS9 1st always because it is fucking awesome, then TNG because it brought Star Trek to the masses and solidified a lot of ‘canon’)
I actually never watched ds9, but LOVED voyager. I hated Enterprise and could never get into it. I think all this new Trek happening is killer though!
Id rank the last two seasons of ENT higher than Voyager