to help them and the twist ending is heartbreaking
heartbreaking
state of flux with cesca is a fine
mystery in which the crew tries to
discover who is the spy
the 37s is just fun voyager finds amelia
earhart on the other side of the galaxy
and it's played up so sincerely
despite the cornball premise projections
really has the doctor come into his own
as he struggles with his own identity
meld introduces lon suitor the best
supporting character crew member voyager gets
gets
he's a murderer with a redemption arc
and it's actually very satisfying
it also gives us emotional creepy tuvak
the early seasons also get two of the
best q episodes in all of trek
the later season q episode is the worst
real life with the doctor's holographic
family and koda with janeway preparing
for the afterlife
both pack an emotional wallop i also
have strong feelings about tuvix
and the ethical conundrum in that
episode my feelings are as follows
that information is not available and
that's what i have to say about tuvix
the first three seasons particularly
seasons one and two
really are worth re-watching in an era
when season-long arcs are more appreciated
tom paris joins voyager straight out of
prison to hunt down the maquis
before that he was with the maki before
that he was in a flying accident at
starfleet before covering it up
and before that he was nick licarno
paris eventually earns the respect of
the maquis and the respect of captain janeway
janeway
opinions on all star trek characters
vary but opinions on tom paris specifically
specifically
vary so wildly i have seen trek fans
think of him as a goofy cringy space chandler
chandler
i have seen star trek fans think of him
as a lovable geek
doofus i have seen people call him the
worst and best
voyager character in fairly equal measure
measure
it also seems to change with the times
he was a very popular character back then
then
and now there's a kind of backlash i
don't know
i i side with liking tom paris
shock horror he's a space pirate of
privilege who develops as a character
throughout the series until he's a dad
and a hollow novelist all that and he
gets the best line in all of star trek
that was us so where's the child
we ate him paris's biggest weakness is
that so few great episodes are those
centered solely around
him his starring roles are in alice
wherein paris falls in love with a shuttlecraft
shuttlecraft
and threshold wherein paris breaks warp 10
10
becomes a salamander and mates with
salamander janeway
paris best central character episode is
30 days
in which he breaks the prime directive
to save a planet and gets sentenced to
the brig
and demoted in rank hashtag tom paris
did nothing wrong
hashtag free tom paris paris works best
when he's paired with his eventual wife
like in the famous
i love you scene from day of honor if
paris gave us one unassailable good
it's the inclusion of captain proton
paris and kim's hollow adventures are
funny and adorable and they feature
satan's robot
the best of captain proton comes from
bride of chaotica with holodecks gone
wrong like they always do
and captain janeway dressing up like
this to save everyone
paris does have a lot of memorable
moments like walking down the street in
world war
ii era france using 20th century lingo
traveling back in time and pretending to
be a secret agent to fool
sarah silverman it's funny that tom
paris became the best comic relief
character in a series that already came
with a pre-packaged designated comic relief
relief
character it's also funny that the
pre-packaged comic relief character gets
some of the most serious episodes but i
will get to that when i get to that
paris has father issues in the episode
hunters the crew is preparing to get
letters from home for the first time
in years it's an ensemble episode but
paris is a big part of it
he tries not to get his hopes up about
hearing from his father and it's just a very
very
quiet warm episode that also features
the heroine
so what about tom paris's wife [Music]
half human half klingon and the series
will constantly remind you about that
bolana torres is a former maquis and
chief engineer on voyager
she is characterized by her fiery temper
that again she blames on being half klingon
klingon
season one episode faces splits torres
into two women one human one klingon
all the way to season 7 episode lineage
in which torres is concerned that her
daughter might look like a klingon
she does get to star in some memorable
episodes like prototype in which she
befriends an android
and dreadnought in which she tries to
disarm her weapon that she programmed
there is an episode of voyager in which
anton vorak is so
haunt that he almost dies blood fever has
has
forec accidentally transmit the ponfar
to torres
for anyone who hasn't watched star trek
the ponfar is a chemical imbalance that
vulcans get every seven years that can
only be resolved by mating or by ritual
combat for some reason
those two things are nothing alike
usually how can that happen
anyway torah's gotta have it and paris
is like not gonna happen because your
judgment is impaired but then tuvak is like
like
no do it and then both vorak and torres
resolve their respective pon fars by just
just
wailing on each other it nearly taints
the whole
paris torres thing fortunately their
actual relationship once it gets started
is mostly sweet they argue but they're a
good pair
and they get married twice due to some
sci-fi hijinx malana has asked me to
forego the rigors of
klingon pain sticks in favor of a more
traditional ceremony
they're saving the pain sticks for the honeymoon
honeymoon
torres gets some good development over
the series resolving her feelings about
her mother and learning to let her walls down
down
so that she can fall in love with
chandler bing [Music]
seven of nine did not replace kess in
the way that dr pulaski replaced dr crusher
crusher
seven of nine did not become an
assistant to a holographic doctor and
minor character
she became head of astrometrics and
arguably the series star from season four
four
through seven it was more like she was
added very suddenly to boost failing ratings
ratings
she became extremely popular and was
given a lot of credit for keeping the
show afloat
criticism of seven of nine is mostly
criticism about how
much intention she was given at the
expense of other characters
and that's certainly fair the more the
series was about seven of nine the less
the series could be about djokote
torres and even captain janeway this
might be a little reductive but
there are two kinds of star trek
episodes episodes that center around a
main character
and ensemble episodes in which the
entire main cast is working towards
solving some problem
in the latter seven of nine began
getting more and more screen time
compared to the others in the ensemble
and in the former episodes centered
solely around seven of nine were a lot
more common than an episode centered
solely around
say harry kim this grew as the series continued
continued
season four had about four episodes that
are mostly about seven of nine
season five had about seven episodes
that were mostly about seven of nine
so this is a valid complaint but with
all of that being said
seven of nine still is a great character
played very well by jerry ryan
she was the star of so many great
episodes and was clearly the breakout
character of the series
the scorpion part 2 obviously but also
the raven when she learns about her parents
parents
drone when jerry ryan says you are
hurting me
and we all cried i did and you did too
seven had great relationships captain
janeway her parental figure
perry kim lost in his perpetual crush
that eventually just develops into a friendship
friendship
tuvak her ally against the emotionals
the doctor her mentor remember that time
seven of nine got rock bottomed by
dwayne the rock johnson on a martial
arts planet run by the reanimator
so good one common complaint among trek
fans who don't like voyager is that the series
series
ruined the borg by ruined they usually
mean that the borg were no longer
threatening as an antagonist or no
longer interesting as a mystery
what once was a species so completely
beyond the power of the federation
became a threat on the level of
say the romulans you know steady stock antagonists
antagonists
there's q who that acts as a cue episode
as much as a borg episode
the classic best of both worlds
two-parter then
iborg one of the best trek episodes of
all time
and then the descent to parter i do not
argue that
voyager ruined the borg i would argue
that the borg
peaked too soon after the best of both worlds
worlds
where do you go you do a more
philosophical episode
to humanize them and then you just
completely botch it
in descent the borg were basically a
hired goon squad for lore
data's evil twin star trek first contact
better answered
the where do you go from here question
following the whole low cutest thing
time travel it's ludicrous and it's
great but after that
it seemed like the borg really were just
another antagonist
the borg was this top shelf threat right
up until the closing credits of first contact
contact
voyager didn't have the scorpion episode
until after first contact
voyager did not play out the borg as an
antagonist the tng
series and movie did they did the only
thing left with the antagonist species
that can ever be done in trek they
joined the main cast
it happened with the klingons an
antagonist in the original series and
then in the main cast of the next generation
generation
it also happened with the ferengi in the
next generation getting new life in the
main cast of deep space nine
and then the same thing happened with
the borg in voyager
they explored the borg through seven of
nine and through
unimatrix zero yes exploring their culture
culture
demystified them but again after first contact
contact
they didn't really have anywhere else to go
some of the complaints trick fans have
with voyager tell you a lot about trick fans
fans
why is the number of photon torpedoes so inconsistent
inconsistent
is an actual constant wine that has
lasted for over 20 years
why didn't voyager take the wormhole in
the gamma quadrant
well allow me to answer these questions
with the question who cares
they bought or made new torpedoes and
they went with the direct
space route instead of the wormhole
route because wormholes are unstable
and if they traveled for decades to
something that might not exist when they
got there
they would have wasted half of their
lives minutia
and lore are not plot holes and series
breaking errors
the only star trek canon i care about is
the photonic canon
i do have actual complaints you know
genuine complaints with star trek
voyager based on what is actually
in the series and not how well it
adheres to canon or
roddenberry's vision voyager did a poor job
job
with its supporting characters the main
cast is very likable and has great chemistry
chemistry
but the series spent little time on
developing supporting recurring characters
characters
supporting characters in trek flesh out
the world of each series and offer new
opportunities for the same characters to
emerge and present new challenges
deep space nine had garrick nag dukat
wynn and so many more the next
generation introduced
q gainen gauran barkley
lore and more voyager by contrast
reused q and barkley and got rid of cesca
cesca
color and suitor in the same episode the
season 3 premiere
they didn't really do much with vorik
except the aforementioned
extremely gross episode afterward he
became a background character like
so many nameless ensigns in star trek as
the series progressed
various children were introduced naomi wildman
wildman
and icheb eachab is a deeply boring character
character
i'm sorry i'm glad as i got pulled out i
don't care
the other complaint is that there were
some disastrous episodes
this is true of any star trek but
voyager had some whoppers
1159 is often hailed as its worst
janeway learns that her ancestor was not
as important as she once thought
and it plays out in a modern day
romantic drama
the funny thing is that the scenes on
the ship with the crew chatting together
about their families
are actually really good and have that
unmistakable voyager chemistry
if the whole episode had been this quiet
story on the ship
instead of the story of someone's car
breaking down in front of a bookstore
it might have been salvaged retrospect
feels like the writers were arguing
against the me too movement 20 years early
early
avoid at all costs false prophets is
your standard ferengi episode meaning
obnoxious and painful to watch
proving that only deep space nine seemed
capable of writing good for angie stories
stories
these episodes along with a few others
make for some indefensible stories and
moments in voyager
tuvak is the sassiest vulcan vulcans are
always written to be humorless but tuvak
has such
contempt for some characters that he
can't help but be sarcastic
an uncommon trait among his people well
shall i flog them as well i love to
this is how he dances look at him go two
box stars on a lot of voyager's best episodes
episodes
the aforementioned episode meld with lon
suitor is intense and powerful
flashback with tuvak remembering his
time serving under captain sulu is not
only fan service but actually a
compelling story with some funny moments
gravity has tuvok paris and the doctor
stranded on a planet and lori petty
falls in love with tuvak and
it's beautiful tuvak has two major
relationships throughout the series
janeway and nelix tuvak and janeway are
old friends their relationship is one of
mutual respect but also
almost familial comfort the scene and
end game between them is so
touching and so sad trek fans often cite
kirk and spock or o'brien and bashir as
the best written friendships in trek but
janeway and tuvak is up there
and then there's nelix nelix is the
comic foil to the sirius tuvak
the relationship actually gets more
development than that though
in the season 3 episode rise tuvak and
nelix must
work together and tuvok's contempt for
nelix is called out
nelix's last episode is also the
resolution of tuvak's relationship with
him as the wise vulcan encourages nelix
to save his people
the talaxians and admits to nelix's
great variety of skills
and leadership qualities unlike most of
the crew
tuvak is not given many relationships
but the two that last
throughout the series are among voyagers
felix is introduced in the pilot episode
as a kind of
junk merchant who persuades the voyager
crew to help rescue kes
unbeknownst to them nelix starts off as
a kind of con artist with the heart of
gold and becomes
arguably the most valuable member of the
crew he's the cook
ambassador morale officer at time
security officer
nelix was designed to be a comic relief
character but it doesn't take long
before the audience
realizes that his nervous talking is a
side effect of a traumatic life
nelix's home planet was conquered his
home on the moon annihilated
his sister lost nelix has been
practically homeless for a long time prior
prior
to boarding voyager nelix gets some dark
and serious episodes that really allow
actor ethan phillips to shine
in the episode phage the elix's organs
are harvested by the vedians and he asks
the doctor to pull the plug on him
jatrel is not a good episode and has a
really problematic resolution
nevertheless it does contain a great
performance by phillips as nelix
mortal coil has nelix recognized that
his religion is false and that there is
no afterlife
and that without his faith his life has
no meaning
i was dead for 18 hours i should have
experienced something i should remember something
something
the episode once upon a time is mocked
because it's the one with flutter but
the story is actually extremely serious
as nelix godfather to naomi wildman
struggles with whether or not to tell
the young girl that her mother may have
been lost on an away mission
when you were her age you were safe and
sound on earth with two healthy parents
to take care of you
you never had to worry about the
possibility of being alone
i feel like star trek fans have referred
to nelix as a jar jar binks character so
many times
that it has created a kind of mandela
effect misremembering nelix as a goofy character
character
when he was just as often portrayed as sincere
sincere
in the first two seasons nelix is
portrayed as having a character flaw
jealousy this manifested most in his
relationship with kess
however the series never portrays this
character flaw positively
always negatively and nelix successfully
overcomes it
nelix and kess breaking up is handled
rather poorly
kess breaks up with him while she is
under the control of an
alien but the breakup somehow stuck and
was never
properly explained i can't defend that
and i won't try
in the end nelix leaves the ship to
defend his people from
space miners and gets a good send-off
it's a little disappointing that he only
gets a
cameo in the series finale but writing
him out as the hero of his people
made more sense for him he is the only
character who lasts
the whole series who had no personal
interest in going to earth [Music]
the doctor is an emergency medical
hologram that due to the passing of the
chief medical officer takes over
responsibilities in sickbay
he begins his life with a terrible
bedside manner but as he becomes more
accepted as a real person
that starts to change particularly in
season 2 episode life science in which
he shows a romantic interest
in a patient the doctor's character
growth throughout the series is
arguably the best out of the cast that
was there from the pilot
the doctor spends a lot of his time
arguing for his own rights
sometimes against the otherwise
enlightened captain janeway who
sometimes is not ready to see the doctor as
as
anything more than a tricorder this contrasts
contrasts
greatly to the relationship between data
and captain picard
the latter defending the rights of the
former from others in starfleet such as
in the measure of a man
and the offspring janeway by comparison
plays both supporter of and opposition 2
the doctors rights depending on the situation
situation
it makes the dynamics between them
really engaging
even tense as janeway holds the keys to
his freedom
but sometimes stands in his way for
reasons of pragmatism
the doctor stars in some of the best
episodes of voyager
message in a bottle is behind only bride
of chaonica as
voyageur's best comedy episode the
doctor is sent across the galaxy to
deliver a message to starfleet
where he encounters the mark ii version
of his holographic program
stop breathing down my neck my breathing
is merely a simulation so is my neck
stop it anyway
living witness is easily one of
voyager's best episodes carried by the doctor
doctor
we are actually seeing a backup file of
the doctor a duplicate
trying to set the record straight on a
planet that trafficks in historical
misinformation about voyager
latent image is a great mystery episode
mixed with a character development
episode for the doctor as he must
resolve the fact that he made a decision
based on his personal feelings and not
his ethical subroutines
it's also the episode that best resolves
how janeway
sees the doctor there are more and more
doctor-centric episodes as the series progresses
progresses
partly because the writers must have
found him a great character to write for but
but
also because he was a very popular
character among star trek fans
the doctor sometimes gets the same
criticism as seven of nine
too much focus on this character means
less focus
for other characters but the audience
decided they loved the doctor
captain catherine janeway of the
federation starship voyager
a scientist an explorer and arguably the
most controversial character in the series
series
there are those who love janeway for her
sometimes measured and sometimes
forceful approaches to problems and some
who have noted that
men trying to write women as tough
sometimes mistake
tough for mean and janeway is sometimes
portrayed that way
and probably for that reason janeway's sometimes
sometimes
erratic behavior is mostly the result of
different writers
having different takes on her but the
in-universe explanation was delivered by tuvak
tuvak
in the episode night i've been observing
her behavior for the past four years
guilt has been her constant companion
janeway feels guilty about stranding her
crew in the delta quadrant
she saved the ocompa but her actions not
only kept her crew far from home but also
also
indirectly resulted in the demise of
many of her crew along the way
including harry kim except they had a
spare it's complicated
anyway with all that being said janeway under
under
incredible stress always delivers in the
episode's scientific method
her crew was subjected to dangerous
medical experiments by aliens and when
one of her crew
tragically passed because of this
janeway was like this
ends now and flew voyager into the sun
the aliens bailed out but not before one
of their ships exploded
presumably vaporizing everyone inside
counterpoint is this wild episode in
which janeway trafficks telepathic
refugees across an alien
empire and submits to inspections like
border patrol in outer space
she gets seduced by the head alien
fooled into thinking he was on her side
but uh oh she
tricked him and it's actually just a
very fun episode
janeway is the star of endgame the
series finale
this finale is fine the bad aspects of
the episode are chakote and seven having
no chemistry
and the series ending only seconds after
voyager makes it home
some fans were bothered by that last
part but considering much of the first
half of
end game shows what will or at least
what could happen to the crew following
their return
anyway this seems like a minor complaint
to me
future janeway versus present janeway is
cool because
of their different philosophies the
aforementioned scene with tuvak is one
of the best in the series and the battle
with the borg
mostly works whether or not the borg
being the final boss of voyager works
for you probably depends on whether or
not you liked the borg in voyager at all
anyway fought a macro virus got assimilated
assimilated
so why have i been referencing every
possible good episode of voyager
and spending so much time on individual characters
characters
well because it's related to why i think voyager
voyager
is good actually in the end star trek
voyager just has more
decent to good episodes than bad episodes
episodes
the good episodes stand out and the
decent episodes
though unremarkable are populated by
likeable characters
someone to watch over me may only be a
decent episode
but because we care about the doctor in
seven seeing him fall in love with her
makes the episode engaging
it's a very low stakes episode but the
doctor is so
likable that we want him to be happy and it's
it's
hard watching him fail in the end the
decent episodes become more than that
as for the outright good and even great episodes
episodes
i have mentioned a lot of them already
but who can forget year of hell
a two-parter with a compelling
complicated antagonist and a kind of
micro version of what some people wanted
voyager to be
constantly under threat and barely
making it through the quadrant
prey with the heroine and species 8472
was a good one
relativity is a fun time travel episode
equinox is star trek doing what it does best
best
pondering morality renaissance man is
the doctor
at his height as he evades tuvak and
tries to save the captain
the voyager conspiracy is just bonkers
but a real crowd pleaser
basically seven absorbs too much data
and starts to think voyager
being in the delta quadrant is either a
starfleet plot or a maquis plot
my argument that voyager is good
actually is
simply that there are too many good episodes
episodes
of course this is all subjective but if
you want to argue against this
you're gonna have to explain why you
think living witness and timeless and so
many other classic episodes are bad
actually so good luck with that i freely
admit that saying
it's good because it has good episodes
is not going to convince anyone because
it's kind of circular
so instead of trying to convince you i
am instead trying to challenge you
go back and watch it or if you've never
seen it before
and have just heard it's bad judge for
yourself and go see it
it's on so many platforms that you must
be subscribed to one of them
or if you're not most of them have like
free trials or whatever
that's it it's actually not that
complicated i just felt like inundating
you with classic episodes and moments to
make my point
i hope we all learned something
to i understand you are a vulcan
man you have just gone without
for seven years about paris please find
a way
to load a hypo spray i will give you the sign
sign
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