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Star Trek: Voyager

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Star Trek: Voyager is the fifth Star Trek series. It was created by Rick Berman , Michael Piller , and Jeri Taylor , and ran on UPN , as the network's first ever series, for seven seasons in the USA , from 1995 to 2001 . In some areas without local access to UPN, it was offered to independent stations through Paramount Pictures , for its first six seasons. The series is best known for its familial crew, science fiction based plots, engaging action sequences, and light humor. The writers often noted that many episodes had underlying themes and messages or were metaphors for current social issues. This is the first Star Trek series to feature a female captain in a leading role. However, Kathryn Janeway herself is not the first female captain to be seen within Star Trek as a whole. Additionally, the show gained in popularity for its storylines which frequently featured the Borg . Voyager follows the events of Star Trek: The Next Generation and ran alongside Star Trek: Deep Space Nine during its first five seasons.

• Main Title Theme  file info (composed by Jerry Goldsmith )
• 1 Series summary
• 2 Distinguishing Voyager
• 3 Reception
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 5 Executive producers
• 6 Opening credits
• 7.1 Season 1
• 7.2 Season 2
• 7.3 Season 3
• 7.4 Season 4
• 7.5 Season 5
• 7.6 Season 6
• 7.7 Season 7
• 8 Related topics
• 9 Syndication
• 11 External links

Series summary [ ]

Launched in the year 2371 , the Intrepid -class Federation starship USS Voyager was a ship built to return to Starfleet 's founding principle of scientific exploration. It was fitting that the ship's captain , Kathryn Janeway , rose up through the science ranks rather than command. On the ship's first mission while departing the space station Deep Space 9 , which required it to find and capture a Maquis vessel that disappeared into the treacherous Badlands , the crew of Voyager , as well as that of the Maquis ship it was pursuing, were swept clear across the galaxy and deep into the Delta Quadrant . This was the doing of a powerful alien being known as the Caretaker . The seventy thousand light year transit cost the lives of over a dozen crew members. Captain Janeway was forced to destroy the massive alien array that housed the remains of the Caretaker. In doing so, she saved an alien race, the Ocampa , but stranded Voyager and the crew in the Delta Quadrant.

United in a common purpose, the surviving Maquis rebels joined with Janeway's Starfleet-trained crew on Voyager . Though a journey back to the Alpha Quadrant would have taken more than seventy years through unknown and treacherous territory , the crew of Voyager was well served by Janeway's skilled leadership and their own steadfast determination. Ultimately, Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant in seven years.

The crew's journey home was eventful. Voyager made first contact with over four hundred completely new species in the Delta Quadrant, discovered links to Earth 's early space exploration history , utilized and even pioneered new technologies, all the while engaging in countless other adventures. (" Distant Origin ")

The crew encountered species ranging from the violent and ruthless Kazon , the Phage -afflicted Vidiians , the colorful Talaxians and the ephemeral Ocampa . The crew's other encounters included run-ins with the temporal sophistication of the Krenim , the predatory Hirogen , the toxic Malon and the scheming Hierarchy . The crew picked up passengers along the way, including the wily but extremely resourceful Talaxian Neelix (who served, at times, as Voyager 's ambassador , morale officer , and even head chef ), along with the Ocampan telepath Kes (who, as a parting gift to the crew, used her powers of telekinesis to thrust Voyager 9,500 light years closer to the Alpha Quadrant).

Most memorable, however, were Voyager 's repeated clashes with the dreaded Borg . While each encounter posed grave danger, Voyager was able to prevail every time. At one point, Janeway actually negotiated a temporary peace with the Borg when they perceived a common threat in a mysterious alien species from fluidic space . (" Scorpion ") At other times, she was able to liberate drones from the Borg Collective , including Seven of Nine (who became a permanent member of the crew), Mezoti , Azan , Rebi , and Icheb . Other instances pitted Voyager against not only the Borg, but also against the nightmarish Borg Queen herself.

Several years after Voyager 's disappearance into the Delta Quadrant, Starfleet Command learned of the starship's fate. Subsequently, the Pathfinder Project was created, a Starfleet Communications project that attempted to communicate with Voyager through the MIDAS array , via a micro-wormhole and the Hirogen communications network . Thanks to the hard work and enthusiasm of Lieutenant Reginald Barclay , the communications technology improved to a level whereby contact could be made on a regular basis. In 2377 , the crew was able to receive monthly data streams from Earth that included letters from the crew's families, tactical upgrades, and news about the Alpha Quadrant.

By the end of the year, Voyager made a triumphant return to the Alpha Quadrant, under the guidance of Starfleet and the Pathfinder Project, by utilizing and then destroying a Borg transwarp hub , and after a turbulent trip, a celebration was held in honor of Voyager 's return back home.

Distinguishing Voyager [ ]

Despite the general prosperity of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Paramount pressured Rick Berman for yet another Star Trek television series. Although it was decided very early on that the new series would be set aboard a starship once again, it was important for the writers to vary the series from Star Trek: The Next Generation in other ways. Berman stated, " When Voyager came around and we knew we were going to place the next series back on a starship we wanted to do it in a way that was not going to be that redundant when it came to The Next Generation . So we had a certain amount of conflict on the ship because of the Maquis. We had a different dynamic because we were not speaking every day to Starfleet and because we had a female captain. Those were the major differences that set this show apart from the others… It had the core belief of what Star Trek was all about, both in terms of the excitement and the action and in terms of the provocative elements of ideas that Star Trek has always been known to present to the audience. " ( Star Trek: Voyager Companion  (p. ? ))

The series' premise of being lost in deep space was itself a variation on a theme explored in The Next Generation . Michael Piller explained, " We remembered the episodes, many episodes, where Q would show up and throw one of our ships or one of our people off to a strange part of the universe. And we'd have to figure out why we were there, how we were going to get back, and ultimately – by the end of an episode – we'd get back home. But […] we started to talk about what would happen if we didn't get home. That appealed to us a great deal […] You have to understand that Rick, Jeri and I had no interest in simply putting a bunch of people on another ship and sending them out to explore the universe. We wanted to bring something new to the Gene Roddenberry universe. The fans would have been the first people to criticize us if we had not brought something new to it. But everything new, everything was… a challenge, in the early stages of development of Voyager." ("Braving the Unknown: Season 1", VOY Season 1 DVD special features)

Jeri Taylor concurred that Voyager had to be different from its predecessors. She stated, " We felt a need to create an avenue for new and fresh storytelling. We are forced into creating a new universe. We have to come up with new aliens, we have to come up with new situations. " Taylor also recalled, " We knew we were taking some risks. We decided, in a very calculated way, to cut our ties with everything that was familiar. This is a dangerous thing to do. There is no more Starfleet, there are no more admirals to tell us what we can and cannot do, there are no Romulans, there are no Klingons, there are no Ferengi, no Cardassians. All those wonderful array of villains that the audience has come to love and hate at the same time will no longer be there. This is a tricky thing to do. " ("Braving the Unknown: Season 1", VOY Season 1 DVD special features)

Differentiating the new series from what had gone before hardened the challenge of inventing the series' main characters. Jeri Taylor recounted, " It took a long, long time, it took us weeks and weeks and weeks, even to come up with a cast of characters, because we found that so many wonderful characters had already been done and we didn't want to exactly repeat ourselves. We'd come up with an idea then say, 'No, that's too much like Data ,' or, 'That's too much like Odo ,' or, 'That's too much like Worf .' So to try to find the right balance of characters, in terms of gender and alien species and that kind of thing, really took a long time. " ("Braving the Unknown: Season 1", VOY Season 1 DVD special features)

↑ John Van Citters listed "VGR" as the series' official abbreviation when announcing the "DSC" abbreviation for Star Trek: Discovery . [1] MA , among other venues, will continue to use the abbreviation VOY for Voyager , for historical reasons.

Reception [ ]

During its seven-year run, Star Trek: Voyager was nominated for 34 Emmy Awards , mostly in "technical" categories such as visual effects and makeup. It won seven, including "Outstanding Individual Achievement in Main Title Theme Music" for Jerry Goldsmith 's theme.

Main cast [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Commander Chakotay
• Roxann Biggs-Dawson as Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres
• Jennifer Lien as Kes ( 1995 - 1997 )
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Lieutenant Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Lieutenant Commander Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine ( 1997 - 2001 )
• Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim

Executive producers [ ]

• Rick Berman – Executive Producer
• Michael Piller – Executive Producer (1995-1996)
• Jeri Taylor – Executive Producer (1995-1998)
• Brannon Braga – Executive Producer (1998-2000)
• Kenneth Biller – Executive Producer (2000-2001)

Opening credits [ ]

The opening credits for Star Trek: Voyager contained imagery of USS Voyager passing near various spatial phenomena.

Episode list [ ]

Season 1 [ ].

Season 1 , 15 episodes:

Season 2 [ ]

Season 2 , 26 episodes:

Season 3 [ ]

Season 3 , 26 episodes:

Season 4 [ ]

Season 4 , 26 episodes:

Season 5 [ ]

Season 5 , 25 episodes:

Season 6 [ ]

Season 6 , 26 episodes:

Season 7 [ ]

Season 7 , 24 episodes:

Related topics [ ]

• VOY directors
• VOY performers
• VOY recurring characters
• VOY studio models
• VOY writers
• Recurring characters
• Character crossover appearances
• Undeveloped VOY episodes
• Paramount Stage 8
• Paramount Stage 9
• Paramount Stage 16

Syndication [ ]

With five seasons, Voyager reached syndication in some markets airing in a daily strip on weekdays in most markets or as a weekly strip on weekends in selected markets, with the first cycle of episodes from the first five seasons began airing on 13 September 1999 , with the second cycle of episodes covering the 25 episodes of Season 6 and the final episode of Season 5 beginning on 13 November 2000 and the final cycle of episodes covering episodes of the final season and the final episode of Season 6 beginning on 25 October 2001 . Voyager was broadcast in syndication for four years until 12 September 2003 , with some stations continuing to carry Voyager after leaving syndication.

• Star Trek: Voyager novels
• Star Trek: Voyager comics (IDW)
• Star Trek: Voyager comics (Malibu)
• Star Trek: Voyager comics (Marvel)
• Star Trek: Voyager soundtracks
• Star Trek: Voyager on VHS
• Star Trek: Voyager on LaserDisc
• Star Trek: Voyager on DVD

External links [ ]

• Star Trek: Voyager at Wikipedia
• Star Trek: Voyager at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• Star Trek: Voyager at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: Voyager at TV IV
• Star Trek: Voyager at StarTrek.com

Star Trek: Voyager

• Kate Mulgrew as Capt. Kathryn Janeway
• Robert Beltran as Cmdr. Chakotay
• Roxann (Biggs-)Dawson as Lt. B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Lt. (later Ensign) Thomas Eugene Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as the Doctor
• Tim Russ as Lt. Tuvok
• Garrett Wang as Ensign Harry Kim
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine [ 4-7 ]
• Jennifer Lien as Kes [ 1-3 ]
• Majel Barrett as the Voice of the Computer
• recurring characters:
• Nancy Hower as Ensign Samantha Wildman [ eps 20- ]
• Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman [ eps 99-172 ]
• Martha Hackett as Seska [ eps 3-66 ]
• Manu Intiraymi as Icheb [ eps 136-172 ]
• Marley S. McClean as Mezoti [ eps 136-148 ]
• Kurt Wetherill as Azan [ eps 136-148 ]
• Cody Wetherill as Rebi [ eps 136-148 ]

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The 15 greatest Star Trek: Voyager episodes, ranked

Credit: CBS

Star Trek: Voyager was a series with a great premise and stories that somewhat frequently — but not always — lived up to it.

25 years ago today, Voyager premiered with the two-hour pilot "Caretaker" and forever changed the franchise with its introduction to the first female Captain, Kathyrn Janeway (a perfect Kate Mulgrew). Resilient, Janeway was unyielding in her efforts to get her untested crew home after they were zapped to the uncharted Delta Quadrant, 75 years away from Earth. Starfleet personnel mixing with former officers/current members of a resistance group known as the Maquis promised great, "only-on- Star-Trek " conflict — coupled with a ship stranded from the usual resources and aid afforded Kirk and Picard’s Enterprises.

Sadly, Voyager never fully embraced the full potential of that core conceit, leading Voyager to spend a big chunk of its seven-season run feeling like " Star Trek: The Next Generation lite." The ship was usually always fixed the next week if the previous one had it under attack or badly damaged. And the crew seemingly didn't mind too much about taking detours to explore and map this unknown area of space instead of doing what normal humans would — less sightseeing, more getting this 75-year journey underway as soon as possible and without distraction.

Despite Voyager 's uneven feel, when the show hit its stride, it produced some of the most entertaining hours the genre has ever seen. To celebrate Voyager 's 25th anniversary, here are the 15 best episodes.

15 . “Caretaker” (Season 1)

Voyager 's feature-length series premiere is one of the strongest pilots ever for a Trek show. Starting off at Deep Space Nine before stranding Captain Janeway and her motley crew of Maquis deserters in the Delta Quadrant, "Caretaker" has a riveting first half, peppered with exceptional character interplay. Then the pacing and tension slow in the second hour where we spend way too much time with an alien race that seems to have modeled itself after the citizens of Mayberry and The Waltons.

14 . "Eye of the Needle" (Season 1)

"Eye of the Needle" has a bittersweet twist that ranks up there with some of the best Twilight Zone endings. With the help of an anomaly via a wormhole, Voyager is able to communicate with a ship in the Alpha Quadrant. The catch? It's a Romulan vessel and not one in the same time as our lost heroes.

13 . "Dreadnaught" (Season 2)

If Speed and Runaway Train had a kid, it would be "Dreadnaught."

This compelling and tense hour of Voyager centers on engineer — the Klingon-Human Torres — struggling to reprogram a deadly missile designed by her enemy, the Cardassians, before it destroys a planet. Most of the hour is just Torres in a room, talking to a computer, and it is some of the most harrowing scenes in all of Trek history.

12 . "Mortal Coil" (Season 4)

Neelix, as a character, struggled to find solid footing among the ensemble jockeying for meaty storylines. But "Mortal Coil" remedies that with a dark, brooding storyline that takes on the afterlife and Neelix's near-death experience with it. After realizing the afterlife his culture believes in isn't really there, our favorite Talaxian suffers a heartbreaking existential crisis.

11 . "Tinker, Tailor, Doctor, Spy" (Season 6)

Veteran Star Trek: The Next Generation writer Joe Menosky — with a story from cartoonist Bill Vallely — crafted one of The Doctor's funniest outings, as the sentient hologram struggles with the hilarious consequences of giving himself the ability to daydream. The good doctor's fantasies catch the attention of an alien race's surveillance, but they think they are real — which brings about some trouble for the crew. How the Doctor saves the day is one of the best scenes Voyager has ever done.

10 . "Blink of an Eye" (Season 6) / "Relativity" (Season 5)

"Blink of an Eye" has a perfect Trek premise — Voyager orbits a planet where time passes differently for its inhabitants that for the ship's crew, so Janeway is able to watch this society evolve in, well, a blink of an eye.

This first contact scenario allows the show to invest the "explore strange new worlds" mandate with more emotion and nuance than Voyager usually affords its stories, giving fans a surprisingly poignant episode that still holds up to this day.

And despite time travel being a popular narrative trope in Star Trek , the show never failed to find new ways to explore and subvert it. "Relativity" is a fun, ticking-clock caper that sends former Borg drone Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) back in time to prevent the destruction of Voyager. Co-written by Discovery co-creator Bryan Fuller, this exciting episode keeps you at the edge of your couch cushion with an impressive act four twist.

09 . "The Equinox, Parts I & II" (Seasons 5 & 6)

In a plot worthy of a Star Trek movie, Janeway and her crew encounter another starship stuck in the Delta Quadrant, The Equinox. Commanded by a battle-hardened, Ahab-like figure, Captain Ransom (John Savage), The Equinox plots to hijack Voyager and strand her crew aboard their dying ship — in order to escape a race of subspace aliens that have been plaguing them.

Part of the fun of this excellent two-parter is never really knowing for most of its run time where the plot is going to go — for a moment, we actually think Janeway will lose this one.

08 . "Deadlock" (Season 2)

"Deadlock" is one of the few bright spots from Voyager 's bumpy early days. While the episode could take place on any of Trek 's ship-based shows, the stakes feel higher and for Janeway and her crew as they must work with those belonging to an alternate version of Voyager to get out of trouble.

When our Voyager — Voyager Prime — becomes fatally disabled, Janeway volunteers to sacrifice her ship so the other Voyager can go on. How Janeway handles the idea of this sacrifice results in the Ensign Harry Kim (Garret Wang) the show started with being replaced by his doppelganger.

07 . "Scorpion, Parts I & II" (Seasons 3 & 4)

"Scorpion" is action-packed Season 3 finale/Season 4 premiere that kicks off with a hell of a hook for a teaser: A small fleet of Borg cubes easily destroyed by an offscreen threat.

That threat is revealed to be Species 8472, a long-standing rival of the Borg in this quadrant of space — the only thing the Borg are afraid of. Enter Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), a Borg attache who becomes a remember of Janeway's crew as Voyager teams up with the enemy of their enemy to both defeat the Borg and shave some time off their trip home.

"Scorpion" represents a turning point for the series and for the franchise, with the introduction of the instantly-iconic Seven — another member of Trek’s deep bench of alien characters struggling to learn what it takes to be human. Or, in Seven's case, rediscover her humanity.

06 . "Counterpoint" (Season 5)

"Counterpoint" (Kate Mulgrew's favorite episode) is arguably Voyager 's most underrated episode, with a storyline whose elevator pitch could be "The Diary of Anne Frank" in space.

Voyager is secretly providing safe harbor to a group of telepaths being hunted by an alien race that hates them. (So, basically, Space Nazis). When the latter's charming leader defects to Voyager, and sparks a relationship with Janeway, it's instantly fraught with suspicion that boils over into bittersweet betrayal. The hour is an acting showcase for Mulgrew, as she pushes Janeway to uneasy places with the hard choices only this captain can make — and learn to live with.

05 . "Latent Image" (Season 5)

The most successful medical storylines on Star Trek are those that tap into moral/ethical dilemmas with a tech twist. In "Latent Image," the Doctor finds himself caught in the middle of both as he and Seven work to uncover who appears to have tampered with his memory — and why.

What starts as a whodunit becomes a powerful drama dealing with consent and the rights afforded all lifeforms — including artificial ones like the Doctor — when he discovers that Janeway altered his program against his will. Why? Because the doctor was confronted with a hard choice that broke him: With two patients' lives on the line, and only enough time to save one of them, the Doctor chose to save his friend.

04 . "Hope and Fear" (Season 4)

A rare non-two parter season finale, "Hope and Fear" is a landmark episode in the Janeway-Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) dynamic that puts the two at odds — only to come together in the end — in ways that echo Kirk and Spock.

When a sketchy alien (Ray Wise) shows up with the promise of getting Voyager home with the help of an all-too-convenient new starship, everyone fantasizes about the pros and cons of their long journey coming to an end. But the alien's plan is revealed to be a long con — he is a Borg attack survivor seeking revenge on Voyager, specifically Seven.

After he suffers a fitting but tragic end, "Hope and Fear" wraps up with a crew overcoming the letdown of still being stuck lightyears from home by focusing on a renewed purpose to keep going.

03 . "Message In a Bottle" (Season 4)

This fast-paced mix of action and comedy is a solid two-hander between Voyager’s EMH and a more advanced version (Andy Dick) aboard a sophisticated new starship that’s been hijacked (naturally) by Romulans. The two unlikely heroes are Voyager's only hope as they must use the ship's unique ability to separate into three different sections to defeat the bad guys.

Star Trek is hit and miss when it comes to comedy, but "Message In a Bottle" finds a near-perfect balance between laughs and sci-fi action while providing further proof that actor Robert Picardo is the series' MVP.

02 . "Timeless" (Season 5)

Voyager 's 100th episode is one of the greatest ever produced on any Star Trek series. "Timeless" opens in a future where Voyager crashed on an ice planet while on its way home, and centers on Ensign Harry Kim's efforts to save his crew in a very "timey wimey" fashion. (Captain Geordi La Forge, played by LeVar Burton — who directed the episode — stands in the good Ensign’s way).

With "Timeless," showrunner and writer Brannon Braga set out to do for Voyager what "The City on the Edge of Forever" did for the classic Original Series . A high bar this entertaining, high-concept hour effortlessly reaches.

01 . "Year of Hell," Parts I & II (Season 4)

Voyager achieved feature film-level quality with this epic two-parter.

Janeway and crew struggle to defeat time-manipulating genocidal villain (a perfect Kurtwood Smith) as he risks breaking the laws of physics — and chipping away our heroes' starship with battle damage — all so he can get back to his lost wife. To right that wrong, and alter the timeline by doing so, he and his time ship destroy an entire civilization. With some of the best space battles in the franchise's history, coupled with the moral and ethical dramas only Star Trek can do, "Year of Hell" is an all-timer.

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Star Trek: Voyager - Episode List

Episode Guide

• 8.4 ( 10 votes)
• 9.1 ( 7 votes)
• 8 ( 7 votes)
• 9 ( 8 votes)
• 8.1 ( 8 votes)
• 7.8 ( 8 votes)
• 7.7 ( 7 votes)
• 8.2 ( 9 votes)
• 7.9 ( 7 votes)
• 8.9 ( 8 votes)
• 8.6 ( 7 votes)
• 8 ( 8 votes)
• 9.1 ( 8 votes)
• 7.4 ( 7 votes)
• 8.9 ( 7 votes)
• 8.4 ( 7 votes)
• 7.3 ( 7 votes)
• 7.6 ( 8 votes)
• 8.1 ( 9 votes)
• 8 ( 9 votes)
• 9 ( 9 votes)
• 7.5 ( 8 votes)
• 6.8 ( 9 votes)
• 7.7 ( 9 votes)
• 7.3 ( 8 votes)
• 8.4 ( 8 votes)
• 7.9 ( 8 votes)
• 7.4 ( 8 votes)
• 9.6 ( 9 votes)
• 9.2 ( 9 votes)
• 8.5 ( 8 votes)
• 8.4 ( 9 votes)
• 8.8 ( 8 votes)
• 9.4 ( 8 votes)
• 8.9 ( 10 votes)
• 7.3 ( 9 votes)
• 8.3 ( 9 votes)
• 5.4 ( 8 votes)
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• 8.6 ( 9 votes)
• 8.2 ( 10 votes)
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• 8.3 ( 10 votes)
• 7.7 ( 10 votes)
• 8.6 ( 11 votes)
• 7.6 ( 9 votes)
• 7 ( 9 votes)
• 8.1 ( 11 votes)
• 8.7 ( 9 votes)
• 8.5 ( 12 votes)
• 7.8 ( 10 votes)
• 7.9 ( 10 votes)
• 7.2 ( 9 votes)
• 8.1 ( 10 votes)
• 6.4 ( 9 votes)
• 9.2 ( 10 votes)
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• 7.3 ( 10 votes)
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• 8.4 ( 11 votes)
• 7.9 ( 11 votes)
• 7.1 ( 8 votes)
• 8.3 ( 12 votes)
• 9.1 ( 10 votes)
• 8.7 ( 10 votes)
• 7.8 ( 9 votes)
• 7.5 ( 11 votes)
• 7 ( 11 votes)
• 6.9 ( 11 votes)
• 6.7 ( 10 votes)
• 7.5 ( 12 votes)
• 7.4 ( 11 votes)
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• 7.6 ( 11 votes)
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• 7 ( 8 votes)
• 7.3 ( 11 votes)
• 6.4 ( 10 votes)
• 7.2 ( 10 votes)
• 7 ( 10 votes)
• 6.8 ( 10 votes)
• 7.2 ( 11 votes)
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• 7.5 ( 10 votes)
• 8 ( 10 votes)
• 8 ( 11 votes)
• 8.4 ( 12 votes)
• 7.1 ( 11 votes)
• 6.7 ( 12 votes)
• 7.3 ( 14 votes)
• 7.4 ( 14 votes)

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Episode list

Star trek: voyager.

S2.E1 ∙ The 37's

S2.E2 ∙ Initiations

S2.E3 ∙ Projections

S2.E4 ∙ Elogium

S2.E5 ∙ Non Sequitur

S2.E6 ∙ Twisted

S2.E7 ∙ Parturition

S2.E8 ∙ Persistence of Vision

S2.E9 ∙ Tattoo

S2.E10 ∙ Cold Fire

S2.E11 ∙ Maneuvers

S2.E12 ∙ Resistance

S2.E13 ∙ Prototype

S2.E14 ∙ Alliances

S2.E15 ∙ Threshold

S2.E16 ∙ Meld

S2.E17 ∙ Dreadnought

S2.E18 ∙ Death Wish

S2.E19 ∙ Lifesigns

S2.E20 ∙ Investigations

S2.E21 ∙ Deadlock

S2.E22 ∙ Innocence

S2.E23 ∙ The Thaw

S2.E24 ∙ Tuvix

S2.E25 ∙ Resolutions

S2.E26 ∙ Basics, Part I

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Star Trek: Voyager’s First Borg Episode Set Up Species 8472

Sheldon stands alone by george’s casket in new young sheldon finale image, disney’s wizards of waverly place reboot confirms a disappointing justin twist 12 years after the finale.

• Star Trek: Voyager explores themes of grief, loss, redemption, and persistence in the face of astronomical odds.
• The show's characters learn to cope with a changing definition of normal and the loss of what they once knew, while trying to navigate personal relationships and find a route back home.
• Voyager may not be the highest regarded series, but it offers comfort and hope in a world marked by rapid, unexpected changes, making it worth watching.

The 20 best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager highlight its overarching themes of grief, loss, redemption, and persistence in the face of astronomical odds. Voyager, at its heart, is about its characters learning to cope with a changing definition of normal and the loss of what they once knew, while trying to figure out how to navigate both personal relationships and a route back home. Exploring the final frontier comes with difficult choices, and Voyager isn't afraid to admit that. It may not be the highest regarded Star Trek series, but there is something nonetheless comforting about Voyager. It's familiar, and particularly hopeful in a real world that's also marked by rapid, unexpected changes.

Star Trek: Voyager follows the USS Voyager, an Intrepid Class Federation starship led by Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), on its long journey back to the Alpha Quadrant and Earth after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant. The crew of Voyager , made up of Starfleet and Maquis officers, encounters new foes like the Kazon, Vidiians, Hirogen, and Species 8472, and memorable Star Trek villains the Borg. While its commitment to episodic storytelling sometimes stifles character growth, the format allows Voyager to take risks without permanent consequences, which makes it the source of some of Star Trek 's most bizarre episodes -- but also some of the best.

20 "Deadlock" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 2, Episode 21)

A divergence field splits the USS Voyager into two versions of itself, which are connected through a shared antimatter supply, so only one version can survive in the end. Because both Voyagers are equally real, it's never really clear which Voyager is going to survive. One Voyager takes more damage and even suffers two significant losses of life. The other is more intact, with a full crew complement, but when they're boarded by Vidiians, it's up to both equally stubborn versions of Captain Janeway to determine which ship must self-destruct to save the other.

19 "Pathfinder" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 6, Episode 10)

"Pathfinder" guest stars Star Trek: The Next Generation actors Dwight Schultz as Lt. Reginald Barclay and Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi, as it checks in on Barclay's progress on the Pathfinder program. He dips back into his comfortable holodeck programs, this time in the guise of working on the project, with holographic versions of Voyager's crew. The episode is largely focused on Barclay, but it's very much a Voyager episode, with his determination to bring Voyager home from the other side nearly matching Janeway's, and his fervent hope, even when odds don't look good that it will work.

18 "Infinite Regress" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 7)

As Voyager approaches a destroyed and seemingly abandoned Borg cube, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) becomes overwritten by those of people that she was personally responsible for assimilating as a Borg drone. She doesn't remember what she does when she's suppressed by these alternates, and there's a real concern that she might lose herself in the different and warring voices that vie for control, as time between the shifts lessens. Jeri Ryan is great in this episode, embodying each of the different people in Seven's mind with care, believability, and a great balance between humor and drama.

17 "Eye of the Needle" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 1, Episode 7)

Early Voyager episodes indicate that the show is still finding its feet, but "Eye of the Needle" is an emotional exception. Shortly after becoming stranded, Voyager discovers a wormhole that leads directly to the Alpha Quadrant. The catch is, it's only large enough for a microprobe, and the person on the other side of their subspace transmission is Romulan Telek R'Mor (Vaughn Armstrong). The erstwhile enemies drop their prejudices to work together towards a solution that can safely bring Voyager home using the tiny wormhole, only to find that there's yet another catch: the sides of the wormhole are separated by about twenty years, in addition to the thousands of lightyears of distance.

16 "Someone to Watch Over Me" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 22)

The Doctor has been helping Seven of Nine adjust to life as an individual ever since she arrived, and he believes it's time for her to try engaging in romantic social situations -- in other words, dating. He creates a series of holodeck lessons designed to prepare her for the real thing, but in doing so, accidentally falls in love with her. The scenes between them are sweet and touching, particularly because neither of them are actually fully human, and neither quite understand what's happened until it's happened. She lets him down easy, but the friendship between Seven and the Doctor isn't destroyed; it's stronger in the end.

15 "Bride of Chaotica!" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 12)

Star Trek 's best holodeck episodes are often the most fun ones, and "Bride of Chaotica!" is a delightful season 5 outing revolving around Tom Paris's (Robert Duncan McNeill) "Adventures of Captain Proton" program. Photonic lifeforms, not unlike holograms themselves, register only the holodeck as being reality, and take the program at face value. It's up to the crew to ensure that first contact goes off without a hitch, while making sure the retrofuturistic program's story keeps going. Even Captain Janeway reluctantly participates, as the titular bride for campy villain Doctor Chaotica (Martin Rayner), and it's clear Kate Mulgrew is having a blast hamming it up for the black-and-white serial's style.

14 "Extreme Risk" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 3)

"Extreme Risk" is notable as the episode in which the Delta Flyer is developed and built, but the emotional center of the episode is half-Klingon Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), and the realistic depiction of her depression. She's using the holodeck to engage in increasingly risky behavior, with the safeties off, in hopes of being able to feel something, anything, after receiving a communication from the Alpha Quadrant with devastating personal news. Her close friendship with Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) takes center stage with his validation of her feelings in a particularly moving and hopeful scene between the two of them. Even if things aren't okay now, they can be.

13 "Timeless" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 6)

Fifteen years after Voyager's attempt at an experimental quantum slipstream drive to cross the galaxy crashes it on an ice planet, Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) and Chakotay find a way to make sure the accident never happens. It's a memorable episode for Kim in particular, who doesn't often get a chance to shine; Wang portrays the older Kim with a poignant blend of regret and anger, with his determination to correct his own past mistakes as his driving force. "Timeless" feels like a better and more contained version of Star Trek: Voyager 's finale, "Endgame" , with bonus points for LeVar Burton's cameo as Captain Geordi LaForge.

12 "Mortal Coil" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 12)

When Neelix (Ethan Phillips) dies in the cold open, it's obviously not going to stick. The answer to his revival is Borg nanoprobes, handily provided by Seven of Nine, and from there Neelix is physically fine, but he begins to question how the experience of being brought back to life fits in with his Talaxian religious beliefs. He's Neelix, so he's a master at staying positive in even the most dire situations, but this existential crisis hits home for him, and it's not as easy to cover his concern with a smile. It's refreshing to see a more serious take on Neelix, with added depths to his inner thoughts, his family and culture, and his reasons for even being on Voyager.

11 "Body and Soul" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 7, Episode 7)

When Harry Kim, the Doctor, and Seven of Nine are arrested by Lokirrim authorities in search of "photonic insurgents," Seven downloads the Doctor into her cybernetic implants in order to save him. What follows is a series of misadventures in the Lokirrim prison involving mistaken identities, misplaced romance, and the Doctor's pure enjoyment in discovering that having a physical body, even if it's borrowed, means he can experience the delight that is New York cheesecake. Also enjoyable is the B-Plot, which explains how Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ) gets through pon farr in the Delta Quadrant.

10 "Message in a Bottle" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 14)

The Doctor has a rare opportunity to make in-person contact with a Starfleet vessel in the Alpha Quadrant when Voyager encounters an abandoned relay station that lets him transmit his program in lieu of messages. He discovers his successor, the EMH Mark II (Andy Dick) is online and hiding from Romulans who have taken over the ship. Mark II is a more advanced Emergency Medical Hologram, but the Doctor's growth as a person means he has more or less the right skills to foil the Romulans' plot, and their joint mission results in comedic misunderstandings, holographic hijinks, and a real win for not just the Doctor, but Voyager's ultimate return.

9 "Distant Origin" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 3, Episode 23)

Casually known as "the one with the dinosaurs," "Distant Origin" posits that hadrosaurs departed Earth in their own spaceships prior to the extinction event that ended the dinosaurs' reign, and the inhabitants of those ships found a new home as a Delta Quadrant species . When it's discovered that the genetic similarities between the saurian Voth and Voyager's crew proves a theory relating to their origin, it sparks a powerful philosophical debate between Voth scientists and religious leaders. The silly sounding premise belies a poignant story about truth, doctrine, and how powerful people mold truth to suit a narrative that keeps them in power, even when it's patently false.

8 "Equinox" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 26 & Season 6, Episode 1)

Voyager encounters another Starfleet vessel that's also lost in the Delta Quadrant courtesy of the Caretaker. The USS Equinox hasn't fared quite so well as Voyager, however, with their first contacts in the Quadrant killing a large percentage of their crew. They've had to resort to some unsavory acts just to survive, seemingly abandoning the Starfleet principles that Janeway has desperately held onto as a guiding star. Janeway is at her most ruthless here, pursuing Equinox's Captain Ransom (John Savage) with determination to both make him pay for his actions and bring him back to the guiding light of the Federation.

7 "Latent Image" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 11)

When the Doctor discovers that his memory may have been comprised, he initiates an investigation to find out what exactly happened during his missing time, and who might have been responsible for tampering with his files. A compelling mystery leads him to the unfortunate possibility that his memory was deliberately erased -- repeatedly. The true moral quandary is whether it's right to erase a traumatic memory when it's possible to do so, and who has the authority to do it when it might be a medical necessity. There's also a great moment in Seven advocating for personal rights, an important step on her own journey.

6 "Scorpion" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 3, Episode 26 & Season 4, Episode 1)

After dropping hints throughout its third season, Voyager finally comes to the edge of Borg space. Janeway's solution of allying with the Borg to cross their space safely is a radical one, and Chakotay expresses his obvious displeasure, but Janeway has something the Borg wants: the ability to harm fluidic space natives Species 8472 , a Borg enemy that defies assimilation. "Scorpion" marks a turning point in the series, with the introduction of Seven of Nine and the overall quality of Voyager episodes beginning to increase. Correlation isn't always causation, but it just might be in this case.

5 "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 6, Episode 4)

Frequently cited as a favorite among Voyager 's comedy episodes, "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy" sees the Doctor develop a new daydreaming subroutine, which allows him to explore the possibilities of expanding his role beyond simply medical professional. It seems harmless, until would-be invaders find a way to spy on Voyager through the Doctor's program, and interpret his daydreams as reality. To them, he's a man of infinite talent and a formidable foe, so maybe, just this once, the Doctor might be allowed to live out his dreams if it means Voyager can avoid confrontation.

4 "Counterpoint" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 5, Episode 10)

As Voyager travels through Devore space, they're subject to frequent routine searches for renegade telepaths. The Devore believe that telepaths are immoral, inherent criminals, even as children, and insist on relocating them. Janeway won't be party to such prejudice, so hides a dozen Brenari telepaths in the transporter buffer. The Devore commander, Kashyk (Mark Harelik) defects, initiating a romance with Janeway as they work together to help the refugees find freedom. There's beauty and tension in the way their conversations dance around each other, with loyalties weaving in and out of the believable romance and their obligations to lead their people in what they believe is right.

3 "Living Witness" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episode 23)

In the closest thing Voyager has to a Star Trek mirror universe episode , an inaccurate future museum exhibit tells the tale of how the warship Voyager's involvement led to inequality between the planet's two species. Fortunately, the Doctor's program has survived for hundreds of years, and he can explain how things actually happened, and correct all the inaccuracies in not just the small details but also the broader motives of Voyager's presence. There's always more to the story when history is written by the victors, and the second reveal later in the episode makes this one of Voyager 's very best.

2 "Blink of an Eye" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 6, Episode 12)

In "Blink of an Eye", Voyager is pulled into the gravity of a planet that experiences time at a much faster rate. Generations rise and fall on the planet below, while Voyager becomes a fixture in its sky and -- perhaps more alarmingly -- its culture. Its presence inspires mythology and science alike, as the stories told by the planet's people drive its inventors forward into the future, with technology designed to reach "the skyship," as they call it. It's a beautiful sci-fi concept that works excellently on Voyager , with seemingly ephemeral people living and dying in mere moments, yet building a legacy that remains after they're gone.

1 "Year of Hell" (Star Trek: Voyager Season 4, Episodes 8 & 9)

Star Trek: Voyager doesn't get much better than "Year of Hell", a season 4 Voyager two-part episode that sees Janeway face off against Annorax (Kurtwood Smith), a man obsessed with restoring the Krenim Imperium to its former glory by changing the timeline until it's perfect. Annorax is a perfect foil for Janeway, since both of them are equally determined to return to worlds they've left behind, whether in space or time, but they handle the pain of their losses quite differently. Voyager's damage is more extensive than ever, and Janeway fights on out of devotion to protect her crew; Annorax, by contrast, is only chasing ghosts, desperate to hold onto something that's already gone.

So many of Star Trek: Voyager 's best episodes stand out as unexpected surprises. It's a series that certainly takes risks, but once it finds its feet around its fourth season, its broader themes begin to coalesce. Its characters become less static, as they're allowed to learn, grow, and change, with particularly memorable arcs for the Doctor, Seven of Nine, and Captain Janeway. Star Trek: Voyager , for all its memorable duds, should be recognized for its truly great episodes, with their explorations of grief, change, recovery, and reputation; and how not just its crew, but also its viewers can learn to cope with the most unprecedented of events, and hold onto hope when it seems lost.

• Star Trek: Voyager (1995)

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Voyager Episode Guide

Season One Caretaker   Rating: 4 – Watch Parallax   Rating: 2 – Skippable Time and Again   Rating: 2 – Skippable Phage   Rating: 2 – Skippable The Cloud   Rating: 2 – Skippable Eye of the Needle   Rating: 4 – Watch Ex Post Facto   Rating: 2 – Skippable Emanations   Rating: 1 – Skip Prime Factors   Rating: 4 – Watch State of Flux   Rating: 3 – Watch Heroes and Demons   Rating: 2 – Skippable Cathexis   Rating: 2 – Skippable Faces   Rating: 1 – Skip Jetrel   Rating: 1 – Skip Learning Curve   Rating: 2 – Skippable

Best Star Trek: Voyager episodes

From battles with the Borg to explorations of humanity, we’ve picked out the best Star Trek: Voyager episodes.

Running from 1995 to 2001, Voyager was a departure for the Star Trek series, journeying into new territory, literal and metaphorical. It was the first in the franchise to feature a woman in the captain's chair, with the strong and stubborn Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) taking the helm. In the pilot episode, Caretaker (January 1995), the Intrepid-class starship Voyager is catapulted to the Delta Quadrant, a hitherto unexplored quadrant of the galaxy. Voyager’s mission (and overall story arc) was simple then: Make it back to Federation space, even though it was 75 years away (spoiler: it didn’t take that long). 

During its seven seasons and 172 episodes, Voyager introduced new species, like the Hirogen and the bane of the Borg, Species 8472. It explored emotional and ethical quandaries, such as hologram sentience and reformed drone Seven of Nine’s dating life, and along the way had fun with rogue Klingons and Q. It was a somewhat uneven show and didn’t fully hit its stride until season four, but it still provided plenty of memorable moments.  

Although Voyager never quite reached the heights of cast alchemy and narrative depth of its immediate forebear, the iconic The Next Generation, it broke new ground. Most significantly perhaps, it centered, for the first time, on a woman captain – one who commanded with utmost confidence, inspiring the love and loyalty of her crew, helping to pave the way for the gender-breaking 2017 series Discovery. And, it also included some very fine writing, as this list demonstrates (note: spoilers for individual episodes and the series follow, and two-parters will count as one episode for the purposes of this list).

If you want to relive Voyager's best episodes, then check out our Star Trek streaming guide to find out where you can watch the show online. Or if you’re a just big fan of all things Star Trek then check out our list of Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best , 

Now, let's count down our top ten best Star trek Voyager episodes, starting with...

10. Distant Origin

• Season 3, episode 23 
• Original air date: April 30, 1997

As Voyager was set in a distant part of the galaxy, 70,000 light years away from home, the series was always a touch more whimsical than The Next Generation (TNG) or Deep Space Nine (DS9). In this episode, Voyager, one of the jewels of Starfleet, more than meets its match in a race known as the Voth, when the entire ship is transported inside a massive Voth vessel. 

It turns out the Voth might’ve evolved from Earth’s dinosaurs aeons ago in this tale about the importance of scientific curiosity and open-mindedness. “Eyes open” is the memorable line uttered by the trailblazing Voth paleontologist as he tries to prove humans and Voth once shared the same origin.

9. Good Shepherd

• Season 6, episode 20  
• Original air date: March 15, 2000

Recalling the The Next Generation episode Lower Decks, Good Shepherd gives viewers the chance to see Voyager from a different perspective – not of the captain and her officers, but from much lowlier crewmen. Focusing on a Bajoran who has trouble with her sums, a hypochondriac, and a misanthropic physicist, Captain Janeway decides to take these three on an away mission, to steer these lost sheep back on course. 

It’s a fine episode that shows Voyager as the hierarchical starship it always was, and the importance of its many crewmen that help it to remain running. Fun fact: Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello appears in this episode as Crewman Mitchell.

8. Nightingale

• Season 7, episode 8  
• Original air date: November 22, 2000

The “lowest ranked officer” Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) finally gets his chance to shine as he asks Captain Janeway to give him his first command mission. This episode was an efficient education in the finer points of leadership, as the junior officer took command of an alien ship, revealing the Captain and First Officer’s jobs were harder than they looked. 

Watch as Ensign Kim undermines the confidence of his new crew and overemphasizes the importance of routine checks, among other lessons in what not to do as a leader.

7. Human Error

• Season 7, episode 17  
• Original air date: March 7, 2001

Human Error finds Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) trying to outgrow her Borg limitations in a bid to become more human. It’s romantic, amusing, awkward, emotionally expansive, and yet oddly claustrophobic. As Seven navigates various social activities such as a baby shower, small talk, and, most poignant of all, dating, this episode unpicks obsession, perfectionism, and Seven’s sensitive interior, which belie her inscrutable drone façade. 

With some fine performances by Ryan and Picardo as The Doctor (who is secretly in love with Seven), this episode is slightly flawed, yet more ambitious, and more attuned to human moods than much of Voyager’s oeuvre.

• Season 2, episode 16  
• Original air date: February 5, 1996

“You live on the edge of every moment, and yet, in its own way, violence is attractive, too. Maybe because it doesn’t require logic. Perhaps that’s why it’s so liberating” – Suder’s chilling words to Tuvok.

The early seasons of Voyager were patchy as the crew took time to establish chemistry, while antagonists such as the Kazon were uninspiring. But in season two, we were treated to an episode of high drama that didn’t rely on alien battles. Instead, it came via an onboard murder. The resident Vulcan and Chief Security Officer, Tuvok (Tim Russ), is charged with solving the case. Attempting to establish motive, the logical Tuvok is baffled when the murderer, the crewman Suder, replies that he committed the crime for “no reason”. Tuvok mind melds with Suder in order to better understand him. 

Needless to say, Tuvok experiences adverse effects from the meld in this study of extreme violence, and grapples with the ethics of appropriate punishment. Anchored by a charismatic performance by Brad Dourif, as the sociopath, Suder even gets a chance at redemption, returning in the two-parter Basics (season 2, episode 26), when he helps to retake the ship from the Kazon. 

• Season 5, episode 25 & season 6, episode 1 
• Original air date: May 26, 1999 & September 22, 1999

This season five finale has a grittiness and darkness that later series Enterprise and Discovery would utilise more. Encountering another Starfleet vessel in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Janeway goes to the aid of the U.S.S. Equinox. A much smaller and less powerful vessel, the Equinox is a Nova-class starship not designed for long-range missions. 

So, how have they managed to survive this long? In this tense and dramatic two-parter, Janeway is pitted against fellow Starfleet officers and turns vengeful as she discovers the horrifying truth about the Equinox's betrayal of Star Fleet's principles and the Prime Directive.

4. Blink of an Eye

• Season 6, episode 12 
• Original air date: January 19, 2000

The U.S.S. Voyager investigates a world that rotates 58 times a second, with time passing much more quickly on its surface than in space, but gets trapped as it is caught by the planet’s orbit. Meanwhile, the primitive natives on the surface see a new star in the sky, which happens to be Voyager. 

In this enjoyable episode, the crew of the ship, and we the audience, get to see the evolution of a world and its inhabitants before our very eyes. Featuring a pre-Lost Daniel Dae Kim as an alien, Blink of an Eye has a charm and sweetness that is magically expressed in the episode’s final moments.

• Season 7, episode 24 
• Original air date: May 23, 2001

When Voyager’s finale aired, it was met with mixed audience reactions, with a consensus that it wrapped things up a little too neatly. While that criticism is not invalid, in retrospect Endgame was more of a treat than a sour note. After all, over its 86-minute runtime the two-parter finally gave its characters a little more room to breathe. This generosity extended to include the return of the wonderful Alice Krige as the Borg Queen, who first appeared in the role in the Star Trek: First Contact movie. 

Involving a Borg showdown, among other delights, Endgame treated us to the sights of a Voyager crew in old age, as we learn of the crew’s destinies, the wonders of even more futuristic technology, and a white-haired Janeway coming to terms with how stubborn her younger self could be.

2. Year of Hell

• Season 4, episode 8 & 9 
• Original air date: November 5, 1997 & November 12, 1997

This two-parter is among the darkest and grittiest Star Trek has ever gotten. This was Voyager in distress and Captain Janeway at her most grim. Voyager gets embroiled in an interspecies conflict, but finds itself drawn into a more personal story. Kurtwood Smith delivers an authoritative performance as the villain Annorax – a brooding figure who commands a temporal weapon ship capable of erasing objects and civilizations from the timeline. 

Year of Hell had an epic quality, a sense of awe and real peril as it was difficult to imagine Voyager surviving through the onslaught. Full of memorable imagery – from Janeway as a gung-ho militaristic figure to a devastated ship with holes in its hull – this was Voyager at its most hellish.    

1. Timeless

• Season 5, episode 6 
• Original air date: November 18, 1998

A mini-masterpiece. For Voyager’s 100th episode the show’s producers and writers Brannon Braga, Rick Berman, and Joe Menosky created something special. With Levar Burton (of Geordi La Forge and The Next Generation fame) as director, Timeless had the majesty of a movie. The 45-minute run-time included the extraordinary image of Voyager encased in ice and a plot that was as satisfying as it was compelling (as well a cameo from Burton as a Starfleet captain). 

What was even more surprising was Garrett Wang playing an older, grizzled Harry Kim, in probably his standout performance, for a story that was full of pathos and regret. Can the older Kim send a message back through time to correct a huge mistake and avoid the deaths of his crewmates? Timeless really does have a timeless quality to it, since it’s the finest episode of Voyager ever produced.

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Lu-Hai Liang is a British Chinese writer and reporter. He has a degree in multimedia journalism and has written about culture for The Atlantic, BBC, CNN, Eurogamer, IGN, and Wired among others. He was based previously in Beijing for six years and reported on China’s changing society and development in business and technology. Generally, he likes sci-fi, video games, and space.

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Star Trek: Voyager - Episode Guide - Season 3

The slo-o-o-o-ow evolutionary progress of Star Trek: Voyager continues in season 3, as the show finally starts to more closely resemble, you know, Star Trek.

Voyager season 3 is still fairly uneven in quality, but some good old ST staples still get some good use in this season. The crew experiences trippy time paradoxes in “Coda” and “Before and After”, while the entire ship visits the 1990s a la Star Trek IV in “Future’s End.” The holodeck, well more used in Voyager than in any other ST series, is done extremely effectively in the ripping yarn “Worst Case Scenario” and the surprisingly interesting “Real Life.” (To be fair, however, there is “Alter Ego”…)

1. Basics, Part II – Talk about your pat resolutions: The Voyager crew survives in Stone Age conditions for about six hours of so and befriends a shaman while Paris, with the assistance of the Doctor, rounds up some galactic cavalry and Voyager is returned with nary a scratch. O yeah, Seska dies and the baby for which Janeway and Chakotay were willing to sacrifice ship and crew is never heard about again. **

2. Flashback – In Voyager’s version of “Trials and Tribble-ations,” Tuvok and Janeway mentally travel back to Tuvok’s time on the Excelsior, which awesomely intersects with the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and gives Captain Sulu an opportunity to kick a little ass. ****

3. The Chute – With no knowledge of how they arrived, Paris and Kim find themselves in a prison straight out of Escape from New York. Kim’s sad attempts to act the aggressive badass are thankfully outweighed by a neat twist or two. ***

4. The Swarm – Janeway et al attempt to maneuver Voyage through a space packed with a swarm of small ships, but it’s Robert Picardo who deservedly gets the quality screen time. The Doctor’s memory is rapidly degrading and so B’Elanna crafts a holodeck program of the EMH’s designer, Dr. Zimmerman, to assist. ***

5. False Profits – Full disclosure: Star Trek Guide digs the Ferengi as fantastic satirical content on consumerism, so that may bias this synopsis. So … remember the dudes looking to bid on rights to a wormhole in the ST:TNG episode “The Price”? This is what happened to them after traveling through the ultimately unstable wormhole: The two conniving Ferengi found ways to exploit the local mythology of a nearby planet to their advantage; clearly The Prime Directive has no business (so to speak) conflicting with the Laws of Acquisition… ****

6. Remember – B’Elanna has recurring dreams which appear to be induced by visiting aliens called Enarans ; these are a side effect of an attempt to repress certain bits of Enaran history or something, but we’re still trying to figure out why Torres was susceptible rather than the Vulcans and Betazoids kicking around…**

7. Sacred Ground – Metaphysics and subatomic physics collide in a story that would likely have had Gene Roddenberry foaming at the mouth. When Kes is left comatose outside of a monastery while on shore leave, Janeway must take a less than scientific approach to restoring her to consciousness. **

8. Future's End, Part I – Kinda like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home except not quite as humorous and set in the 1990s. An interesting time-travel tale which includes time travelers from the 29th century and Voyager’s escape into the 20th, where an unknown event will destroy the Earth 1,000 years later. Interesting stuff made even more compelling with Ed Begley Jr. playing an EEEvil Steve Jobs. ****

9. Future's End, Part II – Part II keeps the tension and intrigue high, while giving Tuvok and Paris some a few funny bits. Time ticks away as the unanswered questions demand resolution: Can Henry Starling be stopped? How will Voyager return to the 29th century? Does The Doctor get to keep that dope mobile emitter? And will Paris bag that attitudinal 90’s chick? ****

10. Warlord – An alien warlord takes control of Kes’s mind and whoa are the results boring … *

11. The Q and the Grey – Kind of like two Q-centric episodes put together: Q tries to convince Janeway to have a baby with him (guess he should have been around for Kes’s Elogium), and then reveals that Janeway’s decision in “Death Wish” has led to a civil war among the Q that’s having deleterious effects in the standard four-dimensional plane of existence. ***

12. Macrocosm – The classic virus-from-another-planet Star Trek trope goes one step further when a “macrovirus” invade Voyager. Watchable despite the silly presence, basically because The Doctor and Janeway are ultimately the only ones standing (literally). **

13. Fair Trade – Neelix finally admits that he knows nothing about the space they’re traveling through and goes on to whine about his uselessness. And then he gets scammed out of Voyager resources thanks to an “old friend.” **

14. Alter Ego – Kim and Tuvok vie for the affections of a holodeck babe, which then (sigh) comes to life outside the holodeck. *

15. Coda – Head trip for Janeway: The captain appears to be trapped in a time loop involving various death scenarios before the plot line takes a crazy left turn into the afterlife. ***

16. Blood Fever – Another rule of Voyager: Any story line involving B’Elanna Torres flipping out can immediately be labeled a non-classic. In this pretty silly episode. Tuvok goes through Pon Farr – and “passes it” to B’Elanna. I know, right? 0

17. Unity – In an episode set just outside of Borg space, a couple of subplots featuring the deadly force involve the investigation of a dead Borg cube and rogue Borg units who have (mostly) de-assimilated from the collective. ****

18. Darkling – Picardo gets to chew the scenery a bit in this one, based on an attempt by the Doctor to expand his personality. Unfortunately, this experiment goes awry and a Mr. Hyde type emerges at random. ***

19. Rise – Tuvok and Neelix (gods help us) crash land a shuttle (no kidding). Sensors and transporters aren’t working (imagine that) because reasons, so Neelix lies, claiming to know how to repair the nearby space elevator; also, there’s a bomb aboard. And Neelix squeakily complains that Tuvok doesn’t respect him. *

20. Favorite Son – In a plot line straight out of Kirk’s playbook, Kim is revealed to actually be a member of another species and is recalled to a planet where women are the vast majority, so even the ensign can get some. Or so he thinks … **

21. Before and After – Head trip for Kes: She suddenly finds herself years in the future and saddled with a terminal disease. She then begins traveling backward through her life. ***

22. Real Life – The Doctor creates a too-perfect family with whom to interact on the holodeck, so it’s a good thing that Anson Williams of Happy Days fame is aboard to direct. Includes a surprisingly touching ending. ***

23. Distant Origin – A nice script steadily unpacks a compelling tale about a reptilian scientist who believe their species evolved from humans. This one includes a very interesting reaction to the typical stirring speech by Chakotay as well… ****

24. Displaced – Head trip turns into invasion, as Voyager crew members are replaced one at a time by aliens who’ve discovered quite the unique pilfering strategy… ***

25. Worst Case Scenario – This show may take (justifiable) flak for overusing the holodeck, but at least three Voyager episodes make the list of top ST stories using the device. This is the first of the best. When a mysterious, anonymously-programmer holo-program starring the Voyager bridge crew and set in a time of Maquis rebellion, nearly everyone on board is obsessed. When the “author” is revealed to be Tuvok and the “holonovel” actually a training exercise, the crew nevertheless encourage him to finish writing; Paris offers to lend a hand. ****

26. Scorpion, Part I – The wussification of the Borg begun in the post-Best of Both Worlds seasons of ST:TNG continues, as the Voyager crew discovers a totally badass bunch of dudes known only as Species 8472. The Borg then condescend to negotiate (!) with Janeway regarding safe passage though Borg space in order for assistance with the 8472s.

Exploring the Star Trek: Voyager Nod within Star Trek: Discovery’s Latest Episode

I n an earlier era, Captain Kathryn Janeway (portrayed by Kate Mulgrew) commandeered the advanced Starfleet starship Voyager, embarking on a perilous trek into the Badlands to pursue a notorious Maquis faction. These constant tumultuous space storms mirror the dangers that face the crew of Discovery as they venture into the same treacherous territory centuries later, embarking on their own mission to secure a valuable asset. Neither the crew of the Voyager nor the Maquis rebels could have anticipated being plucked from the Badlands, only to be thrust into a distant quadrant of the galaxy, commencing an epic journey to return to Earth.

This element is more than just a mere tip of the hat to the franchise’s faithful followers; it has a deeper significance. The Discovery crew might not fully comprehend the dread of instantaneous transportation across thousands of light years into the unknown — a challenge faced without the luxury of a spore drive. But when Burnham is ensnared in an enigmatic maze alongside a projection of Book (played by David Ajala), devoted “Trek” enthusiasts can appreciate the reflection of a former Starfleet captain’s voyages in “Voyager” as it subtly resonates with the unique odyssey of a different captain in “Discovery.” Both narratives intersect through their extraordinary interactions with the infamous Badlands.

The connections between these two captains create a captivating parallel. Catch the latest installments of “Star Trek: Discovery,” streaming each Thursday on Paramount+.

FAQ – Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Voyager Connection

Is Captain Kathryn Janeway from Star Trek: Voyager mentioned in Discovery?

While not mentioned by name, the latest episode of Star Trek: Discovery evokes the journey of Captain Kathryn Janeway and the crew of Voyager as the Discovery crew undertakes a similar mission in the Badlands, a significant location from Voyager’s history.

What is the Star Trek: Voyager Easter egg in Discovery?

The Easter egg refers to a shared experience of perilous travel in space, particularly through the Badlands. It indirectly parallels the situations of the Voyager and Discovery crews, including an exploration of unknown territories and the longing for home.

Are there more connections between the different Star Trek series?

Yes, the Star Trek universe is rich with interconnections and references between its various series, movies, and characters. These Easter eggs and crossovers enhance the depth of the Star Trek canon and provide rewarding moments for fans.

The recently revealed Star Trek: Voyager Easter egg in “Star Trek: Discovery” is a treat for fans, cleverly interweaving the legacy of a beloved Starfleet captain’s journey with a current narrative. As “Star Trek: Discovery” continues to unveil its weekly adventures on Paramount+, it affirms its place within the broad tapestry of Star Trek lore, offering new and old fans alike layers of storytelling that pay homage to its predecessors. The Badlands, a tumultuous area of space, serves as a symbolic bridge connecting these two captains and their crews across time and space, providing an opportunity for reflection on their shared experiences within the vast Star Trek universe.