Review: Star Trek Voyager

Posted November 9, 2015 by Lola in Review, Sci-Fi / 24 Comments

LolaReview

Star Trek Voyager

Description:
Star Trek: Voyager (VOY) focuses on the 24th century adventures of Captain Kathryn Janeway aboard the U.S.S. Voyager. Smaller than either Kirk’s or Picard’s starships—its crew complement is only 150—Voyager is fast and powerful, and has the ability to land on a planet’s surface. It is one of the most technologically advanced vessels in Starfleet, utilizing computer circuitry that incorporates synthetic neural tissue.

Ironically, Janeway’s inaugural mission aboard Voyager was to be her last in the Alpha quadrant. While attempting to capture the crew of a renegade Maquis vessel, both her ship and that of the Maquis were pulled into the distant Delta quadrant by powerful alien technology. Unfortunately, there would be no similar “express” route to take them home again. Stranded 70,000 light-years from Earth, Janeway convinced the Maquis to join her Starfleet crew and serve together during the long voyage back to Federation space.

– Description copied from the Star Trek website

My Review:
Star Trek Voyager is my first contact with the Star Trek universe. My boyfriend enjoyed the Voyager series the most, so he decided that was the best series to introduce me to this series. We watched this series over the course of a year or more and finally finished all 7 seasons. I did have some trouble getting into the series at first as I didn’t know much of the universe, but on the other hand that’s also one of the best things about Voyager for a newbie as Voyager takes place far away from the normal happenings. Star Trek Voyager follows the federation star ship Voyager. Voyager lands through some sort of anomaly in the Delta quadrant, 70,000 light years away fro home the alpha quadrant. Voyager is basically about the space ship their journey home through space and everything that happens in during that time. I thought this made for an interesting plot, you have two crews forced to life together and become one crew and they are always on the same space ship. I do think there were some missed opportunities to really illustrate the life on voyager during those years, but al in all it was a great series.

What I like about Voyager is how each individual episode tells it’s own story, but there is also the big overarching plot of getting home. And beside that there are also longer lasting plots, changes in the story and characters that change gradual, very gradual at times, but it’s great to see. There is also focus on politics, alien species they meet more often and where previous interactions sometimes influence the next ones. There are also episodes which stand more apart, they tell a story in the episode and we never hear more of it. So those episodes are there too, but the episodes that contribute to the overall plot or character story arc’s where my favourites.

Ofcourse it’s impossible to like all the episodes. My least favourite episodes were the time travel episodes and the Q episodes. Q is the most annoying weird characters and I couldn’t stand him, so making the episodes with him a mayor annoyance in my opinion. When it comes to time travel there are a few of them in the series and the plot is similar in each of them, something bad happens and thanks to time shit nothing every happened. There are also some episodes I really enjoyed, mainly the episodes focussed on the Doctor or Seven of Nine as those were two of my favourite characters and I think they both have an interesting story. The Doctor is a hologram, who is nothing more than a hologram at first, but get’s more rights and becomes a member of the crew eventually. I won’t spoil too much about Seven of Nine,but I thought her journey and change in the series was great to see.

Voyager has a great cast of characters and I liked all of the main characters, Captain Janeway, Chakotay, Kim, Tom, B’Elanna, Seven of Nine, Tuvok, The Doctor and Neelix. They all have great personalities and depth and they all have episodes more focussed on them. We see all of them change and develop over the course of their series and learn more of them. The interactions between the crew member was one of my favourite parts of the series. As they are forced to spend all their days together on the same space ship they get pretty tight and it’s great to see them become friends and I would dare say family towards the end.

There is a bit of romance in the series, although it’s definitely more of a die plot. The first romance I really liked, it build-up slowly and we see them get together, their struggles as a couple and then how they build their family. The other romance, came a bit out of nowhere in the last season and they went from just friends to lovers in the course of an episode. I thought there was potential for more here.

The ending is pretty predictable and perfect at the same time. I loved where the plot headed and there are some emotional scenes in the last episode, although I have to admit I wasn’t a big fan of the last episode. In my opinion there was potential for more, like an epilogue. The ending is pretty abrupt and I thought having it continue a bit longer would give a satisfactory ending. Also I wasn’t a fan of the time travel element that was introduced and how there is some forced drama in one of the romances.

To summarize: I really enjoyed Star Trek Voyager and it was great to follow voyager’s journey home through the delta quadrant and explore the delta quadrant together with the crew. The characters are probably one of my favourite aspect, we get to knwo all of them and I liked all the main characters and seeing them change and develop during the series. I also liked the episodes that tied into the overarching plot or character arc’s. The time travel and Q episodes were my least favourite. The ending was great, although I wished there would’ve been more of an epilogue or homecoming instead of the abrupt stop. All in all it was a great series and I am glad I watched it. Definitely recommend it for fans of sci-fi series with a great cast of characters, but also very plot focussed and lots of adventure, exploration and a great journey.

4-star

Links:
Star Trek website
imdb
Amazon
Wikipedia

Have you watched any of the star trek series? Which star trek series is your favourite?

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24 responses to “Review: Star Trek Voyager

    • I agree it’s hard to know where to start as there are so many star trek series. I think Voyager is a rgeat start for newbies as it takes place in such a different place of the galaxy and even if you don’t know anything about the star trek universe, like I did when I started watching this, you can still easily follow it. It stand pretty much alone from many of the other series.
      We’re now watching Star Trek DS9 and I am glad we watched Voyager first as DS9 takes place in the alpha quadrant and interacts more with the politics and situation there.

  1. I am a huge Star Trek fan and have been for decades. I even went on a Star Trek cruise back in 1997. That was fun! I watched the series in the order they came out, you know, cuz I’m ancient according to my kids. lol My least favorite series is Deep Space Nine. I pretty much abandoned it after a season or two. I have to disagree with you on Q though. He’s one of my favorite recurring characters. lol
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    • I am watching them out of order as my boyfriend thought Voyager was one of the best series. We’re now watching Deep Space 9, I am enjoying it so far, except the first two episodes thsoe were horrible, but we’re still in the first season. I heard a few others say DS9 wasn’t as good though, so I hope we’ll keep enjoying it.
      I am not sure why, but I just can’t stand Q he’s so annoying.

    • Seven of Nine is one of my favourite characters too, she’s so awesome and I liked how she seemed a bit cold and distant at times, but then when she felt something it was so deep and intense. And her character development is just amazing, she changes so much during the series. Although I thought her romance in the last few episodes came a bit out of nowhere, I would’ve liked a bit more build-up.

  2. I watched this years ago when it first was on TV – my mom is a diehard trekkie and I as a teenager, so there was no way I wasn’t watching it LOL! I have to agree with your BF – it’s one of my favorite series. I do agree with you, too – I remember the series ending pretty abruptly. Which is weird, because the show went the full 7 years, so they didn’t end unexpetedly. IDK why they didn’t come up with a more satisfactory conclusion. Great review!
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    • Now I am a bit afraid the rest of the Star Trek series will be a bit disapointing as Voyager sounds like one of the best series.
      I thought the ending was such a shame, I expected a real tearjerker and seeing how everyone met their friends and families and how they got home. And then it just ends with the ship. It was still a good ending and even a bit emotional, but it just felt like there was so much more potential, especially with the whole series building up towards that point.

  3. I love Star Trek but I am a next generation girl. I tried so hard with Voyager but never got into it, my dad watches it every day on Netflix.

    I love this review! You need to watch Next Generation Jean Luc Picard is like the best Captain! In my opinion 😉
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    • I am sorry to hear you didn’t got into Voyager. I thought it was a great series. We plan to watch The Next Generation eventually too, but we’re watcing Deep Space 9 first as my boyfriend hadn’t seen that one yet. I think Janeway is the best captain so far, so I am doubting that Jean Luc Picard can change that, but it seems that many star trek fans like Jean Luc Picard, so who knows.
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  4. I’ve watched all of the Star Trek series and shows. I’m a Trekkie for sure. I loved Voyager but I also loved all the other series. I rewatch The Next Generation when ever I see an episode on. Glad you ended up liking it.
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    • I only watched Voyager so far, but I do plan on watching the other series too. We now started watching Deep Space 9 and maybe The Next Generation after that, although it probably takes us a whole year to watch DS9.

  5. I really enjoyed this series. I was a die hard Next Generation fan and I remember watching the first episode of it ever with my parents when it first came on, so it has a special place in my heart. Voyager was great all on its own, though I feel like it got awesome when Seven of Nine came on board. Before that, I was wavering. She was definitely my favorite character, along with the Doctor. I’ve thought of rewatching Voyager! I’d really love to. I wish there were more hours in the day. 🙂
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    • I haven’t watched the Next Generation yet, we’re watching Deep Space 9 first and maybe after that the Next Generation, everyone seems to love that series.

      And I agree Voyager definitely got better once Seven of Nine came on board, she’s such an interesting character. And the Doctor was awesome character too.

      I hope you’ll find the time to rewatch Voyager eventually.

  6. Had to laugh at your comment about ‘Q’. He annoyed me in The Next Generation. I enjoyed the Voyager programs I watched, but I never watched them straight through. I remember Seven of Nine and her interesting background.

    I haven’t watched the latest one which is actually a prequel since I think it takes place chronologically earlier. I grew up on the original series so I have a fondness for that one. I’ve watched bits and pieces of Deep Space Nine and then Voyager. But I think my favorite was The Next Generation. I’m a Data fan. 😉 Maybe I’d change my mind if I watched the others through each season.
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    • I don’t know why, but Q is just so annoying. Seven of Nine was such an interesting characetr and I liked her from the start. I never watched any Star Trek series when they first aired, so I am only catching up now. We’re currently watching Deep Space 9, whcih we are enjoying so far. I hear everyone speak fondly about The Next Generation, I hope I can watch that one too eventually.
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  7. I’ve actually never even seen a single episode of Star Trek :O I know I know, I’m terrible. I’ve seen the movies that have come out recently though and liked them. I really should go back and watch the originals because the characters sound really great and I feel like I am missing out!
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    • I never watched any of the movies and Voyager was the first series I watched. We’re going to watch the other series next, we’re now watching Deep Space 9.
      The characters in Voyager are really what makes the series shine and it’s awesome to see them change and become such a tight family.

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