Star Trek: Voyager series review....
A couple of weeks ago I finally managed to finish all 47 DVDs of my Star Trek: Voyager (ST:VOY) compilation. The series finale Endgame marks the end of my Trek series sojourn which started just about this time last year with the DVD compilation of Star Trek: The Next Generation (ST:TNG), followed early this year by the DVD compilation of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (ST:DS9).
While I still think that ST:DS9 is the best Trek series to date, ST:VOY is not without its own charms as well. In fact, it boasts one of the franchise's most creative writing. Truth be told, creative writing was indeed necessary to make the series work. Why? Take a look at the premise of the entire series. The story is based on a Federation starship, the U.S.S. Voyager, being flung out by a mysterious force across the galaxy, ending up 70,000 light years from Earth, in the Delta Quadrant.
The challenge for the writers, simply put, was to come out with fresh plots, abandoning most of what was established in the other earlier series. Far from home, outside Federation space, totally new storylines and new races had to be created. Of course, some old enemies resurface, most notable of all were the Borg.
Well, after seven seasons, I can confidently say that they pulled it off nicely.
The same way that ST:DS9 broke the convention by being based on a space station, ST:VOY also broke convention in more ways than one. First was by being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, any conventional storylines with other Federation ships, and for that matter other species indigenous to the Alpha Quadrant, with the exception of those already onboard Voyager, were just not possible. Secondly, Captain Kathryn Janeway represents the franchise's very first female starship captain in the lead role. Also interesting was the character treatment given to the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH) which lived out the entire series being simply known as "the Doctor," and the drone liberated from the Borg collective, Seven of Nine.
Of course, the series wasn't without its creative hitches. Stories based on shuttle crashes and holodeck accidents became quite common later in the series' run. So common that you'd start wondering how many shuttles they indeed lost, and how the holodeck can still be regarded as safe despite all the malfunctions. There are also a number of episodes almost based entirely on holodeck events, that you would even wonder to yourself if you're actually watching a science fiction series. Lastly, there is the staple of Trek universe, time travel. During the course of its seven year run, ST:VOY had a number of episodes dealing with time travel, as well as alternate futures and realities.
But I guess such writing pitfalls are unavoidable, given the limitations of the main story arc.
All in all, the series was produced in the finest Trek tradition as set forth by Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future. It isn't the best Trek series (that honor goes to ST:DS9) but it comes pretty damn close.
And in the Trek universe, that's saying a lot.
Other Star Trek blog entries:
Star Trek: First Contact
My own Star Trek awards....
The trekkie in me....
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series review....
Comments
BTW, how much yung First Contact sa Astro? Last time I checked (2 yrs ago) P1,500... too much for me. Hehehe.
I remember that episode, Yesterday's Enterprise.
It was P850.00 if I remember correctly. :-)
Season 1 was pretty slow...things pick up by the 3rd and 4th season. :-)
Thanks for dropping by. :-)
There were exceptional episodes in the Voyager series but generally, it suffered from the "alien of the week" syndrome and continuity problems. Good thing Seven of Nine saved the series :P
There were also a lot of good plots that I wished had a more profound and lasting effect on the series. One of which was "Equinox", the episode where they encountered another federation ship in the Delta Quadrant. It had great themes like morality and duty versus survival. I thought that some of the Equinox crew will get integrated into the Voyager crew, but they were never seen again after (some survived, remember).
Also Voyager had the unfortunate effect of making the Borg less menacing than they were during the The Next Generation series.
DS9, on the other hand, was excellent. But you have to admit, it did falter at the end by making the entire Bajoran membership into the federation and the Prophets saga an afterthought, when it was in fact the point of the series.
"Equinox" was a good episode, though at the back of my mind I kinda wished the other ship wasn't lost. Having two federation ships in the Delta Quadrant would have made a good story twist, at least for a couple of episodes. Yeah, we never did see the Equinox crew again. I remember cause one of them was a babe. :-)
My favorite episodes include "Timeless" (an old Harry Kim tries to change the past and save Voyager), "The Year of Hell" (Voyager faced off with a timestream changing race), "Shattered" (Chakotay walks through Voyager during different time periods), and an episode, the name of which escapes me at the moment (the one wherein Kes goes backward in from an alternate future where she married Tom Paris).
Its quite a shame the writing team only really hit their stride in the last few seasons.
As for DS9, I guess you're right about Bajoran plot being underutilized, when the entire series actually revolved around it. I like the angle about how they lost DS9 and got it back, the death of Jadzia, and Ezri's adjustment to the symbiote.
It would be nice to know what happened to Sisko though. It would make a good movie. I'm kinda tired of seeing the TNG cast in movies. Maybe they should consider some of the DS9 or VOY characters.
Thanks for trading Trek notes. :-)