Stardate 62160.20 - Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager (VOY) ran from 1995-2001, for the most part concurrently with Star Trek: Deep Space 9 (DS9). I've spoken before about how I feel that DS9 is the superior of all the series and how VOY ranks dead last, but I just started watching VOY again and I have to say that had the two series not been running simultaneously I believe I would have appreciated VOY more. I received the first season on DVD a few years ago and just got around (thank you, writers' strike!) to watching them. Unlike Star Trek: The Original Series (TOS) or The Next Generation (TNG), I haven't seen any episodes of VOY in re-runs on TV since the show went off the air 7 years ago. I find that I have zero memory of some of them, while others I can remember quite well.

For those who never watched, the crew of the Starship Voyager are on a mission hunting rebels when they are pulled 70,000 light years away from home and they spend the next 7 years trying to get back. There were some missteps in the first season (which I am most of the way through), such as screwing up Tuvok's and Paris' ranks for half the season, or having your first two episodes after the premier both be about time travel, but it has not been as bad as I remember. Perhaps that is because I am starved for Star Trek right now (has it really been 3 years since Star Trek:Enterprise (ENT) went off the air)? Perhaps it is because I am not comparing it week after week with the vastly superior DS9, as I did when they were on the air. Whatever the reason, I am actually enjoying watching it through again.

Perhaps I was a little hard on VOY when it was on the air. At the time, TNG had ended, DS9 was on the air also, and we were in year 8 of an 18-year stretch of Star Trek. We could afford to be a little more critical. If it were to come on the air today after a 3-year Star Trek dry spell, would I still rank it dead last? I'm just not sure.

Seasons One through Seven of Star Trek: Voyager are available on DVD.


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