Star Trek: Voyager
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Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. It was produced for seven seasons from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek series to have a female captain as a lead character. The show was a spinoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor. The show was based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.
The series follows the adventures of the USS Voyager and her crew who have become stranded in the Delta Quadrant, seventy thousand light-years from Earth. Unless they can find some kind of shortcut, it will take them seventy-five years to return to United Federation of Planets space.
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Plots
In the pilot episode, "Caretaker", the Voyager is sent on a mission to locate a ship piloted by a cell of the Maquis, a terrorist organization created to protest a treaty between the Federation and Cardassians. Tom Paris (a former member of the Maquis) is brought out of prison to help find the ship. During a chase through the dangerous Badlands, both ships are transported to the other side of the galaxy by an ancient alien device known as the Caretaker Array. Members of the Voyager crew were killed, including the ship's first officer and doctor.
Both ships are attacked by Kazon raiders intent on capturing the Array. Rather than using the Caretaker Array to return home, Captain Janeway decides to destroy it to prevent it from being misused.
The raiders destroy the Maquis ship, but not before about half its crew were able to safely transport to the Voyager. The Starfleet and Maquis crews are forced to integrate and work together as they begin the long journey home. Chakotay, the leader of the Maquis group, becomes first officer. B'Elanna Torress, a Klingon-Human hybrid, becomes chief engineer, and the doctor is a hologram known as the Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH Mark-I). Along the way the crew must contend with organ-snatching Vidiians, the determined Borg, and the extradimensional Species 8472.
The conflict between the fiercely independent Maquis revolutionaries and the by-the-book Starfleet crew is a central theme of the first season, but by the second season it is largely forgotten and there is scarcely any conflict among the crew. Only Janeway remains wrought for the entire run of the series over the consequences of her decision to destroy their way home.
Themes
Voyager continues the themes presented in the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, such as explorations of space and of the human condition. It also demonstrates democratic principles (peace, openness, freedom, cooperation, and sharing) and philosophical issues such as the sense of self and what it means to be human. In Star Trek series, the examination of humanity is typically explored by contrasting non-human characters with human ones (for instance, the Earth-born Kirk and McCoy against the Vulcan Spock). On Voyager, these explicit aliens are The Emergency Medical Hologram (or simply The Doctor) and the former Borg drone Seven of Nine. It should be noted that Seven is a bona-fide Homo sapiens; but having been a Borg drone for most of her life, she has not developed normal human behavior patterns when she becomes part of Voyager's crew.
Another common plot theme is the implications of being stranded far from home. Voyager has only limited resources and no easy way to replenish them; its crew is cut off from the normal chain of command and institutions of its society. Their situation frequently faces them with difficult choices of necessity versus idealism.
Star Trek: Voyager possesses humor in higher quantity than any of its sibling series. The sarcasm of Robert Picardo's Emergency Medical Hologram is reprised in Star Trek: First Contact as well as Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Voyager is likely also the only of the series where you may hear an irritated half-Klingon (Chief Engineer B'Elanna Torres) crack to a de-assimilated Borg (Seven of Nine): "The Borg wouldn't know fun if they assimilated an amusement park."
Reactions
The reception from fans has been mixed. Some feel Voyager was overall a good show with some flaws, while other feel that it was the weakest of all Trek spin-offs. Like Deep Space Nine before it, Voyager did not attract the same ratings as Star Trek: The Next Generation. There were concerns from the beginning that Voyager and Deep Space Nine would compete for ratings within the Trek fandom. Prior to the fourth season there were rumors that UPN was considering cancelling the series, and although criticized by some, the addition of the eye-catching Seven of Nine is credited with giving the ratings for the series enough of a boost to keep it on the air.
Of particular ire to many fans were the show's factual inconsistencies. In the series' second episode, one character declares that the ship has a non-replaceable supply of 38 photon torpedoes, but by the end of the show, a minimum of 93 have been fired (fans (http://www.ex-astris-scientia.org/voy.htm) have counted). The where, how and why of these extra torpedoes are never explained. Others have pointed out the impossibilities of the number of shuttlecraft lost by the crew (15, on a ship that, according to the show's 'bible', carries only two), and questioned how the hot-rod Delta Flyer manages to even land inside the ship.
Cast
Main characters
- Captain Kathryn Janeway, commanding officer (Kate Mulgrew)
- Commander Chakotay, Native American, executive (first) officer (Robert Beltran)
- Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres, half-Klingon, chief engineer (Roxann Dawson)
- Lieutenant Tom Paris, navigator (Robert Duncan McNeill)
- Lieutenant Commander Tuvok, Vulcan, chief of security (Tim Russ)
- Ensign Harry Kim, operations officer (Garrett Wang)
- The Doctor, the ship's Emergency Medical Hologram (Robert Picardo)
- Neelix, Talaxian, chef (Ethan Phillips)
- Kes, Ocampan (season 1 through the second episode of season 4) (Jennifer Lien)
- Seven of Nine, former Borg drone born Annika Hansen (seasons 4-7) (Jeri Ryan)
Recurring characters
- Ensign Seska, a Cardassian agent (Martha Hackett)
- Ensign Vorik, a Vulcan (Alexander Enberg)
- Naomi Wildman, the first child born on Voyager (Scarlett Pomers)
- Icheb, formerly a Borg drone (Manu Intiraymi)
- Lieutenant Ayala (Tarik Ergin)
- Nozawa Kashimuro (John Tempoya)
- Ensign Samantha Wildman, Naomi's mother (Nancy Hower)
- Lieutenant Joseph Carey (Josh Clark)
- Lieutenant Hogan (Simon Billig)
- Lieutenant Susan Nicoletti (Christine Delgado)
- Ensign Michael Jonas (Raphael Sbarge)
- Lieutenant Walter Baxter (Tom Virtue)
- Mezoti (Marley S. McClean)
- Rebi (Cody Wetherill)
- Azan (Kurt Wetherill)
- Ensign Lon Suder, convicted of murder (Brad Dourif)
- Lieutenant Peter Durst (Brian Markinson)
- Crewman Tal Celes (Zoe McLellan)
- Q, galactic gadfly (John de Lancie)
- Captain Proton, intergalactic superhero (Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill))
One-time, cameos or infrequent spots
- Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz)
- Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
- William Riker (Jonathan Frakes)
- Quark (Armin Shimerman)
- Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton)
Robert Duncan McNeill played Starfleet cadet Nick Locarno in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty", in which Locarno got into trouble for violating orders. Locarno was originally planned to return as part of the Voyager cast, but McNeill was not available, so a new character was created, Tom Paris, who had also got into trouble for violating orders. However, McNeill became available after all, and was cast as Tom Paris. It's been theorized by fans that Tom Paris and Nick Locarno are indeed the same person, with Nick Locarno being Paris' alias or nickname while at the Academy.
Ethan Phillips appeared as a Ferengi in a Star Trek: Enterprise episode and as a maitre d' in the film Star Trek: First Contact.
Tim Russ played the character Devor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine," and also played Tuvok in a mirror universe on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Through The Looking Glass". He also appeared as a human on the bridge of the Enterprise-B in the film Star Trek: Generations. In addition he played a Klingon named T'kar in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Invasive Procedures". In addition, he auditioned for the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but obviously did not recieve it.
King Abdullah II of Jordan, a well-known Star Trek fan, appeared as an extra in the episode "Investigations". Abdullah's role was not given any speaking lines because he is not a member of the Screen Actors' Guild.
Alien races
See also List of Star Trek races
| Race | Episodes of appearances |
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| Borg |
"Blood Fever", "Unity", "Scorpion, Part 1 & 2", "The Gift", "The Raven", "The Omega Directive", "The Living Witness", "One", "Hope and Fear", "Drone", "Infinite Regress", "Dark Frontier", "Survival Instinct", "Collective", "Child's Play", "Unimatrix Zero", "Imperfection", "Shattered", "Q2", "Endgame", |
| Ferengi | "False Profits" |
| Hirogen | "Message in a Bottle", "Hunters" |
| Kazon | "Caretaker" |
| Klingon | "Day of Honor" |
| Krenim | "Year of Hell, Part 1 & 2" |
| Q | "Death Wish, "The Q and the Grey", "Q2" |
| Talaxian |
Relaunch
In the wake of a successful series of original novels collectively known as the Deep Space Nine relaunch, featuring stories placed after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a similar relaunch was planned with regards to Voyager, with novels based upon events occurring following the end of the series. In the relaunch, several characters are reassigned to other posts, some new characters are introduced (such as a new ship's doctor), and Chakotay is promoted to Captain of Voyager. Most of the other characters are promoted two steps in rank (for example, Tom Paris is promoted from Lieutenant junior grade to Lieutenant Commander) as compensation for the years they spent in the Delta Quadrant where they could not receive promotions.
So far only a few Voyager Relaunch novels have been published, beginning with Homecoming and The Farther Shore in 2003. More novels are planned, both in the Relaunch and also other novels set during the original 7-season run of the show.
Relaunch continues with: Spirit Walk #1: Old Wounds (Mass-Market Paperback / November, 2004) Spirit Walk #2: Enemy of My Enemy (Mass-Market Paperback / December, 2004)
See also
External links
- Template:Memoryalpha article
- Star Trek: Voyager (http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/VOY/index.html) at StarTrek.com
- Template:Imdb title
- Episode ratings (http://www.tv.com/star-trek-voyager/show/274/top.html) at www.tv.com
- Star Trek: Voyager Movie Petition (http://www.petitiononline.com/st0v0y/petition.html)
- startrekvoyager.com (http://www.startrekvoyager.com/)
- Janet's Star Trek: Voyager Site (http://www.star-trek-voyager.fsnet.co.uk/)
- Episode reviews and fanfiction. (http://www.reviewboy.com/)
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