Star Trek: Voyager – Editor’s Corner
As the series that introduced me to the franchise, Star Trek: Voyager will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first series I ever had the opportunity to watch. Although, without UPN, it didn’t even air in my local area until its third season. Next Generation did air on the local ABC affiliate, but I was too young to enjoy it. The local NBC affiliated aired Deep Space Nine at 3:00am Sunday mornings, so it hadn’t caught my eye either.
Then, I accidental gazed upon Voyager when it began airing at 11:00am Saturday mornings on the local FOX affiliate during its third season. My first contact with Star Trek truly was accidental, as it aired immediately following the FOX children’s block, which featured my then-favorite TV shows. “Rise” was the very first Trek episode I had ever seen, followed a few weeks later with “Real Life,” which was the episode that really hooked me. I made it a point to watch the remainder of the season. By the time “Scorpion, Part I” aired, I was truly enamored with Voyager and couldn’t wait for the next season. I spent that summer catching re-runs of Voyager while eagerly anticipating the September return as I repeatedly watched Season Four promos touting that “some summers are shorter than others.”
By the time Season Four premiered, the local ABC affiliate began pairing Voyager with NextGen re-runs, where NextGen ran Mondays-Fridays at 6:00pm and Voyager airing Saturdays in the timeslot. This presented a perfect opportunity to get hooked on another Trek series.
Even putting the personal connection aside, I still feel that Voyager still firm as one of the better series, excluding the poor quality of its first two seasons. Janeway is my favorite captain. I think Kate Mulgrew is a fantastic actress, and the character had a perfect blend of characteristics that qualify Janeway as an excellent leader. Voyager, the ship, is also my favorite of the fleet (Enterprise-D is a close second). And, who can ignore Seven of Nine – one of the best characters in Trek history.
Voyager’s fourth and fifth seasons are among the best whole seasons in the entire franchise, containing an excellent collection of action-packed drama. While Seasons Six and Seven didn’t quite hold the same caliber, they still presented a handful of excellent stories.
Upon reflection, had Voyager not been my introduction to the Star Trek universe, perhaps I wouldn’t rank the series so high. Honestly, Voyager’s fourth and fifth seasons are the main calibers for this ranking. When judging a series as a whole, it would be hard to justify Voyager as being better than the others, but those two seasons are truly stellar.
