I have finished watching Star Trek Next Generation and Deep Space 9 following a friend’s recommendation. I enjoyed both shows and started watching the other one, Star Trek Voyager.
So far, I’m not finding it as enjoyable as the other two. I want to try to see it through the eyes of someone who enjoys the show, maybe it will also help me understand why it feels different somehow.
I can’t speak for everyone of course, but as someone who genuinely was not fond of DS9 (not because of writing quality or anything like that, it was great for what it was in that regard.)
After DS9, Voyager had the audacity to try to be FUN again. It offered a really good mix of some serious episodes with some downright goofy episodes. For every “Year of Hell” or “Equinox”, you would get an episode where they were attacked by giant viruses, or a good old fashioned holodeck program goes haywire episode.
It wasn’t afraid to dive into Shlock after DS9 tried to be sooooo fucking serious.
To me, that was a breath of fresh air.
Also:
Janeway is easily the best captain overall. She doesn’t give “Picard Speeches” like Stewart of course, but in every other aspect, her leadership is amazing throughout that series.
Voyager 2 parters were usually epic. This of course comes from the fact that the CGI had come a long way from the TNG days, but with the exception of Best of Both Worlds, I’d put Year of Hell, Equinox and Scorpion ALL better than any other two parter from any other series.
If your comparison is to DS9 and you want “super serious” than yeah…of course Voyager isn’t going to be for you. But if you want something that isn’t afraid to be a little silly sometimes, Voyager is hella-fun.
The worst thing about Voyager going forward is it’s never going to get the kind of remaster TOS/TNG/DS9 got.
It was filmed in the transitional period between film and digital and all the effects weren’t done on film like those series. The masters were done digitally, at broadcast quality.
From interviews/behind the scenes stuff someone would basically have to redo all the editing and effects work from scratch if they got their hands on the raw film. Honestly wouldn’t be surprised if someone is crazy enough to do that. But that’s a ton of work with basically no financial incentive.
I’m sure I’ll be downvoted but good use case for new AI editing tools that are coming out.
picard was too moral compared to sikso and janeway, she was willing to violate more rules because they are so far from home.
See, that’s what I love about Picard. He’s a man who deeply believes in the value of morality and the difficulty of maintaining it and effective leadership. It shines through to every aspect of who he is. We see a man who was once a rambunctious youth, once was an overly ambitious officer, and now is tempered and weathered by mistakes and failures and knows that starfleet succeeds or fails on the behaviors of people like him. I find him incredibly relatable and eminently admirable in this struggle.
I haven’t gotten to ds9 or voyager yet, but this thread is making me glad I’m going to tos after I finish tng. It will serve as a palate cleanser
If you like that about Picard, you’ll probably hate Kirk. Kirk frequently wipes his ass with the Prime Directive. His relationship with Spock frequently boils down to some variation of the following:
I will say that the Kirk/Picard contrast is largely due to who they are paired with on the bridge. As individual characters, Kirk is a giant nerd while Picard is basically Indiana Jones. But their first mates make them seem like the complete opposites…
Kirk is a giant nerd. But he’s paired with the even-tempered and by-the-book Spock, and frequently goes on away missions… So Kirk seems super wild and impulsive in comparison, because Spock is constantly nagging him about the rules. Picard is a dude who goes hiking through alien jungles for fun. But he’s paired with the handsome and impulsive Riker, who tends to go on away missions in Picard’s stead… So Picard looks super calm in comparison. But if you put the two captains together without their first mates, Picard would 100% be the wild one. The only real outlier is that Kirk can’t seem to keep it in his pants, (often during his away missions), while Picard tends to be picky about who he beds.
Oh absolutely, and I’m going into it knowing I’m about to see the opposite of Picard, that’s why I see it as a palate cleanser lol. My expectation for Kirk is what if the Riker we see in season 1 was a captain, but less of a feminist. Like, I’m expecting him to be feminist by 60s standards, but Riker is over here being feminist by 90s standards. And that’s ok, I love Riker as a character as well.
Fun Voyager openings, I hear you asking.
This is probably my favourite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIjOifRG-u8
That’s the episode where the Doctor becomes the “Emergency Command Hologram” in his mind, isn’t it?
At the end when the computer magically makes three pips appear on his collar and Janeway just says “nice touch…”
That’s exactly what I mean. Voyager wasn’t afraid to be a little goofy sometimes. They walked that line really really well without delving all the way into “Let’s do a whole musical episode” or anything.
Yes, I think it is. But not the one where he actually does become the ECH?
The Doctor has added a daydreaming protocol and some aliens who have an AI overlord (they can’t do anything without asking it first) manage to survey the Doctors daydreams but not the inside of Voyager, so they believe the Doctors daydreams to be real.
I think Voyager’s more musical episodes (and Robert Picardo himself) have at least a little to do with SNW eventually getting the musical episode.