Star Trek: Voyager (VOY)
I've always seen VOY as a hybrid of the shows that came before it, using TNG as a template for its overall structure but pulling in the dynamic character growth of DS9 and the unfettered-by-continuity space exploration of TOS. It's a welcome addition to the canon, yet there's so much more the show could have done with its premise.
So the USS Voyager is hurled into the Delta Quadrant, some 70,000 light years away from home. This is unexplored territory for Starfleet, which means every alien encounter is a first contact....except Captain Janeway is an absolutely terrible diplomat with an incredible capacity for making enemies. Despite being cut off from Starfleet supply lines and constantly in need of repairs for one reason or another, Voyager returns home pretty much in mint condition and without any appreciable amount of alien technology installed (notwithstanding some Borg leftovers and a couple gifts from Future Janeway). From a production standpoint, the Delta Quadrant is a blank slate where the show can break away from past series and let loose with creativity...yet all the best ongoing conflicts (namely, with the Maquis and the Borg) have roots in TNG and DS9, and the first alien antagonists we encounter are budget Klingons.
All these factors undermine the unique potential of the show, but it's an enjoyable journey nonetheless.
(More to come.)
[Updated Oct 9, 2020]
So the USS Voyager is hurled into the Delta Quadrant, some 70,000 light years away from home. This is unexplored territory for Starfleet, which means every alien encounter is a first contact....except Captain Janeway is an absolutely terrible diplomat with an incredible capacity for making enemies. Despite being cut off from Starfleet supply lines and constantly in need of repairs for one reason or another, Voyager returns home pretty much in mint condition and without any appreciable amount of alien technology installed (notwithstanding some Borg leftovers and a couple gifts from Future Janeway). From a production standpoint, the Delta Quadrant is a blank slate where the show can break away from past series and let loose with creativity...yet all the best ongoing conflicts (namely, with the Maquis and the Borg) have roots in TNG and DS9, and the first alien antagonists we encounter are budget Klingons.
All these factors undermine the unique potential of the show, but it's an enjoyable journey nonetheless.
(More to come.)
[Updated Oct 9, 2020]
