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Today’s guest post comes from April G., a published Internet and traditional print writer, Joomla! webmaster, nerd and wallflower. Follow here on Twitter @aprilfreelance
I used to be a die-hard Star Trek Next Generation fan. No other series could hold a candle to it, until I started watching Voyager on late-night syndication after the series had ended. Having recently completed all 7 seasons of both series on Netflix once again, I have firmly switched allegiances.
The Ship: Voyager was the most technologically advanced of all the starships. The new Intrepid class vessel was smaller, sleeker, faster, and more maneuverableImage may be NSFW.
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. Her neuro-gel packs were the closest Star Fleet had come to building a “living” ship, complete with the vulnerabilities of bacterial infection and dying packs that made for some interesting replicator malfunctions and alien sustenance. The ship took on its own characterization more than any before her. While the Enterprise could head for the nearest star base when she needed repairs, Voyager had to limp along the Delta Quadrant under whatever power could be rerouted during repairs, or land on a planet (which the galaxy class couldn’t do) and hope she didn’t rile the natives. Would any other ship have survived so long during “The Year of Hell?”
The Mission: Voyager was stranded in the Delta Quadrant – an uncharted area of the galaxy from which it could potentially take the crew 75 years to get home. That journey was the one mission throughout the series. Home was the driving force behind every plot and every decision of Voyager’s crew, and provided a consistency across all 7 seasons of the show’s run. The hope of seeing again the Alpha Quadrant was the backbone of the morality, humanity, and vulnerability of the characters. Whereas the Prime Directive and diplomacy pointed the way wherever writers wished from one show to the next for the other Star Trek series, Captain Janeway’s determination to uphold her promise of getting her crew home, and guilt over her decision that stranded them in the first place, lent a new depth, stability, and occasional Prime-Directive-be-damned conflict. The only waver from this primary mission was when Janeway tossed all to the wind to carry out Star Fleet’s highly classified “Omega Directive.”
The Species: Voyager retained some of the more familiar Star Trek species: Commander Tuvok and several other Vulcans, B’Elanna the half-Klingon, Seska the Cardassian, Q, Q2, and more Q, and other minor characters. New, friendly species become a part of the crew in the Delta Quadrant including Neelix the Talaxian junk salvager and Kes the Ocampa with a lifespan of 9 years. Then there were the villains. Of course the Borg appeared, as well as previously unknown races hell bent on destroying the intruders from the Alpha Quadrant. The Kazon factions were locked in a Civil War, and the most powerful Kazon Ogla had a personal vendetta against Voyager plus equal or superior fire power. The Vidiians possessed the technology to transport vital organs straight out of a living body, which they did with impunity to save themselves from the Phage.
Species 8472 managed to instill enough fear in the Borg that a Voyager – Borg alliance was formed. Race after new malevolent race was introduced throughout the show, from mass murdering holograms to the predatory Hirogen who trapped the Voyager crew in a WW II holonovel to be tortured, maimed, shot, and healed to be sent back into the story again.
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Next Gen always knew that a Romulan, Cardassian, Klingon, Vulcan or Betazoid would be just around the next nebula. Voyager never imagined who was lurking in the next sector, friend or foe, and still managed to outgun or outsmart the antagonists, or effectively run like hell when necessary.
The Captain: Captain Kathryn Janeway was not the first Star Fleet female captain, but she was the first and only series female captain. There were many memorable crewmen on Voyager, but Janeway is still the most contended. Played by Kate Mulgrew, Captain Janeway brought a fresh perspective that allowed Voyager’s writers and producers to delve more deeply into the subjects of humanity, vulnerability, loneliness, and compassion in ways not seen in other Star Trek captains. She had been a science officer before taking command of Voyager and could operate, repair, or develop any part of the ship from the warp core to genetic medical cures. Her diminutive frame, with hands on hips or wrapped around a phaser rifle, could hold its own against any diplomat or creature. And let’s face it: Janeway could stare longingly through a bulkhead window better than any other captain before her. She never allowed herself to take a lover from the crew serving under her, choosing instead to create her own Irish American hunk on the holodeck. Fans cried for a Janeway/Chakotay hookup, or even a Janeway/Seven hookup, but Mulgrew herself refused to play into the Playboy sex gratuity seen in the Original and Next Gen series. Then we get to the captain’s catchphrase. “Engage” was, of course, a staple. Picard also had, “Make it so.” Janeway brought her rural Indiana, Earth, upbringing into it: “Do it!”
I will make one concession. Janeway was a bad dier, and she died or came near to death a lot. But hey, Picard’s intoxicated come-on to Beverly Crusher was just as badly comical.
And, since this post is in defense of Voyager, here is your gratuitous Seven of Nine pic, a far superior sexual fantasy to Counselor Troi’s v-neck, gray-and-lavender jumpsuit.
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