On a bit of a whim, I decided to start a rewatch of Star Trek: Voyager to tide me over until I can binge-watch all of season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery. Mrs. OfThePalace, who enjoys Star Trek but isn't really a Trekkie, watched cause it was on tv and got interested. So I've embarked on a curated re-watch. I'm not watching every episode (and I'm certainly not going to inflict "Threshold" on Mrs. OfThePalace - she's my wife, after all). Instead, I'm choosing episodes (with a little help from Wikipedia and /r/DaystromInstitute) that are some combination of A) important for overall plot; B) important for character development; C) contain important or memorable moments (e.g., "there's coffee in that nebula"); and D) don't suck.
I've previously rewatched TOS, TNG, and DS9, and I think they all hold up rather well (and of course TNG and DS9 seasons 1 and 2 were kind of rough while they figured out what kind of show it was going to be). The same matches my memory of Voyager, and that seems to be holding up rather well.
The premise of the show is absolutely great. A Starfleet vessel, far from home, trying to survive on their own? Testing Federation ideals in extreme circumstances? Trying to combine a Starfleet crew with a band of Marquis? Fresh aliens instead of more Vulcans, Klingons, and Romulans? Sign me up!
Unfortunately the plots of the episodes don't really live up to the premise. There's too many "Oh! Here's a way home! Damn, didn't work" episodes in the first season. I understand why the writers did that, but they really didn't think it through. There was never any tension in any of the episodes, because you know perfectly well that it's not going to work. The only question is why not. And then Voyager goes off and doesn't, you know, try again. This particularly irked me in the episode with the female Caretaker. You know perfectly well that this entity can send you home. Don't leave yet! Stay and try to figure out a way to work with her!
The Marquis/Starfleet tension works pretty well in terms of characters, but not so much in terms of plot. Chakotay and Janeway clashing can work great, and B'elanna is a great character as well. But the storylines never really work for me.
Speaking of characters. Janeway, B'elanna, the Doctor, Tuvok and (surprising to me) Neelix are all great characters. Neelix is annoying, but he's still a good character. (Quark pulled the same trick). Kim, Paris, and Kes are dull. Chokatay as a character is ok, not great. Chakotay as a stereotypical Wise Indian is painful.
So in the end, I'm feeling this as being OK, not great, with good moments and potential for more. Very curious to see how things shape up once Seven shows up.
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