Voyager actually started very well. The plot device of stranding the crew 70,000 light years from home was inspired and you can almost feel the resulting loneliness pouring out of every episode.
The casting was for the most part very good too. Each character was very real and they all brought something important to the table. I would also praise the natural friction that developed from of a crew made up of Starfleet and the Marquis they were sent into the badlands to hunt down.
I hate to single any one person out, but Kes really offered nothing from the word go. Her smug demeanour and general unlikeable character held back the show in a very noticeable way.
That aside though, the show just wasn’t exciting enough. The “baddies” were too easily seen off and there was never really a sense that Voyager couldn’t defeat most who tried to threaten them.
That was until they ran into the Borg on their own turf…
The Borg were fighting a losing war against the seemingly unstoppable Species 8472 and through the series of events shown in Scorpion Part 1 & 2 Voyager enters into an uneasy alliance with the Borg to try and stop these aliens hellbent on killing every living thing.
And so we’re introduced to 7 of 9. The former human, now Borg, who is assigned to work with Voyager as liaison. She ends up being stranded on voyager when Kes (who ascended to a God like creature) “throws” the ship clear of Borg space.
And thank God she did!
Her characters journey to rediscover her humanity is one of the most touching and heart breaking pieces of writing ever shown on television.
7’s introduction also saw the class of enemy improve dramatically. Gone were the lame Kaizon, in were the Borg, Species 8472, Hirogen and many more besides.
Jeri Ryan also brought a weight of comedy to the role, something badly missing in seasons 1-3 (the Doctor and Tom aside) and episodes in general had far more emotional depth than they had previously.
Probably my favourite aspect of 7 was the relationship she and Janeway shared. It transcended a simple mother/daughter paradigm to become the literal embodiment of the morality, emotion and beating heart of the show.
I still think about their conversations now.
Voyager was, throughout its entire run, an intelligent and thought provoking piece of TV but I would struggle to name another character in history who so dramatically enhanced and improved a shows fortunes.
fireupthedeathstar 