I'd been watching Voyager seasons 5 and 6 on Netflix and just about gave up on the show. Stopped watching, tried a little Babylon 5, then pulled up the last four seasons of Buffy for yet another rewatch. Voyager had turned into a dull, barely distinguishable run of nothing episodes interspersed with moments of ludicrous silliness ("Bride of Chaotica," anyone?). But then I decided to come back to Voyager for a while, and was pleasantly surprised when about halfway through Season 6, it suddenly started to get good again. I just finished "Child's Play," and there's been a run of good, interesting episodes: "The Voyager Conspiracy," "Pathfinder," "Collective," "Ashes to Ashes." Now, granted, I could live without the Fairhaven stuff. But by and large, after a long period of lackluster episodes, it seems like Season 6 is shaping up to be a solid one. Did something change? Did the writer's room get some new blood partway through the season? Or is it just coincidence?
I don't really agree that Voyager suddenly improves half way through season 6. I feel season 6 started off with three extremely strong episodes in "Survival Instinct", "Barge of the Dead" and "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy". The whole season is filled with some very good episodes and the occassional stinker. Its a pretty consistent mixture for me. I certainly don't think "Collective" and "The Voyager Conspiracy" are more interesting or of higher quality than "One Small Step" or the 3 episodes I mentioned before. It seems you were getting fed up with Voyager in season 5 which is understandable if you're getting fed up due to the samey-ness of a new adventure every week format, but not really judging by the quality of episodes, I think season 6 is only slightly better and season 5 has some huge standouts like "Once Upon a Time", "Timeless", "Counterpoint", "Latent Image", "Dark Frontier" and "Someone to Watch Over Me".
Interesting ... a few of the episodes you listed as strong ones, like "Barge of the Dead" and "Someone to Watch Over Me," are among my least favorite. However, I do agree that "Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy" is a good one. Maybe it is just that I happened to run into a stretch of episodes I liked, rather than any particular change that took place mid-season.
"Barge of the Dead" and "Someone to Watch Over Me" are very well liked overall from what I can gather. "Barge of the Dead" gets a full 4/4 from Jammer (www.jammersreviews.com) and "Someone to Watch Over Me" a 3.5/4. What do you think of the series overall so far?
IMdb confirms that Jeri Taylor buggered off end of season five and Bryan "Pushing Daises" Fuller signed up fro the final year. But that could just be a coincidence. The longer Voyager went on the less interest Berman had in the project until he abandoned ship completely, well, except foe a rubber stamp with his name on it, to make Enterprise astonishingly fantastic. He failed.
Jeri Taylor really left at the end of season 4 though, she only wrote "Nothing Human" as a one-off, and Bryan Fuller joined in season 4.
You're calling IMdb a liar? Hanging around the set, being useful is one thing, but when your contract says "producer" it's a horse of another colour entirely.
Bryan Fuller joined in season 4, his first episode being "The Raven". He started as co-producer in season 7 as Braga focused on "Enterprise". Jeri Taylor's final episode as executive producer was "Hope and Fear". You must be reading it wrong or something.
I myself don`t like season six. I think it`s a weak season with some good episodes in it. I never liked Barge Of The Dead, Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy, Alice, Riddles, One Small Step, Fair Haven, Spirit Folk, Good Shepherd, Muse, Fury.
Oh wow, "Barge of the Dead" and "Muse" are two of my favorite episodes! What don't you like about them!?
Tom making out with both the DeLanney sisters! As well as didactic subtext insisting on the piss poor story telling most modern TV substituting titillation for meaningful content.
I liked the Borg children story Arc in season 6, and thought it was one of Voyagers better seasons honestly, led well into season 7.