Just like I did with the first three seasons, I wanted to do a best/worst episodes of season four thread. So, how would everyone rank season four? Here is what my list looks like: Excellent: Year of Hell Part 1 and Part2 Very Good: Concerning Flight Hope and Fear Revulsion One Prey Hunters Waking Moments The Omega Directive Scorpion Part 2 Living Witness Average: Day of Honor Mortal Coil Message in a Bottle Retrospect Unforgettable The Gift Scientific Method Vis a Vis Random Thoughts Demon Below Average: Nemesis Poor: The Killing Game Part 1 and Part 2 Overall I enjoyed season 4 quite a bit. There may have only been two truly excellent episodes, IMO, but there were quite a few "very good" episodes that were almost as good. Only a couple real stinkers too. Definitely the best season of Voyager up to this point. What are everyone else's thoughts? Note: In the "average" section the episodes are in no particular order, but in "very good" they are ranked from favorite to least favorite. I didn't care enough about the average episodes to rank them, lol.
FYI: You left off "The Raven" I find season 4 to be the most consistently quality season with very few episodes that I actually dislike. The loss of Kes was felt strongest in this season, but also felt strongest was the freshness brought on by Seven of Nine who is my favorite character. Overall though this season clearly got a shot in the arm in terms of quality and a great new character. Excellent Message in a Bottle Prey Living Witness Hope and Fear Very Good Scorpion Pt 2 The Gift The Raven Scientific Method Year of Hell Pt I/II Waking Moments Retrospect One Good Day of Honor Nemesis Random Thoughts Mortal Coil Hunters The Killing Game pt I/II The Omega Directive Mediocre Revulsion Vis a Vis Unforgettable (I actually forgot to put it in the list and had to edit my post lol) Poor Concerning Flight Demon
I fell asleep during Raven because I was completely exhausted from the day's work. I'll have to go back and watch it at some point. I can honestly only remember the first 10 minutes of it, so it wouldn't be fair for me to rank it. And your list is interesting. I have to disagree with your placement of Revulsion and Concerning Flight, but you're welcome to your opinion, of course. What did you dislike about them?
I didn't hate "Revulsion" or anything, it just didn't do anything for me and I felt it was a bit boring. I really don't like "Concerning Flight" on the other hand, the writing in it just seems really half-assed. Its neither funny, nor interesting for me.
That's an interesting perspective. I thought Concerning Flight was very funny and entertaining, and I loved seeing Leonardo da Vinci on Star Trek. Those are some of the reasons why I placed it so highly on my list.
space nazis? wot space nazis? Season 4 I really missed Kes but Seven grew on me, especially by end. Love YOH (natch), Living Witness and have a perverse affection for Scientific Method (I loved concept of crew being experimented on by invisible aliens; creepy). I'm with others who aren't as keen on Killing Game; nice idea well executed but do others think Hirogen never liked up to potential, unlike Jem Hadar? And they're more interesting than the JH. Worst episode def Nemesis (is that the one with Chuckles on the planet with teens? zzzzz)
I find Season 4 is the finale season for Voyager. Seasons 5-7 sort of felt like flat pop. There were a couple of interesting episodes, but it felt like the crew and producers had just put "their feet on the desk" and were content to just let the show coat, while their energy was put into DS9's final season. But some of my top Season 4 episodes are The Gift Hope And Fear Living Witness Year of Hell The Raven 'Concerning Flight' I think was inspired by the Voyager novel "Violations", since the two stories are very similar.
Excellent: The Raven Year of Hell, Part I/II Hope and Fear (one of the best season finales in Star Trek as a whole. Told a great self-contained story and without needing to use a cliffhanger. Arturis was a great villain too) Very Good: Scorpion, Part II Waking Moments Message in a Bottle Hunters (Hirogen were visually impressive and were one of the best races introduced by Voyager) Prey The Omega Directive Living Witness One Average: Nemesis Scientific Method Concerning Flight (does a bunch of interesting things, title meaning is a bit of a mystery though) Mortal Coil The Killing Game, Parts I & II (for a glorified holodeck episode, it would be well-above average though. At the core it's interesting, the Alpha Hirogen trying to save his civilization from a gradual extinction, the ship having been taken over by the enemy, Janeway needing to essentially barter her way out and not really having the position to dictate the terms and some of the role-playing. The bad, Nazis were cliched by the '90s, though Hirogen Nazi wasn't nearly as bad as the space Nazis of ENT. Throughout TKG, it came off like the Hirogen were mimicking the role of Nazis awkwardly, more wearing the costumes and playing along whereas the Space Nazis were portayed as the Nazis of a Temporal War. Part 2 did feel a little like a D-Day for storming the beaches, err, corridors of Voyager though. Chuckles was suited for that role It was like a giant role-playing story, only the brainwashed VOY crew were acting for real and the Hirogen were only playing their roles thinly) Unforgettable (a bit slow, but some good writing and an interesting concept) Below Average: Day of Honor (more dull than truly below average) Random Thoughts Vis à Vis Demon (love "Course: Oblivion", don't hate this episode with the passion others do. Its decent, just a bit dull though uses some interesting concepts) Poor: The Gift (doesn't make sense and feels literally like them rushing Kes out the door. Ah, I see Lynx has already posted. I figured "The Gift" would be one episode she'd place as worst) Revulsion Retrospect
Not remotely the case. Paramount started to duplicate/expand the Star Trek crew for the fission of dividing into 2 series, TNG & DS9. Some TNG staff left for DS9 when it launched, others stayed and eventually went to Voyager. But sometimes DS9 staff left for Voyager. In terms of directors of photography... Marvin Rush handled TNG Seasons 3-5, went to DS9 for Seasons 1-2 then handled all of Voyager & Enterprise. Most of that Star Trek "look/style" in terms of how episodes were filmed was all him. Jonathan West handled TNG Seasons 6-7 then went to DS9 for Seasons 3-7. As for writers, among the TNG Season 6-7 personnel that split, Ron Moore & Rene Echevarria went to DS9, Brannon Braga & Joe Menosky went to Voyager. Among producers, Rick Berman & Jeri Taylor went to Voyager. Berman & Pillar were the top producers together til Pillar left in 1996. Berman took a more active hand in Voyager. Might've been personal preference, might've been the perceived threat (see below), making him leave DS9 more to the discretion of the top writing team (Behr & Wolfe then Beimler). Berman said of Voyager, Paramount was going to create it with or without him (and Pillar et al). It seems Paramount wanted a Star Trek series to be the flagship for UPN and didn't want to shift over an established show (DS9)/they wanted something new and/or they wanted a starship show not a space station show for that network. Because of Paramount, there was going to be a 3rd TNG era Star Trek show in 1995. It seems he felt more studio involvement/meddling might occur in Star Trek at Voyager via its placement on a network co-owned by Paramount so focused his attention there. Syndicated shows overall have far less meddling as there's no network and stations are just 1 of many. Declining ratings can trigger the studios to meddle though. Voyager was the highest rated show on UPN in Seasons 1-5, 2nd in Seasons 6-7 after wrestling. The suits had to balance meddling in reaction to its declining ratings (though all UPN shows had declining ratings) vs. not screwing Voyager up with their meddling and ruining the only decently rated show on UPN (decent for 5th/6th place network, not for Big 4).
Excellent: The Gift Scorpion Part 2 Very Good: Day of Honor Mortal Coil Hope and Fear Revulsion One Prey Hunters Waking Moments Message in a Bottle Scientific Method Average: Year of Hell Part 1 and Part2 Concerning Flight Nemesis Retrospect Living Witness The Omega Directive Random Thoughts Below Average: Demon Unforgettable Vis a Vis The Killing Game Part 1 and Part 2 Poor: None
Season Four is easily the best one thus far, with almost 70% of the episodes being above average and only 2 of them being below average.... Excellent: Mortal Coil Message in a Bottle Hunters Prey Retrospect The Omega Directive Good: Scorpion, Part II Day of Honor Revulsion The Raven Year of Hell, Part I Year of Hell, Part II Random Thoughts Concerning Flight The Killing Game, Part I The Killing Game, Part II One Hope and Fear Average: The Gift Nemesis Scientific Method Waking Moments Unforgettable Living Witness Poor: Vis a Vis Demon
I remember when i was young and season 4 started,there was so many advertisement for it and it seemed like Voyager was really making progress and the Views jumped with the Borg/Species 8472/Hirogen/Seven of Nine and episodes like Scorpion,Year of hell,Prey...and Finaly Voyager made contact with the Alpha quadrant,in my opinion this season comes close to being the best from the show and displayed how versatile Janeway is and how much risk she is willing to take to save her people (Scientific method,Year of Hell,Hunters...)
Black, white.. Janeway is very gorgeous in this ep as is everyone. They all look great, except poor pg B'elanna who is dressed in a drab sack.