Best/Worst of Season Four

[AdmiralScreed]

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.

[You_Will_Fail]

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

[AdmiralScreed]

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?

[You_Will_Fail]

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.

[AdmiralScreed]

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.

[teacake]

Why you no like space nazis? WHY WHY?

[You_Will_Fail]

Btw, you'll need to watch "The Raven" before watching "Dark Frontier"

[Lynx]

Best episodes: Nemesis, Scorpion 2

Worst episode: The Gift

[lurok]

teacake wrote:

---

Why you no like space nazis? WHY WHY?

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)

[tomswift2002]

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.

[You_Will_Fail]

tomswift2002 wrote:

---

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.

Different people were doing VOY and DS9, so that's really not the case.

[DeepSpaceWine]

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

[DeepSpaceWine]

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.

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).

[Tachyon]

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

[Admiral Shran]

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