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Why do Star Trek fans hate Voyager? - Link

DSN was a key space station, close to the Cardassian border, served as a repair facility. So it serving as a reapir facility would mean it would get a fair amount of supplies and man-power.

And during a brutal war, you'd think a sign that the Producers were paying attention to this stuff would be that they'd be low on supplies and men. Especially since DS9 was a frontline base that would reasonably come up attack often.

And we did have an episode with a B-plot regarding a part the Definat needed which was in short supply.
Just that one B-Plot in ONE episode.

So it was only one episode, you were earlier saying that they never did. And haven't you sort of answered your point, it was a front line base, surely the very type of base you would try and ensure that was fully manned and supplied.
 
It's not the only thing. The damage done in "To The Death" was repaired in only one episode, and they had one of those huge pylons blasted right off.
 
I will reiterate that Scorpion received some of the best reviews and ratings in the show's run.
When the audience thought it was going to be a 100 part story. Once they realized it was a 2-parter they stopped liking it.

VOY didn't attempt the lost ship scenario, except in lip service and the rare episodes, so I do not know what would have been if they had done so.
It still would've gotten critiqued even if they had maintained it and sensibly dropped it after it ran its course. No matter what the show would get complaints.



If they stayed in conflict for the entire 7 seasons, they'd have to be insane. And the innate sexism of the premise would've drawn more complaints.



The audience wasn't ready to dislike Farscape from Day One, and keep complaining it should've stayed on. The opposite of Voyager.



Farscape had more to work with than Voyager did. And if Voyager had done similar stuff as Farscape, the audience would just complain they were ripping off past Trek (D'Argo = Worf, Zhann = A Bajoran type, Peacekeepers = Cardassians/Jem'Hadar, etc).



The premise wasn't that unique, and the audience complained anytime they tried to flesh out their surroundings. How the heck do you make new aliens if the audience complains if they showed up more than ONCE?



DS9 did this too. The Station was always at full capacity despite there being a full scale war going on. There was never any battle damage, the Defiant always looked fresh out of the factory, they never ran low on supplies, etc.

So why no complaints there?

My second biggest gripe was the initial racism toward the EMH. Man, he's your ONLY medical professional. Would it kill you to treat him with a little more respect? Good God.
No one cared when TOS did this with Spock.

Battlestar Galactica (re-imagined, which was kind of Voyager re-imagined, too) did a good job in that regard. Not to say that that show was perfect, or anything, but they got the whole "dwindling supplies and decaying ship for lack of replacements" thing down perfectly, imo
NuBSG fell apart after only 2 seasons. That's all the "Lost Ship" plot is good for. And they wussed out plenty of times and also used the reset button (no matter what, Roslin always ended up back in charge and Adama was always fleet Commander, they never really ran out of anything, etc).

Well, we will have to agree to disagree about Scorpion. Because evidence points a different direction.

Part of me is confused by the notion that the audience was annoyed at Scorpion for not lasting longer, yet would also be annoyed for aliens repeating episode to episode. Certainly, it is difficult to please all audience members, but that doesn't mean that everyone hated it. Perhaps they wanted Scorpion to continue because that was the kind of show that was expected.

VOY would have been critiqued-fact of life, all shows deal with it. Some are nitpicks, as several other posters have recently demonstrated, but some are problems inherent to what was produced on screen. VOY had a proposed plot, but lack any follow through on that. Again, regardless of the viability of the "Lost Ship" plot, it still wasn't attempted. At least attempt it, please :rolleyes:

VOY's circumstances were not unique in that Trek had never done it before. It was unique because it was 1) a new place that has never been seen before 2) a different mix of crew, were you could have some conflict, as the two crews grow together and intermix. I doubt anyone is asking for seven years of conflict-that is a bit of a stretch to have that expectation. We're talking about Maquis and Starfleet not Capulet and Montague here. ;)

Also, VOY had a tendency to do things that were flagrant rip offs of Trek tropes. The Kazons turned in to discount Klingons, without the benefit of cloaking devices or melee weapons. There was the requisite "anomaly of the week" a TNG staple that did little to add to VOY's characters, as well as a holodeck malfunction plot multiple times. We have the character split/fusion routine, like "The Enemy Within" and Tuvix. No doubt you can find connections all over the place, but it might sound like nitpicking.

The problem isn't that VOY did things that other Trek shows did or had done. The problem comes back to the execution, the implications, whether it matters to the characters, and the originality of the presentation. Yes, it has all been done before, but you can add your own unique spin, unique flavor without it being identical. VOY had its limits, but never challenged them. It was content inside its box.

Farscape, since it keeps coming up, built itself up through characters. The first season, right until Nerve, was a bit of a hodgepodge mix of good and bad. It wasn't always the best of stories, and some aliens or situations never get visited again. But, the characters were changing and becoming a single crew, despite mistrust and misgivings. By the end, the conflict was replaced with a loyalty and mutual respect.

That's the difference. VOY had more to work with because the audience knew Starfleet, knew the ideals and the concept, and not we can put them in different situations and test those ideals. Say what you want about DS9 or even Abrams Trek, but they took the idealized Federation and put it to the test.

Again, I don't hate VOY. There are many things I can list that I like, such as Tuvok, Paris, or the Delta Flyer. However, there are very few episodes that I like, unlike, say TOS or TNG or even DS9 (which has grown on me in recent years). It just feels like just had the formula and stuck with it, no matter what. So, it was a bit frustrating to have a surface level formula, rather than some of the deeper, more memorable themes that ran with DS9 and even the TOS movies.

As a quick aside, DS9's pylon being repaired: isn't this the series that talked about industrial level replicators, used for infrastructure rebuilding? A pylon strikes me as not a big deal. Bajor even had one of these replicators.
 
Part of me is confused by the notion that the audience was annoyed at Scorpion for not lasting longer, yet would also be annoyed for aliens repeating episode to episode.

Audience hypocrisy, trust me it happens a LOT with VOY's audience.

VOY had a proposed plot, but lack any follow through on that. Again, regardless of the viability of the "Lost Ship" plot, it still wasn't attempted. At least attempt it, please :rolleyes:

I agree, but it still wasn't a sustainable plot for more than a season or so.

I doubt anyone is asking for seven years of conflict-that is a bit of a stretch to have that expectation. We're talking about Maquis and Starfleet not Capulet and Montague here. ;)

Agreed again, especially since the Feds and Maquis weren't even real enemies to begin with.

Also, VOY had a tendency to do things that were flagrant rip offs of Trek tropes. The Kazons turned in to discount Klingons, without the benefit of cloaking devices or melee weapons. There was the requisite "anomaly of the week" a TNG staple that did little to add to VOY's characters, as well as a holodeck malfunction plot multiple times. We have the character split/fusion routine, like "The Enemy Within" and Tuvix. No doubt you can find connections all over the place, but it might sound like nitpicking.

It's what would happen to any long-running series. Doctor Who does it too and just uses the same aliens over and over instead of inventing new stuff.

Yes, it has all been done before, but you can add your own unique spin, unique flavor without it being identical. VOY had its limits, but never challenged them. It was content inside its box.

New writers and more time might've solved this. But VOY came at a bad time wherein most involved were going into burnout. DS9 got the resources it needed, VOY didn't.

Farscape, since it keeps coming up, built itself up through characters.

And transplanting those characters to Trek wouldn't have worked. Farscape had the advantage of not being a long-runner and had no excess baggage from prior series because it was all-new.

VOY had more to work with because the audience knew Starfleet, knew the ideals and the concept, and not we can put them in different situations and test those ideals.

Problem was, it was still a limited concept that had already been explored more than once before.

So, it was a bit frustrating to have a surface level formula, rather than some of the deeper, more memorable themes that ran with DS9 and even the TOS movies.

Again, the show didn't really have a plot. If they had more time, maybe they'd have thought of one.

As a quick aside, DS9's pylon being repaired: isn't this the series that talked about industrial level replicators, used for infrastructure rebuilding? A pylon strikes me as not a big deal. Bajor even had one of these replicators.

Still, they did between episodes with no reference to how they repaired it.
 
Wasn't VOY one of UPN's flagship shows surely it would have gotten the resoures it needed. It might be more reasonable to say that because more attention by the suits were focused on VOY, DSN was left to it's own devices so to speak.

And whos fault is that they didn't have more time? It's not the audiances fault, they could easily have spend another year developing it, but TPTB wanted it more or less after TNG ended.

The fact that the concept had been explored before is irrelevant, most if not all stories have been explored before it's what you do with the concept that matters and even if certain aspects of the plot aren't sustanable for more than a season or two that isn't a reason not to try.

Haven't even some of the people who worked on VOY agreed with some of these critisims of VOY?
 
Part of me is confused by the notion that the audience was annoyed at Scorpion for not lasting longer, yet would also be annoyed for aliens repeating episode to episode.

Audience hypocrisy, trust me it happens a LOT with VOY's audience.

VOY had a proposed plot, but lack any follow through on that. Again, regardless of the viability of the "Lost Ship" plot, it still wasn't attempted. At least attempt it, please :rolleyes:
I agree, but it still wasn't a sustainable plot for more than a season or so.



Agreed again, especially since the Feds and Maquis weren't even real enemies to begin with.



It's what would happen to any long-running series. Doctor Who does it too and just uses the same aliens over and over instead of inventing new stuff.



New writers and more time might've solved this. But VOY came at a bad time wherein most involved were going into burnout. DS9 got the resources it needed, VOY didn't.



And transplanting those characters to Trek wouldn't have worked. Farscape had the advantage of not being a long-runner and had no excess baggage from prior series because it was all-new.



Problem was, it was still a limited concept that had already been explored more than once before.

So, it was a bit frustrating to have a surface level formula, rather than some of the deeper, more memorable themes that ran with DS9 and even the TOS movies.
Again, the show didn't really have a plot. If they had more time, maybe they'd have thought of one.

As a quick aside, DS9's pylon being repaired: isn't this the series that talked about industrial level replicators, used for infrastructure rebuilding? A pylon strikes me as not a big deal. Bajor even had one of these replicators.
Still, they did between episodes with no reference to how they repaired it.

Quick note: DS9 had access to resources that VOY (supposedly) did not. A fix off-screen is more reasonable than a ship stranded. Again, YMMV but DS9 being supported isn't surprising, but, as keeps getting pointed out, the premise of VOY is nonsupport and far away from home. I have no problem with alien stations and support, but it has been pointed out that VOY was supposedly unsupported.

Audiences are fickle creatures, regardless of fandom. VOY does not suffer from it any more than another series. Just search the web from Abrams hatred. It's pretty thick right now.

VOY's audience had, as Macleod stated, legitimate reasons to be frustrated. They were not the ones in charge, and it is not the audience's fault that there was no plot. After 7 years, a show should have a plot of some kind, in my opinion. If a product is failing to win support, then that product is pulled. Working in retail, I often see products last may two to four years, and if it doesn't perform, its gone. TV may not be identical, but the mindset will be the same.

No, I'm not asking Farscape characters to be transplanted to VOY. That is not the point I am trying to make nor is that something I wish for. Farscape did something different that really wasn't Trek. My point was how they used their characters, some alien, to carry the show as it found its footing. Having characters that have arcs, whether small growth or larger term growth is what makes shows more interesting and approachable, in my experience. Characters that don't change are not a bad thing, but if the whole crew remains, for the most part, stable, then it can feel unrealistic, static and formulaic. People change, and a more modern audience has expected characters that change. Not good, not bad, just is.

Regardless of the sustainability of the "Lost Ship" premise, it was promised and then not done. That creates a frustration on the part of the audience that they are not getting what they expected. In all honesty, that would frustrate anyone.

VOY had seven years. Seven years is more time than many shows get, and plenty of time to recognize deficiencies and change them. You really don't need more time. You need a willingness to challenge the status quo.
 
DS9 did this too. The Station was always at full capacity despite there being a full scale war going on. There was never any battle damage, the Defiant always looked fresh out of the factory, they never ran low on supplies, etc.

So why no complaints there?

Well lets see what we know in regards to that

DSN was a key space station, close to the Cardassian border, served as a repair facility. So it serving as a reapir facility would mean it would get a fair amount of supplies and man-power.

As for personnel, there is a little known seldom used reserve activation clause, so many retired starfllet personnel could have been brought out of retirement to bolster the ranks

And we did have an episode with a B-plot regarding a part the Definat needed which was in short supply.

Lets see what VOY had

Access to Federation Repair Facilites - No
Access to replacement Starfleet Officers - No

That's one of the differences, shows like TOS, TNG and even DSN could more easily hand wave those things away as they visited a Starbase, meet up with another starship etc.. as we frequently saw them do. Now as for the argument VOY could also do some of that, sure it could but would those parts look like Starfleet parts? Would those facilites have access to materials that even the Federations contemparies in the AQ don't even have/use?

What he said.

DS9 wasn't cut off from the Federation, war or no war. Besides, they had more episodes featuring faulty equipment than VOY ever had. Would it have killed them to make this a bit more of an issue? Or at least not have the ship get reset to factory settings by the start of the next episode? Like I said, BSG did a really good job with this.
 
Didn't DS9 had till season 4 almost every episode problems with failling systems on the station, untill she got the upgrades or "Teeth" like Sisko calls it in WOTW?
 
No, they still had problems.

It was incompatibility issues, and that they couldn't requisition spare parts from Cardassia even when they were not at war with each other, which is why they had to strip Empok Nor for parts.

If the Federation was allowed to build a new starbase in Bajoran space they would have, but starbases are like the Federation pissing on space marking their territory and it was too early in their relationship to be urinating on each other.
 
Or perhaps an even better question would be "Why? :brickwall: Why? :brickwall: WHYYYYYYY????? :brickwall: :crazy: :brickwall: :ack: :brickwall:"
 
Quick note: DS9 had access to resources that VOY (supposedly) did not. A fix off-screen is more reasonable than a ship stranded. Again, YMMV but DS9 being supported isn't surprising, but, as keeps getting pointed out, the premise of VOY is nonsupport and far away from home. I have no problem with alien stations and support, but it has been pointed out that VOY was supposedly unsupported.

And whenever they did any repairs whatsoever, regardless of the reason, the audience got PO'ed.

After 7 years, a show should have a plot of some kind, in my opinion.

Everytime they tried a new plot, they got just panned.

Having characters that have arcs, whether small growth or larger term growth is what makes shows more interesting and approachable, in my experience.

If they had a smaller, more manageable cast and actors who had chemistry from Day One, that'd be easier.

Regardless
of the sustainability of the "Lost Ship" premise, it was promised and then not done. That creates a frustration on the part of the audience that they are not getting what they expected. In all honesty, that would frustrate anyone.

Yes, but it still wasn't sustainable. It would've gotten boring after a season or so regardless and then the audience would just complain over how they stuck to the Lost Ship thing.

VOY had seven years.

7 years of network oppression and audience hatred.

DS9 wasn't cut off from the Federation, war or no war.

And Voyager was in areas of space loaded with helpful aliens.

Besides, they had more episodes featuring faulty equipment than VOY ever had.

And rarely was it a major issue and not some minor background thing.

Would it have killed them to make this a bit more of an issue?

It would've gotten real boring, real fast.

Like I said, BSG did a really good job with this

NuBSG fell apart after 2 seasons and also used the reset button.
 
Quick note: DS9 had access to resources that VOY (supposedly) did not. A fix off-screen is more reasonable than a ship stranded. Again, YMMV but DS9 being supported isn't surprising, but, as keeps getting pointed out, the premise of VOY is nonsupport and far away from home. I have no problem with alien stations and support, but it has been pointed out that VOY was supposedly unsupported.

And whenever they did any repairs whatsoever, regardless of the reason, the audience got PO'ed.

After 7 years, a show should have a plot of some kind, in my opinion.
Everytime they tried a new plot, they got just panned.



If they had a smaller, more manageable cast and actors who had chemistry from Day One, that'd be easier.



Yes, but it still wasn't sustainable. It would've gotten boring after a season or so regardless and then the audience would just complain over how they stuck to the Lost Ship thing.



7 years of network oppression and audience hatred.



And Voyager was in areas of space loaded with helpful aliens.



And rarely was it a major issue and not some minor background thing.

Would it have killed them to make this a bit more of an issue?
It would've gotten real boring, real fast.

Like I said, BSG did a really good job with this
NuBSG fell apart after 2 seasons and also used the reset button.

The fan reaction, at least from what I have been reading, is mixed. There doesn't seem to be a blanket opinion that encapsulates the whole story. However, it definitely an up and down process, partially due to the inconsistency of the storytelling, and partially due to other factors at the time, including competition, saturation of the Trek brand, and several other things. Fan response, while a factor, can hardly be the only thing, when the reviews I read are so mixed.

Despite the rough patches, "7 years of oppression and hatred" yielded 20+ awards, of various kinds and 60+ nominations for awards. Interesting to consider.


So, the "Lost Ship" premise is unsustainable, and I think we can agree to that point. But, my larger point still stands: they did not carry forward with that premise. VOY rolled right from Caretaker to "The Cloud" which was a TNG style, anomaly of the week. If that is fine by others, ok, and I won't tell them that they can't enjoy it. Just, it isn't the premise of the show, and that bothers me. The VOY crew just wasn't consistent. Yes, a smaller crew might have made things better, but it still means you need characters the audience cares about.

VOY could have been more unique in that it was cut off from the Federation, but could make allies along the way, or find resources, or make adjustments. It could have shown real drama in the crew making decisions that matter, things that could be mistakes, and consequences. That's the kind of character stuff that would help-make things matter, even in just one episode.

In any case, it would require change to the ship and crew in order to function. Something different, maybe. Sure, you get audience resistance, at first, but if you do a good job, then it becomes more positive. It's true in any product. Creativity works well in the face of challenges, if you allow it to be so. Just look at Nick Meyers and Wrath of Khan.

Maybe VOY seems to get more beat up because more people watched and are more vocal in there displeasure. I had a similar thing with Into Darkness, were it seemed that the majority of fans did not like it. Wasn't the case, but I heard a lot of negative reviews. Maybe similar here :shrug:
 
Fan response, while a factor, can hardly be the only thing, when the reviews I read are so mixed.

The show also came at the wrong time. It should've come after DS9, like Berman wanted.

Yes, a smaller crew might have made things better, but it still means you need characters the audience cares about.

TOS got by with only 3 Central characters. Other shows like Xena and Hercules got by with 2 leads. VOY could've worked with a smaller main cast.

VOY could have been more unique in that it was cut off from the Federation, but could make allies along the way, or find resources, or make adjustments. It could have shown real drama in the crew making decisions that matter, things that could be mistakes, and consequences.

They shot themselves in the foot with their "No Support" part of the premise too.

It's true in any product. Creativity works well in the face of challenges, if you allow it to be so. Just look at Nick Meyers and Wrath of Khan.

To be fair, all Meyer did was transplant his Horatio Hornblower stuff to space. And Wrath of Khan had plenty of plot holes in it that ruin the plot if you think about it, but the audience was willing to overlook its many flaws.
 
Haven't you wondered why no one is agreeing with you?

You're constantly fighting the same battles with each new crop of noobz as they turn up.
 
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