Honestly, I don't want "puff". But I'm happy that Voyager didn't turn into something like NuBSG or the horrible Stargate Universe. However, there are some things which could have been done better. But as I see it, the good things, especially seasons 1,2 and 3 outweighs the bad things with the series. Discofan wrote: I totally agree here.
Yeah, Stargate Universe was really bad and the second (and thankfully last) season was just awful. Way to kill an idea, guys!
First the Borg Queen ruined the Borg and then the Borg Queen came to ruin Voyager. As great as Alice Krige was as the Borg Queen, the entire idea of the Queen was just wrong. No more faceless enemy that says what it wants and you can't negotiate with it, now there was a Queen who would have chats with a hero crew and give personality to the Borg. No, just no.
The Kazon should have been a more comprehensible threat. I like that they were 2 or three hundred years less advanced than the Federation, but they could have made up that shortfall with intelligence, sneakiness, man-power, and ships, thousands of ships tasked with destroying Voyager.
For their technology. It gave them motivation. They emulate Voyager, they acquire it, it transforms their society. They become more advanced, and Voyager is one ship versus an entire society. Do the Ocampa survive if the Kazon gain Voyager, transform their society? So, Voyager's crew has to protect them, again, by stopping again by destroying their own ship to stop the Kazon from transforming their society. Then, the crew wishes to stay together, and acquires a ship to take them home. Can it make the journey? Kathy has sacrificed her crew, and some don't want to continue. The show gets new life by becoming a mis-mash of crews--Maquis, Starfleet, and Mercenaries--and the arc is for each crew to influence the other. It breeds interpersonal conflict. But, some of the mercenaries are able to guide the people from the Alpha Quadrant, some stay by their side through the entire journey. A Neelix effect without the campy, child-like happiness. Neelix can be a morale officer, but some know how to fly a ship, some are in-need of asylum, some are doing it for the exploration, others are just there for a time to be paid. There's Janeway uniting them, guiding these people home. Making contact with Starfleet, they are sent a new ship. It becomes a tearful moment, a return of home of sorts. The corridors are a reminder of the life these people once had. It is filled with messages from home, and items from their previous lives. Pictures of Tuvok's family. The dog for Janeway to care for. Their trip will still be arduous, but they are back on solid footing. The only mercenaries are the ones that want to make the trip to the Alpha. Now, the roles reverse, and they must learn to use Federation technology. The Voyager crew is on their way home when they discover an area of space with riches beyond imagination. The mercenaries didn't even know about it. They are conflicted, contact Starfleet says it's up to Kathy. They explore, only to find the Borg are about to invade. Kathy, again, defends these people. This time, she shares all she knows with the races in this part of space. The technology transformation question turns on its head. They essentially give their technology to the Ocampa. This defense, and exploration, again, tests the crew's loyalties to Janeway. But, this time, they pull behind her (the Borg must be stopped), and she dismantles the collective...for good. The Borg are no more. After ending the Borg threat, and mapping all they can, gaining allies, and transforming societies, Kathy returns with this new ship logging 50,000 light years in five years. As it flies into Earth's atmosphere, tears. They explored, saved civilizations, made friends, kept them together, this small group rewarded for their faith in Janeway, a great leader who conquered death, the loss of her ship, and did it all with Starfleet's ideals intact, tested. Lauded for ending the Borg threat permanently, Janeway becomes Admiral, rivaling Kirk, Spock, Picard, Sisko in the annals of Stafleet's great explorers. The end.
At the risk of beating a dead horse...and double-posting, we ended the Borg and Dominion threats. We made allies and showed strength, determination. The line in Star Trek, today, is "terrors to freeze your soul." It could've folded at "they will adapt, that is their greatest advantage." So, Q was right, and like the end of Farpoint, wrong. We not only defeated these enemies...we ended their threat to all other races in the Galaxy, and to come.
I concur entirely. Voyager was very much in the spirit of Star Trek, and wasn't needlessly grim or cynical apparently to suit certain people.
They really dropped the ball with the Maquis that was created SPECIALLY for Voyager. They did nothing with it. A couple of episodes in the first season that sort of used the idea and one very late in the seventh season (I think)... Oh yeah, plus the holodeck episode that was surprisingly good, but it was more of a Seska episode than a Maquis one.
If the Maquis were created for Voyager, then they should have been an entirely different organization with a different backstory. The Maquis worked in DS9(and late TNG) because the conflict of which the Maquis were apart was happening there. Not in the DQ, 70,000 light years away. The average Maquis, when thrust into the situation of Voyager, is going to want to get home, a journey by the way that will take decades, so they are utterly removed from the conflict in the Federation-Cardassian border region. They will still care about their compatriots, and Voyager had B'lanna getting extremely angry and upset when the Dominion destroyed the Maquis. Speaking of that-after that happened, what honestly could the Maquis on Voyager do?
Why wouldn't they want to return? Aren't these the same people who refused to leave the hostile DMZ worlds? Edit: Actually, I believe Chakotay suggested settling somewhere on a couple occasions.
What amuses me is that for all the times I've heard people talk about how Voyager was true to the spirit of Star Trek and DS9 was a betrayal of it, it was Voyager which had the series end with the crew committing genocide against one of the Federation's greatest enemies, while DS9 ended with the main characters bringing about peace by stopping a genocide plan against the Founders.
But that didn't happen until halfway through the series. And by the end of the series, there's not only no more Maquis, there is no more a need for the Maquis to be Maquis. Any still alive can simply retire their freedom fighter badges. The war is over. Any conflict with Starfleet would have to take place in the first season or 2, but it would simply be a conflict of methods, as they all share the same goal. This happens to be the premise described in the voyager bible, and what was depicted in the series.
Precisely, after the dominion wiped out the Maquis, the maquis on voyager are best served by hanging their freedom fighter caps in the closet and moving on. And in the early seasons-can the maquis actually help their compatriots 75,000 light years away? I don’t think so. At most the maquis may have been somewhat more uncouth and undisciplined than the starfleet crew(and there is an episode where Tuvok whips some who aren’t up to the physical standards into shape). Beyond that, and you have needless artificial conflict. People that think the show should have centered around Starfleet-Maquis conflict, I think fundamentally misunderstand the actual premise of the show. That is a Federation Ship trying to get home, while exploring the galaxy on their way back.
I'm not clear on what you're saying, what do you mean "the main characters bringing about peace by stopping a genocide plan against the Founders." When did they do this stopping? And it was the disease that brought about peace. The female Founder received the cure in exchange for surrendering. Both Kira and Garak thought providing the cure was a bad idea and other than Odo, Kira and Garak, the rest of the main characters weren't even present. I doubt it was genocide. The Queen was disconnected from the drones and killed, the Queen's space station was destroyed or badly damaged, and the transportation network was destroyed. Debatably what Voyager did was free the majority of the drones.
In the novelverse, the borg weren't destroyed, given a broken leg and bloody nose, yes but not genocided. I don't know where the show implies the Borg were eliminated as a thread.
I believe the stated goal was to destroy the hub. The Borg having a portal that leads directly to planet earth seems like a pretty imminent threat.
I thought the implication was that the Queen was disconnected from the drones, she was surprised that she could still communication with the sphere she sent after Voyager. No Queen, therefor no central command structure, therefor no collective. All the drones become independant. Therefor no Borg.