I think I started with Scorpion part 1 when I first started watching the show. Pretty sure I watched all of season four first but I can't remember if I finished the following seasons or went back and started from the pilot. Don't get discouraged by bad episodes. The best thing about non serialized shows is that if an episode sucks you can just forget about it. The middle seasons are still my favorites, but even the episodes that I don't care for usually have little character moments that add to the overall series. P.S. Please be sure to come back and tell us what you think of Tuvix. We can never have enough opinions about that episode!
Voyager was the beginning of Star Trek's television decline. The first three series all brought something fresh and distinct to the table, but starting with Voyager and continuing with the dismal Enterprise, it seemed like the franchise was just turning out uninspired product to keep the money train going. That said, Voyager is not completely without merit. The best reason to watch the show is the women: Janeway, Torres, and most especially Seven of Nine, one of the great characters in all of Trek. None of the male characters really register or impress, but Mulgrew, Dawson, and Ryan all made their characters much more interesting and exciting than the series they were stuck in. As for where to start -- I'm a completist, so for me, the only place to start would be at the beginning, for better or worse (mostly the latter). Just hang in there till season four, when Seven comes in and largely takes over the show, to its immense betterment.
Not even the Doctor? I quite like Tom Paris too because he's often self-centred and occasionally just outright mean, but it's written and acted in such a way where I could kind of see myself acting similarly under certain conditions, which is pretty rare to see in a Star Trek protagonist. I always remember the episode where Spoiler: Voyager spoilers Torres is trying to self-harm on the holodeck and Tom just obliviously continues hanging out with Harry on the Delta Flyer, even after he's been made aware that B'Elanna is missing.
^ When I quickly ran through the male characters in my mind before posting that, I literally forgot about him, so yeah: even the Doctor. (In fact, maybe especially the Doctor. Picardo always seemed like he was entertaining and impressing himself much more than he was me.)
I get that. I remember being similarly alienated by his performance, but now I watch Voyager with the same mindset as later TOS, where part of the fun is knowing how it's all made and seeing the actors handle ridiculous material (I particularly remember an episode where Jeri Ryan has to deliver "ERROR! INPUT FAILURE!" in a completely dead-serious way which is one of the most beautifully terrible moments in all of Star Trek), so I ended up really warming up to Picardo's ridiculously over-theatrical acting style. Similarly one of the other joys of Voyager for me is watching Robert Beltran get gradually less and less interested in his role as the series goes on. By season seven I was laughing almost every time he delivered a line with the same bored just-here-for-the-paycheck tone of voice.
^ Early on, I might even have said that Beltran's Chakotay was an exception to the prevailing blandness of the male cast. He actually displayed some presence and charisma before he checked out and began phoning it in.
Chakotay has some really good episodes in season 7, such as "Shattered," and "Workforce." So it seems he'll put in a good performance as long as he's the star of the episode. Also, "Natural Law," while it may not be as good an episode as the other 2 mentioned, still gets a good performance from Chakotay. Beltran is also good in "Human Error." As for OP, I would absolutely recommend watching it. It is an excellent Star Trek series. Just watch it through, or skip around if you'd like. That's what I did for all the series. I skipped around until I ran out of episodes I hadn't seen. If you've seen the other series, there's no reason not to watch this one.
Beltran was good in lots of episodes where he had foreground scenes. What was he supposed to do? Steal other people's scenes? I really wonder what you people think the Kira character brought to DS9. Or Bashir, for that matter. I'll take Beltran's performance in "Equinox" or "Scorpion" over either of them and their one dimensional characters, any time.
Kira and Bashir are great - both get misused plenty of times, but when used properly (Kira as a symbol of the lingering tension of post-war Bajor and Bashir as the voice of Federation idealism, to reduce both characters down to the most simple level) they work really well. Chakotay is more one-dimensional than Kira and Bashir, surely. I like Chakotay and I like Robert Beltran but his whole character is basically just being really chilled out, being committed to peace and nonviolence, and occasionally debating with Janeway. I guess you could also say he's really ridiculously quick to take up causes, such as the Maquis and the planet where he ends up being brainwashed into becoming a guerilla fighter.
To be honest, the scenario we see here is actually a nightmare Kathryn Janeway had a couple of days after Voyager left the Ocampa homeworld and headed for home. The truth is revealed on the Kes Website under the link "Voyager mysteries-and how to solve them." Nicole Janeway, who can be found on some Youtube clips instead of Kathryn Janeway is actually Kathryn Janeway's aunt. A sister to Kathryn's father Edward Janeway. Contrary to most members of the Janeway family, Nicole Janeway weren't interested at all in Starfleet and space exploring. She always considered her brother Edward a crazy fool who should have chosen another career instead of Starfleet. "Man doesn't belong into space", she often said. "It's utter foolishness to travel around in those metal boxes in such dangerous environment". When Edwards daughter Kathryn decided to join Starfleet, Nicole was furious. "You are a hopeless, reckless fool", she told Edward Janeway. "But worse is that you have raised your daughter to become one hopeless, reckless fool too", she said. And added, "This will end up in a disaster, believe me!" Nicole Janeway often expressed her compassion for Kathryn's mother Gretchen. "I really feel sorry for her, marrying my stupid brother" but expressed sympathy for Kathryn's sister Phoebe who had chosen to become an artist instead. When tragedy actually struck and Edward Janeway was killed during an exploring mission, together with Kathryn's fiancée Justin Tighe while Kathryn survived the accident, Nicole Janeway pestered everybody who wanted to listen with comments about "well, what did I say". Finally Phoebe Janeway got tired of hearing her aunt's complaints, lost her temper and told Nicole Janeway where to go. When Voyager dissapeared in the Badlands, Nicole Janeway continued to tell everyone (except Gretchen and Phoebe Janeway who had broken all contacts with her) that Kathryn only had herself to blame for being as foolish as her father. Due to her not too diplomatic comments about certain family members, Nicole Janeway became rather isolated from the rest of the family. She continued to live on her ostrich farm in Colorado while keeping her negative opinion about space exploring. The scene with Nicole Janeway as captain on Voyager was actually a nighmare Kathryn Janeway had two nights after Voyager left Ocampa, heading for the distant home. Only in a nightmare could Kathryn Janeway imagine her aunt as the captain on her ship.
The opposite contrary to me then. When I watched "Caretaher" for the first time, I took an immediate liking to all the main characters. The only one I was sligtly negative to was The Doctor but that changed quickly in the 2-3 coming episodes. The only TV show when that has happened for me was NCIS where I also took an immediate liking to the main characters, otherwise it usually take some time before the characters starts to grow on me. That was the case with both TNG and DS9. I still have a great affection for Voyager and its characters, despite some dissapointements with the series in seasons 4-7.
The first couple seasons are rough but there are good episodes in there. The Vidiians are interesting enemies. The Kazon stuck around far too long though. It really picks up for me during the 3rd season.
I think you should start with the pilot and watch the series to the end. I think it`s worth watching it, because it`s a good series. My first Trek was TNG and I liked it. Than I watched Voyager and this series became my fav series. Overall I would say that I more like the Voyagercharacters then the TNG ones.I also think that the Voyageractors are better than the TNG ones (R.D.Moore also said the Voyageractors are the best ones). They aren`t as static as the TNG`s. There are episodes I don´t like very much and I normally skip. But there are also many TNG episodes I don`t like very much. season 1: Emanations; Heroes and Demons; Projections; Elogium season 2:Cold Fire; Prototype; Threshold; The Thaw season 3: Flashback; Sacred Ground; Warlord; The Q and the Grey; Macrocosm; Fair Trade; The Darkling; Rise; Favorite Son season 4: Day of Honor; The Raven; Scientific Method ; Random Thoughts; Retrospect season 5; Once upon a time; Infinite Regress; Latent Image; Bride of Chaotica!; 11:59; Relativity season 6 Barge of the Dead; Fair Haven;Spirit Folk ; Ashes to Ashes; Muse; Fury; Life Line season 7: Inside Man; Nightingale; Prophecy; Q2; Author, Author; Renaissance Man There are episodes I think which belong to the best of Trek.
I really enjoyed "Future's End" Parts I & II, in which the Voyager crew travel back to 20th Century Earth. "Equinox" Parts I & II are very interesting episodes featuring a Nova class starship and nucleogenic lifeforms. All the Romulan episodes were good. All the Q episodes were good. We even get to visit the Q Continuum. "Message In A Bottle" has a Prometheus class starship. The finale "Endgame" is not to be missed.
Since they have been frequently getting together since before the show ended, and still do, I would say that's not true.