Why do seemingly most people prefer Voyager from Seasons One to Four to Seasons Five to Seven? I found that Season Five blew Seasons Two and Three out of the water, and was the best Voyager season after Season Four, with the third Season perhaps being the worst instalment (even though there were several individually good episodes). And Jeri Taylor was mostly a bland, bland writer with some terribly weak ideas and uninspiring concepts - love him or loath him at least Brannon Braga attempted to jaz things up (although the much lamented Michael Piller was the best Voyager writer and likely why the first season of Voyager was quite strong on hindsight, UPN bullshit aside).
I love season three (hint: the avatar) and I am in a decided minority for this opinion; or that anyway is my impression. I thought it was Voyager's strongest season overall. I feel the show's quality overall was a gradual improvement until it hit S3, followed up with the almost as good S4, and then a gradual but increasingly rapid decline. The show remained fairly interesting right up to the end, though, despite its many and ample flaws.
I like them for different reasons. In the earlier seasons I liked the Seska arcs and the fact that they still struggles for supplies. I liked many more of the sociological/moral questions that were brought up and the fact that it seemed more of an ensemble show back then. I also preferred the characterisation of Janeway back then as well. In the later seasons I appreciated the dark tones the borg brought about and the introduction of Seven of nine and I also tend to prefer many of the stand alone episodes in the later seasons then the earlier seasons.
That's pretty much how I feel, although I might rate S4 slightly higher than S3. I'm not sure. The reasons why I like the later seasons less? More often than not, the characters outside of Janeway/Seven/Doctor were ignored; the Borg were overused; there seemed to be a lot flash and not a lot of substance most of the time. I'm just now getting around to buying the series on DVD, though, so I'll try to keep my mind open during the later seasons, but that was my impression based on my previous viewings.
I actually prefer the later episodes myself. Don't get me wrong, the earlier ones were very good too, I just think the show hit it's stride when Seven came on board. It may also have something to do with the fact that I was never a big Kes fan.
Seasons 4 & 5 were my favourites however I like the earlier seasons too mainly because they stuck to the original premise and used storylines of dwindling supplies and hunting out resources.
Well, I liked S2 cause that was when all the crap happened..for instance, them finding a spy on the ship and Neelix kicking his butt in the end, the Seska arc, which I really enjoyed even though I threw a pillow at the TV set when the Kazon took over the ship! I also liked S3 cause it had some really interesting shows, such as Future's End, Displaced, and the Q and the Grey. S3, the characters had deepened and I really started to enjoy the eps of S3 as they progressed during the weeks. S4-7 were good too, however, they also had some episodes that I really didn't enjoy as a whole. And the end of the series really disappointed me as well..it was like a slap in the face for me. I'm glad they got home, however, I wanted to see what happened further..did the Maquis get pardoned? What was gonna happen now? I remember saying to the TV set after Voy ended...that's the end?!?!??!?! Lord!
Much like the series, every season had its ups and downs. I wasn't particularly crazy about season two but in hindsight seasons 1/2 came the closest to being the kind of series I would have wanted out of VOY. There was an attempt to have a humanistic, character-driven approach although not always succesful. And for some reason whenever it is revisited in episodes like Shattered or Fury it gets to me via the nostalgia. Season three was the worst. Jeri Taylor seems like a nice enough woman but she was in charge of two of the franchse's weakest seasons--this and TNG-7. The stories were weak, had way too much technobabble, were too silly or campy, the DQ aliens were pitiful, Q was misused. Episodes like Sacred Ground, Rise, The Darkling, Favorite Son, Coda, False Profits, The Q and the Grey etc were disappointing and almost drove me away from the series. That said, I agree season four is the show's best although I think I expected a bit more of a renaissance than we got after Scorpion. I always liked Brannon Braga and his style of storytelling. Season four wasn't perfect but it was more consistent than other seasons. Seven was an interesting addition, the telefilms were entertaining, they had a nice mix of aliens(the Borg, 8472, the HIrogen, the Krenim). And a lot of the stories were entertaining if not high-minded. That isn't to say there weren't some flops like Vis a Vis, Demon, Unforgettable. Hope and Fear didn't quite go far enough. It played it too safe. I thought season five was a step down. I didn't care for how they used 8472 in "In the Flesh". I thought Once Upon a Time, The Fight, The Disease, Course: Oblivion, Nothing Human, Gravity, Juggernaut, Extreme Risk were either weak or poor and not surprisingly they were usually the rare vehicle to showcase the lesser characters-Chakotay, Kim, Torres, Tuvok, Neelix. I just wasn't overly impressed by this year's offerings with few exceptions. I might be one of the few who actually enjoyed season six. It isn't going to go down as one of Trek's best and it vascillates quite a bit in terms of quality. There is a definite pattern of a good episode followed by a weak one--Pathfinder(good), Fair Haven)poor), Blink of an Eye(good), Virtuoso(poor), Memorial(good), Tsunkatse(average), Spirit Folk(poor), Ashes to Ashes(decent) etc. I have fond memories of this season and I thought it ended strongly with Unimatrix Zero. I didn't particularly care for the Paris/Torres romance or the constant harping on the Doctor as an equal which went overboard in Virtuoso. By this point in the series I was perfectly satisfied with the writers focusing on Janeway, Seven and the Doctor since the other characters weren't interesting and usually featured in the weakest episodes of the series. Season seven was alright not great. I've never been a big Biller fan and thought he was no worse than others as a showrunner. I thought there were too many pointless or silly outings-Q2, Nightingale, Friendship One, Natural Law, Renaissance Man, Drive--when they seemed to neglect ending the show on a strong note with a satisfying homecoming resolution. I thought Unimatrix Zero was horribly wasted. I didn't care for C/7.
My favorite is Season 2. Not only does it have my favorite episodes like "Resistance" and "Death Wish" but there were story arcs and no borg.
I love Season 2 for trying a story arc that spanned several episodes and having an overarching villian. The ship seemed a lot weaker and more real then. It probably ties with or beats Season 4 & 5 as my favorite seasons.
4 and 5 are my favourite seasons, but I found a new appreciation for seasons 1 and most of 2 when I rewatched VOY on DVD for the first time in years. As people have already mentioned, there were a couple of arcs, supplies weren't neverending and they wanted to avoid damaging the ship. The early years were quite inconsistent though - I was surprised to find vast portions of season 3 unwatchable. This went away to some extent when Seven came on board. Though of course it became the Seven show quite quickly!
I like all of the seasons. I liked the earlier ones for the arcs they had and the supply issues. I like Season 4 with Seven, plus there were a lot of really good episodes in this one. The rest of the seasons I like too. I didn't notice it back when I first watched the show, but I can tell in the later seasons the budget was a little tighter. Fewer SFX, etc.
When I rewatched the show last year, it became apparent how different Seasons 1-3 vs. Seasons 4-7 are. I greatly prefer Seasons 4-7 with my favourites being 4 and 6, but I also did enjoy some episodes in the first three seasons like the Seska arc and Living Witness.
I tend to prefer the later seasons - I liked what the producer tried to do with them. Each episode works like a short story and so you can watch most of the episodes as enjoyable short films set in the Trek-universe. I also think that some episodes of S4-S7 belong to the, IMHO, strongest trek-episodes ever (Eps like Timeless; Latent Image; Counterpoint; Critical Care; Author, Author come to my mind). Althought there were no story arcs, the overall quality of the episodes was much more consistent, especially in S4 and 5 than in the earlier years. On the other hand, I was lately rewatching the early years of VOY and noticed that they weren't as bad as I had remembered them to be. But I still do think, they weren't as consistent in quality (especially S2 and S3 had some real bad eps)
The problem with the later series, was the lack of continuity, which you got with the earlier seasons, which had re-occuring characters and arcs But I hated the earlier series, for the fact that I disliked the Kazon as an enemy, and the fact that whilst, yes the people they met felt new, the two crews gelled too easily and quickly, and Janeway and Chakotay became friends too soon. Seska was cool, and later the Hyrogen, Krenim were awsome, but could have been used with arcs that would have given us more depth. Apart from the Seska and Angry Confined Character (the name escapes me) storylines, most of the stand out episodes took place later in the show. Oh and Year of Hell should have been a whole season, hell, they should have even considered giving that season the subtitle... STAR TREK V O Y A G E R YEAR OF HELL
There was Voyager and then there was Voyager: The Seven of Nine Show. The first seasons of Voyager had variety, the sense of travelling through the Delta Quad, facing perils, trying to get home. Then it was Seven, Borg, Borg Borg. And Beltran bottomed out.
I'm in agreement with those who liked the ensemble feel of the first three seasons. There were some terrific episodes and some small arcs that served the show well. The characters all got time to shine. However I also like the last four seasons. Seven added a great dynamic to the series - regardless of the reasons for her being introduced, she added to (rather than detracted from) the show. The ensemble effect was diluted, which was unfortunate, but some great character dynamics were added. Basically, I like the whole series - warts and all.
After watching Year of Hell recently, I disagree. I like the way the episode works as a 2-parter. HOWEVER, I think they should have ended it a different way, without the reset. That way they could have had the rest of the season be about Voyager torn to shreads, and the senior officers flying around trying to track down the rest of the crew. They could have avoided the reset without having to focus on the Krenim being the bad guys for a whole season.