Why Do People Prefer the Earlier Seasons?

[exodus]

I like "Q & the Gray" but then I have a thing for Q. "Rise" also has my Tuvie in it.

Tuvok is da man and Q is awesome but neither one of them were very good eps for either of them.

Sure episodes like "Death Wish" were better for Q and "Meld" better for Tuvok but I'd personally rather sit through any of the episodes you listed than something like "Human Error".

Well, maybe not "Favorite Son"...

I'm not surprised, you've never been a firm supporter of Seven of Nine anyway.

 

[kimc]

I'm not surprised, you've never been a firm supporter of Seven of Nine anyway.

Actually I liked her character just fine until the second half of the seventh season...

 

[exodus]

Actually I liked her character just fine until the second half of the seventh season...

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll keep that in mind next time you and malcom tag team my ass over the catsuit.

BTW, congrats on becoming a MOD.(They drugged up your coffee to get you to say "Yes", didn't they?)

 

[teya]

Actually I liked her character just fine until the second half of the seventh season...

Except that most of Seven's "MarySue-ness" came earlier. She didn't save the ship in the second half of the 7th season.

I think it's 'cause Seven stole Janeway's man.

 

[exodus]

I think it's 'cause Seven stole Janeway's man.

D'oh!

 

[kimc]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'll keep that in mind next time you and malcom tag team my ass over the catsuit.

As if you didn't enjoy that!

BTW, congrats on becoming a MOD.(They drugged up your coffee to get you to say "Yes", didn't they?)

Actually, I was pm'd BEFORE my morning coffee so I thought I was answering "yes" to coffee. Suddenly I was green...

Except that most of Seven's "MarySue-ness" came earlier. She didn't save the ship in the second half of the 7th season.

I think it's 'cause Seven stole Janeway's man.

A major symptom of "MarySue-ness.

 

[exodus]

As if you didn't enjoy that!

Come on girl, you know I like the rough stuff.


I swear, you two had me on my toes that debate.

 

[Malcom]

Beats me. The show was so much better beginning Season 4.

 

[KayArr]

Because those earlier seasons are the ones that made them fall in love with the show. I came to Voyager late and prefer the 7 of 9 seasons, but I'm used to be treated like a freak in the Enterprise forums for prefering season 1, then ranking each season a little lower with 4 as my least favorite, so I know how the others feel. Sigh.

 

[kimc]

Because those earlier seasons are the ones that made them fall in love with the show.

That's an excellent way to put it.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I am one of the ones who much prefers the earlier seasons. I think season 1 started out well and the quality gradually increased until the end of season 3. Season 4 was about in line with season 3, and after that the show went downhill.

My reasons:

I thought the cast was much more of an ensemble during the first few seasons. Everyone got character development and all got some compelling stories. I liked some characters better than others, but I didn't dislike any characters during these seasons. I thought the writing was good (with the exception of them doing away with the Maquis storyline too quickly) and the acting was good on the part of all involved. The DQ races dealt with were new and interesting...and not just borrowed from TNG. The early seasons also contain two of my all-time favorite Trek episodes - Deadlock and Death Wish. And I also loved the Seska storyline and felt it was very well done.

In contrast, starting with season 5, the show became more and more 'The Seven and EMH Show'. I didn't think that was fair to the other characters...and I really, really, REALLY hate the EMH in any event, so that didn't help. Starting when he got the holo-emitter, that character started going downhill, IMO...and lost alot of the best things about him, instead becoming a Data-wannabe.

The Borg were unoriginal and merely a dumbed-down rehash of TNG...and the Female Caretaker was forgotten about.

The writing for some of the characters became downright embarrassing in the later seasons - they made Chakotay into 'technobabble on the bridge guy', they did nothing with Harry Kim, they domesticated Tom Paris (and for that matter, B'Elanna Torres) FAR too much, and they didn't give Tuvok nearly enough screen time or stories. And they most certainly didn't give Janeway the screentime she deserved as captain. The captain should get more screentime than any of the other characters...but she really had too heavy competition with the EMH and Seven hogging every show.

The final blows were Flesh & Blood (My least favorite episode in all of Trek) and, of course, the final destruction of Janeway in Endgame....with the cherry on top being the Chakotay/Seven shipper nonsense in the last episode. By the end of Endgame, I was so disgusted that for the first time ever in my Trek-watching career, I was actually angry about a TV show.

No...the first few seasons were much more fun for me. Until about mid-season 4 I really loved Voyager...and really until the middle of season 5 it was okay. But after that...it was no longer my cup of tea.

 

[kimc]

In contrast, starting with season 5, the show became more and more 'The Seven and EMH Show'. I didn't think that was fair to the other characters...and I really, really, REALLY hate the EMH in any event, so that didn't help.

I feel tha same way but not because I don't like the EMH. Actually, I do like him but I was missing my favorite characters.

 

[speed_cochrane]

And they most certainly didn't give Janeway the screentime she deserved as captain. The captain should get more screentime than any of the other characters...

I disagree here. I much prefer the supporting characters to the captain on all of the Star Trek series. I'd rather they get the screentime, though I don't have foibles with the captain getting her fair share of stories.

As per the question, I actually preferred the later seasons. For one, I didn't really start getting into the show until about season 5-ish, heh. Star Trek was always a 'must-see' in my family when we sit down after dinner and I always thought it was a bore...but the characters grew on me and I actually found them more dynamic as the seasons progressed rather than in the first few.

I rather liked the domesticated Tom Paris. Though he proved he wasn't so docile anyhow with episodes like '30 Days', 'Alice', er..that one with the shuttle races. At least in my opinion. In the early seasons, I found him to be quite irritating. (and the bad hair didn't help)

I thought the cast was just as much an ensemble in the last season as they were in the first season. *shrugs* (And I'd still rather forget about the finale. )

 

[exodus]

And they most certainly didn't give Janeway the screentime she deserved as captain. The captain should get more screentime than any of the other characters.

Janeway got equal screen time to that of Seven and the EMH. It was because Kate Mulgrew fought to get that much screen time equal to theirs that the other cast members suffered.


However, IMO I think we as Trek fans are so used to the formula that every character has to have individual stories about them for character development that we don't accept any other fashion. Character developement happened when we saw how each of them interacted with Seven or the EMH. All the characters had learned about themselves and their flaws in the earlier seasons, so they took what they learned and each used it to help teach and guide Seven & the EMH thru their trials of what it means to be human.

For example: because Tom Paris was a problem child growing up, he taught the EMH the value of family be it good or bad in "Real Life". Be' Lanna taught Seven the value of disappline and being a team player. These were issues both these characters had at the start of the series. Being they could pass along these lessons, shows they grew as characters themselves.

 

[speed_cochrane]

^ The 'hogged' screentime, if you will, by Seven might be because she was introduced 4/5 seasons in and there was a lot of catching up to do since the show only had a couple seasons left. As for the EMH, yeah he recieved quite a bit.

Sometimes it was just nice to see everyone in the episode all working together, like 'Year of Hell' or 'Course Oblivion' for example. So if a few character-specific storylines were held off, I didn't mind.

And yeah, I agree with exodus, the other characters did play a role in the development and arcs of the others. That's the great thing about being a supportive characters--not everyone can be number one, and the show can still be good.

 

[Mr. Fergy]

Early Voyager for me.

 

[kimc]

Janeway got equal screen time to that of Seven and the EMH. It was because Kate Mulgrew fought to get that much screen time equal to theirs that the other cast members suffered.

She's probably the first Trek captain who had to fight for equal time. Also, she may have been on the screen saying "Fire phasers" but she had precious few plot lines devoted to her.

 

[Trekwatcher]

I actually prefer the later seasons. I thought they spent too much time with the Kazon and was glad when the moved on to a "baddie of the week" format. I also thought Kes was poorly conceived and her departure added to the show, and made Neelix much more interesting as he could finally be free of having so many of his scenes with her. Seven was, despite all the negative press, a great addition to the show IMHO, and her interactions with the Doctor were some of the best scenes the show ever pulled off.

 

[TedShatner10]

Watching Season Five systematically through again on DVD makes me wonder why the complaints of Seven of Nine hogging all of the limelight came to fruitation in the first place, when there are many episodes and episode subplots that still feature the other characters as main players, and it was still that way as late as Season Six. Sure the EMH was a heavily used character, but it was obvious that the EMH was a very strong character four or five episodes into the season - relatively long before Jeri Ryan even properly heard of Voyager or Star Trek in general!

And while Season Five is better in my opinion, I agree with an earlier poster that Season Six was somewhat underrated with a relatively high number of individually good episodes from what I can recall.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Janeway got equal screen time to that of Seven and the EMH. It was because Kate Mulgrew fought to get that much screen time equal to theirs that the other cast members suffered.

She's probably the first Trek captain who had to fight for equal time. Also, she may have been on the screen saying "Fire phasers" but she had precious few plot lines devoted to her.

See...this is exactly my issue. I don't think Kate Mulgrew should have had to fight for screentime "equal to Seven and the EMH". That was the whole problem!

There is a reason why in each of the Trek shows, the person who plays the Captain is first in the credits and the rest are in alphabetical order. And that reason is because the actor who plays the captain is the main star. The shows are meant to be ensemble shows...but the captains are meant to be just a tiny step above everyone else....and in each case, the person who played the captain had more important acting credits behind them. And this included Kate Mulgrew, who was a regular on a soap for years and had been in a few major films as well.

Therefore, Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo were the ones out of line here, not Kate Mulgrew! Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo were the ones who 'caused the other characters to suffer' - Kate Mulgrew was only insisting upon what was hers to begin with!

Kate Mulgrew shouldn't have had to 'fight for screentime' against those two - and the fact that she was placed in that position is an insult, frankly. Kate, being the consummate professional that she was, did not let her performances suffer...but she was the one wronged here...along with Beltran, Tim Russ, RDM, Roxann Dawson, etc. And she was wronged at Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo's expense.