I know I never post here. But I'm planning a website and although it will be primarily TOS-TMP centric I will be commenting on the Treks that followed. That said it isn't my intention there, or here, to trash later Trek but to offer views on both sides. Of course my critique will be there but I also want to state reasons why others were drawn to the show. So to that end I'm not here to comment but mostly listen to your views and insights. I have a younger coworker who likes the show very much, but he doesn't seem able to really articulate his reasons clearly. Please, share with me here why you like VOY and what you see in it.
I would consider myself a VOY fan, even though it's my second least favourite trek (after TOS). There are several reasons why I love it: The premise of a single, small ship being stranded 70000 lightyears from home, with a mixed xrew of starfleet and maquis is awesome. It had some awesome characters, especially the Doctor. How can anyone not love such a brilliant, funny, musical, charming, humble hologram? It's recurring aliens (Kazons, Vidiians, Borg, Hirogen, Hierachry etc.) were generally very cool and developed. It's got a lot of Borg. Though the famous "Borg overdose" started with "Unimatrix Zero, IMO. "Distant Origin" and "Dragon's Teeth" are awesome. There are also reasons I hate Voyager, but since you asked for reasons why I love it, they aren't really relevant.
I like VOY because of the setting mostly. I like how it was so different, with a single ship traveling courageously through the unknown trying to get home. I felt that the crew became a lot closer, more like a family, than any other Starfleet crew, especially with the children that are born on the ship. I also liked how the crew dealt with the sense of overwhelming hopelessness, being lost on the other side of the galaxy, with strength and courage. But mostly, I really wanted to see if and how they would make it back to Earth.
I really liked the premise, and wished it would have been fleshed out more. I think it was truer to the spirit of TOS in many ways than either previous modern show had been - trying to have a ship way out there. I also liked the characters. It's flawed, but enjoyable.
Personally, I loved Voyager mainly because of it's cast. I thought it had one of the best casts in the history of Trek! And also because of the plot and storyline-that they were stranded 70,000 light years from home without a Stafleet Headquarters to talk to. I thought that was an interesting idea for Trek. And another thing..a female captain..nuff said about that!
That pretty much sums it up for me, too. It's my least favorite Trek series, but I liked the original premise, love almost all of the characters (which is pretty much the reason why I kept watching) and place a few episodes among the best Trek has to offer (primarily the outstanding Living Witness).
That works for me, too. Voyager is, for me, unique among the Trek series in that there's only one character I don't much like (namely, chuckles). To a greater (Janeway, Tuvok) or lesser (Kim) extent I like all the characters, which for me is the most important / critical element determining whether or not I'll continue to watch any TV show. It's good if they have interesting things to do as well but if I don't like the characters in a show I find it impossible to give a damn what they do - or to keep watching. Voyager's characters compelled me to keep watching, even when what they were doing was...well, less than stellar (to put it politely). When what they were doing was good - or better than good - it was a fantastic show. It would have been nice if various factors hadn't combined to stop the show reaching its potential, but for all that I liked Voyager back in the day and I like it now.
I grudgingly like Voyager, even it had pissed a lot of its potential up the wall and arguably has the highest number of mediocre to awful episodes. However it has some overlooked gems and great characters that elevate it well above post-S1 Heroes, Flash Gordon, post-S1 Smallville, and Andromeda.
I like Voyager because of the characters and the original premise for the show. The characters were the best and most interesting characters in any of the Star Trek series. I simply love the different charcters, their personalities and the inter-action between them The premise for the show about a Federation ship stranded 70 000 lightyears from Federation space with a mixed Starfleet and Maquis crew was a great idea. Even if I was very dissapointed by the later seasons for different reasons, I still have the affection for the characters and for the series and what could have been. If you feel for it, read my Voyager Tribute at: http://lynx677.110mb.com/voyagertribute.html which I wrote when the series ended.
I like the characters, particularly the Doctor. The character interactions are fun to watch - even Nelix and the Borg children have their moments. The premise was a good idea, although they often don't seem as isolated as they could be. There are a number of good stories in the series too. It has gone up in my estimation recently, after I rewatched some of the later seasons.
While many characters, enemies, themes and premise weren't developed nearly enough, it was Star Trek and it still gave us good sci-fi stories - that makes it enjoyable in my opinion but not great like TNG, TOS or DS9.
The lesbian kiss... oops, wrong forum. I'm not a fan of Voyager, but I do love Dr Kenneth H Shmully (although for some reason on the show they just call him The Doctor).
I enjoyed Voyager because i missed TNG and it wasn't DS9. Also there was, in my opinion, only one really annoying character - Neelix (obviously).
I watched because I loved the characters. I continue watching and read fanfiction because of the unrealized possibiities of J/C.
You could say that the reason that some people like Voyager is the same reason that people like Disney....its inoffensive, does not have much to say or much flavor, and is vague enough that you can take whatever you want from it. Its the TV equivalent of tofu. In fact, it was pretty much a late 90s version of Lost in Space except that the Robinsons occasionaly needed resources and suffered damage (complete with flamboyant doctor and an excessively hairy pet). And you know, even today, there are people that swear that Lost in Space was better than the original Star Trek...so there's no accounting for taste.
Robert Picardo makes the "Top 10 Best Trek TV Actors (Main Cast)" list. Mulgrew and Ryan get Honorable Mentions at the least. Production counts for something. There has been a number of Cable TV sci-fi franchises over the last 10-15 years, and some of them might have been better written than Voyager. But Voyager waxed them all in terms of production. The whole no continuity/no progression thing that counted against Voyager as the series aired—TV and sci-fi in particular becoming more serial—has a sort of benefit now in that you can just sort of pluck a random episode out of your recording library and watch it.
I was just thinking about this question today. I enjoy each character and their quirks ... though I find Commander Chakotay weak as a first officer. Also, Capt. Janeway's ethics and philosophy isn't consistent in some of the stories. I guess they need to make the episodes though. The time travel episodes are "ify" as well as the Q stories ... why wouldn't he just have sent them back? lol Yes it is flawed in some of the story lines but I just let them go like other fans here. Overall the entire concept is very cool and if you can look past some of the various flaws it's really a great show!