A Non-Fan's Re-Watching Journey

[Bisz]

S02E07 - Parturition

5/10

I hope this puts an end to the Neelix-Paris conflict which has been present in a few episodes leading up to this one, its really not that interesting.

We've lost another shuttle, making that two shuttles in three episodes:

Torpedoes Fired: 1
Shuttles Lost: 3

 

[You_Will_Fail]

For a "non-fan", you're incredibly generous with your scores. I thought the 37s, Initiations, Twisted and and Non Sequitur were all fairly terrible episodes and they're not that well received generally as far as I know either.
The 37s was just stupid and far-fetched as hell. Finding a truck floating out in space and then getting it to work and then running into humans who were taken as slaves from a world 70, 000 lightyears ago? Telling us about these "amazing" cities but not showing us.... / Epic facepalm
Initiations.....just yawn
Non Sequitur....this episode is like the definition of a half-hearted script, the whole thing balances on technobabble nonsense we never even saw and it really doesn't make any sense
Twisted...you really think an episode where Voyager is hit by a nonsensical anomaly and the ship's layout goes "kerazy" is the best episode so far!? Better than "Jetrel", "Phage", "Prime Factors", "Eye of the Needles" and "State of Flux"!??!? It was so clearly a reguritated TNG idea with absolutely no point. So yeah, extremely surprised at your taste so far.

 

[Bisz]

S02E08 - Persistence Of Vision

6/10

Holodeck!!!

Not a bad episode, I teetered on giving it a 7 but I wouldn't put it on par with the other 7 ranked episodes.



S02E09 - Tattoo

6/10

I enjoyed this episodes, good to see a shuttlecraft used and not destroyed. I continue to enjoy Chakotay's character and episodes whicah feature him. The B plot with the Doctor was funny.

 

[Bisz]

For a "non-fan", you're incredibly generous with your scores.

Maybe I should be tougher on some episodes. Alternatively, maybe if I were to go back and watch TNG and DS9 I would be giving out a lot more 8s and 9s, though that doesn't seem quite right.

I think my problem might be lacking a common base, seeing as its been so long since I have seen Voyager its almost a blank slate. So far its been all 5s, 6s, 7s and one 8 which is certainly not using the full range from 1 to 10. I may have to go back later and adjust some of the scores.

To make you feel better (turn of phrase really as I know its won't make you feel any better) I'm still quite disappointed in the show. I don't see myself having a burning desire to re-watch Voyager S1 the way I get an urge to watch DS9, B5 or Firefly.

Twisted...you really think an episode where Voyager is hit by a nonsensical anomaly and the ship's layout goes "kerazy" is the best episode so far!? Better than "Jetrel", "Phage", "Prime Factors", "Eye of the Needles" and "State of Flux"!??!? It was so clearly a reguritated TNG idea with absolutely no point. So yeah, extremely surprised at your taste so far.

It might be the characters. I'm not all that attached to them (yet) so a character piece like Jetrel doesn't do as much for me as a funky sic-fi episode like Twisted. On DS9 on the other hand I (as most) love Duet which is for the most part two characters sitting in a jail and talking. TNG has Measure Of A Man which is a trial show.

 

[Bisz]

S02E10 - Cold Fire

6/10

Average episode. I was very much with Tuvok in questioning Janeway about releasing the forcefield. The female caretaker just displayed a totally irrational, totally unfounded hostile attitude... and you expect her to suddenly like you because you release her? Irrational people don't become rational just because you are nice to them.



S02E11 - Maneuvers

6/10

Another average episode. The shuttle didn't get destroyed, yay! How is it that after b-lining it for home for over 10 months Voyager suddenly encounters these Kazon again? Voyager should have left Kazon space long, long ago. Neelix should also be well outside of his area of expertise by now. The writers should have done all this Kazon stuff a lot earlier and had it wrapped up by the end of the first season instead of having all those mediocre monster/anomaly of the week filler episodes.



S02E12 - Resistance

8/10

A great performance by Joel Grey, he really made this episode what it is. I also always enjoy Alan Scarfe. Janeway seemed cold to me, it certainly took her a lot longer to warm up to the deluded old man than it took me.

 

[Bisz]

S02E13 - Prototype

7/10

I liked this episode. Kind of interesting how differently Janeway reacted to B'Elanna disobeying orders to save the ship in this show versus how she reacted to Chakotay disobeying orders to save the ship in Maneuvers.



S02E14 - Alliances

5/10

I can't say this is Janeway at her worst because I don't recall the rest of the series, but this has got to be the worst Janeway episode to date. At first she is totally against allying with the Kazon because it would destabilize that part of space, but then she's all for forming a grand alliance between everyone even though that would have an even bigger effect on the region. Which is it? Do you not want to shift the balance of power or do you? She is a total bitch to Chakotay, especially after the memorial ceremony, "Is that the way the Maquis would do it? Commander"... what a petty thing to say, especially right after the guy delivered an eulogy for his friend. She totally mishandled the situation with that Crewman. People have died, the ship is under constant attack and when people come to her voicing their concern instead of being smart and coming off in the best possible light she comes off as exactly what the Maquis crew dislikes the most: a smug, self righteous, arrogant Starfleet officer who would rather kill them all than give up a replicator... and she tells them exactly that to their face! The last straw is her speech at the end of the episode... what a bitch is all I'm going to say about that.

I not only dislike the character of Janeway, I think she is a bad captain.

Torpedoes Fired: 4
Shuttles Lost: 3

 

[Bisz]

S02E15 - Threshhold

3/10

I finally got to see this episode... yay! Holodeck! Terrible execution of what could have been a cool concept.

 

[Bisz]

S02E16 - Meld

8/10

I very much enjoy Brad Dourif. Anyone who is familiar with his appearance on Babylon 5 can't help but be stricken by the strange similarity in the characters he plays there and on Voyager. Having seen this episode I recall that we'll see Suder again, that he will become a sympathetic character and eventually sacrifice himself to save Voyager (...I hope I remember that right). On B5 the character ark is somewhat reversed, but both characters Dourif plays are murderers, but ones that the audience not only enjoys seeing, but also comes to outright like. Calm individuals, quiet, truly remorseful (I think Suder gets to this...). A really good actor, wow.



S02E17 - Dreadnought

7/10

Holodeck!

I recall seeing this episode a couple of times, long ago. Kind of similar concept to Prototype, where B'Elanna spends the whole episode talking to a machine. Still, I enjoy this episode.

One thing that bothers me, just like with the Kaizon space and Neelix experience deal, is the fact that Voyager has been b-lining it for home for a year and a half or more by now and yet they somehow managed to come upon this missile, brought to the Delta Quadrant in the same way Voyager was. How is it that this missile has not run out of fuel yet? How is it that its been operating for this long without maintenance? How is it that even though it doesn't think its in the DQ its been headed straight for the Alpha Quadrant, making it possible for Voyager to run into it? This would have made a great season one episode but near the end of season two is seems a bit out of place.

It truly seems to me like the writers and producers were lost for all of season one and totally missed the boat on Voyagers entire premise and only started capitalizing on it in the second season.

Voyager fired 7 torpedoes here which brings the count to:

Torpedoes Fired: 11
Shuttles Lost: 3




S02E18 - Death Wish

7/10

I thought Gerrit Graham did a good job, as of course did de Lancie. Seeing Frakes was cool. It helps in liking this episode that I think Janeway did the right thing... something I don't really expect from her.

 

[spot_loves_data]

Seeing Frakes was cool. It helps in liking this episode that I think Janeway did the right thing... something I don't really expect from her.

I wonder if Frakes is the only actor to appear in all the series (except TOS).

His "transporter accident twin" was in DS9, there was ^this VOY appearance, and he was in the ENT finale.

 

[Kooz]

S02E13 - Prototype

7/10

I liked this episode. Kind of interesting how differently Janeway reacted to B'Elanna disobeying orders to save the ship in this show versus how she reacted to Chakotay disobeying orders to save the ship in Maneuvers.



S02E14 - Alliances

5/10

I can't say this is Janeway at her worst because I don't recall the rest of the series, but this has got to be the worst Janeway episode to date. At first she is totally against allying with the Kazon because it would destabilize that part of space, but then she's all for forming a grand alliance between everyone even though that would have an even bigger effect on the region. Which is it? Do you not want to shift the balance of power or do you? She is a total bitch to Chakotay, especially after the memorial ceremony, "Is that the way the Maquis would do it? Commander"... what a petty thing to say, especially right after the guy delivered an eulogy for his friend. She totally mishandled the situation with that Crewman. People have died, the ship is under constant attack and when people come to her voicing their concern instead of being smart and coming off in the best possible light she comes off as exactly what the Maquis crew dislikes the most: a smug, self righteous, arrogant Starfleet officer who would rather kill them all than give up a replicator... and she tells them exactly that to their face! The last straw is her speech at the end of the episode... what a bitch is all I'm going to say about that.

I not only dislike the character of Janeway, I think she is a bad captain.

Torpedoes Fired: 4
Shuttles Lost: 3

Yeah, I'm re-watching too, and I find her to be terrible--inconsistent and annoying!

 

[Kooz]

Seeing Frakes was cool. It helps in liking this episode that I think Janeway did the right thing... something I don't really expect from her.

I wonder if Frakes is the only actor to appear in all the series (except TOS).

His "transporter accident twin" was in DS9, there was ^this VOY appearance, and he was in the ENT finale.

I think Deanna Troi might be too--I can't recall if she was on DS9, bu she was in Voyager and Ent. I think.

 

[spot_loves_data]

You're right about VOY and ENT, but I'm not sure about DS9.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Well regarding Janeway, I recently read in an interview with either Bryan Fuller or Kenneth Biller (I forget) where they said that Janeway was a flawed character and that's what made her interesting. But I don't find it interesting if the "flawed character" is never wrong and never faces up to their actions.

 

[NewHorizon]

I watched Voyager from beginning to end when it first aired. I didn't watch because I liked it so much as it was the only Trek on TV. I kept faith that it would get better. Sometimes it did but mostly it was extremely watered down. Yup, it's my least liked of all the series.

 

[Kooz]

Janeway was flawed *sometimes* when they wanted her to do something wrong (which was *always* the right decision in the end). But she was a perfect know-it-all at other times. Her character was boring precisely because of this and because of what @You_Will_Fail said: "I don't find it interesting if the "flawed character" is never wrong and never faces up to their actions."

 

[Bisz]

I may have been too lazy to keep up with the plan of reviewing each episode, but last night I finished Endgame so I figured I would pop in here and give a summary of my experience.

I've certainly come to appreciate Voyager more than ever having just re-watched it and I can see how people being introduced to Star Trek via Voyager can look at it as the best that Trek has to offer. That said, as much as I've come to appreciate it, for me its still in the bottom half of the new Treks. TNG is what I grew up on and DS9 is a superbly crafted television show with outstanding characters I've come to consider as one of my all time favourite shows, as much as I now like Voyager and Enterprise, I still feel they are the weaker of the four.

The shuttle and torpedo counts are inconsequential and so are a lot of the other minor nit-picks. The Doctor and Seven are amongst Trek's best written and acted characters. That said, there were a lot of missed opportunities on the show, there were a lot of dull characters, and I still can't stand Janeway - the character is so caustic and disagreeable they used her as a quasi-antagonist in the series finale for Pete's sake!

In any case, as a result of my re-watch there is now one less person eager to make off-the-cuff derogatory statements about Voyager.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Haha good! I think Voyager is great entertainment when it comes down to it.

What were your favorite episodes/seasons etc?

 

[Bisz]

I think the later seasons were stronger than the early ones. I liked them getting in touch with earth.

It's nap time, I'll have to list the episodes I enjoyed most later.

 

[Qutluch]

S01E05 - Phage

7/10

A solid episode, though we again get Janeway leading an away mission... to a place where one of her crew was just pretty much killed. The Doc is already emerging as a solid character,



S01E06 - The Cloud

5/10

They don't have enough power to get a coffee from the replicator, but they can run the holodeck? A few interesting character moments but nothing spectacular. The animal guide thing was neat, I don't recall if they follow up on that or not.

We learn Voyager has 38 torpedoes aboard and it fired one of them.

I made the same comment about the holodeck vs. the replicator in my VOY thread. From the comments people wrote to me it appears that they are run on two different energy sources, which I think is bad writing, but at the same time a necessary explanation if they want to have any holodeck episodes. I have not seen a follow up on the spirit guide part, but it is interesting that Janeway's spirit guide is a lizard. If you read about lizard guides it is a good metaphor for the plot of VOY.

 

[exodus]

Seeing Frakes was cool. It helps in liking this episode that I think Janeway did the right thing... something I don't really expect from her.

I wonder if Frakes is the only actor to appear in all the series (except TOS).

His "transporter accident twin" was in DS9, there was ^this VOY appearance, and he was in the ENT finale.

I think Deanna Troi might be too--I can't recall if she was on DS9, bu she was in Voyager and Ent. I think.

Armin Shimmerman played Quark in TNG, DS9 & Voy.