I think a major problem with how Captain Janeway was written, was that she was written as "the woman captain", instead of a captain who happens to be a woman.
It seems like because Janeway was a woman, no one could really challenge her authority and the crew had to fawn over her. Chakotay, despite being a rebellious terrorist commander, seemed far to willing to defer to Janeway then he should have. Torres, another former terrorist, seemed to begin worshiping Janeway right away. Heck you think the former Maquis members would have unhappy with Janeway with stranding them there in the first place, but no, that wasn't the case. Plus Janeway seemed brook almost no dissent, Picard and Kirk were not so fragile that couldn't take a little criticism or different opinions. When Picard was replaced by aliens and the impostor Picard did reckless things, he was relived of command, that never seems to happen when Janeway does something reckless.
I think Ben Sisko came off more as a captain who happens to be black, rather then the "black captain". Sure Sisko's race played a part in a few episodes, but the writers didn't try to turn him into a Mary Sue, because of background.
I see your point and I agree to some of it.
There were times when Janeway's authority should have been questioned more, especially by Chakotay.
And sometimes her authority became rather silly, like iat the end of the otherwise very good episode "Alliances" when she holds the speech about "the ideas and princeples of the federations, which are the best allies you can have".
But in most cases, it had more to do with bad writing in common than just Janeway, even if "the woman Captain" concept did over-shadow some episodes.
I can agree with the comments about Chakotay and Torres. Chakotay should have stood up more to Janeway than he did and Torres became tame too quickly, it should have taken at least 4-5 episodes before she became the perfect Starfleet Ensign. But once again, I blame it more on bad writing in common.
As for Sisko I also agree. But I must say that it surprised me that the "black Captain thing" was brought up. I mean, we have a series which takes place more than 400 years after Martin Luther King and the struggle for justice and equality for the black people and in one episode Sisko starts arguing about Vic Fontaine's program taking place in 1962 "when the black were discriminated". I mean, that was more than 400 years ago and the problems had been settled since then so a black captain shouldn't be no issue at all in Starfleet in the 24th century.
if I should start arguing about not being able to read some classic book from some country because "we were at war with them 400 years ago", my sanity would be questioned.
Otherwise I find Sisko an excellent captain and Avery Brooks was splendid in that role.
Looking back on some of the characters, they don't seem to have much depth to their conception. Janeway does come across as the Woman Captain, just like Chakotay is the Native American and Kim is the Rookie (both of whom never really develop much further than that).
Janeway also became quite stereotypical as the caring, maternal figure, often times more the crews mummy than their Captain. But if they'd made her more standoffish and Picard-esque she'd be branded a 'bitch' like Nechayev has been (something I have never understood).
In my opinion, Voyager had great characters. It was bad writing which ruined some of them, not the characters themselves.
As for Nechayev, I did find her very ruthless. Sort of "If I give tou an order to execute 5000 pepole, then you do it!"
A bad choice in casting.
Mulgrew made captain Janeway extremely unlikeable. I would say Janeway is the most unlikeable character in Star Trek. Not sure if she was written to be that way or the character took on the persona of the actress.
The entire premise of the show sucked, and most of the scripts were pretty bad (all the crappy time travel episodes), but Mulgrew made the show nearly unwatchable.
And that voice...talk about unlikeable.
It's that harsh Katharine Hepburn voice. I just can't stand it. It grates on my ears and nerves like extra coarse sandpaper.
I strongly disagree here. I think that Mulgrew was excellent as Janeway and I have no problem with her voice. There were a lot of silly propaganda from those in charge of the show that "Seven saved the show". I would like to state that Janeway saved the show. Without her, the show would have been cancelled after two or three seasons.
I don't want to put Bujold down because the only thing I've seen of her is those deleted scenes with her as Janeway, she might be an excellent actress otherwise. But if I should judge "Nicole Janeway" from those scenes, then Voyager would have run into serious trouble very early on.
