Best Voyager Characters

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I guess it's useful having a first officer be non-human because presto, instant character. It certainly would have been good having two alpha types on the bridge, butting heads. The sexual tension which I found pretty much non-existent though I know others feel differently would have had a lot of oomph too.

 

[Gov Kodos]

I don't think the first officer being human or not makes much difference, rather that there is a function for the officer. T'Pol played science officer when Archer was on the bridge, as did Spock. Riker, though, had no use except to say raise shields and otherwise confuse the chain of command on the bridge. However, the writers, trying to not turn Picard into Kirk, let Riker tell Picard he should be staying on the bridge. He ended up getting to be the landing party leader while Picard made big decisions on the bridge. Chakotay didn't get that option and ended up having no purpose, while Janeway became much more of a James Kirk like character. I think that was a reasonable development for her in Voyager's situation, but Chakotay's role suffered for it.

 

[Cmdr.Druss]

Seven and the Doctor are my favourite characters, strong actors and great storylines.

For some reason I always really liked Harry Kim, not sure why now.

Chakotay is definately a weak character (and actor) who was Janeway's bitch!
And I never felt the love for Kes either, was happy when she left the show, probably because I don't like the actress that much.

The rest of the cast seemed alright, some good and bad points through out. I would say that the Paris character was a good concept poorly executed.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

For some reason I always really liked Harry Kim, not sure why now.

YOU are my friend.

 

[dauntless]

Have to disagree on 7. The show became the Janeway and 7 show following her addition to the crew. IMHO it became rather tedious.

Am I also alone in not finding 7 attractive?

 

[Gov Kodos]

Perhaps not, but Janeway and Seven were what kept me watching the show.

 

[Skywalker]

1. The Doctor - The show's most successful character from a developmental standpoint.
2. Seven of Nine - Started out as kind of an obnoxious addition, seemingly only there because she looked good, but she eventually turned into one of the show's best characters.
3. Tuvok - The most consistent character from beginning to end, IMO. His only problem was he ended up in more of a backseat role in later seasons. He worked best as Janeway's advisor and confidant.
4. B'Elanna - I liked how she treated being Klingon as something to despise. It was a nice change of pace from Worf and most of the other Klingon characters.
5. Paris - His biggest problem was the writers didn't go far enough with him. He was supposed to be the bad boy, the wild card. Instead he was basically just an occasionally annoying smartaleck.
6. Janeway - Well-acted by Kate Mulgrew, but a wildly inconsistent character. Hard to take seriously because in one episode she would do everything in her power to resolve a situation without compromising the Prime Directive or her ideals, and then in the very next episode she'd throw the rules completely out the window without even thinking about it. This would have been fine if there was a sense of progression, some sort of natural arc, but instead she basically just zig-zagged back and forth through all seven seasons.
7. Neelix - Sometimes annoying, but his open-mindedness and his optimistic nature at least gave him a little personality. Ethan Phillips did well in the role, there just isn't much to the character that's worth caring about. He mostly became useless as they got deeper into the Delta Quadrant.
7. Kim - The writers just didn't seem to know what to do with him beyond the 'fall in love with a dangerous alien woman' storyline.
9. Chakotay - He had the same problem as Harry, in that there wasn't much of a purpose to his character, but he also suffered from mostly poor acting from Beltran. He had a nebulous role on the bridge, and didn't even get to lead most of the away teams like Riker did in TNG. He also conformed to Starfleet standards too quickly. The clash between Janeway and Chakotay should have been the crux of the series; instead, Chakotay mostly came off as a milquetoast yes-man.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I've been rewatching in chunks recently and I've been enjoying B'Elanna's snottiness more than I did in the past. She is just so ready to imply eye rolling disdain, LOLOL

 

[Violet.Phoenix]

My favourites:
1. The Doctor - great development over the entire series and a very entertaining character to watch
2. Janeway - she got the job done and was determined to get her crew home no matter what stood in her way. That takes some serious balls (in a manner of speaking). She was also resourceful and believed that there was a solution to any situation, now that's the thinking of a scientist!
I think Janeway is awesome and she's definitely my favourite captain, shame that some of her actions were contradictory though.
3. Seven of Nine - I love the idea of a character searching for humanity; it was a really unique storyline that I found interesting. My only complaint is that I felt like Seven was introduced into the show for visual appeal, and that is not what her character is about.

B'Elanna, Tom and Tuvok are the next to follow. I like them as characters and they each have their own fascinating personality quirks and small arcs that add to the story, but their stories didn't grab me as much as the others.

At the bottom are Harry and Chakotay. I'm just generally disappointed by the writing for these two because it left them severely under developed as characters (Harry was an ensign for seven years for crying out loud!) and Chakotay never really found his place as a character, which is really too bad as I feel like so much could have been done with both of these characters.

On a side note, I actually liked the episode 'The Fight' as I felt like it finally gave us some introspection into Chakotay's character.

 

[Miss Lemon]

In my opinion character development was not one of Voyager’s strong points. The only two characters that developed in a way that made sense and was mostly consistent were the Doctor and Seven.

They did some interesting stuff with B'Elanna but it felt like the writers were just making things up along the way. And then forgot all about it in the next episode.

Kim, Paris, Tuvok, and Chakotay were just there. Neelix at least had some little personality that made him recognizable.

 

[DAYoung]

In my opinion character development was not one of Voyager’s strong points. The only two characters that developed in a way that made sense and was mostly consistent were the Doctor and Seven.

Yes. And they weren't always kind to the doctor, either. Give him a life, a family, an artistic bent, then set him up as a romantic buffoon for laughs.

They did some interesting stuff with B'Elanna but it felt like the writers were just making things up along the way. And then forgot all about it in the next episode.

Exactly. This is one of the worst things about Trek in general. The lack of consequences. It gives it all that lightness of being that new BSG never had (in which consequences were a bitch).

 

[MacLeod]

The EMH was easily the best character on the show.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Picardo is a great actor who really seemed to be enjoying himself in every scene. He also had an interesting relationship with every other character (except perhaps Harry) which brought out their personalities. He was a huge asset to the show.

 

[IntrepidMan]

^Yes but I still found him to be highly annoying at times. Although not as bad as ParisKim.

 

[lisa]

I cant believe people don't like VOY! I love it. The premise is fracking brilliant. I think maybe that's what I enjoyed the most about the franchise. I remember I fell in love with TNG and someone told me about VOY. I remember thinking "OMFG that is the coolest premise for a show ever." and it never wore off. I watched the whole show on netflix (without skipping ahead!) and loved every minute of it.... I know the characters weren't quite as well developed as other franchises but i think the main plot makes up for it.

With all that said, I think 7of9 is awesome, Janeway is a badass, and the doctor is amusing.

 

[Miss Lemon]

I cant believe people don't like VOY! I love it. The premise is fracking brilliant.

I thought its premise was brilliant too. But in my opinion the series didn't live up to its potential. In the end, VOY was just another TNG. Shiny ship meets aliens of the week, Janeway beats nasty aliens, ship is still shiny. Now if Voyager had been a bit more like the Equinox...

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I cant believe people don't like VOY! I love it. The premise is fracking brilliant. I think maybe that's what I enjoyed the most about the franchise. I remember I fell in love with TNG and someone told me about VOY. I remember thinking "OMFG that is the coolest premise for a show ever." and it never wore off. I watched the whole show on netflix (without skipping ahead!) and loved every minute of it.... I know the characters weren't quite as well developed as other franchises but i think the main plot makes up for it.

With all that said, I think 7of9 is awesome, Janeway is a badass, and the doctor is amusing.

Dear lisa,

Everything you say is completely correct.

love, teacake

 

[DAYoung]

I cant believe people don't like VOY! I love it. The premise is fracking brilliant.

I thought its premise was brilliant too. But in my opinion the series didn't live up to its potential. In the end, VOY was just another TNG. Shiny ship meets aliens of the week, Janeway beats nasty aliens, ship is still shiny.

Agreed. Basically, the whole seven years ought to have been like 'Year of Hell'.

Put another way: BSG.

 

[lisa]

The ship is still shiny because Janeway is such a super awesome badass captain that she gained the loyalty of the Marquis, liberated a Borg drone, helped a hologram develop a soul, and got everyone home from the delta quadrant WHILE putting up with Nelix from start to finish!

check and mate.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

It's important to keep the outside of the ship from looking wrecked because they don't want to appear easy targets. You don't want to look vulnerable.

It's important to keep the inside of the ship from looking wrecked because of crew morale. Other things were obviously not like home, such as rationing replicator usage.