Best/Worst of Season One

[AdmiralScreed]

Hello Voyager fans,

I just started watching Voyager over a month ago, and at this point I am almost two seasons into it. Compared to season two, I think season one was a pretty weak season, but there were a few good episodes mixed in with the not-so-good ones. I wanted to look back and see what everyone considered to be the best and worst episodes of season one. Here are my picks (in order):

The Best:
Prime Factors
State of Flux
The Eye of the Needle

The Worst:
Emanations
Cathexis
Ex Post Facto
The Cloud

There are my favorites and least favorites. What are yours?

Also, since I am new to the series, if we could refrain from discussing the later seasons that would be great because I don't want to hear any spoilers.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

I like season 1 and consider it probably the second most consistent of the seasons in terms of episodes I consider "excellent" or "good".

I rank the episodes as such

Excellent:
Phage
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
Faces
Jetrel

Good:
Caretaker
Emanations
State of Flux
Time and Again
Parallax(good dialogue and subplots saved this one imo)

Mediocre:
Heroes and Demons
The Cloud
Learning Curve

Poor:
Ex Post Facto
Cathexis

Overall I think Voyager was a strong start with some really strong episodes, likable and well rounded characters and some real creativity in the Vidiians. On the other hand, several problems took root in season 1 like the Kazon who I felt were an ineffectual villain, the whole "Maquis who?" situation that marred the rest of the whole show and the sense that it wasn't pushing quite far enough vis a vis holodecks, energy, episode -> episode continuity although it was still stronger in that respect than later episodes.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

That's a fine list, even if I disagree with your placement of certain episodes.

I am curious, what did you dislike about Learning Curve? I found it to be a fun and lighthearted episode that made good use of Tuvok's character and the Maquis-Starfleet relationship. By no means is it profound, but it is quite fun.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Just remembered "Parallax" goes in my mediocre list.
"Learning Curve" just felt very meh to me is all. It had a kind of boring cheese/neural technobabble subplot and a main plot that washed away the Maquis situation with a lame one episode training and bonding session. It all just felt very inconsequential, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't good imo.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

Just remembered "Parallax" goes in my mediocre list.
"Learning Curve" just felt very meh to me is all. It had a kind of boring cheese/neural technobabble subplot and a main plot that washed away the Maquis situation with a lame one episode training and bonding session. It all just felt very inconsequential, it wasn't bad, it just wasn't good imo.

Fair enough.

Another question. What did you dislike about Parallax? I personally thought that it was a very good episode because it developed Torres, gave her the chief engineer position, and it showcased some of the problems between the Maquis and Starfleet officers.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Gah, that episode kind of straddles the good/mediocre border so it was quite difficult.
Originally I had 11 episodes classified as good/excellent but when I wrote that list up there I realized that there were 12 (shoulda kept my damned notes!)....Parallax's subplots were good with Torres/the dialogue/crew interactions, you're totally right.
I think i was getting it mixed up with the Cloud.

 

[Admiral Shran]

Excellent
Phage
Faces
Jetrel

Good
Caretaker
Parallax
Ex Post Facto

Average
Time and Again
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Emanations
Prime Factors
Heroes and Demons

Poor
State of Flux
Cathexis
Learning Curve

 

[AdmiralScreed]

Interesting choices, Admiral Shran. I'm surprised to see State of Flux so low on your list. I thought it was a very good episode that made good use of Seska, Chaokotay, and the Maquis-Starfleet problems. What did you dislike?

 

[You_Will_Fail]

I'm also surprised, I thought it was great, same for "Eye of the Needle"

 

[Admiral Shran]

State of Flux loses big points for me because of the introduction of Cullah. I can't stand that character - never have, probably never will. Though, maybe I should re-asses it and put it at the bottom of the average column.

Eye of the Needle is okay, which is why I put it in the average column. If it was in a later season it would have been better. But, really, in the SIXTH episode of the series they're already dangling the "they might get home" carrot in front of us? Really?

 

[Killandra]

State of Flux loses big points for me because of the introduction of Cullah. I can't stand that character - never have, probably never will. Though, maybe I should re-asses it and put it at the bottom of the average column.

Eye of the Needle is okay, which is why I put it in the average column. If it was in a later season it would have been better. But, really, in the SIXTH episode of the series they're already dangling the "they might get home" carrot in front of us? Really?

I hear you on Culluh and I was disappointed when he wasn't incinerated into oblivion. He's like the Kai Winn of Voyager in terms of irritating...

 

[Admiral Shran]

Except Winn manages to be a character I love to hate. Cullah, not so much.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Eye of the Needle is okay, which is why I put it in the average column. If it was in a later season it would have been better. But, really, in the SIXTH episode of the series they're already dangling the "they might get home" carrot in front of us? Really?

How does that reflect on its quality? No matter where that episode could be placed, we're gonna know that they're not gonna go home, so how does that make it any worse an episode? Voyager's premise lent itself to stories where the crew discover and look for possible chances to go home, just because they don't work out doesn't mean the episodes are any less good.

 

[Admiral Shran]

It's just too early for those episodes to kick in. In later seasons I would expect them. But at only six episodes in, they should still be establishing the universe.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

Yeah, the Eye of the Needle came far too early, but nevertheless it is still a really fine episode. That's why I rank it so highly on my list.

 

[Lynx]

Best of season 1:

Caretaker

Time And Again

Ex Post Facto

Worst of season 1:

Emanations

Elogium

 

[Misco]

I'm currently a third of the way through a Voyager rewatch, the express purpose of which is to update my ratings for each episode, so this thread has come at a good time for me.

I don't think there are any outstanding episodes in the first season but quite a few good ones and quite a few average too, with only one genuinely poor one rounding out the bunch.

Good
Time and Again
Jetrel
Caretaker
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
Faces
Parallax
State of Flux

Average
Learning Curve
Phage
Emanations
The Cloud
Ex Post Facto
Cathexis

Poor
Heroes and Demons (I remembered this being bad but I was shocked by how truly awful it was this time around.)

I used to be much harder on Season One but I've found I have much more tolerance for it now.

 

[You_Will_Fail]

Elogium

Don't you love "Elogium"?

 

[Kooz]

I have to say it--Caretaker does nothing for me. And the whole idea--they are 75 years away from home at maximum speed--so what? That doesn't sound that far at that relative time in the Star Trek universe... It was really underwhelming to me. The show got better (at times) and worse (more often), but this didn't set a good tone.

 

[AdmiralScreed]

I didn't love Caretaker, but as a pilot to the series I thought it was fairly decent. IMO it successfully introduced the main cast. We learned a lot about Paris' past, Janeway, and the Maquis.
I didn't think the main story was all that interesting. The Caretaker itself was just kind of "meh." Didn't hate it, didn't love it. I didn't find the Ocampa or the Kazon to be particularly interesting, although with that said I did fall in love with the Kazon during season 2.
All in all I do think that the pilot could have been better, but it at least managed to meet my expectations.