Challenge: Abridge Voyager to 30 Episodes

[catshadowsi8]

I haven't made my list yet but I would exclude pretty much everything Kazon and Seska, none of that is important in the story of Voyager getting home. If the Kazon never appear again after Caretaker, would the show actually change? Voyager warps away, that alone can be enough of an explanation why never see the Kazon again. Nothing the Kazon and Seska did had any longterm ramifications so it can be cut. Personally I'd rather include some other good episodes even if they aren't story relevant, the Kazon weren't even interesting.

For me I included the Kazon because of Seska. She is the only real traitor Voyager faces. She provides character development for Chakotay. Tom, not Janeway, saves the ship so it develops his character. It furthers the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay. She also placed the entire crew in a totally alien environment(Basics). We only see this again in the Killing Game. It kills two secondary characters we know instead of randoms. Most importantly she is the first to outwit and completely defeat Janeway. The only other group are the Hirogen in The Killing Game. I couldn't exclude her for those reasons.

I wanted to include Dark Frontier because it plays into The Raven and 7's story. It was the hardest to remove but I had 31. I took it out for two reasons. First i feel it is the show that completely changes the Borg. The Queen is an awful addition imo. Secondly, Janeway comes across as superwoman. I don't rememer the enhancements to the delta flyer showing up again. It also doesn't get them closer to home. So I guess quality trumped everything else in this case.

 

[Odo]

Nice selections!

should we consider two-parters as a single episode or two episodes? If the former, then that would essentially add a few episodes to the list... at the very least "CARETAKER", since it is technically two episodes.

Personally, I would take anything that premiered and were released on DVD as a single episode as a single episode ("Caretaker", "Dark Frontier", "Flesh and Blood", and "Endgame"), and two part episodes that were released on DVD as two parts as separate episodes (Basics, Future's End, Scorpion, The Killing Game, Equinox, Unimatrix Zero, Workforce). But it's up to you!

I haven't made my list yet but I would exclude pretty much everything Kazon and Seska, none of that is important in the story of Voyager getting home. If the Kazon never appear again after Caretaker, would the show actually change? Voyager warps away, that alone can be enough of an explanation why never see the Kazon again. Nothing the Kazon and Seska did had any longterm ramifications so it can be cut. Personally I'd rather include some other good episodes even if they aren't story relevant, the Kazon weren't even interesting.

I agree wholeheartedly. I'm not a fan of the Kazon - though I do like Prime Factors a lot!

@Odo, this was a fun challenge. Thanks for starting this! We should do more challenges

Thank you! I think this challenge could be done with any Trek show save DS9.

 

[Odo]

I'll post my 30-ep abridgment soon - here's my own 70-ep abridgment of Voyager which I'll base future rewatches on. I know it will raise some eyebrow: no Dark Frontier? How about episodes where Voyager gets propelled closer to home? How about the resolution to the Kazon arc?

For me personally, I opted for the barest of continuity necessary, and then filled it up with what I thought was best. The absolute barest necessary to my mind are: Caretaker, Scorpion 1, Scorpion 2, The Gift, and Endgame (followed by Future's End 1, Future's End 2, and Homestead). So I included those. For the Kazon stuff, I cut it off after Investigations, which wraps up a lot of things (though in itself is an average episode). We can infer Voyager escaped the Kazon and Seska, and leave it at that. The same could be done with Paris's demotion (although I did include 30 Days). As for Voyager being propelled closer to home - some are included, some aren't, depending on the quality of the episode. I didn't include Pathfinder, because that's basically a stealth TNG ep, and we can infer all we need to know about that in conversations in Life Line. Some episodes I like but have been done better elsewhere - Workforce versus The Xindi for example. And as for big stories like Equinox and Dark Frontier, I didn't include them because while I really like aspects of those stories, I really dislike other aspects of those stories.

Your mileage may very, but here's my personal go-to for re-watching Voyager:

EDITED (to include Revulsion - Would still be 70-eps if only they had broadcast Killing Game as a feature length episode as intended. Alas...)

 

[Odo]

(I may or may not switch out Day of Honor for Scientifc Investigation in that chart to establish the Tom/B'Ellana romance)

 

[Sophie74656]

(I may or may not switch out Day of Honor for Scientifc Investigation in that chart to establish the Tom/B'Ellana romance)

In terms of the romance I guess it depends on when it actually started. You can say Day of Honor, but there we don't see Tom acknowledging it. In Revultion we see them both acknoledge it and basically confirm that they're going to be romantic.

 

[Farscape One]

I added "REVULSION" due to not just that, but Tuvok's promotion and the beginning of Astrometrics being refitted, a set we would see only after that point in the series, and quite often, too. Plus, Tom becomes the medic here with Kes' departure, which is a vital role.

 

[Odo]

Revulsion is great - I sort of forgot about that one.

 

[catshadowsi8]

Astrometrics came on line in Year of Hell if I recall. Forgot about that.

 

[Odo]

Trying to balance quality, character development, and the barest of continuity, here is my list (again, thanks for the reminder on Revulsion):

1. Caretaker (premise)
2. Phage (I love the Vidiians)
3. Deadlock (great ep)
4. Meld (I wanted a great Tuvok ep and this is it)
5. Future’s End 1 (good+mobile emitter)
6. Future’s End 2 (good+mobile emitter)
7. Distant Origin (great ep)
8. Scorpion 1 (essential and great)
9. Scorpion 2 (essential and great)
10. The Gift (bye Kes)
11. Revulsion (Torres/Paris romance)
12. The Raven (7 development)
13. Year of Hell 1 (great ep)
14. Year of Hell 2 (great ep)
15. Message in a Bottle (contact home)
16. Hunters (Hirogen are great)
17. Prey (Hirogen are great)
18. Living Witness (great ep)
19. One (7 development)
20. Hope and Fear (good ep, closer home)
21. Timeless (great ep)
22. Counterpoint (my absolute favorite)
23. Latent Image (EMH development)
24. Someone to Watch Over Me (7 and EMH development)
25. Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy (hilarious)
26. Blink of an Eye (great ep)
27. Life Line (EMH development/contact home)
28. Author, Author (EMH development)
29. Homestead (bye Neelix)
30. Endgame (finale)

(Some of these add nothing to the overreaching plot, but are great episodes)

 

[JirinPanthosa]

That's about how many good episodes there were.