Fans, what don't you like about VOY?

[Warped9]

Another companion thread. I'm compartmentalizing in an effort to avoid derailing the main subject matter of the threads.

Seriously, though, as much as we love our favourite shows there are always things we're not content with, wholly or in part. There are always things we feel could have been better.

So what didn't you like about VOY?

 

[startrekwatcher]

I actually looked forward to VOY but it ultimately wasn't as good as I had hoped.

My issues:

The inconsistent quality of writing. I wouldn't mind the show to have been episodic if the episodes were as good as those on TNG and the weak episodes were few and far between. I also wasn't crazy about staff writers like Lisa Klink, Kenneth Biller.

I didn't like the holodeck subplots each season with the resort in season three being the worst

I was never interested in Kim, Chakotay, Neelix, Paris, Tuvok. And most of the time the episodes headlining them were some of the series' worst.

I didn't care for the Neelix/Kes or Paris/Torres romances although the latter was better than the former.

It wasn't a big deal but I didn't understand with a whole new quadrant full of potentially interesting races why the writers would have the crew run into familiar faces or why they would do so many fluff pieces centering on holodeck malfunctions or Irish villages.

I was actually one of the few fans who enjoyed Unimatrix Zero and thought it could be potentially interesting but I really didn't care how it petered out and went nowhere.

I didn't like Q on VOY.

I would have like the series finale to have been a mini arc and jettisoned the AGT future scenes and concentrated on the aftermath/homecoming.

 

[Praetor]

Lots of extremely nitpicky things that can be summed up by a failure to fully execute the premise and therefore achieve it's full potential, rendering what to me was a spin-off with a distinct premise only uneven-quality post-TNG continuation.

I could make a list.

 

[tomalak301]

Understanding that Voyager didn't utilize it's premise very well, I don't really count that as a reason not to like voyager. I did like Voyager despite that but there were things I didn't really like after watching the entire series recently:

-The alien foreheads of the week. Ok, maybe TNG had forehead of the week aliens too, but on those shows, it seemed like the characters were front and center and it just didn't seem that bad. On Voyager, every week was the same thing and our characters come in to help but it's always about those aliens, who end up being not memorable and ugly looking. It's kind of like a laundry cycle: Wash, rinse, dry, and then repeat.

-Why did Voyager have to be in an action battle sequence and go to red alert every week. Some weeks it wasn't even necessary to do it but it was done anyway. The best example I can think of was "The Raven." Actually that episode has a good example of point one two. We have this great story of Seven being drawn to something from her past and we even get some great scenes between Tuvok and Seven (Who had great chemistry together during the series run) but those alien guys show up and start being freaking annoying. I guess they were aiming for conflict, but for an episode like that, there was already good conflict and memorable stuff written into the story. The alien guys showing up doesn't add anything and it makes them really annoying.

 

[kimc]

C/7
"Endgame
Too much borg
Too much time travel

 

[TheGodBen]

For the first time in my life I wish I was a Voyager fan, but only so that I can rip it apart.

 

[kimc]

For the first time in my life I wish I was a Voyager fan, but only so that I can rip it apart.

Hey, you have a long-running thread. What more do you want? Cookies?

 

[TheGodBen]

I'll have some if they're on offer.

 

[flemm]

I think there are two basic problems with Voyager. The first is the poor development or lack of development of the show's original premise. This is a valid criticism and one that I share, but it is not why I didn't like the show.

I like Star Trek. Even mediocre Star Trek is something I enjoy, though I can recognize that it is mediocre. That is basically my feelings toward Enterprise, which I'm currently watching for the first time on DVD. Voyager is the only Trek show that I have never been able to get into and enjoy, despite the occasional good episode.

Poor development of the premise is not sufficient reason. I realized at some point that it is the crew. They are such a boring, uninspiring group. Even with Enterprise, I find I like the group of people I am following on a weekly basis, and I like their group dynamic. It is not DS9 or TNG, but the crew basically works, and I find the mix of personalities fun and enjoyable. With Voyager, I just can't get over how bland and insipid the crew is, both individually and collectively. This has to be partly the writing and partly the acting. The chemistry, the charisma, the group dynamic, whatever it is that makes the other Trek crews work, the Voyager crew just doesn't have it imo.

I find this frustrating, because in theory I'd love to have seven more seasons of Trek to enjoy.

 

[RyuRoots]

My biggest complaints about Voyager so far (about halfway into season 3) are Neelix, the fact that everything that was going to make Voyager different (aside from just being in the Delta Quadrant) was nixed before the second half of season 2, and Janeway being either an intelligent, reasonable, and pretty cool captain or the nutso I LOVES ME A GOOD KILLIN' Janeway depending on the writer. I'm not a big fan of the tree, either-Chakotay, that is. And Harry...I'm beginning to wonder if he will EVER stop being such a naive greenhorn.

 

[Orac Zen]

Too much network interference.

If its creators had had the same freedom enjoyed by the people who made DS9 and the much-vaunted nBSG, then perhaps Voyager would have achieved its full potential or something close to it. As it was, the UPN types stymied pretty much every attempt that was made to make full use of the premise. Their insistence on trying to somehow re-create TNG's ratings success by turning Voyager into some sort of TNG clone helped kill off pretty much everything that set it apart from the other Trek series.

Most, if not all, the issues I have with Voyager stem from that major problem. As a group they're by far my favourite characters in any Trek series (with the exception of chuckles). It would have been nice if they'd been consistently written but thankfully almost all the actors were able to rise above their material more often than not. It's a show I'm able to enjoy in spite of its flaws because of the characters and the actors who played them (with that one exception).

To each their own.

 

[Brit]

I don't like the fact that Janeway and Chakotay didn't have an acknowledged, on going intimate relationship.

Brit

 

[JB2005]

I don't like the lack of continuity from episode to episode. It was ridiculous that after 7 years the ship shone like it had never left space-dock. If they ever do VOY:Remastered that would be on my wishlist...

 

[AdmiralSteven]

It wasn't a big deal but I didn't understand with a whole new quadrant full of potentially interesting races why the writers would have the crew run into familiar faces or why they would do so many fluff pieces centering on holodeck malfunctions or Irish villages.

I like Star Trek a lot and generally don't go looking for things to pick on. However, I can agree with what startrekwatcher said above. There was a whole quadrant full of potentially interesting races and adventures and I don't think they exploited that very much. I wasn't looking for a battle or confrontation in every episode, but something more could have been done I thought.

 

[Tachyon]

Too much Borg
Season 7 (aka Seven and Doctor opera)
C/7
Fair Haven --> WTF was that all about?!

 

[Lynx]

1. Kes being kicked out in "The Gift" and ruined in "Fury"

2. Too much focus on Seven, The Doctor and Janeway in the later seasons while the other chartacters were shoved aside.

3. Neelix being dumped in "Homestead".

3. Too much Borg.

4. The unnecessary death of Lt.Carey.

5. Endgame. Enough said!

6. The lack of good story arcs.

7. Too many continuity errors (even in the first three seasons).

8. The Borg kids.

9. Voyager getting in touch with Federation Headquarters already in the 4th season.

10. Seasons 4-7 overall. Something important was missing.

 

[AdmiralSteven]

Too much Borg

Now that you mention it, too much Borg.

 

[Tachyon]

And too much Borg technology (= Seven saving the day again and again and again).

 

[tomalak301]

And too much Borg technology (= Seven saving the day again and again and again).

Ah yes, the Nano Probes that could do just about anything. That got lame.

 

[Praetor]

And the technobabbly reinforcements or remodulations, or dissertations of word chains which tell us nothing and make no sense.

For heaven's sake, if the shields are failing, just say so.