Is Voyager Heavily Underrated?

[USS Firefly]

I really need to go back and watch more TNG to see if my memory really matches reality, but when the "TNG cast is clique-ish" argument comes up, I really think it's centered mostly around Riker. If you're not part of his circle of friends, he really does treat people very differently.

For a female romantic interest, that smile you talk about takes on this weird look that I can only describe as ... "Oh, yes, you will be mine, you just don't know it yet." If he feels threatened in any way by other officers, he seems to throw all decorum out the window and get downright petulant. Jericho, Shelby, Tom Riker, and Ensign Ro all come to mind there, though he does soften towards her later after Conundrum.

Riker can indeed be a real ass to people who are different

 

[Janeway_74656]

I thought the Borg stuff was okay, but I got really bored of it. Seemed like Voyager relied on the Borg too much after the success of First Contact. I kind prefered them 'pre-assimilation' as a threat.

I feel like they did that because, if you look at the Borg, there's so much story potential, and they're great antagonists to explore (especially the whole thing about losing individuality, etc).

Yes. Assimilation goes from being massively scarring and horrendous experience to a minor inconvenience.

And if Unimatrix Zero was done differently then whole thing might not have been so bad. My hunch is that the whole idea was to make it a two-part thing for shock value, but they forgot to put any shock into it (like the Best of Both Worlds, which was done correctly in terms of what assimilation really does to you, esp after breaking free from it).

What I'm saying is, it might have been more meaningful if being assimilated wasn't intentionally part of a set plan. As in, if it were NOT planned and it just happened, and Voyager would find out about Unimatrix Zero THAT way, and works through Unimatrix Zero to free the senior officers and a bunch of other Unimatrix Zero drones in the process. Then the senior officers would, like Picard did, have to deal with the aftermath of being assimilated—fully—into the Collective.

 

[chris of nine]

Riker. Petulant.

Perfectly apt. His other side, which is equally disturbing.

A lot of people criticize Shat for overplaying.
But it works for him. It’s endearing, charming, funny, cute, clever.

Riker is none of those, for me. I can’t think of another Trek principal who came even close, in their overplaying, to doing it the wrong way.

There are times when the EMH will annoy. But he redeems himself.
I can’t stay mad at Neelix, either...I’ve known people like him.

But I’ve never met a real person like Riker.
Hope I never do.
It’s the “Oh, come ON.” factor.

 

[Voth commando1]

Prey
Year of Hell
Scorpion Parts 1 and 2
Distant Origin
Living Witness
Projections
One
Drone
Latent Image
Future's End
Timeless
Lifeline

Among others are voyager's best.

 

[Discofan]

I often confuse Drone and One, maybe because the Drone named himself One...

 

[Reyman]

The show had too many bland characters, but at the same time that allowed other characters to really shine.

Personally I don't think it's underrated, but I do feel it had so much more potential than was realised. It was good, but it could have been great.

 

[Discofan]

I would have liked more episodes where the Doctor plays an important role. I was rarely disappointed by those. On the other hand the less said about Harry Kim the better.

 

[fireproof78]

Personally I don't think it's underrated, but I do feel it had so much more potential than was realised. It was good, but it could have been great.

This. VOY is fine as it is, and perfectly serviceable as Star Trek goes. It simply missed too many opportunities.