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^I'd dispute that one as "The Big Goodbye" was largely focused in the holodeck way back in S1 of TNG, and "Our Man Bashir" was holocentric on DS9, but I digress...
Phage
Emanations
Initiations
Parturition
Maneuvers
Resistance
Alliances
The Swarm
Remember
Fair Trade
Alter Ego
Rise
Favorite Son
Displaced
Revulsion
Hunters
Hope & Fear
Drone
In the Flesh
Once Upon a Time
Juggernaut
Warhead
Flesh & Blood
Natural Law
"Life Signs" has flatlined. An episode where a real person exists as a holographic entity, and then falls in love with another hologram? Not done before, not done since, not generic.
While I doubted doing this because I threw out Mortal Coil earlier for the same reason, I think I'll still go ahead since this episode in my view simply shouldn't end up as the most generic one.
Eliminating Fair Trade, because it gives us an in-depth look of Neelix, which is rare since he is mostly used as comic relief (and in later seasons, as one of the "social hearts" of Voyager).
Here Neelix is halfway between "early" and "late season Neelix". He is no longer the cynical surivivor from early season 1 who probably would have taken any action he considered of benefit to himself in this scenario without second thoughts, yet he hasn't learned quite enough to be convinced that his place on Voyager is secure even if he can't 'deliver' anymore, which is, I think, a rare "snapshot" of him.
BTW, I'm curious whether we are going to end up with an episode most people would consider "non-generic"
"In the Flesh" gives up the ghost. As it shows a quite humane facet of what was so far thought to be inhuman bloodthirsty inscrutable aliens (IE species 8472).
"Displaced" is dislodged as it is a story of thieves that make sure that their victims get all the comfort that they need instead of... just beaming them out in space for example.
Personally I found the concept rather similar to Dreadnought (eliminated earlier), though I'll agree that the AI there seemed very advanced but not sentient.
I feel hopeless and fearful about "Hope & Fear". We get to see another (admittedly faux) Starfleet vessel, and the fact that it's not an actual Starfleet vessel just makes it stand out even more. This is the first time we're introduced to the concept of quantum slipstream, which will come up again. We meet a species that Janeway specifically (if unintentionally) screwed over, even if our limited sample size is unfortunately a bit unsympathetic and there's no real discussion of the morality of what she did. Also, IIRC, this episode follows-up on the transmission received in an earlier episode...my god, an arc!
Breaking "Alliances", because it is an episode in which Janeway considers if not breaking the PD, at least bending it for pragmatic reasons - allying with one of the local factions in a conflict, which is not all that characteristic for her - though she does it on more occasions when the stakes are hight enough (e.g. Scorpion).
"RISE" has now fallen. An episode that takes place almost entirely on an elevator that goes to space? Find me another episode with an elevator that leads from the surface of a planet to space.
I'm going to cure "Phage". While the Vidiiians obviously became recurring and perhaps over-exposed, at the time we'd never met a species like them, and they were more compelling than the Kazon essentially from the moment they appeared onscreen.
A wave of a wand makes "Once Upon a Time" disappear! As an episode that poses the question of whether it is always wise to tell children the truth even when it is potentially traumatizing. An episode deeper than its title might suggest.
I'm going to remove "Drone" from the Collective. While the overall story may be fairly generic, it's well-told, the starting premise is at least a little unusual, and honestly I like the episode far too much to want to see it branded with the title "Most Generic", which somewhat implies most forgettable as well.
I am going to pull "RESISTANCE". We don't often see the captain impersonating a family member of a broken man, wjich is what she does in the end. Which I totally loved... it was a touching final gift to him, a sense of peace. And his performance was outstanding, one of the best of any guest star of the franchise. Based on that metric alone, I couldn't let this episode become 'Most Generic'.
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