Voyager had the best series concept in Trek - a single starship stranded on the other side of the galaxy. The Doctor and Seven of Nine were great characters. I hated Janeway's moralizing, holier-than-thou, school marm PC act though. It ruined episode after episode. I didn't care for the bland, colorless Harry Kim either.
My opinion of Voyager the series
- Thread starter Reliant
- Start date
Frankly, I thought that DS9 had the best concept in Trek. However, I don't think that DS9 managed to live up to its potential. Which is why I think it was at the same level as VOY and TNG in terms of quality in the Trek franchise.
All three series, along with TOS and ENT had their flaws and virtues. But if you had asked me what was my favorite Trek series, I would have to select VOY. The characters alone appealed to me a lot stronger than the characters from the other four series.
All three series, along with TOS and ENT had their flaws and virtues. But if you had asked me what was my favorite Trek series, I would have to select VOY. The characters alone appealed to me a lot stronger than the characters from the other four series.
You thought VOY had the best set of characters? Let's compare them to DS9 alone.
Sisko vs Janeway- You could call this arguable on some levels, but at least Sisko's portrayal is consistent, whereas Janeway's is usually conflicted between raw emotionalism and self-righteous rationality.
Kira vs Chakotay- No contest. Chakotay's only appeal was being a Maquis, but he was subdued early in season 1. There's nothing compelling about him aside from his spiritual beliefs, but then you have to wonder how someone intelligent enough to be on a starship could believe in what is obviously myth. Kira, on the other hand, is much more multi-faceted, her acting is top notch and her spirituality in the show actually makes sense since there's evidence through Sisco and the "wormhole aliens" that prophets exist. Instead of seeing her as a delusional idiot, I can sympathize with the conflicts her beliefs bring about. Then of course her relationship with Odo is definitely superior to Chakotay's completely out-of-the-blue relationship with 7.
Odo vs Tuvok- Tuvok is definitely a promising character, but he's under-used, and cannot compete with Odo from a cultural standpoint. Vulcans have already been explored before quite thoroughly, but changlings have not. Odo's conflicted feelings about his origins alone make him more interesting than most of Tuvok's characterization.
O'Brien vs B'Elanna- This one is another blowout. O'Brien portrays a layman engineer whose simple-minded views about the world are both charming and endearing. B'Elanna, on the other hand... what a mess. Nearly her entire role to the show is contributing techno-babble, the one thing all Trekkers alike despise with a passion. Then her human/Klingon roots are under-explored, and her relationship with Tom is fairly unremarkable. O'Brien's relationship with Kako brought us much greater moments... having to deal with the grief of a 20 year prison sentence, his wife being possessed, having to raise a primitive 19 year old version of Molly, etc.
From here the match-ups get a little trickier, so I won’t be comparing 2 people of specific roles on the ship per se.
Jadzia + Ezri cs Kes + 7- This would be the only win I could call in Voyager’s favor. Jadzia’s whole “8 lifetime” backstory was too abstract, and we learned more about Kurzon than Jadzia herself. I can’t speak for Ezri yet, but she’s only around for one season, which isn’t enough to overcome the appeal of 7’s journey from automaton to full-fleshed human being.
Worf vs Neelix- You could call it either way, depending on how annoying you find Neelix and how much Klingon honor you can tolerate.
Quark vs Tom Paris- DS9’s exploration of forengi culture was phenomenal. I cannot believe how much I can sympathize with a culture based entirely on greed, and Quark constantly serves as the guilty pleasure into the world of profit acquisition. Paris isn’t nearly as intriguing, he’s too much of a quintessential badboy, though even then, I had a hard time buying that persona, if not just for the baby face.
Rom vs Harry Kim- Yes, even a secondary character in DS9 can beat out Harry Kim. In fact, most of the DS9 secondary characters are more interesting than some of Voyager’s senior officers (Garik obviously comes to mind). Rom makes for an absolutely spectacular portrayal of an awkward forengi. His mannerisms, method of speaking, even down to his aesthetics, all lend themselves to one of the most lovably strange personalities I’ve ever watched in a television series. What does Harry Kim have going for him? He’s completely replaceable as a character, all his lines could be interchanged with other members quite easily and he serves as nothing more than “Tom’s friend.”
Bashir vs the EMH- Okay, I might have been mistaken. 2 out of 9 Voyager characters might win in this proverbial duel. The EMH brings to light many interesting ethical issues concerning holograms, and his level of conceit, self-absorption and desire for personal growth make him both engaging and humorous to the show. Bashir runs a little dry as being a “lady’s man”, but he really picks up when he starts becoming the genetically engineered doctor, as that raises its own batch of ethical issues that are always a joy to explore.
I guess that leaves secondary and tertiary characters, but that’s an area where DS9 really shines and Voyager kind of falters.
For Voyager, we’ve got
Vorik- Aside from his creepy attraction to B’Elanna, uninteresting.
Seska- Decent villain.
Icheb- You’d think the show was over-saturated in Borg characters with 7’s screen time, but then they introduce him. For the most part, an utterly dull character.
Naomi Wildman- It was definitely refreshing to have a young character that didn’t make me want to rip my hair out (*cough* Wesley Crusher *cough*). On the contrary, her combination of intuition and naivety was implemented well throughout the show.
Leo Da Vinci- I know he was supposed to offer Janeway some insight, but I always found myself feeling as though his contribution to the show was superfluous. In fact, quite a few holo-plots seem to have contributed nothing to the show, such as Janeway’s excursion into the Victorian era.
Red Foreman- I was honestly waiting for him to make a wisecrack about kicking someone in the ass, guess I’ve watched too much of that 70s show. His acting was a bit dry, and I’m not fond of a villain who’s messing with time since time travel is not one of Trek’s strong suits.
Then you have Jason Alexander, the Beta-Zoid pathological killer, and a couple other d00ds I can’t think of right now. To be honest, the secondary chars in Voyager aren’t half bad, there’s just not enough of them, and many suffer from “alien-of-the-week” syndrome, which cannot be blamed on the actors.
As for DS9, there’s so many engaging characters that I could write a good 10 pages on how great they all are, so I’ll just list the ones I can remember. Gal Dukat, Zial, Weyoun, the founders, Martok, Rom, Nog, Jake, Garak, Morn, Kai Winn, Berile, Shakaar, Damar, the Grand Nagus, Ishka, Vic Fontaine, Brunt, Kasidy Yates and of course Jennifer (Sisko’s wife).
I’ll leave it to others to argue TOS and TNG’s cast if they wish :P
i agree , i honestly thought ds9 was monotanous and boring, i dare say i will try again too one day
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