Revisiting the 6th Season

[tomalak301]

About a month ago, I bought Voyager Season 5 and 6 for my birthday and I'm at Equinox which I hope to see tonight. Then I will get into season 6 and I haven't seen this season (Other than maybe a few episodes) since it first aired. I figured I would write about it as I watch, and I'm looking forward to seeing it again. Some of my favorite episodes, such as Blink of an Eye, Memorial, and One Small Step came from this season. I hope there are others I end up enjoying more this time around. Of course I do know as a Kes fan Fury came out this season and I'm not looking forward to that, but I guess you take the good with the bad.

 

[crouteru]

'Pathfinder' and it's semi-sequel 'Life Line' were two of my favourites from this season.

 

[tomalak301]

Saw my first episode tonight but decided to write about both of them as one since it was a two parter

Equinox - In watching this one again, I was thinking about what my favorite finale/premiere episode was. Scorpion was the best, but then it came down to Equinox or Basics as my second favorite and I think the nod goes to Equinox. This was a great finale touching on issues of morality and choosing between right and wrong. I loved the equinox crew because you could somewhat understand where they were coming from. Of course it was immoral, but if you lived like that for at least 5 years and not have the luxuries of Voyager, and yes I know of the show's flaws, than you do need to take risks and be a little amoral. There's always talk about Janeway in this one given her little torture scene and frankly, this is really another instance where I don't understand her. She's angry, we know that, but she is stooping down to the level she was against at the beginning. Is this an act of a strong willed captain? Perhaps, but I find it arrogent and hypocritical given the context of the story. It was still a very interesting scene though.

I do have to wonder about something. One of the first scenes with Seven lying on the table going against Ranson about killing to satisfy your goals, there was a missed opportunity there. Given Voyager's love of the Borg, you'd think that would enter the debate. The borg assimilate to gain perfection. The equinox crew killed to get a ticket home. I don't see a difference and I thought Seven of all people would have understood it more perfectly than anyone.

Great finale/premiere.

 

[Lynx]

"Equinox" is actually one of the few season 4-7 episodes that I did like. Good story.

 

[tomalak301]

Survival Instinct

Season Six is starting strong because this was another great episode. It was a borg episode that didn't have much borg, and they put Jeri Ryan back in the Borg outfit. How cool is that? Seriously though, it was a great plot, with great moral choices to be made and the scene with Seven and the Doctor were the high points. Also, loved the end when the three borg were grateful for thier independence but still kind of agery. For Ron Moore's only script, it was a great one.

 

[Caleuche]

Easily the weakest season. Gets off to an alright start and goes rapidly downhill. Some of Voyagers worst episodes turn up in this year, Fair Haven, Spirit Folk, Tsunkatse, Riddles, One Small Step... Some good episodes though, Barge of the Dead, Tinker,Tenor,Doctor,Spy, Dragons Teeth, Blink of an Eye. Also contained Muse which has to be one of the few times, I've seen a television show have a go at itself in one of its episodes (that Buffy episode where she's in the mental ward would be the only other I can name).

 

[tomalak301]

Easily the weakest season. Gets off to an alright start and goes rapidly downhill. Some of Voyagers worst episodes turn up in this year, Fair Haven, Spirit Folk, Tsunkatse, Riddles, One Small Step... Some good episodes though, Barge of the Dead, Tinker,Tenor,Doctor,Spy, Dragons Teeth, Blink of an Eye. Also contained Muse which has to be one of the few times, I've seen a television show have a go at itself in one of its episodes (that Buffy episode where she's in the mental ward would be the only other I can name).

Some of your bad ones are ones I remember enjoying, like Riddles and One Small Step. Why didn't you like the latter?

I do remember Fury as being the worst episode of Voyager ever which I'm dreading, especially as a fan of Kes.

 

[tomalak301]

Barge of the Dead

This is by far the best Torres episode of the entire series. I almost feel like I've missed B'Lanna because I think the last time we really had a well done episode centered around her character might have been Day of Honor. This one is so much full of imagery and I loved the look, feel and design of it all, from the Barge, to the doorway to Grethor and the Voyager Grethor, which was an awesome scene. Still, this was all about Torres as a character and her having to accept who she was and it's such a masterful peice.

 

[tomalak301]

Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy

This episode is so rediculusly outlandish. The doctor experiences daydreams and guys who look like the Conehead people (That would be awesome if Dan Akroid guest starred on this episode) show up with a hierarchy who always agrees or approves. Seriously, I wonder what happens when the Hierarchy doesn't approve. Kind of wish we got to meet them but I digress. It was alright but we've hit our first roadblock of the season. Still, the over the top moments such as the Doctor in the beginning and the ECH were clever.

Alice

To be honest, I was a little bored with this one. Tom meets girl, girl takes him hostage. Kind of wish the actress had more chemistry. She was hot and could have been so much more. Not one of my favorites

Riddles

This is an underrated episode showcasing the best of Tuvok and Neelix. I've really missed this relationship going through both seasons (5 and 6) and was glad to see it rekindled. I actually found it tragic that Tuvok had to return to his vulcan self. I kind of wished they had left him with the emotions in tact and maybe have him relearn tactical or something. That would have been an interesting development going into the final seasons. I also liked the use of riddles to tell this story, especially with Neelix and Seven, who both don't really have that many scenes together. Great underappreciated episode.

 

[crouteru]

'Tinker, Tenor...' I thought was a comedy episode done very well. Bob Picardo does brilliantly as always, and the theme fits with Voyager's more light-hearted nature.

 

[Caleuche]

Easily the weakest season. Gets off to an alright start and goes rapidly downhill. Some of Voyagers worst episodes turn up in this year, Fair Haven, Spirit Folk, Tsunkatse, Riddles, One Small Step... Some good episodes though, Barge of the Dead, Tinker,Tenor,Doctor,Spy, Dragons Teeth, Blink of an Eye. Also contained Muse which has to be one of the few times, I've seen a television show have a go at itself in one of its episodes (that Buffy episode where she's in the mental ward would be the only other I can name).

Some of your bad ones are ones I remember enjoying, like Riddles and One Small Step. Why didn't you like the latter?

I do remember Fury as being the worst episode of Voyager ever which I'm dreading, especially as a fan of Kes.

Riddles I didn't like as I found Tuvok giggling and baking cakes embarassing. Tuvok works much better as a controlled Vulcan. Its classy.

One Small Step I didn't like as it should have been fully about Chakotay and his childhood dreams. Instead it seem to be the bitchy snide-seven show, who learned the true meaning of christmas just in time for the ending. I also dislike the idea of hero worship. I find it crawling and sycophantic.

On the other hand. I enjoyed Fury. I thought seeing Kes wondering off on to the dark side fun. It also gave an edge to an impossibly sweet character and made her seem more mature. I know many people dislike the idea that bad things can happen to good people and this makes them change, but the episode balanced this by showing that friends can help you back on to the right path, though maybe not as fast as in this episode.

 

[tomalak301]

Dragon's Teeth

I used to like this one but not anymore. I didn't buy Voyager helping these people and trusting them so easily given Janeway's stance of the Prime Directive (Someone throw Janeway in the brig for 30 days and see how she likes it) and the 900 year thing might just have been 900 days. Satellite that is still operationable after all these years? This conflict still going on? There were some great moments here in the beginning and I really liked Seven in this episode, but for once why can't we meet a species who actually is friendly. I'm noticing Voyager is a show that loves its space battles oh so much.

One Small Step

So far, my favorite (Barge and Equinox come close) episode of the season. As a kid, I loved the concept of space exploration and at the time this episode aired, I think they were sending up Spirit and Opportunity to Mars. This episode struck a cord with me in that I was choaking up at the end. Seven's eulegy, John Kelly's final log, and the hero worship were well done. I also appreciated that this could be considered a Chakotay episode and Beltran got more to do.

 

[Bad Atom]

This season gave me whiplash the last time I went through it. It seemed like every other episode was good, followed by something equally terrible.

 

[tomalak301]

I've really been getting into this Season 6 thing.

The Voyager Conspiracy

My only reaction to this one was "Seven, shut the fuck up." This was probably the only time in Voyager's run that I couldn't stand Jeri Ryan. Spouting off stardates and paranoia isn't my idea of a good show. The end scene in the Flyer saved it though, given the power of the Janeway and Seven relationship.

Pathfinder

My second favorite episode of Voyager in this set, but I wonder if it was a TNG episode. It's so cool seeing Deanna and Barcley again, moreso with Deanna because I love this look of Sirtis from First Contact and after. It seemed to me that if there was one thing that the TNG movies did it was significantly improve Troi since I thought she was TNG's weak link until maybe the seventh season. The movies made her so much better in more ways than one. As for this episode, it was brillient. Loved it getting back to finding a way home for Voyager and using the array as a communication to the delta quandrent. There was a renewed sense of hope and, like One Small Step, I think I choaked up a little when Barcley succeeded.

Fair Haven

Ah, the episode that is so polorizing to Voyager fans that if you end in the middle, than people might jump all over you. Well, other than the fact that Voyager Holodeck stories are annoying, I didn't mind this one. I liked seeing a different side to Janeway, and Sullivan wasn't that bad of a companion. I do think it's scary though if you are in a relationship which you can easily change by flipping a switch but I think that was the point of this episode. It wasn't good, but it wasn't as bad as I remember either.

Blink of an Eye

I think when I bought these sets, BOAE was the one I was looking the most forward to. It was so long since I've seen this one and it's as brillient as I remember. I loved the concept of a planet that advances a day for every second of real time. For once, Voyager got a great guest actor in Daniel Dae Kim and those scenes were really great. I do have a question though and this is a plot hole. If the Doctor was on the planet for three years, wouldn't his mobile emitter have "ran out" or decayed. It was operational continously, and other than maybe having a charger, wouldn't the Doctor have been lost anyway? Other than that, great episode.

Virtuoso

I think I hate this episode more than Fair Haven. Other than the Doctor's singing, there was nothing of value here. The scene with Janeway angered me in that 1) Kim did have a relationship with an alien and Janeway did stand in his way, and 2) this is the second time this season the doctor has felt unappreciated. I have to wonder what does he want. The crew has gone out of their way to make him feel loved on Voyager and the fact that they ignore everything that Kes did for him kind of angers me. I like the Doctor, but this season on multiple occasions, I wish they had deleted everything in his program and restored him back to day one with the way he has acted. As for the fan thing and the alien culture, I hated them too.

Bad Atom,

I can see what you mean. The next episode is Memorial, and that's a great episode. It's like if you watch every other episode past disc one except for Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy, this season could be very enjoyable.

 

[crouteru]

When The Voyager Conspiracy was first advertised, I was convinced it was going to be about a Section 31 agent on board Voyager, so you can imagine by disappointment when it was just a Seven malfunction episode. What also annoyed me is that some of the evidence she gathered was actually genuine, such as the tetrion reactor from the Caretaker's array powering Mr Tash's catapult. That needed explaining for sure, but it's forgotten.

Pathfinder was awesome, with the exception of a slight error in determining Voyager's location in the Delta Quadrant. Since the Doc visiting Starfleet in Message In A Bottle, Voyager had made two(?) large jumps in Dark Frontier and in the previous episode, so Barclay's message shouldn't have gotten through based on the methods they used.

Fair Haven is so-so for me. It's not the bomb that some make it out to be, but I suspect it's sequel Spirit Folk lowered their opinion of it. I don't like the attitude producers seem to have towards the Irish sometimes. This episode reminds me of TNG's horrible Up The Long Ladder, another Irish stereotype episode. That said, I think TNG and DS9 character Miles O'Brien is one of treks best characters.

Blink Of An Eye is another great episode, but I agree about the Doc being on the planet for 3 years and not losing power to his emitter nor being discovered in some way. When they tried to beam him back, surely that'd expose him since 3 seconds equals 3 days, and a trip through the transporter takes several seconds.

Virtuoso is so-so again. I'm wondering why they couldn't just use the back-up, since it was established he could now be backed up in Living Witness.

 

[teya]

I've really been getting into this Season 6 thing.

The Voyager Conspiracy

My only reaction to this one was "Seven, shut the fuck up." This was probably the only time in Voyager's run that I couldn't stand Jeri Ryan. Spouting off stardates and paranoia isn't my idea of a good show. The end scene in the Flyer saved it though, given the power of the Janeway and Seven relationship.

I agree with "Seven, shut the fuck up."

However, I'm able to separate character and actress. It's not like Jeri wrote the part for herself. Frankly, that she was able to pull off so much inane technobabble smoothly is pretty incredible to me.

 

[kimc]

Dragon's Teeth

I used to like this one but not anymore. I didn't buy Voyager helping these people and trusting them so easily given Janeway's stance of the Prime Directive (Someone throw Janeway in the brig for 30 days and see how she likes it) and the 900 year thing might just have been 900 days. Satellite that is still operationable after all these years? This conflict still going on? There were some great moments here in the beginning and I really liked Seven in this episode, but for once why can't we meet a species who actually is friendly. I'm noticing Voyager is a show that loves its space battles oh so much.

Seven was the one who got them into that situation on the first place yet like the Doctor she seems immune to punishment. Oh well...

 

[tomalak301]

I've really been getting into this Season 6 thing.

The Voyager Conspiracy

My only reaction to this one was "Seven, shut the fuck up." This was probably the only time in Voyager's run that I couldn't stand Jeri Ryan. Spouting off stardates and paranoia isn't my idea of a good show. The end scene in the Flyer saved it though, given the power of the Janeway and Seven relationship.

I agree with "Seven, shut the fuck up."

However, I'm able to separate character and actress. It's not like Jeri wrote the part for herself. Frankly, that she was able to pull off so much inane technobabble smoothly is pretty incredible to me.

I know, but I call that a victim of bad writing. I like Jeri as an actress, but this was an episode where I just couldn't stand the character at all, except for the end of course.

 

[teya]

I know, but I call that a victim of bad writing. I like Jeri as an actress, but this was an episode where I just couldn't stand the character at all, except for the end of course.

Again, I give her a pass because she didn't write it--and because she managed to pull it off smoothly without needing a lot of editing. It would be even worse if they'd had to edit those scenes together using multiple takes, like they did with another actor in the early seasons...

 

[tomalak301]

Dragon's Teeth

I used to like this one but not anymore. I didn't buy Voyager helping these people and trusting them so easily given Janeway's stance of the Prime Directive (Someone throw Janeway in the brig for 30 days and see how she likes it) and the 900 year thing might just have been 900 days. Satellite that is still operationable after all these years? This conflict still going on? There were some great moments here in the beginning and I really liked Seven in this episode, but for once why can't we meet a species who actually is friendly. I'm noticing Voyager is a show that loves its space battles oh so much.

Seven was the one who got them into that situation on the first place yet like the Doctor she seems immune to punishment. Oh well...

That reminds me, there was an episode in which Seven was making modifications to something in Engineering without authorization. I thought she was only supposed to even touch Astrometrics and the stuff in the cargo bay because she helped kill an 8472. I guess Janeway got her trust again. Of course it was over a year, but I guess it was an off screen thing or something. Again, Voyager is a good series, but this season it seems to be ignoring it's own mythos much more than usual.