The best episode of Voyager - Part One

[BlueStuff]

Okay Trek fans, this game was successful on the TNG and DS9 boards, and I hope it prospers here as well. Here's the game. The basic idea is your standard elimination game. I'll provide a list of the episodes for each season and you need to eliminate your least favorite or the one you deem the 'worst.' Please provide an EXPLANATION for why you are eliminating your choice and be sure to copy and paste the list with your choice removed. Finally, leave at least 2 eliminations by other posters before you play again. Not a very accurate way of determining the best episode, but a fun game nonetheless. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Season One -

Caretaker
Parallax
Time and Again
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Ex Post Facto
Emanations
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Cathexis
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

 

[Mage]

Caretaker
Parallax
Time and Again
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Ex Post Facto
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Cathexis
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

Emanations - seriously, do I need to explain??

 

[tomalak301]

Caretaker
Parallax
Time and Again
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Ex Post Facto
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

Going to follow this from the beginning, so I'm removing Cathexis. It's just one of the more forgettable episodes of the series and the out of body thing was done so much better in an episode like Warlord. It does have a cool title though.

 

[Thomas.B]

I think I would eliminate Parallax and Time and Again.
Time and Again is the one where Tom and Janeway are stuck on a planet that is about to have a huge explosion that will destroy all life. They were essentially zapped back in time 24 hours and witness the alien society and the people who they think cause the explosion. By the end of the episode, they discover that the Voyager crew's efforts to retrieve them from the past is the cause of the explosion.
Parallax uses almost the same uninspired switcharoo. Voyager tries to save a ship trapped in an event horizon. They can't decode the distress call or get a good visual but near the end of the show they discover the ship is Voyager. They sent the "distress signal" themselves when trying to contact what they thought was another ship. It was a "reflection" from the future that caused them to be trapped...but they had to become trapped to cause the reflection.
I would say these two early episodes are the kind of "by the book" star trek episodes we got from TNG. The ship or a couple crew members are trapped, there's a weird twist, and they get out of it.
It wouldn't be long before they produced much better episodes where the Voyager characters do things that are decidedly NOT "by the book" with much more interesting results.
(Although Tom telling the kid he was a demon in Time and Again just to scare him away was a little fun.)

Season One -

Caretaker
...
...
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Ex Post Facto
Emanations
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Cathexis
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

 

[Mage]

@ Thomas.B: you have take the list as it was from the post above yours, and then delete ONE episode. Then, at the end, we have only one episode left.

 

[tomalak301]

I think I would eliminate Parallax and Time and Again.

You can only eliminate one episode. Then after waiting a few posts you can eliminate another episode, but this allows everyone to participate.

 

[Supernuke]

I'm just going to take away Time and Again so that we can continue the game Also I hated that everyone wore the same sunrise colored shirt lol

Caretaker
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Ex Post Facto
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

 

[BlueStuff]

You forgot to reinstate "Parallax", but it doesn't matter since I'll take it out anyway. I pretty much agree with the reasons stated by Thomas B. It's simply not ambitious enough to contend for best of the season.

Caretaker
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Ex Post Facto
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

 

[Supernuke]

I was just going on as Thomas B took out Parallax and I took out Time and Again, but however you want to play it as you created this game

 

[BlueStuff]

My mistake!

In that case, I'll remove "Ex Post Facto". Essentially the same as "A Matter of Perspective" from TNG, just without the funny "you're a dead man Apgar!!" line.

Caretaker
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Heroes and Demons
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

 

[Claudia]

Caretaker
Phage
The Cloud
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

I'll remove Heroes and Demons - I don't really like Holodeck episodes.

 

[Geck]

Caretaker
Phage
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Faces
Jetrel
Learning Curve

I'll take out The Cloud - it's just another anomaly-of-the-week episode without any real memorable moments.

 

[TrekAlliance92]

Caretaker
Phage
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Jetrel
Learning Curve

I'll remove Faces. I frankly found one of the weaker episode of Season 1...not that terribly interesting to me. Dull, and a bit off-putting.

 

[Supernuke]

Removing "Learning Curve". I felt like it didn't go far enough with the Maquis.


Caretaker
Phage
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Jetrel

 

[Claudia]

Caretaker
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux
Jetrel

Removing The Phage - It's a shame the Vidiians never got very far as enemies (they should have been used far more than the Kazons), but I don't like Neelix, and that's what is that episode's weakness... too much Neelix. *g*

 

[Admiral Shran]

Caretaker
Eye of the Needle
Prime Factors
State of Flux

Faces is gone. That's my favorite of the first season.

Removing Jetrel - just an attempt to capture some of the goodness of DS9's Duet, and not quite succeeding. And, it involves Neelix.

 

[AuntKate]

Caretaker
Eye of the Needle
State of Flux

Taking out Prime Factors. I never could stand that smarmy leader that flirted with Janeway. Too smug.

 

[Eyes]

Eye of the Needle
State of Flux

Taking out Caretaker. Worse than the other two, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the Caretaker concept.

 

[tomalak301]

State of Flux

I like both episodes but I'm removing Eye of the Needle. Seeing Seska turn traitor was a lot better than the bait and switch routine to get the crew home.

 

[Captain Ransom]

Faces is gone. That's my favorite of the first season.

Yes! And good riddance! I agreed with the reasons given for its elimination.