The Most Disliked Episode of VGR, Season 7: 2021 Edition...

[Farscape One]

This is a twist on a game that is played here, which I thoroughly enjoyed.

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 most favorite or the one you deem the 'best.' 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 eliminate another episode.

No tactical voting! You cannot remove an episode because you feel they would threaten your preferred episode's chance to win. Pretty simple. Enjoy!

Hall of Champions (or Failures?)
2011 - "THE FIGHT"
2018 - "FAVORITE SON"
2019 - "SPIRIT FOLK"
2021 - "FURY"


Season Seven -

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
IMPERFECTION
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
BODY AND SOUL
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
LINEAGE
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
THE VOID
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN
ENDGAME

 

[Farscape One]

And now comes season 7 of VOYAGER. I have to admit, I find this to be the weakest season of VOYAGER. A lot of it just felt like going through the motions... much like TNG's 7th, but in a different way, if that makes sense. It has some gems, don't get me wrong. And I'll start off with the first one of the season.

"IMPERFECTION" could very easily have been a snooze, but Jeri Ryan elevates this concept flawlessly. Icheb was also quite touching throughout the episode, from his tireless efforts to look for a solution for Seven to his removal of the implant and explaining to Seven that one of the fundamental values of the crew is to help each other. That last 10 minutes of the episode shines brilliantly, and thus gets saved from this list.


UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
BODY AND SOUL
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
LINEAGE
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
THE VOID
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN
ENDGAME

 

[BoTWoT]

Saving ENDGAME. A Finale of Trek only surpassed by All Good Things. Has some problems, but honestly almost every episode of season 7 has some amount of problems, but still it's a better overall season than the one that precedes it.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
BODY AND SOUL
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
LINEAGE
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
THE VOID
WORKFORCE
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Oddish]

Still haven't seen all the episodes from this dubious season. But of the ones I've seen, I have to say I enjoyed Workforce. It's an intriguing premise to say the least, and allows us to see the characters in very different roles.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
BODY AND SOUL
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
LINEAGE
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
THE VOID
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Farscape One]

Saving "THE VOID". I think this is my favorite episode of season 7. It's also something we should have seen Janeway do much more often... recruit allies.

The reason why I love it so much is it's the best example of STAR TREK at its core from this show we've seen in a long time... everyone coming together, helping each other out, and solving a dilemma together. And everyone brought something that helped the others out... one had super efficient energy tech, another had sophisticated sensors.

And caring for Fantome and making his people feel welcome is also very STAR TREK at its core, when even the outsiders and pariahs are treated fairly, they not only are friends but are essential for the escape to work.

This best embodied the spirit of the franchise since DS9 ended over a year and a half prior to this one airing.


UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
BODY AND SOUL
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
LINEAGE
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Seven of Five]

Lineage is first for me. I like S7 more than S6 mostly for the attention given to B'Elanna and Tom. B'Elanna struggles with the notion of her child growing up like her, dealing with a Klingon mother and human father.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
BODY AND SOUL
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Vale]

Saving ENDGAME. A Finale of Trek only surpassed by All Good Things.

*"What You Leave Behind" wants to know your location*

 

[BoTWoT]

*"What You Leave Behind" wants to know your location*

About that. DS9 is my favorite series overall. But the finale is a decent first half...and then devolves from there. While Endgame may have ended too early without tying up a few things, What You Leave Behind does not know the meaning of the phrase "logical closure point." Pretty much everything after the signing of the armistice drags the episode down. Except Kai Winn burning alive..that was just a necessary conclusion to the most hateable character in all of Trek.

 

[cosmic mouse]

BODY AND SOUL gets saved... one of the best for Ryan and Picardo to mix it up!


UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
CRITICAL CARE
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[JirinPanthosa]

Saving Critical Care. One of the few Voyager episodes with lasting social relevance, and for once an issue episode wasn't hamfisted. Easily one of the best late series eps.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
HOMESTEAD
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Sakonna]

God, to this day I have not seen "Workforce, Part II"! Everytime I get to the end of part I, I feel no urge to continue with that story.

One of the most perplexing riddles of Star Trek for me is that "The Void" and "Workforce" are back-to-back, and the huge, sweeping, epic, classicly Trek story of "The Void" is crammed into a single episode, whereas "The crew get factory jobs!" was deemed an idea so grand it needed two parts.

Anyway, I'm eliminating "Homestead." I don't even care about how ridiculous it is to find these Talaxians, they sell that ending for Neelix, it's very moving.

Honestly, as someone who considers "Endgame" probably the worst series finale I've ever seen in the entirety of television, writing him out early made Neelix the ONLY Voyager character to receive a satisfying wrap-up.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
AUTHOR, AUTHOR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Seven of Five]

Author, Author cribs off The Measure of a Man slightly, but it's still a great episode for the Doctor and the ongoing themes of holographic rights. One of the few story threads the writers did properly.

It also has a lot of humour in the actual holodeck program.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
FLESH AND BLOOD
SHATTERED
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Quinton]

I'm saving "Flesh and Blood." It's hardly an Emmy award-winning piece of entertainment, but kid me was just grateful for another two-hour event. Upon rewatch, it's held up for me fairly OK.

It's a shame the seventh season isn't too hot overall. I still like it more than the second and maybe the sixth, but Voyager peaked in seasons 4 and 5 for sure.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
SHATTERED
REPENTANCE
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[Farscape One]

All the others I wanted to save... "CRITICAL CARE", "BODY AND SOUL", "LINEAGE", and "HOMESTEAD"... have already been saved. Except for "REPENTANCE", so I save it now because it was a great Seven story and she acted superbly, as always.


UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
SHATTERED
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW
RENAISSANCE MAN

 

[BoTWoT]

Honestly, as someone who considers "Endgame" probably the worst series finale I've ever seen in the entirety of television

Even against Turnabout Intruder and These Are The Voyages?

 

[Sakonna]

"Renaissance Man" is the right idea for a penultimate episode. A straight-up plot with a fun gimmick that gives the actors something interesting to play. In terms of alien adversary races, the Overlookers were one of Voyager's high points and it was a delight to go back to them once more.

Even against Turnabout Intruder and These Are The Voyages?

Oh for sure. "Turnabout Intruder" I can have a lot of fun laughing at the first half, and even horrendous "Those Are The Voyages" has a little more charge from what an obviously lunatic endeavor it is. Voyager also had set up a situation where it's finale had to carry much more weight than either TOS or ENT. They kept delaying their pay-off in so many areas, raising the stakes for the finale ever higher -- and then when we got there it's all just bait & switch gimmickry leading to a rushed ending. Such a disappointment.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
SHATTERED
PROPHECY
WORKFORCE, PART II
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW

 

[Seven of Five]

The best bits in Endgame were the bits in the future. It's just a shame that Admiral Janeway came and brought the crew home early, ensuring that timeline ever happened. Oopsie.

It's not as bad as These Are The Voyages, however.

I'll save Workforce, Part II. I just really enjoy the whole situation of the ship being run by the ECH and Harry, with the crew not realizing who they are. Tom looking out for B'Elanna despite not knowing her is great for their relationship.

UNIMATRIX ZERO PART II
DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
SHATTERED
PROPHECY
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW

 

[Oddish]

Workforce Part 2 wasn't as strong as Part 1, but it was still an enjoyable two parter overall.

NINJA-ed! Fine, I'll go with Unimatrix Zero II instead. It wasn't the best two-part job we got, but it was passable Trek.

DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
SHATTERED
PROPHECY
HUMAN ERROR
Q2
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW

 

[BoTWoT]

Saving Q2 because Q...nough said

DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
SHATTERED
PROPHECY
HUMAN ERROR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW

 

[Farscape One]

Very little to say about what's left. I'll save "SHATTERED" because it's a clever idea for essentially a clip show.


DRIVE
REPRESSION
INSIDE MAN
NIGHTINGALE
PROPHECY
HUMAN ERROR
FRIENDSHIP ONE
NATURAL LAW