The Most Disliked Episode of VOY, Season 3 - 2025 Edition...

[Frightscape One]

Welcome to our bi-yearly 'Most Disliked Episode' games! Now that the 'Least Disliked Episode' games hosted by BlueStuff (who inspired me to create these games, so thank you very much for paving the way) have concluded, we can begin the opposite side of that coin.

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"
2023 - "FRIENDSHIP ONE"
2025 -


Season Three -

"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE CHUTE"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"WARLORD"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"
"DISTANT ORIGIN"
"DISPLACED"
"WORST CASE SCENARIO"
"SCORPION"

 

[Frightscape One]

I'm going to be perfectly honest... season 3 of VOYAGER is a lot of mediocre in the middle. I feel it's the weakest season of the series. The best is the first 2 produced ones and the last 6, in my opinion. Which is basically where I'm going to get most of my saves.

So it should be no surprise that my first save this season is the last episode, "SCORPION".

This was VOYAGER's best season finale by far. The teaser left your jaw dropped when a couple shots completely destroys TWO Borg cubes. There was tension throughout the whole episode. It was fast paced. And we had John Rhys-Davies!

But possibly the best scene of the episode was actually centered on one of the show's most underused characters... Chakotay. While I do agree there were times in later seasons when it seems like he was phoning it in, I disagree that it was because he was a bad actor. The scene where he actually disagrees with Janeway and tells her the scorpion story proves it. It's sad that almost all of his character development stops at this point because he had some good stuff in the early years. Except for "EQUINOX, PART II", he completely became a 'Yes man', which not only stripped him of any bite as a former Maquis, but also as a believable first officer who was a former Maquis and captain.

That summer was double hell waiting for the new season, because DS9's "CALL TO ARMS" aired at this time, too. STAR TREK was fully on point for season finales that year.


"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE CHUTE"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"WARLORD"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"
"DISTANT ORIGIN"
"DISPLACED"
"WORST CASE SCENARIO"

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

I generally don't catastrophize, but

"WORST CASE SCENARIO"

Was a decent "what if" regarding if the crew hadn't gelled... even though they seemed to do so perfectly by episode 4 of season 1 or whatever...

Midway through, it's a holodeck caper and Seska* managed to do a lot of programming of the thing before vamoosing earlier in the year. Not to worry as most of these nitpicks are easy to deal with as everything else really gels perfectly, and really making us wonder what if they hadn't gotten along at all.

* no relation to the fictional species accorded the same name from a Blake's 7 episode


What's left:
"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE CHUTE"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"WARLORD"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"
"DISTANT ORIGIN"
"DISPLACED"

 

[Sakonna]

"Warlord" Two favorite Trek elements of mine (Kes, possession). They go great together.

Also, as stupid as it was that this breakup during the possession was just carried forward, it did at least end the ghastly Kes/Neelix relationship, which had been a problem from basically the 3rd episode.

"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE CHUTE"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"
"DISTANT ORIGIN"
"DISPLACED"

 

[Frightscape One]

My next save is "DISTANT ORIGIN".

Wonderful story, excellent performances all around. Again, this is also proof that Beltran delivers when given good material.

Having this told mostly from the Voth perspective was brilliant and why it works so well. One of the best of the entire series.


"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE CHUTE"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"
"DISPLACED"

 

[Starflight]

It's a season mostly of workhorse episodes - 7/10 stuff that's not great but doesn't feel like it's been a waste of time either.

"The Chute" has great atmosphere, some good stuff for Harry and Tom, and - best of all - Janeway just sliding down the chute and immediately firing into the crowd at the end.

"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"
"DISPLACED"

 

[Sakonna]

It's easy to overlook, but I find "Displaced" such a satisfying "regular" episode. Nothing fancy but exceptionally executed. It's a lot of fun.

"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"BEFORE AND AFTER"
"REAL LIFE"

 

[Severed Heads]

S3 was a very disappointing one!

Before And After, however, is on another level. Kes moving backwards through time was a different way of doing time travel, and we saw a lot of change, like Captain Chakotay.

The Krenim were a lot more scary here than Year of Hell.

BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"FAIR TRADE"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"REAL LIFE"

 

[Frightscape One]

All three of those would have been next on my list to save.

Saving "FAIR TRADE".

Great use of Neelix. It was bound to happen, getting to an area of space Neelix knew nothing about. I'm glad it was addressed.

I am probably in the minority, but I always loved Neelix's character.



"BASICS, PART II"
"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"REAL LIFE"

 

[Sakonna]

I saved part I last season, now I will finish it off and save "Basics, Part II."

"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"
"REAL LIFE"

 

[Severed Heads]

Real Life's look at the Doctor's fake family is both hilarious, and tragic at the end.

FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"MACROCOSM"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

A lot of this season's best episodes are still here so I have plenty of options to choose between. Macrocosm will be my save. A creative viral outbreak episode like Genesis but Janeway makes for a more believable action hero.

"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"FALSE PROFITS"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

I'm going to save twelve of these at once because that's what I'd do if I succumbed to the "The Naked Time" virus. let's pretend that the 1987 sequel episode never got past fever dream state... just kidding.

So my next save and three come to mind, has issues, but a lot of these episodes do. Well, most stories do but not enough to knock off major pointage. So when the writers go plot-hunting for sequels,

"FALSE PROFITS"

is arguably the best of the three I've fathomed I will try to save in due course since I'm a good widdle bowy and all, but it takes a slimy TNG episode ("The Price") but focuses on the cool wormhole subplot. The downer is it becomes a little generic afterward as the rubber stamp troping of "we must prime directive the doodly and fix the wibbly before it gets worse" on yet another big big planet that has one small small patch o' life forms on them.

Can you tell I had two sips of coffee already this morning?

But, yeah, "The Price" did make it seem as if the Ferengi shuttle was lost in space and doomed as they were not the larger types of craft with replicators or whatever technologies to allow mid- or long-term survival but for short-term jaunts only. Thankfully, go fig, there's an M-Class planet nearby so the Ferengi set up shop and have a field day treating the locals like big lumps of play-doh.

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A good scene, but don't ask how Neelix is transformed, but in Trekland they do it all the time by this point. A shame we didn't have the Ferengi as recurring characters on board for four more seasons - a lost opportunity, it was.

Also, play-doh:

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Oh, wait, that's just before my time and people in 1979 discowhenever thought it was a blast (and where's the white powder at?), so let's fast forward to something else fiery, because semi-related tangents are cool:

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Now that's funny. Or is if the subjectiveness of the comic material meshes with something in your unique personality attributes. Like appreciating movies like Soylent Green or the iokes about it made in Futurama, it varies from person to person (thank you Leela!)...


What's left:
"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"REMEMBER"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

A lot of this season's best episodes are still here so I have plenty of options to choose between. Macrocosm will be my save. A creative viral outbreak episode like Genesis but Janeway makes for a more believable action hero.

It's a little flawed and a little silly (or far-fetched, rather), but highly entertaining and whereas Picard trying to be all action movie hero in "Starship Mine" and the 90s films never felt fully believable, Janeway getting all Ripley on the fritters was precisely in tune and felt like there was an actual reason to get down and dirty, which I wish we had a little more of in the series' run.

This one is VOY's equivalent to "The Immunity Syndrome" of TOS lore, where they took a tenet from a 30 year-old idea (gigantic biological organism about to reproduce and risk the entire galaxy after some point) and made something innovative if not genuinely new out of it. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it's a go-to for me.

Plus, there's this deleted storyboarded prototype for a scene that would later be retooled for what was later broadcast:

The episode really needed more of that... (destructive macrocooties that is, not everyone going googooletsgoshag eyes...)

 

[AntonyF]

Many good ones, but I'm saving "Remember".

This is Star Trek at its best. A powerful story wrapped up in some sci-fi wrapper. Sadly also having more relevance... I see just today on the news that some people have been jailed for being Nazis. In 2025! And some in the world not learning from the past and instead repeating it.

It's vital that important stories are continued to be told and learned from.

What's left:
"FLASHBACK"
"THE SWARM"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Flashback. I could present you with an essay as to why but instead I shall just use the immortal words of Bradward Boimler, "oh my gosh Captain Sulu! Even better!"

"THE SWARM"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER
"UNITY"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Severed Heads]

Unity was an interesting use of the Borg, and is a good use of Chakotay. Of course this was back in the days before Beltran started phoning it in.

"THE SWARM"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVERk
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Frightscape One]

All the good ones are saved... I'm down to mediocre to bad ones left.

I guess I'll save "FUTURE'S END".

I find Sarah Silverman annoying, and Ed Begley, Jr. felt too cartoonish to be taken seriously as a villain.

At least Kim was give command for the first time.


"THE SWARM"
"SACRED GROUND"
"FUTURE'S END, PART II"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Theres a still a few ones I really like hanging about. I will complete the saving of Future's End. It is groovy.

"THE SWARM"
"SACRED GROUND"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"BLOOD FEVER"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"

 

[Severed Heads]

I've akways liked Blood Fever. Vorik was a cool character.

"THE SWARM"
"SACRED GROUND"
"THE Q AND THE GREY"
"ALTER EGO"
"CODA"
"DARKLING"
"RISE"
"FAVORITE SON"