The Most Disliked Episode of VOY, Season 5 - 2025 Edition...

[Frightscape One]

Saving "ONCE UPON A TIME".

Considering this is the last chronological appearance of Samantha Wildman (all her later appearances took place in the past, like in "FURY") and how Neelix has been such a supportive godfather, this would have actually been a good way to kill her off.

It's a nice story, though. Neelix's heart is always in the right place.



"LATENT IMAGE"
"GRAVITY"
"DARK FRONTIER"
"THE DISEASE"
"THE FIGHT"
"JUGGERNAUT"

 

[Qonfounding Ghooool]

Eek! I should go assimilate myself for not noticing this one...

"DARK FRONTIER"

Yeah, it upends a little of "The Raven" (which wasn't perfect either), but it's all told really well. Which is saying something because the episode pretty much shrieks "We can show a Borg Queen too!" and "We can do big glitzy effects too!" What makes the story watchable is Seven being in the middle of a tug-of-war.

It even starts with a caper to steal a transwarp coil, though given how the Borg used to be, you'd think they'd have hundreds littered throughout the ship for redundancy.

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Suzanna Thompson is an inspired choice with Alice Krige not being available.

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Plot logistics aside, there's enough character drama that counterbalances most nitpicks. The dilemma from Seven's point of view is as palpable as Janeway's internal struggle, as is the Borg Queen's. Like or dislike the Queen, she's surprisingly well-utilized in this story.

Still, I miss the days when Borg Redundancy meant that zapping just one flashing thing wouldn't take down the whole cube for enough seconds needed to plot the plot.



Plus, there's also this deleted scene from that other parallel dimension version of this story:

What's left:
"LATENT IMAGE"
"GRAVITY"
"THE DISEASE"
"THE FIGHT"
"JUGGERNAUT"

 

[Detached Nacelle]

Latent Image is quite a bit stronger than the rest on this list and isnt a terrible episode in its own right. A strong performance by Picardo among many and more to come if Academy utilises him properly.

"GRAVITY"
"THE DISEASE"
"THE FIGHT"
"JUGGERNAUT"

 

[Frightscape One]

Saving "GRAVITY".

Good premise, and we get a nice look at Tuvok when he was younger.

My only issue is Lori Petty... I find her annoying. Every character I've seen her as is annoying and obnoxious.


"THE DISEASE"
"THE FIGHT"
"JUGGERNAUT"

 

[Sakonna]

Saving "Juggernaut." This is a very cool & atmospheric episode, and also the best use of the Malon. It should be nowhere near the finals! This is a season 5 favorite of mine, actually.

"THE DISEASE"
"THE FIGHT"

 

[Starflight]

"The Disease" is a good episode with a great concept, even if it's mostly remembered as "lol harry gets an STD". It's a genuinely tricky command situation for Janeway to deal with and the notion that you obviously have to both get medical approval before engaging in sexual relations with a new species is something that should really have come up in Star Trek earlier.

"The Fight" wins!

 

[Frightscape One]

"THE FIGHT" has won the... fight to win this season.

And this makes the 4th time it has won. (In fact, 2023 was the exact same result of winner/runner up.)

Thank you all for playing! I will start season 6 shortly.

Hope to see you all there!

 

[Pumpkin Bread]

Given my own feelings about "The Disease", I'm glad that it will have a second chance to crash and burn.