To "the" or not to "the"

[The Librarian]

One thing to keep in mind is that a ship's name is a proper noun, which is why it's technically correct to leave off the definite article. Think of it as being like a city. You don't go to "the Los Angeles", you go to just "Los Angeles", and with people you don't talk about "the George Washington", it's "George Washington". The same applies to a ship using the same name. What happens in everyday use is that people go with whatever sounds best. It's a matter of speech patterns. Some names just sound better in English with "the" in front, some don't.

 

[DrTikhon]

I'm currently watching Voyager and I'm near the end of season 3. I'm pretty sure you hear "the Voyager" something like 3 to 5 times. It was randomly spread throughout season 1 and 2.

I'm not positive and I'm not going to find any hard proof about it either. (But atleast I'm admitting to that :P)

I wouldn't be surprised that if I did hear it in season 2, maybe it was one of the episodes originally planned for season 1.

The only one I'm sure of is when Tom says it in the episode Parallax. I checked the page for this episode at Memory Alpha and it mentions that at that time in the series, interviews and stuff typically called it "the Voyager."