I've finally finished making my way through the series for a complete viewing. I enjoyed the finale, but I would put the DS9 and TNG television finales ahead of this one. Because those 2 just seemed to have a larger, more complete feel to them. It certainly beats TATV by a million light years though. Although apparently if Brannon Braga had his way, it would have been right down there with TATV:
Anyway...The 7/Chakotay relationship seemed like an afterthought. They did have some chemistry together, but it's just a shame the writers didn't start something much earlier. The finale would have had more of an impact.
The Paris/Torres relationship was probably the best developed relationship on the show, although I found Torres to be quite boring after she got together with Tom. The baby is born on the finale, and that's great...although, Admiral Paris was right there, so why didn't they say, "Admiral, you're a grandfather," or at least have Tom say something to his father. That was disappointing.
Well, really the lack of any real resolution scenes in the finale was disappointing. The closest thing we got was the speech Harry Kim gave. Of all of the people in the cast, they chose him to give that speech?
I didn't like the way Neelix just sort of popped up and popped out in the finale. His real goodbye was in Homestead, and that actually felt like a nice end scene. Those are the sort of scenes I was expecting to see more of in Endgame. I only wish Neelix gave Tuvok a big bear hug before he left, to reference his first scene with Tuvok on Voyager.
As for the characters themselves:
Tom Paris: hands-down, he was my favorite character on the show. Perfectly cast. He was a lot of fun, had a great personality, and for the most part didn't take things too personally. And he loved being out there in the Delta Quadrant. He had fun. He was having too much fun to really want to go home. But he helped the crew get home because he was loyal. And he wanted to make his father proud. He created the Captain Proton holodeck series! He loved television. Old 3D movies. Working on cars. He built the Delta Flyer and gave it personality with old school buttons and switches. He loved women. He mated with Janeway. He was great when he was a ladies man. And then he was equally great when he settled down. Very loyal and protective over his wife and daughter. He befriended Harry when he saw that he really needed a friend. He put up with Neelix when he had jealousy issues. He was demoted and promoted again. Nobody is cooler than Tom. He's one of my favorite characters in Trek.
The Doctor: I think this goes without saying, but he was also a fantastic character and perfectly cast. A lot of fun. He provided much-needed comedy and passion to the series when other characters lacked it. His character was believable from the very beginning. I loved his sarcasm, his ego, his vulnerability. It was wonderful to watch him fall in love, and sad when it never worked out for him. I really wanted him and Seven together, honestly. I know that's not a popular view.
Seven: Oh, how I loved her. I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting her to be a bad actress in a sexy outfit. Boy was I wrong. She brought so much emotion to that character without ever shedding a tear. And how I longed to see her cry. I loved it when the Doctor took over her body. Jeri Ryan did a great job in that episode! She has a lovely voice (I loved her duet with the Doctor). I loved her growth as a character. And I'm certainly glad Braga didn't kill her off!
Janeway: She was a believable Captain. Strong. Dedicated. Mostly predictable. I thought she did a fine job with her crew. I can't say I'm in love with this character, but I do like her. I wanted her and Chakotay together. Boo.
Chakotay: His character had real potential. But the episodes that focused on him were just boring to me. And it's a shame, because I really did like him as an actor. But the character really fell through the cracks somewhere halfway through the series. He was just there to disagree with the captain when the script required him to, and with the exception of one or two occasions he was never really forceful or passionate in his disagreements. So he was mostly a "yes" man. If the writers had him falling in love with Seven from the beginning, then that would have given me a reason to care about his character perhaps. I liked him, he was just...there.
Harry: I didn't like him. I didn't care about him. I didn't think Wang's acting was particularly stellar for one thing. The only redeeming thing about his character was his friendship with Tom. Otherwise, he was just a whiny little ensign who had way too many lines considering his character was painfully dull.
Torres: She was okay. I didn't think the writers were very consistent with her character. First she had crazy anger issues. Then she calmed down. Then, years later, out of nowhere she needed Vulcan meditations to calm her down. Then she married Tom and became just as boring as Harry.
Tuvok: He was good. Believable. Not overused, which is a good thing. His respect, dedication and admiration for Janeway was palpable. And vice versa.
Neelix: The JarJar of Trek. Now I just couldn't figure him out. He was a wacky nomadic scavenger who had a jovial personality, and apparently could cook. But I guess somehow he was smarter than he led on, because he sure did learn a lot about the ship in a hurry (but then, everything seemed to happen in a hurry on this show). He also went from a guy who couldn't really put a sentence together without sounding like a cartoon, to somebody who talked like every other human on the ship...one of "the boys" basically. One minute he's saying "What exactly...what exactly does all of this...all of this do?" ...to suddenly being on the bridge sitting next to the Captain during just about every important mission. He went from this insanely jealous dude, to the most stable guy on the ship, and the guy who was counseling everyone else. I guess some people would say that's growth, or that's his character arc. But I just didn't find it believable at all. And it didn't really suit him. He was more believable as an annoying little rat than a competent ambassador/stable counselor. They should have just kept him in the kitchen.
Kes: I didn't think she was a particularly strong character, but I would have killed off Harry before getting rid of Kes. I think her character was poorly planned. They should have had a 7 year plan as far as the development of her aging. They obviously didn't when she didn't really age at all over the 3 or 4 years she was on the show (until we see her in Fury). I think instead of bringing her back in Fury, they should have somehow had her involved with bringing the crew home in the finale.
Overall, to me the best episodes were when Seven first joined the cast. Somewhere in there, I felt like Voyager had a series of mostly strong episodes.
For me, Voyager was mostly okay with some great episodes in there. Certainly better than I remembered. And definitely with more arcs than I remembered. My rank of the television series (not including the films) is now as follows:
1. DS9
2. TNG
3. ENT (hard to fairly rank this series with the rest, but to me season 3 is some of the best Trek ever)
4. VOY
5. TOS
Cheers, Voyager peeps! Thanks for putting up with me!
Brannon Braga (from Memory Alpha) said:
Anyway...The 7/Chakotay relationship seemed like an afterthought. They did have some chemistry together, but it's just a shame the writers didn't start something much earlier. The finale would have had more of an impact.
The Paris/Torres relationship was probably the best developed relationship on the show, although I found Torres to be quite boring after she got together with Tom. The baby is born on the finale, and that's great...although, Admiral Paris was right there, so why didn't they say, "Admiral, you're a grandfather," or at least have Tom say something to his father. That was disappointing.
Well, really the lack of any real resolution scenes in the finale was disappointing. The closest thing we got was the speech Harry Kim gave. Of all of the people in the cast, they chose him to give that speech?
I didn't like the way Neelix just sort of popped up and popped out in the finale. His real goodbye was in Homestead, and that actually felt like a nice end scene. Those are the sort of scenes I was expecting to see more of in Endgame. I only wish Neelix gave Tuvok a big bear hug before he left, to reference his first scene with Tuvok on Voyager.
As for the characters themselves:
Tom Paris: hands-down, he was my favorite character on the show. Perfectly cast. He was a lot of fun, had a great personality, and for the most part didn't take things too personally. And he loved being out there in the Delta Quadrant. He had fun. He was having too much fun to really want to go home. But he helped the crew get home because he was loyal. And he wanted to make his father proud. He created the Captain Proton holodeck series! He loved television. Old 3D movies. Working on cars. He built the Delta Flyer and gave it personality with old school buttons and switches. He loved women. He mated with Janeway. He was great when he was a ladies man. And then he was equally great when he settled down. Very loyal and protective over his wife and daughter. He befriended Harry when he saw that he really needed a friend. He put up with Neelix when he had jealousy issues. He was demoted and promoted again. Nobody is cooler than Tom. He's one of my favorite characters in Trek.
The Doctor: I think this goes without saying, but he was also a fantastic character and perfectly cast. A lot of fun. He provided much-needed comedy and passion to the series when other characters lacked it. His character was believable from the very beginning. I loved his sarcasm, his ego, his vulnerability. It was wonderful to watch him fall in love, and sad when it never worked out for him. I really wanted him and Seven together, honestly. I know that's not a popular view.
Seven: Oh, how I loved her. I wasn't expecting that. I was expecting her to be a bad actress in a sexy outfit. Boy was I wrong. She brought so much emotion to that character without ever shedding a tear. And how I longed to see her cry. I loved it when the Doctor took over her body. Jeri Ryan did a great job in that episode! She has a lovely voice (I loved her duet with the Doctor). I loved her growth as a character. And I'm certainly glad Braga didn't kill her off!
Janeway: She was a believable Captain. Strong. Dedicated. Mostly predictable. I thought she did a fine job with her crew. I can't say I'm in love with this character, but I do like her. I wanted her and Chakotay together. Boo.
Chakotay: His character had real potential. But the episodes that focused on him were just boring to me. And it's a shame, because I really did like him as an actor. But the character really fell through the cracks somewhere halfway through the series. He was just there to disagree with the captain when the script required him to, and with the exception of one or two occasions he was never really forceful or passionate in his disagreements. So he was mostly a "yes" man. If the writers had him falling in love with Seven from the beginning, then that would have given me a reason to care about his character perhaps. I liked him, he was just...there.
Harry: I didn't like him. I didn't care about him. I didn't think Wang's acting was particularly stellar for one thing. The only redeeming thing about his character was his friendship with Tom. Otherwise, he was just a whiny little ensign who had way too many lines considering his character was painfully dull.
Torres: She was okay. I didn't think the writers were very consistent with her character. First she had crazy anger issues. Then she calmed down. Then, years later, out of nowhere she needed Vulcan meditations to calm her down. Then she married Tom and became just as boring as Harry.
Tuvok: He was good. Believable. Not overused, which is a good thing. His respect, dedication and admiration for Janeway was palpable. And vice versa.
Neelix: The JarJar of Trek. Now I just couldn't figure him out. He was a wacky nomadic scavenger who had a jovial personality, and apparently could cook. But I guess somehow he was smarter than he led on, because he sure did learn a lot about the ship in a hurry (but then, everything seemed to happen in a hurry on this show). He also went from a guy who couldn't really put a sentence together without sounding like a cartoon, to somebody who talked like every other human on the ship...one of "the boys" basically. One minute he's saying "What exactly...what exactly does all of this...all of this do?" ...to suddenly being on the bridge sitting next to the Captain during just about every important mission. He went from this insanely jealous dude, to the most stable guy on the ship, and the guy who was counseling everyone else. I guess some people would say that's growth, or that's his character arc. But I just didn't find it believable at all. And it didn't really suit him. He was more believable as an annoying little rat than a competent ambassador/stable counselor. They should have just kept him in the kitchen.
Kes: I didn't think she was a particularly strong character, but I would have killed off Harry before getting rid of Kes. I think her character was poorly planned. They should have had a 7 year plan as far as the development of her aging. They obviously didn't when she didn't really age at all over the 3 or 4 years she was on the show (until we see her in Fury). I think instead of bringing her back in Fury, they should have somehow had her involved with bringing the crew home in the finale.
Overall, to me the best episodes were when Seven first joined the cast. Somewhere in there, I felt like Voyager had a series of mostly strong episodes.
For me, Voyager was mostly okay with some great episodes in there. Certainly better than I remembered. And definitely with more arcs than I remembered. My rank of the television series (not including the films) is now as follows:
1. DS9
2. TNG
3. ENT (hard to fairly rank this series with the rest, but to me season 3 is some of the best Trek ever)
4. VOY
5. TOS
Cheers, Voyager peeps! Thanks for putting up with me!
I feel like I've accomplished something by finally getting through all of the Trek series (except for TAS). Somebody should throw me a party or give me a ribbon.
