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Voyager marathon recommendations for fans who are (so far) only into the female characters...

Sakonna

Rear Admiral
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So I have a good friend with whom I have spent the last few years slowly marathoning TNG and DS9, and having a great time doing so. Neither one of us could ever really get into Voyager (we both dropped in and out for the entire original run), and we were thinking we want to give it another shot.

We were discussing how an interesting thing about Voyager (from our perspective) is that their female characters are fabulous and so intriguing... but the male character's are just death. We LOVE Janeway, Seven, Torres, and Kes, but are unbearably bored with Chakotay, Kim, Tuvok, and Neelix. Paris and the Doctor are a bit of a split decision... the Doctor, I like the character and the actor, but I get so infuriated with the dismissive way the rest of the crew treats him that it interferes with my ability to enjoy Doctor episodes. A Doctor episode tends to make every other regular on this show into the villains from TNG's "Measure Of A Man." Paris, we love the character concept, the actor is hot, but in practice what we've seen where he's the focus hasn't been interesting. But I would love to know if there's some amazing Paris eps from the run of the series...

So I suggested to my friend: we should watch a seasons-worth of the best Voy episodes for our favorite characters, maybe that'll hook us on watching the rest of the series. My friend said, great idea, but how do we figure out which episodes those are? I said, I have just the message board to ask!

So, anyone have any mini-marathon recommendations for TNG/DS9 fans who are looking to get into Voyager, who want to see more on Voyager's female characters and are totally uninterested in (almost) all the male characters? (And these episode recommendations don't need to take into account series plot coherence -- we already know the basic arcs of the series and where it all goes) We so enjoyed our marathons of the other Trek shows, we're sort of hoping this will hook us on the rest of the series...
 
Let me get this straight, you just want the episodes that highlight the women or a combo with ones that might win you over with some of the less popular boys?
 
Good Seven of Nine episodes off the top of my head

The Raven
Infinite Regress
One
Body and Soul
Dark Frontier I and II
Human Error
 
My B'Elanna list is pretty similar to the one Sophie74656 posted, though I'm not a huge fan of "Blood Fever," "Day of Honor," or "Drive" (though "Drive" and "Blood Fever" are actually kind of fun, if you like the character, which I do). And I'd add "Parallax." I don't think it's a great episode, but I don't think it's a bad one, and it does a decent job of setting up who B'Elanna is and will become.

My favorite Janeway episodes (in order of preference):
Concerning Flight
Counterpoint
The Void
Good Shepherd
Fair Haven + Spirit Folk
Sacred Ground
Equinox

My favorite Seven episodes:
Drone
Imperfection
Body and Soul
Survival Instinct
Repentance
 
female characters are fabulous and so intriguing...
Really ?

Janeway is awful, Kes is bland, Torres barely adequate and Seven a lame teen boy demographic grab redeemed by an unexpectedly decent actress.

Actually yes, they were still probably better than the guys...
 
Thanks for these recommendations, this is awesome! Much appreciated.

Let me get this straight, you just want the episodes that highlight the women or a combo with ones that might win you over with some of the less popular boys?

Either. This is how I hooked my friend into watching all of DS9... she wasn't sold on the show as a whole, but was interested in Kira and Odo, from what little she had seen. So we jumped around watching the best Kira and Odo shows, and along the way she became interested in the rest of the cast, and then we ended up watching almost the entire series.

So now I'm trying the same trick on myself... if I jump around watching the best showcases for my preferred characters, will it pull me in enough to want to keep going?
 
Definitely harder with DS9. But do-able. I actually sometimes find I really enjoy starting a serialized show mid-stream. Usually I've already watched the beginning and that wasn't compelling me to keep going, but people keep telling me I should give the show another chance. So I create my own in medias res opening by jumping into the middle and seeing if I then want to figure out how we got to this point. I'm not bothered by spoilers, because the alternative at that point is not watching the show at all...

Just watched "Body And Soul" off these recommendations. Delightful episode! Really good! I even liked the Paris/Tuvok subplot. Thanks!
 
If you liked BODY AND SOUL for the humour, try WORST CASE SCENARIO (season 3) and TINKER, TENOR, DOCTOR, SPY (season 6). Perhaps the funny elements of these two episodes will help you get to like the men as well.
 
Paris and the Doctor are a bit of a split decision... the Doctor, I like the character and the actor, but I get so infuriated with the dismissive way the rest of the crew treats him that it interferes with my ability to enjoy Doctor episodes.
I think since you didn't watch all the way through on the first time, you missed the evolution of the Doctor as a character. My interpretation of things is that he and the crew started seeing him as a real sentient being. One that was made of photons and forcefields rather than flesh and blood. And if you like seeing him as a humorous character, I would recommend the one mentioned above in Thomas Eugene's post. Also Author, Author and Renaissance Man in season 7.
 
If you liked BODY AND SOUL for the humour, try WORST CASE SCENARIO (season 3) and TINKER, TENOR, DOCTOR, SPY (season 6). Perhaps the funny elements of these two episodes will help you get to like the men as well.
If you're looking for humor then add Bride of Chaotica and Spirit Folk
 
Just watched "Body And Soul" off these recommendations. Delightful episode! Really good! I even liked the Paris/Tuvok subplot. Thanks!
If you liked "Body and Soul," I suggest you try "Infinite Regress." It's another Seven-centered episode that allows Jeri Ryan to show off her acting talent by playing Seven becoming other people. I didn't list it in my favorites because I don't think it's either as funny or as tightly constructed as "Body and Soul," but it is a good episode in a similar vein.

If you enjoyed Seven and the doctor's interactions in "Body and Soul," I recommend "Someone to Watch Over Me," another episode about those two and one that's similarly humorous in tone.
 
Torres is my favourite of the Voyager ladies. I'll try my best to limit myself to a top 5.

Faces
Blood Fever
Extreme Risk
Day of Honour
Dreadnought

That was tough.
 
I continue to really enjoy these recommendations. My actual viewing so far has been kind of Seven-heavy… watched “Drone”, “Imperfection”, “One”, “The Gift”, and “Dreadnought”, and thought they were all excellent (though the ending of “Dreadnought” is bizarrely abrupt).

Then, “Warlord.” I love a good possessed crewmember episode, and I thought this was a particularly excellent version of that trope. Also, the sexual politics of it are intriguingly progressive, especially for Trek of the time… it’s an interesting choice to have the large, hulking man who is possessing Kes so enthusiastically embrace becoming a small, sexy woman. There's no discomfort with the gender swap at all -- immediately with the leather catsuits and the partners of both sexes. And the scenes of Kes & Tieran warring within their shared mind was also a great dramatic choice -- a good way to keep the character of Kes, and not just Jennifer Lien, active in the narrative. Interesting choices all around in their approach on this one.

But looking at the Memory Alpha entry on “Warlord”… that’s how they broke Neelix & Kes up? I remember finding the relationship remarkably unpersuasive at the time (what did they see in each other? Were we actually supposed to perceive some sexual heat there?) But even for a coupling as implausible and flimsy as this, it’s such a strange decision to break them up during a possession, and then just not go back to it.

Anyway, so great was I feeling about Voyager after these episodes that I decided to wander off everyone’s recommendations when the listing for “The Chute” caught my eye. I always like a prison story! Or so I thought. In the middle of it now. This viewing selection… seems to have been a mistake. I'll be returning to the recommendations lists next... maybe "Extreme Risk", I like the notion of something that actually deals with the Maquis a bit. Not really using the Maquis to drive any story was one of the things consistently driving me crazy about the show the first time around.
 
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