Voyager's rep

[Drone]

It was referenced on a number of occasions by various races that Warship.....er Voyager was well known throughout the Quadrant, knowledge often preceding them as they travelled along. These impressions were predominantly tilted to the negative side The command staff usually seemed surprised by their having apparently developed this cred.

Why might our stalwarts have earned this kind of press? Given the general nastiness of many of the species, one would might be made to think that Voyager regularly carried out significantly dramatic episodes of extreme lethality as they were en route back home. Perhaps, because furriners were so often given the bum's rush, these travelers from so far away in unknown space were REALLY ALIEN and needed to be even more rigorously barred than just the routine neighbors. Of course, we can always accept the pedestrian rationale that information and anecdotal details naturally gets twisted the further you get from the source.

For me, I'd like the fanciful possibility that the disgruntled Kazons sent space faring carrier pigeons far and wide to diss the ship that not only escaped multiple attempts at annihilation, but wouldn't even give them any more water after Caretaker.

Well, what do you guys think?

 

[Finn]

Well, yeah

 

[Drone]

I suppose that concise opinion's meaning should be obvious, but it's very late and I'm just about to nod off, so please elucidate if you would be so kind.

 

[stardream]

I always blamed the Kazon for rumor mongering.

Did they come across this sort of bad press after they crossed the Nekrit Expanse?

 

[hux]

Well, let's be fair, Voyager (and by Voyager, I mean Janeway) did screw over quite a few species. Arturis made a pretty solid argument regarding her attempted genocide of species 8472 and the consequences for other interested parties.

Plus most of the species they encountered were unimpressive by comparison so it's understandable that Voyager's perceived power might produce an initial negative view of them.

Then of course, there's the Equinox. These guys were being dicks up and down the Delta quadrant so many aliens may gave tarred Voyager with the same brush.

But mostly, Janeway.

 

[Finn]

I suppose that concise opinion's meaning should be obvious, but it's very late and I'm just about to nod off, so please elucidate if you would be so kind.

It was mentioned a couple times by the heroes that the Kazon has been spreading rumors. I can't recall specific episode. Not to mention several races they met said they heard bad things about Voyager, some cited the Kazon as the source of these vicious rumors.

It's just that anyone who followed Voyager the first two seasons should know this well as it's not an obscure throwback comment made during a mediocre episode.

 

[Drone]

I certainly did, at the time, and pretty closely over the last 6 years or so. It would make sense that they would do so given their ultimate ineffectuality in dealing with Voyager. Tanis has a line in Cold Fire which, in its substance, would certainly fit in with this having occurred, although its provenance is not made absolutely explicit.

TANIS: You've established quite a reputation. You killed the Caretaker, declared war on the Kazon, raided planets for their resources

I don't believe though, that there are any other episodes with such pronouncements made about Voyager and what it has allegedly done in the Quadrant that reference the Kazon at all. This also begs the question why anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Kazon would be very likely to take what they say seriously.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I imagine the aliens from "Prime Factors" had a thing or two to say about Voyager - and they have a LONG reach.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

It was explicitly mentioned at some point in season two that the Kazon were spreading negative press about Voyager.

Voyager may be well intentioned, but they are meddlers. That is never going to be popular. Also the fact that they helped the Borg doesn't improve the situation.

 

[Lynx]

Well, let's be fair, Voyager (and by Voyager, I mean Janeway) did screw over quite a few species. Arturis made a pretty solid argument regarding her attempted genocide of species 8472 and the consequences for other interested parties.

Plus most of the species they encountered were unimpressive by comparison so it's understandable that Voyager's perceived power might produce an initial negative view of them.

Then of course, there's the Equinox. These guys were being dicks up and down the Delta quadrant so many aliens may gave tarred Voyager with the same brush.

But mostly, Janeway.

I can't totally agree with your theory about Janeway's actions giving Voyager a bad reputation.

If we look at the early seasons, well they did manage to anger the Kazon-Ogla when they actually fulfilled the Caretaker's wishes about destroying the station and not let it fall into Kazon hands. They did also manage to annoy the Kazon-Nistrim by not letting them take federation technology.

They also managed to annoy the Vidiians by not let them take body parts from the Voyager crewmembers so I can see that these groups of people were annoyed and maybe started to spread rumors about how evil the Voyager crew was.

Later on they did manage to annoy most of the Kazon sects with a failed attempt to make peace betwen the Kazon and the Trabe, well they managed to annoy the Trabe too.

Suspiria was p***ed off because she thought that the Voyager crew had killet the Caretaker and the Ocampa on the Array were annoyed because they believed in Suspiria.

But in these cases and most of the other cases where Voyager went into a hostile relationship with the species they encountered were actually in self-defense. Many of those situations were also cleared up after some initial misunderstandings.

I guess that Kazon rumor-spreading was the main reason for Voyager's bad reputation.

But it's also possible that the Equinox crew and their actions may have spilled over to Voyager's bad reputation too.

 

[propita]

I always blamed the Kazon for rumor mongering.

Did they come across this sort of bad press after they crossed the Nekrit Expanse?

But people really believed the Kazon?! I suppose people just forgot/ignored the source.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

I always blamed the Kazon for rumor mongering.

Did they come across this sort of bad press after they crossed the Nekrit Expanse?

But people really believed the Kazon?! I suppose people just forgot/ignored the source.

The Kazon make a pretty good case as a formerly-oppressed people trying to make their way in a hostile galaxy. Assuming everyone else has seen through the Trabe's bullshit sob story, at least. If everyone knows the Kazon are former slaves to the Trabe, they might feel pity for them (while keeping them at arm's length.) To hear that Voyager went around bullying them for a couple years wouldn't help Voyager's PR any.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

To DQ races, the Kazon are the devil they know and Voyager are unknown strangers.

 

[Finn]

^not to mention, Voyager still kept bumping into races that didn't seem to be threatened by the Kazon in those episodes that didn't include the Kazon.