When was Voyager at its best?

[Mr. Adventure]

I became interested in revisiting Voyager recently. I watched the Workforce two-parter on Spike and was struck by some of the effects and thought it worked well despite being a formulaic story.

I then saw Caretaker and some early episode when Spike started the reruns over and the FX looked pretty bad and everything seemed pretty corny.

The PC stuff was pretty funny as well. It's funny to hear Chakotay refer to always refer to himself as an Indian instead of a Native American as the Indians I deal with now aren't from some tribe. Plus, all the spirit animals and vision quest business seem more stereotypical than enlightened. EDIT: Has anyone counted how many times he's said "My people..."?

So Voyager faithful, when would you recommend I start watching if I'm interested in seeing some old episodes but want to see better stuff? Was there a point where it started to get better or was most of it tosh that you have to cherry-pick the winners from? I remember liking Year of Hell quite a bit but I'm kind of fuzzy on most of the episodes.

 

[Evil Twin]

I suppose season 4 would be the happy medium you're looking for. Season 6 is my personal favorite though. I am quite fond of season 1 as well.

 

[Gadrin]

By season 4 things were moving pretty good. My favorite is season 5.

 

[Good Will Riker]

was most of it tosh that you have to cherry-pick the winners from?

This is what I do.

The number of VOY episodes that I have personally enjoyed over the years would barely fit into a 16 episode Star Trek: Fan Collective DVD set.

Infact, I prefer the entirety of "Star Trek: The Next Generation's" 1st season over the entire 7 seasons of "Star Trek: Voyager." And you can quote me on that.

 

[WalkinMan]

Seasons 3-4 are the best; 5 had moments, as did 1-2.

 

[MacLeod]

I actually prefer episdoes from the earlier seasons, some of the later ones that had them dealing with Earth a bit more where good. Maybe it was just me but I felt a better connection with their plight being a long way from home in episodes such as "Pathfinder", "Message in a Bottle" etc..

 

[Equinox]

Season 5!

 

[Zeppster]

First 5 seasons were as good or better than almost any Star Trek.

 

[TemporalFlux]

Looking back over the episode guide, I would say that season four and five were the best period of the show to me. Of course, I have to admit that Voyager has really grown on me over the years; I can't find fatal fault with any season.

 

[Dimension11]

I have to say, as having watched all the series, that Voyager has been my favorite, I'd say shoot for Season 4/5, Especially some of the double episodes.

 

[Computer]

Id reccomend starting with End Game and just watch whatever episodes came after that.

For me Voyager never really had any good seasons just a good episode spread randomly throughout its run.

 

[toughlittleship]

I would consider getting a "Best of Voyager" DVD Collection, as there is no way I would get all the seasons just to see maybe five good episodes a season.

 

[Candlelight]

Season four & five.

 

[stj]

If I could invest in season sets, I'd get seasons 4 and 5, I think. Season 6 had some excellent episodes but some real bombs. Seeason 7 was more consistent but just not very good. Seasons 1, 2 and 3 had some gestures towards arcs and were marred by illconsidered nonsense about Maquis, Seska, Kazons and lack of resources.

But really, Voyager was episodic. As such it had some very good episodes in every season. What we need is a special order Voyager 26 hour set that includes your personal favorites.

 

[Caprica_Six]

It sort of depends what you are looking for. For me I like seasons 1-2 and 4-5, with some really stellar episodes sprinkled in season 6.

 

[Quist]

I quite liked Seven's early days...

 

[kimc]

Caprica_Six said:
It sort of depends what you are looking for. For me I like seasons 1-2 and 4-5, with some really stellar episodes sprinkled in season 6.

That sounds like me too. For 1 & 3 "Caretaker" had to be the best opening of any Trek. The episodes immediately following as you got to know the characters were good too. Then came the Seska arc which was great but there are also some stellar non-Seska episodes such as "Death Wish", "Resistance" and "Meld".

 

[Computer]

kimc said:

Caprica_Six said:
It sort of depends what you are looking for. For me I like seasons 1-2 and 4-5, with some really stellar episodes sprinkled in season 6.

That sounds like me too. For 1 & 3 "Caretaker" had to be the best opening of any Trek. The episodes immediately following as you got to know the characters were good too. Then came the Seska arc which was great but there are also some stellar non-Seska episodes such as "Death Wish", "Resistance" and "Meld".

In retrospect Caretaker was probably the best beginning of any Trek, im a TNG loyalist and it took until AGT for me to appreciate E@FP

 

[Jack Bauer]

I'd recommend seasons 4 and 5. Maybe season 3 or 6.

 

[mahler5]

Good question