It’s been approximately 14 months since I completed my Star Trek Deep Space 9 Top 10 video. I was not at all looking forward to making this list, because Voyager is easily my least favorite Star Trek show. I’d rather watch the Animated Series than this. I was going to get this posted yesterday, but Star Wars took over that weekend. It’s been a crazy few months for me and I have grown quite fond of Star Wars once again. I guess I’ll go ahead and dive into this. I would say spoiler warning, but it’s an old show and honestly these are the highlights.
Honorable Mention : Message in a Bottle
This is a comedy episode, and one that performs pretty well. Voyager discovers a subspace relay that allows them to communicate with the Alpha Quadrant. So they modify the Doctor’s programming to act as a signal and hop aboard the closest Federation Ship. He does so, and ends up on the USS Prometheus. Unfortunately this is an experimental vessel that has been captured by the Romulans (this is before they entered the Dominion War on the side of the Alpha Quadrant). The Doctor enlists the help of the ships new upgraded EMH, Andy Dick. Hilarity ensues as they retake the ship. Only in Voyager could Andy Dick be a guest star. It’s a fun episode.
10 : Tsunkats
Seven is trapped on a planet and is used as to fight in their combat sport Tsunkatse. Her first bout is with their champion, and the guy looks familiar. Can’t quite place my finger on it though. In all seriousness though, the only reason this episode wasn’t the Honorable mention was because not only does Dwayne Johnson make his acting debut (he isn’t acting at all) but two of my favorite guest actors, Jeffrey Combs and JG Hertzler both guest star! And as any Star Trek fan would tell you everything is better with J Combs.
9 : Distant Origin
This may be the best pure Star Trek episode in all of Voyager, and one of the best Sci Fi premises that the series has done overall. This episode follows a Voth scientist who is trying to prove that his race (of dinosaur like people) did not originate on their planet, but instead were from a distant planet. Along comes Voyager, and it turns out that some dinosaurs from Earth were plucked off by aliens at some point and millenia later the Voth exist. The kicker is that the Voth Higher ups don’t like this, and are actively trying to censor this scientist and puts him on trial. Though he, and the Voyager crew argue valiantly for science, the Voth eventually win the day and the rogue scientist has to recant his statement or see Voyager destroyed. Voyager is ordered to leave and never return, but not before Chakotay gives the scientist a globe of Earth. Leaving off on the hopeful sentiment that eventually, the Voth people will accept the truth.
8 : Flashback
This episode only stands out as it is the 30th anniversary episode. Tuvok is losing his mind while seeing the vision of a girl fall off a cliff after letting her go. He attempts a Mind Meld with Janeway to see what she can find out, as Tuvok has no recollection of the memory. Instead of going to that memory, they are taken to his first assignment aboard the USS Excelsior, led by Captain Hikaru Sulu. The whole memory is some alien parasite thing, but this episode stands out as we get to see more of Sulu’s perspective during the events of Star Trek VI The Undiscovered Country. Getting to see George Takei reprise his role is a huge delight, and we even get Grace Lee Whitney back as Janice Rand. Anytime the two are on screen it hits any Trek fan right in the feels.
7 : Meld
A Betazoid ensign, Lon’Suder commits murder aboard the ship for no reason. To understand the crime, Tuvok initiates a Mind Meld (hey, two in a row!) in an attempt to understand. Things don’t exactly go as planned, as while Suder becomes more docile Tuvok becomes more and more mad. This episode asks what a ship does when a crew member commits murder, knowing they won’t be back for 70 years. This episode stands out because of how great Brad Dourif is as Suder. He was likely too big of a guest star, as he only makes one more appearance. If he continued to show up and play a Hannibal esque role for the crew during moral dilemma’s during the course of the series, Voyager would be a much better show.
6 : Pathfinder
Who would have thought we’d be this happy to see Reg Barclay again? This episode is a great follow up to his first appearance in TNG as he’s getting a little too chummy with the holodeck crew of Voyager. He’s apart of the Pathfinder project, a Starfleet initiative to communicate with and eventually bring Voyager home. Reg is quickly suspected he’s relapsed and gets a visit from an old friend, Deanna Troi. Two friends in one episode! Eventually Reg is banned from the project following a failure due to his ‘relapse’. Reg however proves he’s right, and the Pathfinder project is able to communicate with the lost starship. And Admiral Sam Paris is able to learn that his wayward son is alive, and even thriving.
5 : Worst Case Scenario
B’elanna Torres is asked by Chakotay to join a Maquis led mutiny of the ship while Janeway and Paris are on an away mission. As soon as Janeway is off, Chakotay strikes and incapacitates Tuvok. B’elanna then stuns Harry Kim, proving that she’s on her former captain’s side. Eventually the mutineers link up with Seska, who has secured several key decks. This is when, we as an audience are let in that things aren’t what they seem as Seska had been dead for a while at this point. We are witnessing a Holo Program. This program quickly entices the entire crew as they play the big ‘What if?’ scenario. Eventually, Holo-Sesk over writes the program and turns it deadly. The crew get out of it, and all laugh at the end. This episode is largely cathartic as it delivers an ending to the quickly dropped Maquis plotline. A solid payoff to a concept that should have been much, much more for the show. Now to the top 4, all of which are two parters!
4 : Scorpion Parts 1 and 2
The episodes that transform Voyager from what it was, to what it could be. The shift in quality between seasons 1-3 and 4-6 is remarkable. It is in the middle seasons that Voyager is almost excellent. Voyager enters Borg space, only to find that they are at war with an unknown species. And they are losing. Species 8472 as they are called by the Collective, are a Bio-organic species from dimensional space. Janeway agrees to a treaty with the Borg, causing a rift with Chakotay. The alliance succeeds and they drive Species 8472 out of the Delta Quadrant. The Borg betray Voyager (the shock!), but we find out Janeway anticipated it and uses Chakotay to unlink the Borg representative from the Collective. Voyager then speeds off, and out of Borg space. This episode sets up the departure of Kes and the arrival of 7 of 9 to the crew. Janeway and Chakotay gets some great scenes in this and really drive home the drama.
3 : Year of Hell Part 1 and 2
Voyager enters into Krenim space, a meager but aggressive space fairing race. Or are they a powerful and vast galactic empire? They are both! Their is a Krenim vessel in Temporal space that is trying to bring back the full extent of their empire. Voyager is repeatedly harmed and attacked as the Krenim get more powerful as they erase more species from existence. Chakotay and Tom are eventually kidnapped and taken by their leader, Kurtwood Smith. Voyager is eventually able to overcome the mad time tyrant, and restore the timeline. This once again reduces the Krenim to nothing. These episodes are great, and should really be watched to get the deeper understanding of it. These episodes were supposed to be an entire season, which was axed because no one running Voyager knew what they were doing. Imagine getting Kurtwood Smith for a full season as a villain, he’d be right up their with Khan and Dukat!
2 : The Killing Game Part 1 and 2
The crew are perpetually locked in a Holo Deck simulation in occupied France during World War 2. All of our heroes play characters in the French Resistance. There is just one catch, they don’t know they are not their characters. They have been put into an elaborate game by the Hirogen, a predatory species that seeks great and glorius prey. They have somehow captured Voyager and are using it’s technology to murder the crew over and over again in a sick game. Because they are awful, they took an awful liking to the Nazi’s. Gradually the crew retain their memories and rebel against the Hirogen leading to all out war across the entire ship of Voyager. GI’s storming the halls alongside are heroes fighting off Nazi aliens. That’s Star Trek! The Hirogen are easily one of Voyagers best creations, and this two parter. These episodes deliver both action and comedy in great notes, and really is a testament to what this show could do when it was firing on all cylinders. Plus Neelix as a Klingon!
1 : Tuvix
Just kidding! I ain’t gonna do that. But hey, this episode proves that Janeway is a murderer. And apparently murder is okay.
1 : Equinox Part 1 and 2
This two parter is truly Chef’s kiss. Not only do I consider this to be the best Voyager episode, but is among the best in the franchise. Voyager discovers the USS Equinox, a Nova class ship (that’s important to only me) that has been stranded in the Delta Quadrant as well. Only they are not having the best time. Their crew has been ravaged, and their ship is barely holding together. Janeway rescues Captain Ransom and his crew, and things start to unravel from there. It turns out Ransom has been killing an alien race and using their energy to jumpstart their war drives. This will drastically reduce the time it take to return home, but at the cost that these aliens are constantly attacking the ship. Ransom ransacks Voyager in attempt to outfit his ship to fight off these aliens. He uses the help of their evil EMH with a delightfully chilling performance by Picardo. Ransom eventually comes to his senses, and sacrifices his self and his ship to save Voyager and the remainder of his crew. It’s a brilliant morality play as two starfleet crews confronted with the same situation, but taking drastically different approaches to the problem. It proves that even Starfleet’s best can crumble to base human desires. It’s brilliant and an example of Star Trek at it’s finest. If you watch anything on this list, watch this.
Well now, that’s the list! I hope it was everything you wanted and more. I am already working on my list for Star Trek Enterprise, and hopefully it will be out much sooner than this. It help that I like that show way more than Voyager. As always, let me know what you think. What episodes are you fans of?
Ravingnerd 