Voyager

With Star Trek: Voyager (VOY), the franchise returns to the starship format, but with a twist. Premiering in January, 1995. Fans were thrust 75,000 lightyears from the Federation (well, specifically Earth) with two crews forced to work together to get home. Voyager was the third Star Trek series to make it a full seven seasons.

Like Deep Space Nine, I watched Voyager along side it’s companion series DS9. Again it is not necessary to do so, but it is a fun way to experience the series in as close a way a possible to what it was like when each episode premiered back in the 90’s.

All episodes are listed for each season. Each episode is indicated with either a “W” for watch or an “S” for skip. I also opted to order my viewing in “chronological order” as best determined by the initial stardate given in the episode. If there isn’t a stardate, I placed it where it made the most sense relative to the other episodes. Eventually, each title will link to a post that discusses the reasoning for seeing an episode and skipping an episode.

Lastly, episodes that are “essential” are indicated with an * in the Ep. No. column. Essential episodes are selected on a number of factors including character development, other cannon connections, and cultural impact. In other words, these often are best of the best of each season.

Season 1

The first season of Voyager thrusts our intrepid crew to the far side of the galaxy, stranding them 75,000 light years from home (specifically Earth). The season premiered in January of 1995 and was a bit abbreviated. In fact the first six or so episodes of the second season had been written for the first season, but for production and budget reasons held till season two. Note, the cast of TNG also debuted their second silver screen outing, First Contact, during this season.

Of the 16 episodes, 63% of them are worth watching with six episodes considered to be essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
01×01* & 01×02*	Caretaker	48315.6	W
01×03	Parallax	48439.7	W
01×04	Time and Again	Unknown	S
01×05*	Phage	48532.4	W
01×06	The Cloud	48546.2	W
01×07*	Eye of the Needle	48579.4	W
01×08	Ex Post Facto	Unknown	S
01×09	Emanations	48623.5	S
01×10*	Prime Factors	48642.5	W
01×11*	State of Flux	48658.2	W
01×12	Heroes and Demons	48693.2	S
01×13	Cathexis	48734.2	S
01×14*	Faces	48784.2	W
01×15	Jetrel	48832.1	W
01×16*	Learning Curve	48846.5	W

Season 2

Season two continues the Kazon and related Maquis story arcs as Janeway and company try to make their way back home. Voyager does an okay job of finding balance between a season-long story with the Kazon while finding ample, standalone stories to tell in this season.

80% of the season is worth watching and 8 episodes are essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
02×03	Projections	48892.1	W
02×04	Elogium	48921.3	W
02×01	The 37’s	48975.1	W
02×02	Initiations	49005.3	S
02×05	Non Sequitur	49011.0	S
02×06	Twisted	Unknown	S
02×07	Parturition	49068.5	S
02×08	Persistence of Vision	Unknown	S
02×09	Tattoo	Unknown	W
02×10	Cold Fire	49164.8	S
02×11*	Maneuvers	49208.5	W
02×12	Resistance	Unknown	W
02×13	Prototype	Unknown	S
02×18	Death Wish	49301.2	S
02×14*	Alliances	49337.4	W
02×15	Threshold	49373.4	W
02×16*	Meld	Unknown	W
02×17	Dreadnought	49447.0	W
02×20*	Investigations	49485.2	W
02×19*	Lifesigns	49504.3	W
02×21*	Deadlock	49548.7	W
02×22	Innocence	49578.2	S
02×23	The Thaw	Unknown	W
02×24*	Tuvix	49655.2	W
02×25	Resolutions	49690.1	W
02×26*	Basics	Unknown	W

Season 3

In the junior year of the series, the crew of the starship Voyager finally leave Kazon space towards an unknown future. The good Doctor gets around a bit more easily with the help of some time-wimey adventures. This season also begins to lay some of the groundwork for the rest of the series while finding time to pick-up a story or two started way back on Star Trek: The Next Generation.

69% of the season is worth the watch with 10 episodes deemed to be essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
03×01*	Basics | Part II	50032.7	W
03×07	Sacred Ground	50063.2	S
03×05*	False Profits	50074.3	W
03×02*	Flashback	50126.4	W
03×03	The Chute	50156.2	W
03×06	Remember	50203.1	S
03×04	The Swarm	50252.3	W
03×08*	Future’s End	50312.5	W
03×09*	Future’s End | Part II	50312.5	W
03×10	Warlord	50348.1	S
03×11*	The Q and the Grey	50384.2	W
03×12	Macrocosm	50425.1	W
03×13*	Fair Trade	Unknown	W
03×14	Alter Ego	50460.3	S
03×15	Coda	50518.6	S
03×16*	Blood Fever	50537.2	W
03×17	Unity	50614.2	W
03×18	Darkling	50693.2	S
03×19	Rise	Unknown	S
03×20	Favorite Son	50732.4	S
03×21*	Before and After	Unknown	W
03×22	Real Life	50836.2	W
03×23	Distant Origin	Unknown	W
03×24	Displaced	50912.4	W
03×25	Worst Case Scenario	50953.4	W
03×26*	Scorpion	50984.3	W

Season 4

With the entry of a new character and the exit of an old one, season four makes a marked departure for the series. This season really sees the show find it’s footing, boasting one of the best time travel episodes of the franchise, Year of Hell and really digging into the Borg.

This season pulls in 62% of episodes worth watching, with 10 episodes that are essential to the season and the series.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
04×01*	Scorpion | Part II	51003.7	W
04×02*	The Gift	51088.0	W
04×03*	Day of Honor	Unknown	W
04×04	Nemesis	51082.4	S
04×05	Revulsion	51186.2	S
04×06*	The Raven	Unknown	W
04×07	Scientific Method	51244.3	W
04×08*	Year of Hell	51258.4	W
04×09*	Year of Hell | Part II	51423.5	W
04×10	Random Thoughts	51386.4	S
04×11	Concerning Flight	51386.4	S
04×12	Mortal Coil	51449.2	S
04×13	Waking Moments	51471.3	S
04×14	Message in a Bottle	51462.0	W
04×15	Hunters	51501.4	W
04×16	Prey	51652.3	W
04×17	Retrospect	51658.2	S
04×18	The Killing Game	Unknown	W
04×19	The Killing Game | Part II	51715.2	W
04×20	Vis à Vis	51762.4	S
04×21	The Omega Directive	51781.2	S
04×22	Unforgettable	51813.4	S
04×23	Living Witness	Unknown	S
04×24*	Demon	Unknown	W
04×25*	One	51929.3	W
04×26*	Hope and Fear	51987.2	W

Season 5

The fifth season of Voyager sees the arrival of a new foe and a few more bouts with the Borg. This season spends a bit more time on character development and exploring the plight of the crew of the starship in their attempts to find shortcuts home.

Meanwhile, the TNG crew make their third silver screen debut with Insurrection.

Season five pulls in 69% of its episodes as worth watching and at least eight episodes are essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
05×01*	Night	52081.2	W
05×02	Drone	Unknown	W
05×03	Extreme Risk	Unknown	W
05×04	In the Flesh	52136.4	W
05×05	Once Upon a Time	Unknown	S
05×06*	Timeless	52164.3	W
05×09*	Thirty Days	52179.4	W
05×07	Infinite Regress	52356.2	S
05×08	Nothing Human	Unknown	W
05×10	Counterpoint	Unknown	W
05×11	Latent Image	Unknown	W
05×12*	Bride of Chaotica!	Unknown	W
05×13	Gravity	52438.9	S
05×14	Bliss	52542.3	S
05×15* & 05×16*	Dark Frontier	52619.2	W
05×17	The Disease	Unknown	S
05×18*	Course: Oblivion	52586.3	W
05×19	The Fight	Unknown	S
05×20	Think Tank	Unknown	W
05×21	Juggernaut	Unknown	W
05×22	Someone to Watch Over Me	52648.0	W
05×23	11:59	52840.0	S
05×24	Relativity	52861.274	W
05×25	Warhead	Unknown	S
05×26*	Equinox	Unknown	W

Season 6

Season six continues Voyager’s travels through the Delta Quadrant where they continue to make new friends and enemies along the way. We also gain a few more passengers this season and visit with a former member of our motley crew. It is also the first season since season one to not have a mid-season two-parter! However, season seven more than makes up for it (it has three!)

Consistent with the prior season, 69% of this season is worth watching and eight are essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
06×01*	Equinox | Part II	Unknown	W
06×02	Survival Instinct	53049.2	S
06×03	Barge of the Dead	Unknown	W
06×04	Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy	Unknown	W
06×05	Alice	Unknown	W
06×07*	Dragon’s Teeth	53167.9	W
06×06	Riddles	53263.2	W
06×08	One Small Step	53292.7	S
06×09*	The Voyager Conspiracy	53329.0	W
06×10*	Pathfinder	Unknown	W
06×11	Fair Haven	Unknown	S
06×12	Blink of an Eye	Unknown	W
06×15	Tsunkatse	53447.2	W
06×13	Virtuoso	53556.4	S
06×14	Memorial	Unknown	W
06×16*	Collective	Unknown	W
06×17	Spirit Folk	Unknown	S
06×18	Ashes to Ashes	53679.4	W
06×19*	Child’s Play	Unknown	W
06×20	Good Shepherd	53753.2	S
06×21	Live Fast and Prosper	53849.2	S
06×22	Muse	53918.0	W
06×23*	Fury	Unknown	W
06×24	Life Line	Unknown	W
06×25	The Haunting of Deck Twelve	Unknown	S
06×26*	Unimatrix Zero	Unknown	W

Season 7

The last season of Star Trek: Voyager does what it can to wrap up most of the character arcs and threads as best it can and gives nods to others throughout. It is a decent send-off for this intrepid little crew.

Being consistent with the prior couple of season, again, 69% of the season is worth watching with twelve episodes considered essential viewing.

Ep. No.	Title	Stardate	See/Skip
07×01*	Unimatrix Zero | Part II	54014.4	W
07×03*	Drive	54058.6	W
07×04	Repression	54090.4	W
07×02*	Imperfection	54129.4	W
07×05	Critical Care	Unknown	S
07×06	Inside Man	54208.3	W
07×07*	Body and Soul	54238.3	W
07×08	Nightingale	54274.7	S
07×09 & 07×10*	Flesh and Blood	54315.3	W
07×11	Shattered	Unknown	W
07×12	Lineage	54452.6	W
07×13	Repentance	54474.6	S
07×14	Prophecy	54518.2	W
07×15	The Void	54553.4	S
07×16*	Workforce | Part I	54622.4	W
07×17*	Workforce | Part II	54622.4	W
07×18	Human Error	Unknown	S
07×19*	Q2	54704.5	W
07×20	Author, Author	54732.3	W
07×21	Friendship One	54775.4	S
07×22	Natural Law	54827.7	S
07×23*	Homestead	54868.6	W
07×24	Renaissance Man	54890.7	S
07×25* & 07×26*	Endgame	54973.4	W

Being that this is the only other series of the “Berman Era” besides DS9 that hasn’t been remastered, it could use the treatment. Again, I wouldn’t hold my breath. If CBS ever gets to touching up Deep Space Nine and rebroadcasting it (they would undoubtedly see a positive response), then maybe they will look to bringing the whole catalogue up to HD mastering.

Star Trek: Voyager holds a special place in my heart. It was the first Star Trek series I was able to watch in its entirety on broadcast television. It was the anchor show for the United Paramount Network (UPN), Paramount studio’s attempt to launch a “fifth” broadcast network. As I’ve grown older, I recognize that the show isn’t as strong as it’s sister show, however, it does have some of the best episodes in the franchise that have held up well over the years. Overall, 67% of the series is worth watching.