Most Trek series (save for TOS) suffer from rocky starts, especially in the first two seasons. “Voyager” is arguably the most guilty of this, as the series never really delivered on its most inspired premise: Federation officers and their freedom fighter counterparts are lost in space, 75 light years from home, struggling to get back to Earth, navigating new threats in a part of the galaxy where no man has ever gone before.
What was intended to showcase what happens when you have no starbases to repair battle damage or replenish supplies turned into Next Gen Lite, with only a handful of episodes in Seasons Three, Four, and Five truly achieving best-of status. (Most of the run feels like each new ep is almost re-piloting, constantly in search of a way into a story worthy of driving a series.) To paraphrase cast member Robert Beltran’s criticism of the show around the 100th episode: Did we do 100 episodes, or the same show 100 times?
The introduction of Seven of Nine, much to the chagrin of series lead Kate Mulgrew, gave the show a pulse that it sorely needed. Too bad the series all but flatlined with a big, but lackluster, series finale that shows Voyager getting home after seven seasons without giving them — or fans — a dramatically satisfying homecoming. The episode just ends with Voyager approaching Earth’s orbit like it were just another planet. Snooze.
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