Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Prodigy.
In 1996, the Star Trek: Voyager episode Flashback was broadcast as part of the Star Trek franchise’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations. Today – and I can scarcely believe I’m writing these words – we’re marking Voyager’s own thirtieth anniversary!
That’s right: it was on the 16th of January 1995 that Caretaker, the premiere episode of Star Trek: Voyager, debuted in the United States. I thought it could be worth taking a few minutes to look back at not only the premiere, but Voyager as a whole – and try to assess its legacy and its place in the history of Star Trek. That’s what we’re going to talk about today, so I hope you’ll join me on a rose-tinted look back at Star Trek’s fourth live-action series!
When Voyager premiered in 1995, the Star Trek franchise was arguably at the absolute peak of its “golden age.” The Next Generation cast had started making feature films, Deep Space Nine was well into its third season, and it felt like Star Trek had well and truly made it; a franchise that was dominating the sci-fi world. I remember at the time hearing some criticism of launching another series, but with The Next Generation having explored strange new worlds in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants, and Deep Space Nine tackling the Gamma Quadrant… I gotta admit that I was excited to see Voyager head to the unexplored and mysterious Delta Quadrant!
Having read a preview of the series (I think in the Radio Times; a UK TV magazine) I was also intrigued by this “one ship, two crews” idea that Voyager seemed to be promoting. Seeing Starfleet officers having to work hand-in-hand with the Maquis seemed like a really interesting concept, and one that could’ve given Voyager a unique selling point and a way to stand out from the pack as Star Trek continued its growth and expansion. I don’t think Voyager’s writers ever really made good on that promise – but more on that in a moment!
Stories about long journeys, people from different backgrounds having to work together in common cause, and having a small “island of safety” in a dangerous and unexplored environment are all things I absolutely adore in fiction – so Voyager seemed to be bringing together a bundle of elements that might as well have been tailor-made for me! And across its seven-season run, all of those things came to the fore in different ways. Voyager was a fun series.
Of course, one of the most-discussed things leading up to Voyager’s premiere was the show’s new captain: Kathryn Janeway, played by Kate Mulgrew, became Star Trek’s first woman captain. I remember this news being received positively at the time, at least in the Star Trek fan groups I was aware of. No one in 1995 knew what the word “woke” would come to mean, so Janeway’s announcement didn’t get the same kind of negative reaction and whining as we might expect in 2025! That’s not to say there wasn’t some degree of pushback, of course. There have always been toxic individuals within the fan community.
I remember the days leading up to Voyager’s premiere being ones of positivity and anticipation. I was absolutely thrilled at the prospect of Star Trek’s expansion, at getting a new exploration-focused series after The Next Generation’s finale, and at meeting a whole new crew and cast of characters. There was a lot to be excited about as Voyager’s premiere got closer!
Star Trek: Voyager was almost a very different show, though, and I think it’s worth taking a diversion to acknowledge that. As work began on the series, the question of who should sit in the captain’s chair was perhaps the biggest individual casting decision that befell casting directors Nan Dutton and Kathryn Eisenstein… and they fucked it up. Kate Mulgrew was considered for the role of Janeway, along with several others, but the role was given to Oscar-nominated actress Geneviève Bujold instead.
Bujold was a terrible fit for the role of Janeway – as evidenced by the scenes she shot for Caretaker, which were included as a bonus in Voyager’s DVD box set – and seriously struggled with working on the show. Thankfully, Winrich Kolbe – who directed Caretaker – and executive producer Rick Berman recognised this before it was too late, and Bujold was replaced with Kate Mulgrew after only a couple of days. Still, this near-miss could’ve derailed Voyager before the show had a chance to get started.
As an aside, I don’t think Geneviève Bujold is in any way a bad actress or performer. But the idea to cast a character closer in style and tone to Jean-Luc Picard would’ve been wrong for Voyager, and that’s how I interpret her performance in those few scenes that have been revealed. Voyager needed a dynamic, energetic captain – someone who could make incredibly tough decisions under pressure while retaining the support of her crew. I didn’t see any of that in Bujold’s performance, so replacing her was unquestionably the right call.
Having to re-cast your lead role after filming has already started isn’t a great look for any television series, but Voyager was able to recover. Caretaker kicked off the show in style – and put a very interesting twist on a story premise that we’ve seen before in other episodes of Star Trek.
Several times in The Original Series, The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine, our crews found themselves apparently stranded – perhaps on an alien planet, or else far away from Federation space. But in all of these, they found their way home again by the time the credits rolled. To me, Voyager always felt like it was taking one of those episodes and asking the obvious question: what if there wasn’t an instant way home? I really loved that idea, even in 1995 it felt subversive and creative; a unique and different take on a Star Trek story concept that we’d seen before.
Caretaker was also a fantastic crossover episode, bringing in characters and locations from Deep Space Nine. A couple of years earlier, the two-part episode Birthright had brought The Next Generation to DS9, too – so launching the show in this way felt like a real thread of continuity between all three extant Star Trek projects. Star Trek was doing the whole “shared universe” thing decades before the likes of Marvel!
Quark, Morn, and Gul Evek returned from past iterations of Star Trek, further tying Voyager into the franchise before striking out on its own. These three characters – along with Q – are the only ones to have appeared in all three of The Next Generation-era Star Trek shows, which is a fun little bit of trivia for your next Star Trek quiz night! Having that connection to the rest of the franchise was important, though, and it continued the trend of characters from Star Trek’s past appearing in the premiere of a new series.
Caretaker gave Captain Janeway a moral dilemma, one that tied into the idea of the Prime Directive and Starfleet’s core mission of peaceful exploration. Janeway ultimately decided to intervene, destroying the Caretaker’s array to prevent it from falling into the hands of the aggressive Kazon – but stranding her ship and crew in the Delta Quadrant in the process. This kicked off a story that would run for seven seasons, blending Star Trek’s normal episodic format with an underlying quest: Voyager’s journey home.
Harry Kim made a fine addition to the crew, and also filled an important role for Voyager in a narrative sense. Kim was always the first character to jump on the idea of finding a shortcut home, and the most eager (of the main characters, at least) to make it back to the Alpha Quadrant. I wouldn’t say it was his sole defining character trait, but it was an important one. Voyager needed at least one character like this to keep the voyage home at the top of the agenda.
More recently, Kim has become best-remembered in the fan community for never receiving a promotion! And I can kind of understand that; particularly as the show wore on and Kim gained more experience, it began to stretch belief to think that he’d remain a mere ensign. Again, though, Voyager was a semi-episodic show, and a show that needed at least one “young and eager” junior officer to fulfil that narrative role and occupy that space.
I was a big fan of Kes in Voyager’s early days; her gentle bedside manner and strong sense of empathy stood in contrast to the brash and often impolite Doctor in scenes set in sickbay. The idea of a short-lived species (Ocampa typically had a lifespan of around nine years) was also a unique one at this point in Star Trek’s history. Kes had close relationships with Neelix, Tom Paris, and of course the Doctor, too, all of which gave her plenty to do.
I was disappointed when I learned that Kes was going to be dropped from Voyager heading into the show’s fourth season, particularly as she’d just begun developing her telepathic powers under the tutelage of Tuvok. I felt there was still more to explore with her character, and it was a shame that she was booted off the show before this potential could really be reached… especially because of who replaced her.
I know I’m in the minority here… but during the back half of Voyager’s run, I came to really dislike Seven of Nine. This character felt so boring and repetitive, but due to her popularity with at least a portion of the show’s audience she was prominently featured in many different episodes from Season 4 onwards. Seven always seemed to learn some lesson in “how to be human” in an episode… only to forget it all a week later and have to re-learn the same stuff over and over again. I really burned out on her character pretty quickly.
But there’s no denying that Star Trek’s first ex-Borg main character (not counting Picard, of course) shook up Voyager and added something new to the show. Seven’s introduction also kicked off a succession of Borg-centric episodes… which, I’m afraid, were more miss than hit in my opinion, and went a long way to damaging the fear factor that a villain like the Borg needs to have. However, recent Seven of Nine appearances in Star Trek: Picard rehabilitated the character for me, resolved many of the issues I had with her, and generally left me with a much more positive view of Seven as a whole. Here’s hoping she might return one day!
I’ve said this before, but Tom Paris was the Star Trek franchise’s first proper pilot – the first helmsman to really seem like he loved being in the chair. Paris was a fun character – an ex-Maquis and ex-Starfleet officer who seemed to attract the ire of both halves of the combined crew, but came to be seen as a dependable fixture on Voyager’s bridge. Paris’ arc took him from a failure and a criminal to a rehabilitated Starfleet officer and family man, and it was great to see it play out.
Paris’ love for the holodeck also led to some fun diversions across Voyager’s run. I was less enthusiastic about the likes of Captain Proton – though it could be fun for an episode or two – but his creations of Sandrine’s bar, the town of Fair Haven, and the Maquis insurrection holo-programmes all led to fun and exciting stories.
How can we talk about Tom Paris without mentioning B’Elanna Torres? Torres became – at Chakotay’s insistence – Voyager’s chief engineer, and had the challenge of standing out as both the second Maquis main character and (after Worf in The Next Generation) the second character with Klingon heritage. Voyager didn’t always know how to define and handle Torres, with some early episodes presenting her as angry and belligerent… but she soon settled into the role of chief engineer.
B’Elanna, for me, is defined by two key relationships that would develop later in Voyager’s run: her antagonistic stance against Seven of Nine and her relationship and later marriage to Tom Paris. B’Elanna often stood as the voice of reason against Seven’s “Borg-ification” of parts of the ship, but her relationship with Tom went a long way to settling both characters down and giving them purpose. We’d also see several episodes featuring B’Elanna’s Klingon side – and these could be fun changes of direction for a show set thousands of light-years away from Klingon space.
Chakotay feels like the embodiment of Voyager’s missed opportunities. Voyager’s writers never made good on the “one ship, two crews” idea, meaning Chakotay basically became a Starfleet officer and Janeway’s confidante within a couple of episodes, robbing him of more than one potential character arc. His relationships with most of the crew besides Janeway and B’Elanna were never really explored in much depth, and he just feels like… a presence. Chakotay was on the bridge the whole time, but can you think of many episodes where he drove the plot or was otherwise in focus? Because I can’t!
I must get caught up with Prodigy, because Chakotay may get the kind of cathartic redemption arc that we were discussing with Seven of Nine, and that’s something I need to see! And across the show’s seven years, Chakotay did get a few spotlight episodes and storylines – notably exploring his Native American heritage and his relationship with Seska. I just feel there was more that Voyager could have done with this character – he was the first officer, after all, and it would be weird if the likes of Spock, Riker, or Major Kira had been similarly sidelined in their respective shows.
I remember feeling confused on learning that Voyager’s doctor was going to be a hologram! “How could that work?” I remember thinking to myself. “Exceptionally well” seems to be the answer, because Voyager’s Doctor was an incredibly fun character – and one who experienced growth over the course of the series. Starting out as a holo-programme with relatively little personality and no interests, the Doctor changed and evolved over the course of the show, taking on new challenges and new interests, and that was a really fun thing to see play out.
When the Doctor got his mobile emitter – a piece of 29th Century technology – in the third season, I was sceptical. But allowing him to leave the confines of sickbay and the holodeck turned out to be a great decision, leading to more involvement from this fun and enjoyable character across the second half of the show’s run. The Doctor could be great comic relief, and actor Robert Picardo has excellent comedic timing, but there’s much more to the character than that. We got some great emotional moments with him, too, such as losing his holographic family or sitting in court arguing for his rights as a sentient life-form.
Speaking of comic relief, we have Neelix! Star Trek shows had had barkeeps before – Guinan in The Next Generation and Quark in Deep Space Nine – but never a cook. Neelix took broad liberties with that role, serving first as a guide to the area around Ocampa, then as a “morale officer” for the ship – while cooking up a selection of interesting dishes to feed a hungry crew! I bought a copy of Ethan Phillips’ Star Trek Cookbook and even tried a few of them for myself… with terrestrial ingredients, of course.
Neelix’s relationship with Kes could feel a little uncomfortable, but fortunately it wasn’t in focus all that much outside of a few early episodes. As Neelix settled in aboard the ship, he became an important character – and would often serve as a bridge between characters who didn’t always get much interaction. His largely one-sided friendship with Tuvok – though often played for laughs – was great to see, too, and showed Neelix’s way of accepting people different from him.
And speaking of Tuvok, Star Trek’s second Vulcan main character made quite an impact! Spock was always going to be a hard act to follow, but taking the calm and logical Tuvok as far away from science and exploration as possible was undeniably the right call. A Vulcan security and tactical officer makes a lot of sense when you stop to think about it – and Tuvok demonstrates exactly why. Calm and stoic under pressure is just what that job requires!
Tuvok also served as Janeway’s friend and confidante – arguably treading on the toes of the traditional first officer role, in that sense. I wish we’d gotten more of an examination of his relationship with Chakotay, though that’s more from Chakotay’s side, as mentioned above. Tuvok also bridged the gap between The Original Series era and Voyager in the most unexpected of ways – check out the episode Flashback, that I mentioned at the beginning, for more on that!
So that leaves us with Captain Janeway. Janeway was the captain that Voyager needed on a quest like this, and she had the strength to guide her crew home. She also had some fun character quirks, like her love of coffee, that kept her feeling grounded and real. The first woman to sit in the captain’s chair for a Star Trek series embodied elements of all three of her predecessors: Kirk’s toughness, Picard’s diplomacy and tact, and Sisko’s dedication to doing the right thing. But she was always her own woman, never feeling overshadowed by any of the captains that had come before.
As mentioned above, Kate Mulgrew was the perfect choice for this role, and she delivered a masterful performance across all seven seasons of the show. Voyager’s journey home wouldn’t have been the same without her, in fact, and across the show’s run we got several great episodes that shone a spotlight on the captain. Stories pitted her against villains like the Krenim and the Borg Queen, and Janeway always found a way to come out on top!
The USS Voyager still feels like a futuristic design to me even thirty years on from its debut! Something about the more angled saucer section makes it feel more modern than the circular hull of Kirk’s Enterprise and the Enterprise-D, and the sleeker lines also scream “speed!” Voyager was a long-range tactical ship made for exploration and combat, and the ship’s design philosophy reflects that. I will never tire of the sequence in Caretaker of Paris being flown in by shuttlecraft, seeing Voyager for the first time.
On the inside, we got a continuation of the Starfleet aesthetic that debuted in The Motion Picture and has been a mainstay in the franchise since. Voyager’s bridge is larger and wider, though – or at least it feels larger and wider – than anything we’d seen before. This expansive space was the perfect stage for interactions between all of our favourite crew members! Again, the bridge felt more modern than that of the Enterprise-D, while at the same time continuing the design trends that we saw in The Next Generation.
Janeway’s ready-room was an interesting area, giving her a large desk but also a couch that could act as a social space. Engineering had a really neat effect for its warp core, and the expansive entryway was often where intense conversations played out. The Doctor had sickbay as his domain, but he also got an office and a small lab off to one side that were fun inclusions. Voyager also had a shuttlebay, holodecks, crew quarters, corridors, and the mess hall – all of which would get moments where they were in focus!
Image Credit: Forgotten Treks/TrekDocs
As an aside, being able to virtually explore Voyager in the game Elite Force was one of my absolute favourite things about that game! In 2000, being able to wander through the bridge, sickbay, and some of the ship’s corridors felt absolutely magical as a Star Trek fan, and while Elite Force wasn’t the only game to offer that experience (the adaptation of Generations had a mission set on the Enterprise-D, and there were probably others around the same time), it was certainly one of the most memorable for me personally.
One thing Voyager didn’t really have was an expansive secondary cast. Deep Space Nine gradually gave more time and attention to characters like Rom and Martok, but Voyager, by and large, kept its focus on its main cast of characters. The Borg children – and Icheb in particular – were really the only ones to break through in more than a handful of episodes, though some, like Seska and The Next Generation’s Reg Barclay, would go on to make multiple appearances. Deep Space Nine showed what Star Trek could do with a wider and more expansive cast… and it’s something the franchise has yet to return to. Voyager had the opportunity to build out some of its secondary characters, but never really went there. I think that’s a bit of a shame – but it is what it is!
For a variety of reasons, Voyager never really made good on its “one ship, two crews” idea, and by about halfway through Season 1, the main Maquis characters were basically entirely integrated with the Starfleet crew. With the exception of plot-relevant moments, such as stories involving Seska, the fact that almost one-third of Voyager’s complement were Maquis never really came to the fore in a big way, and I think that’s a bit of a missed opportunity.
Don’t get me wrong, a story about people from different backgrounds finding a way to work together for the common good is something I absolutely adore, and there were times where Voyager absolutely nailed that feeling. I guess I’ve just always felt that I would’ve liked to see more tension, scepticism, and disagreement as the two crews began the process of integrating. I never really felt as much of that as I would’ve liked – and that’s perhaps Voyager’s biggest sore spot for me, thirty years on.
That being said, Voyager was a great show all around, and a welcome addition to Star Trek. With The Next Generation’s crew off making feature films and Deep Space Nine occupying a space station, there was plenty of room for a new series set aboard a starship. Voyager embodied Star Trek’s ethos of peaceful exploration… but set that exploration against a new backdrop of trying, against the odds, to make it home. It was both familiar and different at the same time; a really interesting blend of storytelling styles.
Voyager was also a much more episodic series than Deep Space Nine – despite its voyage home story being omnipresent and frequently referred to. There were plenty of one-off stories featuring a wide range of alien races, factions, and wacky premises. It was a Star Trek series through and through, one that brought a fantastic cast of characters to the table and threw them into plenty of fun, exciting, and occasionally emotional situations.
The excitement I felt thirty years ago was more than rewarded! Voyager was an outstanding show, and I got thoroughly invested in the crew and their quest to return to the Alpha Quadrant. There were some episodes that were wide of the mark – as there are bound to be in any show that runs to 168 episodes across seven seasons! But even at its worst, there were things to enjoy, fun lines of dialogue, entertaining character moments, or creative decisions that made Voyager well worth watching for any Trekkie or fan of sci-fi in general.
As the final show of what I consider to be Star Trek’s “golden age,” I’ve long had a soft spot for Voyager. Of course I watched every single episode during the show’s run – I would tune in when they made their debut on terrestrial TV here in the UK, and I very rarely missed a week. I later bought all seven seasons when they were released on DVD and enjoyed the series all over again.
So I hope this has been an interesting look back! I wanted to do something to acknowledge Voyager’s milestone anniversary, but it’s hard to summarise my thoughts on 168 episodes and seven years’ worth of television in a single article! Stay tuned, though, because I’ll be writing up my thoughts on some of my favourite episodes in the days ahead as we continue to celebrate Voyager’s thirtieth anniversary.
I hope that Paramount and the folks in charge of Star Trek plan to do something to mark this momentous occasion, so I’ll definitely be checking out the official Star Trek website and social media pages over the next couple of days. With Seven of Nine, Janeway, Chakotay, and others all having returned to the Star Trek franchise in the last few years, Voyager’s legacy is very much alive. The documentary To The Journey: Looking Back at Star Trek: Voyager has had its official premieres, too, though I don’t think it’s available to stream just yet. Still, another thing to keep an eye on.
All that remains to say is this: happy thirtieth anniversary, Star Trek: Voyager! Thanks for all the memories.
Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream now on Paramount+ in countries and territories where the platform is available. The series is also available on DVD. The Star Trek franchise – including Voyager and all other properties discussed above – is the copyright of Paramount Global. Some images courtesy of TrekCore and Paramount. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.
Trekking with Dennis 