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THE MISSION Currently in its sixth season on the United Paramount Network, Star Trek: Voyager is the fourth television incarnation of Gene Roddenberry's original Star Trek science fiction fantasy. Set in the same time as the popular Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series, the one hour drama showcases the adventures of a Starfleet crew lost in the distant Delta Quadrant, desparately trying to get back home to the Alpha Quadrant. Featuring Star Trek's first female lead as Captain Katharyn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the starship Voyager in her premiere "The Caretaker" was sent on a mission into the "Badlands" to capture a renegade group of Federation colonists fighting a guerilla war with both the Federation and the Cardassian Empire called the Maquis. She and the Maquis raider she was tracking were inadvertantly thrown into the Delata Quadrant - over 75,000 light years from home - by the mysterious entity known as the "Caretaker." By the end of this spectacular premiere, Captain Janeway in textbook fashion would not disobey the Prime Directive to interfere with the Caretake and return the ship home. Now stranded, the Starfleet crew and Maquis crew must integrate to face the long, virtually hopeless journey home. Following this premiere episode, ratings unfortunately began to decline and as a result of what some consider poor writing and what was obviously a "Star Trek-saturated" entertainment industry, Star Trek: Voyager has never fully gained the respect of the Trek community or been able to approach the enormously successful ratings of The Next Generation. Season three jumped off with the promise of a reformed Voyager as the production staff welcomed Kenneth Biller and Joe Menosky, writers from TNG, and abanoned the two-dimensional Kazon as villains. However, with the departure of creator and fan favorite Michael Piller, more of the same type of "TNG-copying" seemed to plague most of the season including a ratings stint to throw the fan favorite Borg into the mix, cashing in on the success of the second Next Generation movie, Star Trek: First Contact. The Borg's debut on Voyager was not as successful as originally thought when their episode "Unity" did not give fans the action and excitement usually associated with their favorite villains. The production crew, including chief writer Brannon Braga, quickly scrapped the planned season finale in favor of a Borg two-parter that spared no expense. Following a May Sweeps of rather good episodes including the thought-provoking "Distant Origin," about a sentient race of space-faring dinosaurs discovering that their origin might have been Earth, the finale named "Scorpion" not only gave fans spectacular CGI visual effects such as a Borg planet and fifteen cubes but presented the crew with an enemy even more powerful than the Borg. Known as "Species 8472," this race was like none other seen in Trek before, and it seemed like Voyager had finally found its niche in the market with originality and TNG-quality writing. The fourth season started out spectacularly with the premiere and conclusion to the Borg fiasco, "Scorpion II." But not only did this show wrap up the previous season's cliffhanger, it took on the duty of introducing a new character to the show in preparation for the departure of Kes (Jenifer Lien) the following week. A Borg drone that became separated from the collective during the events in "Scorpion II," Seven of Nine (later called "Seven") seemed to bring a sexy touch that not only brought up ratings but improved the dynamics of the show. To the fans' chagrin however, the first half of the fourth season has yet to match the quality of its premiere, and except for a few "moral-oriented-TOS-like" episodes such as "Nemesis" and "Random Thoughts" the show seems to have fallen back into mediocrity. Dramatis Personae
Creative Staff
Star Trek: Voyager has been nominated for nine Emmy's and has captured two of them.
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