Star Trek Voyager

I didn't think much of Janeway at the time but recently developed a newfound respect for Kate Mulgrew and her work as an actor after hearing Diane Rehm interview her about her new memoir "Born With Teeth." When Voyager came on TV I was a kid and thought Chakotay was a hot space Indian daddy.

I liked Lwaxana Troi. I liked the episode where she's about to marry and she talks about getting older and "settling" in marriage.

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When Janeway and Paris de-evolved into amphibians.

Janeway, The Doctor and Seven of Nine. And those are easy choices because the rest was so under- or mis developed.

Seven. Easily one of the best Star Trek characters played by a brilliant actress. Loved the borg Ice queen. Can't believe people are still moaning about her catsuit and high heels. Every woman on star trek wears heels and the same sad bitches never moan about Kira's fugly catsuit.

R5 They had a chance to develop though they never brought anything substantial to the table. In fact I'd argue Tom, Torres & Neelix all developed substantially, they just didn't get as much screen time. Chuckles & Kim should have just been booted with Kes.

Voyager was easily more enjoyable than that pitiful low budget Days of Our Lives in a space station.

Depends which season but mostly either Torres or Seven.

Janeway, who I love and I love Kate Mrs. Columbo Mulgrew too, was written differently week by week so she was a well written bipolar character but not my favorite.

Hated Neelix despite Ethan Philips' quality acting. Although his goodbye episode and a few others are actually touching.

I liked Kes. She should have stayed and died in season 7. Was there a 'no more than one blonde' rule? Anyway, sad to see she turned out to be a crazy methhead hick. Shameful the way that all played out. Drugs!

Tuvok is great. Love his little sneers and raised eyebrows. Love his friendship with Janeway. Tim Russ played the perfect Vulcan.

Poor Dumb Harry gets so much hate. Once he gets a better haircut he's actually attractive. He has a few good moments, but he was sorely underused. They knew his acting stunk when they hired him but they barely ever seemed to notice that he improved.

Of course the Doctor is awesome. He has the best character arc in all of Trek I would say. Better than Data. Picardo I'd magnificent.

Chakotay. Um, he played a priest on Murder, She Wrote I think.

Tom Paris was written as Mary Sue-y as Janeway and like Janeway sometimes I like him sometimes I don't. I wish they didn't neuter him so quickly, I like him with Torres and friends with Harry, it just aggravates me when the pilot is the perfect man for every job.

And the amazingness of Torres and Seven and Roxanne and JerI go without saying.

Reg was great too. And Seska, the uberfemench.

R7 Jennifer Lien had been on drugs since her AW days. Her drug abuse was pretty extreme by the time of her Voyager days. Lucky for her most of the cast loved her and Garrett's behaviour was worse with partying, turning up late or hungover and not knowing the lines. I'm guessing her habit never interfered much with the show as she was never officially suspended like Wang or was first on the chopping block.

Voyager would have happily had two blondes in Kes & Seven, though they only wanted 9 contract cast. Someone had to go. Mulgrew, Russ, Picardo, McNeill, Dawson were never in question to be axed. Beltran just liked to bitch and moan whilst taking a paycheck and signing new contracts. Although Neelix was hated by nearly everyone, Phillips was a well respected actor and cast and executives liked. That left Wang & Lien. Wang was first to be ousted, him being infected by species 8472 and dying was his exit, people's magazine 50 most beautiful saved him and Lien was sacked instead. The excuse was her character sucked and she had nowhere else to go. It also helped her character was only a nurse, not an important part of running the ship. Seven was supposed to take Harry's station on the bridge as operations officer. Obviously that didn't happen and why with her knowledge of engineering she was down mixing it with Torres a lot and even in same instances making Torres seem surplus.

Garrett was underused because he and his character never impressed the writers. He also was not well received by the public so there was no incentive for the writers to invest in him. I still don't get Voyager's criticisms of focusing on three characters (Seven, Doctor, Janeway) when every Star Trek series, escept DS9, gives the lion's share to three characters.

Seska was a great villian and should never have been killed off. She could have just lurked in Engineering bitching about Janeway and sabotaging a few things.

I loved Janeway and Seven of Nine's many interactions and dialogues. Both actresses were fantastic. Loved the Doctor, and the episode where he sang opera was quite touching. I didn't care for Kes, nor her soft-spoken, girly Asian grandson. Hated Harry Kim and Neelix.

Janeway and seven. I hattteeee Harry Kim. Most of my favorite trek episodes ever are in voyager and center around janeway or seven. Counterpoint, the one where they're stuck in an orbit around that plant with their temporal disparity, the time ship, the dinosaurs from in the delta quadrant that were from earth.

[quote]I liked Kes. She should have stayed and died in season 7. Was there a 'no more than one blonde' rule?

Jennifer Lien was fired because of her drug use. It was so bad, she was using on the set.

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R10- I agree the episode where the crew finds out that the Dinosaurs on earth evolved and left earth and colonized another planet-was one of the best Voyager episodes.

r12 Are you rewatching it, bumper?

I had the biggest crush on Icheb when I was watching the series originally.

I've seen this show so many times now I don't really rewatch it anymore as I pretty much have it all in my memory (banks) still.

I'm watching TOS and TNG for the first time and it really struck me how non-offensive Voyager was when it comes to gender roles and just lack of sexism in general. Loved scenes of Janeway and Seven talking about humanity. I know Mulgrew said she thought that mother-daughter relationship didn't really work, but I always read it as a teacher-student one, and it worked wonderfully for me.

r15 Yup, me too. I'm so glad they never went full Wesley with him because I'd just start hating him.

R14 No. I've seen the series many times so that's not necessary.

I was interested by the poll so I bumped it up.

Currently rewatching season 7 and watched Human Error. Series still holds up well and the effects aren't too dated. Voted Seven.

r18 Great episode with a heartbreaking ending. Seven is so great. The effects definitely hold up the most on Voyager and Enterprise.

I voted for poor rejected Kes.

r20 = Jude the Apostle, patron saint of lost causes

Wow! Kes & Tuvok are the bottom two.

I'd put both in my top 5 on the show.

Have always really liked Tuvok but he's never usually the character that gets called their favourite by fans so I'm not surprised he isn't getting more. Though last is a bit weird, especially as Harry & Neelix are beating him.

Kes does have a very vocal fanbase, but they are small so it's not surprising she's around the bottom.

Voted for Janeway, with Seven and the Doctor as runner-ups. Kes grew on me in re-runs. The character was underutilized, but Lien was acting very well. Just watching her act is fun. I think I read that they kept Harry over Kes because they wanted to retain the gender ratio in the cast. Taking one male out and replace with a female, would have resulted in too many women. Maybe that wasn't desirable for a show that tried to appeal to a male demographic.

I liked Kes too; just such a wonderfully grounded presence to her. Her romance with Nellix was just completely wrong, though. And I like Neelix but they had zero chemistry of that kind.

Tuvok seemed completely underutilized now that I'm watching TOS for the first time. Spock had near constant conflicts with the captain and the crew, and we all know how crazy T'Pol's arc got on Enterprise. So it's weird that, after having no main Vulcan characters on TNG and DS9, the one on Voyager would be so flat. I loved the little moments that hinted at his unwavering devotion to Janeway, I just wish there were more of them.

I never understood why they created Tom Paris, rather than just have him do Nick Locarno again.

They got rid of Lien, not Kes. Apparently, her habits were becoming too much to deal with.

They were actually going to get rid of Harry at the same time as Kes - when they introduced Seven. He had been attacked by Species 8472. However, that summer he was voted People's 50 most beautiful and got a reprieve - or so the story goes.

R26 it was over rights and who created the character of Nick Locarno and having to continually pay for the character.

[quote]it was over rights and who created the character of Nick Locarno and having to continually pay for the character.

Really? Seems strange that they wouldn't own a character created for TNG. But, no other answer really makes sense.

I mean, Paris basically is Locarno, but with a much less interesting backstory.

R28 I think guest characters not intended to become regular or recurring are owned by their writers. I can remember that's why Nyssa left Doctor Who because they had to keep paying the writer for the use of her character everytime she was used because she was a late edition to the regular cast and not initially planned as a regular. It became too expensive so she was axed.

Also maybe the creator of Locarno was holding out for too much money.

That was the official reason given though.

I think they even used Locarno's photo once in Voyager with Admiral Paris.

[quote]I think they even used Locarno's photo once in Voyager with Admiral Paris.

Both Paris and Locarno were played by Robert Duncan McNeill

R30 I know, but they used Locarno's image in a Voyager episode from memory, so I'm not sure if they would have had to pay for the use of the image considering it was taken during Next Gen and owned by the First Duty author or because no words were spoken they were okay to use the likeness because of McNeil. It's all about royalties.

I really only watched Voyager (and DS9) after the fact on Netflix, though I did catch a few episodes of Season One during its initial run.

Kate Mulgrew is quite good. And she is a very articulate and entertaining raconteur at conventions.

Most have moved up or down recently...

1 = Seven

2 = Janeway

3 = Dr.

4 / 5 = Paris & Chakotay tied (!?!)

6 = Kes

7 = Neelix (!?!)

8 / 9 = Kim & Torres tied (!?!)

10 = Tuvok

Whoever voted for Kes should be taken outside and beaten!

r34 = actual Satan

This is what Kes looks like today. R34 I'd say life has taken her outside and given her a bashing!

[quote] "I think they even used Locarno's photo once in Voyager with Admiral Paris. Both Paris and Locarno were played by Robert Duncan McNeill —Anonymous"

Well, bless your heart!

I sort of miss the RuPaul's Drag Race troll. He'd call us all racists for having Tuvox last on the list.

And what the fuck do you all have against ME, huh?

r39 I've been freaked out by Tuvix since the first time I saw him on screen. It's the blood-red beetle eyes, the homosexual eyebrows, the "Janet Jackson but not really" face, the soft child molester voice, and his wispy ratty hair that looks like he has cancer.

I'm sorry, he just makes me uneasy. I actually breathed a sigh of relief when Janeway executed him; she was my knight in shining armour in that moment.

🤢

If they'd hired anyone other than Jeri Ryan, Seven would have just been a life support system for a set of tits.

r42 Hilarious and so true. And also what eventually happened with Jolene Blalock's T'Pol; she just wasn't given proper material to make that leap. Can't believe what the network and the ST writers used to get away with. I'm so glad DISCO subverted that and we're now getting half-naked male gigolos instead.

I remember Maria Bamford talking on some podcast a while ago that she was once working as a Bajoran hostess at one of those Star Trek conventions and they gave her a nose prosthetic and a pair of bolt-on tits. "Because, you know, it's part of my [italic]culture."[/italic]

I thought T'Pol got better material as Enterprise went on. She was great throughout the Xindi arc, and the stuff with her mother (Joanna Cassidy, bitches) was also really good.

r44 I agree with all of that, she just never transcended that wank material image for me. Maybe it was the nipples poking through or those lips which the makeup artist additionally exaggerated to make her look like a porn star, I just never could take her seriously. Perhaps because I was older than when Voyager was on and so less forgiving of this straight male nerd bullshit.

I heard from one of the YouTube VOYAGER panel diacussions that the actor who played Tuvix was not very well liked by the cast. When his scenes were in the can, the cast members could all take pleasure in Janeway "eliminating" him.

r46 Ha! So there was something off with the actor as well. See, my homosexual/child's intuition totally picked up on it. By the way, I love when the actors slag each other off on those panels; it results in such delicious gossip.

I love these Star Trek threads!

I only watched Voyager once (I was the right age when TNG came out for that series to be my favorite).

I don't think I ever had a favorite character on Voyager... I remember thinking Tom Paris was annoying, plain and simple. I especially hated his holodeck adventure episodes.

I don't think Harry made enough of an impression on me for me to feel the same hatred for the character that so many other people apparently did. I think he was a better version of Wesley: Someone new to starfleet, still green and bursting with enthusiasm... but he wasn't an annoying kid on the bridge.

I think if I were forced to pick, I'd have to say Janeway is my favorite. And I liked how her friendships with Chakotay and with Seven grew over the series such that they became trusted friends.

And yeah, I had a crush on Icheb, too. I think someone in one of the other Star Trek threads mentioned that he's a super-right-winger these days.

[quote]I especially hated his holodeck adventure episodes.

Hated most all holodeck adventures as a kid but now I've come to appreciate them now and actually enjoy the interminable slowness of it all. I can just picture the writers straining to come up with new cheap shit because they blew the budget already. Having said that, I am glad Discovery doesn't have a holodeck yet.

[quote]I think someone in one of the other Star Trek threads mentioned that he's a super-right-winger these days.

That was disappointing to hear when I read it in the other (probably the same) thread but he seems to have dialled it down these days, at least publicly. He does have a new movie to shill, after all, and liberal money doesn't stink. He doesn't seem to be a homophobe either so that's nice. Or he could just be jonesing for a cameo on DISCO. You never know with these people.

[quote]I ran into our good friend @actordougjones who is one of the kindest real people in Hollywood.

He seems to be gay friendly, at least.

r50 [italic]Fuuuuck,[/italic] that is a sweet-ass combadge.

Also he doesn't seem like a Trumper.

r52 I swear I went to look at his Twitter account last year after someone on DL had mentioned he was a deplorable and there was indeed right-wing shit all over it. Maybe he's changed his tune or maybe it's a case of shared delusion / false memory on our part. In any case, I'm glad he's not a right-winger (anymore).

From what I've heard, Jennifer Lien was so fucked up on drugs she was using on the set. That was the last straw, and why she was fired.

None of the Voyager cast particularly liked each other, except for Mulgrew and Picardo, who knew each other from before the show began.

Not only was she using, I heard she was also trying to sell drugs to other cast members. Damn, I wish she recovered completely just so she could write a (self-critical) tell-all. But she's beyond help, I think. Though she's apparently not illiterate from all that meth, as evidenced by her enjoying a book while waiting in the court.

Cast yesterday.