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We all know the series isn't good, that it doesn't live up to its full potential, but let's name some of the Voyager episodes we do rewatch, because they're so good, we can forget it's surrounded by a sea of mediocrity, even if this stuff will never matter again.

For me, my top two picks would be "Death Wish" and "The Thaw." It's really classic Trek, and it's intellectually engaging in a way Voyager rarely was.

I rate "The Thaw" and it's themes highly, but it's not something I tend to come back to, as I find the antics of the virtual characters uninteresting. I'd go for "Year of Hell" and "Scorpion" and "Equinox". The acting and themes on display especially in "Year of Hell" in particular, are on spot and there are only few minor lapses imo. It's the quintessence of what Voyager should have been and thus will always be the best thing to come back to, imo.

I always had a soft spot for “Prime Factors” and “State of Flux”.

The VOYAGER show I would love to see is the one Michael Piller would have made without the compromises he had to make for Berman and UPN. I can only get that in small glimpses. It’s kind of crazy to me how for whatever impact he made on Trek in the 90s he didn’t have much carte blanche in his final years. As flawed as the first two seasons were, I wish he would have had his original ideas for the third season retained.

I guess you're more action-oriented, Madner Kami? Not saying that's a bad theme, just different tastes for different blokes is all.

Um... I have watched those, and they seem very bland to me. Even if "Prime Factors" is overall above average, it isn't remarkable, while I feel "The Thaw" and "Death Wish" is. Really, this explains so much now.

Well, carry on!

Yukaphile wrote: ↑Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:33 am I guess you're more action-oriented, Madner Kami? Not saying that's a bad theme, just different tastes for different blokes is all.

Not really. Blade Runner, Dune, Ghost in the Shell 1 and 2 (Innocence) are pretty much at the top of my all-time favourites. Admittedly, I never really bothered with actually creating a comprehensive list of what I think I like the most though, so maybe they could end up a bit lower in actuality, though I can't think of something that I'd rate as high or would have watched more often at the top of my head.

Interesting observation though, I did not realize that. I'm a big sucker for well-made orchestration in general though and I guess that can be most easily achieved in action-scenes. I'd argue it's decidedly not about the action in the episodes I mentioned though, it really is about the themes on display and the skill involved in the production. As said, "Year of Hell" is Voyager as it should have been. "Equinox" kinda is too and I can absolutely get behind the motivations of Ransom, so it's an episode with an antagonist that actually makes sense to me and that's something you don't get on Voyager every day. "Scorpion", I'd say mostly because it's a Borg-episode without the Queen and it's a functioning Borg-episode.

Well, Wrath of Khan is my favorite Trek movie, and barring the TNG films, that was the most action-oriented of them.

Well, the movie is about the conflict between Khan and Kirk. How could there be no action? It's tangential to the themes of the movie though and never is treated like something of it's own. The action in that movie is a means to an end, not a means of it's own. So it may be an action-oriented movie, but it isn't an action-movie, if you can catch my drift.

I tend to like the Doctor episodes and the same episodes that others typically see as among the best (Scorpion, Year of Hell, Timeless). Haven't really rewatched much since I went through the whole series a couple years ago, but those are the ones I'd go back to.

One thing I do think Voyager deserves more credit for is that it's a good-looking show. Episodes like Thirty Days or Dragon's Teeth might have their issues as character pieces or Star Trek stories, but they look nicer than some of the dull looks you'd get in many TNG or DS9 episodes. So every once in a while I'll return to an episode that does something interesting with the cinematography.

Dull?! Them's fighting words, pal.

I thought DS9 was a more dynamic looking show. I don’t care much for the aesthetics of VOY.