You are right but you are nit-picking when it comes to being well groomed. The biggest mistake your right about is how quickly the 2 crews came together. The ship was very damaged several times but it was never explained how it was repaired.

The point about being well-groomed is that it's odd that despite being so far from home with limited access to supplies that Voyager managed to remain so ship-shape. At no point during the series did the appearance of the crew or the ship reflect the situation they were in.

Consider real-world historical examples: During World War II, U-Boat crews grew beards and were absolutely filthy by the end of their missions. Early explorers traveling around the world suffered from food shortages and diseases.

I'm not saying Voyager's crew should have had that extreme of an appearance but they should have looked less neat in trim as the series progressed. Their uniforms should have appeared worn out. The ship itself should have appeared banged up and damaged. Discipline should have been less rigid.

There was an episode in STTNG where the Enterprise briefly encounters an Enterprise from an alternative universe where the Borg have taken over the Federation. Their Riker has unruly hair, his uniform is dirty, their Enterprise is falling apart because they are alone in a hostile territory and have no help from Starfleet......just like Voyager.

You forgot about replicators...new clothes in seconds.

In spurts, Voyager could be an amazing show, but overall, I think it squandered its potential. I believe it could have been vastly better had it been more consistent in its quality.

@RustyShackleworth said:

Star Trek: Voyager had a great premise for a Star Trek series. A Federation starship decades away from home with no allies and limited supplies (sounds like Battlestar Galactica) in unfamiliar territory. And top of that, you start off with a crew with divided loyalties and agendas (the Maquis and Starfleet officers).

But the Delta quadrant didn't really seem all that different from the Alpha quadrant. The crew united fairly quickly and generally got along well. By the end of the first episode they're all wearing Starfleet uniforms and somehow throughout the course of the series their uniforms never showed any signs of wear and tear. The ship itself never seemed to suffer any permanent damage much less a dent or a scratch. The crew still got to play in the halodeck, have meals whenever they wanted, always seemed to have plenty of photon torpedoes and they all remained well-groomed.

Voyager seemed to hint that these characters were alone and far from home but never really showed the stress and challenges people would really face in such a situation.

Thoughts?

I've just started binge watching. (As opposed to catching a random show here or there.)

The first season had all systems failing during every combat. (Decks 3-6 seem to really take a beating.) Yet by the end of the show the only problem was Neelix was running low on Aldeberan paprika. They must have had one helluva good repair team.

You're right. So much potential.

I know I am in the minority but Voyager was my favorite Star Trek series. I do realize it was far from perfect. How many times were disasters fixed by time travel? The crew were at odds for 2 episodes? Neelix and Kess were, IMO, annoying as hell.

The things I liked about the show was the characters and how they played off each other. Tom and Harry were fun. Janeway and Seven had that mother/daughter relationship. Even though I didn't like Neelix, I enjoyed his interactions with Tuvok. The Doctor was interesting to watch grow and develop. My favorite episodes from any Star Trek were Voyager 2 part episodes. Equinox, Scorpion and Year of Hell.

I did love TNG. I liked the cast except for Tasha and Guinan. Wasn't a big fan of DS9 until the last few seasons. I just didn't like the characters. Sisco, Kira, and Odo were too anal. Quark, Rom,Nog, Winn Adami andJake irritated me.

I also liked voyager then most trek fans. Question: Did voyager have a big budget. It production valuses,special efects ect.... seem so much better the TNG or even DS9.

I have no idea about the budgets. I would guess that they were able to use filming technology that wasn't available for TNG. DS9 always seemed dark and they were mainly stuck on the station.

I liked End Game. It just felt too rushed. Should have been a 4 part episode. I would have liked to see what happened when they got home. I read somewhere that some of the cast was hoping for a movie that would never happen.

BBC America has been showing episodes and pulled me back in. I forgot how much I loved the show. The humor was one of the biggest reasons I enjoyed it. It wasn't too stuffy. Then you add the cast and characters and you had a great, if not somewhat flawed, show.

I enjoyed the series overall, minor niggles was the too obvious female leads bouncing ideas off each other to come up with a solution and the sudden turnaround of B'elanna from wanting Chakotay to wanting Tom. I found the love affair of Kes and Neelix somewhat off-putting. My favourite character was Seven - it is sad that Kate Mulgrew was so hateful to her and very unprofessional that she let it affect their working relationship.

@Invidia said:

it is sad that Kate Mulgrew was so hateful to her and very unprofessional that she let it affect their working relationship.

Saw a short 5 min clip where the actress who played 7 said something about how difficult it was working with Kate.

What exactly happened and went on between them?

She was also interviewed with the actor who played KIM and he starts crying because he said the situation reminded him of the relationship between his mother, and sisters, and niece.

He also mentioned something about how he didn't think it was right for Kate to be chosen to do some kind of MTV special because he thought someone YOUNGER like him would be more appreciated for it.

So was there some kind of JEALOUSY going on?

It was also explained how 7 was deliberately hired to FIRE UP the show and increase publicity for it.

So is that what happened? Did KATE resent all the attention 7 was getting and felt left out once her character appears on the show?

Several months ago I checked out a book from the library called "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams: The Complete, Uncensored, and Unauthorized Oral History of Star Trek". You can find on Amazon. The book is a collection of comments from Star Trek writers, producers and actors and it does a good job of detailing what was going behind the scenes.

With regard to Voyager, Mulgrew resented it when Jeri Ryan was brought onboard because she was getting so much attention from fans and the media. Mulgrew saw herself as the star and center of the series and she takes herself seriously as an actress. She thought Ryan was introduced to the series mainly because of her physical appearance and sex appeal. Mulgrew was probably a little jealous that all of the sudden here was this hot, young blonde with a killer body getting all this attention.

Arguably the most family-like crew of all the Trek shows, and also the most dysfunctional off-camera. How many years has the show been off air, and the former cast members still open up old wounds, and rehash bitter feelings. At conventions, some members still talk badly about Ryan, or Mulgrew. To be fair, when they do these interviews, the interviewer will always ask about their time on the show, hoping to dig up some dirt. But at some point, these actors need to say, "I've had ups and downs on the show. I've said my piece, and it's a matter of public record. I don't want to rehash the past so let's talk about something else."

Except there's also that one scene where she ORDERS KIM to take off his clothes so that they could have COPULATE,

That was one funny scene. Yes Ryan was eye candy but she did a great job with that role.