Often the subject of disagreement, Voyager is talked about poorly by some and praised by others. Seeing plenty of posts about it here. Well ya know - I think Voyager is underrated.
That show took risks. They ran some stories that were just risky in terms of writing and production - sometimes it was a hit, sometimes a stinker. That's why it has some amazing episodes and some really really stupid ones, because they were willing to take a chance on something uncertain. And I respect that, too many shows these days feel like the same recycled crap because television has become so risk-averse and they're not willing to take a chance on something that might turn out dumb.
So we got ones like the infamous warp 10 episode, and those are remembered as cases where the show got really dumb. But as an example, Seven of Nine could've completely bombed that show. Yes it looked like they were bringing on a bimbo for sex appeal, and they absolutely could've went that route with her. Fans might've hated the change no matter what. I mean, that's a big deal, losing a main character and adding a new one - shows don't always survive that.
Also there are things I notice from a production standpoint. From reading about the making of TNG, one thing I remember is them talking about never wanting to damage the costumes or get them dirty, or damage the set. That increases their production costs, cheaper to just not do that.
But Voyager does this all the time. Uniforms are always getting burned and torn, Neelix spills things on his shirt, the bridge is shown being blown up or completely transformed. All the times they have smoke inside there, there's something with water, parts are broken off - that's something they had to clean up for the next episode. If they show burn marks on the captain's chair, that means they'll have to be cleaned or the whole prop replaced, at the risk of it not being identical or impossible to fix.
So the point is - respect for taking those risks. Didn't always land, but plenty of them did.
@catshit_dogfart Voyager was my main Trek when I was younger and will always be my favourite. Janeway was awesome, and it's location in the Delta quadrant, far from Starfleet, made for some unique story opportunities.
When Seven was introduced, I was already bitter about the move Sliders made to remove a beloved character and bring on a hot woman, so I was really upset that Voyager did the same. But grew to love the character over time.
Voyager was fantastic & made me a Trek fan.
#StarTrek
I'm still really sad that Kes was written off. Got no problem with Seven, but Kes was a good character on her own.
But, Neelix was pretty crap until Kes was removed from the show. Without her to be constantly jealous of, Neelix finally started to be useful and interesting.
I agree 100%, his spat with Tom was annoying, I liked him better once she was out of the picture.