Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe.

The show takes place during the 2370s, and begins on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy, 75,000 light-years from Earth. It follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which became stranded in the Delta Quadrant while pursuing a renegade Maquis ship. The two ships' crews merge aboard Voyager to make the estimated 75-year journey home.

The show was created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor, and is the fifth incarnation of Star Trek, which began with the 1960s series Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It was produced for seven seasons, from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek TV series with a female captain, Kathryn Janeway, as a main character.

Star Trek: Voyager aired on UPN and was the network's second longest running series, as well as the final show from its debut lineup to end.

Production

As Star Trek: The Next Generation ended, Paramount Pictures wanted to continue to have a second Star Trek TV series to accompany Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. The studio also planned to start a new television network, and wanted the new show to help it succeed. Paramount formed Paramount Stations Group after purchasing the TVX Group, which owned several independent stations in major markets. In late 1994, the studio announced the United Paramount Network, a joint venture between Paramount and Chris-Craft Industries; the "U" in UPN came from United Television, a Chris-Craft subsidiary. Both companies owned independent stations in several large cities in the United States. The new network launched on January 16, 1995; less than a year earlier, Paramount had been bought by Viacom. This was the second time that Paramount had considered launching a network anchored by a Star Trek show: the studio planned to launch a network showcasing Star Trek: Phase II in 1977.

Initial work on Star Trek: Voyager started in 1993, and seeds for the show's backstory, including the development of the Maquis, were placed in several The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine episodes. Voyager was shot on the stages The Next Generation had used and the pilot, "Caretaker", was shot in September 1994. Around that time, Paramount was sold to Viacom, making Voyager the first Star Trek TV series to premiere after the sale concluded.

Star Trek: Voyager was also the first Star Trek TV show to eliminate the use of models for exterior space shots and exclusively use computer-generated imagery (CGI) instead. Other television shows such as seaQuest DSV and Babylon 5 had previously used CGI exclusively to avoid the huge expense of models, but the Star Trek television department continued using models, because they felt models provided better realism. Amblin Imaging won an Emmy for the opening CGI title visuals, but the weekly episode exteriors were captured using hand-built miniatures of the Voyager, shuttlecraft, and other ships. That changed when Star Trek: Voyager went fully CGI for certain types of shots midway through Season 3 (late 1996). Paramount obtained an exclusive contract with Foundation Imaging, the studio responsible for special effects during Babylon 5's first three seasons. Season 3's "The Swarm" was the first episode to use Foundation's effects exclusively. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine started using Foundation Imaging in conjunction with Digital Muse one year later (season 6). In its later seasons, Star Trek: Voyager featured visual effects from Foundation and Digital Muse.

Plot overview

In the pilot episode, "Caretaker", USS Voyager departs station Deep Space Nine on a mission into the treacherous Badlands to find a missing ship piloted by a team of Maquis rebels, which the Vulcan Lt. Tuvok, Voyager's security officer, has secretly infiltrated. While in the Badlands, the Voyager is chased down and eventually enveloped by a powerful energy wave, which ends up damaging Voyager, killing several of its crew, and stranding the ship on the far side of the galaxy, known as the Delta Quadrant, more than 70,000 light-years from Earth.

Voyager eventually finds the Maquis ship, and the two crews reluctantly agree they must join forces to survive their long journey home. Chakotay, leader of the Maquis group, becomes first officer. B'Elanna Torres, a half-human/half-Klingon Maquis, becomes chief engineer. Tom Paris, whom Janeway released from a Federation prison to help her find the Maquis ship, is made Voyager's helm officer. Due to the deaths of the ship's entire medical staff, The Doctor, an Emergency Medical Hologram designed for short-term use only, is employed as the ship's doctor and Chief Medical Officer. Neelix, a Talaxian scavenger, and Kes, a young Ocampan, natives of the Delta Quadrant, are welcomed aboard as the ship's chef/morale officer, and The Doctor's medical assistant respectively.

Due to the great distance from Federation space, the Delta Quadrant is unexplored and Voyager truly is going where no human has gone before. As the ship sets out on its projected 75-year journey home, the crew passes through regions belonging to various species indigenous to the Delta Quadrant, such as the barbaric and belligerent Kazon; the organ-harvesting, disease-ravaged Vidiians; the nomadic hunter-race the Hirogen; the fearsome, scorpion-like Species 8472 from a fluid-space realm; and most notably the Borg, as Voyager has to move through large areas of Borg-controlled space in later seasons. They also encounter perilous natural phenomena such as a nebulous area called the Nekrit Expanse ("Night", fifth season), a large area of empty space called the Void ("The Void", seventh season), wormholes, dangerous nebulae, and other anomalies.

However, Voyager does not always deal with the unknown. It is the second Star Trek series to feature Q, an omnipotent alien, on a recurring basis (Q made only one appearance on Deep Space Nine). Also, Starfleet Command learns of Voyager's survival when the ship discovers an ancient interstellar communications network, belonging to the Hirogen, that the crew can tap into. Although this relay network is later disabled, becoming unusable, Starfleet (thanks to the efforts of Reginald Barclay, who was featured more prominently on The Next Generation) eventually establishes regular contact with Voyager by using a communications array and microwormhole technology. This ability to communicate and to transmit data would figure prominently in the series' later years.

In the show's fourth season, Kes is replaced on the ship by Seven of Nine (known colloquially as Seven), a Borg drone who was assimilated as a six-year-old human girl but liberated from the collective by the Voyager crew. Seven begins to regain her humanity as the series progresses, thanks to ongoing efforts by Captain Janeway to show her that the perfection the Borg seek is not compatible with the imperfection of humanity; however, emotions such as love and caring are more important to happiness. The Doctor also becomes more human-like, thanks in part to a mobile holo-emitter the crew obtains in the third season which allows the Doctor to leave the confines of sickbay and roam the ship freely. He starts to discover his love for music and art, which he demonstrates in the episode Virtuoso. In the sixth season, the crew discovers a group of adolescent aliens assimilated by the Borg but prematurely released from their maturation chambers due to a malfunction on their Borg cube. As he did with Seven of Nine, The Doctor re-humanized the children; three of them eventually find a new adoptive home while the fourth, Icheb, chooses to stay aboard Voyager.

Life for the Voyager crew continued to change over their seven-year journey. Traitors (Seska and Jonas) were uncovered in the early months ("State of Flux"); loyal crew members were lost late in the journey; and other wayward Starfleet officers were integrated into the crew. During the second season, the first child was born aboard the ship to Ensign Samantha Wildman; as she grew up, Naomi Wildman would become great friends with her godfather, Neelix. Early in the seventh season, Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres married after a long courtship, and Torres would give birth to their child in the series finale. Late in the seventh season, the ship finds a colony of Talaxians on a makeshift settlement in an asteroid field; Neelix chooses to bid Voyager farewell and live once again amongst his people.

Over the course of the series, the crew of Voyager found a number of ways to shorten their journey by many decades, thanks to shortcuts (in the episodes "Night", "Q2"), technology boosts ("The Voyager Conspiracy", "Dark Frontier", "Timeless", "Hope and Fear"), subspace corridors ("Dragon's Teeth"), and a mind-powered push from a powerful former shipmate ("The Gift"). There were also other transportation and time travel opportunities the crew were not able to use ("Prime Factors", "Future's End", "Eye of the Needle"). All these efforts shorten their journey from 75 years to 23 years. However, one final effort (involving time travel) reduces the total duration to seven years, as shown in the series finale ("Endgame").

Cast

Notable guest appearances

Non-actors

• Prince Abdullah of Jordan (now King) played an unnamed ensign (science officer) in the episode "Investigations".
• Musician Tom Morello played Crewman Mitchell, seen when Captain Janeway asks him for directions on Deck 15, in "Good Shepherd".

Actors

• Jason Alexander played Kurros, the spokesperson for a group of alien scholars, in "Think Tank".
• Ed Begley, Jr. portrayed Henry Starling, an unscrupulous 20th Century industrialist, in "Future's End" parts 1 and 2.
• Andy Dick played the Emergency Medical Hologram Mark 2 on the USS Prometheus in "Message in a Bottle".
• David Graf appeared as Fred Noonan, Amelia Earhart's navigator in the episode "The 37's".
• Gary Graham, who portrayed Ambassador Soval on Star Trek: Enterprise, played Ocampan community leader Tanis in the season 2 episode "Cold Fire".
• Joel Grey played Caylem, a delusional widower who believes Capt. Janeway is his daughter, in "Resistance".
• Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson portrayed the Pendari Champion when Seven of Nine and Tuvok were captured and forced to play in the game, in the episode "Tsunkatse"
• Michael McKean plays a maniacal "Clown" character in a simulation in which the crew's minds are held hostage in the episode "The Thaw".
• Sharon Lawrence played the famous aviator Amelia Earhart in the episode "The 37's".
• Virginia Madsen played Kellin, a Ramuran tracer, in "Unforgettable".
• John Savage played Captain Rudy Ransom of the USS Equinox, another Federation Starship that Voyager encountered in the Delta Quadrant, in "Equinox" parts 1 and 2.
• John Rhys-Davies plays Leonardo da Vinci in Captain Janeway’s holodeck program. He appeared in "Concerning Flight" and "Scorpion: Part I".
• Sarah Silverman appeared as Rain Robinson, a young astronomer who finds Voyager in orbit of 20th Century Earth, in "Future's End" parts 1 and 2.
• Kurtwood Smith played Annorax, a Krenim scientist who was determined to restore his original timeline, in "Year of Hell" parts 1 and 2.
• Ray Walston, who appeared as Starfleet Academy groundskeeper Boothby in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode The First Duty, reprised the role in the episodes "In the Flesh" and "The Fight".
• Songwriter Paul Williams played Prelate Koru in "Virtuoso".
• Titus Welliver played Lieutenant Maxwell Burke in "Equinox" parts 1 and 2.
• Ray Wise played Arturis in "Hope and Fear". He also had an appearance in an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called "Who Watches the Watchers".
• Comedian Scott Thompson played the alien Tomin in "Someone to Watch Over Me".
• Alice Krige played the Borg Queen in the movie Star Trek: First Contact, trying to assimilate Earth shortly before the first warp flight, before being herself (and her collective) destroyed. She reprised her role as the Borg Queen in the series' finale "Endgame" (where she end up being destroyed as well, due to a virus)

Connections with other Star Trek incarnations

Characters and races

As with all other Star Trek series, the original Star Trek's Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans appear in Star Trek: Voyager. Voyager saw appearances by several other races who initially appear in The Next Generation: the Q, the Borg, Cardassians, Bajorans, Betazoids, and Ferengi, along with Deep Space Nine's Jem'Hadar (via hologram), as well as the Maquis resistance movement, previously established in episodes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

One notable connection between Voyager and The Next Generation appears regarding a wormhole and the Ferengi. In The Next Generation season 3 episode "The Price", bidding takes place for rights to a wormhole. The Ferengi send a delegation to the bidding. When the Enterprise and Ferengi vessel each send shuttles into the wormhole, they appear in the Delta Quadrant, where the Ferengi shuttle becomes trapped. In the Voyager season 3 episode "False Profits", the Ferengi who were trapped have since landed on a nearby planet, and begun exploiting the inhabitants for profit.

Actors from other Star Trek series or films appearing on Voyager

• Majel Barrett voices the ship's computer, having performed the same role in previous Star Trek series.
• Dwight Schultz played Reginald Barclay on Star Trek: The Next Generation and in the film Star Trek: First Contact. He appeared in the following Voyager episodes: "Projections", "Pathfinder", "Life Line", "Inside Man", "Author, Author", and "Endgame"
• John de Lancie plays the mischievous Q, who also annoyed Captain Picard on the Enterprise and Commander Ben Sisko on Deep Space Nine in the Deep Space Nine episode "Q-Less" . He appeared in "Death Wish", "The Q and the Grey", and "Q2".
• Marina Sirtis, as Counselor Deanna Troi from The Next Generation, appears in "Pathfinder", "Life Line", and "Inside Man".
• Jonathan Frakes played Commander William Riker from The Next Generation, appearing in "Death Wish".
• LeVar Burton, who played Geordi La Forge on The Next Generation, appeared as Captain LaForge of the USS Challenger in an alternate future in the episode "Timeless".
• Armin Shimerman, who portrayed Quark on Deep Space 9, appeared in the pilot "Caretaker", continuing a tradition where an existing Star Trek series spawns a spinoff â€" here, Deep Space Nine to Voyager.
• Original Series cast member George Takei reprised his role as Captain Hikaru Sulu of the USS Excelsior from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. He appeared in Star Trek's 30th anniversary commemorative episode, "Flashback".
• Dan Shor, who appeared as the Ferengi Dr. Arridor in The Next Generation episode "The Price", reprised the role in the follow-up episode "False Profits", having become stranded in the Delta Quadrant at the end of the former episode.
• The Borg Queen, the antagonist from Star Trek: First Contact, makes several appearances in Voyager. Susanna Thompson played the role in the episodes "Unimatrix Zero" and "Dark Frontier"; however, Alice Krige, who played the character in First Contact, reprised the role for the series finale.
• Aron Eisenberg (Nog of Deep Space Nine) appeared in "Initiations" as a Kazon adolescent named Kar.
• Gwynyth Walsh (B'Etor of The Next Generation and Generations) appeared in "Random Thoughts" as Chief Examiner Nimira.
• Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun and Brunt of Deep Space Nine and Shran of Enterprise) appeared in "Tsunkatse" as Norcadian Penk.
• J.G. Hertzler (Martok of Deep Space Nine and Klingon advocate Kolos in the Enterprise episode: "Judgement") appeared in "Tsunkatse" as an unnamed Hirogen.
• Suzie Plakson, who portrayed Dr. Selar in the TNG episode "The Schizoid Man" as well as K'Ehleyr, Worf's mate in "The Emissary" and "Reunion", appeared as the female Q in the episode "The Q and the Grey".
• Kurtwood Smith, who plays Annorax in Year of Hell appears in Star Trek: Deep Space 9 episode "Things Past" as a Cardassian, Thrax. Before this, he also appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country as the President of the Federation.
• Leonard Crofoot, who appears in "Virtuoso" as a Qomar spectator, previously appeared as Trent in the TNG episode "Angel One" and as the prototype version of Data's daughter Lal in the TNG episode "The Offspring".
• Vaughn Armstrong, who portrayed a wide variety of guest characters throughout the show's run, later went on to portray Admiral Forrest in Star Trek: Enterprise.
• Tony Todd, who played Worf's brother Kurn in the TNG episodes "Sins of the Father", "Redemption", Parts 1 & 2 and the Deep Space Nine episode "Sons of Mogh", also played the adult Jake Sisko in the Deep Space Nine episode "The Visitor" and an unknown Hirogen in the Voyager episode "Prey"
• Michael Ansara is one of seven actors to play the same character (in his case the Klingon commander Kang) on three different Star Trek TV series â€" the original series ("Day of the Dove"), Deep Space Nine ("Blood Oath") and Voyager ("Flashback").
• Joseph Ruskin played a Vulcan Master in the episode ("Gravity"). Ruskin also played Galt in the Star Trek Original Series episode "Gamesters of Triskelion", the Klingon Tumek (Deep Space Nine episodes "House of Quark" and "Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places"), a Cardassian informant in the Deep Space Nine episode "Improbable Cause" and a Suliban doctor in the Enterprise episode "Broken Bow".

Actors from Voyager appearing on other Star Trek series or films

• Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty" as Starfleet cadet Nicolas Locarno. (The character of Tom Paris was based on Locarno, but he was felt to be 'beyond redemption' for his actions during "The First Duty"; Paramount would also have been obliged by contract to pay royalties to the author of "The First Duty" for the use of the name "Nick Locarno" in every episode).
• Tim Russ (Tuvok) appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine", the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes "Invasive Procedures" and "Through the Looking Glass" (as Mirror Tuvok), and the film Star Trek: Generations, as various characters.
• Robert Picardo (the Doctor) guest-starred in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" as Dr. Lewis Zimmerman and an EMH Mark I, and in the film Star Trek: First Contact as the Enterprise-E's EMH.
• Ethan Phillips (Neelix) was featured in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Ménage à Troi" as the Ferengi Farek, the Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Acquisition" as the Ferengi pirate Ulis, and in Star Trek: First Contact as an unnamed Maitre d' on the holodeck.
• Kate Mulgrew appears again as Kathryn Janeway, promoted to vice admiral, in the film Star Trek Nemesis a year after Voyager ended its run.

Behind-the-scenes connections

• Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) and Roxann Dawson (Torres) have also directed episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.
• Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Andrew Robinson (Garak of Deep Space Nine) all directed episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.
• The sets used for USS Voyager were re-used for the Deep Space Nine episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" for her sister ship USS Bellerophon (NCC-74705), both of which are Intrepid-class starships. The sickbay set of USS Voyager was also used as the Enterprise-E's sickbay in the films Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, Voyager's ready room and the engineering set were also used as rooms aboard the Enterprise-E in Insurrection.

Broadcast history

• Monday at 8:00-9:00 PM on UPN: January 16, 1995â€"May 20, 1996
• Wednesday at 9:00-10:00 PM on UPN: September 4, 1996â€"October 29, 1997; April 8, 1998â€"May 23, 2001
• Wednesday at 8:00-9:00 PM on UPN: November 5, 1997â€"March 4, 1998

Music

Unlike The Next Generation, where composer Jerry Goldsmith's theme from Star Trek: The Motion Picture was reused, Goldsmith composed and conducted an entirely new main theme for Voyager. As done with The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, a soundtrack album of the series' pilot episode ("Caretaker") and a CD single containing three variations of the main theme were released by Crescendo Records in 1995 between seasons one and two.

Awards and Nominations

Novels and novelizations

A total of 22 numbered books were released during the series' original run from 1995 to 2001. They include novelizations of the first episode, Caretaker, The Escape, Violations, Ragnarok and novelizations of the episodes Flashback, Day of Honor, Equinox and Endgame. There are also an amount of so-called "unnumbered books", which are still part of the series, though not part of the official release. These novels all consist of episode novelizations except for Caretaker, Mosaic (a biography of Kathryn Janeway), Pathways (a novel in which the biography of various crewmembers, including all of the senior staff is given); and The Nanotech War, a novel released in 2002, one year after the series' finale.

Book relaunch

A series of novels focusing on the continuing adventures of Voyager following the TV series finale was implemented in 2003, much as Pocket Books did with the Deep Space Nine relaunch novel series, which features stories placed after the finale of that show. In the relaunch, several characters are reassigned while others are promoted but stay aboard Voyager. These changes include Janeway's promotion to admiral, Chakotay becoming captain of Voyager, Tuvok leaving the ship to serve as Tactical Officer under William Riker, and Tom Paris' promotion to First Officer on the Voyager. The series also introduces several new characters.

The series began with Homecoming and The Farther Shore in 2003, a direct sequel to the show's finale, Endgame. These were followed in 2004 by Spirit Walk: Old Wounds and Spirit Walk: Enemy of My Enemy. Under the direction of a new author, 2009 brought forth two more additions to the series: Full Circle and Unworthy . In 2011, another book by the same author called Children of the Storm was released. Other novels â€" some set during the relaunch period, others during the show's TV run â€" have been published.

References

External links

• Star Trek: Voyager at the Internet Movie Database
• Star Trek: Voyager at TV.com
• Star Trek: Voyager at StarTrek.com
• Star Trek: Voyager at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Star Trek: Voyager at Memory Beta
• Star Trek: Voyager at CBS.com
• Star Trek: Voyager on Hulu.com
• Star Trek: Voyager article at The TV IV, a compendium of television knowledge.