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Star Trek: Voyager

Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home. Pulled to the far side of the galaxy, where the Federation is seventy-five years away at maximum warp speed, a Starfleet ship must cooperate with Maquis rebels to find a way home.

• Rick Berman
• Michael Piller
• Jeri Taylor
• Kate Mulgrew
• Robert Beltran
• Roxann Dawson
• 427 User reviews
• 26 Critic reviews
• 33 wins & 84 nominations total

Episodes 168

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• Lt. B'Elanna Torres …

• Lt. Tom Paris …

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• Lt. Ayala …

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• Naomi Wildman

• Ensign Brooks

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• Jeri Taylor (showrunner)
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• Trivia When auditioning for the part of the holographic doctor, Robert Picardo was asked to say the line "Somebody forgot to turn off my program." He did so, then ad-libbed "I'm a doctor, not a light bulb" and got the part.
• Goofs There is speculation that the way the Ocampa are shown to have offspring is an impossible situation, as a species where the female can only have offspring at one event in her life would half in population every generation, even if every single member had offspring. While Ocampa females can only become pregnant once in their lifetime, if was never stated how many children could be born at one time. Kes mentions having an uncle, implying that multiple births from one pregnancy are possible.

Seven of Nine : Fun will now commence.

• Alternate versions Several episodes, such as the show's debut and finale, were originally aired as 2-hour TV-movies. For syndication, these episodes were reedited into two-part episodes to fit one-hour timeslots.
• Connections Edited into Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges (1999)

User reviews 427

• Mar 8, 2021
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• Runtime 44 minutes
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Star Trek's Kate Mulgrew Shared Her Thoughts About A Voyager Movie With Us Just Before Alex Kurtzman Teased Her Live-Action Return

The actress had an interesting response.

Star Trek: Voyager is a beloved show for franchise fans, but it never had the chance to shine as brightly back in its day. While The Next Generation had a handful of movies with Patrick Stewart and his crew, actress Kate Mulgrew had to settle for a cameo in Star Trek: Nemesis , and only recently had the chance to reprise her role as Kathryn Janeway on television in the animated series Prodigy . It sounds like more could be in the works, however, following Trek head Alex Kurtzman’s comments at New York Comic-Con. His comments have me really excited about what’s coming for her character, especially considering what Mulgrew said to CinemaBlend about a Voyager movie only hours before.  

I had the honor of speaking to Kate Mulgrew ahead of Star Trek: Prodigy ’s panel at New York Comic-Con, and while we discussed a lot about what’s to come in the Paramount+ and Nickelodeon series, we also briefly got on the topic of a Voyager movie. I noted that I’m a big advocate for a Voyager film being made in this streaming era, and Mulgrew agreed that the idea sounded fun: 

I think a Voyager movie would be fun, and I think you’re not alone in wanting to see that. I mean, this group, this crew was of terrific significance to thousands of people. So, I think to bring them together again, a little older, a little wiser, and a little saucier? That could be nothing short of very fun.

Hours later, Alex Kurtzman revealed that the franchise is looking into ways to bring Kate Mulgrew back as Janeway in a live-action project and that they have some ideas in the works. Now, I’m not saying that one of those ideas is a Voyager movie, but I am saying that Mulgrew had some personal thoughts to share on the idea pretty quickly. If Paramount+ is kicking around the idea of finally making a Voyager movie, there is no denying the timing is kind of perfect for this to be a “very fun” thing for fans. 

Kate Mulgrew is back in Star Trek as the Hologram Janeway and Vice Admiral Janeway in Prodigy , and her Voyager co-stars are also working in the franchise. Robert Beltran's Chakotay is also featured in the animated Prodigy series, and Jeri Ryan is currently a part of the cast of Picard as Seven of Nine. 

Beyond that, Star Trek 4 doesn’t seem like it’ll release anytime soon, and Paramount+ is a perfect place to release a more niche fan-interest project that may not appeal to a mainstream audience. Hey, they could even get Robert Duncan McNeill to direct it, and maybe even butter him up with a Captain Proton miniseries . 

Of course, there are plenty of options for Kate Mulgrew to return to Star Trek in live-action without it happening with a Star Trek: Voyager movie. Star Trek: Picard recently revealed Seven of Nine is officially a Starfleet officer, which opens the avenue for the franchise to do a Voyager continuation through her. There could also be a Janeway miniseries, though if there are still multiple ideas floating around out there, I’d prefer to stick with the “fun” idea of a Voyager movie (preferably one with redemption for Harry Kim ). 

Star Trek: Voyager doesn’t have a movie, but anyone with a Paramount+ subscription can stream the entire series right now. Here’s hoping that more Voyager content is headed there in the future, provided it doesn’t involve them getting lost in the Delta Quadrant yet again. 

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Mick Joest is a Content Producer for CinemaBlend with his hand in an eclectic mix of television goodness. Star Trek is his main jam, but he also regularly reports on happenings in the world of Star Trek, WWE, Doctor Who, 90 Day Fiancé, Quantum Leap, and Big Brother. He graduated from the University of Southern Indiana with a degree in Journalism and a minor in Radio and Television. He's great at hosting panels and appearing on podcasts if given the chance as well.

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Star Trek movies in order: Chronological and release

Untangle the different timelines and get the popcorn: Here are the Star Trek movies in order — both chronological and release.

• Chronological order
• Prime Timeline

The Original Series movies

The next generation movies.

• Kelvin Timeline
• Release order

Upcoming Star Trek movies

We've got a guide to watching the Star Trek movies in order, decloaking off our starboard side!

So long as movies stick numbers on the ends of their titles, it’s easy to watch them in order. Once they start branching out, however, things can get a little muddled, especially when reboots come along and start the whole process over from scratch. 

You may have heard that the even-numbered ones are good and the odd-numbered ones are not. That’s spot on for the films starring the cast of The Original Series (aka Kirk and friends) falls apart once you reach the tenth entry in the series. It would probably be worth your while to have this list of the Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best around to steer clear of the clunkers. Look, we’re not going to pretend everything here is worth two hours of your day, we’re just letting you know which came out after which.

Should your Trek appetite remain unsatiated after your movie watchathon, feel free to pull from either our list of the best Star Trek: The Original series episode s or best Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes . Either one will set you up for a weekend jam-packed with great Trek moments. Consult our Star Trek streaming guide for all the details on where to watch the movies and shows online 

Star Trek movies: Chronological order

Below is the quick version of our list if you just need to check something to win an argument, but it comes with a lot of in-universe time travel-related caveats that we'll explain below.

• Star Trek: The Motion Picture
• Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
• Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
• Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
• Star Trek: Generations
• Star Trek: First Contact
• Star Trek: Insurrection
• Star Trek: Nemesis
• Star Trek Into Darkness
• Star Trek Beyond

Star Trek: Prime Timeline

The first thing you need to know about the Star Trek films is that while they travel back and forth in time, they also diverge into two (for now) different timelines. The films of the original crew (well, the first iteration of them, anyway – more on that later) are all in what is known as the Prime Timeline. 

Within the Prime Timeline, the movies are then split between The Original Series movies and The Next Generation movies.

1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture

• Release date: December 8, 1979
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley

This is the film that brought the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the big screen. An energy cloud is making its way toward Earth, destroying everything in its path. Kirk and crew intercept it and discover an ancient NASA probe at the heart of the cloud. Voyager – known as V’ger now – encountered a planet of living machines, learned all it could, and returned home to report its findings, only to find no one who knew how to answer. It’s a slow-paced film, and the costumes are about as 70s as they come, but there’s classic Star Trek at the heart of this film.

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

• Release date: June 4, 1982
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Ricardo Montalban

Ask a Star Trek fan what the best Star Trek movie is and more often than not, you’ll get Khan as your answer. A sequel to the events of the “Space Seed” episode of The Original Series, Khan is a retelling of Moby Dick with Khan throwing reason to the wind as he hunts his nemesis, James T. Kirk. Montalban delivers a pitch-perfect performance, giving us a Khan with charisma and obsession in equal parts.

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock

• Release date: June 1, 1984

Spock might have died in The Wrath of Khan, but this third entry set up the premise for his return, with the creation of the Genesis planet. Essentially a heist movie in reverse, Search for Spock has the crew defying orders from Starfleet in an attempt to reunite Spock’s consciousness with his newly-rejuvenated body. It’s not a great movie, but it does include two very important events: the rebirth of Spock and the death of Kirk’s son at the hands of the Klingons. That’ll be important a few flicks from now.   

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home

• Release date: November 26, 1986
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Catherine Hicks

If Star Trek fans don’t say Khan is the best Star Trek movie, odds are very high they say Voyage Home is. It’s a funny film where the mission isn’t destruction, but creation – or more accurately, repairing the devastating effects of humankind’s ecological short-sightedness. 

A probe arrives at Earth, knocking out the power of everything in its path as it looks for someone to respond to its message (yeah, it happens a lot). This time, however, the intended recipient is the long-extinct blue whale. To save Earth, Kirk and co. go back in time to 1980s San Francisco to snag some blue whales. The eco-messaging isn’t exactly subtle, but it doesn’t get in the way of a highly enjoyable movie.

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier

• Release date: June 9, 1989

A writers’ strike and Shatner’s directorial skills (or lack thereof) doomed this film before a single scene was shot. The core plot is actually pretty good: Spock’s half-brother hijacks the Enterprise so that he can meet God, which he believes to be… himself. Some Star Trek fans have an odd fondness for this movie, as it showcases the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy when they’re off-duty.

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

• Release date: December 6, 1991
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Christopher Plummer

Right, so if that Star Trek fan you’ve been talking to doesn’t choose either Khan or Voyage Home as the best Star Trek movie ever, they almost certainly name Undiscovered Country (and if they don’t, they have highly questionable taste, frankly). The Klingon moon of Praxis explodes, putting the entire Klingon race at risk. The Enterprise hosts a diplomatic entourage of Klingons, much to Kirk’s discomfort. 

Remember how Klingons murdered Kirk’s son? Well, he certainly hasn’t forgotten. Kirk’s lingering rage makes him the perfect patsy for the murder of the Klingon Chancellor, sending him and McCoy to a prison planet and setting the stage for war. Christopher Plummer is perfection as a Shakespeare-quoting Klingon general with no taste for peace.

7. Star Trek: Generations

• Release date: November 18, 1994
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, Brent Spiner

And thus the torch is passed from the crew of The Original Series to that of The Next Generation. It’s a bit of a fumble, to be honest, but they all did their best to get Kirk and Picard into the same film and have it make sense. Malcolm McDowell plays Soran, a scientist who will stop at nothing to control the Nexus, a giant space rainbow that exists outside of space-time. 

Soran lost his family when his home world was destroyed and he wants to re-join them (or at least an illusion of them) in the Nexus. He’s not so much a villain as a tragic figure, but the Nexus makes a meeting between Kirk and Picard possible. Not all that sensible, but possible.

8. Star Trek: First Contact

• Release date: November 22, 1996
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Alice Krige

Okay, no, for real, if your Star Trek pal didn’t pick Khan or Voyage Home or… oh, nevermind. Cueing off the iconic two-part episode “Best of Both Worlds,” in which Picard is assimilated by the Borg, First Contact sees the collective traveling back in time in order to disrupt First Contact, the day Earth’s first foray into space attracted the attention of the Vulcans, kicking off the events that would eventually lead to Starfleet’s victory over the Borg. The Borg Queen torments Picard with visions of the past and tempts Data with humanity, going so far as to give him some human skin. 

The fight with the Borg aboard the Enterprise is thrilling, and the work on the surface to get first contact back on track is fun. Plus, there’s just nothing like Patrick Stewart turning it up to 11 as he lashes out at the enemy that haunts his dreams.

9. Star Trek: Insurrection

• Release date: December 11, 1998
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, F. Murray Abraham

Essentially an episode inflated for the big screen, Insurrection is about the Federation conspiring to displace a planet’s population in order to harvest the planet’s unique resource – super healing metaphasic particles. In addition to the rejuvenating natural resource, the Ba’ku also have access to exceptional technology, which they shun in favor of a more simple lifestyle. 

Data malfunctions, the villains are Federation allies (and former Ba’ku!), Picard gets to knock boots with a local – Insurrection is the very definition of “fine.” Chronologically, Insurrection is relevant for rekindling the romance between Riker and Troi, but not much else.

10. Star Trek: Nemesis

• Release date: December 13, 2002
• Cast: Patrick Stewart, Brent Spiner, Tom Hardy

Before he mumbled his way into our hearts as Bane, Tom Hardy was Shinzon, a clone of Picard the Romulans created in an eventually abandoned attempt to infiltrate Starfleet. Shinzon is dying, and all that will save him is a transfusion of Picard’s blood. Unfortunately, Shinzon also happens to be a megalomaniac who happens to want to destroy all life on Earth and maybe a few other planets, too, if he’s feeling saucy. 

Nemesis is notable mostly for killing Data with a noble sacrifice, only to resurrect him moments later in a duplicate body found earlier by the Enterprise crew.

Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline

The last of the Prime Timeline movies failed to impress at the box office, so it was a few years before anyone tried to bring the Enterprise back to the big screen. Rather than lean on any of the TV crews, this new slate of movies would serve as a reboot, welcoming new audiences while honoring long-time fans. Welcome to the Kelvin Timeline. (For all the ins and outs, check out our Star Trek: Kelvin Timeline explained article).

11. Star Trek

• Release date: May 8, 2009
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban

Back to the beginning! Star Trek introduces us to James T. Kirk, Spock, and “Bones” McCoy as they meet and join the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Though the plot is a relatively straightforward affair of a Romulan named Nero trying to destroy the Earth. His anger borne out of grief, what matters most is how it all came to be. In the future, Spock – the Prime Timeline version – tries to save Romulus from being destroyed by a supernova, but fails. Both his ship and Nero’s are kicked back in time, setting off a chain of events that diverge from the original, “true” timeline. 

The name “Kelvin” refers to the U.S.S. Kelvin, the ship heroically captained by Kirk’s father, which is destroyed in the opening moments of the movie.

12. Star Trek Into Darkness

• Release date: May 16, 2013
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch

The benefit of the Kelvin Timeline is that it not only allows Star Trek to explore canon material – such as Khan (he of the Wrath) – but to do something completely new with it. Khan features heavily in Into Darkness, but he has no beef with Kirk. Instead, a Starfleet Admiral is threatening the lives of Khan’s crew, forcing them to craft weapons of mass destruction. 

Khan inevitably eludes captivity and strikes out against Starfleet, killing Captain Pike (and a bunch of others) in the process. Kirk and company eventually take Khan down, but not before Kirk sacrifices himself to save his crew. Don’t worry, these things don’t last in either Star Trek timeline, as Kirk gets better moments later thanks to *checks notes* Khan's super blood.

13. Star Trek Beyond

• Release date: July 22, 2016
• Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Idris Elba

Beyond leans into the camaraderie of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy now that they’ve had some time together, much to the movie’s benefit. The Enterprise is lured to Altamid under false pretenses, leading to much of the crew being marooned on the planet. The architect of the deception was Krall, who wants an opportunity to return to a galaxy where war is the order of the day. 

Beyond is a significant point in the timeline for two reasons. First, it sadly marked the death of Spock Prime due to the passing of Leonard Nimoy. Second, it culminates in the Enterprise embarking on the five-year-mission that started everything back in 1966.

Star Trek movies: Release order

If you can't be bothered remembering two different orders for the Star Trek movies then we've got good news for you — the release order is identical to the chronological order that we've shown above (accounting for the Kelvin timeline as it's own entity anyway).

The full run of Star Trek films currently tops out at 13 entries; the fate of the 14th was hidden within a nebula of conflicting information. “Star Trek 4” was slated for December 22, 2023, but given that filming had yet to begin as of July 2022, it seems inevitable that date will change. Back in February 2022, Paramount that the principal cast would be returning for the fourth installment of the Kelvin timeline, a claim quickly disputed by the agents of those selfsame actors. Awkward.

Soon after, however, Chris Pine eventually signed on the dotted line, and his shipmates reached their own agreements. As of right now, Kirk (Pine), Spock (Zachary Quinto), McCoy (Karl Urban, assuming he can make it work around filming of The Boys), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Uhura (Zoe Saldaña), and Sulu (John Cho) are all ready to beam up and get filming. Sadly, this will be the first of the Kelvin films to not feature Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. Yelchin died in an accident at his home in 2016. It’s currently unclear if Chekov will be recast or if a different character will take his place on the bridge of the Enterprise.

Though the Kelvin timeline is often referred to as “J.J. Abrams Trek,” he won’t be directing Star Trek 4; Matt Shakman will take on that responsibility, leaving Abrams to produce. As for what it will be about, that’s anyone’s guess, but Chris Pine told Deadline he hopes this one tells a smaller story that appeals to the core Trek audience. “Let’s make the movie for the people that love this group of people, that love this story, that love Star Trek,” he said. “Let’s make it for them and then, if people want to come to the party, great.” It’s a strategy that makes sense; the disappointment with recent Trek films hasn’t been their content so much as their box office. A Trek film with a smaller scope (and budget) would almost certainly have a very healthy profit margin while also resonating with the fanbase.   

With no new announcements coming from San Diego Comic-Con 2022, it seems that we’ll have to wait for any more insight into the next Star Trek film. Sill, recent comments from Paramount CEO Brian Robbins have us cautiously optimistic: “We’re deep into [Star Trek 4] with J.J. Abrams, and it feels like we’re getting close to the starting line and excited about where we’re going creatively,” he told Variety . 

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Susan Arendt is a freelance writer, editor, and consultant living in Burleson, TX. She's a huge sci-fi TV and movie buff, and will talk your Vulcan ears off about Star Trek. You can find more of her work at Wired, IGN, Polygon, or look for her on Twitter: @SusanArendt. Be prepared to see too many pictures of her dogs.

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Another ‘Star Trek: Voyager’ Star Reveals ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Appearance

| August 15, 2021 | By: Anthony Pascale 97 comments so far

During a  Star Trek: Voyager panel on Sunday at the 55-Year Mission Star Trek convention, one of the cast members revealed a reunion is happening with Kate Mulgrew on her new animated Star Trek show.

Beltran is back

Robert Beltran ( Voyager’s Chakotay) told the Las Vegas crowd of Trek fans that he is returning to the Star Trek franchise two decades after Voyager wrapped up. Prefacing what he was about to say with “I don’t know if I’m supposed to say this or not yet,” the actor stated:

I’m working on this voiceover/animation thing that Kate [Mulgrew] is doing,  Star Trek: Prodigy .

Robert Beltran at 55-Year Mission convention, Las Vegas, August 15 2021 (Photo: Jon Spencer/TrekMovie.com)

Beltran didn’t reveal if he would be reprising the role of Chakotay, but appearing as Janeway’s loyal first officer seems to be a good bet.  The series is set in the Delta Quadrant on an abandoned experimental Starfleet ship commandeered by alien teens, so if Beltran is reprising his Voyager role, it would likely be via hologram. Of course, Mulgrew herself is voicing the Emergency Training Hologram on the USS Protostar.

Chakotay and Janeway together on Star Trek: Voyager

Prodigy was given a two-season order by Paramount+ and the first season arrives this fall, so Beltran could appear in either season. This revelation is the first known legacy actor joining Kate Mulgrew on Prodigy .

New Prodigy group image including Janeway

Find more  Star Trek: Prodigy news and analysis .

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BELTRAN. Quite possibly the last Trek alumni I’d ever have expected to see back. The man was positively miserable for much of Voyager’s run.

This is incredibly surprising and I’m here for it.

Quite agreed. Can’t wait to see.

They wasted his character… and the Native American advisor was worse than a joke

I agree… I hate to just sum it up to money, but good money is the only reason i can see him coming back.

Well, it’s also not the same creative team he was getting fed up with, and while voice work has its own special challenges, it is far easier to do logistically, especially right now as the pandemic still affects live action production.

I wonder if part of the appeal (besides the money) was a chance to do his character a bit more justice than was done on Voyager, to right a few wrongs?

Also it’s voice acting, it’s super easy. No costume, no makeup, no crazy long days, no memorizing, the script is right there, you can go line by line, and you can do it from literally any city that has a studio as they’re all hooked up via high speed ISDN lines. It’s a MUCH easier sell than a live action commitment.

Hey, you can do it from home if you have a good mic and those plates on the walls that prevent echo.

Good recording remotely was possible even back in the 60’s. Mel Blanc famously recorded Barney Rubble from his hospital bed for a few weeks.

I think they’ve walked away from those ISDN circuits as common high speed connections became ubiquitous, but similar idea. The pandemic has accelerated it seems voice actors setting up their own small home spaces for doing voice work. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/digital/how-voice-actors-are-building-remote-set-ups-working-at-home-1289235/

Most voice actors are using SourceConnect or a similar service from home now if they don’t want to go to studios.

This is very cool. Always liked his character even though it wasn’t well developed.

The LD writers talked about working with Prodigy on legacy characters that would appear in both shows in-person, not as holograms (since they had to put in little rationales for how they might end up in Delta after LD…so I feel like it might be possible that he shows up in person. But if there’s more then one hologram, will there be a copy of Voyager’s EMH on board too, and what about a security hologram via Tuvok? Chakotay seems like a kind of undefined/useless role to replicate in the form of a hologram, so I’m skeptical.

They could have a flashback to the real Janeway and Chakotay. He doesn’t have to be a hologram like Janeway. He didn’t say how big his role on Prodigy was.

I’m thinking he’s more likely to be the “real” Chakotay. Might Starfleet model a holographic training program on one of its starship captains? Sure, that makes all the sense in the world. A Maquis fighter that same captain was sent to apprehend? Not so much… though of course we don’t know yet what happened to Chakotay (or most of the rest of Voyager ’s crew) upon getting home, and what his and the other Marquis’ status is with Starfleet. Though we know this show takes place in 2383 (at least at first), we also don’t know when this Starfleet vessel was launched (could the Janeway hologram have been created before the real Janeway first went to the Delta Quadrant?).

I’m guessing it is indeed the real Chakotay, seen at home in the Alpha Quadrant, just as we see the real Troi, Barclay, et al. there late in Star Trek: Voyager ’s run. But we’ll know soon enough!

Yes, that seems much more likely than a flashback. What would a hologram experience a flashback of? Chakotay might be connected to the far-distance-communication-project developped by Lt. Barclay. So the Janeway-hologram could phone home and run into him.

Yes, a flashback does sound plausible.

Now I’m wondering if there will also be scenes set in the Alpha Quadrant with the real Janeway. That would be a good way to bring Chakotay back.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the real Janeway turned up at the very end of Season One as some kind of cliffhanger moment.

I basically just wrote the same thing. Should have continued reading the comments first ;-)

I feel like Beltran reprising Chakotay would be problematic these days considering he’s not of Native American ancestry and the person who consulted on Voyager’s Native American representations, Jamake Highwater, was a liar and had no indigenous ancestry.

Wow. Mind blown. I see Marks (Hightower’s real name) is outed on Memory Alpha. Was this actually a big part of building the character behind the scenes?

Beltran does have some mestizo heritage, doesn’t he?

The creation of the character of Chakotay was a great example of the road to hell being paved with good intentions. But I think that as long as they don’t lean into the “Indian” aspects of the character, having him appear (in person or as a hologram) on Prodigy shouldn’t be too problematic. Just don’t expect any “a-koo-chee-moya” vision quests!

Considering many Mexicans are descended from tribes native to that country, well, it’s close enough. Far closer than Hollywood did in the past, anyway. Not exactly Rock Hudson being painted brown now, is it?

As for the consultant, just hire a better one now. One who is actually Native. Done.

Considering many Mexicans are descended from tribes native to that country, well, it’s close enough. 

No, it’s not. Not by a longshot. Watch the film ROMA.

Maybe you think a character from Warsaw could be labeled as Croatian because, hey, they’re all Slavic languages?

No, because Mexico is in the Americas and about 20% of Mexicans identify as Indigenous. And it’s stated in the series that Chakotay’s people are descended from Central America. So yeah, I was wrong. It’s not close enough. It’s right on the money.

Mexico is in North America. Recall one thing called NAFTA?

Well, I don’t think people in ancient Mesoamerica cared about our current maps. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerica

Did you read your link? Mesoamerica is a historical region and cultural area in *North America*.

Yes, in current North America. But look at the map. The Mesoamerica cultural region extended from Mexico into current Central America. Also, you might consider that Central America is in North America too. Click on the article for North America. They’re lumped together.

Also, also, Mexico is included in maps of Middle America or Mesoamerica.

Are we done here? I think we’re done here.

Yeah, relax. I’m just being an asshole. Tough day. Sorry. :-)

Native American applies to all native peoples of the Americas. Its not called Native United Statesean.

Considering Beltran is Mexican Mestizo you are wrong. I mean look at his face! He is clearly not a White man.

Yes, I agree.

But I also have always wondered if the decision to cast Beltran over the other finalist Tom Jackson was because Jackson was a Canadian indigenous actor has a strong identity.

More, he had been the principal character in a successful Canadian series North of 60. So he would have challenged the input of a consultant who was a fraud.

Jackson closed his career as the Chancellor of a university. Not anyone who would have stood quietly for the kind of input that’s came from that fake consultant.

You’re being very silly if you’re arguing that anyone in Latin America (or, for that matter, Hispanics in the US southwest) is “Native” by virtue of the fact they lack 100% Spanish conquistador bloodlines. Yes, after 500 years, your typical Chilango has some Native blood. (So does Elizabeth Warren, for that matter. Should we start casting her as Native?) That doesn’t make that person culturally Yaqui, for example. Lest there be any doubt about this, check out Alfonso Cuaron’s film ROMA. Moreover, there’s an acid test for determining whether one can be called Native: are you an enrolled member of a tribe? Beltran is not.

Oh good grief, now you’re getting into Beltran’s enrollment? Asking for his papers? You’re being very silly yourself.

Another great piece of literature to read on this point is the Ecuadorean novel “Huasipungo.” You will never, ever equate “mestizo” with “Native” after reading it. Never.

Also, according to Memory Alpha, Chakotay’s tribe (which was never named for some weird reason) was descended from people in Central America.

Not named likely because he was meant to represent the entire spectrum of the indigenous people across the Americas. Just as Sulu was named Sulu because GR intended the character to be representative of East Asia in general and the Sulu Sea touched many countries in SE Asia.

Probably, and I’m not sure I agree with that strategy. It’s somehow both expansive and reductive at the same time. And all bland.

I grew up in the Cherokee Nation, had Cherokee grandparents, went to school with full blood Cherokees. And rarely did anyone ever refer to themselves as Indian or Native American. They were Cherokee. It was the same with people from other tribes I’ve known. “I’m Creek.” “I’m Choctaw.” But if you put anyone from any other tribe on television, they’d be happy to see it, I’m sure.

For a franchise that gets so into the weeds of science fictional terms, it’s odd how… cautious? cowardly?… they are when it comes to specifying actual cultures sometimes. Just pick a tribe. O’Brien wasn’t a basic European. He was Irish, dammit.

I’ll go with “cowardly” for 500, LeVar. The whole character of Chakotay is one reason why I ultimately view VOY as something of the first failed Star Trek series.

Edit: I say “LeVar” not only for its Jeopardy reference, but because we had something of the same problem with Geordi LaForge, albeit to a lesser degree. There have been claims the character is Somali because some Okudagram listed his birthplace as Mogadishu. LeVar Burton doesn’t look Somali in the slightest. That’s not to say that a non-Somali cannot be born in Mogadishu, but it still comes across as ignorance by the creator of said Okudagram. Fortunately for TNG, the problem was a bit less acute, because LaForge’s ethnic identity was much less of a defining characteristic of the character than it was for Chakotay. Indeed, “Interface” implied he was really a military brat.

I’m less inclined to find it offensive when an ACTOR is playing a character of a different culture, as with Patrick Stewart playing a Frenchman or Korean Linda Park playing Japanese Hoshi Sato. As long as the culture is given respect, it’s usually fine with me.

I should point out that for me it’s when the SCRIPT treats Natives, or any others, as a broad, vague tribe of nameless people, that’s frustrating. Actors, on the other hand, I’m willing to give some lead way.

Sorry, that should be “leeway.”

Fair enough. And I’m not justifying the decision in either case. Just putting out potential reasons why it was done the way it was.

Not named likely because he was meant to represent the entire spectrum of the indigenous people across the Americas.

…which is insulting and, quite frankly, racist.

If you choose to be overly sensitive to that, knock yourself out. My personal viewpoint is that if they wanted to go that route it would have been better to name a tribe or do something somewhat specific. But they didn’t and I understand why. In the grand scheme of things I don’t find it to be all that offensive. And yes, I am on the outside looking in. I am aware.

Would love to see Chakotay back, even in animated form. I’m wondering how much he’d be in it. Is this a cameo like McCoy in TNG, or a reoccurring thing?

I’m surprised that the producers even asked him to reprise his role. Surprising what a dump truck full of $$ can do…

Why would you be surprised? Those old producers of the 90’s are gone.

“First known legacy actor joining Kate Mulgrew on Prodigy…” unless you count Billy Campbell.

https://trekmovie.com/2021/02/17/billy-campbell-talks-reprising-and-redeeming-his-okona-character-on-star-trek-prodigy/

Didn’t see that one coming. Good for Mr. Beltran..

If he appears as a hologram on the new ship, that would be dumb as f**k. Holo-Janeway, Holo-Chakotay… who’s next? Holo-Tuvok and the rest of the Holo-Voyager Crew?

If he appears “in the flesh”, would be better and make more sense. But how exactly would he be involved in anything going on the Delta Quadrant aboard a derelict ship that Starfleet literally lost? More lost than Voyager ever was…

Maybe it was another Caretaker-like incident, the ship had Chakotay on board as a captain and he’s the last surviving crew member? That would be cool, though not sure how well it meshes with established canon.

In the relaunch novels (most of which I haven’t read), doesn’t Chakotay take command of Voyager after Janeway gets promoted and return to the Delta Quadrant on an exploratory mission?

Sounds like maybe it’s a flashback of Janeway using an experience with Chakotay (that was never shown on Voyager) as part of a lesson for the Prodigy crew?

Interesting, I thought he didn’t want to have anything more to do with Trek. I guess they paid him good money to return.

That’s what I’m thinking. Maybe Mulgrew asked him to return. Who knows? He made no bones about how paper-thin some of the story ideas were. (In his opinion)

To put it mildly. I recall an interview in which he said he became an actor to do Shakespeare, not “f*cking Star Trek.”

Then he shouldn’t have signed the f*cking contract that gave him a steady job for 7 years.

To be fair, he couldn’t have known that he would get the most boring character in the franchise. A former Starfleet officer who betrayed Starfleet to join a terrorist organization to help his people, and is now forced to serve in the organization that he betrayed, and is incidentally the first major Native American character in the franchise sounds like a great character. Its not his fault that all he did for seven years was tell parables and occasionally argue with Janeway.

Malcolm Reed is the most boring, in my opinion. No personality whatsoever. At least Chakotay talked about his Spirit Guide now and then.

learning that he was actually s31 was interesting, could have been used more in a future season

I find everyone on TNG apart from Worf to be more boring than Chakotay. But that’s me.

Just going where the work is, probably

Works for me.

To be honest, I would rather like to see Robert Picardo. Chakotay was kind of meh as character to me.

That’s who I was hoping for when I read the headline.

It would honestly be surprising if a ship had a command training hologram but no EMH, so Picardo might still show up on Prodigy.

I think Picardo will show up too. Maybe not first season but eventually. He’s not one of the most popular Voyager characters but one of the most popular Trek characters period. And of course being animated there are no aging issues to think about. So I think its a great chance we’ll see the Doctor again.

Chakotay is back too??? You don’t know how much this has warmed ,my heart hearing this news. As somone rewatching all of Voyager for the first time, probably since it first aired, I definitely understand the issues the show had and even a character like Chakotay had with fans. I have criticized the show many times but still love it.

And rewatching it, even with its flaws, the show just has amazing heart! I fell in love with most of these characters early on. Maybe NOT on the level of TOS or TNG but they are all very important to me as I gotten to remember a lot of the great character moments they all had over 7 seasons.

Maybe I’m a Star Trek apologist (hence why I keep giving Discovery a chance lol). I don’t care, I love these characters and shows, sue me, and it’s great to see so many of them returning 20 years later in any format. I wouldn’t have the slightest issue if they all came back frankly, yes, including Neelix. ;)

Haha too funny about Neelix – I was watching the episode the other day featuring the breakfast show A Briefing with Neelix and I really enjoyed it. I have to agree getting Beltran back is great news and despite Voyager being my least favorite Berman Trek series, I still go will watch more than 50 percent of the Voyager episodes, if they are on TV. As for Prodigy, it’s a kids show so I don’t expect to be watching much BUT who’s kidding who, of course I will tune into the premiere and a few episodes just to check it out.

Voyager won my loyalty by engaging our kids.

As has been said, some of the best of Trek and some of the worst, but there truly are a lot of peak quality episodes in its seven year run.

Definitely agree. Voyager was never my favorite show but I always loved it and it’s currently my third favorite in the franchise. I just love all the trippy episodes it did, which are my favorite stories in Star Trek in general. Voyager just did a lot of crazy stuff, not always great in its execution but still a lot of fun and interesting episodes.

One of the reasons I wanted to do a grand rewatch of the franchise was to see how different my views of the shows would be when I watched them all as a whole again and not just choose to watch my favorite episodes over and over. And because of that, I am watching episodes I literally could not remember because I just kept skipping over them and apparently that seems to include a lot of the Neelix episodes because I am now watching a lot of them I just don’t remember.

And one of the things I’m learning is that Neelix was not always just treated like a quirky comedic side character like Quark usually was. They actually gave him quite a few weighty episodes which makes me see Neelix in a different light now. Some of them I rewatched this year like:

-Mortal Coil -Jetrel -Rise -Fair Trade

These are from the first four seasons (which I just finished). Until I watched them this year I literally didn’t remember any of them and it was nice to give Neelix more layers than just the happy-go-lucky cook and morale officer. I never remembered the character was actually a soldier who fought in a war for instance which gravely affected him because it ended up as a genocide among his people (Jetrel).

But again the issue with Voyager is that something like that was brought up way back in season 1 and then just dropped again. I can’t recall a single episode it was ever brought up in any way and it was never used to develop the character. These are are real problems Voyager had. It was treated too episodically and characters like Neelix suffered for it because the character did have more dramatic episodes and had a much deeper background they only explored rarely.

neelix’s last full ep was more moving than the actual Voy series finale

You know, I think I agree with you, Tony. Kinda like how the penultimate episode of Enterprise felt more like a series finale than the actual finale did.

Hmmm food for thought. I definitely will be more diligent in my watching of Voyager. I never watched much DS9 when it first aired, so it was easy to watch each episode years later, simply because I had never seen them before. It turned out to be so excellent and my 2nd favorite after TNG (and S1 of TOS). With Voyager, I watched it while it was on the air and I have my favorite episodes, but I like the idea of rewatching some episodes I don’t remember. Hopefully there will be some hidden gems. As for the character development, yeah the writers could have done more serielized story telling for sure. We shall see what is in store for SNW and how they hybridize episodic and serielized story telling.

DS9, TNG and VOY have become my favorite three shows in that order. But VOY used to be number four for a looooong time. It only jumped to number three in the last few years or so. I just really gotten to appreciate it a lot more for some reason, but as said I always liked it.

But it also turns out to be the show where I forgot a lot of the episodes. Not that many but about a dozen or so. For someone who has been watching it since it aired and rewatch a lot of it, it was surprising how many I completely forgotten. Second on that list is TOS (mostly third season which I avoid the most of) and then DS9 which is more crazy since that’s the one I rewatched from beginning to end but yeah I apparently skip a lot of those too lol. Mostly the first two seasons though and not that many.

But watching DS9 and VOY together for over a month now, it’s not even close which show has the better character development. DS9 just blows every show away IMO. Its amazing how great it handled not only its main characters but all the side characters. When VOY does develop a character, its OK, but it just really builds on it. But yes I think a big issue besides just lazy writers was the episodic nature. To be fair TOS and TNG did the same thing a lot of the time, but the format made it a bit easier to justify with those shows. With VOY it should’ve been a bit more serialized from the start. But I still really enjoy the show obviously and looking to Prodigy even more as more VOY characters hopefully show up on it.

I meant ‘but it just NEVER really builds on it.’

the ‘re set’ button was a real problem for the show

mr phillips has said on this site that the Voy showrunners, writers did not seem interested in building up relationships on the show, especially with neelix/kes

Neelix is still in the Delta Quadrant and really would be the easiest to write-in for a Prodigy guest.

Yes very true. And I said in a post when we were first told the show was based in the Delta quadrant. So I think we will see Neelix back since he’s literally (as far as we know) the only character who is still in the Delta quadrant at that time.

But I think tons of the characters will show up at some point, including Neelix. Beltran himself said he wasn’t sure if it was OK to announce it, so like Picard, there are probably other legacy cast members who are in it, but just not saying anything because they don’t think they can or should yet.

Nice to hear this, why not?!

I don’t mind the character but unfortunately the man is a terrible ambassador for Trek.

My first thought would be Neelix. He remained behind and if anyone could organically show up to help the kids, it’s him.

Yes – and Neelix was a “kid person”; didn’t that community have Talaxians he stayed behind to help feature a kid that he became fond of?

If the lead character on Prodigy whose species is not confirmed is part Talaxian, we might see Neelix down the line.

Finding the small colony of Talaxians in the diaspora might be part of this character’s journey.

After all a character of mixed heritage who struggles with identity is pretty much a standard Trek trope. I can see Prodigy embracing that. More, having that character as the principal point of view character would be a first.

The one who looks kind of like a Talaxian is a Telllarite.

Honestly, no interest in him returning, animated or otherwise. As much as I enjoyed Voyager, i’m not sure I care about seeing anyone in the crew beyond Seven. Although… hm… I wouldn’t mind seeing what Tuvok is up to– especially after the loss of Romulus and Spock– could he become an important Vulcan figure within Starfleet? Ambassador or otherwise. An Admiral at this point? Could he lead renewed reunification efforts? Or might he side against reunification, a contrast from Spock?

Not interested in 7?so overrated imho and she’s in Picard

Pretty slow news for this year’s Vegas convention.

Yeah, I just remembered this was also the same convention that announced Stewart was coming back to Star Trek in 2018. Its all been downhill from there lol.

But we also have to remember that clearly they are shifting all the big news stuff away from the conventions and back to Paramount+ with all their big event days like First Contact day and my guess will have another special day on September 8th to celebrate the 55th anniversary.

My guess is we would’ve gotten big news like the return of Q at a convention. But its now all being done via Paramount+. And let’s be honest, they need it more than the conventions do.

You also have to remember that the Las Vegas Con isn’t officially a Star Trek convention anymore. Creation Entertainment lost the license to make official Trek conventions.

Actually I know nothing about that lol. I didn’t know there was an official company that licenses all the conventions. I thought anyone can just do one as long as they got permission of course. But that makes a lot more sense now, thanks.

It is time to get some ds9 actors onboard of any of the New shows

Den of Geek

Star Trek Just Inched Closer to Its Biggest Movie Mistake Yet

The new Star Trek movie has a release date, but an origin story completely misses the appeal of Trek films.

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As much as we love them, the Star Trek movies have their share of mistakes. God stealing a starship, John Harrison revealing himself as Khan, McCoy shaving off his beard in The Motion Picture . But it looks like the movie franchise is about to outdo them all.

Paramount has officially added the next Star Trek movie to its 2025 release schedule. According to TrekCore , the project currently called Untitled Star Trek Origin Story will begin production this year, with Seth Grahame-Smith writing and Toby Haynes directing. The film will take place decades before the 2009 Star Trek reboot from J.J. Abrams .

And it’s a terrible idea.

First of all, there’s the question of the timeline logistics of the film. Although one would assume that the film will occur in the Kelvin Timeline, the alternate universe in which Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness , and Star Trek Beyond take place, the Kelvin timeline branched from the Prime Timeline when the Romulan Nero went back in time and destroyed the USS Kelvin, killing George Kirk and setting James T. Kirk’s Enterprise adventures on an alternate course.

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Because Nero destroys the Kelvin on the day of Kirk’s birth, that means that there was no Kelvin timeline a few decades before most of the events of the 2009 movie. So what the heck is the origin story going to be about? Is it about the origin of the Federation? We already saw that on Enterprise , which takes place a century before The Original Series . Is it about the Enterprise before Kirk? We got that in the first two seasons of Discovery and in Strange New Worlds .

To be sure, these entries didn’t completely mine all the possible stories of the era, but that generation has received so much attention already. Between movies, TV shows, and all of the non-canon novels and comics, fans have seen plenty of looks at the early days of Starfleet, the Federation, and especially the USS Enterprise.

That’s even true of some of the best current Star Trek series. While Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks have a lot of fun putting new twists on familiar ideas, they offer little new to the larger tapestry of Star Trek stories. Contrast those in-jokes to learning about Janeway looking for her one-time Voyager shipmate Chakotay on Prodigy , or seeing a mature Seven of Nine take the Captain’s chair at the end of Picard . Look how much better Discovery became after launching into the undiscovered country of the 32nd century instead of filling gaps (or making new gaps) in the TOS era.

These constant returns to the past violate the basic premise of Star Trek . Sure, some of the best Trek entries involve trips to the past. But the core mission of the franchise is about moving forward, boldly going into a future we can only imagine in the present. Viewers don’t want to see a past that’s already been explored so thoroughly over the last few decades. We want to see how this universe has progressed, how the actions of Kirk, Picard, and the other Captains have affected the universe in ways good and bad.

In short, a Star Trek origin movie is wrong headed, mining nostalgia and references instead of seeking out new life and civilizations.

Joe George | @jageorgeii

Joe George’s writing has appeared at Slate, Polygon, Tor.com, and elsewhere!

A Star Trek origin story movie is officially on the way from Andor and Black Mirror director

It's set to take place decades before 2009's Star Trek

Paramount has officially announced a new Star Trek movie – but it's not Star Trek 4.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story was unveiled at CinemaCon, with J.J. Abrams set to produce (H/T The Wrap ). The film will take place decades before 2009's Star Trek, with Andor's Toby Haynes set to direct and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter author Seth Grahame-Smith set to pen the script. Plot details have yet to be released. Deadline first announced the film earlier this year.

Haynes directed the popular Black Mirror episode U.S.S Callister, which acts as a Star Trek parody. Black Mirror season 7 will feature a sequel to U.S.S Callister , though it has not yet been announced who will direct.

Paramount also stated that the origin pic would begin production later this year to make it in time for a 2025 theatrical release. Star Trek 4, the sequel to Abrams' 2009 flick, is still in development. WandaVision's Matt Shakman was previously attached to direct, but  left the project  in August 2022  around the same time he was announced as the new Fantastic Four director. Last month, Variety reported that Sucker Punch and Supernatural writer Steve Yockey would pen the fourth Star Trek film, which intends to bring back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the cast.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond, or, skip right to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates .

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Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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The story of Star Trek: Voyager is the story of the long and slow death of a particular iteration of the Star Trek franchise.

Voyager arrived when the Star Trek franchise was at the peak of its popularity. Star Trek: The Next Generation had become a television institution. It had retired the previous year, of its own volition after more than one hundred and seventy episodes. That season had been nominated for an Outstanding Drama Series Emmy Award, still a rarity for a genre series even after Game of Thrones . The final episode of The Next Generation , All Good Things… , had been watched by over thirty million people . Patrick Stewart was leading the cast to the big screen with Star Trek: Generations .

The Star Trek franchise had come a long way since the original series had been cancelled at the end of its third season. Voyager arrived with a lot of expectation and considerable investment. When Caretaker premiered in January 1995, it was the first television show to air on UPN. UPN represented Paramount’s ambitious efforts to break into national broadcasting . The channel would have a very rough and storied history, before eventually being merged with the WB to form the CW in September 2006 . It says a lot that Voyager was chosen to serve as the network’s foundation stone.

In those rough early seasons, Voyager was a steady and reliable performer for UPN. It was the crown jewel in the line-up. Notably, it was the only series to survive the network’s chaotic first season. (To be fair, that season included such oddities as Platypus Man and Pig Sty .) The early years of Voyager overlapped with the franchise’s halcyon days. In those early seasons, it seemed like Star Trek was on top of the world, its influence greater than it had ever been. It is notable, for example, that the episode Investigations features a cameo from the noted Star Trek fan, Crown Prince (later King) Abdullah II of Jordan .

In fact, Voyager ‘s third season neatly overlapped with the franchise’s thirtieth anniversary celebrations, which it marked with its own crossover episode Flashback and arguably with its delightful homage to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home with Future’s End, Part I and Future’s End, Part II . The third season also overlapped with the release of Star Trek: First Contact , the most commercially and critically successful of the movies starring the cast of The Next Generation . During Voyager ‘s fourth season, Star Trek: The Experience opened in Las Vegas .

No Star Trek series had more going for it. Voyager had perhaps the most compelling starting premise of any Star Trek series: a tale about two crews stranded in alien territory, forced to work together and overcome their differences in order to survive while taking in wonders previously unseen by human eyes. It had an impressive production budget, a writing staff that was largely drawn from those who had worked on The Next Generation , and a reliable blueprint for success. By these metrics, the story of Voyager should be one of triumph and glory.

Unfortunately, that was not to be. Voyager very rapidly squandered all of that good will and potential, collapsing into itself and sacrificing any forward momentum for familiar comforts. Time marched on past Voyager . UPN shifted its focus away from Voyager as the audience stopped reliably turning in. Towards the end of its run, Voyager felt out of place at a network now focused on African American comedies and professional wrestling . More than that, it felt curiously out of place in a television landscape that was on the cusp of what would be described as a “Golden Age.”

This is a tragedy with very real stakes. Voyager left the Star Trek franchise woefully unprepared for the challenges and opportunities of twenty-first century television, creatively hobbling its successor series Star Trek: Enterprise . At the start of its journey, Voyager seemed to hold the entire world in its hands. By the time that it reached the end of its journey with Endgame , all of that potential had been squandered. The audience that had hungered for more Star Trek after The Next Generation had abandoned Voyager once it became clear that it would not be pushing outwards, instead repackaging safe and familiar stories.

Voyager is a fatal wound on the Star Trek franchise. Of course, the show got to finish its seven-season runs on its own terms, coasting to its conclusion with one of the most lackluster and dull seasons of Star Trek ever produced. That might be a more revealing indicator of the good faith that The Next Generation had accrued rather than a reflection of Voyager ‘s intrinsic quality. Enterprise would limp towards slowly towards cancellation, its anxiety palpable even within the troubled first season. By the end of the second season, a serious retool was necessary. By the end of the third, the prognosis was terminal.

The story of Voyager is a tragedy. Like many of the best tragedies, the show’s fate is intrinsic to its character. The stock criticism of Voyager is that the show was too conservative for its own good, and there is certainly some truth in that. As with any creative failure on this scale, there is a scramble to assign blame. It has been argued that UPN pushed the show to tell simpler and more conventional stories, to avoid attempts at serialisation, to more closely emulate The Next Generation . Other sources assign the blame to creative conservatism of Rick Berman, a producer unwilling to push the show in bold new directions.

Regardless of where precisely the blame falls, it should be noted that Voyager was more experimental than many of its critics will acknowledge. However, it also lacked the courage of its convictions. Producer Michael Piller had always kept an eye on contemporary television. A last-minute blow-in on the third season of The Next Generation , Piller had found himself in the hot seat as showrunner when Michael Wagner quit after only four episodes. Piller threw himself into the role, and aggressively modernised a series that had struggled greatly in its first two seasons. The result was one of the best seasons of television ever.

Piller very clearly wanted to push Voyager in that direction. However, there were a number of complications at play. Piller had left Voyager halfway through its first season, most likely directly related to a disagreement over the production of Generations . (Piller had wanted to write the film, but had been told that he would have to pitch against two junior writers. He objected to this, based on his seniority.) Jeri Taylor had steadied the ship during that half-season, bringing her own aesthetic to the for. Piller produced Legend for UPN, a series which did not last past its own first season.

As a result, at the start of the second season, Piller found himself back working on Voyager . There was a palpable tension through that second season, as Piller tried to force his vision on the series and the rest of the writing staff struggled against it. The second season of Voyager attempted to engage in long-form storytelling, focusing on the development of the Kazon as primary antagonists and on a plot involving a Maquis saboteur on the ship. Piller was committed to this idea, while Taylor and the rest of the staff were not.

This resulted in a strange situation, where members of the writing staff often found themselves writing episodes of which they were openly critical. Kenneth Biller was tasked with fleshing out the Kazon, as Ronald D. Moore had done with the Klingon, but his efforts resulted in mediocre stories like Initiations or Maneouvres . Taylor vocally objected to the entire arc in the fan press, but somehow ended up with two of her solo writing credits from the second season on the dire Alliances and Investigations . Piller, meanwhile, was more involved with standalone episodes like  Meld and Death Wish .

None of which is to exonerate Piller. Piller is a one of the key creative figures of nineties Star Trek , and is largely responsible for shaping the era’s creative highlights. However, the tail end of his Star Trek career is overshadowed by questionable decisions and poor choices. He was responsible for the horrible New Age fixation on Chakotay’s background in episodes like The Cloud and Tattoo . He was also responsible for pushing the Kazon as the primary antagonists of the first two seasons, one of the most spectacular errors of judgment in the franchise’s history. He would go on to write  Star Trek: Insurrection .

It is fair to describe this experiment with long-form storytelling as a trainwreck. After the second season, Voyager retreated from the idea of serialisation. There were a handful of exceptions. The show’s strongest season is its fourth, which includes an extended run of stories that build on one another from Message in a Bottle to Hunters to Prey (even into Retrospect ) before culminating in The Killing Game, Part I and The Killing Game, Part II . However, by and large, Voyager adopted a rigourous episodic format after that point. Indeed, the very idea of serialisation was openly mocked by The Voyager Conspiracy .

It is possible to judge Voyager too harshly on these terms. Showrunner Brannon Braga has talked about his own ambitions for Voyager , from wanting to expand Future’s End, Part I and Future’s End, Part II beyond a simple two-episode sojourn to the present day through to his initial plans for Year of Hell, Part I and Year of Hell, Part II to take up an entire seasons. Braga has talked about wanting to kill off Seven of Nine in Endgame , and suggested that his more ambitious plans for the series were undermined and undercut by those higher up the foodchain.

Even acknowledging this, it is worth noting that Braga did use Voyager to change the kind of storytelling that was possible on televised Star Trek . Braga attempted to properly introduce scale and spectacle to Voyager . Of course,  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was doing its own thing with the Dominion War around the same time, but Braga seemed to genuinely envisage Voyager as blockbuster television. Braga pushed Voyager to tell bigger and bolder stories than Star Trek had ever told before, stories that were much more propulsive and energetic than The Next Generation .

Braga’s biggest innovation on Voyager was the way in which he consciously scaled up the spectacle in two-parters like Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II and Year of Hell, Part I and Year of Hell, Part II . Episodes like The Killing Game, Part I and The Killing Game, Part II and Dark Frontier, Part I and Dark Frontier, Part II were broadcast as television movies. Even within standalone episodes like Deadlock and Timeless , Braga tried to craft Star Trek with genuine mass appeal. To a certain extent, Braga’s use of spectacle redefined what Star Trek could be. In hindsight, it foreshadows how JJ Abrams would reinvent the franchise with Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness .

Of course, this is a limited success and a controversial one. It deserves more recognition and acknowledgement than it receives. However, it is a much more modest accomplishment than the way that The Next Generation or Deep Space Nine radically reinvented what Star Trek could be. The truth is that Voyager was broadcast at a time when television was undergoing a series of radical changes that would redefine the medium, and the creative team refused to let the show evolve because of the traumatic experiences of the first two seasons.

This retreat was an act of creative cowardice. Any production team that hopes to grow must be willing to experiment, and understand that with these sorts of experiments there is always a chance of failure. Deep Space Nine understood this. Like Voyager , Deep Space Nine emerged from the shadow of The Next Generation . However, unlike Voyager , Deep Space Nine understood the need to keep moving forward. The show embraced concepts like serialisation and long-form storytelling, and pushed at the boundaries of what could be done within the trappings of the Star Trek framework.

History has been kind to Deep Space Nine , as evidenced by What We Left Behind . However, it should be acknowledged that Deep Space Nine ‘s early experiments were often no more successful than those on Voyager . As successful as the serialisation in Deep Space Nine ‘s fourth and fifth season might have been, they were grounded in the risks taken during the troubled third season. The third season often struggled to manage pacing and structuring, to balance set-up and pay-off, to figure out where its focus should lie. However, rather than giving up, Deep Space Nine kept trying.

Indeed, many of the best episodes of the fourth and fifth seasons are rooted in risks taken during the third season. The Way of the Warrior is a much more confident attempt to produce a second pilot, honing the success of The Search, Part I and The Search, Part II in the previous season. Episodes like The Visitor only seem possible building from experiments like Explorers . Even the stakes and spectacle of the Dominion War would only become possible after Improbable Cause and The Die is Cast demonstrated that stories could be told in that manner. In order to succeed, a show must be willing to fail.

This extends beyond experiments with serialisation or long-form storytelling. For the first three seasons of Deep Space Nine , characters like Julian Bashir and Jadzia Dax posed a serious problem to the Deep Space Nine writing staff, resulting in episodes like Dax , The Passenger , Melora , Meridian and Distant Voices . However, the production team never gave up. In the fourth season, Bashir and Dax really came into their own as the focal points of episodes like Hippocratic Oath , Rejoined , Our Man Bashir and The Quickening . Again, this would not have happened had Deep Space Nine not put in the work.

In contrast, Voyager immediately and reflexively shies away from anything that looks like a risk. The early seasons established a number of characters as challenging to the writing staff. Whether down a problems with the script or difficulties with the actors, characters like Chakotay, Tuvok and Kim struggled to find their own distinct voices in the ensemble. Instead of putting the work into these characters, the writing staff simply stopped writing for them altogether. There are points at which Voyager seems to forget Chakotay, Tuvok and Kim even exist. When it does remember, they are largely used as generic plot movers.

It is not as if the rest of the cast fare better. Early on, Voyager settled on a shorthand for characters like Tom Paris and B’Elanna Torres. Paris was a rebel facing a midlife crisis, while Torres was a woman struggling to come terms with her Klingon heritage. However, the show failed to treat these descriptions as starting points. Instead, every episode focusing on these characters tended to simply reiterate (rather than develop) these characters. Paris acted out in Ex Post Facto , Investigations ,  Vis à Vis , Thirty Days and Alice . Torres dealt with her issues in Faces , Day of Honour , Extreme Risk , Juggernaut , Barge of the Dead and Lineage .

There was a strong sense that Voyager was stuck going around in circles. Indeed, many of its episodes felt like familiar retreads of existing Star Trek stories.  Bliss offered yet another  Star Trek take on  Moby Dick , following on from  The Doomsday Machine ,  Obsession and  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . It occasionally even repeated itself, encountering sentient space bombs in Dreadnought and Warhead or having a crew member mutiny in The Raven , Repression or Renaissance Man .

More than that, it was also easy to imagine many of the basic story ideas had been repurposed from The Next Generation . Sometimes, these connections were quite straightforward; Scientific Method felt like a slightly different and more conventional take on some of the same ideas at play in Schisms , while Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II mirrored The Best of Both Worlds, Part I and The Best of Both Worlds, Part II down to their placement within the larger run of the series.

Sometimes the stories were simply generic. Episodes like Coda or  Waking Moments or Unforgettable could have been reworked to feature the casts of The Next Generation or Enterprise without any real work. The characters populating Voyager often felt like archetypes, and so could easily be slotted into whatever roles the show needed. Chakotay could be interested in history in order to spur the plot of One Small Step , or suddenly develop an affection for boxing in order to anchor The Fight . These characters are just cogs in a machine.

To be fair, this generic approach wasn’t always a bad thing. Voyager produced some of the best episodes in the franchise. Some of those episodes were the rare stories to take advantage of the show’s unique premise, but others played into the idea of Voyager as a delivery mechanism for generic Star Trek . Episodes like Remember , Nemesis and Memorial rank among the best episodes in the franchise, and there is very little within them that makes them unique to Voyager .

Indeed, Voyager would often lean into its generic nature, with episodes that barely featured the actual crew. The main characters of Distant Origin are a set of aliens who abduct Chakotay to prove their dangerous theories. The EMH is the only regular character who appears in Living Witness , confronted with holographic recreations of the rest of the cast and crew. The real ship and crew only appear fleetingly at the end of Course: Oblivion , the episode focusing on the doppelgangers who had been created in Demon towards the end of the previous season.

This is to say nothing of how often the crew had their memories wiped or their pasts reset. The entire horrific timeline was reset at the end of Year of Hell, Part I and Year of Hell, Part II , along with the crew’s experience of it. Alternate versions of the ship were frequently blown up in stories like Deadlock , Relativity or Timeless , even though the show would reset everything to normal for the very next episode. Characters were often confronted with holographic duplicates of themselves, in stories like Worst Case Scenario or Author, Author .

This generic quality could lend Voyager an almost mythic quality. The ship and crew quickly became legends in the Delta Quadrant. Their story became myth at the end of  False Profits . They were a source of rumour and speculation to the Voth in Distant Origin . They were historical villains to the Kyrians and the Vaskans in Living Witness . Kelis turned their adventures into epic stage plays in Muse . Con artists impersonated the crew in Live Fast and Prosper . The ship become an inspirational symbol to an entire planet in Blink of an Eye .

All of this became possible because Voyager embraced a particularly generic approach to Star Trek . It would have been difficult for the ship and crew to bleed so completely into Delta Quadrant mythology if Voyager had a stronger sense of its own identity. In its own way, Voyager occasionally felt like an effort to interrogate what it meant to be the fourth live-action Star Trek series at the turn of the millennium, a set of symbols and iconography that had taken on an almost mythic weight.

It was a very different approach from Deep Space Nine , which ruthless interrogated the underlying assumptions of Star Trek , but a valid approach on its own terms. There was something decidedly postmodern about Voyager , particularly the emphasis that show placed on the idea of performance and storytelling. It occasionally felt like a commentary on Voyager itself. Was it enough for Voyager to embody an archetypal version of Star Trek ? Did it matter if there was nothing especially distinctive about the show, so long as it looked and acted enough like Star Trek ?

This is an interesting premise, and Voyager deserves more credit than it receives. Deep Space Nine seemed to ask how far a television series could push at the established boundaries of Star Trek while still remaining Star Trek . In contrast, Voyager whether it was possible for a Star Trek series to exist without anything unique or distinctive underpinning the familiar iconography. It is impressive that Voyager managed to run for as long as it did, demonstrating just how powerful the iconography of the Star Trek franchise could be.

Still, regardless of how conceptually interesting this approach to Star Trek could be, it still represents one of the show’s greatest disappointments. After all, Voyager was never meant to be generic Star Trek . It was supposed to be a high-concept television show. It wasn’t meant to be the generic adventures of a random space craft within the larger Star Trek universe. It was supposed to be the story of two crews snatched out of the Alpha Quadrant and dumped in unexplored territory, looking for a way home.

The premise of Voyager was supposed to represent a fresh start for the franchise, to get away from the familiar trappings of Romulans and Klingons. However, the Delta Quadrant seemed to be crowded with familiar faces. Several members of the primary cast of The Next Generation turned up in guest appearances, with Riker appearing in Death Wish , LaForge appearing in Timeless and Troi appearing in both Life Line and Inside Man . Romulans appeared in Eye of the Needle and Message in a Bottle . Outside of the holodeck, Klingons appeared in Prophecy . The Ferengi appeared in False Profits and Inside Man .

This is one of the paradoxes of Voyager . The show clings so furious to the familiar trappings of The Next Generation that the Borg and Lieutenant Commander Reginald Barclay actually appear more frequently on Voyager than they did on The Next Generation . Q is a recurring character, playing out a minor character arc across Death Wish , The Q and the Grey and Q2 . There is a sense that these elements are more fundamental to Voyager than anything originating within the series, appearing more frequently than some of the show’s own recurring characters and creations.

This is one of the truly depressing aspects of Voyager . After all, the series had so much going for it. The premise was striking and unique. There had never been a Star Trek series with a more interesting starting point.  Voyager was supposed to be a show about a Starfleet crew stranded half-way across the galaxy without any of the infrastructure or support that Picard or Sisko could take for granted. What would that be like? How difficult would it be for that crew to stick to their principles? Would they have to compromise, and to what degree?

Voyager immediately fudged the answer to these questions. Parallax made it clear that the ship would operate just like the Enterprise. The Maquis would wear Starfleet uniforms, only distinguished by slightly different pips on the collar. Episodes like Learning Curve and Good Shepherd made it clear that there would be no attempt to adapt the chain of command to accommodate those who did not wish to conform. State of Flux made it clear that anybody who disagreed with Janeway’s approach would be very quickly removed from the ship.

There was never any sense of peril or any mild discomfort. In Parallax , it was explained that the ship’s holodecks would continue to run because their energy was not compatible with other systems; enabling holodeck-centric episodes like Heroes and Demons , Alter Ego or Bride of Chaotica! Torres was apparently able to build a dilithium refinery on the ship itself in Phage . Whenever the issue of supplies did come up, as in Demon , it was often just a handy way of driving the plot of a single episode, rather than as a reflection of an ongoing concern.

The ship itself remained immaculate throughout the run, even after taking a beating in Deadlock or being half-assimilated in Scorpion, Part I and Scorpion, Part II . While Torres suggested keeping some Borg enhancements in The Gift , the show was careful to ensure that none of them would disfigure or warp the show’s aesthetic; Seven of Nine’s regeneration alcove in the Cargo Bay remains the most serious architectural contradiction on the ship. Indeed, the ship is so well supplied that the crew are even able to build Seven of Nine an astrometrics lab in Year of Hell, Part I and Year of Hell, Part II .

To a certain extent, this spoke to Voyager ‘s unique cultural context. The Next Generation had launched in the last days of the Cold War, but was still somewhat shaped by the conflict. In episodes like The Neutral Zone , The Enemy and The Defector , the Romulans still worked as stand-ins for the Soviet Union. The Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union both collapsed during the run of The Next Generation , and certain aspects of the show spoke to American global dominance in the so-called “unipolar moment” , but The Next Generation was still a series shaped and defined by the end of an epochal conflict.

Interestingly, although Deep Space Nine was invested in the postcolonial and multicultural anxieties of the nineties , the decision to structure the series around a brewing conflict between the Federation and the Dominion arguably lent the series a more timeless sensibility. Episodes like Inquisition and In the Pale Moonlight arguably felt even more timely during the War on Terror than they had on original broadcast. So Deep Space Nine operated at a remove from contemporary politics, although they undoubtedly informed touches like the millennial anxieties in The Reckoning or the politics of The Abandoned .

This meant that Voyager was tasked with defining Star Trek for the Clinton era. The economy was strong . Crime was in decline . Although the United States would involve itself in conflicts in places like Haiti and Bosnia, the global climate was largely stable. The United States had won the Cold War. For the first time since the start of the Second World War, it could unequivocally be argued that the United States was at peace. Liberal democracy had triumphed. Francis Fukuyama went so far as to argue that the United States had reached “the end of history.”

Star Trek had always held a mirror to the United States, presenting an extrapolation of “the American Century” forward into the twenty-third and twenty-fourth centuries. Voyager reflected the prevailing mood of the nineties. It is notable, for example, that Voyager was the first Star Trek television spin-off to send its cast back to contemporary Earth in Future’s End, Part I and Future’s End, Part II . It even explicitly articulated millennial anxieties in 11:59 , an episode focusing on an ancestor of Kathryn Janeway who watched the twentieth century give way to the twenty-first in Indiana.

Although the show’s relative stability made little sense in the context the high-concept premise of a bunch of explorers trapped alone on the far side of the galaxy, it reflected the general mood of American in the nineties. More than any other Star Trek series, Voyager invested in the idea of the status quo . Nothing ever changed. The ship would always be okay, even if it was destroyed in episodes like Deadlock , Year of Hell, Part II , Relativity , Course: Oblivion and Timeless . No matter how much damage was inflicted on the ship, everything would look brand new again the next week.

Discounting casualties suffered in Caretaker , Janeway lost at least twenty-eight crew members over the show’s seven seasons, including Seska. That is a sizable death toll for a ship with a crew complement of only one-hundred-and-fifty, however it never seems to disrupt the ship’s routine. Similarly, Voyager loses no fewer than ten shuttlecraft over the course of the show’s seven seasons, if not more. As with the deaths of crew members, there is minimal disruption to the ship’s routine. The crew only ever constructs one replacement for all those lost craft, with Tom Paris designing the Delta Flyer in Extreme Risk .

For the most part, Voyager seemed to believe that every day would be pretty much identical to the one that proceeded it and the one that would follow it. This worldview could be extrapolated forward. Voyager frequently pushed the audience even further into the future than The Next Generation or Voyager . It is notable that Living Witness takes place at the extreme limit of the franchise’s future chronology to that point, the thirty-first century. It unfolds against the backdrop of a relatively stable Delta Quadrant, one that has not been overrun by the Borg or Species 8472.

Voyager also featured a couple of trips to the twenty-ninth century, offering a glimpse of the future of Starfleet in episodes like Future’s End, Part I , Future’s End, Part II and Relativity . There was a sense that Starfleet and the Federation would always be around, expanding their role as galactic peacekeepers to protect the time itself. There was no sense that anything would ever challenge the status quo . Not only did Voyager extrapolate the American Century into the twenty-fourth century, but also suggested that the ensuing political stability would extend well beyond that.

This was a reflection of the prevailing mood in the nineties. The version of twenty-ninth century Starfleet in Future’s End, Part I , Future’s End, Part II and Relativity is a literalisation of the end of history. The liberal democratic ideals championed by the United States and the Federation had won, and would never be challenged. It is interesting to contrast this with the War on Terror anxieties that permeate Enterprise . The very idea of the Temporal Cold War articulated in episodes like Shockwave, Part I and Shockwave, Part II suggest that the franchise’s utopian future seemed a lot less assured in the twenty-first century.

This contemplation of the end of history also played out in other ways. Despite the fact that Voyager never embraced serialised or long-form storytelling, it was fascinated with idea of memory and manipulation. Perhaps tapping into the fear that the trauma of the Holocaust was slipping from living memory, Voyager touched time and again on the horror of revisionist history and importance of preserving memory. Remember and Memorial were explicitly about memorialising genocide. Distant Origin and Living Witness were more broadly about the dangers of erasing history to suit political narratives.

This anxiety over the erasure of memory applied as much individuals as to society. Voyager frequently treats the manipulation of memory as a negation of the self. In Unforgettable , Chakotay discovers that he has had a love affair with an alien who completely erased herself from his memory. In Latent Image , the EMH finds out that Janeway has altered his memory banks. In both Retrospect and Survival Instinct , Seven of Nine comes to terms with repressed traumas. In Dark Frontier, Part I and Dark Frontier, Part II , Janeway orders Seven to reconnect with her memories of childhood before her assimilation.

Voyager taps into nineties anxieties in a variety of other ways as well. The show was fascinated with questions about the nature of reality. The series was populated by simulacra and facsimiles; the silver blood replicas in Demon and Course: Oblivion , the con artists in Live Fast and Prosper , the actors in Muse . Characters often found themselves duplicated or combined, confronting replicas or replacements; Janeway faced versions of herself in both Deadlock and Endgame , multiple Sevens appeared in Relativity , Neelix and Tuvok were combined in Tuvix , Torres was split in Faces .

While Voyager was over reliant on the holodeck as a narrative device, it tapped into that fundamental anxiety about what was real and what was not. Real dangers manifested on the holodeck in Heroes and Demons and Bride of Chaotica! , with the photonic aliens in the latter refusing to accept organic lifeforms as real. Kim fell in love with an alien who disguised herself as a hologram in Alter Ego , while Janeway fell in love with a hologram in Fair Haven . The EMH fell in love with holograms in both Heroes and Demons and Lifesigns , with the latter being complicated because it was a “real” person in a holographic persona.

The EMH served as a nexus point for many of these anxieties about the nature of reality. Voyager would often push characters rooted in technology like the EMH and Seven of Nine to the point of nervous breakdown; the EMH in Projections , Darkling , Latent Image and Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy , Seven in Infinite Regress and The Voyager Conspiracy . These breakdowns were often metaphorical in nature, allegories for the challenges of successfully processing and reconciling vast quantities of data in the information age.

Voyager repeatedly asked its audience to mediate what was real and what was not. The crew were presented as holograms in episodes like Distant Origin , Worst Case Scenario ,  Living Witness ,  Pathfinder and Author, Author . Holographic entities that were created be complicated computer programming grasped at personhood in stories like Revulsion or Flesh and Blood, Part I and Flesh and Blood, Part II . Artificial people often elicited genuine emotion from the crew, whether Janeway’s relationship with Leonardo DaVinci in Concerning Flight or the EMH’s computer-generated family in Real Life .

Over the course of its run, Voyager argued that the EMH was a distinct person with his own inalienable rights. However, it also  consistently reminded the audience the the EMH was something very different from any of the other characters on the show; he was an entity distinct from Neelix, Tuvok or even Seven. The EMH could be rewritten and recoded, as in Latent Image or Equinox, Part I and Equinox, Part II . He could hide inside Seven’s implants in Body and Soul or impersonate the entire crew in Renaissance Man . None of this made him any less of a person, but it also never ignored how alien he was.

All of this captures an anxiety that permeated late nineties culture, finding expression in a variety of pop culture from The Matrix to Dark City to The Thirteenth Floor to Harsh Realm to eXistenz to The Truman Show . There was a palpable anxiety at the end of the nineties that the world wasn’t actually real, and that nothing actually existed. It was perhaps a response to the collapse of the rigid ideological framework of the Cold War, the collapse of that ordering principle opening the popular consciousness to more abstract existential queries.

While Voyager never managed to entirely distance itself form the trappings of The Next Generation , the series did manage to differentiate the Delta Quadrant from the Alpha, Beta and Gamma Quadrants. Again, this was largely a reflection of Voyager as a show that spoke to nineties American self-image. The Alpha Quadrant was largely defined by the politics of empires that stood in opposition to one another; the Romulan Star Empire, the Ferengi Alliance, the Klingon Empire, the Cardassian Union, the United Federation of Planets. This spoke to a vision of politics rooted in the Cold War

In contrast, the Delta Quadrant is not defined by any major power. There is some suggestion that this was not always the case. Caretaker suggests that the Nacene had once been a major force in the Delta Quadrant, but their power and influence decayed over an extended period. The Vaadwaur had once struck fear into the heart of the Delta Quadrant, before they were eventually vanquished and forced into hibernation until they were awoken in Dragon’s Teeth . Episodes like The 37’s and Tattoo suggest a lost era when Delta Quadrant aliens regularly travelled to and from Earth.

There is a sense that the Delta Quadrant was populated by species living amid the ruins. Before it was destroyed in Hunters , the Hirogen laid claim an impressive communications network designed by a long lost civilisation. The Trabe had collapsed decades before the start of the series, leaving the Kazon to fight over what remained in stole ships. The Talaxians had been humbled and conquered by the Haakonian Order. The Vidiians had been a bastion of artists and creatives, before a highly contagious disease turned them into scavengers and predators.

Voyager often focused on less advanced civilisations, such as the planet that Arridor and Kol swindle in False Profits or the one that mythologises the crew in Muse . Some civilisations were nomadic, like the Mikhal Travellers in Darkling . A lot of Delta Quadrant civilisations had descended into fascism, such as the Devore Imperium in Counterpoint or the Mokra in Resistance . Conflict was common. Sometimes that conflict was external, as with the war between the Kraylor and the Annari in Nightingale . Sometimes that conflict was internal, as with the Ilari in Warlord .

These civilisations often struggled to properly employ advanced technology; an entire civilisation was destroyed by an energy explosion in Time and Again , Kazon experiments with advanced technology led to horrific results in State of Flux , while Janeway had to prevent a primitive culture from unleashing untold destruction in The Omega Directive . Even more advanced and powerful civilisations like the Malon are defined as less technologically advanced than the Federation, with Voyager casually offering to singlehandedly solve their pollution problem in Night .

Voyager eventually provides an explanation for this. Blood Fever finds the remains of an ancient civilisation living among the scattered ruins of their once-impressive culture. In the jungle, Chakotay finds the body of one of the invaders who reduced these people to hermits; it is a Borg drone. In Day of Honour , Janeway encounters a convoy of Caatati, who have been dispossessed by the Borg. In Child’s Play , the crew discover that the Brunali have been repeatedly ravaged by the Borg and have been forced to offer one of their children up as a sacrifice to the Borg Collective.

As such, the Delta Quadrant represents what George H.W. Bush described as the “new world order” of the era following the Cold War. The Soviet Union had collapsed, leaving a number of smaller states scrambling to hold themselves together . The United States was the world’s only superpower . (Some even began to use the word “hyperpower” to properly quantify the amount of influence that the United States held.) Voyager reflected this sense of shifting global perspective. Indeed, the show’s recurring meditation on genocide in episodes like Remember and Memorial arguably reflected events in Rwanda and Kosovo.

However, this worldview could also become inherently conservative and reactionary. Whereas The Next Generation took a real pleasure in exploration and discovery, Voyager tended to regard alien species with suspicion and paranoia. Indeed, it was so rare that the ship encountered a friendly alien species that Janeway even remarked on it in Survival Instinct . Alien species often regarded the ship with envious eyes. The Kazon seized control in Basics, Part I and Basics, Part II . The Hirogen took over in The Killing Game, Part I and The Killing Game, Part II .

The Delta Quadrant is full of predatory aliens just ready to exploit the crew. In Phage , a couple of Vidiians steal Neelix’s lungs. In Favourite Son , a group of aliens seduce Kim and attempt to harvest his DNA to repupulate their species. In Think Tank , a seemingly helpful collection of aliens tried to manipulate Janeway into surrendering Seven of Nine to them. In Tsunkatse , a deep-space fight promoter abducts Tuvok and Seven to fight in his brutal games. Workforce, Part I and Workforce, Part II finds the crew abducted and brainwashed to serve as labour for the Quarren.

Even aliens that initially seemed friendly were often revealed to have sinister ulterior motives. The aliens mysteriously appearing on board in Displaced initially seem friendly, but quickly reveal themselves to be invaders trying to take control of the ship. In  Day of Honour , a group of ungrateful refugees attempt to hold the ship’s warp core to ransom. In some ways, Voyager was reflecting the racial and cultural anxieties that defined California in the nineties. Nineties California was very much caught up in a wave of xenophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment , and that carries over to Voyager in a very real way .

Voyager is a very conservative television series. The Next Generation had adopted a utopian perspective, embracing the idea of seeking out “new lifeforms and new civilisations.” In many ways, Deep Space Nine was an exploration of the struggles that were necessary for peaceful coexistence in a multicultural world. In contrast, Voyager seemed openly wary of the idea of alien contact and peaceful coexistence. Indeed, the episode Friendship One closes with Janeway ruminating that any sacrifice made in the pursuit of knowledge was too steep a price to pay.

To be fair, the show’s influences reflected this conservatism. While Voyager was very rooted in the nineties, it drew a lot of influence from the fifties. Tom Paris’ holodeck fantasies evoked a nostalgia for the mid-twentieth century; the Cadillac on Mars in Lifesigns , the auto-repair workshop in Vis à Vis , the Captain Proton adventures in Night , the 3D theatre in Repression . Even the show’s plotting often borrowed from atomic era creature features, most notably in episodes like The 37’s , Threshold and Macrocosm . Indeed, episodes like Cathexis and In the Flesh even directly invoked fifties anti-communist paranoia.

This fifties influence makes sense in the larger context of Voyager . The show values conformity ahead of individuality, especially in contrast to Deep Space Nine . Torres alludes to this in Lineage , talking about the fears that she has about raising a quarter-Klingon child on a predominantly human ship. In Homestead , the show argues that Neelix could never really belong to the crew because he is a Talaxian and so could not possible integrate with the crew no matter how hard he might try.

This conservatism is obvious in the show’s anxiety around race. Voyager is strangely preoccupied with the prospect of slave revolts. In the first couple of seasons, this fear is played out using the Kazon. Again, the Kazon are the reflection of a particularly nineties anxiety – fears about gang violence in Los Angeles. However, the Kazon quickly evolved into a racialised nightmare, a hyperviolent species that had been freed from centuries of slavery and promptly terrorised the entire region. Episodes like State of Flux and Alliances seemed to suggest it might have been better for all if the Kazon had never been freed.

Voyager moved beyond the Kazon in its third season, but the anxiety remained. During the show’s final season, that anxiety found expression with the fear of holographic revolution – a more conventional science-fiction allegory for slave revolt. Episodes like Body and Soul , Flesh and Blood, Part I and Flesh and Blood, Part II and Author, Author suggested that these lifeforms would inevitably rise up against their oppressors. It is revealing that Voyager refused to explicitly side with these revolutions in either case, often treating them as dangerous inconveniences rather than indictments of broken societies.

Voyager reflected the nineties, often for better and worse. However, it remained largely stuck in place. Characters very rarely changed and grew. There were exceptions, of course; Paris and Torres formed one of the most unlikely-yet-endearing couples in the Star Trek canon. However, it is difficult to argue that characters like Kim or Chakotay or Tuvok were fundamentally changed by their journey together. Kim remained an ensign for all seven seasons of the series. Paris was demoted in Thirty Days and then promoted again to his original rank in Unimatrix Zero, Part I . All in all, Voyager seemed to be running in place.

Meanwhile, television was moving on and evolving. Shows like The X-Files were embracing serialisation. The Sopranos would launch during Voyager ‘s fifth season and change the face of television forever. Even Deep Space Nine showed a remarkable willingness to move with the times, experimenting with different storytelling styles and multi-episode arcs. Voyager was largely the same show when it launched in January 1995 and when it ended in May 2001. The show never really grew or evolved. Instead, it ended up running in place.

For a show that was explicitly about the journey, Voyager struggled to measure time and distance. The ship crossed huge distances in episodes like Timeless and Dark Frontier, Part I and Dark Frontier, Part II , but kept running into the same old faces over and over again. Malon space seemed to span more than thirty thousand light-years, which makes no sense. Borg space was concentrated in one corner of the Delta Quadrant, but with hubs seemingly scattered randomly around the ship’s path home. There was never any sense that the distance covered by Voyager mattered, in any meaningful sense.

Perhaps this was appropriate. After all, Voyager was the first Star Trek show that was explicitly about retreating from the unknown towards the familiar. Both Star Trek and The Next Generation had been shows about pushing outwards, about ships at the edge of known space encountering new and unknown phenomenon. Deep Space Nine was about a space station that sat at the centre of a galactic nexus point, including a wormhole to uncharted territory. In contrast Voyager started by throwing the crew into the unknown, and then became a show about retreating towards “home.”

In a very real sense, Voyager marked the edge of the final frontier. Voyager would be followed by Enterprise , the first Star Trek series to be a prequel. That would be followed by JJ Abrams’  Star Trek , which would explicitly take the franchise back to the era of Kirk and Spock. However, the nostalgia that would come to define the Star Trek franchise was woven into Voyager from the outset. Caretaker explicitly positioned Voyager as a space western in the style of the original Star Trek , down to casting Chakotay as a friendly Native American and the Kazon as more old-fashioned “savages.”

Episodes like Time and Again adopted a decidedly sixties aesthetic in terms of costuming. Episodes like Cold Fire characterised Kes as an elf experimenting with consciousness expansion, a collection of very retro sixties influences. Janeway openly yearned for the days of explorers like James Tiberius Kirk in Flashback , while Icheb offered a presentation on him in Q2 . Indeed, Voyager was also very engaged with the history, with the crew recovering lost pieces of Earth’s history in episodes as diverse as The 37’s , Tattoo , One Small Step and Friendship One .

As such, Voyager marked the point at which Star Trek stopped looking outward. It marked the point at which Star Trek lost any real interest in the unknown or the unexplored. It could perhaps be argued that Deep Space Nine turned the franchise’s gaze inwards, encouraging reflection and analysis, but Voyager turned its gaze backwards. Voyager was a show that wasn’t interested in boldly going where no one had gone before, in expanding humanity’s understanding of the wider universe. Voyager was only interested in getting back to where Star Trek had already been.

This is the thread that ties all of Voyager together; the awkward racial politics, the ill-judged reactionary perspective, the suffocating nostalgia, the desperate resistance to innovation and experimentation. Voyager was the first Star Trek series that was completely and totally uninterested in expanding its horizons. It was a show about a crew who had been confronted with the unknown and who only wanted to get back to what they knew and what they were familiar with. It is perhaps no surprise that this aspect of the premise should overwhelm all of the interesting ideas simmering beneath it.

Voyager doesn’t just set the outer boundaries of the Star Trek franchise. It quickly retreats inwards, away from them. For a franchise like Star Trek , that was a death knell.

January 16, 1995 – May 22, 1995

• Time and Again
• Eye of the Needle
• Ex Post Facto
• Prime Factors
• State of Flux
• Heroes and Demons
• Learning Curve

August 28, 1995 – May 20, 1996

• The 37’s
• Initiations
• Projections
• Non Sequitur
• Parturition
• Persistence of Vision
• Dreadnought
• Investigations
• Resolutions
• Basics, Part I

September 4, 1996 – May 21, 1997

• Basics, Part II
• False Profits
• Sacred Ground
• Future’s End, Part I
• Future’s End, Part II
• The Q and the Grey
• Blood Fever
• Favourite Son
• Before and After
• Distant Origin
• Worst Case Scenario
• Scorpion, Part I

September 3, 1997 – May 20, 1998

• Scorpion, Part II
• Day of Honor
• Scientific Method
• Year of Hell, Part I
• Year of Hell, Part II
• Random Thoughts
• Concerning Flight
• Mortal Coil
• Waking Moments
• Message in a Bottle
• The Killing Game, Part I
• The Killing Game, Part II
• The Omega Directive
• Unforgettable
• Living Witness
• Hope and Fear

October 14, 1998 – May 26, 1999

• Extreme Risk
• In the Flesh
• Once Upon a Time
• Infinite Regress
• Nothing Human
• Thirty Days
• Counterpoint
• Latent Image
• Bride of Chaotica!
• Dark Frontier, Part I
• Dark Frontier, Part II
• The Disease
• Course: Oblivion
• Someone to Watch Over Me
• Equinox, Part I

September 22, 1999 – May 24, 2000

• Equinox, Part II
• Survival Instinct
• Barge of the Dead
• Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy
• Dragon’s Teeth
• One Small Step
• The Voyager Conspiracy
• Blink of an Eye
• Spirit Folk
• Ashes to Ashes
• Child’s Play
• Good Shepherd
• Live Fast and Prosper
• The Haunting of Deck Twelve
• Unimatrix Zero, Part I

Season Seven

October 4, 2000 – May 23, 2001

• Unimatrix Zero, Part II
• Imperfection
• Critical Care
• Body and Soul
• Nightingale
• Flesh and Blood, Part I
• Flesh and Blood, Part II
• Workforce, Part I
• Workforce, Part II
• Human Error
• Author, Author
• Friendship One
• Natural Law
• Renaissance Man

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Star Trek Origin Movie Confirmed by Paramount, Logline Revealed

Star Trek has been dormant on the big screen for a long time, but the franchise is looking to get back into theaters within the next two years. At CinemaCon, Paramount unveiled its titles for the company's movie slate for 2025 and 2026, officially confirming plans to release a major Star Trek film during this time.

Previously, it was reported that a new Star Trek film was in development that's separate from the planned sequel to 2016's Star Trek Beyond . The film slate reveal has now officially confirmed that the project is in development, and as it's currently untitled, it's listed as Untitled Star Trek Origin Story . Also confirmed to be on board are director Toby Haynes ( Star Wars: Andor ), writer Seth Grahame-Smith ( Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ), and producer J.J. Abrams .

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Gets Renewed, Lower Decks to End With Season 5

A brief logline was provided by Paramount, describing the project as " an origin story that takes place decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film ." This is also confirmation that the prequel is connected to the 2009 movie along with its two sequels. Given the timeline, it can be expected to follow an all-new cast of characters, though there are likely to be references that connect the film to the other Trek movies.

Star Trek 4 Is Still in the Works

Meanwhile, Star Trek 4 remains in active development, even after multiple false starts over the past several years in getting made. In March, it was reported that the project was getting back on track with The Flight Attendant co-creator Steve Yockey signing on to write a new screenplay for the movie. Franchise star Zoe Saldana recently addressed the project's slow development, sharing how she still had hope the movie would see its eventual release.

What Is Star Trek: Discovery's Spore Drive and How Does It Work?

"I still have hope. I had a wonderful experience through and through and through the three times that I was a part of that team,” she said on The Playlist's podcast . “I know that they’re always trying to sort of aim to wrangle everybody together, but I also know that Paramount is working on a new sort of fresh take on Star Trek, which I think is such a wonderful franchise that should live for a very long time, whether or not us as the original remake cast can come back. I don’t know, but I certainly hope so."

The untitled Star Trek prequel is expected to be released in 2025 or 2026, but a release date hasn't yet been set.

Source: Paramount

The Star Trek universe encompasses multiple series, each offering a unique lens through which to experience the wonders and perils of space travel. Join Captain Kirk and his crew on the Original Series' voyages of discovery, encounter the utopian vision of the Federation in The Next Generation, or delve into the darker corners of galactic politics in Deep Space Nine. No matter your preference, there's a Star Trek adventure waiting to ignite your imagination.

Created by Gene Roddenberry

First Film Star Trek: The Motion Picture

Latest Film Star Trek: Nemesis

First TV Show Star Trek: The Original Series

Latest TV Show Star Trek: Strange New Worlds

Cast Nichelle Nichols, Scott Bakula, Kate Mulgrew, Jonathan Frakes, Patrick Stewart, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, Avery Brooks, Deforest Kelley, James Doohan

TV Show(s) Star Trek: Animated, Star trek, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Lower Decks, Star Trek: Discovery, Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Star Trek: Lower Decks

star trek: voyager (1995)

Star trek: voyager.

Star Trek: Voyager, the third spin off in the Star Trek franchise, follows the adventures of the Federation starship Voyager, under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway. Voyager is in pursuit of a rebel Maquis ship in a dangerous part of the galaxy when it is suddenly thrown thousands of light years away into the Delta Quadrant. With much of her crew dead, Captain Janeway is forced to join forces with the Maquis to find a way back home...

15 Classic Star Trek Episodes That Are Deeply Philosophical

Star Trek had many thought-provoking themes, like censorship, Kierkegaardian and Sartrean existentialism, the nature of time, and genetic selection.

Star Trek Voyager: Captain Janeway's 10 Best Quotes, Ranked

The introduction of Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Janeway brought a whole new vibe to the franchise, and she left a lot of poignant quotes in her wake.

Star Trek: Picard Almost Continued Seven/Chakotay Romance

Seven of Nine and Chakotay almost went on more picnics.

Thirsty for the Tea? Get Star Trek: Prodigy Stories From the Star Trek Logs Instagram

Star Trek: Prodigy logs are inspired by Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon.

Star Trek: Voyager's Kate Mulgrew is Open to Live-Action Return of Janeway

Kate Mulgrew has reprised her Voyager role in animation, but she's now looking "with new eyes" at the possibility of a live-action return.

How Picard’s New Borg Queen Fits Into the Larger Picture

Learn why Annie Wersching is actually the fourth actress to play the Borg Queen.

Star Trek to Leave Amazon Video and Hulu in January

All five classic Star Trek series will leave both Amazon Video and Hulu streaming services in January.

Star Trek: Voyager Documentary Sneak Peek Looks Back at the Epic Legacy of a TV Classic

Holding their Spock fingers high, the cast and crew give us a peek into the making of the To The Journey: Looking Back on Star Trek: Voyager.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Is Open to Tuvix Debate with Star Trek Fans

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wants to debate Tuvix with Star Trek fans and even spoke with Kate Mulgrew about the controversial episode.

Kate Mulgrew Returns as Captain Janeway in Star Trek: Prodigy Animated Series

Nickelodeon's animated series Star Trek: Prodigy will feature Kate Mulgrew reprising her Voyager role as Captain Kathryn Janeway.

Star Trek: Voyager 25th Anniversary Cast Reunion Is Happening This Month

Nearly the entire cast of Star Trek: Voyager will reunite on a live-stream for Stars In The House to benefit The Actors Fund.

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William Shatner Joins Star Trek: The Cruise IV for 2020 Voyage

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Jeri Ryan Signs on for Syfy's Helix

The actress will play Ilaria Corporation CEO Constance Sutton in a multi-episode arc. Ronald D. Moore is executive producing the 13-episode season.

Star Trek: Voyager - Movies

• View history

The Star Trek: Voyager – Movies were a short series of VHS releases from Paramount Home Entertainment , released in the UK in 2000 and 2001 . Four volumes were produced, each one taking two two-part episodes, and making them feature-length, in the same vein as the 1990s CIC Video collection, Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Full Length TV Movies . The fourth volume was exclusive to WH Smith , and was packaged as a numbered limited edition, with at least 2575 produced.

A single Deep Space Nine volume was also produced at the time. All four were certificate PG.

Releases [ ]

Footnotes [ ].

• ↑ This volume featured different packaging, and was advertised as as "Feature Length TV Movie Double Bill".
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A Star Trek Origin Movie Is Coming in 2025 From 'Andor' and 'Doctor Who' Director Toby Haynes

'Star Trek' (2009) director J.J. Abrams is attached to produce.

The Big Picture

• A new Star Trek prequel film, an "origin story", is in development, at Paramount.
• The Star Trek history before Kirk's missions on the Enterprise is largely unwritten, leaving room for creativity with the new film.
• Director Toby Haynes, known for Andor , is working on the film alongside writer Seth Grahame-Smith; a 2025 release window was announced at CinemaCon.

Star Trek may finally be coming back to the big screen. A prequel to the 2009 J.J. Abrams reboot of the franchise is in the works from director Toby Haynes . The news comes from Paramount's presentation at CinemaCon today, as reported by Collider's Steve Weintraub and Britta DeVore . With Haynes, who recently helmed six episodes of the acclaimed Star Wars series Andor , at the rudder, the film will be written by Seth Grahame-Smith .

So far, other details on the new film are scarce, but it will reportedly be an "origin story", taking place decades before the 2009 Star Trek film, which took place in 2255. That likely means that it will not feature the cast from the 2009 reboot, which has so far been difficult for Paramount to wrangle together for a fourth film, despite numerous attempts to do so . That doesn't necessarily mean that a fourth movie isn't happening: back in March, Paramount hired The Flight Attendant scribe Steve Yockey to pen a new script for the film. For their part, the cast is game as well, with Zoe Saldaña recently stating her willingness to return for a fourth mission on the USS Enterprise .

What Happened Decades Before Kirk's First Missions on the Enterprise?

The history of the Star Trek universe prior to the celebrated voyages of the Enterprise is largely unwritten. The first starship Enterprise 's adventures in the 22nd century were chronicled on the UPN prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise . That series ended with the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161, which leaves almost a century of mostly unexplored history between that and the history now being charted on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (and the first two seasons of mothership show Star Trek: Discovery ).

At some point, the nascent Federation faces a devastating war against the Romulan Star Empire , while also engaged in a Cold War with the Klingons. The USS Enterprise will eventually be launched in the 23rd century, under the captaincy of Robert April, who has been briefly glimpsed on Star Trek: The Animated Series and Strange New Worlds , before being handed off to Christopher Pike . Apart from that, however, Haynes and Graeme-Smith have a near-blank canvas upon which to make their mark.

In addition to Andor , Haynes has also helmed episodes of Doctor Who , Sherlock , and Black Mirror ; his work on the latter series includes the episode " USS Callister ," a loving pastiche of Star Trek . Graeme-Smith wrote the novels Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter ; he worked on the story for the upcoming horror comedy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice .

A new Star Trek prequel film is in development; no date has yet been set beyond a 2025 release window . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

Screen Rant

12 star trek female villains ranked, worst to best.

Star Trek has a long list of female villains that have faced off against Kirk, Picard, Janeway, and Sisko, but who's the best at being the worst?

• The best Star Trek female villains include complex characters like the Intendant and the Female Changeling.
• The Female Romulan Commander and Alixus offer early examples of intriguing female villains in Star Trek.
• While some female villains like the Borg Queen excel, others like Seska from Voyager fall short of their potential.

While the canon of iconic Star Trek antagonists can often feel like an exclusive boy's club, many of the franchise's best villains have been complex female characters. For nearly 60 years, many of the best known villains in Star Trek movies and TV shows have been male, from Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalban) to Shinzon (Tom Hardy). Looking back, it feels quite regressive, and speaks to a wider issue with how women were written in early Star Trek .

For example, the notorious Star Trek: The Original Series finale "Turnabout Intruder" features Dr. Janice Lester (Sandra Smith), who was presented as a hysterical woman scorned, rather than a multi-layered and complex villain. However, even in those early days, there were one or two memorable female villains that could hold their own against Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner). While Star Trek 's movie villains have been predominantly male, the TV shows of the 1990s and 2020s introduced some truly iconic recurring female villains to the franchise .

Every Major Star Trek Villain Species, Ranked

12 alixus (gail strickland), star trek: ds9, season 2, episode 15, "paradise".

The impact of Alixus (Gail Strickland) is relatively minor. However, Alixus is an incredibly compelling Star Trek: Deep Space Nine villain who deserves to sit alongside some franchise greats. In DS9 season 2, episode 15, "Paradise", Commander Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) and Chief Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) are stranded on a planet that has abandoned technology in favor of a more simple life. Alixus is the leader of this traditionalist community, but Sisko and O'Brien soon unearth the darkness at its core. Alixus was a Federation scientist who had theorized that a return to nature would be better for humanity in the long run.

Gail Strickland had previously appeared with Avery Brooks in Spenser: For Hire .

To prove her point, she sabotaged the colony ship, the SS Santa Maria, forcing it to crash-land on a remote planet. Alixus installed a duonetic field generator that prevented all technology from operating, forcing the colonists to live by her new vision. To prove her thesis, she resorted to cruel punishments and stood by and let her colonists die from easily curable ailments. Gail Strickland plays Alixys with such nuance, transforming "Paradise" from a filler episode into an underrated Star Trek: Deep Space Nine classic . Her electric scenes with Sisko foreshadow the DS9 captain's later conflicts with other zealots.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

*Availability in US

Not available

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also known as DS9, is the fourth series in the long-running Sci-Fi franchise, Star Trek. DS9 was created by Rick Berman and Michael Piller, and stars Avery Brooks, René Auberjonois, Terry Farrell, and Cirroc Lofton. This particular series follows a group of individuals in a space station near a planet called Bajor.

11 Seska (Martha Hackett)

Star trek: voyager, seasons 1 to 3.

Star Trek: Voyager 's Seska (Martha Hackett) was a fantastic idea for a character, but very poorly executed. Introduced as one of the secondary Maquis crew members of the Valjean, it quickly became clear that Seska was hiding something. Not only did Seska want Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran) to lead a mutiny against Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), she was also a Cardassian spy in disguise. These two elements combined ended up confusing Seska's character in Voyager , as an outnumbered Cardassian would surely have set their sights on an alliance with Janeway, not the Maquis .

Martha Hackett previously played the Romulan Sub-commander T'Rul in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's season 3 premiere "The Search, Parts I & II".

Eventually, Seska left the USS Voyager, to make an alliance with the Kazon in an attempt to capture the ship. The motivations for Seska's plan to capture Voyager were seemingly rooted in her disappointment at being scorned by her former lover, Chakotay. Disappointingly, one of Star Trek: Voyager 's most interesting villains was reduced to the level of Captain Kirk's evil ex-girlfriend, Janice Lester . The most successful plot by Seska was only discovered after she'd died, when a holodeck simulation of a Maquis mutiny turned into a deadly trap in Voyager season 3, episode 25, "Worst Case Scenario".

Star Trek: Voyager

The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before. 

10 Asencia, The Vindicator (Jameela Jamil)

Star trek: prodigy season 1.

Janeway's ship was once again infiltrated by an enemy alien in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1. Masquerading as a Trill ensign, Asencia helped track the USS Protostar, in the hopes of activating its deadly Living Construct weapon and destroying Starfleet. Asencia's true identity was discovered after Janeway and the USS Dauntless rescued the Diviner (John Noble). Hoping that the two Vau N'AKat could work together, Asencia was shocked when the Diviner chose his daughter Gwyndala (Ella Purnell) over their plan to destroy Starfleet. In the Prodigy season 1 finale, Asencia successfully activated the Living Construct and returned to her own time .

Asencia's story will presumably continue in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 , as Admiral Janeway heads into the alternate future to rescue Captain Chakotay and his crew from the Vau N'Akat. It's therefore hard to rank Asencia higher until her story plays out in full. However, judging by the ruthlessness and cunning that Asencia displayed in Prodigy season 1, it's clear that Janeway and the crew of the USS Voyager-A will have their work cut out for them.

Star Trek: Prodigy

Star Trek: Prodigy is the first TV series in the Star Trek franchise marketed toward children, and one of the few animated series in the franchise. The story follows a group of young aliens who find a stolen Starfleet ship and use it to escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony where they are all held captive. Working together with the help of a holographic Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the new crew of the USS Protostar must find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant to warn the Federation of the deadly threat that is pursuing them.

9 Female Romulan Commander (Joanne Linville)

Star trek: the original series, season 3, episode 4, "the enterprise incident".

In Star Trek: The Original Series , season 2, episode 4, "The Enterprise Incident", Captain Kirk is tasked with stealing a Romulan cloaking device . Part of the plan requires Lt. Commander Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to seduce an unnamed Female Romulan Commander (Joanna Linville), who is attracted to the Vulcan. However, unlike Seska in Star Trek: Voyager , the Female Romulan Commander's ambitions lie far beyond romantic interests. She believes that capturing the USS Enterprise for the Romulan Star Empire will be a boon for her career progression, and wants Spock to serve alongside her.

Years after the events of "The Enterprise Incident", the Federation was banned from developing cloaking technology thanks to the Treaty of Algeron.

Having seemingly turned on Kirk and even killed him in a fight, Spock keeps the Female Romulan Commander interested while Kirk infiltrates the ship. However, the Commander saw through the ruse and beamed aboard the Enterprise to try and take it by force, or have it destroyed. The plan to steal the USS Enterprise is foiled, and the Female Romulan Commander is left embarrassed by falling for Kirk and Spock's fight and losing the cloaking device to the Federation. Interestingly, Spock doesn't throw the Female Romulan Commander into the brig, and instead takes her to standard quarters, implying his seduction wasn't all pretend.

Star Trek: The Original Series

Star Trek: The Original Series follows the exploits of the crew of the USS Enterprise. On a five-year mission to explore uncharted space, Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner) must trust his crew - Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Forest DeKelley), Montgomery "Scotty" Scott (James Doohan), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Chekov (Walter Koenig) and Sulu (George Takei) - with his life. Facing previously undiscovered life forms and civilizations and representing humanity among the stars on behalf of Starfleet and the United Federation of Planets, the Enterprise regularly comes up against impossible odds and diplomatic dilemmas.

8 Lursa and B'Etor Duras (Barbara March and Gwynyth Walsh)

Star trek: tng, ds9 and star trek generations.

The House of Duras were sworn enemies of Worf, Son of Mogh (Michael Dorn) in Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . After Worf killed the House's patriarch in TNG season 4, episode 7, "Reunion", Duras' sisters Lursa (Barbara March) and B'Etor (Gwynyth Walsh) were left seeking vengeance. The House of Duras tried to instigate a Klingon Civil War, and even provided a Bajoran terrorist with the explosives needed to destroy the wormhole in DS9 season 1. Following the aborted Klingon Civil War, the Duras sisters effectively became guns for hire, placing them in the orbit of Dr. Tolian Soren (Malcolm McDowell) in Star Trek Generations .

Star Trek Generations was a disappointing end for the Duras Sisters, as they never really got a final confrontation with Worf . Sidelined as Soran's muscle, the sisters and their Klingon crew did manage to destroy the USS Enterprise-D, but their own ship was destroyed soon after. Weirdly, Generations never lingered on what a big deal this would have been for Worf, given how the House of Duras had been behind many of his issues with the Klingon Empire. This dissatisfying ending means that the Duras Sisters can't make it into the top tier of female Star Trek villains.

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: The Next Generation is the third installment in the sci-fi franchise and follows the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew members of the USS Enterprise. Set around one hundred years after the original series, Picard and his crew travel through the galaxy in largely self-contained episodes exploring the crew dynamics and their own political discourse. The series also had several overarching plots that would develop over the course of the isolated episodes, with four films released in tandem with the series to further some of these story elements.

7 Sela (Denise Crosby)

Star trek: the next generation, "redemption" and "unification".

Sela was the Romulan daughter of Tasha Yar (Denise Crosby), who spent years working for the intelligence services. Sela's first notable operations against the Federation were brainwashing Lt. Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton) to assassinate Klingon governor Vagh (Edward Wiley) in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Mind's Eye". Sela tried again to destabilize relations between the Klingon Empire and the Federation when she supported the Duras Sisters' attempt to take control of the Klingon Empire. Sela's plans were foiled by Captain Picard and a Starfleet armada that prevented Romulan reinforcements from entering Klingon space .

Denise Crosby conceived the character of Sela as a means to return to Star Trek: The Next Generation after enjoying the experience of making "Yesterday's Enterprise".

Sela became the mastermind behind an attempted Romulan invasion of Vulcan, by manipulating Ambassador Spock's reunification mission. Using a holographic duplicate of Spock, Sela hoped to convince the Federation that an incoming fleet of Vulcan ships contained a Romulan peace envoy, and not an invasion force. Picard, Data, and Spock foiled Sela's plan, and she was incapacitated with a Vulcan nerve pinch, never to be heard from again. It was an ignominious end for Star Trek: The Next Generation 's best Romulan villain.

Spock’s Star Trek TOS Romance Explains His TNG Vulcan & Romulan Dream

6 valeris (kim cattrall), star trek vi: the undiscovered country.

Lt. Valeris (Kim Cattrall) is a great Star Trek villain because there's a genuine emotional impact on the crew of the USS Enterprise-A. It may have been better if Saavik betrayed Spock in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , but the weight of Valeris' betrayal is still impactful. Valeris' cold Vulcan logic dictated that peace with the Klingons was illogical , which is why she joined the Khitomer Conspiracy. Spock's protégé helped to frame Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy (DeForest Kelley) for political assassination, and deliberately hindered the investigation.

While Gene Roddenberry objected to her inclusion, Saavik was actually written out of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country because Kirstie Alley declined to return to the role.

Valeris' coldness makes her quite a compelling Star Trek villain, as she genuinely believes her many crimes are based on logic. It's a fascinating insight into how interpretations of logic can differ from Vulcan to Vulcan, as proved by Spock and Valeris' clash in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country . Interrogated by Kirk and forced to endure a controversial mind meld with Spock, Valeris finally revealed the identities of the conspirators, and was taken to the Khitomer Conference to publicly unmask the conspiracy.

5 Vadic (Amanda Plummer)

Star trek: picard season 3.

Vadic was one of the most unpredictable foes ever faced by Admiral Jean-Luc Picard. A Changeling tasked with delivering Jack Crusher (Ed Speleers) to the Borg Queen (Alice Krige), Vadic took some big swings to achieve her goals in Star Trek: Picard season 3. Vadic's awesome ship, the Shrike, almost destroyed the USS Titan-A and its crew during their multiple skirmishes in the course of Picard season 3 . Vadic even found time to kidnap Counselor Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis) in an attempt to secure the assistance of Captain William T Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

Amanda Plummer is the daughter of Christopher Plummer, who played the villainous General Chang in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country .

It's a testament to Amanda Plummer's unique portrayal of a Star Trek villain that it wasn't immediately clear that Vadic was a Changeling . The scenes in "Dominion" in which Vadic described the brutal treatment of Changeling prisoners during the Dominion War were beautifully performed by Plummer, adding depth to Star Trek: Picard season 3's villain . It even elicited a degree of sympathy, but Vadic soon lost that when she began executing members of the USS Titan-A's crew. Eventually, she was blown out into space by Jack Crasher, where, ironically, her Changeling body solidified then exploded into pieces.

Star Trek: Picard

After starring in Star Trek: The Next Generation for seven seasons and various other Star Trek projects, Patrick Stewart is back as Jean-Luc Picard. Star Trek: Picard focuses on a retired Picard who is living on his family vineyard as he struggles to cope with the death of Data and the destruction of Romulus. But before too long, Picard is pulled back into the action. The series also brings back fan-favorite characters from the Star Trek franchise, such as Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton), Worf (Michael Dorn), and William Riker (Jonathan Frakes).

4 The Intendant (Nana Visitor)

Star trek: deep space nine (various).

The Intendant, the Mirror Universe variant of Major Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor) is one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's most memorable villains. DS9 brought back the Mirror Universe in a big way, and the Intendant played a key role in each return visit. Kira's dark opposite was effectively the Gul Dukat of the Mirror Universe's Terok Nor, ruling the station with intimidation, manipulation, and violence. She was assisted in her tyrannical role of the station by Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson), who opposed some of the Intendant's more holistic methods .

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine producer Michael Piller had been rejecting Mirror Universe episodes since his days on Star Trek: The Next Generation . However, he and Ira Steven Behr finally figured out that the most interesting story to tell would be the aftermath of the fall of the Terran Empire, as seen in DS9 's Mirror Universe episodes.

The Intendant eventually lost control over the Terran rebels, thanks to various Mirror Universe incursions by Kira and Captain Sisko . This led to her losing her position, and being imprisoned aboard Regent Worf's flagship in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7. Hoping to win favor with Worf, the Intendant orchestrated a plot to have the flagship fitted with a stolen cloaking device. However, the cloak was sabotaged, leaving the flagship open to attack from the Terran rebels, striking another blow against the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance, and giving the former Intendant a chance to escape with her life.

3 Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher)

Kai Winn (Louise Fletcher) was one of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's most fascinating characters. First introduced in the DS9 season 1 finale, Vedek Winn was a religious zealot who objected to Sisko's closeness to the Bajoran Prophets. This jealousy of Sisko eventually poisoned the calculating religious leader even further, pushing her to more and more extreme lengths to bring herself closer to her gods. Played by Oscar winning actress Louise Fletcher , Kai Winn's descent into hell across seven seasons of DS9 was compulsive viewing.

Louise Fletcher and Michelle Yeoh are the only two Star Trek stars to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.

While Kai Winn had a redemption of sorts in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's finale, it was still rooted in the cowardice and pettiness of her character. When she realized that the Pah wraiths wanted Gul Dukat as their emissary and not her, she decided to put her faith back in Sisko. While that saved Bajor from destruction, it's hard to ignore that Kai Winn's motivations were once again rooted in Bajor's higher beings ignoring her.

2 The Female Changeling (Salome Jens)

The Female Changeling (Salome Jens) was Star Trek: Deep Space Nine 's most interesting female villain . The spokesperson for the Dominion Founders, she was a master manipulator, and a steely villain with little regard for the "solids". The Female Changeling's attempts to manipulate Constable Odo (René Auberjonois) were compelling viewing, and ultimately solidified the Constable's loyalty to his friends aboard DS9. Seen as a god by the Vorta, the Female Changeling also appeared to delight in manipulating Weyoun (Jeffrey Combs) by playing him off against the Breen in the latter stages of DS9 's Dominion War .

Salome Jens also played the First Humanoid, now referred to as a Progenitor, in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode, "The Chase", which Star Trek: Discovery season 5 is a sequel to.

Salome Jens' performance as the Female Changeling was utterly compelling, delivering her lines with an icy sense of superiority befitting a species that set themselves up as gods. When the Dominion War ended in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine finale, the Female Changeling was taken into custody for her multiple war crimes. However, despite Odo's attempts to educate his people to move past the Female Changeling's ideology, those like Vadic still wanted to destroy the Solids following the Dominion War.

1 The Borg Queen (Alice Krige)

Star trek: first contact, voyager, picard.

Introduced in Star Trek: First Contact , the Borg Queen (Alice Krige) is the greatest female villain that the franchise has produced . Unlike her drones, Star Trek 's Borg Queen had a personality, and used that to seduce others into joining the Collective. Lt. Commander Data (Brent Spiner) seemingly fell under the Borg Queen's spell in First Contact , but was merely distracting her so he could avert the Collective's plan to sabotage the Phoenix's first warp flight. The Borg Queen's consciousness was stored elsewhere, able to be downloaded into a new body, which is why other actress have played the role originated by Krige.

Each Borg Queen performer has brought something new to the character, the most notable being Annie Wersching and Alison Pill's partnership in Star Trek: Picard season 2 . Their co-dependent relationship revealed new information about the Borg Queen that humanized her somewhat. Through her connection to the Queen, Dr. Agnes Jurati (Alison Pill) discovered that the Borg long for connection, and the Queen is ultimately lonely. Rather than being a retcon, this was a callback to the Queen's previous relationships with Data and Picard, confirming that they were the only matches for Star Trek 's most enduring female villain.

Star Trek: First Contact is available to stream on Max.