Star Trek Voyager

''Star Trek: Voyager'' is an American science fiction television series created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor. It originally aired from January 16, 1995 to May 23, 2001 on UPN, with 172 episodes over seven seasons. It is the fifth series in the '' Star Trek'' franchise. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a United Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS ''Voyager'' as it attempts to return home to the Alpha Quadrant after being stranded in the Delta Quadrant on the far side of the Milky Way galaxy.

Paramount Pictures commissioned the series following the termination of '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' to accompany the ongoing '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. They wanted it to help launch UPN, their newly established network. Berman, Piller and Taylor devised the series to chronologically overlap with ''Deep Space Nine'' and to maintain thematic continuity with elements that had been introduced in ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine.'' The complex relationship between Starfleet and ex-Federation colonists known as the Maquis was one such element and a persistent central theme. ''Voyager'' was the first ''Star Trek'' series to feature a female commanding officer, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), as the lead character. Berman was head executive producer in charge of the overall production, assisted by a series of executive producers: Piller, Taylor, Brannon Braga and Kenneth Biller.

Set in a different part of the galaxy from preceding ''Star Trek'' shows, ''Voyager'' gave the series' writers space to introduce new alien species as recurring characters, namely the Kazon, Vidiians, Hirogen and Species 8472. During the later seasons, the Borg—a species created for ''The Next Generation''—were introduced as the main antagonists. During ''Voyager''s run, various episode novelizations and tie-in video games were produced; after it ended, various novels continued the series' narrative.

Production

Development

As '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' ended, Paramount Pictures wanted to continue to have a second ''Star Trek'' TV series to accompany '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. The studio also planned to start a new television network, and wanted the new series to help it succeed. This was reminiscent of Paramount's earlier plans to launch its own network by showcasing ''Star Trek: Phase II'' in 1977.

Initial work on ''Star Trek: Voyager'' began in 1993, when the seventh and final season of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and the second season of ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' were in production. Seeds for ''Voyager''s backstory, including the development of the Maquis, were placed in several ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine'' episodes. ''Voyager'' was shot on the stages ''The Next Generation'' had used, and where the ''Voyager'' pilot "Caretaker" was shot in September 1994. Costume designer Robert Blackman decided that the uniforms of ''Voyager''s crew would be the same as those on ''Deep Space Nine''.

''Star Trek: Voyager'' was the first ''Star Trek'' series to use computer-generated imagery (CGI), rather than models, for exterior space shots. '' Babylon 5'' and '' seaQuest DSV'' had previously used CGI to avoid the expense of models, but the ''Star Trek'' television department continued using models because they felt they were more realistic. Amblin Imaging won an Emmy for ''Voyager''s opening CGI title visuals, but the weekly episode exteriors were captured with hand-built miniatures of ''Voyager'', its shuttlecraft, and other ships. This changed when ''Voyager'' went fully CGI for certain types of shots midway through season three (late 1996). Foundation Imaging was the studio responsible for special effects during ''Babylon 5''s first three seasons. Season three's " The Swarm" was the first episode to use Foundation's effects exclusively. ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' began using Foundation Imaging in conjunction with Digital Muse in season six. In its later seasons, ''Voyager'' featured visual effects from Foundation Imaging and Digital Muse. The digital effects were produced at standard television resolution and some have speculated that it cannot be re-released in HD format without re-creating the special effects. However, ''Enterprise'' has been released in HD, but the special effects were rendered in 480p and upscaled.

Music

Unlike ''The Next Generation'', where composer Jerry Goldsmith's theme from '' Star Trek: The Motion Picture'' was reused, Goldsmith composed and conducted an entirely new main theme for ''Voyager''. As done with ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine'', a soundtrack album of the series' pilot episode "Caretaker" and a CD single containing three variations of the main theme were released by Crescendo Records in 1995 between seasons one and two. In 1996, the theme was also released as piano solo songbook.

In 2017, La-La Land Records issued ''Star Trek: Voyager Collection, Volume 1'', a four-disc limited-edition release containing Goldsmith's theme music and tracks from Jay Chattaway's "Rise", "Night", the two-parter "Equinox", "Pathfinder", "Spirit Folk", "The Haunting of Deck Twelve", "Shattered", "The Void", and the two-parter "Scorpion"; Dennis McCarthy's "The 37's", the two-parter "Basics", "The Q and the Gray", "Concerning Flight", "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy", and the two-parters "Workforce" and "Year of Hell"; David Bell's "Dark Frontier"; and Paul Baillargeon's "Lifesigns".

In 2020, ''Newsweek'' magazine said that the ''Voyager'' theme by Goldsmith, was the best of all ''Star Trek'' television series' themes. The article elaborates, "...''Voyager'' recaptures some of the spacey ethereality of Courage's original vocal melody, while adding a deep space resonance that evoked the series' lost explorers, far from home among uncharted stars."

Behind the scenes

In August 2015, the main cast members (except Jennifer Lien, who retired from acting in 2002) appeared together onstage in Las Vegas for the 20th anniversary of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' at the 2015 Las Vegas ''Star Trek'' convention.

Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) and Roxann Dawson (Torres) went on to direct episodes of ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', while Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, and Andrew Robinson (Garak of ''Deep Space Nine'') all directed episodes of ''Star Trek: Voyager''. ''Star Trek'' actors directing has been popular in this franchise, pioneered by Leonard Nimoy (famous for playing Spock in ''The Original Series''), who got into directing and had this job for the third and fourth ''Star Trek'' theatrical films.

The sets used for USS ''Voyager'' were reused for the ''Deep Space Nine'' episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" for her sister ship USS ''Bellerophon'' (NCC-74705), both of which are ''Intrepid''-class starships. The sickbay set of USS ''Voyager'' was also used as the ''Enterprise''-E sickbay in the films '' Star Trek: First Contact'' and '' Star Trek: Insurrection''. Additionally, the ''Voyager'' ready room and the engineering set were also used as rooms aboard the ''Enterprise-''E in ''Insurrection''.

Production of episodes ran from June/July to March/April each year, with one episode typically taking about 7 days to shoot. Shooting started at 7 am each weekday and continued until finished for the day. The pilot (first) episode, "Caretaker" took 31 days to shoot and was one of the most expensive television pilots shot at the time.

Plot overview

In the pilot episode, "Caretaker", , under the command of Captain Kathryn Janeway, departs the Deep Space Nine space station on a mission into the treacherous Badlands. They are searching for a missing ship piloted by a team of Maquis rebels, which ''Voyager''s security officer, the Vulcan Lieutenant Tuvok, has secretly infiltrated. Tom Paris, a disgraced former Starfleet officer who joined the Maquis and was subsequently arrested, agrees to help find the Maquis ship in exchange for his freedom. While in the Badlands, ''Voyager'' is enveloped by a powerful energy wave that kills several of its crew, damages the ship, and strands it in the galaxy's Delta Quadrant, more than 70,000 light-years from Earth. The wave was not a natural phenomenon. In fact, it was used by an alien entity known as the Caretaker to pull ''Voyager'' into the Delta Quadrant. The Caretaker is responsible for the continued care of the Ocampa, a race of aliens native to the Delta Quadrant, and has been abducting other species from around the galaxy in an effort to find a successor.

The Maquis ship was also pulled into the Delta Quadrant, and eventually the two crews reluctantly agree to join forces after the Caretaker space station is destroyed in a pitched space battle with another local alien species, the Kazon. Chakotay, leader of the Maquis group, is made ''Voyager''s first officer. B'Elanna Torres, a half-human/half-Klingon Maquis, becomes chief engineer, and Paris becomes ''Voyager''s helm officer. Due to the deaths of the ship's entire medical staff, the Doctor, an emergency medical hologram designed only for short-term use, is employed as the ship's full-time chief medical officer. Delta Quadrant natives Neelix, a Talaxian scavenger, and Kes, a young Ocampa, are welcomed aboard as the ship's chef/morale officer and the Doctor's medical assistant, respectively.

Due to its great distance from Federation space, the Delta Quadrant is unexplored by Starfleet, and ''Voyager'' is truly going where no human has gone before. As they set out on their projected 75-year journey home, the crew passes through regions belonging to various species: the barbaric and belligerent Kazon; the organ-harvesting, disease-ravaged Vidiians; the nomadic hunter race the Hirogen; the fearsome Species 8472 from fluidic space; and most notably the Borg, who control large areas of space that ''Voyager'' has to move through in later seasons. They also encounter perilous natural phenomena, a nebulous area called the Nekrit Expanse (" Fair Trade", third season), a large area of empty space called the Void ("Night", fifth season), wormholes, dangerous nebulae and other anomalies.

''Voyager'' is the third ''Star Trek'' series to feature Q, an omnipotent alien—and the second on a recurring basis, as Q made only one appearance on '' Star Trek: Deep Space Nine''. Starfleet Command learns of ''Voyager''s survival when the crew discovers an ancient interstellar communications network, claimed by the Hirogen, into which they can tap. This relay network is later disabled, but due to the efforts of Earth-based Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, Starfleet eventually establishes regular contact in the season-six episode "Pathfinder", using a communications array and micro-wormhole technology.

In the first two episodes of the show's fourth season, Kes leaves the ship in the wake of an extreme transformation of her mental abilities, while Seven of Nine (known colloquially as Seven), a Borg drone who was assimilated as a six-year-old human girl, is liberated from the collective and joins the ''Voyager'' crew. As the series progresses, Seven begins to regain her humanity with the ongoing help of Captain Janeway, who shows her that emotions, friendship, love, and caring are more important than the sterile "perfection" the Borg espouse. The Doctor also becomes more human-like, due in part to a mobile holo-emitter the crew obtains in the third season which allows the Doctor to leave the confines of sickbay and even the ship itself. He discovers his love of music and art, which he demonstrates in the episode " Virtuoso". In the sixth season, the crew discovers a group of adolescent aliens assimilated by the Borg, but prematurely released from their maturation chambers due to a malfunction on their Borg cube. As he did with Seven of Nine, the Doctor rehumanizes the children; Azan, Rebi and Mezoti, three of them eventually find a new adoptive home while the fourth, Icheb, chooses to stay aboard ''Voyager.''

Life for the ''Voyager'' crew evolves during their long journey. Traitors Seska and Michael Jonas are uncovered in the early months ("State of Flux", " Investigations"); loyal crew members are lost late in the journey; and other wayward Starfleet officers are integrated into the crew. In the second season, the first child is born aboard the ship to Ensign Samantha Wildman; as she quickly grows up due to alien biology, Naomi Wildman becomes great friends with her godfather, Neelix, and develops an unexpected and close relationship with Seven of Nine. Early in the seventh season, Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres marry after a long courtship, and Torres gives birth to their child, Miral Paris, in the series finale. Late in the seventh season, the crew finds a colony of Talaxians on a makeshift settlement in an asteroid field, and Neelix chooses to bid ''Voyager'' farewell and live once again among his people.

Over the course of the series, the ''Voyager'' crew finds various ways to reduce their 75-year journey by up to five decades (barring any other delays they may encounter): shortcuts, in the episodes "Year of Hell", "Night" and " Q2"; technology boosts in " The Voyager Conspiracy", " Dark Frontier", " Timeless" and "Hope and Fear"; a subspace corridor in " Dragon's Teeth"; and a mind-powered push from a powerful former shipmate in " The Gift". Several other trip-shortening attempts are unsuccessful, as seen in the episodes " Eye of the Needle", "Prime Factors", "Future's End", " Course: Oblivion", and "Inside Man". After traveling for seven years, a current (yet returning) shipmate helps instigate a series of complex efforts which shortens the remainder of the journey to a few minutes in the series finale, "Endgame".

Cast

*Geneviève Bujold, originally cast as Janeway, quit a day and a half into shooting the pilot "Caretaker" and was replaced by Kate Mulgrew.

Notable guest appearances

Cameos

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

Actors

Source material: Ruditis (2003)
* Brad Dourif played Lon Suder in " Meld" as well as in the two-parter " Basics"
* Jason Alexander played Kurros, the spokesperson for a group of alien scholars, in "Think Tank".
* John Aniston played the Quarren Ambassador in the two-part episode "Workforce".
* Ed Begley Jr. portrayed Henry Starling, an unscrupulous 20th-century industrialist, in "Future's End" parts 1 and 2.
* Dan Butler played Steth in " Vis à Vis".
* Robert Curtis Brown portrayed Neezar, the Ledosian ambassador, in "Natural Law".
* David Clennon played Dr. Crell Moset in the episode " Nothing Human".
* Henry Darrow appears in the episodes "Tattoo" and "Basics: Part I" as Chakotay's father.
* Andy Dick plays the Emergency Medical Hologram Mark 2 on USS ''Prometheus'' in "Message in a Bottle".
* David Graf appeared as Fred Noonan, Amelia Earhart's navigator in the episode " The 37's".
* Gary Graham, who portrayed Ambassador Soval on ''Star Trek: Enterprise'', played Ocampan community leader Tanis in the season-two episode " Cold Fire".
* Gerrit Graham played a member of the Q Continuum called Quinn in " Death Wish" who sought asylum on ''Voyager''.
* Joel Grey played Caylem, in " Resistance".
* Lori Hallier played Riley Frazier, one of a group of former Borg drones, in "Unity".
* Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson portrayed the Pendari Champion with whom Seven of Nine and Tuvok are forced to compete in the episode "Tsunkatse".
* Leslie Jordan played Kol, a Ferengi, in the episode “False Profits”.
* Alice Krige and Susanna Thompson both played the Borg Queen. Krige, who had originated the role in the movie '' Star Trek: First Contact'', returned for Voyager's series finale; Thompson had portrayed the character earlier in the show's run.
* Sharon Lawrence played the famous aviator Amelia Earhart in the episode "The 37's".
* Michael McKean plays a maniacal clown character in a simulation in which the crew's minds are held hostage in the episode " The Thaw".
* Virginia Madsen played Kellin, a Ramuran tracer, in " Unforgettable".
* Marjorie Monaghan played Freya, a shieldmaiden, in "Heroes and Demons".
* Leland Orser played Dejaren, an unstable hologram, in "Revulsion"
* John Savage plays Captain Rudolph Ransom of the USS ''Equinox'', another Federation starship that ''Voyager'' encountered in the Delta Quadrant, in "Equinox" parts 1 and 2.
* Lori Petty played Noss in the episode "Gravity". Tuvok and Tom become stranded on a planet and befriend Noss, an alien stranded there many years before.
* John Rhys-Davies plays Leonardo da Vinci in Janeway's holodeck program. He appeared in " Scorpion: Part I" and " Concerning Flight".
* W. Morgan Sheppard appeared as Qatai, an alien trapped by a telepathic "pitcher plant" anomaly masquerading as Voyager's savior, in "Bliss".
* Sarah Silverman appeared as Rain Robinson, a young astronomer who finds ''Voyager'' in orbit of 20th-century Earth, in "Future's End" parts 1 and 2.
* Kurtwood Smith, who played the Federation president in '' Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'', played Annorax, a Krenim scientist who was determined to restore his original timeline, in "Year of Hell" parts 1 and 2.
* Comedian Scott Thompson played the alien Tomin in " Someone to Watch Over Me".
* Ray Walston, who appeared as Starfleet Academy groundskeeper Boothby in the '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' episode "The First Duty", reprised the role in the episodes "In the Flesh" and " The Fight".
* Songwriter Paul Williams played Prelate Koru in " Virtuoso".
* Titus Welliver played Lieutenant Maxwell Burke in "Equinox" parts 1 and 2.
* Joseph Will played Tellis in "Muse".
* Ray Wise played Arturis in "Hope and Fear". He also had an appearance in an episode of ''Star Trek: The Next Generation'' called "Who Watches the Watchers".
* Tom Wright appeared as Tuvix in " Tuvix".

Connections with other ''Star Trek'' incarnations

Characters and races

As with other ''Star Trek'' series, the original ''Star Trek''s Vulcans, Klingons, and Romulans appear in ''Star Trek: Voyager''. Okuda (1999) ''Voyager'' had appearances by several other races who initially appear in ''The Next Generation'': the Q, the Borg, Cardassians, Bajorans, Betazoids, and Ferengi, along with ''Deep Space Nine''s Jem'Hadar (via hologram), as well as the Maquis resistance movement, previously established in episodes of ''The Next Generation'' and ''Deep Space Nine''.

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

Actors from other ''Star Trek'' incarnations who appeared on ''Voyager''

* Michael Ansara, who played the Klingon commander Kang on the original series ("Day of the Dove") and ''Deep Space Nine'' (" Blood Oath") also appeared as Kang on ''Voyager'' ("Flashback").
* Vaughn Armstrong, who portrayed a wide variety of guest characters throughout the show's run, later went on to portray Admiral Forrest in ''Star Trek: Enterprise''.
* Majel Barrett