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fandomhigh_ooc2007-06-10 11:32 am
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Spotlight on Fandoms - Star Trek: Voyager
It's my turn to do a Spotlight on Fandom again and this time I'm going to be talking about Star Trek: Voyager, which in my opinion and it has nothing to do with me being bias or anything, really is the best Star Trek series that have been made thus far.
Star Trek: Voyager follows the journey of the USS Voyager as it is stranded half way across the galaxy in a largely unexplored area of space and has to make their own way back to the Alpha Quadrant after what appears to be their only way home is destroyed. It's estimated that it will take them 75 years to reach home but to make the most of their predicament they decide to take the opportunity to explore the region and find ways that would help them get home faster. In addition to finding their way home Voyager's crew also has to learn how to work together after two very different crews were merged to form one crew, following the destruction of one of the crew's ships and an agreement made between the two commanding officers that they would work together to make their way home.
Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew):
Captain Kathryn Janeway is the commanding officer on Voyager. It was her decision to destroy the Caretaker's array so that the Kazon would not be able to harm the Ocampa, that left Voyager lost in the Delta Quadrant. One of Janeway's biggest tasks was working to ensure that both her Starfleet crew and Chakotay's Maquis crew would work together, despite some initial complications that resulted from this both crews became close, almost becoming like a family. Janeway also had the problem that she was on her own for many of the big decisions that she made, and full aware that she would be taking full responsibility for any consequences of those decisions given that they had no help from Starfleet since they were out of contact from them.
Lt. Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran):
Lt. Commander Chakotay is the first officer on Voyager. Initially he was the Captain of the Maquis ship, Val Jean but when he sacrified the ship to win a crucial victory in a fight with the Kazon. He agreed to have him and his crew join with Captain Janeway since they were both in a similar predicament and they would need all the help they could get to get home. Prior to his involvement in the Maquis Chakotay was in Starfleet, he was an instructor at the Academy, but after the area of space where his home planet was located was annexed to the Cardassians by the Federation, he resigned from Starfleet in protest. Chakotay experienced moments of self doubt about his abilities to command, given that he had failed to notice that two of his crew on the Val Jean were undercover.
Lt. Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ):
Lt. Commander Tuvok is the Science and Tactical officer on Voyager. At the time of his ending up in the Delta Quadrant he was undercover on the Val Jean as Chakotay's Security Officer, his purpose of being there was to have the ship captured. When the Maquis crew were beamed onboard Voyager since both crews were missing one member each (Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres) and Janeway acknowledged Tuvok's prescence, Tuvok revealed where his true loyalties lay and they were with Janeway much to Chakotay's disgust (even though Tuvok's revelation was overshadowed by the fact that an ex-Maquis was also onboard Voyager). Since Tuvok is Vulcan, his views on logic aren't always agreed on and this has provided some conflict amongst the crew.
The Doctor (Robert Picardo):
The Doctor is the EMH (Emergancy Medical Hologram) on Voyager who was first activated after the original medical team were killed. Since he was only meant to be operational in extreme situations, the fact that he was only one on board Voyager with adequate medical knowledge proved to be immensely stressful and he needed someone who could assist him in sickbay. Initially Tom was volunteered to train since he had taken a couple of medical classes at the academy but eventually Kes had proven herself to be sound in enough medical knowledge and the Doctor decided to train her so that she could help him in sickbay. Due to the fact that The Doctor is a hologram, he is often distant from the crew since he doesn't know what it's like to experience pain or emotions. For the first few seasons he was confined to sickbay or the holodeck, which limited his capabilities but after gaining a mobile emitter he was granted the freedom to be able to move freely on the ship and experience life outside sickbay.
Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson):
Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres is the Chief Engineer on Voyager. She's half Human and half Klingon and her Klingon heritage has given her more than a few troubles. B'Elanna had intially gone to Starfleet Academy but it wasn't long before she dropped out. She joined the Maquis and was on the Val Jean with Chakotay when it ended up in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay recommended B'Elanna for the Chief Engineering position, despite Joe Carey being in line to replace the Chief Engineer who had died. Janeway was reluctant to give the position to B'Elanna but after she took the time to get to know her, she decided to promote her to Chief Engineer. Not everyone was happy with this appointment but B'Elanna stuck through it and managed to become a respected member of the crew. By the end of the series she had worked through most of her problems, and despite a rocky start she ended up marrying Tom Paris and haviing his child.
Lieutenant Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeil):
Lieutenant Tom Paris is the Pilot on Voyager. He's the son of Admiral Owen Paris, a top ranking Starfleet Officer and because of this he had a lot of pressure to do well in everything that he did, particularly being in Starfleet. After Tom ended up in a crash that resulted in the death of three Starfleet Officers where he was pilot, he falsified reports to conceal what really had happened but eventually the guilt got to him so he confessed to what had happened. Tom was court-martialed and he received a dishonourable discharge from Starfleet. It wasn't long afterwards that he was recruited to the Maquis but on his first assignment he was court and tried with treason. As a result of this he was sentanced to a Federation Penal Settlement. Captain Janeway offered him early parole if he would be help her locate the missing Maquis ship and provide information. He reluctantly agreed, even though he was disappointed that he would only be an observer instead of a pilot. After they ended up in the Delta Quadrant, since the original Pilot had been killed Captain Janeway assigned him the position. Tom's relationship with the rest of the crew was rocky at times, given that he wasn't on best terms with the Maquis and that his reputation didn't make him all that popular with the initial Voyager crew. Eventually Tom won over B'Elanna, he married her and he is the father of their daughter.
Ensign Harry Kim (Garret Wang):
Ensign Harry Kim is the Operations Officer on Voyager. Possibly the thing that made me go wtf writers? a lot was the fact that Harry was never promoted from Ensign throughout the show. There were other characters who held the rank of Ensign throughout the seven seasons but since Harry's on the Senior Staff, he should have been at least promoted to Lieutenant (j.g) at some point in series. Harry is young, naive at times but is desperate to prove himself and he is very loyal to Captain Janeway.
Neelix (Ethan Phillips):
Neelix is Voyager's guide, cookhe's not a particularly good one though and morale officer. He first joined the crew after he encountered Voyager whilst he was rummaging through a debris field, he said that he would help get them home if they happened to have water, which they did. The only reason that Neelix wanted the water was so that he could give it to the Kazon in return for them freeing his girlfriend Kes after he had initially stolen the water from the Kazon and had given it to her. Neelix and Kes then made the decision that they wanted to remain on Voyager as crewmembers Neelix is also Naomi Wildman's godfather.
Kes (Jennifer Lien) [Seasons 1-3]:
Kes came aboard Voyager with Neelix after she was freed from the Kazon. She had ventured out from her underground Ocampan home world and had been taken captive by the Kazon. When she came aboard Voyager she started helping out in sickbay and after a while The Doctor offered to train her as a nurse, which she accepted. Throughout the three seasons that she was in Kes developed extrodinary mental powers (even though it wasn't uncommon for her people to have unique powers). Even though she learned to control them with Tuvok her powers developed to a stage where she couldn't control them and because of thisand lower ratings she left the ship. When she left she left a gift for Voyager and that was to use her powers to send them safely past Borg space.
Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01 (Jeri Ryan) [Seasons 4 -7]:
Seven isa mary sue an ex Borg drone who ended up remaining with the Voyager crew after her link to the collective was severed. Despite her early initial attempts to go back to the Borg, Seven slowly adapted to her new changes as she accepted that she was no longer a member of the Collective and that she could become an individual. This change was awkward for Seven since she had no recollection of being human, since she was assimilated when she was six years old. Due to Seven's knowledge of Astrometrics Seven mostly helped out At the end of the series she had The Doctor remove the Borg implants that would allow her to express emotions and she selected Chakotay to help her in this development (and this pairing was another thing that made me go wtf writers?)
Q (John de Lancie:
Even though he doesn't play as big a part in Voyager as he does in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Q's character still played a prominent role in the series. At first Q appeared to stop a regenade Q from escaping his imprisonment but this Q had a bigger impact on him then he would have thought possible. When he learns that this Q was inspired by his previous behaviour, he decided to return to his old ways. He appeard in three episodes throughout Voyager.
Naomi Wildman (Brooke Ashley Stephens, Scarlett Pomers, Vanessa Branch):
Naomi Wildman was the first child born on Voyager and for the majority of the series she was the only child on Voyager. It wasn't long before Naomi expressed an interest to be involved in Starfleet and she quickly became interested in becoming Captain Janeway's 'Captain's Assistant', and she was eventually appointed the position.
Ensign Samantha Wildman (Nancy Hower):
Ensign Samantha Wildman is a Xenobiologist on Voyager and she's the mother of Naomi Wildman. Sam didn't know that she was pregnant with Naomi until after Voyager was lost and while she knew that the Delta Quadrant wasn't the best place to have a child, she didn't want to give up her baby since it was all that she had left of her husband.
Icheb (Manu Intiraymi, Mark Bennington):
Icheb was one of the Borg children who were abandoned by the Borg after a virus destroyed the Borg Cube they were in. It was later revealed that Icheb had been genetically engineered to carry the virus so that it could destroy the Borg. After being briefly reunited with his parents, they sent him back to the Borg as they were using him to defend themselves against the Borg. Voyager managed to rescue Icheb and he remained with the crew.
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz):
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay played a major part in establishing communication with Voyager while they were in the Delta Quadrant. He was involved in the Pathfinder project to bring Voyager home and he was the one who established contact with Voyager in the Delta Quadrant.
Admiral Owen Paris (Richard Herd, Warren Munson)
Admiral Owen Paris is a top ranking Starfleet officer and he is the father of Tom Paris. He was in charge of the Pathfinder project so that they could find a way to bring Voyager home.
Ensign Seska (Martha Hackett):
Ensign Seska was a member of Chakotay's Maquis crew. She appeared Bajoran but no one knew that was in actual fact Cardassian and she had been surgically altered to appear Bajoran and infiltrate the Maquis. She grew frustrated with Captain Janeway's method of getting home and once it was known that she was a traitor, she joined the Kazon. Seska impregnated herself with Chakotay's DNA after she had tricked him to help her after she made it look like that she was being treated badly by the Kazon. It later turned out that the baby wasn't Chakotay's but it was in fact Maj Cullah's. Seska died onboard Voyager during a takeover by the Kazon, which ended up being a short lived takeover.
The complete seven seasons are out in DVD box sets that you can order online or buy in most stores but those are rather expensive. You can rent most of the episodes out on DVD and there are occasional reruns that are aired.
Star Trek: Voyager follows the journey of the USS Voyager as it is stranded half way across the galaxy in a largely unexplored area of space and has to make their own way back to the Alpha Quadrant after what appears to be their only way home is destroyed. It's estimated that it will take them 75 years to reach home but to make the most of their predicament they decide to take the opportunity to explore the region and find ways that would help them get home faster. In addition to finding their way home Voyager's crew also has to learn how to work together after two very different crews were merged to form one crew, following the destruction of one of the crew's ships and an agreement made between the two commanding officers that they would work together to make their way home.
Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew):
Captain Kathryn Janeway is the commanding officer on Voyager. It was her decision to destroy the Caretaker's array so that the Kazon would not be able to harm the Ocampa, that left Voyager lost in the Delta Quadrant. One of Janeway's biggest tasks was working to ensure that both her Starfleet crew and Chakotay's Maquis crew would work together, despite some initial complications that resulted from this both crews became close, almost becoming like a family. Janeway also had the problem that she was on her own for many of the big decisions that she made, and full aware that she would be taking full responsibility for any consequences of those decisions given that they had no help from Starfleet since they were out of contact from them.
Lt. Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran):
Lt. Commander Chakotay is the first officer on Voyager. Initially he was the Captain of the Maquis ship, Val Jean but when he sacrified the ship to win a crucial victory in a fight with the Kazon. He agreed to have him and his crew join with Captain Janeway since they were both in a similar predicament and they would need all the help they could get to get home. Prior to his involvement in the Maquis Chakotay was in Starfleet, he was an instructor at the Academy, but after the area of space where his home planet was located was annexed to the Cardassians by the Federation, he resigned from Starfleet in protest. Chakotay experienced moments of self doubt about his abilities to command, given that he had failed to notice that two of his crew on the Val Jean were undercover.
Lt. Commander Tuvok (Tim Russ):
Lt. Commander Tuvok is the Science and Tactical officer on Voyager. At the time of his ending up in the Delta Quadrant he was undercover on the Val Jean as Chakotay's Security Officer, his purpose of being there was to have the ship captured. When the Maquis crew were beamed onboard Voyager since both crews were missing one member each (Harry Kim and B'Elanna Torres) and Janeway acknowledged Tuvok's prescence, Tuvok revealed where his true loyalties lay and they were with Janeway much to Chakotay's disgust (even though Tuvok's revelation was overshadowed by the fact that an ex-Maquis was also onboard Voyager). Since Tuvok is Vulcan, his views on logic aren't always agreed on and this has provided some conflict amongst the crew.
The Doctor (Robert Picardo):
The Doctor is the EMH (Emergancy Medical Hologram) on Voyager who was first activated after the original medical team were killed. Since he was only meant to be operational in extreme situations, the fact that he was only one on board Voyager with adequate medical knowledge proved to be immensely stressful and he needed someone who could assist him in sickbay. Initially Tom was volunteered to train since he had taken a couple of medical classes at the academy but eventually Kes had proven herself to be sound in enough medical knowledge and the Doctor decided to train her so that she could help him in sickbay. Due to the fact that The Doctor is a hologram, he is often distant from the crew since he doesn't know what it's like to experience pain or emotions. For the first few seasons he was confined to sickbay or the holodeck, which limited his capabilities but after gaining a mobile emitter he was granted the freedom to be able to move freely on the ship and experience life outside sickbay.
Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson):
Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres is the Chief Engineer on Voyager. She's half Human and half Klingon and her Klingon heritage has given her more than a few troubles. B'Elanna had intially gone to Starfleet Academy but it wasn't long before she dropped out. She joined the Maquis and was on the Val Jean with Chakotay when it ended up in the Delta Quadrant. Chakotay recommended B'Elanna for the Chief Engineering position, despite Joe Carey being in line to replace the Chief Engineer who had died. Janeway was reluctant to give the position to B'Elanna but after she took the time to get to know her, she decided to promote her to Chief Engineer. Not everyone was happy with this appointment but B'Elanna stuck through it and managed to become a respected member of the crew. By the end of the series she had worked through most of her problems, and despite a rocky start she ended up marrying Tom Paris and haviing his child.
Lieutenant Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeil):
Lieutenant Tom Paris is the Pilot on Voyager. He's the son of Admiral Owen Paris, a top ranking Starfleet Officer and because of this he had a lot of pressure to do well in everything that he did, particularly being in Starfleet. After Tom ended up in a crash that resulted in the death of three Starfleet Officers where he was pilot, he falsified reports to conceal what really had happened but eventually the guilt got to him so he confessed to what had happened. Tom was court-martialed and he received a dishonourable discharge from Starfleet. It wasn't long afterwards that he was recruited to the Maquis but on his first assignment he was court and tried with treason. As a result of this he was sentanced to a Federation Penal Settlement. Captain Janeway offered him early parole if he would be help her locate the missing Maquis ship and provide information. He reluctantly agreed, even though he was disappointed that he would only be an observer instead of a pilot. After they ended up in the Delta Quadrant, since the original Pilot had been killed Captain Janeway assigned him the position. Tom's relationship with the rest of the crew was rocky at times, given that he wasn't on best terms with the Maquis and that his reputation didn't make him all that popular with the initial Voyager crew. Eventually Tom won over B'Elanna, he married her and he is the father of their daughter.
Ensign Harry Kim (Garret Wang):
Ensign Harry Kim is the Operations Officer on Voyager. Possibly the thing that made me go wtf writers? a lot was the fact that Harry was never promoted from Ensign throughout the show. There were other characters who held the rank of Ensign throughout the seven seasons but since Harry's on the Senior Staff, he should have been at least promoted to Lieutenant (j.g) at some point in series. Harry is young, naive at times but is desperate to prove himself and he is very loyal to Captain Janeway.
Neelix (Ethan Phillips):
Neelix is Voyager's guide, cook
Kes (Jennifer Lien) [Seasons 1-3]:
Kes came aboard Voyager with Neelix after she was freed from the Kazon. She had ventured out from her underground Ocampan home world and had been taken captive by the Kazon. When she came aboard Voyager she started helping out in sickbay and after a while The Doctor offered to train her as a nurse, which she accepted. Throughout the three seasons that she was in Kes developed extrodinary mental powers (even though it wasn't uncommon for her people to have unique powers). Even though she learned to control them with Tuvok her powers developed to a stage where she couldn't control them and because of this
Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01 (Jeri Ryan) [Seasons 4 -7]:
Seven is
Q (John de Lancie:
Even though he doesn't play as big a part in Voyager as he does in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Q's character still played a prominent role in the series. At first Q appeared to stop a regenade Q from escaping his imprisonment but this Q had a bigger impact on him then he would have thought possible. When he learns that this Q was inspired by his previous behaviour, he decided to return to his old ways. He appeard in three episodes throughout Voyager.
Naomi Wildman (Brooke Ashley Stephens, Scarlett Pomers, Vanessa Branch):
Naomi Wildman was the first child born on Voyager and for the majority of the series she was the only child on Voyager. It wasn't long before Naomi expressed an interest to be involved in Starfleet and she quickly became interested in becoming Captain Janeway's 'Captain's Assistant', and she was eventually appointed the position.
Ensign Samantha Wildman (Nancy Hower):
Ensign Samantha Wildman is a Xenobiologist on Voyager and she's the mother of Naomi Wildman. Sam didn't know that she was pregnant with Naomi until after Voyager was lost and while she knew that the Delta Quadrant wasn't the best place to have a child, she didn't want to give up her baby since it was all that she had left of her husband.
Icheb (Manu Intiraymi, Mark Bennington):
Icheb was one of the Borg children who were abandoned by the Borg after a virus destroyed the Borg Cube they were in. It was later revealed that Icheb had been genetically engineered to carry the virus so that it could destroy the Borg. After being briefly reunited with his parents, they sent him back to the Borg as they were using him to defend themselves against the Borg. Voyager managed to rescue Icheb and he remained with the crew.
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay (Dwight Schultz):
Lieutenant Reginald Barclay played a major part in establishing communication with Voyager while they were in the Delta Quadrant. He was involved in the Pathfinder project to bring Voyager home and he was the one who established contact with Voyager in the Delta Quadrant.
Admiral Owen Paris (Richard Herd, Warren Munson)
Admiral Owen Paris is a top ranking Starfleet officer and he is the father of Tom Paris. He was in charge of the Pathfinder project so that they could find a way to bring Voyager home.
Ensign Seska (Martha Hackett):
Ensign Seska was a member of Chakotay's Maquis crew. She appeared Bajoran but no one knew that was in actual fact Cardassian and she had been surgically altered to appear Bajoran and infiltrate the Maquis. She grew frustrated with Captain Janeway's method of getting home and once it was known that she was a traitor, she joined the Kazon. Seska impregnated herself with Chakotay's DNA after she had tricked him to help her after she made it look like that she was being treated badly by the Kazon. It later turned out that the baby wasn't Chakotay's but it was in fact Maj Cullah's. Seska died onboard Voyager during a takeover by the Kazon, which ended up being a short lived takeover.
The complete seven seasons are out in DVD box sets that you can order online or buy in most stores but those are rather expensive. You can rent most of the episodes out on DVD and there are occasional reruns that are aired.