As Deep Space Nine was reaching it's end and it's 7th season the writers decided once again to start a new series before the previous had finished it's run so that there could be some crossover between the two to ease people into the new series. Star Trek Voyager signaled a return to life onboard a Federation starship and the exploration of unknown worlds.

The premise for this show was laid out in the first feature length episode, Caretaker, which saw the crew of the USS Voyager and a Maquis ship get hurled across space by the Caretaker device to the Delta quadrant. By the end of this episode the rebellious Maquis are forced to join the crew of Voyager as they start their long journey back to the Alpha quadrant - a journey which they calculated would take 75 years.

Their journey home of course didn't take the predicted 75 years, it took the 7 years that a syndicated TV show typically used to last. The problem I had with this show was that most episodes fell into an "anomaly of the week" type pattern which meant it became predictable. Whilst there was a lot of repetition there were a number of good, strong episodes such as "The Year of Hell" and "The Killing Game", both of which I thought were brilliant examples of what the show could offer.

The strength of the Borg threat had been demonstrated in TNG, but in Voyager they played down this threat and by the end of it they not only had a Borg crew member, but had worked with the Borg on a couple of occasions and no longer seemed to pose much of a threat. Despite this I think there were still a few strong episodes with the Borg in such as Unimatrix Zero and the series finale.

I think they also made a mistake in the way the series ended. Towards the end they made a big deal of being in contact with Earth and even brought in Marina Sirtis and Dwight Schultz for an episode or two to show that Earth hadn't given up on Voyager. The manner of the crew's return was brilliant, but I think they shouldn't have finished the series with that - they should have continued past that to show how they dealt with being back on Earth and how Neelix, Seven of Nine, and the former Maqius integrated into a society they hadn't been part of.

The quality of the acting didn't seem as good either and the character who got most of the focus was the holographic Doctor until Seven of Nine came along to try and revitalise interest in the show. From what I've heard from Garret Wang it seems to have been deliberate that everyone else had to play down their parts, though I'm not sure how true it was (I used my camcorder to record that interview if you want to see it). I can see what he meant though, most of the characters did seem very 2 dimensional and the writing didn't seem as good as on DS9 or TNG.

The weakest of the Star Trek series, but even bad Trek is still Trek.

Voyager has brought some fresh air and mood to the Star Trek saga. Original story and well produced over the whole length. Unexpected and shocking two parts finale. excellent.

OK, especially with 7 of 9, Picardo was amusing and Neelix was fun, the rest of the cast-should have thrown out an airlock.

The weakest of the star trek series, I just couldn't enjoy the acting on this one. The acting on the whole was poor and so was the writing.

I am rewatching on the DVD's it was that good!

More entertaining than most of the other Star Trek shows, but that's certainly not saying much.

I love Voyager. And not just because of the fact that it has a female captain. I'm not sexist. I love the Borg. They are so cool. Better then those Kazon things. Seska's a trader anyway. But Seven of Nine is soo awesome!

Worst of the Star Trek shows...Limp as a wet noodle, and as entertaining as watching paint dry

The epitome of Trek. Great plots, continuity, humor, science, aliens and special effects combined with a stellar cast of writers and actors.