Voyager has the strange distinction of being the first Trek series that I didn't like. To me there's a throughline of complexity that runs from TOS to DS9 and then just stops at Voyager. An intriguing premise is spoiled early on with pretty much all the Maquis conflict resolved within 4 episodes. The "unfamiliar" Delta quadrant ends up being populated with species that are largely derivative of other races already seen.
Lacking imagination the writers sought to shoehorn as much of TNG's cast offs into the show as possible: Lieutenant Barclay, Troi, and how could we forget the Borg. One of the biggest mistakes the show made was to return to the Borg well too often. Every time we learned something new about the collective their power and presence was compromised. How many times can a poorly equipped science vessel defeat them before all menace is removed? Voyager lacked originality and never strove to bring anything different to the franchise. The characters lacked any real sparkle and the episodic nature of the show ended up making a number of characters look schizophrenic, especially Janeway, who see-sawed in her behaviour depending on what the episode called for. This was further compounded by Kate Mulgrew whose goose-like voice, overexpressively constipated facial expressions and robotic body movements made watching a disbelieving experience.
The biggest downfall of the show was that the solution to everything seemed to be technology, especially Borg for the last few seasons. The solution to problems being the pressing of buttons did not make for high drama.
Voyager had the occasional excellent episode, usually the 2 parters, and it did have some good actors amongst the cast, though the parts they played rarely gave them the opportunity to display this.
Voyager is regarded as the beginning of the end of Trek, being less popular than its predecessors and less well regarded critically than what had come before. Voyager, like Enterprise, failed to keep pace with the wider changing TV environment to which shows like DS9 and Babylon 5 were early adopters (and maybe even trend setters - there would be no programmes like 24 or Lost without shows like these). It isn't so much a bad show as "bad by comparison".
Lacking imagination the writers sought to shoehorn as much of TNG's cast offs into the show as possible: Lieutenant Barclay, Troi, and how could we forget the Borg. One of the biggest mistakes the show made was to return to the Borg well too often. Every time we learned something new about the collective their power and presence was compromised. How many times can a poorly equipped science vessel defeat them before all menace is removed? Voyager lacked originality and never strove to bring anything different to the franchise. The characters lacked any real sparkle and the episodic nature of the show ended up making a number of characters look schizophrenic, especially Janeway, who see-sawed in her behaviour depending on what the episode called for. This was further compounded by Kate Mulgrew whose goose-like voice, overexpressively constipated facial expressions and robotic body movements made watching a disbelieving experience.
The biggest downfall of the show was that the solution to everything seemed to be technology, especially Borg for the last few seasons. The solution to problems being the pressing of buttons did not make for high drama.
Voyager had the occasional excellent episode, usually the 2 parters, and it did have some good actors amongst the cast, though the parts they played rarely gave them the opportunity to display this.
Voyager is regarded as the beginning of the end of Trek, being less popular than its predecessors and less well regarded critically than what had come before. Voyager, like Enterprise, failed to keep pace with the wider changing TV environment to which shows like DS9 and Babylon 5 were early adopters (and maybe even trend setters - there would be no programmes like 24 or Lost without shows like these). It isn't so much a bad show as "bad by comparison".