Star Trek: Voyager

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Image:VOY.png
Image:VOYlogo.JPG Star Trek: Voyager Logo
Genre	Science fiction
Creator(s)	Star Trek Gene Roddenberry Star Trek: Voyager Rick Berman Michael Piller Jeri Taylor
Starring	See cast
Opening theme	Jerry Goldsmith
Ending theme	Jerry Goldsmith
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	172
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brannon Braga Jeri Taylor
Camera setup	Single-Camera
Running time	45 min. per episode
Broadcast
Original channel	UPN
Picture format	NTSC
Audio format	Surround Sound
Original run	January 16, 1995 – May 23, 2001
Chronology
Preceded by	Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Followed by	Star Trek: Enterprise
Links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. It is the fourth canonical Star Trek television series. It was produced for seven seasons from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek series to feature a female captain, Kathryn Janeway, as a lead character. The show was created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor and based on the 1960s series Star Trek: The Original Series, created by Gene Roddenberry. It is sometimes shortened to ST:VOY, ST:VGR, VOY or VGR. Spike TV began airing reruns of the series on January 2, 2007.

The series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel Voyager. The crew of Voyager set out from Deep Space Nine to locate members of the terrorist group, the Maquis. When engaging them in battle, both the Maquis and Voyager crew are transported by an alien force and become stranded in the Delta Quadrant, seventy thousand light-years from Earth. Both the Maquis and Voyager's crew agree to stop fighting and instead join together as one crew on Voyager to make it home back safely. At top speed, it will take Voyager roughly seventy-five years to return to the Alpha Quadrant, and more specifically, Earth. Along the way they encounter numerous new species, some friendly, like the Talaxians and Ocampa, but others hostile, such as the Kazon, Hirogen, and the Borg.

Contents 1 Creation 2 Plot overview 2.1 Episodes 3 Themes 4 Cast 4.1 Main characters 4.2 Recurring characters 4.3 One-time, cameos or infrequent spots 4.4 Recurring alien races 5 Book relaunch 6 Trivia 7 External links

Creation

Voyager was created to launch UPN, a television network planned by Paramount (Paramount considered launching a network on its own in 1977, which would have been anchored by a TV series Star Trek: Phase II). Planning started in 1993, and seeds for the show's backstory (the development of the Maquis) were placed in several Next Generation and Deep Space Nine episodes. Voyager was shot on the same stages that The Next Generation had previously used. The pilot episode, "Caretaker" was shot in October 1994.

Originally, Québécoise film actress Geneviève Bujold was cast for the role of Nicole Janeway, but she quit on the second day of filming citing exhaustion and incompatibility with rigorous television filming schedules (though it is suggested in the "special features" section of the Season 1 DVD set that after watching the first scenes on film, Voyager producers decided that Bujold wasn't right as the ship's captain and that a change had to be made). In her place, Kate Mulgrew was cast as the captain, and her character was renamed Kathryn Janeway. Mulgrew had originally auditioned for the part but came in second to Bujold.

Voyager was the first program to air on UPN. The "network" was a loose association of locally owned and operated stations that officially became UPN when the first episode began to air at 8:00 p.m. on January 16, 1995.

Plot overview

In the pilot episode, “Caretaker,” the USS Voyager is sent on a mission to locate a ship piloted by a cell of the Maquis, a terrorist organization created in protest of a treaty between the Federation and Cardassians. Tom Paris, a former member of the Maquis, is brought out of prison to help find the ship, and discovers that his reputation as a troublemaker has turned the ship's First Officer and Medical Officer against him. During a chase through the dangerous Badlands, both ships are transported to the Delta Quadrant in the other side of the galaxy by an ancient alien known as the Caretaker. While being pulled across the galaxy, several members of Voyager's crew are killed, including the ship's First Officer, Chief Engineer, and all medical staff, including the ship's doctor.

Both ships are attacked by Kazon raiders intent on capturing the Caretaker's Array. Rather than using the Caretaker's Array to return home, Captain Janeway decides to destroy it to prevent it from being misused.

The Maquis ship collides in a successful attempt to destroy one of the Kazon ships after its crew are able to transport safely to Voyager. The Starfleet and Maquis crews are forced to integrate and work together as they begin the long journey home. Chakotay, the leader of the Maquis group, becomes first officer. B'Elanna Torres, a half-human, half-Klingon female Maquis member becomes chief engineer, much to the dismay of Lieutenant Carey, a less-qualified Starfleet crewman who "should" have been next in line for the position. The Vulcan Tuvok is revealed to be a spy on the Maquis ship under the command of Captain Janeway and resumes his duties as a security officer.

The Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH Mark I), designed for short-term use only, becomes the ship's only doctor after the death of the entire medical staff. In the Delta Quadrant the crew gains new additions such as Neelix, a member of the Talaxian race that was nearly wiped out and scattered throughout the galaxy, and Kes, a member of the Ocampa race that lives with the aid of the entity known as the Caretaker.

The Delta Quadrant is mostly unexplored by any Federation vessel (with the limited exception of Q temporarily bringing the Enterprise-D to the quadrant to meet the Borg), and at maximum warp the ship will still take 75 years to get back to Earth. Along the way home, the crew must contend with many hostile species, including the organ-harvesting Vidiians, the warrior Kazon, the half-mechanical, half-organic Borg (a Borg named Seven of Nine joins the crew after her connection to the collective was severed.), and the extra-dimensional Species 8472.

The USS Voyager returns home in the series finale "Endgame".

The conflict between the fiercely independent Maquis revolutionaries and the by-the-book Starfleet crew is a central theme of the first season, but by the second season, it has largely been worked out. Only Janeway remains anguished for the entire run of the series over the consequences of her decision to destroy their only known way home.

Episodes

Main article: List of Star Trek: Voyager episodes

Themes

Voyager continues the themes presented in the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, such as explorations of space and of the human condition. It also demonstrates democratic principles (peace, openness, freedom, cooperation, and sharing), philosophical issues such as the sense of self and what it means to be human, and ethical and moral choices. In the Star Trek series, the examination of humanity is typically explored by contrasting non-human characters with human ones (for instance, the Earth-born Kirk and McCoy against the Vulcan Spock). On Voyager, these non-humans include the Emergency Medical Hologram (The Doctor), who is actually a computer program, Vulcan security officer Tuvok, Talaxian Neelix, half Klingon/half Human B'Elanna Torres, Ocampa Kes, and the former Borg drone Seven of Nine (Seven is a Human with some cybernetic components remaining from her time as a Borg). Voyager's bio-mechanical computers allowed the ship to relate to the ever-expanding crew in unique ways, and adapt to new situations.

Voyager was probably more reminiscent of the original Star Trek series than Star Trek: The Next Generation (although greatly technologically advanced, the size of the ship is almost identical to the original series' Constitution class Enterprise. Seven of Nine's post also grew similar to that of Science Officer, as held by Spock in the original series.) The show was often grittier than Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the members of the thrown-together crew often clashing in ways that would have been almost unthinkable on Picard's Enterprise. This stands in stark contrast to the "Best and the Brightest" theme of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Voyager, at times, is a series that essentially ignores our present concepts of time, obliterating ideas of fate, cause and effect, etc. On many occasions (including the series finale), the crew travels forward and backward in time (and between parallel universes or time-lines), violating the so-called "temporal prime directive" and causing many temporal paradoxes. Most of these episodes involve death, or the prevention of it. Death is essentially irreversible in our universe, but not so in Voyager, and every member of the crew has died at some point during the series (some more than once).

The most common plot theme is the implications of being stranded far from home. Voyager has only limited resources and no easy way to replenish them; its crew is cut off from the normal chain of command and institutions of its society. Janeway often expresses that though they are cut off from Starfleet, it is still their duty to live by Starfleet values and regulations. This idealism often brings her into conflict with Chakotay and other members of her crew who are more willing to make compromises in order to get home. Their situation frequently faces them with difficult choices of necessity versus idealism. Unlike the other Star Trek series, the crew of the Voyager cannot just stop at a starbase for repair or resupply. They often have to make trades with alien cultures or find completely new solutions to unforeseeable problems. They are also stuck with each other, which makes for new plot twists - for example, shipboard romances are not discouraged - but it also means that promotions are very rare, leading to some resentment. To overcome their claustrophobia the crew rely on the holodeck more than other Starfleet crews, with some of their holodeck adventures becoming ongoing plotlines, such as Tom Paris' Captain Proton serial, or Janeway's recurring trips to the home of Leonardo da Vinci. Some of these recurring holodeck stories end up behaving in much unexpected (and sometimes dangerous) ways due to alien interference or holodeck malfunction.

In the concluding seasons, the ship's isolation is partially relieved when Lt. Reginald Barclay, back at Starfleet Command on Earth, develops a means for Starfleet to be in regular contact with the ship.

Cast

Main characters

Picture	Character	Rank	Actor	Position
Image:Janeway.jpg	Kathryn Janeway	Captain, later Admiral	Kate Mulgrew	Commanding Officer
Image:Chacotay 001.jpg	Chakotay	Lieutenant Commander (provisional)	Robert Beltran	First Officer
Image:Tuvok.gif	Tuvok	Lieutenant, later Lt. Commander	Tim Russ	Chief Security/Tactical officer
Image:Belannatorres.jpg	B’Elanna Torres	Lieutenant Junior Grade (provisional)	Roxann Dawson	Chief Engineer
Image:Tomparis002.jpg	Tom Paris	Lieutenant Junior Grade, later Ensign, later Lieutenant	Robert Duncan McNeill	Chief Conn Officer / Primary Field Medic
Image:Harrykimstartrek.jpg	Harry Kim	Ensign, later Captain	Garrett Wang	Chief Operations Officer
Image:EMH001.jpg	The Doctor	Chief Medical Officer	Robert Picardo	Emergency Medical Hologram, Emergency Command Hologram
Image:Neelix.jpg	Neelix	Starfleet diplomat, Chef & Morale Officer	Ethan Phillips	Voyager's Chef, diplomatic adviser and morale officer, close to the end of the series Neelix becomes Ambassador for Starfleet in the Delta Quadrant.
Image:Kes (Star Trek).jpg	Kes	Medical Assistant	Jennifer Lien	Aeroponics gardener, medical aide/student
	Seven of Nine	No Rank	Jeri Ryan	Astrometrics, Engineer

Recurring characters

Actor	Role	Appearances
Anthony De Longis	First Maje Culluh, leader of the Kazon-Nistrim	Seasons 1–3
Martha Hackett	Ensign Seska, a Cardassian agent	Seasons 1–3 and 7
Alexander Enberg	Ensign Vorik, a Vulcan	Seasons 3–5 and 7
Scarlett Pomers	Naomi Wildman, the first child born on Voyager	Seasons 2–7
Tarik Ergin	Lieutenant Ayala	Seasons 1–7
John Tempoya	Nozawa Kashimuro	Seasons 1–4 and 7
Nancy Hower	Ensign Samantha Wildman, Naomi's mother	Seasons 2–6
Josh Clark	Lieutenant Joseph Carey	Seasons 1 and 5–7
Simon Billig	Lieutenant Hogan	Seasons 2 and 3
Christine Delgado	Lieutenant Susan Nicoletti	Seasons 1–4 and 7
Dwight Schultz	Lieutenant Reginald Barclay	Seasons 2 and 6–7
Raphael Sbarge	Ensign Michael Jonas	Season 2
Tom Virtue	Lieutenant Walter Baxter	Seasons 1–2 and 7
Manu Intiraymi	Icheb, formerly a Borg drone	Seasons 6–7
Alice Krige / Susanna Thompson	The Borg Queen	Seasons 5–7
Marley S. McClean	Mezoti	Seasons 6–7
Cody Wetherill	Rebi	Seasons 6–7
Kurt Wetherill	Azan	Seasons 6–7
Brad Dourif	Ensign Lon Suder, convicted of murder	Seasons 2–3
Brian Markinson	Lieutenant Peter Durst	Season 1
Zoe McLellan	Crewman Tal Celes	Season 6
John de Lancie	Q, Omnipotent deity	Seasons 2–3 and 7
Martin Rayner	Doctor Chaotica	Seasons 5 and 7
Allan G. Royal / Bruce McGill	Captain Braxton, Starfleet captain from the 29th century	Seasons 3 and 5
Warren Munson / Richard Herd	Admiral Owen Paris, father of Tom Paris	Seasons 2 and 5–7
John Rhys-Davies	Leonardo da Vinci	Seasons 3–4

One-time, cameos or infrequent spots

• Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi
• Jonathan Frakes as William Riker
• Armin Shimerman as Quark
• LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge
• George Takei as Captain Sulu
• Ray Walston as Boothby
• Dan Shor as Arridor
• Ray Wise as Arturis
• Derek McGrath as Crewman Chell
• Ed Begley, Jr. as Henry Starling
• Scott Thompson as Ambassador Tomin
• Keegan de Lancie as Q Jr., Son of galactic gadfly Q
• King Abdullah II of Jordan as an extra in "Investigations"
• The Rock as an extraterrestrial gladiator in the episode "Tsunkatse"
• Jason Alexander as Kurros in the 20th episode of season 5, "Think Tank"
• Andy Dick as Emergency Medical Hologram, Mark II in the fourteenth episode of the fourth season, "Message in a Bottle"
• Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave as Crewman Mitchell in the teaser of "Good Shepherd"
• John Gegenhuber as Tierna in "Basics" and as Kelat in "Alliances" and "Maneuvers"
• Kurtwood Smith as Annorax in "Year of Hell"
• Todd Babcock as Ensign Mulcahey in "Drone"
• Sarah Silverman as Rain Robinson in "Future's End Part I" and "Future's End Part II"

Recurring alien races

See also List of Star Trek races

Alien races listed below have been featured or appeared in more than one episode. This list excludes episodes having plots significantly involving a non-human series regular or recurring character unless aspects of that character's alien heritage are profoundly explored or otherwise relevant.

Race	Episodes of appearances
Borg	"Blood Fever", "Unity", "Scorpion, Part 1 & 2", "The Gift", "The Raven", "The Omega Directive", "Living Witness", "One", "Hope and Fear", "Drone", "Infinite Regress", "Dark Frontier, Part 1 & 2", "Survival Instinct", "Collective", "Child's Play", "Unimatrix Zero, Part 1 & 2", "Imperfection", "Shattered", "Q2", "Endgame"
Ferengi	"Caretaker", "False Profits", "Inside Man"
The Hierarchy	"Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy", "The Void", "Renaissance Man"
Hirogen	"Message in a Bottle", "Hunters", "Prey", "The Killing Game, Part 1 & 2", "Tsunkatse", "Flesh and Blood, Part 1 & 2"
Kazon	"Caretaker", "State of Flux", "Initiations", "Maneuvers", "Alliances", "Investigations", "Basics, part 1 & 2",
Klingon	"Day of Honor", "Barge of the Dead", "Prophecy", "Endgame"
Krenim	"Before and After", "Year of Hell, Part 1 & 2"
Malon	"Night", "Extreme Risk", "Think Tank", "Juggernaut"
Nacene	"Caretaker", "Cold Fire"
Ocampa	"Caretaker" (Parts 1 & 2), "Cold Fire", "Fury"
Q	"Death Wish", "The Q and the Grey", "Q2"
Species 8472	"Scorpion" (Parts 1 & 2), "Prey", "In the Flesh"
Talaxian	"Caretaker" (Part 2), "Basics" (Parts 1 & 2), "Fair Trade", "Homestead"
Vidiian	"Phage", "Faces", "Lifesigns", "Deadlock", "Resolutions", "Fury"

Book relaunch

In the wake of a successful series of original novels collectively known as the Deep Space Nine relaunch, featuring stories placed after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a similar relaunch was planned with regards to Voyager, with novels based upon events occurring following the end of the series. In the relaunch, several characters are reassigned to other posts, some new characters are introduced (such as Kaz, the new Trill ship's doctor), Kathryn Janeway is promoted to Vice Admiral (as she is also seen in the film Star Trek: Nemesis), and Chakotay is promoted to Captain of Voyager. Most of the other characters are promoted two steps in rank (for example, Ensign Harry Kim is promoted directly to full lieutenant, and Tom Paris is promoted from Lieutenant junior grade to Lieutenant Commander) to make up for time spent in the Delta Quadrant where they could not normally receive promotions.

So far, only a few Voyager Relaunch novels have been published, beginning with Homecoming and The Farther Shore in 2003. More novels are planned, both in the Relaunch and also other novels set during the original 7-season run of the show.

In November 2004, Pocket Books published Spirit Walk Book One, closely followed a month later by Spirit Walk Book Two. The stories are based on the Star Trek: Voyager episode "Tattoo"; however, they are set in the Alpha Quadrant, and depict Captain Chakotay being sent on assignment to transport a set of colonists back to the planet of Loran II.

In 2006 Pocket books published three books of "String Theory" series, called Cohesion, Fusion and Evolution. As the "Historian's Note" in the book says: "The story unfolds between the fourth and fifth seasons" and takes place in and near the Monorhan system.

Trivia

• Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Tim Russ (Tuvok), and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series.
• Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, TNG stars LeVar Burton and Jonathan Frakes, and recurring DS9 player Andrew Robinson all have had a hand at directing episodes of the series.
• Several famous guest stars have included Sharon Lawrence, Saro Mardikian, Andy Dick, Jason Alexander, Michael McKean, Sarah Silverman, John Rhys-Davies, Virginia Madsen, McKenzie Westmore of Passions, and Grace Lee Whitney from the original series of the late 1960s.
• Robert Duncan McNeill appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty" as Nick Locarno, a Starfleet cadet expelled for covering up a classmate's death in a banned aerobatic stunt.
• Tim Russ played the character Devor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine", and also played Tuvok in a mirror universe on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Through The Looking Glass". Also, he appeared as a human on the bridge of the Enterprise-B in the film Star Trek: Generations and as a Klingon named T'kar in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Invasive Procedures". This makes him the actor to have stood beside the most captains in Star Trek history. In addition, he auditioned for the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but did not receive it. Russ is the first African American to play a Vulcan, and thus Tuvok is the first black Vulcan seen in the Star Trek universe.[1]
• The Doctor utters several lines that recall Doctor McCoy's famous "I'm a Doctor, not a ..." quips. In "Phage", he says, "I'm a doctor, not a decorator." In "Future's End", he quips, "I'm a doctor, not a database." In "Gravity", he says, "I'm a doctor, not a battery", and in "Bliss", he says, "I'm a doctor, not a dragon slayer." In the same vein, Robert Duncan McNeill said, "I'm a pilot, Harry, not a doctor," in episode "Message in a Bottle." The EMH program on the Enterprise-E in the film First Contact says "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop."

Wikipedia information about Star Trek: Voyager This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Star Trek: Voyager". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.