Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | RSS | More
That’s another season of Star Trek in the books! The Pensky Podcast has finished season one of Star Trek: Voyager and Wes and Clay have some thoughts about the abbreviated season. Is this the best first season of any Star Trek series? Or are we just jaded from having covered the second season of Star Trek: Picard?
Captain Kathryn Janeway‘s chief of security, Lieutenant Tuvok, has disappeared while involved in a counter-espionage mission aboard a Maquis ship, whose last known position was somewhere in the Badlands. While en route to investigate Tuvok’s disappearance, the maiden voyage of the Federation starship USS Voyager ends in disaster as the ship and her crew are pulled seventy thousand light years into the far reaches of the Delta Quadrant. After locating the missing Maquis ship nearby, and learning of the enormity of their predicament, the crew ascertains that an extra-galactic entity called the Caretaker is responsible for pulling them across the galaxy in an attempt to find a compatible species to mate with. The Caretaker confides in Janeway that he is dying and requires a mate to continue caring for a species who live nearby known as the Ocampa. After witnessing the death of the Caretaker, Janeway makes the decision to destroy his technology to prevent it falling into the hands of a local malevolent species known as the Kazon. The firefight which ensues results in both the destruction of the Caretaker’s “array” and the renegade Maquis ship; in an act of self-sacrifice, the only way for Voyager‘s crew to return to the Alpha Quadrant is lost.
After incorporating the Maquis crew, as well as a Talaxian, Neelix, and an Ocampa, Kes, Voyager sets a course for home.
Initial tension and mistrust between the opposing Starfleet and Maquis crews is explored in “Parallax“, “Prime Factors“, and “Learning Curve“. The consequences of isolation and loss on the crew begin to develop in “The Cloud” and “Eye of the Needle“, and the crew are also teased with the possibility of returning home several times throughout the first season, only to have it cruelly snatched away. The Kazon reappear and prove to be a powerful nemesis, while in “Phage” an additional threat is introduced, in the disease ravaging organ-harvesting Vidiians. Crucially, Janeway’s decision to maintain Voyager as a Starfleet vessel is brought sharply into focus when a member of the former Maquis crew, Ensign Seska, is revealed to be a Cardassian spy, and in a showdown with Janeway, defects to the Kazon.
Each of the primary cast members gets a chance to develop their characters in the first season. Chakotay‘s heritage and relationship with Janeway are highlighted in “Parallax“, “The Cloud“, “State of Flux“, and “Cathexis“. B’Elanna Torres becomes the ship’s new Chief Engineer in “Parallax“, reveals more of her Klingon character in “Faces“, and begins to adjust to Starfleet’s code of conduct in “Prime Factors“. Lieutenant Tom Paris is falsely accused of murder in “Ex Post Facto“, Ensign Harry Kim experiences death in “Emanations“, while Lieutenant Tuvok learns to adapt in “Learning Curve“. Neelix loses a lung in “Phage” and faces up to the loss of his family, and his species’ virtual genocide in “Jetrel“. Kes’ mental abilities begin to assert themselves in “Time and Again” and “Cathexis“, and The Doctor (EMH) slowly begins to experience new emotions, and gain new rights, privileges, and responsibilities in “Eye of the Needle” and “Heroes and Demons“.
In this episode of the podcast, Wes and Clay discuss the first season of Star Trek: Voyager and how it lived up to their expectations. Is this the best first season of any Star Trek series? Or are we just jaded from having recently watched the second season of Star Trek: Picard?