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Editorial
20 Jun 2026

Farewell Voyager, Hello Enterprise

It took me a long time to revisit my old Voyager reviews, but the effort was well worth it. Many of the episodes I had not seen in more than a decade, and while I changed my opinion on a few of them, my overall impression remained exactly what it had always been: Voyager is an excellent show and is among Star Trek's finest, alongside The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Looking back to my first contact with the series in 1995, I merely knew Voyager would be about the eponymous Federation starship stranded in unexplored territory. I embraced the premise and I loved the show from the very first episode. Perhaps I was simply more open-minded back then, because I suspect I would approach such a concept with greater skepticism today. Then again, especially after the disappointments of Discovery, both in concept and execution, I may have good reasons for that mistrust.

What I never understood was why Voyager developed such a poor reputation in certain circles in the emerging internet. It was not the dominant view in the newsgroups and forums I frequented, but it certainly existed elsewhere. I find it troubling how this sentiment, which had largely faded away, has been revived in recent years. My impression is that this often serves to distract from the shortcomings of modern Trek by arguing along the lines that "classic Star Trek was never as good as you remember". I often perceive the treatment of Voyager as unfair. For that reason, it was especially satisfying to analyze every single episode again, paying close attention to both the stories themselves and their continuity connections. My goal was to identify the show's strengths and weaknesses, with now even more diligence, rather than resorting to the blanket judgments that are so fashionable today. I cannot claim perfect objectivity, nor would I want to, but I always try to apply the same standards to old and new shows.

Voyager, in my view, produced some truly outstanding episodes. "Distant Origin" offered a fascinating reversal of perspective on a conceited ideology. "Blink of an Eye" presented the rise and fall of entire civilizations in accelerated time with charm and imagination. "Year of Hell" remains one of the franchise's most compelling scenarios and, in my opinion, is not weakened in the slightest by the fact that it technically never happened. At the same time, the series also had its share of failures. "11:59" is a present-day story with only tenuous connections to what is happening aboard Voyager and feels largely irrelevant. "The Fight" is utterly pointless, while the two Fair Haven episodes are among the dullest hours of the series.

Of the criticisms most frequently directed at Voyager, there are two that I largely agree with. The first is that the conflict between the Starfleet and Maquis crews fades away too quickly. There was enormous dramatic potential there, much of it left unexplored. The second is the gradual decline of the Borg as a credible threat. By the later seasons, Janeway is able to outwit them far too easily.

There are two other common complaints that I reject completely. Those who dismiss Seven of Nine as little more than sexy window dressing cannot have paid much attention, as she undergoes one of the most engaging character arcs in the series. Likewise, many of the attacks directed at Captain Janeway, whether from a feminist or anti-feminist perspective, miss the point entirely. She is only human and sometimes makes mistakes. I agree that the character is not written quite consistently, but transforming those inconsistencies into a political argument strikes me as absurd. Attempts to claim Voyager for one political camp or another miss much of what makes the series interesting. Like Star Trek at its best, it embraces progressive principles while also acknowledging that Starfleet is imperfect, especially under the extraordinary circumstances of a ship stranded alone in the Delta Quadrant.

Having completed Voyager, I have now begun reviewing Enterprise, a show I freely admit I did not embrace at first. The uninspiring character descriptions, the Akiraprise design and the very idea of a prequel were not what I wanted to see from Star Trek at the time. Yet, at latest by the fourth season, Enterprise had become a show I was eager to watch, which makes its cancelation all the more unfortunate. I can tell already that my opinion of quite a few episodes has changed, and almost always for the better. In many other cases, I may reach conclusions similar to those from 25 years ago, but I am now able to express them far more effectively. As a result, many of my old reviews will require substantial rewriting. So stay tuned for the review tour. It will probably take a long time to complete, perhaps two or three years, depending in part on whether there will be any new Star Trek beyond the final seasons of SNW and SFA.

Bernd Schneider

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