Star Trek: Voyager Reviews AA

This is one of my posts where I “review” Star Trek episodes. I will be giving each one a star rating. I sometimes will make some comments about non-political parts of them that I like or don’t like. I’ll sometimes use the issues raised in the episode to discuss similar issues in real life. And I will sometimes simply high-light the progressive politics of ST. ST is in-line with the three original themes of this blog, as I explain in the first ST post where I offer some general thoughts about ST.

I’m not very familiar with The Original Series and there might be some small amount of material there that would affect what I say about Star Trek (i.e. how often religion is mentioned)

Lastly. multi-culturalism is such a pervasive theme in ST that I only comment on it when it goes beyond the norm (i.e. inter-species partners).

There are several episodes in VOY that involve the question of whether or not holograms are alive, and/or feature conflict between holograms and organic beings. I’m going to ignore that part of VOY, it’s a bit too philosophical, and comparing the maltreatment of holograms to the maltreatment of, for example, Black people, seems stupid. Although I kind of make an exception for The Doctor (it’s impossible to be a fan of ST and not do that) I lean towards saying that holograms are not life forms, but I don’t feel like going into it.

“Warhead” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Equiniox” parts 1 and 2 See this and this for a plot summary.

This is definitely one of my favorite two-part episodes of all ST. I give it five stars out of five.

There is one bit of politics. At one point Janeway engages in what is basically torture and is stopped by Chakotay. She ends up suspending him but shortly after she re-instates him, she says something which could be acknowledged as admitting that she was wrong (she says that Chaoktay might have been justified if he had taken control of Voyager in response to what the Captain was doing).

My favorite part is when Captain Ransom has changed his mind and is going to go down with his ship to save Voyager from destruction. He says to Janeway: “you’ve got a fine crew Captain, promise me you’ll get ‘em home.” It's my favorite line in the entirety of ST.

“Survival Instinct” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. I give it three stars out of five.

“Barge of the Dead” See this for a plot summary.

Basically a non-political episode. But it does involve KLINGON religion. It’s portrayed in a way that is respectful of Klingons who are religious.

I give it two stars out of five.

“Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy” See this for a plot summary.

A non-political episode. The first scene with the Doctor and Tuvock is hilarious.

I give it four stars out of five.