ylor. It originally aired from January 16, 1995, to May 23, 2001, onUPN, lasting for 172 episodes over seven seasons. The fifth series in theStar Trekfranchise, it is the fourth afterStar Trek: The Original Series. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of aUnited Federation of Planets, it follows the adventures of theStarfleetvesselUSSVoyageras it attempts to return home to theAlpha Quadrantafter being stranded in theDelta Quadranton the far side of theMilky Waygalaxy.

Paramount Picturescommissioned the series following the termination ofStar Trek: The Next Generationto accompany the ongoingStar Trek: Deep Space Nine. They wanted it to help launch UPN, their newly established network. Berman, Piller, and Taylor devised the series to chronologically overlap withDeep Space Nineand to maintain thematic continuity with elements that had been introduced inThe Next GenerationandDeep Space Nine.The complex relationship between Starfleet and ex-Federation colonists known as theMaquiswas one such element and a persistent central theme.Voyagerwas the firstStar Trekseries to feature a female captain,Kathryn Janeway(Kate Mulgrew), as the lead character. Berman served as head executive producer in charge of the overall production, assisted by a series of executive producers: Piller, Taylor,Brannon Braga, andKenneth Biller.

Set in a different part of the galaxy from precedingStar Trekshows,Voyagergave the series' writers space to introduce new alien species as recurring characters, namely theKazon,Vidiians,Hirogen, andSpecies 8472. During the later seasons, theBorga species created forThe Next Generationwere introduced as the main antagonists. DuringVoyager's run, various episode novelisations and tie-in video games were produced; after it ended, various novels continued the series narrative.

Contents

• 1Production
  • 1.1Development
  • 1.2Music
  • 1.3Behind the scenes
• 2Plot overview
• 3Cast
• 4Notable guest appearances
  • 4.1Cameos
  • 4.2Actors
• 5Connections with otherStar Trekincarnations
  • 5.1Characters and races
  • 5.2Actors from otherStar Trekincarnations appearing onVoyager
  • 5.3Actors fromVoyagerappearing on otherStar Trekincarnations
• 6List of episodes
• 7Tie-in media
  • 7.1Novels
    • 7.1.1Book relaunch
  • 7.2Video games
• 8Reception
  • 8.1Broadcast history
  • 8.2Critical response
  • 8.3Cultural influence
  • 8.4Home media
  • 8.5Awards and nominations
• 9Cast Reunion
• 10Documentary
• 11References
  • 11.1Citations
  • 11.2Sources
• 12External links

Production[edit]Development[edit]

AsStar Trek: The Next Generationended,Paramount Pictureswanted to continue to have a secondStar TrekTV series to accompanyStar Trek: Deep Space Nine. The studio also planned to start a newtelevision network, and wanted the new series to help it succeed.^[3]This was reminiscent of Paramount's earlier plans to launch its ownnetworkby showcasingStar Trek: Phase IIin 1977.

Initial work onStar Trek: Voyagerbegan in 1993, when the seventh and final season ofStar Trek: The Next Generationand the second season ofStar Trek: Deep Space Ninewere in production. Seeds forVoyager's backstory, including the development of theMaquis, were placed in severalThe Next GenerationandDeep Space Nineepisodes.Voyagerwas shot on the stagesThe Next Generationhad used, and where theVoyagerpilot "Caretaker" was shot in September 1994. Costume designerRobert Blackmandecided that the uniforms ofVoyager's crew would be the same as those onDeep Space Nine.

Star Trek: Voyagerwas the firstStar Trekseries to usecomputer-generated imagery(CGI), rather than models, for exterior space shots.^[4]Babylon5andseaQuest DSVhad previously used CGI to avoid the expense of models, but theStar Trektelevision department continued using models because they felt they were more realistic. Amblin Imaging won an Emmy forVoyager's opening CGI title visuals, but the weekly episode exteriors were captured with hand-built miniatures ofVoyager, its shuttlecraft, and other ships. This changed whenVoyagerwent fully CGI for certain types of shots midway through season three (late 1996).^[5]Foundation Imagingwas the studio responsible for special effects duringBabylon5's first three seasons. Season three's "The Swarm" was the first episode to use Foundation's effects exclusively.Star Trek: Deep Space Ninebegan using Foundation Imaging in conjunction with Digital Muse in season six. In its later seasons,Voyagerfeatured visual effects from Foundation Imaging and Digital Muse. The digital effects were produced at standard television resolution and some have speculated that it cannot be re-released in HD format without re-creating the special effects.^[6]However,Enterprisehas been released in HD, but the special effects were rendered in 480p and upscaled.^[7]

Music[edit]

Opening theme Robert Picardo, Roxann Dawson, Ethan Phillips, Tim Russ at a Voyager panel in 2009; they played the roles of The Doctor, B'Elanna Torres, Neelix, and Tuvok, respectively In August 2015, the main cast members (except Jennifer Lien, who retired from acting in 2002) appeared together onstage in Las Vegas for the 20th anniversary ofStar Trek: Voyagerat the 2015 Las VegasStar Trekconvention.[13] Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) and Roxann Dawson (Torres) went on to direct episodes ofStar Trek: Enterprise, whileJonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, andAndrew Robinson(Garak ofDeep Space Nine) all directed episodes ofStar Trek: Voyager.[14]Star Trekactors directing has been popular in this franchise, pioneered byLeonard Nimoy(famous for playingSpockin the first Star Trek), who got into directing and had this job for the third and fourthStar Trektheatrical films.[14] The sets used for USSVoyagerwere reused for theDeep Space Nineepisode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" for her sister ship USSBellerophon(NCC-74705), both of which areIntrepid-class starships. The sickbay set of USSVoyagerwas also used as theEnterprise-E sickbay in the filmsStar Trek: First ContactandStar Trek: Insurrection. Additionally, theVoyagerready room and the engineering set were also used as rooms aboard theEnterprise-E inInsurrection. Production of episodes ran from August to May each year, with one episode typically taking about week to shoot.[15]Shooting started at 7 am each weekday and continued until finished for the day.[15]The pilot (first) episode, "Caretaker" took longer to shoot at 31 days.[16] Plot overview[edit] See also:List of Star Trek: Voyager episodes An artistic rendition of theMilky Waygalaxy, overlaid with the fictional quadrant system of theStar Trekuniverse and the location of certain species.Voyagerhad to make its way from above where the Kazon species is located back to Earth; this journey is a major plot element in the series Jeri Ryan, appearing at theCreationStar Trekconvention in 2010; she joined the cast in Season 4 of the show, as the ex-Borg character Seven of Nine In the pilot episode, "Caretaker",USSVoyagerdeparts theDeep Space Ninespace station on a mission into the treacherousBadlands. They are searching for a missing ship piloted by a team ofMaquisrebels, whichVoyager's security officer, theVulcanLieutenantTuvok, has secretly infiltrated. While in the Badlands,Voyageris enveloped by a powerful energy wave that kills several of its crew, damages the ship, and strands it in the galaxy'sDelta Quadrant, more than 70,000 light-years from Earth. The wave was not a natural phenomenon. In fact, it was used by an alien entity known as the Caretaker to pullVoyagerinto the Delta Quadrant. The Caretaker is responsible for the continued care of the Ocampa, a race of aliens native to the Delta Quadrant, and has been abducting other species from around the galaxy in an effort to find a successor. The Maquis ship was also pulled into the Delta Quadrant, and eventually the two crews reluctantly agree to join forces after the Caretaker space station is destroyed in a pitched space battle with another local alien species, theKazon.Chakotay, leader of the Maquis group, becomesVoyager's first officer.B'Elanna Torres, a half-human/half-KlingonMaquis, becomes chief engineer.Tom Paris, whom Janeway released from a Federation prison to help find the Maquis ship, is madeVoyager's helm officer. Due to the deaths of the ship's entire medical staff,the Doctor, an emergency medical hologram designed only for short-term use, is employed as the ship's full-time chief medical officer. Delta Quadrant nativesNeelix, a Talaxian scavenger, andKes, a youngOcampa, are welcomed aboard as the ship's chef/morale officer and the Doctor's medical assistant, respectively. Due to its great distance fromFederation space, the Delta Quadrant is unexplored byStarfleet, andVoyageris truly going where no human has gone before. As they set out on their projected 75-year journey home, the crew passes through regions belonging to various species: the barbaric and belligerentKazon; the organ-harvesting, disease-ravagedVidiians; the nomadic hunter race theHirogen; the fearsomeSpecies 8472from fluidic space; and most notably theBorg, whose home is the Delta Quadrant, so thatVoyagerhas to move through large areas of Borg-controlled space in later seasons. They also encounter perilous natural phenomena, a nebulous area called the Nekrit Expanse ("Fair Trade", third season), a large area of empty space called the Void ("Night", fifth season),wormholes, dangerousnebulaeand other anomalies. Voyageris the thirdStar Trekseries to featureQ, an omnipotent alienand the second on a recurring basis, as Q made only one appearance onStar Trek: Deep Space Nine. Starfleet Command learns ofVoyager's survival when the crew discovers an ancient interstellar communications network, claimed by the Hirogen, into which they can tap. This relay network is later disabled, but due to the efforts of Earth-based LieutenantReginald Barclay, Starfleet eventually establishes regular contact in the season-six episode "Pathfinder", using a communications array and micro-wormhole technology. In the first two episodes of the show's fourth season, Kes leaves the ship in the wake of an extreme transformation of her mental abilities, whileSeven of Nine(known colloquially as Seven), a Borg drone who was assimilated as a six-year-old human girl, is liberated from the collective and joins theVoyagercrew. As the series progresses, Seven begins to regain her humanity with the ongoing help of Captain Janeway, who shows her that emotions, friendship, love, and caring are more important than the sterile "perfection" the Borg espouse. The Doctor also becomes more human-like, due in part to a mobile holo-emitter the crew obtains in the third season which allows the Doctor to leave the confines of sickbay. He discovers his love of music and art, which he demonstrates in the episode "Virtuoso". In the sixth season, the crew discovers a group of adolescent aliens assimilated by the Borg, but prematurely released from their maturation chambers due to a malfunction on their Borg cube. As he did with Seven of Nine, the Doctor rehumanizes the children;Azan, Rebi and Mezoti, three of them eventually find a new adoptive home while the fourth,Icheb, chooses to stay aboardVoyager. Life for theVoyagercrew evolves during their long journey. TraitorsSeskaandMichael Jonasare uncovered in the early months ("State of Flux", "Investigations"); loyal crew members are lost late in the journey; and other wayward Starfleet officers are integrated into the crew. In the second season, the first child is born aboard the ship to Ensign Samantha Wildman; as she grows up, Naomi Wildman becomes great friends with her godfather, Neelix, and develops an unexpected and close relationship with Seven of Nine. Early in the seventh season, Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres marry after a long courtship, and Torres gives birth to their child,Miral Paris, in the series finale. Late in the seventh season, the crew finds a colony of Talaxians on a makeshift settlement in an asteroid field, and Neelix chooses to bidVoyagerfarewell and live once again among his people.