Star Trek: Voyager: Season Seven

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Seven, 2000-2001. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, & Jeri Taylor. Directed by Mike Vejar (6 episodes), Allan Kroeker (5), Terry Windell (4), David Livingston (3), LeVar Burton (3), Winrich Kolbe (2), Robert Duncan McNeill (1), Peter Lauritson (1), & Roxann Dawson (1). Written by Kenneth Biller (12 episodes), Mike Sussman (7), Robert Doherty (7), Brannon Braga (5), Michael Taylor (5), Bryan Fuller (5), Raf Green (5), James Kahn (4), Phyllis Strong (4), André Bormanis (3), Rick Berman (2), Joe Menosky (1), Carleton Eastlake (1), Mark Haskell Smith (1), Eric Morris (1), Robert Lederman (1), Dave Long (1), Jack Monaco (1), Larry Nemecek (1), J. Kelley Burke (1), Andrew Shepard Price (1), & Mark Gaberman (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew, with Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Jeri Ryan, & Garrett Wang.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: There's a lot of mediocrity, and expectations were pretty high, given the past two seasons' quality and the fact that the impending end of the series should make big things happen (it never did) - so I'm reluctant to say it was good. But it has its moments, and at its worst it's still watchable. B

GPA: 2.4/4

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Six

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Six, 1999-2000. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, & Jeri Taylor. Directed by Mike Vejar (5 episodes), David Livingston (4), Terry Windell (4), Allan Kroeker (3), John Bruno (2), Winrich Kolbe (2), Roxann Dawson (1), Robert Picardo (1), Gabrielle Beaumont (1), Les Landau (1), Allison Liddi (1), & LeVar Burton (1). Written by Joe Menosky (8 episodes), Brannon Braga (6), Bryan Fuller (6), Michael Taylor (6), Robert Doherty (4), Kenneth Biller (3), Robin Burger (3), Raf Green (3), Berman (2), Ronald D. Moore (2), Mike Sussman (2), Bill Vallely (1), Juliann deLayne (1), André Bormanis (1), Mike Wollaeger (1), Jessica Scott (1), David Zabel (1), Scott Miller (1), Gannon Kenney (1), Andrew Shepard Price (1), Mark Gaberman (1), Ronald Wilkerson (1), Paul Brown (1), Dianna Gitto (1), Bruno (1), & Picardo (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew, with Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Ethan Phillips, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, Jeri Ryan, & Garrett Wang.

Concept: B
Story: B
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: B
Music: C
Enjoyment: They've improved on the high quality of season five. There are only one or two low points, and the high points make for a (new) couple of my favorite Star Trek episodes. Now if only Janeway could get some decent development; they haven't done anything really interesting with her since season two. A

GPA: 2.6/4

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Five

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Five, 1998-1999. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor. Directed by David Livingston (7 episodes), Cliff Bole (3), Les Landau (2), John Kretchmer (2), Winrich Kolbe (2), Allan Kroeker (2), Terry Windell (2), LeVar Burton (1), Mike Vejar (1), Anson Williams (1), Terrence O'Hara (1), Robert Duncan McNeill (1) & Allan Eastman (1). Written by Brannon Braga (11 episodes), Joe Menosky (9), Michael Taylor (9), Bryan Fuller (7), Kenneth Biller (5), Nick Sagan (5), Rick Berman (3), Jimmy Diggs (2), Harry 'Doc' Kloor (1), Jeri Taylor (1), Scott Miller (1), Eileen Connors (1), Robert J. Doherty (1) & Bill Prady (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew.

Concept: B
Story: C
Characters: C
Dialog: C
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: C
Music: B
Enjoyment: Some of the best of Voyager so far. There are a few great episodes, and the worst episodes all have something interesting to offer. There are still only two good characters, one of whom is inconsistently written, so it's no TNG or DS9. But it's consistently pretty good. B

GPA: 2.5/4

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Four

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Four, 1997-1998. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor. Directed by Jesús Salvador Treviño (4 episodes), Alexander Singer (3), David Livingston (3), Winrich Kolbe (2), Anson Williams (2), Kenneth Biller (2), Allan Kroeker (2), Victor Lobl (2), LeVar Burton (1), Mike Vejar (1), Nancy Malone (1), Allan Eastman (1), Andrew Robinson (1) & Tim Russ (1). Written by Joe Menosky (9 episodes), Brannon Braga (8), Lisa Klink (5), Bryan Fuller (4), Jeri Taylor (3), Kenneth Biller (3), Harry 'Doc' Kloor (2), Jimmy Diggs (2), André Bormanis (2), Sherry Klein (1), Rick Williams (1), Andrew Shepard Price (1), Mark Gaberman (1), Robert J. Doherty (1), Steve J. Kay (1), Greg Elliot (1), Michael Perricone (1) & Rick Berman (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent). Seven of Nine shows up, and suddenly Voyager has a well-written character. It would have been better if they'd just started writing Janeway well (or Kes, for that matter). When they briefly did that in season two, it was pretty great. But I'll take what I can get. Meanwhile, the inanity of the other characters intensifies.
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad). Usually terrible, with a couple surprising moments of greatness.
Pacing: 1/4 (Bad)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, 2/4). It's occasionally awful, but most episodes have something to offer, and a few are very good. I would have given it a 7/10, except that a lot of the mediocre episodes manage to be boring as well, which is a first for Star Trek.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.9/4 (Eh)

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Three

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Three, 1996-1997. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor. Directed by David Livingston (5 episodes), Alexander Singer (4), Cliff Bole (3), Winrich Kolbe (2), Robert Duncan McNeill (2), Allan Kroeker (2), Les Landau (1), Jesús Salvador Treviño (1), Robert Picardo (1), Nancy Malone (1), Andrew J. Robinson (1), Robert Scheerer (1), Marvin V. Rush (1) & Anson Williams (1). Written by Brannon Braga (9 episodes), Joe Menosky (8), Lisa Klink (6), Kenneth Biller (5), Jeri Taylor (2), Michael Piller (1), Clayvon C. Harris (1), Mike Sussman (1), George A. Brozak (1), Geo Cameron (1), Andrew Shepard Price (1), Mark Gaberman (1), Shawn Piller (1), André Bormanis (1), Ronald Wilkerson (1), Jean Louise Matthias (1), Jimmy Diggs (1) & Harry 'Doc' Kloor (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 1/4 (Bad)
Characters: 1/4 (Bad). The writers don't seem to have watched the first two seasons. They weren't good characters to begin with, but now any sense of continuity is gone, without even making improvements.
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 1/4 (Bad)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). Just as suddenly as Deep Space Nine improved in its third season, Voyager turns to crap.  There are still a handful of very good episodes, and some interesting ideas floating around - enough good to keep me hopeful for later seasons - but mostly it's just bad.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.7/4 (Eh)

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Two

Star Trek: Voyager: Season Two, 1995-1996. A spaceship stranded on the other side of the galaxy continues to make its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor. Directed by James L. Conway (4 episodes), Winrich Kolbe (4), Cliff Bole (4), Jonathan Frakes (3), David Livingston (3), Alexander Singer (3), Les Landau (2), Kim Friedman (1), LeVar Burton (1) & Marvin V. Rush (1). Written by Jeri Taylor (6), Brannon Braga (6), Kenneth Biller (6), Michael Piller (3), Lisa Klink (2), Arnold Rudnick (1), Rich Hosek (1), Tom Szollosi (1), Larry Brody (1), Nicholas Corea (1), Michael Sussman (1), Gary Holland (1), Anthony Williams (1), Richard Gadas (1), Joe Menosky (1), Andrew Shepard Price (1) & Mark Gaberman (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 3/4 (Good)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 3/4 (Good)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). The writing has improved drastically, especially near the end of the season, getting unexpectedly heavy (but without losing any of the Adventure quality that makes it fun). Now it's really only the quality of the characters that keeps it from being as good as TNG. Most of them are extremely shallowly written, with the most entertaining being good for little more than comedic relief. Janeway is the only one who's getting more interesting as we get to know her better.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)

Star Trek: Voyager: Season One

Star Trek: Voyager: Season One, 1995. A spaceship pulled to the other side of the galaxy makes its way home.

Created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller & Jeri Taylor. Directed by Winrich Kolbe (5 episodes), Kim Friedman (3), Les Landau (3), David Livingston (3), LeVar Burton (1) & Robert Scheerer (1). Written by Michael Piller (5 episodes), Brannon Braga (5), Jeri Taylor (3), Kenneth Biller (2), David Kemper (1), Skye Dent (1), Tom Szollosi (1), Bill Dial (1), Evan Carlos Somers (1), Michael Perricone (1), George Elliot (1), Chris Abbott (1), Naren Shankar (1), Jack Klein (1), Karen Klein (1), Ronald Wilkerson (1), Jean Louise Matthias (1), Rick Berman (1), Jim Trombetta (1), Timothy De Haas (1), Hilary Bader (1), David R. George III (1), Eric A. Stillwell (1), Paul Robert Coyle (1), Joe Menosky (1), Jonathan Glassner (1), James Thornton (1) & Scott Nimerfro (1). Starring Kate Mulgrew.

Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Dialog: 1/4 (Bad)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Hands down the best-acted first season of a Star Trek spin-off series. (So far - I haven't seen Enterprise yet.) That's not exactly an impressive feat, but still. Unexpected. It's a damn shame the writers don't give Mulgrew anything to work with.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, 3/4). So damn refreshing. For the first time since the seventies (or the sixties if you don't count the animated series), Star Trek is about what the famous theme song monologue says it's about - which basically boils down to science fiction adventures.  The writing might not actually be any better than Deep Space Nine, but when you're an adventure show, you can get away with a lot more.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.2/4 (Okay)