Star Trek: Voyager appears to be getting a long-overdue reappraisal, if streaming statistics are anything to go by. The series, long regarded as weaker than its predecessors, has in more recent times topped streaming charts, drawing in legions of new fans who are for the first time enjoying Captain Janeway and her crew’s trip back to the Alpha Quadrant.
Picking ten of the best episodes of any Star Trek series is tricky, and Voyager is no exception – with 172 episodes to choose from and only a few outright bad ones, any best-of list will necessarily leave out many of the series’ finest moments. Nevertheless, here are ten of Voyager’s greatest moments, including several classics as well as less-remembered, underrated episodes.
10. Eye of the Needle
A very early episode, season one’s “Eye of the Needle” is a great use of Voyager’s premise. Not long after they first become stranded in the Delta Quadrant, the crew manage to contact a Romulan based in the Alpha Quadrant. The episode combines an emotional story of hope with a clever science fiction premise, leading to a devastating twist ending.
9. Body and Soul
Jeri Ryan and Robert Picardo proved to be two of the most talented actors of the cast when it came to comedy. “Body and Soul” gives both of them a chance to flex their considerable skills. Captured by aggressively anti-holographic aliens, Seven of Nine saves the Doctor by transferring his program into her Borg implants. This gives the Doctor control of Seven’s body, leaving it up to him to lead the escape from the aliens… if he can resist the appeal of having a physical body for the first time. Ryan’s impression of Picardo alone is worth the price of admission.
8. Tuvix
“Tuvix” has long been one of the most controversial episodes of any Star Trek series. What starts as a typical and somewhat silly story about a transporter accident starts to turn into one of the most agonizing moral dilemmas ever posed in Star Trek. Whether you agree with Janeway’s ultimate decision or not, the episode gives the viewer a lot to think about, and is a somewhat rare example of a Star Trek dilemma with no easy answer and no happy ending.
7. Distant Origin
Voyager loved going for pulpy, high-concept stories that the likes of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine would often shy away from. “Distant Origin” is a classic – the crew encounter a maverick scientist from a reptilian race who believes that he is descended from Earth’s dinosaurs, and needs their help to prove it. But he’s victimised by the ruling elite who dogmatically deny his theory and seek to trash any evidence he might acquire. The crew soon find themselves in the middle of a desperate ideological battle between science and ideology, which ends with First Officer Chakotay facing down a pack of closed-minded judges in a menacing courtroom.
6. Scientific Method
“Scientific Method” is the kind of unnerving horror story that’s common in Star Trek, and Voyager excels with it. The ship is invaded by alien scientists who render themselves invisible, and begin to perform nightmarish medical experiments on the crew, inflicting them with a whole range of illnesses and injuries. The episode is a must-watch for the final act alone, in which the alien aggressors discover that giving Captain Janeway a days-long migraine and depriving her of sleep is a suicidally bad idea.
5. The Thaw
“The Thaw” is a deranged trip into a psychedelic nightmare, in which crewmembers Kim and Torres are trapped inside an inescapable virtual reality program in which a clown (the manifestation of the collective fears of the people trapped inside the program) tortures them and literally scares several people to death. With Kim’s life on the line, the rest of the crew must work to free him, culminating in Janeway managing to terrify fear itself into non-existence.
4. Living Witness
Another of Voyager’s superb high concept episodes, “Living Witness” takes place in the distant future of an alien world, inside a museum which has an exhibit about Voyager. Voyager is portrayed as a warship, the Federation as brutal fascists, and Janeway as a war criminal. It’s up to the Doctor – reactivated from a backup by one of the museum’s curators – to set the record straight and reveal the truth about his shipmates. As with many Voyager episodes, “Living Witness” dives into matters of ideological conflict, and the Doctor must ultimately come to terms with what revealing the truth would mean to this society.
3. Year of Hell
Voyager had many two-parters, and most were great, but none were better than “Year of Hell.” Voyager flies into a region of space in which the timeline is constantly torn apart and rebuilt by a scientist named Annorax, who creates and destroys entire civilisations as he relentlessly shreds through timelines to try and resurrect his dead wife. The crew of the Voyager are the only hope to put a stop to Annorax’s mad quest, but over the course of their journey, their ship is battered and broken, much of the crew are killed in action, and by the end, Janeway personally pilots the flaming ruins of Voyager in a last-ditch suicide run. “Year of Hell” is an exciting action-adventure with plenty of great character moments, interesting science fiction ideas, and a villain who ultimately inspires more sympathy than he does antipathy.
2. Blink of an Eye
Another brilliant science-fiction concept, this episode revolves around a planet in which time passes rapidly. Groups of prehistoric people see the light Voyager in orbit in the night sky, and believe it to be a god. As the crew race to undo the damage their visit has caused, the planet advances to a Medieval civilisation, and then a Renaissance-era one. Eventually, the planet achieves spaceflight, and an astronaut arrives for a climactic confrontation with the crew.
1. Drone
After a transporter accident leads to the creation of a Borg with 29th Century technology, Seven of Nine is tasked with becoming a mentor for the newborn. As she teaches the fast-growing drone — named “One” — all the lessons she herself has learned about humanity, she develops an almost mother-son bond with him, showing an unusual degree of emotion. One is ultimately faced with the decision to sacrifice himself to save his shipmates, or risk his advanced technology falling into the hands of the Borg. As well as being perhaps the best Seven of Nine episode, “Drone” can claim to be one of the best in all of Voyager.