Star Trek: Voyager is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. It was produced for seven seasons from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek series to have a female captain, Kathryn Janeway, as a lead character. The show was a spinoff of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and was created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor. The show was based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It is sometimes shortened to ST:VOY or VOY, VGR or ST:VGR.

The series follows the adventures of the USS Voyager and her crew who have become stranded in the Delta Quadrant, seventy thousand light-years from Earth. Unless they can find some kind of shortcut, it will take them seventy-five years to return to the space of the United Federation of Planets, and more specifically, Earth.

Plot Overview

The USS Voyager

In the pilot episode, "Caretaker", Voyager is sent on a mission to locate a ship piloted by a cell of the Maquis, a terrorist organization created in protest of a treaty between the Federation and Cardassians. Tom Paris (a former member of the Maquis) is brought out of prison to help find the ship, and discovers that his reputation as a troublemaker has turned the ship's First Officer and Medical Officer against him. During a chase through the dangerous Badlands, both ships are transported to the other side of the galaxy by an ancient alien known as the Caretaker. While being pulled across the galaxy, several members of Voyager's crew are killed, including the ship's first officer and all medical staff including the ship's doctor.

Both ships are attacked by Kazon raiders intent on capturing the Caretaker's Array. Rather than using the Caretaker's Array to return home, Captain Janeway decides to destroy it to prevent it from being misused.

The raiders destroy the Maquis ship, but not before its crew are able to transport safely to Voyager. The Starfleet and Maquis crews are forced to integrate and work together as they begin the long journey home. Chakotay, the leader of the Maquis group, becomes first officer. B'Elanna Torres, a half-human, half-Klingon female, becomes chief engineer, beating Lieutenant Carey, a Starfleet crewman who would have been promoted to the position. The Emergency Medical Hologram (EMH Mark I), designed for short term use only, becomes ship's doctor after the death of the entire medical staff. Along the way home, the crew must contend with the organ-snatching Vidiians, the relentless Borg, and the extra-dimensional Species 8472.

The Voyager returns home in the series finale Endgame.

The conflict between the fiercely independent Maquis revolutionaries and the by-the-book Starfleet crew is a central theme of the first season, but by the second season, it has largely been worked out. Only Janeway remains anguished for the entire run of the series over the consequences of her decision to destroy their only known way home.

Themes

Voyager crew, Season 7

Voyager continues the themes presented in the original Star Trek series and Star Trek: The Next Generation, such as explorations of space and of the human condition. It also demonstrates democratic principles (peace, openness, freedom, cooperation, and sharing) and philosophical issues such as the sense of self and what it means to be human. In the Star Trek series, the examination of humanity is typically explored by contrasting non-human characters with human ones (for instance, the Earth-born Kirk and McCoy against the Vulcan Spock). On Voyager, these aliens include the Emergency Medical Hologram (The Doctor), who is actually a computer program, Vulcan security officer Tuvok, Talaxian Neelix, half Klingon - half Human B'Elanna Torres, Ocampa Kes, and the former Borg drone Seven of Nine. It should be noted that although, biologically speaking, Seven is a bona-fide Human, having been a Borg drone for most of her life means that she has not developed normal human behavior patterns when she first becomes part of Voyager's crew.

Voyager was probably more reminiscent of the original Star Trek series than Star Trek: The Next Generation, (although greatly technologically advanced, the size of the ship is almost identical to the original series' Constitution class Enterprise. Seven of Nine's post also grew similar to that of Science Officer, as held by Spock in the original series.) The show was often grittier than Star Trek: The Next Generation, with the members of the thrown-together crew often clashing in ways that would have been almost unthinkable on Picard's Enterprise.

Another of Voyager's distinguishing elements is the departure from the "best and the brightest" theme of Star Trek: The Next Generation in particular. Rather than a group of ace Starfleet Academy graduates, the characters in this series included an ex-convict, former terrorists, a notably unseasoned captain, and an unusually militant Vulcan. As a full-blooded Vulcan, Tuvok did not suffer from Spock's angst regarding his "half-breed" status and was consequently impatient with the emotions of those around him. Also, as head of security, he was more likely to suggest an aggressive course of action. Compared to the Next Generation characters, the Voyager crew on the whole had more personal issues, with Torres struggling with her Klingon/human heritage, Paris working to overcome his criminal past, Neelix haunted by memories of his race's near-extinction, and so on.

The most common plot theme is the implications of being stranded far from home. Voyager has only limited resources and no easy way to replenish them; its crew is cut off from the normal chain of command and institutions of its society. Janeway often expresses that though they are cut off from Starfleet, it is still their duty to live by Starfleet values and regulations, and this philosophy often brings her into conflict with Chakotay, Tuvok and other members of her crew who are more willing to make compromises in order to get home. Their situation frequently faces them with difficult choices of necessity versus idealism. Unlike the other Star Trek series, the crew of the Voyager cannot just stop at a starbase for repair or resupply. They often have to make trades with alien cultures or find completely new solutions to unforeseeable problems. They are also stuck with each other, which makes for new plot twists--for example, shipboard romances are not discouraged--but it also means that promotions are very rare, leading to some resentments. To overcome their claustrophobia the crew rely on the holodeck more than other Starfleet crews, with some of their holodeck adventures becoming ongoing plotlines, such as Tom Paris' Captain Proton serial, or Janeway's recurring trips to the home of Leonardo da Vinci. Most of these recurring holodeck stories end up behaving in very unexpected (and sometimes dangerous) ways due to alien interference or holodeck malfunction.

Cast

Main characters

Picture	Character	Rank	Actor	Position
	Kathryn Janeway	Captain	Kate Mulgrew	Commanding Officer
	Chakotay	Originally Maquis, Commander	Robert Beltran	Executive (First) Officer
	Tuvok	Lieutenant, then Lieutenant Commander	Tim Russ	Chief Security/Tactical officer
	B'Elanna Torres	Originally Maquis, Lieutenant	Roxann Dawson	Chief Engineer
	Tom Paris	Lieutenant Junior Grade, demoted to Ensign, later promoted back to Lieutenant	Robert Duncan McNeill	Chief CONN Officer (Pilot)
	Harry Kim	Ensign	Garrett Wang	Chief Operations Officer
	The Doctor	Chief Medical Officer	Robert Picardo	Emergency Medical Hologram, Emergency Command Hologram
	Neelix	Morale Officer, Chef	Ethan Phillips	Voyager's Chef, diplomatic adviser and morale officer, close to the end of the series Neelix becomes Ambassador for Starfleet in the Delta Quadrant.
	Kes	Crewman	Jennifer Lien	Airponics gardener, medical aide/student
	Seven of Nine	Astrometrics Officer	Jeri Ryan	Astrometrics

Recurring characters

One-time, cameos or infrequent spots

• Deanna Troi (Marina Sirtis)
• William Riker (Jonathan Frakes)
• Quark (Armin Shimerman)
• Geordi La Forge (LeVar Burton)
• Ambassador Tomin (Scott Thompson)
• Arridor (Dan Shor)
• Arturis (Ray Wise)
• Boothby (Ray Walston)
• Crewman Chell (Derek McGrath)
• Q2, Son of galactic gadfly Q, (Keegan de Lancie)
• Extra on Episode 36: Investigations (King Abdullah II of Jordan)
• The Rock, as a professional fighter in the Episode "Tsunkatse"
• Kurros (Jason Alexander) in the 20th episode of season 5 "Think Tank" (Production-number 214)
• Andy Dick, as Emergency Medical Hologram, Mk. II in the episode "Message in a Bottle" (Season 4, Ep. 14)
• Tom Morello, from Rage Against the Machine and Audioslave, as Crewman Mitchell in one episode.

Recurring alien races

See also List of Star Trek races

Alien races listed below have been featured or appeared in more than one episode. This list excludes episodes having plots significantly involving a non-human series regular or recurring character unless aspects of that character's alien heritage are profoundly explored or otherwise relevant.

Relaunch on book

In the wake of a successful series of original novels collectively known as the Deep Space Nine relaunch, featuring stories placed after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a similar relaunch was planned with regards to Voyager, with novels based upon events occurring following the end of the series. In the relaunch, several characters are reassigned to other posts, some new characters are introduced (such as Kaz, the new Trill ship's doctor), Kathryn Janeway is promoted to Admiral, and Chakotay is promoted to Captain of Voyager. Most of the other characters are promoted two steps in rank (for example, Ensign Harry Kim is promoted directly to full lieutenant, and Tom Paris is promoted from Lieutenant junior grade to Lieutenant Commander) to make up for time spent in the Delta Quadrant where they could not normally receive promotions.

So far, only a few Voyager Relaunch novels have been published, beginning with Homecoming and The Farther Shore in 2003. More novels are planned, both in the Relaunch and also other novels set during the original 7-season run of the show.

In November '04 Pocket books published Spirit Walk [Book One], closely followed a month later by Spirit Walk [Book Two]. The stories are based on the Star Trek Voyager episode 'Tattoo'; however, they are set in the Alpha Quadrant when Captain Chakotay has been sent on assignment to transport a set of colonists back to the planet of Loran II.

Trivia

• Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway), Robert Beltran (Chakotay), Tim Russ (Tuvok), and Robert Duncan McNeill (Tom Paris) are the only actors to appear in every episode of the series.
• Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Robert Picardo, Tim Russ, TNG stars LeVar Burton and Jonathan Frakes, and recurring DS9 player Andrew Robinson all have had a hand at directing episodes of the series. Dawson, McNeill, and Burton have also directed episodes of Enterprise. McNeill has since directed in several TV shows including Dawson's Creek, The O.C., Las Vegas, One Tree Hill, Dead Like Me, Summerland, Supernatural, and Desperate Housewives.
• Several famous guest stars have included Sharon Lawrence, Saro Mardikian, Andy Dick, Jason Alexander, Michael McKean, Sarah Silverman, John Rhys-Davies, Virginia Madsen, The Rock, McKenzie Westmore of Passions, TNG stars Jonathan Frakes, Marina Sirtis, LeVar Burton, John de Lancie, Dwight Schultz, and DS9 star Armin Shimerman.
• Robert Duncan McNeill appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty" as Nick Locarno, a Starfleet cadet expelled for covering up a classmate's death in a banned aerobatic stunt. Locarno was originally planned to return as part of the Voyager cast, but a similar character was created instead--officially because Locarno was felt to be beyond redemption. Unofficially, McNeill was cast as Tom Paris rather than Locarno to avoid paying royalties to the writers of "The First Duty" every time Locarno was in an episode.^{[citation needed]}
• Ethan Phillips appeared as a Ferengi in a Star Trek: Enterprise episode, as a different Ferengi in Ménage à Troi (TNG episode) and as a maitre d' in the film Star Trek: First Contact.
• Tim Russ played the character Devor in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine," and also played Tuvok in a mirror universe on the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Through The Looking Glass." Also, he appeared as a human on the bridge of the Enterprise-B in the film Star Trek: Generations and as a Klingon named T'kar in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Invasive Procedures". This makes him the actor to have stood beside the most captains in Star Trek history. In addition, he auditioned for the role of Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation, but did not receive it. Russ is the first African American to play a Vulcan, and thus Tuvok is the first black Vulcan seen in the Star Trek universe. [2]
• King Abdullah II of Jordan, a well-known Star Trek fan, appeared as an extra in the episode "Investigations". Abdullah's role was not given any speaking lines because he is not a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

Genevieve Bujold as Nicole Janeway

• The Doctor utters several lines that recall Doctor McCoy's famous "I'm a Doctor, not a ..." quips. In "Phage", he says, "I'm a doctor, not a decorator." In "Gravity", he says, "I'm a doctor, not a battery," and in "Bliss", he says, "I'm a doctor, not a dragon slayer". Perhaps most famously, in Star Trek: First Contact, when asked to halt the approach of the Borg in sickbay, he says, "I'm a doctor, not a doorstop". This would possibly emanate from the Doctor's programming, which, as the doctor mentions several times, includes procedures and personality from Dr. Leonard McCoy, among others. (By the same token, Tom Paris also follows this pattern with the line, "I'm a pilot, not a doctor.")
• Kate Mulgrew (Captain Kathryn Janeway) was cast in the series after the original star, Quebecoise film actress Genevieve Bujold, quit after one day of filming citing exhaustion and incompatibility with television filming.
• This was the first program ever to air on the UPN network. The "network" was a loose association of locally owned and operated stations that officially became UPN when the first episode began to air at 8:00 p.m. on January 16, 1995.