Star Trek: Voyager: Difference between revisions

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[[File:voy_cast.jpg|frame|The original cast (L-R): Neelix, Chakotay, Kim, Kes (above), Janeway, Paris, Tuvok, The Doctor, and Torres.]]

The third 'new generation' [[Star Trek]], it ran for seven seasons, from January 1995 through May 2001. In the first episode, the [[Cool Starship|USS Voyager]] was [[The Call Knows Where You Live|pulled across the galaxy by an alien device]]. Janeway destroyed the device during a battle rather than let it be misused, stranding her ship seventy-five years' travel time from home.

Early on even the producers found a certain problem with the premise, in that the series had a singular goal of returning home. That meant while there was plenty of "Strange New Worlds" to discover, they were always looking home, and constantly missing [[Just Eat Gilligan|opportunities for shortcuts]]. Another problem was the use of [[Infinite Supplies]]. Early in the series, many fans quickly dubbed Voyager the HMS [[Reset Button]]; the conclusion of almost every episode usually resulted in a return to ''[[Status Quo Is God|status quo ante]]''.

The show was a frustrating mix of genuinely good entertainment and "safe" old [[Star Trek]] stand-bys. Part of this was a predominance with episodes of the [[Spotlight-Stealing Squad]] between Seven-Of-Nine and The Doctor. The lackluster response to ''Voyager'' was actually a serious consideration to hold off on further [[Star Trek]] series ([[Executive Meddling|which was demanded anyway]]). But it was also the near-magical power of the technology in this series that made them decide upon a less-evolved [[Prequel]] series in ''[[Enterprise]]''.

== Trope-based episodes ==

* [[Acting for Two]]: "Faces". "Deadlock", "11:59", "Life Line", "Endgame"

* [[Ancient Astronauts]]: "Tattoo"

* [[Back to Front]]: "Before and After"

* [[The Chains of Commanding]]: "Night", "Year of Hell", "[[Hourglass Plot|Equinox]]", "Endgame".

* [[Data Crystal]]

* [[Do Androids Dream?|Do Holograms Dream]]: "Projections", "Prototype", "The Swarm", [[AI Is a Crapshoot|"The Darkling", "Revulsion"]], "Real Life", "Flesh and Blood", "Life Line", "Someone To Watch Over Me", "Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy", "Author Author".

* [[Downer Ending]]: "Course: Oblivion", probably one of the few examples of the trope in Star Trek.

* [[God Guise]]: "False Profits", "Muse" (subverted in that the crew inspire a [[Fan Fiction|play]] as opposed to a religion).

* [[Grand Finale]]: "Endgame"

* [[Identical Grandson|Identical Granddaughter]]: "11:59", or identical great-great-great... well, you get the idea. The ancestral love interest bears a strong resemblance to Janeway's former love, as well.

* [[The Infinite]]: "Threshold" where Tom Paris designs and builds an engine to go [[Memetic Mutation|To Infinity And Beyond]]!! As a [[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy|drive the infinite turns out to be improbable]] though.

* [[Made for TV Movie]]: "Dark Frontier" was written and aired as a TV movie, though it was filmed as a normal two-part episode. "Flesh and Blood" was also aired as a TV movie, though it was neither written nor filmed as such.

* [[Magic Versus Science]]: "Sacred Ground".

* [[Medical Drama]]: "Scientific Method", "Nothing Human", "Latent Image", "Critical Care", "Imperfection", "Lineage".

* [[Monster Clown]]: "The Thaw" features one as the [[Abstract Apotheosis|anthropomorphic personification]] of fear.

* [[Subspace Ansible]]: Seeing as Voyager is a ''lot'' further out than other Federation vessels, and has been presumed destroyed, even getting a message home is important to the crew. "Eye of the Needle", "Message in A Bottle", "Hunters", "Pathfinder".

* [[Time Travel]]: "[[Merlin Sickness|Time and Again]]", "Eye of the Needle", "[[ET Gave Us Wi Fi|Future's End]]", [[Mayfly-December Romance|"Before]] [[Back to Front|and After"]], "Year of Hell", "Relativity", "Shattered", "Endgame". Also "Non Sequitor" and "Deadlock" (alternate timelines).

* [[Treacherous Spirit Chase]]: "Coda"

* [[Twenty Minutes Into the Future]]: "11:59"

* [[Virtual Celebrity]]: "Virtuoso"

* [[Weapon of Mass Destruction]]: [[Misguided Missile|"Dreadnought", "Warhead"]], [[Person of Mass Destruction|"Childs Play"]] plus the Krenim temporal weapon-ship in "Year of Hell", and nine Species 8472 [[Living Ship|bioships]] linking up to destroy an entire Borg planet in "Scorpion".

* [[What the Hell, Hero?]]: "[[Expendable Clone|Tuvix]]", "Thirty Days", "Scorpion", "Equinox, Part II".

* [[Wrongly Accused]]: "Ex Post Facto", "State of Flux", "The Chute", "Living Witness", "Random Thoughts".

* [[Xanatos Gambit]]: The best example is "Counterpoint". {{spoiler|''Voyager'' is transporting telepaths through Devore space, where telepaths are automatically arrested, along with those helping them. Kashyk arrives and informs the crew that he knows what they're doing and how they plan to escape. He also says he's defecting and wants to help them avoid a Devore planned for them. If the crew believes him, then he betray them at a crucial moment. If the turn him away, he turens them in. If they do something to him, his superiors will wonder what happened and come looking for him.}} He'd win no matter what they did. {{spoiler|Except he was [[Out-Gambitted]] by Janeway, who was prepared for his deception. If he was telling the truth, great, she'd be happy to have him onboard. If he wasn't, she was ready.}}

* [[Another Mans Terror]]: Paris has this forced upon him in "Ex Post Facto".

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Painfully averted by Lt. [[Fan Nickname|"Extra-Man"]] Ayala. Ayala appears in 120 episodes out of 167, in all seven seasons. He speaks in exactly four of those episodes, and is only credited twice, never with a name. The mere act of establishing a name for the actor took some detective work. He's achieved a certain amount of [[Memetic Badass]] status among the fandom for simply managing to survive all seven seasons.

* [[Babies Ever After]]: Final episode - Paris and Torres' last-minute baby, Miral.

* [[Belligerent Sexual Tension]]: The romance between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres is every inch this trope.

** [[Discontinuity Nod]]: ...and later on Paris notes that he's never traveled in transwarp. To explicitly say in the show that it isn't considered canon.

** "Deuterium? You can get that anywhere!" is mentioned in one episode, seasons after the "running out of deuterium" stuff.

* [[Character Development]]: Limited to Seven, the Doctor, Kes, and a tiny smattering for Neelix and B'Elanna. Everyone else ended the show with pretty much the [[Static Character|personality they came in with]].

** Tom Paris started out an angry ex con with a chip on his shoulder and ended the series settled, reliable, and a hero being nurse, ace pilot, shuttle designer and a father with B'Elanna. Though his playfulness and older brother type relationship with Harry were persistent throughout the series.

* [[Crapsack World|Crapsack Quadrant]]: The Delta Quadrant.

* [[Creepy Child]]: Suspiria in "Cold Fire", the Borg children on their first appearance, Naomi Wildman in a nightmare sequence in "Dark Frontier" and, it was hinted on a couple of occasions, Kes ("Cold Fire", "[[Fighting From the Inside|Warlord]]" and "Fury").

* [[Cute Monster Girl]]: Denara Pel, and pre-catsuit Seven of Nine.

* [[Dance of Romance]]: Doc and Seven get one in "Someone to Watch Over Me"

* [[Death Is Cheap]]: The entire crew was offed twice. Every major character died at least once. The Harry Kim that made it home ''isn't even the original Harry Kim!''

** To clarify, an anomaly of the week duplicated the ship. Which leads to an even more disturbing alternative - the only "originals" who made it home were Harry, Naomi Wildman, and Seven of Nine. The crew never figured out which of the twin Voyagers was the original ship (if either one was). Harry and Naomi were the only two from the "other" ship who survived, while Seven joined the crew long after this incident.

** This is frequently contrasted with how Sisko was treated in ''Deep Space Nine''. He wasn't "the black Captain" the way Janeway was "the female Captain", he was just [[The Captain]].

** Some early interviews and show-related material indicate that the Janeway character was ''intensely'' examined, specifically to prevent Janeway from becoming nothing more than an ultra-feminist caricature; at the same time, a balance had to be found so that Janeway could maintain her femininity while in command. Hence, Janeway prefers being addressed as 'Captain' over 'sir' or 'ma'am' (which acknowledges that she ''is'' in command, but avoids gender politics entirely).

* [[Deprogram|Deprogramming]]

** Also bear in mind this must be a regular bridge conversation. "How long until we get home?" "At current speeds 70 years." "Excellent we'll contin... Oh Shiny" Having just spotted a random celestial phenomena out the window.

* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: Star Trek science is generally pretty shaky, and usually capable of being filed under "[[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|Advanced Technology]]" or [[Suspension of Disbelief]]. However, in one instance the ship escapes a black hole by finding a crack in the event horizon. This makes about as much sense as being able to drive 100 MPH down an American highway, and not get arrested, because you found a crack in the speed limit.

* [[Evil Plan]]: Seska, a [[Big Bad]] fond of [[Railroading]], is usually doing this.

* [[Evolutionary Levels]]: The justification

* [[Executive Meddling]]:

** Several scenes in the pilot had to be reshot because the studio vetoed Kate Mulgrew's hairstyle.

* [[Long Title]]: In-universe, Naomi's essay about "The weird planet where time moved very fast and so did the people who lived there". Seven helps her condense it.

* [[Lost Technology]]: In both "Message In A Bottle" and "Hunters," Voyager comes across a vast abandoned network of ancient relay stations (each powered by its own black hole!), enabling them to make contact with Starfleet on the other side of the galaxy. One little mistake and [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|the entire network shut down.]]

* [[The Main Characters Do Everything]]: A ''Star Trek'' staple, really, but ''Voyager'' really takes it to the next level. Don't be surprised if Janeway decides to fly off the ship with her first officer on ''routine patrol duty'', leaving the impulsive and unreliable Half-Klingon rebel in command.

* [[Mate or Die]]: Yup, this returns with a twist in "Blood Fever" {{spoiler|when young background Vulcan officer Vorik tries to force himself on B'Elanna Torres during his pon farr, leading her to suffer the blood fever as well.}} This is [[Shipping|the episode that launched millions of Torres/Paris shippers]].

** The reset featured in "Year of Hell" is one of the few fans of the show won't groan at, simply because it was too damn awesome.

* [[The Revolution Will Not Be Vilified]]: Averted in "Resistance", but somehow there's never any mention of the Maquis' terrorist origins. Except for [[Sociopathic Soldier|Suder]] of course.

* [[Robosexual]]: The EMH apparently gets around, especially in one of his [[Time Skip]] episodes.

* [[Running Gag]]: Every single pot roast mentioned on the series was burnt to hell.

** On the other hand the Doctor says "The DNA doesn't lie." This has never stopped defence attorneys.

*** Though it does help that Federation forensics technology is demonstrably better than ours is.

** An Alien version of this occurs, showing an evil version of the Voyager crew as propaganda between two races of aliens, until a copy of The Doctor sets the record straight... and then the entire show-within-a-show is shown to, ''itself'' be a [[Show Within a Show|show within a show within a show.]]

* [[Space Clouds]]: In "Year of Hell", a crippled Voyager hides inside a nebula so dense that it produces a visible fog inside the ship's corridors. Captain Janeway even orders the hull breaches sealed to avoid having an "indoor nebula."

* [[Space Is an Ocean]]: In the episode "Day of Honor," Paris and Torres put on spacesuits and abandon their doomed shuttlecraft. As they drift in space awaiting rescue, they bob up and down as if floating in an ocean.

* [[Space Is Noisy]]

* [[Spinoff Sendoff]]: The pilot, "Caretaker", starts with Voyager docked at Deep Space Nine, with Quark trying to con Harry Kim.

* [[Status Quo Is God]]: One of the, if not ''the'' biggest complaints leveled against the show.

* [[Touche]]: In "Counterpoint", {{spoiler|Kashyk admits this when he sees he's been tricked.}}

* [[Transformation Sequence]]: Overlaps with [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?]] in "Tinkor, Tailor, Doctor, Spy". The Doctor's transformation into the ECH is accompanied by a dramatic zoom on the Doctor's lapel as the pips appear one by one.

* [[Two Roads Before You]]

* [[Understatement]]: In "Scientific Method," Janeway decides to fly ''Voyager'' between two stars, hoping to destroy the ships of some aliens who have been experimenting on the crew in the process, despite Tuvok's warning that the odds of their survival are "one in twenty, at best." Tuvok tells her that it's a far more reckless course of action than he's come to expect from her. After they manage to get away, Janeway comments to Tuvok that she never knew he thought of her as "reckless." Tuvok says that it was a poor choice of words: "It was clearly an understatement."

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* [[Vision Quest]]: Chakotay [[Magical Native American|consults his spirit guide]] about once a season, or helps someone else do so.

** Whatever happened to Suspiria, the Female Caretaker? She never reappeared in the series following her second season episode, but the [[Star Trek String Theory]] novel trilogy provides (non-canon) answers.

* [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?]]: With a holographic Doctor, they question of whether a projection of [[Hard Light]] and a "soul" of algorithms arises a few times. This includes encountering a race of photonic creatures in a different plane, and another which considers holographic programs to be insurgents. Even what rights the Doctor has on the ship has been explored, with him even trying to resign in one episode.

* [[You Keep Using That Word]]: Various crewmembers describe things from the 19th and 20th century as being "Ancient", which is like saying that Roman Chariots and Nuclear Weapons are relatively ''close'' historically. Even more egregious considering that they are only 400 years downwind from the things they are describing.

* [[You Look Familiar]]

* [[Youtube Poop]]: Growing in popularity.

== The Adventures of Captain Proton! ==

* [[AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle]]: Chaotica.

* [[BBC Quarry]]: Harry Kim points out that "Planet X" looks identical to "The Mines of Mercury" that they visited in the last adventure.

* [[Cliffhanger Copout]]: Paris and Kim are watching a recap of last week's Proton episode, which shows their rocketship dramatically bursting into flame.

{{quote| '''Kim:''' We didn't burst into flame in the last chapter! Why are these recaps so inaccurate?<br />

* [[Dope Slap]]: Paris gives this to Satan's Robot when it scares off the alien they're trying to make [[First Contact]] with. The Robot shambles off muttering sulkily about alien invaders.

* [[Emperor Scientist]] / [[Mad Scientist]] / [[Big Bad]]: [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|Doctor]] Chaotica, [[The Magnificent|Ruler of the Cosmos!]]

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Queen Arachnia. Plus the Twin Mistresses of Evil, Demonica and Malicia.

* [[Genre Savvy]]: Tom Paris knows something's gone wrong in "Bride of Chaotica!" because Constance Goodheart has been killed, and that [[Boring Invincible Hero|never happens to the Good Guys]]. Likewise he tries to warn Captain Janeway of Chaotica's fondness for [[Booby Trap|hidden traps]], but she falls into one anyway.

* [[Killer Robot]]: Parodied in the [[Tin Can Robot|clunky mechanical form]] of Satan's Robot. [[Informed Ability|Supposedly terrifying]] but actually slow-moving, easily disabled, and rather pathetic.

* [[Large Ham]]: Frankly, the whole point of playing the program. Chaotica is the king of this, but also seen with the Doctor and Captain Janeway whose initial reaction is either contempt or amusement, but who end up playing their roles with gusto. Hilariously subverted though by Seven of Nine in "Night" (see [[Off the Rails]], below.)

* [[The Magnificent]]: Captain Proton: Spaceman First Class, protector of Earth, scourge of intergalactic evil...at your service.

* [[Off the Rails]]: In "Night" Tom Paris ropes in Seven to play the [[Damsel in Distress]]. Upon being menaced by the [[Killer Robot]], Seven calmly responds:

{{quote| '''Seven:''' I am Borg. ''(yanks out robot's wiring, disabling it)'' The robot has been neutralized. May I leave now?}}

* [[Shot Mid Sentence]]: Lonzak is raygunned by Proton and Buster as he's hamming his way through his Roaring Speech of Revenge.

{{quote| "Surprised? You thought I had [[Not Quite Dead|perished in that den of crocodiles]]. I SURVIVED! CLINGING to the thought that I would ONE DAY__''Arrrrgh!''"}}

* [[Space Does Not Work That Way]]: Parodied in "Thirty Days" where Proton is seen [[Batman Can Breathe in Space|flying through outer space]] protected by a [[Adventurer Outfit|leather jacket and flying goggles]].

* [[Strapped to An Operating Table]]: Janeway in "Shattered".

== Insurrection Alpha ==

* [[Deus Ex Machina]]: {{spoiler|Janeway rewrites the program to have an alien ship come to their aid, giving Tuvok time to snag a phaser rifle.}} At the end of the episode, the characters are [[Conversational Troping|sitting around, talking about the program]] and Tuvok compliments Janeway on this move. "[[Lampshade Hanging|Who says deus ex machina is an outdated literary device?]]" she responds.

* [[Diabolus Ex Machina]]: {{spoiler|Seska programs the Holodeck to improvise them.}}

* [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy]]: When the Maquis and Starfleet crewmembers end up [[Enemy Mine|working well together]], Tuvok realises his program could itself create tensions between the two groups and deletes it. Or so he thinks. Tuvok's expectations are subverted when they find it and enjoy it.

* [[Who Writes This Crap?]]: Paris's comment the first time he runs the program when the holographic Tuvok in the brig suggests that they might need to spend as long as a week observing their captors for weaknesses. "A week?! Who wrote this stuff?"

* [[Call Back]]

* [[Cool Starship]]: It has to be said, the alternate ''Voyager'' armed to the teeth with guns isn't a bad sight.

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: The biased depiction of the Vaskan leader has him going to war with the Kyrians simply to steal their land. He contracts Voyager as mercenaries to accomplish this, but even he objects on moral grounds and tries to cancel the deal when Janeway decides to effect massive genocide of the Kyrians as the best solution.

* [[Final Solution]]: Evil Janeway's genocide of the Kyrians, which apparently kills at least 900,000 people.

* [[Show Within a Show]]: The reveal that the Doctor setting the events of the ''Voyager'' recreation straight were in turn ''themselves'' another recreation at the same museum, many years later.

* [[Torture Technician]]: The Doctor is portrayed as this, much to his horror.

{{reflist}}

[[Category:American Series]]

[[Category:Star Trek: Voyager]]