Fourth of the series, (actually fifth because before there was a series of star trek cartoon), in my opinion the most popular series to the public, both for the plot that takes place over 7 seasons, and for the innovations and characters that characterize this series. The storyline is intriguing, starting with a very normal mission of chasing a Maquis ship and ending at 70,000 light years, transported there by an alien entity, which dies before it can send the ship back. To survive so far from home, the two crews must unite and face the journey that is estimated to be at least 70 years long. And so, after a not exactly easy start of cooperation, the laborious return home begins, meeting new peoples and looking for new technologies that would allow to shorten the time of return. So they meet aliens that they host on their ship and that they will become full members of the crew, even if the period of adaptation has not always been easy.
The characters that animate this series are many, and all have contributed to its success. I want to start with the most curious, and also the most humorous character, the Doctor. This is an artificial intelligence that presents itself in the form of a hologram and that develops over time a real autonomous personality, a particular character, sometimes quite grumpy, but that has given many episodes that vein of originality and fun that distinguish it. Slowly, following its long activation, he develops his medical knowledge and not only, dedicating himself also to singing and writing. During the seven seasons he was unable to give himself a name, he was simply called Doctor by the whole crew.
Another charismatic character who has certainly given an extra gear to this series and Seven of Nine, the Borg. She is a human who was assimilated by the Borg when she was just a child. The characteristic of the Borg is that when they are assimilated they enter a collective of billions of individuals and lose their uniqueness because the cybernetic components that are implanted, enhance their physical and mental abilities, but also cancel their individual will. The Borg are like in a kind of hive where they are all connected. Disconnecting Seven of Nine, recovered by Voyager and recognized by the Captain as a human, will not prove to be a simple operation at all. It is Captain Janeway who becomes her mentor and guide in the search for her humanity, helped in this also by the Doctor who feels attraction for the girl, but realizing that he is not reciprocated never comes to declare himself.
Also in this series, as in all those of Star Trek, the equality between people, between alien peoples even very distant from the human race, are highlighted by the protagonists, see for example Kess , who is a race originally from the Delta sector, the Ocampa, a race very similar to the human race but has a very short life, in fact his race does not exceed 9 years, and Neelix who is a Thalassian always native of the Delta quadrant, who offers himself as cook and guide of the quadrant. The two fall in love although very different from each other. The captain of the ship Maquis they had gone to look for in the Badlands, Chakotay becomes the first officer aboard the Voyager, pushing his crew to integrate with the ship’s crew. Although captain of a rebel crew, he has his own code of honor that fits well with that of Captain Janeway. Another member of his crew becomes an officer and chief engineer on the Voyager, a woman half human and half Klingdon, B’Elanna Torres who, after a not very happy start, becomes one of the most important characters of the series, who will marry towards the end of the series with Lieutenant Paris, a rather unpredictable figure and at the beginning very wild, but who shows as the years go by that she is a completely reliable person for the whole crew. A great friend of Tom Paris is Ensign Harry Kim, a young officer on his first mission in space.
We arrive now to Tuvok the Vulcan, a typical example of being of his kind, on the Voyager he plays the role of security officer, and with his strict logic is a valuable adviser to the captain, who also considers him his friend. We now come to Captain Kathryn Janeway, who is the first woman to hold the role of Captain on a starship in a television series. She is authoritarian and strong, but she is very sensitive and sympathetic to her crew, so much so that she is sometimes almost maternal. She is a solitary character, although she is a point of reference for all the members of her crew who have unlimited trust in her and her ability to solve any situation, even the most dangerous ones. I think she is one of the most beloved captains of science fiction television series. Like the series Star Trek – Voyager I think it is the most loved series by lovers of the genre, for the innovations it has brought and for the story and characters that are there.
