[Flash]

With our seventh round selection, Team Sequoia is proud to select, in the Sci-Fi Category, Star Trek: Voyager.



From memory-alpha.org:

Launched in the year 2371, the Intrepid-class Federation starship USS Voyager was a ship built to return to Starfleet's founding principle of scientific exploration. It was fitting that the ship's captain, Kathryn Janeway, rose up through the science ranks rather than command. On the ship's first mission, which required it to find and capture a Maquis vessel that disappeared into the treacherous Badlands, the crews of both Voyager, and the Maquis ship it was pursuing, were swept clear across the galaxy and deep into the Delta Quadrant. This was the doing of a powerful alien being known as the Caretaker. The 70,000 light year transit cost the lives of over a dozen crew members. Captain Janeway was forced to destroy the massive alien array that housed the Caretaker. In doing so, she saved an alien race, the Ocampa, but stranded Voyager and the crew in the Delta Quadrant.

But not all was lost. United in a common purpose, the surviving Maquis rebels joined with Janeway's Starfleet-trained crew on Voyager. Though a journey back to the Alpha Quadrant would have taken more than seventy years through unknown and treacherous territory, the crew of Voyager was well served by Janeway's skilled leadership and their own steadfast determination. Ultimately, Voyager returned to the Alpha Quadrant in seven years.

Of course, the crew's return home was far from boring. Voyager made first contact with over 400 completely new species in the Delta Quadrant, discovered links to Earth's early space exploration history, utilized and even pioneered new technologies, and engaged in countless other adventures that would astonish the mind.

The crew encountered species ranging from the violent and ruthless Kazon, the Phage-afflicted Vidiians, the colorful Talaxians and the ephemeral Ocampa. The crew's other encounters included run-ins with the temporally-sophisticated Krenim, the predatory Hirogen, the toxic Malon, and the scheming Hierarchy. The crew picked up passengers along the way including the wily but extremely resourceful Talaxian, Neelix (who would serve at times as Voyager's Ambassador, morale officer, and even head-chef), and the Ocampan telepath, Kes (who, as a parting gift to the crew, used her powers of telekinesis to thrust Voyager 10,000light years closer to the Alpha Quadrant).

Most memorably, however, were Voyager's repeated clashes with the dreaded Borg. While each encounter posed grave danger, Voyager was able to prevail every time. At one point, Janeway actually negotiated a temporary peace with the Borg when they perceived a common threat in a mysterious alien species yielding from fluidic space. At other times, she was able to liberate Borg drones from the Borg collective including Seven of Nine and Icheb. Other instances pitted Voyager against not only the Borg, but also against the nightmarish Borg Queen herself.

While hardly alone in the Delta Quadrant, several years after Voyager's dissapearence, Starfleet Command learned of the starship's fate. Thanks in large part to the efforts of the eccentric Starfleet officer, Reginald Barclay, the Pathfinder Project was established to help guide Voyager back home. The entire Federation celebrated when Voyager made a triumphant return to the Alpha Quadrant by utilizing and then destroying a Borg transwarp conduit to hurl them back to Earth in 2378.

I'm really happy that Voyager is still available to me, seeing as it's been my favourite of the Star Trek series. I was never been a huge fan of the first couple of seasons (that featured a lot of Kes), but once Jeri Ryan came aboard as Seven of Nine, the series seemed to take a turn for the better.

This is the cast that I'll always favour as the best:



Some Clips:

The Doctor "hides" in Seven of Nine's body while they're captured by a race of aliens who are at war with holograms. Jeri Ryan does a great job portraying the Doctor's speaking style and mannerisms.


Voyager returns home.