What I also experience is that some episodes which I really didn’t like before, I now tolerate, like “Fairhaven”. I always hated this episode, so I hadn’t watched it in a long time but I promised myself that with this rewatch, I would watch every episode. To my surprise it was a Janeway episode and that part I rather liked. So instead of hating it, I now find “Fair haven” just below average, watchable. With this rewatch I also gained more appreciation for Captain Janeway anyway, in the past I wasn’t such a fan of her but this has changed considerably over the years. In general, it really sucks that season 6 is so uneven, it holds a number of gems but many more weak of even worse than weak episodes. This should have been the best season instead of season 4.

Let’s be honest, season 6 starts of spectacularly with part two of “Equinox”. Another Starfleet vessel which had been pulled into the Delta Quadrant. Only this ship had a lot more issues than Voyager and it in a very bad shape. In hindsight, this is in part their own doing. Makes me wonder if this would have happened to Voyager! I know it would not be realistic for a Star Trek show with such a premise, because it also would be very uncomfortable to watch, seeing your heroes act like that. Well, I guess season 4’s “The Year of Hell” is somewhat comparable. “Survival Instinct” where a forgotten past decision confronts Seven of Nine when she meets three ex-Borg former shipmates permanently mind-linked to one another. It was not awful but it also wasn’t that entertaining. Same for episode “Barge of the Dead”, I am not saying this is a bad episode, but it’s not something I got excited about. Although I do have to say that Roxann Dawson showed some great acting skills here.

A Doctor episode “Tinker, Tenor, Spy” where the Doc has added the ability to day dream to his program. This goes wrong because it seems he cannot control it, he’s doing it most of the day. When he is past over away mission, he requests for more duties, like being an ECH (Emergency Command Hologram), Captain denies his request at first. A Malon vessel is following Voyager and tapped in the Doctor’s mainframe and think that doc’s day dreaming is actually the reality. In order to fool the Malon, the Doctor poses as the captain and he succeeds chasing them away when he calls for a terrible weapon that does not exists but supposedly destroyed a Borg vessel in one of the Doctor’s daydreams. Captain comes back from her previous decision, she’s gonna to set up a program to see what the Doctor’s capabilities are. Note – This was a fun episode, although these Malon aren’t that interesting but they keep coming back. In “Alice” Tom sees a ship he likes at a salvage dealer, the ship appears to have a personality and soon it controls Tom and he is no longer rational, stealing components from Voyager and such. Note - Another bland episode and here I thought season 6 started really strong! Well at the moment it’s two episodes good and three mediocre.

“Riddles” is better than I remembered, a solid episode where Tuvok’s brain gets damaged after a sudden contact with a cloaked and extremely xenophobic race called the Ba'Neth. His once disciplined mind now has changed into that of a lost, scared child. Neelix is the one who takes Tuvok under his care, he basically becomes his best friend. Note – Some great acting from Tim Russ who really nails it, makes the episode that much more poignant. After the season opener, “Dragon’s Teeth” is the 2^nd high point of the season! Voyager's pushed into a sub-space corridor by the Turei, who claim ownership. After refusing to allow the wiping of Voyager's data regarding the corridors, the ship lands on a nearby planet, where, 900 years ago the population sought shelter from nuclear winter in stasis pods, intent on waking 5 years later. Seven is in part responsible for this because without the Captain’s approval she revives one of them. Note - The Vaadwaur act like they are the victims but in fact they were the aggressors. Some even want to take Voyager and execute its crew. Neelix finds out about them and informs Seven.

Perhaps my favorite episode of the season and definitely in my top 5 best all-time Voyager episode: “One Small Step”. Voyager encounters a graviton ellipse, a phenomenon that emerges from subspace on rare occasions. The anomaly engulfed a manned vessel during a Mars mission in 2032 and Chakotay is determined to retrieve the debris from inside the ellipse. Chakotay, Paris and Seven take the Delta Flyer in, but when an asteroid strikes, Chakotay, obsessed with retrieving the module, disobeys Janeway's order to leave. The collision renders the Flyer flightless as the ellipse prepares to return to subspace. Seven doesn’t understand Chakotay’s passion for this mission, the history and ironically she is the one who has to beam onto the Mars module to get the device that possibly could bring them home. While there she plays the mission reports of Commander John Kelly who was thought to have died on impact, but he lived on 7 more days. While working on getting the device removed, she listens to his reports and it begins to sink in what this all means. When she goes back to the delta flyer, she puts her combadge on Kelly’s body, so he can be beamed back along with Seven. When John Kelly is being put to space as his last resting place, Seven takes the word and it is obvious she now has more appreciation of earth’s history, and for this man, John Kelly. Note - I always loved this episode, but after today, my last rewatch, even more. I don’t know what it is exactly, most likely the Mars storyline, which intrigues me always, but also Seven’s initial reluctance but in the end she has turned 180 degrees and it is she in fact the one who, not only saved the Delta Flyer, but also made sure John Kelly gets his last resting place in space and his accomplishments will be known now to earth and his ascendents. Also nice to see Chakotay disobeying an order.

“The Voyager Conspiracy” is an entertaining episode, although when I first watched the episode, I was kind of excited when the conspiracy unfolded. Not every aspect of it but in general, It would have changed the whole series. Sadly it had a logical explanation. Nice scenes between the captain and Seven in the end on the Delta Flyer and between Chakotay at Seven’s alcove and at her cabin. Another heavy favorite of mine is “Pathfinder”, guest starring Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi and Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay. Lieutenant Barclay's has found a new obsession: returning Voyager and her crew. When Enterprise visits Earth, Barclay reunites with his former counselor, Deanna Troi, recalling the events leading up to his dismissal and ban from the research. Barclay sees the Voyager crew as his friends. After his time on Enterprise he has a hard time making friends. Barclay seems to be the same obsessed man as he was on the Enterprise but when it turns out he is right about his claim, his commander, Pete Harkins immediately apologizes when he realizes Barclay was right with his claim that a 2 way communication was possible. Note – This is such a nice episode, Deanna Troi, not the same Deanna Troi from the series but the one from the movies, visits, Barclay, hope, good feelings, I don’t know exactly why I love it, but I just love the hell out of it.

Back in the day, when I first watched “Fairhaven”, I was so disappointed with this episode, such a trivial episode, I really hated it, did hate it till this rewatch and still am not fond of it, BUT…with this last rewatch, I think this is my 2^nd of 3^rd watch of “Fairhaven” since my first watch, I realized that is was actually more of a Janeway story, she, alone at the top, cannot afford a relationship with someone of the crew. Note - All the other stuff I still find fatuous, but the Janeway storyline I kind of enjoyed. I’ve gained more respect for Janeway this last rewatch and thus I watched with different eyes to this episode. No, it is not great, it is still well below average, but I do not hate it (anymore)! The next one, “In The Blink of an Eye” is a another top-notch episode! Voyager is trapped in orbit above a strange planet where time passes thousands of times faster than in the surrounding galaxy. As the population of the planet evolves, Voyager becomes an integral part of their culture. Eventually they develop technology that allows them to send someone to the "Sky Ship". Voyager is actually the reason this world seems to have evolved much faster than they normally would have. Note - So much for the prime directive, although in this case, Voyager was stuck, so it was not their fault. Guest star Daniel Dae Kim.

The (often) weak and the Ugly (episodes):

From episode 13 till episode 24, only one strong episode, so please, bear with me. I’ll try not to be Mr. Negative all these episodes but it was very mediocre, or worse even. In “Virtuoso” when a overconfident alien race finds out about singing talents of the doc, they want him to perform on their world, they even want him to leave his post on voyager. The woman says she feel something for him so he puts in his resignation. But then these people make their own EMH singer and doc no longer needed. Note - Truth is that this is one of the better ones till episode 24 and it is mediocre at best. The Doctor suddenly wants to leave Voyager as it looks like he has a singing career ahead of him. “Memorial” is not a horrible episode but it’s not great either. Members of an away mission start dreaming about a species they have never seen before who are in a gruesome battle on an unknown planet. It feels for them like they have killed 82 innocent people. When Voyager traces back the steps of the away team, all crew members starting to have the same dream. It is a memorial, placed there by the inhabitants from back then, to make an imprint on everybody that comes by. The device is damaged, Janeway decides to have it fixed so it keeps sending out this message, these images. Note - Not sure if I would make the same choice as Janeway does, which means other races will also have to endure this. This is an episode I’d rather not watch anymore.

Thankfully it is not all bad, “Tsunkatse” is the exception, this is a terrific episode, guest starring J.G Herzler, Jeffrey Combs and The Rock. Crew is on shore leave, Chakotay and others enjoy Tsunkatse, sporting event where people beating each other to a pulp. When Seven and Tuvok are captured and Seven is forced to fight in that same arena, the crew isn’t so fond of Tsunkatse anymore. While they try to free both, a Hirogen fighter is learning Seven to survive a red fight, red means to the death. What he doesn’t say is that he is the opponent, who has been there for 19 yrs and he is fed up. He wants Seven to kill him but the crew saves them both in the fight to the death. The Hirogen wants to finds his son he’d last seen when he was captured 19 yrs ago. Note - Nice scene between Tuvok and Seven at the end, him thanking Seven for taking his place, she thinks she lost her humanity because the felt the urge to kill. She feels remorse, guilt upon Tuvok says: you are just reaffirming your humanity. Next one, “Collective” is a barely average episode, still watchable but no more than that. Some of the crew get captured by a BORG vessel. Soon it becomes clear that the vessel is manned by only 5 drones, all underage. First is an aggressive one, wants to free the voyager crew in exchange for Voyager's navigational deflector. Seven tries to intervene, when first keeps determined to contact the Borg, Seven shows evidence that they did receive their message but chose nothing to do about it, the drones are immature, and damaged due to their premature release from their maturation chambers. They are, therefore, unimportant; the Collective, not interested in retrieving them, permanently severed their link to the hive mind. Janeway wants to help these kids, bring them to voyager, first is against this but when he dies, the others come to Voyager.

Then the creators had the audacity to create a follow-up episode of “Fairhaven” called “Spirit Folk”. Where I have 2^nd thoughts about the first one, “Spirit Folk” is just plain awful, absurd, preposterous, fatuous…well I can keep on going but not worth watching a 2^nd time and therefore I am not going to say anything more about it. “Ashes to Ashes” is several ticks up (which is not difficult!) from “Spirit Folk”, but still an fairly average episode. Three years ago, when Ensign Lyndsey Ballard died on an away mission, Voyager gave her a traditional burial in space. Her remains were recovered by the Kobali, a race that procreates by reanimating the corpses of other races and altering their DNA. When Lyndsey flees the Kobali and returns to Voyager, Janeway is skeptical but medical scans prove she is the real deal. Note - trouble with this episode is for me that you know from the start that she doesn’t stay on Voyager, and will return to the Kobali. B Story – Seven’s  assignment to teach and coach these former Borg children, is much harder then it looks. Mainly because Seven doesn’t give them space, everything is organized. Chakotay helps her understand this.

“Child’s Play” is a tiny uptick from previous episode, Icheb’s parents have been located but he and Seven aren’t happy for obvious reasons. Reluctantly he gives his parents a chance and after some hesitation he decides to stay with them. By accident Seven learned that his father lied about where he was taken by the Borg. He was taken while in a ship where his parents put him on, as a trojan horse to the Borg. Turns out they use kids as weapons against the Borg. Janeway is able to save Icheb and destroy the Borg cube. “Good Shepherd”, not sure but I believe TNG has a similar episode? Anyway, Janeway feels responsible for 3 crewmen who seem to be falling between the cracks. Note - It is watchable but ultimately it is not something you want to see as a sci-fi fan, such stories like these. To me, with episode “Live Fast and Prosper” it shows that the creators and the writers don’t have any original ideas left, they experience Star Trek fatigue. This episode is just as meaningless to me as “Spirit Folk”, but at least it is not a hollow-deck story. This is the reason Star Trek fatigue is invented, weak stories fatigue or writers fatigue, not Star Trek fatigue. If the stories were really good, the words “Star Trek fatigue” would not have been coupled together. 2^nd part of season 6 is very mediocre. This episode still has some laughs but it’s so frivolous. The Voyager crew is the victim of identity theft.

No, we’re not there yet, “Muse”, An alien playwright discovers B'Elanna Torres, crash landed in the Delta Flyer, and uses her and her logs as story material to please his patron. Guest stars: Tony Amendola & Kellie Waymire (RIP). Note - This is really as if I am watching at nothing, waste of time, such a thin story. Well, I always like if a character is being brought back, in this case, Kes (Jennifer Lien) in “Fury”. Note - I think it would not be so hard to come up with a farewell story for Kes, which does not make you dislike her for 38 minutes of the episode. Really dislike this episode on so many levels, she apparently is so confused she wants every crew member dead, she doesn't care one bit, while in her view only the captain is responsible, but everyone has to perish for it. Nice to bring a character back but not with an episode like this. A lost opportunity!

We’re finally there! I said it would take awhile to get to episode 24 “Life Line”. This episode should be the standard, I know, this is difficult to do but the difference in quality between this episode and the previous 10 episodes (with the exception of “Tsunkatse”), is just unacceptable. Starfleet has found a way to send and receive data once a month via pulsar and the MIDAS Array. Barclay sends the doctor a letter telling Lewis Zimmerman is ill and asks for a 2^nd opinion. The Doctor convinces the captain to sends his matrix to Jupiter station. Zimmerman however is not happy to see the Mark 1, which apparently is obsolete after finding some critical errors and they have been put to use in waste units, scrubbing and such. Barclay asks the help of Deanna Troi, because Zimmerman refuses treatment from Voyager’s EMH. Deanna and Barclay create a ruse by loading an error into the doctor which is degrading his program, so Zimmerman has to repair it and hopefully this way they bond a bit, which happens, he allows the Doctor to help him and admits he even is a bit proud of him. He even asks the Doctor to drop him a line or two in the coming months. Note – This is such a nice story, al set on Jupiter station, 4 characters, if you don’t count the lizard… I don’t know what it is but these are kind of episodes I look forward to. Perfect performances of Robert Picardo as the EMH and Lewis Zimmerman. Troi (Marina Sirtis) is back, as also Lt. Barclay (Dwight Schultz). Tamara Marie Watson (Odyssey 5) also guest stars as Haley, a hologram created by Zimmerman 9 years ago, older than the mark 1 EMH.

In “The Haunting of Deck Twelve” Voyager is about to go into a peculiar astronomical nebula which agitates Neelix simply because it scares him a little. When he is left charge of the Borg children, he has to make sure he doesn’t show his scaredness, which he succeeds in. Neelix encourages the young ones around a 24th century "campfire" for stories. Neelix recounts a story from Voyager's recent past that is strangely reminiscent of the current situation. Ultimately an alien lifeform was “hiding out” on deck twelve and they were bringing it back to same surroundings. Note – Okay episode with a few funny moments between Tuvok and Neelix. The season finale is again a first part of a 2-part story called “Unimatrix Zero”, a Borg story. Simultaneously, as Voyager nears an alien outpost decimated by the Borg, Seven of Nine begins to dream vividly of an idyllic sanctuary where a few Borg can gather subconsciously - Unimatrix Zero. Seven has been coming there for 18 years but she doesn’t remember that. She also had a friend….a lover there, Axum. He asks her help and Seven asks Janeway and she accepts. The doctor has created a virus and they need to put it into the central plexus of a Borg vessel. Janeway wants to do this herself and B’Elanna and Tuvok accompany her but the Borg queen always is aware of Janeway coming and they are assimilated. This however appears to have done purposely. Note - Fun moment, Paris is promoted again to Lt. He finds a box on his chair and is ordered to open it, he finds the pin. Harry says: I didn’t find a box on my seat. It is of course ludicrous that Harry Kim has not yet received a promotion! This was a worthy finale episode, though it’s not in the same league as last seasons season finale or the one before that!

So, if you go back and see how many episodes this season I’ve graded a 7.5/10 or higher, I count 12 episodes, so 14 of them have a 7 or lower and believe me, I only graded a few 7’s, most of them are lower. Really I don’t like to be negative about any show, let alone Voyager, but it just annoys me that so many episodes are so mediocre, I understand there have been many Star Trek hours already, and time pressure and such, to create 26 episodes a season, but half of a season, or close to half of a season is okay, average or worse is unacceptable in my book. Perhaps I sound a bit harsh but that is because I love Star Trek, I love Voyager. I don’t write this because I want to bash the show or something. For me, season 4 is the only season Voyager reached its full potential, even though there are some weaker episodes too, but only a few.

Final Word:

Another very long blog, in the past this would concern me, nowadays I don’t care about that anymore. If I need more words to tell my findings, so be it. As said, a very uneven season, as I said earlier, it seems to me that writer’s fatigue definitely is playing parts here, after 19 years of TNG and DS9 and Voyager (up until 5th Season of Voyager). And yes I know, budget wise you only can make a certain amount of BIG episodes but I often enjoy a bottled show just as much or perhaps even more. It is all about the quality of the writing. That all being said, I’ve rewatched Voyager so many times already, so I keep coming back to it, so it certainly is not all bad!

Written with the help of IMdB, Screencaps taken from: TrekCore