Star Trek: Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager (sometimes abbreviated VOY ) is a science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe. The show was created by Rick Berman, Michael Piller, and Jeri Taylor and is the fourth incarnation of Star Trek, which began with the 1960s series Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It was produced for seven seasons, from 1995 to 2001, and is the only Star Trek series to feature a female captain, Kathryn Janeway, as a lead character. It ran on UPN, making it the first Star Trek series to air on a major network since the original series which aired on NBC. It was the only TV show on UPN to have seven seasons, making it the network's longest running show, and the only show left over from its first year.

Set in the 24th century, the series follows the adventures of the Starfleet vessel USS Voyager, which becomes stranded in the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light-years from Earth while pursuing a renegade Maquis ship. Both ships' crews merge aboard Voyager to make the estimated 75-year journey home.

Production
Voyager was produced to launch UPN, a television network planned by Paramount. (Paramount considered launching a network on its own in 1977, which would have been anchored by the TV series Star Trek: Phase II.) Planning started in 1993, and seeds for the show's backstory, including the development of the Maquis, were placed in several Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes. Voyager was shot on the same stages The Next Generation had used. The pilot, "Caretaker," was shot in October 1994. Around that time, Paramount was sold to Viacom - in fact, Voyager was the first Star Trek TV series to premiere after the sale had concluded.

Voyager was the first aired UPN program at 8:00 p.m. on January 16, 1995. Voyager was also the first Star Trek TV show to use Computer Generated Imagery (CGI) exclusively, and eliminate the use of models for exterior space shots. Other television shows such as seaQuest, Space: Above and Beyond, and Babylon 5 had exclusively used CGI to avoid the huge expense of models, but the Star Trek television department continued using models, because they felt models provided better realism. Amblin Imaging won an Emmy for the opening title visuals, but the weekly episode exteriors were still captured using hand-built miniatures of the Voyager, shuttlecraft, and other ships, the same method used for The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine.

That changed when Star Trek: Voyager became Paramount's first television property to go fully CGI in mid-season 3 (late 1996). Paramount obtained an exclusive contract with Foundation Imaging which had done the effects for Babylon 5's first three seasons. Season 3's "The Swarm" was the first episode to use Foundation's effects exclusively. Deep Space Nine started using Foundation Imaging in conjunction with Digital Muse one year later (season 6), after Voyager had successfully proven that CGI could look as realistic as models. In its later seasons, "Voyager" featured visual effects from Foundation and Digital Muse (later to become Eden FX).

Plot overview
In the pilot episode, "Caretaker," Voyager is on a mission to locate a missing ship piloted by Maquis fighters. Janeway brings Tom Paris, a former Starfleet officer and Maquis, out of prison to help find the ship. Maneuvering through the dangerous Badlands, an ancient alien known as the Caretaker transports Voyager to the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light years on the other side of the galaxy, where the Maquis ship was also sent. In the process, several members of Voyager ' s crew are killed, including the first officer, helmsman, chief engineer, and all medical personnel. Voyager and the Maquis ship are attacked by Kazon raiders intent on capturing the Caretaker's Array, which was used to transport the ships. The Maquis ship collides with a Kazon ship, destroying both, after the Maquis crew transports to Voyager. Believing the Kazon will use the Array to harm the Ocampa, Janeway decides to destroy it rather than use it to return home. The Starfleet and Maquis crews integrate and work together as they begin the 70,000-light-year journey home, predicted to take 75 years. Chakotay, leader of the Maquis group, becomes first officer. B'Elanna Torres, a half-human/half-Klingon Maquis becomes chief engineer. Tuvok is revealed to be a Starfleet spy on the Maquis ship and resumes his duties as chief security officer. Paris becomes the helmsman, and the Emergency Medical Hologram, designed for only short-term use, becomes the chief medical officer. At first the EMH is confined to sickbay and holodecks, but during the course of the series gains his freedom by way of a mobile holo-emitter, as well as expanding his program (on his own initiative) to include the fine arts and develop a better 'bedside manner'. In the Delta Quadrant, the crew gains the Talaxian Neelix as a local guide and chef, along with his Ocampan girlfriend, Kes. Both Paris and Kes become qualified assistants to the Doctor, expanding the ship's medical capability. In the show's fourth season, the crew grows to include Seven of Nine, a Borg drone liberated from the collective.

The Delta Quadrant is mostly unexplored by the Federation. On the way home, the crew contends with hostile species that include organ-harvesting Vidiians, belligerent Kazon, nomadic Hirogen hunters, the Borg, and Species 8472 from fluidic space. They also encounter hazardous natural phenomena. Meanwhile, Starfleet Command learns of Voyager's survival and situation and eventually develops a means to establish regular audiovisual and data contact with the ship thanks to the efforts of Reginald Barclay.

Cast
Originally, French Canadian film actress Geneviève Bujold was cast for the role of Captain Nicole Janeway. One version of events is that she quit on the second day of filming, citing exhaustion and incompatibility with rigorous television filming schedules. Another version, expressed by Rick Berman, Executive Producer, on the first season Voyager DVD, is that "There was enough going on in that first day or two that, that we realized that, for everybody's sake, that it was best to go in another direction". Kate Mulgrew was chosen to replace Bujold as captain after a second round of auditions. The captain's character was subsequently renamed Kathryn Janeway.

As there were three different actors on the set with the same first name (Robert), to avoid confusion the cast grew to refer to them as such: "Robbie" McNeill, "Bob" Picardo, and "Robert" Beltran.

Characters and races
As with all other Star Trek series, the original Star Trek ' s Vulcans, Klingons and Romulans appear in Star Trek: Voyager. Majel Barrett again voices the ship's computer.

Voyager saw appearances by several characters and races who initially appear in The Next Generation: Q, William Riker, Geordi La Forge, Deanna Troi, and Reginald Barclay. The Borg, Cardassians, Bajorans, Romulans, Betazoids, Vulcans, Klingons, Ferengi, and a Jem'Hadar hologram also make appearances, as does the Maquis terrorist group.

The Borg Queen, the antagonist from Star Trek: First Contact, makes several appearances in Voyager. Susanna Thompson usually played the role in the series; Alice Krige, who played the character before Thompson in First Contact, reprised the role for the series finale.

Quark from Deep Space Nine appears in Voyager ' s pilot episode.

George Takei also makes an appearance as Captain Sulu, when Tuvok has a flashback about his first time serving on a Federation starship, from events that happened in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Grace Lee Whitney also appears as Cmdr. Janice Rand, and Michael Ansara as Klingon Captain Kang.

Jonathan Frakes came on for a cameo in the episode "Death Wish", reprising his role as Commander Riker.

Kate Mulgrew appears as Kathryn Janeway, promoted to vice admiral, in Star Trek Nemesis.

Actor crossovers
The following Voyager main cast members have appeared in other Star Trek productions.


 * Robert Duncan McNeill (Paris) in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The First Duty" as Starfleet cadet Nicolas Locarno. (The character of Tom Paris was based on Locarno, but he was felt to be 'beyond redemption' for his actions during "The First Duty"; Paramount would also have been obligated by contract to pay royalties to the author of "The First Duty" for the use of the name "Nick Locarno" in every episode).
 * Tim Russ (Tuvok) appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Starship Mine", two Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episodes and the film Star Trek: Generations, as various characters.
 * Robert Picardo (the Doctor) in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Doctor Bashir, I Presume" as Dr. Lewis Zimmerman and an EMH Mark I, and Star Trek: First Contact as the Enterprise-E's EMH.
 * Ethan Phillips (Neelix) in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Ménage à Troi" as the Ferengi Farek, Star Trek: Enterprise episode "Acquisition" as the Ferengi pirate Ulis, and in Star Trek: First Contact as an unnamed Maitre d' on the holodeck.
 * Robert Duncan McNeill and Roxann Dawson (Paris & Torres) have also directed episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise.

The following actors from other Star Trek productions have made guest appearances in various Voyager episodes, often as different characters.
 * Jonathan Frakes (William Riker of The Next Generation) appears as Riker in the episode "Death Wish".
 * Aron Eisenberg (Nog of Deep Space Nine) appeared in "Initiations" as a Kazon adolescent named Kar.
 * Gwynyth Walsh (B'Etor of The Next Generation and Generations) appeared in "Random Thoughts" as Chief Examiner Nimira.
 * Jeffrey Combs (Weyoun and Brunt of Deep Space Nine and Shran of Enterprise) appeared in "Tsunkatse" as Norcadian Penk.
 * J.G. Hertzler (Martok of Deep Space Nine) appeared in "Tsunkatse" as an unnamed Hirogen.
 * LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge of The Next Generation) appears as Captain Geordi LaForge in "Timeless".
 * Dwight Schultz (Reginald Barclay of The Next Generation) appears in "Pathfinder", "Inside Man", "Life Line", "Author Author, "Endgame" and "Projections".
 * Armin Shimerman (Quark of Deep Space Nine) appears in "Caretaker".
 * Marina Sirtis (Deanna Troi of The Next Generation) appears in "Pathfinder", "Life Line", and "Inside Man".
 * Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton (Riker & LaForge of The Next Generation), and Andrew Robinson (Garak of Deep Space Nine) have also directed episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.
 * Although not an actual actor, the sets used for USS Voyager were re-used for the Deep Space Nine episode "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges" for its sister ship USS Bellerophon (NCC-74705) which is also an Intrepid-class starship.

Book relaunch
In the wake of Pocket Books' successful Deep Space Nine relaunch novel series, which features stories placed after the end of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, a similar relaunch was planned for Voyager. The novels take place after the series' conclusion. In the relaunch, several characters are reassigned while others are promoted but stay aboard Voyager; these changes include Janeway's promotion to admiral, Chakotay becoming captain of Voyager, Tuvok leaving the ship to serve under William Riker, and Tom Paris' promotion to First Officer. The series also introduces several new characters.

The series began with Homecoming and The Farther Shore in 2003, a direct sequel to the show's final, "Endgame". These were followed in 2004 by Spirit Walk: Old Wounds and Spirit Walk: Enemy of My Enemy. Other novels -- some set during the relaunch period, others during the show's TV run—have been published.