Yes captain. I'm currently watching ST Voyager on Netflix. I remember seeing it every evening when I was younger before going to bed. Back then the show was kind of meh. I couldn't understand how all the aliens could speak english so fluent for example.

I've also heard from many Trekkers that Voyager is the least favourable in the collection. I never understood why, even though I also didn't like it that much. But then again, I never liked Star Trek at all.

But on monday when I was bored and had nothing to see, I decided to watch Voyager after all these years.
And watching it from the start really learnt me a thing or two.

When I started watching I had this feeling I would grow bored. But I didn't. I keep on watching and are already on second season, halfway through. How come I never liked this? The acting is okay, the effects are okay-ish, the story for each episode feels quite original. Not much to complain about. Why do the Trekkers hate it so much then?

So I'm watching Star Trek Voyager...

.... a wild Abdullah bin al-Hussein appears! :D

Sorry, couldn't resist!

Wait till you get to season 4, that's when it get's really good. Actually, the two part season 3 finale-season 4 premiere is when the quality just sky-rockets. The first three seasons are ok (some great episodes like Meld, Death Wish and Projections), but not nearly as good.

I've recently had the "why do you hate Voyager" conversation here, as I don't quite get it too. It is my least favourite Trek series but I still like it a lot. Mostly people don't like some of the characters (mostly Janeway, which I get, I'm not fond of her myself, and Neelix, which I don't get) and see Voyager as derivative and not as original as the previous series, which I think is only partially true. I also think that it's so hated because of Deep Space Nine, which ran concurrently with it, and was in fact a better series, but also was very different, with continuous story arcs and character arcs. Voyager is very much a "single episodes" show with little ongoing stories and continuity, and many people seem to really dislike that.

I always thought Voyager was decent enough. My only problem was (and it probably happened way less than I seem to remember) was there was way too many times when they were "almost home" or "on their way home" and then boom! the plot had other plans for them.

The only Star Trek series I completely disliked was Enterprise. I thought it was just awful.

My least favorite was Quantum Star Trek Leap.
After that would probably come Voyager, there were many elements that I just didn't like.
Still very watchable though.

I think Janeway is okay. She's kind and respectful towards almost anyone she meets. Her monotone voice can be a bit painful sometimes, but that's not the actor's fault. Neelix though. Yeah, I guess they seriously needed a comic relief in there for the sake of it.

Yeah, I always called that the Quantum Leap effect (or alternately, The Incredible Hulk effect), two shows where the weekly plot always seemed to revolve around getting home (or on the Hulk, getting cured), but you knew as a viewer that it was never going to happen because if it did then the show would be over. It really screws with the stories and ruins any attempts to build tension.

Oh, and agreed that Enterprise was awful (though there are defenders of that show as well).

Voyager was better after the third season, while Enterprise went from plain mediocre to slightly good in the very same third season...Kind of a trend for the last three Star Trek series...

Voyager is my favorite Star Trek series. It has a lot of great episodes, much eye candy in the later seasons (cool CGI effects, space battles, not only Seven of Nine :-P), and Kate Mulgrew is just awesome.

As already pointed out, seasons 4 and 5 are probably the best.

The thing is, Janeway does some seriously unlikeable thing later down the road, while Neelix get's some quite good (even some great) episodes to develop his character. Sort of like what you've already seen in Jetrel, only done better, stuff that shows that a lot of his buffoon persona is what he hides a lot of hurt behind, a pretty hard and miserable life before coming to Voyager, and that gives his unrelenting, and sometimes annoying cheerfullness more gravitas, when you consider it's a concious effort he makes to make the nasty world a little brighter for others. There were good episodes in the first two seasons (mostly stuff with Vulcans and Andorians), but the third one was in fact much better, and the fourth one was great, the show really improved by leaps an bounds. It's really a pity it got cancelled when it got so good.

I really liked the episode where Neelix consulted the bridge during an Kazon attack. How he turned the tables on them by being cocky. I loved that. :P The Doctor's episode where everything is projections (I think that's the actual name of the episode, can't remember ATM) really puts the doctor's character forward as well. I wish he had more involvements like this all the time, but most of the time he's just that one strict hologram doctor

I quite like Voyager, and even Enterprise, though Enterprise was held back a lot by attempting to be Deep Space Nine with a big overarching plot and far too many time travel episodes. Actually, I'm in the minority when I say that DS9 is my least favourite Trek, but even that has Trials and Tribble-ations so I don't think you can really dismiss it either.

I haven't watched The Animated Series, but it does remind me that if Enterprise had gotten another season it would have had an episode with the Kzinti and that we didn't get it is a disgrace.

voyager and tng sucks, but ds9 is enjoyble

I couldn't get past that either. Sometimes a person does something that changes the way you look at them for life, like buying a copy of Daikatana. Sisko did a few damn shady things too (remember the maquis?), but even he would say 'dude, too far.'

Anyway, here's the Doctor Robert Picardo as some kind of freaky witch monster:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOFQiB391Vc