History YMMV / StartrekVoyager

** Janeway might have forgotten the twenty times she has broken with the Prime Directive in order to get out of less dire situations than those of the ''Equinox'' crew, maybe that she has suffered one of the many reset buttons that ''Voyager'' has encountered over the years and forgotten about them all. In the second episode she is positively psychotic in her condemnation of Ransom. (Not even Kate Mulgrew can make those lines convincing.) Chakotay is never better than in scenes where he clashes with Janeway--but, as usual, we end with, "I’ve re-instated Chakotay and we’ve set a course for home." It might as well be Braga's voice stating, ''Let's pretend this two-parter never happened and go back to doing high concept episodes.''
* DesignatedVillain: Species 8472. Their initial appearance, in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E25S4E1Scorpion Scorpion]]", has Janeway decide to ally with the ''Borg'' to destroy them because... one Species 8472 soldier shot a warning shot off ''Voyager's'' bow, and Kes (a telepath with powers that are repeatedly unreliable and unstable) says that they're very angry and shouting xenophobic war cries telepathically. In fact, the show eventually walked back their status as TheDreaded in episodes like the season 4 finale, "Hope And Fear" and season 5's "In The Flesh," when Janeway does get called out on that controversial decision.

** Neelix was an callback to several "fantasy" characters from the 1980s, particularly Hoggle from ''{{Film/Labyrinth}}''. Together with Kes, the writers were attempting to add alien characters who were reminiscent of [[TheFairFolk the Fae]]. Young Trekkies supposedly loved him and his endless supply of cheer, but his hatedom is second only to [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Wesley Crusher]]. "Once Upon A Time" even had the actor add in a little bit where Neelix looks ''surprised'' that anybody could ''genuinely'' be happy to see him.

** Russ' performance is generally regarded as the best portrayal of a Vulcan since Creator/LeonardNimoy's [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Spock]], and the second-best in the Franchise/TrekVerse as a whole. Tuvok's character was also just as interesting and complex as Spock's, but in different ways. Although Spock was primarily a scientist who occasionally lost emotional control, Tuvok's calling, or instinctive vocation, was as a warrior, while as a native Vulcan he had been born into a culture that had rejected violence. As such, he was a deeply psychologically conflicted individual, and despite the fact that he was able to hide it most of the time, there were incidents where the audience were shown what was beneath the surface.

** As with its sister series, ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the show got a mixed reception on its original airing but has become popular on Creator/{{Netflix}}. Some fans have joked that between then, the two shows predicted the direction audience tastes would take over the next couple of decades, with [=DS9=] predicting the trend for DarkerAndEdgier shows with intricate story arcs in UsefulNotes/The2000s, and then ''Voyager'' predicting that audience tastes would start moving back towards more light-hearted and episodic entertainment near the end of UsefulNotes/TheNewTens.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Compared to [[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine DS9]], ''Voyager'' is muich more evidently a product of TheNineties.

** The Maquis-Starfleet divide was an interesting idea, and should have been a rich source of internal conflict. Unfortunately, after introducing the group in ''The Next Generation'' and fleshing them out in ''Deep Space Nine'' specifically for this show to do just that... the conflict was dropped three episodes in and rarely mentioned again. Again, it's probably due to the "no conflict" ruling.

** A variation: in "Gravity" the audience is supposed to agree with Tom Paris that the human way of being in touch with our emotions and having them in our lives is the right way, in contrary opposition to the Vulcan master who taught Tuvok to suppress his emotions. Paris has a real problem with accepting that Vulcans ''aren't'' humans. [[UnreliableNarrator Vulcans claim their emotions are far more volatile, erratic and all-consuming than those of humans, and that for a Vulcan being in love can be ''legitimately'' destructive, and not in the metaphoric sense that humans use.]][[note]]They're not just assuming that their emotions are stronger; remember that Vulcans have mind-melded with humans, putting them in a position to compare their emotions[[/note]][[note]]Any scientific study on the matter would require studying the emotions of Vuclans who don't bother with emotional repression, conducted by an observer (likely non-Vulcan, maybe Betazoid?) who is capable of an unbiased assessment and preferably doesn't know who does or doesn't try repressing their emotions.[[/note]] Not to mention that ''other'' episodes of this show have Tuvok fully justify his emotional repression by demonstrating to people [[BewareTheQuietOnes what it looks like when he lets it go]][[note]]Most of those involve either mind control or are ambiguous as to whether they would have happened had he never repressed his emotions in the first place.[[/note]]. (This is a fairly common writing mistake with Vulcans in general: they're frequently portrayed as being just super-stuck up, repressed humans rather than TheFettered.)

** The Maquis part of the crew, guerrilla freedom fighters who hate Starfleet, agree work under Starfleet rules, regulation and dress code by the beginning of the second episode with little resistance or complaint. Chakotay more or less acquiesces to Janeway's command right away and threatens any Maquis who step out of line with the brig or violence, with none of his former comrades getting upset at his behavior. The only Maquis member to truly speak out against Janeway is Seska, who is revealed to be a Cardassian spy and saboteur.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The stunning [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ccYZTONpic opening theme]] may be the most breathtakingly beautiful theme any ''Star Trek'' show has ever had, somehow being poignant, hopeful, and melancholy all at once and capturing the spirit of the show perfectly.

** Much like ''Film/StarTrekVTheFinalFrontier'', it's not widely beloved by a long shot, but its reputation ''has'' improved from being seen as an embarrassment to the franchise, to being seen as perhaps sub-par but not the bottom of the barrel, with ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' still being generally seen as a weaker series, and ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' being ''way'' more divisive. [[https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2018/05/24/star-trek-voyager-defense-set-course-for-home This]] article makes a decent case for appreciating it for what the show became, rather than what fans expected.

** Remember "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS2E15Threshold Threshold]]", the episode where Tom Paris made it to Warp 10? The fans decided not to. In fact, [[CanonDiscontinuity even the series itself]] struck it off.[[note]]Was it? Does anyone have actual proof that it was officially disregarded? None has been provided so far[[/note]] However, ''Lower Decks'' not only treats it as canon, but says the events are now public knowledge! ''Prodigy'' has also referenced the events as canon.

* EnsembleDarkhorse:

* ValuesResonance: The episode "Critical Care", in which the Doctor is forced to try to ethically navigate an alien [[CrapsackWorld crapsack hospital]] where treatment is given based on the wealth of the patient, not medical need, would be an on-the-nose commentary about US healthcare if it aired ''today''.
** The episode ''Retrospect'' has only become more relevant post Me Too. Not only just for its message of believing someone when they make a claim of being violated, but also for just how important it is to make sure that innocent until proven guilty isn't revoked in the process. There is also an important message here about the potential fallibility of human memory.

** Even the show's notorious reliance StatusQuoIsGod is looked on more favorably in hindsight by some fans who feel that the intensely story arc-based shows that became popular after ''Voyager'' went off the air invariably descend into ContinuityLockout, TheChrisCarterEffect, TooBleakStoppedCaring, or all three at once. That being said, the fans who do appreciate the more episodic nature of the show usually will admit that it got a bit silly on the occasions when the titular ship got thoroughly trashed one week, and was completely fine the following week.

* MoralEventHorizon:
** The aliens in "Scientific Method" come across as an entire civilization who crossed the MoralEventHorizon long ago and have just kept on going. They routinely do medical experiments on sentient creatures, mutilating, torturing them, and even killing them if they feel it will benefit their medical research to do so. They feel completely justified in their actions and not only do they feel no remorse or regret over their actions, they feel that what they do is noble and beneficial. Genetically deforming, maiming and killing the crew of Voyager is the NightmareFuel evidence of their crimes and ''that'' is only the tip of the iceberg. What is really terrifying is that their flimsy justifications allow them to murder entire societies with impunity and go on torturing and killing as many sentient creatures as they feel is necessary for their "research."
** Captain Ransom easily crossed this line when he started murdering aliens as a fuel source for his ship. IDidWhatIHadToDo is nowhere near a sufficient excuse, but he at least seems to realize this at some level and eventually under goes a HeelFaceTurn and DeathEqualsRedemption HeroicSacrifice.
** Janeway allies with ''the implacable enemy of all sapient life'' in "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS3E25S4E1Scorpion Scorpion]]", which many viewers consider to be an unforgivable crime. She actually gets ''called out'' on this later on by an alien whose species was assimilated because of her actions.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Compared to DS9, ''Voyager'' is muich more evidently a product of TheNineties.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece:

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year Of Hell]]", Creator/KateMulgrew and Creator/KurtwoodSmith each eventually played characters called "Red". Mulgrew playing Galina "Red" Reznikov on ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' and Smith playing Reginald "Red" Forman on ''Series/That70sShow'' and ''Series/That90sShow''. For added hilarity, all three shows co-starred Creator/LauraPrepon and ''That '90s Show'' is set in 1995, same year ''Voyager'' premiered.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year Of Hell]]", Creator/KateMulgrew and Creator/KurtwoodSmith each eventually played characters called "Red". Mulgrew playing Galina "Red" Reznikov on ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' and Smith playing Reginald "Red" Forman on ''Series/That70sShow'' and ''Series/That90sShow. For added hilarity, all three shows co-starred Creator/LauraPrepon and ''That '90s Show'' is set in 1995, same year ''Voyager'' premiered.
** In "Timeless", Harry reveals that he and Chakotay got a Borg temporal transmitter from a cube found in the Beta Quadrant. In ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', a wrecked cube in Romulan space (generally agreed to be in the Beta Quadrant as well) is a major plot point. In fact, WordOfGod confirms that they're the same cube.

** In "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS4E8YearOfHell Year Of Hell]]", Creator/KateMulgrew and Creator/KurtwoodSmith each eventually played characters called "Red". Mulgrew playing Galina "Red" Reznikov on ''Series/OrangeIsTheNewBlack'' and Smith playing Reginald "Red" Forman on ''Series/That70sShow''. For added hilarity, both shows co-starred Creator/LauraPrepon.

** Chakotay's fictional tribe has traits of various native peoples ranging from North, Central, and South America and even New Zealand. (Their cultural advisor [[DanBrowned lied about his qualifications]].) Fans of the character, who is said to be from a Federation colony on the Cardassian border rather than Earth, sometimes interpret his true culture to be a newly formed one unique to the 24th Century, a sort of New Age revival movement in the same style as neopaganism.

** The entire series had a potentially interesting premise - a starship stranded light years from home in dangerous territory with supplies and resources depleting and reguarly suffering damage. What should have been a tense and dramtic scenario was severly undermined by the series' infamous use of the {{reset button}} and general apathy by the writers in regards to continuity and character.

** Creator/RoxannDawson is one of the unsung heroes of ''Voyager'', often overshadowed by Ryan and Mulgrew even though she, too, can play multiple compelling characters. An overlooked relationship on ''Voyager'' is that of Torres and Kim, who come from completely different worlds and yet find themselves working together throughout the pilot trying to get home. He calls her ‘Maquis’ for a while and she calls him ‘Starfleet'. Here it is suggested, albeit brielfy, that there is an attraction between them but that is immediately dropped in favor of the {{running gag}} with the Delaney Twins.

** "[[https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5893faa1ebbd1a8f680352a1/1531347884976-81IHBZKIDMMXQH51MPPE/THECONFESSIONALS4.jpg?format=1000w Humans]]"[[labelnote:Explanation]]! This screencap of a Kazon has a striking resemblance to the Series/AncientAliens [[https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/183/103/alens.jpg meme]]. Naturally, the internet jumped on it.[[/labelnote]]

* PopularityPolynomial: The show's reputation has been up and down like a roller-coaster over the years. It launched to great hype and was heralded as the true successor to TNG, but by around the early second season started being seen as an inferior rehash of that show. Seven of Nine's introduction and a slight ReTool in the fourth season got things back on track for a bit, but following the franchise as a whole falling into a DorkAge in the early-mid [=2000s=], the show became something of a whipping boy for ''Star Trek'' fandom. The show's reputation started picking up a little in the [=2010s=], however, with some coming to appreciate its light-hearted and episodic nature in light of the DarkerAndEdgier and ContinuityLockout-prone sci-fi shows that became popular after ''Voyager'' ended, and then it ''really'' started seeing a positive re-evaluation after the launch of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', to the point where its current reputation may well be the best it's been at any point since the show launched. It's certainly by no means the worst-regarded anymore, by almost anyone, ''Discovery'' is far more [[BrokenBase controversial]] and ''[[Series/StarTrekEnterprise Enterprise]]'' is more or less the fandom's designated punching bag.

** In "Meld", Tuvok fears he is losing his self-control after a mind-meld with a psychopath. He decides to test the limits of his self-control by exposing himself to the circumstances that he thinks are most likely to make him snap by simulating them on the holodeck. His choice? Having to share a room with Neelix at his most obnoxious. Needless to say, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWlv_02fRyY he discovers what his limit is]].