Voyager Season 6 in one word: ‘Meh’.
In two words: ’Not Great’.
There’s some good stuff here: *Pathfinder* and *Blink of an Eye* in particular, but also *Survival Instinct*, *Life Line*, *Memorial* and (controversially it seems from some Internet searching) *Fair Haven*. The ‘contact with Earth’ plot worked quite well.
At the other end of the spectrum were a couple of stinkers: *Virtuoso* and *Spirit Folk*, both of which were bad but not the worst thing Star Trek has ever done. We’ve gone a whole year without a single Ferengi on screen for instance.
But by my ratings the majority of the season (15 episodes) were either ‘bad’ or just ‘OK’. There’s the interminable Borg children sequence, a return to ‘B’Elanna hates her heritage’, and a bunch of other stories that just don’t make for a good hour of television. Not terrible, not great, just a waste of all the time and effort to put something on screen. This year when they’ve tried more difficult themes (such as in *Memorial*) it’s worked. But most of the time it’s generic science fiction where the characters hardly contribute.
The strength of the couple of good episodes is keeping this out of the ‘awful’ category, but only just. It’s a close run with Season 3 of Voyager, but on balance it’s just ahead of it.
The very best of Trek:
– TNG Season 6
– DS9 Season 2
Strong performers:
– DS9 Season 5
– TNG Season 3
– TNG Season 5
– TOS Season 2
– TNG Season 4
– VOY Season 4
Mixed bag:
– TOS Season 1
– DS9 Season 4
– DS9 Season 1
– VOY Season 5
– VOY Season 1
– TNG Season 7
Not good:
– DS9 Season 3
– DS9 Season 6
– VOY Season 6
– VOY Season 3
– TNG Season 2
– TAS Season 1
Really just awful:
– VOY Season 2
– DS9 Season 7
– TOS Season 3
– TAS Season 2
– TNG Season 1
That’s 611 watched, 27,265 minutes, and 83.48% complete. 96,338 words written. 126 to go. Now for the last year of Voyager. Please, find some of that Season 4 promise to wrap things up with.