selected from Cult Times Special #08 The Premise: Kathryn Janeway captains the just-rolled-out-of-the-shipping-yards USS Voyager to find her Security Officer lost on a mission to locate the renegade Maquis. Transported over 75,000 light years from home into the Delta Quadrant Janeway finds the missing Maquis ship, and the two crews join forces to find their own way home. Background: Created by Michael Piller, Rick Berman and Jeri Taylor, Voyager was to be the direct replacement for the highly-popular Next Generation. The hook this time would be that a female captain (a male captain would never pull over and ask for directions). The role originally went to Genevieve Bujold, but she walked out after two days leaving the role to fall to Berman’s personal choice, Kate Mulgrew. Current Position: Using Warp, higher life forms and slipstream technology, the Voyager is now 62,000 light years from home. First Run: 1995 to present day. Number of Episodes: 92 to the end of Season Four (counting the 2-hour première as one). Season One only had 15 episodes, with four being held over to Season Two. The Good Guys: Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Tuvok (Tim Russ), B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), Neelix (Ethan Phillips), The Doctor (Robert Picardo), Kes (Jennifer Lien) – left at the start of Season Four when, like so many other Star Trek regulars, she evolved into a fairy – and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) who started in Season 4. The Bad Guys: The sponge-haired Kazon, Vidiians, Q, the Borg, Species 8472 and the Hirogen. And Isn’t That... John Rhys Davis plays a hologramatic Leonardo DaVinci. Brad ‘I’ll play a loonie in anything’ Dourif played the loonie Ensign Suder in Meld and Basics, and Dwight Schultz reprised his TNG role Reg Barclay for Projections. Overdone Clichés: Voyager’s endless supply of shuttles; finding stuff in storage; Janeway’s on-screen death (eight times: Deadlock, Sacred Ground, Before and After, Year of Hell, and four times in Coda) Fashion Statements: Being stranded in the Delta Quadrant means you’re a little far from Kays Catalogue distribution. The crew wear pre-First Contact uniforms. Oddly enough, Year of Hell’s Annorax didn’t sport his namesake at all. Photos © Paramount Warp Speed Ahead! Scorpion Janeway and co face the Borg and a new enemy on their own turf. Space battles, Borg, CGI monsters and Janeway’s single-mindedness drive the show to cinematic levels. Year of Hell Deus ex machina Time travel epic that has Janeway fighting a losing battle against the Krenim as her ship, crew and hair disintegrates around her. Lost in the Slipstream Learning Curve headlines with a cheese immobilizing Voyager, followed by Twisted (Voyager’s rooms move out of order), and Nemesis (Chakotay and a bunch of warrior teenagers. Soporific.) Lee Binding Read more about your favourite programmes in Cult Times Can't find it locally? You can order it here