Star Trek: Voyager

 I have been watching Star Trek: Voyager on Netflix since January 2008.  Seven seasons later, I can say I've finally achieved my goal of watching this entire series, and I can't say I'm disappointed. 

I don't think that I'm a Trekkie or a Trekker or whatever rabid Star Trek fans prefer to call themselves.  I haven't seen the entire Original Series, and I still remember how much Star Trek: The Next Generation scared me when I was little. (There was an episode with an evil hovering robot that totally freaked me out, and I've never recovered from Captain Picard's lackadaisical attitude regarding that homicidal tin can.)  I've seen a few episodes of all of the Star Trek series, even Earth: Final Conflict, and of all of them, Voyager is by far my favorite.

I love the whole storyline of a ship being stranded so far from home that it will take 70 years to return.  I think it opens up a new world of possibilities...how will the crew behave when the only reason to continue following the Prime Directive is their collective morals, and they have to consider disregarding rules in an effort to get home a little faster.  I also love pretty much every character on this show, which is unusual.  Generally there is a character or two that I despise, but every person on Voyager was important to the show, and more importantly, given adequate plot lines to keep them involved in the show.

My only issue is that there rarely seemed to be consequences shown for characters' misbehavior.  No one important ever dies as a result of someone doing something foolish, which I think would have been appropriate for the storyline.  Of course, I'm comparing it to Battlestar Galactica, where the entire remainder of humanity was aboard a fleet of ships and you get an updated population count at the beginning of each episode.  People die all the time on BSG...much more realistic compared to Voyager, which was floating around the Delta Quadrant for seven years and never lost a commanding officer.

But back to good things, the best part of Star Trek: Voyager is...

***SPOILER ALERT*** 

(You know, just in case you still haven't seen what happens on a series that ended over ten years ago...)

...the evil Borg, the horrendous zombie/robot/aliens that have given me nightmares for years, are (seemingly) destroyed by Voyager.  Finally, after 168 episodes of Voyager and humanity teetering on the brink of being assimilated, it looks like the Borg Queen and her collective of millions might be gone.   I can rest a little easier now.  Thanks for that, Voyager.