Customer Reviews

Star Trek Voyager: Season 4

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Less than one year following the concluding season of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" in 1994, executive producer/writer Rick Berman, along with Michael Piller and Jeri Taylor, created a fourth television series based upon the "Star Trek" universe originally created by Gene Roddenberry (1921-1991) in the 1960's. This fourth television series, entitled "Voyager" (which is the name of the Federation of Planets starship used in the series), first aired in January 1995, and ran for seven seasons until it concluded in May, 2001. Because "Voyager" aired initially in the month of January (instead of the traditional September), only 16 episodes were filmed for the first season. The succeeding six other seasons had 26 episodes each, for a grand total of 172 episodes for the entire series.

Unlike the previous three "Star Trek" television series, which (for the most part) took place within the bounds of the Federation of Planets (or in nearby sovereign areas of space, such as the Klingon Empire or the Romulan Empire) in the Alpha Quadrant, the starship Voyager is hurled tens of thousands of light-years from home into the previously unknown and unexplored Delta Quadrant, which is located at the far side of the Milky Way Galaxy. Even while traveling at warp 8 (the fastest safe speed that a typical starship can travel), it would take Voyager several decades to return to Earth. Hence, the series focuses on the survival of Voyager's Starfleet crew, who are completely isolated and unable to even maintain normal communications with Earth, as well as the crew's ultimate desire to find a way home faster than their ship is capable of doing. Also, along the way, Voyager adopts a few Delta Quadrant natives.

The primary cast members of the fourth season of "Voyager" include Captain Catherine Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Commander Chakotay (Robert Beltran), the half-Klingon Lt. B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), Delta Quadrant native (Ocampan) Kes (Jennifer Lien, first two episodes only), Lt. Thomas Eugene Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), Delta Quadrant native (Talaxian) Neelix (Ethan Phillips), the holographic Emergency Medical Holographic Program (a.k.a., "The Doctor", played by Robert Picardo), the Vulcan Lt. Cmdr. Tuvok (Tim Russ), Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) and the former Borg drone Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). Voyager's fourth season begins with the second part (episode "Scorpion, Part 2") to the third season's cliffhanger about Voyager making an agreement with the Borg to aid in their war against the seemingly unstoppable species 8472.

With the departure of Kes in the second episode ("The Gift"), the fourth season of "Voyager" focuses much attention upon its newest crewmember, Seven of Nine, whom Captain Janeway chose to cut off from the Borg Collective at the end of episode "Scorpion, Part 2". She begins to relearn what it means to be human primarily from Captain Janeway, but also from the holographic doctor. Other stories during the fourth season include B'Elanna and her ongoing struggles with her Klingon half, a change in the relationship between Paris and B'Elanna, Cmdr. Chakotay becomes involved in an interspecies war in episode "Nemesis", the doctor encounters a psychopathic hologram (Leland Orser) in episode "Revulsion", the crew discovers the source of many physical problems afflicting the crew in episode "Scientific Method", Captain Janeway continues to enjoy time in the holodeck with Leonardo Da Vinci, Voyager's encounters the hunting Hirogen and Voyager encounters the most dangerous substance known to the Federation in episode "The Omega Directive". The best fourth-season episodes, in order of airdate, include "Scorpion, Part 2", "The Gift", "Day of Honor", "Nemesis", "Revulsion", "The Raven", "Scientific Method", "Year of Hell, Part 1 & 2", "Concerning Flight", "Waking Moments", "Message in a Bottle", "Prey", "The Omega Directive", "One" and "Hope and Fear".

Overall, I rate the fourth season of "Voyager" with 4.5 out of 5 stars, rounded to 5 stars. Thankfully, the Kazon are no longer around, but the Hirogen become slightly annoying and predictable over time. Though many "Voyager" fans regretted the loss of character Kes, the development of Seven of Nine's character was very good and only continued to get better in the succeeding seasons, as well as the further story development of the Borg collective itself.

I recieved complete 4th season in perfect condition. All disks are accounted for and I have had no problems whatsoever. I was quite pleased to get this at the price they offer here, in stores I would have paid 20 to 30 dollars more. All I can say is enjoy the greatest Star Trek series created to date :) An excellent buy.

I would recommend purchasing seasons 4 through 7 of star Trek: Voyager. This was an exceptionally well-produced, well-written, and well-acted series. Seasons 4 through 7 contain some of the best scripts.

The fourth season of Voyager is one of the best. Season four marks the introduction of Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine in "Scorpion, part II" and Jennifer Lien's character Kes leaving in "The Gift." The two parter "Year of Hell" is by far the best Voyager episode(s) ever produced. Other excellent offerings are "Scientific Method," "Message in a Bottle," "The Killing Game," "Living Witness," and "Hope and Fear."

Voyager is my favorite Star Trek series, and the fourth season is a must have for any Voyager fan.

Star Trek Voyager has always been the most commercial Star trek series despite it's lost in space plot.One of it's most boldest (and sucessful, ratings-wise) moves was the introduction of Seven Of Nine (Jeri Ryan), A former Borg drone who serves as the Spock-Data-Odo perspective on humanity, as well as the show's new sexpot clad in a silver catsuit.
Some of the regular castmembers get shortshifted in favor of Seven,but Voyager takes on a different ,although not risky,tone.Classic episodes include Scorpion Pt.2, The Gift (Kes's final episode),Message in a Bottle, Hunters,Prey, The Killing Game, Demon, One and Voyager's all time greatest episode, The Year Of Hell.
For many it was both the beginning and the end of Voyager,but season four was a turning point for the direction of the show.

Season four was totally awesome. I really never watched Voyager on a regular basis until season 4. There is no bad episodes!!! Even the weaker episodes are still good!

Season four had some major changes to it from the first couple of episodes in the season. Seven of Nine a half Borg/Human joined the cast, Kes left the series, Paris and Torres finally got together, the Doctor made contact with the Federation, the crew got a lot closer to home, and Voyager encountered the Borg, and many new and exciting enemies.

Season four will give you great episodes like "Scorpion, part II", "Year of Hell, parts I and II", "Message in a Bottle", and many more!!! The only problem with the season was a classic season cliffhanger to help bring in season five. This is no big deal since season four was the greastest of Voyager and one of the best of Trek.

Season four is the best up to this point. The first full season for 7 of 9. Can't wait to get this one.

The 4th Season of Star Trek Voyager is the best yet. Kes' character moves on to a higer plain of existance in the 2nd episode and the new character Seven of Nine is introduced.

There are some great episodes in the 4th season which are as follows:

Scorpion Part II

After Janeway creates a temporary alliance with the Borg they work with Seven of Nine to develop a way to defeat their mutual enemy.

The Gift.
After Seven of Nine is cut off form the Borg collective, The Doctor begins to remove her implants while Kes undergoes many transformations

Day of Honor
After ejecting the warp core and Paris and Torres retrieve it, the reveal their love to each other.

Nemesis
After getting stranded on an alien planet, some of the locals coerce Chaoktay into helping them fight a war against their enemies.

Revulsion
Voyager recieves a distress call from an alien hologram. He reveales that his ship was infected with a virus. The hologram begins to go crazy.

The Raven
After Seven's Borg implants start to regenerate, She attempts to rejoin the Borg collective.

Scientific Method
When the crew of Voyager begin getting strange sicknesses, it is revealed that a cloaked alien ship is conducting medical experiments on them.

Year of Hell part I
Voyager is repeatedly attacked by a hostile alien ship with a temporal weapon. With half the ship destroyed, Janeway calls for
abandoning the ship

Year of Hell part II
After most of the crew has evacuated, the remaining crew try to stop the temporal weapon.

Random Thoughts
After Torres has hostile thoughts against an telepathic alien who bumps into her, she is arrested for having "violent thoughts" and is obligated to undergo a potentially damaging memory purge.

Concerning Flight
Some of Voyager's equipment is stolen and is tracked to a nearby planet. Janeway discovers that her Leonardo da Vinci holodeck program merged with the doctor's emmiter putting DaVinci's program on the planet

Mortal Coil
After Neelix is killed in a shuttle accident, Seven reveals knowledge of a procedure which can bring him back to life.

Waking Moments
After the crew starts having virtually identical nightmares, Chakotay learns that a sleeping alien race is causing it.

Message in a Bottle
Voyager discovers a Federation ship on the other side of the galaxy through a network of alien relay stations. When they send
the doctor's program to the ship to call for help, the doctor learns that Romulans have taken over the ship.

Hunters
After making sucessful contact with the Fedearation the crew starts recieving letters from their families. The aliens who own the relay stations, the Hirogen are furious at the fact that their stations are being used by Voyager and try to stop them.

Prey
After discovering a member of species 8472, the aliens who nearly destroyed the Borg, a member of Hirogen demands that he be allowed to continue hunting it.

Retrosepct
When Voyager is in trade negotiatons with a trader, Seven claims that he forcefully extracted Borg implants from her body.

The Killing Game part I
The Hirogen has captured Voyager's crew and repressed their memories and replaced new ones into them to creat a simulation of WWII with the Hirogen as the German army and Voyager's crew as the French resistance.

The Killing Game part II
The Doctor works to restore the memories of Voyager's crew while fending off the Hirogen.

Vis a Vis
An alien species uses Paris' DNA to turn herself into a duplicate of him.

The Omega Directive
Voyager's encounters an alien race manufacturing an extremely dangerous and supersecret molecule. Federation law requires them to destroy the molecules and all knowledge of their existance by any means necessary.

Unforgettable
A female alien is brought on board voyager and tells Chakotay that they used to be in love but has to erase his memories of it

Living Witness
700 years in the future, the doctor's program is reactivated in an alien museum which has rewritten history about Voyager.

Demon
Voyager discovers a fuel source on a "demon class" planet which is dangerous to even approach. They look for a way to get the fuel off the planet

One
Voyager encounters a large nebula that would take a year to go around and only month to go through. The problem is that only Seven is immune to the radiation in the nebula. The crew are put in stasis so they will be unaffected. Seven and the doctor are the only ones operating the ship.

Hope and Fear
A member of a highly intelligent alien race who was nearly wiped out by the Borg claims to be able to decrypt a message that Voyager recieved from Starfleet. The mesage says that they sent an experimental ship to an area near them which will enable to get them home in months. Though Seven suspects it may be a trap the alien set to get revenge on Voyager for helping the Borg.

There are special features on the DVD which have not yet been announced at the time of this review being submitted.

This is a season that one should not miss.

The fourth season is where Voyager REALLY jumped the shark. Don't listen to those rabid Voyager fans, they're all insane to believe that this show was about something good and interesting. By this time, the writers, producers and everyone involved in the show cared only about one thing: money. The fourth season showcases the frantic effort to boost ratings by any means possible. The brought in the busty Borg babe, they brutally butchered the borg, and they didn't know when to let up.

"7 of 9" is not a quality character folks. She's what they call a "Mary Sue." Her nano-probes can do pretty much anything, and then even more when used with a "modified deflector dish." Voyager would be the worst Star Trek ever produced had they not let Shatner direct his own film, and went on to make that mockery of everything Trek, "Enterprise."

I used to like Voyager, back when that was the only Star Trek on the air. Then I saw reruns of the great jewel of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Do yourself a favour, skip the horrible excuse for television, Voyager, and buy a quality Star Trek series, Deep Space Nine.

During Voyager's hiatus, rumors circulated that Jennifer Lien was being let go, two years before her contract was up. The official story was the writers were having difficulty nailing Kes' character down, plus they seemed inhibited by her nine-year life cycle. Unofficially, her departure was due to adding on a new character. Like Michael Dorn, who was brought in to bring up DS9's ratings, they hired Jeri Ryan, late of NBC's very little seen Dark Skies, to play a female Borg to be rescued by Janeway. Getting rid of Kes was the less of many evils. Since the series had begun, she was one of the most consistently underused characters, and was becoming Voyager's version of Troi from TNG -either missing from episodes altogether or there, but with only a few lines. Jeri Ryan is a very beautiful, full figured woman. And put into a clingy cat suit, she would be the eye candy for the 18-35 year old males, one of the most sought after groups by advertisers. Rating were bound to go up, was the theory. Plus, Seven would now take over for B'Elanna's role as the daughter to the Janeway as mother analogy. And for a bit, the ratings were in an upswing. But the more things change, as the saying goes, the more it remains the same. The stories continued to be problematic. Some stories had good ideas like Day of Honor, Nemesis and Revulsion, but were executed in the silliest way. In particular, Revulsion, while a good concept and exceptional performances from Dawson and Picardo and guest star Leland Orser, but you had to be a complete idiot not to guess that Orser's character was loopy. It's this stuff; this meaningless that angered many fans. Year of Hell, perhaps, was the highlight of the season, a complex two-parter that had the crew up against a real threat, though as the show unfolds, you really discover that the character of Annorax is not evil. Like the Vidiians, his only crime is what he does in the undertaking of his goal. With both the Vidiians and the Kazon now 10 years behind them (see The Gift) and Species 8472 temporarily not around, a new enemy was introduced. The Hirogen were quietly introduced in Message in a Bottle, after Seven discovers a network of relay stations that lead to the Alpha Quadrant (and who built them is never really explained, as it certainly was not the Hirogen). The Doctor spends sometime on the Prometheus, an experimental Starfleet ship taken over by the Romulans. It was a witty script and it gave the Doctor a chance to tell Starfleet of their situation, thusly ensuing they would begin thinking of ways to save the stranded starship (its called foreshadowing, kids). Meanwhile, the Hirogen were barley seen in the next episode called Hunters, though with a title like that you kind of expected too, but they became the B story, as the main focus of the episode appeared to be reactions to the letters the crew was getting. Prey was next, and we learn more about them. They are a species that hunts other intelligent species for their skulls. They have no homeworld, with their entire culture based on the hunt. They would pop up again a few episodes later, in the uneven two-parter, The Killing Game. Somehow, though it never is clearly explained, they have taken over Voyager and are using the crew on the holodecks. The Hirogen's have chosen World War II scenario as they try to figure out the humans (though you would think the Borg attack at Wolfe 359 would be a better choice). In the end, it is discovered that the Alpha Hirogen fears that they have spread themselves to thin, and if they don't learn to adapt to new aliens, they will be defeated. And while the story is pure escapism, it also features one of Janeway's and the series, greatest blunders. After all is resolved, she actually gives the Hirogen's holodeck technology. This was just another blatant misuse of the Prime Directive to fit the plot. Further evidence that under Braga's leadership, Trek was becoming his show, filled with his ideas and be damned continuity and logic. And despite the claim by Paramount that ratings had improved since Jeri Ryan's arrival, he said that was far from true. Which it was. Ratings had started off good for the fourth season, but quickly leveled off Meanwhile, the rest of season four continued, like pervious seasons, on an up and down escalator ride. From the real bad: Omega Directive, Unforgettable, Living Witness and Demon, to the mildly interesting Vis a Vis, One, and the season-ender Hope and Fear.