Top 10 Star Trek: Voyager Episodes
Star Trek: Voyager is the fourth series in the Star Trek franchise. Its premiere television run was from 1995 to 2001, with 172 episodes made. Through all seven seasons of the series, Voyager had quite a few good episodes, so I’m going to list the best ones in my top ten Star Trek: Voyager episode list.
#10 – Think Tank (Season 5)
Beginning the list at #10 is the 20th episode of the fifth season, “Think Tank.”
In the episode, Voyager is sought after by the Hazari, unyielding bounty hunters of the delta-quadrant. While debating methods of escape, a group of problem-solvers offers their services in out-witting the Hazari. They are inadvertently given the name “Think Tank” by Janeway. The crew is made up of a robot, a jellyfish, a whale, and a portly humanoid alien. They claim that they cured the Vidian Phage among other accomplishments. The group spokesman Kurros proposes a payment method to Janeway: Quantum slipstream technology, a recipe from Neelix, an Olmec artifact owned by Chakotay, and Seven of Nine herself. Janeway declines the payment and decides to continue to fight the Hazari on their own. Voyager later captures a lone Hazari ship. They were able to figure out from the ship’s computer that the Malon put the bounty on them. However, after more unscrambling of an isomorphic signature, the payer was apparently Kurros. With the Hazari, Voyager comes up with a plan to use Seven as bait to get inside the Think Tank and disable the device that enables them to communicate. They pull a fake attack and have Seven go on a shuttle which was drawn to the Think Tank’s ship in subspace. Seven was able to reveal the Think Tank ship to the Hazari, making the group vulnerable.
#9 – Equinox, Part I and II (Season 5)
Continuing the list at #9 is the two-part episode “Equinox,” also in the series’ fifth season.
In Part 1 of the episode, Voyager finds another Federation ship, the USS Equinox, under attack from flying nucleogenic lifeforms. In Part 2, the crew of the USS Equinox attempt to hijack the USS Voyager in order to exploit the nucleogenic lifeforms in a bid to return home.
#8 – Unimatrix Zero, Part I and II (Seasons 6 and 7)
At #8 is the two-part episode “Unimatrix Zero,” of which the first part is the Season 6 finale, and the second part is the Season 7 premiere.
In the episode, Janeway, B’Elanna and Tuvok infiltrate a Borg Cube in an attempt to save Borg who are exercising their individuality.
#7 – The Void (Season 7)
In the top ten episodes of Star Trek: Voyager, the 15th episode of the seventh season called “The Void” comes in at #7.
During the episode, Voyager is pulled into a void where ships trapped therein attack each other for resources. The Voyager crew then forge an alliance with other species to escape The Void.
#6 – Hope and Fear (Season 4)
The 6th best episode of the series is the Season 4 finale, “Hope and Fear.”
In the episode, Paris and Neelix return from a mission with a passenger named Arturis who knows more than 4,000 languages. He manages to decode a message from Starfleet that could lead to a way home.
#5 – Relativity (Season 5)
Kicking off the top five episodes of Voyager is “Relativity,” the 23rd episode of the series’ fifth season.
In the episode, Captain Braxton aboard the time ship Relativity recruits Seven of Nine to stop Voyager from being sabotaged. Only does he find out later on that the saboteur is none other than an earlier version of himself.
#4 – Dark Frontier, Part I and II (Season 5)
Sitting at #4 on the list is the Season 5 two-part episode, “Dark Frontier.”
In Part 1, Janeway plans to steal a transwarp coil from a disabled Borg ship to shorten their journey home. In Part 2, Janeway leads a mission in the Delta Flyer to rescue Seven of Nine.
#3 – Scorpion, Part I and II (Seasons 3 and 4)
Holding on to its #3 spot is the two-part episode “Scorpion,” which is the Season 3 finale and Season 4 premiere, respectively.
In Part 1, Voyager must pass through Borg space, but the arrival of a new species causes problems. In Part 2, Janeway and Tuvok work with the Borg and meet Seven of Nine as they work on developing a weapon against Species 8472 in exchange for safe passage through Borg space.
#2 – Message in a Bottle (Season 4)
The second best Voyager episode on my Top 10 Episode List is “Message in a Bottle.” This Season 4 episode starred Andy Dick and depicted the USS Prometheus for the very first time. The episode was also very funny, with The Doctor and Andy Dick constantly arguing with each other.
In the episode, The Doctor’s program is sent to an advanced Starfleet vessel via a vast ancient communications network, but he soon discovers that only he and the ship’s own EMH remain to fight against Romulans who have taken over the ship and are attempting to return to Romulan space with it.
#1 – Endgame, Part I and II (Season 7)
Finally, we come to the best episode of the entire series of Star Trek: Voyager! Sitting pretty at #1 on our Top 10 Episode List is the series finale in Season 7, “Endgame.”
In Part 1, Admiral Janeway comes from the future to try and shorten Voyager’s trip home. In Part 2, as the crew enter a final showdown with the Borg, the two Janeways implement a risky plan to take out one of the six Borg Transwarp Hubs in the galaxy while simultaneously crossing the transwarp threshold to get home.
Other Good Episodes
In particular, many fans of the series might wonder why I’ve left out a couple of well-known episodes on this Top 10 Episodes List. I’ve tried my best to write a list incorporating what I believe are the best episodes of the series, based upon action, storyline and amount of special effects used. If you believe there was another good episode of the series that’s worth being mentioned, feel free to post a comment to my article and let everyone else know. In the meantime, I will explain why I’ve left out certain episodes from my list.
“Non Sequitur” in Season 2, where Harry Kim is transported into the past and must find a way to correct the timeline and return to the future, was left out because of the lack of action in the episode.
“Dreadnought” in Season 2, where Voyager needed to stop a missile from destroying a colony of innocent civilians, was left out of the list, but it was a decent episode. There could have been more special effects scenes, however.
The first part of “Basics” at the end of Season 2 was a pretty good episode, where Voyager fights the Kazon, but the second part lacked special effects, so instead of only posting the first part alone, I chose to leave it out entirely.
The two parts of “Future’s End” in Season 3, where a 29th century timeship causes a time paradox when it accidentally sends itself and Voyager to two periods in 20th century Earth, was barely left out of the list. It’s worth consideration as one of the better episodes of the series, however.
“Before and After” in Season 3, a prequel to “Year of Hell” in Season 4 where Kes travels back in time to save herself and alter the timeline, was a decent episode, but nothing truly worthy of a Top 10 spot. Speaking of that, “Year of Hell” could’ve been much more exciting than it actually was. The two-part episode seemed to focus more on the damage to Voyager and how stressful it was for the crew rather than on action and adventure. Although many fans would claim this episode as being one of the best of the Voyager series, I disagree. It had too much drama. There should’ve been more special effects scenes showing Voyager and the Krenim fighting each other.
Finally, “Timeless” in Season 5, where Chakotay and Kim travel back in time to prevent Voyager from crash-landing on an ice-planet due to the failure of the Quantum Slip-Stream drive, was again another good episode – it just lacked the push it needed to get on the list.
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10 Responses to “Top 10 Star Trek: Voyager Episodes”
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You forgot one of the best episodes, “Blink of an Eye!” This episode is classic science fiction. I wish they could all be as exciting.
Blink of an Eye seconded. It’s probably my favorite VOY episode, in competition with Timeless, Message in a Bottle and Pathfinder.
Scientific Method was another great episode, and at least deserved consideration. A race conducting experiments on the
crew while being \”phased\” was very unerving.
my fave voyager episode is called ‘the thaw’
great episode
Yeah, blink of an eye is my fave from Voyager as well, i was a bit surprised it didn’t make the list
I think there is more to this series than action and special effects. When considering only those two aspects, DS9 was the best series (see “The Way of the Warrior” and “Shattered Mirror” for some examples of spectacular looking battle sequences). Voyager’s strengths were character-based storytelling and allegories for contemporary situations. My personal favorites of the series are:
#10 The Void – This is what Star Trek is all about. Sticking to your values no matter what. Proving that even in tough circumstances it is possible to get by without killing or stealing. Definitely a lesson we could learn in the 21st century.
#9 Jetrel – Although a slightly obvious attempt to recreate DS9’s “Duet”, it’s still a great episode that forces you to always look at both sides of an issue.
#8 Meld – This is about true violence. Not the Hollywood kind where violent actions have no consequences, but REAL violence. How it affects you, and how it is a part of human nature.
#7 – Timeless: A chilling episode if there ever was one. Wang gives a spectacular performance as guilt-ridden 42-year-old Kim, which puts a tragic edge on this straight-out actioner.
#6 Latent Image: A true medical dilemma wrapped in a 24-th century plot wrapped in questions about human nature. What could you want more in a Star Trek episode?
#5 Counterpoint: Kate Mulgrew’s favorite episode, and there’s no question why. This is the really interesting kind of battle: a battle of wits. Using music to accompany the twists and turns of the plot only enhances its resonance.
#4 Nemesis: The episode can be summarized by chakotay’s ending quote: “It’s a lot harder to stop hating than it was to start.” Unfortunately true, and clearly ahead of its time when you think about how american soldiers were brainwashed into thinking Sadadm Hussein had WMDs.
#3 The Thaw: What is fear? This episode comes as close as any to answering that question, providing for eerie visuals and music accompanying a wonderfully manic performance by Michael McKean. The ending is one of the best in the entire saga.
#2 Scorpion, Part I: The Borg were of course the most successful villains of Star Trek (beating even the Dominion). This is certainly the best Borg outing since “Best of Both Worlds”, ending with the twist that Janeway has decided to cooperate with them to defeat an even greater enemy. Despite all the action, it is a character show for Janeway and Chakotay, whose disagreements over how to handle a situation creates a rift between the two.
#1 Distant Origin: Gallileo, Copernicus, and now Gegen. The episode not only tackles the forever ongoing issue of science vs. religion, but it is also the best executed episode of the series, from the makeup, costumes, set design, special effects, acting and especially David Livingston’s swift direction.
I can’t believe you didn’t even mention “Year of hell”, by far my favorite of the series.
Definitely “Message in a Bottle”. Andy Dick and Robert Picardo — The best!
tinker,tenor,dr,spy should have been included
Blink of an Eye is the best Voyager episode. It’s probably on my top ten ST episodes of all time.