[Chris]

Definitely. They were both strong women in a field dominated by men, and used to having to push a little to be taken seriously. It really would have been nice to have had more episodes with prominent interaction between these two.

[Melanie Garcia]

There were always characters on this show that I wished had interacted more with each other over the years and Janeway and B'Elanna were definitely one of them.

[Chris]

It would have been nice to see more of Harry on his own, although I really liked his friendship with Tom.

[Melanie Garcia]

Originally Posted by Chris (View Post) It would have been nice to see more of Harry on his own, although I really liked his friendship with Tom.

Some characters got more attention than others over the years. Harry was a great character and I would have liked to see more of him too.

[Chris]

Since Harry was so young, there was a lot of potential to show growth in his character. Unfortunately the writers never really explored that. Oh well. As you mentioned before, his friendship with Tom was a highlight of the series.

[Melanie Garcia]

I liked seeing Harry in charge while most of the command officers were in 1996 Earth in Future's End. He did seem stressed about having to make all the big decisions though.

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Melanie Garcia (View Post) He did seem stressed about having to make all the big decisions though.

That's only natural though. Confidence would come with experience.

[Melanie Garcia]

Watched "Faces" again yesterday. It has some of my favorite B'Elanna scenes ever. One of my favorites is when her human and Klingon sides are talking to each other. Still one of my favorite episodes of the series.

[Chris]

That episode really showed how she drew strength from both her Klingon and Human attributes, whereas I think she tended to think of herself as more Klingon than Human.

[DigificWriter]

I have recently begun watching Voyager in its entirety after having originally seen much of the series in syndication, having read all but one of Christie Golden and Kirsten Beyer's continuation novels, and having listened to many of the Trek.fm To the Journey podcast discussions, and have reached the firm conclusion that, despite various claims to the contrary, there is a great deal of serialization and continuity to the series that gets largely overlooked, and have decided to post some in-depth analyses of the continuity and serialization of the series and how both of these things relate to and/or are affected by the producer mandate that things by and large be 'reset' at the conclusion of each episode.

The first thing I'm going to talk about is the issue of in-universe story continuity.

Although things were, as noted, largely 'reset' at the conclusion of any given episode, there is nevertheless a sense of forward progression and sequential development that is primarily manifest in the form of character development and progression and that actually belies the desires of the producers to be able to have the series syndicated in any order.

Several good examples of this from very early on in the series are the evolution of the 'crew dynamic' in the episodes Caretaker, Parallax, The Cloud, Eye of the Needle, Ex Post Facto, and Prime Factors, which manifests as follows:
* Janeway and Chakotay announce their intent to merge the Voyager and Valjean crews into one and Janeway allows Neelix and Kes to stay onboard (Caretaker)
* As the process of actually creating a single crew out of two begins to be put into practice, tensions and friction arises but is ultimately resolved - at least temporarily - through crisis (Parallax, Time and Again, Phage, The Cloud, Eye of the Needle, Emanations, Prime Factors)
* Neelix and Kes try to acclimate themselves to Voyager and ' find' themselves a place among her crew, sometimes awkwardly, with Kes ultimately becoming the ship's unofficial 'gardener' and chief nurse (thanks to forming a friendship with The Doctor) and Neelix ultimately becoming the ship's unofficial chef and 'morale officer' (Parallax, Phage, The Cloud, Eye of the Needle, Ex Post Facto, Emanations)
* Thanks to Kes, The Doctor ceases to be thought of - and think of himself - as just a 'temporary medical tool' and instead as a valued and valuable full-time crew member (Time and Again, Eye of the Needle, Ex Post Facto)
* Tom and Harry's friendship starts to gel as Tom tries to get Harry to help him pick up women, specifically the Delaney sisters, and they work together on different projects (Caretaker, Time and Again, Ex Post Facto)
* Janeway begins to let her guard down and get to know her crew as a whole (Parallax, Time and Again, The Cloud, Eye of the Needle, Ex Post Facto, Emanations, Prime Factors)

There are other examples from much later in the series that I don't have time to delve into in depth, but they include the gradual development of Tom and B'Elanna's romance, the crew's search for ways to shorten their journey home, and the progressive evolution of The Doctor's program, abilities, and individuality.

With regards to serialization, each of the seasons has a common element or theme that is revisited or that is running through any given number of episodes and that serves to 'unite' the episodes of a particular season together, as follows:
Season One
The first season of the series is focused on the Starfleet and Maquis crew and their passengers/alien guests coming together, their search for resources and ways to get home, on their encounters with various Delta Quadrant races, inhabitants, and phenomena, and on the development and progression of the show's main characters.

Season Two
Season Two is largely focused on both internal and external threats posed to the ship and her crew in the form of Seska and the Kazon, Michael Jonas, and the Vidiians, and the ways in which the stress caused by these threats begins to unravel the crew's sense of togetherness and cohesion, juxtaposed against the expansion of the crew and the establishment or continued development of various character relationships.

Season Three
Season Three begins to set the stage for the primary over-arching conflict between Voyager's crew and the Borg that will ultimately come to define and feature heavily in the show's remaining seasons, and introduces new character dynamics and antagonists as well, such as the introduction of possible romance between Tom and B'Elanna, the Krenim, and a return encounter with Q.

Season Four
Season Four is primarily focused on integrating Seven of Nine into both the show and the crew, on shortening the distance between the ship and Earth, on establishing the crew as a family and their surroundings as 'home', and on reconnecting the ship with Starfleet, which leads directly to the introduction of a dangerous new antagonist in the form of the Hirogen. Conflict also brews between Voyager and Species 8472 independent of the latter's issues with the Borg.

Season Five
Season Five is focused primarily on introducing some gritty and grim elements into the show in the form of character development for various characters, moral quandaries as embodied by the likes of the Malon and the Equinox crew, and the return in force of the Borg.

Season Six
Season Six is a 'rebuilding' season of sorts, focusing primarily on character development, the introduction of new characters and antagonists, and the return of familiar ally and antagonist races and characters such as the Hirogen, the Klingons, the Borg, Kes, and Reginald Barclay, and on furthering the shortening of the ship's journey back to the Alpha Quadrant.

Season Seven
Season Seven is focused primarily on resolving or revisiting story threads, encounters with familiar races, and character relationships from the previous six seasons, and on concluding the ship's journey with a successful return to Earth. The season also introduces a few new races and character dynamics, such as the Quarren and the romantic relationship between Seven and Chakotay.

Furthermore, the producers might've wanted to create a series in Voyager that could be syndicated out of order, but the episodes that were being written and the stories that were being told do not, in the end, mesh with that idea even though things do by and large end up 'back in the box' after nearly every episode.

I have and will continue to view Voyager as being the Star Trek equivalent of a 'serialized procedural', where you have a series that IS episodic, but that still has a 'through-line' of serialization and serialized elements running through it.

IOW, people might talk about how Voyager doesn't have any continuity or serialization and that the producers designed it that way, but the reality of the situation is that there is in fact a 'proper' order in which to view the series, an order that is as follows:

Season 1
1x01/1x02: Caretaker
1x03: Parallax
1x04: Time and Again
1x05: Phage
1x06: The Cloud
1x07: Eye of the Needle
1x08: Ex Post Facto
1x09: Emanations
1x10: Prime Factors
1x11: State of Flux
1x12: Heroes and Demons
1x13: Cathexis
1x14: Faces
1x15: Jetrel
1x16: Learning Curve
1x17: Projections
1x18: Elogium
1x19: Twisted
1x20: The 37s

Season 2
2x01: Initiations
2x02: Non Sequitur
2x03: Paruition
2x04: Persistence of Vision
2x05: Tattoo
2x06: Cold Fire
2x07: Maneuvers
2x08: Resistance
2x09: Prototype
2x10: Death Wish
2x11: Alliances
2x12: Threshold
2x13: Meld
2x14: Dreadnought
2x15: Lifesigns
2x16: Investigations
2x17: Deadlock
2x18: Innocence
2x19: The Thaw
2x20: Tuvix
2x21: Resolutions
2x22: Basics, Part 1

Season 3
3x01: Basics, Part 2
3x02: Sacred Ground
3x03: False Profits
3x04: Flashback
3x05: The Chute
3x06: Remember
3x07: The Swarm
3x08: Future's End, Part 1
3x09: Future's End, Part 2
3x10: Warlord
3x11: The Q and the Gray
3x12: Macrocosm
3x13: Alter Ego
3x14: Fair Trade
3x15: Blood Fever
3x16: Coda
3x17: Unity
3x18: Rise
3x19: Darkling
3x20: Favorite Son
3x21: Before and After
3x22: Real Life
3x23: Distant Origins
3x24: Displaced
3x25: Worst Case Scenario
3x26: Scorpion, Part 1

Season 4
4x01: Scorpion, Part 2
4x02: The Gift
4x03: Nemesis
4x04: Day of Honor
4x05: Revulsion
4x06: The Raven
4x07: Scientific Method
4x08: Year of Hell, Part 1
4x09: Year of Hell, Part 2
4x10: Random Thoughts
4x11: Concerning Flight
4x12: Mortal Coil
4x13: Message in a Bottle
4x14: Waking Moments
4x15: Hunters
4x16: Prey
4x17: Retrospect
4x18: The Killing Game, Part1
4x19: The Killing Game, Part 2
4x20: Vis a Vis
4x21: The Omega Directive
4x22: Unforgettable
4x23: Living Witness
4x24: Demon
4x25: One
4x26: Hope and Fear

Season 5
5x01: Night
5x02: Drone
5x03: Extreme Risk
5x04: In the Flesh
5x05: Once Upon a Time
5x06: Nothing Human
5x07/: Timeless
5x08: Thirty Days
5x09: Infinite Regress
5x10: Counterpoint
5x11: Gravity
5x12: Latent Image
5x13: Bride of Chaotica!
5x14: The Fight
5x15: Bliss
5x16: The Disease
5x17/5x18: Dark Frontier
5x19: Course: Oblivion
5x20: Think Tank
5x21: Juggernaught
5x22: Someone to Watch Over Me
5x23: 11:59
5x24: Relativity
5x25: Warhead
5x26: Equinox, Part 1

Season 6
6x01: Equinox, Part 2
6x02: Survival Instinct
6x03: Barge of the Dead
6x04: Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy
6x05: Dragon's Teeth
6x06: Alice
6x07: Riddles
6x08: One Small Step
6x09: The Voyager Conspiracy
6x10: Pathfinder
6x11: Fair Haven
6x12: Tsunkatse
6x13: Blink of an Eye
6x14: Virtuoso
6x15: Collective
6x16: Memorial
6x17: Spirit Folk
6x18: Ashes to Ashes
6x19: Child's Play
6x20: Good Shepherd
6x21: Fury
6x22: Live Fast and Prosper
6x23: Life Line
6x24: Muse
6x25: The Haunting of Deck 12
6x26: Unimatrix Zero, Part 1

Season 7
7x01: Unimatrix Zero, Part 2
7x02: Drive
7x03: Imperfection
7x04: Critical Care
7x05: Repression
7x06: Inside Man
7x07/7x08: Flesh and Blood
7x09: Body and Soul
7x10: Nightingale
7x11: Shattered
7x12: Lineage
7x13: Repentance
7x14: Prophecy
7x15: The Void
7x16: Workforce, Part 1
7x17: Workforce, Part 2
7x18: Human Error
7x19: Q2
7x20: Author, Author
7x21: Friendship One
7x22: Natural Law
7x23: Homestead
7x24: Renaissance Man
7x25/7x26: Endgame

[Chris]

Totally agree with you about how we got to see the crew dynamic evolve, especially on these points.

Originally Posted by DigificWriter (View Post) Neelix and Kes try to acclimate themselves to Voyager and ' find' themselves a place among her crew,

Thanks to Kes, The Doctor ceases to be thought of - and think of himself - as just a 'temporary medical tool' and instead as a valued and valuable full-time crew member (Time and Again, Eye of the Needle, Ex Post Facto)

the gradual development of Tom and B'Elanna's romance, the crew's search for ways to shorten their journey home, and the progresssive evolution of The Doctor's program, abilities, and individuality.

It later seasons, there was the development of Seven and her relationship with the other crew members, Janeway and the EMH in particular.

[DigificWriter]

I have a correction to make concerning the episode order I posted above. I had inverted Lifesigns and Investigations based on production number, but did not realize that, despite being produced before Lifesigns, Investigations is actually set after it (which is the order in which it was aired, making the airdate order the correct order).

Drive should also be the second episode of Season 7 as opposed to the 3rd despite being both produced and aired as such.

[Chris]

Thanks for the update.

Furthermore, the producers might've wanted to create a series in Voyager that could be syndicated out of order, but the episodes that were being written and the stories that were being told do not, in the end, mesh with that idea even though things do by and large end up 'back in the box' after nearly every episode.

While most episodes do stand alone, I agree that there are often some references to past events, so it would be best to watch them in order.

[DigificWriter]

The episodes do largely stand alone, but there's still a sequence to them, and the references/callbacks to previous episodes/events are more frequent than people realize, although they're not always direct.

[Chris]

It's been a while since I've watched any Voyager. I should rectify that.