Star Trek: Voyager ran for seven seasons from 1995 to 2001, producing 172 episodes. The series begins when the USS Voyager is thrown across the galaxy into the Delta Quadrant, around 70,000 light-years from Earth. With the journey home expected to take decades, Captain Kathryn Janeway must combine her Starfleet crew with members of the Maquis ship they had been pursuing.
That simple premise gave Voyager something different from earlier Star Trek series. Instead of operating comfortably within Federation space, the crew was largely on its own, encountering unfamiliar civilizations and technologies with limited support and resources.
The main characters included Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), Chakotay (Robert Beltran), Tuvok (Tim Russ), B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson), Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), Harry Kim (Garrett Wang), the Doctor (Robert Picardo), Neelix (Ethan Phillips), and Kes (Jennifer Lien). Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) joined the crew later in the series and became one of its most important characters.
What Makes Star Trek: Voyager Worth Watching?
Voyager was at its best when it took advantage of its unusual setting. Being stranded on the far side of the Milky Way allowed the writers to explore isolation, long-distance space travel, time distortion, artificial intelligence, and encounters with species unknown to the Federation.
The show could be uneven, particularly during its early seasons, but its strongest episodes rank among the best science-fiction stories produced during the Star Trek television era. The Doctor developed into one of the show’s most interesting characters, while the arrival of Seven of Nine opened up some particularly strong stories involving individuality, humanity, and the Borg.
Below are my favorite Star Trek: Voyager episodes, arranged by season. Episodes marked with ★ are the ones I consider particularly worth watching.
Best Star Trek: Voyager Episodes by Season
Season 1
Episode 3: “Parallax”
Episode 12: “Heroes and Demons” ★ — The Doctor undertakes his first away mission when crew members disappear inside a holodeck simulation of the Beowulf story. An early episode that begins to establish the Doctor as a character in his own right.
Season 2
Episode 6: “Twisted”
Episode 21: “Deadlock” ★ — A spatial anomaly produces two versions of Voyager occupying the same space, leaving the two crews facing very different circumstances. A clever use of the show’s science-fiction premise.
Episode 24: “Tuvix” — One of Voyager’s most memorable ethical dilemmas, in which a transporter accident combines Tuvok and Neelix into a single new individual.
Season 3
Episodes 8–9: “Future’s End”
Episode 15: “Coda”
Episode 19: “Rise”
Episode 21: “Before and After” ★ — A clever Kes-centered story in which she experiences her life in reverse, moving backward through events that have not yet happened from the crew’s perspective.
Episode 23: “Distant Origin”
Episodes 26–27: “Scorpion” ★ — Voyager encounters the formidable Species 8472 and Janeway makes the extraordinary decision to form a temporary alliance with the Borg. It also introduces Seven of Nine, making this one of the pivotal stories of the entire series.
Season 4
Episodes 8–9: “Year of Hell” ★ — One of Voyager’s strongest two-part stories. The ship and crew are gradually battered as a civilization uses temporal technology to alter history, giving the series a rare opportunity to show just how badly Voyager’s long journey could have gone.
Episode 11: “Concerning Flight”
Episode 13: “Waking Moments”
Episode 14: “Message in a Bottle”
Episode 23: “Living Witness”
Episode 24: “Demon”
Episode 25: “One” ★ — Seven of Nine must effectively run Voyager alone while most of the crew is placed in stasis. The episode makes excellent use of isolation and Seven’s difficulty coping with prolonged solitude.
Season 5
Episode 1: “Night”
Episode 6: “Timeless” ★ — An older Harry Kim and Chakotay attempt to change history after a disastrous experiment destroys Voyager. One of the series’ better uses of time travel and alternate outcomes.
Episode 18: “Course: Oblivion” ★ — A particularly bleak Voyager story whose significance only gradually becomes apparent. It is best watched without knowing too much about the plot beforehand.
Episode 20: “Think Tank” ★ — Voyager is offered help by a mysterious group of highly intelligent specialists, but their assistance comes with a price that Janeway is unwilling to pay.
Episode 24: “Relativity”
Episodes 26–27: “Equinox” ★ — Voyager encounters another Federation starship stranded in the Delta Quadrant, but its crew has responded to the struggle for survival very differently. The result provides an effective contrast with Janeway and her crew.
Season 6
Episode 4: “Tinker, Tenor, Doctor, Spy” ★ — The Doctor’s elaborate fantasies begin causing unexpected problems. It’s one of the show’s funniest Doctor-centered episodes while still finding room for a genuine science-fiction plot.
Episode 7: “Dragon’s Teeth”
Episode 8: “One Small Step”
Episode 12: “Blink of an Eye” ★ — Voyager becomes trapped above a planet where time passes at a vastly accelerated rate. Entire civilizations rise and change below while only a short period passes for Voyager, making this one of the series’ most imaginative science-fiction concepts.
Episode 13: “Virtuoso” ★ — The Doctor discovers a civilization fascinated by his singing and begins to wonder whether life as a celebrated performer might be preferable to his duties aboard Voyager.
Episode 22: “Muse”
Episode 23: “Fury” ★ — Kes unexpectedly returns to Voyager, but she is very different from the character who left the ship several seasons earlier.
Episode 24: “Life Line”
Season 7
Episode 11: “Shattered” ★ — Voyager is divided into different periods of its own history, forcing Chakotay to move between versions of the ship from different points in the series. It’s particularly enjoyable for longtime viewers because it revisits several earlier eras.
Episode 15: “The Void” ★ — Voyager becomes trapped in a region of space where stranded ships survive by stealing resources from one another. Janeway instead tries cooperation, making this a strong test of the Federation principles the crew has attempted to preserve throughout its journey.
Episode 20: “Author, Author”
Episode 21: “Friendship One”
Episodes 25–26: “Endgame” ★ — The series finale brings Voyager’s long journey home to its conclusion, with an older Janeway taking extraordinary measures to alter the fate of her former crew. Borg technology, time travel, and Voyager’s central goal all come together for the final story.