To The Journey: A Star Trek Voyager Podcast

Prixin Wishlists.   It's holiday season at Trek.fm, and on To The Journey that can mean only one thing—it's Prixin time! In this special holiday episode of To The Journey , hosts Zachary Fruhling, Kay Shaw, and Suzanne Williamson create Prixin wishlists for the Voyager crew. From Captain Janeway and Commander Chakotay, down the ranks to Ensign Kim and beyond, find out what each member of the Voyag...

Voyager Continuity.   Voyager is sometimes criticized for not having the same degree of continuity as Deep Space Nine or Enterprise . But in this episode of To The Journey , hosts Kay Shaw, Suzanne Williamson, and Zachary Fruhling discuss various examples of continuity in Voyager , from callbacks to previous episodes to continuity with the rest of the Star Trek universe. Together Kay, Suzanne, and...

Voyager Controversies. Introducing the new To The Journey with hosts Suzanne Williamson, Kay Shaw, and Zachary Fruhling! For their first assignment in the Delta Quadrant, Suzanne, Kay, and Zachary lay their Voyager cards on the table, sharing their thoughts on the things they love—and hate—about Voyager. From the status of crew relationships such as Janeway/Chakotay and Neelix/Kes, to their though...

What Made Voyager a Family. In the beginning, stranded in the middle of uncharted space was a divided crew against a slew of enemy aliens. It's a miracle Voyager got home at all, much less in seven years. But Voyager was the little ship that could, and one of the biggest reasons why was due to its crew. The transition of uniting Starfleet and Maquis crews into one had its initial hiccups (Seska an...

"Author, Author" Commentary. Just about any episode centered around The Doctor is likely to be entertaining. What's better than that? Well, what about an episode that's as entertaining as it is thought-provoking? Cue Voyager's "Author, Author," which aired in the last third of the seventh season. Motivated by the knowledge that EMH Mark I holograms like himself have been relegated to menial jobs,...

"Fury" in the Mirror Universe. In the previous episode of To The Journey, Char and Tristan set the stage for the next installment of the mirror universe series, so why not keep going? It's time for Kes' revenge! Three years have passed between the story written in the last TTJ and this one, which means some serious shenanigans have gone down aboard the ISS Intrepid. With the balance of power alway...

Voyager Mirror Universe, Part 5. In the same way that little kids will repeat an action if it makes an adult laugh, Char and Tristan are here to give the listeners what they want. And what they want is more adventures aboard the ISS Intrepid, better known as the Voyager mirror universe. Char and Tristan started creating their interpretation of the mirror Voyager crew in the Delta Quadrant back in...

Origin of the Borg. Ask a Star Trek fan about the how the Borg collective got started, and you might hear a few different theories. One is that the collective was started after V'ger joined with Decker in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Others point to stories in Star Trek literature that reveal the Borg Queen's rise to power over countless millions. But the truth is, nothing in canon states how th...

Voyager as an Animated Series. Star Trek's animated series is an often overlooked edition in the show's extensive catalogue. Yes, it was short-lived and yes, it wasn't always good, but it also made the most of telling Star Trek stories in an animated format — especially on a ridiculously low budget. But when we say that The Animated Series has an important place in Trek lore, don't take our word f...

"Resolutions" Commentary. Sometimes when things in life get tough, you've got to indulge in a little bit of comfort. For Char and Tristan, that comfort is a heaping serving of Janeway and Chakotay goodness. In this episode of To The Journey, Char and Tristan indulge in "Resolutions," the episode that drove the J/C shippers wild 20 years ago...and still does. It's got the implausible romance setup...

Create a New Character. With all the untapped potential Voyager had, it's not much of a surprise that "what if" speculations are a regular component of To The Journey. And guess what — this week is yet another scenario where Char and Tristan let their imaginations do the talking. This week, they add a member to the crew, describe his or her role on the ship, and explain how this character integrat...

Career Paths in the Future. You're 18 years old and a fresh graduate of Zefram Cochrane High School. The whole galaxy is your oyster. What do you do with your life? In this episode of To The Journey, Char and Tristan talk about the sort of life they would lead if money wasn't a factor in the workforce. While it's unfortunate that most of us don't have such a luxury in the 21st century, people in t...

Rewrite of "The Disease." Love hurts, and no one on Voyager knows that better than Harry Kim. He left behind his fiancee back on Earth and he's been down on his luck since, having unsuccessfully fallen for a hologram, an ex-Borg, and the wrong Delaney sister. When he falls madly in love Derran Tal in "The Disease," it's really not a surprise that something went wrong. Not only must Harry answer to...

A Chakotay/B'Elanna Prequel. Before finding peace at Janeway's side aboard Voyager, Chakotay was a self-described "angry warrior." A former Starfleet officer, he joined the Maquis to fight for his home planet against the Cardassians, and we unfortunately know little else. A recent listener email suggested that Char and Tristan write a pre-"Caretaker" story about the "angry warrior," so in this epi...

"Bride of Chaotica! Commentary. One of the most incredible parts of the convention experience is the cosplay, whether putting a costume together yourself or simply admiring the craftiness of others. With Star Trek Las Vegas still on their brains, Char and Tristan thought it was finally time they tackled a commentary of "Bride of Chaotica!" That way, they could talk about some of the incredible cos...

Star Trek Las Vegas. Every year around the first weekend in August, the Rio Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas is taken over with people dressed in Starfleet uniforms from every era, as well as Andorians, Klingons, Tellariates....and even Fear?! Ohh my! Star Trek Las Vegas takes the honor of being the largest Star Trek convention in the world, and this year was even bigger thanks to the celebration of...

"Time and Again" rewrite. The Voyager episode "Time and Again" does not stand out by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it is forgettable — and you *can* forget about it because in the end, the events that occur in the story are reset by mucking about with time! In this episode of To The Journey, Char and Tristan give "Time and Again" some love and think of ways they could improve the story...

Working in the Writer's Room. From the very beginning Voyager was loaded with potential, which was sadly not used to the fullest extent onscreen. On the bright side, it left fans like Char and Tristan a plethora of untapped possibilities to explore. In fact, episode rewrites and original stories that resolve loose threads have become To the Journey staples! In this episode, Char and Tristan transp...

Tom Paris Marathon. It's a crisp Sunday in October. The coffee's ready, the blankets are out, and Netflix is calling your name. It's time for a Voyager marathon. Longtime To The Journey listeners know how much Char and Tristan love creating five-episode marathons. So it should come as no surprise that in this episode, they resurrect the character-based marathon series they started tens of episodes...

Writing TNG's "The Game" into Voyager. Addiction is a powerful and potentially destructive thing. We saw just how quickly the cycle can start (and spread) in The Next Generation's "The Game," where a seemingly innocent game from Risa turned into a mind control ploy as a way of taking over the Enterprise. In this episode of To The Journey, Char and Tristan take the story from "The Game" and rewrite...

Bryan Fuller. When the news broke that Bryan Fuller was named the showrunner for the new Star Trek series set to debut in 2017, fan reaction was highly positive. Not only do Trek fans know of Fuller as someone who broke into Hollywood with a spec script for Deep Space Nine, but he wrote several episodes of Voyager and worked his way up to becoming a co-producer by the seventh season. Since then, F...

"Endgame" Commentary. After 172 episodes over the course of seven years, Voyager finished its journey and made it home. For To The Journey, it's been three and a half years and also 172 episodes. To commemorate this milestone, Char and Tristan deemed an "Endgame" commentary as an appropriate celebration. They start out drinking tea, but promptly switch to coffee when they realize how wrong it was...

Episodes that Exceeded Their Potential. Have you ever cringed at those one-sentence episode summaries on Memory Alpha or Netflix? You are not alone. Sometimes they break down the plot so simplistically that the summary makes the episode sound boring, cliche, or downright bad. Sometimes they barely describe the plot at all. The lesson to be learned here is that one should not judge an episode based...

Voyager Mirror Universe Story. Gather around everyone, it is time for another round of Voyager story time. In this episode of To the Journey, Char and Tristan return to the Voyager Mirror Universe they created. It is a crazy world where Ensign Kim feels entitled to power as a descendant of Empress Sato, and Captain Janeway shamelessly plays with the emotions of her first officer in the name of rea...

Interview with Garrett Wang. When Voyager first began, Ensign Harry Kim was a fresh Starfleet Academy graduate with a promising future. Young and gullible, he was often labeled the "green ensign" by fans. The actor behind the character, Garrett Wang, was also young when he landed the role in his mid-twenties. Beyond that similarity, however, Harry Kim is a far cry from the man who played him. Wang...