To The Journey: A Star Trek Voyager Podcast

"Muse" Commentary.   The Voyager story has always been epic in scope, with its 70-year journey home being reminiscent of Odysseus's ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the fall of Troy in the ancient Greek epic poem, The Odyssey. With this epic scope of the Voyager story, it's no accident that Kelis, a poet and playwright from an alien society reminiscent of ancient Greece, finds creative inspira...

Doomed Voyager Relationships - Part 2.   In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Zachary Fruhling and Suzanne Williamson continue their two-part discussion on doomed relationships in Star Trek: Voyager. In Part 2, Zachary and Suzanne explore the failed relationship attempts of B'Elanna Torres, Seven of Nine, Commander Chakotay, and Captain Janeway, from B'Elanna's old academy flame on the U.S.S....

Doomed Voyager Relationships - Part 1.   The relationship between B'Elanna Torres and Tom Paris is perhaps the only successful long-term relationship in all of Star Trek: Voyager. Far more numerous are the many failed relationship attempts, sometimes between members of the Voyager crew themselves, but more often between a member of the Voyager crew and a member of an alien species or (surprisingly...

Virtuoso.   In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Zachary Fruhling and Suzanne Williamson discuss the sixth-season Voyager episode "Virtuoso." From The Doctor's existential crisis and newfound musical fame with the Qomar Planetary Alliance to the diversity of musical styles in the 24th century, Zachary and Suzanne discuss the fleeting nature of celebrity and the pitfalls of letting it go to one...

Tuvix Alternatives.   The second-season Voyager episode "Tuvix" featured some amazing acting on the part of actor Tom Wright as Tuvix, a transporter-created hybrid of Tuvok and Neelix, capturing the distinctive personality traits and mannerisms of both characters. In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Suzanne Williamson and Zachary Fruhling imagine alternative Voyagercharacter hybrids besides T...

Halfway Home.   The seventh-season episode "Shattered" offers a tiny glimpse into one possible future for the Voyager crew, 17 years into the future. If the events of the Voyager series finale "Endgame" had not occurred, presumably Voyager would have continued its long trek back to the Alpha Quadrant over a period of 75 years. In that time, there would naturally be changes aboard Voyager as crew m...

Seska...What If?   Seska may be the character fans love to hate in Star Trek: Voyager. And sadly, or perhaps gladly, Seska met her demise at the beginning of Season 3. But what would have happened had Seska remained on Voyager for all seven seasons? How might the Voyagerstory have unfolded differently had Seska not in fact been a Cardassian spy, but instead an ordinary, run-of-the-mill (but still...

Course: Oblivion.   Things are looking up for the Voyager crew at the beginning of the fifth-season episode "Course: Oblivion," from the wedding of Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres to an enhanced warp drive. But that all changes when the ship and crew begin losing their molecular cohesion, only to discover that they are, in fact, merely biomimetic duplicates of the real Voyager ship and crew, created...

What Voyager Means To Us.   In this 50th episode of To The Journey with the hosting team of Kay Shaw, Suzanne Williamson, and Zachary Fruhling, we take a personal look at the Voyager moments and circumstances that meant the most to us in the course of our ongoing love affair with Star Trek: Voyager. From first impressions of Voyager to the ways Voyager has helped us through life's darkest moments,...

Non-Doctor/Seven Episodes in Seasons Five through Seven.   Seasons five through seven of Star Trek: Voyager are known for their many memorable episodes featuring the great on-screen chemistry and friendship of Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan as The Doctor and Seven of Nine, so much so that one might naturally think that seasons five through seven are really just the Doctor/Seven show! In this episode...

We Need to Talk about Chakotay.   Unquestionably the character of Commander Chakotay was underutilized in Star Trek: Voyager. But beyond merely being underutilized, some Star Trek fans have developed a form of loathing for Commander Chakotay, partly because of his nonplussed demeanor and partly because of his amalgam of stereotypes about Native American beliefs and spirituality. In this episode of...

"Year of Hell" Commentary.   The two-part episode "Year of Hell" is taken by many to be one of the highlights of season four of Star Trek: Voyager, if not of the entire Voyager series. From memorable moments with a certain replicated pocket watch to Annorax's Captain Ahab-like quest against time itself, "Year of Hell" shows the strength of the Voyager crew as a family, even in Voyager's darkest ho...

Prixmas Potluck.   Prixmas season is a time for merriment, Talaxian cheerfulness, and (of course) food! In this special holiday episode of To The Journey, hosts Suzanne Williamson, Zachary Fruhling, and Kay Shaw attend the Voyager Prixmas potluck in search of the crew's favorite Alpha Quadrant and Delta Quadrant holiday potluck dishes. Find out what the Voyager crew would bring for a little taste...

Desert Island Episodes - Voyager Season 4.   Season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager saw a great deal of change with the departure of Kes and the arrival of Seven of Nine. But it's also safe to say that Voyager hit its full stride in season 4, with the exploration of Seven of Nine's reclaimed humanity and some of the most memorable episodes in Voyager's entire run.   In this episode of To The Journey, host...

Daddy Issues.   While the crew of Voyager rightly constitute their own adopted family aboard Voyager, an important aspect of many Voyager characters' backstories is their troubled, or at least challenged, relationship with their respective fathers and father figures. From Tom Paris's sense of inadequacy in living up to Admiral Paris's expectations to The Doctor's ongoing attempt to build a relatio...

Defending "Threshold."   The second-season episode "Threshold" is generally acknowledged to be one of the weakest episodes of Star Trek: Voyager. But in this episode of To The Journey, hosts Suzanne Williamson, Kay Shaw, and Zachary Fruhling respond to a recent challenge to give their best defense, an apologia in the classical Greek sense, of "Threshold," discussing only its merits and leaving any...

The Conclusion.   In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Zachary Fruhling, Kay Shaw, and Suzanne Williamson go back into the writers' room to craft the conclusion of their hypothetical Voyager feature film trilogy, The Progenitors 3: Dennis Alexio Must Die! From the Guardian of Forever to Henry Starling, the ever-present Q, time travel, Borg nanoprobes, and love triumphant, Zachary, Kay, and Suz...

Spooky Voyager.   It's the haunting of To The Journey! In this special Halloween episode of To The Journey, hosts Kay Shaw, Zachary Fruhling, and Suzanne Williamson go in search of the scariest, spookiest, and downright creepiest episodes, moments, and imagery in all of Star Trek: Voyager. While Voyager is often considered to be a fairly lighthearted Star Trek series by comparison, Kay, Zachary, a...

New To The Journey! “Macrovirus? Tastes Like Chicken!” Desert Island Episodes - Voyager Season 3. If you could take three, and only three, episodes from season three of Star Trek: Voyager with you to a desert island, and not just any desert island, a desert island on a planet deep inside the Delta Quadrant 70,000 light years from home, which episodes would you choose?   In this episode of To The J...

Drone.   What do you get when you cross a few Borg nanoprobes, a piece of 29th-century holographic technology, and the DNA of a Starfleet ensign? One extremely souped-up 29th-century Borg drone! But this drone also comes with a human heart, willing to sacrifice himself for the well-being of his Voyager collective.   In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Zachary Fruhling, Suzanne Williamson, and...

Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres Relationship Analysis.   We see precious few genuine romantic relationships onscreen in Star Trek, and arguably the relationship between Tom Paris and B'Elanna Torres is the most fully developed relationship in all of Star Trek. Over the seven-year run of Star Trek: Voyager, we see the full progression of Tom and B'Elanna's romantic relationship, from their initial st...

Counselor Troi in Voyager.   Some fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation who didn't follow Voyager's seven-year trek home from the Delta Quadrant may not realize that Marina Sirtis reprised her role as Counselor Deanna Troi in three different episode of Star Trek: Voyager. Some people even (audaciously) maintain that Counselor Troi was a more sophisticated and effective counselor in Voyager as she...

Vorik Character Analysis.   Tuvok wasn't the only Vulcan aboard Voyager. In contrast to Tuvok's elder-statesman Vulcan persona was the more youthful and more enthusiastic Ensign Vorik. Being a youthful Vulcan, however, is not without its challenges. Your first Pon Farr can be especially disorienting when lost in the Delta Quadrant, 70,000 light years from the nearest Vulcan female. Just ask the ap...

"Pathfinder" Commentary.   Fans of Star Trek: The Next Generation were treated to not just one, but two, Next Generation cast members reprising their roles in the sixth-season episode of Star Trek: Voyager, "Pathfinder": Dwight Schultz as the nervous but endearing Lieutenant Reginald Barclay, and Marina Sirtis as Counselor Deanna Troi.   In this episode of To The Journey, hosts Zachary Fruhling an...

The Void.   With Voyager trapped inside a region of space absent of any matter, and under threat of siege by numerous alien vessels, Captain Janeway goes recruiting to form a mini-Federation alliance with the captains of some of the alien vessels, to pool their resources, to provide for their mutual protection, and to increase their collective chances of returning to normal space.   In this episod...