Voyager Premiered 30 Years Ago With a Great Pilot

Star Trek: Voyager debuted on January 16, 1995, and my first thought for celebrating this 30th anniversary was to discuss the ending, how we should have gotten more from the characters after this long epic journey and their struggle to return home, but I feel like we’re collectively ignoring those initial 3 seasons. Many people believe the show doesn’t truly get going until Seven of Nine appears, which almost seems unfair. So I wanted to talk about the first episode, the series premiere, and what I miss from this earlier setup, the parts that built up hype and could have worked for me had things gone differently. Voyager was an attempt to return to several Star Trek basics while still feeling fresh and new, but this is one trip that was never going to be easy.

Paramount finally had its own cable network, UPN (United Paramount Network), and wanted to launch with one of its signature programs, Star Trek. The franchise was in its prime, with TNG recently concluding, the Generations movie being released in theaters, and DS9 in its third season, creating another fresh set of stories in this universe for weekly television felt like a solid step forward. Voyager would chronicle the adventures of the titular Intrepid-class spaceship being stranded in the Delta Quadrant, as a mixed Starfleet and Maquis crew would work together to find a way home, facing an unknown and dangerous region of space on their 75-year journey.

The first episode, named “Caretaker,” followed the trend set by previous Star Trek shows of a double-length episode that would be split into two installments for syndication, though restored on modern streaming platforms. It debuted on a Monday for most people, but smaller markets ran it after a delay or on another evening, and a few affiliates didn’t show the first episode on its initial run at all. It was seen by 21.3 million viewers, kicking off an epic seven-season adventure, but many fans didn’t get to witness this first mission until later.

“…at ease before you sprain something.”

I won’t go over the plot for the entire episode here; there are plenty of places to read a full story breakdown, but the short version is that Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) has been tasked with locating a missing Maquis vessel, specifically because it has a spy onboard, her Head of Security, Lt. Tuvok (Tim Russ). With the help of a former Maquis member, Tom Paris (Robert Duncan McNeill), they navigate the Badlands but are hit by a displacement wave and find themselves on the other side of the known universe. Several crewmembers die, setting up openings for the main characters and raising the stakes on what’s to come. In this new undiscovered country, they encounter a powerful being referred to as the Caretaker, both crews are abducted and their DNA tested, before meeting a strange alien named Neelix (Ethan Phillips) and becoming involved in a conflict with the Ocampa and Kazon. Janeway is forced into an ethical dilemma and decides to destroy the array that pulled them there rather than see it fall into the hands of someone who would abuse its power. This action cements their new mission, finding a way home, as the Maquis crew is incorporated into the Federation ship, and both sides are forced to work together to survive this new part of space.

Voyager was being worked on while many other projects were in production, meaning that executive producers were stressed and had to make room for its creation in their spare time, mostly on lunches. The script took a while to construct and even longer for it to feel right like it had that element that made it sing: a little heart. The general idea seemed solid, but the connecting story, character arcs, and most scenes had to go through multiple revisions. Backgrounds, motivations, character names, and even the spelling of numerous elements were altered. Janeway herself went from being an Elizabeth, Nicole, or Kate and finally came back around to one of their earliest suggestions, Kathryn. Mulgrew wasn’t the first pick for the captain; she wasn’t even the first woman cast in the role.

At one point, the selection of Janeway was open to men and women, a highly sought-after role, but it quickly came down to several talented actresses, with the captain’s chair first being awarded to Geneviève Bujold (Caesar and Cleopatra, Tightrope). Primarily known as a film actress, Bujold reportedly couldn’t handle the rigorous weekly television schedule, but was also at odds with Winrich Kolbe (a veteran Trek director), over her portrayal of Janeway as a more restrained commander with a stoic presence. She announced her departure from the show on the second day of filming, and the higher-ups scrambled to find a suitable replacement. The studio was upset with this development, threatening to sue Bujold and her management over the cost of her exiting and having to pause production, resulting in wasted funds and three unusable days of filming, but eventually, these issues were worked out peacefully between both sides. A few of her scenes are actually on the season one DVD, which is an awesome bit of history. As a Babylon 5 fan, it’s also neat to see Tracy Scoggins as one of the potential names on that list, but now it’s a character that feels meant for Mulgrew.  

Another character that caught the eye of long-term fans was Tom Paris, whose background sounded rather familiar to a previous troublemaker, Cadet Nick Locarno from the episode “The First Duty,” who, to add to the confusion, was also portrayed by McNeill. Whether the creators simply didn’t want to deal with paying out royalties (most likely), or they legitimately wanted a slightly different, more likable protagonist (the actor’s belief), changes were made, but this connection stuck with many fans throughout most of the show’s run. Paris is almost the main character in this first episode, with his redemption taking up a chunk of the second hour.  

The cast felt like they were under a lot of pressure while filming this first episode, as expectations from the studio were high, and the surrounding hype for another new show was growing within the fan base. The performers had almost no time to prepare, get to know each other, or develop any level of chemistry, and there was no time for rehearsals or read-throughs. This wasn’t how things were normally done for the show, but Kolbe seemed to prefer it that way. They were going to be compared to multiple shows, and those previous versions of Trek also influenced the tone and story. DS9 was being called a failure internally at the time because although the numbers were positive, they weren’t matching those of later TNG airings. That show had leaned heavily into delving deep inside its characters, their psychology, religion, and regional politics, so Voyager would be thrust back into exploring the unknown on an action-packed, thrilling series of adventures, one ship against the universe. Producer Rick Berman even stated how they set up the idea of a second Caretaker, an entity that could quickly get the crew home if need be, as a trapdoor to use in case of emergency if the viewers weren’t enjoying the show and things needed to change quickly.  

This was also an incredibly expensive episode, reportedly costing $23 million to complete. After having to recast an actor, dealing with a sick director, and having to reshoot several key scenes because the studio didn’t like Mulgrew’s hairdo, this shoot spanned 31 days and pushed being finished on time. Even once everything was on film, several scenes were cut for time, and others were re-arranged or swapped within the order to fit the format, knowing the premiere would eventually be split into two episodes.

The hairstyling budget reportedly cost more than the visual effects, which seems wild, but extra stylists and make-up artists were brought on board to help with the large number of alien extras and for reshoots. Several interesting locations were used as well – some of which had to be quickly rebooked at great costs – but my favorite was Ocampa city, which I said looked like a food court until realizing it was the Los Angeles Convention Center, a place that many people might recognize as the home of E3, the Electronics Entertainment Expo, among other events. Along with a few glorious (but certainly noticeable) matte paintings, Voyager shared some wonderful sites off the ship in its opener.

Most publications were pleased with “Caretaker,” appreciating the aesthetics of this new Trek show and viewing it as a strong launch for the series. It created a strong challenge for the crew and managed to set most of the new characters up, even if the mixing of the Maquis members wasn’t perfect. Although many fans appreciated the touching interactions between Janeway and Tuvok when discussing Harry Kim’s (Garrett Wang) parents, many were less thrilled with how quickly the captain seemed to get over a portion of her crew dying or the speed at which the former Maquis leader, Chakotay (Robert Beltran), reinforces her authority. This man was almost making face tattoos work, and then he had to go and do that. 

There are also a few oddities in the story and unanswered plot points, some of which may be explained by the multiple script revisions, reshoots, or late-stage edits to make sure the episode would fit its format. Some fans are baffled about how the Kazon have trouble acquiring water if they have spaceships and why the Maquis were so quick to work with a Federation crew, or they wanted to know more about how Neelix and Kes (Jennifer Lien) met. The element that seems abandoned the most here, however, is the disease affecting Kim and B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson). It’s clearly not a concern by the end, but maybe the novelization of “Caretaker” gives more details about it.  

As a first taste, there’s a lot to like here. I was really into the idea of a female captain and how Janeway was presented – Mulgrew had a lot of additional pressure on her in that regard – strong, bold, yet concerned for those she leads (for now). The EMH (Emergency Medical Hologram, played by Robert Picardo) and the ship not having a traditional doctor seemed fascinating, Kes’ species only living nine years and possibly having powers was intriguing, plus all of this stuff with the Maquis potentially not fitting in. 

That’s taking this episode by itself, though; we know how much of this turned out. Several elements are quickly dropped or only barely come up – I still want to know what they’re doing with all of these dead bodies – resources are important at first, but less so in later seasons, Chakotay’s Native American heritage is never truly handled well, some minor characters could have been used more to help us connect with the crew as a whole (like Lt. Carey), and many potential story elements simply aren’t expanded on well or at all. It looked like Voyager wanted to explore some darker themes, have its crew make incredibly tough decisions, and question their ethics, all to make it home, but what would the costs be? That didn’t happen, though.

This doesn’t mean that Star Trek: Voyager isn’t good. It is, but there will always kind of be this weird asterisk next to that. As for “Caretaker,” many will argue that it is one of the best pilots in the franchise. Not the best, because that’s “Emissary.” Voyager’s first episode won two Emmys, but it never managed to garner those viewership numbers again, so talk about putting your best foot forward.

Something I learned recently about the show encapsulates the whole of Voyager so well. It has one of the best credit sequences in all of Star Trek, but there is actually a rendering error with the ship in several shots of the opening, two small black boxes appear on the underside of the ship. Many people will watch this show all the way through and never notice this, but it has been a known issue since the airing of the premiere and they’ve never bothered to fix it after 30 years. Even great shows are still disrespected.