20 Best Episodes of Star Trek Voyager (2024) Exclusive List

When the famous Voyager premiered with seven seasons of adventures, the whole franchise seemed to have been forever changed. Although the fame of Kathryn Janeway, the first female captain of Star Trek, abruptly came to an end, Voyager still became a huge hit. 

Here are some of the best Star Trek: Voyager episodes that every Trekkie should never miss. 

20 Most Popular Episodes of Star Trek: Voyager

1. Year of Hell (Parts1 & 2) Season 4

In the fourth season of the Year of Hell (Parts 1 and 2), Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and her squad set out to defeat Kurtwood Smith, a time-manipulating genocidal villain Annorax. The villain in this epic two-part episode is a Krenim officer and a vengeful temporal scientist who wished to restore the Krenim Imperium to power.  

Determined to get back his lost wife, Annorax broke the law of physics and built a Krenim weapon ship, and assembled a company to rule the universe. Janeway and the crew struggled to defeat Annorax from tampering with the timeline. She also struggled to save Paris and Chakotay amidst the wreckage of the USS Voyager.

Watch the whole Star Trek franchise in order to see what we're talking about!

2. Equinox Seasons 5 & 6 

In this episode, Janeway and her company encountered another difficult situation when the Voyager was stuck with the Delta Quadrant, The Equinox. When the Delta Quadrant, Equinox’s Ahab-like commander, Captain Ransom (John Savage), plotted to hijack Voyager, Janeway had to fight back and protect their ship.  

3. Timeless (Season 5 Episode 6) 

This episode took place years after Ensign Kim and Chakotay tracked down Voyager, crashed the starship, and killed the entire crew and an entire civilization.

The story revolved around Ensign Harry Kim questioning his worth and blaming himself for the crucial accident that happened 15 years ago.

Finally, Harry Kim searched for a way to correct his wrongdoing by communicating with the past to warn the company before it’s too late.  

4. Living Witness Season 4 Episode 23

The Voyager encountered an alien race when the Starfleet crew was remembered as war criminals responsible for the deaths of millions of people. During this time, a reactivated holographic Doctor (Andy Dick) was the only crew member of the Voyager who was still alive.

Since he was in an Emergency Medical Hologram, he never aged nor died, as long as his subroutines are intact. This reactivated doctor (Robert Picardo) tried to clear the names of the crew and corrected the tarnished historical record of his long-deceased friends.

You'll get lots of home decor ideas in this episode, too!

5. Message in a Bottle (Season 4 - Episode 14) 

In this episode, an ancient communications relay to the Alpha Quadrant had been discovered by the crew. Thus, they were able to send the doctor to the experimental USS Prometheus, a Federation starship at the other end. 

However, the conflict arose when the doctor discovered that Romulans had taken over the ship. This episode even featured an Emergency Medical Hologram, which aimed to take the ship back home to have a new life.

6. Bride of Chaotica (Act 1 – 5) 

Ensign Kim and Tom Paris enjoyed a chapter of The Adventures of Captain Proton on the holodeck as Proton and Buster Kincaid, respectively. However, as they tried to save Constance Goodheart, Proton’s secretary, everything seemed to go out of their plans. 

They soon discovered a colored, subspace distortion in the middle of their black-and-white program. As a result, they mistook Voyager’s holodeck as a reality. Suddenly, the holodeck barged into Doctor Chaotica’s lair and declared war. 

This is one of the coolest episodes to watch for your birthday party! Your Trekkie friends will have a blast!

7. Scorpion Parts I & II (Seasons 3 & 4)

The Scorpion is an action-packed episode that battled with an offscreen threat, a long-standing rival of the Borg in the Delta Quadrant of space. And then, Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan), a borg attaché, became a member of Janeway’s crew. Voyager then teamed up with an enemy of their enemy to defeat it and make it home safe. 

8. Hope & Fear 

When Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) received and deciphered an encrypted Starfleet message, they found the Dauntless ship, a crewless Starfleet ship. Seven of Nine became cautious, so Janeway warned the crew to stay alert.

They soon found out that Arturis, an untrustworthy alien (Ray Wise) aboard the Voyager, owned the ship and had evil plans to destroy the Voyager. 

9. Blink of an Eye (Season 6) 

This season’s concept was time dilation and was set in the 24th century of the Star Trek universe, aboard the USS Voyager spaceship on its decades-long journey back to Earth.

It followed the crew’s interface with a world where time rapidly passed. The inhabitants thought of the Voyager as an inspiration, fixed in the night sky. 

10. Endgame (Season 7) 

In this season, Admiral Kathryn Janeway had to make a bold decision to change the past.

She wanted to undo all the tolls taken on the crew as they made their decades-long journey to reach the Alpha Quadrant and during their arduous journey home. This is the series’ final episode.

Can't get enough of this episode? Collect some Janeway memorabilia. They'll pretty amazing presents for your fellow Star Trek fan. 

11. Counterpoint (Season 5) 

For most Trekkie fans, Counterpoint is arguably the most underrated Voyager episode. The story revolved around the Voyager’s providing safe harbor to a cluster of telepaths hunted by Space Nazis, an alien race that hated them.

But when Kashyk, the telepath leader’s leader, decamped to Voyager and sparked a relationship with Captain Janeway, suspicion boiled over into a bittersweet betrayal.

12. Caretaker (Season 1) 

The Voyager and the Maquis had to overthrow a powerful alien, The Caretaker, to be transported back home. This alien transported both vessels 70,000 light-years across the galaxy. Simultaneously, Kazon, a group of warrior aliens, struggled to control the Caretaker’s space station. These warrior aliens aimed to become the most powerful force in the entire region. 

13. Latent Image (Season 5) 

The Latent Image featured a successful medical storyline that tapped into ethical/moral dilemmas with a tech twist. The Doctor and Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) had to uncover who tampered with the doctor’s memory and find out why. 

The story became more emotional when both soon discovered that Captain Janeway was the culprit in tampering with his program against his will. Janeway’s reason made the doctor (Robert Picardo) choose a hard choice that purposely broke him. 

14. Deadlock (Season 2) 

The Deadlock featured a fatally disabled Voyager Prime. The story pivoted at how Janeway volunteered to sacrifice her ship so the other Voyager ships could go on. Janeway and her crew then had to work with an alternate Voyager version to get themselves out of trouble. 

15. Tinker Tenor Doctor Spy (Season 6) 

This season gave off hilarious happenings at the Voyager’s hologram, the doctor (Robert Picardo). He was given the ability to daydream, giving the audience a glimpse of his fantasies, catching the attention of an alien race’s surveillance. Since the aliens thought the doctor’s fantasies were real, trouble and distress enveloped the whole crew. Now, the doctor must save the day.

16. Future’s End (Parts I & II) 

In this episode, every Starfleet and Voyager crew was given a chance to return to 20th century Earth. Right after the failed attempts of a time ship from the 29th century to destroy the Voyager, both vessels were transported back to 1990s America.

17. The Thaw (Season 3) 

Brace yourself, as this episode is arguably the most uncomfortable episode to watch in the whole Voyager series. The story started when a group of space aliens was hooked into a virtual reality machine to escape a natural disaster. At first, they thought they would enjoy an idyllic world created from their feelings and thoughts. However, their worries manifested in a clown and embodied their Fears. Then, this clown held them hostage, in an attempt to continue its existence. 

18. Mortal Coil (Season 4) 

In this exciting episode, Neelix died while partaking in a survey mission of a protomatter nebula. However, thanks to the doctor who used an effective technique devised by Seven of Nine, Neelix was revived after being dead for nearly 19 hours. 

The story revolved around Neelix’s questioning his religious beliefs, spiritual conquests, and confrontation with Alixia, his dead sister, who mocked him. He then was convinced that his life was meaningless. 

When it comes to collectibles, we saw a lot of potential toys and action figures in this episode!

19. Lineage 

This episode featured how B’Elanna discovered her pregnancy. And then, she became anxious that her daughter would share many of her Klingon traits. In this episode, Trekkies would learn more about B’Elanna, her past, and even her fears for the future. In this film, you will see a different side that is contradictory to her usually independent, strong, and brusque personality. 

20. Worst Case Scenario 

In this episode, various members of the Voyager crew discovered Insurrection Alpha, a holodeck simulation that the Maquis members devised to create mutiny against the Starfleet officers. When the program rose to fame, Tuvok (Tim Russ) claimed that he wrote the holodeck program to train his security officers for any possible Maquis rebellion. Paris then offered Tavok to finish the program in the holodeck but soon found themselves trapped in the virtual brig.

FAQs

• Is Star Trek Voyager the best Star Trek? 

It depends. Voyager may or may not be the best Star Trek series. Like most other shows, it has the best and worst episodes. However, our team also thinks Voyager is as great as the other series.  It especially gave us some of the science fiction saga’s most interesting lead characters in Death Wish, Killing Game, and Waking Moments episodes.

• Which is the best season of Voyager? 

Voyager’s best season by far is season four. This season featured amazing characters such as Seven of Nine of Borg Space, who had a genuinely compelling character arc - rediscovering her humanity and all. Her combination of the best aspects of Vulcans and Data made her a great source of humor. [1] 

• Why was Voyager Cancelled? 

According to Rick Berman, the lack of the serialization of the Voyager made him change the storylines. He was asked to take a more serialized approach in the final season like the Star Trek: Next Generation, even within the framework of the stand-alone episodes. The lack of serialization wasn’t driven by the lack of creative aspects of writers but by more of the economic spectrum. 

Time to Binge-watch!   

The Voyager is admittedly one of the best episodes of the Star Trek show. Like Star Wars, it also introduced interesting main characters that showed superior character development and depth. The storyline also divulged into various characters’ pasts, hidden secrets, and thought-provoking objectives, making the whole series more enjoyable. 

Thus, it isn’t surprising to know that many Trek fans are still re-watching the series even up to this date. Some deep-rooted fans even suggest this series to newbie Trekkies. Here’s one of the best bonus points: director LeVar Burton had a cameo role in Voyager as Captain Geordi La Forge.  

By the way, if you are a solid Trekkie, re-watching the science fiction saga may not be enough for you. If you happen to want to start collecting your Trekkie memorabilia, check out our collection here.