In January 1995, I was a high school freshman and fairly recent convert to science fiction/fantasy (adding the science fiction to my already dominant fantasy tendencies). I was writing Star Wars fanfiction — even though I didn’t know that “fanfic” was a term — and had fallen for the crew of the starship Enterprise in the movie I would refer to as: “you know, the whale one.” I was perfectly primed to commit to a long-term relationship with Star Trek and, lo and behold, a new series was starting…

Star Trek: Voyager could have been timed just for me. Sure, it aired at an inconvenient time and night for my central time zone household, but I wanted to be on board that ship from the start of its adventures. From what I recall of those more than 20-year-old memories, I was immediately taken in by the women of the series: Voyager’s stern (but not too stern) captain, Kathryn Janeway; her hot-headed engineer, B’Elanna Torres; and the compassionate, short-lived alien who joined her crew when everything went awry, Kes.

My relationship with the series waned in light of other high-school-aged responsibilities and a cross country move to start college early — but, oh, those early days held a rosy image. I wondered, all these years later: Would the show hold up to my expectations? What would I notice as an adult that I’d missed as a teen? And, despite my willingness to love the show so wholeheartedly, would that pilot episode that had drawn me in actually be any good?

Further Reading: An Episode Roadmap to Star Trek: Voyager