Star Trek presented a socialist utopia in which humanity had evolved beyond differences of gender, race and even species to work for the advancement of the whole. Then it used that utopia to facilitate battles to the death, tense dilemmas and Viagra viruses (The Naked Now in case you were wondering). And it did all this with sets, costumes and creatures so distinct that fans continue to imitate them to this day.

A lot changed between that and Voyager of course. The Next Generation eventually stopped trying to live up to Rodenberry’s utopia and allowed whole other worlds of conflict. Deep Space Nine would make its name actively challenging the concept in landmark episodes such as Homefront and In the Pale Moonlight. So when Voyager got flung into the Delta Quadrant it was now in a wild unknown where it was free to disregard the more restrictive elements of Rodenberry’s vision. Voyager was given every gift that the Star Trek universe had to offer and it mishandled every one of them.

Stranding the crew in the Delta Quadrant? Brilliant. Doing it by having the Captain protect a species with a lifespan shorter than my dog (oh the Ocampa)? Less so. Integrating Maquis freedom fighters into a Starfleet crew? Brilliant. Making them completely identical to the rest of the crew? Rubbish. Worse still, the show held the principles of the Federation – and by extension Rodenberry – as some kind of religious dogma, unwavering and immutable. The captain always had to be right, the prime directive could not be breached for any reason.

All this reached a horrible event horizon with Alliances when, to ensure Voyager’s survival, Janeway attempted to negotiate with an enemy race. It would be the beginning of a new Federation of sorts, and like so much about Voyager it was a potentially great idea, but what happened? All non-Starfleet races were once again demonised as existential ‘others’ to maintain the status quo. From then on it was clear that, unlike its predecessors, Voyager had no intention of experimenting with new ideas. It was the show that was trying the hardest to live up to the legacy of The Original Series and it never could.

Despite all this, I have never been able to bring myself to condemn Voyager. To this day I still watch the show and find pleasure in more than the prospect of being assimilated by Seven of Nine. Part of the reason was personal circumstance; I happened to stumble upon it on a good episode – season five’s Warhead, a tight ticking-clock dilemma featuring a standout performance from Robert Picardo. Even Voyager’s harshest critics have admitted that Picardo’s role as the ship’s Emergency Medical Hologram, known as The Doctor is one of its saving graces. The man’s comedic flair can carry a scene even in an empty room.