User blog:ARTaylor/25 Years of Star Trek: Voyager

Today marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek: Voyager. The series followed the adventures of the USS Voyager after they are thrust to the other side of the galaxy and must make their way back to their home.

The series was the fifth in the Star Trek franchise and a spin-off of the other 24th Century series The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. It was the first series to have had no involvement at all from original creator Gene Roddenberry. The series ran from January 16th, 1995 and May 23rd, 2001. It lasted one-hundred seventy-two episodes across seven seasons. The series was notable as the first in the franchise to utilize computer graphics, including several completely computer generated characters, as well as the first to feature a female captain.

While the series never reached the heights of its predecessors, the series achieved high praise from fans and critics. It received numerous award nominations and won many of them including several Emmys and Saturn Awards. Like the other shows, it spawned several books and comics. It has been ranked amongst the best science fiction shows ever made.

The series featured the talents of Tim Russ as main character security chief Tuvok, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as the voice of the computer, Dwight Schultz as Reginald Barclay, Virginia Madsen as tracker Kellin, John Rhys-Davies as a hologram of Leonardo da Vinci, Michael Ansara as Klingon commander Kang, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Jonathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Jeffrey Combs as Norcadian Penk, George Takei as Captain Hikaru Sulu, Iona Morris as Umali, Alan Oppenheimer as the Nezu Ambassador, Phil Morris as Lieutenant John Kelly, Mark L. Taylor as Jarlath, Frank Welker as an alien creature, Joseph Campanella as a Federation arbitrator, William Morgan Sheppard as Qatai, Hamilton Camp as Controller Vrelk, Richard McGonagle as Commander Pete Harkins, Robert Ito as John Kim, Michael Horton as Kovin, and Robert Axelrod as Egrid. Burton, Frakes, and Russ each directed episodes of the show. Larry Brody worked as a writer on an episode.