star trek kes

Why Did Kes Leave Voyager: The Tragedy Of Jennifer Lien & Her Star Trek Character

The following article discusses  mental health.

When "Star Trek: Voyager" premiered in 1995, it had the virtue of subverting the brand for the better. Not only was Captain Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) the first female captain in the franchise, but the show's concept also took a turn. Instead of going on a five-year diplomatic mission famous in the "Star Trek" lexicon, the Voyager crew tries to find their way home after getting lost in the Delta Quadrant. "Voyager" had a cast of unprecedented characters , including that of the Ocampa, Kes (Jennifer Lien). Kes was fascinating because of her use of telepathy and streamlined life span of only nine years. She offered many interesting opportunities for the series, but unfortunately, it didn't come to fruition. After only three years on the show, Lien left the series — a loss for many behind the scenes.

Speaking to "Star Trek Monthly," Mulgrew said the following regarding Lien's departure: "A great sorrow to me on many levels, foremost among them being the fracturing of an ensemble cast that was extremely special to me." At the time, the reasons for Lien leaving the show were a little murky. Writers confessed to feeling they wrote themselves into a corner with her character. But in later years, a sadder truth was revealed. Lien's mental health became increasingly unstable, and despite best intentions, the "Star Trek" producers had no other option but to release her from her contract.

Lien's issues continued after leaving Star Trek

Letting Jennifer Lien go had not been the production's first choice. Though specifics on the actor's condition were never offered, she had been dealing with it for some time. As her performance started to deteriorate, the crew tried to help.

"We knew that there was something going on," producer Jeri Taylor said in "Star Trek Voyager: A Celebration," the 2020 book revolving around the series. "But she wouldn't talk or let us offer to help." With no other foreseeable options, showrunners decided to write her out of the show. Her departure occurred at the beginning of Season 4 when Kes' telepathic abilities spiral out of control, resulting in her transforming into an orb of energy. 

Unfortunately for Lien, quitting acting was not the solution. The former "Voyager" star had brushes with the law, including an incident where she was arrested for indecent exposure. Per  Variety , Lien exposed herself to children in 2015, reportedly resisting arrest and threatening violence against the arresting officers. After paying restitution, she stayed out of the public eye until 2018, when WATE 6  reported she was arrested for driving on a revoked license.

If you or someone you know needs help with mental health, please contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website .

Kes has already begun to develop her abilities, pursuing a full-fledged medical training course with the EMH Doctor and studying Vulcan mental disciplines with Tuvok. She has already led the ship into a disappointing rendezvous with the "female Caretaker" Susporia and a renegade Ocampa colony of advanced yet malevolent brethren, who almost allowed her to lose control of her new powers and kill her Vulcan friend. Kes' medical training has advanced so far that she can now handle away team medical duties, a welcome relief for the holographic doctor. She also helps Neelix in the kitchen and handles the airponics bay gardening.

She had first met Neelix when he stole water from the Kazon-Ogla to bring to her, and now absolutely adores him, standing by in his times of crisis; while doing all she could to discourage his jealous streak she was baffled when he and his perceived rival Paris came back old pals from birthing a reptilloid infant, and was even fearful to tell him that she and the Doctor were married in his holo-program malfunction. She has indeed developed a close friendship with the Doctor, whose medical teaching is repaid in a way by her encouragement on the road to his increasingly human programming - including hints about bedside manner, raising his level of respect by the rest of the crew, and a joint effort with Paris to get him and Vidiian Dr. Danara Pel's hologram together for a date.

Kes faces the greatest crisis of her young life when she became prematurely pregnant with the elogium due to the electrophoretic activity of nearby space-dwelling creatures and confronted with Neelix the emotional roller-coaster of whether or not to conceive a child at her young age. She opted not to, but the absence of the creatures and remission of the elogium effects made it a moot point; she should be fine at the right time. She would have chosen her father to perform her rolisisin pre-mating ritual had she been home for it; her mother may not be alive, since she is unmentioned.

Our "youngest" crew member, aside from Samantha Wildman's baby, continues to make incredible growth and contributions to this crew as she nears her third Ocampan birthday. I do not know how we could have survived without advanced medical skills if not for her independent and quick-witted actions during the Swarm attack, when she initialized and grafted on more memory to our EMH when its memory database overloaded and began to degrade. It is too her humanity that she spoke out against fully blanking the Doctor's acquired memory and personality, and I understand she has more than risen to the challenge of aiding himin his newly mobile state. This is why, apart from the personal note, I felt the need to risk retrieving Kes from the Nechani.

Since her premature elogium, the past year has been nothing but an emotional rollercoaster for Kes as well, beginning with Neelix and Tuvok's freakish transporter merger into one new lifeform, dubbed Tuvix, and her disquiet with his residual attraction for her. Her reaction, along with many other factors, led to the decision I made at that time to try for the separation.

Closer to home, her body's possession by the Ilaran warlord Tiernan has affected her perception of Tuvok, the Doctor, and even Neelix, although it is to her credit that Kes' will and ethics fought through the abduction. Still, I note with some sadness that she and Neelix have embarked on a platonic relationship for now at her request; it is good to know, for instance, that he still prepares her favorite meal of Trellian crepes on Wednesdays. But I wish them well along whatever path they choose.

Kes has undergone a radical evolutionary process. Following contact with the species known only by their Borg designation as "8472", Kes began to exhibit extremely elevated serotonin levels. After running a micro-synaptic analysis, I found no way to slow the increase in telesynaptic activity. Kes continued to destabilize at the molecular level and eventually became a being seemingly comprised of pure energy. Kes left the starship Voyager at the time of her destabilization, but imparted a gift to the crew; she propelled us 9, 500 light years towards home, completely circumventing Borg space.

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5 Great Kes Moments From Star Trek: Voyager

The Voyager nurse fit a lot of action into her short life.

Voyager was a show that did it’s darnedest to do right by all its women characters —led by the powerful example of Kate Mulgrew — and during her three-and-change seasons on Voyager, Kes had some strong and memorable episodes !

The Story Of Why One Of Star Trek: Voyager's Most Divisive Characters Left The Show

In January 1995, Paramount launched the United Paramount Network, a brand-new TV station with a massive lineup of original shows. Its original 1995 lineup included thrillers like "Marker," "Deadly Games," "Nowhere Man," and "The Watcher," as well as sitcoms like "Platypus Man," and "Pig Sty." The UPN's flagship program was a brand new "Star Trek" series called "Star Trek: Voyager," the fifth series in the franchise and the first to launch after the end of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" the year before. The premise essentially mixed "Star Trek" with "Lost in Space," throwing a ship called the U.S.S. Voyager clear across the galaxy, about 75 years from Earth. Facing limited resources and no backup from Starfleet — none of the local aliens had ever heard of the Federation before — the ship faced a long journey home. 

In the pilot episode, the crew of the Voyager took on a pair of local aliens. There was the Talaxian chef Neelix (Ethan Phillips) and his Ocampa girlfriend Kes (Jennifer Lien). Neelix was a jolly hobbit-like character who didn't ever quite understand Starfleet's formalism and propriety. Kes was a gentle, compassionate character who brought a sense of conscience to the show. She was mildly psychic, but was still too young to master her powers. Controversially, her species only had a lifespan of nine years, and while Lien was 20 when "Voyager" debuted, Kes' stated age of two led some to feel Neelix was committing pedophilia. 

Despite being part of a beloved media franchise, "Voyager" floundered in the ratings for its first three seasons. For the fourth season, Kes was replaced by the character Seven of Nine, a statuesque ex-Borg played by Jeri Ryan. Ratings improved thereafter, and Seven became the show's most important character.

But why was Kes targeted?

Why was Kes targeted?

The concept for Kes was interesting. "Star Trek: The Next Generation" had lasted seven seasons, and it seemed that "Deep Space Nine" was heading down the same path. If "Voyager" was to follow suit, coming to a conclusion after seven years, then a character who lives nine years would provide an interesting arc. Kes was to be an adolescent at the beginning of the series but would die of old age by the end. An entire person's life would be presented in microcosm, and the crew would have to see Kes through a century of life experience in only seven years. Kes, meanwhile, would have to confront the fact that the Voyager crewmates around her don't appear to be aging at all. 

Kes also provided "Voyager" with a vital sense of ethics. Captain Janeway ( Kate Mulgrew ) was action-oriented and had something of an authoritarian streak . When presented with aliens or ethical dilemmas, Kes was the one who encouraged open-mindedness and empathy. She was the one who first suggested that the ship's holographic doctor (Robert Picardo) might be alive. Picardo once said that he loved Kes as a character , as he taught her medicine, and she taught him humility. Kes wasn't a cold-hearted diplomat, but a calming, gentle presence. She would also eventually develop more agency as the show progressed, dumping Neelix and developing her growing psychic powers. 

On a special feature on the DVD for the fourth season of "Voyager," producer Jeri Taylor said that Paramount thought that the show had too many characters, a fact that fans had postulated for years. The story goes that either Jennifer Lien or Garrett Wang, who played Ensign Harry Kim was going to be fired and replaced. 

People Magazine saved Kim. Lien was not so lucky.

The People Magazine of Destiny

In the third season of "Voyager," increasingly desperate measures were being taken to snag a flagging audience. Guest stars from previous "Star Trek" shows ( Jonathan Frakes , John De Lanice, Dwight Schultz) appeared. The crew's usual holographic hangout of a pool hall was replaced by a bikini beach. It smacked of desperation. 

The show's producers were also at a loss as to how to write stories for Kes and Harry Kim. This was confirmed at a convention in 2014 when "Voyager" co-creator Brannon Braga said: "We were running out of things to do with Kes. We had to make room in the budget for a new character in the cast so there was a pragmatic reason but it was primarily a creative decision." 

So someone was going to be cut, and the cast was going to be reworked. When it came to deciding between Kes and Harry Kim, however, People Magazine saved one of them. A 1997 issue featured a photo of Garrett Wang, declaring him one of the magazine's "Most Beautiful People."  That seems to have given Wang a reprieve and led to Jennifer Lien being fired. 

The "farewell" story for Kes involved her psychic powers. They were growing too strong too quickly, and Kes felt she had to leave the ship to protect her friends. Mulgrew admitted on the "Voyager" DVD that she loved working with Lien, and that when Captain Janeway bid farewell to Kes, the tears were quite real. 

Braga was pitched the idea of adding a Borg to the cast as the intriguing new character replacement. His co-creator Rick Berman said, according to Braga on a featurette for the home release of season 4, to "Make it a Borg babe," and Seven of Nine was created. Given that Jeri Ryan was constantly dressed in a skintight catsuit and corset , she was clearly invented for prurient reasons. 

Jennifer Lien's career

Seven of Nine soon became the primary focus of the series.  Robert Picardo once noted that she was so popular, she began to usurp the kinds of stories that would have once been handed to the Doctor. He also missed having a character like Kes to balance the Doctor, and Picardo suggested that Seven of Nine could perhaps be used in a similar way. No such luck. Seven of Nine became her own entity. Ratings for "Star Trek: Voyager" improved and improved. It, too, lasted seven seasons. 

Jennifer Lien did return to play Kes in a time-travel episode called "Fury" (May 3, 2000). By then, Kes was a destructive, middle-aged psychic. "Fury" was meant to give Kes better closure, but the episode wasn't terribly good. Some even consider it to be one of the worst episodes of the series. 

Lien, meanwhile, gave up on acting shortly thereafter. She would voice a character in the "Men in Black" animated series through 2000, but when her son was born in 2002, she retired altogether. Sadly, Lien's mental health suffered, and, in the mid-2010s, was arrested for several crimes, including ramming a cop car , mooning the neighbors , and driving under the influence . Many of those charges were later dropped. 

Lien did attend a few "Star Trek" conventions after 2000 but has largely retreated from associations with the franchise. The Ocampa are rarely mentioned in extant Trek lore, and Kes is rarely referred to. When the "Voyager" cast reunited in 2020 for a public appearance, Lien was absent. The reasons for her absence can only be conjectured. 

One can merely hope that she's living the life she wants, and is content at home.

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8 Ways to Service an Air Conditioner

3 ways to stop a baby from vomiting, 3 ways to save instagram highlights, skills needed for reading comprehension: everything you need to know, how to change the language in android, 3 ways to permanently delete facebook messages, how to tie the sides of a shirt: 8 simple steps, phonics rules: everything you need to know, how to fill a flask: 8 steps, 3 ways to treat skin disease in hamsters, jennifer lien’s 6 best star trek: voyager episodes as kes.

Jennifer Lien’s portrayal of Kes in “Star Trek: Voyager” provided the series with a unique perspective on humanity and personal growth. Despite her relatively short tenure on the show, Kes left an indelible mark on the Voyager saga through some truly memorable episodes. Here are six of the best Kes-centered episodes that showcase Jennifer Lien’s talents and the depth of her character:

1.”Before and After” (Season 3, Episode 21): This episode is a standout for Kes fans, featuring a narrative that revolves around Kes experiencing her life in reverse. We witness an older version of Kes moving backward through time, getting progressively younger. It delves into themes of love, loss, and the impact one has on others’ lives.

2.”Cold Fire” (Season 2, Episode 10): Kes comes into her own as her telepathic abilities expand under the guidance of a fellow Ocampa who shows her how to tap into her psychokinetic powers. But she faces a moral dilemma when she discovers the potential destructive nature of these new abilities.

3.”Warlord” (Season 3, Episode 10): Jennifer Lien demonstrates her range as an actress in this episode where Kes’s body becomes host to an alien warlord named Tieran. Her performance is gripping as she portrays a vastly different personality from the gentle Kes viewers had come to know.

4.”The Gift” (Season 4, Episode 2): This emotionally charged episode is crucial for both Kes’s character arc and Voyager’s journey home. As her powers grow uncontrollably, threatening both her life and the ship, Kes makes a sacrifice that propels Voyager closer to home—a true testament to her evolution and selflessness.

5.”Elogium” (Season 2, Episode 4): In this early episode, Kes begins the Ocampa reproductive process called elogium but questions whether it’s too soon for her to have a child. The episode deals with issues of maturation and responsibility, providing depth to the character’s personal journey.

6.”Twisted” (Season 2, Episode 6): While not solely focused on Kes, this episode places her in an intriguing situation as Voyager encounters a spatial distortion wave that rearranges parts of the ship. It allows Kes to showcase her developing role within the crew as she helps them navigate this perplexing phenomenon.

In these episodes, Jennifer Lien’s portrayal of Kes helped explore complex narratives and deep emotional territory within the tapestry of “Star Trek: Voyager,” leaving fans with lasting impressions of her character’s journey.

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Sacred Ground

• Episode aired Oct 30, 1996

After Kes is injured by an energy field on a planet's sacred ground, Janeway must undergo a spiritual quest in order to save her life. After Kes is injured by an energy field on a planet's sacred ground, Janeway must undergo a spiritual quest in order to save her life. After Kes is injured by an energy field on a planet's sacred ground, Janeway must undergo a spiritual quest in order to save her life.

• Robert Duncan McNeill
• Gene Roddenberry
• Rick Berman
• Michael Piller
• Kate Mulgrew
• Robert Beltran
• Roxann Dawson
• 50 User reviews
• 6 Critic reviews

• Capt. Kathryn Janeway

• Cmdr. Chakotay

• Lt. B'Elanna Torres
• (as Roxann Biggs-Dawson)

• Lt. Tom Paris

• Ensign Harry Kim

• Ritual Guide

• The Magistrate
• Security Guard
• (uncredited)

• Crewman Fitzpatrick
• Michael Piller (showrunner)
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Did you know

• Trivia This is the directorial debut of Robert Duncan McNeill .
• Goofs The elders claim that, to get through the biogenic field, one must have no doubt or hesitation, one must believe in making it past the field; yet, when Kes tried to walk through the field, she had no idea it was there and full confidence that she would make it past that particular area, and still she was struck down, an apparent contradiction. There is a difference, however, between doing something despite one's fears and doing something in ignorance of any possible consequence. This point was demonstrated by Janeway, who reached into the basket knowing some kind of creature was in there, as opposed to innocently reaching into it without knowing something potentially lethal was in it.

Old Man #2 : If you can explain everything, what's left to believe in?

• Connections Referenced in Inglorious Treksperts: We'll Always Have Paris (2021)
• Soundtracks Star Trek: Voyager - Main Title Written by Jerry Goldsmith Performed by Jay Chattaway

User reviews 50

• Dec 13, 2022
• What is Star Trek: Voyager "Sacred Ground" about?
• October 30, 1996 (United States)
• United States
• Official site
• Paramount Studios - 5555 Melrose Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (Studio)
• Paramount Television
• See more company credits at IMDbPro

Technical specs

• Runtime 46 minutes
• Dolby Digital

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Fury (episode)

• View history
• 1.2 Act One
• 1.3 Act Two
• 1.4 Act Three
• 1.5 Act Four
• 1.6 Act Five
• 2 Memorable quotes
• 3.1 Production
• 3.2 Continuity
• 3.3 Reception
• 3.4 Apocrypha
• 3.5 Production timeline
• 3.6 Video and DVD releases
• 4.1 Starring
• 4.2 Also starring
• 4.3 Also Starring
• 4.4 Guest Stars
• 4.5 Co-Stars
• 4.6 Uncredited Co-Stars
• 4.7 Stunt Double
• 4.8 Stand-ins
• 4.9 References
• 4.10 External links

Summary [ ]

Janeway presents Tuvok a birthday cake

In her ready room , Janeway is grilling Tuvok about a secret he has been keeping. She walks over to the replicator and produces a birthday cake as it turns out to be Tuvok's birthday. Tuvok reluctantly blows out the candle on the cake, claiming it was a " fire hazard ". Commander Chakotay calls Janeway to the bridge . The USS Voyager has received a distress call from a small ship . Sensors reveal the ship has one Ocampan lifeform on board. It is an aged Kes , now around six or seven years old and appearing frail and weak, asking for permission to beam aboard. When Captain Janeway questions her motives, Kes cuts the com channel. Immediately after, her ship is on a collision course with Voyager and just before it is destroyed, Kes manages to transport herself on board.

Act One [ ]

Kes makes her way to engineering

Furiously, she makes her way to engineering , giving off high levels of neurogenic energy that destroy the sections she is walking through. She does not respond to any hails from the captain and even force fields cannot hold her back.

Kes vanishes in the present...

All attempts by Ayala and a security guard to stop her fail and she finally reaches engineering , making her way to the warp core . While she is holding on to the core, she kills B'Elanna Torres with an energy pulse emitted from it. Holding on ever stronger to the warp core, she lights up and disappears. She somehow uses the warp core to travel back in time to 2371 , 56 days and 17 hours after Voyager had become trapped in the Delta Quadrant .

...and re-appears in the past

In 2371, there are now two Keses: the one that belongs to 2371 and the one that has traveled back in time to 2371. Materializing right next to the warp core, she transforms herself into a duplicate of the young Kes. The Torres of 2371 asks Kes if she would like to stay and observe a warp core assembly , but she tells the chief engineer she is needed in sickbay . Upon arriving there, Kes starts fiddling around with some of The Doctor 's medical instruments. The Doctor is annoying her with his questions about what name to pick for himself. Barely listening to him, she picks up a hypospray and rushes out of sickbay.

Kes takes on her former appearance

In the airponics bay , the real Kes who belongs to the timeline, is attacked from behind by the "old" Kes, sedated and hidden, so that there are not two Keses walking around the ship.

Act Two [ ]

" The Delta Flyer . "

In the mess hall , Tom Paris and Neelix are chatting about some unique names he could use for a cheeseburger he has made, when Kes walks in and asks Neelix for some coffee that she wants to bring for the captain. She is a bit grumpy and distanced, unable to laugh at Neelix's jokes as she used to. She grabs a canister with coffee and goes to the captain's ready room. Janeway and Chakotay are there discussing the Vidiians , with the captain and first officer discussing the plight of the imperiled species and the lengths they go to to harvest organs. Chakotay wonders what Humans would do if they were faced with similar circumstances. Kes arrives shortly after and she spills some coffee on the captain's desk, supposedly by accident, and when the captain is called to the bridge, Kes accesses Janeway's computer terminal. When Kes leaves the ready room, Tuvok, who is standing on the bridge at the science station with Janeway and Ensign Wildman , looks at her from afar as if he sensed something.

" The Delta what? "

Later, during a staff meeting in Voyager 's briefing room which is all about finding a way to evade the Vidiians and navigate the ship through a region of space densely packed with subspace vacuoles , Tuvok suggests taking the Delta Flyer with its advanced sensors to navigate through the region. This comes as a big surprise to everyone, because they have never heard of a Delta Flyer . Tuvok apologizes, believing that he must have been thinking of another starship .

" Planning on going somewhere? "

Paris finds Kes sitting in a shuttle programming a trajectory to Ocampa and asks her if she is homesick . She claims she's not. She's "studying" the helm configuration and asks Paris to teach her how to fly. He agrees to give her some tutorials in the holodeck in an old Class 1 shuttle .

" Identify yourself! " " It's me Tuvok, Naomi Wildman. "

While entering a turbolift Tuvok sees Naomi Wildman . He follows the hallucination to Cargo Bay 2 where he sees the alcoves with all the rescued former Borg, Azan , Rebi , and Seven of Nine , regenerating. Then he snaps back to reality when Lieutenant Carey , working at a console, asks him if he is all right.

Kes finds a message from Neelix

Kes walks into her quarters to find that Neelix has prepared one of her favorite meals for her, leaving her a message that says how much he misses her. Suddenly, she becomes irrationally angry and furious, throwing everything off the table and yelling at the computer to turn off the music. She then asks it to open an encrypted channel and direct the signal to the Vidiians whom she informs about Captain Janeway's plan to evade their vessels. She offers to send them tactical data on shields , weapons and anything else they need to take Voyager . In return, she asks for safe passage back to Ocampa for herself and one other person. When asked by the Vidiian why she is abandoning her crew, she coldly states that they are not her crew, for they abandoned her long ago.

Act Three [ ]

Kes is back in airponics checking up on her younger self whom she apparently has hidden in one of the drawers. After finding everything okay she heads over to a computer console to ascertain Voyager 's tactical information where she bypasses the command authorization by using her powers.

" It does feel like we're sneaking through a graveyard at midnight. "

In the meantime, Tuvok discusses his hallucinations with the captain in her quarters . He informs her of having run into a half- Human , half- Ktarian girl named Naomi Wildman in the turbolift and also of his encounter with a woman and several children with cybernetic implants. He cannot explain what is happening to him. Even though he has had hallucinations before, it has always been in the context of deep meditation . However, these are specific, evoking a sense of anticipation. He is concerned because Vulcans generally do not have premonitions. Janeway instructs the computer to run a continuous scan around Tuvok so they can monitor what is happening to him next time he has another one of his visions.

The final premonition

Then Chakotay calls them to the bridge to inform them they have reached the subspace vacuoles. Voyager is programmed to fly at warp and make course corrections according to previously made scans of this region. This is going to take 3 hours 12 minutes and 11 seconds according to Tom Paris with 216 course changes. After the first course correction the captain leaves for sickbay to ask about Ensign Wildman . Then Tuvok has another hallucination. This time it is a sensor reading of a vessel on a collision course, which no one else is seeing. Tuvok asks to be relieved of duty.

The Doctor, albeit reluctantly because of doctor-patient confidentiality, confirms Ensign Wildman's pregnancy which is producing a half-Ktarian female offspring, Janeway realizes that everything Tuvok said is true and that there is something very strange going on.

" Tachyons. "

Tuvok's hallucinations become stronger and more frequent until he finally breaks down in engineering and goes into synaptic shock. Examining the proximity scan of Tuvok at the time where he broke down in engineering, Janeway discovers a surge in tachyon particles, indicating temporal distortions and thus probably time travel . While nervous about these findings and researching the occurrence of tachyon particles elsewhere on the ship, Voyager suddenly finds itself under attack by the Vidiians.

Act Four [ ]

Voyager breaks free

" Now one of you doesn't belong here, and I'm guessing it's you. "

The Vidiians keep matching Voyager 's shield frequencies. Then the Vidiian ship attaches itself to Voyager 's hull , trying to access the ship directly. Janeway asks for the neural agent The Doctor has been developing and asks him to release it in the sections where the Vidiians have cut a hole through the hull, but much to their horror they find that environmental controls are not responding; they have been locked out of that system, all command relays have been fused and the Vidiians are about to board Voyager . Janeway realizes that the Vidiians knew where to find them, along with their shield frequencies and which systems to target.

Janeway, out of options, is forced to kill Kes

An electromagnetic fluctuation indicative of a transmission is detected in the airponics bay. Bioreadings pick up two Keses. Janeway makes her way down there, where Kes is about to unsuccessfully initiate a site-to-site transport. Janeway confronts her in the airponics bay. When asked why she is helping the Vidiians, Kes tells her that she is from a future she is hoping to change, and uses her telekinetic powers to throw Janeway around the bay and out of her way. She says that she won't let them hurt her again by taking her from Ocampa, her home. She claims to have been a prisoner on this ship, a child who was corrupted by their ideas of exploration and discovery. She tells her that in three years she will leave Voyager in search of higher things because Janeway encouraged her to develop her mental abilities; something she was not ready for. She couldn't control what she found. It scared her, and she felt she had nowhere to go. She thought of returning home to Ocampa, but knew that the people on her home world would be frightened by her mental abilities and not accept her. But they will accept the younger Kes, the one she is holding and wanting to transport over to the Vidiian ship.

The mask falls off

All attempts by Janeway to make her understand reason fail, and Kes becomes more and more furious until finally Janeway has no choice but to set her phaser to kill Kes. Meanwhile, Chakotay, utilitzing decisive and creative tactics, manages to break Voyager free of the Vidiian ship and drive them off.

Act Five [ ]

Janeway contemplates what is to come

Later, in engineering, Tuvok, who is standing in front of the warp core, says that Kes was standing exactly here during his last premonition, where she appeared older, her face tired. They note that tachyons are concentrated in the warp core and that it was possible that she used the core to travel back in time. If that is true, then she will need it again but unfortunately, they don't know when that will be and yet they have to be ready for it.

The present arrives again

When young Kes regains consciousness, Captain Janeway tells her in confidence what has happened and that they will need her help to prevent it from happening again.

" I'd almost forgotten. "

Five years later, Voyager receives a distress call from a small ship. Sensors reveal the ship has one Ocampan lifeform on board. It is an aged Kes, who appears frail and weak, asking for permission to beam aboard. When she hears that, Janeway, who admits she had almost forgotten the incident, is immediately alerted and knows what to do. She raises shields and goes to red alert and orders the emergency evacuation of deck eleven. Kes' ship is on a collision course with Voyager and just before it crashes, Kes beams herself on board. Furious, she makes her way to engineering, giving off high levels of neurogenic energy that destroy the sections of the corridor she is walking through. She does not respond to any hails and even force fields cannot hold her back. On the bridge, Janeway orders the shutdown of the warp core and signals to Tuvok to be ready and follow her.

" Try to remember who you were; try to remember me. "

In engineering, Janeway plays the hologram Kes had recorded before leaving Voyager . In that, the holographic recording of Kes reminds her older self that no one forced her to do anything; that she was the one who made the decision to leave Ocampa and also the one who made the decision to leave Voyager . She asks her not to take revenge and just find another way home with the captain's help. She asks her to try and remember who she used to be. Janeway walks in, telling her what will happen if she crosses the timeline again. She offers her to stay with them on Voyager but Kes says that she cannot, for she does not belong there anymore and needs to be with her own people. Suddenly she smiles, saying that she now remembers the holo-recording she made years ago to remind herself of who she is. Janeway asks her whether it really matters which Kes goes home.

Kes's final farewell

In the transporter room , the captain and Neelix are sending Kes off. Neelix hands her a few snacks of leola root for the journey home and looks at her in reminiscence. When she asks him if he sees anyone he knows with a small smile, as she had changed a lot both inside and out, he replies that he only sees her. After Kes is beamed back to her vessel, Tuvok asks what they should tell the others. Janeway says to simply tell them that a friend got lost and they helped her find her way. With these words Janeway and Tuvok leave the transporter room and Kes' ship sets a course for home.

Memorable quotes [ ]

" We've known each other for how long? " " Approximately twenty years. " " We've served on three starships together. I was present at your daughter's kolinahr . I consider you one of my closest friends. " " And I regard you with the same esteem. " " I've always been honest with you, but you've been keeping something from me. " " I don't know what you mean. " " Don't you? It took exhaustive research, sifting through teraquads of data, separating fact from rumor, but eventually I arrived at the truth. " " Captain? " (Janeway turns to her replicator and replicates a small cake with a lit candle.) " Happy birthday. "

" It was a fire hazard. "

" Lieutenant Torres is dead. Kes has vanished. "

" Identify yourself. " " It's me, Tuvok. Naomi Wildman. "

" State your intentions! "

" We'd need a more accurate scan of the region. If we even graze one of those vacuoles... " " We could send a shuttle ahead. " " The Delta Flyer. Its sensors are more advanced. " " The Delta what? " " Forgive me. I must have been thinking of a different ship. "

" One down, 215 to go. "

" What do you remember? " " I was in airponics, and then I felt dizzy, and then I was watching myself. " " Yourself? " " Computer, deactivate EMH. "

" They're trying to lock on us with a tractor beam. " " Reverse thrusters, full power! " " That'll tear the hull apart. " " Then tear it apart! "

" Only you. "

" What? " " Just looking. " " See anyone you know? " " Only you. "

" Home for me means a penal colony. Out here, I get to fly a state-of-the-art ship and there's no admirals in sight. "

" Remember me? The innocent child you're here to save? You blame Captain Janeway, but the choice was yours. You made the decision to leave Ocampa, and you made the decision to leave Voyager . If you're watching me now, you've come back to take back revenge on the people who cared about you. That's not who you are, and that's not who I am. Don't do this. Find another way home. Captain Janeway will help you if you give her a chance. Try to remember who you were. Try to remember me. "

" Does it really matter which Kes goes home? "

" I remember. " " What? What do you remember? " " The holo-recording, I remember making it. You asked me to help you, to help myself. You wanted me to remember who I was. These years were so filled with confusion...and anger. I buried the memory. I'd almost forgotten. " " Does it really matter which Kes goes home? "

" Captain. "

" Goodbye, Kes. " " Captain. "

" What should we tell the others? " " A friend got lost. We helped her find her way. "

Background information [ ]

Production [ ].

• Prior to the making of this episode, Chakotay actor Robert Beltran said that he "certainly hoped" there would be a forthcoming episode featuring Kes. [1] (X)
• The writing of this episode began with Rick Berman deciding he wanted the character of Kes to return. The story of "Fury" was not yet written, however, when Kes actress Jennifer Lien accepted an invitation, from Berman, to make a return in the episode. As part of persuading Lien to make the proposed comeback, the creative staff " convinced her it was a terrific story, and thus a good reason to bring Kes back, " stated Berman, who was given on-screen credit for having co-written the story, along with Brannon Braga . " [Berman] put it in the writing staff's hands to come up with an idea for her to come back. Brannon spearheaded the story, " explained Bryan Fuller , who co-wrote the installment's script with Michael Taylor . Fuller's involvement in this episode was somewhat ironic, as he had started his work on the series by firstly suggesting the method in which Kes would leave the show, in the fourth season outing " The Gift ". ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 32)
• The final draft of this episode's script was issued on 21 January 2000 .
• The cockpit of Kes' ship as she enters Voyager is a reuse of the cockpit of the timeship Aeon that Captain Braxton uses in the third season episode " Future's End " and the interior of Kovin's ship in " Retrospect ".
• The success of this episode depended on its visual effects. The outing tasked Director John Bruno and the visual effects crew, operating under Visual Effects Producer Dan Curry , to depict explosions, put numerous versions of Kes on-screen simultaneously, and portray an enemy Vidiian ship. Visual Effects Supervisor Ronald B. Moore enjoyed the collaboration with John Bruno, as the two had worked together before and because Moore respected Bruno's knowledge of effects. Recalled Moore, " We did a lot of greenscreen work and split-screen; it was pretty complex. We didn't get the entire script until after we'd started production. We didn't have quite a chance to plan this as far as we should. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 32) Regarding the extent of the visual effects, Moore noted, " We did stuff beyond what we have done before. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 33)

Continuity [ ]

• No stardate is given for the scenes set in the past, although the computer states that Voyager has been in the Delta Quadrant "fifty six days, seventeen hours". The Vidiians are a known threat, dating the scenes after the events of " Phage " which take place on stardate 48532. The Doctor says he is "considering the name Schweitzer", which he takes in " Heroes and Demons " (the events of which occur over the course of stardate 48693 to 48710), but ultimately decides not to adopt permanently at the end of that episode due to the "painful" association of that name - suggesting that the scenes are dated before 48693. The Doctor first showed an interest in taking a name at the end of " Eye of the Needle ", which occurred on stardate 48579, indicating this occurs after those events. This places the episode somewhere in the middle of the first season.
• Kes last appeared in the fourth-season episode " The Gift ", after being a regular character since the series premiere " Caretaker ".
• This episode marks the final appearances of Kes (Jennifer Lien), Ensign Samantha Wildman ( Nancy Hower ), and the Vidiians on the series.
• Kes' final appearance in this episode also marks the final appearance of any member of the Ocampa species in the series.
• This is the only episode in which any direct, face-to-face interaction occurs between Seven of Nine and Kes, when Seven tells Kes to "State your intentions." However, they were present on the bridge together in " Scorpion, Part II " and Kes helped treat Seven in sickbay in " The Gift ".
• This episode is the third and final episode to include the complete cast of the show from all seasons. The previous two episodes to do this were " Scorpion, Part II " and " The Gift ".
• This episode contains the last mention of Deep Space 9 to air on Star Trek: Voyager . However, it occurs in a scene set in 2371. This makes a line from the earlier episode " Pathfinder " the last time in the series chronology that the station is mentioned on screen.
• In a scene set in 2376, Janeway mentions it isn't long before Tuvok hits "the big three digits", a statement that goes against everything that had been established about Tuvok's age prior to this episode. Most notably, in the third-season episode " Flashback " Tuvok claimed he "was twenty nine years old" at a point in time "approximately eighty years ago", suggesting he was at least 108 at the time.
• This episode establishes the warp manoeuvring maxim " Faster than light, no left or right ". This would seem to be supported in the seventh-season episode " Drive " in which the alien Irina says "warp's fine if you like going fast in a straight line."
• The Doctor states to Janeway that the length of Ensign Wildman's pregnancy should be "nearly doubled" by the genetic contribution of the baby's Ktarian father. As such, this episode finally explains why she didn't give birth until the late second-season episode " Deadlock ", given the moment of conception would have been before Voyager 's arrival in the Delta Quadrant over a year earlier.
• Chakotay says that the Vidiians "were a lot like us before the Phage." In " Phage ", a Vidiian claims that "before the phage began, we were known as educators and explorers, a people whose greatest achievements were artistic."
• In 2371, Tuvok says he's "had hallucinations before, but only while in a state of deep meditation." He would (chronologically) later hallucinate in " Persistence of Vision " as a result of alien influence, and in " Flashback " due to a resurgence of suppressed memories caused by a viral infection.
• The appearance of a holographic Kes in Engineering suggests that holoemitters have been installed there. This was done before in " Persistence of Vision " to allow The Doctor to appear throughout the ship, but malfunctions caused this effort to be abandoned. This episode would suggest that the issue was fixed.
• Tuvok mistakenly has his commander pip in the past. He did not earn this promotion until the fourth season episode " Revulsion ". Although this is technically a continuity error, it is actually consistent as Tuvok was mistakenly shown wearing a commander's pip throughout the first half of season one.
• During the battle with the Vidiians, Kim warns that reversing thrusters at full power could tear the hull apart, and Chakotay responds, " Then tear it apart! " This is similar to an exchange between Lojur and Hikaru Sulu in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country , where the latter orders the former, " Fly her apart, then! " while racing to assist the USS Enterprise -A at Khitomer .
• The Doctor's quest to find a name is referenced in this episode in a scene set in 2371, when he tells Kes of some names he has been considering for himself, one of which, "Schweitzer", he chooses to go by temporarily in " Heroes and Demons ".
• This episode chronologically depicts the first appearance of the Class 2 shuttle , which did not appear in the series until the second-season episode " Threshold ".
• When Paris discovers the future Kes aboard a Class 2 shuttle, she feigns interest in learning to fly a shuttle. This prompts Paris to offer to teach her, saying "I could start you off in the holodeck, in an old class 1". This scene is a 'prequel' to the second-season episode " Parturition ", in which Paris does teach Kes how to pilot a class 1 shuttle in the holodeck.
• This is the only episode in which Azan and Rebi appear but Icheb and Mezoti do not.
• In the new 2376, Janeway tells Kes " three years ago , you traveled back in time." Kes did in fact travel back in time three years ago (along with the whole crew) in the third-season episode " Future's End ", but in this episode, Kes traveled five years back in time, not three, and it's likely Janeway made a mistake.
• The visual effect when Kes attacks Ayala and the other security guard in the corridor, as well as Seven and Torres in engineering, is similar to the effect from " Where No Man Has Gone Before " when Elizabeth Dehner and Gary Mitchell are first exposed to the effects of the galactic barrier. In both cases there is a brief flash of light accompanied by the color palette of the affected characters being inverted.
• Three photon torpedoes are used in this episode, one having previously been used in " Good Shepherd " (although in this episode, the depicted torpedoes are shown to have been used in the past). This brings the total number of torpedoes confirmed to have been used by Voyager over the course of the series to 66, a total which exceeds the supposedly irreplaceable complement of 38 that had been established by Chakotay in the first-season episode " The Cloud ".
• The scenes in the past reflect various character traits established at that time during Season 1, including Captain Janeway's hair bun, Neelix and Kes' romantic relationship, and the rude manner in which the crew treats the Doctor on apart of his being a hologram.

Reception [ ]

• Few people expected that, in this episode, Kes' return would be as radical as it turned it to be. ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 32)
• Bryan Fuller once commented that, owing to Brannon Braga's involvement in the writing of this episode, its story "came out quite nicely." Fuller also remarked about Kes' evolution as an Ocampan, " It was kind of fun that we decided to twist that. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 32)
• Ronald B. Moore was ecstatic about the footage of Voyager being wrecked by a Vidiian ship, commenting, " I was very, very happy with that. " ( Cinefantastique , Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 33)
• Cinefantastique (Vol. 33, No. 5, p. 38) gave this episode 3 and a half out of 4 stars.

Apocrypha [ ]

• In the novel Star Trek: Voyager - String Theory - Evolution , it is revealed that the Kes that appeared in this episode was technically not Kes, but was actually the result of Kes merging with another Ocampan who was undergoing a complex 'pregnancy' with a Nacene , with the Kes depicted here essentially being a manifestation of the darkness within Kes rather than Kes herself.

Production timeline [ ]

• Final draft script by Bryan Fuller & Michael Taylor: 21 January 2000
• Additional revisions: 25 January 2000 , 27 January 2000 , 28 January 2000
• 12 January 2000 : Beat sheet of major story elements delivered to Moore.
• 13 January 2000 : First draft script delivered to Moore.
• 14 January 2000 : Episode pre-production meeting held.
• 21 January 2000 : Episode pre-production meeting held. Optical meeting held. Final draft of script delivered.
• 24 January 2000 : First (half) day of production.
• 26 January 2000 : Episode director John Bruno works on stage.
• 27 January 2000 : Optical meeting at 6:45 a.m. on the Voyager mess hall set. Moore submits revised episode budget.
• 28 January 2000 : Visual effects shoots on set. Braga and Moore on set.
• 31 January 2000 : One visual effect is shot on set.
• 2 February 2000 : Last full day of first unit, no visual effects work.
• Original airdate: 3 May 2000

Video and DVD releases [ ]

• UK VHS release (two-episode tapes, Paramount Home Entertainment ): Volume 6.12, 27 December 2000
• As part of the VOY Season 6 DVD collection

Links and references [ ]

Starring [ ].

• Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway

Also starring [ ]

• Robert Beltran as Chakotay
• Roxann Dawson as B'Elanna Torres
• Robert Duncan McNeill as Tom Paris
• Ethan Phillips as Neelix
• Robert Picardo as The Doctor
• Tim Russ as Tuvok
• Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine
• Garrett Wang as Harry Kim

Also Starring [ ]

• Jennifer Lien as Kes

Guest Stars [ ]

• Nancy Hower as Samantha Wildman
• Scarlett Pomers as Naomi Wildman
• Vaughn Armstrong as a Vidiian captain
• Josh Clark as Joe Carey

Co-Stars [ ]

• Kurt Wetherill as Azan
• Cody Wetherill as Rebi
• Tarik Ergin as Security Guard
• Majel Barrett as Computer Voice

Uncredited Co-Stars [ ]

• Andrew English as Voyager operations officer
• Caroline Gibson as Voyager operations officer
• Peter Harmyk as Thompson
• Grace Harrell as Voyager operations officer
• Tina Kotrich as Voyager operations officer
• Joyce Lasley as Lydia Anderson
• Unknown performers as two Vidiian boarding party members

Stunt Double [ ]

• Unknown stunt performer as stunt double for Kate Mulgrew

Stand-ins [ ]

• Amy Kate Connolly – photo double for Jennifer Lien
• Brita Nowak – stand-in for Jeri Ryan

References [ ]

acceleration ; airponics bay ; annual physical ; antigraviton ; apple ; Asil ; Badlands ; battle stations ; birthday ; birthday cake ; birthday candle ; Borg ; cancer ; Cardassians ; cautionary tale ; Class 1 shuttle ( unnamed ); Class 2 shuttle ( two unnamed ); coffee ; collision course ; command authorization ; coordinates ; cortical stimulator ; day ; Deep Space 9 ; Delta Flyer ; dizziness ; doctor-patient confidentiality ; " Double Talaxian with cheese "; Earth ; environmental systems ( environmental controls ); evasive maneuvers ; fire hazard ; frown ; Galor -class ( unnamed ); " garden variety "; gestation ; graveyard ; " Greasy Neelix "; Greskrendtregk ; hallucination ; herbs ; holodeck ; holo-recording ; home ; homesick ; immune system ; impulse drives ; inertial damper ; intruder alert ; Jarvik, Robert ; Kes' starship ; kidney ; kilometer ; Ko, Pyong ; kolinahr ; Ktarian ; lectrazine ; leola root ; logic ; Maquis ; meditation ; mental ability ; menu ; meter ; milligram ; millijoule ; milliliter ; Mulchaey ; name ; Neelix 1 ; neural agent ; neural gel pack ; neuro-stabilizer ; neurogenic energy ; New Zealand Penal Settlement ; Ocampa ; Ocampan ; organ bank ; Oshionian Prime ; parsec ; Paris, Owen ; Pasteur, Louis ; penal colony ; phage ; photon torpedo ; polarity ; premonition ; replicator ; Risa ; Risa kidney donor and thief ; safe passage ; Schweitzer, Albert ; shields ; shield frequency ; shore leave ; scouting mission ; site-to-site transport ; smile ; structural integrity ; subspace vacuole ; synaptic shock ; tachyon ; tactical alert ; tactical database ; telepathic ability ; temporal distortion ; teraquad ; time travel ; tractor beam ; Vidiian ; Vidiian ship (2371-2372) ; vote of confidence ; Vulcans ; warp core ; warp core assembly ; warp energy ;

External links [ ]

• "Fury" at StarTrek.com
• " Fury " at Memory Beta , the wiki for licensed Star Trek works
• " Fury " at Wikipedia
• 3 Ancient humanoid

Wealth of Geeks

The Worst Episodes of Star Trek and Its Spin-Offs

Posted: April 12, 2024 | Last updated: April 12, 2024

Few television series have had an impact as revolutionary as Star Trek . Launched in 1966, Star Trek survived two rejected pilot episodes, diminished budgets, and a second season cancelation to become one of the most profitable franchises ever. In addition to the original series, the franchise has included several movies and eleven spin-off series.

As successful as Star Trek has been, it isn’t perfect. Across the 884 episodes aired at the time of this writing, Trek has aired more than a few stinkers. Find here some of the worst, chosen from the original series and its many spin-offs.

In the equality, a core Trek concept, every series has at least one representative, but no series has more than three entries on the list. And that makes sense because no matter how great Trek can get, some episodes should have never beamed to television sets. Meet the worst episodes of  Star Trek.

1. “Assignment: Earth” (The Original Series, Season Two, Episode Twenty-Six, 1968)

While the original series (TOS) remains one of the all-time great television series, even the most devoted Trekkies agree that the series’ third and final season is disappointing. But the quality dipped even in the second season, as demonstrated by the finale, “Assignment: Earth.”

Intended to be a back-door pilot for a new show by Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, “Assignment: Earth” sends the Enterprise to 1968 Earth, where they meet agent Gary Seven, who would have been the hero of this proposed show. The gambit failed to launch a new series and forced Kirk and Spock to be supporting characters on their own show.

2. “Spock’s Brain” (TOS, Season Three, Episode One, 1968)

A letter-writing campaign convinced CBS to reverse plans to cancel Star Trek after two seasons, but season three reminded them to be careful what they wished for. The problems begin with the season three premiere, “Spock’s Brain,” which involves an alien who, you guessed it, steals Spock’s brain.

Trek often indulges its silly side but rarely belittles the characters or insults the viewers. “Spock’s Brain” does both. Wacky without making the most of the cast’s ability, “Spock’s Brain” was a fitting begin to the lackluster final season of TOS.

3. “The Way to Eden” (TOS, Season Three, Episode Twenty, 1969)

Despite its 23rd-century setting, Star Trek has always been deeply interested in the present, often finding analogies to modern figures in the reaches of space. As clunky as these metaphors could sometimes be, they were never as annoying as the space-hippies in “The Way to Eden.”

Under the leadership of quack academic Dr. Severin, the space hippies hijack the Enterprise to travel to the mystical planet Eden. Even ignoring the irritating kidnappers, the episode feels stuffy and preachy, surprisingly backward for the progressive series.

4. “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” (The Animated Series, Episode Eight, 1973)

After the issues with season three of TOS, Star Trek: The Animated Series seemed like an unlikely miracle. So while the series did suffer from shoddy animation, even by the standards of tv cartoons of the day, it gave fans just a little more time with the Enterprise crew.

But “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” pushes things too far. The cartoon medium lets writers indulge their sillier side with its story of Kirk and his crew encountering a figure from Earth mythology and religion, in this case, the Devil. For all its talk of reason over dogma, “The Magicks of Megas-Tu” comes off as sillier than the beliefs it tries to critique.

5. “Code of Honor” (The Next Generation, Season One, Episode Four, 1987)

Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) famously had a rough beginning, as Gene Roddenberry struggled to bring Star Trek into the 80s and imposed arcane storytelling rules on writers. But “Code of Honor” is a bad episode, even by season one standards.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with pitting the crew against a culture that differs from theirs, but writers drew from racial stereotypes when imagining the bad guys. Harmful even by 1960s standards, “Code of Honor” makes a mockery of the franchise’s principles of tolerance and acceptance.

6. “The Child” (TNG, Season Two, Episode One, 1987)

After TOS became a cult hit in the 1970s, CBS planned a sequel series called Star Trek: Phase II, which brought back most of the original crew and paired them with new characters. The success of Star Wars convinced Paramount to make Star Trek: The Motion Picture in place of Phase II , but some of the canceled show’s scripts did get used in TNG.

Unfortunately, many of these episodes felt outdated as standards shifted radically in the decade between writing and filming. That’s especially true of the TNG season two premiere, “The Child,” in which an alien entity impregnates Counsellor Troi. Beyond the pregnancy’s icky implications, “The Child” makes Troi an impassive fool in her own story.

7. “Masks” (TNG, Season Seven, Episode Seventeen, 1994)

After a few bumpy seasons, TNG became a fantastic series filled with high-concept stories and beloved characters. But as the characters rose in prominence, the actors gained more control over the stories, and not always for the better.

Case in point: “Masks,” in which the android Lieutenant Data encounters an alien entity with knowledge of a lost culture’s mythology. The alien possesses Data, driving him to act out stories from the culture’s past. The story allows actor Brent Spiner to show off his range, but it does not make for an engaging episode. By the time the credits roll, fans have had their fill of Data for a while.

8. “Move Along Home” (Deep Space Nine, Season One, Episode Ten, 1993)

Darker and more politically complex than its predecessors, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) pushed the Star Trek concept to new depths. Those richer themes make the season one misfire “Move Along Home” more embarrassing.

When some of Star Trek ’s dumbest-looking aliens visit the station, Sisko and his crew get stuck in a game, which subjects them to childish challenges. A ridiculous episode, “Move Along Home,” does a disservice to an otherwise compelling series.

9. “Let He Who Is Without Sin…” (DS9, Season Five, Episode Seven, 1996)

It should have been a coup when Michael Dorn’s Klingon Starfleet office Worf came aboard Deep Space Nine, bringing a fan-favorite onto a new show. But the show too often turned Worf into an incompetent grouch, particularly in the season five episode “Let He Who is Without Sin…”

Worf and his fiancée Jadzia Dax visit the pleasure planet Risa, but the free nature of the inhabitants offends the Klingons. Worf sabotages the planet’s climate control system, and while he is chastised for the action, the show also forgives him for being an insecure boyfriend. Honestly, it is an episode without honor.

10. “Profit and Lace” (DS9, Season Six, Episode Twenty-Three, 1998)

The Ferengi only lasted a few episodes as the primary enemy in TNG, as the greedy aliens were more annoying than dangerous. So it’s a miracle that DS9 t urned the reviled aliens into rich and beloved characters, largely thanks to performances by Armin Shimerman as Quark and Aron Eisenberg as Nog.

That said, Ferengi-centric episodes tended to be among the show’s weakest, especially “Profit and Lace.” By making the male Quark dress like a woman, the show indulges in too many tired sitcom jokes from the 70s and 80s.

11. “State of Flux” (Voyager, Season One, Episode Eleven, 1995)

The Ferengi made for terrible big bads on TNG, but they had nothing on the Kazon. Planned to be the primary enemy race of Star Trek: Voyager (VOY) , the Kazon were a tribal people living in the Delta Quadrant where the USS Voyager was stranded.

Inspired by a simplistic misunderstanding of California gangs and designed like Oompa-Loompas with pine cones glued to their heads, the Kazon rank among the worst aliens in the franchise. The first Kazon-focused episode, “State of Flux,” highlights all the problems with the aliens, which the series never fixes.

12. “Elogium” (Voy, Season Two, Episode Four, 1995)

No character in Trek was set up to fail like Neelix, introduced as a guide and cook for the Voyager when it got lost in the Delta Quadrant. Eventually, Neelix became a likable crew member, largely thanks to Ethan Phillips’s warm performance.

But for the first few seasons, writers made Neelix incredibly irritating and controlling, especially concerning his girlfriend Kes, an Ocampan who looked like an adult but was, in fact, two years old. Neelix’s toxic behavior climaxes in the season two episode “Elogium,” in which Kes enters an Ocampan mating state. It makes nasty implications about Kes, and Neelix comes off as clingy and gross, undercutting Phillips’s natural likability.

13. “The Fight” (Voy, Season Five, Episode Fifteen, 1999)

As with Neelix, writers often undermined the Voyager’s commanding officer, Chakotay. But his problems stemmed less from bad plots and more from the producers’ disastrous decision to hire a charlatan to advise on the characters’ Indigenous heritage.

As a result, too many Chakotay-focused stories traded heavily in stereotypes about Native peoples, and actor Robert Beltran eventually grew tired of the role, as demonstrated by his lackluster performance. All these problems come together in “The Fight,” which brings back Ray Walston as kindly Starfleet Academy groundskeeper Boothby, but the stereotypical nonsense becomes tiresome.

14. “Minefield” (Enterprise, Season Two, Episode Three, 2002)

If we’re being generous, we can see what the writers of Star Trek: Enterprise (ENT) planned for Tactical Officer Malcolm Reed. As a series about the beginnings of Starfleet, ENT featured characters still getting used to the idea of space travel, including Reed, the son of naval officers who struggled to adjust to Earth’s newest military branch. But too often, Reed came off as whiny and incompetent.

Those grating qualities come to the fore in “Minefield,” in which Reed’s inability to disarm a mine leaves him trapped under rubbish. Reed spends the rest of the episode either mocking the command style of Captain Archer or complaining about his career, leaving us to wonder why they want to rescue him in the first place.

15. “A Night in Sickbay” (Ent, Season Two, Episode Five, 2002)

In the eyes of most Trekkers, ENT has the weakest cast of any series. But no one dislikes Porthos, Captain Archer’s beagle best friend. So it would seem that the season two episode “A Night in Sickbay” would stand among the best, in which Archer spends the evening by the side of his sick dog.

Despite the shots of the lovable canine, “A Night in Sickbay” focuses too much on Archer’s romantic life, leaning hard into the series’ tendency to leer at its female characters. The episode tries to undo any affection we might have for the dog-loving Pathos, rendering him an inappropriate leader.

16. “These Are The Voyages” (Ent, Season Four, Episode Twenty-Two, 2005)

ENT tends to rank toward the bottom of the Star Trek shows. But even the angriest critic agrees that the show deserved better than its final episode, “These Are the Voyages.”

Instead of giving the crew a proper sendoff or wrapping up the storyline from its markedly improved fourth season, “These Are the Voyages” focuses on Commander Riker from TNG. Riker uses his ship’s holographic computer to visit a simulation of the first Enterprise. Although the episode ends with a beloved character expressing admiration for a less-popular crew, the gesture feels condescending, only underscoring the show’s lesser status.

17. “Into The Forest I Go” (Discovery, Season One, Episode Six, 2017)

One would think fans would be so happy to get a new Star Trek TV series in over a decade that they would forgive any oddity in Star Trek: Discovery (DISCO) . But Discovery radically broke from tradition with deeply emotional stories, striking revisions of classic characters, and a darker overall tone.

Many of those changes come together in “Into the Forest I Go,” which reveals the backstory of Klingon Voq, who serves on the USS Discovery disguised as the human Ash Tyler. Not only does the storyline include upsetting depictions of physical and psychological abuse, but it also features Klingon nakedness, something no one wanted.

18. “Project Daedalus” (Discovery)

Perhaps the most jarring aspect of DISCO is its abandonment of the ensemble model established by TNG and the TOS movies, focusing almost entirely on Michael Burnham and rarely on other crew members. Despite Sonequa Martin-Green’s natural charisma, fans can’t help but wonder about the other people on the USS Discovery.

“Project Daedalus” makes a mockery of those complaints by finally devoting attention to cyborg crew member Airiam only to kill her by the episode’s end. Rather than build the character, the backstory only justified the cloying climax, in which Ariam’s death provided more motivation for Michael Burnham.

19. “Ephriam and DOT” (Short Treks, Season Two, Episode Four, 2019)

Star Trek: Short Treks (STK) has been one of the best parts of modern Trek, short one-off episodes that let us spend a bit more time with various characters around the franchise. The first season hit more than it missed, thanks to the horror-infused “Calypso” and hilarious Tribbles origin story “The Trouble With Edward.”

At first glance, “Ephriam and DOT” continues the tradition, a slapstick-heavy tale of a robot and a tardigrade playfully battling each other on the Enterprise. Despite direction from Academy Award-winning composer Michael Giacchino, “Ephriam and DOT” makes a critical mistake by making a tardigrade the hero, given the abuse heaped upon such creatures in DISCO.

20. “Children of Mars” (Stk, Season Two, Episode Six, 2020)

Short Treks sadly goes out with a whimper, thanks to the overwrought final episode “Children of Mars.” The episode follows two tween girls at a Federation school whose contentious relationship changes when both of their fathers die in an Android revolt.

Set to Peter Gabriel’s rich cover of “Heroes” by David Bowie, the episode feels more like a public service message than a proper story, especially with its trite message. Making matters even worse, “Children of Mars” operates as a setup for the first season of Star Trek: Picard , which includes some of the franchise’s worst moments.

21. “Stardust City Rag” (Picard, Season One, Episode Five, 2020)

Fans hoped the TNG sequel series Star Trek: Picard (PIC) would boost nostalgia, reuniting them with the Captain from their favorite show. But PIC intentionally swerved away from nostalgia, embracing a grimmer tone and presenting Picard as out of touch and unheroic.

The opening to “Stardust City Rag” illustrates the problems with this approach, as it shows the brutal dismemberment and death of Icheb. A teenage former Borg who appeared in the second half of VOY, Icheb forged a mother/son bond with Seven of Nine. His death scene in PIC felt unnecessarily cruel, with cheap shock value to upset the audience.

22. “Farewell” (Picard, Season Two, Episode Ten, 2022)

The best thing to be said about “Farewell” is that it ends Picard ’s disastrous second season, which somehow combines the Borg, Q, alternate realities, and time travel. The season finale tries to tie up all those story threads, including the establishment of a new Borg Queen and the exit of several main cast members, while also giving an emotional goodbye to old TNG characters Q and Wesley Crusher.

The result is a sloppy and unsatisfying story that makes Picard seem even more overwhelmed than usual. Fortunately, the closing of “Farewell” made way for PIC’s excellent third season, finally reuniting Picard with his former TNG crew.

23. “All Those Who Wander” (Strange New Words, Season One, Episode Nine)

Unlike most Star Trek series, Strange New Worlds started strong and only improved. Set between DISCO and TOS, the show returns to the standalone stories of Trek’s heyday while giving characters and concepts a modern twist. The approach mainly works, but not in one specific case, as found in the season one episode “All Those Who Wonder.”

The episode reintroduces the Gorn, a reptilian species first introduced as a sympathetic monster in a silly-looking mask in TOS. Strange New Worlds borrows heavily from the Alien franchise to make the Gorn dangerous predators, which robs the creatures of their original charm.

24. “An Embarrassment of Dooplers” (Lower Decks, Season Two, Episode )

At its best, Lower Decks lovingly teases the wackier parts of Star Trek lore while also telling solid sci-fi stories. But Lower Decks’ s rapid-fire sense of humor can sometimes become exhausting, devolving into a series of references instead of jokes or stories.

Such is the case of the season two episode “An Embarrassment of Dopplers,” which finds the USS Cerritos on a disastrous diplomatic mission with an alien who duplicates when made uncomfortable. A funny idea, in theory, quickly becomes tiresome, despite the involvement of great character actor Richard Kind.

25. “Lost and Found” (Prodigy, Season One, Episodes One and Two)

Honestly, it feels bad to include poor Star Trek: Prodigy on this list. Trek’s second animated series was a perfect way to introduce the series to children, thanks to its rag-tag crew of lovable aliens. But after one critically acclaimed season, Paramount canceled Prodigy and removed the show from its streaming service, making it very difficult to watch.

Despite this bad luck and the fact that the show’s single season was largely delightful, Prodigy did begin with a whimper, thanks to the two-part premiere “Lost and Found.” The back-to-back episodes take too long to establish the show’s central premise, and Prodigy’s untimely demise only intensifies the sting of lost time.

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SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot developments in Season 5, Episode 1 of “ Star Trek : Discovery,” now streaming on Paramount+.

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Kovich’s explanation evokes the classic “ Star Trek: The Next Generation ” episode “The Chase” from 1993 in which Capt. Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) — along with teams of Romulans, Klingons and Cardassians — learn that all humanoid life in the galaxy was created by a single species that existed billions of years earlier, and seeded thousands of planets with the DNA to pass along their legacy. (Along with presenting a profound vision of the origins of life, the episode also provided an imaginative explanation for why almost all the aliens in “Star Trek” basically look like humans with different kinds of forehead ridges.)

Kovich tells Burnham that the Romulan scientist was part of a team sent to discover exactly how these aliens — whom they call the Progenitors — made this happen; the object they’re seeking winds up being one part of a brand new “chase,” this time in the 32nd century, to find the Progenitors’ technology before it can fall into the wrong hands. 

“I remember watching that episode and at the end of it just being blown away that there was this huge idea where we all come from,” Paradise says. “And then they’re going to have another mission the next week. I found myself wondering, ‘Well, then what? What happened? What do we do with this information? What does it mean?’”

Originally, Paradise says the “Discovery” writers’ room discussed evoking the Progenitors in Season 4, when the Discovery meets an alien species, the 10-C, who live outside of the galaxy and are as radically different from humans as one could imagine. “As we dug deeper into the season itself, we realized that it was too much to try and get in,” Paradise says.

Instead, they made the Progenitors the engine for Season 5. “Burnham and some of our other characters are on this quest for personal meaning,” Paradise says. Searching for the origins of life itself, she adds, “feels like a big thematic idea that fits right in with what we’re exploring over the course of the season, and what our characters are going through.”

That meant that Paradise finally got to help come up with the answers to the questions about “The Chase” that had preoccupied her when she was younger. “We had a lot of fun talking about what might’ve happened when [Picard] called back to headquarters and had to say, ‘Here’s what happened today,’” she says. “We just built the story out from there.”

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Star trek: voyager's “reset button” killed a great doctor story, says robert picardo.

Robert Picardo was disappointed that Star Trek: Voyager's infamous "reset button" killed an important storyline for the Doctor in season 3.

• The Doctor's memory loss storyline was cut short due to Star Trek: Voyager's episodic format, disappointing Robert Picardo.
• Voyager's fear of serialization hindered character development despite fans wanting more continuity.
• The Doctor's memory loss had potential for in-depth exploration, but Voyager's use of the "reset button" limited storytelling.

Star Trek: Voyager killed one of the Doctor's (Robert Picardo) best storylines in season 3, causing Picardo to express his disappointment that it wasn't continued. The USS Voyager's EMH was one of the most popular characters in Star Trek: Voyager 's cast , thanks mainly to his unique origins and diverse character arc . As a hologram who gained sentience during the show's run, the Doctor filled a franchise niche previously held by other popular characters like Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation .

Many of the Doctor's storylines on Voyager revolved around him gaining humanity. However, a season 3 episode featured the character losing some of his humanity because of a malfunction in his program. Season 3, episode 4, "The Swarm" was focused on the Doctor as Kes (Jennifer Lien) and B'Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) worked to save his program after it began to degrade. Ultimately, the Doctor ended up losing a large portion of his memory at the end of the episode , a consequence that should have had implications for his character over the rest of the season.

How To Watch All Star Trek TV Shows In Timeline Order

Robert picardo says voyager’s “reset button” killed one of the doctor’s best season 3 storylines, the doctor missed out thanks to the reset button.

Unfortunately, aside from a brief reference to the Doctor's memory loss in a future episode, the events of "The Swarm" were never mentioned again , cutting off the possibility of Voyager exploring how the Doctor recovered from his severe memory loss. This was largely thanks to Voyager 's use of episodic storytelling and contained arcs, something that the show was infamous for during its run. Robert Picardo was particularly disappointed that the Doctor's ordeal during "The Swarm" wasn't explored further though, expressing his frustration to The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine sometime after the episode's release. Read Picardo's full quote below:

"There's a tremendous desire among the makers of our show to keep things self-contained. They don't like to serialize that much and, if they do, it's only as a two-parter. They tend not to carry arcs through a number of episodes. So, we really had to throw out the whole notion of The Doctor losing all of his memory, being rebooted and having to redevelop his personality. We couldn't really follow through with that in a way that I would have hoped we would. It was still a strong episode and an acting challenge for me, but I do regret somewhat that we couldn't have carried the aftermath of that experience through a number of episodes."

Given how large the scope of the Doctor's memory loss was, it's surprising that Voyager didn't carry on with the story despite their aversion to serialization. Having the Doctor lose so much of his emerging humanity just as he was starting to become sentient was devastating , but was also a huge piece of character development to drop the thread of. "The Swarm" was also a poignant allegory for sufferers of Alzheimer's Disease, providing the " acting challenge " Picardo mentioned. Such an important episode should have caused Voyager to disregard their fear of serialized storytelling and carry the story throughout the season.

Why Star Trek: Voyager Was So Afraid Of Serialized Storytelling

Voyager avoided serialization to its detriment.

Despite this, Voyager stuck to its fear of serialization, likely because another Star Trek series was having mixed results with it. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Voyager 's sister show , is often credited as the first Star Trek series to truly incorporate serialized storytelling. While this has made the show more popular in hindsight, DS9 's ratings at the time were not as high as Star Trek: TNG , a show that had mainly found success in episodic storytelling. Voyager 's creative team may have felt that the show needed to return to the traditional model to succeed.

However, examples like what happened with the Doctor's story in "The Swarm" show that Voyager was wrong about how serialization would have been received by audiences. While the show did incorporate more serialized character arcs later on, it's often derided for its use of the "reset button" and the way that hurt certain episodes , including "The Swarm." If Star Trek: Voyager had found a way to strike a balance between episodic and serialized television, it might have achieved something only now being pulled off by a show like Star Trek: Strange New Worlds .

Source: The Official Star Trek: Voyager Magazine , issue 18

Star Trek: Voyager is available to stream on Paramount+.

Star Trek: Voyager

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The fifth entry in the Star Trek franchise, Star Trek: Voyager, is a sci-fi series that sees the crew of the USS Voyager on a long journey back to their home after finding themselves stranded at the far ends of the Milky Way Galaxy. Led by Captain Kathryn Janeway, the series follows the crew as they embark through truly uncharted areas of space, with new species, friends, foes, and mysteries to solve as they wrestle with the politics of a crew in a situation they've never faced before.