Television series

Star Trek: Voyager

Name: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
Released: 1995
Cast: Kate Mulgrew, Robert Beltran, Roxann Dawson, Robert Duncan McNeill, Tim Russ

Star Trek: Voyager sends a Starfleet captain and her cobbled-together crew seventy thousand light-years from home with no map back. It's episodic sci-fi adventure with heart: smaller-scale than its predecessors, grounded in character friction and survival, interested in what happens when idealism meets desperation. For people who want to live in Star Trek's universe without needing to watch everything first.

TVMaze rating

4.2

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you love a crew-as-family show where episodic problem-of-the-week adventures give way to a slow, earned accumulation of friendships, rivalries and long-haul character change across a very long journey.

Skip it if you want serialised plot momentum from the start, since many early episodes lean on standalone planet-of-the-week stories and the show takes its time finding its feet.

What it asks of you: Plan on a lot of hours: seven seasons of hour-long episodes, mostly self-contained, so you can dip in, but the payoff rewards steady viewing rather than a single binge.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Star Trek: The Next Generation1987

The template Voyager builds on and occasionally improves. TNG establishes the 24th-century Federation, the tone of optimistic exploration, and shows you why returning home matters. Picard's calm authority makes Janeway's controlled fury read deeper.

But Slower pacing, especially early seasons. Some episodes are genuinely dull, and it takes time to find its footing. Watching the whole thing is a commitment.

The Expanse2015

Another stranded-crew survival story, but grittier and more serialized. Shares Voyager's interest in how people actually behave under pressure, how alliances fracture, how compromise and pragmatism trump idealism. Exceptional world-building.

But Bleaker tone overall. If you want hope and wonder alongside your struggle, this leans too hard into despair. Also: political complexity can feel dense.

Battlestar Galactica2003

Stranded fleet searching for home, but everything is falling apart. Takes the survival premise seriously and dark. Kate Sackhoff, Michael Hogan, and the writing are exceptional. For people who loved Voyager's best episodes and want them sustained across a whole series.

But Brutal and sometimes bleak in ways Voyager never is. If you're watching for comfort, this will alienate you. Later seasons lose focus.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Star Trek: Voyager

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Crusade1999

Both pit a charismatic captain against impossible circumstances with a small crew and a clear objective: get home or survive. Both ask what people become when institutional resources fail them.

A warship races against a plague consuming its world, needing to find a cure before it's too late. Brilliantly high-concept: survival under a ticking clock, crew bonding through crisis, exploration with purpose. The show was cancelled after one season, which somehow makes it more haunting. Gideon's command style—desperate, clever, human—is the most interesting captain work in 90s sci-fi.

But It was cut short, so the narrative feels unresolved. Uneven first season. No resolution to the central drive, which some find frustrating rather than poignant. Low budget for its ambitions.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine1993

The thinking person's Star Trek. Darker, more complex morally, with extraordinary ensembles episodes and serialized storytelling. Armin Shimerman and Avery Brooks anchor something that feels lived-in. Respects the audience's intelligence.

But Takes a full season to hit stride. Less about exploration, more about politics and religion, which some find slow. Visually dated in ways that distract.

Farscape1999

An American astronaut crashes into an alien armada and gets pulled across the galaxy. Gloriously weird, inventive, funny, and genuinely moving. The crew's dysfunction is part of the point. High-concept sci-fi that never forgets to be fun.

But The first episode is bewildering on purpose. Puppetry is prominent and won't appeal to everyone. Tonal shifts can feel jarring if you prefer consistency.

For All Mankind2019

Alternate-history space race that feels like Voyager's DNA remixed: exploration driven by rivalry, wonder balanced with institutional failure, smaller crews doing impossible things. Visually gorgeous, emotionally smart. Builds across seasons beautifully.

But Heavy emphasis on NASA bureaucracy and politics. If you want pure adventure without the institutional critique, it can feel procedural. Some characters are underwritten.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds2022

Modern Trek that captures what made Voyager work: episodic adventure with serialized character depth, a charismatic captain, and genuine stakes. Beautifully shot, often funny, respects the lore without being enslaved to it. Feels like what Voyager aspired to.

But Glossier and more cinematic than Voyager, which some see as missing the point. Shorter seasons mean less exploration of ideas. Relies on existing Trek knowledge.

The Outer Limits1995

Anthology sci-fi from the same era as Voyager's debut, with practical effects and B-movie energy. Pure imaginative fun. Each episode is a complete idea played seriously. Perfect for understanding 90s sci-fi optimism.

But Uneven quality, typical of anthology work. Some episodes are clunky. Low budget shows. No continuing narrative, so less character investment than a series.

Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda2000

A captain discovers her ship trapped in a black hole, centuries later, with a decaying civilization to rebuild. Gene Roddenberry's final vision. Ambitious high-concept plotting and genuine sense of scale. Kevin Sorbo gives it unexpected weight.

But The ambition outpaces the execution. Plotting gets tangled. CGI budget limitations show hard. Later seasons lose the thread entirely. Feels uneven even at its best.

Cowboy Bebop1998

Both are episodic sci-fi about people trying to move forward in a hostile galaxy. Both balance melancholy with humour, and both suggest that community—chosen family—matters more than any destination. The existential loneliness is the point.

Bounty hunters drifting through space, story to story, never quite escaping their pasts. Japanese anime that looks like nothing else on television—jazz-scored, visually inventive, tonally unpredictable. Episodes about isolation, connection, fate, and forgetting. Moving when it wants to be, funny when it wants to be. Pure style and substance at once.

But No overarching plot to speak of. Episodic to a fault for some viewers. Animation style won't appeal to everyone. Only 26 episodes, and the ending is deliberately open. Requires patience with mood over narrative.

Severance2022

Both explore what happens when people are separated from home by forces beyond their control, and both ask whether the crew you're with becomes more real than the place you're trying to reach. Both are ultimately about what it means to belong somewhere.

Employees undergo surgery to separate their work and personal memories into different bodies. Haunting, precise, visually immaculate. A procedural mystery wrapped inside a character study wrapped inside a critique of institutional power. Ben Stiller directs. Every frame is purposeful. It asks what you'd sacrifice for a home, and what home even means.

But Slow-burn mystery with no clear answers yet. Bleaker register than Trek. Existential dread is the primary texture. Only one season so far, so commitment feels risky. Deliberately opaque.