VOY Season 6

Episodes

Template:VOY-Season6

Summary

Voyager's sixth season was the first to be televised without running concurrently with seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and can be characterized as having the feel of being oddly disconnected from seasons four and five that preceded it. As a result, season six could be said to have more in common with the story-telling of season one, being populated by numerous episodes with storylines wholly independent of each other and the greater series arc, which by this point, was very well established. There are of course exceptions, most notably in "Pathfinder" when real-time communication is made with StarFleet, with the help of an obsessed Reg Barclay. However, it would not be until the end of the season in "Life Line" that this significant plot development would be revisited.

Numerous new aliens were introduced throughout the season, again indicative of the reliance on wholly independent storylines. However, the Hirogen make a welcome re-appearance in "Tsunkatse", and the Borg make a (by now familiar) resurgence in "Survival Instinct", "Collective", "Child's Play" and the season finale "Unimatrix Zero". Happily, the Vidiians also return in "Fury", as does a vengeful Kes intent on sabotaging the ship, killing B'Elanna Torres in the process. Only one of the newly introduced alien species (the Hierachy) would re-appear later, in the seventh season episodes "The Void" and "Renaissance Man".

Worthy of particular note is the introduction of the treacherous (and hugely popular) Vaadwaur in "Dragon's Teeth". Whilst being vaunted as a possible season six nemesis during a conversation towards the end of the episode, it was perhaps a missed opportunity on the part of the show's producers that the possibility of having the Vaadwaur return later on, was never taken up;

"I doubt we've seen the last of them."

- Tuvok, to Janeway in "Dragon's Teeth"

Despite Tuvok's warning, and aside from a couple of conversational "nods" in the season seven episodes, "Nightingale" and "The Void", the Vaadwaur were in fact, never seen again.

"Collective" halfway through the season added a significant development to the evolution of the series as Voyager's crew manifest grew by four with the introduction of the "Children of the Borg". Storylines featuring the children would serve as an addition to Seven of Nine's learning curve, as she took on the role of surrogate mother to the lost, and disconnected children. Although never directly spoken of in the script for either episode, with the knowledge of hindsight it is possible to note that in "Child's Play", a surreptitious link to the series finale "Endgame" is planted when Icheb's parents send him back to the Borg full of neurolithic pathogen. It is this same pathogen that Admiral Janeway uses when assimilated by the Borg Queen during the climax to the series finale, which infects the Collective and disables the transwarp hub, enabling Voyager to return home, and deal a crippling blow to the Borg at the same time.

A couple of small "jumps" closer to home were realised in the episodes "Dragon's Teeth" and "The Voyager Conspiracy" but nothing like the huge leaps which helped characterise the previous two seasons, and for the majority of season six, any significant "jumps" forward were missing, again likening the sixth season to the first.

The process of overcoming the difficulty in portraying Janeway as both authoritative and feminine that had dogged most of the first four seasons may have begun with season five's "Counterpoint" and her daliance with the Devore Imperium's Kashyk, but the dilemma finally found some resolution with the introduction of another of Tom Paris' holodeck programs and the character of Michael Sullivan. In "Fair Haven" and "Spirit Folk" Janeway is finally able to let her hair down (in more ways than one), and the issue of fraternizing with her subordinates is happily laid to rest.

Season six culminated in the assimilation of Janeway, Tuvok and Torres, as the crew again went head to head with the Borg Queen. This time, to assist an underground Borg Resistance threatened with annihilation.

Background Information

• Discounting season premieres/finales, this was the first season since season 2 not to feature a two-part/movie length episode during its run.
• "Barge of the Dead" featured Karen Austin as B'Elanna Torres' mother, one of the actresses apparently short-listed for the original role of Kathryn Janeway.
• "Survival Instinct" is the first time since Living Witness, Season 4 that Jeri Ryan appeared in full Borg outfit.

See also

• VOY Season 6 performers
• VOY Season 6 UK VHS
• VOY Season 6 DVD

Previous Season: VOY Season 5

Seasons of Star Trek: Voyager

Next Season: VOY Season 7