Season 5 – Although Voyager was conveniently “flung” out of Borg space early in season 4, season 5 sets a single-season mark for greatest use of the Borg – even if we don’t include everything about the increasingly interesting Seven of Nine – with “Drone” (#2), “Infinite Regress” (#7) and “Dark Frontier (#15-16) all Borg-centric. The “Year of Hell” storyline (#s 8-9) puts the emphasis on action, while the awesome Species 8472 returns in “Prey” (#16). As in those other instances, Star Trek: Voyager starts out purposefully and strong from the starting gun: Part 2 of “Scorpion,” “The Gift” and “Day of Honor” gave lots more quality time to the fan favorites (and, let’s face it, better characters) Captain Janeway, the Doctor and new addition Seven of Nine while keeping Neelix’s participation minimized and jettisoning Kes. Season 4 – Season 4 is to Voyager what season 2 was to Next Generation or season 3 was to Deep Space Nine. And Voyager season 3 may boast the best holodeck-based episode ever with “Worst Case Scenario” (#23). Hyde-like version of his Doctor in “Darkling” (#18). Janeway and Kes end up on the wrong (but suspenseful) side of time paradoxes in “Coda” (#15) and “Before and After” (#21) Robert Picrado gets to chew the scenery as a Mr. Lots of head trip episodes lead up to Voyager’s version of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in “Future’s End” (#s 8-9) – except set in the 1990s and not nearly as funny. Season 3 – A fairly uneven season does contain a few gems. Voyager thankfully reaches is nadir in this season, with the straight-up stupid “Tuvix” (#24, in which Tuvok and Neelix are combined via transporter accident) and the profoundly bad “Threshold” (#15, in which Paris exceeds warp 10 in shuttlecraft, passes through every point in the Universe, evolves into a giant insect and impregnates Janeway – and it’s even more ridiculous than that tight summation makes it sound). However, stuff like “Alliances” (#14) pales in comparison to anything involving political machinations on Deep Space Nine. Season 2 – In an attempt to up the stakes for the series, much of season 2 is devoted to trying to make the Kezon badasses. Any sort of conflict promised by combining Maquis and Enterprise crews is cleared up by episode #3, for example, and Tom Paris’s supposed controversial past is hardly an issue by the time the credits roll. Season 1 – How can “Caretaker” be considered by far the weakest of all Star Trek premieres? Because it suffers from all the blah plotlines and meh characters while introducing a handful of dead-end stories and irrelevant background. Star Trek: Voyager – Bests and worsts of seven seasons