Happy Anniversary Voyager!

This week when I discovered it was Voyagers 20 year anniversary, my first thought was that there had been a glitch in the space time continuum. Surely the 90’s were only a decade ago?

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The nostalgia attributed to Voyagers premiere isn’t just confined to my fandom but also my friendship with Carole. It was the first Trek series we were able to watch together and our friendship formed around it (at the expense of making other friends, as you can imagine!).

Carole had got to watch a preview of Caretaker, Voyagers maiden voyage, at the Star Trek Convention in The Royal Albert Hall. She came to school bursting to tell me how great this new show was and best of all, there was a woman captain. About time!
We were initially skeptical about the idea of the Marquis onboard, was Starfleet too boring? Is this how they were going to do away with the principles of the Federation by bringing rogues onboard?
Ultimately, we were impressed by the way it progressed. By constantly having Starfleet ideals challenged, they were re-enforced.

It seemed that the marquis story sorted itself rather quickly, integration occurred fairly drama free. But it did pave the way for other story arcs such as the Borg. And of course they had to make it home in the end. In the words of B’Elanna “Umph, how Starfleet of you!”. I guess a 75 year long series was too ambitious, even for Star Trek.

Caretaker wasn’t the first Voyager episode I saw, I watched Eye Of the Needle, because Carole’s parents had got hold of a copy. We sat in her living room gripped to the TV and talked about Star Trek all night long. It’s incredible to think TWENTY years have past and we’re still doing the same. We have the same excitement and concerns when a movie comes out. But the best thing is being able to share that with someone who ‘gets it’ like you do.
*queue sappy Kirk and Spock moment*