As one of the first spin-offs in the Star Trek franchise after Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Voyager had an incredible amount of freedom in its writing, story-telling, and overall presentation. The franchise was boldly going where no one had gone before with the series, featuring an exciting plot about a Federation ship being lost in the Delta Quadrant, its ragtag crew comprised of Starfleet officers and guerrilla fighters forced to work together to figure out a way home.
This Star Trek series had a female captain, a ship that wasn’t shaped like the Enterprise, and instead of a Klingon or a Vulcan officer it had a Borg crewmember to shake things up. Amidst the excitement of its newness, Voyager suffered from a lack of direction and ineffective writing, resulting in a few gaping plot holes that didn’t make sense. Luckily, there are also fan theories that do! Read on for 5 of each, maximum warp!
MAKES NO SENSE: KES’S RETURN
When Kes learns that she will be able to ascend to a state of enlightenment on a higher plane of being than the rest of the crew of Voyager, she leaves the ship in “The Gift” to fulfill her mercurial destiny. As a parting “gift” she helps the ship get closer to the Alpha Quadrant.
When Kes comes back she’s visibly aged, hacked off, and ready to destroy the ship and her former friends with her wrath. She avoids discussion about why she’s returned, instead bellowing her displeasure with the crew having let her naively set off on a journey among the stars. What did she see out there in the Delta Quadrant that made her so upset?
FAN THEORY: OCAMPANS PRACTICE MIND CONTROL
Love or hate the relationship between Kes and Neelix, it seemed pretty idyllic. But what if that was all due to Ocampan mind control? Utilizing the fan theory that Ocampans have the ability to mentally control their mates, that would explain a few strange occurrences on the ship between Kes and her partners.
For instance, Neelix’s behavior changing from jealous and possessive to happy and carefree once Kes left the ship, or why Tom Paris acted all gushy and told Kes he loved her when they were married until she traveled back to a time when they weren’t married yet. Or why Kes was so emphatic that Ocampans mate for life without distrust or jealousy.
MAKES NO SENSE: WHY Q NEVER TRANSPORTED VOYAGER HOME
By the time the immortal menace Q materializes aboard Voyager, the crew has already gotten a taste of the sort of calamities waiting to befall them adrift in the Delta Quadrant. Becoming aware of his extensive powers, it’s surprising that none of them ask for his assistance in returning home.
Captain Janeway, like Captain Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation becomes aware of how much of a trickster he is throughout the first season, but this doesn’t stop her from granting him asylum in Season 2. Given that she’s taking a risk with that choice, it makes no sense why she wouldn’t ask for his help getting back to the Alpha Quadrant in exchange.
FAN THEORY: VOYAGER’S ABDUCTION WAS DONE BY SECTION 31
There are some fans that believe that Voyager’s entire abduction and placement in the Delta Quadrant was done by Section 31, Star Trek’s nifty secret agency and think tank. They believe that the “crew” was transported to a holoship (which we’ve seen in Star Trek: Insurrection) and programmed into a test monitored by Section 31.
Why would Starfleet do this? There could be a variety of reasons; to test deep space exploration, to observe the conditions in which Starfleet morals were questioned, to see if insurgents could be reintegrated into Starfleet, or even to see how the crew would handle reintegrating a Borg.
MAKES NO SENSE: HARRY’S RANK
The crew of Voyager is an odd one, composed of Starfleet officers as well as seditious freedom fighters. Where the latter gets to be given commissions based on battlefield experience, the former often fails to get promotions despite being senior staff.
An example of this is Harry Kim, who remains an ensign the entire series despite being referred to as a senior officer. Harry always performs his duties admirably, has saved his fellow crew members multiple times, and even sacrificed his life to save his friends. At least Tom Paris got demoted and then promoted (if only to his original rank).
FAN THEORY: THE BORG QUEEN IS SEVEN’S MOTHER
Despite the fact that Seven of Nine became the first successfully reintegrated Borg into Starfleet and grew to love and respect the Voyager crew, the Borg Queen still wanted her back in the Collective. She even implied that Seven was her favorite drone even though she should have no concept of individual favoritism.
This made some fans think that the Borg Queen was Seven of Nine’s mother. The Queen mentions to Seven of Nine she can be reunited with “her family” if she returns, leaving fans wondering about their connection, though the Borg Queen has stated she isn’t human.
MAKES NO SENSE: VOYAGER’S SCHEMATICS
While writers of the series may not have thought fans were going to pay attention to the throw-away dialogue that character’s said in passing, Trekkies take their jargon seriously! That’s why when Tuvok mentions he needs security to report to Transporter Room 3 and true Star Trek fans know Voyager only has 2 transporter rooms, that’s a problem.
Also, did the ship have or not have an Astrometrics Lab? In one episode, Janeway asks Seven of Nine and Harry to update it as it hasn’t been updated since the ship “left the dock” but, in another, it’s stated by Janeway that it never had one. Also, what’s with the unlimited shuttles and torpedoes? It’s not exactly like they had many opportunities to resupply, so were their parts purely replicated?
FAN THEORY: TOM PARIS IS NICK LARCANO
In Star Trek: The Next Generation there’s an episode where Wesley Crusher and some teammates at Starfleet Academy lie about the circumstances surrounding a teammate’s shuttle crash. The same actor that plays Tom Paris played cadet Nick Larcano, prompting the fan theory that they’re the same person.
Tom Paris’s father was an influential Admiral. To avoid cries of nepotism, his son Tom went to Starfleet Academy under an assumed name; Nick Larcano. He got in trouble alongside Wesley, lied, was sent to jail under his real name, and by the time he served on Voyager that’s the name he was going by again and trying to redeem.
MAKES NO SENSE: VOYAGER AND THE KAZON
In the very first episode of the series, Lieutenant Stadi informs Tom Paris that the ship’s “stable cruise velocity” is 9.975. That’s almost Warp 10, which later becomes a cap for Federation ships (thought that’s ignored and never referenced again). Voyager as an Intrepid-class ship is known for its speed and maneuverability.
What isn’t, is a Kazon ship. When the crew meet the Kazon, they find them to be a quarrelsome scavenger species that are only concerned with their own well-being. This not only makes episodes concerning battle with the Kazon silly (Voyager would just outrun them), but it also makes it odd when the Kazon show up later along Voyager’s journey home, given their maximum speed is Warp 2.
FAN THEORY: JANEWAY WAS MADE AN ADMIRAL TO KEEP HER FROM CAPTAINING ANOTHER SHIP
While most fans were happy to see Janeway pop up in a cameo in Star Trek: Nemesis (a bright spot in an otherwise dark film), some were a little perturbed by the fact that she was made an Admiral while Picard was still a Captain. It prompted the fan theory that perhaps she was given those extra pips to keep her from captaining another ship.
While she certainly helped topple the Borg and made great strides with the Q Continuum, many fans cite her blatant and frequent violations of the Prime Directive as well as her reckless leadership as reasons Starfleet wanted her away from where she could do the most harm.
