Star Trek Voyager Companion

Rating:
Summary: A Companion for true VOYAGER FANS!!
Review: I am a major Voyager fan and I have been waiting for this book for almost a year now. The reason being Voyager was a little different from other Star Trek series. It had interesting and charming characters and wonderful stories.

This companion itself may not be as impressive as the DS9 companion with all the interviews with cast and crew but it does have interesting facts from each episode that I found just amazing. I also loved the many of the big pictures of each episode and I learned more about the Voyager crew I didn't know before. It's a must for Voyager fans out there!!!! If your not a big Voyager fan you may still find a fun read.

Rating:
Summary: Not a lot of production notes but not a total loss
Review: I don't believe that the author set out to make a bad book. Sure, a lot of reviewers said that it just gives out the plots of each episode. Voyager had lots of problems behind the scenes and I don't think that Berman and Braga and the people at Paramount wanted any of that information released to the public.

I know that you could write ten books about this size with the unhappy behind the scenes material. Robert Beltran was right when he said in a lot of episodes the "shields were going down" and some alien was invading the ship each week.
Kate Milgrew said how the producers were more "concerned with her hair style" than the stories.

The Pocket books Star Trek: Voyager series had far better stories than the material that went to air each week on TV.

I do have to add there are nice photographs for the episodes. The story descriptions help you understand the illogic of this show which I call Voyager: Lost in Space. Seven of Nine is the Robot. The holographic Doctor could be Dr. Smith. Harry Kim might be the Will Robinson of the show.

Rating:
Summary: A great Trek show deserved better than this shoddy book
Review: I finally received the VOY Companion in the mail from Amazon. Full of excitement, I eagerly began to read it...

only to discover that it is merely a huge collection of episode synopses and PR blather from TPTB. really. was this a vast press release put out by Berman? all we get are rah-rah raves about VOY and how pleased Berman and co. are/were with it. all we get are long synopses of episodes. i guess there's a value in this but couldnt we simply get info like this from innumerable sites on the web?

I was hoping for a critical perspective on VOY that took a long view of its triumphs and occasional missteps, putting them all in perspective. the other Companions did that, from the excellent TOS one to the most recent DS9 one.

but this Companion is completely devoid of personality, bite, and interest. it is a COMPLETE waste of time and money unless youre eager to have a list of personnel and episode synopses. look for anything further and you, like me, will be sorely disappointed.

VOY was an uneven but deeply lovable and often brilliant show, and it deserved a nuanced and insightful treatment. The VOY Companion provides nothing whatsoever beyond dull and predictable standard information.

Rating:
Summary: I love this series, and I love this book!
Review: I first saw this book in a bookstore, and it stopped me in my tracks. I picked it up - just to look - and a half and hour later, I was still standing in the same place, gently turning the pages, one by one, drinking in details of this series I so adore. Reading this book (and rereading it) continues to be a pleasure. I didn't buy it that day - don't ask me why - but, after weeks of wishing I had, I ordered it from Amazon.com. Now it is mine. I miss VOYAGER, and this is one more way I have to continue to enjoy the stories. If you love the VOYAGER series, don't miss this book.

Rating:
Summary: Like the series, a missed opportunity
Review: I had high hopes for this book when I heard about it. After the OUTSTANDING ``Deep Space Nine'' Companion, I thought the powers that be had figured out how to really do a good companion book. However, like Voyager the series, the Voyager Companion is a missed opportunity. The bulk of the book is just plot summaries of every episode with some little bits of triva from each episode thrown in under headings like ``Sensor Readings'' or ``Personal Logs.'' The book covers the who, what, when, where of the series well, but it is severly lacking in the `why' and `how' categories.
Although there were some scattered comments from the producers and the actors (mostly in profiles of the characters), I really did not get a lot of insight into the series itself.
Why was the story ``Equinox'' the story where Voyager first encounters another Federation starship? Were there other ideas floating around about encountering Starfleet vessels? If so, what were they? Why did the producers decide to go with this one?
Why was Chakotay so underused throughout the series? Did the producers realize this? How did they address it if they knew? I have read a number of interviews with Robert Beltran and what he has said could fill a couple of books, but it appears no one bothered to talk to him about it for this book.
I had read in other sources that a Q turned into a human being was initially considered as a main character for the series. I did not see any mention of this in this book, especially with the episode ``Death Wish'' which seems to the basis for part of the idea.
The producers (in published interviews) have acknowledged the series had some problems, but very little, if anything, was addressed in this book, to why there were problems and how the producers dealt with it.
That is what I really look for in a companion to a television series, a lot of behind the scenes stuff and ``what they were thinking'' when they came up with an idea or decided to change it and an episode became what it was.
This book lacks a majority of that insight and only rehashes the series without putting it in any real context.
I was really hoping for more out of this, but like the series, I felt it missed its chance to really engage me.

Rating:
Summary: Don't Waste Your Money
Review: I had high hopes for this book. If it was just half as good as the DS9 one, I would of accepted it and went on my merry way. However, I had no such luck. To be frank, this book is a waste of paper. It's one big TV Guide...if you want synopsis of each episode with some technobabble added in, then this book is for you. There are no interesting behind the scenes stories. No analysis of the episodes. No insight into how the story came about. It's one big Love Fest with Braga or Berman saying how pleased they were WITH EVERY SINGLE EPISODE.

If you must, go to a local bookstore and browse through it before buying it. It is not worth your money.

Rating:
Summary: FRUSTRATED
Review: I have been a fan of star trek for 20 years. I own copies of the Star Trek Compendium, and The Next Generation and DS9 Companions. I was quite pleased with all of them. I was also a big fan of the Voyager series. Disappointment hardly describes this book. There is nothing here that a fifth grader wouldn't put in a "book" report after watching "the movie". I wonder if the author ever got off his couch-he couldn't possibly have visited the set.

I have seen all of the shows (most more than once). The brief synopsis of the plot was quite adequate for my needs, but where was the background information? It was replaced with nonsense. Instead of talking about the evolution of storylines, it reminds us of the imaginary names of stars and anomolies they visit. Instead of pointing out decisions that helped the series evolve, it reminds us that the what-zits were damaged when fired on with doo-dads and that naturally caused a toxic something-or-other to be released.

There were no reviews of the guest stars--no anecdotes about Ed Begley Jr.'s interest in the series. (In all fairness, they did put two pictures of him on the page... and while his name did not show up in the discussion of the episode, it did show up on the list of guest stars.) There was no discussion of how special effects shots were made--instead of telling about how SF engineers offered far more than requested in an excellent shot of Voyager crashing on an ice planet, it simply says "voyager crashes on a class L planet in the Takara sector."

To be fair, the book earned an extra star because the episode synopses alone make it a must have for a collector.

Obviously the author does not understand the Star Trek fan-- he really doesn't understand why the series was loved. Like "The Motion Picture" "Generations" and "Nemesis" this book puts technobabble and special effects in the way of character and plot. We don't care what percentage of power remains for the shields. We only care how the crew's values help them cope and how the story fits into the quest to get home.

Rating:
Summary: a very good read
Review: i have star trek voyager companion book i what i have read so far is a very enlightened book indeed i cannot see past this book for all star trek voyager fans it give the viewer an insight of what the the series has happened up to the last showing of the series also with the clips within the pages with meetting new life and new technology i think i keeps in line with the idea of what star trek is about also with the doctors text book is enjoyable with i am a doctor not a..... and at the star t of the book giving the reader an insight about the charaters also with ever episode it gives the title so that you know what to expect and knowing were you are in the book so all in all its a book iam proud to have in my collection

Rating:
Summary: A perfect reference book for the series
Review: I realize that The Star Trek Deep Space Nine Companion raised the bar for fan expectations, but comparisons to between that book and this one are unfair. The Voyager Companion is a great reference book. It provides all the factual data you need on the series itself, AND it has a multitude of indexes, which the DS9 Companion, unfortunately, was missing. It's everything a companion book should be. Does it have a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff? No, but I don't see why it has to. Over the course of time, it's the show itself you'll want to remember trivia about, not what Brannon Braga had for breakfast. The DS9 writers and producers were very free with information. The Voyager writers and producers are notoriously close-mouthed. It's a different show than DS9 and this is a different book. I don't think any fan's bookshelf is complete without The Voyager Companion, The DS9 Companion, and the TNG Companion. And of course the ST Compendium, if you can find it! Buy this book--it's a great source of STAR TREK info.

Rating:
Summary: This is the dictionary on Voyager.
Review: I was walking in the Sci/Fic area of a book store. I came across this book and noticed it was about Voyager. I picked it up and started reading it. I realized that this book was the Every-thing-you -need-to-know about Voyagerb book....Ten minutes later I was at the register paying for the book. The book is the best book on Voyager yet! I would highly reccomend this book to any Voyager/Star Trek Fan.!!!