Resistance is futile as Jeri Ryan sexes up Star Trek: Voyager in its fourth season. The Borg take center stage as Voyage finally enters Borg space and gains a Borg crewmember, Seven of Nine. Seven proves to be the missing ingredient that the show needed to take off, as the character exponentially improves the quality of the storytelling. She fills the Spock/Data role of the outsider commenting on humanity. And, Seven’s interactions with Capt. Janeway and the Doctor make for some of the strongest character dynamics of the show. Additionally, the series finally finds a compelling villain in the form of the Hirogen; who are reminiscent of the Klingons. This new energy is also reflected in some incredibly ambitious episodes, such as “Year of Hell,” “The Killing Game,” “Living Witness,” and “One.” Plus, the season is able to gather some impressive guest stars; including Kurtwood Smith, Tony Todd, Virginia Madsen, and Ray Wise. Season 4 of Star Trek: Voyager re-launches the series and finally makes it worth watching.
It's almost like magic: The introduction of Seven totally changed this show. What was a desperate attempt to add some t&a to the show, became sort of a rebirth. Along with her, writing improved dramatically.
(It's still perhaps the weakest of all Star Trek shows of that era. Plus, it still a fast produced 90s TV show with tight financial constraints and it certainly didn't age well: unlike TNG it was never remastered nor was the advent of streaming very kind to it: unlike DS9, the absence of an overarching story arch doesn't make VOY a very binge-able show. But season 4 of VOY is pretty decent.)
Review by FinFanBlockedParent2016-01-13T13:56:20Z
Voyager became a different show with season 4. It wasn´t a big overhaul but a lot of little things that finally made this show reaching up to it´s potential.
The addition of Jeri Ryan as Seven was a big plus. Althought she was ment to be the babe and bringing some sexy looks she´s done so much more. Seven brought conflict to the show. She was the sandpaper between the rest of the crew, always questioning their methods and motives. She was the strong opposite to Janeway, the both of them clashing horns at every corner, and I think a lot of time Seven was spot on in her assessment of Janeway. They wrote more interesting stuff for Seven in even half of the season than they ever did for Kes. I liked Jennifer Lien but I felt her character never really went anywhere in terms of developement.
I also liked the B´Elanna/Tom relationship. It was bound to happen to couple two characters and those two seemed to be the only ones believable.
Overall scripts became better, the show alltogether had more and better continuity. I still didn´t like any character particulary which over the whole run of the show never really changed. Personally I would have liked to see more of the Hirogen who, from the introduction, were far more interesting and threatening than the Kazon ever became. But I´ll admit that ultimately the Hirogen were maybe a bit to single minded and since Voyager was bound to move on draging the Hirogen along would have ultimately been the same as with the Kazon.