Summary

• Star Trek: Voyager's 2-part episodes were structured like feature films, delivering concentrated punches of storytelling.
• Voyager's 2-part episodes were intended to feel like stand-alone Star Trek movies, with high concepts paying homage to earlier films.
• The decision to create Voyager movies as 2-part episodes within the TV show was cost-effective and avoided the risk of box office failure.

Star Trek: Voyager delivered 12 Star Trek movies, but not in the way you think. Movies have been a part of Star Trek tradition since the cast of Star Trek: The Original Series starred in Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. After six feature films starting the TOS cast, 1994's Star Trek Generations ed the theatrical torch to the Star Trek: The Next Generation cast, who followed Generations with 3 more Star Trek movies. The success of subsequent Star Trek television shows, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Star Trek: Voyager, prompted speculation that DS9 and Voyager movies would follow TNG to the silver screen.

Alas, that was not to be. Interest in Star Trek movies fizzled after the dismal performance of TNG's final film, Star Trek: Nemesis, both critically and at the box office, and the franchise laid dormant until J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek, which conceived of an entirely new direction for theatrical Star Trek by recasting the TOS characters for a new audience. By then, there was no chance that movies starring the cast of Star Trek: Voyager or DS9 would ever see production. Long before Abrams' Star Trek, however, Voyager had already made 12 feature-length productions, and they'd done it while Voyager was still on the air.

Star Trek: Voyager 2-Part Episodes Were Made Like Star Trek Movies

Voyager 2-Parters were structured like feature films.

As feature-length television events, Star Trek: Voyager's twelve 2-part episodes were the series' answer to Star Trek movies. While DS9 incorporated multi-part episodes into its broader ongoing structure, starting with the stunning DS9 season 2 opening trilogy, Voyager's 2-parters delivered concentrated punches of storytelling. High concepts paid homage to earlier Star Trek movies, like time-traveling to modern-day California in Voyager season 3, episodes 8 & 9, "Future's End" in a take on Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home; and Voyager season 3, episode 26 & season 4, episode 1, "Scorpion", echoing Star Trek: First , as Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) faced off against the Borg.

From there, Star Trek: Voyager experimented with structuring 2-part episodes as features. Both parts of Voyager season 4, episodes 18 & 19, "The Killing Game" aired the same night, drawing in viewers for the USS Voyager crew's exciting standoff against the Hirogen. Intentionally written as a feature-length event, Voyager episodes 15 & 16, "Dark Frontier", really felt like a Voyager movie, by tying Voyager's Borg directly to First , and bringing the Borg Queen (Susannah Thompson) to television. The follow-up to "The Killing Game", Star Trek: Voyager season 7, episodes 9 & 10, "Flesh and Blood", was another unbroken feature, and cemented the Hirogen as a mainstay adversary for the USS Voyager.

Voyager's 2-Part Episodes Didn't Need Theatrical Releases To Be Star Trek Movies

Making potential Voyager movies into 2-part episodes was a smart move.

Star Trek: Voyager's 2-part episodes didn't need to be released theatrically to be Voyager's own Star Trek movies. Voyager season 5, episodes 15 & 16, "Dark Frontier", was specifically conceived by writers Joe Menosky and Brannon Braga as a movie or telefilm, and not just as a feature-length episode. The scale of "Dark Frontier" was intended to meet or even sur Star Trek: First , in its story, special effects, and impact on characters, especially Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan). The format wouldn't be repeated until Voyager season 7, episodes 9 & 10, "Flesh and Blood", intended as a Voyager movie centering on a holographic insurrection against the Hirogen.

Eight of Voyager's 2-part episodes were recut as features and packaged as Star Trek: Voyager - Movies for VHS release in the UK.

From a production standpoint, it made sense for Voyager movies to be folded into regular seasons of television, especially in a time when Star Trek movies were a box office gamble. 1998's Star Trek: Insurrection was commonly criticized as having the scale of a regular 2-part episode of TNG, rather than a big-budget theatrical spectacle, so why devote additional time and resources to producing and marketing separate theatrical releases for potential Voyager movies? It was far more cost-effective to roll ideas for feature films into the existing television production schedule, making the 2-part episodes Star Trek: Voyager's 12 movies.