Star Trek: Voyager's Eye of the Needle deserves to be considered an all-time great franchise episode

The unfair criticism of Star Trek: Voyager needs to end. The show was an incredible journey from start to finish and had some of the most heart-wrenching and uplifting episodes of the franchise. Yet, because of some biases carried by some of the community, Voyager only started getting some of the love it deserved when the show made it to Netflix.

Which is why it's baffling that it took so long for fans to give this show the respect it deserves. It was never lacking. Early on the show was producing banger after banger. Yet, fans just didn't want to give it the fair shake it deserved. We're hoping to rectify that with one article after another.

If you're wanting to dive into Voyager, may we suggest the season one episode, "Eye of the Needle"? In the story, the Voyager comes across a wormhole that they find can carry messages across its boundaries. On the other end, ends up being a Romulan ship, piloted by an unnamed Romulan science officer. It's the first communication that the Voyager is able to establish with the Alpha Quadrant, a huge win for the ship lost in the Delta Quadrant.

While uneasy at first, the Romulan agrees to help the crew of the Voyager send messages home to their families, letting them know that they're alive. In doing so, however, the crew finds out that they may be able to do more than send messages across.

In trying to figure out how to send people across, a devastating piece of information is uncovered, and then another. Resulting in one of the most heartbreaking episodes of the franchise ever. Yet, it didn't just deliver on some heavy feelings of dread and heartbreak, it also featured a B-plot that saw The Doctor start his evolution from a computer program to a fully autonomous being.

It perfectly blended a melonic struggle to get home against the hopes of discovering who one is. It's peak Star Trek storytelling and one you have to see to fully appreciate.