We Star Trek fans are all about ranking the best and the worst lists in the franchise. Over the years, the captains have been ranked multiple times, and we know it's all about opinion. There hasn't been an official poll that definitively declared one captain from the Star Trek universe as the best out of all of them. But we continue to rank, whether it's uniforms, best episodes, worst episodes, or best characters and worst characters. Recently, Screenrant ranked the 12 Best Love Stories in the franchise. But one couple was noticeably missing. Perhaps the writer didn't think this pairing was high enough to be ranked, but, for me, it's truly a great love story.
Star Trek: Voyager created a pairing that was truly unique with former playboy Lt. Tom Paris [Robert Duncan McNeill] and Lt. B'Elanna Torres [Roxann Dawson], who was half Klingon and half human. Paris had been serving time in a penal colony before Captain Kathryn Janeway [Kate Mulgrew] brought him aboard Voyager for a single mission while Torres had been part of the Maquis, the resistance group fighting the Cardassians.
These two could not be more different, but sparks flew between them almost from the beginning when they were forced to serve together for longer than expected as Janeway and the crew tried to find a way to get Voyager back home.
Torres recognized Paris was all about the ladies, and, at first, she had no interest in him, but as months and years passed and Paris matured, she grew closer to him until finally declaring her love for him when they were both running out of air. They continued to have their ups and downs, with Torres struggling with the idea of her daughter being part Klingon like she was.
Their love story wasn't perfect. None are, but Torres and Paris's romance played out entirely aboard Voyager. They got married aboard a starship, and Torres gave birth to their daughter in the final episode of the series. They stayed together through thick and thin, sharing a beautiful, enduring love that surpassed all obstacles. For my vote, this couple is right behind Will Riker [Jonathan Frakes] and Deanna Troi's [Marina Sirtis] romance!