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Brad Dourif

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Brad Dourif ( born 18 March 1950 ; age 74) is the actor who played Lon Suder in the Star Trek: Voyager second and third season episodes " Meld ", " Basics, Part I " and " Basics, Part II ".

A veteran character actor, he has portrayed a number of memorable characters on both the small and the big screen, with his most well-known including Billy Bibbit in the acclaimed film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , Doc Cochran in the HBO television series Deadwood , Chucky in the Child's Play series of horror films, and Gríma Wormtongue in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

• 1 Early life
• 2.3 Child's Play
• 2.4 Later horror and sci-fi works
• 2.5 Other film and television credits
• 2.6 Video games
• 3 External links

Early life [ ]

Dourif was born in Huntington, West Virginia. He attended Aiken Preparatory School in Aiken, South Carolina, from 1963 to 1965, where he briefly considered becoming an artist before deciding on an acting career. He later attended Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from which he graduated in 1969.

Dourif made an impression on audiences and critics in one of his first major film roles: that of mental patient Billy Bibbit in One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975, with Louise Fletcher , Michael Berryman , Christopher Lloyd , Peter Brocco , and Vincent Schiavelli , and make-up by Fred Phillips ). He won a British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Award and a Golden Globe and received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for this role, while his co-star Louise Fletcher won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in the film.

In 1978, Dourif worked alongside Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ' s René Auberjonois in Eyes of Laura Mars . The following year, Dourif received critical acclaim for his lead role as Hazel Motes in John Huston's Wise Blood , which co-starred Dan Shor and which was cast by Stratton Leopold . Dourif also worked with Dan Shor in the 1979 miniseries Studs Lonigan , which was directed by James Goldstone .

He appeared in the TV movie Sergeant Matlovich vs. the U.S. Air Force (1978, with William Wintersole , Harv Selsby , Tom Ormeny , Steven Anderson , Gavan O'Herlihy , William Daniels , Mitchell Ryan , Alfred Ryder , David Spielberg , and David Ogden Stiers ).

Dourif was one of several Star Trek alumni to appear in Tragedy: The Story of Jim Jones (1980, co-starring Meg Foster , Albert Hall , Madge Sinclair , Ed Lauter , and Star Trek: The Next Generation regular LeVar Burton ). Dourif then had a supporting role in Heaven's Gate (1980, with Terry O'Quinn . Afterward, Dourif played the role of Younger Brother in Ragtime (1981, with Cuckoo's Nest director Milos Forman . This film also featured Robert Joy .

Dourif's next film role was that of sinister mentat Piter DeVries in David Lynch 's Dune (1984, with Patrick Stewart , Virginia Madsen and Dean Stockwell ). Dourif again worked with both Lynch and Stockwell when he played a hoodlum in Blue Velvet (1986). He subsequently co-starred with Whoopi Goldberg and Harris Yulin in Fatal Beauty (1987) and played a deputy in Mississippi Burning (1988).

During this time, Dourif also continued to make appearances on television. He worked alongside Dennis Christopher in a 1984 episode of Tales of the Unexpected , directed by Leo Penn . He also appeared in a Richard Compton -directed episode of The Equalizer with Stephen McHattie and guest-starred on Spenser: For Hire , the detective series on which Deep Space Nine 's Avery Brooks was a regular cast member. He was then seen on Moonlighting , in an episode with Richard Beymer , and on The Hitchhiker , working with Kirstie Alley . In addition, he co-starred in such TV movies as Vengeance: The Story of Tony Cimo (directed by Marc Daniels ) and Rage of Angels: The Story Continues (with Michael Nouri ), both of which aired in 1986.

Child's Play [ ]

Dourif is well-known for voicing for the serial killer-possessed doll, Charles Lee Ray (Chucky), in the Child's Play horror films series. The first film in the series, 1988's Child's Play , starred Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home 's Catherine Hicks and Deep Space Nine guest actor Chris Sarandon . Dourif returned to voice the sadistic toy in six sequels: 2 (which featured Gerrit Graham ), 3 (with Dakin Matthews and Andrew Robinson ), Bride of Chucky , Seed of Chucky, Curse of Chucky, and Cult of Chucky . He also reprised the role in the 2021 TV series Chucky (with Barbara Alyn Woods and Rachael Ancheril ) . Dourif even voiced the character for a cameo appearance on NBC 's Saturday Night Live .

Later horror and sci-fi works [ ]

Following his work on Dune and Child's Play , Dourif has acted in many horror, science fiction, or fantasy genre films. In 1990, he was seen in several horror films, including The Exorcist III , Graveyard Shift (co-starring David Andrews and Stephen Macht ), and Spontaneous Combustion (film)|Spontaneous Combustion}} (with Dey Young ). He later had a supporting role in Critters 4 (1992, with Anne Elizabeth Ramsay ), and Trauma (1993, with Jacqueline Kim ).

In 1994, Dourif guest-starred on The X-Files and subsequently appeared on Millennium (opposite Megan Gallagher , Terry O'Quinn, and Morgan Woodward ) and Babylon 5 (with Andreas Katsulas , Bill Mumy , and Patricia Tallman ). He also appeared in Escape to Witch Mountain (1995 film)|Escape to Witch Mountain}} (1995, with Henry Gibson , Kevin Tighe , and Cuckoo's Nest co-star) Vincent Schiavelli).

In 1997, Dourif appeared in Alien Resurrection , along with Raymond Cruz , Leland Orser , Ron Perlman , and Winona Ryder . In 2002, he appeared as the evil Grima Wormtongue in The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers , which co-starred John Rhys-Davies and Karl Urban . Dourif's only scene in the third film, Return of the King , was cut from the theatrical release but was restored in the special edition DVD.

Dourif's other genre credits include Soulkeeper (2001, with Tommy "Tiny" Lister, Jr. ), Vlad (2003, with Paul Popowich and Guy Siner ), and Pulse (2006, with Zach Grenier ). He also appeared in The Wizard of Gore (2007, with Jeffrey Combs ).

More recently, Dourif played Sheriff Lee Brackett in Rob Zombie 's remake of the classic horror film Halloween . Malcolm McDowell and veteran genre players Sid Haig , Clint Howard , Richard Lynch , Daniel Roebuck , Tom Towles , and Adrienne Barbeau also had roles in this film (although Barbeau's scenes were cut from the final product). Dourif, McDowell, and Roebuck reprised their roles in Halloween II (2009).

Other film and television credits [ ]

Dourif played ruthless drug dealer Joey Wyatt in a 1987 episode of Miami Vice . He was seen in Jungle Fever (1991), and, in 1994, he played one of the several patients of a psychiatrist played by Scott Bakula in the thriller Color of Night , which also co-starred Erick Avari and Jeff Corey . Dourif then had a supporting role in the 1995 thriller Murder in the First , co-starring Christian Slater , Ben Slack , Eve H. Brenner , Time Winters , and Stefan Gierasch .

Some of Dourif's lesser-known film credits include 1997's Sworn to Justice with Star Trek: The Original Series star Walter Koenig and 2000's Shadow Hours with The Next Generation 's Michael Dorn and Enterprise guest star Peter Weller . He portrayed Dr. Wheedon in Senseless (1998, with Jenette Goldstein , Richard McGonagle , Greg Grunberg , Alexander Enberg , Manu Intiraymi , Ivar Brogger , Cyia Batten , Jack Shearer , Len Costanza , John Wilkie , Janet Dey , Bruce Dobos , Andray Johnson , and Rubin Knight ), and in 2001, he acted with Cary-Hiroyuki in the action-thriller film The Ghost .

From 2004 through 2006, Dourif starred as Doc Cochran on HBO's Western series Deadwood , which earned him an Emmy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor. This series also featured Leon Rippy , Alice Krige , Jim Beaver , Titus Welliver , Larry Cedar , and Keone Young .

In 2008, Dourif guest-starred on NBC's Law & Order , in an episode with Michael McKean . That same year, he appeared with Lee Meriwether in the drama film Touching Home . More recently, he had a supporting role in the acclaimed 2009 crime film The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans , inspired by the 1992's Bad Lieutenant .

Video games [ ]

Dourif played the part of the villain Saavedro in the computer game Myst III: Exile . He lent his voice to the 2002 video game Run Like Hell , as did his Voyager co-star Kate Mulgrew and Enterprise guest star Clancy Brown . Also, both Dourif and Ron Perlman voiced two of the villains in the hit 2005 game Gun . Additionally, Dourif performed voice acting for the Natural Philosopher Piero Joplin, a supporting character in the 2011 game Dishonored .

External links [ ]

• Brad Dourif at the Internet Movie Database
• Brad Dourif at Wikipedia
• 2 ISS Enterprise (NCC-1701)

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Published Feb 6, 2023

The Ballad of Lon Suder | Star Trek Tackles Mental Illness

The one-off Star Trek: Voyager character's appearance gave this fan a someone they could relate to.

StarTrek.com

CONTENT WARNING: Discussion of mental and/or behavioral disorders and violent ideations to follow .

One of the hardest things a Vulcan might ever cope with is emotions. They are conditioned to suppress their feelings so that they can focus on the logic of every scenario.

As one Star Trek: Voyager character aptly said to Commander Tuvok, “It must be difficult for you, knowing violence as I know it.”

That character was Lon Suder , a Betazoid Maquis who eagerly helped the human-led rebellion eliminate Cardassians. However, Suder had a secret — he wasn’t there to free anyone. He joined the Maquis because he had a brain imbalance that cut off his empathic abilities and gave him violent, difficult-to-control impulses. All his life, he tried to self-medicate with hologram programs and synaptic therapy, but none of them worked. With no one to help him, he settled on joining the Maquis, where his violence could be an acceptable tool.

Once he joined Voyager , though, where things were back to Starfleet regulations, Suder struggled to keep his impulses in check. He suppressed them for an entire year and a half before he broke and, in the episode “ Meld ,” ended up killing a fellow shipmate. Suder, Tuvok, and the Voyager crew spent the rest of the episode coping with the repercussions.

And he is the character I identify most with in all of Star Trek .

Episode Preview: Meld

Suder’s diagnosis was always left vague. Though Suder’s actor, Brad Dourif, described his condition as sociopathy (which from this point on, I will be describing as the more professionally defined Antisocial Personality Disorder , ASPD), I believe the situation is a little more complex. Instead of ASPD, I’ve always read Suder as living with bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder is characterized by mood swing episodes that range from depressive lows to manic highs. The disorder is further complicated by intrusive thoughts and impulses that feed the depression and mania. This disorder affects approximately 2.3 million Americans (1% of the population) and usually begins in adolescence or early adulthood.

While the Doctor and Tuvok never clearly define what Suder has in the episode, and even deliberately say he doesn’t have bipolar disorder, there is a lot of evidence to the contrary. The oscillating impulses, his disregard for his own life, and the clear unfathomable depths of his rage speak to something different.

Because, despite Suder describing a lack of emotion and the writers implying ASPD, he does feel remorse and rage and self-hatred. People with ASPD are described as manipulative, callous, risk-taking, and charming. Suder was a man who hid away, kept to himself, all in an attempt to stave off his own impulses. He did not have a grandiose self-worth, criminal versatility, poor behavioral control, or a failure to accept responsibility. Many of ASPD’s most important indicators don’t exist in Suder. All he had was a self-described lack of empathy. Furthermore, he took complete responsibility for himself and wanted to rid the world of a “monster” just as much as they did.

Now, let’s apply his behaviors to bipolar disorder. Much like bipolar disorder symptoms, Suder was bombarded by complex moods and impulses. For example, he liked to bury his feelings and insist they didn’t exist, but when he killed the other ensign, he said at first it was “just because he didn’t like how he looked at him.” But as Tuvok pried, Suder got slightly more agitated and upset, clearly trying to keep those parts of him he didn’t like at bay. He eventually admitted the ensign looked at him like everyone else does, like he is a monster. And Suder himself agreed with that assessment. He was a monster, and he was more than willing to die for his crimes.

That’s not a self-important, manipulative man who doesn’t care about others. That’s someone who thinks he’s the scum of the earth and everyone would be better off without him; he was just trying to hold it in. And now he doesn’t feel like he has any right to keep trying anymore.

While this is a fictional character, I do think there is a serious case for Suder having more in common with bipolar disorder than ASPD. But, either way, he was a rare case of representation on screen for any severe mental disorder, and the way the show approached Suder’s illness matters more than the average person will ever know.

While Lon Suder is an extreme, uniquely violent example (which can be problematic in itself), the way that Voyager treated Suder was also uniquely humanizing. At first, Tuvok felt the captain’s choice of confining Suder to his quarters was too kind. But, in his efforts to support her decision, he melded with Suder and got a real taste of who he was. He felt the anger, the seething, incessant thoughts, and the self-loathing.

The episode proved how oppressive Suder’s disorder was by sharing his thoughts and emotions with Tuvok. Even against the most level-headed of minds, those violent impulses and intrusive thoughts were aggressive and unrelenting.

The only thing that shook Tuvok out of it was Suder’s own experienced self-reflection on the disorder in their brains. In one of Voyager ’s most powerful scenes, Suder explained that Tuvok killing him wasn’t really justice. The mental gymnastics going through Tuvok’s mind didn’t change the nature of what he was doing. This violence towards others was a form of self-harm. Tuvok felt like he and Suder were these twisted monsters and he was trying to kill them both.

It was only when Tuvok gave into that truth of his emotions and stopped fighting that Suder was able to call for help and save them both.

Once he experienced Suder’s suffering and Suder saved his life, Tuvok became his loudest advocate. To Tuvok, Suder went from a hardened criminal on death row to a man trapped in an unbalanced mind that he couldn’t control. Afterwards, The Doctor and Tuvok fought for rehabilitation and management instead of ending Suder’s life.

With time, the Doctor and Tuvok helped Suder find balance and peace with medication, meditation, and self-soothing hobbies. Suder started growing plants to help the aeroponics bay and was making a lot of therapeutic progress with Tuvok. Tuvok even wanted to give him more freedoms, proving how far he’d come along in roughly less than six months. Getting that kind of support finally gave Suder the agency to become a well-rounded person for the first time in his life. That is, until his untimely death.

Even though Voyager only knew the real Suder for a short time, he grew from a violent, unstable person who couldn’t handle the screaming in his head into someone trying to get healthier and contributing to his community. That doesn’t excuse murder, but it does speak to the person behind the disorder.

While Suder deserved to be saved before it ever came to murder, it was revolutionary for the series to insist upon his worth and his potential even after he did such a horrible thing. That kind of complex narrative isn’t what you normally see for someone who has anything looking like bipolar disorder, or ASPD, especially not in science fiction.

For comparison, in 2019 films, two different bipolar characters killed family members and themselves ( Midsommar , The Goldfinch ) and the vaguely mentally ill Joker murdered multiple people and incited a violent, city-wide anarchy movement. Drama series have gotten better about mental disorders, but sci-fi/horror tend to act like its proof of villainy. And don’t even get me started on how many disabled villains are used in Shyamalan films .

That hard truth makes Voyager ’s portrayal all the more impressive. Let’s say it plainly — Not only did the series not turn Suder into a cheap and easy monster, but they also showed how overwhelming the effects of his disorder can be. And they did it brilliantly, by loaning it to a well-understood, well-balanced, beloved character. Though his death was premature, Voyager ended his story by letting Suder improve and become a savior. Voyager went above and beyond to prove there was a person underneath the unchecked darkness that plagued him. That the illness was a chemical imbalance, a bundle of neurons, and not a personal, damning flaw of Suder’s own fault.

After all, the episode does imply that if Suder hadn’t been afraid to get help, and had been helped, he might have never hurt anyone.

Now, Lon Suder is still a bit of a problematic figure. Voyager did take his disorder and experiences to the extremes, turning an unbalanced man into a murderer. And they also, though several episodes later, still managed to turn him into a martyr. Neither of those things are redeemable. People with intense psychiatric disorders like bipolar disorder deserve stories where they don’t have to be a criminal or a killer to be noticed. After all, only a rate of roughly 8.4% of patients with bipolar disorder have committed a violent crime after diagnosis. That means, going by that statistic and the number of bipolar people in America, over 2 million members of the community have never had a history of violence. Even then, most all of those committing crimes were ones who struggled with the disorder and substance abuse. And yet, even though the vast majority of bipolar people don’t commit crimes, it is that loud minority that the greater society has used to damn us.

Lon Suder lives in a rare in-between; a space where he was a criminal and person who needed help and patience. It was something I’ve never seen before. And it was something I absolutely needed, when I watched it as a struggling young adult coping with my own disorders.

I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2013, when I was 17. And even then, I didn’t get a decent handle on it until I was 22. That same year, I was struggling with my transition from a miraculous college grad, to a lost writer cleaning my house too much because my boyfriend had his life together and I felt like a mess.

I figured binging Voyager while trying to scrub my pain away wouldn't be a bad idea. Star Trek had always been proverbial comfort food for my little nerd heart. I threw it on, got to folding laundry, and didn’t give a second thought to (what I thought was) a typical 50-minute, sci-fi crime story.

I stopped cleaning the second Suder and Tuvok talked for the first time about their meld. Suder said, “It’s like I can observe the violence within me without letting it get too close.” That’s almost exactly what I thought after my first month on stabilizer meds. I put my towels down. All I could do was stare, unblinking, at this man who all of a sudden looked so much like me. The first man on TV I’d ever seen who looked like me. I hadn’t joined a rebellion to sate my impulses, but I tried to run away from home to spare my family my suicidal ideations. I didn’t kill a man, but I did barely sleep for a month and told someone I was willing to die for my writing.

Going in, I thought I didn’t like looking at Suder. But seeing Tuvok glare at him, I saw every face that suddenly saw me as a stranger when I disclosed my disorder. I felt Suder’s words echo against my ribcage — and he was right. I certainly didn’t like the way he looked at me.

“ You’re right; it is disturbing. Never knowing when that impulse may come. Or whether or not you can control it when it does. You live on the edge of every moment ," Suder described, talking about his disorder.

And there I was, on the edge of my couch, and he was right.

By the end of the episode, after seeing his struggle, the person it made him, and the person he wanted to be, I was sobbing, horrified, and relieved all at once. Lon Suder was more violent, more dangerous, but still just a person who needed help with the things in his brain he struggled to control.

That mattered more to me at that moment than any of the rejection letters in my inbox or the projects I wasn’t sure I was getting right. In a fictional, utopian future out there, someone looked like me and Starfleet, the moral arbiters of the galaxy, wanted him to get better.

I only wish they gave him more time to enjoy the stability he always deserved. Many stories like to show the monsters or the inspirational heroes of mental illness. Suder wasn’t that. He wasn’t only pitiful or unforgivable or full of lost potential. In his short time on Voyager , Lon Suder got to be the rarest thing someone with a mental disorder on-screen gets to be — a person.

This article was originally published on November 16, 2020.

Stephanie Roehler (they/she/he) is a freelancer who loves to write about video games, books, movies, TV shows, comics, and especially Star Trek.

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Best Star Trek: Voyager episodes

From battles with the Borg to explorations of humanity, we’ve picked out the best Star Trek: Voyager episodes.

Running from 1995 to 2001, Voyager was a departure for the Star Trek series, journeying into new territory, literal and metaphorical. It was the first in the franchise to feature a woman in the captain's chair, with the strong and stubborn Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) taking the helm. In the pilot episode, Caretaker (January 1995), the Intrepid-class starship Voyager is catapulted to the Delta Quadrant, a hitherto unexplored quadrant of the galaxy. Voyager’s mission (and overall story arc) was simple then: Make it back to Federation space, even though it was 75 years away (spoiler: it didn’t take that long). 

During its seven seasons and 172 episodes, Voyager introduced new species, like the Hirogen and the bane of the Borg, Species 8472. It explored emotional and ethical quandaries, such as hologram sentience and reformed drone Seven of Nine’s dating life, and along the way had fun with rogue Klingons and Q. It was a somewhat uneven show and didn’t fully hit its stride until season four, but it still provided plenty of memorable moments.  

Although Voyager never quite reached the heights of cast alchemy and narrative depth of its immediate forebear, the iconic The Next Generation, it broke new ground. Most significantly perhaps, it centered, for the first time, on a woman captain – one who commanded with utmost confidence, inspiring the love and loyalty of her crew, helping to pave the way for the gender-breaking 2017 series Discovery. And, it also included some very fine writing, as this list demonstrates (note: spoilers for individual episodes and the series follow, and two-parters will count as one episode for the purposes of this list).

If you want to relive Voyager's best episodes, then check out our Star Trek streaming guide to find out where you can watch the show online. Or if you’re a just big fan of all things Star Trek then check out our list of Star Trek movies, ranked worst to best , 

Now, let's count down our top ten best Star trek Voyager episodes, starting with...

10. Distant Origin

• Season 3, episode 23 
• Original air date: April 30, 1997

As Voyager was set in a distant part of the galaxy, 70,000 light years away from home, the series was always a touch more whimsical than The Next Generation (TNG) or Deep Space Nine (DS9). In this episode, Voyager, one of the jewels of Starfleet, more than meets its match in a race known as the Voth, when the entire ship is transported inside a massive Voth vessel. 

It turns out the Voth might’ve evolved from Earth’s dinosaurs aeons ago in this tale about the importance of scientific curiosity and open-mindedness. “Eyes open” is the memorable line uttered by the trailblazing Voth paleontologist as he tries to prove humans and Voth once shared the same origin.

9. Good Shepherd

• Season 6, episode 20  
• Original air date: March 15, 2000

Recalling the The Next Generation episode Lower Decks, Good Shepherd gives viewers the chance to see Voyager from a different perspective – not of the captain and her officers, but from much lowlier crewmen. Focusing on a Bajoran who has trouble with her sums, a hypochondriac, and a misanthropic physicist, Captain Janeway decides to take these three on an away mission, to steer these lost sheep back on course. 

It’s a fine episode that shows Voyager as the hierarchical starship it always was, and the importance of its many crewmen that help it to remain running. Fun fact: Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello appears in this episode as Crewman Mitchell.

8. Nightingale

• Season 7, episode 8  
• Original air date: November 22, 2000

The “lowest ranked officer” Ensign Harry Kim (Garrett Wang) finally gets his chance to shine as he asks Captain Janeway to give him his first command mission. This episode was an efficient education in the finer points of leadership, as the junior officer took command of an alien ship, revealing the Captain and First Officer’s jobs were harder than they looked. 

Watch as Ensign Kim undermines the confidence of his new crew and overemphasizes the importance of routine checks, among other lessons in what not to do as a leader.

7. Human Error

• Season 7, episode 17  
• Original air date: March 7, 2001

Human Error finds Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan) trying to outgrow her Borg limitations in a bid to become more human. It’s romantic, amusing, awkward, emotionally expansive, and yet oddly claustrophobic. As Seven navigates various social activities such as a baby shower, small talk, and, most poignant of all, dating, this episode unpicks obsession, perfectionism, and Seven’s sensitive interior, which belie her inscrutable drone façade. 

With some fine performances by Ryan and Picardo as The Doctor (who is secretly in love with Seven), this episode is slightly flawed, yet more ambitious, and more attuned to human moods than much of Voyager’s oeuvre.

• Season 2, episode 16  
• Original air date: February 5, 1996

“You live on the edge of every moment, and yet, in its own way, violence is attractive, too. Maybe because it doesn’t require logic. Perhaps that’s why it’s so liberating” – Suder’s chilling words to Tuvok.

The early seasons of Voyager were patchy as the crew took time to establish chemistry, while antagonists such as the Kazon were uninspiring. But in season two, we were treated to an episode of high drama that didn’t rely on alien battles. Instead, it came via an onboard murder. The resident Vulcan and Chief Security Officer, Tuvok (Tim Russ), is charged with solving the case. Attempting to establish motive, the logical Tuvok is baffled when the murderer, the crewman Suder, replies that he committed the crime for “no reason”. Tuvok mind melds with Suder in order to better understand him. 

Needless to say, Tuvok experiences adverse effects from the meld in this study of extreme violence, and grapples with the ethics of appropriate punishment. Anchored by a charismatic performance by Brad Dourif, as the sociopath, Suder even gets a chance at redemption, returning in the two-parter Basics (season 2, episode 26), when he helps to retake the ship from the Kazon. 

• Season 5, episode 25 & season 6, episode 1 
• Original air date: May 26, 1999 & September 22, 1999

This season five finale has a grittiness and darkness that later series Enterprise and Discovery would utilise more. Encountering another Starfleet vessel in the Delta Quadrant, Captain Janeway goes to the aid of the U.S.S. Equinox. A much smaller and less powerful vessel, the Equinox is a Nova-class starship not designed for long-range missions. 

So, how have they managed to survive this long? In this tense and dramatic two-parter, Janeway is pitted against fellow Starfleet officers and turns vengeful as she discovers the horrifying truth about the Equinox's betrayal of Star Fleet's principles and the Prime Directive.

4. Blink of an Eye

• Season 6, episode 12 
• Original air date: January 19, 2000

The U.S.S. Voyager investigates a world that rotates 58 times a second, with time passing much more quickly on its surface than in space, but gets trapped as it is caught by the planet’s orbit. Meanwhile, the primitive natives on the surface see a new star in the sky, which happens to be Voyager. 

In this enjoyable episode, the crew of the ship, and we the audience, get to see the evolution of a world and its inhabitants before our very eyes. Featuring a pre-Lost Daniel Dae Kim as an alien, Blink of an Eye has a charm and sweetness that is magically expressed in the episode’s final moments.

• Season 7, episode 24 
• Original air date: May 23, 2001

When Voyager’s finale aired, it was met with mixed audience reactions, with a consensus that it wrapped things up a little too neatly. While that criticism is not invalid, in retrospect Endgame was more of a treat than a sour note. After all, over its 86-minute runtime the two-parter finally gave its characters a little more room to breathe. This generosity extended to include the return of the wonderful Alice Krige as the Borg Queen, who first appeared in the role in the Star Trek: First Contact movie. 

Involving a Borg showdown, among other delights, Endgame treated us to the sights of a Voyager crew in old age, as we learn of the crew’s destinies, the wonders of even more futuristic technology, and a white-haired Janeway coming to terms with how stubborn her younger self could be.

2. Year of Hell

• Season 4, episode 8 & 9 
• Original air date: November 5, 1997 & November 12, 1997

This two-parter is among the darkest and grittiest Star Trek has ever gotten. This was Voyager in distress and Captain Janeway at her most grim. Voyager gets embroiled in an interspecies conflict, but finds itself drawn into a more personal story. Kurtwood Smith delivers an authoritative performance as the villain Annorax – a brooding figure who commands a temporal weapon ship capable of erasing objects and civilizations from the timeline. 

Year of Hell had an epic quality, a sense of awe and real peril as it was difficult to imagine Voyager surviving through the onslaught. Full of memorable imagery – from Janeway as a gung-ho militaristic figure to a devastated ship with holes in its hull – this was Voyager at its most hellish.    

1. Timeless

• Season 5, episode 6 
• Original air date: November 18, 1998

A mini-masterpiece. For Voyager’s 100th episode the show’s producers and writers Brannon Braga, Rick Berman, and Joe Menosky created something special. With Levar Burton (of Geordi La Forge and The Next Generation fame) as director, Timeless had the majesty of a movie. The 45-minute run-time included the extraordinary image of Voyager encased in ice and a plot that was as satisfying as it was compelling (as well a cameo from Burton as a Starfleet captain). 

What was even more surprising was Garrett Wang playing an older, grizzled Harry Kim, in probably his standout performance, for a story that was full of pathos and regret. Can the older Kim send a message back through time to correct a huge mistake and avoid the deaths of his crewmates? Timeless really does have a timeless quality to it, since it’s the finest episode of Voyager ever produced.

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Lu-Hai Liang is a British Chinese writer and reporter. He has a degree in multimedia journalism and has written about culture for The Atlantic, BBC, CNN, Eurogamer, IGN, and Wired among others. He was based previously in Beijing for six years and reported on China’s changing society and development in business and technology. Generally, he likes sci-fi, video games, and space.

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Star Trek Voyager: An Episode Roadmap

Our viewing guide for Star Trek Voyager, if you want to get going quickly...

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This article originally ran on Den of Geek UK .

Maps To TV Shows: Is there a popular show you’d really like to watch but you just don’t have time to wade through years of it all at once? Do you just want to know why that one character keeps turning up on Tumblr? Do the fans all tell you ‘season one is a bit iffy but stick with it, it gets great!’, leaving you with absolutely zero desire ever to watch the boring/silly/just plain weird season one? Then Maps To TV Shows is for you!

In these articles, we’ll outline routes through popular TV shows focusing on particular characters, story arcs or episode types. Are you really into the Klingon episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation ? Do you want to get the overall gist of the aliens arc on The X-Files ? Or perhaps you’d rather avoid aliens and watch the highlights of their Monsters of the Week? Do you just want to know who that guy dressed like Constantine is? In these articles, we’ll provide you with a series of routes through long-running shows designed for new viewers so that you can tailor your journey through the very best TV has to offer. While skipping most of season one. It gets better.

N.B. Since part of the aim of these articles is to encourage new viewers, spoilers will be kept to a minimum. However, be aware that due to the nature of the piece, certain elements of world-building, bad guy-revelation, late character arrivals etc. will be spoiled, and looking at the details of one suggested ‘route’ may spoil another.

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Poor Voyager is probably Star Trek ’s least loved child overall. It competes with Enterprise for the dubious honour of the title Least Popular Series of Star Trek , and unlike Enterprise , it is rarely defended on the grounds of trying to do something interesting at some point its run or just starting to get good when it got cancelled. It also produced the only episode seriously considered as a rival to Spock’s Brain for the position of Worst Episode of Star Trek  Ever Made, and the fact it later produced two episodes that might be said to be even worse doesn’t really help its case.

Watch Star Trek: Voyager on Amazon Prime

However, Voyager is my personal favorite series of Star Trek . For all its many flaws, it offered a likeable set of characters who often didn’t seem to be taking any of it too seriously. It is, to date, the only Star Trek series with a female captain in the starring role, and for those of us of the feminine persuasion, that’s a draw (plus Kate Mulgrew’s Janeway is her own breed of awesome, even if she seems to change her mind about the Prime Directive from week to week). It boasted two talented actors in Robert Picardo and Jeri Ryan and made use of them – too much, perhaps, but if you’ve got it, flaunt it. The rest of the crew were also good actors when given good material, and pleasant company to be in on a weekly basis.

When I was growing up, we watched Voyager as a family (two teenagers, two parents) and everyone was able to enjoy it equally, while its episodic nature, so frustrating to those who preferred Deep Space Nine ’s more arc-based structure, was perfect for the four of us to relax with from week to week without worrying if we missed an episode. I also watched it with friends from school, and again, being able to jump around the series picking whichever episode we felt like watching without explaining a complicated arc to someone who hadn’t seen it before was a bonus. It’s purely a matter of personal taste, but some of us actually like episodic television.

I’m pretty sure I’ll never convince Voyager ’s detractors to see it in a fresh light, but for anyone who’d like to give the show a go to see if it was really as bad as all that, these suggested routes through the series may help. Alternatively, if you’re curious to see why the show has such a bad reputation (or if you hate Voyager and want to revel in how right you feel you are), there is a hate-watch route and for all that I love it, it had to be said, Voyager did produce some real stinkers in its day. Entertaining stinkers in some cases, at least!

Route 1: Honestly, this show is really good

There are a few of us for whom Voyager is our favourite series of Star Trek , and hopefully these episodes will show you why. Even season two produced some gems among what was, overall, a rather dull experience (one of Voyager ’s problems was that the first series featured the usual teething troubles, and the second series was really quite bad, which presumably put off a lot of viewers).

Season One:

Eye Of The Needle

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Caretaker is one of Star Trek ’s best pilots; many were disappointed with the show because they felt its promise was not followed up on (those of us who started watching later in its run were less likely to be disappointed, of course). To describe what makes Eye Of The Needle great would be to spoil it so we won’t, while Faces features some fine character work from Roxann Dawson as B’Elanna Torres. Add Ex Post Facto , a fairly bland but quite fun episode, if you like whodunnits.

Season Two:

Tuvok’s dark side was always worth seeing and it comes out the strongest in Meld , while ‘the holographic doctor falls in love’ is a much better episode than it sounds in Lifesigns , which explores illness and self-confidence, among other things. Death Wish is probably the best Q episode in all of Star Trek , while Deadlock toys with being really quite brutal for a moment (before pulling back – this is still Star Trek , after all). If you enjoy more experimental episodes, add The Thaw , which appears on some people’s ‘best of’ lists and others’ ‘worst of’ – it’s certainly an acquired taste but it’s genuinely creepy (on purpose) and please note, its virtual world pre-dates The Matrix . Tuvix is also rather controversial, but raises some interesting issues and features some good performances.

Season Three:

Future’s End Parts 1&2

Before And After

Scorpion Part 1

The Chute features energetic performances from Robert Duncan McNeil and Garrett Wang, and some lovely cinematography in a fairly intense story. Future’s End is good time travel-based fun while Before And After features a teaser for one of the series’ best stories, season four’s Year Of Hell . The first two-parter to feature the Borg, Scorpion Part 1, was really excellent – the Borg were rather over-used later in the series, but in this initial appearance, they are as terrifying and as impressive as ever. Add Basics Part 2 for a great performance (as always) from Brad Dourif. Add Macrocosm if Die Hard on Voyager with giant bugs, starring Janeway in a vest, is your particular cup of tea.

Season Four:

Scorpion Part 2

Year Of Hell Parts 1&2

Message In A Bottle

Living Witness

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Hope And Fear

Season four was Voyager ’s strongest season overall and included of its best overall episodes – Scorpion Part 2 , Year Of Hell (in which the use of the reset button is entirely justified) and Living Witness , an exploration of the nature of history which also finds time for the always enjoyable Alternate Evil Crew trope. Much of the season was dedicated to developing new character Seven of Nine, somewhat to the detriment of the other regulars at times, but Seven is a genuinely fascinating character and most of the episodes exploring her slow transition back to humanity were good hours, One among them. Voyager didn’t have much of an arc plot, but season four also saw major developments in what arcs it did have, particularly in the hilarious Message In A Bottle . Add The Killing Game Parts 1&2 for a story that doesn’t make much sense if you look at it too closely, but it isn’t half fun to watch.

Season Five:

Counterpoint

Latent Image

Bride Of Chaotica!

Someone To Watch Over Me

Equinox Part 1

Unintentional hilarity aside, Voyager often did comedy really quite well, and Bride Of Chaotica! is surely its funniest hour. Timeless , the show’s 100th episode, is excellent, Drone is less about the Borg than you might think, while Counterpoint and Latent Image are strong, bittersweet instalments. The season once again goes out with a strong cliffhanger in Equinox Part 1 .

Season Six:

Equinox Part 2

Blink Of An Eye

Equinox Part 2 continues Voyager ’s tradition of providing mostly satisfying resolutions to cliffhangers, while Riddles and Memorial once again give the cast a chance to shine with dramatic material. Add Muse for some fun meta-fiction.

Season Seven:

Body And Soul

Workforce Parts 1&2

Author, Author

Body And Soul and most of Author, Author continue Voyager ’s strong set of light-hearted episodes, while Lineage is one of its best character pieces as well as a nice little science fiction story, and a perfect bookend to season one’s Faces . Add Endgame for a finale that does the job well enough, though it included some serious misfires that mean it would be left off most people’s Best Of lists.

Route 2: Crossovers and connections

Voyager is, so far, the latest-set Star Trek series – only the Next Generation feature film Nemesis (plus the odd time travel story) is set further in the future. As a series, then, it offers conclusions rather than foundations for later series. There’s still some crossover fun to be had, though.

As is usually the case, the pilot episode features as appearance from a regular character from another series of Star Trek , in this case, Deep Space Nine ’s Quark (logically enough, as the ship sets off from Deep Space Nine). Add Eye Of The Needle for a rare appearance of a Romulan in the Delta Quadrant.

Projections

Star Trek: The Next Generation ’s Reg Barclay made a number of appearances on Voyager , beginning with Projections . Death Wish also features a very brief (one-line) cameo from another Next Generation regular.

False Profits

Flashback is Voyager ’s celebratory episode marking 30 years of Star Trek , and it lives in the shadow of Deep Space Nine ’s spectacular Trials and Tribble-ations , but is decent enough itself, featuring appearances from Original Series characters Hikaru Sulu and Janice Rand. False Profits is a direct sequel to Next Generation episode The Price .

There were no crossovers as such in season four, but Message In A Bottle and Hunters refer to events from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine .

Voyager ’s 100th episode features a cameo from The Next Generation ’s Levar Burton, who also directed.

Pathfinder , featuring Barclay and another Next Generation character, Deanna Troi, was the beginning of a new plot development that would see Barclay and other Alpha Quadrant characters appearing more regularly, including in Life Line .

As in season six, we get a couple more forays into the Alpha Quadrant, mostly featuring Barclay.

Route 3: The shipping news

As ever, romance is not entirely Star Trek ’s forte, but Voyager did manage to produce one of its better-realised romantic couplings, as well as a relationship or two that had audiences rooting for further developments (and, it has to be said, some less successful efforts….).

State Of Flux

Faces lays the groundwork for Voyager ’s most successful romantic pairing, while Caretaker and The Cloud feature both the early stable relationship of Neelix and Kes and the quick establishment of a relationship and a dynamic between Janeway and Chakotay that had large numbers of fans hoping for further romantic developments between them. State Of Flux focuses on one of Chakotay’s more tumultuous romantic entanglements.

Non Sequitur

Parturition

Resolutions

Elogium is pretty terrible, but it’s one of the more significant Neelix/Kes episodes, though Tuvix is much better. Parturition is even worse, largely because it focuses on the early Neelix/Kes/Paris love triangle (though on the plus side, it features an actual food fight). Non Sequitur features one of Harry Kim’s least disastrous romantic interludes, while Resolutions is the only episode that properly addresses the Janeway/Chakotay connection that was so popular among fans. Technically, Threshold , an episode so bad it was later written out of Star Trek canon, features two regular characters having sex with each other (and babies, even). It’s not exactly romantic, though – but earlier scenes do play up the Paris/Kes and (more briefly) Paris/Torres ships in a more serious way, before it all goes totally bonkers. Add Persistence Of Vision for visuals on B’Elanna’s sexual fantasies.

The Q And The Grey

Blood Fever

Harry finds a woman who is a) not real and b) prefers a Vulcan over him in Alter Ego , so his romantic prospects continue to worsen. The Q And The Grey suggests that Janeway’s pulling power is really quite extraordinary and Coda plays up the Janeway/Chakotay relationship a little, though by Unity he’s gone off her and started pursuing Borg. Blood Fever properly kicks off the Paris/Torres relationship, but Displaced features a rather more nuanced look at that pairing. Add The Chute if you’re a fan of slash fiction (all potential subtext, this being 1990s Star Trek ) and Remember for B’Elanna experiencing someone else’s romantic relationship. Favorite Son features another of Harry Kim’s doomed romances, but it’s not worth watching for that reason. Or any reason, really, except to laugh at rather than with it.

Day Of Honor

The Killing Game Parts 1&2

Unforgettable

This is Paris and Torres’ season as far as romance goes, though Chakotay gets it on with Virginia Madsen in Unforgettable . Add The Gift for the resolution of Kes’s relationships, and Waking Moments for a glimpse into Harry Kim’s romantic fantasies.

Nothing Human

Romance for Chakotay in Timeless , Janeway in Counterpoint , Janeway’s ancestor in 11:59 , Tuvok (well, romantic feelings directed at Tuvok) in Gravity and unrequited love for the Doctor in Someone To Watch Over Me . Nothing Human is probably the best episode for Paris/Torres in this season; in Extreme Risk , B’Elanna’s friend and former crush actually does more to help her than her boyfriend. Add Course: Oblivion for more romantic scenes.

Ashes To Ashes

Alice (along with, to an extent, Memorial ) is the main Paris/Torres episode from this season. Theoretically, Fair Haven and Spirit Folk are romantic episodes, but that’s no reason to watch quite possibly the worst episodes of any series of Star Trek ever made. Ashes To Ashes is rather nonsensical, but as Kim’s annual doomed romances go, it’s a sight better than Favorite Son or The Disease .

Human Error

Natural Law

Making up for lost time and tying off some loose ends, romance was everywhere in season seven, for Paris and Torres ( Drive , Lineage , Prophecy , Workforce , Endgame ), Janeway ( Shattered , which revisits Janeway/Chakotay briefly, and Workforce ), the Doctor ( Body And Soul , Endgame ) and Neelix ( Homestead) . The main relationship highlighted in Human Error and Natural Law and also concluded in Endgame was, shall we say, not very popular, but if it has any fans, those are the episodes to watch.

Route 4: OK, this might be why Voyager isn’t everyone’s favourite…

Like all series of Star Trek , Voyager also produced some entertainingly bad stinkers that are truly entertaining when hate-watched with friends. Maybe even a higher than usual number. We’ve still avoided the truly dull episodes for the most part, though – these are terrible in a hilarious and sometimes spectacular way.

It’s a classic Voyager quote – “There’s coffee in that nebula!” – but that doesn’t make The Cloud any good. It does, however, make it entertaining. Parallax and Learning Curve are pretty bad too, but also very dull ( Learning Curve is worth watching only for the equally classic line “Get the cheese to sickbay!”).

It’s tempting, even as a fan, to say ‘all of it’, but some season two episodes are actually quite good (see above) while most of the rest are deathly dull. However, Elogium features space sperm trying to have sex with the ship, Twisted has everyone get lost on Deck 6 (a normal day for some of us who are navigationally challenged) and Parturition features two senior officers having a food fight in the mess hall. For some people, add The Thaw , which is Voyager ’s equivalent of Marmite.

And then there’s Threshold . Threshold , frequently derided as the worst episode of Star Trek ever made, is truly glorious in its awfulness. One of the tragedies of the episode is that Robert Duncan McNeil puts in a really passionate performance and some of the material, if attached to a different story, would be some really nice body horror stuff. But all you have to do is read a summary of the events of the episode (including impossible speeds, a shuttle that turns into the Infinite Improbability Drive from The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy , crew members turning into giant lizard-slug-things, and giant lizard sex) to see how stupendously ridiculous, but importantly also truly entertaining in its own special way, it is. If you haven’t heard of it, though, skip the online summaries and just watch it, preferably with a very large drink in hand, and let the B movie daftness wash over you. It’s so, so very awful, I think I kinda love it.

Favourite Son

Nothing can quite compare to the high/low that was Threshold , but The Q And The Grey follows up one of the best Q episodes with one of the daftest, Blood Fever demonstrates that the practicalities of ponn farr were probably best left behind in the 1960s, and Favorite Son is… well it’s nearly as ridiculous as Threshold , actually, but not quite so spectacularly entertaining, as Harry Kim falls for a lure so transparent only someone as stupid as the Cat from Red Dwarf (in series six’ Psirens , when the same trick is tried on him) could be expected to fall for it.

Season Four is Voyager ’s strongest season overall, and its mis-fires tend to be dull or dubious rather than entertainingly hilarious, though if you enjoy ridiculous ‘science’, you might enjoy Demon .

Once Upon A Time

The Disease

Once Upon A Time ’s main plot is just a bit dull, but it features one of those horrifying children’s holodeck programmes also sometimes seen on The Next Generation . The Disease is another Harry Kim romance episode. It is, in its defense, slightly better than Favorite Son .

Spirit Folk

Everyone talks about Threshold , but for me, these are by far the worst episodes of Voyager , and probably of all of Star Trek (yes, including Spock’s Brain ). Offensive on every level, especially if you have Irish ancestry, and don’t even think about the practicalities of the captain retiring to a private room with a holographic character, on a holodeck – that is, a small, square room with no real walls, furniture etc. in it, that could easily malfunction at any moment – still also inhabited by other people, to have sex. Ew.

Prophecy revolves around a Klingon messianic prophecy, while Q2 features Q’s teenage son (played by John de Lancie’s real life son Keegan, who is a perfectly good actor, but the material is cringe-inducing). ‘Nuff said.

Route 5: Time travel

In season three, Captain Janeway expressed her extreme dislike of time travel and time paradoxes. She might as well have been a horror movie character saying “I’ll be right back.”

Time And Again

Time And Again is by the numbers but perfectly serviceable Star Trek , while Eye Of The Needle is Voyager ’s first really classic episode – perhaps that’s why they decided to feature the wonders of time travel quite so often in later years.

Technically there are no real time travel episodes in this season, though a couple of characters appear out of time in Death Wish .

Some of the Voyager crew’s ongoing problems with time travel are kicked off in Future’s End , while Before And After is a rather good backwards episode. Flashback , as the title implies, features flashbacks, though not actual time travel.

Add The Killing Game for a holodeck-based episode in which much of the crew believe they are people living in Earth’s past.

Timeless Relativity

Like Year Of Hell , Timeless is a really great episode, and things aren’t entirely re-set by the end (only mostly). Relativity is also good fun and features a visual homage to classic Powell and Pressburger film A Matter Of Life And Death . 11:59 is composed primarily of extensive flashbacks to the past, but not actual time travel.

Blink Of An Eye is more about time differential than time travel, but it represents this season’s game of playing with the fourth dimension.

Shattered uses a rather dubious time-related incident to revisit some of the show’s highlights and point to its future, while Endgame , like The Next Generation finale All Good Things , shows us a possible future for the crew, but by the end of the episode, everything may have changed.

Juliette Harrisson | @ClassicalJG

Juliette Harrisson is a writer and historian, and a lifelong Trekkie whose childhood heroes were JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis. She runs a YouTube channel called…

Screen Rant

Voyager killed off its most interesting character too soon.

The troubled Betazoid crewmember Lon Suder was far more fascinating than most of Star Trek: Voyager’s regular cast and was killed off much too soon.

Star Trek: Voyager killed off the troubled Betazoid crewman Lon Suder (Brad Dourif) much too soon, robbing the series of its most fascinating recurring character in season 3. After the events of the Voyager series premiere "Caretaker," the titular vessel became home to both its surviving Starfleet crew and a group of Maquis operatives who also found themselves stranded in the Delta Quadrant. The Maquis survivors were given provisional Starfleet commissions, with their leader Chakotay (Robert Beltran) even becoming the ship's First Officer.

Among the former Maquis operatives was Lon Suder, an empathic Betazoid who had uncontrollable violent urges all of his life. Suder's world wasn't even threatened by the Cardassians; he joined the Maquis so he could have an acceptable outlet for his violence. After Suder killed a Voyager crewman for no reason, Lieutenant Tuvok (Tim Russ) attempted to cure him of his urges through a Vulcan mind meld. The plan was partially successful, as Suder's homicidal urges eased somewhat, but were temporarily transferred to Tuvok. After recovering, Tuvok continued to work with Suder to help him maintain his self-control.

Related: Every Star Trek Character Guest Star On Voyager

Voyager Killed Off Lon Suder Too Soon

In the Star Trek: Voyager two-part episode "Basics," which bridged seasons 2 and 3, Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) and her crew lost control of the ship when it was attacked by the Kazon. Suder was believed to have been killed in the initial attack, but he managed to survive. With the assistance of the holographic EMH known as the Doctor (Robert Picardo), Suder sought to retake control of Voyager. Forced to fight and kill multiple Kazon , Suder was tormented by his return to violence. Suder eventually set the stage for Janeway and friends to retake the ship, but he was killed by a Kazon in the process.

Suder's death was heroic, but fairly unceremonious. He was privately mourned by Tuvok, though the rest of the crew had little regard for a man they still considered to be a cold-blooded murderer. Had Suder been given more time to evolve as a recurring Star Trek: Voyager character, his death would have been all the more impactful. Suder was a fascinating character concept, and Brad Dourif was notably more compelling than a number of Voyager 's main characters . Suder's abrupt death felt like the show jettisoning one of the few recurring characters that were clicking in the show's turbulent early days.

Suder Could Have Been Voyager's Defining Recurring Character

While all Star Trek series are defined by their main casts, many of them also feature deeply loved recurring characters who show up for a handful of episodes every season. Star Trek: The Next Generation 's most beloved recurring character is likely the empathic bartender Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) who dispensed drinks and advice from Ten Forward. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine featured a cavalcade of great recurring characters who could even carry entire episodes. One of DS9 's most popular is the Cardassian spy/tailor Elim Garak (Andrew Robinson) . Those characters could always be relied upon to memorably elevate sometimes mediocre episodes while showing that the viewpoints of those shows extended beyond the core cast.

By its very nature, Star Trek: Voyager was not really set up to feature recurring characters, as they hurtled through the dangerous Delta Quadrant as fast as they could. But the isolated tortured Suder would have fit that bill perfectly. Had he been given the chance to grow and evolve over the show's seven-season run, he could have become a Star Trek icon. Suder was a missed opportunity for Star Trek: Voyager to become a richer, more interesting show.

More: Voyager's Maquis Becoming Starfleet Right Away Was A Mistake

Star Trek: Voyager (TV Series)

Meld (1996), brad dourif: crewman lon suder, photos .

Quotes 

Crewman Lon Suder : Understand one thing, Tuvok: I can promise you, this will not silence your demons. If you can't control the violence, the violence controls you. Be prepared to yield your entire being to it, to sacrifice your place in civilized life. For you will no longer be a part of it, and there's no return.

Lieutenant Tuvok : Do you know what a mind meld is?

Crewman Lon Suder : It's that... Vulcan thing where you grab someone's head.

Crewman Lon Suder : A most logical use of violence, to punish the violent. We both know that I am prepared to die, but are you prepared to kill?

Crewman Lon Suder : It's attractive, isn't it?

Lieutenant Tuvok : Attractive?

Crewman Lon Suder : Violence.

Lieutenant Tuvok : On the contrary. I find it disturbing.

Crewman Lon Suder : You're right, it is disturbing - never knowing when that impulse may come, or whether or not you can control it when it does. You live on the edge of every moment. And yet, in its own way, violence is attractive too. Maybe because it doesn't require logic. Perhaps that's why it is so liberating.

Crewman Lon Suder : Guess I'm lucky. Federation doesn't execute people.

Crewman Lon Suder : [talking to Suder, who's in the Brig for killing Crewman Darwin]  I already told you why I killed him, Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Tuvok : You didn't like the way he looked at you?

Crewman Lon Suder : Right.

Lieutenant Tuvok : Just how did he look at you?

Crewman Lon Suder : Like a lot of people in Starfleet do.

Lieutenant Tuvok : So, this murder could in fact be explained as outburst of rage against Starfleet?

Crewman Lon Suder : Look... if that's how you want to look at this.

Lieutenant Tuvok : I want the truth.

Crewman Lon Suder : [gets up and approaches Tuvok from his side of the forcefield]  I don't like Starfleet. I won't deny that, but...

Lieutenant Tuvok : Yes.

Crewman Lon Suder : I have killed people who weren't in Starfleet for the same reason. I did not like the way they looked at me. I've thought about killing you, Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Tuvok : In my case you have a motive. My previous mission as a spy, my role as your accuser, but to my knowledge Crewman Darwin had done nothing to you.

Crewman Lon Suder : That's true.

Lieutenant Tuvok : Then why choose him as a victim?

Crewman Lon Suder : I don't know.

Lieutenant Tuvok : Do you feel remorse?

Crewman Lon Suder : [that question seems to amuse Suder]  I don't seem to feel anything at all.

[Suder returns to his bed rest] 

Crewman Lon Suder : Most Betazoids can sense other people's emotions - I can't even sense my own. So, what's going to happen to me now?

Lieutenant Tuvok : I'll have to discuss that with the Captain.

Crewman Lon Suder : [Tuvok turns to leave]  I know what I'd do if I were her.

[Tuvok turns back] 

Crewman Lon Suder : Guess I'm lucky - the Federation doesn't execute people.

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Star Trek: Voyager – Season 2, Episode 26

Where to watch, star trek: voyager — season 2, episode 26.

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Kate Mulgrew

Capt. Kathryn Janeway

Robert Beltran

Roxann Dawson

B'Elanna Torres

Robert Duncan McNeill

Jennifer Lien

Ethan Phillips

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Lon Suder (Brad Dourif)

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Former Star Trek: Voyager actor all but retired from acting

S tar Trek: Voyager alum, Brad Dourif has confirmed that aside from Chucky-related projects, he's done acting. Dourif spoke to Tyler Nichols of JoBlo at some point recently and informed Nichols that he was in fact done with acting, aside from his work on Chucky.

Nichols interviewed a "batch" of Dourif's Chucky colleagues and then Dourif himself for a series of interviews set to debut later in the month, and it's apparently here that Dourif told Nichols of his current stance on working.

So why keep working on Chucky if he wants to be retired? Well, as Nichols claims, it's because of his daughter, Fiona, who has a role in the series. It's also because Chucky creator, Don Mancini is someone Dourif believes to be 'family'.

This is why Nichols had to say;

“Dourif said that he’s retired from acting. The only reason he came back for the show was because of his daughter Fiona and he considers Chucky creator Don Mancini to be family. But for non-Chucky stuff, he considers himself retired.“

Dourif may be having a swan song of sorts with the Chucky series, building to one epic final bow, but Star Trek fans will remember him from Voyager. He played Lon Suder, a psychopathic Betazoid, who was a member of the Maquis crew that Voyager merged with. Over time, Suder was unable to keep his murderous impulses at bay and he eventually struck, killing a fellow crew member.

This would later lead into to a storyline where Tuvok tried to mind-meld with Suder to help him, only instead to be affected by the bloodlust that consumes Suder. Luckily, Suder starts to mend, and Tuvok purges those urges from himself and begins helping Suder more regularly.

Eventually, after the Voyager is taken over by the Kazon, Suder allows himself to slip back into his murderous old ways to help take the ship back and rescue the crew, but he was killed near the home stretch of his mission; dying a hero.

Dourif's run on Star Trek was brief but impactful and he was easily one of the best and most memorable characters from the franchise's run, especially in the early days. We're thankful he got to share our universe for a little bit and when Chucky is over, we hope he enjoys his retirement as it's well-earned.

This article was originally published on redshirtsalwaysdie.com as Former Star Trek: Voyager actor all but retired from acting .

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Brad Dourif Reveals the One Suprising Thing That Guides His Chucky Performance

A 35-year veteran of the franchise, the legendary  Chucky  actor says every version of the killer doll has been “delightful.” 

We can’t imagine Chucky without actor Brad Dourif to keep his evil flame flickering, and in the horror television series on SYFY and USA Network, the iconic killer doll has gotten even more entertaining — and plain old bonkers. While Dourif is legendary as the voice of Chucky, Season 3 brought a thrilling surprise for fans. The actor return in front of the camera to reprise his on-screen role as Charles Lee Ray. The many sadistic laughs, evil smirks, and comedic moments make us think Chucky — and Dourif — truly enjoy what they do.

How to Watch

Watch Chucky on the USA app and  Peacock .

For More on  Chucky : WonderCon 2024: Don Mancini Might Hold Contest for Fans to Decide How Chucky Will Kill Devon Sawa Watch Jennifer Tilly Breathlessly Explain Her Feud with the Tiffany Valentine Doll Chucky Creator Don Mancini Contemplates Launching Killer Doll Into Space

Recently, SYFY WIRE caught up to Dourif, and he shared insight into the “mind” of a serial killer doll and how he felt about being back on camera in Season 3.

Brad Dourif's Secret to Playing Chucky

Dourif has voiced Chucky since the franchise's inception with Child’s Play in 1988. While mostly retired as an actor, he always makes an exception for the killer doll, appearing for the first time on-screen in over a decade in Chucky Season 3. The actor recently sat down with SYFY WIRE  and we had to ask, after 35 years, what guides Dourif’s approach to playing Chucky ?

“'Chucky loves his job' is the number one lesson I learned. I probably started out feeling a little too serious,” he explained before revealing his secret to hitting the right notes of humor and sheer evil that keep us coming back to the show again and again.

“It took a long time for it to dawn on me that, basically, it’s all play. No matter how serious it is or how much pain is involved, it’s still play. And if you don’t play, you can’t really do it.”

Brad Dourif’s exciting return as Charles Lee Ray

In his long career, Dourif portrayed Gríma Wormtongue in Lord of the Rings and received an Oscar nomination as Billy Bibbit in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest . But Chucky holds a special place in his heart, and after a decade-long break from acting, getting back into character was easier than he expected.

“I was a little nervous up until I started doing it,” he admitted to SYFY WIRE. “And then all of a sudden, I relax and bam, everything comes to me and I can play it,” he said.

Dourif added: “The thing is, Chucky has to be loose and he loves his job. So, that’s what I did.”

Do Brad Dourif and Fiona Dourif have a favorite version of Chucky ?

For Brad, Chucky is a family tradition . His daughter Fiona has been with the franchise for over a decade, first appearing as Nica in 2013’s Curse of Chucky . They’ve both seen the evil doll through thick and thin, from Chucky in peak form to a dying and withered old doll . When asked if they have a favorite version , Fiona jumped in with her favorite from Season 2.

“I have to answer the question because Good Chucky is hilarious… I love Good Chucky and then I think Brando, no?”

Dourif, on the other hand, is less committal: “I don’t have one because they keep changing, and when they change, it’s delightful,” he said, adding, “I can’t wait for the next, which incidentally if we wind up doing it, it’s going to be the best yet. I don’t get that excited that often, but boy, this thing could be great.”

Catch new episodes of Chucky on  USA  Network  and  SYFY  and catch up on past episodes on  Peacock .

This article first appeared on SYFY .

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Season 3 of the hit USA Network and Syfy Series comes to a dramatic conclusion on May 1.

The Big Picture

• Chucky creator Don Mancini consistently exceeds expectations with each installment, from campy to terrifying moments.
• Season 3 surprises include the White House setting and Brad Dourif returning as Chucky's spirit form.
• Brad Dourif's career spans multiple genres, with significant roles in iconic films and television shows beyond Chucky.

Always putting the bar that much higher, Child’s Play franchise creator Don Mancini never lets his audience down. From the campy to the terrifying, every movie in the film series and each season of the television show has kept fans delighted and ready for more stabs and jabs from the killer doll at the center of it. As if Season 3 of Chucky wasn’t already packed with unexpected surprises, like moving the entire story from New Jersey to the White House and watching the titular Good Guys doll deteriorate and age right in front of our faces, the creative team went the extra step when they not only killed off Chucky but then brought his soul back in spirit form as Brad Dourif .

Although he’s been with the Child’s Play family since the original 1988 film, Dourif hasn’t gotten much on-screen facetime . In fact, aside from the very opening scene of Child’s Play , when his character, Charles Lee Ray, is fatally shot while evading police and transports his soul into a Good Guys doll’s body, we’ve never seen Dourif in the flesh. That all changed this season when Chucky entered the spirit realm , leaving the door wide open on Dourif’s grand comeback . In a behind-the-scenes image, fans can catch a sneak peek of a sweet moment between the actor and doll as Dourif proudly sits in one of the rooms of the White House with Chucky on his lap. Both the man and doll look so calm and harmless that you can hardly believe what they’re capable of — but we’d be sure to keep an eye on them if we were one of the cast or crew members.

Brad Dourif’s Lustrous Career

Horror fans will forever tie Dourif’s name to our favorite tiny ginger maniac, but the Academy Award-nominated actor’s legacy spans multiple genres and mega titles from brilliant directors. Dourif had his gargantuan breakthrough into Hollywood in Miloš Forman ’s critically acclaimed drama One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest . For his role opposite Jack Nicholson , Dourif would nab an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor. He’s also been a frequent collaborator with the famously fun and weird David Lynch on numerous projects, including Dune and Blue Velvet , and can be spotted in other favorites such as The Exorcist III , Alien Resurrection , and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers as Gríma Wormtongue. On television, Dourif’s most notable role was as Amos “Doc” Cochran in HBO’s Deadwood , for which he landed an Emmy nomination.

Check out Dourif with his pint-sized companion in the image below and catch the Season 3 finale of Chucky on Syfy and USA Network this Wednesday with streaming on Peacock to follow.

After a vintage Chucky doll turns up at a suburban yard sale, an idyllic American town is thrown into chaos as a series of horrifying murders begin to expose the town's hypocrisies and secrets.

Watch On Peacock