25 Essential episodes to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: Voyager

S1E13: Faces

If you weren’t already obsessed with B’Elanna Torres (Roxann Dawson) after “Parallax”, “Faces” would undoubtedly make you a fan.

Three Voyager crew members, including B’Elanna, are captured by Vidians for experimentation—the process splits B’Elanna’s human and Klingon DNA to create two separate beings.

It’s the first time we learn how the warring parts of B’Elanna’s heritage have been tearing her apart—she was bullied by her human peers for being too Klingon, and chastised by her mother for being too human. She never quite fit in anywhere—an aspect that resonates very much with many biracial people.

But “Faces” isn’t just a great B’Elanna episode—it’s an astounding demonstration of Dawson’s acting abilities. She perfectly captures the distinct personalities of the human and Klingon B’Elanna—so much so, that her own family didn’t realize she was playing both roles!

Thanks to “Parallax” and “Faces”, by the end of the first season, B’Elanna was forever cemented as my favorite Star Trek character, a title that she still continues to hold.

S1E14: Jetrel

I’ve never understood the hate towards Neelix (Ethan Phillips). He’s probably the quirkiest character on Voyager, but he also has the biggest heart.

It’s easy to feel kinship to Neelix, even more so than with the rest of the crew—Neelix was the underdog, the one who smiled when he was dying inside, the person everyone could turn to, but who never asked for anything. Neelix was the best.

And if “Jetrel” doesn’t break your heart and make you love Neelix, I don’t know what will. We know little about Neelix until this episode, and then we learn about his terrifying past—how his entire people were destroyed by a nuclear weapon and he was the lone survivor from his family.

“Jetrel” is a sci-fi analogy for the atom bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it is, expectedly, a tough watch. The fact that Neelix continues to be the heart and soul of Voyager even after we learn about these horrifying events in his life tells us how strong Neelix is.

This episode is guaranteed to make you angry and break your heart, and will definitely make you question how quickly you judge the people around you.