Star Trek Voyager

Star Trek: Voyager  is an American  science fiction television series  created by  Rick Berman ,  Michael Piller , and  Jeri Taylor . It originally aired from January 16, 1995, to May 23, 2001, on  UPN , lasting for 172 episodes over seven seasons. It is the fifth series in the  Star Trek  franchise. Set in the 24th century, when Earth is part of a  United Federation of Planets , it follows the adventures of the  Starfleet  vessel  USS  Voyager  as it attempts to return home to the  Alpha Quadrant  after being stranded in the  Delta Quadrant  on the far side of the  Milky Way  galaxy. Paramount Pictures  commissioned the series following the termination of  Star Trek: The Next Generation  to accompany the ongoing  Star Trek: Deep Space Nine . They wanted it to help launch UPN, their newly established network. Berman, Piller, and Taylor devised the series to chronologically overlap with  Deep Space Nine  and to maintain thematic continuity with elements that had been introduced in  The Next Generation  and  Deep Space Nine.  The complex relationship between Starfleet and ex-Federation colonists known as the  Maquis  was one such element and a persistent central theme.  Voyager  was the first  Star Trek  series to feature a female commanding officer, Captain  Kathryn Janeway  ( Kate Mulgrew ), as the lead character. Berman served as head executive producer in charge of the overall production, assisted by a series of executive producers: Piller, Taylor,  Brannon Braga , and  Kenneth Biller .