I am unsure when this happened for me. Perhaps it was Generations. Perhaps it was the breakdown of the Klingon/Federation alliance. Perhaps it was Voyager's monstrous second season effort, "Threshold" -- in which two members of the crew "evolve" into lizards, mate, and then abandon their defenseless young on an alien planet. There can be no doubt that "Threshold" set a standard for suckiness that even Space: 1999 in it's heyday could not match.

It almost made me ashamed to be a Trekkie. Something I never thought would happen. The word Trekkie, disdained by many, is not the slur on my sanity so many think it. I actually like it. Usually.

Of course, I still watch anything Trek. To not watch it would be something akin to a complete betrayal of my religion, and I am not yet ready to be excommunicated. But I am becoming ever more disenchanted. And I look at the plethora of Star Trek merchandise out there in the world, and I begin to think that I have been taken in by an elaborate ruse designed by the world's toy manufacturers.

In an almost Disney-like turn of events, Star Trek often seems nothing more than an hour-long advertisement for over-priced action figures. Tom Paris' Delta Flyer? A transparent attempt to fill the complement of a Voyager set of "Micro Machines."

This year marked the first time since 1992 that only one Trek show began a new season. Deep Space Nine, in it's early and shaky years, had the wonder that was TNG to back it up. In all five years that Voyager has been on the air, it has had the exponentially improved (and not-very-subtly Babylon 5-ed) DS9 to rely on. Now, as the sole proven success out of UPN's Fall dreck-fest, Voyager really is out there all alone in the big dark, with only itself, a cybernetic blonde and a precocious brat to rely on for plot devices and ratings points. These are truly the times that try us.

Let us take a long hard look at Voyager. Don't worry. This won't hurt. Much.

Take one steel-grey, depressing, little ship (with an endless supply of shuttles), throw in a mixed bag of Starfleet officers, renegades and rejects -- plus Neelix, a crime against nature if ever there was one -- add in a few temporal vortexes and a whole bunch of gaseous nebulae, and voila, you have the continuation of the venerable Star Trek franchise. Later, stir in an ex-Borg -- who, tragically, is among the more sensible of the crew members -- and serve.

I know what you're thinking. Well... I know what you're thinking if you're thinking that I have merely jumped on the Voyager -bashing bandwagon here. If you weren't thinking that... then I have obviously over-estimated your intelligence.

And even if you were thinking that... well, you're wrong.

I have always been a staunch defender of Voyager. I think the characters are intriguing, the sets are great, and, well, I never get tired of spacial anomalies. And there are so many fun games you can play while watching it, and they really enhance the experience. Spot Janeway's foible of the week! Seven of Nine takes-a-breath watch. HoloDoc is a doctor, not a what, in this episode?

But then came the "Dark Frontier" special two-part event of Season Five, in which Seven of Nine must face the increasingly-less-terrifying Borg Collective as an individual. While this was as watchable as any Seven-based episode could be, it still managed to screw around with the established facts of the Trek universe so much that it left me wondering: "what the hell am I watching and why the hell am I watching it?"

Sure, Voyager keeps up some of the fine traditions of Trekdom that we'd all be lost without. Fancy-schmancy new technological leaps that are forgotten by the next episode. The objectification of women in unnecessarily tight and revealing clothing. The tedium of yet more Klingon rituals. And that pesky new life and new civilzations thing... though much of this new life is remarkably like old life, just with spots and funny hair.

But I've gotta say, I'm mainly watching now just to see five year veteran Ensign Harry Kim get a damn promotion.

The knowledge that Seven of Nine is slated to go head-to-head with wrestler The Rock in an upcoming episode (source: startrek.com) fills me with an incalculable dread. Is this how far the mighty have fallen? What next? Janeway and crew are chased by a deadly swarm of Delta Quadrant wasps, during the course of which Chakotay is hit in the groin by Naomi Wildman, while Paris and Torres are caught having sex in a public place... all set to a laugh track?

Can things get more disturbing?

Well, unless Star Trek X is vastly better than the last movie, all I can say is, "uh huh."