Editing Kazon (section)

== Response ==
=== Cast response ===
''Voyager''{{'}}s cast members had a negative response to the continued inclusion of the Kazon in the series and felt that their removal was the best course of action. [[Tim Russ]] commented that the frequent incorporation of the species would strain the credibility of the storylines as the crew would have to eventually leave Kazon-controlled space on their journey home.<ref name="Russ">[[#grossaltman1996|Gross & Altman (1996)]]: p. 151–152</ref> He also believed that the Kazon were failures as antagonists, perceiving them to be insufficiently imposing for the main characters and fans to take them seriously. Ethan Phillips agreed with Russ, suggesting that the Kazon's presence should be reduced. Robert Picardo joked that the only interesting aspect of the species was their hairstyle, while Robert Beltran pointed to their lack of intelligence as the main factor preventing them from becoming strong villains.<ref name="ByeByeBaddies">{{cite magazine|date=October 1995|title=Jam Session|magazine=[[Starlog]]|location=New York|publisher=Starlog Press|issue=231|page=49|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->}}</ref> Kate Mulgrew suggested that the show incorporate a new and stronger antagonist, saying: "We need [...] to encounter enemies of such ferocity, enemies who in fact are quite lethal and frightening. Enemies that you would watch and say, 'Oh, boy, how are they going to get out of this one?' I don't think the Kazon hit the bill."<ref name="BakingwiththeKazon" /> Mulgrew felt the crew's mission to get home was a more compelling storyline than those related to the Kazon, whom she criticized as "great big stupid giants".<ref name="ByeByeBaddies" /><ref name="GoHomeKazon">[[#ruditis2003|Ruditis (2003)]]: p. 125</ref>

=== Critical reception ===
The Kazon have received a negative response from [[Television criticism|television critics]]. In his 2005 book ''An Analytical Guide to Television's Battlestar Galactica'', literary critic [[John Kenneth Muir]] argued that the events of ''Star Trek: Voyager'' lost their urgency with the basing of the second season in Kazon space. He negatively compared ''Star Trek: Voyager'' to science fiction television series [[Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series)|''Battlestar Galactica'']], writing that ''Star Trek: Voyager'' could learn from how "the ''[[Battlestar Galactica (fictional spacecraft)|Galactica]]'' must go on, ever forward, to their destination".<ref name="Galactica">[[#muir2005|Muir (2005)]]: p. 70</ref> The alien species was described as "stereotypical macho space warriors" by writer K. Stoddard Hayes, who was critical of the lack of developed Kazon characters.  He explained this up by saying: "No memorable Kazon characters emerge from two seasons of episodes featuring their different factions."<ref name="WriterReview">{{cite magazine|date=January 14, 2015|title=Voyager: 20th Anniversary|magazine=Star Trek Magazine|location=New York|publisher=[[Titan Magazines]]|issue=18|page=18|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->}}</ref>

Critics have also doubted the effectiveness of Kazon as villains. Britt found the Kazon to be among "the silliest, worst antagonists in Trek's history".<ref name="ShockingDefeat">{{cite web|url=http://www.tor.com/2013/05/03/star-trek-into-surprise-7-times-when-trek-boldly-shocked-us/|title=Star Trek Into Surprise! 7 Times When Trek Boldly Shocked Us|date=May 3, 2013|access-date=August 15, 2021|publisher=[[Tor.com]]|last1=Britt|first1=Ryan|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170105053407/http://www.tor.com/2013/05/03/star-trek-into-surprise-7-times-when-trek-boldly-shocked-us/|archive-date=January 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Juliette Harrison of the website ''[[Dennis Publishing|Den of Geek!]]'' wrote that the writers were too focused on the Kazon and Seska storylines. Harrison called them "sub-standard Klingon substitutes" and praised the series' decision to replace them with the Borg.<ref name=":1" /> The Kazon, along with Seska, were placed at number two on a list by [[Io9]]'s Charlie Jane Anders profiling the 10 least threatening ''Star Trek'' villains. Anders explained that the Kazon were more frequently represented as irritating pests than a major obstacle to ''Voyager''{{'}}s journey home.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/top-10-least-threatening-star-trek-villains-1585428421|title=Top 10 Least Threatening Star Trek Villains|date=June 3, 2014|access-date=August 15, 2021|publisher=[[Io9]]|last1=Anders|first1=Charlie}}</ref> Charles Evans of ''[[FanSided]]'' questioned the Kazon's desperation for water, since they could use their warp technology to gather it from other planets. Even though Evans described the Kazon as starting from a good premise, he did not find them to live up to their label as "the most powerful race in their area of the Delta Quadrant".<ref name="CriticismCriticismCritcisim">{{cite web|url=https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2017/01/30/daystrom-institute-library-files-kazon/|title=Daystrom Institute Library Files: The Kazon|last=Evans|first=Charles|date=February 25, 2017|work=[[FanSided]]|publisher=[[Time Inc.]]|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170825232642/https://redshirtsalwaysdie.com/2017/01/30/daystrom-institute-library-files-kazon/|archive-date=August 25, 2017|df=mdy-all}}</ref>

[[TrekNation|''TrekToday'']]{{'s}} Michelle Erica Green provided extensive and primarily negative commentary on the Kazon story arc in the first two seasons while re-watching the series. The Kazon were negatively compared to the Klingons by Green, who described the Vidiians as a more suitable and compelling candidate to serve as the primary antagonists for the first two seasons.<ref name="Green2">{{cite web|url=https://trektoday.com/content/2015/12/retro-review-lifesigns/|title=Retro Review: Lifesigns|last=Green|first=Michelle Erica|date=December 11, 2015|website=TrekToday|publisher=Christian Höhne Sparborth|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170105084330/http://www.trektoday.com/content/2015/12/retro-review-lifesigns/|archive-date=January 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> Green questioned Janeway's resolve to never share ''Voyager''{{'}}s technology with the Kazon, writing that the species was characterized as "a spacefaring culture with warp drive" so the crew would not be "interfering with a primitive civilization". She argued that the Kazon's attempts to steal a replicator and a transporter rather than offensive weapons lessened their impact as a threatening presence, suggesting that the possibility of relations with the Kazon did not "seem much more heinous than dealing with the Klingons or [[Ferengi]], who oppress women and minorities within their borders".<ref name="Green3">{{cite web|url=https://www.trektoday.com/content/2015/10/retro-review-maneuvers/|title=Retro Review: Maneuvers|last=Green|first=Michelle Erica|date=October 16, 2015|access-date=August 14, 2021|website=TrekToday|publisher=Christian Höhne Sparborth|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170105084447/http://www.trektoday.com/content/2015/10/retro-review-maneuvers/|archive-date=January 5, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

Despite negative critical reception of the Kazon, the scene in which they commandeer ''Voyager'' was praised by television commentators. Marc Buxton, of ''Den of Geek!'', included the Kazon on his list of the 50 best alien life forms in the ''Star Trek'' universe, for their "advanced technology and a back-stabbing bloodthirst" and success in trapping the ''Voyager'' crew on a hostile planet.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/star-trek-the-50-best-alien-races/|title=Star Trek: The 50 Best Alien Races|date=September 9, 2016|work=[[Den of Geek!]]|last1=Buxton|first1=Marc|access-date=August 15, 2021}}</ref> Similarly, [[Tor.com]]'s Ryan Britt ranked the moment when the Kazon captured the ship as one of the seven most shocking instances in the ''Star Trek'' franchise.<ref name="ShockingDefeat" />

=== Racial and political analysis ===
The representation of the Kazon as antagonists has been criticized by genre commentators and academics as an example of racism in the ''Star Trek'' franchise. Christina Niculescu and Yonit Nemtzeanu were critical of the dark-skinned Kazon being treated as more aggressive than the more diplomatic, fair-skinned alien species. They determined that the representation of the Kazon was implicitly racist, writing that the species was shown as embodying negative stereotypes. Niculescu and Nemtzeanu followed this up by saying that the Kazon were written only to be "criminals and savages" and seen as "primitive".<ref name="Academic1" /> In his 2016 ''The Politics of Star Trek'', the [[political scientist]] George A. Gonzalez agreed the skin tone and hair style designed for the Kazon as carrying explicit racial connotations, and felt that it was made more apparent during their conflict with the lighter-skinned Ocampa.<ref name="DevelopingWorld3">[[Kazon#gonazalez2015|Gonazalez (2015)]]: p. 179–180</ref> Zach of [[Bitch Media]] placed the Kazon as one example of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s uneven treatment of race. He compared the Kazon to the Klingons and Ferengi, writing that "aliens-of-color [are] used as proxies to represent the worst aspects of human behavior".<ref name="Racism2">{{cite web|url=https://bitchmedia.org/post/star-trek-into-feminism-three-ways-the-sci-fi-series-needs-to-change|title=Star Trek Into Feminism: Three Ways the Sci-Fi Series Needs to Change|last=Zach|date=May 22, 2013|publisher=[[Bitch Media]]|archive-url=https://archive.today/20170114185729/https://bitchmedia.org/post/star-trek-into-feminism-three-ways-the-sci-fi-series-needs-to-change|archive-date=January 14, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>

The Kazon have been interpreted as a sociopolitical commentary on [[Developing country|developing countries]]. George A. Gonzalez presented the Kazon as a pessimistic feature of the Delta Quadrant, which he read as a metaphor for the developing world. Emphasizing the Kazon's mistreatment of the Ocampa, plans to steal from ''Voyager''{{'}}s more developed technology, and inability to form lasting alliances, Gonzalez describes the series as interpreting race relations in developing countries as "inherently contentious and inevitably destabilizing". He concluded by saying that the Kazon storylines were in line with "neoconservative biases/reasoning".<ref name="DevelopingWorld2">[[Kazon#gonazalez2015|Gonazalez (2015)]]: p. 183</ref> For a 2015 retrospective review of the ''Star Trek'' franchise, [[Moviepilot|MoviePilot]]'s David Trudel wrote that he was disappointed in the breakdown of the alliance between the Kazon and the Trabe in the episode "Alliances". He felt that the series should have featured the formation of a new Federation starting with these two alien species. Some critics viewed the episode as "the moment Trek died intellectually", though Trudel disagreed with this assessment as "fairly dramatic".<ref name="MoviePilot">{{cite web |url=https://moviepilot.com/posts/3651901 |title=Top 6 Missed Opportunities in Star Trek |last=Trudel |first=David |date=November 27, 2015 |publisher=[[Moviepilot|MoviePilot]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170826031916/https://moviepilot.com/posts/3651901 |archive-date=August 26, 2017 |df=mdy-all |access-date=August 25, 2017 }}</ref> In 1996, ''[[The New York Times]]''{{'}} [[Jon Pareles]] offered a less critical assessment of ''Star Trek''{{'}}s development of alien species, describing them as enacting "exaggerated human tendencies". Pareles identified the Kazon's rebellion against their previous captors in particular as comparable to the political situations in Somalia or Rwanda at the time of his writing.<ref name="Pareles">{{cite news|last=Pareles |first=Jon |date=May 26, 1996 |title=Television view; When aliens start to look a lot like us |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/26/arts/television-view-when-aliens-start-to-look-a-lot-like-us.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=26 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170114201711/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/05/26/arts/television-view-when-aliens-start-to-look-a-lot-like-us.html |archive-date=January 14, 2017 |url-status=dead }}</ref>