Star Trek TNG, Running out of steam and running in to Star Trek VOY

I'd been thinking back over the last few weeks to how many times I'd mentioned, while reviewing an episode, the indication that TNG was running out of ideas for stories as well as my inability to avoid glossing over the inconsistencies, flaws, and stretches of credibility. I then started taking stock and there are a lot of episodes in the seventh season that fit that bill. For the most part I've been forgiving and supportive because it's one of the best two series of the franchise and all of the characters had become endearing over the seven long years. But it also got me to thinking about why I dislike Star Trek Voyager so much. I've mostly blamed my animosity towards that show on the unlikable personalities of the characters and the propensity to make Janeway a "super hero" captain that overshadows and suffocates the others. It wasn't until I was writing my review of Masks that I realized that they'd positioned Picard in the same manner for that episode. It made no sense for him to solve that puzzle, but that's the direction it took. I had an epiphany as I saw the connection. Voyager is a continuation of the TOS and TNG model... that had run thin on ideas.

Like I said, I've watched a lot of it to try and give it a chance. And Voyager did have some original elements since they were trapped in another quadrant. But I saw a lot of episodes that had a familiar feel as though the stories could've easily been written for the seventh season of TNG. Not just because of all the time they spent on the holodeck (and there was a lot more of that in VOY) but also the ever sketchy transporter science fiction, murder mysteries, mind benders, etc. Voyager took bringing holodeck or mechanical things to life to a whole new level... to a point where they needed to have a human rights movement for holopeople. I could see TNG reaching that level of desperation if it had continued unchecked for another seven years. Voyager also just stuck with the Borg as an arch nemesis instead of creating its own unique conflicts like DS9. The Borg originated in TNG and were modified in the TNG movie, First Contact. Voyager chose to build on that modification and it diluted the impact of the Borg as a whole. All because the writers could only do so much with the formula of a single ship exploring the galaxy. Even the most creative minds run out of "strange, new worlds" and what not.

 The same applies to Star Trek Enterprise except I liked the characters better. And they did at least create their own antagonists even though throwing the show into endless time travel story lines was unsustainable.
Because I disliked the Voyager characters, I had very little patience for the nonsense I liked at the end of TNG and tolerated in Enterprise. So, I guess my main beef with Voyager is still the characters, but I now wonder if I could've looked past that if the stories had been better. I didn't care for Captain Sisko for a long time and never did warm up to Jake, but DS9 was a phenomenal series nonetheless. Yes, there's a connection there, I think.
But I don't dwell on it too much so that I can't think too badly of the final season of TNG. It still has my heart.