Hello all, While there are quite some elements of Voyager I liked such as new interesting species/civilizations, strange phenomenon and so on, one of things I and many others believe the show suffered from is that some of the main cast members themselves barely got any development during the show. Now imagine if you had been on the show as a writer/producer and you would have been given the opportunity to do some development on the main crew members that are in general somewhat on the background during Janeway, Seven, or Doctor episodes, what would you do with them that you feel would make them more three dimensional/interesting. Bit of a difficult one to answer myself as it has been a while since I saw the show. I might have made Chakotay dump all the Native American stuff. Not that I don't think that that should not be handled in Star Trek but it should be done well, I fear it would end up very stereotypical under writers who do not really know what it includes.
I would have given Kes a human lifespan and limited her powers to those she had in season 2. I would have given Chakotay a real tribe, doing research on the Mayans before I had started writing. By doing that, I would have avoided coming up with the Hollywood tribe crap we saw in "Tattoo". I would have given Kim a development like McGee in NCIS who started as that series "whipping boy" but has developed into a clever and valuable team member. I can't find anything to change with Paris, Torres and Neelix.
I would give Samantha Wildman more screen time. And I don't like Naomi's rapid ageing syndrome. They did that with Naomi, because a toddler is virtually useless in a plot. Naomi, being the older one having a baby sister or brother being born aboard. I know, Voyager isn't quite a playground.... I would drop Chakotay's boxing hobby (I hate boxing), but I would introduce more episodes which deal with his Maquis past. Like it or not, a Mirror Voyager episode would be nice. The Litverse turned MU Voyager stories into a killing spree. This could be different if there were a MU episode.... Kim would be able to play the electric guitar instead of that boring clarinet. He should be able to tell some funny stories from the Academy. He wouldn't be the model boy, but neither would he be like Tom. Janeway's sister Phoebe, I would create her as being married, having two children. Kathryn may remain without, but would be a great aunt. I would reintroduce Q Junior in another episode, taking Icheb along, having fun in Disney Land.....
I would have separated Neelix and Kes much sooner. She may have developed into a more interesting character had she been her own person rather than being so strongly connected to him. He may also have benefitted from this. I would have made Chakotay far more ballsy and aggressive. I would have him stand up to Janeway much more and make it clear, he's nobody's bitch. He needed to force her to tune into sanity FM far more often than she did during the pressure situations. I would have brought more background characters into the forefront. More interactions and relationships with Ayala, Vorik, Chell, etc etc. More Maquis presence (both positive and negative). I would have had more relationships between the crew (romantic, sexual, platonic). They're gonna be travelling for a lifetime together and more character development that actually suggested they believed and accepted that would have been good. Paris and Kim was the only real friendship I saw and Paris and B'Elanna was the only romantic relationship.
Perhaps Neelix should have been more of an ambassador of Voyager than just comic foil. Overseeing minor negotiations, trade, and so on, the guy who gets the crew the essentials they need such as fuel, alternative food sources, maps, components etc.
I would have given a dark side to Neelix. Like, he's more cynical doesn't really trust the crew and his boisterous personality is to make them like him more. With Kim what I'd do is start him out just like he was but then have him gradually get more ambitious and more of a risk taker, maybe as a rebellion against always living up to expectations brought on by the prospect of being in the DQ for 70 years.
I don't need to see it. I just need to know it's happening and that these people aren't 1950's prudes who only have sex when it's in a safe, committed, loving relationship. More casual promiscuity. More fluid sexuality. More gender identity complexity. To be honest, this is less a Voyager criticism and more a general Trek criticism.
An episode with Janeway, her parents and her sister taking center stage would have been nice. Since establishing contact with the AQ it would have been possible to see more of Janeway's family and friends. Or that of Chakotay for that matter. We already got to know Owen Paris, John Torres, the Kims and Irene Hansen. I'd like to see Mark Johnson's reaction when he realized, that Kathryn is still alive. According to the litverse he moved along with his live before he got the news of her survival.
I definitely agree with this. Perhaps having the Federation becoming more like the Iain M Banks Culture would be most satisfying.
LOTS more relationships/friendships/interactions. Interactions between: - Chakotay and Neelix, as both had their home planets and families destroyed in war and both reacted, quite differently. - Neelix and Tuvok, especially after "Tuvix." - B'Elanna and Neelix, dealing positively with highly upsetting emotions. - Chakotay and Seven, as both sacrificed their ships protecting Voyager, both lost their families, and they were linked. - Janeway and Chakotay, hell yes, have a relationship, either on New Earth or during Workforce and maturely dealing with its repercussions, whether continued or ended. - B'Elanna and Harry continuing their "Maquis/StarFleet" nicknames.
Chak doing more Maquis piratey stuff (not just playing possum that one time). More punchy-wunchy-in-your-lunchy stuff. More Indiana Jones, more spooky shaman, less new age meditation. More shouting. Janes doing more Ripley stuff, less Bronte stuff. But keep her science nerd intact. Paris: more Fonzarelli, less Blossom's big brother. Torres: more leather straps. More gravitas, less whining. Bad ass weaponmaking. Kim: more long game. He played kaltoh with Vulcans. I'd love to see his plans start out weird but come to fruition perfectly, because he figured out the game before everyone else. Also, Chak should teach him how to badass. Tuvok: more cold ass logic pissing everybody off, especially because he's always proven right. Neelix: more Han Solo, or at least, more Jake Blues. He was supposed to be streetwise, so...less the cartoon buffoon. Kes: more shouting, more Lolita - vexing the male crew. Legs. EMH: Less trying to make him a human, more like Romy in Andromeda. And for crying out loud somebody nickname him. THAT'S WHAT PEOPLE DO. Voyager: Longer nacelles, and a cantilevered neck. Sleek Captain's yacht that freaks locals out when they do the Klaatu-Gort First Contact thing. Also - serialize it, no reset button. Oh, and - shipwide holoemitters and people hanging out with holocharacters....
I imagine with a lifelong journey ahead, everyone would have been pairing off like there's no tomorrow. Not sure though if "who's sleeping with who this week" was what the suits wanted Voyager to be.
With Tom and Harry sharing the Delaney Sisters..... Speaking of the Delaneys: they didn't have much screen time and were too identical, at least regarding to their outward appearance. Contrary to Tom Harry mentioned some differences...
Are you suggesting that Harry was suggesting more than just their personalities, and that he had in fact "been there" That could have been fun, if only to have seen Tom's face (I really ought to watch some Voyager again soon, it's been a while).
Tom would have his difficulties, if B'Elanna had a twin sister. . So one Delaney looks like the other to him. They could have fooled him. A foursome involving Tom, Harry and the twins would be interesting for hux, LOL. In the litverse Spoiler: Demora Sulu Demora Sulu is obviously in polygamous relationship.
Any kind of suggestion that some non-conventional sex goes on in the future would have been interesting for me. Hell, even just seeing Neelix leave a crew members quarters (clearly after having sex with them) would have been nice. Neelix leaves their quarters and bumps into Chakotay in the corridor. The crew member is seen standing just in the doorway of their quarters with a towel around their waist as Chakotay greets Neelix. Nobody cares.
Neelix barged into the quarters with a female . They smashed the furniture..... Fancy that. A Talaxian and a . They should serve Ale to loosen things up.
Given how sexless he was with Kes, that whole Kilingon thing seemed entirely wrong to me. I often wonder why they did that (were they trying to suggest that he was very sexual and therefore must have also been sexual with Kes?.......or were they trying to suggest that he was very sexual but his relationship with Kes wasn't because "look at the difference") *Shudder*