Cal Hudson played by Bernie Casey. That would've been interesting as he certainly wasn't a dull character, whatever else. Sisko's former friend would've been something of a tie in to the series.
There wouldn't have been that first season theme where Maquis & Starfleet crews had to learn to work together. The Maquis would of been wiped out or in prisons still by the time Voyager departed.
Obviously that premise was swapping Hudson for Chakotay as the show was. Besides, I'd bet they offered a job to every Maquis in prison in exchange for parole, as the war got worse and their manpower was depleting itself.
Berman and Piller had approached the studio around TNG's fourth season to do a TNG spinoff. It was the studio who didn't think they should air two Trek shows simultaneously. It may be that Berman didn't think doing VOY was a good idea at all. I remember in an interview shortly after DS9 premiered, the interviewer asked Berman when it would be time to create the next Trek series, and Berman laughed it off as a joke and said something to the effect of that being pushing it too far and implying that he wouldn't have anything to do with it (I think this was in one of those Cinefantastique annual Trek issues). It wasn't long afterward that VOY (and UPN) was announced. The studio had done a complete 180 degree turnaround in its opinion of having two Treks on at the same time. They became convinced that Trekkers would eat up anything with the name Star Trek on it and wanted a show to replace TNG when it went to movies (and, of course, to be the UPN flagship series).
If Voyager was supposed to be a TNG spinoff, I suppose mission accomplished. Beyond not being able to set course to Starbase random number at the end of each episode, Voyager was a lot like TNG lite.
VOY used a lot of leftover TNG scripts, due to the Producers never being able to agree on what kind of show to do and them more or less being rushed into production. VOY really should've come after DS9. Just use Romulans as the second crew and have VOY be investigating missing ships along the Neutral Zone. Or just have a lot of the Starfleet crew be killed by being pulled to the DQ and have them be replaced by various DQ aliens being held on the Caretaker's Array. That would give them a more immediate connection to the DQ and better ways of fleshing it out.
Oooooh, I like that idea. Just the concept of the federation portion of the crew being outnumbered and forced to live by and answer to a different set of rules and ideals on their way back home. Very interesting!
And unlike the Maquis, having the crew be DQ aliens would give more connection to the DQ and more ability to flesh it out and give them external plots to drive the show. Plus, with around half the crew not being from the Federation would raise the question of what would happen to them if a way back home WAS found. Because the Federation isn't home to any of them.
That's him, thanks R.Star! He was a good solid actor and an interesting character who we actually saw turn his back on Starfleet for what he believed was a just cause. I'd have found him more enjoyable to watch in a series. I'd assume that Starfleet would be willing to overlook Maquis affiliation in the midst of the war in order to boost their numbers--desperate times and all that.
Heck, Starfleet was willing to overlook Eddington's affiliation with the Maquis... to save them from themselves. It's really sad, that their greatest enemy in that regard was themselves. Eddington... and every other Maquis.... really wasn't that bad of a guy. They were right about Cardassia in the end. The Federation fucked up... that is all the 2370 treaty was about. I mean no disrespect to the Native Americans.... who by being in space are no longer native or american.... but Chakotay's imaginary tribe is a freaking insult. If you're going to invent a culture at least make it one that is realistic. I completely own up to the fact that we Westerners screwed the Native Americans.... but parodying them isn't the way to own up to it.
Whilst we will never now one way or the other, what might have been the best thing for VOY (and other shows) is for the network execs no to stick their noses in will a list of demands and let the producers get on with making it.
It worked as a syndicated show in the television landscape of the 1980s and 1990s, but that wouldn't work anymore. Well, one of those studio demands was for the show in the first place. Unlike DS9, which was a series Berman and Piller created and pitched to the studio because they had something to say and a show they wanted to create, VOY was a studio request. So if Berman and co. Were it not for network demand there would have been no show in the first place. I've often wondered if that was the fundamental problem with VOY. DS9 was a show the producers wanted to make, whereas VOY was a show they were told to make.
First run syndication is now dead. A new Trek show will have to be on a network or cable. TNG was also a studio request. Gene Roddenberry had no interest in doing another Trek series until Paramount promised to be more hands off.