Why was voyager so in love with the reset button?

[ZeNd]

Seriously, did any other series even rival voyagers use of the reset button? Im watching S4 again and just finished Unforgettable. Damn it seems every other episode involves a reset button.

[Akiraprise]

Actually UPN was in love with the reset button.

[SonicRanger]

Akiraprise wrote:

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Actually UPN was in love with the reset button.

Exactly. What happened on VOY was due to having a network involved again, not just having the show in syndication like TNG and DS9.

[Tachyon]

I think some fans are in love with the reset button the most. They just keep bringing it up again and again, exaggerating it so they can criticize Voyager more.

[Guy Gardener]

It's not Voyagers problem that the reset button is a flirty whore.

[chrisis1033]

The reset button is the nest of all evil... regardless of series!

[Bertie]

Of course, Voyager didn't push the reset button more than TNG or TOS (the latter of which had essentially no continuity at all) — the difference was that VOY was made in an era in which television (and sci-fi in particular) was inching more and more toward serial drama. Hence the frustration.

[Anwar]

Exactly, it was at the dawning of a more serialized age for TV and UPN was too afraid of a pioneer show because their main concern was $$$ and nothing else.

[The Grim Ghost]

Because it was big, shiny, RED and delicious!!!

[Unimatrix 01]

What do you mean by "reset button"?

[Anwar]

Instead of having every single episode have direct consequences for the characters and the ship by the end everything would be back the way it was at the start. Or worse, the episode would end with things changed but the next episode would begin as if nothing had happened.

It was UPN's orders, of course.

[TheGodBen]

Yeah, it was mainly a UPN thing. TNG was immensely popular right up until the end, DS9 was not and its ratings kept falling from season to season, it was only logical for UPN to dictate that Voyager should try to emulate TNG's success rather than go the direction of DS9.

It wasn't always like that though, in the second season they experimented with trying a story arc in the Seska/Kazon arc but that was considered a failure and when Jeri Taylor took over as head writer in season three she decided not to try it again and she made a season with no recurring villains. Here's a link to a discussion we had on the subject a few months back where somebody claimed that it was partly due to Jeri Taylor's idea that Trek episodes should be self contained.

Remember Seska's baby, the one she claimed was Chakotay's? Apparently it was supposed to be Chakotay's baby in the original version, but Taylor wanted to do away with all traces of season 2 so she re-wrote the script to make it Cullah's baby in order to do away with it. I think that was one of the most annoying reset buttons on the show, in my opinion is invalidates everything which happened in the Basics two-parter because it all happened based on a lie.

[Anwar]

Also, they were still supposed to face the Kazon more after "Basics" but Taylor changed it again to get past them.

[Kathryn_Janeway]

in my opinion is invalidates everything which happened in the Basics two-parter because it all happened based on a lie.

This period in time ended on a lie because thats all Seska knew what to do. She was raised as a Cardassian spy, trained to infiltrate Starfleet by any means necessary and learn their secrets. She saw her baby as a device to help in defeating Voyager's Crew and gaining the technology to further her own power hungry ambitions within The Delta Quadrant.

Luckily she failed and Voyager survived.

[Guy Gardener]

Well, this Cardassian knew how to get that Indian into bed unlike some women I could mention.

Tuvok had exactly the same job Seska did in the beginning, because you ordered it of him, to infiltrate and prepare the rot from the inside of your unrequited beau's dangerous terrorist cell, and you manipulated Tom Paris into being just as big a traitor to those he used to work alongside to chase down Chakotay, and then you ordered Tom to pretend he was a traitor again so that he could infiltrate poor Seska's cabal of bully boys so you that you could solve a problem so massive that even the hedgehog summed up what was fishy in the state of Voyager with a few probing questions... Now lets talk about what tools your lips are that kashyk almost put aside his space nazi ideals while you blinded him with the throbbing in his pants as you double played him into working as your unwitting mule to jail break dangerous and criminal lifeforms he believed whole heartedly should be thrown into a preheated oven.

And Seska's greatest crime? okay, not her greatest crime, she stole the ship, but her first crime: "Stealing replicator and transpoter technology?" Something you set about facilitating in her footsteps when you let Jetral into the guts of similar tech because he lied to you about the Hedgehog being sick, an insane mad scientist designer of planet wrecking weapons by the way, or just plane handed over to the Hirogen outright because they were too sturdy to take in a fair fight, and then years later you admit that you'd been selling replicator technology at every port of call on your way home since your adventure began without considering that your buyers might be making weapons as well as food as you're reeling from being responsible for the creation of a new slave race.

Black Kettle Syndrome thy name is Kathy, even if Seska is twice the monster you are, at least she's honest about it.