The obvious choice would have been Seven. They should have gotten rid of Neelix, even if the mess hall was a central set, was it really necessary to have a cook present? Even the answer is yes, grab a random extra that would otherwise sit at a table and have him stand behind some pots. If they had gotten rid of Janeway, wouldn't Tuvok become Captain? Chakotay just had a provisional rank, he should not be able to succeed Janeway on a federation ship, the real officers should always come first.
Captain Chakotay in Before and After had pips. With her dying breath Janeway must have promoted him to a real officer.... No one knew/remembered about the provisional ranks and Chakotay was expected to take over in Scorpion which is why Janeway gave the Indian that little leadership speach. Mulgrew was being difficult much later and they threatend to replace her with John Savage. Am I to beleive that she had in her life only ever been difficult once?
Voyager came at a good time for Kate. She was almost 40, a single mother with 2 kids, and on verge of losing her house. She proved she had the acting chops for the role, it just took the writers too long to nail down Janeway's personality.
I'm highly critical of the.... insanity... Janeway demonstrated at times, but that wasn't anything on Mulgrew... the writer just couldn't decide if they wanted a morally preachy captain or a "I don't give a shit" captain, so they alternated regularly.
It's interesting but probably unintentional that insane Janeway became prevalent after she'd learned that Mark got hitched to someone else and didn't wait for her...
Mulgrew was great given the material she had to work with. I know people laud Stewart for his ability to turn shit into gold, but I think she could be just as good an alchemist. I also think most people involved knew ditching Lien over Wang was a mistake and was most likely a studio decision. I have to think Berman had more sense than that.
Oh, they did load up with supporting characters on Voyager too. We had to stand characters like Vorik, Naomi and Icheb and they became more than just supporting characters. No problem with money when it came to them. Funny that you did mention Gabrielle which is another favorite of mine. In fact, Renee O'Connor is one of the very few actors I could imagine in the role as Kes if the character was brought back in some way in a future movie or series if Lien wouldn't or couldn't participate. Renee O'Connor seems to be doing well after all even if she isn't in the spotlight in the same way as before. She's been involved in a lot of movie work lately. As for the Voyager actors, it's only Ryan who have had anything like a career after Voyager. Picardo and Mulgrew show up from time to time in some series or show but where are the others? I guess that it's more difficult for actors on TV shows to keep up the work with different roles than it is for movie actors. TV shows often lasts for years and years and the actors "become" the characters. Look at Ed O'Neill and Larry Hagman. Can anyone think of anything but Al Bundy and J.R. Ewing wjhen they show up on screen. Not to mention many of our dear Star Trek favorites.
I know! Such depth of emotion and conflict should have been showcased! Just check out how he reacts to Seska's betrayal in this video, it's a crime we never saw this man at the helm. [yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o98ULd9T0tk[/yt]
I'm not really a fan of Janeway, but it would have been stupid as hell to change the Captain right in the middle of the series.
Have you ever tried to watch all of Earth Final contact? They change the lead 3 times. Seaquest DSV changed Captains half way through. Stuff just happens behind the scenes which they cannot control.
So if Mulgrew had dropped dead who would they have made captain? I have trouble believing it would have been Chakotay as the guy is really too terrible an actor to have a show focused on him. Would have been interesting if they had him as a background captain like Weir in Stargate Atlantis ended up being (presumably because she was an even worse actor) and made all the stories about the rest of the crew but that seems a bit radical for Star Trek. Would have been interesting though. I bet they would have brought someone else in entirely, found some stranded starfleet ship with a hot admiral on it.
Awesome lurok, and would make me very happy.. Ro was my favorite character in TNG. [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEZb5LVByak[/yt]
If that doesn't make Possum pass by... I think Shelby might have had a real mutiny real soon. Hernandez clone? Or Benteen. I'd like to have seen her as a cast regular.