Ronald D. Moore about Voyager

[Mareika]

This a great (but also a sad) article about working on Voyager by Moore.
This is the link http://www.lcarscom.net/rdm1000118....OWqyt8xRmYSyftma-7DJXRqsr44blAOXE-GiwcrKaw7iE
I think it isn`t (tecnically) easy to read.

There are some points which stand out for me.
One of them is this:
"I`ve maintained from day one that the VOYAGER CAST overall was probably THE BEST CAST OF ALL OF THEM. You really had a STRONG GROUP OF PLAYERS that could really take the show someplace. I loved the other two casts that I worked with, but I looked at the VOYAGER cast and thought, ‘These group of players all really like each other, and they are all going to have fun together on the set. They are all willing to try anything that you give to them.’ I found that in the brief time I was working with them, too; they will do anything for you. They work very hard; they take a lot of pride in their craft. Do something with them! It’s just such a wasted opportunity."

 

[chris of nine]

It’s just such a wasted opportunity."

He lost me there.

 

[Tosk]

Is it just me or is there a link missing in the post?

If anyone wants to read the whole thing, http://www.lcarscom.net/rdm1000118.htm

 

[Jedman67]

Link is missing.
What "ruined" Voyager was the executive direction provided by the studio - for the most part, they wanted a by-the-numbers story, with the predictable Starfleet TM elements, predictable 2-D characters that could be squeezed into any story green-lighted into production.
The potential was there, and wasted by The Powers That Be.

 

[Mareika]

Sorry, I forgot to post the link. I added the link now.

 

[MacLeod]

Grabs the popcorn.

 

[Qonundrum]

Certain episodes definitely prove the series had much potential. Year of Hell, Worst Case Scenario, Timeless, Living Witness, Blink of an Eye, etc, etc, all show what the serious could have been more frequently if they utilized VOY's premise more consistently. Doing stuff TNG and DS9 could not do. Moore wanting what amounts to as "Year of Hell" for the entire series might have made it more more consistently compelling.

And, yeah, for VOY's best episodes we definitely get to see how well-chosen the actors were because they really dig into great material!

Opportunity was still reached, but there's no denying it was wasted. Many stories were by-the-numbers and "Worst Case Scenario" is also written off at the end as the most contrived scenario ever.

But the network wanted a return to basics. The show still found a way to do as much as it could with creative freedom as well as working with constraints. Something more casual audiences, who may have been the reason for TPTB wanting a return to basics with the by the numbers stuff, may not have seen if they tuned in during the wrong week - or got bored with the following week if they tuned in during one of the better weeks and then saw a lesser adventure.

 

[plynch]

I enjoyed VOY. I actually like the watch-it-out-of-order ability.

It is TNG not lite, but improved, imho.

DS9 is so dang good, itis frustrating in its near-greatness. The dialog is so predictably StarTrek. Excluding Quark's and Garak's.
So VOY is my #2 all time. Though I don't know why the cast was so strong in his opinion. Wang and Beltran are two of the worst regulars ever, again my humble opine.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I agree the cast was wonderful. But stories were absolutely TNG-lite. TNG stories over again with a weaker punch, and like TNG, no long term character development.

This cast with actual development and original ideas could have been the best Trek.

 

[Crazyewok]

He lost me there.

Why?

Voyger problem was that it tried to be TNG 2.0.

The entire series should of been like year if hell with Voyger coming back a modified hodgepodge of alien tec.

 

[chris of nine]

Hmm. The Hirogen take over, make slaves of the crew, defeat the Borg, and go back to the AQ to hunt more humans.

A new Nazi narrative for Starfleet.

But I kid. Moore loves darkness. And that’s okay.

 

[UnknownSample]

The original idea of the action taking place on two ships travelling side by side, Voyager and the Maquis ship, was encouraging. Long term I think it's better than Next Gen. NG occasionally reached heights Voyager never did, but it settled into a stale, ossified routine.

 

[valkyrie013]

I've said on multipule threads, it was a lost chance of a great premise with being "Lost in Space"
Most of the stories could have happened if it was a ship warping around the outskirts of the federation. Even the borg parts could have happened on the far border of the beta quadrant..
I think voyager should have been a 7 year, year of hell, even maybe blow up the ship and have them come home on an alien ship! Maybe do a Stargate Universe thingy, have a wormhole or something that leads say 20,000 light years, but only big enough to transport the crew, or it could have sent the ship, but fragged it, and have to abandon it, Have them rebuild a transporter and replicator system, tight quarters on a smaller ship, you know good drama building, and not "reset at end of every episode" stuff.

 

[chris of nine]

I never paid attention to star dates, but is it possible that a long period of time elapses between episodes, and they do the repairs then?
Wouldn’t that solve the issue of reset?

 

[valkyrie013]

There is time between episodes, and some damage would more than likely be repaired in that time, but other things like Deuterium running low, anti-matter running low, dilithium crystals need replacement, need more replicator matter.. they done a few episodes on doing major refits, or running low on stuff, but nothing running from episode to episode. They could have done something like Enterprise did, to much damage from the previous episode, need to put in somewhere. Didn't need to be serialized season wise, just mini arcs.
So, for example, the i believe 6th season primer episode had them traving through a void for months, maybe in a previous few episodes, they find out they need to traverse this void, and show them prepping, stooping by an alien spacedock for repairs, flying though a gas giant to top off deuterium tanks.. stuff like that, doesn't need to be an "Alien of the Week" Every week

 

[Crazyewok]

Hmm. The Hirogen take over, make slaves of the crew, defeat the Borg, and go back to the AQ to hunt more humans.

A new Nazi narrative for Starfleet.

But I kid. Moore loves darkness. And that’s okay.

Thing space is big

There is room in trek for a simultaneous dark gritty trek series and a bubbly space space care bear trek.

 

[RandyS]

Hmm. The Hirogen take over, make slaves of the crew, defeat the Borg, and go back to the AQ to hunt more humans.

A new Nazi narrative for Starfleet.

But I kid. Moore loves darkness. And that’s okay.

Indeed. After what he did to Battlestar Galactica, I'm convinced the man is a manic depressive.

Weither or not that's "okay" as you put it is a separate discussion.

 

[chris of nine]

I’m sure that Moore broke with BnB mainly because he wanted some serious darkness in relationships on the ship, coupled with disasterous malfunction of systems, maybe some mental illness, and some sex and violence. And that would be hard, if not impossible to do, if your aim is to promote the optimistic, family feel of VOY.

BnB wanted to show us the evil from without, not within, and when it was within, it came from without.

That these crew were good people, and they deserved to get home with celebration.

Moore would have had them destroy themselves in the effort.

 

[ALF]

Does it seem like RDM is always complaining about 90s era Trek?
Articles citing him always seem to take these super-negative positions.

"Franchise fatigue!"
"Wasted opportunity!"
"The audience doesn’t sit there and go, ‘God damn, they know science. That is really cool. Look how they figured that out. Hey Edna! Come here. You want to see how Chakotay is going to figure this out. He’s onto this thing with the quantum tech particles; it’s really interesting. I don’t know how he is going to do it, but he is going to reroute something. Oh my God, he found the anti-protons!’ Who cares?"

 

[Dukhat]

Does it seem like RDM is always complaining about 90s era Trek?
Articles citing him always seem to take these super-negative positions.

"Franchise fatigue!"
"Wasted opportunity!"
"The audience doesn’t sit there and go, ‘God damn, they know science. That is really cool. Look how they figured that out. Hey Edna! Come here. You want to see how Chakotay is going to figure this out. He’s onto this thing with the quantum tech particles; it’s really interesting. I don’t know how he is going to do it, but he is going to reroute something. Oh my God, he found the anti-protons!’ Who cares?"

Except his complaints have total merit.

I'm in the process of reading the interview. I'll post my thoughts once I'm done.