How would you change the show?

[Dee1891]

Managing resources was almost entirely seasons 1-2. It was pretty much forgotten once season 3 happened.

Actually, that's not true. Issues regarding resources had occurred in mid-to-late Season Three, early Season Four, late Season Four, early Season Six and early Season Seven. At least as far as I know. There were episodes that featured Voyager's crew trading with alien races for much needed resources.

 

[New Kid 99]

Not put the Maquis in Starfleet uniforms.

Not have Basics Part 2 be the deck clearing exercise it turned out to be and keep Seska, her child, and Sudor storylines going.

 

[Summer Solstice]

Managing resources was almost entirely seasons 1-2. It was pretty much forgotten once season 3 happened.

Now, I can excuse them not bothering again season 7. I would even call it fine in season 6. But except for the deuterium shortage in "DEMON" at the tail end of season 4, we never really saw this issue again. THAT is unrealistic.

I think it was "Caretaker" where they said they had a 5 year supply of deuterium. They probably used it a bit faster than expected so needed more in "Demon", but then had enough for the rest of the journey.

 

[Oddish]

I actually considered creating a whole new topic on this one. Chose not to. You're welcome.

In the process of a project I did, I had Voyager showing the beginnings of becoming an intergenerational ship (not gonna post a link; you're welcome. Again). As I did so, it occured to me to wonder... why didn't this happen anyway?

* Figure there were 150 souls on Voyager, genders relatively even, and about 140 of them were human.
* They had no way of knowing they would be home in 7 years. The given estimate was about 70. Most of the human crew would be well past the capacity for procreation after a 70-year journey (aside from freezing ova, cloning, or other 24th century tricks).
* Figure that at least half were either unmarried, found themselves on the wrong end of a Dear John/Jane the way Janeway did, or weren't willing to wait decades. So that's about 70 potential romantic partners/parents, and I think that's a low estimate.
* Because they were mostly Starfleet personnel, they would likely share similar interests and personality traits. It takes a certain type of person to go into harm's way on a starship, especially in a comfortable world of holodecks, replicators, and transporters. While opposites sometimes attract, the most successful relationships are built on common ground.
* LGBT+ crew are equally viable, they could pair off as easily as anyone else, and could make necessary arrangements with opposite-sex friends.

So... why were Naomi (who was a pre-existing pregnancy) and Miral Paris the only children born over the entire course of the series? Why were Tom and B'Elanna the only people married?

 

[Anwar]

Voyager had conceptual problems right from day one, stuff that needed to be ironed out. I mean, the show was rather rushed into production and Berman admitted that it wasn't a good idea to have two series on at the same time.

Firstly, they needed a plot beyond "Lost ship trying to go home" because "Lost Ship" isn't a sustainable plot. After 2 seasons, it gets boring. Right from the start a real plot to replace "Lost Ship" with, was what they needed.

The Whole Starfleet/Maquis thing, that too had problems. It isn't that they didn't do enough with the potential for conflict, it's that you can't get 7 years of conflict out of that. Their whole reason for fighting was a political dispute now 75 years away. After 1 season, they'd have gotten over that.

If you really want to have longer lasting conflict, there were better options:

1) The other crew should have been Romulans, the Federations' oldest enemy. THAT is the kind of thing that you could get long conflict out of.

2) The Array should have been where several aliens were, Delta Quadrant or otherwise, and the Federation characters not be a starship crew but people on a small transport who got sucked to the Array. They escape the Array on some ancient powerful starship the Caretaker himself used to get there and the crew is a mishmash of all the Alpha Quadrant species and some DQ ones. No one dominant species.

3) The Main cast should've been smaller, 5 main characters and the rest being recurring.

I have more but these are my main points.

 

[E-DUB]

Managing resources was almost entirely seasons 1-2. It was pretty much forgotten once season 3 happened.

Now, I can excuse them not bothering again season 7. I would even call it fine in season 6. But except for the deuterium shortage in "DEMON" at the tail end of season 4, we never really saw this issue again. THAT is unrealistic.

Resource management should have been an occasional, but ongoing issue. It should have been a "feast or famine" situation, as they loaded up on leola root at planet X, but had nothing left by the time they got to planet Y.

 

[Farscape One]

Exactly. Especially when there were long stretches of space that had nothing viable for them to use, like in "DEMON" how they were apparently running on fumes for quite a while and in "NIGHT", where there was literally nothing.

(They had already been in that area for 2 months, with 2.5 years more ahead of them. If not for that wormhole, they probably would have been screwed.)

 

[Oddish]

The Main cast should've been smaller, 5 main characters and the rest being recurring.

Or 7 anyway. Dispense with Chakotay and Harry, or reduce them to recurring status. And also, have the recurring cast be:
* Diverse species. Instead of 140 humans and 5 "other", throw in Vulcans, Andorians, and other Federation species. Since they're only appearing occasionally, makeup shouldn't be that big an issue.
* In and out. Have some humans stay on Planet 37's, and maybe pick up new crew there. Have people you see repeatedly and actually care about die. Have new DQ crew join the ship.
* Have the crew act like this is their life for the foreseeable future. People pair off, like Tom said they would. Janeway is seen marrying couples. Kids are born. Things get a little more casual as Voyager becomes an intergenerational vessel.
* Have a little fun with "Romances of the week". Maybe a romance occurs and a characters joins or leaves, think Lalieri in "Galaxy Quest".

 

[Anwar]

Or 7 anyway. Dispense with Chakotay and Harry, or reduce them to recurring status.

I wouldn't get rid of Chakotay, I'd just hire someone better for the job than Beltran and not bother with the Native American "My People" stuff. He's Native, he's a tough guy, that's all.

Also, the whole setup of the story. They should've just had it so that it was the Caretaker's own natural power boosted by the Array that brought them there and he was just too weak to send them back. There was never any option to go home. That way we wouldn't still be hearing the "Timed Explosives" thing 27 years later.

The "Going Home" thing shouldn't have been a thing at first. They shouldn't have known where exactly they were relative to the Federation at all and only learn so later on, thereby justifying them staying in the same one area for the first season learning more until they know where to go. This makes it easier to justify recurring external characters and worlds.

 

[Vale]

I think it was "Caretaker" where they said they had a 5 year supply of deuterium. They probably used it a bit faster than expected so needed more in "Demon", but then had enough for the rest of the journey.

The big problem I have with them running out of deuterium is that this is one of the few things they should have had no trouble acquiring. That's what the Bussard collectors are literally for, and hydrogen accounts for 73% of all (normal) matter! Admittedly deuterium is a rarer isotope of hydrogen, but it still accounts for ~0.011% of all matter in the universe – which still makes it more common than oxygen.

My headcanon is that the "solar dive" Voyager does in the title sequence, where it flies beneath a solar flare, is a refueling manoeuvre.

Berman admitted that it wasn't a good idea to have two series on at the same time.

Modern Star Trek: "hold my root beer"

Or 7 anyway. Dispense with Chakotay and Harry, or reduce them to recurring status. And also, have the recurring cast be:
* Diverse species. Instead of 140 humans and 5 "other", throw in Vulcans, Andorians, and other Federation species. Since they're only appearing occasionally, makeup shouldn't be that big an issue.
* In and out. Have some humans stay on Planet 37's, and maybe pick up new crew there. Have people you see repeatedly and actually care about die. Have new DQ crew join the ship.

I love this idea. The closest we came were the Borg children, but really that's ultimately what happened with Neelix in a way. Have recurring characters who were around for a season or two, that had useful skills they could trade for passage.

* Have the crew act like this is their life for the foreseeable future. People pair off, like Tom said they would. Janeway is seen marrying couples. Kids are born. Things get a little more casual as Voyager becomes an intergenerational vessel.
* Have a little fun with "Romances of the week". Maybe a romance occurs and a characters joins or leaves, think Lalieri in "Galaxy Quest".

It's kind of interesting that Enterprise depicted this whole idea better with "E²" than Voyager managed in an entire series, and it was one of the show's core concepts

The "Going Home" thing shouldn't have been a thing at first. They shouldn't have known where exactly they were relative to the Federation at all and only learn so later on, thereby justifying them staying in the same one area for the first season learning more until they know where to go. This makes it easier to justify recurring external characters and worlds.

But it would be almost trivially easy for any 24th century starship to figure out where in the galaxy they were, at least approximately, to within a thousand lightyears or so. We have the technology to do so today, based on apparent positions of things like the Milky Way's satellite dwarf galaxies, certain long-range pulsars, and high-intensity radio or X-ray sources. In TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before" the Enterprise-D is able to figure out which galaxy it's in quite quickly, and even which side of that galaxy it's on, relative to home, though simple galactic triangulation, and in DS9: "Emissary" the runabouts were easily able to figure out where the gamma quadrant terminus of the Bajoran wormhole was within moments of arrival. While being completely lost in completely unknown and uncharted space with no idea how to get home is certainly an interesting idea, it would mean that the ship would have to be so far away from the Federation that returning home would be essentially impossible – which would fundamentally alter the premise of the show.

 

[Anwar]

But it would be almost trivially easy for any 24th century starship to figure out where in the galaxy they were, at least approximately, to within a thousand lightyears or so. We have the technology to do so today, based on apparent positions of things like the Milky Way's satellite dwarf galaxies, certain long-range pulsars, and high-intensity radio or X-ray sources. In TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before" the Enterprise-D is able to figure out which galaxy it's in quite quickly, and even which side of that galaxy it's on, relative to home, though simple galactic triangulation, and in DS9: "Emissary" the runabouts were easily able to figure out where the gamma quadrant terminus of the Bajoran wormhole was within moments of arrival. While being completely lost in completely unknown and uncharted space with no idea how to get home is certainly an interesting idea, it would mean that the ship would have to be so far away from the Federation that returning home would be essentially impossible – which would fundamentally alter the premise of the show.

Well, look at Farscape. Crichton wasn't able to figure out where he was relative to Earth until Season 3 when Scorpius did it for him and said they were in the same Galaxy about 60 years away from Earth.

Voyager needed a reason to stick around in the same general area for a season to help build up the local regions and species there, recurring characters they'd run into again. And for that to happen, they needed to stay in the same general area and not always be on the move.

Of course, the whole "Lost Ship" thing needed to be resolved earlier. Have them get home in S3 or S4 and then have some reason to go back to the Delta Quadrant for Seasons 5-7.

 

[Imaus]

A lot of the ideas I would had done have been said already, but here's another:

Roughly tracing Voyager, they go from the near edge or extreme edge of the Galaxy, slash diagonally close to the core.

I would change the Borg a bit. I would put much more advanced,older, way out there technological and magical and whatever evolved civilizations at the core itself. Voyager would barely brush along side one and barely be noticed to can affect it.

The Borg might always be trying to attack the Core - have them coming in from a rimward direction, but the core is so advanced, connected, and developed it'll be a bit like how 8472 and Fluidic Space was to them - they smack them away.

Cause the clustering of stars at the core, all that energy and whatnot, really should make it a hotspot for a big civilization or clusters of civilizations like we used to see in TOS with the first federation and all.

I would have some bigger independent 'normal' civilizations in the Delta Q, too, something also fighting the borg off. Maybe a bit less advanced than Voy's Federation but focused on warfare: a sort of Kling-Fed hybrid or so that they could deal with, maybe trade ideas with. Something to pad out the Hirogen seemingly being everywhere and all that. Maybe a more emphatic Malon Cooperative?

And maybe Voy has a very early season Cosmic Horror episode. Being at the rim* of the galaxy...shouldn't feel safe as cosmpolitian as it did IMO. This is admittedly influenced by Warhammer and the Ghoul Stars and whatever, but there should be more threats to existence than Neelix there. Dark things. Dangerous things. Things that turn the viewscreen into static. The whole area should feel like the desert and praires of a frontier. And maybe sometimes Voyager 'slips' back to the Rim due to old wormhole networks and so, and encounter something that might have floated by to our galaxy, or runs around the rim, or was stuffed there from the more happy middle and core that they don't want to deal with. Things with many eyes and many tentacles and can see more than Q can yet babbles worse than Trelane....

 

[Farscape One]

A lot of the ideas I would had done have been said already, but here's another:

Roughly tracing Voyager, they go from the near edge or extreme edge of the Galaxy, slash diagonally close to the core.

I would change the Borg a bit. I would put much more advanced,older, way out there technological and magical and whatever evolved civilizations at the core itself. Voyager would barely brush along side one and barely be noticed to can affect it.

The Borg might always be trying to attack the Core - have them coming in from a rimward direction, but the core is so advanced, connected, and developed it'll be a bit like how 8472 and Fluidic Space was to them - they smack them away.

Cause the clustering of stars at the core, all that energy and whatnot, really should make it a hotspot for a big civilization or clusters of civilizations like we used to see in TOS with the first federation and all.

I would have some bigger independent 'normal' civilizations in the Delta Q, too, something also fighting the borg off. Maybe a bit less advanced than Voy's Federation but focused on warfare: a sort of Kling-Fed hybrid or so that they could deal with, maybe trade ideas with. Something to pad out the Hirogen seemingly being everywhere and all that. Maybe a more emphatic Malon Cooperative?

And maybe Voy has a very early season Cosmic Horror episode. Being at the rim* of the galaxy...shouldn't feel safe as cosmpolitian as it did IMO. This is admittedly influenced by Warhammer and the Ghoul Stars and whatever, but there should be more threats to existence than Neelix there. Dark things. Dangerous things. Things that turn the viewscreen into static. The whole area should feel like the desert and praires of a frontier. And maybe sometimes Voyager 'slips' back to the Rim due to old wormhole networks and so, and encounter something that might have floated by to our galaxy, or runs around the rim, or was stuffed there from the more happy middle and core that they don't want to deal with. Things with many eyes and many tentacles and can see more than Q can yet babbles worse than Trelane....

I like the idea of a Cosmic Horror episode. Except make it at least several episodes. Hell, make it half a season... a full season might be too much. A region of space that really does a number on a ship and crew, sort of like what the anomalies in the Delphic Expanse did but worse. Make it like EVENT HORIZON.

Regarding them meeting a coalition of planets or DQ version of a Federation, I actually like that we never saw one. It kept the show different from the Alpha and Gamma Quadrants. It also makes sense that there wouldn't be one due to the Borg. It also explains why we saw no Borg before the Nekrit Expanse... too many races not technologically advanced enough for the Borg, with the possible exception of the Vidiians and their medical technology. Notice how everyone had transporters and other advanced tech past the Nekrit Expanse, but transporters were a completely unknown thing previous to it.

 

[Oddish]

It's kind of interesting that Enterprise depicted this whole idea better with "E²" than Voyager managed in an entire series, and it was one of the show's core concepts

Ain't that the truth. They were supposed to be a family, but they felt like a family with nine named characters and 120 cardboard nobodies. Even the Maquis looked completely forgettable, like Starfleet recruiting poster fodder. Why couldn't someone have a beard, or a mullet?

 

[Wally]

I would lean more into concept

*THE CREW DECIMATED BY THE TRIP TO THE DELTA QUADRANT - Rather than a handful of officers dead, this should have left them on the backfoot and unprepared for any time of voyage and result in desperation. The only place it was felt in the show really was the lack of medical staff. Everyone else was perfectly and competently replaced.
By this mean I mean have characters thrust into roles that they actually aren't the best at, but we have to make do. Maybe all the pilots are dead, so they have no choice but to make Neelix the helmsman. Most of engineering is taken out, and you still have B'ellana, but there it is much more involved operating large Warp Core than engines on your ship. Like a brilliant mechanic on a fighter jet now is thrust into Chief Engineer on a nuclear aircraft carrier. They might be a genius, it's a totally different beast.
The ship should be operated by a skeleton crew. There is reason is the Maquis are pressed into service. There is desperation.
Permanent injuries. In the devastation that killed a good chunk of the crew, there were massive injuries that maybe if they were within reach of a starbase wouldn't be that big of a deal, but they aren't. Maybe Kim has a cybernetic leg and walks with a limp or cane. Maybe Tuvok is blinded ala Year of Hell and does not have access to a Visor like Geordi.
The number of sets in the first few seasons will be limited as due to damage and lack of staffing, they are just plain off limits.

*THE VOYAGE ITSELF - You are going home, and it should be a fairly direct path. This opens up some plans that can be done. Make use of the mini-arcs that Enterprise did, to focus on a region of space and/or a new alien race and then they are gone. Almost like an anthology. Each season or half season should feel different .For example:
Season 1 - THE KAZON - progress from the edge of their territory, to the center and out again. Not every episode needs to be about them, but they loom large. It's a full civilization, and they problem wouldn't be a threat if Voyager wasn't a wreck and operating with a skeleton crew. The Seska storyline would also be compressed into this season.
Season 2 - THE VIDDIANS - focus on them. Over the course of the season, the sickbay is upgraded with technology and learnings from their encounters. Tuvok can have eye-replacments from some Delta Quadrant race via Viddian technology and some other of the crew take advantage as well leading a small number of Frankenstein's monster extras going around.
etc.

 

[JR TREK]

I doubt Voyager would have survived long if the crew were any less competent at their jobs.

Well, look at Farscape. Crichton wasn't able to figure out where he was relative to Earth until Season 3 when Scorpius did it for him and said they were in the same Galaxy about 60 years away from Earth.

60 years at warp 9, or 60 light years? At only 60 light years away I'd think at least half the sky would still be familiar constellations, and the rest would only have a few stars out of place.

 

[JR TREK]

BTW the main thing I would change would be to boot Harry Kim and keep Kes. She would either be near death at the end of Season 7, or she would have evolved into a Q-like being. it would have been interesting to see Kes interact with Q, and join the Continuum near the end of season 7.

 

[Farscape One]

It was 60 years away in FARSCAPE. They didn't have a warp drive, per se. It was called a hetch drive, and while there were number designations for it, we don't really know how fast each hetch was.

 

[Captain's Coffee]

I'm going to drop a hot take here. I wouldn't change it, because I love it just the way it is.

 

[Summer Solstice]

I'm going to drop a hot take here. I wouldn't change it, because I love it just the way it is.

I totally agree with you.