Better if they had allowed main cast to die?

[Melakon]

I really think the move to an ensemble cast was a mistake, as the later series all seemed to gravitate to an eventual big 3.

 

[Brit]

Ayala... did he ever even have a line? He was just the "Morn" of the Voyager bridge.

Yes he did have a couple of lines in "Renaissance Man", he also had some kind of promotion because he was wearing command colors and was at Voyager's helm.

"KIM: Report.
AYALA: There's some kind of pulse being directed at our transceiver array. It's coming from the Delta Flyer.
KIM: Hail them.
AYALA: No response."

I think I would've liked it if they kept the Delaney twins a running gag about them doing outrageous things, even though we never see them instead of their holo date with Kim and Paris.

I honestly don't remember Susan Nicoletti. What episode was she in?

I also agree with you about the Delanie Sisters, Nicoletti was in several episodes but never had any lines. She got a letter from home in "Hunters" and once Tom Paris referred to her as "Cold hands, cold heart Nicoletti."

Here is a link to some pictures of some of the characters

http://maquisleader.com/voyager/players2.htm

Haren I definitely would've liked to see more of. Sure the guy was something of a jerk, but yeah... Janeway was being condescending to him, the hypochondriac blueshirt kept nearly getting him killed and he kept having to fix Celes's mistakes all in the guise of "charity." Poor guy. I might lock myself away too.

I would have loved to see the interaction between him and Seven.

There is a "Voyager Lower Decks" web site with a listing of all the b characters, pictures when available, and which episodes they appeared in.

A - K http://www.loony-archivist.com/lowerdecks/crew.html

L - Z http://www.loony-archivist.com/lowerdecks/crew2.html

It's really handy when you are writing fic.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

I had absolutely no opinion of Carey until he died, then I felt terrible for him because he was almost home.

I had this great idea today on the train. I'm thinking we could have the main 5 all be headcases! Other than the Captain.

Janeway: Gets to be the guiding, shepherding, mothering, seducing, ass kicking leader of the headcases.

Vorik: He would end up the Barclay of VOY (yes, we would have two..), he'd be all neurotic and alternately sweet and creepy and just when you wanted to stuff him in a locker he'd reveal something about himself and you'd understand. Repeat.

7: Social problems, humanity problems, arrogant, adversarial.

EMH: Ego, ego and ego and need for attention, also gets to play shrink to the headcases which irritates them and helps them in equal measure. Of course he does not realize he is also a headcase.

Tal Celes: Insecure and in over her head, sympathy character who takes the brunt of 7's caustic comments, Vorik's fumbling adolescence and the EMH's self-improvement seminars. Somewhat ignored by Janeway as she presents no challenge.

It's VOYAGER: The Breakfast Club

 

[MacLeod]

I really think the move to an ensemble cast was a mistake, as the later series all seemed to gravitate to an eventual big 3.

Well perhaps in the case of TNG, VOY and ENT. But in the case of DSN less so as it tended to be more of ensemble show.

 

[Anwar]

DSN had it's epic Galactic War story to give all its' characters enough to do equally. That allows for better usage of characters compared to episodic series.

 

[MacLeod]

And VOY had it's epic Odyssey journey home story to give all it's characters enough to do equally.

 

[Guy Gardener]

We don't know how often or for how long Janeway played Howard Hughes, barricading herself in her quarters refusing to interact or Captain Voyager's crew.

 

[Anwar]

And VOY had it's epic Odyssey journey home story to give all it's characters enough to do equally.

The Odyssey worked because it was about ONE GUY, and frankly The Odyssey worked as a poem not as a 7 year long TV series. It's not sustainable enough to work as a TV series.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Not only was the odyssey the first book in the world, but it was the only book in the world for at least a thousand years... A slight exaggeration but you have to remember that Palamedes who invented half the alphabet was a crewman on Odysseuses ship, so it probably still took a while until "writing" really took off, and the Odyssey was perhaps the only book worth remembering, and really after the oarators stuck 2000 pages of homer into their brain, was thier really much room for much more?

 

[Anwar]

Which still doesn't mean it'd work as a 7 year long TV series. LOL.

I mean heck, they tried to do the Fugitive as a TV series in the 90s again but it didn't work anymore either.

 

[MacLeod]

And VOY had it's epic Odyssey journey home story to give all it's characters enough to do equally.

The Odyssey worked because it was about ONE GUY, and frankly The Odyssey worked as a poem not as a 7 year long TV series. It's not sustainable enough to work as a TV series.

I disagree, I think it could sustain a years long TV show, if done correctly. And if it couldn't sustain a show which could last upto seven years show they should never have gone with that premise to begin with.

They never really sold the premise that these people might never see home again. They should have been paring up having children, the crew quarters should have had a more personal feel to them (which in Paris case they did to a certainextend). The ship should have looked a litte more worn as it wouldn't have access to starfleet spec replacement parts. The loss of a shuttle should have had an impact in that they have to be more careful, building the Delta Flyer not once but twice. Should have caused problems for other parts of the ship. Maybe they had to scavage parts from 2 shuttles to get the Delta Flyer operational.

It was basically TNG except in the Delta Quadrant. The show never really tried to find it's own voice. It played it safe and tried to capture TOS succes for a third time (TNG being the second). Now of course some of that might be down to network/studio interferring.

Was VOY all bad? No of course not it had it's moments. Some great episode, character moments. Robert Picardo as the EMH was on of the best things about the show.

 

[Anwar]

I disagree, I think it could sustain a years long TV show, if done correctly.

It can't, not without some external things to keep things interesting.

And if it couldn't sustain a show which could last upto seven years show they should never have gone with that premise to begin with.

Every single "Lost Ship" series of the last 40 years or so worth remembering always ended up moving beyond the "Lost Ship" plot after a season or so because "Lost Ship" is just a starter plot. You're supposed to use it to launch a different plot later.

They never really sold the premise that these people might never see home again.

This same plot already happened to Kirk and Picard before, and they made it back fine.

The loss of a shuttle should have had an impact in that they have to be more careful, building the Delta Flyer not once but twice.

If they couldn't figure out how to build anything or make any repairs, they'd look like utter morons. There were plenty of aliens civilizations around for trading and doing business.

Of course, this comes down to how they shot themselves in the foot with the "No Support" part of the premise.

It was basically TNG except in the Delta Quadrant. The show never really tried to find it's own voice.

I agree, mainly because they were more or less rushed into production and didn't do what Rick Berman wanted to do (wait until DS9 was finished). If they'd waited, they'd have better CGI tech for showing battle damage, they'd have more props leftover from DS9 to use for the Delta Quadrant and they'd have been able to hire new writers and work out a story for the show.