Did Reuse Of Races Mess Up Voyager?

[Red Ranger]

I'm sure this is an observation many have made, particularly when it comes to the Borg. But if you notice, this is also a problem when it comes to casting.

We've seen Vulcans and half-Klingons (Tuvok and B'Elanna) before. It would have been better if both actors were cast as different characters from different races. As much as I find both Tuvok and B'Ellana interesting characters, that would've been a better way to go, IMO.

I could see Roxann Biggs-Dawson cast as a hot-tempered Andorian, for example, and Tim Russ as a character from a completely new race, or as a Bolian. At that point, Andorians had only been seen fleetingly in ST, and ENT had not launched and explored the 22nd century Andorians.

So if you had the opportunity to remake both characters, how would you have done it?

Red Ranger

 

[Fish1941]

I'm sure this is an observation many have made, particularly when it comes to the Borg. But if you notice, this is also a problem when it comes to casting.

We've seen Vulcans and half-Klingons (Tuvok and B'Elanna) before. It would have been better if both actors were cast as different characters from different races. As much as I find both Tuvok and B'Ellana interesting characters, that would've been a better way to go, IMO.

I could see Roxann Biggs-Dawson cast as a hot-tempered Andorian, for example, and Tim Russ as a character from a completely new race, or as a Bolian. At that point, Andorians had only been seen fleetingly in ST, and ENT had not launched and explored the 22nd century Andorians.

So if you had the opportunity to remake both characters, how would you have done it?

Red Ranger

What on earth is this question about? Why do I keep encountering these stupid questions and opinions about what messed up VOYAGER? If I'm being rude, I can't help it. If you're going to criticize the show, can't you think of something more revelant?

 

[StarTrekker]

No, I totally agree. Having Tuvok be a Vulcan was a mistake and it would have been more interesting to have new races or little known races. But if you actually think about it, this wasn't a show that delved much into the culture or even background of our characters. It was all about bumpy headed alien of the week so it wouldn't have made a difference if B'Ellana was an Andorian and Tuvok was a Tsenkethi defector ya know?
I do think reusing enemies that should have been far left behind certainly harmed the show in my eyes. I simply don't believe the the Hirogen and the Malon can travel tens of thousands of lightyears in a few years, as for the Kazon...

 

[apenpaap]

Though I think B'ellanna was a good idea, as she showed a different side of half klingonism then Worf, I agree about Tuvok. Having these two replaced by an Andorian and a Tellarite would've been awesome. The constant arguments on the bridge alone would light up even the worst episodes.

 

[Farrens]

An interesting concept. But I would like to point out that a full vulcan had never been a main character before Tuvok. Also the closest thing to a half-klingon regular was worf's son (who was 3/4). StarTrekker makes a fair argument about the lack of cultural exploration, but perhaps this would not have been the case if less developed alien cultures were included in the Voyager crew.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Though I think B'ellanna was a good idea, as she showed a different side of half klingonism then Worf,

Worf was FULL Klingon. He was adopted by Human parents.

 

[apenpaap]

True, but thus his culture was half Klingon. I didn't really word it good.

 

[StarTrekker]

True, but thus his culture was half Klingon. I didn't really word it good.

LOL, another well worded sentence there

 

[Red Ranger]

I'm sure this is an observation many have made, particularly when it comes to the Borg. But if you notice, this is also a problem when it comes to casting.

We've seen Vulcans and half-Klingons (Tuvok and B'Elanna) before. It would have been better if both actors were cast as different characters from different races. As much as I find both Tuvok and B'Ellana interesting characters, that would've been a better way to go, IMO.

I could see Roxann Biggs-Dawson cast as a hot-tempered Andorian, for example, and Tim Russ as a character from a completely new race, or as a Bolian. At that point, Andorians had only been seen fleetingly in ST, and ENT had not launched and explored the 22nd century Andorians.

So if you had the opportunity to remake both characters, how would you have done it?

Red Ranger

What on earth is this question about? Why do I keep encountering these stupid questions and opinions about what messed up VOYAGER? If I'm being rude, I can't help it. If you're going to criticize the show, can't you think of something more revelant?

Your lack of reading comprehension is astounding. And limited to you, bud. Everyone else who's participated in this topic completely understood. And they actually had something relevant to say. Next time, don't post. No one's forcing you to post in a topic you consider irrelevant. Or is that something else you can't help? Yes, you are rude, and if you can't help it, that's pathetic. -- RR

 

[All Seeing Eye]

What on earth is this question about? Why do I keep encountering these stupid questions and opinions about what messed up VOYAGER? If I'm being rude, I can't help it. If you're going to criticize the show, can't you think of something more revelant?

It's not really Voyager bashing, it's more along the lines of starting an interesting discussion about how Voyager might have been better with some fresher races and what races could or should they have been.

YOU need to chillax.

 

[Lynx]

No, I think that the main characters were good as they were. I didn't mind seeing another Vulcan, especially not when the character was as good as Tuvok. Nothing wrong with a half-Klingon either and we did actually have two new species represented in Kes and neelix. However, I would have loved to see a Benzite or an Andorian somewhere on the ship.

 

[Anwar]

Well, Berman made the point that until ENT makeup tech hadn't advanced to the point that Andorians would look good on TV. So likely having one at the start of VOY wouldn't look good.

 

[Cyke101]

Frankly, I quite like the idea of Vulcans and Klingons on the ship. Something I thought was neat about VOY and DS9 is how they would pit old, dependable Trek races up against the new races. Suddenly you see just what made those old 1960s inventions so dependable and revered. Seeing Tuvok interact with other psychic races was neat, seeing B'lanna deal with races that could give Klingons a run for their money would've been fun.

Of course, I would have loved to see an Andorian crew member, but again, popular demand. If only Shran was invented 10 years earlier...!

 

[Odo You Didn't!]

I do think reusing enemies that should have been far left behind certainly harmed the show in my eyes. I simply don't believe the the Hirogen and the Malon can travel tens of thousands of lightyears in a few years, as for the Kazon...

Did they do this to avoid alien-forehead-of-the-week? I can't decide which is the lesser of those two evils - random, pointless aliens who appear once and are never seen again, or an enemy that was pretty boring and whose continued use despite having supposedly left them hundreds of lightyears behind didn't make sense...

I'd have liked to see a different alien on the crew, just to spice it up a bit. I suppose they thought Kes and Neelix might have made an extra new alien species (or one we haven't seen before in much detail, despite knowing it exists) seem like overkill.

 

[Anwar]

See, that's the problem. As VOY was always on the move there was no way they'd be able to flesh out any of the aliens they made to the point that they WOULDN'T be foreheads of the week. And if they did have them stick around they'd just get criticized for using the same ones over and over (no matter how cool they were). It's lose-lose.

 

[Odo You Didn't!]

^ Good point, Anwar, they couldn't win either way. It's a shame, some of the aliens were ones I wanted to see again, like the Hirogen, but generally the re-used ones didn't have all that much to catch my attention in the first place (especially the Kazon). I think it would have been nice to see some more internal conflict from the crew instead of weeks of tedious DQ alien arcs - I'd all but forgotten the Maquis initially hated the Fed crew and then Worst Case Scenario came along... Anyhoo, back on topic, it would have just been nice to see either AFOTW or recurring villains that were just more... up my alley, I suppose. Like the Think Tank, Hirogen, those weird things from Scientific Method... Maybe a bit more sinister.

 

[StarTrekker]

I wouldn't have minded alien of the week as much if they'd actually spent a bit more time on the characters within the show.
I liked the idea of new aliens every week and exploration, there wasn't enough of it in the later seasons of TNG.

 

[kimc]

I'm sure this is an observation many have made, particularly when it comes to the Borg. But if you notice, this is also a problem when it comes to casting.

We've seen Vulcans and half-Klingons (Tuvok and B'Elanna) before. It would have been better if both actors were cast as different characters from different races. As much as I find both Tuvok and B'Ellana interesting characters, that would've been a better way to go, IMO.

I could see Roxann Biggs-Dawson cast as a hot-tempered Andorian, for example, and Tim Russ as a character from a completely new race, or as a Bolian. At that point, Andorians had only been seen fleetingly in ST, and ENT had not launched and explored the 22nd century Andorians.

So if you had the opportunity to remake both characters, how would you have done it?

Red Ranger

What on earth is this question about? Why do I keep encountering these stupid questions and opinions about what messed up VOYAGER? If I'm being rude, I can't help it. If you're going to criticize the show, can't you think of something more revelant?

Yes you are being rude and you can either start helping it or get an infraction. Posters are free to praise or criticize the show as long as they don't break the board rules.

 

[kimc]

I'm sure this is an observation many have made, particularly when it comes to the Borg. But if you notice, this is also a problem when it comes to casting.

We've seen Vulcans and half-Klingons (Tuvok and B'Elanna) before. It would have been better if both actors were cast as different characters from different races. As much as I find both Tuvok and B'Ellana interesting characters, that would've been a better way to go, IMO.

I could see Roxann Biggs-Dawson cast as a hot-tempered Andorian, for example, and Tim Russ as a character from a completely new race, or as a Bolian. At that point, Andorians had only been seen fleetingly in ST, and ENT had not launched and explored the 22nd century Andorians.

So if you had the opportunity to remake both characters, how would you have done it?

Red Ranger

What on earth is this question about? Why do I keep encountering these stupid questions and opinions about what messed up VOYAGER? If I'm being rude, I can't help it. If you're going to criticize the show, can't you think of something more revelant?

Your lack of reading comprehension is astounding. And limited to you, bud. Everyone else who's participated in this topic completely understood. And they actually had something relevant to say. Next time, don't post. No one's forcing you to post in a topic you consider irrelevant. Or is that something else you can't help? Yes, you are rude, and if you can't help it, that's pathetic. -- RR

Yes, Fish1941 was being rude however if I had to hand out warnings every time someone was impolite I'd be doing nothing else all day. You've been around long enough to know better than to respond with a flame.

Warning for flaming. Comments to pm.

 

[cyph]

I think the species/races of the characters were fine, but I wish where they CAME FROM would hold more relevance. I think the only characters they delved into background was B'Ellana and Seven; they're really a product of where they came from, not their heritage.

Unlike Tuvok the vulcan, who ofcourse came from Vulcan, or most of the humans who ofcourse came from Earth... I always wanted to see explorations of how characters develop from other worlds (i.e. How Humans from Mars are different than Humans from Earth, Klingons from Earth different than Klingons from Kronos, and so on)...