DS9/VOY...if it happened differently...

[dub]

How cool would it have been if the premiere of Voyager came directly after the finale of DS9...and in the last episode of DS9, Cassidy Yates, Garak and/or some other DS9 regulars (Morn) were swept off into the Delta quadrant with Voyager. It would have been nice to have some established characters on that show. Oh, and in my alternate timelime fantasy, the writers of DS9 also went over to Voyager.

 

[Melakon]

It just shows the effectiveness of Starfleet security that no unauthorized persons from DS9 were able to stowaway aboard Voyager in "Caretaker". And that a Cardassian operative in Bajoran disguise got by them.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

That's a tall order! It might have been better if the series following TNG had been better paced out, particularly if the Maquis, whom were picked up by Voyager, had also experienced the Klingons or Dominion. Perhaps instead of Chakotay, Janeway would contend with Eddington.

 

[R. Star]

I will say that Voyager might have been better served if it had waited until DS9's run was done as a franchise. You wouldn't have the divided creative staff and the divided attention of the fans.

 

[MissionFever]

I'm not super into back-office politics, but my understanding is that part of the reason that DS9 was able to get away with some of the non-traditional Trek writing they did, was explicitly because Voyager was getting most of the attention from the brass.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I'm not super into back-office politics, but my understanding is that part of the reason that DS9 was able to get away with some of the non-traditional Trek writing they did, was explicitly because Voyager was getting most of the attention from the brass.

Voyager was the network show and DS9 was the syndicated show: it explains a lot.

 

[Anwar]

Rick Berman thought it was a bad idea to have two Treks shows on at the same time, he also wanted to wait until DS9 was done to do VOY.

Waiting until DS9 was done would've given them time to hire new writers for VOY with new ideas, use the new CGI tech so continuing damage could be done to VOY and more time would be given to iron out VOY's conceptual problems.

 

[dub]

I understand the reality and the behind-the-scenes stuff, and I'm glad things happened the way they did for the sake of DS9 being allowed to have some creative freedom, but I just thought from a story perspective that having some of the DS9 cast as part of Voyager -- as a concept -- would have been cool. In reality, would the characters have been ruined and DS9 gone in a different direction? Possibly. So yes, I'm glad things happened the way they did. But the idea of some of those characters being swept off into the delta quadrant as an alternate spin-off series (as an idea), I just thought it was interesting.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Perhaps another way to look at it: who should have been Voyager's Miles O'Brien? I think I've suggested elsewhere that Eddington could have filled that role. He was a minor character that played the role of the antagonist well. Perhaps more importantly, he was the one person who did not just see the Maquis as a protest, but as a way of life: an actual counterpoint to Federation sensibilities. Chakotay, whatever his leadership ability was, largely believed in Federation values (at least to the extent that his heritage allowed). Eddington as security officer (give poor Tuvok a promotion, he's an old Vulcan) would have done more to sharpen differences of outlook on Voyager.

 

[MacLeod]

I will say that Voyager might have been better served if it had waited until DS9's run was done as a franchise. You wouldn't have the divided creative staff and the divided attention of the fans.

I would tend to agree with on the divided creative staff, but having two shows wouldn't divide the attention of the fans. I managed to watch both quite easily, and if there was a conflcit I had a device(still have somewhere) known as a VHS player which allowed me to record one for later viewing whilst I watched something else.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Rick Berman thought it was a bad idea to have two Treks shows on at the same time--

That's not true. He and Michael Piller were the ones pushing the studio to do a TNG spinoff while TNG was on the air and the studio was flat-out telling them they would never produce a Star Trek spinoff. They finally gave DS9 the green-light. Then, once they saw that two Trek series at the same time could bring in the viewers, that's when the studio got greedy and asked Berman and Piller for a new Trek series to replace TNG and air concurrently with DS9.

 

[Melakon]

. . .Then, once they saw that two Trek series at the same time could bring in the viewers, that's when the studio got greedy and asked Berman and Piller for a new Trek series to replace TNG and air concurrently with DS9.

And Paramount's plan was to use that series as their new network's flagship program.

It's easy to see how this could be attractive to a studio executive. In the 40's, the big studios made product for the theaters they owned around the country. Then the government stepped in and broke that up.

 

[Anwar]

Rick Berman thought it was a bad idea to have two Treks shows on at the same time--

That's not true. He and Michael Piller were the ones pushing the studio to do a TNG spinoff while TNG was on the air and the studio was flat-out telling them they would never produce a Star Trek spinoff. They finally gave DS9 the green-light. Then, once they saw that two Trek series at the same time could bring in the viewers, that's when the studio got greedy and asked Berman and Piller for a new Trek series to replace TNG and air concurrently with DS9.

Berman certainly thought it was a bad idea to have VOY and DS9 on at the same time, at least. At least they only did DS9 when TNG would be off the air in a while.

 

[doctorfoto]

My first thought is from the characters' point-of-view.

"Hey, we finally won the Dominion War! The Alpha Quadrant is safe!

...Wait, we're stuck WHERE?!? CRAP!"

 

[Relayer1]

carrying DS9's writing staff over to Voyager would have been the crucial thing!

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I'm so happy that DS9 was left to develop the way it did, though I do think some connection between VOY and TNG/DS9 would've been good.

There were of course all the rumours going round about a character from "Lower Decks" getting a part on VOY, and of course Ro Laren becoming a regular. There was also Sisko's friend who worked in the DMZ (whose name I cannot remember!) that they could have had in place of Chakotay.

 

[Anwar]

carrying DS9's writing staff over to Voyager would have been the crucial thing!

The crucial thing would've been VOY being given more time to think it's plot through and iron out the conceptual problems, and not worry about network interference.

 

[KaraBear]

Many of the writers for DS9 and Voyager were the same

 

[Bad Thoughts]

The core writing crew (credits on 10+ episodes) for DS9 was Beimler, Behr, Wolfe, Fields, Echevarria, Moore, Weddle, and Thompson. For Voyager, Braga, Menosky, Jeri Taylor, Michael Taylor, Biller, Klink, and Fuller. The only significant writer they shared was Michael Piller, who left DS9 after season 2 but only wrote 8 Voyager episodes.

So, the two staffs did not significantly contribute to each other's shows.

 

[wingsabre]

Yeah, the two staffs for the two shows did not really work that much together. When TNG and DS9 was airing together, and TNG ended, part of the TNG writing staff shifted to DS9, while part of the staff shifted to work on Voyager. After DS9 ended, Ronald D. Moore did join the writing staff of Voy, but quit after creative differences. Voyager was very episodic in format.

I think having two series of the same franchise air at the same time was very synergistic. Often, Voyager would air on primetime on Wednesdays, while DS9 aired on Thursdays or the weekends weekends where I was at. TNG was also on reruns at night. It did build momentum for the series, similar to how Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis worked really well when paired together on Fridays.