Early Concepts for Voyager Characters

[at Quark's]

I was under the impression that Neelix's cooking was fine - if your palate matches that of a Talaxian. Neelix felt that human food was far too bland and tastless, so he used overly-generous amounts of spices and foods with very strong flavors. No wonder most of the crew disliked it.

As far as I know, we have only one data point to verify that, Neelix' own assessment. True, he seemed to like his cooking well enough, but that doesn't say too much. But I don't think there are any other Talaxians commenting on his cooking skills after having sampled. I don't think Wixiban in Fair Trade does, and I don't think the Talaxians in Homestead do? (but I might misremember).

I believe he also mentions somewhere he was a cook on a Talaxian vessel for a few years, but again, he might have been seen as an acquired taste there, too

 

[Timewalker]

As far as I know, we have only one data point to verify that, Neelix' own assessment. True, he seemed to like his cooking well enough, but that doesn't say too much. But I don't think there are any other Talaxians commenting on his cooking skills after having sampled. I don't think Wixiban in Fair Trade does, and I don't think the Talaxians in Homestead do? (but I might misremember).

I believe he also mentions somewhere he was a cook on a Talaxian vessel for a few years, but again, he might have been seen as an acquired taste there, too

If Neelix's cooking matched what Talaxians expected, why would they bother to comment? It would simply be normal to them and therefore no comments would be required.

And if Neelix's cooking was really bad even by Talaxian standards, how long do you think he'd have lasted aboard a Talaxian ship? People who live and work in isolated communities expect good food, or at least palatable food, or they get Very Upset.

(I know this from things my dad told me about his times as a cook in isolated camps; my dad was a very good cook.)

 

[at Quark's]

And if Neelix's cooking was really bad even by Talaxian standards, how long do you think he'd have lasted aboard a Talaxian ship? People who live and work in isolated communities expect good food, or at least palatable food, or they get Very Upset.

Well, he was still a cook on Voyager after seven years, despite there often being complaints about his cooking from the crew, wasn't he? And they even had replicators, so no reason to bother with a cook in the first place (ok, in the first season perhaps when they had energy shortage problems but that seemed to have long been resolved by S7).

This is after all the Star Trek universe, not the real world. Slightly different rules might apply there. I fully agree that in the real world, it wouldn't work that way.

As for why he was still a cook after all those years, I can only offer two explanations: he improved (according to human(oid) standards) enough to at least make his cooking tolerable to the average human, or they adapted to him. Seems quite likely in my view (and there are a few scenes that might support that but I'm not sure anything ever was said to that effect). Other: those are Perfected Humans that only complain when it's really intolerable, not when it's edible but 'doesn't taste as good as it should'.

 

[Timewalker]

It would have been some combination. Neelix would have been told at some point that his cooking was horrible, and he would have realized that he couldn't force the crew to eat food that he preferred. He was welcome to make his own meals to Talaxian standards, but would need to adjust to the non-Talaxians' palate. And some of them did come to like some of his dishes, so there's the compromise.

Replicator rations and hours of holodeck time became the currency used in Voyager's economy, so I don't think that would have gone away.

 

[at Quark's]

It would have been some combination. Neelix would have been told at some point that his cooking was horrible, and he would have realized that he couldn't force the crew to eat food that he preferred. He was welcome to make his own meals to Talaxian standards, but would need to adjust to the non-Talaxians' palate. And some of them did come to like some of his dishes, so there's the compromise.

Even so, it surprises me that he simply wasn't replaced by someone else within a few weeks after he started cooking. ('Neelix, we're giving you another function as <whatever>, crewman <x> will take over as cook. No offense, we're sure you have many qualities which you can prove in your new function but your taste range simply seems to be too different from ours and you don't seem to be able to adapt enough to the crew's limits despite complaints'). Despite that, we get years and years of complaining about his cooking and sometimes it was so bad it sent people to sickbay, even years later (example: S4- Message in a bottle when two crewmen need to be treated for heartburn after eating one of his meals). Or perhaps that was just an unlucky, isolated incident?

So I can only assume every other member of the crew that potentially could have served as a cook was absolutely irreplaceable in whatever other function he or she had ?

 

[Oddish]

For "Other", I chose Janeway's dog. If Archer could have a dog, why couldn't Janeway? Then Molly could have had her puppies on board the ship and some of the more homesick crew members could have had an emotional support puppy.

I still say Janeway should have said to the bickering Q's: "Take your domestic dispute elsewhere. And leave the puppy."

 

[The_Baroness]

* I saw the original Janeway in a couple scenes... it was enough.
* Shamen Chakotay... Star Trek doesn't do the mysterious very well. Look at "Sub Rosa".
* Dah sounds like something you shout and send people flying across the room.
* Ro is a decent character... but I'll take Seska over her.
* Perra seems about the same.

I'll take Nick Lacarno, who we should have had anyway, multiple personality EMH (at least his lack of a name would make sense them), and Ensign Harry Kim in the hands of a scriptwriter who knows how to develop characters. By show's end he's lost a body part and had it replaced by a cybernetic implant, had to be dragged out of the Paxau resort after PTSD from losing said part, had several failed relationships, gotten married, fathered a kid, adopted a weird alien pet, finally beaten Tuvok at Kal-toh, and gotten two full gold pips on his collar.

Your idea for Harry is basically Nog mixed with Ross from friends and I am so here for it.

 

[at Quark's]

I still say Janeway should have said to the bickering Q's: "Take your domestic dispute elsewhere. And leave the puppy."

<dirty glance at female Q> "and tough luck for you, but I am talking about the dog"

 

[Oddish]

<dirty glance at female Q> "and tough luck for you, but I am talking about the dog"

A short time later...

JANEWAY: "Captain's log. Neelix has volunteered to serve as my holodeck dog walker, and I have assigned Harry Kim the title of Canine Waste Management Technician. The good news is that this precipitous increase in responsibilities has come with a promotion to lieutenant junior grade."

 

[at Quark's]

I can see Neelix attempting to get Tuvok to play with the dog.

Then again, I suppose we already got some of that in Enterprise.

 

[Oddish]

I can see Neelix attempting to get Tuvok to play with the dog.

Vulcan have sehlats for pets... wonder if they play with them?

 

[Farscape One]

Why would the series need Nick Lacarno in the first place? Let me get this straight. Because Harry Kim didn't get promoted, he lacked character development? Hardly any of the characters, aside from Tuvok, had received a decent promotion. And that's your idea of character development for Kim?

You know what. Never mind. I keep hoping that one day, someone would post a complaint about "Voyager" that I find plausible. But after so many years, I have failed to come across one. I do have my complaints about the series. But the more I keep coming across these certain complaints, the more I keep forgetting that I actually have complaints about it. Just as I have my complaints about the other Trek shows and the franchise as a whole.

So what are your 'plausible complaints' about VOYAGER?

 

[flandry84]

I always thought that Voyager could have adopted a few more waifs and strays along the way.DS9 benefitted greatly from it’s secondary and even tertiary cast and Voy could have done the same.
That said given how some of the main characters were treated so shabbily,that might’nt have worked.