Fans, why did the ratings slide?

[Praetor]

Yeah, that does explain a lot.

 

[Tachyon]

I never realised that, but it certainly goes some way to explaining why season three drops the Kazon and everything else like a stone, and the show makes a definite shift towards being a TNG clone. The first two seasons weren't great, but I think they made more attempts to keep a continuity, especially over the Kazon/Seska arc, and there are references to supply shortages and replicator rations, which disappeared after the third season. Once that didn't really work, they had another go at relaunching the show in season four, with Seven of Nine.

There was an arc on season three and that was the preparation for the events in Scorpion. The Kazon were left behind and gradually we got more Borg things coming up until the big (and legendary) boom.

 

[TheGodBen]

There was an arc on season three and that was the preparation for the events in Scorpion. The Kazon were left behind and gradually we got more Borg things coming up until the big (and legendary) boom.

But that wasn't planned, the original idea was that Unity was to be the only Borg episode in season 3 and the season would end with Year of Hell, Part 1. Braga and Menosky wrote the script for YoH but then Braga had the idea of introducing a Borg crewmember and he brought it to Berman whose genius came up with the idea of a "Borg babe". Braga and Menosky then hastily wrote Scorpion, Part 1 to facilitate the introduction of a new Borg character and the death of Harry Kim. Plans changed, Kes was written out instead of Harry and in the fourth season Braga and Menosky rewrote the script for Year of Hell to include Seven.

Or so the legend goes.

 

[Lynx]

Well it's rather a moot point seeing the show ended up running for seven years, but according to Stephen Edward Poe's behind the scenes book "Vision of the Future", Voyager's future during its second year was very much up in the air, and as a result, the writers did Cold Fire so they had the ground ready if the show was cancelled.

Perhaps most tellingly, the people considering canning the show were apparently the producers.

I never realised that, but it certainly goes some way to explaining why season three drops the Kazon and everything else like a stone, and the show makes a definite shift towards being a TNG clone. The first two seasons weren't great, but I think they made more attempts to keep a continuity, especially over the Kazon/Seska arc, and there are references to supply shortages and replicator rations, which disappeared after the third season. Once that didn't really work, they had another go at relaunching the show in season four, with Seven of Nine.

I think that this was one of the problems with the show, that the writers and producers created a lot of loose ends which were never followed-up or developed. They could start with something, then jump to something else and completly omitting what has been going on before.

Sort of: "Help! The ratings are still bad, I know, let's try this..........nah, it won't work, let's try this instead. But remember, everything must be back to normal at the end of the episode."

Some examples from the first seasons (which at least had some continuity): The Kes-Neelix relationship more and less vanished after "Tuvix" and they didn't bother to end it properly, the female Caretaker never showed up again and what happened to Dalby, Henley, Gerron and Chell? Not to mention the spare-part and food-supplies problem which must have been solved in some dramatic way in season 4.

Later on, it became even worse.

 

[Tachyon]

There was an arc on season three and that was the preparation for the events in Scorpion. The Kazon were left behind and gradually we got more Borg things coming up until the big (and legendary) boom.

But that wasn't planned, the original idea was that Unity was to be the only Borg episode in season 3 and the season would end with Year of Hell, Part 1.

Or so the legend goes.

Who cares if it was planned or not? The main thing is that they made it work, and they made it work.

 

[Lynx]

I wonder how the original script for "Year Of Hell" was.

 

[Praetor]

I somehow bet Janeway didn't ditch the crew in escape pods. Why not set them on a planet, really?

I wonder if that version of "Year of Hell" set up the actual Year of Hell, y'know, the version without the reset at the end. I wanted my Voyager to have a scar or two, dang it!

 

[Tomalak]

I'd bet the only difference was the presence of Seven instead of Kes. Though I think Braga and Berman originally wanted it to run six episodes, like DS9's first war arc, but the studio shot them down. I guess it depends on how far the story had developed, and whether Annorex and the time ship had been thought up. There's nothing in Before and After to suggest they had, so it may have just been vague plans to have Voyager get pummelled trying to travel through hostile territory.