How the USS Equinox could've made Voyager such a better series

[Bonzo the Fifth]

Personally, I would have preferred a scenario akin to Christopher Bennett's "Places of Exile", with Voyager becoming the nucleus of a nascent Federation in the anarchic Delta Quadrant, giving the crew many more chances for character development... abut then, such a scenario would have required a lot of planning and good writing, both of which were in short supply in the real series...

 

[Anwar]

Yep, UPN told them not to do arc storytelling and not to have tensions between the Maquis and Fed crews. And it didn't help that Jeri Taylor wanted the show to be light-hearted.