How would you change the show?

[Admiral Jean-Luc Picard]

How would you change the show to make it better? Keep in mind it's the 90's, the show was on UPN, and that the network had a demand for the show to be episodic for reruns. Working within that, how would you change the show?

#1 I would have put more thought into Neelix's shuttle, and it would have appeared more often.

#2 I would have decided how many shuttles there are and make it a big deal when one is lost.

#3 More episodes about trading for resources. Also, I'd have the ship run out of torpedoes for a while until they aquire the means to build more.

#4 DS9 crossover, a two-parter where the Defiant ends up in the Delta Qudrant. I'd tie it into the whole Prophet wormhole stuff. Both ships work together to get back to DS9, but only the Defiant makes it through. This could allow for some permanent character swaps or additions.

#5 Keep the Equinox around for the entire 6th season. Have the ship destroyed in the season finale instead of the Delta Flyer.

#6 That gives me an idea, what if Chakotay's Maquis ship flew side by side with Voyager for the whole first season, destroyed in the season finale? The second season would focus on the Kazon as we saw and the Maquis crew settling in. The two crews would settle their differences while strander during the "Basics" two-parter.

That's all I can think of for now.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

In no particular order:

• I'd have gone with Rick Sternbach's more angular ship design
• Recast Chakotay
• Scrap the EMH and make the rookie officer the ship's doctor
• Keep Stadi alive (make her the Ops Manager instead, another redshirt dies at the Conn)
• Make Neelix younger and rugged (a more Solo-esque rogue with a heart of gold)
• Remove the Neelix/Kes relationship, have him be more of a protective big brother than creepy old man
• Keep Kes throughout (maybe downgraded to recurring character)
• Keep Seska on the ship as a recurring character
• More alien crewmembers
• Have the Kazon only in the first season, the Vidiians are the recurring enemy in season two
• Reduce the number of Borg-centered episodes (or at least not have them destroy so many Borg ships, they should get out from Borg encounters by the skin of their teeth)
• Have Janeway actually raise the Borg Baby
• Put Seven is more practical clothing
• No Fair Haven

 

[WarpTenLizard]

• Keep Jeri Taylor on a much tighter leash. So she can write good episodes like "Coda," but don't let her indulge in her Mary Sue romance novel stories.
• Ditch the Kazon. Blech.
• Give Chakotay a real tribe, or tribes. Make his name and tattoo have a more clear basis in a real tribe as well. And cut the magical Indian stereotypes.
• Have the Maquis stay in their Maquis uniforms until Season 4, when they get the news. Then do the switch to Starfleet uniforms.
• Give Kes the quirks and flaws that a person isolated underground and "too curious" would have. Make her a Zooey Dechanel type of character, rather than the bland fairy princess cliche we got.
• Have Seven of Nine and Kes overlap for Season 4. Kes is the first friend Seven makes on Voyager, and the first she has to say goodbye to.
• Remember recurring characters more often!
• More good aliens
• Bring the Vaaduar (from "Dragon's Teeth) back as recurring villains.
• Give the Dweeb a promotion!

 

[cosmic mouse]

Make Kashyk a recurring character; it wold have opened up some new angles for Janeway's character and possibly opened up the focus a bit more to other areas during seasons 6-7. The character himself was great, plus the issues touched on in Counterpoint would have been interesting to explore further.

 

[Oddish]

* Explain some things. Like, shoot a 15s scene where the Borg baby is sent back to his/her people. Or explain how Voyager traded for a large industrial replicator that can produce more shuttlecraft and torpedoes.
* Show shades of Voyager preparing to transition into a generational model. More people get married. Janeway ponders her own biological clock.
* Don't just promote the Dweeb. Sam Wildman should be a lieutenant, too. So should a number of other ensigns. If you need more ensigns, promote a few crewmen. Surely Starfleet has provisions for mustang officers.
* Explain that Voyager will be picking up her normal operations officer, a lieutenant, after the Maquis search. Harry was supposed to be her assistant. But suddenly, he has to do the job himself. Have him struggle a bit, trying to do lieutenant level work as a newbie ensign. Have him grow into the role, and gain pips on his collar. He should be a ○○ lieutenant by the end.
* If Garrett Wang is too big a D-bag to develop his character, kill Harry off and bring in someone else.
* Ditch the 7/Chakotay aberration. And I agree about Kes/Neelix, that was a bit off.
* "Threshold" never happened. And make some changes the series finale as well. It was really a rehash of "Timeless" anyway.
* Have a little more added on at the end. Tom reconciled with his dad. Harry reunited with his parents (and have them proud of how much he's grown). Naomi meets her dad for the first time.
* Have a character profile for Janeway. Don't have her character change endlessly. She should have strengths and weaknesses, that don't change.

EDIT: A mustang officer, for you non military brats, is an officer who began his or her career as an enlisted person, and received an officer's commission later on.

 

[FederationHistorian]

- Kes becomes a recurring character once Seven of Nine joined the main cast.

- Tuvix returns as a hologram, with his memories intact in the ship’s database. And will have a mobile emitter like The Doctor.

- If “Threshold” still happens, then have the salamander offspring of Janeway and Paris also be reverted to a human state, allowing both Janeway and Paris to confront parenthood while on Voyager.

- Harry has an existential crisis at some point in the series due to the events that occurred in “Deadlock” as to whether of not it’s the real him. Not being promoted plays a role in the crisis.

- Basics would have been a 4 parter; the original two parter as aired, plus parts three & four when Voyager crash lands on the ice planet during “Timeless” a few seasons later. Basically, making the VOY crew have to survive on their wits until they can get off the planet.

- Replace the Borg with Species 8472 as the major threat of the Delta Quadrant

- Vorik should have been Taurik from TNG. And Lavelle should have joined him.

- “The Omega Directive” is a two parter.

- S6 would be split in two:

• The first half sees a power struggle between Starfleet & Maquis in S6 that eventually erupts in conflict due to how Voyager has handled their return home over the previous five seasons and results in Chakotay taking command of Voyager.

• The second half is an extended version of the Equinox arc. Chakotay is killed by the aliens cause by the Equinox crew’s experiments and Janeway becomes captain again.

The Defiant, or even DS9 itself, appears in VOY’s sixth or seventh season (with Kira, Bashir, Ezri, Nog, Jake making up the crew) when it is trapped with Voyager in the Delta Quadrant for a two-part episode.

Ent-B is revisited via the holodeck for an episode.

 

[Danja]

- Vorik should have been Taurik from TNG. And Lavelle should have joined him.

Whoever created Taurik would've had to have been paid royalties (it's the reason T'Pau was swapped out for T'Pol on "Enterprise').

Replace the Borg with Species 8472 as the major threat of the Delta Quadrant

Way to blow out the CGI budget.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Whoever created Taurik would've had to have been paid royalties (it's the reason T'Pau was swapped out for T'Pol on "Enterprise').

Hmm. Interesting factoid. Not sure if I would have considered T'Pau to be a part of the main cast, but ok.

Way to blow out the CGI budget.

Or maybe it means that Species 8472 doesn’t need to be seen that often, even though the lingering threat remains for the remainder of the series.

 

[Oddish]

Or, they're in humanoid form some of the time. Like that one episode, where they built their own Starfleet Academy.

 

[Lynx]

Kes should have remained in the series and got a human lifespan.

Chakotay should have had a real tribe.

Neelix should also have stayed the whole series.

No contact with Earth until the end of season 7.

Less Borg episodes.

Carey shouldn't have been killed off.

They should have tried to reach Earth by going through the Delta Quadrant and reached deep Space Nine through the wormhole.

There should have been a real homecoming episode.

 

[Danja]

Hmm. Interesting factoid. Not sure if I would have considered T'Pau to be a part of the main cast, but ok.

Berman & Braga originally wanted the NX-01 to feature a young T'Pau. They later discovered that meant having to pay royalties to the estate of Theodore Sturgeon (who created the character for TOS) every time she was used -- which is to say, every single episode.

Hence, T'Pau was swapped out for T'Pol.

 

[FederationHistorian]

Berman & Braga originally wanted the NX-01 to feature a young T'Pau. They later discovered that meant having to pay royalties to the estate of Theodore Sturgeon (who created the character for TOS) every time she was used -- which is to say, every single episode.

Hence, T'Pau was swapped out for T'Pol.

Just having a hard time imagining T’Pau* around for four seasons in the same arcs with Archer and Trip. Or wearing the same skintight uniforms that T’Pol wore.

*the actress who played T’Pau in S4 in ENT and not Blalock.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Whoever created Taurik would've had to have been paid royalties (it's the reason T'Pau was swapped out for T'Pol on "Enterprise').

Is that not also the same reason that after Robert Duncan McNeil was cast that they kept the conn officer as Paris rather than revert him to Locarno?

 

[Oddish]

You remember how I said I'd delete Threshold? Well, add Non Sequitur to that "get rid of" list, because it made no sense at all. I mean... Harry wakes up... he's no longer homesick, he's home. He's living in a great looking pad in San Francisco. He's next to his gorgeous girlfriend, now his fiancee. He's got an awesome job with the ship design bureau and is due to make LTJG eight months out of the academy. He's escaped from a ship that is trapped in the Delta Quadrant, limited replicator rations, violent Kazon, butchering Vidiians, and a captain who's determined to keep him at ensign until the heat death of the universe...

And he spends the whole frickin' episode trying to go back.

 

[somebuddyX]

Unless it was changed to be under a similar set of circumstances that DS9 had, in regards to syndication, serialisation showrunner, writers etc , I probably wouldn't bother changing anything.

 

[Orac Zen]

The much-maligned Braga's year-long "year of hell" should actually have happened. Yes, it violates UPN's ridiculous episodic TNG-lite vision for the series but it would have been great to see that actually happen.

Kes and Seven should both have retained. There was an absolute gold mine of material to be explored in a Kes / Seven friendship. That it didn't happen was one of the biggest missed opportunities of the entire series IMO.

The Chuckles character was a good idea, but the execution was atrocious. The Hollywood attempt at the character was a dismal failure, which was exacerbated by casting someone who made it absolutely crystal clear he didn't give a crap. Which leads me to this...

Recast Chakotay

Agreed. Cast someone with some actual charisma and a work ethic (the work ethic every other cast member consistently displayed, despite the godawful material they were too often saddled with) and the character would have had some sort of chance of succeeding. Then again, the character was badly conceived and badly written. The poor casting was the final straw, really.

Other ideas I like / agree with:

Put Seven is more practical clothing

I couldn't possibly agree more with this. That frelling catsuit was an abomination then and remains one now. I remain very thankful thankful someone as stellar as Jeri Ryan was cast in the role; she was good enough that the T&A angle they were clearly going for with that...outfit...didn't become all the character was about.

No Fair Haven

Or "Spirit Folk". Both episodes are utter crap with no redeeming features of any kind. They make "Threshold" look like Shakespeare.

Keep Jeri Taylor on a much tighter leash. So she can write good episodes like "Coda," but don't let her indulge in her Mary Sue romance novel stories.

Agreed. There's a lot to like about Jeri Taylor but I could have done without her Mills & Boon tendencies.

Remember recurring characters more often!

Yes. How difficult could this possibly have been? Really?

Make Kashyk a recurring character

Hell, no. Once was too often, thanks.

"Threshold" never happened.

Not quite. Ditch the utterly stupid salamander crap and it isn't a bad episode. It's only when that nonsense appeared that the episode nosedived. It wasn't too bad at all to that point. The mileage of others...err..varies (to say the very least ).

 

[at Quark's]

You may also hate Damar for what he did to Ziyal. At first, I did so. Later on I didn't. It was when Damar changed from drunkard to hero.

You remember how I said I'd delete Threshold? Well, add Non Sequitur to that "get rid of" list, because it made no sense at all. I mean... Harry wakes up... he's no longer homesick, he's home. He's living in a great looking pad in San Francisco. He's next to his gorgeous girlfriend, now his fiancee. He's got an awesome job with the ship design bureau and is due to make LTJG eight months out of the academy. He's escaped from a ship that is trapped in the Delta Quadrant, limited replicator rations, violent Kazon, butchering Vidiians, and a captain who's determined to keep him at ensign until the heat death of the universe...

And he spends the whole frickin' episode trying to go back.

Always chalked that up to his character. That this simply wasn't how it was supposed to be and that somehow, some poor chap got the unlucky draw in his place and now was lost as that operations offficer in the DQ, and that he couldn't live with that thought. A case of 'survivor guilt' (but without any deaths actually occurring).

 

[somebuddyX]

Always chalked that up to his character. That this simply wasn't how it was supposed to be and that somehow, some poor chap got the unlucky draw in his place and now was lost as that operations offficer in the DQ, and that he couldn't live with that thought. A case of 'survivor guilt' (but without any deaths actually occurring).

Exactly and it wasn't just some rando, it was Harry's best mate Daniel Byrd. If anything, play the survivor's guilt up a bunch. Give Byrd a newborn kid that he'd otherwise miss seeing grow up, Harry could go talk to his wife and even hold the baby, give Harry sleepless nights about literally stealing someone else's life away from them. I think the episode had that a bit with maybe Harry feeling responsible for Tom Paris' fate. I haven't seen it in a while so maybe I made it up.

 

[Oddish]

Exactly and it wasn't just some rando, it was Harry's best mate Daniel Byrd. If anything, play the survivor's guilt up a bunch. Give Byrd a newborn kid that he'd otherwise miss seeing grow up, Harry could go talk to his wife and even hold the baby, give Harry sleepless nights about literally stealing someone else's life away from them. I think the episode had that a bit with maybe Harry feeling responsible for Tom Paris' fate. I haven't seen it in a while so maybe I made it up.

He knew Daniel Byrd, don't remember if they were besties or not. And Tom Paris was definitely a factor as well, but still... Harry was homesick as hell, and the alien sent as his minder had basically given him an "out" by saying that there was no known way to send him back. And yet there was no indication that Harry was even conflicted.

I'd keep Fair Haven, but I wouldn't make it a big deal. It would just be a place where people go to have fun and unwind. And if Janeway wants to have a little fun with one of the characters, that's no big deal. Unlike the Doctor, most holodeck characters are non-sentient playthings.

Speaking of which, given the momentous decision made by the Doc in "Real Life", to stick with his holo-family despite losing Belle, I think we should have seen them again. Otherwise, what did the Doc really accomplish by going through such a heart wrenching experience?

And Seven's outfit was one giant step BACKWARD for Trek kind... Troi in uniform, then Kira and Dax wearing standard uniforms as well, followed in shirt order by Janeway and B'Elanna... we think Trek has turned a corner regarding how Trek clothes its women. Then, Seven shows up, and nope, we're not there yet. T'Pol is more of the same, later.

Burnham and Tilly wear standard uniforms, though. So there's hope.

 

[at Quark's]

He knew Daniel Byrd, don't remember if they were besties or not. And Tom Paris was definitely a factor as well, but still... Harry was homesick as hell, and the alien sent as his minder had basically given him an "out" by saying that there was no known way to send him back. And yet there was no indication that Harry was even conflicted.

It seems Harry has this character streak to feel guilt when he 'lucks out' w.r.t. his fellow crewmembers, more so than his colleagues. We see it resurface in Timeless where it very much ruins his future life, whereas Chakotay seemed to have moved on with life even if he helps Harry. Of course, you could argue that Harry actually has some blame in that timeline (but nothing really beyond doing his best and making an honest mistake in his calculations), and Chakotay has Tessa to help him go on with life, but still.

And Seven's outfit was one giant step BACKWARD for Trek kind... Troi in uniform, then Kira and Dax wearing standard uniforms as well, followed in shirt order by Janeway and B'Elanna... we think Trek has turned a corner regarding how Trek clothes its women. Then, Seven shows up, and nope, we're not there yet. T'Pol is more of the same, later.

Absolutely agreed on this. I'm a warm-blooded human hetero male, not above ogling beautiful women when I hope they don't notice it (an almost certainly idle hope), but this decision to put her in such a blatant, even 'aggressive' outfit actively annoyed me, even back when Voyager came out and I was barely past my puberty and a lot more.... vigorous than today.