How Would You Have Crewed Voyager?

[Bry_Sinclair]

The idea for this thread came from the Tom Riker as Maquis Captain one.

There are loads of rumours and whatnot about who the Producers might have used when creating Voyager (eg the cast from "Lower Decks", etc), some of which might be true and others just the fevered dreams of Trek fans. But if you'd been behind creating the crew for Voyager, which decisions would you have made and why?

Would you still have two separate crews brought together? Would they have been Maquis? Romulan? Nyberrite? Would you have used previously established characters?

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

My choices would have been:

Captain Elizabeth Shelby - A young Captain, on the first mission of her first command before being thrown out into the Delta Quadrant. She wouldn't be as stereotypically 'motherly'.

Lt. Commander Calvin Hudson - Someone who turned to the Maquis on principle, who will fight for his people and not take any crap. Older than Shelby, he has experience on his side.

Lieutenant Tuvok - He is fine just the way he was.

Lieutenant Ro Laren - I'd see her as being someone who, like Hudson, would stand up to Shelby and be a good counterpoint to Tuvok, just as tactically minded though lacking his logic and wisdom.

Lieutenant JG Sam Lavelle - I think it'd be interesting to see how he adapted to life in the unknown. Though with a few years experience under his belt, he is still young, idealistic and eager.

Lieutenant JG B'Elanna Torres - She is fine just the way she is.

Ensign Harry Kim - An intern who is the only surviving member of the ship's medical staff, he finds himself in such a horrific situation and now the one responsible for the health and well-being of the crew.

Jorrun - A young Kazon thug who betrays his people to save Kes, shot for his betrayal and saved at her insistence. He has a hard time adjusting to a life away from the violence of his upbringing.

Kes - She is fine just the way she is (though she isn't going anywhere!).

 

[Shaka Zulu]

^I can get behind these characters of yours.

 

[Terok Nor]

This is better than the actual crew.

I'd still want Seven to join the crew at some point. EMH could still be on the show in some capacity. Maybe they can only power him up once in a blue moon.

 

[stardream]

I like those choices.

I would have paid the writers and gone with Nick Larcarno. I know it was played by the same actor but I think the crossover would have been a lot smoother and I would have kept him edgier for a lot longer.

Would keep Seven.

No Neelix.

 

[Paradise City]

I'd rejig Voyager completely. Make it a Connie ship. Set it around the movie era, have it a multigenerational ship and at the end of the seven season run have them spat out battered n' bruised back into the Alpha Q just in the post-Dominion War era.

Maybe have them rescuing a bunch of colonists/aliens/maverick scientists of dubious outlook before they are whisked away to the DQ. Also have them outnumber the Starfleet people so they are a constant hot potato for them to handle.

No court jester or pixie characters please.

 

[Anwar]

I'd have had the Caretaker's Array have several AQ ships be on it, with several crews (or survivors of crews) being held on Ocampa. Then when the Array is destroyed some of them take off on their ships into space while some have to stay on Voyager (because their ships were destroyed or weren't meant for this kind of travel).

Thus, the crew would be truly mixed. Federation, Romulan, Cardassian, etc.

Maybe throw in some DQ races too, so we'd have more connection to the DQ and reasons to stay in one are for a while longer.

Voyager should've been a bigger ship as well, like a Heavy Cruiser or something (an Ambassador class), that way the smaller alien ships can be in their Hanger most of the time.

I'd also make the Central cast smaller. Janeway would still be the Captain (maybe the ship's Science Officer who is left in charge when the Captain and XO are killed), but the rest of the Centrals should be the new XO, the EMH, Tuvok and Paris (or whoever replaces Paris).

Torres, Kim, Kes and Neelix should all be recurring Secondaries.

I'd go with a Romulan as the new XO and make Neelix a Talaxian General.

 

[Lynx]

Voyager had the best crew of all Star Trek series. I wouldn't have changed anything, except for keeping Kes, Neelix and Carey to the end of the series.

 

[Leviathan]

1 hologram of a dead crewman
1 highly evolved cat
1 slightly mad computer
1 android janitor
1 space-bum

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I would have had the initial jolt wipe out the entire original command staff. So inexperienced lower deck officers have to take command and make peace with the Maquis.

Ro Laren and Sisko's old friend who joined the Maquis on the Maquis ship. This way he lieutenant who becomes captain has to gain the respect of the traitorous but seasoned Maquis captain and then once they have that respect, learn from his command experience.

Lt Janeway is a science officer who becomes Captain due to being the most senior survivor.
Nick Locarno is around and the bad boy they pretended Oaris was at the start.
There are two Vulcans, chief engineer Ensign Taurik and a Maquis Vulcan and Taurik resents her over the logic of joining the Maquis.

Seven still joins, and wears normal clothing.

B'elana can stay but after losing her initial hot temper she develops in a better direction.

Kim can stay but after first season he becomes more and more of a risk taker and less eager to please.

 

[T'Girl]

Instead of a Maquis ship, Voyager pursuits a JemHadar ship into the bad lands. Their ship damaged beyond use, and incapable of operating Voyager on their own, the JemHadar and the Voyager crew combine forces.

The JemHadar never wear Starfleet uniforms (having the Maquis do this was stupid), and they don't gradually become more "Human."

The JenHadar first officer doesn't become cowed by Janeway, but from the start speaks his mind on his point of view, also he points out when Janeway does her inconsistent manic/depressive thing. A far number of times the episode shows that the JemHadar method to be the one that would have worked best.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

^ There's no way that would have lasted more than one episode, let alone a season. The Jem'Hadar would have killed the rest of the crew, the first chance they got. It's just what they do.

 

[Tim Thomason]

I'm not sure. Jem'Hadar were grown to be followers, not leaders, so once they got over their drug dependency issues (which would have to be in Episodes 2 or 3), they might end up being valued members of the ship. Klingons or perhaps Cardassians would be a better fit, in my opinion.

I don't think you'd need to change alot to make Voyager truly great. I think a simple change such as Michael Piller's original idea of the Maquis in civilian outfits all series-long would've done wonders. It would've reminded the writers at least that this merged crew were not all Starfleet-committed and there was a hierarchy based on achievement and skill, not rank or service.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

If the Vorta ordered the Gem'Hadar to play nice with Voyager for some reason, they would have obeyed. But I can't think of any reason for the Vorta to do this unless he was short on white and wanted to pull a Rocks and Shoals. And the Gem'Hadar would never develop or grow so I can't see how they would have been dramatically interesting more than a few episodes. And they'd be flying in a different direction.

Also I somehow don't see Janeway realizing the 'Kill em all' approach is more important than Starfleet principles making a good series. Voyager is a show where much of the drama comes from Voyager taking on risks and turning down advantages because it would require harming innocents or leaving them vulnerable to an aggressor. Janeway realizing the Gem'Hadar method is right would mean saying 'Screw them! Kill or be killed!'

Now, Cardassians or Romulans, that might have been dramatically interesting.

 

[Paradise City]

Jem Hedar get very nervy if they don't have that cocaine the Vorta send their way.

Neelix looks like the kinda a guy that might be able to rustle up something on the slide mind you. He'd have certain 'contacts' if y'know what I mean.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Even when you don't take their White addiction into account, the problem remains: Jem'Hadar only accept operational orders from the Vorta, and no one else.

If there are no Vorta available, the Jem'Hadar will attempt to take control of the ship, kill its crew, and take off for parts unknown. That is, in the most literal sense, all they can do - all they know how to do.

 

[Paradise City]

They'd self destruct without the founders. It wouldn't work of course. But I must admit I'd be fun to see the Hirogen battle it out with Jem Hadar in top form in some kind of contrived one off episode. Or see them give the annoying Kazon a good hiding.

You might have a Jem Hadar prisoner and the Starfleet people working hard to ween him off the white and convince him the founders aren't the be all and end all of things. Kinda like what they did with seven of nine later on.

But really I don't think there's that much depth to the Jem Hadar to even bother with them.

 

[Triskelion]

Either recast Chakotay and Kim, or turn them into actual robots. Not Soong-type androids, mind you - actual robots based on existing Starfleet technology - automated MACO's. So - humanoid but more mechanoid and less intelligent than Data or the EMH, and decidedly more Maco-type. They were hacked and given autonomous will by a virus designed to thwart quick reprogramming, so they are very slow to learn or change, so when they do it's more meaningful. Now everything they do and are can be acted exactly in the same way, but it's somehow more interesting. Plus - gun porn.

Tuvok - more investigations! More detective procedurals in space!

I do believe I would have kept the conflicts going between crews - however, not with the "Let's haul out all our baggage while the star goes supernova Law & Order: SGU" gratuitous in-fighting.

I would have progressed Kes through more career stages, but I've said more about that elsewhere. Neelix I would have made less ebullient, more "Brooklyn", and let him be the boxer of the bunch. So his morale gig and guardianship with Naomi would have had even more pathos. He could kick anyone's ass on the ship, even Tuvok's, and he would be the one guy who no one crossed. Also, less cuddly. At the end of Tsunkatse, Seven would have gained a new respect for his "anachronistic" skills - and asks him to teach her the art of boxing.

Let's see Seska as a recurring villain, slowly reverting to a full-on Cardassian soldier and megalomaniac, as she violates the Prime Directive and creates a fascist spacefaring empire from some backwater industrialized world with no ethical inhibitions about anything.

I know, you're asking, But who does the comic relief? That would be the EMH - in episodes like Real Life - with Sandrine as his recurring, and legally-binding wife. The EMH could folly his way through human history on the holodeck as a counterpoint to current events (a la Highlander).

Ok now I've really gone and ruined the stew, I'm sure! http://www.trekbbs.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I had this idea if I ever wrote a Trek novel or fanfic that I'd do a story where the Gem'Hadar disappeared in the wormhole weren't killed but actually moved to a distant future, long after the Federation and Dominion were both long gone, and 'de-evolved' their genetic manipulation. First they'd look for the Founders, then some would decide to start a new Dominion and await their Gods return and some would embrace their free will, and they'd go to war.

But without curing that genetic manipulation you can't really make them interesting as individual characters instead of just interesting as a group of soldiers with very particular ethics which differ from human ones.

 

[The Overlord]

Voyager had the best crew of all Star Trek series. I wouldn't have changed anything, except for keeping Kes, Neelix and Carey to the end of the series.

Well you are entitled to your opinion, but I'm not sure how many people would agree with that statement.

A lot of people felt Harry Kim and Chakotay were dull and felt that Neelix was annoying and insufferable.

Harry Kim went no where as a character, he never get a rank above Ensign in 7 years. Chakotay was a thin Native stereotype, was given random interests in various later episodes to try and make him interesting and none of them ever stuck and too often he seemed like Janeway's yes man, then an independent minded, bad ass terrorist leader. He should have but heads with Janeway more often and Janeway would have had to earn his respect over time.

Neelix came off as an obnoxious know nothing know it all and interfering busy body. One episode portrayed him as jealous psychopath, this character really needed to be toned down. No wonder Sfdeferis thinks almost every Voyager episode has a stupid Neelix moment.

All 3 of these characters needed a major rethink, before the show was filmed.