If you could rewrite Voyager

[hux]

For me, the maquis element was underused and eventually became irelevant - it was too quickly resloved and if you didn't start watching Voyager until season 2, you'd probably never even know there was such an element

I would have had the maquis maintain a genuine distance from the main crew and eventually would have had a season long arc that detailed a mutiny, a possible mini-war (on board a la die hard) and ended with it with the maquis (and a number of star fleet crew) finding their own ship and going their own way home which would have also been part of the show - one episode on Voyager the next on the maquis ship

anyway, i just wish more had been made of the tension between the two groups

 

[Anwar]

I would have used more Maquis tensions, but without a mutiny (it's SO cliche...). Then they get over it after two seasons (AT MOST), and accept that they didn't have much to fight over to begin with since the DMZ situation was 75,000 LY away.

OR

Made the other crew Romulans. Now THAT is a conflict that would last.

 

[HoneyBLilly]

Agree with the better use of the Maquis. They became irrelevant and it was almost depressing, I would have loved to see more conflict from them.

If I had written Voyager . . . I would have gotten rid of Unimatrix Zero, introduced a different finale that advanced the time they were in the Delta Quadrant by a year or so. And gotten rid of the godawful episode Human Error . . . actually scratch that, I'd keep that episode but move it to the sixth season so there was no chance that horrible relationship between Seven and Chakotay happened.

But in all . . . Year of Hell would have actually happened. Chakotay would have been used much more and less of that stereotypical Native American stuff more Maquis bad ass. Maybe kept the flirting between him and Janeway to where they got together just a few episodes before the end . . .


OH! And Seska's child would have actually been his. I think that could have done the character a huge help and it would have been a fabuous character arc to see . . . him trying to come to terms with what Seska had done and try to be a father to the child. That would have been brilliant. And Janeway would have tried to help him with the baby . . . . That would have been an A+ in my book.

 

[Shatnertage]

I'd probably have a stronger "B team" of characters rotating in and out of episodes--like Carey, Vorik, and some of the others who drifted in occasionally.

Come to think of it, I'd make it a lot more like Lost, with Lost-style flashbacks that explain the origins of the characters and give the show a chance to show us something besides the Delta Quadrant. They did this, in a very technobabblish way, with "Flashback." I'd have integrated it into the show better, just had it be a flashback and not a visit with memory engrams or anything in-show, and done it more often.

We would have gotten to see Chakotay come to trust Tuvok and Seska. How great would that have been, and what would that have added to each character? They could even have done a few cameos from TNG and DS9 by having characters interact w/ Janeway during her previous command, or show up as guest instructors while Kim was at Starfleet academy.

Of course, that's all with the benefit of having seen Lost, so it's hard to say what I would have done back in 1994.

No recreational holodeck, very limited replicators. Definitely no holodeck episodes.

In general, less technobabble, more big idea shows (like "Tuvix") and character development, mixed in with some humor.

 

[F. King Daniel]

No meaningless babytalk technobabble.

More consequences.

No Chakotay.

More story arcs, along the lines of Enterprise season 4's multiple two and three parters.

A more consistant Janeway.

Have the ship look more beaten up as the series went on. It would have been nice to see, by the end, cables dangling from jury-rigged consoles in engineering, iffy welding jobs on some walls and mismatched replacement parts. Not a "Year of Hell" flying wreck, but some dents, cracks, dust and grime wouldn't go amiss.

None of Janeway or Paris' holodeck programs.

More depth to the characters.

Better and more interesting enemies than the Kazon and the Hirogen.

Better looking uniforms.

 

[kimc]

J/C WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IN THE FINAL SEASON!!!!

Okay, now that that's off my chest I would have also had less borg and less time travel.

 

[Guy Gardener]

How come if the Maquis were all farmers who loved good cooked food that the new aliens who they found were the cook and the farmer and unit of transaction in the mock economy they created to get by was the replicator ration when really these people should have been wanting to farm the shit out of every inch of Voyager?

 

[Anwar]

This:

http://www.trekbbs.com/showthread.php?t=101620

 

[BillJ]

I would've ditched the Maquis all together. They were there for conflict with their Starfleet counterparts and that was unnecessary. The premise of a small Starfleet ship with limited supplies being lost on the other side of the galaxy should've created all the drama you need. The inclusion of the Maquis just felt forced.

The captain needed to be a more reclusive character... more like a Rudy Ransom. Willing to make deals with the proverbial devil in order to protect his crew who he feels responsible for. Perhaps willing to make the technology exchanges in order to move his crew through dangerous areas.

Would've ditched the holographic doctor. I can see Robert Picardo playing a ships doctor without the need for the gimmick (they had to come up with another gimmick just to get him off the ship).

I think a tour guide would still be an interesting angle for the series... but not Neelix or Ethan Phillips.

Stronger set of recurring characters.

I'm sure there are others, but it's 2 AM EST.

 

[Jax]

* The Maquis stuff should around for the entire first season not just several episodes.

* Voyager should use torpedoes less but still get the chance to get supplies along the way.

* Voyager should also have more battle scars though not bad as BSG.

* A little less Borg and also make Voyager less powerful against them

* Flesh n Blood 2 parter should of kicked off the season after they gave them the tech.

* More deaths to the crew as a whole lets say 150 when Maquis joined them so just under 100 by the time they reach Earth.

* Equniox story should of come sooner lets say before Borg Space

* No Chakotay/Seven story

* Stronger set of recurring characters

* Unimatrix Zero should of been explored more with Voyager in the midle of the civil war and use that as a way to get home instead of future Janeway. Janeway dies in finale

^ I've spoken before how I would end the show with Uni/Endgame as one giant arc over season 7 so won't go into detail again.

 

[Guy Gardener]

Kira and Eddington on the Defiant Brady bunching the shit of it every week.

 

[Anwar]

One change to the premiere would've changed the series for a lot of folk: Just have it turn out that it was the Caretaker's natural power amplified by the Array that brought VOY to the DQ, so when he died all chance of going home died with him.

That way, folks wouldn't keep whining about "Janeway could've just used timed explosives!" since the Array was never able to send them home.

 

[Guy Gardener]

but the point was completely that her superior Ethics wouldn't allow kathy to cut her losses and run at the expense of those halflifed elves buried under Ocampa.

We admire her inthe beginning because she chose to take this burden (Just like jesus when he tried to duck out on the Crusifxtion in Gethsemane.) because the consequences of doing otherwise would have labelled her "a massive massive prick" even though she was legally obligated to hasten the destruction of the ocampa because they were just too weak to hack it on a level playing field after being infantalized for a thousand years.

If you take hJaneway's wittingness out of her proccess, renaming the Young Captain as fortunes fool, well then she's hardly the mistress of her own destiny and just another shmuck bending over for fate like any other idiot too thick to Kirk their way out of a no win situation.

She lost on her terms, which is a sort of victory one must assume.

 

[Anwar]

But the main complaint for Caretaker was that "They could've just used time explosives!", over and over.

Just eliminate that, and have them just get stuck in the DQ with no fault of their own.

I mean, did Crichton throw away a chance to go back to Earth in the Farscape premiere or was he just thrown into the situation and had no control over anything? No one complained there.

 

[F. King Daniel]

^They couldn't use timed explosives. I've complained in the past about that, but after rewatching "Caretaker" about a month ago, they make it pretty clear that it would take at least several hours to figure out the Caretaker's technology, and that Kazon reinforcements would arrive before then.

 

[Anwar]

Yes, but they didn't make it clear enough that the Array wasn't an option. They need to repeatedly say "I can't get it working in time, and we won't survive another attack!"

 

[issreliant]

1. i agree, voyager should have been more damaged as the series went on.

2. no holodeck episodes.

3. have a tour guide character, but make him shifty and selfish, like quark.

4. torres should not have been a klingon, maybe an andorian or another race.

 

[Guy Gardener]

^They couldn't use timed explosives. I've complained in the past about that, but after rewatching "Caretaker" about a month ago, they make it pretty clear that it would take at least several hours to figure out the Caretaker's technology, and that Kazon reinforcements would arrive before then.

Actually no.

They has no idea when the Kazon reinforcements would turn up.

(And later we would find out that any kazon that will send out a distress call is just asking to be invaded and enslaved by another sect. Weakness is exploited without mercy.)

Could have been weeks or never.

I don't think it was a stated consideration as anything less than as an abstract.

And also sir, it took Tuvok several seconds to figure out how to use the array, but it was going to take several hours for the return program to tick over unless caretaker would use some trick to shorten the proccess.

Caretaker had timed explosives to blow up the array.

The timer broke.

Not the best precedent.

Which is when he started begging Janeway to blow up the array for him because timed explosives are complete shit, if she wouldn't Caretake the Ocampa for him.

 

[Anwar]

Like I said, they DID say it but didn't say it well enough. Just a line of "Kazon will be here in an hour" and "I won't have the Array's return device on by then!"

 

[Guy Gardener]

Yes, but they didn't make it clear enough that the Array wasn't an option. They need to repeatedly say "I can't get it working in time, and we won't survive another attack!"

Still?

Still?

Still?

CARETAKER: Oh, I wish I could but I have very little time left, so I have initiated a self-destruct programme.
JANEWAY: If you destroy the Array, we'll have no way to get home.
CARETAKER: The Ocampa's enemies can not be allowed to control this installation. In minutes, it;ll be destroyed. You have to go. Go now.

You need to watch Caretaker again.

YOU ARE WRONG!!!!

TORRES: What do you think you're doing? That Array is the only way we have to get back home.
JANEWAY: I'm aware everyone has families and loved ones at homes they want to get back to. So do I. But I'm not willing to trade the lives of the Ocampa for our convenience. We'll have to find another way home.
TORRES: What other way home is there? Who is she to be making these decisions for all of us?
CHAKOTAY: She's the Captain.

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!

JABIN [on viewscreen]: Have you come to investigate the entity's strange behaviour too, Captain?
JANEWAY: All we care about is getting home, Jabin. We're about to transport over to the Array to see if we can arrange it.
JABIN [on viewscreen]: I'm afraid I can not permit that.

Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!

JANEWAY: If he dies, how the hell are we supposed to get home?

WRONG! WRONG! WRONG!!!!

JANEWAY: Break out the compression phaser rifles. Meet us in Transporter Room two. We're going back. We'll divide into teams. Mister Tuvok, while Chakotay and I are looking for Torres and Kim, your job is to find out as much about this array as you can. It brought us here. We have to assume it can send us home. Agreed? (Chakotay nods.) Mister Rollins, maintain Red alert. Keep us on constant transporter locks.
PARIS: Captain. I'd like to go with you.

Wrong! wrong! WRONG!!!!

Please admit that you are wrong.

I am sick of telling you that you are wrong.

This is the fifth time I've had to do this.

Accept the truth.

Learn.

You seem to think the Array is too dangerous to use because a few people died in the transition.

bah humbug.

It's only too dangerous for pussies.

Are you calling these kids pussies?