The Maquis Captain: Thomas Riker

[2takesfrakes]

Chakotay could have played Voyager's wooden plank that Seska and Suder would have to eventually walk. Would have given Beltran greater artistic range and more gravitas than 1st officer role.

Persuasive!
Most persuasive.
The more I see this topic discussed in this thread, it's becoming increasingly clear to me that STAR TREK had stumbled by not making it possible for Jonathan Frakes to join the cast.

Yes ... I'm remembering some things now, like when Riker met Janeway, briefly and she seemed instantly infatuated with him. Had Tom Riker's becoming a regular character on VOY eventuated, it might've been extremely likely that there would've been some initial tensions between he and Chakotay over Kathryn's affections. I'm confident, however, that Riker would've resisted the attentions of The Good Captain, in favour of keeping it on a professional level.

But out of that tug-and-pull/back-and-forth in the beginning, Chakotay and Tom would eventually become like brothers. Maybe if Tom was First Officer, Chakotay would've been better situated to realise his dreams of being together with Janeway. Indeed, there's a lot of good Human drama in this version of STAR TREK: Voyager. Oh, wow ... boy, did we miss out!

 

[Anwar]

A serious crisis could be a catalyst for division as much as for unity. Dislocated from their homes and families, they are in a traumatic situation that might reasonably unbalance and unnerve any person. These aren't explorers, they are people attached to their homes and their locality.

Which is enough reason for them to work with the only familiar people they have n the DQ.

Janeway sacrificing a way home for the PD might not go down too well with these types.

Maybe, but they only got stranded because Janeway refused to let an innocent world suffer just because it would've been more expedient for Voyager.

You know, exactly the thing the Maquis accused the Feds of doing in the first place? Selling them out for political expedience?

I'm sure that would've resonated with some of them.

And there could be plenty of material for conflict as Janeway makes the tough decisions or indeed screws up occasionally. BSG reimagined was very good in depicting this kind of stuff. Also the Maquis could outnumber the Starfleet types which would make things very tight and tricky.

NuBSG ran out of steam after 2 seasons, fell apart in the 3rd and needed literal deus ex machina to finish things off in Season 4.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Ishara Yar? Now there's a left field suggestion. Get Yar's duplicitous sister on board and get a few TNG talking points going.

That would definitely have been different. Would be interesting to see how her story developed and how/why she got away from Turkana IV.

Or forget the Maquis and replace it with a Romulan scout carrying the disgraced Sela.

Romulans would've been an interesting way to go, and the return of Sela would have been a nice little twist. I always wish we'd seen more of her.

Or why not have the second crew be from a Hideki-Class, so its Starfleet and Cardassians together? They could've have had maybe Joret Dal as Janeway's XO, would be interesting to see how his crew reacted when his status as a Starfleet informant arose. The crew could've also had a cosmetically altered Sito Jaxa onboard as well, with an unseen plot element being that she wasn't killed but instead sent in undercover for a special mission but couldn't be extracted. She could take Ops, replacing the dull as dishwater Kim.

 

[DarKush]

I would've liked the idea of it being a Cardassian ship and a Federation/Cardassian combined crew. But throw in some Maquis as well to really make it unstable. I mean just imagine how things would've exploded once Voyager received news about the Dominion War?

 

[Drone]

You know why Lost in Space turned Dr Smith from a cold and super competent master spy into a comedy buffoon? It was because everyone (including his own actor) realized that there was really was no reason for the Robinsons to keep him around if he stayed like that.

Only a slight deviation from your remark here, but from what I've read and heard, the idea was Harris's own and almost immediately when Allen saw the implications of it's being put into effect, he was more than foursquare behind it.

 

[Anwar]

Thing is, if you're going for a "mixed crew" thing you should bother having the non-Fleet crew actually be important to the ship's survival. Even if done "right" the Maquis just aren't different enough from the Feds to mean anything.