That's not the only way.
The Original Concept for Star Trek Voyager?
- Thread starter USS Artorius
- Start date
What other ways are there to keep them on the run for 7 years, exactly?
Why do you have to keep them on the run? There is this ongoing desire to say "They must be on the run." What if they are not? What if they start off trying to find their way through the quadrant, and then become lost, then discover a far greater threat (not the Borg) that means keeping them from knowing where Earth or something else is like that.
Play with the concept.
Again,
They wouldn't even need (major) enemies from outside. How about Janeway slowly getting unhinged from the constant strain and pressures and appeal on her to serve as the axis of the uneasy Maquis-Starfleet alliance? A sycophantic Chakotay methodically and psychologically manipulating the crew as chess pieces, all to take over when the time is ripe?
Hmm... perhaps I should write a dark Voyager::reimagined story. This wouldn't fly with the Voyager we got, after all.
Hmm... perhaps I should write a dark Voyager::reimagined story. This wouldn't fly with the Voyager we got, after all.
Because that's the premise of the show.
That's not enough to drive the plot for 7 seasons.
Because you can't drag that on for 7 seasons either. That's a plot you resolve in 1 or 2 seasons, and it has to end with certain characters dead because you can't just move on from that and keep everyone.
Again, look at Walking Dead. The Shane/Rick conflict, did they drag that on for 7 years? No, they resolved it in 2 seasons...and it ended with Shane dead.
Look at Farscape with Crichton and Crais' conflict. That barely had any life to it beyond ONE season and he didn't even become a proper member of Crichton's crew till Season 2. And then their conflict ended in Season 3...with Crais dying.
This is also why they killed Seska in Voyager. Because after everything she'd done, they couldn't just reintegrate her into the crew.
So? You work with your limits.
Who cares?
Kor jumped right in with Starfleet. No issue.
Yes, and you try to do it without dragging on plots till they get stale.
Uh...everyone. Because the writing stagnates and viewers realize they're just repeating plots.
Kor the Klingon? He died too, if you remember.
Yup. You do. You get creative.
Who cares about 7 seasons?
A hero. He tortures Kirk and Spock, threatens to kill and entire population for his ends, and glorifies killing and torture. Such a good guy.
Choosing the path and direction of a television series is not always up to the Producers and Writers. It's 100% based on ratings and revenue. For good or bad, they stuck with the same formula that kept ST-TNG the number 1 rated syndicated show for 7 years.
This show was pretty much the only show on UPN that people watched during it's first 3-4 years. For the affiliates, UPN was a dog, for the most part. It was very hard to sell advertising on, with the sole exception of Voyager. If I recall correctly, it was so bad, we would only sell Voyager ad slots to advertisers who agreed to buy other shows as well. It was the only show on UPN that was an easy sell.
This show was pretty much the only show on UPN that people watched during it's first 3-4 years. For the affiliates, UPN was a dog, for the most part. It was very hard to sell advertising on, with the sole exception of Voyager. If I recall correctly, it was so bad, we would only sell Voyager ad slots to advertisers who agreed to buy other shows as well. It was the only show on UPN that was an easy sell.
With the power of hindsight, there's plenty of stories that could be told on the 7-year run and keep it serialized. Have a season-long arc, interrupted by the fast-paced two-parters, and a few three/four-episode mini-arcs.
Lost in the Delta Quadrant, searching for resources.
A culture Voyager encounters repeatedly wishes to join the Federation. Talaxian uprising?
Voyager stops at a planet to set up a colony.
Time jump forward (five or ten years). Voyager sets out in space again. Perhaps after meeting the Malon? Voyager travels to Malon Prime and spends a season reforming Malon society.
Voyager spends a season in a region, setting up the Delta Coalition (Myriad Universes: "Places of Exile") or Delta Alliance (STO: Delta Rising).
Borg civil war.
A season of adventure-of-the-week. Hirogen attacks, evading the Borg, etc.
Mini-arcs could involve missions to repair the reputation after Dala's Imposters; playing cat-and-mouse with the ISS Voyager, etc.
Lost in the Delta Quadrant, searching for resources.
A culture Voyager encounters repeatedly wishes to join the Federation. Talaxian uprising?
Voyager stops at a planet to set up a colony.
Time jump forward (five or ten years). Voyager sets out in space again. Perhaps after meeting the Malon? Voyager travels to Malon Prime and spends a season reforming Malon society.
Voyager spends a season in a region, setting up the Delta Coalition (Myriad Universes: "Places of Exile") or Delta Alliance (STO: Delta Rising).
Borg civil war.
A season of adventure-of-the-week. Hirogen attacks, evading the Borg, etc.
Mini-arcs could involve missions to repair the reputation after Dala's Imposters; playing cat-and-mouse with the ISS Voyager, etc.
That's why it gets a pass from me on matters like "not having a proper Maquis mutiny" or "not having a real Year of Hell". I would have liked these things, of course, but they were doing what they felt would attract viewers. But there's no excuse for not doing the little things... explain where they found sixty extra torpedoes, for instance. Invest ten seconds of dialogue to give the Borg baby a sendoff. And for crying out loud, stick a
ing hollow pip on Harry's collar.
Except, the ratings were already moving down at the tail end of TNG's run. So, while they felt the need to replace TNG, and largely did so, they did so at the expense of the promised premise.
Indeed, but more than that it's really looking at the base premise that was sold to the audience and looking at the different arcs and mini-arcs that can be done within. One of the big weaknesses that I saw with VOY that I didn't see as much with other shows, was that interconnected style. Other shows I enjoyed at the time and later on scifi shows, at least had interconnected elements, and character movement and development that I found lacking in VOY of things not mattering. Things would come up, and never show up again. While other shows would have those repeated elements that I showed the characters growing and moving.
Even that little bit would have helped VOY for me.
True, they did. But Voyager did not have the same type of character development that TNG did. Not even close actually. While TNG had the ability to bring back past TOS characters, Voyagers simply could not do that, being in the Delta quadrant. And the feeble attempt to re-introduce Q into Voyager was not a success by any means. Don't get me wrong. I loved Voyager. Certainly my debatable third favorite series after TOS and TNG. I also really liked Enterprise and was sad it only made it 3 seasons. It was getting quite good by the time they cancelled it. However, low ratings are the king when it comes to cancelling a series, and Enterprise was dismal.
No, because they doubled down on the episodic nature, wanting people to be able to tune in whatever, and ignoring what character development was present in TNG that would draw in people, as well as ridiculous guest star stunts. As much as I disapprove of Q, he was a fan favorite for many in TNG.
Also, Kate Mulgrew and John de Lancie were good friends, and she reportedly asked the writers to slip him in.
I think the first Q episode is still quite good (well, of course apart from Small Universe Syndrome, why of all places would they show up on Voyager again?). Unfortunately, Q themed episodes after that got progressively worse.
I agree with that, definitely.
I mean, I guess the problem was that after all the backlash Voyager got anytime it tried to make any new unique characters of its own it only makes sense they'd decide "Oh Heck with it, if all the audience wants is old characters then just give them old characters."
Ideally, they should have used the Female Caretaker as the "Q" of the series like the Prophets were the "Q" of DS9. A Godlike Being with its own agenda appearing constantly through the series.
Or some other mysterious being that would eventually be revealed to be the evolved Kes from a bad future who was deliberately guiding Voyager in certain directions to be in the right place at the right time to fix what Future Kes was unhappy about in her time.
After a while, it just does become rinse and repeat.
The suits
When you're given 100 years to work with a character you can do that. VOY didn't have that luxury.[/quote]
It doesn't.
Are you one of them? I'm not so who cares?
Nope.
He's not a hero. He didn't get 100 years ro change. He was thrust in and said "he's changed."
Doesn't wash.
Well, the audience continues that trend today so quelle suprise'. The more things change the more fans stay the same.
