Voyager Writers

[Adm_Hawthorne]

You know, I'm not the biggest fan of the Voyager writers, though I favor the show greatly. But, sometimes, they really came up with a jewel. For example this scene from Hope and Fear:

Janeway: A drone could walk through this forcefield like it was thin air. Is there enough Borg technology in your body to let it adpat?

7 of 9: If I activate the appropiate nanoprobes, I could alter my bioelectric field. However, I would need to adjust my cranial implant.

Janeway: Would a microfiliment do the trick?

7 of 9: It might.

Janeway: Then, let's get you one. Once you get outside, access that control panel and disable the forcfield. Then, we'll try to reach the engine room.

7 of 9: ... and employ the emergancy shut down procedure. (pause Janeway shows the micorfiliment) Sufficient. You will need to cross link the 6th and 3rd nodules. (Janeway reaches up to proceed, 7 pulls back in a scared/defensive way, Janeway puts hands up to show no hostile intentions, 7 sighs in preparation, Janeway proceeds)

Janeway: De ja vu

7 of 9: Captain?

Janeway: As I recall, this is where our relationship began... in a brig... nine months ago. I severed you from the collective , and you weren't exactly happy about it.

7 of 9: No, I was not.

Janeway: In case I never get the chance to say this... I realize that I've been hard on you at times. But, it was never out of anger or regret that I brought you on board. I'm your captain, that means I can't always be your friend. Understand?

7 of 9: No. However, if we are assimilated, our thoughts will become one, and I'm sure I will understand perfectly. (Janeway pulls back and looks at her in horror and disbelief) A joke, Captain. You yourself have encouraged me to use my sense of humor.

Janeway: (smirk but with a touch of sadness) Well, it's nice to know that you've taken some of my advice to heart. (returns to nodules)


7 of 9: You were correct, Captain. (Janeway hmms? in response) My desire to remain in the Delta Quadrant was based on fear. I am no longer Borg, but the prospect of becoming human is unsettling. I don't know where I belong.

Janeway: (with no hesitation) You belong with us.

7 of 9: (a noise indicates the procedure Janeway is doing has finished) The adaptations are complete.

This is an almost brilliant analogy for Janeway and Seven's relationship through season 4. First we have Janeway considering the assests of Borg technology through Seven. Then we have Janeway altering Seven to comply with a need. Then we have 7 of 9 admiting to fears and Janeway reassuring her those fears may be valid but she is well protected within the family of Voyager.

The final exchange is what clinches it for me. Janeway admits to being harsh, but only to push Seven to where Janeway thinks she could be, and Seven says the adaptations are complete. To me, that last sentence has a two fold meaning:

1. The procedure worked
2. Seven has finally taken Voyager and the crew to be her new collective

Like I said... almost brilliant... or do you think I'm giving the writers too much credit?

 

[Kegek]

I think you may be giving the first half too much credit. I understand it's just the small talk that leads to the dramatic moment, but it's small talk that's a little too heavy on the technical end for my tastes.

However, the scene is a very effective conclusion of the Janeway/Seven threads that ran through Season 4.

 

[number6]

You've given them the right amount of credit and illustrated the very story arc 7's character experiences and her purpose in the VOY saga. I think the writers knew very well what they were doing, even if some of the series had mixed results. When they got it right, they got it very right.

 

[exodus]

No, I don't think you are.

I think when the writers were on point, they gave us great moments of dialog such as this one.

I think(and for those that know me know my stance)we give the writers too much flack as well as Rick Berman. I see it as they were under allot of pressure from Paramounts big wigs. Berman had to try to live up to the legacy left to him by Roddenberry by trying to keep Voyager close to Gene's ideas the best he could. We shouldn't hate him but rather be proud of him for trying to do right by us as well as Gene. I believe Gene would have been very proud of Rick for making his idea last for 4 shows. As long as one person heard the message and meant something, Gene would have been happy.

I admire the man for not only putting up with the stress of Paramount but putting up with all the nasty emails & letters he recieved from the fans. That couldn't have been easy for him and would never want to be in his shoes for the way we treated him just for trying. I can only imagine what his family must think of us. You'd think we'd learned from our mistakes after how a great many treated Wil Wheaton so poorly and he was only a child.

 

[KitchenWitch]

Adm_Hawthorne said:
The final exchange is what clinches it for me. Janeway admits to being harsh, but only to push Seven to where Janeway thinks she could be, and Seven says the adaptations are complete. To me, that last sentence has a two fold meaning:

1. The procedure worked
2. Seven has finally taken Voyager and the crew to be her new collective

Like I said... almost brilliant... or do you think I'm giving the writers too much credit?

Yet Kate still played that cautiously. Janeway doesn't relax until Seven lowers the forcefield.

Janeway's struggling with a few fears of her own, there.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

KitchenWitch said:

Adm_Hawthorne said:
The final exchange is what clinches it for me. Janeway admits to being harsh, but only to push Seven to where Janeway thinks she could be, and Seven says the adaptations are complete. To me, that last sentence has a two fold meaning:

1. The procedure worked
2. Seven has finally taken Voyager and the crew to be her new collective

Like I said... almost brilliant... or do you think I'm giving the writers too much credit?

Yet Kate still played that cautiously. Janeway doesn't relax until Seven lowers the forcefield.

Janeway's struggling with a few fears of her own, there.

Again, it shows that story arc progression of the Seven and Janeway relationship. For the entire year of season 4, Janeway keeps trying to bring Seven into the fold while questioning whether or not it was a good idea to do so. Everytime Seven mentions going back to the Borg or staying in the Delta Quadrant, Janeway questions if Seven is going to turn on them because she knows how hard she's pushed Seven.

 

[KitchenWitch]

I know what it shows. That's why I mentioned it, that it's not as cut and dry in the writing as you presented.

It's what made the Janeway Seven arc really good.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Well, no, I wasn't suggesting that was all there was to that scene, just a part of it. Take at it as you will.

 

[Christopher]

VGR had plenty of fine writers, and even though the series as a whole didn't quite come together and there were a lot of restrictions from above on what it was able to do, those writers were able to do a great many superb episodes and scenes within episodes.

 

[AuntKate]

The writers also did a great job with humor. Almost every episode has a line or two that lighten the mood and remind us that these are fallable people trying to survive in a nearly impossible environment. Perhaps the balance was a little too much to the emotional side for some fans, but I liked it that way.

 

[Equinox]

I agree that the technobabble is a bit hard to get through if you're not familiar w/ Trek but once you are (and kind alearn to tune it out to an extent) you'll see some clever writing and dialogue in almost every Voyager episode.

I'm sure it's no easy task writing scripts but also keep this in mind: If you're a writer, your job (40hrs+/week) is to to write this stuff. Now in one way you could say, "With all that time, shouldn't it be Shakespeare?" but more realistically you can say, "Well, it's pretty good and should be for that amount of time they had to put into it".

I think that's why certain episodes stand out as so awful almost universally because you can tell if a lot of time was put into the script or if it was thrown together in a weekend Berman/Braga meeting. "The Fight" is a good example of awful writing as well as "Favorite Son".

Lazy script writing is also why I hate shows like Law & Order, NYPD Blue, ER and CSI - the writers simply rip stories directly out of real-life, make the dialogue evenly dispersed between the cast and then put *MAYBE* a minute or two of actual character storyline right before the credits roll. A truly awful example of lazy writing was that Law & Order Criminal Intent episode recently that was a DIRECT RIP-OFF of Anna Nicole's death.


So no matter how bad you think Trek or a Sci-Fi show may be, at least the writers have to actually write!

 

[Christopher]

I think that's why certain episodes stand out as so awful almost universally because you can tell if a lot of time was put into the script or if it was thrown together in a weekend Berman/Braga meeting. "The Fight" is a good example of awful writing as well as "Favorite Son".

Except that "The Fight" was written by Joe Menosky from a story by Michael Taylor, and "Favorite Son" is by Lisa Klink. These are three of VGR's finest writers. Also, Braga wasn't running the show yet when "Favorite Son" was written; Jeri Taylor was.

Then there's the fact that Berman did not contribute any actual writing to any episode of Voyager. He collaborated on story outlines for a small number of VGR episodes (13 out of 172), but aside from "Brothers" and "A Matter of Time" on TNG, Berman did no actual scriptwriting for Star Trek until Enterprise. On VGR, Braga's writing partner was Joe Menosky.

For that matter, I think "The Fight" was an extremely well-written episode. It's surreal and offbeat and deliberately disorienting, and many people find that offputting, but I think it's an intriguing story and the dialogue is excellent, achieving a rough-hewn poetry in the hallucination scenes. (And I'm saying that as someone who despises boxing.)

 

[Equinox]

Just because a story is good doesn't mean it'll translate well to screen. You should know that!

Besides, while Berman or Braga may have not written ENTIRE scripts by themselves, I have no doubt in my mind that they had the final say when it came time to approve it and put in their own two cents here and there even if someone else was credited for writing it. They probably also were involved in all the initial ideas for episodes - they either loosely suggested what the episodes would be about or told the writers to follow specific plot points exactly.

 

[Christopher]

There is too much tendency to take the Berman/Braga writing-producing team that existed on ENT and project it backwards onto VGR. That's a mistake. In terms of writing, Braga wrote dozens of VGR episodes, but his regular writing partner was Joe Menosky, a fine writer who deserves better than to be ignored or treated as a footnote. In terms of producing, Braga was actually only the showrunner for VGR's 5th and 6th seasons, though I gather he was pretty much a co-showrunner with Jeri Taylor on season 4. Before that, Jeri Taylor ran the writers' room (supervised by Michael Piller in the first 2 seasons), and Ken Biller ran the show in season 7.

So be careful not to lump Berman and Braga together as though they were a single entity. It was exclusively on ENT that they were a team sharing the same job. On VGR, Braga worked for Berman, in the same capacity that Jeri Taylor, Michael Piller, Ira Behr, and others had worked for Berman in previous years, or in the capacity that Roddenberry had worked for Herb Solow on TOS.

And yes, of course the showrunner is involved in the writing of every episode, so Braga would've done the final rewrite on every script produced during the seasons that he was running or co-running the writers' room. But on "Favorite Son," a third-season episode, that would've been Taylor's job, not Braga's. At that time, Braga was still subordinate to Taylor in the hierarchy, a junior executive producer.

And Berman's job was more on the logistical side of production, overseeing the whole process, than specifically on the writing side. He approved every creative decision on an executive level, sure, but he did the same on TNG and DS9 as well. So if you're going to give him blame for the episodes that you think failed, you also need to give him credit for the ones you loved, because he was no less involved in those.