Voyager's future

[Elemental]

Hey guys. First of all, please don't be concerned as this is not yet another thread asking when the next Voyager relaunch novel is to be released. I was, however, hoping that one of the writers or editors might be able to alleviate a concern I've had for the past while regarding whether there is indeed to be a future for the VOY relaunch...

Recently, in the 24th century post-series literature, Voyager characters have mostly been seen "guest starring" with other crews, such as with Janeway in Death in Winter, Tuvok in at least one Titan novel (I don't know whether he is a permanent crew member as I haven't read them yet), and Seven of Nine in the upcoming Before Dishonor. I know that it has also been mentioned a few times that the upcoming crossover novels "Destiny" will prominently feature TNG, DS9, Titan, and "elements from Trek's past" and that it would also be indicating the future direction of Voyager. I was hoping that someone could allay my fears that there will still be an ongoing Voyager relaunch series and that the crew will not simply only exist as members (permanent or guest characters) in other series.

I'm not asking for specifics about what they will be up to (I'll look forward to Destiny for this), but was hoping that this particular concern could maybe be cleared up for me as well as a few others I know who were wondering about it. Thanks!

 

[Therin of Andor]

Elemental said:
I was hoping that someone could allay my fears that there will still be an ongoing Voyager relaunch series

IIRC, David Mack's "Destiny" trilogy will be helping to define new directions for the cast of future VOY Relaunch novels.

I'd say that fan reactions to "Destiny", and Christy Golden's availability, will also help the decision-making progress.

 

[Christopher]

There are plans underway for further VGR-centric fiction. Nothing's ready to be announced yet, but Pocket has not given up on VGR.

 

[JD]

You're not the only one El. I've been wondering the same thing myself. I don't know if you want to know this for sure, so I'll put it in code in case you don't.

Spoiler: Tuvok on Titan

Tuvok is actually a main cast member of the Titan books, ATM at least. In fact he even brings his wife aboard in one the first two books.

 

[BrotherBenny]

Don't forget that the TNG-era relaunch is set at the beginning of 2380, whereas the Voyager relaunch is still in 2378/9. There's still time to have schisms between crewmembers and such like for them to leave Voyager and go elsewhere.

 

[Christopher]

Xeris said:
Don't forget that the TNG-era relaunch is set at the beginning of 2380, whereas the Voyager relaunch is still in 2378/9. There's still time to have schisms between crewmembers and such like for them to leave Voyager and go elsewhere.

Except that the characters we've seen elsewhere are those that the VGR Relaunch established as no longer being on the ship anyway -- Janeway, Tuvok, Seven.

 

[bok2384]

Christopher said:

Xeris said:
Don't forget that the TNG-era relaunch is set at the beginning of 2380, whereas the Voyager relaunch is still in 2378/9. There's still time to have schisms between crewmembers and such like for them to leave Voyager and go elsewhere.

Except that the characters we've seen elsewhere are those that the VGR Relaunch established as no longer being on the ship anyway -- Janeway, Tuvok, Seven.

And in my view that was one of the flaws of the relaunch anyway. Removing the strongest and popular characters from Voyager in the first place. I accept that Janeway needed to be moved on to the Admiralty anyway, but removing Seven, Tuvok, The Doctor and B'Elanna off ship was a big mistake, as I watched Voyager for these characters in the first place, and the replacements for the relaunch just didn't work for me.

Although the Doctor and B'Elanna had something to do in these books, Seven just had a cameo appearance. On Voyager we were left with Captain Chuckles (who I hated in the series, but actually warmed to in these novels), and Harry Kim, who is still a waste of space even after taking over Tuvok's job and gaining a promotion. The only time I liked Kim was during KRAD's mirror universe tale, The Mirror-Scaled Serpent, which was an excellent story all-round.

Forgive my rambling, but I seriously hope that a great new direction is given for these characters, as the relaunch bypassed the strongest and popular characters, and gave us new ones which were very sub-standard.

 

[KRAD]

^ There is no way, none, to do a post-finale Voyager series that keeps all the characters on that ship. They were stuck on that tin can together for seven years. To keep them all on board would strain credulity well past the breaking point.

 

[bok2384]

Absolutely, I accept that. However, I believe the characters that did leave Voyager, be utilized in a much better way than they were. For example, I would like to have seen the goings-on with Seven and the Doctor's "think-tank", rather than a holographic revolution.

B'Elanna's sabatical could also have been handled a lot better as well. Being reunited with her mother and then having her killed was a waste. It would have been better to see more of her relationship with her mother, now that she herself was a mother.

And less said about the Borg, the better.

 

[Trent Roman]

bok2384 said:
And in my view that was one of the flaws of the relaunch anyway. Removing the strongest and popular characters from Voyager in the first place. I accept that Janeway needed to be moved on to the Admiralty anyway, but removing Seven, Tuvok, The Doctor and B'Elanna off ship was a big mistake, as I watched Voyager for these characters in the first place, and the replacements for the relaunch just didn't work for me.

I agree with KRAD that there was no believable way to keep all the crew on the ship, and I wouldn't have wanted to because it would have been not just poor plotting, but poor characterization. That being said, however, you do have valid criticism in that simply not having all the characters on the ship itself did not mean that those other characters had to be sidelined, which is in particular one of the legions of sins that the Spirit Walk duology is guilty of. It doesn't make sense, post-series, for Voyager to remain a ship-based drama; the inevitable fracturing of the crew should have created several arenas for the dispersed characters to operate and interact in. Even if we cleave to what has already been established in the VOY-R, one could have had, in addition to the Voyager sphere, a locus set on Earth (which would have brough in Janeway, Tuvok, Seven, the Doctor, Icheb) and one on Boreth (with Torres and Paris, before the latter's mysterious desire for a command post). Past fiction has demonstrated that it is perfectly viable to have a multiplicity of settings like that, away from the titular one (heck, the DS9R has spent almost as much time off-station than on it), so there's no reason not to explore them in tandem with the more familiar setting (particularly given how thin the VOY-R duologies actually were). And yes, you are right to point out how this exclusive focus on the Voyager was further undermined by the weakness of the secondary characters introduced to make up for the absentee characters. Kaz is an Ezri retread, Libby is practically a Mary Sue despite being an established character, and Astall... make me want to hurt things. Of all the 'new' characters in the VOY-R, the only half-decent one was Sekeya (though I'm not sure if she was a permanent addition to the roster or just 'guest-starring' in Spirit Walk).

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Turtletrekker]

^ Mostly agreed with Trent except for one question-- How is Kaz an Ezri retread? Just because he's a joined Trill? Then why isn't he a Jadzia retread as well? I actually kind of like Kaz. I think he brings something new to the Voyager table.

OTOH, concerning your comments about Astall... (*shudders involuntarily*) ...I hear you, brother, I hear you.

ETA:Concerning Kaz/Ezri... There are similarites in origin, how they became joined, but otherwise they are completely different characters. I guess YMMV.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Trent Roman said:
simply not having all the characters on the ship itself did not mean that those other characters had to be sidelined, which is in particular one of the legions of sins that the Spirit Walk duology is guilty of.

But since we are not privy to Christy Golden's plans for the Relaunch, we do not know what her intended future volumes were to be. Perhaps each forthcoming duology or single title would have continued to concentrate on one or two of the departed crewmembers, while the ship itself took up the A or B storyline.

When there have only been two duologies, it's a bit hard to spot a trend that Ms Golden was deliberately forever marginalizing everyone except Chakotay, Paris and Kim.

 

[Trent Roman]

Turtletrekker said:
ETA:Concerning Kaz/Ezri... There are similarites in origin, how they became joined, but otherwise they are completely different characters. I guess YMMV.

That's pretty much it: both were joined unexpectedly and unprepared, and have to deal with the violence of past hosts, and they're even both health professionals, if in different fields. Granted that Kaz is far less neurotic about it than Ezri was, but I just find the central dilemna of the character too repetitive, and since that's pretty much what has defined Kaz' character...

ETA:

Therin of Andor said:
But since we are not privy to Christy Golden's plans for the Relaunch, we do not know what her intended future volumes were to be. Perhaps each forthcoming duology or single title would have continued to concentrate on one or two of the departed crewmembers, while the ship itself took up the A or B storyline.

Whatever the intent might have been, it clearly did not materialize, and we can only judge what we have available to us. I'm not particularly impressed by a toss-up between poor short-term plotting and poor long-term planning. But even if it's the latter, I still maintain that the books that have been released, in and of themselves, suffered for this lack and should have had a broader focus.

Fictitiously yours, Trent Roman

 

[Christopher]

Therin of Andor said:
When there have only been two duologies, it's a bit hard to spot a trend that Ms Golden was deliberately forever marginalizing everyone except Chakotay, Paris and Kim.

Absolutely right. It makes no sense whatsover to assume the character emphasis would've been exactly the same in every installment. I mean, in every other ongoing Trek book series I can think of, different installments have focused on different members of the ensemble. Why in the world would anyone expect it to be any different with VGR? I just don't understand that.

Trent Roman said:
That's pretty much it: both were joined unexpectedly and unprepared, and have to deal with the violence of past hosts, and they're even both health professionals, if in different fields. Granted that Kaz is far less neurotic about it than Ezri was, but I just find the central dilemna of the character too repetitive, and since that's pretty much what has defined Kaz' character...

But the key point about Kaz is that his former host was a Maquis who was centrally involved in (and killed in) the events whose aftershocks are being felt in Spirit Walk. I think that's pretty distinct from Ezri's story arc. The similarities are fairly superficial.

 

[Tino]

Xeris said:
Don't forget that the TNG-era relaunch is set at the beginning of 2380, whereas the Voyager relaunch is still in 2378/9. There's still time to have schisms between crewmembers and such like for them to leave Voyager and go elsewhere.

There's a great idea here. Pocket Books can save printing VOY-novels when all the characters are placed in the different other series like TNG, DS9 oder COE. :-)

 

[Tino]

Xeris said:
Don't forget that the TNG-era relaunch is set at the beginning of 2380, whereas the Voyager relaunch is still in 2378/9. There's still time to have schisms between crewmembers and such like for them to leave Voyager and go elsewhere.

There's a great idea here. Pocket Books can save printing VOY-novels when all the characters are placed in the different other series like TNG, DS9, TTN oder COE. :-)