Why did they keep bringing back Leeta?

[Bad Thoughts]

True but it would be hard to explain many minor characters showing up repeatedly when Voyager is making tracks at warp 9+ for the Alpha Quadrant.

Did not Brannon Braga, the showrnunner for a short period, twice propose extended storyline that would have required long-term interactions with such characters: Year of Hell and Workforce?

Yes , Voyager was always destined to be a series in which "a stranger comes to town" was the frequent storyline,. However, the fact that the ship didn't stop in one location for more than on or two episodes was a choice. The ship's return need not have been constant, continuous, or linear. Nor need it have been ultimately successful. The showrunners didn't like recurring characters much, even if they came from the crew, but the way they approached their subject reinforced the absence of recurring characters.

 

[Humanoid #77]

when I think Leeta I think (.)(.)

I believe a large part of the audience thinks the same.

I am certain the producers did

 

[kkt]

Did not Brannon Braga, the showrnunner for a short period, twice propose extended storyline that would have required long-term interactions with such characters: Year of Hell and Workforce?

Yes , Voyager was always destined to be a series in which "a stranger comes to town" was the frequent storyline,. However, the fact that the ship didn't stop in one location for more than on or two episodes was a choice. The ship's return need not have been constant, continuous, or linear. Nor need it have been ultimately successful. The showrunners didn't like recurring characters much, even if they came from the crew, but the way they approached their subject reinforced the absence of recurring characters.

I think the fans would have felt cheated if Voyager had just found a nice earthlike planet and stayed there and gave up trying to get home. It was just not a realistic option, comparable to the Federation surrendering in the Dominion War. Just not going to happen.

Regarding Leeta, she worked well with Rom. Rom couldn't have pulled off the union in Bar Association without her urging him on and supporting him. (Also O'Brien.) Worth having her around even just for that episode.

Yes, Hollywood, including Star Trek, hire people for their looks, especially women. But if looks are ALL they bring to the role they don't last long.

 

[Guy Gardener]

I think a lot of fans would feel cheated if Voyager decided they would just learn to like the Delta Quadrant and stop trying to get home. I seem to remember an episode where they found a nice earthlike planet and considered staying, but I never took it as a serious possibility.

Back in the VHS days, two episodes per tape, the 37s was the final episode of season one.

But ColdFire was the last episode by production order, and learning curve was the final episode aired "originally" as season one.

Each final episode had it's benefits.

1. In the 37s, we saw the ship land, and they almost found a home, and then decided that frigid space for 7 more decades was cooler than farming.

2. In learning Curve we found out that Tuvok was a killable asshole, so if the crew had to vote on whether he lives or dies, if the entire crew got to vote on how a life and death situation muddled out for Tuvok, he would die.

3. In Coldfire we met another Caretaker.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

think the fans would have felt cheated if Voyager had just found a nice earthlike planet and stayed there and gave up trying to get home.

You've seen Year of Hell?

 

[TheSeeker]

when I think Leeta I think (.)(.)

I believe a large part of the audience thinks the same.

I am certain the producers did

This really adds nothing to the conversation. Let's just focus on what the character brought to DS9, shall we?

 

[kkt]

You've seen Year of Hell?

I stopped watching Voyager halfway through season 3. I read the description of Year of Hell in Memory Alpha just now, and it sounds vaguely familiar, like I might have seen it once at a friend's house? Being a time travel story is strike one in the first place for me. Doesn't sound like they were in a place where they might consider settling in that episode, was there?

 

[Poltargyst]

Did not Brannon Braga, the showrnunner for a short period, twice propose extended storyline that would have required long-term interactions with such characters: Year of Hell and Workforce?

Yes , Voyager was always destined to be a series in which "a stranger comes to town" was the frequent storyline,. However, the fact that the ship didn't stop in one location for more than on or two episodes was a choice. The ship's return need not have been constant, continuous, or linear. Nor need it have been ultimately successful. The showrunners didn't like recurring characters much, even if they came from the crew, but the way they approached their subject reinforced the absence of recurring characters.

This is a weakness of the show for me. I LIKE recurring characters, I like when our heroes meet other Federation officers and ships. It didn't do anything for me that Voyager was out there all alone never to interact with the Federation or the regular badguys we came to know and love/hate. It gave me Gilligan's Island vibes.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

I stopped watching Voyager halfway through season 3. I read the description of Year of Hell in Memory Alpha just now, and it sounds vaguely familiar, like I might have seen it once at a friend's house? Being a time travel story is strike one in the first place for me. Doesn't sound like they were in a place where they might consider settling in that episode, was there?

No, they weren't settling, which wasn't what I was suggesting in my previous post. The point of the original Year of Hell pitch was that they'd be stuck in a particular conflict for an entire season, which would stunt their progress.

 

[Laughing Dragon]

I don't know. I never really saw the point of her, she just seemed like a one-off character and then they decided to give her an extended role. The whole Bashir thing, they flirted a couple of times. I didn't even know they had a relationship until they broke up in one of the worst DS9 episodes ever. I didn't hate her, though.

 

[Oddish]

There was a barber on PIcard's Enterprise, as a luxury, but I think most people get a trim from sticking their head in the replicator, which is a little disgusting, considering I'm fairly sure that the replicator is also the toilet.

But why would they? Why didn't the Maquis have beards, ponytails, earrings, and a lot more tattoos? The Native American guy had the shortest haircut in the cast.

and then they decided to give her an extended role. The whole Bashir thing, they flirted a couple of times. I didn't even know they had a relationship until they broke up in one of the worst DS9 episodes ever.

Yeah, really. Was there an episode that even highlighted them while they were boyfriend and girlfriend?

 

[Laughing Dragon]

But why would they? Why didn't the Maquis have beards, ponytails, earrings, and a lot more tattoos? The Native American guy had the shortest haircut in the cast.


Yeah, really. Was there an episode that even highlighted them while they were boyfriend and girlfriend?

I don't think there was. Thats what made it stupid to me.

 

[Guy Gardener]

But why would they? Why didn't the Maquis have beards, ponytails, earrings, and a lot more tattoos? The Native American guy had the shortest haircut in the cast.


Yeah, really. Was there an episode that even highlighted them while they were boyfriend and girlfriend?

Because they were all nerds.

90 percent of the Maquis where physicists or engineers.

You have to be a nerd to fly a space ship that doesn't blow up every 15 minutes, even if the marquis who actually were farmers are given the impossible responsibility of guarding doorways on a ship where you need three degrees to use the toilet.

Follicle simulators, mean any one can have long hair in minutes. There's no skill or difficulty from persisting for ten years without having a hair cut because you can cut it off, and grow it back 12 times in one after noon. Zero charisma.

You know how Jeri Ryan was so pretty because she had great hair? And all the boys and girls fell in love with Seven of Nine because she had insanely great barbie hair? Any woman on the ship could have had an identical hair doo in 80 seconds, if they wanted to replicate her sexuality and the magnetism she effected on the crews carnal desires, just to piss Seven off, for taking all the men, and half the woman's attention.

It's hard to be special, when nothing is unique.

Also it's hard to do a suicide bomb mission or be a spy, if you are covered in tattoos clearly identifying you s a specific terrorist from a specific cell.

 

[kkt]

No, they weren't settling, which wasn't what I was suggesting in my previous post. The point of the original Year of Hell pitch was that they'd be stuck in a particular conflict for an entire season, which would stunt their progress.

So they just decided later to make it just a two part episode. Then there's a "and then they woke up!" reset button ending. Weak writing.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

So they just decided later to make it just a two part episode. Then there's a "and then they woke up!" reset button ending. Weak writing.

One choice reinforced the other: avoiding long-term complications to the story--preferring simple linear narratives for the series--worked against developing recurring characters. Year of Hell is perhaps the most popular Voyager story, one which its proponents argue that an actual season-long arc was a major missed opportunity.

 

[Oddish]

Because they were all nerds.

They weren't nerds. They were cardboard cutouts. Background characters, like the first-graders dressed up as trees or cows in a grade school musical.

Like I said, I'd rather have a few Leeta-types.

 

[Guy Gardener]

They weren't nerds. They were cardboard cutouts. Background characters, like the first-graders dressed up as trees or cows in a grade school musical.

Like I said, I'd rather have a few Leeta-types.

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[Oddish]

"O-gre! O-gre! O-gre!"

Call them what you want, if Leeta wasn't as interesting as a Garak or a Weyoun, she had more character development in a few appearances than Harry Kim or Travis Mayweather had in 11 seasons.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Call them what you want, if Leeta wasn't as interesting as a Garak or a Weyoun, she had more character development in a few appearances than Harry Kim or Travis Mayweather had in 11 seasons.

Kim, Mayweather, and Leeta all filled necessary roles in the narrative, except that the former were more warm bodies in the standard setup of a Trek cast. Chase Masterson helped give more context to life at the bar, especially as Rom distanced himself from Quark. Leeta didn't need to be deep, but Masterson was at least able to play the character broadly in a way that made it more versatile than Kim or Montgomery. I think that she did help the comedy of the series. Leeta was sort of a Lucy Arnez type, something that might otherwise stick out in a drama heavy series. I am myself at a loss to think of an actor who could play Leeta without completely ruining the vibe. I think the bits in Docto Bashir, I Presume could have gone horribly. On the other hand, she had great comedic moments: Dax's Bachelorette party, the wedding dress, Rom's self-oomak, etc. She could also provide touching moments as the caring stepmother.

 

[Oddish]

That was the way DS9 worked, though. It worked with its characters. And when one was foundering, as was the case with Bashir, the showrunners worked to salvage him. As seen with Bashir's genetic history and Section 31's interest in him. And, it did things with characters who could have been nearly disposable: Weyoun, Damar, Rom, others.

As compared to Voyager's similar attempt to salvage Harry when he was sinking into irrelevance, and word came from the powers that be to just let him go down.

A certain YouTuber once tried to analyze wasted character potential in assorted Trek shows. He came up with Ezri, because of her brief appearance, and Ziyal, because with almost 30 characters in play someone had to slip through the cracks. When he went on to VOY, it was "pretty much everyone except Seven and the Doc", though Harry was the worst.

So why did DS9 bring back Leeta? Because DS9 was a character driven show, and that's how it rolled.